The Ripples (spoilers)

[Varg]

Was it ever explained what the ripples were?  The ones that happened to Perrin and Faile when they were separated.

 

I've read the theory that this was the seals being broken.  But that doesn't hold for me.  That theory was written before the last book came out.  Before it was revealed that the seals were actually still whole until the last book.

[wotfan4472]

I think it was the seals failing, since all the distortions of reality was caused by the DO and Rand battling outside of time. Logain breaks the seals, and the effect that Perrin felt was the seals breaking and being distributed to that moment and location by his taveren nature. It is how the Wheel corects issues.

[TheSociopath]

by ripples, do you just mean bubbles of evil, dead walking, and ancient towns? 

It's been a while since I sat down and read that arc.

[Varg]

I don't think they were bubbles of evil.

 

Quote

She had just reached Therava's arrival with Galina when everything in front of her eyes ripples. She rippled! It was not imagination. Meira's blue eyes widened as far as they could go; she had felt it, too. Again everything rippled, including herself, harder than before. In shock, Faile stood up straight and let go of her robe. A third time the world rippled, harder still, and as it passed through her, she felt as if she might blow away in a breeze, or simply dissipate in a mist.

Quote

Suddenly everything seemed to ripple in Perrin's sight. He felt himself ripple. Breane gave a cry and dropped the pitcher. The world rippled again, and Berelain clutched his arm. Tylee's hand seemed frozen in that odd gesture, thumb and forefinger forming a crescent. Everything rippled for a third time, and Perrin felt as if he were made of fog, as if the world were fog with a high wind coming. Berelain shuddered, and he...

 

[TheSociopath]

wait, at this point in the books, Perrin's storyline is out of sync with Rand's. Could that have been the balescream?

[Occams whiskey bottle]

I'm starting my reread of the series, and noticed another obscure sentence that made me wonder if this was the "Bubbles of Evil".

 

Page 1 of the Prologue:

 

Quote

The dead lay everywhere, men and women and children struck down in attempted flight by the lightnings the had flashed down every corridor, or seized by the fires that stalked them, or sunken into stone of the palace, the stones that had flowed and sought, almost alive, before stillness came again. In odd counterpoint, colorful tapestries and paintings, masterworks all, hung undisturbed except where bulging walls had pushed them awry. Finely carved furnishings, inlaid with ivory and gold, stood untouched except where rippling floors had toppled them. The mind-twisting had struck at the core, ignoring peripheral things.

 

This seems to reference the Bubbles of Evil because the Dark One has touched the world, and tainted the One Power. Kind of cool that this is in the very first paragraph of the series!

[solarz]

We've seen those ripples before. It was in Rand's last Rhuidean vision, when the Da'shain Aiel Charn witnessed the drilling of the Bore. Shortly before the Sharom broke apart, Charn and the rest of the people nearby experienced a Ripple.

 

So I think those ripples are a result of the Dark One breaking free.

[DemandredFO]

Pretty sure the Prologue scene is the aftermath of Lews Therin doing the same thing Rand did in the Stone of Tear to kill all the trollocs with Callandor but instead of Trollocs, the lightning generator was changed to kill all Lews Therin descendants.

[solarz]

2 hours ago, DemandredFO said:

Pretty sure the Prologue scene is the aftermath of Lews Therin doing the same thing Rand did in the Stone of Tear to kill all the trollocs with Callandor but instead of Trollocs, the lightning generator was changed to kill all Lews Therin descendants.

 

Not just descendants, friends and servants as well. Probably everybody.

Edited July 4, 2018 by solarz

[Vincent Vinchova]

It is strange that a world-effecting event like the last seal breaking would only be depicted/experienced by two characters.