The Eelfinn

[BrainFireBob]

Nordic dwarves, who create and forge items for the gods, turn to stone if exposed to the sun.

 

Tolkien borrowed it for his dwarves.

 

The Snakes- snake charming- fire may either blind them, or they may fixate on it (hence, "turning to stone.")

[frawggy]

any on ever notice how dumb mat is? i mena hes my fav character hands donw' date=' but hes dumb. how could u NOT notice that the wrds in the game are EXACTLY what the talk about upon entering the friggin doorway? how dumb do u get...."[/quote']

 

I'm pretty sure he makes the connection in book 5..

 

But if not, it's probably due to the holes in his memory.

 

I think that olver is going to figure out how to beat the game..

[Wolfwalker]

Or maybe it was to make Lanfear climb up on the wagon with the doorway to get it' date=' lining her up in front of said doorway for Moiraine's tackle.[/quote']

 

That was always my take on it. Which points to the possibility of the doorway being part of what she saw in the rings.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Which points to the possibility of the doorway being part of what she saw in the rings.

 

Given her POV in TFoH ch 52 where she says exactly that, I think its a pretty safe conclusion. :D Also, her letters to Rand and Thom make it pretty clear she knew what was going to go down.

[FarcOray]

This reminds me about the "what RJ didn't plan..." thread. They say that cadsuane is there because of the loss of Moraine, but now what if both of them come back?(slightly off topic but still slightly relevant)

 

Music-magical in a way( think of the Tinker's Song

 

Iron- "to bind" somehow the finns will probably come to follow land

 

Light-duh, as Maseema says, the Dragon is the Light made flesh

 

Fire- I bet that the fire has something to do with their ability to answer three questions truthfully

 

there so now I am on and off topic

[Lord Beric]

Ughhh! This is a perfect example of why I hate the Ael'finn/Eel'finn. [edit: I just re-read this, and it comes off a little harsher than I intended. Not much, but a bit. So please keep in mind that this is good-natured, and I'm not attacking anyone, just addressing some of my pet peeves.] Without dramatically offending anyone, I'd just like to say a couple of things.

 

1. It's REALLY obvious why music/fire/iron are important. Luckers already mentioned it, Myrrth has touched on it, as have others. Here's why:

 

The Ael'finn/Eel'finn are RJ's version/embodiment of the primal spirits/anima/fae/sidh etc. that can be found in most early human cultures. The reason iron, fire, and music are all important is because they all represent the steps the elevate "man" from his primitive, pre-historic (written word "history") societal selves. That's it.

 

The most direct parallels are in early British lit, stories like "Gawain and the Green Knight" (anyone who knows what an ympe-tre is gets extra points), and various other Anglo-Saxon traditions, as well as the aforementioned Irish mythologies.

 

2. The Ael'finn/Eel'finn DO NOT grant wishes!! This never ceases to annoy me. We see them making pacts with people, in an apparantly ancient tradition. NOT granting wishes.

 

3. The Ael'finn/Eel'finn are not just a massive deus ex machina that you can use to justify any hare-brained theory that you might have concocted. They are not omnipotent or even omniscient (at least, we have no evidence of this). They follow rules, just because their rules are unknown or beyond our comprehension, does not make them "magic."