I took a break from WOTRR because I was starting to bore myself with my own writing. To an extent, that's inevitable, since I'm a pretty boring writer most of the time. I will be back at it very soon, but in the meantime, I have been working on some things, such as this.
I wanted to make a FAQ that is a little more geared to the recent and open questions that have arisen since CoT (the last time the questions were really updated on the old FAQ). Since Dragonmount has only so far updated the old FAQ, many of those old questions are long since resolved, and many new questions are ignored. In the meantime, I often find myself wishing I had nice pre-made answers to common questions that are either not thoroughly covered on the DM FAQ, or not updated yet (I am very impatient), or not covered in a way that I necessarily agree with, or not covered at all.
So, here are a few articles that have been completed so far (they have been added to the blog index). Some of them were written by Marie Curie. There are several other articles planned and some in various stages of completion, and eventually I will probably move all the articles here. I'd love to hear what you think. It's possible I have overlooked a thing or two. Also, let me know if there are other questions you'd like to see addressed.
Blood on the Rocks - A full survey of the prophecies touching on Rand's death (including all the relevant quotes for easy reference), and an overview of the most plausible theories about Rand's fate.
Rand's New Sword - A breakdown of all the lovely evidence and foreshadowing surrounding the sword.
Aviendha's Babies - An overview of the plausible theories about Aviendha's Odd Babies.
Seanchan Prophecies - An analysis of the veracity of Seanchan prophecies (with quotes, of course).
The Dark Prophecies - A comprehensive look at the known Prophecies of the Shadow, and authoritative quotes on their veracity.
Mirror Worlds - A concise explanation of how Mirror Worlds work.
Can Tuon Channel? Has she already? - Everything you need to know about Tuon's ability.
The Red-Veiled 'Aiel' - What we know about them, and what we don't know.
The Right to Kill Rand - Which Forsaken has been given this privilege?
The Gholam - Is it really dead? How did it survive passage through the gateway?
Gaidal Cain For Noobs - The title says it all. If you believe Gaidal Cain is Olver, or anyone else in the series for that matter, click here.
15 comments:
Your writing is not boring at all. I am traveling this week but I look forward to getting back and reading your new faq and continuing the read through.
I, too, enjoy reading your writings. But each has their own perspective :-)
Hi Terez,
Really cool job here. Only one request: the blog is very unreadable due to the black on black, background-text combo. Could you select some other formating to improve readability ? for example, linda's blog ( 13thdepository ) is very readable.
Thank you.
Tuon has channeled saidar, previously on her own.
All I see here are selective one-sided quotations to support your own perspective: on the question whether or not Tuon has channels on her own?
hello Terez
I`ve really enjoyed your blog so far, every reread of this series brings to light more foreshadowing of events to come, and new insights to the characters` development.
This forum feels cosier than Tor`s reread with Leigh, where I`m mainly a lurker rather than a poster, and I love the links to the other theories and threads out there, so please don`t give up!
To FelixPax-okay, I`m happy to hear where/when Tuon channelled, can we have your quotations to back that up?
I haven't given up, promise. I've mostly not been posting due to having to find a place to live - it's been really stressful. But that is taken care of now - yay! (Though I haven't started moving yet - that's next week.)
@Anonymous - Tamyrlin@Theoryland offered to host my blog on the home page there. Do you find it easier to read? I could mess with the format here, but it might be better in the long run to move there.
@Dawn - You really asked for it, didn't you? I have seen him make this argument before, but I honestly can't recall what he used for evidence. In some ways it is easy to believe, but the evidence speaks against it.
Hi Terez
Good luck with the house-move, they say it`s up there with birth death and divorce in the list of most stressful things you can do...
In a way I`d like to find out Tuon has channelled, it would lead to an interesting development in the resolution of the Seanchan vs saidar users thread. So if not already, then maybe it will happen in AMOL.
So I`m open to be persuaded that it has happened IF there is evidence to support it, because I didn`t notice anything in earlier readings. (but then I never noticed the Bela running episode on at least my first two readings, so perhaps I don`t analyse enough, get carried away by the action...)
What I`m not keen on is sweeping statements that are a tad aggressive about a topic which is reasoned and well-researched. Another reason for hearing whatever evidence FelixPax has to support his perspective.
Constructive debate-fine, sweeping assertions unsupported by any evidence-not so great.
But then I`m several years late to the party, I guess everyone has hashed all this stuff to death already.
Yes, I imagine that Felix thinks I should have heeded his many posts on the subject previous to now. Sometimes I enjoy Felix's posts but generally my eyes start to glaze over when he starts grasping at red herrings and creating new ones out of thin air. You just have to be in the mood for that sort of thing. ;)
Hi! :-)
Thank you so much for the work you're doing, it's amazing!
I have been particularly interested in the "Blood on the Rocks" article and I can't help posting a pet theory of mine: what if Galad's blood being shed at Shayol Ghul was important too? After all Galad is -literally - of the 'dragon's blood'. His role in the series has come back to the forefront with ToM (there has to be a reason for it) and I strongly suspect he is now aware Rand is his half-brother, courtesy of Verin.
We see a letter very much alike the one Verin has left for Mat (and Rand, which he receives from Tiana in chapter 3, and Alanna in chapter 12) in Galad’s hands in Chapter 44, “A Backhanded Request” (p.659): “Galad was tucking something into his pocket. A small letter, it appeared, with a red seal. Where had he gotten that? He looked troubled, though his expression lightened as he arrived.”
This strikes me as a very important clue and, as of the content of the letter, my money is on family ties revelations (Slayer knows Rand is his nephew and Jordan has said “The Shadow knows a lot about Rand.” To explain how he knew it (DragonCon 4 September 2005 - Emma reporting) so there is no reason why Verin should not know about their blood ties as well). No wonder Galad would be troubled by such revelation...
I do not doubt that Rand’s blood will be shed but his may be not the only “Dragon’s blood” shed on that day. To me, the prophecy of the Shadow that ends ToM suggests as much: “And the Lord of the Evening shall face the Broken Champion, and shall spill his blood and bring us the Darkness so beautiful.”
‘Broken Champion’ seems to me to fit Galad much better than Rand (who I see as the “First Among Vermin” of the prophecy) since Galad’s world in black and white has shattered in ToM. Galad's death could be the event triggering Rand’s final actions in the Last Battle.
Just a few thoughts. :-)
I posted something about Galad in the Dark Prophecy article, under Broken Champion. Since I decided that Rand has to die before Shayol Ghul I've been considering other alternatives for the 'blood on the rocks', but most people still consider the alternatives to be loony theories.
Thanks for reading!
I should probably avoid posting right after I wake up because I generally don't quite get it all out right. I was going to just explain my thoughts on the subject here, but I think I might add a 'loony theory' section to the FAQ article itself instead. I'm really not sure why I didn't go further into the possible red herring nature of 'blood on the rocks' anyway. A grievous oversight on my part.
I'm looking forward to reading your "loony theory" section, I've always had a fondness for loony theories (although, when it comes to Galad's role, I do not think of it as of a loony theory at all - but maybe that's because I'm a tad bit loony myself... ;-) ). I have read the "Dark Prophecies" article now too and I'm still mulling over it, lots of good food for thought in it!
About the prophecies about Rand's death/rebirth, I also wonder if Min's viewing about Perrin in LoC might not be very important as well: "Twice he's going to have to be there, or you...If he's not, something bad will happen to you. Very bad." (Chapter 46). The way I see it, her viewing would tie in nicely with the theory you mention in the Black Tower article (great one too btw!) that Perrin might destroy the Blact Tower Dreamspike. We have seen the first time Perrin was there (at Dumai's Wells) but I don't think that anything else Perrin has done so far (although all very important for Rand in the long run) can fit the second time of Min's viewing.
Anyways, these were just a few more thoughts! And I know exactly how you feel about posting right after you wake up: it's 6.30 a.m. here (in France) as I write and I'm not sure it improves my English one bit. Ah wells... Monday is calling... Starting it with some WoT thoughts can only help though! Thanks again! :-D
Oh yay, a Frenchie! Those are rare in the English-speaking WoT world, though not exactly unheard-of. (This is assuming you are not a transplant, as our reporters from Paris were.)
I don't think that Galad is loony at all. But then, I did write a theory about how Gawyn would kill Rand before TOM. It was so awesome that I think I can rewrite it and make it convincing even now that the main premise has gone out the window. :D
Have you considered the viewing of Galad wrapping himself in white as though putting on his own shroud? My idea revolves around the fact that the white represents his principles and his stubborn convictions more than his joining/leading the Whitecloaks, and I think it fits really well with the idea that Galad would use one of the Bloodrings to do something that must be done. It would be a really horrible fulfillment of Rand's death prophecies simply because of who Rand is, and the monumental importance of his 'sacrifice', but it works quite nicely for Min's viewing of Galad.
There has been some discussion on Perrin's twice he has to be there thing. Some think that his presence in Tel'aran'rhiod as Rand fought the darkness on Dragonmount was the second time. I can see that being true.
I imagine that the dreamspike is very important, though, and that Perrin's biggest role in AMOL will be in the wolf dream, and that he will finally kill Slayer. I think I mentioned in one article or another that I figure Slayer's main purpose in life is to wait for Rand to die, and then assassinate him in Tel'aran'rhiod. I will probably go into that some. It's almost impossible to predict who will fight who sometimes, though, and I can see Lan vs. Slayer as well, or Gawyn vs. Slayer or Perival Mantear vs. Slayer or what have you. But I think that Slayer killing Rand (permanently) in Tel'aran'rhiod is just about as 'very bad' as you can get. And it just so happens that the clues point toward Rand dying in or around Caemlyn, where the dreamspike is. If Perrin can keep Slayer occupied and/or stay on his scent after destroying the dreamspike, he will probably be able to give Nynaeve enough time to do what she has to do. And if Lan dies...this could get downright FUN. :)
Rand needed a distraction to escape at Dumai's Wells, but the Shaido took care of that, and if anyone saved the day there, it was Taim and his Asha'man. You might say Perrin wasn't needed at all....or you might say that Taim only showed up because he figured if Perrin and the Wise Ones (with their handful of Aes Sedai) were going to save the day that he might as well show up and take credit for it (and try to get his mitts on Rand's angreal). It's hard to say. But if hard pressed I'd say Perrin's presence at Dragonmount - minor assistance though it was - was more important than Perrin's presence at Dumai's Wells.
But of course, everyone has always assumed that Dumai's Wells was Perrin's first time to be there for Rand and that there would only be one more. It may be that Dragonmount was the first, and there's still one more to go.
The grievous oversight has now been rectified. I didn't even call it the 'loony theory' section. :)
No transplant, I'm a born and bred Frenchie who just happens to love reading (and trying to) write in English! I was introduced to the WoT by a dear Californian friend I was visiting and who lent me TEotW. I think it actually saved my sanity on the trip back when I was stranded first in LAX and then Heathrow because of delays. By the time I finally reached Lyon-St Exupéry, I had read a good part of it and was hooked for good! :-D
About Galad, I very much like the "shroud" idea and I do feel as well that the white he is wearing is his very essence. If there ever was a "Child of the Light" (symbolically), it is Galad. There is much of Galahad in him (Galaad in French btw, pronounced "Galad") and Galahad the pure, the righteous, is the White Knight, the only one able to peer into the Grail.
I am a symbolism fanatic (trained as a historian) and the way I see it, symbolism points at Galad's sacrifice being the penultimate step of the series' quest. In symbolism, especially alchemical symbolism (and the WoT has much of an alchemical tale in its unfolding), White comes after Black but before Red, the color of the achievement of the quest/journey (often symbolized by the Grail). The succession of the colors can be symbolized by knights. J.E.Cirlot ("A Dictionary of Symbols") identifies four knights: the Green Knight (the pre-knight, the apprentice), the Black Knight, and then: the "White Knight (Sir Galahad) is the natural conqueror, the 'chosen one' of the Evangelists, or the 'illuminated one' re-emerging from a period of nigredo;" [blackness]" the Red Knight is the knight sublimated by every possible trial, bloodied from every possible sacrifice, supremely virile, the conqueror of all that is base, who, having contemplated his life's work, is fully deserving of gold in its ultimate transmutation - glorification."
"Illuminated one", "Child of the Light", the association is troubling, isn't it? Then Galad is only preparing the way for the Red Knight, Rand. I see Galad's sacrifice as taking place when all seems lost after Rand's death, holding things on (somehow - and your idea with Gawyn seems a great one to me) before Rand comes back and finishes the work.
On another level, I also believe Rand is the four knights himself, each representing a phase of his maturation throughout the series.
Incidentally, legendary Galahad heals the Fisher King thanks to a spear - this might be pointing to Aviendha's role in Rand's "rebirth", she the former maiden, the "dedicated spear" of Nicola's Foretelling.
I've loved reading the "alternate explanations" paragraph! I had never thought of Perival but I like the idea of him being involved somehow. I have toyed with the idea that Slayer might play a role though, especially because of Dyelin telling Rand in LoC that it was Gitara who sent Luc to the Blight, one of the reasons some believed she did was "the Last Battle depended on him going" (chapter 16). Weasel words from RJ if there ever were some but there might be something to it... I do agree with you about his mission to kill Rand in Tel' aran' rhiod and I do see Perrin defeating him there.
BTW, about Perrin, he is another (hidden) stone/rock himself: the name Perrin (a very common family name here, and first name as "Perrine" (pronounced like Perrin in English) )comes from the name Pierre (Peter), which also means stone. Symbolically (especially alchemically speaking) it does point at Perrin's role as being crucial in the series' resolution - and maybe to him being the "stone" (or one of the stones) on which a new age will be built after the LB.
There is so much to say! I'd better stop here though, I have been long-winded enough I'm afraid, lol!
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