Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Resurrecting Covenant in Fatal Revenant, which seemed like a good idea at the time but also woke up the Worm of World's end. Oops. Despair Gambit: And many of his plans are of this type in addition to being one of the above two. Foul loves seeing how far he can push people beyond the Despair Event Horizon. Card-Carrying Villain: Look at the name! Foul's what the bumbling, mustache-twirling Card-Carrying Villains want to be when they grow up. Word of God delves into Foul's opinion on the matter of his own Obviously Evil nature in a bit more detail — Foul doesn't actually perceive himself as evil, since he thinks he's beyond all moral judgments anyone else might make of him. However, he does find being labeled evil — including being given his various Names to Run Away from Really Fast— quite flattering. Supporting Leader: Leads the armies of the Land against Fleshharrower in The Illearth War while Covenant and Elena quest for the Earthblood. Physical God: He's a being roughly on par with the Creator, but being trapped inside the Arch of Time makes him a part of physical reality. He usually manifests as a spectral figure whose only clear feature are Glowing Eyes of Doom, but he can take more physical shapes as well (he reverts to an old man after being defeated by Covenant in The Power that Preserves, most obviously). It's worth noting that he's a Power That Is trapped within physical reality, so being a Physical God is actually a step down for him.

In their review Fantasy Books Review gave the novel a 9.5 on a scale of 10, calling it a very complex work of fantasy, which is tough going but rewarding. [3] A Giant warrior and the leader of the Giant expedition known as the Search. The First meets Covenant and Linden when they help rescue each other from the Lurker of the Sarangrave and its minions, and she becomes their companion for the rest of the Second Chronicles. The Creator then tells Covenant that he has a choice: either he can remain in the Land in full health, or he can be returned to life in his own world, where he otherwise would have died from an allergic reaction to the anti-venom treatment applied to his unconscious body. Covenant, still unwilling to fully accept the Land, chooses the latter and awakes in his hospital bed, weakened from his physical trauma, still afflicted with his disease, but happy to be alive, and secure in the knowledge that he had not failed the Land. The Dragon: They are Foul's top lieutenants. Since there are three of them and they act essentially as equals, that makes them Co-Dragons Foil: Knowing that Lord Foul is just another side of the same coin (hatred vs. self-hatred) allows Thomas to defeat him.Lord Foul's counterpart, the mysterious being who created the Land and its world. May or may not like to hang around on Earth disguised as an old beggar-man. Tragic Hero: He was considered by many the greatest of the Old Lords, but he was tragically flawed and Foul used him to nearly destroy everything he'd ever loved. Deadpan Snarker: Covenant has a dry, bleak sense of humor (perhaps not surprising, considering his life situation). He even snarks at Foul about how many names he has (the Despiser was not amused). The Waynhim are another race of creatures spawned by the Demondim that closely resemble the Ur-viles, though smaller and lighter in color. Like the Ur-viles (who are their long-standing nemeses), the Waynhim were made rather than born. However, they do not share their cousins' self-hatred, and have dedicated themselves to serving the Land and the Earthpower according to their own peculiar ethical system, the Weird of the Waynhim. Like the Ur-viles, they fight in a wedge formation with a loremaster at the apex.

Thus begins one of the most remarkable epic fantasies ever written... [1] Front matter [ ] Dedication [ ] Unholy Matrimony: "Elena Foul-Wife". Word of God is that it was just to mess with Covenant, though, seeing as Foul has no desire to actually have a wife on any level. A mysterious and hostile creature that inhabits and, to a certain extent controls the Sarangrave Flats and the swamp Lifeswallower. it doesn't directly serve Foul but is just as evil.—-Atiaran, with great chagrin, guides Covenant to the Hills of Andelain, a region of the land where the Earthpower is especially strong. There she entrusts Covenant to the care of Saltheart Foamfollower, one of the Unhomed Giants, who are allies of the people of the Land. The Giants, a seafaring people who live on the eastern coast of the Land, have a strong understanding of the Earthpower, especially as it relates to the Sea and other waters. Foamfollower is able to sail his stone boat up one of the great rivers of the Land to Revelstone, the Lords' mountain fortress. He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever because he dared not believe in the strange alternate world in which he suddenly found himself.

From Mithil Stonedown and its sturdy Stowndowers to Revelstone and its austere Lords, from Soaring Woodhelven and its lore to Mount Thunder and its feared cavewights and ur-viles - Donaldson's creations are a joy, rich and vibrant, and the writing that brings them to life eloquent and descriptive. But of course there is always Covenant, the man who is pivotal to all that unfolds - but why did Donaldson make him not only a leper, but also a man so very difficult to like? Was Once a Man: The price that the Forestal Caerroil Wildwood exacts for helping Troy destroy Fleshharrower is that Troy will become a Forestal himself. Power Incontinence: In the second series, Lord Foul uses cursed venom to deliberately induce this, hoping Covenant will lose control completely and annihilate the Land on his own.Lord Foul's Bane was a critical and commercial success, and is now seen as one of the crowning achievements within the fantasy genre. Grandpa God: Assuming that he is the old beggar, he follows this aesthetic (interestingly, when Foul is forced into human form in The Power that Preserves, he also takes the form of an old, bearded man, but while the Creator is ragged but kindly, Foul is elegant and regal but coldly contemptuous).