White Gold Wielder
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 Cover of White Gold Wielder |
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| Author | Stephen R. Donaldson |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
| Released | 1983 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 512 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-345-34870-2 (USA paperback) |
| Preceded by | The One Tree |
| Followed by | The Runes of the Earth |
White Gold Wielder is the last book of the second trilogy of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever fantasy series written by Stephen R. Donaldson.
[edit] Plot summary
Leaving the sunken island of the One Tree, the Giant ship Starfare's Gem sets course to return to the Land. In a region of the ocean known as the Soulbiter, the ship is blown off into the far northern reaches of the Earth and becomes ice-bound. Realizing that the Land's need cannot wait for the spring melt, Thomas Covenant leaves the ship and strikes out south over the ice-scape, accompanied by Linden, Vain, Findail the Elohim, Cail the Haruchai, and four Giants.
The party encounters many dangers on its journey but reconnoiters with Sunder and Hollian, the man and woman of the Land who Covenant left behind in order to attempt to gather resistance to the Clave. They have little comfort to offer: the Clave has become so blood-hungry that entire villages have been completely emptied in order to sustain the Banefire. Only the stalwart Haruchai, freed from the Clave's magical coercion, have rallied to the side of freedom.
Covenant and his companions nevertheless march on Revelstone. Once there, Covenant stuns the others by summoning a Sandgorgon, the beast responsible for the deaths of two of his Haruchai companions in the previous book. The Sandgorgon, grateful to Covenant for having previously spared its life, breaches the outer defenses of the great Keep. After a tremendous struggle, Covenant is able to destroy the Raver who leads the Clave, and also to come to terms with his power-madness, through a process in which he mimics the Giantish Caamora, using the Banefire and the wild magic of his white gold ring instead of regular fire. The defeat of the Clave causes the problem of the Sunbane to diminish but not to disappear.
Charging the Haruchai to resume their Bloodguard forbearers' role as the warders of Revelstone, Covenant and the rest of his party set out to challenge Lord Foul directly, in his lair in the depths of Mount Thunder. En route, Hollian and her unborn child die resisting an attack of a band of Sunbane-warped ur-viles. Sunder is left numb and wordless with grief: in Andelain the Forestal Caer-Caveral sacrifices his life to re-unite Sunder with Hollian and the yet-to-be-born-child and give them a second chance at life. Covenant leaves the young family in Andelain and continues on, accompanied by Linden, two Giants, Vain, and Findail.
At Mount Thunder, Covenant gives the white gold ring willingly to the Despiser; Linden Avery refrains from preventing him from this action, despite her ability to do so. The Despiser then kills Covenant, and attempts to destroy the Arch of Time with the wild magic. However, Covenant's spirit blocks his assault: in a manner similar to the cleansing experience with the Banefire, the power of wild magic causes Covenant pain but does not harm him, and in fact makes him more powerful with each attack. Unable to comprehend this, Lord Foul continues to attack until he vanishes, drained of all his power. Linden Avery then takes the white gold ring, and uses it to bond Vain with Findail. Linden thus creates a new Staff of Law, combining the rigidness and structure of the Ur-Vile's lore with the pure and free Earthpower of the Elohim. Then, combining the new Staff with the power of the wild magic, she heals the Land of the Sunbane.
Giving the Staff to the Giants to take to Sunder and Hollian, Linden fades away. In the limbo between the worlds, Covenant speaks to her and explains how he defeated Foul and re-assures her that their love will transcend both time and death. Linden wakes up in the "real" world, finding Covenant dead, as expected, but takes comfort in the knowledge that through his love, she has redeemed both herself and the Land.
[edit] External links
| The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever |
|---|
| Novels |
| The First Chronicles: Lord Foul's Bane | The Illearth War | The Power that Preserves |
| The Second Chronicles: The Wounded Land | The One Tree | White Gold Wielder |
| The Last Chronicles: The Runes of the Earth | Fatal Revenant | Against All Things Ending | The Last Dark |
