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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 452418" data-attributes="member: 2020">I say they were hypocrites.  I do not say that lightly, for I liked the characters of Mhoram and the others.  However, it is hypocrisy to have an Oath of Peace, then tolerate rape ... especially when it is based on expediency (that is, the Land dies if we punish Covenant.)  They were hypocrites.     In the case of Atiarian, Lena's mother, I will not say hypocrite.  I will say instead that Atiarian was a VERY unfortunate mother put into a VERY BAD situation without any way out.  Covenant said that the Land was a dream.  However, he could feel pain in this dream (as he did, when Triock cut his hand open.)  Dream or no dream, then, a punishment inflicted on Covenant would be as painful as those who did the punishing wished it to be.  Covenant could have had his White Gold Ring taken from him while he was asleep.  Then, he could easily have been overpowered and imprisoned, at Revelstone.  And THEN, justice could have been meted out to the Unbeliever.  If they could not stomach inflicting justice, they could have left this task to others who could.  If Covenant was killed by the inflicting of said justice, this only returned him to his own world once the Lords killed Drool Rockworm ... which they could have done on their own.  When the Lords summoned Covenant the second time, during the Illearth War, he undoubtedly would have had a hostile attitude towards them.  Big deal.  He could not escape the Land, once there.  He could not use his Wild Magic to attack the Lords - he did not understand his own power sufficiently to use it.    Covenant had nowhere to go.  The Army of Lord Foul was coming.  The only sanctuaries were those about to come under attack.  What would the Unbeliever do ... flee up into the cold mountains and hide out?  Freeze to death amidst the snow and ice?  Or maybe, just maybe, Covenant would have been forced to ACCEPT the justice of his punishment, upon his earlier summoning to the Land.  Covenant might have learned responsibility and that actions had consequences that were physically painful, even in a so-called dream.  A responsible Covenant would not have goaded Elena into taking responsibility for the fight against Lord Foul, and getting himself out of it.  Elena would not have been driven to drink from the Seventh Ward, because Covenant would not have exercised his long psychological campaign against her to do just that.  Elena, might have listened to reason, in the end, when Covenant tried (far, far too late) to actually employ reason with her.  Elena, would not have broken the Law of Death.  Elena, would have survived and the Staff of Law would not have been lost.  The Staff of Law, would not have been destroyed in a conflict between a Foul-controlled Elena and Covenant.  The preternatural winter Foul inflicted on the Land, could not have come about.  Foul, once defeated, could not have used the breakage of the Staff and the Law of Death to return.  The Sunbane, would not have been possible.  Foul's possession of Joan, would not have occurred, so he could not have forced Covenant into a no-win situation, as he did.  Covenant would not have been resummoned to the Land, already beaten upon reentry.  Thomas Covenant, would not have died at the end.  In their refusal to punish Thomas Covenant, the Lords sentenced Covenant to death ... in the Real World.    Fate saw to it that Covenant indeed was made to pay the price for his crime ... for his rape of Lena led to Elena, which led to her madness at the Seventh Ward, which led to the breaking of the Law of Death and the Staff of Law, which made possible the return of Lord Foul and the coming of the Sunbane, which ultimately led to Foul possessing Joan and other people in Covenant's world, and forcing Covenant to sacrifice his life for Joan's life.  Had the Lords punished Thomas Covenant when he first arrived in Revelstone, it would have been unpleasant for Covenant, yes ... most unpleasant, I would think (I would hope.)  However, Covenant would have lived, in the end.  Why should a criminal be allowed to go scott free after committing a severe crime?  The Lords could NOT make Covenant fight Lord Foul.  What Thomas Covenant did, was not within the control of the Lords to dictate - Covenant would fight or not fight Lord Foul as he pleased.  What the Lords COULD do was to do what they felt was right ... and they felt it was right to allow a rapist to walk in their midst unpunished, and to protect him from those who would punish him.  (sighs)  Stephen Donaldson's works were like that.  Situations with no good answers, and they protagonists had to find answers anyways, whether they liked it or not.</blockquote>

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