The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
"The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever" and "The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever" are two trilogies that chronicle the life of Thomas Covenant, a man grappling with his identity and the consequences of his actions. The series begins with Covenant, a writer diagnosed with leprosy, leading to his ostracization and the dissolution of his marriage. In a surreal turn of events, he finds himself transported to an alternate reality known as the Land, where he is confronted by Lord Foul, a malevolent entity seeking to disrupt the balance of this world. Covenant’s journey is marked by personal struggles, including his initial disbelief in the reality of the Land and the traumatic consequences of his actions, particularly towards a young woman named Lena.
As the narrative unfolds, Covenant participates in quests that address the threat posed by Foul and the loss of the Staff of Law, a vital element for maintaining harmony in the Land. The series explores themes of power, redemption, and the impact of personal choices on both individual and collective destinies. Throughout both trilogies, Covenant's character development is intertwined with the fate of the Land, leading to climactic confrontations that test his understanding of himself and his role in a world that often seems beyond his control. The complexities of his character and the richly constructed alternate reality provide a thought-provoking exploration of belief, responsibility, and the possibility of redemption.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
First published:Lord Foul’s Bane (1977), The Illearth War (1977), The Power That Preserves (1977), The Wounded Land (1980), The One Tree (1982), and White Gold Wielder (1983)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Fantasy—magical world
Time of work: The late twentieth century
Locale: New England and an alternate medieval world called the Land
The Plot
The six novels describing the life of Thomas Covenant are split into two trilogies, known as The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. As the series begins, Thomas Covenant, newly published and well received, is writing his second novel while his wife, Joan, visits her parents. Returning some weeks later, she discovers a purple lesion on his right hand. He consults a physician, receives a diagnosis of leprosy, and loses two fingers to amputation. In terror of infection, Joan divorces Covenant while he is in a leprosarium, learning to survive the disease that renders him numb, impotent, and outcast from society.
When he returns to Haven Farm, he finds that neighbors have eliminated the necessity for human contact, to the point of having his groceries delivered. Defiant and lonely, Covenant forces contact by paying his telephone bill in person. A strange old prophet outside the telephone company tells him to “be true.” Confused, Covenant stumbles into the path of a car. He awakes in a swirl of fog atop a high rock tower called Kevin’s Watch, in an alternate reality. The evil voice of Lord Foul the Despiser commands him to tell the Lords of the Land at Revelstone that the Staff of Law, lost by late High Lord Kevin, has been found by the warped cavewight Drool Rockworm.
Covenant, incapacitated by vertigo, is rescued by the barely postpubescent Lena, who takes him to her parents’ home. When Lena treats his wounds with hurtloam, Covenant’s body regains sensation. He realizes that his disease-induced impotence has ended. Overwhelmed by his returned sensations and convinced that he is dreaming, he rapes Lena. Lena’s mother, Atiaran, learns of the rape as she leads Covenant to Revelstone. Although she is appalled, Atiaran keeps her promise to guide him.
At Revelstone, Covenant delivers Foul’s message to the Lords, who mount a quest for the lost staff. Surviving many dangers, the seekers finally wrest the staff from Drool by means of Covenant’s wild magic, powered by his white gold wedding ring. Covenant awakes in a hospital, his leprosy raging, convinced that his experiences in the Land are dreams.
Months later (forty years in the Land), Covenant again finds himself on Kevin’s Watch and free of leprosy. By means of the powerful Illearth Stone, Foul is again on the attack. The benevolent Giants of the first quest are dead, except three whom Foul has coerced into service as “Ravers.” High Lord Elena (the child of Lena’s rape) mounts another quest, drinks Earthblood, gains the Power of Command, and, breaking the Law of Death, commands the ghost of Kevin Landwaster to destroy Foul. Instead, Kevin is overpowered, Elena dies, and the Staff of Law is destroyed. Covenant fights his way to Foul’s Creche, uses wild magic to destroy the Illearth Stone, and, believing the Land is safe, fades from consciousness to reawaken at home.
Ten years later—four millennia in the Land—Covenant and Linden Avery, a physician drawn into the Land by accident, find themselves atop Kevin’s Watch. Foul has regained his power and created the Sunbane (vicious three-day cycles of rain, drought, fertility, and pestilence). The Clave (lore-masters corrupted by Foul) now rule the Land from Revelstone, coercing blood from the Land’s people to appease the Sunbane. As Covenant undertakes still another quest to Revelstone, to find the Sunbane’s source and destroy its stranglehold on the Land, he learns that the Sunbane resulted from the destruction of the Staff of Law, which formerly supported the natural order. He resolves to find the One Tree and make another staff from its branches, thus delivering the Land from the Sunbane.
When Covenant and Linden are joined by the Search (a remnant of the Giants), Covenant persuades the Search to take them to the Isle of the One Tree. When they arrive, they find the Isle guarded by the Worm of the World’s End. Covenant cannot use his white magic to destroy the Worm without destroying the Arch of Time, within which the Land exists. When the Isle sinks, Covenant cannot fashion a new staff, so he, Linden, and the remaining Giants undertake the dangerous journey back to Revelstone.
Covenant finally masters the wild magic by realizing that he is the keystone of the Arch of Time. Standing firm, the Arch imprisons Foul within it. When the staff reincarnates, Linden uses it to restore the Earthpower and eradicate the Sunbane. The Land is thus healed.