# w_theory

created: 2004-04-15 13:25:21
subject: Dreaming of Death
body:
<p>If we can assume for a moment that Rand al'Thor shares many traits with various mythological and legendary characters (and there are few who can seriously dispute this), there is one particular character who sprang to my mind after hearing about &quot;Knife of Dreams&quot;: Balder from the Norse myths.<br /><br />1) Balder was, among other things, a god of light, purity, innocence, and reconciliation.<br /><br />*   Rand is a champion of the Light.<br />*   Regarding purity, he removed an Age-long Taint from the world; a Christ-like trait.<br />*   He began life as an innocent, unassuming shepherd.<br />*   He was/is the catalyst for the reconciliation of male and female Aes Sedai, as well as with the invaders from across the ocean.<br /> <br />2) Almost all of the stories we know about Balder are about his death, which he DREAMED about frequently. In some variants, his mother dreamed of his death. It bothered him enough that his mother caused every creature, object and force in nature--such as animals, fire, even diseases--to vow never to harm or assist in harming her son. After this event, the other gods amused themselves by throwing KNIVES or shooting arrows at him, knowing that he was invincible.<br /><br />A trickster god named Loki, who has many similaries in his own way with Mat, out of jealousy tricked Balder's mother into divulging the fact that one thing in the universe failed to take the oath, the mistletoe, far to the west. Balder's blind twin brother was tricked by Loki into throwing a mistletoe dart at Balder, which killed him instantly.<br /><br />*   What is interesting here are the people involved in this murder, and their relationships.<br /> <br />*   In Jordan's work, traits from each myth often are interchanged and become unpredictable, and it is highly unlikely that Mat will become jealous of Rand. But through his unknowing actions, something bad could happen.<br /> <br />*   Balder's twin brother could have a connection with Lews Therin, who is in a way like a twin. There are other myths that mention twins, and they also are reminiscent of Jordan's characters.<br /><br />*   Another point is that Rand himself thinks he's invincible, judging by many of his extremely dangerous actions.<br /><br />3) While Balder was lamented, Odin's son went to Hel, the goddess of death, to ask that Balder be allowed to return to life. She agreed, but only if everything, dead or alive, in the world would weep for Balder. All did, except for Loki, and Balder remained with Hel.<br /><br />*   We KNOW that Rand will return, but how is the mystery. I have a suspicion that ALL of the Aiel will be involved. It seems to fit well with this myth.<br /> <br />4) Now, something very familiar to many readers. Balder was placed on a funeral pyre, aboard his SHIP. The pyre was set afire, and the ship floated away across the sea. Beside Balder lay his wife, dead of a broken heart. Her name was Nanna.<br /><br />*   We also know that someone who looks like the deceased Rand will be aboard a funeral boat, and his three &quot;wives&quot; will be with him.<br /><br />5) Finally, there will be a final conflict between good and evil, called Ragnarok, and a new world will emerge from ruin. In the myth it clearly states that Balder will be reborn.<br /><br />*   All themes that we have become familiar with as the story has progressed.<br /><br /><br /><br />The point of this theory was to draw a hazy connection between the title of book 11, and the events of this myth. There may be nothing significant in these obscure references, but in this case the title may evoke the theme of the book very well.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-04-15 13:26:14
subject: Skimming and T'A'R
body:
<p>I was reading the T'A'R section of the theory post the other night and a thought came to me.  I believe that there may be a connection between T'A'R and where Skimming occurs.  <br /><br />When Verin gives Egwene the twisted ter'angreal ring in TDR, she explains to her the nature of Tel'aran'rhiod.  Verin uses the metaphor of T'A'R being the reflection of all possible worlds and existing between or around the threads that make up the Age Lace.<br /><br />We know that Traveling seems to work like a small wormhole, connecting two seperate points in space and making the distance between them nonexistent, so that travel between them is instant.  Skimming seems to work instead by momentarily stepping outside the Pattern and taking a round about way to eventually re-enter &quot;reality&quot; so to speak.  This area outside the Pattern seems like it could be the same place that T'A'R exists.  The other similarity that stuck out to me was the capability of the Skimmer to create their own platform.  The shape, size, and consistency of the platform seems to depend entirely on the thoughts of the Skimmer.  In addition, both T'A'R and Skimming seem to have limits on how big of a reality can be created from your thoughts.<br /><br />In summary, there seem to be similarities between the properties of the Skimming realm and Tel'aran'rhiod that lead me to believe that they may exist in proximity to each other.<br /><br />This is my first attempt at a theory, so please comment away.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-04-15 13:29:19
subject: The taint, madness, and past lives
body:
<p>It comes to mind that the only channelers who hear voices in their heads are men, this leads to the conclusion that the voices are a product of the taint. What if that conclusion was false? Follow with me, and tell me if this is just crazy talk.<br /><br />Assume that there are a limited number of souls who have the ability to channel. Yes, the soul must be matched to a body with the correct genetic make-up for the ability to channel, but that does not exclude the possibility of a soul connection as well. So we continue with the limited number theory, if the taint on Saidin is corosive, as it is often described, couldn't it then eat away at the barrier between one life and the current? <br /><br />If it did eat away at those barriers, why aren't there more voices in their heads? Why is it only Lews Therin Telamon speaking to Rand? Well, most male channelers have rather short lives because of the Red Ajah hunting them down, the taint driving them mad, the power itself killing them, and other various reasons. If those men were somehow able to live through the taint, and survive their dangerous lives, might we see/hear other voices talking to them? <br /><br />Could those thousands of previous lives come to the surface and speak to the current incarnation? Some characters speak of men who have gone insane hearing &quot;voices.&quot; If these men have sank so deeply into the madness, and are hearing thousands of voices all lamenting their mistakes, all trying to advise the current man, all trying to make a grab for Saidin, wouldn't they go so insane that they couldn't understand anything anymore, let alone articulate what is happening to them?<br /><br />Now that Rand has cleansed the Source, I personally doubt any more men will begin to hear voices, though those who already do might still hear them. The barrier has been eroded already, and without some repair work, it will continue to allow the previous life through.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-04-15 14:23:48
subject: The Battle With The Dark One
body:
<p>This is just a whole bunch of thoughts in the head.  This may sound crazy, but I really think the battle with the dark one himself is going to be short.  It's going to be bloody and brutal, but ultimately short and not entirely a physical battle.<br /><br />If it was a purely physical all out war, I think he'd win.  IMO, the Dark One is way stronger then any channeler or groups of channelers and, even if this was not so, you have to admit being able to break the wheel of time at least appears to be quite a powerful feat.  Not something any channeler can do to a large degree (Balefire is very small degree, the whole wheel is an entirely different matter).<br /><br />So it can't entirely be a physical battle.  I think it will come down to a choice when Rand and him finally meet.  If as said, the dark one is manipulating Rand to go down a certain path, then it seems apparant that the DO wants Rand to make a certain choice, and if that choice is made, he wins.  If it isn't, he loses.    <br /><br />What kind of choice?  I thought about this.  Rand is basically a channeler like any other.  It makes no sense that he can defeat the dark one, unless he has some other abilities.  Him being so strongly T'averen however, seems to be his advantage...so I think that may be what the DO is trying to exploit. <br /><br />By being so bound to the wheel, it seems to make sense that Rand in some way can destroy the wheel.  Perhaps the whole plot of him being free entirely (The seals won't give him total freedom either, he was freed before without the seals, and that didn't seem to give him what he wanted either) is to get Rand to destroy the wheel himself.  <br /><br />And perhaps that is really the whole point of the battle.  Rand seems to have the whole world in his hands.  It seems to make sense it will either be saved or destroyed in them...if that's the case, perhaps the DO's victory occurs if he can convince Rand to destroy it himself.  Because apparently, he couldn't do it before in the last age with all his power, (and come to think of it, Lews Therin had to fulfill certain choices and constraints to have the source tainted to begin with) and as stated above, T'averen aside, Rand's just another male channeler.  What makes him so special?<br /><br />Unless he can somehow manipulate the wheel of time.  It wouldn't have to be in a big way either...something small, but something vital.  That's my idea anyways.<br /><br />My biggest source of evidence to this is as follows:<br /><br />1) As stated in a previous theory, The DO wants Rand to succeed to some extent, and has manipulated events doing so, yet he himself has taken no direct action.  This is in part because he is bound with the seals, but also...<br /><br />2) The DO for all his power can't seem to manipulate actions directly unless certain conditions are met by other people.  Either by a person giving his soul to the DO or through tools to manipulate events for him.  The point is, he has yet to this point directly manipulated anybody not currently under his control through willingness to serve (or tortured by proxies to bend knee).<br />This is evidenced by the last war.  He didn't himself manipulate any actions.  His forsaken and other proxies did themselves.<br /><br /><br />So it seems to me that until you give him the power to do something, he can't do it himself directly.  If that's the case, he can't destroy the wheel himself.  Only someone that's part of the mechanism can do it.  That primarily is Rand.<br /><br />That's my theory.  What do you think?<br /><br /><br />What do you think?<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-05-12 16:57:16
subject: The Uncrowned King
body:
<p>A smiling brother strangles his beloved sister with his own two hands.  A dedicated lieutenant betrays his liege lord&#8217;s stronghold.  A beautiful Maiden attempts to stab her lover.  Darkfriends are insidious and pervasive.  They infest every culture, embedded in all levels of society.  Their secrecy is their strongest defense, and their most potent weapon.  They can be anyone, anywhere, and they can strike at any time.  Are Darkfriends so pervasive that one could even be situated close to the Dragon himself?  Ba&#8217;alzamon makes a very interesting statement that indicates this could, in fact, be the case.<br /><br />&#8220;One Darkfriend to face you where a hundred could come on you asleep.  And you, fool, you don&#8217;t even know them all, neither those ahead, nor those behind, nor those by your side.&#8221;(EotW, <i>Against the Shadow</i>)<br /><br />Ba&#8217;alzamon says this to Rand during their first climactic showdown, and he could be merely taunting the boy with lies, trying to raise his ire.  He could be referring to Ingtar or Liandrin, despite Rand&#8217;s distance from the first and ignorance of the second.  On the other hand, the evil one could mean someone much closer to the shepherd.  Moiraine herself provides an allusion about staunch allies becoming enemies.<br /><br />&#8220;Remember the stories of the Forsaken binding men to them?  Strong men, men who had fought the Dark One from the start.  Those stories are true, and none of the Forsaken had a tenth of the strength of their master, not Aginor or Lanfear, not Balthamel or Demandred, not even Ishamael, the Betrayer of Hope himself.&#8221; (EotW, <i>Remembrance of Dreams</i>)<br /><br />This could be foreshadowing of events to come, but it seems counter-intuitive for any of Rand&#8217;s inner circle to be working for the Shadow.  All of Rand&#8217;s close friends, especially those present at the Eye, spend great time and energy trying to help Rand however they can.  All of them have killed numerous Shadowspawn, and most of them have even challenged a Forsaken or two!  Nevertheless, Darkfriends, such as Galina Casban, must be adept at appearing to strive for one goal, while they secretly aim at a different.<br /><br />&#8220;(Galina) had been Aes Sedai fewer than ninety years, her long black hair untouched as yet by gray, but for nearly twenty of those she had been head of the Red Ajah &#8211; Called the Highest by other Red sisters, in private; considered by other Reds equal to the Amyrlin Seat &#8211; and for all but five of the years she had worn the shawl, she had been of the Black Ajah, in truth.  Not to the exclusion of her duties as a Red, but superior to them.&#8221;(CoS, <i>Spears</i>)<br /><br />Any Darkfriend that is close to Rand would need to do whatever is necessary to remain close.  It is unlikely that he or she could be in regular communication with other followers of the Dark One, because the risk of exposure would be too great.  Ishamael and the other Forsaken have never shown much concern for Shadowspawn, or Darkfriends, so the mystery turncoat could destroy as many as necessary.  The Forsaken are also arrogant, and strong enough to dismiss any threat the friends of the Dragon might pose to them personally.<br /><br />Of course, the Shadow&#8217;s designs and the goals of the Light should logically be anathema to each another.  Rand&#8217;s ultimate purpose is to defeat the Dark One at the Last Battle, somehow recreating the prison that holds the Dark One and protects the world from his influence.  Naturally, the Dark One wants to be free of his prison, and most of the Shadow&#8217;s plans seem to involve Rand&#8217;s death before Tarmon Gai&#8217;don begins, or forcing or tricking Rand into serving the Dark One.  First Ishamael, in the guise of Ba&#8217;alzamon or as himself, and then Moridin, the reincarnation of the chief Forsaken, uses a very convoluted and subtle strategy in this eternal war.<br /><br /> &#8220;On the board, the Fisher stood waiting, but in the greater game, al&#8217;Thor moved already to his wishes.  And soon, now&#8230;It was very hard to lose a game when you played both sides of the board.&#8221;(PoD, <i>Deceptive Appearances</i>)<br /><br />In truth, many readers have come to the conclusion that the Dark One needs Rand at the Last Battle in order to complete the destruction of his prison.  In support of this idea, one of the Black Ajah, Elza, has even become one of Rand&#8217;s fiercest protectors, albeit with the help of Verin&#8217;s magical influence.  Elza has not abandoned the Dark One, but has rationalized her decision in a manner that may be consistent with that of an unknown traitor.<br /><br />&#8220; &#8216;In the meanwhile, you (Faeril) will kill anyone who threatens the Dragon Reborn.  Anyone.&#8217;  After all, it had become perfectly clear to (Elza), while she herself was a captive of the savages.  The Dragon Reborn had to reach Tarmon Gai&#8217;don, or how could the Great Lord defeat him there?&#8221;(CoT, <i>A Strengthening Storm</i>)<br /><br />So, there seems to be an extensive amount of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence indicating that there might be a betrayer, a Judas, amongst Rand&#8217;s close allies, but is there anything to indicate whom that might be?  There is one person who provides a very subtle clue about the possible identity of our would-be mole: Luc Mantear.<br /><br />&#8220;It really was a pity. He had rather looked forward to killing his nephew and the wench.&#8221;(WH, <i>Out of Thin Air</i>)<br /><br />Luc knows that Rand is his nephew. How did Luc find out this information? He left Caemlyn long before his sister did so he could not have learned anything from her.<br /><br />&quot;One morning, Tigraine simply was not in the Palace, and she was never seen again. Some claimed to see Taringail&#8217;s hand in it, but he was half-mad with grief&#8230;My (Dyelin) father said Gitara Sedai was really at fault.&#8217; &#8216;Gitara?&#8217; A wonder (Rand) did not sound strangled&#8230;Dyelin nodded, a touch impatiently. &#8216;Gitara was counselor to Queen Mordrellen,&#8217; she said briskly, &#8216;but she spent more time with Tigraine and Luc, Tigraine&#8217;s brother, than with the Queen. After Luc rode north, never to return, whispers said Gitara had convinced him that his fame lay in the Blight, or his fate. Others said it was that he would find the Dragon Reborn there, or that the Last Battle depended on him going. That was about a year before Tigraine disappeared.&quot; (LoC, <i>Tellings of the Wheel</i>) <br /><br />Although rumors abound regarding the circumstances surrounding the Daughter-Heir&#8217;s disappearance, no one besides Gitara Moroso and Tigraine knew what happened, or where she was going. Aes Sedai have never been very forthcoming with information of any kind; thus Gitara Sedai is an unlikely informant. Also, it is debatable whether Gitara knew the exact results of her own actions. <br /><br />Tigraine, herself, obviously knew she left Andor and fled to the Waste, but the only account of her journey is quite vague. <br /><br />&quot;Finally (Amys) said, 'Shaiel's story, as I know it, begins when I was still Far Dareis Mai, more than a year before I gave up the spear.'...'Shaiel,' Bair said, 'was the name she took for herself. She never gave another in the time I knew her.'...Sitting back on her heels beside Rand, Amys nodded. 'She spoke of a child abandoned, a son she loved. A husband she did not love. Where, she would not say....She would tell little beyond what she had to....An Aes Sedai called Gitara Moroso, who had the Foretelling, had told her that disaster would befall her land and her people, perhaps the world, unless she went to dwell among the Maidens of the Spear, telling no one of her going.&quot; (TSR, <i>He Who Comes With the Dawn</i>)<br /><br />Although Gitara's Foretelling is related twice removed here, the uncertainty Tigraine felt regarding the reasons for her desperate journey still surface. It seems that, with a couple of notable exceptions, nobody on either side of the Dragonwall can connect a Far Dareis Mai named Shaiel to Tigraine, Daughter-Heir to the Andoran throne. One of those exceptions might be Janduin, Shaiel&#8217;s husband. <br /><br />&quot;But Janduin could forbid her nothing; had she asked the moon on a necklace, he would have tried to give it to her. So she stayed, and in the last fight, before Tar Valon, she was lost, and the child was lost. Janduin could not forgive himself for not making her obey the law....He went north with the young men, to hunt Trollocs and Myrdraal in the Blight....Those who returned said he was killed by a man, though. They said Janduin claimed this man looked like Shaiel, and he would not raise his spear when the man ran him through.&quot; (TSR, <i>He Who Comes With the Dawn</i>)<br /><br />Janduin, however, is unlikely to have had all the information. If Shaiel was unwilling to tell her Spear Sisters where she came from it is doubtful she would be more forthcoming with her lover. If the former clan chief had acknowledged Luc as Shaiel's kin, that story should have also come south with the warriors. Even if Luc overheard Janduin&#8217;s comment about his resemblance to Shaiel it is implausible that the Aiel divulged anything more. It is apparent that Janduin felt both Shaiel and the baby were dead. A father who suspects his child lives does not go on a suicide mission, but devotes his time and energy to finding the missing child. <br /><br />Slayer might have been told about Rand's convoluted family history after &quot;Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom. (and) Isam waited in the high passes.&quot; (TGH, <i>Blood Calls Blood</i>) Even Ba'alzamon, however, is confused about the exact chain of events.<br /><br />&#8220;The strings that move you have been centuries weaving. Your father was chosen by the White Tower, like a stallion roped and led to his business. Your mother was no more than a brood mare to their plans.&#8221;(EotW, <i>The Stag and Lion</i>)<br /><br />Of course, Ba&#8217;alzamon could be lying to Rand, but this is totally backwards.  It was Rand&#8217;s <i>mother</i> that was singled out by Gitara, and, considering the lack of current Aes Sedai influence among the Aiel, there is little to suggest that the White Tower played any part in matching Shaiel with Janduin.  Also, there is little evidence that Ishamael personally witnessed these events. To the contrary, it doesn&#8217;t seem that he was particularly active at the time of Rand&#8217;s birth, since the Black Ajah was pretty clueless after it happened.<br /><br />&quot;Siuan strode back and forth across the room, kicking her skirt and rubbing her chin, muttering 'men with luck' and 'the blacksmith rose suddenly' and other things Moiraine could not make out. Suddenly she stopped dead and said, &quot;She never went near Rahien, Moiraine. The Black Ajah knows the Dragon was Reborn, but they don't bloody know when!'&quot; (NS, <i>Epilogue</i>)<br /><br />And they remained clueless for at least three years, and probably longer. In the BWB, Sierin Vayu ruled for five years, and the Keeper of Chronicles, Alviarin remembers when the Black Ajah's secret death squads were finally shut down.  &quot;She had risen because Ishamael killed her predecessor in his wrath at discovering what Jarna Malari had begun, yet it had not ended for another two years, after the death of...Sierin Vayu.&quot; (CoS, <i>Lightnings</i>) So, Ishamael was not even keeping a very close eye on his own minions if Jarna's scheme lasted that long and continued even after her death. Thus it seems unlikely that Ishamael knew the details of Rand&#8217;s lineage.  If Luc did not learn of his extended family from Ishamael, Gitara, the Andorans, or the Aiel, who else might have told him?<br /><br />There are clues that hint at the answer to this puzzle scattered throughout the series.  Interpreting some of the other mysterious events that have happened in this story may reveal the identity of this enigmatic informant.  One such mystery is discovered when Ba&#8217;alzamon confronts Rand in the Mirror World.<br /><br />&quot;'Do I Lews Therin? You know what you are, who you are. I have told you. And so have those women of Tar Valon.' Rand shifted, and Ba'alzamon gave a laugh, like a small thunderclap...'The Aes Sedai called Moiraine told you who you are, did she not?...Do I lie when I say you seek the Horn of Valere?'&quot; (TGH, <i>Kinslayer</i>)<br /><br />It is very surprising to discover that Ba&#8217;alzamon knows what was revealed to Rand in a supposedly private conversation.  The only people present during that meeting were Siuan, Moiraine, Verin and Rand.  Many readers assume that Ba&#8217;alzamon must have eavesdropped on the meeting between Rand and the Aes Sedai, or that one of Ba&#8217;alzamon&#8217;s agents, specifically Alviarin or Liandrin, spied on the conversation.  To the contrary, Ba&#8217;alzamon is not entirely accurate in his statement to Rand.  Moiraine does not reveal Rand&#8217;s identity in <i>The Dragon Reborn</i>.  The Amyrlin Seat, Siuan Sanche, tells Rand his true identity.  If Ishamael had been informed by someone that had first hand knowledge of what was said in that conversation he would have told Rand, &#8220;The Amyrlin Seat told you who you are, did she not?&#8221;  In any case, Ba&#8217;alzamon&#8217;s knowledge of these particulars is actually subordinated by another, even more surprising fact; he knew that the Horn of Valere was located in Fal Dara, and even knew its exact location in the fortress stongroom.<br /><br />How did Ishamael gain such precise intelligence about the Horn of Valere?  When Moiraine revealed the Horn to Lord Agelmar in <i>The Wheel Turns</i>, the only people present were those that traveled to the Eye of the World.  Agelmar would certainly limit the number of people that know this secret, and probably did not reveal it to anyone at all.  After the Tar Valon contingent arrives in Fal Dara, the Amyrlin says, &#8220;He has tried to keep it secret, but he says there are rumors in the keep already.&#8221; (<i>The Shadow in Shienar</i>)  These rumors, however, seem non-specific, because nobody within Fal Dara mentions the Horn of Valere until after its theft.  Even in subsequent books, the Horn is linked with Fal Dara on only a couple of occasions.  Ingtar appears to be the most likely candidate to reveal this secret to the Shadow, but his reaction in <i>Dark Prophecy</i> may contradict this possibility.<br /><br />&#8220; &#8216;Alive?  Is that so important?&#8217;  Suddenly Ingtar&#8217;s face was no longer angry, but tired and full of pain.  &#8216;We had it in our hands.  In our hands!  And we lost it, Rand.  Lost it!&#8217;  He sounded as if he could not believe what he was saying.&#8221; (TGH, <i>Dark Prophecy</i>)<br /><br />Ingtar&#8217;s shock and surprise could be attributed solely to the Horn&#8217;s theft, but it may well be compounded by the Horn&#8217;s presence in Fal Dara in the first place.  His later resolve to gain redemption by recovering the Horn also appears inconsistent with prior knowledge of its presence in the strongroom.  Assuming that Ingtar did know the Horn was in the strongroom, it would be easier for him to simply steal it himself than risk bringing Shadowspawn into the fortress.  Finally, RJ&#8217;s recent admission that Ingtar perpetrated Padan Fain&#8217;s escape does not necessarily mean that Ingtar also knew about the Horn.<br /><br />The only other possibility is that Ishamael knew the golden chest was located within the pool of pure <i>saidin</i>.  To the contrary, Moiraine reveals in <i>Meetings at the Eye</i> that the Aes Sedai who created the Eye of the World were all killed in its making.  They are as unlikely a source of information for the Shadow as the Green Man.  Even Aginor and Balthamel, the only known allies of Ishamael that were present during the battle of the Eye, were dead before the Horn was retrieved from the grotto.  Indeed, Ba&#8217;alzamon himself was critically wounded, and probably incapacitated, at this time.<br /><br />Ishamael&#8217;s knowledge of the Horn of Valere&#8217;s location at the beginning of TGH, as well as his incomplete knowledge of the conversation that takes place during <i>The Dragon Reborn</i>, are not the only time he has learned of his enemies&#8217; plans.  Closely examining another example of Moridin&#8217;s apparent clairvoyance can help narrow the list of possible informants.<br /><br />&quot;'It is well you've never considered how to remove the Great Lord's shadow,' Moridin said quietly...'Al'Thor is not as wise as you. Tell them, Cyndane.' The little woman drew herself up...'You recall the <i>Choedan Kal</i>, I suppose...Lews Therin has two of the access keys, one for each. And he knows a woman strong enough to use the female of the pair. He plans to use the <i>Choedan Kal</i> for his deed.'&quot;(WH, <i>Wonderful News</i>)<br /><br />It is not surprising that the Forsaken in <i>Wonderful News</i> know that Rand is planning to cleanse the taint.  He has announced his desire to do so more than once, including <i>A Woman&#8217;s Eyes</i> in LoC, and <i>Message from the M&#8217;hael</i> in PoD.   In the first example, Rand is talking to Mazrim Taim, and in the second to Osan&#8217;gar, in the guise of Corlan Dashiva.  Most of the Forsaken, however, seem to agree with Osan&#8217;gar when he says in <i>Wonderful News</i>, &#8220;Anything he tries inevitably will prove insufficient.&#8221;  This apparent lack of concern is probably due to the fact that Rand has only revealed the details of his plan on one occasion.  <br /><br />There are three aspects of Cyndane&#8217;s statement that <i>are</i> surprising, and they should help reveal Moridin&#8217;s source of information.  The first important element is the details that are included in Cyndane&#8217;s statement; that Rand intends to use the <i>Choedan Kal</i> to cleanse the taint, and that he knows a woman strong enough to use the female access key.  While Lanfear, presumably Cyndane&#8217;s previous identity, knows that Rand has the access <i>ter&#8217;angreal</i> for the <i>Choedan Kal</i>, Rand repeatedly rebuffed her attempts at encouraging their use.  Furthermore, even though Moghedien definitely knows Nynaeve&#8217;s strength, Rand&#8217;s journey to Caemlyn, and his subsequent partnership with Nynaeve was completely secret, with seven notable exceptions.  Even Elayne, however, fails to connect Nynaeve&#8217;s disappearance with Rand!  The second important aspect is what has been omitted; neither Moridin nor Cyndane know the critical location that Rand intends to utilize for his plan.  Finally, the timing of Cyndane&#8217;s revelation is very suspicious.  It occurs almost immediately after Rand&#8217;s visit to Caemlyn. <br /><br />This list of disparate events leaves a variety of questions that beg to be answered.  Who knows the true identity of Rand&#8217;s mother, and thus, his relation to the noble Mantear House of Andor?  Who knew about the Horn of Valere, and its location in Fal Dara?  Who knew what was revealed to Rand behind closed doors, but not all the specifics of that conversation?  Who knew part of Rand&#8217;s plan to cleanse <i>saidin</i>, but not one critical detail?  There is one very surprising candidate that deserves serious scrutiny. Lan Mandragoran.<br /><br />Could this possibly be true?  Consider the following statement by Ba&#8217;alzamon: &#8220;Sometimes old enemies fight so long that they become allies and never realize it.  The think they strike at you, but they have become so closely linked it is as if you guided the blow yourself.&#8221;(TGH, <i>Kinslayer</i>)  Even assuming that Lan has somehow been subverted by the Shadow, does he have all the pieces to these puzzles?  Examining Lan&#8217;s role in each of these different circumstances is the only way to answer that question.  First of all, does Lan know enough to connect Rand with the noble Andoran house of Mantear?  He does enter the tent with Rand, and sits alongside him, as Amys and Bair relate their stories about Rand's parents.  He has also heard Gitara Moroso's name in at least one other context.<br /><br />&quot;'I fight the same war as you, against the Shadow. Merean was Black Ajah.' She told him all of it, from Gitara's Foretelling in the presence of the Amyrlin Seat and two Accepted to what she and Siuan had reasoned out, the deaths of Tamra's searchers, every last bit.&quot; (NS, <i>Epilogue</i>)<br /><br />Did Lan also know about the events leading up to the Succession in Andor? He could have learned about those events while fighting the Aiel there. Moiraine is also Taringail's half-sister, and Tigraine and Luc disappeared very close to the time she entered the White Tower. A sharp Cairhienin teenager is probably cognizant of important events in Caemlyn, so Moiraine represents another potential source of information regarding Tigraine&#8217;s disappearance.<br /><br />Perhaps Lan did realize that Rand is secretly a Royal child by birth as well as re-birth, but could he also be used to explain Ishamael&#8217;s knowledge of events in Fal Dara?  Lan definitely knew about the Horn of Valere.  Considering Lan&#8217;s teachings in <i>Blood Calls Blood</i>, before Rand&#8217;s audience with the Amyrlin Seat, it can be reasonably assumed that he knew the purpose behind that meeting with Moiraine, Siuan and Verin.  What is truly interesting is that Lan may well believe, mistakenly as it turns out, that Moiraine told Rand he was the Dragon Reborn. Lan passing along erroneous information to Ishamael would explain the error in Ba&#8217;alzamon&#8217;s taunt to Rand.  <br /><br />Finally, Lan can be used to neatly explain all the various aspects of Cyndane&#8217;s revelation in <i>Wonderful News</i>.  Lan was the only other person present when Rand asked Nynaeve to help him cleanse <i>saidin</i> using the <i>Choedan Kal</i>.  As was mentioned previously, that event occurred just prior to Moridin&#8217;s meeting with the other Forsaken.  Rand revealed the exact details that Cyndane does, and omits the same detail that Cyndane is missing.  The coincidences are simply too numerous to overlook.<br /><br />The idea of Lan Mandragoran as a Darkfriend, however, seems completely absurd at first glance.  His father was betrayed by a Darkfriend, Cowin Fairheart, and the forces of the Dark One then obliterated his nation and his people.  The first half of Lan&#8217;s life was dedicated to fighting the Shadow&#8217;s creatures in the Blight, and the second half to locating and protecting man&#8217;s only hope of salvation from Leafblighter.  In short, nobody who knows Lan would accuse him of conspiring with the Shadow. Of course, that is the problem, because this Lord of the Seven Towers remains largely an enigma.  After ten long books it's finally a prequel that provides some detailed information, but even seeing events through Lan's eyes in eight chapters reveals surprisingly little information.<br /><br />&quot;The Blight meant death to most men. Death and the Shadow, in a rotting land tainted by the Dark One's breath...Four nations bordered the Blight, but his war covered the length of it, from the Aryth Ocean to the Spine of the World. One place to meet death was as good as another. He was almost home. Almost back to the Blight.&quot; (NS, <i>Into Canluum</i>)<br /><br />Lan is nothing if not a complex and very conflicted character. He considers his home to be the Blight, the stronghold and source of the very forces that he fights. It is interesting that not only does the consumed lands of Malkier tug at his thoughts, but the entire Blight. And it does so with disturbing frequency throughout most of New Spring.  During <i>Entering Home</i> his need to return to the Blight is so bad that, &#8220;It was almost pain, after so long.&#8221;  Much closer to his adopted home, when Lan is entering the city during <i>Into Canluum</i>, &#8220;he could feel it, feel the twisted corruption.&#8221;  Lan&#8217;s close connection with his home, bordering on a psychic bond at times, is somewhat disturbing, especially considering the Blight&#8217;s penchant for corrupting everything that exists within its borders.<br /><br />On the other hand, there are two main characteristics about Lan that seem to categorically exclude the Diadamed Battle Lord from collaborating with the Shadow in any capacity.  &#8220;Another of his lessons had been that a man&#8217;s word must be as good as an oath sworn beneath the Light, or it was no good at all.&#8221; (NS, <i>The Hook</i>)  Lan&#8217;s honor should shield him from any attempts to corrupt him to the Dark One&#8217;s cause, and it leads directly to the other part of Lan&#8217;s character that seems completely incompatible with the Shadow.   Lan&#8217;s dedication to the perpetual war he fights seems absolute, and this, too, should prohibit him from working with the Shadow.  &#8220;Malkier was dead.  Only the war still lived.  In him, at least.&#8221; (NS, <i>Into Canluum</i>)  Yet, anyone that studies <i>aan&#8217;allein</i> must recognize that his character was forged under unique circumstances that may twist his interpretation of these concepts.<br /><br />Lan Mandragoran&#8217;s honor is the cornerstone of his character, and underlies all his actions.  It keeps him in the south fighting the Aiel far longer then he would have preferred, and forces him to fight six assailants without the aid of Bukama, his friend and mentor.  Lan&#8217;s honor constrains his behavior with Moiraine on the journey to Chachin, despite the fact that Bukama, not Lan, offered her protection.  Once in Chachin, honor forces Lan to face Edeyn, despite his desire to flee from her ambitions.  Perhaps the most telling example of Lan&#8217;s strict adherence to his honor occurs during <i>Into Canluum</i>: &#8220;For a moment he thought Seroku was surprised.  Did the man expect pledges to keep the peace, or apologies for Bukama&#8217;s behavior?  Either would shame Bukama, now.  A pity if the war ended here.  Lan did not want to die killing Kandori.&#8221;  Lan would rather die killing people that are ostensibly allies and friends than dishonor his mentor.<br /><br />This concept of honor binds Lan to the two oaths that define his life and motivate his behavior.  The second oath was sworn to Moiraine when he chose to become her Warder.  This is arguably less important than the first oath that consecrated Lan&#8217;s infancy at the demise of his realm.  Exactly how the oath of the Malkieri kings defines Lan&#8217;s life depends largely on how Lan interprets that oath.  Thoroughly examining that oath should provide some insight into Lan&#8217;s character, and, surprisingly, may not completely exclude the possibility of Lan working with the Shadow.<br /><br />The oath of the Malkieri kings has three distinct parts, in essence making it three oaths wrapped into one, and each part has profound implications for the last of the Malkieri.  It is the second phrase that truly illustrates the tragedy of Lan&#8217;s life: &#8220;To defend the Malkieri while one drop of blood remains.&#8221; (EotW, <i>More Tales of the Wheel</i>)  This man, so bound to his honor, cannot truly fulfill the oath that is the ultimate guide and purpose of his life.  His life, in that sense, is a failure almost as soon as it began.  Lan acknowledges this himself in <i>The Deeps</i> when he thinks, &#8220;Nothing remained to be defended now, only a nation to avenge,&#8221; and, &#8220;The dead could not be returned to life, a land any more than a man.&#8221;  It is interesting to note that, while this seems to be Lan&#8217;s perception, the truth is he could choose to rally his people and re-establish the kingdom of Malkier in some of the vast lands that have been abandoned by humanity.  In any case, Lan has apparently abandoned the second part of this oath in his efforts to focus on the third part.<br /><br />&#8220;To avenge what cannot be defended.&#8221;  (EotW, <i>More Tales of the Wheel</i>)  As a boy, Lan learned about vengeance as other children learn about reading and arithmetic.  He &#8220;had been trained (about avenging Malkier) from his first step.&#8221; (NS, <i>The Deeps</i>)  His childhood toys were the weapons of war, and his youthful playtime devoted to learning the battle skills necessary to exact that revenge.  &#8220;At eight he had been learning the <i>ko&#8217;di</i> and what he would face when he entered the Blight.  Beginning to learn how to kill with hands and feet.&#8221; (NS, <i>Keeping Custom</i>)  Devoting one&#8217;s life to vengeance is not entirely rational, and it is difficult to quantify exactly how this might subvert Lan&#8217;s character.<br /><br />The first, and foremost, portion of the Malkieri oath supplies the most obvious target for Lan&#8217;s vengeance.  &#8220;To stand against the Shadow so long as iron is hard and stone abides.&#8221; (NS, <i>The Deeps</i>)  This is quite direct, and would seem to categorically prohibit Lan from doing anything but fighting the Shadow with all the skill and fortitude he can muster.  The imperative, however, deserves more than just a cursory examination.  First of all, the statement is largely metaphorical, and, despite numerous similar comparisons between Lan himself and stone or iron, no human can expect to last as long as either.  The only way the oathbound can discharge this obligation is to insure that his children devote themselves to the same cause.  The traditional Malkieri <i>ki&#8217;sain</i> is a tacit acknowledgement of this concept, since the women who wear it &#8220;pledge that they would swear their sons to oppose the Shadow while they breathed&#8221; (NS, <i>Into Canluum</i>).  Once again, however, Lan appears to have subordinated, perhaps abandoned, this aspect of his oath in his obsession for avenging Malkier.<br /><br />The second important aspect of this particular pledge is that it directs Lan to oppose the Shadow, but not to overcome it.  In other words, Lan must fight his war, but he does not necessarily need to win.  During <i>Entering Home</i> Lan shows he is well aware of this: &#8220;Some wars could not be won, yet they still must be fought.&#8221;  Again, this is not entirely rational, and it is difficult to conclude exactly how this might pervert Lan&#8217;s worldview.  Indeed, Lan could construe Rand&#8217;s ultimate victory, and the Dark One&#8217;s complete detention within his prison, as the final disintegration of his life&#8217;s purpose.  At the Shadow&#8217;s demise, Lan will no longer have an adversary to stand against.  Regardless of exactly how Lan interprets his Malkieri oaths, it is apparent that they are the root cause behind the second major aspect of his character.<br /><br />&#8220;With his mother&#8217;s gift at his throat and his father&#8217;s sword in his hand, with the ring branded on his heart, he had fought from his sixteenth nameday to avenge Malkier.  But never had he led men into the Blight.  Bukama had ridden with him, and others, but he would not lead men there.  That war was his alone.&#8221; (NS, <i>The Deeps</i>)<br /><br />Very few details about Lan&#8217;s personal war have been revealed, and those that are, including those mentioned previously in this essay, are somewhat disturbing.  Another example is Lan&#8217;s inability to identify his war with the larger struggle against the Dark One.  Not only does Lan refuse to acknowledge that the Kandori or any other nationalities fight along side him in his cause, he even excludes Bukama and any other Malkieri that battle beside him.  In <i>Watchers</i>, Moiraine tells Lan, &#8220;The war we fight is the same war, if you could only see it so.&#8221;  She is indicating that even after twenty years of companionship, Lan still doubts, in terms of his personal war, the veracity of Moiraine&#8217;s quest to locate and protect the Dragon Reborn. <br /><br />In addition to these sundry particulars, the two details that are conspicuously absent are even more disquieting.  In the entire series Lan has never once identified the enemy of his war, nor the enemy that destroyed his homeland.  The readers are meant to assume that this foe is the Dark one, but Lan has never once stated explicitly, &#8220;I fight my war against the Shadow.&#8221;  He has never expressly said, &#8220;The Dark One destroyed Malkier.&#8221;  Given RJ&#8217;s Aes Sedai-like penchant for twisting the truth, this could have grave implications in the final books of the series.<br /><br />Considering the darker aspects of Lan&#8217;s character, and his potential as an informant for the enemy, it is important to reexamine some of the Warder&#8217;s actions and statements.  In <i>Watchers</i>, even Moiraine questions her partner&#8217;s motives: &#8220;You brought him to the Amyrlin speaking and acting as a Border lord and a soldier born.  It fit, in a way, with what I planned for him, but you and I never spoke of teaching him any of that.  Why, Lan?&#8221;  Actually, the interesting part of Lan&#8217;s lessons in <i>Blood Calls Blood</i> is not the ancient customs that Rand learns, but Lan&#8217;s admission about the affect he hopes to achieve.<br /><br />&#8220;You can understand later so long as you remember now.  Think of it as upholding custom.  The Amyrlin will do with you as she must.  If you believe you can avoid it, then you believe you can fly to the moon like Lenn.  You can&#8217;t escape, but maybe you can hold your own for a while, and perhaps you can keep your pride, at least.&#8221; (TGH, <i>Blood Calls Blood</i>)<br /><br />This statement from Lan is somewhat contradictory to Moiraine&#8217;s desires.  She wants Rand to heed the Amyrlin, and follow her directions.  Perhaps, as Lan replies in <i>Watchers</i>, &#8220;<i>ta&#8217;veren</i> pull those around them like twigs in a whirlpool,&#8221; but this is not the only example in TGH of inconsistency between the two in their approach to Rand.<br /><br />&#8220;I (Moiraine) have purposely let him (Rand) think I no longer have any interest in him, that he may go where he pleases for all of me.&#8221; (TGH, T<i>he Shadow in Shienar</i>)  While Moiraine has apparently been avoiding the young man during the interval between EotW and TGH, there is no indication that she actually wants Rand to run off by himself.  Yet, Lan encourages Rand to do exactly that.  During <i>The Flame of Tar Valon</i>, Lan sharply questions Rand about his reasons for remaining in Fal Dara, and then encourages him to leave immediately after the attack in <i>Dark Prophecy</i>.  When the Warder arrives with the summons from the Amyrlin in <i>Blood Calls Blood</i>, and Rand protests that he is about to leave, Lan replies, &#8220;You should have done that last night.&#8221;  Nor is this disagreement between Warder and Aes Sedai the final example from TGH, nor the most alarming.<br /><br />&#8220;There will come a time when you must achieve a goal at all costs.  It may come in attack or in defense.  And the only way will be to allow the sword to be sheathed in you own body&#8230;You will know when it comes, sheepherder, when the price is worth the gain, and there is no other choice left to you.  That is called Sheathing the Sword.  Remember it.&#8221; (TGH, <i>Leavetakings</i>)<br /><br />Moiraine would almost certainly disapprove of this lesson in self-sacrifice.  As she states in TSR, &#8220;I have given my life to finding the Dragon Reborn, finding Rand, and seeing him ready to face the Last Battle&#8230;Nothing and no one can be more important than that.&#8221; (<i>Sharp Lessons</i>)  From Moiraine&#8217;s perspective, it seems the only goal she wishes Rand to accomplish is reaching, and hopefully winning, Tarmon Gai&#8217;don.  She does not seem to think that any gain would be worth the price of Rand Sheathing the Sword, and it is very curious for Lan to provide Rand with that counsel.<br /><br />These events at the beginning of TGH also represent the start of a disturbing trend.  Through the course of the books that follow, Rand becomes increasingly difficult to influence or advise.  Even as early as <i>Saidin</i> in TDR, Min Farshaw comments, &#8220;He has been arguing with Moiraine, again&#8230;All day, this time.&#8221;  Moiraine eventually resorts to an oath of obedience in order to gain some type of leverage with Rand.  While Lan cannot be held solely responsible for the development of Rand&#8217;s character, his advice definitely plays a role, and these are not the only examples of somewhat surprising behavior from Lan.<br /><br />In TSR, Moiraine thinks to herself, &#8220;At least (Lan&#8217;s) time with Rand was useful; it gave her another string to the young man.&#8221; (<i>Into the Heart</i>)  Despite this interpretation of Lan&#8217;s influence, he does more to undermine her guidance of Rand than enhance it.  Lan supports Rand when he has minor disagreements with the Aes Sedai, such as Rand&#8217;s determination to remain in his own room after the fight with the mirror reflections.  More blatantly, Rand receives the Warder&#8217;s approbation after nearly killing himself by transporting all the Aiel in Tear to Rhuidean via the Portal Stone in <i>Beyond the Stone</i>.<br /><br />Perhaps the most surprising decision that Lan has made was one of his first; agreeing to join Moiraine and become her Warder.  One of the first thoughts that Lan has in the very beginning of NS is, &#8220;Aes Sedai thought far ahead, and seldom seemed to care who they used in their schemes or how.&#8221; (<i>The Hook</i>)  This belittling attitude towards the sisters of the White Tower continues throughout Lan&#8217;s entire POV in this book.  During <i>Entering Home</i>, Lan thinks that one of the only things he wants is &#8220;no encounters with Aes Sedai.&#8221;  <i>Into Canluum</i> reveals Lan&#8217;s contempt for Warders in particular: &#8220;Who would give up his freedom to trot at an Aes Sedai&#8217;s heels unless there was more to it than asking?&#8221;  In fact, Lan is especially wary of &#8220;Alys,&#8221; because &#8220;If she was Aes Sedai, she might be hunting a Warder.&#8221; (<i>Breakfast in Manala</i>)  This disparagement continues until one of the final thoughts readers receive from Lan&#8217;s POV: &#8220;He thought he might be as bruised as he had ever been in his life, but bruises went away, and the last thing he wanted at that moment was a sister.&#8221; (<i>Keeping Custom</i>)  Even considering the negative attitude of people in general toward Aes Sedai, Lan seems particularly fervent in his antipathy.  He reveals the reason behind it when Moiraine seeks him out in the Aesdaishar Palace.<br /><br />&quot;Blue ice became blue fire. His voice did not change, but his knuckles grew white gripping his sword. 'For nine hundred years we rode when the White Tower called, but where was the Tower when Malkier died? If you are Aes Sedai, answer me that!'&quot; (NS, <i>An Answer</i>)<br /><br />Lan's numerous negative comments about Aes Sedai become more meaningful at this point. He is apparently distraught about the White Tower's apparent apathy for the death of his homeland. Even Moiraine's explanation is not entirely satisfactory to Lan, who mutters, &quot;Almost, I can believe,&quot; when she is finished. In fact, Lan bears Moiraine some personal animosity from the very beginning of their relationship: &#8220;An Aes Sedai, if she really was one, <i>and</i> a Cairhienin?  There could be no worse combination.&#8221; (<i>Breakfast at Manala</i>)  A little later Lan thinks, &#8220;There was a limit to how many insults a man could swallow in silence,&#8221; after only a single night in Moiraine&#8217;s company.  In addition to absorbing her insults, Lan thinks she is as annoying as &#8220;a swarm of blackflies&#8221; in <i>Some Tricks of the Power</i>, and then describes her as &#8220;a cockleburr down the back of his neck&#8221; in <i>Keeping Custom</i>.<br /><br /> &quot;Only one thing was sure. Bukama was dead because Lan had tangled him in an Aes Sedai's schemes.&quot; (NS, <i>An Answer</i>)  While Lan holds himself ultimately responsible for Bukama&#8217;s death, he certainly is not happy to see his opinion of Aes Sedai validated.  Despite all these misgivings, Moiraine seems to gain Lan&#8217;s acceptance by first failing to save, albeit avenging, Brys, and then by relating her wild story and saying, &#8220;This is the same war, Lan.  The most important battle yet in that war.  And this one, you can win.&#8221; (NS, <i>Epilogue</i>)  The one is certainly laudable to Lan, and the other might solve Lan&#8217;s dilemma in fulfilling his Malkieri oaths.  It is difficult to imagine, however, that these things can immediately overcome Lan&#8217;s deep-seated reticence concerning Aes Sedai, especially considering Lan doesn&#8217;t agree with Moiraine that their two wars are the same.<br /><br />&quot;'She is gone. I cannot feel her presence.' The words sounded ripped out of Lan's chest. He turned and began walking down the line of wagons without a backward glance&#8230;'The Wheel weaves.' Lan went to Mandarb, busied himself checking the black stallion's saddlegirth. 'She was a soldier, a warrior in her way as much as I. This could have happened two hundred times these past twenty years. She knew it, and so did I. It was a good day to die.' His voice was as hard as it had ever been, but those cold blue eyes were red-rimmed.&quot; (FoH, <i>Fading Words</i>)<br /><br />Finally, there is this fateful day on the docks of Cairhien, after Lan has been Moiraine&#8217;s close companion for twenty years. This is a muted reaction, to say the least, to the death of a long-time friend, and the woman he is bound to protect.  Most surprisingly, he does not even offer Moiraine the minimal eulogy that is traditional in the Borderlands.  Instead, with very little emotion, and hardly even a pause, he rides away.  At the end of <i>Weaves of Power</i> and Lan&#8217;s journey, Myrelle is concerned that, &#8220;A wolfhound mourning his dead mistress did not come to a new mistress willingly.&#8221;  Notwithstanding Myrelle&#8217;s doubts, Lan has hardly hesitated to join this new Aes Sedai to whom he is bonded.<br /><br />This is a long theory, and, if it is true, it ends up raising more questions that it really answers.  In the end, I need to include quite a bit of speculation to fill in the holes, and smooth over the rough spots.  I don&#8217;t think that Lan is a typical Darkfriend, or typical anything for that matter.  Actually, I think that it is equally possible that Lan is unwittingly supplying information to the Shadow, as it is that he does so consciously.  I also believe that it is Ishamael, and later Moridin, that are connected to Lan.  He seems to be the one that receives the information that Lan is privy to, and he can probably influence Lan&#8217;s behavior.  If I&#8217;m right, then Lan is the Judas that so many readers suspect lies hidden amongst Rand&#8217;s close allies.  If I&#8217;m wrong than this has all been an extensive exercise in creative writing.  There are two things, however, that I do know.  The Shadow works in subtle and convoluted ways, and there is far more to this uncrowned king than meets the eye.<br /><br />&quot;Lan bent from the saddle to catch Rand's shoulder in hard grip. Rand remembered calling the man a half-tame wolf, but those eyes made a wolf seem a lapdog. 'We are alike in many ways, you and I. There is a darkness in us. Darkness, pain, death. They radiate from us...&quot; (FoH, <i>Fading Words</i>)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-05-12 17:39:38
subject: Soul, Identity, and Three Ta&#8217;veren
body:
<p><b><u>Quotes</u></b><br /><br />Q1.  tEoTW, ch 51, 761 pb<br />&#8220;You will serve me, or your <u>soul</u> will. But I would rather have you kneel to me alive than dead.&#8221;<br /><br />Q2.  tGH, ch 47, 665 pb<br />&#8220;But this time I will destroy you to your very <u>soul</u>, destroy you utterly and forever.&#8221;<br /><br />Q3.  tDR, ch 55, 652 pb<br />&#8220;Twice in this life I have offered you the chance to serve me living[&#8230;]Twice you have refused, and wounded me. Now you will serve the Lord of the Grave in death. Die, Lews Therin Kinslayer. Die, Rand al&#8217;Thor. It is time for you to die! I take your <u>soul</u>!&#8221;<br />&#8230;<br />Ba&#8217;alzamon&#8217;s blow struck him as he leapt, struck inside him, a ripping and crumpling , tearing something loose, trying to pull a part of him away.<br /><br />Q4.  tDR, ch 56, 664 pb<br />The stones around him faded almost to mist; the Stone faded. Reality trembled; he could feel it unraveling, <u>feel himself unraveling</u>. He was being pushed out of the here, into some other place where nothing existed at all. Callandor blazed in his hands like the sun till he thought he would melt. He thought he himself would melt from the surge of the One Power through him, the flood that he somehow directed into sealing up the hole that had opened around him, into holding himself on the side of existence. The Stone became solid again.<br /><br />Q5.  tSR, ch 58, 969 pb<br />Hammers of Power large enough to level mountains struck at Rand, and blades that could have pierced the earth&#8217;s heart; unseen pincers tried to <u>tear his mind from his body, ripped at his very soul</u>. Every scrap of Power he could draw went to hurl those attacks away. Any one could destroy him as if he had never been; he was sure of it.<br /><br />Q6.  tFoH, ch 52, 889 pb<br />&#8220;I was never yours, Mierin. I will always belong to Ilyena.&#8221;<br /><br />Q7.  tFoH, ch 55, 933 pb<br />Rand-he thought that was his name[&#8230;]<br /><br />Q8.  tFoH, ch 55, 936-7 pb<br />He felt odd. Insubstantial. He raised his arm, and stared. He could see the garden through coatsleeve and arm as through a mist. A mist that was thinning. When he glanced down, he could see the walk&#8217;s paving stones through himself.<br /><i>No!</i> It was not his thought. An image began to coalesce. A tall, dark-eyed man with a worry-creased face and more white in his hair than brown. <i>I am Lews Ther-<br />I am Rand al&#8217;Thor</i>, Rand broke in. He did not know what was happening, but the faint Dragon was beginning to fade from the misty arm held in front of his face. The arm began to look darker, the fingers on his hand longer. <i>I am me</i>. That echoed in the Void. <i>I am Rand al&#8217;Thor</i>.<br />He fought to picture himself in his own mind, struggling to make the image of what he saw in the mirror every day shaving, what he saw in a stand-mirror dressing. It was a frantic fight. He had never really looked at himself. The two images waxed and waned, the older dark-eyed man and the younger with blue-gray eyes. Slowly the younger image firmed, the older faded. Slowly his arm grew more solid. His arm, with the Dragon twined around it and the heron branded into his palm. There had been times he hated those marks, but now, even enclosed within the emotionless Void, he almost grinned to see them.<br />Why had Lews Therin tried to take him over? To make him into Lews Therin. He was sure that was who that dark-eyed man with the suffering face had been. Why now? Because he could in this place, whatever it was? Wait. It had been Lews Therin who had shouted that adamant &#8220;no.&#8221;<br /><br />Q9.  LoC, 53, 935-6 pb<br /><i>Burn you!</i> Rand growled in his head. <i>Burn you! If you&#8217;d only work with me just once instead of against me!<br />You work with me!</i> Lews Therin snapped back.<br />[&#8230;]<i>We could work together, Lews Therin</i>[&#8230;]<br />An uncertain, apprehensive laugh answered him. Then, <i>Together?</i> Another laugh, and this as mad as a loon. <i>Together. Whoever you are</i>. And voice and presence vanished.<br /><br />Q10.  tDR, ch 4, 69<br />A growling chewed at his brain. &quot;No!&quot; He fought away from it, refusing to listen. &quot;No!&quot;<br />[&#8230;]<br />But in his confusion the sound came again, inside, gnawing, demanding to be heard. &quot;No.&quot; he said. &quot;No!&quot; He looked at the golden helmet in his hands and threw it aside. &quot;I am a blacksmith. I am....&quot; The sound within his head fought him, struggling toward being heard. He wrapped his arms around his head to shut it out, and only shut it in. &quot;I - am - a - man!&quot; he shouted. <br />Darkness enfolded him, but her voice followed, whispering. &quot;The night is always there, and dreams come to all men. Especially you, my wildling. And I will always be in your dreams.&quot;<br /><br />Q11.  tDR, ch 9, 123 pb<br />&#8220;Is that what I can expect?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;To end like that?&#8221;<br />&#8220;Perhaps.&#8221;<br /><br />Q12.  tDR, ch 24, 284 pb<br />&#8220;Luck,&#8221; he muttered. &#8220;Time to toss the dice.&#8221;<br />Hammar gave him an odd look. &#8220;You speak the Old Tongue, lad?&#8221;<br />Mat stared back at him for a moment, not speaking. He felt cold to the bone.<br /><br />Q13.  tDR, ch 24, 288 pb<br />He kept hearing voices in his head. <i>You speak the Old Tongue, lad? Manetheren</i>. It made him shiver.<br /><br />Q14.  tSR, ch 50, 830 pb<br />&quot;Are you a battle leader among the wetlanders?&quot;<br />He wished he had kept his mouth shut. &quot;I read a book once,&quot; he muttered, turning away. <i>Bloody pieces of other men's bloody memories</i>.<br /><br />Q15.  tFoH, ch 42, 661 pb<br />The thought put a sour twist to his mouth. Those rules came from other men's memories[&#8230;]He almost wished those memories of other men were still separate lumps in his brain instead of oozing into his thoughts when he least expected.<br /><br />Q16.  tFoH, ch 42, 666 pb<br />With that it all crashed home, what he had been saying, the memories he had been embracing. <i>Burn you for a fool, for not guarding your tongue!</i> Why had Lan had to take the conversation that way? Why could he not have talked about horses, or the weather, or just kept his mouth shut? The Warder had never seemed all that eager to talk before. Usually the man made a tree seem talkative. Of course, he could have kept his own mind focused and his own mouth shut, too. At least he had not been babbling in the Old Tongue. <i>Blood and ashes, but I </i>hope<i> I wasn't!</i><br /><br />Q17.  LoC, ch 5, 146-7 pb<br />More than once he wished those bits of other men were out of his head[&#8230;]He was no hero and did not want to be one.<br /><br />Q18.  aCoS, ch 21, 461 pb<br />He opened&#8230;and stopped, really hearing what she had just asked. <i>Nosane iro gavane domorakoshi, Diynen&#8217;d&#8217;ma&#8217;purvene?</i> Speak we what language, Sounder of the Horn? The hair on his neck tried to stand.<br /><br /><b><u>Theory</u></b><br /><br /><u>Why are there three <i>ta&#8217;veren</i>?</u><br /><br />In this Third Age, as the Last Battle approaches, the Dragon Reborn has appeared, fulfilling prophecies and making his way to a fight with the DO. Naturally, being the person that this fight for the world is centered on, he is <i>ta&#8217;veren</i>But why are there two other? And why are all three from the same small backwater village?<br /><br />To answer these questions, we must understand something of the nature of the fight between the Dragon Reborn and the DO.<br /><br /><b>Rand</b><br /><br />In quotes 1-9 above, we see that in every major battle Rand fights in the first six books something about either Rand&#8217;s soul or his identity is significant.<br /><br />Specifically, we see in quotes 1-4 Ishamael and his thoughts on his fight with Rand.<br /><br />It must be noted that while Ishamael seems to be acting as the DO, letting people think he is actually Shai&#8217;tan himself, he is not deluded. He doesn&#8217;t have any identity crises.<br /><br />In the prologue to The Great Hunt, he speaks to various darkfriends using the phrase &#8220;your Master&#8221; (xxii pb). But then on the next page he talks of the Dragon, saying, &#8220;the Dragon may be turned to my service.&#8221; At this point in the storyline, the DO has yet to have a significantly active role in the world. (Aginor and Balthamel were only just released from the seal on the Bore, remember.)<br /><br />And so Ishy takes advantage of the opportunity to pose as the DO and get what he wants, namely, for the Dragon to serve him. This isn&#8217;t what the DO wants; it is what he himself wants. He isn&#8217;t so concerned about what the DO wants, but I believe he does know a decent amount about what is important for the fight between the Light and the Shadow. He seems to focus on the Dragon&#8217;s soul, and I believe rightly so.<br /><br />In the next few quotes (5-9), we see Rand struggling with issues of identity. He struggles both with his identity as separate from Lews Therin and as a battleground in his fights with Forsaken.<br /><br />The fact that the Forsaken threaten Rand&#8217;s soul and identity and the prominence they (soul and identity) play in those battles makes this issue something not to be overlooked. Indeed, it suggests that Rand will be fighting for his soul and identity until and at the very end, the Last Battle. I don't believe RJ is random enough with the details of major events for it to mean anything else (if you can even call any of his details random).<br /><br />But the other front on which Rand fights for and learns about his identity is just as important, if not more so. Take note of the two main ways in which Rand struggles daily with his soul and identity. First, he hears LTT&#8217;s voice in his head. Second, he is becoming LTT, remembering the man&#8217;s memories and acquiring his habits. This is where the other two <i>ta&#8217;veren</i> come into the picture.<br /><br /><b><i>ta&#8217;veren</i></b><br /><br />Each of the three <i>ta&#8217;veren</i> has his own destiny, his own life. We see something of the uniqueness of that in the theory &#8220;The Bubbles from Tear as Foreshadowing&#8221; by <u>a dragonburned fool</u>.<br /><br />First, Rand struggles with fighting off a number of other versions of himself. This is yet another piece of evidence that Rand&#8217;s identity is a crucial battlefield.<br /><br />Second, Mat&#8217;s luck turns against him. Third, Perrin&#8217;s axe turns against him.<br /><br />For the three <i>ta&#8217;veren</i>, the keys to success in their respective destinies turn against them.<br /><br />But there are significant things in Mat and Perrin&#8217;s lives that are apart from their destinies, or at the very least, not directly related.<br /><br /><b>Perrin</b><br /><br />Perrin can talk to wolves. Actually, he hears them in his mind and talks to them in their minds. This has not been easy for Perrin.<br /><br />In The Dragon Reborn chapter 8, Perrin encounters another man who can talk to wolves, only this man has in his mind become a wolf. Then we have Q11, where Perrin asks Moiraine if he is fated to that same end.<br /><br />We can understand that it weighs heavily on his mind, especially as this is on the heels of an interaction he had with Lanfear in his dreams (Q10). We read the growling, and we see the wolf in him starting to emerge. When he states that he is a man, we might be tempted to think it a response to Lanfear suggestions that he be a hero. But her comments show that she sees him for the wolfbrother he is. (Calling him her &#8220;wildling&#8221; refers to the wildness of a wolf, and saying they will meet in his dreams refers to the fact that he dreams in the World of Dreams, the Wolf Dream.)<br /><br />Also, <u>Barker</u> wrote a theory in which he showed how Perrin is in danger of losing his humanity (&#8220;Perrin May Lose His Humanity&#8221; ). While Barker showed how his humanity is threatened by hatred, revenge, and violence, the struggle with being a wolfbrother is far more crucial to the situation. It provides a crack in Perrin's humanity, a place for hatred, revenge, and violence to work their way in and break his humanity. Were it not for being a wolfbrother, Perrin could only end up as just another dangerous, pissed-off <i>man</i>.<br /><br /><b>Mat</b><br /><br />Mat may not be in danger of losing his humanity, but he has definitely had identity issues. He has dead men&#8217;s memories filling up the gaps in his own. Also, he can speak the Old Tongue fluently.<br /><br />This is not something he has welcomed. Quotes 12-18 show us that he is afraid of people learning who he is more than just Mat Cauthon. In particular, Q17 shows us how he struggles with defining himself. He doesn&#8217;t want to be a hero, but his memories and his tongue do not let him escape that identity.<br /><br /><b>Putting It Together</b><br /><br />Perrin has experience with having voices in his head. Mat has experience with remembering other men&#8217;s memories. It is likely that Mat will be leading armies against the Shadow at the Last Battle, and that Perrin will be leading wolves. But that is not how they will help Rand win the Last Battle.<br /><br />The Pattern, knowing (in whatever way the Pattern can know anything) that Rand's sense of identity will be crucial to defeating the DO, has provided Rand with two other <i>ta'veren</i> as a support structure. It provided Perrin and made him a wolfbrother. It provided Mat and made him strong in the old blood. With that foundation, it led him first to Shadar Logoth to lose his memories, and then to Rhuidean to gain others.<br /><br />Being friends, having grown up together, Mat and Perrin are two of the few people that Rand has any desire to trust. He will need to trust them, to listen to them. He needs to know of Perrin&#8217;s experience with wolves. He needs to learn to hold onto his identity even while hearing voices in his head. He needs to know of Mat&#8217;s memories from dead men. He needs to learn how to keep his own memories separate from any others in his head.<br /><br />He needs to learn how to hold onto his identity, and Mat and Perrin need to help him.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-05-26 14:17:57
subject: The Roman Connection
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<p>I'm not sure if anyone noticed this before, but I thought I'd just give this one a go.<br /><br />The similarities between the Roman Empire and the Seanchan Empire. I will start with the most visable smilarities, starting with the birth of the Roman Empire.  <br /><br />1. Foundings<br /><br />Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus who were supposedly abandoned on the bank of the Tiber River in Rome. <br />Seanchan was founded by the armies of Artur Hawkwing, abandoned on the other side of the world, forced to fend for itself, much like Romulus and Remus of Rome. <br /><br />2. The Creation of the Empire <br /><br />Once Rome was established as a world power (in B.C. 100), It took Rome roughly two hundred and fifty to three hundred years for Rome to reach its greatest extent. <br />The Consolidation in Seanchan too about three hundred years.<br /><br />3. Class Structure<br /><br />The Class structure in Rome was like so:<br />I) The Imperial Family<br />II) Citizens of Rome<br />III) Slaves &amp; Outsiders.<br />The Romans were very strict about class. For example, only Roman Citizens were able to vote, and hold any public office. Outsiders were not allowed to run for public office, nor were they allowed to vote, even if the Romans did occupy the country in which they live. <br />However, exemplary military service, or service for the Emperor or the Empire, could result in someone being named a Roman Citizen. Even though this did not occour often, it did happen on occasion, and happened to members of the outside as well as slaves. <br />The Class structure in Seanchan is much the same. You have:<br />I) The Imperial Family<br />II) The Blood<br />III) The do&#8217;covale (Those who are property)<br />However, just like in the Roman Empire, you can move up the ranks in Seanchan society by doing service in the Military, or like in Rome, doing exemplary service for the Empire or Emperor(or in the current case in Seanchan, the Empress, may the Light shine on her forever<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/wink.gif" border="0" />).<br /><br />4. The Oath<br /><br />The Romans did not necessairly force regular citizens to swear an oath to the Emperor, however, Monarchs are a different story. In order to impose Pax Romanus (Roman Peace), the Romans set up puppet rulers in an attempt to make the people less upset about Roman rule. For example, in order to prevent revolts and revolutions that would be costly to put down, the Romans would institute a puppet ruler of the same ethnic backround as the people that they now occupied. The people of that nation would then go to their King, and their King would be subject to the Emperor, and would swear an oath of loyalty to Rome. <br />The Seanchan are much the same. This can be seen by their many invasions in the Wheel of Time world. The Seanchan force all people under their power to swear an oath of loyalty to the Empress and, like the Romans, instituted puppet rulers to keep the peace like the Romans. An example of this would be the Seanchan invasion of Altara, where Tylin was kept in power as Queen, however, she was subject to most of the Blood, and the Empress, even if the people were still her(Tylin's) subjects, and she was made to swear an oath of loyalty to the Empress. <br /><br />5. Military Symbols<br /><br />The Romans used sever national and Military symbols, but none as recognizeable as the:<br />I) SPQR<br />II) The Eagle clutching thunderbolts<br />The eagle clutching thunderbolts is the one that applies mostly to this theory. That symbol is found in the Military, and found on the sheilds of every soldier. The symbol stood for the Glory and Power of the Empire.<br />As we all know in WoT, the Seanchan symbol of the eagle clutching thunderbolts is used on Seanchan sheild. I don't think we really need to go into that similarity. <br /><br />6. Reputations<br /><br />Rome, for almost a thousand years, never lost a war, and furthermore, controlded all of the modern world(at the time). Their reputation as being unbeatable was spread through out almost every Europan nation. <br />The Seanchan, in Seanchan are known as the &quot;Ever Victorious Army&quot; because they have never lost a war. The similarity between the Seanchan and the Romans in this case is obvious.<br /><br />7. Military Conquest<br /><br />The Romans conqured the majority of Europe in less then three hundred years after they established themselves as an actual nation. The Romans used tactics for conquering nations, and people, never before seen or imagined. Their attacks were as devistating as they were innovative, and Roman Generals like Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great used military skill that inspired Generals for generations and paved the way for modern warfare. The Romans also had the ability to conquer vast amounts of land in very little time. <br />The Seanchan, much like the Romans, used innovative military tactics to conquer almost half of the Wheel of Time world. Also like the Romans, the Seanchan took only two to three year period with little resistance, and with little loss, to conquer half the Wheel of Time world. <br /><br />8. Elite Organizations<br /><br />The Praetorian Guard were established to be the best of the best in protecting the Emperor, and preserving the intrests of the Empire. They were the best of the best in the Roman military, and were sometimes even hand picked by the Emperor himself. They were as widely feared throughout the Empire as the army, and almost more so in some places. <br />The Deathwatch Guards have much the same basic idea, and do the same job. They impose the Empress' will on those whom it need be imposed on, they also protect the Empress from harm, while preserving the intrests of the Empire.<br /><br />Thats about all I can think of right now, but I think it shows that at least some of Seanchan is Roman inspired.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-05-26 14:20:44
subject: The Seanchan Alliance
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<p>This theory is entirely dependent on LNM's theory, that the new Seanchan ally is the Children of the Light, being correct.  The only reason I post it is to give justification for that alliance.  After all, the Seanchan have no need of the Whitecloak's military aid, and they (the Children) are certainly in no position to destroy the Tower from where they are.  They do, however, have one distinct advantage:  Eamon Valda.<br /><br />I have been re-reading The Dragon Reborn, and I noticed that our girls' encounter with Dain Bornhald on the way back to the Tower occurred in basically the same place where Egwene's camp is in Crossroads of Twilight.  The Children's camp is probably near there, but the important thing is that the camp was under the command of Lord Captain Eamon Valda, now the Lord Captain Commander.  He has intimate knowledge of the territory, far better than the Seanchan could get from the rudimentary maps of the Third Age or even from their raken scouts.  One of the fundamental keys to winning a battle is to know the terrain, and that is why the Seanchan alliance with Valda will &quot;give them&quot; the White Tower.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-05-26 14:22:29
subject: Moiraine - What She Already Knew
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<p>There is a passage in The Shadow Rising that is not often cited as possible evidence for Moiraine&#8217;s return, perhaps because it&#8217;s far less direct than the more well known and oft-cited evidence of  &#8216;Thom pulling a blue stone out of a fire&#8217;, or &#8216;Rand surely failing without a woman dead and gone&#8217;.  I believe that what this passage contains may be the most compelling evidence for Moiraine&#8217;s return, and any other evidence is only a substantiation and confirmation of it.<br /><br />Let&#8217;s begin with the quote:<br /><br />&#8220;The memories fade, Moiraine said, just as quietly.  She did not look away from her distant vision, and her voice was almost chill enough to take away the heat in the air.  &#8220;Most are already gone.  Some, I knew already.  Others&#8230;The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, and we are only the thread of the Pattern.  I have given my life to finding the Dragon Reborn, finding Rand, and seeing him ready to face the Last Battle.  I will see that done, whatever it requires.  Nothing and no one can be more important than that.&#8221;<br /><br />The Shadow Rising, Sharp Lessons<br /><br />In this passage, Moiraine is relating her experience in the rings of Rhuidean.  The key phrase here is &#8220;Some, I knew already&#8221;.  Some of what Moiraine saw of her future and remembered from the Rhuidean rings is information she says she already had.  This has to be information she received from Min&#8217;s viewings of her and from what the Aelfinn told her.  So, as readers, we know that the sources of Moiraine&#8217;s knowledge about her own future are from (1) Min&#8217;s viewings of her, and we know Min&#8217;s viewings have never failed (at least to the present point in the story); (2) answers given her by the Aelfinn to questions she asked about her future, and these answers being true so long as the questions she asked were in regard to herself and her future (which there should be no doubt of, as Moiraine is the one who gives us this information about the asking.  We know also that this has been true for Mat so far.); and (3) visions of her future seen in the Rhuidean rings.<br /><br />So, Moiraine already knew at least some of what she saw in the rings.  We can say then, that this information about her future was given once, then confirmed (or validated) at least once by the Rhuidean rings, and perhaps even twice, if there was any information that Moiraine received that might have overlapped between Min&#8217;s viewings and the Aelfinns&#8217; answers.  We can conclude then, that information given to you about your future, not just once, but twice, and perhaps even three times, by three different sources known to always give true information (and unable to do  otherwise when certain conditions are met) must be information with a very high probability of coming to pass, if not a certainty of coming to pass.<br /><br />The Wise Ones say that you see your future in the Rhuidean rings in variation, again and again, that &#8220;they will not guide you wholly, as is best, for they will fade together as do stories heard long ago&#8230;&#8221; (The Shadow Rising, Beyond the Stone).  This would mean that some of what you see will never actually come to pass because the path(s) you take will eliminate some of those outcomes.  And because the memories fade together, you cannot, in truth, be sure what will come to pass and what will not.<br /><br />Moiraine confirms this again later, and tells us a little more:<br /><br />&#8220;All possible futures were too many for a mind to retain, of course.  They jumbled together and faded away for the most part, but a woman gained a sense of things that would happen in her life, that must happen, that might happen.  Usually even that was hidden until the moment was on her.  Not always, though.  Moiraine had been through those rings.  <i>A spoonful of hope and a cup of despair</i>, she thought.&#8221;<br /><br />The Fires of Heaven, A Departure<br /><br />Moiraine made a conscious choice to follow one particular path shown her in the rings (one of the cairhienin dock paths).  The question is, in doing so, what other possible outcomes of her future were eliminated (besides the two other paths that involved the docks that she did not choose)?  With the higher probability of the knowledge she received about her future from more than one reliable source coming to pass, what is the probability that &#8220;what she knew already&#8221; would <i>not</i> come to pass, given the path she chose?  Why couldn&#8217;t it?<br /><br />What &#8220;must happen&#8221; for Moiraine, what <i>was not</i> hidden from her, was the particular cairhienin dock path she chose.  What &#8220;might happen&#8221;, what <i>was</i> hidden from her, was whether she would survive the outcome of that choice.  This is Moiraine&#8217;s cup of despair, and her spoonful of hope.  <br /><br />Moiraine tells Rand in her letter that she does not know what happens in the world after she is gone (except for that one small thing).  This makes sense, since the rings were only showing her visions of <i>her</i> future.  If she is no longer touching the &#8220;real world&#8221; or taking part in it, there would be nothing further to show her.  We know that the &#8220;real world&#8221; and the Finn world are separate and only connected by special objects (the two ter&#8217;angreal doorways and the Tower of Ghenjei).  When Moiraine goes through the doorway into the Finn world, she essentially &#8220;disconnects&#8221; herself from the real world.  Now, does this mean that she has no further future, or just that the rings cannot bridge the gap &#8211; the disconnect &#8211; between the two worlds, and also cannot pick up where it left off, so to speak, when she re-enters the real world?<br /><br />In light of all this, we can conclude that the &#8220;small bubble of hope&#8221; that Moiraine felt right before she launched herself at Lanfear on the docks (that small bubble that she quickly suppressed because she could not &#8220;allow herself that luxury&#8221; ) was her anticipation of possibly surviving what was about to happen (that spoonful of hope, that small bubble).  If she survived what was about to happen, the probability of her return to the real world would increase, if perhaps not be a certainty, because of  what she already knew, because of what she was given through Min&#8217;s viewings, through the Aelfinns&#8217; answers, and through the rings of Rhuidean.  Given and validated at least once, perhaps twice, and possibly even three times.  Min&#8217;s viewings have never failed that Moiraine knows of, and she asked only questions in regard to herself of the Aelfinn, so their answers must have been true.  It&#8217;s the variations on her future that she sees in the rings that leave her to doubt, and the memories of those variations that have faded.  She doesn&#8217;t  know, in truth, what will come to pass and what will not.  Thus, in her letter to Rand she says that,  &#8220;&#8230;if you are reading this, I am gone, and so is Lanfear&#8230;&#8221; (The Fires of Heaven, Fading Words).  She says she is &#8220;gone&#8221;; she does not say that she is dead.  When Rand says that, &#8220;they are both gone.  Lanfear is dead.  And so is Moiraine&#8221;, one of the Wise Ones, Amys,  says, &#8220;You are a fool Rand al&#8217;Thor, about this, and many other things, you are a fool.&#8221; (The Fires of Heaven, Fading Words).<br /><br />Because of  what Moiraine &#8220;knew already&#8221;,  regardless of  the path she consciously took, the probability of her surviving beyond the doorway increased, and her path beyond that point became if not clear, more open, and what she knew already about her future actually coming to pass becomes not just a probability, but almost a certainty.<br /><br />Conversely, if  by choosing the particular path she did, Moiraine negated what she already knew about her future, what had already been validated by more than one source, then Min&#8217;s viewings <i>can</i> fail, and the Aelfinns <i>do not</i> always give true answers.  I don&#8217;t believe either.  They both read the Pattern true so long as certain conditions are met.  Moiraine met those conditions.  <br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-01 07:29:56
subject: The Robert Jordan ter'angreal
body:
<p>In the chapter Unweaving (TPOD), Elayne searches the stuff brought out of the Rahad for anything that might be an angreal or ter'angreal. One of the items she finds with a 'resonance' to the Power is:<br /><br />'The figure of a stout, bearded man with a jolly smile, holding a book.'<br /><br />Could this be a sneaky cameo of the author himself, and if so, what exactly would a RJ ter'angreal do? Give straight answers to RAFO questions, or perhaps help the user write their *own* long-running fantasy series.<br /><br />Maybe it's even the maguffin which will prove crucial to winning the last battle. <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/jester.gif" border="0" /><br /><br />Any other ideas?</p><p><b>StoneDogAiel says:</b> Perhaps....then again perhaps not. I just found out today that Peter Jackson is in RotK. It could happen.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-03 13:38:49
subject: The secret is in the symbol
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<p>A few posts have pointed out that Gentling is Healed more effectively with Saidar, while Stilling is presumably Healed more effectively with Saidin. At least one theory has suggested this is because men are 'connected' to Saidin through a conduit constructed of Saidar and vice versa.<br /><br />This would fit with the part of the ancient Aes Sedai symbol which has so far been conspicuous by its absence. In the Yin-Yang symbol on which it is based, each of the opposing forces contain a small amount of the other &#8211; symbolised by a dot of white in the black shape and a dot of black in the white. <br /><br />What AoL Aes Sedai never apparently realised and the current crop may be on the brink of discovering is that every channeler must unknowingly reach through a conduit made of the *opposite* half of the True Source very lightly when they draw on the half they can use. Since men can't see Saidar and women can't see Saidin, there's no way they would normally notice. And as the thing they reach through is simply a conduit, like a pipeline, the taint on Saidin would not have touched female Aes Sedai who reached through it towards Saidar any more than electricity is tainted by the rubber insulating the wires through which it is conducted.<br /><br />Anyone else think this could be the Channel in Channeling?<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-03 13:39:56
subject: A possible interpretation of balefire
body:
<p>okay, lets talk about balefire. Not in how it's made, personally i think it's a tad too hot for me to try, but the effects if someone was balefired<br /><br />What does balefire do? It deletes a character from the Wheel of Time's memory, stronger the balefire the further back the erasing. But lets say someone got balefired in year 990 WoT-time with a small stream of balefire. Lets call him Bob. And then in 992 Bob's balefire-r got balefired by Rand with the Choedan Kal with Nynaeve linked, with Nynaeve somehow that ter'angreal. But that's beside the point. The point is that Bob's cause of demise was probably balefired a coupla ages back.<br /><br />So Bob would never been balefired in the first place? There can be many interpretations of it, but each cause problems. What i believe in i believe would be the most stable for the pattern to hold itself, also, looking outside the WotWorld.<br /><br />Lets take the Wheel as a spinning wheel. It starts spinning a shirt at 10 am. With gold embroidery. Then at 10:15 am, some person put the wrong thread in so the gold embroidery turned out pink. The mis-spinning happened for 2 minutse before it was noticed. So the person operating the spinning wheel (One Power) would try to reverse the effects at 10:17 at 10:15.<br /><br />This cannot be explained exactly with earth terms as last time i checked, i couldn't undo the past. Anyway, the operator picks out the emboidery (like the one power as balefire). So now it's 10:15's state at 10:17.<br /><br />Is that balefire's effects? No, that is moving something, then putting it back - the pattern is the emboidery, and the emboidery gets moved around and such. That's stating the obvious, but just read on if i'm not boring you too much.<br /><br />Lets say that somehow, the spinning wheel's operator was destroyed at 10:17 by balefire. I could go on about travelling near the speed of light and time running for the pattern and sewing wheel at different paces to put it in non-wot terms...but no. Anyway, whatever happened, with the mis-sewened threads at 10:15 to 10:17 would have never happened (as well as from 10:05 to 10:15 toi). So whatever it'd had done to the shirt after 10:05 would never exist, eh?<br /><br />I will answer that later. As for the CLOTH, it has gone through 10 to 10:15 to 10:17, then have 10:15 to 10:17 erased as it was going from 10:17 to 10:19 if the effects of the spinning whee plucking out threads is called balefire. But it's not, it could be called &quot;trying to reverse entropy&quot;. As aforementioned, picking up a stone, and putting it back. However, the balefire operator was then balefired at 10:17 all the way back to 10:05. Here is the evidence, i'll not give the answer (as to &quot;So whatever it'd have done [the seweing machine] to the shirt after 10:05 would never exist, eh?&quot; til a bit later.<br /><br />I personally believe that time is a constant, it keeps on going. The effects of what is done in past present future is what is changed. But it seems balefire changes that...i'll mention why later on with the sign (1).<br /><br />I think that's quite hard to believe, and if you told me that i'd just ignore it or run away in my confusion. But lets think as if i'm a little fish. at 1 pm i am swimming, and at 1:05 i get hauled into a net. At 1:07 someone balefires (that easier to use than time travel, more paradoxes there, we just seem to accept balefire<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/biggrin.gif" border="0" /> and the pattern 'somehow' continuing<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/smile.gif" border="0" />) the boat, causing....oh what do ya know just a 2 minute reversal back to 10:05. So i'd be just about to be hauled off INTO the boat, but i am still in the water. So hence i've lived from 1 pm to 1:05 to 1:07, then relived 1:05 to 1:07 again. So hence i am at 1:09 where the rest of the pattern, those who are NOT AFFECTED by the balefire hence not affected by any movement of action by the balefired person between 1:05 to 1:07 are at 1:07 as seen by every clock. In WoT the first 1:05 to 1:07 i lived would be memories, but i HAVE lived them flopping on the deck of the boat as much as i have lived 1:05 to 1:07 in the water.<br /><br />The point of the above? In the spinning wheel terms, the shirt would have had their effects from 10:15 to 10:17 removed as the spinning machine as there was no operator from 10:05. The spinning machine never used anything like balefire, it was like putting a rock somewhere then back. So yes, the shirt would be at the state of 10:05<br /><br />The fish example was an example of balefire. I did live 1:05 to 1:07 two times. Whereas the spinning wheel was 'pluck out the emboidery i put in the last 2 minutes so it looks like before', it isn't balefire which is &quot;Ok that never happened cause the person making it happen never was there&quot;<br /><br />Lets say that, in another example, i get balefired at 1:07 as the been of balefire sweeps across the boat to hit the fisherman (i was balefired before the fisherman, same strength of balefire but i died maybe a second before him). *taps on wood to ward away bad luck* Anyway, i would have ceased to exist at THAT TIME. You can see the complications now can't you? (1) If i were balefired at 1:07, and then the person who caused me to be there to be balefired was balefired, so i couldn' be there to be balefired, and thus i couldn't be at the first 1:07 to be balefired since that 1:07 did exist, but i WAS balefired (taps on wood again*...enough! The thing is, i DID get balefired. That thing DID happen so there would be a time for it to happen, since the stuff about time being a constant and such. But no, forget that part. Lets just say that 'somehow it happened' ok? Cause there'd be no set answer without proof, only countless hours of debate. Which i may be spurring right now...but oh nvm. Thing is, i WAS bafired *keeps on tapping on wood*<br /><br />Anyway....do you see how that relates to bob? Bob was like the fish, he was balefired like the fish. Bob was killed in 990 Wot-year, but then his killer was killed WAY before that, but his killer DID kill him cause balefire is something like... a spinning wheel. Lets say all those wars with fireballs and spears go on the cloth, but it's the sewing machine that plucks out people FROM the cloth. People relive after ages ON the cloth (pattern), but when they are removed like the seweing machine/balefire, they're gone forever.<br /><br />So...yeah Bob is gone<br /><br />Thanks for all your time. Again, that's my opinion, i am not trying to press it onto anyone.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-03 13:40:52
subject: Winning and Losing the Last Battle
body:
<p>There was a theory posted a while ago suggesting that the DO will try to enter Rand&#8217;s body, to possess him. I would like to propose the same, but also give explanations as to why.<br /><br /><b><u>Quotes</u></b><br /><br />Q1. tEotW, ch 44, 655 pb<br />&#8220;I offer it one more time, one last time. You can stand above them, above every power and dominion but mine. There have been times when you made that choice, times when you lived long enough to know your power.&#8221;<br /><br />Q2. tGH prologue, xxii pb<br />&#8220;Soon the Wheel of Time will be broken. Soon the Great Serpent will die, and with the power of that death, the death of Time itself, your Master will remake the world in his own image for this Age and for all Ages to come.&#8221;<br /><br />Q3. tGH, ch 37 What Might Be<br /><i>I have won again, Lews Therin</i>[&#8230;]<br /><br />Q4. tGH, ch 41 587 pb<br />&#8220;This time there will be <u>no rebirth</u> for you. This time the Wheel of Time will be broken and the world remade in the image of the Shadow.&#8221;<br /><br />Q5. tGH, ch 41, 588 pb<br />&#8220;A thousand strings laid over a thousand years have drawn you here. Ten thousand woven throughout the Ages tie you like a sheep for slaughter. <u>The Wheel itself holds you prisoner to your fate Age after Age. But I can set you free</u>. You cowering cur, I alone in the entire world can teach you how to wield the Power. I alone can stop it killing you before you have a chance to go mad. I alone can stop the madness. You have served me before. Serve me again, Lews Therin, or be destroyed forever!&#8221;<br />&#8221;My name,&#8221; Rand forced between chattering teeth, &#8220;is Rand al'Thor.&#8221;<br /><br />Q6. LoC, ch 18, 415-6 pb<br />&#8220;It can&#8217;t be the Last Battle. Even if the Dragon Reborn seals the Dark One&#8217;s prison again as well as the Creator made it. Which I don&#8217;t think he can do.&#8221;<br />[&#8230;]<br />&#8220;Someone had to make it sometime. For the first time, that is. Unless you think the Creator made the Dark One&#8217;s prison with a hole and patch to begin[&#8230;]No, it was whole in the beginning, and I think it will be whole again when the Third Age comes once more.&#8221;<br /><br /><b><u>Losing the Last Battle</u></b><br /><br />In Q3 we see a voice saying &#8220;I have won again, Lews Therin.&#8221; When asked about this, RJ explained that there are degrees of victory for the DO. We see in quotes 1 and 5 that even if the Dragon ends up serving the Shadow that will not spell the end of the world, for he has done so in the past. Thus, in order to determine the nature of the Last Battle, we must look to understand what a complete victory for the DO means.<br /><br />In passages like quotes 2 and 4 we see that the DO&#8217;s plan, his idea of a complete victory is to remake the world/Wheel/Pattern in his image. But now that we knowthe what, we need to know the why.<br /><br />To answer that, let&#8217;s take a look at the nature of the DO&#8217;s situation. He is imprisoned, kept apart from the Pattern by T&#8217;A&#8217;R (see my theory &#8220;In Search of the DO&#8221; ). There is a hole in that prison/barrier, known as the Bore. During the AoL the Bore was first small but then grew. Attempts to free the DO from his prison were what began the War of Power (see wotmania encyclopedia).<br /><br />But that would not be much of an achievement. There is nothing to suggest that the DO touching the Pattern some and touching the Pattern a lot are different enough to be the key to the Last Battle. Remember that the Pattern is more than just what happens. It is the Age Lace, the Pattern of the Ages, the programming for the Wheel that the Creator provided when he created the Wheel. This programming is his method of taking care of the Wheel without taking a hand in events.<br /><br />Thus, the DO cannot break the Wheel by simply touching it. To break it he must be able to touch its foundations, its programming.<br /><br />In Q5 we are reminded that Rand&#8217;s soul, the soul of the Dragon, is bound to the Wheel, spun out time after time to fight the DO. This is not like being a hero. The Creator made the Wheel and Pattern with this built in system for dealing with the DO. In essence, the Dragon&#8217;s soul is a part of the Wheel&#8217;s programming.<br /><br />To break the Wheel, the DO needs access to the programming. To get access to the programming, he needs to control Rand&#8217;s soul.<br /><br />Let us now turn to the question of how the DO can gain control of Rand&#8217;s soul. By keeping him (Rand) alive long enough so that when he is completely free from his prison, he can possess Rand and gain control of his soul. This is why he wants Rand alive (and also, I believe what Ishy means in Q4 by saying that this time he will have &#8220;no rebirth&#8221; ). Sure, he can accept a lesser victory. That&#8217;s why Moridin says things like &#8220;Kill him if you must.&#8221; The DO only wants Rand dead if he does not feel he has a good chance at being able to control Rand once he gets free. That&#8217;s why cleansing the taint swung the odds so far. Now Rand&#8217;s future does not include greater degrees of madness, only the little bit he already has.<br /><br /><b><u>Winning the Last Battle</u></b><br /><br />How can Rand win the Last Battle? And with that, how can the DO&#8217;s prison be fixed perfectly? We know the Creator won&#8217;t step in and do it, and from Q6 we see that even Herid Fel doesn&#8217;t believe the Dragon can do it. But let me give you a scenario of how it can be accomplished.<br /><br />As seen above, the DO is wanting to take over Rand&#8217;s body to gain access to his soul. Ironically, this is exactly what Rand needs to win. But Rand doesn&#8217;t want him to gain control.<br /><br />To win, Rand needs to break the seals, free the DO, let him inhabit his body and soul, and then commit suicide. By doing so, the DO will have died a human death. His soul (or whatever you call it) will then be subject to the laws of the Pattern. It will be sent to an afterlife of sorts, connected in a way to T&#8217;A&#8217;R. This is similar to the Heroes connection, but completely different.<br /><br />When Heroes die, the programming of the Pattern has a special protocol for dealing with them. As they are bound to the Wheel, they are sent to special afterlife where they can walk T'A'R freely as if dreaming.<br /><br />The Pattern also has a special protocol for dealing with the DO. But as he is bound not <i>to</i> the Wheel but <i>away</i> from it, T'A'R becomes not his stomping grounds but a barrier, sealing him away from the Pattern.<br /><br />This works nicely, because the DO will have been imprisoned anew. T'A'R will have been reset (like rebooting a computer), and the DO will be in a perfectly fine prison with no holes. And the Dragon will not be the one to create the prison, nor the Creator. The Creator, knowing that he would take no hand in the events of men, made the Pattern in such a way as to provide the help they need when they need it, assuming they access the right program. The work is done with his power, but not by his hand.<br /><br /><b><u>The Secret to Winning the Last Battle</u></b><br /><br />As I showed in my theory &#8220;Soul, Identity, and Three <i>Ta&#8217;veren</i>&#8221;, the key to Rand&#8217;s success lies in his ability to maintain his identity. And now we see why. When the DO is free, he will enter Rand&#8217;s body/soul. The fight will be over who gets control of the Dragon&#8217;s soul. For the DO to win, he needs Rand to be weak in his identity. And for Rand to win, he needs to be strong in his identity.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-03 13:41:29
subject: Regular Cycle or Irregular Cycle
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<p>Please bare with me this will be long...<br /><br />Okay, we know that the name of the books are the Wheel of Time.<br /><br />Now any time I see a circle, it spins in the same area, relating to the book this should mean that everything that happen in the Age of Legends would happen again. Exactly.<br /><br />12 new Forsaken (I believe Ishmael is older than the AOL but that is for later), included in that would be: Nyneave, Alivia, Mat, amoungst others, but those are the main ones. They would have shock lances (guns) but they would have to be common place prior to TG. They would have common flying and mass transit. And finally they would have to all be united and harmoniously living.<br /><br />OR....<br /><br />The AOL was just part of the third cycle, every cycle humanity joins, is broken, joins again and then they fight TG. In this instance, the Dragon Reborn is spun out twice in the say cycle. What we are reading about AOL and current in Randland are part of the same spin.<br /><br />They are many proofs to prove the second, as well as the first.  I won't tell you what I believe, I'll let you make up your own mind and tell me. I'll post my email after and please send me any comments, I would like to know. Also I'm not gonna qoute the book, I'm going to use common knowledge and often repeated parts of the books. Most of my collection is in my house and I am stationed elsewhere.<br /><br />Now I like working backwards so I'm gonna prove the second theory first before I destroy it.  <br /><br />Proof for the Second Theory-<br /><br />Okay first major proof that the wheel is somehow off kilter or the spinning is larger, when a wheel or cirlce spins, it goes over the exact same space as it did before, unless there is a pressure exerted from an outside force. The creator or DO could somehow do this, however, we know that DO cannot directly influence the pattern while he was trapped outside of it, or to the amount it would need to to approximate the changes. An in Rand's and Lew's ranting they contend that the Creator creates watches and leaves with no interference. So the events would be a mirror of the events that Rand saw in the AOL.<br /><br />Now from the writing we know that the Horn of Valere was made prior to the AOL. However, it is an intergral part of the prophecies so far. To win TG they need the Horn of Valere. If it was needed to win TG then in the AOL they would have needed to have it. However we are told that is is older than AOL. So there is proof that AOL might not have had a TG, just a warm up bout.<br /><br />Now lets look at the party that LTT had. He had one-hundred most powerful male channelers still on the lights side. Meaning that when TG is fought again the battle will have to be different or the means of making it there will be compeletly different. We know that the Aiel, Aes Sedai, possibly Kin and Wise ones, amoungst others will try to be there, along with the Black Tower. If AOL was only a warm up it has nothing to do with this battle. But I doubt that Rand would be able to somehow transport just the Asha'man away, since Aviendha knows he can keep a portal open, if he tried to whisk away just the Asha'man she or another would attempt to keep the portal open.<br /><br />Now the Taint, it the wheel was spun out the same every time, in AOL there would have been the Tiant and LTT would have had to remove it. The Dragon Reborn remove the taint and the Original Dragon was LTT. And DO not being and idiot would probably lay the Taint everytime possible, to ruin the plans of mice and men. Insane men tend not to be helpful in a plan.<br /><br />Finally for pro-larger/off-kilter wheel spinning, we have the Forsaken. For 2 parts.<br /><br />Now even if the wheel was nudged of course we would still need to see 12 new Forsaken(I still believe Ishmeal is older, and not for this topic).  Demodred was the nest tactician, that applies directly to Mat. Everyone great general in the series who has met him has agreed he is the best. So in the revolution of the Wheel, Mat betrays Rand and joins DO on the third year of the conflict. That would be soon and so far he has had a very cryptic but honorable service record. The series doesn't appear to have him going to DO.<br /><br />Perrin would become Sammeal. Both Demodred and Sammeal where LTTs generals but they switched to DO side. While this mught alsmot be the path it looks like could be the end results for Perrin and his mad search for Faile, once again, the series is leading to his attempting to remain human as opposed to forsaking his humanity.<br /><br />Forsaken prior to punching the hole in DO prison did not exsit in AOL. As far as proof of the second is concered, if the cycle is the same, when he was sealed prior to AOL he would have escaped with them as he did in Randland. He would have emerged with the Forsaken he was trapped with. This leads to the belief that when he was trapped prior to AOL, he was soundly beaten, as what Rand and co. are trying to do. All/most of DO followers dead, all/most of everyone knowing of DO dead or wishing not to speak and just forget the times behind them.<br /><br />Now if the cycle is larger and Rand and co. soundly beat DO, then we have the makings for a great lead into a new AOL.  30000 years after Rand soundly flattens DO, the ogier return in great numbers, and the Aiel return to there Tinkering ways, they might not have the knowledge not to punch a hole in DO's prison again starting a 4th age.<br /><br />First Theory of the spinning of the Wheel-<br /><br />Now, according to most of the &quot;logic&quot; we have that involve time travel, one little change in the past can considerably change the future. Also we have the Chaos theory to work with. So the little butterfly that had it's head imploded by accident didn't flap it wings and 500 Tinkers died and this spinning changed we lost all of the technology we where to have as well as the peace and harmony.<br /><br />Now we commonally hear it refered to the wheel weaves as the wheel will. This makes it sound like a pattern the wheel is leaving and as opposed to rolling over itself, it is leading to a conclusion eventually. This means that there is a defined end to the pattern. If we imagine it woven in a line.<br /><br />If the wheel is weaving a pattern and it might be in a circlar area, it might have to replace worn or destoryed threads as it goes back over itself, this leads to explaining the Dragon Reborn. Imagine DO as a pair of scissors try to cut the pattern and destroy it. The one thread it needs to cut is the Dragon Reborn to win, but that is the one string that hold everything together, so try as he might he cannot win against the Dragon Reborn.<br /><br />This leads to another theory of time travel, the river. It has been theorised by some that no matter what you could do by time travel, nothing would change, that time is like a river, sure you could throw a rock in, but it would not change it's course. This is probably the theory that RJ is using.<br /><br />We see this when Rand uses the traveling rock with Verin. He sees himself a hundred different ways and each time that he dies DO says he has won, but that isn't the end of the wheel in any of those. DO never won because he never bent the Dragon to his will. That would be the only way to stop the pattern, as long as that thread is there the pattern continues.<br /><br />Based off of that theory that could explain the multitude of experinces Mat now has, they did not have the general they needed, so the river found a way to make one. They gave knowledge and experince to one who would have never had it to make up for what was missing in the pattern.<br /><br />That would explain how one person became three or three became one. The pattern adapted to suit what it needed.<br /><br />This is also enhanced by the way the Heros are spun out of the dream world. If the pattern decreed that a hero be born and that person died due to DO tampering, could the pattern find another suitable soul and interlace them. This would explain how Cain left the dreamworld weeks/months ago in the story and is already 7 years old. By chance Olver grew into that person. Thats also not to say the pattern doesn't plant so many to begin with and let natural selection take them out and the last one living gets the soul.<br /><br />This way Cain and Birgitte could leave the dreamworld on the same week and be years different. No one said that anyone besides the Dragon Reborn had to be born into the pattern. Perhaps he is wholly unique unto himself.<br /><br />Absolute intangibles-<br /><br />If this was and exact spinning, the people from AOL would have had some idea and possibly a prophecy about a prior fight with DO. Since there was so much more invention and magic in AOL, it also leads to the speculation that is just the same turning, you would need quite a bit of time to unite everyone and begin reveiling those discoveries then just the few thousand years that we are lead to believe that Randland have had. However, unless the prior battle left so many connections, that as opposed to breaking apart they grew together. Without any strife to begin the pattern, these discoveries could have easily been found.<br /><br />Okay so now you ask what about DO being resealed. Well, we know from the visions in Rhundien that they had to punch the hole in DO's prison, no one in this age so far has come to and admitting to opening DO's prison. We specifically see how Lanfear opened the prison. And we don't have any proof that no one tried to open it they very well might have.<br /><br />Well, I know that was very long, but both could be a true potential. I put proof in under both theories and there are a hundred ways to shatter it. Such as time frame. We don't have any real frames to work with so the most we can do is just guess.<br /><br />I hope you liked my ranting and have some good veiws and I hope you have some bad ones. I hope to hear them all. If you would like I will responed back to you just let me know in your email.<br /><br />Wylddozer@yahoo.com<br /><br />                     Thanks<br />                        -Dozer<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-24 15:48:14
subject: How the Green Man's place works
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<p><br />In the Eye of the World, chapter 51, &quot;Against the Shadow,&quot; after defeating Aginor, Rand moves mysteriously from the hilltop where he wrested the power of the Eye of the World from the Forsaken, to the pass of Tarwin's Gap where the Shienaran forces fight a Trolloc host.  When he moves from the battlefield, it is to a staircase that appears out of nowhere.  The following description is given.<br /><br />&quot;Darkness surrounded him, the utter blackness of total nothing.  The steps were still there, hanging in the black, under his feet and ahead.&quot;<br /><br />The description bears a close resemblance to the means of One Power transportation known as Skimming.  When it is first used deliberately by Rand in The Shadow Rising, he finds himself on a staircase, until he realizes he can make the platform carry him, by spotting Asmodean doing the same thing.  Subsequent uses of Skimming show the surface to be mutable by the will of the channeler who opened the door to Skim.  As Rand is used to thinking of transportation as leg-powered or involving wheels, the idea of a moving platform did not occur to him until he saw it was possible.  <br /><br />According to Asmodean, in The Fires of Heaven, the place a Skimming platform moves through is &quot;a dream of a dream.&quot;  A place described in terms of dreams, that is mutable by a person's will, strongly suggests Tel'Aran'Rhiod in the Wheel of Time.  Verin describes Tel'Aran'Rhiod as a place surrounding the other worlds of the Pattern, existing outside of these worlds, but touching them.  Ba'alzamon enters the dreams of the three ta'veren and exerts his will on the surrounding environment.  As Egwene, a Dreamwalker with some training in controlling dreams, cannot even control her actions when she enters the dream of an untrained man who is totally unaware that she is in his dream, this suggests that Ba'alzamon pulled them into Tel'Aran'Rhiod, which the Wise Ones claim is something evil and done by the Shadow.  When Egwene contemplates this action in A Crown of Swords, she describes it as pulling the dreamer into a &quot;part&quot; of Tel'Aran'Rhiod, over which she has control.  Taken together, these facts suggest there are more than one of these &quot;dream worlds&quot; in which reality can be controlled by the right person.<br /><br />I believe the Green Man's place is something similar.  Getting there in the first place is difficult enough.  As Moiraine says in The Eye of the World, &quot;No one finds the Eye of the World&#8230;unless the Green Man wants them to find it.  Need is the key, and intention.&quot;  Loial later says, &quot;No two&#8230;have found it in exactly the same place.  The Green Man seems to be found where he is needed.&quot;  When they arrive unexpectedly in the Green Man's place, the Green Man himself states, &quot;This place&#8230;is always where it is.  All that changes is where those who need it are.&quot;  That is crucial to remember - it is the people who travel to the Green Man's place, it does not move, whatever their perception is. <br /><br />Many people have speculated that Jordan changed the rules for Traveling halfway through the series, as the early books implied it was teleportation, and Rand actually appears to teleport from the hilltop in the Green Man's place to Tarwin's Gap.  There is no description of any sort of effect like a gateway or other manifestation of some weave of the Power, even performed unconsciously.  He is simply in one place and then another.  The closest matching method of moving from place to place is how person in Tel'Aran'Rhiod can move themselves without crossing the intervening distance.  <br /><br />Dreamers who enter Tel'Aran'Rhiod can also travel to a place with no specific destination in mind, by concentrating on a particular need.  Even if the person has no idea what that need is, they will find themselves in the general area, and getting closer each time they attempt it.  Characters in the story have used this method to find things as specific as a particular unknown object that is a threat to someone, or as general as something to motivate the Salidar Aes Sedai to support Rand, or as vague as &quot;&#8230;where I need to be&#8230;&quot;  Another interesting fact of need-based transportation in T'A'R, is that no one can seek the same thing twice, which is also the case with the Green Man's domain.  Moiraine, and possibly Lan went there a second time, but they were in the company of three ta'veren for the second trip, one of whom was about to fulfill the purpose for which the Eye of the World was created.<br /><br />The Green Man's place is not in Tel'Aran'Rhiod, and I believe it does exist in the physical world the same as Tar Valon or the Two Rivers, but the means of getting there is related to the same principles that govern the places between the Pattern such as Tel'Aran'Rhiod (where the Heroes of the Horn wait until their souls are reborn to meet the Pattern's NEED) or the Skimming place(s).  Thus, when Rand needed to be somewhere else, he found himself in Tarwin's Gap.  He is still not conscious of how he channels the Power, so the fact that he never tried to go anywhere is not necessarily conclusive - he simply isn't yet aware of the mental process to decide he needed to be elsewhere - much the way people channel unconsciously but aren't aware of making the weave until they see the result, and cannot remember what they did later.<br /><br />The exact mechanism may be some form of ward placed by the Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends in an effort to keep it from being despoiled by those who would interfere with the purpose of the Eye and the artifacts stored within.  The banner found in the Eye was in the possession of the same group that also had Callandor, so they would have been quite capable of setting up a ward or weaving that would last 3,000 years.  Since Tel'Aran'Rhiod was apparently accessible to all the Forsaken (nearly every living Forsaken has been seen in it since the readers learned of its existence), this suggests it may be reached by a weave of the Power, and not just in the flesh, and of course, the Skimming place is also accessible by the One Power.  It would also explain the ability of the Forsaken to find and enter the Green Man's place when Myrdraal and Dreadlords were apparently unable in the 3000 years since its creation - the Forsaken have access to Tel'Aran'Rhiod, and/or would understand the nature of the ward.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-29 07:38:17
subject: *Angreal And Their Creation
body:
<p>OK, I haven&#8217;t seen this actually posted anywhere, FAQ or otherwise, though I&#8217;ve seen references to similar thoughts. So feel free to blast away at this.<br /><br />My theory is simple, the construction of any *angreal requires certain things. Ter&#8217;angreal need the person to understand what it is they are creating. Angreal require the person making it to have sufficient strength in the Power. Sa&#8217;angreal are an extension of angreal, except that they need men to increase the circle. The one thing all three need, aside from general knowledge of what one is doing, is the Talent.<br /><br />From the PoV&#8217;s of the various forsaken, we see that Aes Sedai in the AOL had specific duties, some were researchers, others were healers, etc. Most of the forsaken, that we know of, were not technically skilled people. Asmodean was a musician, Sammael and Demandred were generals, Semmy was a healer, the list goes on, yet none used the power to make objects with it. Many people have brought up the point that if *angreal were so easy to make, why don&#8217;t the forsaken just pop them out right and left.<br /><br />The answer is simply this: They don&#8217;t know how. Sure they were taught the basics of how to make *angreal, but most of us were taught the basics of how internal combustion engines work, yet we couldn&#8217;t make one from scratch. This logic has a parallel when Nynaeve is questioning Moghedien, in Salidar. Moggy tells what she knows, but often it&#8217;s just a name or a concept that those from this age cannot even begin to understand. Moggy may not be the best teacher, but she is probably a good example across the board. Most people in the AOL could tell you the gist of how things were done, but couldn&#8217;t do it for you.<br /><br />Now let&#8217;s look at what Elayne, the wonder child, has done. She COPIED an existing ter&#8217;angreal, and poorly too. That is an accomplishment, but it&#8217;s only the first steps. It would be like giving an art student time to look at a Van Gogh, then asking them to replicate it. They&#8217;d give you a finished product, but it would not be the Van Gogh. <br /><br />What Elayne needs is to understand what she&#8217;s trying to make. If she knows the final product before she begins making it (ie: she knows a weave that has the same purpose) she can most likely make a ter&#8217;angreal. I think her problems with the dream ring are because she is only copying an existing ter&#8217;angreal and not building it from the weave up. I&#8217;m sure she&#8217;ll run into problems building a completely new ter&#8217;angreal too, but that&#8217;s part of the learning process. You don&#8217;t go from copying a masterpiece to making your own in one step.<br /><br />On the subject of angreal and sa&#8217;angreal, IMO angreal are made by a smaller circle working together, or for that matter a strong single channeler. An angreal increases a person&#8217;s strength markedly, yet some are weaker than others, and were presumably made by people of differing strengths. If Elayne were to make an actual angreal, it would do nothing for her, because she made it to match her own strength. However, that same angreal given to Nynaeve or even Egwene would have results, though small ones, because of the similarities in their relative strengths in the power. Now, if a circle were formed, using Nyn, Egwene and Elayne, the angreal they made would be significantly stronger.<br /><br />Sa&#8217;angreal follow the same general formula, excepting they need men. Men make the difference between a strong angreal and a weak sa&#8217;angreal. One man along doubles the possible strength of a female tuned *angreal, so the larger the circle, the stronger the sa&#8217;angreal. This works beautifully for female *angreal, yet what about male *angreal? The circle allows the women to draw in Saidin as well as Saidar, so to form a male angreal, a woman needs to be in the link, allowing the man(men) to draw enough Saidin to make a device worthwhile, yet with Sa&#8217;angreal the women need to draw what they can to make it a true sa&#8217;angreal. Women drawing on Saidin make male tuned sa&#8217;angreal.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-29 07:50:41
subject: Delana Betrayed Egwene...
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<p>I have thought long and hard on this and after my recent rereading of COT, I have come to the conclusion that Delana is the only one who could have betrayed Egwene.<br /><br />I have evidence that points to this and a bit of a long shot theory that also helps to make my point.<br /><br />1)  In COT Egwene notes that she had informed the Sitters of her plan. On page 666<br /><br />Romanda had opposed any sort of negotiations, spurious or not.  And she knew what was to happen tonight.  Keeping the Hall in the dark about that would have been a needless slap in the face.<br /><br />So if the Sitters knew Delana knew. Which means Halima knew.  No wonder Anaiya and Kairen were killed.  They were the ones up to the task of turning the gate chains of North Harbor to cuendillar.<br /><br />Delana would have known this which is the reason Halima killed them. <br /><br />2)Delana had motive and the oppurtunity to warn Black Sisters in the Tower. On page 666...<br /><br />Excepting Janya, every Sitter who had held a chair before the Tower divided had insinuated herself into the negotiations.  They were talking with women they had known in the Hall back then, after all.<br /><br />In COT Chapter &quot;A Chat with Siuan&quot;  Siuan remarks on the similarites between both Halls choosing previous Sitters and too young Sitters.  Delana had held her position previously in the Tower.  How unlikely is it that one of the Sitters from the Tower would be part of Delana's heart of Black Sisterhood.  Making it very easy for her to slip information about the plan to her.  Mayhaps not even a Black Sister.  <br /><br />Delana seems rife on creating chaos.  Losing the Amyrlin would cause a great deal of chaos for the rebel Aes Sedai.  <br /><br />Either way it goes the rebels are in for trouble.  One more note.  Sheriam's behavior in that last chapter was quite unusual.   Trying to get Egwene to go easy on Larine.  Obviously ignoring the knowledge she has of the duties of Mistress of Novices.   Obviously ignoring Egwene's place as Amrylin.   She behaved quite beyond odd.   <br /><br />I propose it was not Sheriam in the study with Egwene and Siuan.  I propose it was Halima using Masks of Mirrors parading as Sheriam.  Chew on that!!!<br /><br />Well that is all.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-29 07:52:26
subject: Foretelling - the need to be trained
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<p>Most people consider the Foretelling to be one of those Talents which grips you whenever it wishes. You can Foretell at any time and it is beyond your control.<br /><br />I beg to differ. <br /><br />It is obvious that most major Talents require training for them to become effective - e.g. Healing , Dreaming. Foretelling is no different but like many things , the training was lost along with most of the knowledge acquired during the Age of Legends.<br /><br />In TSR , Rand gets a glimpse of the Aes Sedai during the Age of Legends standing around a table in the Hall of Servants. The following occurs ... (The Dedicated)<br /><br />&quot;What good is your Foretelling ... if you cannot tell us when?&quot; ... Dark eyed Deindre faced her with a more usual calm. &quot;I am not the Creator. I can only tell you what I Foretell.&quot; .... &quot;Besides , the Dashain yet have a part yet to play , if Deindre could only see far enough to say what.&quot;<br /><br />NOW ... contrast this to when Elaida Foretells (Prologue ACoS) ...<br /><br />&quot;Suddenly the Foretelling took hold of her ... As usual the Foretelling left her trembling , gasping for breath&quot;<br /><br />The Foretellings by Gitara in New Spring and by Nicola Treehill are similar - the fact that they are almost seized when they Foretell. However , there is a strong contrast between the way women Foretell in the present day compared to the Age of Legends.<br /><br />The Foretelling by Deindre in the Age of Legends is strongly suggestive of an element of control. The other Aes Sedai are waiting around a table with her , waiting for her to Foretell further. It is unlikely they would do this if the Talent manifested so sporadically as with the present day Aes Sedai.<br /><br />Secondly , Solinda speaks about how Deindre is having trouble seeing far enough into the future with regards to a certain purpose regarding the Aiel. This suggests that she can also provide direction for her Talent - this doesn't mean she can Foretell what she wants , but she can possibly elaborate on a Foretelling by receiving further details about it.<br /><br />In my opinion , the Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends had partial control over the Foretelling Talent - presumably due to training which has been lost since the War of Power and the Breaking of the World.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-29 07:54:35
subject: Asmodean killed himself
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<p>First the quote to refresh our boggled memories:<br /><br />&#8216;[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. &quot;You? No!&quot; The word still hung in the air when death took him.&#8217; (TFOH: 56, Glowing Embers, 682).<br /><br />The biggest revelation I have in solving this mystery is that perhaps the passage originally read somewhat differently, as follows:<br /><br />&#8216;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. &#8220;You!&#8221; He recognized the young Cairhienian guard &#8211; how had he ended up coming to Caemlyn with the rest of them? That dastardly drunk had stolen more than one bottle of good wine from under his nose back in Cairhien, and now he was hear to do it again. He was already perched on his toes, pulling down a large bottle of one of the oldest vintages Asmodean had seen in this age. At his startled exclamation the guard fumbled around in surprise, dropping the bottle.<br />	&#8220;No!&#8221; Asmodean cried as it smashed to the floor. &#8220;You bumbling fool,&#8221; he cried swatting the young guard. &#8220;Get out of my sight before I sick the Lord Dragon on you.&#8221; He was so angry he would have channeled the pesky tyke a lesson or too if he wasn&#8217;t so afraid Rand al&#8217;Thor might turn up at anytime.&#8217;<br /><br />	So anyway, Asmodean finds some more liquor, gets hammered out of his mind and falls asleep in the pantry. Next morning he walks out into the sunny courtyard for a stroll to clear his head. Unbeknownst to him, Moridin is perched on the roof behind him with orders to kill the traitor. As Asmodean comes into his sights he prepares a weave of balefire strong enough to blast him back to yesterday, but is distracted by a loud banging. He turns to see a certain young Cairhienian guard who has rolled noisily onto the roof as he cavorts with a local young dark haired servant girl. As soon as they see Moridin they both leap up and flee before their carousings can be reported by the strange man. Moridin angrily turns back to his target only to find it too late. Having a to do list quite full of dastardly deeds, Moridin is forced to leave and return to try again another day.<br /><br />	A few days later as he strolls through the palace thumbing his harp, Asmodean catches a glimpse of Moridin in the other room, and knows his number is up. Having not yet been seen, he makes a break through the nearest door. A bolt of BF above his head tells him he&#8217;s been spotted, and he darts around the next corner and cowers behind a pillar. He can see Moridin stalking in the next room, looking for him. There&#8217;s no way to get out unless he can find a decoy of some sort and run off before Moridin knows it&#8217;s not him he&#8217;s killed. Conveniently a palace serving girl happens his way, and he grabs her and throws her around the corner. As expected, a tremendous blast of BF erupts from Moridin, and the girl winks out of existence.<br /><br />A thread is removed, and the pattern shifts.<br /><br />	A few days ago a certain Cairhienian guard is roaming the corridors of the Caemlyn palace, feeling rather frisky and looking for a certain young serving girl he spotted yesterday. He asks around, and although everyone is quite certain they just saw her, no one is sure exactly where he is now. With a shrug he gives up his plan for a romp on the roof top, and goes to peek in through the windows of the servant girls dorms instead. A few moments later, Moridin fries Asmodean to a crisp with enough balefire to blast him back to yesterday.<br /><br />A thread is removed, and the pattern shifts.<br /><br />	A day earlier, Asmodean pulled open a small door, intending to find his way to the pantry. A certain Cairhienian guard was himself making a delicate attempt to extract a lovely bottle of wine from the top shelf in hopes of finding a local serving girl who might share it with him. &#8220;You!&#8221; someone behind him shouted. He jumped up in surprise and dropped the bottle. &#8220;No!&#8221; the voice shouted.<br />	The bottle hit the floor and smashed to pieces. The guard turned around and saw to his great surprise that there was no one behind him. Wondering if he was losing his mind, he picked up two bottles of the strongest stuff he could find, and headed for a quite corner to drink in peace.<br /><br />	And so Asmodean disappears in a puff of time-reversal logic, death taking him suddenly and for little apparent reason in a spectacular suicide by paradox with almost enough unnecessary twists and turns of cause and effect to satisfy RJ himself.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-06-29 07:57:33
subject: Wise One ranking
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<p>Everyone in the WOT world seems to be confused as to how exactly the Aiel Wise Ones rank themselves.  I myself was among those confused until i stumbled upon what I think is the answer.  <br /><br />Everytime we read a description of a Wise One in the books Jordan always mentions the large amount of necklaces and braclets they wear.  I think this is the answer to how the Wise Ones rank themselves.  The more necklaces and braclets; the higer the rank.  But they don't just wear them, they have to earn them.  I came upon this conclusion while I was rereading COT.  <br /><br />In chapter 25 &quot;When to wear jewels&quot; (pg 566) we see Perrin leaving to go to So Harbor and Seonid and Masuri accompany him.  They are the last ones of the party to arrive and Perrin remarks on how he didn't think the Wise Ones would let them come at all.  On their arrival Jordan tells us how they are dressed and in this description it says that they are both wearing a heavy gold necklace.  Now the chances that an Aes Sedai would just suddenly decide to wear a plain golden necklace are slim (plain gold necklaces just like the ones the wise ones wear hmmmm....) and even slimmer when it comes to both of them having one to wear.  Now keep in mid that the Aes Sedai sworn to Rand are now apprentices to the Wise Ones.  I believe that the Wise Ones accompanying Perrin have deemed that Seonid and Masuri have completed a level in their apprentice training and have moved up in the ranks and so they now have the gold necklaces to show that.<br /><br />And there you go.  The answer to how the Wise Ones rank themselves.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-07-05 22:24:00
subject: Balefire= Small Wormhole
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<p>This is short and easy not like some theories about balefire.<br /><br />First, the way I think balefire works is like a wormhole or in Wot Speak stepping outside the pattern.  The user of balefire creates a point of contact between the target in the now and the target in the past, depending on the amount of power used.  At that point the target is taken out of the pattern in the past and the only person to not be affected by the balefire are the people who are not touched by the piece of the pattern that was removed.  So when Rand balefires Rahvin, Nynaeve and Mogedien are not effected and they remember the balefire, but everyone that Rahvin killed are brought back because the were touching Rahvin's thread in the pattern.<br /><br />Short and Easy...</p><p><b>StoneDogAiel says:</b> Sounds like a very succinct despriction of what happens when someone is balefired. I think that you may have hot the mail on the head as far as how to think of balefire.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-07-16 06:31:07
subject: who/where is Demandred?
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<p>This is really more of a suggestion to who or where demandred might be. I was reading LOC and in THREADS WOVEN OF SHADOW Sammael is talking to Graendal and says &quot;...deliver a message to Demandred from me. Tell him I know what he is up to.&quot; THE EVENTS TO THE SOUTH had Demandred's mark all over them.&quot;<br /><br />Now at first I was thinking that it had to be AMADICIA but then I remebered some interview with RJ in which he said we have not meet Demandred yet. So I looked at the front cover map and discovered my theory.<br />Maybe Demandred is with the Sea Folk. It makes sense. First off no other forsaken is with them( and they seem to be pretty spred out over randland). Secondly at the time that Sammael says this he is in Illian and the only thing to the south of that is the Sea Folk Islands..<br /><br />Tell me what you think.<br /></p><p><b>StoneDogAiel says:</b> Hmmm.....It does seem that the Sea Folk are the only societywe haven't seen first hand at home. However, the Sea Folk hierarchy is such that a man has very little power. I think he is either in Mayene, or the Borderlands. But, to quote RJ, &quot;RAFO!&quot;<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-07-16 06:33:42
subject: The Healing of Stilling/Gentling
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<p>It is known that when Nynaeve Healed Siuan and Leane, they were notably weaker in the Power then before they were stilled. However, after Nynaeve heals Logain, he is in all accounts just as strong in the Power as before he was gentled. <br /><br />In WH I came to the part where Damer heals Irgian, one of the sister stilled by Rand when he escaped. When Corele announces this shes says &#8220;It&#8217;s as if she&#8217;d never been&#8230;[stilled]&#8221;. <br /><br />Now here is where my theory takes off. Corele makes no reference to Irgian being any weaker in the Power then before her stilling. Considering this it could be possible that only a male channeler can fully heal a stilled woman and only a female channeler can fully heal a gentled man. <br /><br /></p><p><b>StoneDogAiel says:</b> I myself have thought this multiple times. Thanks for subitting it.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-07-18 19:21:57
subject: Is Lan Ta'veren?
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<p>I think he is after reading New Spring. <br /><br />- He's extremely lucky.<br />- He's a leader but also attracts people to him.<br />- He's survived many ordeals- his first as a 1 year old escaping Malkeri.<br /><br />If he is then why hasn't it been mentioned? Lan isn't exactly forthcoming and Moraine kept secrets too- plus until New Spring, Lan POV's weren't very common.<br /><br />I think there's a very good chance Lan is ta'veren- not a strong one like Mat, Perrin or Rand- but a ta'veren nonetheless.<br /><br />Think about it!</p><p><b>StoneDogAiel says:</b> I don't think he is. He is very good at what he does, and that is what attracts people to him. Ta'veren twist chance around them. People say what they would have said only one chance in a hundred. Lan is merely the best swordsman in the Westland. That's all!<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-08-04 20:46:57
subject: Genetics, reincarnation, and the True Source
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<p>This idea of mine cropped up when I read a comment made by bobsledai that the ability to channel requires both a connection in the soul, as well as the recessive channeling gene.  When I read this, I thought of Terry Goodkind&#8217;s Sword of Truth series.  Although this idea has never been expressed in either series, I think it makes sense. <br /><br />The idea has popped up in several places that there are a limited number of souls in the universe that can channel.  I don&#8217;t know if this is true, but obviously not everyone has the ability to channel.  Now, within the ranks of channelers across the world, there is one large distinction, other then gender: how you come to your channeling abilities.<br /><br />Some people are born with the ability to channel, while others must be taught.  Those who can be taught will never channel unless a channeler comes and teaches them how.  However, some people are born with the talent, and they will channel whether they want to or not, instinctively.  This is true in the Sword of Truth as well.  Some people are born with the power of magic, while others can learn how to use it.  Those born with the power have what is called the Gift, while the others have the Calling.  The Called have magic in their minds, the Gifted have it in their blood; they inherited it.  <br />One point I would like to make about a difference in these two series is that people with the Calling are never, ever as powerful as people with the Gift.  However, it may apply here, too, to a lesser degree.<br /><br />A good way of looking at this would be to compare it to any other human talent, take drawing, for example.  A lot of people can&#8217;t draw well enough to distinguish a tree from an atomic blast... and some never will.  However, many people, who really couldn&#8217;t draw before, can take art classes, and learn how to draw quite well.<br />But, some people are born with a natural talent for drawing, can draw well without anyone teaching them how.  And with lessons, they can become truly great artists.<br /><br />Singing is another good analogy.  Some people can&#8217;t carry a tune in a bucket.  Others, while by themselves can&#8217;t really sing all that well, can take voice lessons, and learn how to sing quite beautifully.  However, there are also those who are born with a natural talent for singing, who even without lessons can already sing well.  And when they take voice lessons, train themselves, and practice, they can become truly wonderful singers, and even accomplished musicians.<br /><br />This, I believe, can be applied to channeling; although to a lesser degree.  The vast majority of people in the world cannot channel, could never channel in any previous life, and will most likely never channel.  Then there are those who can learn to see, and manipulate, the One Power by being taught by those who know how.  These people have the Calling.  And finally, there are those few who channel naturally, instinctively, they are born with it, they have the Gift.<br />It also seems that the very strongest channelers are those born with it, those with the Gift.  This seems to be supported by Verin&#8217;s statement in The Great Hunt, Woven in the Pattern: &#8220;Wilders have difficulties, it is true.  Almost always they have built up walls to keep themselves from knowing what it was they were doing, and those walls interfere with conscious control.  The longer those walls have to build, the harder it is to tear them down, but if they can be demolished&#8211; well, some of the most adept sisters ever have been wilders.&#8221;<br /><br />Now, while Verin was talking specifically about those who can teach themselves some control over the One Power without training, I believe this is actually true for a larger group: all of those who can channel the One Power naturally.  <br /><br />Now that I have established my background information and evidence, I will venture off into the area of pure conjecture, and the real &#8220;theoretical&#8221; part of my theory.<br /><br />I believe that channeling is both spiritual and physical.  Souls with the power to access the One Power are reincarnated constantly into the world, however, not all of them are born into bodies with the recessive gene allowing them to channel naturally.  I believe that those people are the ones with the Calling.  They have the power in their souls and minds, but not in their bodies, in their blood.  However, some souls are born into bodies that do have that gene necessary for channeling, and those people have the Gift.  Take the descendants of Ishara, the noble houses of Andor, for example, namely Morgase, Elayne, and Rand.  Three descendants of Ishara over two generations have had the ability to channel, albeit Morgase so weakly that it cannot even really be called channeling, but she can at least touch the True Source... sometimes... well, every once in a while... and with so little force that... well... the point is, she can channel... nominally.  <br /><br />The fact that so few people nowadays are born with the ability to channel may look like a point against my theory, but it actually is evidence supporting it in disguise.  Take a look at the facts.<br /><br />1)  Aes Sedai hardly ever marry, ever.  And when they do, they rarely have children.  So, the Aes Sedai of today rarely has the chance to pass on her genes to the next generation. <br /><br />2) In every single other society, those that don't send their little girls off to be Aes Sedai, there are far, far more channelers, and many of them are related.  What is that one Windfinder&#8217;s name who&#8217;s aunt and mother and sister are also all Windfinders (can&#8217;t remember, but the one who&#8217;s family is going overboard on not showing favoritism, because their whole family are all high ranked).  Think about that, with that many channeling family members, I tend to think Aes Sedai and their &#8216;culling the power out of the human race&#8217; or whatever, are definitely a minority.<br /><br />No theory is perfect, obviously.  All theories have holes, and mine usually look like swiss cheese.  Therefore, I will address the evidence against my theory now, at least all that I can think of.     <br /><br />The biggest detractor against my theory is most likely the Forsaken.  Those that have been killed (other than the balefired and those who have fallen out of favor) have been given new bodies, and, with the exception of Cyndane, who is obviously a special case, with no detrimental effects on their channeling ability.  Now, it is possible that all of the people chosen for the Forsaken&#8217;s new bodies had the ability to channel, and that would in fact support my theory, but somehow I doubt that.  If my theory is to be applied here, perhaps they went from having the Gift to having the Calling.  In their old bodies they had genes allowing them to channel, in these new bodies, not, but their souls were the same.  But it seems to me that might have some effect on their powers.  Of course, who&#8217;s to say that some of the Forsaken actually had the Calling, and not the Gift.<br /><br />And then there&#8217;s Shaidar Haran&#8217;s statement about the body bending to the soul.  But that could be taken both ways.  The channeling capable souls, accustomed to being housed in bodies capable of the same, could have modified them; after all, Aran&#8217;gar still channels saidin, and he/she&#8217;s in a woman&#8217;s body now.  But then, if that is true, the One Power capable souls, reincarnated into people&#8217;s bodies everyday, would then be perfectly capable of modifying bodies that didn&#8217;t have the channeling gene.  <br /><br />So, I freely admit there are definitely holes in my theory, but at least I&#8217;m not alone.<br /><br />But you know what, there is something I did neglect to address, those people who are born into bodies with the channeling gene, but who don&#8217;t have channeling capable souls.<br /><br />I can think of three possibilities in this situation, with two results.<br /><br />1) The person simply never channels, ever.  They have one piece of the puzzle, but not the right one required to access the True Source.<br /><br />2) They are another form of people with the Calling, those who have it in their genes, but not in their souls.  Hmm... interesting.<br /><br />3) Or, their bodies will bow to their souls, and the channeling potential will be suppressed, or just never put to use, never filling their potential.<br /><br />Well, what do you think of that?<br /><br />Whew, this sure was a long theory.  I hope everybody made it through.  If this theory gets posted, it will only be my second, and so there will most likely be some kinks to work out.  I leave that to my readers.  I&#8217;ve said it before, I crave criticism, so please, any one with questions, comments, snide remarks, or evidence either for or against my theory, please feel free to share your thoughts.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-08-04 20:50:38
subject: Literary Theory and WoT Titles: An Underview
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<p>Please let me know if you think I need to simplify this further, or if I should break it up into multiple theories. It's a strongly intellectual theory and is a bit different from most of what I've seen on the post, but I think it is thought provoking.<br /><br />Thanks!<br /><br />As I sit here, channeling, I realize that many of my fellow WoT enthusiasts haven&#8217;t the slightest idea as to the theoretical significance of the series that has so captured them, so freed them, as to bring them to a site such as this. Although I will not embrace hubris and take credit for this present exercise I nevertheless cannot avoid the fictions that attach my name to it. I therefore will proceed with my channeling, with my reconfigurations of fragments of time, space, and material. Like Aes Sedai and Ashaman I am an assembler, not an author.<br /><br />For some of my fellow Wotmaniacs this theory will not be new&#8212;and that is exactly the point&#8212;for as ages come and pass memories become legend, legend fades to myth, and myth is eventually forgotten so it can be re-membered (not a typo). So it can be reborn. For others of you, this theory will be impetus for your rebirth in the WoT world. The time has come for the wheel to spin you out again and I am grateful to be a witness. Keep reading, keep channeling, and as you reach the end of this theory see if you don&#8217;t have a renewed (such a paradoxical word is &#8220;renewed&#8221;<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/wink.gif" border="0" /> desire to pick up the series and re-member it.  <br /><br />As this is a theoretical underview, I will be as brief as possible. The ideas I will touch on can be explicated in the future (and past) and will leave much to discuss. I am not engaging in the deductive or inductive methods that are so prevalent in the theory post; I&#8217;m not trying to build textual and contextual arguments as to who killed Asmodean or trying to explain the identities of the &#8220;Four in the Door&#8221; (although such efforts are often noble). My method is deconstructive and seeks to place the entire series on a literary foundation that will encourage &#8220;a beginning&#8221; to a classically new type of theorizing.<br /><br />Robert Jordan&#8217;s Wheel of Time series, at its core, is a movementless journey from modernity to postmodernity (don&#8217;t panic, I&#8217;ll simplify that sentence and make it even more complicated). It is literally a circular, wheel-like tracing through time and space. It lacks points of origin and conclusion. It implodes modernist dialectics&#8212;and therein is a key to understanding the significance of the Wheel of Time series as a literary work.  <br /><br />What do I mean by &#8220;it implodes modernist dialectics&#8221;? What do I mean when I say it is a &#8220;movementless journey from modernity to postmodernity&#8221;? Modernist dialectics are composite constructions that are defined by co-presence and co-dependence. The &#8220;master-slave&#8221; dialectic is a common one, so I&#8217;ll deploy it briefly to help those of you who are floundering in my terminology (I encourage the rest of you to cut to the chase if you are so inclined). While the concepts &#8220;master&#8221; and &#8220;slave&#8221; are definitional opposites, they need each other to have any meaning whatsoever. They are like &#8220;true&#8221; and &#8220;false.&#8221; One cannot understand the linguistic concept of &#8220;master&#8221; unless one simultaneously comprehends the concept of &#8220;slave.&#8221; In modern dialectic there is no such thing as a &#8220;master&#8221; without a slave, or at least without a servant or servicing force.<br /><br />In WoT Jordan literally collapses notions of &#8220;master&#8221; and &#8220;slave,&#8221; &#8220;true&#8221; and &#8220;false&#8221; into each other. He foregoes products for processes, definitions for acts of defining, being for becoming, and textual agents for constitutive fragments. This is one sense in which his work is postmodern. He is not the first to do this, but he is rare amongst fantasy authors in this endeavor; a fact that has recently brought his work into literature programs at the graduate level. Nietzsche is famous (and infamous) for theorizing how such implosions are done and in this sense RJ is marching in place to the sounds of Nietzsche&#8217;s footsteps (as am I with all my cutesy parenthetical implosions of contradiction and my contradictory use of hyphens).  <br /><br />RJ has sewn such implosions deep into the surface of each of his WoT books. His titles are starting points for such a conclusive deconstruction, so we&#8217;ll start there:<br /><br />The Eye of the World: This book is not about what is seen but what is unseen, and so its title is appropriately postmodern. Put briefly, the eyeless are the ones who see what&#8217;s going on in this book because heroes&#8217; attempts at empirical observation are inadequate. Indeed, the protagonists spend the entire book trying to figure out what the hell is happening with the narrative context. Oh sure, Moiraine and Lan have figured that one of the three boys is the Dragon Reborn&#8212;but the context&#8212;the threat to the wheel that&#8217;s being hinted at in the weather stagnation&#8212;is only discovered at the last moment through some textual fragments.. T&#8217;AR is introduced but is not understood, Ishamael is pretending to be Shaitan, and Rand, Mat, and Perrin only get clues to what is going on in their dreams&#8212;when their eyes are closed. Here, in the very first work of the series, RJ outlines that everything in this series is about the problematics of time and space. The Dark One touches the world by manipulating the wheel of time, an act which transforms space (yes, read that again if you need to, it is perhaps the most fundamental implosion in the entire series). The Dark One&#8217;s messing with time not only changes the temperature (an altering of space) but also changes plant growth and reproduction, and the very cycles of life. And don&#8217;t miss the fact that when Rand uses the Eye of the World he is never more blind to his surroundings and actions (readers also are blinded in a way; Rand&#8217;s confusion seeps through the pages). The dark one truly is &#8220;Sight Blinder.&#8221;<br /><br />The Great Hunt: Note that this title is not &#8220;The Horn of Valere,&#8221; which would be a product. A hunt is a process, and in this case the hunt is for points of origin (what hunt could be &#8220;Greater&#8221;?). The Horn of Valere is a medium (it breeches the realm of the living and the dead just like those crazies with the 1-800 numbers) and therein it is also a phonograph of sorts. Like a phonograph, the Horn of Valere plays the unique tracings of dead heroes in the world of the living. After filling the scene (much like sounds fill space) those tracings fade until called again by the horn blower (who acts very much like a phonograph needle). It allows the living to haunt (and command) the dead. Rand, Hurin, and Loial&#8217;s trip through the portal stone is such an obvious deployment of the search for origins that I feel redundant in mentioning it, but consider that they were lost in one of many possible worlds searching for a medium that accesses points of origin (the heroes of the horn who are bound to the horn and who are beings instead of becomings, products instead of processes) so it could be used at a point of conclusion (Tarmon Gaidon). The fact that the one is prophesied to be discovered at the time of the other only reinforces that RJ&#8217;s narrative structure is a postmodern implosion. Also, the Seanchan are all about the returning of an origin of sorts, but of course their &#8220;return&#8221; (could RJ be more obvious?) is problematic.<br /><br />The Dragon Reborn: Setting aside the obvious extra-textual allusions to King Arthur (Rand pulls a sword from the stone), the very notion of origin is undermined in this title and narrative. This book is essentially one giant identity crisis for Rand, who ultimately comes to see that he is &#8220;becoming,&#8221; the dragon re-born through the fulfillment of specific prophesied actions. His &#8220;being&#8221; is literally his &#8220;becoming&#8221; and so his very existence is a process, not a product. Mat and Perrin too are illuminated as processes in this tome as well, Mat with the arrival of his luck and the dice in his head and Perrin with his T&#8217;AR lycanthropy as he tries to save Faile. In fiction (fact) the very concept of Taveren undermines any notion of their being complete agents; they are always simultaneously bound by acts of prophecy fulfillment and the processes of constituting their identity as they pull other threads toward them.<br /><br />The Shadow Rising: Like TGH, this title is a process&#8212;not a product. The shadow has not &#8220;Risen,&#8221; and RJ&#8217;s use of the gerund (the &#8220;ing&#8221; verb) is purposeful in this regard. What&#8217;s more, shadows are usually &#8220;falling&#8221; not &#8220;rising.&#8221; Indeed, RJ has the Shadow doing both in this book, and so the dialectic is nicely imploded. Don&#8217;t miss all that RJ is doing with the &#8220;becoming&#8221; of the Aiel, and Rand, in this book either. The Aiel&#8217;s origin is concealed from most of them only to be revealed by Rand in such a way that both affirms and simultaneously erases their heritage. The Tinkers are ignorant of their origin, yet their peaceful dialectic with the war-like Aiel is revealed to have unacknowledged commonality (again, implosion). Who the Aiel are, who they were, and who they will be is proven to be disjunctive, dynamic, and implosive. They can know who they were but not who they are or who they will be. Asmodean is likewise in such a liminal condition at the end of this book.<br /><br />The Fires of Heaven: Hell is a more logical association for &#8220;Fires&#8221; in a sense, but that is the least of what is going on in this book. The time and space distortions from TEOTW are here in full bloom (wither) and Rand and the Aiel&#8217;s journey out of the waste is illustrative. They literally journey out of the waste&#8230;into the waste. Cairhien is a blazing hell. Points of exit and entry implode (hmm&#8230;can you say &#8220;waygate?&#8221;<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/wink.gif" border="0" />, Rand manipulates time to reconfigure space (undoing Mat&#8217;s death), and Moiraine is trapped in a dimension where points of origin leave only the faintest traces (remember how disorienting it is in Finn-land?). Also, don&#8217;t miss the problematization of Aes Sedai identity (the Aes Sedai emblematize a transition from modern institution to postmodern identification) with the fallout from the Tower split. Fire is truly a phenomenon of transformation and characters, space, and time all burn in it in this book.<br /><br />Lord of Chaos: Being a Lord implies a state of order&#8212;not chaos&#8212;and so again RJ is making use of apparent contradiction in his title. But there&#8217;s plenty of chaos in Rand&#8217;s lordship, not the least of which is the fiction (fact) that the voice of Lews Therin really makes his impact in this volume. Rand&#8217;s identity, a problematic state of becoming already, is further problematized by Lews Therin&#8217;s distortion of present and past inside of Rand&#8217;s head. Perhaps this is what the Taint really is&#8212;an identity disrupting conflation of past and present reborn-ness&#8212;but that&#8217;s not the only implosion happening in this narrative. Chaos itself reigns supreme as communication (always a problem in the WoT world) reaches a bursting point wherein lack of information stifles characters&#8217; abilities to convert plots into products. Even characters with official forms of power are swept along by the constitutive chaos&#8212;Rand is kidnapped without ever really getting a hold on Andor, Elaida sets events in motion that she cannot control, Morgase is a ruler being ruled, Egwene becomes an Amyrlin of sorts without the affirmation of modernist rites of passage and Mat abandons his Band of the Red Hand for what amounts to a misunderstanding of a situation. The chaos of Taveren-ness is the only thing providing any sense of ordered space and time at all, and even that seems to be floating along like a log in a stream. <br /><br />A Crown of Swords: In this book RJ implodes the notions of rulership&#8212;which implies &#8220;being&#8221;&#8212;and soldiership, which implies continued conflict and &#8220;becoming&#8221; (yes, A Crown of Swords as a title is another implosion of sorts).  Indeed, he takes the already troubled condition of nation states (remember Ingtar&#8217;s soliloquy about the fading nations in TGH?) and blasts it completely to fragments in this book. Refugees wander; Rand officially rules 3 nation states and a tribal nation but can&#8217;t keep up with any of them; Sammael scatters the Shaido without regards to borders&#8212;effectively inserting a nation inside nation states; the Seanchan are on the march again, displacing rulers with their continuing &#8220;return,&#8221; the Prophet is sowing devastation in Ghealdan and the Queen is powerless. Indeed, it is fitting that Rand and Sammael&#8217;s battle takes place in the capital of a ruined civilization&#8212;that is exactly what is going on everywhere.<br /><br />The Path of Daggers: This title symbolically removes any foundation that may have remained in terms of &#8220;being.&#8221; The &#8220;Path&#8221; implies motion, action, dynamic &#8220;becoming,&#8221; and does so in a way that reinforces the precariousness of the narrative. What&#8217;s more, characters efforts to deploy techne (or the mystical equivalent, such as angreal and the like) to pull out of the deconstructive tail spin are problematic. Yes, Nynaeve and the others finally use the Bowl of the Winds, but they can&#8217;t control it well and there are unforeseen consequences. Likewise, Rand&#8217;s use of Callendor against the Seanchan devastates some of his own people as well. When the Sun Palace blows up at the end no one is surprised: Rulers don&#8217;t control their nations, or even their techne. Efforts to reconfigure time and space (such as was attempted with the Bowl of the Winds) with techne have only fragmentary success. RJ&#8217;s characters are literally on a Path of Daggers and their efforts to balance only result in more efforts to balance. Not even Taim&#8217;s assassins can get it right. All the king&#8217;s horses and all the king&#8217;s men can&#8217;t put time and space in order again.<br /><br />Winter&#8217;s Heart: Again we have contradiction in the title. Hearts are often described as warm and tender, but here the implosion makes sense because the WoT world is so far out of whack. Indeed, winter has a symbolic heart&#8212;and a cold one at that&#8212;but here RJ is reinforcing the futility of his characters&#8217; actions. They can attempt to balance power and &#8220;being&#8221; such as Elayne does with the Andoran nobles, but they are nonetheless frozen within their inabilities. The descent of many characters into Far Madding, a place where they can only channel with wells, is a microcosm of this point. Characters are imprisoned within themselves&#8212;perhaps Rand most of all&#8212;and simply can&#8217;t &#8220;channel&#8221; time and space according to their intentions. Even Rand and Nynaeve&#8217;s cleansing of Saidin, an important victory for the Light, may still increase the complexity of matters. So RJ leaves his readers with a heart in this volume, but it&#8217;s a wintry one indeed. <br /><br />Crossroads of Twilight: Note that the title is Crossroads &#8220;of&#8221; Twilight and not &#8220;at&#8221; Twilight. Literally, the narrative is signified as being at a crucial turning point that is difficult to discern. One of the fantastic things about this book is that RJ decided to pull a Nietzsche and make his time and space distortions more directly available to his readers. Time and space are literally compressed into an astonishingly small narrative space (sort of like how twilight is compressed within a 24 hour day) that reinforces characters&#8217; desperation. Characters have trouble finding traces in the twilight: Dark Hounds are represented by their footprints (their traces), ghostly figures appear in what may be a slow implosion of T&#8217;AR and &#8220;real&#8221; space, weevils slip through wards, and unknown spies abound. Will the characters manage to deal with these traces and choose the right path at the crossroads? Even if they choose correctly they will still be &#8220;becoming,&#8221; but hopefully they will also be &#8220;progressing.&#8221;<br /><br />I&#8217;m tempted to speculate about Knife of Dreams here&#8212;but I won&#8217;t. In fact, the incompleteness and looseness of my theory is exactly my point. I have given you a glimpse into the processes of narrative construction, and hope that we can explore many of the issues I&#8217;ve raised in much greater detail and with better refinement. <br /><br />Now&#8212;back to reading WoT!  <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-08-04 22:25:13
subject: Taim's True Identity
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<p>&#8220;Demandred has never posed as Mazrim Taim. All right, those of who fell over from the shock of a simple, straightforward answer can get up off the floor now. Sometimes, simple and straightforward can be the most devious of all, as any student of Aes Sedai will tell you. &lt;Maniacal laughter from the shadows!&gt;&#8221; &#8211; Robert Jordan Answers Your Questions.<br /><br />This response to a reader question really struck me as interesting. He refers to his straight forward answer as devious. To me this implied that while Mazrim Taim is not Demandred, he (Taim) is still not who he seems. Otherwise why would a straight forward response be devious? <br /><br />Another answer also struck me as interesting:<br /><br />&#8220;The Dark One doesn't care about his minions sufficiently to invest much time in their punishment except as it serves to correct their behavior or as object lesson to others, nor is there much in the way of gradation. Simple failure and outright betrayal might be punished equally, or one might result in death and the other in becoming an object lesson or in something else&#8230;. In any event, the Dark One tries to conserve his resources, using and reusing those he might have killed himself, or ordered killed, in a time where there were thousands to equal them.&#8221;<br /><br />The interesting thing to note in this response is that Robert Jordan implies that betrayal might not simply lead to the removal of the betrayer but that he might reuse someone who betrayed him. <br /><br />By now you probably realize that I am implying that Asmodean is Mazrim Taim. Robert Jordan&#8217;s responses certainly imply that Asmodean could have been reborn and I believe there is further evidence to show that he was reborn as Mazrim Taim. It is certainly interesting that Jordan specifically refers to &#8220;outright betrayal&#8221; when Asmodean is only betrayer we know of.<br /><br />Obviously much of the evidence that Mazrim Taim was Demandred carries over. We have several instances where Taim speaks like someone from the age of legends such as his comment about the &#8220;So called Aiel.&#8221; While this could suggest any of the male Forsaken, RJ confirmed he isn&#8217;t Demandred, Aginor was Dashiva, Be&#8217;lal, Sammael, and Rahvin are dead, Moridin is busy elsewhere, and Balthamel is now a woman. That leaves Asmodean.<br /><br />The first piece of new evidence is the timing. Mazrim Taim reappears at the beginning of book 6 (chapter 2). Of course Asmodean was killed at the end of book 5 so the timing is perfect for his return.<br /><br />Second, Mazrim Taim disappeared in The Shadow Rising after being freed probably by the Black Ajah. It seems odd that after being freed he disappeared for 2 whole books. Why would the Black Ajah want him free but not use him? One explanation would be that the Dark One was saving his body for an available soul to replace Taim&#8217;s. The first available male was of course Asmodean. This would explain how a fake Taim would be able to recall events in the battle against Bashere. Since Asmodean took Taim&#8217;s body he could have retained some or all of Taim&#8217;s memories. <br /><br />There are many instances of Taim&#8217;s rage at serving Rand. This of course could also apply to Asmodean. While Asmodean acted fairly subservient as Rand&#8217;s teacher he has a huge number of reasons to hate Rand. Rand (and Lanfear) shielded Asmodean and cut him off from the Dark One. They forced him to live a doomed life and there if no doubt (at least in my mind) that if the Dark One did resurrect him, Asmodean would not choose to serve Rand, especially since it would be a constant reminder of his failure.<br /><br />You might ask why the Dark One would trust Asmodean enough to serve near Rand again. Well a mind trap certainly would keep Asmodean in line, but there was also Dashiva. By placing Dashiva near Taim the Dark One could make sure that Asmodean/Taim was not betraying him again.<br /><br />Also supporting this theory is Taim hatred of swords. Asmodean was never much of a fighter and probably had very little respect for the sword.<br /><br />&quot;I sent him away, Taim said.&#8221; What good are swords? I can barely avoid stabbing myself, and I've never felt the lack. They have the power, now.&quot;(LOC 294)<br /><br />If Taim is not a Forsaken, how can he possibly know everything he does and why does he speak like someone who lived in the Age of Legends? Asmodean is the only possibility left. Taim arrival at the beginning of Lord of Chaos seems to too perfectly follow Asmodean&#8217;s death. This coupled with various other pieces of evidence leads to only one conclusion. Asmodean was reborn into Taim&#8217;s body.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-08-06 19:13:41
subject: The true purpose of the Eye of the World
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<p>&quot;I begin to wonder,&quot; Moiraine said. &quot;The Eye of the World was made against the greatest need the world would ever face, but was it made for the use to which... we... put it, or to guard these things?&quot; - Moiraine, p.773 tEotW.<br /><br />The Eye of the World was made by one hundred Aes Sedai, men and women working together. They all died in the making, and more importantly they all new they would die, but considered it a fair price. So what was this need that they thought so grand?<br /><br />The 'things' Moiraine is refering to are the Horn of Valere, The Dragon's banner and a seal on the Dark One's prison. While these are all important artifacts, I think they were an afterthought, though they are connected with the Eye's true purpose. To find out what this is we must first go back.<br /><br /><br />&quot;With all his heart and desperation, he silently shouted at Bela to run like the wind, silently tried to will strength into her. Run! His skin prickled, and his bones felt as if they were freezing, ready to split open. The Light help her, run! And Bela ran.&quot;     - tEotW ch.11, p.149<br /><br />&quot;I'm going to die! Light help me, I'm going to...! The Trolloc's arm started forward, driving the splintered shaft, and Rand found the breath for one yell. &quot;No!&quot;<br />    Suddenly the ship lurched, and a boom swung out of the shadows to catch the Trolloc across the chest with a crunch of breaking bones, sweeping it over the side.<br />    For a moment Rand lay panting and staring up at the boom swinging back and forth above him. That has to have used up my luck, he thought. There can't be any more than that.&quot;     - tEotW ch.20, p.307<br /><br />&quot;The words seemed to drift to Rand through wool stuffed in his ears. No way out. Thunder muttered overhead, and was drowned in a slash of lightning. Have to find a way out. Gode called to them, demanding, appealing; the door slid another inch toward being open. A way out!<br />    Light filled the room, flooding vision. . .&quot;     - tEotW ch.32, p.485<br /><br />These are the instances of Rand channeling in the first book. The significant thing with each of these events is what happened afterwards. A week or so after the first time he channels, we see Rand taking uncharacteristic chances with the whitecloaks in Baerlon, ultimately causing the party to flee the city.<br /><br />After the second we see Rand sitting atop the mast of Bayle Domons ship behaving like an acrobat, and after the third, Rand ends up shivering, weak and incapacitated, with Mat having to tend him and narrowly preventing them both being murdered.<br /><br />I am sure that everyone is aware that the two are linked, and you are probably wondering what this has to do with the Eye. Well, compare these events to one from The Great Hunt.<br /><br />&quot;Desperately he reached for the flickering light. His stomach twisted, but the light was warm. Hot. He was hot. <br />    Suddenly he was tearing at... something. He did not know what, or how. Cobwebs made of steel. Moonbeams carved from stone. They crumbled at his touch, but he knew he had not touched anything. They shriveled and melted with the heat that surged through him, heat like a forge fire, heat like the world burning, heat like . . .&quot; - tGH ch 10, p.185 <br /><br />This is another example of Rand's channeling, the difference with this event though, is what happens to Rand afterwards.<br /><br />Nothing. No sickness; No acting crazy; Absolutely nothing. And that is really something. To find out why we need to look at Chapter 21 of tEotW, Listen to the Wind. In this chapter Moiraine explains some home truths to Nynaeve, finally convincing her that she too can channel. She does this by outlining the side-effects of channeling unaided. Nynaeve soon recognises them in her own experiences, while we, as the readers, are able to clearly see that what she is talking about is also applicable to Rand. The most important part in the whole discussion though, and the bit that ties us back in to the Eye, is this:<br /><br />. . .of every four who have the spark in born, &quot;three die if we do not find them and train them.&quot; p314.<br /><br />I believe that the Aes Sedai who made the Eye were well aware of the mortality rate of those not guided, though few would have been missed in their time. They must also have known, with the male channelers going mad around them, that the Dragon Reborn would have no such guide to steer him through the dangers, so they made one for him. The true purpose of the Eye of the World was to ensure that the Dragon Reborn was able to learn to weild the One Power, without being killed by it first.<br /><br /><br />&quot;Leafblighter means to blind the Eye of the World, Lost One. He means to slay the Great Serpent.Warn the People.&quot;<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-08-06 19:33:19
subject: Location of the Song
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<p><i>&#8221;They&#8217;re looking for a song. That&#8217;s what the Mahdi seeks. They say they lost it during the Breaking of the World, and if they can find it again, the paradise of the Age of Legends will return.&#8221;</i> -Elyas, EotW, pg 368.<br /><br />During the Breaking, some male Aes Sedai took refuge in the stedding. Eventually all left, but before they did, they made two gifts in thanks to the Ogier. The first was the Ways, that were grown with saidin. The second was the Talisman of Growing, used to grow new Waygates.<br /><br /><i> &#8220;The Talisman of growing is a ter&#8217;angreal which is triggered by certain kinds of singing, such as Ogier Treesinging.&#8221;</i> -BWB, pg 198.<br /><br />When they grew new Ways to stedding newly found, they had to sing the new Waygates into being. I think the Song, or a version of it, was used to grow the Ways.<br /><br />The Ways were clear for 2000 years, but then they started to change and deteriorate. This happened around the War of 100 Years. The War was touched off after the death of Hawkwing, around FY 994. <br /><br />It is widely accepted that Hawkwing&#8217;s advisor Moerad was actually Ishmael released from the Bore for a 40 year cycle. He appeared first in FY 973, so he would have disappeared in FY 1013, 19 years after Hawkwing died. <br /><br />I believe the Ways were corrupted by Ishmael after Hawkwing died. His influence turned the Song, which protected and nurtured the Ways, into the Mach Shin.<br /><br />Every time we hear Mach Shin, it mentions singing. <br /><br />&lt;i&gt; Flesh so fine, so fine to tear, to gash the skin; skin to strip, to plait, so nice to plait the strips, so nice, so red the drops that fall; blood so red, so red, so sweet; sweet screams, pretty screams, singing screams, scream your song, sing your screams&#8230;&#8221; &#8211; EotW, pg 686.<br /><br />All the Tinkers have to do is look in the Ways, a place I&#8217;m sure they have not been. The question becomes, assuming my theory holds water, is how to turn Mach Shin back to the life-giving Song?<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-08-20 21:30:05
subject: The Seals, Fel, and the Eye of the World
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<p>I've been reading some of the theories on the seals and the re-sealing of the Dark One's prison and thought I should contribute my two cents...<br /><br />First of all, when Lews Therin sealed the Bore initially, as we all know, he used only male Aes Sedai.  It seems rather obvious that the seals were incomplete as saidar was not used in their creation, which allowed the Dark One to counter-attack and taint only saidin.<br /><br />Now think back to the descriptions of the original ward around Callandor and various other times both saidin and saidar were used.  I think it was Egwene in the Stone of Tear that described the ward around Callandor as having what appeared to be gaps, but she couldn't pass through them.  She later realized these &quot;gaps&quot; were actually saidin.  Well, I think the seals have similar gaps because they only used saidin, thus allowing the Forsaken, (especially Ishamael, and to a lesser extent Aginor and Baalthamel), to access the world through these gaps.  Aginor and Baalthamel were withered with age in EotW, and Ishamael obviously had an influence throughout history (including as counselor to Artur Hawkwing, etc).  I remember it mentioned that these Forsaken were only partially caught by the seals, which could mean they were caught in these &quot;gaps.&quot;<br /><br />Secondly, in LoC, Herid Fel sends the message to Rand that states &quot;Belief and order give strength. Have to clear rubble before you can build. Will explain when see you next. Do not bring girl. Too pretty. -Fel&quot;.<br /><br />I think Fel was able to puzzle out that the seals must be broken and reformed correctly to seal the Bore to its original status in the Age of Legends - &quot;have to clear rubble...&quot;.  He also states &quot;belief and order give strength&quot;, which has been interpreted several ways in various theories but primarily as a reference to the use of saidar in remaking the seals in order to create a complete seal.<br /><br />However, there is still an unanswered and widely speculated question throughout the theories.  Why are the seals only now weakening?  It has been speculated that it is due to the presence of the Dragon Reborn in the Pattern, or to the increase in chaos in the world.  However, the first time a seal was weakened was immediately after the Eye of the World was depleted.  The Eye was said to be created against the greatest need the world would ever face.  Also, when it was created, both male and female channelers were used and destroyed themselves in order to make it pure.<br /><br />What if the Eye acted as a buffer to patch the open &quot;gaps&quot; in the seals, thus preventing the Dark One from reaching through?  The Forsaken that were trapped would have to be assumed to not be hindered by this &quot;second sealing,&quot; but only those trapped on the other side of the seals.  If indeed the Eye was created against the greatest need the world would ever face, what need could be greater than the threat of the Dark One forever touching the world?<br /><br />The presence of a seal inside the Eye also supports this idea indirectly.  It can be assumed that the creators of the Eye of the World knew it would eventually be tapped (by the Dragon Reborn), thus allowing access to the Horn of Valere, the Dragon banner, and the seal.  (The presence of the Horn and the banner imply they expected it to be used by the Dragon, as these items were prophesized to be needed before the Last Battle).  If the Eye were created as a buffer, they also must have known that the seals would eventually be destroyed.  At the end of EotW, Mat drops a stone in and it is quickly destroyed.  Therefore, it can be implied that the Eye offered protection for the final seal until the Eye was tapped near the time of the Last Battle.  The presence of the seal inside the Eye could also have been a focus for the &quot;second sealing&quot; that filled the gaps in the original seals.<br /><br />There is other evidence to support this as well.  Throughout EotW, it is mentioned that the Dark One meant to blind the Eye of the World.  If he destroyed the Eye, he would have access to the seals and would then be able to start breaking out of his prison.  These rumors are first heard around the time of the Aiel War, and were first told to the Tinkers.  If the Dark One discovered that the Dragon was reborn, this could have been an early attempt to try and break free before the Dragon became a threat and had the strength to oppose him.  The rumor also said that the Dark One meant to &quot;slay the great serpent,&quot; and kill time itself.  If the Dark One were to destroy the Eye and break free, he could destroy the Dragon before he had the strength to oppose him.  Obviously, he would have to remove the Dragon from the Pattern, (i.e. baelfire), and end the cycle that Ishamael described in the prologue to EotW.  (He said that the Dragon had forever fought against the Dark One, and that he had sometimes even fought for the Shadow.  However, the Dragon was always present to fight against the Dark One).<br /><br />Overall, I think the Eye of the World was created as a pure buffer to prevent the Dark One from corrupting the seals, therefore postponing his release until the time when the Dragon was reborn to fight against the Shadow.  I believe Fel discovered that the seals were only temporary due to the method of their creation.  Also, new seals would have to be created in order to heal the Bore so that it would be whole when it was to be broken again, allowing the wheel of time to remain whole.<br /><br /><br />I've read the series probably 10 times, but never could think of the true purpose for the Eye of the World.  However, this seemed to make sense.  Please give me some feedback and let me know what you think.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-08-23 23:43:21
subject: The Third Voice
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<p>Lews Therin makes several references to another voice inside Rand's head, although Rand cannot hear this third voice.<br /><br />I think that this third voice is Lews Therin's equivalent of Lews Therin being in Rand's head.<br /><br />No wait, hear me out.<br /><br />The soul of the Dragon is one that is reborn over the Ages, it did not start with Lews Therin, so it is fair to assume that Lews Therin, in his time, was the rebirth of a previous person, also known as the Dragon, although this person is obviously not remembered in the Age of Legends, so people think and call Lews Therin as the original, although technically he too is a Dragon Reborn.<br /><br />Therefore, I think that when Lews Therin was the Dragon, he too could hear the voice of the previous Dragon's identity inside his head, just as Rand can hear his. So it is a voice in the head of Lews Therin's head, who is in turn a voice inside Rand's head.<br /><br />Hence why Rand cannot hear this third voice. <br /><br />Thoughts?<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-09-05 19:47:49
subject: What is the Wall of Aes Sedai Symbols?
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<p>I was just reading some prophecies the other night and they got me thinking...<br /><br />In one, Egwene has a dream where Rand builds a wall of Aes Sedai symbols between her and the women standing with her. In another she dreams that she is desperately trying to pull down a wall made of 'bricks' marked with the symbol of Aes Sedai. <br /><br />What do these dreams mean?<br /><br />Jordan has made a point of highlighting, on innumerable occassions, the differences between men and women. He also highlights, to a far lesser degree, that the most remarkable of feats are always achieved when saidar and saidan work together and when men and women work together. Two of the most significant events in the series have involved both saidin and saidar: the cleansing of saidin and the 'correction' of the weather.<br /><br />Another interesting point is the last line of LoC. &quot;The first nine Aes Sedai swore fealty to the Dragon Reborn, and the world was changed forever.&quot; Why would the world be changed forever? Because Rand had another 9 channelers at his disposal? He's got hundreds already, what difference is 9 more going to make? No, the world is changed forever because Rand now has saidar at his disposal.<br /><br />I think it entirely possible that Lews Therin did not fail in his attack on Shayol Ghul, but, rather, the only way the attack could have possibly succeeded was if he had had women (and therefore saidar) with him. Thus LTT did the best he could, but he could never have succeeded using saidan alone. Jordan makes a clear point of this in his 'fragments' about the attack on Shayol Ghul - the female channelers refused to join the attack with LTT.<br /><br />And that's point of this theory. The wall Egwene tries to tear down, the anger she feels towards Rand (as foretold by Elaida ('He shall stand before the Amrylin Seat... ') are references to Rand's attempts to re-unite male and female channelers. <br /><br />However, if he manages to do so, given what has been achieved when men and women are united, then he will have a good chance of defeating the Dark One. Indeed, I think the philosophical basis of the whole story demands that for Rand, and the world, to survive, men and women will have to work together as one and both saidin and saidar will have to be used.<br />Sorry, not much of a theory, per se - except to point out what the prophecies could mean <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/smile.gif" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-09-09 22:09:33
subject: The Psychological Deterioration of Rand; LTT and the Third Man
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<p>*Disclaimer - I'm not a psychologist, I just know a fair bit about it*<br /><br />At the beginning of the series Rand doesn't know what's going on, all he wants to do is get back home. Suddenly he's channeling and is told he's the Dragon Reborn. From then on he's running, from both. After all, they're not nice prospects, from the first he'll go mad and the second he'll destroy the world and die. The important facts are that he KNOWS he will go mad and refuses to acknowledge that he's the Dragon.<br /><br />He starts hearing LTT in his head. Now we get to the psychology. Most people know something about schizophrenia and Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD from now on). The truth is that true MPD is extremely rare. What happens with schizophrenia (and I'm being very general here) is that the sufferer develops severe mood swings and radical changes in behaviour. An unconscious defense against this is to distance yourself mentally from this other side of yourself, to give it a seperate existance, a personality, even a name, in your mind. Hence the 'hearing voices'. The sufferer is no longer giving in to their own unpleasant impulses, it is this other person, this voice in their head, making them do it. With MPD the symptoms are so extreme that the alternate personalit (or personalities) no longer just suggest, cajole or threaten; they sieze control totally and become the dominant personality for a time. The 'sane' personality either rides helplessly behind the eyes or has no recollection of these events.<br /><br />Rand's problems come from the facts that he KNOWS he's going to go mad, he's expecting it, and the fact that LTT is REALLY there. Now, if you know you're going to go mad and you start hearing a voice in your head, especially one that's not too rational or coherent, what are you going to think? Rand sees LTT's voice as a sign of his growing madness and sets himself to fight it. It is only in times of danger, when he needs help, that he acknowledges LTT and listens to him.<br /><br />It is in between LoC and ACoS that the changes begin. Rand is aware that parts of LTT are seeping into him, memories and personal mannerisms, no matter how hard he fights it. When he meets Taim he gets angry, acknowledges himself as the Dragon Reborn (for the first time I think) and doesn't push LTT down. Also noteworthy is the fact that his ta'veren ability seems to increase then too (as it did during his journey to Tear in TDR when he decides to go and find out if he really is the Dragon), Taim backs down suprisingly quickly, no argument at all. This seems to be the first time (or one of the first times) that he acts like the Dragon, not himself. A sign that he and LTT are merging.<br /><br />Dumai's Wells and the events that preceed it are not healthy in any way. If this happened to anyone they would develop psychological problems. Rand acknowledges LTT and talks to him. Rand isn't very stable here and LTT is still distressed over what he did to Ilyena so Rand still isn't able to make any progress on their relative relationship. He does however learn a lot in this time about the relationship and how to maintain control. It is also ironic because it ends with him relinquishing control. It is because of this ability to maintain control that he comes to accept LTT more, he feels that LTT can't sieze control again (like with the seal) and he has more important things to deal with than a voice he can now deal with.<br /><br />Cadsuane causes the next big step, she asks him if he hears voices. Now, a true schizophrenic doesn't know they're mad and so can talk about the voices they hear without panicking, they are not something that is a part of them, they come from outside somehow; they have no control over them. They are not responsible. Rand however is not insane. He does panic. He trashes his Dragon symbols and only comes to himself when he ends up in bed with Min. Mentally he retreats, backing away from the acceptance he had formed towards LTT and the Dragon persona. He cannot accept a voice in his head any more. What he comes up with as an alternative is to totally reject LTT once more and to throw himself at the Dragon persona, as if this will somehow protect him from LTT. If he's the Dragon he must be sane because the Dragon has things he's been Prophesied to do and he couldn't do them if he was a gibbering lunatic playing with blocks (to borrow a later example). He has spent, and continues to spend, a lot of time creating the Dragon persona. He's just a farmboy, how can he rule? But the Dragon can. The Dragon must be hard. The Dragon can handle everything. The irony of it, he runs from what he perceives as insanity towards insanity. He creates his own voice and personality in his head from the parts of himself and LTT that he needs. As time goes on it becomes MPD except he is in control, he calls up the Dragon to deal with situations that Rand al'Thor can't (like having Mangin hanged and leaving Liah in Shadar Logoth). <br /><br />Min is his only saving grace at this time although she unconsciously contributes to it with her viewing. She tells him that she sees him and another man merging, one will die and one live. Rand thinks it refers to LTT and proves he's not mad. But it refers to the Dragon persona and him, one will survive and the other won't but which? Though he takes it as reassurance that he isn't going mad by now he <b>is</b> suffering from mental problems. One of Egwene's Dreams is of:<br /><br />&quot;Rand, wearing different masks, until suddenly one of those false faces was no longer a mask, but him.&quot;<br /><br />This is Rand trying to find alternatives to his prophesied role, learning the flute, learning the sword and his stubborn insistance that he's only a shepherd, anything to avoid accepting he's the Dragon Reborn. Once he accepts the Dragon he becomes the Dragon persona, it becomes the more dominant, overt personality. There is also her Dream of Rand building the wall with her on the other side, this is him walling himself off from everything that has the power to hurt him, everything he cares about.<br /><br />Later on we rarely see anything but the Dragon personality. He has no feelings and rides rough-shod over everyone. He is doing things he never did before like planning battles, he always left that to Mat, the Aiel chiefs, his generals or Lan before. After his scare from Cadsuane he could not acknowledge LTT's voice in his head, it was still there but he formed a subconscious block while he was creating the Dragon persona. In fact, it comes as a relief when he finally allows himself to hear LTT again. During this time LTT was forced to go through the Dragon persona to reach Rand. This is why LTT knows about the 'Third Man' and Rand doesn't until he is told, true schizophrenics don't realise they're creating a personality in their head until it goes so far that the personality seperates from them. Until then the Dragon and Rand are very similar, with some of LTT's characteristics. From then on Rand retreats further and allows the Dragon to deal with more things, become stronger and absorb even more of LTT's characteristics. We now have 3 seperate personas in Rand's head: Rand himself, who isn't too far removed from the shepherd from the Two Rivers; LTT, who is himself and dealing better with his grief; and the Dragon, who is hard and uncaring and can do what must be done. Parts of Rand still linger in the Dragon, his reluctance to put women in danger, his interest in learning everyone's name, his stubbornness and his willingness to sacrifice his personal happiness for the greater good. Parts of LTT are his desire to fight and win, his take charge attitude, his sense of ceremony and his knowledge of the Power and tactics.<br /><br />Another thing is Cadsuane and Sorilea teaching him 'laughter and tears'. There is nothing to prove that this is the same lesson as in Min's Viewing, of Cadsuane teaching Rand and the Asha'man something they won't like but probably is. It's probable that she'll teach them that they must be people, not just weapons. Rand must acknowledge the Dragon persona and take back control. This could be part of defeating the DO and winning TG, if he manages to come to terms with the Dragon then the Dragon will die as a seperate entity, leaving a stronger, more whole, Rand, with emotions. It's also likely that this will happen during his next probable psychologically damaging event, his capture by Semhirage. This would suggest that Cadsuane will have a role in his escape.<br /><br />I almost forgot to mention the Fisher. Moridin comments that the Fisher acts differently depending on which square it's on, on white, weak in attack yet agile and far-ranging in escape, like Rand, he'd rather run than fight, on black, strong in attack, but slow and vulnerable, like LTT, he wants to fight, 'kill them all', and get it over with. The two aspects of the Dragon.<br /><br />Thank you for reading. I hope it makes sense. <br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-09-17 23:00:02
subject: One Power dynamics
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<p>Here is my theory on how channeling and certain aspects associated with channeling works. It is filled with two-dimensional analogies in an attempt to explain what is probably a massively complex and multi-dimensional process. Therefore many of the words should be in inverted commas and should not be taken literally , especially words like funnel and lid.<br /><br />1. Channeling<br /><br />One can picture the Pattern as a flat weave (like a large piece of linen) which is continuously moving and weaving in certain areas. The One Power is like a river which runs over this pattern and moves it.<br /><br />People are part of the pattern. Normal people can be compared to any part of this weave &#8211; flat and not very relevant. <br /><br />Then we come to people who can channel. There are two parts to channeling the One Power &#8211; the person and the connection to the True Source. The channeler is like a basin or funnel in the pattern &#8211; wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. This analogy can be used because people are generally very similar on a biochemical and anatomical basis and so the bottom of the funnel is narrow and relatively constant. The top , however , varies according to strength in the Power. Those who are weak in the Power can be likened to a small or shallow funnel while those who are very strong in the Power can be likened to a deep funnel with a very large surface area at the top. The area at the top of this funnel is the person&#8217;s potential or strength in the One Power.<br /><br />Channelers therefore also act like a negative vortex for the One Power. If the Power can be likened to a river flowing over the Pattern , it would naturally gravitate towards these wells in the pattern where it could enter &#8211; like a crater in a river. This may explain the constant attraction the One Power has towards channelers , apart from the feeling of bliss which is provides.<br /><br />An example is demonstrated by Rand in TDR (saidin) ... &quot;It&#8217;s always there. Calling to me. Pulling at me. Saidin. The male half of the True Source. Sometimes I can&#8217;t stop myself from reaching out for it.&quot;<br /><br />Now if my above theory holds true , I think it may imply that the strong channelers e.g. Rand , Ishamael , Lanfear etc. may constantly feel more tempted to embrace the Source than weaker ones. The greater the surface area of the top of this funnel , the stronger the desire to channel the One Power.<br /><br />On the opposite side of the scale we find the weakest channeler , Morgase. She almost never channels saidar at all , and rarely even senses the source. Her potential can likened to a funnel or basin which is only pin-sized in the Pattern , almost non-existent. The Power would therefore rush over and almost never enter the conduit. Although occasionally something might happen.<br /><br />2. Angreal , Sa&#8217;angreal and Ter&#8217;angreal<br /><br />When an angreal is used it builds onto the top of this funnel or basin. Therefore the radius of the funnel at the top is increased. The funnel becomes larger and wider which allows the channeler to draw more of the One Power than they can unaided.<br /><br />We know that the effective area of a circle is Pi multiplied by the radius squared . If the angreal builds onto the top of the funnel , the area becomes exponentially larger and not linearly &#8211; as well as the volume. Elayne notes at one stage that her weak turtle angreal allows her to draw about twice as much as Nynaeve can unaided. This is a clear indication of an exponential relationship &#8211; and this is only for an angreal.<br /><br />This also explains how an angreal allows a channeler to draw more of the Power according to strength (mentioned several times). The stronger the channeler , the more of the Power the angreal will allow the channeler to draw. This can be explained with the above explanation on the surface area of the top of the funnel. Let us assume that different channelers are given the same angreal &#8211; how much extra will each be able to channel with the same angreal ?<br /><br />Channeler<br />radius of funnel r <br />potential Pi(r.r) <br />angreal Pi (r+1)(r+1)<br />difference (how much more the angreal allows you to draw)<br /><br /><br />Moiraine<br />radius of funnel 3<br />her potential 28.3 <br />angreal 50.3<br />difference 22<br /><br />Cadsuane <br />radius of funnel 4<br />her potential 50.3<br />angreal 78.5<br />difference 28.2<br /><br />Egwene<br />radius of funnel 5<br />her potential 78.5<br />angreal 113<br />difference 34.5<br /><br />Nynaeve <br />radius of funnel 7<br />her potential 153.9<br />angreal 201<br />difference 47<br /><br />Graendal<br />radius of funnel 9<br />her potential 254.4<br />angreal 314.1<br />difference 59.7<br /><br />Lanfear<br />radius of funnel 12<br />her potential 452.3<br />angreal 530.8<br />difference 78.5<br /><br />These are just rough numbers but the point is to demonstrate the difference &#8211; which is the advantage each channeler gets when using the same angreal. Consider the advantage Lanfear receives when using the same angreal compared to Moiraine. Lanfear would be able to draw 78.5 more , and Moiraine 22.<br /><br />Now , a sa&#8217;angreal allows you to channel as much more of the Power as an angreal , as an angreal allows you unaided. Therefore the increase is r+2. This enlarges the surface area of the funnel by a very large amount and we can see the effect it has on channeling once again from Rand&#8217;s POV in TPOD (A Time for Iron) ...<br /><br />&quot;Saidin seemed to leap into Callandor before he touched the Source through it.&quot;<br /><br />Although this is probably just an exaggeration used to describe the sword&#8217;s potential , it neatly describes how the pull which Rand feels is now exponentially increased because of how the sa&#8217;angreal increases the area of his potential. It makes you feel like the One Power wants to leap into Rand despite his own wishes. While this is not the case , I do believe the Power gravitates towards a large vortex created by a sa&#8217;angreal like Callandor.<br /><br />And also in TFOH (The Lesser Sadness) ... &quot;He had long since taken to drawing on saidin through the angreal in his pocket ... After hours of channeling without rest , he was that tired.&quot;<br /><br />Why would he use an angreal if he was tired? It helps demonstrate that the deeper the funnel , the easier it will be to embrace the Source (as discussed above). Rand was very tired and only by increasing his potential could he maintain his channeling , so the only way was to increase the size of the vortex for the One Power thereby increasing the One Power&#8217;s natural affinity for him. In a few words ... he was reducing his own work load by increasing the gradient between him and the True Source.<br /><br />Let us now apply the above to sa&#8217;angreal ...<br /><br />Channeler<br />potential Pi (r.r)<br />sa&#8217;angreal Pi (r+2)(r+2)<br />Callandor Pi (r+50)(r+50)<br />Choedan Kal Pi (r+2000)(r+2000)<br /><br /><br />Rand (radius &#8211; 13 &#8211; the strongest of all)<br /><br />Potential - 530.8 <br />Sa&#8217;angreal - 706.725 <br />Callandor - 12466 <br />Choedan Kal - 12.7 million<br /><br />Verin (radius &#8211; 1 &#8211; a moderate Aes Sedai) <br /><br />Potential - 3.1 <br />Sa&#8217;angreal - 28.27 <br />Callandor - She can&#8217;t use Callandor <br />Choedan Kal - 12.6 million<br /><br />A random angreal allows Rand to draw 615 Power and a Sa'angreal 706. The angreal thus increases his power by 16% and the sa'angreal by 32%. Thus the sa'angreal allows him to channel as much more of the Power through it , as the angreal allows when he is unaided.<br /><br />So according to my random Callandor strength it allows Rand to draw 23 times his maximum strength in the Power. Which is about right - he estimates that Callandor makes him channel about what 10 - 100 male channelers could channel. Interesting though ... if Verin could use Callandor she would channel 8169 - about 20 times Lanfear's strength.<br /><br />Although these are very rough estimates &#8211; or even guesses (the trends are important), the point is that a sa&#8217;angreal is of much greater benefit to a strong channeler like Rand. It is also possible to see why most channelers cannot handle the flows from the Choedan Kal without being annihilated. Therefore to use it , the most important thing is your original strength in the One Power. Also , the relative differences between channelers when using the Choedan Kal becomes less significant &#8211; If Verin can channel 12.6 million through it , and Rand 12.7 million &#8211; then who is counting?<br /><br />I'm not sure if there is a minimum strength required for all sa'angreal or merely the Choedan Kal. There is no allude to other sa'angreal , but we see Jahar using Callandor and Suian using a sa'angreal. Neither are considered weak in their respective circles.<br /><br />The Choedan Kal is a freak thing - it can channel more power than every one in the world combined so it is not surprising that it requires a minimum strength. Verin states that Moiraine level and above is strong enough , and Cyndane confirms that there is a minimum strength level required. We also see how tired Moiraine and Verin become when using an angreal ... and to a lesser extent Elayne and Aviendha.<br /><br />I thought about this for my theory. The stronger channelers have a deeper funnel or vortex. Therefore to be able to cope with their potential when channeling , they must logically have a more re-inforced conduit than a weaker channeler. Rand's larger , more volumous funnel must be stronger to channel so much of the Power compared to Moiraine who can channel less. I believe that this is the difference when using a sa'angreal. Rand can physiologically maintain the burden of such a massive flow of the Power through him whereas a weaker channeler like Verin would be annihilated. She is not anatomically or physiologically strong enough to withstand it - the Power would strip the funnel and kill her. Despite Rand and Nynaeve's strengths we see how they suffer under the weight of so much of the One Power.<br /><br />In summary , an angreal adds on to the top of the funnel &#8211; the greater your potential , the more of the Power it will allow you to channel. A sa&#8217;angreal adds much more onto your potential which is also linked to your strength in the Power.<br /><br />Ter&#8217;angreal are just objects where a specific weave is activated by your weave , so there&#8217;s nothing to discuss here.<br /><br />3. Shields / Severing / Burning out<br /><br />As I&#8217;ve discussed before , the One Power flows into the funnel which is the channeler&#8217;s link to the Power. A shield is like a lid which you place on top of the funnel where the One Power enters. You can see the difficulty &#8211; the greater the size of the canyon you have to cover , the harder it is to shield the channeler.<br /><br />If the Power is not flowing through the conduit , it is easy to shield the person because there is nothing to resist the weave (or lid in simple terms). If the One Power is flowing through , it is like closing the sluice gate of a dam &#8211; a very difficult task depending on how big the sluice gate is , and the flow of water. If you try to shield a stronger channeler there are two possibilities &#8211; the shield will shatter as Moiraine&#8217;s did when she tried to shield Merean in New Spring , or it will simply not even fit into place &#8211; as Verin and Alanna&#8217;s did when they tried to shield Rand , or when Nynaeve tried to shield Elayne.<br /><br />Therefore to shield a stronger channeler (to cover the top of the funnel with a lid) , you can only use two methods &#8230;<br /><br />1. a shield made with a great deal of the One Power<br />2. a shield of immaculate precision<br /><br />To explain it better &#8211; there are two ways to cover a hole in a dam wall where water is bursting through. You can either throw a giant concrete block onto it. Or you can cover it with sheet metal which is indestructible. Either will work unless they don&#8217;t have sufficient strength in which case they will give way.<br /><br />A combination is often used. Rand shields the Aes Sedai using the first method because he is vastly stronger than them. The Aes Sedai shielded him using a shield where precision was the key ingredient &#8211; a circle of 13 Aes Sedai. No one is denying that a full circle doesn&#8217;t command great amounts of the One Power , but as the WOT guide says ( pg18 ) ... &quot;It is the precision of the circles which makes them so powerful.&quot; Even Rand comments about it (LOC &#8211; the Taking) ... &quot;The shield sliding between him and the True Source was like the closing of a sluice-gate...&quot; <br /><br />It is possible that a circle of 13 Aes Sedai cannot surpass Rand in strength in the One Power &#8211; so only a smaller shield of perfect precision could shield him. Even Asmodean comments that a circle of 13 can shield any man. Why is this? It is not because of the amount of Power used. A circle of thirteen&#8217;s strength can vary considerably. It is because a circle of thirteen creates a shield which is as sharp as a razor and can cut through any man&#8217;s link to the Power &#8211; no matter how strong he is. <br /><br />We see that Lanfear opted for the other option &#8211; using an angreal she could surpass Rand in strength and therefore could shield him (if one of the shields got through).<br /><br />Once you have shielded a person , their strength in the Power or the strength of the shield determines whether you can break through it. We see how a shield reacts when Logain tests Nynaeve&#8217;s shield in LOC (To Heal again)- &quot;... building until the shield began to bend and the weave trembled on the brink of ripping apart ...&quot;<br /><br />Rand also describes this in LOC (Dumai&#8217;s Wells) ... &quot;It gave as he pressed , bending under his pressure , bending , bending. Suddenly it tore apart before him like rotted cloth ...&quot;<br /><br />There are multiple examples in the series. We see Nynaeve&#8217;s frustration when coming across the Kin when she was shielded by Berowin , the Kin with the Talent for shields. The lid she places on Nynaeve isn&#8217;t strong , it is merely flexible and unbreakable like plastic&#8230;.<br /><br />ACoS (Next Door to a Weaver) ... &quot;The shield stretched further , further , bulging like a ball. It would not break. That was impossible&#8230;. And a shield did not bend that far without breaking. It was impossible! ...&quot;<br /><br />So the stronger the channeler , the deeper the funnel or conduit through which the One Power can flow. Like a lid over the funnel , it will bend with the &quot;weight&quot; of the One Power on it depending on the depth of the vortex below &#8211; or so-called negative force pulling it. The shield will only hold if you can maintain its precision or maintain its strength. Both usually require the maintenance of the shield unless the shield is much stronger than the channeler &#8211; as in Falion&#8217;s case. The theory of a funnel also implies that to shield a strong channeler you need to maintain a much stronger shield afterwards because the lid covering the funnel will be larger and will need more strength (especially in the middle) to hold.<br /><br />When a person is severed or stilled , I believe this is no more than a very large , exquisitely precise shield. If a shield can be likened to a lid on the funnel , severing can be likened to a large block covering the funnel. <br /><br />We see an example of this when Moghedien is facing Nynaeve ... TSR (Into the Palace) ... &quot;Examining what she had done , she saw it had not been as complete a victory. The shield had blurred its sharp edges before it slid home. Moghedien was captured and shielded , but not stilled...&quot;<br /><br />Further evidence of a severing&#8217;s nature is seen when Nynaeve heals Suian and Leane in LOC (to Heal again) ... &quot;...used Fire and Earth as if she were trying to bore a hole through stone ...&quot; <br /><br />So it seems to be a large barrier &#8211; a very large shield. However , her method with the women is not perfectly accurate and certain remnants probably remained unless the defect lay in the use of saidar in healing women (Damer had no problems).<br /><br />A burnt out channeler cannot even sense the Source anymore and I believe that this occurs when the channeler totally annihilates the funnel and it becomes flat on the pattern like a normal person. Considering the destructive nature of this act , it is not surprising that being burnt out only falls a little short of dying from drawing too much of the Power. Unfortunately I have no proof for this hypothesis either way.<br /><br />4. Linking<br /><br />Finally , linking. When channelers link the two funnels join together but when adding two such shapes the new shape is not double the previous two. The limit , I believe , lies at the base of the funnel which is the person. When adding the two funnels the tops will combine to form nearly double the surface area but the bottoms will not because they belong to the channeler and cannot be transferred.<br /><br />Thus more of the Power can be channeled but it is limited by the person leading the circle. The so-called protective buffer. The weaves are also much more precise because a much larger volume of the Power is heading towards an opening which is still quite small &#8211; in essence almost concentrating the One Power weaves , but not.<br /><br />I apologise that I couldn't write nice maths formulas and that I had to type out Pi etc etc. But I don't know if I can make tables easily etc to improve the layout.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-09-18 22:01:08
subject: Tectonics - matching Westlands and Europe
body:
<p>It&#8217;s been a while since I offered to post a theory to the theory post, but I think I may have stumbled onto some evidence that finally confirms my suspicions about where Randland is in relation to the geography of our own world.<br /><br />My recent investigation was sparked while reading the FAQ, in particular the RAFO topic.  An entry was listed as such below:<br /><br /><b> Question: What is/was Garen's Wall? Will it play a role? </b><br /><br />RJ&#8217;s Answer: <i>Garen's Wall is a split between tectonic plates. It is a great cliff that stretches across hundreds of miles. As to whether it plays a part, read and find out! Maybe it do and maybe it don't.</i><br /><br />*****<br /><br />A few years ago I remember asking for any thoughts about our world and Randland on the Wotmania Message Board (when there was only one MB) and someone raised a wonderful idea centred on the Black Hills and that lake nestled in the Mountains of Mist.<br /><br />The theory was that if you imagine that the Black Hills represented the Italian Alps in our world, then the lake in the Mountains of Mist would coincide roughly where the Straight of Gibraltar is.  I did some calculations and saw that there was indeed a match, but I couldn&#8217;t be certain if this was true or not.  With the Breaking having caused so much geographical change I was searching for one clue, one piece of evidence that would reveal the means of mapping the correct co-ordinates of the Westlands on our world.<br /><br />What I needed was one aspect of the landscape that hadn&#8217;t changed despite the Breaking.  Eventually I found it, Shayol Ghul.  It was the only place tied to the physical earth and it out of everything else, appeared to be the evidence sought.<br /><br />The Guide talks about how Shayol Ghul &#8220;may once have been an island in a cool sea&#8221; along with &#8220;All knew the Dark One had a certain direct effect on the area close around Shayol Ghul &#8211; his touch had already transformed it from an idyllic island in a cool sea to a desolate waste&#8230;&#8221; and these were the keys to pin pointing a precise point in Randland that would match Earth.  But there are many islands in the world, especially in cool seas so the piece about the Black Hills being Italy actually helped cement things.<br /><br />In the end after some deliberation I concluded that the location of the Bore in the Age of Legends was in the Baltic sea (the afore mentioned cool sea), possibly Gotland or Oland, maybe even Bornholm.  Problem here is that I doubt any of those islands have volcanoes&#8230; nonetheless I was certain I was on the right path, I just needed some corroborating evidence.<br /><br />I guess I found it on the world map in the Guide, in particular the continent of Shara.  When you look at the peninsular forming at the south of Shara and if you place the Westlands in the general location of Europe in our world, the Sharan Southern Peninsular matches the curve of the Indonesian Islands.  They are roughly at the same latitude/longtitude, the curve of Sumatra and Java forming the south western portion of the Sharan Peninsular.  <br /><br />From this I was lead to assume that the Great Rift which separates Shara from the Aiel Waste was somehow part of the clash caused in our world between the sub-continent of India ramming itself north into Asia.  This would place the Aiel Waste somewhere near the Middle East, with Westland confirmed to be where Europe is now.<br /><br />Of course in the Wheel of Time however the Westland extends south into where the Mediterranean would be, and the continent of Africa is plainly now under the waves.  This would leave Seanchan to be a somewhat distorted North and South America.<br /><br />So I was content to leave it at that, I had my answer and told the few Wotmanics I chatted with of my discovery.  No big deal we thought, it was just another &#8216;buzz&#8217; in the Wheel of Time experience.<br /><br />However now I feel I have found further proof to support my claim.<br /><br />Which brings me back to that RAFO question raised on the FAQ.  When Garen&#8217;s Wall was revealed to be the split between tectonic plates I went searching for an atlas to see if my theory of the Westlands being Europe still held.  After some futile attempts to locate tectonic maps in my Atlas, I went online and found a map of the world&#8217;s tectonic plates. <br /><br />http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001765.html<br /><br />If you view the above hyperlink, please focus your attention on Java Trench which is part of the Eurasian and Indian-Australian Tectonic Plates meeting.  Notice how it curves? Talk about the Sharan Peninsular eh?  <br /><br />Now look at the formation of the Antarctic Plate.  Where it rises to a point is the exact location of the Land of Madmen in the Guide&#8217;s map, position precisely to the south of where the Aiel Waste would be.  <br /><br />Moving west we come across the Eurasian and African Plates ramming into each other, in particular near Italy we have a slight spike that drops away.  Now originally I thought the Black Hills on the Westlands resembled Italy, however I have more reason to believe that this &#8216;spike&#8217; is the location of Garen&#8217;s Wall in the Westlands.  <br /><br />Now this is where it becomes a bit murky.  Looks like those islands in the Baltic Sea aren&#8217;t where we need them to be in order for Shayol Ghul to exist, but I believe that maybe the cartographer&#8217;s in Rand&#8217;s time are a little bit off the mark (so to speak).<br /><br />Moving along further west to where Seanchan would be, if we refer to our tectonic hyperlink map again, we see an interesting formation occurring.  Draw your eyes to where the Nazca Plate sits happily between the Pacific, Antarctic, South American and Cocos Plates.  If we imagine those fault lines as being mountains we end up mapping the area of Seanchan where Anagore is.  I believe that Anagore sits in the far top right corner of the Nazca plate, and if you look at the Seanchan map in the Guide, the curve of the mountains to the east of Anagore follows the line of the Nazca Plate bordering the South American Plate.  The mountain range running east-west to the south of Anagore appears to run along the fault line for Nazca and Antarctica Plates.  I imagine that Kirendad in Seanchan lies somewhere on the Carribean Plate.  From there it&#8217;s pretty much a case of identifying the rest of Seanchan in Northern America.<br /><br />All mountain ranges that don&#8217;t run along fault lines in our world I presume are the cause of the One Power, however it&#8217;s safe to assume that when the male Aes Sedai went nuts, they focused on the tectonic plates of the world in their destruction, and hence why the Wheel of Time world resembles the geography that it does today.<br /><br />I guess this confirms that the Land of the Madmen, is NOT Australia (as a proud Aussie I&#8217;ve been disturbed about that concept for some time now) although the realisation that our lovely land is in fact under the water due to a bunch of male channellers is no comfort either! ;-)   Africa and the Indian Sub-Continent also suffer similar fates, along with Japan.<br /><br />Incidentally, assuming this theory holds true, then the Sea Folk Islands shown to be south of Aiel Waste are possibly made up of Sri Lanka and perhaps a new island?  Or maybe Sri Lanka split in two?<br /><br />Now&#8230; does this possibly give us an idea as to where Comelle was in the Age of Legends?  Perhaps it does&#8230;  In the Shadow Rising, Rand&#8217;s discovery of the Aiel&#8217;s heritage causes him to relieve the memories of Jonai, during which we see Jonai standing on a cliff staring westward at a newly formed sea.  Comelle (a coastal city) is mentioned to be the third largest city in the world during the Age of Legends and rests along a mountainside.  This doesn&#8217;t give us much to go on, but it is safe to say that Comelle was located somewhere in Europe, seeing that the Aiel&#8217;s flight eventually leads them eastward to the Middle East which eventually becomes the Aiel Waste. <br /><br />Finally, I would like to add that I came across many maps with slightly different variations on where the tectonic plate lines run.  Some maps had details of fault lines across Europe that would allow for the Shayol Ghul island theory to slot in nicely &#8211; I believe a fault line that separates France and Spain could equally be Garen&#8217;s Wall, however RJ did say that the Wall was from no mere fault line but is a split between two tectonic plates.  Add that to the Sharan Peninsular-Java Trench idea and the fact that the Seanchan southern mountain chains match the borders of the Nazca plate lines, I feel fairly confident that I&#8217;ve made a good comparison between our world and that of the Wheel of Time world.  <br /><br />Now, if only we could find the whereabouts of the Tower of Ghenji&#8230; does that mean it&#8217;s in Switzerland somewhere?  More importantly where exactly did they build the Chodean Kal statues in Europe?  Spain obviously (or thereabouts) for the female one (Tremalking) but the male one&#8230;. *peruses his maps.*  <br /><br />Somewhere near the Black Sea?  Oh wait, no in the Black Sea&#8230;. *scratches head and mutters.*  <br /><br /><br />Thanks for reading folks! <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/wink.gif" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-10-02 17:33:14
subject: The Seanchan- Why the Aes Sedai need the Asha'man
body:
<p>This entire theory is based on the idea that Seanchan are planning on attacking the WT. There are numerous reasons and points, but I think that most of you would agree that it's nearly a sure thing.<br /><br />This theory also has to do with the idea proposed to the rebel Hall that they make an alliance with the BT.<br /><br /><b>The Three Oaths</b><br />The three oaths every (with a few exceptions) Aes Sedai takes upoin raising:<br />1)To speak no word that is not true.<br />2)To make no weapon for one man to kill another<br /><br />~*--&gt;3)To never use the One Power as a weapon, except against Shadowspawn and Darkfriends, or in the last extreme of defending her own life, that of her Warder, or another Aes Sedai.&lt;--*~<br /><br />If you haven't noticed, the third oath is what is<br />important here.<br /><br />Now I will borrow a paragraph from the wonderful FAQ compiled by the hardworking folks here at Wotmania: <br /> &quot;As for the third [oath], Aes Sedai can use the Power to hurt people if they consider it punishment, which is not technically using it as a weapon (demonstrated by Erian Sedai in Lord of Chaos when she tortured Rand, believing it punishment for him slaying her Warders). Even more significant is that killing someone by conventional means does not contradict any of the Oaths. It would not prevent them from using a weapon or performing torture using other means.&quot;<br /><br />I also want to talk about the self defense aspect. The oath says: 'in the <b>last extreme</b> of defending her own life, that of her Warder, or another Aes Sedai.'(emphasis mine)<br /><br />What exactly qualifies as last extreme? I'm going to go with the definition of certain death, as in if she did not use the OP, she, her Warder, or another sister would most certainly die. Not get bumped around a little, not get <i>captured</i> - die. If this turns out ot be wrong, there goes my whole theory down the toliet, so let's just pretend I'm right for now. <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/tongue.gif" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><b>The Asha'man</b><br />The men at the BT have no such restrictions. They are supposed to <b>be</b> weapons, actually. It's their whole point of existence.<br /><br /><b>The Seanchan</b><br />The Seanchan use the OP as a weapon too. That's what Damane are - walking weapons, just like the Asha'man.<br /><br />Now, when the BT boys and the Damane met up in POD, they were pretty evenly matched, with BT boys coming out on top. (but then Rand ruined everything with his stupidity, but let's not go there.) <br /><br />On the the actual point:<br /><br /><b>BT and WT Together At Last</b><br />The Seanchan, with their OP weapons, are coming to get the WT, a tower filled with, oh 400 or so (We're talking united tower)women who can channel, but are restricted from using the OP to defend themselves. What? you say. It says defense in the wording of the Oath! Won't the Aes Sedai be able to kick those back across the ocean with ther mad OP skillz?<br /><br />No.<br /><br />Confused? Let's recall the point I made before about the wording <b>last extreme defense.</b> I quote myself: &quot;...certain death, as in if she did not use the OP, she, her Warder, or another sister would most certainly die. Not get bumped around a little, not get <b>captured</b> - die.&quot;<br /><br />If the Seanchan took over the Tower, what do you think would happen to all those Aes Sedai inside? They would be made Damane, right? Does that entail death? No. A fate worse than death, maybe, but not death.<br /><br />The Aes Sedai herself would not be in danger of dying, so she would not be able to use the Power to defend herself.<br /><br />None of her Sisters would be in danger of dying either.<br /><br />Their Warders alone would not be sent out to fight a horde of Seanchan armed with Damane alone without OP backup that the Aes Sedai cannot give, plus, not all sisters have Warders.<br /><br />So, who could possibly channel against the Damane and would ally with Aes Sedai? <br /><br />The Asha'man! They've fought the Seanchan before, they have experience. There has already been talk of an alliance with them. Also, they are free to use the OP to blow up heads at a whim. <br /><br />A sister and a Asha'man could link with the man controlling the flows and the Thrid Oath would not be violated at all. The AS herself would not be using the OP as a weapon. Plus, a man and woman linked are stonger than a single Damane.<br /><br />For those of you arguing the Kin or Windfnders will help: they do not have the experience or training to use the OP in battle against someone as experienced as a Sul'dam and Damane.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion</b><br />The Aes Sedai will enlist the help of the Asha'man to ward off the Seanchan attack on the White Tower. <br /><br />So my theory isn't perfect. There are matters like the split in the two towers and the revelation that sul'dam can channel that will probably affect this outcome in one way or another, but I think that this is the best and most probable way for the Aes Sedai to defend themsleves successfully. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/flaminggrin.gif" border="0" /> <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/flaminggrin.gif" border="0" />Flame away!<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/flaminggrin.gif" border="0" /> <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/flaminggrin.gif" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-10-03 17:32:45
subject: A Man Lies Dying - an interpretion of Egwene's dream
body:
<p>This theory is an interpretation of one of Egwene&#8217;s dreams:<br /><br /><blockquote>A man lay dying in a narrow bed, and it was important he not die, yet outside a funeral pyre was being built, and voices raised songs of joy and sadness.<br /><br />-<i>A Crown Of Swords</i>, Unseen Eyes <br /><br /></blockquote>I believe the dream started to be fulfilled in <i>Crossroads of Twilight</i>, and that the man at risk of dying is Dobraine, who is in bed with his life hanging in the balance after being fatally wounded by the Darkfriends seeking the two Seals.<br /><br />Samitsu Healed him, but was uncertain of his survival:<br /><br /><blockquote>The strongest Healing would kill him before his wounds finished closing, while the weakest would revive him long enough to drown in his own blood. She had to choose somewhere in the middle and hope that she was right&#8230;.Hastily, she readjusted the weave and delved him again, holding her breath. He lived. By a hair, and so weak he might yet die, but it would not be those stabs that killed him, except indirectly&#8230;He might be troubled by shortness of breath when he exerted himself, if he pulled through, yet for the moment, he did live, and that was all that mattered. For the moment&#8230;<br /><br />An instant later, glad shouts and cheers broke out, and she heard her name nearly as often as Dobraine&#8217;s. <br /><br />-<i>Crossroads of Twilight</i>, Glimmers of the Pattern<br /><br /></blockquote>So Dobraine lies in bed barely alive, just like the man in Egwene&#8217;s dream. There have already been shouts of gladness at his survival after Samitsu&#8217;s Healing attempt.<br /><br />It is important Dobraine not die, because he is a great support to Rand, keeping Cairhien in order and carrying out Rand&#8217;s orders.<br /><br />Some parts of the dream have not been fulfilled yet. A funeral pyre has not yet been built, but Dobraine&#8217;s condition has remained grave throughout <i>Crossroads of Twilight</i>. No doubt some believe he will not make it, and if his condition remains poor, preparations for his funeral are likely to take place. <br /><br />Songs of joy and sadness refers to the fact that while some will mourn Dobraine and the loss of his support for Rand if he dies, many will be glad if he is dead &#8211; the Shadow, and also those with ambitions in Cairhien. <br /><br />It is true there are other important men who are known to be at risk. Davram Bashere, for instance.  Min had a viewing about him:<br /><br /><blockquote>&#8220;And there&#8217;s something&#8230;dark&#8230;in the images I saw around Lord Davram. If he turns against [Rand], or dies&#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />-<i>Crossroads of Twilight</i>, A Strengthening Storm<br /><br /></blockquote>Min was uncertain exactly what dark future is in store for Bashere: Bashere may die, or he may be turned against Rand. Dobraine, however, definitely is currently in his bed and on the verge of death, just like the man in Egwene&#8217; dream.<br /><br />Egwene&#8217;s dream doesn&#8217;t indicate whether the man would die, just that it is important he not. <br /><br />Min&#8217;s opinion and her viewing squares with this:<br /><br /><blockquote>&#8220;I heard one of the soldiers say Lord Dobraine might die. Losing one of them (Dobraine, Bashere and Logain) would be a blow. Lose all three, and it might take you a year to recover.&#8221; <br /><br />-<i>Crossroads of Twilight</i>, A Strengthening Storm<br /><br /></blockquote>So, I believe that the dying man in Egwene&#8217; dream is Dobraine. His death would be a great loss for the Light, and if his recovery is slow (as seems likely), there will be a period of weeks where he is not governing Cairhien.<br /><br />Samitsu has done her best to keep Dobraine alive. Has it been enough? Can or will another Healer do more?<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-10-09 23:01:59
subject: Taim Explained
body:
<p>One of the biggest questions in WoT is, &#8220;who exactly is Taim?&#8221;  A False Dragon that not only is captured by AS and escapes (a feat never before achieved), but he shows up in Caemlyn to join up with the true Dragon Reborn (bearing a seal to the DO&#8217;s prison no less).  Even though he at first asks to be Rand&#8217;s equal he quickly decides that it&#8217;s not a problem to be his subordinate (or at least he acts as if that&#8217;s the case).  He then is asked by Rand to teach the students at the Farm (which of course later becomes the Black Tower).  Taim shows an astonishingly large amount of knowledge for a wilder (knowing how to test for a male channeler is a good example - I can&#8217;t see anyone figuring <i>that</i> out on their own) and shows attitudes akin to the Forsaken (his &#8220;so-called Aiel&#8221; comment and disdain of AS are prime examples).  Added to that Rand estimates that Taim must have channeled for at least 15 years without being affected by the Taint.  The result: Taim is an enigma.<br /><br />It is oddities such as those I just listed that gave rise to theories such as Taimandred.  Many of the oddities can be explained by the fact that Taim is a DF.  His large amount of knowledge for a channeler that taught himself can be explained away if we say that Ishamael had taught him, though the fact that the Forsaken have shown a reluctance to do so does make it less likely.  But Ishamael <i>did</i> claim that he would teach Rand if Rand chose to follow him.  That the Taint appears to have not affected him could be due to protection from the DO.  We know that the DO is capable of doing so as Asmodean complained that when Rand cut him off from the DO, he became susceptible to the Taint.  Even to a certain extent his AoL attitudes can be explained away - a male channeler taught by one of the Forsaken himself is likely to be disdainful of AS - but <i>not all</i> of his attitudes can be explained away.<br /><br />The fact remains that statements such as &#8220;so-called Aiel&#8221; and &#8220;renegade Aiel&#8221; do not correspond with Taim as someone from the current Age.  Taim would have to understand who the Aiel had been and believe what they had been to be the true Aiel and not the ones that he had grown up knowing.  I can&#8217;t believe that anyone from the third Age could see pacifist Aiel as &#8220;<i>the</i> Aiel&#8221; and the warrior Aiel as &#8220;so-called&#8221; and &#8220;renegade.&#8221;  That just doesn&#8217;t add up.<br /><br />Given the evidence, Taim cannot be just plain-old Taim.  There are too many clues to the contrary.  Who other than Taim that has not been proven to be a Forsaken has made <i>any</i> kind of &#8220;so-called&#8221; comment?  Dashiva called AS &#8220;so-called,&#8221; but we now know him to be Aginor/Osan&#8217;gar.  RJ has left us many, many clues.  Too many for him to be nothing but plain-old Taim.<br /><br />Then <i>who is he?</i><br /><br />The information indicates someone from the AoL.  After all, his attitudes (particularly those toward Aiel, though others such as his dislike of swords have been suggested) reflect those of people from the AoL.  The first reaction is, of course, the Forsaken (a male one obviously).  So let&#8217;s go down the list.<br /><br />Aginor - Brought back as Osan&#8217;gar/Dashiva.  Taim and him were together at Dumai&#8217;s Wells.  Obviously <b>not Taim</b>.<br /><br />Asmodean - He died before we even saw Taim.  <b>Not Taim</b>.<br /><br />Balthamel - Died and was brought back as a <i>woman.  Obviously</i>, <b>not Taim</b>.<br /><br />Be&#8217;lal - Balefired at the end of TDR.  Due to a statement of RJ about the nature of BF, it was suggested that he could have in fact been brought back to life, but Moridin&#8217;s Sha&#8217;rah game (if nothing else) at the beginning of PoD makes it clear that he is not back.  (And while there is arguably a discrepancy in the number of people that remember Sha&#8217;rah and how many Forsaken there were at the time, it&#8217;s by having <i>too many</i> Forsaken alive, <i>not</i> too few).  Thus Be&#8217;lal is <b>not Taim</b>.<br /><br />Demandred - While he was the favorite candidate for years, RJ has conclusively stated that Demandred is <b><i>not</i> Taim</b>.  <br /><br />Ishamael - He&#8217;s back as Moridin.  It has been theorized that he is Taim, but their attitudes toward Rand are drastically different (Taim hates Rand and wants him out of the way while Moridin sees him as a playing piece in the game) and more conclusively they gave conflicting orders within two paragraphs of each other in WH (pg. 441- 442, hardback).  Kisman remembered that Taim said &#8220;Kill him,&#8221; while Moridin said &#8220;Kill him if you must, but above all, bring everything in his possession to me.&#8221;  And Kisman thought that &#8220;[Moridin] seemed to think al&#8217;Thor&#8217;s belongings more important than his death, the killing incidental and not really necessary.&#8221;  The two sets of orders <i>clearly</i> conflict.  Moridin is <b>not Taim</b>.<br /><br />Rahvin - Balefired by Rand in TFoH.  And there&#8217;s <i>no way</i> he&#8217;s coming back from <i>that</i> blast of BF.  The DO even said so.  <b>Not Taim</b>.<br /><br />Sammael - He died at the end of CoS.  We know that Taim still lives.  <b>Not Taim</b>.<br /><br /><br />So, <i>all</i> of the Forsaken are eliminated.  <i>None</i> can be Taim.<br /><br />So, <i>who is he?  How</i> can he be from the AoL if he&#8217;s not a Forsaken.  Doesn&#8217;t that just leave Taim as plain-old Taim?  Nope.  There is one other male character in the current Age that comes from the AoL.<br /><br />Lews Therin.<br /><br />Now, of course Lews Therin is not Taim (though I did consider naming the theory &#8220;Taim is LTT&#8221; just for grins), but he <i>does</i> give us an explanation of how Taim could be other than himself.<br /><br /><br />I present that Taim <i>did not</i> channel for at least fifteen years without being affected by the Taint, but that in fact he had someone talking to him in his head - just like Rand does.<br /><br />As Rand began to channel, he had all kinds of channeling information pop into his mind - seemingly out of nowhere.  As he channeled more and more, he began to have other memories - Lews Therin&#8217;s memories.  And by the end of TFoH he actually had Lews Therin chatting in his head.<br /><br />Now, many would say that he&#8217;s the Dragon Reborn.  He&#8217;s a special case.  But I say that he is not.  Yes, he has LTT running around in his head because he&#8217;s the Dragon Reborn and LTT was the Dragon - LTT was Rand&#8217;s previous life - but other male channelers have the same problem.  He didn&#8217;t get a voice in his head because he&#8217;s the DR.  He got a voice in his head because of the Taint.  The voice that he got was the LTT because he&#8217;s the DR, but having a voice in his head was due to the Taint, not because he&#8217;s the DR.  Cadsuane&#8217;s words in CoS support this:<br /><br />&#8220;Some men who can channel begin to hear voices.... It is part of the madness.  Voices conversing with them, telling them what to do.&#8221; (pg. 420, paperback)<br /><br />Other men who channel hear voices.  It&#8217;s caused by the Taint.  I think that Rand&#8217;s situation shows clearly that the Taint breaks down the barriers between lives in some way, bringing in the past personalities - the voices.  Rand is the Dragon Reborn, thus his past life was LTT and he has LTT in his head.  Perhaps given time more voices would have come (Rand has begun seeing a third face in his head if you recall), but as the Taint is now gone, we may never know.  Regardless, clearly the most recent past life is brought to the surface by the Taint.  Rand has LTT.  But who does Taim have?<br /><br />Having a past life/voice running around in Taim&#8217;s head would explain the knowledge and the attitudes from the AoL.  Rand definitely has a lot of knowledge from LTT and perhaps even some attitudes (Rand&#8217;s changed with time anyways, so I don&#8217;t think that it&#8217;s entirely clear if Rand has truly adopted some of LTT&#8217;s attitudes and personality, but he certainly listens to him).  Having an AoL voice in his head, would explain away all of Taim&#8217;s oddities - <i>especially</i> if the voice had actually taken over Taim.<br /><br />Rand has feared that LTT would take control and he would end up as a voice in LTT&#8217;s head and Moiraine saw (thanks to the rings in Rhuidean) that if she had not gone through the doorway with Lanfear, there was a chance that Rand would be taken by Lanfear and return saying that he was LTT.  So, I think that it&#8217;s quite safe to say that given that Taim has a past life&#8217;s voice in his head, the past life&#8217;s personality could have taken over.  It is not necessarily necessary to explaining Taim&#8217;s behavior, but it makes it much more likely.  Rand knows the Aiel for who they were, but he does not call the current Aiel &#8220;so-called&#8221; or &#8220;renegade.&#8221; As such, I think it very likely that the voice in Taim&#8217;s head has taken control and that Taim is now a voice in his past life&#8217;s head.  Thus we have the Taim that many thought to be Taimandred.  He <i>is</i> someone from the AoL - just not one of the thirteen Forsaken.<br /><br />This could even explain his breakout.  RJ has shrouded Taim&#8217;s escape from the AS in mystery, so obviously it&#8217;s important.  LTT helped Rand escape the AS that had captured him.  Perhaps Taim&#8217;s voice helped him escape, but as a result, the voice took over.  RJ certainly wouldn&#8217;t want us to know that Taim&#8217;s breakout was due to a voice in his head if it&#8217;s supposed to be a mystery.<br /><br />Also, that would explain Taim&#8217;s change in appearance.  Perhaps his past life doesn&#8217;t like beards, so he shaved.  And that easily explains his referring to himself in the third person when he showed up in LoC (&#8220;What does everyone not know, that you and Mazrim Taim will?&#8221; pg. 93, paperback).<br /><br />So, a past life&#8217;s voice in Taim&#8217;s head that took him over easily explains all the discrepancies - all the oddities.  But of course, once again, that leaves the question as to who that voice is, and thus who Taim is now.  Who was he in his past life?<br /><br />Other than the Forsaken and LTT, we have the names of only three male AoL channelers - Beidomon, Joric Mondoran, and Kodam.  Beidomon helped Lanfear/Mierin Eronaile drill the Bore and is mentioned in the Guide (pg. 40) and TSR (when Rand saw the past through his ancestors&#8217; eyes - paperback pg. 436).  Joric is a male AS that went mad and killed thousands of Aiel at the beginning of the Breaking.  He was mentioned by Solinda Sedai to one of Rand&#8217;s ancestors when Rand was watching through his eyes (TSR, paperback pg. 429).  Kodam was one of the men that helped make the Eye of the World.  He was mentioned by the AS talking in the background of the same part of the vision that Joric was mentioned in (TSR, paperback pg. 429).<br /><br />It would be very unlike RJ to not give us all the clues to figure out exactly who Taim is.  So, logically, he must be one of these three men.  They are the only male AoL channelers of which we know the names - other than LTT and the Forsaken.  From Balthamel/Aran&#8217;gar it is clear that while channelers are obviously born in bodies that can channel (the whole culling thing and the abundance of channelers in the Two Rivers proves it - for that matter the Guide states that channeling is a genetic recessive), the souls also must be those of channelers - otherwise Aran&#8217;gar/Balthamel would not be channeling <i>anything</i>, let alone saidin.  But even if that were not the case, the only other AoL men that we know the names of are Aiel.  I find it <i>highly</i> unlikely that Taim was one of them.  We get into their thoughts and they certainly weren&#8217;t darkfriends.  And as the current Taim <i>is</i> a darkfriend, unless he was turned by 13 AS and 13 myrdraal, Taim&#8217;s previous incarnation must have been a DF as well.  So that leaves Beidomon, Joric, and Kodam.<br /><br />Joric - He went mad due to the Taint.  If he had been linked to the DO, that would not have happened.  And the AS (Solinda) that talked of him did not talk like he was a DF.  True, she doesn&#8217;t really say one way or the other, but obviously she considered that he did what he did because of the Taint, not because he was a DF.  And again, a DF would probably been protected from the Taint.  So, unless Taim was turned, he could not have been Joric as Joric wasn&#8217;t a DF.  But more conclusively, LTT went mad from the Taint and is still mad in Rand&#8217;s head.  So if Joric had come back as Taim and taken over, the current Taim would be mad.  He certainly doesn&#8217;t act mad - certainly not like LTT does or how Joric obviously acted - and Perrin didn&#8217;t smell that he was mad as he seems to with the other mad people.  So Joric is <b>not Taim</b>.<br /><br />Kodam - He helped created the Eye of the World.  While its original purpose is unclear, it&#8217;s obviously meant for the side of Light (after all, the DO can protect a channeler from the Taint; why bother to make a pool of pure saidin?).  As such, Kodam won&#8217;t have been a darkfriend.  So unless Taim was turned by 13 AS and 13 myrdraal, Kodam can&#8217;t be Taim.  Also, the only place that Kodam was ever mentioned was once in TSR, and there&#8217;s nothing there to imply that he could be of any importance other than that scene.  He was just a name mentioned by AS discussing stuff in the background.  Added to that, Taim obviously knows what he&#8217;s doing while &#8220;[Kodam and his fellows] are young and inexperienced, but barely touched by the taint, and....  And we have no choice [but to use them].&#8221; (TSR, paperback pg. 430 - from what the AS discussing him said)  This does <i>not</i> imply that Kodam knows a lot.  It tends to imply the opposite really.  He was merely the only one available for the job.  So there&#8217;s nothing to support that Kodam is Taim and there&#8217;s definitely information against.  Thus, it&#8217;s <i>highly</i> unlikely that Kodam is Taim.  <b>Not Taim</b>.<br /><br />This leaves Beidomon.  He was mentioned in the Guide (pg. 40) as having assisted Mierin/Lanfear in drilling the Bore (he even gets a place in the index ) and in TSR when Rand&#8217;s seeing through the eyes of his ancestors (pg. 436 paperback).  So all we know of him is that he helped Mierin/Lanfear drill the Bore.  We don&#8217;t even know if he survived the drilling of the Bore.  But for three, very simple reasons, Taim must be Beidomon.<br /><br />One, RJ doesn&#8217;t do name drops.  <i>Everyone</i> has a purpose.  Even  Kodam and Joric had one.  Kodam helped make the Eye of the World and Joric was a male AS that went mad - both helped give detail to a scene in TSR.  Whether or not Taim ever existed, they added to the story.  Beidomon helped drill the Bore.  Yes, what he did was important, but why would Lanfear have needed him?  Yes she probably would have wanted the help of a male AS, but the Guide states that Mierin Eronaile was among a team of researchers.  RJ could have just as easily said that Mierin and her team of researchers drilled the Bore as mention Beidomon, but RJ specifically mentions Beidomon in the Guide as well as in TSR.  Neither Kodam nor Joric is ever mentioned in the Guide.<br /><br />Two, Taim is very strong in the One Power.  He is nearly as strong as Rand - perhaps as strong as Rand.  Beidomon would very likely have had to have been very strong in the One Power to have helped Lanfear drill the Bore.  So Beidomon&#8217;s strength is in line with Taim&#8217;s while there is no indication that young Kodam was strong - he was just who was available. And while Joric may have been strong, his madness rules him out.  So Taim&#8217;s strength and Beidomon&#8217;s seem to be on the same level, making Beidomon a good candidate<br /><br />And lastly, Beidomon is the last candidate left - process of elimination.  Taim&#8217;s actions - in particular his attitude towards Aiel - cannot adequately be explained away without him being from the AoL.  None of the male Forsaken can be Taim.  That leaves having a past life (who must be from the AoL)  in his head that takes over his body.  Joric, Kodam, and Beidomon are the only other male AS from the AoL that we have names for and it&#8217;s unlike RJ to have Taim be a no-name male AS from the AoL.  It would then be impossible to figure out Taim&#8217;s current identity.  That&#8217;s not RJ&#8217;s style at all.  So, either Joric, Kodam, or Beidomon is Taim.  Joric was mad - Taim isn&#8217;t.  And Kodam wouldn&#8217;t likely know enough to have been Taim.  Both would have had to have been turned by 13 AS and 13 myrdraal in order to be Taim and neither is mentioned in the Guide while Beidomon is specifically mentioned in both the Guide and TSR and may have been a DF (we have no way of knowing one way or the other, but it can&#8217;t be ruled out).  With Joric and Kodam out of the picture, Beidomon&#8217;s the only candidate left.  We have only Beidomon.  There are no other male AS from the AoL that he could be.  Thus, Taim must be Beidomon.  <b>Is Taim</b>.<br /><br />So, <b>quick recap:</b><br /><br />Taim cannot be just plain-old Taim.  He knows too much and more importantly he exhibits AoL attitudes.  Such attitudes do not come from being taught by someone that has them - <i>especially</i> when those attitudes have nothing to do with what is being taught (channeling has nothing to do with Aiel).<br /><br />Taim is not one of the Forsaken.  There aren&#8217;t any left that he could be.  They&#8217;re all either dead or eliminated by other evidence (and in the case of Demandred, RJ said so).<br /><br />Rand has the voice of his past life in his head.  Other male channelers also have voices in their heads.  Thus, Taim could very well have one in his head.  That would account for the knowledge.  If the voice took over so that the current Taim is in fact Taim&#8217;s past life&#8217;s personality, then that would account for the change in behavior (such as shaving his beard) after his escape and more importantly it would account for the AoL attitudes since the past life&#8217;s life would have been during the AoL (if it wasn&#8217;t, he wouldn&#8217;t have the AoL attitudes and thus the past life would have neither the knowledge nor the AoL attitudes, so the past life must have been during the AoL).  So the current Taim is now Taim&#8217;s past self from the AoL, probably leaving the old Taim as a voice in his head.<br /><br />There are only three male AoL channelers that we have names for other than the Forsaken and LTT: Kodam, Joric, and Beidomon. Joric is mad - Taim isn&#8217;t.  Kodam doesn&#8217;t know enough.  They are only mentioned in TSR when Rand sees through the eyes of his ancestors - nowhere else - while Beidomon is mentioned in both the Guide and TSR (he&#8217;s even in the Guide&#8217;s index ).  So, Joric is impossible;  Kodam is highly unlikely; and Beidomon has no counts against him whatsoever. Added to that, many WoTists have wondered about Beidomon while I have never heard anyone say anything about either Joric or Kodam.  Beidomon is the only real possibility, thus Beidomon must be Taim&#8217;s past life.<br /><br />So, Taim is now Beidomon and the original Taim is probably running around in Beidomon/Taim&#8217;s head like LTT runs around in Rand&#8217;s.<br /><br />So, there you have it.  Taim is explained.  He is Beidomon.  There is not really any other possibility.  All the clues point toward someone from the AoL.  And if the current Taim&#8217;s from the AoL, he must be Beidomon.  This explains <i>all</i> of the oddities with Taim.  It is the only theory I know of that explains Taim completely.  I may or may not have explained it brilliantly, but I see no holes in the logic.  Taim must, logically, be Beidomon.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-10-14 17:53:56
subject: The Bore, Seals, Choedan Kal
body:
<p><b>The Nature Of The Bore And The Cuendillar Seals</b><br /><br />The Dark One was imprisoned by the creator at the moment of creation. In effect, the Dark One was stilled, cut off from the world. Until the bore. The bore is, in effect, a conduit between the Dark One and the world. Aes Sedai have similar conduits between themselves and the one power. These conduits allow the Aes Sedai to tap into the one power. The larger someone's conduit, the more of the power they can channel. Similarly, the bore allows the Dark One to reach into the world. The larger the bore, the more he can affect the world. The hundred companions determined to shield the Dark One from the world (just as Aes Sedai can be shielded from the one power). Since no one could hope to maintain such a shield indefinitely, the shield had to be tied off. If someone is maintaining a shield, it is very difficult for the shielded individual to break out. If, however, the shield is tied off, the shielded individual can break through the various knots, and eventually restore their conduit.<br /><br />To prevent this from happening, the hundred companions used seven seals as foci, to reinforce the knots. The knots were encased in cuendillar ter'angreals, making them unassailable. Picture taking a knotted rope (that can be untied), and dipping it in molten lead. That knot becomes much more difficult to untie.<br /><br />This imperfect solution was necessary, since only the Creator could remake the Dark One&#8217;s prison. In effect, only the Creator could 'still' the Dark One. So, the next best thing was a permanent shield.<br /><br /><br /><b>The Weakening Of The Seals</b><br /><br />Cuendillar starts out as an object made of iron. It is then set in a close net woven of Earth, Fire and Air and then a second weave of Earth and Fire penetrates each net to touch the object, which slowly turns into white cuendillar. (Crossroads of Twilight, Secrets &#8211; thanks linda_sedai).<br /><br />This is similar to the process for making steel. You take iron, and mix it with other metals to create an alloy (Earth). This is done by heating the iron and other metals to a molten state (Fire). Air is also required (ok, so I'm not a chemist).<br /><br />Tempering of steel takes place by using fire to raise it to a certain temperature, and then cooling the steel rapidly. The tempering of cuendillar takes place by infusing it with a certain level of the One Power, and then releasing the weaves, &quot;cooling&quot; it quickly. While excess tempering of steel is not a good idea, further tempering of cuendillar increases it's strength (any use of the one power against cuendillar just makes it stronger).<br /><br />Tempering of steel can be reversed, however. Stress relieving (or annealing or normalizing) is a process for softening steel. With tempering, steel is cooled rapidly (quenching it in water, for example). To  stress relieve steel, one heats it to a certain temperature, and then allows it to cool slowly. This makes the steel softer, malleable.<br /><br />Cuendillar, when tempered, is much stronger than steel. Similarly, when stress relieved, cuendillar is much more malleable/soft than steel.<br /><br />The process for stress relieving cuendillar is to infuse it with a large amount of the one power, and then allow the weaves to gradually &quot;cool&quot;. In short, the patch over the bore weaken the cuendillar seals. The cuendillar was heated during the initial weaving of the patch, and then, rather than having the weaves suddenly released, they were tied off, allowed to &quot;cool&quot; over three thousand years.<br /><br />So why did no one know about this property of cuendillar? We already know that the Aes Sedai had surprising gaps in their knowledge (as with not knowing how to heal stilling). Very few individuals live 3000 years, so it is unlikely that someone would simply notice this property. Most *angreal are not in continuous use for long periods of time, so they would not have been softened in this manner. In short, who's going to tie off a weave on a piece of cuendillar and then watch it for three millennia to see what happens. The seals were a unique experiment.<br /><br />Summary: the cuendillar seals have softened because the of the protracted exposure to the One Power. As a result, the cuendillar encasing of the tied-off weaves is no longer enough to make those knots unassailable. The Dark One is breaking free.<br /><br /><br /><b>Repairing the Bore</b><br /><br />Repairing the Bore equates to stilling the Dark One, closing his conduit to this world. As has been pointed out in other theories, only the Creator has the power to repair the bore, to restore it to its original state. This makes sense, since it would logically require someone of comparable strength to still the Dark One.<br /><br />Thanks to Herid, we know that this total reparation of the Dark One&#8217;s prison is likely to occur. &quot;[The prison] was whole in the beginning, and I think it will be whole again when the Third Age comes once more.&quot; (Lord of Chaos : A Taste of Solitude). But we also know that the Creator doesn&#8217;t really interfere with the pattern. We are left with a paradox &#8211; the prison must be repaired, but the only person (the Creator) who can repair it is unlikely to do so.<br /><br />Ironically, it is Lanfear who provides the solution. &#8220;Two great sa&#8217;angreal were made just before the end, one that you can use, one that I can. Far greater than that sword. Their power is beyond imagining. With those, we could challenge even . . . the Great Lord himself. Even the Creator!&#8221; (The Shadow Rising: Decisions). True, this is only her opinion on the comparative strength of the Choedan Kal, the Creator, and the Dark One, but it is at least an educated opinion. She was, after all, involved in the drilling of the Bore, having discovered a source of untapped power.<br /><br />Summary: Rand, and a female channeller of comparable strength, will use the Choedan Kal (after repairing or recreating the necessary female ter&#8217;angreal) to still the Dark One.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-10-14 17:56:18
subject: Romanda and Lelaine
body:
<p>After rereading CoT, a suspicion started crawling out of the back of my mind, and I couldn't find any theories touching on it, so here's my bit.<br /><br />It's been made very clear how much Romanda and Lelaine dislike eachother.  It's also clear that the majority of the Hall follows either one or the other.  My feelings are this:  Romanda and Lelaine are working together.  I think they are doing something very much like what Siuan and Leane doing.  It would be a good way for the Hall to sway Egwene one way or another, and a way to make her believe she has more power than she does.  Another possibility, which I favor, is that they are the only two who know of their collaboration, their followers just as convinced of their animosity as Egwene, and they are working towards their own end.  What that end might be, I don't know, but I also don't know to what &quot;end&quot; Siuan and Leane are working, aside from influencing events one way or another.<br /><br />Siuan and Leane convinced everyone by acting like children in a temper whenever they're around eachother.  I believe that Romanda and Lelaine are disagreeing on everything, to make people believe they will disagree on EVERYTHING.  Egwene thinks several times that if one said day, the other would say night, or some such.<br /><br />That is why in Suprises, page 476 hardcover, before they both stood in agreement for aliance with the Black Tower, Romanda said, &quot;Sometimes, we must do things we would rather not.&quot;  She knew that this was a necessary decision, and she knew it would not pass without both &quot;factions&quot; support.  What she would &quot;rather not&quot; do is agree with Lelaine in public, not stand for support.  <br /><br />On page 472, Egwene is watching the explosion in the Hall after the proposal and notices that, &quot;Surprisingly, neither Romanda nor Lelaine had opened her mouth since the begining.  They sat staring at one another, unblinking.  Likely each was trying to read how the other would stand just so she could stand in opposition.&quot;  Of course that's what she thought.  She swallowed the whole bit, hook line and sinker.  How many times has someone said that what an Aes Sedai seems to be doing is usually something very different from their true goal?  How many times has Egwene reminded herself of this, only after she made the mistake again? Just a few pages before that, after Akarrin told why they had been chosen to visit Shadar Logoth, Egwene thinks, &quot;What Aes Sedai did was seldom as simple as it appeared on the surface.  Egwene wished she could stop having to relearn lessons she had already learned.&quot;<br /><br />I'm convinved that they're pulling the wool over everyone's eyes, and I believe that they together are a force to be reckoned with.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-10-17 19:28:06
subject: The Truth About RAFO
body:
<p>Something has always bothered me about RJ&#8217;s RAFO answers. Maybe it&#8217;s just that I really want to know who killed Asmodean, but it always seems that RJ is hiding something with the RAFO answer. What&#8217;s more, he always seems to have this sly little smile when he says it. I&#8217;ve always assumed that it was just that he knew something we didn&#8217;t. But after giving the matter much thought, I&#8217;ve concluded that he&#8217;s been giving us substantive answers hidden in the RAFO response, and then laughing at us for not having figured it out. So here it is:<br /><br />Dragoncon June 28, 1997 Interview:<br />&#8220;Moderator: Who killed Asmodean? ;-) <br />RobertJordan: Rafo.&#8221;<br /><br />This was my first tipoff. RJ goofed. Rafo. Not RAFO. He is not telling us to read and find out. He&#8217;s answering the question. Rafo killed Asmodean!<br /><br />Now some of you are thinking I&#8217;ve had a bit to much Ritalin with my Wheaties, but think about it a minute. In later interviews, RJ always said we had enough clues to figure out who killed Asmodean. That&#8217;s because he had already told us the answer.<br /><br />So, now that we know that this mysterious Rafo character is out there, working behind the scenes, let&#8217;s see if we can figure out exactly who he, or she, is.<br /><br />Marcon Interview 6-<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/smackhead.gif" border="0" />01<br />Question (Asked by Ruriha Sedai) <br />&quot;You've said before that the blue flashes during the fight with the Myrddraal in Whitebridge were not from Thom's daggers. What were they from?&quot; <br />Answer <br />RAFO. <br /><br />Rafo is a channeler! He was at Whitebridge, wielding the One Power. And we never even saw him. But just how strong is Rafo?<br /><br />SCIFI.com November 14, 2000<br />&#8220;Moderator: Balerion&gt; There's a suggestion in the books that Lanfear was believed to be as strong as any female channeler could ever become. What was the reason for that belief? <br />RobertJordan: Read and find out!&#8221;<br /> <br />The read and find out is simply RJ&#8217;s way of trying to throw us off the track. We all know that that is synonymous with Rafo. RJ is in actuality answering the question. Lanfear is not as strong as any female channeler could ever become. Rafo is. Moreover, Rafo is a woman. Aes Sedai?<br /><br />But Rafo is even more powerful than that. <br /><br />Dragoncon June 28, 1997 Interview:<br />&#8220;Moderator: is Rand the most powerful channeler alive right now? <br />RobertJordan: RAFO.&#8221;<br /><br />Rafo is even more powerful than Rand!<br /><br />So where does this leave us? Rafo is a female channeler, more powerful than Rand, who has been with us since TEOTW. But who? And what will her role be in the Last Battle? This is where the theory gets a bit wild, but I think I&#8217;ve figured it out.<br /><br />The answer to the first part is right in front of us. Rafo &#8211; Bela. Notice the similarity in names. Rafo can&#8217;t be Bela, since Bela was with Egwene and Perrin when Rand was at Whitebridge, but the similarity is there. I mean, R-B. Their almost the same letter. An f is just an l with a little curve at the top. I mean, it&#8217;s just too close to be coincidence. A close cousin perhaps?<br /><br />There is more as well. Asmodean recognized Rafo just before Rafo dealt him that fatal blow. How could Asmodean have recognized Rafo? Obviously, just as Rand is the dragon reborn, Rafo is someone else reborn.<br /><br />Rafo, Bela&#8217;s cousin, is Lews Therin Telamon&#8217;s horse, reborn! What&#8217;s more, Rafo will be instrumental in the Last Battle. Rand will ride Rafo to Shayol Ghul. Rafo will rear, throwing Rand from the saddle. Rand is knocked unconscious, suffering a head wound, thus bleeding on the rocks. And Rafo is left to deal with the DO and reseal his prison.<br /><br />I know there are a couple of jumps in logic here, but I think if you&#8217;ll give it some thought, you&#8217;ll come to the same conclusion that I did. Rand simply is not powerful enough to deal with the DO. Rafo, who has been controlling things behind the scenes since the very beginning, is the only one strong enough to do that.<br /><br />I&#8217;m sorry if I&#8217;ve ruined the rest of the series for you. There really isn&#8217;t any point in reading the last 3-10 books. But the truth about Rafo is just too important to leave until the last chapter of book 19.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-10-17 19:41:43
subject: is there any truth to the wise ones' warning about Tel'aran'rhiod
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<p>Throughout the series we hear the wise ones cry wolf, wolf about the dangers of Tel'aran'rhiod. While some of them prove true, such as the nightmare that almost killed the Salidar Aes Sedai, the warning about walking in the flesh is apparently continuously disproved by the various characters that that take hikes within it.<br /><br />So I suggest we take a fresh look at all the characters we meet that walked Tel'aran'rhiod in the flesh:<br /><br />1) Slayer &#8211; seems to spend most or at least much of his time in Tel'aran'rhiod in the flesh and according to Perrin he definitely doesn't smell very human. He appears to lack a human compassion to other living beings and cares only for himself so I would say he tests positive on the inhuman test-kit.<br /><br />2) Ishmael &#8211; he appeared to spend almost the entire first three books in Tel'aran'rhiod in the (if he still had any) flesh. As far as I can tell he believes himself to be as good as the creator and sees the rest of humanity and other living beings (Trollocs and other dark creatures, Ogier and for all I know the wolves) as mere puppets to be played about for his personal benefit. Once again this is a positive on the inhuman test kit.<br /><br />3) Rhavin &#8211; he was in Tel'aran'rhiod at least one time and from his powers there seemed very familiar with the place. While not as inhuman as the others he still is the epitome of narcissistic personality and cares only for his own aggrandizement and pleasures. I call that a positive.<br /><br />4) Rand Al'Thor &#8211; he spend much of his time in this place. While opinions about him might be divided he certainly walks the line again and again and almost suffers the consequences for his folly in his battle with Rhavin. I do believe that if Rhavin had been victorious in their battle Rand would have stayed a donkey dragon even if he managed to get back to the real world, without the power to channel and without human thought either (he might have retained his mulish stubbornness but that wouldn't have changed much.) well Rand certainly have some mental problems in the present and his status as leader of the world makes it harder for him to see the little people. So I would say he gets a maybe and perhaps being the dragon allows him to break the rules.<br /><br />And that leaves just:<br />5) Egwene &#8211; traveled once in the flesh to Salidar. When she arrived, the yellow Aes Sedai SEE NO DIFFENRENCE in her and proclaim the wise ones' warning an empty threat but do we really know that to be the truth?<br /><br />Certainly Egwene is becoming a cold fish during the series that values the Aes Sedai supremacy and her own personal power more than anything else. Maybe she isn't as bad as the first three but I would say she definitely lost something from the young passionate Egwene we saw in the first books.<br /><br />&quot;But wait&quot;, you will say, &quot;that happened much earlier than her travel to Salidar, so surely that couldn't be the reason for her change in character. She is just trying to behave more like the other Aes Sedai as she had tried from the very beginning and has nothing supernatural to do with it.&quot;<br /><br />Well maybe so. We can never be certain for the true cause of such things and that reason may have some truth in it but let me ask you this:<br /><br />Are Aes-Sedai human?<br /><br />All along the series the Aes Sedai see themselves as more than simple mortals and so do most of the rest of the characters we meet at Randland. Is there some basis for this assumption? I will try and give here a reasonable explanation of where the Aes Sedai could have lost their humanity. <br /><br />I would like to point another group that goes in the flesh to Tel'aran'rhiod and if you haven't guessed already I mean the Aes-Sedai. Every Aes-Sedai out there has gone through a special ter'angrael (not once but three times) to become an accepted. I believe this ter'angrael takes you IN THE FLESH to Tel'aran'rhiod because that is the only reasonable explanation to all its attributes:<br />-it takes every woman that enters it to a unique world that is built to fit her worst fears. Now a gate to a single might-be world is possible but how can it find a world that will fit perfectly to a person's fears about the past the present and the future? The simplest explanation would be that the ter'angrael takes someone into the dream-world and help her build a dream-construct of her worst night-mare. This fits the dream Moggi made to trap Egwene and the wise ones warnings (if you forget your purpose in the dream-world you will become trapped in it)<br /><br />As for direct evidence of the Tel'aran'rhiod connection to the accepted ter'angreal we have Egwene almost getting trapped inside the ter'angreal when she goes through her test to acceptance because her dream ter'angrael interacts with the similar test ter'angrael meaning they both take you in some way to Tel'aran'rhiod.<br /><br />So do all the novices lose a part of their humanity when they become accepted? I believe so and if you don't see it just think what every Aes Sedai goes through to pass this cruel, gruesome test: she decides three times that becoming an accepted in the white tower is more important to her than her family, her loved ones, her heart's desires and her sense of justice&#8230;<br /><br />If I made such a choice you would call me a cold and heartless individual that cares more for personal power than anything else in the world and indeed Aes Sedai are just such people, caring only for themselves and others like themselves in a narcissistic temperament.<br /><br />They do not value people with hearts and see it as a sign of weakness.<br />I think though this doesn't really change anything about this theory that Aes Sedai are heavily influenced from the Bene Gezerit cult in the Frank Herbert books of Dune and they to gave up their humanity with their spontaneous emotions.<br /><br />The Aes Sedai are not without emotions but good Aes Sedai do not let their emotions rule them.<br /><br />It is ironic that the Aes Sedai testing Egwene in Salidar finds nothing different (and believe that even if she isn't completely human any more they could take care of it just like that) indeed nothing is different since she had already given that part of herself in Tel'aran'rhiod Valon under their very eyes.<br /><br />The Aes Sedai claim that this test prove a power of character in the tested but I think what it truly reveals is a case of parents repeating their parent's mistakes on their own children and their belief that only if the initiates suffer as much as they once did could they become one of them.<br /><br />When we compare the Aes Sedai test to the wise ones' test we see that while the Aes Sedai demand a single minded loyalty to their order above anything else in the world the wise ones reveal hard truths to the initiates and check if their pupils can handle them.<br /><br />Agree, disagree or don't give a damn?<br /><br />Please give me your opinions.<br /><br />Guttering Flame<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-10-27 16:50:54
subject: The Remnant Of A Remnant : Aiel Salvation
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<p>The Prophecy of Rhuidean foretells the destruction and salvation of the Aiel people. To understand it, we must first look to who spoke the prophecy.<br /><blockquote>&quot;Why do you want me to live?&quot; Rand asked her. &quot;You know what that Aes Sedai said in front of Rhuidean. I will destroy you&#8230;.&quot;<br />It was Bair who spoke. &quot;Everyone thinks they know the Prophecy of Rhuidean&#8230;&quot; (The Shadow Rising : Chapter 34 - He Who Comes With the Dawn)</blockquote><br />I have shortened this passage to demonstrate one thing &#8211; the Prophecy of Rhuidean is not called such because it was about Rhuidean, but rather, because that is the source of it. Rand saw an Aes Sedai deliver part of a prophecy during his passage through the Rhuidean ter'angreal. It is apparent that this was the first time the Aiel (other than the Jenn) had heard the prophecy, since the Aes Sedai is using the prophecy to correct a misconception of one of the clan chiefs. If the prophecy were already known (because it's source was something other than the Jenn Aiel and the Aes Sedai with them), the misconception would never have occurred, and would not need correction.<br /><br />At this point, some are saying that there was no need to go to such detail, but it is important to understand who spoke the prophecy, as prophecy is always shaped by the speaker. There may be a few exceptions (as with Nicola, who is not conscious of the foretellings she delivers). Even these few exceptions, however, must phrase their prophecy is a language known to them, and thus shape the prophecy to some extent. Those who consciously utter prophecy (such as Elaida) are bound to shape the prophecy to an even greater level.<br /><br />Continuing the passage quoted above, Bair reveals at least partial contents of the Prophecy of Rhuidean.<br /><blockquote>&quot;In this case, the whole truth, the truth known only to Wise Ones and clan chiefs before this is that you are our doom. Our doom, and our salvation. Without you, no one of our people will live beyond the Last Battle. Perhaps not even until the Last Battle. That is prophecy, and truth. With you. . . . 'He shall spill out the blood of those who call themselves Aiel as water on sand, and he shall break them as dried twigs, yet the remnant of a remnant shall he save, and they shall live.' A hard prophecy, but this has never been a gentle land.&quot; (The Shadow Rising : Chapter 34 - He Who Comes With the Dawn)</blockquote><br />Upon first reading, this quote leads us to believe that the Aiel will go to Shayol Ghul to fight the last battle. Without Rand, they all die. With Rand, some will survive. I submit that the answer is much simpler, and that those who will be saved and live are already being selected.<br /><br />The Aiel warriors are Rand's shock troops. They are likely to be in the forefront of any battle, as much because of their preference for being there as because of their value as warriors. It seems unlikely that many will survive. Those who may survive, however, are not &quot;the remnant of a remnant&quot; spoken of in the prophecy.<br /><br />The remnant of a remnant &quot;shall he save, and they shall live.&quot; I submit that being saved, and living are not redundancies, but refer to different states.<br /><br />The larger remnant (the second of the two in the prophecy) spoken of are those Aiel who have suffered the bleakness. All of the Aiel are troubled by the revelation of their origins, but a small number of them leave their tribes.<br /><blockquote>&quot;Some of those who run, after the bleakness, do not throw away their spears. Instead they join with their societies among the Shaido.&quot; (The Fires of Heaven : Chapter 2 &#8211; Rhuidean.)</blockquote><br />Some of this remnant, join the Shaido. Others, however, do throw away their spears. Some of these adopt the Way of the Leaf.<br /><blockquote>&quot;I have heard,&quot; Amys said slowly, &quot;that some of those who run after the bleakness have gone to the Lost Ones and asked to be taken in.&quot; (The Fires of Heaven : Chapter 5 - Among the Wise Ones).</blockquote><br />Others adopt the Way while remaining with the Aiel.<br /><blockquote>She had heard that a form of the bleakness had taken some gai'shain; when their year and a day was done, they simply refused to put off the robe. ( The Fires of Heaven : Chapter 5 - Among the Wise Ones)<br />&#8230;gai 'shain were sworn to serve obediently for one year and a day, touching no weapon, doing no violence, at the end returning to their own clan and sept as if nothing had happened. A strange echo of the Way of the Leaf. (The Fires of Heaven : Chapter 2 - Rhuidean)</blockquote><br />But none of these are the remnant of a remnant who shall be saved. We must remember who the speakers of the prophecy were. Very old Aes Sedai living with the Jenn Aiel.<br /><blockquote>it was hard not to stare at the Aes Sedai as the bearers lowered their ornately carved chairs to the ground. Women with hair so white it almost seemed transparent. Ageless faces with skin that looked as if the wind might tear it. He had heard the years did not touch Aes Sedai. How old must these two be?( The Shadow Rising : Chapter 25 - The Road to the Spear)</blockquote><br />These very old Aes Sedai, living with the Jenn Aiel, surely knew the true nature of the Aiel. Simply putting away your weapons and adopting the Way of the Leaf is not enough to be saved. The Tuatha'an live the way of the leaf, but they broke off from the Jenn Aiel and are the Lost Ones. They are lost, because they forsook other oaths.<br /><br />The Jenn Aiel, and the Aes Sedai with them, would view being saved as returning to what the Aiel truly are, returning to honor all of the oaths forsaken by current Aiel. The remnant of a remnant will be the dedicated of the Age of Legends, serving Aes Sedai and the unified tower (men and women). These are they who are spoken of in the prophecy.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-03 17:46:19
subject: Keeping our Ways clean: How Pedan Fain helped giving us a relative safe pass on the ways
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<p>well if you haven't guessed everything from the title I am talking about how Pedan Fain changed Machin Shin the mad-wind irrevocably when he passed through the ways in EotW. <br /><br />Before Fain interfered MS roamed freely across the ways devouring (or made them mad at least) anyone it found. now on the other hand it is compulsively following Rand as we see twice in tGH when he tries to enter the ways.<br /><br />first of all what really happened? well we know Fain was given the ability (by the DO) to sense where Rand is at any time (practically) and to a lesser extent also where the other two taveren are. we can assume that when Fain met MS in EotW they intermingled and exchanged personalities and abilities to some extent and apperently Fain transffered his ability to follow Rand (and I think also the other two since his ability includes them all so if the wind got the same power it should sense all of them.) also he transffered his overwhelming and consuming hatred to Rand as we can see from its abberant behaviour in tGH.<br /><br />now how can MS know where Rand will pop up next and follow him quickly enough to wait for him on his way? I think the obvious answer is that there is some correlation between their two worlds and so wehrever Rand is MS can be on the same spot in the ways-world thus enabling it to appear at his next entrypoint.<br /><br />you might say that Fain just gave MS instructions on his second passage through the ways in tGH when he decided to use it to reach the Seanchan army quickly but he could never have met it at that time since he had a group of darkfriends, darkcreatures and the like going with him and they showed no ill effects.<br /><br />what does this mean? I propose that now MS has a compulsive tendecy to stay on adjacent spots to the spots Rand occupy thereby allowing countless foolish travelers to pass through the ways unhindered, all thanx to Fain.<br /><br />now I don't say that MS cannot move to other spots in the ways on ocassion but it will take it effort to accomplish such a thing and therefore will not be all that common.<br /><br />also we can assume that like Fain the wind has a weaker compulsion to follow Mat and Perrin and that is why MS could have a feast at Manetheren in tSR because Perrin was on the spot luring it there (in addition to the tasty Trollocs and Myrdrael)<br /><br />do we have any corroborating evidence? on the trip of Nynaeve, Egwene, Elayne and Liandrin to the Seanchan army in tGH we never hear a pips from MS and this is the longest trip we ever see in the series (since Liandrin stayed in the ways and travelled through them back to the white tower making her stay in the ways twice as long as anyone else's) . Liandrin hints that she knows a secret to make the trip safe but this is bollocks since we know:<br />1)the darker its food the more MS likes and seeks it<br />2)Ishmael didn't give a damn what happened to them as long as Nynaeve and Egwene were lost to Rand and so he couldn't fulfill his prophecised destiny (as both Rand and Ishmael tell us at the end of tGH<br /><br />the only times machin shin ever appeared was when one of the three taveren appeared on the scene.<br /><br />so what can we conclude?<br /><br />1)getting rid of the damned wind will be a piece of cake for Rand (assuming he knows the proper weave) since all he has to do is open one of the ways' gates and wait for it to appear.<br /><br />2)Rand's custom of hopping around the world using gateways, world to world stones, Talaranriod gateways and so on is not helping the situation since every time he does it MS has to go and look for him again and can find tastefull diversionary morsels along the ways(after all it doesn't have to use the shortest path to get to him, does it?)<br /><br />3)mat and especially perrin should forget about ever useing the ways again since they act like magnets to MS whenever they enter it (even though their attraction to MS is much weaker than Rand's attraction to it they will appear much clearer to her than Rand if they are in the same world)<br /><br />4)when the light side wants to pass an army (gardener guard anyone?) they should convince all three taveren to stay in one spot to attract MS very strongly to it and they won't have a problem.<br /><br />what do you think?<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-03 17:51:30
subject: Logain and the Dragon Reborn
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<p>Logain said: <br /><br />&quot;You know, I saw a man once who will cause more trouble than I ever did. Maybe it was the Dragon Reborn; I don't know. It was when they took me through Caemlyn after I was captured. He was far away, but I saw a. . . a glow, and I knew he'd shake the world. Caged as I was, I couldn't help laughing.&quot;<br /><br />This was stated when Logain was trapped in Salidar. Clearly, at that time he did not believe himself the Dragon Reborn, and it implies that even earlier, when he could still Channel, that he didn't believe himself the Dragon! Also, as soon as he was freed from Salidar, he ran off to the Black Tower to join the real Dragon Reborn. He seems genuinely ready to follow Rand.<br /><br />Is it possible that Logain NEVER considered himself the Dragon Reborn? <br /><br />In The Eye of the World, Lan speaks of Logain as someone known to him: 'Lan replied. &quot;Avin was right...There was a battle in Ghealdan, and Logain was the victor...&quot;' <br /><br /> And then from Rand's POV: '...Logain? That must be the false Dragon...Lan sounded almost as if he knew him...' <br /><br /><br />I suggest that Lan DID know Logain. Where, after all did Siuan Sanche get her idea to cast the Red Ajah as creating the false dragons? The Ajahs spend all their time plotting against each other. Suppose Siuan wanted to bring down the Reds before the real Dragon Reborn was revealed. She wanted above all to protect him, and the main enemy of any man who channels is the Red Ajah. Beyond that, she was well aware of the crimes of the Red Ajah following the Aiel War. It would easily occur to her that pinning the blame for such a crime on the already in disrepute Red Ajah would be simple. Beyond all that was her personal animosity towards the Red, and the animosity that always existed between the Reds and the Blues. <br /><br />And look how simple it was. All she had to do was show up with a former false dragon, tell everyone that he had been set up by the Reds, and everyone fell in line. How strange, that even Aes Sedai like Movrin, who are supposed to be suspicious of everything, never questioned the Reds' 'crime'.<br /><br />Why not? Because either Sean and Moiraine themselves, or together with a Blue (or Green) Ajah clique, had already laid the groundwork in peoples' minds. Moiraine, in searching for the Dragon Reborn, would have to follow every hint of a false dragon, in hopes that she could get there first to see if he was the real one. So, long before Logain declared himself, I think Lan and Moiraine had already confronted him, possibly captured him, and convinced him to become a false dragon, all with the connivance of Siuan.<br /><br />Meanwhile, in the tower, Siuan was busy spreading rumors, probably through Leane, that the Reds were up to something no good. Aes Sedai of other Ajahs were set up to believe the worst when it came. The only change of the plan was when the Reds acted first and Siuan was deposed. She found Logain and acted to put her old plan into motion, all the pieces already being in place.<br /><br />It was Siuan and Moiraine's plan all along to accuse the Red Ajah of setting up false dragons, in order to destroy the Red, and unite the Tower behind the Dragon Reborn.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-04 23:22:36
subject: Ishamael's Successors
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<p>So by this point, everybody should know that Ishamael, as the only Forsaken not bound completely in the Bore, was the &#8220;big fish&#8221; of the Shadow for the 3000+ years of the Third Age.  Bear with me as I speculate on what Ishy&#8217;s main actions were during the Third Age, what he did in the early books of the series&#8230; and who stepped up to the plate once he was killed.  I apologize in advance for the length.<br /><br /><b>I.  SO WHAT DID ISHY DO DURING THE THRID AGE?</b><br /><br /><b>Created the Black Ajah</b><br />Ishamael is undoubtedly the mastermind behind the creation of the Black Ajah.  He talks about his command of the Black Ajah as early as the Eye of the World:  &#8220;The Black Ajah, wriggling like worms on their bellies across the world to search you out.  I pull the strings and the Amyrlin Seat dances and thinks she controls events.&#8221; (TEOTW, paperback ed., p760)   The Black Ajah was clearly behind the &#8220;vileness after the Aiel War&#8221; that New Spring is mainly concerned with.  Alviarin talks about how Ishamael, some fifteen years before the first book in the series, imprisoned Jarna Malari within a derelict ter&#8217;angreal as punishment for her seek-and-destroy methods to find the Dragon Reborn.  Yes, the Black Ajah is clearly Ishy&#8217;s baby.<br /><br /><b>Manipulated the founding of the Seanchan Empire</b><br />In the Big White Book, we learn of a shady advisor to Artur Hawkwing, Jalwin Moerad, who fits the bill perfectly as Ishamael.  Described as being frequently missing from court and being more than half-mad, Moerad posioned the High King against the Aes Sedai.  However, one of Ishy&#8217;s main purposes in advising Hawkwing directly resulted in the formation of the Seanchan Empire:  &#8220;I whispered in Artur Hawkwing&#8217;s ear&#8230;and the High King sent his armies across the Aryth Ocean, and sealed two dooms.  The doom of his dream of one land and one people, and a doom yet to come.&#8221;  (TEOTW, paperback ed., p 205)<br /><br /><b>The formation of the Children of the Light</b><br />All right, before you condemn my theory, read on a bit.  I think that it&#8217;s only natural that Ishamael had something to do with the Children of the Light.  Look at the glossary from the Eye of the World:  <br /><br />&#8220;Children of the Light:  A society holding strict ascetic beliefs, dedicated to the defeat of the Dark One and the destruction of all Darkfriends.  Founded during the War of the Hundred Years by Lothair Mantelar to proselytize against increasing numbers of Darkfriends, they evolved during the war into a completely military organization, extremely rigid in their beliefs and completely certain that only they knew the truth and the right.  They hate Aes Sedai, considering them, and any who support of befriend them, Darkfriends.&#8221;  (TEOTW, paperback ed., p 787)<br /><br />Well now.  Very interesting.  We see Mantelar&#8217;s book in TSR, The Way of the Light. It stressed aesceticism and good works above all.  When did the philosophy change?  During the war, a time we know Ishy was known to be active &#8211; he arranged for the deaths of any possible successors to Hawkwing&#8217;s throne.  Now compare the hard-bitten mentalities of the Children and those of the late Hawkwing:  &#8220;completely certain that only they knew the truth and the right.&#8221;  &#8220;They hate Aes Sedai, considering them Darkfriends.&#8221;  Sounds very similar to the lies that Ishy poisoned the High King with.  I am putting forward that Ishy had some hand in the creation of the Children of the Light.<br /><br /><b>II.  WHAT DID ISHY DO DURING THE EARLY BOOKS?</b><br /><br />Well, we know that The Eye of the World was all about identification.  Ishamael had tagged one of the three boys to be the Dragon Reborn, but wasn&#8217;t sure until nearly the end of the book.  All in all, the Eye of the World is pretty straightforward.  However, the same can&#8217;t be said about the Great Hunt.  All sorts of stuff was going on during that crazy book.  Some things can be understood, though.  For instance, three major powers were moving around during this book:<br /><br /><b>The Black Ajah</b><br />It&#8217;s clear that the Black Ajah is testing its muscles during this book.  First, there&#8217;s all the oddities going on in the Hall.  The Green Ajah breaks an alliance with the Blue of long standing.  Futhermore:  &#8220;It was proposed to the Hall that you [Moiraine] should be sent into retreat for contemplation.  This was proposed by one of the Sitters for the Green Ajah, with the other two nodding approval as she spoke.&#8221;  Ten to one the Sitter that proposed this was Talene Minly, a known Black Ajah.  Already at this early point in the series, the Shadow is trying to separate Rand from his allies.  The Black Ajah comes out of its hiding place even more for this purpose later in the book, when Liandrin tries to get rid of Nynaeve and Egwene by sending them over the Aryth Ocean.  At this point, Liandrin is clearly under Ishy&#8217;s control (She was at the DF Social, after all).<br /><br /><b>The Seanchan</b><br />It doesn&#8217;t get any bigger than the Seanchan.  The Forerunners arriving on Randland proper is the beginning of the &#8220;second doom&#8221; that Ishy spoke of to Rand in TEOTW.  It&#8217;s obvious what would be best for the Shadow.  In Rand&#8217;s Portal Stones lives, he witnesses the Seanchan taking over the world and then being defeated by the Shadow.  This is the &#8220;second doom&#8221; for Randland.  Ishy has partial control of the Haliene through his other minion, Suroth.  This should be obvious, as well.<br /><br /><i>Liandrin</i>:  &#8220;&#8230;perhaps our master should find another among you to serve him.  You take fright at trifles.&#8221;<br /><i>Suroth</i>:  &#8220;You will make no move against me, Liandrin.  Our master would diapprove, as I am surely needed here more than you, and you fear him more than you fear being made  damane.&#8221;<br /><i>Liandrin</i>:  &#8220;And you, Suroth, fear him more than you fear me burning you to a cinder where you stand.&#8221;<br /><i>Suroth</i>:  &#8220;Just so.  We both fear him.  Yet even our master&#8217;s needs will change with time.&#8221;<br /><br />Clearly they are referring to Ishamael.<br /><br /><b>The Children of the Light</b><br />The only other major power involved in the Great Hunt is the Whitecloaks.  Pedron Niall orders Geofram Bornhald to Amloth Plain, to meet with the Questioners, supposedly to bring &#8220;the Light&#8221; to the plain.  We learn in TDR that Pedron Niall had a well-laid plan, but Carridin screwed it all up.  Niall spells it out for him:  <br /><br />&#8220;Your task?  Your task was to seize Amloth Plain!  An empty bucket that no one holds except by words and claims, and all you had to do was fill it.  The nation of Amloth would have lived again, ruled by the Children of the Light&#8230; And you made a dog&#8217;s dinner of it!&#8221;  (TDR, paperback ed., p 22)<br /><br />OK, so Carridin messed up.  But, interestingly enough, Carridin is another one of Ishamael&#8217;s lackeys.  Quite contrary to Niall&#8217;s commands to bring order to Amloth Plain, indeed to found a new nation, Carridin&#8217;s Questioners bring only chaos.  First, Questioners slaughter an entire village of people to keep quiet the fact that they&#8217;re there.  Second, they stir up war between Arad Doman and Tarabon:  &#8220;Children to the North wear Taraboner cloacks, Byar, and those to the South Domani.  I do not like what this suggest to me.&#8221;  (TGH, paperback ed., p 418 )  Furthermore, Carridin commands Bornhald to keep away from the Seanchan on Toman Head:  &#8220;The Child, set to recite, swallowed before he began.  &#8216;My Lord Captain, he [Carridin] &#8211; he says you are moving too many men too close to Toman Head&#8230;and you are &#8211; forgive me, Lord Captain &#8211; you are to turn back at once and ride toward the heart of the plain.&#8217; &#8221; (TGH, paperback ed., p 417)  So Carridin&#8217;s goals, or rather Ishy&#8217;s, are to stay away from the Seanchan and to incite chaos upon Amloth Plain between Tarabon and Arad Doman.<br /><br /><b>So what does it all mean?</b><br />First, isn&#8217;t it interesting that the same three powers created by Ishy in the past were the ones moving during TGH?  I&#8217;ll get to what Ishy was trying to do in TGH in a minute.  Suffice it to say that despite Rand&#8217;s victory at Falme, the far West nations exploded into chaos, which was, of course, Ishy&#8217;s goal from the beginning.<br /><br /><b>III.  ISHAMAEL AND THE OTHER FORSAKEN</b><br />All right.  At the end of TGH, Ishamael was stabbed by Rand in the chest area.  That kind of wound is not something you can heal from right away.  In fact, it takes Ishy several months to pull himself together &#8211; his next appearance is when he&#8217;s talking to Perrin in his dreams in T&#8217;A&#8217;R, and his chest still pains him:  &#8220;He fellow was in his middle years, handsome and too well dressed for a country man, in dark, nearly black velvets&#8230; he sat stiffly, sometimes pressing a hand to his chest, as if moving hurt him.&#8221;  (TDR, paperback ed., p66)  So Ishy was out of the picture for a while.  But was there no activity among the Shadow?  No, quite to the contrary.  We see evidence of Ishy&#8217;s plots continuing (for instance, the Fade who confronts Carridin).  Furthermore, this is the period of time when the majority of the Forsaken were freed.  Let&#8217;s take a look at the Forsaken and when they were freed for a minute.<br /><br /><b>Wave One:</b>  Aginor and Balthamel.  Too close to the turning of the Wheel, Aginor and Balthamel&#8217;s bodies had aged and decayed.  In LOC, Aginor talks of that long sleep being filled with &#8220;endless nightmare.&#8221;<br /><b>Wave Two:</b>  Lanfear, who attaches herself to Rand during TGH.  This is the only Forsaken we know to be freed at this time, but it is only logical that more were freed during this second wave.  Quite the opposite from Aginor&#8217;s sleep filled with nightmares, Lanfear describes her time in the Bore:  &#8220;I was buried deeply, in a dreamless sleep where time did not flow.&#8221;  (TSR, paperback ed., p182)<br /><b>Wave Three:</b>  During the winter months between TGH and TDR, it seems the majority of the Forsaken were freed.  Most notably, the Forsaken who take command of nations, Rahvin, Sammael, and Be&#8217;lal, were described as coming to their respective cities during the winter.  However, others were freed during this time as well.  Tuon&#8217;s description of Anath being appointed her Soe&#8217;fia a year ago puts Semirhage&#8217;s release during this time frame.  In addition, Mesaana can be lumped in with this group because the first of her plots comes in TDR, when she helps Be&#8217;lal in his scheme to get Rand to Tear.<br /><br />So wait, step back for a minute.  Look at Ishy&#8217;s three groups from the Third Age again.  And think about who went where.<br /><br /><b>The Black Ajah &#8211; Mesaana</b><br />As we see from LOC, Mesaana has placed herself in the White Tower.  She quickly grabs the reigns of the Black Ajah and sends Alviarin running around as her proxy.  Clearly, the events leading up to the deposition of Suian Sanche in TSR are the result of Mesaana&#8217;s careful planning (Elaida&#8217;s sudden delusions of grandeur, Alviarin conveniently approaching her as a representative of an Ajah that traditionally supports the Blue), especially if you agree with the consensus that Mesaana is Danelle.<br /><br /><b>The Seanchan &#8211; Semirhage</b><br />All the evidence points at Semirhage being Anath.  Her appearance at the correct time, the sudden death of the former Truthspeaker, the unusual appointment, her &#8220;willful charge&#8221;&#8230; Anyone who denys that Semi is Anath is pushing their luck.  Semirhage has been the overseer for the Corenne, Ishamael&#8217;s &#8220;Second Doom&#8221; that the Seanchan were created for.<br /><br /><b>The Children of the Light -- ?</b><br />Following the now-obvious pattern, Demandred should be with the Whitecloaks, right?  Well, yes, except that Sammael&#8217;s comments about Demandred using &#8220;proxies&#8221; and RJ&#8217;s hints that we haven&#8217;t yet seen Demandred&#8217;s alter ego onscreen, seem to refute that.  Yes?  Perhaps not.<br /><br /><b>IV.  HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER</b><br />So how did Ishy&#8217;s plots in TGH fit together into his master plan?  His three groups each played distinctive roles.<br />1.	The Seanchan arrive and take over Toman Head.<br />2.	The Whitecloaks arrive, isolating Amloth Plain and creating chaos between Arad Doman and Tarabon.<br />3.	The Black Ajah works on Rand, by isolating and removing key supporters like Egwene, Nynaeve, and Moiraine.<br />Due to the Whitecloaks&#8217; actions on the Plain, an invasion of Tarabon or Arad Doman would have been a cinch.  However, Ishy wasn&#8217;t bargaining on Padan Fain&#8217;s interference, which brought Rand and the Horn of Valere to Toman Head at the worst possible moment.  However, the end result was not entirely bad for the Shadow:  Every nation west of the Moutains of Mist was thrown into anarchy.<br /><br />At the end of TGH, Ishy is injured.  He returns to Shayol Ghul to get healed up.  But who should enter into the picture at this time but Semirhage, Demandred, and Mesaana, the only three Forsaken to maintain a standing alliance during the Age of Legends.  They are, quite possibly, the most stable (and dangerous) of the remaining Forsaken.  So Ishy, knowing he will be out of the picture for a while, hands over his pet projects to the Terrible Trio.  I simply cannot imagine any Forsaken gaining control over Ishamael&#8217;s pet projects without his (and, therein, the DO&#8217;s) special approval.<br /><br />By the time TDR rolls around, however, Ishamael&#8217;s tenuous hold over the rest of the Forsaken is weakening.  They are all branching off into their own plotting and politiking, as is evident by Mesaana&#8217;s plot with Be&#8217;lal (she reveals the Black Ajah openly to the Tower for the first time in a thousand years, I find it hard to believe that Ishy would have wanted that).  Ishy, sensing that he is losing control of events, goes on a rampage and targets everyone close to Rand &#8211; Perrin, Mat, and Egwene particularly.  By the end of TDR, things have spiralled so far that his only conclusion is that he must kill Rand.  Which, of course, results in his death.<br /><br />So now the Forsaken are free to pick up the pieces of Ishamael&#8217;s network.  For instance, after the rout at Falme, the Seanchan have been scattered, and, tellingly, in Suroth&#8217;s POV in TSR, the only indication of her Dark Persuasion is the last lines of her section:  [Referring to Rand] &#8220;But if &#8211; when I take him, do I give him to the Empress?  That is the question.&#8221; (TSR, paperback ed., p50)  Clearly she is rethinking her oaths to the Dark One, now that her master hasn&#8217;t contacted her in months.  However, when Morgase confronts her in ACoS, she no longer has any &#8216;issues&#8217; with the Empress and is clearly ready to betray her at the drop of a hat.  Somebody has been talking to Suroth&#8230;<br /><br />Who was it, then?  Not Semirhage,  that&#8217;s for certain.  She&#8217;s been stuck over in Seanchan, tutoring her &#8220;wilful charge,&#8221; Tuon.  If she doesn&#8217;t have time to attend important Forsaken Coffee Hours (and Demandred seems to think that this is a legit excuse in WH), then she&#8217;s not about to be going gating back and forth between Cantorin and Seandar.  Demandred, on the other hand, is a much more likely candidate.  Let&#8217;s look at the facts.<br /><br />The Seanchan invasion of Tarabon is set up under VERY fishy circumstances.  First, events in Tanchico.  Jaichim Carridin&#8217;s presence, there, is suspicious in of itself.  The hapless Carridin agreed to seize the Panarch&#8217;s palace for the King, despite the fact that this was an obvious ploy to unite the city againt the Children (similarly to Roedran&#8217;s plan to unite Murandy against the Band of the Red Hand).  If the &#8216;legally&#8217; elected Panarch, Amathera (who was put in place by King Andric, incidentally) claimed to be a prisoner in her own palace, the King could raise the mobs against the Children and unite Tarabon under his rule again.  (Note that it is Andric himself dealing with Carridin in TSR: Hidden Faces.)  Why Carridin would fall into such an obvious ploy is explained by the fact that once again, he is furthering the goals of a Forsaken, not the Children&#8217;s.<br /><br />So into this mess comes Liandrin&#8217;s Black Ajah.  At this point, they are probably still under the control of Mesaana.  Why?  Look at her plot with Be&#8217;lal.  Her contribution to the plot was the 13 Black Ajah, for the purpose of capturing/turning Rand.  So the end result of the plot would be Be&#8217;lal getting Callandor, and Mesaana getting Rand.  In TSR, she&#8217;s still pursuing this goal by having the Black Ajah track down the male a&#8217;dam.  And, conveniently enough, Liandrin talks to Carridin.<br /><br />But wait, Carridin at this point is still working towards Ishamael&#8217;s old orders, to hunt down Rand and kill him.  He&#8217;s another loose cannon, ripe for scooping up.  Liandrin does just this and gets him to facilitate their insertion into the Panarch&#8217;s palace.  Unfortunately for Mesaana, Elayne and Nynaeve ruin everything before the (rather dense) Black Ajah find the male a&#8217;dam, but once again, the result is ultimately favorable to the Shadow:  Chaos and anarchy consume Tarabon.<br /><br />So what part do the Whitecloaks play in this mess after TSR?  Well, directly nothing.  In fact, Pedron Niall closes off the border to Tarabon and has border patrols toss any Taraboners back over the border if the manage to sneak across.  Sounds remarkably similar to Carridin&#8217;s orders in TGH to keep the Whitecloaks out of Toman Head, doesn&#8217;t it?  Interesting.  In fact, the chaos/isolation progression mirrors almost exactly the first attempt of the Haliene at invasion.  Looks like somebody&#8217;s giving them a second chance.<br /><br />As a matter of fact, Pedron Niall&#8217;s actions coincide with the dark side&#8217;s pretty throuroghly.  He isolates Tarabon, making the Seanchan invasion easier.  He gathers the Whitecloaks together into one nation, generally messing with people&#8217;s heads and keeping everybody guessing about his true intentions (including Thom!)  It&#8217;s only after he gets wind of the Seanchan and puts two and two together that he&#8217;s offed.  Which, interestingly enough, is masterminded by Rhadam Asunawa.  Looking at things objectively, Asunawa is a likely candidate for direct Forsaken interaction.  His position in the plot to assassinate Niall, coupled with his strange behavior at the beginning of COT, sends a signal to the astute reader that Asunawa is being Compelled by somebody.  Who?  Why, Demandred, of course.<br /><br />This is where Sammael&#8217;s comment about &#8220;proxies to the South&#8221; fits in.  Demandred, the master general (but not one who fights alongside the troops, as he says in WH) is moving his various factions like pieces on a chess board.  What are the pieces?  The Haliene, the Children of the Light, and possibly the Dragonsworn (I haven&#8217;t made up my mind about them yet).  Observe the course of events.<br />1.	The Hailene invades Tarabon, under the command of the High Lady Suroth, a Darkfriend, who has been reactivated by somebody.<br />2.	Pedron Niall, Lord Captian Commander of the Children, isolates the border to Tarabon, making sure that nobody interferes with the invasion.  When Niall pokes his nose where it doesn&#8217;t belong (what with all the ciphers and agents he has running around in there), he is killed and replaced by someone who is easier to&#8230;direct.<br />3.	The Dragonsworn threatens the safety of Amadicia from the north.  Valda and Asunawa suddenly have a burning desire to go and wipe the rabble off the face of the earth.<br />4.	Rather conveniently, the Seanchan capture the unoccupied Fortess of the Light.<br />5.	At the Battle of Jeramel, the Amadician army and the Children confront the Seanchan, all thought of the Dragonsworn forgotten.  While the Amadician army is slaughtered and king Ailron is executed, the Children manage to leave the field of battle largely intact.<br />So where does this place Demandred?  He has the control of a well-trained military force that is a complete wildcard in the WOT world, as well as gaining the Seanchan several new countries.  You can also argue that Masema&#8217;s negotiations with Suroth represent another one of Demandred&#8217;s schemes, which would give the Seanchan access to more land to the north.<br /><br />So where does the reincarnated Ishamael fit into this picture?  I believe that Moridin has given his blessing to the various plots of the Terrible Trio.  This is largely due to the Dark One&#8217;s revalations to Demandred at the beginning of LOC (which resulted in Dumai&#8217;s Wells), and the fact that Shaidar Haran and the Dark One individually ordered at least Semirhage to specific tasks.  In addition, Demandred's comments about where Semirhage and Mesaana have placed themselves implies that they were sent there on somebody's orders...why not Ishy's?  Clearly, the DO is giving increased status to these three Forsaken in particular, who seem to be the most competent of the bunch.<br /><br />So what is the current state of the Terrible Trio?  Well, Demandred, as stated above, has greatly furthered the cause of chaos in the South-west of Randland.  Now that Semirhage has arrived with the Corenne, I believe that he will hand over the Seanchan over to her and commit himself to other tasks (IMO, the Borderland armies and the Black Tower).  Moridin has been carefully overseeing these two in particular, judging by his presence in Ebou Dar directly before the Seanchan invasion (he wasn&#8217;t there for the ter&#8217;angreal stash, because he didn&#8217;t care that the Wonder girls absconded with it at the beginning of POD).  Moridin has been keeping very close tabs on all the Forsaken, so if Demandred decides to follow through with any detrimental plans (as he speculated on at the Forsaken Coffee Hour), he will be sharply reigned in.  At this point, I doubt the DO will tolerate ANY dissension.<br /><br />But what about poor Mesaana?  Over the course of the series, Mesaana has been constantly testing the limits of the Dark One&#8217;s favor.  Practically every one of her plots have failed, and the Black Ajah has not made any of the advances that the Seanchan has in the west &#8211; in fact, the White Tower is in the middle of a probable Purge!  Mesaana was given a mandate on a silver platter, and she ruined it.  No one else was gutsy enough to openly defy Shaidar Haran, and she was batted down for it.  If she reappears, I bet her soul will join Cyndane&#8217;s and Moghedien&#8217;s around Moridin&#8217;s neck.<br /><br /><b>V.  IN CONCLUSION&#8230;</b><br />I hope this has helped people to recognize the obvious links in the early books between Ishamael and the Terrible Trio:  Demandred, Semirhage, and Mesaana.  As for the future, if Semirhage and Demandred continue to further the cause of the DO and his regent among mortals &#8211; Moridin &#8211; then all will be well.  If not&#8230; well, they have many examples of failure.<br /><br />Thanks for reading.  Sorry again about the length.  Feedback is welcome&#8230;flame away.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-09 18:49:08
subject: Taim killed Asmodean
body:
<p>Contents<br /><br />1. Introduction<br />2. Weapon<br />3. Andor<br />4. Darkfriend or not<br />5. Ishmael connection<br />6. Final Links<br />7. Conclussion<br /><br />1. Introduction<br /><br />We, as a community, have debating this issue time and again, to almost no end.  However, I think there is enough evidence to point to Taim as the killer.  The objections to Taim, has mostly been via the &quot;obvious issue.&quot;  As the FAQ says :<br /><br />&quot;The first, of course, is the 'obvious' issue. Prior to LOC, Taim did not appear as anything other than vague rumor; we had absolutely no firsthand information on him at all until after Asmo's death.&quot;<br /><br />But the reality is that Jordan has never said that.<br />&quot;The Asmodean question? I've said time and again that there is enough evidence for you guys to figure out who killed Asmodean. I have, since Asmodean's death, put in a few more clues. The evidence is there, if not exactly listed with flaming arrows pointing to it. It should be intuitively obvious to the most casual observer.&quot; www.wotmania.com/faqtopic.asp?ID=59<br /><br />And,<br />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].<br />[Aaron Bergman, report from NYC book signing, 20 October 199<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/crazy.gif" border="0" /><br /><br />So there have to be clues that lead to that conclussion, but it by no means has to be obvious.  It also suggests that there should be some big hints by the end of TPoD.<br /><br />However, what should stand out from those quotes is that mystery is obvious to a casual observer.  A casual observer would not have access to Jordan quotes, nor the FAQ, just the books.  Thus, I think the answer should be looked at in the books.<br /><br />What we have gotten instead is a line of reasoning that suggestions that if you can rule everyone out as not-obvious by the end of TFoH, you can get the right answer.  We all agree here, that we disagree on who is most obvious at that point.  This has even lead to Jordan to have reportedly stated :<br /><br />RJ &quot;also claims that very, very few of the fan letters he gets are correct about [who killed Asmo].&quot; [Post-TPOD signing, Northern Virginia, 21 November, 1998, report by John Novak.]<br /><br />I'm not suggesting that we put aside Graendal and Lanfear because they are typically the most professed theories, but put aside this entire notion of elimination. It doesn't work.<br /><br />Some have clearly suggested that Sammael's comments in TFoH, about killing Asmodean on site, would have made him the most obvious suspect untill his own words in ACoS.  He was definately more obvious than Graendal, but that doesn't rule Graendal out at that point either.  Lanfear, who clearly threatened to be the one to kill Asmodean, would seem obvious, untill we counter it with what seems to be a 1 way ticket to Finnland.  Taim can't be obvious to some, because is never on stage.  Thus, anyway we try to define obvious, we end up really just speaking what we believe.<br /><br />So instead of using a method that can't come to a conclussive solution, we need to take up Jordan's wise advice to read and find out.<br /><br />2. Weapon<br /><br />One of the things we know, is that the method of death was instant.  I don't think I need to repeat the objections against Fain's dagger, for instance, because it's effects are not instantanious. We also know that Asmodean had time to recognize his assassin and his traces unknown, thus raising the objections against Slayer whose modus operandi is stealth, and public punishment.  <br /><br />Most theorists have then surmised that the only available weapon left, would be Balefire.  In fact, they even hint to the &quot;lingering&quot; feeling one gets, might inflect a connection between Be'lal's death in TDR and Asmodean's death.<br /><br />But lets take a closer look,<br /><br />Asmodean<br />&#8220;You? No!&#8221; The word still hung in the air when death took him.<br /><br />Be'lal<br />There was an instant of surprise on the Forsaken's face, and he had time to scream &quot;No!&quot; 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.<br /><br />While very close, there is actually a difference.  Knowing Jordan to be the detail oriented guy that he is, I doubt he would carelessly brandy about different terms without his normal precision.  Thus, I don't think the difference between faded, and hung are without purpose.<br /><br />So, I looked back at what made Balefire unique.<br /><br />&quot;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.&quot;<br />[skip]<br />&quot;Why do you think even the Forsaken feared to use it? Think of the effect on the Pattern of a single thread, one man, removed from hours, or days, that have already been woven, like on thread picked partly out of a piece of cloth. Fragments of the manuscripts remaining from the War of Power say several entire cities were destroyed with balefire before both sides realized the dangers. [b]Hundreds of thousands of threads pulled from the Pattern, gone for days already past;[/b] whatever those people had done, now no longer had been done, and neither had what others had done because of their actions. The memories remained, but not the actions. The ripples were incalculable.&quot; - Moraine, TFoH ch. 6<br /><br />To clarify, and prove Moraine to be speaking the truth, I took a look at the boat scene in ACoS.<br />ACoS. Ch. 30 The First Cup<br />Because she had jerked, the balefire she meant to slice through cabin and passenger instead had sliced diagonally through the middle of the boat, about where the oarsmen had stood, and the bodyguards. Because the rowers had been burned out of the Pattern before the balefire struck, the two halves of the craft were now a good hundred paces back up the river. Then again, perhaps it was not a complete disaster. Because that slice from the boat's center had gone at the same time the boatmen really died, the river had had minutes to rush in. The two parts of the boat sank out of sight in a great froth of bubbles even as her eyes shifted to them, carrying their passenger to the depths.<br /><br />Pay close attention to when they &quot;really died&quot; and how they been burned out of the pattern &quot;before&quot; it struck.  So what Moraine's statement and the boat scene both concur on, is that anyone balefired, is removed &quot;before the balefire struck.&quot;  And they &quot;really died&quot; in the past.<br /><br />This is very critical, because we know from Asmodean's death, that he died while his words still hung in the air.  If balefire had struck Asmodean, he would not have died at that very instant, but in the past. This would then explain the differences in the scenes.  Be'lal faded, and turned into flecks of dust, but not Asmodean.  Basically, only the memory of Be'lal's shout remained, while Asmodean's carried on.<br /><br />Besides this fact about balefire, we also know that balefire is more likely to be detected because of the residue and the amount of power used to create it.  I also would appeal to the writers in the group.  Asmodean, wasn't just made mortal by Jordan, only to be killed by something that didn't matter if he was mortal or not.  It would make no sense.<br /><br />We are thereby left asking what else is there?<br /><br />In LoC Ch.6, we have an attack by the Gray Man upon Rand<br />Nandera and Jalani were just turning back to see what had made Aviendha shout. Rand had to look carefully to see the tall man in a gray coat that neither Maiden saw at all as he glided right by them, dark lifeless eyes fixed on Rand. Even concentrating, Rand found his own gaze wanting to slide past the Gray Man. That was what he was; one of the Shadow's assassins. As the letter was settling to the floor, the Gray Man realized Rand had seen him. Aviendha's shout still hung in the air and she was in midbounce from sitting down hard; a knife appeared in the Gray Man's hand, held low, and he darted forward. Rand wrapped him in coils of Air almost contemptuously. And a wrist-thick bar of fire flashed past his shoulder, burned a hole through the Gray Man's chest large enough for a fist. The assassin died before he could twitch, his head fell over, and those eyes, so more dead than they had been, stared at Rand.<br /><br />Note identicle use of the term &quot;hung in the air,&quot; as well as the assassin dying at that very moment.  The immediacy, is perfectly in harmony, with the shout of Aviendha still hanging in the air.  Thus, this seems to be a direct link to Asmodean's death in my opinion.<br /><br />Besides the identicle use of &quot;hung in the air,&quot; there are some very important connections between this and Asmodean's death.  The major problem with balefire aside, there had always been questions about residue and if it could be detected by Rand and Aviendha who were close by when Asmodean was murdered.  However, in this scene, Taim arrives via gateway to Rand's chambers unnoticed, grabs saidin and kills the Gray Man in front of the very people who were around for Asmodean's murder.  Proving that here, we have a suitable method for killing Asmodean, instantly, that would be highly undetectable by Rand, Aviendha and the maidens.<br /><br />Does this confirm that only Taim could have used it? No.  But remember, Saidin is much harder to detect than Saidar.  Asmodean lifts a cup in TFoH, without Rand feeling a thing.  However, if Graendal or Lanfear had decided to use such a method, their gating might have been detected by Aviendha, since detecting of Saidar is so much more acute.  We also have never seen either use such a weapon.  Lanfear, at the battle of the CK, uses a ball of fire when she final gets to the point where she has to kill someone.  Throughout TFoH, Lanfear comments about how she prefers not killing people, and the only time she uses any attack to try to kill someone was at the CK battle, and she had her mind stroked by Moridin.  Basically, it's close, but no cigar.  As for Graendal, her idiom is compulsion.  In TPoD ch.12, for instance, when she believes herself under attack, she uses compulsion to strike out at Moggy and Cyndane, and at the CK Battle she tries using compulsion once again.  There is no reason to believe Graendal uses anything else.  Thus, it would be pure speculation that either Graendal or Lanfear, and counter to their personalities, to use the same method, and be undetectable to the same people, as Taim's attack.<br /><br />3. Andor<br /><br />So now we have to look at Taim.  What is startling, is just how much we actually do know about Taim.  Besides the 21 references to him prior to LoC, in the very scene of Asmodean's demise, Bashere is convinced of Asmodean's presence inside Andor.<br /><br />TFoH Ch. 53<br />&quot;I have followed him south for many weeks. You need not fear I've brought a foreign army into Andor. Except for an escort of ten, the rest I left camped in Braem Wood, well north of any border Andor has claimed in tow hundred years. but Taim is in Andor. I am sure of it.&quot;<br /><br />Inside Andor, but we don't know exactly where.  However, what is odd, is Gaebril (Rahvin's) decision not to even let Bashere into the Palace.<br />&quot;In truth, I rode to Caemlyn to speak to Morgase, but I was put off by Lord Gaebril's toadies...&quot;<br /><br />Could Taim have actually been in the palace?  It would make sense if Taim is a darkfriend, to hide in the Palace away from Aes Sedai as well as Bashere.<br /><br />The big clue, as I call it, is in Taim's clothing as he arrives.<br />LoC Ch.2<br />&quot;Tumad emerged into the sunlight first, then a black-haired man of slightly above average height whose dark face and tilted eyes, hooked nose and high cheekbones, marked him another Saldaean, though he was clean shaven and garbed like a once prosperous [b]Andoran[/b] merchant lately fallen on hard times. His dark blue coat had been of fine wool trimmed in darker velvet, but wear had made the cuffs ragged, his breaches bagged at the knee, and dust coasted his cracked boots.&quot;<br /><br />I think it is reasonable to assume Taim picked up the clothing in Andor.  However, there are many questions about how did he get the clothing?  Why are they so beaten up?<br /><br />For the first question, there only a few options.  Either they were stolen, or a gift.  Knowing that Taim was trying not to be found, stealing such said clothing which might have been valuable, would have attrached a great deal of attention.  However, if they were a gift from say, Rahvin, it would make sense.  Who better than the acting King to aquire some clothing from?<br /><br />The second implies that after he stole or recieved such items, he was once again on the run.  If we believe them stolen, this would make sense.  If they were a gift, then it would match with the idea that Taim was on the lamb after Rahvin's demise.<br /><br />In addition, Bashere notes that Taim has shaved.  We know that Taim already knew the trick for the heat (LoC Ch.2), so it most likely wasn't done out of comfort.  So once again, the questions arise, when did he shave?  Did he steal a razor or use the OP?  This would all, once again, be much better answered if Taim had time to rest in the Palace with Rahvin.<br /><br />4. Darkfriend or not<br /><br />The link, between Taim and Rahvin, though, is hidden, and leads to our first suspicions of Taim as a Darkfriend.<br /><br />As some may recall, Rahvin in the TFoH prologue, compulses the young Aes Sedai.  However, there was another darkfriend there, Lord Elegar, who Rahvin describes.<br /><br />TFoH Prologue<br />&quot;A minor noble, but faithful to his vows. He licked his thin lips nervously and glaced at the woman, then went immediately to one knee before Rahvin. Friends of the Dark -- Darkfriends they were called, now -- had begun learning just how strictly they would be kept to their vows now that Rahvin and the others were freed.&quot;<br /><br />It just so happens, this same Lord Elegar is there, when Taim's arrival is announced.<br />&quot;Elegar staggered back among the columns and bent over, retching loudly.&quot;<br /><br />To our knowledge, most Darkfriends don't have such bad reactions unless something really out of the ordinary happens.  Knowing that Elegar meet Rahvin and Rand, it's hard to believe Elegar was really shocked and revolted by a False Dragon.  Therefore, I believe Elegar knew exactly who Taim was, a darkfriend.  And knowing other darkfriends outside their own circles, is highly unlikely.  Another point here, is that Elegar is only mentioned in these two scenes.  He never reappears latter in the books, as does Amyrilla, who faints for the second time, at Taim's mention.<br /><br />This all brings into question Taim's past.  Did, as Joiya states, the Black Ajah spring Taim in the first place?  It would make sense, considering it would take some serious firepower to kill two Aes Sedai and their warders.  Taim, upon arrival, has no supporters, wouldn't they have clung to his side afterwards?  Some suggest, and I think rightly so, that Joiya was most likely lying.  However, I'm cautious that is truely the case.  Knowing how well the Aes Sedai get out of telling the truth when pressured, it's not hard to think the reverse of getting out of a lie.  Joiya could be telling a half-lie for all we know.<br /><br />What matters, is that Moiraine, takes the entire matter seriously.  In fact, she sends 3 letters out to Sanche, which never reach Sanche's desk.  It seems, and I'm rushing this I know, is that the Black Ajah might have been controling the inflow of mail to Sanche's desk.  And they blocked, the important information about Taim.  So it had to be important, especially if Slayer came to kill both Amico and Joiya, by cutting out their tongues and nailing them to the door.  Their punishment has to be for talking, and not just for what they would say in the future.<br /><br />TSR Ch.5<br />&quot;Joiya shrugged, 'As you wish. Let me see. Different words. The false Dragon Mazrim Taim, who was captured in Saldaea, can channel with incredible strength. Perhaps as much as Rand al'Thor, or nearly so, if the reports can be believed. Before he can be brought to Tar Valon and gentled, Liandrin means to break him free. He will be proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn, his name given as Rand Al'Thor, and then he will be set to destruction on such a scale as the world has no seen shince the War of the Hundred Years.&quot;<br /><br />First, Joiya does seem to know a good deal about Taim, and second, she seems to think Taim won't go against their wishes.  Lie or not, both come true.  However, what doesn't come true, is that Taim never poses as Rand.  So, perhaps that is the lie, that allows her to admit the rest.<br /><br />Some more points for Taim being a Dreadlord from the FAQ.<br /><br />A. In LOC, Taim knows how to test for channeling ability, and picks up Gateways with relative ease. He apparently teaches the Asha'man very well. Plus, Taim mentions to Bashere that he used Compulsion on two people [LOC: 2, A New Arrival, 76].<br /><br />How did Taim learn the test if he claims to have sparked?  It doesn't seem obvious, because Rand isn't able to figure it out.  That is why he was so glad when Taim arrived.  Also, where did he learn Compulsion?<br /><br />B. Taim claims to not be affected by the Taint, after (Rand estimates) 15 years of channeling [LOC: 2, A New Arrival, 76].<br /><br />C. 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 &quot;slowing&quot; effect of using the OP. Elayne talks about it in ACOS: &quot;'We slow, Nynaeve. Somewhere between twenty and twenty-five, we begin aging more slowly. How much depends on how strong you are, but when doesn't'&quot; [ACOS: 24, The Kin, 40<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/crazy.gif" border="0" />. According to RJ, a man with the spark doesn't slow until 25, usually closer to thirty. [Post-TPOD Signing, New York, 20 October, 1998, report by Ryan R.].<br /><br />Thus, the only way Taim could be the age he looks is if he started channeling at an unusually late age. If he's legit, he'd have to be a wilder, and thus he must have started channeling young, at around Rand's age. 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. So, 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.<br /><br />D. When Rand shows Taim how to make a gateway, he calls it a &quot;gateway.&quot; A little further in the same chapter, Taim says, &quot;You can Travel, but you don't know how to test for the talent.&quot; How does Taim know that a Gateway = Traveling? AFAIK, Rand didn't mention anything about &quot;traveling,&quot; only &quot;gateways.&quot;<br /><br />E. Taim 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 Taim. Taim, in turn, has done a fine job - in just a few months (between LOC and TPOD) 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 channeling capability.<br /><br />So, we must ask ourselves, if Taim is so efficient at turning out combat channelers, 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 500 or so now 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, 1<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/crazy.gif" border="0" />, and that Taim's army of followers was of a &quot;normal&quot; 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 channelers is nothing to sneeze at, and yet Taim the False Dragon had no channeling followers.<br /><br />F. A quick list of Gedwyn, Rochaid, Kisman, and Torval's curriculum vitae in TPOD:<br /><br />* They set up the Illianer rebels to attempt to assassinate Rand, supposedly at the instigation of Aes Sedai.<br />* Torval tried to make Rand suspicious of Egwene's army which was, at the time, marching towards Caemlyn and the BT.<br />* Possibly, Gedwyn tried to subvert or cause problems with High Lord Weiramon.<br />* Taim set them up as &quot;deserters&quot; who tried to kill Rand (see section 1.4.10).<br /><br />Originally, none of this pointed one way or the other. Both Minion Taim and Non-Dark Taim would be interested in exacerbating the tensions between Rand and the Aes Sedai, for reasons already discussed. Similarly, either Non-Dark Taim or Minion Taim would benefit from having a force of channelers who worked independently of the BT, and whose loyalty he could count upon, and whose actions he wouldn't have to justify to Rand.<br /><br />However, Kisman's POV in WH changed matters:<br /><br />&quot;Kill him,&quot; the M'Hael had ordered, before sending them to Cairhien, but he had been as displeased that they were found out as that they had failed. Far Madding was to be their last chance; he had made that as plain as polished brass. Dashiva had simply vanished. Kisman did not know whether he had run or the M'Hael had killed him, and he did not care.<br /><br />&quot;Kill him,&quot; Demandred had commanded later, but he had added that it would be better they died than let themselves be discovered again. By anyone, even the M'Hael, as if he did not know of Taim's order.<br /><br />And later still, Moridin had said, &quot;Kill him if you must, but above all, bring everything in his possession to me. That will redeem your previous transgressions.&quot;<br />[WH: 22, Out of Thin Air, 441-443]<br /><br />Besides positively confirming that Taim was behind the attack in Cairhien, this quote also established that the renegade Asha'man were definitely all Darkfriends, and working in some capacity for both Taim and Demandred. (It's unclear from the quote whether they were collectively also reporting to Moridin, or just Kisman was, or whether Moridin's visit was a once-off deal, or what.)<br /><br />5. Ishmael Connection<br /><br />So there is a pretty conclussive case that Taim is in fact, a darkfriend.  In fact, since he is also a powerful channeler, that would qualify him as a Dreadlord.  This is actually pretty important, since we know as early as TEoTW, from Howal Gode, that there would be new Dreadlords.<br /><br />&quot;Stop being foolish, my young friends. You know. You know very well. The Great Lord of the Dark has marked you for his own. It is written that when he awakes, the new Dreadlords will be there to praise him. You must be two of them, else I would not have been sent to find you.&quot;<br /><br />To this day, the question of if the Darkfriend Social in tGH was that very meeting.  If it was, would that not imply Taim being there?  After all, who took all these people too and from their respective cities, considering the darkfriends seemed to meet Ishmael for the first time at the social.  This is pure speculation, but interesting none the less.<br /><br />In anycase, Taim more than likely has been working for Ishmael since New Spring.  In New Spring, there are mentions of a channeler in the borderlands.  However, there are more clues in the rest of the series, which I will now recount.<br /><br />A. Both Ishmael and Taim remark on &quot;so-called Aiel.&quot;  Taim, in LoC Ch.11, uses the specific context of questioning the Aiel's dedication to Rand, thus proving he knew the AoL implication of the term Aiel.<br /><br />B. As explain earlier reguarding Taim's age, it is more likely than not that Taim has the Black Cords/Wires.  That is the only way one can assume he lasted so many years without going crazy.  And since Ishmael was the only one out at the time, he pretty much is the only one that could have.<br /><br />C. Taim knows how to test for the ability to channel.  Rand, waited for an entire month, untill Taim finally shows him.  So it doesn't seem that obvious for Rand (and we all know how fast he picks up things), even if it is easy to replicate.  I think that suggests someone taught Taim, and once again, the only one out at that time, was Ishmael.<br /><br />D. The Seal.  I personally doubt Taim would have given the seal to Rand without the highest authority to back him up.<br /><br />However, some people have suggested that Taim is the proxy for Demandred.  This might be the case, but there are two indications against how close they could be working.  Rand tells Taim, in LoC ch.3, that he plans to cleanse the taint.  However, it seems Demandred never knew of it untill Osan'gar finds out in TPoD.  And, then in WH in Kisman's note, Demandred seems to want to hide his orders from Taim.  Therefore, it's shaky just how good of a proxy Taim is for Demandred.<br /><br />6. Final Links<br /><br />What remains is the question that is posed in the very shout of Asmodean.  Could Asmodean known who Taim was?<br /><br />This really is a matter of connecting the dots.  If we take the approach that yes, Taim was working for Ishmael for years, then Asmodean has every reason to recognize and fear him.  Asmodean seems to me, at least, to be the low man on the totem pole.  Thus, his position is the most in jeopardy by any upcoming Dreadlord, especially one stronger in the power.  We know that the BA promotes based upon the strength in power, so Taim could have easily been placed above Asmodean.<br /><br />This, leads us back to another link, but this time it's wrapped in a current mystery.<br /><br />In WH, we meet Slayer's new mysterious employer.  The FAQ reasons the suspects down to just Demandred and Taim.  However, Slayer comments that non-Forsaken wouldn't dare try to employ him, which I believe is a huge Jordan hint.  After all, the person hides themselves using a blur in T'A'R so that Slayer doesn't recognize him.  Those that support Demandred have tried to suggest that Demandred didn't want anyone to know he was trying to kill Rand, but who are we kidding?  No one would have a second thought at that point if Demandred tried to kill Rand, and Slayer is a hitman, not an informer.  Thus, Slayer's employer is more than likely, Taim, who would have every reason to hide his identity from Slayer.<br /><br />Now, if you agree with me on that point, there is one other instance of someone using a blur in T'A'R, and that is Asmodean in tSR Ch. 50 when he is arguing in Rand's dream with Lanfear.  Is it coincidence that Taim used the same technique as Asmodean?  I doubt it.  I think it's another one of Jordan's big hints.  In fact, one can only wonder where Taim picked up the trick, since the other male Forsaken never use it.<br /><br />What I suggest, is that the reason Lanfear suggests to Rand that Asmodean teach him, is because Asmodean might have some prior experience.  Perhaps Asmodean, somehow taught Taim that very trick.  It makes sense, and there is no evidence against it.  Afterall, where did Lanfear get the idea of teaching Rand in the first place?<br /><br />7. Conclussion<br /><br />My entire theory is based around those 5 points.  Each, has a rational argument, along with a link between the characters involved by description.<br /><br />Argument 1 : It was not Balefire<br />Link 1 : &quot;Hung in the air&quot;<br /><br />Argument 2 : He was in the Palace<br />Link 2 : Lord Elegar<br /><br />Argument 3 : He is a Darkfriend<br />Link 3 : Kisman's thoughts<br /><br />Argument 4 : He worked with Ishmael<br />Link 4 : &quot;So-Called&quot; Aiel<br /><br />Argument 5 : Asmodean would have recognized, and feared, Taim<br />Link 5 : The T'A'R Blur<br /><br />At the very least, I want people coming away from this thread thinking in a new way, how to solve the case.  Instead of the elimination process, go by what is in the books, and the clues it gives you.  If Jordan says there are enough, I believe him.  And I hope I've shown those here for you, today.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-09 18:50:05
subject: Bashere did it.... but why?
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<p>While browsing through the Asmodean theories, I was surprised that none mentioned what leaped out at me during one of my many re-reads of the greatest of the books to date, TFOH.  What has bothered me most of course, is why?<br /><br /> 'He 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.  &quot;You?  No!&quot;  The word still hung in the air when death took him.'  Some have suggested that he was balefired, but I believe the quickness of his death merely indicates that the killer has lightning reflexes.<br /><br />And in Rand's POV, just prior to the murder, Bashere's introduction:  'He paused to make a leg and bow slightly, handling the curved sword at his hip gracefully despite the fact that incongruously he carried two silver goblets in one hand and a sealed pottery jar in the other.'  Wine from a sealed pottery jar?  Sounds like it came from a pantry.  <br /><br />I doubt that Bashere was waiting for Asmodean, it was just one of those circumstances surrounding the Dragon.  As for the why, perhaps Min's viewing of Bashere (something dark) in CoT indicates that he is, in fact, a darkfriend.  We gather from Asmodean that he spent time traveling the Northwest, having quoted an Arad Domani saying, not to mention the Hadnan Kadere connection.  As a power in Saldaea, it is rather unlikely that Asmodean did not know of Bashere.  If Bashere is a darkfriend, it is likely that he met Asmo (and provided Kadere for Asmo and Lanfear).  <br /><br />Finally, it is Asmodean's exclamation &quot;You?&quot; that convinces me.  Surely, knowing that his life was forfeit, Asmodean would not have been surprised to encounter one of the Forsaken.  Had he encountered one of them, it is more likely that he would have merely bowed his head in resignation before the end.<br /><br />From the timing of his arrival in Caemlyn, I assume that Bashere is serving Demandred.  Also, from WH, &quot;You were supposed to be keeping an eye on him!  You and Demandred both!&quot; (Graendal).  This suggests that Demandred has an agent placed close to Rand.    <br /><br />In conclusion, Bashere knew Asmo's situation from Demandred, and killed him to prevent Asmodean from revealing Bashere as a darkfriend.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-15 17:26:24
subject: Slayer's gift
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<p><b> I. Introduction </b><br /><br />This idea was inspired by a discussion with Fanatic-Templar on the WoT MB.<br /><br />I believe it&#8217;s possible that Slayer got a gift to shield a channeler, although probably just for a short time, thus being able to use this advantage to kill his victim. <br /><br /><b> II. Arguments </b><br /><br /><b> a) The Assassin and Shadowspawn gifts </b><br /><br />Obviously Slayer was created as a top assassin or bounty hunter for the Shadow.<br /><br />We learn in Slayer&#8217;s PoV in WH, ch.22, that &#8220;he had been given many gifts, but immunity to poison, or any other weapon, was not among them.&#8221; This implies that Slayer nevertheless got other gifts which are almost as useful for an assassin as immunity to weapons (and I think one can include channeling as the most dangerous weapon).<br /><br />Slayer states that he got many gifts.<br />One of these many gifts we know of is that Slayer can enter and leave TAR everywhere in the flesh. That&#8217;s an ability normally only channelers are able to use.<br /><br />Also other Shadowspawn (especially those who are used for hunting or assassinations) have gifts which are slight modifications of a corresponding One Power weave. This way they get an advantage, e.g. in a fight against a channeler:<br /><br />The draghkar have the gift to use a kind of Compulsion, the Gray Men have a kind of disguise, Myrddraal can Travel and bond themselves with Trollocs, even Fain got a gift to sense the ta&#8217;veren.<br /><br />It makes sense that also Slayer, as an top assassin, also would have gotten a gift which gives him an advantage in killing channelers. After all, channelers are the most dangerous enemies of the Shadow; this is the reason why the gholam was among the most dangerous weapons.<br /><br />Therefore, if the Shadow wanted to create a great assassin it is obvious that that assassin should be provided with gifts to take out channelers as well.<br /><br />It&#8217;s clear that Slayer and all creatures of the Shadow must have gotten these gifts from the Dark One. That means consequently that the True Power was involved; the Shadowspawn don&#8217;t have to channel to use these gifts (and it&#8217;s clear from Slayer's PoV, that he also can&#8217;t channel).<br /><br /><b> b) The Dark One's ability to give gifts </b><br /><br />But is is possible for the Dark One to give a gift to shield channelers?<br /><br />Actually we have laready seen it in the books. <br />Shaidar Haran, who also certainly can&#8217;t channel according to his PoV in ACoS, ch.40, has the gift to shield the strongest channelers, e.g. in the scene with Mesaana and Alviarin (CoT, ch.21).<br /><br />In my view it's likely that Slayer has a similar ability, just not as strong. Probably Slayer can only shield a channeler for a few moments. Though in most cases this surprise effect should give enough time for such a capable assassin to kill his opponent.<br /><br />Even RJ answered to one question in the WoTMania 2004 Interview: <br />&#8220;Slayer&#8217;s value lies in what you might call his unique ability for someone unable to channel.&#8221;<br /><br /><b> c) Slayer's confidence </b><br /><br />Furthermore, I believe also Slayer&#8217;s character shows that he has not much respect for channelers. <br />This indicates that he a trump card in a fight against one of them in an extreme case.<br /><br />In WH, ch.22, Slayer considers:<br /><br />&#8220;Few save the Chosen knew how to reach him, and none of the men among those few could channel, or would have dared trying to command him. His services were always begged except by the Great Lord himself, and more recently by the Chosen, but none of the Chosen Luc had met had ever taken such precautions as this.&#8221;<br /><br />Slayer means in my opinion that there are male channelers who know to reach im, but even those wouldn&#8217;t dare to command him (except for the Chosen).<br /><br />Slayer also thinks that he doesn&#8217;t get &#8220;to kill an Aes Sedai very often.&#8221;<br /><br />But that means he had already killed a few before the Black Aes Sedai in the Stone. It&#8217;s very doubtful that these other Aes Sedai who Skayer killed where shielded since the imprisoned BA in the Stone were a very special situation. <br /><br />Moreover, Slayer remembers that he was sent to the White Tower; a very dangerous place if Slayer had not a certain advantage in cases of emergencies.<br /><br />In WH, when Slayer asks his patron if he should try to kill Rand again, the patron answers:<br /><br />&#8220;Perhaps. When I tell you. Not before.&#8220;<br /><br />Both couldn&#8217;t be sure that Rand would still be in Far Madding, if Slayer tries again to kill him. Nevertheless they consider to try it again.<br /><br />This shows that Slayer would and can try to kill Rand in an area where Rand can channel and also the patron seriously considers this possibility.<br /><br />Finally, Slayer even dares to attack Nynaeve in TAR (TSR, ch.39). <br />While in WH, ch.10, we see Slayer again in the Dreamworld, spying on three strong female channelers, namely Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve.<br />Of course the girls can channel in TAR.<br /><br />All this shows that Slayer isn&#8217;t afraid of channelers. This can be explained by a gift which gives him an advantage against them, as said most likely the gift to shield them. <br /><br /><b> d) Remark on Asmodean's murder </b><br /><br />Note that I don&#8217;t believe this gift would have been necessary in the case of Asmodean&#8217;s murder since in my view it was just too quick for any defense (read my theory &quot;Slayer vs. Graendal&quot; for the reasons why I'm convinced that Slayer did it). <br /><br />Nevertheless if I&#8217;m right, even those people who doubt such a quickness now have an explanation as to how Slayer was capable of assassinating Asmo easily.  <br /><br /><b> III. Conclusion </b><br /><br />To recapitulate the theory:<br /><br />Slayer got many gifts from the DO to become a perfect assassin. <br /><br />It makes sense to give him a gift against the most powerful people in the WoT, namely channelers.<br /><br />The DO is even capable of giving such gifts through the TP, to do things normally only channelers can do like shielding, as seen for example in SH&#8217;s case.<br /><br />This idea is supported by Slayer&#8217;s character, which shows that he has not much respect for even very strong channelers.<br /><br />For these reasons I believe it's possible that Slayer got a gift to shield channelers.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-19 20:17:41
subject: Tuon and the Seanchan Prophecies of the Dragon?
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<p>I've read other theories on this board before. Some involving Tuon and the prophecy that Mat will marry her.<br /><br />     It has been shown that there is also a prophecy of the Dragon from Seanchan. It is, however, slightly different (i.e. in the Seanchan prophecies there is a segment stating that the Dragon Reborn must kneel before the crystal throne. This segment is absent from the Prophecies translated by Farstrider). <br /><br />     As part of the imperial Family, Tuon would be well versed in their versions of the Prophecies. While pondering this line of thought, I came across this quote from CoT. <br />     &quot;Tuon turned the new cup in her hands as though examining the flowers painted on it, and her lips quirked into a smile so small it almost might have been Mats imagination. She was more than pretty when she smiled, but it was one of those smiles that said she knew things he did not.&quot; (page 13<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/cool.gif" border="0" /><br /><br />     I think that ther is more to this than just ignorance of Seanchan customs on Mat's part. I believe that just as the Prophecies by Farstrider state that <br /><br />&quot;Fortune rides like the sun on high<br />with the fox that makes the ravens fly.<br />Luck his soul, the lightning his eye,<br />He snatches the moons from out the sky.&quot;<br /><br />     Which is attributed to Mat and the fact that he will marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons. I believe that there is a segment missing from Jain's translation which is present in the Seanchan translation which pertains to Mat and Tuon's marriage.<br /><br />This is found on page 141 of CoT<br /><br />&quot;Tuon let out a long breath that did not sound won over in the slightest. 'Do you remember Hawkwings face, Toy?' Mistress Anan blinked in suprise, and Selucia sat up on the bed frowning. At him. Why would she frown at him? Tuon just continued to look at him, hands folded in her lap, as cool and collected as a Wisdom at Sunday.&quot;<br /><br />     What I suggest is that there is a prophecy in the Seanchan version that states something to the like that the Daughter of the Nine Moons will marry an individual who remembers Artur Hawkwing.<br /><br />     Obviously Mistress Anan is suprised, but Selucia just frowns at Mat, like she knows why Tuon would ask that question and dislikes the fact that its a possibility she will wed Mat.<br /><br />     Mat wonders what this woman knows about him, how she could possibly know he has other men's memories. The fact (and I use this only in theory) is that she doesn't know anything. She knows her versions of the prophecies and knows she will marry a man who remembers Hawkwing. So when Mat says he will eventually marry her, she begins to ponder the possibility it is true, and asks him a question trying to divine if he may actually be her future husband.<br /><br />If its true that there is a prophecy regarding Tuon's future husband, it is likely that the prophecy came from The Prophecies of the dragon, because nobody from Seanchan could possibly remember Hawkwing, because he died on the mainland.<br /><br />Therefore, I suggest that there is an alternate version of the Prophecies of the Dragon in Seanchan. Furthermore, Tuon must be the Daughter of the Nine Moons, because she herself ponders the prophecies and her future husband. Thirdly I suggest there are more prophecies that are possibly true in the Seanchan text. The most notable being that the Dragon Reborn must bow before the Crystal Thrown. If one part of the text omitted by the Farstrider Translation is true (which we know it is, but Tuon may not), than it is likely the others are true as well, and not the tamperings of the Forsaken in Seanchan.<br /><br />Its my first theory ever, be easy on me.... <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/jordan.gif" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-22 17:50:05
subject: Beslan is Berelain's man in white
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<p><b> I. Introduction </b><br /><br />Berelain&#8217;s man in white is an often discussed topic. <br /><br />Min tells Rand of this viewing about Berelain in LoC, ch.50:<br /><br />&#8220;I saw nothing of any use to you. Just a man in white who will make her fall head over heels. Some women have no shame at all!&quot;<br /><br />Mostly Galad, Perrin or Rolan are named to be the man in white. <br />However, I see several problems with these three, and therefore believe another one, namely Beslan, is actually rather likely.<br /><br /><b> II. Problems regarding Galad, Perrin and Rolan </b><br /><br /><b> a) Galad </b><br /><br />Galad is a Whitecloak and the most beautiful man around, while Berelain is one of the most beautiful women. They are also both in the same area now. Therefore it could be likely that Galad is the man in white.<br /><br />But normally Min recognizes people she is familar with in her viewings. Min knows Galad from her stay in the White Tower, and his beautiful face is probably difficult to forget. Nevertheless Min doesn&#8217;t say that the man is Galad, though it should surprise her very much. This strongly indicates that the man in white isn&#8217;t Galad.<br /><br />Furthermore, Egwene has a Dream about Galad in TSR, ch.11: <br /><br />&#8220;Galad wrapping himself in white as though putting on his own shroud&#8221;.<br /><br />This probably means that Galad will die as a result of becoming a Whitecloak, not fall in love. It doesn&#8217;t seem to make much sense for the plot that Berelain falls in love with someone, who dies shortly after this.<br /><br />For these reasons Galad can&#8217;t be meant in Min&#8217;s viewing in my opinion.<br /><br /><b> b) Perrin </b><br /><br />Others suggest Perrin. <br /><br />Berelain is obviously interested in him. It seems unlikely, but Faile might die, so that Perrin wears white clothes as a symbol of his sorrow.<br /><br />Of course, Min knows Perrin very well, too. In my view this already eliminates Perrin from being the man in white, like Galad.<br /><br />Plus, if Berelain is not already in love with Perrin (and I doubt that she really loves him), why should it suddenly happen, if Faile dies? It wouldn&#8217;t fit with Perrin&#8217;s character that he begins to court Berelain after Faile&#8217;s possible death.<br /><br />Thus, I don&#8217;t believe that Perrin can be the man in white.<br /><br /><b> c) Rolan </b><br /><br />The last possibility is the Shaido Rolan.<br /><br />It was speculated that Rolan becomes gai'shain, therefore has to wear white for one year and one day, and Berelain falls in love with him during this time.<br /><br />The problem is that Berelain is a person who prefers powerful and important men. After all, Berelain is a noble. That she would fall in love with a servant seems very unrealistic.<br /><br />I also don&#8217;t see what plot relevance this could have.<br /><br />Therefore I doubt that Rolan is the man in white.<br /><br /><b> III. Arguments for Beslan </b><br /><br />Beslan is the heir to the Throne of the Winds and described as a pretty youth with beautiful eyes.<br /><br />Considering this, it&#8217;s quite notable that Beslan, certainly a <i> good character </i>, has not yet found a partner, contrary to most of the other good characters.<br /><br />After Tylin&#8217;s death it&#8217;s told in CoT, ch.3:<br /><br />&#8220;Tylin&#8217;s dead. They&#8217;re keeping it quiet for fear of disturbances, but one of the Palace Guards, a young lieutenant who couldn&#8217;t hold his brandy, told me they&#8217;re planning her funeral feast and Beslan&#8217;s coronation for the same day.&#8221;<br /><br />The King of Altara would certainly be an adequate  partner for the First of Mayene.<br /><br />Tylin&#8217;s death can also explain why Beslan is in white.<br /><br />In ACoS, ch.22,  Elayne thinks about &#8220;funeral white&#8221; and mentions to Nynaeve:<br /><br />&#8220;You should have worn white after all, [&#8230;] you did say it was the color for funerals.&quot;<br /><br />Also Moiraine considers in NS, ch.14, at Tamra&#8217;s funeral:<br /><br />&#8220;Only one dress she owned came close to the white of grieving&#8221;.<br /><br />This shows that white is indeed the colour of grieving, at least in some countries in the Westlands.<br /><br />It is likely that also the people in Ebou Dar know the custom to wear white, e.g. after the death of a near relative for some time. They also have other special customs concerning the fashion, namely marriage knives.<br /><br />Furthermore, that the man in white wears clothes of griefing would explain why Min says about Berelain, after she told of her viewing, that &#8221;some women have no shame at all&#8221;. <br /><br />Min recognized the funeral white and believes that, although the man is in grief, this won&#8217;t stop Berelain if she wants this particular man. <br /><br />Of course Beslan is quite young (though the violent death of his mother surely hardened him), and Berelain is some years older. On the other hand, Berelain was also interested in Perrin or Rand, who are only a few years older than Beslan. <br /><br />Also Beslan learned from the relationship between his mother (who was certainly at least around 40 years old) and Mat, that such differences in age don&#8217;t mean much.<br /><br />It would certainly be good for Beslan to have an intelligent and experienced woman like Berelain at his side.<br /><br />Plus, it would fit with the pattern that young people replace the old rulers.<br /><br />An obvious problem seems to be that Berelain is in another area at the moment.<br /><br />On the other hand, with the ability to Travel, all characters can reach quickly any place (and Perrin has Asha&#8217;man in his group).<br /><br />It also seems likely that Rand will be captured and hold in Ebou Dar, so that Perrin will have to rescue him. Berelain will certainly accompany Perrin in this case.<br /><br />Finally, it makes sense that Berelain, who is apparently a direct descendant of Arthur Hawkwing, would meet other people of the Blood in Ebou Dar, especially since Perrin&#8217;s party has already made contact with the Seanchan. <br /><br /><b> IV. Conclusion </b><br /><br />For these reasons, I believe that Beslan is most likely the man in white, and that Berelain will fall in love with him, probably in Ebou Dar.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-22 17:57:40
subject: The Forsaken Women&#8217;s Inducement
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<p>My theory looks at the implications of the Dark One&#8217;s gift of protection from the taint on saidin for the male Forsaken. The theory is in two parts, you might agree with one and not the other, or neither, that&#8217;s OK.<br /><br /><b>Part One: The Women Get Something Too</b><br /><br />The male Forsaken are immune from the taint on saidin.<br /><br />Asmodean said that this immunity came from the Dark One and that the protection from the taint was within the black cords linking Asmodean to the Dark One that Rand cut: <br /><blockquote>&#8221;It was my link to the Great Lord that allowed me to touch saidin without going mad,&#8221; he [Asmodean] said hoarsely. &#8220;All you have done is make me as vulnerable as you.&#8221;<br /><br />- <i>The Shadow Rising,</i> The Traps of Rhuidean<br /></blockquote>Ishamael also told Rand that the Dark One could protect him from the taint on saidin:<br /><br /><blockquote>&#8221;The Great Lord of the Dark can shelter you from the madness.&#8221;<br /><br />-<i> The Great Hunt,</i> Kinslayer<br /><br /></blockquote>According to Graendal, this protection was given to the male Forsaken as an inducement to stay loyal:<br /><br /><blockquote> &#8220;If the young man [Rand] does somehow remove the shadow [the taint on saidin], well&#8230;You who channel saidin will no longer need the Great Lord&#8217;s special protection. Will he trust your&#8230;loyalty&#8230;then?&#8221;<br /><br />- <i>Winter&#8217;s Heart,</i> Wonderful News<br /><br /></blockquote>None of the four male Forsaken present contradicted her. This makes sense. Until the taint on saidin existed, there would be no need for any such protection. <br /><br />And she said the protection was to ensure their loyalty, and not something considered necessary for their physical and mental health and overall efficiency. After all the True Power could be used instead; it can Heal that madness to a degree &#8211; Ishamael showed that in <i>The Eye Of The World</i> Prologue. The protection is quite a gift really, ensuring they don&#8217;t go mad, or get sick and die.<br /><br />This is confirmed by RJ, who said that during the Breaking, the male Forsaken went mad and died of the same taint that killed off the other male Aes Sedai. They had no protection from it. Yet, when the male Forsaken appear late in the Third Age, they are unaffected by the taint, due to some protection from the Dark One. <br /><br /><blockquote> &#8220;Other Forsaken were left behind, so to speak, free but in a world that was rapidly sliding down the tube. The men eventually went mad and died from the same taint that killed off the other male Aes Sedai. They had no access to the Dark One's protective filters.&#8221;<br /><br /></blockquote>The filters are in the black cords linking them to the Dark One. Rand cut the cords from Ishmael and Asmodean, although Ishamael&#8217;s cords would have been relinked. After cutting Asmodean&#8217;s cords, Rand says to Lanfear:<br /><br /><blockquote>&quot;You Chosen&quot; - he knew taunting her was dangerous, but he could not stop himself - &quot;gave your souls to the Dark One. You let him attach himself to you.&quot; How many times had he replayed his battle with Ba'alzamon? How many times before he began to suspect what those black wires were? &quot;I cut him off from the Dark One, Lanfear. I cut him off!&quot;<br /><br />- <i>The Shadow Rising,</i> The Traps of Rhuidean<br /><br /></blockquote>So each of the Forsaken, women included, is linked to the Dark One by black cords after swearing their souls to him. And the men&#8217;s cords contain &#8216;protective filters&#8217; to clean the taint from saidin as they draw it.<br /><br />Since the men get protection from the taint through these filters to ensure their loyalty, the question remains &#8211; do the women get any loyalty inducements, and if so, what?<br /><br />The women are no more trustworthy than the men. Overall, they have furthered their own schemes at the expense of the Dark One&#8217;s schemes as much as the men have. E.g. Lanfear, Graendal and Moghedien have &#8216;freelanced&#8217; every bit as much as Aginor, Balthamel and Sammael. Only Semirhage and Ishamael are working diligently and solely on what the Dark One wants. Therefore the women probably do get something to encourage loyalty.<br /><br /><b>Part 2: What Do They Get?</b><br /><br />Their inducement probably affects their ability to channel. <br /><br />What could women get?<br /><br />There&#8217;s no problem with a taint on saidar. <br /><br />Access to the True Power? No. They don&#8217;t even want it and since Moridin was anointed Naeblis, nobody else has been allowed to use it.<br /><br />A woman&#8217;s main concern is that, in general, men are stronger in the One Power. This is apparently due to their smaller, weaker bodies, and not weaker spirits. Perhaps the women get a little extra strength in the Power to make up for this. <br /><br />Perhaps the Dark One makes the brain connection that little bit stronger.<br /><br />The fact that Halima channels saidin shows the Dark One tinkers at the body/soul interface in the brain. Without this tinkering, Halima, since she is a male in a female body, would be unable to channel saidin at all. At the least, she would be weaker in saidin than she was as Balthamel. Yet, she doesn&#8217;t worry that she is.<br /><br />Nor do Osangar and Moridin, men who have been reincarnated as men, note any loss of channelling strength. This indicates that the Dark One can link up the channelling ability in the body very well, even overcoming the saidar for women and saidin for men rule.<br /><br />Cyndane is further evidence. Since her reincarnation, she is not as strong in the One Power as she was as Lanfear: <br /><br /><blockquote>Mesaana told him [Demandred] the girl [Cyndane] was weaker than Lanfear.<br /><br />- <i>Winter&#8217;s Heart,</i> Wonderful News <br /><br />&#8220;She [Alivia] was stronger than Cyndane had been before the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn held her!&#8221;<br /><br />- <i>Winter&#8217;s Heart,</i> With The Choedan Kal<br /><br /></blockquote>It&#8217;s not the large drop in strength that stilled women who are Healed by another woman have. Siuan and Leane are now less than half their original strengths. <br /><br /><blockquote>If Siuan and Leane were Healed to half or two thirds of their original strength, most Aes Sedai in Salidar would be as strong, and a good many stronger. <br /><br />-<i>Lord of Chaos,</i> To Heal Again <br /><br /></blockquote>However, Cyndane, although weaker than she was, is still stronger than Graendal, and that&#8217;s very rare among women:<br /> <br /><blockquote>The girl [Cyndane] was stronger in the One Power than she [Graendal] herself! Even in her own Age, that had been uncommon among men, and very rare indeed among women.<br /><br />- <i>The Path of Daggers</i>, New Alliances<br /><br /></blockquote>Therefore Cyndane, unlike Siuan and Leane, has only had a minor decrease in strength. It&#8217;s enough of a decrease to be noticed, though.<br /><br />Since women are in general weaker in the One Power than men, perhaps the women Forsaken receive a modest increase in their One Power strength, enough to equal the men. Then they&#8217;d be less vulnerable to the male channellers. <br /><br />So Lanfear, who was one of the strongest women in the Age of Legends became &#8220;as strong as a woman can be&#8221; when she was released from the Bore and the other women Forsaken also increased proportionately in strength.<br /> <br />This minor boost to equal the men may explain why Cyndane is so certain that it is impossible for a woman to be stronger than Lanfear was. <br /><br />And Cyndane, who showed herself as spoiling the Dark One&#8217;s schemes did not get this gift of extra strength when she was reincarnated. <br /><br />Since no woman could be stronger than Lanfear was, Cyndane deduced, correctly, that Alivia had an angreal as well as the defensive terangreal when they faced each other in <i>Winter&#8217;s Heart,</i> With The Choedan Kal.<br /><br />In <i>The Path Of Daggers,</i> when Graendal first encounters Cyndane, she makes no remark that Cyndane is as strong as Lanfear was before the Dark One&#8217;s gift of strength. However, Graendal was greatly off-balance at the time due to being surprised by Moghedien&#8217;s and Cyndane&#8217;s info and then by Shaidar Haran. Also the reincarnation of Forsaken was a secret at this time, so Graendal didn&#8217;t even consider that one had been reincarnated. It would be interesting to know what Graendal thinks now.<br /><br />True, Cyndane&#8217;s weakness could be just a partial shield that was placed on her as extra punishment and also, much less importantly, to confuse the other Forsaken as well. (After all, they know all about Aginor/Osangar and Balthamel/Arangar/Halima). If this is so, then the women&#8217;s gift/bribe remains a mystery. But to even up the balance, and ensure the loyalty of the women, one was given.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-27 07:02:31
subject: Logain, Cadsuane and the future
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<p>There are many theories swirling about regarding Min&#8217;s viewing as to what Cadsuane is going to teach the Asha&#8217;man and Rand.  Many believe she is going to be the one who helps Rand relearn how to laugh and cry.  I disagree with this.  There are many debates about Cadsuane teaching Rand and the Asha&#8217;man to laugh and cry.  I suggest all who are interested to search the boards and draw your own conclusions.  However, I, along with others, have determined what truly Cadsuane is going to teach the Asha&#8217;man and Rand.  <br /><br />The answer is neatly laid out in the books, yet, sometimes RJ is so obvious that we miss what is right in front of our noses because we are so used to having to search for hidden meanings.  Now give me a few minutes before you make any decisions or start writing a response.  Cadsuane is going to teach Rand and the Asha&#8217;man to trust, respect and link with Aes Sedai.  Now I know this has been proposed before but where this theory is different is I know how she is going to do it.  At the end of CoT Logain Albar reunited with Rand.  Now what is known of Logain?<br /><br />1) We know from Min&#8217;s viewings that Logain is going to experience greatness only few men dream of.<br /><br />2) We know that Logain is on Rand&#8217;s side even if Rand does not trust him.<br /><br />3) We know that Logain bonded Toveine Gazal and Gabrelle when the WT launched a failed assault on the BT.<br /><br />Okay, so what does Logain have to do with Cadsuane and her lesson?  Well, it is quite simple.  Cadsuane, for some reason that has not been divulged, knows that Callandor is flawed and can only safely be wielded by TWO WOMEN and a ONE MAN.  The catch is the women have to direct the flows.  Now, it is widely known that almost all men in the 3rd Age distrust Aes Sedai.  This distrust is rooted even deeper in male channelers and rightfully so.  So why would a man submit a power as awesome as Callandor to two women he greatly distrusts.  He would not unless he has been educated on the benefits of men and women wielding the OP together and/or if he does trust the women.  Rand could have Elayne, Aviendha, or even Nynaeve join with him since he does trust these women.  However, I do not think he will have the opportunity because of future events (I am not going to predict everything).  So, who does that leave that is trusted enough and powerful enough to use Callandor?  Logain!  Cadsuane is going to direct Logain, Toveine and Gabrelle to properly use Callandor in a great fashion, perhaps saving Rand.  Logain is an obvious person to use Callandor because he can be trusted, he is strong with the OP and he has two women channelers he can explicitly trust.  With the successful use of Callandor Logain will accomplish three things:<br /><br />1) Gain the trust of Rand.<br /><br />2) Either achieve his greatness or set the mechanism in motion for him to achieve his greatness.<br /><br />3) Provide the necessary example of what can be accomplished with men and women working together with the OP that Cadsuane needs to teach Rand and the Asha&#8217;man.<br /><br />In conclusion, Cadsuane will be able to successfully teach her lesson if she has an overwhelming example to prove her point.  Cadsuane&#8217;s example will be Logain, Toveine and Gabrelle successfully wielding Callandor.  Furthermore, this will neatly stitch together several loose ends in the story line.  The first will be Logain&#8217;s role in the series.  With him using Callandor to achieve a great accomplishment, Logain will prove his trustworthiness to Rand and will experience the greatness foreseen by Min.  The second will be the first preeminent example in the 3rd Age of men and women working together with the OP (what a coincidence that the taint was recently removed).  With men and women working together again with the OP a new Age will be ready to emerge after the Last Battle.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-27 07:31:37
subject: Moiraine is a draghkar
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<p>The latest thing these days is to decide on a character&#8217;s true identity based on their gestures. So I got thinking and I had an epiphany. It was like a hammer hit me between the eyes. <br /><br />Moiraine is a draghkar. Instead of snorting and returning to the main page , give me an opportunity to prove it to you. Then you can snort all you like. But beware &#8230; I might just get through to you and your whole idea of WOT will change. Indeed , I can prove that she is a super-draghkar just like there is a super-myrddraal.<br /><br /><b> The Draghkar </b><br /><br />Guide &#8230; <i> The Draghkar&#8217;s main weapon is its song , a soft , irresistible crooning that compels its victims to approach&#8230;. pale-skinned man wrapped in a large black cloak &#8230; Dark shoulder-length hair that is often pulled back in an elegant queue adds to this illusion &#8230; capable of supporting the creature&#8217;s weight in flight&#8230; </i><br /><br />We have been led to believe that Moiraine is from Cairhien and that this so-called pale skin of hers is a coincidence. Perhaps. But then I ask you why she is always wearing a cloak. Why have we never seen the Aes Sedai without her cloak? A worthy illusion , and even worse than that she dyed her wings blue to create confusion.<br /><br /><b> But Draghkar have their deadly hypnotic song! </b><br /><br />TFOH (News comes to Cairhien) &#8230; <i> &#8220;These came for you in the last hour,&#8221; Moiraine said , extending two folded letters. Her voice seemed to fit Asmodean&#8217;s chime-like tune &#8230; The Aes Sedai&#8217;s voice gained a rime of crystal frost as she spoke , almost in an echo &#8230;&#8221; </i><br /><br />I don&#8217;t think that the author can be clearer than this. He has given us obvious clues that she has their secret seductive voice. There are other instances when this voice is mentioned in her. In fact , RJ is being very precise here. He is comparing her voice to Asmodean&#8217;s music &#8211; a clear comparison between her voice and the music of evil.<br /><br /><b> But she can&#8217;t fly! </b><br /><br />Many others would have submitted this profound theory if they knew the truth. Moiraine can fly &#8211; and she did very early on in the series. The author wanted us to know who she was &#8230;<br /><br />TDR (What is written in Prophecy) &#8230; <i> Whips of black lightning curled around her; she screamed as they lifted her &#8230; </i><br /><br />The Dragon Reborn thinks that Ishamael harmed Moiraine. In fact Moiraine felt his presence above her &#8211; the Forsaken have their special little mark &#8211; and she took to the sky in alarm. Unfortunately she was caught between Ishamael and Rand by a painful weave which involved lightning.<br /><br /><b> But Moiraine can channel! </b><br /><br />This is irrelevant. Shadar Haran is a myrddraal who can cut channelers off from the True Source. Moiraine is the lucky draghkar who can channel. Not-surprisingly she was nurtured because of the obvious advantage she would be for the Shadow.<br /><br /><b> But a draghkar tried to kill Moiraine! </b><br /><br />This is the common misconception. The ultimate truth is that she was a female draghkar and a male one found her. The results are predictable as they tried to make baby winged demons.<br /><br />Unfortunately this sensitive scene was ruined by Vandene and Adeleas. They killed Moiraine&#8217;s boyfriend mercilessly but as we see , Adeleas paid  the ultimate price later.<br /><br />TPOD (Crimsonthorn) &#8230; <i> Her eyes stared &#8230; lips drawn back in a rictus bared her teeth , and her bulging eyes seemed full of horror&#8230; &#8220;or else they wanted one or the other to know who was killing them &#8230;&#8221; </i><br /><br />Moiraine&#8217;s revenge took a few years. Naturally , from the description Moiraine used her ability to suck their souls out. She merely covered her tracks by mutilating their bodies afterwards. Later we see irrevocable proof that the killer could channel. She has returned &#8230;<br /><br /><b> Other Darkfriends knew about the super-draghkar! </b><br /><br />It is my belief that Lanfear sent Moiraine to guard Rand for her until she came. Therefore Moiraine had to protect Rand otherwise she would have had to answer to Lanfear. What better person to defend Rand than a super-draghkar who can channel and Heal?<br /><br />TDR (People of the Dragon) &#8230; <i> &#8220;Listen to this,&#8221; Moiraine said. &#8220;Lews Therin was mine , he is mine and he will be mine , forever. I give him into your charge , to keep for me until I come.&#8221; It is signed &#8216;Lanfear&#8217; &#8230; </i><br /><br />Her mission has therefore been re-iterated by the Chosen again , just to keep her on track. Asmodean mentions that they need prodding because they aren&#8217;t very intelligent. <br /><br />Galina confirms her knowledge of the super-draghkar later &#8230;<br /><br />LOC (Gifts) &#8230; <i>&#8220;Confirmation that Moiraine is alive.&#8221; Galine settled back with a grime smile. </i><br /><br />Then later &#8230;<br /><br />LOC (The Taking) &#8230; <i>&#8221;A pity your Green sister is not here today,&#8221; Galina said. </i><br /><br />Galina initially confirms her delight that Moiraine did not in fact die at the Docks and that the Shadow&#8217;s impressive spy was still in the right place. She is pleased. Later she mentions that Moiraine is not there to help Rand out of his predicament with them. Admittedly they would have had a stand-off because Mesaana&#8217;s orders to kidnap Rand conflicted with Lanfear&#8217;s. This is the real reason why Galina formed a circle of thirteen when she entered Rand&#8217;s room.<br /><br /><b> Moiraine has challenged several of the Forsaken </b><br /><br />Aginor : She had to challenge her father. He was about to kill her charge and she couldn&#8217;t allow that. But she does try and stop him with peaceful methods first &#8230;<br /><br />EoTW (Meetings at the Eye) &#8230; <i> Moiraine&#8217;s face was white with strain. </i><br /><br />She revealed her pale skin in all its glory to alert her creator that she was in fact the super-draghkar. She couldn&#8217;t directly blow her cover &#8211; everything would have been ruined then. Unfortunately , Aginor&#8217;s eyes were 3000 years old and he never noticed. This caused her some pain.<br /><br />Be&#8217;lal : This one requires very little explanation. Lanfear knew that Be&#8217;lal was jealous of her and so she sent Moiraine to kill him with balefire. He knew this plan though and so he interceded by sending a hot male Draghkar to Moiraine when she was on Vandene and Adeleas&#8217;s farm.<br /><br />TDR (What is written in Prophecy) &#8230; <i>&#8220;I thought you were neatly out of the way , woman. No matter. You are only an annoyance. A stinging fly. A biteme. I will cage you with the others and teach you to serve the Shadow with your puny powers&#8230;&#8221;</i><br /><br />Be&#8217;lal clearly thought that Moiraine had overstepped herself by challenging him , and freeing herself from his love plan for her. He planned to retrain her properly. Notice how he says that she is a winged assassin &#8211; a stinging fly. He also proves that she has puny powers. <br /><br /><b> Finally , why did she challenge Lanfear at the Docks? </b><br /><br />This is the deepest question to face. Why did she challenge her mistress. <br /><br />The truth is that Lanfear was always tempestuous and impulsive. When she saw her at the Docks she ran towards her to beg her to stop. To tell her that she was throwing their whole plan down the drain &#8230;<br /><br />TFOH (Choices) &#8230;<i> &#8230; until she was face to face with Lanfear. It was only for a moment. The Forsaken look at her as though wondering what could have gotten in her way , then Moiraine was flung to one side &#8230; </i><br /><br />Lanfear was very angry at this stage. Surprisingly , she never blew Moiraine&#8217;s head off or performed some other grotesquery on her. She knew what Moiraine wanted but she was frustrated , and latter offended that Moiraine was not kneeling. So she pushed her to one side , as gently as could be done while holding so much saidar.<br /><br />TFOH (Choices) &#8230; <i> &#8230; The site of Lanfear hit her like a blow &#8230; Moiraine struck her , clawing the bracelet away &#8230;</i><br /><br />After Moiraine woke up under the wagon , a new code in her activated. Her orders from the Great Lord superceded her orders from the Chosen. Lanfear was now encroaching on dangerous territory by trying to kill Rand al&#8217;Thor and this could not be allowed. Therefore she attacked her former mistress with the clear allude to Moiraine using her claws (which Draghkar have).<br /><br /><b> Conclusion </b><br /><br />I have given several pages of direct evidence which links Moiraine&#8217;s appearance and gestures to one irrevocable fact. Moiraine is a draghkar.<br /><br />Would love some feedback<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-27 10:46:03
subject: The Vileness, the Black Ajah and the Red Ajah
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<p>In aCoS, ch. 19, Cadsuane speaks about a &#8220;vileness&#8221; that occurred just after the Aiel War.  In this theory I would like to outline two series of events that could qualify as this &#8220;vileness&#8221;, then suggest how they might be related.<br /><br /><br />Two different things were happening roughly 15 to 20 years ago.  After Gitara Moroso Foretold the rebirth of the Dragon at the end of the Aiel War, the Amyrlin Tamra Ospenya sent out five Aes Sedai to search for the prophesied boy.  Just a few months later in 979 NE, Tamra and her five searchers all died mysteriously.  We know from Alviarin&#8217;s POV that the Black Ajah interrogated and killed Tamra (aCoS, Prologue).  It seems implied that they did in the searchers also.  At the same time, we learn in NS that the Black Ajah was killing men and boys who appeared lucky.  Luckiness was often the first indication of a man who could channel.  Siuan believed this was because they knew the Dragon had been reborn, but not when, so they were killing any likely candidate (NS, Epilogue).<br /><br /><br />A second thing was also occurring between 15 and 20 years ago.  Elaida and Alviarin discussed it:<br /><br />     &#8220;In ten years, we have found only six men with the ability [to channel].  Just twenty-four in the last twenty years.  And you know how the land has been scoured.<br />     &#8220;Twenty-four is a dangerous number to speak aloud,&#8221; Alviarin said, &#8220;as dangerous as two thousand.  The Chronicles record only sixteen.  The last thing needed now is for those years to rear up again.  Or for sisters who know only what they were told to learn the truth.&#8221;<br />(A Crown of Swords, Prologue)<br /><br />Apparently, eight men who could channel had been secretly gentled rather than being brought to Tar Valon for a trial, as was the law.  The Red Ajah, as would be expected, appeared to have been heavily involved in this.  Elaida thought on her knowledge of the affair being &#8220;more personal&#8221; than writings in the Amyrlin&#8217;s secret records (aCoS, Prologue).  Toveine appeared to reflect on the same thing:<br /><br />What had been done twenty years ago was necessary, and the Light burn all those who muttered that the Black Ajah must have been involved.  It had been necessary and right, but Toveine Gazal had been driven from her chair in the Hall.<br />(The Path of Daggers, ch. 26)<br /><br />Note that Toveine, a high ranking Red sister and a known non-Black Ajah, believed in the mission the Reds were undertaking.  Finally about 15 years ago the Red Sitters of the time, Toveine, Tsutama and Lirene, were stripped of their chairs in the Hall and exiled indefinitely (aCoS, Prologue &amp; tPoD, ch. 26).  They have only just been recalled to the Tower.<br /><br /><br />So we have the murders of potential Dragon Reborns directed by the Black Ajah and the secret gentling of men who can channel apparently being orchestrated by the Red Ajah.  I believe these two events are related and despite what Toveine believes the Black Ajah is behind them both.  To demonstrate this, the most important text is one of Alviarin&#8217;s reflections:<br /><br />She [Alviarin] had risen because Ishamael killed her predecessor in his wrath at discovering what Jarna Malari had begun, yet it had not ended for another two years, after the death of another Amyrlin&#8230; Sierin Vayu.<br />(A Crown of Swords, Prologue)<br /><br />First off, we know that Sierin died in 984 NE (WoT Guide), meaning the previous Head of the Black Ajah Jarna was killed in 982 NE.  I should also say a few words about Sierin Vayu.  She is described by Moiraine as &#8220;a Gray with more than a touch of Red in her&#8221; (tFoH, ch. 15) and some were surprised she didn&#8217;t choose to join the Red Ajah (NS, ch. 14).  She was also close enough to the Red Ajah that on being raised as Amyrlin, she chose a Keeper and Mistress of Novices from the Red Ajah rather than the Gray (NS, ch. 14).  It can also be gathered that Sierin was not Black Ajah based on Alviarin&#8217;s reflections of her in the aCoS Prologue.<br /><br />Getting back to the passage above, Ishamael killed Jarna right in the middle of this 15-to-20-year-ago time period for what she &#8220;had begun&#8221;.  What action would have provoked the wrath of Ishamael during this five-year period?  It must be either the killing or gentling of potential Dragons.  It is clear why Ishamael would have been infuriated by either of these possibilities; he wanted the Dragon Reborn alive, not dead or gentled.  But what Jarna &#8220;had begun&#8221; does not end with her death.  It doesn&#8217;t end until Sierin dies also.  Sierin may not have liked men who could channel or even men in general, but she never would have gone along with the Black Ajah&#8217;s wholesale murder of men and boys because Sierin was not Black Ajah.  If what Jarna &#8220;had begun&#8221; referred to these murders, they would have ended as soon as Ishamael showed his displeasure by killing her.<br /><br />That leaves the surreptitious gentling of men as the only viable candidate for what Jarna &#8220;had begun&#8221;.  It is easy to guess how it might have started.  She probably learned killing every lucky man in the world was an impossible task, and decided to try a different method.  She could have persuaded the Amyrlin, a fellow Gray with Red tendencies, and/or some high-ranking members of the Red Ajah that it was necessary.  As a matter of fact, to this day Toveine still believes it was necessary.  There is evidence that Sierin was complicit in this plot.  Pevara, who became a Sitter for the Red when Toveine, Tsutama and Lirene were forced to resign, spoke of &#8220;things&#8221; done that were Sealed to the Flame during this time period when she talked to Seaine about events after the Aiel War (aCoS, ch. 32).  Anyway, once the project got going, it wouldn&#8217;t end with Jarna&#8217;s death because there were non-Black Ajah members like Sierin, Toveine and even Elaida involved.<br /><br /><br />So in conclusion, I believe it is the Black Ajah who is truly responsible for the Red Ajah&#8217;s secret gentling of men after the Aiel War.  I still have some unanswered questions to work out, mostly surrounding the death of Sierin Vayu.  It doesn&#8217;t appear the Black Ajah was involved, but there may be some evidence that the Red Ajah was.  Maybe they wanted to cover up the full extent of their deeds.  Oh well, that&#8217;s a theory for another day.  Thanks for reading!<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-27 11:13:59
subject: Why humanity is fading (Warning: Aes Sedai bashing)
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<p>In the Great Hunt, and its sequel, Lord of Chaos, it is noted that humanity is dwindling.  The human nations no longer control as much territory as they claim, they claim less than they did in years past, and some nations have faded altogether, while the Blight has gradually advanced.  As we do not have enough information from the time before the War of the Hundred Years, we cannot say for certain how long this pattern has continued, (perhaps Hawkwing's rise to power was facilitated by the gradual weakening of the nations of his time, though the scale of the wars of his time suggests there was no population drop-off) so this will only deal with events since.  Further, since this isn't  the Real World (TM), but a creation of a human being living in South Carolina (which Abraham Lincoln described as being too small to be a country and too large to be an asylum), real world historical evidence or psychological facts will not be used.  Instead I will endevor to make my point by using what we know of how the world of WoT functions.<br /><br />The clue to the reason for humanity's malaise is in the thematic concept of balance, with the Pattern described by Jordan as a feedback mechanism.  Feedback means there is a sort of control without consciousness, where a certain condition triggers the antidote to that condition until the condition has receded sufficiently for the curative process to be halted, wherein it starts all over again.  In a concrete example, a thermostat is set for a certain temperature.  It doesn't magically keep the temperature at 72 degrees, instead, if the temperature drops too far below 72, it turns on the heat, making the room temperature rise until it gets too far OVER 72.  Then the thermostat turns off the heat and lets the temperature drop again.  This is how balance works in the Wheel of Time, not a level even steadiness, but through forces adn counterforces working on each other.  One bit of evidence for this is in aCoS when Min points out that the wildly impossible coincidences which occur around a taveren are equally benign AND harmful.  Rand doesn't make everything settle down and work smoothly around him, he completely shakes up probabilty.  It isn't the Light and Shadow being in balance either, just good luck and bad luck, but some extreme of either.  The point is, the Pattern is creating balance by favoring the mean, but the extremes.  If the Pattern is a kid with an C average on its report card, it got that mark by turning in a lot of A's and F's, not a lot of C's.<br /><br />It is further stated in the text that the Wheel of Time is turned by the balanced conflict between saidar and saidin.  Now the Wheel is figurative.  There is no actual wheel anywhere in or outside of the universe.  It is simply a metaphor for how the universe functions.  Saidar and saidin perform the same functions but work in almost completely opposite or complementary manner.  This is further borne out by the balance of male and female roles in most countries and two foreign cultures of which we are aware - the Aiel and the Sea Folk.  It is worth noting that the foreign cultures are thriving and far more powerful than previously suspected.  Until 25 years before the events in the books, no one knew the strength of the Aiel, and while they were reputed to be savage and deadly, Tam's comments in EotW suggests that people believed they weren't a serious threat. That they fought the united nations to a standstill with a third of their available strength is a clear indication that they have a lot more going for their way of doing things than some fancy moves and physical hardiness.  Furhtermore, the Wise Ones describe a searching technique in Tel'Aran'Rhiod that they use to find a new settlement place WHEN A HOLD HAS TOO MANY PEOPLE AND NEEDS TO DIVIDE ITSELF.  This clearly infers that the Aiel are an expanding population, in spite of the hazards of their homeland and the continual warfare between clans, and the provocations for personal violence that exist between individuals.  So why are the Aiel a healthy growing people, while the wetlands are dwindling?<br /><br />The difference is, I believe, in the relative positions of channelers in their cultures.  Since the Breaking of the World, females have necessarily dominated the channeling.  In the  Threefold Land, however, they are a part of society and balanced by the Clan Chiefs, who hold the supreme authority in a clan.  Roofmistresses hold superior authority in a hold, and Wise Ones select candidates for chieftainship, but the ultimate responsibility for the clan lies in its chief.  Furhtermore, the Wise Ones cannot comletely dominate any Chief, because even a hand-selected puppet cannot pass the test in Rhuidean if he isn't adaptable enough to survive the truth of his heritage.  At some level, every chief has to be aware that he passed the same test every Wise One has, and is just as worthy of his position as they.  It can also be supposed that this is why the Shaido Wise Ones followed Couladin - because they had that advantage over him, and being Shaido, were ambitious enough to grasp at a chance for power over a chief.  Note too, that Rand recognizes that Couladin has chance to succeed at his imposture if he listens to Sevanna, but he shakes her off, inserts his foot into his mouth and proves to the Clan Chiefs that he is a fraud.  When he DISREGAREDED HIS WOMAN'S ADVICE (and I use the possessive pronoun in the sense of &quot;his friend, his partner, his spouse&quot; instead of &quot;his pet&quot; or any suggestion of ownership).  Male and female have to work together and know their respective places in relation to each other.  The cause of the Light was equally doomed in the War of the Shadow by Latra Posae's rallying the women to refuse to aid Lews Therin's plan, and Lews Therin's arrogance in trying to go at it with only men anyway. Winfinders have a similar position in Sea Folk society.  They are subordinate to captains and political leaders.  One could argue that these leaders are exclusively female, but like with the Aiel, the men are in charge of war and commerce.  A similar arrangement exists in Tarabon and Andor, and for all we know, other countries.    Tarabon and Andor, however, are the only known nations besides Arad Domon where the head of state can only be a particular gender.  In Arad Domon, the King is selected by an exclusively female council of merchants, and Ituralde's belief that the Council interfere's too much implies that the King is a true ruler, and not a puppet, in spite of the Council's ability to make or break him over trade issues.  So why are these three countries with their examples of balanced gender roles fading with their neighbors while the Sea Folk and Aiel are going strong?  The relative position of channelers in their societies.  Channelers are exclusively Aes Sedai, and they are separate and apart from humanity.  Seriously ill people must travel to Tar Valon, which is days away from any nation's official boundaries to recieve Healing, unless a sister happens across them.  When the Borderlands are threatened by a major Trolloc offensive, the Tower must send out a delegation of sisters to stop it, despite the second largest Ajah being dedicated to that purpose!  Now the concentration of Aes Sedai in Tar Valon increases their politcal power and elevates them over society, rather than being an integral part of it, as the Wise Ones and Windfinders are.  Further, the Wise Ones and Windfinders must learn other occupational skills that have a practical value in society, while the Aes Sedai only have academic knowledge.  Further, the Aes Sedai recognize no power higher than they - Egwene dismisses the rights of the Andorans and Murandians to forbid Aes Sedai passage over their lands, saying she intends to stop there only because they want to anyway.  Later she uses the resistance of the nobles as a goad to the Hall pointing out that it is a failure to accord them proper respect, that Aes Sedai have a right to travel where they want, and the disapproval of the residents is an intolerable situation!  The Amyrlin Seat can order a sovereign queen to cease resistance to raiders from a foreign country without an explanation, and Aes Sedai can hide their failed efforts to aid an ally by pretending they never sent aid, but no one calls them to account for not helping!  Everyone but Lan seems to think it is perfectly acceptable that Aes Sedai didn't even try to save Malkier, and he might feel the same if it had been another country that they seemed to refuse to help.  This is not a criticism of the Aes Sedai right now, merely an example of just how far above everyone else they are.  That they can do this consistently and get away with it proves they are VERY powerful, and wield a great deal of influence in their culture.<br /><br />NOW for the criticism!  What do they do with that power?  First let's see how the dwindling problem affects the Aes Sedai.  Until extremely recently, the numbers of novices and Accepted have been steadily dwindling as well.  This might be due to a decline in population, and the theory has been circulated in and outside of the series that the necessity of gentling men who can channel has depleted the gene pool of channelers.  Evidence for this is RJ's quote that where the channeling population was 3% in the Age of Legends, it is down to 1% now.  However, the Aes Sedai only gemtle the smaller proportion, those who channel on their own. Since men might not manifest this ability until they are thirty (and my father had four children between ages 22 and 30-thinkhow many he'd have if he married in his late teens as some people do in WoT), some of them must father some children before getting gentled, and all of those who need a teacher to manifest the ability live a normal life, it is doubtful that the Red Ajah's efforts have undermined the gene pool any more than the Aes Sedai tendency not to have children.  Plus, the influx of novices once they start taking in older women, and searching for candidates, not to mention the explosive growth of the Black Tower,  suggest the channelers are out there, but they are increasingly not coming to the Tower.  The Aes Sedai have proven to be an overwhelmingly conservative bunch, and the window of opportunity to sign up is three of the six hundred years a wilder might live.  If you don't channel in front of a sister or go to the Tower to be tested between ages 15-18, or a little older, forget it.  This, I would suspect, is the true reason for the decreasing numbers.  One would wonder how the Aes Sedai didn't think of this themselves, since they are well educated and have to be fairly smart to pass the training, but their traditions have ossified over the centuries, not least in part because of the dwindling, which has likely made them cling to tradition more desperately, out of fear of losing it all together.  Unfortunately they also discourage innovation.  Experiments with the Power are frowned upon, meaning the pool of knowledge gets smaller, as people with expertise die out, and no one can be allowed to regain their knowledge.  It is demonstrated at several points that the Aes Sedai strongly condition their initiates not to behave in certain ways or attempt certain things.  These include, for good reasons, experiments with the Power and questioning of those higher up.   However, while these are healthy attitudes in trainees, Aes Sedai root out aberrant behavior so strongly, that it appears that few people every return to the concepts of experimentation and questioning authority once they are qualified to do so.  The few who do, like Cadsuane, tend to be rampant individualists who tend to distance themselves from policy-making roles in favor of working at the reasons why they became Aes Sedai in the first place.  Those who revere the Tower and Aes Sedai tradition for itself, or who want to be sisters for the power and prestige naturally are inclined to stay in Tar Valon and wrap themselves in duties that directly affect the Tower.  Cadsuanes and Moiraines and Verins don't get involved in Tower politics, they dedicate themselves to their solo pursuits.  As a result, the same sort of people keep running things and they are disinclined to discontinue the trends that brought them to power.  Plus, taking in more novices, since standing depends on strength rather than time of service, probably makes them reluctant, on a subconscious level, to seek out potential challengers to their standing within the Tower.  The ones who travel around and get involved with people are more likely to find channelers and turn them in to be trained, but the stay-at-home conservatives are the ones who train and condition them.  Thus talents are lost and not regained, and numbers dwindle, and the Tower's nature grows every more conservative, and thanks to their power over the rest of the wetlands, innovation and expansion are likely squelched there, too.  Fearful of a new Artur Hawkwing (and Moiraine reassured the Amyrlin that none of the taveren with her aspired to be another Hawkwing, that is, none of them aspired to be a champion of the light who saved Tar Valon from the Dragonsworn, united the lands and gave them peace and justice and earned the devotion of the common people - and had the audacity to sometimes NOT do what the Aes Sedai told him to), they undoubtedly squelch any leader or ruler who would upset the status quo.  The problem is, a society cannot sustain a status quo forever.  If you don't let the heat go up, the thermostat will not be able to keep the room at a certain temperature.  A society has to be able to change and adapt, or get overthrown.  The final test to be a Wise One is how well you can adjust to suddenly having everything you knew about your history and culture turned on its head, while the final test for being an Aes Sedai is how well you can perform a series of 100 pointless tasks.  Which guides to their society are going to be better equipped to adapt to changes and deal with them successfully?  <br /><br />So how did the Aes Sedai get so far off track?  They have violated the unspoken rule of balance of power and checks and balances and elevated themselves to a point where they have nothing to shake them up and make them adjust.  Kind of like Rand needing to be reminded that he is mortal, they need to be shown that they are not in absolute control of everything, and they can't hope to keep it all under their thumbs without losing everything eventually.  And for those who chortle over the Black Tower's superiority, if it had been women who got the taint, I believe the wetlands would be a VERY scary place nowadays, probably a lot more barbaric, with constant change and warfare, but lacking in the social advancement the wetland culture has achieved under the dominance of the Aes Sedai.  Humanity would be in real danger of wiping themselves out (not like Cold War hysterics like to claim we were back when the USA and USSR had missiles pointed at each other), and the Tower would likely rule through fear and force, and encourage conflict to keep their vassal nations from being too powerful.  Assuming there was only one Tower. The differences in Saidar and Saidin suggest male Aes Sedai would not be as naturally inclined to cooperate.  The 'brothers' would likely have a more visible pecking order with official ranks, that required some form of competition to advance through.<br /><br />Both Saidin and Saidar are necessary to turn the Wheel of Time, and both good fortune and tragedy weave the Pattern of the Ages, and men and women working together, and authority balanced between channelers and non-channelers and men and women is the surest way to create a healthy, functional culture.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


