Could Olver be.... (spoilers through book 6)

[henfen]

Do you think Olver could be Gaidal Cain reincarnated?  Olver appears in the books shortly after Birgitte leaves Tel'aran'rhiod.  We know time passes differently there - perhaps not linearly.  Before her bare escape from death in Tel'aran'rhiod, Birgitte says she hasn't seen Gaidal in a while and thinks the Wheel spun him out.  Then we meet Olver, who isn't very easy on the eyes, just like Gaidal apparently, and is several years older (8?) than Birgitte would've been had she been born normally, as she said he is in each incarnation.

Olver always struck me as a bit of an odd character to throw into the mix, a bit random, until my current re-reading, where this thought crossed my mind.  True, he shows how thoughtful and caring Mat is, and is a cute reminder of Mat's lack of self-awareness in how Olver acts just like him with women.  He helps elaborate on the Snake and Foxes storyline by being around to play the game, since adults aren't likely to play it together.  Perhaps that's all it is.  I forget if he plays any other role as the series progresses. 

Mostly his timing and his appearance make me speculate. 

[qlorin]

On 12/5/2021 at 5:40 PM, henfen said:

Do you think Olver could be Gaidal Cain reincarnated? 

This was a big theory once when internet started to spread...

Definetly there is a time flow speed difference between worlds but no linearity difference... It would be soooooo much more complex if it was... Olver was born when Mat sounds the horn at Falme and Gaidal Cain was there...

And I think this actually asked to Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson  at an interwiew and he said no...

Edited December 6, 2021 by qlorin

[Sabio]

RJ even said no that the timeline doesn't add up.  Cain was still in the dream world in one of the books, so Olver is way too old.  The Companion says Olver was 10 but appeared younger.

[Andra]

Given the descriptions of the two, it certainly seems like Jordan wanted everyone to make that connection.  But it can't be, since Cain was still in TAR after Olver was already born.

 

He could have played with the differences in time between the waking and dream worlds to make it work, but he apparently said definitively that it wasn't true.  Sanderson has also said that he knows (based on RJ's notes), and that it isn't Olver.  But he hasn't said who Cain was reborn as.

 

If it's like other similar "mysteries" you could probably figure it out.  But I haven't heard of anyone doing so.