How do you imagine Rand's life after Last Battle?

[Sabio]

Cad also has a lot on her plate with trying to rebuild the WT since she is going to be forced to be the Amirlyn.  So the last thing she really wants to do would be going after or harassing Rand.  @Ascended is right, he did what she wanted him to and probably does feel he earned the right to ride off into a quiet life somewhere.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Sabio

[Harldin]

On 5/24/2020 at 6:17 AM, Ascended said:

Well, it seems pretty clear Rand has no interest in holding any position of power or influence again; it's said straight out about him wanting to see the world, not just palaces. So I'd imagine he wanders and travels, living among the common people doing odd jobs, helping re-build towns and re-plant farms, playing the flute at inns. That'd have a nice parallel with his early journey out of the Two Rivers. 

 

Eventually he probably settles down, maybe buying a farm, possibly an inn. I'm inclined to believe it'll be an inn, farming might be a little too bittersweet for him and I don't think Rand would want to be so removed he wouldn't even hear rumors of events. No, I think Rand retiring as a innkeeper makes sense. And my gut says he might settle down near the Seanchan controlled lands. Maybe partially to keep an eye on them, but also because he's seen how well they care for their people, and most of all it's close to Min. 

 

The 3 aren't much of a concern, I think. Rand didn't spend much time with any of them except Min, and they've all proven to be dutiful people who can be content with their own responsibilities and the occasional visit with Rand. Maybe it's not what any of them want, but they can live with it. So Avi and E likely slip into Rand's room now and then, or he slips into theirs if his new abilities allow for Traveling, and if he settles around Ebou Dar then Min is close at hand too.

Cads isn't a worry; she clearly knew it was Rand, and not Morridin, escaping during the funeral but she's not going to try and draw him into anything. He fought the Last Battle, that's all Cads wanted from him. And Rand would have considerable political influence if the world knew he lived. She wouldn't want the potential rival, especially considering Rand's opinion of the White Tower. She'll be perfectly happy to leave Rand to his quiet life, and will desperately hope to never even hear the rumor of rumors concerning him ever again.

Its a changed world, the first problem all the leaders are going to have is a very serious famine, there is very little food, farming is a fraction of what it was, it could take anything up tp 10 years to recover.

The White Tower is no longer the totally dominant power it was, my guess is they have lost at least 1/2 their numbers, killed, or captured by the Seanchan, or were Black Ajah as well as they have dozens of Aes Sedai bonded to Ashaman whose loyalty would now be questionable. The Aiel Wise Ones have lost a lot of respect and fear of Aes Sedai, the Sea Folk Channelers are now out of hiding and then they have the problem of both the Seanchan who want to collar them as slaves and the Ashaman who are not going to forgive 3000 years of men being hunted down anytime soon. Lets not forget that the situation in the Tower itself, the bad blood between the Red and the Blue will take decades to fully heal. 

Cadsuane has all that to deal with as well as about 1000 Novices and the Kin that Egwene has dumped her with and i would have my doubts that Cadsuane agreed with Egwenes decision concerning over age Novices and the Kin, she didn’t think much of many of the Aes SedaiI let alone old Novices and 400 year old Wilders. I doubt she will overturn those decisions but she will instruct the Mistress of Novices to winnow through the Novices to get rid of those who aren’t up to scratch very quickly. Cadsuane will go through the Tower like a Thunderstorm and those Sitters that asked her to be Amyrlin will very quickly regret it

[Ascended]

Yeah, the recovery after the Last Battle is nothing to brush off, but I don't know if it's as dire as it seems. Consider the way the weather and seasons reacted throughout the books; the Dark One tried to to freeze everyone with an endless winter, tried to cook everyone with an endless summer, and each time his effort was thwarted the world would snap back into proper shape quickly. So after the Last Battle it's possible that all those fallow fields rebounded with a viable, if late, harvest. Remember when Rand leaves Dragonmount and passes the farm, where suddenly all the apples grow? We might see something a little like that across the world; not nearly so dramatic I'm sure, but a similar resurgence as the Pattern establishes balance. 

 

I doubt the winter after the Battle is going to be an easy one, and certainly a whole lot of people will starve or freeze to death, but I don't know if it'll take decades to recover from. We have the benefit of the Dragon's Peace and, generally speaking, competent rulers. That means everyone can focus on recovery and not worrying about their neighbor countries attempting to pounce, and soldiers retiring and finding their way to farms or blacksmith anvils, etc. 

 

Avi's visions aren't reliable and are scant on details anyway, but from what little we see of her daughter, it doesn't sound like she grew up in a world that was still struggling to recover from the Last Battle.

 

It'll be a hard recovery for certain, but I don't think it'll be as bad as all that. 

[Elendir]

On 5/25/2020 at 1:13 AM, Ascended said:

Yeah, the recovery after the Last Battle is nothing to brush off, but I don't know if it's as dire as it seems. Consider the way the weather and seasons reacted throughout the books; the Dark One tried to to freeze everyone with an endless winter, tried to cook everyone with an endless summer, and each time his effort was thwarted the world would snap back into proper shape quickly. So after the Last Battle it's possible that all those fallow fields rebounded with a viable, if late, harvest. Remember when Rand leaves Dragonmount and passes the farm, where suddenly all the apples grow? We might see something a little like that across the world; not nearly so dramatic I'm sure, but a similar resurgence as the Pattern establishes balance. 

 

I doubt the winter after the Battle is going to be an easy one, and certainly a whole lot of people will starve or freeze to death, but I don't know if it'll take decades to recover from. We have the benefit of the Dragon's Peace and, generally speaking, competent rulers. That means everyone can focus on recovery and not worrying about their neighbor countries attempting to pounce, and soldiers retiring and finding their way to farms or blacksmith anvils, etc. 

 

Avi's visions aren't reliable and are scant on details anyway, but from what little we see of her daughter, it doesn't sound like she grew up in a world that was still struggling to recover from the Last Battle.

 

It'll be a hard recovery for certain, but I don't think it'll be as bad as all that. 

 

I agree, the Well is in the habit of compensating for the Dark one's interventions as soon as its direct influence wears off. That would mean a sharp turn for the better after the Last Battle.

In addition, people are now motivated to showcase the best in them.

[Harldin]

5 hours ago, Elendir said:

 

I agree, the Well is in the habit of compensating for the Dark one's interventions as soon as its direct influence wears off. That would mean a sharp turn for the better after the Last Battle.

In addition, people are now motivated to showcase the best in them.

I can only go on what would happen in a normal situation, i can’t guess for any magical interventions but what will stretch out a bad famine and this would be very bad unless there is the type of intervention you are talking about is the lack of Seed Grain and Breeding Animals, due to fact that all that got consumed.as well. Farmers in olden days would store a percentage of there Crop each year for planting the following year, and of course they keep there Breeding Stock and send the Offspring to market. 
In this situation its the entire World, huge numbers of people are now refugees, a lot of farms are deserted, there is nowhere to turn to for the food needed, the only reliable Food source left is in the Oceans. 
So unless the Aes Sedai are hiding a Ter’Angreal that can produce tons and tons of Wheat Grains a day, another one that can produce 100s of Livestock a day and are, along with the Ashaman, Wise Ones, Kin, Seafolk and Seanchan prepared to provide 100s of Gateways a day first up to feed the multitude of Refugees and then return Farmers to there Farms and fill up there storage sheds with Grain and there Fields with Livestock and then help move all this produce to markets and keep it up for several years or Rand clicks his fingers and fixes the whole problem in a second, we have a major famine on our hands.

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Harldin

[Ascended]

On 5/30/2020 at 9:40 AM, Harldin said:

I can only go on what would happen in a normal situation, i can’t guess for any magical interventions

 

 

But we *can* look at other, similar events in the books and extrapolate a rough expectation of what'll happen. And we've got examples which show the seasons fixing themselves quickly after the Dark One's influence is gone, a bunch of examples of hidden stores of food being found in cities and boats, Rand's observations about the world not being nearly as dead as it appears, etc. 

 

It's a world with magic; intervention is to be expected. And beyond the Pattern itself setting things straight and the twist of chance that leaves open the possibility of stuff like Tear finding a Stone-sized store room full of grain, we also have hundreds, maybe thousands of ter'angreal that were unidentified before channelers like Avi and Elayne re-discovered how to identify and make them, we have the Bowl of Winds (and if that can rip the weather out of the Dark One's own hands, it can help with a harvest), and we also have lands beyond the continent that are said to have felt the Dark One's touch far less, which means they still have food and supplies to trade, and a Gray Ajah that has taken a lot of interest in Traveling. 

 

It'll be a hard recovery, but I don't think it'll be *that* hard. It's a Breaking, yes, but I don't think it's a "life nearly ends and society nearly crumbles" Breaking like what Lews Therin brought on. 

[Jsbrads2]

It also occurred to me with all the people dying during the Last Battle, there are many fewer people to feed.

Also apparently it is winter during the last battle, so expect an early, warm spring with two plantings/harvests especially with interventions like magic and/or Rand singing, but Rand’s thread reweaving the pattern can make food appear too, just no one is allowed to know he did it, but that shouldn’t be a problem because no one’s knows about Rand’s power. 

[Sabio]

There is bound to be some starvation.  The world was already experiencing food shortages before the Last Battle with grain and such going bad. The Spoiling will stop with the DO sealed away but the ruined food won't suddenly become good.  We don't know if Rand still has the ability to shape the pattern around him to make spoiled food ok again.  Even if he can he is still only one person.

 

The Borderlands are no good for awhile, they took the worst of the fighting and how many times in the book were we reminded Shinear burning everything?  I don't remember if Elayne was doing the same thing in Andor.  But alot of land is ruined at the moment.

 

As we saw alot of the common folks such as farmers left to go fight in the last battle.  So how many farmers are dead?  I would expect the first season after the Last Battle to be sort of rough as shelter needs to be located for all the displaced people.  Especially up North none of the people even have homes to go to.

[Thrasymachus]

Don't forget that Aiel chiefs who come back from Rhuidean know the Song of Growing.  After the losses of the Last Battle, there will be a pretty big need for new chiefs.  And despite their role as peacekeepers in the Westlands, as everybody will be focused on retrenchment and rebuilding, they won't really be needed in that role for some time.  As the need for food mounts, there's a chance that some new chief tries Singing to some food plants, and discovers he has the Talent for it.  And on discovering his success, brings in the other chiefs, teaches as many of his people as can learn it, and contacts a few Ogier to help out, and they go around Singing to as many fields of crops as they can.

 

In fact, I like that idea so much it's my new head-canon.  Specifically, that Gaul is the one to do this.  He comes back with the idea, but the old-guard chiefs and Wise Ones largely oppose it because it's such a break with tradition, until some Wise One comes back from her second trip through the columns and insists that they must.  From that point the whole culture of the Aiel begins to change, and over the next few generations they go from being a feared and respected nomadic peacekeeping force, to become beloved and respected mediators and a nomadic Growing community.  The arrival of the Aiel would become a cause of celebration and occasion of festival.

 

Over a long enough period of time, such a change would be the cause of their ultimate doom, as all things must pass away eventually in the Turning of the Wheel.  Eventually, they would become a people of peace once again, and their high social status, being the focus of celebration wherever they go, would eventually lead to some measure of arrogance and indulgence.  Going to Rhuidean would still show them their history and transition from a people of ultimate pacifism to the warriors of the Third Age, but by now, deep in the Fourth Age, the Aiel are no longer warriors, and that history no longer relevant.  Many may even suspect it to be false, and that suspicion will eventually grow to certainty.  And if the first set of visions one sees is false, then what of the second? 

 

Eventually, the Aiel would come to disbelieve these visions, the first set clearly false (if not entirely irrelevant), and the second set easily averted by making mundane changes, like changing your child's name, such that going to Rhuidean is eventually abandoned, the visions being seen as nothing more than a kind of mental training that the Aiel as a people have long ago outgrown.  Having cut themselves off from the knowledge of their own doom, they become powerless to prevent it, and the Aiel as a people eventually scatter and die, to be reborn in some fashion in the next turning of the Wheel, after spending an Age as an honored and honorable people, to balance out the Age where they were feared and seen as murderous and duplicitous.

 

 

 

 

[Jsbrads2]

So many people died, there shouldn’t be a shortage of housing. Except for Camlyn and shienar, very few houses were destroyed.

Rand can secretly go to warehouses in different cities at night and fill them up with grain using his powers. 
it would be cool if the Ogier stay for one spring and summer to help growing things. 
how do we know the Aiel are singing their plants in cold rocks hold?

[Thrasymachus]

The Aiel traditionally don't sing, except for funeral dirges and battle hymns, and when they're children, I suppose.  The chiefs and Wise Ones have a tradition of not speaking about or revealing what they see in their Rhuidean visions, except with others who have been there.  They likely wouldn't have risked revealing the Growing Song by Singing to their crops in the Waste, even to the point of death by starvation, given their sense of honor.  But the Dragon breaks all bonds, and especially after the Last Battle, the Aiel's ties to those traditions are fraying already.  Before Avi's second trip, there was already the beginnings of questioning the very point of sending chiefs and Wise Ones to Rhuidean to pass through the columns, now that the Aiel's history was made common knowledge by Rand.

 

My own suspicion regarding Rand's "new powers" is that he doesn't have any.  His ability to light his pipe was a last lingering effect of the confluence of Shayol Ghul with Tel'aran'Rhiod at the ultimate climax of the Last Battle.  Had he waited a little while longer, or tried it after he'd left the valley of Thakandar, nothing would have happened.  He's probably still able to Dream, but he'll probably avoid TaR proper and just stick to creating Dreamshards if he ever needs to, and probably not even that, just sticking to normal dreams, as he'd appear as Rand in TaR, and not in his new Moridin body, unless he made the mental effort to change his appearance and maintain it.  And that would risk giving himself away, with all the powerful Dreamwalkers running about.

[Sabio]

Rand can't use the one power anymore, how exactly is he going to sneak into warehouses every night?  There is nothing to show he is capable of gateways anymore. Also the pattern is balance, the DO is locked away and can't influence things like the weather anymore.  So all the good things his presence did is gone now.  He won't walk into a ship and all the grain is suddenly become good again.

 

Kandor (or was it Arafel) was totally overrun, Saldaea's capital destroyed, the Prophet destroyed many places, Arad Doman was in bad shape, and Cairhien already was needing food from Tear since the farmers hadn't returned after the Aiel war.  There was already refugee issues before the LB happened.  Look at how many fled to the Two Rivers.

 

I am not sure every Clan Chief knows the growing song.  Just because you might see and hear it in the columns doesn't mean they come out able to sing it.  

[Jsbrads2]

Yeah, I don’t see the growing song at risk in cold rock hold, hundreds of miles from the closest Wetlander. The only Wetlander before Rand’s group that entered any Aiel hold was Rand mom. 

Rand has a new power which replaced his channeling ability, he just gets whatever he wants. He walks into an empty warehouse and he reweaves the pattern that it was always full. He doesn’t even have to walk in it. Rand can travel without gateways. One moment he can be at ex-Shayol Ghul, the next he decides to use his reweave power and he changes where his thread is inside the pattern. 
This all kind of Jesusy, more than the rest of the story, he wakes up from the battle a God. I would rather the DO’s prison be a more perfect cell by using both powers with Nynaeve or something. Eh...

Edited June 17, 2020 by Jsbrads2

[Thrasymachus]

The tradition of not revealing what was seen in Rhuidean was not about protecting that knowledge from wetlanders.  It was about protecting the Aiel themselves from knowing about the extent of the toh they had as a people, from abandoning the Way of the Leaf.  Knowledge that, when revealed by Rand, causes extensive social upheaval throughout Aiel society.

 

And the ending is intentionally vague about whether Rand has permanent new powers, or if his pipe lighting was a one-off thing that was a lingering effect of the Last Battle, or even if one of the Three lit it for him (though I think that latter is least likely, as other female channellers would notice that).  Thematically, it doesn't make sense for Rand to walk away with permanent reality-warping god powers.  It would imply that Rand's journey isn't done, that there's more of his story to tell, and that the Wheel still needs him to do stuff.  When Rand's reward for his sacrifice is that he gets what he wants: to live out a normal life free of the demands of destiny and prophecy and having to save the world.

 

Of course, as with so much else in the Wheel of Time, there's enough left out that everybody can come up with whatever head-canon they want without contradicting what we know, but we must still take care not to confuse head-canon with canon-canon.