the chronicles of thomas covenant the unbeliever

Are the actions performed in dreams real? Can those have actual significance? Covenant tries for a long period of time to prove to himself that the Land is a dream and his actions are of no consequence. What exactly is real – Things that are around you that you see, touch, feel, use or discard? The question is eternal and the answers are endless ranging from the concept of Maya in Indian vedic literature to modern day Matrix trilogy of movies to the world of dreams as depicted in Christopher Nolan’s “ Inception“. The author goes into the discussion regarding the “ Fundamental question of Ethics” right in the first book where he tries to bring home the concept of actions and consequences. Lord Foul could be Covenant’s own self-hatred, the illearth stone could be his leprosy and the health and beauty of the Land could be seen as everything left in his life that is worth preserving. Besides, the lay-out of the Land is a mirror of his psyche, e.g.

The time he spends in the Land is hard to account for in this world.

The puzzle is hard for him because every time he arrives back from the Land, he is in the same state as he was in when he left. He grants himself the title of Unbeliever. Through the entire first trilogy, the biggest dilemma revolves around the existence and the reality of Land as Covenant journeys back and forth without being able to figure out whether the Land exists in reality or only his imagination. The Land serves as both a mythical world full of variety of races, castes, cultures, traditions, etc., presenting a wide arena of side-stories, and a creation of the subconscious mind of Covenant. The whole body of stories is full of psychological undercurrents and the questionable fundamental instincts of humans. The story has faint reminiscences of the early Celtic literature, but the author has chosen to flip the coin, i.e., his hero has a lot of dark and grey shades to him. His opponent and manipulator is the evil Lord Foul the Despiser – an arch-enemy of the Creator. The protagonist in the story is Thomas Covenant, an embittered and shunned leper whose fate brings him to the alternate reality of the Land as a savior. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever Donaldson, comprising of two trilogies and a tetralogy. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is a series of ten books written by Stephen R.

The chronicles of thomas covenant the unbeliever