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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 [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]].
Thomas Covenant, a bitter, divorced leper shunned by his community due to his illness, finds himself transported into a fantasy world called rather unintuitively "The Land" where the (good, nice, hospitable) people treat him as [[The Chosen One]], tell him that the wedding ring he still hangs to is a magical artifact of unparalleled power, and expect him to save the world. Covenant, however, refuses to play along, insisting that the fantasy world is [[All Just a Dream]]. It does not help that the highly competent main villain, Lord Foul, is usually several steps ahead of the good guys.
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The [[Trilogy Creep|second trilogy]] more or less confirms that no, it is not [[All Just a Dream]], by adding another main character who joins Covenant. What the Land ''actually'' is, however, is left up to the reader.
The series tends to have much more character-driven writing than other [[High Fantasy]] stories, and delves pretty deep into the psychology of its characters. Now has a [[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant/Characters|Character Sheet]] in need of [[Wiki Magic]].
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* [[All Powerful Bystander]]: The Creator.
* [[All Up to You]]: In the first chronicles lots and lots of people tell TC this; he reacts poorly.
* [[
* [[And I Must Scream]]: An interesting subversion (?) in which {{spoiler|Findail and Vain are fused to make the new Staff of Law}}.
** Played straight when possessed by Ravers. Linden is not only forced to watch the Raver control her, but the Raver loves to taunt her while possessing her.
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* [[The Atoner]]: Vain, for the entire ur-vile race.
* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: The High Lords, given title surnames based on their greatest deeds, combined with [[Aerith and Bob]] tendencies. By the way, the "Kevin" mentioned above is more formally known as Kevin ''Landwaster''.
* [[Back
* [[Badass Army]]: The Bloodguard.
* [[Bad Moon Rising]]: [[Elite Mook|Drool Rockworm]]'s corruption of the moon from the first trilogy.
* [[Batman Gambit]]: Covenant's plan at the end of ''White Gold Wielder'' only works because he knew that {{spoiler|the first thing Foul would do with the white gold ring is attack him with it.}}
* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]: What happens to Lord Foul at the end of the second trilogy is deliciously ironic. Lord Foul's goal throughout the first two trilogies was to obtain Covenant's White Gold wedding ring, so he could use its power to destroy The Land and escape. At the end of the second trilogy, Covenant seeks out Lord Foul for a final confrontation, but, to the amazement of everyone watching, Covenant simply {{spoiler|hands the ring over to Lord Foul - who immediately destroys himself trying to use it.}}
* [[Because Destiny Says So]]: Almost everyone TC meets expects great things from him due to to ancient prophecies and such-like.
* [[Bee-Bee Gun]]: in the second trilogy, on of the Raver-possessed Sunbane victims chucks a spider at Covenant; earlier a Raver had possessed a swarm of wasps and stung him half to death.
* [[Beneath the Earth]]: Most evil stuff comes from here, The Illearth Stone, the cavewights and ur-viles, the Lurker of the Sarangrave, but that changes as the series goes on. Eventually good things come from here too.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: The Lost Ones, Giants who were stranded from their homeland. They're exceedingly gentle, but look out if they get mad.
* [[Big Bad]]: Lord Foul, who is more like the Biggest Bad; each series has lesser [[Big Bad|BigBads]]
* [[Big Bad Duumvirate]]: In the Third Chronicles, Foul has teamed up with {{spoiler|the renegade Elohim [[Kill It with Fire|Kastenessen]], the closest thing he can be said to have to an equal on the evil side of things}}. From his prior behavior, though, it's clear that the Despiser doesn't play well with others...
* [[Big Badass Wolf]]: Kresh are the bad kind.
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* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] - Esmer, quite literally.
* [[Collapsing Lair]]: Foul's Creche is destroyed in Covenant's first confrontation with the Despiser.
* [[
* [[Comes Great Responsibility]]: Covenant ''hates'' responsibility. Especially responsibility that doesn't exist.
* [[Conservation of Ninjitsu]]: Inverted.
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** Amok from the second chronicles is another great example.
* [[Cult]]: A group of cavewights at the end of the first trilogy form one to try and bring {{spoiler|Drool Rockworm}} back to life. There is also one in our world in the second trilogy that worships Foul {{spoiler|which Joan joins}}
* [[Curse Escape Clause]]: Kasreyn has to insert a "flaw" into every spell of his. Because of the nature of things, nothing truly perfect can exist. Any perfect spell would just fail. The implication is most spell casters are not good enough to manage perfection, so to them this does not matter. But Kasreyn has to insert flaws deliberately because he is ''just that good''
:This is why Kasreyn is after Covenant's ring. Kasreyn uses pure gold to cast his spells. Because white gold is an alloy and thus "impure," it satisfies the "flaw" requirement and Kasreyn could use it to create perfect spells.
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: When Linden cures The Land with the new Staff of Law, she notes that even Pestilence has its own place in the natural order.
** Vane also qualifies.
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* [[Demonic Possession]]: The ''modus operandi'' of Ravers. 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.
** Turned right back on one Raver when the free Sandgorgon Nom takes advantage of a Seareach Giant's [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to 'rend' the immortal possessing spirit, literally shredding its spirit and learning the mind-speech of the Haruchai in the process. (justifiable as said Raver has possessed a Haruchai on at least one occasion.)
* [[Designated Hero]]: 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 [[Messianic Archetype]] is really a self-hating jerk.
* [[Despair Event Horizon]] - High Lord Kevin steps over it in the [[Backstory]]. The same later happens to {{spoiler|the Giants of Seareach}} and {{spoiler|Trell}}. {{spoiler|Linden yanking Covenant out of the Arc of Time counts as well.}} Lord Foul likes pushing people beyond this in general.
* [[Deus Angst Machina]]: Even when Covenant tries to play along/do the right thing/just not hurt anyone something bad still happens. Sometimes it's his fault, sometimes it's not.
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* [[End of the World Special]]: At the end of the second chronicles, Linden gets one of these due to both her role as [[The Empath]] and the fact that she's between the Land and our world.
* [[Energy Beings]]: The Elohim and the Viles
* [[Establishing Character Moment]]: Lots of these.
* [[Evil Eye]]: The Harrow, oh so very much.
* [[Evil Gloating]]: Lord Foul is very much into it, among others.
* [[Evil Minions]]: Cavewights for sure, ur-viles kinda.
* [[Evil Overlord]]: Lord Foul plays it straight. Another evil overlord that appears in "The One Tree" is something of a deconstruction: he's an evil overlord, yes, but he's basically a frail and sex-crazed senior whose real power comes from his alliance with an Evil Sorcerer.
* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Kasreyn is the [[Evil Sorcerer]] mentioned above, who is played straight.
* [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: You have three guesses as to what kind of guy [[Evil Overlord|Lord]] [[Complete Monster|Foul]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|the Despiser]] is. The first two don't count.
** Also, the vortex of trepidation. "What will it do?" "It will make us afraid!"
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* [[Flat Earth Atheist]]: Keeping an iron grip on his survival disciplines is the number one priority for Tom. He feels he simply can't make any admissions to the "magic" that he keeps seeing, or it'd undermine his sense of reality and necessity.
* [[For the Evulz]]: [[Big Bad|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 [[Complete Monster|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 Rsavers as well.
* [[Functional Magic]]: Earthpower is a combination of the theurgy, rule magic, and force magic. The facets of earth aren't ''quite'' sentient as we know it, but they do respond and cooperate when properly asked/manipulated.
* [[Gambit Pileup]]: Things get pretty convoluted in the Last Chronicles.
* [[Gentle Giant]]: Foamfollower is introduced as this.
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* [[I Have Many Names]]: 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 [[Not So Different|'We are not so different, you and I...']]
* [[Implacable Man]]: Two of them: One as an inscrutable, passive follower, and one as a raw, violent force of nature.
* [[Innocent Bystander]]: Soaring Woodhelvenen, the whole town.
* [[Inverse Law of Utility and Lethality]]: Linden's healthsense starts like this but she learns to use it for good {{spoiler|and evil}}.
* [[Jerkass]]: Plenty of them, especially {{spoiler|Roger}} Covenant in Fatal Revenant. Thomas also qualifies in the first trilogy.
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* [[Knight Templar]]: The Masters made all of the right deductions [[Lawful Stupid|and came to all of the wrong answers.]]
* [[Last of His Kind]]: {{spoiler|Foamfollower becomes that in the First Chronicles, on the Land's continent, at least.}}
* [[Left
* [[Living Lie Detector]]: Throughout the books, when people have a direct connection to Earthpower they can ''see'' health, ''feel'' Law, and ''hear'' falsehood. Kinda trippy, but in a good way.
* [[The Magocracy]]: The Land in several eras, Brathairealm too although Kasreyn is an ''eminence grise'' rather than an outright ruler.
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** Covenant is, in fact, "Ringthane and White Gold Wielder, Ur-Lord Illender, Unbeliever and Prover of Life".
* [[Mama Bear]]: Linden Avery, in the third series.
* [[Meaningful Name]]:
** Thomas Covenant comes from the Biblical "Doubting Thomas" and the Old/New Covenant.
** Lord Foul the Despiser; doesn't get more meaningful than that.
** This is the Giants' naming convention, i.e. Saltheart Foamfollower. They do state their true names are unutterable in normal tongue.
* [[Mind Rape]]: This plus [[Demonic Possession]] is the main shtick of the Ravers although Lord Foul does it occasionally. His brand of [[Mind Rape]] is usually more metaphorical; he likes to manipulate you into mind-raping ''yourself''.
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* [[Mordor]]: The area around Lord Foul's home.
* [[Mutants]]: The magically created sort.
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Lord Foul the Despiser.
* [[Narnia Time]]: 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.
* [[Nature Spirit]]: The Forestals and the Wraiths; the Ranhyhn to a lesser degree.
* [[
* [[Never Got to Say Goodbye]]: Linden sobs at the end of ''White Gold Wielder'' that she never got to say goodbye to Tom (or her father) after Tom's [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. {{spoiler|Tom returns briefly as a ghost.}}
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Lord Foul's ability to alter the Law-- the natural order, or the rules that control the way the universe works-- is ultimately a result of Covenant destroying the Staff of Law.
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* [[Path of Inspiration]]: The Clave and its Rede although it didn't start out that way.
* [[Phlebotinum Overload]]: In ''AATE'', {{spoiler|the croyel}} blows up after consuming Earthpower {{spoiler|from Jeremiah}}.
* [[Physical God]]: Lord Foul, the Elohim, and possibly the Forestals.
* [[Pillar of Light]]: At the end of the first trilogy.
* [[Planet of Hats]]: All the main races are rather hatty- the Land's humans are all [[The Messiah]], the Giants are jovial but [[Badass]], the Ramen all love [[Cool Horse|the Ranyhyn]], the Insequent are wizards who [[Walk the Earth]], the Elohim are incredibly arrogant and think they have an [[Omniscient Morality License]], the Waynhim are [[The Atoner]], the Cavewights are [[Axe Crazy]] [[Mook|Mooks]], the ur-viles are [[Enigmatic Minion|enigmatic]] sorcerers, and the Haruchai are stoic [[Proud Warrior Race|proud warriors]]. Of course, there are exceptions to all of these.
* [[Power Glows]]: Check, most of the time it's also [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]] as well.
* [[Power Nullifier]]: Esmer by his mere presence to Linden's use of wild magic.
* [[The Power of Trust]]: The entire theme of the second trilogy. Linden has the power to use The Ring without disrupting the Arch of Time, while Thomas can't because of the venom in his body. Everyone, and we mean '''''everyone''''', wants Linden to take the Ring from Thomas and just destroy Foul. Linden finally seizes the Ring from Thomas at the [[Grand Finale]] - but gives it back to Thomas to give to Foul, after he wordlessly asks with a look, ''"Do you trust me?"'' {{spoiler|Turns out it was Thomas' [[Batman Gambit]].}}
* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: One of the defining traits of the Haruchai.
* [[Pure Magic Being]]: The Elohim in the second trilogy are Earthpower incarnate.
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* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: The first trilogy was ''always'' from Thomas' point of view, leaving the question open of whether The Land was a dream, a psychosis or real. In fact, Donaldson removed an entire chapter because it would have spoiled the fact that everything is real by virtue of the fact that Thomas was not in it. (It was reprinted in ''Daughter of Regals''.) The subsequent trilogies didn't keep up the pretense.
* [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]]: Done a few times throughout the series, ''White Gold Wielder'' takes the cake though since its done in-universe as well. TC won't tell anyone what he plans to do with his ring when he gets to Lord Foul.
** Well, he admits he plans to give the ring to Foul. He just asks [[The Power of Trust|Linden to trust him.]]
* [[Up the Real Rabbit Hole]]: TC does this a lot in the first chronicles but he treats the Land with greater respect as the series progresses.
* [[Utopia]]: The good guys in the First Chronicles.
* [[Victim Falls For Rapist]]: Played for [[Squick]], and possibly [[Deconstructed]] as well. {{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). Not that she survives very long after}}.
* [[The Villain Makes the Plot]]: Done rather well; Lord Foul is a [[Big Bad]] for the whole series but each chronicle, and sometimes each book, have their own villain. As the series progresses the villains evolved with the heroes.
* [[Villains Act, Heroes React]]: Oh yah, big time. It's one of the strengths of Foul's plans.
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* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: Those members of the Clave who think they're ''moderating'' the Sunbane, rather than making it ''worse''. Those in the know are straight [[Evil Sorcerer|Evil Sorcerers]].
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Linden Avery is just ''full'' of this to the point of being an [[Author Avatar]] admonishing his own characters. However, due to Covenant being a self-absorbed [[Jerkass]] who think The Land is [[All Just a Dream]], he gets it roughly every 20 pages in the first trilogy. Especially and deservedly after his rape of Lena.
* [[Wild Card]]: ( {{spoiler|The ur-viles, from the second trilogy on. Also Esmer, whose conflicted nature means that for everything he does, he must perform an equal and opposite act.}})
:Towards the end of ''Fatal Revenant'', Linden is this in relation to the Elohim, Insequent and other major players in the Land. She's gained a ton of power but no one knows what she's going to do with it.
* [[Wild Magic]]: Covenant's white gold wedding band is a source of powerful wild magic. The trick being figuring out how to use it without [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|breaking the Arch of Time]].
* [[Will Not Tell a Lie]]: 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. <ref> 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.</ref>
* [[Witch Species]]: The Insequent are all magic-users of great power, though they're not as good as the Elohim. Probably because the Insequent have to learn their powers while the Elohim are power incarnate.
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: Drool Rockworm, though as a Cavewight he was already ''pretty'' crazy by most peoples' standards. Also, carrying around a chunk of the Illearth Stone for an extended period of time is not advisable for your mental health.
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