I’ve never read any of the Thomas Covenant books, but I’ve always thought he was the kind of perfect hero you get in epic fantasy books. In this thread, however, he is mentioned as an asshole, despicable, and a rapist. Could someone give me a rundown on what he did to deserve these epithets? Don’t worry about spoiling the series, I think I’ve read all the massive fantasy epics I’m going to (well, once I’ve finished Dark Tower, anyway).
I read only the first book of the series, about 25 years ago, and I don’t remember a thing about it except that I came away thinking “why the hell would I want to keep reading about this annoying jerk?”
Well, for starters he commits rape near the beginning of the first book.
He was a leper. On entering the land, his leprosy was healed, and he suddenly had physical sensations he hadn’t had in a long time. Including horniness. So Lena, the young girl who found him on Kevin’s Watch, was a beautiful, pubescent girl (I think about 16ish or so). She was kind to him, sensitive, and caring, and he thanked her by raping her.
Her mother was going to help him get to the council by taking him to Revelstone. When they left for the journey, the mother didn’t know he had raped Lena. Lena’s suitor, Triock, did find out, and chased them down, and told the mother (hell, I’ve forgotten her name), but the mother still took him to Revelstone.
So the rape aside, Covenant hated the fact that he was seen as the saviour of the land, and completely unwilling to act on it. He bore the white gold, which had the power to rid everyone of Lord Foul, but he refused to accept the world - and therefore his responsibility to it - as real. He tried to convince himself that it was all some sort of leprosy - er Hansen’s Disease - driven delusion. He was coarse, rude, arrogant and dour. But people kept on believing in him, and helping him, even though he gave them every reason to dump him in a river.
The rape resulted in the birth of Elena, while Covenant was back in his own world. Of course, Covenant doesn’t know this at first (time passes differently in the Land) and there were some near-incestuous moments between them (as much Elena’s fault as his, because at least she knew the truth the whole time). He does eventually find out, and suffers extreme amounts of guilt over the whole deal. Compounded by the fact that Lena’s mother (It begins with an A… cannot remember her name!) died in a failed attempt to summon him.
The rape is what drove most people off of Covenant. Hard to sympathize with a rapist - especially one of young girls. His unwillingness to do what he needed to do to help the land also didn’t help. Eventually, he does what he has to do, and finally, far into the series, comes to accept the Land as real, but not before a lot of hurt, pain and suffering is dealt both by him and by his inaction.
Meant to add that the whole point of Covenant was that he was the anti-hero. As far from perfect as you can get. What’s that website that sums up books “In a minute”? Their synopsis for the Covenant series was:
Elders: You are our Saviour.
Covenant: Bite me.
Which is the perfect summary.
Thank you, that’s the one.
And I’ve finally remembered that the mother’s name is Atiaran (actually I remember just after my last post, but didn’t want to triple post)
In fact, I believe the overall title of the series is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbelievable Asshole.
Didn’t he use “Because I’m a leper,” as a response to questions, even when it didn’t fit? You know, like, “What time is it?” “Because I’m a leper.” That would annoy me pretty quick.
That’s the part that’s the key to understanding Covenant.
When he commits the rape…that shocks most committed fantasy readers…it is because HE does not believe The Land is real. In his mind, it’s a fantasy. Just a sex dream. In the minds of outraged fantasy fans, he’s raping a real child.
Covenant is a tragic figure as he denies, then comes to accept, the truth of The Land. But he’s just a guy in a DVD porno store in that opening scene.
Sailboat
Well, I actually finished the first set of the Chronicles, but that pretty much covered my reaction when I got wind of the existence of a second set.
Well, not to try and change your mind, but the second one is far less about him than it is about Linden Avery, a doctor from Covenant’s world. Of course, Covenant does still feature, and he’s still an ass, but, well, you can’t have everything 
This doesn’t describe anything I can think of in the books. He did occasionally tell someone that he was a leper, that he was ineffective because of it, but never in a situation where it didnt make sense as a response, and not all that often because people in the Land didn’t even know what leprosy was.
TCoTC are among my favorite books. Yes, Covenant is an asshole, especially in the first couple books. And yes, he did commit rape.
But he spends the rest of the First and Second chronicles punishing himself for it, and it is this guilt that eventually makes him rise to the task of being the ‘savior’ of the Land. Before the rape he was just a victim (and an annying one at that). But after raping Lena, he became a victimizer. It was only by realizing that he had power to do evil that he could see he also had the power to do good.
Not exactly Harry Potter, but very potent reading, and in my opinion, Covenant fully redeems himself for the horrible crime.
I love the Dark Tower, but don’t stop there. You have to read Covenant. Trust me.
By the way, Donaldson has published the first volume of the Third and final series. There will be four volumes in all.
I’m dying for the next one to come out, but I am not holding my breath; he’s stated that he expects the series to be complete in 9 years so…
However, I never have the confidence to recommend the series to others. It’s really vastly different from what people are used to, and there are things about Donaldson’s writing style that really are love or hate, I think. His fondness for obscure words, for instance, and a protagonist that is almost impossible to sympathize with. Thinking about it now, I don’t think I’d have made it through the first books if it wasn’t for the way he desribed the Land. There was so much beauty in it, and such amazing things that I desperately wished could be real, I couldn’t help but keep reading to find out what happened to it.
I’ve started reading Lord Foul’s Bane on Endemic’s recommendation, and so far I have to say that what you guys are saying just doesn’t jive with my understanding of the events.
First of all, I’ve just reached the point where Covenant and Atiaren reach the people who live in a tree (I’m reading it in Swedish, so I don’t know the English name of the people), so please, now that I am reading it, no spoilers past that point.
First, TellMeI’mNotCrazy: While Covenant’s impotence is obviously gone (he does manage to rape Lena), he doesn’t notice that his leprosy is healing until after being stabbed by Triock, when he feels pain in his hands and keeps repeating that it’s impossible. The rape doesn’t seem to have any connection with his healed leprosy, at least no conscious one. He doesn’t seem to understand that his ability to perform intercourse shows that his leprosy is going away, even though I’m not sure how he misses the connection.
Sailboat: What you’re saying made perfect sense until I actually read the book. Covenant just isn’t the hardass unbeliever required for this view. He keeps saying it’s a dream, but he does care about what happens in The Land, he’s afraid of Lord Foul and so forth. There is no indication that he rapes Lena because he doesn’t believe in The Land.
If the story had been like you say, it could have been a really great story. He is transferred into a dreamland, he does what he wants, he realizes that it isn’t a dream, he tries to atone for his wrongdoings. But I just can’t see that in the text.
Right, he didn’t know that his leprosy was healing yet, all he knew was he suddenly had physical sensations that he hadn’t had in years. He figured, since those sensations were impossible with his leprosy, this must all be some sort of whacked out delusion, and his actions, therefore, inconsequential.
But he never says or thinks that. The text doesn’t mention him noticing any changing physical sensations until after he is stabbed. That’s when he starts going on about how the sensations (pain in his hands) are impossible.
I don’t have a copy of the book with me to check, but I can clearly remember the impotence - and the erasing of it - being a very big realization in his book. Donaldson set his impotence up extremely early - at the point where he was looking at the girls in the store in the first few pages - and while he didn’t know the extent to which his sensations were coming back, he definitely noticed the impotence not existing anymore. Maybe he didn’t expressly voice the thoughts at the time of the rape, but it was clear to me that his mindset at the time of the rape (well, from the time of landing on Kevin’s Watch, really) was that all of it was unreal. Not just because of his nerves regenerating (which, as you say, he doesn’t begin to fully realize until Triock attacks him) but because of the complete unreality of the situation.
There’s not a conscious “This is not real, I am horny, I’ll rape Lena, because it doesn’t count” thought process, but his inability to accept that his situation is real contributed to his actions (which, of course, were still despicable).
It’s been a long time since I first read the book, but I don’t think it starts to become clear until later; as Covenant starts facing that demon himself.
Woodhelvennin, and the place is Soaring Woodhelven. The other guys are the Stonedownors. Had to think hard before that came back, it’s been a few years. Might be time for a re-read.
/gratuitous info