Any pet theories you wished would have been true?

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

On 2/15/2023 at 9:19 PM, KakitaOCU said:

And two second Sinister, we know the RJ notes are from during his writing of LOC.  And we know in Winter's Heart Demandred specifically does not recognize Damer Flinn, all before Sanderson's involvement.

I’ve only read the series once and currently on my first reread so forgive me for being a little fuzzy on my memory…but please remind me when you say demandred doesn’t recognize damer Flynn…who is he? I remember dashiva being a forsaken but who is damer?

[Samt]

6 hours ago, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

I’ve only read the series once and currently on my first reread so forgive me for being a little fuzzy on my memory…but please remind me when you say demandred doesn’t recognize damer Flynn…who is he? I remember dashiva being a forsaken but who is damer?

Damer Flinn is one of the Ashaman.  He is older and very good at healing.  He is one of the Ashaman that travels with Rand and is bonded to one of the Aes Sedai. He is also the one who discovers how to use Saidin to cure severing.

 

During the cleansing of Saidin, he is present and part of a circle that fights Demandred. It is not at all stressed at the time, I don’t think, but Demandred doesn’t recognize him. If Demandred were Mazrim Taim, he would have already met Damer and would recognize him.

[KakitaOCU]

To add one more point to the above.  Damer is the FIRST person Taim tests and verifies able to channel when Rand first brings him to the farm.

Fast forward to the Cleansing and we see Demandred' PoV.  He see's Flinn's group (A circle him and Corelle and Sarene).  He thinks it's just two sisters and a doddering old man.  Then Flinn spins and goes on the attack and Demandred panics for just a second being surprised that Flinn is "one of those Asha'man."   before he starts fighting back.

It's very unlikely that you'd casually forget the very first person you trained at the Tower, that you discovered right after infiltrating Rand's trust.

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

16 hours ago, Samt said:

Damer Flinn is one of the Ashaman.  He is older and very good at healing.  He is one of the Ashaman that travels with Rand and is bonded to one of the Aes Sedai. He is also the one who discovers how to use Saidin to cure severing.

 

During the cleansing of Saidin, he is present and part of a circle that fights Demandred. It is not at all stressed at the time, I don’t think, but Demandred doesn’t recognize him. If Demandred were Mazrim Taim, he would have already met Damer and would recognize him.

OHHHH ok thank you for clarifying, definitely makes sense 

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

14 hours ago, KakitaOCU said:

To add one more point to the above.  Damer is the FIRST person Taim tests and verifies able to channel when Rand first brings him to the farm.

Fast forward to the Cleansing and we see Demandred' PoV.  He see's Flinn's group (A circle him and Corelle and Sarene).  He thinks it's just two sisters and a doddering old man.  Then Flinn spins and goes on the attack and Demandred panics for just a second being surprised that Flinn is "one of those Asha'man."   before he starts fighting back.

It's very unlikely that you'd casually forget the very first person you trained at the Tower, that you discovered right after infiltrating Rand's trust.

That’s an excellent point, thanks for your response 

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

I have another thought about something I wanted more from…I could be wrong because I am only on my first reread, but I wanted mesaana to be someone in the tower we knew 

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

And I kinda thought we’d get more from the ogier 

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

Maybe a men are from mars women are from Venus book 😂

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

As long as I’m asking questions…did we need the sea folk?

[Finnssss22]

15 minutes ago, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

As long as I’m asking questions…did we need the sea folk?

 

Aside from logistical support for Rand's armies and food delivery, they were mostly tied to the Bowl of the Winds stopping the world from burning up the first time and then negating the raging weather around SG during the Last Battle.

 

My personal small pet theory was that Androl had actually been channeling for a long time and was well over a century old.

He is so weak in the power that the madness took a long time to affect him.

It would've explained his multiple artisan masteries and his extensive travels.

[DojoToad]

5 hours ago, Finnssss22 said:

 

Aside from logistical support for Rand's armies and food delivery, they were mostly tied to the Bowl of the Winds stopping the world from burning up the first time and then negating the raging weather around SG during the Last Battle.

 

My personal small pet theory was that Androl had actually been channeling for a long time and was well over a century old.

He is so weak in the power that the madness took a long time to affect him.

It would've explained his multiple artisan masteries and his extensive travels.

Was strength in the power correlated to onset and level of madness?

[KakitaOCU]

2 hours ago, DojoToad said:

Was strength in the power correlated to onset and level of madness?

It's not directly, they talk about some people lasting forever and some losing it almost immediately.  I think that part is tied to will power and their own mental health.

BUT, being as weak as he is, he's exposed to far less of the taint at a time.  Plus, he clearly doesn't learn Gateways until the Black Tower so if he WAS channeling before hand, it was minimal uses, maybe sharpening a knife or cleaning something...

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

22 hours ago, Finnssss22 said:

 

Aside from logistical support for Rand's armies and food delivery, they were mostly tied to the Bowl of the Winds stopping the world from burning up the first time and then negating the raging weather around SG during the Last Battle.

 

My personal small pet theory was that Androl had actually been channeling for a long time and was well over a century old.

He is so weak in the power that the madness took a long time to affect him.

It would've explained his multiple artisan masteries and his extensive travels.

I like that one 👍 

[Aan-Alone]

On 2/18/2023 at 1:52 AM, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

I definitely understand and appreciate your thoughts on this, and agree. I guess I’m just hung up on the confusion that I have about the DO being apparently defeated permanently by Rand in the last battle. If the choice of the dark side is necessary (which I agree with, free will doesn’t exist in truth without something to choose for or against) then what is the purpose of destroying it? And now what? I kinda wonder if the collective consciousness of the people, if they continue on as before without having transcended the consciousness of division and separation and selfishness, will inevitably create a dark force. Similar to mordeth and shadar logoth, meaning that it seems that the mindset of the people created the evil force that was their downfall. 

You just touched on something many ancient religions/philosophies expound upon. That humankind's collective negative thoughts / energies are the source of all our problems, so to speak.

GG

[Bugglesley]

On 2/27/2023 at 2:05 AM, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

As long as I’m asking questions…did we need the sea folk?

 

Did we need any group of people talked about in the books? The books could have been written any way, but they were written this way and they were in it so I guess yes.

 

I think they get a bad rap mostly because a number of the Windfinders featured so heavily in the worst (Elayne) components of The Slog (tm).

 

Setting that side, I think they do serve positive functions in the narrative, however. They add another element of "there's people in this world who interact with our character's society but have their own stuff going on," to complement the Aiel and lay track for the Sharans. They function as useful early warning signs for the Seanchan. They, as mentioned, are pretty critical to ending the endless descriptions of characters' faces sweating so we could move on to everyone drinking spiced wine and hugging their cloaks closely around them. They give us another society's answers to "what do you do with channellers" to compare/contrast the Aiel, Seanchan, and White Tower. They are another fascinating look into possible social and gender dynamics structured around life lived almost entirely on ships. Idk... they take off their blouses when they're not in sight of land?

 

I've always liked the Sea Folk.

[Aan-Alone]

On 2/27/2023 at 3:30 AM, Finnssss22 said:

My personal small pet theory was that Androl had actually been channeling for a long time and was well over a century old.

He is so weak in the power that the madness took a long time to affect him.

It would've explained his multiple artisan masteries and his extensive travels.

I too like this theory.

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

On 1/8/2024 at 12:00 PM, Bugglesley said:

 

Did we need any group of people talked about in the books? The books could have been written any way, but they were written this way and they were in it so I guess yes.

 

I think they get a bad rap mostly because a number of the Windfinders featured so heavily in the worst (Elayne) components of The Slog (tm).

 

Setting that side, I think they do serve positive functions in the narrative, however. They add another element of "there's people in this world who interact with our character's society but have their own stuff going on," to complement the Aiel and lay track for the Sharans. They function as useful early warning signs for the Seanchan. They, as mentioned, are pretty critical to ending the endless descriptions of characters' faces sweating so we could move on to everyone drinking spiced wine and hugging their cloaks closely around them. They give us another society's answers to "what do you do with channellers" to compare/contrast the Aiel, Seanchan, and White Tower. They are another fascinating look into possible social and gender dynamics structured around life lived almost entirely on ships. Idk... they take off their blouses when they're not in sight of land?

 

I've always liked the Sea Folk.

I love everything you point out here

[Lightfriendsocialmistress]

On 1/2/2024 at 11:43 AM, Aan-Alone said:

You just touched on something many ancient religions/philosophies expound upon. That humankind's collective negative thoughts / energies are the source of all our problems, so to speak.

GG

Yes I am a spiritual seeker so a lot of my thoughts about WOT are me projecting that on the narrative and seeing things through that perspective. Good catch, @Aan-Alone