Mat's eye

[Taishadar]

I think by now everyone accepts that Mat is RJ's adaptation of the Norse god Odin. Odin was hanged from the tree of life for knowledge. He had two ravens named thought and memory who were his companions. He carried a spear that doubled as a walking stick and lastly he wore a widebrimmed hat pulled low on one side to cover his missing eye. My original theory had Mat loosing his eye in some bizare marriage custom in order to gain Tuons hand. Well that didnt pan out as I guess even marriage customs in the Imperial family arent that harsh. I now think that his loss of an eye must be tied to the Finns. More the fact that they told him he will "give up half the light of the world to save it" suggests that he will knowingly and willingly loose his eye. What if the Finns bond to him isnt based completely in his skull and is only tied to one eye. If he figures this out it would be plenty of reason for him to remove it. Barring that I guess one of those grand brawls he seems to get himself into might work but it would be kind of anti-climatic.

[Kadere]

The two theories on this that I most like are that he'll give up the eye as either payment to get Moriaine, or to give it up so the Finn can't know what he sees.

 

The other theory I think plays better in the "Give up half the light of the world to SAVE THE WORLD." The theory is that since Rand is obviously going blind, Mat gives Rand one of his eyes. This is a little far-fetched, and I really don't quite understand how it would work, but I think there's also some good reasoning behind it. Rand's going to need to be able to see, and Mat is suppose to save the world losing his eye.

 

What's always thrown me was Egwene's dream in TDR about Mat's eye socket bleeding while Ba'alzamon stands behind him. I never been able to connect that with any theories.

 

So I don't know, but I'm DIEING to find out.

[Cam]

sicne when in rand blind!? (ive read KoD...refresh me if i missed somethign plz)

[Kadere]

"There's something wrong with your eyes," she said with a frown. "I'm afraid to try fixing that without studying on it. The smallest mistake could blind you. How well can you see? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two. I can see fine," he lied. the black flecks were gone, but everything still seemed seen through water, and he wanted to squint against a sun that appeared to glare ten times brighter than it had.(KoD, Chapter 27 "A Plain Wooden Box", p. 590)

 

This shows pretty clearly that Rand is going blind, couple that with Perrin's dream of Rand in rags and a rough cloak, with a bandage covering his eyes, and it's pretty clear he will go completely blind.

[Jackalyn]

I'm voting for the giving it up to save Moriaine. In another book Min say's that Rand would fail because of a woman dead and gone that he needed. Moriaine is women, so that ties in with the saving the world part.

[Guest Majsju]

"There's something wrong with your eyes' date='" she said with a frown. "I'm afraid to try fixing that without studying on it. The smallest mistake could blind you. How well can you see? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two. I can see fine," he lied. the black flecks were gone, but everything still seemed seen through water, and he wanted to squint against a sun that appeared to glare ten times brighter than it had.(KoD, Chapter 27 "A Plain Wooden Box", p. 590)[/quote']

 

This shows pretty clearly that Rand is going blind, couple that with Perrin's dream of Rand in rags and a rough cloak, with a bandage covering his eyes, and it's pretty clear he will go completely blind.

 

What it clearly shows is that Rand's eyes has been damaged from being exposed to bright light, and that damage manifests itself in being over-sensitive to light.

 

If he's actually blind, there's no need to cover the eyes, the only thing that results in is showing the entire world that rand actually has a very serious disadvantage. But it serves a function if the sensitivity to light prevails, a primitive form of sunglasses.

[Kadere]

If he's actually blind they would still cover the burn marks with a bandage. With or without a bandage everyone's going to know his eye sight is bad. It's going to steadily get worse, and with a bandage around his eyes he won't being seeing at all. The last time I blindfolded myself I know I couldn't see anything.

[Guest Majsju]

He doesn't have any burnmarks. The fireball didn't hit his eyes, it hit his hand. It was only exposure to bright light that damaged the eyes. You have to be quite close to a blind person to notice that he actually is blind, while a bandage is visible from quite a distance.

 

As for not seeing at all, that depends on what kind of cloth you use, and how you wrap it. I've been blindfolded on stage, where it's quite crucial you see what you're doing.

[SinisterDeath]

There are some very thin cloth out there... Even alot of shirts out there are thin enough to see throug if you put it close to your eyes...

 

Anyways, the thing that happened to rand, is excentially the same as a welder's burn from not wearing his helmet.... Basically his eyes are burned, but not from the heat, but the intensity of the light from it coming so close & looking directly in it...

 

Unless Rand gets some special healing the dmg will be permentant. The sensitivity to light will disapear, however his visual range will go down.. Everything gets a bit more blurry. However since he has the op, he can probably correct that.... The real question atm is, how will it effect his channeling? & the sickness...

 

Also another interesting concept, earlier in that book rand gets taken over by lewis therin and he starts channelin away... It could be possible come the last battle, and rand has "problems" seeing what he's trying to channel at, that lewis therin will channel for him, and possibly be his "eyes"... This concept sounds very familiar for some reason..

[Red States Rule!]

Good question, Sin, and one I've thought on myself. How can he be a blazing away at the DO if he can't see? Unless he becomes Neo, and still sees them.

 

So Maj.... what are you doing "on stage" being "blindfolded"?????? Something fun, perhaps???

[Luckers]

Indeed, before the prevelance of glasses, most people suffering from photosensitivity used clothe in that way.

[thekrisp]

well... if rand goes blind and can still see, i would say that would be more of a nod to Frank Herbert's Dune Chronicles than The Matrix...

 

but there would have to be a reason he'd still be able to see. for muad'dib he was leading humanity down the golden path, and as long as humanity was on that path, which he had "foreseen", he could see it. but once they deviated from that path, he went instantly blind...

 

so, supposing this theory is correct, what would allow rand to continue seeing?

[Kadere]

Either the use of the one power, or Mat's eye, which probably won't happen.

 

It's much more likely that Mat will lose his eye to get back Moiriane as everyone has guessed for the last twelve years.

[Kalak]

k heres my theory

 

he'll lose his eye when fighting the gholam as the gholam dies he uses what little bit of energy it has left and gouges mats eye out, so Mat saved the world from the only living gholam

 

kind of a stupid theory but most of mine are

[dalic]

"There's something wrong with your eyes' date='" she said with a frown. "I'm afraid to try fixing that without studying on it. The smallest mistake could blind you. How well can you see? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two. I can see fine," he lied. the black flecks were gone, but everything still seemed seen through water, and he wanted to squint against a sun that appeared to glare ten times brighter than it had.(KoD, Chapter 27 "A Plain Wooden Box", p. 590)[/quote']

 

This shows pretty clearly that Rand is going blind, couple that with Perrin's dream of Rand in rags and a rough cloak, with a bandage covering his eyes, and it's pretty clear he will go completely blind.

 

Don't worry Rand's lens maker guy in Cairhien will whip a good pair of specks for him. Then the DO will be intimidated by his intelligent look.

 

J/K but I like the idea of Matt cutting out an eye to stop the Finns from seeing what he sees. I think RJ alluded to this when **KOD spoiler** Mat started to realize that the Finns somehow record the memories of those who have visited Finnland(hahaha...er ok its corny).

[Guest Majsju]

Of course, the big problem with that is how mat would figure out

1. That the finns only see through one eye

2. Which eye it is, tough luck if he poked out the wrong one.

[Orgavin360]

Mat is definitely a direct mirror to the nordic got Odhinn... However, Odhinn gave up his eye for a reason. That reason was knowledge... far outstretching any knowledge of any God, man, or giant. He plucked his own eye out and dropped it into the Giant Mimir's well for that knowledge. I don't think it matters which eye he dropped in there, he just did. I don't think it will matter which eye Mat will give up, he just will. And I think it will be a price paid in order to gain knowledge of some sort. However Odhinn hung himself on Yggdrasil to gain the power of the runes, a sacrifice of himself to himself. Mat was hung there by the Finn... so there is a distinct difference meaning maybe my eye theory won't be so symmetrical after all... but its still my theory.

 

Mat will give up his eye for some of the knowledge the Finns have ... that is what I feel.

[Orgavin360]

Mat is definitely a direct mirror to the nordic got Odhinn... However, Odhinn gave up his eye for a reason. That reason was knowledge... far outstretching any knowledge of any God, man, or giant. He plucked his own eye out and dropped it into the Giant Mimir's well for that knowledge. I don't think it matters which eye he dropped in there, he just did. I don't think it will matter which eye Mat will give up, he just will. And I think it will be a price paid in order to gain knowledge of some sort. However Odhinn hung himself on Yggdrasil to gain the power of the runes, a sacrifice of himself to himself. Mat was hung there by the Finn... so there is a distinct difference meaning maybe my eye theory won't be so symmetrical after all... but its still my theory.

 

Mat will give up his eye for some of the knowledge the Finns have ... that is what I feel.

[Jellybelly]

Well, you know of course that RJ does not base his characters on one single source. He has said that he has tried to reverse engineer our myths, so that the characters are the source of our myths, and we the source of theirs. That means that in the fictional universe of TWoT, our legendary figure Odin is based in part on a memory of Mat Cauthon, just as he in the real world is based in part on Odin. He is also partly modelled after the Monkey King, among others.

 

To achieve this "wheel effect", Jordan has picked characterstics of many different mythical figures to create his characters, so that it would become likely that a memory of them would in turn become many of our mythical figures. A parallell from our history might be the Judeo-Christian figure Abraham, who in actuality might well have been several different people converged into one as the Jews told their legends.

 

The point is that even though Odin sold his eye for knowledge, we do not know that Mat will. Legends are nothing but twisted retellings and magnifications of actual events, after all.

[Jellybelly]

Well, you know of course that RJ does not base his characters on one single source. He has said that he has tried to reverse engineer our myths, so that the characters are the source of our myths, and we the source of theirs. That means that in the fictional universe of TWoT, our legendary figure Odin is based in part on a memory of Mat Cauthon, just as he in the real world is based in part on Odin. He is also partly modelled after the Monkey King, among others.

 

To achieve this "wheel effect", Jordan has picked characterstics of many different mythical figures to create his characters, so that it would become likely that a memory of them would in turn become many of our mythical figures. A parallell from our history might be the Judeo-Christian figure Abraham, who in actuality might well have been several different people converged into one as the Jews told their legends.

 

The point is that even though Odin sold his eye for knowledge, we do not know that Mat will. Legends are nothing but twisted retellings and magnifications of actual events, after all.

[bcxanth]

My pet theory is still that Mat will lose his eye in a fireworks accident while perfecting the dragons, but that it's this accident and what's learned from it that will cause them to be perfected. And it's the dragons that will somehow tilt the scales to favor the Light during the Last Battle.

[bcxanth]

My pet theory is still that Mat will lose his eye in a fireworks accident while perfecting the dragons, but that it's this accident and what's learned from it that will cause them to be perfected. And it's the dragons that will somehow tilt the scales to favor the Light during the Last Battle.

[Luckers]

That doesn't explain the fact that again and again we have had conotations of Mat choosing it himself in the phrasing of the prophecies about it. He gives up half the light, rather then loses half the light, he weighs his eye on a scale... etc etc. To me that sounds more intentional then an accident.

 

It may be that the Finns require some form of blood price, though an eye is a strange one. Then again the finns see the future and on the medallion the foxes eye is an ancient Aes Sedai symbol... so it may be they put some wierd significance in the eye. There isn't any evidence of the significance of any other body-part to them...[/i]

[Luckers]

That doesn't explain the fact that again and again we have had conotations of Mat choosing it himself in the phrasing of the prophecies about it. He gives up half the light, rather then loses half the light, he weighs his eye on a scale... etc etc. To me that sounds more intentional then an accident.

 

It may be that the Finns require some form of blood price, though an eye is a strange one. Then again the finns see the future and on the medallion the foxes eye is an ancient Aes Sedai symbol... so it may be they put some wierd significance in the eye. There isn't any evidence of the significance of any other body-part to them...[/i]

[Angelica]

This maby far fetched, but then again it does make sense.

 

1. Rand is slowly going blind.

2. The name of the next book "A memory of Light" Sugests that Rand will go completely blind by the end of the book.

3. Each time any of the three Ta`averen think about the others, they see images of themselves.

4. Mat will Lose his eye at some point to give up half the light to save the world.

 

Looking at these things, it seems clear to me that if Rand goes blind, then he is helpless and can't channel. You cant channel if you can not see the flows, let alone your target. and if he can not channel, then the world is doomed. Mat Gives up one of his eyes and gives it to Rand, and useing the same thing as article 3 above Rand can see through that eye and can win at the last battle.

 

What do you think?