A few short points on Semi, Rand,TG, and the title AMOL.

[Cameron]

Ok, now to get started I feel I have to let you know this is going to be a long post. If you are like me and do not like to read huge posts authored by unknown posters, I will have a summation below in which I will tick off my points. After you read them, if you are intrigued enough to delve deeper, I would be happy to have you read my little essay.

 

 

1.) Semirhage did not just throw fire. She wove a bit of blindness in there with it.

 

2.) Rand will go blind, and Rand will still be able to see.

 

3.) Rand will see through Matrix style "Neo-vision" and this will allow him to see the Bore.

 

4.) The title A Memory of Light refers to this Neo-vision and to the moment of darkness when the Dark One is released.

 

5.) Rand will seal the Bore himself. No almighty hand of the Creator to be seen.

 

6.) Rand is the Creator, and the Dragon title is a tip of the hat to the Dragonlance series.

 

Alot of that sounds like a load of Hooey without the explanation to follow so please do read it if you have the time.

 

 

Let me begin by first saying that the reason that I have so fully enjoyed Robert Jordan's books and style is the man's ability to foreshadow. He is a Master at this craft to the extent that many (myself included), I don't believe , pick up on all of it. For the most part Robert Jordan gives a gentle nod to point to one incident or another through the traditional foreshadowing devices. He recalls past conversations or draws the line for us from one past event through a current event to the intended future event. However, I believe that he has another method to give us hints at what is to come. As with Siuan's talent for picking at the pieces to picture the whole, I believe Rober Jordan has the ability to take the whole and give us tantalizing little nuggets to chew on, even if we recognize them no more than sub-consiously. My theories on the Semirhage event in Knife of Dreams are based on these extraordinary bits. And they are just theories, of course.

 

I have just finished reading Knife of Dreams as of a month or so ago, and was intrigued by the incident with Semirhage to the extent that I searched the web for a Wheel of Time forum to see what others thought. What I found did not seem to be a thorough enough explanation for my tastes. I know that Robert Jordan, along with many other authors, does have to consider the number of pages to devote to each character. That being said, several characters in the Wheel of Time world are about to be seriously short changed. There simply is no way for him to wrap up all of the loose ends. However, I do not believe Semirhage is one of those loose ends to be neglected no matter how little "screen time" she has had till now.

 

Let's look for one moment at the history of Semirhage. I do not know how to reference other posts, but Crash has posted a massively in-depth character disection in the Semirhage's plan post in the A Memory of Light forum. (page 2 currently) Semirhage has been, from the beginning, a very simple character. Cruelty, personified. There are no redeeming features to her character in the traditional moral sense. She has repeatedly shown to be very brutal and blunt in her tactics. And most assuredly single minded in her use of her power as one of the Forsaken. I will steal a quote from Crash here:

 

"Semirhage took delight in cruelty, a pure pleasure in giving anguish"- Mesaana about Semirhage. (Reference: LoC Prologue)

And one from Luckers:

 

Yeah Semi's also had a bluntness to her methodology throughout the whole series. She tortures rather then manipulates, she killed the entire seanchan royal family rather then like, insiting rebllion or something. Her plans are always simple, blunt and effective.

 

Also, in reference to Semirhage's knowledge of the human body, there simply are no equals. It could be said that Damer Flinn, Nynaeve or Samitsu or the Kin whose name eludes me at the moment could possibly challenge her ability to Heal. However, I do not believe that any of them apart from possibly the Kin member has spent even close to the amount of time studying the human body that Semirhage has.

 

Now, with all of that being said, I cannot take it in good faith that Semirhage, the most feared of all the Forsaken, torturer of countless thousands, with all of the knowledge of each intriquite detail of the body, and practiced in the art of destroying the body slowly, painfully, in methods deliberatly designed to give her subjects the most horrifiying mental anguish as well as incredible pain, given all the chances she took to get so close to Rand, used Fire when the chips were down? I mean come on! We are talking about Semirhage right!? I know, as well as you, that Semirhage's plan was to collar Rand. That much is fairly obvious. However, I can not believe that one of the Forsaken would knowingly face down the one man prophesiesed to defeat them without at least a Plan B. Some have considered this and posted suggestions about inverted wards and or a blanket weave to disable the obviously superior firepower faceing her.

 

Luckers wrote :

 

Concider Semirhages plan without the interference of the Ter'angreal. (in reference to Cadsuane and Nynaeve's "Battle Suits") She would have been able to get close to the kids without raising suspicion--likely she would have invited them inside were the a'dam and male a'dam were. She could very likely have had some nasty inverted weave prepared, one that would have left them in so much pain they wouldn't be able to channel or even think--wham bam thank you ma'am. They all would have been leashed and 'travelled' away before anyone had time to think. A simplistic plan, but one that theoretically hould have worked. She had no reason to forsee them being able to detect an inverted weave, or Cadsuane being able to break it. Keep in mind too that people from the Age of Legends would not have been able to do any of that, and we all know to the Forsaken if AOL's hadn't been able to do it, then the half trained children of modern times certainly wouldn't be able to, just look at the level of surprise she felt when she was thinking of the warder bond in an earlier book... to her, such a thing was like a dog starting to talk... no, i think that Semirhages plan was not foolish.

I completely agree with Luckers on this point and whole-heartedly believe there was a large inverted weave in that building. Remember, Semirhage could not even trust the "Honor Guard" of Seanchan with her. Disableing the entire party inside that building would have allowed her to take whatever steps necessary to put a leash on Rand and make a clean getaway before anyone was the wiser.

 

However, there is no allowance in my mind for the thought that Semirhage could resort to, what I am sure any of the Forsaken would have considered, a knock-down drag-out bar brawl by using something so crude as Fire. I am sure someone can find an instance where one or another of the Forsaken have resorted to throwing fireballs around, but they in general felt themselves better than such petty methodology. It is referenced several times throughout the series that the Forsaken view the inhabitants of the Third Age to be savages, no more that primitives to be conqored.

 

But what about using the cover of a fireball to do some slightly nastier piece of weaving? Now, it has been mentioned that there is no way to weave something in front of a channeler of the same gender and remain undetected altogether. The ability to weave can be masked, the weave itself can be woven and then inverted but is visible during the weaving, even weaving while the ability to channel is masked (reversing the weave) is detectable to the extent that anyone near can "feel the flows being wielded".

 

And again I quote Luckers (invaluable wealth of knowledge you have Luckers):

 

Alternatively the Forsaken do know of a way to weave and hide the weave whilst weavings, its called reversing a weave and Cyndane does it during the cleansing. You see the difference? Inversion is making a weave, then hiding it after its made, reversing is hiding it during the process of it being made.

 

There is a distinct advantage to inversion, because reversing can be detected... even hiding the ability to channel does hide the feeling that soemone is actually channeling. (keep in mind the difference between channeling, and holding a weave. The construction of a weave is what makes the feeling, and other channelers can detect it, again, refrencing Cyndanes thoughts, and also Verins when Graendal starts channeling a reversed weave at her at the cleansing). So yes, i think Semirhage definately had a prepared inverted weave ready, though its not inconcievable that she might have been planning to reverse her attacks on the spot.

So, if you were Semirhage and had only one quick last chance to do damage before being at least forced to flee what would you do? Throw a tavern rough's punch and hope that it would be enough to stop the most powerful weilder of the One Power to ever have taken breath? (Remember also that Semirhage is among the weakest of the female Forsaken, and that female weilders of the One Power are decidedly weaker in general than males.) Or would you feign a punch and quietly "scratch the skin with a poison needle" to slowly and horribly cruely leave Rand blind, unable to channel the One Power, and unable to change his fate? She MUST know that Rand would change nothing. Rand would stand, naked and hopeless, on the slopes of Shayol Ghul waiting to die. Because he must. What could be ANY more cruel? She has now forced him to not only die a fruitless death at the hands of the Dark One, but made every second with Min, Elayne and Aviendha a torturous eternity knowing he would leave them destroyed at best, in the hands of the Dark One himself at worst. This is the Semirhage I know. Cruelty, personified.

 

So that leads us to ask, "If Rand is blind, how will he fight the last battle?" We know that, according to several seperate instances in the series that you must be able to see the weave in order to create it. Once a weave has been created, it can be held without seeing it, but without sight one cannot weave. This is where all of those extraorindary tidbits that Robert Jordan gives us come into play.

 

Here is where I feel my arguement is weakest. This has all been conjecture and speculation until now and will continue to be, but I am certain I am right. I ask you to hear me out, and if you have read this far there is hope that you will. This is where we leave the gentle nods leading us in the right direction and cross into the ability to sift through 10,000 pages of text and pull up the two sentences that apply and coorelate them to arrive at one undeniable conclusion.

 

Rand is blind, and Rand is able to see.

 

The resulting impression from that sentence is one I do not wish to soil these pages with, but I fear there is no better example that so many will understand so quickly and easily. Rand will have Matrix style "Neo-vision". (Please note that I do not disparage The Matrix. I own a copy of each movie. However, I do not wish to compare apples and oranges. The Matrix is an action movie, The Wheel of Time is an Intellectual Masterpiece. I also contend that if Robert Jordan is intending a tip of the hat here, that it is to Frank Herbert and his work.) I come to this conclusion from small intangible hits left throughout the text. So much of this is based on speculation that in any court of law or any scientific lab the very thought would be thrown out in a second. But take that one second and consider the Bore.

 

It has been said many times that the Bore is not in any one place, that only a thinness in the pattern at Shayol Ghul allows it to be sensed by those who can channel. Put yourself in the position of a channeler in the Pit of Doom, really imagine yourself down there. How would you describe the Bore? It has been described as a feeling, an impression. Something that cannot be seen. Would sight be a handicap then, in sensing the Bore? Did you imagine yourself in the Pit of Doom looking around for the Bore, or closing your eyes to feel for it? What about Lews Therin Telamon standing there with the Hundred Companions? Imagine trying to jam a stopper into a fire hose when you can only feel the water, not see the hose. That could very easily result in a sloppy patch. And what of the Dark one? Battleing an enemy that is darkness itself would be difficult at best. When Mierin (Lanfear) first made the bore the Dark One was described as a mountainous cloud of utter darkness. How would you see where or what to strike? Very easy for the enemy to riposte that last attack and end up, say, tainting the male half of the True Source? Really seeing the Bore and quite possibly the Dark One for what they truely are would require senses beyond sight. Senses that could most readily be developed by a blind channeler who has absolutely no choice but to keep on fighting. One who must find a way where there is none.

 

Now onto the topic of the title. A Memory of Light. What does it mean? Well, as I look back at the significance of each of the Wheel of Time titles, it occurs to me that most of the titles have very little to do with any specific action or course the characters take. Except metaphorically speaking of course. Winter's Heart, Knife of Dreams, The Path of Daggers, A Crown of Swords, Lord of Chaos, The Great Hunt, Eye of the World, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, Crossroads of Twilight, New Spring and Wizards First Rule (just kidding). All of these have something in common. Each title was given precious little direct explanation inside the cover of each book, but each of these existed in some way for the reader to draw his or her own conclusions with. Some are much more obvious than others, but I also note that as the series progressed the titles become more intangible or obscure. Robert Jordan is, in a way, leading us toward his level of thought. Teaching us as it were. The later titles require more thought and more loosely based assumptions of what the author wants from us to be able to decipher exactly what they are referring to.

 

A Memory of Light relates, in my opinion, to a few different aspects of what this book will be. There will be a time, when Rand has broken the final Seal (and yes it will be Rand who does the breaking), when the world, at least at the sight of the action, will be covered in darkness. The aura of the dark one will burst forth from Shayol Ghul like a cloud of ash and rock from a volcano, engulfing the entire party of those who I am sure will be entrenched in a small circle, battleing for their very lives. A small guttering candle striving to hold back midnight. When all goes dark and the party is overwhelmed for that one instant, there will be A Memory of Light. This will also be the time when "Twice dawns the day". Back now to Rands vision, and how he manages to see. Do me a favor and look at a lamp for a minute and then close your eyes. What is it that you see there? A Memory of Light.

 

Now on for a moment to Rands conversation with Herid Fel. Fel said that, and according to the catechism, the Creator obviously must be the one who seals the bore for good. Now look at all the evidence of the direct influence of the Creator in the series to date. Not much there to dig up. The only instance that could be viewed as the Creator taking any hand in the series so far is the ending of The Eye of the World. I personally do not believe that the voice was ever intended to be the Creator. Thus far the only character we have seen to speak in all caps has been the Dark One, and I believe that, because of the role Ishmael had played up till that part, that it was him. (No one will agree with me there, but I accept that. I am of the opinion that if you give a complex set of instructions to a mentally instable person, and then put them in a emotionally charged situation, they will not behave in a even remotely rational manner. And we know that Ishmael is about as far off his rocker as one can be.)

 

With no evidence of the Creator even existing thus far in the series, we have to draw the conclusion that Rand and crew are on their own in resealing the Bore. Now look at this in a historical sense. Based on the number of spokes on the Wheel of Time there should be at least seven Ages. I believe that, however, there are far, far more. Birgitte mentioned once that she had memories going back thousands of lifetimes, and in no lifetime could she remember the Dark One being freed. There is the possiblility that Birgitte's "time" to be woven out into pattern has never coincided with the past Last Battles, but if that is the case then why was Gaidal woven out at this time? They have always been tied together. It is on this fact that I base my conclusion that Birgitte was not ripped from the Wheel, but spun out differently this time that what was normal. She mentioned that even when she was in Tel'aran'rhiod she had little or no memory of her earliest lifetimes, only impressions.

 

Therefore I belive that not only are their seven Ages, but perhaps hundreds if not thousands. Lesser heroes of the horn are spun out as many as three or four times an Age, while pivotal heroes such as Artur Hawkwing and Rand only once an Age. So if this is the case, then why must it have been the Creator who sealed the Dark One in his prison? Could not Rand, after thousands of years, come to have been put on a pedestle and cheered for, then perhaps worshipped, then even deified? Time does funny things to stories. Ask Thom Merrilin, or perhaps Birgitte next time you have a chance what time does to great deeds. There is no proof anywhere of a miraculous all powerful Creator, the world knows it must have been the Creator who placed the Dark One in his prison, but they are all of them asking Rand to do this very same thing.

 

In this same line of thought I bring the discussion to the title Dragon. Where did it come from? Is it not a possible nod to one other hugely successful series of books? One where the Creator is, oh say, a Dragon? I know that this theory is completely dependant on whether or not my other posturing is accurate or not, but is it not entirely possible? Even probable? I know that the Dragonlance series of books is not "High Fantasy" but it is one of the most successful fantasy series ever published as any trip to the major chain bookstores can prove. They would not carry five shelves of the books if they did not sell.

 

I will stop now I promise. I do apologize for the length of it all, but I felt it was necessary to share my views. Any comments and or critisism are more than welcome, but please explain your views as well. It is fairly hard to understand the viewpoint of someone who simply says "You're wrong about that" and never says why.

 

Thanks for the patience (and board space)

 

- Cameron

 

 

Edit: Sincere apologies if this is a double post. I forgot to add a subject on first posting. Also I am not seeing any indenting on the preview and my apologies if that ends up in the post. I also took the liberty of adding the bit about the "battle suits" to the quote from Luckers to explain what he or she was referring to and also bolding underlining and italisizing his/her text to emphasize my points.

[Aviendha]

Wow!

[A Nightmares Nightmare]

yeah. wow!

But I do believe (correct me if I am wrong, for I have no link) that RJ has said that there are seven ages.

Other than that, I agree with the Semi thing. Very well thought out.

And about him having to use it to fight the DO

 

had to edit it:sounded like I thought it was bad :oops:

[Inara]

i wish i had as much time as you seem too, maybe i will read this after the semster is over...sounds like it could be controversial...my fav.

[Guest Majsju]

You are wrong.

 

And now to why. You've done a quite thorough job of speculation, and focused on secondary information, such as the personality of Semirhage. But you miss the very vital information that we get in the book: Rand is not blind. If Semirhage actually wanted to make him blind, why use a sneak-weave with delayed effect? If she wants to make him blind, make him blind during the battle, because that would have increased the chances of defeating him. What good would it do Semirhage if Rand started to go blind after a few days?

 

And in case you're interpreting the problems with his eyes we see in the book, that is not signs of someone going blind, but the signs of someone having his eyes damaged by exposure to a very bright light.

 

But why such a crude thing as a simple fireball?

Well, Moridin's order about noone being allowed to kill Rand stands. So that's not an option for her. But distracting him with a simple weave that she knows he'll survive, and while he's distracted take out the others. The forsaken's attitude towards the channelers of this age is quite well-known, and there was no way for her to know about Cadsuanes little collection of useful ter'angreals, so she probably expected to be able to come out victorious from a battle. And there it comes again, if she wanted to make Rand blind, she would have done it immidiatly, so she'd get more benefits in the battle. It wouldn't help her if Rand started to go blind after a week, or however long it would take for the blindness to start kicking in.

 

And you are also wrong in one of your assumptions: it's not impossible to make weaves if you're blind. Especially not if you could see when you first started to channel.

[hapazard]

Of course you would be able to make weaves even if you couldn't see them. You would have to be very skilled and have lot of experience to do so.

 

Think of it this way; If Bethoven could compose new and unike music after he'd gone deaf a channeler should be able to repaet well known weaves withoute looking.

 

I think that it is more a matter of belif, Aes Sedai's have problem with weaving if they can't use their hands, and yet we se the wise ones doing this all the time!

 

It takes praktice and that's all, but of course you'd have to start practising before you'd gone blind.

[Cameron]

Good points,all of them. I can't take much time now as I am at work but I will look into tracking down more hard evidence once I get home. I should apologize if the post came off stuffy, I was trying to make it sound professional and as I re read it, it just sounds snobbish. I do think now that it is mentioned that I remember the only 7 ages thing. I belive it was on the question of the week blog. I'll take more time on this when I get off work.

 

Thanks for takin the time to read it :D

 

-Cameron

[Kadere]

The Glossary states

 

Wheel of Time, the: Time is a wheel with seven spokes, each spoke is an Age. As the Wheel turns, the Ages come and go, each leaving memories that fade to legend, then to myth, and are forgotten by the time that Age comes again. The Pattern of an Age is slightly different each time an Age comes, and each time it is subject to greater change, but each time is the same Age.

 

There are only 7 ages, they all repeat, we are in the third age.

[Guest Majsju]

Btw,

 

Someone asked how difficult it is for a blind person to channel, but I didn’t make a note of who. In any case, it is difficult but not impossible. The different flows have different feels, though saying they have different flavors might be as accurate. In the comic, we use colors, not because they actually have colors but because they also can be told apart by sight. Someone who was blind and who tried to learn to channel would be able to differentiate between flows of the Five Powers. The difficulty would be in learning to make the weaves.

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/?m=200511

[hapazard]

My point exactly...

[dalic]

Congrats on an excellent post. There is one thing I would like to comment on. I know the Neo thing has been talked about on other threads, but in case there are new people to WOT and Dragonmount, Robert Jordan has had an established outline for the entire story since before Matrix was a twinkling in the eye of the Wachowski(sp?) brothers.

 

And yes I was potty trained at gun point so I'm a little anal.

[Lui2692]

Very well thought out i agree that semirhage is the embodiment of cruelty but i think the attack of fire was something of a deer in the headlights. She did not expect for Rand to recognize her so when he did she freaked. It is human nature i think RJ will use her to help rand or nyn pull more knowledge from the last age and on the other forsaken, remember rand lost his only link to what was going on on the other side when asmodean died and Nyn has always been the healer. I cannot remember which book, its been a long time, but u seem to remember it saying the semirhage was the ultimate healer before she swtiched over. This could prove useful in that through Nyns questioning she could fix Rand's missing hand. I realize that it sounds a little over reaching but there it is, also her knowledge could be used to finally seperate or merge LTT from rand and or remove the taint that has seeped into Rand's very being. Once again probably stretching it. Tell me what you think.

[weeping anchor]

Its a long one, sorry:

 

The hand:

"Nynaeve will not be happy until she's healed someone 3 days dead." Don't remember exactly where this was in the books, but it stuck with me. She doesn't accept that anything can't be healed. She'll work out how to fix the hand, and his blindness, and his death.

 

Blindness:

Rand is the Fisher King from Moridin's odd chess game. He will be the blind beggar with a missing hand, and bloody rags on his side.

 

The game was ancient in the Age of Legends, and (Rand/the 3rd age) is the "grain of truth" at the heart of this contest. This is where either side can control the moves of the Fisher King, and you either win by attrition of all the pieces on the board, or you bring the Fisher King on side, move him where you want him, and hold him there long enough and you have victory. This is the objective of the shadow...turning Rand is still as important as defeating the light. Hence why Semirhage's capture attempt was sanctioned, but when exposed, she reacted with deadly violence. In all liklihood, Moridin already knew this would be the outcome.

 

"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen...Ha ha ha!!" (Said the Emperor, just before someone close gave him a REALLY bad day).

 

The Taint on Rand

The wounds have nothing to do with Rand's sickness. The main wound will kill Rand, or be healed once the DO is sealed. The slice wound won't heal until the Fain/Mordeth situation is resolved. Fain needs to die in some way, and Mordeth's soul be released but not going to return for some time (needs to be most of the cycle so he can arrive and take down Aridol again). Ordieth is not part of/within the pattern, so anything can and will happen.

 

The sickness comes from the Balefire incident in Shadar logoth when Moridin and Rand used balefire against Mashadar. Rand used Saidin, Moridin used the True power, now both suffer whenever they try and grasp the source/channel.

 

Rand will have to kill Moridin (again) unless someone conveniently does it for him. Then he has to do a one on one number against Shadar Haran, for this will be the battle against the Dark One, a many round slapdown that will rock the world. Everyone else will be fighting the forces of the shadow, their victory/progress being affected by Rand as it was the last time the horn was blown...

[dega]

Yes semi did a number on rand. Big deal like Bashere said he's seen worst. Semi can torture and break anything. People have killed themself with anything to get away from Semi(fingernails, teeth. She even broke her captors,tip of the hat to her). BUT I maybe wrong but rand may make her seek redemption and on a side note I think I remember a foretelling or something about a forsaken being turned.(not the one with Asmodean). Rand can see just that light isn't good for him, however if anyone at all can fix that it would be Semi. Which might be why he disguises himself as a begger to get away from everyone and everything to thing about the world to think about that. Rand won't kill her or have someone else do it either and severing don't work just go to a member of the opp. sex and say hey fix me.

[WOT_Fan]

quote:

 

The sickness comes from the Balefire incident in Shadar logoth when Moridin and Rand used balefire against Mashadar. Rand used Saidin, Moridin used the True power, now both suffer whenever they try and grasp the source/channel.

end quote

 

So we know that each life represents a thread in the Pattern and that balefire burns the thread. Could it be that the two threads of Moridin and Rand have become or are becoming one after Shadar Logoth ? I don' know how to explain it but in my head I see two separate threads and after SL they become twisted with each other (and 'welded' in place with the balefire).

 

If so then I think that if Moridin is killed by someone who's not Rand, Rand may also suffer / die from the link...

[Guest cwestervelt]

And in case you're interpreting the problems with his eyes we see in the book' date=' that is not signs of someone going blind, but the signs of someone having his eyes damaged by exposure to a very bright light.[/quote']

 

We have also seen something similar elsewhere. The Saa in Moridin's eyes. I was reminded of them almost instantly. If, the linking that was established by the crossed One Power and True Power Balefire is as strong as it seems, what is to say that Rand isn't starting to have some form of similar affect?

 

I also found Semirhage's use of a fireball to be much more or a last resort. When her illusion was disrupted she was forced to skip right passed Plans A, B, C... all the way to Plan Z.

 

I also disagree with the Dragon being a tip of the hat to the Dragonlance books. The world of Krynn (Dragonlance) was not created by a Dragon, or by any single entity. It was created by a pantheon gods, in which 2 of them are often portrayed as dragons.

[Guest Majsju]

The Saa is described as floating across the eye, the black flecks Rand sees are shimmering. It's quite a difference. Go stare at the sun if you want to know what Rand is experiencing. It's not the Saa, it's exposure to bright light.

[Guest cwestervelt]

My experiences with bright light is that you get a purple blue after image. It isn't something that I would normally describe as black flecks.

[Guest Majsju]

The flecks you see are purple, but the brighter the light, the darker they appear. Having a fireball explode just centimetres from your eyes would probably make them seem black.

 

Everything with Rand's eyes, the seemingly black flecks, the shimmering haze, that the light seems much stronger, is a perfect description of what happens when you're exposed to bright light.

 

And the flecks Rand sees are still not floating across his eyes the way Saa is.