Moraine's Oath to Rand and End of LOC spoilers

[VooDooNut]

Hey All. Just finished re-(re)reading Lord of Chaos and absolutely loved it. I definitely feel like this book does a great job of further developing the world and a lot of the characters in it. Here's my question for y'all: Is it possible Moraine made her oath to Rand (in The Shadow Rising The Fires of Heaven) so that Rand would think to bind the Aes Sedai at Dumai's Wells with a similar kind of oath? Perhaps she foresaw this happening during her trip through Rhuidean?

 

That last line by Rand (or maybe Taim, who knows!): "Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon," he said softly, "or you will be knelt." SO GOOD.

 

Also, apologies in advance if this has already been discussed. A quick search of this forum didn't show anything.

 

Edited: got my books mixed up

Edited October 17, 2021 by VooDooNut

[boldnbeautiful]

It has nothing to do with Moiraine's action or her Rhuidean vision.

 

One of the things that many readers forget is that Rand is following and fulfilling the Prophesy of the Dragon. In TSR and FoH, Rand is intensely studying the Prophesy because it's the instruction left by ancient Aes Sedai to him. One of the passage says "The unstained tower, broken, bends knee to the forgotten sign". He knows that he needs to fulfill this prophesy intentionally or unintentionally. Aes Sedai is just a small part of the fulfillment of this prophesy and Jendai Prophesy of "The White Tower shall be broken by his name, and Aes Sedai shall kneel to wash his feet and dry them with their hair"

 

Rand is a ta'veren. The Pattern will not allow him to deviate from fulfilling all Prophesies, Min's Viewings or Aelfinn answers. Sooner or later, whether knowingly or unknowingly, he will fulfill all prophesies. 

 

In LoC before his capture

Quote

“Anyway, even Reds might end following me. They know the Prophecies as well as anybody else. ‘The unstained tower breaks and bends knee to the forgotten sign.’ Written before there was a White Tower, but what else could ‘the unstained tower’ be? And the forgotten sign? My banner, Egwene, with the ancient symbol of Aes Sedai.”

 

[VooDooNut]

On 10/30/2021 at 5:10 PM, boldnbeautiful said:

It has nothing to do with Moiraine's action or her Rhuidean vision.

 

Thanks for your reply, boldnbeautiful! I think this is a really interesting response, but I'm going to rebut a few points made.

On 10/30/2021 at 5:10 PM, boldnbeautiful said:

Rand is intensely studying the Prophesy because it's the instruction left by ancient Aes Sedai to him.

I'd argue that the prophesies are less instruction and more prediction; They are, after all, involuntary and tied to the pattern, no? (Not omitting the possibility that Aes Sedai or *gasp* the Black Ajah might have purposefully altered copies of the Karaethon Cycle. On that point, even the distribution of the KC could have accidentally lead to edits to the content. But thats just wild speculation on my part.)

On 10/30/2021 at 5:10 PM, boldnbeautiful said:

 

 

Rand is a ta'veren. The Pattern will not allow him to deviate from fulfilling all Prophesies, Min's Viewings or Aelfinn answers. Sooner or later, whether knowingly or unknowingly, he will fulfill all prophesies.

Furthermore, even if Moiraine's oath might have lead to Rand's idea of how to contain the Aes Sedai, that doesn't necessitate either character be aware of the direct cause-effect relationship between each others' actions. This is true even if neither have the ability to deviate from their destiny in any way.

 

I guess I'm just seeing a connection between these two events, even if it goes unnoticed by Rand. Perhaps Moiraine pushed him to this course of action subliminally, thus fulfilling prophecy.

 

Edited: I always misspell Moiraine's name in my head. Same for Aviendha. Always forget about that 'n'!

 

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by VooDooNut