YMMV / The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

• Angst Aversion: Some fantasy readers have mentioned giving up on the series at Book 1, or avoiding it altogether, because of the series' reputation for having a dark story and an extremely unlikable main protagonist (which is by design). One of the biggest things that turns people away is that less than a third of the way through Book 1, the protagonist we're going to be following for the next six books rapes someone (which has long-lasting effects on the story). Although Thomas deeply regrets this for the rest of the series, it's understandably difficult to get readers to sympathize with or want to read about a rapist protagonist. It's an even harder sell for modern readers given that the series tends to focus more on Thomas' angst over committing rape than the suffering of the woman he assaulted, which can be seen as pretty problematic nowadays. Even fans of the series have been known to comment they understand why people would stop reading at that point.
• Complete Monster:
  • Lord Foul the Despiser is Thomas Covenant's ultimate enemy. An ancient being who revels in being pure evil, Foul aims to completely annihilate the magical land, sending out terrifying armies to crush and destroy all that live while recruiting the monstrous Ravers to his side, facilitating and ordering countless atrocities including the genocide of the Seareach giants and having Sheol Satansfist establish a dark cult that runs on blood sacrifices. After the death of Thomas's daughter, Foul corrupts her soul to his side, using her against Thomas as a twisted parody of herself, and later corrupts Thomas's son Roger into an agent to use against his father. Not satisfied with simply destroying life, Foul aims to completely annihilate all hope from the universe, learning from each of his defeats to return with new schemes that inevitably cost countless lives.
  • The three Ravers, Samahdi, Moksha, and Turiya, are Foul's Co-Dragons who were formerly three human brothers whose sheer evil ascended them of their mortal bodies. Serving their master, the Ravers would massacre countless innocents, including their own troops, while also having a tendency of possessing people. Individually, each Raver has their own depraved crimes under their belt: Samahdi had countless people sacrificed under the pretence they would bring a better world; Moksha infected Covenant with venom to force him to use his power, intending for the ring's might to destroy the world; Turiya had committed the atrocity of wiping out the Giants of Seareach, with them refusing to fight back. Sharing their master's abhorrent sadism, the Ravers committed horrific atrocities to free Lord Foul and ascend to godhood.
• Designated Hero: Thomas Covenant. Deliberately. A rare in-world example.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Vain in the second trilogy. He does absolutely nothing, not even moving an inch, unless it's absolutely, positively required. He only speaks once at the climax. The fact he's the representative of a species which had been thought of as Always Chaotic Evil which is trying to be The Atoner doesn't hurt.
• Funny Moments: The series is super-serious for the most parts, but one unexpected one does turn up in The Last Dark, all the funnier because it turns up just when things are at their dreariest.
  Stonemage: I will give my oath that I am dwindling. Hunger diminishes me. My garments hang loosely, and my cataphract has become an incumbrance, and I fear that my sword has grown too long for easy use.
  (morose silence)
  Coldspray: You forget to whom you speak, Stonemage. All here know that in your care, every sword grows too long for easy use.
  (everybody laughs)
  Stonemage: Mockery is ignorance. Occasions there have been in abundance, yet none have inspired complaint.
  (everybody laughs harder)
  Jeremiah: I don't get it.
• Heartwarming Moment: When creating the new Staff of Law, Linden takes a moment to help her friends.
  With the Staff of Law and the white ring. Linden caressed the fatigue out of the First's limbs, restored her Giantish strength. The rupture in Pitchwife's lungs Linden effaced, healing his respiration. Then, so that she would be able to trust herself later, she unbent his spine, restructured the bones in a way that allowed him to stand straight, breathe normally.
  • Pitchwife's words as Linden returns to her own world, "Have I not said you were well Chosen?"
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • In the first book, Thomas Covenant does something horrible, which firmly establishes that, unlike a typical fantasy protagonist, he is not The Cape. He spends the rest of the first trilogy trying, painfully, to drag himself back out of the moral black hole he fell into. Covenant's behaviour lead to a kind of cascade effect whereby the majority of bad stuff that happens in the book, and a lot of the series, is a consequence. The same goes for a significant amount of Covenant's suffering. Basically, it haunted Covenant for the rest of the series. For instance, Lena gave birth to Covenant's child, who was not completely sane, and went on to break a chunk of reality (the Law of Death) and give the Big Bad access to infinite undead armies of anything, up to and including fossils.
  • Foul himself has an odd crossing, because it is entirely verbal before he has a chance to actually do anything. Just reading his rant to Covenant about how he is going to corrupt and destroy the Land and there is nothing anyone can do to stop him, culminating in the declaration that he will annihilate hope from the universe, puts you off on rooting for the guy for good. It all just cements Foul's rep as what Card-Carrying Villains want to be when they grow up.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Some readers enjoy the series much more once they get past Lord Foul's Bane.
• Tearjerker:
  • Tom doesn't realize how much Saltheart Foamfollower and his people suffered being lost from their homeland til the Giants in the second trilogy wept at seeing their stone carvings and seeing how much wisdom and loss their predecessors had being stranded in a strange land.
  • The conclusion of ''White Gold Wielder" when Linden sobs about never had said goodbye to Tom or her father. Tom returning and no longer a cynic just to say goodbye is touching, too.
• Ugly Cute: The jheherrin are described as bizarre, misshapen assorted critters formed of clay and mud. They are also adorable.
• Wangst: Thomas Covenant is especially guilty of this, insisting on angsting even in the moments when things actually aren't horrible at the moment. Some of the other characters, too, end up taking their angst beyond what the circumstances would call for.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: While Thomas rejects the reality of the Land, the story never really entertains that Thomas is correct with the idea Jossed by the second book introducing other visitors. Some readers have stated that it might have been interesting to explore the idea that nothing Thomas does to the Land matters any more than NPCs in a video game.
• The Woobie: Pretty much everyone who isn't evil. Donaldson loves making his characters suffer.

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