Nicola's foretelling

[benr]

I've searched for answers to my question, and am not satisfied with what I have found (which, of course, doesn't mean that I'm right!):

 

"The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond.  Three on the boat, and he who is dead yet lives.  The great battle done, but the world not done with battle.  The land divided by the return, and the guardians balance the servants.  The future teeters on the edge of a blade."

 

This seems to be about as evident a foretelling as we've gotten, at least most of it.  All is easily understood, with a few uncertainties.  It seems, though, that the last line is accepted just as melodrama -everyone knows that the future is undecided, and coming events are important.  But with the very specific meanings to the rest of the foretelling, it seems to me that the last line would be specific, too.  My problem is that I don't know what it is specific to.

 

I've thought of callandor as the blade.  I've tried to figure out if a specific character could be identified as "a blade".  Is there a specific battle or event refered to?  Or, maybe it IS just melodrama.

 

Thoughts?

[anamul]

Seems like melodramatic addition to me. But then again my brain is so empty now that I can't think straight. "KIND OF A VOID" if you know what I mean.

;D ;D ;D

 

 

[Darkholme]

Mandarb means blade. Maybe the last line is like chaos theory, a butterfly flaps its wings and what not. In this case if Mandarb farts in the wrong place then the world is doomed!

 

However, I think it's just melodrama.

[StoneLaughter]

I think it could be Callandor but is that not too obvious?  Maybe it's something about the way that Callandor is used?  Maybe one edge has one effect and the other edge a quite different one - and Rand has to choose the right edge to use in The Battle?

[Paviel]

I think it could be Callandor but is that not too obvious?

 

Too obvious? The meanings of "the lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond" are also rather obvious.

 

To the reader at least; Nynaeve didn't know about Elayne, Aviendha, or Min at the time.

[MatrixM]

Is "he who is dead yet lives" Rand? And does the return refer to the Seanchan? Perhaps blade just means battle. Melodrama.

[Safia al-Maaz]

It is generally accepted that "he who is dead yet lives" is Rand because of the context of the sentence, as it is refering to Min, Elayne, and Aviendha in the same sentence.  Can't provide accurate answers for the other questions ^^

[Angel of Death]

Yes it is all obvious bar the last line. I feel it may have something to do, it still has equal change of going either way. Callandor is the key?

[MatrixM]

But isn't it after Tarmon Gaidan? The great battle is done.

[RAND AL THOR]

The great battle done, but the world not done with battle.

 

This was a very interesting point in the story for me. I always assumed that after TG, the heroes/heroines all lived happily ever after or something like that *ahem harry Potter*- but this statement proves otherwise.

 

It says that even after TG, the world is still unbalanced and there is no lasting peace. That would be pretty interesting. But, the book may end anyway without clearing up all that ( :'().

 

As for the blade matter, I don't think it refers to anything in particular. It most likely refers to the prediction that the future remains on the edge of ruin.

[MatrixM]

"It will be blood and battle for a while yet."

 

"It always is."

 

I think i screwed up the first quote but, yeah...

[CUBAREY]

It says that even after TG, the world is still unbalanced and there is no lasting peace. That would be pretty interesting. But, the book may end anyway without clearing up all that ( ).

 

 

Of course time is a wheel. Even long periods of peace will end and chaos reign (See the Age of Legends. Plus, if you look at it logicly, even if the DO was totally defeated (an impossibility I think or time would have to stop turning) there would still hbe a lot of man made chaos to settle: The Seanchen Empire is in a muti-sided civil War, The Seanchen control of Half of Randland, Rand's uneasy control of much of the rest of Randland, the unsettled nature of the Aiels future, etc., all lead to the almost certainty that there will be continued human on human fighting ofter TG.

 

The blade line may mean that at the very end the DO may be seen to be prematurely be defeated and whether or not he is    defeated (for the time being) depends on whether Callandor is used correctly or not at the moment of ultimate decision.

[MatrixM]

Or just refer to battle, like i said.

[benr]

Thanks, all, but I don't seem any closer to understanding it.  What I have concluded is that it seems to refer to the time after TG (thanks to everyone for that).  I just don't see the point of having a foretelling with so much juicy info, only to throw in something meaningless at the end.  Maybe it will come clear in AMoL.

[CUBAREY]

I just don't see the point of having a foretelling with so much juicy info, only to throw in something meaningless at the end.  Maybe it will come clear in AMoL.

 

Its not meaningless, its just not explainable yet. It hightens anticipation and debate about what will happen. If everything else in the vision can be figured out to have a concrete meaning then the fact that this part cann't drives not only debate but increases the anticipation for the last book. Its this type of thing that niot only drives the story but makes reading the biiks like a "detective story". You have clues some easy and some hard, and a few right down impossible to figure out by yourself but when the truth is revealed the reader goes "of course, I should have seen that all along."

[Razor]

I think it refers to the swords of the armies that will still be fighting, but it could be Callandor or the Knife of Dreams.  Perhaps Rand's future with any hope of peace as he fades off into the sunset will be to hide from channelers with the knife of dreams help.

[MatrixM]

I didn't get to read the last few chapters of Knife od Dreams, is it an actual object?

[Mr Ares]

I didn't get to read the last few chapters of Knife od Dreams, is it an actual object?

No. From the start of the book: "The sweetness of victory and the bitterness of defeat are alike a knife of dreams.

 

—from Fog and Steel by Madoc Comadrin"

[Paviel]

So it COULD actually refer to the Knife of Dreams, albeit in a rather roundabout way...

[Bob T Dwarf]

Or...

 

It could just mean that the future is in precarious balance.  That people need to think and act carefully or they could still snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

[leo]

Okay,

 

Call me crazy, but I'm have a few questions about the "obvious" parts of this foretelling.

 

1.  Elayne - Why does the lion sword refer to her?  Obviously it refers Andor because of the Lion Throne, but why doe the "sword" refer specifically to her?  Maybe I'm complicating it more than necessary.

 

2.  Aviendha - Same sort of thing.  Obviously "dedicated" is Aiel, but where does the "spear" part come in other than that she knows how to use one?

 

"She who sees beyond" could very easily be Min, and everybody assumes the "he who is dead yet lives" is Rand, but what are they all doing on a boat?

 

Again, I may just be complicating matters, just throwing some stuff out there.

 

PS to benr:  Thanks for starting this up again the other night.  Now I'm going to have to go through them all again.  I'm figuring I'll have been through twice more before AMOL comes out.

[benr]

leo:  no problem.  I get a commission from TOR for paperbacks sold because we keep wearing out our old copies going throught them over and over again.  And you ARE over-analyzing those three.  They are what they seem.

[Luckers]

Indeed... seperately it might refer to other things, but the four together in a boat--its Aviendha, Elayne, Min and Rand.

[leo]

So like the "edge of a blade" we just don't know what the boat has to do with anything?

[oosquaiaddict]

A huuuuge stretch but maybe the blade is Galads which he got from Valda? Not that many blades in the story, Rands, Mats, Lans, Galads. I think thats it.