Thomas Covenant goes back and forth on whether the Land is real or just a dream that his mind has created to get him through his disease. The Land offers him things he can’t have in his world.
Hurtloam offers a magical cure to Covenant’s leprosy. In his world there is no real cure. Doctors can teach him how to cope with the disease but they realize most of their patients will give up because there is no hope of a cure yet. Covenant can try to slow down the disease by checking his body over for small cuts and bruises that could cause infection. Hurtloam offers him a quick cure that he never even let himself hope would be available.
Thomas Covenant finds that the hurtloam has cured both his leprosy and his impotence. It can be argued that the rape of Lena was caused by his sudden gaining of this and that it consumed him for a short period of time. After his wife left, Covenant never dreamed of being with a woman again and the Land offers this to him as well.
Everything in the land seems to be better, stronger, and more intense. Colors are brighter and sounds seem to be more multi-faceted. The food taste more intense. Covenant discovers he can almost smell evil because of the intensity the Land seems to have. Beside the Land his world would seem very lack luster.
The Land offers him all of this but most importantly it offers him hope. Hope is a dangerous thing to Thomas Covenant. If he has hope he may not keep track of his disease as much. The Land is tempting because it solves all of his problems. He is a man of power and distinction there. If he believes in the Land and it is not true it will crush him when he returns to his world.
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