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XXXXXXXXXXXX 0.1: The Wheel of Time FAQ: Introduction, Copyright Information, and Contents _________________________________________________________________ "I of course have zero evidence for this, but since when has that stopped any of us?" -- David Wren-Hardin "Just the FAQs, ma'am." -- Sgt. Joe Al'Friday _________________________________________________________________ This version of the WOTFAQ was initially published in May, 1999. Copyright Information The Wheel of Time FAQ (WOTFAQ) contains writing by many authors. The individual authors hold copyright to their respective contributions, as cited in the text. The Wheel of Time books, and all quotations therefrom, are Copyright 1990-1998 by Robert Jordan. The Wheel of Time chapter icons are by Matthew C. Nielsen, and are Copyright 1990-1998 by Tor Books. Unattributed material in the WOTFAQ is Copyright 1999 by Pamela Korda and Erica Sadun. This version of the WOTFAQ is Copyright 1999 by Pamela Korda and Erica Sadun. What does all that mean? You may not distribute the WOTFAQ in any form, in whole or in part, without written permission from Pamela Korda. You certainly may not claim any part of the WOTFAQ as your own work, unless, of course, you wrote that part. You may print out a copy of the WOTFAQ for your own personal use. You may keep a copy of the WOTFAQ on your own computer for your personal use, provided that you don't distribute it. For example, you may not make the WOTFAQ available on your web page without permission. You may quote short portions of it as reference material, provided that you provide proper citation and credit. For more information about Copyright law, see: * Copyright on the Internet * The Copyright FAQ * Ten Big Myths about Copyright Explained Introduction to the WOTFAQ-- a Word from the FAQueen This is the Wheel of Time Wondrous Masterpiece of Assembled Knowledge, Theories, and Discussion (a.k.a. Frequently-Asked Questions compendium). 'Tis edited and maintained by me, Pamela Korda, based upon discussion of The Wheel of Time series on the Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan, as well as some personal correspondence, and a few other sources on the Web. This version of the WOTFAQ contains lots of SPOILERS for all books of The Wheel of Time, up to and including book 8, The Path of Daggers, The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, and Robert Jordan's story, "New Spring," in the anthology Legends. If you haven't read, don't read. There are versions of the WOTFAQ from before TPOD (i.e. no spoilers, but some out-dated theories), which you can find links to in the Wheel of Time Index (See Section 0.08). This version of the WOTFAQ (v5.0) has been updated to include information and theories from The Path of Daggers, the Guide, and "New Spring." I have also done some major re-organization, so hopefully it will be easier to find what you're looking for. To that end, we've created a new keyword index. (Thanks Matthew Hunter!) Survey results have been deleted, since the most recent GN (Ghirardelli-Novak) survey predates TPOD. If the GN survey team does a TPOD survey sufficiently far in advance of the next book, I will add in the results to the relevant sections of the WOTFAQ. Standard Reference Format: [Book Abbreviation: Chapter Number, Chapter Name, Tor HC page number] Credits ============================================================================= |\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\/| |//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\| |/\\ A EEEEE SSSS SSSS NNNNN IIII F FFFFF /\\| |\\/ A A E S S N I I F F F //\| |\// AAAAA EEE SSS === SSS NNN I I FFFFF F \//| |/\\ A A E S S N I I F F F \\/| |\\/ A A EEEEE SSSS SSSS NNNNN IIII F F FFFFF /\\| |/\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\| |\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//| ============================================================================= Keeper of the Chronicles (FAQ Maintainer): Pam Korda (kor2 @ midway.uchicago.edu) Master of the Blades (HTML Implementation Maestro): Matthew Hunter (mhunter @ andrew.cmu.edu) Advertisement-free Web space courtesy of: Rick Moen (original site), Alistair Young (UK mirror). Beta-testers/Proofreaders: Tons of thanks to Kate Nepveu, John Novak, and Steven Cooper for doing a great job of checking this thing over. Thanks also to Trent Goulding and John Hamby for doing a bit of proofreading. FAQing awesome people: Kevin Bartlett, Richard Boye', Steven Cooper, John S. Hamby, Karl-Johan Noren, John S. Novak III (These are people who either wrote new sections for me, or whose web pages I plundered mercilessly for good analyses of Asmodean's murder.). Also Erica Sadun for recommending the new organization of sections 1 and 2. Mother of the FAQ (Originator of the WOTFAQ): Erica Sadun. All Contributors Great and Small Dylan Flynn "Easing the Badger" Alexander * Chris Anderson * Michael Arnett * Hugh Arai * Sandy Armstrong * Keith Aschinger * R. Nathanial Azinger * Will Baird * Maia Bakroeva * Glen Justin Balmer * Charles J. Barbec * Chris Barrera * Kevin Bartlett * Tony Bartling * Daniel Bartlett * Brian Bax * Lara Beaton * Aaron Bergman * Alice Bergmann * John Walter Biles * Richard Boye' * Chris Bradley * Maggie Brazeau * Bill E. Brooks * Jean-Luc Brouillet * Timothy S. "Timmy" Bruening * J. P. Bryan * Charles Buckley * Jason Burrone * Stewart S. Bushman * Arthur Bernard Byrne * Paul W. Cashman * Keith Casner * Christopher Lee Cavender * Kenneth Cavness * Randy Cerveny * Dennis Hohn-Chong Cho * Alistair Chiu * Damien Cole * Mary Conner * Steven Cooper * Jennifer Cross * Mike Dady * Ruchira Datta * Amish Dave * Kyle Davis * Yancy Davis * Steve Deffeyes * Dave "Walls of Books" DeLaney * Tobias Denig * Chris Dewey * Trevor Dewey * Jean Dufresne * Roderick Easton * Eric Ebinger * Richard Edwards * Mark Erikson * Tony Evans * Jain Farstrider * J. R. Feehan * Colin Fishy * Chris Flora * Courtenay Footman * Jim "Robin Jim" Ford * Michel Forget * Susan Frager * M.C. Friddle * Jeff Fullmer * Carolyn Fusinato * A. M. Gabutero * Christian M. Gadeken * Konrad Gaertner * Devin L. Ganger * Bill Garrett * Helmut Geyer * Judy "Very Small Animal" Ghirardelli * Bob Gibson * Drew Gillmore * Joel Gilmore * Steve Ginter * Alfred Glass * Jocelyn "who is not Kathleen" Goldfein * Michael Gonzalez * Stephen Graham * Amy Gray * Gary Greenbaum * Michael Guenther * Johan Gustafsson * John "JSH" Hamby * Chris Hammock * Michelle Haines * Jeff Han * Michael Hanneman * John C. Hansen * Kay-Arne Hansen * Stephen J. Hardy * Don Harlow * Hawk * John Hawkinson * Mark Hazen * Walter Hedges * Nathan Hendrix * Clint Hepner * Matthew Heslin * Keith Higginson * Captain Commander Sean Hillyard * John Hills * Bob Hofmann * Dave Holman * Melissa Horn * Thomas Howard * Justin Howell * James Huckaby * Eugene Hung * Matthew Hunter * John Ireland * James Jen * John Johnson * Robert Jordan (duh.) * Christopher Kane * Robert Kelley * Mike Kelly * Daniel John Kelly-Harrity * David "Wee Dave" Kennedy * Jacob Kesinger * Paul Khangure * Tanya Koenig * Pamela Korda * Paul Krasicky * Lars Kremers * Tyler Langenkamp * Evan "Skwid" Langlinais * Mike Lawson * Hank Lee * Andrea Leistra * Mike Lemons * Craig Martin Levin * Shen Kiat Lim * Bo Lindbergh * Edward Liu * Mark Looi * Mark "Robe Thrown Recklessly Open" Loy * Mike "Sir MPS" Macchione * Shayne Macfarlane * Benjamin Magno * Ted Maire * Cameron Majidi * Luke Mankin * Jim Mann * Michael Martin * Stephanie Mason * Bill McCarthy * Tom McCormick * Sam McGee * Edward Measure * Roxanne Meida * Kelley Miles * Shane Miller * Craig Moe * Kurt Montadon * Kevin P. Mooney * Don Morgan * Joe Morris * James Morrison * David Mortman * Michael Mueller * Roy Navarre * Kate Nepveu * Michael Nielsen * Patrick Nielsen Hayden * Karl-Johan Noren * John S. Novak III, The Humblest Man on the Net * Emmet O'Brien * Sean O'Hara * Michael J. O'Malley * Chad "Oil'Ba'alzamon'Can" Orzel * Daniel "Zippy" O'Toole * Alex Outhred * Anthony Padilla * Alex Paradi * Laura M. Parkinson * Rimesh Patel * Simon Patterson * Emma Pease * Mark Perry * Rhonda Peters * Thomas Petersen * Teri Pettit * George D. Phillies * Jim Phillips * Piglet * Eric C. Piquette * Richard Pistole * Greg Pobst * Heikki Poso * Jeffrey Scott Raglin * Bret C. Rediker * Brian Ritchie * Joseph Rosenfeld * Dave Rothgery * John Rowat * Chris Russo * Burr Rutledge * Erica Sadun * Kevin Samborn * Jared Samet * Marc Sanders * Eric Saunders * Ulrich Schade * Jeff Schneiter * Morgan Donald Scott * Rafael R. Sevilla * Viren Shah * Joe "Uno" Shaw * Vivienne Shen * Zach Simpson * Jimmy Sj÷berg * Peter Smalley * Will Smit * Jeff Smith * Daniel "Ford" Sohl * Vic Stallion * S. Stark * Michael "Darkelf" Steeves * Brian Sullivan * Charles L. Stuart * Martin Terman * Aline Thompson * Elayne Thompson * Ilya Tillekens * J. Tinney * Preston Toliver * Carl Traber * Fred Van Keuls * Jonathan Vaught * Sven Venema * Jonathan Vessey * Ville Virrankoski * Paul Ward * Ken Warkentyne * Bryon Wasserman * Warren Way * Olaf Weber * Michael Werle * Dash Wendrzyk * Katrina Werpetinski * Greg Wheatley * William Whitesman * G. Williams * Windsor Williams * Aaron Wong * Edmund Wong * Bill Woolsey * David Wren-Hardin * Jonathan "Nelno the Amoeba" Wright * Donal Wyckoff * Tony Yoder * Tim Yoon * Alistair Young * Sydo Zandstra * Tony Zbaraschuk * _________________________________________________________________ Contents Note on changes since the last version: * Items marked "NEW" are sections which are, well, new. * Items marked "UPDATED" are sections which include significant new information and/or discussion. * Items marked "REVISED" are sections which have been re-worked to be easier to read and understand, and which may contain some minor new info or discussion. _________________________________________________________________ * 0 Administrivia * 0.01 Introduction, Credits, and Contents revised * 0.02 RJ says the FAQ is only 1/3 right. Why should I bother reading it? new * 0.03 Acronyms and Abbreviations revised * 0.04 What are these Jordan Wheel of Time books? revised * 0.05 What should I do if I've become obsessed? * 0.06 What's the deal with those shoddy Tor covers that keep falling off? * 0.07 Who is Robert Jordan, really? What else has he written? * 0.08 What other resources are out there, besides the FAQ? revised * 0.09 How can I contact Robert Jordan? revised * 0.10 Is there a downloadable version of the FAQ? new 1 The Dark Side * 1.1 The Forsaken: The Old Guard * 1.1.1 Who are the Forsaken? Where are they now? updated * 1.1.2 Who is Mesaana, in the Tower? updated * 1.1.3 Who was Silvie? * 1.1.4 Why did Sammael claim he had a truce with Rand? * 1.1.5 What was Sammael doing in Shadar Logoth, or Did Sammael Plan that Whole Thing to Fake his Death? revised * 1.1.6 Is Mazrim Taim really Mazrim Taim? Is he Demandred? updated * 1.1.7 Death of Asmodean updated * 1.1.8 Could Lanfear be Good? (not just in bed, Roy) * 1.1.9 Was Ishamael really bound? new 1.2 The Forsaken: New Kids on the Block * 1.2.1 Who are Aran'gar and Osan'gar? revised * 1.2.2 Is Dashiva Osan'gar? updated * 1.2.3 What is the deal with Halima and Egwene's headaches? updated * 1.2.4 Who is Moridin? Why do we think that he is the Watcher and the Wanderer? updated * 1.2.5 Who is Cyndane, and where did she come from? new * 1.2.6 Moridin's Nine Sha'rah players new 1.3 How's that work for the Dark? * 1.3.1 What are those black threads on the male Forsaken? revised * 1.3.2 Fifty Ways to Kill a Gholam updated * 1.3.3 The True Power * 1.3.4 Where do Trollocs and Myrddraal come from? revised * 1.3.5 Are Black Ajah bound by the Oath Rod? updated * 1.3.6 Are the Seals connected to the Taint? new * 1.3.7 What is the deal with BA and Warders? new 1.4 What's up in the Dark? Who's who? * 1.4.1 Who ordered Melindhra and why? * 1.4.2 Slayer (Isam and Luc) * 1.4.3 Can Slayer channel? new * 1.4.4 Shaidar Haran, Superfade updated * 1.4.5 Who will be the new dreadlords? * 1.4.6 The 'Aiel' Attack on Demira Sedai -- What's the deal with that? revised * 1.4.7 Did Shaidar Haran violate Moghedien? new * 1.4.8 Who killed Adeleas and Ispan? new 1.5 Black? Or Not? * 1.5.1 Is Aram a Darkfriend? * 1.5.2 Why Moiraine is not Black Ajah * 1.5.3 Why Elaida isn't Black Ajah * 1.5.4 Is Sheriam Black Ajah? Who's beating her up? updated * 1.5.5 Is Chesa a darkfriend? new * 1.5.6 Who is not a darkfriend? revised 1.6 Shadar Logoth, Mashadar, and Fain * 1.6.1 More of the Fain * 1.6.2 Mordeth, Mashadar, and Machin Shin revised * 1.6.3 What was up with Liah in Shadar Logoth? Things not (necessarily) of the Dark * 2.1 The Ta'veren * 2.1.1 What's up with Mat's new ring? * 2.1.2 Is there a connection between Mat's luck and the dice ter'angreal? * 2.1.3 Is Mat still linked to the Horn? * 2.1.4 When was Rand's Power-Acquisition Fever Syndrome? * 2.1.5 What's up with Mat and his memories? revised * 2.1.6 LTT -- is he for real, or is Rand loony? What happened to him in ACOS? revised 2.2 The Rest * 2.2.1 Can Thom channel? * 2.2.2 What was up with Gawyn during the Tower Coup? * 2.2.3 Who was the geezer on the barrel? revised * 2.2.4 What's the deal with Setalle Anan? Is she the one who is no longer? updated * 2.2.5 Where is Gaidal Cain now? revised * 2.2.6 How do we know that Moiraine is not dead? updated * 2.2.7 Verin: Black, Brown, or Purple? (What's up with Verin, how old is she, is she bound by the Oath Rod?) updated 2.3 The Power and Power-related objects * 2.3.01 What's up with the male-female a'dam link where they both die screaming? * 2.3.02 The Sad Bracelets / male a'dam * 2.3.03 Effects of the Oath Rod: Binding, Agelessness, and Death updated * 2.3.04 How do One-Power-forged blades work? * 2.3.05 What is the range on sensing other channelers? updated * 2.3.06 Can you make horizontal gateways? * 2.3.07 How does balefire work? updated * 2.3.08 What is the difference between Skimming and Travelling? * 2.3.09 What do Dreamers and Dreamwalkers do? * 2.3.10 How does Mat's medallion work? * 2.3.11 What are 'involuntary rings'? new * 2.3.12 What caused the One Power weirdness in Ebou Dar? new * 2.3.13 Is Cadsuane's hair-thingy a ter'angreal? new * 2.3.14 The Seven Seals: Status Report 2.4 Days Of Yore * 2.4.01 Who was Beidomon? updated * 2.4.02 Did LTT balefire himself? * 2.4.03 The Green Man and the Song (Who is the green man, what is the song, who will find the song, who were the Aiel?) revised * 2.4.04 Jain Farstrider: Where is he now? * 2.4.05 The Old Tongue and the New Tongue revised * 2.4.06 Who or what was (the) Tamyrlin? revised * 2.4.07 What did Ogier do of old? revised * 2.4.08 Were there Ajahs in the Age of Legends? updated * 2.4.09 Was the Sharom the Dark One's prison? revised * 2.4.10 Tigraine = Shaiel: An analysis * 2.4.11 What was the Vileness after the Aiel War? new 2.5 True Love and Families * 2.5.1 Who's Who in the Families? * 2.5.2 Who is Juilin's honey? * 2.5.3 Who is the Daughter of the Nine Moons? How will Mat meet her? updated * 2.5.4 Why do we think that Thom will marry Moiraine? * 2.5.5 Is Thom the father of Elayne or Gawyn? revised * 2.5.6 Kari al'Thor: What do we know about her? * 2.5.7 Is Aviendha Pregnant? updated 2.6 What's up? (Non-dark section) * 2.6.1 What is the deal with Callandor? Who will use it? updated * 2.6.2 The Severed Hand * 2.6.3 Who are the Aelfinn and Eelfinn? revised * 2.6.4 Where do the Aes Sedai get their money? new * 2.6.5 The Mystery of the Salidar Sitters new * 2.6.6 What was going on at the end of POD? new 2.7 Absurd Trivia and Generalities * 2.7.1 How does one sniff, anyway? What about snorting? revised * 2.7.2 How tall is everybody? revised * 2.7.3 How old is everyone? revised * 2.7.4 Is there religion in Randland? * 2.7.5 Iconography revised * 2.7.6 MisSteps (Errors along the way) updated * 2.7.7 When Rand and Mat are travelling to Caemlyn in TEOTW, why does the scene with the scarves happen twice? new 3 Sources of Knowledge * 3.01 King Arthur and the Holy Grail revised * 3.02 Trolloc tribe names * 3.03 Is the world of Randland a future Earth? * 3.04 Christian and Biblical Parallels * 3.05 Random Names updated * 3.06 Dragon Legends * 3.07 Norse Mythology revised * 3.08 The Fisher King new * 3.09 The Aiel, Native Americans, and the Zulu * 3.10 Greek and Roman Mythology * 3.11 Miscellaneous References updated * 3.12 Similarities between The Wheel of Time and other SF (including Dune) * 3.13 Real Nation's influence on Randland new 4 Prophecy * 4.01 Egwene's Dreams updated * 4.02 Min's Viewings updated * 4.03 Various Prophecy revised * 4.04 The Dark Prophecy revised * 4.05 The Karaethon Cycle revised * 4.06 Perrin's Dreams revised * 4.07 Fourth Age Histories revised 99 Publishing Stuff * 99.1 When is the next book going to be out? updated * 99.2 What is the Guide? What is 'New Spring'? new XXXXXXXXXXXX 0.2: RJ says the FAQ is only 1/3 right. Why should I bother reading it? _________________________________________________________________ RJ's standard comment on the FAQ is that it's "about one-third correct, one-third close but not quite, and one-third dead wrong." [e.g. post-ACOS signing in Charleston, South Carolina, 21 June 1996, report by Brian Ritchie] If it's so incorrect, why bother reading it? Bill Garrett explains: 1) The FAQ isn't intended as a benchmark of absolute truth. It's a collection of frequently asked questions and our best answers to them, right or wrong. It's there so people with questions can find out what our answers and ideas are, all organized in one convenient place. 2) Of course the FAQ isn't 100% correct. Much of it is devoted to describing opposing viewpoints on key questions. For example, consider the "Who killed Asmodean?" entry. Numerous theories are presented, but at most one of them is correct and the rest are wrong -- unless Asmodean was killed by a posse consisting of various Forsaken, Myrdraal, darkfriend Aiel, Padan Fain, and Bela. You should read the FAQ because it will give you an idea of what has been said before by many people. Chances are, if you want to know what people think about a given theory, it's in here. Familiarizing yourself with other people's arguments will help you make your own more interesting and persuasive. XXXXXXXXXXXX 0.3: Acronyms and Abbreviations used in the FAQ _________________________________________________________________ Abbreviations referring to books, newsgroups, etc. * TWOT/WOT: The Wheel of Time * TEOTW: The Eye of the World * TGH: The Great Hunt * TDR: The Dragon Reborn * TSR: The Shadow Rising * TFOH: The Fires of Heaven * LOC: Lord of Chaos * ACOS: A Crown of Swords * TPOD: The Path of Daggers * L:NS: Legends: "New Spring" * Guide: The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time * RAFO: "Read and Find Out." This is RJ's most common response to questions which fans ask him. * RJ: Robert Jordan * FAQ/WOTFAQ: WMAKTD, Wonderful Masterpiece of Assembled Knowledge, Theories, and Discussion, (but FAQ is easier to say and makes for better puns) * rasfw: rec.arts.sf.written * rasfwrj: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Abbreviations and Jargon Referring to Stuff in TWOT * AM: Asha'man * AOL: Age of Legends * AS: Aes Sedai + SAS: Salidar Aes Sedai (Egwene's faction) + TAS: Tower Aes Sedai (Elaida's faction) * Asm/Asmo: Asmodean * BA: Black Ajah * BF: Balefire * BT: Black Tower * Dashivan'gar: Dashiva/Osan'gar, if they are the same person * Dem: Demandred * DO: Dark One * DF: Darkfriend * DFS: Darkfriend Social * DotNM: Daughter of the Nine Moons * Eg/Egw: Egwene * El: Elayne * Finn: A/Eelfinn (Snakes and Foxes) * Finnland: the world(s?) where the Finn live * Gars: Aran'gar and Osan'gar * Ish/Ishy: Ishamael * Mog/Moggy: Moghedien * Moi/Moir: Moiraine * MPS: Mad, Passionate Sex, Mad Purple Stegasaurus, Many Purple Straws * MT: Mazrim Taim * Ny/Nyn: Nynaeve * OP: One Power * OR: Oath Rod * Randland: 1) The world where the series takes place, 2) The portion of the world shown on the Map. * Sam/Sammy: Sammael * Sem: Semirhage * SG: Shayol Ghul * SH: Shaidar Haran * SS: Siuan Sanche * Taimandred: Taim/Demandred, if they are the same person * TAR/T'A'R: Tel'aran'rhiod * TP: True Power (Dark One's Power) * TV: Tar Valon * WCs: Whitecloaks * WOs: Wise Ones * WT: White Tower * YKYBRTMRJW: You Know You've Been Reading Too Much Robert Jordan When... XXXXXXXXX 0.4: What are these Jordan Wheel of Time books? _________________________________________________________________ The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan: U.S. Hardcover editions, from Tor Books: * The Eye of the World ISBN 0-312-85009-3 * The Great Hunt ISBN 0-312-85140-5 * The Dragon Reborn ISBN 0-312-85248-7 * The Shadow Rising ISBN 0-312-85431-5 * The Fires of Heaven ISBN 0-312-85427-7 * Lord of Chaos ISBN 0-312-85428-5 * A Crown of Swords ISBN 0-312-85767-5 * The Path of Daggers ISBN 0-312-85769-1 Related Books, all from Tor: * The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson. ISBN 0-312-86219-9 * Legends, ed. Robert Silverberg. ISBN 0-312-86787-5 (Contains the WOT novella "New Spring," by RJ.) U.S. Paperback editions, from Tor: * The Eye of the World ISBN 0-812-51181-6 * The Great Hunt ISBN 0-812-51772-5 * The Dragon Reborn ISBN 0-812-51371-1 * The Shadow Rising ISBN 0-812-51373-8 * The Fires of Heaven ISBN 0-812-50974-9 * Lord of ChaosISBN 0-812-51275-4 * A Crown of Swords ISBN 0-812-55028-5 The first two books in the series were initially issued as trade paperbacks; for the sake of completeness, here they are: U.S. Trade Paperback editions, from Tor: + The Eye of the World ISBN 0-812-50048-2 + The Great Hunt ISBN 0-812-50971-4 XXXXXXXXXXXX 0.5: What should I do if I've become obsessed? [Judy Ghirardelli] _________________________________________________________________ Judy G. gives us intelligent advice on treatment of Jordan fanaticism: 1. Stop calling the nice lady at your local bookstore to harass her about when the next book will be out. 2. Lay down. 3. Stay laying down. 4. Try to not think about things like wheels, knives, spears, swords, doorways, Piglets, fire, severed hands, plucked out eyes, tattoos, leashes, calendars, irons, pincers, still images, gentle breezes, FAQs, Towers, wolves, falcons, hawks, hammers, axes, Roy, and lastly, DON'T THINK ABOUT RIVERS! 5. Now, pick up a copy of The Tao of Pooh and become an uncarved block. (p.s. that will be 50 bucks...) (p.p.s. The idea of not thinking about Roy while laying down is just a generally good practice , and might be applied to all the rest of you who won't admit you have a problem ...) XXXXXXXXXXXX 0.6: What is the deal with those cheap Tor covers that won't stay on? [Eric Ebinger] _________________________________________________________________ No, you are not alone in having the cover fall off of your PB copy of TDR. What can you do about it? Patrick Nielsen Hayden says that you can send the book to Tor, and they will send you a new copy. You can also write a (snail- mail) letter of complaint to Tor. The address is on the inside of the books. DO NOT SEND MEAN E-MAIL TO THE NICE TOR BOOKS MAN!!!! IT IS NOT HIS FAULT!!! If you want to have a go at repairing them yourself, Eric Ebinger provides instructions: Materials needed: * dry sandpaper 220 grit * Walthers Goo (available at finer model train stores everywhere) * one or more Wheel of Time books, Tor edition with loose or detached covers Instructions: 1. If cover(s) are not yet completely detached, GENTLY and carefully detach them. A small, sharp knife may be helpful. 2. Take sandpaper and briskly sand the back of spine of the book (on the glue that failed to hold). Continue until the surface is slightly rough (don't over-sand). This should only take 10-20 seconds of sanding. 3. Lay the cover down on a flat surface with the outside DOWN. Gently sand the inside of the binding (where the spine of the book would be, if the book was still in its cover) until the wax coating is removed. Do not over-sand! The objective is to remove the wax coating so that the glue can get a grip. 4. Following directions on the package of Goo, spread glue on the binding area of the cover. Orient the book so that it's orientation matches that of the cover. Press the book binding down on the cover, lift, wait two minutes,press the book binding back down on the cover, and hold for two minutes. 5. Let dry overnight. The book should be better than new. I've also heard that applying heat, to re-melt the glue, works. XXXXXXXXXXXX 0.7 Who is Robert Jordan, really? What else has he written? _________________________________________________________________ "Robert Jordan" is actually a pseudonym for James Oliver Rigney, Jr., under which he has written the "Wheel of Time" fantasy series as well as several books of the "Conan" series (Conan the Invincible, C.t. Unconquered, C.t.Magnificent, C.t.Victorious, C.t.Triumphant, C.t.Destroyer, C.t.Defender). Other pseudonyms which he has used are Reagan O'Neal (the "Fallon" series of historical novels), Jackson O'Reilly (Cheyenne Raiders, a Western), and Chang Lung (contributions to various periodicals including Library Journal, Fantasy Review, Science Fiction Review). [Source: Contemporary Authors vol. 140]. Many, if not all of the Conan books are still in print. Tor Books has re-released the Fallon books under the "Forge" imprint, with covers done by infamous fantasy artist Darrell K. Sweet. RJ has told several people, at signings and in letters, that if^H^H when he completes TWOT, he plans to write another fantasy tale set in a Seanchan-like culture. The main character will be a more mature figure than Rand, and the tale involves him being shipwrecked in pseudo-Seanchan, where whatever is cast up on the shores of one's estate becomes one's property, even people. Doubtlessly, there'll be many changes from RJ's description to the actual story, but it gives us something to look forward to. XXXXXXXXXXXX 0.8: What other resources are out there, besides the FAQ? _________________________________________________________________ With so much time in between books, we need something to occupy our time, right? Fortunately, there are many, many WOT-related web sites, newsgroups, chat rooms, mailing lists, ftp sites, fanzines, MUDs, and so forth. Since this FAQ is updated about as often as RJ puts out new books, I won't list URLs here, they'll just become outdated. Instead, I will list one URL, for the Compleat Wheel of Time Index -- the original (and still the best, if I say so myself) index of WOT-related stuff on the Net. The site is updated much more frequently than this FAQ. The URL is: http://student-www.uchicago.edu/users/kor2/WOT/WOTindex/ XXXXXXXXXXXX 0.9: How can I contact Robert Jordan? _________________________________________________________________ RJ is not on the net. You can send mail to RJ in care of his publisher, Tor Books. The address is given on the copyright page of the books: Robert Jordan c/o Tor Books 175 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10010 Tor forwards mail which they receive for RJ to him. They've been known to forward printed-out copies of e-mail which they've received for RJ. However, the Tor Books FAQ specifically says, "Don't send us email meant for our authors." So, you're taking your chances if you try to contact RJ that way. (You can read the Tor Books FAQ on their web site: http://www.tor.com/.) XXXXXXXXXXXX 0.10: Is there a downloadable version of the FAQ? _________________________________________________________________ If you would like a copy of the HTML version of the FAQ to keep on your own computer, there is a zip file you can download. There is also a text version of the FAQ which you can download. You can download either version for personal use only. This means that you can keep the files on your personal computer and look at them whenever you want. You may not distribute it. Among other things, you may not put it up on a web site. If you are interested in maintaining a mirror site for the FAQ, contact P. Korda and Matthew Hunter. If we find bootleg copies of the FAQ on the web, we will reconsider our decision to distribute the FAQ in this way. Don't ruin things for everybody else. The HTML version of the FAQ can be downloaded from: (Not yet available, be patient). The text version of the FAQ can be downloaded from: (Not yet available, be patient). XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 1.1: The Forsaken: The Old Guard _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of the thirteen Forsaken, in their original guises. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.1.1: Who are the Forsaken? Where are they now? [Mark Looi, Erica Sadun, P. Korda] _________________________________________________________________ During the AOL, many Aes Sedai turned to the Dark Side. The Guide tells us that "the best of them were given power and ability beyond that of others....Among themselves they were known as 'Those Chosen to Rule the World Forever,' or simply 'the Chosen.'" [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 49] In the Third Age, the term "Forsaken" is used to refer to the thirteen who were caught in the sealing of the Bore. According to the Guide [Guide: 5, The DO and the Male Forsaken, 50], those thirteen were the most powerful of the Chosen. The 13 Forsaken (in alphabetical order) are * AGINOR (M): Alias: Osan'gar. Real name Ishar Morrad Chuain. Before turning to the Shadow, he was a very famous biologist. He was the second most powerful of the Male Forsaken. He created the various Shadowspawn, and was apparently never involved in military operations (RJ said that the guy who created the Trollocs had no combat experience [Correspondence]). Killed at the Eye of the World by drawing too much of the One Power during a confrontation with Rand. [TEotW: 51, Against the Shadow, 634-5]. He has been recycled into the body of a middle-aged Borderlander by the Dark One, and is now called Osan'gar. Current whereabouts are unknown, but one popular speculation is that he is Dashiva. (See section 1.2.2.) * ASMODEAN (M): Real name Joar Addam Nesossin [TFoH: 45, After the Storm, 516]. Alias: Jasin Natael. Before turning to the Shadow, he was a composer and musician. Thought by many to be the weakest and most cowardly of the Forsaken. Captured by Rand and shielded by Lanfear at Rhuidean [TSR: 58, The Traps of Rhuidean, 674-7]. Toast at the end of TFoH...Twice! No body was found, so most people in Randland do not know he is dead, just that he has vanished. The DO is likely either unwilling or unable to recycle him, since THOSE WHO BETRAY [the DO] WILL DIE THE FINAL DEATH. Claimed to have joined the Shadow for the promise of eternal life, in which to practise songs and music. The identity of his killer is unknown. (See section 1.1.7) * BALTHAMEL (M): Real name Eval Ramman. Aliases: Aran'gar, Halima. In the AOL, he was a historian before turning to the Dark Side. The Guide [Guide: 5, The DO and the Male Forsaken, 54] indicates that he may have run a spy network for the Shadow during the War of Power. He was notorious for being an utter lecher. He was killed by the Green Man at the Eye of the World [TEotW: 50, Meetings at the Eye, 630-1]. He has been recycled into the body of an attractive woman, and is called Aran'gar. Currently, she has infiltrated the Salidar Aes Sedai, and is acting as Egwene's masseuse. * BE'LAL (M): Real name Duram Laddel Cham. Aliases: Netweaver, High Lord Samon of Tear. He was a lawyer in the AOL. After turning to the Shadow, he served as a general and governor. He was balefired by Moiraine in the Stone of Tear [TDR: 55, What is Written in Prophecy, 557]. * DEMANDRED (M): Real name Barid Bel Medar. During the AOL, played second fiddle to LTT until he went over to the Shadow, where he served as a general. He hated and envied LTT intensely, and has transferred that feeling to Rand [TSR: 58, The The Traps of Rhuidean, 677]. He turned to the Shadow because he got tired of being second-best to LTT [TFoH: 3, Pale Shadows, 76-7], [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 56-7], who he considered to be his intellectual inferior. Possibly involved with the Seanchan [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 135], also possibly masquerading as Mazrim Taim (See section 1.1.6). Knows how to block gateways. * GRAENDAL (F): Alias: Lady Basene. Steven Cooper notes, "The nickname 'Maisia,' used by Sammael in ACOS, should perhaps be mentioned here. I don't know the source, but apparently RJ explained it was a name commonly given to pets in the AOL (no wonder Graendal was not amused)." Real name Kamarile Maradim Nindar. In the habit of taking aristocrats and making them serve in some demeaning aspect, using enough Compulsion to fry their brains and make them useless. Currently in Arad Doman, having taken over somebody's palace. She has one of the World's Greatest Generals, Lord Rodel Ituralde, working for her, and it seems as though all the reported chaos in Arad Doman might not be quite as chaotic as it first appears. She appears to visitors as a feeble old lady. Before turning to the Shadow, she was a celebrated psychiatrist in the AOL [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 130-9], and an ascetic. She seems to be underestimated by all the other Forsaken, besides Sammael. Was duped by Sammael, for a short time, into following him, due to his claim of being Nae'blis. She has recently been "reined in" by Moridin and his minions. * ISHAMAEL (M): Real name Elan Morin Tedronai, aka Ba'alzamon. The most philosophically-minded of the Forsaken, he came up with many theories on the nature of the battle between the Creator and the DO [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 133]. Believed by many to be the most powerful Forsaken. Was partially or totally free during the Third Age. )See section 1.1.9.) Believed by the other Forsaken to be partially or totally mad. Frequent user of the "True Power." Killed by Rand in Tear [TDR: 55, What is Written in Prophecy, 570]. He has been recycled into the body of a dark, handsome young man, and calls himself Moridin. He has reassumed his pre-death position as Big Cheese in the Shadow's hierarchy, and is in the process of getting the other Forsaken under his control. * LANFEAR (F): Real name: Mierin Eronaile. Aliases: Selene, Keille, Silvie, Else Grinwell (in TDR). She was the most powerful of the female Forsaken, and was maybe the second-strongest of all. Former lover of LTT, who believes she was rudely tossed over for Ilyena. She was not famous in the AOL [Guide: 6, The Female Forsaken and the Darkfriends], when she was a researcher into the One Power. She was one of the AS who opened the Bore, apparently unwittingly. Known for interfering in others' plans, twisting them to her advantage. Tackled by Moiraine in TFOH, and fell into Finnland. It is very likely that she has a new body, either from dying and being recycled, or from a wish to the Finn, and is called Cyndane (See section 1.2.5), who is mindtrapped by Moridin. * MESAANA (F): Real name: Saine Tarasind. Was rejected by the Collam Daan (a major research institution during the AOL), so instead of being a researcher, she ended up a teacher, until she found a way to Teach Them All! MUAHAHAH! She is currently the power behind the power behind the throne in the White Tower (See section 1.1.2, running Elaida through Alviarin. She has been known to plot with Demandred and Semirhage. * MOGHEDIEN (F): Real name Lillen Moiral. Aliases: Gyldin, Marigan. During the AOL, she was a shady "investment advisor." During the War of the Power, she ran a spy network. She was captured by Nynaeve in Tanchico, but escaped [TSR: 54, Into the Palace, 631-3]. She's believed to be the strongest Forsaken in Tel'aran'rhiod. Captured by Nynaeve again in Salidar and forced to teach her and Elayne. Released by Aran'gar and summoned to SG, where she was severely punished, and was fitted with a mindtrap. Is now a lackey of Moridin. * RAHVIN (M): Real Name: Ared Mosinel. Alias: Lord Gaebril. Previously held Queen Morgase in thrall via Compulsion. Balefired by Rand at the end of TFOH. * SAMMAEL (M): Real name Tel Janin Aellinsar. Alias Lord Brend of Illian. During the AOL, he was an athlete. Served the DO as a general. Was given scar by LTT, hates Rand. Always wanted to be taller. He'd managed to get ahold of a number of AOL goodies from stasis boxes, and some stuff from the Kin's stash in Ebou Dar. Vanished during the fight with Rand in ACOS. Presumed dead by Rand, Graendal, Moggy, and Cyndane. * SEMIRHAGE (F): Real name Nemene Damendar Boann. Has a penchant for gruesome torture. Whereabouts unknown. Hates Lanfear. Is very tall, with dark skin and eyes, and likes wearing black. Was a brilliant healer who took payment and pleasure in extracting extra pain from her patients. Knows how to block open gateways. Turned to the Dark Side to avoid being stilled or bound by an Oath Rod for her sadism. Current whereabouts unknown. Our only clues are 1. that she has a "willful" female charge [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 141], and 2. Demandred's comment in [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 58]: "When I think where you two (Mesaana and Semirhage) have placed yourselves, I wonder. How much has the Great Lord known, for how long? How much of what has happened has been at his design all along?" Mesaana is in the Tower; Semirhage is likely in a similarly convenient place. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.1.2: Who is Mesaana, in the Tower? [Tony Zbaraschuck, Marc Zappala, Pam Korda] _________________________________________________________________ In LOC, we find out that Mesaana is hiding out in the White Tower [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 138]. Naturally, this leads to the question of who she is pretending to be. Some folks think that she has taken the Rahvin/Sammael/Be'lal/Graendal route, and is posing as a high-ranking AS in the Tower. ACOS and TPOD make it very clear that Mesaana is NOT Galina or Alviarin, by letting us see their thoughts. (Not to mention, Alviarin talks to Mesaana, and Mesaana would not have had the lack of skill that led to Galina getting captured by Sevanna.) It is unlikely that Mesaana is anybody that anybody knows. None of the Forsaken (except possibly Demandred) have copied an already- prominent identity. Rather, they take a little-known or unknown identity and then promote themselves rapidly. This is probably because supplanting someone is not easy, requiring a total control of oneself, and the ability to copy the tiniest habits. This is especially true in the Tower, where Aes Sedai can doubtless read meaning in the tilt of an eyebrow or the tapping of a finger. For example, the head of the Red Ajah would be someone well-known to a lot of Reds, and Alviarin was also an influential White (she convinced her Ajah to side with Elaida). There's no real easy way to replace either one. In [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 41], Alviarin thinks "She [Mesaana] must be one of the sisters; surely she was not among servants, bound to labor and sweat. But who? Too many women had been out of the Tower for years before Elaida's summons, too many had no close friends, or none at all." Thus, Mesaana could be posing as one of the long-gone sisters, somebody who'd been gone so long that differences in personality, etc. would not seem too amiss, or one of the AS who is not known very well. Note that Danelle, the Brown who assisted in Elaida's coup, is one of the latter (no friends, see [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 38]). Alviarin's opinions notwithstanding, it is possible that Mesaana is posing as a maid or some other servant. It has been suggested that Tarna, the Red emissary to Salidar, is Mesaana in disguise. There's not a lot of evidence for this, except that in the chapter where Tarna talks to Ny and El [LoC: 13, Under the Dust, 232] the chapter icon is the Forsaken icon, and there is no other obvious candidate in there to be Forsaken. Of course, the chapter icons don't always apply 100%, but every other chapter in the books with that icon has a Forsaken, or reference to one, in it. Tarna is good friends with Galina [LoC: 13, Under the Dust, 237], a known BA and head of the Red Ajah, so this could be an extensive way to control the Tower with a Red Amyrlin. There are arguments against this, too-- why would Mesaana run her own errands? The problem of a previous history raises its head, here, too. In [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 41], Alviarin notes that Mesaana taps her lip with her finger while thinking. This is not a useful trait in identifying Mesaana, since numerous Aes Sedai do this, among them Leane, Alviarin herself, Nesune [LOC: 27, Gifts, 395], Theodrin [ACOS: 11, An Oath, 210], Moiraine, and Vandene. In a similar vein, in [TPOD: 25 ,An Unwelcome Return, 497] when Alviarin is groveling before Mesaana, she catches a glimpse of Mesaana's skirt: "Seizing the hem of Mesaana's dress, she rained kisses on it. The weave of Illusion...did not hold completely, with her frantically shifting the skirt's edge. Flickers of bronze silk with a thin border of intricately embroidered black scrollwork showed through." Alviarin thinks she could use this info to identify Mesaana in the Tower. Readers have tried to use the clue to find Mesaana, as well. However, this is about as futile as using lip-tapping as an identifier. Some people wearing bronze or bronzish dresses are Romanda and one of the Tower Brown Sitters named Shevan (her dress was "dark gold") [TPOD, 25, An Unwelcome Return, 489]. Given the habit of so many AS to wear clothes which color-code their Ajah, the bronze skirt could point to any Yellow or Brown sister. A caveat about the skirt, as Dennis Higbee notes: "Am I the only person who thinks Mesaana, who was a researcher/ teacher, would know enough about the weaves she was using to take some precautions about her disguise? All she has to do is take a few seconds to change into the gaudy dress that Alviarin sees, and she has another level of disguise and another way to test her loyalty: If Alviarin is searching too hard for the dress in question, Mesaana knows she's disloyal and can zorch her at leisure." If the bronze silk dress is actually Mesaana's, it is a point against her being disguised as a scullery (maid), or some other menial servant. She could still be some sort of higher-level non-AS-type, such as a secretary. We know that AS can have non-AS secretaries; Halima is accepted as Cabriana's ex-secretary, and as Delana's secretary, without comment. Another important thing to note is that if Mesaana is masquerading as an Aes Sedai, there must be a way for channellers to disguise their channelling ability, that is, to appear to be a weaker channeller than one really is. Otherwise, Mesaana's super strength would be a dead giveaway that she wasn't who she claimed to be. In fact, John Nowacki reports that RJ said, at a post-POD booksigning in Washington, DC, that a channeller can hide strength as well as ability to channel, but added that few people know how to do it and the AS don't even know these tricks are possible. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.1.3: Who was "Silvie"? [P. Korda, Joe Shaw] _________________________________________________________________ "Silvie" is the name given by the "old woman" Egwene meets in TAR in [TDR: 27, Tel'aran'rhiod, 257-9]. Most likely, she was Lanfear; it was part of her plot to get Rand and/or Mat to go to Tear. Egwene and Nynaeve were to be bait to draw him there, only Rand was already going there to stop their attacks through his dreams. The girls were probably just a backup in case he resisted the dreams or learned to shield them on his own. Egwene and Nynaeve were to be Be'lal and Ish's bait to draw Rand, while Liandrin and Co. were the bait to draw draw Egwene and Nynaeve. See Perrin's dream about the trap in [TDR: 43, Shadowbrothers, 426] which matches Egwene's dreams about "puppets" in [TDR: 37, Fires in Cairhien, 352-3]. Lanfear was playing along with Ish, but working towards her own goals. Another possibility is that Lanfear sent them to mess up Be'lal and Mesaana's plan. There's no doubt that Silvie was Lanfear. The reason for ripping off Egwene's ring ter'angreal to throw her out of T'A'R was just her cruel streak; Lanfear knew she was a Dreamer since she had been haunting the White Tower as Else, and just wanted Egwene to go to the Heart of the Stone in T'A'R to make sure the girls decided to go there. Once she had accomplished that, why not send her out the hard way? After all, Lanfear claimed T'A'R as her domain (even though Mog. was stronger there), so there was no need for Egwene to learn too much about "her domain." Plus, her precious LTT reborn had once loved this girl; I'm sure she couldn't resist inflicting a little pain on her, especially since the fact that Eg was bait to draw Rand to Tear meant that he still cared about her. That must have driven Lanfear bonkers. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.1.4: Why did Sammael claim he had a truce with Rand? [Carolyn Fusinato, John Novak, Don Harlow] _________________________________________________________________ 1) Andris died in a pool of blood, delivering the message to Sammael that there would be no truce. Sammael lied to Graendal. Why would Sammael lie? All the Forsaken want to be Nae'blis. All the Forsaken think that Rand stands a chance at becoming Nae'blis if he caves to the Dark One. Therefore, all the Forsaken want Rand dead. The Dark One, on the other hand, most explicitly does not want Rand dead. He will punish any Forsaken who kills Rand. Therefore, all the Forsaken want to make the other Forsaken paranoid enough to bump Rand off on their own. This eliminates two contenders to the title of Nae'blis-- Rand, and whichever idiot kills him. 2) Andris died in a pool of blood, delivering the message to Sammael that there would be a truce because someone else intervened to put Sammael off his guard while Rand readies his counter-stroke from Tear and the Plains of Maredo. Someone who knew that Sammael's emissary was meeting with Rand at that moment. Who was present? Bashere, a Saldaean named Hamad, some Aiel, and Aviendha. The evidence against this option is that Rand should have been able to feel another man channelling or have experienced goosebumps if a woman channelled, and Sammael's thoughts about manipulating Graendal [LOC: 23, To Understand A Message, 349] don't make sense if he isn't lying. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.1.5: What was Sammael up to in Shadar Logoth? Did he really die? _________________________________________________________________ After the fight in SL, Rand assumes that Sammael has died, consumed by Mashadar. Here is the sequence of events: 1. Rand goes to the SL Waygate, where Sammy is waiting for him (off to the side of the square). 2. Mashadar starts creeping into the square. 3. Rand spots Sammy, who has not noticed him, and prepares to balefire him. 4. He's interrupted by a scream from Liah, who has been caught by Mashadar. Both Rand and Sammy are distracted, and turn to look at her. 5. Rand balefires Liah, then loses control and sweeps a beam of BF towards the square. He stops when he sees that the square is now covered with Mashadar, and Sammael is nowhere to be seen. Rand assumes that Sammael has been buried and consumed by Mashadar: "There had not been time for him to run, no time to weave a gateway, and if he had, Rand would have felt saidin being worked. Sammael was dead, killed by an evil almost as great as himself." [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 661] Furthermore, in [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 263], Cyndane asks Graendal, "Do you know that Sammael is dead?" Graendal replies that she had suspected that to be the case, because Sammael's frequent ("every few days") visits to her had ceased. From this, we know that Sammael has stopped visiting Graendal; this cessation of contact is probably coincident with the fight in SL. Cyndane's comment doesn't tell us as much as one might think. Taken at face value, it means that Cyndane thinks that Sammael is dead, and possibly that Cyndane's master, Moridin (who lent Rand a hand in SL), thinks that Sammael is dead. Given that Moridin seems to be the head honcho of all things Shadowy, one might suppose that if Moridin thinks Sam is dead, then he must be. After all, Moridin had been keeping pretty close tabs on Sammael. However, can we really take Cyndane's question at face value? She may have asked simply to make Graendal think Sam is dead, or Moridin may want Cyndane and Graendal to believe he is dead. Since Graendal was Sam's ally (to some extent), Moridin may have believed that news of Sam's death would make her more likely to fall under his command. Another alternative is that Sammael fooled them all, including Moridin. Now, we know that Sammael could have escaped without detection by using the True Power. This would have required the DO's permission, and that implies that if Sam is alive, the DO must know. Since Moridin is the DO's "golden boy," Moridin would probably know of Sam's continued existence. Sammael supposedly died from Mashadar. We have seen two other cases of Mashadar catching people: Liah in ACOS, and some Trollocs and a Fade in [TEOTW: 20, Dust on the Wind, 251]. From both accounts, being caught in Mashadar is an extremely painful way to die. Liah screams like crazy from just a tendril touching her leg. The shadowspawn in TEOTW also try to scream, but their mouths are blocked by Mashadar, so no sound comes out. It is reasonable to suppose that if Sammael had indeed been caught by Mashadar, he would have screamed. Rand heard no scream. However, this doesn't absolutely prove that Sam escaped, because he could have had his mouth blocked, like the Trollocs. So if didn't die, what really happened? Prior to TPOD, we had no reason at all to suppose that Sam was actually dead. The question still remains, if he didn't die, then what did happen? The following analyses date from before TPOD. Why Sammael's Death in Shadar Logoth was a Ruse [John Novak] There exists the strong possibility that Sammael led Rand to Shadar Logoth as the culmination of a plot, not to kill Rand, but to convince Rand that he had killed Sammael. This section will discuss Sammael's motive, Sammael's means, the evidence which supports the idea, and a few notes. Sammael's Motive As a recap of Forsaken activities in previous books, it is quite possible that the combined plot of Lanfear, Graendal, Sammael and Rahvin in TFOH was the first serious attempt to kill Rand al'Thor. Aginor and Balthamel seemed more intent on the Eye of the World than on Rand. Apart from the occasional outburst, Ishamael seems never to have wanted to kill Rand, but to use him. Lanfear wanted to convert him to her slave. Be'lal's plan did not require Rand's death, and Asmodean ran away from Rand as soon as he was discovered. In TFOH, however, a plan existed to draw Rand into the middle of a four-person link of Forsaken, Rahvin certainly seemed to want to kill Rand when he was surprised in Caemlyn, and Lanfear went absolutely insane and tried to kill him at the docks in Cairhien. After TFOH, the explicit order came down from the Dark One through Demandred that Rand al'Thor should not be killed. Also, Sammael was left as the only visible member of the quartet which tried to kill Rand. Rahvin was dead, Lanfear dead to all appearances, and Rand never knew of Graendal. Sam had been the lure before, and was even more a lure now. Further, Rand knew where Sammael was based-- in Illian. It seems that the Dark One's prohibition against killing Rand included even killings in self-defense. Graendal seems to think so [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 357]. Sammael is then left with only two choices if he wishes to avoid the wrath of a disobeyed Dark One. He can either convince Rand not to attack him until such time as the Dark One changes his mind, or he can convince Rand that he is dead, so Rand won't follow him and look for him. Sammael's Means Surely, Rand is not going to be fooled simply because Sammael disappears from view, and probably will not believe Sammael is dead unless he sees good evidence in person. Aside from another Forsaken, the only forces Rand is likely to believe could kill Sammael are Mashadar, Machin Shin, and Rand himself. Machin Shin is dubious, because even in his untrained state in TGH, Rand was able to force the thing back into the Ways. This leaves Mashadar, so Sammael heads to Shadar Logoth, possibly as early as LOC, and inspects and prepares for his hoax. Since Moiraine is capable of constructing weaves and wards which prevent Mashadar from harming her, it is a certainty that Sammael can do the same. Sammael can operate in Shadar Logoth with little danger to himself. Note that when Sammael went to Shadar Logoth, he positioned himself directly at the Waygate in Shadar Logoth, and note that in LOC Rand had the opportunity to close that gate permanently, but didn't. When Rand saw Sammael, he also could not tell if the gate was open or closed; he was too far away. This is one way Sammael possessed to remove himself from the theater, after Rand might think him dead-- run through an open Waygate. Other ways include Sammael simply putting an invisibility cloak over himself, Sammael's image near the Waygate being nothing but an illusion, Sammael having created a pre-existing Gateway out of sight with inverted weaves, Sammael creating a Gateway with the True Power which Rand could not detect, and Sammael ducking around a corner. Regardless, there are a number of ways Sammael could have left the arena without Rand knowing about it. Evidence for the theory The direct evidence for the theory is fairly thin, but it is there. First, from Sammael's wards and plans inside the city of Illian, he seems not to have ever planned to put up a serious fight against Rand, if Rand ever got into the city. Win or lose, Illian ceased to become important to Sammael from a military standpoint as soon as Rand attacked him personally. If Rand won such a confrontation, Sammael would be dead. If Sammael won such a confrontation, Rand would be dead but the Dark One would be very angry with Sammael. It should be clear that Sammael could have put up a serious fight against Rand in Illian, had he wanted. He should have been aware of Rand's transporting six thousand Aiel from Cairhien to Caemlyn in one night. He should have been aware of the dramatic, Gateway-ridden rescue mounted by the Asha'man, and thus aware that Rand can Gate. It is mentioned in several places that Sammael is an extremely competent military leader, and in one place that no one knew how to ward a box (i.e., protect a military strongpoint) like Sammael. Surely, he could have made plans for a Gateway assault. Something simple but murderous, like the razor-ribbons Asmodean used in TSR, but showing up automatically in front of Gateways. That he did not indicates that Illian was not as important to Sammael as Rand thought. Surely, he had another plan. Second, after Sammael is finished chewing out Carridin in [ACOS: 15, Insects, 289] he opens a Gateway into a location filled with grey columns and thick mist. This doesn't sound much like Illian, but it does sound something like Shadar Logoth. Third, when Rand does manage to attack Sammael's fortifications (such as they were) and wards in Illian, even the wards don't give anyone much trouble. They are showy, flashy, and expansive, but not one of them even challenges Rand or his accompanying Asha'man. They don't seem to be serious attempts to hurt anyone or anything, but rather wards for the sake of show. Fourth, there is an immense time lag between the time Rand mounts his assault and Sammael's ultimate response. Several hours, it would seem, enough time for the sun to set. It is worth noting, that in waiting for sunset in Illian, Sammael would also be waiting for about dusk in Shadar Logoth, which is about the time Mashadar would come out to play. Coincidence? Notes There is some question as to the role of Liah in the showdown, and whether she was Sammael's tool, an illusion of Liah, or an independent entity. At signings, Robert Jordan has stated fairly clearly that Liah's survival was due to her slowly being absorbed or subsumed by the spirit of Shadar Logoth. This implies that she was truly there and that her presence was not entirely of Sammael's making. It is still possible, though it seems unlikely, that Sammael used Compulsion on her to make her appear and distract Rand. It is not impossible, though there is no direct evidence, that Sammael knew (perhaps by testing her reactions on other surveys of the location) that Liah would investigate any disturbance in the city. Sammael was acting as a loose cannon and got slapped down for it [Mark Loy] I think that RJ likes symmetry. Male half of the TS counterbalanced with the female half... good balanced with evil... the Asha'man and the Aes Sedai... etc. Moghedien fucked up in that she got captured and was forced to aid the DO's enemies. She was treated very rudely by Moridin. Asmodean fucked up because he too got captured and used by the DO's enemies. Similar crimes... counterbalanced. Lanfear, on the other hand, openly acted against the DO's wishes. This seems to me to be far worse than the crimes of Moggy or Asmo. And since we have a woman betraying her commitment to the DO I believe that RJ will have/has had a male doing something similar-- working against the explicit orders of the DO. Look at the "evidence" that Sammy has been acting in this way. First, he doesn't go to Dem's meetings. Dem, we know, is following the explicit orders of the DO. Sammy's actions regarding Dem lead me to believe that he doesn't want to provide Dem.. .and consequently, the DO... with any clues to his agenda. Openly he appears to be following exactly what the DO has ordered. But secretly, his personal agenda includes killing or capturing Rand and making it look like he did not do it. Further evidence concerns the fact that Moridin and SH have been watching Sam covertly. I think that he is being watched because the DO isn't completely convinced that one of his guys isn't going to do something that he doesn't want done. I believe that Moridin was watching Sam at the time that Sam sprung his trap on Rand. Sam's plan was to maneuver Rand to a place that was not monitored by the DO's minions, aid in letting Mashadar croak/capture him, and then go back to Illian and reclaim his city sanctuary. It would be a perfect crime on Sam's part and would eliminate one of the strongest obstacles to his being made Nae'blis. Moridin, a complete unknown to Sam, saw Sam's actions regarding his plan and went to SL to intercede/intervene to insure that the DO's plans were not compromised by Sam. Reread his conversation with Rand and you will get the impression that he didn't give a rat's ass if Sam died... just that he wasn't willing to kill Sam for Rand. With the wildcard, Moridin, there...Sam's plan went a little off. And at the end, Moridin took/captured Sam and departed by a TP gate-- hence Rand could not sense it. If I'm right, Sam is now in Moridin's clutches. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.1.6: Mazrim Taim-- Is he Demandred? [Written by P.Korda. Contributors: Bill Garrett, William Smit, John Schwegler, John Novak, OilCan, Fred Van Keuls, and lots of other folks.] _________________________________________________________________ So, is the Mazrim Taim who appears in LoC the real Mazrim Taim, the Saldaean False Dragon, or is he the Forsaken Demandred in disguise? Here, MT=the character who appears in LoC, general of the Asha'man. Taim=the False Dragon we heard about first in TGH, captured after Falme. Demandred=the Forsaken. How could MT be Demandred? The idea is that the BA, or a Forsaken, or some Trollocs, broke Taim free from where he was being held in Saldaea. They took him to Semirhage, or someone else who could extract every bit of information from his skull (a la the AS Cabriana who Semirhage tortures) and drained him dry. Then they killed him. Demandred either 1) Looks kind of like Taim in the first place, or 2) Looks very different from Taim and is using an illusion (or maybe some kind of partial illusion) to look like the real Taim. This is why Bashere isn't sure that MT is Taim, and why MT says that he shaved his beard. This also explains why it is MT who brings up the things only he and Bashere know--to convince everybody that he is Taim. Then again, MT may really be the original Mazrim Taim. The reason we think of Demandred when we see him is not because he is Demandred, but because he is similar to Demandred in personality--he wanted to be the Dragon, he doesn't like being second-best, etc. Taim could have the ultimate plan of supporting Rand as much as he can, helping him to win the Last Battle. Since Rand is expected to die in the Last Battle, Taim plans to bide his time and take control in the aftermath. After that, well, as MT says, the winners write the histories. Finally, there is the possibility that there never was a "real" Taim; only Demandred. The first mention of Taim is at the beginning of TGH [TGH: 5, The Shadow in Shienar, 55], and "trouble in Saldaea" is mentioned in TEOTW. At that point, at least some of the other Forsaken are loose, so it is possible that Demandred was, too. We don't know enough about the timing of events to decide for sure. Arguments in favor of MT being Demandred Now, we will present the arguments for the "Taimandred" theory, and counterarguments. 1) MT knows too much: knowing how to test for channelling ability, how quickly he "learns" gateways, how well he teaches the Asha'man, etc. It's a little hard to believe that he figured all this out on his very own. Look at how much trouble Rand had learning before he got Asm as a proper teacher. Counter-argument: He's supposedly been channelling for 15 years. He had to have learned something in that time. Plus, MT mentions to Bashere that he used Compulsion on two people [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 76]. Since the real Taim did that, the real Taim DID know stuff. (Note that this does not apply if Demandred was always MT.) As for Gateways, maybe Taim is just a fast learner, like Rand, or Nynaeve. In fact, one's ease of learning seems to be a direct function of how strong one is in the Power. (examples: Rand, Ny, El, Eg are all fast learners, and even SS and Moiraine, who are stronger than your average bear, spent a relatively short time as Novices (3 years?).) This probably has to do with the fact that, the stronger you are, the easier it is for you to see the flows required for a particular action, and thus can more readily duplicate it. (Note that that doesn't explain Taim's learning curve; he wouldn't have had anybody to observe and learn FROM.) 2) The Seal. The story about finding it in a Saldaean farmer's house is pretty fishy. Could it be that Demandred (posing as Taim) gave it to Rand in order to try to gain his trust? Counter-argument: If MT is Demandred, why would he, and the DO, give a seal to Rand? If the minions of the Shadow had a seal, wouldn't they break it? Maybe the DO could predict that Rand/LTT would try to break the seal, but Demandred couldn't have. MT was certainly shocked when it looked like Rand was going to smash it [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 80-1]. As mentioned, it could be that Demandred would want to give it to Rand to get him to trust him, but that failed utterly. MT's seal story is somewhat backed by Bashere's story to Perrin about a farmer in Saldaea who claimed to be the descendant of the kings of an ancient Kingdom. If MT Farmer == Bashere Farmer it would be plausible that the seal was the last item of inheritance. And who better for the farmer to give it to than the Dragon Reborn (MT's claim before Rand declared himself)? Rebuttal: It could be that Taim was shocked when Rand looked like he was going to break the Seal because he was worried that Rand was already totally gone. It's clear that the DO has plans for Rand, and that the DO told Demandred something about a plan for Rand (not necessarily the REAL plan) in the "Let the Lord of Chaos rule" speech, and that Demandred liked it. If Rand was too loony to perform his role, Demandred would be worried. As for why he gave the Seal to Rand in the first place, why not? The seals have been steadily weakening, and will break on their own in time. Why not give the seal to Rand in an attempt to gain his trust? 3) MT claims to not be affected by the Taint, after (Rand estimates) 15 years of channelling [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 76]. This seems pretty unlikely. Consider Owyn, who was going mad after only 3 years of hardly ever channelling at all. Many of the Asha'man have a few screws loose after only a few months of intensive channeling. The only Taint protection we know of is linking to the DO. Plus, the Red Ajah seems pretty adept at tracking down male channellers. In 15 years, one would have thought that the AS would have heard of him long before they did. Counter-argument: Unless Taim was a raving lunatic when he was leading his armies as a False Dragon, he must have still been somewhat sane, even after 15 years. (Again, note that if MT was always Dem, this does not apply.) Same argument applies for him not getting caught by the Reds. Plus, Logain, who is not a Forsaken, has been channelling for about six years (minus about a year or so of being gentled), and isn't going mad. It seems likely that the ease with which one succumbs to the Taint varies widely with the person. Owyn went under in 3 years, MT mentions some other guys who lasted for 2 years [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 79], and Logain has lasted for 6 [LOC: 51, The Taking, 647]. 3.5) More on Taim's age: Rand estimates Taim's age as 35, or a few years older [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 76]. However, Rand doesn't know about the "slowing" effect of using the OP. According to RJ, a man with the spark doesn't slow until 25, usually closer to thirty. He says one can go past thirty, but that probably depends on how early they start channelling and how much they channel [Post-TPOD Signing, New York, 20 October, 1998, report by Ryan R.]. Thus, the only way Taim could be the age he looks is if he started channelling at an unusually late age, and didn't channel much for the first few years. Since, if he's legit, he'd have to be a wilder, he must have started channelling young, at around Rand's age. The depth of his knowledge of channelling, and his career as a False Dragon demonstrate that he must have channelled a great deal prior to his arrival in Caemlyn. Therefore, Taim must be even older than 35. Let's postulate that men slow at a rate similar to women. We know that Garenia ran away from the Tower 70 years ago, and presumably she slowed before then, or soon afterwards (in her early 20s, as is usual for women). Garenia looks like she is Nynaeve's age, around 26. That corresponds to about five years of physical aging in 70 years. Now, if Taim started slowing at 30, then his actual age should be around 100 or so. Thus, the problem of Taim's age is even more extreme than it first appears. Counter-argument: The same type of arguments apply as discussed above. Maybe Taim is miraculously immune to the Taint. Also, maybe Rand overestimated Taim's age; maybe he's only thirty or so, in which case he needn't have begun slowing noticeably yet. 4) MT's reaction to Rand's badges and awards: he's not pleased to be seen as subservient to Rand [LoC: 42, The Black Tower, 543], just like Demandred [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 56-7]. Counter-argument: It is entirely possible that Taim is just plain arrogant. Nothing says the Forsaken have a monopoly on excessive pride. 5) LTT often raves about Demandred, and killing him, every time MT is around. Is there a method in his madness? LTT raves, "Sammael, oh, yes, but Demandred first. First of all I rid myself of him, then Sammael." [LoC: 51, The Taking, 635] LTT and Rand know where Sammael is. But why does LTT insist on killing Demandred if he doesn't know where he is? Therefore, they do know where Demandred is; i.e., he's MT. [Dash W.] Counter-argument: Again, it could just be that Taim is similar to Demandred in many ways, and LTT thinks he will betray him like Demandred did in the AoL. Anyway, LTT is loony and wants to kill all male channellers [ACOS: 7, Pitfalls and Tripwires, 139]. Furthermore, one shouldn't take anything LTT says too seriously. He's a total loon. He wants to die forever and end his suffering [LoC: 18, A Taste of Solitude, 299], but he doesn't want to die [LoC: 46, Beyond the Gate, 560]. He says "trust no one" and "the man who doesn't trust is dead" or words to that effect. LTT could be confusing Taim and Demandred. 6) The epilogue: "Have I not done well, Great Lord?" The DO's orders were to "Let the Lord of Chaos Rule," which seems to refer to "sowing chaos" in general, and to promoting divisiveness among the enemies of the Shadow. Demandred and Mesaana (and Semirhage) were working together on a plot in LOC to "let the Lord of Chaos rule." One of the main plot threads in LOC was the interactions of Rand with the SAS and TAS embassies. Rand ended up getting kidnapped by the TAS, and was rescued with the assistance of the Asha'man. The events of the battle to free Rand led to a great deal of mistrust and enmity among the SAS embassy, the TAS, the Aiel who follow Rand, the Shaido, and the Asha'man. The current state of affairs among Rand's allies (his Aiel, the Asha'man) and potential allies (the TAS and SAS) can only be good for the Shadow. We know that Mesaana was central to setting up this situation, from her place in the WT. Assuming Demandred had a hand in it as well (as is implied by his visit to SG at the end of the book), the most logical place for Demandred to be, among those factions, is the AM. Counter-argument: From Sammael's speech with Graendal [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 135], we know that Demandred may be involved in the Seanchan invasion in Tarabon. Maybe this has something to do with it. Furthermore, if Demandred is MT and is also involved with the Seanchan, wouldn't it be necessary for him to "disappear" from the farm in order to manage his other project? Nobody's mentioned anything about MT vanishing. Finally, if the final mess in LOC was set up by Dem, Sem, and Mesaana, what was Semirhage's role? 7) MT kills the Gray Man. If he hadn't, Rand might have gotten information out of it. Alternatively, it could've been a set-up: Taimandred ordered the Gray Man, and killed him to "prove" his loyalty to Rand. Counter-argument: It's doubtful Rand could get much information from a Gray Man. The Gray Men have no souls--they're basically walking killing machines. They probably have some sort of self-destruct mechanism, too. Jared Samet remarks: "If I were designing a perfect assassin, I'd set him up so that he could never point the finger at me. Remember, the Gray Man who comes after Nynaeve in the Tower has a knife in him the moment they find him. Besides, the Gray Man could only tell Rand anything damaging to MT if Demandred had sent him (possible I suppose, but why can't Demandred do it himself if thats what the DO wants?) A Gray Man with a story implicating Sammael or some other Forsaken (easy enough for a channeller to set up) could help MT more than a dead one." As for how conveniently MT showed up, recall that strange and oddly convenient things happen around Rand all the time. 8) MT's remark on "These so-called Aiel". If he hadn't been around in the AoL, why are they "so-called"? [LoC: 11, Lessons and Teachers, 215] The only other person to use this (exact same) phrase is Moridin (who used to be Ishamael) in [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 356]. Only somebody from the AOL would have cause to call the modern Aiel "so-called." Counter-argument: This is the hardest piece of evidence to explain away. People have suggested rationalizations, though. For example, if Taim knew the old tongue, he might be simply saying that he doubts the Aiel are truly "dedicated" to Rand. Another possible explanation is that, if Taim is about 35, which seems reasonable, then he was alive for the Aiel War, although possibly too young to go east to fight. He probably heard tales about Aiel--10 feet tall, breathing fire, etc. Here he sees some in Caemlyn peacefully patrolling the streets. Not what an average wetlander would expect of Savages From the Waste. Rebuttal: As to the first suggestion, it hardly seems in character to for Taim to be making puns in the Old Tongue. As for the second, even if the Aiel Taim meets aren't the monsters he's heard about, they are undeniably Aiel. Nobody else in Randland regards them as "so-called." 8.5) Another Aiel reference. There is second suspicious Taim quote about the Aiel. During the fight at Dumai's Wells, Taim has the Asha'man raise a defensive barrier of Air around Rand's position. Many of the people Perrin led from Caemlyn (Aiel fighters and WOs, Mayeners, Cairhienin, and Two Rivers folk) are trapped outside, among the Shaido. Rand asks Taim to lower the barrier, presumably so that the fighters could be informed of Rand's safety, and an orderly retreat could begin. [LOC: 55, Dumai's Wells, 692-693] Taim argues against this, saying, "There are casualties in battle. I lost several soldiers today, nine men who will be harder to replace than any number of renegade Aiel." He is clearly talking about Rand╣s Aiel, not the Shaido. So why are they "renegade"? The only convincing explanation that I see is that they are renegades against the Way of the Leaf, the code of the Da╣shain Aiel. [Fred Van Keuls] This makes not one, but two instances in which Taim expresses doubts about the legitimacy of the modern Aiel. In this case, in the middle of a heated battle, there is no reason for Taim to doubt the "dedication" of the Aiel to Rand's cause. Counter-argument: Taim may be referring to the vast numbers of Shaido. As far as each side's battle strength is concerned, it will be easier for the Shaido to replace a few dozen or hundred spears than it will for Taim to recruit and train nine men. [Matthew Heslin] Rebuttal: The context of the above quote is that Taim is arguing against raising the 'Dome of Air' to save Rand's Aiel, Mayeners and True Rivers folk from the Shaido. He is saying that Rand's Aiel (outside the Dome) are expendable compared to the Asha'man (inside the Dome). Given the discussion before the quote, it seems highly unlikely to me that Taim could be referring to the Shaido as the 'renegade Aiel'. I suppose one could argue that Taim is confused about what is going on. However, Taim has never given me that impression. [Fred Van Keuls] 9) Strength: MT is very strong in the Power. Forsaken-class, even (almost as strong as Rand himself). [LoC: 3, A Woman's Eyes, 92] Counter-argument: The real Taim was thought to be very strong. [TSR: 5, Questioners, 85] Just because he's strong doesn't mean he's evil. (And just because he's evil, doesn't mean he's Forsaken.) Nynaeve is Forsaken-class, but she's on the Good Guys' side. 10) Smile: In the prologue, it is said that Demandred never smiles [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 15], [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 58]. MT doesn't either-- at the end of LoC, before "Kneel, or you will be knelt", Rand says something like "His expression was as close to a smile as he had ever seen it." [LoC: 55, Dumai's Wells, 695] Counter-argument: Once again, it could just be that Taim and Demandred have similar personalities. 11) Min's viewing: of an invisible man holding a knife to Rand's throat. This could indicate that Demandred is the "serpent in the bosom," masquerading as Taim. Counter-argument: The vision could be the Gray Man, as Rand thinks. Or, it could be MT, who is not to be trusted, even if he isn't Demandred. Rebuttal: Since when has Rand ever interpreted Min's visions correctly? 12) Location, Location, Location: Demandred takes a gateway directly out of TAR while in the Royal palace in Caemlyn. Unless Demandred knows some sort of combination traveling/leaving TAR gateway, then he must be somebody, or pretending to be somebody who comes to Caemlyn regularly, and somebody who can channel his way into the palace without inviting immediate destruction upon himself. We know that MT has been visiting Rand in Caemlyn because Rand's thoughts comment on how MT has taught him to block out heat, and a few chapters later Rand tells MT that his visits to the city would have to stop because Alanna and Verin have shown up. Counter-argument: Maybe he went out of TAR to someplace that was not Caemlyn. Also, maybe Demandred is gutsy enough to enter into Rand's turf. Rebuttal: We've never seen anybody enter/leave TAR in the flesh via any means except gating to the spot in the real world corresponding to the spot one is in in TAR. As for Dem blatantly entering into Rand's turf, it's not likely that he'd do that unless he had a cover story-- too dangerous, especially with Rand becoming more and more paranoid. 13) MT's behavior: Bill Garrett says: Something that should maybe be added as a separate point is MT's whole challenge/submit behavior. He'll argue with Rand about something, telling him it has to be done another way, then suddenly he'll agree and say "As my Lord Dragon commands." I think it's Demandred trying to do things his way, but suddenly remembering the Dark One's orders to do what Rand says (or at least to not go directly against him). And MT sometimes disobeys Rand and frequently does things Rand doesn't expect, as with the Asha'man. Counter-argument: How is this different from the way the Tairen lords behaved? Or the Andoran nobility? Or Davram Bashere? Hell, even the Aiel tend to do this. Everybody tries to convince Rand to do things their way, but when you get right down to it, he's going to do as he damn well pleases, and all you can say is "As my Lord Dragon commands." 14) Another slip of the tongue: When Rand shows MT how to make a gateway, he calls it a "gateway." A little further in the same chapter, MT says, "You can Travel, but you don't know how to test for the talent." How does MT know that a Gateway = Traveling? AFAIK, Rand didn't mention anything about "traveling," only "gateways." Counter-argument: Maybe MT heard the term described during his 15 years as channeller, and added 2 and 2 to make 4. Rebuttal: Once more, this raises the question of how Taim got to know so much about channelling, with (supposedly) nobody to teach him. 15) Sammael and Graendal in conversation: In [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 355], Sammael and Graendal are discussing their comrades. Sammael says, "I didn't arrange [Rand's] kidnapping....Mesaana had a hand in it, though. Maybe Demandred and Semirhage as well, despite how it ended...." Note the despite-- there is a strong implication here that Sem and Dem somehow had a hand in the conclusion of the Rand-kidnapping episode, i.e. in his rescue. Who was instrumental in the rescue? Taim and the Asha'man, Perrin and the Two Riversians, the Wolves, the Mayeners, and the Aiel. We all know that the most likely place for Demandred is with the Asha'man, as their leader, in fact. Note that this interpretation implies that Sam knows where Dem and Sem are situated. We do not know that he knows this, in fact, as of [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 138], Graendal doesn't know where they are. Of course, Sam could have known, without telling Graendal, or they could always have discovered it in the intervening time. Counter-argument: A totally different spin can be put on the passage. As Mark Loy explains, "To paraphrase...'I didn't arrange Rand's kidnapping... Mesaana had a hand in arranging Rand's kidnapping... Maybe Dem and Sem had a hand in arranging Rand's kidnapping as well, despite how the kidnapping ended. This interpretation means that they might have had a hand in arranging the kidnapping...in the planning..." despite the fact that it ended all messed up. 16) Yet another slip of the tongue: MT has taken to calling himself "The M'Hael," which means "leader" in the Old Tongue, and giving OT designations to his lieutenants. MT knows an awful lot about the Old Tongue for a modern-day Randlander. Counter-argument: Well, maybe he does know the Old Tongue. Maybe he was a scholar or something before he became a False Dragon. Of course, that is pure speculation. 17) Black Tower: MT has pretty much built the Black Tower on his own. Rand has made little effort to be involved in it, and has left the recruiting, training, and testing of Asha'man to MT. MT, in turn, has done a fine job-- in just a few months (between LOC and POD) he's created an unconventional military force which can take on anybody in Randland, including Aes Sedai and Seanchan. Just a handful of Asha'man have proven to be the decisive factor in many battles, some of them against opponents with channelling capability. So, we must ask ourselves, if MT is so efficient at turning out combat channellers, why didn't he do it when HE was claiming to be the Dragon Reborn? He claims to have tried training other men to channel [LOC: 2, A New Arrival, 79], so the thought must have occurred to him. Granted, since he lacked Rand's ta'veren-power to attract recruits, he would have had a much smaller force than the 400 or so at the BT. However, given that two or three percent of people can learn to channel [Guide: 2, The One Power and the True Source, 18], and that Taim's army of followers was of a "normal" Randland size (on the order of a couple thousand), he should have been able to get at least 10-20 men who could have been useful. Even ten male channellers is nothing to sneeze at, and yet Taim the False Dragon had no channelling followers. This can be explained easily if one supposes that Taim did not have the knowledge to identify and train channellers. MT is not Taim, but Demandred, who certainly has all that knowledge. He told Rand the story about identifying male channellers in an attempt to allay Rand's suspicions about MT knowing how to do the test. Counter-argument: There are other possible reasons Taim didn't train any other channellers. Perhaps he didn't have time. Perhaps he was worried that they'd turn against him. Perhaps when he saw his first experiments in training go mad in two years or so [LOC: 2, A New Arrival, 79], he gave the idea up. Rebuttal: As for time, he supposedly spent 15 years or so as a channeller before declaring himself the Dragon. He didn't seem to be in any big hurry. Taim isn't the sort of guy to worry about most of his subordinate channellers betraying him-- he's shown himself to be a master at inspiring admiration and loyalty in his troops; he's got a regular cult of personality among the Asha'man. As for the ones he didn't feel he could trust, he's not the sort of guy to be shy about killing them outright. As for the madness, he is known to be a totally ruthless fellow. He'd have no problem using his followers for the year or two they had of sanity and then killing them. Of course, this argument doesn't apply if Taim has always been Dem. Arguments against MT being Demandred There doesn't seem to be anything about MT which is inconsistent with him being Demandred, only ways to explain away the evidence in favor of it. One point that has often been mentioned is that Rand sees MT channelling, but he does not see the black cord connecting him to the DO and filtering out the Taint. However, this is NOT A VALID ARGUMENT! The black cords are only seen/sensed under very special circumstances. Rand has only seen them in two places-- T'A'R and the in-between space used for Skimming. Rand has never seen MT in either of those places. Note that Rand has seen male Forsaken without seeing the cords: Aginor and Balthamel at the Eye and Be'lal in the Heart of the Stone. Thus, the fact that Rand hasn't seen the black threads on MT shows nothing one way or the other. (See section 1.3.1.) MT's behavior in TPOD RJ doesn't seem to be ready to reveal whether MT is Demandred or not. While it is clear that MT was up to something in TPOD, everything he did or is suspected of having done in that book could be consistent with either scenario. What was MT up to in TPOD? Through his lieutenants Torval, Gedwyn, Kisman, and Rochaid (or some subset thereof), he set up the Illianer rebels to attempt to assassinate Rand, supposedly at the instigation of Aes Sedai. Through Torval, he tried to make Rand suspicious of Egwene's army which was, at the time, marching towards Caemlyn and the BT. Possibly, Gedwyn tried to subvert or cause problems with High Lord Weiramon. At the end, Taim possibly set up his lieutenants as "deserters" who tried to kill Rand, thus producing a coterie of male channellers who were clearly loyal to MT, and whose actions he could disavow. He was angry when he learned that Dashiva, NOT one of his favorites, had gotten in on the attack. None of this points one way or the other. Both Demandred and a real Taim would be interested in exacerbating the tensions between Rand and the Aes Sedai. Taim would do so because he'd fear that if Rand allied with AS, the BT could be threatened or at least become less important. Not to mention, since Taim was captured by AS, he'd have no love for them. Demandred would also want to increase Rand's dependence on the BT (and thus on Taimandred) for all his channelling needs. He'd want to widen the chasm between Rand and the AS, so that Rand would have less support, and to sow general chaos. Similarly, both the real Taim and Taimandred would benefit from having a force of channellers who worked independently of the BT, and whose loyalty he could count upon, and whose actions he wouldn't have to justify to Rand. Dashiva was obviously not in on the Plan, and thus received MT's ire (whoever he really is) when he joined in. He represents an element of which MT doesn't have control. In conclusion, nothing in POD lent strength to either side of the Taimandred question. Any other possibilities? One more thing that has been discussed is that Osan'gar is MT. Osan'gar could have been substituted for the original Taim shortly before he turned up in LOC. However, MT's personality is much more consistent with what we know of Demandred's than that of Aginor/Osan'gar. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.1.7: The Death of Asmodean (Who killed JoaR?) [Karl-Johan Noren, Kevin Bartlett, P. Korda] _________________________________________________________________ [Asmodean] pulled open a small door, intending to find his way to the pantry. There should be some decent wine. One step, and he stopped, the blood draining from his face. "You? No!" The word still hung in the air when death took him. [TFOH: 56, Glowing Embers, 682] Note: Tons of thanks to Karl-Johan Noren and Kevin Bartlett, whose comprehensive analyses of Asmodean's death I plundered in order to give this section the thoroughness it deserves. Their original pages are linked from the Wheel of Time Index (See section 0.8). Did Asmodean really die at the end of TFOH? Did Moridin ("death") take him? Yes, he's dead. No, Moridin did not kidnap him. First of all, RJ clearly takes this series too seriously to use such a dastardly pun. Secondly, RJ told Yancy Davis at a post-POD signing in Northern Virginia that Asmodean is "road kill." "He also used the line, 'He's a cat that tried to cross the tracks and didn't quite make it.' Also, when I said, 'so he won't be back' he responded, 'No, he will not be coming back.'" [Yancy Davis] Third, Aaron Bergman asked this question at a post-POD book-signing in New York: "In particular, I asked whether "death" was just a pun on "Moridin". He said "oh, god no" quite disgustedly." Thankfully, that's the end of that theory. General Considerations Now that that's out of the way, let's get on to serious discussion. First, we will consider what the general requirements are for Asmodean's murderer. Second, we will round up all the usual suspects (and some unusual ones). Then, we will examine all the general requirements in detail, and see if we can draw any conclusions from them. Next, we will eliminate suspects who couldn't possibly have done it, and those who theoretically could have done it, but who probably didn't. Finally, we will examine the cases for and against the remaining suspects. Requirements which must be satisfied by the murderer: 1. Means: be able to kill Asmo (a channeller) near-instantaneously 2. Motive: have a motive 3. Opportunity: be able to be in the Caemlyn palace at the time of the murder 4. Be a person who Asmodean recognised, who he didn't expect to see, and of whom he was terrified 5. Be able to dispose of the body 6. Must know Asmodean's fate 7. There must be a reason why it's kept a secret, by the author and the killer 8. Be "obvious" from the instant he died (and we use the term loosely.) Suspects (overly-complete list): * Aran'gar or Osan'gar * Demandred * Graendal * Ishamael/Moridin * Lanfear * Mesaana * Moghedien * Padan Fain * Sammael * Semirhage * Shaidar Haran * Slayer * some random minion of the DO (a Gholam, Myrddraal, common DF etc) Now, on to discussion of particular requirements. We'll start off with the classic three requirements for solving any murder mystery: means, motive, and opportunity. Then, we'll consider other requirements for the particular "case" at hand. Means: How was he killed? Any good murder investigation begins with determining how the victim died. We are at a slight disadvantage, because there is no body to examine. The possible murder weapons are: channelling, a gholam (which, from another POV, can also be considered a suspect), the Shadar Logoth dagger, and some purely physical means, such as a knife or sword. What we do have is a (very short) description of his death: "the word still hung in the air when death took him." This indicates that he died very quickly. He did not get a chance to even try to run away or defend himself, even with the OP. Remember, channelling is fast: Rand plucks daggers and spears out of thin air. We know that a Warder vs a Fade is usually an even fight, but the Fade is dead meat against even the weakest channeller (except possibly Sorilea). Because of this, it seems unlikely that he was killed by purely physical means. The Shadar Logoth dagger poses the same difficulty, to some degree, although unlike a normal dagger, a victim doesn't have a chance to get away once he's been touched by it. Since gholam are super-duper fast and OP-resistant, this constraint doesn't necessarily apply if one of them was the assailant. The Shadar Logoth dagger has another problem. Once a person's been cut by it, they don't die instantaneously. There is enough time for the stabbed one to gasp, fall to the ground, writhe around a bit, and finally die once the Mashadar-taint spreads through his body. See the scene in TFOH where Fain kills the Accepted [TFoH: 19, Memories, 259], and the part in TGH where Mat kills the Seanchan guy [TGH: 45, Blademaster, 538]. While the latter seems to die much faster than the Accepted, he still does some writhing in agony which is not consistent with the quickness of Asmodean's death. Since, as discussed below, it is unlikely that he was killed by a gholam, the most probable murder weapon is channelling. The absence of a body lends more credence to the idea that the killer was a channeller, and that channelling was used in the murder (see below). The personalities of the Forsaken (the channelling suspects) lead us to believe that they wouldn't use conventional means to kill a person; they'd channel. Furthermore, since, of the channelling suspects, only Ishy/Moridin prefers the TP over the OP, the most likely murder weapon is the One Power. Was Asmodean balefired? This is definitely a possibility. Certainly, any channeller (read Forsaken) who could have killed Asmo could have wanted to ensure that his thread was burned out of the Pattern. When Demandred visits the DO in [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 13-16], the DO lumps Asmodean in with Rahvin as having "died the final death." In Rahvin's case, this means he was balefired, and the DO cannot "step outside of time" to recycle him. Of course, there are other ways in which Asmo could have died with no possibility of recycling. For one thing, the DO may have the power to recycle Asmo, but chooses not to, because he was a traitor. Also, remember that Rand severed Asmo's link to the DO, and thus the DO might not have had the power to save Asmo's soul even if he'd wanted to. Another point in favor of the balefire idea is the similarity between RJ's description of Asmo's death and that of Be'lal in [TDR: 55, What is Written in Prophecy, 557]: Moiraine had not stopped or slowed while he spoke. She was no more than thirty paces from him when he moved his hand, and she raised both of hers as well. There was an instant of surprise on the Forsaken's face, and he had time to scream `No!' Then a bar of white fire hotter than the sun shot from the Aes Sedai's hands, a glaring rod that banished all shadows. Before it, Be'lal became a shape of shimmering motes, specks dancing in the light for less than a heartbeat, flecks consumed before his cry faded. In particular, note the similarity between "flecks consumed before his cry faded" with "the word still hung in the air when death took him." This is certainly suggestive. If Asmodean was killed by channelling, why didn't anybody sense it? A common argument against the idea that Asmo was killed by channelling is that, if it was a man, Rand would have sensed the channelling, and if it was a woman, Rand or Aviendha would have sensed it. This isn't really a valid objection. The range at which channelling can be sensed seems to depend on many different things: proximity, amount of OP being channelled, how much attention the senser is paying, the strength and experience of the senser, and any number of other variables. (See section 2.3.5 for further analysis.) In the case of Asmodean's death, we have many unknowns. We don't know how far he was from Rand and Avi when he died. He'd been walking through the palace, thinking about his situation, and there is no indication of how far he walked before opening that fateful door. It is entirely possible that he was too far away for the channelling to be detected by Rand and/or Aviendha, who were both distracted by other business. We don't know what form of channelling was used to kill him (if channelling it was)-- balefire, fireballs, inverse healing, or something we don't know about, or how easy any of those things are to sense at a distance. There are too many unknowns and uncertainties to eliminate either half of the OP as the murder weapon. Furthermore, while most of the Forsaken don't choose to use the TP as a matter of course, any of them could have received the DO's permission to use it for this assassination, especially if the deed was done at the DO's direct order. As we know, the TP cannot be sensed by anybody. Motive: "When I know why, I'll know who." The question of why Asmo was killed is perhaps the most complicated issue related to his death. Indeed, as the saying goes, if we knew why he was murdered, we could very likely figure out who did it. Here are the possible motives: 1. Ordered assassination from the DO, as punishment for treachery. All the Forsaken, Slayer, and the different random minions could be acting under this scenario. 2. Enterprising person, deciding to kill Asmodean on their own accord, in accordance with some unknown (by us) plan. This requires that the murderer has gained knowledge that Jasin Natael really is Asmodean, in effect leaving only the Forsaken as possible killers. 3. Asmodean stumbled upon his murderer by chance, i.e. the murderer was in Caemlyn and the Palace for an entirely different reason and eliminated Asmo because he discovered him/her. 4. Ordered assassination, in order to allow Demandred to appear as Taim. This, of course, only works if the Taimandred theory is true. (See Section 1.1.6.) 5. Plot to cause confusion for Rand by killing his minions. Note that 1, 4 and 5 can all be classified under "ordered by the DO," and 5 could also be a special case of "personal enterprise." Generally, 1, 2, 4, and 5 all involve premeditation, while 3 is just a crime of opportunity. Any of the Forsaken could have acted under any of these motives. A random minion or Slayer would have been acting under orders, either from a Forsaken, or the DO. Fain could only have been acting under 3 or 5. We will now discuss the various motives: Ordered assassination, as punishment for treachery Now, it makes perfect sense that the DO and the various Forsaken would want to punish Asmodean for going over to Rand's side. However, if this was the motive for the murder, several things don't add up. In general, people who betray the cause of the Shadow are killed in very visible, painful, messy ways, in order to send a message to others who might consider giving up the Dark Side. Examples of this are Amico and Joiya in TSR, and Ispan in TPOD. Asmodean's remains were not left behind as a lesson. Furthermore, he was killed quickly, with none of the gruesome torture experienced by other failures. The only way the method of the murder makes sense for it as a punishment is if it was done with balefire-- more than just dying, his thread would have been burned out of the pattern totally. This still doesn't make perfect sense, because if it was punishment why wasn't the fact that he was balefired shared with the other Forsaken, as a warning? Timing With this motive, we must also address the issue of timing. Why was Asmodean killed when he was? Given that Asmodean had been "on Rand's side" for at least two months when he was killed, the question of timing must be considered, at least if the murderer is one of the Forsaken. Couldn't he have been killed far earlier? It could be argued that because Asmodean hadn't spent much time in Caemlyn (less than one day) before he was murdered, the murderer wasn't working under a carefully rehearsed plan, but acting more on a sudden opportunity. However, any Forsaken who had set out to kill Asmo would have gone to Cairhien, found out about Rand's raid, and Traveled to Caemlyn. If Asmodean was killed as punishment, why did the DO (or somebody speaking for it) wait so long to give the order? It possible that changing circumstances forced the DO or a Forsaken to act. From the DO's or the Forsaken's point of view, the two big events were Lanfear's disappearance and Rahvin's death. The killing of Asmodean is likely connected with one or both of these events. Another possibility is that Asmodean was killed in order to facilitate putting up Demandred as Taim in LoC, something that would have been hard or impossible to do with Asmodean still alive. (This is discussed separately, below.) Yet another possibility is that Asmo's death heralds Moridin's resurrection. Personal Enterprise Perhaps Asmodean was killed by somebody who had been planning it for a while, and had held off because he was a pet project of Lanfear's. When Lanfear died/vanished, whoever it was took the opportunity to remove him. (Problem with this: Lanfear claimed to her fellow Chosen that Asmo had gone over to Rand entirely of his own free will, not due to any scheme of hers.) Alternatively, the killer could have had some plan which required Asmodean's removal, and done so. This raises the question of why did they kill him when they did, rather than earlier? (See the discussion of timing, above.) Accidental Discovery One possibility is that Asm was not the specific target of the killer; he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps the killer was/is spying/plotting/etc from within the court of the Dragon Reborn. Asmodean bumped into him on his way to the wine closet, recognized him, and got killed to protect his secret. Quoting from the relevant passage: "He pulled open a small door, intending to find his way to the pantry. There should be some decent wine." Then we have, "You? No!" He was going to look for wine. He probably opened a door to an empty storeroom or hallway. It was not a wine pantry. He hadn't found it yet. If you reread the passage yourself, it seems that it may have even been an accident he ran into his killer (i.e. the killer wasn't planning on it, but since Asmodean saw him...). This motive fits well with the body being removed/destroyed. If the killing was for punishment, it would have made more sense for the body to be left, and the death widely publicized, to set an example. So how could the body being discovered disclose something about the killer (to the other characters)? There are 3 possibilities. 1) the killer is part of Rand's entourage, and a dead Asmo could make people suspicious that there was a traitor in the ranks. 2) there is a hole in Rand's security, and a dead Asm would inspire people to find it and patch it up. 3) the killer is hiding (not necessarily only from Rand-- could also be from the Forsaken) and a dead body could start folks thinking the killer was active. Tie-in to Taimandred If Taim is Demandred, there is a very good, concrete motive for Asmodean to be killed. Namely, Asmodean could have recognised Demandred--by looks, or personality, or strength in the Power--and betrayed him to Rand. In order for Taim to work his way into Rand's organization, Asmodean had to be eliminated. One might object that Demandred was not informed of the supposed plan to kill Asmodean on his behalf. However, this is not a problem. Demandred wasn't even told about the plans the DO had for him until after Asmodean was killed. And if the plan was to play Taim, he had one month between being informed of the plan and his appearance on Rand's doorstep. Simple plot to cause confusion The killer may have killed Asmo as part of a plot to annoy or confuse Rand. The problem with this is that there are many better targets for a person with that motive. Why not go after somebody Rand actually cares about, like Mat, Avi, or Egwene? The only way this motive makes sense at all is if the killer knew Asmo's value to Rand as a teacher. In other words, the killer knew "Jasin Natal" was really Asmodean. The only suspects who would know that would be the Forsaken, and they all have much better motives than causing confusion. Opportunity Needless to say, the murderer either was already in Caemlyn when Rand made his surprise raid, or had a way to get there at will. Furthermore, the killer must have been able to get into the Palace (and out again, with the body-- see below). Now, any of the Forsaken could have done that easily, by Traveling. Shaidar Haran could have used the shadow-travel trick to get there. Neither Fain nor Slayer were known to be in Caemlyn at the time. In Fain's case, it is known that he was in Tar Valon (some long way from Caemlyn) about 25 days before Asm's death. It's not that likely that he could have made it in that time by conventional travel, although he could have used the Ways; there are known Waygates in both TV and Caemlyn. Since Slayer's been unaccounted for for some time, he too could have been in Caemlyn, although there is no real reason to think he was. There is a further problem with Fain and Slayer: if they'd had any actual plan to kill Asmo, they wouldn't have been in Caemlyn; they'd have been in Cairhien. The Caemlyn attack was a snap decision on Rand's part, and could not have been expected by ANY of the suspects. Thus, if the murderer went to the Caemlyn palace with the purpose of killing Asmodean, he/she must have some method of speedy traveling, such as Traveling. "Then I saw her face..." The Recognition Factor Recognised by and terrified Asm: again, any FS would be recognised. The extreme reaction implies it was somebody he never expected to see, like somebody he thought was dead. However, since Asmo was a weaselly coward, it's conceivable that any FS would terrify him, especially if he/she was about to kill him. However, point is raised why a FS would be walking around Rand's stronghold w/o a disguise. If the killer dropped disguise to show Asm who was killing him, why bother? Dramatic effect? "Oh, I ain't got no bodeeee."--Where is it? No body was left behind at the murder scene. This is evidenced by the fact that nobody (except the killer, duh) seems to know he's dead. Rand certainly doesn't. He thinks Asmo ran away: "If they discovered that he had held one of the Forsaken prisoner and allowed him to escape... He would deal with Asmodean himself if the man ever turned up again." [LOC: 3, A Woman's Eyes, 92] In TPOD, Rand still thinks Asmo's alive; he initially thinks that the attack at the end is Asmodean and/or Demandred [TPOD, 29, A Cup of Sleep, 565]. From this, we can conclude that he was either killed in such a way that no remains were left, or that the body was removed in order to hide the murder. Either way, this points to a channeller being the killer. Channelling is the only way we know of to kill a person while leaving no remains at all. Even the Shadar Logoth dagger leaves something. If there were remains, a channeller would have had no problem removing them, via a gateway. A nonchanneller would have had more than a little difficulty walking out of the Royal Palace carrying the corpse of the Lord Dragon's gleeman. In fact, we should ask why the body (if there was one) was removed at all. The only possible reason for the corpse to be removed would be to hide the fact that the killer was around. For many of the killers, the supposed motives would have been better served by leaving a recognizable body behind. We've seen that those who betray the Dark are generally killed in ways that serve as examples to others (e.g. Joiya and Amico in TSR, Ispan in POD). If the goal was simply to terrify Rand, leaving the body behind would have done a better job than removing it. The "cover-for-Taimandred" motive does give a possible reason for removing the body-- a dead Asmo might make Rand suspicious. Knowledge of Asmo's fate Needless to say, the person who killed him must know that he's dead. This condition can be used to eliminate quite a few suspects. Any character whose thoughts indicate that he/she thinks Asmo may still be alive can't be the killer. Likewise for any character who expresses ignorance of his fate in a situation where she/he wouldn't lie. Secrecy: Why? Despite RJ's comments to the contrary, it is not at all obvious who did the dirty deed. One question to ask ourselves is, "WHY is RJ keeping it a secret?" The lack of action on this front in LOC, ACOS, and TPOD pretty much demonstrates that the murder in and of itself is NOT a major plot thread, so there is no point in keeping it secret for the sake of keeping the reader in suspense. So, why is RJ keeping it secret? One answer is that Asmo's killing is itself a clue to something else that is going on, which we don't know about yet. This could be the return of Lanfear, or the Taimandred idea. We are not the only ones ignorant of the culprit. All of the characters (except one, obviously) are also ignorant of whodunnit (if they're Forsaken), or of what actually happened (if they're Good Guys or rank-and-file DFs). So, whoever killed Asm must have a reason for hiding it. After all, it's not like anybody would condemn them for punishing a traitor. For any of the Forsaken, this could be as simple as keeping the other Forsaken on their toes by causing uncertainty. Obvious to the most casual observer: Say what? RJ has repeatedly said that we should be able to figure out who the killer is. In fact, at a post-TPOD signing in NYC, he talked to Aaron Bergman about this: I asked about Asmodean again. He said that yes, we should be able to figure it out the instant he died. He said that he thinks it's obvious now and we should definitely be able to figure it out by the end of [TPOD].-- A. Bergman, report from NYC book signing, 20 October 1998. Well, RJ is obviously using the same definition of "obvious" that physics professors are wont to use. That is, it's obvious if you know the answer, and know which information is useful and which is irrelevant. It isn't "obvious" in the usual meaning of the word. Note that RJ "also claims that very, very few of the fan letters he gets are correct about [who killed Asmo]." [Post-TPOD signing, Northern Virginia, 21 November, 1998, report by John Novak.] This clearly shows that RJ's idea of "obvious" and his readers' idea of "obvious" don't really mix, do they? However, this statement by RJ is useful in eliminating possibilities. Not even RJ could stretch "being able to figure it out the instant he died" to encompass people or things we didn't know a thing about before the killing, such as Shaidar Haran, Mesaana, or gholam. Note that RJ's comment also implies that something in POD should clarify the issue. The only thing which is applicable to any of the suspects is the appearance of Cyndane, which does nothing but throw more fuel on the fire in the Lanfear vs. Graendal debate (see below). It DOES let us argue even more strongly against some of the less-likely suspects like Slayer or Fain, who were largely irrelevant to events in POD. (Fain is mentioned in passing, but nothing which connects him to Asmodean.) Elimination of suspects: Which suspects can be eliminated beyond any loony shadow of a doubt? Demandred From [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 15-16], we see that Demandred doesn't know what happened to Asmodean: "Lanfear has vanished without a trace, just as Asmodean did." Hence, Demandred didn't kill him. (Dem. would have no reason to lie about such a thing, and it is doubtful whether he _could_ lie outright to the DO, under those circumstances (bathing in the DO's presence at SG.) Semirhage In [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 141], Semirhage thinks to herself, "Asmodean. A traitor, and so doomed but he really had vanished..." and later, "If the Great Lord moved her here secretly, might he not be moving Moghedien or Lanfear, or even Asmodean?" This seems to imply that Semirhage doesn't know that Asmodean is dead, and thus, she couldn't have killed him. Moghedien She was Nynaeve's prisoner in Salidar-- either forkroot-drugged, or bound by the a'dam, when Asmo was killed. Hence, she couldn't have been in Caemlyn. Aran'gar, Osan'gar They weren't recycled until the beginning of LOC, and thus were busy being dead when Asmo was killed. Which suspects can be eliminated beyond reasonable doubt? Mesaana Mesaana visited the Pit of Doom twice in the period between Asmodean's death and her appearance in LoC, but with the DO never appearing. If she had killed Asmodean, wouldn't she have made some sort of report to the DO, especially since the DO approved of the murder? Also, in conversation with Semirhage, she has expressed doubts about whether Asmodean is really dead [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 143]: "More troubling were the Chosen who had vanished. Demandred insisted they must be dead, but she [Semirhage] and Mesaana were not so sure". She doesn't mention Asmo specifically, and so it is possible that she's only referring to Lanfear and Moggy. However, while it's not conclusive, it is circumstantial evidence against Mesaana being the murderer. Furthermore, prior to LOC, we had not heard or seen a single thing about Mesaana. Thus, she fails the "obviosity" test--there is no way we could even suspect her from the instant he died. Slayer Conceivably, he could have reached Caemlyn from the Two Rivers in time, but his motive would have had to be a direct order from a DO or a Forsaken, and how would he have known to go to Caemlyn? Not to mention, one would think that the Royal Palace in Caemlyn would be the last place on earth "Lord Luc" would show his face. Furthermore, why would the DO send him towards a possible confrontation with a former Forsaken and Rand? As discussed above, any non-channeller would have great trouble harming a channeller if he or she was discovered first. (Slayer cannot channel-- See Section 1.4.3.) Plus, he'd have had to sneak the body away with no OP help. He was badly hurt in TSR, and it's not certain that he would be in any condition to sneak into the Royal Palace, kill a guy, and sneak back out with the body. Slayer also fails the "obvious" test. He doesn't appear in TFOH at all (before Asmo's death, at least), nor does he appear in LOC, ACOS, or TPOD. There is no particular reason to suspect him, and quite a few reasons not to. Shaidar Haran First, there is no reason to think that Asmo would recognize the Superfade. It is a possibility that Shaidar Haran told Asmodean in his dreams that it would come after him, but that would almost require that Ishamael was resurrected as SH, which we know not to be the case (unless you want to get really loony and say that Moridin is Shaidar Haran). We say this since Myrddraal don't dream. Second, his motive would have had to have been a directive from the DO, and the missing body is not consistent with that. He could have gotten to the Palace quickly, using the Fade Shadow-Travel trick, and destroyed the body using the "black fire" trick he used to burn the spear in [ACOS: 40, Spears, 637] (although he'd have no motive for destroying the body-- quite the opposite). However, it doesn't seem likely that a Fade would be wandering around the Palace in broad daylight. He'd hardly be inconspicuous. Again, this suspect fails the "obvious" criterion, because we didn't even know he existed before LOC came out. Sammael We are given very few hints in Sammael's thoughts in LOC and ACOS, and the issue is made even muddier by the game of deception he plays with Graendal. But in [LoC, 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 133] we have: "Rumors! Lanfear has been aiding al'Thor since the beginning, if you [Graendal] ask me. I would have had his head in the Stone of Tear except that someone sent Myrddraal and Trollocs to save him! That was Lanfear; I am certain. I'm done with her. The next time I see her, I'll kill her! And why would he kill Asmodean? I would if I could find him, but he has gone over to al'Thor. He's teaching him!" This is in a Sammael POV section. He is also trembling with anger, which makes it quite unlikely he's feigning ignorance of Asmo's fate. Thus, it's unlikely that Sammael did the deed. Gholam The only point in favor of this idea is that Asmo probably would have recognised a gholam, and been scared of it. However, there are more problems with this idea than there are conveniences. Firstly, it would have to have been sent by a Forsaken, which means we have to look among them anyway. Secondly, we've seen how gholam kill (Herid Fel), and it is way messier than the quick, clean way Asmo died. Since we didn't know about gholam before LOC, the gholam-as-killer theory fails the "obviosity" requirement. There's also the question of whether Asmo would call a gholam "you." Padan Fain The basic argument for Fain as the killer is this: He could have been in Caemlyn at the time (via the Ways, if nothing else). He would want to kill any Forsaken because they would interfere with his plans to be Rand's personal hell. However, that presupposes that Fain knew Jasin Natal was a Forsaken, which seems a very unlikely thing for Fain to know, given that he'd never seen Asmo/Natal before supposedly killing him. An alternative motive which has been proposed is that Fain killed Natal because he was trying to cause confusion and stress for Rand by disappearing a member of his retinue. However, this does not fit in with everything else we've seen of Fain's MO, which has mainly involved ingratiating himself with highly-placed people and planting the seeds of Mashadar in their minds. Plus, killing Rand's gleeman and splitting doesn't really make for much of a dastardly plot to undermine Rand's confidence. It would have been much more effective for Fain to try to kill somebody closer to Rand--one of his friends, or even one of his Maiden bodyguards. The "mistake" motive doesn't work for Fain, because we'd have to have a reason for Fain to be in the Palace, and there is zero evidence that he was doing anything in the palace--no reference to anything of the sort in TFOH, LOC, ACOS, or TPOD. Furthermore, as we discussed in the "means" section, Fain would have had to have killed Asmo with the dagger, and that isn't consistent with the way Asmo died, or the lack of a body. Round up the usual suspects: the viable possibilities Having eliminated most of the suspects, either by showing that they couldn't possibly have done it, or by showing that there are many arguments against their guilt and only slim evidence for it, we can settle down to the three most likely suspects: Graendal, Lanfear, and Ishamael/Moridin. (Note: most of the evidence discussed centers on Graendal and Lanfear. I've included Moridin in the list of possible suspects mainly because we don't know enough to really eliminate him. The two front-runners for Asmo-killer are Lanfear and Graendal.) Ishamael/Moridin TPOD makes it clear that Moridin is Ishamael recycled. At this point, we don't know when he was created, and as far as we know, his first step in regaining control over the Shadow forces was killing Asmodean. In any case, there isn't really that much to discuss about him. He definitely satisfies means, motive, and opportunity (provided he wasn't dead at the time). He could have made himself recognised to Asmodean by using a OP disguise, although why would he bother? Body disposal wouldn't be a problem, and we have no way to know if he knows Asmo's fate (although even if he didn't kill him, it's likely that Mr. Nae'blis knows exactly what happened to the fellow). It would make sense for it to be a secret, since Moridin's existence and identity have been unknown by us and by the other Forsaken. Obviosity is not obvious, but it's within the realm of twisted possibility (Moridin is Ishy, who has come back from the "dead" twice before, so we might suspect he did so again). On the other hand, there is absolutely no evidence in favor of him having done it, either. Note that RJ's rejection of the "pun" theory could encompass Moridin killing Asmo, as well as kidnapping him. Lanfear Up until the appearance of Cyndane in TPOD, Lanfear looked like a very good suspect. The case against her is very strong. She's a channeller, so she had the means to kill him, the ability to enter and leave the Palace undetected, and a way to dispose of the body. Since Asmo had just seen her "die" earlier in the day, he would certainly have been shocked and terrified to see her strolling around the Palace. Lanfear's Motive Lanfear also had the strongest motive to kill Asmo. Lanfear gave Asmo to Rand "to teach him," knowing that Asmo was about the worst (and hence the safest) Forsaken you could pick as a teacher. But he was also the one who she could be sure would react the way she wanted him to once she shielded him. It would seem that she wasn't too interested in giving Rand all the secrets of the AoL. More likely, she just didn't want him gentling or killing himself because of his ignorance (see her reaction when he draws saidin through the sa'angreal in TGH-- though that could simply be fear for her own life). Here's Asmo's take on it: "Do you think Lanfear really intended me to teach you everything? If she had wanted that, she would have contrived to stay close so she could link us. She wants you to live, Lews Therin, but this time she means to be stronger than you." [TFOH: 3, Pale Shadows, 75]. When she confronted Rand at the docks, it is unlikely that she knew he had an angreal. Although she would certainly be hard pressed to shield him alone, it should have been no problem with an angreal, especially since he is untrained in her opinion, despite whatever he might have gleaned from Asmo. After she picked up the angreal, she attacked Rand, and he resisted. She increased her attempts to shield and hurt Rand, probably to her limit even with the angreal. But Rand (with his own angreal) held his ground. He even believed "He could end it, finish her. He could call down lightning, or wrap her in the fire she herself had used to kill..." [TFOH, 52, Choices, 631]. If Lanfear did not know that he had an angreal (she probably didn't), then she would have taken this as a very bad sign for her. Knowing that Asmodean was still "teaching" him stuff, and that she was the one who put him there, it is very likely that it would be a high priority to remove him, if Rand can foil even her strongest attempts to shield him. Furthermore, she would have blamed Asmodean's teaching for her defeat and humiliation, and thus she'd have wanted to get revenge. She's that type of gal. She SAID she was going to kill him In TSR, in the Stone of Tear, Lanfear comes to Rand as Selene, and reveals herself as a Forsaken . During that conversation, she proposes that Rand allow a male Forsaken to become his teacher. She continues in her old tack of seducing Rand with power (not The Power, just power), by describing how she and he will rule the world once he has knelt to the DO. She describes her entire plan in [TSR: 9, Decisions, 129]: "Kneel to the Great Lord, and he will set you above all others. He will leave you free to reign as you will, so long as you bend knee to him only once. To acknowledge him. No more than that. He told me this. Asmodean will teach you to wield the Power without it killing you, teach you what you can do with it. Let me help you. We can destroy all the others. The Great Lord will not care. We can destroy all of them, even Asmodean, once he has taught you all you need to know. You and I can rule the world together under the Great Lord, forever." (emphasis mine) The relevance of this quote to the matter at hand is obvious. All along, Lanfear has been planning to kill Asmodean, after he was done teaching Rand. Obviously, after the encounter at the docks, Lanfear has every reason to believe that Asmodean has taught Rand more than enough, more than she really wanted him to. In fact, if Lanfear did kill Asmodean, then this quote means that it really IS obvious who killed him. His fate corresponds exactly with Lanfear's plans for him. The "You? No!" evidence, and how it points to Lanfear It is obvious that Asmodean was indeed terrified of the person he saw. There are many people that Asmo would be afraid of, but it is doubtful that anyone but Lanfear would elicit quite this response from Asmo. Although Asmo may have reason to be afraid of many people, we know that Lanfear is the person he fears the most: "Even if he manages to convince the others that he has been a prisoner, they would still tear him apart, and he knows it. The weakest dog in the pack often suffers that fate. Besides, I watch his dreams on occasion. He dreams of you triumphing over the Great Lord and putting him up beside you on high. Sometimes he dreams of me." Her smile said those dreams were pleasant for her, but not so for Asmodean. [TFOH, 6, Gateways, 124] Even though Asmo knows all the Forsaken would rip him to shreds given the chance, the one he has nightmares about is Lanfear. Furthermore, just before getting whacked, Asmo was just thinking to himself about Lanfear being dead and how glad he was: "He was hardly sorry Lanfear was dead. Rahvin either, but Lanfear especially, for what she had done to him. He would laugh when each of the others died, too, and most for the last." [TFOH, 56, Glowing Embers, 681] Not thirty seconds after these thoughts pass through his mind, he opens the door and sees ... who? And he is shocked/terrified (big surprise). The combination of these things makes it seem likely that Lanfear was indeed the killer. (This scenario also plays into the "obvious" argument.) "Obviousity" and secrecy As discussed above, if any suspect can be said to be obviously the killer, from the moment he dies, it's Lanfear. She said she'd kill him, and he was (ironically?) thinking of her right before he died. Furthermore, the fact that his killer is still a secret, three books later, makes sense if Lanfear did it. Knowing that she killed Asmo would be a dead giveaway that she was active. The big problem Of course, there has to be a stumbling block. With all the great evidence in favor of Lanfear, there is a correspondingly large problem with her. Namely, as far as we know, she was extremely indisposed at the time of Asmo's death. As in dead. The "new" character Cyndane, introduced in TPOD, is almost certainly Lanfear in a new body (see section 1.2.5). The only way we know of for a person to get into a new body is to be killed and then reincarnated by the Dark One. The most likely time for Lanfear to have died is when she fell through the exploding doorway with Moiraine. If this happened, there is no way she could have been alive to kill Asmodean. However, there are ways (loony ways) to get around this. First, the new body could have come from the Foxes as the (possibly unintentional) result of some wish. Second, she could have gotten killed sometime after leaving Foxland. See section 1.2.5 for more details. Another point raised against Cyndane/Lanfear being the assassin is that Asmodean would not have recognised "Cyndane," let alone have been terrified of her. However, this objection can be applied to any of the channelling suspects. Lanfear would certainly want Asmo to know who was killing him, even if she wasn't her old self. Thus, she could have used a OP disguise to make "Cyndane" look like the old Lanfear. Likewise, any of the other Forsaken would have been wearing a disguise while walking around the Palace. Remember, this was right after Rand balefired one of their number with extreme prejudice. All of the Forsaken known to be alive at that time (Graendal, Sammael, Demandred, Semirhage, Mesaana) are cautious enough to not go trouncing through the Palace undisguised. Thus, in order for Asmo to recognise one of them as the killer, the killer would have had to remove her/his disguise. This is essentially the same as Lanfear/Cyndane donning a disguise to freak him out. (Also note that Lanfear is crazy enough to go walking around the Palace in a recognizable form.) Graendal Finally, we are left with Graendal. Graendal has some evidence working for her. For one thing, she has tried to assure Sammael that Asmodean is dead, which makes her one of the only Forsaken to express a belief that Asmodean was toasted. "`You [Sammael] know as much as I do,' Graendal said blithely, pausing for a sip from her goblet. `Myself, I think Lews Therin killed them [Asmodean, Lanfear, Moghedien]. [...] There are rumors out of Cairhien about Lanfear dying at Lews Therin's hands the same day he killed Rahvin.'" [LoC, 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 133] (Sammael PoV) Graendal says: "So many of us has died confronting him. [...] And Lanfear and Asmodean, whatever you believe. Possibly Moghedien" [LoC, 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 134] "`Asmodean and Lanfear are dead, and I [Graendal] am sure Moghedien must be, too.' She was surprised to hear her own voice, hoarse and unsteady." [LoC, 23, To Understand a Message, 348] (Graendal PoV) On the other hand, it should be noted that Graendal expresses as much certainty about Lanfear's demise as Asmodean's, and she sure didn't kill Lanfear. Her statements that Asmo must be dead could either be simple opinion, or she could have found out the same way that Demandred did-- from the DO. In fact, we know that Graendal has visited the DO: "Only she [Graendal] herself knew that she had made her own journey to Shayol Ghul and down to the lake of fire. Only she knew that the Great Lord had all but promised to name her Nae'blis" [LoC, Threads Woven of Shadow, 138] This memory includes no mention of Shaidar Haran, and furthermore, when SH appears to Graendal in [TPOD, 12, New Alliances, 266], she is not familiar with him. Thus, we know that SH was not present when Graendal made this trip to the Pit of Doom, and therefore, this trip might have occurred before the Super-Fade appeared. We first saw SH at the start of LOC, so Graendal's visit could have been before Asmodean's death. The idea is that the DO may have used the reward of Nae'blis to motivate Graendal to kill Asmo. There are other points in favor of Graendal being the killer. She's cautious and will thus probably plan well. She's also somewhat expendable. Sammael's required to fix Rand's attention, Demandred is needed to act as Taim. Mesaana is in too good a position (the White Tower) to endanger, and there are indications that Semirhage is working directly on the DO's order in another matter. The strongest argument in favor of Graendal, though, is that she is the only suspect without any major points against her. The only requirements which she seems to fail are 7 and 8. Namely, there is no reason for RJ to have kept it a secret for over five years, and there is no way Graendal is obviously the killer-- the case in her favor is mostly a process of elimination over the three books following TFOH. One thing which doesn't quite fit in with Graendal as the murderer is the bit in [TPOD, 12, New Alliances, 266] when SH talks to her. He tells her, "The Great Lord thought you might not take [Moggy's and Cyndane's] word, Graendal. The time when you could go your own way has passed." This implies that Graendal HAS been going her own way, not rubbing out fellow Forsaken at the DO's order. This leaves personal initiative and accidental meeting as the only motives for her to kill Asmo. From what we've seen of Graendal, she seems to be pretty happy to stay entrenched in Arad Doman. (Note, however, that she has ventured onto Rand's turf at least once, when she had sufficiently strong motivation. After Rand took Illion, she went there to remove evidence which would tie her to Sammael's schemes. [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 262]) XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.1.8: Could Lanfear be good? [Ruchira Datta, Korda, Carolyn Fusinato, and Roy Navarre as the Lanfear Pin-up of the Month Club] _________________________________________________________________ Lanfear presents a bit of an enigma. Many of her actions have led some people to believe that she is not 100% Evil. The argument is that she and Beidomon drilled the Bore into the DO's prison by accident, and only became Forsaken after that either due to the DO's direct action, or out of pride. Moreover, everyone would link her with all the DO's ravages that followed, thinking she released him on purpose, no matter what she did. Being an extremely proud person, it would be hard for her to admit that she had just made a colossal mistake. EVIDENCE: In the "Eyes of Charn" sequence [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 303-6], Charn perceives Mierin as a good person, and maintains this belief even after she became Lanfear. Up to TFoH (see refutation), it can be claimed that she hadn't done any inarguably evil acts. She has been deceptive-- but what would one expect from an Aes Sedai? She is jealous and possessive of Rand-- but note that she had not done anything to harm her competition, which would probably be very easy for her to do. (She met Egwene in Tel'aran'rhiod, if I recall correctly, but anyway Egwene had been eliminated from the category of "competition" by this time.) She told Ishamael in TDR that she was loyal to the Dark One and no other. But in TSR, she suggested to Rand that they supplant the DO together. As for the scene at the end of TFoH, she was insane and not responsible for her actions. She dislikes being called Mierin in the extreme. This could be taken several ways. One way to take it is that she wants her former self to be disassociated from her current evil ways-- she does not want to be reminded of what she once was, it is too painful. REFUTATION: I have always believed that Lanfear was evil, starting way back when we first meet her as Selene in TGH. She made my skin crawl. LTT, who even the Forsaken admit was an "honest man," said that Lanfear, even when she was Mierin, loved power more than anything else. What is the DO but the ultimate temptation of power? All of her actions in "helping" Rand have not been to further his cause against the DO, but to gain his trust and lust, so that she could control him. She does not love Rand/LTT; she wants him to be her obedient lap-dog, and to serve him up on a platter to the DO, so that she can be the most powerful of his servants. She would supplant the DO AND the Creator in a second if she could, and then be disappointed that she wasn't powerful enough. Having deceived Rand for so long, it would have been simple for her to deceive Charn, a follower of the Way of the Leaf. (It is obvious from looking at the Tinkers and the Ancient Aiel that Way-of-the-Leafers cannot believe that the world is a Bad Place with Bad People in it.) But anyway, evidence in TFoH closes the case for good. I do not refer to the skinning of Kadere, torturing of Egwene and Aviendha, killing of many bystanders, and attempted killing of Rand, although that provides plenty of evidence in itself, insanity or no. I refer to Moiraine's vision in the Rings of Rhuidean. [TFoH: 53, Fading Words, 637] If Moiraine had not jumped Lanfear, and let her have her way, Rand would be a) dead, or b) Lanfear's love-slave, with the crippled mind of LTT. These were Lanfear's plans. They are not the plans of a good person. Oh, and if you need further proof, recall the ecstasy with which she describes bathing in the DO's presence at Shayol Ghul. She LIKES it. Note that Lanfear did NOT send the trollocs who fought Sammael's trollocs in TSR. They were sent by Semirhage, on order of the DO. The DO, it seems, has been giving Rand aid for some time now, probably in the hopes of eventually turning him to the Dark Side. Any "help" Lanfear has done for Rand was probably in view of this end. Taking credit for rescuing him is certainly not past her. Carolyn F. adds, that in a letter she got from RJ, he said that Lanfear was fixated on possessing a man who never loved her. (I guess LTT was just using her for sex, eh?) Her desire for Rand is as much desire for power as for him personally. She could get her hands on the remote-control ter'angreal for the kick-ass sa'angreal and get credit for turning the Dragon Reborn over to the DO. She wants power for power's sake, not for Rand's sake. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.1.9: Was Ishamael really bound? _________________________________________________________________ The widespread belief in Randland is that all thirteen Forsaken were imprisoned with the DO when the Bore was sealed by LTT and the Hundred Companions. However, this doesn't seem to be entirely true. Ishamael appears bodily to LTT in the prologue to TEOTW. We know that he must really be there, because he cures LTT's insanity so that he will realize what he has done. From what we know of how channelling works, he could not have done this if he was only some kind of astral projection. That scene takes place shortly after the sealing of the Bore. So, Ishy was not bound right when the DO and the other Forsaken were sealed away. Furthermore, many events throughout the Third Age bear Ishy's fingerprints-- the Trolloc Wars (the Trollocs invading Manetheren carried the banner of Ba'alzamon), the creation and continued existence of the Black Ajah, the War of the Hundred Years. Ishy claimed to have influenced Hawkwing [TEOTW: 14, The Stag and Lion, 172].) The Third Age shows a pattern of humanity being kept in a state of disarray. Whenever the people showed signs of becoming unified (Compact of Ten Nations, Hawkwing's empire), some cataclysmic event occurred to split things up again. This worked out too well for the Shadow to be mere coincidence. Clearly, Ishy was active and in control of the Shadow's forces for quite a bit of, if not all of, the Third Age. Furthermore, we have the research of the post-breaking historian Aran son of Malan son of Senar (presumably an Ogier), as described in [Guide, 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 52]. This person claims that "there were sightings of, even encounters with, Ishamael after the Bore was sealed, in fact perhaps as much as forty years after." The proposed theory is that "it may have taken some years for Ishamael to be drawn fully into the trap with the other Forsaken.... Ishamael might well be thrown out of the prison holding the others and drawn back again on some regular cycle." Finally, there is the bit in [Guide: 12, The Reign of the High King, 114-5] about Hawkwing's advisor Jalwin Moerad. Moerad was a mysterious, shady character who insinuated himself into Hawkwing's court in FY 973. Moerad exhibited, "frequent long absences, a volatile temper, and a temperament that more than one observer recorded as 'more than half insane.'" Shortly after Moerad became a counselor (late summer FY 974), Hawkwing abruptly turned against the AS (who had previously had a very close relationship with Hawkwing). Moerad was contemptuous of AS. After Hawkwing's death, Moerad advised the three nobles who "came the closest to seizing the whole of Hawkwing's empire," and all three of them met untimely deaths. Finally, "Moerad never aged from the day he first appeared to the day he vanished, abruptly, some forty years later." The personality, the lack of aging, and the forty years business, along with Ishy's claim that he influenced Hawkwing make it clear that Moerad was Ishamael. So, it seems like Ishy was somehow "partially bound." That is, he was not completely locked away in the Dungeon Dimension with the rest of the Forsaken and the DO. He was definitely free right after the sealing of the Bore, and was most likely free at various points during the Third Age. Obviously, he was also the first of the Forsaken to be completely freed of the seals, by a long shot. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 1.2: The Forsaken: New Kids on the Block _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of characters who are or who may be Forsaken who are no longer in their original bodies. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.2.1: Who are Aran'gar and Osan'gar? _________________________________________________________________ We've been told since TEOTW that the DO is Lord of the Grave. It is about time he started acting it. In [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 59-61], we see "Aran'gar" and "Osan'gar," two minions of the Shadow brought back from the dead and put into new bodies. Osan'gar, at least, is one of the Forsaken; when he tells SH to stop choking Aran'gar, he thinks, "The thing had to obey one of the Chosen." [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 60]. It is a good first approximation to assume that they are both reincarnated Forsaken, and not some random Dreadlords. So, what Forsaken are available for reincarnation (i.e. are dead)? Aginor and Balthamel, Ishamael, Asmodean, Rahvin and Be'lal, and possibly Lanfear. Well, Rahvin and Be'lal died of balefire, and their souls are beyond even the reach of the DO. Asmodean was a traitor, and the DO apparently lumps him in with Rahvin as having "Died the final death" [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 15]. Even if Asm isn't dead, it is doubtful that he'd be in as high standing as the Gars, more likely in a situation like Moggy's, so it probably wasn't him. Furthermore, both the Gars were originally male. When Osan'gar tries to channel, he naturally reaches for saidin, not saidar. As for Aran'gar, she is extremely upset at being put into a woman's body, and Osan'gar thinks it is a "fine joke." Furthermore, in [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 333] Aran'gar thinks, "It was difficult now to really remember what life had been like as a man." This eliminates Lanfear. The remaining candidates are Aginor, Balthamel, and Ishamael. Since the appearance of the Gars in LOC, we've met another recycled Forsaken, Moridin. From ample evidence in ACOS and TPOD, we know that Moridin was Ishamael (See section 1.2.4). Therefore, the Gars must be the Toxic Twosome, Aginor and Balthamel. Now our only question is which is which. Osan'gar thinks to himself about having helped make the Trollocs and not liking the Halfmen who were an unexpected result of that experiment. We know that Aginor was very involved in creating the various Shadowspawn, and that he was unnerved by Fades, spending lots of time trying to discover how they "fade." In fact, from the Guide, we know that Aginor was the only one of the thirteen Forsaken to have worked on creating Shadowspawn [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 50-60]. Therefore, we can conclude that Osan'gar is Aginor. By a process of elimination, we can immediately conclude that Aran'gar is Balthamel. We have other evidence. From TEOTW and the Guide [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 54], we know that Balthamel enjoyed "the pleasures of the flesh." That is to say, he was a real lecher. Thus, it would be a great joke to put him in a female body. Even more interesting, Aran'gar (Halima) now has a job "kneading young girls," as Mark Loy puts it-- something right up Balthamel's alley. Finally, if all this wasn't convincing enough, we have a report from a post-ACOS book signing [Cincinnati, Ohio; 12 October, 1996]: Someone asked RJ about the 'gars, and mentioned that he'd seen theories that Lanfear was one of the 'gars. I was expecting a RAFO, but RJ gave the guy a disgusted look, and said that "No, Osan'gar and Aran'gar are Aginor and Balthamel." The guy said, "You're confirming this, and not hinting about it?" RJ replied (I'm paraphrasing here), "I'm confirming. After all, it's pretty obvious in the books that it's those two. After all, that's what Aginor thought was so funny; Balthamel, the lecher, was stuck in a female body." [Mike Lawson] The recycling of Aginor and Balthamel into new bodies did not come totally out of the blue. In [TEOTW: 50, Meetings at the Eye, 628], Aginor says, "Some of us are bound no longer. The seals weaken, Aes Sedai. Like Ishamael, we walk the world again, and soon the rest of us will come. I was too close to this world in my captivity, I and Balthamel, too close to the grinding of the Wheel, but soon the Great Lord of the Dark will be free, and give us new flesh..." (emphasis mine) XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.2.2: Is Dashiva Osan'gar? [Contributors: Michael Gonzalez, Chad Orzel, Pam Korda, Dylan Alexander, John Novak, Maia Bakroeva, Bryon Wasserman, Donal Wyckoff, Sean O'Hara, Konrad Gaertner, Brian Ritchie, Colin Fishy, Bill Woolsey, Kay-Arne Hansen, Aaron Bergman, Mark Loy, Christopher Kane, Alex Paradi, Emma Pease, G. Williams, Bill McCarthy, Chris Dewey, Fred Van Keuls] _________________________________________________________________ Corlan Dashiva is, to all appearances, a nasty, Taint-maddened psychopath of an Asha'man. However, many people think this is simply a cover for a Halima-type infiltration of the Black Tower by the DO's other Gar. In the case of Taim and Demandred (see Section 1.1.6), there are many arguments for why the character under suspicion could be a Forsaken, and little, if any, evidence which appears to be inconsistent with that idea. This is not the case with Dashiva. There are many good arguments in favor of him being Osan'gar. There are also many good arguments against that proposition. There are even some pieces of "evidence" which can be argued either way. Here, we present the arguments in favor of Dashiva=Osan'gar, and rebuttals, then we present the evidence which, depending on one's interpretation, can support or undermine the proposition. We end with arguments against Dashiva=Osan'gar, and rebuttals. Evidence that Dashiva is Osan'gar After LoC, I was certain that Osan'gar was an Asha'man. Now I believe that it must be Corlan Dashiva. I base this idea on the following circumstantial evidence, each piece of which alone proves nothing, but the totality of which, I believe, is best explained by Dashiva being Osan'gar. [Michael Gonzalez] 1) Similarity of appearance: Dashiva is a middle-aged man from the Black Hills [ACoS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84], parts of which are near, if not in, the Borderlands. Osan'gar has the body of a middle-aged Borderlander. Osan'gar has an "ordinary" face while Dashiva has a "plain" face [ACoS: 36, Blades, 571]. Rebuttal: Looking at the map, the Black Hills region is bigger than some countries. It starts SE of Saldaea, and extends SE to just SW of Tar Valon. Granted, the Black Hills region is sparsely populated, and given that people live there at all, it is reasonable to suppose that the most populous parts are those near established nations, or trade routes. One would expect people to live in the NW part, near Saldaea and Kandor, the SE part, near Tar Valon, and along the River Luan, which stretches down the southeastern two-thirds of the hills, and along the Maradon-Tar Valon road, which stretches along the whole length of the hills. This leaves a great deal of leeway for Dashiva's origins. There is no evidence that Dashiva is a Borderlander, only that he MIGHT be. Furthermore, the physical descriptions we have for both men are rather sketchy, and the validity of noting similarities between such minimal descriptions is questionable. 2) Swordsmanship: Dashiva seems to Rand to be physically awkward (getting used to a new body?) and unfamiliar with wearing a sword; to Rand, he "did not seem to know one end from the other." One wonders how many Borderlanders growing up on isolated farms have never learned to use a sword, given that the Trollocs have been more of less constantly raiding Borderland farms for the last couple thousand years or so. Rebuttal One would expect very few Black Hills farmers to know how to use a sword. For one thing, even the northern portions of the Black Hills have the Borderland countries of Kandor and Saldaea between them and the Blight. It's doubtful that many Trolloc raids come so far south, through the armed opposition of the Borderlanders. Even if our Black Hills farmer did worry about being attacked, it's doubtful that he'd use a sword for home defense. As we know from many references, such as people's reaction to Rand's sword in TEOTW and Mat's fight with Galad and Gawyn in Tar Valon, swords are not farmers' weapons. For one thing, they are expensive and require training. The Black Hills is an impoverished, sparsely-populated area. Where would a Black Hills farmer get the money for a sword, let alone training? Secondly, as the Aiel are so fond of pointing out, swords aren't useful for any other purpose. A farmer who fights is more likely to use a quarterstaff, a bow, or, at most, some sort of pike or spear. 3) Horsemanship: Dashiva is a lousy rider: "Dashiva, slumped in his gray's saddle like a man who had never seen a horse before..." [TPOD: 13, Floating Like Snow, 287]. If Dashiva really was a farmer, wouldn't he know how to ride a horse? He'd have to use horses to get his crops to market, plough his fields, etc. Note that none of the Two Riversians have problems with riding. Poverty can't be used as an excuse, because Dashiva claims that he was a great buyer of books (see below). Rebuttal: Maybe Dashiva used all his money for books, and thus couldn't afford a horse? Seriously, though, assuming that he had enough money to afford books and animals, he needn't be very practiced at riding. For one thing, Dashiva could have used oxen instead of horses for ploughing, etc. In addition, there is a difference between using a horse for pulling a cart or a plow and actually riding one-- the skills are definitely different. Also, there's a difference between sitting bareback on your plowhorse as it ambles down the path and riding an animal that's trained for war, or at least to be active. 4) The Great Outdoors: Dashiva doesn't like the outdoors: "Despite being a farmer, Dashiva disliked being out-of-doors unless the skies were clear." [TPOD: 13, Floating Like Snow, 287] This isn't exactly consistent with his story. Rebuttal: Maybe, maybe not. A farmer may be used to being outside in bad weather, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. Doing farm chores in the rain and snow is hardly a pleasant pastime. 5) Old Tongue: Dashiva is fluent in the Old Tongue, and talks to himself in it all the time. "Dashiva... muttered angrily under his breath. In the Old Tongue, which he spoke and read as fluently as a scholar. Rand knew a little, though not enough to understand what the fellow was mumbling." [TPOD: 13, Floating Like Snow 287] Dashiva claims that this ability is self-taught: "I read a great deal on the farm. Every book the peddlers brought by." [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 89]. The Old Tongue is not very common. Not to mention, you can't speak a language fluently if you've only learned it by reading. Even weirder is that Dashiva talks to himself in the Old Tongue-- how many people do you know who carry on a continual monologue in Latin? This is one of the strongest indications that there is Something Up With Dashiva, if not the strongest. Rebuttal: Dashiva's story could conceivably be true, although it's really a stretch. However, if Dashiva was a Forsaken, why would he do something which is such a giveaway? 6) Strength in the OP: When Rand awakens after being stabbed by Fain, Dashiva is holding almost as much saidin as Rand himself could have [ACoS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 639]. In TEoTW, Aginor (who is now Osan'gar) is described as supposedly being not much less powerful than Lews Therin or Ishamael. Furthermore, remember how in the beginning of LOC Rand orders Taim to report any man who learns too quickly? And how in the middle of LOC Taim appears and reports Narishma? As of TPOD Narishma is still significantly weaker than Flinn and Rand. But Dashiva never gets reported. Strange, wouldn't you say? Rebuttal: Dashiva could just be a strong channeller. Many of the Asha'man are very strong. Other possible explanations are: 1) Dashiva is the one who took Rand's fat-man angreal which he couldn't find after the battle at Dumai's Wells. Thus, Dashiva + angreal = Rand, but Dashiva by himself is weaker than Rand. Recall that a man can only sense how much power another man is holding at the moment, not what his natural potential is. 2) Rand was in a weakened state then, and was not able to draw as much Saidin as he normally could. When RJ says "Dashiva held almost as much as Rand could have," he means he held as much as Rand, at the moment, could have. Tired channellers cannot hold as much of the OP, so that would make the amount Dashiva held seem less spectacular. As for Taim not reporting Dashivan'gar as a fast learner, if this is to be counted as evidence, then one must suppose that Taim (be he Demandred or not) knows that Dashiva is Osan'gar. If Taim=Dem, then this implies that the two of them are cooperating, something which doesn't fit with Taim's general disapproval of Dashiva, or his anger at Dashiva joining the staged "defection" at the end of TPOD. It also doesn't fit with the idea that Dashivan'gar was placed in the Black Tower to keep an eye on Demandred (See below). 7) Speech Patterns: Dashiva talking to Rand about the danger of riding up to the palace in Cairhien in [ACOS:4, Into Cairhien, 108]: "All it needs is one man with a... a bow or a knife, and you don't see him in time." Did he need to think a moment for the word "bow?" Was he thinking "shocklance" or some other AoL weapon? When asked by Rand if he believes Rand's enemies have been asleep while he was away, Dashiva says, "I...grew up on a farm" ... "I don't know much about having enemies." Someone having to pause a sec to remember his cover story? Rebuttal: This, and Dashiva's other incidents of mindwandering, are easily explained by Dashiva being "a daydreamer, and maybe the taint on saidin is touching his brain already." [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84] 8) More Dashiva talking: Talking about healing: [ACOS: 36, Blades, 573] "Flinn knows what he is about. Already he can do things you Aes Sedai never dreamed of." (emphasis in original) Standard Forsaken derogatory emphasis on "Aes Sedai"; When Sammael mentions Aes Sedai to Carridin in [ACOS: 15, Insects, 289] the emphasis is presented identically. Rebuttal: That could be arrogant contempt for Aes Sedai in general, which seems to be a common trait among the whole Black Tower crowd. Not to mention, consider who the Asha'man have been learning from. Taim certainly has no love for AS, he has undoubtedly instilled his dislike in his students. 9) Still More Dashiva Talking: While Flinn Heals Rand in [ACOS: 36, Blades, 573]: '"Get on with it, Flinn," Dashiva muttered. "If he dies...." Nose wrinkled as though at a bad smell, he seemed unable to look away from Rand. His lips moved as he talked to himself, and once he made a sound, half sob, half bitter laugh, without his face changing one line.' Sounds like someone who doesn't like Rand and wouldn't mind seeing him die, but is charged by someone fear-inspiring with making sure Rand doesn't die too soon. Rebuttal: Or someone who is about three minutes from stripping naked and howling at the moon, confronted with the thought of the one man powerful enough to protect him and the other channelling men from dying a wretched death at Aes Sedai hands, not to mention keeping the Dark One from taking over the world. Furthermore, the concern for Rand's life which this argument ascribes to Dashivan'gar is utterly at odds with the fact that he tried to turn Rand into a crispy critter at the end of TPOD. 10) Reaction to Saidin-cleansing: When Rand speaks of cleansing Saidin everyone looks hopeful, EXCEPT Dashiva, he looks "poleaxed". The exact quote is, "Rand had not realized he had spoken any of his thoughts [about cleansing saidin] aloud. Narishma's eyes, and Morr's, and Hopwil's, belonged in one face, shining with sudden hope. Dashiva looked poleaxed." [TPOD: 14, Message from the M'Hael, 306] Rebuttal: Note that it doesn't say, "Dashiva looked horrified." "Dashiva looked poleaxed" doesn't necessarily mean that he's upset by the prospect, only that he's shocked and amazed that such a thing could be possible. Note that Torval, who quite possibly is a Darkfriend, has a decidedly positive reaction: "'That would be wondrous,' Torval said in a near whisper." 11) Reaction to killing of Forsaken: In [TPOD: 24, A Time for Iron, 483], Rand is boasting, '"Nobody stands nose-to-nose with the Dragon Reborn.... The Forsaken could tell him [The Seanchan commander] that, whoever he is. Right, Flinn? Dashiva?" Flinn nodded uncertainly. Dashiva flinched.' Dashiva could be flinching because he has faced Rand "nose-to-nose," and lost badly. Rebuttal: He could just as well be flinching at Rand's unbridled arrogance. 12) Sudden Lucidity? In [TPOD: 24, A Time for Iron, 467-469], Dashiva "breaks character": More often, [Dashiva] hardly seemed aware of anything past his own nose... It was something of a shock when Dashiva awkwardly booted his slab-sided mount ahead of the rest.... It was more than something of a shock when he seized saidin as soon as he reached Rand and wove a barrier around them against eavesdropping.... "There's something askew with saidin here, something amiss," Dashiva said, sounding not at all vague. In fact, he sounded...precise. And testy. A teacher lecturing a particularly dense pupil. Rand then thinks that Dashiva is pretty loony, but usually has a better grip on himself. He says, "I've been channeling longer than you, Dashiva. You're just feeling the taint more." Dashiva's response: Instead, he [Dashiva] opened his mouth angrily, then snapped it shut... "I am well aware how long you have channeled," he said in an icy, almost contemptuous voice, "but surely even you can feel it... I don't want to die or... or be burned out because you're blind! Look at my ward! Look at it!" Rand stared. Dashiva pushing himself forward was peculiar enough, but Dashiva in a temper? Even Rand notes that this degree of lucid behavior is very uncharacteristic for Dashiva. If he was really as loony as he usually acts, it's doubtful he'd be capable of such clarity of thought. It seems more like the extreme circumstances forced him to stop his "insane" act, and take Rand to task for his foolishness, even though it meant risking discovery. Rebuttal: After the Old Tongue, this piece of Dashiva=Osan'gar evidence is the hardest to explain. Perhaps the extreme circumstances forced Dashiva to pull himself together, and assert himself, taking Rand to task for his foolishness. If Dashiva's looniness is all an act, why spoil it with the OT mutterings? 13) Aesthetic meta-reason: Since Halima/Aran'gar, the right-handed dagger, is with the female Aes Sedai (Salidar faction), there's a certain attractive symmetry to Osan'gar, the left-handed dagger, being with the male Asha'man. Rebuttal: It would be just as, if not more, symmetrical for Osan'gar to be with the Tower Faction. After all, the Tower AS have actually engaged in a confrontation with the BT, unlike the SAS. Or, the "symmetry" may not exist at all. Evidence which Goes Both Ways 1) Perrin's Nose: Perrin gets a whiff of Dashiva after Rand rejects Dashiva's idea of gating into the palace at Cairhien: '"As my Lord Dragon commands." The fellow inclined his head, but he sounded sour, and he smelled... Perrin rubbed his nose. The smell... skittered, dodging wildly through fear and hate and anger and a dozen more emotions almost too quickly to make out. He no longer doubted the man was mad, however good a face the fellow put on.' [ACOS: 4, Into Cairhien, 108] How this fits with Dashiva=Osangar: Perrin attributes it to straightforward saidin madness, but that particular sequence of emotions looks like the sequence that the women felt through Moggy's a'dam whenever they made her do something she considered demeaning or below her rightful station. The emotional instability also fits with Osan'gar/Aginor being a little loony himself [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 59]. In other words, we have no evidence that Perrin can smell the special insanity odor, but rather insanity is a conclusion Perrin draws from what he does smell. How this fits with Dashiva not being Osan'gar: Dashiva's behaviour is also easily explained by Perrin's analysis, i.e. that Dashiva is crazy. The description of quickly-changing emotions is very similar to the description of how Perrin perceives Rand's quickly-changing emotions when LTT is acting up. In fact, just a few pages before the quote in question, we have: His [Rand's] scent made Perrin's ears try to lie back. Razor-sharp rage abruptly vanished in curiosity and caution, the one thin and probing, the other foglike; then slashing, murderous fury consumed both.... Nobody's scent changed that fast. Nobody's. [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 83] Furthermore, Aginor isn't any crazier than many of the other Forsaken (unstable, but not utterly mad). We are privy to Osan'gar's thoughts in [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 59-61]; Osan'gar seems reasonably sane, and quite alert and observant. It's one thing to act a bit scatterbrained, but can a channeller fake smells, and why would he even think to do so? If Dashiva's craziness is all an act, then Perrin shouldn't have smelt madness. Perrin hasn't ever been mistaken about what the smells he smells mean: confused, yes, but not incorrect. The nose knows. 2) Healing: Dashiva suggested to Flinn that he learn Healing: "I have no Talent for Healing," Dashiva said, twisting his mouth wryly. "You are the one who took my suggestion and learned." [ACOS: 36, Blades, 572] "Then one day, Dashiva here - pardon; Asha'man Dashiva - says he wonders why it's all the same, no matter if the man's got a broke leg or a cold, and we got to talking, and...Well, he's got no feel for it, himself, but me, seems I got the knack you might say. The Talent." [ACOS: 36, Blades, 573] Is Osan'gar: Dashiva knows that he himself doesn't have the Talent for Healing, yet it seems that Dashiva was able to recognize that Talent latent in Flinn well enough to suggest that Flinn in particular try it. This is knowledge Dashiva shouldn't have. Is not Osan'gar: i) It is not true that the Asha'man had no Healing abilities before Flinn. They had a less-sophisticated method used for field medicine. Apparently, Flinn had a talent for it, and Dashiva didn't: this was known from experience, not some sort of a priori evaluation on Dashiva's part. When the question of trying to improve Healing methods arose in conversation, it's only reasonable that Dashiva would recommend that Flinn experiment, rather than trying himself. ii) This actually provides more of an argument AGAINST Dashiva being a Forsaken than the other way around. Thus far, none of the Forsaken have been wont to share knowledge with anybody, unless it could benefit them. For example, while Alviarin has been in contact with many Forsaken, none of them offered to teach her anything before Mesaana did, and Mesaana only offered after Alviarin swore to be her particular flunky. Furthermore, Mesaana forbade Alviarin to share the knowledge she gained [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 43]. Graendal straight out refused to teach any of the Shaido WOs [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 355]. Moggy and Asmo only taught Our Heroes under extreme duress. Assuming Taim = Dem, he provides more evidence; he only wants the Asha'man to learn what he dictates; he doesn't want them going outside his curriculum. It is thus not reasonable to suppose that a Forsaken would teach some random guy how to Heal, or even lead him in teaching himself, out of the goodness of his heart. What would Osan'gar gain by teaching Flinn? iii) Furthermore, Osan'gar is Aginor, who was a top biological researcher during the AOL. 'He understood "the most basic structures of living things" better than anyone else in the Age.' [Guide, 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 53] He created the various Shadowspawn. This shows that he was skilled at manipulating biological material with the OP. That's what Healing is all about. Why would he pretend to be so bad at it? Since Aginor died right before Rand's eyes, and since Osan'gar has a completely new body, he'd hardly have to pretend to be totally incompetent at it to avoid suspicion. Why not just pretend to be as good as, say, Flinn is? Arguments against Dashiva being Osan'gar 1) He tried to kill Rand: During the attack on the Cairhien palace by the rogue Asha'man, the only one who takes a direct shot at Rand is Dashiva: The only warning he had was the sudden snarl that contorted Dashiva's face. Dashiva channeled, and with no time to think Rand wove... Air and Fire and Earth woven around himself just so. The fire that leaped from Dashiva erupted, shattering marble, flinging Rand back down the hallway, bounding and rolling in his cocoon. [TPOD: 29, A Cup of Sleep, 568] Dashiva's weave, had it hit Rand, would have certainly been lethal. The parts of it which bounced off the shield "shattered marble," and knocked the protected Rand far down the hallway. The shield was something dredged up from LTT's memories, and Dashiva could not have expected that Rand would know it, or that he'd use it in time (especially considering the scorn Dashiva showed toward's Rand's mental acumen during the Ebou Dar campaign). Because of this, it is extremely doubtful that Dashiva was "faking" trying to kill Rand. Furthermore, the "sudden snarl" on Dashiva's face right before he attacked shows that there was real emotion behind the attack. If he was faking it, such an extreme grimace would imply a degree of dramatic ability which is not consistent with the rest of Dashiva's behavior (Old Tongue muttering, a cover story which doesn't seem to hold up, and so forth). Now, the Dark One has given out the order that Rand must not be killed. One might expect one of the original, uncontrolled Forsaken (like Sammael) to disregard that order if a good opportunity presented itself. However, Osan'gar is one of the "reined in" Forsaken. He's already gotten his second chance, so disobeying a direct order like that should be the farthest thing from his mind. Right after he was resurrected, and is forced to submit to the will of Shaidar Haran, Osan'gar thinks, "It abraded, humbling himself before something that could be said to be as much his creation as the Trollocs, but he remembered death too clearly. He would grovel before a worm to avoid that again." [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 60-61] In a few months, he's forgotten all about it? Rebuttal: While it's not very likely, Dashiva could have been faking trying to kill Rand, or he could have assumed Rand would be able to block it. Alternatively, he could have gotten "caught up in the moment." Perhaps he fell victim to either momentary panic or momentary hatred overcoming instructions. 2) Whatever his mission, he's utterly failed: If Dashiva is Osan'gar, then he must have been sent to the Black Tower for a reason. If Taim is not Demandred, then Dashiva must have been sent to infiltrate the Black Tower, and gain some measure of control over it, as Aran'gar has done in Salidar. Getting chosen for Rand's personal guard essentially made that mission impossible. Before Rand chose him, Dashiva wasn't doing a very good job of infiltration. Dashivan'gar's first job would have been to get in good with somebody in power in the BT, but Taim doesn't think much of Dashiva [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84], and he isn't well-connected with the rank-and-file Asha'man, either. If Taim is Demandred, then it gets more complicated. Dashivan'gar must have been sent to the Black Tower to keep tabs on Taimandred. If it was to just spy on Taimandred, then the same problems arise as we described in the previous paragraph. It's a lot easier to spy on people if they like you and trust you. We could suppose that Dashivan'gar's mission was to get into Rand's confidence, rather than Taimandred's. However, this doesn't make sense, either. Under normal circumstances, the way an Asha'man would have gotten into Rand's entourage would be by being assigned by Taim, or by impressing Rand in some way. Either way would have necessitated Dashiva to act like a normal guy, not an unreliable lunatic. Rand used his ta'veren luck to pick Dashiva for his entourage. There is no way that could have been planned upon. If Dashiva is Osan'gar, why didn't he find a more predictable way to get close to Rand? Perhaps the mission which makes the most sense is if Dashivan'gar was assigned to go deep undercover in the BT, with the goal of making sure Rand didn't get killed in case Taimandred decided to "pull a Sammy." However, this just brings us back to the question of why did Dashivan'gar a) try to kill Rand, and b) abandon his post by running away with Gedwyn et al? Rebuttal: See explanation for 1, since that's what we've come back around to. 3) Comparison with Aran'gar: One of the major arguments in favor of Dashiva being Osan'gar is that the background he claims to have (humble farmer) doesn't agree very well with his actions. This, in and of itself, casts doubt on the theory. Osan'gar's counterpart, Aran'gar/Halima, was set up with an impeccable cover, founded upon the information wrung from Cabriana Mecandes by Semirhage, and backed up by the Black Sitter Delana. Are we to believe that so much effort was put into placing Aran'gar, but Osan'gar was given a flimsy cover story which he couldn't live up to? This isn't consistent. Rebuttal: Perhaps the body that Aginor/Osan'gar was "stuffed" into actually was a humble farmer from the Black Hills and for the sake of simplicity, authenticity, and/or against the remote possibility that someone from the area, perhaps another recruit of Taim's, would recognize the shell, they--Shadar Haran, Moridin, the DO...those in charge of the plan to place Aginor in the enemy camp--decided it was just best to tell the truth as to where the Dashiva flesh was from. Perhaps those in charge figured that the taint would be enough cover for any strange, but benign, behavior on Dashivan'gar's part. Taim even mentions that he thinks that Dashiva has already been touched by taint when we are first introduced to Dashiva. Another argument is that somebody infiltrating the Asha'man wouldn't need as much of a good alibi as somebody infiltrating the AS. The AM are a motley crew of boys, mercenaries, fanatics, criminals, etc. hastily snatched from all over the continent in the last few months. They probably have many secrets and tell each other untruthful or no personal histories, with no way of checking the facts. The tight organization of ancient suspicious women of the White Tower is a much more difficult group to infiltrate. 4) The "Limper" argument: If we assume that Dashiva is Osan'gar, then we must conclude that Osan'gar/Aginor is a Big Fat Loser. He's the Limper of the Forsaken. (This will only make sense if you've read Glen Cook's Black Company books. If you haven't just accept Limper = Big Fat Loser.) Dashivan'gar couldn't maintain a simple cover story. He constantly spoke to himself in the Old Tongue. He made no effort to make himself liked by anybody he could be hoping to influence. He slipped up by revealing his superior skills and knowledge during the Ebou Dar campaign. Finally, he screwed over his second chance at life by trying to kill Rand, in front of witnesses who are probably Demandred's agents. This shambles is one of "those chosen to rule the world forever"? Rebuttal: Maybe he cracked due to the strain of being raised from the dead? XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.2.3: What is the deal with Halima and Egwene's headaches? _________________________________________________________________ In ACOS, Egwene came down with a spate of nasty headaches. The only way she can manage to get rid of them is for the lovely Halima to give her a massage. Halima just happens to be one of the DO's recycled agents, Aran'gar. Coincidence? I think not. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book-- cause problems so you can win somebody's confidence by fixing them. The evidence: Eg's headaches started the day after Logain escaped, and the day Eg and Halima had their first conversation [ACOS: 12, A Morning of Victory, 249]. Aran'gar had been trying very hard to get rid of Logain, either to gentle him again, or to kill him. In [LOC: 52, Weaves of the Power, 651]. Egwene says, "They will gentle him, Siuan... That, or someone really will do what Delana has been hinting at. I won't allow murder!" Delana is by now only a pawn, voicing Halima's wishes. To Halima Logain is dangerous, being the only one around who can sense her ability to channel saidin, or rather, her actual channelling. As soon as Logain is gone, Halima's free to make her move on Egwene. It's entirely possible that something more sinister than a Forsaken gaining Eg's confidence is going on. As Halima rubs Eg, Eg answers questions in her mind. Halima says, "Just put yourself in my hands." Eg's sleepy response to this is, "That will be nice." Granted, the first interpretation of this is Halima's offer of a full-body massage, and Eg thinking of "bringing Sheriam to heel." Even so, it's a rather ominous exchange, considering who the parties are. Could Halima be poking poor Eg with a bit of Compulsion? If she is, it doesn't seem to involve much. In TPOD, Egwene certainly seemed to be in full control of her faculties. If Halima isn't doing any mind-control stuff on Egwene, then what is she up to? Elizabeth Cornwall points out, "given Halima's access to Egwene, I can't imagine that she wants Egwene to fail in her current plans. The proof of this being a negative one: that if Halima wanted to bring Egwene down, she certainly could have already done so in any number of ways. (Two possibilities: direct compulsion during the headache sessions to brainwash Egwene into seeing some other plan as better; having had Delana "reveal" to the SAS Hall that Egwene was Siuan's dupe and that the attack on Elaida was being pursued because of Siuan's influence)." John Novak adds, "Just killing her outright would have sufficed, too. I'm sure Halima could manage something that would leave no trace of foul play." Since no serious ill has befallen Egwene since she's been open to Halima's influence, we must conclude that either Halima is woefully incompetent, or that (at least some of) Egwene's goals coincide with Halima's, at the moment. One such goal is the AS civil war. Continued conflict between the TAS and the SAS is definitely in the DO's best interest-- the two groups of AS are tied up fighting each other, instead of fighting the Shadow, or aiding the Dragon Reborn. So long as the conflict between the two factions continues, the DO's interest is served. Halima's methods may change if it starts to look like Egwene's plans for reuniting the Tower are coming to fruition. To that end, Halima may be content to simply increase her access to and influence over Egwene so that when she has to act, it will be easier. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.2.4: Who is Moridin? Why do we think the Watcher and Wanderer are him? _________________________________________________________________ Why are we sure that Moridin is Ishamael returned from the grave? [John Novak] Evidence from ACOS: It is fairly obvious from multiple references that Moridin is a reincarnated Forsaken. He makes many references to the Age of Legends as though he were there. He has personal knowledge of the other Forsaken. His sobriquet translates to 'Death.' Aginor and Balthamel, though reincarnated, are accounted for as Osan'gar and Aran'gar respectively. Be'lal and Rahvin were Balefired, and as such are beyond the Dark One's ability to restore. Asmodean, in Robert Jordan's own words, is roadkill. Sammael, though possibly dead, did not die until well after the introduction of Moridin in the narrative. No other male Forsaken have been killed in action. (And from [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 81], we know that Moridin is and was male, since he remarks that he would be able to use an angreal tuned to Saidin.) The Toxic Twins (Aginor and Balthamel) were recycled, and all they did to merit it was getting killed at the Eye of the World. Ishy kept the faith alive for 3000+ years, AND kept the other Forsaken somewhat in line before he died. Surely, that merits some consideration in the "bring back from the dead" competition; Ishy was overdue for a reappearance. Ishamael had been a particularly loyal servant of the Dark One, as well as the most effective. If any of the thirteen would deserve reincarnation, it would be Ishamael, for he seemed not only to serve the Dark One, but to serve him faithfully. It is likely that Ishamael knew that the Dark One's plans were not for conquest but for total destruction, and still he served. (In the AOL, he "called for the complete destruction of the old order-- indeed, the complete destruction of everything." [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 51] Moridin uses the True Power to the exclusion of the One Power. In fact, he uses it for "routine" things for which the OP would be fine: like picking up chess pieces, Balefire, and Travelling. The True Power, according to Moghedien, is used only extremely rarely, even by the Forsaken. Of the original Forsaken, Ishamael is the only one who we've seen use the TP. Both Moridin and Ishamael display strange visual effects about their eyes. Moridin has the saa, while Ishamael had those odd bursts of flame. It has been speculated that the flames are an advanced version of the saa, or that the flames were a method to disguise the saa. New evidence from TPOD: The Prologue of TPOD is particularly revealing. * Moridin's blank-faced servants are identical to Ishamael's servants from the prologue of TGH. Similarly, the chamber in which he sits contains a fire that gives no heat and consumes no logs. It has no physical means of egress. This is identical in tone to the description given of Ishamael's chambers through TEOTW and TGH. * (Also in the Prologue) while Moridin is musing over his re-creation of an historical game of sha'rah, it becomes extremely clear that the game is a metaphor for the struggle between the Dark One and the rest of the world, with Rand (or the Dragon) embodied in the Fisher piece. One can win by either controlling and moving the Fisher piece to a particular location, by allowing your opponent to hold the Fisher and leaving him only legal moves which similarly result in victory for you. The style of the game parallels Ishamael's actions through the first three volumes very well, always manipulating Rand even though he was in the hands of other powers. The final method of victory is simply to be the last man standing. Moridin muses that he had only attempted that strategy once, with very painful results. This is almost certainly a metaphorical reference to his desperate assault on Rand at the end of tDR, the painful results being his own physical death. * The final observation from the prologue of TPOD is that Moridin becomes angry as he muses over the fact that he does not understand the origins of the name or the traditional shape of the Fisher piece on the game board. He becomes angry because he regards that knowledge, likely lost from some previous turning of the Wheel, as his right. Ishamael is the only other villain to worry seriously over events from other cycles, as he asserts in the prologue of tEotW that he and Lews Therin have fought again and again since the beginning of time. According to [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 50], Ishamael believed "the war between the Shadow and the soul of Lews Therin had gone on since the creatio, an endless war between the Great Lord of the Dark and the Creator using human surrogates." * In [TPOD: 3, Unweaving, 81], Moridin notes several modern developments of the Aes Sedai and other channellers which had been unknown and/or considered impossible in the Age of Legends. Among them, he lists the Warder bond and notes that he had known about that for a long, long time. Of all the Forsaken, only Ishamael could possibly have known about the Warder bonds for more than a few years, since only Ishamael had been active at all since the Strike at Shayol Ghul. This piece of evidence alone proves that Moridin is Ishamael. Objections to the Moridin/Ishamael theory from before TPOD included the suggestion that Ishamael did not work well behind the scenes and that Ishamael might be expected to exert more influence on the remaining Forsaken. However, since we now know the general shape of Ishamael's activities during his rare periods of activity (as hinted at throughout the series and almost spelled out in the Guide) as well as his care in creating a cell structure for the Black Ajah, it is clear that Ishamael excels at behind the scenes manipulations. Furthermore, in TPOD, it becomes clear that Moridin is indeed exerting more direct control over the remaining Forsaken. In ACOS, he takes direct control of Moghedien through one mindtrap, and is known to control another. In TPOD, it is revealed that 'Cyndane' (most likely a reincarnated Lanfear) is the other mindtrap victim. It is also clear that Moridin and Shaidar Haran are cooperating. In [ACOS, 25, Mindtrap, 417], it is Shaidar Haran who delivers Moghedien to Moridin, and Moridin who controls her mindtrap. In [TPOD: 12, New Alliances], it is Moghedien and Cyndane (both under Moridin's control) who visit Graendal to tell her to accept Moridin as Nae'blis. Shaidar Haran later appears to convince her. So we have three Forsaken under Moridin's control, which alone is significant. Extrapolating this pattern, we also note that when Aginor and Balthamel return as Osan'gar and Aran'gar in LoC, it is Shaidar Haran who first greets them. It is not at all unlikely that they also encountered Moridin offstage sometime thereafter. If true, this would place five Forsaken directly under his control. The Watcher and the Wanderer [Korda, Paul Khangure] In addition to Moridin's overt appearance in ACOS, there were two other appearances by mysterious men of the Dark persuasion in that book. First, we met the Watcher, i.e. the guy watching Graendal and Sammael in [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 356]. Then, we met Moridin in [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 417]. Finally, there is the "wanderer" that Rand met in Shadar Logoth during his fight with Sammael in [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 656]. Even before TPOD, it was reasonable to assume that all three were the same person. After all, how many mysterious True Power channellers do we need? Given that neither the "Watcher" or "Wanderer" appear as distinct individuals in TPOD, we have even more reason to believe that both are Moridin, who is Ishamael. Let us consider the specific bits of evidence. The Watcher We meet the Watcher in [ACOS, 20, Patterns within Patterns, 356-358]: 1. Obviously a Forsaken from the AOL. He knows about AOL technology - callboxes, Mask of Mirrors and fancloth, knows the Forsaken by name and appearance. He definitely knew Sammael, as opposed to knowing of him. Just a guy from the AOL is not enough; he has to be someone who interacted and got to know Sammael's strengths and weaknesses. Notice there was no fear of interfering with not just two of the Forsaken, but with a potential battle between them! Furthermore, he uses the phrase "so-called Aiel" which we have no reason to expect anybody except a relic from the AoL to use; the Forsaken are the only AoL relics in action, except Birgitte and "LTT." 2. Senses saidin being held by Sammael, skin prickles when Graendal channels. This indicates that he has the ability to channel saidin. 3. He uses the TP. Note that he does so even though he can use the OP. This indicates that he's probably uses it more than your average Forsaken--he could have Travelled with the OP, but he used the TP instead. Note that by the time he left, Sam had left the vicinity, so there was no chance of him being detected. 4. He has eyebrows and eyes. (i.e. He is not Shaidar Haran.) 5. He has "expertise in many areas Sammael scorned. In some he favored, too." 6. He doesn't seem to have the same attitude as the "normal" Forsaken towards Nae'blis-ness. In [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 358], Sammael mentions (lies) to Graendal that he "will be Nae'blis." Graendal then stops arguing with Sam and follows him through his gateway. We then have: "The watcher smiled crookedly behind his fancloth skulker's mask. Nae'blis. That explained what had brought Graendal to heel, what had stayed her from killing Sammael. Even she would be blinded by that." It seems as if the Watcher is NOT blinded by the "Nae'blis" carrot, unlike the "normal" Forsaken. 7. Obviously, he has an interest in what Sammael and Graendal are up to, since he is spying on them. What can we conclude from these observations? From 1 and 2, we can conclude that the Watcher is Moridin/Ishamael, Osan'gar/Aginor, or Demandred. Aran'gar/Balthamel is out, because she thinks of herself as "she," as indicated in [TPOD, 16, Unexpected Absences, 332-333]. The relative lack of interest in Sammael's supposed Nae'blis-hood rules Demandred out. (Recall Demandred's reaction to "WOULD YOU BE NAE'BLISS?" in the LOC Prologue.) Nothing completely rules out the possibility that the Watcher is Osan'gar/Aginor, but that is mostly because we don't know much about Osan'gar at all. From the description of Aginor's activities during the AOL (Shayol Ghul's resident Mad Scientist), it is somewhat doubtful that he'd have expertise in ANY areas Sammael "favored." The last, and overwhelmingly most likely, possibility is Moridin. This is indicated by the Watcher's use of the TP in a circumstance where the OP would have sufficed. Given the general attitude of the Forsaken towards the TP, it is unlikely that there are TWO such TP addicts around, and that Osan'gar is one of them. Unlike Moggy, Osan'gar didn't even consider using the True Power when he found himself shielded by Shaidar Haran. The fact that the Watcher was keeping tabs on Sammael and Graendal connect him to both the Wanderer (who interfered with Sammael and Rand's fight in SL-- something he could have only done if he knew what Sammy had been up to) and Moridin. We know Moridin was watching Sammael, because he thinks about how foolish Sam's plans are in [TPOD, 2, Unweaving, 81-82], and his minions Moggy and Cyndane seem to know about Graendal's connection with Sam when they visit her in [TPOD, 12, New Alliances, 262-268]. Thus, everything points to the Wanderer being Moridin. The Wanderer We see the Wanderer in [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 656-659]: 1. Description: Big fellow. Has a deep voice. Little older than Rand. Black coat, Black hair. Rand doesn't recognise him. 2. He's most likely not a Third Age person. Knows Sammael, including how Sammael thinks. He clearly knows Sam fairly well, and thus is probably from the AOL. Furthermore, he has "never been afraid of Aes Sedai." Everybody in Randland proper (i.e. not Seanchan, not Aiel, and not Sea Folk) grows up hearing stories of Aes Sedai like those the Emond's Fielders did. Such stories engender some sort of awe in the listener, yet this guy acts like AS are no problem, and has never thought otherwise. This comment is easily understandible if he's from the AOL-- back then, he WAS an Aes Sedai, and modern AS are but "untrained children" to him. 3. He uses the TP instead of the OP (Balefire and disappears without Rand sensing Saidin or Saidar). This is a situation where using the TP instead of the OP could be dangerous-- it might make Rand suspicious-- and yet the Wanderer uses it. This is evidence that the Wanderer is a TP addict. 4. Even apart from his TP use, he is clearly a Minion of Darkness. He calls Rand a fool, he doesn't "care to see [Rand] die today," he doesn't "intend to carry [Rand] on [his] shoulders, or kill Sammael." He's clearly only helping Rand because it coincides with some plan of his, not because he particularly cares about Rand's wellbeing. He certainly doesn't like Rand; when he falls down after the crossed-streams BF incident, Rand offers him a hand, but the Wanderer refuses "with a grimace." 5. [From the RJ aol.com chat, 27 June 1996]: "Question: There is a mystery man who helps Rand in the last chapter of ACOS...is this a new character, or have we seen him elsewhere. RJ: Well, we've certainly seen him earlier in CROWN OF SWORDS." Given that the Wanderer must be a Forsaken (#2, #3, #4), we are left with the same three suspects we had for the Watcher-- Demandred, Osan'gar, and Moridin. The physical description (#1) does not match Demandred or Osan'gar (neither are young). In fact, the description matches Moridin quite well. From [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 417-418]: "The speaker was a tall, broad-shouldered young man in black boots and breeches, and a flowing white shirt unlaced at the top, who watched her with startlingly blue eyes ..." He has a deep voice. He has a strong chin, else he'd be worthy of Graendal's collection. He looks to be just a little older than Rand, "Not many years past twenty." The Wanderer's size, hair color, age, voice, and fashion sense all match with Moridin's, as does his TP addiction. The attention to and interference with Sammael's plans also agree with what we know Moridin (and the Watcher) have been up to. RJ's remark that the Wanderer is somebody we saw earlier in ACOS certainly works if he is Moridin. Furthermore, his remarks to Rand, which indicate that he regards Rand as a tool or a piece in a game, bring to mind Ishamael's comments to Rand in the first three books, and also Moridin's analysis of the sha'rah game in [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 42-44]. All of this indicates that the Wanderer is Moridin. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.2.5: Who is Cyndane, and where did she come from? _________________________________________________________________ Cyndane is a "new" character in TPOD. She appears in [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 262-268], when she and Moghedien visit Graendal to bring her into the fold. Of course, we must immediately ask, "who is she really?" First, let's look at the facts we have about her: What do we know about Cyndane? Her name means "last chance" in the OT. She is "a short young woman with long silver hair and vivid blue eyes" and has an "impressive bosom," of which, in Graendal's opinion, she doesn't make very effective use. Although she is short, she appears to be "striving for every inch of height." Cyndane works with Moghedien in Moridin's service. She appears wearing the same red-and-black dress sported by Moggy, which we know from [ACOS: 30, The First Cup, 483] is Moridin's "livery." Between Moggy and herself, Cyndane is the leader, although her "place in [Moridin's] eyes is not far better than [Moggy's]." Cyndane and Mog's identical reactions to some unknown stimulus (gasping and shuddering) also parallel Mog's description of her feelings when Moridin plays with her mindtrap [ACOS: 30, The First Cup, 484]. Cyndane and Moghedien hate each other with a passion. We also know that Cyndane was already mindtrapped when Moggy met Moridin; Mog glimpsed a second mindtrap when Moridin pulled hers out in [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 419]. Personality-wise, she has a haughty attitude: "By her demeanor, she might have been a Prime Counselor forced to endure the company of common laborers and intent on ignoring their existence." Outwardly, she's cool and collected, but inside, she has a temper; Graendal describes her as "a beautiful doll carved from ice, with hidden fires." Cyndane is not the least bit cowed by the Forsaken; Graendal's analysis is: "The girl knew she spoke to one of the Chosen, and yet her tone remained frost. Even given her strength, this was no simple Friend of the Dark. Unless she was insane." She disapproves of Graendal's use of strong Compulsion on her "servants," and has no compunction about expressing her scorn of this practice to Graendal's face. Finally, Graendal can sense her strength in the OP, which means that Cyndane channels Saidar, and she is stronger then Graendal. What can we conclude about Cyndane What conclusions can we draw from all this? Quite a few, actually. For one thing, she's almost certainly not a random DF from the Third Age; it is likely that she is a Forsaken. This conclusion can be reached by considering her situation. The fact that she is mindtrapped indicates that she is somebody who, like Moggy, is very valuable and useful to the DO/Moridin, but whose past actions have shown that she cannot be relied upon to do the "right" thing without direct supervision and control. She's also powerful and valuable enough that the usual methods of control-- simple intimidation, torture, Compulsion, etc.-- would not produce the desired result of her being in control of her abilities, but totally under the thumb of an overseer. No Third Ager we've seen thus far has been given such consideration. Furthermore, trained channellers of Forsaken-level strength are almost unheard of in the Third Age. Finally, given Moridin's utter contempt for the Third Age, it is unlikely that he'd place a Third Ager over an AOLer, even if that AOLer was Moghedien. Add to this her complete lack of fear, or even caution, when confronting and insulting Graendal, and it seems that Cyndane (or at least the mind controlling her body) must be from the Age of Legends. Since we have such slim knowledge about the conditions under which the DO can recycle a person, we can't absolutely rule out the possibility that Cyndane is some AOL dreadlord who we've never heard of before. There are some arguments against this, though. First, we have no other evidence of the DO bringing back anybody else who died in the AOL or after the Bore was sealed. The only other resurrectees we've seen have died in the Third Age, and were recycled within a few years of their deaths (Aginor/Osan'gar, Balthamel/Aran'gar, Ishamael/Moridin, Isam/Slayer (possibly)). Secondly, according to the Guide [Guide: 5, The DO and the Male Forsaken, 49-50], the thirteen Forsaken were the strongest of the AS who turned to the Shadow; during the AOL, they managed to finish off anybody who "equaled or approached [them] in strength." Apparently, the DO did not deem those who failed to survive the winnowing process to be worthy of resurrection during the War of Power, why would he deem them worthy now? Finally, one must consider the fact that it has been over 3000 years since these Dreadlords died; they could have been reborn during the interval, possibly multiple times. If that were the case, it is far from certain that the DO could resurrect them with their old AOL personalities. If she is an unknown AOL resurrectee, there is no point in discussing the question any further. So, henceforth, we will assume that she is, in fact, somebody we've seen before. Who is she, then? The only Forsaken who are unaccounted for when we first meet Cyndane are Lanfear, Sammael, and Asmodean. Cyndane cannot be Sammael, because Sammael was still alive and in his own body when Moggy was mindtrapped. As mentioned above, at that time, Cyndane was also mindtrapped (and Sammael definitely was not). As for Asmodean, he's probably permanently dead; in [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 15], the DO associates Asmo with Rahvin, who has "DIED THE FINAL DEATH." Furthermore, Asmo is a worse traitor than Moggy-- there was more free will in his decision to help Rand than in Mog's a'dam-compelled teaching of El and Ny. It is unlikely that he'd be set above Mog. This leaves us with only one option: Lanfear. Further evidence that Cyndane = Lanfear, rather than Asmodean, is that she channels Saidar, not Saidin. Granted, we only have one example of a man recycled into a woman's body (Aran'gar), so we can't really say if Aran'gar's channelling of Saidin is the rule, or an exception. However, it is the only thing we have to go on, and that example indicates that a recycled Asmodean would channel Saidin, regardless of the sex of the body he was put into. Furthermore, a man, remembering everything about his life as a Saidin-channeller, would not be immediately be able to channel Saidar, if he was put into a Saidar-channelling body. We've been told time and time again about the vast differences between how the Power works for men and women. It follows that a man would have to go through lots of training before he could channel Saidar with any skill. Thus, Cyndane's soul ought to be female, as well as her body. Even more evidence arises from Cyndane's personality and behavior. The juxtaposition of a cool demeanor and a fiery temper match Lanfear very well. She "strives for every inch of height," implying that she's used to being taller. We know that Lanfear was tall from [TSR: 9, Decisions, 127]. So, the best guess for Cyndane's former identity is Lanfear. If she is Lanfear, how did she come to this state? The last we saw of Lanfear, she was knocked through the doorway to Foxland by Moiraine, and the doorway melted. The big question is what happened to her that she ended up with a new body (and a mindtrap)? There are two basic ideas. One is that she died "off-screen" and was recycled by the DO in the same way as the Gars and Moridin. The other idea is that the new body is a consequence, possibly unintentional, of one the wishes she made in Foxland. Since we have absolutely no idea what happened to Moir and Lanfear after they fell through the door, it is difficult to choose one of the many options. We'll just look at the various possibilities, and point out any points in favor of or against them. Lanfear died, and was recycled by the DO If she was killed at some point, and recycled by the DO in the usual fashion, we must ask, "when did she die?" The possibilities are: * She died when she went through the doorway. * She was killed in Finnland, by Moiraine or by the Foxes. * She escaped from Finnland, but died when she got back to Randland. How could Lanfear have died when she went through the door? One option is that the destruction of the doorway itself killed her. However, if that was the case, then one would expect that Moiraine would have been killed as well. Since we know Moiraine is not dead (see section 2.2.6), this scenario is unlikely. Another possibility is that she was killed by drawing too much Power. "Koby Kobia" explains: "If we recall the incident in TFOH, Lanfear was drawing deeply on the bracelet angreal when Moiraine struck. She was probably drawing every particle of the OP she could stand through the angreal, and it must have been a humongous amount because she was winning against Rand and his angreal, when Moiraine cannoned into her and clawed away the angreal as the two of them fell through the doorway. Now, an angreal allows a person to channel a lot more of the OP than the person can channel unaided. What happens if the angreal is suddenly stripped away while is person is straining to draw as much OP as he/she can?" If she wasn't able to release the Source quickly enough, she would have been stilled at the very least, and it's quite possible that she'd have been "burnt to a crisp" like Aginor at the end of TEOTW. If Lanfear didn't die from the Power, there are other ways she could have perished. Moiraine could have got a lucky strike in, and finished her off on the other side of the doorway. This is improbable because Lanfear was much more powerful and skilled than Moiraine. The Forsaken would have had every advantage in a fight between the two of them. Moiraine has only been able to take Forsaken down by surprise (Be'lal, tackling Lanfear), and if she didn't kill or incapacitate Lanfear right off, it's unlikely she'd have any defenses in the long run. The exception, of course, would be if Lanfear was stilled, and Moiraine wasn't. On yet another hand, Moiraine might have been stilled in the doorway's destruction, as well. If Moiraine didn't kill her, Lanfear might have been killed by the Foxes, if she didn't deal with them wisely. Mat's experience with them certainly would have been lethal if Rand hadn't known CPR. When Moiraine told El, Eg, and Ny about the Snake doorway in Tear, where one can get three questions answered, she said, "Questions touching the Shadow have dire consequences. If you asked about the Black Ajah, you might be returned dead, or come out a gibbering madwoman, if you came out at all." [TSR: 7, Doorways,95] It has been suggested that the Foxes might have a similar reaction to wishes "touching the Shadow." Given who Lanfear is, it's possible that anything she wished for would be connected to the Shadow. This idea that Lanfear was killed by the Foxes presupposes that she was stilled by drawing too much Power or by the doorway explosion. If she still had channelling ability, she could have defended herself from the Foxes like Rand defended himself from the Snakes in TSR. On the other hand, there are reasons to believe that the Foxes wouldn't have immediately killed Lanfear for being Forsaken. Firstly, we don't know that the Foxes have the same problem with the Shadow which the Snakes have. Secondly, Lanfear could have asked for personal things which didn't directly involve the Shadow, for example, having channelling ability restored if she was stilled, or having Lews Therin love her, or having Moiraine detained, or getting back to Randland. One might want to consider that Lanfear might have known as much about the doorways as Moiraine, and possibly more. The doors, like (almost) all ter'angreal, date from before the Breaking, and Lanfear was a OP-scientist during the AOL. It's not that unlikely that she'd be aware of the doorways and at least some of their properties, and know enough to avoid getting killed. Another question which has a bearing on this issue is whether the DO can retrieve the souls of dead Forsaken from other dimensions. A final possibility for Lanfear's death is that she survived and escaped from Finnland, and died at some later point. This idea is sketchy in that it begs the questions of how did she manage to die, and why did it happen "off-screen." None of the primary Good Guys killed her; they'd have noticed. This leaves either assassination by somebody on the Dark Side, or an accidental death. Most of the "loose" Forsaken (i.e. those not tied to Shaidar Haran and/or Moridin) have expressed ignorance of Lanfear's whereabouts. This leaves a direct order from Moridin/SH/the DO, and if that was the case, why bother killing her just to get her in a mindtrap? Surely it would have been just as easy to send her to SG for the same treatment as Moggy. One could always suppose that she tripped, fell down some stairs, and broke her neck, all off-screen, but that would just be incredibly lame. Lanfear did not die; the new body is the result of a wish Just because Lanfear has a new look, we shouldn't immediately assume that she got it in the same way (from the DO) that the other "new" Forsaken got theirs. The TPOD Glossary entry on "Forsaken" has something a bit weird to say on the matter: "Moridin... may be yet another of the dead Forsaken brought back from the grave by the Dark One. The same possibility may exist regarding the woman calling herself Cyndane, but... speculation as to the identities of Moridin and Cyndane may prove futile until more is learned." [TPOD: Glossary, entry "Forsaken," 598]. Clearly, this is RJ making fun of us, but it could also be a signal that Cyndane might not be wholly what she seems: Lanfear resurrected by the DO. (Moridin is obviously Ishamael. (See section 1.2.4)). So, what alternative is there? If she is Lanfear, and wasn't resurrected by the DO, she had to have gotten the body someplace else. The most likely source is the Foxes. We know that they grant wishes in ways which are often not quite what the wisher expected or desired (witness the restoration of Mat's memory). We also know that they demand a "price" for the granting of wishes, and will exact one of their choosing if the wisher does not negotiate one. In Mat's case, the "price" was for him to be hung from the Tree of Life when he was returned to Rhuidean. Now, while Lanfear would never voluntarily change her legendary looks, might have wished something which unexpectedly resulted in a change of body. For example, if she was stilled after falling through the door, she certainly would have asked for her channelling ability to be restored. This could have been granted, in a twisted way, by putting her mind into a new body which could channel. Another idea is that she asked for Rand/LTT to love her, and she was put into a body which was reminiscent of the long-dead Ilyena. Of course, this idea depends on Cyndane looking like Ilyena. The only thing we know about Ilyena's looks is that she was blonde. Cyndane is also blonde, although she is described as silver-blonde, while Ilyena was golden-blonde. An objection to that idea is that Ilyena was the wife of a very famous, prominent Aes Sedai, and as such, her appearance would have been widely known (like, say, Hillary Clinton's is today). Surely Graendal would have commented upon Cyndane's resemblance to Ilyena, if such a resemblance did indeed exist. If Cyndane is Lanfear, why was she mindtrapped? Moghedien was mindtrapped for betraying the DO by teaching those who would oppose the Shadow. What did Lanfear do to merit the same treatment? It's simple: like Moghedien, she demonstrated that she could not be relied upon to put the DO's interests over her own personal desires and needs, if a conflict arose. She offered to ally with Rand to supplant the Creator and the DO both. While this may have been just talk, she did enable, even cause, Asmodean's defection. Essentially, she committed the same transgression as Moghedien, albeit in a less direct fashion-- she helped somebody opposing the Shadow learn skills which would make him more likely to succeed. The conversion of Rand to the DO is a Shadow priority. If Rand had remained ignorant of channelling, his lack of control could have served as a powerful motivation to turn to the Dark Side. Providing a non-Shadow-controlled tutor for Rand removed that motivation. Finally, her psychotic episode at the Cairhien docks, where she tried to kill Rand, and made a general hash of things, was a clear indication that she could not be relied upon to act in the Shadow's best interests, without strong supervision. What about the body? [John Hamby, Steven Cooper] It has been proposed that the origninal owner of Cyndane's body was Cabriana Mecandes. This is the AS who was tortured by Semirhage in LOC, to get information for Halima's infiltration of the SAS. The evidence is scant, but suggestive: From [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 188-190]: * "A pale-haired silk-clad woman..." * "The woman's blue eyes bulged." * "...her head flung from side to side, flailing her hair..." Cyndane is described as having "long silver hair and vivid blue eyes" [TPOD 12, New Alliances, 262]. The blue eyes and long hair match, and silver hair and pale hair could be considered as matching also. On the other hand, there are missing pieces in the description of Mecandes. Cyndane is unusually short, and apparently has "huge tracts of land." (If you don't understand that last bit, proceed to your local video store and rent Monty Python and the Holy Grail.) Neither of these distinguishing features is noted by Semirhage. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.2.6: Moridin's Nine Sha'rah Players _________________________________________________________________ In [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 42-43], Moridin is playing his favorite AOL strategy game (against himself): "A complex game, sha'rah, ancient long before the War of Power. Sha'rah, tcheran, and no'ri ... each had adherents ... but Moridin had always favored sha'rah. Only nine people living even remembered the game. He had been a master of it." This section, in particular the "nine people living" bit, could be very important, or it could mean nothing. People have interpreted that bit in two ways: 1) "Only nine people living even remembered the game [existed]." 2) "Only nine people living even remembered [how to play] the game." The former interpretation means that we can, conceivably, count off which of the Forsaken are alive, to Moridin's knowledge. The latter interpretation does not give us so much knowledge, although it still tells us a little. So, who could these "nine" be? Since the game is unknown in the Third Age, the nine must be from the AOL. The only people around from the AOL are the Forsaken. The ones who are around who we know that Moridin knows about are: Moridin, Moghedien, Mesaana, Graendal, Semirhage, and Demandred. That's six. We also have the Gars, possibly Sammael, and possibly Lanfear, who is probably Cyndane-- the occupant of Moridin's second mindtrap. (Rahvin, Be'lal, and most likely Asmodean are permanently dead, so they are not in the counting.) Including all of the viable possibilities, the total reaches ten, which is one more than the nine enumerated by Moridin. If we cannot eliminate one of those last four, then we must conclude that Moridin was referring to nine people who could play the game, and that one of the Forsaken simply wasn't into board games. So, let us examine the possibilities: Sammael: Sammael apparently died at the end of ACOS. This makes him a good candidate for not being counted among the nine, or does it? Note that Moridin's second scene in TPOD is in [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 81-84], where he watches Elayne and Nynaeve's party depart the Tarasin Palace via gateway. This scene occurs the same day that they use the Bowl of Winds. From [TPOD: 7, A Goatpen, 160], Perrin thinks that "more than half a week" (over five days in Randland) has passed since "a lace of OP streaking high across the sky had created quite a stir among the AS and WOs. And with Grady and Neald.... Neald said it made him think of wind." This description matches with that of the Bowl's action. The next day, Perrin meets Queen Alliandre, and she mentions that "four days ago Illian fell to the Dragon Reborn." [TPOD: 10, Changes, 228] This matches with the timing as figured from data in ACOS: The using/finding of the Bowl occurs the day after the Festival of Birds, when Nynaeve meets and marries Lan. The Festival of Birds is six nights before the half-moon [ACOS, 29, The Festival of Birds, 454]. Rand's attack on Sammael takes place two days after his injury at the hands of Fain [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 617], and the injury took place on the day Min assures Rand that their "comforting" was mutually voluntary. This is four days before the half-moon. Thus, we can conclude that the Moridin scene in Chapter 2 to TPOD takes place two days before Sammael "dies" in Shadar Logoth. There is no indication that Moridin's timeline flows backwards in TPOD between the scene in the Prologue and the scene in Chapter 2. The reasonable conclusion is that the Chapter 2 scene occurs after the Prologue scene, and thus, both occur before the fight between Rand and Sammael. This implies that Sammael was definitely alive when Moridin pondered about the nine players. Aran'gar and Osan'gar: The Gars are definitely Balthamel and Aginor, respectively, and thus they both must be aware of the game's existence. The only way for only one of them to be eliminated from Moridin's count is for Moridin to be ignorant of one of the Gars' existence, or at least of his/her identity. However, if he knew that Balthamel had been resurrected as a person named "Aran'gar," he'd suspect that there was an "Osan'gar" out there, and that it was Balthamel's old pal Aginor. The only other alternative is that Moridin is ignorant of both the Gars, and that there is yet another AOLer wandering around who we don't know about, but who Moridin does. This could, conceivably, be Asmodean, but the probability of him having been resurrected and not mindtrapped is so vanishingly small that it isn't worth considering seriously. Note that this argument implies that Moridin knows about the Gars, no matter how the "nine" remark is interpreted. Cyndane/Lanfear: Cyndane was mindtrapped even before Moghedien, so she is definitely alive when Moridin makes the "nine" count. If she is indeed Lanfear in a new body (see section 1.2.5), then she must be included in the number of people who know of the game's existence. The only way for her to not be counted as a person who knows of sha'rah is if she is a totally new character, from the Third Age. So, if Moridin meant "only nine people living even remembered the game existed," then we must conclude one of the following: 1. RJ did some extremely poor writing, and the scene with Moridin in the Prologue of TPOD occurs after the scene with Moridin in Chapter 2 of TPOD, even though there is absolutely no indication that this is the case. 2. Moridin does not know of Aran'gar and Osan'gar, and there is an unknown AOL person wandering around in Randland. It has been suggested that this could be LTT (which would have interesting implications about the LTT situation), or Birgitte. 3. Cyndane is not Lanfear, or any other AOL person, just an unprecedentedly powerful female channeller from the Third Age who ran so afoul of Ishy/Moridin that she was mindtrapped, and yet we've never heard of her. Most of those options imply that RJ can't plot his way out of a paper bag, but they are within the realm of conceivability. One other option is that Moridin is not including himself in the nine people who remember the game, but if that were the case, it would have made more sense to say "Only nine other people even remembered the game." On the other hand, if Moridin meant "Only nine people living even remembered how to play the game," then the sentence doesn't mean much. It does imply that Moridin knows about Aran'gar and Osan'gar, since without them, the total number of potential players doesn't even reach nine. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 1.3: How's that work for the Dark? _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of the nature of various things from the Dark Side (e.g. the Taint, the Black Ajah, Shadowspawn, etc.). XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.3.1: What are those black threads on the male Forsaken? [Hawk, Korda] _________________________________________________________________ When Rand has battled the male Forsaken, he has sometimes seen black threads, wires, or cords running off from them. This is seen when Rand battles Ishy in [TEOTW: 51, Against the Shadow, 637-40], and Asmodean in [TSR: 58, The Traps of Rhuidean, 671-675]. So what's the deal with these strings? The thick black threads are the Forsaken's connection to the DO. The connection with the DO is what keeps the male Forsaken from falling prey to the madness from the taint on Saidin (see Asmodean's statements to Rand in TSR after his black "thread" was severed). Rand's thread in TEotW was silver and thinner because it was from that pure pool of saidin that was the Eye of the World. We've never seen the threads on a female Forsaken, so it is possible that the threads are themselves the protection from the taint. Perhaps they act as a kind of filter on Saidin, or a conduit through which the DO siphons off the taint when the Forsaken draws upon the Source. It's also been suggested that the threads are a connection for channelling the True Power. This isn't very likely. The problems with this idea are: 1) the female Forsaken can use the TP, but nobody ever sees the black cords on them, 2) the black cords were seen on Asmodean, and of all the Forsaken, the one who we'd least expect to use the very dangerous TP in an instance where the OP would serve just as well (Skimming) is Asmodean, and 3) From [ACOS book signing, Dunwoody, Georgia; 9 October, 1996, report by Erica Sadun], "Access to the TP is a matter of wanting it and the dark one letting you. NOT black cords." Another suggestion is that the presence or absence of the threads could be used to identify male Forsaken. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The black cords are only seen/sensed under very special circumstances. Rand has only seen them in two places--T'A'R and the in-between space used for Skimming. Note that Rand has seen male Forsaken without seeing the cords: Aginor and Balthamel at the Eye and Be'lal in the Heart of the Stone. Furthermore, he doesn't ALWAYS see the black threads when he's in TAR with a Forsaken--he never saw them on Rahvin. So, the black threads are not a reliable way to identify Forsaken under any circumstances, even those under which the threads have been seen in the past. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.3.2: Fifty Ways to Kill a Gholam _________________________________________________________________ The Gholam seems to be the hardest-to-kill monster RJ has introduced thus far. What, exactly, is it? We have information on it from Birgitte, who has some memories of the War of Power, [ACOS: 40, Promises to Keep, 606-607], from Elayne, Mat, etc's encounter with one in [ACOS: 39, Six Stories, 598-600], and from the short gholam POV scene in [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84-85]. Gholam were created by Aginor [LOC, 23, To Understand a Message, 347] for the express purpose of killing channellers, although they're pretty handy at killing non-channellers, as well. The OP can't touch them; the effect of channelling at a gholam is exactly the same as channelling at a person wearing Mat's foxy medallion (i.e. the flows break apart on contact). Furthermore, they are immune to conventional weapons, too: nobody is able to harm the one who Mat fights with swords, etc, and the gholam itself thinks "it had never encountered anything that could harm it. Until that man with the medallion" [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84]. They can sense the ability to channel at a distance of about 50 paces, and they can detect use of the OP at greater distances (it felt the channelling at the Kin's farm). They look like normal human beings on the outside. Inside is another matter. They have no bones, and can squeeze under a door, and are very strong, and very quick. (Think the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.) Only six were ever made; three have a masculine outward appearance, three feminine. They have at least a rudimentary intelligence (Mat chats with the one he fights in Ebou Dar), and they are living things, not some sort of machine. (Mat surmises (actually, Birgitte surmises) that the one they met was "kept alive" since the Breaking in a stasis box.) They feed on blood. There is some way to control a gholam, and force it to do one's bidding. The Ebou Dar gholam thinks: "The one who commanded it wanted [Mat] dead.... for the time being, it was constrained. For its entire existence it had been compelled to obey one or another human, but its mind held the concept of not being constrained [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84-85]. We can draw some further conclusions, namely, that unlike the T1000, they don't have the ability to assume any form, only liquid form and their humanoid form. (If not, why specify that 3 are male-shaped, and 3 are female-shaped?) Where have we seen gholam? We've seen two for certain, namely the one in Ebou Dar, and the one that killed poor Herid Fel in Cairhien at the end of LOC. There is one previous possible gholam encounter, which took place "off-screen." This is the killing of Lord Barthanes in TGH. Barthanes was clearly killed at Ishy's instigation because he helped the renegade DF, Padan Fain, get away with the Horn of Valere. Barthanes died in a very similar fashion to Fel, i.e. he was ripped limb-from-limb. Furthermore, this took place in the same building as Fel's demise. Again, this may or may not be a gholam-induced death, but it is worth mentioning as a possibility. How can you hurt/kill/dispose of a Gholam? The only thing we know for certain that can injure a gholam is Mat's foxy medallion. When Mat smacks the Ebou Dar gholam with it in [ACOS: 38, Six Stories, 598], the gholam was burned-- "The medallion fell across the man's cheek. The man screamed. Smoke rose around the edges of the foxhead, and a sizzle like bacon frying....A raw red brand marked where the foxhead had fallen." What we do not know is why the medallion hurt the gholam. There are two possibilities: It's the magic, stupid Both the medallion and the gholam have the unusual property that they somehow neutralize flows of the OP. (Note that the actual mechanism employed by each may be different.) It is possible that some kind of adverse reaction occurred when the medallion came into contact with the gholam's body. While the medallion didn't get characteristically cold, it did seemingly get hot. It is difficult to be more precise, because we don't know how either the medallion or the gholam actually work. Perhaps it is because the gholam are made with/are held together with/have some connection with the OP, and the medallion negates the OP. Or, perhaps it's a "like charges repel" sort of deal. Or, maybe the gholam is a kind of "living ter'angreal," and the effect is due to an adverse reaction between similar ter'angreal, as described in [TDR: 23, Sealed, 217]. If it is the case that the magic is the key, then a gholam could probably be killed by prolonged contact with some weapon/ter'angreal made to copy the medallion's effect. This is problematic, bc the medallion is currently buried under a wall, along with its wearer. An argument against the theory that the medallion's ability to negate flows is the key, is that then the gholam probably would have been hurt by contact w/ Mat himself, and not just the foxhead. [James Huckaby] Then again, maybe not. As stated above, we don't really know how the medallion works. It was pointed out that when Mat was wrestling the gholam, the foxhead fell out of Mat's "open" shirt: "Struggling for air, he [Mat] pushed himself up, foxhead dangling from his open shirt." [ACOS: 38, Six Stories, 597] So, if the medallion works only when it is in contact with the wearer, then Mat may not have been in contact w/ it when he touched the gholam. [Jason Wilson] Of course, this objection does not apply to the idea that the reaction was due to the "similar ter'angreal interference" effect. You've got the silver The medallion is made out of silver [TSR, 26, The Dedicated, 306-307], and this is the key to its anti-Gholam capabilities. The argument for silver is more of an argument against the medallion's magical properties, combined with some cross-pollination from werewolf and vampire legends. It is not likely that the foxhead works because it is destroying flows, because the foxhead doesn't get cold after damaging the gholam, it just has "the cool of silver." [ACOS: 38, Six Stories, 598] Loony idea: When the gholamstuff and silver come into contact, there is a chemical reaction. This reaction is exothermic--the heat is produced by the reaction, not by the medallion. An argument against this theory is that it seems kind of silly. Why would the Forsaken make such specific, deadly anti-AS assassins if they have such a common, easily exploitable Achilles' heel? Why would the Forsaken be so wary of them that they limited their number to six? [Tim Yoon]--"Oh No! A gholam's chasing us!" "How much money do you have on you?" [Aaron Bergman] The former question can be rationalized by saying that the Forsaken counted on the fact that people wouldn't think to use silver on something the OP can't stop. This idea does NOT explain the objection that if it was so easily defeated if you knew the key, the Forsaken wouldn't have been so wary of it that they only made six. Furthermore, the Gholam thinks to itself [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84] that "it had never encountered anything that could harm it" until it met the medallion. In all of its existence it never encountered a common metal like silver? Unlikely. Got any more bright ideas? Many. Here are some of the more popular ideas for how to get rid of a Gholam: 1) Indirect effects of the OP: The gholam's material breaks up OP flows just like Mat's medallion, making it immune to the OP. Like the wearer of the foxhead, it is likely that this immunity doesn't extend to indirect effects. One could try dropping something heavy on it, or zapping it with lightning, or something like that. Doubtless, it is immune to some of these (considering its oozey nature, I doubt dropping a safe on it would have much permanent effect), but something might work. Balefire probably won't work; it is very likely a direct effect. 2) The T-1000 Effect: Melt it. If one channelled enough heat into it, or dropped it into a volcano, it might lose all molecular cohesion. Furthermore, we know it is vulnerable to heat: the heat generated when the medallion touches it cooks its "flesh" (I use the term loosely.). 3) One of These Days, I'm Going to Cut You Into Little Pieces: while stabbing a gholam doesn't hurt it, it may be that if you dismember it, and separate its pieces far enough (perhaps by the judicious use of Gateways), it won't be able to reassemble itself. Then again, maybe it would. Using a Gateway to cut it (like Graendal's poor servant in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 137]) probably wouldn't work-- the edges of the Gateway are made of Power, and so the Gate would dissolve upon touching the gholam. 4) Out of This World: Open a Gateway to the Skimming Place. Knock the gholam through (throw a big rock at it, or something), and close the Gateway. According to Egwene, the chances of ever opening into that bit of Skimming Space are very low, so chances are the gholam will be permanently Lost in Space. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.3.3: The "True Power" [Khangure and Korda] _________________________________________________________________ What do we know about the "True Power"? * It is the power of the Dark One. [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 412] * The ability to use it is granted specifically by the DO [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 419]. It may be that one must get permission each time one uses it ("The True Power was denied her [Moggy], of course--that could be drawn only with the Great Lord's blessing... [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 416]). This seems like a somewhat awkward way to run things, so maybe Moggy just means that she can't use it while she's on the DO's shit list. * "What can be done with the True Power is very similar to what can be done with the One Power." [RJ, aol.com Q and A session, 27 June, 1996] * One sign of extensive TP use is the black dots in the eyes, which Moggy calls "saa." The dots are visible from both the outside [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 418] and from the inside [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 356]. We do not know whether the frequency at which an outside observer sees them is the same as that at which the user sees them. It seems likely that they come more frequently when one is actually using the TP, since the Watcher's dots come faster just before he uses it to "Travel": "The black flecks filled his eyes, a horizontal blizzard....To his ears, the world screamed as he used the TP to rip a small hole and step outside the Pattern." [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 358] * The TP is much more addictive than the OP. "In the long run, the TP was far more addictive than the OP; a strong will could hold down the desire to draw more saidar or saidin, but she [Moggy] did not believe the will existed strong enough to resist the TP, once the saa appear." [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 418] * The TP is very dangerous, and has a high price. "The final price [for using the TP] was different, but no less terrible." [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 419] "There was a price, to be sure, one that grew with each use, but he [the Watcher] had always been willing to pay the price when it was necessary." [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 356] We don't know what this "price" is. * As far as Moggy knows, only 30 or 31 people have ever been granted the use of the TP. ("Only twenty-nine others have ever been granted..." [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 419]. I dunno if Moggy is counting herself in the 29 (i.e. only 29 others besides Moridin), or not (only 29 others besides the people in the room). * The Forsaken have the ability to use the TP. "Among the living, only the Chosen knew how to tap the TP..." [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 412] * Even among the Forsaken, "few are foolish enough to [use the TP] except in case of dire need" [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 412] * The TP can not "be detected except by who wielded it." [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 356] This is worded vaguely, but RJ has clarified it: "No one can tell if you're using the True Power except the Dark One, of course." [RJ, Amer. Online chat, 27-6-96] * If Moggy's knowledge of the TP is reliable, than only people who can channel the OP can use the TP. We know this from the fact that as soon as Moggy realizes Moridin is a user of the TP, she immediately assumes that he can channel: "This Moridin had tapped into the TP, and more than once. Much more. She knew that some men who could channel survived in this time aside from al'Thor...but she had not expected the Great Lord to allow one that particular honor." [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 418] Where have we seen the True Power used, before ACOS? The TP is not new in ACOS. We've seen it and heard of it before, always in the hands of Ishamael. In [TEOTW: Prologue, Dragonmount, xi] Ish uses it to "heal" LTT of his madness. '"I was never very skilled at Healing, and I follow a different power now....I fear Shai'tan's healing is different from the sort you know...." He extended his hands and the light dimmed as if a shadow had been laid across the sun.' In Rand's fight with Ish in [TDR: 55, What is Written in Prophecy, 570], Ishy does something at the end which, in retrospect, is almost certainly TP: '"I cannot be defeated! Aid me!" Some of the darkness shrouding him drifted into his hands, formed into a ball so black it seemed to soak up even the light of Callandor. Sudden triumph blazed in the flames of his eyes.' In general, a lot of the weird stuff Ishy did can probably be attributed to the TP. Whenever he was seen, he always had a "seething blackness" surrounding him, which "boiled up" when he was about to do something nasty to Rand (example: the fight at the end of TGH when Ish gives Rand his first unhealable wound). Ish was certainly one of the "fools" who used the TP in cases other than dire need. His lack of humanity is probably part of the "price" one pays for using the TP. His glowing eyes and mouth might be some advanced version of the saa. In [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 306], it is mentioned that Lanfear/Mierin had said she "had found a new source for the One Power," usable by both men and women. Considering that her "new source" turned out to be the DO, it is possible that this is a reference to the TP. Whether Lanfear knew that this was the DO or not is a different argument... Wild Speculation * The taint on saidin is due to the TP being mixed into saidin by the DO. * The black cords seen on some of the male Forsaken are not taint-protection, but a connection to the TP. The problems with this idea are: 1) The female Forsaken have the ability to use the TP, but nobody has ever seen the cords on a woman, and 2) Asmodean is one of the people the cords were seen on, [TSR: 58, The Traps of Rhuidean, 671] and of all the Forsaken, the cowardly Asmodean is, IMO, the least likely to use the TP, given its dangers, especially for something (skimming) that could be accomplished via the much-less-dangerous OP, 3) From [ACOS book signing, Dunwoody, Georgia; 9 October, 1996, report by Erica Sadun], "Access to the TP is a matter of wanting it and the dark one letting you. NOT black cords." XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.3.4: Where do Trollocs and Myrddraal come from? _________________________________________________________________ [Sources: A letter from RJ in which I foolishly asked whether trollocs breed, or whether they're grown in a big vat at Shayol Ghul; and various "monster-of-the-day lessons" sprinkled throughout the books.] * The original source was a mixing of human and animal genes in an attempt to produce the "perfect soldier," as envisioned by somebody (Aginor) who'd never seen actual combat. * There are female Trollocs, but we don't want to know more than that. * Where Myrddraal come from: occasionally, a Trolloc offspring is a genetic throwback in the direction of the original human stock, but not all the way back, and twisted. Thus, eyeless but with super vision, very strong (but not as strong as a Trolloc), and the shadow-traveling ability. * Myrddraal take their "pleasures" with human females, who suffer horribly from the experience; it drives them mad, if they survive at all. Of course, the diapers of baby Myrddraal don't wave in the wind. :) XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.3.5: Are Black Ajah bound by the Oath Rod? _________________________________________________________________ First, we know that BA can violate the three AS Oaths with impunity: * They can violate the Third Oath: In [TSR: 38, 863, Hidden Faces, 438], Liandrin wishes she had the ability to kill with the Power, like Chesmal (another BA). This implies that Chesmal can, and has done so. * They can violate the First Oath: In [TFOH: 34, A Silver Arrow, 394], Liandrin attacks the wounded Moghedien, attempting to Compel her. Moggy strikes back, and Liandrin says, "Y-you do not understand, Great M-mistress...I only wished to help you to have the good sleep." This was definitely not her intention. Her intention was to have Moggy be her obedient slave. A few pages later, Liandrin tells Moggy that she will be Moggy's "faithful dog," and in the next sentence tries to get Temaile and Chesmal to try to betray Moggy. If she meant one, the other must be a lie. In [TFOH: 19, Memories, 260], Alviarin says to Fain, "Now answer my questions, or two corpses will be found here in the morning instead of one." (The one being the dead Accepted) Fain thinks to himself, "There would be two in any case, whether he answered her with suitable lies or not; she did not mean to let him live." Obviously Fain thinks she can lie, and do you really think Alviarin meant to let him go? * In [ACOS: 40, Spears, 626] Galina makes it clear that the BA are not bound by the Three Oaths: "She had broken free of the Three Oaths on joining the Black Ajah, replacing them with a new trinity..." So, the BA are not bound the the Three Oaths that the non-black AS swear. However, the BA still have the Ageless look and the shortened lifespan which are characteristic of people bound by the OR. They have to, in order to blend in with non-black AS. So, it is likely that the "new trinity" of Dark Oaths sworn by the BA are taken on the Oath Rod. There is further evidence for this. Galina knows that Oath Rods can be used to remove Oaths: "If [Sevanna's "binder"] was a second Oath Rod, it could be used to remove any oath she swore now." [TPOD: 11, Questions and an Oath, 255] This is not general knowledge among AS (Seaine and Pevara, both high-ranking AS, had to figure that by themselves.), so we can conclude that she knows it from experience. That is, the BA are freed from the Three Oaths via the Oath Rod. It means that the BA induction involves the Tower's OR-- Galina is only familiar with the Tower's Rod (Number 3). It's therefore reasonable to guess that the Black Ajah Oaths are administered via Oath Rod. What sort of Oaths? In TPOD, we have the supposition that there is some sort of Oath that the BA must take, to not betray the BA or perhaps their plans. This comes up when the golden girls can't get Ispan to spill her guts about the BA no matter what they do [TPOD: 20, Into Andor, 399]. This would also explain Joiya Byar's "confession" about the supposed BA plan to use Taim as a False Dragon to discredit Rand. That obviously never happened, and so it appears that Joiya lied, while her fellow prisoner, Amico, told the truth about the plan to get something in Tanchico to harm Rand. This fits well with the idea that the BA swear an Oath not to betray the Ajah. Amico, having been stilled, was released from any Oaths that she took on an Oath Rod. Thus, she could spill the beans when pressed. Joiya, however, had no such release, so had no alternative than to either lie, or to grovel saying "I'd LIKE to tell you, really, but I can't!!" [Laura Parkinson] XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.3.6: Are the Seals connected to the Taint? _________________________________________________________________ Are the Seals the source of the Taint on Saidin? Will the Taint go away when all the Seals are broken? Here's why the answer might be "yes." The idea that the Seals are what allow the DO to Taint Saidin, and that the Taint will vanish when the Seals break is based upon the following facts: 1. The Taint appeared when the DO was Sealed away at the end of the War of Power. 2. The Seals are made purely of Saidin; the Taint only affects Saidin. 3. Rand asked the *finn about purifying Saidin. He then discussed the answer with Herid Fel. 4. Herid Fel's note said "Belief and order give strength. Have to clear rubble before you can build." Then he was killed by a Gholam before he could explain what he meant by that. 5. Taim, who may be Demandred, appeared to be upset when Rand looked like he was about to break one of the Seals. 6. Rand's idea of how to remove the Taint is "very dangerous." [TPOD, 14, Message from the M'Hael, 306] From these facts, we can construct the following idea: The only connection the DO has to the world is the Seals (in the same way that a wall is a connection between two rooms). Thus, if the DO was to affect the world in any way, it would have to be through the Seals. The Seals are made of Saidin. They provide a connection from the DO to the male half of the True Source. This is what causes the Taint. It stands to reason, then, that if the Seals are all broken, the DO's direct contact with Saidin will be broken, and thus the Taint will go away. There are problems with this. First, it supposes that the Taint must be continually replenished in order to remain active. However, this needn't be the case. It's possible that the DO did the Tainting just before/as it was being sealed, and the Taint perpetuated itself, afterwards. Fel's comment about clearing rubble was incredibly vague, and could have referred to anything. Furthermore, even if he was referring to breaking the Seals, it needn't have been connected to the Taint. It's pretty obvious that the old Seals must be removed before the DO can be re-Sealed. Another problem with the scenario for the Seals causing the Taint is that it doesn't explain why LTT and the Hundred Companions went insane on the spot. It also doesn't explain why the Taint appeared full-strength at the moment of Sealing. If the "leakage from the DO" scenario were true, one would expect the Taint and its effects to build up gradually, over time. On the other hand, if the Tainting was a specific, one-time action on the DO's part, the instant effect on the male channellers fits better. When Rand was talking about cleansing Saidin in [TPOD: 14, Message from the M'Hael, 306], he was thinking that his plan would require lots of the OP (he was hoping to be able to use Callandor, and when he discovered the problem with the Sword that Ain't, he concluded that he'd have to use the two Giant Sa'angreal). Later, in [TPOD, 21, Answering the Summons, 414], he thought that he'd need to talk to Nynaeve about it (he may need her to use the Giant Female Sa'angreal). We know that the Seals are very fragile; the foci (and thus the true seals) could be broken by hand. There would be no need to use the OP at all, let alone the large quantities that the Giant Sa'angreal produce. However, Rand's plan may be to use the Giant Sa'angreal to make a "shield" over the Bore, as Latra Posae wanted to do during the War of Power [Guide: 4, The Fall Into Shadow, 45]. Another thing to consider is the description of how the Seals "feel" to people who come near them. In [TFOH, 52, Choices, 627], Rand thinks, "the two cuendillar seals, packed in wool now that they were no longer unbreakable. He felt the Dark One's taint strongly here; it almost seemed to come from the casks, a faint miasma as from something rotting in a hidden place." In [TFOH, 50, To Teach and Learn, 588], when the Seal from the Panarch's Palace is found broken, Elayne comments, '"We didn't look at it... or touch it more than we had to. It felt filthy, evil" It no longer did. Carlinya had made them each hold a piece, demanding to know what evil feeling they were talking about.' This evil feeling coming from the seals is clear evidence that the Dark One can touch the seals. Furthermore, the "evil feeling" from the seals is described by Rand as "the DO's taint" (although not "the DO's Taint"). The evil feeling could be the Taint. However, it could also just be that the Evil Seals Feeling and the Taint are similar because they have the same source, namely the DO. Furthermore, the Seals didn't feel "evil" until they started to seriously disintegrate. If the Evil Seals Feeling was directly related to the Taint, wouldn't it have always been present? XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.3.7: What is the deal with the Black Ajah and Warders? _________________________________________________________________ Can Black Ajah have Warders? Would a Warder know if his AS was Black? Well, we know BA can have Warders; one the Greens from Liandrin's posse complained about having to leave her Warders behind when they fled the Tower [TSR: 38, Hidden Faces, 439]. There has been some indication that those Warders were actually killed. (More on this later.) So, given that BA can have Warders, we now need to ask what the deal with Black Ajah Warders is. RJ has said several things on the subject. At a post-POD signing in Seattle, he told Kevin Bartlett that the easiest thing would be to pick a Darkfriend for a Warder. This tells us that there most likely are Black Warders. At a post-POD signing in Pennsylvania, RJ "made some comments about how warder of the BA might sometimes meet with "accidents" so the BA can remain secret. Alternatively, BA might intentionally bond darkfriends." (Melinda Yin) Finally, at a post-POD signing in Northern Virginia, he discussed the topic. John Novak's synopsis: "If an Aes Sedai becomes Black Ajah, the Warder would know instantly that something was up, but wouldn't know exactly what. The Black Ajah has three choices, then-- hope the Warder is a Darkfriend or amenable to being one, hide the affiliation, or arrange for an accident. Yes, this would be painful for the Aes Sedai, but it might become necessary. The process of becoming Black Ajah is evidently quite painful in its own right and thus probably involves more than just swearing new Oaths on the Rod. (I submit that this is why the Red Ajah is rife with Black Ajah-- they have an easier time actively recruiting from that pool. By the same token, I claim that the Green Ajah is more pure than the others.)" Now, the question is, if the Green Warders from Liandrin's group were indeed killed, why? There are several possible explanations: 1) the Warders were not DFs, and the Green-Blacks took the opportunity to kill them off. 2) The Warders were DFs, but they were killed because if they stayed, they could have been used to track the escaped BA, and if they left with the AS, the Tower would know that there was such a thing as Black Warders. (Note that, apparently, this has not been realised by the AS. For all the talk of Black Ajah, not a single person has mentioned the possibility of Black Warders.) XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 1.4: What's up and Who's Who in the Dark? _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of puzzles and questions related to happenings and people which are connected to the Shadow. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.4.1: Who ordered Melindhra, and why? _________________________________________________________________ [TFOH: 34, A Silver Arrow, 390] Nynaeve and Birgitte were eavesdropping on the Forsaken Conference in Tel'aran'rhiod. Rahvin says, "He [Rand] will concentrate on you [Sammael], ... If need be, one close to him will die, plainly at your order. He will come for you. And while he is fixed on you alone, the three of us, linked, will take him. What has changed to alter any of that?" So, it seems Melindhra was ordered to kill Mat with a golden bee dagger (golden bees are the symbol of Illian, where Sammael was situated), if the need arose. Mat told her that Rand was going to Caemlyn, instead of "concentrating of Sammael", and she attacked Mat right away [TFoH: 51, News Comes To Cairhien, 617], in an attempt to return his attention to Sammael. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.4.2: Slayer: The Luc-Isam Connection [John Novak] _________________________________________________________________ Who are Slayer, Lord Luc, and Isam, and what is their connection? Isam is Lan's blood cousin. Lord Luc is the brother of Tigraine, former Daughter-Heir of Andor, and thus Rand's blood uncle. Slayer seems to be some amalgamation of the two. Isam is first mentioned late in TEOTW. In [TEOTW, 47, More Tales of the Wheel, 595], Agelmar begins his tale of the history of the fall of Malkier. Briefly, it is revealed that al'Lan Mandragoran is the son of al'Akir and el'Leanna. Al'Akir had a brother, Lain Mandragoran, who was wed to Breyan. Lain and Breyan were parents to a child named Isam. Agelmar goes on to explain Breyan's jealousy and grief over her husband's death in the Blasted Lands, and her plot with Cowin Fairheart, hero and Darkfriend, to seize the throne for her son Isam. This plot failed, and Breyan fled south with her infant son Isam, and was overtaken by Trollocs. Their bodies were never recovered. It was at this time that el'Leanna and al'Akir sent their own infant son, al'Lan, south to Fal Moran to safety. The Glossary of LoC places al'Lan's date of birth in 953 NE, and thus we can surmise that these events took place no later than 956 NE. Lord Luc is the brother of Tigraine, former Daughter Heir of Andor. In [TEOTW: 34, The Last Village, 441] we learn that Luc died in the Blight while ostensibly in training to become the First Prince of the Sword. Tigraine later vanished, before she'd properly assumed her throne. Later, in [TSR: 34, He Who Comes With The Dawn, 392] we learn that Tigraine ran off to become a Maiden of the Spear with the Aiel at the directions of Gitara Moroso Sedai, some four years before Laman's Sin. The Glossary of TSR places the Aiel War, which began as a direct result of Laman's Sin, from 976 to 978 NE. Thus, Tigraine disappeared circa 972 NE. On the next page, we learn that Janduin, Rand's biological father, was killed on a venture to the Blasted Lands by a man who looked so like Shaiel (who was really Tigraine, Luc's sister) that Janduin would not raise his spear. This is almost certainly Lord Luc, and is in the third year of the Aiel War, 978 NE. Finally, in [LOC: 16, Tellings of the Wheel, 277] we learn that Luc himself may have been sent into the Blight by Gitara Moroso Sedai. After his disappearance, a year before Tigraine's flight, or about 971 NE, rumors whispered that Gitara sent him to find fame, or fate, or the Dragon Reborn or the Last Battle. Given her connection with Tigraine's flight, it seems very likely that the rumors are true. The first reference tying Luc and Isam together in any way comes from the Dark Prophecy, scrawled on the walls in Fal Dara after the Trolloc raid. The relevant stanza [TGH: 7, Blood Calls Blood, 89] says: Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom. Isam waited in the high passes. The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill. One did live, and one did die, but both are. The Time of Change has come. The exact interpretation of this stanza is uncertain, but clearly, Isam survived Breyan's flight south as long as circa 971 NE, when Luc went north into the Blight. Curiously, Luc and Isam would have been roughly the same age, as well. Something happened-- one died and one lived-- but somehow, both still exist. Now, the only time we know of that Luc or Isam enters the picture in person, rather than as background, is in those segments of TSR set around Perrin's trip back home to the Two Rivers. The middle-aged Lord Luc who arrives in the Two Rivers, claiming to help the villagers with the Whitecloaks and Trollocs, is that same Luc. His age and coloring are correct, and Perrin muses that if he resembles anyone, it is Rand. A cousinly resemblance, no doubt. Luc is Rand's blood uncle. Isam appears only in the Unseen World (T'A'R), and only by implication. In [TSR: 28, To the Tower of Ghenjei, 320-325] Perrin has several encounters in the Unseen World. One is with a man who tries to kill him, a man with a cold, inhuman scent to Perrin's nose. Hopper later identifies this dangerous creature as 'Slayer,' after Slayer leads Perrin on a chase to the Tower of Ghenjei. Then Birgitte appears. She identifies the Tower, connects it with the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn, and warns Perrin away from it from and Slayer. Later, Perrin sees Slayer in the Unseen World looking much like Lan, dressed and styled in the Malkieri fashion [TSR: 42, A Missing Leaf, 476]. He muses that the man looked enough like Lan to be a brother. In [TSR: 53, The Price of a Departure, 614-615] Perrin faces Slayer in the Unseen World, and shoots him with an arrow. Slayer disappears from the Unseen World, and when Perrin wakes up, learns that Lord Luc had suddenly run off as if wounded. Here, Perrin connects the two. He notes the simultaneity of the wounds, and notes the same icy, inhuman smell from both of them. In [TSR, 56, Goldeneyes, 645-646] the Trollocs in the Two Rivers form a battle cry out of the name Isam. Clearly, even though his activities seem limited to the Unseen World, his influence extends to the physical flesh. So much for evidence. What the Hell does any of this mean? The best anyone has been able to do is note that Luc and Isam now seem to be parts of a single being, aptly named Slayer by the wolves he kills in the Unseen World. We know from Egwene's training what some of the properties of the Unseen World are. Relevant properties here include the loss of one's humanity (as in, a cold, icy, inhuman scent coming from both Luc and Isam) after repeatedly going to the Unseen World in the flesh, and the Unseen World's tendency to reflect the traveler's mental state. Given that Slayer always appears as Lord Luc in the world of the flesh and as Isam in the Unseen World, it is a fairly safe to assume that Isam is somehow piloting Luc's body. From the Dark Prophecy stanza, it seems likely that Luc is the one who lived, because his body is still wandering around, twitching and talking, and that Isam is the one who died. In any other discussion, we'd just call this a possession, and be done with it. There are no firm answers on how or why Isam achieved control over Luc's body, nor how much of the future Gitara Moroso saw when she sent Luc to his doom. However, it should be noted that odd phenomena concerning life and death, the mind, and memory are hardly unknown in the Wheel of Time. Specifically, channellers of skill and strength are perfectly capable of forcing spirits bound to wait their next incarnation in the Unseen World back into the physical world. See Moghedien and Birgitte. Channellers are perfectly able to directly and powerfully impose their wills on others through Compulsion. The Dark One is capable of taking deceased souls and reincarnating them directly into new bodies, as with Aran'gar, Osan'gar, and Moridin. (In fact, David Wren-Hardin goes so far as to suggest that Aran'gar and Osan'gar have undergone the same process as Slayer.) It does not seem unlikely that Ishamael, perhaps with the counsel or active help of the Dark One, could have managed this feat for some obscure purpose. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.4.3: Can Slayer Channel? [John Novak, P. Korda] _________________________________________________________________ Hopper says that Slayer is in TAR "in the flesh." Folks have taken this as evidence that Slayer can channel. There is no reason to suppose this. In fact, there are many reasons to think that he cannot channel. Why Slayer Cannot Channel First, we will consider the idea that Slayer can channel the TP, but not the OP. Moghedien believes that you have to be able to channel the OP in order to channel the TP. While she may be mistaken, there is no reason to assume so. Of the 30 people Moggy knows who were permitted to use the TP, all 30 were channellers of the OP. Why should Slayer be different? Now, for the question of whether Slayer can channel at all. If Slayer could channel when he was in the Two Rivers, why didn't he? It would certainly have aided him in his missions to do away with Fain and Perrin. Even if we assume that he didn't because he would rather fail totally than chance anybody getting suspicious, why didn't he channel at Perrin in TAR? [TSR: 53, The Price of a Departure, 614] The only person to see would have been Perrin, and Perrin would have been dead. He used a bloody arrow to try to kill Perrin with. That was the best he could manage. In the big battle at Emond's field, the AS, of course, were an advantage to Perrin's side, but if Isam could channel, he could have done something to counter that advantage. He clearly didn't (of course, he'd been shot at that point, but if he could channel, he could have left, gotten somebody to heal him, and returned for the fight). Finally, this question was answered directly by RJ at a signing. From the post-ACOS signing at Vancouver, 24 August 1996, reported by Lara Beaton: "Slayer: Can't channel. ... He has certain 'gifts' granted to him by the DO, but can't channel either the OP or the TP." In the Flesh If Slayer cannot channel, then what is up with that "in the flesh" business? The time Perrin saw Isam in the flesh was when Perrin met Hopper and they discussed Slayer. There is another time when Slayer put himself into TAR the old-fashioned way, by dreaming-- the time Perrin shot him. How do we know this? Well, the sequence of events goes like this: Perrin is sleeping. Perrin dreams the wolf dream, and sees Slayer (looking like Isam). He shoots Slayer with an arrow, producing a wound in the chest. I now quote: "Slayer faded, him and his cry together, growing misty, transparent, vanishing." (NOT like he opened a Gateway and walked out, like he woke up.) Perrin then wakes up, hears a commotion, asks what's going on, and finds out that Luc's just run off on his horse, hunched over like he's got a wound. He was NOT wounded earlier. Now, why would he have to escape from town if he was PHYSICALLY in TAR? He could just have run someplace else in TAR and exited there. Much easier, and safer. The whole scene is consistent with all the stuff we've heard before about people being wounded while dreaming in TAR, and having the wounds on their physical bodies. Thus, we know that Slayer isn't always in TAR in the flesh. We don't know enough about Slayer, or even about entering and leaving TAR in the flesh, to say that the only way to do it is via a gateway. I can think of at least one way to get into TAR in the flesh without channelling yourself there. Somebody else can open a gateway for you. There's just as much evidence for this as for him channelling himself in (that is, none), and it doesn't produce the contradiction that if Slayer could channel on his own, his Two Rivers strategy would have been very different. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.4.4: Shaidar Haran, Superfade [Bryon Wasserman, J. R. Feehan, Korda, Fred Van Keuls] _________________________________________________________________ What do we know about Shaidar Haran? 1. The DO holds him in high regard (see the prologue of LOC). 2. He has a considerable amount of power in his own right. The DO's favor can be capricious and the Forsaken sometimes do not obey him absolutely (for example, Graendal believes she can get Sammael to kill Rand even though it is forbidden). Since SH taunts and insults the Forsaken he probably can take care of himself. 3. He has the ability to keep men and women, or maybe just those sworn to the the Shadow, from channelling. This is from: 1) the prologue of LOC where Aran'gar and Osan'gar cannot channel. Both channel Saidin. 2) [ACOS, 25, Mindtrap, 416], where Moggy is blocked off from the OP while she is SH's prisoner. 3) [TPOD, 12, New Alliances, 266], where he appears to Graendal, and cuts her off from the OP. While the first two examples take place at Shayol Ghul, and thus could conceivably be attributed to the DO, the Graendal scene occurs far from SG, and thus proves that the ability is SH's. 4. In addition to the shielding power, and the usual Fade powers, SH seems to have other unusual abilities. He burned a spear to ash while watching the Shaido at the end of ACOS. He also seems to have created the "black globe of light" when bringing Graendal to heel in [TPOD: 12, New Allinaces, 266]. These abilities may indicate that SH can use the TP (the only alternative to the OP that we've seen thus far). 5. The DO trusts him to give directions to the Forsaken and manage things. 6. He has sufficient knowledge of the world to organize Halima's scheme in Salidar. 7. He has not been visibly active until recently, yet he seems to act as the DO's majordomo, keeping the Forsaken in line, etc. 8. Unlike the Forsaken, he is apparently absolutely secure in his position, whatever that is. 9. He is fundamentally different from other Fades. Apart from size, he has abilities other Myrddraal do not (see #3), and has a sense of pleasure, however twisted: "Far more cruel than Trollocs ... Myrddraal were cold and dispassionate in it. SH often showed amusement, though." [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 416] He can tell the difference between saidin and saidar [ACOS: 40, Spears, 636]. 10. He wants to have more freedom of movement than he currently has: [ACOS 40, Spears, 637] "A faint weakness washed along its limbs. Too long away from Shayol Ghul. That tie had to be severed somehow." It is not clear whether the constraint is due to the DO's control, or whether it is a side-effect of the DO's imprisonment. In any case, that POV bit shows that SH has some independent thought, apart from the will of the DO. 11. SH describes his position: "When I speak, you may consider that you hear the voice of the Great Lord of the Dark.... I am his hand in this world, Graendal. When you stand before me, you stand before him." [TPOD, 12, New Alliances, 267] One possibility that has been brought up is that SH is Ishamael re-incarnated. This would fit with criteria 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9 and possibly 3 (True Power, perhaps?). Ishamael's old Trolloc nickname was Ba'alzamon, "Heart of the Dark"; while Shaidar Haran means "Hand of the Dark/Shadow." Pretty similar, although it could very easily be a coincidence. However, Shaidar Haran has neither done nor said anything to indicate that he has had a previous existence, and isn't just a new model of Fade. All of SH's attributes can be explained by assuming that he was specially created by the DO to have those attributes. Finally, from the information we get about Moridin in ACOS and TPOD (See section 1.2.4), Moridin is indubitably Ishamael. To head off the obvious loony idea at the pass, recall that we've seen SH's thoughts in [ACOS: 40, Spears, 636-637], and Moridin's in [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 42-44] and [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 81-84], and they are clearly not the same person. (For one thing, Moridin has eyes, unlike SH.) Yet Another SH theory is that SH is a physical/corporeal manifestation of the DO. This is supported by the fact that the DO refers to SH as "MY HAND." [ACOS: 25, Mindtrap, 414]. This theory would satisfy the above criteria, although it raises some questions about how the DO can be in two places at once, i.e. in the Pit of Doom and in Shaidar Haran. Also, SH seems to have an independent will, as evidenced by his desire to free himself of his bond to SG: [ACOS 40, Spears, 637] "A faint weakness washed along its limbs. Too long away from Shayol Ghul. That tie had to be severed somehow." If SH is simply a manifestation of the DO, then why would it desire to be free to move around as it wished? It would instead be wishing to be free of its prison, in no uncertain terms. Of course, SH could very well be just what he seems: the DO's spokesmyrddraal. One big unanswered question is that of the relationship between SH and Moridin. Between the two of them, who is the boss? They seem to be working in cooperation. For example, SH breaks Moggy down prior to her delivery to Moridin, and he appears to Graendal to send her to meet Moridin. We haven't seen the two of them (Moridin and SH) interact, and in the sections from their points of view, they don't happen to think about each other. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.4.5: Who will be the Dreadlords in the Last Battle? _________________________________________________________________ Dreadlords: Those men and women who, able to channel the One Power, went over to the Shadow during the Trolloc Wars, acting as commanders of the Trolloc forces. [TEOTW: Glossary, 662] So, the question is, will the Shadow have similar human commanders of Trollocs for the Last Battle? If so, then who will these commanders be? Here are some possibilities: 1. Black Ajah. Pro: loads of experience in both channelling and bossing folks around. Con: not much battle experience, except for Reds who hunt down False Dragons, and Greens, who do that sort of thing for fun. 2. Darkfriend sul'dam, with a damane or two as a Power source. Pro: Battle experience. Con: depends upon a possibly non-loyal damane for Power. This could cause problems in the middle of a fight. No experience in using the OP by themselves. 3. Runaway DF damane. Pro: knows how to use OP in battle. Con: No experience in commanding things, making decisions, or any sort of independent thought. 4. Asha'man. Pro: big motivation to be sworn to the Shadow-- protection from the Taint. Specifically trained to use the OP in battle. Possibly, a recruiting agent right in the camp ("Mr. Taimandred? I'd like to join the Black tower, if you know what I mean."). Con: Some have less experience in command, and thus would make poor commanders. 5. DF Windfinders. Not much to say pro or con, since we know next to nothing about the Sea Folk or Windfinders at all. 6. Male Aiel Channelers: Pro: tradition is to go into the Blight to fight Shadowspawn until you die. Maybe some don't die, but get picked up and offered a second chance at eternal life, sans Taint. Con: the Blight is nasty. It's doubtful even an Aiel could survive a long time there, if he was bent on fighting. Not likely that many survive long enough to get recruited or converted. Plus, nobody has ever seen these supposed Aiel Dreadlords, either in the Blight, at SG, or in Randland. 7. Random Joe Randlander who finds out he can channel. Pro: Why not? Again, a great incentive to join up-- no Taint. If Joe is already a DF when he discovers channelling, all the more reason. Con: With all those other great candidates, why would the Shadow bother searching the populace for the 1:10000+ men who channel? 8. Dreadlord Search Program: Darkfriends are screened for the ability to channel, and then put into a Dreadlord Training Program. (Liandrin was recruited as a DF before she ever went to the Tower. She learned some channelling, too. [TFOH: 18, A Hound of Darkness, 303].) 9. Non-Channelers. Pro: In TGH, Bors thinks he has a chance of being a Dreadlord, even though he cannot channel. Con: You need to be Fain or a channeler to have enough power over a Fade to command him. We already know J. Carridin never stood a chance with a Fade. 10. No Dreadlords--the DO has something better. Pro: Look at that shiny new Myrddraal the DO has! Even the Forsaken are frightened by it. It can scare channelers, channelers can scare normal Fades, Fades scare Trollocs. Cut out the middlemen, and make a bunch of Super-Fades to be dreadlords? What Lord of Evil needs humans anyway? It's not like he's going to leave them around after he wins, after all. Con: Shaidar Haran is special, we've only seen one of his kind. Maybe the DO can't make any more like him. Maybe the DO doesn't want to. SH is too much of a mystery to assume he is the first of a new model of Fade. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.4.6: The "Aiel" Attack on Demira Sedai-- What's the deal with that? [Karl-Johan Noren, P. Korda] _________________________________________________________________ In [LOC: 46, Beyond the Gate, 580-581], Demira Eriff of the Brown Ajah, a member of the Salidar Embassy, is attacked by a group of men dressed like Aiel. The attack occurs after she's been followed from her inn by the same group of "Aiel." She was going to meet an informant from the Caemlyn Palace, who does not show up at the appointed meeting place. Demira concludes that her informant had not received her message. As she turns to leave, a man on the street leers at her, and she ducks into an alley. The particular alley she goes into is deserted. A bit further along the alley, she runs into the men dressed as Aiel, who stab her with spears. She is severely injured, but not killed. In [LOC: 46, Beyond the Gate, 584-586], we learn more about the attack. Right before Demira was attacked, a man came into the inn where the Salidar Embassy was known to be quartered, and "said he had seen Aiel following an Aes Sedai-- he described [Demira] exactly-- and saying they were going to kill her." Demira's Warder ran with another AS to save Demira. Demira remembers that one of her attackers told her, "Tell the other witches to stay away from the Dragon Reborn." This message, along with the fellow at the inn, and the fact that Demira's wounds missed vital organs indicate that Demira was meant to survive, and that the attackers wanted the Salidar AS to believe that Aiel were behind the attack. We don't know for sure who ordered the attack, but we can almost be sure that the attackers were not real Aiel. For one thing, one of the attackers is "a squat fellow with villainous eyes." From all descriptions, Aiel (especially the warriors) are tall and lean, certainly not "squat." Secondly, the Aiel do not refer to the AS as "witches," nor do they refer to Rand as "the Dragon Reborn"-- that is a wetlander prophecy. What was the motive for the attack? We can get ideas about this from the wide-reaching results: the Salidar Aes Sedai believe that Rand arranged the attack, and retaliate. The retaliation drives Rand into leaving Caemlyn for Cairhien, and sets his mind against the group of Aes Sedai most likely to help him. He turns towards the Tower Aes Sedai, who trick him, capture him, and abscond with him locked up in a box, to be rescued by Perrin, the Aiel, and Taim. The overall result is a great deal of ill-will and distrust between Rand and the SAS, Rand and the TAS, and the AS and the Aiel. It is reasonable to conclude that all or part of this was the motive for the attack. Fomenting discord among Rand's possible allies seems to be a general goal of the Shadow's agents, so any of the Forsaken could have had a motive for setting up the attack. The Tower Aes Sedai could have organized it, in order to drive Rand away from their Salidar rivals. Taim, even if he is not a Forsaken, has made efforts to turn Rand against the AS on many occasions. Perhaps Demandred (being Taim) arranged the attack in order to drive Rand away from the SAS, and make him vulnerable to the TAS (whose kidnapping of Rand was likely instigated by Mesaana [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 58]). This theory is attractive because Demandred and Mesaana were working together (with Semirhage, how does she fit in to this theory?) in LOC on a plan to "let the Lord of Chaos rule." That was, after all, the final result of the events triggered by the attack on Demira-- chaos definitely ruled at Dumai's Wells. Were Taim and the Asha'man behind the attack? First, it was a very well organized and planned attack. It is done after Demira is shadowed and possibly lured (or even Compelled) into small, empty alleys. The attack is done by people meeting her. Simultaneously, a man appears bringing the message to her Warder at the Crown and Roses. The interception may mean that other people directed the "Aiel" to their position and cleared the alleys, giving 10-20 people participating, of which at least a few must know Caemlyn very well or that some channeler was part of the group. Furthermore, the attackers must have intercepted the message to Demira's informant There's reason to believe that Compulsion was used: "Turning away from the gate, her [Demira's] eyes chanced to meet those of a tall, lean-faced fellow in a carter's vest who was gazing at her much too admiringly. When their eyes met, he winked! She was not going to put with that all the way back to the inn.... She slipped into the narrow shaded gap between a cutler's shop and a tavern." It seems like too much of a coincidence that just because some fellow leered at her, Demira chose to travel back to her inn through a deserted alley-- the particular alley where the "Aiel" were waiting in ambush. The point that the ambushing team used channelers is strengthened by the fact that Demira couldn't reach saidar: "Frantically she reached for saidar, but something else pierced her side, and she was down in the dust. That remembered face was thrust into hers, black eyes mocking, growling something she ignored while she tried to reach saidar, tried to... Darkness closed in." Granted, she was injured, but Moghedien was able to channel with an arrow through her chest, Rahvin while being BBQ-ed and Nynaeve while about to lose consciousness from asphyxiation. Now, it is not certain that channeling was used in the attack, either to force Demira down the alley or shield her. However, the extremely close timing involved (the message to Demira's warder came right before she was stabbed) indicated that she did not go down that alleyway by coincidence. The leering fellow may have had a backup plan for getting her down the alley if his antics didn't work-- it just turned out that they did. As for shielding, John Hamby points out that Demira doesn't feel that she's blocked from the Source, just that she's having trouble embracing the Source as two spears are driven into her. Yes, Moggy could do it with an arrow; but Moggy is stronger and more skilled, and Nynaeve is Wonder Woman. The attack is done after the embassy had met Rand three times, with no meeting on the day of the attack. This means that the attackers had either a maximum of three days of preparation or knew about the embassy before it met with Rand. So we have the following requirements for the group who did the deed: * include male channelers (maybe) * must be trained in weapons * have an organization in or close to Caemlyn * refers to AS as "witches" and Rand as "the Dragon Reborn" By far the best candidate is Taim, either as "plain" Taim or as Taimandred. The Asha'man fulfill every demand above, and Taim also has the political motive and chutzpah to do it. It would be strange if the Asha'man did not include people from Caemlyn (since they are based near that city), and they are being trained in the use of weapons, and they include some men who are already acquainted with weapons. Taim also knows of the embassy early because Rand tells him of it. He likely hates Aes Sedai, and is clearly interested in bringing Rand closer to him and away from all things AS. It's not much of a stretch imagining the Asha'man referring to the AS as witches either. In fact, a few days before the attack, Taim suggested arranging "accidents" for the Aes Sedai in Caemlyn [LOC: 42, The Black Tower, 545]. Other Suspects Apart from Taim, the other major suspects are the Tower Aes Sedai, the Whitecloaks, Padan Fain, and Joe Random Forsaken (i.e. not Mesaana or Taimandred). The White Tower AS (acting w/o influence from Mesaana) can be ruled out, because they would be hard pressed to simply reach a decision so fast. Pigeon to Elaida, Elaida decides, Pigeon back, plan and do attack. Done in three days? No way. Also, the White Tower lacks people and organization in Caemlyn. The Whitecloaks can also be ruled out. They have withdrawn their organization from Caemlyn, and their lower ranks would be more interested in killing AS than in subtle political maneuvering. Niall might try something like this, but the Niall POV scenes we get in LOC and ACOS show him concentrating on schemes involving Morgase, the fake Dragonsworn in Altara, and later, the situation in Tarabon-- nothing involving Rand and his connections with the Tower. Fain could have some motive to drive Rand towards dealing with the Mashadar-tainted Tower instead of the untainted Salidar AS. He does have access to DF's from Caemlyn, and the former Whitecloaks. But, as he thinks when he is reached by the report of the Gray Man attack on Rand, his resources are rather limited. He doesn't seem to have access to the number of followers required to pull off the attack. Furthermore, everything we've seen of Fain this far has had him ingratiating himself to one powerful person, and corrupting them. The attack on Demira doesn't fit his style-- it's too indirect. An attack from Joe Random Forsaken is the most likely, next to Taim. As stated above, the Shadow seems to have a general strategy of creating discord between Rand and his possible allies. Furthermore, as Bob Kluttz points out, Demira was interested in learning about the Seals on the DO's prison [LOC: 46, Beyond the Gate, 580-581]. A couple of weeks after the attack on Demira, Herid Fel is spectacularly killed for his interest in them. The fate of the seals is somehow critical to the Dark One's success. If this was the main motive for the attack, Demira wouldn't have been left alive. However, it could have been an additional motive for choosing Demira as a target, rather than one of the other SAS. This idea pretty much requires whichever Forsaken planned the attack to have had a strong power base in Caemlyn. The only Forsaken of which we know this to have been true is Rahvin, and he was dead by the time the Salidar embassy arrived. However, this doesn't rule out somebody having resources we don't know about. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.4.7: Was Moghedien violated by Shaidar Haran? _________________________________________________________________ Quick question, quick answer: Chris Mullins writes: 'I asked RJ, at the Palo Alto signing, if Moggy was raped by Shaidar Haran in ACOS. His reply was, "Yes. Amongst other things."' XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.4.8: Who killed Adeleas and Ispan? [John S. Hamby, Craig Moe, Andrea Leistra] _________________________________________________________________ This is an attempt at looking at all the facts concerning the murders of Ispan and Adeleas. Here, we present what is known and what can or cannot be concluded from these facts. General Considerations From [TPOD, 28, Crimsonthorn, 545-547], we know that Adeleas had taken Ispan to the small hut the night before. In the morning, Kirstian comes to find Elayne. Lan has found the bodies. So, we have the time frame. It's curious that Lan is the one who found the two. Certainly Vandene as sister and fellow interrogator would have made more sense. Presumably, when Adeleas is dealing with Garenia/Zarya and then Kirstian, Vandene is taking care of Ispan. Description of the crime scene: "Adeleas lay on her side beside an overturned stool, a cup on the rough wooden floor not far from her outstretched hand. Her eyes stared, and a pool of congealed blood spread out from the deep slash across her throat. Ispan lay on a small cot, staring at the ceiling. Lips drawn back in a rictus bared her teeth, and her bulging eyes seemed full of horror. As well they might have, since a wrist-thick wooden stake stood out from between her breasts. The hammer that had plainly been used to drive it in lay beside the cot, on the edge of a dark stain that ran back under the cot." Then we get the description of the interior of the hut. "A second three-legged stool, a rough table holding a flickering lamp, a green teapot and a second cup, a rude stone fireplace with cold ash on the hearthstone." From all this, it certainly seems that the tea was delivered the previous evening. The fire is out; the flickering lamp suggests the oil is running low. That a lamp is burning at all suggests that it was dark outside when the murderer arrived. Though the fact that the two windows are described as tiny might negate this, as a lamp might be needed anytime of the day. However, it seems that the scene is viewed in the light of day and not by the single lamp. Vandene assumes or directs the line of thought to Ispan being the primary victim. This assumption is presumed because more time was taken to kill Ispan. Nynaeve makes the assumption that whoever decided to use crimsonthorn did so because they either wanted to make sure that no one came with an antidote or that they wanted one or the other to know who was killing them. The use of crimsonthorn does indicate two things. First, Adeleas was meant to die. Whether the murder was a hit on Ispan or whether Adeleas' death was the primary goal, a drug is used, in lethal amounts, that Adeleas with her penchant for sweet tea is particularly prone to. This implies that the murderer knew before hand who was guarding Ispan. In fact it might be that the murderer was waiting when Adeleas was by herself with Ispan. This means that the murder was not spontaneous. There was a bit of planning involved. The second thing that crimsonthorn indicates is that time was not really of the essence. The murderer took her time. It seems possible she knew no one would disturb her that night. (This is also indicated by the method used in killing Ispan: pounding a stake through the heart is not really the quickest way to kill a person.) Speaking of the stake, the manner of Ispan's death (being staked through the chest) raises some questions. Even if one or both women were immobilized first, pounding a stake through someone is difficult--there's bones and things in the way, not to mention how messy it would be. If the killer did the job up close and personal, she would have been covered in Ispan's blood. There are three possibilities: 1. The killer could not channel, and used physical means (herbs and physical violence) to kill the victims because that was the only way. 2. The killer could channel, and used channeling to make it look like someone who could not did the deed. 3. (Related to #2) The killer could channel and needed to do so because he/she was physically too weak to carry out the deed in the mundane manner. So, there is at least an even chance that the killer was a channeller, and used the OP in Ispan's murder, at least. Unfortunately, this doesn't help much, since most of the suspects (all the Kin, AS, and Windfinders in the party) can channel. [Genevieve Williams, Dave Rothgery] Who drank the tea? Adeleas has a cup near her hand. Her body position and the fact she has her throat cut is a definite sign that she fell victim to the tea. But is there anything that really points to Ispan having drank any of it? We have two cups, yes. But one fell from Adeleas' hand as she presumably fell to the floor. The second cup is on the table still. The reason this sticks out is that the hammer used on Ispan is left by the cot. Yet the cup is on the table by another stool. (Note that this can be explained by positing that the the killer moved Ispan to the cot in order to stake her more easily.) The effect of the crimsonthorn, as described by Nynaeve, is "A little kills pain. This much... This much kills, but slowly. Even a few sips would be enough. They might have remained conscious for hours. Not able to move, but aware." This suggests that perhaps Ispan did not drink any tea. How is this possible? Quite simple. Whoever killed the two could channel. The drug was used to take out Adeleas. In fact, it was tailored to take her out. With Adeleas out of the way, the shield around Ispan would disappear, no? Well, not if the murderer was a channeller herself (we can all agree that the murderer is most likely female). Ispan is always kept shielded. So the only scenario that lets Ispan's murderer be a non-channeller is this: A non-Aes Sedai that Adeleas would take tea from brings tea to the hut, then leaves. Adeleas would not sit and drink tea while guarding Ispan with someone who was not a sister hovering around the hut. The murderer waits outside the hut for the tea to take effect on Adeleas. So in order for Ispan to also be incapacitated a couple of things would have to have happened. One is that Adeleas gives tea to Ispan and then drinks some herself. Ispan is now drugged and so is Adeleas. Murderer enters and does the deed. Two, Adeleas can still channel while drugged. She maintains the shield while the murderer enters and forces Ispan to drink the tea while still shielded. Then the killer drives the stake through Ispan's heart and slits Adeleas' throat. A variation on the above is that even if drugged, Adeleas can channel the whole time, but is somehow locked into the shield and Ispan is killed. Not until the stake is completely driven through does the murderer turn to Adeleas. All these scenarios seem a bit unlikely. Ispan is Black Ajah. I don't see Adeleas sitting down and sharing a cup of tea with her. (Consider the vehemence with which the other Aes Sedai in the series react to the idea of the BA.) So how is Ispan kept helpless if Adeleas loses the ability to channel when the drug takes hold? We're assuming that either the drug incapacitates the ability to channel or Adeleas was so far gone under the influence of the drug that it did not matter by the time the murders took place. Furthermore the differences in Adeleas and Ispan's bodies might go beyond the way in which each was killed. Adeleas clearly was under the influence of the drug. Yet Ispan's countenance clearly shows the ability to move her face and feel pain. Her eyes bulge and her lips are drawn back. If Adeleas is so far gone into the drug that all she can do is stare while her throat is being cut, how come Ispan is able to show such reaction; not just in terms of horror but to physically show it as well? (Especially since crimsonthorn is a painkiller.) So it is quite possible that if whoever killed the two could channel, that Adeleas was the only one drugged. Shields can be woven-off and left in place. They can also be passed from one person to another. One thing we do know is that Vandene is either the killer or she was not a part of the shield when Adeleas was killed. Otherwise she would have felt something was wrong-- she certainly would have noticed when Adeleas died. So assume for a moment that Vandene is not the murderer. That means that Adeleas was capable of maintaining the shield by herself. So it might also indicate that Adeleas was stronger than Ispan, or even that once in place the shield could be maintained by anyone. So the use of crimsonthorn does not prove that the killer was a non-channeller and there is indication that maybe the drug was not used on Ispan at all and thus increases the odds of a channeller's involvement. The Suspects Non-Channellers Considering only those from whom Adeleas might accept tea: * Jaem - Could he be the murderer and Vandene not be BA? While it could be possible the two worked together, it's hard to see Jaem acting on his own, not to mention Vandene would have noticed something. * Pol - as a servant of Merilille's she is the most likely suspect for the single-killer theory. Yet would Adeleas take tea from even her? The problems of being a non-channeller of course exist assuming Ispan did not drink the tea. Also from Ispan's facial expression I don't think we can rule out the possibility of no sound whatsoever. If Adeleas can no longer channel because she is either dead or drugged, then regardless of the problems of Ispan (assuming the drug was used on Ispan), there is the risk of detection. How much sound does a stake being driven through the heart make? And if Ispan is able to show expression might a whimper, a cry or even a scream be completely out of the question? Also there is the time issue. Whoever did this knew they had the time for the tea to take affect and then do the actual killings. Would a maid know that she could remain undisturbed or at least undetected? Would a non-channeller have the courage to do this task among so many channellers without the ability herself? Note that when Forkroot is introduced it is the first time that the ability to channel is mentioned as being inhibited by a drug. So Crimsonthorn is not definitely something that is shown to rob a channeller of this ability. And even Forkroot which left Nynaeve and Elayne paralyzed allowed them to make sounds. One argument says that even if the ability was there despite the crimsonthorn, the common belief shared by most Aes Sedai concerning the connections between channeling and gesturing would mean that once paralyzed Adeleas could not channel to defend herself, since she could not move. But this would mean a foreknowledge of this and I think once again points away from any non-channeller as the killer. So while possible I think that it is a bit more improbable that any non-channeller could have done the deed. Channelling Suspects Non-Aes Sedai: * Any Windfinder - Given that the state of affairs between the Aes Sedai and the Windfinders, the fact that Adeleas trusted this person enough to take tea from her eliminates any of these women. * The Kin - As a general group, the fact that the Aes Sedai consider the Kin to be so far beneath them, and the general poor relations between the two groups indicate that they fit the same category as the Windfinders. * Asra - This is the Kinswoman who originally attracted El and Ny's attention in Ebou Dar. In one of the showdowns between the Kin and the AS, Asra seems almost intent on starting a riot. [TPOD: 28, Crimsonthorn, 544] The murder needn't even have been BA-related; Asra might have been fearful/upset over Adeleas' decree that Tower runaways among the Kin should be disciplined and forced to become Novices again. [TPOD: 28, Crimsonthorn, 542]. [Bill Brooks]. However, these reasons also show that there is little likelihood that Adeleas would trust Asra enough to take tea from her. * Kirstian - now in novice white it is possible that she would take the opportunity to do away with either Ispan or Adeleas. She did volunteer herself. She also is quite strong so maintaining the shield etc., would be no problem. * Garenia - Same as above. As a novice in Adeleas' eyes, it might be conceivable that Adeleas would send her for tea. She is very strong in the One Power as well. * Reanne - It is possible that as the head of the Kin Adeleas would trust her but the idea of Reanne killing Adeleas is rather implausible. Still, because of the tea thing, she is a more likely suspect than say Chilares or Famelle or even most other Kin. * Alise - Everyone seems to do what this woman wants. So she too is a little more likely than most other Kin. However, it takes a bit of a leap to assume that any level of trust would exist between Aes Sedai and any of the Kin, especially in the wake of the "we are many and they are few" business. So like the Windfinders I think the Kin are very low on the lists of suspects. Aes Sedai: * Vandene - Certainly she looks the most guilty. She knows what Ispan has said and she knows what Ispan has not said. More importantly she has an idea of what her sister may be thinking or be on the verge of figuring out. Furthermore, Vandene was the other person in charge of Ispan, yet it is Lan that discovers the two bodies. Exactly when was Vandene going to check up on her sister? And what about the way the shield is described when the two first question her in [TPOD: 4, A Quiet Place, 105] Certainly Vandene could not be innocent and a part of the shielding at the same time. Yet it raises the question of the timing of the deaths if it was Vandene. Why now? Certainly if Vandene is BA she would know what if anything Ispan could reveal. More on Vandene as a suspect later. * Careane - The weakest of the Aes Sedai. This would make the use of crimsonthorn to eliminate Adeleas pretty important. In fact of the AS (excluding Elayne and Nynaeve), Careane is also the only sister whose strength we know in terms of comparison to the others. Problem is that Careane has at least two Warders. True, both could be Darkfriends. But I think this is a stumbling block that at this point is rather hard to step over. One little note- Careane is the one who does not hide her face enough and sets the Kin farm on its ear. A bit odd since Aes Sedai seem to be quite adept at keeping the one identifying trait under wraps. She could have been trying to create a panic? Or was she trying to show her face to a DF among the Kin? Of course it might be that she was just stupid. * Sareitha - Not much known about her. There are a total of five Warders among the five sisters. Adeleas has none. Vandene has one. Careane has more than one but the number is not known, so Sareitha could have a Warder. If she does not, which is quite likely since she was raised to the shawl only three years ago, then Careane has at least three warders. Besides sharing her Ajah, little seems to indicate that Sareitha has any ties to Adeleas that would indicate her as the murderer. * Merilille - Perhaps most damning is the fact that it is possible that she was picked by the Gray Ajah to lead the Salidar delegation. And of course Delana as a Salidar Gray Sitter who is also BA may have played a major role in picking her. Of course that raises the question of why send a BA to Ebou Dar? The Shadow does know of the possible cache of angreal even if the Bowl of Winds is not yet a goal. Also notice that Tylin is rather upset with the way Merilille has handled matters until Nynaeve and Elayne show up and tell the truth. So perhaps she is sent to keep the local ruler from coming to an accomodation with the Salidar group. Certainly add an unhappy ruler to an independent nobility plus the constant threat of Whitecloaks and you would pretty much hamper Salidar from any sort of effectiveness. On the other hand, she could just be incompetent. Of the Aes Sedai, then, Careane and Merilille stand out as the most obvious of the non-obvious killers-- Vandene, of course, being the obvious. One problem with any of the Salidar Aes Sedai being the killer is that they didn't try to prevent the finding and use of the Bowl and didn't steal it and the rest of the goodies afterwards. However, since the AS are a very hierarchical organization (and the BA follows that pattern), and since the Shadow hierarchy was rather disorganised at the time the embassy was sent (all the Forsaken scheming for themselves), some low-level BA in the Salidar embassy to Ebou Dar might not have been informed of the importance of the Bowl, and would have just followed orders to stick with the party and spy/whatever. The Prime Suspect: Vandene [Andrea Leistra, Craig Moe] Arguments in Favor of Vandene Being the Killer * She isn't dead. She and Adeleas are nearly inseparable; it's asking a bit much for her to be out just when her sister and their prisoner are killed, and to stay gone for the entire time. If someone had been sent to kill Adeleas and Vandene because they learned something they shouldn't, she'd be dead now as well. * The interrogation of Ispan proceeded in a rather unorthodox fashion. [TPOD: 4, A Quiet Place, 109]: "Then another use hit [Elayne], and suddenly the silence from within was more ominous than any shrieks that ward would contain." This other use may simply be, as Elayne supposes, to prevent screams from being heard. However, it's also quite likely that Vandene wants to prevent anyone from hearing what really goes on because it's not what's supposed to be happening. [TPOD: 6, Threads, 137]: "Adeleas and Vandene brought out Ispan between them, firmly shielded and the leather sack back over her head. She walked quite easily, and nothing visible said that anything at all had been done to her, except....Ispan kept her hands folded at her waist, never so much as trying to raise the sack for a peek, and when she was boosted into a saddle, she held out her wrists to be corded to the pommel without being told. If she was that amenable, perhaps they had learned something from her. Elayne did not want to contemplate how the learning might have been achieved." * She [Vandene] is unnaturally calm following Adeleas' death: [TPOD: 28, Crimsonthorn, 546]: "Vandene's eyes remained on her sister, calm in a face of Aes Sedai serenity." (same page): "Her voice sounded serenity itself, but small wonder if that was a mask." "Elayne gasped at the brutality, but Vandene simply nodded." [TPOD: 28, Crimsonthorn, 547]: "The calm of her made Elayne's skin crawl." (after the funeral): "Vandene...appeared as serene as she had at Adeleas' graveside." Not only does she not mourn, except for one wail after the others have left, but she isn't even surprised by the deaths. * She had access to Adeleas and Ispan without attracting comment or notice, and could have had reason to kill them now -- perhaps her identity as Black had been/was about to be revealed, or other important Black secrets would be revealed by Ispan -- rather than at some other time. Vandene's comment that Adeleas wouldn't take tea from somebody she didn't trust makes sense, and anybody unusual wandering around the interrogation site at night would surely attract suspicion from Adeleas, so the killer must have been somebody she knew well. (OTOH, if Vandene is the killer, why would she point this out?) * The difference in how Ispan and Adeleas died. Ispan was tortured brutally, while Adeleas was killed quickly. This suggests that the killer may have had some sympathy for Adeleas and not for Ispan, since it's unlikely that a random Darkfriend murderer with time on her hands would take the time to feed Adeleas the crimsonthorn tea and then merely slit her throat. * Possible previous misdeeds: Someone warded that Draghkar that attacked Moiraine in TGH, at Adeleas and Vandene's place. In defense of Vandene Here are counter-arguments for the points against Vandene, and rebuttals: * Why were the inseparable sisters suddenly separated? Remember that this is a procession towards Caemlyn, and traveling across Andor takes up most of the day. Aes Sedai have to sleep as well, and since the two obviously didn't trust anyone else with Ispan, no matter how meek she had become, it makes sense that the pair would alternate interrogation duties. Hence Vandene's absence when Adeleas complains about runaways amongst the Kin. * How could Vandene remain so calm? RJ has quite a few characters retain public composure only to grieve in private. Siuan waited months to mourn the death of her warder, and Elayne never publicly grieved for the death of her mother. Aes Sedai are famed for such composure, and it is certainly in character for Vandene, who has taken a Draghkar's attack, Elayne's usurping the Ebou Dari delegation, the Kin, a gholam and the Seanchan all in stride, to react similarly when faced with her sister's death. Furthermore, as Sandy Armstrong points out, one could take Vandene's composure as a sign that she didn't kill Adeleas. If she was covering something up she'd try to make it plain to everyone else that she was extremely upset. Rebuttal: Siuan's grieving was postponed due to her other problems: being stilled, being tortured, being a refugee with Logain for company. Elayne hasn't had confirmation that her mom is dead; she's slowly come to the realization that her mom is most likely dead over an extended period of time. Not to mention, this doesn't explain why Vandene didn't show any sort of shock or surprise when her sister was found with her throat slit. * But this explains who warded the Draghkar so simply. Of course, before TPOD we already had a simple answer: Liandrin, a known Black Ajah, who mysteriously disappeared soon after Moiraine. She's much more likely to have been behind the attack than Vandene, who had left Moiraine in the study moments earlier, with no idea she was about to go outside. Not to mention, Vandene's Warder, Jaem, would have to be a DF, too, and he helped Lan save Moiraine. Rebuttal: That wouldn't matter much. The Draghkar could have been lying in wait on the valid assumption that Moiraine would go outside eventually. Warded, the Draghkar would not have had to fear being sensed. [Vic Stallion] Furthermore, it's not very likely that Liandrin could manage to trail Moiraine without Lan noticing. As for Jaem, he could still be a DF. Note that Lan was conveniently off working the forms in the barn with Jaem in TGH, rather than by Moiraine's side. When Lan rushed off to save Moiraine, Jaem would have had to follow suit, or give the secret away. Further arguments against Vandene being the killer, and counter-arguments * How could she have avoided revealing her identity as Black to Adeleas for all these years? Counter-argument: This is exactly the sort of thing all Black sisters have to do -- conceal their identity from close scrutiny for centuries. It may not always be from a biological relative, but that doesn't make it any different. * Her grief seemed genuine. (Her cry of anguish after Elayne left.) Counter-argument: See above. If she's not damn good at faking this sort of thing, she'd have been found out long ago. Besides, she could have been issued orders to kill anyone who discovered particular information, or that she was Black, so that she had to kill Adeleas even if she regretted doing so. * Since the attack was directed at Ispan, why would Vandene kill her sister in such an equally violent manner? Counter-argument: Adeleas was not killed in an equally violent manner. Both victims were drugged, but Adeleas's throat was cleanly cut. Ispan was impaled with a wooden stake. * How could two people so close they could finish one another's sentences end up on opposite sides of an ideological spectrum? Counter-argument: The fact that Adeleas chose the Brown Ajah and Vandene the Green shows that, although they thought alike in a lot of ways, they didn't think alike in every way. [Vic Stallion] Other thoughts on Vandene as the killer * There may have been something up between Ispan and both of the Senior Twins. Clues are that both sisters participated in the behind-closed-doors "interrogation" of Ispan, which proved fruitless, and that Ispan seemed to become upset when she thought that Elayne and Nynaeve might do the interrogation, rather than Adeleas and Vandene [TPOD: 4, A Quiet Place, 107]. [Jonathan Vaught] * It is possible that Vandene did kill Adeleas and Ispan, but that she is not BA. Perhaps Adeleas was BA, and Vandene discovered this somehow through Ispan's questioning. She may have killed Adeleas and Ispan to prevent Adeleas' good name from being ruined, and to spare her the humiliation and pain of stilling and execution. Motive: Why kill one or both? Ispan failed, was captured and that is what happens to BA who fail and are captured. This was a precedent set down with the killings of Amico and Joiya. But there are some pretty major differences. Amico and Joiya both actually gave out information. Amico told where Liandrin and crew went. And Joiya told about the BA freeing Taim (although that may have been a lie). Ispan has not revealed anything important, as far as we know. Joiya's and Amico's deaths were also incidental. Someone took advantage of the attack on Rand and the Stone to kill them. Chances are had Rand not been attacked, the two would not have been killed when they were. There really was no risk involved. Killing Ispan and Adeleas, though, reveals that there is a DF/BA among them. The killer tipped their hand. So something must have forced them to do this. Joiya and Amico also were on their way to the Tower. Certainly the risk of revealing anything of import ran much higher if those two actually made it there. So removing them when the chance presented itself certainly makes sense. But if Ispan was the main target why now? Why not before if she is a threat? Also consider that if the killer is BA herself, then she would certainly know how much a threat Ispan is and how much a threat she is not. There certainly has been time before this to kill Ispan. Also look at Katerine and Falion. While Falion's death by wicked keg-bong might be imminent, it is not definite. And Katerine is allowed to escape and presumably live. So death is not the automatic sentence for BA who screw up. Certainly Ispan's escape could have been managed as easily as Katerine's. After all, Katerine's escape pretty much reveals her to be BA, whereas Ispan is already known to be. Her escape certainly poses no risks to the killer that killing her did not. So was Ispan the prime victim? Perhaps not. Adeleas could have been the one intended to die all along. Whoever did it wants Adeleas dead. Knows she will be alone with Ispan so takes tea laced with a poison specifically chosen for Adeleas' liking for sweet tea. Of course once Adeleas is down Ispan is killed. Regardless of being a fellow BA, the Killer has revealed her identity to another. So Ispan takes a stake through the heart. The killer eliminates a witness, a possible rival and throws off the scent that Adeleas was the intended victim. Note that this line of reasoning could be applied the other way around: Adeleas could have been killed because she was a witness. So why kill Adeleas? Well, Adeleas discovered two former novices. Garenia, who was in the Tower seventy years ago. She was a novice with Careane. Also seventy years ago both Namelle sisters were present. From Joline's comment about Merilille being an instructor, it is highly likely that she too was in the Tower at the time. Kirstian, on the other hand, left the Tower three hundred years ago. It seems a bit of a stretch that she would possess any knowledge that could reveal one of the sisters to be a liar and/or BA. One thing that seems to indicate Adeleas as the intended victim is that even if Vandene is not the killer, someone went a bit of trouble to get rid of Adeleas. The poison was designed for her in a sense. It was her watch. And if Ispan was a threat, then surely if Vandene was not the killer she could pose a threat as well. If Ispan was the victim then both Adeleas and Vandene should be removed just in case. This strengthens the case against Vandene. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 1.5: Black? Or Not? _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of whether or not various characters are Darkfriends. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.5.1: Is Aram a Darkfriend? _________________________________________________________________ There is a Tinker at the DFS at the beginning of TGH, wearing green trousers and a yellow coat. Could he be Perrin's little friend? There is definitely something up with Aram: Egwene's Dream [TFoH: 15, What Can Be Learned in Dreams, 214] indicates that Aram is going to get Perrin into trouble: "A man in a bright yellow coat...the Tinker. Every time he moved closer to Perrin it was if a chill of doom shot through everything." This may just mean that there is something doom-filled about Aram being a Tinker with a sword. Aram is a pretty bloodthirsty dude, so it may be that he'll get Perrin in trouble somehow through his behaviour. In LOC, ACOS, and TPOD, Aram doesn't do much besides follow Perrin around. Not much evidence there. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.5.2: Why Moiraine is not Black Ajah _________________________________________________________________ One might think this was a dead issue, but people keep bringing it up. Why would anybody think Moiraine was BA? Well, during TGH, RJ seems to be putting down clues in that direction. Namely, she was missing during the time of the DFS. Also, she was wearing her ring on a different finger than she had before (damning evidence, for sure). This was all a red herring, because since then, we have been privy to Moiraine's thoughts, which show that she walks in the Light. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.5.3: Why Elaida isn't Black Ajah [Erica Sadun, P. Korda] _________________________________________________________________ Read the following references: [TSR: 1, Seeds of Shadow, 29-30]: Elaida thinks about how Rand al'Thor must be stopped from causing trouble in Andor, since Andor and its royalty are they key to defeating the DO. She believes that defeating the DO is a desirable goal. [TFoH: Prologue, The First Sparks Fall, 13-21] and [TFoH: 19, Memories, 260]: Elaida is pretty clearly a dupe. Finally, from the Elaida-Alviarin interactions in LOC, ACOS, and TPOD, it is obvious that Elaida is not BA, since Alviarin has to resort to blackmail to control Elaida. If Elaida was BA, Alviarin, head of the Black Ajah, would just tell her what to do. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.5.4: Sheriam: Black or Blue? _________________________________________________________________ Prior to TPOD, there was little reason to really believe Sheriam was BA. There was some speculation, based mostly on the fact that Mistress of Novices would be a good position for a Black Sister. Certain examples of Sheriam's behavior towards El, Eg, and Ny could indicate that she is BA, but they all are explained equally well by considering that, in all these instances, she is a high-ranking Aes Sedai (either Mistress of Novices or part of the original Salidar Cabal) and El, Eg, and Ny are students. Here are the examples: * Egwene's Accepted test: she says something like "He said they could turn him to the Shadow, against his will. Can they?" [TDR: 22, The Price of the Ring, 202-3]. Sheriam then tells her about the 13 Dreadlords + 13 Fades trick, but she doesn't wonder who "he" was. On the other hand, why would a Darkfriend tell Egwene about that trick, so that she'd know to watch out for it? As for "he," why should she wonder? The "people" who appear in the testing ter'angreal aren't even always real. * The incident with the Gray Men in the Tower. One of them is found dead in Sheriam's bedroom, the other is found killed. Nynaeve points out that Sheriam never once wonders about who killed the Soulless. She acts rather suspicious in general during that whole scene. [TDR: 15, The Gray Man, 142-146]. This can be explained by saying she was just being brusque with the kids because she wanted them to keep quiet. Why should she wonder who killed him in front of the Accepted? To her, they're irresponsible runaways. * Sheriam's also the perfect operative of the Shadow for the tower-in-exile in Salidar. There were many suspicious things about her treatment of Elayne and Nynaeve when they arrived in Salidar. Sheriam seemed to be the most ardent about confiscating the ter'angreal. Again, it could very well be that she's just being Aes Sedai. Why should she let the kids keep the ter'angreal, or approve of them gallivanting about the glove, instead of studying like they should be? * The only maid of Egwene's who wasn't killed by Halima was Chesa. Chesa was assigned by Sheriam [LOC: 36, The Amyrlin is Raised,479]. Chesa is possibly a spy for Sheriam, or for Sheriam's master (see below). In [TPOD, 16, Unexpected Absences, 345], however, we discover that Sheriam is definitely under somebody's thumb. In this scene, Sheriam is tortured for information by a mysterious channeler. It is clear that this is not the first time that this has happened. What can we tell from this scene? * Sheriam's tormenter is a channeler. Sheriam is restrained, shielded, and stripped with the Power. We can't say whether this person channels saidin or saidar. One might think that Sheriam would sense a female channeler in her tent. In fact, she might have done so, but it was too late to run away: "She had only time to realize she was not alone when she was shielded..." * The tormenter is not particularly subtle in her/his use of the OP in torturing Sheriam. Sheriam is beaten-- "when she was left alone... it was to lie... whimpering from her welts." This tells us little, but it is definitely not Semirhage's style. (Sem's torture of Cabriana in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139-143] is much more complex. Sem stimulates the pain centers of her subject's brain directly.) * The tormenter is questioning Sheriam because he/she wants to know what Egwene was planning: "That girl is up to something, and I want to know what." * This has been going on for some time. The torturer says, "you were supposed to keep me informed." * Sheriam believes her predicament stems from talking to at least one of the Sitters. She wishes "that she had never in her life spoken to a single sister in the Hall." So, what is going on? Either: 1) Sheriam is BA, and her tormenter is either BA or a Forsaken, 2) Sheriam is BA, and her tormenter is not somebody related to the Dark, 3) Sheriam is not BA, but her tormenter is BA or Forsaken, or 4) Neither Sheriam nor her tormenter is of the Dark. This all basically boils down to two questions: 1) Who is Sheriam's torturer? 2) Does Sheriam's predicament mean she is BA? Who is pummelling Sheriam? Before attacking the question of specific suspects, let's address a general question: is the culprit a channeler of saidar or saidin? One argument in favor of saidin is that Sheriam was easily shielded and bound before she noticed anybody was in her tent. Female channelers are supposedly able to sense the presence of other female channelers. Furthermore, no one else, e.g. Egwene, noticed a lot of the OP being used in Sheriam's tent. However, it's not really possible to eliminate saidar-channelers on this basis. Sheriam may have been able to sense the channeler in her tent if she'd been looking for one. However, she was not expecting her visitor. From [LOC: 27, Gifts, 389-390] we know that an AS can't always pinpoint the location of a channeler she can't see. Thus, even if Sheriam sensed the presence of another woman channeler, she may not have thought it was important, since she's surrounded by woman channelers. Since it is not at all clear she could have pinpointed the channeler's presence to her own small tent, we shouldn't be too surprised that she didn't sense her assailant, even if it was a woman. The question of somebody else detecting the flows is a greater objection. However, it is not even close to being an insurmountable obstacle. For one thing, the scene occurs late at night, so most potential witnesses would have been asleep, or at least inside their own tents. Secondly, Sheriam's assailant would have taken precautions to prevent detection-- inverting and tying off the flows which shielded and bound Sheriam, for example. As for the beating itself, as Amy Gray points out, it is possible that "it doesn't take a significantly higher amount of the Power to make clubs of Air and move them around than it does to, say, move a chair with the Power or channel your lamp lit-- the sort of things she might actually be doing in her tent." Furthermore, while it is reasonable to assume that the beating was done with the Power, nothing in the scene indicates that it was actually done that way. It's quite possible that Sheriam was beaten with a stick. Therefore, we cannot rule out all female channelers as suspects. Let us now turn to the question of particular suspects. The general categories are a Forsaken, a Black Sister, or Somebody Not Affiliated with the Shadow. Forsaken General comments: In general, the Forsaken have not shown a predilection for using physical torture to extract information from informants. When the informant is a Darkfriend, they tend to rely on that person's greed, their DF Oaths, and good old-fashioned fear. When the informant is not a sworn DF, most of the Forsaken tend to use Compulsion. If the attacker was a Forsaken, it shouldn't have taken "a long time to convince her questioner that she had already told all she knew, that she would never hold back a word, not a whisper." A Forsaken could have simply Compelled her to spill her guts. However, while this general consideration makes it less likely that the attacker was a Forsaken, we certainly can't rule it out. There is evidence that the attacker was a Forsaken; the method used to strip Sheriam ("Dress and shift burst away from her body like a pricked bubble.") sounds similar to the method Semirhage uses in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139]: "she wielded Fire and Wind, slicing away dress and shift." Semirhage then thinks, "she doubted [the captured Aes Sedai] could duplicate those simple feats even if she had been able to follow them." Semirhage, at least, thinks that modern AS don't know how to do the clothes-stripping trick. Among the Forsaken, the most likely candidates for Sheriam's assailant are Semirhage, Aran'gar/Halima, and Mesaana. Semirhage: She is the only Forsaken who has shown or expressed a preference for torture over Compulsion as a way to gain information and loyalty [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 140]. However, Sheriam's interrogation is a far cry from that of Cabriana Mecandes in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139-143]. Physically beating her subject seems too mundane, too unsophisticated for Semirhage. Sem has mastered the art of stimulating her subject's brain to feel pain and pleasure directly, a method much more effective than physical attack, and it doesn't leave any marks. It's unlikely that she'd stoop to beating a subject with Air, or Light forbid, a stick. Aran'gar: There is evidence which provides a connection between Sheriam and Aran'gar: Egwene's maid Chesa. Chesa was hired by Sheriam. Eg's other two maids were hired by Romanda and Lelaine, and it's strongly implied that all three were intended to spy on Egwene for Sheriam, Romanda, and Lelaine, respectively. (See Section 1.5.5 for more on Chesa.) Now, Aran'gar killed Romanda and Lelaine's hirelings, leaving Chesa to attend Egwene 'round the clock. This makes sense if Aran'gar is Sheriam's master. Either Chesa reports to Sheriam, and Sheriam to Aran'gar, or Chesa is a DF who reports directly to Aran'gar, and Sheriam hired her at Aran'gar's instructions. Aran'gar also explains Sheriam's regrets about talking to Sitters/a Sitter. Aran'gar attached herself to Delana, a BA who is a Sitter. Delana could be the Sitter Sheriam is thinking of. On the other hand, since Halima has direct access to Egwene and should have no compunction at using Compulsion on her, what info could she possibly require from Sheriam? Egwene does not confide in Sheriam, and Halima is unlikely to get better intelligence by this route than by her own direct efforts. As for acquiring info on other SAS Sitters (as opposed to info on Egwene or her plans), Halima has Delana. Thus the problem with Halima is that it is difficult to imagine her needing Sheriam's information on anything, making the scene make no real sense with her as the torturer except as a "look, the bad guys are bad because they do bad things" establishment sequence (in which case, the author might as well show us the identity of the the bad guy, so we can shudder and say "wow, s/he's really bad!"). [Elizabeth Cornwell] Mesaana: "Mesaana (who neither knows about nor is working with Halima), but who does have a vested interest in all events concerning the Tower, is a good suspect for the torturer. She does need info on Egwene's plans and, since Sheriam is Egwene's Keeper, would have every reason to believe that Sheriam would be a good source of such information." [Elizabeth Cornwell] However, as far as we know, Mesaana has never shown any interest in the Salidar Aes Sedai; she seems to be concentrating her efforts on the Tower. Black Ajah General Considerations: The relative lack of sophistication in Sheriam's interrogation (no Compulsion or other Forsaken-style tricks) makes the Black Ajah (rather than the Forsaken) a good place to look for Sheriam's abuser. Narrowing this suspect pool is difficult, since we only know of one BA in the Salidar group-- Delana. Another Black suspect is Alviarin, who can Travel, and who may have been out of the Tower when Sheriam was being beaten up. Apart from these two, the only other BA we know about are too far away from the Salidar army to be candidates. (Of course, there is the possibility that an unknown BA in the Salidar group is the culprit.) Delana: Delana is a Sitter, which would explain Sheriam's regrets about talking to a Sitter. Delana could be interrogating Sheriam either at Aran'gar's instigation or as an independent effort. (She may be trying to gather information which would put her in good standing with Aran'gar.) A point against her is that she seems like something of a wet hen, so far as BA are concerned, and may not have it in her to torture Sheriam so brutally. Alviarin: Like Mesaana, Alviarin has a vested interest in keeping tabs on the SAS. If Elaida were to be deposed by the rebels, Alviarin would fall with her. Since she can Travel, we know she's not particularly weak in the OP, and thus could possibly shield Sheriam, who is also relatively strong. Torturing people for information is not beyond her-- she is most likely the one who tortured the novice Sahra in [TSR: 17, Deceptions, 204-205], to gain information which led to the Tower coup. She also happily participated in the Questioning of Siuan and Leane. From Elaida, we know that Alviarin may have been out of the Tower at the time Sheriam was being attacked [TPOD: 25, An Unwelcome Return, 492], and since she can Travel, she could have easily made a trip to Salidar. One problem with Alviarin being the attacker is that it doesn't explain Sheriam's thoughts about Sitters. The only possibility which comes to mind is if Elaida's secret plan [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 24-26] involves the SAS Sitters, and Alviarin knows of it. Needless to say, this is a very tenuous connection. Non-Dark Person General Considerations: The nature of the attack certainly seems to imply that a Person of the Dark was behind it. The OP was apparently used, and non-Black AS cannot use the OP as a weapon. There are loopholes, as indicated by Rand's adventures with his TAS kidnappers. However, the non-Black TAS quickly became unable to participate in Rand's torture, when they started to believe that it was torture, and not punishment. However, it is conceivable that a non-Black AS could convince herself that using the OP to torture Sheriam was not "using the OP as a weapon." An agent of Elaida's, for example, might regard Sheriam as a rebel, and thus deserving of punishment. Note that Sheriam's treatment falls within Tower custom on questioning by another Aes Sedai [TPOD: 4, A Quiet Place, 106-107]. No blood as far as we know was drawn and the prohibition of dusk and dawn were also met seemingly. People who have been suggested as non-Black attackers are Romanda and Lelaine, mostly because they are Sitters, and they have an interest in knowing what Egwene is up to. John Hamby points out, "Both Romanda and Lelaine are caught off-guard by the news of the Andoran and Murandian armies. I think that Sheriam mentioned something in the Hall that might have let one of the two gain power over her. What this may be is of course not known but my suspicions are that it is the knowledge of the ten spies sent without the Hall's knowing. This is the only piece of info that comes to mind that could bind Sheriam and let this person treat her as such. Also both of these two sisters are considerably older and stronger. So part of her submission could be deference as well as being blackmailed." Lelaine: Between the two of them, there is a bit more reason to suspect Lelaine than Romanda. Rich Boye' points out, "The fact that Lelaine tries to be sweet and kindly all the time pretty much makes me distrust her. Something must be swimming in her depths, and I think she's prone to lashing out in private. Anyway, she is always patting Egwene and those who deems inferior (Siuan, being the most notable other one) touching cheeks, stroking hair, etc... Before Sheriam's assailant lets fly with the OP, he or she strokes Sheriam's hair." John Hamby adds, "Since Lelaine is Blue and so is Sheriam that might add another layer to the control that Sheriam's questioner has over her. Also this would fit with the part about the ten spies as no Blues were a part of that group. So Lelaine gains much more with Sheriam under her thumb than she would in exposing a Blue agent." Does Sheriam's predicament mean she is a Darkfriend or not? Sheriam's situation has been taken (by different people, obviously) as an indication that a) she is a Darkfriend, and b) she is not a Darkfriend. Here are the arguments: Sheriam is Black Prior to this incident, there had already been suspicion cast on Sheriam, most especially from the Gray Men business in TDR. Darkfriends can treat one another quite badly, especially if revenge or a reversal of position is involved (for example, Shiaine's treatment of Falion and Carridin in [TPOD: 28, Crimsonthorn, 553-554]). If Sheriam is not BA, then she must be bound the the Three Oaths, and cannot lie directly. Because of this, her abuser should have been able to easily determine that she had told them all she knew. Of course, her abuser may have thought Sheriam had a poor memory, or maybe they just enjoy beating Sheriam up. Furthermore, Sheriam has sworn fealty to Egwene, and should be bound to it by the First Oath. Spying on Egwene surely violates this. Sheriam is not Black Sheriam's thoughts in the torture scene don't seem to be entirely consistent with the theory that she is BA. Consider her thought to herself along the lines of "I'll never talk to another Sister." Clearly her torturer wants her gathering information, so the comment reflects her regret at getting into this situation in the first place, not her obedience to her controller. Elizabeth Cornwell: "If she's BA, the comment would have to indicate that, at some point, a Sister, working as an evangelist for the Dark Side, got Sheriam into a conversation about the terrific feeling you get working for the Dark Lord, and, after shoving a few inspriational pamphlets at her, converted her to the cause. This doesn't, to me, really sound like the way BA would be recruited. I paint the scenario in the way I do because Sheriam's rueful comment doesn't seem to indicate a dislike for her current position within the Dark hierarchy (someday I'll be in charge and make her pay), but regret for getting sucked into the system to start with. Blabbing a blackmailable secret to the wrong gal-pal in an unguarded moment seems to fit a little better. If the secret spilling and consequent blackmail date back a while, it works to explain the Gray Man as well." One thing which should be noted is that Sheriam's interaction with her abuser is not typical of Darkfriends. Generally, when DFs and BA are punished by their superiors, they are given the "opportunity" to do a lot of grovelling and kissing-up, instead of just getting tied up and beaten. For example, compare Liandrin and Moghedien to Sheriam and her abuser. Furthermore, if Sheriam is BA, why didn't Halima attach herself to her? She was very powerful in Salidar (arguably as powerful as, if not more so, than any Sitter) even before she became Keeper. Another piece of evidence in favor of Sheriam's innocence is, oddly enough, her slacking of her duties as Egwene's Keeper. In [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 330], Egwene notes, "The post of secretary provided [Siuan and Egwene] another reason to be seen talking, and Sheriam had not minded at all giving up the work." Contrast this with Sheriam's previous behavior; she was only too happy to take care of all the paperwork [ACOS: 8, The Figurehead, 158]. Consider that the secretarial duties of being Keeper give Sheriam access to all of Egwene's doings, and all the details of what the Amyrlin is up to. Perhaps she allowed SS to take over the position of secretary to limit her own knowledge. After all, she can't report on what she doesn't know. Avoiding her responsibilities as Keeper could be her way of keeping her oath of fealty while being under the thumb of her abuser. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.5.5: Is Chesa a Darkfriend? _________________________________________________________________ Why would anybody think Egwene's maid, Chesa, was a servant of the Shadow? First, it is very suspicious that Halima killed Meri and Selame, but not Chesa. The result of this is that Chesa now waits on Egwene 'round the clock. Meri and Selame were appointed by Romanda and Lelaine [ACOS: 8, The Figurehead, 160], and they were most likely spying on Eg for those Sitters. The conclusion that immediately springs to mind is that Chesa is also a spy, and that Halima killed the other two maids so that Chesa's spying could be more effective. This implies that Halima (a.k.a. Aran'gar, a.k.a. Balthamel) has an interest in Chesa's spying, or works for somebody who does (Moridin or Shaidar Haran). Furthermore, Chesa was apparently appointed to be Egwene's maid by Sheriam: "Sheriam might have chosen [Chesa], but she was the Amyrlin Seat's maid." [LOC: 36, The Amyrlin is Raised, 479], and "Chesa was a gift from Sheriam." [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 186]. As we know from [TPOD, 16, Unexpected Absences, 345], Sheriam (who may be Black herself) is being controlled by somebody (probably) of the Dark persuasion. So, it is certainly conceivable that either 1) Sheriam was ordered to choose Chesa by her controller, and Chesa reports to that mysterious person, or 2) Sheriam chose Chesa to be her own spy, and pass Chesa's info on to her controller. Either way, it fits together well. However, there are other, less obvious ways to interpret these data. With respect to the murders, it's possible that Meri and Selame were removed to eliminate whatever (poor) information they were giving to Romanda and Lelaine. If Chesa is just a maid and not a spy, there would be no reason to kill her. As for the connection with Sheriam, there may be some confusion about that. While Egwene thinks twice, in different books, that Sheriam assigned Chesa to her, Anaiya may have had something to do with it, too: 'Anaiya said, "We need to let her sleep. Tomorrow is almost as important as tonight was, child." Abruptly she laughed to herself softly. "Mother....We will send Chesa to help you get ready for bed."' [LOC: 36, The Amyrlin is Raised, 478] This is right after Eg arrives in Salidar. It sounds as if Anaiya is the one choosing Chesa to be Eg's maid. This can be resolved in two different ways: 1) Anaiya sent Chesa to Eg on the first night as a temporary measure, and Sheriam decided to make it a permanent appointment, or 2) Sheriam chose Chesa before Eg got to Salidar, and Anaiya was just suggesting that the pre-appointed servant go take care of Eg. Finally, there is one piece of evidence which contradicts the idea that Chesa is a spy for Sheriam. In [ACOS: 8, The Figurehead, 159], Egwene thinks, "[Sheriam] did not understand why Egwene let her maid be present at these meetings, much less let her chatter away freely." This indicates that Sheriam has expressed disapproval of Eg's habit of letting Chesa be present at meetings where secret stuff is being discussed. If Chesa was spying for Sheriam, Sheriam would not discourage this practice. However, this consideration doesn't rule out the possibility that Sheriam is being forced to work against Eg, and is trying to protect Egwene by discouraging her from having Chesa around all the time. Another reason to be suspicious of Chesa is the way she is presented. As she appears, Chesa is pretty dim-witted. Always chattering inanely about not eating too fast, dressing warmly, and washing behind one's ears, she's a caricature of a stupid servant. It's hard to believe that the woman is as simple-minded as she acts around Egwene. In fact, Egwene is always thinking about how great Chesa is, how "simple" and "refreshing." Would RJ be pushing this so strongly if she was actually a simple-minded serving woman? XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.5.6: Who is not a Darkfriend? _________________________________________________________________ There are several characters who we know cannot be Darkfriends. We know because Jordan has shown us their thoughts when they are thinking about their motivations, their opinions towards the Shadow and the DO, or something similarly indicative. These people are: Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Nynaeve, Min, Elayne, Elaida [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 16-17], Moiraine, Morgase, Thom [TSR: 17, Deceptions, 191-196], Egeanin, Bayle Domon [TGH: 9, Leavetakings, 134-138], Pedron Niall [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 47], Dain [TSR: 1, Seeds of Shadow, 32] and Geofram Bornhald, Siuan Sanche, Gawyn [TSR: Prologue, Lightnings, 50-54], Lan [Just about all of "New Spring"], Queen Ethenielle [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 17], Aviendha [TPOD: 1, To Keep the Bargain, 58-59] and Toveine Gazal [TPOD: 26, The Extra Bit, 513]. There is a second group of characters who we know are not Black. This is the group of Aes Sedai who swore on the Oath Rod to not lie, and then said "I am not Black Ajah/a Darkfriend." This group is: Seaine, Pevara, Zerah (one of the Salidar agents), Saerin, Yukiri, and Doesine (Tower Sitters). [TPOD: 26, The Extra Bit, 504-513] A third group who we know are not DFs is the group of AS Elaida sent to attack the Black Tower. Alviarin believed the plan was foolish, and made sure no BA went on the mission. This includes Toveine Gazal and two other AS named Jenare and Lemai [TPOD: 26, The Extra Bit, 512-514]. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 1.6: Shadar Logoth, Mashadar, and Fain _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of the "other evil" in Randland, that which is connected to Shadar Logoth. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.6.1: More of the Fain _________________________________________________________________ Padan Fain was a Lugard peddler, who moonlighted as a Friend of the Dark. When it came time for the Dragon to be reborn, Fain was taken to Shayol Ghul and made into the Dark One's Hound, to search out the Dragon Reborn. He followed the boys to Shadar Logoth and had a run-in with Mordeth. Mordeth tried to devour Fain's soul, but couldn't, because of the hold the DO had on him. So Fain became part Mordeth, part renegade minion of the DO. This is basically what the books tell us. What is he up to now? Not much, for somebody who is supposedly as dangerous as the Shadow. He went to the Fortress of the Light and the White Tower to sow seeds of dissension, and make sure Pedron Niall and Elaida would never join Rand. He seems to be currently involved in causing Rand trouble, in little instances which could, admittedly, build up. He instigated a failed assassination of Rand by his ex-WCs in Caemlyn. He might also have been responsible for the attack on the Brown AS in Caemlyn which ended up driving a rift between Rand and the Salidar AS, and sending him into the hands of Elaida's AS in Cairhien, but this could just as easily have been part of some Forsaken's plot, or a plot by the Tower AS and the Shaido to alienate the Salidar AS from Rand (See Section 1.4.6). Last time we saw him, he was hanging with Toram Riatin (a Cairhienin rebel) and calling himself "Jeraal Mordeth." In TPOD, Lord Dobraine reports a rumor that Mordeth has deserted Toram, who has disappeared. As far as we know, Fain still has his pet Fade. Is Fain the Dark One's avatar? Roy Navarre and Tony Z came up with a loony theory that Fain is actually the avatar of the DO. Roy says: "First, if you check the glossary, you will see that the DO is described as the source of all evil. Hence Mashadar must flow from the DO or the glossary is wrong. (Note that that last option has been known to happen.) Next, Myself and Tony Z presented detailed evidence suggesting that Fain is the avatar of the DO. With each broken seal, Fain gets stronger. Thus, the DO has been in our midst all this time but we just didn't know it. At first only a trace of him in Fain, but growing stronger and stronger until now his presence in Fain seems unmistakable." Eric Ebinger counters: "Fain no longer exists. Padan Fain was summoned to Shayol Ghul, was broken and reformed into a bloodhound for the DO, as part of which he was imprinted by the DO. This happened twice at Shayol Ghul and once in a dream. Padan Fain/DO bloodhound went to Shadar Logoth and fell prey to Mordeth. Normally, Mordeth would just destroy the existing "soul/personality", but Padan Fain's having been "remade" by the DO seems to have changed things sufficiently so that there was a slow gradual merging of all of the different personalities (Fain/Mordeth/DO's imprint). The most accurate term for the combination is the name that he took: Ordeith. Over time, the Mordeth portion has gained more and more control over the gestalt. The DO's imprint has given Ordeith the unreasoning hatred of Rand, Perrin, and Mat. There doesn't seem to be much of anything of Padan Fain left. As the Mordeth fragment has gained more complete control of the gestalt, Ordeith has increased in power. The seeming relationship between the breaking of the Seals and Ordeith's power is due only to the fact that as time passes Ordeith gets stronger and as time passes the Seals break. The same relationship is evident with Rand, Perrin, Mat, Elayne, Egwene, Aviendha and Nynaeve." Note that Fain is now calling himself "Mordeth," which suggests that the Mordeth part is dominating, which makes it very unlikely that Fain is the DO's avatar. Furthermore, as John Novak states: "If Fain is now an embodiment of the Dark One, why in Hell was Slayer hunting him down as a renegade in tSR? Does the Dark One like being hunted by his own servants?" Finally, it's pretty apparent that if anybody in these books is the Dark One's avatar, it's Shaidar Haran. (See section 1.4.4.) XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.6.2: Mordeth, Mashadar and Machin Shin _________________________________________________________________ Mordeth Mordeth was the councillor whose evil brought Aridhol to its doom. As far as we know, he was an actual person at the time of the Trolloc wars. He was the power behind the throne of Balwen, and led Aridhol to the policy of "The victory of the Light is all....while their deeds abandoned the Light." When the city was consumed by its own evil, only Mordeth remained, bound to Shadar Logoth. One supposes that at some point he died, leaving his spirit to haunt the ruins. Mordeth's way out was to convince someone "to accompany him to the walls, to the boundary of Mashadar's power, [where he was] able to consume the soul of that person." That person was Fain, and it didn't quite work out that way, due to the DO's influence on Fain. Anyway, Mordeth no longer haunts Shadar Logoth, he is inside Fain, merged with him. [TEOTW: 19, Shadow's Waiting, 244] Mashadar Like Mordeth, Mashadar is connected with Shadar Logoth. However, Mordeth and Mashadar are NOT the same. Mordeth is/was a sentient being, an individual. Mashadar is some sort of physical manifestation of the evil nature of the city: "No enemy had come to Aridhol but Aridhol. Suspicion and hate had given birth to something that fed on that which created it, something locked in the bedrock on which the city stood. Mashadar waits still, hungering." [TEOTW: 19, Shadow's Waiting, 244] In particular, Mashadar is a slightly glowing fog. "Mashadar. Unseeing, unthinking, moving through the city as aimlessly as a worm burrows through the earth. If it touches you, you will die." [TEOTW: 20, Dust on the Wind, 249] It is not sentient. It just moves around and kills whatever it touches, in a rather painful fashion, if Liah's reaction to being touched by it in [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 660] is any indication. Mashadar, or something similar to it, seems may have existed prior to the Trolloc Wars. In [TEOTW: 50, Meetings at the Eye, 628], Aginor refers to the Shadar Mandarb, or the taint on it, as "An old thing, and old friend, an old enemy." [ACOS book signing: Vancouver, 24 August, 1996; report by Lara Beaton], RJ said that Mashadar appeared after everybody in Aridhol had killed one another. Machin Shin The Black Wind of the Ways. It is a part of the "Darkening of the Ways": "About a thousand years ago, during what you humans call the War of the Hundred Years, the Ways began to change....they grew dank and dim...some who came out had gone mad, raving about Machin Shin, the Black Wind." [TEOTW: 43, Decisions and Apparitions, 545] People who run into the Black Wind end up mad, or a mindless husk like the Ogier in [TGH, 36, Among The Elders, 435]. After TEOTW, Machin Shin gained a new feature: it somehow seeks out Rand. Whenever Rand tries to use the Ways, Machin Shin is found at the Waygate he is using. Note that this ONLY happens to Rand. When Liandrin, etc use the ways in TGH, and when Perrin does in TSR, they do not find the Black Wind waiting for them at the Waygate. This new effect is probably somehow due to its encounter with Fain in TEOTW. It seems to have picked up Fain's drive to seek out Rand. Note that it is probably NOT under Fain's control; Fain wanted Rand to follow him to Falme, but Machin Shin prevented him from doing so. Where did the Black Wind come from? Nobody really knows. Moiraine makes some speculation in [TEOTW: 45, What Follows in Shadow, 576]: "Something left from the Time of Madness, perhaps....Or even from the War of the Shadow, the War of Power. Something hiding in the Ways so long it can no longer get out. No one, not even among the Ogier, knows how far the Ways run, or how deep. It could even be something of the Ways themselves. As Loial said, the Ways are living things, and all living things have parasites. Perhaps even a creature of the corruption itself, something born of the decay. Something that hates life and light." Some people believe that Mashadar and Machin Shin are somehow connected, that Mashadar somehow got into the Ways through the Shadar Logoth Waygate and then became the Black Wind. This is very unlikely, for the following reasons: 1) Mashadar dates from the Trolloc Wars, Machin Shin from the Hundred Years' War. That is about a thousand years' difference. Thus, the time scale does not agree. 2) Mashadar is a slow-moving glowing fog that kills everything it touches. Machin Shin is a black, howling wind that eats your soul, but doesn't kill your body. So, there is no similarity of appearance, or effect. 3) If Mashadar could get into the Ways from Shadar Logoth, logic says it could get out of the Ways at some other point, and spread itself across Randland. This clearly hasn't happened. XXXXXXXXXXXX 1.6.3: What was up with Liah in Shadar Logoth? _________________________________________________________________ How did Liah manage to stay alive in Shadar Logoth from the time she got lost in LOC to the end of ACOS? RJ says: "She became absorbed into the city. She was left there and she is, after all, a Aiel, one of the people better at surviving under harsh circumstances than anyone else in the world. And also her corruption by Shadar Logoth gave her *some* protection." [America Online chat session, 27 June, 1996] What happened to Liah was probably akin to what happened to Mat when he carried the Shadar Mandarb in TEOTW. Her behavior (attacking all comers) supports this belief. I guess that being bonded to Shadar Logoth must give one some protection from Mashadar, although obviously not enough, since it got her in the end. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 2: Things Not (necessarily) of the Dark _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of people, places, things, and questions which are not necessarily connected with the Shadow. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 2.1: The Ta'veren _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of questions relating to Rand, Mat, and Perrin. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.1.1: What's up with Mat's new ring? _________________________________________________________________ In [ACOS: 14, White Plumes, 280] Mat acquires a signet ring, by pure "luck." The ring is gold with a dark oval carved stone, and is in the "long style"; the stone is as long as the joint of Mat's finger [ACOS: 14, White Plumes, 279]. Here is a description of the carving: "Inside a border of large crescents, a running fox seemed to have startled two birds into flight." [ACOS: 16, A Touch on the Cheek, 300] The fact that Mat was "forced" into buying the ring by his luck makes one suspect that the ring will play some important role in his future. Perhaps it will only be that the ring, along with Mat's new fancy clothes, will lead whoever finds him under that wall to believe he is a noble. (Only nobles have signet rings; commoners don't generally have coats of arms) One theory is that the birds are ravens, which have special significance to the Seanchan. He will be dug up by some Seanchan workers, who will see the ring, and Mat will suffer a similar fate to the two Seanchan nobles who got themselves tattooed with ravens while drunk [TSR, 38, Hidden Faces, 441-442]. There is one problem here, in that the stone can only be slightly larger than 1"x0.5" (the size of Mat's first finger-joint). Squished onto this small area are a bunch of moons (nine, maybe?), a fox, and two birds. The birds can't be very large, and it is doubtful that they are distinguishable as a particular type of bird. However, this doesn't prevent some Seanchan toady from seeing some indistinct bird-shape as a raven, if his fancy takes him. Plus, note that if the images are heraldic and stylized, it could be easier to make a raven appear in that small area. Another idea is that there are nine moons on the ring, and that this will be significant vis a vis the Daughter of the Nine Moons. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.1.2: Is there a connection between Mat's luck and the stolen dice ter'angreal? [Erica Sadun] _________________________________________________________________ Could Mat's phenomenal luck come from the dice ter'angreal described in [TDR: 25, Questions, 237-8]? Not bloody likely. Here's why: 1. The dice ter'angreal was stolen by the black sisters. 2. It is made up of SIX not five dice stuck together 3. You must be able to CHANNEL to use it 4. Mat says he has ALWAYS been lucky. This is referred to even before he got the dagger, and went to Tar Valon to be Healed of it. The dagger may have influenced his natural luck, or forced him into his ta'veren-hood. 5. Mat can win at dice with you using YOUR dice. Note, though, that the dice ter'angreal could probably be used to counteract the probability-twisting effect of ta'veren, e.g. Mat's luck. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.1.3: Is Mat still linked to the Horn? _________________________________________________________________ In [TDR: 12, The Amyrlin Seat, 118], Verin and SS are discussing Mat and the Horn of Valere. Verin says, "So long as Mat lives, the Horn of Valere is no more than a horn to anyone else. If he dies, of course, another can sound and forge a new link between man and Horn." Later, SS tells Mat, "For anyone else, it is only a horn-- so long as you live." There are two points in the story where Mat could be considered to have died: when he was hung from the tree in Rhuidean, and when he got hit by lightning in the raid on Caemlyn in TFOH. So, is he still linked to the horn? Firstly, in Tear, [TSR: 15, 253, Into the Doorway, 177]: [Snakey Answers to "What fate?]: "'To die, and live again, and live once more a part of what was!' The first time Mat Died And Lived Again: In Rhuidean, [TSR: 26, 437-8, The Dedicated, 306-7]: Letting sword and Power go, he ripped the rope away from Mat's neck and pressed an ear to his friend's chest. Nothing. Desperately, he tore open Mat's coat and shirt, breaking the leather cord that held a silver medallion on Mat's chest. He tossed the medallion aside, listened again. Nothing. No heartbeat. Dead. No! He'd be all right if I hadn't let him follow me here. I can't let him be dead! As hard as he could he pounded his fist against Mat's chest, listened. Nothing. Again he hammered, listened. Yes. There. A faint heartbeat. It was. So faint, so slow. And slowing. But Mat was still alive despite the heavy purple welt around his neck. He might yet be kept alive. Filling his lungs, Rand scrambled around to breathe into Mat's mouth as strongly as he could. Again. Again..." The Second time Mat Died And Lived Again (maybe): Mat gets blasted by Rahvin's lightning in Rand's attack on Caemlyn. He is "brought back to life" when Rand BFs Rahvin. However, this is treading the knife edge of paradox, as does anything involving BF. The way BF works is that it "rewinds" time, so that the actions performed by a BF'd person never happened. Thus, Rahvin never shot lightning at Mat. Thus, Mat did not die. Thus, he certainly did not "die and live again." Or did he? So, is he still tied to the Horn? We can agree that Mat actually died. I do grant that we can disagree and quibble over the binding of the Horn, but that's a different matter. And on that note, Judy is correct--the phrasing the Amyrlin used at any rate was "So long as you live." [TDR: 20, Visitations, 182] I just wonder if anyone ever actually linked themselves to the Horn before, then died and then came back to life. In other words, is their knowledge absolute in this matter, or is this just a turn of phrase? [John Novak] If the Caemlyn incident is the only time Mat Died and Lived Again, then he is probably still linked to the Horn, due to the way BF works: Mat gets toasted, the link to the Horn breaks. Rand BFs Rahvin, making Mat not-having-died, and thereby unmaking the destruction of the link to the Horn. If the Rhuidean incident counts as Mat having died and lived again, then the question of his being linked to the Horn is still up in the air-- does restoring him to life restore the link? XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.1.4: When was Rand's Power Acquisition Fever Syndrome? [Erica Sadun] _________________________________________________________________ 1. OP use: cleansing Bela: [TEotW: 11, 149, The Road to Taren Ferry, 125] Reaction: Baerlon encounter w/Children of the Light, [TEotW: 15, Strangers and Friends, 186-90] Time: seven days. 2. OP use: Hitting Trolloc with the boom of Domon's boat. [TEotW: 20, Dust on the Wind, 258-9] Reaction: Mast/trapeze stunt on Bayle Domon's boat [TEotW: 24, Flight Down the Arinelle, 301-3] Time: four days. 3. OP use: calling lightning to escape the inn in Four Kings [TEotW: 32, Four Kings in Shadow, 407] Reaction: fever/chills at the inn in Market Sheran. [TEotW: 33, The Dark Waits, 423-6] Time: two days. 4. OP use: at the Eye of the World. Reaction: Forgetfulness, others? Time: nearly instantaneous. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.1.5: What's up with Mat and his memories? [Don Harlow, Joe Shaw, Korda] _________________________________________________________________ When Mat went into the Red Door of Rhuidean, he asked for the holes in his memory to be filled [TSR: 24, Rhuidean, 281]. He ended up with more than he bargained for. The holes were filled with "historical" memories, memories from people who lived between the time of the Trolloc Wars and the time of Hawkwing. In every memory, he is a military man, and most of his memories are of fighting and battles. Where did they come from? One idea is that the memories are the memories of Mat's own past lives, i.e. Mat is one of the heroes that the Pattern spins out every so often, and he is remembering his previous incarnations. This seems to be supported by the way the Snakes address Mat when he asks his questions. They seem to talk to him as if to some sort of archetypical figure: "Go to Rhuidean, son of battles! Go to Rhuidean, trickster! Go, gambler! Go!" An argument against this idea is that the Heroes of the Horn do not recognise Mat as they recognise Rand when they meet in TGH. On the other hand, there is no reason why they should. Not every reborn person is a Hero of the Horn. Perhaps all the continuously-reborn souls don't "know" one another-- only the Heroes of the Horn, and they only recognise LTT/Rand, because they are somehow bound to follow him. Another idea is that Mat's memories are not actually those of his own past lives, but that when he asked the Foxes to fill the holes in his mind, they just put in random memories of various battle commanders through the ages. The immediate question one must ask is "how did the Foxes get those memories in the first place, then?" They couldn't have gotten them from other visitors, because the Foxy door has been stuck in Rhuidean since the Breaking. Unless the Snakes and Foxes talk to one another and share resources...Another problem with this is that Mat had historical flashbacks of a military nature before he went to Rhuidean. (Consider the scene in TDR where he is Healed in the Tower [TDR: 19, Awakening, 167-168].) So, at least some of his memories are "genuine." There is no mention of Mat having memories of being two different people at the same time. A common misconception is that the sequence of memories described in [TSR: 37, Imre Stand, 424-5] indicates that Mat has memories of being two different people in the same battle. This is not the case! What is actually going on is that these are two different guys, at different times. In the earlier memory, Mat is an advisor to a king, and is killed through the treachery of the enemy. In the later memory, Mat recalls seeing that same enemy, then older and grayer, die in another battle someplace else. There is enough time between the two incidents for the enemy to age considerably, and for Mat to be reborn and grow enough to become a soldier. The closest there is is [LoC, 5, A Different Dance, 113] "Slices of other men's lives packed his head now, thousands of them, sometimes only a few hours, sometimes years altogether though in patches, memories of courts and combats stretching for well over a thousand years, from long before the Trolloc Wars to the final battle of Artur Hawkwing's rise. All his now, or they might as well be." Courtenay Footman interprets it thusly: "Since we have to fit the lives of "thousands" of people into a period less than two thousand years long, it is clear that the average number of those people alive at any one time during that period numbered in the dozens." If this were the only interpretation, then Mat's memories could clearly not be his own. However, this is not the only way to read that passage. "thousands" could just as well refer to "thousands of slices," as "thousands of men." Furthermore, the term "thousands" could be figurative, not literal. A third theory, which is on the Loony side, but worth mentioning, is that some of the memories are of Mat's past lives (thus explaining the pre-Rhuidean flashbacks), but that most of them are from Mat's ancestors. Warren Way explains: "Mat's non-Mat memories are a combination of actual past lives plus an effect similar to what Rand went through in the circle of pillars in Rhuidean. Rand realizes that what he experienced were the memories of his Aiel ancestors. So when the finn filled the holes in Mat's memories, they did so with the memories of Mat's forebears in addition to some memories from actual past lives. Perhaps the factors of Mat being a ta'veren and the memory transfer of the finn being imperfect causes the jumble of previous lives and ancestral memories. Why such a limited time frame? The Pattern needs to give Rand a superb general, so Mat gets memories from Randland's bloodiest period. Or maybe, like Johnny Mnemonic, there's only so much space in Mat's head. Nynaeve would probably agree the latter." This idea has the same problem as the "random memories" idea: how did the Foxes get memories of Mat's ancestors? Maybe there is some sort of genetic memory in Randland. RJ stated at a post-TPOD booksigning that "Gender/soul rebirth he said is best illustrated by Mat and Birgitte." (reported by John Hamby.) Note that this implies that Mat's memories are indeed due to his past life. (If some of the memories weren't genuine, then Mat would not be a "best illustration.") Who was Mat? Was he Aemon? There has been a lot of speculation that Mat is the reincarnation of an ancient king of Manetheren. If Mat's memories are due to reincarnation, and not just shoved in there willy-nilly by the Foxes, then it is clear that Mat is the reincarnation of a fairly large number of personalities (I would say "different" personalities, except I suspect that they were all fairly similar). This is evidenced by Mat's pseudo-memories that emerge when Jasin Natael is singing a song about a battle at a river and how the enemy of Manetheren had mercy on the defeated Manetherenites, because they were so brave, etc. Mat remembers himself, the king's advisor, being killed by that foe's treachery; and then he remembers himself, somebody else, seeing that foe, older and grayer, being killed in another battle somewhere else. [TSR: 37, Imre Stand, 424-5]. Plus, we have many scenes in which Mat remembers being guys who were definitely not Aemon. Additionally, he forms the Band of the Red Hand near the end of TFoH, which was supposedly a band of heroes who went down defending Aemon himself. This looks like another marker, though there's nothing directly of Aemon's memories that Mat has. It's clear that Mat was not King of Manetheren in the memory described in [LOC: 5, A Different Dance, 112-113], at least. Mat is remembering several lives. Mat may be one of those souls that the Pattern spins out every so often, and he is remembering his previous incarnations. Mat was just a brilliant military advisor for the Manetheren kings, not the King. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.1.6: Is LTT for Real, or is Rand Insane? Where did LTT go in ACOS? [Carolyn Fusinato, Korda] _________________________________________________________________ So, Rand is hearing voices. Is Lews Therin a real entity, or is he a product of Rand's taint-maddened imagination? What is the cause of the "LTT problem"? Option 1: Two minds are better than one One idea is that two minds inhabit Rand's body; Rand and LTT. This seems to be supported by Min's vision of [ACOS: 33, A Bath, 526] in which Rand and another man touched and merged into one another. Rand certainly takes it that way (which should alert the cynical reader to the distinct possibility that this is probably the wrong interpretation :). This theory implies that Rand is relatively sane still and his problems can be attributed to stress, paranoia, fear and another mind trying to take him over and that Lews is completely insane. However, it doesn't make much sense for LTT to be talking to Rand. If we look at the other people who have lived past lives, we don't see this happening. Mat's memories of his past life/lives (if those are really his past lives) are integrated into his own personality. Same with Birgitte-- she doesn't talk to "Maerion," she says she was once called Maerion. Furthermore, rebirth happens often to important souls. That is the way the Pattern works. If everybody who was reborn had the voice of their last incarnation nattering at them, reborn people would be widely known, but not as heroes-- as deranged lunatics. As Rand's case shows, it's hard to be sane when there's a dead person in your head claiming he owns your body! So, LTT's presence cannot be a simple consequence of Rand being a reborn person. If LTT is a separate entity, it could imply that Rand is just some poor sod who happened to be born into the same body that LTT was reborn into, and that not Rand, but LTT is the actual Dragon Reborn. OTOH, it was Rand who pulled the Sword that Ain't, not LTT; he hadn't even shown up then. There is only one case in which we definitely know that two entities coexist in one body: the Fain-Mordeth combo, and they are melding into a single entity over time. (The Gars don't count, because there is only one mind in the body. Slayer doesn't count, because we have no evidence that any of Luc's consciousness survives. In fact, in TAR, we see only Isam.) However, this wasn't a rebirth. This theory also neglects to explain the fact that there is no manifestation of LTT prior to Rand channelling, and that the "LTT problem" has gotten worse over time. Furthermore, LTT wasn't crazy when he died. Ishamael had healed him with the TP, in order to torment him. However, the LTT in Rand's head is definitely loony. Another argument against this, proposed by Joseph Rosenfeld, is that, if the Dragon has been reborn over and over through all time (as claimed by Ish and others), there must have been other "dragons" before LTT. Why, then, is only Lews Therin Telamon Kinslayer, the Age of Legends version of the Dragon, inhabiting Rand's head? Why not a whole committee? Counter to this, also suggested by Mr. Rosenfeld: maybe LTT is the easiest to access because he was the most recent. If Rand tried really hard, he could maybe contact the 1st Age Dragon, and the previous 7th Age one, etc. Option 2: It's the Taint, Stupid! Another alternative is that the LTT personality is the manifestation of Rand's encroaching insanity. "...everybody has been telling him he is Lews Therin reborn, so he starts perceiving Lews Therin is in his head. Not only that, but he finds the voice responds to him. Now he's trying to carry on conversations with this voice. It all seems logical to us, but then it seems logical (sort of) to Rand, as well. I found myself thinking he should tell somebody he was hearing a voice in his head. When I thought how absurd this sounded, it struck me that I had been fooled into thinking Rand was still completely sane." [James Beavens] Then, there is also, "He raised the point that Rand's creeping insanity may manifest in much more subtle ways than the people of Randland expect..." (from Emmet O'Brien's account of Jordan's talk at Trinity College in Dublin in 1993). This theory is supported by Cadsuane's statement that "some men who can channel begin to hear voices....It is part of the madness. Voices conversing with them, telling them what to do." [ACOS: 18, As the Plow Breaks the Earth, 331] If we assume Dashiva is not a Forsaken, but just a crazy channeller (see section 1.2.2), then Dashiva's reaction to Cadsuane's statement, as well as some of his other behaviour, seem to support it. On the other hand, this doesn't take into account that "LTT" knows things that Rand could never have known on his own--stuff about the AoL, the Forsaken, channelling, etc. Option 1.5: A little bit of both Both the "rebirth" explanation and the "taint" explanation have points in their favor. Both theories have problems, too. The rebirth theory explains why Rand knows things, via LTT, which he couldn't possibly have known on his own--things about channelling techniques, about the Forsaken, and about life in the AOL. However, the voice cannot be solely due to rebirth, because other reborn people don't have the problem, and Rand has presumably been LTT Reborn all his life, and he's only started hearing voices recently. The Taint theory, on the other hand, explains how Rand's LTT problem correlates with Rand's channelling, and has gotten worse as Rand has channelled more and more. Not to mention, hearing voices is generally considered a sign of mental illness, and Rand channels so much that he should be affected by the Taint in some way. It seems likely that the LTT voice is due partially to the Taint, and partially to the fact that Rand is LTT reborn. The big question is, how are the two factors combining to produce the LTT effect? One possibility is that the memories and knowledge expressed by LTT are some sort of past-life leakage, real effects of being somebody Reborn, but the actual LTT personality is not a separate entity, but something Rand's subconscious constructed. Another possibility is that the Taint has a special effect on some reborn people. Perhaps the Taint breaks down barriers in one's mind between the present life and past lives/a past life, and causes the past to intrude upon the present's mind, until the past personality actually takes over. Note that this would explain a lot about Dashiva, who appears to have many of the same mental problems which Rand does, but in a more advanced state. Option Three: From the loony bin. (This is way out in left field, IMO, but some people do believe it, so I'll mention it.) There IS a voice in Rand's head, but it is NOT LTT, or Rand being crazy. Rather, it is the result of some skullduggery on the part of the Shadow to infiltrate Rand's brain. Variations on this theme have been Mesaana (disproved by her actual appearance in LOC), Ishamael, and maybe others. Where did LTT go in ACOS? An interesting thing to note is that, as soon as Cadsuane mentions hearing voices, in [ACOS: 18, As the Plow Breaks the Earth, 331] "LTT" stops talking to Rand. Another thing to note is that Cadsuane channelled while making that statement. The obvious thing she did was fetching the teapot to her, but it is possible that she used the channelling of the teapot to disguise something else she did. Furthermore, the voice reappeared in TPOD. So, we're left with the questions of why did LTT go away? Was it something Cadsuane did? Did he go away of his own volition (was he in hiding)? Did Rand subconsciously suppress him? Why did he come back? Also, what do his disappearance and reappearance signify? XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 2.2: The Rest of the Characters _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of questions relating to characters who are not Rand, Mat, and Perrin. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.2.1: Can Thom channel? [Arthur Bernard Byrne, P. Korda] _________________________________________________________________ Here are the reasons why some people think Thom can channel: 1) The mysterious blue flash in Whitebridge/random burns after the Fade fight in TEOTW. 2) The White Ajah hypothesis that channelling has a genetic link, and that Thom has at least one relative who can channel (Owyn). 3) His comment that he "could have done something" for Owyn. 4) In [TFoH: 9, A Signal, 145] Nynaeve says "she could not channel any more than Thom". This is taken to be "ironic foreshadowing." Objections: 1) The blue flash is something that occurs when Fadeblade meets OP-forged blade (see section 2.3.4). Why Thom had OP-made daggers, we don't know. As for the fires, it seems likely that there was some sort of riot after the fight, which is why people didn't want to talk about it. 2) The genetic basis for channelling is not a simple matter at all; in the whole series, we've only heard of one channeller who is closely related to another--Elayne (if she's Taringail's kid, she's related to Moiraine, if she's Thom's, she is related to Owyn). 3) The "something" comment is just wishful thinking. 4) If Thom was a channeller, he would have to have the "spark inborn," since until recently, nobody was teaching men to channel. Thus, he'd have started channelling at about 20, a la Rand. Even if he had a block, like Ny, he would have channelled quite a bit in the 30 or so years since then, more than enough for him to be showing signs of madness and the rotting disease. 5) Nothing that we have seen of Thom's thoughts or actions gives any indication of him being able to channel. From a signing in Seattle, Edward "potato" Liu tells us: Now, regarding Thom, RJ said a man will not go mad or get sick if he never channelled. Thus, he agreed that a male channeller who could be taught to channel (as opposed to having the inborn ability) and has never channelled would not die from the taint. BUT, when I asked him if he ever intended to make people think that Thom could channel, he said no. I brought up the hereditary point (i.e. Owyn) but he said just because your parents have a particular gene doesn't mean you'll receive that particular gene. Also he made a point that Owyn was his nephew so therefore not necessarily very similar gene-wise. When I pressed him again on it, he said (I'm quoting) "There is no way in hell Thom can channel." All he offered for explanations is that Thom is a "mysterious man." Enough said. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.2.2: What was up with Gawyn during the Tower Coup? _________________________________________________________________ It's been suggested that he was involuntarily bonded to a Black or to a Forsaken. His eyes were glazed and he was not necessarily in control of himself [TSR: 47, The Truth of a Viewing, 539-41]. Alviarin says with some confidence that "Gawyn will be brought under control". [TFOH: Prologue, The First Sparks Fall, 17] OTOH, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that he was in full control of his faculties during the coup. By that time, he had developed a good and solid hatred for SS, due to Elayne and Egwene's mysterious disappearance. Furthermore, in his POV scenes in LOC and ACOS, he never thinks anything that would give the idea that he's bonded to anything. Plus, he agrees to be Eg's warder; he couldn't do that if he was already bonded. (Since he'd trained with the Warders, it's not reasonable to think that he wouldn't know a Warder bond when he felt one.) From his behavior in LoC, it seems pretty apparent that he acted under his own will during the coup, motivated by grief and anxiety over Elayne and Egwene. He develops a similar fierce hatred for Rand due to the rumors that Rand killed Morgase. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.2.3: Who was the old geezer on the barrel watching Carridin's Place in Ebou Dar? _________________________________________________________________ Quite a few mysterious characters were introduced in ACOS. One of these was the old man watching Carridin's palace in Ebou Dar. What do we know about him? * He's old, and quite worse-for-wear: "A scrawny, white-haired fellow lounging nearby in the shade. Mat looked at him questioningly, and he grinned, showing gaps in his teeth. His stooped shoulders and sad weathered face did not fit his fine gray coat. Despite a bit of lace at his neck, he was the very picture of hard times." [ACOS: 14, White Plumes, 282] * He can't remember parts of his past: "His head felt... peculiar... sometimes. Most often when he thought of what he could not remember." [ACOS: 17, The Triumph of Logic, 318] * He's got a lot of knowledge about local DF activity--he knows about "Carridin's pretty little killer," and about the two BA in town. [ACOS: 17: The Triumph of Logic, 319] * He used to be a fighter of some kind, and he's still proficient with knives: "His hands no longer possessed the strength or flexibility for swordwork, but the two long knives he had carried for well over thirty years had surprised more than one swordsman." [ACOS: 17: The Triumph of Logic, 319] * He's working on some kind of deadline: "He did not have much time left, but it was all he did have." [ACOS: 17: The Triumph of Logic, 319] So, is he somebody we've heard of before? Maybe not, but here are some speculations as to his identity: 1. Jain Farstrider--the age is right, as is the memory problem (when Jain visited the Ogier, his mind was befuddled). See also section 2.4.4, the Jain section. 2. Elyas Machera--Not likely, Elyas was in good shape when we last saw him in TEOTW (apart from some flesh wounds). He certainly wasn't feeble like the old guy. Plus, Elyas doesn't show any inclination to frequent cities. Unlike Perrin, he is comfortable with being a wolfbrother; he wouldn't LIKE not being able to feel the wolves, as would be the case in a city. Furthermore, Elyas uses one knife, not two. Finally, Elyas appears in TPOD, in Ghealdan, which is a long walk from Ebou Dar. 3. Geofram Bornhald--If Geofram survived the battle at Falme, he could certainly have sustained such injuries to make him be in as bad a shape as the old man in question. Furthermore, he'd have reason to be paying attention to Carridin, considering the way their relationship stood when they parted in TGH. OTOH, the old man seems to have been unable to handle a sword for 30 years. Bornhald doesn't fit that description. 4. Graendal's Old Man--In [TFOH: Prologue, The First Sparks Fall, 26], when Graendal Gates in to the Forsaken tea party, a "rumpled old man" can be seen in the room whence she came. Perhaps the barrel man is spying on Carridin (Sammael's flunky, at that point) for Graendal. His memory trouble could be explained by Graendal's usual use of un-subtle Compulsion. This, of course, doesn't preclude him from being #1-3, although it isn't likely that Elyas would be keeping company w/ Graendal. 5. Somebody associated with Carridin's late family-- he might just be some old family retainer or even a relative who escaped the Myrddraal and came looking for Carridin to exact vengeance for what he had done to the family. How he found out that Carridin is responsible is another question. (Maybe he looked for the only surviving family member.) 6. Old Cully-- One of the local DFs is a murderous old beggar named Old Cully, and it's been suggested that this Old Cully and the barrel man are one and the same. This is not possible. Carridin knows Old Cully by sight, yet when he sees the barrel man in [ACOS: 15, Insects, 286] standing next to Mat, he doesn't recognise him. Another reason why the barrel man can't be Old Cully: Carridin describes Old Cully as having one eye and no teeth [ACOS: 15, Insects, 284]. But when Mat sees the barrel guy in [ACOS: 14, White Plumes, 282]: "...he grinned, showing gaps in his teeth". There is no mention of the barrel guy missing an eye, either. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.2.4: What's the deal with Setalle Anan? Is she "the one who is no longer"? [Dylan F. Alexander, Elizabeth Cornwell, Michael Werle, P. Korda, John S. Hamby] _________________________________________________________________ "The key to finding the bowl is to find the one who is no longer." [LOC: 19, Matters of Toh, 312] Well, they found the bowl. "The one who is no longer" is still a mystery. So we should be saying, "the key to finding the one who is no longer is to find the bowl." Considering the whole Bowl plotline in ACOS, if we look for one single person who was key to finding the Bowl, a likely candidate is Setalle Anan, the innkeeper of The Wandering Woman. El and Ny's meeting with her set off the chain of events that led to finding the Bowl. (Anan introduced them to the Kin, who they got Mat to spy on, and when Mat followed one of them, she led him to the six-storied building where the Kin's stash of *angreal was.) Here is what the Kin say about Anan: 1. [ACOS 23, Next Door to a Weaver, 393]: Reanne is apologizing to Anan: "The Anan woman and Reanne Corly entered the sitting room, and Nynaeve blinked in surprise. From the exchange, she had expected someone younger than Setalle Anan, but Reanne had hair more gray....Why would the older woman humble herself so to the younger, and why would the younger allow it, however halfheartedly?" From this, we see that Anan is no ordinary innkeeper. The Kin kiss up to AS, but they're pretty arrogant to everybody else. Yet, they defer to Anan. True, she has something on them (knowing they are non-Tower channellers), but that's not enough to treat her as some sort of superior. Note that Reanne has even less apparent reason to defer to Anan than it first appears to Ny, since Reanne is actually around 400 years old, and Anan is, to all appearances, 50 or 60ish, and the Kin defer to one another on the basis of age [TPOD: 1, To Keep the Bargain, 58]. 2. In [ACOS: 23, Next Door to a Weaver, 395] Setalle eyes the newly arrived Garenia who looks to be in her early twenties and sees a strong resemblance to Zarya Alkaese. Then Setalle says that when she last saw Zarya, she was younger than Garenia is now. (Setalle clearly assumes Garenia is as old as she looks; not as old as we later know Garenia to be.) Garenia places herself seventy years in the past with: '"Setalle!" Garenia exclaimed as soon as the innkeeper was gone. "That was Setalle Anan? How did she-? Light of Heaven! Even after seventy years, the Tower would-"' Garenia is upset. After all someone came awfully close to identifying her as Zarya Alkaese. 3. [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 404]: Garenia is carrying on: '"What of this Setalle Anan, then? Those girls know about the Circle. The Anan woman must have told them, though how she knows....She's an innkeeper, and she must be taught to guard her tongue!" Berowin gasped, wide-eyed with shock, and dropped into a chair so hard she nearly bounced. "Remember who she is, Garenia," Reanne said sharply. "If Setalle had betrayed us, we would be crawling to Tar Valon, begging forgiveness the whole way....She has kept the few secrets she knows from gratitude, and I doubt that has faded. She would have died in her first childbirth if the Kin had not helped her. What she knows comes from careless tongues...and the owners of those tongues were punished more than twenty years ago." Still, she wished there was some way she could bring herself to ask Setalle to be more circumspect.' So, at the same time, Anan is regarded as an innkeeper who must be taught to guard her tongue, who knows few secrets, and also somebody who they don't dare offend, even to ask to be more circumspect. From the "crawling to Tar Valon" remark, we have evidence that Anan has the ability to betray the Kin to Tar Valon, or at least the Kin perceive her as having that ability. In this passage, it's possible that Reanne is reminding Garenia that Setalle is a former Aes Sedai. Garenia no doubt has heard of the former sister making a new life for herself, but only by her new name. Garenia seems to want to know who Setalle was before she took the name Setalle. Elayne believes Anan has some connection with the White Tower: After Anan tells Ny and El that they can't be AS because Elayne is too young-looking, Elayne thinks: "Slowed. Slowing. How did an innkeeper in Ebou Dar know those words? Maybe Setalle Anan had gone to the Tower as a girl, though she would not have remained long, since she clearly could not channel. Elayne would have known even if her ability had been as small as her own mother's." [ACOS: 22, Small Sacrifices, 383] Elayne talking to Ny: "I think she went to the Tower once; she knows things she couldn't, otherwise." [ACOS: 23, Next Door to a Weaver, 390] Is Setalle Anan an ex-Aes Sedai? This is very likely. What evidence is there? 1. A burned out or stilled AS would fit the "One who is no longer" description-- "no longer Aes Sedai." If Anan is an ex-Aes Sedai, she's probably burned out, because novices are required to learn the names of officially stilled women, and Elayne doesn't recognize hers. Furthermore, it is clear that the AS are not keeping tabs on Anan, and we know that AS tend to avoid Sisters who are severed accidentally. AS who are stilled for some crime, on the other hand, are often kept around the Tower to serve as examples. 2. The Kin kiss up to her to an extent not seen except around real AS, although not quite that bad. 3. Anan's attitude and behavior: * She's not at all unsettled by being held by the Power [ACOS: 22, Small Sacrifices, 383]. * As Elayne thinks, Anan knows far too much about AS, and throws around AS terms far too naturally for her to have had no contact with AS. * "Why would the older woman humble herself so to the younger, and why would the younger allow it, however halfheartedly?" Especially since Reanne, at 400 or so, is much older than Anan. This is true even if Anan was AS, since the longest known lifespan of a modern AS is around 300 years. This deference would make sense if Reanne knew Anan had been AS. 4. Anan is not native to Ebou Dar. "Her hazel eyes had never been born in Ebou Dar." Note that this is far from conclusive; after all, Ebou Dar is a pretty cosmopolitan city. It's mentioned here because it is brought up quite a bit. 5. We know that the AS are fond of forcibly matching up burned out women with brand-new spouses, in the hopes that a husband and family will give her something to live for beyond the OP. 6. The Garenia evidence: When Anan meets Garenia, she says, "Your name is Garenia? You look very much like someone I met once. Zarya Alkaese." [ACOS: 23, Next Door to a Weaver, 395]. Garenia puts her off by saying that Zarya Alkaese was her great-aunt, but we find out in [TPOD: 28, Crimsonthorn, 542] that Garenia is Zarya Alkaese herself, and ran away from the Tower seventy years ago. Setalle Anan has only "a touch of gray in her hair." [ACOS: 22, Small Sacrifices, 381], so if she were a normal person, she couldn't possibly be ninety or more years old. Thus, we must conclude that Anan must have channelled at some point in her past, because she "slowed" at some point-- there is no way she looks the hundred years old or so she that would be if she met Zarya when she was "younger than you [Garenia] are now." [ACOS: 23, Next Door to a Weaver, 395]. (Garenia looks "no older than Nynaeve." ) If we put together the fact that Anan met Garenia when she was still Zarya (i.e. before she ran away from the Tower), Garenia's fears that Anan could turn her in [ACOS: 23, Next door to a Weaver, 395], Elayne's analysis that Anan must have studied at the Tower for at least a little time, and the fact that Anan currently has zero channelling ability, we can put together the following picture: Anan was at the Tower seventy years ago when Garenia/Zarya was a novice. If Anan was only a failed Novice or Accepted, as Elayne supposes, then Garenia would not fear that she'd turn her in, and Reanne would not be so deferential to her, so Anan must have been Aes Sedai. Something happened to burn her out, and she completely lost the ability to channel. She moved to Ebou Dar and got married. This must have been 20 years ago or more, since Anan has grown children. It has been suggested that Anan is Martine Janata, the AS Vandene mentions when she warns Elayne about the dangers of fooling around with ter'angreal. "She was the last sister to really make a business of studying ter'angreal... She did it for forty years, almost from the time she reached the shawl.... Then one day, Martine's maid found her unconscious on the floor of her sitting room. Burned out.... That was more than twenty-five years ago.... She vanished once she was well enough to slip out of the Tower." [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 75-76] The timing makes this possible, as explained by John Hamby: * [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 405] Setalle gave birth to her first child more than twenty years ago. * Martine Janata was raised to the shawl over sixty-five years ago * She was burnt out over twenty-five years ago and left the Tower * Garenia aka Zarya Alkaese ran away from the Tower seventy years ago [TPOD: 28, Crimsonthorn, 542] So Martine was made a sister well over sixty-five years ago. Garenia ran away seventy years ago. Setalle recognized Garenia as Zarya though she certainly never considered Garenia to be Zarya. Also it is a bit too pat that we get the story of one such sister that provides us with a chronology that fits the criteria to be Setalle Anan. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.2.5: Where is Gaidal Cain now? _________________________________________________________________ In [TFOH: 14, Meetings, 194], Birgitte tells Nynaeve that Gaidal Cain hadn't been around in TAR for some time, and that she suspects that he's been "spun out." Since we never see him in TAR after that point, it is reasonable to suppose that that is the case. So, of course, speculation is rife as to where and who he is. Some suggestions are (in order of ascending age): * Aviendha's or Faile's unborn kid (although there is no proof that either of them is even pregnant) * a baby * Mat's lil' buddy Olver * pulled out of Tel'aran'rhiod bodily and an adult. * Mat * Uno Is Olver Gaidal reborn? One of the most popular ideas is that Olver, the little boy Mat takes under his wing in LOC, is the reincarnation of Gaidal Cain. Supporting this are the facts that he didn't like Birgitte when he first met her, but they have grown very affectionate towards each other. Olver is very ugly. These are both "trademarks" of the Birgitte-Gaidal relationship, as described in [TSR: 52, Need, 598]. Furthermore, Olver is very good at horse-riding (he races and wins regularly in Ebou Dar in ACOS), and Gaidal shows himself to be a very good rider when he appears at Falme in [TGH: 47, The Grave is No Bar to My Call, 559]: "Gaidal Cain dropped his reins and, guiding his horse with his knees, drew a sword in either hand." In spite of the similarities, there is a big problem with the idea of Olver being Gaidal Cain. Olver is nine years old [LOC: 5, A Different Dance, 122]. Gaidal was last seen in TAR at the end of TSR. That was, presumably, before GC was spun out. Thus, only a year or less had passed between GC's "spinning out" and Olver's appearance as a grown boy. That appearance by Gaidal is not the only one he makes during Olver's lifetime. He appears numerous times in TAR, as well as appearing with the other Heroes at Falme. This is a big discrepancy, and requires some explaining, if the Olver-Gaidal theory is to hold. Many explanations have been proposed, but none of them are really consistent with the other information we have about the Heroes of the Horn and TAR. Here they are: The "Time Runs Differently" Theory In [TFOH: 14, Meetings, 194], Birgitte tells Nynaeve that time runs differently for the Heroes in TAR than it does for living people in the real world: "Time [in TAR] is not like time in the waking world. I met you here last ten days gone, as it seems to me, and Elayne only a day before. What was it for you?" Ny: "Four days and three..." Birgitte: "The flow of time here can shift in larger ways, too. It might be months before I am born again, or days. Here, for me. In the waking world it could be years yet before my birth." People have used this idea that "time runs differently" to sweep the timing problem under the rug. However, it is not explained away so easily. Sure, time runs differently, but there is no indication that it ever runs backwards, and it would have to do so in order for Gaidal to have been reborn as Olver. When Birgitte discusses the varying pace of time in TAR with Nynaeve, all of her examples involve time running faster or slower for the Heroes, but always running forwards. El and Ny's meetings with Birgitte occur in the same order for them as for Birgitte, even if the amount of subjective time which passes between the meetings is different. In support of the idea, people bring up the quote by Birgitte in [TFOH: 36, A New Name, 407]: "Gaidal is out there, somewhere, an infant, or even a young boy." The "young boy" bit is taken to mean that Birgitte thinks that time CAN run backwards, and that a nine-year-old could be GC. In addition, in [TPOD: 1, To Keep the Bargain, 47] Aviendha comments that "Birgitte worried about [Olver] even more than [Aviendha], but Birgitte's breast held a strangely soft heart for small boys, especially ugly ones." This has been taken to imply that Birgitte is looking for GC, and continues to believe that GC could be a small boy. However, this is still inconsistent with the fact that, in every other instance, time increases monotonically for Birgitte (and presumably for the other Heroes) in TAR. The first "small boy" comment can be explained by the fact that the pace of time does vary in TAR, and thus, that Birgitte, upon awaking in the real world, had no idea how long has passed (in the waking world) since Gaidal was spun out. For all she knew, it could have been several years. However, by the beginning of TPOD, she must have learned how much time had passed in the real world. So, why is she looking at ugly children? She mourns her loss of Gaidal. It's not very incredible to think that she has a soft heart for that which reminds her of him. Furthermore, she may be deluding herself out of hope that Gaidal isn't quite so young as logic says he must be. The "GC Wasn't Born" Theory Another proposal is that Gaidal was not born, but was somehow bodily spun out in the form of a nine-year-old boy, was adopted by his "parents," and lied/misled Mat when he told him about his past. This theory does at least attempt to get around the timing problem without resorting to time running backwards for the Heroes in TAR. The "small boy" comments brought up above are taken to indicate that Birgitte believes that this is a possibility. However, this idea has its own problems. Firstly, while in TAR, Birgitte talks about being born (e.g. [TSR: 52, Need, 598]). Secondly, when they're incarnated, heroes are supposedly unaware of what they really are. Never being born is a pretty big hint. Thirdly, if people can normally be spun out without being born, why would GC have been spun out as a little kid? Why not make him an adult? It doesn't make much sense. The Moggy-did-it Theory In TSR, Birgitte told Nynaeve that, because she and Gaidal Cain fought alongside LTT, Moghedien promised to make her "weep alone for as long as the Wheel turns." So, Moggy's wanted to hurt Birgitte for a long time. Her ejection of Birgitte from T'A'R in [TFOH: 34, A Silver Arrow, 393] was probably not it -- that was a panicked, angry reaction to being shot, striking back at Birgitte and getting away as fast as she could. Later, in [TFOH: 54, To Caemlyn, 655], she has Nynaeve and Birgitte at her mercy in T'A'R again, able to take the time to punish Birgitte properly -- and what does she do? "Birgitte was gone. A child of perhaps three or four ... stood there playing with a toy-sized silver bow." Nynaeve later forces Moggy to reverse the change, but it shows what Moggy likes in the way of punishments. Perhaps Gaidal suffered the same fate in T'A'R as Birgitte -- he was transformed into a small child by Moghedien (she claimed to be able to make such changes permanent). He was then pushed out of T'A'R into the real world. She might have left Birgitte in the same condition if not for Nynaeve -- or maybe, if Moggy belived that the Wheel would not spin Birgitte out again unless GC was "properly" reborn first, and turning him into Olver and ejecting him from T'A'R broke his ties to the Wheel, then she might have just left Birgitte wandering T'A'R, waiting to rejoin Gaidal Cain forever. This idea is similar to the "GC Wasn't Born" theory, but by making Olver/Gaidal a special case, it avoids the problems which would arise if this was the normal method for Heroes to be spun out. We still have the problem of Olver having parents. Perhaps they were part of the horde of refugees in that area who found him and adopted him. (The time span between Gaidal Cain vanishing from T'A'R and Mat meeting Olver is about three months.) Another problem is that when Birgitte was ripped out of TAR, she was dying, and needed to be immediately Bonded by Elayne to survive. If Gaidal/Olver was ejected in the same way, he would have died. Perhaps Moggy knows a different way to send a soul out of TAR, which doesn't cause death. Another problem is that Moghedien turned Birgitte into a child after Birgitte had been made flesh. At that point, Birgitte dreamed her way into TAR (via the dream ring ter'angreal) just like any other mortal. We don't know that Moggy could affect an un-spun-out soul the same way she can a living soul. Furthermore, Birgitte was vulnerable to Moggy because she "violated the precepts," as Gaidal Cain said, by helping Ny and El. Gaidal didnot show any inclination to put himself in a similar situation-- he disapproved of Birgitte involving herself in the affairs of the living [TSR: 52, Need, 598-599]. A final problem with this idea is that it seems like a rather obscure revenge. Moggy's idea of revenge (as evidenced by her threats to Nynaeve in TAR) involve humiliation and debasement. Dumping Gaidal out of TAR as a child might be humiliating for him, if he's aware of his situation, but it's hardly on the scale of making Birgitte "weep for as long as the Wheel turns." It seems like Moggy's ideal revenge would involve forcing Birgitte to serve her, while being separated from Gaidal. Maybe Moggy had something more extensive planned, but it was interrupted by her captivity? The "Dreaming into TAR" Theory A third attempt to explain the problem of Olver's age involves supposing that reborn Heroes can dream themselves into TAR in their "archetypical" form. Shayne Macfarlane explains, "Maybe, when he dreams, Olver appears as Gaidal in TAR. Birgitte doesn't know that he has already been born again, and only sees him when Olver is asleep. Time passes differently in TAR, so she hasn't realized that he has been born again - after all, a young child sleeps a lot. As Olver gets older he sleeps less, and Birgitte starts to notice his absences." While this would indeed solve the problem, it doesn't exactly fit what we've seen happen. From the way Birgitte described Gaidal's "spinning out," she saw him on a regular basis, and then she stopped seeing him in TAR altogether. If the "dreaming" theory was true, we'd expect that he'd appear less and less frequently as the child grew older and developed his/her own personality; Birgitte would have noticed a gradual fading away, not an abrupt disappearance. Also, if that was the way things worked regularly, Birgitte would have known it, and explained the Reborn-Heroes business that way. Is anybody else Gaidal? Many other characters have been suggested as Gaidal's identity. Two of the most popular are Mat and Uno. Any such suggestion has all the same timing problems as the Olver idea, but to a much greater degree. There is a further problem with the idea of Gaidal being Mat or Uno or anybody who was present at Falme. That is, Gaidal Cain's soul appeared in answer to the Horn's summons. Neither Mat or Uno passed out or exhibited any symptoms of a missing soul. Mat even conversed with Gaidal. Another suggestion is that perhaps Gaidal has not been spun out, after all. Daniel Bartlett explains, 'What if he wasn't [spun out]? Moggy promised Birgitte to "weep alone for as long as the Wheel turns?" What if she delivered on that promise and GC isn't around simply because Moggy got him? Would this explain everything, and Birgitte's looking out for all those little boys simply be wishful tihnking? Much easier than explaining how Olver is Gaidal and was somehow born at age nine with the memories of father killed by the Shaido and a mother dead of an illness.' Any conclusions? We can conclude that, of the characters we've seen so far, Olver is the most likely to be Gaidal Cain. However, there are some serious problems with Olver's age. Thus, if Olver is indeed GC, we need an explanation for how he got to be nine years old, when GC was supposedly spun out a year ago or less. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.2.6: How do we know that Moiraine is not dead? _________________________________________________________________ Well, we don't know what happened after Moiraine and Lanfear fell through the twisted doorway into the land of the Foxes. We do have various visions that imply that she will return. These are: Egwene's vision [TFoH: 15, What Can Be Learned in Dreams, 214] of Thom pulling Moiraine's blue jewel out of a fire, and Min's comment in [ACOS: 35, Into the Woods, 543] that Rand would fail without "a woman who was dead and gone," which almost certainly refers to Moir., and her comment in [ACOS: 35, Into the Woods, 546] that "Moiraine was the only viewing of hers that had ever failed." She must have had one or more viewings about Moir. that were not fulfilled, and since WE know that Min is never wrong, then Moiraine will almost certainly return at some point. One piece of evidence which points to her possible death is the breaking of her bond with Lan. However, we know from [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 28] that "being stilled snapped [an AS's bond to her Warder] as surely as death. One of Irgain's two apparently had fallen over dead from the shock, and the other had died trying to kill thousands of Aiel without making any effort to escape." (Irgain is one of the AS stilled when Rand escaped from the box in LOC.) This quote shows that stilling an AS has the same effect on her Warder as her death. Thus, Lan's reaction only indicates that his bond was "snapped," by death, stilling, or something else. Besides stilling, the breaking of Lan's bond could conceivably have been caused by the shutting off of the Red Door into Finnland. When Moiraine chastises Rand and Mat for using the Tear doorway in [TSR: 15, Into the Doorway, 178-9], she says, "One of you would have been bad enough, but two ta'veren at once - you might have torn the connection entirely and been trapped there." If one substitutes "channelling combatants" for "ta'veren," one has a description of what happened when Moiraine and Lanfear went through the door. The "tearing" of the connection between the two universes may have torn the connection between Moiraine and Lan, as well. In [LoC: Glossary, entry "Moiraine", 710], it says "She vanished into a ter'angreal in Cairhien while battling Lanfear, apparently killing both herself and the Forsaken." That "apparently" definitely leaves the question open. Furthermore, she has a "small shred of hope" before attacking Lanfear, so there IS hope for her future. This "small shred" is probably a glimpse that Moir. got of her future from a source other than the Rhuidean rings, either from Min or the Red Door in Tear. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.2.7: Verin-- Black, Brown, or Purple? [Sean Hillyard, Mike Lemons, Judy Ghirardelli, Emma Pease, Erica Sadun, Pam Korda, Keith Casner, etc] _________________________________________________________________ Verin's suspicious behavior Throughout the series, Verin Mathwin has demonstrated more than her fair share of suspicious behavior. Clearly, Something is Up with her. Is she Black Ajah, or is it something else? 1) VERINISM: In TGH, Verin tells the boys that Moiraine sent her to look after them: [TGH: 14, Wolfbrother, 195] "Moiraine Sedai sent me, Lord Ingtar," Verin announced with a satisfied smile. "She thought you might need me." Moiraine later says that she did NOT send Verin: [TGH: 49, What was Meant To Be, 572] "I did not send Verin." Moiraine frowned. "She did that on her own." It is pretty obvious that Moiraine is not BA, so that implies that Verin lied, and hence must be BA. EXPLANATION: Verin could have been tricked by somebody masquerading as Moiraine. Or, perhaps she managed to find an interpretation of her words that could be taken as the truth. (Moiraine wanted somebody to watch over you guys, but she couldn't be here...) Now, MAYBE Verin is using some sneaky thought process to get around the Oath: '"Moiraine Sedai sent me, Lord Ingtar," Verin announced with a satisfied smile (recalling how satisfying the beer and pizza Moiraine had sent her for had been, and also how satisfying it had been to come up with a literally true statement which would preclude any questions from Rand, et. al.)' [Edward Measure] In [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 39-41], we learn that Verin has worked out a subtle form of Compulsion which conveniently leaves the victim forgetful of their "session" with Verin. Perhaps Verin compelled Moiraine to send her. "Moiraine Sedai sent me (because I made her), Lord Ingtar." [Tony Evans] At a signing in Atlanta, RJ said that this discrepancy is not a mis-step. 2) VERINISM: Verin does not give Corianin's notes to Egwene along with the dream ring [TDR: 21, A World of Dreams, 187]. Maybe she wanted Egwene to get killed, or caught by some Forsaken? EXPLANATION: Four reasons that Verin wouldn't want to show the manuscript to Egwene: 1) Verin is afraid that Egwene would not continue if she knew how dangerous it is. 2) Verin is afraid that Egwene would not continue if she knew who or what must be sacrificed. 3) The very nature of prophecy requires that it be vague or kept secret. 4) Maybe Verin was afraid that Egwene was a Darkfriend. Also, note that she considered giving the notes to Egwene, but decided not to. If she was withholding the notes for a nefarious purpose, she wouldn't have even considered it. 3) VERINISM: Her suspicious behavior in the Two Rivers: a) Misleads Perrin as to why she and Alanna are there [TSR: 31, Assurances, 345-6]. b) Tells Perrin not to trust Alanna, perhaps laying a false trail? [TSR: 33, A New Weave in the Pattern, 373]. c) She also knows Luc is the missing Lord Luc, Tigraine's brother who disappeared in the Blight. She knows he is mentioned in the Dark Prophecy, yet she does not warn anyone about him, or tell them who he is? EXPLANATION: a) and b) are typical Aes Sedai behavior. Furthermore, since Alanna had recently lost a Warder, Verin may have been worried that she would try to bond Perrin, as she later did to Rand. As for c)... 4) VERINISM: Only three characters have referred to Perrin's choice of hammer or axe: Ishamael, Lanfear and Verin. This puts Verin in very suspicious company. EXPLANATION: Verin is Brown Ajah, and thus is likely to know all sorts of obscure things. Perhaps there is a prophecy involving blacksmiths, hammers, and axes. (Also note that the above statement is somewhat false: Egwene also knows about the hammer/axe choice. She dreamed it.) 5) VERINISM: She was observed in deep conversation with Barthanes, a known Darkfriend, at the party in [TGH: 33, A Message From the Dark, 397]. When Hurin approached them, Verin waved him away. Perhaps they were discussing "business matters?" EXPLANATION: No, they were just talking about the weather/politics/etc and Verin didn't want some Shienaran servant butting into her conversation; it wouldn't look right and might make Barthanes suspicious. 6) VERINISM: In [TFoH: 53, Fading Words, 638] Moiraine mentions to Rand in her last letter not to trust Alviarin, who is definitely a Darkfriend, and Verin. Additionally, Siuan mentions that Verin never told her about giving Egwene a ter'angreal. EXPLANATION: The former is just an exercise in contrasts. Moiraine is saying: "Don't trust ANYBODY. You are rightly suspicious of Alviarin, but you should be equally suspicious of those you think you can trust, like Verin." As for the latter, why should she tell SS? 7) VERINISM: Draghkar Attack on Moiraine [TGH: 22, Watchers, 278-9] was executed at least with Aes Sedai help (the warding on them so they couldn't be sensed). Moiraine seemed to think that pretty much everyone in the Tower had forgotten about these old hermit Aes Sedai. However, we do know one individual old enough to remember them who could have ordered the attack --Verin. EXPLANATION: This is totally wimpy speculation, and wouldn't even be here, except that somebody might bring it up again. Liandrin (known BA) could have easily followed Moiraine there, and one of the sisters may be BA. (See section 1.4.8.) 8) VERINISM: Verin and the art of Stedding Channeling: in [TGH: 29, Among the Elders, 435], she inspects an Ogier who lost his mind to Machin Shin in the Ways. For all intents and purposes, it looks like she's Delving him with the OP. However, she is in a stedding, where touching the OP is impossible. Even more, nobody thinks this is weird! EXPLANATION? Possibly, she didn't do the OP thing; she did something else to see if there was anybody home. Maybe she spat in his eye, or something. At a post-ACOS signing [Vancouver, 24 August, 1996], RJ told Lara Beaton that "we're going to find out something in the next few books about people without souls and characteristics of them. (he started out saying that we're going to find out something significant about Verin, then stopped)." In the Prologue of TPOD, we get a scene which is from Verin's point of view. At several points in that section, Verin uses clever thought processes and tricks of the tongue to avoid telling untruths. This is consistent with what one would expect of an AS bound by the First Oath. Now, any intelligent BA would get into the habit of following the Oath as a matter of course, because being caught lying could lead to the discovery of the BA. However, consider the bit in [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 41], when Beldeine comes out of the Compulsion-trance. She asks Verin if she fainted. Verin replies, "The heat is very bad. I have felt lightheaded myself once or twice today." Then, in her own mind, she thinks that her own lightheadedness was "from weariness, not heat. Handling that much of saidar took it out of you." If Verin is not bound by the first Oath, she should not have needed to justify that misleading statement to herself. It's not something that anybody could ever have found out about, and is utterly trivial, besides. On the other hand, it might simply be a habit, especially if she turned BA after having been AS for a long time. However, Verin's self-justifications do seem to indicate that she is bound by the First Oath, and is not Black Ajah (just very dark Brown). Alternative Verin Speculations 1) Something in those Notes Theory: We know Verin had access to Corianin Nedeal's notes. There is something in those notes that Verin doesn't want anybody to know about, something so potentially dangerous that she'd consider destroying the notes and all the knowledge contained therein. What if, in those notes, Corianin Nedeal describes how she discovered how to break the Three Oaths in T'A'R? That would certainly explain why she wouldn't want Eg to have the notes, especially after her speech at the start of TDR about how important the Oaths are. This would also explain how she managed to lie about Moiraine sending her. However, Verin's mental self-justifications in [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 41] seem to indicate that she is bound by the First Oath, as noted above. However, who knows what eldrich knowledge is contained in the notes? Who knows what Verin saw when she tried out the ter'angreal to go to T'A'R? This could explain all sorts of Verinisms. 2) Verin == Corianin Theory: Verin is Corianin Nedeal herself, and is thus very, very, old. That is how she got her hands on the ring ter'angreal. Problem: In [TDR: 21, A World of Dreams, 191], Verin is thinking on Nedeal's notes, and thinks of Nedeal in the third person. One doesn't usually refer to oneself in the third person. Another problem (which is also present in related Very Old Verin (VOV) theories is that if there was a 400+ year-old Aes Sedai lurking around the Tower, surely somebody would have noticed by now. Furthermore, Verin is probably not older than 300 years (see below), and thus cannot be Corianin. 3) Second Foundation Ajah Theory (aka Purple Ajah Theory): Verin is a member of a secret society whose members preserve ancient knowledge for humanity's need at the Last Battle. The existence of the BA shows that it is possible for a secret group to exist in the Tower-- if there is a group dedicated to evil, why not a group dedicated to good? Problem: there have always been rumors of the BA. Nothing can be kept secret for centuries in a place with so many people in it, and so much scheming as the White Tower. And yet, we've never heard any hint of this secret group. 4) Very Old Verin: Verin is very, very old, and pre-dates the lying Oath, and is thus not bound to it. This theory has been proposed as part of various Second Foundation Ajah theories, Corianin Nedeal theories, as well as independently. Problem: Verin would have to be 1000+ years old. We have seen no evidence, even in the AoL, that anybody lives that long, without help from the DO. Plus, wouldn't anybody notice that Verin had outlived dozens of Amyrlin Seats? Furthermore, the upper bound on Verin's age (see below) is ~300. This is not old enough for her to date from a pre-OR time. How old is Verin? Many pet theories hinge upon this question. From [LOC: 11, Lessons and Teachers, 207], we know that Verin has been working on some plan for about 70 years. This sets a lower bound on Verin's age. The only other possible clue is [LOC: 43, The Crown of Roses, 549]. Merana Sedai is considering the pecking order among the AS in Caemlyn: "Merana had been Aes Sedai ten years the day the midwife laid Alanna at her mother's breast...Verin was the problem...Five years as novice for each, six as Accepted; that was one thing every Aes Sedai knew about every other if she knew nothing else. The difference was that Verin was older, maybe almost as much older than she as she was older than Alanna." We know that the Tower doesn't take women much older than Ny for Novices, and an average novice starts at about the age Elayne and Egwene did (17-18). For the Very Old Verin folks, lets say both Merana and Verin started late-- 24 (Ny was an exception, they only took her because she was so strong). So if Alanna is about 70 (in [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 276], Cadsuane thinks that Alanna has "worn the shawl almost forty years"), Merana is 24 + 11 years training + 10 years as full AS = 45 years older than Alanna, that is, 115 years old. If Verin is as much older than Merana as Merana is older than Alanna, then Verin is 115 + 45 = 160 years old. So if Merana is right about how much older Verin is than she, Verin should be around 160. There is, of course, quite a bit of leeway in our guess of Alanna and Merana's ages, so Verin could conceivably be nearly 200. More than once, Cadsuane Melaidhrin is described as "the oldest Aes Sedai." In [ACOS: Glossary, 671], it says she is "thought to have been born around 705 NE," which would make her around 300 years old. She's also the most powerful AS apart from El, Eg, and Ny, which means she will have gotten maximum amount of life-prolonging benefit of channelling. In spite of this, she is at the end of her life [ACOS: 19, Diamonds and Stars, 347], so it is reasonable to believe that AS who are bound by the Oath Rod don't get much older than Cadsuane. If the glossary is to be believed, that is about 300 years. By implication, this puts an upper bound on Verin's age. (Assuming that the Ageless look is caused by the Oath Rod- -Verin is Ageless.) Is Verin bound by the Oath Rod? The evidence in ACOS and TPOD tells us that the Ageless Look is caused by being bound by the Oath Rod. (See section 2.3.3.) Without a doubt, Verin has the Ageless Look [TGH: 7, Blood Calls Blood, 87]. The conclusion is, then, that Verin is bound by the Oath Rod. Note that this means that Verin has taken at least one Oath on the Rod. She may have found a way to get around the First Oath, but didn't wish to free herself from the second or third. Maybe she even discovered that the Oath Rod could be used to release oaths taken on one [ACOS: 40, Spears, 631]. Furthermore, in [aol.com Chat, 27-6-96], RJ just about said straight out that Verin has held the Oath Rod. Somebody asked if it was true if he'd said that Verin had NOT held it, and if so then did Cadsuane also avoid it. His answer: "No, I did *not* say that Verin had never held the Oath Rod. Cadsuane has also held the Oath Rod." Cadsuane has ALSO held it, implying that Verin has, as well. Is there a connection between Cadsuane and Verin? Both Verin and Cadsuane are from Far Madding. (Verin: [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 42], Cadsuane: [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 273], and RJ said at a post-POD signing [LA: 22 October, 1998. Report by Pam Basham.] that they were from Far Madding. This raises immediate suspicions of some sort of Far Madding Secret Society. However, in [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 30], Verin thinks about Cadsuane: "What was Cadsuane after? ... Cadsuane herself was a legend, and even the believable parts of the legend made her very dangerous indeed. Dangerous and unpredictable." This indicates that Verin doesn't know Cads. very well, and is wary of her. It seems unlikely that Verin and Cadsuane are in cahoots, or have been in the past. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 2.3: The Power and Power-related Objects _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of questions about channelling, dreamwalking, the OP, and OP-related objects. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.1: What's up with the male-female a'dam link where they both die screaming? _________________________________________________________________ In [TGH: 40, Damane, 484], Egwene's sul'dam describes how the Empress will sometimes make a man wear the bracelet of the a'dam connected to a damane. Sometimes nothing happens, and sometimes "both die, screaming." We see something similar happen in [TFOH: 32, A Short Spear, 370] when Rand tries to free the damane in Seanchan. A third example is in [ACOS: 8, The Figurehead, 164], when Aran'gar frees Moggy from the a'dam while Egwene is wearing the bracelet: "A sudden stab of pain through that pocket of sensations in the back of her head.... Had she felt it directly, it would have been numbing. As it was, her eyes bulged in shock. A man who could channel was touching the necklace around Moghedien's neck; this was one link no man could be brought into." What's happening here? Well, it seems as if the men who are affected by the a'dam are those who can channel, or maybe who have the ability to learn. According to Elayne's study of the a'dam, it works by creating an uneven link between channellers, in which the bracelet holder has complete control. So possible explanations for the "die screaming" effect are: 1) a male and a female are linked, with the man in control. A female must control such a link due to the nature of the OP. So the a'dam link is backwards, which could have a bad effect. 2) Possibly, they find themselves each touching the wrong half of the Source, and cannot stand to do this, and consequently experience immense pain and have their pitiful lives snuffed out by the overbearing power of the wrong half of the OP pouring through their frail bodies. 3) Putting a male in the a'dam link somehow creates a "short circuit" in the One Power, frying both participants in the link unless they break it pronto. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.2: The "Sad Bracelets"/Male A'dam [Luke Mankin, P. Korda] _________________________________________________________________ Descriptions of the item: * [TSR: 55, Into the Deep, 638] 'Egeanin touched the collar, pushed the bracelets away from the collar.... "It is not a'dam," the Seanchan woman said. "That is made of a silvery metal, and all of one piece.' * [TSR: 52, 866, Need, 600] "...-a necklace and two bracelets of jointed black metal-..." * [TSR: 54, 905, Into the Palace, 628] "...dull black collar and bracelets... ...wide jointed collar..." * [TSR: 54, Into the Palace, 630] Moghedien: "[The bracelets are] not metal, but a form of cuendillar.... Put the collar on a man who channels, and a woman wearing the bracelets can make him do whatever she wishes, true, but it will not stop him from going mad, and there is a flow the other way, too. Eventually he will begin to be able to control you, too....Or two women can each wear one bracelet, if you have someone you trust enough; that slows the seepage considerably, I understand, but it also lessens your control....Eventually, you will find yourselves in a struggle for control with him, each of you needing him to remove your bracelet as surely as he needs you to remove the collar." * [TSR: 54, Into the Palace, 630] Moghedien: "The collar and bracelets were made after I was [bound in the Bore]" The last we saw of the bracelets/collar was Egeanin and Bayle going off to dump them in the ocean, near the Aile Somera. That just happened to be where High Lady Suroth was camping out at the time. Since we assume that the Seanchan will get/have got the collar, what will they do with their male channeller? Or, will the BA get the collar and bracelets through the Darkfriend connection? Wouldn't the best means of destroying them be separating them and throwing them in say the sea, a volcano, and such? Now, of course, the sad bracelets can be used on any of the poor sods who signed up to become Asha'man. Did Sammael somehow get ahold of the Sad Bracelets? In [ACOS: 20 Patterns within Patterns, 354] "What I have will control him once he is taken, but it cannot overcome him." This description applies to the Bracelets, but it could also apply to a "binding chair," or something like that. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.3: Effects of the Oath Rod: Binding, Agelessness, and Death [Daniel Rouk, Burr Rutledge, Andrea Leistra, Korda] _________________________________________________________________ Binding In the AOL, there were multiple "Oath Rods." They were apparently fairly common devices used to discipline criminals who could channel. The Forsaken refer to them as a type of "binder"; according to Sammael [ACOS: 40, Spears, 631], Oath Rods only work on channellers, and the one he gives to Sevanna only works on female channellers. There are other types of binding devices, such as "binding chairs" that work on anybody. One of the first references to "binding" is in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 136]. Graendal is showing off her Sharans. While discussing the Sharan channellers, Sammael asks her if they 'bind themselves like criminals.' Sammael thinks he's revealing something Graendal didn't know, but she thinks about how she found out about the AS use of the Oath Rod from Mesaana [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 138]. We later find out Mesaana is in the White Tower. The only 'binding' that we know about that occurs in the White Tower is the bonds willingly taken by Aes Sedai via the Oath Rod. Next scene: [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139-143] Semirhage is torturing the Aes Sedai, and thinking on how she was 'wronged' because the Age of Legends Servants didn't understand why she gave a little pain with her healing. After all, nobody complained when they owed their life to her. She recollects that she was given two choices, to be severed, or to accept binding. The actual quote is "to be bound never to know her pleasures again, and with that binding be able to see the end of life approach." This illustrates that 'binding' is in fact as Sammael said, something done to criminals. In [Guide: 3, The Age of Legends, 37], we learn about the criminal justice system in the AOL. "When the perpetrators of violent acts were caught, they were not sent to prison. Rather, they were constrained... against repeat offenses. This binding made it impossible for the criminal ever to repeat his crime." In [Guide: 5, The Dark One and the Male Forsaken, 54], we also find out that this binding was done with the OP. Describing Balthamel, ne Eval Ramman, it says, " More than once he supposedly came very close to being bound with the Power against doing violence." Finally, we have [ACOS: 40, Spears, 630-631], in which Sammael gives Sevanna an OR, which he probably got from the Ebou Dar stash. He explains how it works: "'You might call it an Oath Rod,' Caddar said...'It only came into my hands yesterday, and I immediately thought of you.'... 'All you need do is have your AS...or any woman who can channel, hold the rod and speak whatever promises you wish while someone channels a little Spirit into the number. The marks on the end of the rod?'...'It only works on women?' [Sevanna said.] 'Women who can channel, Sevanna,' Caddar said." We learn a few other things about the OR and binding: 1. It can be used to remove Oaths, according to Sammael [ACOS: 40, Spears, 631], and from Pevara and Seaine's experiments described in [TPOD: 26, The Extra Bit, 503]. It makes sense that there should be some way to remove the Oaths, since it was a method of punishing criminals. If the criminal was later proven innocent, or truly reformed, one would want the OR binding removed, considering its unhealthy effects (see below). 2. It is harder to bind non-channellers than to bind channellers [ACOS: 40, Spears, 631]. This implies that the OR's binding mechanism involves the bound individual's channelling ability. 3. The OR is NOT a "Rod of Dominion." The way the Nine Rods of Dominion were mentioned in TEOTW Prologue, they were something special. The OR, OTOH, is referred to as a "binder," lower case. Nothing special. Furthermore, in TPOD, we find out what Sammael meant by "the number" in [ACOS: 40, Spears, 630-631]-- the Oath Rods are numbered. The Tower's Rod is number three, while Sevanna's Rod is number one hundred and eleven [TPOD, 11, Questions and an Oath, 253]. So, it seems like there are way more than nine Oath Rods. Agelessness The question is: is the "ageless" look attributed to Aes Sedai in the Third Age something unique to them, or is this appearance attained by all channellers? If it is only found in modern AS, then it seems likely that the look is caused by the Oath Rod-- one of the only major differences between the current Aes Sedai and other channellers. What is the Ageless Look? It is not mere youthfulness. People looking at AS with the look are unable to put any age at all to them. Here is evidence: 1. In [TDR: 3, "News from the Plain," 23] Perrin describes Moiraine: "She was a slender, dark-haired woman no taller than his shoulder, and pretty, with the ageless quality of all Aes Sedai who had worked with the One Power for a time. He could not put any age at all to her..." 2. In [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 25-26], Elayne describes Janya Sedai and Anaiya Sedai: "Janya Sedai was quite neat, every short dark hair tidy around the ageless face that marked Aes Sedai who had worked long with the Power.... "You are making great strides, Elayne," Anaiya said calmly. The bluff-faced woman was always calm. "Motherly was the word to describe her, and comforting usually, though Aes Sedai features made putting an age to her impossible." 3. In [ACOS: 1, High Chasaline, 60] Perrin describes the TAS who were captured, discounting the ones who were stilled: "The others looked ageless, of course, maybe in their twenties, maybe in their forties, changing from one glance to the next, always uncertain. That was what their faces said, though several showed gray in their hair." From this, we know that if an observer can put a definite age to a channeller, then the channeller DOES NOT have the Ageless Look. Note: the Ageless Look takes some time to manifest itself after a woman is raised to full AS. 1) Elaida's spy in Caemlyn is "'A Red Sister....Newly raised, so she can easily pass for other than AS.' She meant that the woman had not yet taken on the agelessness..." [TFOH, Prologue, The First Sparks Fall, 16] 2) In [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 408], Elayne says, "I don't think anyone has ever reached that [the Ageless Look] until they've worn the shawl at least a year or two, sometimes five or more." Now, let us look at the descriptions of all other channellers, to see that they do NOT have the Ageless Look. A Look at non-Aes Sedai Channellers Aiel Wise Ones * Perrin describing the WOs after rescuing Rand: "Every Wise One who had come here from Cairhien was able to channel, though none had the ageless look." [ACOS: 1, High Chasaline, 64] Amys is one of these WOs--she appears in [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 80]. * Sevanna describing Graendal, lets slip what is perhaps the most glaring example that the ageless look is actually different from what the Wise Ones have: As dark of face and hair as he [Sammael], and beautiful enough to tighten Sevanna's mouth, she wore red silk, cut to expose even more of her bosom than Someryn showed.... Right then, she did not care whether the woman could move mountains or barely light a candle. She must be Aes Sedai. She did not have the face, yet some Sevanna had seen did not. [She's probably thinking about Egwene, who was masquerading as AS] If the WOs had the same ageless look as Aes Sedai, Sevanna would not think of "the face" as an identifying feature of AS. * In [TSR: 23, Beyond the Stone, 262], we have a description of Melaine from Egwene's point of view, before she knows that Melaine can channel. "The last of the four, a handsome woman with golden-red hair, no more than ten or fifteen years older than Egwene, hesitated." Note that Eg puts a definite age to her. * Egwene, describing Amys: "Suddenly Amys's youthfully smooth features beneath that white hair leaped out at her for what they were, something very close to Aes Sedai agelessness." [TSR, 23, Beyond the Stone, 262]. "Amys was white-haired, too... but she did not look old. She and Melaine could both channel -- not many Wise Ones could -- and she had something of the look of the Aes Sedai agelessness about her." [TFOH: 5, Among the Wise Ones, 99] Note that Amys is close to ageless, has something of the look, but NOT the exact same look. * In [TGH: 28, A New Thread in the Pattern, 345], Urien meets Ingtar's party, and says to Verin, "No, Wise One. But you have the look of those who have made the journey to Rhuidean and survived. The years do not touch the WOs in the same way as other women." This seems to tell us that the WOs do have the Ageless look. However, the huge quantity of contradictory quotes, especially Perrin's and Sevanna's above, leads us to believe that either RJ changed his mind, or Urien was mistaken, or Urien only meant that Verin doesn't look as old as her grey hair would indicate. Sea Folk Windfinders: * Elayne and Ny do not recognise Jorin, the Windfinder of Wavedancer, as a channeller until Elayne actually SEES her channel [TSR: 20, Winds Rising, 233]. If she had the distinctive Ageless look, they'd have noted it immediately. This is not merely a case of Jorin being young; she is not. Her sister Coine has "gray touches in her black hair and fine wrinkles at the corners of her...eyes....It was a surprise that the two were sisters. Elayne could see the resemblance, but Jorin looked much younger." [TSR: 19, The Wavedancer, 217]. Furthermore, Joine has children older than Elayne. [TSR: 20, Winds Rising, 234] * The Windfinders Rand meets in [ACOS: 34, Ta'veren, 535-536] look young, not ageless: "Harine did a lot of the talking, and so did a young, pretty woman in green brocade with eight earrings altogether, but the pair in plain silk put in occasional comments....Harine turned so calmly there might never have been any hasty conference. "This is Shalon din Togara Morning Tide, Windfinder to Clan Shodein," she said with a small bow toward the woman in green brocade, "and this is Derah din Delaan Rising Wave...."" "She [Derah] made a small bow toward the fourth woman, in yellow. "This is Taval din Chanai Nine Gulls, Windfinder of White Spray." Only three rings hung from each of Taval's ears, fine like those of the Sailmistress. She looked younger than Shalon, no older than himself." Seanchan Damane and Sul'dam * In [TGH: 40, "Damane," 477] Egwene sees Renna, her new sul'dam: "With long, dark hair and big brown eyes, she was pretty, and perhaps as much as ten years older than Nynaeve." Note she can put a specific age to Renna. * In [TGH: 40, Damane, 482], a damane is described: "One of the other sul'dam snorted loudly; she was linked to a pretty dark-haired woman in her middle years who kept her eyes on her hands." Again, we have a specific age. Forsaken and Other Old-time Aes Sedai * AoL Aes Sedai don't seem to have had the look, although we have little evidence one way or the other. (Plus, aging was weird in the AoL. Jonai [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 300] is 63 years old and considers himself young. Jonai doesn't mention his Aes Sedai having an "ageless" look, but he doesn't mention her lack of it, either. He says she "looked younger than he." None of the Forsaken are "ageless." * Many years after the Breaking, when Rhuidean is built, the Aes Sedai with the Jenn Aiel are described as "ageless." [TSR: 25, The Road to the Spear, 284]. While one of these AS has the same name as one of the AOL AS we see in TSR, it is not the same person. At a post-POD book signing in Dayton, RJ was asked, "Was the Aes Sedai who initiated the Pact of Rhuidean from the Age of Legends?" RJ's answer: (Pause)"No." (Pause)"No, she was not from the Age of Legends." [from Michael Martin] When was the OR first put into use? The first of the Three Oaths to be put into effect, the Second Oath against making weapons with the Power, was adopted after the War of Power [TGH: 1, The Flame of Tar Valon, 5], [Guide: 24, The White Tower, 213]. However, Sheriam's statement in [TGH: 23, The Testing, 282] implies that the Oath Rod itself wasn't put into use until after the Trolloc Wars. Needless to say, this point needs clarification. Stilled Aes Sedai * After being stilled, Siuan and Leane look like young women again, not "ageless." [TSR, 47, The Truth of a Viewing, 535] They look different enough that it is hard to recognise them. When they get the OP back, they don't get the Ageless look back, either: In [LOC: 44, The Color of Trust, 556], Mat sees SS after she has been healed by Ny--"He gave her a shallow bow and walked quickly to where a pretty blue-eyed young woman was tapping her foot to the music. She had a sweet mouth, just right for kissing, and he bloody well wanted to enjoy himself." * The BA stilled in Tear (Amico) looks different: 'Amico looked young, perhaps younger than her years, but it was not quite the agelessness of Aes Sedai who had worked years with the One Power. "You have sharp eyes, Aviendha, but I don't know if this has anything to do with stilling. It must, though, I suppose. I don't know what else could cause it."' [TSR: 5, Questioners, 84] * The TAS stilled by Rand at Dumai's Wells also look young, as opposed to ageless [ACOS: 1, High Chasaline, 60]. Students in the Tower and the Kin As noted above, no AS gets the Ageless look until after they've been raised to full AS [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 408]. This is not a matter of time spent channelling, or of strength in the OP, but of passing a certain point-- being raised. * Elayne mentions an Accepted who is older than 40, (and thus has been channelling a LONG time, at least as long as some of the younger sisters) and looks YOUNG-- Ny's age, not ageless [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 408]. * In [ACOS, 31, Mashiara, 497], Elayne and the AS meet the Knitting Circle: "Most wore Ebou Dari dresses, though only one possessed the olive skin; most had lines on their faces and at least a touch of gray; and every last woman of them could channel to one degree or another." No AS has a lined face; it's part of being Ageless. * In [ACOS, 23, Next Door to a Weaver, 393], Ny meets Reanne Corly: "From the exchange, she had expected someone younger than Setalle Anan, but Reanne had hair more gray than not and a face full of what might have been smile lines..." Again, Reanne is old-looking. * It can't be put any clearer than this: "There had to be a reason why the Kin looked neither ageless nor anything near the ages they claimed." [TPOD: 3, A Pleasant Ride, 94] Physical Effects of the Oath Rod In L:NS and TPOD, we get ample evidence that swearing on an Oath Rod produces a physical effect-- some kind of "tightening" of the skin: * [L:NS, 653]: Moiraine, a newly-raised Aes Sedai, thinks, "The Three Oaths still made her skin feel too tight." * [L:NS, 662-663]: Merean is describing how Moiraine and SS were punished for putting mice in Elaida's bed the night before they were raised: "I doubt any other women have been raised Aes Sedai while still too tender to sit from their last visit to the Mistress of Novices. Once the Three Oaths tightened on them, they needed cushions a week." * [TPOD, 11, Questions and an Oath, 256]: Galina takes an Oath on Sevanna's OR, after being tortured by the Shaido WOs: "Galina felt the oath settle on her, as if she suddenly wore a garment that covered her far too tightly from her scalp to the soles of her feet.... it suddenly seemed as if the burning of her skin was being pressed deep into her flesh..." * [TPOD, 26, The Extra Bit, 504]: Seaine reswears the Three Oaths: "Seaine retook the Oaths in turn, each producing a slight momentary pressure everywhere from her scalp to the soles of her feet. In truth, the pressure was difficult to detect at all, with her skin still feeling too tight from retaking the Oath against speaking a lie. This "tightening of the skin" could be what causes the Ageless Look, kind of like a permanent face lift. Conclusions * The Ageless look is not the result of anything the AS experience until the actual raising ceremony. The Kin are made up of women who trained in the Tower, who flunked out or ran away at various points in their training. This includes women who have passed the Accepted Test, and even women who made it through various parts of the AS Test [ACOS, 24, The Kin, 405-406]. None of them are ageless. * The Ageless look is not the result of strength in the OP. The Kin contain women who are fairly strong channellers: "Of course, Reanne could channel -- she had expected that; hoped for it, anyway -- but she had not expected the strength. Reanne was not as strong as Elayne, or even Nicola -- burn that wretched girl! -- but she easily equaled Sheriam, say, or Kwamesa or Kiruna." [ACOS: 23, Next Door to a Weaver, 394]. So do the WOs and the Windfinders. The strongest channellers of all, the Forsaken, definitely do not have the Ageless Look. * The agelessness is not the result of the total amount of OP channelled. The obvious example of this is the Forsaken. Certain members of the Kin are very old (Reanne Corly is older than 400), and must have channelled as much in their lifetime as any of the younger AS. * Here is the part where Elayne starts putting it all together: After talking about the 40+ Accepted who looks 26, she says, "We slow, Nynaeve. Somewhere between twenty and twenty-five, we begin aging more slowly. How much depends on how strong we are, but when doesn't. Any woman who can channel does it. Takima said she thought it was the beginning off achieving the ageless look, though I don't think anyone has ever reached that until they've worm the shawl at least a year or two, sometimes five or more. Think. You know any sister with gray hair is old, even if you aren't supposed to mention it. So if Reanne slowed, and she must have, how old is she?" [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 408] Nobody in all of Randland has the Ageless look besides AS raised in the White Tower. Thus, there must be something done to them in the raising ceremony which brings about the Ageless Look. The only such thing of which we know is swearing on the Oath Rod. Given the evidence that we have, it must be the OR which causes agelessness. The only other possibility is that there is something else done in the Raising ceremony which we don't know about and which causes the agelessness. Any such thing would have to involve the woman's channelling ability, in order to explain why the Agelessness vanishes when a person is stilled. There may indeed be other items used in the AS-Raising ceremony besides the Oath Rod, as indicated by this quote: [LOC: 39, Possibilities, 513] "Romanda wanted to use gateways to remove the OR and certain other items...from the Tower so they could make true AS in Salidar while depriving Elaida of the ability." These items may be used in the AS TEST, as opposed to the actual final ceremony, though. Misc. Notes * Stilling and the Oaths: When an AS is severed from the Source (i.e. stilled), she loses the ageless look, AND is freed from the Oaths. This, combined with the fact that the OR only works on channellers, implies that the OR somehow works by tapping into the AS's own channelling ability, causing the binding and the agelessness. * Egwene's Accepted Test: In one of Egwene's three experiences in ter'angreal used in the test to be raised Accepted, she is the Amyrlin seat. She looks in a mirror, and sees that she has the Ageless Look [TDR: 22, The Price of the Ring, 203]. A few pages later, she says that she has not sworn on the Oath Rod. If she never held the OR, then why does she look Ageless? Richard Boye' explains this nicely: "The reason is that the ter'angreal weaves illusions and testings from what the subject knows, expects, and fears. How else would it know that Nynaeve wants to marry Lan or that her mother's name was Elnore? Egwene saw herself with the Ageless look because from her knowledge and point of view, she was supposed to." Note that in that same vision, Egwene's Keeper, Beldeine, was stilled, but she still had the Ageless Look. In the real world, we know that stilling removes the Look. However, at that point in time, Egwene didn't know that. Death A final effect of the OR is that it seems to shorten the lifespan of channellers bound by it. It seems to work this way: use of the OP increases one's lifespan by a great deal. The more you channel, the better the anagathic effect. Being bound by the OR decreases one's lifespan, or perhaps lessens the anti-aging benefits of channelling. In any case, the net effect is that OR-bound channellers live longer than non-channellers, but not as long as channellers who are NOT bound by the OR. Evidence that Oathbound channellers don't live as long as nonbound ones: * Cadsuane Melaidhrin is most likely the oldest living AS, at around 295 years old [ACOS: Glossary, 671]. She considers herself to be very old, expecting to die RSN: "Over two hundred and seventy years had passed since she last encountered a task she could not perform. Any day now might be her last, but young al'Thor would be a fitting end to it all." [ACOS: 19, Diamonds and Stars, 347]. * Elayne to Reanne Corly: "apparently no Aes Sedai since the Breaking has lived as long as any of you in the Knitting Circle claim....In your own case, not by over a hundred years." [ACOS: 37, A Note from the Palace, 577]. Reanne Corly is 411. From these quotes, we can conclude that the maximum lifespan of modern AS is around 300 years. Ages of other channellers: * The above quote also tells us that the Kin live at least 25% longer than AS. Since Reanne Corly is hardly on her last leg, Kin probably outlive AS by an even greater amount. * In [LOC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 262], we have a reference to an Aiel WO who died at age 300 of a snake bite, but still looked young. Since she looked young, she probably still had a good bit of her natural lifespan ahead of her. So, from this, we know that WOs at least have the potential to live longer than 300 years, i.e. longer than AS. In practice, they probably don't live that long (the WO telling the story of the 300-year-old WO regards it as a legend, and possibly exaggerated), due to the harsh conditions in the Three-Fold Land. * The Forsaken are all way old, and were even before they got locked up in the Bore. * We have no evidence as to the longevity of Seanchan or Sea Folk channellers. From the evidence that we have, modern-day AS have a shorter maximum lifespan than other channellers. As with the Ageless look, there must be something done in the AS-raising ceremony which causes this. The only such thing of which we are aware is being bound by the OR. Again, there is a possibility that there is some other thing in the ceremony which we don't know about, and which causes this effect. However, there is less chance of this being the case with the shorter lifespan than with the ageless look. This is because we have independent evidence from Semirhage. In [LoC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 139-143] Semirhage is thinking about how the AOL AS wanted to "bind" her to put an end to her medical malpractice. The actual quote is "to be bound never to know her pleasures again, and with that binding be able to see the end of life approach." Now, we know that "binding" of channellers (esp. female channellers) was done with an OR. Semirhage seems to be thinking that the binding would cut her life short. Conclusions The primary effect of the OR is to compel obedience to oaths sworn on it. It probably does this by tapping into the oathbound channeller's own channelling ability in some unknown way. (We know this bc the binding to the oaths vanishes when the oathbound woman is severed.) It has some secondary effects, in particular 1) it probably shortens the lifespan of the bound channeller, and 2) it probably causes the bound channeller to develop the "ageless look" unique to modern AS. It is unknown if these secondary effects are deliberate (i.e. a kind of death sentence and a way of marking criminals, respectively) or if they are an inherent side effect of the binding mechanism. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.4: How do One-Power-forged blades work? _________________________________________________________________ I asked RJ about Aes Sedai-forged weapons, like Lan's sword that never needs sharpening: was the Power just used in the manufacturing process, to change the structure of the steel to make it extra-strong, or was a flow of the Power somehow incorporated into the steel? "The Power was used in blending the metals (and other materials...) and altering the structure. There is no source of the Power in these weapons, nor do they draw on the Power like angreal...." [from RJ letter 4/95] In the same letter, RJ said that when a Fadeblade strikes Power-wrought metal, the reaction produces blue sparks. This 1) implies that Fadeblades are Power-wrought metal (The two Fades dueling during the fight in the Stone in [TSR: 10, The Stone Stands, 135]) and 2) implies that Thom Merrilin had Power-wrought daggers during the incident in Whitebridge. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.5: What is the range on sensing other channelers? _________________________________________________________________ A channeller can sense another channeller, under various conditions: 1) A female can sense another female, even if neither of them are holding the Source at the time. This is a skill which takes some time to learn. If one is really good, it is not necessary to see the other woman in order to know she is there. For example, one of the Tower AS senses Eg in the throne room in Cairhien, even though she was invisible. In addition, a female can tell when another is embracing the Source, by a great glow surrounding the channeller. Of course, female channellers can sense active female channeling, as well as the presence of other female channelers. 2) Females cannot naturally sense male channelling. It may be that they can do so by using the OP somehow, although Moggy's "technique" of [LoC, 8, The Storm Gathers, 178] was simply a trick. 3) Male channellers can sense female channelling, by a prickling feeling on the skin. There is a finite range on this. We can get some sense of the range from [TFoH, 15, What Can be Learned in Dreams, 213] where Moiraine is using the OP to eavesdrop on Rand and Asmo. Moiraine's tent is said to be "not far" from Rand's, let's guess around 20 meters. Note that the amount of channelling going on is probably very small; a bigger flow would probably increase the detection range. 4) Male channellers can sense male channelling, as well as other men holding the source [LOC: 3, A Woman's Eyes, 92]. The sensing is not as obvious as when females sense other females. It is likely that it is more difficult for men to sense other men channeling at a distance. In [TFOH, 3, Pale Shadows, 75], Rand thinks, "Women who could channel saw a glow surrounding another woman who had embraced saidar and felt her channelling clearly, but he never saw anything around Asmodean, and felt little." This is with Asm is in the same room. However, there seems to be some confusion of exactly how far the range on male-male sensing is. Here are some examples: * [TFOH: 55, The Threads Burn, 664]: When Rand is running around trying to balefire the hell out of Rahvin, even though Rahvin is holding saidin, Rand can't feel where he is. * [TFOH: 55, The Threads Burn, 662]: Rand recalls Asm describing trying to locate another man channelling as "like trying to find a lion in high grass." (That is, very difficult.) * [TFOH: 22, 405, Birdcalls by Night, 287]: After a Draghkar attack on Rand's camp, Asmodean tells him that he had sensed the Draghkar, but had not done anything about it, since he thought Rand could deal with it, which he did. Rand replies: "'Well for you that you didn't,' Rand cut him off, sitting cross-legged in the dark. 'If I had felt you full of saidin out there tonight, I might have killed you.' "The other man's laugh was shaky. 'I thought of that, too.'" This little snippet of conversation seems fairly clear. Rand obviously felt capable of sensing Asm from as far away as Rand was from Asm during the fight, and Asmodean also thought it was possible. * [LOC: 42,The Black Tower, 545]: Rand says to Taim: "If I feel a man channel in Caemlyn...and don't think you can stay far enough from the Palace that I won't feel it and be safe." (NB: Rand may just be bluffing, here. Or it might just be something along the lines of "If I hear you use that sort of language in this house, young man, I'll wash your mouth out with soap!") * [TFOH: 44, The Lesser Sadness, 495]: Rand was able to sense lightning from Sammael (He thinks it is Sammael, at least) during the battle of Cairhien. 5) For both men and women, the ability to sense channeling seems to depend on the strength of the particular flow being channeled. For men, this is implied by Asmodean when he talks to Rand about blocking Aviendha's gateway to Seanchan: "I felt your weave - anybody within a mile could have felt it - I never saw anything like it - I didn't know that anyone but Demandred could block a gateway that was closing." [TFoH, 32, A Short Spear, 374]. For women, the dependence is implied by Elayne, Nynaeve, and Sareitha's detection of the Seanchan channelling in Ebou Dar at [TPOD, 5, The Breaking Storm, 129]-- Elayne thinks, "Sareitha was not strong enough to sense saidar being wielded at that distance....She was not strong enough. Unless someone was using as much as they had on this hilltop." This quote shows that, for females at least, the ability to sense flows depends on both the strength of the flow and the strength of the woman doing the sensing. This may also be the case for men. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.6: Can you make horizontal gateways? _________________________________________________________________ [From the aol.com Q-and-A session with RJ, 27 June, 1996]: Question: Can gateways be created at non-right angles to the ground? If not, why not? If yes, why haven't we seen them? RJ: They can be, and you haven't seen it because there's been no need to do it. And also some of the people who can make gateways don't know how to do it. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.7: How does balefire work? _________________________________________________________________ "When anything is destroyed with balefire, it ceases to exist before the moment of its destruction, like a thread that burns away from where the flame touched it. The greater the power of the balefire, the further back in time it ceases to exist. The strongest [Moiraine] can manage will remove only a few seconds from the Pattern...For as far back as you destroy [something], whatever it did during that time no longer happened. Only the memories remain, for those who saw or experienced it." [TFOH: 6, Gateways, 119] That pretty much explains it. Something that is BFed is erased backwards in time; the amount of erasing depends on the amount of Power put into the BF. Rand, at full power, with an angreal, managed to erase Rahvin back about half an hour. Note that Balefire does NOT erase every single action the victim performed in his life. When Rahvin was BFed, Morgase did not become un-compelled, sitting back in the Caemlyn palace. If Lanfear were balefired, the Bore would not cease to exist, since it was created over 3000 years ago, and I doubt that the capacity for creating that strong a beam of BF exists. (Plus, if it WAS done, the poor Pattern would probably unravel completely. See below.) When a person is balefired, can he be reborn? The description of balefire leaves us one important question: does "burning one's thread from the pattern" mean that one's soul is destroyed forever, and one can never be reborn? John Novak finally got an answer for this from RJ at a post-POD book-signing [Northern Virginia-- 21 November, 1998]: Balefire: I'm right. (This was my question) What this means is, if someone is Balefired, the Dark One can't reincarnate them. But they CAN be spun back out into the wheel as normal. Balefire is NOT the eternal death of the soul. He also made a comment to the effect that even in the absence of balefire, there may be circumstances where the Dark One cannot bring someone back. If this is the case, then why is BF so bad? It must be a question of scale. If lots of BF is used on many targets, as it was during the War of Power, the Pattern will become quite ragged and begin to unravel, like an old pair of jeans. If large quantities of BF are used, then there will be obvious problems with causality, as there were in the aftermath of Rahvin's death. Thus, it's not a good idea to use strong BF, and it's not wise for many people to use it regularly. John Walter Biles explains: The pattern unravels permanently because in a war of mass destruction with balefire, you can yank threads out of the pattern faster than they can be replaced. Yeah, they can EVENTUALLY be reborn, but unless the total population of all of creation is static, then they won't be reborn instantly. More importantly, it screws up causality. That's why the Pattern can unravel; it's not that you run out of threads, it is that if you nuke an entire city, every consequence of every action by everyone in the entire city is suddenly undone back to point X. Given the amount of balefire nuking a city takes, you can make quite a mess. Do enough damage to the Pattern faster than it can repair itself, and it still comes apart. Why doesn't somebody just balefire the Dark One back to before where the taint was created? Read the previous paragraphs about what BF does, and why it is dangerous to use. Now, supposing that 1) the DO has a corporeal body which could BE balefired, and 2) enough BF could be produced to zap the DO back 3500 years (neither of which is at all certain), consider what would happen to the poor Pattern of All Creation if one of the prime movers in its weaving was BFed. The end of the world would probably happen for sure, then. Remember that the DO is the source of the whole history of the 3rd Age. Everything everybody has done for the past 3500 or so years has been affected in some way by the DO. Why is Joe Al'Schmoe of the 2 Rivers a farmer in a forgotten province of Andor, and not a citizen of one of the most powerful, strongest nations in Randland? It's because Manetheren was destroyed in the Trolloc wars, which were initiated by Ishamael, who was the DO's right-hand-man throughout the 3rd age. Another point (via G.G. Kay) is that maybe the DO doesn't even have a thread to balefire. After all, the DO's prison exists "outside the Pattern." Perhaps the DO itself does, too. (NB: the no-body/no-thread argument applies to "Why doesn't somebody BF the DO," no matter if you try to BF him back 3500 years or 3 seconds. The "Pattern" argument does, as well--if there is no DO, what happens the next time the Wheel comes around to the AOL/3rd Age again?) XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.8: What is the difference between Skimming and Traveling? [P. Korda, John Novak] _________________________________________________________________ Skimming requires knowledge of destination and Traveling requires knowledge of origin [TFoH: 6, Gateways, 121]. For example, Aviendha Travels to Seanchan which she obviously doesn't know a thing about, but she knew the bathroom real well. Skimming is what Rand does in [TSR: 58, The Traps of Rhuidean, 670-671] to chase Asmodean to Rhuidean, and in [TFoH: 54, To Caemlyn, 645-646] to bring the Aiel strike force to Caemlyn. It apparently works by creating a tunnel through some other space from the point you are at to the point where you want to go. Going through this tunnel takes a finite amount of time, and one person can chase another through it, as Rand chased Asmodean. Egwene learns from Moggy that Skimming (as opposed to Travelling) is "a way to journey from a place you did not know well to one you did." [ACOS: 9, A Pair of Silverpike, 175]. The above "chasing" thing contradicts something Egwene says about it in [ACOS: 12, A Morning of Victory, 241]: "If two sisters wove gateways on the same spot only moments apart, aiming to Skim to the same place, they would not see one another, not unless it was exactly the same spot, with the weaves exactly identical." So, either this is a difference between men's skimming and women's, or Rand managed to exactly duplicate Asmo's weave, or RJ messed up. The Skimming place has some similarity to TAR, and may be a part of TAR. [ACOS: 12, A Morning of Victory, 240]. Traveling is a far simpler, far more direct, far quicker means of transport. Traveling opens a "gate" from one physical point to another. Men do this by boring a hole in the Pattern, so to speak, while women do this by making the Pattern in both locations identical [LoC, 37, When Battle Begins, 491]. Moghedien and Rand are of the opinion that using the wrong method would be catastrophically bad. Stepping through the gate, one instantly changes location. Asmodean tells Rand that, unlike Skimming, Traveling requires only knowledge of the starting point [TFoH: 6, Gateways, 121]. Now, it's been suggested that what the 3rd Age Randlanders call "Traveling" is not the same thing as the old-time, AOL Traveling. The only evidence to support this theory is the manner in which Ish manifests himself in the TEOTW prologue. He kind of shimmered and appeared--no mention of a "gate" or a doorway. We've not seen anybody else do this, though; all of the other Forsaken use the standard Gate method. This "other" way of Traveling may involve the TP; we know that Ishy used it extensively. It is possible to do a Traveling-like thing with the TP, by "stepping outside the Pattern," as the Watcher does in [ACOS: 20, Patterns Within Patterns, 358]. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.9: What do Dreamers and Dreamwalkers do? [Emma Pease] _________________________________________________________________ * Entering T'A'R: We know that regular people can do this, though are not usually aware that they are doing so. At times the Forsaken seem to pull people into T'A'R (the dreams the boys have in TEotW for instance). Also Dem thinks when he sees Elayne in T'A'R (LoC) that she has a ter'angreal of the sort used in the AOL to teach students how to enter T'A'R. My guess is this skill can be taught to any AS and perhaps to anyone. * Entering other people's dreams: This is what Egwene does with Gawyn's dream and it's also the skill the Wise Ones use to pass messages around. This does seem to be specific to 'dreamers'. * Foreseeing via dreams: This can also be done by Wolfbrothers. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.10: How does Mat's medallion work? _________________________________________________________________ When Elayne tries to use the Power on Mat in [LoC: 38, A Sudden Chill, 504], she describes the effect as "The flows just...vanished." It seems that the medallion works by dissolving or destroying Power Flows. At Balticon 30 (April 1996), RJ said that the medallion only works on direct weavings of the Power (both saidin and saidar) flows against the wearer. Evidence that the medallion protects against saidin comes from [LOC: 44, The Color of Trust, 554]: Halima/Aran'gar channels at Mat and the medallion activates. Halima, being a male soul recycled into a woman's body, channels saidin. Indirect effects of the Power, such as picking up a rock with Air and throwing it, or lightning (lightning was mentioned by RJ as a specific example), are not blocked. Thus, failure of the medallion to protect against the lightning strike at the end of TFOH can be explained. Rand's belief that the medallion didn't protect Mat from a man's channelling was in error. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.11: What are "involuntary rings"? _________________________________________________________________ In [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 82], Moridin is waxing wroth on things which the Third Agers can do which were not known in the AOL: "A way to Heal being severed.... Involuntary rings. Those Warders and the bond they shared with their Aes Sedai.... whenever he thought he had the measure of them, these primitives revealed some new skill, did something that no one in his own Age had dreamed of." Quite a few people have expressed confusion over what "involuntary rings" are; here is an explanation. A "ring" is a way of referring to a group of linked channellers (such a group has been more commonly called a "circle."). In [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 83], Moridin wonders about the repercussions of Ny's group using the weather ter'angreal in "a ring"; the implication being that he's wondering what would happen if they used it in a circle. Thus, an "involuntary ring" refers to channellers being linked against their will. We've seen this done, and know the device which makes it possible--the a'dam. The mention of involuntary rings is a reference to the damane, who are linked to the sul'dam involuntarily. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.12: What caused the One Power weirdness in Ebou Dar? [John Novak] _________________________________________________________________ At various points through TPOD, we are hit in the face with the fact that something other than the taint on Saidin is wrong with the One Power in general. It is described by both male and female channellers in roughly the same terms, and is widespread enough to cover a radius of hundreds, if not thousands, of miles. When mentioned, the effect of this weirdness is to make the One Power difficult and dangerous, unpredictable, and very hard to control. This effect began showing up during and after the flight of Elayne, Nynaeve, and their band from the Kin's farm. Two momentous events involving the One Power occurred at the farm. First, the Bowl of the Winds was used to return the weather to its normal patterns. Second, Elayne attempted a dangerous unraveling of her Gateway with disastrous and incendiary results. It was the first of these events (the weather weave) which caused the weirdness, not the disastrous unraveling. Reasons are as follows: 1) Timing. Even though the two events occur very close together in both time and narrative, the weirdness of the One Power is clearly evident immediately after the weather weave, but before the unraveling. In fact, the weirdness shows up while Elayne is weaving the Gateway, which is clearly prior to her later unweaving [TPOD: 6, Threads, 139]. 2) The weirdness affects not only Saidar, but Saidin as well. In [TPOD: 24, A Time for Iron, 469], Dashiva describes a similar weirdness. It is important to note that he uses almost the exact same words as Elayne does-- a weave that does not want to form, then forms quickly and violently. It is the same effect. By definition, Elayne's weaving and unweaving of the Gateway does not involve Saidin, and it is difficult to see how a Saidar-only weave could affect Saidin so profoundly. However, the Bowl of the Winds incorporated Saidin into its weaves as well. Elayne notes this in [TPOD: 5, The Breaking Storm, 127]. Perrin's Asha'man see a weave of Saidin flashing across the sky as well, in [TPOD: 7, A Goatpen, 160]. This same phenomenon was witnessed by the WOs with Perrin as a weave of Saidar. 3) It is known that the Windfinders have a very different style of weaving Saidar than anyone else, a style that involves thick, rope-like strands of Power. This style of weaving, and their unprecedented personal control over the weather, was unknown in the Age of Legends, when the Bowl of the Winds was created. Furthermore, the Bowl of the Winds was designed to control only a small region's weather, not the weather of an entire continent or an entire world [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 83]. It seems plausible that such a massive over-stressing and over-use of a ter'angreal, which may create permanent standing weaves over an entire continent, might foul things up on a global scale. 4) Jordan said so. At a post-POD signing in northern Virginia [21 November, 1998], Jordan confirmed outright in plain language that the Bowl, not the unweaving, was the cause of the One Power weirdness, and that it was a case of overstressing a ter'angreal. From John Novak's report from a post-POD signing in Virginia: He went into a relatively detailed explanation to the effect that the Bowl was stressed far, far beyond its original design parameters because of the advanced knowledge of the Windfinders. It was affecting a global pattern, when it was designed for only a small region. Men helping would not have changed anything, and the effects linger most strongly near Ebou Dar, but also along the "spokes" which radiated from that place. [TPOD book signing, Northern Virginia, 21 November, 1998, report by John Novak] XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.13: Is Cadsuane's hair thingy a Ter'angreal? _________________________________________________________________ Cadsuane Melaidhrin sports a hair-ornament the likes of which we've not seen anywhere else in Randland: "An iron-gray bun decorated with small dangling golden fish and birds, stars and moons." [TPOD: 27, The Bargain, 536] This thing is mentioned in just about every scene in which Cadsuane appears. While it may just be an unusual fashion accessory, it is quite possible that it is a ter'angreal or angreal. What makes us think that? Throughout TPOD, our attention is drawn to the fact that many OP-related objects are fashioned in the form of jewelry. Of the three angreal Elayne finds in the Ebou Dar stash, one is a pin [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 74] and another is a strange rings-and-bracelet arrangement [TPOD: 4, A Quiet Place, 111]. Among the ter'angreal Elayne identifies, there are: "a necklace and bracelets set with colored stones, a slim gem-studded belt, several finger rings....they all matched, meant to be worn together...", and a variety of "finger rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and buckles " [TPOD: 4, A Quiet Place, 110-111]. Graendal has an angreal in the form of a ring [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 262]. When Cadsuane and Alanna have their little tiff in [TPOD: 12, New Alliances, 275], Alanna embraces the True Source. Cadsuane's reaction is: "'If you wish to be truly foolish.' Cadsuane smiled, a cold smile. She made no move to embrace the Source herself. One of her dangling hair ornaments, intertwined golden crescents, was cool on her temple." (emphasis mine) This is an odd time to draw the reader's attention to the temperature of a mere piece of jewelry. Compare the description to how Mat's Power-blocking medallion reacts when somebody channels at Mat (hint: it gets cold). This all leads us to speculate that the hair thingy is some sort of ter'angreal which activates when channelling is going on nearby. It may be a Power-blocker, like Mat's medallion, but note that in the scene described above, Alanna doesn't actually channel at Cadsuane. Mat's medallion only activates when flows touch him. An alternative is that the hair-thingy is some sort of Power-detector. This would not be very useful in dealing with female channellers, since she can detect them perfectly well by herself. However, it would be very useful in dealing with male channellers, which Cadsuane has done rather a lot, with great success. Here is a scene from [ACOS: 18, As the Plow Breaks the Earth, 330] which possibly provides supporting evidence: [Cadsuane asked]: "Is that a tea tray? I would like some, if it's fresh, and hot." Channelling, Rand scooped up the tray... and wafted it to the three women. Merana had brought extra cups, and four still stood unused on the tray. He filled three.... Cadsuane... took her cup and sniffed the vapors with a pleased smile. Nothing could tell her which of the three men (Rand, Dashiva, or Narishma) had poured the tea, yet she looked across her cup straight at Rand.... "That's a good boy," she said. There's at least a hint that Cadsuane could maybe tell which man was doing the channelling. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.3.14: The Seven Seals: Status report _________________________________________________________________ Where we found the Seals, and their current state (broken or not): 1. Found in the Eye of the World with the Horn of Valere and Dragon Banner, broken; 2. Bayle had one, intact, which he'd bought from a Saldaean antiques salesman. It was taken by Turak; Moiraine found it after the fight at Falme, and it was broken by then. 3. Turak had one in his cuendillar collection. Moiraine found it along with (2). Also broken. 4. Moiraine found one in the Stone of Tear's Great Holding, intact. 5. She found another one in Rhuidean, and made a scratch. 6. Nynaeve found one in the Panarch's Museum in Tanchico, accidentally broken on the way to Salidar. 7. Mazrim Taim gave the last one to Rand, saying it was found in a farmhouse in Saldaea. It is still intact. As far as we know, three seals are still intact (4, 5, and 7), although they are very, very weak. The intact ones are all in Rand's possession (or the possession of people on Rand's side.) XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 2.4: Days of Yore _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of questions about things in the past, from the Age of Legends to the Aiel War. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.1: Who was Beidomon? _________________________________________________________________ Beidomon was a male channeller in the AOL who worked with Mierin (aka Lanfear) to create the Bore. The question is, was he somebody important to the story, or was he just some poor grad student? We know that he wasn't one of the male Forsaken. In the Guide, we learn all of their original names, and what they did before turning to the Dark Side. None of them were named "Beidomon," and none of them did the kind of research into the One Power which Lanfear did (See section 1.1.1). It has been suggested that LTT was Beidomon, based on the fact that he and Mierin were lovers at one point, and upon a few scanty quotes. One of these is from [TEOTW: Prologue, Dragonmount, xv]: "he who brought the shadow...they named Dragon." The other is [TEotW: 4, The Gleeman, 44]: "I will tell you of the end of the Age of Legends, of the Dragon, and of his attempt to free the Dark One into the world of men." However, this idea does not hold water. For one thing, LTT was named "Lews Therin Telamon," not "Beidomon." Secondly, we know from [Guide: 6, The Female Forsaken and the Darkfriends, 62] that LTT dumped Mierin "some years before the drilling of the Bore." Thirdly, LTT was a politician/bureaucrat, the leader of the Hall of Servants, not a researcher [Guide: 3, The Age of Legends, 31]. Furthermore, the bits about him that brought the Shadow being named Dragon are from the late Third Age and the Fourth Ages, long after true details were confused and forgotten. The best guess we can make, based on the scanty evidence we have, is that Beidomon was just some guy who was part of Mierin's research group, who assisted her in the actual drilling. The Guide [Guide: 6, The Female Forsaken and the Darkfriends, 63] tells us that Mierin was "fortunate to be one of the few to survive the backlash that destroyed the Sharom and most of the Collam Daan." In other words, there were few survivors from that catastrophe, and it is likely that Beidomon, whoever he was, died then and there. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.2: Did LTT balefire himself? [Emmet O'Brien, Korda] _________________________________________________________________ No. He died by ODing on the One Power. RJ said so at the talk he gave in Dublin in November 1993. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.3: The Green Man and the Song (Tinker, Green Man, Soldier, Aiel) [Erica Sadun, P. Korda, Teri Pettit, Aaron Bergman] _________________________________________________________________ Who is the Green Man? He is Someshta, the last of the Nym, a type of creature which was made of vegetable matter. He is described first in [TEotW: 49, The Dark One Stirs, 621]. However we find out exactly who he is in the fourth book. [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 303]: A stir at the end of the field told him one of the Nym was approaching. The great form, head and shoulders and chest taller than any Ogier, stepped out onto the seeded ground, and Coumin did not have to see to know he left footprints filled with sprouting things. It was Someshta, surrounded by clouds of butterflies, white and yellow and blue...Each field would have its Nym, now...the Nym were older than anyone. Some said the Nym never died, not so long as plants grew... Many years later, during the Breaking, we see him again, this time with the characteristic fissure in his face. He is being set to the task of guarding the Eye of the World, the Horn, the dragon banner and one of the seals [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 300-1]. Who were the Aiel? The Aiel (formerly the Da'shain Aiel) were the 'Dedicated' who worked for the Ancient Aes Sedai. The group was hereditary and had features of light skin, gray or blue eyes and mostly reddish or blond hair. All Aiel could be identified by their particular hair style which was cut short with a tail hanging in the back. They were dedicated to a life of non-violence, following the 'way of the leaf'. Some male Aiel worked with the Ogier and the Nym in planting as they had the gift of the 'Voice', the seed singing (this may not be limited to Aiel; in the TEOTW prologue, LTT asks Elan Morin if he has the Voice). Although the Ogier continue to have 'tree singers', the Voice seems to be a talent that has disappeared. When the Aiel did their work in the fields, they wore light gray and brown 'working clothes' (cadin'sor). The clothes, the hair style and the avoidance of the use of weaponry which cannot be used for other purposes than killing people remains today, but the talent of the Voice is currently unknown. What is the Song? The Tinkers, an early offshoot of the Aiel, decided to give up their duty of hiding *'angreal and instead dedicate their lives to re-finding the safety and peace of their past [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 296]. They believe this will come about through finding the "growing song," described in [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 303]: The Ogier began it, as was fitting, standing to sing, great bass rumbles like the earth singing. The Aiel rose, men's voices lifting in their own song, even the deepest at a higher pitch than the Ogier's. Yet the songs braided together, and Someshta took those threads and wove them into his dance... The song caught him up, and he almost felt that it was himself, not the sounds he made that Someshta wove into the soil and around the seeds. The Song is not to be confused with the Ogier Tree-Songs. The Ogier songs may be the Ogier part of the growing ceremony described above, or they may be something similar, but different in purpose. For the Tinkers, "The Song" has become more than just the human part of the AOL growing ceremony. The Tinkers' legendary song is something that will bring back the peaceful lifestyle known by the Dashain Aiel during the Age of Legends. Teri Petit explains, "The Tuatha'an began their search looking for a safe haven where they could return to a way of life in which Aiel singing together worked wonders. That eventually got distorted into a life of perpetual travel searching for "The Song", as if there were just one, and it was something a single traveler could know." [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 296] So, when we say "Will the Tinkers find the Song?" we really mean, "Will the Tinkers rediscover the AoL growing ceremony, plus the talent of the Voice, and be able to recreate the peaceful existence of their ancestors, the Da'shain Aiel?" If the Song will be found, who will find it? The primary contenders are Aram, Perrin and Rand. Aram's stated life goal had been to find the Song until he took up the sword in defense of Emond's Field and became 'Lost' to his people. To find the Song would reinstate him and justify his choice of giving up the peaceful Way of the Leaf. Perrin on the other hand keeps getting faced with the choice of axe or hammer: that is, the choice of creation or destruction, war or peace, way-of-the-warrior or way-of-the-leaf. Furthermore, Perrin is a contender to find the Song because of Min's viewing of Perrin standing among the flowering trees. Rand, and probably some of the Aiel clan chiefs, have actually heard the Song in the glass columns of Rhuidean. Further Evidence that Rand will find the Song: ...ages past and will be in ages to come. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs." [TEotW: Prologue, Dragonmount, xv] (Emphasis mine) It is entirely possible that the Song is lost forever (or at least until the Age of Legends comes around again). Aaron Bergman explains: "In the breaking that followed the sealing of the bore, the Da'Shain were scattered. Some ended up at Rhuidean with the caravans. Some broke off, eventually becoming the Tinkers. Anyways, during those times when mountains moved around when they were bored and food and water were scarce, the memory of the singing survived. This grew to become linked with the memory of the peace of the Age of Legends. This easily progressed to the idea that if they could discover this ephemeral "Song," the Age of Legends would come anew. I think one of the themes buried in these novels is that the past is dead. You can't hope to regain the past. Rand can't go back to the Two Rivers and become a shepherd. The Age of Legends is dead, it will not return for a very long time; certainly not in the next (Fourth) Age. The Tuatha'an are seeking to regain the past. The "Song" is a remnant of the past. Thus, the Song will not be found." There is no Song that will recreate the Age of Legends, for it is past. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.4: Jain Farstrider: Where is he now? _________________________________________________________________ Jain seems to have a cult following among the Jordanites. "Jain lives!" they proclaim. So, as promised, here is a list of all the suspects inthe "who is Jain in disguise" contest. In [Guide: 15, The World after the Breaking, 147], we have something about the last time Jain was seen alive: "No one knows if anything lies north of the Blasted Lands other than the frozen ice of the northern ocean. Jain Farstrider was said to have willingly traveled there; however, whatever knowledge he gained was lost when he vanished within its trackless depths." One clue we have as to possible Jain suspects is his age. Malkier fell a little less than 50 years before TEOTW (say 45-50 years), according to Lord Agelmar [TEOTW: 47, More Tales of the Wheel, 595]. At the time, Jain was a young man, say between 17 and 20. Thus, at the start of TEOTW, Jain would be 62-70 years old--pretty long in the tooth. Who do people think Jain is? Most of these ideas are loony: 1. Elyas Machera: Both Elyas and Jain are Borderlanders, and Elyas is pretty old. However, this is unlikely for several reasons. For one thing, there is no mention of Jain ever having been a Warder, and we know that Elyas was one. Secondly, there is lots of evidence that Ishy messed with Jain's brain quite a bit. Elyas is a Wolfbrother, which seems to offer some protection against that sort of thing, and if Elyas was touched by the DO, it's likely that the wolves would reject him. 2. Tam al'Thor: Not very likely, since the ages don't match. (I would put Tam at 50, tops, probably younger. He's definitely not older than 60.) Plus, RJ has said that Tam spent his time away from the 2 Rivers in Illian, which precludes his running around the Borderlands and the Blight. At a signing in Atlanta, RJ said that Tam and Rand were originally the same character-- a soldier come home to a small town. This pretty much precludes his being Farstrider, no? 3. Bayle Domon, because he seems to be very well traveled. However, the ages match even less than for Tam. Plus, Bayle definitely do be an Illianer. We've had Bayle-POVs, and there is no indication that he is anybody other than who he seems-- a very unfortunate ship captain. 4. Graendal's old man in wrinkled coat. (This might also be the Domani king she displaced, or that famous general she has working for her, or the barrel man.) 5. Barrel Man: The befuddled old guy we see spying on Carridin in [ACOS: 17, The Triumph of Logic, 318]. He, at least, seems to have the appropriate mental state. (See section 2.2.3.) XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.5: The Old Tongue and the New Tongue _________________________________________________________________ RJ on how he invented the Old Tongue: "The words come partly from Gaelic, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese. The grammar and syntax I believe I invented myself, although it's possible that another language uses the same. Of course, just as with English, I have deliberately put in some very illogical inconsistencies." [America Online chat, 27-6-96] Why doesn't the Old Tongue bear any relation to the New Tongue spoken by Rand and Company? It probably does, but RJ has kindly "translated" the New Tongue into English so that we can read the books and he can make lots of money :). Old Tongue phrases are not "translated" in order to add "flavor" to the story. Think of Tolkien, who did create entire languages. Even he didn't write The Lord of the Rings in Elvish or some other Middle-Earth language. Is there an Old Tongue Dictionary? There are several on the Web. The first, and one of the most complete (which many unethical people have plagiarised) is The Compleat Old Tongue, compiled by Aaron Bergman, Andrea Leistra, Don Harlow, "Mark," and "BAClubb." It can be found at http://www.princeton.edu/~abergman/jordan/cot.html. Why do all the characters speak the same language? At the East of the Sun con, held in Sweden 16-18 June, 1995, RJ explained the concept of the unified language. He said there had been a single language in use all over the world (the Old Tongue), and the writing and printing of books continued throughout the Breaking, albeit to a very limited extent. The written word introduced a very large conserving factor in the language-change mechanism. (report by Karl-Johan Noren) Chad Orzel gives a further explanation of why we shouldn't expect a lot of language drift: 1. Point the first: three thousand years ago, we have the AOL. At this point, it's pretty safe to assume that everybody speaks the same language. 2. Then, we have the Breaking. People scatter, keeping what little knowledge they can intact. Chaos reigns. Whatever is settled upon at the end of the Breaking will henceforth be called "The Old Tongue." Presumably, the Old Tongue is spoken primarily on the main continent. We have no idea what happens in other areas of the globe (Seanchan and Shara), but this doesn't really matter, as we've never heard a Sharan talk, and the Seanchan are the product of an invasion from Randland proper. 3. Languages drift for a while, but it doesn't matter how much, as Artur Hawkwing pops up, and conquers everybody. A new lingua franca is established, which shall be called the New Tongue, or "English" as Jordan has translated the whole thing anyway. Presumably whatever they speak has clear roots tracing it to the Old Tongue. Hawkwing conquers the entire main continent, some of Shara, has dealings with the Aiel, and his descendents conquer (and become) Seanchan. Again, everybody speaks the same language, with a few quirks here and there. 4. Almost a thousand years pass, and languages drift. Now, just how far can we reasonably expect them to drift? For convenience, let's look at modern Europe, or at least those parts of Europe which formed the core of the Roman Empire. This gives Spanish, French, and Italian, plus a handful of others which I'll ignore completely. It's been fifteen hundred years or so since Rome fell, how different are these three? And what are the sources of the differences between them and Latin? Not that much. If one knows Italian, one can puzzle out a lot of Spanish, if the Spanish-speaker talks slowly, and vice versa. All four languages have many similar words. Now, consider what we've had happening in Europe in those fifteen hundred years: Most of Europe was at one time or another overrun by those pesky Germanic types, and Spain got invaded by Moors. We've had Russian-type languages pushed in from the East, Scandinavian from the North, and I-don't-know-what from the South. Now, look at Randland. Who's going to invade? Hawkwing basically conquered the world, so there's no one who can bring another language in from outside. And even if there were such an incursion, the language being brought in would still be pretty close to the Old Tongue, since everybody spoke the same language back in the AoL. And what do we have? We have a good number of funny accents, the Seanchan slur everything, to the degree that Our Heroes have trouble understanding them, the Aiel have a number of odd words for things not found in the Wetlands, Bayle Domon do be using odd verb forms, and the Taraboners they put the words in the wrong order, yes? Is this really that unrealistic? Given the utter lack of invasion from outside, or even the possibility of same, I don't find it hard to swallow the relative uniformity of language in Randland. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.6: Who or what was (the) Tamyrlin? _________________________________________________________________ In [TEOTW: Prologue, Dragonmount, xi], Ishy visits LTT after he kills his family: 'Elan Morin grimaced. "Look at you," he said scornfully. "Once you stood first among the Servants. Once you wore the Ring of Tamyrlin, and sat in the High Seat. Once you summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion. Now look at you!"' It's probably not too much of a stretch to assume that the term "Amyrlin" derives from "Tamyrlin." The "Ring of Tamyrlin" was, after all, worn by the last leader of the AOL Aes Sedai before the Breaking of the World began. However, we have no idea of who or what "Tamyrlin" meant to the AOLers. One idea is that "Tamyrlin" was a person, perhaps some historical figure who was the original owner of the Ring. Another idea is that "Tamyrlin" was another word for the First Among Servants (the leader of the AOL AS). In either case, it is likely that the Ring was a badge of office for the First Among Servants, rather than LTT's personal property. Otherwise, Ishy would not have mocked LTT with it. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.7: What did Ogier do of old? [Windsor Williams, Korda] _________________________________________________________________ Basically, I'm wondering about the role of the Ogier in pre-Breaking society. From what we know in general, the stedding did exist during the period, but the Ogier were not bound to them by the Longing as they are at the time of the series. So it seems reasonable to assume that they were fairly common everywhere, although most common in and around the stedding. We know they were involved with the seed singing (as per the "through the eyes of Coumin" scene [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 302-5]), but what other roles did they have? Some clues exist: Ogier soldiers-- from the Coumin sequence, right at the beginning [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 302] He could see the next field, lined the same way, beyond the soldiers with their shocklances sitting atop armored jo-cars. A hoverfly buzzed overhead in its patrol, a deadly black metal wasp containing two men. He was sixteen, and the women had decided his voice was finally deep enough to join in the seed singing. The soldiers fascinated him, men and Ogier, the way a colorful poisonous snake might. They killed. The "men and Ogier" phrase seems to imply that there were Ogier soldiers as well as humans. Ogier as police or enforcers-- again, from the Coumin sequence [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 304]: Abruptly something struck Coumin in the mouth and his legs buckled; he was pushing himself to his knees before he realized he was down. A hand put to his mouth came away bloody. He looked up to find an angry-faced townsman standing over him, nursing a fist. "Why did you do that?" he asked. The townsman spat at him. "The Forsaken are dead. Dead, do you hear? Lanfear will not protect you anymore. We will root out all of you who served the Forsaken while pretending to be on our side, and treat the lot of you as we treated that crazy old man." A woman was tugging at the man's arm. "Come away, Toma. Come away, and hold your foolish tongue! Do you want the Ogier to come for you?" Suddenly wary, the man let her pull him away into the crowd. "Do you want the Ogier to come for you?" and the man's response argue that the Ogier were enforcers of peace/police of some sort, and effective ones as well. I'm guessing that they would come for him for the killing of Charn ("that crazy old man"), but maybe it's his statements, instead? I hadn't thought of Ogier in terms of soldiers or police before, but these passages caught my eye while re-reading the series. We've been told at one point or another that old tales refer to Ogier as bad opponents, who rarely get angry but are very dangerous when they do. (I can't recall the exact place...something about Perrin and some line about Ogier and mountains. Anyone else recall where this is?) From the Guide and TPOD, we know that Ogier in Seanchan are not all as peaceful as those in Randland: * "Ogier make up a portion of the Deathwatch, although they are the only ones not property, and are considered incredibly fierce and more deadly than their human counterparts. The Ogier of the Deathwatch are grim in demeanor and action compared to their brothers and sisters across the ocean." [Guide: 17, Seanchan, 161] * "Many Deathwatch Guards went without coat or shirt whenever possible to display [their raven tattoos]. The humans, anyway. Ogier Gardeners were not marked or owned, but that was between them and the Empress." [TPOD: 23, Fog of War, Storm of Battle, 443] This implies that the "Gardeners" are members of the Deathwatch Guard, despite the odd name. * The Glossary entry for Deathwatch Guards says: "Deathwatch Guards, the: The elite military formation of the Seanchan Empire, including both humans and Ogier." [TPOD: Glossary, 596] The fact that the Seanchan Ogier participate in warfare indicates that the Ogier may have a history of being fighters which the Ogier of Randland proper have lost. Finally, it is possible that Ogier fought in battle during the Trolloc Wars. When Rand meets Loial for the first time, he tells Loial that he is from the Two Rivers, which used to be Manetheren [TEOTW: 36, Web of the Pattern, 465]. Loial replies, referring to the destruction of Manetheren, "There was a very fine grove there. Your pain sings in my heart, Rand al'Thor. We could not come in time." The implication is, of course, that the Ogier could have helped in the battle if they had come in time. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.8: Were there Ajahs in the Age of Legends? _________________________________________________________________ In short, no. The Ajahs as we know them did not exist during the AOL. The Guide tells us [Guide: 9, Formation of the White Tower, 90] that "the organization of AS in the AOL, or perhaps their manner of functioning, [was as] 'a vast sea of ajah...all constantly shrinking, growing, dividing, combining, melting away only to be reborn in some new guise and begin the process once more.'" We are also told that the term "ajah" meant "an informal and temporary group of people gathered together for a common purpose of goal, or by a common set of beliefs." In other words, the AOL Aes Sedai did not consist of fixed groups, each dedicated to a different purpose, but rather formed factions based on the issues at hand. In fact, many of the AOL Aes Sedai were not "dedicated" Aes Sedai, i.e. people whose career was to be Aes Sedai, but "followed vocations which had little or nothing to do with the OP or being Aes Sedai. When it was necessary to form a circle to perform some task, these AS could be summoned... by the Hall of the Servants." [Guide: 3, The Age of Legends, 30] The Ajahs of the present-day AS have their roots in the founding of the White Tower. In short, during and after the Breaking, there were many autonomous groups of channellers. Eventually, some of these groups joined together to form the modern Aes Sedai. The Ajah setup derives from the goals and principles of the various autonomous groups who founded the Tower [Guide: 9, Formation of the White Tower, 91-92]. However, one can speculate that the colors of the Ajahs were probably representative of something in the AoL or a previous Age, because the Ajah colors are the colors surrounding the Portal Stones. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.9: Was the Sharom the Dark One's Prison? _________________________________________________________________ No. Demandred's analysis [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 15] implies that the DO is imprisoned OUTSIDE the world/Pattern, in some sort of "Dungeon Dimension." The Bore is a kind of thinning of the universe, a weakness in the space-time continuum, by which the DO can reach out of the Dungeon Dimension to affect/enter the Real World. From the RJ Online Q-and-A session on Compuserve (19 October, 1994), RJ says, "The Sharom and the Collam Daan are a university/research center." The Guide expands on this, saying, "The Sharom was one of the classic examples of functional beauty. It might seem impractical to suspend a building high in the air, especially a scientific research facility that required its visitors to use an airborne transport or the OP...." [Guide: 3, The Age of Legends, 34]. So, the Sharom was some sort of HEP (High-Energy Power) research facility, and its only connection with the DO's prison is that Meirin and Beidomon used it to create the Bore. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.10: Tigraine = Shaiel, an Analysis [Ruchira Datta] _________________________________________________________________ It is a certainty that Tigraine was Rand's mother, Shaiel. Tigraine was the Daughter-Heir of Andor, and was married to Taringail Damodred. They had a son, Galad. Tigraine and her brother Luc were sent to Tar Valon, in the usual tradition of the royalty of Andor. Tigraine vanished mysteriously from Tar Valon, never to be heard from again. [TEOTW: 34, The Last Village, 441-2] In [TSR: 34, He Who Comes With the Dawn, 392-3], we learn about Rand's mother, Shaiel. Her tale corresponds marvelously with Tigraine's. Add to this the fact that many people comment on how Rand looks like the Royal Family of Andor (Lord Barthanes [TGH: 32, Dangerous Words, 392], and many Andoran nobles [LOC: 26, Connecting Lines, 380]), the description of Luc [TSR: 33, A New Weave in the Pattern, 368]), and there you have it. In LOC at one point in Caemlyn, Rand finally learns about Tigraine's story and is very upset until he figures out that he is not actually directly related to Elayne. Thus, he has placed himself in the family tree (See Section 2.5.1) even if no one else has. Yes, this means that Galad is Rand's half-brother. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.4.11: What was the "Vileness" after the Aiel War? [Richard Boye] _________________________________________________________________ Well, there were several scandalous affairs involving Aes Sedai which occurred during the years after the Aiel War: 1. The Amyrlin, Tamra Ospenya, died mysteriously. 2. Several prominent sisters died, also mysteriously. 3. The Red Sitters in the Hall were exiled, and the reasons were sealed to the Flame. (Sealed to the Flame = Officially, "only the Amyrlin need know," but often the Amyrlin will swear a sister into her confidence (e.g. Elaida sealing Seaine to the Flame about Alviarin and the BA)) 4. A campaign of murder was instituted against "lucky men." 5. Thom's nephew and quite a few other men were gentled illegally. Most of the links between the events were given out in various places throughout the series, but NS finally nailed down some of the events. This is now what seems to be the sequence of events: Tamra Ospenya, the Amyrlin during the Aiel War, was murdered by Jarna Malari in an effort to learn what she knew about the Second Coming [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 42]. Jarna was the leader of the BA at this point. Tamra was also the Amyrlin who was present when Gitara Moroso had her Foretelling about the Rebirth. Tamra was canny enough to know that there was some Black Ajah activity afoot and swore Siuan and Moiraine to secrecy. From NS, we learn that Tamra really wasn't stupid enough to just send two jumped up Accepted (Moiraine and Siuan) out to find the Dragon Reborn. She had very carefully and surreptitiously called in and sent out a group of Searchers, most of whom were later killed by the BA. It is still unclear whether Cadsuane was among the Searchers, but it's quite possible she was. The ones that Siuan and Moiraine were aware of were: Aisha, Kerene Nagashi, Valera, Ludice and Meilyn Arganya [L:NS, 668]. (Side note: Cadsuane gave Kerene and Meilyn as examples of the strongest in the Tower.) From her interrogation of Tamra before killing her, Jarna learned something about the Second Coming, but misinterpreted it, and didn't realize that he had just been born. Possibly she construed what she had learned as the Dragon Reborn was ready to announce himself, or maybe she just learned that he was alive, but had no idea of his age. It's unlikely that any of the Searchers chosen by Tamra was BA, because then the BA would have known the same details Moiraine did (i.e. the Dragon was a baby, born during the final battle of the Aiel War, on Dragonmount). In any event, the race to find the Dragon had begun, and the Black Ajah unleashed a campaign of murder to get to him first, killing anyone, man or boy, rumored to be "lucky," on the assumption that any man who seemed lucky might be channeling, since luckiness is one of the symptoms of unconscious channeling [L:NS, 712]. However, while that was going on, and for a while afterwards, the Red Ajah was running a second front of the campaign. Later on, after Jarna herself was Keeper to Sierin Vayu (the Gray with more than a touch of Red in her), she implemented a program of search and destroy. Working through Galina Casban, she directed her to use her Red minions to seek out any man that could channel and gentle him on the spot. It might have been the work of a selected cadre of Red Sisters who wouldn't balk at this flagrant violation of Tower law. We know it is illegal to gentle a man "extra-judiciously," away from Tower [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 22]. By doing this, Jarna began a process that would circumvent the Tower's "Dragon-finding Process," which was to bring all channeling men to the Tower, where they put him to some sort of inquest to determine if he was the Dragon Reborn, and then gentled him. One assumes that they would not have gentled the Dragon Reborn. One of the victims of this 'search and destroy' mission was Thom's nephew Owyn. Presumably, Owyn is one the gentled men whose names do not appear in the Tower records. (One supposes that the fact that these men are not in the records is why it is dangerous to know about them.) Elaida's comments seem to insinuate that she participated in at least one of those missions [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 22]. Meanwhile, all hell breaks loose. Ishamael puts Jarna Malari to death in a pain amplifier for messing with the program. We know that Ishy had notions of finding the nascent Dragon Reborn intact so that he could turn him to the Dark Side of the Force. What Jarna had done was severely reduce the odds of that happening, so it seems that he killed her for acting as a loose cannon. It is likely that this is what ended the campaign of murder by the Black Ajah, but the Reds' illegal search and destroy mission continued [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 42]. Two years later Sierin Vayu died. Ishamael clamped down on the Great Council of the Black Ajah to determine that none of them had anything to do with Sierin's death (one assumes that Ishamael had some plans for her). It is possible that she gave some sort of tacit approval toward the 'search and destroy sorties' (she was pro-Red) and the Red Ajah had a hand in killing her to silence her. Alviarin seems to think that the Reds did have a hand in her death, and disavowed any Black participation [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 42]. Whoever was responsible, it was to no avail. The secret came out, and the Red Sitters in the Hall were exiled. Undoubtedly, the rest of the Hall assumed that they had also exiled the Red Generalissima, because pretty much all the other leaders of Ajahs were also Sitters. They exiled Toveine, Tsutama and Lirene, but left Galina untouched. There is a slight quibble with that last part. We see from Toveine's POV in TPOD that she recalls her exile on a farm as lasting "twenty years," [TPOD: 26, The Extra Bit, 513] but that doesn't wash with the rest of the continuity, since we know that Owyn at least was gentled only fifteen years ago [TSR: 17, Deceptions, 195]. If Toveine and her fellow Sitters were exiled twenty years ago, that places their exile immediately after the War and probably even before Moiraine and Siuan learn of the BA murder campaign. This doesn't make sense, because if the murder campaign was the reason for their exile, it seems difficult to believe that they would have gotten off with mere exile. Furthermore, in ACOS, Elaida mentions that all three Sitters went into exile 15 years ago, which fits more squarely into the timeline [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 21]. It's likely that Toveine was just exaggerating or rounding off to the nearest decade (or RJ slipped up). In L:NS, we see that the Aes Sedai are out in force, and so all this search and counter-searching certainly makes it public knowledge that the Aes Sedai are up to something, but it is possible that the Tower put out the story that the reason for this unusually high level of Aes Sedai activity is the "Grand Coalition," the treaty organization that was formed to fight the Aiel. In L:NS, we also hear that there is a rumor of a channeling man in the Borderlands [L:NS, 642]. This story was probably fabricated by the AS searchers, so that the increased AS activity wouldn't be considered particularly odd. Another related tidbit is that the Aes Sedai seemed to have influenced fashion in the Borderlands by introducing veils, to better conceal their Ageless faces. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 2.5: True Love and Families _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of questions relating to romantic and filial relationships. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.5.1: Who's who in the Families? [Family trees by Erica FAQ-Dowager Sadun] _________________________________________________________________ TRAKANDS (T) and MANTEARS(M) / ANDOR D A M O D R E D S/ (rumored to have Aiel blood) C A I R H E I N -=----------------------+ +-----------=LAMAN--=BARTHANES | | Mondrellein (M) | | (cousin) | | | | | | | | | | | LUC* (JANDUIN) -+- TIGRAINE(M)m TARINGAIL MOIRAINE | (M) clan chief | (Daughter Heir (heir?) (half sister | of Taardad | of Andor ---+---------+ of Taringail, | | AKA SHAIEL) | | niece of | | | | Laman) | | GALADEDRID | | RAND | | | MORGASE(T)---------------------+--------------+ | GAWYN(T)** and ELAYNE(T)** (Daughter Heir of Andor) M A L K I E R I --------------------------------------------- | | LAIN m. BREYAN allied with COWIN AL'AKIR m. EL'LEANNA | | ISAM LAN ############ * Merges with ISAM, son of BREYAN to form SLAYER ** Speculated to be bastard of THOM MERRILIN, the gray fox, but probably is no t. See Section 2.5.5) = Exact links unknown, we just know they're related. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.5.2: Who is Juilin's honey? [Michael Gonzalez, Korda] _________________________________________________________________ From [ACOS: Glossary, 675]: "Juilin Sandar - A thief-catcher from Tear. A man in love with perhaps the very last woman he would ever have thought he could be." So, who is it? People have suggested an Aes Sedai, Nynaeve, Birgitte, etc. However, there is only one idea backed by any demonstration of tender feelings on Juilin's part: ex-Panarch Amathera of Tarabon: We know from [ACOS: 14, White Plumes, 273], as well as other places, that Juilin does not like nobles, so a high noble of some sort might seem to be the last person he would think he'd fall in love with. How about some quotes? * [ACOS, 14, White Plumes, 274] "Tarabon must be terrible now for a woman not used to taking care of herself," Juilin murmured. * Going back to the group's trip away from Tarabon, [tFoH: 9, A Signal, 146], we have: Nynaeve: "Amathera was difficult, but I do not wish her any harm. Do you?" Juilin: "A pretty woman, especially in one of those Taraboner serving girl's dresses, with a pretty smile. I thought she...." (shuts up when Elayne shoots him a dirty look.) So, it looks like Amathera's the woman. It just happens that Amathera could do with some rescuing at the moment, and is in the same city as Juilin (Ebou Dar), and is wearing a dress that Juilin would really like to see her in! :) XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.5.3: Who is the Daughter of the Nine Moons? How will Mat meet her? _________________________________________________________________ Who is the DotNM? Mat's fate: "To marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons!" Daughter of the Nine Moons probably indicates the heir to the throne of the Seanchan. This is most likely Tuon, the second daughter of the Seanchan Empress who is mentioned by High Lord Turak in Falme. [TGH: 34, The Wheel Weaves, 420]. It has been pointed out that (at least as of TGH) there is no set heir, and so the DotNM may be the Empress herself, or one of her daughters (besides Tuon). An outside runner is Berelain, who is supposedly descended from Hawkwing and thus "of the Blood," literally. Part of that theory is that "half the light of the world" refers to Mayene being a great supplier of lamp oil. In Ebou Dar in [LoC: 52, Weaves of the Power, 641], Mat runs into a Seanchan guy who recognizes the name "Daughter of the Nine Moons." This makes it pretty clear that the Daughter of the Nine Moons refers to somebody Seanchan. The epilogue makes further clarification [LoC: Epilogue, The Answer, 697]: "Perhaps the Return would come soon, and the Daughter of the Nine Moons with it." The Daughter is maybe a leader of the Return. It has been suggested that the Seanchan themselves don't know who the DotNM is, and that the Return will reveal her identity to them. (I gather this theory is that the DotNM is some sort of messiah figure for the Seanchan, or something like that.) Chances are that Mat is going to meet her RSN, since he's trapped in a town that has just been invaded by the Seanchan. How will Mat meet the DotNM? There's been a lot of speculation about how Mat will fall into the Daughter's clutches, er, arms. A lot of it has centered around Mat's signet ring (see section 2.1.1), which has birds (maybe ravens?) and moons (maybe nine?) on it, and his spear, which has ravens on it. However, these links are kind of tenuous, and anyway, Mat left his spear behind in the Tarasin Palace. However, Mat has more than the ring to point him out to the Seanchan as somebody to pay attention to. Donald Crankshaw explains: Has anyone else noticed that Mat still had Tylin's note when the building fell on him? I didn't notice until a couple of days ago when re-reading a few of my favorite scenes from ACOS. At the beginning of the chapter "A Note from the Palace" (there's even a chapter named after the note), Mat's wearing a green coat. After reading the note: "'The Queen thinks I need new clothes,' Mat said, stuffing the note into his coat pocket." [ACOS: 37, A Note from the Palace, 583]. We know Mat's still wearing the coat later; we're practically hit over the head with it. At the FCA (Female Channelers Anonymous) meeting in [ACOS: 39, Promises to Keep, 605]: "He himself was still in his muck, with his dusty green coat hanging open and the silver foxhead caught in the neck of his half-undone shirt." And finally, just before the building fell on him, "[He was] hoping none of the Seanchan would think he was one of Tylin's soldiers. He should never have worn a green coat." [ACOS: 39, Promises to Keep, 622] Now I knew that Mat was wearing the Ring o' the Nine Moons when he was buried under the rubble, but I hadn't really figured out how the Seanchan, whom I'm certain will be the ones to find him, would connect him with the palace. I was pretty sure he had to go back, that's where he left his ashanderei, but I didn't know how. I wonder what the Seanchan will make of that note. Here's a copy of it, just because I have nothing better to do: Mat, my sweet, I am having your things moved to my apartments. So much more convenient. By the time you return, Riselle will be in your old rooms to look after young Olver. He seems to enjoy her company. I have seamstresses coming to measure you. I will enjoy watching that. You must wear shorter coats. And new breeches, of course. You have a delightful bottom. Duckling, who is this Daughter of the Nine Moons I made you think of? I have thought of several delicious ways to make you tell me. Tylin Let's see, it mentions Olver, Riselle (I don't think she's really important), Tylin (this would not have been enough to indicate that it's the Queen rather than some other Tylin-- except that the letter has her seal), Mat's name, enough details to give a pretty good idea what Tylin and Mat's relationship is, and, oh yeah, the Daughter of the Nine Moons. You know, suddenly this note seems pretty significant. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.5.4: Why do we think that Thom will marry Moiraine? _________________________________________________________________ Moiraine says she knows the face of the man she will marry better than El/Eg/Ny know their future husbands [TSR: 6, Doorways, 90-1]. This could mean that she will never wed, but it could mean that she really does know who she will end up marrying. Support for the latter case is that, according to Elayne, Moiraine had some passion in her voice when she mentioned a husband, despite her attempts to then brush it off. After going through the Tear twisted doorway, she immediately tells Thom that he will live through the next set of adventures. This is not the only example of Moiraine being so sure of Thom's fate; while the party is traveling through the ways in TEOTW, Moiraine implies that Min saw something about Thom which makes her think that Thom was not killed by the Fade [TEOTW: 45, What Follows in Shadow, 568]. She certainly seems to have some sort of knowledge of Thom's future. Thom keeps referring to Moiraine as a good-looking woman with more and more sincerity as time progresses and he discovers he no longer loves Morgase. Possible scenario: How would she know who it was? Being Aes Sedai she'd likely have a lot of chances, but here's a guess. When Min describes how her viewings work her standard example is this: I see two people who have never met and know they will marry-- and of course she had both Thom and Moiraine in front of her in Baerlon. So, this would also be the reason why 1) Moiraine was so sure Thom hadn't been killed by a Fade, despite Rand's and Mat's protestations, and 2) why she tells Thom "I will see you again. You will survive Tarabon." [TSR: 17, Deceptions, 195] At this point, she is absolutely certain that she will see Thom again. This is before she goes to Rhuidean and goes through the rings that show possible futures. When she did that, she saw nothing beyond the point where she tackled Lanfear through the Twisted Doorway. She thus decided that Min (or whatever oracle led her to think she would see Thom again) had been wrong. [Sean Hillyard] Note that, right before tackling Lanfear, Moiraine suppresses a "small bubble of hope," which she feels, even though she is sure she's about to die [TFOH: 52, Choices, 632]. Add to all this speculation Egwene's Dream of Thom pulling Moiraine's blue head jewel out of a fire (i.e. Thom rescuing Moiraine from durance vile in Finnland). Nothing sparks a romance (in stories, at any rate) like a rescue. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.5.5: Is Thom the father of Elayne or Gawyn? _________________________________________________________________ Elayne denies that Galad is her brother. Thom was around at the right time. Thom clearly had something to do with Taringail's disappearance. Thom was Morgase's lover. In [TFOH: 19, Memories, 252], Morgase thinks about Taringail, and how the only good to come of the marriage were "two beautiful children." This could be Elayne and Gawyn, or she could mean Galad (adopted) and Gawyn. Evidence from the Glossary: "A Royal Prince of Cairhien, he married Tigraine and fathered Galadedrid. When Tigraine disappeared and was declared dead, he married Morgase and fathered Elayne and Gawyn." [TEotW: Glossary, entry "Damodred, Prince Taringail", 661] In [TSR: 17, Deceptions, 194], Moiraine says Thom was "Morgase's lover for a time, after Taringail died" (emphasis mine). Here, Moiraine is trying to impress Thom with how much she knows. She wouldn't include a detail she had any doubt about. To be wrong about something in such a situation would indicate faulty research, and Moiraine would not risk showing any gap in her knowledge. If she had any doubt at all, she wouldn't have mentioned the timing of events. Plus, Thom didn't say or think anything to contradict Moiraine's statement. If Morgase had been having an affair with Thom while still married to Taringail, it is very unlikely that she would have been able to keep it entirely under wraps; surely some rumor would have been around, especially in Cairhien. However, we see no evidence of such a rumor existing. Specifically, in [LoC: 50, Thorns, 628] when Rand mentions to some Cairhienin that he means to have Elayne rule Cairhien, the Cairhienin think she'd be a good choice, due to her descent from her father Taringail Damodred. If Morgase was unfaithful, surely there would have been some doubt as to Elayne's right to the throne of Cairhien. At a post-ACOS signing [Dunwoody, GA, 9 October, 1996], RJ strongly denied that Thom was Elayne or Gawyn's father. "Thom is exactly who he says he is." XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.5.6: Kari al'Thor: What do we know about her? [J. R. Feehan, Anthony Padilla] _________________________________________________________________ * Tam met Kari sometime before the end of the Aiel War. (ref. Tam's ranting in the woods) * Kari is from Caemlyn. [TGH: 8, The Dragon Reborn, 105] * Kari did not give birth to Rand. [TEOTW: 6, The Westwood, 73] (and other refs, too numerous to note) * Kari had red hair. [TEOTW: 16, The Wisdom, 202] * Kari, supposedly, had gray eyes which Rand was supposed to have inherited. [TEOTW: 1, An Empty Road, 2] (Rienk Tychon suggests that she may actually not have had grey eyes, but that Tam just told him that--not likely, since he was delirious at the time, and Tam should certainly know the color of his wife's eyes) "Kari" has dark eyes in Ishy's vision at the end of TEOTW. This might indicate that the "Kari" in the vision wasn't real (TEOTW near the end). * Kari died when Rand was young, perhaps from a disease that made her "waste away" or something. (There are no refs to a wasting sickness in TEOTW or TGH, and I don't think there are any refs in other books, but I leave this in in case I find one.) * Kari didn't approve of Tam's sword. [TEOTW: 5, Winternight, 56] All Rand can remember of her was her smile and her hands. Nynaeve said it was obvious that she loved Rand, and that she was very nice. Even still, she was only in the Two Rivers for a few years, if all Rand can remember is her smile. She probably had known Tam for quite a while, while he was in Andor. At any rate, their relationship went on long enough for him to say in his fever dream that she "Always said you wanted to have children." That "always" would imply that her and Tam didn't get hitched after like a month-long romance, and that maybe they'd been married a while before they found Rand, and maybe tried to have kids of their own, to no avail, which would have taken a while to find out. At a book signing, RJ is reported to have said that we'll find out a little more about Kari later. Loony Kari theories: People have thought that Kari was Tigraine (somehow still alive after dying on the slopes of Dragonmount) or an Aiel Wise Woman looking after Shaiel's kid (which cannot be b/c Moir. said that Kari's from Caemlyn) or an Aes Sedai who'd been stilled (someone said she was wasting away and that's why she died and Tam was her Warder, etc. Wouldn't the White Tower have gotten to Emond's Field faster if Kari had been one?) or a Tinker or she was related to some Caemlyn noble we know. Don't know why exactly, but she does have red hair, and the Caemlyn nobles also have red hair. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.5.7: Is Aviendha Pregnant? _________________________________________________________________ Possibly. The WOs have a plot to make Rand "know (the Aiel's) blood for (his) own." Aviendha has "been more successful than [the WOs] know," according to Amys [TFoH: 54, To Caemlyn, 643]. On the other hand, the WOs' plot may be to tie Rand to the Aiel via love and marriage, not fatherhood, and Amys was congratulating her on 'getting into Rand's pants,' as Sean Hillyard so eloquently puts it. Evidence for the latter: Rand has asked Aviendha many times now to marry him, and that at one point a Wise One comments [TSR: 50, Traps, 570] "I will make you know our blood for yours if I have to lay the..." Aiel women propose marriage by laying a wreath of flowers at a man's feet; this implies that their goal is marriage and Aviendha has been quite successful-- all she has to do now is accept. Surely if the WOs knew that Avi was pregnant with Rand's kid, they'd be more insistent that she stay with them, under their influence, toh to Elayne notwithstanding. Some people have suggested that Aviendha's barfing on the boat in [ACOS 13, The Bowl of the Winds, 268] is an indication of morning sickness. However, there is no indication of her being ill on any other day, and RJ gives us an explanation for her queasiness on the one in question--the idea of being in an open boat, surrounded by water, is too much for her. If Avi were pregnant, she would surely be showing some symptoms by now. For sure she would know it, or at least have suspicions, having missed a few periods. By the beginning of TPOD, it's been about four months since Rand and Avi did the "Far Snows Dance." In particular, There were exactly 130 days from the Far Snows Dance to the Seanchan attack on Ebou Dar. That's 18 (seven-day) weeks and 4 days. However, by the time of the last scene in TPOD in which Aviendha is involved (end of chapter 28), another 30 days have passed. So almost 23 weeks have gone by. I'm sure that this would give her more toh towards Elayne, and yet she doesn't say she's pregnant with Rand's child when she confesses to El. She only says she is in love with him, and has lain with him [LOC: 40, Unexpected Laughter, 523]. In her POV section in [TPOD: 1, To Keep the Bargain, 45-66], there is no indication that she thinks she might be with child, even in the bit where she is thinking about a child (Olver). Thus, if Avi is pregnant, she has no suspicion of it. While that seems unlikely, it is not impossible. It's been suggested that her ignorance of her condition could be explained by: 1) She may have irregular periods, so missing a few wouldn't sound any warning bells; 2) Avi's lifestyle is pretty active, and often, a first pregnancy doesn't "show" until later, especially for a woman in very good shape; 3) Avi herself has admitted that she doesn't know much about men and family stuff, so she could be clueless about any signs of pregnancy which she may be experiencing. The Nynaeve Evidence Dave Rothgery points out: "What I find hard to believe is not Avi not noticing, or even Avi not showing yet. But that Nynaeve, a medical expert who's dealt with every pregnant woman in Emond's Field for a dozen years, wouldn't notice is beyond reason." Indeed, as the village Wisdom (and thus healer and midwife), Nynaeve should have plenty of experience with pregnancy, and knowing the signs of it. If Avi is pregnant, Nynaeve should at least be suspicious that something is up. As a counterargument, it has been suggested that if Ny did know, she could be respecting Avi's privacy and the consequences that would follow from her pregnancy being known, consequences such as people trying to get to Rand through Avi and the unborn kid. This doesn't really hold up, because Ny has shown a distinct lack of clue with respect to the Elayne-Aviendha-Rand situation. Furthermore, one might buy that Ny wouldn't tell other people about any suspicions, but she would surely inform Aviendha of her possible condition, and that brings us back to the problem of Aviendha's complete ignorance. There is the remark Ny makes to Avi: "I'll fix you a tea when I have a chance. I know several that will soothe your stomach. Or any woman's troubles." [TPOD: 1, To Keep the Bargain, 55] These "woman's troubles" are unlikely to be pregnancy, because of the argument above-- if Ny thought Avi might be pregnant, she would have talked to her about it, and Avi wouldn't be unaware of her situation. It is more likely that Ny is referring to cramps and other PMS stuff, especially since Aviendha was acting cranky right before Ny offered the tea. Furthermore, as Rich Boye' points out: "'woman troubles' is a very sexist way to characterize pregnancy and I can't see Uber-Woman Nynaeve dismissing female reproduction that way." People have suggested that Nynaeve, experience notwithstanding, would not necessarily notice that Avi was pregnant, if she didn't show it much. This would especially be the case since she is so preoccupied with Lan right now. However, if Avi were pregnant, Nynaeve would know, without a doubt (you'll see why in a minute). If Nynaeve knew, she would regard it as her Wisdomly duty to to make sure Avi knew about it so that she could take care of herself, with several invectives about no-good men thrown in for good measure. Because of this, it is almost certain that Avi is not pregnant. Here's why: In [TPOD: 6, Threads, 144-151], Aviendha and Birgitte stay with Elayne as she works to unweave the Gateway that the Kin, Seafolk, AS, etc took to Andor from the Farm. As Elayne unweaves, Birgitte and Aviendha fight the Seanchan who are trying to come through the gate. During this fight, Birgitte takes an arrow in the thigh and Aviendha takes one in her arm. While she is wounded, Aviendha channels fireballs at the Seanchan. RJ makes clear that this takes a lot of effort. The three of them finally ride away from the gate, over a crest. One of the damane comes through the gateway and shields Elayne, causing the gateway to detonate in a spectacular fashion. The explosion turns the Seanchan who were at ground zero into fine black ash, kills two of the three horses the women have, and cause severe injuries to all three women, all over their bodies. Elayne's description is that they've been "thrashed within an inch of their lives." Got it? Aviendha has lots of injuries, all over her body. Nynaeve and Lan show up, and Nynaeve Heals all three of them [TPOD: 20, Into Andor, 390]. Now, we know that Healing involves "scanning" the patient with the Power, to find out the nature and extent of the injuries. Since Aviendha was injured all over, Nynaeve would have had to scan her all over. If Aviendha was more than four months pregnant, Nynaeve would have detected it-- that's a big physiological change, even if the woman isn't showing it externally. You'll have to go really far out on a limb to claim that Ny STILL could not know about it, after having given Avi a full-body, inside-to-out scan. So, we are left with the only way for Avi to be pregnant is for Nynaeve to know about it, but NOT telling Avi, and not making any effort to make sure that Avi takes good care of herself and her unborn child. It would be VERY out of character for Aviendha to not tell Elayne if she knew she was pregnant by Rand, especially after the degree of closeness the two show for each other in the aftermath of the explosion. It would be even more out of character for Nynaeve to know Avi is carrying a child, and not talk to her about it or try to take care of her. Over the course of 8 books and one novella, RJ has been very consistent in his characterization. This is not a slip he would make. If he wanted to conceal Avi's pregnancy, he would have done it via plot manipulation, not character manipulation (e.g. have Aviendha not be shot, and have her land on the side of her horse away from the explosion, and thus miraculously avoid injury). I guess it is possible that Ny just Healed the three women without checking them for non-obvious injuries, but that would be sloppier work than Ny has shown herself capable of in the past. Fortunately, this is one question RJ can't keep us in the dark about much longer; another month or so of book time, and it will be obvious if she is or isn't pregnant. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 2.6: What's up? (Non-dark section) _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of questions and puzzles related to people and happenings which don't (necessarily) touch directly upon the Shadow. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.6.1: What is the deal with Callandor? Who will use it? _________________________________________________________________ The "Into the heart" prophecy (see section 4.05), suggested that maybe somebody besides Rand would remove Callandor from the Stone: "Who draws it out shall follow after". In TPOD this did happen, although not in a very dramatic fashion. Narishma went to Tear to retrieve the Sword That Ain't for Rand. Bo-ring. Fortunately for our active imaginations, we got lots of new fodder for Callandor theories. What's the deal with the "flaw"? In [TPOD: 27, The Bargain, 539-540], Cadsuane tells Rand about a flaw in Callandor, which she claims to have discovered in some moldy documents in the Tower Library: "It is flawed, lacking the buffer that makes other sa'angreal safe to use. And it apparently magnifies the taint, inducing wildness of the mind. So long as a man is using it, anyway. The only safe way for you to use The Sword That Is Not a Sword, the only way to use it without the risk of killing yourself, or trying to do the Light alone knows what insanity, is linked with two women, and one of them guiding the flows." This not only explains the mess Rand made of things at the end of the Ebou Dar campaign (which was compounded by the Ebou Dar Power Anomaly), but also the megalomania displayed by Rand during and after the attack in the Stone in [TSR: 10, The Stone Stands 136-138]. What insanity? As John Rowat points out, "He went a little nutso, thought he could raise the dead, and it took him an hour or so to realize that he could just fry all the bad guys at once." Also, it explains a statement by SS in [TDR: 29, A Trap to Spring, 276] in which she refers to a woman wielding Callandor. In particular, she's talking to Eg and Ny, and says, "With Callandor in your hands, child, you could level a city at one blow." Previously, that seemed really silly, since Callandor was, as far as we knew, a male-only sa'angreal. However, Cadsuane's statement indicates that Callandor can at least be used by a circle of two women and one man, with a woman controlling the flows (and thus, effectively, wielding the Sword That Ain't). Given that SS has made the Dragon Reborn her life's work, it is reasonable to suppose that she may have discovered and read the same moldy documents as Cadsuane. Now we must ask, why was the thing flawed in the first place? John Novak gives us some ideas: "Given that it was made in the shape of a sword and seems to have no other real purpose than as a weapon, I think it is safe to say that it was created either during or after the War of Power. In either of these cases, it was probably the result of one serious-assed QRC (Quick Response Contract). That alone will increase the probability that things aren't exactly up to specifications. Further, if it was made after the war, then by definition it was made after the Taint was created by the Dark One. I would hazard a guess that men are needed to make a male-oriented angreal or sa'angreal, so there's another potential reason for it to be screwed up. Hell, for all we know, that was the last attempt ever made at creating a male (sa')angreal." Who will use Callandor? When Rand finds out about the flaw in Callandor, he decides not to use Callandor in the future. This means that we can just change all of our "Who will retrieve Callandor" theories with "Who will use Callandor" theories. Logain is still the most popular candidate. This could be the "future glory" envisioned by Min. Even though Verin said that Logain would be burnt to a crisp trying to control the sa'angreal, we know by now that AS don't know everything. Furthermore, any man who would use Callandor safely needs two trusted female channellers with whom to work. (In fact, since a woman must control the flows, better to say that any woman who would use Callandor needs another woman and a man to assist her!) Conveniently, Logain has started his own personal Green Ajah, and has bonded two Aes Sedai. Perhaps Logain and his two women will use Callandor, before all is said and done. Another candidate for Callandor-using is the same Asha'man who brought it out of the Stone, Jahar Narishma. He is one of the few Asha'man under Rand's influence, rather than Taim's, and he demonstrated his loyalty by bringing the Sword to Rand, rather than taking it for himself, so Rand might trust him to use Callandor. On the other hand, given Cadsuane's warning, and Rand's own experiences with the Sword, it is not certain that he'd be willing to let anybody use it. In any case, the prophecy does say "who draws it out will follow after." Narishma drew it out, and perhaps "following after" means that he will use the Sword. Eg's dream of a dark young man holding something glowing [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 203] could refer to Logain and Callandor or Narishma and Callandor, although I don't think that Logain exactly qualifies as young, from Egwene's perspective (26 to her 18). XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.6.2: The Severed Hand _________________________________________________________________ The "Severed Hand" controversy centers around several of Min's visions. For Elayne, she has seen: 1) A severed hand, not hers [TGH: 24, New Friends and Old Enemies, 305], 2) A red-hot iron and an axe [TGH: 43, A Plan, 511]. For Rand, we have: A bloody hand and a white hot iron [TEotW: 15, Strangers and Friends, 181]. Here are the ideas: 1) Elayne gets captured and leashed by the Seanchan. Rand, or somebody else, is somehow forced to wear the bracelet (recall that little Seanchan game?) [TGH: 40, Damane, 484]). Somebody then chops off Rand's hand (with an axe) to save the two of them. The wound is then cauterized with a hot iron that happens to be lying around. [Judy G, Arthur Bernard Byrne, John Novak] 2) Joe Shaw has suggested: During Rand's battle with Ba'alzamon at the end of TGH, we have "Rand screamed as he felt [Ba'alzamon's staff] pierce his side, burning like a white-hot poker." At the same time, he gets a second heron branded onto his hand [TGH: 47, The Grave Is No Bar To My Call, 564]. I still think this was the fulfillment of Min's viewing about Rand, and that Elayne's similar viewing is completely unrelated. 3) In [TFoH: 16, An Unexpected Offer, 224] we learned that the punishment for stealing in Amadicia is: First Offense--branding (with a red-hot iron?) Second Offense--Right hand chopped off. Scenario: somebody Elayne knows gets accused of stealing in Amadicia (Morgase? Galad? Lini?) and is branded. The person gets into more trouble, and has their hand chopped off. Rand has nothing to do with it. His bloody hand is something else. Problem with this theory is that Amadicia is now under Seanchan control, and old Amadician laws probably don't apply any more. 4) Galad's hand gets chopped for having stolen the boat in Samara from the loony Prophet (according to the Prophet's new law, thieves get their hands chopped). Problem: I see this having more to do with Ny than with El, since she was the one who told both Galad and the Prophet to get a boat for them. [Judy G.] RJ said, at a signing, that he deliberately made Rand like Tew, the Norse god of strife, who lost a hand. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.6.3: Who are the Aelfinn and Eelfinn? [Erica Sadun, Sean Hillyard, P. Korda] _________________________________________________________________ The Aelfinn and Eelfinn (henceforth referred to as "the Finn") are strange tricksy critters who live in other dimensions. They are also known as the Snakes and Foxes, because of their appearances, and have long-standing tricksy relationships with humans: giving gifts and answers... at a price. Most of what we know about the Finn is from TSR. There is also a little bit in the Guide. What we know from the Tear doorway (From [TSR: 6, Doorways, 95] and [TSR, 15, Into the Doorway, 174-180]: * There seems to be some kind of agreement concerning the use of the door. Anyone may enter who does not bring sources of light (lamps, torches), iron, or instruments of music. The snakes will then answer three questions which pertain to the future of the asker. "Frivolous questions are punished, it seems, but it also seems what may be serious for one can be frivolous coming from another. Most importantly, questions touching the Shadow have dire consequences." What sort of consequences? Moiraine mentions death and madness. * How do they provide true answers? Moiraine speculates, "That world is... folded... in strange ways.... It may be that that allows them to read the thread of a human life, read the various ways it may yet be woven into the Pattern." This explanation seems to fit with what the snakes said while Mat was in there. * What do the snakes get out of it? According to Moiraine: "Sensations, emotions, experiences. They rummage through them; you can feel them doing it, making your skin crawl. Perhaps they feed on them in some manner. The Aes Sedai who studied this ter'angreal ... spoke of a strong desire to bathe afterward." * The presence of two ta'veren placed some sort of strain on the place, causing it to almost fall apart. * As can be surmised from their questions upon entering, the snakes don't like fire: Rand uses a fire-sword to keep them off of him: "The sword kept them back; they wouldn't even look at it. Shied away. Hid their eyes." * The space the snakes live in is very weird, indeed. Moiraine, Mat, and Rand all enter and exit it through the twisty door around the same time, but they don't see any sign of one another while inside. What we know from the Rhuidean doorway (From [TSR: 24, Rhuidean, 278-282] and [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 306-307]): * The foxes also speak of a treaty in using the doorway. The spear Mat gets from them also mentions treaties and agreements: "Thus is our treaty written; thus is agreement made. Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades. What was asked is given. The price is paid." * Again, no iron or musical instruments, or ways to make light. * Instead of answering three questions, the foxes grant three wishes. * Again, there is the prickling of the skin as memories are rummaged through. However, for the foxes this does not seem to be payment enough for their services. Apparently a 'price' has to be negotiated before 'agreements' are made. Mat lucks out (of course) and asks for a way out as one of his agreements (It seems extremely likely that he would still be there without that), but they still exact a price out of him, and an unpleasant one, from what we can infer of it. What we know from Birgitte's talk with Perrin [TSR: 28, To the Tower of Ghenjei, 323-324]: * The Tower of Ghenjei is a route to the realms of the Finn. (The Tower is a large, metallic tower with no doors which is located in Andor. Perrin chases Slayer to it in TAR in [TSR: 28, To the Tower of Ghenjei, 322], and it is seen from Bayle Domon's boat in [TEOTW: 24, Flight Down the Arinelle, 299-300]) It is "hard enough to leave in the world of men. Here [in TAR] it is all but impossible." * The way to "beat" the snakes and foxes is to break the rules. "Courage to strengthen, fire to blind, music to daze, iron to bind." * The Finn "are not evil the way the Shadow is evil, yet they are so different from humankind they might as well be. They are not to be trusted." From the Guide [Guide: 3, The Age of Legends, 33]: * "The answers received [from the snakes] are always true, though not easily understood." * "The requests are always granted, though not always as intended by the petitioner." Aludra: I have finally figured out Aludra's entire raison d'etre: the matches. Now how can Mat/Thom get over to Nynaeve to get some matches before he heads off to Finnland? [Erica S.] XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.6.4: Where do the Aes Sedai get their money? _________________________________________________________________ The Aes Sedai, both collectively and individually, never seem to lack for funds. Where do they get the money? Here are some ideas: * Private income (e.g. Moiraine's estates in Cairhien) * Income from property owned by the Tower and/or the Ajahs * Tar Valon straddles the crossroads of some of the major trade routes on the continent. The Tower likely collects docking fees, tariffs, etc. * Gifts from various nobles/merchants for services (e.g. Healing) and as bribes * Donations from various governments who support the Tower (e.g. Borderlands, Andor) * Tar Valon is probably a main banking center for Randland: the AS have incentive for having one and the very stable government helps it to be formed, and Tar Valon coins are seen commonly around Randland. * The Tower probably taxes the residents of Tar Valon and the surrounding villages. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.6.5: The Mystery of the Salidar Sitters [P. Korda, John S. Hamby, Karl-Johan Noren] _________________________________________________________________ In [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 340-341], Siuan tells Egwene about a pattern she has noticed about the Salidar Hall: "Aside from Romanda and Moria, the Sitters chosen in Salidar are... they're too young.... Escaralde is the oldest, and I'm sure she isn't much past seventy.... It isn't often the Hall has held more than one Sitter under a hundred, and here we have nine! ... When a woman is raised too young, there's a reason.... This time, there were more than enough sisters of proper age to choose from, and I can't see five Ajahs deadlocking on all of them. There is a pattern, and I mean to pick it out." Egwene doesn't believe that there is anything suspicious going on. However, SS has been described several times as being very good at noticing patterns and solving puzzles. From [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 340]: "Siuan had shown herself very skilled at detecting patterns where others saw only a jumble." In [L:NS, 666], Moiraine thinks, "There were too many questions, and not an answer to be found. She wished Siuan were there; Siuan was very good at puzzles, and nothing shook her." So, since SS is so smart, we shouldn't follow Eg's suit by dismissing Siuan's ideas out of hand. Now, to try to figure out what the deal is with the Sitters, we'll consider several things: the factions, who is new, who is "too young," how they voted on the War Vote, how they reacted to the result of the War Vote, whether they stood for Egwene as Amyrlin in the first vote, and whether they've promoted any hair-brained schemes which could have proven disastrous for the Salidar AS. Who's Who among the Salidar Sitters What information do we have? 1. In [LOC: 35, In the Hall of the Sitters, 472-476] Egwene is raised: voting occurs, and at the end, the Sitters line up by age. This last bit establishes Romanda, Lelaine, and Janya as the three oldest Sitters, and Delana as being one of the nine youngest. 2. From [ACOS: 11, An Oath, 214], we find that all the original sitters but one follow Romanda or Lelaine. The factions are given in [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 327]. Lelaine's followers are Faiselle, Takima, and Lyrelle. Romanda's followers are Magla, Saroiya and Varilin. 3. Siuan's explanation of her "too young" theory to Egwene [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 340-341]. From this we learn that there are nine Sitters who are too young. 4. In the same passage, we find that five of the six Ajahs in Salidar raised Sitters who are too young. 5. Of the Sitters raised in Salidar, only Romanda and Moria are old enough. 6. Various passages indicate that one or another of the Sitters is newly-raised, or one of the original ones. 7. In [TPOD: 19, The Law, 385-389], the Hall votes on declaring War on Elaida. The votes of all the Sitters are given. 8. Given the rarity of young Sitters, it is not too much of a stretch to assume that all of the young Sitters are newly-chosen. If nothing else, Siuan would have mentioned a young original sitter as an exception when she was explaining her theory. This would mean that there are 11 new Sitters and 7 original ones. (Note that it is possible that there is a young, original Sitter, but that just complicates matters, so for now, we'll assume not.) 9. From 1, 2, and 5, we can conclude that Janya is the independent original Sitter. 10. From 4 and 5, the Blue Ajah is the only one which didn't raise a too-young Sitter. (Lyrelle is one of the original Sitters.) 11. Seven original Sitters, less Lelaine and Janya, makes five originals who follow Lelaine or Romanda. Since there are six followers altogether, only one of the followers is newly-raised. 12. After Delana tosses her cookies in [TPOD: 19, The Law, 388], we have, "Magla and Saroiya... looked as though they might follow her example. No others who had been chosen in Salidar, though." This passage is ambiguous, in that we don't know whether "others" refers to Delana or to Magla and Saroiya, and thus, we don't know if this means that Magla and Saroiya are newly-chosen or original. However, whichever way it is meant, it indicates M and S were either both chosen in Salidar, or both were not. Since they both follow Romanda, both of them cannot be newly-chosen (because of 11). So, both of them must be original Sitters. 13. From 2, 9, and 12, we can conclude that the Salidar Sitters who were members of the original Hall are Lelaine, Lyrelle, Janya, Takima, Magla, Saroiya, and either Varilin or Faiselle. From [LOC: 35, In the Hall of the Sitters, 472-476], we know that Delana, Kwamesa, Janya, and Malind stood for the first vote. Samalin, Lelaine, and Romanda did not. With respect to hair-brained schemes, in [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 331] there is a list of suggestions from the sitters on how to raise money. Moria proposed to stop paying the soldiers, which any idiot knows would mean the army would melt away. Malind suggested hitting up nearby nobles for donations, something Egwene thought would turn the whole countryside against them. Salita wanted to levy a tax on villages, which Egwene also thought was a bad idea. In [ACOS: 11, An Oath, 215], we hear about a proposal from Delana that Elaida be publicly denounced as Black Ajah, a move which would cause public confidence in Aes Sedai to plummet. Romanda suggests that all sisters be interrogated about being BA, and any who refuse should be shielded and confined, a move sure to cause a mutiny. In response to Romanda's idea, Lelaine wants Egwene to forbid mention of the BA as "fomenting discord." This plan "would have every sister convinced not just that there was a Black Ajah, but that Egwene was part of it." [ACOS: 12, A Morning of Victory, 247] Summary: First Sitter Ajah Faction New? Young? War Amyrlin Scheme? Vote ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Romanda Yellow Romanda Y N N N Y Magla Yellow Romanda N N N - - Salita Yellow - Y Y Y - Y Saroiya White Romanda N N N - - Aledrin White - Y Y Y - - Berana White - Y Y Y - - Varilin Gray Romanda ? ? N - - Delana Gray/Black Halima Y Y Y Y Y Kwamesa Gray - Y Y Y Y - Lelaine Blue Lelaine N N Y N Y Lyrelle Blue Lelaine N N Y - - Moria Blue - Y N Y - Y Faiselle Green Lelaine ? ? N - - Samalin Green - Y Y Y N - Malind Green - Y Y Y Y Y Takima Brown Lelaine N N N - - Janya Brown - N N Y Y - Escaralde Brown - Y Y Y - - What is the secret in the Hall? Siuan thinks that the "pattern" in the hall is connected with the relative youthfulness of the new sitters. In fact, when the War Vote is being taken, and Egwene doesn't get as many votes as she and Siuan expected, Egwene thinks that the discrepancy might be due to Siuan's pattern. Here are some ideas for what the Secret of the Salidar Sitters might be. 1. Egwene is actually right when she thinks "Older sisters were more likely to be tied to old ways...everything was shifting... Surely that was why younger women, more open to the new, had been chosen." [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 341] Conceivably, this could be true, but see the commentary on Siuan's puzzle-solving ability at the start of this section. 2.The new young Sitters are sacrificial lambs in case things go wrong, along the lines of Elaida's thoughts on Egwene being chosen as Amyrlin over Romanda, Sheriam or Lelaine [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 25]. Note that Elaida is not exactly correct; Siuan and Leane guided the Salidar Six, and through them the Hall, into choosing Egwene. However, the people behind choosing the new Sitters (possibly the seven original sitters, Romanda and Lelaine, or the Salidar Ajah heads?) may have been of Elaida's school of thought, and so it might still apply to the choice of Sitters in Salidar. The anomalies of Romanda and Moria can be explained as exceptions. The Blues have little to nothing to gain from a re-approachment under Elaida so choosing a traditional Sitter who will follow Lelaine (so was the idea when Moria was chosen) and present a strong stable front for the Blues makes sense. Romanda clearly did not think that the Salidar effort was going to fail or else she would not have joined, right? After all if she went to Salidar in hopes of becoming Amyrlin she must have thought it worth the consequences of failure. 3. All the too-young Sitters are Black Ajah. After all, Delana is BA and too young. One problem with this is that only Delana upchucks as a result of the vote. Then again, Delana is probably the only BA who knows about Halima. Another problem is that this supposes that a full half the Salidar Hall is BA. While the Hall is disorderly, it sure doesn't show any evidence of being dominated by Darkfriends. 4. Perhaps the too-young Sitters were all picked by the Six. But for what purpose beyond the obvious of hoping to control the Hall? Was it an attempt to have a Hall and yet keep it from becoming effective in the eyes of the other sisters? That young Sitters would not be taken seriously or have as much clout? Or perhaps young sisters suddenly raised would be blinded by the honor and happily let the Six continue their rule? Was it because they already had an idea of Egwene as Amyrlin and figured that Sitters who were younger than normal would be more open to raising an eighteen year-old as Amyrlin? However, It seems from Siuan's comment [TPOD: 16, Unexpected Absences, 341], that it was the Ajahs that chose the Sitters in Salidar. Certainly Siuan would have known right away if Sheriam and crew had gone out and hand-picked nine Sitters, right? Also, as far as we know, Myrelle is the only Ajah Head among the Salidar Six, and thus the only one we can expect to have any clout in Sitter-choosing. From Siuan's statement about the choosing of Moria, it seems that Lelaine hand-picked Moria, with Lyrelle's tacit consent. It is possible that Morvrin, Beonin and Carlinya are heads of their respective Ajahs in Salidar. But even if that is so, it still leaves open the question of Salita Toranes of the Yellow. No Yellow member of the Salidar Six. 5. The nine were chosen in hopes of never being able to reach a consensus since they all go their own way (this was anticipated). 6. The nine were chosen in hopes that they would be able to reach the lesser consensus even if Lelaine and Romanda were filibustering, as it would only take one or two Sitters to break ranks to accomplish something. 7. They were chosen as the best possible means of bringing the Two Towers together. As young go-getters they would be anxious to act. The fact that the Hall has a tendency to sit on its collective ass seems to refute this. 8. Chosen because they would have less loyalty and awe for the Tower as an institution and perhaps be more likely to keep the Tower split? This would fall back once again on BA influence of sorts. Also their inexperience might lend to this as they would not be able to come together to get anything major accomplished. Instead, the Hall in Salidar ends up with two factions that refuse to compromise and nine others who all don't want an accord that brings them under Elaida but don't know what their next step should be. Or if they do, they can't get it through because Romanda and Lelaine consider them children. 9. Offshoot of 8. Young Sitters were chosen to keep either Romanda or Lelaine from gaining a clear advantage. Neither would take the young Sitters seriously, yet could not do so openly as it would undermine their own positions in the Hall as a legitimate Sitter. At least some of the young Sitters clearly have issues with being taken seriously as a Sitter. Might this include how they are treated in the Hall itself by the venerable Sisters from the Yellow and the Blue? 10. The nine young Sitters are all Elaida's agents. This is not very likely, since all the young Sitters except the one in Lelaine or Romanda's faction voted in favor of declaring War on Elaida. 11. Escaralde is the oldest of those chosen in Salidar; she is "not much past seventy." What if the Sitters were chosen due to their age? Not so much as they are young; but that their age precludes them from having been in the Tower at a certain time. What this may have been I have no idea. But maybe the fallout, while not too major, was enough to make any of the older sisters reluctant to place themselves in a 'target' position. Or maybe if something did happen it was enough to prompt avoidance of any who might have been associated with the event. This hypothetical event would have taken place before Escaralde came to the Tower as a Novice-- probably between the ages of fifteen and twenty. That would put the timing of the event at least forty-five to sixty years ago. We don't know of any significant events involving the Tower during that time period. The AS might have given themselves a margin of error, so the event could have happened longer than sixty years ago. Note that all sorts of things seem to have occurred seventy years ago. Looking at the table, the only apparent pattern involving the young Sitters is that they all voted in favor of War on Elaida, except for the one who follows Lelaine or Romanda (Faiselle or Varilin). However, Egwene and Siuan expected more votes in favor of War than they actually got. This means that more of the older Sitters were expected to vote for War than actually did. It's reasonable that the Blues all voted for War. All of Romanda's faction voted against War, as did the two non-Blues (Faiselle and Takima) in Lelaine's-- much to Lelaine's surprise and displeasure. In any case, there seems to be too little information to figure out the reason behind the youth of the new Sitters. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.6.6: What was going on at the end of TPOD? _________________________________________________________________ The fight at the end of TPOD raises many questions. Who was behind the attack? What was the true goal of the attack? What was Dashiva doing there? As one might expect, there isn't total agreement on these questions. We'll go over the facts of what happened, and then we will present various theories and ideas about what was going on. Just the facts, ma'am The scene under discussion occurs in [TPOD: 29, A Cup of Sleep, 558-573]. Min, Rand, and Fedwin Morr are in Rand's apartment in the Cairhien Palace. Sorilea drags the re-educated Aes Sedai in to swear fealty to Rand. Sorilea then tells him that Cadsuane is in the palace, and goads him into seeking her out. Sorilea and the AS leave. Rand, Min, and Morr leave Rand's rooms to find Cadsuane. When they've gone down the hall a bit, the apartments are smashed with the OP. We know that Rand et al are a little ways down from the rooms, because they survive with minor injuries, while the Maidens who were guarding the doors are killed. Rand charges Morr with taking Min to safety and guarding her, then sets out to track down his attackers. Rand skulks around for a while, seeking the male channelers who blew up his rooms (he thinks it might have been Demandred or Asmodean). He thinks that the attackers must have spies in the palace, since they must have known he was in his rooms (or had been) at the time of the attack. A couple of Sea Folk women see him, and he ties them up, shielding the Windfinder. He worries that somebody could have detected the quantity of OP used to do that shielding. Just after the Windfinder's quarters, Rand comes to a set of stairs which lead down into a hall of some sort. He sees Dashiva, Gedwyn, and Rochaid in the hall. Gedwyn says, "I felt nothing. He's dead!" Dashiva spies Rand at the top of the stairs, snarls, and shoots some bolt-o-nastiness at Rand. Rand channels a super-shield around himself. Dashiva's bolt knocks him back down the corridor, and the bits of it which bounce off the shield do a number on the hallway. Rand sends his own nasty thing towards where he'd seen the three men. Then, he runs back up the hallway, and takes an alternate route down to the room where he'd seen the men. It is clear to him that they'd escaped. Rand scares some servants, and then feels a man channel "enough of the Power to make a gateway." Rand wanders around in a killing rage for a while longer, almost toasting Narishma and Flinn. He searches the palace for hours, and doesn't find Dashiva, Rochaid, and Gedwyn. Finally, he finds Min in the company of a now-mad Morr. An odd thing worth noting is that the Laurel Crown and Dragon Scepter made it through the attack unscathed, while the Dragon Throne (which they were sitting on) was reduced to splinters. Taim arrives, claiming to have come to report deserters: Gedwyn, Rochaid, Torval, and Kisman. Rand puts Morr down, and tells Taim to add Dashiva to the list of deserters. Taim is clearly angered and surprised to learn about Dashiva. Taim leaves, and Rand tells Min that he's planning to go on the lam. Min declares that she'll go with him. Some Theories Disclaimer: Here's how the scene appears, when taken at face value: Gedwyn, Rochaid, and Dashiva deserted from the BT, and decided to make a statement by trying to kill Rand. After blowing up his apartment, they found out that Rand was still alive. Dashiva took a shot at Rand, but Gedwyn and Rochaid chickened out, and ran off. Later, Taim discovered Gedwyn and Rochaid's desertion (and Torval's and Kisman's), and was shocked and amazed. He Traveled to Cairhien to report it to Rand immediately, and was shocked and amazed to discover that Dashiva, too, had deserted. If that's all that happened, then there is nothing more to discuss. The following ideas are reasonable conclusions to draw, if we assume that everything was not exactly as it appeared in the scene. The following discussion attempts to stick with the facts of the matter, as depicted in the books. To keep things simple, nothing is being assumed about the possible secret identities of Taim and Dashiva. That is, we will only discuss things which can be concluded directly from Taim and Dashiva's actions, and which don't depend on them being Demandred (or not) and Osan'gar (or not). (However, the general idea that Taim and/or the attackers are working for the Shadow is considered.) The reader is invited to consider, for her or his own personal edification, what these ideas imply for the Taimandred and Dashivan'gar theories. Was Taim behind the attack? Two of the attackers, Gedwyn and Rochaid, were on Taim's list of "deserters." Now, note that these four deserters (those two, plus Torval and Kisman) seem to have been Taim's favorites among the Asha'man. Torval and Rochaid are the two Asha'man Taim recommends to Rand in place of Dashiva [ACOS: 2, The Butcher's Yard, 84]. The four deserters are the four men Taim calls for when he prepares to depart after Rand rejects Torval and Rochaid. During TPOD, we find that Taim has "created new ranks." Gedwyn and Rochaid are the "Storm Leader" and "Attack Leader"; they are the commander and second-in-command of the Asha'man on the Seanchan campaign. Gedwyn and Rochaid kill the assassin in [TPOD: 22, Gathering Clouds, 428-430], who is found with a large quantity of Tar Valon coin. Rochaid tries to convince Rand that Aes Sedai were behind the attack. The whole scene smells bad-- it's more like Gedwyn and Rochaid set the archer up, so that Rand would think that AS were trying to kill him. Taim has, on many occasions, worked to drive a wedge between Rand and the AS. In any case, the four "deserters" reported by Taim were his right-hand men, the ones with the least reason to leave the BT. Now, it just seems too much of a coincidence that Taim showed up in Cairhien to tell Rand about the "desertion" just a few hours after two of those deserters blew up the palace in a spectacular fashion. Not only did he discover their desertion awfully quickly, he knew the reason for their desertion: "they were malcontented over events in Altara." Did they give a speech before leaving? March into Taim's office and tender their resignations? Furthermore, Taim seems very calm and collected over the desertion of his four most-trusted men. This isn't very characteristic for a man who has so carefully created his own cult of personality. It's much more likely that the whole "desertion" and attack were arranged by Taim. It's clear that he chafes under the restrictions Rand has placed on him. It's also clear that Rand doesn't trust him at all, and that if Taim had simply reported that his four had deserted, Rand probably would not have believed him. However, after the attack, Rand doesn't even question Taim's word. Note that the desertion and attack, if organized by Taim, have produced a group of male channelers who are loyal to Taim, not to Rand, and whose actions Taim can disavow. This is just too much of a good deal for Taim for it not to be the case. Note the difference between Taim's calm reaction to the desertion of his four favorites, and his anger at learning that Dashiva (who Taim did not like) had joined the four. He's more upset at Dashiva's interference than at the desertion of his four most trusted followers. That doesn't make sense, unless Taim engineered the desertion in the first place. Were they really trying to kill Rand? If not, what were they trying to do? Rand, of course, assumes that the attack on his rooms was an attempt to kill him. However, it's very likely that the real goal of the attackers was something entirely different. Taken at face value, the attack was not orchestrated very well. Blowing up Rand's rooms caused only minor damage to Rand himself, since he was walking away from them when it happened. When Rand comes upon Rochaid, Gedwyn, and Dashiva in the hall, they have a perfect opportunity to gang up on him and finish him off. The only one who attacks Rand is Dashiva, and that only happens once. The three just ran away after that. If they were really out to kill Rand, they didn't seem to put much effort into it. While Dashiva has a few screws loose, Gedwyn and Rochaid have shown themselves to be fairly competent at OP combat, plotting, and scheming. Taim certainly believed they were competent enough to promote them above the other Asha'man. This lame assassination attempt couldn't have come from the same careful plotters who set up the archer "assassin" in Illian. Surely the commanders of the Asha'man would know how to plan a strategy for hunting Rand down and killing him, when they had the advantage of three-to-one odds. Note that while Rochaid and Gedwyn are not nearly as strong as Rand, not even as strong as Flinn and Narishma [TPOD: 22, Gathering Clouds, 429], Dashiva is very strong (See section 1.2.2). The three of them should have been able to kill Rand, if they'd all been out to do so. As Rand comes upon the three in [TPOD: 29, A Cup of Sleep, 568], Gedwyn is overheard saying, "[I'm] telling you I felt nothing. He's dead!" Presumably, this is in reference to Rand. This sentence can be taken two ways. One is that the three guys were trying to kill Rand, and Gedwyn thinks that the explosion in Rand's rooms did the job. The problem with this is that Gedwyn is a pretty competent guy, and if his goal was to kill Rand, he probably wouldn't blow up a few rooms and then leave, without getting confirmation that his target was indeed dead. The other way Gedwyn's words can be taken is that one member of the party (probably Dashiva-- Gedwyn and Rochaid seem to be joined at the hip) thought that the goal was to kill Rand when it really was not. Gedwyn was trying to convince that person that Rand was already dead, so that that person wouldn't go and try to kill him. It has been suggested that the attackers were working under the auspices of the Shadow, and the true goal of the attack (or one of the goals) was to kill Min, not Rand. What motive would the Shadow have for killing Min? Paul Khangure proposes two motives: 1) Her death would affect Rand in many possible ways, none of them good. 2)She's been studying Herid Fel's work. She could be on the brink of discovering the same thing which Herid Fel discovered. It got Herid killed, why not Min also?" Apart from motive, there isn't much evidence to support this idea. It has a similar problem to the idea that the attackers were really trying to kill Rand-- apart from the initial attack, nobody tried to kill her. With three attackers, two could have kept Rand busy while the third finished Min off, but the only danger Min faced during the whole episode came from her "protector," the cracked Fedwin Morr. Now, Dashiva, at least, took a direct, and very lethal-looking shot at Rand, right after Gedwyn said he thought Rand was dead. That piece of channeling was strong enough to knock Rand, in his impervious shield, all the way down the corridor, and to destroy a good bit of the corridor itself: "The fire that leaped from Dashiva erupted, shattering marble..." The aftermath of the blast is described: "the crash of explosions still ringing in the air, dust still hanging and bits of broken marble tumbling." Whatever Dashiva shot at Rand, it was nothing trivial. Since Rand's super-shield was dredged up out of LTT-memory at that very instant, there was no way Dashiva could have known that Rand would block it. The reasonable conclusion is that Dashiva, at least, was really trying to kill Rand. Perhaps he thought better of it right afterwards, or perhaps Gedwyn and Rochaid convinced him to leave some other way, but it seems that all three must have left the area shortly after Dashiva shot at Rand. After Rand feels "enough of the Power to make a gateway" being channeled, there is no more sign of the three attackers in the Palace. That channeling must have been them channeling to leave. This brings us to our last point of discussion: What was Dashiva doing there? At the start of the attack, Rand notes "A man, Demandred, or perhaps Asmodean come back at last. Maybe both; there had been an oddity, as if the weaving came from different directions." Rand thinks the "different directions" possibly came from two attackers. It isn't unreasonable to suppose that this is the case, since there are indeed multiple attackers, and, being men, they can't link together to form a single weave. So, let us suppose that the initial attack was launched by two men. The third one joined after the attack had begun. The most reasonable scenario is that Gedwyn and Rochaid Traveled from the BT to Cairhien and made the first attack on Rand's apartments. Dashiva was part of Rand's entourage, and Taim didn't like him, anyway, so there isn't any reason to suppose that Dashiva was at the BT and hooked up with Gedwyn and Rochaid there. More likely, he was in Cairhien like the rest of Rand's Asha'man (Morr, Flinn, and Narishma), and joined Gedwyn and Rochaid after the attack was in progress. The facts 1) that he's the only one of the three to take a direct shot at Rand, and 2) Taim was inordinately upset at the news of his desertion support the idea of Dashiva as "odd man out" among the three attackers. So, the general idea is that Dashiva joined in unexpectedly, and either didn't understand that the goal was not to kill Rand, or took advantage of the situation to launch his own attack on Rand. Summary [Bryon Wasserman] Taim had the fearsome foursome (Gedwyn, Rochaid, Torval, Kisman) attack Rand and Min for the purpose of causing a formal split within the Asha'man and/or killing Min. Dashiva latched on after the fact, not knowing that they were not supposed to kill Rand . You will notice that that Dashiva is the only one who attacks Rand directly. This answers the following concerns: 1. Why Taim knew about Torval, Gedwyn, Rochaid , and Kisman, but he did not know about Dashiva. He is specifically surprised and outraged when Rand mentions Dashiva's involvement. The fact that a fifth assassin was involved should not have been so shocking. This response suggests that he had a general idea what was going on and Dashiva was not part of the plan. 2. Why Gedwyn would try to talk Dashiva into leaving without seeing a body. 3. Why Taim's lackeys would all spontaneously revolt together. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 2.7: Absurd Trivia and Generalities _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of matters which don't really fit anywhere else. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.7.1: How does one sniff, anyway? What about snorting? [Erica Sadun, John Novak] _________________________________________________________________ Erica explains to us about sniffing: In Jordan's Wheel of Time universe, women sniff and men (and Siuan Sanche) snort. While a sniff, read "inhale", can express disdain, the outward snuff/hmph is more popular an expression. For correct sniffing posture, turn your head towards the left shoulder, but not quite. A sixty degree angle is ideal. The posture indicates that one is removing ones nose from an offensive area. A single sniff will suffice and may be augmented with a very modest synchronized shrugging motion. Follow up with a look at the offender and an optional lift of both eyebrows. These steps comprise the "sniff". The snuff or hmph is produced by a small vocalization at the back of the throat, enunciated through the nose and usually is modified by a slight raising of the chin. This is distinct from the "snort" which is a guttural, pig-like sound caused by inhalation through the nose. The mouth must be opened slightly to enable this effect unlike the sniff and the snuff. (Go ahead. Try it with your mouth closed). The [snort] when written, should occupy its own line, be followed by a blank line and then the text following it should be limited to sixty character lines. Novak gives us a manly perspective on snorting: [Sniffing] is distinct from the *snort* sound, characteristic of male derision. The *snort* is a sharp inhalation of air through the nose, so powerful that it causes the back of the throat to constrict and produce a rough, audible sound. It is not unlike the sound produced before prodigious expectoration. The mouth should not open during this gesture, but a one-sided sneer is a recommended option. The *snort* when written should occupy its own line, be followed by one line of whitespace, and followed by text formatted to sixty characters or less. (Really, if you open your mouth during a *snort* you just look stoopid.) XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.7.2: How tall is Everyone? _________________________________________________________________ Heights given in English feet: Info from a post-LOC book signing (reported by Erica Sadun) * Rand: 6'5" to 6'6" * Perrin: 6'2" * Mat: 5'11" * Aviendha: 5'8" to 5'9" * Elayne 5'6" * Nynaeve: 5'4" * Egwene: 5'2" * Moiraine: 5'0" to 5'2" Info from another post-LOC book signing (reported by Greg Gruber) * Rand: 6'6" * Moiraine: 5'3" * Egwene: 5'5" * Nynaeve: 5'5" * Aviendha: 5'10" XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.7.3: How old is Everyone? [Steven Cooper, Courtenay Footman, John Hamby, Sean Hillyard, Pam Korda, John Novak, Katrina Werpetinski] _________________________________________________________________ * Aram: "about" same age as Perrin [TEOTW: 25, The Traveling People, 311]. * Aviendha: almost twenty in [TPOD: 1, To Keep the Bargain, 50], which occurs early in 1000 NE, so she was born in 979-980 NE. * Berelain: at most a year older than Rand [TSR: 2, Whirlpools in the Pattern, 57] * Cadsuane: "Thought to have been born around 705 NE." [ACOS: Glossary, 671] * Elayne is eighteen in [LOC: 48, Leaning on the Knife, 602]. This is at the turning of the century, placing birthdate close to Egwene's in mid to late 981. * Egwene is two years younger than Rand [TEOTW: 3, The Peddler, 35], so she was born mid-981. She's also listed as eighteen in [ACOS: 8, The Figurehead, 157]. * Ewin Finngar: born 984 NE [TEOTW: 2, Strangers, 19] * Faile: Of an age with Ewin Finngar [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 35] * Galad was born prior to 972 NE [TEOTW: Glossary, 668] (probably a year at most since he is described as an infant when Tigraine left). * Gawyn: 22 or 23 in 999 NE [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 40], he is listed as being a few years past twenty. The earliest he could have been born is 975 NE which would make him 25--a little older than a 'few years.' * Isam: was a child when Malkier fell, so he is a few years older than Lan, say b. 945-950 NE. * Lan: b. 953 NE [LOC: Glossary, 709] * Logain: born 972 NE [ACOS: Glossary, 676] * Loial: born 908 NE [TEOTW: 36, Web of the Pattern, 461] * Mat is the same age as Rand, b.978 NE [TEOTW: 8, A Place of Safety, 94]. * Min: 'almost' Nynaeve's age [LOC: Prologue, The First Message, 28] * Moiraine: b. 956 NE [LOC: Glossary, 710] * Nynaeve is twenty-six at the end of 999 NE, so she was born 973 NE [LOC: 48, Leaning on the Knife, 602]. She looks to be a few years younger, due to slowing. * Perrin is the same age as Rand, b.978 NE [TEOTW: 8, A Place of Safety, 94]. * Rand was born in 978 NE [TGH: 8, The Dragon Reborn, 109]. * Siuan Sanche: She was raised Amyrlin at age 30 [LOC: 35, In the Hall of the Sitters, 471], in 988 NE [Guide: 24, The White Tower, 216]. Thus she was born in 958 NE. * Taim: looks at least 15 years older than Rand, so thus looks about 35 [LOC: 2, A New Arrival, 76]. Note that, due to slowing, he is probably older than that. (At a post-TPOD signing in New York [20 October, 1998, report by Ryan R.], RJ said that a man with the spark wouldn't slow until 25, usually closer to thirty. He claims that they could go past thirty, but that probably depends on how early they start and how much they channel. Thus, if Rand's assessment of Taim's apparent age is accurate, the only way Taim could be the age he looks is if he started channelling at an unusually late age, and didn't channel much for the first few years.) XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.7.4: Is there religion in Randland? [Erica Sadun] _________________________________________________________________ "By the Light and my hope of salvation and rebirth, I swear to serve you in whatever way you require for as long as you require, or may the Creator's face turn from me forever and darkness consume my soul." [TFoH: 1, Fanning The Sparks, 39] The answer is yes, but not much. It is pretty secular. It may be closer to many pagan religions or in some cases to Judaism rather than Christianity. However, like Christianity, there is a dualism between the Light (goodness) and the Creator (God) who are often spoken of separately and together. Like Judaism, burials are as simple as possible to encourage return to the earth [TGH: 10, The Hunt Begins, 151]. Like the religions of old merry England, the maypole is a fertility ritual [TEotW: 1, An Empty Road, 8-9]. Like Catholicism, children are taught catechism [TEotW: 1, An Empty Road, 12]. Wisdoms act as priestesses, in some respects. Like Judaism, marriage is a public announcement to the community [TSR: 53, The Price of Departure, 618]. This does not even begin to touch on the religious aspects of the Aes Sedai. They have novices (like nuns), they are considered to be 'servants of all', the rituals of acceptance and joining the sisterhood are rigid with many religious overtones. They are expected to serve the Light and the will of the Creator when they join the Aes Sedai. They are almost Buddhist in certain ways: in particular the view of the time serpent, the wheel of time and the age lace. The Children of Light are another quasi-religious organization, in this case a religious organization in turmoil with inappropriate goals and methods. Finally, we have the Tinkers, a religious cult more or less who follow the early Christian/Calvinist 'Way of the Leaf', a cross between pacifism and acceptance of fate [TEotW: 27, Shelter from the Storm, 346]. -- Erica OTOH, in Randland, the Creator is. The DO is. No one disbelieves in their existence; they are there. They are far more concrete and present in everyday life than our God(s) is/are in our lives. If you cross the Blight to Shayol Ghul, you will find a mountain with a hole in its side and evil leaking out. Thus, many of the rituals and other trappings of organized religion are unnecessary in Randland. Just because we don't see worship going on very often doesn't mean it's not being done. Scratch a Randlander, and you'll find a quite religious person 9 times out of 10, would be my guess. There just isn't quite the need to formalize it the way we do, except on occasions which, by their nature, are already formal... i.e. funerals, weddings, harvest, etc. Just my humble opinion. -Jocelyn Randlanders pray to the Creator for favors, such as relief from the drought. [LoC: Prologue, The First Message, 36] RJ's take on it, from a Compuserve chat, July 1996: This is a world where what might be called the proofs of religion are self-evident all the time. It seemed to me there was no necessity for the trappings of religion which by and large are to reinforce us in our faith.. and to convince others... if your beliefs are made concrete and manifest around you at any given timethere is not the need for that. XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.7.5: Iconography (What are them icons?) _________________________________________________________________ "I have come here to lick chapter icons and kick ass. And I'm all out of chapter icons." [Joe "Uno" Shaw] Serpent and Wheel: Aes Sedai, Wheel of Time, Ta'veren, the Pattern Ravens: Darkfriends, other minions of the DO Dragon's Fang: Darkfriends, other minions of the DO, or Rand, Male channellers Harp: Thom Merrilin Leafless tree at night: Traveling through woods? Heron-mark sword hilt: Rand Two leaves from the Tree of Life and Moiraine's staff: Moiraine (TEotW only) Flame of Tar Valon: Aes Sedai, Saidar Sunburst: Whitecloaks Leaves/A Leaf: Ogier, Loial, Waygates, Nynaeve, Wise Women, Tinkers Horned skull, trident and a paw: Trollocs Wolf: Wolfbrother, Perrin Lion Rampant: Andor, Elayne. Gnarled, Withered Tree: The Blight Ruby-Hilted Dagger: Shadar Logoth Dagger, Mat, Padan Fain. Horn: The Horn of Valere Portal Stone: Portal Stone Rising Sun: Cairhien Insect-Like, Horned Helmet: Seanchan Tree with lots of leaves: stedding, Ogier A'dam: damane, a'dams Female silhouettes (One Black, One White): Black Ajah, the hunt for them Dice (FIVE): Mat "(Note the five sixes..Yahtzee!!)" -- Joe Shaw Crescent moon and stars: Lanfear, Daughter of the Night. This one is really note worthy. This icon appears when we meet the peddlers (aka Lanfear and Asmodean) in the waste. Had I realized it was Lanfear's icon, I would have realized then that one of them was Lanfear disguised. Also the same when she appears to the girls as Else. -- Judy G. Dream Ring: Tel'aran'rhiod Waves: A journey over water Dragon: Rand 8-pointed star and birds: Sea folk Two spears & a shield: Aiel Bull: Gareth Byrne Elephant: Valen Luca's traveling menagerie Full Aes Sedai symbol of old: Rand, the Dragon Reborn--"under this sign will he conquer" Snakey square: Forsaken XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.7.6: Mis-steps (Errors along the way) _________________________________________________________________ NB: Typographical errors are, in general, not listed. There are too many of them, and they are often corrected in later editions. The Eye of the World In TEOTW, Thom teaches Mat and Rand to juggle. By the time they reach Caemlyn Mat can perform "six ball circles", which I interpreted as a six-ball shower. No way. You could probably count the number of people in the world today who can shower six balls to a performance standard on the fingers of one hand. Assuming there are any. I've only twice seen a five ball shower done well. It's certainly not something somebody could learn in a few weeks. [David Mortman, others] Q: What about those Warders in Caemlyn around Logain in TEOTW? [TEOTW: 42, Remembrance of Dreams, 535] Didn't Moiraine say that they were all Red sisters? Reds don't have Warders! RJ's answer, as reported by Tony Z: Moiraine never mentioned the sisters escorting Logain (not all of whom were Red). The ones with Logain weren't in Caemlyn at the time (evidently they stayed with the army, which stayed outside the city). Moiraine was referring to those that were in Caemlyn. The Great Hunt Ba'alzamon's goals: [TGH: 47, The Grave Is No Bar To My Call, 563] "But this time I will destroy you to your very soul, destroy you utterly and forever." Maybe he forgot [TGH: 41, Disagreements, 497] "Fool! You will destroy yourself!" where he stopped Rand from burning himself out. Ba'alzamon is either forgetful, confused, or trying to appear so. [Morgan Donald Scott] Why does Moiraine wear her great serpent ring on her left hand in [TEOTW: 2, Strangers, 22-3] and [TDR: 3, News from the Plain, 26] and on her right hand in [TGH: 4, 46, Summoned, 39]? I can think of four possible reasons: 1. a cunning plan by Jordan to make us believe sweet, innocent Moiraine was at the Darkfriend social. 2. Moiraine has an evil, identical twin sister who wears her ring on the other hand. 3. It's Moiraine's ring and she can wear it on whatever hand she damn well pleases. 4. none of the above. [Damien Cole] When Rand returns Thom's harp and flute to the gleeman in Cairhien, Thom grumbles: "You could at least have kept it (the harp) in tune" [TGH: 26, Discord, 323]. For travel, harps (and many other stringed instruments) are ALWAYS detuned -- the tension on the strings is reduced to prevent string wear and possible snapping. [Erica Sadun] {NB: In later printings, this has been corrected, with Thom saying, "At least you were't fool enough to try keeping it tuned."} The Dragon Reborn In [TDR: 6, The Hunt Begins, 63], the beginning at-camp scene, Perrin tells Min that he loves her like a sister--and that he has no sisters of his own. In [TSR: 29, Homecoming, 333], his two sisters and his brother are killed. [Erica Sadun] {NB: this has reportedly been corrected in later printings of TDR} In [TDR: 41, A Hunter's Oath, 388] Perrin is remembering a confrontation between Moiraine and Zarine. "Once she learned the girl thought they would lead her to the Horn of Valere, ...then her cold blue stare had taken on a quality that made him feel he had been packed ..." Which left me wondering whose cold blue stare? Both Moir. and Zarine have dark eyes.[Aline Thompson] The quote continues "The Aes Sedai said nothing, but she stared too often and too hard for any comfort.", implying that it refers to Moiraine. [Joe Shaw] [TEOTW: 2, Strangers, 22], [TGH: 4, Summoned, 38], [TDR: 6, The Hunt Begins, 55], [TSR: 3, Reflection, 71] and [TFoH: 2, Rhuidean, 68] all describe Moiraine as having "dark eyes", and [TDR: 33, Within the Weave, 319], [TDR: 35, The Falcon, 333], and [TSR: 2, Whirlpools in the Pattern, 40] describe Faile as having "dark, tilted eyes". Metallurgy Mistake, from John Palmer and Don Harlow: Maybe others have noted this metallurgy mistake, as a engineer this bugged me. In the Dragon Reborn, when Perrin takes a day at the Smithy, he notes the three quenching media: "As soon as he had made the hot-cut, he tossed the glowing metal into the salted quenching barrel. Unsalted gave a harder quench, for the hardest metal, while the oil gave the softest, for good knives." [TDR: 50, The Hammer, 506] Wrong. In order of resultant hardness, it goes Oil, Water, Salt Water, with Salt water yielding the hardest blade because of best heat transfer and higher boiling point than plain water. Oil is softer because of slower heat transfer but is commonly used for cutlery because it causes less thermal stresses and a tougher blade. (won't break from shock) Salt water quench is definitely a harder quench than fresh water. It's due to the higher boiling point of salt water precluding the formation of an insulating vapor layer over the steel which slows heat transfer from the steel to the water. Hey, what's the scoop with Shadowman steel? First, Thom Merrilin runs into a Fade and it left him "a little present of a stiff leg." Then after the fight where the Aiel come to the rescue of the girls: [TDR: 39, Threads in the Pattern, 382] "Shadowman steel kills," Aviendha said, "it does not wound." Finally, Rand's thought while fighting a Fade: [TSR: 10, The Stone Stands, 132] "That black metal could make wounds that festered, almost as hard to heal as the one that ached in his side now." Is there something that I'm missing, like it just kills Aiel, or does this qualify as a Jordan mis-step? [Dash Wendrzyk] {NB: the obvious explanation is that the Fade did not stick Thom with its sword; the Fade just smacked him one, instead.--Pam} The Shadow Rising [TSR: 47, The Truth of a Viewing, 531]: During the Tower Coup, Siuan's Warder gets killed. She doesn't notice until she sees his dead body. [Michael Hanneman] This cannot be because she was shielded, because in LOC, Cabriana and her warder are being tortured by Semirhage in different rooms. Cabriana is shielded, but she still feels it when her warder dies. [Lars Kremers] Courtenay Footman tells us more about the Siuan's Warder incident: This has been the subject of extensive discussion here. The consensus has come down to three possibilities: 1) Jordan screwed up. 2) Being shielded interferes with the bond. IMHO, this last is refuted because Jordan gives a different explanation: 3) Siuan was distracted by other things going on at that moment: [LoC, 30, To Heal Again, 427], Siuan thinks "Alric, her Warder. Her dead Warder, murdered when Elaida deposed her. She could lie--the Three Oaths were still gone--but some part of her bond to Alric, a bond flesh to flesh and mind to mind, had been resurrected. The pain of his death, the pain first masked by the shock of what Elaida intended and then buried by stilling, that pain filled her to the brim."It seems to me that there is no choice but to accept this statement. Whether one believes that Jordan meant this all the time, or that this is just an after-the-fact rationalization of a mistake, seems to me to be a matter of personal opinion. The Fires of Heaven Something very strange happened between 10 and 20 years ago. In [TGH: 4, Summoned, 49] the Amyrlin says to Moiraine "I am the fifth in a row raised to the Amyrlin Seat from the Blue." Two pages earlier, we learn that Siuan Sanche has been Amyrlin for ten years. In [TFoH: 15, What Can Be Learned in Dreams, 214], Moiraine says to Egwene: "In a few months it will be twenty-one years since we began the search for the Dragon Reborn. Sieren Vayu was raised to Amyrlin shortly after, a Gray with more than a touch of Red in her." [C. Footman] This has been admitted by RJ as an error. The correct sequence is: "The correct sequence is: Kirin Nelway (Brown) 922-950 NE; Noane Mosadim (Blue) 950-973 NE; Tamra Ospenya (Blue), 973-979 NE; Sierin Vayu (Gray), 979-984 NE; Marith Jaen (Blue), 984-988 NE; Siuan Sanche (blue), raised 988 NE. The correction is being made in the body of TGH and in the glossary." [Carolyn F., I think] The quick succession of Amyrlins prior to SS is discussed in further detail in ACOS. In [TFoH: 36, A New Name, 409], Birgitte tells Elayne "You saved my life, Daughter-Heir of Andor. I will keep your secret and serve you as Warder." But later in [TFOH: 47, The Price of a Ship, 550] Birgitte verbally scolds Elayne for telling Cerandin she was heir to a throne, and doesn't believe it until Nynaeve makes an offhand comment in [TFOH: 49, To Boannda, 570]. Rand balefires Rahvin, erasing his actions, etc. However, none of Rand's injuries, all sustained at the hands of Rahvin, disappear--they were instead Healed by Nynaeve afterwards. [TFOH: 55, The Threads Burn, 672-3] [Sean Hillyard] (This is arguably an effect of either Tel'aran'rhiod or balefire.) Lord of Chaos In previous glossaries, it says that the AS cannot sense in what direction her Warder is. In LOC, Alanna does just that. What gives? Edward Liu says that, at a signing, RJ said that the ability is not exact, but something like they can only sense distance (and I guess) direction in that the feeling of the other person becomes stronger or weaker. Tony Z. said RJ said the Glossaries are in error, and that there are references in other books to AS sensing the direction of their Warders. (Anybody find such a thing? I can't think of one). Joe thinks RJ changed his mind, to put it charitably. In [TFOH, 52, Choices, 624] when Moiraine hands Rand two letters, just before the Big Scene at the docks, their (the letters') seals are described as having the imprint of Moiraine's Great Serpent Ring. Later on, in [LOC: 40, Unexpected Laughter, 516], when Thom receives his letter from Moiraine, the seal is now some sort of wide-spreading tree topped with a crown. [A.M. Gabutero] In the LOC Glossary, under linking, it says that in mixed circles less than 13, a man must control the flow, and that there must be more women than men in circles greater than two [TFOH: 34, A Silver Arrow, 390]. However, In TFOH Nynaeve overhears Lanfear, Graendal, Sammael, and Rahvin discussing their plan against Rand. In particular Sammael is to tempt Rand into attacking and the other three would link to overwhelm him. [Emma Pease] At a signing, RJ said that the LOC glossary entry is wrong. It is certainly different in the ACOS entry: 43 vs 34, and the numbers where men can equal or exceed women are changed. Still doesn't explain the TFOH gaffe. [John Novak] A Crown of Swords We encounter more closely two of Liandrin's 13 in this book: Falion Bhoda and Ispan Shefar and learn Falion was white and Ispan blue. We also have a mention that Rianna was also white (which had been mentioned in earlier books). However, Joiya Byir was also white which means we now have three former whites among Liandrin's 13, yet we are told that two and only two of each Ajah except red went with Liandrin. What gives? First could it be a simple typo? I don't think so as both Falion and Joiya acted as I would expect whites and because Rianna is mentioned several times as being white. Second, could it be a Jordan error? Possible, but I would think it a fairly major blunder as I would hope he would have who is who in Liandrin's group clearly marked from the beginning. Third could it be deliberate? If so, this means either Verin is mistaken about who was from which Ajah and I can't see Verin making this mistake, or she deliberately gave the girls misinformation. [Emma Pease] {NB: In later printings of TSR Joiya is transformed from a "cold White" to a "characteristic cool Grey". No doubt RJ wanted her as a White personality, but when it came out in the FAQ he had three, he went "Oh shit. Now which one did I kill off already so I can change her to something else?" At any rate, the suspicions connecting this with Verin ought to be erased, since it's been retroactively corrected. [Michelle Haines]} Timing problem: There is an inconsistency in ACOS regarding Colavaere's coronation. In [ACOS: 4, Into Cairhien, 117], Dobraine says, "The ninth sunset after her coronation already. She wasted no time." However, in [ACOS: 5, A Broken Crown, 125], Colavaere says, "Nine days ago at sunrise I was crowned Queen of Cairhien." This is a contradiction because the first statement includes the current day as one of the nine, while the second doesn't. [Steven Cooper] In [ACOS: 13, The Bowl of the Winds, 263], Aviendha introduces herself as "Aviendha of the Nine Valleys sept of the Taardad Aiel." She's previously been from the Bitter Water sept, from when we first meet her [TDR: 38, Maidens of the Spear, 361] onwards. Now here's the interesting bit. The Maiden that Nynaeve heals in [TDR, 38, Maidens of the Spear, 368] (Dailin) is first referred to as being from Aviendha's sept and clan; i.e., the Bitter Water Taardad. Later, she's referred to as being from the Nine Valleys sept. So what gives? Two errors that are fortuitously similar, or a particularly odd attempt at retconning an old error? [Andrea Leistra] {NB: This error has reportedly been corrected in later printings to give Aviendha's sept consistantly as the Nine Valleys Sept.} The Path of Daggers The chronology of the Seanchan attack on Ebou Dar is inconsistent between ACOS and TPOD. In ACOS, the finding of the Bowl, the Seanchan invasion, and the wall falling on Mat take place on the day after the Festival of Birds. In TPOD, chapters 1-6 are described as taking place two days after the Festival. Since these events must clearly all take place on the same day, one of the books is wrong. From other evidence, it's clear that TPOD is the one that's in error. [Steven Cooper] XXXXXXXXXXXX 2.7.7: When Rand and Mat are travelling to Caemlyn in TEOTW, why does the scene with the scarves happen twice? [Steven Cooper] _________________________________________________________________ In TEOTW, after Mat and Rand split off from Thom in Whitebridge, they travel to Caemlyn alone. During that journey, there are two scenes which are exactly the same, even with almost the same wording. These to passages are [TEOTW: 31, Play for Your Supper, 382] and [TEOTW: 33, The Dark Waits, 416]. In both descriptions, the farmer asks Rand and Mat who they are running from. Then he says something about wanting to help them, but he can't because he might get in trouble for helping strangers. He feels bad, and offers them two woolen scarves, which he pulls from his pocket. He explains that he knows it isn't much, but they are his sons' scarves, and that's all he feels he can give them safely. He wishes them luck. Is this an error? What's going on here? It's a flashback scene, although not a particularly well-executed one, judging from the amount of confusion it's generated. The confusion comes partly from the fact that Jordan doesn't do anything special to mark the flashback as such (e.g. using an italic font, like Mat's flashback of Mili Skane in COS) -- subtle changes of verb tense are the only clues. Also, that whole sequence from chapter 31 to chapter 34 contains not only a long flashback, but another flashback nested inside the first one. Hopefully, the following table will clarify what's going on. I've arranged the events of these chapters into their proper, chronological order. In the left-hand column are indications of the days passing. Sometimes it's not possible to say exactly how many days Rand and Mat spend in travelling from place to place, hence the use of A0, B0, C0 etc. to mark different sections of the timeline. The numbers in the second column represent the order in which Jordan presents the events in the text. Chapter 31 begins with Rand and Mat travelling down the Caemlyn Road on day D3, before flashing back to the start of the journey from Whitebridge. So, scroll down to event number 1 near the bottom of the table, and just follow the numbers. A0 6. (457) "For a long time after leaving Whitebridge, Rand would suddenly find himself staring back down the road behind them... Hope faded as the days passed." 7. (457) "The first village after Whitebridge looked so much like Emond's Field..." 8. (458) "Night fell before they found a spot by moonlight..." 9. (459) "That was not the only night they spent with just their cloaks to protect them... not the only meal they made from nothing but cold water." . [An unknown amount of time elapses here, but the quote from p.462 . given below tells us there must be at least three days between A0 . and B0.] . . 10. [One afternoon, Rand argues with Mat over selling the dagger.] . . 11. (460) "Farms did provide some meals and a few nights out of the . cold." . . 12. (460) "Sometimes Mat tried his hand at stealing eggs, and once he . attempted to milk a cow left unattended..." B0 13. [Rand and Mat do some more farm work, but the farmer changes his mind about letting them stay the night, and they are sent on their way with some food.] 14. (462) "Three days earlier, while they were still working, they'd had the dogs set on them." . . [More days of travelling.] . C0 15. [They arrive at Grinwell's farm. After supper, Rand plays the flute and Mat juggles. They stay the night.] 16. (463) "...whenever a farmer allowed them to stay, he always played one tune on the flute after supper." C1 17. [They arrive at Arien at dusk, where they play at the inn.] C2 18. [They get a ride from Arien in Eazil Forney's cart.] . 19. (466) "That became the way of their travelling..." . . [More travelling. At least two days, probably three, between C2 . and D0.] D0 20. (466) "Rand began to think their problems were over till they reached Caemlyn. But then they came to Four Kings." 21. CHAPTER 32 (FOUR KINGS IN SHADOW) STARTS HERE. [They arrive at Four Kings in the evening. A storm begins. They play at The Dancing Cartman. They notice a rich-looking man watching them (Howal Gode, a Whitebridge merchant). After the customers leave, they are approached by Gode, a Darkfriend. Lightning strikes the inn, killing Gode. They escape into the night, with Mat temporarily blinded.] ** CHAPTER 33 begins with Rand and Mat travelling down the Caemlyn ** Road in Hyam Kinch's cart on day D3 (see event 22 below), before ** flashing back to the aftermath of the events at Four Kings.] 24. [They shelter under bushes from the storm. Rand dreams - encounters the dead Gode and Ba'alzamon in the Four Kings of _Tel'aran'rhiod_. Ba'alzamon tells Rand the Eye of the World will never serve him.] D1 25. [The rain stops. They avoid a village around mid-day. Afterwards, Alpert Mull gives them a ride, and two scarves. They reach Market Sheran at dusk, and stay at Rulan Allwine's inn.] D2 26. [At breakfast, they encounter Paitr, a young Darkfriend. At evening, they arrive at another small village. At the inn (The Queen's Man) Rand falls ill [reaction to channelling two days ago], so they stay in the stable.] D3 27. [At dawn, a female Darkfriend [Mili Skane] tries to kill them. They escape, and Hyam Kinch gives them a ride.] ** CHAPTER 33 ends here. CHAPTER 34 starts after Rand and Mat have ** already left Kinch and are passing through Carysford. 22. CHAPTER 33 (THE DARK WAITS) STARTS HERE. [Rand and Mat are travelling along the Caemlyn Road in Hyam Kinch's cart. Mat's eyes are much better, Rand is recovering quickly from being sick. They leave the cart at the turn-off to Kinch's farm. The next village is Carysford.] 23. (491) "The rain had continued through the night they had staggered away from The Dancing Cartman..." [At this point, the flashback to day D0 starts.] 1. CHAPTER 31 (PLAY FOR YOUR SUPPER) STARTS HERE. [Rand and Mat are on the Caemlyn Road. They see a dust trail and hide through a hole in the hedge from a group of merchants' guards.] 2. (455) "A farmer had given [the scarf] to him..." [remembering the events of two days before -- see event no. 25 above.] 3. (456) "The list of kindnesses he had made in his mind in the days since Whitebridge had been a short one..." 4. (456) "Once already, cutting a hole through a hedge had almost given them away." 5. (457) "It had not begun like this, their journey down the Caemlyn Road." [At this point, the flashback to day A0 begins]. 28. CHAPTER 34 (THE LAST VILLAGE) STARTS HERE. [They pass through Carysford after dark, and sleep in a haystack.] D4 29. [They join the line of travellers on the Caemlyn Road. They walk through several villages. At evening, they see a Fade talking to Raimun Holdwin (innkeeper) outside the Goose and Crown, and Almen Bunt gives them a ride through the night to Caemlyn.] As you can see, chapters 33, 31 and 34 (in that order!) all start on the same day, and both 31 and 33 end chronologically before they begin. I always have to smile when I read Jordan's smartass comment at the start of chapter 34: "[Rand] wondered if his whole sense of time was getting skewed." [TEOTW: 34, The Last Village, 431] Whatever Rand is feeling, the reader's sense of time should definitely be tied into a knot by this point. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 3: Trivial Pursuits: References, Sources, Allusions and Parallels _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of legends and myths which RJ may have used as source material and works which share similarities with TWOT. "There are elements from Norse, Chinese, Japanese, and American Indian mythologies, to name just a few. I think it adds resonance to the story, although I've taken great care not to follow the older material in any slavish way. Occasionally, I will add in details here or there, and then discover that I have done something that is absolutely authentic to the myth I was working from." [Waldenbooks' 'zine Hailing Frequencies] XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.1: King Arthur and the Holy Grail _________________________________________________________________ Arthurian Names: * Moiraine: Morgaine/Morgan Le Fay * Morgase: Morgause * Tigraine: Ygrainne, King Arthur's mother, seduced by Uther Pendragon with Merlin's aid. * Egwene al'Vere: Guenever * Artur Paendrag: Arthur Pendragon * Callandor: Sword in stone * Galad: Galahad the Pure * Gawyn: Gawain * Green Man: Green Knight or Green Man * Sa'angreal: San Greal (Holy Grail) * Nynaeve: Nyneve/Vivian: who was Merlin's lover and cause of his imprisonment in the enchanted cave in Cornwall. * Perrin: Perceval? * Merrilin: Merlin * Lan: Launcelot? * Damodred/Demandred: Mordred? Mordred was Arthur's bastard son by his aunt Morgawse, and his slayer. * Elayne: Elayne/Elaine: The first Elayne is sister to Queens Morgawse and Ygrainne (King Arthur's mother). Another version of Arthurian legends (not Malory) asserts that she is one of the three women in Arthur's funeral boat to Avalon... The second Elaine is Sir Galahad's mother, by Sir Launcelot. * Luthair Paendrag: Uther Pendragon (Now Artur's son, instead of his Father) * Tar Valon: Avalon * Caemlyn: Camlaan (where Arthur fought his final battle against Mordred) or Camelot. * Elyas, Aram, Demandred, Bors: All the same as or similar to names of Arthurian knights. Min's vision of Rand's funeral bier: In the Arthurian legend (or at least the version I've read) Arthur is severely wounded and on his deathbed. Bedivere witnesses his being taken away on a funeral boat and ferried to Avalon to await the time when he is needed again. The only others on the ship are three women: 1) Arthur's half-sister Morgan Le Fay (the sorceress) 2) The Queen of North Galys 3) The Queen of the Waste Land. It is doubtful that RJ means for Rand's women to mirror Arthur exactly. It is probable that the women will be Elayne, Min, and Aviendha. Add to this the visions in LOC involving 3 women and (probably) Rand on a boat. The Green Man: Both in the Arthurian version, where Sir Gawain encounters the Green Man, and the much earlier Irish myths where Cuchulain encounters a nameless entity that by the description is obviously the Green Man, the story follows the same pattern: hero makes deal with Green Man to show how brave he is, hero cuts Green Man's head off, Green Man reappears three nights later to finish the deal by cutting hero's head off, hero goes honourably to his destiny, Green Man stays his hand at the last conceivable instant and compliments hero on bravery. [Emmet O'Brien] The Fisher King: a king in the legend of Perceval who had an unhealable wound corresponding to the woes of his land. cf Rand's side wound which is not Healable, the COS Header Prophecy, and the "Fisher" figure in Moridin's favorite game. For a more thorough discussion of the Fisher King, see section 3.08. XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.2: Trolloc Tribe Names _________________________________________________________________ The Trolloc tribes seem to have been named after various mythological creatures: * Ahf'frait = Afrit * Al'ghol = Ghoul * Bhan'sheen = Banshee * Dha'vol = Devil * Dhai'mon = Demon * Dhjin'nen = Djin * Ghar'gael = Gargoyle * Ghob'hlin = Goblin * Ghraem'lan = Gremlin * Ko'bal = Kobold * Kno'mon = Gnome XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.3: Is Randland a future Earth? [Erica Sadun, Pamela Korda] _________________________________________________________________ The characters in the books are the source of many of our myths and legends and we are the source of many of theirs. You can look two ways along a wheel. [RJ, America Online chat, 28 June, 1996] Time is a wheel. If you look in one direction, you are looking at the past. If you just turn around and look in the other direction, you are looking at the future. The books are set in our future and in our past, depending on which way you look... [RJ, America Online conference, 20 October, 1994] Here are some possible references to our world: [TEotW: 4, The Gleeman, 43]: * John Glenn: "Tell us about Lenn," Egwene called. "How he flew to the moon in the belly of an eagle made of fire. Tell about his daughter Salya walking among the stars." (Eagle has landed.../Lenn may be a merger of LEM (lunar module) and Glenn) * Salya: Sally Ride? * Moscow, ICBMs: Mosk the Giant, with his Lance of Fire that could reach around the world. * America: Merk the other giant. * Queen Elizabeth: Alsbet, queen of all. (Remains of British Empire/Commonwealth?) * Mother Theresa: Materese the Healer, Mother of the Wondrous Ind * Anne Landers: Anla, the wise counselor? [TEotW: 24, Flight Down the Arinelle, 300]: Bayle Domon mentions a "mountain hollowed into a bowl, and in its center, a silver spike a hundred spans high, and any who comes within a mile of it, dies." This could possibly be a big radio telescope, or maybe the Age of Legends equivalent. [TGH: 47, The Grave Is No Bar to My Call, 559]: "Michael instead of Mikel. Patrick instead of Paedrig. Oscar instead of Otarin." St. Michael and St. Patrick? I don't know of a St. Oscar. [TGH: 49, What Was Meant To Be, 574]: Loial is reading 'To Sail Beyond the Sunset'-- reference to Tennyson's poem "Ulysses" [TSR: 11, What Lies Hidden, 146-7] In Tanchico Museum at the Panarch's Palace: * Stylized Three-Pointed Triangle (reeking of greed and pride)-- Mercedes Benz logo * Skeletons of Giraffe and Elephant [TSR: 24, Rhuidean, 277]: Gautama Buddha-- Ghoetam under the tree of life XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.4: Christian and Biblical Parallels _________________________________________________________________ Twelve Tribes: (Compare) the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve clans of the Aiel. In fact, there is a thirteenth "clan," the Jenn. This "clan" is credited with building Rhuidean -- the holy place (temple if you will) of the Aiel. The Israelites also had a people charged with taking care of the Ark of the Covenant as well as the religious ceremonies within the temple (especially within the Holy of Holies) and those people were the Levites. A tribe not counted among the twelve, so in effect a thirteenth tribe also. Craig Levin points out that the Levites are counted in the 12 Tribes. It's just that Joseph's descendants split into 2 tribes later on, and the Levites don't get land, it is their job (theoretically) to care for the Lord's Temple and other altars across Israel. Which is even better, since there was the Jenn/Aiel split, and the Jenn's job was to take care of Rhuidean/the temple. Rebirth/Reborn notion of the Savior: (Although this savior is going to do major damage before defeating the DO.) The blood of the lamb versus Rand's blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul. Wound in the side a la the Cross. Sea Folk saying Aes Sedai would wash Dragon's feet with their hair Masema = Saul/Paul: Goes from being Anti-Rand to rabidly pro-Rand. Also, Masema = John the Baptist--the "voice crying out in the wilderness" proclaiming the coming of the savior and all that. Seven Seals = Seven Seals (Revelations) Virgin Birth: In LOC, some of the rumors about Rand say that he was born of a woman touched by no man [LoC: 2, A New Arrival, 78]. Stigmata: Rand's unhealing wound in the side is a clear reference to the Fisher King. However, the Fisher King's wound is often identified with that which Jesus Christ received while he was being crucified (See Section 3.08), so Rand's wound can also be considered a reference to Jesus. This identification is made stronger when one considers that Rand is also marked by wounds on his hands (albeit healed wounds). Rand's feet have not been wounded so far, but there are still many books to go. Rituals and Phrases * ' "Peace be on you always," Elyas replied, "and on all the People." He hesitated, then added, "I will find the song, or another will find the song, but the song will be sung, this year or in a year to come. As it once was so shall it be again, world without end."..."Peace be on you," Elyas said. "And on you," Raen said sadly.' [TEOTW: 27, Shelter from the Storm, 346] The former reminds me of the Catholic (maybe Christian in general - I'm not sure) prayer called the Glory Be. It goes: "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." The latter quotes are reminiscent of the closing of a Catholic Mass,where the priest pronounces "Peace be with you" and the people respond "And also with you." [J. Vessey] * At Easter mass this past spring, I saw an adult baptized for the first time in the Catholic faith. They get the person to kneel, pour water over their head, and say something like "Now you are sealed". I don't recall the exact words, but "sealed" was in it for sure and I recall thinking Jordan must be Catholic. Sounds a lot like becoming Accepted to me. [Judy G.] Biblical quotes * In [TGH: 26, Discord, 326] we have the prophecy: "Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed. Once for mourning, once for birth." This is very similar to the darkening of the sun when Christ is crucified: from [Bible: Luke 23, verse 44-5]: "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst." [Pam Korda] * "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers.... a man's worst enemies will be the members of his own family." [Bible: Matthew 10:34-36]. cf: TFOH tailer prophecy: "And what was once did come again--in fire and in storm splitting all in twain. For his peace...was the peace...of the sword. [Zach Simpson] XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.5: Random Names _________________________________________________________________ Aginor: "Recently, a friend of mine had to read the Iliad. In book 21, a character named Agenor attacks Achilles, and is defeated. Not much is said about him (Agenor) other than that he is "blameless and powerful", and knew that Hektor was stronger than he was. He attacked anyway, figuring that while Hektor was much more combat-capable, Agenor had the gods on his side, not to mention the fact that even the powerful make mistakes. In a few minutes, Hektor defeats Agenor, and Apollo surrounds the loser "in a thick mist", and transports him back to Troy. Some interesting parallels between this and TEOTW's final battle: Both Aginors knew that his opponent was more powerful. Both were full of pride. Both attacked anyway." [Mike O'Malley] Asmodean: A demon described in the Old Testament book of Tobit, which is included only in the Catholic canon of scriptures (you won't find it in Jewish or Protestant Bibles; it's considered apocrypha in those circles). In the book of Tobit, Sara had been married seven times, but Asmodeus had slain all of them before they could consummate their marriage (Tobit 3:7-8). Sara eventually married Tobias, the son of Tobit, who was able to banish Asmodeus by burning the heart and liver of a special fish given to him by the angel Raphael in their bedchamber (Tobit 6:16-17, 8:2-3). Asmodeus fled to Egypt, where Raphael caught up with him and bound him up. [Rafael Sevilla] Ba'alzamon: Ba'al, Baelzebub, or Ba'al Shamin (literally, "the lord of the heavens," an appellation of Ba'al.) Baelzebub, Lord of the Flies, was an ancient Caananite fertility deity that competed with worship of Yahweh in Old Testament times. Later became a euphemism for the devil from the time of Christ on (see Matthew 10:24, 12:24-27, Mark 3:22, and Luke 11:15-18) from its similarity to Aramaic beeldebaba = enemy, and from the fact that many ancient pagan gods were demonized in Christian times anyway. [Rafeal Sevilla] Be'lal: Belial, literally means "worthless" in Hebrew, "sons of Belial" is used throughout the Bible to denote evil men. Eventually becomes the name of a demon in Medieval times. [Rafael Sevilla] Belial was often noted as commanding legions. Be'lal was one of the noted generals of the Shadow. [John Novak] Bel Tine: Beltane, a Druidic holiday Birgitte: Brigit/Brigid, Celtic goddess of fire, poetry, smithery, and/or healing. Cyndane: Cynthia(?), another name for Artemis, the Greek Moon Goddess, who also was identifed with Selena. [Rich Boye] Graendal: Grendal from Beowulf Illian: Ilion, aka Troy, as in the Iliad Ishamael: Ishmael: In Genesis, Abraham's eldest son (to an Egyptian serving girl Hagar) was called Ishmael. Apparently Abraham's wife took a disliking to young Ishmael and pressured Big Abe into exiling Ish and Hagar into the desert. The name literally means "God has Heard," because God is said to have heard of mother and son's plight at Sarah's hand. Jordan seems to have a taste for irony, methinks, as Ishamael is called the Betrayer of Hope! The whole quote about "every hand raised against him" is interesting, and in full: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility towards all of his brothers." [Bible: Genesis 16:11-12] As a side note, Ishmael is said to be the ancestor of the present-day Arabs and other peoples who now dwell in the lands around Israel. Jehennah: Gehennah, a place of fire and torment. Lanfear: French "l'enfer," the word for Hell. Lews Therin/Lord of the Morning: Lucifer--the morning star Lothair Mantelar (Founder of Children of Light): Martin Luther? Masema: I actually came across a reference to a demon named Mastema, which seems to have been an apcryphal name for Satan-- Satan in the sense of Chief Accuser, rather than corruptor. [John Novak] Mayene: Mayenne (1573, D F): for Charles de Lorraine-Guise, FP. Passed to Gonzaga 1621. Sold 1658 to La Porte-Mazarin. The title of duke remained by special clause in the letters patent, and became extinct in 1738. Essentially, Mayenne was a small, royal land-grant from the French Crown, that was near the Riviera. [Richard Boye'] Mesaana: Possibly from Messalina, the notorious third wife of Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, Emperor of Rome M'Hael: a possible reference to Michael the Archangel who was Lucifer's chief opponent. (Technically, this shouldn't be in the "Names" section, but I put it here to provide easy comparison with the Lews/Lucifer idea. Paaren Disen: Paradise Perun: Pre-Christian Slavonic (Balkan) god of thunder. His sacred animal was the bull. A war god, Perun's weapons were the axe, the hammer, or "thunder arrows," all which symbolize thunder and lightning. [Rich Boye]. Fred Van Keuls adds: "He was a god of defensive warfare and was depicted with a big blonde beard. Jean Dufresne adds: "Those are his attributes as they had already drifted away from his original role, following the norse influence on the slavic peoples. Originally, he also had a strong agricultural component mixed with the rest. Which makes him even closer to Perrin than Thor is. Rahvin: the raven--harbinger of evil. Or, Ravana/Ravan, a demon in Hindu mythology who abducts Sita, Rama's wife, in the Ramayana. (cf Morgase and Sita: Both Queens, both fall under the power of a demon/forsaken, in both cases there are doubts by other characters about whether they were willing or no) [Emma Pease]. "Rhiannon at the Tower": Rhiannon from Welsh mythology. The closest connection between her and a tower that I could find is the following from the story of Manawyddan: Manawyddan, his wife Rhiannon, her son Pryderi, and his wife Kicva were out hunting. They came upon a mysterious castle. Their hounds ran into the castle, and didn't come out. Pryderi went in after them, and saw a large gold bowl. He touched the bowl, and became frozen. After a while, Rhiannon went in to look for him, got similarly stuck, and then the castle disappeared. (They finally got released.) Sammael: Either a member of Lucifer's host, or another name for Lucifer himself (depending on one's source). Selene: Selena, a Greek goddess of the moon, (Hence the icon) merged in Artemis and Hecate. She loved a youth named Endymion, and put him into a deep sleep so that he would not be conscious of her caresses. Semirhage: Legendary Assyrian queen mentioned by Herodotus, wife and successor to Ninus, mythical founder of Nineveh. Noted for being so excessively lustful and depraved she even legalized incest within her realm. Dante Alighieri puts her in the Second Circle of Hell with those who committed the sin of lust. Shai...: (well you KNOW who this is) : Satan [Will Baird notes: Shai... is the Arabic name for Satan literally.] Shayol Ghul: Sheol: Hebrew for hell; Ghul: Gol or Gul, Arabic for Demon Tarmon Gai'don: Armageddon Telamon: another character in the Iliad who we might recognize is Aias, (Roman: Ajax) one of the most powerful and respected warriors of the Greek army. Because there was another, unrelated warrior with the same name, Aias was also known by his father's name, Telamon. [Peter Smalley] Tuatha'an: Tuatha De Danann, "People of the Goddess Danu." A magical race of beings who were supposed to have inhabited Ireland at the time of the arrival of the Milesians (i.e. humans). Wild Hunt:Wild Hunt, of Celtic legend Heroes of the Horn, from [ACOS: 21, Swovan Night, 362]: * Mikel of the Pure Heart: Archangel Michael? * Shivan the Hunter, Calian: He was said to herald the end of Ages, the destruction of what had been and the birth of what was to be, he and his sister Calian, called the Chooser, who rode red-masked at his side.": two Hindu deities: Shiva the Destroyer and Kali, goddess of death. * Amaresu, with the Sword of the Sun: Amaterasu, ancient Japanese goddess of the sun, from whom the Japanese royal family claims descent. XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.6: Dragon Legends [Randy Cerveny] _________________________________________________________________ Taken from Man, Myth and Magic (volume 5, pages 693-4): "The most striking of these is that the dragon in China is not, as in the West, a representative or symbol of the powers of evil. On the contrary, according to the old Chinese Book of Rites, the dragon as the chief of all scaly animals is one of the four benevolent spiritual animals. This reflects the general principle stated by Jung that 'every psychological extreme secretly contains its own opposite,' which is expressed in Chinese thought through the classical doctrine of Yang and Yin. That this principle underlies the dragon's transformation into a beneficent being is confirmed by Wang Fu's statement that the dragon's scales number 117, of which 81 are imbued with Yang and 36 with Yin, because the dragon is partly a preserver and partly a destroyer. Yang is also the male element and, as its representative, the dragon also became at an early period a symbol of the Emperor, and appeared on the Chinese flag. During the Manchu dynasty, the dragon was held in especial esteem, and everything used by the Emperor was described in terms of it: there was the dragon throne, dragon bed and so on. "Although Chinese dragons appeared at favorable moments to presage periods of prosperity, and had been known to emit foam which had supernatural powers of fertilization, they could also, when offended or disturbed, cause a drought by gathering up all the water of a district in baskets, or they could eclipse the sun. To propitiate them, the Chinese flew dragon kites, especially at the mumming parade in the New Year." The parallels with Rand and LTT are obvious. XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.7: Norse Mythology [Greg Wheatley, Chad Orzel, Jonathan Vessey, Erica Sadun, Pam Korda, Karl-Johan Noren, Fred Van Keuls] _________________________________________________________________ This is just a quick overview. For a more Thor-ough discussion of Norse parallels in TWOT, see Karl-Johan's page on the subject. There is a link to it from the Wheel of Time Index (See Section 0.08). Mat and Odin: Mat has many of the attributes of Odin-- wide brimmed hat, a spear with ravens drawn on it which refers to "Thought" and "Memory" (the names of Odin's ravens) and will in the future almost certainly lose an eye. Also, Odin agreed to be hung from Yggdrasill in order to gain wisdom and power-- a definite parallel to Mat being hung from the Tree o' Life in Rhuidean. Heimdall's Horn: Heimdall's job was to guard the Rainbow bridge into Asgard against the Giants. During the Last Battle (Ragnarok), he was to blow the horn Gjall to signal the arrayed gods and dead heroes that it was time to fight. cf. Horn of Valere. Granted, there are differences - the Heroes are bound to the Horn and not to a specific cause, and they live in T'A'R rather than the afterlife as such (where they'd fight all day, cutting each other to pieces, then get healed at day's end. Always got a kick out of that-- sounds like a real heavenly afterlife to me), but the concept of dead heroes waiting around for the final battle stays the same. Rand and Tyr: Tyr was a Norse god of war and of justice. This is a parallel with Rand bringing strife to Randland, and with his concurrent attempts to rule justly and by the rule of law. (Note: Tyr is not connected to legality as a maker of peace or a bringer to justice, but more as the embodiment of laws as power, of the fight that is fought in court instead on the battlefield. The god of justice in the Norse pantheon is Forsete, of which next-to-nothing is known. [Karl-Johan Noren]) Tyr's arm was snarfled off by the monstrous wolf Fenrir (Perrin?) when the gods chained him. (The gods thus defeated one of their greatest enemies, at the loss of one of their greatest assets, Tyr's right (fighting) hand.) If this parallel is valid, then this could be evidence that Rand will lose his hand-- RJ said at a signing in Atlanta that he deliberately made Mat like Odin and Rand like Tyr. Furthermore, Tyr offered to put his hand in Fenrir's mouth as an assurance that the chains would be removed. Hence, it was a willing sacrifice. This may be analogous to Rand sacrificing his life or body parts at Tarmon Gai'don (or before). Perrin and Thor: Karl-Johan Noren notes: "Even though Perrin does not share any attribute with Tor other than his strength, his beard and the hammer, their roles and personalities are remarkably similar. Both are mostly connected to the common men, both have a good head but are slow to use it, and both are terrible in their anger, though Tor has much closer to it than Perrin. Perrin's hammer is a symbol for peace and building, but this trait is also present in Tor and Mjolnir, even though it is not readily present in the myths." XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.8: The Fisher King _________________________________________________________________ The Fisher King legend appears in TWOT in several guises, the first and most obvious being the unhealable wound in Rand's side which he received from Ishamael's staff in [TGH: 47, The Grave Is No Bar to My Call, 564]. Then, we have the header prophecy from ACOS: "There can be no health in us, nor any good thing grow, for the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and he one with the land." Finally, we have the "Fisher" piece in Moridin's sha'rah game [TPOD: Prologue, Deceptive Appearances, 43]: "The Fisher was always worked as a man, a bandage blinding his eyes and one hand pressed to his side, a few drops of blood dripping through his fingers. The reasons, like the source of the name, were lost in the mist of time." Lost to Moridin, maybe, but not to us! Steve Deffeyes tells us: "The story of the Fisher King has origins dating back to Celtic times. Originally it is the tale of a king who was stabbed through both thighs, or sometimes is it the side, with a spear thus causing his lands to fall to waste. There's something about early customs forbidding the rule of a blemished king but the true origins of the story are lost, which suits our WOT parallel just fine. Chretien de Troyes introduced it to the Arthurian cycle and everyone from Malory to T.S. Eliot has used it. He has been called King Pelles, Parlan, Bron and Anfortas among others. Sir Balin dealt him the Dolorous Stroke, wounding him with the same spear that stabbed Jesus. He could not ride or hunt due to his never-healing wound and took up fishing. Sir Perceval visited him while on the grail quest and saw the procession of the grail, bleeding lance, candelabra and silver platter but was a new and shy knight and failed to ask the critical question that would have cured the king. Later when Sir Galahad achieved the grail he anointed the king's wounds with the blood of the lance and he was cured." Here are some additional details from John Johnson: The Fisher King is the guardian of the Holy Grail. (In some of the earliest legends, this was known as the San Greal.) The Holy Grail was originally brought over from Israel by Joseph of Arimathea, and contained some of Jesus' blood. This explained the magical abilities of the Grail. Legends conflict as to whether his wounding was a result of pride or some other sin. He was directly tied to the land. The land could not be healthy as long as the Fisher King was wounded. He was a powerful magician; some people regarded him as being evil, others good. (Those legends which regard him as being evil cast him as the archetype of Satan.) Some legends seem to cast the Fisher King as the archetype of mankind, with the wound being the Original Sin, while others show the Fisher King as being symbolic of Christ, with the wound being a representation of his suffering on the cross, or, in some cases, the evil of mankind. This is further confused by the title that Chretien de Troyes gives him. In medieval French it is "Roi des Pecheurs," which can be translated either The King of Fishers, or the King of Sinners, both of which could apply to Jesus Christ. The quest of the Grail Knights was to seek out the Grail King, and ask him the Grail Question. When they did this, they were then able to heal the King, and thus heal the land. The legends have various knights succeeding to various degrees. Launcelot was able to see it from a distance, both Perceval and Galad were able to answer the Question. Some legends have Bors de Ganis also achieving the Quest with Perceval and Galad, but while they stayed behind, Bors returned to the world to explain what had happened. Associated with the Arthurian legend of the Fisher King are four objects, the Hallows, (there were other Hallows, but these four were most directly involved in the Arthurian legends) that were essential to heal the Maimed King. These were sacred objects, capable of great power. They were: 1) The Sword: This sword was said to have great power. Whoever wielded it could call down lightning and fire from heaven. This is linked to the Sword that Arthur pulled from the stone, and in modern times is represented as the Sword of State. Rand pulled Callandor from the Stone, and used it to call lightning and fire on the Trollocs. 2) The Cauldron: This provided food and life to those who were able to possess it. It is described as a wide, but shallow dish. I think that the Randland equivalent is the Bowl of Winds, which is described in nearly the same terms. The modern equivalent is the Ampula of Holy Oil. 3) The Spear: The Spear was unbeatable in battle, and was directly linked to the healing of the Maimed King. Some legends say that this spear was the very one that pierced the side of Jesus Christ. The Randland equivlant could be the Seanchan scepter, or it could be Mat's spear. 4) The crown: This was the symbol of the king's power. The Crown of Swords is its equivalent in Randland. When the throne room in Illian was destroyed, the Crown of Swords was sitting on the throne. The throne was completely destroyed, but the crown was intact, which indicates that it has an important role to play. All of these were directly linked to the Maimed King's sovereignity, and to the idea of power. When Rand goes into beggar-mode, he will lose his power, and these will be necessary to restore him. XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.9: The Aiel, Native Americans, and the Zulu [Contributed by msteakley@utsi.com, whose real name I never got.] _________________________________________________________________ "Little tiger who hunts the northern pass" writes: In reviewing the theories on the Aiel and who they represent, I have not found any references to any other cultures other than the thirteen tribes of Israel. At first glance I would also have agreed with this theory if I had not been initiated into Native American culture, and in particular the philosophies and history of the plains Indian tribes. In reviewing their histories I have come across many similar tales in various tribes where the people were either forced to move to a new home or, for some unknown reason, chose to make the move of their own accord. The most notable would be the forced move of the Cherokee. This tribe could very easily pass for the peaceful Aiel who were forced to move to the hot dry lands of the Aiel waste, a very fitting analogy for Oklahoma. However, due to the fact that they never became a serious threat in later years I have to discount them unless the Aiel are considered a blend of various tribes. The two most notable tribes which I have encountered to date would be the Cheyenne and the Kiowa. Both tribes have tales which tell of their people moving from their ancestral home in search of a new home. There is a line in the Cheyenne tale which specifically says ' where every hand was raised against us'. This line I also believe was used by the Aiel in describing their migration. The Cheyenne were also made up of thirteen clans according to the original histories I have encountered about them. Having been an integral part of the Algonquin society of the northeastern tribes they were also a peaceful people until after their move to the northern plains. Their encroachment into other tribes' territories and the resulting wars is the most probable reason they became an extremely efficient warrior society. The Kiowa also have a tale of their movement from somewhere in the northwest area of the United States where they had to fight all the way to their current home, which I believe is in the Oklahoma territory, ending up with fewer than 300 people in the tribe. They also became an efficient warrior society due to their move and the expansion of the European colonists in later years. The rituals of the Aiel are also distinctly Native American. The sweat baths taken by the wise ones and other Aiel are a definitive ritual of Plains Indian culture. (It may also be a part of other native American cultures but I have only been involved with the plains Indians and the Crow tribe to be specific.) The sweat lodge was described rather well by RJ, so I will not go into detail, but I know of no Israelite tales of sweat ceremonies or baths. The other ritual most notably used is the vision quest. This entails the seeker of the vision going out into the wilderness, stripping down to the bare flesh, and fasting for three to four days until a vision (hallucination from lack of food) is seen. In some tribes a 'sponsor' goes along as well to let the rest of the tribe know what is happening. This, of course, sounds just like Rand and Mat's trip into Rhuidean where they journey into the unknown without food or water, Rand has his 'vision' of his ancestors (another typical Indian philosophy), and they return three days later. I am not surprised if no one else had caught this, having been on a vision quest I did not catch this until I read it a second time and I was still unsure of it being one. The thing that surprised me the most is the fact that no one has, to my knowledge, mentioned the fact that the Aiel warrior societies all sound distinctly Native American. I can understand about the clan names, two of which sound Japanese to me, but with names like Thunder Walkers, Brothers of the Eagle, Mountain Dancers, and Stone Dogs, I was surprised the connection had not been brought up before (to my knowledge). Being a Crazy Dog of the Crow Indian Nation I was pleased to note the connection between Stone Dogs and my own warrior society. Of course, Crazy Dogs drive a stake into the ground and tie their left leg to it in order to show they have no fear while protecting the tribe. I have yet to see an Aiel do that. There were also tribe in the Northeast where each clan had a central meeting house. They also had a female as the leader of the clan. In order to gain entrance to the house permission was granted by her, like the Aiel House Mistress. One last note, The more observant will have realized that the plains Indians were masters of the horse. But, if you could run as fast as one too, why bother? It seems RJ patterned a great deal of the Aiel society after the Native American Indians Tony Z. adds, "The thing with spear/shield, and then the Aiel battle tactics that Lan describes to Rand, for instance, are pretty much lifted from the Zulus." XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.10: Greek and Roman Mythology _________________________________________________________________ 1) Birgitte in Conversation: [TFOH: 47, The Price of a Ship, 540] Mathena: Athena/Artemis Zheres: Tiresias? Orion? Actually, it was the goddess Artemis who turned the hunter into a stag so he would be killed by his dogs, after he saw her bathing. Athena was also surprised by Tiresias while bathing, but she blinded him and gave him the gift of second sight in return. 2) Birgitte's silver bow seems to have come straight out of Greek Mythology. Artemis had a silver bow, to match her brother Apollo's golden one. 3) Oedipus: Doomed king of Thebes who killed his father and married his mother. When he discovered what he had done, he blinded himself and exiled himself from his city. He led the life of a blind beggar until he died near Athens. [Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, by Sophocles]. Possible connection to the vision of Rand as a blind beggar. 4)Orpheus: A great musician whose wife, Eurydice, was killed on their wedding night by a snake. Orpheus traveled to the kingdom of Hades to try to get her back, and his music so moved the King/Queen(?) of the underworld that he was allowed to take her back, provided that he leave, and not look back at her until he had reached the surface. He couldn't control himself, so he looked, and she went back to Hades. Orpheus ended up getting ripped to shreds by the Maenads, a tribe of ferocious women, during a Bacchanale. Possibly a connection to Thom rescuing Moiraine from the Finn. [D. Sohl] (Hopefully, Thom will fare better then Orpheus!) XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.11: Miscellaneous References _________________________________________________________________ 1) Birgitte in Conversation: Mentions a past life named "Maerion": Maid Marion? 2) Sammael = Napoleon? Sammael is described as a great general. He is short. Illian's symbol is nine golden bees; Napoleon's symbol was a golden bee. 3) Yin-Yang symbol/Ancient Aes Sedai symbol: He (RJ) also spoke for quite some time on the splitting of the One Power into male and female halves, and on the disharmony produced when they don't work together.. this came across as one of the core elements in the origin of WOT. [ re: Yin/Yang - leaving out the little dots in the symbol is an intentional representation of the lack of harmony between male/female Power in Randland] [Emmet O'Brien, Dublin talk, 11/93] 4) The sword forms: It's research (books, not doing), and the forms come from Japanese sword fighting and some European fencing, before the advent of well-designed and well-made guns made swords obsolete. [Matthew Hunter at a signing, also mentioned by others] 5) Tolkien * "The only deliberate connection between WOT and any other modern fantasy was giving the first 100-odd pages of TEOTW a Lord of the Rings-esque flavor, to start people off in familiar territory." [from Dublin talk, 11/93, Emmet O'Brien] * The Nine Rings Inn [TGH: 21, The Nine Rings, 258] 6) Wolf-brother: a moosh of various myths from Europe, Native Americans, and Australian Aborigines. [America OnLine conference, 10/94] 7) Stones/Go: The game of Stones is based on the Asian game Go. 8) Tower of Ghenjei: There is a Japanese novel called The Tale of Genji. It is generally considered the first piece of work which qualifies as a novel, as the genre is defined today. Note the name's similarity to the Tower of Ghenjei in WOT. It was written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu in the early 10th century, during the Heian Period of Japanese history. [Jeff Han] 9) Millenarianism: The End of The World will come at the end of the millennium, or so some folks say. The year in Randland is pretty much congruent with that used in the West of our own world. Galldrian of Cairhien was assassinated in 998 NE. Since then, one winter has passed (taking us to 999) and most of the next year. The Feast of Lights that scandalized Perrin so much (in LoC) marks the last day of the old year; the Battle at Dumai's Wells takes place some days after that, and so must be early in 1000 NE. Tarmon Gai'don is coming soon, folks! [Don Harlow] 10) Gholam = Golem from Jewish folklore. According Gershon Scholem in "The Idea of the Golem," the Golem (pronounced goy-lehm), dates back to the Kabbalah, the ancient book of Jewish Mysticism. The most famous legend dates back to 16th century Prague, to a famous rabbi, Rabbi Loew, but it is a bastardization of an earlier, far more appropriate (from a TWOT persective) story of a Rabbi Elias in Poland, who shaped clay into a man-shape (very biblical), and then inscribed, in Hebrew, EMETH, which means TRUTH, on its forehead, granting it life. The Golem did menial tasks and the like for Elias, but the longer it lived, it grew in size and consequently in strength. When the Golem grew to an awesome size, Elias felt threatened by it, and attempted to destroy it by erasing the first letter (aleph) in EMETH, changing it to METH, Hebrew for DEATH. Elias succeeded, but was subsequently killed by the collapse of the creature into a big pile of clay. There are dozens of variants of the golem legend. In the Loew story, the golem collapsed, but did not kill Loew. Loew buried the remains in the attic of his ancient synagogue, where they remain to this day, and make for an unusual tourist attraction. Additional stories tell of the golem growing in both strength and lustiness, which added a whole new dimension of trouble to be caused.[Stewart S. Bushman] 11) Aelfinn/Eelfinn: The Elves/Faerie/Sidhe of Celtic mythology. The Sidhe were vulnerable to iron ("iron to bind"), and liked music ("music to daze"). There were two subgroups of Faeries, as Matthew Hunter elaborates: "The Seelie and Unseelie courts, of which one the Seelie were comparatively "nice" and honorable, although tricksters and inhumanly magical, while the Unseelie were essentially their evil counterparts -- delighting in tormenting and the kind of pranks that have nasty consequences. The spelling is phonetic, and the real spelling is somewhat different... I think 'Seighlie' is closer but still not right." 12) Another Celtic Connection: [TSR: 6, Doorways, 95] wrt the Snakes Doorway: "Elayne's first thought was for the children's tale Bili Under the Hill, but only because of the three answers." Compare to various tales of common humans visiting some Sidhe under a hill, and having various mystical experiences. 13) Nae'blis: Iblis, Another name for the devil in Muslim circles. 14) Asha'man: It has been pointed out that there are many similarities between the Asha'man and the Nazi SS. SS stands for Schⁿtz Staffeln (Guardian Group) and was originaly created to protect Hitler. Asha'man means Guardians, and one of their functions is (nominally) to protect Rand. Both organizations use black as their color. The leader of the Asha'man is called "M'Hael," which is "leader" in the Old Tongue. The leader of the SS was the "Fⁿhrer," which is "leader"in German. Six of the total 19 officer ranks the Waffen-SS contained the two words Sturm (storm) and Fⁿhrer (e.g. Sturmbahnfⁿhrer, Obersturmfⁿhrer, Sturmscharfⁿhrer). This is also seen within the Asha'man in the Tsorovan'm'hael (Gedwyn's title, from [TPOD: 21, Answering the Summons, 407]). Also, the SS was nominally created to fight Communism (color = red). The dedicated enemy of the AM is the Red Ajah. [Jimmy Sj÷berg] XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.12: On similarities between The Wheel of Time and other SF (including Dune) [Michael Nielsen, Korda] _________________________________________________________________ People frequently point out similarities between Jordan and other authors. A common example is to point out parallels between Frank Herbert's Dune series and The Wheel of Time -- similarities between Rand and Paul Atreides, for example. First, note that in a series as large and complex as The Wheel of Time (or Dune), parallels with such an enormous variety of literature can be found that pointing out parallels (particularly if they are common to many sources) can be fairly pointless. In the interest of avoiding endless "RJ ripped off author X"/"Author X ripped off RJ" arguments, we present the following: 1. Many of the similarities between Jordan and other authors can be explained on the basis of the use of common source materials. Certain motifs, themes, etc. have a very long and rich history in literature. For example, messiah figures (such as Rand) and powerful mystical / priesthood castes (such as the Aes Sedai) have appeared in an enormous number of literary and historical guises over periods of thousands of years. 2. Jordan is not copying or "ripping off" other authors, as has sometimes been stated on the group. Using common source materials does not imply copying: he transforms and embellishes old ideas from a diverse range of sources (which he has freely acknowledged), and sometimes innovates. The way all these different elements relate is unique to Jordan, since no other author uses the same range of elements. The only direct influence we know Jordan has acknowledged is that that he wanted to make the beginning of TEOTW read somewhat like Lord of the Rings, in order to make readers feel at home. For example, Rand losing a hand doesn't mean that RJ got the idea from Tolkien (Frodo and Beren both lose parts of their hand), or George Lucas, or S.R. Donaldson, any more than Lucas or Donaldson copied from Tolkien. Rather, all four authors most likely got the idea from the Norse god Tew. 3. While there are similarities, there are also great differences. Paul Atreides and Rand may both be Messiah figures, but they are remarkably different in a multitude of ways, many of them crucial to the story. Dune Similarities Many parallels between Dune and the Wheel of Time have been noted. Some of the more important similarities include : Rand / Paul Atreides : Messiah figure from the outside leading great rising of desert warriors (Aiel / Fremen) in fulfillment of prophecy. Has powers usually only available to women. There are also similarities in the way we see both characters develop: a young, rather naive and powerless adolescent changes into an extraordinary leader with great powers. Note that this is a fairly common archetype in SF and other literature. Aes Sedai / Bene Gesserit : Powerful, secretive and manipulative female caste with extraordinary powers, sometimes known as witches. Both go through intensive training and painful rites of passage. Somewhat similar internal power structures and mindsets. Similar remarks may also be made about the Aiel Wise Ones, the Kin, and several other groups in RandLand. Foretelling the future / dreaming : Appears in various guises in both books. Aiel / Fremen: Kick-ass desert warriors who ally themselves with the Messiah figure. The strong similarity makes perfect sense once one knows that Herbert's real-world sources for the Fremen were the Israelites and Zulu (or maybe Native Americans? I lost the relevant article), and RJ's sources for the Aiel are the Zulu and Native Americans. Some common words are used: "Shaitin" and "Mahdi" are two examples. "Shaitin" derives from an Arabic word which in turn is derived from a Hebrew (and Arabic) word, meaning "satan". My dictionary tells me that a "Mahdi" is "any of a number of Muslim messiahs expected to convert all of mankind to Islam," and that the word is of Arabic origins. Obviously this is a usage that can easily be adapted to both TWOT and Dune. XXXXXXXXXXXX 3.13: Real Nations' Influence on Randland [Richard BoyΘ, Sam McGee, P. Korda, Trent Goulding, Linda Antonson] _________________________________________________________________ Obviously, the various countries and nations of Randland draw some of their characteristics from real-world nations and cultures (both current and historical). Here's a list of Randland countries and real-world countries which may have influenced them. The ones labeled "RJ" are ones which have been stated/confirmed by RJ. The rest are just reasonable speculations. * Aes Sedai: AS organization is based on the way convents were organized between 1000 and 1800 AD. (RJ) * Altara: Italy; a loose confederacy of semi-autonomous regions beneath a weak monarch. The capital city contains elements of a much, much older city (Rome) complete with large public hippodromes (race tracks), the diet is heavily into seafoods and cheeses, the culture is outdoorsy and seems evocative of Mediterranean life. * Amadicia: The fashions (gathers of ringlets, deep shady bonnets, bows on the women, high crowned hats and long coats for the men) seem vaguely suggestive of the Commonwealth Period of England, when the Puritans held sway. This also meshes with the notion that Amadicia is a quasi-theocracy, as they are essentially ruled by a military order of "monks" who seem to encourage a well, puritanical and pious lifestyle among the populace. They also like to throw accusations of witchery everywhere, not at all unlike the Puritans who moved to North America. * Andor: England, Elizabethan England specifically with its "Cult of the Queen." * Arad Doman: Arabic cultures; firstly, the word "arab" is almost present in the name "Arad Doman." Some of the characters last names seem Arabic in theme (e.g. Shariff, Eriff, Zeffar), as well as some of their first names (e.g. Alsalam, Rashad). The lacquered sticks, sursa, used as eating implements are chopsticks by any other name, and common throughout Asia. * Aiel: Elements of Cheyenne, Apache, Zulu, Bedouin, Japanese, Berbers (RJ). See Section 3.09. * Cairhien: France; the noblewomen's fashions seem to be somewhat reminiscent of the clothing from the Eighteenth century; high curled coiffures, full wide skirts and ruffs of lace. The Court of Louis XIV was called the Court of the Sun King. Cairhienin symbology is all about the sun, i.e. Sun Palace, Sun Throne. Furthermore, the prevalence of Daes Dae'mar calls to mind the lethal intrigues at the Court of Versailles. The officers and noblemen wear "con" on their backs, small pennants attached to a short staff, also seen in feudal Japan. Japan is the "Land of the Rising Sun," Cairhien is the "Hills of the Golden Dawn," and its symbol is a rising sun. * Illian: Illian has something of a "Greek-Mediterranean" feel to it. Some of the he names certainly follow a Hellenic pattern (e.g. Stepheneos, Demitrides). The King of Illian wears the "Laurel Crown," an allusion the crowns of laurels awarded at the ancient Olympic Games. "Illian" itself is a take-off on "Illium," a name for Troy during the Classical Age. Lastly, the Illianer Companions seems to be a reference to the Macedonian hetairoi (meaning "companions" in Greek), which were a prestigious mounted order of warriors that served the ruling House. Any decent scholar of military history such as RJ would know about the hetairoi. The bees on the flag seem to evoke the bees that were common in the heraldry of Napoleanic France. * Land of Madmen: Australia? * Mayene: Cities of Hanseatic League, Venice, Genoa (RJ); Also, many of the Mayener names seem to carry a French flavor (e.g. Bertain Gallene, Evonne), and "Mayene" itself seems to be a take off on "Mayenne," an extinct French estate. * Malkier: Tibet, Nepal. A country nestled high in the mountains of spectacular natural beauty. The ki'san (dots) painted in the center of the brows of the women could either be an allusion to the Hindu practice, or to some representations of the Buddha; an overall thematic feel reminiscent of the countries near the Himalayas. * Saldaea: "a number of middle eastern cultures and several cultures in countries surrounding the Black Sea" (RJ) This is most directly recognizable in the "horse-culture" of Saldaea, which is evocative of many nomadic peoples of the Asian steppe. Physically, Saldaeans can be seen to resemble the Mongols. * Sea Folk: A combination of allusions. The people were initially described much as Sub-Saharan Africans (tight, curly hair, dark skin tones), but later versions have them with long, straight black hair, which coupled with the dark complexions, silk garments and the medallions on chains attached to noserings seems to evoke India more than anything else. The intricately knotted sashes used to connote rank and station resemble Japanese obi, (kimino sashes). * Seanchan: Imperial China, Imperial Japan, Persian Empire, Ottoman Empire. (RJ); The lacquer work of the Seanchan seems to be inspired by the Far East, the Emperor/Empress too grand for the eye is a concept borrowed from Japan. The phrase "Ever Victorious Army" was actually in use in Japan during one point of its history. Persian Empire: The Crystal Throne that inspires awe is a direct allusion to a Persian epic story. Ancient Egypt: pleated linen clothing, the tonsured heads, the patterns on Suroth's gown (symbols within cartouche-like ovals) which could be visualized as resembling hieroglyphics. * Shara: Africa in a macro-sense. The name "Shara" seems similar to "Sahara," and another name for Shara, "Kigali" is an actual place in Africa. Furthermore, the two Sharans we have met were described as "African" in appearance, with tight, curly hair and dark skins. The silk production, "Silk Path" (Silk Road) and closed port cities are allusions, however, to Imperial China. * Shienar: Japan; the restrained, formal aesthetic, the communal genderless bathing rooms, the haiku-type poetry recited by Lan, the topknots of the warriors. Also, a dash of Medieval Feudal Europe, notably the castle towns and the mounted warriors in full plate armor (knights by any other name), and the idealized courtesy and respect toward women, (chivalry). * : Arabic cultures. The word "arab" is contained in the name "Tarabon," the veils seem to be reminiscent of certain Arabic societies, although in Tarabon they are unisex. The architecture has a Middle Eastern flair; minarets and peaked domes, pointed arches. Tear: Spain (nobility); the names of some of the High Lords have a distinct Iberian flavor (e.g. Estanda, Carlomin, Rosana), their fashions seem to be reminiscent of Renaissance Spain (full skirted gowns with wide lace ruffs, puffy sleeved coats, oiled beards and moustaches). Furthermore, the lower classes seem to be very Asian in feel; some of the names (e.g. Juilin, Suian, Huan), and some of their clothing; flattened conical straw hats, ties instead of buttons, wooden platforms for the feet as well as the usage of bamboo. But also some of the lower class members' names seem very Spanish as well (e.g. Sanche [Sanchez], Mercandes [Mercandez]). * Whitecloaks: Teutonic Knights (RJ). XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 4: A Reader's Guide to Prophecy: Everything you wanted to know about the future, but were afraid to ask. _________________________________________________________________ This section lists all the prophecies and visions we have seen in TWOT. After each prophecy, there is some discussion of what it means/may mean. XXXXXXXXXXXX 4.1: Egwene's Dreams _________________________________________________________________ * The Great Hunt * The Dragon Reborn * The Shadow Rising * The Fires of Heaven * Lord of Chaos * A Crown of Swords * The Path of Daggers _________________________________________________________________ From The Great Hunt [TGH: 12, Woven in the Pattern, 180] ... she saw Rand sleeping on the ground, wrapped in a cloak. A woman had been standing over him, looking down. Her face was in shadow, but her eyes seemed to shine like the moon, and Egwene had known she was evil. Then there was a flash of light, and they were gone. Both of them. And behind it all, almost like another thing altogether, was the feel of danger, as if a trap was just beginning to snap shut on an unsuspecting lamb, a trap with many jaws." This has been fulfilled. It is where Lanfear takes Rand and co. into the Portal Stone world in an attempt to bring Rand under her control. ___________________________________ From The Dragon Reborn [TDR: 25, Questions, 233-4] She had dreamed of Seanchan, too, of women in dresses with lightning bolts woven on their breasts, collaring a long line of women who wore Great Serpent rings, forcing them to call lightning against the White Tower. That had started her awake in a cold sweat, but that had to be just a nightmare, too. And the dream about Whitecloaks binding her father's hands. The first part seems to indicate that the Seanchan will capture a number of AS and/or Accepted and use them to attack the Tower. It's possible that the "Tower" symbolizes AS in general, and thus perhaps it is the Salidar AS who will be attacked by the Seanchan. In any case, this has not yet been fulfilled. The second part, with the WCs, has been fulfilled: Master Al'Vere was powerless to act against the WCs in the 2R until Perrin came along. ___________________________________ [TDR: 25, Questions, 234] There had been a dream of Rand, reaching for a sword that seemed to be made of crystal, never seeing the fine net dropping over him. Fulfilled. The sword is Callandor, and the net is the trap Be'lal set. And one of him kneeling in a chamber where a parched wind blew dust across the floor, and creatures like the one on the Dragon banner, but much smaller, floated on the wind, and settled into his skin. Fulfilled. This is Rand being marked the Car'a'carn in Rhuidean. There had been a dream of him walking down into a great hole in a black mountain, a hole filled with a reddish glare as from vast fires below, Not fulfilled. By the description, the mountain is SG. and even a dream of him confronting Seanchan. Possibly fulfilled. He confronted some Seanchan in TFOH after he and Avi MPS'd, and waged a campaign against them in TPOD, but there is surely more to come. ___________________________________ [TDR: 25, Questions, 234] Perrin with a falcon on his shoulder, and Perrin with a hawk. Only the hawk held a leash in her talons--Egwene was somehow convinced both the hawk and falcon were female--and the hawk was trying to fasten it around Perrin's neck. The hawk and the falcon are Berelain and Faile, respectively. It's interesting that the hawk is the one with the leash, one would think that Faile is the one who has "leashed" Perrin. In any case, the conflict is not over yet. ... And that dream of Perrin--with a beard!--leading a huge pack of wolves that stretched as far as the eye could see. At least partially fulfilled. Perrin has a beard, and he led wolves at Dumai's wells, but that was probably not the last time. Mat, placing his own left eye on a balance scale. Not fulfilled. The most likely interpretation is that Mat will sacrifice his eye. This meshes with some of Min's visions, and the "half the light of the world" prophecy. Mat, hanging by his neck from a tree limb. Fulfilled. This happened at Rhuidean. There had been a dream of Mat and Seanchan, too, but she was willing to dismiss that as a nightmare. Not fulfilled yet, but now Mat is in a situation to interact with the Seanchan, since he is in Ebou Dar. ...Just like the one about Mat speaking the Old Tongue. Fulfilled many times over. Mat talks Old Tongue all the time. ___________________________________ [TDR: 37, Fires in Cairhien, 352-3] She had dreamed of Perrin with a wolf, and with a falcon, and a hawk -- and the hawk and falcon fighting This is the Faile and Berelain thing again. Perrin and the wolf could be the general "Wolfbrother" thing, or maybe Eg actually caught a glimpse of Perrin running with Hopper in TAR. ...of Perrin running from someone deadly, This is very vague; it could be referring to Slayer. and Perrin stepping willingly over the edge of a towering cliff while saying, "It must be done. I must learn to fly before I reach the bottom." This is very vague, and could refer to any number of issues Perrin is facing, from him mastering his wolf-brotherhood, to being a leader, or taking part in the Last Battle. It could be related to the dream Eg had about him and Aram hacking their way towards an unseen cliff. There had been one dream of an Aiel, and she thought that had to do with Perrin, too, but she was not sure. Probably refers to Perrin's freeing of Gaul from the cage in TDR. And a dream of Min, springing a steel trap but somehow walking through it without so much as seeing it. Fulfilled. This refers to the Tower Coup: her return to the Tower started Elaida getting suspicious of what SS was up to, which led to the coup. Min never realized what was coming. Yet, she got out of the Tower unscathed. ... Mat with dice spinning 'round him... Refers to Mat's general luck and ta'verenhood. Mat being followed by a man who was not there ... or maybe more than one, but in some way there was no one there Fulfilled. Mat was stalked by Gray Men in Tar Valon Mat riding desperately toward something unseen in the distance that he had to reach Fulfilled. Refers to Mat racing to save El/Eg/Ny in Tear. and Mat with a woman who seemed to be tossing fireworks about. An Illuminator, she assumed, but that made no more sense than anything else. Maybe fulfilled. In TDR, Mat met with the rogue Illuminator Aludra, whence he gets the fireworks with which he busts into the Stone of Tear. However, later visions indicate that Mat is not done with fireworks. Men and women breaking out of a cage, then putting on crowns. Fulfilled. The Forsaken have broken out of SG and have taken up places of power in the world. A woman playing with puppets, and another dream where the strings on puppets led to the hands of larger puppets, and their strings led to still greater puppets, on and on until the last strings vanished into unimaginable heights. This is probably just symbolic of the various degrees of manipulation and plotting going on. Whitecloaks ravaging the Two Rivers. Fulfilled and dealt with. ___________________________________ [TDR: 48, Following the Craft, 468-9] Why should Perrin have a falcon on his shoulder, and what was important about him choosing between that axe he wore now and a blacksmith's hammer? The falcon is Faile. As for the hammer and axe, Perrin's axe vs hammer choice seems to be a choice between war and peace, the life of a leader and that of a simple blacksmith. He seems to have currently chosen the axe, but he may change his mind before all is said and done. ... A Whitecloak putting Master Luhhan in the middle of a huge, toothed trap for bait Fulfilled. The WCs used the Luhhans and Cauthons as bait to catch Perrin. What did it mean that Mat was dicing with the Dark One, and why did he keep shouting "I am coming!" and why did she think in the dream that he was shouting at her? Fulfilled. This refers to Mat's "bet" with Gaebril/Rahvin that he'd save El, Eg, and Ny from the assassin. And Rand. He had been sneaking through utter darkness toward Callandor, while all around him six men and five women walked, some hunting him and some ignoring him, some trying to guide him toward the shining crystal sword and some trying to stop him from reaching it, appearing not to know where he was, or only to see him in flashes. One of the men had eyes of flame, and he wanted Rand dead with a desperation she could nearly taste; Fulfilled. The men and women are the Forsaken who weren't dead at the time. Fire-eyes is Ishy, and it is interesting that he wants Rand dead in this dream. Maybe this is a combination between the state of the game as it is when Eg has the dream (Rand looking for Callandor) and a prophecy of later in TDR, when Ishamael for once actually decides that Rand needs to be killed? Rand in that dry, dusty chamber again, with those small creatures settling into his skin. Again, Rhuidean. ___________________________________ [TDR: 48, Following the Craft, 468-9] Rand confronting a horde of Seanchan. Has occurred, in TFOH and TPOD, but there's probably more to come. Rand confronting her, and the women with her, and one of them was a Seanchan. Hasn't occurred yet. This will probably come when Rand wants the Salidar AS to kneel to him. Note that it seems as if at least one Seanchan will be joining Eg before she meets with Rand again. ___________________________________ From The Shadow Rising [TSR: 11, What Lies Hidden, 145] Rand as tall as a mountain, walking through cities, crushing buildings beneath his feet, with screaming people like ants fleeing from him. This has not been literally fulfilled (Rand hasn't done much city-crushing), but if the dream is symbolic, it is in progress, and refers to the strife Rand leaves in his wake. Rand in chains, and it was he who was screaming. Possibly fulfilled; this could refer to his capture and torture by the Tower AS. Rand building a wall with him on one side and her on the other, her and Elayne and others she could not make out. "It has to be done," he was saying as he piled up stones. "I'll not let you stop me now." This is in the process of being fulfilled. Rand is deliberately isolating himself from his friends and allies, and becoming increasingly paranoid about not trusting anybody. Aiel fighting each other, killing each other, even throwing away their weapons and running as if they had gone mad Fulfilled. This is the aftermath of Rand's revelation of the Aiel's history. Mat wrestling with a Seanchan woman who tied an invisible leash to him Not fulfilled. This is probably the Daughter of the Nine Moons. Poor Mat. A wolf-- she was sure it was Perrin, though-- fighting a man whose face kept changing. Fulfilled; refers to Perrin fighting Slayer. Galad wrapping himself in white as though putting on his own shroud At least partially fulfilled. The white clearly refers to Galad's joining the WCs. If the shroud bit is prophecy, and not just metaphor, it seems as if Galad will die as a result of his joining up. and Gawyn with eyes full of pain and hatred. Certainly fulfilled in one respect or another. Possibly refers to the Tower Coup, or thinking Rand killed Morgase, or just his generally psychotic state. Her mother weeping. This could be anything, really. The Two Rivers residents have had lots of reasons to weep of late, and doubtless will have more in the future. ___________________________________ From The Fires of Heaven [TFoH: 15, What Can Be Learned in Dreams, 214] Rand sitting down in a chair, and somehow she knew that the chair's owner would be murderously angry at having her chair taken The chair is probably the Lion Throne of Andor. ...Perrin, lounging with Faile on his lap, kissing her while she played with the short-cut beard that he wore in the dream. Behind them two banners waved, a red wolf's head and a crimson eagle. A man in a bright yellow coat stood near to Perrin's shoulder, a sword strapped to his back; in some way she knew that he was a Tinker, though no Tinker would ever touch a sword. And every bit of it except the beard seemed important. The banners, Faile kissing Perrin, even the Tinker. Every time he moved closer to Perrin it was if a chill of doom shot through everything. Partially fulfilled. Perrin is set up with Faile, has Aram as a bodyguard, has the wolf banner, and the Manetheren banner, but we haven't seen any doom related to Aram. ...Mat throwing dice with blood streaming down his face, the wide brim of his hat pulled down low so she could not see his wound Not fulfilled. The blood could be another reference to Mat losing an eye. while Thom Merrilin put his hand into a fire to draw out the small blue stone that now dangled on Moiraine's forehead. Not fulfilled. This is evidence that Thom will rescue Moiraine from durance vile in Finnland. Or a dream of a storm, great dark clouds rolling without wind or rain while forked lightning bolts, every one identical, rent the earth. This is kind of vague. It sounds like a general OP battle, perhaps the Battle of Cairhien, or Rand's psychotic episode with Callandor on the Seanchan campaign in TPOD. It is also similar to Fain's description of Shayol Ghul. ___________________________________ From Lord of Chaos [LoC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 258] Twice, right on top of each other, she dreamed of taking [Gawyn] by the shoulders and trying to turn him to face the other way against his will. Once he brushed her hands away roughly; the other time she was somehow stronger than he. The two blended together hazily. Not fulfilled. Will Eg convince Gawyn to join her on Rand's side, or will he continue to hate Rand because of the chaos he's brought to his life? Related to Min's viewing of Gawyn kneeling to Eg or breaking her neck. In another, [Gawyn] began swinging a door closed on her, and she knew if that narrowing gap of light vanished, she was dead. Not fulfilled. Again, this must be related to Min's viewing of Gawyn kneeling to Eg or killing her-- Gawyn has the power to destroy Eg, if he chooses not to join her. ___________________________________ [LoC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 258] Perrin came and stood before her, a wolf lying at his feet, a hawk and a falcon perched on his shoulders glaring at each other over his head. Seemingly unaware of them, he kept trying to throw away that axe of his until finally he ran, the axe floating through the air chasing him. Well, the wolf is obvious, and the birds are Berelain and Faile. As for the axe bit, Perrin wants to give up the axe, but he cannot. We have yet to decide for sure what the axe symbolizes in general. Maybe it's the Lordly life Faile has planned for him, and the fighting inherent therein. On a broader scale, the hammer symbolizes creation, the axe destruction. Perrin doesn't like it, but it is currently his duty to destroy and then rebuild. The axe following him could mean that, since he is ta'veren, he can't run away from his duty. Again Perrin; he turned away from a Tinker and ran, faster and faster though she called for him to come back. The Tinker could be Aram, in light of the "doom" vision from TFOH. Perrin and Aram's relationship doesn't seem to have degenerated so far, so likely this hasn't been fulfilled. It's been suggested that Aram represents the exact opposite of what Perrin wants. Perin wants to give up fighting for a peaceful life. Aram gave up the Way of the Leaf to become a soldier. ___________________________________ [LoC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 258] Mat spoke words she almost understood - the Old Tongue, she thought - and two ravens alighted on his shoulders, claws sinking through his coat into the flesh beneath In light of other visions, this probably has to do with the Daughter of the 9 Moons and the Seanchan. Raven tattoos on the shoulders mean "Property of the Seanchan Empress." It's also been suggested that these ravens could also represent Mat's raven-engraved glaive. He seemed no more aware of them that Perrin had been on the hawk and the falcon, yet the defiance passed across his face, and then grim acceptance. Maybe the ravens refer to his spear, which he got on his trip to A/Eelfland, where he also became a battle-master, which he first fought, and has now accepted? Or maybe he will resist his situation vis a vis the DotNM, then accept it. In another, a woman, face shrouded in shadow, beckoned him toward great danger; Egwene did not know what, only that it was monstrous. Not fulfilled, I think. Who is this woman? Lanfear? (cf [TGH: 12, 213, Woven in the Pattern, 180], above). Another Forsaken? High Lady Suroth? Maybe it is the DotNM? ___________________________________ [LoC: 15, A Pile of Sand, 258] Several concerned Rand, not all bad, but all odd. Elayne, forcing him to his knees with one hand. Not fulfilled. Possibly concerns the throne of Andor, or being Bonded to her as a Warder. Elayne and Min and Aviendha, sitting in a silent circle around him, each in turn reaching out to lay a hand on him. This has probably been fulfilled to some degree, although this plotline is certainly not resolved yet. They've all had their turns to "lay their hands on him." Elayne in Tear, Aviendha in the Seanchan igloo, Min in Caemlyn and Cairhien. Of course, Min and Avi have done more laying than Elayne... Him walking toward a burning mountain, something crunching beneath his boots. She stirred and whimpered; the crunching things were the seals on the Dark One's prison, shattering with his every step. Not fulfilled. The mountain must be Shayol Ghul. The breaking of the Seals--does it have something to do with LTT wanting to break them, and Fel's note? It seems likely that Rand will deliberately break the seals at some point. ___________________________________ From A Crown of Swords [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 195] ...that she [Egwene] would bond him [Gawyn], she knew from interpreting her dreams... Not fulfilled. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 201] On bare feet, Gawyn walked [toward her] across a floor of broken glass, shards breaking at every slow step....she could see the trail of blood left by his slashed feet. Partially fulfilled? This seems to indicate that before Gawyn can join Egwene, he must go through a great deal of pain and difficulty. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 202] ...a man riding on a black stallion. Gawyn. Then she was standing in the road in front of him, and he reined in. Not because he saw her...but the road that had been straight now forked right where she stood, running over tall hills so no one could see what lay beyond. She knew, though. Down one fork was his violent death, down the other, a long life and a death in bed. On one path, he would marry her, on the other, not. She knew what lay ahead, but not which way led to which. Suddenly he did see her, or seemed to, and smiled, and turned his horse along one of the forks... This is pretty self-explanatory--Gawyn's possible futures. Pick one of each: quick, violent death or long life, marriage or not. Which combination is the necessary one for Eg to live and win him over to her side, and which results in him destroying her? (See previous dreams and Min visions.) Not fulfilled. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 202] She stood before an immense wall, clawing at it, trying to tear it down with her bare hands. It was not made of brick or stone, but countless thousands of discs, each half white and half black, the ancient symbol of the Aes Sedai, like the seven seals that had once held the DO's prison shut...the wall stood strong however she beat at it. She could not tear it down. Maybe it was the symbol that was important. Maybe it was the AS she was trying to tear down, the White Tower. Maybe.... No idea what this means, unless it is related to Eg's dream of Rand building a wall between himself and all his friends and loved ones. Note that the wall is made of the emblem of Rand's forces. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 202] Mat sat on a night-shrouded hilltop, watching a grand Illuminator's display of fireworks, and suddenly his hand shot up, seized one of those bursting lights in the sky. Arrows of fire flashed from his clenched fist, and a sense of dread filled her. Men would die because of this. The world would change. Not fulfilled. This indicates that Mat will find a way to use gunpowder as a weapon. In ACOS, recall that he is looking for an Illuminator. Also recall his use of fireworks to blow a hole in the Stone of Tear in TDR. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 202] Straps at waist and shoulder held her tightly to the block, and the headsman's axe descended, but she knew that somewhere someone was running, and if they ran fast enough, the axe would stop. Egwene will get in some dire trouble (possibly through the influence of her new masseuse?), and will need the help of one or more other people to get out of it. This could possibly be the thing where Gawyn will either save her or destroy her. Not fulfilled. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 202] Logain, laughing, stepped across something on the ground and mounted a black stone; when she looked down, she thought it was Rand's body he had stepped over, laid out on a funeral bier with his hands crossed at his breast, but when she touched his face, it broke apart like a paper puppet. This is possibly related to Min's vision of Logain's future glory. Another dead Rand (cf Min's vision in TEOTW), but maybe a fake. It has been suggested that the stone is the Black Tower "speaking stone," the rock that Taim and Rand stand on when addressing the Asha'man. It's been suggested that this vision indicates that Rand will somehow fake his death, and Logain will take over his position of power, or get the credit for defeating the DO. Not fulfilled. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 203] A golden hawk stretched out its wing and touched her, and she and the hawk were tied together somehow; all she knew was that the hawk was female. The golden hawk is the symbol of Mayene. The female hawk has symbolised Berelain in many other Egwene-dreams. This indicates that Berelain and Eg will be connected in some way. Alternatively, the hawk could refer to a Seanchan noblewoman (the golden hawk is the symbol of the Seanchan Blood). Either way, not fulfilled. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 203] A man lay dying in a narrow bed, and it was important that he not die, yet outside a funeral pyre was being built, and voices raised songs of joy and sadness. Absolutely no clue on this one. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 10, Unseen Eyes, 203] A dark young man held an object in his hand that shone so brightly she could not see what it was. Again, very little idea of what's going on here. The glowing thing could be a *angreal, note that it is similar to some visions of Callandor. The most prominent dark young men in the series thus far are Aram and Moridin. This could be Narishma retrieving Callandor from the Stone. ___________________________________ From The Path of Daggers [TPOD: 15, Stronger than Written Law, 308] Rand, wearing different masks, until suddenly one of those false faces was no longer a mask, but him. Refers to how Rand acts in wildly different ways, plays different roles, with different people. This could be Rand trying to be the ever-hardening Dragon Reborn/dictator on one hand and the man who can maintain calm in the middle of combat, off three Forsaken with political skill, and then return home in time to be a loving husband. Apparently, one of his roles will become the "real" him. Alternatively, it's been suggested that it refers to Rand wavering between the Dragon Reborn and Rand himself, and maybe the various gradations in between. "Masks" implies more variations than LTT. Perrin and a Tinker, frenziedly hacking their way through brambles with axe and sword, unaware of the cliff that lay just ahead. And the brambles screamed with human voices they did not hear. The Tinker is Aram. The frenzied hacking could refer to an upcoming rush to rescue Faile. The various signs of impending doom could imply that they'll be so focussed on saving her that they'll be oblivious to other factors or situations which will cause them and/or somebody else big trouble and/or pain. Possibly, Perrin will, perhaps at the urging of Aram, make a huge sacrifice of life, maybe his group of soldiers, and that it will turn out to be a bad decision. This vision could be connected to the vision of Aram and doom, and to the one of Perrin jumping off a cliff and saying he has to learn to fly before hitting bottom. Mat, weighing two Aes Sedai on a huge set of balance scales, and on his decision depended....She could not say what; something vast; the world, perhaps. This sounds like it could be related the eye on a balance scale, and giving up half the light of the world to save the world. What losing an eye has to do with choosing between two AS is beyond me. It's been suggested that maybe the two AS represent the two Towers, but Mat really doesn't seem likely to be in any situation where he'd choose Elaida's group over Egwene's. This one is very puzzling. Recently, all of her dreams about Mat were pale and full of pain, like shadows cast by nightmares, almost as though Mat himself were not quite real. Unknown what this symbolizes. Maybe there is something wrong with Mat, which makes him "less real." Maybe he has amnesia due to being hit on the head by a wall. XXXXXXXXXXXX 4.2: Min's Viewings _________________________________________________________________ * The Eye of the World * The Great Hunt * The Dragon Reborn * The Shadow Rising * The Fires of Heaven * Lord of Chaos * A Crown of Swords * The Path of Daggers _________________________________________________________________ From The Eye of the World [TEOTW: 15, Strangers and Friends, 181] LAN: Seven ruined Towers/A babe in a cradle holding a sword These refer to his Malkieri heritage: Lord of the Seven Towers, and sworn as a babe by his parents to the fight against the Shadow. THOM: A man-- not him-- juggling fire/The White Tower Either of these could refer to his channelling nephew Owyn, who seems to have been caught up in the "vileness" after the Aiel war. The Tower could also represent future involvement with Aes Sedai. MAT: A red eagle, an eye on a balance scale, a dagger with a ruby, a horn, a laughing face The eagle is related to his past life/lives as a Manetheren general. The eye is another reference to him having to sacrifice his eye at some point, in order to achieve total Odin-hood, and to produce some greater good. Compare to the "half the light of the world" prophecy, and Eg's dream about Mat with blood streaming down his face. The dagger is the Shadar Logoth dagger which Mat was involved with for so long. The horn is the Horn of Valere, which Mat blew in TGH. As for the laughing face, it doesn't seem to refer to anything specific Mat's done so far, although he is a bit of a trickster, or to any other prophecies. RAND: A sword that isn't a sword, A golden crown of laurel leaves, a beggar's staff, him pouring water on sand, three woman standing over a funeral bier with him on it, A bloody hand and a white hot iron, and black rocks wet with blood. The Sword That Ain't is Callandor. The crown is the Crown of Illian, achieved in ACOS. The beggar's staff vision doesn't relate to anything which has happened thus far, but the vision ties in to other ones involving Rand dressed as a beggar. Pouring water on sand probably refers to Rand making it rain at Rhuidean. The three women over his funeral bier are probably his three chicks--Min, Avi, and Elayne. No idea about the bloody hand and hot iron, although there is a similar vision for Elayne in TGH. (A suggestion that has nothing to do with Elayne relates Rand's self-inflicted hand wound when Liah is lost in Shadar Logoth in LOC (the bloody hand) to the balefire he used on her at the end of COS (the "white-hot iron" is Min's description of balefire, since she doesn't know what it actually is).) The bloody black rocks are probably the rocks of Shayol Ghul; this seems to tie in with "his blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul" from the Karaethon Cycle. PERRIN: wolf, broken crown, trees flowering all around him. The wolf refers to his wolfbrotherhood. The "broken crown" has to do with his marriage to Faile. Faile is second in line for the Saldaean throne, after her father. The meaning of the flowering trees is unclear; it has been suggested that they refer to Loial singing to the trees over Perrin's family's grave, or that Perrin will find the Song. ___________________________________ [TEOTW: 16, The Wisdom, 195] The number of sparks increased when Nynaeve joined the party. Obviously, Nynaeve is an important part of the group who will fight the Shadow. ___________________________________ From The Great Hunt [TGH: 24, New Friends and Old Enemies, 305] [TGH: 43, A Plan, 511] ELAYNE: The Rose Crown of Andor, a severed hand, not hers, a red-hot iron and an axe. The crown is the Crown of Andor, which Elayne claimed in TPOD. The severed hand, red-hot iron, and axe may be related to the bloody hand and white-hot iron Min saw around Rand. ___________________________________ [TGH: 43, A Plan, 511] NYNAEVE: Man's ring of heavy gold. This is Lan's ring. The vision could symbolize Ny's love connection with our favorite Warder, or it could refer to some particular instance, yet to come, in which she'll need the ring for some specific purpose. ___________________________________ [TGH: 24, New Friends and Old Enemies, 305] EGWENE A white flame Duh. Refers to Eg. becoming Amyrlin Seat. ___________________________________ From The Dragon Reborn [TDR: 6, The Hunt Begins, 62-3] PERRIN: An Aiel in a cage, a Tinker with a sword, a female falcon and a female hawk on his shoulders, a darkness swirling around him. The caged Aiel is Gaul, who Perrin freed. The Tinker is Aram. The swirling darkness is vague. Possibly, it just means that the shadow was chasing him, or maybe more specific-- there are Darkfriends near to him? Maybe this is the same darkness Min sees around Rand and Perrin, with the fireflies/sparks? ___________________________________ From The Shadow Rising [TSR: 17, Deceptions, 198] LOGAIN: A halo of gold and blue, signifying glory to come. This may have to do with being him being un-gentled, but there is probably more to this than that. Suggestions include the "Rand fakes death and Logain takes credit" theory (see Eg's dream), the "Logain uses Callandor" theory, and the "Logain takes care of Taimandred" theory. ___________________________________ [TSR: 1, Seeds of Shadow, 21] GAWYN: A heron marked sword, his or threatening, His banner with a field of green rather than white, either breaking Egwene's neck or kneeling to her The meaning of the heron sword is uncertain. I guess Gawyn could be a blademaster. "Threatening" could refer to fighting Hammar and Coulin in the Tower Coup. The banner is that of the Younglings, whom Gawyn commands. ___________________________________ [TSR: 1, Seeds of Shadow, 16-23] RANDOM AES SEDAI IN WHITE TOWER: A silver collar, similar to, or actually, a damane's. Also lots of death and suffering/bones etc. The bones, death, etc. probably refer to the Tower's current strife (the coup, etc.). The collar vision agrees with others which show that at least some AS will be captured by the Seanchan. ___________________________________ From The Fires of Heaven [TFOH: 26, Sallie Daera, 317] SHERIAM: "Rays of silver and blue flashed about her fiery hair, and a soft golden light; Min could not say what it meant." *shrug* Could this have something to do with her being Keeper? Could it be related to Logain's gold and blue aura? ___________________________________ [TFOH: 26, Sallie Daera, 317] CARLINYA: "a raven floating beside her dark hair; more of a drawing of the bird than the bird itself. She thought it was a tattoo..." Carlinya is one of Sheriam's faction with the rebel AS. The raven tattoo indicates that a person is "property" of the Seanchan empress. ___________________________________ [TFOH: 26, Sallie Daera, 320] EDESINA: "[...] a silvery collar suddenly appeared, snug around the woman's neck, and as suddenly seemed to shatter. Min shivered. She did not like viewings connected to the Seanchan. At least Edesina would escape somehow." Meaning is obvious. Note that Edesina is one of the Aes Sedai sent to Tarabon, which we know to be under Seanchan control. ___________________________________ [TFOH: 28, Trapped, 343] SS/GARETH BRYNE: "When Bryne came in, I had a viewing. An aura, and a bull ripping roses from around its neck. All I know is this. If he stays close to you [SS], you live. If he gets too far away, for too long, you are going to die. Both of you." The bull ripping off the roses indicates Gareth Bryne severing his ties to Andor and Morgase. (The crest of House Bryne is a bull with a wreath of roses, which symbolize the Rose Crown, around its neck.) We have not yet seen a situation where SS's or Bryne's life depends on having the other one around. ___________________________________ [TSR: 47, The Truth of a Viewing, 544] GAWYN: either breaking Egwene's neck or kneeling to her The either/or vision about Egwene is similar to several of Eg's dreams which imply that Gawyn will either get over his psychosis and go along with Egwene, or that he'll end up destroying her, maybe killing her. ___________________________________ [TFOH: 50, To Teach and Learn, 592] FAOLAIN: '"A nasty woman," Min murmured, squinting after Faolain ... "You'd think, if there was any justice, she would have an unpleasant future ahead of her."' By implication, Faolain has a good future. This perhaps will come of her swearing fealty to Eg. ___________________________________ [TFOH: 50, To Teach, and Learn, 598-9] MARIGAN, NICOLA, and AREINA: (Three women refugees with Ny et al.) "Those three you brought with are trouble, and that is a viewing." ... "I only caught glimpses of aura, and just out of the corner of my eye. Never when I was looking right at them, where I might have made something out." Marigan was Moggy, which certainly was trouble. The other two are possibly the 2 BA Mog had with her. Even if they are not, they are causing problems among the Salidar AS--they tried to blackmail Eg, and succeeded in blackmailing Myrelle. Their antics prompted Eg to tell El and Ny not to return to the army until she deals with them, which will doubtless cause more trouble. ___________________________________ [TFOH: 50, To Teach, and Learn, 598-9] RAND, ELAYNE, MIN, AVIENDHA: 'Elayne leaped off the cliff. "Min, you had a viewing about Rand and me, didn't you?" [...] "Yes." It was a wary word. "You saw that we were going to fall in love." "Not exactly. I saw you'd fall in love with him. I don't know what he feels for you, only that he's tied to you some way." [...] "And you saw there would be someone else. Someone I'd have to ... share ... him with." "Two, " Min said hoarsely. "And .... And I'm one." [...] "Who is the third?" "I don't know," Min mumbled. "Only that she has a temper. Not Nynaeve."' This seems to be in the process of coming true. Elayne, Min, and Aviendha (the third one, with a temper) are all in love with Rand, and he with them. ___________________________________ From Lord of Chaos [LoC: 41, A Threat, 527] RAND: Countless thousands of sparkling lights, like stars or fireflies, rushed into a great blackness, trying to fill it up, rushed in and were swallowed. There seemed to be more lights than she had ever seen before, but the darkness swallowed them at a greater rate, too. And there was something else, something new, an aura of yellow and brown and purple that made her stomach clench. The sparks and darkness seem to be a continuous indication of the status of the fight against the Shadow. They're first mentioned when we first meet Min in TEOTW. The nasty bruise-colored aura could indicate Rand's (physical and psychological) injury during his captivity by the Tower AS, or it could indicate that he's growing more and more susceptible to the Taint. ___________________________________ [LoC: 41, A Threat, 532] RAND: "I saw an aura around you [Rand] in the throne room. Aes Sedai are going to hurt you. Women who can channel, anyway. It was all confused; I'm not sure about the Aes Sedai part. But it might happen more than once." Injury at the hands of channelling women has happened once--Rand's captivity by the Tower AS. It is possible that he'll be hurt by channelling women again, although not necessarily more AS--after all, they've had their turn. The most likely groups seem to be Sevanna's Wise Ones, the Black Ajah, and the Seanchan. Other possibilities are the Sea Folk, the Sharans, the Salidar AS, and some Forsaken. ___________________________________ [LoC: 41, A Threat, 534] MELAINE: will bear twin daughters Melaine is currently pregnant. ___________________________________ [LoC: 46, Beyond the Gate, 578-9] RAND and PERRIN: "When you two were together, I saw those fireflies and the darkness stronger than ever.... But with two of you in the same room, the fireflies were holding their own instead of being eaten faster than they can swarm, the way they do when you're alone. Twice he's going to have to be there, or you [Rand]...." "If he's not, something bad will happen to you." "Very bad." Rand: "Then I'll just have to keep him around." Min: "I don't know that that will be enough, it will happen if he is not there, but nothing I saw said it won't because he is. It will be very bad, Rand." The sparks indicate the odds in the fight vs. the Shadow. Clearly, Rand doesn't stand a chance w/o Perrin. The first time Rand needed Perrin was probably the capture by the Tower AS. The second hasn't happened, so Perrin better hurry up in Ghealdan. ___________________________________ [LOC: 49, The Mirror of Mists, 616] RAND: (possible viewing): Rand says, '"Trust me, Min. I won't hurt you. I will cut off my arm before I hurt you." She was silent, and he finally looked round to find her peering at him with a strange expression. "That's very nice to hear, sheepherder." Her voice was as odd as her face.' This may or may not be a real viewing. However, it seems like she saw something related to what he'd just said. Maybe he'll cut off his arm (or lose a hand!), or hurt her somehow. ___________________________________ [LoC: 50, Thorns,626] MISC. NOBLES: "Maringil...was going to die by poison. Colavaere... would die by hanging. Meilan...would die by the knife. ...Aracome and Maraconn and Gueyam were all going to die too, bloody deaths, in battle. Colavaere killed the first two, or had them killed, and then hung herself when her plan to seize the Sun Throne was foiled. The last three died in Rand's Seanchan campaign in TPOD. ___________________________________ [LoC: 50, Thorns, 628] BERELAIN: "a man in white who will make her fall head over heels." Who is it? The only groups of people who regularly wear white are WCs and gai'shain. It seems most likely that this mysterious man is Galad--there's a certain symmetry to the Most Beautiful Woman and the Most Beautiful Man getting together. Not to mention, Berelain is in Ghealdan at the end of TPOD, and thus in prime geographic condition to meet some handsome Whitecloaks. ___________________________________ From A Crown of Swords [ACOS: 2, the Butcher's Yard, 88] WHOLE BUNCH O' FOLKS: "Taim has blood in his past and blood in his future, but you could guess that. He's a dangerous man. They [the Asha'man] seem to be gathering images like AS....The problem is, what I can see is all blurry....Kiruna and that lot have all sorts of things around them, but they stay so close together that it all...jumbles together....It's even muddier with the [Tower AS] prisoners....I keep feeling there is something important, if I could only pick it out. You need to know." This is pretty vague. There is something important that Rand must know about Taim, or the Asha'man, or the Aes Sedai sworn to Rand, or the Tower AS prisoners. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 33, A Bath, 526] RAND: I saw you and another man. I couldn't make out either face, but I knew one was you. You touched, and seemed to merge into one another, and....one of you dies, and one doesn't." Rand takes this to mean that LTT is a real presence in his mind. That seems too easy, and Min seems doubtful about that interpretation. ___________________________________ [ACOS 34, Ta'veren, 534] MERANA, ALANNA, BERA, FAELDRIN, RAFELA: "They will keep their word....I just saw these five in your hand." Those five will keep their oath of fealty to Rand. Note that Verin and Kiruna are not part of this group. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 35, Into the Woods, 543] RAND: "He would almost certainly fail without a woman who was dead and gone..." The most likely person for this to be referring to is Moiraine, who everybody thinks is dead. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 35, Into the Woods, 546] MOIRAINE: "it was not as if she had really expected Moiraine to turn up alive. Moiraine was the only viewing of hers that had ever failed." Obviously Min had some viewing of Moiraine which had not been fulfilled by the time Moir took a header through the Red Door. WE know Min is never wrong, and thus, Moiraine will be back! ___________________________________ [ACOS: 35, Into the Woods, 549] DARLIN, CARALINE: Caraline Damodred and High Lord Darlin will get married. This has not occurred, but he is courting her. DARLIN: "To her eyes a crown suddenly appeared on Darlin's head, a simple golden circlet with a slightly curved sword lying on its side above his brows. The king's crown he would wear one day, though of what country, she could not say. Tear had High Lords instead of a king" Somebody suggested that this may be a stripped-down version of the Illianer Crown of Swords, but it is more likely a crown that we haven't seen before, or of a new country. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 642] CADSUANE: "It's Cadsuane. She is going to teach you something, you and the Asha'man. All the Asha'man, I mean. It's something you have to learn, but I don't know what it is, except that none of you will like learning it from her. You aren't going to like it at all." What will Cadsuane teach the Asha'man? Our only clue is her experience in dealing with male channellers, and that men she has brought to the White Tower for gentling live markedly longer than usual. So, it may have something to do with how to decrease or slow down the effects of the Taint. Another suggestion is that she will figure out how to do male-female linking. Given her Glossary entry, maybe she will teach them how to survive without Saidin, which would explain why they won't like it. Given the general behaviour of the Asha'man, the thing they really need to learn is MANNERS! ___________________________________ From The Path of Daggers [TPOD: 29, A Cup of Sleep, 560-562] FOUR TOWER AES SEDAI PRISONERS WHO WERE COMPELLED BY VERIN: BELDEINE: "She was going to bond an Asha'man as a Warder!" SARENE: "A tempstuous love affair, of all things!" NESUNE: "One red-and-green aura spoke of honors, and fame. A huge building appeared above her head and vanished. A library she would found. ELZA: No specific viewing. SORILEA: "She had never seen anything really useful around that white-haired harridan" ALL FOUR, PLUS SORILEA: '"Suddenly an aura flashed, blue and yellow tinged with green, encompassing them all. And Min knew its meaning....'They will serve you, each in her fashion, Rand.".... Sorilea would serve him? Suddenly Min wondered exactly what "in her fashion" meant.' This is all either trivial, self-explanatory, or both. XXXXXXXXXXXX 4.3: Various Prophecies _________________________________________________________________ * The Eye of the World * The Shadow Rising * The Fires of Heaven * Lord of Chaos * A Crown of Swords _________________________________________________________________ From The Eye of the World [TEOTW: 26, Whitebridge, 327] The prophecy of the Horn of Valere: In the last, lorn fight 'gainst the fall of long night, the mountains stand guard, and the dead shall be ward, for the grave is no bar to my call. Translation: The Heroes of the Horn will fight against the Shadow at the Last Battle. ___________________________________ [TEOTW: 40, The Web Tightens, 514] Foretelling by Elaida: This I Foretell...and swear under the Light that I can say no clearer. From this day Andor marches toward pain and division. The Shadow has yet to darken to its blackest, and I cannot see if the Light will come after. Where the world has wept one tear, it will weep thousands....This, too, I Foretell. Pain and division come to the whole world, and this man [Rand] stands at the heart of it. It's all pretty much occurred as she said. ___________________________________ [TEOTW: Glossary, Dragon Reborn, 662] ...the prophecies say the Dragon Reborn will bring a new Breaking to the world... Fulfillment in progress. He hasn't broken it much literally, but he is doing so in a figurative sense. ___________________________________ [TEOTW: Glossary, Far Dareis Mai, 663] ...it is prophesied that a child born of a Maiden will unite the clans and return to the Aiel to [sic.] the greatness they knew during the Age of Legends. Rand was born of a Maiden, has united the clans (besides the Shaido), and the "greatness of the AOL" is coming to pass--the Aiel are very famous in the lands Rand holds. ___________________________________ From The Shadow Rising [TSR: 1, Seeds of Shadow, 29] Elaida's first Foretelling: The very first thing Elaida had ever Foretold, while still an Accepted -- and had known enough even then to keep to herself -- was that the Royal line of Andor would be the key to defeating the Dark One in the Last Battle. She had attached herself to Morgase as soon as it was clear Morgase would succeed to the throne... Elaida interpreted this Foretelling as meaning that somebody from Morgase's line would be crucial to defeating the DO. However, since the timing of the Foretelling is not certain, it may refer to the previous Royal line of Andor, Mondrellein's line. Rand, of course, is Mondrellein's grandson, through Tigraine, and Rand is certainly key to defeating the DO. If Elaida's interpretation is correct, the Foretelling could refer to Elayne and/or Gawyn. ___________________________________ [TSR: 15, Into the Doorway, 177] Snakey dudes' answers to Mat's Question (What is the fate which he must go to Rhuidean to meet?): To marry the Daughter of the Nine moons. To die and live again, and live once more a part of what was. To give up half the light of the world to save the world. Well, he's about to meet the Daughter. He's died and lived again on two occasions, and the memories he got from the Foxes count as "living once more a part of what was. In light of other prophecies, "give up half the light of the world" probably refers to sacrificing an eyeball. ___________________________________ [TSR: 19, The Wavedancer, 220-1] Jendai Prophecy (Coramoor) He can wield the One Power ... and he holds the Sword That Cannot Be Touched. The Aiel have come over the Dragonwall to his call. ... The Stone of Tear has fallen, and war breaks over the nations of the land. Those who once ruled have returned, and been driven back for the first time. ... The White Tower shall be broken by his name, and Aes Sedai shall kneel to wash his feet and dry them with their hair. All of this has happened except for the icky foot-washing bit. Perhaps that's just a figurative way of saying "Aes Sedai will serve him"? Note that foot-washing occurs during the Amyrlin-raising ceremony. ___________________________________ [TSR: 23, Beyond the Stone, 270] Wise One Dream (Moiraine, Melaine, and Seana in conversation on Chaendaer): We did not see Egwene or Mat Cauthon at all. It was no more than an even chance that the young man who calls himself Rand al'Thor would come. If he did not, it was certain that he would die, and the Aiel too. Yet he has come, and if he survives Rhuidean, some of the Aiel at least will survive. This we know. If you (Moiraine) had not come, he would have died. If Aan'allein had not come, you would have died. If you did not go through the rings... Translation: If Rand hadn't gone to Rhuidean, and gained the Aiel Instant Army, he would have died, and the Aiel would have died out, too. Since Rand survived Rhuidean, some portion of the Aiel will survive. If Moiraine hadn't gone, then Rand would have been killed by Lanfear at the Cairhien docks. There was no on-screen moment where Lan saved Moiraine, but maybe it happened during one of the Shadowspawn attacks. What would have happened if Moiraine hadn't gone through the rings? ___________________________________ [TSR: 25, The Road to the Spear, 285-6] Prophecy of Rhuidean: The stone that never falls will fall to announce his coming. Of the blood, but not raised by the blood, he will come from Rhuidean at dawn, and tie you together with bonds you cannot break. He will take you back and he will destroy you. Rand is of Aiel blood, but not raised by the Aiel. He came from Rhuidean at dawn. I'm uncertain what the "bonds you cannot break" are, maybe the bonds of history. He "took them back," revealing their history, and he is in the process of destroying them. There has already been a split between the Aiel who follow Rand and those that don't, and the latter are fraying apart. There are also those who succumb to the "bleakness." Finally, there are all the Aiel who are getting killed in battle. ___________________________________ [TSR: 24, Rhuidean, 281-2] MAT'S WISHES: Holes in memory filled/a way to be free of Aes Sedai and the Power/Away and back to Rhuidean He got all three, although not exactly in the way he expected. ___________________________________ From The Fires of Heaven [TFOH: Prologue, The First Sparks Fall: 20] ELAIDA IN CONVERSATION: "Or do any of you believe he [Rand] will go willingly to his prophesized death to save the world?" Prophecy at least appears to say that Rand will die. ___________________________________ From Lord of Chaos [LoC: 14, Dreams and Nightmares, 255] Nicola's Foretelling: "The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond. Three on the boat, and he who is dead yet lives." The great battle done, but the world not done with battle. The land divided by the return and the guardians balance out the servants. The future teeters on the edge of a blade. The sword, spear, and seeress are clearly Elayne, Aviendha, and Min. Are they the "three on the boat"? Probably. I've yet to see a satisfactory explanation of the "he who is dead" bit, although it ties in with the King-Arthur funeral imagery of one of Min's visions, and the WOs' boat dream. The "great battle" line could refer to the Last Battle, perhaps saying that even after TG, the struggle between the Light and Shadow continues, or that there will be more fighting afterwards, or maybe there'll be a big battle BEFORE TG. The land divided by the return refers to the Seanchan invasion (Randland is rapidly becoming divided into Rand-controlled aread and Seanchan-controlled areas). The guardians and the servants are the Asha'man and the Aes Sedai. The last line is just metaphorical melodramatics--this war is crucial, duh. ___________________________________ [LOC: 19, Matters of Toh, 312] Wise Ones Dreams: "Melaine and Bair dreamed of you [Rand] on a boat with three women whose faces they could not see and a scale tilting first one way and then the other. Melaine and Amys dreamed of a man standing by your side with a dagger to your throat, but you did not see him. Bair and Amys dreamed of you cutting the wetlands in two with a sword. All three had this dream, which makes it especially significant. Rain, coming from a bowl. There are snares and pitfalls around the bowl. If the right hands pick it up, they will find a treasure perhaps as great as the bowl. If the wrong hands, the world is doomed. The key to finding the bowl is to find the one who is no longer." The women in the boat echo the boat imagery from Nicola's foretelling, and are probably El, Min, and Avi. The scale indicates that everything seems up in the air now. Rand might win, the Shadow might, who knows? The unseen man with a dagger clearly means that there is a big threat to Rand right under his nose, which he is not seeing. This could be Taim. Some people have suggested that it should be taken more literally, and that the unseen guy is a Gray Man. Furthermore, it could be Dashiva, who Rand trusted more than Taim and who tried to kill Rand at the end of TPOD. The cutting of the wetlands could indicate how Randland is polarizing into pro- and anti-Dragon factions, or it could refer to Rand's semi-successful campaign against the Seanchan in Ebou Dar. He halted their advance into his territory, but he failed to remove them from most of the territory they already controlled. This would tie in with Nicola's Foretelling of "the land divided by the return." The rest concerns the Bowl of the Winds. It has the power to bring some rain to parched Randland. The "treasure" is the stockpile of OP objects of which the Bowl was part. Note that while the good guys got a lot of those things, Sammael's raiding party may have gotten away with quite a few things as well, such as the Oath Rod he gave to Sevanna. Does "the wrong hands" refer to Sammael, or does it refer to Moridin (who sent Moggy to find the stash), or even the Seanchan? The key to finding the one who is no longer is to find the bowl. The single person most instrumental in finding the bowl was Setalle Anan--she led El and Ny to the Kin, who eventually led them and Mat to the bowl. So, the question remains, "No longer what?" ___________________________________ [LoC: 26, Connecting Lines, 373] Rand's visit Behind the Red Door (in Tear): "He [Rand] knew he had a chance to live, if a seemingly impossible one. If you would live, you must die." We also know that he asked something about cleansing Saidin. This has a number of possible meanings. Maybe it means "if you would live future lives, you must die (physically) in this one. (cf LTT's wanting to die for good, never be spun out again.[LoC: 18, A Taste of Solitude, 299].) Or, Rand will die, but will get resurrected. Or, one of Rand and LTT will die and one will not. Or, Rand will seemingly die, but won't really. ___________________________________ From A Crown of Swords [ACOS: Prologue, Lightnings, 26] Elaida's Foretelling #2: The White Tower will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole and stronger than ever. Rand al'Thor will face the Amyrlin Seat and know her anger. The Black Tower will be rent in blood and fire, and sisters will walk its grounds." One of the AS factions will be triumphant, eventually. Either Elaida or Egwene is going to get pissed at Rand. (That's not surprising, the way he's treated the AS.) It's probably Egwene, since Elaida has a definite air of doom about her. This "know her anger" could tie in with Eg's dream about confronting Rand. The Asha'man will either undergo a split (followers of Taim and followers of Rand?), or will be destroyed (depending on how one defines "rend"). There are currently Sisters walking the grounds of the Black Tower--the members of Elaida's task force who have been captured and bonded. ___________________________________ [ACOS: 34, Ta'veren, 538] Jendai Prophecy, pt 2: Rand: "That is what the Jendai Prophecy says. The Sea Folk will serve the Coramoor." Harine: "The Jendai prophecy says you will bring us to glory, and all the sea of the world will be ours. As we give to you, you must give to us." Self-explanatory. XXXXXXXXXXXX 4.4: The Dark Prophecy _________________________________________________________________ [TGH: 7, Blood Calls Blood, 89] This may not be actual prophecy. See Verin's commentary [TGH: 7, Blood Calls Blood, 90]. Some parts may be prophetic, and others may just be Shadow propaganda. It is a source of information, though, so here it is. Daughter of the Night, she walks again. The ancient war, she yet fights. Her new lover she seeks, who shall serve her and die, yet serve still. Who shall stand against her coming? The Shining Walls shall kneel. The Daughter of the Night is Lanfear, and she was indeed free at the time this was written, and she was still fighting the ancient war (i.e. still working for the DO). If "her new lover" is supposed to be Rand, that line has definitely not been fulfilled. He might die, but it is very doubtful at this point that he will serve her. "Shining Walls" is a reference to Tar Valon, and thus the Aes Sedai. To whom are they supposed to kneel--Lanfear? Rand? Egwene? The Seanchan? Blood feeds blood. Blood calls blood. Blood is, and blood was, and blood shall ever be. The man who channels stands alone. He gives his friends for sacrifice. Two roads before him, one to death beyond dying, one to life eternal. Which will he choose? Which will he choose? What hand shelters? What hand slays? Likely, "the man who channels" is Rand. The bit about giving his friends for sacrifice is interesting; Rand has been trying to isolate himself, and focusing on using people as tools. By doing so, he may be playing into the Shadow's hands. The two roads probably refer to joining with or fighting against the Shadow. Which one leads to eternal life, which to eternal death? The Chosen servants of the Shadow are granted immortality. The last four questions seem to indicate that all is in a state of confusion, which it is. Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom. Isam waited in the high passes. The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill. One did live, and one did die, but both still are. The Time of Change has come. This gives us a bit of history, and is our first clue as to the identity of Slayer. Luc (Tigraine's brother) was sent into the Blight by Gitara Moroso. Isam (Lan's cousin) vanished when his mother's party was run down by Trollocs when Malkier fell. (Isam's mama was one of the people who betrayed Malkier.) Apparently, Isam's soul got placed into Luc's body (maybe a la Aran'gar and Osan'gar and Moridin), creating the person Perrin knows of as Slayer. The Watchers wait on Toman Head. The seed of the Hammer burns the ancient tree. Death shall sow, and summer burn, before the Great Lord comes. Death shall reap, and bodies fail, before the Great Lord comes. Again the seed slays ancient wrong, before the Great Lord comes. Now the Great Lord comes. This phrase deals with the Seanchan invasion. The "ancient tree" refers to Tarabon, whose symbol is a tree (supposedly a branch of the Tree of Life). The "seed of the Hammer" are the Seanchan, who claim to be Hawkwing's descendents (Hawkwing was also known as the Hammer). Thus, the Seanchan have invaded Tarabon. The bit about "summer burn" most likely refers to the recent spate of DO-induced hot weather in Randland. The "bodies fail" bit doesn't seem to have come to pass yet; it's been suggested that there will be a plague of some sort. I have no idea what "ancient wrong" the Seanchan (the seed) are supposed to slay before the Great Lord comes. Perhaps it will be apparent when it happens. ___________________________________ [TEOTW 33, Four Kings in Shadow, p434] Another possible Dark Prophecy, courtesy of Howal Gode: "It is written that when he (the DO) awakes, the new Dreadlords will be there to praise him." XXXXXXXXXXXX 4.5: The Karaethon Cycle _________________________________________________________________ * The Eye of the World * The Great Hunt * The Dragon Reborn * The Shadow Rising * The Fires of Heaven * Lord of Chaos * A Crown of Swords _________________________________________________________________ From The Eye of the World [TEOTW: 13, Choices, 158-159] Thom in conversation: One of the Prophecies says that the Stone of Tear will never fall until the People of the Dragon come to the Stone. Another says the Stone will never fall till the Sword that Cannot Be Touched is wielded by the Dragon's hand. This has been fulfilled. The People of the Dragon are the Aiel, who attacked the Stone of Tear the night Rand broke in and took Callandor. ___________________________________ From The Great Hunt [TGH Header Prophecy] And it shall come to pass that what men made shall be shattered, and the Shadow shall lie across the Pattern of the Age, and the DO shall once more lay his hand upon the world of man. Women shall weep and men quail as the nations of the earth are rent like rotting cloth. Neither shall anything stand nor abide... Yet one shall be born to face the Shadow...and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth at his rebirth. In sackcloth and ashes shall he clothe the people, and he shall break the world again by his coming, tearing apart all ties that bind. Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light. Let tears flow, O ye people of the world. Weep for your salvation. This is pretty general stuff. Great upheavals will come to the world when the time for the Last Battle nears, yadda yadda. This is all obviously happening right now; Rand is "breaking the world" figuratively, by causing all sorts of social unrest. "His blood shall give us the Light (at the Last Battle)" is reminiscent of Min's viewing of "black rocks, red with blood," and of the "Twice dawns the day" prophecy, below. ___________________________________ [TGH: 22, Watchers, 275] Vandene talking to Moiraine: Five ride forth, and four return. Above the watchers shall he proclaim himself, bannered cross the sky in fire... This has been fulfilled; it refers to the events at Falme at the end of TGH. The five who rode forth were Ingtar, Hurin, Rand, Mat, and Perrin. Rand proclaimed himself the DR after the battle at Falme, where he and Ish fought in the sky. ___________________________________ [TGH: 26, Discord, 325-6], [TSR: 9, Decisions, 126] Thom to Rand: Twice and twice shall he be marked, twice to live, and twice to die, Once the heron to set his path. Twice the heron, to name him true. Once the Dragon for remembrance lost. Twice the Dragon for the price he must pay. The Dragon will be marked in four ways, with two herons and two dragons. He got the first heron in the Portal Stone world. The second heron was received at Falme, when he named himself the Dragon Reborn. The two dragons were received at Rhuidean; the "remembrance lost" refers to the lost history of the Aiel. The significance of the second Dragon, wrt "the price he must pay" has not been revealed. ___________________________________ [TGH: 26, Discord, 326] Thom to Rand: Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed. Once for mourning, once for birth. Red on black, the Dragon's blood stains the rock of Shayol Ghul. In the Pit of Doom shall his blood free men from the Shadow. "Twice dawns the day" may indicate that there will be an eclipse when Rand's blood is shed. Compare this to the Greeting from the the Amyrlin ceremony when Siuan Sanche arrives in Fal Dara in [TGH: 2, The Welcome,17]: "Against what do we guard?" "The shadow at noon." The second line may indicate that Rand will die and be resurrected, or maybe just that he will die, and the world will be reborn. The fragment ends with yet another reference to Rand's blood being necessary to defeat the DO. ___________________________________ From The Dragon Reborn [TDR: Header Prophecy] And his paths shall be many, and who shall know his name, for he shall be born among us many times, in many guises, as he has been and ever will be, time without end. His coming shall be like the sharp edge of the plow, turning our lives in furrows from out of the places where we lie in our silence. The breaker of bonds; the forger of chains. The maker of futures; the unshaper of destiny. Again, pretty general stuff. Rand is breaking bonds, etc. ___________________________________ [TDR: 6, The Hunt Begins, 57] Moiraine in conversation, listing bits of the Karaethon Cycle: He has yet to break the nations, or shatter the world.... What does it mean that he shall 'slay his people people with the sword of peace, and destroy them with the leaf'? What does it mean that he shall bind the nine moons to serve him? There are others. What 'wound of madness and cutting of hope' has he healed? What chains has he broken, and who put into chains? The breaking of nations is well underway. The bit about slaying his people with the sword of peace, etc, refers to the Aiel--by revealing the peaceful past of the Aiel, he changed them forever, and set them on the road to the destruction from which only a 'remnant of a remnant' will survive. "Nine Moons" is a reference to the Seanchan, and so this indicates that the Seanchan will eventually come under Rand's control. I don't know what the "wound of madness" is, although it may refer to the Taint. The breaking of chains could refer to many things, e.g. the chains binding people to the Shadow (Ingtar, Asmo, Tear, Andor). It's also been suggested that this refers to the possibility of Rand freeing the Seanchan damane and other slaves. Rand has put people in figurative chains, as well--Asmodean, the Dragonsworn AS, all the nations he is conquering. ___________________________________ [TDR: 41, Threads in the Pattern, 373] On the slopes of Dragonmount shall he be born, born of a maiden wedded to no man. Shaiel, a.k.a. Tigraine, a.k.a. Rand's birth mum, was a Maiden of the spear, who do not wed. (Technically, maybe she was wedded to Taringail, but I guess running off into the Aiel Waste counted as a divorce.) ___________________________________ From The Shadow Rising [TSR: 3, Reflection, 71] His blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul, washing away the Shadow, sacrifice for man's salvation. Yet another reference to blood on the rocks. ___________________________________ [TSR: 6, Doorways, 93] Power of the Shadow made human flesh, wakened to turmoil, strife and ruin. The Reborn One, marked and bleeding, dances the sword in dreams and mist, chains the Shadowsworn to his will, from the city, lost and forsaken, leads the spears to war once more, breaks the spears and makes them see, truth long hidden in the ancient dream. The "Power of the Shadow made human flesh" could refer to any number of things--the Forsaken, Fain, Slayer, or the Bubble of Evil at the start of TSR. "Dances the sword in dreams and mist" could be a reference to the mirror incident in the Stone in TSR. Rand has chained the Shadowsworn, in the person of Asmodean. He leads the Aiel spears to war, and has also revealed the truth of Aiel history, which has resulted in many Aiel breaking their spears and running off bonkers. ___________________________________ [TSR: 21, Into the Heart, 244] Into the heart he thrusts his sword, into the heart, to hold their hearts. Who draws it out shall follow after, What hand can grasp that fearful blade? Rand stuck the Sword Which is Not (Callandor) into the floor of the Heart of the Stone, partly as a reminder to the lords of Tear that he was the ruler of their country. The last two lines seem to indicate that somebody other than Rand will remove Callandor from the Stone. Indeed, this happened; Narishma fetched it for Rand in TPOD. ___________________________________ From The Fires of Heaven [TFOH: Header Prophecy] With his coming are the dread fires born again. The hills burn, and the land turns sere. The tides of men run out, and the hours dwindle. The wall is pierced, and the veil of parting raised. Storms rumble beyond the horizon, and the fires of heaven purge the earth. There is no salvation without destruction, no hope this side of death. The drying and burning are surely a reference to the drought and hot weather which was going on in Randland until the Bowl of the Winds was used. The piercing of the wall, and the raising of the veil may refer to the DO breaking loose. That phrase calls to mind a phrase from the Bible. This is discussed more thoroughly in Section 3. ___________________________________ From Lord of Chaos [LoC: Trailer Prophecy] The unstained tower breaks and bends knee to the forgotten sign. The seas rage, and stormclouds gather unseen. Beyond the horizon, hidden fires swell, and serpents nestle in the bosom. What was exalted is cast down; what was cast down is raised up. Order burns to clear his path. The first sentence is fulfilled: the Tower is broken, and some AS have knelt and sworn fealty to Rand (whose sign is the "forgotten" ancient AS symbol). The second sentence indicates that all is not well. Something is rotten in Randland. People are not what they seem. The serpents in the bosom could be Taim and Halima, among others. The last sentence indicates the uncertain nature of the world. It could be referring to the AS and male channellers specifically, but there is more casting down and raising up than that going on. ___________________________________ From A Crown of Swords [ACOS: Header Prophecy] There can be no health in us, nor any good thing grow, for the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and he one with the land. Soul of fire, heart of stone, in pride he conquers, forcing the proud to yield. He calls upon the mountains to kneel, and the seas to give way, and the very skies to bow. Pray that the heart of stone remembers tears, and the soul of fire, love. (From a much-disputed translation of The Prophecies of the Dragon by the poet Kyera Termendal, of Shiota, believed to have been published between FY700 and FY800) This is a clear reference to Rand's increasing self-isolation, hubris, etc. Also note the 'Dragon is one with the land' stuff matches the Fisher King legend/reference (see section 3.8). ___________________________________ [ACOS 34, Ta'veren, p533] Rand's thoughts: The Prophecies said he would bind together the people of every land--"The north shall he tie to the east, and the west shall be bound to the south." Rand's interpretation: all the world will follow him. Alternative interpretation: Rand will hold the north and east; the Seanchan will hold the west and south. This seems more likely, at least for the present. It also agrees with Nicola's Foretelling ("the land divided by the return"). ___________________________________ [ACOS: Trailer Prophecy] Master of the lightnings, rider on the storm, wearer of a crown of swords, spinner-out of fate. Who thinks he turns the Wheel of Time, may learn the truth too late. (From a fragmentary translation of _The Prophecies of the Dragon_, attributed to Lord Mangore Kiramin, Sword-bard of Aramaelle and Warder to Caraighan Maconar, into what was then called the vulgar tongue (circa 300 AB)) Similar in tone and meaning to the ACOS header prophecy, indicating that Rand's pride may cause some big trouble. XXXXXXXXXXXX 4.6: Perrin's Dreams _________________________________________________________________ * The Dragon Reborn * The Shadow Rising _________________________________________________________________ From The Dragon Reborn [TDR: 43, Shadowbrothers, 426] Egwene and Nynaeve and Elayne stood looking at a huge metal cage, with a raised door held on a heavy spring. They stepped in and reached up together to loose the catch. The barred door snapped down behind them. A woman with her hair all in braids laughed at them, and another woman all in white laughed at her. This refers to El, Eg, and Ny's Tairen adventures in TDR. Braid-woman is Liandrin, White-clad-woman is Lanfear. ___________________________________ [TDR: 43, Shadowbrothers, 425] Mat, rattling a dice cup. His opponent stared at Mat with eyes of fire. Mat did not seem to see the man, but Perrin knew him. "Mat!" he shouted. "It's Ba'alzamon. Light, Mat, you're dicing with Ba'alzamon!" This is likely referring to Mat's "bet" with Rhavin/Gaebril in TDR. ___________________________________ From The Shadow Rising [TSR: 28, To the Tower of Ghenjei, 320-1] Rand stood amid swirling stormwinds, laughing wildly, even madly, arms upraised, and on the winds rode [dragons]. Not fulfilled, unless this is some sort of reference to Rhuidean. The Seanchan Raken and To'Raken are both Dragonesque animals. hidden eyes watched Rand, and there was no way of telling whether he knew it This is possibly general--all the people watching Rand, e.g. Forsaken, Wise Ones, AS, etc. or it may be something more specific that we do not know about. Nynaeve and Elayne stalking cautiously through a demented landscape of twisted, shadowed buildings, hunting some dangerous beast This refers to El and Ny going to Tanchico to hunt down the BA. Compare this description to the way Tanchico looks to Eg in TAR. Mat, standing where a road forked ahead of him. He flipped a coin, started down one branch, and suddenly was wearing a wide-brimmed hat and walking with a staff bearing a short sword blade. Fulfilled--Mat flipped a coin at the Portal Stone, to get to Rhuidean, which led to him getting the hat and glaive. Egwene and a woman with long white hair were staring at him in surprise while behind them the White Tower crumbled stone by stone. The woman is Amys. This bit is probably not prophetic, but a chance meeting in TAR (thus the surprised look). The crumbling of the Tower has been fulfilled, at least partly--it is broken, but will it be destroyed even further? ___________________________________ [TSR: 53, The Price of a Departure, 612] Egwene stood among a crowd of women, fear in her eyes; slowly the women knelt around her, Nynaeve was one of them, and he believed he saw Elayne's red-gold hair. This has been fulfilled; Eg has become Amyrlin of the Salidar AS. That window faded and was replaced. Mat stood naked and bound, snarling; an odd spear with a black shaft had been thrust across his back behind his elbows, and a silver medallion, a foxhead, hung on his chest. Unknown. This may be the incident in Finnland that got him hung, or maybe something yet to come. Mat vanished, and it was Rand. Perrin thought it was Rand. He wore rags and a rough cloak, and a bandage covered his eyes. Not fulfilled. Note that this resonates with Min's viewing of a beggar's staff around Rand. The bandaged eyes are reminiscent of the bandaged eyes of the "Fisher" figure in Moridin's sha'rah game. XXXXXXXXXXXX 4.7: Fourth Age Histories _________________________________________________________________ Are these things written in the 4th age from the Age after the books, or are they from the previous 4th age (i.e SIX ages ago)? Are they really prophecy? I think they are supposed to be histories of Rand's age, written during the age which will start with the end of the last book. Thus, they are not prophetic in the technical sense-- they are supposedly written after the fact-- but they are prophetic to us, because we don't know the end of the story. * The Eye of the World * The Dragon Reborn * The Shadow Rising * The Fires of Heaven * Lord of Chaos _________________________________________________________________ From The Eye of the World [TEOTW: prologue, Dragonmount, xv] And it came to pass in those days, as it had come before and would come again, that the Dark lay heavy on the land and weighed down the hearts of men, and the green things failed, and hope died. And men cried out to the Creator, saying, O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain, according to the prophecies, as he was in ages past and will be in ages to come. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs. Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time. (From Charal Drianaan te Calamon, The Cycle of the Dragon. Author unknown, the Fourth Age) The "Dark laying heavy on the land" and the failing of plants refer to the two bouts of (Shadow-caused) bad weather we've had in the series thus far, which have caused crops to get messed up: the super-long winter in TEOTW, and the recent hot spell. The reference about singing and fertility could mean that the Song will be found, but it could just as well be meant figuratively. ___________________________________ From The Dragon Reborn [TDR: End Prophecy] And it was written that no hand but his should wield the Sword held in the Stone, but he did draw it out, like fire in his hand, and his glory did burn the world. Thus did it begin. Thus do we sing his Rebirth. Thus do we sing the beginning. Fulfilled--Rand took out the Sword in the Stone. ___________________________________ From The Shadow Rising [TSR, End Prophecy] And when the blood was sprinkled on ground where nothing could grow, the Children of the Dragon did spring up, the People of the Dragon, armed to dance with death. And he did call them forth from the wasted land, and they did shake the world with battle. (from The Wheel of Time by Sulamein so Bhagad, Chief Historian at the Court of the Sun, the Fourth Age.) Fulfilled--Rand brought the Aiel out of the Waste to do battle. ___________________________________ From The Fires of Heaven [TFOH, End Prophecy] And the Glory of the Light did shine upon him. And the Peace of the Light did he give men. Binding nations to him. Making one of many. Yet the shards of hearts did give wounds. And what was once did come again --in fire and in storm splitting all in twain. For his peace... --for his peace... ...was the peace... ...was the peace... ...of the sword. And the Glory of the Light did shine upon him. (from Glory of the Dragon, composed by Meane sol Ahell, the Fourth Age) General prophecy. Not too informative. ___________________________________ From Lord of Chaos [LoC: Header Prophecy] The lions sing and the hills take flight. The moon by day, and the sun by night. Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool. Let the Lord of Chaos rule. (chant from a children's game heard in Greater Aravalon, the Fourth Age) Your guess is as good as mine as to whether this is actually prophecy/historical or no. XXXXXXXXXXXX Section 99: Publishing Stuff _________________________________________________________________ This subsection contains information on and discussion of matters which relate to publishing and buying the WOT books. XXXXXXXXXXXX 99.1: When is the next book going to be out? _________________________________________________________________ When will TPOD be out in paperback? The mass-market paperback edition of TPOD is due out in August, 1999. When will Book 9 be published? There is no official projected release date for Book 9. At a post-TPOD book signing [San Jose, CA, 25 October 1998, reported by Rick Moen], RJ said that he'd start working on Book 9 after Thanksgiving of 1998. From the amount of time taken between the last few installments of the series, we can guess that Book 9 will come out in mid to late 2000. What will Book 9 be called? We don't know. It's doubtful RJ even has a title for it yet. From a Barnes and Noble online chat with RJ [19 October, 1998]: "I have to do a little writing before the title becomes clear to me. I don't start off with a title. That always comes to me at some point during the writing. Something that seems to fit the specific book." XXXXXXXXXXXX 99.2: What is "The Guide"? What is "New Spring"? _________________________________________________________________ The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, more commonly known as "The Guide," is a "companion book" to TWOT which Tor published in November, 1997. It is by Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson, and is basically a compilation of background and setting material for TWOT. It contains information about "the world's geography, history, and sociology." [Guide: Preface, 9] A lot of the information is stuff which we already know from the series proper. There is also new information about topics like the AOL, the founding of the White Tower, Artur Hawkwing, and the Seanchan. The book contains artwork from the books (icons, maps, and cover art), and some new art (which is generally considered to be less than stellar). John Novak adds, "The Guide's framing device (or conceit) is that it is a history written by someone from within the Wheel of Time. Hence the first pages claiming that documents are copies of copies, etc. As such, some readers do not consider the material canon." "New Spring" is a 79-page novella which RJ wrote for the Tor anthology Legends, published in early 1998. "New Spring" tells the story of how Lan and Moiraine met, and the beginning of Moiraine's search for the Dragon Reborn. It is set shortly after the Aiel War. IMO, it's pretty good. Legends itself is a collection of "new stories by the best-known and most accomplished modern creators of fantasy fiction, each one set in the special universe... that made that writer famous." [Legends, Introduction by Robert Silverberg] The other writers featured in the volume are Stephen King (Dark Tower), Terry Pratchett (Discworld), Terry Goodkind (The Sword of Truth), Orson Scott Card (Tales of Alvin Maker), Robert Silverberg (Majipoor), Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea), Tad Williams (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn), George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire), Anne McCaffrey (Pern), and Raymond E. Feist (Riftwar). The ISBN's of both books are given in Section 0.04.