The three shockwaves in KoD

[dagwall]

Okay I don't know if this has been asked before, I checked all the topics to see if it may have been and didn't see any that looked to be (reading all the threads so far would take way too long).

 

So I was wondering if anyone has theories on the three shockwave like gusts of wind or whatever it was that happened in KoD could be. Just about every "group" of characters experienced that at sometime in the book and I was wondering what the hell happened.

 

I'm assuming it happened about the same time for all the characters but he spaced that experience thoughout the book for most of them.

 

Ideas???

[Jellybelly]

Reality ripples as the Dark One nears his goal of breaking free. The strain of it is too much for the Pattern to sustain. That is why Rand has to break the Seals before reality and the universe goes down the drain.

[Jedimuppet]

Okay I don't know if this has been asked before' date=' I checked all the topics to see if it may have been and didn't see any that looked to be (reading all the threads so far would take way too long).

 

So I was wondering if anyone has theories on the three shockwave like gusts of wind or whatever it was that happened in KoD could be. Just about every "group" of characters experienced that at sometime in the book and I was wondering what the hell happened.

 

I'm assuming it happened about the same time for all the characters but he spaced that experience thoughout the book for most of them.

 

Ideas???[/quote']

 

I think it was the same wind propogating across Randland, and that it was volcanic (coming from DM), tinged with sulphur and metallic, etc.

 

J

[Jellybelly]

Well, the wind and the ripples are separate phenomena, for sure.

[Inara]

perhaps a mix of the two, shockwaves create wind, and this shockwave was created by the DO so the resulting wind would be sulphuric (which is a pretty standard 'bad guy' smell), but i dont understand the metallic, i'm pretty sure volcanos dont smell metallic..correct me if i'm wrong

[Jellybelly]

Nono. The wind came directly from Dragonmount. The ripples are due to the strain the Dark One puts on the Pattern. The same thing happened when the Bore was drilled.

[dagwall]

I don't think it came from the volcano on dragonmount because that wouldn't have spread across the whole continent like the shockwave did. Or if it did it would of been much stronger at the source and I'd guess no one at ground zero would have survived (ei the rebel Aes Seida and really Tar Valon itself would probably been destroied).

 

I could go with a DO theory, sulphur smell like the Darkhounds create...

[Inara]

J has a point though, the wind at the beginning of KoD IS from dragnmount.

the reality ripples , do they smell? i forget..

[Guest Majsju]

Go back and read again. Chapter 1 in KOD starts with how the wind was born above Dragonmount.

 

As for the reality ripples, there was no mention of them having any smell.

[Cybertrolloc]

Just about every "group" of characters experienced that at sometime in the book and I was wondering what the hell happened.

Do they (note' date=' don't loan your books to slow readers)? There wasn't much discussion about it on the old board iirc.

 

More from my questionable recollection: it seems confined to Muldan, I don't remember comments about it from characters with parts that happen later in the book. Rand's part of the book is ending or over, but the Elayne, Egwene and Mat parts end later chronologically if The Tellings of the Wheel is right (linky) and Jordan kept his moon phases straight throughout the book ;)

 

Further, if this is what the Dark One can do to reality even sealed as he is...how bad were things during the War of Power (though the Bore may be larger now, and maybe the AoLers could do something to mitigate or stop such stuff).

[dagwall]

dagwall wrote:

Just about every "group" of characters experienced that at sometime in the book and I was wondering what the hell happened.

 

Do they (note, don't loan your books to slow readers)? There wasn't much discussion about it on the old board iirc.

 

 

yeah, I'm not one for going back in the book finding the references and listing them. But from what I remember he mentions the 3 shockwaves three of four times throughout the book as it occurs with the different characters in their timeline.

[Anajon]

I was also wondering if the ripples were all the same event but experienced and told by different characters or if there was more then one.

 

I agree it is the dark one braking free - the exact same description is used when the bore is drilled - Rand sees it in the chapter where he goes back in the Aiel history.

[dagwall]

checking at encyclopaedia-wot they mention the wind occuring in three chapters and express the idea that it is the same wind.

 

In the first chapter from Suian's POV in the rebel camp

 

In chapter 4 when Perrin is first meeting the Seanchan to make his deal with them to save Faile and destory the Shadio camp.

 

In chapter 22 when Harin is going to the Sea Folk meeting of the Frist Tweleve. Though they only mention one blast of wind here.

 

But I also remember the three blasts of wind hitting the Shadio camp from Faile's POV. She was talking to a Wise One wanting to know what Faile heard from Seveana during her overnight shift as gai'shan. I remember them being knocked to the ground from the force of it. Both wondering what the hell just happened.

[Guest cwestervelt]

checking at encyclopaedia-wot they mention the wind occuring in three chapters and express the idea that it is the same wind.

 

In the first chapter from Suian's POV in the rebel camp

 

In chapter 4 when Perrin is first meeting the Seanchan to make his deal with them to save Faile and destory the Shadio camp.

 

In chapter 22 when Harin is going to the Sea Folk meeting of the Frist Tweleve. Though they only mention one blast of wind here.

 

But I also remember the three blasts of wind hitting the Shadio camp from Faile's POV. She was talking to a Wise One wanting to know what Faile heard from Seveana during her overnight shift as gai'shan. I remember them being knocked to the ground from the force of it. Both wondering what the hell just happened.

 

The wind defitely originated from Dragonmount. Perrin even notes the sulpher and grit. It is also just a very powerful wind.

 

Chapter 4: A Deal

Suddenly' date=' the breeze was a gale howling in the opposite direction, pelting them with grit, blowing so hard that he had to cling to his saddle to keep from being knocked out of it. His coat seemed on the point of being ripped from his body. Where had the grit come from? The forest was carpeted inches deep with dead leaves. The tempest stank of sulpher, too, sharp enough to burn Perrin's nose. The horses tossed their heads, mouths open, but the roar of the wind burried their frightened whinnies.[/quote']

 

What Faile experienced in Malden was something entirely different.

 

Chapter 5 "Something Strange".

She had just reached Therava's arrival with Galina when everything in from of her eyes rippled. She rippled! It was not imagination. Meira's blue eyes widened as far as they could go; she had felt it, too. Again everything rippled, including herself, harder than before. In shock, Faile stood up straighe and let go of her robe. A third time the world rippled, harder still, and as it passed through her, she felt as if she might blow away in a breeze, or simply dissipate in a mist.

 

When she thinks she feels like she migh blow away in a breeze, it isn't because she is feeling a very strong one. She actually feels like she is being unmade and lacks substance. That would imply either an unraveling of the Pattern or another bubble of evil that drifted up from the Dark One's prison. I haven't finished the book yet, but through the first half, Malden was the only place where that particular effect occurred.

[Cybertrolloc]

Sorry, thought the wind thing was sorted out, I was talking about the pattern unraveling in Maldan bit--that doesn't really fit in with what we've seen from bubbles of evil (reality coming apart seems a lot worse than a people eating mist or the kitchen untensils flying around). That was the only event I was referring to.

[grump]

I take slightly different view on what they are. One happened at the exact moment Perrin promiced to not try to be king and handed over the banner. Another is happening just at the time Rand is losing his hand. I believe there will be another when Mat loses his eye. I read in a post somewhere that there are at least 5 of these sacrifices before TG can begin

Perhaps whoever posted it could tell but I cant find it again I believe it was in one about mats eye

[RobertAlexWillis]

I think of the "bubbles of evil" as a side effect of the weakening of the seals. The "evil" feeling that people get off the weakened seals seems to be alot like the feeling described when the others were channeling the Tainted Power. I think that whenever the Dark One uses his power to directly affect something, it leaves a "taint"-like residue, and that the interaction of that residue (from the Dark One working directly on the seals) touching the Pattern directly causes the "bubbles of evil".

 

The ripple effect in reality seems more to me like Shai'tan flexing his muscles in preparation for a break-out. Imagine a person, wrapped in a blanket. That blanket is the weave of the Pattern (reality). As the person wrapped inside stretches and pushes, the surface of the blanket moves. I think that effect is viewed subjectively by those within the weave as the rippling effect.

 

Anyway, there isn't much I can quote in the way of support there, those are just my personal impressions.

[grump]

To me it is like the click you get at each number while dialing a combination lock, when all the correct numbers have been entered in correct order I think TG can begin. Perrin and Rand have clicked in and the wheel is turning for Mat How many numbers there are and who will need to click them in I don't know. It could well be that the DO IS responding to each of these major clicks. Because of the timing I don't think that the undirected bubble of evil theory fits as well