Where did Moiraine go in Fal Dara?

[Mashiara Sedai]

I'm re-reading the series and realized I didn't know where Moiraine disappeared to at the beginning of The Great Hunt.  It's right after the first Darkfriend meeting--and we see several Aes Sedai and a Shainarin--so I think we're supposed to half-think Moiraine might be one of them.  But, obviously she's not.

 

Is she visiting other retired Aes Sedai, like when she later visits Aldaleas (sp?) and Vendane (sp?).

[TheSociopath]

I thought that was when she visits Aldaleas and Vendane

[Mashiara Sedai]

That happens in chapter 22, and they live in Arafel.  Even if she visited them twice, Moiraine is only gone a few days, so she couldn’t have gotten there and back in time.

[TheSociopath]

makes sense. I never thought that hard about it. 

 

However, the only abscence I can think of in tGH is after she skips out on Egwene and Nynaeve, and then we don't see her until the very end. Does she actually leave in the very beginnig?

[Mashiara Sedai]

Chapter 1, page 8 in the American paperback:

Quote

"[Lan said,] "You want her to treat you like what you are?"

 

"No! I don't mean that.  Burn me, I don't want that, and I'm scared of the other.  Now she's gone off somewhere, vanished..."

 

"I told you she need to be alone sometimes.  It isn't for you, or anyone else, to question her actions."

 

"...without telling anybody where she was going, or when she'd be back, or even if she would be back. She has to be able to tell me something to help me, Lan. Something. She has to. If she ever comes back."

 

"She's back, sheepherder.  Last night.  But I think she has told you all she can. Be satisfied.  You've learned what you can from her."
 

 

The prologue is the man who calls himself Bors at the darkfriend social.  So I think this is placed her to make us question.  But I wonder where she really did go.  And that she wouldn't take Lan with her is suspicious.

[Mashiara Sedai]

I looked through the Theoryland interview database and didn't find any answers there, either.

[Songstress]

If it had been a long enough time for her to do it, I would have guessed this time period was where she gave Myrelle her instructions to pass Lan's bond to Nynaeve - I'm not sure she had time to get to Tar Valon, or make arrangements to meet Myrelle somewhere, though.

 

We see later Moiraine tell Lan that before they left the Tower she'd made arrangements for his bond to pass to Myrelle when she dies, which would have been before Moiraine knew Nynaeve existed or had any inkling that Lan would be falling in love during this adventure.  Later, when caught with Lan among her warders, Myrelle tells Egwene that Moiraine had instructed her to pass the bond to Nynaeve specifically.  

 

She had to have communicated with Myrelle at some point between the end of Eye of the World and when she went through the red stone doorway with Lanfear.  Since she was thinking about it to tell him about passing the bond shortly thereafter, that would be my best guess, if the timing worked out.

 

EDITED TO ADD: This would have been a good reason not to take Lan with her IMO.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Songstress

[Mashiara Sedai]

Myrelle is one of the sisters who comes to Fal Dara with the Amyrlin.  They could have chatted then.  Though I doubt it because the Greens and the Blues are fighting (Greens have been backing the Reds in the Hall).  Or maybe Moraine was sneaky enough to meet Myrelle in secret, then.  

 

But there definitely wasn't enough time for Moraine to go to Tar Valon.  The Amyrlin's party traveled nearly a month, and that was with the ship and calling on the winds to speed them up.

 

I may have to email Maria Simons and see what she knows!  It's gonna bug me!

[Songstress]

7 minutes ago, Mashiara Sedai said:

Myrelle is one of the sisters who comes to Fal Dara with the Amyrlin.  They could have chatted then.  Though I doubt it because the Greens and the Blues are fighting (Greens have been backing the Reds in the Hall).  Or maybe Moraine was sneaky enough to meet Myrelle in secret, then.  

 

Are you sure?  The only Green on that trip that was mentioned is Alanna - the text indicated that there were two from each Ajah there, but doesn't name the other Green.  From what I could find, the first time Myrelle is mentioned in the series is when Moiraine tells Lan that she's made arrangements to pass his bond to Myrelle if she dies.

 

Regardless, I figure there's no way she had time to go to Tar Valon and back, but it's always made me wonder when she gave her the specific instruction about passing the bond to Nynaeve.

 

Asking Maria sounds like a great idea

[Mashiara Sedai]

1 minute ago, Songstress said:

The only Green on that trip that was mentioned is Alanna

 

Yes!  You're right!  I got them confused.  Alanna was with them.  But I guess we don't know who the other Green sister is.

 

Maybe Myrelle was in the area and Moraine went out to meet her somewhere in Shainar?

[Songstress]

Could be!  Or maybe she had a contact she could use to pass a message to her secretly.  *shrug*

 

I do think it's a great question to ask.  I wonder if it's something that was in Robert Jordan's notes where she would know!

[Ryrin]

It is a really good question. I know I wondered at the time.

[Guest Asher026]

I'm doing a re-read myself, and Moiraine disappearing briefly in the beginning of the Great Hunt caught my attention too.  Which brought me here to see if anyone else ever questioned it.

 

Did anyone ever have a lead on this or find out more?

 

 

[DemandredFO]

Now that the creator is gone I don't know that we'll ever get a definitive answer and also in book 2 there is the case of the missing gholam. Of course since it's said they can pass through gateways, I imagined Moridin made a gateway for it to go and kill Fel. As for Moiraine, one of the things we'll never know, although the show might come up with an explanation.

[Zorlon]

Maybe she just sometimes has a difficult monthly and prefers to be alone for awhile. Must everything be some big riddle to unravel?

 

Or maybe there was a village a day or two from the fortress where some cook makes just the best whatever Saldean dish she's ever had, so figuring there's no telling when she'd be back up North she just had to make a roadtrip.

 

Maybe even a childhood sweetheart lived nearby, and though the the passion between them has long since cooled, she enjoyed visiting whenever she had the chance just to reminisce about earlier days.

 

Remember, even Merlin expies do have lives and concerns of their own.

 

[2RiversFan]

I think the early absence from Fal Dara was entirely a mechanism to serve plot points.  The reason I think this is because of the general population's perspective Aes Sedai have that Mystique about them, noone knows what they're doing, where they're going, or what their motivations are.  While Rand is no longer unfamiliar with A.S., there was still a lot about them he doesn't know or understand.

I think in this case, RJ was merely using that Aes Sedai mystique to build Rand's angst about his situation.  RJ needed the hero to be apprehensive about his situation prior to the events that were just ahead;  more A.S. , meeting the Amyrlin Seat, etc.

If I'm correct about this, it's a bit of a departure for RJ.   His writing style was very thorough; he nearly always had hidden purpose for every little bit of information he gave, and very rarely had "throwaway" information concerning major character arcs.  (I'm guessing this is the reason you have been wondering about it also). As this is very early in the series, I wonder if he originally had something else in mind for her absence in this instance...   

[Zorlon]

3 hours ago, 2RiversFan said:

I think the early absence from Fal Dara was entirely a mechanism to serve plot points.  The reason I think this is because of the general population's perspective Aes Sedai have that Mystique about them, noone knows what they're doing, where they're going, or what their motivations are.  While Rand is no longer unfamiliar with A.S., there was still a lot about them he doesn't know or understand.

I think in this case, RJ was merely using that Aes Sedai mystique to build Rand's angst about his situation.  RJ needed the hero to be apprehensive about his situation prior to the events that were just ahead;  more A.S. , meeting the Amyrlin Seat, etc.

If I'm correct about this, it's a bit of a departure for RJ.   His writing style was very thorough; he nearly always had hidden purpose for every little bit of information he gave, and very rarely had "throwaway" information concerning major character arcs.  (I'm guessing this is the reason you have been wondering about it also). As this is very early in the series, I wonder if he originally had something else in mind for her absence in this instance...   

You know, I honestly would prefer if she was just off doing Moiraine stuff. I wasn't kidding when I said even Merlin expies have lives of their own, meaning lives outside the hero, and it would have made the world that much richer if she was attending to personal stuff.

 

Remember the old man in the cave from the first Zelda game, the one at the start who said "it's dangerous to alone, take this" and gave you a magical wooden sword?

 

Now imagine the reality of the story was you jumped to take the sword too early and he had been intending to say "it's dangerous to go alone, take this lonely old man with you"

 

Doesn't that suddenly make him 5x more interesting, dont you want to know more about him? And thus as I said before, supporting characters ought have lives of their own.

 

Except Luhan, the less known about him the better. Fain too, I very much get the impression Fain backstory would wander deep into Martinesque territory.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Zorlon

[DemandredFO]

Maybe she went to the in between realm to have a confab with Gandalf, Dumbledore and all mentoring magic folk.

[Zorlon]

On 8/18/2019 at 7:41 PM, DemandredFO said:

Maybe she went to the in between realm to have a confab with Gandalf, Dumbledore and all mentoring magic folk.

Now I imagine Obi'Wan and Jaga loudly arguing at that meeting mentors are much better off as glowing blue ghosts while Gamdalf counters no of course dying and coming back stronger is the better, and everyone else looks mortified at these suggestions and start mentioning the ways they died. Then perhaps the old man from The Last Dragon mentions he just had to take a plane ride to let the hero complete his journey.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Zorlon

[The Thin Innkeeper]

On 8/10/2019 at 12:51 PM, Asher026 said:

I'm doing a re-read myself, and Moiraine disappearing briefly in the beginning of the Great Hunt caught my attention too.  Which brought me here to see if anyone else ever questioned it.

 

Did anyone ever have a lead on this or find out more?

 

 

It's widely assumed that RJ did it in order for the reader to think that she had been at the darkfriend meeting that takes place in the prologue.

On 8/11/2019 at 3:17 AM, Zorlon said:

Maybe she just sometimes has a difficult monthly and prefers to be alone for awhile. Must everything be some big riddle to unravel?

 

If it serves no purpose to have her leave, then why does the author do it? It would easier for him to just not mention her at that point.

[Seaine's eyebrows]

 

On 10/6/2018 at 12:48 AM, Songstress said:

If it had been a long enough time for her to do it, I would have guessed this time period was where she gave Myrelle her instructions to pass Lan's bond to Nynaeve - I'm not sure she had time to get to Tar Valon, or make arrangements to meet Myrelle somewhere, though.

 

We see later Moiraine tell Lan that before they left the Tower she'd made arrangements for his bond to pass to Myrelle when she dies, which would have been before Moiraine knew Nynaeve existed or had any inkling that Lan would be falling in love during this adventure.  Later, when caught with Lan among her warders, Myrelle tells Egwene that Moiraine had instructed her to pass the bond to Nynaeve specifically.  

 

She had to have communicated with Myrelle at some point between the end of Eye of the World and when she went through the red stone doorway with Lanfear.  Since she was thinking about it to tell him about passing the bond shortly thereafter, that would be my best guess, if the timing worked out.

 

EDITED TO ADD: This would have been a good reason not to take Lan with her IMO.

 

How about if Moiraine, while she's busy trying to manipulate Rand, and RJ's busy trying to make us think she might be Black, skipped off somewhere, maybe to the capital, stayed there a few days, and sent a letter to Myrelle telling her about Lan and Nynaeve. Who could a Green think be a better Aes Sedai for a broken Warder than the woman he loves??‍♂️ ?‍♀️

Edited September 23, 2019 by Seaine's eyebrows
Edited to take out the man emoji but he just won't budge

[Dagon Thyne]

Where she went is never answered.  It's a trick by RJ to make the reader think that Moiraine could secretly be Black Ajah, and that she might have been one of the Aes Sedai who was at the meeting with Bors.

 

In reality it was Verin and Liandrin. 

 

All of the Darkfriends at the "social" were among the highest ranking.  Liandrin is known to have been one of them, and it only makes sense for the other to have been  Verin, who would have had to have been very high ranking in order to properly do her job as a spy, and gather enough information to bring down the Black Ajah.  And since Verin's identiy as a darkfriend double agent isn't know until nearly the end of the series, the reader is intended to assume that Moiraine's absence means that she could have been the other one.    

Edited September 27, 2019 by Dagon Thyne