Aelfinn&Eelfinn(and a kind of KOD spoiler)

[Jain Farstrider]

Few things i've noticed:

The game snakes&foxes actually talks about the Aelfinn & Eelfinn.Mat describes them as fox-like and snake-like.The song you sing before you start the game is the question they ask visitors(do you have fire,iron..)

And what's with Mazrim Taim? The last thing he said in KOD is "Let the lord of chaos rule." Is he a Darkfriend?

 

I hope i'm the first one to ask these questions.(but i'm probably the millionth)

[Blackrose]

firstly you are about the millionth lol.

 

secondly. the game of snakes & foxes is the map to the land of the Finns and the game relates to things within their world. i.e. the only way to win is cheat.

 

thirdly . this is a biased guess but yes Taim is a DF. hes sends  asha'men after rand, he has his own group of 'Cronies'.

 

 

well im glad im the first reply to your first thread but sadly my answer's arent the best here. Luckers and RAW have the best answers anywhere.

 

good choice of joining us here at DM aswell my fellow  hero

[Luckers]

You handled it fine.

 

As Lewstherin says, the game is a sort of simplification of the way the world of the Finns works--both in the nature of their reality in the overlapping circles, and in teaching people how to deal with the Finns--cheating. That poem does speak of things that can be used against the Finns, iron to bind, music to dazzle, iron to blind. My belief is that that is what is meant by cheating--it is specifically forbidden by the Agreement that humans bring iron, music or devices for making fire. The game suggests, however, that the only way to win is to defy the agreement.

 

I've also been thinking for a while now that the influence of music is disruptive to their ability to read aura's, predict futures or absorb memories. No real evidence for it, but yeah--music to dazzle. *shrug*.

 

And yes, its almost certain that Mazrim Taim is a darkfriend--indeed, it seems likely following KoD that he was given the Chosen Mark by Shaidar Haren at some stage (I'm referring to the theory that it was he that pretended to be Sammael in order to send the Trollocs after Rand).

 

There is some evidence for this--the fact that the attack is stupid from the perspective of the other Forsaken who had just experienced the power of Rand's sa'angreal, for instance. Having no reason to suspect that he wouldn't use them, sending those trollocs serves no other purpose than to a) draw Rands flagging attention back to the Shadow and b) waste a hundred thousand trollocs to no gain.

 

Taim, on the other hand, has a long history of making blunt all out attacks. It's his MO... for instance the attack on the Sun Palace in PoD, or the attack on Demira in LoC, or even just sending a Grey Man to attack Rand so that Taim can turn up and 'save him' in LoC. And on top of that, we have Taim enquiring desperately after Rands location mere days before, and given the number of Logains men (much less the Aes Sedai who stated their intention to use the devide between Logain and Taim against them) who knew where Rand was, it seems highly unlikely that the secret didn't get out--which would be perfectly in time with when the Shadowspawn were sent into the Ways.

 

But, irrespective of whether Taim has been raised Chosen, he IS a darkfriend. In Winter's Heart we see him commanding known darkfriends in a manner that fits precisely with the commands issued by the Shadow--to kill the only hope for the Light, nonetheless. It almost seems certain that he was behind the Grey Man in LoC, and then we come to that final comment of 'Let the Lord of Chaos Rule', which no Third Ager has recognized, and indeed has only been spoken by the Forsaken.

 

Plus his men are just deeply unpleasent.

 

 

[Child of Lir]

To add to Luckers' post about "music to daze", the Aelfinn and Eelfinn are based on the faeries of Celtic myth. In those myths, the only way to escape from the land of the faeries was to cheat:

 

you propped open the door to their world using an iron or steel knife; as they can't touch the metal, they can't close the door and keep you trapped there;

 

you played music to them to enchant them. They love music and dancing, and once dazed by this, you could get on with whatever you had come there for and then leave;

 

and you took in fire of some kind. As they only come out in starlight and live underground, then bright lights dazzle and confuse them.

 

So, you cheat them by bringing in things that they have no power against.

 

Hope that helps!

[Luckers]

To be fair, they are based more on the seighlie and the unseighlie than Faeriekind. Though both have issues with iron, and some forms of music. Then again, most creatures of celtic and scandenavian myth have issues with iron and music and even fire. The other most costant element is types of wood... rowan, etc.

[drovja]

The other most costant element is types of wood... rowan, etc.

 

I'm guessing the 'wood elemental' in this universe could be seen as the Nym.

[Luckers]

Not really what I meant... whilst celtic mythology did link creatures to specific elements, more often they were bound by seasonal or ethical realities. The tools used against them were therefore those linked to alternative seasons of moral natures.

[drovja]

Sorry, bad joke. :D