Who is that giant pack of Darkhounds hunting?

[Fel]

Going over some of the older books and came to COT where perrin and co run into a very large (50) pack of darkhounds who are heading south hunting someone.  Has there been any consensus on who the target is?  They apparently have been at it a long time without success according to the Aes Sedai there, but who are they aiming at and why is it taking so long?

 

The only people currently south of Perrin's position at this point that we know are Mat and company, but since they cannot travel, I can't see why they would be such hard targets for the Darkhounds to track.

 

Is there any consensus on this?

[Vemynal]

Maybe it was Perrin they were hunting, but rather then hunting they were sent to scout

[bcxanth]

I think they're hutning Rand or Mat at that time, people who the Foresaken would certainly be trying to find but who had vanished from the knowledge of most of the Foresaken. Most likely Rand, but still possibly Mat.  They probably paused at Perrin because he is ta'veren and they could feel it, but they determined he was not the one and moved on.

 

Alternately, they could have been hunting all three of the boys, tracing the feel of ta'veren, but were only looking to mark them and not actually attack.

[BrainFireBob]

The third alternative being Fain, who's hopping around via Waygate.

[Luckers]

Actually they could be hunting Tuon at Semrihage's direction. At that time she was the only figure any of the forsaken were actively hunting, aside from, perhaps, rand... who was no where near.

 

Oh, and Fain.

[bcxanth]

Just because Rand was nowhere near, doesn't mean he couldn't have been the target. If they were searching, with no idea where he was, then there could be packs ranging all over the Westlands looking for him. It's been implied in the past that those who know how to look can find a Ta'Veren by their affect on the Pattern. That feeling might have pulled the hunting pack to Perrin and then when they got there they would have realized he wasn't the one they sought and moved on.

[Luckers]

That seems a bit extravagant considering we have seen no other signs of giant darkhound packs moving through the world, especially since the Forsaken have other methods of finding Rand than letting darkhounds scour the earth for him. No, my guess given their position is that they were moving toward Tuon.

[Digbe]

Most likely Tuon... Darkhounds may have been distracted from the pull of taveren, as they probably know Mat was taveren.  Semmirrhage was around a truthteller(?) a seanchan anyways for quite awhile.  She might know a little of tuons whereabouts and prophecies, its possible that she could have made them [foretellings]occur using compulsion.  A little inverted weave here and there & she might even have Tuon wanting to marry Mat.  Not to mention the knowledge obtained by the Dark One & CO. 

[Digbe]

Also,

 

As previously stated, Semi was the only forsaken actively seaking anyone for a purpose that any of "The good guys" were aware of.

 

Who else could they have been looking for?

 

Rand

Mat&/or Tuon

Perin

Rebel Aes Sedai

Black Ajah

Galina

Wolves

 

(or ordered by)

Moridin

Semi

Fain

Slayer

Taim

 

Anyone else?

 

Ive gotta go with my gut and think Tuon as target and Semi as villian.  I would put the beggining of The Last Hunt at a proximal 2nd.  It seems fitting that the wolves woud fight the darkhounds.

 

Plus since the whole Asmo ordeal, I haven't seen RJ try to bury too much of the story in uncertainty.

[Fel]

I can't think it was Tuon.  The impression was that these hounds had been searching for a while.  Sem could have taken Tuon for quite a while (this is just after she is abducted).

 

Similarly, Mat does not make much sense because he has been stationary for months also and could have been taken during that time without needing to "hunt"

 

I am making an assumption that Darkhounds have some way of knowing where their prey is and heading mostly towards them.  If so, the only group that would be hard to hunt for them would be people using gateways.

 

On a related note, how big an impact do you think darkhounds will have on the last battle?  They are a fearsome weapon in a battle - hard to kill (reforming when sliced) and killing many others by drooling on them. 

 

 

[Charlz Guybon]

I can't think it was Tuon.  The impression was that these hounds had been searching for a while.  Sem could have taken Tuon for quite a while (this is just after she is abducted).

 

Similarly, Mat does not make much sense because he has been stationary for months also and could have been taken during that time without needing to "hunt"

 

I am making an assumption that Darkhounds have some way of knowing where their prey is and heading mostly towards them.  If so, the only group that would be hard to hunt for them would be people using gateways.

 

On a related note, how big an impact do you think darkhounds will have on the last battle?  They are a fearsome weapon in a battle - hard to kill (reforming when sliced) and killing many others by drooling on them. 

 

Most Darkhounds do not reform when sliced. That pack that rand fought was special.

[Destrus]

They've been sent to track down Asmodean's killer by his one true love. 

 

When the pack finds who they are hunting we will all know the answer to WHO KILLED ASMO?

[Charlz Guybon]

They've been sent to track down Asmodean's killer by his one true love. 

 

When the pack finds who they are hunting we will all know the answer to WHO KILLED ASMO?

Actually, they could have been sent to  hunt Asmodean by one of the forsaken that doesn't know he's been killed.

[Cybertrolloc]

Actually they could be hunting Tuon at Semrihage's direction. At that time she was the only figure any of the forsaken were actively hunting, aside from, perhaps, rand... who was no where near.

 

Oh, and Fain.

I'm not sure that Semi much cares about Tuon's location. Yeah, she could be underselling her stake in things Tuon to Suroth in the KoD prologue too.

 

I think there's something new involved with this Darkhound pack though. If we can buy what the so called experts on Darkhounds say (Moiraine, Lan, that AS with Perrin), this is something new in general darkhound behavior to 3rd Agers. Darkhounds aren't dumb, they can carry out complex instructions and give reports somehow...I don't know if a Forsaken could override the pack kills pack part of them though without being present fairly often or doing something like compulsion. So I'd consider the possibility this is a Shaidar Haran operation. If Forsaken can fairly easily make darkhounds behave like this...then it could really be any of them for a variety of reasons, but why would they use multiple packs together--darkhounds seem pretty useful after all?

[Elwinn Taron]

I've always thought they were sent after Padan Fain.

[Charlz Guybon]

I've always thought they were sent after Padan Fain.

Oh, that's another good candidate. Last we saw he was in Far Madding, his use of the ways allows him to stay one step ahead.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Just to throw in my two cents, it feels like Fain to me, as well.  I hadn't considered Tuon as a possible target, and now that I think about it, it still doesn't feel right.  I don't have anything like evidence either way, though.

[chelseafan]

I did think it was Fain ..Tuon didnt even cross my mind but  at the time but some good arguments have been made for it being her i suppose :)

[Cybertrolloc]

Except for behind the scenes stuff we're not privy to, why would the other Forsaken care about Fain? Per WH, we know that they know who/what Fain is, but Moridin has Slayer on the case.

 

Also, we haven't seen Fain use the Ways since tGH. RJ implies that he rides from Two Rivers to Tar Valon with his posse and from there to Carhein (his followers would get eaten by Machin Shin...not that he would care, but it would be an inconvenience). Maybe he's back to using them now since he seems to have lost all his unwilling allies, or not ;)

 

I think the only clues are from what random Aes Sedai reads in them: giant pack (which is uber weird), they've been hunting a long time and they're frustrated. Fain does fit now, but not earlier when he spent more time in one place (Carhien). Maybe the darkhounds have only been at it about a month or two and they get frustrated easily ;)

[lou]

having a pack of hounds to track a hound.....perfect irony. as for the forsaken not caring what may happen to fain, well, fain has been disrupting thier plans for quite some time.if slayer was sent after fain, he had a chance in the two rivers, or do you feel slayer has a personal grudge due to fain's disruption of things in the two rivers?

[jaldy]

I think it is Tuon also. while I have yet to read KoD and dont know her full place in the story she is obviously important. And 50 or more Darkhounds were sent instead of the normal 3-13 is because she is very likely to be protected by many damane that they would have to get thru.

 

[Charlz Guybon]

I think it is Tuon also. while I have yet to read KoD and dont know her full place in the story she is obviously important. And 50 or more Darkhounds were sent instead of the normal 3-13 is because she is very likely to be protected by many damane that they would have to get thru.

 

I think one pack of normal darkhounds would be enough. The Seanchan are clueless, the damane would blow the darkhounds up and end up splattering acid blood everywhere, killing everyone in the room.

[BrainFireBob]

This is where support of Fain comes in. Slayer was ordered to hunt Fain. Slayer has been given other duties. Slayer creates Darkhounds. It is not . .without basis . .to think that Slayer has sent "his" Darkhounds to hunt Fain while he's otherwise occupied. The fact Masuri never encountered this pack before could indicate that this is a new pack, created by Slayer.

[bcxanth]

The problem is that we have nothing that shows Slayer can actually make Darkhounds. After all, Darkhounds were created long before Slayer was alive.

 

As for Tuon, I never really considred her a target, and still don't think so. Why send darkhounds after her when she was in the hands of a Foresaken for so long?  And then when Tuon took off it didn't really seem to hamper Semi very much.

[Charlz Guybon]

The problem is that we have nothing that shows Slayer can actually make Darkhounds. After all, Darkhounds were created long before Slayer was alive.

 

As for Tuon, I never really considred her a target, and still don't think so. Why send darkhounds after her when she was in the hands of a Foresaken for so long?  And then when Tuon took off it didn't really seem to hamper Semi very much.

 

If Elays is to be belived, only Darkhounds can make other Darkhounds. Aside from the originals that Aginor made, and maybe that special T-1000 pack that Rand killed.