The Aiel Thing in the Epilogue

[Luckers]

Go.

[Random Man]

I nominate the name Really Creepy Aiel Dudes for them.

 

To add my thoughts to previous discussion, I'd like to point out it wasn't just male Aiel channelers who went into the Blight. Young men and "Maidens with less sense than goats" went north to hunt Trollocs in the Blight. It's their version of a teenage joy ride in a fast car. Perhaps some who survived became corrupted somehow. Or perhaps Aiel who were already Darkfriends were commonly among those who made the trip to begin with, and formed their own "society."

 

Edited to change "thrill ride" to "joy ride" as it made more sense on reread.

[WhiskyJack]

Brandon could take this into any direction. The dying man did say that they were not Aiel.

[Random Man]

Brandon could take this into any direction. The dying man did say that they were not Aiel.

They weren't Aiel in the sense that they weren't Shaido or any of the clans that followed Rand. They dressed as Aiel and were armed as Aiel but were Something Else. Really Creepy "Aiel" Dudes with pointy teeth and dark eyes. I'm thinking there's a plan for this in RJ's notes and that they were meant to be "of" or "from" the Aiel.

[didymos]

Brandon could take this into any direction. The dying man did say that they were not Aiel.

 

The dying man was also dying and terrified beyond reason. There's certainly a few anomalies that can make one doubt that they're Aiel, but there's just too much about them that says "We're twisted Aiel" for those to matter much.

[fborch]

Aiel channelers thirteen'd is always an option. Although I'm more of a mind to think they generally was just Aiel darkfriends though.

[yoniy0]

Their eye color is wrong. Tarna's eyes didn't change in color, nor did any of the turned AM's. If they were Aiel, they've been corrupted in some other way (I'm not saying that they weren't turned, just that that's not all that has been done to them).

[GusE]

I don't think general darkfriends would be kept like that in the blight. Normal humans have other uses. LoC prologue: "One blade made, one making, and two to come. Demandred had never before seen fewer than fifty prisoners waiting to give their mite to the Great Lord of the Dark. The Myrddraal must be gnashing their teeth, indeed."

 

Therefore I'm relatively certain that they are channelers.

[Random Man]

I don't think general darkfriends would be kept like that in the blight. Normal humans have other uses. LoC prologue: "One blade made, one making, and two to come. Demandred had never before seen fewer than fifty prisoners waiting to give their mite to the Great Lord of the Dark. The Myrddraal must be gnashing their teeth, indeed."

 

Therefore I'm relatively certain that they are channelers.

Not sure I'd consider Aiel warriors as "general" anything. Their fighting prowess would be worth more to the Shadow than their carcasses, could they be made use of. And if any humans could survive long periods in the Blight, it would be Aiel.

[Guest]

i just dont think they're aiel, possibly a mockery aiel clan made up of wetlander darkfriends

[Sharaman]

Several points to ponder.

One is the strange village from the Blight that was transplanted in Ghealdan. It was on sandy soil that was untouched by the Blight.

That could be a hint that there are areas in the Blight (which is v.large) that are relatively clean and where relatively normal humans can live.

 

Second filed teeth is generally associated with cannibalism. Have we ever seen any mention of this anywhere (either filed teeth or cannibals) in WoTland?

 

Third, the blokes actually took off their veils before they killed Barriga. That is v strange for an Aiel - forget about symbolism, putting on a veil before killing is an automatic gesture like AS waving their hands when they throw fireballs. I don't think turned Aiel would deliberately take veils off. Anybody who lives in certain conditions wears veils to keep dust off eyes, nose, ears.

 

Fourth, we have no guarantees that they are channelers. None at all.

[Xander234]

I am guessing The Land of Madmen. From what I remember it's a continent that it's in complete chaos. I can see the Shadow having a very good time there and of the sharpened teeth also seem a bit on the mad site

 

Of course there is also Shara. There was a mentioned that there was a civil war due to the Dragon Reborn and considering the way they practice slavery on mass I can see the Shadow corrupting the leadership and having great power.

[fborch]

I immideately thought about the Shaskaban cannibals from Raymond Feists books, but thats beside the point. I'm not inclined to think the Land of Madmen would get involved now, almost near the end though. Sharans are definently an option.

[Loophole]

They are the super creepy dudes from the city in the blight where all the elite of the dark friends hang. This includes the channelers that have gone to the blight and been turned at the 13x13 party, its just so much fun.

 

Then the fresh new aiel channelers breed with the mortals there maybe prisoners, maybe elite df's, either way dark eyed creepy aiel dudes are made and raised in a sick and twisted culture in the blight, possibly channelers, possibly not, some children just dont have it :(

 

maybe the offspring that dissapoint are turned into swords. Anyway they have lots of channlers in mystery land by now, and they attacked in ToM, damadred commands these people. This is who he is gathering for war, the creepy dudes and the trollocs.

[lordofsoup]

I think Fain had something to do with them. They look slightly similar to the Trollocs that Fain makes in the blight.

[analyticalkeys]

If they're channelers, they're not very good ones, considering they used a knife to kill that guy..

 

Then again, it might not be a coincidence that they kept mentioning channelers in the Shadow army the entire time throughout the book, but we never found out who they were.

[Lobes604]

i bet you theyy're from shara

[Cyf]

It's important to remember that the 'Aiel Outfit' was simply 'working clothes' from the Age of Legends. Really, the fact they wear an outfit similar to Aiel isn't 100% proof they're Aiel. I think it's likely they /are/...but I'm not 100% sure, because of this. Who knows if other societies have kept a similar outfit?

[Duskfire]

I like the idea of them being Sharans. Theres no evidence to say that they are, but the implications there was that they werent Aiel. Granted, the guy could just simply be wrong, but I like the idea of Sharans being involved after being mentioned quite a few times. They are also probably dark eyed, going by RJ's influences and so forth for them.

[kes]

i bet you theyy're from shara

 

 

I think that this is right - since Shara keeps coming up but we never see much of it.

 

I could also see them being corrupted Aiel, but there is no indication of channeling, so I think that is too much of a leap.

 

I think the male channelers with the enemy forces are turned Black Tower Asha'man. It is pretty obvious that is what is going on there, so why would we need another group of male dark channelers?

[Xander234]

I immideately thought about the Shaskaban cannibals from Raymond Feists books, but thats beside the point. I'm not inclined to think the Land of Madmen would get involved now, almost near the end though. Sharans are definently an option.

 

 

That's pretty much why I think they might be involved. Land of Madmen has received pretty much no attention. They can be presented in a few a pages, probably through other characters. Something like Karede's servant for example or the Amayar. You know just another thing to fill out the universe of WoT even more. I think it would be a nice tough.

 

Although of course Shara does seem like a good choice. Just like the corrupted Aiel. In fact why not combine these theories. We know Aiel sometimes punish by selling people like animals to Shara. If they punish their own people like this as well...I wonder if Shara wouldn't take to breeding their disgraced Aiel slaves. Turn them into attack animals in case Aiel ever decide to invade Shara. Of course this seems a bit way too overcomplicated so I think I'll stick with my most hopeful theory. Land of Madmen!

[hurin]

They are definitely from Shara. Here is what we know about Shara:

 

- Sharan residents go veiled at all times.

 

- We know there is anarchy and chaos in Shara, sparked by the dissapearance of the rulers of Shara - the Sh'boan and Sh'botay.

 

- We know the Sh'boan and Sh'botay were captured by Graendal and made into her playthings

 

- We know Demandred's whereabouts have been unknown for the entire series but he has been preparing an army for the Dark One.

 

Therefore, since we know Demandred will appear in AMoL with a new army, it is likely that he has taken control of Shara and the veiled Aiel-like people at the end of ToM were the initial force of Shara

[capuga]

I immideately thought about the Shaskaban cannibals from Raymond Feists books, but thats beside the point. I'm not inclined to think the Land of Madmen would get involved now, almost near the end though. Sharans are definently an option.

 

 

That's pretty much why I think they might be involved. Land of Madmen has received pretty much no attention. They can be presented in a few a pages, probably through other characters. Something like Karede's servant for example or the Amayar. You know just another thing to fill out the universe of WoT even more. I think it would be a nice tough.

 

Although of course Shara does seem like a good choice. Just like the corrupted Aiel. In fact why not combine these theories. We know Aiel sometimes punish by selling people like animals to Shara. If they punish their own people like this as well...I wonder if Shara wouldn't take to breeding their disgraced Aiel slaves. Turn them into attack animals in case Aiel ever decide to invade Shara. Of course this seems a bit way too overcomplicated so I think I'll stick with my most hopeful theory. Land of Madmen!

 

Nothing related to this thread but - @Xander234, I love your avatar. I got my dad a t-shirt with that on it for Xmas once and my wife couldn't figure out why we thought it was hilarious.

[Zefram]

I too think those veiled guys are from Sharra

 

1) It was mentioned too many times without having it play some role at the end

2) None of them channeled

3) While it was promised that we'll see effect of 13x13, I doubt it would be double effect in the same book - first at Black Tower and then for Aiel Male Channelers.

[Evoke]

For a while there I was entertaining the notion of them possibly being the adult stage of Jumara. Just because it'd be so much more fun to see a form of shadowspawn unseen before. However this seems implausible as such a creature most likely would be much larger. However Aginor's experiments often used humans so the adult stage may very well resemble one - why it would use weapons is beyond me tho (the gholam didn't use any, it didn't need to) which is another reason this seems unlikely.

 

They aren't simply 13x13 male channeling Aiel tho. The red-veiled ones have "dark eyes," "glassy and hard" with a "glee" as they killed. While those at the Black Tower have "cold" eyes and "the smile on the lips of a corpse." Also, "something not-quite-alive inside those eyes." The obvious difference is that those who have been turned at the Black Tower appear to be little more than walking dead - "A shadows stuffed inside human skin." with an inability to show any real emotions. The red-veiled one who killed Barriga seemed like he was having a very good time doing so.