THE DARKFRIEND SOCIAL There are about 100 attenders in the room with Bors. [xiii] Thus, these are 100 very special DFs, or there's more than one DFS. (Maybe at a different time, maybe in a different place.) What can we get by examining the attenders? They're certainly a varied lot, but does the selection RJ gives us tell us more than simply that there are DFs in every land? If no, then there is no point in discussing it, and you can continue to the next topic. So, let us assume there is something to be gained by looking at the attenders. Firstly, I note that there is an interesting correlation between many of the nationalities specifically mentioned by Bors and the nations where we have learned that Forsaken have taken positions of power. To wit: * Wealthy/Noble Illianer woman [xv]: Sammael is running Illian. (TDR) * Domani Noblewoman [xv]: Graendal is hiding out in Arad Doman (LOC) * High Lord of Tear [xv]: Bel'al was running Tear (TDR) * Andoran Queen's Guard [xv]: Rahvin was running Andor, through Morgase. (FOH) * Two Aes Sedai [xvi]: Mesaana is in the White Tower. (LOC) The others mentioned, with no known Forsaken connection: * Shienaran soldier [xv]: Is this Ingtar, or another Shienaran? Ingtar was probably at the DFS (his "hunting trip"), however, this Shienaran seems rather bloodthirsty: "'We are to kill him, Great Lord?' That from the Shienaran, hand grasping eagerly at his side where his sword would hang." [xx] Finally, note that this guy is confused by the orders Ish gives him. [xxi] * Tinker [xv]: All this guy tells us is that there are DFs among the Tinks. _Could_ be a clue that one of the Tinks we know is a DF. * Sea Folk man [xvi]: Again, he shows us that there are DFs among the Sea Folk. He is reluctant to perform whatever task Ish gives him. [xx] * Figure of indeterminate gender, cloaked and hooded in grey [xv]: Observed speaking with the Illianer woman. Strongly objects to the orders he/she is given by Ish. [xxi] * Bors himself: aka Jaichim Carridan, high-ranked officer in the Questioners. Where does the DFS take place? Some claim TAR. Why I think not: First, there is none of the flickering of garments, etc. that we have come to associate with TAR. Second, Ishamael appears very burned-up, and generally not very presentable: "Those gesturing hands were horribly burned...Would the Dark One appear so? Or even one of the Forsaken?"[xviii] IMO, this is Ishy, in the flesh, in the real world. OTOH, if it is the real world, and Ish was concerned about his appearance, he could have done an illusion-disguise. So, this argument is inconclusive, I guess. I still think that it isn't TAR. Thirdly, Ish says, "The place where you stand lies in the shadow of Shayol Ghul." [xix] Granted, portions of TAR could very well be in the shadow of SG. Third piece of evidence: "None will see you depart here, nor arrive at your destination." [xxiii] This seems to indicate that it is located in some non-normal location. Whatever. Here's the Darkfriend Oath, just for kicks: "The Great Lord of the Dark is my Master, and most heartily do I serve him to the last shred of my very soul. Lo, my Master is death's Master. Asking nothing do I serve against the Day of his coming, yet do I serve in the sure and certain hope of life everlasting. Surely the faithful shall be exalted in the land, exalted above the unbelievers, exalted above thrones, yet do I serve humbly against the Day of his Return. Swift come the Day of Return. Swift come the Great Lord of the Dark to guide us and rule the world forever and ever." [xvii] -------------- FLYING: Note that, at the DFS, Ishamael floats in the air. [xvii] So, it seems that Ishamael can fly, IF the DFS took place in the normal world. The other options are that it took place in TAR, or that the image of Ish is just an illusion. I don't buy the latter at all; if Ish was going to make an illusion of himself, why not make a _healthy-looking_ illusion, and not an icky, burned-up one? -------------------- SUPER-SA'ANGREAL In Verin's estimation, the people who can handle the Power-flow from the female super-sa'angreal on Tremalking are: Siuan Sanche (before she was stilled and restored), Moiraine, Elaida, "three still in training (El, Eg, and Ny)," and 'Perhaps one or two others.' [386] wrt the male super-sa'angreal, she _says_ that as for Logain, "it would have taken all his strength simply to keep from being burned to a cinder, with nothing left for doing anything." [386] Given that it took all of Nynaeve's power to restrain Logain in LOC, I think that Verin greatly underestimated Logain. (Or she was lying through her teeth, which has been known to happen...) ------------------- PLANS OF THE DO/ISHAMAEL: The DO's ultimate goal: "The Wheel of Time will be broken. Soon the Great Serpent will die, and the the power of that death, the death of Time itself, you Master will remake the world in his own image for this Age and for all Ages to come." [xix] My interpretation: If the DO wins, he will have the power/ability to stop the pattern set by the Wheel in which he is defeated by the Dragon at the end of each Age. He will destroy all existence (what else could it mean to "kill Time?), and create a world to his own liking. I fear that all the DFs, and all the Forsaken, are in for a rude surprise. Ish has plans for all three of the boys, not just Rand. (Granted, Rand is the most important.) "These three you must know, for each is a thread in the pattern _I_ mean to weave, and it will be up to you to see that they are placed as I command." [xx] Ishy seems to know quite a bit about the future fortunes of Rand. Check this out: "'Get out of my way,' [Rand] grated. 'I am not here for you!' 'The girl?' Ba'alzamon laughed....'Which one, Lews Therin?'" [561-562] This is the end of TGH, when Rand is still in love with Egwene, not Min or Elayne. However, Ishy seems to know that Rand will be tied to more than one of the females in Falme. OTOH, he could be talking about Eg & Ny, both of which Ishy wished to have kidnapped so that they could not help Rand. "Those who might save you will be carried far across the Aryth Ocean. If you ever see them again, they will be collared slaves, and they will destroy you for their new masters." [563] This is Ish, and he is talking about Eg and Ny (who were the original targets of Liandrin's kidnapping, if you recall. The goal fo that enterprise was to get Eg and ny out of the theatre of operations [480]). So, Egwene and Nynaeve somehow have (or will have) the capability to help Rand in some significant way. Egwene's position as Amyrlin does give her much power, or at least it will if she can resolve the current leadership problem among all the AS in her favor. Nynaeve will be the most powerful modern female channeller if she can break the block. In the P.S. world, Ish talking to Rand: "Time has tied a thousand cords between us. The battle we two have fought--do you remember any part of that? Do you have any glimmering that we have fought before, battles without number back to the beginning of Time?"[204] Is Ish speaking as himself, i.e. as some sort of eternal avatar of the DO, or is he speaking _as_ the DO? i.e. Is Ishamael "reborn" in each age to fight on the side of the Shadow, just as the Dragon is reborn in each age to fight on the side of Light? OR, is Ishy just wacko, and think he is the DO? (I personally prefer the former interpretation.) He goes on: "The Last Battle is coming. The last, Lews Therin....You will serve me or die! And this time the cycle will not begin anew with your death....This time if you die, you will be destroyed utterly. This time the Wheel will be broken whatever you do, and the world remade to a new mold." Interpretation: The DO plans to win, this time. If Rand dies, then the DO will win, and there will be no more rebirth of the Dragon, the Creator's creation will be destroyed, and that'll be the end of it. It kinda sucks to be the good guys. I mean, if Evil wins, it gets to kill everybody and remake the universe in its own image. If Good wins, all it has to look forward to is another battle with Evil. In this altercation, Ishy is trying to encourage Rand to channel, I suppose the theory being that if he channels, he will be more tempted to turn to the Dark Side in order to keep from going mad. Note that Lanfear appears on the scene only _after_ Ishamael makes his move. She also tries to get Rand to channel, but puts her own spin on it, trying to get him to tie himself to her, personally, not to "serve Shai'*" as Ishy goes on about. Was the Portal Stone gambit a team effort by Ish and Lanfear? Was it Lanfear's plan that Ish tried to take advantage of? --------------- ISHAMAEL: Ishamael was the leader of the Forsaken in the AoL: [Glossary, p. 589] Something I noted: whenever Ish appears, he is surrounded by darkness, some sort of shadow. [e.g. 496] What does this signify? Ish says to Rand: "Which will you choose? Death everlasting? Or life eternal?' [496]. cf the Dark Prophecy, "Two roads before him, one to death beyond dying, one to life eternal? Which will he choose?" [89]. Could this be a clue to what happenned in the dungeon, and who wrote the Dark Prophecy on the wall? ---------- RAND'S ICKY WOUND: When Rand and Ish fight, the OP-wrought sword and Ishy's staff make sparks, just like OP swords and Fadeblades. [562] Interesting, and could explain why Rand's wound from that staff doesn't heal (or Heal). Wounds from "Shadowman steel" don't heal well, either. Lanfear clearly did something to keep Rand from dying at the end of TGH. However, it was _just_ barely enough to keep him alive until Verin came to help him more. Did Lanfear not help him more because she didn't wish to, or because she couldn't? If the former, why not? We know she helped him because she wanted to seduce him to the Dark Side, and there would be no way to do that if he was dead. Why do so little, though? -------------- THE SEANCHAN Ish has some heavy involvement in the Seanchan invasion. This was touched upon briefly in EOW, and is made plain in TGH: 1) Ish tells Bors to keep quiet to whoever he reports to about the Seanchan landing on Toman Head. [xxi] 2) One of the leaders of the Haliene (High Lady Suroth) is a Darkfriend. 3) The subliminal instructions Ishy gives to Bors involve some Seanchan imagery. We had postulated that "the Armies of the Night" mentioned by Renna the sul'dam [483] was a name the Seanchan made up for the native inhabitants of the land they found across the Aryth Ocean, in order to make them sound evil, or something. However, that phrase is not a Seanchan invention! Somebody else uses this term: Verin says, "It's too bad the Sea Folk refuse to cross the Aryth Ocean. They say the Islands of the Dead lie on the other side. I wish I knew what they meant by that, but that accursed Sea Folk closemouthedness....All we have is one reference to 'land under the Shadow, beyond the setting sun, beyond the Aryth Ocean, where the Armies of Night reign.' Nothing there to tell us if the armies Hawkwing sent were enought by themselves to defeat these 'Armies of Night...'" [91] First, is Verin's "reference" something written by the Sea Folk in connection to why they refuse to cross the ocean, or is it a separate work mouldering in some library in Tar Valon? Secondly, this appears to tell us that "Armies of Night" is either a phrase used by the native inhabitants of Seanchan to describe themselves, or a description of somebody else who had travelled there. The fact that Renna used the term suggests the former. Here is an idle thought: Loial at one point is reading a book _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_. Compare this to "land...beyond the setting sun." It is probably just a coincidence, but the similarity caught my attention just now. Anyway, I am left with the question I had long ago: what does the phrase "Armies of Night" _mean_? I would really like to find out the history of the Seanchan. It occurs to me that the Seanchan invasion is a plan laid by the DO, or his minions. Evidence: 1) Ish's reference to getting Hawkwing to send people across the ocean, sealing "a doom yet to come." (See my treatise on TEOTW.) 2) The Shadowy terminology used to describe the lands across the Ocean: Isles of the Dead, Armies of the Night, land under the Shadow is certainly suggestive. 3) Sammael's mention in LOC that events in Tarabon (i.e. the latest Seanchan invasion) look like Demandred's work. 4) Rand's Portal Stone visions in which the Seanchan overrun Randland, and are then unable to hold it during the Great Trolloc Invasion heralding what appears to be the last battle. [445] "I have won again Lews Therin." This all makes me wonder how far back the DO's plans have gone... The Seanchan have a legend of the Horn of Valere: Fain gives the Horn to High Lord Turak: "'The Age of Legends,' Turak repeated softly, tracing the silver script inlaid around the golden bell of the Horn....His brows rose in startlement...'Do you have any idea what this is?' 'The Horn of Valere, High Lord,' Fain said smoothly...Turak only nodded..." [417] --------------- WHITECLOAKS Niall's speech to G. Bornhald: "There are forces at work beyond what you know, Geofram. Beyond what even you _can_ know." [61] WHAT is he talking about? Does Niall know something about the Seanchan invasion? If not, then what is he talking about? The Questioners on Almoth Plain know about the Seanchan. [62] Have any of them told anybody back at WC HQ? There is a serious schism in the WCs between the Questioners and the rest of the organization, evidenced by G. Bornhald's thoughts on them. [61] The WCs/Amadicia have bad relations with the Sea Folk: "Amador did not hold the Atha'an Miere in good favor, and the attitude was returned with interest." [351] ------------------ POWER-WROUGHT SWORDS: The various OP-wrought blades were made especially to fight Shadow-steel: "There were simpler weapons, too, for those who would face Myrddraal, and worse things the Dreadlords made, blade to blade." [5] Do the OP swords have some special effect on shadowspawn, poss. akin to the effect shadow-steel has on humans? Also, (as pointed out by Dylan F. Alexander, I believe), if they had cool shit like jo-cars & shock-lances in the AOL, what the hell did they need swords for? Possible answers: 1) The swords were the AOL-ers first attempt at making weapons. As they figured out better ways to kill one another, they graduated to shocklances, et al. 2) As the War of the Shadow wore on, resources were depleted, and they lost the resources to make large quantities of hi-tech weapons, and had to settle with swords. 3) My favorite: look at the above quote. It appears that the swords have some special ability to hurt shadowspawn that other weapons do not... ------------------ WARDERS Lan's is described as "unlined as if to belie the tinge of grey at his temples." [2] We know that Lan is in his mid-to-late 40s, and thus he should have some wrinkles. It seems that Warders get some anti-aging benefit from being bonded to AS. ----------- RAND'S NEAR MISS AT SWORD PRACTICE I refer to the incident were the wind pushes Rand, almost getting him impaled on Lan's broken practice sword. [3] This has never been properly explained. Is it 1) a deliberate attempt on Rand's life by somebody? 2) One of those "Bubbles of Evil" that we hear about later, in TSR, I think? 3) Just that "strange things happen this close to the Blight." This last explanation, may I remind y'all, was unsatisfactory even to Rand. -------------- THE AGELESS LOOK: FWIW, the Aes Sedai and the Wise Ones don't look _that_ different: when Uriel meets Verin in [345], he identifies her as a Wise One: "'Wise One, my water is yours.' Verin handed her reins to one of the soldiers....'Why do you call me that? Do you take me for an Aiel?' 'No, Wise One. But you have the look of those who have made the journey to Rhuidean and survived. The years do not touch the Wise Ones in the same way as other women, or as they touch men.'" Note also that at this point RJ seems to have been under the impression that all WOs channelled. --------------- THE AMYRLIN COMES TO FAL DARA SS's party: 14 Warders, 12 Aes Sedai, plus SS and Leane. The Aes Sedai include: Liandrin (Red/Black), Anaiya (Blue), Verin (Brown), Serafelle (Brown), Carlinya (White), Alanna (Green), Maigan (Blue), Alviarin (White/Black), an unnamed Yellow, and 3 more of unknown Ajah. The Welcome Ceremony [17]: Shambayan of Fal Dara: Who comes here? Who comes here? Who comes here? Keeper: The Watcher of the Seals. The Flame of Tar Valon. The Amyrlin Seat. Shambayan: Why should we watch? Keeper: For the hope of humankind. Shambayan: Against what do we guard? Keeper: The shadow at noon. Shambayan: How long shall we guard? Keeper: From rising sun to rising sun, so long as the Wheel of Time turns. Lord of Fal Dara: Fal Dara offers bread and salt and welcome. Well come is the Amyrlin Seat to Fal Dara, for here is the watch kept, here is the Pact maintained. Welcome. (Servant offers water and towels to AS. AS wipes hands and face.) Amyrlin Seat: I offer thanks for your welcome, my son. May the Light illuminate House Jagad. may the Light Illuminate Fal Dara and all her people. Lord: You honor us, Mother. House Jagad is yours. Fal Dara is yours. Questions: 1) by "shadow at noon," do they mean something figurative, as in the Shadow swallowing the sunny noontime life of the happy Randlanders, or do they mean a literal shadow at noon, as in "twice dawns the day"? 2) What's this Pact they are talking about? Poss. something to do with the Borderlands standing guard against the Blight, Trolloc invasions, etc. --------------- SOMETHING'S ROTTEN IN FAL DARA--THE TROLLOC ATTACK, AND THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO IT The Closed Gate: After the Amyrlin arrives, an order is put out to shut the gates to all traffic. No one is allowed to leave the fortress. Ragan & Masema got their order from Uno. Later, we discover that Agelmar did NOT order the gates shut then; he only did so after the attack. Who gave this order? The implication seems to be that it was Ingtar [83], but why would he give such an order? To keep Rand, etc, in? Why would he expect that Rand would be trying to leave? Maybe Ish just told him to do it? Changu and Nidao: This pair is credited with killing the Dog Gate guards, and all sorts of Darkfriendlike activity. In contrast, they saved Agelmar's life at Tarwin Gap [??]. My question is, were they _really_ Darkfriends, or were they just corrupted by too much contact with Fain? Egwene comments on them : "They are worse every time...Meaner, and more sullen. Changu told jokes the first time I cam, and Nidao never even speaks any more." [35] Fain's fellow prisoners "are worse every time, too." Here is what Ingtar has to say about them: "[Changu] and Nidao. They had the second watch (in the dungeons). They always stayed together, even if they had to trade or do extra duty for it. They were not on guard when it happenned, but.... They fought at Tarwin's Gap...and saved Lord Agelmar when his horse went down....Now this. Darkfriends." [129] Changu and Nidao are found dead, flayed and hung from a tree. Loial states the common opinion on the two: "there cannot be much doubt that Changu and Nidao slew the guards at the Dog Gate and let the Darkfriends into the keep. It had to be they who were responsible for all of it." [151] Ingtar, OTOH, insists that they be buried, and says the Sheinaran funeral rite for them; he is the only one who does so. Does Ingtar know something about who slew the guards at the Dog Gate? was it him? Given the possibility that Ch. & Nid. were not DFs, but just corrupted by Fain, who killed the guards at the Dog Gate to let the Trollocs in? Ingtar says: "Both good men, yet they were butchered like pigs. It was done from the inside. Someone killed them, then opened the gate. Someone who could get close to them w/o suspicion. Someone they knew." [82] Could it have been Ingtar himself? I don't think we'll ever know for sure whether Ch. & Nid. were truly DFs, or just had too much of Fain. Liandrin: Her thought after setting Amalisa to do her dirty work: "Full night already, and there was much to do before dawn. Her orders had been explicit." So what _were_ her orders? Was she the one who let Fain out of the dungeon? Fain's Escape from the Dungeon: "The door to the outer guardroom opened, spilling in a flood of light, darkly outlining a figure in the doorway. Fain stood. 'You! Not who I expected...Surprises for everyone, eh? Well, come on.'"[68] The usual questions present themselves: Who let him out? Who was he _expecting_ to let him out? Where were they headed afterwards ("well, come on.")? Hypothesis: he was expecting one of the guards he'd corrupted to let him out. Liandrin actually let him out. Plus, in the scene just quoted, there is no mention of Mat and Egwene. Were they already rendered unconcious? By whom: Fain or his rescuer? Secondly, what made the mess in the dungeon, i.e. ripped the guards to bits, and wrote all that stuff on the wall? [77] "Whatever it was...it scared that fellow bad enough that he hung himself. I think the other one's gone mad from seeing it." [81] Fain is a nasty dude, but he really isn't strong enough to rip two men limb from limb. Why would anybody waste precious time writing out that whole long Dark Prophecy on the wall? What was Liandrin doing in the dungeon? [78] What was Moiraine doing in the dungeon? [78] (Moir. can be explained, I think, by assuming that she wanted to go down there to see if her prisoner, Fain, had escaped.) Liandrin, though? Why were Mat and Egwene relatively unharmed, while the guards were mangled beyond recognition? Why do they have no memory of what happenned? "[Egwene] could not remember anything that had happenned after she had asked Mat to the dungeons with her." [120] ----- THE BLACK WIND Starting in TGH, whenever Rand tries to use a Waygate, the Black wind is there, waiting for him. This effect only occurs when Rand is present (as contrast, note when Liandrin and the chicks use the Ways, Machin Shin doesn't bother them). This only happens after the adventure in TEOTW when they are followed by Fain through the Ways, and the Black Wind interacts with Fain and half of it is scared and the other half reacts as a kindred spirit. My theory: the Wind absorbed Fain's Hunt-Rand-Down instinct. Fain is not commanding the Wind; the Wind prevented Rand from following Fain to Falme, when Fain wanted him to follow. Evidence that the Wind is after Rand personally: when they open the Waygate in Cairhien [401], the Wind's chant is as follows:"...suck your marrow while you scream; scream, singing screams, sing your screams....And worst of all, a whispering thread throught all the res. Al'Thor. Al'Thor. Al'Thor." See also Rand's reasoning in [439]. Evidence that Fain wants Rand to follow: he forces Barthanes to give a message: "He says he will wait for you on Toman Head. He has what you seek, and if you want it, you must follow. If you refuse to follow him, he says he will hound your blood, and your people, and those you love until you will face him." [401] Here is Verin's take on Machin Shin and the possibility that Fain sommehow controlled it: "_Machin Shin_ could not be used as a guard. No one can constrain the Black Wind to do anything....No one knows exactly what Machin Shin is, unless, perhaps, it is the essence of madness and cruelty. It cannot be reasoned with...or bargained with, or talked to. It cannot even be forced, not by any Aes Sedai living today, and perhaps not by any who ever lived." [406] -------------- OGIER Loial on the Longing: "It is said that before the Breaking of the World, we [Ogier] could go where we wished for as long as we wished...but that changed with the Breaking. Ogier were scattered like every other people, and they could not find any of the stedding again....It was during the Exile, while we wandered lost, that the Longing first came on us. The desire to know the stedding once more, to know our homes again. Many died of it. More died than lived. When we finally began to find the stedding again...in the years of the Covenant of the Ten Nations, it seemed we had defeated the Longing at last, but it had changed us, put seeds in us. Now, if an Ogier is Outside too long, the Longing comes again; he begins to weaken and he dies if he does not return....I will know it when it comes. It will be long before it is strong enough to cause harm to me. Why Dlar spent ten years among the Sea Folk without ever seeing a stedding, and she came safely home." [424] ---------------------- MAT We see some evidence of Mat's good luck: Mat is playing dice with some Shienarans, and quits the game. "One of the men called, 'Hey, southlander, you can't quit while you're winning.' 'Better than when I'm losing,' Mat said." [26] ------ NYNAEVE: Nynaeve, as well as Egwene, visited Fain in the dungeon. [32] A bit of insight into Ny's psychology: "The Women's Circle back home had always looked over her shoulder because she was young, and maybe because she was pretty, and her fights with the Mayor and the village council had been the stuff of stories. [73] Here, I believe is the first sign of Ny. trying to mend her obnoxious behaviour: Ny gets irritated at something Min says about her, and she unconsiously channels a gust of wind that knocks Min off her seat. Ny is truly chagrined about that incident, admits her fault, and apologises profusely. [455] ------ THE ACCEPTED TEST Nynaeve's Accepted Test [287]: The purpose of this thing seems to be to test your resolve. It not only forces you to face your fears, but also, and perhaps more properly, it forces you to reject your desires. Note that the only truly _scarey_ thing Nynaeve had to face was Aginor in her first foray into the Arches. The second and third times were less of a fear-confronting deal, and more of a "So you want to be Aes Sedai? Do you want it more than...saving your people from a tyrant? More than a happy life with the love of your life?" No wonder at the end of it, the Aes Sedai say "you are sealed to us now." The candidate has betrayed, in her mind, anything else that might mean anything to her. Its really a rather nasty situation. ------ TAIM: The first mention of Taim in TWOT: "As far as we know, only the [false Dragon] in Saldaea can channel." [41] SS identifies him by name a bit later. ------------ RAHVIN: In (TDR?) we learn that "Lord Gaebril" showed up during a period of civil unrest in Caemlyn. On page 43, we learn that there have been riots in Caemlyn in between the time our heroes were there in TEOTW and the start of TGH. "The street riots in Caemlyn died down with the coming of spring..." [43] Are these the same riots in which Rahvin made his appearance? ---------------- VERIN: That woman is SLY. You guys wanna see primo manipulation, check out the way she gets Moiraine and Siuan Sanche to reveal their plan wrt Rand. [92] Interesting Verinism: Siuan asks Verin, "Sit down, Verin, and tell us what you know and how you found it out. Leave out nothing." Her answer: "It was nearly 20 years ago, with Tar Valon beseiged that I had my first clue, and that was only...." Only WHAT? Possibly, "only that you and Siuan, who had been such close friends, grew apart so soon after they were Raised." [94] Strange behaviour by Verin at Barthanes' party: After Hurin finds the Tollocs' trail, he goes to Rand and says. Hurin says: "Verin Sedai was with Barthanes. She gave me such a look when I came near, I never even tried to tell her." What was Verin talking to Barthanes about that was so interesting that she didn't want to be interrupted? (OTOH, maybe she just didn't want Barthanes to hear whatever Hurin was going to tell her.) [397] Verin in the stedding: We all know this scene. The Ogier Elders ask Verin to look at the Ogier who lost his mind in the Ways, and Verin "laid her hands on his wide chest, not even a flicker of an eye to acknowledge her touch. With a sharp his, she jerked back, staring up at him." [435] This looks suspiciously like the channelling trick AS doe when they heal somebody, and some people have taken it to be a clue that Verin has some sort of trick that allows her to channel in a stedding. This is impossible. Whatever it was she did, she was _asked_ to do it. So, assuming RJ didn't goof, it was nothing extraordinary like stedding-channelling, or it is something extraordinary and she is famous enough for it that the Ogier, isolated in their stedding, know about it. ---------------- BATHANES' DEATH It has been postulated that Barthanes was offed in the same manner as Harid Fel in LOC. Here is the description of his death, by Thom Merrilin's Landlayd Zera: "He is dead. His servants found him this morning, torn to pieces in his bedchamber. The only way they knew it was him was his head stuck on a spike over the fireplace." [412] Note this is in the same building that Fel died in. Death by Gholam, or by something else unpleasant? You be the judge. ---------------- TAM & KARI Tam's history: "Tam Al'Thor left the Two Rivers as a boy....He joined the army of Illian, and served in the Whitecloak War and the last two wars with Tear. In time he rose to be a blademaster and the Second Captain of the Companions. After the Aiel War, Tam al'Thor returned to the Two Rivers with a wife from Caemlyn and an infant boy." [105] ---------------- MOIRAINE: What Moir. did during the seige of Tar Valon: "I was one of the Accepted, then...as was our Mother, the Amyrlin Seat. We were soon to be raised to sisterhood, and that night we stood attendance on the then Amyrlin. Her Keeper of the Chronicles, Gitara Morose, was there. Every other full sister in Tar Valon was out Healing as many wounded as she could find, even the Reds. It was dawn. The fire on the hearth could not keep the cold out. The snow had finally stopped, and in the Amyrlin's chambers in the White Towere we could smell the smoke of outlying villages burned in the fighting..._The Karaethon Cycle_, the Prophecies of the Dragon, says that the Dragon will be reborn on the slopes of Dragonmount, where he died during the Breaking of the World. Gitara Sedai had the Foretelling sometimes. She was old, her hair as white as the snow...The morning light through the windows was strengthening as I handed her a cup of tea. The Amyrlin Seat asked me what news there was from the field of battle. And Gitara Sedi started up out of her chair, her arms less rigid, trembling, her face as if she looked into the Pit of Doom at Shayol Ghul, and she cried out, 'He is born again! I feel him!The Dragon takes his first breath on the slope of Dragonmount!...The Amyrlin swore us to secrecy...she set us to searching." [109] Moiraine and Lan met in the Borderlands. [270] He was supposed to "escort [her] to Chacin." Anybody know if Chacin is a city or a person? What was Moir's business in the Borderlands? Could this be coincident with her first meeting with the Green Man. When Moiraine is talking to Lan about bonding him to somebody else on her death, [272] she says, "It may be that Myrelle will find a slip of a girl just raised to sisterhood...who may need someone who will throw her into a pond. You have much to offer, Lan, and to see it wasted in an unmarked grave, or left to the ravens, when it could go to a woman who needs it whould be worse than the sin of which the Whitecloaks prate. Yes, I think >>she<< will have need of you." (Emphasis mine.) From this it seems as if Moir. has some "slip of a girl" in mind, probably Nynaeve--she realizes that she will eventually have to give him up, or keep him against his will ("Moiraine wondered when he would ask her to release him from his bond." [274]). I think that Moir. is basicly a good person, and would not keep Lan from Nynaeve if Moir was dead. However, the arrangement w/ Myrelle was made before they left for the 2 Rivers. Somehow, Moir must have sent a message to Myrelle about Ny, because in LOC it seems that Myrelle was trying to push Ny to get over her block so that she could have Lan as a warder. --------------- LANFEAR: The first appearence of Lanfear in the series: Ingtar's party comes to an abandoned village, and Uno sees "A woman in a white dress, at the window." [148] The Infamous "Flies" Incident [155]: What exactly _was_ going on there? Look at Rand's reactions [157]: "The room was freezing. _So cold_...._Light help me. Cold_.... _Cold_. It penetrated the void, mocking the emptiness, encasing him in ice." This seems like something of a sinister nature is happenning to Rand here. He's freezing to death. "Desperately he reached for the flickering light. His stomach twisted, but the light was warm. Warm. Hot. He was hot." He's embracing saidin. "Suddenly he was tearing at...something. He did not know what, or how. Cobwebs made of steel. Moonbeams carved from stone. They crumbled at his touch, but he knew he had not touched anything. They shriveled and melted with the heat that surged through him..." This sounds to me like he is breaking some sort of weaves of OP. We know Lanfear was in the town [159], and from her later actions, we know she is trying to get Rand in her clutches. My theory is that this was her first attempt: try to incapacitate him in this trap, and then get him. However, Rand channelled his way out of it, and so she had to resort to subtler methods, i.e. the "Selene" gambit. Novak thinks that she was engaged in some sort of ploy to encourage Rand to channel as much as possible, in hopes that he'd ...something. (I never really grasped Novak's idea, care to explain it, John?) Something odd I noticed: Lanfear was following Fain's party, somehow, even during the time when Fain and the Myrdraal were fighting each other for control, and the route shifted north and south daily. She showed up at the first abandoned village (she must have been there _before_ Ingtar got ther), and the second, the one with the Fade that Fain nailed, and she showed up at the campsite by the Portal Stone. HOW DID SHE DO THAT? Does she have some sort of tracking ter'angreal? Did she somehow use T'A'R? The Portal Stone Gambit: Firstly, in the past, people have argued that it was Rand who was responsible for the tranaslation into the P.S. world, not Lanfear. This is _definitely_ wrong. It was all a very carefully laid out plan by Lanfear. As evidence, consider 1) Egwene's dream [180] "She saw Rand sleeping on the ground, wrapped in a cloak. A woman had been standing over him, looking down. Her face was in SHADOW, but her eyes seemed to shine like the MOON, (emphasis mine in both phrases) and Eg. had known she was evil. Then there was a flash of light, and they were gone....And behind it all, almost like another thing altogether, was the feel of danger, as if a trap was just beginning to snap shut on an unsuspection lamb..." The imagery used to describe the woman: shadows, moon, tell us that this evil dream-chick is Lanfear. 2) In the P.S. world, Hurin sees a woman with some sort of thing he finds very disturbing. [210] The only woman in that world is Lanfear/Selene, and the only other animal life form seen there are the grolm. Grolm come from Seanchan, though; I think Lanfear was lying when she said that the grolm were native to the P.S. world [214]. So, Lanfear transported Rand and his followers to the P.S. world, transported some grolm (remember there is a P.S. on Toman Head, as well) there, and set herself up as a helpless, beautiful Damsel In Distress for Rand to rescue and lose what little common sense he has over. Note that Lanfear _can_ heal perfectly well. She heals Rand's burn from his sword in the P.S. world. [216] cf the end of the book, where she barely does enough to keep Rand alive until Verin can get there. Lanfear is visibly afraid of Rand's reaction to the big sa'angreal. [256] Is she afraid that he might get killed, or is she afraid of Rand in posession of all that power? When "Selene" skips town before the arrival of Verin, Ingtar, etc, a note is delivered to Rand's inn by "an old woman." The note is from Selene/Lanfear. My guess is that the old woman who delivered the note was Lanfear herself, in the same "Silvie" disguise she used in TDR. Oh, and _Lanfear_ is the queen of manipulation; she's even better than Verin! --------------- BAYLE DOMON'S TREASURES: His collection of artifacts [137]: "A lightstick, left from the Age of Legends, or so it was said....It looked like a plain glass rod, thicker than his thumb and not quite as long as his forearm, but when held in the hand it glowed as brightly as a lantern. Lightsticks shattered like glass, too; he had nearly lost _Spray_ in the fire caused by the first he had owned." Are these lightsticks OP-based (i.e. some sort of ter'angreal), or are they non-magic technology? They seem to have been fairly common; Domon notes having seen others, and having owned another. "A small, age-dark ivory carving of aman holding a sword. The fellow who sold it claimed if you held it long enough you started to feel warm. Domon never had, and neither had any of the crew he let hold it." This sounds a helluvalot like a male-specific angreal. The guy who felt warm probably was a natural channeller, or one who could learn. "The skull of a cat as big as a lion, and so old it was turned to stone. But no lion had ever had fangs, almost tusks, a foot long." Saber-tooth lions? Supposing that the age before the AOL was our age, or a similar one, that _is_ a damn old skull, unless there werer sabertooth tigers in the AOL. "And a thick disk the size of a man's hand, half white and half black, a sinuous line separating the colors. The shopkeeper in Maradon had said it was from the AOL, thinking he lied, but Domon had haggled only a little before paying, because he recognized what the shopkeeper did not: the ancient symbol of Aes Sedai from before the Breaking of the World.... And it was heartstone." We all know what this is! Note that this seal's previous location was Maradon, in Saldaea. Saldaea is where Taim claims to have found his seal. --------------------- ADELEAS & VANDENE These are the two old Sisters who Moir. visits in TGH, and who reappear in Salidar in LOC. We have been wondering why they left their comfy little home to re-enter the messy world of Aes Sedai politicking. Here is what may be a clue: Moir. is talking to Vandene (the Green) about the weakening of the Seven Seals, the coming of the Dragon Reborn, and the general chaos soon to be released upon the world. Vandene says, "If I thought it would do any good, I'd pull Adeleas's nose out of her book and set off for the White Tower." [277] Perhaps she got some information as to how it would do some good to join the Salidar group and do whatever they are doing in Ebou Dar. --------------- THE THREE OATHS We have debated whether the third oath allows an AS to kill DFs. The wording given in the glossaries, starting in TDR, implies not. However, the wording on [282] explicitly states "Never to use the OP as a weapon except against Darkfriends or Shadow spawn, or in the last extreme of defending your own life, that of your Warder, or that of another sister." (This is Sheriam speaking to Nynaeve.) So, 1) RJ changed his mind--been known to happen, or 2) the glossaries are wrong--also known to happen, or 3)Sheriam is lying, which seems unlikely in this circumstance. ------------------------- RAND'S PORTAL STONE VISIONS Rand et al have visions of "alternate universes" when they travel from Stedding Tsofu to Toman Head via Portal Stone, in which they see how their life might have been, or could be. The trip is told from Rand's POV, so we know the most about what he saw: In one of them, Rand married Egw, and settled down in the Two Rivers [446]: * Egwene became Wisdom after Nynaeve. Since those two are less than ten years apart in age, Ny must have either died at a relatively young age, or left. I wonder which... * Rand lives a very long time, even though the Taint affects him. * In this world, the Seanchan have taken over Randland proper, but are not able to hold back the Shadow when that world's version of Tarmon Gaidon comes. This is, possibly, the purpose of the Shadow's dealings with the Seanchan. In another vision, Rand goes to Ceamlyn and joins the Queen's Guards [448]: * Again, Rand is affected by the Taint and definitely goes mad. However, this happens at a younger age than in the previous vision. We see, thus, that the length of time for resisting the Taint can vary quite a lot, even for an individual. A possible explanation for the variation here is that in the previous vision, Rand doesn't know he can channel, and hence probably doesn't use it much. In this one, he knows he can, and consciously uses it in battles to "make luck." This is evidence that the more you channel, the faster the Taint takes you. In other visions, we have [449]: "Egwene, stern-faced in the stole of the Amyrlin Seat, led the Aes Sedai who gentled him; Egwene, with tears in her eyes, plunged a dagger into his heart, and he tanked her as he died." What struck me about these two is how similar they are to scenarios in Egwene's Accepted test. In one of those, Rand asks her to kill him (although I don't think she actually does), and in another, she is Amyrlin, and is _supposed_ to be gentling him, although she tries to help him escape, instead. This could indicate a connection between the Accepted-test Ter'angreal and the Worlds of If. Another possible connection is with the Wise One Ring ter'angreal in Rhuidean, where you see a multitude of possible futures, and leaves you with some knowledge of what form your life will or may take. This is more easily seen from what the other characters saw in the Portal Stone Trip: Verin: "Does it surprise you that your life might go differently if you made different choices, or different things happened to you? Though I never thought I--" [450] Mat: "Rand, I'd never tell anyone about--about you. I wouldn't betray you. You have to belive that!" [450] Perrin: "We don't have many choices really, do we, Rand? Whatever happens, whatever we do, some things are almost always the same." [451] Ingtar: "I lived other lives. Sometimes I held the Horn, but I never sounded it. I tried to escape what I'd become, but I never did. Always there was something else required of me, always something worse than the last, until I was..." [553] The Rhuidean Rings similarly show you ways your life could go, how things will turn out if you make certain decisions, and what things you cannot change about your future (e.g. Avi sleeping with Rand). ------------------------------ MIS-STEPS When Rand, Verin, etc enter Steddin Tsofu [423], "Perrin asked Loial questions about the stedding. Trollocs would not enter a stedding; would wolves?" Perrin knows perfectly well that wolves enter stedding. The incident with wolves and whitecloaks that got Perrin in trouble with the WCs in the first place took space in an abandoned stedding ion TEOTW. RJ originally called the Stone Dogs the "Stone Soldiers" [580] ----------- MISC: The real-world source of the Aiel spears are Zulu spears. [Ref. King Soloman's mines.] Shienaran beds have stoves built into the bottom, to keep you warm in winter! [14] TGH occurs "nearly 20 years" since Rand was born. [52] Book: _The Dance of Hawk and Hummingbird_ [63] Prophecy: tKC: For he shall come like the breaking dawn, and shatter the world again with his coming, and make it anew. [56] Horn: "let whosoever sounds me think not of glory, but only of salvation." [55] The Domani claim to be descended from the makers of the Tree of Life. [92] The Wisdom of Deven Ride is Mavra Mallen [113] The Hunt for the Horn is initiated at the beginning of TGH, mentioned by Bayle Domon. [131] How about that! Faile is in Illian right when Bayle Domon is! Desc. of Portal Stone: "a gray stone cylinder, every bit of three spans high and a full pace thick, covered with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of deeply incised diagrams and markings in some language he did not recognize. Whit stone paved the bottom of the hollow, as level as a floor, polished so smooth it almost glistened. Broad, high steps rose to the rim in concentric rings of different colored stone. And about the rim, the trees stood blackened and twisted as if a firestorm had roared through them.... Something about the steps caught his eye, the different colors, seven rising from blue to red." [182] Trolloc Tribe symbols: "The iron fist of the Dhai'mon. The trident of the Ka'bol, and the whirlwind of the Ahf'frait." [210] Cairhienen heraldry: House Damodred: a tree and crown. Lord Barthanes: a charging boar. Galldiran: a stag. A third name used by Randlanders for the Forsaken (Besides "Forsaken," and "Chosen") is the Nameless. [276] This is presumably because their original names were replaced by epithets such as "Betrayer of Hope," etc. in the AOL, and their original names are long forgotten. Wisdom of Tremonsien: Mother Caredwain. Min: [to Egwene] "I see things that I'm sure link you to Rand, and Perrin, and Mat, and--yes, even Galad." Eg. linked to Galad, somehow... Seanchan beasties: * "things that looked like bronze-scaled, tailless cats" [500] "creatures that looked almost like cats the size of horses, but with lizards' scales rippling bronze beneath their saddles. Clawed feet grasped the cobblestones" [361] * "flying beasts" * "creatures...like wingless birds with coarse leather skin, and sharp beaks higher...than the helmeted heads of the soldier" [500] * oliphaunts! [556] --------------- INNS: Easing the Badger. Illian. Proprietes: Nieda Sidoro. bouncer: Bili. [132] The Silver Dolphin. Illian. [135] The Three Plum Blossoms. (Formerly called something with "Watcher" in the name). Falme. [512] The Nine Rings. Tremonsien (near Cairhien). Proprietor: Mistress Maglin Madwen. Server: Catrine, Liden. The Defender of the Dragonwall. Cairhien. Proprietor: Cuale. Burned down. [313] The Bunch of Grapes. Foregate area of Cairhien. Proprietess: Zera. Employee: Ella. The Great Tree. Cairhien. Proprietess: Mistress Tiedra. -------------- BOATS: _River Queen_ (boat taken by Am.S. from TV to Fal Dara). ------- WOLF-TALK "hard-footed tall ones": horses. "shadowkillerr": Rand. -------------- HORN HEROES: Question of who controls the heroes called by the Horn: SS says: "Those who come to answer [the Horn's] call, will come whoever blows it, and they are bound to the Horn, not to the Light." [127] Heroes come prepared to do Rand's bidding. (Note _Rand_, not the horn- blower.). Note what Hawkwing says: "'Something is wrong here. Something holds me.' Suddenly he turned his sharp-eyed gaze on Rand. 'You are here. Have you the banner?'...'The Pattern waves itself around our necks like halters...You are here. The banner is here. The weave of the moment is set. We have come to the Horn, but we must follow the banner. And the Dragon." [559-560] SS's statement and AH's need not be exclusive. The Heroes come to the Horn. However, they seem to be bound to something other than, or in addition to, the Horn. This is "the banner, and the Dragon." So, it seems that there is little danger of somebody calling the heroes to fight against Rand, so long as Rand keeps the banner. What would happen if 1) Rand's opponents had the banner, and Rand was present? 2) Rand was present, but the banner was not? 3) Neither Rand nor the banner was present? (Recall that Mat's "death" may have severed his bond with the Horn which prevented anyone but him from blowing it.)