tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post8096158010232116129..comments2024-01-14T15:52:43.644-05:00Comments on The Thirteenth Depository - A Wheel of Time Blog: Crossroads of Twilight Read-through #1: Darkhounds on the Wild HuntDominichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17610557134981958201noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-52962671157241641702016-03-29T03:51:48.811-04:002016-03-29T03:51:48.811-04:00Rand balfiring the darkhounds in Rhuidean is tFoH,...Rand balfiring the darkhounds in Rhuidean is tFoH, not tSR.Laural Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06930408249750501543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-65254206668272362172010-09-05T16:49:32.329-04:002010-09-05T16:49:32.329-04:00Slayer's opponent is Perrin (and perhaps Lan, ...Slayer's opponent is Perrin (and perhaps Lan, though he is minor). I believe you have said this yourself, Anonymous. Slayer has also been given other commands by Forsaken since Winter's Heart. So finding Fain for the Naeblis is far from Slayer's top priority. This to me is an indication that something else is doing that. Perhaps this pack of Darkhounds.<br /><br />I do not think Fain is near any great city. We have been in most of them in the last couple of books and there has been no hint of Fain being there. <br /><br />As you said youself, Fain can travel the Ways with impunity and could easily have entered a Waygate in the Far Madding area, which had a great city once and therefore an Ogier grove, after events in Winter's Heart, or one in the Spine of the World, or Tear. Moving through the Ways, Fain could be anywhere by now. My view is that he is not in a city.Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14767984732078916662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-59623558815171546922010-05-25T07:14:13.611-04:002010-05-25T07:14:13.611-04:00That's true about the running water, Ben. Trol...That's true about the running water, Ben. Trollocs for instance don't like it either. <br /><br />The Shadow's prophecy has twisted truth in it, I think.<br /><br />Both times we've seen Slayer for more than a brief glimpse - the Two Rivers and Far Madding - he hunted wolves in TAR when off duty. That's why I think they're a side line for him. What happens to their souls depends on what other gifts Slayer has. He was given many by his own account.<br /><br />I agree that he has ties to Darkhounds as well as to Perrin and the Wolves.Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14767984732078916662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-84944714531941618202010-05-25T03:02:32.454-04:002010-05-25T03:02:32.454-04:00I seem to remember from The Eye of the World that ...I seem to remember from <i>The Eye of the World</i> that Darkhounds aren't the only Shadowspawn halted by running water... I may be mistaken, but wasn't that one of their goals in running towards the river from Shadar Logoth? It might be a common weakness for Shadowspawn.<br /><br />As to the Darkhounds' prey, I would also suspect it is Fain. I remember someone (possibly Etzel?) posting a theory that Slayer's wolf-hunting was actually responsible for creating a new Darkhound pack. There's quite a bit of similarity between the Darkhounds and Slayer, they're hunting elusive prey, their connection with wolves, their being formed from the corrupted souls of the dying... so if that theory was correct, this might be Slayer's pack. It would also tie in to the Shadow prophecy in the verse regarding Slayer - <i>"The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill"</i> Although I don't really trust the Shadow Prophecy to be real prophecy.Fanatic-Templarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14788900776054473413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-14818798189555312962010-05-21T14:47:08.250-04:002010-05-21T14:47:08.250-04:00"Slayer hunts wolves as a sideline."
Yo..."Slayer hunts wolves as a sideline."<br /><br />You couldn't prove this anymore than one could prove Slayer's day job wasn't to set in motion the hunt for the wolves before TG. It's all a matter for speculation and intuition at this point, but I'll point out Jordan has seen fit to remind us of the wolf killing business of Slayer again in WH, the wolf killings are his main connection to Perrin, and killing wolves is even why he got named Slayer in the first place. All we know is that he does kill wolves and enjoys that a lot. Nothing proves it's just a hobby to him and not one of his main services to the Shadow, what he does when he's not asked to go kill people. A lot of people enjoy their job. The very large DH pack(s) now showing up may even be a sign of all his good work...<br /><br />Beside the "wolf stuff" explains nicely why Slayer gets involved again with Perrin in TOM, as the cover blurb reveals.<br />"Did the Shadow know that Fain was in Far Madding until he attacked people there?"<br /><br />Maybe, maybe not, but the Shadow must at least have figured out by now Fain is able to vanish suddenly and reappear elsewhere (and there's not dozens of ways he could do that), which makes following his trail the way DH would have to do totally useless, and it's rather a hunter who can jump from place to place who's been tasked to find him. <br /><br />None of this makes it any more plausible that a large pack of DH in the middle of the Altaran northern forest was hunting down Padan Fain. That's a completely weird place for DH to be hunting for Fain or his trail.. unless the Shadow has dozens and dozens such huge packs hunting Fain down everywhere, which sounds far fetched. <br /><br />For many books now, the Wheel has been forcing Perrin to remain in the forests. Rand's orders forced him to hide in the forests to reach Masema as secretely as he could. Faile's kidnapping prevented him from going back to Rand with Masema promptly and leave the forests. Now it's Masema's murder that removes the urgency to return to Rand, and the fatigue of his Asha'man and the duty of sending off the refugees that force Perrin to remain in the wilderness. Why does he camp in the woods of Ghealdan near a statue off the road for weeks and weeks? Why does Rand seemed to think in TGS Perrin wasn't stranded but doing what he needs to do in the wilderness? The gathering of the wolves to their Wolf King has started, that's why. Perrin is waiting for the southern wolf packs to come to him before he brings them north. That's why he stays in the wilderness, why he must at last deal with his wolfbrother demons, why the slayer of wolves is to be involved with him again (from the cover blurb) and he will even have with him now the wolf-hater Byar of the wolf-hating WC, who started hating Perrin all the way back in EOTW because of his connection to the wolves. All the wolf associated stuff seems to be coming together, wolves and foes alike.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-89538587928804159742010-05-20T21:30:14.492-04:002010-05-20T21:30:14.492-04:00Slayer hunts wolves as a sideline. The Darkhounds ...Slayer hunts wolves as a sideline. The Darkhounds could be doing the same.<br /><br />No I haven't forgotten that there are no signs of Fain. There's no sign of many things.<br /><br />Did the Shadow know that Fain was in Far Madding until he attacked people there?Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14767984732078916662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-42294421885569886912010-05-19T17:31:13.971-04:002010-05-19T17:31:13.971-04:00About the impatience of the DH: Why do you assume...About the impatience of the DH: Why do you assume that if they're after the wolves their hunt is going well? Haven't you noticed the wolves in the south were very elusive lately, and even in the middle of the forest they were not sending feelers to Perrin and Elyas recently? They also know about the DH being on the hunt. It's perfectly possible the wolves of Altara are eluding that DH pack.<br /><br />About Fain you're overlooking a series of things that undermine your ideas:<br /><br />- Isam who's tracking him must have figured out by now Fain is using the Ways, meaning it's totally pointless to send DH to find him as he'll elude them with ease and they will loose his trail whenever he enters the Ways. And there's no destination to send them to, and they can't use gateways... so what's the point? What makes you think Moridin believed Isam can't deal with Fain on his own, when he reflected on Isam's hunt for Fain around the same time? The Westlands are a really big place. It calls for another sort of hunter, and the shadow already has an hunter on Fain, and it's Slayer. What makes you think Moridin believed Isam can't deal with Fain on his own, when he reflected on Isam's hunt for Fain around the same time? He never said "whether Isam or the DH packs would succeed", he mentionned only Isam.<br /><br />- Why would DH hunt down Fain in the middle of forested country, far from every city?<br /><br />- Fain's location wasn't unknown at the time of CoT. He was in Far Madding that he reached from Cairhien. He was nowhere near Altara and to the Shadow his last known location was the north-west, not the South, let alone the south-east.<br /><br />- Your Seanchan idea doesn't work either. You forget we've gone a long way in Tuon and Suroth's story line and there's been not a single sign of Padan Fain.<br /><br />The fact the Shadow seeks to eliminate the wolves might be the overlooked detail from book 4, when it began (Slayer, in the TR). We still don't really know why, and there's a ta'veren meant to lead the wolves to TG. Beside, this would be integral to ToM that will have the return of the wolfbrother stuff, and would explain why Brandon mentionned that important and largely overlooked detail at all. That could also explain what makes Slayer return to pester Perrin, especially if the reason why Perrin has decided to camp in a forested area instead of seeking a city is because the wolfpacks have started to gather for the Last Hunt around him.... <br /><br />As for Fain, the most likely scenario if Jordan has stopped to make him go in circles and he'll finally gain a powerbase fast, and at a good location to get involved in Caemlyn is obvious: the big news Fain would have heard in FM is that Roedran was mobilizing an army. He knows of Roedran, easy to influence and spineless, and not terribly intelligent. That's where Fain has gone, IMO. Lugard will be his neo-Shadar Logoth. It was halfway there even without him....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-57827491096537107882010-05-18T23:54:27.114-04:002010-05-18T23:54:27.114-04:00Fain. Perhaps the trollocs the Seanchan ran into ...Fain. Perhaps the trollocs the Seanchan ran into in Altara are related to the hunt for Fain?t ballnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-1960003251209760352010-05-18T20:46:37.196-04:002010-05-18T20:46:37.196-04:00R-K: Rand told Taim that some need balefire becaus...R-K: Rand told Taim that some need balefire because the early ones he encountered didn't.<br /><br />With so many people with 'special skills' of one kind or another on the side of the Light, a new improved version of the Darkhound seems like a good idea.<br /><br />'Anonymous 4': I did suggest the Darkhounds in Rhuidean might have been warded by a Forsaken. <br /><br />If the Darkhounds are hunting and killing wolves, why would they be frustrated and extremely impatient with their hunt? By your account it would be going well and they would expect it to have gone on this long.<br /><br />Darkhounds can't use gateways, although they could be guided through the Ways by Myrddraal and Trollocs. Otherwise they have to rely on their own legs. The hounds have come from Andor/Murandy/Ghealdan and are headed south. Do they know where their quarry is? Their mood suggests not.<br /><br />It's not inconceivable that Fain is in the south or southeast. This is the area Rand has a lot of his forces and returns to from time to time. Also, if Fain wants to follow up on an earlier idea of his to manipulate the Seanchan, they're in this region too.Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14767984732078916662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-80441576886578584072010-05-18T13:02:49.106-04:002010-05-18T13:02:49.106-04:00This also assumes there is a new breed of DH at al...This also assumes there is a new breed of DH at all, and that the fact Rand couldn't kill those in Rhuidean short of using balefire is not the result of something specific that was done to those darkhounds and those darkhounds only, because whoever sent them had sent them against a channeller. <br /><br />Darkhounds would be fairly useless against a channeller being trained by Asmodean and who could well have Asmodean with him when they attacked. Darkhounds were not made to hunt and kill channellers. These ones were "special" in some way.<br /><br />Their weird "resurrection" could also be the result of a bubble of evil.<br /><br />Personally, I think the wolves tipping Perrin with obscure clues about shadowbrothers and the last hunt was a big clue about what it's all about, as was the fact Jordan had this happen in Perrin's story line in the first place. Those darkhounds aren't hunting down any human character, and I doubt they're the only band roaming the country right now. Those darkhounds are hunting down and killing all the packs of wolves before TG. That's why the pack is large, and that's why they were hunting in the forests in the middle of nowhere, and that's why only Perrin has crossed path with a pack at the moment: wolves don't come close to humans. <br /><br />They circled Perrin's camp for a while because they felt the two wolfbrothers in that camp and it smelled close to their prey and it puzzled them. But these two were not wolves they decided in the end, so they moved on. <br /><br />IMO, Jordan was merely setting the stage for stuff that will happen in TOM in Perrin's story line post-Malden, just like he brought back Galad in COT/KOD so his meeting with Perrin in the last book wouldn't happen out of the blue. This also worked as a red herring that Semirhage had sent those DH to hunt down Tuon and Mat in Altara. <br /><br />Perrin's the Wolf-King now, and soon he's gonna have to make the Shadowbrothers and the wolves his business. Even Brandon's clues in TGS and the cover synopsis (that hints at Slayer, the other wolf killer, being tied to Perrin once more) speak of the wolfbrother stuff making a "big comeback" now that Faile's rescue is over. Their "shadowbrothers" will be part of it, I bet.<br /><br />Anyway... that's my theory.<br /><br />I really don't see what they could have to do with Fain. It's a far-fetched theory. They were in a forest in east northern Altara. Why would they hunt Padan Fain there, of all places?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-54870386659524537522010-05-18T08:51:25.689-04:002010-05-18T08:51:25.689-04:00You assume that all Darkhounds are now T-1000s lik...You assume that all Darkhounds are now T-1000s like the one that attacked Rand but there's no evidence that that's the case. <br /><br />Oh, it's definitely possible. But it's also possible that the majority of Darkhounds are "normal" and there's simply a rare breed of superior Darkhounds, perhaps one of Aginor's last creations. <br /><br />When Rand told Taim about them he said "some" need Balefire to kill them IIRC, so he takes that view.<br /><br />They also could have been found in a stasis box, though that is less likely.<br /><br />- Rurouni_KenshinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-45000497205347550212010-05-18T03:33:16.280-04:002010-05-18T03:33:16.280-04:00yay, back to the read-through ! thanks a lot !yay, back to the read-through ! thanks a lot !Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-87121841514083095932010-05-18T01:19:50.560-04:002010-05-18T01:19:50.560-04:00Regarding Perrin's question to Elyas:
“Can th...Regarding Perrin's question to Elyas:<br /><br />“Can they eat a man’s soul, Elyas? Say a man who can talk to wolves?” Elyas shrugged. <br /><br />Could this be what turned Luc / Isam into slayer?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08639036330571175125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-51675348311839849742010-05-18T01:14:44.873-04:002010-05-18T01:14:44.873-04:00What not scouting out a future battle, for the Las...What not scouting out a future battle, for the Last Battle instead?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4833204375789249557.post-80764409811061413062010-05-17T14:33:10.134-04:002010-05-17T14:33:10.134-04:00If they are chasing Fain I'd love to see that ...If they are chasing Fain I'd love to see that battle onscreen. Do we have any idea where Fain is right now? He's been awol for some time.t ballnoreply@blogger.com