# w_theory

created: 2004-11-27 12:23:31
subject: Strength in the Power and Healing
body:
<p>It has always been the general opinion that Healing has very little to do with strength in the One Power because it is a Talent. People generally accept that Talents have very little to do with strength , but rather with what you were born with such as the ability to Heal or Foretell. Even the Guide hints at this ...<br /><br />&quot;... Talents manifest in specific areas and are seldom related to the strength of the individual&#8217;s ability to channel ...&quot;<br /><br />Seldom is used here and believe that the &quot;seldom&quot; here refers to Healing which is the exception to the rule.<br /><br />I believe that strength in the One Power is very important for channelers with the Talent for Healing. Why? Because it doesn&#8217;t determine whether you can Heal &#8211; the Talent and the ability to channel does that &#8211; it determines how far your abilities can go as a Healer.<br /><br /><b> The Greatest Healer </b><br /><br />By all evidence in the books , Semirhage was one of the greatest healers of all time. Now I&#8217;m not going into an endless debate about &quot;how good could she be? She couldn&#8217;t even Heal stilling.&quot; I&#8217;m basing my argument on some sound evidence from the series and the guide &#8211; <br /><br />&quot;While Graendal had been a healer of the mind beyond compare , the woman to be known as Semirhage ... had been an equally renowned healer of the body ... was known for her ability to heal any injury , even to bring people back from the brink of death when all else had failed ... She was often summoned all over the world to deal with the most difficult cases ...&quot;<br /><br />and later from her own PoV &#8211;<br /><br />&quot;She had been known , famed , whisked to every corner of the world for her ability to mend any injury ... when everyone else said there was nothing more to be done ...&quot; (Lord of Chaos : Threads woven of Shadow)<br /><br />So I don&#8217;t think the evidence for her greatness is tenuous. But what else do we know about Semirhage? She is also stronger in the Power than any channeler of the present Age , unless you wish to speculate about Alivia&#8217;s strength. Mesaana confirms this for us &#8211;<br /><br />&quot;Each was stronger than any of these half-trained children who called themselves Aes Sedai today ...&quot; (LOC : Prologue)<br /><br />Co-incidence? We&#8217;ll see&#8230;<br /><br /><b> The Ability to Heal </b><br /><br />So who can Heal? The truth is that anyone who can channel can Heal if they know the weaves. Samitsu confirms this for us &#8211;<br /><br />&quot;Carefully , she gathered flows of Air , Spirit and Water , weaving them just so , the basic weave of Healing that every sister knew ...&quot; (CoT : Glimmers of the Pattern)<br /><br />It&#8217;s all about what you can Heal though. We&#8217;ve seen that Moiraine&#8217;s ability to Heal injuries far outstrips the most powerful channelers namely Rand , Ishamael and Aginor &#8211; who themselves admit that they can heal very little. Despite the best training and the greatest strength in the Power , Ishamael and Aginor (Dashiva) demonstrate that the Talent for Healing is by far the most important factor in Healing with the Power.<br /><br />We then see Samitsu who is considerably weaker in the Power than Moiraine and far , far below Nynaeve and Semirhage in strength. However , the following statements make appearances thanks to Cadsuane and Samitsu&#8217;s PoV&#8217;s -<br /><br />&quot;You are the best living , perhaps the best ever ... No one has the Healing compared with you ...&quot; ( ACoS - Blades)<br /><br />&quot;No one in living memory had the Talent for Healing as strongly as she , and most sisters were limited in what they could heal , some to little more than bruises.&quot; (CoT - Glimmers of the Pattern)<br /><br />We know that Samitsu is not the best healer ever because she still practices the old Aes Sedai Healing which is considerably flawed. However , I think the statement shows that her Talent for Healing may be second to none. It may be as strong as the Talent can be in a single person , similar to Semirhage. This is speculation of course , but for Samitsu to comment that she has the greatest Talent out of all the Yellow ajah and other sisters in memory is quite something.<br /><br /><b> Has strength ever been an issue with Healing? </b><br /><br />Strength has been an issue in Healing on several occasions. The most prominent example is the Healing which was required when Mat was tainted by the evil of Shadar Logoth. Initially Moiraine tried &#8211;<br /><br />&quot;... must be unknotted at Tar Valon ; it is beyond me , or any lone Aes Sedai , even with an angreal ...&quot; (EoTW - Remembrance of Dreams)<br /><br />Moiraine and her angreal are stronger than any unaided sister in the Tower. She claims that she is not strong enough to Heal Mat by herself , but she also claims that no single Aes Sedai could Heal him either. Despite all the Yellows in the Tower and great Healers like Samitsu or Coiren , she clearly indicates that they cannot heal him even with an angreal. An angreal &#8211; a clear reference to the volume of Power required. This is confirmed later when Suian Sanche , her sa&#8217;angreal and her circle Heal Mat using a very large amount of saidar &#8211; <br /><br />&quot;Be careful. The Power needed to break the bond with the dagger and Heal its damage is very close to what could kill him ...&quot; (TDR - Healing)<br /><br />Again , a clear reference to the amount of saidar required to Heal Mat. Calculated too , because it was not a full circle and a sa&#8217;angreal was used. Besides this , Suian comments on the volume of the Power needed.<br /><br /><b> Other advantages of Strength in the Power </b><br /><br />We have seen that strength in the Power has some advantages for channelers. The stronger you are , the greater your dexterity with weaves and the faster you can learn weaves. There are dozens of examples of this , but here are three from Egwene , Rand  and Semirhage -<br /><br />&quot;Could she divide her flows four ways? Not many Aes Sedai could ...&quot;  (LOC : Summoned in Haste)<br /><br />&quot;Handling two weaves at once should have been easy &#8211; he could handle ten or more ...&quot; (TFOH - Choices)<br /><br />The woman&#8217;s eyes bulged. Semirhage doubted she could duplicate those simple feats even if she had been able to follow them ...&quot; (LOC &#8211; Threads woven of Shadow)<br /><br />Training is not the reason that Cabriana would not be able to duplicate Semirhage&#8217;s weaves &#8211; it is because Cabriana is so much weaker than Semirhage in the Power. Strong channelers can handle far more weaves and greater complexities than weaker ones , as proved by the first two statements by Egwene and Rand respectively.<br /><br />If you think that this dexterity with weaves is irrelevant in Healing , think again. Proper Healing requires extremely complex weaves and great amounts of the One Power. We have seen this when Nynaeve Heals people , as from Egwene&#8217;s PoV - <br /><br />&quot;She was not sure she had even been able to make out all the many flows , much less the way Nynaeve had woven them together. What Nynaeve had done in those few seconds had seemed like weaving four carpets at once while blindfolded ...&quot; (TDR &#8211; Maidens of the Spear)<br /><br />And then later by Elayne ...<br /><br />&quot;Elayne recognized the flows being woven for Healing , but recognition was as far as she could go ... It looked as complicated as embroidering one dress with either hand , and two more with your feet. Blindfolded&#8230; The glow shining around Nynaeve grew and grew until it overwhelmed the lamps , until it hurt to look at her except through slitted eyes ...&quot; (TFOH &#8211; Ripped Away)<br /><br />This is a valuable statement by Elayne and it is echoed by Egwene &#8211; it shows that even channelers of their strength don&#8217;t have the ability to weave on a level with Nynaeve. Strength is not the only difference between them &#8211; Nynaeve can handle more flows than them , and Rand can outperform even her. Whereas Egwene can stretch herself to four or five flows , Rand says he can maintain ten or more.<br /><br />Furthermore we see how Nynaeve&#8217;s Healing is not working for Birgitte. So what follows next ? &#8211; <br /><br />&quot;Linking? &#8230; Yes. You will have to do it &#8211; I don&#8217;t know how &#8211; but let me guide ... The amount of saidar which Nynaeve had drawn into herself was amazing. If she could not Heal Birgitte with that , what Elayne could add would not make a difference ...&quot; (TFOH &#8211; Ripped Away)<br /><br />So Nynaeve requested a circle. This clearly demonstrates that Nynaeve believes that she needs more saidar to Heal Birgitte. Elayne is skeptical because such a massive amount of saidar should be able to Heal any injury. Nynaeve also wants to guide the circle and tells Elayne that she couldn&#8217;t Heal a bruise which further reiterates that the Talent is by far the most important aspect in Healing , but not the only one.<br /><br />We receive further proof from Samitsu &#8211;<br /><br />&quot;By herself , she could Heal almost as well as a linked circle ...&quot; (CoT &#8211; Glimmers of the Pattern)<br /><br />A linked circle? I think it is fair to assume she means thirteen sisters who are linked. Now what could allow a full circle to Heal as well as Samitsu , whose Talent in Healing is very great? The answer is the amount of saidar which it grants the sister who leads the circle. Nynaeve herself said that linking would increase their chances at Healing Birgitte &#8211; and she knows Healing! Moiraine substantiates this fact &#8230;<br /><br />&quot;Can you do anything ?&quot; she whispered&#8230; &quot;For the sake of the world I hope I am not too late.&quot; Her hand delved into the pouch at her belt and came out with the silk-shrouded angreal ...&quot; (EoTW &#8211; Old friends and New Threats)<br /> <br />Once again the angreal has made its appearance , and this time not while she is exhausted and needs the angreal to help her channel. Moiraine has Healed almost every main character at some stage , but now she needs much more of saidar to combat such a grievous illness as Mat&#8217;s. Strength is clearly a factor here , as with all the quotes above.<br /><br />When Mat finally arrives at Tar Valon , Suian uses the sa&#8217;angreal and her circle of sisters to Heal him. A huge amount of saidar but that is not what is surprising. What is surprising is that none of the sisters in the circle were of the Yellow ajah. That&#8217;s right &#8211; not one. Why? It is because Suian led the circle and while her Healing Talent isn&#8217;t near Moiraine&#8217;s , she used a circle and a sa&#8217;angreal to overcome her lack of Talent. Samitsu said as much in her early quote. It is possible.<br /><br />Samitsu also makes a similar curious comment later &#8230;<br /><br />&quot;Each took no less of her strength , but they did require less from the patient. The smaller the amount of change in the body , the smaller the amount of the body&#8217;s strength it drained&#8230;. 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 ...&quot; CoT (Glimmers of the Pattern)<br /><br />Samitsu is telling us that she uses the same amount of saidar to Heal little and large wounds. However , she has made a critical error in her judgement here &#8211; the Aes Sedai do not Heal correctly. They use the patient&#8217;s energy as part of the process in Healing. Selene (Lanfear or Mesaana - whatever you believe) comments on this when she visits Mat in the Tower &#8230;<br /><br />&quot;You are hungry. That&#8217;s to be expected , the way they do things ...&quot; TDR (Visitations)<br /><br />Proper Healing uses energy from the One Power to Heal the patient &#8211; and the patient is not weakened in the process. Samitsu even asks Karldin if he can Heal like Damer because her Healing will kill him due to its demands on the patient. Therefore if Samitsu learned to Heal properly it would have the following implication : the greater the wound , the more of the Power she would need to use and the more complex the weaves would have to be. NOT the worse the wound , the more the patient needs to contribute - as she states.<br /><br /><b> CONCLUSIONS </b><br /><br />Why is Semirhage such a great Healer? It is my belief that she outstripped anyone else because not only has she a huge Talent for Healing , but that she is extremely strong in the Power.<br /><br />We have seen how complex the weaves for Healing can be thanks to Nynaeve. We have also seen how the stronger the channeler , the more flows they can handle and the more complex the weaves. If Egwene and Elayne cannot follow Nynaeve&#8217;s flows , then what chance does Samitsu and Moiraine have?<br /><br />Damer Flinn is also a master Healer with the Power. Obviously he has the Talent , but does he have the strength? Let&#8217;s look at the cleansing of saidin&#8230;<br /><br />&quot;Demandred found himself frantically fending off a net of saidin that struck his warding much harder than it should have , as hard as his own spinning would ...&quot; (WH -With the Choedan Kal).<br /><br />In order for the circle of three to have overcome Demandred , someone must have been strong in the Power. We know that Sarene and Corele were not particularly strong Aes Sedai , which leaves Damer. Could he be very strong? Near to or as strong as Nynaeve? Rand initially commented that Damer was much weaker than him but that was when Damer had just begun channeling. Damer&#8217;s strength is still on the increase &#8211; as is Narishma&#8217;s. We shall have to see&#8230;<br /><br />The truth is that we have seen illnesses which have been too great for a single Aes Sedai to Heal , even those with the Talent and with an angreal. It is because they don&#8217;t have the strength required to heal wounds of such a grievous nature. Channelers of very great strength like Nynaeve and Semirhage are so strong in the Power that they can form immensely complex weaves and split their flows many ways to Heal even the most terrible injuries unaided.<br /><br />As I&#8217;ve mentioned before , Talent is most of the equation in Healing. As powerful as Rand is , his Healing abilities are very poor. However , if my theory is true , he would be able to Heal better if he used an angreal or sa&#8217;angreal. How much? I think this depends on how great his Talent for Healing is. If his potential to Heal is 0.1 then maybe an angreal could push it to 0.5 where he could Heal like someone with the Talent &#8211; or instead of Healing a bruise , he could Heal a broken arm.<br /><br />I believe that Semirhage is at the level where her Talent is so great , her Power so massive , and her dexterity in weaving so impressive &#8211; that she can Heal just about anything unaided. However , I maintain that she could improve it with an angreal (although no wound on earth would need something so colossal).<br /><br />The point of the theory is actually only one thing &#8211; weaker channelers with the Talent will not be able to surpass the stronger ones if they are all trained in the new Healing.<br /><br />There is a ladder which I have compiled which I think holds true to Healing&#8230;<br /><br />Level 1-5  <br />Weak Healers. Those who can channel but who lack the Talent and are weak in the Power. This would be your average Aes Sedai e.g. Verin , Sarene etc.<br /><br />Level 6-10<br />Compensated Healers. Those who lack any Talent for healing but can use their strength in the Power to supercede their deficiencies e.g. Elayne , Egwene , Rand<br /><br />Level 11-15<br />Healers. Those with the Talent for Healing but not much strength in the Power e.g. Moiraine , Romanda , Coiren and most of the Yellow ajah<br /><br />Level 16-17<br />Master Healers. Those with a remarkable Talent in Healing but not much strength in the Power e.g. Samitsu , Sumeko<br /><br />Level 1<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/smackhead.gif" border="0" />20<br />Grandmaster Healers. Those with a remarkable Talent for Healing and great strength in the Power e.g. Semirhage , Nynaeve , Flinn.<br /><br />The levels vary compared to how much of each you have , but you can move up levels if you have an angreal or sa&#8217;angreal. And don&#8217;t get offended with the strengths &#8211; we&#8217;re comparing everyone to Forsaken strength because that is the top level.<br /><br /><b> IMPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY </b><br /><br />1. The Talent for Healing is the most important aspect which determines your prowess as a Healer.<br /><br />2. Strength determines how far you can go as a Healer &#8211; weaker channelers with the Talent will never be able to handle the flows and complexities required in proper five-power healing.<br /><br />3. You can supercede your ability to Heal by using an angreal , sa&#8217;angreal or linking with someone &#8211; but it won&#8217;t help you much if you have almost no Talent in Healing to begin with. It will help you greatly if you do e.g. Samitsu linking with someone will increase her capabilities considerably &#8211; whether she can handle more flows with more saidar at her fingertips is a matter to be debated &#8211; but she will be able to Heal more if the original injury was beyond her ability.<br /><br />4. Nynaeve can never surpass Semirhage. Semirhage and Nynaeve have enormous Talents for Healing but Semirhage is stronger. In the same way I believe that Sumeko and Samitsu will never be able to surpass Nynaeve no matter what they learn.<br /><br />5. Flinn&#8217;s greatness in Healing is perhaps more evidence that he is much stronger in the Power than we first anticipated.<br /><br />6. Semirhage can only be surpassed if someone has a greater Talent than her (highly unlikely) and is stronger than her (possible but unlikely). Nevertheless &#8211; this is the reason for her unique Healing abilities. She is the combination of two masteries.<br /><br /><b> PITFALLS </b><br /><br />1. It is difficult to compare channelers when half of them are using the old Aes Sedai method which relies on patient strength and not theirs&#8217;. This should clear up in the future books.<br /><br />2. Nynaeve believes that Sumeko is a better healer than her. Sumeko heals in a similar way to Nynaeve but I don&#8217;t believe she could match her if it came to a contest in Healing. Sumeko cannot handle such complex weaves &#8211; she is not strong enough. In fact , she is weak in the Power with a strong Talent.<br /><br />3. If Flinn is weak in the Power , it may trash my whole theory because he can Heal as well as anyone in the world , and with the new Healing. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-11-28 05:43:09
subject: Rand's Big Mistake
body:
<p>The Eye of the World has always been sort of a strange enigma throughout all the books, something that RJ brought up and then dropped.  Well, there may be a chance in the winds for the next book.<br /><br />First off, some speculation on the nature of the Eye.  I, personally, feel that the Eye was a Well, pretty much if not exactly the same as the ter'angreal the gang used in Far Madding.  The ancient Aes Sedai used  the same methods as Rand's taint-cleasing to shuffle the untainted saidin into the Well (the Eye), but, since they didn't have the help of the Choeden Kal like Rand and Nyn did, they drew too much of the One Power and killed themselves in the process.  The nature of the Eye as a Well would explain why this saidin is seperate from the tainted saidin.  (See the post &quot;The eye of the world and the cleansing of saidin...&quot; by Mr_Froggy 240 for more on the creation of the Eye.)<br /><br />Next, some thoughts on the showdown at the Eye. The thing that gets our heroes to the Eye of the World in the first place are all those theories about the DO wanting to &quot;blind the Eye of the World.&quot; Thinking back on things, I realized that Aginor and Balthamel were not there at the Eye for the purpose of blinding it at all.  They talk about how Mat's dagger drew them to the Eye.  I think that Ishy sent the duo to the Eye to nip the three ta'veren (and Rand especially) in the bud before they had the chance to do anything.  Besides, Ishamael specifically says:  &quot;'Yes,' Ba'alzamon said from in front of the fireplace, 'I thought Aginor's greed would overcome him.'&quot; (TEOTW, p 759)  It's pretty clear that the use Aginor was putting to the Eye's UNTAINTED saidin (the renewing of his body) was not something that the Dark One would allow him to do normally:  i.e. that the &quot;buffer&quot; the Forsaken get against the taint also restricts them from using the One Power in a way contrary to the Dark One's wishes.  That's why Aginor couldn't use the DO-buffered saidin to renew his body.  So if Aginor's incompetent bungling wasn't &quot;blinding&quot; the Eye, what was?<br /><br />The thing with the Eye that you have to keep in mind is that RJ specifically said that the use Rand put it to was not the one the makers intended it.  Yes, it did stop that big Trolloc invasion and so forth, but it&#8217;s unlikely the creators of the Eye had that in mind when they made it.  Think about what Moiraine says about the Eye:  &quot;'The Power to mend the seal on the Dark One's prison, or to break it open completely.'&quot; (TEOTW, p 746) Now look at Moiraine's definition of the Eye in relation to Herid Fel's advice to Rand: &quot;Must clear rubble before you build.&quot;  When we read the first book, we thought that the &quot;breaking open the Dark One's prison&quot; was bad, but, in reference to Fel's advice, things start to look different.  Maybe the Eye was in place to break all the seals open, or, in other words, to &quot;clear the rubble&quot;?  Whatever the Aes Sedai had in mind when they created the Eye, it is clear that destroying a Trolloc army wasn't it.  I see the Creator's diologue with Rand as addressing that point, also:  &quot;IT IS NOT HERE.&quot;  ie: &quot;you're not doing the right thing with that stuff.  Go elsewhere.&quot;<br /><br />I think that Rand's use of the Eye in this premature way is the thing that RJ says will have &quot;dire consequences&quot; in the next book.  IMO, I think the DO's clever plan to &quot;blind&quot; the Eye was no more than to force Rand to go there and prematurely use it.  Especially considering that one of the tales of the &quot;blinding&quot; of the Eye comes from Jain Farstrider, who is obviously the traveller who comes to the Ogier stedding, raving about the blinding of the Eye of the World, that Loial talks about (TEOTW, p640).<br /><br />Let's look at the facts:  Ishamael lists the chain of events he has masterminded to find Rand.  One of the things he says is as follows:  &quot;'Jain Farstrider, a hero,' he twisted the word to a sneer, 'whom I painted like a fool and sent to the Ogier thinking he was free of me.'&quot; (TEOTW, p 760) It's clear that Ishamael TOLD Jain about his plan, and then turned him loose.  This has the ultimate effect of bringing Rand to the Eye; Moiraine thinks that the Dragon Reborn will affect events by being there.  <br /><br />Rand: &quot;Why did you bring us here?&quot;  <br />Moiraine: &quot;Because you are ta'veren.  Because the Dark One's power will strike here, and because it must be confronted and stopped...&quot; (TEOTW, p 747)  <br /><br />While the DO didn't have a victory at the Eye, he didn't really have a setback, either.  Aginor and Balthamel were just reincarnated, and, as for the Trolloc army, Ishy sums it up: &quot;'Other armies can be raised, fool.  Armies you have not dreamed of will come.'&quot; (TEOTW, p 760) We all know that the Trollocs are suffering from a 5-book absence. RJ said they'd be back soon enough... If the DO thought that getting the Eye out of the picture was important enough, he'd find a way to deal with it.  And since Rand didn't use it for the right purpose, it looks like he succeeded... for all purposes, he &quot;blinded&quot; the Eye of the World.<br /><br />Sadly, we'll have to wait for the next book to find out exactly what those &quot;dire consequences&quot; are, but, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait after CoT.<br /><br />I appreciate your opinions.  Flame away.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-02 07:12:37
subject: The Taint
body:
<p>I need some help from quote-masters on this one . . . Something that has perplexed me from the get go about the WOT is the part of the story where the DO lashed out at the One-Hundred Companions (OHC) and tainted Saidin before the Bore was sealed.  This has never made any sense to me.  If the DO had / has the ability to taint the True Source why did he not do it at the beginning of the War of Power?  Why not taint both halves of the Source?  If the DO truly wanted to remake the Pattern in his image, it would be much easier to do so if there were no Aes Sedai (either male or female) to do so.  Without access to the OP humanity would be doomed.  Therefore, it can only be deduced that the DO does not have the ability to intentionally and/or directly taint the OP.<br /><br />Now before you begin responding please read to the end.  After you have done so then you are welcome to argue against my theory.<br /><br />I believe the taint on the OP is much more the fault of the OHC and LTT.  LTT has been described as an arrogant man and he should be.  I too would be the same if I had one-tenth of the power LTT did.  However, arrogance has never been a heroic quality.  In fact, arrogance is traditionally reserved as an antagonistic quality.  RJ has, nevertheless, made it clear that LTT is an arrogant ~hero~.  He has also made it clear that after the Breaking LTT was not regarded as either a hero or savior.  Heroes are not branded by the people as Kinslayer and their symbols are not regarded as evil (dragon fang).  So why has RJ stigmatized LTT in such a manner?  For one I think it is to show humanity.  Nobody likes a hero like Galad.  We want our heroes to be flawed, like ourselves.  We also like to see a hero fail.  Legend is built on failed heroes.  Hawkwing is a great example.  He is a hero who almost succeeded.  Yes, he accomplished more than any man did in the Third Age, until Rand, but he did not succeed in conquering the world nor did his empire survive his death.  Hawkwing was also a flawed hero.  As readers, we have been given insight that Hawkwing was used by Ishmael as a pawn in a greater game.  Hence, Hawkwing is a failed hero the same as LTT.  We also have the example of Jain Farstrider.  Jain was a hero of legend who vanished.  Vanishing does not brand him a failed hero but there are indications that Farstrider is alive and was used by the DO.  Please refer to other discussions about Farstrider is Noal for further information.  What I am illustrating is RJ loves failed heroes and has a great many hanging around.  This to be covered later.<br /><br />Now, back to LTT.  LTT&#8217;s failings are very apparent at first glance.  However, the degree and magnitude I think has been over looked.  It is well know that it was LTT who lead the strike on SG and that the OHC trapped the DO with the seven seals.  It is also believed that at the last moment the DO retaliated by tainting Saidin.  I believe the taint did come from the DO but it was attached to Saidin by LTT and the OHC, albeit inadvertently.  What I think happened was the DO struck at the weavings that were being used to create the seals and that attack remained on Saidin as the weaves were knotted off.  RJ has illustrated many instances of OP users fighting the weaves of another Channeler.  However, what has never been shown is the TP fighting weaves of the OP.  A theorized instance of the TP and OP coming in contact is when Rand and Moridin cross paths with their balefire weaves in Shadar Logoth.  If it is correct to infer that the TP and OP did come into contact is SL then the results of a small amount of power from opposing sides contacting is devastating.  As a matter of fact, Rand still suffers from whatever happened at SL.  Now if much larger quantities came into contact what might the results be?  A semblance of a taint, maybe?<br /><br />Since the TP that was trapped is different from the OP; hence, the floating on the surface description.  Oil floating on water is a perfect example.  Not that the two solutions repel one another but they do not mix.  No mater how much water and oil are blended they will not remain together.  If the DO intended to taint the OP wouldn&#8217;t it make more sense to infuse the OP with his touch; have it become apart of Saidin so it can not be separated.  That is why I think that taint was pure happenstance.<br /><br />So lets wrap this up:<br /><br />1) The taint was not a direct effect of the DO, but it worked to his advantage.<br />a) If the DO could taint Saidin intentionally, he would have done so long before the sealing.  Since he did not it must be assumed that he did not have the direct ability.  Why would the DO not use a weapon that would ensure easy victory?<br />b) If the DO could taint Saidin intentionally, he would have tainted Saidar as well and left no Aes Sedai to oppose him.  Saidar was left untouched.  This is for two reasons.  One the DO does not have the direct ability to taint the OP (see above).  Two the only reason Saidin was tainted was because of something the OHC and LTT did at SG.<br /><br />2) The sealing of the bore is what trapped the taint with Saidin.<br />a) As the OHC and LTT wove the seals, the DO attacked.  That much is indisputable.  However, the intention of that attack was not to taint Saidin.  The DO was attempting to sever the OHC connection to the OP or cut the weaves to stop the sealing.  The attack came too late and was instead tied off inside the seals and trapped with Saidin.<br />b) Because of the opposition of the OP to the TP the OHC were instantly affected by the contact of the two powers.  The attack caused such a violent reaction that the men went immediately insane.<br />c) Insanity is caused not by the touch of the DO, but rather the continual fight of the TP v. OP.  Observe the physical reaction of Rand when his balefire contacts Moridin&#8217;s.<br /><br />3) LLT lead the OHC and the sealing and is therefore directly responsible for the taint, not the DO.<br />a) As described above the DO could not directly taint the OP.<br />b) As the DO attacked the OHC the seals were finished.  Instead of its desired effect, whatever it might have been, the strike was trapped in the weaves and tied to Saidin.  This attachment had two unexpected effects:  1-Saidin was tainted and doomed male channelers to madness 2-the TP inhibited the knotting of the weaves. The TP acted as a finger inside the knot in the seals.  Over the centuries, it wiggled and loosened the weave allowing the DO to eventually begin to break the patch.<br /><br />So, in conclusion, Rand removing the taint was merely him undoing his soul&#8217;s mistake.  The DO did not want it to happen because it was a great advantage to him and the DO knew he could not do it again.  Now, to wrap up the failed heroes.  I think it is too much coincidence for there to be some many failed heroes in the Third Age.  It appears to me that it is the failed heroes are the key to rebuilding the DO prison.  I think that is going to be part of the culmination of the LB: failed deeds rectified.  LTT is the most important in that it will be his sacrifice that will seal the bore and allow Rand to live.  I know there are mistakes in my logic but overall I think I am correct.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-04 11:22:32
subject: &quot;The fox, that makes the ravens fly.&quot; COT: A Cluster of Rosebuds
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<p>In COT, A Cluster of Rosebuds, Noal recites a selection from the Prophecies of the Dragon that he has just remembered:<br /><br />Fortune rides like the sun on high <br />with the fox that makes the ravens fly. <br />Luck his soul, lightning his eye, <br />He snatches the moons from out of the sky.<br /><br />The second line of the this prophecy is the one primarially my theory is about.  As it is listed in the FAQ now (Dreams, Prophecies, Viewings; What is the Karaethon Cycle? How much of it has been fulfilled?; Crossroads of Twilight) the FAQ author identifies the second line as refering to Mat, because of his ring.<br /><br />I once thought that this was true, but I now dissagree. I believe the second line refers to Thom, because it, to me, exactly describes him, and the actions he has caused.<br /><br />In the TSR chpt 17 &quot;Deceptions&quot; Moiriane and Thom have a conversation in which they each lay their cards on the table, so to speak. Thom identifies who Moiraine really is, and Moiraine does the same for Thom, identifying him as a former court bard, courtisan, etc. She also identifies him as being known as the Gray Fox.<br /><br />In COT, The Tale of a Doll, Furyk Karede, leader of the Deathwatch guard on this side of the ocean, converses with Almurat Mor, a Seeker for Truth. In this conversation they are discussing Tuon's dissapearance. They suppose that Thom is an agent of the White Tower, and he is responsible for Tuon's abduction. As a direct result of this conversation, Karede assembles his troops, and begins the search for the Daughter of the Nine Moons. Though they are wrong in their assumptions about Thom's role in the DotNM's dissapearance, it is because of him that they begin to start searching in the right direction.<br /><br />Both the Seekers for Truth and the Deathwatch guard are associated with the symbol of the Raven. The Deathwatch are property of the Empress, and as such bear the raven tatoos on their shoulders.  The Seekers for Truth, we have learned much earlier, also have these tatoos, in addition to the little plaque they carry, bearing the raven and the tower. The term &quot;to fly&quot; can also refer to move, or to get going, often quickly. <br /><br />To return, then, to the second line prophecy, it seems clear that Thom, as the Fox, has indeed (though unintentionally) caused the raven's to fly.<br /><br />Okay, so if we accept that the second line now refers to Thom, let's look at the four lines as a whole, again. I have no great conclusions to draw here, but maybe this will help someone else see what I'm missing. The last two lines of the stanza clearly refer to Mat, so if we've identified the second like as refering to Thom, then there may be a discrepancy. The answer to this is that in this stanza, the word &quot;Fortune&quot; itself refers to Mat. Mat does seem to have had his share of fortune, and it's not unlikely that the wheel (or whatever it is other than RJ that writes this prophecy) would identify him as such. So now we have Mat as Fortune, and Thom as the Fox, and the Deatwatch guards as the Ravens<br /><br />So something that interests me (and is tangental to my theory): this snippet, if you know how to read it (and Mat was distracted at the time or otherwise he might have put some of it together), warns that the Deathwatch are moving. Was this a warning to Mat that he missed, or did perhaps Tuon read it clearly, and she knows even more than we already suspected.<br /><br />Anyway, that's my theory.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-04 21:31:25
subject: Balefire resembles saidin and saidar
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<p>The basis for the theory occurs whenever male and female channelers have been in the same vicinity while balefire was used. I believe the following regarding balefire &#8230;<br /><br />Balefire is created using saidin or saidar. Once created , it then acquires the characteristics of both. While both saidin and saidar are the same in that they are both the One Power , they are also totally different.<br /><br />The One Power , that being both saidin and saidar , drives the Pattern. When saidin is channeled , the energy &#8211; whether Air , Water , Spirit , Fire or Earth &#8211; affects the pattern in some way. The pattern also redistributes the energy which has affected it. If you channel Fire it will affect some threads in the Pattern and the energy will be redistributed eventually back to the True Source. Saidin affects the pattern differently to saidar &#8211; we see how differently they affect the Pattern when men and women Travel. The Pattern handles each differently too.<br /><br />So here is some evidence I have gathered &#8230;<br /><br /><b> Evidence #1 : Be&#8217;lal &#8211; </b><br /><br />There was an instant of surprise on the Forsaken&#8217;s face , and he had time to scream &#8220;No!&#8221; Then a bar of white fire hotter than the sun shot from the Aes Sedai&#8217;s hands , a glaring rod that banished all shadows.<br /><br />(The Dragon Reborn - <i> What is written in Prophecy </i> )<br /><br />Be&#8217;lal clearly senses the balefire before it becomes visible in Moiraine&#8217;s hands &#8211; and we&#8217;re not talking about his gooseflesh either. Why did he scream before the balefire was visible in her hands? It is because he recognized it. It has characteristics of saidin and saidar - and it looks the same to males and females. He knew it from the War of Power and it was the only possible weave coming from a woman that he could sense.<br /><br /><b> Evidence #2 Moiraine &#8211; </b><br /><br />&#8220;What you used to kill the Darkhounds is called balefire. I can still sense the residue of it here.&#8221; He could too , like the fading smell remaining after a pie was carried out the room &#8230;<br /><br />(The Fires of Heaven - <i> Gateways </i> )<br /><br />Residue! Moiraine can sense the residue of balefire , not the resonance of saidin. It is because it leaves a trail which has some characteristics of saidar too. Moiraine and Rand share a common feeling here , which is unheard of between male and female channelers.<br /><br /><b> Evidence #3 Nynaeve - </b><br /><br />Nynaeve hurled herself flat and scrambled along the hall floor as something slashed through the nearest wall&#8230; No sign of either man. She had not had a glimpse of either so far. Only their handiwork. Sometimes that handiwork had almost been her. A good thing that she could draw on Moghedien&#8217;s anger , filter it out of the terror clawing to escape and let it seep into her&#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />(The Fires of Heaven - <i> The Threads Burn </i> )<br /><br />Again , another useful statement. Balefire moves quickly , you cannot dive beneath it unless you get that quick sense that it&#8217;s being woven &#8211; akin to what Rand feels when Rahvin is weaving it. Nynaeve almost confirms this &#8211; Moghedien&#8217;s anger allows her to sense the True Source and identify weaves. She can thus sense balefire which Rand has woven because it has some saidar characteristics too. This is what saves her life.<br /><br />So what does this mean for the Pattern? I believe that balefire is a normal weave which then acquires the characteristics of saidin and saidar. This is the reason why it works like it does. The Pattern deals with saidin in one way , and saidar in another. When balefire comes along , it doesn&#8217;t know how to deal with it. The energy has to be transferred somehow , and so the threads &#8220;catch on fire&#8221; and start burning &#8211; the severity depending on the power of the balefire. It also stands to reason that the balefire upsets the Pattern because it can&#8217;t deal with it and causes ripple effects due to contortion of the Pattern around the weave.<br /><br />I am not saying that saidar balefire has saidin in it , or draws upon the opposite Power. I&#8217;m saying the balefire weave has characteristics of both powers &#8211; which makes it resemble saidin in some ways , and saidar in others. So when a woman weaves it , a man will sense a change in her which can only mean balefire. It doesn&#8217;t mean he can see her weaves &#8211; although he might see something : like a resonance in the air. But that has never been described.<br /><br />Where else have we seen threads being damaged in the Pattern?<br /><br />To his ears the world screamed as he used the True Power to rip a small hole and step outside the Pattern.<br /><br />(ACoS - <i> Patterns within Patterns </i> )<br /><br />So when Moridin uses the TP , it damages the threads &#8211; especially when he Travels.<br /><br />Does this fit in? Yes &#8211; the Pattern was designed to cope with saidin and saidar. When unusual energies affect it &#8211; balefire and the True Power (or True Power balefire <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/smile.gif" border="0" /> ) , the pattern doesn&#8217;t have a way to deal with it , and it becomes damaged.<br /><br /><b> IMPLICATIONS </b><br /><br />1. Men and women can sense each other&#8217;s balefire while it is weaving<br /><br />2. The ripples caused by the balefire are greater than anticipated i.e. not just burning back one thread &#8211; but creating fibrillations and contortions in the Pattern which destabilize it. This is why it is even more dangerous.<br /><br /><b> PITFALLS </b><br /><br />Nynaeve witnessed Rahvin being balefired and she didn&#8217;t sense anything. In fact she was surprised. I like to attribute this to the fact that there was so much saidar filling that passageway with fire , that she wouldn&#8217;t have sensed a strange weave entering the picture &#8211; despite it being so strong. She was distracted.<br /><br />Thanks. Let me know what you think.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-06 04:28:35
subject: Ajah in the Aiel
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<p>In the PoD prologue, Verin has a Pov and during this PoV she muses:<br /><br />'the Wise Ones had a number of secrets she had yet to puzzle out, the smallest of them how their heirarchy worked.....Women who gave commands sometimes took them from the very women they had been commanding earlier, and then later it was turned about again, all without rhyme or reason that she could see'<br /><br />Now we know this is very different from the current Aes Sedai, who are 'ranked' by their strength in the power. Sorilea is weak in the power but is the pre-emminent Wise One. Nor is it age related - while Sorilea is the oldest Wise One that we have been introduced to, Amys is second only to her (following their discussion on the road to Dumai's Wells) and is far from Sorilea's age. <br /><br />Aiel in general seem to choose their leaders on strength of personality, which is largely intuitive but there always seems to be close to a general consensus. But as Verin points out, this is not the case with those who do not lead. <br /><br />Despite the fact that the Aiel heirarchy has no bearing to any of the other channeling/skilled women's organizations, it does bear resemblance to the organisation of another group: The Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends, who operated under a system of ajah. Note that this use of ajah is not capitalised, and is most different from the modern Aes Sedai's Ajah. The definition of ajah in the AoL is provided by the Little White Book:<br /><br />'an informal and temporary group of people gathered together for a common purpose or goal, or by a common set of beliefs'<br /><br />The LWB further describes the system of ajah as like a 'sea', always changing, always evolving, never staying constant. Presumably in this sort of system there will be fluctuations in the positions of individuals on a fairly regular basis - something very similar to what Verin observes in the Wise Ones.<br /><br />Now we know that when the Aiel fled to the Waste during/after the breaking, they had Aes Sedai with them, who would have worked in the 'swirling sea of ajah'. It seems likely that the Wise ones were formed originally under the guidance of the female Aes Sedai accompanying the Aiel, who would have found any women among the Aiel capable of channeling (for pragmatic and compassionate reasons), and so it is probable that the Wise Ones inherited the system of ajah from these Aes Sedai. <br /><br />The fact that positions of seniority change within the Wise Ones on a regular basis (with the exceptions of their leaders), indicates that their heirarchy is not governed by strength of personality. The age of Amys, who is second only to Sorilea, proves that seniority by age is not the true dynamic of their heirarchy. We know from the Aiel's disbelief over the Aes Sedai's (modern) heirarchy, the fact that Sorilea (who is weak in the Power) leads them and the presence of Wise One's such as 'Bair' who can not channel, that strength in the Power has no bearing on their heirarchy. But we can see a resemblance between their heirarchy and the system of ajah from the AoL. And we do know that some surviving female Aes Sedai from that time did journey into the Waste with the Aiel, and that they would have 'sniffed' out any women who could channel among the Aiel. Thus it seems fair to conclude that the Wise One's heirarchy is very similar to that of the Aes Sedai of the AoL: a 'swirling sea of ajah'<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-07 04:50:28
subject: Careane is the Black sister
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<p>IMHO: Careane did it.<br /><br />I have read a lot of the posts about Sareitha, and while I agree her behavior is a little odd, waaaay too much is hung open her slipping out of the palace, leaving a note behind.  And as for the secret decoder-ring brooch on her cloak... don't get me started.  (Boy, will I be embarrassed if the brooch thing is right...)<br /><br />Anyway, I think there is MUCH better proof in Careane's actions throughout the flight from Ebou Dar.<br /><br />*  After Aviendha unwove the gateway to the Farm, Elayne asked why she had done it (POD, Chp 2).  When she says she saw a man watching and Nynaeve asks her to continue, Careane's horse hits Nynaeve in the shoulder. When Nynaeve pushes the horse away, Careane glares at her.  This whole scene is more-or-less under Elayne's POV, and when Careane pats her horse's neck and glares at Nynaeve, Elayne assumes it is because Careane is one of those people who babies her horse.  CLASSIC RJ misdirect.  Every time we have a character not in POV acting oddly, the POV character attributes their behavior to something completely random, spoken as absolute truth (Dashiva's talking, Mat's terror of moving in to the palace, any of a thousand places), and usually completely wrong. There is something else in this scene too, but I'll get to it later.<br /><br />*  Careane is the one who doesn't pull her hood far enough forward and sets off the complete panic at the farm. Elayne glared at her, she pulls it forward but the damage was done.  Scattering the Kin in some fashion isn't necessarily a Darkfriend aim, but it was clumsy and pointless from that team's current goals.<br /><br />*  She doesn't pass on that she knew Zarya / Garenia.  When Adeleas finds her, she says, &quot;I'm surprised Careane didn't recgnize her before this; they were novies together for two years.&quot; With all the time she stared at the Kinswomen and was riding with them, etc, and with the way Aes Sedai feel about runaways, she would keep her mouth shut?  Doubt it.  Only after the first one is revealed, does she remember that she knows four of them (COT, Chp 11).<br /><br />The above seem to point to Careane really not wanting the AS to get in touch with or really understand the scope of the Kin issue.<br /><br />*  Sareitha slips out of the palace (suspicious, I guess, but hardly conclusive) and misses her lesson with the WF.  We hear the conversation with Marillin and Shiane about a Black sister in the palace (Wh Chp10), right?  Well, just before that (subjectively) in Chapter 8, Elayne reutns to the palace and sees Careane taking off for a ride with one of her Warders.  Then, in Chapter 10 also, we hear from the rest of the Black Ajah in Caemlyn (Temaille, etc) and they also know that there are only 3 sisters to deal with, not 4.  Heck, Eldrith's long afternoon could have been meeting with Careane!<br /><br />*  This doesn't mean anything, but it seems to be a pattern.  Liandrin hated wilders, always foamed at the mouth about them, and Careane &quot;despised wilders&quot; too. (COT, Chp 11)  Galina has contempt for the Aiel in general, but she does call out the wilders for special hatred.  When Elza watches Nynaeve use the Chodean Kal, she uses &quot;wilder&quot; more often than her actual name, and many of the conversations of the Black Ajah seem to show special contempt for wilders as opposed to other channelers. Of course, so do Elaida and Faolain, so who knows what that means.  Faolain's entry in the Glossary even mentions it!<br /><br />*  Careane gets a little heated and starts yelling at Elayne about Vandene taking her turn teaching.  (COT Chp 11).  a) She overcomes her standing under Elayne to yell at her, glare at her, which she should never do to someone so far above her in the Power. This is much the same as Elza does with Cadsuane when wondering why she let Alanna go or refusing to get out of her way when Cadsuane wants to talk to Rand--she just ignores AS custom and digs her heels in.  b) She seems to want Vandene to stop spending so much time on her search (that last is a guess and not proved, but it seems logical).<br /><br />*  People have made much of the fact that when Daved Mellar/Doilan Hanlon shows up, Sareitha is excited and supportive.  Boy, that Black Ajah sure is sneaky, openly helping other Darkfriends despite the fact that every other AS around hates the guy.  Careane's face, however, goes &quot;very still, very cold&quot;  This seems more in line with how the Black see each other around the Tower.  Just a guess here, also, but Velina flinches when Alviarin walks into the Sitter's meeting with Elaida (POD, Chp 25) and I am guessing that means she's Black also...<br /><br />*  Biggest proof, and I look forward to people arguing this one out: She Told A Lie.  Flat out, she spoke an untruth.  When the whole party of AS, Kin, and Windfinders are about to Travel to the Farm, the Kin and Windfinders get into another shouting match.  Nynaeve stops it in her usual sweet, melodic way by screaming at them, &quot;Or do you mean to squabble until the Forsaken come to scoop up the Bowl and us?&quot;  Later, when Careane's horse bumps into Nynaeve and Nynaeve is NOT distracted by the gesture, Careane continues to glare at her and says, &quot;One of the Forsaken would hardly have stood and watched.  You said so yourself.&quot; Game over.  That is NOT what Nynaeve said.  Not even close.  A hypothetical question: &quot;do you want to stay here until the Forsaken find us&quot; is not anywhere near the same as a statement of &quot;if the Forsaken are here, they won't just watch.&quot;  We saw with Siuan's choking in 'New Spring&quot; when she tried to claim that Cetalia's working of her on eyes-and-ears was worse than anything she had gone through as a novice (NW, Chp 14) that the First oath doesn't even allow exaggeration or hyperbole.  I don't think Careane can turn Nynaeve's question on one thing into a re-worded statement on another.<br /><br />Opinions?<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-09 05:08:40
subject: To Snare a Falcon
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<p>In <i>Beginnings</i>, at the end of TPoD, Faile is abducted by a group of Aiel.  I have long assumed that this was an essentially random occurrence, perhaps brought on by Faile's foolish decision to go hawking in unknown and potentially dangerous territory with only a small contingent.  Once again, however, there is some indication that seeming coincidence is more likely to be nefarious scheming, and I believe that Berelain, First of Mayene, lies at the heart of it.  There are several aspects about the journey from Bethel, and the events around Abila, that suggest this was more than just Faile's unlucky day.  <br /><br /><b>The Capture</b><br /><br />&quot;Fifty paces away, one of Alliandre's green-coated soldiers was toppling from his saddle, and a moment later, a Winged Guard fell with an arrow standing out from his throat.  Aiel appeared among the trees, veiled and wielding bows as they ran.  More soldiers fell.  Bain and Chiad were on their feet, dark veils hiding their faces to the eyes; their spears were thrust through the straps of the bow cases on their back, and they worked their bows smoothly, but they cast glances toward Faile, too.  There were Aiel all around, hundreds it seemed, a great noose closing in.  Mounted soldiers lowered lances, pulling back in their own circle around Faile and the others, but gaps appeared immediately as Aiel arrows struck home.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />From the very start of the attack it is apparent that the ambush was well designed and expertly executed.  Faile's hunting party is facing odds of at least three to one, they are completely surrounded, and they are completely surprised.  Faile, expert rider that she is, has no chance to escape.<br /><br />&quot;Leaning low on Swallow's neck, she urged the black mare for speed.  Fleet hooves splashed snow as Swallow ran.  For a hundred strides, Faile thought she might break free.  And then Swallow screamed and stumbled, pitching forward with the sharp snap of a breaking leg.  Faile flew through the air and struck hard, most of the breath driven out of her as she plunged facedown into the snow.  Fighting for air, she struggled to her feet and snatched a knife from her belt.  Swallow had screamed before that awful crack.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />Considering that Swallow screamed <i>before</i> breaking a leg and falling to the ground, it seems that Rolan was in position to hamstring the horse in classic Aiel fashion.  Later, Sulin returns from investigating the site of the ambush with the other Maidens, and Briain reveals more details about the organization and implementation of the attack.<br /><br />&quot;A young faced Maiden named Briain shook her head.  'Three men would have been made <i>gai'shain</i>, I think, but they fought too hard and were killed with knife or spear.  All the rest died by arrow.' &quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>The Scent of Madness</i><br /><br />The implication of Briain's analysis is that the Shaido and <i>Mera'din</i> had very specific targets singled out for capture.  Considering the relative ease of Faile's capture, it seems likely that this was Rolan's singular responsibility.  It also seems reasonable that specific Aiel likewise targeted the other captives.  Facing such long odds, and with no organized defense, Berelain should have been taken as easily as the rest.  The fact that she alone evaded capture suggests that she was allowed to escape.<br /><br /><b>The Mission</b><br /><br />One hundred fifty <i>Far Dareis Mai</i> and <i>Mera'din</i> were a full days march from the main body of the Shaido.  Some forty miles by Sulin's estimate in <i>The Scent of Madness</i>, they were only ten miles from Perrin's camp, and probably a similar distance from Abila and the Prophet's hordes.  What was the Aiel's objective in coming to such a place?<br /><br />&quot; 'I say again, Efalin,' the man who had captured her muttered, 'this is foolishness.  We travel at a crawl in this...snow.'  He said the word awkwardly.  'There are too many armed men, here.  We should be moving east, not taking more <i>gai'shain</i> to slow us further.' 'Sevanna wants more <i>gai'shain</i>, Rolan,' the graying Maiden replied.  She frowned, though, and her hard gray eyes seemed disapproving for a moment.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />While it seems logical on the surface to conclude that these Aiel were scouting their enemies and took advantage of an opportune target, this is the only explicit mention of their mission's objective.  It is never stated or even implied that their mission was anything other than capturing <i>gai'shain</i>.  Additionaly, there are several clues that contradict the idea that this was a scouting party with standing orders to capture any aristocracy they happened upon.<br /><br /><b>Therava</b><br /><br />&quot; 'We decided,' Therava said, 'that just as a clan chief must have a Wise One to advise him, so must you (Sevanna) have a Wise One's advice. <i>I</i> will advise you.' &quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Questions and an Oath</i><br /><br />The nature of the exchange between Efalin and Rolan suggests they were both uneasy about their mission.  While these warriors may not have the political clout to dissuade Sevanna from her desires, the same cannot be said of Therava.  Therava, however, would not approve of any mission to send <i>algai'd'siswai</i> miles away to capture more <i>gai'shain</i>.<br /><br />&quot;'What have we here?' a woman's hard voice said.  Faile looked up and stared, hot tea gone from her thoughts for the moment... 'What we have is more <i>gai'shain</i> for Sevanna,' the incredibly tall woman said in amused tones...'Sevanna will not be satisfied until the entire world is <i>gai'shain</i>, Therava.  Not that I would object to that myself,' she finished with a laugh. The eagle-eyed Wise One did not laugh.  Her face was stone.  'Sevanna has too many <i>gai'shain</i> already, Someryn.  We have too many <i>gai'shain</i>.  They slow us to a crawl when we should race.'&quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>Offers</i> <br /><br />The surprise and consternation that Therava displays at the arrival of Faile and the remnants of her hunting party directly contradicts the idea that Shaido scouting parties have standing orders to bring in <i>gai'shain</i>.  Therava is not likely to allow such orders to stand without trying to change them, and she is unlikely to be surprised when such orders are fulfilled by the arrival of more <i>gai'shain</i> such as Faile.  <br /><br />Furthermore, it seems somewhat dubious that Sevanna would choose to countermand Therava over an issue like giving scouts standing orders to capture <i>gai'shain</i>.  From Brytan and Malden, it is apparent that the Shaido are finding plenty of victims directly in their line of march.  It is an unnecessary risk, both politically and militarily, to send out groups of <i>algai'd'siswai</i> with the dual objectives of scouting and capturing more <i>gai'shain</i>.<br /><br /><b>Efalin</b><br /><br />Therava's disapproval is one indication that the mission to capture Faile was not a routine scout.  Another is Efalin's presence in the group.<br /><br />&quot;Efalin was pacing outside, <i>shoufa</i> draped around her neck, bow cased on her back, spears and buckler in hand....The leader of all the Shaido Maidens....She was not Jumai, but she had come with Sevanna using the excuse that Sevanna spoke as the chief until a new chief of the Shaido could be chosen.  Sevanna was sure that Efalin suspected that would never happen.  Efalin knew where the power lay.  And when to keep her mouth closed.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Questions and an Oath</i><br /><br />In this scene, Efalin and a small group of Maidens were guarding the barn where Sevanna and some of the other Wise Ones tortured a Seanchan prisoner.  Afterwards Efalin was also responsible for disposing of the prisoner's body.  This indicates Efalin's privileged status, because Sevanna was intent on keeping the Seanchan's existence, as well as his revelations, secret.  There is also a hint in this scene that Efalin was not part of the routine scouting party that captured the man.<br /><br />&quot;The Maidens with Efalin were those that had captured the Seanchan.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Questions and an Oath</i><br /><br />At the very least, Efalin's role in capturing the Seanchan is ambiguous.  It would have been easy for RJ to explicitly indicate that Efalin was with the scouts by writing this sentence a little differently.  For example: &quot;Efalin and the Maidens with her were those that had captured the Seanchan.&quot;  I think RJ's ambiguity is purposeful, but the truth is that characters with leadership roles comparable to Efalin's simply do not go on routine scouting missions.<br /><br />&quot;For the first two days after leaving the city, Sulin and Nandera both put themselves forward whenever Rhuarc said anything concerning the Maidens.&quot; -- <b>LoC</b>, <i>The Sending</i><br /><br />&quot;This was not the first time she (Galina) had suggested that he (Gawyn) lead a scout himself; he suspected if he did, he would find Aiel, and not tame.  'Whoever they are, they've killed one of my men.'  At least one; there were still six scouts out.&quot; -- <b>LoC</b>, <i>Dumai's Wells</i><br /><br />&quot;Havien Nurelle came running, buttoning up his coat, before Perrin was well past the sentries....'The morning patrols saw nothing, those that are back.  I would have reported otherwise.' &quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Tangles</i><br /><br />&quot;Off to one side on the slope, beneath a bedraggled sourgum, perhaps a dozen Maidens in <i>cadin'sor</i> knelt in a circle around Sulin, the toughest of them despite her white hair.  She had sent out scouts, too, women who could move as fast afoot as the Mayeners on their horses and were much more likely to escape unwanted attention.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Tangles</i><br /><br />The reality is that lieutenants such as Efalin, Sulin, Nandera, Gawyn and Nurelle need to stay close to the men and women they follow.  Their role is to collate the information that their scouts bring in and provide it to those above them in the chain of command, as well as disseminating their commanders' orders down the chain to the troopers.  Neither of these things can be effectively accomplished if the lieutenants are out in the field with the scouts.  Only under extraordinary circumstances do these lieutenants go out with their scouts, such as Sulin's decision to take every available <i>Far Dareis Mai</i> to investigate the ambush and track the Shaido.  Efalin's presence in the group that captures Faile is an important clue that this was an extraordinary, not routine, mission.<br /><br />If, on the other hand, the party that captured the Seanchan in <i>Questions and an Oath</i> can be considered an example of a routine scouting mission, then it is strikingly different from the one that captured Faile and her friends in two other respects.  One is its size.<br /><br />&quot;The lone survivor of ten mounted men who thought they could defeat twenty Maidens because they rode horses, the man also had been the first Seanchan captured in the ten days since their arrival in this land.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Questions and an Oath</i><br /><br />With the Seanchan only two days away in Amador, a distance that is probably similar to the distance between Abila and the Shaido in <i>Beginnings</i>, the Maidens are scouting in a group of twenty, not one hundred and fifty.  In <i>Changes</i>, the Mayener scouts only number ten, and the groups of Dragonsworn that Perrin chases off in <i>A Goatpen</i> number only a dozen.  Thus it seems unlikely that any Shaido group scouting around Abila would expect to encounter armed groups more formidible than ten Seanchan scouts unless they were foolish enough to engage either Perrin or the Prophet's main force.<br /><br /><b>The Brotherless</b><br /><br />The other obvious difference between the scouts that captured the Seanchan and the raiders that captured Faile are the presence of the <i>Mera'din</i>.  It is interesting to note how the Shaido feel about these outcasts they have taken in.<br /><br />&quot;Now that they knew who he (Kinhuin) was, some (of the Wise Ones) could not hide their dislike of the men who had abandoned clan and sept to come to the Shaido rather than follow Rand al'Thor, a wetlander and no true <i>Car'a'carn</i>, as they thought.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Questions and an Oath</i><br /><br />Even Faile, new as she is to interacting with the Shaido, notes the nature of the relationship between the Shaido and the Brotherless.<br /><br />&quot;In any case, the Brotherless were almost as much outsiders among the Shaido as the wetlanders.  None of the Shaido really trusted them...&quot; -- <b>CoT</b>, <i>Traps</i><br /><br />Scouting is absolutely critical to maintaining the safety of the main body.  It is not the kind of mission that any commander would trust to troops that do not have his or her complete confidence.  Why would Sevanna include such troops on this mission?<br /><br />&quot;For all their (the Wise Ones) misliking the Brotherless - and her (Sevanna) making predictions to the man about their decision - chances were they <i>would</i> decide that way (in favor of the Brotherless).  Either way, Kinhuin would remember and tell others of his so-called society.  The Jumai were already in her belt pouch, but anything that tied the <i>Mera'din</i> to her was welcome.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Questions and an Oath</i><br /><br />Putting together Therava's reaction to seeing Faile with Sevanna's thoughts about the <i>Mera'din</i> leads to the conclusion that Sevanna used the Brotherless and her trusted lieutenant Efalin in a secret mission to capture some individuals worthy of being added to her personal retinue of <i>gai'shain</i>.<br /><br /><b>Abila and Beyond</b><br /><br />&quot; 'The rest are dead or escaped,' the man said, dropping the small Cairhienin woman beside Faile.  'Sevanna will have to be satisfied, Efalin.  She puts too much store in taking people who wear silk.' &quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />Not only are these Aiel hunting <i>gai'shain</i> for Sevanna, but they are looking specifically for those that are nobly born, or at least wealthy enough to be members of the aristocracy, the only class of people likely to be wearing silk.  Abila and its surrounding countryside, however, contain a dearth of victims that Sevanna would find suitable.<br /><br />&quot;Off to the left, short of where the road crossed a wooden bridge over a frozen stream that twisted along the town's edge, charred timbers thrust out of the snow atop a large square stone platform with drifts piled around the bottom.  Slow to proclaim allegiance to the Dragon Reborn, the local lord had been lucky merely to be flogged and fined all he possessed.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />Nor is the local lord the only person to have his station in life reduced by Masema and his throng.  Almost all evidence of wealth has been eradicated from Abila.<br /><br />&quot;The streets were jammed with people, but Perrin and his companions were the only ones on horseback....Except for those wearing worn cast offs or possibly stolen clothes, everyone wore drab woolens.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />Even the people that submit to the Prophet and support him do not gain reprieve from his aversion to outward displays of wealth.<br /><br />&quot;It took only one question, put to a lanky young man with an ecstatic light on his face to learn where the Prophet was staying, and three more to other folk in the streets to find the merchant's house, four stories of gray stone with white marble moldings and window frames....In a few moments, a woman came to the door.  Handsome, with white at her temples, in a high-necked dress of blue wool that was fine if unadorned, she might have been the merchant herself.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />And this poverty extends beyond the town of Abila, and into the surrounding countryside.<br /><br />&quot;The throng held few who looked as if they lived in the town, drab folk in drab clothes for the most part scuttling fearfully along the sides of the street, and no children.&quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>Leaving the Prophet</i><br /><br />It also extends into Amadicia as whole.<br /><br />&quot; 'King Ailron has brought the Seanchan to battle near the town of Jeramel, approximately one hundred miles west of here.  This was about ten days ago.'  Balwer's mouth pursed momentarily in irritation....'Ailron himself was taken, along with his entire court.  Amadicia no longer has any nobility, not to amount to anything.' &quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>Leaving the Prophet</i><br /><br />Even beyond Amadicia, it would not be any easier in Ghealdan for Efalin's small group of Aiel to snatch as rich a prize of <i>gai'shain</i> as Faile and her entourage for Sevanna.<br /><br />&quot; 'It's worse than back north,' Furen said disgustedly....'The local nobles are shut in their manors or the town....They've abandoned the countryside to the Prophet's men.' -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>A Goatpen</i><br /><br />It seems as though most scouting patrols would not have many opportunities to capture desirable <i>gai'shain</i>.  Adding this to the resistance Sevanna would face from Therava in routinely ordering the scouts to capture nobility, it is reasonable to conclude that Efalin was sent after a specific target: Faile.  In order to acquire that target, however, Sevanna must have known about Faile and where to find her.  As the only character that evades capture, Berelain is the primary candidate for providing that information to Sevanna, and there are several details that indicate Berelain may have orchestrated Faile's capture.<br /><br /><b>The Competition</b><br /><br />Would Berelain want to remove her rival in the competition for Perrin's affections?  Many readers think not, but I believe that Berelain is primarily concerned with winning that competition, while being able to gloat in victory over Faile is almost certainly secondary.  First, Min's vision clearly shows the hawk is connected principally to Perrin.<br /><br />&quot;A falcon and a hawk, perching on your shoulders.&quot; -- <b>TDR</b>, <i>The Hunt Begins</i><br /><br />The second vision with the hawk and falcon symbols comes to Egwene in her dreams, and again the hawk is far more interested in Perrin than she is in the falcon.<br /><br />&quot;Perrin with a falcon on his shoulder, and Perrin with a hawk.  Only the hawk held a leash in her talons - Egwene was somehow convinced both hawk and falcon were female - and the hawk was trying to fasten it around Perrin's neck.&quot; -- <b>TDR</b>, <i>Questions</i><br /><br />It isn't until the third vision, Egwene's second, that the competition between the two avian symbols emerges.<br /><br />&quot;She had dreamed of Perrin with a wolf, and with a falcon, and a hawk, and the falcon and the hawk fighting....&quot; -- <b>TDR</b>, <i>Fires in Cairhien</i><br /><br />Even in this vision, as well as in the final one containing the two birds, Perrin is the central figure, and the competition revolves around him.<br /><br />&quot;Perrin came and stood before her (Egwene), a wolf lying at his feet, a hawk and a falcon perched on his shoulders glaring at each other over his head.&quot; -- <b>LoC</b>, <i>A Pile of Sand</i><br /><br />All four visions indicate the prominence of Perrin in this three-way relationship.  The competition for him does have importance, but it is subordinated to Perrin's direct relationship with each of the two raptors.  While the hawk and falcon always appear in conjunction with each other, that does not necessarily mean that either hawk or falcon wouldn't prefer to alter that paradigm.  Moving from the surreal to the concrete, there is ample evidence that suggests Berelain is more interested in seducing Perrin than she is in punishing Faile.<br /><br />&quot;She still made no move toward the door.  'You are a blacksmith?  I have need of a blacksmith in Mayene.  Making ornamental ironwork.  A short stay before returning to the Two Rivers?  You would find Mayene...entertaining.' 'I am going home,' he told her firmly, 'and you are going back to your own rooms.' Her small shrug made him look away again hastily.  'Perhaps another day.  I always get what I want in the end.  And I think I want...'  She paused, eyeing him up and down.  '...ornamental ironwork.  For the windows of my bedchamber.'  She smiled so innocently that he felt alarm gongs sounding his head.&quot;  -- <b>TSR</b>, <i>Customs of Mayene</i><br /><br />Since this entire exchange occurs before Faile enters the room, perhaps before Berelain even realizes that Perrin already has another lover, it clearly indicates Berelain's interest is first and foremost with Perrin.  This impression is reinforced after Perrin and Faile arrive in Cairhien two books later.<br /><br />&quot;It began that very first day, when he had been in Cairhien scarcely long enough to be shown to rooms in the Sun Palace.  Faile went off with Bain and Chiad to explore, and he was stripped to the waist and washing when he suddenly smelled perfume, not heavy but strong to his nose, and a warm voice behind him said, 'I always did think you must have a beautiful back, Perrin.' &quot; -- <b>LoC</b>, <i>Thorns</i><br /><br />Berelain again makes her first move while Faile is absent, and while the two women do have a confrontation in the halls of the Sun Palace, Berelain continually attempts to approach Perrin when he is alone.<br /><br />&quot;Berelain began stalking him....It was only a series of chance encounters in hallways, it seemed, a few innocuous words almost in passing.  But after a while he knew either his being <i>ta'veren</i> was twisting chance completely out of shape or Berelain was arranging matters, unlikely as that seemed....There were just too many of those 'chance' encounters, though.&quot; -- <b>LoC</b>, <i>Thorns</i><br /><br />Of course, Faile does witness at least one of these meetings between Berelain and Perrin, showing that the First is not avoiding his wife completely.  When Perrin attempts to evade Berelain, however, she is more interested in meeting Perrin privately than in confronting Faile with her flirtations.<br /><br />&quot;The first night when he returned to the Sun Palace, with his unstrung bow on his shoulder, pleasantly tired from all that walking, only a chance stir in the air brought Berelain's scent in time to stop him from walking into the main entry hall of the palace....The next night Berelain was waiting in the hallway outside his rooms; he had to hide around a corner half the night before she gave up.  Every night she was waiting, as if she could pretend a chance encounter when no one else was awake but a few servants.&quot; -- <b>LoC</b>, <i>Thorns</i><br /><br />Any lingering doubts about the veracity of this claim that Berelain is much more interested in approaching Perrin while he is alone should be resolved by examining Perrin's reaction when Berelain finally does come to him in the company of his wife.<br /><br />&quot;Perrin had heard the door latch click, and at the sight of her, with half her bosom exposed, fury almost washed everything else out of his head.  The woman came <i>here</i>, to carry on her flirting in front of his <i>wife</i>?&quot; -- <b>LoC</b>, <i>The Feast of Lights</i><br /><br />In fact, it seems that the competition between the two women doesn't truly begin until after Perrin leaves Cairhien with both falcon and hawk in tow.  This new circumstance forces Berelain into flirting with Perrin in front of Faile.  Whether or not Berelain prefers to interact with Perrin in Faile's presence is immaterial;  she simply has no choice due to of the confined nature of traveling and camping with the couple.  And once this situation is established, Berelain simply cannot compete with Perrin's true love.<br /><br />&quot;By some miracle, her husband, her beloved wolf, had begun behaving as he should.  Instead of shouting at Berelain or running from her, Perrin now tolerated the jade's blandishments, plainly tolerated them the way he would a child playing around his knees.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />A woman as astute as Berelain would recognize that the tide of the competition has turned against her.  In this circumstance, I believe it is entirely possible that Berelain would consider some drastic actions to gain the upper hand.<br /><br /><b>Camping</b><br /><br />Could Berelain have effectively coordinated with Sevanna to remove her rival for Perrins affection?  To do so, the First would need three things: the ability to hide her intentions from her victims, time to find and correspond with Sevanna, and the personnel to carry out her schemes.  A detailed survey of Perrin's various camps can adress the first requirement.<br /><br />&quot;It was three camps, really, close to one another and none far from the stream.  They traveled together, all following him, obeying him supposedly, but there were too many personalities involved, and no one was entirely sure the others aimed at the same goal.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>A Simple Country Woman</i><br /><br />Throughout his travels in Ghealdan, Amadicia and Altara, Perrin is in a very divisive situation.  Despite the camps proximity to each other, it is difficult for them to maintain a steady watch on each other.<br /><br />&quot;Just then, he heard shouting from the Mayener camp, the sound of arguing, loud enough that the Two Rivers men stood to peer through the trees, though the side of the hill hid everything.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Changes</i><br /><br />Nor does arriving in the countryside near Abila fundamentally change matters.  Perrin's army is still divided, and there remains a considerable distance between Berelain's tent and the other camps.<br /><br />&quot;The trees did not hide the crest of the hill completely.  Two Rivers men still stood guard up there, but the tents were down and he could make out loaded packhorses.  He thought he saw a black coat, too; one of the Asha'man, though he could not see which.&quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>Flags</i><br /><br />If the distance is too great for Perrin's enhanced vision to discern details, than Berelain should have ample opportunity to carry out secretive meetings.  Berelain's aversion to placing her tent close to Perrin carries on after Faile's capture, too, despite the integration of her soldiers with the Ghealdanin and Two Rivers men.<br /><br />&quot;The only other tents erected anywhere in the camp were those of Berelain and her two serving women, on the other side of the camp, not far from Brytan's few houses.&quot; -- <b>CoT</b>, <i>The Forging of a Hammer</i><br /><br />The divisive nature of the groups under Perrin's command, and Berelain's consistently distant choice for her tent site, could easily allow her to receive and dispatch discreet messengers and hold clandestine meetings.  <br /><br /><b>Timing</b><br /><br />This leads to the second requirement: did Berelain have enough time to organize such meetings?<br /><br />&quot;Behind him, he (Perrin) heard Neald make a ribald joke in a low voice; Grady grunted in reply, and Balwer sniffed prissily.  None of the three seemed at all affected by what they had seen and heard this past month since crossing the border into Amadicia, or by what lay ahead.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />Since it took some amount of time for them to get to the Amadician-Ghealdanin border from Bethel, Berelain has had more than a month to work on her scheme.   This should be plenty of time to arrange any number of meetings or messages with the Shaido.  Providing, of course, that she can find them.<br /><br />&quot;There had been tales about Aiel in the villages recently, too.  None of these folk had ever seen an Aiel, but rumors about the Aiel following the Dragon Reborn drifted in the air, half of Ghealdan was sure there were Aiel just a day or two away, and each story was stranger and more horrible than the last.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Changes</i><br /><br />Even a month before Faile's abduction, the Shaido are not all that distant from Berelain.  Of course, these Aiel in Ghealdan are not Jumai, but quickly contacting any Shaido should assist Berelain in tracking down Sevanna.  Once she does find Sevanna, Berelain would need enough time to correspond with the woman who speaks as clan chief.  Interestingly enough, RJ provides an example of how much more quickly the distance between Bethel and Abila can be covered by small groups than by Perrin's extensive entourage.<br /><br />&quot; 'So it is you (Perrin),' Masema growled.  'I did not think you would dare show your face.  I know what you've been up to!  Hari told me more than a week ago, and I have kept myself informed.' &quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Beginnings</i><br /><br />If Hari and his fellow ruffians can reach Abila afoot more than ten days ahead of Perrin, Berelain should have the time she would need to track down and correspond with Sevanna.  This is corroborated by a description of the Winged Guards' range on horseback.<br /><br />&quot; 'My Lord Gallenne, my Lord Aybara,' he (Squadman Ortis) said in a gravelly voice.  'We came on these turnip-eaters about two leagues to the west, my Lords.' &quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>Changes</i><br /><br />Squadman Ortis' patrol can cover four leagues in a single day (two leagues out and two leagues back) even with the additional encumberance of unmounted Dragonsworn prisoners on the way back.  This means that the forty leagues between Abila and Bethel could be covered in less than ten days.  Those calculations would provide Berelain with plenty of time to send and receive several messages to Sevanna via horseback.  She would have that time, that is, if she can meet the third requirement.  <br /><br /><b>Trackers and Messengers</b><br /><br />So, does Berelain have the right personnel, and the right type of personnel, to carry out such a devious scheme?  First of all, Berelain's two thief-catchers, Gendar and Santes, could prove useful in such an endeavor.  <br /><br />&quot; 'How do you know?' he demanded.  'Your thief-catchers?'  She had a pair, brought from Mayene, and she sent them off to learn what they could at every town or village.  Between them they had never learned half of what Balwer did.  Not that she told him, anyway.&quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>Flags</i><br /><br />Beyond gathering intelligence, the thief-catchers' specialized skills also include tracking.  Those two skill-sets could allow them to locate some Shaido to serve as a point of contact for Berelain.  Next, there is the Winged Guards.<br /><br />&quot;Some nine hundred or so Winged Guards had their cook fires crowded between lines of picketed horses in a broad meadow of trampled brown grass....Some looked up as Perrin passed, a number straightened from what they were doing to study additions to the party, but none came running, so the patrols were still out.  Small patrols, without lances, who could see without being seen.&quot; -- <b>TPoD</b>, <i>A Simple Country Woman</i><br /><br />With nine hundred men to pick from, Berelain should be able to dispatch a few as messengers without arousing suspicions over their absence.  That the Mayeners send out their own scouting patrols also makes it easier to hide the comings and goings of a few messengers.  One of those &quot;patrols&quot; could slip away to deliver a message to the Shaido.  Reentering the camp would not be any more difficult, because the messengers could simply pretend to be a returning patrol.  This kind of subterfuge might escape Perrin's notice since there is no indication that he keeps detailed accounts of Gallenne's patrols.<br /><br /><b>Insurance</b><br /><br />Berelain needs to have men that can do more than just find the Shaido or carry some messages back and forth.  Considering Sevanna's obsession with taking nobility captive, Berelain would also need to insure her own safety in such a dangerous enterprise.  Refusing to accompany Faile and Alliandre on their hawking expedition would rouse too much suspicion once they were captured, so Berelain would need armsmen ready to deter any treachery on Sevanna's part, or pull her from the fray, if need be.<br /><br />&quot;I (Berelain) have sent a squad of lancers to scout.  We were about ten miles to the southeast, so they should return with news about nightfall.&quot; -- <b>WH</b> <i>Taken</i><br /><br />Perhaps the First is innocent of my accusations, and she did send out her lancers to scout.  But she could easily be lying, and had them positioned to stage her rescue.  Twenty lancers would be outmatched by one hundred and fifty <i>algai'd'siswai</i> in a regular battle, but with a limited objective and the advantages of knowing their enemies position and attacking their rear, it might not be too difficult for them race in and rescue the First.  Berelain's description of the squad's fate can be used reinforce this suggestion that she deployed them before the Shaido ambush to insure her own safety.<br /><br />&quot;Under the perfume, Berelain smelled of surprise that he knew she was there, yet her voice was composed.  'No.  Your scouts haven't returned yet, and mine...When they didn't return by nightfall, I sent a full company.  The found my men dead in an ambush, killed before they had gone more than five or six miles.' &quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>Flags</i><br /><br />First of all, the squad is close enough to the site of Faile's capture for a lightning rescue, if necessary.  Second, Berelain could have sacrificed these men to insure the secrecy of her plan.  Any intimation by the squadsmen that they were not deployed by Berelain after her return to the camp might be enough to unravel the First's scheme.<br /><br />Suggesting that Berelain arranged for her own squad's demise at the hands of Dragonsworn savages does introduce a further complication.  It is possible, perhaps, that some Dragonsworn could be incited to ambush an armed patrol without actually involving the Prophet himself.  Such a scenario seems unlikely, however, and the only other possibility is that Berelain somehow convinced Masema to dispatch Dragonsworn for her dirty work.  Considering that &quot;tightly leashed fear quivered in her scent&quot; whenever Berelain speaks of Masema, this second scenario doesn't appear any more likely than the first.  There is, on the other hand, a very intriguing discrepency between Berelain's scent when she speaks of the Prophet and her scent when she actually confronts the man.<br /><br />&quot;Beside him, Berelain smelled of cool calm and stony determination.  No fear, oddly.  Not a whiff.&quot; -- <b>CoT</b>, <i>Blacksmith's Puzzle</i><br /><br />What is it that Berelain fears in discussing Masema with Perrin, but does not cause the same reaction in a face-to-face confrontation?  With close to three hundred armed men behind Masema at this meeting, one would logically expect Berelain to be terrified.  The blacksmith's puzzle is an apt analogy for this tangled situation, and it is apparent, at the very least, that very little in this situation is as it appears.<br /><br /><b>The Truce</b><br /><br />&quot;She hesitated, and he heard her slippers shift on the carpet.  She sighed softly.  'Perrin, I know you are hurting.  There are things you might want to say that you can't to another man.  I can't see you crying on Lini's shoulder, so I offer mine.  We can call a truce until Faile is found.' &quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>Flags</i><br /><br />Nothing has obfuscated Berelain's treachery quite as much as this farce of a truce that she offers to Perrin.  First, consider the setting that Berelain uses for this offer.  She has Perrin brought to her own tent, stripped naked and placed in her bed.  This candle lit scene with offers of sympathy and comfort is more appropriate for seduction than platonic friendship.  After all, the First could easily enact her truce by simply ceasing her inappropriate behavior.  There is no need to involve Perrin at all.  Then there is Berelain's reaction when Perrin reacts to her offer by questioning, &quot;Why do we need a truce?&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Suddenly he wondered if his nose had failed him.  Her scent was affronted, of all things!&quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>Flags</i><br /><br />Berelain is insulted, not by Perrin's refusal of her offer, but by his refusal to even acknowledge the necessity for such an offer.  Perrin is essentially telling Berelain she never stood any chance of victory in her contest with Faile, so her offer is utterly superfluous.  In fact, this might fulfill the first part of Min's viewing in <i>Thorns</i>: &quot;She'll be snubbed up, sooner or later.&quot;  And how does Berelain react to Perrin's refusal?  Does she adhere to the spirit of her offer?  Hardly.<br /><br />&quot; 'Despite what you may have heard, you will be only the third man to share my bed.'  Her eyes were...smoky...yet she might have been saying he was the third man she had spoken to that day.  Her scent....The only thing that came to mind was a wolf eyeing a deer caught in brambles.  'The other two were politics.  You will be pleasure.  In more ways than one,' she finished with a surprising touch of bite.&quot; -- <b>WH</b>, <i>Flags</i><br /><br />Not only does Berelain nix her truce within moments of offering it, she actually raises the stakes of her contest.  Using her maids and thief-catchers, Berelain implicates Perrin in the adultery that she desires.  Unfortunately for Perrin, avoiding the First for the twenty-two days between <i>The Scent of Madness</i> and <i>The Scent of a Dream</i> only confirms his guilt in the minds of his followers.<br /><br />The only evidence that Berelain could possibly be reforming her relationship with Perrin doesn't occur until the final three chapters that are currently written about this pair.<br /><br />&quot;He did not understand why she had stopped smelling as if he were a fat lamb caught in brambles for her her meal, but he almost felt grateful to her.  It was good to have someone he could talk to about missing Faile.  She listened, and smelled of sympathy.&quot; -- <b>CoT</b>, <i>When to Wear Jewels</i><br /><br />To me, it looks as though Berelain has finally realized that she needs to change her approach in order to win Perrin.  The wolf will not respond to the agressive seduction that has probably worked for the First in the past, so Berelain has switched her role.  Instead of lewd advances, she now offers comfort and sympathy.  The sympathy is even genuine, apparently, much the same as a parent might feel sympathy for a child they have just spanked.<br /><br /><b>Alliandre</b><br /><br />There is one final detail that needs to be examined in concluding this rather lengthy theory.  It is not Berelain that suggests this ill-fated hunting expedition to Faile, but Alliandre.  While this may seem to exonerate Berelain, I believe that exactly the opposite is true, and this is truly the final piece of evidence that indicts the First.  As evidenced by the events in <i>Encounters in Samara</i>, <i>A Goatpen</i>, and <i>Changes</i> Alliandre is quite fearful of Masema.  If Alliandre is afraid of traveling around her own country with fewer than a thousand soldiers, with the Prophet forty leagues distant and in a different country, why would she think that going out with a small hunting party only a few leagues from Abila is a good idea?  I think the reality is that Alliandre wouldn't think it was a good idea, unless she was encouraged in that belief.  In order to hide her intentions, and obscure her guilt, Berelain needs a dupe, and Alliandre fits the bill perfectly.<br /><br />First, Berelain must realize that any idea she proposes to Faile will probably be rejected out of hand, but, as her liege-lady, Faile has no reason to take Alliandre's suggestion at anything other than face value.  Second, considering the outcome of Faile's little jaunt, Berelain would certainly be indicted if she had originally proposed the hunting trip.  In order to avoid this suspicion, Berelain can use the gratitude from facilitating Alliandre's meeting with Perrin to induce this suggestion for a hunting trip.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion</b><br /><br />Faile's capture culminates a series of events that is too coincedental to be believed.  Alliandre just happens to overcome her fear of Masema long enough to suggest hunting while Perrin just happens to be distracted by meeting with Masema.  The Shaido just happen to send a raiding party searching for silken-clad <i>gai'shain</i> into an area that is notably lacking such individuals.  This raiding party just happens to be ideally designed for overcoming Faile's guards and capturing almost every desirable individual.  Berelain just happens to be the sole escapee, and she just happens to have an ideal opportunity to now pursue Perrin without the interference of her rival.  And this entire series of events just happens to occur when Berelain is on the verge of complete defeat in her contest with Faile.<br /><br />Ultimately, I believe a great deal of irony will be unveiled in Faile's concluding thoughts in <i>Beginnings</i>: &quot;It seemed a final blow.  Here she was, shivering and gritting her teeth to keep them from chattering, trying her best to pretend that she was not stark naked and bound, on her way to uncertain captivity.  All of that, and she had to hope that that slinking cat - that pouting trull! - Berelain, had managed to escape so she could reach Perrin.  Alongside everything else, that seemed the worst of all.&quot;</p><p><b>Simon says:</b> <br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-11 09:28:10
subject: the Song Needs to be Found
body:
<p>The song needs to be found not just to add to the plot or to unite the Aiel and Tinkers, the song is needed to feed all the armies running around the main land.  <br /><br />Let me explain.  This land is based on some sort of feudal system of lords and commoners.  Obviously there is a fantasy element which allows more freedom, but even so food is still produced on family farms which sell their excess food for a profit in the towns and cities.  This allows for small armies which were common up until Rand brought his hoard across the mountains.  Assuming that before this occurrence their usually was a surplus of food several factors have caused this surplus to disappear.<br /><br />The first most obvious reason for a lack of food is the crazy weather being unleashed on the World.  In TEotW the spring is extremely harsh and nothing can grow because of the late winter.  Eventually crops can be planted, only later than normal which would also wreck the second growing season of southern lands.  The season after this begins to grow and the weather becomes very hot at the end of the harvesting season. Both these events allow for good harvests but certainly not great yields.<br /><br />The second reason for the lack of food is the civil wars and rebellions that spring up on the Almoth Plain, in Arad Doman, and in Cairhien.  Civil wars disrupt internal production due to the very nature of the conflict.  Farms are burned men are taken off the plow to fight for lords; all in all not good for production.  Throw in a mad man leading starving displaced towns people, and Ghealdan has a major problem producing food.<br /><br />The reason for the requirement of so much food is the armies being raised as the series moves ahead. Now don&#8217;t get me wrong I love large armies, but I think Robert Jordan wants to try to keep things within the realm of probability.  Around Tar Von is an army of 40,000, and inside is an army that is growing (no known numbers, but perhaps 50,000).  In Northern Altara is 10,000 Shaido warriors and a large number of gai&#8217;shain (WOT FAQ).  Then theirs Perrin&#8217;s band with the prophet&#8217;s already starving men.  Add to that 9000 Whiteclokes and 15,000 Seanchan and that&#8217;s around 50,000 soldiers, not including regular Shaido, who would not normally be in this location.  Both Tear and Illian raised large armies, and Andor is crawling with troops Noble, Royal, and the Borderlanders.  The Aiel in Cairhien need to eat.  The Seanchan could not have brought enough food across with them to both make the voyage and have a lot of food left over.  Not to mention the Taraboners, Altarans, and Amadicians running around in armor for the Seanchan.  Tear has often supplied lots of grain as have other untouched areas, which wether brought on barge or  through gateways helps explain food problems.  It has come to the point however where there will be a major lack of food.<br /><br />The men in these multiple armies have to come from somewhere, and many are said to be farmers.  With the planting season approaching too many men are away (even counting the new Seanchan settlers) to support the huge armies being raised by their own nations, and the large influx of foreigners, ie Aiel, Seanchan, and Seafolk.  <br /><br />I&#8217;ve been thinking about this for a while and the answers always was the Aes Sedai have been warding and storing food for generations to prepare for this.  But now the wardings are failing, for instance the army around Tar Von is losing food, and the sisters seem unable to prevent the loss of these critical supplies.  Any preparations thought up by the sisters, and acutely remembered (they have many memory blanks), would now be usless.   <br /> <br />The only real answer beside some unmentioned supply or a dragon trick is the song.  RJ has been talking about it since the TEotW, and he tends to talk about things for a specific reason.  The song allows the quick production of vast amounts of food, which these huge forces need.  <br /><br />The problems of course no Nym.  Nym it seems were needed to help the song along.  The solution either create new Nym or find an adequate replacement. <br /><br />Well thats it.  Its just a thought, but if its wrong I would really want to know where the food is coming from.                      <br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-13 03:56:31
subject: Three Cheers for Balefire
body:
<p>What is time? Time is not seconds or minutes. It isn&#8217;t days or hours. Most people with half a brain and any propensity towards inquisitive thought have already come to this conclusion. <br /><br />My answer is that time is the perception of change. Why do I say this? I first came up with the idea when I was thinking of the perception of time that an elf or some other immortal type might have. An immortal stays basically the same for all of time. Everything else changes around him. Does he, then, perceive time as flying by or crawling by? It&#8217;s a tough question&#8212;one we can&#8217;t really get any perspective on.<br /><br />So time is change; change is time. Imagine yourself in a void. No sound, no light, no extension. You do not have the capacity for thought; only endless perception. What is there of time in this &#8220;place?&#8221; There is nothing. All that time is (in our world) is the measurement of the Earth&#8217;s change in position relative to the Sun. There really is nothing else to it. But let&#8217;s say there was no sun (but some other static source of light, such as light bulbs, or something). How will we measure time? Well, we could measure it by the beating of our hearts. Thud-silence-thud-silence-thud-silence. But what is that? It&#8217;s just another form of change. <br /><br />At any rate, I think most of you will agree with me that time = change. If I&#8217;m wrong&#8230;oh well&#8212;shame on me, right?<br /><br />So how does this relate to Balefire? Some of you may already have figured it out. <br /><br />I was having a discussion with my office-mate, the other day, about the nature of time and time travel. His position was that time travel is possible. My position was (and still is) that it is not now and never will be. So naturally, being philosophers, we had to argue it. We had the above discussion on the nature of time. <br /><br />If you agree with that, then, you should agree with this statement: <br />To travel backwards in time, one would have to essentially unchange the changes that had happened since the point to which you wished to return. For example, let&#8217;s create a very simple hypothetical. I&#8217;m in a room. It&#8217;s square. No windows, no door (forget how I got in). There is no light source, but I can still see. The only other thing in the room with me is a piece of ice. The room is warm, so the ice begins to melt. Soon, all that is left is a small puddle of water on the floor. To travel back in time to the point where the ice was still completely frozen, I would have to unchanged the change of it melting as well as the changes I myself underwent during the elapsed time. <br /><br />But this obviously presents a problem. Namely, how do I unchanged changes that have already happened without simply adding further changes to the time-track of something. I could re-freeze the ice cube, but we all know that that wouldn&#8217;t do anything other than make it frozen again. I would have to unmelt the ice/water. Right? But this is impossible&#8212;not to mention the fact that I myself would have to unperceived what I had perceived. <br /><br />When I finished making this point to my office-mate, he finally conceded that it was not possible. &#8220;But,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If it was possible to unchanged changes, then one could travel in time, right?&#8221; I agreed because it didn&#8217;t matter.<br /><br />Enter Balefire. <br /><br />What does Balefire do? Well, in some sort of primitive way, it unchanges changes at their source. Take the Rahvin incident as an example. Lightning kills Aviendha. Rand uber-balefires Rahvin ; unchanges the changes that Rahvin executed. Aviendha is immediately dropped back in time to before she was killed and is (obviously) fine.<br /><br />There is, however, a significant problem, here; namely, the paradox of balefire. Rand balefires Rahvin, which undoes any effects Rahvin had over the last few minutes. But afterwards, Rand is still standing where he balefired Rhavin and has still gone through the actions leading up to him doing so. <br /><br />Technically speaking, such an instance should create a metaphysical black hole, as it were. As soon as Rand balefires Rahvin, Rahvin  ceases to have lightninged Aviendha, leaving no reason (in the second past) for Rand to be chasing Rahvin as he does, thereby cancelling out the circumstances which led to Rahvin&#8217;s death by balefire.<br /><br />(This is where I realized that there was a problem with my unchanging changes theory.)<br /><br />But this does not all happen, as we can see from the fact that Rand is still standing there and Rahvin is still wasted. Nobody has really been able to figure out anything beyond this point. I&#8217;m not claiming to have done so, but I do have a few ideas.<br /><br />We know that if balefire is used too much, it unravels the whole pattern. This makes sense. Think about three threads&#8212;Rand, Aviendha, and Rahvin. Rahvin has an effect on Aviendha, which effect has its own effect upon Rand, who in turn effects Rahvin and negates the effects the effect that set off the whole chain in the first place. All of a sudden, one thread disappears entirely, the other thread is cut back, and the third thread remains the same. There is no longer enough thread to hold the weave together at that point&#8212;it&#8217;s just some thread&#8217;s hanging out in space. It would be like trying to braid with one strand.<br /><br />But some sense can be made by realizing that Rahvin didn&#8217;t completely cease to exist. He only ceased to exist in the time elapsed from somewhere around the lightning incident. He obviously still existed before that because Rand&#8217;s gang is still there, hunting him. <br /><br />So what actually happened to the threads? Try too look at it from a weaver&#8217;s perspective:<br /><br />1) Rand&#8217;s thread simply continues on past the balefire.<br />2) As soon as Rahvin is balefired, his thread is burned back 20 minutes, or so and basically cauterized so that it can&#8217;t just keep going from that point.<br />3) Aviendha&#8217;s thread was punched out of the pattern of the living (though not severed) by Rahvin&#8217;s lightning. Rand pulls it back in by using balefire 20 minutes after it was punched out. <br /><br />So the total effect is that for 20 minutes, Rand&#8217;s thread makes no sense. Hence the danger of the pattern unravelling. But then Aviendha&#8217;s is pulled back in, and the weaver can continue weaving&#8212;though with a different pattern, cause you can&#8217;t braid with two strands, either. The 20 minutes of the solitude of Rand&#8217;s thread will remain, but the weaver can loop the thread around and just tie it off to Aviendha&#8217;s.<br /><br />The true paradox: <br />From Rand&#8217;s point of view, Aviendha was dead for 20 minutes.<br />From Aviendha&#8217;s point of view, nothing happened at all.<br /><br />Both are correct. Aviendha is simply 20 minutes younger, relative to Rand. So what happened? <br /><br />Aviendha traveled 20 minutes into her Future and wound up (forgive the pun) in Rand&#8217;s Present. <br /><br />According to my unchanging changes theory, it would seem that Rand would have traveled into the Past. But that didn&#8217;t happen because he obviously had to have done what he did in those elapsed 20 minutes for anything to make any sense. This is why Aviendha instead came to the Future. <br /><br />Well, while I realize that I in this theory I have inextricably interwoven balefire and time travel (in my own mind), I hope I have done some thing to unravel the mystery of the balefire paradox.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-16 04:37:20
subject: The Darkfriend High Lord of Tear
body:
<p>Most people believe that Weiramon is the Tairen High Lord whom Bors saw at the DF Social in TGH, prologue, mainly because Weiramon seems to be an idiot. <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/wink.gif" border="0" /><br /><br />In my view there is another good candidate, namely Tedosian.<br /><br />Tedosian is also a High Lord, but contrary to Weiramon always worked against Rand.<br /><br />It's told in TSR, ch.8, that Tedosian was one of those who tried to resist Rand's reasonable orders to lower the taxes, treat with Mayene and transport grain to Illian. <br /><br />Especially the last order was very useful for Rand as seen in ACoS, ch.41, where Gregorin tells Rand that the sending of the grain is the reason why they crown him.<br /><br />One should note that also Be'lal as High Lord Samon wanted to create more hate and war between Tear and Illian. <br /><br />This is made clear by the Tairen Captain Huan Mallia in TDR, ch.32:<br />&quot;One day we&#8217;ll loot Illian bare, tear down every town and village, and sow their filthy<br />ground with salt.&quot; [...]  &quot;Even their olives are putrid! One day we&#8217;ll carry every last Illianer pig off in chains! That is what the High Lord Samon says.&quot;<br /><br />This shows that Tedosian's opposition would suit the Shadow.<br /><br />Later Moiraine even states:<br />&quot;Carleon and Tedosian were hardly loyal. Even to each other, it seems. They led the faction that want to kill Rand and try to forget he ever lived.&quot; (TSR, ch.17)<br /><br />We also learn in TSR, ch.17, that Tedosian killed the High Lord Carleon, which shows that he is quite scrupelous.<br /><br />In LoC, ch.4, it's said that Tedosian joined the rebellion against Rand in Haddon Mirk.<br /><br />Then in CoT, ch.18, we learn that he is still one the most prominent among the besiegers of the Stone of Tear.  <br /><br />Of course this rebellion and the siege create chaos which suits the Shadow.<br /><br />Finally, in TDR, ch.36, Perrin watches a meeting between Ishy and some of the Darkfriends who work for him in TAR. <br /><br />Ishy had pulled them into the Dreamworld, thus the men are frightened.<br /><br />It's said:<br />&quot;'I, too, sleep,' a naked man nearly screamed. 'In Tear. I remember lying down with my wife!'&quot;<br /><br />Then a bit later:<br />&quot;'You have been given tasks,' Ba&#8217;alzamon said. 'Some of these tasks you have carried out. At others, you have failed.&quot;<br /><br />Ishy's words could indicate that the men were among the people at the Darkfriend Social and got their task there.<br /><br />Furthermore, the only Tairen we know is a Darkfriend, is the High Lord of Tear at the Social.<br /><br />And the only High Lord we are told has a wife is Tedosian. <br />He is married to Lady Alteima, who, by the way, later became one of Rahvin's pets in Caemlyn.<br /><br />Maybe Tedosian got the order to watch Be'lal for Ishy.<br /><br />In conclusion, I believe it's likely that not the obvious choice Weiramon is the Darkfriend High Lord, but actually Tedosian, who aroused some suspicion during the series.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-23 03:51:44
subject: To break the Rules and beat the Finn
body:
<p><b> I. A Dream foretells it </b> <br /><br />Egwene dreamt in TFoH, ch.15, that &#8220;Thom Merrilin put his hand into a fire to draw out the small blue stone that now dangled on Moiraine's forehead&#8221;.  Therefore most people believe that Thom will play the major role in a rescue of Moiraine. <br /><br />She is probably held as a prisoner in Finnland, like Cyndane remembers she was (WH, ch.35). <br /><br />The question is, how will Thom achieve a rescue?<br /><br /><b> II. The Way through the Tower </b> <br /><br />RJ recently confirmed that the Tower of Ghenjei is an entry to Finnland, which was more widely known earlier in the land&#8217;s history, and implied that it will make an appearance in KoD. <br /><br />Thus it seems apparent that Thom will enter Finnland via the Tower of Ghenjei in Andor. <br /><br />Since Moiraine knew much about her future from Min, the Aelfinn and Rhuidean, it&#8217;s likely that Thom will get the idea that Moiraine is still alive and in Finnland from her letter which he reads quite often. <br /><br />Also Mat considers in CoT, ch.28:<br />&#8221;Well, he trusted Thom, when the white-haired gleeman could be routed out from playing Snakes and Foxes with Olver or mooning over a much creased letter he carried tucked in the breast of his coat.&#8221;<br /><br />As a gleeman Thom could know stories about the Tower of Ghenjei. <br /><br />If Thom travels there to rescue Moiraine, it seems likely that he first meets Birgitte in Caemlyn (or maybe Perrin on the way), who also knows about it, as seen in TSR, ch.28: <br />&#8221;The tower? It is a doorway, archer, to the realms of the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn.&#8221;<br /><br /><b> III. Cheating on the Snakes and Foxes </b> <br /><br />The real problem is, though, to deal with the Finn to get Moiraine out of Finnland.<br /><br /><b> a) How to cheat </b><br /><br />Birgitte says in TSR, ch.28, that you can only win against the Finn if you break their rules. <br /><br />She cites a line from the game Snakes and Foxes:<br />&#8220;Courage to strengthen, fire to blind, music to daze, iron to bind.&#8221; [&#8230;] Those are the ways to win against the snakes and the foxes. The game is a remembrance of old dealings.&#8220;<br /><br />That means the game Snakes and Foxes delivers the answer how to beat the Finn (and we often see several characters, especially Olver, Mat, Thom and Tuon play it).<br /><br />The game is described in LoC, ch.33:<br />20 snakes and foxes pieces try to catch two human pieces who try to flee.  Since there are many hunters, it&#8217;s impossible to win for the humans.<br /><br />Consequently a breaking of the rules would be that the two humans don&#8217;t flee anymore, but try to catch a snake or fox themselves.<br /><br />I think this is exactly what Thom and someone else who will accompany him (Olver is a good possibility) will do: They will catch a Finn.<br /><br />According to the quoted line of the game you need courage, fire, music and iron to beat the Finn.<br /><br />As said, I believe Thom and his companion will enter the Tower of Ghenjei to rescue Moiraine; this goal will already prove their courage and strengthen them.<br /><br />The Finn forbid visitors to have fire, music and iron. <br /><br />One Finn tells Mat in TSR, ch.15: <br />&#8220;You have brought no lamps, no torches, as the agreement was, and is, and ever will be. You have no iron? No instruments of music?&#8221;<br /><br />Therefore to &#8220;break the rules&#8221; you have to bring items which provide you with fire and music (to blind and daze the Finn) and iron (to bind a Finn). <br /><br />I don't believe, though, Thom can e.g. simply take his harp or flute with him and thus cheat on the Finn, though they clearly state that it is forbidden to carry such instruments. Plus, it seems much too easy. <br /><br />For this reason, I believe you have to deceive the Finn. That means you have to cheat them, so that the wording of the agreement is not broken, but of course the meaning violated.  Furthermore, the Finn mustn&#8217;t realize that you have the items to beat them until it&#8217;s too late. <br /><br />Therefore the basic idea is that Thom has to bring items to Finnland which normally don't violate the wording of the agreement, but are still fire, music and iron in a way:<br /><br /><b> b) Fire </b> <br /><br />Aludra could certainly provide Thom with firesticks and fireworks. <br />Thom already saw Mat using firworks and their effect to dazzle enemies in TDR, ch.44:<br />&#8220;Mat tossed the firework into the flames and threw himself toward his quarterstaff. There was a loud bang and a flash of light&#8221;.<br /><br />The Finn wouldn&#8217;t recognize them as devices for fire and light.  So, they would be cheated.<br /><br />I&#8217;m not 100 % sure about the other two special items, but I will at least make two suggestions (maybe the discussion on the blackboard will bring up other possible items to deceive the Finn):<br /><br /><b> c) Music </b><br /><br />For the music I suggest a music box from the AoL. <br /><br />In LoC, ch.23, Graendal sees a music box in Sammael&#8217;s palace: <br />&#8220;A small music box sat on the marble mantelpiece, producing from its memory the soft strains of a sound-sculpture that very likely had not been heard outside this room in well over three thousand years.&#8221;<br /><br />Later in PoD, ch.2, Elayne finds among the Ebou Dar stash &#8220;a small box that felt like ivory, covered in wavering red and green stripes.&#8221;<br /><br />It&#8217;s possible that this ter&#8217;angreal is also a music box, and Thom could get it in Caemlyn.<br /><br />A music box isn&#8217;t really an instrument, rather a recorder. Thus the wording of agreement wouldn&#8217;t be broken, though Thom had something to make music with. The Finn would be cheated.<br /><br /><b> d) Iron </b><br /><br />Finally Thom needs iron to bind.<br /><br />I suggest a cuendillar chain or bracelets. Cuendillar doesn&#8217;t look like normal iron, but that is actually the material, as we see in CoT.  Again, the Finn would be cheated.<br /><br /><b> e) Help from the Pattern </b><br /><br />Note that I&#8217;m aware that the last two items I suggest seem more difficult to get for Thom in time. <br /><br />On the other hand, there are examples in the series where the pattern quickly provided the heroes with what they need before they knew it. <br /><br />Min even considers in ACoS, ch.35, that Rand will almost certainly fail without a woman who is dead and gone.  Like most other people, I think this woman must be Moiraine, thus proving that her return is crucial for the pattern.<br /><br />Therefore I believe it&#8217;s possible that Thom will get these items, especially if he travels to Caemlyn. As, said, of course everyone is free to suggest other items which also fit with my basic concept and are easier to get for Thom.<br /><br /><b> IV. The Rescue </b> <br /><br />In conclusion (and in a simplistic way), I imagine that Thom and his companion will enter Finnland via the Tower of Ghenjei.  They will claim that they don&#8217;t carry any forbidden items. <br /><br />Later, though, they will use the fire (firesticks &amp; fireworks) and music (music box ) to blind and daze the Finn.  In this moment of confusion Thom will catch and bind one of the Finn with the cuendillar chain (maybe one of their leaders). <br /><br />Then they will demand that Moiraine is freed, otherwise they would kill the Finn.  The Finn will bring Moiraine and the party can quickly leave Finnland.<br /><br />That way Thom will cheat the Finn, break their rules, rescue Moiraine and fulfill a fortelling.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2004-12-29 04:33:19
subject: The Dark One can't win: a proof
body:
<p>I am sure everyone already believes that the Dark One will lose. However, I can prove it with mathematical rigour.<br /><br />I define the Dark One winning as him breaking the wheel and remaking the pattern in his own image / blah power trip. When this happens, the cycle of ages breaks down.<br /><br />You may argue he could settle for a smaller victory, but the only thing I will prove is that he cannot acheive this ultimate victory.<br /><br />Recall: the wheel turns and turns and has no beginnings or ends. I choose to ignore the 'ends' part as optimism. However, I choose to believe that the wheel never began; the wheel has turned endlessly with no beginning till the present Randland day. Everyone in the Randland accepts this as true, even those who believe the dark one can break the cycle.<br /><br />We can assign the current turning the number 0. Every previous turn gets a number based on how far back it was (-1, -2, -3, ...). Because there are no beginnings, there is no smallest number/turning. Therefore, every negative integer corresponds exactly to one previous wheel rotation. In mathematics a set of this size is called countable (which means you can &quot;count&quot; and eventually reach any given number, but never reach all of them).<br /><br />As people learn in Highschool mathematics if you flip a fair coin twice, the probability of getting heads twice is 0.5 * 0.5=0.25. It is important that the events be 'independent', if so then you can take the product of (multiply) the two probabilities to be the chance that both happen.<br /><br />Now, suppose that the Dark One had even a tiny chance of winning. Let's call this probability p where p must be &gt; 0. <br /><br />(1-p) is the chance that the Dark One loses. The probability that dark one lost last spin and the spin before is (1-p) * (1-p) = (1-p)^2, supposing he gets an independent chance each time. However, the Dark One has actually lost more times than any number we pick; (each negative integer is in the list of turnings).<br /><br />So, if he lost the last k turnings the probability of that is (1-p)^k. (1-p) &lt; 1 because we are assuming he has a hope (p&gt;0). Let's look at what happens as k gets very big (since he lost more times than any number we pick).<br /><br />If you punch any number between 0 and 1 (excluding 1) into your calculator and repeatedly square it, you will see it drop slowly to zero. This is called a limit.<br /><br />If you know calculus, we can take the limit as k 'goes to infinity' and the value (1-p)^k=0. You can see this by making k get bigger and bigger and imagine taking this to the inevitable end.<br /><br />What this means is that the chance that the Dark One has never won is zero, ie: impossible. However, that contradicts what we see in the books today; he hasn't won yet!<br /><br />Therefore, my assumption that he has a chance must have been in error. Ergo, he has no chance. It doesn't matter one bit what Rand does. The main characters can all go on holiday, the books' conclusion is foregone.<br /><br />Incidentally, this proof can be generalized to work even without the 'independent' chances per turning assumption, but to do this proof properly becomes much more technical and requires analysis and markov processes, so I have left it out.<br /><br />(One more aside to those who know about uncountable sets: yes the uniform distribution over reals has a zero probability for each number and yet a particular number is chosen. However, that Dark One only gets a countable number of chances (the positive turnings) and that is not enough for this effect to happen here.)<br /><br />So, my question to you is: why can the Dark One never win? He seems to think he can. My answer: the pattern prevents him; by boring through the pattern he becomes a thread to be woven as the pattern wills. 'He who thinks he turns the wheel of time may learn the truth too late' could also apply to the Dark One.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-02 09:59:02
subject: The Wheel Will Be Broken
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<p>If you haven't read Bobsledai's theory, &quot;Winning and Losing the Last Battle,&quot; please do so. When I began writing this I didn't really agree with him, but now I am forced to.<br /><br />This theory borrows from Norse Mythology (yes, another one of <b>those</b> theories), and the premise of is that the Wheel of Time will be broken at the last battle. <br /><br />Surprisingly, no one has picked up on this yet, or if they have, no one has written a theory on it. As we can all see from one of the famous images that recurrs frequently throughout the series, a serpent is shown biting its own tail. Check out this link to see what the picture I am referring to looks like:<br /><br />http://matt.waggoner.com/images/wheel.jpg<br /><br />Sorry, I tried to produce the image here and then I tried to make the link active, but the code is messed up. Anyways, in Norse Mythology, there is something known as the Midgard Serpent, or World Serpent, called Jormungand. He was the son of Loki (the trickster God) and Angerboda, a frost Giantess. Jormungand represents evil, and after Odin discovered this abomination, threw it into the river to get rid of it (because it was prophecied to kill Thor). The Midgard Serpent became so large that it wrapped its body around the world and bit its tail. This serpent was destined to kill Thor at Ragnarok, the Final Battle of the Gods. After being poisoned by Jormungand, Thor would only be able to take 9 steps before he dies.<br /><br />Now, this is where speculation begins. A lot of people believe that Rand is most similar to Tyr, the bravest of the Norse Gods, and I do not doubt those similarities. However, I think Rand is more a <i>blend</i> of these Gods.<br /><br />First, let us consider Rand's actual name. First of all, &quot;rand&quot; means &quot;A strip of cloth or leather used to support the shoe at the heel.&quot; In this context, bobsledai in his most recent theory lends credibility to RJ's meticulous choice of &quot;rand.&quot; Bobsledai tells us &quot;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.&quot; Rand al-Thor is the support for this wheel, being the dragon reborn and coming back every age to keep things right. So now his <b>first name</b> fits the idea of supporting this wheel of time.<br /><br />In many cultures, &quot;el&quot; or &quot;al&quot; means &quot;the,&quot; which is why I don't believe Rand is merely Tyr, but Thor (whether this has any bearing or not to the theory, 'thor' in Arabic means 'bull') is well. So, if you consider Rand's first and last name, he's being compared to Thor the Norse Thunder God and being a support. <br /><br />To make this simple:<br /><br /><u>The Wheel of Time</u> -- Jormungand, the World Serpent that represents evil and represents <b>eternity</b>. It is biting its tail similar to the serpent biting its tail in the WOT image above.<br /><br /><u>Rand al-Thor</u> -- The supporter of the wheel, reborn to keep the status quo, and his archnemesis is Jormungand. He is prophecied to slay Jormungand in the last battle, but will also die.<br /><br />Now do you see the paradox? The Dragon Reborn feeds Wheel by supporting it and getting reborn to keep the Wheel turning. So what am I saying? I am saying that, to put it bluntly, the Wheel of Time is evil!! YES. No this isn't a joke.<br /><br />This is why. Bobsledai offered us irrefutable proof:<br /><br />Q6. LoC, ch 18, 416 pb<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...&#8221;<br /><br />No one ever said the Creator was nice. If he was nice, then there wouldn't be a Dark One (btw, Shai'tan, the Dark One's name, means &quot;Satan&quot; in Arabic), would there? The Creator isn't necessarily evil, but he isn't benevolent. That is why Mierin Eronaile (Lanfear) found a thin place in the pattern to begin with. The Creator may not have made a &quot;hole,&quot; but he did allow a thinning. The Dark One is simply a mechanism to feed a machine, and Rand is that support.<br /><br />This is why I believe Rand (Thor) will destroy the Wheel of Time (Jormungand). If Rand DOESN'T destroy the Wheel of Time, the cycle will continue indefinitely. Rand will destroy the Wheel of Time, ending the cycle of rebirth, and will probably seal the DO in T'A'R (which, ironically enough, the acronym seems to reinforce this postulate--maybe the DO will get tarred and feathered <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/tongue.gif" border="0" /> ) Just as Thor was killed after slaying Jormungand, Rand will also have to forfeit his life to destroy the Wheel.<br /><br />If I get more than 50% approval votes, I will explode. Flame away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-03 01:58:43
subject: Taim is not Demandred's Proxy
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<p>By all the reasoning I've seen, Taim is supposedly working for Demandred, as his proxy. And Mesaana was the one who tried to kidnap Rand and take him to the Tower. She is the only one that Sammael confirmed to Graendal that was definitely involved in the kidnapping which makes sense since her power base is the White Tower. Yet think about this quote which contradicts that assertion totally. Makes you think about which Forsaken are plotting against others and which are making good faith efforts at least.<br /><br />Winter's Heart CHAPTER: 13 - Wonderful News <br />&quot;Where is he?&quot; Demandred growled, clenching his fists behind his back. Standing with his feet apart, he was aware that he dominated the room. He always did. Even so, he wished Semirhage or Mesaana were present. Their alliance was delicate-a simple agreement that they would not turn on one another until the others had been eliminated-yet it had held all this time. Working together, they had unbalanced opponent after opponent, toppling many to their deaths or worse. But it was difficult for Semirhage to attend these meetings, and Mesaana had been shy, of late. If she was thinking of ending the alliance. . . .&quot;Al'Thor has been seen in five cities, including that cursed place in the Waste, and a dozen towns since those blind fools-those idiots!-failed in Cairhien. And that only includes the reports we have! The Great Lord only knows what else is crawling toward us by horse, or sheep, or whatever else these savages can find to carry a message.&quot;<br /><br />So Demandred thinks to himself that he at least has held up his end of their agreement. And there's no reason to think he would lie to himself. That directly conflicts with the assertion that proxy Taim interfered with Mesaana's plot.<br /><br />And unless Demandred is asleep at the wheel, how could he not know that Mesaana is behind the kidnapping? Especially since Mesaana told Demandred in person that she had a plan to have Rand captured and in her possession in the White Tower:<br /><br />Lord of Chaos CH: Prologue - The First Message <br />&quot;I am still waiting to hear what the Great Lord said,&quot; Semirhage murmured. &quot;Yes. Are we to kill al'Thor?&quot; Mesaana realized she was gripping her skirt with both hands and let go. Strange. She never let anyone get under her skin. &quot;If all goes well, in two months, three at most, he will be where I can safely reach him, and helpless.&quot; &quot;Where you can safely reach him?&quot; Graendal arched an eyebrow quizzically. &quot;Where have you made your lair? No matter. Bare as it is, it's as good a plan as I've heard lately.&quot;<br /><br />Therefore, if Taim, as Demandred's supposed proxy interfered with Mesaana's plan, which Demandred clearly knew about since she told him her plot personally, then Demandred broke the compact. That conflicts with the thought POV Demandred had in WH, where he reflects that he has basically kept his side of the bargain. So Taim must have been working on his own, not for Demandred, when he rescued Rand. <br /><br />Another problem with the Proxy theory:<br /><br />Lord of Chaos CHAPTER: Prologue - The First Message <br />Another point pricked him. The Great Lord already knew how Rahvin had died. And seemed to know more of Asmodean than he. &quot;As you command, Great Lord, so shall I obey.&quot; His muscles might be jerking, but his voice was rock steady. His knees began to blister from the hot stone, yet the flesh might as well have been someone else's.<br /><br />If proxy Taim killed Asmodean, then why didn't Demandred find out before this meeting with the Great Lord?<br /></p><p><b>StoneDogAiel says:</b> Hum....that does seem to throw a wrench into the proxy theory. The Demandred POV is especially compelling. Nice work! <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/smile.gif" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-03 06:37:02
subject: Patterns of Light and Shadow
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<p>This theory really consists of several smaller ideas that have occurred to me at different times, all woven together. If you don't agree with several or all of them, this theory does still have some interesting concepts to consider. Here is a list of hypothetical events, in chronological order, with notes following each event:<br /><br /><br />1) Lews Therin was called back from the grave the first time Mat sounded the Horn of Valere. Due to the nature of the Horn and the Pattern the living Dragon of the current Age, and the dead one of the previous Age, merged into one Thread.<br /><br />* I made two suppositions here. The Horn calls back dead heroes, and the Dragon is a Hero of the Horn. The first is written on the Horn, and the second was confirmed by R. Jordan. Putting them together is a stretch, but I'm at a loss to explain the how and why of Lews Therin's apparent resurrection any better.<br /><br /><br />2) Rand was forcibly turned to the Shadow after being captured.<br /><br />* This is one of the most mysterious events in this theory. It is safe to assume that the Seanchan will be involved here, and the male a'dam looms menacingly.<br /><br />* The method of turning is mentioned in the books, and known to Aes Sedai. It is a weakness of all channelers of the One Power.<br /><br />* Rand would now be a Dragon of the Shadow, but Lews Therin, who is still a presence in Rand's mind, remains with the Light.<br /><br /><br />3) Rand al'Thor and Lews Therin Telamon fight for dominance, a personal struggle between the Light and the Shadow.<br /><br />* During this time, Rand might appear to be going insane, leading some to believe the Taint has finally got to him.<br /><br />* It is not mentioned whether forcible turning to the Shadow causes the victim to serve the Shadow willingly, or whether there is an ongoing internal struggle between personalities.<br /><br />* Meanwhile, the Heroes in Tel'aran'rhiod are neither for the Light nor the Shadow.<br /><br /><br />4) In the tumultuous times following Rand's capture, massive miliary conflicts arise. The Tower is under attack by a Seanchan army. In the ensuing chaos, Egwene leaves the Tower with the Horn of Valere, and it ends up in the hands of Mat. The Horn is sounded once more.<br /><br />* The Heroes called back from the grave are led by the Hornsounder, but they are also under the allegiance of the Dragon.<br /><br />* But, are they now for the Shadow or for the Light? Two aspects of the Dragon now exist.<br /><br /><br />5) The Pattern is precariously balanced while Rand lies seemingly dead.<br /><br />* I think Rand is unconscious because of the massive struggle within him and within the Pattern itself. The sky grows dark, along with other classical signs of the end of the world. Such signs are common in many world religions and mythologies.<br /><br /><br />6) Something outside the Pattern throws it out of balance.<br /><br />* Padan Fain. We know from R. Jordan that the Fain/Mordeth amalgamation is outside the Pattern. He is neither of the Shadow or the Light, but he seeks to revenge himself on Rand and the Dark One.<br /><br /><br />7) The Pattern tears in half, both halves existing but separate, but maybe not forever. They each branch out into worlds that might be. The Light prevails to a large degree in one half, excised of the Dark One's touch (the Bore, the Blight, and all creatures of Shadow). In the other Pattern, the Shadow does not prevail, but the world remains despoiled by his touch. It is the Dark One's prison.<br /><br />* There is absolutely no evidence that this will happen. But there are indications that the Pattern must be cleansed of the Dark One's influence before the next age can begin, with all evidence of his very existence removed from the Pattern. Such an event has parallels in religion and mythology.<br /><br />* One last thing that occurred to me about the Shadow Pattern is that it may be related to the world visited by Rand and the others by portal stone as they were trailing those who stole the Horn of Valere.<br /><br /><br />The End.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-04 06:59:55
subject: Aiel, Callandor, and the Green man
body:
<p>He shivered, wondering if men would ever stand in a meeting such as this again.  When he saw what was on the table, the shiver became a shudder.  A crystal sword-perhaps an object of the Power, perhaps only an ornament; he had no way of telling-held down the Dragon banner of Lews Therin Kinslayer, spread out like a tablecloth and spilling onto the floor.  His heart clenched.  What was that doing here?  Why had it not been destroyed and memory of the cursed man as well?<br /> <br />&#8220;What good is your Foretelling,&#8221; Oselle was almost shouting, &#8220;if you cannot tell us when?&#8221;  Her long black hair swayed as she shook with anger.  &#8220;The world rests on this! The future!  The Wheel itself!&#8221;  ~The Dedicated~ page: 299 hardback<br /><br />This is the main text I will be using for my theory.  I do not think the foretelling talked about in this text is referring to the Dragon being reborn.  Even if it is referring to it cannot be the first one.  Unless they are talking about a foretelling that happened days, weeks, maybe months earlier then the answer is right in the text.  &#8220;Why had it not been destroyed and the memory of the cursed man as well?&#8221;  It is simple really.  At some point someone foretold that the banner would be needed so the AS kept one.  The AS are after all human and they more then likely had the same thoughts about the banner.  <br /><br />From what I gather from this part of the Chapter I think some of the Aes Sedia got together to try and get a few things in as much order as they could before they all died and all was lost.  They took the foretelling they knew about and tried to map out what they should do.  Here is what I think they knew.<br /><br />The Dragon will be reborn during the world&#8217;s greatest need.  The Dragon would be reborn among the Aiel.  He will need the Horn and the Dragon banner.  <br /><br />Ok, so we know that some Aes Sedia went with the Aiel.  In doing this they hoped that they would be able to raise the Dragon Reborn.  Guide him through life till Tarmon Gai&#8217;don and sacrifice him like a lamb.  Just like the Aes Sedia today.  <br /><br />While we learn about this we also learn that the AS set up the Horn to be protected by the Green man. Why ask the Green man to protect it? I will tell you why I think they asked him to protect it. First let me tell you why I think they did not trust their own (AS) and did not ask the Ogier. <br /><br />They could not trust their own because in the War of Power their own jumped sides.   The reason they did not ask the Ogier is because they were unsure if the Ogier would survive.  Another reason they did not ask the Ogier is because of the way they decided to protect the Horn.  A large amount of saidin that only one of the most powerful male users could wield.<br /><br />Now, I see 3 reasons why the Green man was asked.<br />#1 - He is immortal.  Cannot be killed by time.<br />#2 - He is one of the good guys.<br />#3 - The Green man was created by the use of saidin and saidar to aid in the growth of plants and life in general.  I think that there was a side affect.  Much like the Fade the Green man found out that he had powers that were not meant.  He found out that the only way to find him was need.  <br /><br />When the world was breaking around the AS they had to act quickly to hide the horn because they knew that it would be needed in the last battle.  The reason they had to act quickly is because they needed men to make the link strong enough to fill a hole with enough sadin that only the strongest of male wielders could use.  Now here is what they asked themselves.<br /><br />When will he need it?  How can we make sure that only he is the one who gets it?  And how will he find it?<br /><br />Well, they already had the best answer they could come up with for the second question.  They knew how he would find it (need).  Now the only question is how can he be in the right place with need at the same time?  Well, they knew he would need the horn for the last battle.  So they tried to guess where the last battle would take place.  They knew about the bore and most likely knew about the forsaken talking to the DO up there.  They guessed that the last battle would take place up there.  After all, it is called the last battle so the DO is going to be involved heavily.  <br /><br />So they told the Green man to set up camp near the Bore but not too close.  When the Dragon attacked he would be thrown back.  He would need to find a way to win and boom, he would find himself face to &#8230; belly with the Green man and then he would find the Horn and the banner then attack again.  <br /><br />Now let me talk just a little about Callandor.  I think Callandor was chosen (maybe made) because of its lack of filter.  Listen to my reasoning.  The Aes Sedia made the Stone of Tear and placed in it Callandor.  Callandor was protected by a weave that only the Dragon could break. Then they spread the prophecy that the Stone of Tear would not fall till the Dragon was Reborn and that the Stone would not fall till he had the Sword that is not a Sword.  Yes, I just said that the Aes Sedia made up this prophecy.  <br /><br />Think about it for just a moment.  Why oh why would anyone want to make a Sa&#8217;angreal for a man that has no filter except when he is linked to a woman?  Well it is really simple.  The person(s) who made it either messed up or wanted the person who used it to be guided by women wielders.  Also, how easy would it be for Rand to break into the Stone now that he has learned to travel?  Well, the Aes Sedia of old did not know that they would forget how to travel in the 3000 years after the breaking.  They sort of expected to find Rand, travel him to Callandor and guide him to Tarmon Gai&#8217;don.  It all really makes since.  The Aes Sedia thought Rand would get Callandor before he got the Horn.  The location of Callandor is well known, the location of the Horn is so secret that no one knew where it was.  (You can argue that the Green man knew what he had but with his forgetfulness&#8230; I doubt it)  <br /><br />Anyway, I guess that is all I really wanted to say.  <br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-05 05:28:21
subject: The Seals and the Eye
body:
<p>I knew I messed something up the first time, as late night writings never go my way. This revision should include correct termonology.<br /><br />After reading several Blackboard comments I have come to the following conclusion about the problem with the DO's prison. And that is that the Seals are the problem. When Lews Therin and the rest of his male Aes Sedai created the seals, they thought they were fixing the problem with the DO's prison; however I hope to prove that through their actions they just made it worse.<br /><br />Think of the DO's prison, if you will, as a giant soap bubble. Not one of those flimsy &quot;pop against a breeze bubbles&quot; but rather a strong one. If you have a strong one, you can put a straw into it, and it will not pop. It will also allow anything inside the chance to escape. However, now that you have done this the odds of it popping are certainly more likely, as added tension is added to the area around your straw, and thusly added the whole bubble, but in smaller amounts.<br /><br />The prison, made by the Creator at the beginning of time, I would imagine is made from the One Power itself as it stems from the Creator. However, it is not made from Saidin, or Saidar, but rather a combination of both. When Lews Therin and the Hundred Companions tried to patch the hole (the straw in this example) they merely plugged the hole. It would be like sticking a cork into a hole in your roof during a rain storm, sure it'll hold for now, but what happens when it rains more? This is just like the seals, with that you've got a temporary solution to a permanent problem. Yes, the seals is there holding the DO at bay, but it's only a matter of time before your cheap replacement fails. What you need is more roof.<br /><br />Going with the roof thing, in order to properly patch your roof, you first need to remove the cork, sure some water will get in, but the long term benefits greatly outweigh the short term costs. This is the same with the seals. They need to first be removed (by breaking them  or otherwise) so that the prison can be repaired. When you go about repairing your roof you try to merge it with the pre-existing material, so that it's equally strong, and this is why the seals are failing. The seals weren't made with the same stuff used to make the original prison, they were made with half of it. Therefore it seems that if the DO is to be finally re-sealed for good both male and female channelers must join forces this time. <br /><br />This brings me to the Eye of the World. When the Eye was created the world was still breaking, and Shadar Logoth did not exist. Shadar Logoth proved to be a key element in cleansing of Saidin. Therefore, as far as the ancient Aes Sedai who made the eye saw, Saidin could not be cleansed. This would be a problem with the whole &quot;re-sealing the DO permanently&quot; thing as Saidin seems to be a key ingredient. Even if the uncleansed Saidin was joined with Saidar to re-seal him up, it would be like patching that notorious roof with rotting wood. Sure, it'll hold, but it won't last much longer than that cork of yours. The Aes Sedai must have discovered the key to re-sealing him permanently as the whole backlash thing kinda made it obvious that the seals were a temporary thing. So then a good number of them sacrificed themselves for the future of the world and time itself. <br /><br />With this the question arises: if they knew how to re-seal him properly, why didn't they re-seal it themselves? Well, why would you (you guessed it, more roofing 101) try to fix the hole when it's raining? The DO was recently sealed, and his backlash effects are tearing the world apart. Would you want to try to seal him back up again with someone who might go mad and kill you at any moment? I think that they wanted to let the world (as soon as that Breaking ended) enjoy its moment of peace before having to set upon that mammoth task. <br /><br />When Moiraine described the Eye, she said that it was meant for a time when the last battle was near. I think that the original intent of the Aes Sedai was to wait until the DO was free, or damn close to being free. It would seem they intended for the Aes Sedai to pass down the way to reseal the DO throughout the generations, but that knowledge, like much of the knowledge of the previous Aes Sedai, must have been lost through the Breaking. Because why would you go through the process of getting something to seal away the DO for good, but then kill everyone who knows what it was for? So, they wanted to just wait things out, and only fix the problem when the need arises. This is supported by the fact that a seal was found in the Eye.<br /><br />I believe that the seal was placed there in order to prevent people from setting the DO free. Duh, that's a given. But I think it was also there to prevent them from re-sealing the DO before they had to. Think about it, if re-sealing him involved men who could channel, and possibly destroy the world, why would you want to start letting them any sooner than you had to? The Eye had to be a last resort, which is why only people with a great need could find it. The Saidin in the Eye would be used by a few men who could channel, with the aid of female channelers to permanently re-seal the DO before he had broken free.<br /><br />This would also explain why the Forsaken tried so hard to prevent the cleansing of Saidin. I mean, once Rand prematurely used the Eye the DO had practically won, the only thing left to do would be to kill the Dragon Reborn to prove he had done so. This also explains why Aginor and Balthamel were reincarnated as free souls. Yes, they had failed the DO in killing Rand, but they had also secured victory by forcing him to use the Eye. However when Rand started cleansing Saidin it was an &quot;awww crap&quot; moment for DO and company. If Saidin was cleansed then there WOULD be a way to stop him again, and that would be bad for them. I mean, yeah getting rid of the taint for the male channelers was good, but thanks to Rand they were going to channel madness or not, so it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. <br /><br />Some lesser points of mine include the other two artifacts in the Eye. The Horn of Valere, presumably used to summon the Heroes of the Horn to protect the channelers doing the re-sealing, and then maybe even to kill off the male channelers once they were done. And the Dragon Banner would be used for... well who the heck wouldn't put a really cool flag in a time capsule?<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-06 06:56:40
subject: Shaidar Haran's purpose in the Last Battle
body:
<p><b> I. Not needed at Shayol Ghul </b><br /><br />In my view Shaidar Haran, the Superfade, was made for a special purpose in the Last Battle, namely to lead the main Shadowspawn army against the army of the Light. <br /><br />Many people seem to suppose that Shaidar Haran might help to defend the Dark One at Shayol Ghul in the final confrontation with Rand. But why should the Dark One need him there, where his power is the greatest? <br /><br />Besides, it would rather make sense if Moridin and Rand clash again at Tarmon Gai'don, like so many times before. <br /><br />This is also already foreshadowed by Ishy&#8217;s famous last words in EotW, prologue:  &quot;You cannot escape so easily, Dragon. It is not done between us. It will not be done until the end of time.&quot;<br /><br />Others say that the Dark One will enter his body at Shayol Ghul. But why should the Dark One need the body of a Myrddraal if he breaks free at Shayol Ghul?<br /><br />Therefore I believe Shaidar Haran won&#8217;t stay at Shayol Ghul during the Last Battle. This is supported by his thoughts in ACoS, ch.40. <br /><br />Shaidar Haran considers: &quot;A sudden ache climbed the back of its neck; a faint weakness washed along its limbs. Too long away from Shayol Ghul. That tie had to be severed somehow. With a snarl, it turned to find the edge of shadow that it needed. The day was coming. It would come.&quot;<br /><br />The reason why Shaidar Haran momentary mainly stays at Shayol Ghul is that he becomes weak if he is away too long.<br /><br />But Shaidar Haran is confident that soon this tie will disappear since he has to act in the world more often (and not only at Shayol Ghul).  <br /><br />Furthermore, he tells Graendal in PoD, ch.12: &quot;I am Shaidar Haran. [...] When I speak, you may consider that you hear the voice of the Great Lord of the Dark. [...] I am his hand in this world, Graendal. When you stand before me, you stand before him.&quot;<br /><br />This further stresses that his role shall not be limited to Shayol Ghul; Shaidar Haran shall literally be the Dark One&#8217;s Hand in the world.<br /><br /><b> II. Commander of the Shadow </b><br /><br />I think that due to the breaking/weakening of the seals Shaidar Haran&#8217;s tie to Shayol Ghul will be severed before Tarmon Gai'don.<br /><br />Furthermore, a part of the Dark One will possess Shaidar Haran, and the Dark One will act/speak through him.  We probably already saw this in CoT, ch.21, in the scene with Mesaana.<br /><br />This way the Dark One will by able to act against his enemies far away from Shayol Ghul before he is completely free.<br /><br />Apparently Rand already saw a possible Last Battle in one of the Worlds That Might Be (TGH, ch.37): &quot;At the Taren the people of the Two Rivers met the invaders, endless ranks of Trollocs led by nightmare Fades beneath a dead black banner that seemed to eat the light. Rand saw that banner and thought the madness had taken him again, for it seemed that this was what he had been born for, to fight that banner.&quot;<br /><br />I believe that we will see this dead black banner of the Dark One again in the Last Battle.  Shaidar Haran, as the Hand of the Dark, will carry it to lead the Shadow forces.<br /><br />Shaidar Haran would be the perfect candidate to command the Dark One's army.<br /><br />He is very tall and can speak with the Dark One&#8217;s booming voice (CoT, ch.21).  Thus he could encourage the Shadowspawn and mock the forces of the Light with his cruel sense of humor.<br /><br />One should also note that we even see that Shaidar Haran wears a warrior outfit in CoT, a &#8220;sinuous black armor, all overlapping plates like the scales of a snake&#8221;. Before in the series he was simply clad in black. Shaidar Haran already prepares for battle now.<br /><br />Furthermore, all Myrddraal are dangerous, but we know that Shaidar Haran is especially deadly.<br /><br />He can use the True Power to create black fire and distinguish saidin &amp; saidar (ACoS, ch.40), which could also be useful in battle. <br /><br />It seems Shaidar Haran can also create a kind of dead area around him where channelers are blocked from the True Source, therefore he is protected against the One Power.<br /><br />I suppose it would really shatter the moral of the Lightside if they saw Shaidar Haran in the lead of the Shadowspawn army: A loud laughing, giant Myrddraal, riding on a dead black horse, holding a dead black banner in one hand, shooting deadly black fire with the other, unaffected by the One Power.<br /><br />If one normal Myrddraal can already provoke much fear in humans, this view would certainly cause a losing of hope in almost every fighter.  Many would probably believe that they already face the Dark One, &#8220;clothed in the skin of a Myrddraal&#8221; like Alviarin in CoT, ch.21.<br /><br /><b> III. Shaidar Haran as a plot device for the end </b><br /><br />I suppose we will also see another ability of the Superfade in the Last Battle, which is needed for the plot. <br /><br />It&#8217;s know that Myrddraal can &#8220;link with a number of Trollocs, completely overriding their bestial nature and taking control of their minds and wills, to create a deadly, well-disciplined fighting force almost as effective as was originally intended. Unfortunately, the Myrddraal was then the weak link. If it was killed, the Trollocs sharing the link died with it.&#8221; (Guide, &#8220;Myrddraal&#8221; )<br /><br />In my view Shaidar Haran will be able to link with the other Myrddraal, his &quot;brothers&quot;, as he calls them in LoC, prologue, who will be themselves linked with Trollocs.  That way the attacks of the army can be even more coordinated. <br /><br />Of course this bears a risk.  But in my opinion this is actually another main purpose of Shaidar Haran for RJ regarding the plot. <br /><br />I believe that Rand, as it is prophecied, will defeat the Dark One at Shayol Ghul. <br /><br />Parallel the &#8220;other Last Battle&#8221; between the forces of the Light and  Shadow will be fought; probably somewhere south of the Mountains of Dhoom, as the prophecy of the Horn of Valere seems to imply.  <br /><br />The Shadow army will almost win, but in the moment when the Dark One is beaten by Rand, also Shaidar Haran, whose powers stem from the Dark One, will be destroyed.<br /><br />Of course with him all linked Shadowspawn will die as well. Then the Light army will gather new hope and defeat the remaining Shadowspawn. <br /><br />This way RJ can easily and quite quickly get rid of the majority of the Shadowspawn after the climax with Rand and the Dark One at Shayol Ghul. <br /><br />Plus, thus Rand, the Dragon Reborn, will actually be responsible for both victories: at Shayol Ghul and on the battlefield of the Light &amp; the Shadow armies.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-15 07:29:28
subject: Myrddraal, channelers that could have been
body:
<p>To begin, we must establish the nature of the myrddraal. They are the throwback descendants of trollocs, to the human stock that was used in the creation of the trollocs. No one expected the trollocs to have any offspring other than more trollocs. However, they did, these tiny, wormy white babies that were vaguely human in shape. The creatures have no eyes, but look like humans in other respects. Despite their apparent humanity, they have other irregularities than missing a pair of optical orbs.<br /><br />The myrddraal inflict fear with their very gaze, they control whole armies of trollocs with that fear. They are able to travel great distances by going through shadows, where light meets the dark. A myrddraal&#8217;s voice is like crumbling snakeskin, or bones grinding to dust. Obviously, they aren&#8217;t very pleasant creatures.<br /><br />Later, we learn something important. Myrddraal can channel. With the introduction of Shaidar Haran, we meet a myrddraal who channels the True Power. In our very own FAQ page it says to channel the TP one must first be able to channel the OP.<br /><br /><font size="-1"><b>The True Power is similar to the One Power, but is reserved for Shadowsouled channelers. It can be equally drawn by male and female channelers, which is one of a few elements that distinguish it from the One Power.<br /><br />                   ~ The FAQ on the TP~</b></font><br /><br />Before the introduction of Shaidar Haran, we had only seen humans channel the TP, and many have speculated that SH is actually the Dark One personified, however that is irrelevant at the moment. It has been established that for the DO to reincarnate a soul into a new body, the body must have the *capability* to channel, the strength does not matter, just the ability.<br /><br />So, Myrddraal have the ability to channel. Why don&#8217;t they? We know that the TP was used in making the original trollocs, and that is now a part of their essential nature, and thus the nature of their offspring, the myrddraal. OK, myrddraal have TP inherently in their bodies/souls/very existence. Now, the TP and the OP do not mix.<br /><br />We saw that in Shadar Logoth, when the Wanderer, aka Moridin, flung his balefire at Rand&#8217;s. The two powers hit, mixed, and caused lasting damage to Rand, the sickness, the inability to stand, to balance. <br /><br />Now, thinking how it was with just weaves of both powers coming into contact, how much worse would it be if that was happening inside a person&#8217;s body?<br /><br />RJ has said that channeling is dependant on the body, that there is a gene for it, or multiple genes for it. Since humans were used to create the trollocs, it is probable that those genes were passed into the trolloc population. When trollocs couple, and attempt to have little baby trollocs, there is a small chance that that trolloc would receive the genes that would make it a channeler if it were human.<br /><br />Now here is where the OP and TP clash comes in. The trolloc has TP in its nature, but now this baby also has the OP in its nature. So, the OP and the TP fight it out inside the Trolloc momma&#8217;s womb. This is probably a very uncomfortable nine months for her. The baby is twisting and fighting, possibly dying, and she&#8217;s got to be very uncomfortable.<br /><br />The baby is born, but it&#8217;s no longer a trolloc baby, it&#8217;s a myrddraal. It no longer has eyes, or any of the bestial nature its parents had. <br /><br />The implications of this interesting tidbit:<br /><br />1.	All fades can channel the TP, if taught how.<br />2.	This is probably how human channelers can be turned to the Shadow using fades.<br />3.	Fades could probably force themselves onto human women, and have little half human half fade things&#8230; eeeww.<br /><br />I could have sworn I saw this somewhere, but since I cannot find it elsewhere I am putting it down as a theory. Some on the WoT board are convinced I made it up, but if someone does know another place where this theory/idea is posted, I would love to see it. Also, if anyone can punch holes into the logic, I&#8217;d love that too. When you do that, it makes me think harder. <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/biggrin.gif" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-16 02:43:24
subject: Rise of the Golden Hawk
body:
<p>By the middle of LoC, Berelain, First of Mayene, has accomplished an astounding rise to prominence.  Not only has Rand entrusted Berelain with the regency of Cairhien, but she has also achieved a startling degree of intimacy with the Aiel Wise Ones.  Amys, in particular, exhibits remarkable fondness for the First.<br /><br />&quot;(Amys) kissed Berelain lightly on the forehead and each cheek.  Egwene stared; that was how a mother kissed her son or daughter.  What <i>was</i> going on between Berelain and the Wise Ones?&quot; -- <b>LoC</b>, <i>An Embassy</i><br /><br />Egwene's question is reasonable; what is going on between this wetlander princess and the normally xenophobic Aiel?  Her question can also be addressed in broader terms; that is, what has led to Berelain's role in LoC?  What is the basis for Rhuarc's patriarchal relationship with the First?  What is the foundation of Rand's trust in Berelain?  It is the answers to these question, the lack of answers really, that are the first clues intimating darker secrets within the First's character.<br /><br /><b>Hiya!  I'm Berelain, First of Mayene.  And you are...?</b><br /><br />Our first glimpse of Berelain comes at the end of TDR.  As far as first impressions go, she doesn't, in retrospect, seem a very likely candidate for Aiel respect and Two Rivers trust.<br /><br />&quot;For a moment (Berelain) studied Rhuarc interestedly with large, dark eyes; she then turned on the women at the table, cooly imperious. 'I am not used to being given messages to carry,' she announced, flourishing a folded parchment with one slim hand.&quot; -- <b>TDR</b>, <i>People of the Dragon</i><br /><br />This initial impression of Berelain's attitude is strengthened after Moiraine asks her to identify herself.<br /><br />&quot;The young woman drew herself up even more, which Mat would have thought impossible.  'I am Berelain, First of Mayene.'  She tossed the parchment down on the table in front of Moiraine with a haughty gesture and turned back to the door.&quot; -- <b>TDR</b>, <i>People of the Dragon</i><br /><br />Finally, Berelain's departure is about as courteous as her arrival.<br /><br />&quot;For a moment she studied Rhuarc with a small smile.  'You are the leader of these Aielmen?  Your fighting disturbed my sleep.  Perhaps I will ask you to dine with me.  One day quite soon.'  She looked over her shoulder at Moiraine.  'I am told the Lord Dragon has taken the Stone.  Inform the Lord Dragon that the First of Mayene will dine with him tonight.'  And she marched out of the room; Mat could think of no other way to describe that stately one-woman procession.&quot; -- <b>TDR</b>, <i>People of the Dragon</i><br /><br />Imperiousness, haughtiness and the arrogance implicit in Berelain's assertions regarding Rhuarc and Rand are not admirable.  None of these attitudes are likely to elicit the trust and friendship that either of these men later exhibit towards the First.  Berelain's demeanor toward Moiraine and the Troika is also noteworthy.  Up to this point, her open hostility towards the Aes Sedai matches only the Whitecloaks and Forsaken.<br /><br />First impressions aside, there must be more evidence that illuminates the First's cozy relationship with both the clan chief of the Taardad Aiel and the Dragon Reborn.  There must be more.  Right?<br /><br /><b>Papa's gotta brand new bag</b><br /><br />As <i>Whirlpools in the Pattern</i> opens, we learn from the state of Perrin's beard that two weeks have passed since Rand and the Aiel conquered the Stone of Tear.  A little later, Rhuarc briefly indicates the extent that his rapport with Berelain has evolved in this brief period.<br /><br />&quot; 'I happened to meet Berelain, looking as if she had been told the day she would die, and she told me the truth of it.' [....] &quot;Rand gave a painful bark of a laugh.  'I told her to keep quiet.  It seems the Lord Dragon doesn't rule Mayene.'  He sounded more wryly amused than anything else. 'I have daughters older than that young woman,' Rhuarc said.  'I don't believe she will tell anyone else.  I think she would like to forget everything that happened tonight.' &quot; -- <b>TSR</b>, <i>Reflection</i><br /><br />Rhuarc is already describing Berelain as a daughter, but what has conjured these patriarchal feelings?  Only the briefest of clues provides any insight into the details of this relationship; to wit, Berelain's determination to meet with Rhuarc &quot;one day quite soon&quot; after the Stone fell, and Rhuarc's reference to a &quot;first conversation&quot; in <i>Customs of Mayene</i>.  It is strange that in the case of Rhuarc and Berelain's nascent relationship the normally verbose RJ has not provided any details.  RJ has intentionally left these pages blank, to be filled with our own assumptions rather than actual information.  In fact, only two scenes afford any insight into Berelain's character before Rhuarc's comparison to his daughters.  The first is her impertinent introduction in <i>People of the Dragon</i> and the second is her sexually provocative approach to Rand in <i>Whirlpools in the Pattern</i>.  It's difficult to imagine Rhuarc's kin engaging in such behavior, or his approval if they did.  Moving on to Rand, the basis of his relationship with Berelain is not elucidated in any greater detail.<br /><br /><b>Berelain's impressive...political...skills</b><br /><br />&quot;Berelain, First of Mayene, was only a few hundreds miles south of the city, on her way to join (Rand) with a small army; he had no idea how she had led it across Tear.  Oddly, her letter had asked if Perrin was with him.  It might almost be a pleasure to watch her spar with the Cairhienin, the latest in a long line of Firsts who had managed to keep Tear from swallowing their country by playing the Game of Houses.  Perhaps if he put her in charge here...&quot; -- <b>TFoH</b>, <i>News Comes to Cairhien</i><br /><br />Even though Rand has not seen Berelain for months he immediately contemplates giving her authority in Cairhien after receiving her letter.  It is logical to assume that Rand must be basing his decision on more than a single (and singularly uncomfortable for Rand) meeting with the First in his bedchamber.  That assumption, however, is wrong.  Rand has never interacted with Berelain other than her overly aggressive attempt at seduction.<br /><br />&quot;(Rand) did not know much of this Berelain, except that she walked through the Stone as if it were her palace in Mayene.  Thom said the First of Mayene asked questions constantly, of everyone.  Questions about Rand, which might have been natural, but they made him no easier in his mind.  And she had not returned to Mayene.  <b>That was not natural.</b>  She had been held captive in all but name for months, until his arrival, cut off from her throne and the ruling of her small nation.  Most people would have taken the first opportunity to get away from a man who could channel.&quot; -- <b>TSR</b>, <i>Whirlpools in the Pattern</i><br /><br />This clearly indicates Rand's ignorance of the First before her sexual ambush.  Elayne indicates just as clearly in <i>Decisions</i> that Berelain didn't approach Rand in the interim before his departure for Rhuidean by observing, &quot;Berelain was not setting foot outside her chambers...&quot;  So, apparently Rand concluded that Berelain would make a good regent based on her determination to get him in the sack.  What the heck is going on?<br /><br /><b>No, really, they aren't natural</b><br /><br />I highlighted a sentence in the passage above, because I think it is a completely accurate statement.  Berelain's reaction to learning that Rand had conquered the stone is not natural.  Barely batting an eye, she tries to set up a dinner date with him.  Natural or not, it is certainly very different from the reaction of another young woman that was held in thrall by a Forsaken before Rand liberated the city.<br /><br />&quot;One fleeing in those first days had been a young Aes Sedai, young enough that her face still lacked the distinctive agelessness.  Bashere's men sent word when they found her at an inn, but when she found out who Rand was, she ran screaming.  Literally screaming.&quot; -- <b>LoC</b>, <i>Lion on the Hill</i><br /><br />In <i>People of the Dragon</i>, Berelain greets the news of Rand's arrival with poise and aplomb, with outright eagerness, in fact.  Most, if not all, the other nobles display a marked lack of enthusiasm at Rand's arrival, and the unnamed Aes Sedai's reaction in particular is a good example to compare and contrast with Berelain.  Both women are young, although the Red sister should be somewhat older than Berelain due to the slowing process that all channelers experience.  Both women have political experience; Daes Dae'mar infects the White Tower and relations between Aes Sedai, and even Accepted, as much as the dealings between Tear and Mayene.  The Aes Sedai's true advantage, of course, seems to be her ability to channel <i>saidar</i>.  Not only that, but as Red Ajah she is specifically trained to confront male channelers.  Her panicked reaction in <i>Lion on the Hill</i> can be forgiven, due to her inexperience, but it only highlights the oddity of Berelain's reaction.  All other things being equal, a young princess from a small and isolated country like Mayene should be as terrified  of the prophetic Dragon Reborn as a young Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah.  Yet Berelain doesn't show the slightest hint of fear; not at the news of Rand's arrival, not in approaching him in his chambers, not even in being touched by weaves of tainted <i>saidin</i>.  Only in the face of the truly inexplicable, images climbing from mirrors to battle Rand, does Berelain finally become fearful.  This is not natural.  And it is not the only oddity that encompasses Berelain.<br /><br />First there is Rhuarc's strange adoption, then Rand's oddly positive view of Berelain's attempt at sexual manipulation.  Berelain's calm eagerness to dine alone with the Dragon is bizarre, as is her unconcern about being restrained with <i>saidin</i>.  There are more, too.  Rand's wry amusement with Berelain's disobedience to his command of keeping quiet about the battle in his chambers is in vivid contrast to his rage with the High Lord's failure to follow his orders to the letter.  Moiraine, too, is oddly disinterested in Berelain's attempt to gain influence with Rand.  Even <i>Far Dareis Mai</i> are more amused by the First than suspicious of her.<br /><br />None of these reactions seem natural, but all of them could have been induced artificially.  In WoT that means the Power, and the Forsaken are the only characters that might possess the skill for such subtle manipulation.  Semirhage, Lanfear, Moghedien and Graendal have all been accounted for in various books.  The process of elimination leaves only one possibility for this audacious and, to date, successful disguise: Mesaana.<br /><br /><b>What must be endured, can be endured</b><br /><br />&quot;As if nothing had happened, (Rhuarc) addressed Berelain.  'You will go to your room, and you will not come out until the sun is above the horizon.  I will see that no breakfast is brought to you.  A little hunger will remind you there is a time and place for fighting.'<br />Berelain drew herself up indignantly.  'I am the first of Mayene.  I will not be ordered about like -' 'You will go to your rooms.  Now,' Rhuarc told her flatly.[...]'If you do not...we will repeat our first talk together, you and I.  Right here.' Berelain's face went white and red by turns.  'Very well,' she said stiffly.  'If you insist, I will perhaps -' 'I did not propose a discussion.  If I can still see you when I have counted three....One.' With a gasp, Berelain hiked her skirt and ran.  She even managed to sway doing that.&quot;  <b>TSR</b>, <i>Customs of Mayene</i><br /><br />The suggestion that Mesaana is masquerading as Berelain must overcome two major obstacles in order to gain any acceptance.  One is the continual suggestion, by a variety of characters, that Mesaana has ensconced herself in the White Tower.  This subject deserves a theory of its own, and it will receive one in due course.  The other major problem with this hypothesis is embodied in the passage above.  The Forsaken are a proud lot, after all, and Rhuarc frankly humilates Berelain in this scene.  Not only that, but Rhuarc implies that Berelain received further humilation during their &quot;first conversation.&quot;  Neither of these details, however, are inexplicable in the context of Mesaana impersonating Berelain.<br /><br />Any objections arising from the &quot;first conversation&quot; between Berelain and Rhuarc are perhaps the easier of the two to diffuse, because nothing is really known about this encounter.  Other than Rhuarc's rather obscure reference in <i>Customs of Mayene</i>, Sulin is the only other person that mentions it.  In <i>The Feast of Lights</i>, Sulin doffs her servant's disguise and tells Berelain, &quot;Speak of me again as though I am not here, and I will give you what I hear Rhuarc gave you in the Stone of Tear, and should have since.&quot;  It is important to keep in mind, however, that Sulin was not in the Aiel contingent that conquered the Stone, so this additional information, terse as it is, may be unreliable.  Other statements based on hearsay are notoriously so.<br /><br />With only a single uninformative remark from Rhuarc, and statements based entirely on second- or third-hand accounts by Sulin, I don't believe that any firm conclusions can be made about the events of this notorious &quot;first conversation&quot; between Berelain and Rhuarc.  If the actual sequence of events during this &quot;first conversation&quot; can be cast in doubt, that leaves only the humiliation that Berelain suffers in <i>Customs of Mayene</i>.  The reality is, however, that the very premise that these arguments are based on is flawed.  In numerous examples throughout the story the Forsaken have repressed their own pride and arrogance, and suffered various embarrassments, in order to further their broader goals.  The famously narcissistic Lanfear disguises herself as obesely heinous Keille Shaogi.  Moghedien first masquerades as Gyldin the servant, and even tolerates Liandrin's rebuke and Marillin's orders in <i>Hidden Faces</i>.  A little later Moghedien again dissembles as Marigin, the penniless refugee.  It's possible this second disguise was particularly difficult, because the BWB describes Moghedien as an unscrupulous &quot;advisor for investments&quot; during the Age of Legends.  That's probably not a career that exposes one to impoverishment.<br /><br />Finally, Graendal provides the most potent example as she assumes the role of Sammael's servant Maisia.  Maisia momentarily suffers the same role that Graendal so often inflicts on others; the beautiful and powerful forced into performing tricks and menial labor for their tormentor.  Even the term &quot;Maisia&quot; is apparantly an insult, considering Graendal's reaction in <i>Patterns Within Patterns</i>, yet Sammael continues to use it in the Forsakens' second encounter with the Shaido in <i>Spears</i>.  Alongside these other examples, I don't think that Berelain's momentary humilation in the Stone is inexplicable, if this is, in fact, Mesaana's alter-ego.<br /><br /><b>A couple final details...for now...<img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/biggrin.gif" border="0" /></b><br /><br />Another interesting detail emerges as the scene I mentioned before from <i>The Feast of Lights</i> progresses.  As Berelain persistantly flirts with Perrin, Sulin mumbles to herself, &quot;Rhuarc is a fool.  If she was truly his daughter, he would have no time to do anything else for having to beat her.&quot;  It seems that Berelain is closest to men and women of genuine authority like Rand, Rhuarc, Amys, and Perrin.  They essentially accept Berelain's character, and excuse her foibles as harmless cultural or personal eccentricities.  On the other hand, characters of a perceived lesser standing like Egwene, Sulin and Faile are far less forgiving.  The First's attitude closely parallels part of the description for Mesaana in the BWB: &quot;It has been said (Mesaana) was always interested in real power, not the appearance of it.  Appearances were never important to her.&quot;  If Mesaana truly has been masquerading as other well-known characters for the duration of this story, the irony of that statement is becomes entirely apparent.<br /><br />The second detail is a very interesting inconsistency from Faile and Berelain's confrontation in <i>Customs of Mayene</i>.  First, Berelain defends herself as Faile attacks:<br /><br />&quot;(Faile) was not sure exactly how Berelain gripped her wrist, but suddenly she was flying through the air.&quot;<br /><br />But then Rhuarc enters and also grabs Faile by the wrist.<br /><br />&quot;(Rhuarc) seemed to move without looking at (Faile), caught her hand, forced her arm straight to her side, twisted.  Abruptly she was standing very straight and hoping he did not push her arm out of her shoulder.&quot; -- <b>TSR</b>, <i>Customs of Mayene</i><br /><br />Faile can see what Rhuarc does to her in explicit detail, but Berelain's move completely counfounds her.  Why the difference?  I think Berelain's defense is a subtle use of the Power that Faile couldn't perceive.  Small and well-concealed, such a use would not pose a great risk to Mesaana's disguise.<br /><br />Ultimately, it is the nature of Rand's character that convinced me something is wrong with Berelain.  Rand is notoriously untrusting of anyone not Aiel or Two Rivers, with a few notable exceptions.  Even those exceptions, however, have needed to prove their worth to Rand before he accepts them.  Berelain, on the other hand, has shown herself to be an arrogrant temptress, and her primary goal is destroying Perrin's marriage.  Those are not traits that Rand would normally overlook, and I believe that foreshadows something sinister that has yet to be revealed .<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-18 04:15:00
subject: Ajah colors
body:
<p>One of Robert Jordan&#8217;s answers to the Question of the Week at the Tor website said:<br /><br /><blockquote>A channeler sees the flows as colored very faintly, according to which of the Five Powers is involved (red = Fire, blue = Water, green = Earth, yellow = Air, white = Spirit).<br /><br /></blockquote>Now, every channeler would associate these colors with the respective specific flows and to what is symbolically associated with them: it's normal for every mind to associate particular colors with the same representative meaning. Aes Sedai have a very stable and universal (i.e. the same for every channeler) system of associations for five of the basic colors. Only a more popular and stable color symbolism system from before the mass usage of channeling could outweigh this natural symbolism system, and we have no indication that any another such colour symbolism system exists.<br /><br />Five of the seven Ajahs have the colors of the flows of One Power. Can this be an accident? <br /><br />So, why do the Ajahs have their specific colors? <br /><br />One of the traditional (and the only known for sure) associations of the elemental flows is that Air and Water are the powers of women, and Fire and Earth the powers of men. This association is obvious from the widespread Aes Sedai saying that Water and Air can win over any Fire and Earth and that it means that they believe that female channelers have some advantages over the male ones. Further, Moiraine explicitly mentions the male channelers being stronger in Fire and Earth. This is a kind of knowledge that for some reason was never forgotten during all the 3000 years without researchable male channelers. Among these four powers, Air is especially closely associated with women, and Fire with men (I base this on the title of the book, Loial mentions as the best one about male and female channeling: an early Ogier work entitled <i>Men of Fire and Women of Air</i> ).<br /><br />So the corresponding colors would be:<br />Red (Fire): in first place related to men<br />Green (Earth): in second place related to men<br />Yellow (Air): in first place related to women<br />Blue (Water): in second place related to women<br /><br />The &quot;male/female&quot; association of green, blue and especially red and yellow, is, in contrast to all other interpretations, not just something those old-time Aes Sedai maybe thought, but something we are completely sure they associated with the said colors. When an Aes Sedai thinks about Fire and Earth, she will think about them as the &quot;male&quot; powers, even if she personally likes to use them very much and is talented with them. This male-female association is the only symbolism about the powers for which we have proof is a traditional connection. So even if the original intentions of the Ajah founders were something else, they had to also consider the &quot;male-female&quot; meaning and symbolism of the Ajah color, because everybody will associate this meaning with the color. It's like if I today founded a movement and chose the swastika as its symbol - I could argue that this swastika expresses the true, original, ancient Hindu meaning of the symbol, that it has nothing to do with any kind of Nazis, and I may have excellent reasons for that, but whatever I do, everybody will make a connection between the symbol of my movement and the Nazis, so that I'll have to take that into account if I'm not totally blind. The same with the Ajah colors: the founders of an Ajah may want to express something, but they will also know, that the other Aes Sedai will connect the color with the respective male/female meaning. So any Ajah choosing one of the colors red, yellow, green or blue will expect that the other Aes Sedai connect their identity with the respective male or female channeling symbolism.<br /><br />Now, it is interesting that both the Red and the Green Ajahs are the Ajahs that include dealing with men as their official missions. No other Ajahs are officially focussed on men. The Red are especially concentrated on men, and, more specifically on channeling men, while the Greens are known to have the completely opposite opinion about men in general. They are polar opposites on the issue of men and in their reactions to the events of the Breaking. The Reds react to the immediate effect of the taint on men, the Greens, as alternative to the Reds, prepare for the final consequence of the events of the Age of Legend's end: to the need of the Dragon's rebirth and of Tarmon Gai'don.<br /><br />Fire can be also associated with Purge - the Red Ajah cleansing the world from male channellers. Also Fire is a power daily used by Aes Sedai for turning lights on. Turning lights on is symbolically close to putting all the dirty secrets into an open, i.e. purge again. The Reds are the seekers, who (symbolically) go through the worlds with bright torches to seek for dangers and to burn them away. <br /><br />Further speculation would associate the Reds with the symbol of the whole White Tower: the white Flame. This Flame, as the bright half of the ancient Aes Sedai symbol apparently means that the Tower is the good part of the ancient Aes Sedai (while the male Aes Sedai were the bad part). Good/bad association here is to be derived from the Light/Shadow symbolism: the color of the Shadow is Black, so the Light's color is to be the opposite. The white half of the symbol has some resemblance to a flame, but it is similar also to a drop or something else like that. Why it became known exactly as a &quot;flame&quot;? Now I suspect some &#8216;Great Game&#8217; move of the Red Ajah in this.<br /><br />Earth is the second important power in usage for destructive weaves after Fire. But Earth is of the first importance in all weaves for building and forging architectural objects and metal artefacts. If a citadel or arsenal is to be built, its symbolic color for a channeler will be Green. Preparing for great battle in the future is building fortifications, forging weapons (both Earth-connected, although as far as weapons are concerned, the second Oath had not yet been introduced in these early times) and gathering and training army (for which a fortified central base and good arsenal is also a prerequisite). So Green would be the color for preparing for a great battle. Fire is the power used in immediate fight, a fight that goes on right now: that is the Red strategy. The Green are those who don't fight right now, but prepare to a battle in the future.<br /><br />If this interpretation is correct, the Yellow Ajah must originally have declared its role as the Ajah iprimarily connected to female channeling as opposed to male channeling. Why would this be the case about this Ajah focussed on Healing?<br /><br />It's about the political situation of the Aes Sedai in the early post-breaking time. The people blamed for the Breaking not only the male channelers, but all Aes Sedai. That may be irrational and stupid, but it is fact. In the books we have PoVs of people from that time that explicitly think that Aes Sedai, including the female Aes Sedai, are responsible for the Breaking, and they must be killed for that. And these people are not only the few extremists like the current Whitecloaks, but I have impression, they were, and still are, the vast majority of the population. The fact that in these days rulers have to keep their Aes Sedai advisors secret, means that population hate any As Sedai, and in the earliest days it was not because of their reputation as political manipulators, because in those days there was no White Tower yet, but only a diffuse ocean of ajahs and separate channelers. Lot of people after the Breaking wanted a world without any kind of Aes Sedai. This was one of the primary political issues for the new-founded Tower. <br /><br />Every faction of the founders of the Tower had to consider a plan to justify the existence of an official Aes Sedai organization in the eyes of the world. To justify the role of the Tower is to define the Tower's role and the reason why the world needs the Tower. Now we see that the different Ajahs define the main role of the Tower in different ways. Actually that is the official difference between the ideals of the seven particular Ajahs. Because this was <i>the</i> primordial issue for the beginning of the Tower, it is safe to state that it was the topic about which the original seven Ajah officially disagreed and disputed between each other. So that is likely to be the main thing an Ajah had to express through its self-image and identity: the Ajah's opinion about the official role of the whole Tower. The specialization of every Ajah was rather a consequence of what the initial ajahs stressed as their variant of the main message of the Tower.<br /><br />Now one of the most obvious ways to plan to win back the trust of the world in Aes Sedai, is to make it obvious to the world that these Aes Sedai are absolutely different from those male Aes Sedai who broke the world, and to make it obvious for the world that the world needs the good Aes Sedai. How is that to be achieved? People want no gifts from Aes Sedai, and it is not possible for the Aes Sedai to give the world any of the goodies from the Age of Legends. People during the Breaking found ways to survive and that made these people feel independent, and they would be pretty much against any attempts of the Tower to make them dependent. They would not accept any goodies from the Aes Sedai, even if the Aes Sedai can give them such. Reds would claim that they are needed to capture the male channelers, but the world would prefer to kill all the Aes Sedai, so even the Red activity will not make the Aes Sedai trusted: they would use Aes Sedai as allies to fight the channelling men, and after that will fight the Aes Sedai, because they&#8217;re also distrusted. But now there is something that Aes Sedai still can do and that even the people who hate Aes Sedai need sometimes: sometimes people need medical care. Even in the late Third Age, a lot of people prefer to suffer rather than be Healed by an Aes Sedai, but sometimes the disease gets too dangerous, sometimes it threatens with very unpleasant death, and that can weaken a lot of resolve. Healing is something that Aes Sedai can consider the world will accept from Aes Sedai despite all the hatred.<br /><br />So it is to be expected that some of the founders of the Tower will announce Healing as the main image of the Tower for the eyes of the world. The message would be something like: &quot;We are not those who broke the world, but we are those who Heal you; we are not those who threaten your life, but we are those who save your life&quot;. Healing becomes a slogan, an advertisement for the whole White Tower to win the world's trust. Because one of the purposes of this slogan is to make the difference between the new Tower = the legitimate female Aes Sedai, from those who broke the world and therefore who are to be hated = the male Aes Sedai, so it's logical, that the Aes Sedai faction proposing this slogan would use symbolism designating them as female in difference to male channelers (&quot;We are not like those awful male channelers, we are totally different, look at what the men did, and at what we, women, do now&quot; ).<br /><br />This is also corroborated by the fact that the Yellow Ajah have for so long a time so stubbornly maintained the idea that Healing is to use only Air, Water and Spirit: could it be that purely ideological and symbolical gestures determined the neglect of all-flows healing? Could it be, that some early Yellows, wanting to make a symbolical gesture, declare that they will not use that &quot;damned male Fire and Earth&quot; for so important an action as Healing? Could the reduction of Healing capability be a result of somebody's stupid idea of making propaganda?<br /><br />Reds did something different: their message was that there is still a danger in the world, and the world needs reliable and powerful and organized Aes Sedai to fight this danger. So the symbolism of the Red Ajah has the message &quot;Do not forget about the danger of channeling men!&quot;. I'll suppose that the Yellow and the Red proclamations were the first two ones the Tower declared as the official advertising of the Tower's role in the world. For example, the Grey dedication to mediation of conflict is also a good role for the Tower, but for it to be accepted in the world, at least some bit of trust is required: nobody will accept a peacemaker whom everybody hates to death. Greens are focussed on a very distant event - the Last battle - so they also first need the Tower in general to be accepted for their role to be accepted also. After that they may stress the future danger of the Last Battle (a danger like the message of the Reds), and also connected to men (the Dragon is a male channeler), so they have also the symbolism of &quot;Remember the danger!&quot;, i.e. the alternative male color. While Blues were also active from the beginning, they also needed some little trust before having a high profile, so they also would declare their color after the Red and Yellow. The Blues would be the ones with daily missions, although not emphasising the danger of channelling men, and they also would need very much the notion of the radical difference of the female Aes Sedai against the bad male ones: so they pick up the second female color as their symbol.<br /><br />According to this pattern Blue must mean the alternative to the direct approach of the Yellows pointing to the traditional glory of the female Aes SEdai Healers. I guess that the Blue idea refers the ideology of Latra Posae's faction. The initial Blues maybe claimed that they were the true followers of those Female Aes Sedai who met the problems of the early Breaking and followed their political style. We see from the Rhuidean memories that these Aes Sedai were concentrated on the pragmatic missions of doing what must be done, without relying on grand preparations and activity, but rather by precise silent actions (so much as possible).<br /><br />Another connection of the Blues could be with &quot;Way of Water&quot; of the Amayar: this &quot;Way of Water&quot; is a name coming from the epoch just after Breaking and likely to include popular symbols from that period, so it's likely that the first Tower Aes Sedai associated this meaning with Water. The Amayar &#8220;Water Way&#8221; is a doctrine about the world's events being illusion, and about the conditions for the end of the illusions. So Water (i.e. blue color) is connected with the philosophical problem of illusion, and the philosophical problem of illusion is almost always tightly connected to the problem (and importance) of finding the real meaning and causes of what happens behind what illusion only appears to be. The last problem is what the Blue Ajah declares as their main purpose.<br /><br />White is the symbol of &quot;spirit&quot; and according to that the White Ajah has a purely &quot;spiritual&quot; dedication. Usually spiritual dedication is associated with self-control and thus to some ascetics, and &quot;serious&quot;, &quot;ideal&quot; things as the only worthwhile things to think about (like philosophy and truth). Such association with serious subtle contemplation may be the reason that the novices, gai'shain, and mourning people wear white.<br /><br />The Grey and the Brown Ajahs have colors not present in the visual appearance of channeling. Both seem also to be symbolically neutral colors. The Greys definitely would claim to take no part in the ideological controversy between the five bright-colored Ajahs. The Greys are dedicated to mediate between groups of different ideologies. The Browns also would rather declare that they take no part in the ideological disagreements. They claim to be objective beholders that do not take any part &#8211; seekers after knowledge. So this Ajah uses the most neutral color in the symbolical system, a color that doesn't express mediation, but only inert position against any ideological position.<br /><br />That the Grey and Brown are exactly these colors is due to the fact that for WoTlanders the seven colors of the ajahs are the &quot;basic colors&quot;. The reason for that is Robert Jordan's opinion that exactly these seven colors are the basic ones. As Jordan said in an interview:<br /><br /><blockquote>Q: I was wondering how did you choose the colors for the ajahs, ie. why are some colors such as orange left out and gray is in. Thanx for answering my question. <br />A: I stuck with what you might call basic colors, and orange is not a basic color.<br /><br /></blockquote>So, never mind what the basic colors are in the arts, in video technology etc., in WoT the basic colors are exactly those seven colors (+ black), not others.<br /><br />Having all the &quot;basic&quot; colors, the seven Ajahs can consider themselves to represent the full scale of the variable positions for the White Tower and its main goals.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-21 08:12:44
subject: Precision weaving
body:
<p><b> Introduction </b><br /><br />As the title suggests , here is my complete theory on precision weaving. I consider precision to be by far the most neglected aspect regarding the One Power and related topics such as duels , linking and shielding.<br /><br />It has been grossly overshadowed by naturally appealing factors such as channeler strength , the size of circles and objects of the Power.<br /><br />I am therefore going to address it here because I believe it explains several important controversies in the series. These include &#8230;<br /><br />- the fact that very strong channelers are shielding one another despite near-equal strength<br />- Forsaken performances at the <i>cleansing of saidin</i><br />- smaller controversies which will be explained later<br /><br /><b> General </b><br /><br />What is precision weaving?<br /><br />Simply put , it is the ability to make weaves which are extremely accurate in consistency where the border of the weave tapers off and forms a very sharp edge. Perhaps that sounds strange. A good analogy is to compare your average weave to a butter knife and your precision weave to a very sharp knife. While it is true that both weaves complete the same task without exception , the precision weave is more lethal in a combat situation and in situations which require dexterity , such as very small and intricate weaves. While the butter knife can cut a slice of bread , a sharp knife performs the same task but with a better result.<br /><br />Precision weaves can be created by two groups of channelers &#8211; those in a circle and those of great strength in the Power. While these two groups may seem unrelated , there is evidence of a common denominator between the two.<br /><br /><b> Linking </b><br /><br />It is a generally accepted fact that Aes Sedai or other channelers link when they need to compensate for a lack of individual strength. While one cannot deny that volume of the Power is a principle concern when several sisters link to overcome a powerful presence like Logain or Rand , there is also the added and possibly equally important benefit of precision weaving which accompanies a linked circle.<br /><br />Guide (The Wheel and the Power) &#8230; &#8220;It is the precision of the circles which makes them so powerful. The exact strike of one chisel can split a stone that would withstand any number of blows from a hammer&#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />This reference clearly states that the underlying power of a circle is not the volume of the Power channelled through the leader , but rather precision. Precision appears to be the primary power behind linking , with strength appearing as a secondary directive. We always assume that the Aes Sedai link when in a crisis because they want to use strength to conquer the situation , but perhaps they see the merit in precision weaving?<br /><br />The Guide also shows that a circle&#8217;s precision allows it to defeat obstacles which strength would normally resist. If we look at Asmodean&#8217;s statement &#8230;<br /><br />TFOH (Pale Shadows) &#8230; &#8220;And when they take the circle to thirteen , then you must be wary. Thirteen women who can barely channel could overpower most men , linked. The thirteen weakest women in the Tower could overpower you or any man , and barely breathe hard &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Thirteen very weak women like Sorilea could overwhelm the majority of channelers , but possibly not the very strongest of them. Yet if we took the thirteen weakest sisters like Daigian , we see that no man can resist their attempts to shield him. In fact , Asmodean clearly shows that they don&#8217;t even need to make a concerted effort. This fact could be seen when the Aes Sedai easily shielded Rand when they kidnapped him.<br /><br />How can thirteen weak women shield a man of great strength? Thirteen of the weakest channelers could still fall short of the total strength of the target male , and certainly short when considering very strong channelers like Rand. As the Guide explains , precision is the secret behind linking&#8217;s success and it allows a chisel strike at the man&#8217;s link to saidin which could normally resist several other individual shielding attempts &#8230;<br /><br />Verin and Alanna try to use the hammer to shield Rand. Not very big hammers , but hammers in any case. They are , of course , unsuccessful &#8230; <br /><br />LOC (A Saying in the Borderlands) &#8230; &#8220;Something beat at the flow between him and the True Source. They were trying to shield him!&#8221;<br /><br />Coiren and her embassy use a far better tactic than Verin and Alanna. Firstly they link and secondly , the make a full circle. They shield Rand with ease and the precision is described&#8230;<br /><br />LOC (The Taking) &#8230; &#8220;The shield slicing between him and the True Source was like the closing of a sluice-gate; the flow of saidin vanished , leaving only the filthy residue of the taint &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />A linked circle&#8217;s precision makes it a lethal entity to encounter. Due to the fact that every weave which the leader of the circle weaves is naturally precise , it is logically more difficult to defend against if you are an individual. I consider it the sole reason why Nynaeve experienced such difficulty in defeating Falion and Ispan when they ambushed her. Initially she could not break through their linked shield despite her strength , and later she asked the Kin to help her defeat them , despite the fact that she was only facing two sisters &#8230;<br /><br />ACoS (Six Stories) &#8230; &#8220;I cannot do it alone ; they&#8217;re linked. If you don&#8217;t fight them , they will kill you &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Two sisters? It has been reliably suggested that Nynaeve is as strong as three average sisters and this should therefore not be a challenge for her. This is one point I feel very strongly about &#8230; a circle&#8217;s total strength is less than the channeler&#8217;s individual strength combined , but in my opinion <i>more</i> lethal than the number of channelers. I believe that fighting six linked sisters is <i>not</i> akin to fighting five sisters because of the strength reduction in linking. Due to precision weaving , it is the same as fighting seven individual sisters. I am not saying that a circle makes each channeler more powerful. It does the opposite &#8211; you cannot draw your maximum. I am saying that the leader of a circle is more dangerous and difficult to face than the sum total of individual channelers. <br /><br />It is for this reason that I believe that Egwene would not be able to hold Nynaeve as easily as Falion and Ispan did when they linked. They formed a precision shield because they were linked &#8211; and precision is the underlying strength of a circle.<br /><br />A good analogy can be seen in the physical world. If six women are throwing stones at you , you can block them with a shield you are holding. If all six go and pick up a giant boulder you might be able to barely deflect it , but if they shape it like a burr with sharp edges , you definitely won&#8217;t. On the other hand if they throw a small stone shaped like a bullet at you their chances aren&#8217;t very good either. Strength and precision tend to help each other out.<br /><br />Precision increases as you add more and more channelers to the circle until you reach thirteen. At this point the precision is perfect and is apt for any task and impossible to resist if attacked. You can go further than thirteen until you hit 72 channelers and at this stage the precision must be frightening. <br /><br /><b> Powerful Channelers </b><br /><br />There is a continuum of strength starting at the weakest channelers (Morgase , Sorilea) and ending at the strongest (The Forsaken and some of the good guys). As you become stronger in the Power , you are proportionately able to make more precise weaves. The weakest channelers make &#8220;fuzzy&#8221; weaves which increase in precision with strength until channelers like Lanfear and Rand can make weaves which are extremely precise.<br /><br />The critical strength level appears to be Egwene strength. Egwene has created very precise weaves and no one below her had managed to do this. I don&#8217;t believe that precision just &#8220;occurs&#8221; when you reach her strength , I believe precision increases with strength until Egwene strength or above provides enough precision to create a definitive advantage when weaving (apart from strength). We never see weaker channelers forming precise weaves , yet there are several examples of strong channelers forming very precise weaves &#8230;<br /><br />1. Asmodean - TSR (The Traps of Rhuidean) &#8230; &#8220;Lying there , he stared up at three bright ribbons &#8230; Hard as steel , sharp enough to make a razor seem a feather &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />2. Cyndane - WH (With the Choedan Kal) &#8230; &#8220;A razor-thin flow of Air sliced the fellow&#8217;s beard in two as it took off his head &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />3. Moghedien - TSR (Into the Palace) &#8230; &#8220;Before thought she struck out , weaving a hammer-hard flow of Air to smash that face. In an instant the glow of saidar surrounded the other woman &#8230; and Nynaeve&#8217;s flow was sliced razor clean &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />4. Moghedien 2 - TSR (Into the Palace) &#8230; &#8220;For a moment she could only stare. One of the figures , an odd animal shaped roughly like a pig but with a large round snout and feet as wide as its thick legs , stood where the seal had &#8230; It was not really there; the thing was woven from Air and Fire, in flows so minute they made cobwebs seem cables. Even concentrating she could barely see them. She doubted if Liandrin and the other Black sisters could have &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />5. Nynaeve - TSR (Into the Palace) &#8230; &#8220;The knife-sharp shield that Egwene had used to still Amico Nagoyin sprang into being &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />6. Nynaeve 2 - TSR (Into the Palace) &#8230; &#8220;the Forsaken struck with a complex weave of Spirit streaked by Water and Air. Nynaeve had no idea what it was meant to do; frantically she tried to cut it as she had seen the other woman do , with a keen-edged weave of Spirit &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />7. Egwene - TDR (What is Written in Prophecy) &#8230; &#8220;She set the patterns of the weaving , readied them , making the threads of Spirit much stronger , this time , thicker and heavier , a denser weave with a cutting edge like a knife &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />So the stronger channelers have demonstrated their competence in precision weaves on more than one occasion. Sadly , below Egwene&#8217;s strength we have never seen even a vague example of this precision weaving.<br /><br />These precision weaves provide the channeler with two major advantages &#8230;<br />a. Your enemies need to use more strength to slice your weaves because to counter such a weave you need to match it with a weave of at least equal precision.<br />b. You can shield channelers of equal strength while they are holding the Power<br /><br />The traditional Aes Sedai dictum clearly states that you cannot shield anyone who is holding the Power unless you are very much stronger than them. This was before women of Egwene and Elayne&#8217;s strength existed , and therefore before the appearance of precision weaves. <br /><br /><i> Example #1 &#8211; Nynaeve and Talaan </i><br /><br />WH (Ideas of Importance) &#8230; &#8220;Forcing a shield onto Talaan still felt much like slapping a wall &#8211; except the sting was spread evenly across her skin rather than just in her palm &#8230; Talaan matched her as closely as made no difference &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Talaan and Nynaeve are very strong for women but that chapter is particularly interesting. Nynaeve initially shields Talaan , and Talaan later shields Nynaeve twice. On every occasion they are filled with the Power. Remarkably , they even start to split their flows several ways and use a single flow of Spirit to shield one another. This concept used to be considered impossible but it can be attributed to precision weaving which allows you to create a sharpened shield to slice through the other channeler&#8217;s connection to the Source.<br /><br /><i> Example #2 &#8211; Nynaeve and Moghedien </i><br /><br />When Nynaeve and Moghedien duel in Tanchico , they repeatedly try to shield one another with the infamous razor sharp shield. The quotes have already been stated above and several more will follow. The relevance is the fact that their strength at the time was very similar yet they were inches from shielding and even stilling one another.<br /><br /><i> Example #3 &#8211; Rand and Lanfear </i><br /><br />TFOH (Choices) &#8230;&#8221;It was not at him directly that she struck this time. It was at his link to saidin. Panic rang the Void like a gong at the first knife-sharp touch , the Power diminishing as it slid between him and the Source. With Spirit and Fire and Earth he cut at the knife blade &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Lanfear tried to shield Rand at the Docks and the allude to the precision of her weave is once again described. Lanfear was using an angreal and Rand was unaided at this point so she could have been stronger than him. However , moments later he draws on his own angreal and her shields still come and he comments on the immensity of her strength. He then admits that he has the strength to kill her with lightning or fire , but she is still trying to shield him. Clearly he is stronger than her at this point yet he voices his distress at the prospect of her shielding him. The reason is implied in the text &#8211; Lanfear used her strength and her angreal to make an exquisitely sharp shield which would have shielded Rand no matter how strong he was.<br /><br />So there is conclusive evidence that the very strong channelers can shield one another using precision shields. On almost every occasion Jordan describes the shield as a knife or razor sharp , just to highlight the importance of precision.<br /><br /><b> Differences </b><br /><br />So it has now been established that precision weaving occurs when you either linked , or very strong in the Power. <br /><br />There is one difference in the two. It appears that circles command precision weaves all the time. No matter what the leader of the circle weaves , the weave is very precise (and proportional to the size of the circle). This appears to not be the case with strong channelers. In their case it looks like precision weaving requires a great deal of concentration , otherwise the weave resembles that of weaker of channelers.<br /><br />Here are some examples of this phenomenon &#8230;<br /><br />Moghedien - TSR (Into the Palace) &#8230; &#8220;Moghedien&#8217;s axe of Spirit waxed and waned in sharpness , but that would not matter if the woman managed to drive it home&#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Nynaeve - TSR (Into the Palace) &#8230; &#8220;she had to keep forcing it back to a razor edge; the woven flows did not want to hold the keenness.&#8221;<br /><br />Nynaeve 2 - TSR (Into the Palace) &#8230; &#8220;Examining what she had done , she saw it had not been as complete a victory as she had wanted. The shield had blurred its sharp edge before it slid home. Moghedien was captured and shielded , but not stilled&#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />It appears that strong channelers have to refine every weave if they wish it to be precise. Nynaeve and Moghedien start flinging very precise weaves at one another but after their duel proceeds for some time , they both find it difficult to defend themselves and immediately create a very precise weave. This level of concentration is unnecessary in linking because the underlying virtue of linking is its precision , which is always present.<br /><br /><b> Miscellaneous Issues </b><br /><br /><b> 1. Mixed Circles </b><br /><br />There is some vague evidence that the precision of mixed circles is greater than that found in a circle comprised of females only&#8230;<br /><br />Guide (The Wheel and the Power) &#8230; &#8220;A smaller circle with a closer balance can be stronger than a larger , unbalanced circle &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />The Guide then goes on to explain that technically the strongest circle comprises of 37 women and 35 men &#8211; leading up to the giant circle of 72. The fact that a mixed circle is more precise is not really surprising. Considering that saidin and saidar are equal and opposite , and both attract and repel one another , it can also be reasoned that they will work together for a task but will permanently repel one another too. Considering the weave is contained , it will invariably hone the precision of the weave as the two powers force each other into finer contortions.<br /><br />We have all read about the Forsakens&#8217; poor performance at the &#8220;cleansing of saidin&#8221;. It is difficult to blame them though because , despite their strength , they were fighting circles - which I&#8217;ve tried to prove is very difficult.<br /><br />Of the Forsaken who faced a circle , Demandred appeared to have had the hardest time defending himself&#8230;<br /><br />WH (With the Choedan Kal) &#8230; &#8220;Abruptly the old man stopped and thrust out his hand straight toward Demandred , and Demandred found himself frantically fending off a net of saidin that struck his warding much harder than it should have , as hard as his own spinning would &#8230; He tried to launch his own attack and crush them , but the old man flung web after web at him without pause , and it was all he could do to fend them off &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />The passage suggests that Flinn and his circle actually defeated Demandred. It was also the only circle without casualties. This circle of three managed to repel Demandred , a man very close to Rand in strength. I believe the answer lay behind him fighting a mixed circle. Although many people lend their time to contemplating Flinn&#8217;s strength in the Power , I think it may have been enough that the circle was mixed.<br /><br />While it is true that Halima faced a mixed circle too , it is also true that Eben threw himself at her and tried to attack her physically. We know that he died and I&#8217;m sure it isn&#8217;t too much to state that he died before saidin could be effectively used in that mixed circle. Halima isn&#8217;t exactly going to ignore him , fight the circle and then kill him later.<br /><br />Graendal showed her prowess against an all-female circle , and Cyndane showed her prowess against a single channeler despite a strength disadvantage from her side.<br /><br />If we look at the Cleansing from a distance , it appears that the mixed circles had the greatest impact , followed by the female circle and the lone channeler with her angreal i.e. Alivia. It may seem like a very narrow-minded explanation for the events of that chapter , but I think the evidence regarding circles could possibly explain why some of the Forsaken had a harder time defending themselves than others.<br /><br />If we look at Sammael&#8217;s comment to Graendal &#8230;<br /><br />LOC (Threads Woven of Shadow) &#8230; &#8220;Then link with me. The pair of us linked would be more than a match for Al&#8217;Thor &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Sammael has no doubt that they could overwhelm Rand. Sammael is probably very close to Rand in strength , and Graendal probably a bit weaker still. Combined they are less than twice Rand&#8217;s strength , however you look at it. Despite this , Sammael has no doubt that they could overwhelm Rand. Although this evidence may seem tenuous to some , I think it provides some proof as to Sammael&#8217;s revelation of the strength of mixed circles. <br /><br /><b> 2. Strengths , Weaknesses and Talents</b><br /><br />Women tend to be stronger in Air and Water , while men can claim the domains of Fire and Earth. Precision may account for how these strengths work. When a woman weaves Air , it assumes a natural precision and dexterity , but when she weaves Earth it forms in a fuzzy and even disorganised way. If we look at Egwene &#8230;<br /><br />TDR (Threads in the Pattern) &#8230; &#8220;She thinned one flow of Earth to finer than a hair , hoping the Halfmen could not sense so small a channeling &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Egwene is notoriously strong in Earth for a woman and here we see her prowess with it even from early on in the series. The flow of Earth closely resembles the examples of precision weaving by Asmodean and Cyndane. If we look at Verin weaving Earth &#8230;<br /><br />TPOD (Deceptive Appearances) &#8230; &#8220;Spirit predominated by far , but there was Wind and Water , Fire and Earth , the last of some difficulty for her , and even the skeins of Spirit had to be divided again and again , placed with an intricacy to boggle a weaver of fine carpets&#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Verin is clearly weak in Earth. Spirit tends to be a shared strength between men and women and you can see how her command of Spirit flows is infinitely more precise and skilled compared to her command of Earth. <br /><br />Talents may be due to a channelers gift of precision in a Power. Egwene&#8217;s strength in Earth gives her the ability to Delve , to locate metals and ores in the earth. Is it unreasonable to believe that Nynaeve&#8217;s gift of Cloud-dancing stems from a natural precision in Air or Water which allows her to read changes in the weather like Egwene reads the presence of metals? Dreaming and Foretelling may even owe their presence to precision in Spirit &#8211; it allows the channeler to recognise patterns in the Pattern. <br /><br />Travelling is also mentioned as a Talent and precision may play a definitive part , especially in female Travelling. Women create a copy of the two areas between the Travelling. If the channeler can create a perfect copy of the areas then they will appear closer to their intended target. Other potential Talents related to precision may include reading of residues , and possibly Compulsion. There is no proof for the above paragraphs but just constructive speculation. You can decide for yourself.<br /><br /><b> Limits of Precision </b><br /><br />Could Egwene shield Rand while he is holding the Power? At first it seems like a ludicrous suggestion but if precision weaves are so sharp , as in a circle&#8217;s , then it shouldn&#8217;t be a problem for her razor-sharp shield to slice through his connection to saidin. The answer is that she could not shield him for the following reasons &#8230;<br /><br />Firstly , Rands tells us so &#8211; presumably thanks to Lews Therin &#8230;<br /><br />LOC (The Taking) &#8230; &#8220;The shield made his eyes bulge. It was impossible. No three women could block him from the Source once he had taken hold of saidin , not unless they were as strong as Semirhage or Mesaana  &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Secondly , the weave must slice through the connection to the Source. For instance , look at when Egwene stills Amico Nagoyin &#8230;<br /><br />TDR (What is written in Prophecy) &#8230; &#8220;The wavering shape of the Darkfriend appeared again , and Egwene struck out with flows of Air and Spirit. For an instant something seemed to resist the weaving of Spirit , and she forced it will all of her might. It slid into place &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Amico&#8217;s connection to the Source resisted the weave despite its sharpness. She therefore has no chance of slicing a huge connection to the Power like Rand&#8217;s. However , I do believe that her shield will feel like a knife-sharp touch to Rand and not like the battering which Verin and Alanna tried on him. He will interpret it as a threat and will probably defend himself &#8211; probably under the impression that she is about to shield him. In actual fact the shield probably falters and fades when it cannot penetrate the link.<br /><br />Thirdly , if she managed to shield him , there is no way her shield&#8217;s structural integrity could withstand his power. He would shatter it within seconds. If Nynaeve could barely contain Logain , what chance does Egwene have against Rand?<br /><br /><b> CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY </b><br /><br />1. Precision weaving is extremely important when judging One Power feats and duels.		<br />2. Precision weaving occurs naturally in linked circles and with effort in strong channelers.<br /><br />3. Precision increases with channeler strength.<br /><br />4. A circle can command less of the One Power than the sum total of the individual channeler , but the weaves are more precise. <br /><br />5. A linked circle of four is like facing five individual channelers and not like facing three (a common supposition).<br /><br />6. Mixed circles are more precise than all-female circles and may account for Demandred&#8217;s hardship in Winter&#8217;s Heart.<br /><br />7. Precision may be responsible for strengths in Powers and even Talents.<br /><br />8. Precision has limits and cannot compensate for strength in the Power and weaknesses.<br /><br /><b> Pitfalls </b><br /><br />a. Perhaps weaker channelers can make very precise weaves and we merely haven&#8217;t seen them yet.<br /><br />b. Perhaps Jordan is using sharp adjectives as a literary device e.g. &#8220;the shield was like a razor about to cut her off from the Source.&#8221;<br /><br />c. Jordan possibly didn&#8217;t think about the Cleansing very carefully. Some of his omissions concerning Erian and Semirhage cast doubt on the whole chapter. Even precision cannot explain how Daigian , the weakest Aes Sedai , and Beldeine managed to live through an assault by Halima , a channeler of great power , after Eben died.<br /><br />Comments , arguments and constructive refutations are more than welcome.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-21 16:30:34
subject: Mat and Rand in Ebou Dar
body:
<p>My theory is that Mat and Rand meet up in <i>Knife of Dreams</i> under harrowing circumstances.<br /><br /><b>Rand first</b><br />Rand plans to visit the Seanchan in Ebou Dar next, where he will meet the Daughter of the Nine Moons. A dangerous encounter, and one from which he may well need rescuing. <br /><br />When Rand meets Suroth&#8217;s Daughter of the Nine Moons, he may well be collared with the male a&#8217;dam Domon and Egeanin were forced to give to Suroth (<i>Winter&#8217;s Heart</i>, A Matter of Property). Suroth is a known Darkfriend (<i>The Great Hunt,</i> Damane) and a captive Rand would be very useful to the Shadow. Since Semirhage (as Anath) is with Suroth, treachery is certain and so is the likelihood that Rand has a thoroughly bad time.<br /><br />I think the Seanchan will want Rand to come to them due to their version of the Prophecies, in which the Dragon Reborn serves the Crystal Throne (<i>The Path of Daggers,</i> A Time for Iron), and that Rand&#8217;s capture will therefore seem appropriate to all Seanchan. Rand may well have arranged to meet the Seanchan in an empty area or a neutral place, but it will be a place that the Seanchan can reach easily, by raken if necessary, ie not that far from Ebou Dar. Once Rand is collared, however, the Seanchan would take him and his entourage back to their base in Ebou Dar. <br /><br />The Seanchan are also planning to move against the White Tower in the near future. If Rand is free, then he and his forces can prevent the White Tower attack. The reverse is not true, however, thanks to the efforts of Mesaana and the Black Ajah. The Aes Sedai have become too entangled in internal conflict to rescue Rand. So the order of operations should be:<br /><br />1. Capture Rand<br />2. Attack the White Tower<br /><br />This suits the Shadow admirably, and they would follow with<br />3. Tarmon Gaidon kickoff<br /><br />This might be the Shadow&#8217;s plan, but Tuon's sudden return to Ebou Dar, resulting in an embarrassing excess of Daughters of the Nine Moons, would muck it up. <br /><br /><b>Where Mat fits in with this</b><br />I believe that Perrin isn&#8217;t the only one that rescues Rand from peril. Min has had viewings of Perrin saving Rand twice (one of those was fulfilled at Dumai&#8217;s Wells),  but Perrin is about to be busy with the restaging of the Battle of Maldon. I think that Mat and Rand will have to get out of this one by themselves - with the help of their entourages. A symmetry to Perrin and Rand at Dumai's Wells, if you like.<br /><br />As far as Min&#8217;s viewings of Mat helping Rand go, Min hasn&#8217;t seen Mat for quite a while, so it&#8217;s quite possible that Mat also saves Rand. When Min last saw Mat, he was yet to almost die twice, and to die and live again once in truth. With such a shaky future, it&#8217;s hardly surprising that Min didn&#8217;t see much detail.<br /><br />Mat is still in Altara, so he&#8217;s not that far from Ebou Dar. It was the menagerie stopping to put on shows at every town they came to that slowed them down, but Mat and Tuon and co don&#8217;t have to travel back with the menagerie. <br /><br />At the end of <i>Crossroads of Twilight</i>, Something Flickers, Mat returned to Luca&#8217;s menagerie and was surprised to find that all preparations for departure had stopped. Tuon had taken control and was no longer playing the captive. As far as the Pattern is concerned, it&#8217;s time for her to resume her responsibilities in Ebou Dar, hence the forces hunting her and Tuon&#8217;s own decision to come out into the open.<br /><br />Tuon gave Mat a promise not to escape, but she also intends to return to Ebou Dar. That was stated just before the promise. <br /><br /><blockquote>&#8221;I cannot say what I will do after returning to Ebou Dar, Toy. I have not decided&#8230;Still, you have represented certain promises to me, so it pleases me now to promise as well. I will neither escape nor betray you in any way, nor will I cause dissension among your followers. I believe that covers everything necessary.&#8221;<br /><br />-	<i>Crossroads of Twilight</i>, A Fan of Colors<br /><br /></blockquote>Tuon will either find a way to return to Ebou Dar with Mat and co without violating her oath, or the Seanchan posse hunting for her will find them all very soon. There's Seanchan hunting Tuon around that area; Renna was trying to reach them when she was killed. It would be easy for the Seanchan to follow upstream from Renna's body. It's quite possible that they do &#8216;meet up with&#8217; Tuon and Mat and give them a fast escort back to Ebou Dar. <br /><br /><b> Mat and the Seanchan</b><br />Mat will be punished for kidnapping the Daughter of the Nine Moons, after all: <br /><br /><blockquote>it&#8217;s death by slow torture to lay hands on the Daughter of Nine Moons<br /><br /><i>Winter&#8217;s Heart,</i> What the Aelfinn Said<br /><br /></blockquote> according to Egeanin. Semirhage will also probably want to do her bit. So Mat as well as Rand is in for a hard time. <br /><br />There are a few dreams and viewings about Mat that have yet to be fulfilled, two of them definitely involving the Seanchan:<br /><br /><blockquote>Mat throwing dice with blood streaming down his face, the wide brim of his hat pulled down low so she could not see his wound<br /><br />- <i>The Fires Of Heaven</i>, What Can Be Learned in Dreams<br /><br /></blockquote>It is a facial wound. Both Min and Egwene have seen an eye on a balance scale for Mat (<i>The Eye of the World</i>, Strangers and Friends and <i>The Dragon Reborn</i>, Questions). Perrin has seen Mat standing<br /><br /><blockquote>naked and bound, snarling; an odd spear with a black shaft had been thrust across his back behind his elbows, and a silver medallion, a foxhead, hung on his chest,<br /><br />- <i>The Shadow Rising,</i> To the Tower of Ghenjei<br /><br /></blockquote>which sounds unpleasant, while Egwene has dreamed of a woman, face in shadow, beckoning Mat<br /><br /><blockquote>toward great danger; Egwene did not know what, only that it was monstrous. <br /><br />- <i>Lord Of Chaos</i>, A Pile of Sand  <br /><br /></blockquote>This shadowed woman sounds like Semirhage.<br /><br />As for dreams involving Mat and the Seanchan, one was so bad Egwene was willing to dismiss it as a nightmare (<i>The Dragon Reborn</i>, Questions) and the other was of :<br /><br /><blockquote>&#8230;two ravens alighted on his shoulders, claws sinking through his coat into the flesh beneath . He seemed no more aware of them that Perrin had been of the hawk and the falcon, yet the defiance passed across his face, and then grim acceptance. <br /><br />- <i>Lord Of Chaos,</i> A Pile of Sand<br /><br /></blockquote>If Mat is in danger in Ebou Dar, this would fit in with Talmanes&#8217; feeling in <i>The Path of Daggers,</i> A Peculiar Calling, that Mat needs him to the south in the future.<br /><br /><b>What happens in Ebou Dar</b><br />So much is hanging in Ebou Dar right now that needs resolution.<br /><br />Tuon returns to confront the &#8216;Daughter of the Nine Moons&#8217; and Anath holding Rand captive and finds out what Suroth and Anath have been doing in Tuon&#8217;s name. To the Seanchan it will seem like Tuon has again foiled a dastardly plot. <br /><br />Tuon needs to see the truth about damane and suldam &#8211; she has just learnt the beginning of it from Egeanin at the end of <i>Crossroads of Twilight</i>. Those in Rand&#8217;s entourage are much better informed. The confrontation between Suroth and Tuon should be quite interesting!<br /><br />Egwene&#8217;s dreams indicate that Egwene will be rescued from her precarious position by a Seanchan woman (<i>Crossroads of Twilight</i>, In The Night)  and that she is tied to a female golden hawk (<i> A Crown Of Swords</i>, Unseen Eyes). Tuon&#8217;s banner has a golden hawk on it. Maybe Tuon will stop the attack on the White Tower. But how far into the attack does Egwene&#8217;s Seanchan rescuer turn up? It may well be that many Aes Sedai are collared or killed in Tar Valon before anyone stops the attack or saves Egwene. Carlinya, for instance, is likely to be stilled and made dacovale, judging my Min&#8217;s viewing in <i>The Fires of Heaven</i>, Sallie Daera. The Seanchan that saves Egwene descends from above - raken would be likely. That makes the timing possible. Until Tuon gets back to Ebou Dar, she isn't going to know about the imminence of the White Tower attack and she also needs to know a lot more about Aes Sedai, damane and sul'dam before she'll do anything. She's about to find out. This is where the penny drops as well as the dice!<br /><br />The return of Mat and Tuon to Ebou Dar will further advance other sub-plots:<br /><br />Mat can face the gholam and avenge Tylin's death. He would like that.<br /> <br />The Sea Folk may sail to Ebou Dar and battle the Seanchan fleet &#8211; thus making their bargain with Rand more important. They can learn Rand is in agony from Alanna who is in Tear. The Windfinders Mat freed also owe him a favour in return. <br /> <br />And lastly, there's the Gunpowder Plot to happen.<br /><br />Mat&#8217;s and Aludra&#8217;s use of gunpowder &#8211; which has been imminent for some time and was always intended for battle against damane &#8211; will make the crucial difference. Historically, gunpowder first appeared in China and then in Southern Europe. It is appropriate that it will be first used in the WOT world in Ebou Dar (of southern European flavour) against the Seanchan (strong Chinese influence).<br /><br />As far as what form they'll fire the gunpowder in, it depends on how many launcher bodies Aludra has on hand. Mat has seen a few - she and Mat speak of her lofting tubes in the plural. That would be enough to disrupt the damane at this stage.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion</b><br />The meeting of Mat and Rand in Ebou Dar thus ties a lot of plot threads together &#8211; Rand and the male a&#8217;dam, Semirhage, Suroth, Seekers, gunpowder, the revelation of channelling sul&#8217;dam, Tuon being a latent channeller, Mat&#8217;s prophesised unpleasant experiences, a Seanchan rescuing Egwene, the gholam and the Sea Folk/Seanchan naval battle. So much to do, so little time!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-24 19:11:43
subject: The Case Against Sammael
body:
<p>The murder of Asmodean is one of the longest running and hotly argued mysteries in the Wheel of Time series. Many believe it will remain unsolved, since Jordan has not shared the murderer&#8217;s thoughts with his readers. In fact, he is now unable to do so, since the murderer, Sammael, died at the end of <i>A Crown of Swords</i>.<br /><br />I won&#8217;t recap the case for the other suspects because they have already been described in detail in earlier theories. Instead, this theory will concentrate on the case against Sammael.<br /><br /><b>Motive</b><br /><br />Sammael&#8217;s motive is well known: he wants Rand and anyone who is aiding Rand dead. Asmodean certainly falls into this category; since Sammael was angry and disgusted with Asmodean for teaching Rand. As an indication of which way his thoughts tended, he asked Lanfear why she didn&#8217;t kill Asmodean (<i>The Fires of Heaven</i>, Prologue) when she had the chance. Sammael certainly would have.<br /><br />All through the books Sammael tried to kill Rand and his aides: he sent Darkhounds after Moiraine and co in Illian (<i>The Dragon Reborn</i>, Shadowbrothers and Hunted ) and Trollocs and Myrddraal to attack Rand in the Stone of Tear (<i>The Shadow Rising,</i> The Stone Stands). As Sammael later said:<br /><br /><blockquote>&#8220;I would have had his head in the Stone of Tear except that someone sent Myrddraal and Trollocs to save him.&#8221;<br /><br />- <i>Lord of Chaos</i>, Threads Woven of Shadow.<br /><br /></blockquote>Since Sammael had Darkhounds under his control already, it was probably he who sent the Darkhounds after Rand, Mat and a warded Asmodean in Rhuidean (<i>The Fires of Heaven</i>, Gateways) after hearing from Lanfear in <i>The Fires of Heaven</i>, Prologue that Asmodean was aiding Rand. (Although Lanfear told Rand she thought it was Rahvin, she may have been wrong or lying to get Rand to strike at Rahvin and to show the extent of her knowledge to Rand).<br /><br />Most importantly, Sammael was one of  four Forsaken (Sammael, Rahvin, Lanfear and Graendal) who plotted together to lure Rand into attacking Sammael in Illian, where they would take him (<i>The Fires of Heaven</i>, A Silver Arrow).  As part of this plot, one of the Forsaken opened a gateway to Rand&#8217;s camp in Jangai Pass and sent Shadowspawn and Darkfriends through (<i>The Fires of Heaven,</i> Birdcalls By Night). It may have been Rahvin or Graendal, but Lews Therin and Rand believed it was Sammael. Later, either Sammael or Rahvin attacked Rand during the battle for Cairhien <i>The Fires of Heaven</i>, The Lesser Sadness), again to goad Rand into attacking Sammael. So there were many clues pre <i>Lord of Chaos</i> that Sammael had murderous intentions and that he acted upon them. Someone who has made so many previous murder attempts on Rand and his aides and plotted to do others, should be seriously considered as a suspect if one of Rand&#8217;s aides is murdered.<br /><br /><b>Means</b><br /><br />Since the Dark One didn&#8217;t order Asmodean&#8217;s murder, the True Power was probably not used. Sammael used saidin and was fast enough and far enough away from Rand to go undetected. He balefired Asmodean to make sure the Dark One couldn&#8217;t claim Asmodean&#8217;s soul and get information from him or reincarnate him. There would be no body to destroy either.<br /><br /><b>Opportunity</b><br /><br />Sammael had the opportunity to kill Asmodean. In fact, expecting an attack in Illian which did not eventuate, Sammael was at a loose end. When Rand disappeared from Cairhien in public and didn&#8217;t arrive in Illian, Sammael probably went to Caemlyn later in the day to see what had happened. With Rand&#8217;s forces having the upper hand there, Sammael remained out of sight. Asmodean happened upon Sammael&#8217;s hiding place and was rightly surprised and appalled to see Sammael. Sammael promptly balefired him. Asmodean&#8217;s murder was not premeditated; it was an opportunistic killing from someone who wanted to see Asmodean dead.<br /><br /><b>Further Events</b><br /><br />We have no private thoughts from Sammael on Asmodean&#8217;s murder. While the Forsaken don&#8217;t lie to themselves in their thoughts, they certainly lie to each other. Sammael kept asking where Asmodean was hiding, but most murderers lie about their crime/s. Sammael manipulated Graendal (as he congratulated himself) by using her fear of the number of Forsaken being killed into agreeing to discover and reveal the location of the other Forsaken (<i>Lord of Chaos,</i> To Understand A Message).  His subsequent demands in that chapter (and how ironically it is titled, since Sammael went to a great deal of trouble to mislead Graendal) that Graendal produce a body if she wants him to believe any Forsaken is dead become almost a taunt, since in Asmodean&#8217;s case, Sammael his murderer <i>knows</i> there is no body to produce.<br /><br />Graendal&#8217;s fear has been quite suspicious, but she&#8217;s afraid the Forsaken, and especially her precious self, will all be killed, not just that Asmodean has been killed. She certainly acts like she knows more than she should, but then her spy network is good and she&#8217;s very intelligent.<br /><br />Sammael&#8217;s declaration that he would kill Asmodean if he could find him (<i>Lord of Chaos,</i> Threads Woven of Shadow) is more disingenuousness. He is not lying (in fact he was truthful) but he is deliberately  and falsely suggesting that he believes Asmodean is alive to throw Graendal (and any Forsaken she talks too) off the scent. <br /><br /><b>To Sum Up</b><br /><br />Disregard what Sammael has said about Asmodean&#8217;s &#8216;disappearance&#8217;, because the Forsaken are liars &#8211; Sammael had the motive, means and opportunity to kill Asmodean. The case against Sammael is a lot stronger than previously recognised. As for Sammael claiming he believes Asmodean is alive and hiding, well he would say that, wouldn&#8217;t he?<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-25 00:59:04
subject: Where it Began
body:
<p>Many of the balanced scales theories put Mat torn between two Aes Sedai, or two groups of them, trying to go different ways.  It&#8217;s not that I disagree with them, but I just find one thing missing.  The bloody DICE!  Throughout the series, whenever Mat had to make a decision, especially an important one, the dice were there.<br /><br />For example, the dice stopped when Mat chose to stay at Setalle Anan&#8217;s inn.  This seems to be such a small event, but it had major consequences when Nynaeve and Elayne came to ask for his assistance.  While leaving, they ran into Setalle who then took them to the Kin, which led to the Bowl of Winds, and eventually the capture of Ispan.<br /><br />I will get to the point in one second, but first I would like to explain why I am writing this one in disagreement with the other Balanced Scale Theories.  As stated above, quite a few theories center on Mat&#8217;s decision between Joline and Teslyn, rescuing, or otherwise.  A lot of people seem to think that Mat going after Teslyn led to him kidnapping Toun, and the whole marriage thing, and maybe even making Mat <i>da&#8217;covale</i>.<br /><br />I won&#8217;t say where I stand on the latter theories, but I don&#8217;t believe that the current series of events started off with Joline and Teslyn.<br /><br />I believe that the events started off with the disappearance of Olver. <br /><br /><font size="-1"><b>*On a side note: Remember that Mat had promised Rand to stay with Elayne until she was crowned, and it was also said that Mat never breaks his promises.* </b></font><br /><br />Nynaeve and friends were commanding (more or less) Mat to find Olver and to let nothing happen to him.  This caused Mat to decide whether or not to allow the women to assist in the search.  Concerning the decision of whether or not to allow Nynaeve and company to assist in the looking, &#8220;Promises to Keep&#8221; in ACoS he had this to say: <br /><br />&#8220;For the space of three heartbeats he [Mat] hesitated.  He had his own promises to keep, though he was wise enough not to put it that way.<br /><br />&#8216;The Bowl is too important,&#8217; he told them.  That <i>gholam</i> is still out there, and maybe Mohgedien, and the Black Ajah for sure.&#8217; The dice thundered in his head.&#8221; (ACoS pg. 791 soft cover edition)<br /><br />It was then that Mat had decided to abandon the women to look for Olver.  The women went on their way and Mat went out searching.  Throughout the search, the dice are mentioned to be pounding in his head multiple times until the end of the chapter.<br /><br />&#8220;The <i>sul&#8217;dam</i> apparently was not satisfied.  The foxhead went cool again, and from behind another roar hammered him to the pavement, pavement that jumped up to meet him.  Through the ringing in his ears, he heard masonry groan.  Above him, the white-plastered brick wall began leaning outward.<br /><br />&quot;What happened to my bloody luck?&quot; he [Mat] shouted.  He had time for that.  And just time to realize, as brick and timbers crashed down on him, that the dice in his head had just stopped dead.&#8221; (pg. 801, &#8220;Promises to Keep&#8221;, ACoS)<br /><br />This shows that something major happened in his life.  A lot of people believe that this is where he died and lived again, but it might also mean that his decision had been finalized and the course of life settled into the Weave of the Pattern.<br /><br />The point is everything works out for Mat after that.  If it weren&#8217;t for Olver running off, the building wouldn&#8217;t have crushed Mat, hindering him from going with the other women.  It was after that whole event that Mat met Toun, <i>bloody dice stopping for that</i>, he found out about the note, saved Teslyn, <i>NO dice</i>, captured Tuon, named her his wife three times, and left.<br /><br />One last side note.  If any of you have read 'The Longest Theory-Part 4' by Light in the Night, he made note of the chapter names and images.  I find it ironic that the same could apply here also.  Mat, who never broke a promise, had to choose which one to break, and which one to keep.  All this took place in &#8220;Promises to Keep&#8221;, ACoS.  Just something to ponder.<br /><br />If you have any comments or thoughts, please be polite in sharing them, and I&#8217;m sure we can work something out.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-27 05:39:03
subject: Berelain and Mayenne Cultural Specifics
body:
<p>It's too easy to think of Berelain as a really psychologically and culturally unburdened person, who openly expresses her sexual desires, and whose behaviour could be explained as her being just a vamp. IMHO that would be a serious mistake. Here I will try to argue that she is as bound in her sexual behaviour to the rules of her nation&#8217;s cultural traditions and the ideal models of behaviour there as Tenobia of Saldea is to hers.<br /><br />Berelain's behaviour is anything but open and impulsive. She uses her charms a great deal for subtle politics. She controls herself so much in every case, even when she was influenced by her emotions. She cares too much about her reputation as a vamp; for instance, when she implies to the wider population that she is sleeping with Perrin, and when she apparently encourages, or maybe even creates herself, all the gossip about her; she is taking care about her reputation of a sex symbol. In her technique of seduction there is much method and care about details without much consideration of the character and the reactions of the men (Rand and Perrin) she is using her charms on, that I can only think that she learned it from an old, well tested and proven, highly developed school of seduction. Berelain also fits so well into the common temperament of the Mayenne nation, she seems to be typical Mayenne, even high-standard Mayenne. And referring to her way to think about love, she often speaks of &quot;we in Mayenne...&quot; All this makes me conclude, that there is a well elaborated Mayenne tradition of the kind of behaviour Berelain shows, that it exemplifies the ideal woman and the ideal leader for the Mayenne community, that Berelain learned it well, and that she considers playing by its rules to be her duty. Yes, her duty.<br /><br />We first see Berelain using her behavioural model for purely political purposes. It's the normal application for her skills and she is well prepared for it. But there is another well-known school of seduction, which uses charms primarily for advantage in negotiations, and that in a way that the man with whom the flirting is done remains very satisfied, without any sexual act &#8211; the Domani one. So why Berelain doesn't use the art of the Domani traders? Would this art be not a better method? Would not the Domani approach be much more effective on Rand and Perrin? Should a Mayenner act like a Domani? The answer is simple: local specifics. While Arad Doman has as neighbouring nations Saldaea, Andor and Tarabon, the neighbour of Mayenne is Tear. And Tear is the main and almost the only factor in Mayenne foreign policy. Mayenne's policy is dealing with Tear first and everything else second. Leane said about her art, that it must not be used on men who tend to see promises where there are no such, and who would rudely want from the woman what they think was promised. In the Borderlands, Andor etc., there are not many such men. But in Tear... the average Tairen lord will act exactly as Leane said the objects of Domani techniques must not act. Tairens would be the wrong subjects for the Domani approach. Mayenners would need another technique.<br /><br />Mayennes use methods ... open enough to attract the imagination of the not so subtle Tairen lords, and with much initiative. Tairen lords prefer for their sexual adventures girls from low classes, who are actually in the position of victims; they prefer to have the initiative. When the woman has the initiative, the Tairen lord just cannot be master of the situation in his usual manner and he will rather hesitate. The combination of feeding too much his imagination and dictating the flow of events could make the Tairen lord to feel like he is at the gambling table, where Tairen lords can allow themselves to be silly and generous. The Tairen lord has to think of his seduction as a little passionate adventure (like gambling or horse races) of high class, and Tairen lords think about that as a expensive pleasure, where it is normal to be generous. Where the Tairen lord sees &#8216;just a woman&#8217; he would most likely act rudely, and where he sees politics and trade, he will act as in the Great Game; both these reactions are not good for Mayenners. But Tairen expensive pleasures - that's a Tairen stereotype, where a Tairen lord can be manipulated. In other details, the art of Mayenner seduction would be like the Domani one. The goal would be to make the man allow himself a few silly actions, to break his bonds and interests a little bit for the sweet little adventure, and to not give him the chance to feel satisfied. The woman is to be both attractive and unreachable, always to promise more than could be achieved right now. Actually the best result would arise where the woman is subconsciously expected to remain unreachable. If there are some legends and poetry about grand, unhappy, but interesting and passionate Love with an unreachable femme fatale, the victims will have also the stereotype to excuse his silly behaviour (to make it socially admissible), that would seduce even a Tairen lord. Here comes the need of Mayenners having the reputation of femmes fatales. Surely the Mayenners have taken care that good poetry about femmes fatales is popular in Tear, to maintain the reputation of the Mayenne women as sex symbols, and to have living and impressive femmes fatales in existence with the reputation of ones who have already broken many hearts. A Mayenner beauty will be careful to maintain such reputation, as Berelain half-automatically does whether it's needed or not.<br /><br />Masterful and successful usage of this art against Tairens in the past, would make this kind of woman much admired in Mayenne itself. It would be a symbol for style, social prestige and ruler's skills. I.e. it would influence the unwritten rules of social prestige in Mayenne. A ruler who wants to be respected in Mayenne would need to act accordingly. Not necessarily being a sex symbol of course, but at least showing a similar style of public behaviour.<br /><br />So the favoured Mayenner style is of courage, endurance, an &quot;open&quot; approach, impatience with formal constraints, pressing the opponent so that the opponent does not have a chance to take the initiative, and doing it in a serene and splendid manner. When we look at all Mayenners, men and women, we see that they all try to act in that style and are usually impressed very much by actions of other people in that style. Actually it can be seen how Mayenners tend to defer when somebody is acting in this style, and they defer with pleasure and enthusiasm.<br /><br />First the example of Berelain. Her loyalty to Rand... yes she is clever woman and a good politician, and more honest then most contemporary nobles, and that can explain her loyalty to Rand, in that she would be like Dobraine or Bashere. Also she should be thankful to Rand for conquering Tear. That apparently was among her motives. But that happens with her after the scene in Rand's room with the Bubble of Evil, when she lost her initiative because of too much fear. Actually Rand manifested more courage and initiative then she; he won the game of who would remain more composed than the other (even if an unpleasant accident helped). Is there a Mayenne cultural stereotype, that when two people have a competitive game to see who shows more initiative and style, the one who loses has to defer? That's my suggestion.<br /><br />Berelain and Rhuarc is much better example. We know little about what happened between them, but it is completely clear that it was Berelain who began it, and that it was Rhuarc who determined what happened and how. After that, Berelain shows some loyalty to Rhuarc. And the Aiel show respect to Berelain. Aiel have respect only for those who hold their word, and do always what must be done. So Berelain earned this respect, apparently primarily in how she fulfilled her promises to Rhuarc. Here we have an unsuccessful attempt at seduction that ends with non-sexual loyalty.<br /><br />Berelain and Perrin: there are times when Perrin senses Berelain feels respect and even admiration for him. These are times when he makes very resolute gestures, showing no shyness at all in the face of her attempts, and puts her in her place in an open, informal manner without considering by the public opinion. Perrin's little victories in the game of initiative.<br /><br />Examples with other Mayenner are: 1. Havien Nurelle and his men at Dumai&#8217;s Wells. He attacked with 10000 Aiel with 300 men, as Perrin's PoV shows, because Aes Sedai said so. Aes Sedai are respected in Mayenne and the young Mayenne commander wanted glory, and showed fatalistic resolution. Nurelle never complained, he even thought the Aes Sedai did as they had to do. Even Borderlanders wouldn't act so (they will obey, but they will an opinion about the brusque decision of Aes Sedai). Kiruna and Bera, who were the real decision-makers in this case, would act in the situation exactly in this way to impress the Mayenners, in the style of openness, bravery, without concern for what people will say...<br /><br />2. Perrin&#8217;s improvised inspection of the Mayenner camp. Perrin did not act very diplomatically. Actually it was unintentionally so, but it looked as if it was an open, brusque act, without concern for what the others will think. The Mayenners liked Perrin in that moment because he fitted their stereotype of the glorious leader.<br /><br />3. Rubinde, a Sitter for the Green Ajah in the White Tower is another example of a powerful Mayenner woman, who is acting in that style. She is Elaida's supporter (we know in what style Elaida behaves against the Hall) and we see her in two meetings with Elaida and other Sitters. She shows enthusiasm in doing Elaida's task, and controlled arrogance; she attacks another Sitter in the Mayenne style, and it is obvious that she is not driven by emotions.<br /><br />Now back to Berelain and the implications of this cultural background to her relations to Perrin.<br /><br />What makes Perrin interesting to Berelain? Not his shoulders. She likes his shoulders etc., but it would not be sufficient to cause her behaviour; she could control her feelings because her role of a femme fatale dictates that she must control such feelings. She's supposed to be the one to cause lust, not one to suffer from it; she is supposed to make men do silly things because of lust, not to do silly things because of lust herself. If she wanted sex, she could have it in Mayenne as much as she wanted, but until now she has had only two men in her bed and they were both for politics only, not pleasure. I'm not even absolutely sure whether she really likes Perrin&#8217;s shoulders or this is only her way to maintain her vamp reputation. Whatever is spurring her to seduce him in this way, it is not just his physical attractions or the prospect of eventual pleasure in the bed; that would be a pleasant extra.<br /><br />Much more pertinent for Berelain are the political aspects of Perrin's position. Perrin is one of the closest friends to the new ruler of Tear, and if Rand cannot be emotionally bound to her, and to ensure that Rand will not suddenly change his feelings regarding her country, she may try to bind one of Rand's friends and so retain an indirect link with Rand. She finds Mat inappropriate (because he is &quot;too much like her&quot;, i.e. he is expected to try to be the active one in the seduction game and not the proper object of seduction), so only Perrin is left.<br /><br />When Berelain met Perrin for first time, she had just failed three times in her attempts to play her game. The first time was when she suddenly agreed to submit to a treaty with Tear just before Rand getting the Stone (but unlike the second two cases here, she succeeded in the emotional struggle and failed in the political one; she made High Lord Torean emotionally dependent on her, but that didn&#8217;t help much). After that, she attempted to play her game with Rhuarc, and when it failed, with Rand. These are her three &quot;defeats&quot; in a row (not to mention the situation where Lanfear compelled her to bring a message to Moiraine, and her doing this errand-girl's task was very unpleasant for her). So she was in the position to need a boost to her self-image. Yes, she overwhelmed Torean with her charms and the political results with Rhuarc and Rand were successful, so her public reputation was intact, but psychologically she needed a &quot;success&quot; now to regain her trust in her own charms.<br /><br />She was not very much interested in winning Perrin that first meeting in Tear though. Compared with the efforts she made to have Rand, her first attempt on Perrin was rather weak. However in that first meeting there is already something that made Berelain's relation to Perrin more personal. Perrin attempted to behave coldly, and as a result of this he behaved somewhat brusquely, and somewhat shyly at the same time. What does this kind of behaviour mean for a Mayenner woman? <br /><br />Berelain is not an inventor of the femme-fatale technology, she is a product of a tradition, and this tradition forms her concepts about love matters. This tradition would determine not only the model that the ideal Mayenne beauty inspires every man to fall in love with her, but also the model of falling in love in general, i.e. also the model of how a Mayenne woman would fall in love with somebody. Berelain's life is dedicated to a style of behaviour exploiting some ideals of crazy passionate unanswered love, so Berelain's subconscious understanding about Love with capital 'L' would be determined by the same Pattern. Berelain's art of seduction exploits the attractiveness of this model of &quot;Love&quot;, so wouldn't she herself feel it as some kind of ideal? <br /><br />Also the Mayenne art of seduction practically requires the seducer to remain a bit unreachable, and that puts the Mayenne beauty in the unpleasant position of being actually sexually and emotionally unsatisfied. It is to be expected that a Mayenner femme fatale finds in herself at some moment the wish to feel love, and here comes the issue, that the ideas of the Mayenne beauty about Love are the passion she has to cause in her victims. Briefly: if a Mayenne beauty wants to feel love, she would more likely find it in the form of a crazy fatal passion (if it is unanswered, this fits the model better) to a man who acts according to the Mayenne standards of style.<br /><br />When Perrin is confused and wants to defend himself, he acts in an open, resolute, brusque way, taking the initiative, acting (seemingly) without scruples and without regard for what the others will think... No matter what Perrin actually feels when acting so, what it is important is how it would look like in Berelain's eyes. And that is the kind of behaviour that would rather impress Berelain. The fact that Perrin does not allow her to become close to him fits the inaccessibility component of the Mayenne Love model, i.e. Berelain would find it even more attractive. Subconsciously she would even prefer to feel unhappily in love with a man she cannot have (it's part of the model of the victim of Love in this model).<br /><br />These feelings would not stop her from making Perrin a victim of her &quot;Love&quot; if she only could (compare the leash that the hawk wants to put on Perrin in Min's viewing). Berelain would not stop her main game, and the love that Mayenners have for the duel over who will remain the more cool. But her being impressed means that she will be ready to become a victim of Love if the circumstances are right.<br /><br />It was too early in Tear for all these processes to reach their full extent; Berelain had made too few approaches to Perrin. But the processes were beginning to turn in that direction.<br /><br />Now comes the problem with Faile's interference, and how it influenced Berelain's decisions concerning Perrin. I've never seen in Berelain any personal strong feelings towards Faile comparable to Faile's jealousy. Berelain does a great deal of things that make Faile very angry, but while Perrin can smell Berelain&#8217;s real emotions, he finds in her no special anger towards Faile. Especially visible is Berelain's lack of hate to Faile after Faile's kidnapping. In all cases where Berelain does something against Faile, she does it in some calm way&#8230;Faile fits as a role in the prescribed by Berelain's tradition model, thus making the whole situation more fitting into Berelain's cultural stereotypes. And Berelain's actions and reactions related to Faile are IMHO completely explainable from the Mayenne cultural stereotypes.<br /><br />The first time Berelain is forced to pay attention to Faile is in Tear when Faile attacks her and wants a duel. Berelain was doing some very important things - her &quot;Ogier&quot; oath to have Perrin - and had a motive to hate Faile (Faile seeing her running away). How would the situation be seen through Berelain's Mayenner eyes? An unknown huntress of the Horn (i.e. a person much below her rank and unworthy to speak so with her) surprisingly comes in a most insolent manner and unceremoniously challenges her regarding love matters. The prestige of a Mayenner noble cannot bear that. For Berelain's Mayenner standards, Faile's action is an attempt to place herself over Berelain in the game of initiative. I.e. Mayenne stereotypes require Berelain to put Faile on her place. How? By showing that she (Berelain) is to some degree more courageous, more offhand and more worthy for the reputation of a femme fatale than this ridiculous Saldean girl. The problem with Faile's impolite attack is that she is attacking not any kind of noble but a Mayenner noble. For Mayenne culture the offhand action is a valid social challenge. A Mayenner of Berelain's rank and reputation cannot show herself less courageous and less open in sexual matters than a random girl. As a result Berelain decides to out trump Faile in the game Faile began. Berelain's &quot;Ogier oath&quot; seems an over reaction for the situation. It's too much for real feelings, and Berelain was not in the position of a princess thinking that everything is allowed to her: the Tairens would not let a First of Mayenne get away with such an arrogant attitude for long. But the exaggerated reaction is explainable as a move in the game of initiative. Faile acted too offhand against Berelain and Berelain had to shut Faile's mouth (successfully to some degree) by being more offhand. Berelain was moved by her cultural stereotypes to exaggeration.<br /><br />And Berelain's shameful retreat by Rhuarc's order was IMO not so fatal for her feelings as Faile would think. Rhuarc attempted to make her feel shame and IMO Berelain understood that very well. Faile noticed that even running away Berelain still swayed her hips as if seducing some man. I guess Berelain did that intentionally to save her Mayenne-standard reputation. I.e. Berelain remained offhand in this difficult situation so her retreat from Faile was not so shameful. Later Berelain's lies that she slept with Perrin and her other actions that made Faile mad are also explainable as Berelain just taking care about her reputation.<br /><br />The &quot;Ogier oath&quot; - did it mean something important for Berelain? The respect of the Aiel towards Berelain is an indication that Berelain takes her oaths seriously. But more likely in that moment this exaggerated &quot;oath&quot; was as seriously thought as any of Siuan's expressions of what she will do to Gareth Bryne &#8211; she, like Siuan, takes her words seriously, but exaggerations are still exaggerations and so are not to be taken too literally. However this &quot;Ogier oath&quot; reinforces the motives for Berelain to play her game with Perrin.<br /><br />When she found Perrin in Cairhien happily married to the cousin of the Saldean queen, this situation fitted even more in the Berelain's stereotypical model. When the Mayenne school of seduction was designed, it was designed to work on Tairen High Lords, who most likely were married to important, high-blooded and dangerous High Ladies who were skilled in the Great Game. I.e. the presence of a wife of Faile's standing and behaviour was rather a part of the Mayenne stereotype. If her cultural models were not turned on before, they had to be turned on in that moment. Perrin in that time avoided her with lot of shyness, and that only made him a more interesting target for Berelain's instincts.<br /><br />In the scene when Perrin became the head of the rescue troop for Rand, he unwillingly acts in the manner to impress Berelain, i.e. in a seemingly offhand, unceremonious, courageous and resolute manner. She was really impressed by the way Perrin made her stop speaking - Perrin smelt that... So among his behaviour as bait there were elements of his behaviour as a winner in Berelain's game. The same is visible during the Ghealdan quest... until Elyas appears with his advice.<br /><br />Elyas&#8217; advice changes Perrin&#8217;s behaviour regarding Faile, but it also affects his behaviour towards Berelain. Perrin stopped taking Berelain&#8217;s tricks seriously and began to show a reaction like against childish silliness. I.e. he stopped expressing any bait-behaviour, any victim-of-a-femme-fatale traits. But Perrin, as result of Elyas' advice, became much more offhand in his behaviour, i.e. he only acted more like the winner in the Mayenner game. Berelain at the time was too much involved in the adventure with Perrin. So she begun to play another role in the Mayenner game, that of the passionate one. Especially after Faile's kidnapping, when Perrin became more brusque with Berelain, he became very, very attractive to her. <br /><br />She is still playing her game, but more and more often she expresses admiration for him. In Crossroads of Twilight, in the scene when Perrin finds the footprints of the Darkhounds, she acts as if he himself is ready to play the Mayenner game from the active side - she offers him to simulate flirting with her for political reasons and acts as if it's his idea, she praises Perrin's &quot;discretion&quot;, and she smells sincere in all this stuff. She stops pressing him in the previous manner, and only for short moments does she show what a skilled seducer she is, when his behaviour presses her too much. Also, she seems to become more and more politically loyal to him.<br /><br />This is far from the state in which the loving person has to be according to Mayenne stereotypes. But it's in that direction. IMO the &quot;man in white&quot; from Min's viewing with whom Berelain will fall head over heels in love, is Perrin. If Perrin continued with his current course of behaviour, Berelain will lose her control over her emotions, and will fall into crazy silly unrequited love. Exactly like &quot;Love&quot; is to be according to Mayenne stereotypes.<br /><br />For Perrin it would be even better if he remains unreachable for Berelain: that would only force her feelings of love to him. And that will enforce also her loyalty to him. As a loyal subordinate, Berelain would be very useful for Perrin. As a real lover, not. Her stereotypes about &quot;true love&quot; are too much entangled with love's doom for it to be a happy love. Despite her best intentions (and she is a good person after all), in love she would cause more problems than Faile (also I'm afraid that she would not be as good in the bed as her reputation). However as a loyal helper she will do very good work...<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-01-28 02:22:01
subject: How to weave Spirit
body:
<p>This theory attempts to explain how weaves which are made primarily of Spirit work.<br /><br />I can perhaps save you some time &#8230; if you believe that Healing , Compulsion and other weaves are set weaves e.g. Spirit , Air and Water , then you should skip to the end and vote against the theory because it attempts to prove otherwise.<br /><br /><b>Spirit and the balance of the Powers </b><br /><br />&#8220;Men usually exhibited greater ability with Earth and Fire while women more often excelled in the used of Water and/or Air. Equal numbers of men and women were strong in the use of Spirit. There were , of course , exceptions , but they were rare enough that Earth and Fire came to be regarded as male powers , while Air and Water were considered female powers. Even today women usually exhibit their greatest strength in Air or Water , or both.&#8221;<br /><br /><i> Guide (The Wheel and the Power) </i><br /><br />As you can see men have greater strength , ability and skill in the use of Fire and Earth , while woman excel in Water and Air. Even despite the great strength of several channelers in that age , exceptions to this rule were still considered rare.<br /><br />Except for Spirit. This flow is shared equally by men and woman. What is the function of Spirit? Essentially it cannot affect the physical world by itself because the essence of a Spirit weave is to affect living beings and to alter abstract concepts like Travelling and tampering with flows of the Power. You cannot affect a wall or a rock with Spirit alone , no matter what you do to it. However , Spirit plays a primary role in all weaves which affect the body &#8211; from the flesh to the mind. This occurs in sharp contrast to the other flows which work primarily on physical matter from a fire to a rock to a pond. I don&#8217;t think it is a large assumption that Spirit is the primary flow in all weaves which affect the body and mind (the quotes prove it anyway).<br /><br /><b>Healing </b><br /><br />&#8220;Carefully , she gathered flows of Air , Spirit and Water , weaving them just so , the basic weave of Healing that every sister knew.&#8221;<br /><br /><i> CoT (Glimmers of the Pattern)</i><br /><br />&#8220;And Earth? You used Earth. Healing is Spirit , Water and Air &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br /><i> LOC (To Heal Again) </i><br /><br />The Aes Sedai consider Healing to be a combination of the three above Powers. Actually , Nynaeve and Damer Flinn have proven that up to all five Powers can be used and produce a better result.<br /><br />Is it not convenient that Aes Sedai Healing just happens to be the product of the three Powers in which they are the strongest?<br /><br />I consider Healing to be Spirit alone as the base. What probably happened was that the Aes Sedai attempted to rediscover Healing after the Breaking of the World. They wove the Power in their attempts to Heal a wounded body or even a broken mind as the tales recalled from the Age of Legends. Logic dictated that they wove Spirit as the primary weave because it is , after all , the flow which affects the body and mind.<br /><br />Unfortunately the weave did not work very effectively because of their general lack of strength and because of the unrefined nature of the weave. They therefore needed to increase the potency of the weave and they naturally gravitated towards Air and Water &#8211; where their strength lay. It is not surprising really &#8230;<br /><br />&#8220;&#8230;strength in Earth was the key , and beside Egwene herself , only nine sisters in the camp &#8230;had sufficient of that to make the weaves work at all &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br /><i>CoT (Secrets)</i><br /><br />So this is essentially the crux of the story &#8230; Spirit weaves are enhanced by the amount of Powers you add to them. Obviously you cannot just add flows like a blithering idiot and hope that they work. You need to know exactly how to weave them or you might end up harming or killing the person you&#8217;re trying to help.<br /><br />Therefore when you create a Healing weave , you lay down Spirit as the base. You add Air which makes the weave more effective and then Water which does the job. Unfortunately the Healing is not perfect and has side-effects like weakening the patient and Healing everything (not being selective).<br /><br />Then your very strong and Talented Healers like Nynaeve and Flinn come along&#8230;<br /><br />&#8220;Clearing her throat , she wove filaments of saidar into him. Air and Water , Fire and Earth, Spirit. All the elements of Healing , but used now to probe&#8230;&#8221;<br /><br /><i>LOC (Fire and Spirit)</i><br /><br />&#8220;Karldin , do you know the kind of Healing Damer Flinn uses?&#8221; Samitsu asked. &#8220;The kind that uses all Five Powers?&#8221; <br /><br /><i>CoT (Glimmers of the Pattern)</i><br /><br />When you combine the other four Powers properly onto the base Spirit weave you can Heal expertly. Unfortunately you need some strength in all the Powers and a Talent in Healing to do this. Then of course you need to create the proper weave using the five Powers and not some aberrant thing which will harm your patient.<br /><br />Flinn is fairly unique with his Healing Talent and only he , Nynaeve and some other rare individuals can create proper 5-Power Healing.<br /><br />&#8220;Morr &#8230; wove Healing&#8230; It was not the complex weaves that Flinn used. Few could manage that , and none as well as Flinn so far&#8230; Waves of heat rushed through Rand , strong enough to make him grunt and send sweat gushing from every pore. He quivered violently from head to foot. A roast in the oven must have felt that way.&#8221;<br /><br />Here we see a parallel between the Ash&#8217;aman and the Aes Sedai. The passage tells us that Morr doesn&#8217;t have Flinn&#8217;s Talent when it comes to Healing yet he Heals Rand. So perhaps he has some Talent , like Moiraine.<br /><br />The difference here is that Rand feels like he is on fire , in contrast to the way in which Aes Sedai Healing makes you feel like you&#8217;ve fallen in ice water &#8211; probably due to the Air and Water component of Aes Sedai Healing.<br /><br />Therefore I suggest that the Ash&#8217;aman Healers went through the same natural evolution as the Aes Sedai. They laid down the base Spirit weave and then sought to enhance the weave because of its unrefined and possibly ineffective function. So what would an Ash&#8217;aman gravitate towards? He would add Fire and Earth as his primary flows to aid the weave and certainly not Air and Water where male weakness can be profound.<br /><br />Therefore I believe that Ash&#8217;aman who can&#8217;t manage complex flows like Flinn or who are weak in saidin , Air or Water &#8230; use Healing consisting of Spirit , Fire and Earth. This explains why Rand feels like he&#8217;s boiling inside compared to freezing when the women Heal him. So when Nynaeve or Flinn Heals you , either you boil and freeze several times , or they negate each other and you feel nothing (probably the latter).<br /><br /><b> Compulsion </b><br /><br />I believe that Compulsion is exactly the same as Healing in this regard. Compulsion isn&#8217;t actually meant to be a weapon against the mind but rather like Healing for the mind (although we never see it in this regard , it was how Graendal used to Heal the mentally ill in the Age of Legends). The base weave is Spirit. Women add Water and/or Air to enhance it whereas men add Fire and/or Earth to make their weave more effective.<br /><br />If we look at Moghedien &#8230;<br /><br />&#8220;&#8230; so much in Moghedien&#8217;s life would have been so much easier had she possessed a better Talent for Compulsion &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br /><i>ACoS (The First Cup)</i><br /><br />Moghedien clearly has some Talent for Compulsion &#8211; possibly like Moiraine can Heal. She does however admit that she has a definite weakness in this regard. If we see her attack on Nynaeve using Compulsion &#8230;<br /><br />&#8220;&#8230; the Forsaken struck with a complex weave of Spirit streaked by Water and Air &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Moghedien has enhanced her Compulsion weave with the powers inherently strong in the vast majority of women. Now while some may argue that she is strong in all five Powers , I believe that this is evidence of her strength in less than five. She is certainly very strong in saidar but her Talent for Compulsion is no more than average.<br /><br />Graendal almost certainly uses five Power Compulsion even though we have never seen her weave it. According to Sammael , her Talent in this regard is the greatest in living memory and certainly akin to Semirhage&#8217;s Talent for Healing.<br /><br />Women who cannot manage her prowess with Compulsion use Water and Air to enhance the Spirit weave &#8211; but it has limits as Moghedien explains. The males probably use Earth and Fire instead. We shall have to wait for Graendal to explain her weaves , or to see how an untalented individual in Compulsion like Demandred (just a frivolous example) weaves Compulsion.<br /><br /><b> Slicing weaves </b><br /><br />Finally , we know that most of the time Spirit is used to slice weaves. I believe this weave is also enhanced when the channeler is in grave danger. If we look at Rand &#8230;<br /><br />&#8220;&#8230; Spirit woven so , with Fire and Earth &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br /><i>TFOH (Choices)</i><br /><br />&#8220;&#8230; Death was there and he knew it. Frantically &#8230; he wove Spirit and Fire and Earth &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br /><i>TFOH (Choices)</i><br /><br />&#8220;He wanted to impress them with his strength , not give them a chance to overcome it. But there was another way. Weaving Spirit , Fire and Earth just so , he struck almost as if intending to shield &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br /><i>LOC (The Mirror of Mists)</i><br /><br />Rand needs to slice Lanfear&#8217;s weaves and because of angreal she is certainly stronger than him at the time. In this dire time he needs to enhance his weave to its maximum efficacy &#8211; and thus he includes Fire and Earth &#8211; the intrinsic male strengths.<br /><br />Later he needs to slice the weaves of seven Aes Sedai which is near to his maximum capacity for taking on Aes Sedai. He even explains that his strength is the important factor and he thus has no chance to fail.<br /><br />Now while it is true that Rand is most certainly one of those channelers who is strong in all five Powers , I believe that Earth and Fire provide males with some intrinsic combative advantage compared to women. Women of course get the other two Powers.<br /><br />The point it that I&#8217;m willing to bet almost anything that Lanfear or any woman will slice a man&#8217;s flows with Spirit , Air and Water in a weave. I suppose the master channelers could manage five-power slicing but really , what&#8217;s the point? And who has time for that anyway in combat?<br /><br /><b> Summary </b><br /><br />1. Healing , Compulsion and slicing weaves are Spirit.<br /><br />2. Most women enhance their weaves with Air and Water.<br /><br />3. Most men enhance their weaves with Fire and Earth.<br /><br />4. You need strength and Talent to go to five Powers and make the weave ultimately perfect in its function.<br /><br />5. Most Ash&#8217;aman Heal with Spirit , Fire and Earth.<br /><br />6. Women slice male flows with Spirit , Water and Air.<br /><br />7. Nynaeve , Flinn , Semirhage and Graendal use all five Powers in their respective fields because they are strong enough and have a Talent.<br /><br />8. With her near-unique strength in Earth , Egwene might be able to use Earth as an adjunct. So perhaps she could Heal with Spirit , Water and Earth?<br /><br /><b>Pitfalls</b><br /><br />a. Moiraine uses Air and Fire to slice Merean&#8217;s flows in New Spring. We know she is not her best in Fire and therefore her choice was curious in this desperate moment. <br /><br />b. If Moghedien is actually strong in all five of the Powers (unlikely because of its extreme rarity) , then she would have used all five powers in Compulsion if she could manage it.<br /><br />c. The obvious major pitfall which negates the entire theory &#8211; Healing really is Spirit , Water and Air for men and women , and only the Talented channelers can go to five Powers. The heat felt by Rand when Morr Healed him is merely a product of saidin being used on him in contrast to saidar , which makes you feel cold. Same with Compulsion being a set weave.<br /><br />Any criticism is welcome.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-01 02:57:30
subject: The Graendal / Arymilla connection
body:
<p>Got you!  Not that I believe there is actually a connection between the two, it is more of a parallel.  A very loose parallel.  Based mostly on appearances.  The point is, in Lord of Chaos especially, Sammael and others make a point of how Graendal manufactures an appearance of a lazy indolent woman, devoted solely to her pleasures and comforts, and silly or foolish, but who is actually a cunning manipulator, and very dangerous.  Even her appearance is described as plump or fleshy, which suggests indolence and devotion to appetites.  Now we come to the power struggle for the throne of Andor.  Arymilla Marne is, for the moment, on of the leading contenders, and one of three women who has the support of six Houses.  She is likewise described as plump and blonde.  Here are some descriptions of her:  <br /><br />From Davram Bashere: &#8220;&#8230;a month ago, she would have been lucky if anyone&#8230;gave her a bed for the night&#8230;&#8221; &#8220;&#8230;how an utter fool like Arymilla Marne could have gained the backing of Naean Arawn and Elenia Sarand&#8230;each had a far better claim than Arymilla&#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />From Elayne: &#8220;&#8230;united behind Arymilla Marne, of all people, the least likely of the three to have succeeded&#8230;&#8221;  &#8220;&#8230;It was galling to think of being on &#8216;an equal footing&#8217; with that foolish woman&#8230;&#8221;   <br /><br />From Elenia Sarand: &#8220;&#8230;Pure and simple, Arymilla lacked the wit to be queen&#8230;&#8221;  &#8220;&#8230;that pea-brained ninny&#8230;&#8221;  &#8220;&#8230;it had been an actual slight, but she had not thought Arymilla bright enough to catch it&#8230;&#8221;  &#8220;&#8230;Lacking the brains to tell the difference&#8230;&#8221;  &#8220;&#8230;the only real concern she had was her own comfort and the income to ensure it&#8230;&#8221;  <br /><br />The last quote is the important one.  Apparently, Arymilla has tried for the throne twice against all odds, when much stronger candidates existed.  In addition to Morgase, who not even Elenia Sarand, who is very knowledgeable about Andoran history and bloodlines, denied had the best claim, there was Elenia herself and Naean Arawn, who Bashere believes, and most others seem to agree, have better claims, and more intelligence.  Dyelin Taravin was also a High Seat at the time and has an excellent claim (I believe Elenia just beats her by a score of 34-31), and seems to be very popular, and even Elenia admits her ability in CoT.  Against all this talent, Arymilla submits a claim, simply to get richer, according to Elenia, who is the only one to offer a motivation for her thus far.  Now, about 25 years later, with almost all of the same principals involved, in addition to the fact that if the Aes Sedai are ever going to be willing to get off the fence, it should be for one of their own, and the Dragon Reborn&#8217;s professed support for one candidate, not to mention his history of hanging uncooperative nobles, she tried to claim the throne for herself.  Again, it is hard to see someone attempting this when all she cares about are her comforts.  She really has done nothing but place herself in ever more tenuous positions, and repeatedly opposing the eventual winner of a throne is not a good way to live in the lap of luxury.  It seems to be a better motivation for those few High Seats who are picking sides based on who appears to be winning.<br /><br />It is also interesting to note that when Rand was kidnapped by the Aes Sedai, and the Andorans rushed to fill the power vacuum, Dyelin, with the support of many of the other High Seats arrested Naean and Elenia, but Arymilla got away.  She was the only active claimant at the time Elayne returned to Caemlyn, and Dyelin didn&#8217;t even seem too concerned about the fact that she has had the most powerful House in Andor supporting her all this time.  When Elenia and Naean were taken from captivity, the only choices that Elayne could see were that one or the other had been rescued by her supporters and now held the other one captive.  The fact that Arymilla could have captured them did not even occur to her, and as she is politically astute enough to make the senior-most Blue Sitter take notice, suggests it should not have been a serious consideration.  <br /><br />Not only did Arymilla have to have spies in the palace to take advantage of the prisoners&#8217; movement, she was able to assemble a rescue force to intercept them at the extreme eastern end of Andor.  Seven days later (according to &#8220;Tellings of the Wheel: The Chronology of The Wheel of Time,&#8221; a site generally considered to be the best of its kind available), she has gained her prisoners&#8217; support, got their armies mobilized and moving to Caemlyn in the winter, and word has spread to Caemlyn and the Royal Palace.  All this in an era when the fastest means if communication is by carrier pigeon, and that is no good for calling from places you don&#8217;t expect to be.  Yet somehow, this &#8220;utter fool,&#8221; this &#8220;pea-brained ninny,&#8221; has managed an incredibly difficult feat of logistics and communication, AND has gained the support of two more Houses within 22 days of her capture of Elenia and Naean (the Cleansing took place 22 days after Birgitte told Elayne that Elenia and Naean were taken, and on that day, House Baryn and Anshar had troops at the siege of Caemlyn in support of Arymilla.  There was no mention of their recent arrival, so they had to have been there for a decent amount of time).  All this was accomplished in the dead of winter!  Note too, that Elenia Sarand&#8217;s House has taken out a large loan, despite the fact that she appears completely unaware of it.  This is possible, of course as her husband is the High Seat and not she, but it suggests that since Arymilla is keeping them separated, she is prevailing upon Jarid Sarand to do extreme things (borrowing against the same collateral from multiple lenders is a very dishonorable action by any moral standard, and Jarid&#8217;s appear to be rather high &#8211; even though he is devoted to his wife, there are certain areas she dares not push him).<br /><br />Plainly this points to one of two things &#8211; Arymilla has help, or she is a lot smarter than many people give her credit for, and the situation is not as cut and dried as it all appears to the reader.  Jordan has on occasions before explained a situation in the books by resolving a parallel situation in a seemingly unrelated plotline.  His repeated pointing out that Graendal affects a foolish persona, especially since she is only ever seen in the company of brain-fried slaves or Forsaken who know better, could be considered overkill, unless it is also a hint that not everyone is an idiot they pretend to be.  Weiramon Saniago from Tear appears to also fall into the category of people who aren&#8217;t as dumb as they seem.<br /><br />The other option that she had help is also fairly plausible, but if she is actually someone&#8217;s puppet, it would have to be the Shadow&#8217;s.  They&#8217;re the only ones who would have the interest and inclination to interfere in Andoran politics.  Even if the Whitecloaks were still a growing concern, they had Morgase when Arymilla managed to escape Dyelin&#8217;s coup, and haven&#8217;t really been in a position to do much besides save themselves from the Seanchan.  Who can also be dismissed, because even if their agents had contacted Arymilla a while ago to get her to serve as a puppet ruler (and the personality Elenia attributes to her is perfect for a puppet ruler) the Seanchan would A) not have the information gathering apparatus to keep Arymilla as well informed as she has been, or the network in place in Andor to pull of the quick response and recruitment.  A possibility that her pet rapist, Jaq Lounalt, whom she used to keep Naean in line, might be a Seanchan agent, as he is a Tarabonner, but that means he won the occupying authorities&#8217; trust VERY quickly if he is being trusted with a covert mission of this importance.  Also Rand is obviously not involved, and his stated preference for Elayne would LIKELY have kept the Black Tower from aiding Arymilla (though gateways would go a long way towards explaining how Arymilla was able to snatch Elenia &amp; Naean and get  four different armies to Caemlyn, and Taim might even be helping anyway).  The White Tower not only has other things on its plate, but each side has a vested interest in Elayne taking the throne.  The Salidar group wants one of their own, and Elaida&#8217;s Foretellings mean she wants the &#8216;Royal Line&#8217; in hand.  From the Tower&#8217;s PoV, they&#8217;re going to win, at which time Elayne will be one of theirs again, anyway.  All in all this leaves only the Shadow as a possibility for Arymilla to have help from a greater power.  A good question might be whether she is their dupe, or a Darkfriend, or, combining both possibilities that explain her success, she is a smart, capable Darkfriend, who is using her secret connections in support of her goal of gaining the throne, so she can wield the power of the Queen of Andor for the purposes of the Shadow.  Daved Hanlon believes in CoT, that the Shadow&#8217;s plan, which had seemed to be taking out Elayne after her coronation, has changed.  He learns of his superior&#8217;s meetings with agents of Houses Sarand and Marne, and Shiane asks him about looting the city and shifting guards to allow arsonists a crack at the warehouses.  As the hint that Hanlon might get to have his way with &#8216;a queen&#8217; (implying that plans would go into motion after Elayne won) came around the time that Elayne returned to Caemlyn, when Arymilla appeared to be a non-contender and Dyelin still held Elenia and Naean, it could be that the Shadow is adapting to their member/dupe&#8217;s recent run of success.  Elenia is also planning something rather fatal for Arymilla and Nasin, her main supporter, and her House&#8217;s agent was also meeting with Shiane, which IMHO, supports the Arymilla-is-the-Shadow&#8217;s-dupe idea, as then the Shadow wouldn&#8217;t care who won, since Elenia might have the sense to listen to her puppet masters.  Or the meetings could be red herrings.  <br /><br />In summary, I believe that Arymilla is either a very capable manipulator or has the Shadow running interference for her behind the scenes, with or without her knowledge.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-01 05:37:31
subject: Zarine
body:
<p>When Perrin asks Moiraine about the meaning of the name Zarine, Moiraine explains that a mother will give her daughter such name only if she is sure this daughter will become sensational court beauty, who devotes her life to break the hearts of everybody. Most often specific types of fatal beauty are derived from names of heroines of famous legends or poetry (e.g. Isolde, Juliet). It's quite likely that for the Saldaean culture &quot;Zarine&quot; meant something very similar to the &quot;la belle dame sans merci&quot; for 12-17th century Europe.<br /><br />Faile is known to dislike the image of &quot;Zarine&quot; - her given name, she hates to be called &quot;Zarine&quot;, she is even ashamed of it. But she is not completely free from the &quot;Zarine&quot; ingredient in her complex character. &quot;Zarine&quot; is the name her mother insisted on, i.e. Deira Bashere wants to see &quot;Zarine&quot; in her daughter and has worked to that end. Faile prefers her father's influence (&quot;Faile&quot; was how he called her sometimes when she was a child), she has even struggled against her mother, but she is still dependent of her in some crucial things. Especially she is dependent on her mother for her beliefs of how the ideal married woman ought to behave. Faile explicitly thinks that her mother is a master in the art of being a Saldaean wife, and that she has to learn more from her how to do her own role in the best way. Deira is the supreme authority on, and the high standard of, the art-of-being-wife. And Deira the ideal Saldaean Wife, is fond of the &quot;Zarine&quot; archetype and wants her daughter be associated with it. The conclusion from both these facts is, that Faile will apply some Zarine-traits in her marriage policy, and that she even will do it consciously despite of all her unwillingness to be a &quot;Zarine&quot;. It is significant that Faile, who always disliked to be called Zarine and insisted on calling herself Faile, one single time completely willingly and without a visible need called herself &quot;Zarine&quot;: when vowing her marriage vow. After Perrin in his vow called her &quot;Faile&quot;, she said in her vow &quot;I Zarine Bashere...&quot; I.e. she consciously enters the marriage as &quot;Zarine&quot;.<br /><br />Faile, when becoming a huntress (i.e. leaving her Zarine-past behind) promised to herself never to touch a fan again. Fan-language was part of Saldaean aristocratic court behaviour and especially stresses signs that are to be given to men. I.e. the fan is the main woman's attribute in Saldaean gallantry, in the high art of poetical aristocratic flirting. As &quot;Zarine&quot; is described as a court beauty, she would definitely be associated with fans (pun not intended).<br /><br />Another thing Faile shows an ambivalent and emotionally overloaded reaction about, is the sa-sara. When she said, she will dance the sa-sara for Perrin, she was in a short fit of jealousy, and in that moment she was prepared to use anthing to out-trump all other women in the world. But later she denied ever having mentioned the sa-sara, to say nothing about dancing it, and IIRC Perrin noticed in her a regret of saying that about the sa-sara, even with some nuance of being ashamed. Maybe the fact, that the sa'sara is forbidden in Saldea, especially by Saldaean queens as a factor in rebellions (having in mind that Faile herself is a heir of the Saldaean throne, i.e. her relation to the sa'sara is very meaningful for Saldaean inner politics), and that the sa'sara is known to be a really unbridled kind of dance, would be enough to explain Faile's displeasure. Maybe. But I would not expect that Faile would be so shy on this particular point, since she could remain a sa'sara denier in her public appearance and have the sa'sara in her intimate life, together with the Saldaean farm-girl stuff. But if the sa'sara is also an attribute of Zarine, this will explain Faile's dislike to have anything common with it. <br /><br />Moiraine's explanation describes the legendary Zarine as a typical femme fatale. Furthermore, Moiraine's explanation (and Faile's expectation that Perrin could know what Zarine means) is an indication, that this Zarine was a famous femme fatale. Sa'sara dancers are known to be Saldaea's famous standard for a femme fatale. Sa'sara dancers caused riots and revolts in the past and it is apparently for this reason that the sa'sara is now illegal in Saldea. This makes it very possible that the legendary Zarine was a famous (maybe the most famous) sa'sara dancer, who was also subtle enough to behave like a perfect Saldaean aristocrat, with all the references to fans, arts and politics, and influenced many mighty noblemen and that the story involving her most possibly had an impressive tragic end. If this Zarine manifested some high-poetical romantic motivation and not just plain egoism, she could remain an ideal character despite the negative consequences she caused.<br /><br />But this Zarine was definitely connected with a tragical end. At least for the ones who were in love with her. Sa'sara dancers were known primarily for causing great troubles. Their immense influence meant that they caused men to do foolish things, and this silliness had devastating social consequences (rebellion and riots). The dancers&#8217; reputations are closer to the famous ancient hetaeras than to noble ladies. In order to cause riots using mainly an &#8216;entertainer's&#8217; position, these dancers broke social and matrimonial bonds rather than used them. The illegality of the sa'sara means that in Saldea it's associated with doom. But even if the legendary Zarine was not a sa'sara dancer, she was associated with seduction, bond-breaking and doom, and not with happy marriages and long blood-lines. Moiraine's description of the palace beauty who breaks many hearts, doesn't indicate the good wife type. Also Moiraine said, that only a mother who is sure that her daughter will fit in the requirements of the name, will dare to name her daughter so. That means that the name is not appropriate for any woman, that it is not convenient to have such a name, and that it manifests rather an extravagant taste of the mother, with some nuance of a challenge, a somewhat scandalous name. <br /><br />Why would Deira, the expert about happy Saldaean marriage, insist on giving her first-born daughter (and possible heir to the Saldaean throne) a name that is associated rather with doomed love and broken marriages? Because according to Deira's standards of good marriage the wife must be really a great challenge for the ideal husband, so that only the best man would be able to cope with her. It's something similar to the Aiel bride who fights fiercely against the man she chooses to be her husband, to let him know how serious it is to marry her. Deira wants for her daughter the highest possible standards for marriage and for that purpose the daughter must be the highest possible challenge. If &quot;Zarine&quot; is the legendary clich&#233; of a dangerous woman that does with men what she wants and leads them to doom, having such a name will show that this woman will be very difficult to &quot;tame&quot; by her husband, and therefore she is to be considered as the highest standard of a wife. Deira wants actually to raise the criteria as high as possible.<br /><br />When Perrin meets Deira, her efforts are to put it into Perrin's head how dangerous Faile is for his free will and future, how difficult it will be to tame Faile and how much is wanted from him for this purpose. Faile in this scene is demonstrating how well Perrin has coped with the task of the taming, whereas before Perrin entered the room, Faile practically proved to her mother how hard-to-be-tamed she is. Actually the whole scene of Deira meeting Faile and Perrin were Deira&#8217;s serious attempt to judge how well the new couple fit the stereotypes and standards Deira was dreaming about, when she gave her daughter the name Zarine.<br /><br />So, Faile was expected by her mother to develop some traits of the legendary femme fatale named Zarine, to have them as a real danger for her husband's (and her own) happiness, and so to give her husband the opportunity to counter this traits with his own strength and to neutralize them. Deira wanted her daughter to develop these unpleasant traits so that they would be defeated in the marriage. Faile herself was not so enthusiastic about her mother's scenario, actually Faile hated this scenario. But this was an important part of her education, and she has some residue of it in her character, and she definitely is partially accepting of it concerning the role she has to play in her marriage (again she did her marriage vow as &quot;Zarine Bashere&quot; ). So something of the matrimonial relations between Faile and Perrin will be afflicted by the &quot;Zarine&quot; archetype.<br /><br />One of the influences of &quot;Zarine&quot;, IMO, is the way Faile is fighting against Berelain. I mean not her actions against Berelain but her actions to Perrin, these periods of acting in a cold and unreachable manner after a short period of demonstratively ardent relations. Faile knows how to win Perrin&#8217;s heart, so her actions, apparently not good for the purpose of persuading Perrin in anything, are caused by another model of behaviour. When she came across rival, this turned on some stereotypes in Faile's mind, on how a rival is to be fought. I would bet, that the legendary Zarine would first show how attractive she is, and then she would show how deadly unreachable she would be if the man will act not in the way she is expecting him to act. This is most commonly the stereotype of a femme fatale. Another problem here is that Berelain also fits the image of the femme fatale and she fits well. Actually Berelain is acting like the &quot;Zarine&quot; but without the culturally specific requirements (Berelain understands not the language of fans, she would not speak about music when planning a defence from Trollocs, and she cannot dance sa'sara), i.e. Berelain is a voluntary &quot;Zarine&quot; without the outer cultural brilliance of &quot;Zarine&quot; but having a different sort of brilliance, a &quot;vulgar&quot; kind of flash, i.e. everything Faile herself doesn't accept in &quot;Zarine&quot;. Actually Berelain is playing according to her own cultural stereotypes of a femme fatale, with some style differences, but with the same core structure, and so Berelain's actions fit very well into the &quot;Zarine&quot; model, and Faile is reacting accordingly (Faile understands very well what Berelain wants, she recognizes the &quot;Zarine&quot; type of woman in her). So Faile is in a situation when her stereotype tells her to be a Zarine against another even more zarineish &quot;Zarine&quot;. <br /><br />Perrin is in the situation of having to fulfil the requirements of a bunch of stereotypes. Both Faile and Berelain are driving him into a trap of expectations. Faile wants him to show himself as the living ideal of Saldaean husband against a &quot;Zarine&quot;-challenge (what would be the possible solution of Berelain's stereotype is the subject of another theory). I don't know how this clich&#233; can be broken by Perrin. But if he doesn&#8217;t break it, Faile will only be encouraged to put more and more of her &quot;Zarine&quot; ingredient in play (fortunately she is not with Perrin now, but when she will is free...). And &quot;Zarine&quot; is a figure that promises doom rather than good.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-02 06:52:39
subject: The Many Lives of Elan Morin Tedronai
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<p>For the last three millennia, Ishamael has been shaping the world for the Tarmon Gai&#8217;don. Lately, this has resulted in his temporary death at the hands of Rand al&#8217;Thor. Was it his first death? Probably not.<br /><br /><i>&#8220;Yes, Betrayer of Hope. So have men named me, just as they named you Dragon, but unlike you I embrace the name. They gave me the name to revile me, but I will yet make them kneel and worship it.&#8221;</i><br /><u><i>Dragonmount</i>, <b>The Eye of the World</b></u><br /><br />He has been doing a rather a poor job of it, so far. Even before becoming Moridin, he never used the name Ishamael, appearing instead under the name of <i>Ba&#8217;alzamon</i>, Heart of the Dark. Now, this could be attributed to his alleged madness, his delusions of being Shai&#8217;tan himself.  But probably not. Why? Because Ishamael never took another one of Shai&#8217;tan&#8217;s names or titles for himself.<br /><br /><i>I am not the Dragon, Father of Lies!&#8221; </i>( Rand )<i> said hoarsely.<br />The darkness behind Ba&#8217;alzamon roiled, and furnaces roared as Ba&#8217;alzamon laughed. &#8220;You honor me. And belittle yourself.&#8221;</i><br /><u><i>Disagreements</i>, <b>The Great Hunt</b></u><br /><br />In this scene, Ishamael tells the truth, as he so often does. Rand is in fact the Dragon Reborn, though he refuses to admit it, and he mistakes Ba&#8217;alzamon for Shai&#8217;tan, which would certainly honour any servant of the Dark One.<br /><br />So Ishamael does not take on the titles of his Great Lord of the Dark. Quite reasonably, this means that &#8220;Ba&#8217;alzamon&#8221; is in fact his own name, and the rest is Aes Sedai mistakes. But why use this name instead of the name Ishamael, to which he wished to make the world kneel?<br /><br /><i>A name had been given to him during this second, far more horrific sleep, before he woke to this face and body. Osan&#8217;gar. A name given by a voice he knew and dared not disobey. His old name, given in scorn and adopted in pride, was gone forever. The voice of his master had spoken and made it so.</i><br /><u><i>The First Message</i>, <b>Lord of Chaos</b></u><br /><br />Aginor&#8217;s experience seems remarkably similar to Ishamael&#8217;s. Both their feelings for the old name and the absence of further use of it correspond. It only makes sense that the cause of the name loss would also be the same. It would also explain why after Ba&#8217;alzamon&#8217;s death in <i>The Dragon Reborn</i>, he never again uses the name Ba&#8217;alzamon, a restriction that would not apply if he had simply &#8220;borrowed&#8221; one of Shai&#8217;tan&#8217;s titles.<br /><br />But where and when did this previous death occur? There are many possibilities, of course, but the one that seems most evident is the fall of Manetheren.<br /><br /><i>&#8220;At night, their cookfires outnumbered the stars, and dawn revealed the banner of Ba&#8217;alzamon at their head. Ba&#8217;alzamon, Heart of the Dark. An ancient name for the Father of Lies.&#8221;</i><br /><u><i>Tellings of the Wheel</i>, <b>The Eye of the World</b></u><br /><br />Since we&#8217;ve already established that Ba&#8217;alzamon is not Shai&#8217;tan&#8217;s name, lets proceed with the two arguments against this possibility.<br /><br />First off, Ishamael was no general. He always operated from the shadows. However, he is a master strategist, in my humble opinion the very best in the WoT world, so it would be quite possible that he had the ability to direct the battle, requiring only the knowledge of warfare that he could easily have acquired  in the millennia between the War of the Shadow and the Trolloc Wars. Also, though he does not participate in the conflicts, he has been noted for watching events unfurl, hidden behind a fancloth skulker&#8217;s mask, as he did in <i>Patterns Within Patterns,</i> and apparently <i>What is Written in Prophecy</i>. It is possible that Ishamael thought himself safe that way, never expecting Eldrene&#8217;s scourge.<br /><br />Second, if Ishamael became Ba&#8217;alzamon only after the battle, why would the banner be called Ba&#8217;alzamon&#8217;s banner? Simple enough. Remember that the White Tower itself was infested by shadowspawn during the Trolloc Wars. Many records were undoubtedly destroyed. Even barring that, the banner was simply attributed to Ba&#8217;alzamon in following years.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion</b><br /><br />Ishamael had died before the events of <i>The Dragon Reborn</i>, possibly during the Battle of Manetheren.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-03 06:49:33
subject: The Thinness in the Pattern
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<p><b><u>Quotes</u></b><br /><br />1. LoC, prologue, p. 4, pb.<br />&quot;Physically, this place [Shayol Ghul] was no closer to the Bore than any other in the world, but here there was a thinness in the Pattern that allowed it to be sensed.&quot;<br /><br />2. http://wotmania.com/shaitan.asp<br />A research team looking for an alternative to the One Power, headed by Mierin Eronaile (Lanfear) and Beidomon, found a thin place in the Pattern that promised a new source of power. By drilling through this thin spot, they created a hole, known as the Bore, through which Shai'tan could touch the world.<br /><br />3. http://wotmania.com/lanfear.asp<br />What they had actually discovered, though, was a section of the Pattern where the &quot;wall&quot; of the Dark One's prison had become dangerously thin. Although she believed that they were helping mankind with their work, Mierin led the group responsible for drilling the Bore, the hole in the Dark One's prison.<br /><br />4. http://www.tor.com/jordan/questions.html<br />[The first channelers'] appearance marked the beginning of the previous Age to that of the books, or at least the end of the Age before that one.<br />Yes, as I have set things up, there are Ages when no one has any idea of how to channel or even that the One Power exists.<br /><br /><br /><b><u>A Simple Theory</u></b><br /><br />In reading the recent theory <i>The Wheel Will Be Broken</i> by CleanToe, I was forced to look harder at a question that I have subconciously ignored.<br /><br />Why is there a thinness in the Pattern? What is it a result of? Did the Creator just make a thin spot in the Pattern to tease his creation, to watch them fight the DO? The answer I came up with after only a few minutes of thinking was so simple I couldn't believe it hadn't been posted before.<br /><br />First of all, we need to answer the question of the Creator making the thin spot. The answer is a definitive &quot;no&quot;. We know that the Creator will take no part in the goings on of his creation, so if he created it, it must have been there ever since the moment of creation. But it was not.<br /><br />Quote #3 tells us &quot;a section of the Pattern...had become dangerously thin.&quot; That means that there was a time in the Wheel before there was any thinness. So the question now becomes one of asking the cause.<br /><br />Look at quote #4. It is part of an RJ answer posted on Dragonmount. From it we learn some of the timeline of channeling.<br /><br />From what we've already seen, the end of one Age seems to determine the end of the next one. The end of the AoL determined how the third Age is coming to an end (sealing of the Bore, breaking of the world, etc.). And so I am inclined to believe that the same was true for the end of the First Age and the end of the AoL.<br /><br />I believe that channeling is the cause of the thinness of the Pattern. The end of the First Age (or beginning of the AoL) saw the first channelers, and by the end of the AoL the world was in it's height of channeling.<br /><br />The One Power is infinite, to be sure. But perhaps the constant channeling wore down the Pattern. Perhaps the One Power is the material that the Pattern is woven with, and the more OP used at any point in time, the more tha Pattern gets worn down.<br /><br />I can't exactly spell out for you the logistics of it all, but it makes sense to me. It makes sense that the thinness is a result of channeling and that in Ages where there is no channeling there is no thinness.<br /><br />And I like what this idea suggests: that the world must see the end of channeling in order for the DO's prison to be perfectly whole with no Bore. That might not happen at the end of the series, but we know that both (DO's prison whole, end of channeling) must happen in some Age.<br /><br />Now this may not be my nest theory, nor my most accurate (the infiniteness of the OP). But I like this idea, and it fits just right in my mind. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-03 06:59:28
subject: Half the Light of the World
body:
<p>This theory concerns a couple of prophecies that have come out of dreams, etc. - that Rand will for some reason end up blind and that Mat will give up half the light of the world to save the world.  I think these two prophecies are inter-related, as I will argue.<br /><br />Take a minute to consider the consequences if you believe that Rand will literally go blind.  It has been stated at various points in the book that a channelor would be basically helpless without their sight - you can't channel at something you can't see.  So if Rand winds up blind it has dire consequences; he can't channel worth a darn and that puts everyone in a pretty big pickle.<br /><br />Compounding the problem is that everything we know about Healing so far leads us to believe that blindness is not healable, esp. if the eyeballs themselves are physically destroyed.  That is, we have been led to believe that Healing can't regenerate, even in the Age of Legends.  So assuming that Rand literally looses his eyes and no one can heal him, what are we to do?<br /><br />The answer lies with Mat's prophecy.  By &quot;giving up half the light of the world to save the world&quot; I believe he will give up an eye to restore Rand's sight.  First off, would Mat do it?  Unlike Perrin, who has gotten all whipped on us, Mat is still true to Rand.  Perrin has always kind of done his own thing, but Mat has stayed by Rand's side.  The very beginning of the WoT led me to believe that Mat and Rand were BEST friends, and that Perrin was to a certain extent an outsider, however close to him they were.  Also, remember the story Suian told him early on; Mat will be the one who keeps running back into the burning building.  Unlike Perrin, who seems ready to sacrifice it all for Faile, Mat is utterly unselfish when it comes down to what really matters.<br /><br />So, how will Mat fulfill the prophecy?  I believe it will come when he enters the Tower of Ghenjei with Thom to rescue Moraine (as he can't enter either doorway now).  Back face to face with the Finn, he will be smarter this time and name his price first.  Considering they hung him last time, I think the Finn want something physically from the asker.  So Mat will set one of his eyes as the price and ask for Rand's eyesight in return.<br /><br />As to how I came up with this theory, no lie I dreamed it.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-04 10:55:26
subject: The Forsaken and
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<p>The Forsaken have remained, throughout the series, the most enigmatic and interesting characters that we read about.  And yet, so much about them is totally unexplained!  Frustrated by our lack of answers, I&#8217;ve spent most of my latest read-through keeping one eye open for references to the Forsaken&#8217;s interaction with <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i>.  Are they simply fools wandering about in a world that they don&#8217;t fully understand?  Or do they have a level of control over the Unseen World beyond anything we have previously realized?<br /><br /><b>I.  The Nature of Dreamwalking</b><br /><br />Common misconceptions abound about how the Forsaken use the Dreamworld.  First, how to affect another&#8217;s dream?  Egwene shows us how Dreamwalkers earn their title.<br /><br />&#8220;Sleep swept over her in moments, but it was the sleep of a dreamwalker.  Formless, she floated deep within an ocean of stars, infinite points of light glimmering in an infinite night... this was the gap between reality and <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i>, the space separating the waking world from the World of Dreams.&#8221; (ACOS, p229)<br /><br />From this ocean of stars, the disembodied Dreamwalker can move from dream to dream.  But it&#8217;s dangerous to get too close.  While it is common to say that the Forsaken enter people&#8217;s dreams, but this is not technically correct.  We learn about the nature of personal dreams from the Wise Ones.<br /><br />&#8220; &#8216;Foolish girl.&#8217;  Bair&#8217;s long hair swung as she shook her head.  &#8216;...To step into another&#8217;s dream is very dangerous unless she knows you and expects you.  It is her dream, not as here.  There, this Amathera will control all.  Even you.&#8217; &#8221; (TSR, p854)<br /><br />We see Egwene drawn into dreams several times, such as with Rhuarc in FOH and Gawyn in LOC.  In these dreams, she has no control, and describes herself as &#8220;riding&#8221; in the back of her own head.  Surely even the Chosen aren&#8217;t exempt from the fundamental aspects of dreamwalking.  Fortunately for them, they have another way to deal with people in the World of Dreams.  Egwene has puzzled this out by ACOS:<br /><br />&#8220;Or, with a hooking sort of motion, like rolling a fragile bead across a tabletop, she could snatch Nynaeve out, into a dream of her own making, a part of <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> itself, where she was in complete control.  She was sure that would work.  Of course, that was one of the forbidden things&#8230;&#8221; (ACOS, p231)<br /><br />This has always been how the Forsaken deal with people in their dreams.  The only aspect of Dreamwalking that has to do with personal dreams is when the Dreamwalker is &#8220;observing&#8221; the dream from a safe distance.  Examples of this can be found mainly in FOH, where Lanfear speaks to Rand about spying on Egwene&#8217;s dreams, and Egwene mentions looking into Aviendha&#8217;s, Isendre&#8217;s, and Elayne and Nynaeve&#8217;s dreams.<br /><br /><b>II.  <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> in the Flesh</b><br /><br />Another way to enter the Dreamworld is through a gateway.  While the gateway to enter the World of Dreams is not the usual bright line gateway used for Travelling, it is effectively the same.  The channeler enters the Dreamworld in the flesh, leaving no part of them behind.  The question is whether or not they can affect <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> in the same way as a Dreamwalker.  Can they move about by Thought?  Can they use &#8220;Need&#8221; like Elayne and Nynaeve do in LOC?  Can they change their clothing with a thought?  Or make tea like Egwene and the Wise Ones do in ACOS?  I don&#8217;t think so.<br /><br />&#8220;He focused on the nearest rosebush, a thing a span high, and imagined it growing thin, foggy.  Obediently, it melted away to nothing, but as soon as the picture in his mind was nothing, the rosebush was suddenly back, just as it has been.  Rand nodded coldly.  It had limits, then.&#8221; (FOH, p937)<br /><br />It would be the same if Rand had tried to Think himself to somewhere else.  He would have to focus on the new location, but as soon as the picture was out of his mind, he would be back where he started.  The same thing if he tried to create something physical, like the tea, or Elayne and Nynaeve&#8217;s unicorn in Fires of Heaven.  Being in the Dreamworld in the flesh creates terrible limitations for the channeler.  The Forsaken do use gateways to enter Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod, such as Demandred in LOC, but these limitations would become major hinderances to Forsaken trying to utilize the World of Dreams.  How would a non-Dreamwalker find a person&#8217;s dreams?  Can you create a gateway that leads to the starfield of dreams?  Egwene is bodiless in this void.  Could a channeler in the flesh move in the void the same way that she does?  I don&#8217;t think so.  The Forsaken seem above and beyond the limitations of the flesh.  How do they do it?<br /><br /><b>III.  Another Way?</b><br /><br />We have many examples of the Forsaken using <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> in a different way than in the flesh.  For instance, Rand must move about through gateways.  We see him making a gateway from the Heart of the Stone in the Dreamworld to the Caemlyn palace.  But the Forsaken seem unhindered by this limitation.<br /><br />&#8220;On a bridge slightly below him&#8230;a man suddenly appeared.  ...Where had he come from?  ...Another man started across the bridge from the other side, his appearance as sudden as the first man&#8217;s.&#8221;  (TDR, pp69-70)<br /><br />These two men are Be&#8217;lal and Rahvin.  They appear suddenly, exactly like a dreamwalker moving from place to place within <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i>, through concentrating on the place where they wish to go.  No gateways were involved.  But surely, Be&#8217;lal and Rahvin aren&#8217;t male dreamwalkers?  The Wise Ones especially are very skeptical about male dreamwalkers.<br /><br />&#8220; &#8216;We have glimpsed those who must be dreamwalkers, including men.&#8217;  Bair shook her head incredulously, no matter what she knew of the Forsaken, she considered male dreamwalkers about as common as legs on snakes.  &#8216;They avoid us.  All of them.&#8217; ... &#8216;I think we are as strong as they,&#8217; Amys added... in the World of Dreams, knowledge of <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> was often as powerful as <i>saidar</i>, more at times.&#8221;  (ACOS, pp247-8 )<br /><br />So if Bair and Amys think that the male Forsaken using the Dreamworld are not very adept with the dreamworld, then they are not actual Dreamwalkers.  But they are not present in the flesh either, at least not all the time.  Time and time again, the male Forsaken especially display abilities beyond anything possible in the flesh.  For instance, how does Asmodean penetrate Lanfear&#8217;s weaving of <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> in TSR?  Surely Lanfear would want to keep that little episode... private.  Lanfear pulled Rand into <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i>, into a dream of her own making, but somehow Asmodean found it and penetrated it.  He is clearly not in the Dreamworld in the flesh if he can do such an extraordinary feat against the self proclaimed &#8220;Daughter of the Night.&#8221;<br /><br />Another example is the Forsaken meeting that Nynaeve witnesses in the FOH, where each Forsaken has their own personalized throne.  Imagine how much concentration it would take for each Forsaken to create and maintain the chair and still keep up the level of nuance and intrigue that plagues every social that we have seen?  Too much for a person in <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> in the flesh to handle, I think.<br /><br />More in-depth use of <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> is what Be&#8217;lal does with it in TDR.  Aside from Ishamael, he is probably the male Forsaken that uses the Dreamworld the most.<br /><br />&#8220;Rand had no idea who he was, this fellow in a red silk coat&#8230;and black breeches tucked into elaborately silver-worked boots.  He did not know the man, but he had seen him in his dreams.  &#8216;You put them in a cage,&#8217; he said.  &#8216;Egwene, and Nynaeve, and Elayne.  In my dreams.  You kept putting them in a cage, and hurting them.&#8217; &#8221; (TDR, p649)<br /><br />&#8220;Callandor.  That was always in his dreams.  Always.  And taunting faces.  Hands, pushing Egwene, and Nynaeve, and Elayne into cages, snaring them in nets, hurting them.&#8221;  (TDR, p374)<br /><br />&#8220;Be&#8217;lal had snatched Alviarin away in the night while she slept &#8211; to where she still did not know, she had wakened back in her own bed, and that had terrified her even more than being in the presence of a man who could channel.&#8221;  (ACOS, pp37-8 )<br /><br />Furthermore, we have definitive proof that Be&#8217;lal is NOT in the Dreamworld in the flesh &#8211; from perhaps one of the most knowledgable sources available:  Lanfear, posing as Silvie.<br /><br />&#8220;Footsteps echoed in the distance.  Boots&#8230; Silvie gave a start and immediately stared off among the columns.  &#8216;Awake or asleep, he wants...&#8217; &#8221; (TDR, p318 )<br /><br />Silvie is distinguishing between Be&#8217;lal&#8217;s viewing of <i>Callandor</i> awake, in the actual Heart of the Stone, with his nocturnal sojourns &#8211; asleep &#8211; to the Heart in <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i>.  Unless Be&#8217;lal is a Dreamwalker, which the Wise Ones tell us is incredibly rare, he has some other way to enter the World of Dreams while asleep.  All the Forsaken seem to have this ability.<br /><br /><b>IV.  Channeling While Asleep and the &#8220;Forsaken effect&#8221;</b><br /><br />We learn from Moiraine that channelers can channel in their sleep.  However, the ability is limited &#8211; you can only channel Spirit.  Here&#8217;s what Moiraine says about one effect of Spirit upon others:<br /><br />&#8220; &#8216;Those who can channel the One Power,&#8217; Moiraine said quietly, &#8216;those who are particularly strong in Spirit, can sometimes force their dreams on others&#8230;I do not believe Rand did it on purpose, but the dreams of those touching the True Source can be powerful.  For one as strong as he, they could possibly seize an entire village, or perhaps even a city.&#8217; &#8221; (TDR, p94)<br /><br />We see this in abundance in TDR.  Every city Moiraine and Perrin visit displays the effect of this unconscious chanelling of Spirit.  Indeed, the effect of the Spirit seems to be personalized to the Forsaken.  Be&#8217;lal, who extensively uses the World of Dreams, has unconsciously beat his people into utter apathy and submission through his dreams:<br /><br />&#8220; &#8216;These folk look&#8230; defeated, Perrin.  They did not look this way when I was here last...&#8217;  As Perrin began to study faces instead of just looking at everything at once, he saw that Loial was right.  Something had gone out of too many of those faces.  Hope, maybe.  Curiosity.&#8221;  (TDR, p589)<br /><br />Sammael, who thinks in straight lines and has such intense hatred for Rand, who remains his main target throughout the books, projects his hatred and anger upon his subjects.<br /><br />&#8220;Moiraine rode closer to Lan and spoke softly, but Perrin managed to catch her words.  &#8216;Something is wrong in this city.&#8217;  The Warder nodded.  ...At first he saw nothing out of the ordinary...Then he spotted a baker&#8217;s lad trotting down the street...the young fellow wore a grimace on his face that was nearly a snarl.  A woman in front of a weaver&#8217;s shop looked as if she might bite the man holding up the bright-colored bolts for her inspection&#8230; Not everyone looked so, but it seemed to him that at least one face in five wore anger and hatred.&#8221;  (TDR, p487)<br /><br />Another example of this &#8220;Forsaken effect&#8221; can be found in LOC, when Elayne and Nynaeve visit Tar Valon in the Dreamworld.  Mesaana, who resides in Tar Valon, also projects her unconscious thoughts upon the people of Tar Valon.  She seems strangely on edge and uneasy, almost jittery, in her POV in the LOC prologue, and perhaps her lack of self-assurance is what is projected upon the city.  While we never see the city in the waking world, we have a glimpse of it in Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod:<br /><br />&#8220;Heaps of garbage, old clothes and broken furniture stood piled on street corners, and rats scurried about by the score, sometimes passing to chitter fearless challenges at them.  People dreaming themselves to the brink of <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> flickered in and out of existence.  A man fell shrieking from one of the bridges and vanished before he hit the cobblestones.  A howling woman in a torn dress ran a dozen paces before she too winked out.  Truncated screams and shouts echoed through the streets, and sometimes coarse laughter with a maniacal edge.&#8221; (LOC, p332)<br /><br />And this description leads us to Tanchico in TSR, when Egwene visits it in the Dreamworld.  We see something of the same from this visit.<br /><br />&#8220;Winding, stone-paved streets slanted up and down, curving every which way, all empty&#8230; Flies buzzed by, and she could see roaches and beetles scurrying along in the shadows&#8230; She jumped as a shrieking man plummeted out of the sky in front of her.&#8221;  (TSR, p213)<br /><br />&#8220;Amys eyed the white buildings around them and grimaced.  &#8216;Tanchico?  In&#8230;Tarabon? This city is dying, eating itself.  There is a darkness here, an evil.  Worse than men can make.  Or women.&#8217; &#8221; (TSR, p219)<br /><br />While Egwene reckons that the evil is the BA, we can see from the previous examples that it is, once again, the &#8220;Forsaken effect&#8221;.  But not all of the cities with Forsaken have this effect.  When Morgase travels the streets of Caemlyn, she notices no real change with the attitudes of the people, despite the fact that Rahvin has been firmly ensconced within the Royal Palace for months.  While we have no difinitive answer, I would speculate that the answer is that the Forsaken that create the &#8220;Forsaken effect&#8221; do not shield their dreams, while the Forsaken who do shield their dreams, create no such effect.<br /><br /><b>V.  Tying This All Together</b><br /><br />We know from Egwene and the Wise Ones that Dreamwalkers do not shield their dreams.  So what does this tell us about the Forsaken?  The Forsaken that do not shield their dreams &#8211; Dreamwalkers like Moghedien or otherwise &#8211; create such a &#8220;Forsaken effect.&#8221;  But why would any of the Forsaken not want to shield their dreams if they are not Dreamwalkers?  To enter into the World of Dreams in their sleep, through channeling Spirit.<br /><br />We know that during the Age of Legends, there was a much greater knowledge of the Age of Legends.  In fact, Demandred gives us an interesting glimpse into that forgotten time.<br /><br />&#8220;Elayne Trakand, unless he missed his guess wildly, and using a minor <i>ter&#8217;angreal</i> by the faint look of her, one made for training beginning students.&#8221; (LOC, p220)<br /><br />Demandred is telling us that entering the Dreamworld was a common thing during the AOL, if beginning students, even, were trained in its ways.  From Demandred&#8217;s association of Elayne&#8217;s &#8220;mistiness&#8221; with a minor <i>ter&#8217;angreal</i>, it stands to reason that as the student progressed in their study of the Dreamworld, they would learn better and better ways to enter into <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i>.  Such as channeling in your sleep to enter into it?<br /><br />And where else do we know that Spirit is connected with the Dreamworld?  Well, in TDR, Faile is sent to <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> by the hedgehog ter&#8217;angreal.  Moiraine says that she felt a tiny flash of Spirit when the <i>ter&#8217;angreal</i> was triggered.  Perhaps this was another device used by students to enter the Dreamworld.<br /><br />We have many examples of Forsaken, non-Dreamwalkers, using <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> beyond anything that is possible in the flesh.  Clearly they have a better way.  Tying this together with the strange &#8220;Forsaken effect&#8221; evident in many cities where Forsaken are present, we can conclude that they are privy to a weave, using just Spirit, that lets them enter into <i>Tel&#8217;aran&#8217;rhiod</i> similarly to a Dreamwalker.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-04 11:26:46
subject: The Resistance Theory
body:
<p>Here is my resistance theory regarding the One Power.<br /><br /><b><u>The Power and its effects</u></b><br /><br />All women who channel the Power experience a similar side-effect : the glow , but only to one another. The more of the Power they draw , the brighter they glow. This can be seen if we look at your average Aes Sedai &#8230;<br /><br /><i>TDR (Healing)</i> &#8211; &#8220;A glow appeared around each Aes Sedai , that soft , white light that only a woman who could channel could see.&#8221;<br /><br />&#8230; and then your very strong channelers &#8230;<br /><br /><i>TFOH (Choices)</i> &#8211; &#8220;Lanfear standing on the wagonbed , blazing bright as the sun with saidar.&#8221;<br /><br />This stands in contrast with men who do not see a glow around one another. They see nothing but can sense a feeling of menace and power. It is important to know that women do not judge the volume of Power another woman is drawing by the glow  , although it can provide a rough indication. If a woman approaches you blazing like the sun , you may have a problem. The glow is merely a byproduct of channeling saidar.<br /><br />It is an important common denominator between all channelers , both men and women. Both of them can sense the volume of Power being drawn by a other channeler of the same sex. A male can judge how much another man is holding , and a woman can judge how much another woman is holding.<br /><br />The glow around women increases proportionately to the amount of saidar she is drawing but unfortunately the effect is limited visually. When you reach Forsaken strength the glow becomes so bright that drawing any more saidar doesn&#8217;t make a difference to one&#8217;s eyes&#8230;<br /><br /><i>TFOH (Ripped away)</i> &#8211; &#8220;The glow shining about Nynaeve grew and grew , until it overwhelmed the lamps , until it hurt to look at her except  through slitted eyes.&#8221;<br /><br /><i>TFOH (A silver arrow)</i> &#8211; &#8220;The glow around Moghedien increased until it seemed as if the blinding sun surrounded her.&#8221;<br /><br /><i>WH (With the Choedan Kal)</i> &#8211; &#8220;&#8230;he could not see the wilder Nynaeve sitting right in front of him , glowing like the sun.&quot;<br /><br />Moghedien and Nynaeve both glow like the sun when drawing their maximum , but so does Lanfear with her angreal in a previous quote , and so does Nynaeve using the Choedan Kal. Obviously there is an enormous difference in the amount of saidar being drawn in each case but after Moghedien strength , a human eye cannot distinguish between sun-bright and one-million sun-bright because both tend to blind you.<br /><br /><b><u>The glow</u></b><br /><br />The glow is not unique to female channelers. It has also been seen in every case of a sa&#8217;angreal being used &#8230;<br /><br />1. The rod sa&#8217;angreal in the White Tower<br /><br /><i>TDR (Healing)</i> &#8211; &#8220;And in that brightness was a stronger light still. A bar of bone-white fire. The sa&#8217;angreal.&#8221;<br /><br />2. Callandor<br /><br /><i>TDR (What is written in prophecy) &#8211; &#8220;The crystal blade shone brighter than even Moiraine&#8217;s fire had. It was impossible to look at it , impossible any longer to see that it was a sword , only that light blazed in his fist.&#8221;<br /><br />3. The Choedan Kal (both male and female)<br /><br />&lt;i&gt;WH (With the Choedan Kal)</i> &#8211; &#8220;A great stone hand struck out of the ground clasping a clear sphere as large as a house. And that sphere was shining like a glorious summer sun.&#8221;<br /><br /><i>WH (With the Choedan Kal)</i> &#8211; &#8220;Squinting through his fingers , he could make out a glowing ball , like a second sun.&#8221;<br /><br /><b><u>Relevance between the female glow and sa&#8217;angreal</u></b><br /><br />There is a connection between the glow which surrounds sa&#8217;angreal and the glow which surrounds women when they channel. Essentially it is the crux of the theory.<br /><br />I believe that men are perfect conductors for channeling the Power. Saidin flows into them and can fill them , and then they can channel it.<br /><br />However , I believe that women are not perfect conductors for the Power. Perhaps there is some physiological basis for this , or perhaps saidar is less attuned to be channeled by people than saidin. Either way , women have increased resistance to the Power flowing through them.<br /><br />Like all resistors to energy , the energy which is not channeled must be transferred into another form of energy. In electrical cables it takes the form of heat , in light bulbs it is given off as light energy.<br /><br />Women also give this energy off as light and the more of the Power they draw through themselves , the brighter the light which is given off. It is akin to passing current through a light bulb &#8211; a small current will create a small glow in the filament , and the glow will increase until it is at maximum brightness. Thereafter , assuming the filament can handle itself , passing more energy will make it brighter although our eyes won&#8217;t be able to register it. As mentioned earlier , what is brighter than the sun?<br /><br />We all know that sa&#8217;angreal are artificial and were made during the Age of Legends. It is therefore reasonable to assume that no man-made device could be superlative in it functioning to the biological make-up of a channeler (now don&#8217;t argue!).<br /><br />So the scientists made angreal which could manage in their function to channel extra amounts of the Power without malfunctioning. However , sa&#8217;angreal were created to draw much larger amounts of the Power and the resistance of drawing so much energy through the special , yet still man-made substance would create a large problem. The excess energy would either melt the object or even cause it to explode when used.<br /><br />Therefore they needed to make a conduit for the excess energy and either because of looking at women , or because of simple logic , they chose light energy as the output. Thermal and nuclear energy would be far less preferable. <br /><br />The Tower&#8217;s bar sa&#8217;angreal lights up when it is used , Callandor is a special crystal which can glow enormously brightly when used by a strong channeler , and the Choedan Kal needed two crystal balls the size of houses to release the excess energy caused by resistance.<br /><br />Note that we have never seen an angreal which lights up or is made of a crystalline substance , and we have never seen a non-crystalline sa&#8217;angreal which doesn&#8217;t light up.<br /><br />So when the channeler draws a huge amount of Power through the sa&#8217;angreal  there is a resistance to the energy because they are imperfect conduits. The excess energy is given off as light and this preserves the sa&#8217;angreal against damage. This may indeed be just one of the buffers which make sa&#8217;angreal safe to use. Objects of the Power also tend to be near indestructible and this probably facilitates the strength the required to carry the massive forces imposed on them.<br /><br /><b><u> Implications of all of this </u></b><br /><br />So it has been suggested that women are imperfect conduits for saidar , and the same can be said for sa&#8217;angreal. Does this have any implications for the series? Absolutely.<br /><br /><u>Strength and linking</u><br /><br />Women are generally weaker in the One Power than men. This is confirmed by Asmodean &#8230;<br /><br /><i>TFOH (Pale shadows)</i> &#8211; &#8220;Some women have stronger arms than some men , but in general it is the other way around. The same holds with strength in the Power , and in about the same proportion.&#8221;<br /><br />I believe that women are as strong as men but unfortunately because they are imperfect conduits for saidar , a large proportion of the Power which they channel doesn&#8217;t channel through them (resistance) and is given off as light energy or is misdirected into the aura around them.<br /><br />Now don&#8217;t get me wrong. I&#8217;m not actually saying that women are as strong as men (even though I said just that) , I&#8217;m merely saying that their predetermined strength is. I believe that Lanfear , the strongest woman by all accounts is as strong as Rand from a predetermined POV , but because of saidar resistance she cannot wield as great a volume as him. A portion of her power gets misdirected into the aura around her. <br /><br />Remember , women sense one another&#8217;s strength according to this aura. The resistance they develop creates a shell around them which can be sensed by other women. More resistance indicates more potential. This is another unique entity which men cannot match.  Men have no such shell around them and cannot tell if another man can channel unless he is holding saidin. So in essence women are sensing the other woman&#8217;s practical strength i.e. how much she can actually wield , and not her true strength i.e. how much saidar reaches her from the Source before some is resisted.<br /><br />This energy is not useable by the channeler but it is not wasted either. It allows for the one great advantage which women have over men &#8230; linking. The women are surrounded by an aura of energy which allows them to link their powers. Asmodean explains to Rand why women can link and why men cannot &#8230;<br /><br /><i>TFOH (Pale Shadows)</i> &#8211; &#8220;Perhaps in the grand scheme of the Pattern , it&#8217;s a balance for men being stronger.&#8221;<br /><br />Asmodean is more right than he knows. As previously mentioned , women and men are equally strong in the Power but women cannot use all the saidar they can draw because of their natural resistance to the Power. They are not even aware that some of their strength is diverted because you judge your own strength by how much saidar you can actually wield. This resisted energy forms an aura of energy around them given off as light energy. Women can utilize this energy though , to link. <br /><br />Look at how these auras join when women link &#8230;<br /><br /><i>TDR (Healing)</i> - &#8220;Slowly the lights spread , until that which seemed to emanate from one woman touched that which came from the woman beside her , merged with it , till there was only one light &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />If we look at it from a subjective POV , Elayne shows it very nicely &#8230;<br /><br /><i>WH (Snow)</i> &#8211; &#8220;Instinctively , Elayne embraced saidar and reached out to link. Merilille slipped into the circle easily &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />The first quote shows how these glows touch and then merge. Elayne shows us that she reaches out to link with another woman , but she needs to embrace saidar first. She doesn&#8217;t channel however. She embraces saidar and the aura forms made of misdirected energy. She then reaches out with this glow and provides the energy required to make a conduit between two women.<br /><br />When women want to link they expand this aura around themselves until it touches the energy of another women. They can then link. This can be demonstrated by Egwene&#8217;s feelings which reflect the intense pull this aura has on a woman &#8230;<br /><br /><i>TDR (Healing)</i> &#8211; &#8220;Egwene fought the urge to open herself to saidar and add her flow to the tide. It was a pull so strong she was about to be jerked off her feet&#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />Once the women has linked with another woman , the energy created by their natural resistance to channeling makes the conduit permanent until the leader releases them. The conduit allows the Power to flow into the leader but it does have limits &#8230;<br /><br /><i>TPoD (A Quiet Place)</i> &#8211; &#8220;Vandene could have gone several hundred paces before the link began to attenuate &#8211; it would not break if she and Adeleas went to opposite corners of the earth , though it would have been useless long before that.&#8221;<br /><br />Men are perfect conduits for the Power and thus they can wield all the saidin they draw , but they lack this peripheral &#8220;wasted&#8221; energy and thus cannot link or sense one another&#8217;s potential. When a woman links with a man , her aura stretches out and provides the necessary energy to link with him. That is why Sammael tells us that the link must come from Graendal&#8217;s side , and that is why Rand needs Nynaeve to initiate the link.<br /><br />Due to the fact that the male cannot contribute to the physics of the actual link , the woman must provide all the energy to maintain it. This is the reason why a man must control a circle comprised of a man and woman. If another woman is added then the one woman can maintain the link while the other can lead. This is why at least one woman is required for every man &#8211; they need to provide the peripheral energy to link. The energy a man cannot provide. <br /><br />This is how women pass the control of a circle. There are two of them but only one of them is required to maintain the link. The other channeler can lead. This applies to any circle which includes only women.<br /><br /><b><u>1. With the Choedan Kal</u></b><br /><br />The female Choedan Kal access key melted after the Cleansing but the male one was preserved. If you have read all the above carefully you should not find this odd at all. As I mentioned , Rand is a perfect conduit for the Power , or rather saidin is more suited to channeling through organic material &#8211; whichever you believe.<br /><br />Nynaeve on the other hand resists a certain portion of the Power which enters her and this forms the immense glow. The Choedan Kal globes dissipated all the resisted energy which developed in them because of their imperfect nature , but Nynaeve became a bottle-neck for the Power (like any female would).<br /><br />Inevitably , the light as bright as the sun wasn&#8217;t sufficient to dissipate the intense resistance experience when such a colossal volume of the Power flowed through her &#8230; and heat energy eventually started being produced. The outcome of the access keys says as much &#8230;<br /><br /><i>WH (With the Choedan Kal)</i> &#8211; &#8220;&#8230;the figure was broken in two and lumpy like bubbled wax where one side had melted &#8230; The male figure was whole &#8230;&#8221;<br /><br />This feat was nevertheless incredible , and Moghedien even mentioned her surprise that the sa&#8217;angreal worked for so long and at such a level. She can of course only comment on the female aspect. It took a world full of the Power to flow through a single woman to create enough heat to melt a small statuette &#8211; a good indication at how expertly the Choedan Kal were made.<br /><br />It will be interesting to see whether the sa&#8217;angreal in Tremalking melted but I would bet against it. The major flaw in the work was probably the fact that a ter&#8217;angreal was used as a link to the sa&#8217;angreal which would cause further problems with resistance. Ter&#8217;angreal are , after all , not accustomed to low resistance like sa&#8217;angreal. The purpose of a sa&#8217;angreal is to be a high-volume superconductor. Even with a resistance near to zero , if you passed all the world&#8217;s electricity through a superconductor , heat would develop.<br /><br />As a side note , even Rand was worried about this heat aspect (to no avail though) &#8230;<br /><br /><i>TDR (What is written in prophecy)</i> &#8211; &#8220;Callandor blazed in his hands like the sun till he thought it would melt.&#8221;<br /><br /><b><u>Summary</u></b><br /><br />1. Men and women channel the Power but men are perfect conduits for the Power whereas women are imperfect conduits.<br /><br />2. Men and women are equally strong in the Power but women divert a portion of their strength involuntarily into the aura and glow which surrounds them due to resistance to the Power.<br /><br />3. Women measure each other&#8217;s strength according to the aura or resistance sphere around each other. It is their worldy or practical strength , but less than their true strength which they can never wield.<br /><br />4. Women can use this diverted energy to link.<br /><br />5. Sa&#8217;angreal need an energy outlet to prevent the resistance to the Power from melting or destroying them.<br /><br />6. The Choedan Kal female access key melted because even it could not sustain the resistance of so much saidar flowing into a female.<br /><br /><b><u>Pitfalls</u></b><br /><br />a. Everything can come down to literary devices. You make a giant sa&#8217;angreal &#8211; you make it glow because cool things glow (like lightsabers).<br /><br />b. Women glow because women glow , and women can link because they can. That&#8217;s it.<br /><br />c. Many people will see Halima as a pitfall to the series but I don&#8217;t believe it is the case. Men and women probably come down to the level of the soul and not the body. Halima still thinks like a man (i.e. toying with Graendal) and draws saidin.<br /><br />Any criticism welcome.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-06 07:10:02
subject: The Dragon is not &quot;a dragon&quot;
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<p>What is &quot;a dragon&quot; for WoT population?<br /><br />I know it looks like a redundant question, because we have the well recognizable image of a chinese dragon on LTT's Banner. But it's what we, the readers know. But does it guarantee, that the people from the AoL, who named LTT &quot;the Dragon&quot; had the same concept of what a &quot;dragon&quot; is? Here are some my thoughts supporting the hypothesis that &quot;the dragon&quot; (as AoLers thought about) and the animal on the banner are two completely different things (put together only by a mistake of third-agers). And that this mistake of the late third Age maybe is the reason that our Age mistakedly supposes that a &quot;dragon&quot; is a kind of giant serpent looking like the chinese described it...<br /><br />Now the interview quote that made me to ask this question:<br /><br />Quote:<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />Q: Are there any dragons (like real dragons (=animals)) in Rand's world. If not where did they get the idea of dragons? <br />A: there are no animal dragons of any kind in this world. the people speak of a man called the Dragon. They know that the banner that has a certain creature on it was the banner of this man and they have taken to calling this creature the dragon. to them it is a simple association with the name of this man.<br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Also all the people seeing the Banner for first time, do not associate it with any particular fabulous creature, they just see a strange serpent with legs in it. A very significant lack of concept for dragon-beast. Having in mind Jordan's taste for irony, I can imagine how much will he laugh about making a book centered on the word &quot;Dragon&quot; and having absolutely nothing to do with the creatures we call &quot;dragons&quot;!<br /><br />The english of the books is supposed to be a translation from New Tongue. The english word &quot;dragon&quot; used to describe the LTT/Rand is also a translation of this New Tongue word. The New Tongue word for &quot;a dragon&quot; had no meaning at all before the people became to suppose that the beasts from banner are &quot;dragons&quot;, and that is only after Rand took Tear. Before that there was no New Tongue word for &quot;a dragon&quot;. There was only a name of a person. Because it was a name, it was apparently in the form that it had in the Old Tongue, maybe with some phonetical corruption that meant nothing for the third-agers. In Old Tongue the Dragon is called &quot;Aman&quot; (because &quot;spears of the Dragon&quot; is &quot;siswai'd'aman&quot; and &quot;siswai&quot; is &quot;spears&quot; ) . A person from the third age when speaking about &quot;the Dragon&quot; was actually pronouncing &quot;Aman&quot; and it was thought to be a personal name (well, a nickname, but a name) of LTT. Being a name it wouldn't be possible to be translated in English. The only thing that could be translated in english is the late and erroneous colloquial meaning that the ignorant people of the late third age used to call these odd beasts. It seems that this new meaning of &quot;aman&quot; becomes widespread also in the Fourth Age when supposedly the books are written (for to be translated in English). This would be enough to explain why &quot;Aman&quot; as description of the One to be Reborn is translated as &quot;the Dragon&quot;. But this doesn't indicate that the Old Tongue word &quot;aman&quot; meant a &quot;dragon&quot;.<br /><br />What could we see in the word &quot;aman&quot;. We know that there are some words in Old Tongue that begin with 'a' and that are actually a definite article + an word. The normal form of the definite article is &quot;al&quot; but in some cases the &quot;l&quot; dissapeares and we have just a'(some OT word). Also the form &quot;al&quot; seems to be the form for masculine nouns, while the form for feminine nouns is &quot;el&quot; (in el'Leanna - Lan's mother where it's seen that &quot;el&quot; is the feminine equivalent of the masculine &quot;al). So maybe there is another form for neutrum or plural - just &quot;a&quot;. For example &quot;a'dam&quot; = &quot;the leash&quot; while &quot;dam&quot; is &quot;a leash&quot;. Or &quot;a'vron&quot; is &quot;the watchers&quot;, not just &quot;watchers&quot; (what supposedly would be &quot;vron&quot; ) .<br /><br />So a hypothesis: the Dragon's name Aman was derived from a word in OT looking so: a'man and meaning &quot;the (~what man means~)&quot;. And there is an OT word &quot;man&quot; or at least a root -man-. We have it in words like asha'man (= guardian, champion), mandarb (=blade), manshima (=sword). So ~man~ in shared meaning would mean either &quot;defence&quot; or &quot;weapon&quot; (rather &quot;weapon&quot; in general than particularly &quot;sword&quot;, because in cases like &quot;ashandarei&quot; describing the particular &quot;sword&quot; features in comparison to other weapons the term &quot;asha&quot; is used instead of &quot;man&quot;, and because the earliest spear-aiel considered the swords to be the symbol of an Weapon as weapon; also Be'lal mentions that in the first days of the War of Shadow the people based their training with words by old sports like sword-fencing).<br /><br />So, I'm suggesting that when the AoLers called LTT &quot;Aman&quot; it meant &quot;The Defender&quot; or &quot;The Weapon&quot;. It is very possible honourable name for the supreme military leader of the Light's forces in the War against the Shadow. Compare with the name Latra Posae earned (Slicer of the Shadow).<br /><br />Now the creature on the Banner. There is another banner the Dragon Reborn is using - the ancient symbol of the AS. The prophecy said that he will win under this sign. So this sign is something the prophecies connect with the Dragon. Also the prophecies connect him with the old banner. Both banners are prophecy-bound. The ancient AS symbol is symbolizing the both halves of the OP, but it is also said that it symbolizes the Wheel of Time. IIRC at least one glossary of a book said it directly that the ying-yand sign is aa ancient symbol of the Wheel. And what we have on LTT's banner if Randland knows no &quot;dragon&quot; beasts? LTT's banner is a Serpent with some special features. What is the Serpent symbolizing in WoTworld? The Wheel! So the ying-yang disc and the Serpent are almost interchangeable symbols. The Serpent on Dragon's Banner has golden mane and red-gold colors. There details makes me to think about solar symbolics. About Dawn, Rising Sun. More broadly about the Light Rising. LTT was also known as &quot;the Prince of the Morning&quot;.<br /><br />So the symbol of the Serpent with the golden mane is connecting in one image the symbols of the Wheel, the Aes Sedai, the Light Rising, the New Dawn. Some artist of the AoL was very proud to create such meaningfull slogan, I guess.<br /><br />In summary:<br />The people of AoL had no idea about any mythical beast called Dragon. They called LTT &quot;Aman&quot; and that meant &quot;The Weapon&quot;. The Dragon's Banner was some completely different thing. It symbolized the Serpent of the Wheel of Time with some attributes of Light Rising. The myth about beasts called &quot;dragons&quot; was first created by ignorant people of the late Third Age.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-07 07:04:48
subject: Channeling and the Thinness
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<p>Yey! My first theory!<br /><br />This theory is derived from bobsledai's recent theory named &quot;The Thinness in the Pattern&quot;, so I suggest you read that one first. I am going to assume you have read it.<br /><br />In his theory, bobsledai implies that the thinness in the pattern is caused by channeling. What I have done in my theory is turning this around and saying that the thinness makes channeling possible.<br /><br />Firstly, lets look at some key events:<br /><br />1. The appearence of channeling marked the beginning of the AoL. It is an age of wealth and peace, and Channelers were generally much stronger than in the third age.<br /><br />2. Mierin senses an unknown power through the thinness, and drills a bore to reach it. The Dark one breaks free, leading to the War for Power and subsequently the sealing of the bore and the Breaking. After the Breaking, the channelers suddenly grow weaker in the power.<br /><br />3. At the end of the third age, the seals begin to weaken. About the same time, incredibly strong channelers suddenly appear. We see that they are as strong as the forsaken, who were among the strongest of the channelers in the AoL (Nynaeve beats Moghedien, Rand beats Rahvin and others).<br /><br />Now, let's try to explain these events:<br /><br />1. The appearence of channeling that marks the start of the AoL is caused by a beginning thinness in the Pattern. Since the thinness was so small, the first channelers would have to be weak. By trying and failing they learn to master their channeling, at the same time growing stronger. By the end of the AoL they have become exeptionally strong and have risen to high positions in the society.<br /><br />2. Channeling has to be done by tapping the One Power through the pattern. The thinness allows this to be done, but when LTT seals the bore, it somehow blocks the flow of the power, making it harder to channel. Therefore, channelers are weaker in the Third Age.<br /><br />3. When the seals weaken at the end of the Third Age, this block is also weakened. Channelers can suddenly access the One Power more easily, so stronger channelers appear.<br /><br />Tarmon Gai'don and the Fourth Age<br /><br />Now let's look at what will happen at TG.<br /><br />Derived from what I have written to this point of the theory, I believe that Rand will somehow rebuild the pattern at the thinness. This will effectively send the Dark One back to his prison, and, more importantly, it will block access to the One Power. Thus, there will be no channeling in the Fourth Age.<br /><br />Pitfalls<br /><br />There are, as I can see now, one major problem with this theory.<br /><br />Firstly, there is the matter of the Breaking. If LTT's seal on the bore made channelers weaker, wouldn't all channelers suddenly become weak as the seal shut into place?<br /><br />This could be explained if we say that the seal took some time in coming into place. It didn't become fully effective before the end of the Breaking, when the third age started. This would also explain how the Dark One managed to taint Saidin after the seal was made.<br /><br />Summary:<br /><br />Channeling was made possible by the thinness in the pattern<br /><br />As LTT sealed the Bore, channeling became harder<br /><br />In the fourth age, the thinness will have dissapeared, and thus channeling will be impossible.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-07 07:20:50
subject: The Coming of Spring
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<p>This year, March 20 is Palm Sunday. It also happens to be the first day of Spring. Every year, the vernal, or Spring, equinox occurs on or around March 21. That date is determined by the apparent movement of the sun across the sky, and for practical purposes does not change from year to year.<br /><br />Palm Sunday is defined as:<br /><br />&quot;The Sunday before Easter. It is celebrated by Christians to commemorate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem five days before his Crucifixion. On that occasion, the people of Jerusalem laid palm leaves in his path as a sign of welcome.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;In the Western church it must always fall on one of the 35 dates between March 15 and April 18.&quot;<br /><br />According to Steven Cooper's timeline (made from clues in the Wheel of Time text, but not official), Rand receives an invitation to meet with the apparent Daughter of the Nine Moons on Aine 17 (April 1). Assuming this is pretty close to the date the writer intended, then this date, and the days that follow, are a window in which Rand <i>could</i> enter the place (from a large city to a tiny village) where he will meet with the apparent Daughter, but only if there is a direct correspondence with the life of Jesus. And if what follows also corresponds, then perhaps only a few days later Rand will be dead. In this theory, I am proposing that this is the shocking event that the writer hinted at previously.<br /><br />The reason I make this correspondence is that Rand is a savior figure; he is a representation of the savior archetype. In the framework of the Wheel of Time, each Age has a champion of the Light, the Dragon, whose life follows a pattern similar to other Ages. However, Rand's life does not correspond with the life of Jesus very closely; the resemblances are there, but are very hazy. When the whole pattern is seen from a distance, you can see little hints of similarity here and there between Ages. Rand was wounded in his side not just before his death, but well before, and twice. It is believed that his blood will save mankind from the Shadow, but it is not clear how. And, finally, Rand may not be executed by the Seanchan, who may correspond with the Roman Empire; it could be done by the Shadow (his uncle, or a Forsaken, for example). As for the potential similaries: Rand could be the subject of a formal trial for acts against the Empire, such as killing one of the Blood (Turak, who led the Forerunners), or even tortured (before or after that trial, if it happens).<br /><br />Considering the accuracy of the date of Rand's invitation, I don't remember any mention of the Feast of Thanksgiving occurring before the end of the last book; that holiday is celebrated at the Spring equinox every four years. It could be that this is not the correct year, it passed without being mentioned, or the day has not arrived by the end of Crossroads of Twilight.<br /><br />I think Spring is a very appropriate time for these events to take place, because it symbolizes renewal and new life, which may apply both to a world saved from the Shadow, and to Rand himself.<br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-08 07:20:27
subject: Angreals and Sa'angreals
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<p>I was allways wondering, why angreals and sa'angreals are not united in the same category when discussed in comparison to ter'angerals. Glossaries etc, say allways something like: &quot;sa'angreals are similar to angreals but give much more power; ter'angreals are also items of Power, but...&quot;, or &quot;sa'angreals are even more rare than angreals&quot;. So there is an impression that angreals, sa'angreals and ter'angreals are three relatively independent categories. If they differ only in the amount of magnification of power, so where would be the boundary up to that a device is called &quot;angreal&quot; and over that a &quot;sa'angreal&quot;? In that case wouldn't there be artefacts, that are called &quot;angreals&quot; by some and &quot;sa'angreals&quot; by others? But the books give the impression, that an artefact would allways be identified to be either an angreal or a sa'angreal without any doubts.<br /><br />Both angreals and sa'angreals have the effect to increase the maximum amount of power that a channeler can control. Another method of this increasement are the circles. But in circles there are some interesting differences between the levels of magnification possible. So women can build a circle of any number of members up to 13, and circle of 2 women and circle of 13 women use exactly the same method. But if more then 13 women want to link (independent of the strength of each woman) , they need to include a man in the circle. In other words: an increasement over some numerical level requires some changes in the technology. My theory is that the difference between angreals and sa'angreals is also a difference of technology.<br /><br />If the difference is a difference of technology, then it would mean that angreals and sa'angreals should be feeled by channelers in a different manner. And actually there is a visible difference in usage of angreals and of sa'angreals. When an angreal is used, a woman doesn't see light aura around the angreal itself, only the light aura around the channeler is brighter, as if she is naturally stronger. So Cyndane when facing Alivia is thinking the following:<br /><br />quote: &#8220; (Alivia) was stronger than Cyndane had been before the Aelfinn and Eelfinn held her. That was impossible! No woman could be stronger! She must have an angreal, too.&#8221; - WH, Ch. 35.<br /><br />Cyndane is seeing only the aura of an extremely strong woman, and she makes a logical conclusion that this effect may be caused by an angreal. She is not able to identify directly the presence of the angreal, she can only conclude so from circumstancial considerations. Unlike Cyndane, we know that Alivia in this case is actually using a strong angreal.<br /><br />Let see how the usage of a sa'angreal looks in the eyes of a female channeler:<br /> <br />quote: &quot;A glow appeared around each Aes Sedai, that soft, white light that only a woman who could channel could see. Slowly the lights spread, until that which seemed to emanate from one woman touched that which came from the woman beside her, merged with it, till there was only one light, a light that, to Egwene's eyes, diminished the lamps to nothing. And in that brightness was a stronger light still. A bar of bone-white fire. The sa'angreal.&quot; - tDR, Chapter 18.<br /><br />A significant difference! While the effect of an angreal is not seen separate from channeler's complete strength, while it is often not to be seen whether a channeler is using an angreal or not, but the sa'angreal is seen as something different from the channeler, and even as something different from a whole circle of channelers who's aura's look like only one aura.<br /><br />All Sa'angreals are sensed by other channelers not as just more strength of somebody, but as separate concentration of Power. So Moghedien is seeing the huge amount of power concentrated in the access key in the Cleansing scene. Moghedien sees it like a bright arrow near to the glowing figure of Nynaeve, as different from Nynaeve's aura but not as too much strength in Nynaeve herself.<br /><br />Sa'angreals, when used, glow even for non-channelers. Choedan Kal is especially good example here: non channelers see the statues glow like suns both in Cairhien and Tremalking. Callandor has also visible light effects - when Rand uses it, &quot;Callandor blazed in his hands like the sun till he thought it would melt&quot;. There are never seen any similar effects with angreals.<br /><br />All that indicates that the angreals and sa'angreals are different not only in a quantitative sense, not only in the degree of power gained. They are different in the way they are working. They are different in the technology used in them for to enhance the Power. They have similar effect but they gain this effect due to different methods.<br /><br /><br />What can serve as this technological difference? A hint could give Cadsuane's comment about the damaged &quot;buffer&quot; of Callandor. This buffer was the part of the sa'angreal that would guarantee that the channeler will not drain more Power than he could manage safely. So the buffer was the something that prevents the channeler from being burned out by Power overdose.<br /><br />Now, what is the strength limit of a channeler? It is not the limit of Power the channeler could actually drain, but it is the limit of the power a channeler can use SAFELY. Everybody can draw more power than his/her limit of strength, only that this will end in burning out. Now what does the buffer do? It protects the channeler from burning out by overdose of Power. ie: the buffer does EXACTLY what would make safe the natural drawing of more power than the natural strength of the channeler allows. Therefore the buffer is the only thing needed to enhance somebody's strength's limits.<br /><br />This leads me to the conclusion that angreals are buffers and nothing else but buffers. Several times in the books it's specifically mentioned that an angreal protects you from drawing more Power than you can control. ie: the angreals have the function of buffers. And in this case channelers using angreals ( buffers ) would look like they're of a higher level of maximal strength than they actually are.<br /><br />Now, back to Callandor's damaged buffer. Cadsuane directly said that this buffer doesn't work. But Callandor still works. It is dangerous for Rand, but Rand nevertheless uses huge amounts of Power and he is still not burned out. Therefore a sa'angreal can enhance the Power without using the buffer. Even if the buffer is supposed to be inside a good designed sa'angreal, it's not the buffer what causes the sa'angreal's main effect. The buffer would be only an addition to the sa'angreals main module.<br /><br />My suggestion is that sa'angreals work as virtual channelers in a link. A channeler is using the Power of a sa'angreal like the leader of a circle is using the power of the passive members of the circles. A sa'angreal draws more power to a certain point. (We know that artifacts can draw the Power: the Bowl of Winds draws saidin and Wells store Power; ie: it's technologically possible to produce a gadget that draws Power - sa'angreals are these gadgets) .<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-14 01:48:51
subject: Dragon's Altered Destiny
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<p>I believe that the Dragon's destiny was greatly altered at the end of the second age, due to the taint which was directly caused by a force outside the pattern, and which causing him to go mad and kill himself, making him &quot;sidestep&quot; his fate. <br /><br />The sidestepping of fate obviously didn't result in a Dragon not being Reborn, but it did alter the circumstances significantly. For example, from Artur Hawkwing's speech in Falme, we can determine that LTT was a hero of the horn, who fought at Hawkwing's and Birgitte's and etc.. sides many times. As well as the fact that LTT is spun out repeatedly by the Wheel as are the rest of the HOTH. <br /><br />Hawkwing addresses Rand/LTT as if he had amnesia about his past lives (and wasn't too surprised about it): <br /><br />Justice shone like a mirror in Artur Hawkwing's gauntleted fist. &quot;I have fought by your side times beyond number, Lews Therin, and faced you as many more. The Wheel spins us out for its purposes, not ours, to serve the Pattern. I know you, if you do not know yourself. (TGH, ch 47) <br /><br />Birgitte, while in Tel'aran'rhiod, recalls all her past lives, but after being reborn, starts losing her memories of past lives, and during her normal rebirths, was not aware of her hero status: <br /><br />&quot;I am Birgitte,&quot; the woman said, leaning on her bow. &quot;At least, that is the name you would know. And the lesson might have been yours, here as surely as in the Three-fold Land. I remember the lives I have lived as if they were books well- read, the longer gone dimmer than the nearer, but I remember well when I fought at Lews Therin's side. (TSR, ch 52) <br /><br />The memories of her past lives were fading-she said she could remember nothing at all clearly before the founding of the White Tower, now, though fragments still floated up-but one thing she claimed to recall absolutely. (WH, ch 7) <br /><br />&quot;Always when the Wheel spun me out, I was born, lived and died without ever knowing I was bound to the Wheel. I only knew that in between, in Tel 'aran'rhiod. (LOC, ch 40) <br /><br />Presumably, this is the pattern for all heroes, including Lews Therin Telamon, to be ignorant of their role in the greater scheme of things when spun out, and to be aware in between lives. So why is Rand different &#8211; why does he have access to Lews Therin Telamon&#8217;s memories? He started out with none of this, but as he channeled saidin, the connection between Lews Therin Telamon and Rand got stronger. <br /><br />It had come on him slowly, but the more Rand learned of the One Power, the stronger he became with saidin, the stronger Lews Therin's voice became, and the harder Rand had to fight to keep a dead man's thoughts from taking him over. That was one reason why he liked sword practice; the absence of thought was a barrier to keep him himself. (LOC, ch 1) <br /><br />So why wasn&#8217;t Rand born with Lews Therin Telamon&#8217;s memories and then lose them, and why did he start hearing Lews Therin Telamon&#8217;s voice after he began channeling? Since Lews Therin Telamon&#8217;s soul was reborn already, his knowledge should be concealed from him. Unless, part of Lews Therin Telamon&#8217;s essence was trapped in Tel'aran'rhiod, where the heroes are able to keep their memories of past lives. It&#8217;s also possible that part of his essence was trapped in some limbo, where he is haunted by the dead, as he has commented about on numerous occasions. <br /><br />Where are all the dead? Lews Therin whispered. Why will they not be silent? Rand chuckled grimly. Surely that had to be a joke. (LOC, ch 16) <br /><br />I am not dead! the voice howled. I deserve death, but I am alive! Alive! Alive! You are dead! Rand shouted back in his head. You are dead, Lews Therin! (LOC, ch 46) <br /><br />You must kill him before he kills you, Lews Therin giggled. They will, you know. Dead men can't betray anyone. The voice in Rand's head turned wondering. But sometimes they don't die. Am I Dead? Are you? (POD, ch 21) <br /><br />And it seems that Lews Therin Telamon was not alone, drifting in this limbo, off course &#8211; in COT, there are several mentions of ghost sightings, which could be somehow related to Lews Therin Telamon&#8217;s ramblings about the dead not being silent. <br /><br />This would be a vast departure from past turnings of the wheel and rebirths of the Dragon. <br /><br />With the Dragon&#8217;s life path being askew, I think this opened the door for Ishamael to dominate the next 3000 years of human affairs. With all the influence he was able to gain &#8211; driving Lews Therin Telamon over the brink, the oaths in the White Tower, the leashing of damanes, the sending of Paendrag&#8217;s armies across the ocean &#8211; I think this indicates that Ishamael was a ta&#8217;veren as well, and now there was no Dragon to counter his effects. Ishamael&#8217;s control rapidly went downhill upon Rand&#8217;s intervention, culminating in his death in The Dragon Reborn. <br /><br />Now that the taint (which may have been part of the Dark One&#8217;s plan to alter the Dragon&#8217;s destiny) has been cleansed, Rand and Lews Therin Telamon have come close to merging into one person. Rand, for example, uses Lews Therin Telamon&#8217;s vocabulary (web, spin) when thinking about channeling. <br /><br />Suddenly it struck him that he had thought of what he had done as spinning a web. That was how Lews Therin would put it. That sort of thing happened too often, the other man&#8217;s turns of phrase drifting into his head, the other man&#8217;s memories mingling with his. He was Rand al&#8217;Thor, not Lews Therin Telamon. He had woven a ward and tied off the weave, not spun a web and knotted it. But the one came to him as easily as the other. (COT, ch 24) <br /><br />I think this means the Dragon&#8217;s destiny is getting back on track. And the Dark One made it a priority for his Chosen to prevent the cleansing at all costs, and that it was a major blow to Shai&#8217;tan&#8217;s plans. <br /><br />However, there still is the matter of the dizziness and nausea that Rand deals with whenever he tries to seize saidin. What is it? I believe that it is Lews Therin Telamon suffering from the initial channeling sickness that befalls all novice channelers, and that it will go away with time. <br /><br />Thoughts, questions, flames &#8211; fire away! <br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-16 07:09:16
subject: Saidin, Saidar and the Strangeness
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<p>After the Bowl of Winds is used in TPoD, everybody comments on the strangeness of saidin and saidar in the vicinity of Ebou Dar.  Everybody everywhere seems pretty clearly agreed everywhere that I've seen that this is a result of the use of the bowl, but nobody seems to care just what's happening or why.  <br /><br />I propose that the two reasons both saidin and saidar are behaving strangely in that location is due to a) the use of the Bowl pulling both forms of the power with active channeling / a female circle only; if climate / weather control ter'angreal were run by standing flows in the AoL, this is the beginning of the return of these standing flows.  Secondly, what is strange about the behavior of both saidin and saidar is b) that both are behaving a bit like the other in those locations (due to a.).  <br /><br /><i>&quot;Still Caire wove, and the column danced to her bidding, saidar and saidin together, and the spiderweb altered and flowed like a lopsided kaleidoscope spinning across the heavens, vanishing into the distance, on and on and on.&quot; </i>(TPoD, 133, pb) <br /><br />If standing flows of both halves of the OP were working this Bowl, it'd be localized and not drawing the OP from the Wheel, but simply taking advantage of what's there, as opposed to channeling into it.<br /><br />Further, same page: <i>&quot;The Bowl turned clear again, but small patches of saidar flashed and crackled around its edges.&quot;</i><br /><br />As to b.), Elayne complains when weaving nearby: <i>&quot;The flows wavered in her grasp almost as if trying to twist free, then snapped into place so suddenly she jumped; channelling when you were tired was not at all like other times, but this was the worst ever.&quot;</i> (TPoD, 146, pb) <br /><br />Dashiva whines, <i>&quot;Nothing can twist saidin, and if it could be twisted, we'd have felt it back in the mountains.&quot;</i> ... <i>&quot;But it ... pulses here.&quot;</i>  (TPoD, 531, pb)<br /><br />Men are used to fighting the OP; women to guiding.  These compaints(here and elsewhere) indicate that saidin and saidar are (hopefully extricably) twisted here.   <br /><br />Seemed a great revelation a bit ago, maybe no impact later, or even now, just something to puzzle on for us academic types.  Anyway, I like the idea of this being the beginning of a return to standing flows (even if Dashiva is an FS from the AoL who says the OP can't be twisted; maybe something like this is how the standing flows started in the first place.)  <br /><br />Responses?<br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-17 03:44:48
subject: The Grand Unifying Theory of Asmodean&#8217;s Demise
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<p>Yes, this is yet another theory regarding the much theorized &#8216;who killed Asmodean&#8217; question. This theory takes a unique approach to the determination of who most likely did it. This most notable aspect of this is that it accounts for the &#8216;expert opinions&#8217; of some of the more highly regarded regular posters and theorists that frequent this website. In some ways this is a poll, but quite a bit of data is generated and can be looked at from a few different angles. This leads to some interesting results. I hope you enjoy!<br /><br /><b>Method</b><br /><br />For this theory, I built upon the approach I took for an earlier theory that I wrote: <i> Who did it&#8230;an 18 suspect matrix-based solution</i>. My matrix approach involves creating a score for each suspect in a series of different categories regarding the murder. The scores for the categories are added together for each suspect &#8211; the higher the score, the greater the likelihood of the suspect&#8217;s guilt.<br /><br />I selected 9 categories for matrix. Each category gets a score that ranges from 1 to 10 with 10 being the greatest match, 1 being the least, and 5 being neutral. Scores are not unique &#8211; several suspects could score a 10 in any given category.<br /><br />To make things interesting, I invited many of the most respected regular posters and admins at this website to score the matrix along with myself. I asked quiet a few people to participate, and had them suggest any others they would recommend for participation. Not everyone (actually less than half) could participate, however, I feel that the field of &#8216;experts&#8217; gathered is quite sufficient for my effort and covers a wide range of opinions. Below is the list of those who participated:<br /><br />kcf<br />Etzel<br />linda_sedai<br />File Leader<br />Simon<br />Jim<br />Jeordam<br />MJJ_Sedai<br />JustAnotherGreensWarder<br />sidious<br />Fyatuk<br /><br /><b>Categories</b><br /><br />The letters below represent the 9 column categories for the matrix and I have described them as I did when I sent the instructions to all the participants. I also added this bit of instruction for scoring: <i>Keep in mind as you determine your scores how many assumptions are you making in relation to the facts. Certain assumption have to be made, but the more assumptions are made, the more uncertainty should be incorporated in the scoring.</i><br /><br />A&#8230;Motive &#8211; What reasons did this suspect have to kill Asmodean? Would they have needed an order? Would or was Asmodean interfering in the suspect&#8217;s plans? Had Asmodean personally caused this person grief or harm? Did Asmodean&#8217;s current position create a direct threat to this suspect? What does this suspect have to gain from Asmodean&#8217;s death?<br /><br />B&#8230;Evidence Supporting (pre-tFoH) &#8211; Evidence from the books, prior to and including <i>The Fires of Heaven</i>. Was this suspect a significant character up to this point? Were they even introduced yet? Were they dead? <br /><br />C&#8230;Evidence Supporting (post-tFoH) &#8211; Evidence from the books, after <i> The Fires of Heaven</i>. Back from the dead or believed dead? What are their thoughts/reactions to Asmodean&#8217;s death/disappearance? <br /><br />D&#8230;Ability to do the Job &#8211; Do they have the ability to kill Asmodean. Remember, he is a channeler from the AoL. The shield Lanfear placed on him is still in place, however, he should still be able to wrap someone in air. Can the suspect channel? Are they stronger than Asmodean &#8211; with or without the shield? Any other special tricks/abilities?<br /><br />E&#8230;Ability to Arrive and Depart Crime Scene &#8211; Was this suspect in Caemlyn at the time? Can they travel? Other special travel means? Would this person have been commented on if seen by someone in Caemlyn? Was this person dead, believed dead, or otherwise indisposed at this time?<br /><br />F&#8230;Ability to Remain Undetected &#8211; The murder went undetected. If the killer channeled, why wasn&#8217;t it sensed? Was it sensed but not considered a big deal? Do you think Rand had any wards set up? Why did Asmodean not scream in pain? Did he and nobody heard? Would a female channeling be more or less likely to be detected than a male? Was the True Power used (note: at this time in the series, do we know anything about the True Power?)? <br /><br />G. Body Disposal &#8211; Asmodean&#8217;s body appears to have never been found. Could this suspect dispose of it? Did Asmodean blend in with the other dead of the day?<br /><br />H&#8230;In light of Asmodean's Reaction -  &#8220;You? No!&#8221; The final words: it would appear that Asmodean knew his killer &#8211; how much evidence is available that Asmodean knew or would recognize this suspect? He also appears to be quite surprised to see this person. Does his reaction match this suspect?<br /><br />I&#8230;Considering RJ&#8217;s clues &#8211; Is this person &#8216;intuitively obvious&#8217;? Was RJ yanking our chain by saying it is intuitively obvious? The claim is that the evidence was there prior to and including <i>The Fires of Heaven</i> - in other words, no later clues required. The murder was not ordered by the DO, The servants were just servants, Rahvin did create the fish that bit Rand in TAR, etc., and any other evidence RJ has given us in interviews and at books signings.<br /><br /><b>Suspects</b><br /><br />I have chosen to include a very large field of suspects (though I did eliminate the more humorous inclusions from my original theory &#8211; darn). Pretty much anyone who has been theorized about is included, including all of the forsaken &#8211; even those that have been absolutely ruled out. Later in the discussion I disregard many of these, but for the initial analysis, I felt the inclusion of all the forsaken is important.<br /><br />Gholam<br />Lan<br />Lews Therin<br />Moraine<br />Padan Fain<br />Rand <br />Taim<br />Aiel Wise One<br />Bashere<br />Slayer<br />Shaidar Haran<br />Eelfinn/Aelfinn<br />Moridin/Ishamael<br />Sammael<br />Graendal <br />Lanfear/Cyndane<br />Aginor/Osan&#8217;gar<br />Balthemal/Aran&#8217;gar<br />Bel&#8217;al<br />Rahvin<br />Demandred<br />Mesaana<br />Semirhage<br />Moghedien<br /><br /><br /><b>Example</b><br /><br />Here is an example of the scoring process. I&#8217;ve chosen to use the suspect Mesaana in this example because she is not too controversial. I provide a bit of my thinking process for determining the score given. If you&#8217;re curious, this is how I scored her in my matrix.<br /><br />A&#8230;Motive   Score = 9<br />Mesaana is in White Tower and has embarked upon an ambitious plan to capture Rand &#8211; the group has already left Tar Valon. Asmodean working as Rand&#8217;s advisor is a direct threat to this plan working. Asmodean&#8217;s knowledge will provide Rand with the suspicion he needs to recognize the trap and he may know Mesaana&#8217;s involvement in the WT (though this is not likely). The major assumption that has to be made is that Mesaana knows of Asmodean&#8217;s relationship to Rand &#8211; I would score it 10 if this was known. <br /><br />B&#8230;Evidence Supporting (pre-tFoH)   Score = 4 <br />There is no direct evidence supporting Mesaana up to this point. She is a forsaken that is still alive, so that gives some suspicion, but she essentially has not been introduced yet. <br /><br />C&#8230;Evidence Supporting (post-tFoH)   Score = 6<br />There is essentially no evidence supporting Mesaana, but also there is no evidence that is specifically against her either. Her half successful plan to kidnap Rand should be noted.<br /><br />D&#8230;Ability to do the Job   Score = 9<br />Mesaana is strong channeler and a forsaken. She is most likely stronger than Asmodean even without his shield, so knowledge of Lanfear&#8217;s shield is not necessary.  <br /><br />E&#8230;Ability to Arrive and Depart Crime Scene   Score = 10<br />Mesaana can travel. Rand would not be able to detect her at this distance, and it is unlikely her channeling would have been noted as unusual by Aviendha, who appears to be the only female channeler around at that time.<br /><br />F&#8230;Ability to Remain Undetected   Score = 7<br />Rand would not have detected any channeling. Aviendha maybe would have, but it is unclear that she would have done anything. Nobody in the palace would have recognized her if she were seen.<br /><br />G. Body Disposal   Score = 10<br />She could destroy or remove the body with the One Power.<br /><br />H&#8230;In light of Asmodean's Reaction   Score = 9<br />Asmodean would recognize Mesaana and be very surprised.<br /><br />I&#8230;Considering RJ&#8217;s clues   Score = 4<br />There have been no clues for or against Mesaana specifically. RJ&#8217;s ascertain that we should be able to figure it out with the books up to and including tFoH indicates that Mesaana is unlikely.<br /><br />Total Score for Mesaana is 69. (For those curious, this ranks her as the Number 3 suspect in my matrix )<br /><br />Obviously this effort has produced a huge amount of raw data and potentially an even bigger amount of explanations. It does not make sense to try and show it all. So, I will not be providing the individual matrices for all the participants or their explanations (which I didn&#8217;t ask for anyway). I will stick to summaries.<br /><br /><b>The Results</b><br /><br />Below is the summary of the totaled scores of the 24 suspects and their ranks. Note that wotmania does not support tables, so the formatting is a bit off.<br /><br /><b>Suspect</b>&#8230;.........<b>Total Score</b>........<b>Rank</b><br /><br />Graendal........................737.........1<br />Sammael..........................678 .........2<br />Moridin/Ishamael............602.........3<br />Semirhage......................582.........4<br />Demandred......................571.........5<br />Mesaana..........................569.........6<br />Lanfear/Cyndane.............557.........7<br />Slayer.............................557.........7<br />Shaidar Haran.................504 .........9<br />Taim .............................484.........10<br />Moghedien ...................459.........11<br />Rand..............................454.........12<br />Gholam .........................449.........13<br />Lews Therin Telamon...411.........14<br />Rahvin..........................382.........15<br />Moiraine......................371.........16<br />Balthemal/Aran'gar......353.........17<br />Aginor/Osan'gar...........351.........18<br />Be'lal..........................332.........19<br />Aiel Wise One..............324.........20<br />Padan Fain....................321.........21<br />Eelfinn/Aelfinn .............311.........22<br />Lan...............................283.........23<br />Bashere........................237.........24<br /><br /><br /><b>Discussion</b><br /><br />So, Graendal is the number one suspect. I suppose this should not be a surprise. I think that most people are probably surprised to see Sammael coming in at number 2. It turns out that he is a very valid suspect in all of this. Another surprising result is that Moridin comes in a solid third place &#8211; without the use of a Mask of Mirrors, Asmodean would not be able to recognize Moridin, and Moridin is not introduced as a character until 2 books later.<br /><br />In order to have a bit more manageable list, we can remove many of the suspects that realistically could not have done it. I&#8217;m sure that this is somewhat debatable, but I feel that we can remove the following suspects without much grief:<br /><br />Lan, Moraine, Rand, Shaidar Haran, Eelfinn/Aelfinn, Aginor/Osan&#8217;gar, Balthemal/Aran&#8217;gar, Bel&#8217;al, Rahvin, Demandred, Semirhage, and Moghedien<br /><br />This produces a more realistic suspect list of:<br /><br /><b>Suspect</b>&#8230;..............<b>Total Score</b>........<b>Rank</b><br /><br />Graendal........................737.........1<br />Sammael ..........................678.........2<br />Moridin/Ishamael............602.........3<br />Mesaana..........................569 .........4<br />Lanfear/Cyndane.............557 .........5<br />Slayer.............................557.........5<br />Shaidar Haran.................504.........7<br />Taim.............................484......... 8<br />Gholam .........................449 ......... 9<br />Aiel Wise One..............324 .........10<br />Padan Fain....................321.........11<br />Bashere........................237 .........12<br /><br /><br /><b>Bias</b><br /><br />The totals of the matrix bring out the most glaring weakness to this approach &#8211; bias. To be fair, this needs to be discussed in detail.<br /><br />Below is a summary of who the &#8216;experts&#8217; thought the killer was prior to scoring the matrix:<br /><br />kcf.....................................Graendal<br />Etzel.................................Slayer<br />linda_sedai.......................Graendal or Sammael<br />File Leader.......................Graendal<br />Simon................................Graendal<br />Jim.....................................Graendal<br />Jeordam .............................Graendal<br />MJJ_Sedai..........................no opinion<br />JustAnotherGreensWarder...Slayer<br />sidious................................Graendal<br />Fyatuk...................................Taim<br /><br /><br />Below is a summary of who scored number one in the matrices.<br /><br />kcf.....................................Graendal<br />Etzel.................................Slayer<br />linda_sedai.......................Graendal and Sammael<br />File Leader.......................Moridin<br />Simon................................Graendal<br />Jim.....................................Graendal<br />Jeordam.............................Graendal<br />MJJ_Sedai..........................Graendal<br />JustAnotherGreensWarder...Slayer<br />sidious................................Graendal<br />Fyatuk...................................Graendal<br /><br />So, in most cases, the bias carried through the matrix. To get an even better handle on this, I created what I&#8217;ve called the bias factor to quantify the bias in the scoring. To calculate the bias factor for each matrix, I simply compare the final score of the original bias suspect to the final score of highest scoring non-bias suspect. So that the bias factor can be more easily compared between matrices, I use the percentage of total possible rather than raw score.<br /><br />For Example:<br /><br />For myself, my original bias is Graendal (total score = 75 which is 83% of the total possible) and the highest scoring non-bias was Sammael (total score = 74 which is 82%). The bias factor is the difference <img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/tinfoilhat.gif" border="0" />3% - 82%). So bias factor for kcf is 1% for Graendal. Note: it is possible for there to be a negative bias factor when the original bias is outscored.<br /><br />Below is a summary of the bias factors for all the participants:<br /><br /><br />kcf.....................................1<br />Etzel.................................7<br />linda_sedai.......................6<br />File Leader.......................-4<br />Simon................................3<br />Jim.....................................24<br />Jeordam .............................12<br />MJJ_Sedai..........................none<br />JustAnotherGreensWarder....3<br />sidious................................1<br />Fyatuk...................................7<br /><br />So, as you can see, the bias factor can get rather high. To remove some of the bias effects, a different way of ranking the 12 remaining suspects may be better. This ranking is based on order of the suspects rank as opposed to the score. A point is assigned to each suspect based upon their rank as determined by each &#8216;expert&#8217;, and then these points are all combined to produce a second ranking system. <br /><br />For example:  from my matrix<br /><br />...............Total Score...Rank.......Points<br />Graendal............75.........1.........12<br />Sammael.............74.........2.........11<br />...<br />Padan Fain..........53.........11.........2<br />Gholam..............46.........12.........1<br /><br />Below is the summary of this Point Ranking system &#8211; note that while the top suspects remain the same, the middle changes up.<br /><br /><b>Suspect</b>&#8230;............<b>Total Score</b>...<b>Total Points</b>...<b>Rank</b><br /><br />Graendal....................737.........126.........1<br />Sammael.....................678.........116.........2<br />Moridin/Ishamael.........602.........104.........3<br />Lanfear/Cyndane.........557.........88.........4<br />Slayer............................557.........85.........5<br />Mesaana.........................569.........83.........6<br />Taim..............................484.........77.........7<br />Shaidar Haran...............504.........68.........8<br />Gholam...........................449.........59.........9<br />Padan Fain.....................321.........28.........10<br />Aiel Wise One.................324.........27.........11<br />Bashere...........................237.........17.........12<br /><br />A pretty clear tear system of ranking the suspects comes out of this point ranking. Graendal, Sammael, and Moridin are clearly 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Next comes a loose grouping of 4 suspects within 10 point of each other (Lanfear, Mesaana, Slayer, and Taim) with Lanfear in the lead. Following this, we have Shaidar Haran and the gholam. Bringing up the rear are an Aiel Wise One and Bashere.<br /><br />Another important point should be noted before wrapping this theory up. This matrix approach appears to give too much emphasis on the ability to do the crime. This is evidenced by a suspect like Demandred (who we know from his own PoV did not do it) significantly outscores Bashere (who is, at least theoretically, possible). This may mean that &#8216;weaker&#8217; suspects (especially non-channelers) are underscored in this method. Realistically this does not greatly impact this theory. However, it also causes an increase for very powerful channelers, and especially those with known access to the True Power &#8211; such as Moridin, Lanfear (I&#8217;m not claiming she has or doesn&#8217;t have access to the TP, just that she is a very powerful channeler), and Shaidar Haran. This may explain why Moridin ranks third and Lanfear fourth, which are likely a bit high. <br /><br /><b>Summary</b><br /><br />The result of comparing opinions of many &#8216;expert&#8217; posters concludes that Graendal is the most likely suspect for killing Asmodean. Sammael is rather close in second place, with Moridin in a more distant third. Other notable finishers are Slayer (No. 5) and Lanfear (No. 4). <br /><br />Please join me in thanking all of the participants in this theory for helping to create the farthest-reaching theory about who killed Asmodean to date.<br /><br />One final thought for the road:  <br /><br />&#8220;There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.&#8221;<br />-Benjamin Disraeli <br /><img src="http://www.msu.edu/~mackertm/wotmania/images/wink.gif" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </p>


created: 2005-02-21 05:52:39
subject: &#8220;And he shall bind the nine moons to serve him.&#8221;
body:
<p>I&#8217;ve been dwelling on this for almost forever, trying to figure out what that prophecy could possibly mean. Well, I&#8217;ve finally figured it out, and I don&#8217;t think it requires Tuon submitting herself to Rand or being Rand being betrayed and collared. <blockquote>Q1 &#8226; &#8220;The north shall he tie to the east, and the west shall be bound to the south.&#8221; &#8211; <i>The Karaethon Cycle</i> </blockquote><blockquote>Q2 &#8226; &#8220;I can&#8217;t fight the Shadow and the Seanchan at the same time. I am sending the three of you to arrange a truce with the Seanchan.&#8221; &#8211; <i>Crossroads of Twilight,</i> ch31 </blockquote><blockquote>Q3 &#8226; &#8220;He shall bind the nine moons to serve him.&#8221; &#8211; <i>The Karaethon Cycle</i> </blockquote><blockquote>Q4 &#8226; &#8220;&#8216;She [Tuon] gave her word, Bayle,&#8217; Egeanin said. &#8216;Her word. She will not break that, ever.&#8217; Egeanin sounded absolutely convinced.&#8221; &#8211; <i>Crossroads of Twilight, </i> ch29 </blockquote><blockquote>Q5 &#8226; &#8220;The last hope that this &#8216;binder&#8217; was something else vanished as Galina felt the oath settle on her, as if she suddenly wore a garment that covered her far too tightly from scalp to the soles of her feet.&#8221; &#8211; <i>Path of Daggers, </i> ch11 </blockquote>It is a common theory &#8211; so widely spread and so logical it borders on fact &#8211; that Rand misunderstood the prophecy in Q1. Although he will tie the east to the north, which he is already doing, he will not be the one to bind the west to the south. So who will have the west and south, and bind them together? Rand already controls three races: the Dragonsworn, the Aiel, and the Sea Folk. If any one of those three races conquers west and south, then those lands will belong to Rand, as it was bound by his vassals. So that only leaves the Seanchan, who are already halfway to completing that part of the prophecy.<br /><br />In Q2 we see that Rand is going to arrange a meeting with the Seanchan, and later, more specifically, with the Daughter of the Nine Moons. We know that Suroth is parading a false Daughter, one that will undoubtedly help to capture, collar, and use Rand. I&#8217;m not getting into that, but what I will say, is that despite that, Rand will still have to form a truce with the Seanchan &#8211; and with the real Daughter this time. What will happen during their truce?<br /><br />Well, neither Tuon nor Rand is going to walk away unless they are certain that they are safe from each other. That trust is going to have to be established, but Tuon clearly won&#8217;t back off of Rand&#8217;s lands unless she gets something in return, and neither will Rand. So controlling all the lands is out of the question, and that only leaves a compromise. Tuon already has most of the lands in the west and south, while Rand has all in the east and north. They also won&#8217;t keep what they have already, as Tuon would look weak and incompetent if she doesn&#8217;t walk out with something extra. So she needs to gain more than she already has. That will be Illian and possibly Tear, the final two lands in the west and south that she doesn&#8217;t have. In return, Tuon will withdraw any Seanchan and any threats to the lands in the east and north. That doesn&#8217;t seem fair to Rand, though, does it? But he won&#8217;t be getting the shorter end of the stick. <br /><br />I will tell you exactly where the Prophecy in Q3 comes in and also where Rand gets his main objective, something that will even out their bargain. He is going to demand that when the Last Battle comes, the final say will go to him and that Tuon is to obey him in those orders without question. So again, where does the Prophecy step in?<br /><br />In order to seal the bargain, Tuon is going to have to swear obedience to Rand and relinquish all final say in matters during the Last Battle to him.<br /><br />The Seanchan, we know, are strict in their honor, and to break a promise is one of the worst things somebody can do. Tuon, being the Daughter of the Nine Moons &#8211; and also being Tuon &#8211; holds that tradition stronger than most. Q4 proves that Tuon will never break her promise, no matter what the cost, something we have also seen throughout Crossroads of Twilight. And if you look at Q5, you can see an alternative to actually bowing before Rand. That&#8217;s not to say that she will swear on the Oath Rod, but her own honor and will holds her true to her promises, and a promise by Tuon is just as effective as an oath on an Oath Rod. So if she promised to relinquish final command of her people and armies to Rand during the Last Battle, than she will be bound to him by that oath &#8211; an oath to serve Rand. <br /><br />When the Last Battle is finished, Rand (or his vassals, if Rand lives) and Tuon will once again be separate monarchs, as the promise for obedience was only for the Last battle. The rest of their bargain will be kept. Mat, being Tuon&#8217;s husband and Rand&#8217;s best friend, will act as a sort of peacemaker between the two, to prevent sparks from once again flying between the two, or to douse them if they do.<br /><br />This, then, completes the Prophecy for Q1, as well as the Prophecy in Q3. It offers a truce with the Seanchan, as Rand needs, and a fair bargain between the two, which in itself is needed for the truce to be made. This also allows Mat and Tuon to live happily ever after, completing their fate to be married. It serves the Prophecy that he will &#8220;kneel&#8221; to the Crystal Throne, for he will give in to Tuon in giving her Illian (and, again, possibly Tear), rather than keeping everything as he had initially wanted. It teaches Rand some humility, as for once he won&#8217;t be getting everything he wants, thus ensuring that his victory over the Shadow won&#8217;t be as bad as the Shadow&#8217;s victory over him. When you think about it, it solves so many prophecies, and never disputes with one.<br /><br /><br /> </p>


