Interviewer: Lord Eriond,...
Eriond: Please, drop that title! Your readers know all the stories which happened when I was just a little boy growing up in the Vale. It would be more than a little bit ridiculous to address me "Lord".
Interviewer: Well, Eriond, what would you think are the most urgent problems you have to solve? Probably, you will have to destroy the Grolim church, first.
Eriond: No, I don't think so. Of course, there must be no more human
sacrifices. I took some steps, as you know. I put out all the fires in all temples
of Torak, and nobody will ever be able to lighten a new one there. The Grolim knives
vanished. Naturally, there will be attempts to re-establish that barbarian custom.
Many of the Grolims liked the feeling of personal power much more than what they
considered religion. I will see to it. I can't be present in all places at the same
time, but with Horse I can come close.
In fact, I have a new chore for the
Grolims. First of all, we'll have to finish one thing that my elder brother Torak
began - the conversion of the Karands and of the Morindim.
Interviewer: Sorry, I'm afraid I didn't understand you. Do you mean you need more worshipers in the first place?
Eriond (smiling): No, not really. However, Torak was right that the practice of raising demons has to be abandoned. Of all my elder brothers, it was Torak who did something against the presence of demons in our world. Unfortunately, the effect was marred by the limitations of his mind. Torak believed in fear. He weakened the protective designs and incantations of the magicians and made it very dangerous to raise a demon. That didn't help much. Morindland and the north of Karanda are cold and dark in winter, and the Morindim and the Karands don't fear much the fires of Hell. Even Torak was able to understand that it's better to propose them his protection and to be their God.
Interviewer: But a God like Torak is worse than none!
Eriond: No, you are not right. The Morindim society is dominated by magicians, and their dominion is based on even greater terror than that of the Grolims. They hold their people on the level of primitive nomadic tribes. Please, remember that Zedar was able to unite the tribes once with the mere promise that Torak would accept them and be their God. I will propose them the protection, instruction and love of a God - under the condition that they never again will raise a demon. It's the most important thing in our world, if not in our universe.
Interviewer: Please, could you explain to our readers why raising demons is so dangerous for our world? I thought it's dangerous for the magician - he risks to be eaten.
Eriond: Unfortunately, it's not all that simple. The demons, the Demon Lords and the Lord of Hell are confined in Hell - it's another universe. They can't get out of there without being summoned. A magician raising a demon is just a doorway into our world. Usually, the magicians put severe restrictions on the demons they raise. If the demon gets out of control, he usually eats the magician and goes back. However, he could as well ask the magician more or less politely to remove the restrictions. Then he would be free to do in our world whatever he wishes. I don't think we'd want that.
Interviewer: That means you are expecting an invasion of demons into our world? Why would they do that?
Eriond: They want the Orb. Now it concentrates the whole power of the Purpose of this universe. If the Lord of Hell had it, he could break out of the confinement in Hell and challenge my father. And, of course, the Demon Lord bringing him the Orb would be his first disciple. Mordja and Nahaz tried, and all Belgarion could do was to kill the dragon. But Mordja is still alive, and has Cthrek Goru. We don't know whether there are more disciples of the Lord of Hell.
Interviewer: There seems to be something to worry about, indeed. You said this is the most urgent problem - are there even more?
Eriond: Oh yes, I'm afraid there always are. The second problem has to do with the cracking of the world - and its undoing.
Interviewer: Undoing? This would be a cataclysm as well as the cracking! Who could wish to do such a thing?
Eriond: The Orb, naturally. After all, it was the Orb who cracked the world - under the pressure of Torak's will. The Orb already suggested how Garion could undo this, but Garion would not hear. He is a little bit slow, sometimes.
Interviewer: Does the Orb feel guilty for cracking the world?
Eriond: I'm not sure wether "guilty" is the right word. It was a terrible wounding of the earth, and a terrible pain. Some mountains are weeping even now. The Orb is a stone, and it can feel this pain. The "strange and unseemly creatures" accepted by my father UL were closely connected to Prolgu, and they felt this pain, as well. I don't wonder why they went mad.
Interviewer: The Orb didn't go mad, though.
Eriond: It did - for a moment. Torak maimed the earth, and the Orb maimed Torak.
Interviewer: But the Orb forgave Torak after his death and healed him.
Eriond: Yes, it was something that had to happen, it was in the Mrin Codex. Of course, it didn't mean only Torak, but the maimed world, too. The body of our world was healing, anyway. The interference of the Orb made it faster, that's about all. Our world will regain its appearance in approximately 100000 years - I wouldn't call this a cataclysm.
Interviewer: I see... but what about the madness of the monsters? Shouldn't it be healed, as well? As far as I understood, it was caused by the wounding of the earth.
Eriond: You are absolutely right! In fact, this will be the first effect. The madness of the monsters was caused by the pain from this wounding. In the process of healing, the pain will go, first. Even before the Orb interfered, Hettar almost got through to the Hrulgin stallion he tried to ride. Now the process is several hundred times faster. I think the next attempt could be successful. And this might be very important. I'm afraid we could need the monsters.
Interviewer: Why? Most of them are fearsome creatures, how could we need them? Even Aldur agreed that the Gods erred when they made the Eldrakyn, for instance.
Eriond: He said so more than 5000 years ago, when the monsters went mad.
Now we can see more clearly what we possibly have to expect. As I said already,
we have to close all entry points for demons. This, however, will take some time.
If the demons manage to bring an army here before, we'll have to fight. This must be
avoided if ever possible. Their notion of violence and cruelty just starts where
ours ends. We can't win only with the power of humans. If Algroths and Eldrakyn
will fight together with us, and if our cavalry will be mounted on Hrulgin instead
of gentle horses, then we'll have a chance.
Of course, all of this wouldn't be necessary without the terrible mistakes of both
Purposes of our universe.
Interviewer: What are these mistakes?
Eriond: They largely neglected the danger of the demons. Garion saw them in his dreams as two players making their moves. They were so adsorbed by their game that they didn't even realize the existence of a third player - the Lord of Hell. Isn't it ironic that it was a Child of Light who prevented the conversion of the Morindim by raising a Demon Lord? Both sides tried to use demons, but in fact the Lord of Hell used their moves. But I hope we can heal now the cracking of the world and the division of its inhabitants. If we restore peace between all creatures of our world, the chaos can't win.
Interviewer: Thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions!