can gholam's be killed by balefire?

[Liam_1993]

can gholam's be killed by balefire?  ???

 

there must be a way to kill them other than mats foxhead thing

[buckeyebull64]

I don't think so.  It's still the one power, and would still unravel.

 

I think Fain could kill one.  The dagger doesn't use the one power, but and evil specifically designed to kill the Shadow.

[Arath Faringal]

Most likely yes.  Balefire is probably generated similar to lightning, which we know can kill Mat even with his medallion.  A weave creates it, but the effect itself is independant of the One Power.

 

[buckeyebull64]

according the battle in TFoH, Mat was killed by a "man's channeling", which the foxhead doesn't protect him from, not from how the weave manifested.  the foxhead protects from saidar, apparently.

 

we THINK that the gholam can repel all channeling, so i still don't think so

[Swigaro]

The Foxhead protects against all direct channeling, Saidin or Saidar.  Aran'gar channels Saidin at Mat in Salidar, and it has no effect.  Indirect effects of channeling are not blocked.  Rahvin channeled at the heavens to create lightning, which in turn killed Mat and company.  The lightning was not actually a weave of Saidin.  Remember, on the road to Ebu Dar, the Aes Sedai were trying to test the medallion.  When they channeled directly at Mat, it didn't work, but when they picked up a rock and threw it at him with Saidar, it worked just fine...

[spiressm]

i think that a gholam is somewhat akin to a vampire and it is the silver in the medallion that hurts it not its use against the one power. although ya never know with balefire

 

[Nargsmart]

The Foxhead protects against all direct channeling, Saidin or Saidar.  Aran'gar channels Saidin at Mat in Salidar, and it has no effect.  Indirect effects of channeling are not blocked.  Rahvin channeled at the heavens to create lightning, which in turn killed Mat and company.  The lightning was not actually a weave of Saidin.  Remember, on the road to Ebu Dar, the Aes Sedai were trying to test the medallion.  When they channeled directly at Mat, it didn't work, but when they picked up a rock and threw it at him with Saidar, it worked just fine...

 

yes but can a lightning strike kill a gholam?  a knife in the chest can't...

 

what i mean is, the gholam is immune to things that would normally kill a person.  How far does this immunity go, though? Is it like the living metal robot in terminator 2?

 

Its not clear whether or not balefire could kill a gholam but...

 

I don't think balefire will end up killing the gholam because that would be lame. 

[spiressm]

what about a silver knife in the chest??

 

 

[Charlz Fel]

i think that a gholam is somewhat akin to a vampire and it is the silver in the medallion that hurts it not its use against the one power. although ya never know with balefire

 

 

In a PoV from the gholam, we learn that Mat's medallion was the first thing it had ever encountered that could harm it.  Thus, it seems unlikely that silver alone would have this effect.

 

I don't think silver affects gholam any more than the full moon affects Wolfbrothers.  In both cases, Jordan has tried to provide something that could be the kernel of truth behind an improbable myth (vampires and werewolves, respectively) that we have, at the other end of the Wheel.  He has also forward-evolved characteristics of our own time into improbable myths (e.g., Lenn traveled to the moon in the belly of a fire eagle [space flight]; Merk and Mosk were giants who fought with spears of fire that could reach all the way around the world [nuclear war capabilities]).

[spiressm]

i agree with your point, however i believe that when mat fought the gholam that was also the first time RJ had shown a gholam fighting anyone.  So it still is quite possible to be the silver, but i guess i could go either way.  i just think RJ slipped in the silver part of the medallion for some reason. i mean why silver?

 

[Phariah]

lightning is an indirect weave channeled at the sky so that should hurt the gholam, but balefire seems to be a direct weave of power channeled from the a person so i would guess it wouldn't hurt him.

[Balefire to da face!]

Channelers produce the conditions that form lightning, and direct it to it's target. It's a natural phenomenon that has nothing to do with the power actually creating it.

 

Balefire is not natural, it is created from the one power, therefore I see no reason why the threads wouldn't unravel on a gholm.....

[Luckers]

Yeah, lightning is literally throwing electrons at a person. The power incites the electrons into jumping, but its them that does the damage. Lightning might singe a gholam, but I doubt it would kill one.

 

On balefire, given that it stems from a point and stays connected to it, it is most probably an effect, and thus could be used against Gholam, but we don't know for sure.

[Blackhoof]

it might, but i dought Rand or anyone who can balefire will face the gholam, the gholam is mats.

 

i agree with your point, however i believe that when mat fought the gholam that was also the first time RJ had shown a gholam fighting anyone.  So it still is quite possible to be the silver, but i guess i could go either way.  i just think RJ slipped in the silver part of the medallion for some reason. i mean why silver?

 

saying the "silver medallion" is easier than saying the "silver-coloured medallion made out of some strange power substance"  ;) It's also possible that RJ meant its colour.

 

Ps: what would happen if Rand or another channeler wore the medallion?

 

 

[Manjunathan]

what would happen if Rand or another channeler wore the medallion?

It should work for them. Remember  Cadsuane had something similar.

 

And I don't think balefire will work against a Gholam. If it did, they would not have been as feared as they are now.

[Blackhoof]

what would happen if Rand or another channeler wore the medallion?

It should work for them. Remember  Cadsuane had something similar.

 

true, so true. But i wanted to ask, anyway.  ;)

[Liam_1993]

i dont think its the siver that hurts the gholam because if its the first time it has ever been hurt then it could be silver as surley it would have come into contact with such a common metal as silver?      i think it has do to with what the fox head does    unravel the weave (or summit)  like two magnets repel

[Arath Faringal]

Even if balefire can hurt them, it would hardly be a reason to fear a gholam any less.  Gholam don't look like anything out of the ordinary, unless of course they're squeezing themselves through a crack in a wall.  You'd be lucky to even get a second weave off against the thing, and balefire generally isn't someones first reaction.  By the time you figure out that it's immune to regular channeling, you're already dead.

[1eric408]

Hold up when di matt die

[Arath Faringal]

Near the end of the Fires of Heaven, when Rand attacked Rhavin.  Right after the good guys jumped through the gateway, Rhavin dropped lightning which killed Mat, Asmodean, and Aviendha.  Rand balefired Rhavin and brought them all back.

[1eric408]

oh i have not read the books for a while

[Thor]

if balefire could kill them, they would be dead already, forsaken wouldn't fear them.

[Arath Faringal]

Not if they were created after both sides quit using balefire.  With reality at the point of unraveling, neither side would have risked it.  Especially against a target that doesn't even look like shadowspawn until it's ripping your head off.

[Thor]

so when you are about to die, you are going to bother with some rules and let yourself die even when you know a tool that will let you survive?  get real.

[Liam_1993]

yer but gholam's look like every one else your not just gonna balefire everyone are you?  ???