Lord Foul’s Bane

Lord Foul's Bane is the first part of the series “Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever”. Thomas Covenant is the protagonist of the series' first three installments. Before we get into the plot, we should state that Covenant is the supreme anti-hero. He is an average man with leprosy and two injured fingers, abandoned by his wife (again, because of the leprosy), dreaded by his neighbors (again, due to the leprosy). He is also extremely antisocial due to – you are correct once more – his leprosy. To add insult to injury, Covenant commits sexual crime early in the story.

There is no way to sugarcoat this heinous conduct — Donaldson hits you straight in the face. Even though Covenant believes he was in a dream when all his crimes happened, that is not a good justification for what he did. Worse, he moved on quickly after only brief moments of guilt. after a temporary dismissal. This indifferent attitude, this abrupt turn, is the point at which some readers opt to quit the tale in disgust.

We understand why someone would choose not to continue Lord Foul's Bane. They, however, will miss out on a truly fantastic story later on. The cruel acts mentioned above by Covenant is not a trivial occurrence, as he will have to pay for them in the remainder of the series.

Author: Stephen R. Donaldson

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