The Nine Labours of Rand - revisited

by Linda


In Crossroads of Twilight, Nicola was reported to be making a lot of Foretellings, but the rebel Aes Sedai discounted them, claiming Nicola is merely seeking attention and advancement.

“Ever since we found out she has the Foretelling, she’s been Foretelling two or three times a day, to hear her tell it. Or rather, to hear Areina tell it. Nicola is smart enough to know everyone is aware she can’t remember what she says when she Foretells, but Areina always seems to be there to hear and remember, and help her interpret. Some are the sort of thing anyone in the camp with half a brain and a credulous nature might think of - battles with the Seanchan or the Asha’man, an Amyrlin imprisoned, the Dragon Reborn doing nine impossible things, visions that might be Tarmon Gaidon or a bilious stomach – and the rest all just happen to indicate that Nicola ought to be allowed to go faster with her lessons… I think even most of the other novices have stopped believing her.”

- Crossroads of Twilight, Secrets

Two of these things happened in The Gathering Storm: Egwene was imprisoned by Elaida, and the Seanchan raided the Tower, and the remainder are quite feasible. Further battles with the Seanchan and battles with the Asha’man are all too likely. Therefore I think these Foretellings are genuine, even though they are presented as worthless.

It is one of these Foretellings that I want to discuss further: the Dragon Reborn doing nine impossible things.

What does impossible mean in this context? We’ve seen Nynaeve and Flinn Heal severing/stilling, which everyone said was impossible. So, impossible means nobody else could figure out how to do it and be able to do it.

I think that Rand will do nine ‘impossible’ things, outdoing Nynaeve and Flinn – indeed my theory is that he has already done a few ‘impossible’ things, the first of these being cleansing saidin.

He considered cleansing saidin for quite a while before he worked out how to do it. As early as The Shadow Rising, he saw the necessity of preventing himself and other men from Breaking the World again. He entered the doorway in Tear, asked the Finns how to do it and got a riddle for an answer:

He had asked once, warily, where he knew the answers would be true, how to cleanse the taint from saidin. And got a riddle for an answer.

- The Path of Daggers, Message from the M’Hael

A riddle that was very difficult to solve. Fel couldn’t:

Herid Fel had claimed the riddle stated sound principles, in both high philosophy and natural philosophy, but he had not seen any way to apply it to the problem at hand.

- The Path of Daggers, Message from the M’Hael

Finally Rand worked it out.

Rand had a hint at the answer, or thought he might, a guess that could be disastrously wrong.

- The Path of Daggers, Message from the M’Hael

We have a variety of reactions recorded about the possibility of cleansing saidin all discounting that Rand would work out how to do it, be able to do it or control the Choedan Kal long enough or well enough to do it.

When he asked Asmodean about removing the taint from saidin, Asmodean was scornful:

“The Shadow take me, you must be beginning to think you really are the bloody Creator! We are dead. Both of us. Dead!”

- The Fires of Heaven, Pale Shadows

Taim said

“Cleanse saidin. I think that would take more power than you can imagine.”

- Lord of Chaos, A Woman’s Eyes

Torval, a Darkfriend Asha’man said

“That would be wondrous, but how could anyone short of the Creator or…[the Dark One/Great Lord]?”

- The Path of Daggers, Message from the M’Hael

Osan’gar’s comments are also negative:

“I doubt that even I could devise a method to remove the Great Lord’s shadow from saidin. Al’Thor is a primitive. Anything he tries inevitably will prove insufficient, and I for one, cannot believe he can even imagine how to begin.”

- Winter’s Heart, Wonderful News

Osan’gar/Aginor is a fool, although a knowledgeable one.

Once the Forsaken realise Rand plans to use the Choedan Kal, they fear that Rand will crack the word instead:

“He could shatter the world just trying to use the Choedan Kal.”

- Winter’s Heart, Wonderful News

The Choedan Kal are so dangerous to use that it’s a wonder Rand and Nynaeve achieved anything with them at all, let alone did so much with them. Cyndane:

spoke of the Choedan Kal as one familiar with the terror they had inspired during the War of Power. Only balefire had been more feared, and only just.

- Winter’s Heart, Wonderful News

And finally neither Lews Therin nor Cadsuane’s group were encouraging either:

Dangerous, Lews Therin moaned. Madness. …[Nesune says] “By everything I have read, the attempt to use those sa’angreal may result in disaster. Together they might be strong enough to crack the world like an egg.”…Like an egg! Lews Therin agreed. They were never tested, never tried. This is insane!

- Winter’s Heart, With the Choedan Kal

All these groups discounted the possibility that he would cleanse saidin successfully. Rand himself knew that it was a very risky plan, but a necessary one.

He had to talk to Nynaeve. Could he cleanse saidin? It might work. It might destroy the world, too. Lews Therin gibbered at him in stark terror.

- The Path of Daggers, Answering the Summons

Rand’s ta’veren pull on the Pattern, his strength and his intelligence brought everything together to achieve this most unlikely deed:

• He solved the riddle and worked out the method.


• He had the two access keys to the Choedan Kal. They were in an obscure place (Rhuidean) and he had to fight Asmodean, a Forsaken, to get them. The access keys and the Choedan Kal also survived being used at such high levels for such a long period – to Moghedien’s surprise:
  

  Amazing that the Choedan Kal had survived continuous use for this long, at this level.
  - Winter’s Heart, With the Choedan Kal
  

  In fact, the female access key disintegrated at the end of the cleansing.
  

  Cadsuane let the thing that had been a ter’angreal drop to the ground. It could no longer be called the statue of a woman. The face was as wisely serene as ever, but the figure was broken in two and lump like bubbled wax where one side had melted, including the arm that had held the crystal sphere now lying in shattered fragments around the ruined thing.
  - Winter’s Heart, With the Choedan Kal
  



• He had a very strong and trustworthy female channeller in Nynaeve to link with.


• Both Rand and Nynaeve had the strength of character and body as well as in the Power to stay the course.


• He had Cadsuane to plan his defences. With 6 Forsaken attacking the hilltop where the cleansing took place, Cadsuane’s defences were essential to success.

After the cleansing at the end of Winter’s Heart, there were 3 types of reaction from those that knew:

1. Logain knows saidin is clean but doesn’t believe Rand did it:

The man knew saidin was clean, but he could not believe Rand or any man had actually done the cleansing. Did he think the Creator had decided to stretch out a merciful hand after three thousand years of suffering?
- Crossroads of Twilight, A Strengthening Storm

2. Cadsuane and the other Aes Sedai who were actually present at the cleansing took a long while to believe saidin is clean. (They have too many prejudices to overcome. But believing something is impossible is a prejudice in itself.) Merise replied to Cadsuane:

“I do not know, Cadsuane. It feels cleaner than when I first linked with Jahar, but anything could hide in that chaos. Anything.”

- Crossroads of Twilight, Ornaments

3. Those with Elayne think something wonderful was done. Sumeko says

‘I think something very wonderful or very terrible has happened today.” [Elayne replies:] “Wonderful”.

- Crossroads of Twilight, What Wise Ones Know.

The reaction of these groups shows that people consider the cleansing of the taint from saidin as beyond mortals, possibly not even achieved or else amazing. In other words: impossible.

Why nine impossible things? Well, the number nine is strongly associated with the dragon in Chinese thought. The dragon is the most yang animal and nine is the most yang number. Both the dragon and the number nine were linked with the Chinese emperor. Chinese dragon robes, traditional court dress in Imperial China, had nine dragons on them. The dragon was regarded as a composite of nine animal forms and it had nine offshoots or protruberances from its body. It had 81 (9 x 9)scales along its back.

Foretellings, of course, are of the future. Nicola’s Foretelling was told offhand to Egwene five days after the Cleansing. It was one of several Foretellings mentioned as a complaint about how Nicola has been Foretelling two or three times a day for some time. It is quite possible Nicola made this Foretelling prior to the Cleansing.

The removal of the taint was not the only amazing achievement that day: Rand and Nynaeve also destroyed Shadar Logoth and Mashadar by making the two inimical and opposite powers annihilate each other. This too is an ‘impossible deed’. Two for one, you might say. The only representation of the evil of Shadar Logoth left in the world now is Mordeth.

Rand performed two more ‘impossible’ deeds in The Gathering Storm: he channelled the True Power through his link to Moridin, while wearing an a’dam, no less. Something Lews Therin believed impossible:

Oh, Light, Lews Therin suddenly screamed. That's impossible!

- The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could Be Done

Then he broke a cuendillar a’dam collar while it was on his neck and in operation.

Cadsuane pulled back the sheets, revealing a familiar pair of bracelets. There was no collar.
"Impossible," she whispered.

- The Gathering Storm, A Warp in the Air

Rand has other ‘impossible’ deeds in mind: he would like to cleanse the Ways (that could be a fifth), defeat the Dark One, and die but continue to live. An easy seven!

Four impossible things done, five to go.


The title of this theory refers to Rand’s strong similarities with the Ancient Greek hero Heracles [Hercules] who performed twelve labours (see Rand essay).

Treasonous Thoughts

by Linda

This is a theory I thought of while spending weeks compiling the myriad laws and customs of Aes Sedai.

Egwene has had a dream of her own impending execution by beheading:

Straps at waist and shoulder held her tightly to the block, and the headsman’s axe descended, but she knew that somewhere someone was running, and if they ran fast enough, the axe would stop. If not…

- A Crown Of Swords, Unseen Eyes

Beheading is a punishment in the White Tower. According to White Tower law, treason is one crime that requires the headsman, as do crimes such as the “vileness” after the Aiel War (illegal gentling of men and murder of Aes Sedai).

"Well, what's one treason more or less? The Hall can put you on your knees from here to Tarmon Gai'don for penance, but they can only take your heads once."

- A Crown of Swords, Diamonds and Stars

“I look forward to seeing your neck stretched on the headsman’s block for treason,”

- Crossroads of Twilight, A Mark

Elaida is about to meet Egwene again after some time. So far Elaida has been merciful to Egwene, despite Egwene's claim to be Amyrlin. Falsely claiming to be the Amyrlin is a crime for which stilling is mandatory:

"Any woman who falsely claims the title of Amyrlin Seat must be stilled."

- A Crown of Swords, Prologue

but since one “cannot refuse a summons to become Amyrlin” (Lord of Chaos, In The Hall of the Sitters) and further, Egwene was raised from the Accepted, who “can’t choose which sisters to obey” (Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue), Elaida was able to declare Egwene not at fault.

However, since her kidnapping, Egwene has committed another treasonable offence, namely informing the rank-and-file Aes Sedai of the existence of the Thirteenth Depository (the secret histories of the Aes Sedai) and even their contents:

Access to those secret histories, hidden deep in the Tower library, was set out in a law that was itself secret, and revealing the existence of either records or law was treason.

- A Crown of Swords, An Oath

I think that during Egwene’s imminent attendance on Elaida, there will be an interruption either of sisters demanding an answer on the Thirteenth Depository, or Sitters or Ajah Heads to complain that the rank-and-file know about it and Egwene’s actions will be exposed. This will be a crime Elaida will not be able to shift away form Egwene; nor will she desire to, since Egwene’s aim is to incite the Aes Sedai to rise up and depose Elaida.

Though, of course, assaulting the Amyrlin is also considered treason, so hopefully Egwene doesn’t lose her considerable self-control while she attends Elaida.

Probably only the arrival of the Seanchan will prevent the axe falling on Egwene.

Mat Naked and Bound

by Linda

This theory explains a vision Perrin had of Mat:

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.

- The Shadow Rising, To the Tower of Ghenjei

While Mat acquired his medallion and ashanderai back in The Shadow Rising, this dream has not been fulfilled.

In Knife of Dreams, Mat promised that he would accompany Thom to the world of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn to try and rescue Moraine. It is an extremely dangerous venture, as Moiraine warned them in her letter. Death or captivity are likely.

The Elfinn’s custom of wearing human leather support this. Moreover, Mat even threatened to an Elfinn that he would skin him if he cheated Mat:

“Never think you have caught a babe in your snare. If you try to cheat me, I will have your hide for a saddlecloth.”
The fellow started, pale eyes widening, then shrugged and adjusted the silver--studded straps across his chest; his mocking smile seemed tailored to draw attention to what he was doing. Suddenly Mat found himself wondering where that pale leather came from. Surely not. . . . Oh, Light, I think it is. He managed to stop himself from swallowing, but only just. “Lead, you son of a goat. Your hide is not worth silver studding. Take me where I want to go.”
With a snarl, the man hurried on, stiff-backed. Mat did not care if the fellow was offended. He did wish he had just one knife, though. I’ll be burned if I’ll let some fox-faced goat-brain make a harness out of my hide.

- The Shadow Rising, Rhuidean

Judging by the Eelfinn’s reaction, this may be a foreshadowing that Mat’s threat was not a good idea, especially since Moiraine stressed that their success would depend on heeding the rules to the Foxes and Snakes game:

A final point. Remember what you know about the game of Snakes and Foxes. Remember, and heed.

According to Birgitte in The Shadow Rising, To The Tower of Ghenjei, the game Foxes and Snakes is a “remembrance of old dealings” with the Aelfinn and Eelfinn and it is a game:

you would not win so long as you followed the rules.

- Lord of Chaos, Courage to Strengthen.

You only win against the Foxes and Snakes if you cheat.

I believe that the vision shows one of Mat’s experiences in the world of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn during the rescue attempt, and that, as foreshadowed in The Shadow Rising, Mat is in danger of providing leather for an Eelfinn’s garment.

In Perrin’s vision Mat is bound and captive. He is wearing nothing except for his medallion and ashanderei. The fact that these two powerful and useful items were given to Mat by the Elfinn is the crucial clue that this vision is of Mat’s forthcoming trip to the Aelfinn’s and Eelfinn’s world. The Aelfinn and Eelfinn set great store in their agreement not being violated; the Aelfinn even answered Mat’s questions while the connection with the main world was in danger:

“If you do not go to Rhuidean,” the woman on the right said, “you will die.”
The bell tolled again, louder this time; Mat felt its tremor through his boots. The looks the three shared were plainly anxious. He opened his mouth, but they were only concerned with each other.
“The strain,” one of the women said hurriedly. “It is too great.”
“The savor of him,” the other woman said on her heels. “It has been so very long.”
Before she was done the man spoke. “The strain is too great. Too great. Ask. Ask!”

- The Shadow Rising, Into the Doorway

Having given the medallion and ashanderei to Mat as part of a bargain, forcibly taking them back would violate that bargain, since like Mat said: he paid for them:

He could always make a new bow for himself, but he was not going to abandon the ashandarei. I paid too high a price for the bloody thing to leave it, he thought, fingering the scar hidden beneath the scarf around his neck…

"I bought [the ashanderei]."
"I will give you ten times the price you paid," [Tuon] said. "Name it."
He almost laughed. He wanted to, and not for pleasure, that was certain sure. No would you think of selling, just I will buy it and here is what I will pay. "The price wasn't gold, my Lady." Involuntarily, his hand went to the black scarf to make sure it still hid the ridged scar that encircled his neck. "Only a fool would pay it one time, let alone ten."

- Winter’s Heart, An Offer

That is why Mat has been stripped of everything except the ashanderei and medallion.

Thus all elements of the vision are explained: Moiraine assured Mat that the rescue attempt could well result in death or captivity, there is foreshadowing that the Elfinn will be after Mat’s hide, especially if they consider he is cheating the agreement (which Moiraine hinted would be necessary to win against the Aelfinn and Eelfinn) and Mat is naked except for the very items the Eelfinn gave him as part of their bargain in The Shadow Rising. (If the Aelfinn or Eelfinn break the agreement they can hardly object to Mat and co doing the same).

So while Mat is alive the Aelfinn and Eelfinn can’t take the medallion and ashanderei back. While he is alive. In Perrin’s vision poor Mat looks like he is trussed up and ready for skinning…

First Strike by Aes Sedai Damane

by Linda

This theory explains how the Seanchan will finally be able to use Aes Sedai damane as weapons.

Egwene had a dream of a long line of women wearing Great Serpent rings using the One Power against the White Tower:

She had dreamed of the Seanchan, too, of women in dresses with lightning bolts woven on their breasts, collaring a long line of women who wore Great Serpent rings, forcing them to call lightning against the White Tower.

- The Dragon Reborn, Questions

Women wearing such rings are Accepted or Aes Sedai. While an Accepted is not bound by the Three Oaths against using the One Power as a weapon, and thus could easily fulfil this dream, there aren’t a great many of them. The Seanchan would have to get hold of them all and then some. Since Egwene dreamt of a lot of ring-wearing damane, Aes Sedai damane must be participating also. There are many Aes Sedai out of the Tower, two thirds of the Aes Sedai, in fact - Cadsuane’s and Rand’s factions, captives from the Tower, rebels and complete independents - that the Seanchan could collar before they need raid the Tower itself.

Readers have expressed doubts this dream could be fulfilled by Aes Sedai damane due to the Oath against using the Power as a weapon apparently overriding the a’dam, but it is quite possible. After all, the Oath makes exceptions: the One Power can be used as a weapon against Shadowspawn, or if the life of the Aes Sedai, her Warder's life or that of another sister is in very great danger.

The Seanchan know almost nothing about the Oaths Aes Sedai swear, but they do know that they have been unable to make Aes Sedai damane lie, or to use the One Power as a weapon. So far the Seanchan have found the few Aes Sedai damane to be useless as weapons, as is spoken of openly among Deathwatch Guards such as Karede, and der’suldam.

Still, she [Mylen, an Aes Sedai damane] could do nothing without Melitene, and she was useless as a weapon, a fact that had made her hang her head when he [Karede] pointed it out to the der’sul'dam.

- Knife of Dreams, Under an Oak

This is about to change.

Unlike on the mainland, all the Seanchan military analyse battles and discuss possible improvements in tactics:

“They call their army the Ever Victorious Army for a reason. It’s never lost a war. Battles, yes, but never a war. When they lose a battle, they sit down and work out what they did wrong, or what the enemy did right. Then they change what needs changing for them to win… The Seanchan all do it. That’s been their way for a thousand years. They change what they have to change, but they don’t give up.”

- Crossroads of Twilight, Ornaments

The inability of Aes Sedai damane to be used as weapons is a weakness as the Seanchan see it. But thanks to a tongue-flapping Aes Sedai, that is about to change. Musenge, Karede’s second, was present when three Aes Sedai were part of Mat’s forces which wiped out a large number of rabble:

"You could join in any time, Joline," he [Mat] said. "Third rank! Loose!"
The Aes Sedai shook her head irritably. "I must be in danger. I don't feel in danger yet." Teslyn nodded. She was watching the charge as if it were a parade, and a not very interesting one at that…
"I think," Joline said slowly. "Yes. I feel in danger, now." Teslyn simply drew back her hand and threw a sphere of fire larger than a horse's head. The explosion hurled dirt and pieces of men and horses into the air. It was about bloody time! Facing in three directions, the Aes Sedai began hurling fireballs as fast as they could swing their arms, but the devastation they wrought did nothing to slow the attack.

- Knife of Dreams, Prince of the Ravens

This battle will surely be much discussed by the Seanchan: the Prince of the Ravens, Tylin’s Toy, in command and winning against large numbers, the use of shrapnel grenades, and Aes Sedai using the One Power as a weapon. Of their own will. Something the Seanchan want to get them to do.

So now the Seanchan have the secret: the Aes Sedai can use the Power as a weapon, if they feel in personal danger, if they feel their lives depend on it. The first testing of this would be putting an Aes Sedai damane and her sul’dam right in the front line of battle – with the sul’dam’s fear magnified through the a’dam and added to her own sense of danger, the Aes Sedai damane will be able to fight. However, this is limiting Aes Sedai damane to the climax of the battle or to defence. According to Egwene’s dream, Aes Sedai are going to be forced to call lightning against the Tower, forced to attack it, strike first. How? They will be made afraid enough of their personal safety to do so. Just as Musenge heard Joline say.

When Egwene was first captured, she was frightened and coerced with horror stories of mutilation of damane who were not obedient:

Damane are too valuable to be killed out of hand, but you might find yourself not only soundly punished, but absent a tongue to speak or hands to write. Damane can do what they must without these things.

- The Great Hunt, Damane

As a reminder, this maltreatment surfaced again in the later books. In Crossroads of Twilight, mutilations were passed off as rare, but it was reluctantly admitted they do happen:

“Are you certain about the Windfinders who were caught? I’ve heard talk about cutting off hands, or feet.” Mat swallowed a sour taste…
Egeanin’s head jerked, and for a moment he thought she would ignore his question. “Talk from Renna, I’ll wager,” she said, with a dismissive gesture. “Some sul’dam talk about that nonsense to frighten recalcitrant damane when they’re new-leashed, but nobody’s done it in, oh, six or seven hundred years. Not many, anyway, and people who can’t control their property without...mutilation...are sei’mosiev to start.” …
“Shamed or not, they do it,” he snapped.

- Crossroads of Twilight, Time To Be Gone

Mat was right, mutilations might be rare, but they happen. If a couple of Aes Sedai damane were mutilated in front of the others, all the Aes Sedai damane would be very afraid for themselves. And of all damane, those who are/were Aes Sedai would be the ones most likely to be maltreated by the Seanchan because the Seanchan all fear Aes Sedai and fear incites violence and cruelty. Cruelty out of necessity is an unpleasant and persistent undercurrent in the books. Even the good guys are prepared to mutilate: Perrin did so trying to get information from an Aiel. (And the moral issues involved in interrogating Darkfriends are becoming important in Elayne’s and Cadsuane’s groups.) If dire threats of mutilation are carried out on Aes Sedai damane for disobedience, then from the Aes Sedai damane’s point of view, their lives will depend on obeying their sul’dam and disobeying them becomes very dangerous. So much so that when their sul’dam say: “Attack or we will kill you”, when a knife is literally or figuratively held at their throats, they will believe and fear for their lives enough to overcome the Oath and attack with the Power.

Snap.

Aes Sedai damane will be forced to use the One Power against the Tower. Just as Egwene dreamt.

A Time For Iron: Moiraine's Rescue

by Linda

In Knife of Dreams, A Village in Shiota, Mat agreed to go with Thom (and another man - probably Noal, since he volunteered) to the world of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn to rescue Moiraine. Moiraine emphasised in her letter that this would be a very risky venture, and that the game Foxes and Snakes will be useful in indicating the way to successfully beat the ‘Finns.

Foxes and Snakes is actually an account of dealings with the Aelfinn and Eelfinn and shows players that the only way to beat the ‘Finns is to cheat. The game is started by chanting: "Courage to strengthen, fire to blind, music to daze, iron to bind" and making the sign of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn: the triangle and the wavy line through it. When Mat went into the doorway ter’angreals, he was asked:

"You have brought no lamps, no torches, as the agreement was, and is, and ever will be. You have no iron? No instruments of music?"

- The Shadow Rising, Into the Doorway

The Finns appear to be vulnerable to these things: when Rand felt threatened in the realm of the Aelfinn he made a sword of fire, which they could not bear to look at (The Shadow Rising, Into the Doorway). Since these four items are prohibited in the agreement, smuggling them in - or the materials for creating them - would be the way to beat the Aelfinn and Eelfinn; to cheat them.

Courage they already have, since they dare to go at all, knowing the risks. Music, too; Thom’s bard’s voice is a musical instrument. Or he could construct a simple instrument such as a flute or pan-pipes 'on the run' from a wooden tube taken into their world. It can be cut to length/s and/or finger holes carved in it. (I notice that the cover of Towers of Midnight shows Noal carrying a rod.) Another instrument that could be made in Finnland is a mouth harp. Being a drone instrument it has been used as an aid to induce trances and is associated with magic ("music to daze"). Melodies can be made by changing the shape of the mouth to create different overtones.

For fire there are Aludra’s "firesticks," or ‘strikers’, matches by any other name:

"Aludra had everyone trying out her strikers, or firesticks . . . They certainly would light a fire or a lamp. They could also burst into flame if the blue-gray heads rubbed against each other or anything else rough."

- The Fires of Heaven, A Question of Crimson

Mat is familiar with these and could take some to make fire at will.

Iron is more problematic. Some have suggested Mat’s ashanderei for iron, but Mat actually acquired the ashanderei from the Eelfinn, so presumably it doesn’t intimidate them too much. Iron would be the trickiest thing to smuggle in. Cuendillar is a possibility, since it starts out as iron, but they currently don’t have access to any. Another possibility could be blood. It contains iron. The Finns themselves are always described as very pale – as though they don’t have iron-rich blood like us.

Egwene had a Dream which seems to describe Moiraine’s rescue:

Mat throwing dice with blood streaming down his face, while Thom Merrilyn put his hand into a fire to draw out the small blue stone that now dangled on Moiraine’s forehead.

- The Fires of Heaven, What Can Be Learned In Dreams

The kesiera is something personal of Moiraine’s and is therefore symbolic of her. The dream shows the dangers: Mat is injured in the face, but he still rolls the dice. I.e. He is relying on his luck while bravely playing the game against the ‘Finns. Thom is putting his hand into a fire – knowingly risking death or injury – to save Moiraine.

The dream seems to contain the four prohibited items of courage (Thom’s and Mat’s actions), music (Thom himself), fire (matches) and iron (the blood on Mat’s face). According to the rhyme, the iron is to ‘bind’ in some way. In our world, blood was often used to make agreements binding. I don’t think the three men will think of this; I think that it will be one of Mat’s ‘lucky’ rolls of the dice; he is injured in the face (eg by losing an eye) and the resulting blood turns events in their favour.

The dice in the dream may refer to the game of Foxes and Snakes and that they need to use their knowledge of this game to effect a rescue. It could also mean they rely on Mat’s luck to succeed. Even with luck, knowledge, cunning and determination, the venture is still very risky and any one of them could die or become a captive of the Finns.

Egwene’s dream appears to be a very neat precognitive summary of what is needed. Alas that a time for iron involves blood-letting for Mat, even if it does get Moiraine back.

Shelter From The Shadow

by Linda

The ter’angreal, the gizmos of the Power, have some very interesting and useful functions. The blunt dagger ter’angreal found in the Ebou Dar cache is a good case in point.

It is a small dagger with gold wire wrapped around a hilt of rough deerhorn, and a wide, unsharpened blade. Aviendha says of it:

"I think that if you have this in your possession, the Shadow cannot see you. Not the Eyeless or the Shadowtwisted, maybe not even Leafblighter…This knife makes a kind of warding.

- Knife of Dreams, A Different Skill

She thinks that if you have the ter’angreal in your possession, the Shadow, including Shadowspawn and possibly even the Dark One, cannot see you due to the warding it makes. No channelling is required.

It struck me that the best use for this ter'angreal would be for Rand to carry to Shayol Ghul when he goes to confront the Dark One. Essential even. If Aviendha is right, and the warding is as strong as she thinks, the Dark One won't sense Rand's approach. The advantage with the dagger is that Rand doesn't have to channel or fiddle around with masking his ability and preparing inverted weaves and the like. Instead, he can concentrate on his target and what he has to do.

True, when Lews Therin went to the Pit of Doom in the Age of Legends he got in, sealed the Bore and got out again alive, albeit at considerable cost, but Lews Therin and the Companions caught the Shadow by surprise. The Shadow won’t let that happen again.

This ter'angreal alone would explain the Aiel Dreamwalkers' dream that with the Bowl of Winds is a treasure perhaps as great as the Bowl (Lord of Chaos, Matters of Toh). Yet from among the items found with the Bowl, Aviendha has also identified a white bowl ter’angreal that enables someone to look at things far away, and several ter’angreal (jewellery and figurines) which are long distance communications devices (Knife of Dreams, A Different Skill) all of which would be useful for organising and coordinating the Last Battle. No wonder the Dreamwalkers were keen that those allied to the Light find the Bowl, and the treasure, the cache, with it.

As for the blunt dagger, Aviendha thinks only of protecting Elayne from the Shadow, but it is Rand who will need it more than anyone, since he is going to Shayol Ghul itself. It is because Rand's lovers and friends don’t want certain events to happen that they have blinded themselves to what they could and should be doing – planning how to maximise his chances of success. Rand should take the dagger with him to hide from the Shadow.

The Woman in Shadow

by Linda

This theory explains one of Egwene’s dreams. Her dream was:

a woman, face shrouded in shadow, beckoned him [Mat] toward great danger; Egwene did not know what, only that it was monstrous.

- Lord Of Chaos, A Pile of Sand

The woman in shadow has been interpreted to be a Darkfriend or Forsaken since she is calling Mat into something extremely dangerous. But this is not the only possibility.

Egwene does not see or recognise much in this dream and this is not unusual. (It also fits in with Jordan’s theme that no one knows everything.) For instance, Egwene had two dreams of a sword-wielding Tinker with Perrin:

…A man in a bright yellow coat stood near to Perrin's shoulder, a sword strapped to his back; in some way she knew that he was a Tinker, though no Tinker would ever touch a sword… Every time he moved closer to Perrin it was if a chill of doom shot through everything.

- The Fires Of Heaven, What Can Be Learned in Dreams

Perrin and a Tinker, frenziedly hacking their way through brambles with axe and sword, unaware of the cliff that lay just ahead. And the brambles screamed with human voices they did not hear.

- The Path Of Daggers, Stronger than Written Law

yet did not recognise him as Aram, even though she lived with Aram’s family for a couple of days in The Eye of the World. This is partly due to context: having met and liked Aram when he followed the Way of the Leaf, how could she imagine his descent into bloodthirstiness and his corruption by Masema? He became almost a completely different person.

I think the woman in shadow is also someone out of context; someone Egwene knows, but would not expect to have prophetic dreams of because she is believed to be dead: Moiraine. Moiraine cannot be ‘seen’ in the dream because she is not in the main world, but in the world of the Alfinn and Eelfinn and thus so remote from the main world and out of context that in Egwene’s dream her image is shadowy. (Of course it doesn’t harm the surprise either. ;))

Moiraine, through her letter to Thom, beckons Mat (and Thom and another man) into that world to save her – a task of extreme danger as the letter warns:

It also may be that you and Mat Cauthon and another, a man I do not know, will try to rescue me…If you try, it must be only you and Mat and one other. More will mean death for all. Fewer will mean death for all. Even if you come only with Mat and one other, death also may come. I have seen you try and die, one or two or all three. I have seen myself die in the attempt. I have seen all of us live and die as captives.

- Knife of Dreams, A Village in Shiota

So the woman in shadow could well be Moiraine, who is held by beings Birgitte said were ‘so alien they might as well be evil’ (The Shadow Rising, To the Tower of Ghenjei), who perhaps has also been affected by some trap or wish of shadow-souled Lanfear and who Egwene believes is dead. No wonder Egwene did not recognise her. And Moiraine is beckoning Mat and two other men into great danger.

Mat has agreed to go to the world of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn and brave this great danger. This will be his third trip to their world: in some tales doing something three times has a marked, even magical, effect and this may be the case here. Let us hope, if this is so, that it is a positive one.

The Nine Labours of Rand

by Linda


In Crossroads of Twilight, Nicola is reported to be making a lot of Foretellings, but the Aes Sedai with Egwene are discounting them, claiming Nicola is merely seeking attention and advancement.

“Ever since we found out she has the Foretelling, she’s been Foretelling two or three times a day, to hear her tell it. Or rather, to hear Areina tell it. Nicola is smart enough to know everyone is aware she can’t remember what she says when she Foretells, but Areina always seems to be there to hear and remember, and help her interpret. Some are the sort of thing anyone in the camp with half a brain and a credulous nature might think of - battles with the Seanchan or the Ashaman, an Amyrlin imprisoned, the Dragon Reborn doing nine impossible things, visions that might be Tarmon Gaidon or a bilious stomach – and the rest all just happen to indicate that Nicola ought to be allowed to go faster with her lessons… I think even most of the other novices have stopped believing her.”

- Crossroads of Twilight, Secrets

On closer inspection though, the Foretellings are feasible – the battles with the Seanchan and the Ashaman are all too likely and as for an Amyrlin being imprisoned, Egwene has been captured and is now fomenting discord and also revealing the existence of the Thirteenth Depository in the White Tower, both of which are serious crimes, so she could well be imprisoned. But then, so could Elaida. Therefore I think these Foretellings are genuine, even though they are presented as worthless.

It is one of these Foretellings that I want to discuss further: the Dragon Reborn doing nine impossible things.

What does impossible mean in this context? We’ve seen Nynaeve and Flinn Heal severing/stilling, which everyone said was impossible. So, impossible means nobody else could figure out how to do it and be able to do it.

I think that Rand will do 9 ‘impossible’ things, outdoing Nynaeve and Flinn – indeed my theory is that he has already done the first ‘impossible’ thing. He has cleansed saidin.

He considered cleansing saidin for quite a while before he worked out how to do it. As early as The Shadow Rising, he saw the necessity of preventing himself and other men from Breaking the World again. He entered the doorway in Tear, asked the Finns how to do it and got a riddle for an answer:

He had asked once, warily, where he knew the answers would be true, how to cleanse the taint from saidin. And got a riddle for an answer.

- The Path of Daggers, Message from the M’Hael

A riddle that was very difficult to solve. Fel couldn’t:

Herid Fel had claimed the riddle stated sound principles, in both high philosophy and natural philosophy, but he had not seen any way to apply it to the problem at hand.

- The Path of Daggers, Message from the M’Hael

Finally Rand worked it out.

Rand had a hint at the answer, or thought he might, a guess that could be disastrously wrong.

- The Path of Daggers, Message from the M’Hael

We have a variety of reactions recorded about the possibility of cleansing saidin all discounting that Rand would work out how to do it, be able to do it or control the Choedan Kal long enough or well enough to do it.

When he asked Asmodean about removing the taint from saidin, Asmodean was scornful:

“The Shadow take me, you must be beginning to think you really are the bloody Creator! We are dead. Both of us. Dead!”

- The Fires of Heaven, Pale Shadows

Taim said

“Cleanse saidin. I think that would take more power than you can imagine.”

- Lord of Chaos, A Woman’s Eyes

Torval, a Darkfriend Ashaman said

“That would be wondrous, but how could anyone short of the Creator or…[the Dark One/Great Lord]?”

- The Path of Daggers, Message from the M’Hael

Osangar’s comments are also negative:

“I doubt that even I could devise a method to remove the Great Lord’s shadow from saidin. Al’Thor is a primitive. Anything he tries inevitably will prove insufficient, and I for one, cannot believe he can even imagine how to begin.”

- Winter’s Heart, Wonderful News

Osangar/Aginor is a fool, although a knowledgeable one.

Once the Forsaken realise Rand plans to use the Choedan Kal, they fear that Rand will crack the word instead:

“He could shatter the world just trying to use the Choedan Kal.”

- Winter’s Heart, Wonderful News

The Choedan Kal are so dangerous to use that it’s a wonder Rand and Nynaeve achieved anything with them at all, let alone did so much with them. Cyndane:

spoke of the Choedan Kal as one familiar with the terror they had inspired during the War of Power. Only balefire had been more feared, and only just.

- Winter’s Heart, Wonderful News

And finally neither Lews Therin nor Cadsuane’s group were encouraging either:

Dangerous, Lews Therin moaned. Madness. …[Nesune says] “By everything I have read, the attempt to use those sa’angreal may result in disaster. Together they might be strong enough to crack the world like an egg.”…Like an egg! Lews Therin agreed. They were never tested, never tried. This is insane!

- Winter’s Heart, With the Choedan Kal

All these groups discounted the possibility that he would cleanse saidin successfully. Rand himself knew that it was a very risky plan, but a necessary one.

He had to talk to Nynaeve. Could he cleanse saidin? It might work. It might destroy the world, too. Lews Therin gibbered at him in stark terror.

- The Path of Daggers, Answering the Summons

Rand’s taveren pull on the Pattern, his strength and his intelligence brought everything together to achieve this most unlikely deed:

• He solved the riddle and worked out the method.


• He had the two access keys to the Choedan Kal. They were in an obscure place (Rhuidean) and he had to fight Asmodean, a Forsaken, to get them. The access keys and the Choedan Kal also survived being used at such high levels for such a long period – to Moghedien’s surprise:
  

  Amazing that the Choedan Kal had survived continuous use for this long, at this level.
  - Winter’s Heart, With the Choedan Kal
  

  In fact, the female access key disintegrated at the end of the cleansing.
  

  Cadsuane let the thing that had been a terangreal drop to the ground. It could no longer be called the statue of a woman. The face was as wisely serene as ever, but the figure was broken in two and lump like bubbled wax where one side had melted, including the arm that had held the crystal sphere now lying in shattered fragments around the ruined thing.
  - Winter’s Heart, With the Choedan Kal
  



• He had a very strong and trustworthy female channeller in Nynaeve to link with.


• Both Rand and Nynaeve had the strength of character and body as well as in the Power to stay the course.


• He had Cadsuane to plan his defences. With 6 Forsaken attacking the hilltop where the cleansing took place, Cadsuane’s defences were essential to success.

After the cleansing at the end of Winter’s Heart, there were 3 types of reaction from those that knew:

1. Logain knows saidin is clean but doesn’t believe Rand did it:

The man knew saidin was clean, but he could not believe Rand or any man had actually done the cleansing. Did he think the Creator had decided to stretch out a merciful hand after three thousand years of suffering?
- Crossroads of Twilight, A Strengthening Storm

2. Cadsuane and the other Aes Sedai who were actually present at the cleansing don’t believe saidin is clean. (They have too many prejudices to overcome. But believing something is impossible is a prejudice in itself.) Merise replies to Cadsuane:

“I do not know, Cadsuane. It feels cleaner than when I first linked with Jahar, but anything could hide in that chaos. Anything.”

- Crossroads of Twilight, Ornaments

3. Those with Elayne think something wonderful was done. Sumeko says

‘I think something very wonderful or very terrible has happened today.” [Elayne replies:] “Wonderful”.

- Crossroads of Twilight, What Wise Ones Know.

The reaction of these groups shows that people consider the cleansing of the taint from saidin as beyond mortals, not achieved or else amazing. In other words: impossible.

Foretellings, of course, are of the future. Nicola’s Foretelling was told offhand to Egwene five days after the Cleansing. It was one of several Foretellings mentioned as a complaint about how Nicola has been Foretelling two or three times a day for some time. It is quite possible Nicola made this Foretelling prior to the Cleansing.

The removal of the taint was not the only amazing achievement that day: Rand and Nynaeve also destroyed Shadar Logoth and Mashadar. This too is an ‘impossible deed’. Two for one, you might say. The only representation of the evil of Shadar Logoth left in the world now is Mordeth.

Rand has other deeds in mind: he would like to cleanse the Ways (that could be a third), defeat the Dark One, and die but continue to live. An easy five!

Two impossible things done, seven to go.


The title of this theory refers to Rand’s strong similarities with the Ancient Greek hero Heracles [Hercules] who performed twelve labours (see Rand essay).

Perrin the Blacksmith

By Linda

This theory looks at other contributions Perrin may make to the Last Battle aside from his role as Wolf King and berserker warrior.

In the early books of the series, which so often set up themes or events that become crucial much later, Perrin’s training as a blacksmith is prominent. This culminated in Perrin working in a forge on-screen in Tear. The smith pronounced Perrin’s work as his master’s piece and gave him the hammer as a token of this and how Perrin should return to smithing. (The hammer also has Masonic associations: it is symbolic of the Master of the Lodge.)

In earlier times the whole society depended on their blacksmiths to forge their weapons and tools (it’s why Aiel blacksmiths can’t be taken gai’shain). Since The Dragon Reborn, the only forging Perrin has done is organising the armament and disposition of his forces, tempering them and himself into something stronger. The techniques he learned in his craft have been adapted by him quite effectively to his duties. Yet he may also make something physically that is needed for the Last Battle.

Perrin reminds himself (and us) regularly of his underused potential as an artisan:

Did he even remember what a good forge hammer felt like?

- A Crown of Swords, High Chasaline

but he hasn’t crafted anything of vital import yet.

What could Perrin make?

Perrin may have an input into the design or use of Mat’s gunpowder weapons in Caemlyn, just as Prometheus, a parallel of Mat, ‘borrowed’ the smith god Hephaestus’ fire.

Or perhaps an important sword, such as Justice, is broken and he reforges it.

Perrin may refuse to be involved in making weapons – he hasn’t made any, or assisted in the making of them before, even though his mentor Haral Luhhan made a battleaxe for merchant’s guard, the very axe Perrin carried for so long and of high enough quality that Child Byar said it was made by a master:

He [Byar] hefted the axe and gave a surprised grunt, then whirled it in a tight arc above his head that barely missed the top of the tent. He handled it as surely as if he had been born with an axe in his hands. A look of grudging admiration flickered across his face, but by the time he lowered the axe he was expressionless once more.
"Excellently balanced, my Lord Captain. Plainly made, but by a very good weaponsmith, perhaps even a master." His eyes burned darkly at the prisoners. "Not a villager's weapon, my Lord Captain. Nor a farmer's."

- The Eye of the World, Children of Shadow

This confirms the high standard of Perrin’s training. (And that Perrin and Byar yet have unfinished business. Note that one smith supplied Perrin’s axe and the other his hammer.)

Perhaps Perrin makes something crucial for the Last Battle or Fourth Age out of iron that is turned into cuendillar (by, say, Egwene). The women doing the forging of magical items need materials to start with - the coins that Elayne made into the a'dam, the iron articles that were turned to cuendillar – and these were made by craftsmen such as Perrin. It is an example of the balance theme, and the necessity for both sexes to work together.

Perrin is close to two groups with great craftsmen: the Ogier, who are brilliant artisans and slow like Perrin (he even fights with an axe, like Ogier do), and the Tinkers, who are brilliant menders. Both these groups have an important part to play in the Last Battle. I think that Perrin’s skills – on a physical as well as metaphorical level – will also directly contribute to that victory. Certainly representatives of all three groups – Ogier, Tinker and Aiel - were with Perrin and contributed to the great victory in the Two Rivers. From the beginning of the series the Two Rivers has been a microcosm of the whole World, so, as in the battle of the Two Rivers, Perrin will get these three groups – the Ogier, the Aiel and the Tinkers to work together to help Rand defeat the Shadow. And he will craft a crucial item. The Wolf King might use the hammer at the last to make rather than destroy.

It’s probably important – at least from the point of view of the Aiel or any ‘new Da’shain’, or even the Song-seeking Tinkers - that Perrin has never forged a sword or even participated in the making of such a weapon. Perhaps not many highly skilled blacksmiths can say the same.

Perrin’s parallels with smith gods show that he may pay a physical price; many smith gods are lamed, usually by those who force them to work for them. In The Gathering Storm there has been some emphasis on Perrin feeling unable to run and jump freely with the wolves in the Dream:

'Jump down, Young Bull. Jump. It is safe.' As always, the Sending from the wolf came as a mixture of scents and images. Perrin was getting better and better at interpreting those — the soft earth as a representation of the ground, rushing wind as an image of jumping, the scent of relaxation and calmness to indicate there was no need to fear.
"But how?"
'Times before, you always rushed ahead, like a pup newly weaned. Jump. Jump down!' Far below, Hopper sat on his haunches in the field, grinning up at Perrin.
Perrin ground his teeth and muttered a curse or two for stubborn wolves. It seemed to him that the dead ones were particularly bull-headed. Though Hopper did have a point. Perrin had leaped before in this place, if never from the sky itself...
'Run,' Hopper urged, obviously confused at Perrin's reluctance.
"I can't," Perrin said, stopping.

- The Gathering Storm, Embers and Ash

He has ‘hamstrung’ himself. Wolves usually do the hamstringing rather than be victims of it. I wonder if this isn’t an indication that Perrin will be grievously wounded in the leg.

Byar for one, would jump at the chance to kill Perrin. So would Fain, who has a malignant dagger.

Even more suggestively Isam hunted Perrin in Tel’aran’rhiod, where hurts taken don’t Heal as completely as those suffered in the waking world, and Tel’aran’rhiod is where Perrin felt hamstrung. Foreshadowing?

The Hunt for the Horn

By Linda


My theory explains how Verin delicately guided Egwene to contact the person in the Tower who Verin trusted with the knowledge of the location of the Horn of Valere.

Verin hid the Horn cleverly even to get it to the Tower:

“The Horn of Valere?” she [Siuan] gasped. “You brought that all the way here, across hundreds of leagues, with the Hunters looking everywhere for it? Light, woman, it was to be left with Rand al’Thor.”
“I know, Mother,” Verin said calmly, “but the Hunters all expect to find the Horn in some great adventure, not in a sack with four women escorting a sick youth.

- The Dragon Reborn, The Amyrlin Seat

so when Siuan told Verin to hide it away without telling anyone:

“For the moment,” the Amyrlin said finally, “we will find some place to hide this where no one but we two know.”

- The Dragon Reborn, The Amyrlin Seat

Verin was the right person to do so. She had already boldy disguised the Horn as an insignificant parcel. Unlike Siuan, Verin knew how extensive and pervasive the Black Ajah was and how, therefore, for the Horn to remain secret and safe, it had to be away from rooms frequented by Aes Sedai. Siuan never tells us what Verin said she did with the Horn.

Merana tells us that Verin’s manipulatory skills are pretty good:

Verin had hardly touched her own plans really, except for guiding Demira into suggesting today's unfortunate confrontation. It had been done quite skillfully; Merana did not believe anyone but a Gray would have noticed.

- Lord of Chaos, The Mirror of Mists

From a Grey, that’s quite a complement. Verin is the past master of nudging people into doing what she wants (or thinks they should do) with deceptively casual prattle. Even in the hour of her death. Or should that be especially in the hour of her death?

As she took poison, Verin twice told Egwene to speak to Laras:

"My, but this is good tea," Verin said. "When you next see Laras, please thank her on my behalf for providing it. She promised that she had some that hadn't spoiled, but I didn't trust her. Can't trust much these days, can you?"
"What, is Laras a Darkfriend?" Egwene asked.
"Heavens, no," Verin said. "She's many things, but not a Darkfriend. You'd sooner find a Whitecloak marrying an Aes Sedai than find Laras swearing to the Great Lord. Extraordinary woman.

- The Gathering Storm, A Visit from Verin Sedai

"It takes a very special tea to make asping rot go down sweetly," Verin said, taking another sip. "As I said, please thank Laras for me."

- The Gathering Storm, A Visit from Verin Sedai

At such a time she would hardly talk about trivialities, so there had to be good reason for this.

Verin quite subtly but firmly suggested to Egwene to visit Laras as a seemingly innocuous 'last request'. She also implanted the idea that Egwene should see to this personally – because “you can’t trust much these days” and assured her that Laras was no Darkfriend and moreover was trustworthy. She then went on to say "When you next see Laras, please thank her on my behalf..." And a short while later again: "As I said, please thank Laras for me."

Verin said when Egwene next sees Laras even though Verin would have deduced that Egwene was soon to be Amyrlin judging by the political currents in the Tower and would therefore have much to attend to. She compliments Egwene on how well she has done politically so she was certainly aware of how close Egwene was. Yet Egwene is to visit Laras...

The last time Egwene was with Laras, Laras was prepared to arrange Egwene’s escape from Elaida’s efforts to break her:

"No time for jabbering!" Laras said, as if she weren't the one doing all of the talking. She was obviously nervous, the way she kept glancing about and tapping her foot. But she'd obviously also done this sort of thing before. Why was the simple cook in the White Tower so skilled at sneaking, so handy with a plan to get Egwene out of the fortified and besieged city? And why did she have a bolt-hole in the kitchens in the first place? Light! How had she created it?

- The Gathering Storm, In the White Tower

Laras did help Min rescue Siuan and Leane, all the while regaling Min with tales of her ‘lively’ youth and how she was near to being hanged.

Considering Verin's ringing endorsement of Laras, and her urging of Egwene to visit her, I think that Laras was the one to whom Verin handed her parcel containing the Horn way back in The Dragon Reborn. I don’t think Laras necessarily knows what’s in the parcel. It’s possible the parcel was warded by Verin.

The Horn could well be in the kitchens under Laras' watchful eye. It's not a place an Aes Sedai would hang out, so the Horn would be safe there, but it is a place where almost anyone can enter or leave with a parcel and no one would think anything of it. In the real world, such kitchens in the 16th-18th centuries had cupboards and cellars under lock and key to which only the Butler or Head Cook had access. Laras even revealed to Egwene a hidey hole as we saw in the quote above. So there is no lack of secure places in the kitchen for a package to be hidden.

I also think Laras was the recipient of one of Verin’s letters of instructions she was giving out in The Gathering Storm, a letter telling her to hand the parcel to Egwene when Egwene drops by.

So when Egwene remembers Verin’s request and goes to visit Laras she’ll find out just what an extraordinary woman Laras is. Not a Hero of the Horn, but its guardian.

The Red Ajah's New Task

By Linda

This theory looks at a possible new role for the Red Ajah.

Since the taint was removed from saidin, the Red Ajah’s task of hunting male channellers so they can be gentled before they go mad and kill people is no longer required.

The cleansing of saidin is becoming more widely known. Egwene accepts it:

Egwene raised an eyebrow, but did not object. "Yes," she said, "I suppose that might be a reasonable possibility. We will need further confirmation, of course. But the taint arrived when all seemed won; why should it not leave when all seems to be approaching pure madness?"

- The Gathering Storm, Clean Shirts

and has devised other plans for the Red:

reports claim that saidin is cleansed."
"There will still be rogue channelers, Mother," Silviana said. "And men are not to be trusted."
Someday, we will have to move beyond that last sentiment, Egwene thought. But for now, it is true enough to let stand. "I didn't say that your purpose would vanish, only that it would change. I see great things for the Red Ajah in the future—an expanding of vision, a renewal of duty.

- The Gathering Storm, To Be Forged Again

What would they be?

The Red is the largest Ajah and needs to be given an important task worthy of its numbers. Egwene sees Reds as vengeful:

as vengeful as a Red, when necessary.

- The Gathering Storm, Sealed to the Flame

and she says the Amyrlin Seat needs to have a Reds’ desire for vengeance too, at times.

Silviana thinks the Reds can hunt rogue channellers. She’s on the right track.

There is a heap of something worse than rogue channellers, though, the ultimate rogue channellers really: the Black Ajah. I think that the Red Ajah’s new role will be policing not only Aes Sedai to identify Darkfriends, but maybe all channellers, male and female. They will need to police themselves too of course. The Red Ajah had a higher proportion than average of Black sisters (see Black Ajah essay).

Their first mission will be to hunt down Black sisters and bring them to trial. This will be in keeping with what Egwene sees as their vengeful nature. Vengeance for treason and apostasy. It’s a vital task and needs large numbers of tough channellers. The Reds qualify on all accounts.

Berelain and the Seanchan

By Linda

Berelain sur Paendrag Paeron is the ruler of a tiny nation, yet she has been kept prominent throughout the series. Her skills as a ruler have been demonstrated to us. She is a descendent of the most noted ruler of the Westlands in the Third Age, Artur Hawkwing, who is revered by mainlanders and Seanchan alike.

Berelain was presented to Tylee, a Seanchan army officer now of the Low Blood, and Tylee’s reaction was to regard Berelain as a distant cousin of Tuon:

And you, my Lady. Sur Paendrag. That would mean from Paendrag?"
"My family is descended from Artur Paendrag Tanreall," Berelain replied, holding her head high. An eddy in the breeze brought a whiff of pride among the patience and perfume. They had agreed that Perrin was to do all of the talking—she was there to dazzle the Seanchan with a beautiful young ruler, or at least to lend weight to Perrin with it— but he supposed she had to answer a direct question.
Tylee nodded as though that were exactly the answer she expected. "That makes you a distant cousin of the Imperial family, my Lady. No doubt the Empress, may she live forever, will honor you. So long as you make no claims to Hawkwing's empire yourself, anyway."
"The only claim I make is to Mayene," Berelain said proudly. "And that I will defend to my last breath."

- Knife of Dreams, A Deal

Berelain responded with a disclaimer, but her existence as the sole person in the world besides Tuon with Hawkwing’s blood in her veins is now known to the Seanchan. All the rest of the Imperial family were murdered by Semirhage. And the above passage is foreshadowing that Berelain may well end up claiming more than Mayene…

Tuon has two things working against her as Empress. The first is that she is a strong and capable ruler and a unifying figure who brings order – exactly what the Shadow doesn’t want. They will aim to get rid of her if the Seanchan start focussing on the Last Battle instead of dividing and distracting the westlands and enslaving women channellers.

Secondly she is an experienced sul’dam – which means she is on the verge of being able to channel. The ability of sul’dam to learn to channel is a ticking bomb in Seanchan society. Tuon’s situation is mirrored by the experienced sul’dam Bethamin who became aware she had the potential to channel. This was confirmed to Bethamin when the a’dam held her. Forced to spend time with three Aes Sedai, monstrous and potentially murderous marath’damane in her eyes, she was spooked by them into channelling (Knife of Dreams, A Cold Medallion). Bethamin’s fear for her life drove her to channel and her experience as a sul’dam helped her do so. (It’s ironic because Aes Sedai are bound not to kill with the Power, so Bethamin was in no more danger from them than she would be from any other person).

Bethamin is not a sparker who was missed by testing: she said she had been tested for the collar annually until age 25 as is every woman including sul’dam:

Even sul'dam had to undergo the yearly testing, until their twenty-fifth naming day, and she had passed by failing every time.

- Winter’s Heart, Questions of Treason

Alise and Reanne remarked that the sul’dam felt like they were on the verge of channelling:

"They [the sul’dam] still deny they can channel," Alise muttered, folding her arms beneath her breasts, and frowned at the woman facing Reanne. "They can't, really, I suppose, but I can feel . . . something. Not quite the spark of a woman born to it, but almost. It's as if she were right at the brink of being able to channel, one foot poised to step over. I have never sensed anything like it before.”

- Winter’s Heart, Sea Folk and Kin

Only a conscious and determined attempt to channel – such as with teaching, or for fear for their lives - will make a sul’dam take that step and channel.

I believe that Tuon, like Bethamin, will be forced by events to channel in order to save her life or the Empire, or the life of someone important to her. Tuon has tempted fate by denying she is like a marath’damane:

"I am nothing like these women, Toy. Nothing like them. Perhaps I could learn, but I choose not to, just as I choose not to steal or commit murder. That makes all the difference."

- Knife of Dreams, A Short Path

and she will find out that an inborn ability is not like a matter of morality. She plays the role of Nemesis to the mainland ( see Tuon essay) and I think that she will also be her own Nemesis by channelling. She will channel in front of the Seanchan, not during a parley with Rand, so that it cannot be passed off as Aes Sedai trickery or Rand's trickery.

The Empress channelling would be the ultimate expression of disorder or the world overturned in Seanchan eyes. Just the sort of thing the Shadow would find useful, as useful, in some ways, as Tuon’s death. It would create division and chaos, with some staying loyal to their goddess-like Empress, and others looking for an alternate, non-channelling ruler. This is where Berelain comes in, especially if Faile has her way.

Faile has twice expressed a desire to punish Berelain for her attempts at seducing Perrin by shaving her bald:

“Farm girls in Saldaea have a way of dealing with women who poach others’ men. If you do not swear to forget Perrin Aybara, I will shave your head as bald as an egg. Perhaps the boys who tend the chickens will pant after you, then!”

- The Shadow Rising, Customs of Mayene

Briefly, to extinguish that hateful thought, she pictured herself shaving Berelain bald. She was a jade and a trull!

- The Path of Daggers, Changes

If Faile does this, Berelain will look like one of the Seanchan Imperial family, who shave their heads. Moreover Berelain is descended from Artur Hawkwing and flies Hawkwing’s hawk standard. She may become an alternative ruler for the disaffected – one who doesn’t respond to either the collar or the bracelet of an a’dam. A certified non-channeller.

Apart from sowing division among the Seanchan, the Shadow may also promote Berelain as an alternative ruler because they have strong links to her. While Berelain’s Aes Sedai advisor, Annoura, could be Black Ajah, she and Berelain appear to have fallen out, and Berelain wouldn’t be able to keep her anyway should she fall in with Seanchan.

However, Berelain herself delivered a letter from Lanfear to Rand in Tear. That, plus her attempts to undermine Perrin, suggests she is under the influence of the Shadow. She could be one of those working for Moridin unknowingly, or she could be a Darkfriend. Either way, the Shadow uses her. They will do so even further: to undermine Tuon, sow chaos and weaken the Seanchan.

The Aiel need to adopt the Way of the Leaf before the Last Battle.

By Linda

My theory is that some Aiel will re-swear the Covenant of the Da’shain and adopt the Way of the Leaf before the Last Battle, and thus go back to what the Aiel originally were in the Age of Legends. Maybe in a mirror of the Breaking, the Aiel warriors protect the Aiel who re-adopt the Way (the new Jenn!) just as we saw in The Shadow Rising.

Just about all of the Aiel prophecies talk about the Aiel either being broken by the Way or by Rand, and of them re-gaining their former greatness, their old places, and what was theirs and was lost:

"When the Trollocs come out of the Blight again, we will leave the Three-fold Land and take back our places of old…”

- The Great Hunt, A New Thread In The Pattern

Their places of old were serving the Aes Sedai and the Dragon in the Age of Legends with their purity borne of following the Way of the Leaf. They failed the Aes Sedai when they abandoned the Way and this led to them losing their Singing ability. In The Gathering Storm, Egwene searched with need for something necessary to preserve the world in the Last Battle and found herself in a Tinker’s camp, again indicating the importance of the Way. (However, I think the Tinkers do not fully follow the Way as the Da’shain did. More on this below.)

"we will be changed, and find again what was ours, and was lost."

- The Dragon Reborn, A Different Dance

The Aiel were changed by the discovery of their true history and by the bleakness, and their customs have been changed also by Rand, by Sevanna, by being out of the Waste and by events. The Aiel might not yet have changed enough though. "What was ours, and was lost" is the reverence and honour the Da’shain Aiel had in the Age of Legends, earned by the purity and sanctity of the Way of the Leaf. The Way gave them special abilities including that of Singing. The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time says the Da’shain could "often enhance channelling" with their singing, which is an interesting hint of why their Singing is important for the Last Battle and that it was more than making crops grow.

"he will come from Rhuidean at dawn, and tie you together with bonds you cannot break. He will take you back and he will destroy you."

- The Shadow Rising, The Road to the Spear

I think the bonds the Aiel cannot break will be those of the Covenant – to follow the Way of the Leaf and to serve. In a smaller way, clans that had blood feud have now sworn water oath, which is a pretty unbreakable bond. Rand has taken the Aiel back to the wetlands, and may also take them back to not just serving the Dragon, but serving him in the way they used to as Da’shain Aiel, following the Way of the Leaf. He is destroying them – the Shaido and Brotherless are renegades, many Aiel are being taken by the bleakness and running, and many of them have died or will die in battle.

"He shall spill out the blood of those who call themselves Aiel as water on sand, and he shall break them as dried twigs, yet the remnant of a remnant shall he save, and they shall live."

- The Shadow Rising, He Who Comes With The Dawn

The Aiel will be killed in great numbers – though so probably will all peoples. If they do re-adopt Da’shain vows and swear to do no violence, they will be very vulnerable and they won’t be able to save themselves. Hence Rand doing so. The Aiel themselves are a remnant – of the Da’shain.

I don't think they have been broken much at all yet. Other nations have done far worse and yet are not prophesied to be destroyed as the Aiel are. Nor have the Aiel regained what they had. The Aiel are a remnant – of the Da’shain.

Those who re-adopt the Way of the Leaf and are dedicated to do no violence will be very vulnerable and won’t be able to able to defend themselves. Hence Rand saving them.

The simplest way for this to occur would be for some of the Aiel to be convinced they need to adopt the Way soon and serve as the Da'shain did. This would really break the Aiel, going against everything they've done in the last 3000 years. Rand would have to save them, protect them as the Aes Sedai protected the Da'shain during the War of Power.

What Aviendha sees in Rhuidean (both within the glass columns and in the city) may be the trigger. There she was going on in Arad Doman about regaining her honour by becoming a Wise One, and she's about to learn that the Aiel have no honour as far as Aes Sedai (and Rand as the reincarnated Dragon) are concerned. Oh dear. No wonder the Aiel prophecies say the Aiel will be broken.

I believe that Singing and the Da’shain’s ability to ‘enhance channelling’ with their singing is required for the final confrontation of the Last Battle. The Aiel would have to adopt the Way soon, since the purity of the Way presumably takes time to have an effect.

I like the irony that the Aiel regain what they never searched for and the Tinkers searched for something they can't gain (without the Aiel).

The Tinkers' Way of the Leaf is a remnant version of what the Da'shain Aiel’s Covenants actually were; otherwise the Tinkers would not have lost the Singing ability. True, they lost all circumstances where they might have used it during the Breaking, but they seemed to lose the skill rapidly as well.

And Lews Therin asked Ishy:

"Have you the Voice, stranger? It will soon be time for the Singing, and here all are welcome to take part.”

- The Eye Of The World, Prologue

which suggests it had a religious or meditative role.

The Way of the Leaf is as much about sharing, warmth and compassion as about peace and non-violence. Even during the Breaking they gave freely to others.

To share was the way. To give freely.

- The Great Hunt, The Dedicated

They gave of themselves freely too to the Aes Sedai and the community. (Rand must do this also at Shayol Ghul.)

The Way gave the Da’shain special abilities including that of Singing. The Aiel may need to regain these before Rand’s confrontation with the Dark One.

If we look at the closest real world equivalent of the Da’shain, the Jain, they take five major vows: to protect all life and abstain from violence (defined as not injuring, abusing, oppressing, enslaving, insulting, tormenting, torturing, or killing any creature or living being), to speak the truth (unless it would cause a greater violence), not to steal, to be chaste, and to limit possessions. They aspire to kindness, compassion and reverence for all forms of life in speech, thought, and action. Other vows

involve avoidance of unnecessary travel, of harmful activities, and of the pursuit of pleasure; fasting and control of diet; offering gifts and service to monks, the poor, and fellow believers; and voluntary death if the observance of the major vows proves impossible.

- Encyclopaedia Britannica

Their code of non-violence means caring for and sharing with all living beings and tending, protecting and serving them. It entails universal friendliness, universal forgiveness and universal fearlessness. This seems very close to what the Da’shain represented.

When one considers what the Jain are like (and thus the Da'shain) and what the Aiel are like, one can only wince. For instance the Jain wear veils to prevent themselves from breathing in insects and thus injuring or killing them, while the Aiel veil themselves before they kill.

Those Aiel affected by the Bleakness who believe they should stay gai’shain have something like the right idea, but they're not serving. Neither are the Tinkers. Formal sworn service and following the Way to do absolutely no violence and to share freely of themselves seems to be what is required.

The Aiel can't take them back their places of old until they follow the Covenants and they can't do that until they re-adopt the Way. The Way comes first - and before the Last Battle. Each Aiel will have to decide which is the more important thing to follow: the Way or the call to military battle. While the Aiel warriors are great fighters, channellers fight Shadowspawn better still and so will Mat's cannon.

Long ago, in the Age of Legends, the Tinkers’ and Aiel’s ancestors, the Da’shain, and the Ogier Sang together. Singing itself, and its channelling enhancing properties, and the vows of service to all will be needed again at the very end of this Age, or is it the beginning of the next? Quite possibly without the new Da’shain Singing Rand cannot beat the Dark One or the Fourth Age dawn.

It’s interesting that representatives of all three groups – Ogier, Tinker and Aiel - were with Perrin and contributed to the great victory in the Two Rivers. From the beginning of the series the Two Rivers has been a microcosm of the whole World, so I think that representatives of the Tinkers and Aiel will re-adopt the true Way of the Leaf and make a covenant with the Dragon during the Last Battle, enabling them to Sing with the Ogier as in the Age of Legends.

Rand's Third Question

By Linda

We know two of the three questions that Rand asked the Aelfinn when he went through the redstone doorway in Tear. This theory speculates on what Rand’s third question was.

Oneof his questions was how to cleanse saidin, to which the Aelfinn replied with a riddle that according to Herid Fel, stated

sound principles, in both high philosophy and natural philosophy.

- The Path of Daggers, Message From the M’Hael

The second question was a two-parter (Knife of Dreams, News For the Dragon). Rand asked how he could win and survive the Last Battle (despite knowing the dangers of asking questions touching the Shadow) and was cryptically told “If you would live, you must die” (Lord of Chaos, Connecting Lines) to survive and “The north and east must be as one. The west and south must be as one. The two must be as one” (Knife of Dreams, News For the Dragon) to win. (For Rand’s solutions to these answers see The Aelfinn's Answers article)

Rand’s third question is unknown, as is the answer he received. However, we do know that the Aelfinn didn’t mention Rhuidean to Rand (The Shadow Rising, Rhuidean).

Let’s approach the problem from another angle.

The Aelfinn answered each of Rand’s questions cryptically so that it took him a while to figure them out. (In contrast, Mat’s answers were straightforward.) In the meantime Rand was reassured by their replies that there is a possible solution.

There is another great long-term worry of Rand’s which he also thinks could be resolved favourably:

Prophecy said he would Break the World again. The idea horrified him. Perhaps he could escape that part, at least

- The Shadow Rising, He Who Comes With he Dawn

I think he expresses the same reassurance here that he did for his questions about winning and surviving the Last Battle and cleansing saidin while he worked out how to do so from the Aelfinn’s answers. Therefore I think the third question Rand asked the Aelfinn was how to avoid Breaking the World as he is prophesied to do.

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