The Meaning of the Title.

[Luckers]

I think a memory of light refers to the fact that Rand has actually forgotten what it means to be of the light, as have, i suspect, many others--including the Aes Sedai, the Seanchan and many other lesser groups.

 

Of course it may also mean that by the time its done nothing but a memory of the light remains, or something else completely.

 

What did Knife of Dreams mean? I personally think it had to do with the growing unstability of reality in Randland, and the danger inherent to that. I mean people pulled into misty ancient cities and lost, people dying of having their insides turn to bugs.... and all the other bendiness of reality. Any other ideas?

[Inara]

i think that tarmon gaidon wll be such a swarming of shadowspawn and rising of darkfriends that the world will have trouble remebering what the Light is and what it means to walk in it and be shelterd by it.

 

could also be a ref to mat's giving up half of the light of the world to save it...

 

any other ideas?

[ilgross]

Maybe its just that things are going so badly, that thats all people have - A MEMORY of light.

[Guest Majsju]

Right, just take a look at what RJ wrote in his blog...

 

Take a step back and look at what the forces of the Shadow have wrought. The world and the forces of the Light are in bad shape. At this point, boys and girls, the Shadow is winning. There are glimmers of hope, but only glimmers, and they MUST pay off for the Light to win. All the Shadow needs for victory is for matters to keep on as they have been going thus far and one or two of those glimmers to fade or be extinguished. The forces of the Light are on the ropes, and they don’t even know everything the Dark One has up his sleeve.

 

Think of it this way. The bell is about to ring for the fifteenth round, and the Light is so far behind on points the only way to win is a knockout. Our boy is game, but he’s wobbly on his legs and bleeding from cuts over his eyes. Now he has three minutes to pull out his best stuff and deliver the punch of his life. The Dark One has taken a few shots, but nothing that has really damaged him. He’s still dancing on his toes and talking trash. His head shots can fracture a skull, and his body punches can break ribs. And now he’s ready to unveil his surprises. You didn’t think all it would take is for Rand to show up at the Last Battle, did you? According to the Prophecies, the Light has no chance without him, but his presence doesn’t ensure victory, just that the Light has a chance. Gotta stiffen your legs and blink the blood out of your eyes. Gotta suck it up and find that punch. Three minutes to go, and you gotta find that knockout. That’s your only chance.

[TaeaDawn]

I just have this vision of an epilogue of someone building a huge monument called "Memory of Light" :P

[Jeppit Groccin]

I think the title means about the same as most of the recent ones do.

 

Crown of Swords: obscure reference to the crown of Illian obtained in the last 30 pages of the book.

 

Path of Daggers: obscure reference to an old Borderland (I think) saying.

 

Winter's Heart: mentioned randomly in a saying, or foretelling, or prophecy somewhere in the book

 

Crossroads of Twilight: I think they mention that once or twice in the book

 

Knife of Dreams: mentioned once in the text, and once in a saying the RJ threw in at the beginning at the book.

 

 

These titles seem to just be ones that sound good but don't have an enormous relevance to the story as a whole until the very end, or are just thrown in somewhere so that the title makes some sense.

 

I think RJ is just using A Memory of Light to sound good, but not give away too much until the book actualy comes out.

[Kadere]

A Crown of Swords is obviously THE Crown of Swords.

 

A Path of Daggers is from the Seanchan saying that all heights are paved with Daggers. This title had symbolic meaning because Rand was trying to become the main ruler of the world. His fight with the Seanchan, and the Asha'men turning on him, are the daggers he must walk through to join with "the mighty."

 

Winter's Heart had three referances: 1) Perrin searching for his "heart" in the dead of winter 2) Rand becoming more and more an unloving, uncaring individual and 3) the book takes place during the first winter in a number of years, which tyes to Viking tradition that says that Ragnorok will begin after some really long winter.

 

Crossroads of Twilight is from the Prophecies saying that mankind will reach a crossroads where Mat and Perrin will begin to stray from the path, and if they continue (espically Perrin) then Rand is doomed.

 

Knife of Dreams is from the that military book, and simply means that the forces of good believe they are winning now that they've beaten the Seanchan and the Aiel, yet that "victory" really means NOTHING since it's the armies of the Dark One they should really be facing. Their "victory" is on a dream, because in about two seconds the DO is going to bring the pain.

 

A Memory of Light, I believe, is as many of you have said, yet another metaphoric title conserning the fact that the Dark One's forces are going to be so deadly and massive, that they will crush the spirit of the forces of the Light, leaving only Rand as "the memory of light" for mankind to succeed.

[Fel]

I think that as part of the last battle or something before, the one power will fade from the world (or be cut off), leaving only a memory for the next age...A memory of the Light

 

We've already seen a number of things about Saidar failing in the past few books and that had to be setting up something.

[alCal]

No, I don't think the Power will be forgotten or fade away. And definately not cut off: it's drawn from the Source, wich powers the Wheel, so unless the DO wins and destroys the Wheel, it will not be cut off. The Power is one of the things that's really, really special with WoT, so I don't think RJ can can 'take it away'.

But there's a lot of theories on that subject, so I'm not sure...

[Inara]

im sure someone has aid this before, but the one power is NOT the Light

it has nothing to do with the Light

 

i think there will always be chanellers, because the power is inexhaustible,

IMO the title remids me of in lotr, just before pellenor fields, there is a comment about how the darkness is spreading and the free peoples of middle earth only have hope and the memory of light to sustain them...

 

its that feeling you get when you realise its almost impossible to win, but you have to try.

[Guest Majsju]

The ability to channel will at some point be lost to mankind, so it can be discovered again at the next turning of the Wheel.

 

But for the ability to be lost now...That'd mean people would only be able to channel for two ages out of seven, sounds a bit...little.

[Inara]

the power really has nothing to do with the struggle, it is an artifact of the wheel, of the pattern, which will never be destroyed until the DO wins.

[Kadere]

I've got to agree with Inara, the power is not the Light.

 

We're talking a title that basically says "A Memory of what's good", this book is going to be DEPRESSING to the MAX. It's not going to kill the power. What we're going to see is Rand, Mat, and Perrin go even further off the edge, and wonder if these guys are really ment to save the world.

 

Everyone in this story has gotten greedy or prideful to such an extreme that even if they win it can't gurantee the next age will be any better off then this one.

 

BUT somehow Rand, Mat, and Perrin will all learn what it is they are truely fighting for, and what the "Light" really stands for.

 

The "Light" right now is almost something to fear. The Children of the Light use it to terrorize people and get false confessions. Anyone who believes in the Light or the Dragon is looked at as a psychopath. The Light, as RJ has put it, is LOSING... BAD!!!

 

But there's still hope, there's still "a memory of light" left in the world, and that memory will keep the world from falling over the brink.

[Kaznen]

I think Rand, Mat, and Perrin are the only ones who are NOT greedy. Everyone else is doing what they are doing for glory and they think the 3 ta'veren want glory also. But, the Ta'veren Trio are just doing what has to be done.

 

I could see, if they survive, them riding off into the sunset together and never be seen again. After TG they probally won't be ta'veren anymore since they did what the Wheel needed them to do.

[Smoosh]

I think Rand' date=' Mat, and Perrin are the only ones who are NOT greedy. Everyone else is doing what they are doing for glory and they think the 3 ta'veren want glory also. But, the Ta'veren Trio are just doing what has to be done.

 

I could see, if they survive, them riding off into the sunset together and never be seen again. After TG they probally won't be ta'veren anymore since they did what the Wheel needed them to do.[/quote']

 

True...Mat has said ad infinium glory and all that other stuff is the last thing he wants. Within the last few books, all Perrin wants is Zarine back, and no one knows whats going on in Rand's head, not even Rand.

 

Add their wives to them riding off into the sunset.

[Kadere]

Rand and Perrin are certainly greedy. Mat not so much, but he has he's moments.

 

Perrin is probably the greediest. He takes his whole army, joins forces with the enemy, and slaughters a whole people, simply to get HIS wife. Not to help Rand, not because the Aeil are a threat to Randland, but because they have his wife. That's pretty greedy.

 

Rand doesn't care about anything or anyone. Sure he's got his list of dead in his head that he carries around to make himself feel bad, but he's distant from everything. He keeps all of his women far from him, except for Min only because she can't do anything that useful except tell the futures of people. He doesn't feel anymore, he could send a whole army of Tinkers to their death in the Blight, and he'd shrug it off as casualty of war.

 

And Mat's not necassarily greedy, but he rarley thinks of anyone besides himself. He's got his moments, like in ACoS when he saves Elyane, and his relationship with Tuon is certainly gotten him a little more caring, but his whole character is "looking out for number one."

 

RJ makes a point in one of his blogs that the characters in these books, including R, P, and M are no longer innocent people fighting for good. They're all grey characters, even some of the Darkfriends are grey characters, and because of this they're interesting. If Rand just ran around doing everything right, we wouldn't care about him at all. But he screws up, A LOT, and that makes him compelling.

 

Right now, Rand sees this sacrifice as an obligation he HAS to do simply because it's prophesised he must do it. He doesn't want to, nor does he really believe mankind has a right to order him to. He expects favors in return for this sacrifice. But the point of the sacrifice is to have it BE a sacrifice. He has to remember when the time comes WHY he's doing this. It's not so that he can be remembered or given free stuff and free power, it's so that mankind will continue on, and that GOOD can triumph over evil. That's why he must die.

 

But he doesn't understand that yet. And it's because he doesn't understand it that the title is "A Memory of Light."

[Logain Ablar]

Perrin did become a rather selfish person when he started chasing after his wife, and that took him away from Rand without really accomplishing anything.

 

Mat is greedy, but in the end he is the one that usually does the "right" thing, and I think hes just getting to the point with Tuon where he thinks of her safety and well-being more than his own.

 

I'm not sure Rand even cares why he has to sacrifice himself, its just been ingrained in him that he has to. One thing I don't understand is why he talks about all the stuff he has to do, and then he just goes into hiding.

 

In the last book or two, Mat was the only one that actually did anything to help the "good guys", and that was by marrying Tuon, which wasn't really to tie the Seanchan to him.

 

It just seems to me that the Ta'veren Trio are just going off and doing random things that don't really help anybody.

[Kadere]

I'm not sure Rand even cares why he has to sacrifice himself' date=' its just been ingrained in him that he has to. One thing I don't understand is why he talks about all the stuff he has to do, and then he just goes into hiding.[/quote']

 

This is what I was talking about. He talks about the stuff he has to do, but goes into hiding because he doesn't want to do it. He KNOWS he is the sacrifice, but he won't do anything because because he doesn't WANT to. He puts his wants before his duty. He WANTS to be a shepard with three wives, but he CAN'T be. He WANTS people to treat him with respect, but they won't because he doesn't really deserve much. He hides because he is afraid of his duty. In the next book he's going to have to realize that his duty must come first. He MUST die for the good of the world, and that's all there is.

[Kaznen]

I don't think Rand expects favors. He just doesn't what his sacirfice to be in vain. As it is right now, he can save the people from the DO but he can't save them from themselves.

 

Take the countries he controls/is allied with. Mayene and Illian are the only one behind him 100% he can count on the Coucil of Nine and Berlain completely.

 

But in Carahein and Tear only Dobraine and Darlin are behind him wholeheartedly, among the nobles, the others want to, as Thom said in tSR ,"half wants to ride his coat tales to glory, the other half wants him dead and to try and forget he ever lived."

 

And look at Andor. The last battle is on the horizen, every army in every country has mobilized for one reason or another. There are 5 wars, at least, tearing the world apart, one of them an AS civil war, and the Nobles throw Andor into Chaos for a false sucession. The Daughter heir was alive and in good condition but 2/3rds of the major houses still decide some one else should be on the thrown and they think about their own power and glory. And Rand tried to keep Andor whole.

[Bob T Dwarf]

If Rand just ran around doing everything right' date=' we wouldn't care about him at all. But he screws up, A LOT, and that makes him compelling.

 

[/quote']

 

Ummmmmmmm, no. Screwing up a lot just makes him stupid.

[mercurial67]

Rand doesn't care about anything or anyone. Sure he's got his list of dead in his head that he carries around to make himself feel bad' date=' but he's distant from everything. He keeps all of his women far from him, except for Min only because she can't do anything that useful except tell the futures of people. He doesn't feel anymore, he could send a whole army of Tinkers to their death in the Blight, and he'd shrug it off as casualty of war.[/quote']I have to disagree with you on this. At least my perspective is that Rand has has to harden himself so he can do the things he needs to do. So he could send an army of Tiners to their death if that is what was required to save the rest of the world. He doesn't want the responsibility, he doesn't want to be the one who destroyed the Aiel. Yet he does it because if he doesn't the DO wins & game over for everyone. So if he didn't send that army of Tinkers off to their death, they would die anyway, but it it is still hard to be the one who has to send people off to their deaths.

[weeping anchor]

"...and seeing Moraine was like a memory of light, shining to illuminate the darkest corners of his soul."

 

I hope it has something to dp with Rand's personality. He is dark, he is becoming unfeeling, he has no hope, only bitterness.

 

He needs to cheer the hell up and get on with it.

[circumventor]

I dont even think that the title is set.

It might not be a Memory of Light when it comes out in the year 2049.

When machines have risen up and Robert Jordan is a cyborg.

(Still wearing striped suspenders)

[Llewin]

I think Rand' date=' Mat, and Perrin are the only ones who are NOT greedy. Everyone else is doing what they are doing for glory and they think the 3 ta'veren want glory also. But, the Ta'veren Trio are just doing what has to be done.

 

I could see, if they survive, them riding off into the sunset together and never be seen again. After TG they probally won't be ta'veren anymore since they did what the Wheel needed them to do.[/quote']

 

I'm gonna have to say both parts of that statement are faulty

 

First of all, Perrin choosing to save Faile even if it means forsaking all of creation is an incredible greedy/selfish attitude... (Not that I'm saying I wouldnt be hard pressed not to make the same decision about MY wife.... but still)

 

Mat has been selfish in all of the 'little things' throughout the book, always looking out for number one and trying to avoid responsibility until he absolutely can not. (Although in the end he always manages to make the right choice, even if the pattern has to grab him by the ear and lead him to it screaming...)

 

And Rand is DEFINITELY full of a form of Pride with his "I am the Dragon Reborn, you WILL follow me." attitude... (Again to some extent I understand his reasons, but even so he's prideful in a self-destructive depressed way...)

 

So all of them have evidenced some sort of self-serving destructive personality trait...

 

As to everyone else "doing what they are doing for glory"... You are serious?

 

Elayne is fighting to get Andor back in a good place and struggling to undue the damage Rhavin created so they are ready to help Rand when the Last Battle comes.

 

Egwene is doing her absolute best to be the leader the White Tower needs, working in a position she never asked for, and fighting a noble cause against an unjust usurper (and by proxy in the shadows, the Black Ajah.)

 

Nyneave actually gave up the love of her life because she knew he needed to help lead the Borderlands to the last Battle... Thats quite self-less actually..

 

Cadsuane has the best intentions for Rand, believing he is too fragile to survive long...even if she uses the typical Aes Sedai methods which annoy us so much lol...

 

Aviendha is certainly not acting out of a desire for Glory...

 

Min is just trying to help keep Rand sane and as happy as possible (though with the selfish reason of wanting to be with her love...)

 

Thom is helping where he can, and about to go save Moiraine... I sincerely doubt that is for glory...

 

I dont think any of them are acting out of a desire for glory or power...

 

Now that's not to say they are all perfect, but one of the great parts of this story is that NO ONE is perfect and EVERYONE is human, good guys and bad guys both.

[Red States Rule!]

A Memory of Light is the following:

 

Lews Therin's memories come back to help Rand win at the Last Battle.

 

How obvious is that?