Lord Foul's Bane vs Lord of the Rings

[Saltheart]

The Chronicles are certainly not a rehash of Lord of the Rings. In The Chronicles, the world personifies the essence Covenant and Linden and the philosophical ideas they represent; whereas in LOTR, the world is its own existing place. In LOTR, Tolkien's aim was to create a world for his language to inhabite. In The Chronicles, each and every person, place, or thing symbolizes something, and Donalson's aim was to showcase philosophical ideas and how a bitter, lonely man learns to accept himself and life.

In The Chronicles, the white gold wedding band represents a vow, as does the name "Covenant", and it is the key to understanding all the other symbols in the first volume of the entire series. It is a binding promise. And Thomas wears it even though his wife abandoned him, because he is still bound by his own personal oath in his wedding vows to support her till his death (as proven in the second volume of the series), even if she herself broke the pact--and as a reminder of the bitterness of reality. When he wears the wedding gold, he has wild, uncontrollable power in which he can save and destroy everything around him, just like his personal vows keeps him living even though he has destroyed almost everything which makes him human. When he takes off his oath, his wedding ring, he is impotent to do anything; he is just a physical, emotional and spiritual leper: he doesn't feel anything, have any purpose or prophecy to fulfill, any personal oath to keep.

In LOTR, the One Ring is power as well, but a lot less symbolic and paradoxal and interconnected with all the elements: Tolkien might has well had made it a glove, or a boot, or a belt, since they all represent Oneness, because only one owner can wear it at a time. He only made it a ring, I bet, because rings are so small, like Hobbits, and common, that he wanted to show that nothing is insignificant--but because the man claimed to hate allegories, we can throw that theory out the window and conclude he did it "just because".

[epicfantasy7]

Awesome analysis and you have a great forum name "Saltheart". I would imagine this is in reverence to Saltheart Foamfollower of the Novels?

[Saltheart]

Yes, my name is a reference to Saltheart Foamfollower, who is my favorite character in the whole series (and my favorite literary character so far).

[fantasy noob]

w3ell of course there is simalaritys but the subtle differences make up for them

i love the chronicles so here we go

as to the elves thing yes there are tree singer but they are not a different race they dwell in trees but there not pointy eared homos

and the dwarves they are called stone downers they are human as with the tree ones they arent a different race they practice stone lore

lets see the ring can be used for both good or evil lotr its just evil, white gold - yelow gold

all in all the chrons of t.c is frikin sweet and i do beleive that lotr sux a whole lot but that is my opinion

also lord foul would whoop the livin crap out of sauron hahah take that

- FN

[robdmw]

Could it be that Donaldson deliberately "borrowed" from Tolkein, as Covenant constantly disbelieves what is happening to him? Could it be his disbelief might be based on the fact that he may have read Tolkein earlier in his life, he is a writer after all, and thinks he's dreaming that adventure with him in it?

Just a thought....

[Blind Prophet]

If you actualy think about the books, its not just Tolkein that Donaldson borrows from. In Lord Foul's Bane, Covenant is in the Land for something like two or thee weeks, but when he awakes in hospital, only four hours have passed. Is it just me or does this seem rather like the titular wardrobe for "the lion, the witch and the wardrobe"?

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Blind Prophet

If you actualy think about the books, its not just Tolkein that Donaldson borrows from. In Lord Foul's Bane, Covenant is in the Land for something like two or thee weeks, but when he awakes in hospital, only four hours have passed. Is it just me or does this seem rather like the titular wardrobe for "the lion, the witch and the wardrobe"?

Perhaps, though that sort of thing is common in fairy tales and ballads stretching back several centuries....

[manethrall jimbo]

okay,just a few points,.. i read "the hobbit" at a young age and instantly fell in love with the sf/fantasy thing,naturally went on to read lotr and one day i told my uncle of my newfound hobby.he told me to read the covenant series but being so young and ignorant i plain forgot all about it until a few years later while visiting some friends abroad, i picked up a copy of "lord fouls bane" just lying amid a stack of old novels. My friend let me take the book home but I was already wrapped up in the story before I got back to the green, green grass. I think it's only fair to say that Donaldson was treading a path that was forged by Tolkien and certainly others before him-homage where due-but hand's down, the Thomas Covenant saga truly surpasses lotr by miles. the meticulous care with which Donaldson delves into the inner plight and turmoil of Covenant made Samwise and Frodo's little adventure read like,to me anyway, uh, let's see, Hansel and Gretel... I won't get into the subtle similarities between, or the vast differences in the two(Ranyhyn - Shadowfax, Rhadamaerl - Dwarves, Woodhelvennin - Elven folk,not to mention the ring, although if you think about it, the two powers are completely unalike), as this has already been eloquently touched upon elsewhere in this thread,(fairplay to you Saltheart and all).I will say this- Donaldsons depiction of the Lands vitality was breathtakingly beautiful, and the sense of dire peril and woeful rue of the Sunbane nearly had me suffering Lindens plight myself. I have yet to come across a fantasy epic that comes close to "Covenant" and all's I do is read! To all the unbelievers-there is time enough to refine the soul while the fingers can turn the pages...To all who just can't put the books down, look forward with great patience to October 9th- "Fatal Revenant" will soon be here!!!! YYESSSSSSSSS!!!! (HEH, HEH, I didn't have the "great patience"- I read the first couple o' chapters on Donaldsons official site --- are you up to scratch?????) p.s.-NOM

[stormbard]

amen brother

[pyan]

One of the things that is a major contribution to enjoying any fantasy novel is a sense of identity with one of the characters, often, but not always the chief one.
I couldn't find anyone to do that with Donaldson, and though the Frst and Second Chronicles still sit on my bookshelf, they remain one of the very few series I have never completed, or felt any desire to.