Lord Foul's Bane

infobox Book |
name = Lord Foul's Bane
orig title =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of "Lord Foul's Bane"
author = Stephen R. Donaldson
cover_artist = Darrell K. Sweet
country = United States
language = English
series = The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Del Rey
release_date = 1977
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 480 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-8050-1272-9 (USA hardback)
preceded_by = None
followed_by = The Illearth War

"Lord Foul's Bane" is the first book of the first trilogy of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever fantasy series written by Stephen R. Donaldson. It is followed by "The Illearth War".

Plot summary

Thomas Covenant is a young, best-selling author with a wife (Joan Covenant), and an infant son (Roger Covenant), whose world is turned upside down when he is diagnosed with leprosy. When he is discharged from the leprosarium he finds himself divorced, alone and an outcast in his hometown. On a rare trip into town, he is accosted by a beggar who makes a number of cryptic pronouncements as well as refusing Covenant's white gold ring as a donation (despite the money the beggar could have raised by selling it), leaving Covenant with the admonition to "be true". Confused and disturbed by this encounter, Covenant stumbles into the path of an oncoming car. The impact, although seemingly minor or non-existent, knocks him unconscious.

He wakes to find himself in The Land, a classic fantasy world. Covenant quickly learns he has been summoned there by the evil Cavewight Drool Rockworm, wielding the magical power of the Staff of Law. Drool has been guided by the malevolent, seemingly incorporeal Lord Foul the Despiser. Foul quickly dismisses Drool and surrounds Covenant with a dark cloud. Addressing Covenant as "groveler", Foul taunts him with the prophecy that he, Foul, will destroy the Land within 49 years; however, if Drool isn't stopped, such a fate will come to pass much sooner. Foul tells Covenant to deliver this message to the rulers of the Land, the Council of Lords at Revelstone, so that they can make preparations to combat Drool Rockworm and recover the Staff of Law.

The cloud disperses and Covenant finds himself on Kevin's Watch, a tall finger of rock attached to a mountain overlooking the Land at the Land's southernmost border. He encounters a young girl named Lena who uses a special mud called hurtloam to heal some minor cuts caused by his fall. To his astonishment, Covenant discovers (albeit somewhat later on) that the hurtloam has also cured his leprosy. This is only the first example Covenant will see of the Earthpower: a rich source of healing energy present throughout the Land. Covenant's loss of two fingers on his right hand (a consequence of the failure to promptly diagnose his leprosy) causes him to be identified by Lena as the reincarnation of Berek Halfhand, an ancient Lord who saved the Land from Lord Foul during a war which occurred in the Land's distant past. His special identity is seemingly confirmed when Lena's mother Atiaran identifies Covenant's white gold ring - in his world a plain wedding band, which he had been emotionally unable to discard notwithstanding the breaking of his marriage - as a token of great power in the Land.

Believing that he is unconscious from his collision with the police car, and therefore experiencing a fantastical dream or delusion, Covenant refuses to accept the reality of the Land. Appalled and indignant at the expectations the people of the Land have for him as their new-found savior, he gives himself the title of "Unbeliever."

He is also unprepared for the sudden restoration of his health, which cures the impotence brought on by his leprosy. His mental turmoil over the reality he feels but does not believe, and the sudden curing of his impotence, drives him into a frenzy, causing him to rape Lena, an act which will be pivotal to all that follows. When Lena's friends and family learn of what happened to her, they are barely able to comprehend the enormity of or reasons behind this crime, but the Oath of Peace to which they are sworn forbids them from taking vengeance.

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. There Covenant is invited into their council as an Ur-Lord because of his connection to Berek, and his white gold ring, which the Lords recognize as having the power to unleash the "wild magic" which may be the key to defeating Lord Foul.

Covenant delivers the message of Lord Foul. Despite the obvious danger, the Lords decide to make an effort to wrest the powerful Staff of Law from Drool's evil grasp. Rather than waging an all-out war, the Council sends four Lords and a band of forty warriors to attempt to infiltrate Drool's base at Mount Thunder.

Led by High Lord Prothall, and accompanied by the Lords' sleepless and ageless protectors the Bloodguard, and the Giant Foamfollower, the Lords' party sets out eastward. Covenant joins them in the hope that the recovery of the Staff of Law will somehow assist in his return to his "real" world. Along the way, Covenant attempts to come to terms with whether or not to believe in the reality of the Land. He also attempts to redeem himself for his outrage against Lena by commanding one of the Ranyhyn, the wild, free and intelligent horses of the eastern Plains of Ra, to do homage to her yearly. The Ramen, a tribe of humans who dedicate their lives to care and protection of the Ranyhyn, though repulsed to see their equine companions under Covenant's compulsion, agree to assist the quest on the last leg of its journey.

In the end, at the cost of the deaths of many of their companions, the Lords succeed in penetrating Mount Thunder and seizing the Staff, temporarily securing peace for the Land. Covenant destroys Drool Rockworm and saves the surviving members of the party by using the wild magic of his ring to summon the Fire-lions of Mount Thunder, although he does not fully control or even understand his power.

After the death of Drool, who had used the Staff of Law to summon Covenant to the Land, Covenant feels his physical body fading away, loses consciousness, and wakes up in his own world, a leper once more.

Tribute

The book is a classic in fantasy and has received some unusual tribute in the form of a public-access television show called "Fantasy Bedtime Hour", in which two girls in bed attempt to understand the text. The program includes dramatic stagings of some of the sequences in the book, as well as an appearance by Stephen R. Donaldson himself.

External links

* [http://theland.antgear.com/glossary.html Glossary of terms from the First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever]
* [http://www.fantasybedtimehour.com Fantasy Bedtime Hour]