“It was carved from the One Tree as a servant of the Earth and the Earth's Law.” --Lord Osondrea.
The Staff of Law is an instrument of power, a tool for wielding Earthpower safely within the constraints of Law. The Staff of Law is a length of rune-carved wood, shod with iron at either end.
History[]
The Staff of Law was made by Berek Halfhand from a branch of the One Tree. During the Era of the Old Lords, the High Lord of the Council of Lords wielded the Staff of Law. The Staff was lost by Kevin Landwaster at the close of the Era of the Old Lords when he enacted the Ritual of Desecration. The Staff remained lost for centuries, until it was found beneath Mount Thunder by the cavewight Drool Rockworm during the Era of the New Lords.
The new Lords recovered the Staff from Drool, but the Staff was lost again when High Lord Elena used the power of Earthblood to raise the wraith of Kevin Landwaster. (She believed that Kevin would have invaluable knowledge on how to defeat Foul.) This reckless act broke the Law of Death (which had later, widespread consequences). Kevin was easily dominated by Lord Foul and forced to battle Elena; as her companions fled, the battle collapsed parts of the mountain above and ended Elena's life.
When Lord Foul raised Elena's shade, she was armed with the Staff and sent to wreak havoc. Covenant discovered her using her magic to entrap Bannor and Saltheart Foamfollower. Although he did not want to battle his own daughter, he did and the resultant clash virtually obliterated the Staff of Law with Wild Magic.
At the close of the Era of the Sunbane, Linden Avery creates a new Staff of Law, using Wild Magic to fuse the ur-vile Vain and the Elohim Findail with the remaining pieces of the original Staff: its iron heels.
Uses[]
The Staff of Law can be used to exert Earthpower to perform works of thaumaturgy. However, because the Staff was meant to work within the constraints of Law, it is difficult, if not impossible, to do anything contrary to Law with it. The Staff has been used to manipulate weather, cure sickness, heal injury, and summon champions from beyond the Arch of Time.
The Staff is in some way an incarnation of the Law it was created to serve. By its very existence, the Staff supports and reinforces the Law. The destruction of the Staff actually weakened the Law, making the Despiser's creation of the Sunbane possible.
- Drool summons a rainstorm, which is stopped unwittingly by Thomas Covenant's use of Wild magic.
- Drool later uses it to turn the moon blood-red as a demonstration of his power.
- Drool uses the Staff, combined with the Illearth Stone, to warp nature, producing unnatural creatures. Described perversions are a three-winged bird and a cyclopian hawk.
- Elena uses the Staff to fight the wraith of High Lord Kevin under Melenkurion Skyweir; in the process, she is killed and the Staff is lost again.
- The wraith of Elena, twisted to serve Despite, later uses the Staff in the service of Lord Foul. She creates an unnatural winter in the Land and destroys the Colossus of the Fall, which barred many evil creatures from the Upper Land. Elena was stopped by Thomas Covenant and the Staff was destroyed in conflict with the white gold; only the iron ends of the Staff remained, which were kept safe by the Lords.
- Linden Avery used the second Staff to erase the Sunbane, and on numerous other occasions, especially to heal; she was its most proficient and precise wielder and it responded to her above other users.
- Confronting Roger Covenant under Melenkurion Skyweir, she uses it to fight him and the croyel.
- With the combination of the krill of Loric, White gold and her Staff of Law she was able to return Thomas Covenant to a mortal existence.