History Literature / TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant

* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Deconstructed in the first trilogy. It turns out that nothing and no one is completely uncorruptible, and being ''nearly'' so makes you incapable of living with or recovering from corruption when you do succumb to it. Learning to live with a certain amount of shame and inadequacy without letting it either [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope drive you to all-out villainy]] or [[HeroicBSOD traumatise you into inaction]] turns out to be the key to victory for both Covenant and the Lords.

* DesignatedHero: [[{{Invoked}} Done deliberately]]. The people of The Land are in desperate need of a hero, and they tend to treat Covenant like one in spite of the way he actually acts. Indeed, one of the main thrusts of especially the first trilogy is exploring the idea of what happens when the MessianicArchetype is really a self-hating jerk.

* AllUpToYou: In the first chronicles lots and lots of people tell TC this; he reacts poorly.

** Several races at first, but the Last Chronicles subverts this by having them some of them turn good, and revealing that none of them were ''originally'' evil. [[BigBad Lord Foul]] on the other hand, definitely evil. With a capital E. Heck, with a capital V, I and L too. And the Ravers may actually be ''worse''.
** In the Second Trilogy, Vain proves that ur-Viles were actually TrueNeutral, not evil.

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Lord Foul and the Creator are either this for the Cosmos, or for aspects of Thomas Covenant's soul. The Last Chronicles reveals that one more also exists, [[spoiler:She Who Must Not Be Named (formerly Love, before Foul betrayed her). The existence of a fourth being who opposes the Lover in the same way that the Despiser opposes the Creator is posited by Covenant -- who terms said deity "Indifference" -- but this is never confirmed, presumably because if Indifference does exist, her reaction to the events in the Land would be a resounding "meh".]]

* AscendedExtra: [[LoveGoddess Diassomer Mininderain]] and [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Kastenessen]] appear only as characters in (possibly inaccurate) legends in the Second Chronicles. They're both key figures in the Last Chronicles.

* BackFromTheDead: The cave-wights in the second chronicles are trying to do this to Drool Rockworm. He would've [[CameBackWrong come back wrong]] if they had succeeded.

** Linden in the Second Trilogy is ''literally'' called "The Chosen".
** In the Second Chronicles, Findail is chosen by the other Elohim to accompany Linden and Covenant and eventually fulfill Vain's hidden purpose. Findail and the other Elohim know exactly what Vain's purpose is ([[spoiler:to fuse with an Elohim to form a new Staff of Law]]), and he is utterly depressed at the fate he has been "chosen" for.

** Amok from the second chronicles is another great example.

** The waynhim in general -- creepy-looking creations of the [[OurLichesAreDifferent demondim]], wielders of the same BlackMagic as the ur-viles, and more-or-less a race of good Samaritans. [[spoiler:By the Last Chronicles, the ur-viles have decided that their cousins maybe had the right idea]].

** In the Second Chronicles, it turns out that [[spoiler:Linden]] can do this as well.
** In the Last Chronicles, various powers can possess Anele depending on what he is standing on. As one of these powers is Lord Foul, "demonic" does not quite cover it.

* EitherOrProphecy: The prophecy of the white gold wielder is one of these; "With one word of truth or treachery he will save or damn the Land." In the first Chronicles, he manages to do ''both'' at the ''same time''.

* TheEmpath: A common power, but Linden in particular counts. In the first chronicles everyone is pretty much one of these, being able to sense the emotions of other as well as the general health and ''rightness'' of the world around them.
* EndOfTheWorldSpecial: At the end of the Second Chronicles, Linden gets one of these due to both her role as TheEmpath and the fact that she's between the Land and our world.

* ForTheEvulz: [[BigBad Lord Foul]] wants to destroy the world so he can escape from the Arch of Time, but it is pretty heavily implied that even if he did not have to escape, he would destroy the world anyway out of sheer sadism. [[spoiler:The Last Chronicles hint that Foul himself might, so deep down that even he doesn't realize it, be driven by the despair of simply being what he is.]] The Ravers as well.

* GambitPileup: Things get pretty convoluted in the Last Chronicles.

* GodsHandsAreTied: The Creator exists [[GodIsGood and is good]], but he cannot get into the Land himself without letting Foul out. As a result, he works through agents like Covenant and Linden, and usually appears to them as an old man before they are transported to the Land [[spoiler:except in the Last Chronicles]].

* HowDoIShotWeb: Covenant does not learn to control wild magic until the final book of the Second Chronicles.

* LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler:Foamfollower becomes that in the First Chronicles, on the Land's continent, at least.]]

** Linden Avery is the Chosen and Sun Sage. [[spoiler:In the Last Chronicles, she ''also'' gets to be Ringthane, since the Ramen call anyone who wields a white gold ring that]].

* MedievalStasis: And how! In the Second Chronicles, Covenant returns to the Land after ''four thousand years,'' and technology levels are essentially the same. It may be that the existence of magic and Lord Foul's machinations are responsible for the stasis. For example, in the backstory to the First Chronicles, Lord Kevin was the wisest and most powerful Lord in history. He sealed his vast accumulated knowledge in seven Wards of Lore before committing the Ritual of Desecration with Foul, setting advancement back thousands of years. In the time between the First and Second Chronicles, most of Kevin's Lore was recovered, then lost again, and the Land was once again devastated by the Sunbane.

* {{Mutants}}: The magically created sort. Foul can use the Illearth Stone to twist living things into monstrous shapes, and uses this ability to create expendable mooks for his armies. In the Second Chronicles, being exposed to the Sunbane at the exact moment the sun rises will (unless you're touching stone at the time or are not native to the Land) trigger random mutations and drive you insane.

* NearVillainVictory: The First Chronicles has it close. The Second Chronicles has it even closer.

* SuckOutThePoison: Covenant does it in the First Chronicles to a girl in the "real world". Linden does it in the Second Chronicles after TC gets attacked by Raver-Marid.

* {{Utopia}}: The good guys in the First Chronicles.

* WillNotTellALie: Lord Foul, though this is more about arrogance than honesty -- he thinks he doesn't ''need'' to lie to win. The scary thing is, he's mostly right. [[note]]The sole limitation seems to be that by his very nature, Foul doesn't understand some of the very Truths that he forsees. It's absolutely correct that Covenant chose to turn over his ring at the climax of the Second Chronicles. But not for any reason that Foul discerned.[[/note]]

** One "law" of traveling between The Land and the "real world" is that you will leave The Land in exactly the same physical condition in which you enter it. If you, say, have a broken leg when you enter The Land and then it heals when you are inside, something will happen to cause that leg to break again when it's time to leave. This becomes a big problem for Covenant in the Second Chronicles, because his entrance into The Land (at the beginning of ''The Wounded Land'') occurred shortly after his real-world body had been mortally wounded. Covenant knows what this implies, but Linden, who entered the Land while perfectly healthy, doesn't. In the Last Chronicles, Linden is in the same situation - having entered the land dying, she knows that one way or another she's there to stay.

** One "law" of traveling between The Land and the "real world" is that you will leave The Land in exactly the same physical condition in which you enter it. If you, say, have a broken leg when you enter The Land and then it heals when you are inside, something will happen to cause that leg to break again when it's time to leave. This becomes a big problem for Covenant in the Second Chronicles, because his entrance into The Land (at the beginning of ''The Wounded Land'') occurred shortly after his real-world body had been mortally wounded. Covenant knows what this implies, but Linden, who entered the Land while perfectly healthy, doesn't.

** In the Second Chronicles, Findail is chosen by the other Elohim to accompany Linden and Covenant and eventually fulfill Vain's hidden purpose. Findail and the other Elohim know exactly what Vain's purpose is ([[spoiler: to fuse with an Elohim to form a new Staff of Law]]), and he is utterly depressed at the fate he has been "chosen" for.

* ElementalPowers Stone and wood powers are prominent, but there are more.

* MedievalStasis: And how! In the Second Chronicles, Covenant returns to the Land after ''four thousand years,'' and technology levels are essentially the same. It may be that the existence of magic and Lord Foul's machinations are responsible for the stasis. For example, in the backstory to the First Chronicles, Lord Kevin was the wisest and most powerful Lord in history. He sealed his vast accumulated knowledge in seven Wards of Lore before committing the Ritual of Desecration with Foul, setting advancement back thousands of years. In the time between the First and Second Chronicles, most of Kevin's Lore was recovered, then lost again, and the land was once again devastated by the Sunbane.

* RomanticizedAbuse: Played for {{Squick}}.[[spoiler:In the second book, it's revealed that Lena never completely recovered from having been raped, and was no longer entirely sane, imagining herself as having been in a romantic relationship with her rapist, even though he is on another planet and does not reappear for decades.]] She does seem to recover her senses [[spoiler:in the third book, once she discovers that their daughter is dead, and Covenant essentially let her die (and/or helped it happen)]].

* UndeadAuthor: Discussed by WordOfGod; certain fans noted in the Gradual Interview that the story of Kevin, Foul, and the ritual of desecration somehow got out, despite the fact that the only people present were Kevin (who died) and Foul (who isn't exactly on the Lords' dinner invite list). Donaldson noted that the Ravers probably spread the story on Foul's orders, since he found Kevin's DespairEventHorizon deeply fulfilling (and amusing) and wanted everyone to know about it.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The Clave have carefully crafted their public image to make people think they use their BloodMagic to protect the people of the Land from the Sunbane, and even most of their initiates don't know the real truth: [[spoiler: that their leader is a Raver, and they're actually making the Sunbane ''worse'' and enforcing a dictatorial rule on the Land in the name of keeping it safe, all according to the designs of Lord Foul]].

** The insane ''elohim'' Kastenessen, Foul's partner in the third series, was forcibly converted into [[SealedEvilInACan a can for some sealed evils]] and has spent the last ten thousand years or so suffering while containing them. Now he's out, completely AxCrazy, and determined to repay his pain on his people, with the rest of the world as collateral damage if necessary.

* PlanetOfHats: All the main races are rather hatty -- the Land's humans are all {{all loving|hero}}, the Giants are jovial but {{Badass}}, the Ramen all love [[CoolHorse the Ranyhyn]], the Insequent are wizards who WalkTheEarth, the Elohim are incredibly arrogant and think they have an OmniscientMoralityLicense, the Waynhim are TheAtoner, the Cavewights are AxeCrazy {{Mook}}s, the ur-viles are [[EnigmaticMinion enigmatic]] sorcerers, and the Haruchai are stoic [[ProudWarriorRace proud warriors]]. Of course, there are exceptions to all of these. WordOfGod notes that all the races, like the characters, were envisioned as archetypes; not all Giants (for example) are identical, but they ''do'' all draw on the same themes.

** Drool Rockworm is a Cavewight from the first book, who thinks he can use the Staff of Law and the Illearth Stone to become one of these. In truth, they're both far more powerful than he is and almost literally eat him up. [[spoiler:And he was just Foul's UnwittingPawn anyway]]. Depending on how far you're willing to stretch the term, all ur-vile loremasters and members of the Clave, as well as some Insequent, could count as well.

* IHaveManyNames: Lord Foul. Parodied in the first book, where Covenant asks Lord Foul what his name is: Lord Foul the Despiser, The Grey Slayer, Fangthane the Render, Satansheart Soulcrusher, Corruption, and A-Jeroth of the Seven Hells. After that list of names he then proceeds to hit Covenant with [[NotSoDifferent 'We are not so different, you and I...']]

[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Covenant_sm_238.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[-A dark fantasy epic, in lime, pineapple and strawberry.-] ]]

'''''The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant''''' is a fantasy series written by Creator/StephenRDonaldson that tends to lean far toward the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.

%% * AfterTheEnd: The second trilogy. And the third. Sort of.
%% * AgentMulder: Hile Troy
%% * AgentScully: Linden Avery

%% * AllPowerfulBystander: The Creator.

%% * AnotherDimension

%% * ArtifactOfDoom: The Illearth Stone

%% * BadassArmy: The Bloodguard.

%% * BigBadWannabe: Drool Rockworm.
%% * BlackEyesOfEvil: The Harrow.

%% * BloodMagic: The Sunbane.

%% * EmotionsVsStoicism: A major theme.

%% * EnergyBeings: The Elohim and the Viles.
%% * EstablishingCharacterMoment: Lots of these.

%% * GhibliHills: Andelain, oh Andelain.

%% * GodOfEvil: Foul, again.

%% * GoodSamaritan: The Healer of Morinmoss.

%% * TheMaker: The Creator.
%% * MamaBear: Linden Avery, in the third series.

%% * ObstructiveZealot: The Masters. All of them.

%% * OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The merewives are very different.

%% * SummonEverymanHero

%% * TheUnfettered: The Unfettered.

%% * VillainWithGoodPublicity: The Clave.

* AfterTheEnd: The second trilogy. And the third. Sort of.
* AgentMulder: Hile Troy
* AgentScully: Linden Avery
* AllJustADream: In the first trilogy, Thomas Covenant is convinced "The Land" isn't real. At the end of it, Covenant decides that whether or not it's "real" doesn't matter; if it is a dream, then his dreaming it ''makes'' it real and something that's worth protecting. The Land's reality, or lack thereof, is no longer important in the second and third series.

* AllPowerfulBystander: The Creator.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Several races at first, but the Last Chronicles subverts this by having them some of them turn good, and revealing that none of them were ''originally'' evil. [[BigBad Lord Foul]] on the other hand, definitely evil. With a capital E. Heck, with a capital V, I and L too. And the Ravers may actually be ''worse''.

* AndIMustScream

* AnotherDimension

* ArtifactOfDoom: The Illearth Stone

* BadassArmy: The Bloodguard.

* BigBadWannabe: Drool Rockworm.
* BlackEyesOfEvil: The Harrow.

* BloodMagic: The Sunbane.

* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive

* CameBackWrong

* CosmicKeystone

* DarkIsNotEvil

* DemonicPossession

* DoomedHometown: Mithil Stonedown, Soaring Woodhelvenen to a lesser extent; still [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom doomed]] but not a 'hometown' for the characters. It was more a place of refuge and respite on the road. But still doomed.

* EmotionsVsStoicism: A major theme.

* EnergyBeings: The Elohim and the Viles.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Lots of these.

* EvilOverlord

* EvilSorcerer

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin

* GambitIndex: By the sixth book, every tactical trope had appeared, and there are yet more and more {{plan}}s being started up in each subsequent book. If it's in that index, it is in these books.

* GhibliHills: Andelain, oh Andelain.

* GlowingEyesOfDoom

* GodOfEvil: Foul, again.

* GoodSamaritan: The Healer of Morinmoss.

* HonorBeforeReason

*** {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: "When he hit me with my own fire, he did me one thing I couldn't do for myself. He burned the venom away. After that, I was free."]]

* TheMagnificent

* TheMaker: The Creator.
* MamaBear: Linden Avery, in the third series.
* MeaningfulName

* ObstructiveZealot: The Masters. All of them.

* OnlyTheChosenMayRide: The Ranyhyn are horses with enhanced intelligence, speed and endurance. A person can go to the Plains of Ra where they live and offer himself to them. If a Ranyhyn considers that person to be worthy it will allow him to ride it.

* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The merewives are very different.

* PureMagicBeing

* RefusalOfTheCall

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The narrator. Donaldson will never say "silver" or "strength" when he can say "argent" or "puissance". The people of the Land speak this way as well, to contrast with Covenant and Linden's more familiar speech patterns.

* TheStoic

* SummonEverymanHero:

* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Anele

* TheUnfettered: The Unfettered.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The Clave.

* WhatTheHellHero

* WildCard

* YouCantFightFate

'''''The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant''''' is a fantasy series written by Stephen R. Donaldson that tends to lean far toward the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.

* SerpentOfImmortality: The Worm of the World's End probably counts. It's apparently a gigantic serpent that forms the foundation of ''the world itself'', and if it ever wakes up it'll be the end (probable reference to [[NorseMythology Jormungandr]]). Lucky there's no chance of that ever hap... oh, shit...

* InherentlyFunnyWords: C'mon, nowadays, you can't hear Nom's name and not think of [[{{Lolcat}} "Nom, nom, nom!"]]

'''The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever:'''

* ''Gilden-Fire'' (a novella consisting of material cut from ''The Illearth War'')

'''The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant:'''

'''The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant:'''

** One "law" of traveling between The Land and the "real world" is that you will leave The Land in exactly the same physical condition in which you enter it. If you, say, have a broken leg when you enter The Land and then it heals when you are inside, something will happen to cause that leg to break again. This becomes a big problem for Covenant in the Second Chronicles, because his entrance into The Land (at the beginning of ''The Wounded Land'') occurred shortly after his real-world body had been mortally wounded. Covenant knows what this implies, but Linden, who entered the Land while perfectly healthy, doesn't.

* {{Mutants}}: The magically created sort. Foul can use the Illearth Stone to twist living things into monstrous shapes, and uses this ability to create expendable mooks for his armies. In the Second Chronicles, being exposed to the Sunbane at the exact moment the sun rises will (unless you're touching stone at the time or are not native to the Land) will trigger random mutations and drive you insane.

* VillainsActHeroesReact: Oh yah, big time. It's one of the strengths of Foul's plans.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: the Clave

* UndeadAuthor: Discussed by WordOfGod; certain fans noted in the Gradual Interview that the story of Kevin, Foul, and the ritual of desecration somehow got out, despite the fact that the only people present were Kevin (who died) and Foul (who isn't exactly on the Lords' dinner invite list). Donaldson noted that the Ravers probably spread the story on Foul's orders, since he found Kevin's DespairEventHorizon deeply fulfilling (and amusing) and wanted everyone to know about it.
* TheUnfettered: The Unfettered.
* WackyWaysideTribe: The section of ''The One Tree''set in Brathairealm. While the sandgorgons do return later, most of the action feels very disconnected from the rest of the story.

* TheUnfettered: The Unfettered

* NarniaTime: The time difference between the Land and the "real world" seems to be "Whatever is narratively convenient." It's stated in Runes of the Earth that it's roughly one day in the "real world" to one year in the land. Which works, as in the First and Second Chronicles no character is in the Land for more than a few months, or unconscious in the other world for more than a few hours.