It was clear to all there gathered that power is a dreadful thing, and that knowledge of power dims the seeing of the wise. - Stephen R. Donaldson

He smiled because he was alive.

Then why do you delay? Why do you fear?"
Because I am mortal, weak. The way is only clear—not sure. In my time, I have been a seer and oracle. Now I—I desire a sign. I require to see.

The bluff stone of the tower, with Revelstone rising behind it like the prow of a great ship, answered his gaze in granite permanence as if it were a prophecy by the old Giants—a cryptic perception that victory and defeat were human terms which had no meaning in the language of mountains.