<description><blockquote><p> "It will be as you say, Mother. Tell me, are you sure you are not <em>ta'veren</em> too?"</p>
<p> [TPoD 18: A Peculiar Calling]</p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;">Many fans have take this as a hint from Jordan that there is more to Egwene than just being one of Rand's many sidekicks. After all, she does become Amyrlin after a series of events no more unlikely than Perrin becoming the Lord of the Two Rivers, or Mat reviving an ancient army last seen in the Trolloc Wars. Why shouldn't she get part of the ta'veren action?<br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial;">Unfortunately, despite the many partisans to this theory, Jordan pretty firmly quashed this idea in a <a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/blog/4/entry-333-its-been-a-while/">blog entry dated January 21, 2006</a>:</span></p>
<blockquote><p>For ben, of course women can be ta'veren. None of the major female characters in the books is ta'veren, though. The Wheel doesn't cast ta'veren around indiscriminately. There has to be a specific reason or need. (I tossed in the "major" just to leave you something to argue about.)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since Egwene is unequivocally a major female character, she is ruled out as ta'veren. The likeliest explanation for why she is able to acheive her improbable success is that Rand (who is the strongest ta'veren ever recorded), or the Pattern, which amounts to the same thing, needs her to be Amyrlin for the Last Battle, or even afterwards to rebuild whatever's left of the world. There are other unlikely coincidences like Bayle Domon, Aludra, Valan Luca and Egeanin being in a position to help Our Heroes in several books, without ever knowing that they were connected to Rand or each other. These are extreme coincidences, but easily explained by the ta'veren nature of Mat, Perrin and especially Rand. After all, if Rand can cause a dozen weddings to occur in a single village just by passing through, why shouldn't he be able to raise an Amyrlin Seat by sneezing?</p>
<p> </p>
</description>
<pubDate>Sun, 24 Oct 2010 03:24:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">187 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>2.6.13 What's the Deal with Rand's New Sword? --New</title>
<description><p>In The Gathering Storm, Rand is sporting a rad "new" sword. "He fingered the cloth-tied hilt. The weapon was long, slightly curved, and the lacquered scabbard was painted with a long, sinuous dragon of red and gold. It looked as if it had been designed specifically for Rand-- and yet it was centuries old, unearthed only recently." [TGS 1: Tears From Steel] At a signing, Brandon Sanderson further tantalized us by saying it was discovered, "<font size="2">In water, under a statue, not near Falme"</font></p>
<p>So what sword is it?</p>
<p>It's probably Artur Hawkwing's sword "Justice". Rand says he recognizes it from his own memories, so that rules out it being a relic from the Age of Legends. Lews Therin doesn't recognize it as his. And the only time we know Rand might've seen a very old sword would have been the Battle at Falme when Mat used the Horn to bring back Artur Hawkwing and the rest of the Heroes of the Horn. Later in the same book, when Rand return's to Falme, he muses again, "..[the sword] made him think of Falme."</p>
<p>So we have a very old sword, but not old enough to be from the Age of Legends, that reminds Rand of Falme, even though it's not from there. It's probably Justice.</p>
<p>Another interesting tidbit about the sword: It's also Brandon Sanderson's. On one of Brandon's first visits to meet with Harriet and team Jordan about completing the series, Jordan's cousin Wilson offered Brandon his pick from Jordan's rather extensive collection of weaponry. Brandon chose a black sword with a red dragon handpainted on it. It's now on display in his home. You can view pictures of it on <a href="http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/754/My-Sword">Brandon's blog. </a></p>
</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:57:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">186 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>2.6.11 What's Up With Sulin in The Gathering Storm? --New</title>
<p style="text-align: left;">In TGS, Sulin appears as one of the Maidens with Rand in Bandar Eban. But in the last book she was with Perrin. No mention of Traveling or communication between the two groups is made. What gives?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Intially, when TGS was released, Brandon insisted that Sulin was right where she was meant to be. After the Atlanta booksigning when I mentioned his "mistake", he said "Don't assume that Sulin is a mistake." Which was consistent with his other statements at previous signings.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">However, a few months later scattered reports of Brandon going back on that were posted on the Dragonmount forums. I took an opportunity to clarify the situation with Brandon when I saw him at Minicon in April, 2010. The gist of the conversation is that Sulin was supposed to be with Perrin's group all along. Due to the overlapping timelines of TGS and the forthcoming Towers of Midnight, he thought Sulin would've been able to join the other group. After consultation with Maria Simons, one of the two continuity editors for the series, Brandon realized the mistake and future editions of TGS will be edited to correct Sulin's location.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Brandon posted further confirmation on his Twitter recently:</p>
<blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="2"><a title="Rob Trotter on Twitter - time?" id="xp63" href="http://twitter.com/robtrotter/status/20065827901">Rob Trotter on Twitter - 1 August 8:32 am</a><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">Any chance you could clear up Sulin in <i>The Gathering Storm</i>? Was her appearance a typo or deliberate (Varied answers exist on the web?)</span></span></span><br /><a title="Brandon - time?" id="lju_" href="http://twitter.com/BrandonSandrson/status/20110994126">Brandon - 9:37 pm</a><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">Sure, you guys deserve an answer on this one.</span></span></span><br /><a title="time?" id="s.ow" href="http://twitter.com/BrandonSandrson/status/20111025204">9:37 pm</a><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">Sulin began life as a simple typo. When I saw it, I shrugged, and had a good reason. Maria thought that reason would not work.</span></span></span><br /><a title="time?" id="atwt" href="http://twitter.com/BrandonSandrson/status/20111053284">9:38 pm</a><br /><span class="status-body"><span class="status-content"><span class="entry-content">So we decided to retcon it out. Mistake was mine all along. Really nothing special to report there, I'm afraid.</span></span></span></font></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 15:02:41 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">185 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>2.6.10 What was the "Gasp Moment" in KOD? --New</title>
<description><p>During the San Diego ComicCon in 2005, just a few months before the publication of Knife of Dreams, Jordan had dinner with a group of fans. Jason Denzel reports that Jordan made the following statement: "Something that has previously happened in the series is going to be revealed to have a terrible cost. When you read it your reaction will be, 'Gasp. How horrible!'</p>
<p>So what was the Gasp Moment? Many fans after reading KOD claimed to not find it, or when we they did read it, to find it underwhelming. Jordan felt strongly enough about the reaction (or lack thereof) to comment about it in <a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/blog/4/entry-323-the-gasp-moment/">a blog entry</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">No, I'm not going to reveal what the "gasp" moment is. I certainly won't be putting any spoilers here. But I have read the reviews, both spoiler and non-spoiler. For those who have read the book and believe you have identified the "gasp" moment, congratulations. For those who have read the book and still don't know what the "gasp" moment is, my sympathies. I mean that in all truth. You failed to see something that really should have made you gasp. I think I am fairly hardened, but occasionally something happens that makes me mutter, "Where are you, God? Are you sleeping? Are you blind?" This is fiction, but even so, I had to pause a couple of times in writing about it. Of course, I get deeply immersed in my work so that it becomes real to me while I am writing, but I hope to pull the reader into that level of realness, too. Either I failed completely in this instance, or some of you have become way too hardened. Too much on the evening news, I suppose. It's just today's hurricane, today's tsunami, today's Armageddon. I wonder what's coming up at eleven?</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">[...]</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Take care, guys. And remember, if you can look at absolutely anything without at least a desire to weep, then you've lost part of your humanity.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p> RJ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>I think we'll just leave it at that.</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:30:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">184 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>1.7.4: What was up with Liah in Shadar Logoth?</title>
<description><p>How did Liah manage to stay alive in Shadar Logoth from the time she got lost in LOC to the end of ACOS?</p>
<p>RJ says:</p>
<blockquote><p> "She became absorbed into the city. She was left there and she is, after all, an Aiel, one of the people better at surviving under harsh circumstances than anyone else in the world. And also her corruption by Shadar Logoth gave her *some* protection." [America Online chat session, 27 June, 1996] </p></blockquote>
<p>What happened to Liah was probably akin to what happened to Mat when he carried the Shadar Mandarb in TEOTW. Her behavior (attacking all comers) supports this belief. I guess that being bonded to Shadar Logoth must give one some protection from Mashadar, although obviously not enough, since it got her in the end.</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:54:49 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">183 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
<description><p align="center">[Leigh Butler, Steven Hillage]</p>
<hr />
<p>Mat seems to think so. In WH, Noal and Mat watch the Ebou Dar gholam escape: "The creature stuck its hands into a hole left by a missing brick...Hands followed arms, and then the gholam's head went into the hole...The gholam's chest slithered through, its legs, and it was gone. Through an opening maybe the size of Mat's two hands." Noal comments that he's never seen anything like that before. "'I have,' Mat said hollowly. 'In Shadar Logoth.' Sometimes bits of his own memory he thought lost floated up out of nowhere, and that one had just surfaced, watching the gholam" [WH: 16, An Unexpected Encounter, 355].</p>
<p>Here's the bit Mat is thinking of: "As Mordeth dove through the air, he stretched out and thinned, like a tendril of smoke. As thin as a finger he struck a crack in the wall tiles and vanished into it" [TEOTW: 19, Shadow's Waiting, 240].</p>
<p>However, despite Mat's certainty and the similarity of the two descriptions, it doesn't seem possible that Mordeth is a gholam. There are lots of reasons why it's unlikely: If Mordeth is a gholam, how did he eat? It's not like people waltzed into SL on a regular basis, ripe for "harvesting". Gholam are physical beings - why didn't Mordeth have a shadow? And for that matter, how could a corporeal thing like a gholam have merged with Fain? Possession by a spirit is one thing, but how could a gholam-body merge with Fain's body? And why would it want to? Why hasn't the Ebou Dar gholam tried Mordeth's swelling-to-huge-proportions illusion that he did in TEOTW (to try and trap the boys in the treasure room) [Nevin Aiken]? If Mordeth was a gholam why couldn't he leave SL? Moiraine states, also in TEOTW, that no denizen of SL, including Mordeth, can cross her ward lines, but can't gholam melt OP flows with ease?</p>
<p>Additionally, the descriptions above are similar but not identical. Mordeth's evokes a smoky or misty image, while the gholam in WH (and in all other descriptions we've had), gives a far more liquid-like impression.</p>
<p>All these problems make the idea unlikely, but the reason why it's pretty much impossible is this: we know gholam were created by Aginor as a tool of the Dark One. If we posit that Mordeth is a gholam, then how do we reconcile this with the statement that SL evil did not come from the Dark One, but from the suspicion and hate of the people of Aridhol, who had been poisoned by Mordeth?</p>
<p>Mordeth, and Aridhol itself, are just as opposed to the Dark One as the forces of Light are, just in a bad way. Thus supposing that Mordeth is a gholam-- a weapon of the Dark One-- makes no sense.</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">182 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>1.7.2: Mordeth, Mashadar and Machin Shin</title>
<p>Mordeth was the councillor whose evil brought Aridhol to its doom. As far as we know, he was an actual person at the time of the Trolloc Wars. He was the power behind the throne of Balwen, and led Aridhol to the policy of "The victory of the Light is all....while their deeds abandoned the Light." When the city was consumed by its own evil, only Mordeth remained, bound to Shadar Logoth. One supposes that at some point he died, leaving his spirit to haunt the ruins. Mordeth's way out was to convince someone "to accompany him to the walls, to the boundary of Mashadar's power, [where he was] able to consume the soul of that person." That person was Fain, and it didn't quite work out that way, due to the DO's influence on Fain. Anyway, Mordeth no longer haunts Shadar Logoth, he is inside Fain, merged with him. [TEOTW: 19, Shadow's Waiting, 244]<br /> <br /><strong>Mashadar</strong></p>
<p>Like Mordeth, Mashadar is connected with Shadar Logoth. However, Mordeth and Mashadar are NOT the same. Mordeth is/was a sentient being, an individual. Mashadar is some sort of physical manifestation of the evil nature of the city: "No enemy had come to Aridhol but Aridhol. Suspicion and hate had given birth to something that fed on that which created it, something locked in the bedrock on which the city stood. Mashadar waits still, hungering." [TEOTW: 19, Shadow's Waiting, 244] In particular, Mashadar is a slightly glowing fog. "Mashadar. Unseeing, unthinking, moving through the city as aimlessly as a worm burrows through the earth. If it touches you, you will die." [TEOTW: 20, Dust on the Wind, 249] It is not sentient. It just moves around and kills whatever it touches, in a rather painful fashion, if Liah's reaction to being touched by it in [ACOS: 41, A Crown of Swords, 660] is any indication. Mashadar, or something similar to it, may have existed prior to the Trolloc Wars. In [TEOTW: 50, Meetings at the Eye, 628], Aginor refers to the Shadar Mandarb, or the taint on it, as "An old thing, an old friend, an old enemy." [ACOS book signing: Vancouver, 24 August, 1996; report by Lara Beaton], RJ said that Mashadar appeared after everybody in Aridhol had killed one another.</p>
<p>The Black Wind of the Ways. It is a part of the "Darkening of the Ways": "About a thousand years ago, during what you humans call the War of the Hundred Years, the Ways began to change....they grew dank and dim...some who came out had gone mad, raving about Machin Shin, the Black Wind." [TEOTW: 43, Decisions and Apparitions, 545] People who run into the Black Wind end up mad, or a mindless husk like the Ogier in [TGH: 36, Among The Elders, 435]. After TEOTW, Machin Shin gained a new feature: it somehow seeks out Rand. Whenever Rand tries to use the Ways, Machin Shin is found at the Waygate he is using. Note that this ONLY happens to Rand. When Liandrin, etc use the ways in TGH, and when Perrin does in TSR, they do not find the Black Wind waiting for them at the Waygate. This new effect is probably somehow due to its encounter with Fain in TEOTW. It seems to have picked up Fain's drive to seek out Rand. Note that it is probably NOT under Fain's control; Fain wanted Rand to follow him to Falme, but Machin Shin prevented him from doing so.</p>
<p>Where did the Black Wind come from? Nobody really knows. Moiraine makes some speculation in [TEOTW: 45, What Follows in Shadow, 576]: "Something left from the Time of Madness, perhaps....Or even from the War of the Shadow, the War of Power. Something hiding in the Ways so long it can no longer get out. No one, not even among the Ogier, knows how far the Ways run, or how deep. It could even be something of the Ways themselves. As Loial said, the Ways are living things, and all living things have parasites. Perhaps even a creature of the corruption itself, something born of the decay. Something that hates life and light."</p>
<p>Some people believe that Mashadar and Machin Shin are somehow connected, that Mashadar somehow got into the Ways through the Shadar Logoth Waygate and then became the Black Wind. This is very unlikely, for the following reasons: 1) Mashadar dates from the Trolloc Wars, Machin Shin from the Hundred Years' War. That is about a thousand years' difference. Thus, the time scale does not agree. 2) Mashadar is a slow-moving glowing fog that kills everything it touches. Machin Shin is a black, howling wind that eats your soul, but doesn't kill your body. So, there is no similarity of appearance, or effect. 3) If Mashadar could get into the Ways from Shadar Logoth, logic says it could get out of the Ways at some other point, and spread itself across Randland. This clearly hasn't happened.</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:52:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">181 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
<description><p>Padan Fain was a Lugard peddler, who moonlighted as a Friend of the Dark. When it came time for the Dragon to be reborn, Fain was taken to Shayol Ghul and made into the Dark One's Hound, to search out the Dragon Reborn. He followed the boys to Shadar Logoth and had a run-in with Mordeth. Mordeth tried to devour Fain's soul, but couldn't, because of the hold the DO had on him. So Fain became part Mordeth, part renegade minion of the DO. This is basically what the books tell us.</p>
<p>What is he up to now? Basically, playing the part of picador to Rand's bull, popping up all over the place, poking, prodding, inflaming, and generally causing trouble.</p>
<p>He went to the Fortress of the Light and the White Tower to sow seeds of dissension, and make sure Pedron Niall and Elaida would never join Rand. He instigated a failed assassination of Rand by his ex-WCs in Caemlyn. He might also have been responsible for the attack on the Brown AS in Caemlyn which ended up driving a rift between Rand and the Salidar AS, and sending him into the hands of Elaida's AS in Cairhien, but this could just as easily have been part of some Forsaken's plot, or a plot by the Tower AS and the Shaido to alienate the Salidar AS from Rand (<a href="http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com/node/56">see section 1.4.07</a>).</p>
<p>In ACOS, Fain appeared in the company of Toram Riatin (a Cairhienin rebel), calling himself "Jeraal Mordeth", and gave Rand his second unHealable wound. He may or may not have been responsible for the evil people-eating fog that appeared in the rebel camp as well (though it was more likely another "bubble of evil").</p>
<p>Finally, in WH, Fain kills off Kisman, Torval, and Gedwyn in Far Madding, to keep them from getting to Rand before he does. We originally thought that the bizarre appearance of the recently dead Torval and Gedwyn walking up the stairs at the inn [WH: 33, Blue Carp Street, 615] was further evidence of Fain's powers; however, it's been suggested that this was actually an early occurence of the ghost phenomenon seen in COT (<a href="http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com/node/178">see section 1.6.3</a>).</p>
<p>As far as we know, Fain still has his pet Fade.</p>
<h2>Is Fain the Dark One's avatar?</h2>
<p>Roy Navarre and Tony Z came up with a loony theory that Fain is actually the avatar of the DO. Roy says: "First, if you check the glossary, you will see that the DO is described as the source of all evil. Hence Mashadar must flow from the DO or the glossary is wrong. (Note that that last option<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><em>has</em> been known to happen.) Next, Myself and Tony Z presented detailed evidence suggesting that Fain is the avatar of the DO. With each broken seal, Fain gets stronger. Thus, the DO has been in our midst all this time but we just didn't know it. At first only a trace of him in Fain, but growing stronger and stronger until now his presence in Fain seems unmistakable."<span style="font-style: italic;"> <br /></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Eric Ebinger counters: "Fain no longer exists. Padan Fain was summoned to Shayol Ghul, was broken and reformed into a bloodhound for the DO, as part of which he was imprinted by the DO. This happened twice at Shayol Ghul and once in a dream. Padan Fain/DO bloodhound went to Shadar Logoth and fell prey to Mordeth. Normally, Mordeth would just destroy the existing "soul/personality", but Padan Fain's having been "remade" by the DO seems to have changed things sufficiently so that there was a slow gradual merging of <i>all</i> of the different personalities (Fain/Mordeth/DO's imprint). The most accurate term for the combination is the name that he took: Ordeith. Over time, the Mordeth portion has gained more and more control over the gestalt. The DO's imprint has given Ordeith the unreasoning hatred of Rand, Perrin, and Mat. There doesn't seem to be much of anything of Padan Fain left. As the Mordeth fragment has gained more complete control of the gestalt, Ordeith has increased in power. The seeming relationship between the breaking of the Seals and Ordeith's power is due only to the fact that as time passes Ordeith gets stronger and as time passes the Seals break. The same relationship is evident with Rand, Perrin, Mat, Elayne, Egwene, Aviendha and Nynaeve." Note that Fain is now calling himself "Mordeth," which suggests that the Mordeth part is dominating, which makes it very unlikely that Fain is the DO's avatar.</p>
<p>Furthermore, as John Novak states: "If Fain is now an embodiment of the Dark One, why in Hell was Slayer hunting him down as a renegade in TSR? Does the Dark One <i>like</i> being hunted by his own servants?"</p>
<p>Finally, it's pretty apparent that if anybody in these books is the Dark One's avatar, it's Shaidar Haran (<a href="http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com/node/54">see section 1.4.05</a>).</p>
<h2>Will the destruction of Shadar Logoth affect Fain's powers?</h2>
<p>Some people have suggested that the Mordeth aspect of Fain (which, as we have noted, now seems to be the most dominant part of him) will be weakened or even killed as a result of Rand blowing up Shadar Logoth.</p>
<p>This doesn't seem likely, though. For one thing, the wound Fain gave Rand with the SL dagger is still there, unchanged [WH: 35, With the Choedan Kal, 655], [COT: 24, A Strengthening Storm, 546]. Ben Goodman points out, "Mordeth more or less brought Shadar Logoth into being. His binding with Fain made him independent from it although he could draw power from things connected to it like the dagger. The dagger itself can be seen as a part of Shadar Logoth that survived. It was the evil rather than the location that gave Fain and the dagger their power. I don't think that there were invisible cords linking Fain and the dagger to Shadar Logoth so that when its evil is consumed by the Taint, their evil is consumed too."</p>
<p>It's possible that Rand's wound from the dagger cannot be Healed until the dagger itself (and possibly Fain along with it) is destroyed [Maccabeus Epimanes]. Since the wound from the dagger is still the same, it seems safe to assume both the dagger and Mordeth/Fain are (relatively) unaffected by SL's destruction.</p>
<p>From [TDR: 43, Shadowbrothers, 423-426] and [TDR: 44, Hunted, 432-433]:</p>
<ul>
<li>They are extremely difficult to kill, and Lan claims it is impossible to outrun them once they have your scent.</li>
<li>They leave footprints in stone, but not on soil. Their tracks are accompanied by a sulphurous stench.</li>
<li>They don't like rain, and "a good thunderstorm can stop them completely."</li>
<li>Hopper calls them "Shadowbrothers".</li>
</ul>
<p>From [TFOH: 6, Gateways, 113-115]:</p>
<ul>
<li>"...black dogs, darker than night and big as ponies..."</li>
<li>Swords cannot kill them; the ones Rand "killed" just melted and reformed.</li>
<li>"...they would not stop until you faced and defeated them or put running water between you."</li>
<li>Their saliva is highly poisonous, and a single drop on the skin is enough to kill.</li>
<li>"Crossroads were supposed to be particularly dangerous places to meet them, and the time just after sunset or just before sunrise".</li>
<li>They usually travel in packs of ten or twelve.</li>
</ul>
<p>From [COT: 6, The Scent of a Dream, 194] and [COT: 8, Whirlpools of Color, 225]:</p>
<ul>
<li>"Just before sunrise was one of the worst times to meet the Wild Hunt... At least there was no crossroads nearby, no graveyard, but the only hearthstones to touch lay back in Brytan..."</li>
<li>"...putting running water between you and Darkhounds would stop them supposedly. But then, so would facing them, supposedly, and he had seen the results of that."</li>
<li>Elyas tells Perrin: "They were wolves, once. The souls of wolves, anyway, caught and twisted by the Shadow. That was the core used to make Darkhounds, Shadowbrothers. I think that's why the wolves have to be at the Last Battle. Or maybe Darkhounds were made because wolves will be there, to fight them. [...] A hundred wolves could die trying to kill one Shadowbrother. Worse, if they fail, the Darkhound can eat the souls of those that aren't quite dead yet, and in a year or so, there'd be a new pack of Shadowbrothers that didn't remember ever being wolves. I hope they don't remember, anyway."</li>
<li>Perrin wants to know if they can also eat the soul of a Wolfbrother, a man who can talk to wolves, but Elyas doesn't know.</li>
</ul>
<p>Elyas's information about how the Shadow goes about collecting wolf souls to make Darkhounds seems to imply that only a Darkhound can do it, but several people have pointed out a different connection between wolves and Darkhounds: Slayer.</p>
<p>His favorite hobby is killing wolves in T'A'R, after all - that's where he got his nickname. And then there is the Dark Prophecy that appears in [TGH: 7, Blood Calls Blood, 89]:</p>
<blockquote><p> Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom.<br /> Isam waited in the high passes.<br /> The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill.<br /> One did live, and one did die, but both are.<br /> The Time of Change has come. </p></blockquote>
<p>The first and last two lines of the stanza are concerned solely with Slayer, but why else would that middle line about Darkhounds be in there unless there was a connection of some kind? It's been suggested, therefore, that Slayer may also participate in wolf-soul collecting. (Looney theory: Slayer is the Shadow's equivalent of a Wolfbrother.)</p>
<p>Then again, there are a couple of problems with this theory. For one thing, Slayer is not immune to poison [WH: 22, Out of Thin Air, 448], which would seem to be a problem when dealing with Darkhounds. For another, if Slayer can make Darkhounds why doesn't he ever have any with him? Wouldn't they come in handy? There's also the question of whether you could collect a wolf's soul in T'A'R, which is where Slayer does his wolf-killin'. Hopper tells Perrin that when wolves die in the Dreamworld, they die for good [TSR: 28, To the Tower of Ghenjei, 323], which seems to preclude the possibility of being "harvested" to be a Darkhound.</p>
<h2>What about the big pack of Darkhounds in COT?</h2>
<p>The pack that circled Perrin's camp is huge - about fifty Hounds - and Masuri (who studied Darkhounds) tells Perrin that she's never heard of such a large pack. Masuri has a couple of other observations as well:</p>
<blockquote><p> "There is always a feel of urgency about Darkhounds' trails, but it varies according to a number of factors [...] This one has an intense admixture of... I suppose you would call it impatience. That really isn't strong enough, by far - as well call a stabwound a pinprick - but it will do. I would say their hunt has been going on for some time, and their prey is eluding them somehow."<br /> [COT: 7, Blacksmith's Puzzle, 209] </p></blockquote>
<p>So, who could they be hunting?</p>
<p>Well, obviously it's not Perrin, since they passed him right by. It's also probably not the Whitecloaks, because they seem to have passed that camp by, too; the nasty and suddenly-cut-off stench Valda smells [COT: Prologue, Glimmers of the Pattern, 27] could well have been a Gateway opening from the Blight to send the Darkhounds through. This makes sense because Perrin observes that the Darkhounds were traveling from north to south, and the Whitecloaks' camp was north of Perrin's at that point.</p>
<p>So, presumably they're looking for someone south of Perrin. Suggested candidates are Mat, Jain Farstrider (aka Noal), or Fain (who could be in the south by now for all we know, and has proven himself quite good at eluding those who seek him). Tom York suggests Semirhage is calling on them to locate Tuon for her, but this is contradicted by Masuri's assertion that the Darkhounds have been hunting their prey for a long time (though "some time" could mean anything from days to months, really). Another possibility is Rand, who is now in Tear; since he had spent quite some time bouncing all over the place using Gateways, that probably would be quite frustrating to a pack hunting him.</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:48:46 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">179 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>1.6.3: What's up with the ghosts? --Updated</title>
<description><p align="center">[Leigh Butler, Jonathan Berlinghoff, Jennifer Liang]</p>
<hr />
<p> </p>
<h2>Where have we seen ghosts?</h2>
<ol>
<li>[COT: Prologue, Glimmers of the Pattern, 87]:<br />
<blockquote>...a palace serving woman came running into the room with her skirts gathered almost to her knees. "Lord Dobraine's been murdered!" the serving woman squealed. "We will all be killed in our beds! My own eyes have seen the dead walking, old Maringil himself, and my mam says spirits will kill you if there has been a murder done!"</blockquote>
<p> Maringil was one of the Cairhien nobles Colavaere had murdered in her bid for the Sun Throne in LOC. Possibly this is just hysteria, but all things considered, probably not.
</p><p> </p>
</li>
<li>[COT: 10, A Blazing Beacon, 269-270]:
<p>Elayne's maid Elsie spots Lady Nelein, Lord Aedmun's deceased grandmother, in a hallway. Elsie shrieks, Elayne embraces saidar and whirls around, but the spirit is gone by the time Elayne can look around the corner to see if anything is there.</p>
<p> </p>
</li>
<li>[COT: 26, In So Habor, 584]:
<p>While Perrin and Co. are finding weevils in the barley sacks someone again shrieks outside, and Kireyin and Seonid see a man walk through a wall.</p>
<blockquote><p>[Seonid, to Perrin]: "The dead are walking in So Habor. Lord Cowlin fled the town for fear of his wife's spirit. It seems there was doubt as to how she died. Hardly a man or woman in the town has not seen someone dead, and a good many have seen more than one."</p></blockquote>
<p> </p>
</li>
<li>[COT: 29, Something Flickers, 633-634]:
<p>Mat is walking with Tuon and Selucia and sees a crowd of people on the road to the town: "Staring straight ahead, they moved so purposefully they seemed not to see anyone in front of them." Tuon and Selucia see nothing. The people disappear after a few moments as well, and Mat thinks that he doesn't remember any of them breathing mist in the cold.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<h3>Have we seen them anywhere before COT?</h3>
<p>It seems so. We may have seen one as far back as TEOTW, when Ishy/Ba'alzamon shows Rand the vision of Kari al'Thor [TEOTW: 51, Against the Shadow, 639]. The scene's a little long, but worth quoting in its entirety:</p>
<blockquote><p> Egwene and Nynaeve blurred, became wafting mist, dissipated. Kari al'Thor still stood there, her eyes big with fear.<br /> "She, at least," Ba'alzamon said, "is mine to do with as I will."<br /> Rand shook his head. "I deny you." He had to force the words out. "She is dead, and safe from you in the Light."<br /> His mother's lips trembled. Tears trickled down her cheeks; each one burned him like acid. "The Lord of the Grave is stronger than he once was, my son," she said. "His reach is longer. The Father of Lies has a honeyed tongue for unwary souls. My son. My only, darling son. I would spare you if I could, but he is my master, now, his whim, the law of my existence. I can but obey him, and grovel for his favor. Only you can free me. Please, my son. Please help me. Help me. Help me! PLEASE!"<br /> The wail ripped out of her as barefaced Fades, pale and eyeless, closed round. Her clothes ripped away in their bloodless hands, hands that wielded pincers and clamps and things that stung and burned and whipped against her naked flesh. Her scream would not end.<br /> Rand's scream echoed hers. The void boiled in his mind. His sword was in his hand. Not the heron-mark blade, but a blade of light, a blade of the Light. Even as he raised it, a fiery white bolt shot from the point, as if the blade itself had reached out. It touched the nearest Fade, and blinding canescence filled the chamber, shining through the Halfmen like a candle through paper, burning through them, blinding his eyes to the scene. From the midst of the brilliance, he heard a whisper. "Thank you, my son. The Light. The blessed Light." </p></blockquote>
<p>It has long been argued over whether this Kari was real or an Illusion created by Ishy, but Alan Ellingson points out that in that scene, "Kari never tells/asks Rand to join Ba'alzamon. She only asks him to help her. Ba'alzamon might have limited what she couldn't say but he [evidently] couldn't force her to say anything. Remember in Rand's dreams in TDR the people he trusted tried to kill him? Why wasn't Kari like that? Why couldn't Ba'alzamon make her say something more... appealing to Rand? Second, she refers to him as 'Lord of the Grave' and more importantly 'Father of <i>Lies</i>'. Yes, have your chief witness call you a 'Father of Lies' in front of the guy you are trying to convince to join you. Third, her last words are 'The Light. The blessed Light.' Why would Ba'alzamon make her say that if she were an illusion he created?"</p>
<p>But wait - there's more! We originally thought that the image of Gedwyn and Torval coming up the stairs of the inn in Far Madding, minutes after Rand had found them dead [WH: 33, Blue Carp Street, 615-616] was an illusion created by Fain, but that really doesn't make any sense when you think about it. Gedwyn and Torval aren't shown brandishing swords, or doing anything that might be considered a diversionary tactic, which presumably would be Fain's purpose in creating them; they're just walking up the stairs with their cloaks over their arms, arguing. After Rand slashes at them with his sword, they disappear. In light of events in COT, it's probably safe to assume that Fain had nothing to do with the apparition, and that Gedwyn and Torval were ghosts. [Steven Cooper]</p>
<p>So it seems that the ghost phenomenon was at least obliquely foreshadowed prior to COT.</p>
<h2>So what's this all about, then?</h2>
<p>The walking dead are a sign that Tarmon Gaidon is near. Several characters bring this up as evidence that the end is nigh.</p>
<p>Tuon: "Do you know nothing Toy? The dead walking are a sign that Tarmon Gai'don is near." [KOD 10: A Village in Shiota]</p>
<p>Verin: "It will come soon. According to everything I've rread on the subject, the signs are quite clear. Half the servants have recognized dead people in the halls, people they knew alive. It's happened often enough that they aren't frightened by it any longer. And a dozen men moving cattle to spring pasture watched a considerable town melt into mist just a few miles to the north." [KOD 18: News for the Dragon]</p>
<p>Egwene: "Egwene was able to discuss it with Siuan in Tel'aran'rhiod, so she knew that these things were signs of the approach of Tarmon Gai'don." [KOD 24: Honey in the Tea]</p>
<p>The ghost seem related to the same phenomena mentioned repeatedly in the books: the Pattern itself is unravealing and the fabric of reality is coming undone. Further evidence is the hallways of the palace in Caemlyn and the White Tower shifting [KOD 14: Wet Things], [KOD 24: Honey in the Tea], [TGS 6: When Iron Melts], villages appear and disappear [KOD 10: A Village in Shiota], [KOD 18: News for the Dragon] and whatever was going on in Hinderstap [TGS 28: A Night in Hinderstap], as well as other unexplainable events. The characters all seem to agree that this is evidence that the Last Battle is emminent.</p>
<h3>Anything else interesting?</h3>
<p>Jason Denzel points out that practically every time dead people are seen, it's at a crossroads, and at twilight (for slightly broad values of both terms). Elayne's maid sees Lady Nelein at the junction of two crossing corridors, at dawn. So Habor, where ghosts are rife, is itself a crossroad over the river, and the incident with the man walking through the wall happens at dusk. The sun is rising when Mat takes Tuon shopping and sees the apparitions, though here only a road is mentioned, no crossing. It's not said where exactly the Cairhien servant saw Maringil in the Prologue, but it's reasonable to assume that it was probably also in a corridor, and it was in the morning. It's not ironclad, but it's definitely a pattern.</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:46:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">178 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>1.6.2: Fifty Ways to Kill a Gholam --Updated</title>
<description><p align="center">[Pam Korda, Leigh Butler, Jennifer Liang]</p>
<hr />
<p>The Gholam seems to be the hardest-to-kill monster RJ has introduced thus far. What, exactly, is it? We have information on it from Birgitte, who has some memories of the War of Power [ACOS: 40, Promises to Keep, 606-607], from Elayne, Mat, etc.'s encounter with one in [ACOS: 39, Six Stories, 598-600], from the short gholam POV scene in [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84-85], and from Mat's second duel with it in [WH: 16, An Unexpected Encounter, 353-355].</p>
<p>Gholam were created by Aginor [LOC: 23, To Understand a Message, 347] for the express purpose of killing channelers, although they're pretty handy at killing non-channelers, as well. The OP can't touch them; the effect of channeling at a gholam is exactly the same as channeling at a person wearing Mat's foxy medallion (i.e. the flows break apart on contact). Furthermore, they are immune to conventional weapons, too: nobody is able to harm the one who Mat fights with swords, etc, and the gholam itself thinks "it had never encountered anything that could harm it. Until that man with the medallion" [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84]. They can sense the ability to channel at a distance of about 50 paces, and they can detect use of the OP at greater distances (it felt the channeling at the Kin's farm in TPOD). They look like normal human beings on the outside. Inside is another matter. They have no bones, and can squeeze under a door, and are very strong, and very quick. Only six were ever made; three have a masculine outward appearance, three feminine. They appear to be at least as intelligent as Fades (Mat chats with the one he fights in Ebou Dar), and they are living things, not some sort of machine. (Mat surmises (actually, Birgitte surmises) that the one they met was "kept alive" since the Breaking in a stasis box.)</p>
<p>They feed on blood; the Ebou Dar gholam refers to its victims as "those I harvest" [WH: 16, An Unexpected Encounter, 355]. There is some way to control a gholam, and force it to do one's bidding. The Ebou Dar gholam thinks: "The one who commanded it wanted [Mat] dead.... for the time being, it was constrained. For its entire existence it had been compelled to obey one or another human, but its mind held the concept of not being constrained" [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84-85].</p>
<p>There is some contention over the nature of the gholam's exact physical makeup. Most people subscribe to the "liquid gholam" theory (a la the T-1000 in <cite>Terminator 2: Judgment Day</cite>). RJ's choice of words in various descriptions of the gholam seems to suggest this ("Fluid as quicksilver", "flowed aside like water", etc.). It's not specifically said, but there is the intimation that the knife wounds Mat gave the gholam in ACOS closed up instantly; they didn't bleed, at least. The gholam do seem to be more limited than the T-1000, in that they apparently can't assume any form, only liquid form and their humanoid form. (If not, why specify that three are male-shaped, and three are female-shaped?) Stemming from this theory is the assumption that a gholam would be able to reattach a severed body part or parts.</p>
<p>Not everyone buys this theory, though. The description we have only says that the gholam have no bones, not that they have no internal organs or support structure at all; as Ben Elgin points out, "Mice can collapse their skulls and ribcage... Cartilage explains the traversal just as well." There is also no real reason to assume that the gholam can reattach a severed body part, other than that the T-1000 could.</p>
<p>Where have we seen gholam? We've seen two for certain, namely the one in Ebou Dar, and the one that killed poor Herid Fel in Cairhien at the end of LOC. There is one previous possible gholam encounter, which took place "off-screen." This is the killing of Lord Barthanes in TGH. Barthanes was clearly killed at Ishy's instigation because he helped the renegade DF, Padan Fain, get away with the Horn of Valere. Barthanes died in a very similar fashion to Fel, i.e. he was ripped limb-from-limb. Furthermore, this took place in the <i>same</i> building as Fel's demise. Again, this may or may not be a gholam-induced death, but it is worth mentioning as a possibility.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>How can you hurt/kill/dispose of a Gholam?</h2>
<p>The only thing we know for certain that can injure a gholam is Mat's foxy medallion. When Mat smacks the Ebou Dar gholam with it in [ACOS: 38, Six Stories, 598], the gholam is burned-- "The medallion fell across the man's cheek. The man screamed. Smoke rose around the edges of the foxhead, and a sizzle like bacon frying....A raw red brand marked where the foxhead had fallen." Later in WH, Mat burns the gholam several more times with the medallion. What we do not know is why the medallion hurt the gholam. There are two possibilities:</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>It's the magic, stupid</h3>
<p>Both the medallion and the gholam have the unusual property that they somehow neutralize flows of the OP. (Note that the actual mechanism employed by each may be different.) It is possible that some kind of adverse reaction occurred when the medallion came into contact with the gholam's body. While the medallion didn't get characteristically cold, it did seemingly get hot.</p>
<p>It is difficult to be more precise, because we don't know how either the medallion or the gholam actually work. Perhaps it is because the gholam are made with/are held together with/have some connection with the OP, and the medallion negates the OP. Or, perhaps it's a "like charges repel" sort of deal. Or, maybe the gholam is a kind of "living ter'angreal," and the effect is due to an adverse reaction between similar ter'angreal, as described in [TDR: 23, Sealed, 217]. If it is the case that the magic is the key, then a gholam could probably be killed by prolonged contact with some weapon/ter'angreal made to copy the medallion's effect.</p>
<p>An argument against the theory that the medallion's ability to negate flows is the key, is that then the gholam probably would have been hurt by contact with Mat himself, and not just the foxhead. [James Huckaby] Then again, maybe not. As stated above, we don't really know how the medallion works. It was pointed out that when Mat was wrestling the gholam, the foxhead fell out of Mat's "open" shirt: "Struggling for air, he [Mat] pushed himself up, foxhead dangling from his open shirt." [ACOS: 38, Six Stories, 597] So, if the medallion works only when it is in contact with the wearer, then Mat may not have been in contact w/ it when <i>he</i> touched the gholam. [Jason Wilson] Of course, this objection does not apply to the idea that the reaction was due to the "similar ter'angreal interference" effect.</p>
<p> </p>
<h3>You've got the silver</h3>
<p>The medallion is made out of silver [TSR: 26, The Dedicated, 306-307], and this is the key to its anti-Gholam capabilities. The argument for silver is more of an argument against the medallion's magical properties, combined with some cross-pollination from werewolf and vampire legends. It is not likely that the foxhead works because it is destroying flows, because the foxhead doesn't get cold after damaging the gholam, it just has "the cool of silver" [ACOS: 38, Six Stories, 598]. Loony idea: When the gholamstuff and silver come into contact, there is a chemical reaction. This reaction is exothermic--the heat is produced by the reaction, not by the medallion.</p>
<p>An argument against this theory is that it seems kind of silly. Why would the Forsaken make such specific, deadly anti-AS assassins if they have such a common, easily exploitable Achilles' heel? Why would the Forsaken be so wary of them that they limited their number to six? [Tim Yoon]--"Oh No! A gholam's chasing us!" "How much money do you have on you?" [Aaron Bergman] The former question can be rationalized by saying that the Forsaken counted on the fact that people wouldn't think to use silver on something the OP can't stop. This idea does NOT explain the objection that if it was so easily defeated if you knew the key, the Forsaken wouldn't have been so wary of it that they only made six. Furthermore, the Gholam thinks to itself [TPOD: 2, Unweaving, 84] that "it had never encountered anything that could harm it" until it met the medallion. In all of its existence it never encountered a common metal like silver? Unlikely.</p>
<h3>Knock it Into a Gateway</h3>
<p>In KOD it's discovered that Shadowspawn can't survive passing through a Gateway. It kills them instantly. Assuming that a Gholam doesn't unravel the weave by touching it, presumably you could destroy one by forcing it to pass through a Gateway. But we have no reason to believe a Gateway wouldn't unravel just like every other weave does in the presence of a Gholam. [KOD 19: Vows]</p>
<h2>Got any more bright ideas?</h2>
<p>Many. Here are some of the more popular ideas for how to get rid of a Gholam:</p>
<ol>
<li>Indirect effects of the OP: The gholam's material breaks up OP flows just like Mat's medallion, making it immune to the OP. Like the wearer of the foxhead, it is likely that this immunity doesn't extend to <i>indirect</i> effects. One could try dropping something heavy on it, or zapping it with lightning, or something like that. Doubtless, it is immune to some of these (considering its oozy nature, I doubt dropping a safe on it would have much permanent effect), but something might work. Balefire probably won't work; it is very likely a <i>direct</i> effect.</li>
<li>The T-1000 Effect: Melt it. If one channeled enough heat into it, or dropped it into a volcano, it might lose all molecular cohesion. Furthermore, we know it is vulnerable to heat: the heat generated when the medallion touches it cooks its "flesh" (I use the term loosely)</li>
<li>One of These Days, I'm Going to Cut You Into Little Pieces: while stabbing a gholam doesn't hurt it, it may be that if you dismember it, and separate its pieces far enough (perhaps by the judicious use of Gateways), it won't be able to reassemble itself (if it can, in fact, do this). Then again, maybe it would. An alternate version of this idea which might be workable is to get the gholam to chase you through a Gateway and then close it while the gholam's going through, slicing it in half [Kay-Arne Hansen]. (Or maybe that would just result in two half-size gholam?) Although, using a Gateway to cut it (like Graendal's poor servant in [LOC: 6, Threads Woven of Shadow, 137]) probably wouldn't work - the edges of the Gateway are made of Power, and so the Gate would dissolve upon touching the gholam.</li>
<li>All Blowed Up: It's been suggested that Mat could pulverize the gholam with his presumed imminent discovery of gunpowder [C. Matt Detzel] (which is really just a more effective version of cutting it up.) </li>
<li>You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again: Alisa Marshall suggests, "If the thing feeds on blood, apparently human, if you put it far enough away from anything, shouldn't it starve?"</li>
<li>More Fun With Gateways: Variations on a Theme: Opinion is rather split on whether a gholam would be able to go through a Power-made Gate or not, but that hasn't stopped people from playing with the idea:</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>Just Get Rid Of It: Open a Gateway to somewhere really far away where there aren't any people, knock the gholam through (throw a big rock at it, or something), and close the Gateway. Voila. It's not dead, but it's definitely not going to bother you for a good long while.</li>
<li>Out of This World: Open a Gateway to the Skimming Place, shove the gholam through, and close the Gateway. According to Egwene, the chances of ever opening into that bit of Skimming Space are very low, so chances are the gholam will be permanently Lost in Space.</li>
<li>Far From the Madding Crowd: [Laura Parkinson] Open a Gateway to the stedding-ness of Far Madding and send the gholam through. The idea is that a stedding would have the same effect on a gholam that Mat's medallion does. If you can use a Well in Far Madding, it's not too unreasonable to think that you can open a Gateway to it from outside. On the other hand, Pam counters, "since you can use a Well in FM, that means that the OP works there, it's just that a channeler can't connect to the Source from there. So, I think that a gholam would do just fine in Far Madding. (I don't think that it relies on constant connection to the OP for its existence. Otherwise, one way to kill it would be to "shield" it from the OP like one does with channelers.)"</li>
<li>Elemental, My Dear Watson: Open a Gateway to the middle of a volcano, or the bottom of the ocean. (Problem: How to keep the water/lava from coming through and killing the channeler too. Solution: Open the Gateway <i>over</i> the water or lava and let the gholam fall.</li>
<li>Get Away From Her, You Bitch! (The <cite>Aliens</cite> solution): Open a Gateway to the vacuum of space and let the gholam get sucked through. (This one's quite silly - not only do you have the problem of how to prevent the channeler from getting sucked through as well, but as far as we know Third Age Randlanders don't know jack about the concept of space. But it's a fun idea.)</li>
</ul>
</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:57:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">177 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>1.6.1: Where do Trollocs and Myrddraal come from?</title>
<p>[Sources: A letter from RJ in which I foolishly asked whether Trollocs breed, or whether they're grown in a big vat at Shayol Ghul; and various "monster-of-the-day lessons" sprinkled throughout the books.]</p>
<p> </p>
<ul>
<li>The original source was a mixing of human and animal genes in an attempt to produce the "perfect soldier," as envisioned by somebody (Aginor) who'd never seen actual combat.</li>
<li>There are female Trollocs, but we don't want to know more than that.</li>
<li>Where Myrddraal come from: occasionally, a Trolloc offspring is a genetic throwback in the direction of the original human stock, but not all the way back, and twisted. Thus, eyeless but with super vision, very strong (but not as strong as a Trolloc), and the shadow-traveling ability.</li>
<li>Myrddraal take their "pleasures" with human females, who suffer horribly from the experience; it drives them mad, if they survive at all.</li>
</ul>
<p>Of course, the diapers of baby Myrddraal don't wave in the wind. :)</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:46:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">176 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>99.3: Will there be anymore novels after AMOL? --New</title>
<description><p>Before his death, Jordan spoke openly of his plans for additional Wheel of Time novels outside of the main story of Rand & Co. These included two more prequel novels and an "outrigger" trilogy set after the Last Battle. Will we ever see these novels?</p>
<p>Probably not. Harriet owns the rights to the characters and the setting now. Her permission would be needed to do anything more with the series. Both Harriet and Brandon have expressed reluctance to continue publishing novels after <em>A Memory of Light. </em></p>
<p> </p>
<blockquote><p>A lot of people have questions about this, because Robert Jordan had talked about several other books relating to The Wheel Of Time before he passed away – prequel novels, and a trilogy of three books set in the Wheel Of Time world along with several of the characters, but not part of the main continuity, the main story. A lot of people ask about these books, they ask Harriet – Robert Jordan’s widow – but the thing is, we really both feel, Harriet and I, that we don’t want to exploit Robert Jordan’s legacy. To use a metaphor that may be a little obvious, it’s like we’ve been given the One Ring, and we have to let go eventually. The longer we hold on, the harder it will be to let go, and the more we start doing those books, the easier it will be to do reams of stories, and we just don’t want that to happen. I’ve said before that the beauty of a piece of art is in its completion, in many ways. If it’s not allowed to be completed, then the beauty of it won’t be able to stand as a monument to what Robert Jordan achieved. So my instinct right now is to say that no, there won’t be any more. If Harriet decides to do those other five books, and really wants to, then I would probably say yes if she asked me. I love the series, I’m passionate about it, but I’ll leave that up to her, and I certainly wouldn’t do anything beyond those. We’ve spoken about it, and I said that we have to be really careful or we’ll start and keep going and going, and that’s her feeling too.</p>
<p><cite>The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time</cite>, more commonly known as "The Guide," is a "companion book" to TWOT which Tor published in November, 1997. It is by Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson, and is basically a compilation of background and setting material for TWOT. It contains information about "the world's geography, history, and sociology." [Guide: Preface, 9] A lot of the information is stuff which we already know from the series proper. There is also new information about topics like the AOL, the founding of the White Tower, Artur Hawkwing, and the Seanchan. The book contains artwork from the books (icons, maps, and cover art), and some new art (which is generally considered to be less than stellar). John Novak adds, "The Guide's framing device (or conceit) is that it is a history written by someone from within the Wheel of Time. Hence the first pages claiming that documents are copies of copies, etc. As such, some readers do not consider the material canon."</p>
<h2><cite>New Spring (A Wheel of Time Prequel Novel)</cite></h2>
<p>The title pretty much explains it. <cite>New Spring</cite>, published in January of 2004, is an expanded version of the 79-page novella which RJ wrote for the Tor anthology <cite>Legends</cite>, published in early 1998. The <cite>Legends</cite> version tells the story of how Lan and Moiraine met, and the beginning of Moiraine's search for the Dragon Reborn; the novelized version also features Moiraine and Siuan as Accepted in the Tower, on the day the Aiel War ends and the Dragon is Reborn. IMO, it's pretty good.</p>
<p><cite>Legends</cite> itself is a collection of "new stories by the best-known and most accomplished modern creators of fantasy fiction, each one set in the special universe... that made that writer famous." [<cite>Legends</cite>, Introduction by Robert Silverberg] The other writers featured in the volume are Stephen King (Dark Tower), Terry Pratchett (Discworld), Terry Goodkind (The Sword of Truth), Orson Scott Card (Tales of Alvin Maker), Robert Silverberg (Majipoor), Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea), Tad Williams (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn), George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire), Anne McCaffrey (Pern), and Raymond E. Feist (Riftwar).</p>
<h2>The Wheel of Time Encyclopedia</h2>
<p>At Dragon*Con 2005, Harriet McDougal announced that she had signed a contract with Tor Books to edit together an encyclopedia based on her husband's series. The final manuscript is due to Tor "a year after the publication of the final Wheel of Time novel". Assuming that <em>A Memory of Light</em> is published in early 2012, the latest we can expect to see this on shelves is 2013.</p>
<h2>The YA books</h2>
<h3><cite>From The Two Rivers</cite> and <cite>To The Blight</cite></h3>
<p><cite>From The Two Rivers</cite> and <cite>To The Blight</cite> are a YA version of TEOTW, split into two volumes and published in January of 2002. The text is essentially unchanged from the original, except for the addition of a prologue chapter (featuring the characters in their younger years, before the start of the series) to FTTR and a new glossary at the end of TTB. Both books are illustrated.</p>
<h3><cite>The Hunt Begins: The Great Hunt, Volume 1</cite> and <cite>New Threads in the Pattern: The Great Hunt, Volume 2</cite></h3>
<p>Same thing, next book (though different publisher, and there does not appear to be any supplemental material added). Published in February of 2004.</p>
<p>The ISBNs of all these books are given in <a href="http://www.steelypips.org/wotfaq/0_admin/0.04_wot-books.html">Section 0.04</a>.</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:19:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">174 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title>99.1: When is the next book going to be out? --Updated</title>
<description><p><strong>What will Book 13 & 14 be called?</strong></p>
<p>Book 13 will be TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. Book 14 will be A MEMORY OF LIGHT.</p>
<p><strong>When will they be published?</strong></p>
<p>Tor is publishing TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT on November 2nd, 2010. According to <a href="http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/925/Another-Long-and-Rambling-Post-on-Future-Books">Brandon Sanderson's blog</a>, he intends to begin work on A MEMORY OF LIGHT in January 2011 and anticipates it's release no later than Spring 2012. This will be the final Wheel of Time novel.</p>
<blockquote><p>And so, we're entering the "refresh and work on side projects" stage of the writing process. I did this after <i>The Gathering Storm</i>, and I really need it now. I am therefore taking time off between now and January first. I get to write anything I want. It will probably be bizarre and unexpected; things that keep me fresh, things I haven't tried before.</p>
<p>I ask your forbearance. I do believe that as a writer who has begun series, it is my responsibility to see that the other pieces of the story are written in a timely manner. However—and it may seem odd—I need to work on these other things to keep my next Wheel of Time and Stormlight installments good. It's how my process works.</p>
<p>So, that's the first warning. I'm taking a break for three months. The second warning is that I can't promise I'll hit the final deadline on the Wheel of Time series. (The last one was supposed to be out in November 2011.) The problem is this: starting January, it will have been three years since I read the Wheel of Time series start to finish. That's too long. I'm starting to forget things. I won't feel comfortable starting the final book until I've done another re-read, and this is going to slow me down by three or four months. It's an unexpected delay I didn't fit into my original projections of how long it would take me to write the books.</p>
<p>If I miss the deadline (which is more likely than not) it won't be by much. A few months, likely the same amount of time it takes me to do the re-read. But it is what must be done. So, I'd suggest that we set MARCH 2012 as the expected date of <i>A Memory of Light</i>. I suspect there will be some grumbling about this, but I feel I should let you know now, rather than later. It won't be an enormous delay, however. If my previous track record earns me anything, I hope it is the benefit of the doubt when it comes to me promising the release dates of books. I won't leave you hanging too long.</p>
<p>--Brandon Sanderson Oct. 12, 2010</p>
</blockquote>
</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:12:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">173 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
<description><p>Are these things written in the Fourth Age, being the Age after the books, or are they from the previous Fourth Age (i.e. <i>six</i> Ages ago)? Are they really prophecy? More likely, they are supposed to be histories of Rand's Age, written during the Age which will start with the end of the last book. Thus, they are not prophetic in the technical sense - they are supposedly written after the fact - but they are prophetic to <i>us</i>, because we don't yet know the end of the story.</p>
<h2>From <cite>The Eye of the World</cite></h2>
<p>[TEOTW: Prologue, Dragonmount, xv]</p>
<blockquote><p> And it came to pass in those days, as it had come before and would come again, that the Dark lay heavy on the land and weighed down the hearts of men, and the green things failed, and hope died. And men cried out to the Creator, saying, O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain, according to the prophecies, as he was in ages past and will be in ages to come. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs. Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time. <br /> <br />
<blockquote>(From <cite>Charal Drianaan te Calamon, The Cycle of the Dragon</cite>. Author unknown, the Fourth Age)</blockquote></p></blockquote>
<p>The "Dark laying heavy on the land" and the failing of plants refer to the two bouts of (Shadow-caused) bad weather we've had in the series thus far, which have caused crops to get messed up: the super-long winter in TEOTW, and the recent hot spell. The reference about singing and fertility</p>
<p><i>could</i></p>
<p>mean that the Song will be found, but it could just as well be meant figuratively.</p>
<hr align="center" width="50%" />
<p><a name="tdr"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>The Dragon Reborn</cite></h2>
<p>[TDR: End Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> And it was written that no hand but his should wield the Sword held in the Stone, but he did draw it out, like fire in his hand, and his glory did burn the world. Thus did it begin. Thus do we sing his Rebirth. Thus do we sing the beginning. </p></blockquote>
<p>Fulfilled--Rand took out the Sword in the Stone.</p>
<hr align="center" width="50%" />
<p><a name="tsr"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>The Shadow Rising</cite></h2>
<p>[TSR: End Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> And when the blood was sprinkled on ground where nothing could grow, the Children of the Dragon did spring up, the People of the Dragon, armed to dance with death. And he did call them forth from the wasted land, and they did shake the world with battle.<br /> <br />
<blockquote>(from <cite>The Wheel of Time</cite> by Sulamein so Bhagad, Chief Historian at the Court of the Sun, the Fourth Age.)</blockquote></p></blockquote>
<p>Fulfilled--Rand brought the Aiel out of the Waste to do battle.</p>
<hr align="center" width="50%" />
<p><a name="tfoh"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>The Fires of Heaven</cite></h2>
<p>[TFOH: End Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> And the Glory of the Light did shine upon him.<br /> And the Peace of the Light did he give men.<br /> Binding nations to him. Making one of many.<br /> Yet the shards of hearts did give wounds.<br /> And what was once did come again<br /> --in fire and in storm <br /> splitting all in twain.<br /> For his peace...<br /> --for his peace...<br /> ...was the peace...<br /> ...was the peace...<br /> ...of the sword.<br /> And the Glory of the Light did shine upon him.<br /> <br />
<blockquote>(from <cite>Glory of the Dragon</cite>, composed by Meane sol Ahell, the Fourth Age)</blockquote></p></blockquote>
<p>General prophecy. Not too informative.</p>
<hr align="center" width="50%" />
<p><a name="loc"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>Lord of Chaos</cite></h2>
<p>[LOC: Header Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> The lions sing and the hills take flight.<br /> The moon by day, and the sun by night.<br /> Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool.<br /> Let the Lord of Chaos rule. <br /> <br />
<blockquote>(chant from a children's game heard in Great Aravalon, the Fourth Age)</blockquote></p></blockquote>
<p>Your guess is as good as mine as to whether this is actually prophecy/historical or not.</p>
<hr align="center" width="50%" />
<p><a name="cot"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>Crossroads of Twilight</cite></h2>
<p>[COT: End Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p>We rode on the winds of the rising storm,<br /> We ran to the sounds of the thunder.<br /> We danced among the lightning bolts,<br /> and tore the world asunder.<br /> <br />
<blockquote>(Anonymous fragment of a poem believed written near the end of the previous Age, known by some as the Third Age. Sometimes attributed to the Dragon Reborn.)</blockquote></p></blockquote>
<p>Technically I suppose this shouldn't be in the "Fourth Age" section since it was written in the Third Age, but this fit best, as it is written from a historical perspective rather than a prophetic one. Seems to be a reference to the Asha'man, or maybe all channelers, and the prophesied Second Breaking of the world. If referring specifically to the Asha'man, could be related to Elaida's Foretelling of the Black Tower rent in fire and blood.</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:46:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">171 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
<blockquote><p> Mat, rattling a dice cup. His opponent stared at Mat with eyes of fire. Mat did not seem to see the man, but Perrin knew him. "Mat!" he shouted. "It's Ba'alzamon. Light, Mat, you're dicing with Ba'alzamon!" </p></blockquote>
<p>This is likely referring to Mat's "bet" with Rhavin/Gaebril in TDR.</p>
<hr align="center" width="50%" />
<p>[TDR: 43, Shadowbrothers, 426]</p>
<blockquote><p> Egwene and Nynaeve and Elayne stood looking at a huge metal cage, with a raised door held on a heavy spring. They stepped in and reached up together to loose the catch. The barred door snapped down behind them. A woman with her hair all in braids laughed at them, and another woman all in white laughed at her. </p></blockquote>
<p>This refers to El, Eg, and Ny's Tairen adventures in TDR. Braid-woman is Liandrin, White-clad-woman is Lanfear.</p>
<hr align="center" width="50%" />
<p><a name="tsr"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>The Shadow Rising</cite></h2>
<p>[TSR: 28, To the Tower of Ghenjei, 320-1]</p>
<blockquote><p> Rand stood amid swirling stormwinds, laughing wildly, even madly, arms upraised, and on the winds rode [dragons]. </p></blockquote>
<p>Not fulfilled, unless this is some sort of reference to Rhuidean. The Seanchan raken and to'raken are both Dragonesque animals.</p>
<blockquote><p> hidden eyes watched Rand, and there was no telling whether he knew it </p></blockquote>
<p>This is possibly general--all the people watching Rand, e.g. Forsaken, Wise Ones, AS, etc. or it may be something more specific that we do not know about.</p>
<blockquote><p> Nynaeve and Elayne stalking cautiously through a demented landscape of twisted, shadowed buildings, hunting some dangerous beast </p></blockquote>
<p>This refers to El and Ny going to Tanchico to hunt down the BA. Compare this description to the way Tanchico looks to Eg in T'A'R.</p>
<blockquote><p> Mat, standing where a road forked ahead of him. He flipped a coin, started down one branch, and suddenly was wearing a wide-brimmed hat and walking with a staff bearing a short sword blade. </p></blockquote>
<p>Fulfilled--Mat flipped a coin at the Portal Stone, to get to Rhuidean, which led to him getting the hat and ashanderei.</p>
<blockquote><p> Egwene and a woman with long white hair were staring at him in surprise while behind them the White Tower crumbled stone by stone. </p></blockquote>
<p>The woman is Amys. This bit is probably not prophetic, but a chance meeting in T'A'R (thus the surprised look). The crumbling of the Tower has been fulfilled, at least partly--it is broken, but will it be destroyed even further?</p>
<hr align="center" width="50%" />
<p>[TSR: 53, The Price of a Departure, 612]</p>
<blockquote><p> Egwene stood among a crowd of women, fear in her eyes; slowly the women knelt around her. Nynaeve was one of them, and he believed he saw Elayne's red-gold hair. </p></blockquote>
<p>This has been fulfilled; Eg has become Amyrlin of the Salidar AS.</p>
<blockquote><p> That window faded and was replaced. Mat stood naked and bound, snarling; an odd spear with a black shaft had been thrust across his back behind his elbows, and a silver medallion, a foxhead, hung on his chest. </p></blockquote>
<p>Unknown. This may be the incident in Finnland that got him hung, or maybe something yet to come.</p>
<blockquote><p> Mat vanished, and it was Rand. Perrin thought it was Rand. He wore rags and a rough cloak, and a bandage covered his eyes. </p></blockquote>
<p>Not fulfilled. Note that this resonates with Min's viewing of a beggar's staff around Rand. The bandaged eyes are reminiscent of the bandaged eyes of the "Fisher" figure in Moridin's sha'rah game.</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:44:47 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">170 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
<description><h2>From <cite>The Eye of the World</cite></h2>
<p>[TEOTW: 13, Choices, 158-159]</p>
<p>Thom in conversation:</p>
<blockquote><p> One of the Prophecies says that the Stone of Tear will never fall until the People of the Dragon come to the Stone. Another says the Stone will never fall till the Sword that Cannot Be Touched is wielded by the Dragon's hand. </p></blockquote>
<p>This has been fulfilled. The People of the Dragon are the Aiel, who attacked the Stone of Tear the night Rand broke in and took Callandor.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p><a name="tgh"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>The Great Hunt</cite></h2>
<p>[TGH: Header Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> And it shall come to pass that what men made shall be shattered, and the Shadow shall lie across the Pattern of the Age, and the DO shall once more lay his hand upon the world of man. Women shall weep and men quail as the nations of the earth are rent like rotting cloth. Neither shall anything stand nor abide...
</p><p>Yet one shall be born to face the Shadow...and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth at his rebirth. In sackcloth and ashes shall he clothe the people, and he shall break the world again by his coming, tearing apart all ties that bind. Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light. Let tears flow, O ye people of the world. Weep for your salvation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is pretty general stuff. Great upheavals will come to the world when the time for the Last Battle nears, yadda yadda. This is all obviously happening right now; Rand is "breaking the world" figuratively, by causing all sorts of social unrest. "His blood shall give us the Light (at the Last Battle)" is reminiscent of Min's viewing of "black rocks, wet with blood," and of the "Twice dawns the day" prophecy, below.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[TGH: 22, Watchers, 275]</p>
<p>Vandene talking to Moiraine:</p>
<blockquote><p> Five ride forth, and four return. Above the watchers shall he proclaim himself, bannered cross the sky in fire... </p></blockquote>
<p>This has been fulfilled; it refers to the events at Falme at the end of TGH. The five who rode forth were Ingtar, Hurin, Rand, Mat, and Perrin. Rand proclaimed himself the DR after the battle at Falme, where he and Ish fought in the sky.</p>
<blockquote><p> Twice and twice shall he be marked, twice to live, and twice to die, <br /> Once the heron to set his path. Twice the heron, to name him true. <br /> Once the Dragon for remembrance lost. Twice the Dragon for the price he must pay. </p></blockquote>
<p>The Dragon will be marked in four ways, with two herons and two dragons. He got the first heron in the Portal Stone world. The second heron was received at Falme, when he named himself the Dragon Reborn. The two dragons were received at Rhuidean; the "remembrance lost" refers to the lost history of the Aiel. The significance of the second dragon, ("the price he must pay") has not yet been revealed.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[TGH: 26, Discord, 326]</p>
<p>Thom to Rand:</p>
<blockquote><p> Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed.<br /> Once for mourning, once for birth. <br /> Red on black, the Dragon's blood stains the rock of Shayol Ghul.<br /> In the Pit of Doom shall his blood free men from the Shadow. </p></blockquote>
<p>"Twice dawns the day" may indicate that there will be an eclipse when Rand's blood is shed. Compare this to the Greeting from the the Amyrlin ceremony when Siuan Sanche arrives in Fal Dara in [TGH: 2, The Welcome,17]: "Against what do we guard?" "The shadow at noon." The second line may indicate that Rand will die and be resurrected, or maybe just that he will die, and the world will be reborn. The fragment ends with yet another reference to Rand's blood being necessary to defeat the DO.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p><a name="tdr"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>The Dragon Reborn</cite></h2>
<p>[TDR: Header Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> And his paths shall be many, and who shall know his name, for he shall be born among us many times, in many guises, as he has been and ever will be, time without end. His coming shall be like the sharp edge of the plow, turning our lives in furrows from out of the places where we lie in our silence. The breaker of bonds; the forger of chains. The maker of futures; the unshaper of destiny. </p></blockquote>
<p>Again, pretty general stuff. Rand is breaking bonds, etc.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[TDR: 6, The Hunt Begins, 57]</p>
<p>Moiraine in conversation, listing bits of the Karaethon Cycle:</p>
<blockquote><p> He has yet to break the nations, or shatter the world.... What does it mean that he shall 'slay his people with the sword of peace, and destroy them with the leaf'? What does it mean that he shall bind the nine moons to serve him? There are others. What 'wound of madness and cutting of hope' has he healed? What chains has he broken, and who put into chains? </p></blockquote>
<p>The breaking of nations is well underway. The bit about slaying his people with the sword of peace, etc, refers to the Aiel--by revealing the peaceful past of the Aiel, he changed them forever, and set them on the road to the destruction from which only a 'remnant of a remnant' will survive. "Nine Moons" is a reference to Tuon, and so this indicates that she or the Seanchan in general will eventually come under Rand's control. I don't know what the "wound of madness" is, although it may refer to the Taint, which Rand cleansed at the end of WH. The breaking of chains could refer to many things, e.g. the chains binding people to the Shadow (Ingtar, Asmo, Tear, Andor). It's also been suggested that this refers to the possibility of Rand freeing the Seanchan damane and other slaves. Rand has put people in figurative chains, as well--Asmodean, the Dragonsworn AS, all the nations he is conquering.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[TDR: 41, Threads in the Pattern, 373]</p>
<blockquote><p> On the slopes of Dragonmount shall he be born, born of a maiden wedded to no man. </p></blockquote>
<p>Shaiel, a.k.a. Tigraine, a.k.a. Rand's birth mum, was a Maiden of the Spear, who do not wed. (Technically, maybe she was wedded to Taringail, but I guess running off into the Aiel Waste counted as a divorce.)</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p><a name="tsr"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>The Shadow Rising</cite></h2>
<p>[TSR: 3, Reflection, 71]</p>
<blockquote><p> His blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul, washing away the Shadow, sacrifice for man's salvation. </p></blockquote>
<p>Yet another reference to blood on the rocks.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[TSR: 6, Doorways, 93]</p>
<blockquote><p> Power of the Shadow made human flesh,<br /> wakened to turmoil, strife and ruin. <br /> The Reborn One, marked and bleeding,<br /> dances the sword in dreams and mist,<br /> chains the Shadowsworn to his will,<br /> from the city, lost and forsaken, <br /> leads the spears to war once more,<br /> breaks the spears and makes them see, <br /> truth long hidden in the ancient dream. </p></blockquote>
<p>The "Power of the Shadow made human flesh" could refer to any number of things--the Forsaken, Fain, Slayer, or the Bubble of Evil at the start of TSR. "Dances the sword in dreams and mist" could be a reference to the mirror incident in the Stone in TSR. Rand has chained the Shadowsworn, in the person of Asmodean. He leads the Aiel spears to war, and has also revealed the truth of Aiel history, which has resulted in many Aiel breaking their spears and running off bonkers.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[TSR: 21, Into the Heart, 244]</p>
<blockquote><p> Into the heart he thrusts his sword,<br /> into the heart, to hold their hearts.<br /> Who draws it out shall follow after, <br /> What hand can grasp that fearful blade? </p></blockquote>
<p>Rand stuck the Sword Which is Not (Callandor) into the floor of the Heart of the Stone, partly as a reminder to the lords of Tear that he was the ruler of their country. The last two lines seem to indicate that somebody other than Rand will remove Callandor from the Stone. Indeed, this happened; Narishma fetched it for Rand in TPOD. Since he also used the Sword That Ain't in the Battle of Shadar Logoth in WH, Narishma may have a larger part to play wrt Callandor and "following after".</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p><a name="tfoh"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>The Fires of Heaven</cite></h2>
<p>[TFOH: Header Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> With his coming are the dread fires born again. The hills burn, and the land turns sere. The tides of men run out, and the hours dwindle. The wall is pierced, and the veil of parting raised. Storms rumble beyond the horizon, and the fires of heaven purge the earth. There is no salvation without destruction, no hope this side of death. </p></blockquote>
<p>The drying and burning are surely a reference to the drought and hot weather which was going on in Randland until the Bowl of the Winds was used. The piercing of the wall, and the raising of the veil may refer to the DO breaking loose, or alternately that the dead are now walking in Randland. That phrase calls to mind a phrase from the Bible. This is discussed more thoroughly in Section 3.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p><a name="loc"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>Lord of Chaos</cite></h2>
<p>[LOC: Trailer Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> The unstained tower breaks and bends knee to the forgotten sign. The seas rage, and stormclouds gather unseen. Beyond the horizon, hidden fires swell, and serpents nestle in the bosom. What was exalted is cast down; what was cast down is raised up. Order burns to clear his path. </p></blockquote>
<p>The first sentence is fulfilled: the Tower is broken, and some AS have knelt and sworn fealty to Rand (whose sign is the "forgotten" ancient AS symbol). The second sentence indicates that all is not well. Something is rotten in Randland. People are not what they seem. The serpents in the bosom could be Taim and Halima, among others. The last sentence indicates the uncertain nature of the world. It could be referring to the AS and male channelers specifically, but there is more casting down and raising up than that going on.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p><a name="acos"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>A Crown of Swords</cite></h2>
<p>[ACOS: Header Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> There can be no health in us, nor any good thing grow, for the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and he one with the land. Soul of fire, heart of stone, in pride he conquers, forcing the proud to yield. He calls upon the mountains to kneel, and the seas to give way, and the very skies to bow. Pray that the heart of stone remembers tears, and the soul of fire, love.<br />
<blockquote>(From a much-disputed translation of <cite>The Prophecies of the Dragon</cite> by the poet Kyera Termendal, of Shiota, believed to have been published between FY700 and FY800)</blockquote></p></blockquote>
<p>This is a clear reference to Rand's increasing self-isolation, hubris, etc., as well as Cadsuane's determination to teach Rand laughter and tears. Also note the 'Dragon is one with the land' stuff matches the Fisher King legend/reference (<a href="http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com/node/156">see section 3.06</a>).</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[ACOS: 34, Ta'veren, p533]</p>
<p>Rand's thoughts:</p>
<blockquote><p> The Prophecies said he would bind together the people of every land--"The north shall he tie to the east, and the west shall be bound to the south." </p></blockquote>
<p>Rand's interpretation: all the world will follow him. Alternative interpretation: Rand will hold the north and east; the Seanchan will hold the west and south. This seems more likely, at least for the present. It also agrees with Nicola's Foretelling ("the land divided by the return").</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[ACOS: Trailer Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> Master of the lightnings, rider on the storm, wearer of a crown of swords, spinner-out of fate. Who thinks he turns the Wheel of Time, may learn the truth too late.<br />
<blockquote>(From a fragmentary translation of <cite>The Prophecies of the Dragon</cite>, attributed to Lord Mangore Kiramin, Sword-bard of Aramaelle and Warder to Caraighan Maconar, into what was then called the vulgar tongue (circa 300 AB))</blockquote></p></blockquote>
<p>Similar in tone and meaning to the ACOS header prophecy, indicating that Rand's pride may cause some big trouble.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p><a name="wh"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>Winter's Heart</cite></h2>
<p>[WH: Header Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p> The seals that hold back night shall weaken<br /> And in the heart of winter shall winter's heart be born<br /> Amid the wailing of lamentations and the gnashing of teeth,<br /> For winter's heart shall ride a black horse,<br /> And the name of it is Death.<br /> <br />
<blockquote>(from <cite>The Karaethon Cycle: The Prophecies of the Dragon</cite>)</blockquote></p></blockquote>
<p>First line is self-explanatory; the rest is fairly ominous, since Rand refers to himself as having "winter's heart" more than once. For example: "He was too weak for what had to be done. He needed to drink in winter, till he made winter's heart seem Sunday noon" [WH: 25, Bonds, 483]. (Recall that "Sunday" in Randland is an annual holiday, taking place at the height of summer.)</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[WH: 14, What a Veil Hides, 328-329]</p>
<blockquote><p> Tuon speaking: "'I must find a way to make contact with the Dragon Reborn as soon as possible. He must kneel before the Crystal Throne before Tarmon Gai'don, or all is lost.' The Prophecies of the Dragon said so, clearly." </p></blockquote>
<p>Moiraine might be surprised to hear that, since as noted above, in [TDR: 6, The Hunt Begins, 57], Moiraine mentions that one of the Prophecies of the Dragon is that the Dragon Reborn "shall bind the nine moons to serve him", which implies the exact opposite of what the Seanchan version evidently says. The question is, which version is correct?</p>
<p>The Seanchan version of the Prophecies was actually mentioned prior to WH; Captain-General Kennar Miraj, the (now-deceased) commander of the Seanchan forces that confronted Rand in TPOD, reflected on them: "The Prophecies of the Dragon had been known in Seanchan even before Luthair Paendrag began the Consolidation. In corrupted form, it was said, much different from the pure version Luthair Paendrag brought. Miraj had seen several volumes of <cite>The Karaethon Cycle</cite> printed in these lands, and they were corrupted too - not one mentioned him serving the Crystal Throne! - but the Prophecies held men's minds and hearts still" [TPOD: 24, A Time for Iron, 461].</p>
<p>So apparently at least some of the Seanchan suspect that their version is not the correct one. Miraj's opinions about the Randland versions notwithstanding, it seems more likely overall that the Seanchan version is the only one altered from the original, whether accidentally or purposefully. (Purposefully, perhaps, because the Seanchan version obviously mentions the Crystal Throne by name, and as far as we know no one in Randland proper has ever heard of it; so why would it appear in a Randland-based prophecy? [Sarah Coit])</p>
<p>It's also possible, of course, that both versions are correct. Prophecies, as we've seen, rarely turn out to mean exactly what anyone thinks they do. For all we know Rand could kneel before the Throne right before he blows it up, or something. Another interesting idea is that "binding the nine moons to serve him" could refer to the Sad Bracelets and the struggle for control between the man and the woman/women holding him in them that Moggy talks about; perhaps Tuon could make Rand kneel to the Crystal Throne because of the Sad Bracelets, but would end up being controlled by Rand.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p><a name="cot"></a></p>
<h2>From <cite>Crossroads of Twilight</cite></h2>
<p>[COT: Header Prophecy]</p>
<blockquote><p>And it shall come to pass, in the days when the Dark Hunt rides, when the right hand falters and the left hand strays, that mankind shall come to the Crossroads of Twilight and all that is, all that was, and all that will be shall balance on the point of a sword, while the winds of the Shadow grow.<br /> <br />
<blockquote>(From <cite>The Prophecies of the Dragon</cite>, translation believed done by Jain Charin, known as Jain Farstrider, shortly before his disappearance)</blockquote></p></blockquote>
<p>The Dark Hunt refers to Darkhounds, of course, maybe specifically to the large fifty-plus pack currently on the move in COT. The right and left hand could just be symbolic hoohah - everyone on Rand's side kind of floundering around, etc. - but it's been suggested that it could refer specifically to Mat and Perrin, who do seem to be doing some faltering and straying, respectively. (Osan'gar and Aran'gar got their names from left-hand and right-hand daggers, the only other such reference in the series, but it's pretty clear that the "hands" in question belong to the Light, so the 'gars don't really fit.) Crossroads: a turning point, a choice to be made; an in-between place, a place of danger, especially in twilight (in between day and night, light turning to darkness). The rest, self-explanatory.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[COT: 28, A Cluster of Rosebuds, 616]</p>
<p>Noal in conversation:</p>
<blockquote><p>Fortune rides like the sun on high<br /> with the fox that makes the ravens fly<br /> Luck his soul, the lightning his eye<br /> He snatches the moons from out of the sky.</p></blockquote>
<p>Something of a landmark, since it's the first time we learn that the Prophecies of the Dragon talk about anyone specifically other than Rand. Obviously, this refers to Mat - fortune, luck, him as the fox, making the Seanchan - the ravens - fly (freeing the Windfinders and the chaos that followed, as well as being a description of his ring), snatching the Daughter of the Nine Moons, etc. The "lightning his eye" line could mean a couple of things - a reference to gunpowder, perhaps, or just his quickness with a knife (good hand-eye coordination, you know). Possibly related in some way to the other prophecies concerning Mat's eye.</p>
<p>(So, does Perrin get a mention?)</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:43:37 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">169 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
<p>This may not be actual prophecy. See Verin's commentary [TGH: 7, Blood Calls Blood, 90]. Some parts may be prophetic, and others may just be Shadow propaganda. It is a source of information, though, so here it is.</p>
<blockquote><p> Daughter of the Night, she walks again.<br /> The ancient war, she yet fights. <br /> Her new lover she seeks, who shall serve her and die, yet serve still.<br /> Who shall stand against her coming?<br /> The Shining Walls shall kneel. </p></blockquote>
<p>The Daughter of the Night is Lanfear, and she was indeed free at the time this was written, and she was still fighting the ancient war (i.e. still working for the DO). If "her new lover" is supposed to be Rand, that line has definitely not been fulfilled. He might die, but it is very doubtful at this point that he will serve her. "Shining Walls" is a reference to Tar Valon, and thus the Aes Sedai. To whom are they supposed to kneel--Lanfear? Rand? Egwene? The Seanchan?</p>
<blockquote><p> Blood feeds blood.<br /> Blood calls blood.<br /> Blood is, and blood was, and blood shall ever be.<br />
</p><p>The man who channels stands alone. <br /> He gives his friends for sacrifice. <br /> Two roads before him, one to death beyond dying, one to life eternal.<br /> Which will he choose? Which will he choose?<br /> What hand shelters? What hand slays?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Likely, "the man who channels" is Rand. The bit about giving his friends for sacrifice is interesting; Rand has been trying to isolate himself, and focusing on using people as tools. By doing so, he may be playing into the Shadow's hands. The two roads probably refer to joining with or fighting against the Shadow. Which one leads to eternal life, which to eternal death? The Chosen servants of the Shadow are granted immortality. The last four questions seem to indicate that all is in a state of confusion, which it is.</p>
<blockquote><p> Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom.<br /> Isam waited in the high passes.<br /> The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill.<br /> One did live, and one did die, but both are.<br /> The Time of Change has come. </p></blockquote>
<p>This gives us a bit of history, and is our first clue as to the identity of Slayer. Luc (Tigraine's brother) was sent into the Blight by Gitara Moroso. Isam (Lan's cousin) vanished when his mother's party was run down by Trollocs when Malkier fell. (Isam's mama was one of the people who betrayed Malkier.) Apparently, Isam and Luc were melded together in some fashion, creating the person Perrin knows as Slayer. The stanza also suggests a connection between Slayer and the Wild Hunt (<a href="http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com/node/179">see section 1.6.4</a>).</p>
<blockquote><p> The Watchers wait on Toman Head.<br /> The seed of the Hammer burns the ancient tree.<br /> Death shall sow, and summer burn, before the Great Lord comes.<br /> Death shall reap, and bodies fail, before the Great Lord comes.<br /> Again the seed slays ancient wrong, before the Great Lord comes. <br /> Now the Great Lord comes. </p></blockquote>
<p>This stanza deals with the Seanchan invasion. The "ancient tree" refers to Tarabon, whose symbol is a tree (supposedly a branch of the Tree of Life). The "seed of the Hammer" are the Seanchan, who claim to be Luthair Paendrag's descendants (Luthair was also known as the Hammer). Thus, the Seanchan have invaded Tarabon. The bit about "summer burn" most likely refers to the recent spate of DO-induced hot weather in Randland. The "bodies fail" bit doesn't seem to have come to pass yet; it's been suggested that there will be a plague of some sort. I have no idea what "ancient wrong" the Seanchan (the seed) are supposed to slay before the Great Lord comes. Perhaps it will be apparent when it happens.</p>
<hr width="50%" align="center" />
<p>[TEOTW: 32, Four Kings in Shadow, 434]</p>
<p>Another possible Dark Prophecy, courtesy of Howal Gode: "It is written that when he (the DO) awakes, the new Dreadlords will be there to praise him."</p>
</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:41:54 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Liang</dc:creator>
<guid isPermaLink="false">168 at http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com</guid>
