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Stephen Reeder Donaldson (born May 13, 1947) is an American fantasy and science fiction novelist. His works range from the conventional "space opera" style of science fiction to "sword and sorcery" fantasy.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Though often compared to J. R. R. Tolkien, Donaldson's stories are also strongly influenced by William Shakespeare, Mervyn Peake and the operas of Richard Wagner. The Thomas Covenant and Mordant's Need series also make use of the "alternate world" paradigm in a manner reminiscent of the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis.
Donaldson's most celebrated character is Thomas Covenant, a cynical leprosy-sufferer, shunned and despised by society, who is destined to become the heroic saviour of an alternate Earth. Throughout six novels published between 1977 and 1983, Covenant struggles against the evil Lord Foul - "The Despiser" who intends to break the physical universe to escape its bondage and wreak revenge upon his arch-enemy "The Creator". Many elements of the story correspond to those of Richard Wagner's epic "Ring Cycle", but with curiously inverted values.
(First Published 1977)
The first volume introduces the anti-hero Covenant to The Land (the region of the alternate world threatened by Lord Foul) where his mutilated hand and white gold wedding ring identify him as a promised saviour. He is befriended by a young girl named Lena, who uses a special mud to cure his leprosy. This is only one example of the "Earthpower" - a rich source of healing energy in which The Land is steeped. Unable to handle the situation Covenant rapes her, a pivotal event which sets the scene for much of what comes later. Lena's friends and family are barely able to comprehend the enormity of this crime, but their "oath of peace" (sworn by every native inhabitant of The Land) forbids them from taking vengeance. Lena's mother Atiaran takes Covenant to the Land's rulers, the Lords, where he is initiated into their council as an "Ur-Lord" (this title is never explained, but appears to mean "associate ruler" or "honorary lord"; could also stem from the German prefix 'Ur-' which means ancestral or primal). However, an evil cavewight Drool Rockworm has seized the "Staff of Law", a magical wand by which the Earthpower can be controlled, and has become the puppet of Lord Foul. Covenant, the Lords, and a Giant named Saltheart Foamfollower set out to wrest the staff from his evil grasp and after many adventures succeed. Covenant is eventually returned to his own world, a leper once more.
(First Published 1978)
In the second volume, Covenant returns to the alternate world a generation later. Lord Foul has assembled a massive army, with which he now threatens the peoples of The Land. Furthermore, it has been discovered that Lord Foul's commander is one of three brothers born to the race of Giants, a people previously thought incorruptible. With the aid of the powerful Illearth Stone, Foul's non-corporeal servants, the ravers, have possessed the three brothers, now rechristened Kinslaughterer, Fleshharrower and Satansfist. (In shame and despair, the other Giants offer no resistance as Kinslaughterer murders them in their homes.) Lena's grown-up daughter Elena (the product of Covenant's rape) is now High Lord of the council, and wields the Staff of Law on behalf of her people. She shows no ill-will towards her biological father, and she and Covenant become close friends. The Lords' army is commanded by Hile Troy, a blind man from Covenant's "real" world whose sight has been restored by the Earthpower. While Troy strives to outwit Lord Foul and his Giant lieutenant, Elena and Covenant go in search of the "Seventh Ward", a repository of ancient magic lore which Elena believes will assure victory. When their goal is attained, Elena foolishly uses it to summon High Lord Kevin, her ancient predecessor from his grave, and send him against Lord Foul; Kevin is soon defeated and enslaved by Foul, and sent back to destroy Elena. The two High Lords engage in a battle of magic, in which Elena is eventually defeated and the Staff of Law lost. Meanwhile however, with the help of the woodland "forestal" Caerroil Wildwood, Troy has defeated Foul's army, whose Giant-commander Fleshharrower is strangled to death. The war ends in a stalemate and Covenant returns to his own world.
(First Published 1979)
Several years have gone by since the Illearth War. Lord Foul has enslaved the spirit of former High Lord Elena, who now wields the staff of law against her own people. The Lords have lost their loyal supporters the Bloodguard and the Land has been cast into a perpetual winter. Furthermore, Lord Foul has rebuilt his army, which, under the command of the third Giant-raver Satansfist, now beseiges the Lords' mountain-fortress of Revelstone. In desperation, the new High Lord Mhoram summons Thomas Covenant to his aid. Covenant and his friend the Giant Foamfollower now journey to the very heart of Lord Foul's dominion, where the forces of evil are finally defeated, Elena is freed from her enslavement and peace is restored to The Land.
After ten years have passed on Earth, Thomas Covenant returns to the Land, to discover that thousands of years have passed there. Lord Foul had corrupted the Lords and the Earthpower to create the oppressive "Sunbane." Covenant, with his companion from Earth, Linden Avery, must re-create the "Staff of Law" without destroying the entire world."
Mordant's Need
The Gap Cycle (science fiction)
Short stories:
Novels published under the name of Reed Stephens:
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