Mat's eye

[Guest Majsju]

This maby far fetched' date=' 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?[/quote']

 

1. Rand is not going blind, he's sensitive to light.

2. There are So many things the title might refer to.

3. The flashes they see of eachother seems tied to their need of being together, so once they get back together those flashes will probably disappear.

4. Even if Rand was actually going blind, healing his own eyes seems like way easier than performing a quite complicated surgery. But for the sake of it, lets pretend Rand was going to get an eye from someone else, it would make more sense if he took it from random footsoldier who won't be crucial to TG, instead of one of his best friends, who are crucial to TG.

 

So to summarize it with one word: No.

[Kalak]

never take the title of the book seriously

 

I thought KOD was going to have alot of Slayer in it

 

My friend thought that A path of daggers would have something to do with the shadar logoth dagger

[Ayende]

Dont forget even if rand does go blind then there is still the possibility of th white tower healing him, some very experienced traditional healers there and i think min had a vision about the tower kneeling to rand maybe this will be part of it.

[Jinjurluv]

Even though our traditional medicine doesn't really ever show up in WoT books, Rand's eyes could theoretically make a complete recovery. It would require nothing more than covering them completely for several days if not weeks to allow them to heal themselves from the burn they received from Semirhage's fireball. (Of course some our our eyedrops would significantly speed the process, but I doubt anything like that will make an appearance in the books.) The eyes are one of the quickest healing parts of the body (ask anyone who's had LASIK surgery).

 

W/ this in mind, Perrin's dream of him w/ a blindfold on could still happen w/o him actually becoming permanently blind. I could totally see RJ keeping his eyes damaged until the last possible moment for TG and then having a Princess Bride-esqe recovery. (Ok, so maybe that's pushing it, but oh well.)

 

I have absolutely no idea how Mat's losing an eye would fit into all this, although the theory of him losing it while helping retrieve Moiraine seems most likely to me.

[MetalMonkeyMood]

I can't help but feel that Mat giving up an eye (which is what I think will happen) is somehow related to him attempting to rescue Moiraine from the Tower of Ghenjei. It just seems to fit the Finn's twisted way of thinking, asking for an eye as payment to release Moiraine.

Just a thought: we know that the Finn somehow have access to loads of information and memories, perhaps the eye is somehow related to that? Maybe they get to see through the eye of the person who lost it somehow?

[Kadere]

Well, it's certainly interesting that in the same dream that Egwene sees Thom reaching into the fire to pull out Moriaine's stone (obviously Thom saving Moriaine from the Finn's) she sees Mat with blood streaming down his face from his eye socket. So yeah, I'd totally buy that that's when Mat loses his eye. Though if it's in a deal with the Finn's or before he enters so the Finn's can't see him coming, is still up in the air for me.

[Trib4l]

My money is on him covering it beforehand and possibly having it removed while in the Tower.

[Luckers]

Mat - "We need Moiraine back. What is your price?"

Finn Dude - "We want... your eye!!!"

Mat - "My... my eye? Oh hell no! I was like talking about gold. Screw that."

Thom - "Mat... just give him your eye mat. Stop being a baby."

Mat - "You guys really suck."

[Llewin]

"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.

 

Much in the same way that Mat had to wear a bandage over his eyes for a while in book one after Rand brought lightning down to save their butts.... :)

[Llewin]

Mat is definitely a direct mirror to the nordic got Odhinn... However' date=' 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.[/quote']

 

One thing I've noticed people ignore a lot when they are discussing which legends/myths each of the characters corresponds too is that when RJ spoke about the concept of the books he said that he was writing the 'what really happened' story of our myths and that some of the myths would have been separated out in to more characters than really had to do with it and some would be combined in to fewer characters... I get the Mat/Odin connection but I've also heard good theories for Rand/Odin connections (dont have the links, its been years...) and Mat/Loki connections...

[kittydesmond]

Just rereading KOD I am absolutely sure that mat will give up the eye...so the finns cant see through his eye....I believe he will figure out which one they have access to and then give up that eye .... My reasons for this can be found in KOD chapter 8-10 at several points I read references to Mat thinking the finns can (probably) see what he does. Then of course...at the end of chapter 10 he agrees to go rescue Moiraine, so I believe this choice will happen as part of that rescue...especially since moraine is the implied dead woman that must be with Rand during TG according to Mins viewing....he must rescue her if she must be at TG... Just my rant.

[Trib4l]

Clues we're given in KoD indicate that Mat already knows which eye he'll have to remove.

[Luckers]

Clues we're given in KoD indicate that Mat already knows which eye he'll have to remove.

 

Like what? The only evidence suggesting an eye preference in the series that mat is aware of is the fact that the medallions eye is a left eye.

[Minnea]

There are clues to which eye far earlier than KoD, if you count Egwene's dreams.

In tSR she dreams of

 

Mat, placing his own left eye on a balance scale

 

So, if the medallion also shows the left eye, then Mat will problably conclude it's the left eye he will remove.

[Luckers]

No, WE know which eye, but Mat doesn't. Unless there is something in KoD that i missed, as Trib4l seems to be suggesting.

[eldar89]

Just a question that has nothing to do with the major point of this discussion, but how is Mat giving up half the light of the world to save the world if he is simply giving up one eye? I know prophecy is always uber-figurative, but if he loses his eye then scientifically he loses approximately 10% of his vision rather than half or 50% of it. I guess if you look at it in the dimensional perspective he is losing more than 10% cuz he can only see 2d rather than 3d with merely one eye but that combined with the 10% loss of vision still doesn't make up to losing half the light of the world (he loses 1 dimension out of 3 so 33%+10%=43% not half). I know I'm taking this a bit literally but the way these books go it is completely possible for there to be more to the story than Mat simply removing his eye. Meh, just a thought.

[Trib4l]

No' date=' WE know which eye, but Mat doesn't. Unless there is something in KoD that i missed, as Trib4l seems to be suggesting.[/quote']

 

It can be safely assumed that Mat knows that on the medallion only the left eye is visible. It's from his perspective that it's noted while Setalle is looking at the medallion in Chapter 9 of KoD. He also knows that the Finns can see through one of his eyes, which is explained in detail.

 

I agree that we haven't seen Mat in an aside say that he specifically suspects that it's his left eye. All the pieces of the puzzle are there - we just don't know if he's put it together yet.

[Guest Majsju]

Mat doesn't know or suspect that the finns can see through one of his eyes. For all he knows, it can just as well be both.

[Luckers]

Mmm. And we've yet to see him make the connection about the significance of the left eye on the medallion to the finn... and why would he, its fairly loose.

[Trib4l]

That's what I was saying in regards to Mat not 'putting the puzzle together'.

 

Maj - I re-read that section a few times just to get a clearer picture. It seems Mat is aware they are linked to him somehow, and may be able to at least see through one or both eyes, and possibly hear as well what's going on and being said.

 

At this point now I'm curious how exactly he'll figure it out.

[Guest Lord Captain Valda]

"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']

 

I dont want to seem like an idiot but arent "black flecks" wat come across Moridin's vision because of the true power...or anybody else who channels the true power. Mat and his eye is probably saving moraine btw.

[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']

 

I dont want to seem like an idiot but arent "black flecks" wat come across Moridin's vision because of the true power...or anybody else who channels the true power. Mat and his eye is probably saving moraine btw.

 

What Moridin has is the Saa, described as black flecks floating across the eye. In Rand's case, it's black flecks shimmering in his vision, which is a result of being exposed to bright light. There's no connection at all.

[Trib4l]

That one has been brought up and been shut down more than a few times...

[Guest Majsju]

And it will have to be shot down several times more before the release of AMOL... Just look at how much it took to finally throw taimandred down the drains.

[Guest Lord Captain Valda]

Sorry Sir....I have failed you miserably. GO TAIM!