Malden

[MystErikEry]

This has been discussed once before (and it was continuously confused with the sulphur-scented wind that originated from Dragonmount), but I wonder if there's any thoughts on what happened in Malden during the beginning of Knife of Dreams.  In the chapter "Something... Strange" Faile (and everyone in the Shaido camp) experiences a strange series of "ripples" in reality, whereby she felt as though she would drift away on a breeze or disappate into mist.

 

From what I understand, this is the same thing that had happened when the Dark One was originally freed during the opening of the Bore, as seen from Rand's POV.  However, I feel it's a bit strange to merely dismiss the significance of the event as merely the Dark One touching the world...

 

The fact of the matter is, this effect was specific to the region of Malden - not even Perrin mentions its occurance.

 

Could Malden be another place where the pattern is "thinner" and the Dark One can more touch the world?  Just like how when the Bore was originally made, it was made in a point where the pattern was thinner, presumably, even though the Bore is theoretically "everywhere"...

 

Could Malden then be a place where Rand goes to confront the Dark One, rather than going all the way through the Blight to Shayol Ghul ?

 

Does nobody else find something strange about what happened in "Something... Strange" ?  I am surprised there's not much else to explain such a thing.  It's certainly not like anything else we've seen so far, save from that one scene in the past, and that was a major event.  Why no talk about this one?

[Majsju]

Eh, it is not specific to Malden, we see it happen several times in KOD.  Including to Perrin.

[Duneflayer]

yea it doesn't just happen there other "ripples" happen like in Shadow Rising when the cards come alive and attack Mat,

 

though you do have a point that feeling were Faile feels like she could drift away doesn't happen anywhere else

 

at least I don't remember if it did

[MystErikEry]

Several times?  I've only seen it the once, so far in my reread.  When does it happen to Perrin?

 

And I wouldn't classify this ripple as the same kind of phenomenom as the bubbles of evil - those are obviously malevolent and evil, whereas these ripples seem to be non-evil, just the result of something that could be catastrophic...  So far, bubbles of evil always have tried to kill people and such.  It just smells completely different to me.

[Majsju]

Perrin experiences this in the chapter named 'As if the world were fog', and the very title of the chapter comes from his POV about the incident. This takes place five days after the ripples Faile experienced.

[Generic Aelfinn #2]

yea it doesn't just happen there other "ripples" happen like in Shadow Rising when the cards come alive and attack Mat,

 

though you do have a point that feeling were Faile feels like she could drift away doesn't happen anywhere else

 

at least I don't remember if it did

 

those weren't 'ripples,' they were 'bubbles [of evil]'

[MystErikEry]

Perrin experiences this in the chapter named 'As if the world were fog', and the very title of the chapter comes from his POV about the incident. This takes place five days after the ripples Faile experienced.

 

Ah, interesting!  I'm not quite there yet on my reread.

 

It's strange that this happens only the three times in the series, though... I wonder if the area around Malden is unique in some way.  After all, Perrin's only a few days away from Malden.

 

I don't recall exactly, but does anyone know precisely where Malden is in relation to everything else?  I always get lost when it comes to geography >_>