Halima, Mat and attempted Compulsion

[RedHandBandMan]

We know basically nothing to about where the foxhead medallion comes from. But in addition to the evidence people have listed above, a couple things in context make me believe that the medallion would cover Saidin: (1) the medallion came from the Finns in Rhuidean, and it's implied that there has been no interaction between the Eelfin and humans since the Breaking when male Aes Sedai were normal, so when Mat asks for "a way to be free of Aes Sedai and the Power", there's no reason the Eelfin would believe he just means female Aes Sedai; (2) the foxhead has the ancient symbol of the Aes Sedai, both the dragon's fang and the flame, again indicating both Saidin and Saidar.

[wotfan4472]

On 9/17/2024 at 1:38 PM, Andra said:

Mat's amulet came from the Finns.  Who knows where they got it from?

There is absolutely no reason to believe Rahvin even knew it existed, much less that Mat was wearing it.  To believe he intentionally did something to bypass it is to assign knowledge to him that is not believable.

 

Rand felt Rahvin weaving the lightning. He put up a shield to block the weave, but was too slow.  Rand plainly thought that Rahvin's "weave of Fire and Air" (neither of which would appear to be a part of natural lightning) WAS the lightning, not just its trigger.

Rand's response to Mat's death showed he believed that the foxhead could block Saidar, but not Saidin.

 

Granted, Jordan was very fond of the "Unreliable Narrator" trope, and could be misleading the reader into believing Rand's mistaken opinion.

 

But that just restates the question:

Did Jordan want us to believe that because he intended it to be true, but then changed his mind?

Did Jordan want us to believe that but always intended the impression to be false?

Did Jordan always intend this kind of narrow interpretation of the difference between "direct weave" and "indirect effect"?

 

Rand clearly thought Rahvin's lightning was a direct weave, not an indirect effect.  Was he just wrong?  Or was he right and Jordan changed his mind - or made a mistake?  Did the foxhead protect against Saidin - but only direct weaves, or did it only protect against Saidar?

 

It is not impossible that Rahvin did not know of the medallion. He did have spies in Rand's camp, and knew of his movements as well as the others he was working with. 

Rahvin was weaving Fire and Air correct, he set it using Air, and most likely triggered the Fire in an electrical pulse, like I described with my previous post. 

 

We also know from Lord Of Chaos, that Halima tried to kill Mat using a direct weave.

 

Rand did not know much of the One Power until his epiphany. Until that happened, the male Forsaken would always be vastly more knowledgeable than Rand, or the Ashaman in this capacity. This vast gap in knowledge is far less in the Aes Sedai for obvious reasons.

[happychirpy]

I thought Halima was trying to use compulsion, too. Iirc the forsaken didn't know the warder weave so wouldn't have been that