Prologue "What the Storm Means" Spoiler Thread

[Luckers]

2. That 'why would you build a tower out of black stone[emphasis theirs]' struck me as a little heavy-handed.

 

6. Mesaana was a bit pathetic. I'm even more convinced that she will be leashed in the Seanchan attack on the Tower.

 

What was the context? I can't read the prologue cos 1.) I've got no card. 2.) Its not available in my part of the world anyways

 

I'm especially curious about the black stone thing. Were they talking about the Black Tower? Or is it to do with Rand's death?

 

On a side note, I guess the whole 'Moridin looking like Rand' thing indicates a high chance of the Bodyswap theory coming true. I'm don't how to feel about that.

 

It'd be nice if one of Rand's lovers dies/is permanently injured. I'd prefer it be Eylane, but since its unlikely, I'm going for Min.

 

Messana was kind of pathetic anyway, before, but she'll be at an all time low if she gets adamed.

 

I'm from Australia and I got it through Powell. You should be albe to as well, though you'll need a card (though i think they take paypal as well).

 

On the black stone, as fikkie stated it was a shadow tower in the blight. My problem was the italic emphasis on the word 'black'. It was laying it on WAY to heavy. The community would have picked up on this without being thumped over the head by it.

 

The bit with Moridin and his hand hand and looking like Rand confirms absolutely that the link between Rand and himself is strong on both ends, and growing stronger--which does support my darling bodyswap theory.

 

I say 'darling' to be ironic. As I've stated before I don't particularily care for the idea, I just think its the only viable solution to the various prophecies.

 

It'd be nice if one of Rand's lovers dies/is permanently injured. I'd prefer it be Eylane, but since its unlikely, I'm going for Min.

 

I actually think this will backfire. A move against Aviendha is the most likely course Graendal will take given Min is close to Rand and subject to his protection, and Elayne has her own protections--but Aviendha is not defenceless. She has an angreal, and an ability to sense ter'angreal. My guess is Graendal will move against her and be surprised to find that Aviendha is not taken by surprise.

 

 

[Zamael]

Rand and Moridin's threads do seem to be fused into the near future.  Their crossed balefire streams instead of each burning a thread out of the pattern have merged their two threads ahead into the pattern.  The more time goes by, the less seperate they become.

[Charlz Guybon]

I thought the prologue was great.

 

I agree with those who think Demandred is ruling Murandy. Will he really obey Moridin's order not to resuce Semi? If he thinks he can get away with it, I don't think he will.

 

The battle with Trollocs was great. I can't wait to see how that turns out. The Rahad will surely be burnt to the ground, but Ebou Dar proper should be able to hold out for a while.

 

That was a great scene with Faile. I was glad to see Masema go down.

[Aiemond]

Is it just me or does this prologue really give a sense of urgency, more so than anything we have read in this series for awhile? The trollocs, Mordin gathering armies, and of course the clouds w/ the blacksmith.

[DemandredFO]

I'm thinking the trollocs were off the reservation for a number of reasons.

unless there's more i.e. a large army it's not a chosen

when two sides are killing each other you don't send your forces in until both sides are done, either severly weakening or eliminating each other.

As an added thought Tylee knew that Perrin was the wolfking she will be smart enough to know that she needs perrin.

[bialio]

Prologue was good - I for one am glad it was short as there is more to look forward to in the main novel - I always thought it was kinda wonky to read the prologue and be 1/4 done with the book!

 

I've never liked Faile much, but she finally did something I like.  Glad to see Masema's arc end, although as mentioned up above I'm sure there will be fall out in the Perrin / Faile arena......

 

btl.

[jemron]

I'm curious as to why some people think there will be a fall out between Perrin/Faile?

 

Yes, she's nuts.  Yes, Perrin doesn't seem to really see that.  But Perrin is willing to do anything for her.  Including forgive her for stupidity (which he seems to do over and over anyway).  Remember that Aiel guy she nearly slept with in the camp?  Perrin didn't mind.

 

I think people want Faile and Perrin to "divorce" but I don't see it really happening.  Let's face it, Perrin was a much better character before Faile came along.  But his whole life is based around Faile now.  She matters more to him than anything.  That's not going away if you ask me.

 

The only way to separate those two is to kill one.  I would go as far as to say that Perrin would be willing to betray Rand if it meant "keeping Faile safe."  That's how crazy head over heals he is for her.

[Jason Denzel]

Thanks, Aiemond for starting this thread. :)

[fikkie77]

Am I the only who thought Graendal was going to think in some way about Asmodean's death (admitting she did it or casting her own thoughts about it, making clear she wasn't the murderer) when she started thinking about Sammael's death?

 

Not that I was disappointed... it was very rewarding reading the prologue!

[Mr.Big]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally Faile enters and with the words "Sometimes, a wife must do what her husband cannot" kills Masema(yay).

 

Not so elaborate, but there it is.

 

 

How does Faile kill him?

[bialio]

 

Finally Faile enters and with the words "Sometimes, a wife must do what her husband cannot" kills Masema(yay).

 

Not so elaborate, but there it is.

 

How does Faile kill him?

 

Knife to the heart.

[DemandredFO]

Perrin is going to be pissed with Faile because he was bringing Masema to Rand and he had plenty of opportunity to kill him.  He could and should have used Asha'Man to kill Masema and shred his army.  Perrin should have realized that Rand needed him more than he needed Masema and however distasteful he should have turned his asha'Man loose.  Since Perrin was too stupid to realize that there will be a confrontation between him and Faile.

[Red Hand Man]

My thoughts:

 

1.  Demandred is Roedran, his rule was secured by none other than Talmanes (what a guy!).

2.  Tylee was attacked because she is one of the few Seanchan who know that Randlanders should be their allies (at times).

3.  Graendal vs. Aviendha is upcoming.  I wish we had more Avi POVs, I love her way of thinking.

4.  Only main character completely unmentioned was Mat, sadness.

 

I don't pick up on that many small details, but I love that you guys do and I think that at least 1/3 of my "understanding" of the novels comes from sifting through what everyone else on this message board has gleaned; e.g. - Luckers vs. Mr Ares regarding Perrin's kingdom.

[perrin51]

Does it seem strange that Faile is off by herself. Even if she has all of Cha Faile around here or some of the Two Rivers men. Why would Perrin let her out of his sight. He seems waaaay too posessive for that.

[Diederichos]

Why did Graendal so underestimate Demandred, it seems unlikely that she wouldn't have thought him the equal of Semirhage at least. It seems odd given where they know each other stand, is she really that blind or is Demandred really weaker than we thought he was? Is it possible that Demandred will end up pulling some surprise on all the Forsaken at the end?

[Bob T Dwarf]

Suroth was Semi's creature, so if Masema was being manipulated it was probably by Semi.  Meaning she would have been the most likely to have appeared to him as Rand.

 

Figuring all of this out would be much more simple if the timelines would all sync-up.

 

The last time we see Egwene is day 746.

The last time we see Rand is day 748.

We leave Perrin and Faile  at day 749.

The last time we see Mat is day  761.

The last time we see Tuon is day 766.

 

So, depending on when Masema supposedly saw Rand would tell us whether it was Semi or not, since she has been a prisoner since day 748.

[Majsju]

Why did Graendal so underestimate Demandred, it seems unlikely that she wouldn't have thought him the equal of Semirhage at least. It seems odd given where they know each other stand, is she really that blind or is Demandred really weaker than we thought he was? Is it possible that Demandred will end up pulling some surprise on all the Forsaken at the end?

 

Graendal is not talking about strength in the OP.

[Majsju]

1. Demandred--the number of times that Graendal considers the borderlanders suggests to me very firmly that it was not them. I rather think the forces he is gathering for war are the Shadowspawn--note what he says 'my rule is secure'? Secure against what? Someone else taking charge, like, say what occured with the Trollocs in KoD? And 'we gather for war'--all of the human armies are already gathered, including, sadly, Murandy. Most have been since LoC.

 

There is a difference between having an army, and gathering the same army for war.

I used to favour the theory of Demandred sitting in the Blight preparing the shadowspawn for war, but his comment here about his rule being secure does not quite fit with that. So I am leaning more towards him being in Murandy than before.

 

3. Glowing al'thor. It appears I was wrong, and at least one Forsaken was playing with Masema--my guess would still be Moghedian. She was in such a perfect position. Demandred is still a close second, I guess, but the heavy emphasis this figure placed on killing Perrin seems more of a 'Moridin' run obsession, one only a true subordinate would emulate so fiercely.

 

Further support for a forsaken messing with him would imo be the level of his madness. He is driven a bit baty after the events on Tomans Head, and it is fairly realistic to see that his madness increases with time. But the POV is completely out in the blue, he barely remembers that he used to have a real name. It does smell an awful lot of Compulsion.

 

5. Did anyone get chills from Graendal planning to cause Rand emotional pain? Aviendha would be the obvious target.

 

Combined with the cover, oh yeah. Although, it was something completely different that stood out to me in that exchange. Graendal gets a quite big reward for an initiative the DO approves of...Hm...  ;D

 

6. Mesaana was a bit pathetic. I'm even more convinced that she will be leashed in the Seanchan attack on the Tower.

 

Leashed or killed.

[SinisterDeath]

Uhh, didn't Graendal mention that Moridin got a new body? Or is she just reffering him going from Ishamael to Moridin?

 

The only person in the WoT universe with any kind of condition like what rand and moridin have, is the Slayer.

 

"Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom.

 

Isam waited in the high passes.

The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill.

One did live, and one did die, but both are.”

 

Sound familiar?

[Diederichos]

Oh, I understand about her not meaning strength. But isn't generally accepted among the Forsaken themselves that aside from Ish, Graendal, Semi, Sammael, Demandred and Lanfear(and Bel'al back in his days) stood as close to each other in terms of how ruthless/"good"(at what they do)? I can't see why she would see him as somehow inferior to Semi, and especially Mesaana. Particularly since she can't figure out what it is he's doing, wouldn't it be a giveaway to someone with a mind such as hers?

 

Edit: I think that it's developing in that Graendal will be stabbed in the back by Dem, or at least from that chapter, that's what would make sense from a storytelling perspective. Also, is it me or is it shaping as Moridin vs. Rand vs. Demandred or perhaps at least Moridin vs. Demandred?

[Ashamandragoran]

Hi Everybody, Newbie here.

 

Just a few thoughts about the prologue:

 

1) I thought Demandred always like to use proxies. Doesn't him sitting on a throne contradict all that? personally I think he may have something to do with the Sheinar army. In LOC, the book Demandred was supposed to be stirring chaos in (and did a fine job might I add), we hear that there is fighting in Sheinar. So I actually think Graendal may be right about  him and the boderlands. That said, Murandy is also a great option. I have a hard time believing that even Demandred can manipulate all 4 borderland armies into moving out of position, I think there is a bigger story which we'll find out soon.

 

2) Anyone else get the feeling Graendal is going to kill Cadsuane? I know people were thinking Semi will but after reading the prologue I think Graendal is in a better position to act.

 

Happy reading everybody!

[Quad]

RE: The Merging Theory...

 

Did anyone else catch Rand's eyes being described as 'caverns of ice' as opposed Ishmael's legendary caverns of fire?  The description of both having 'caverns' as eyes speaks to the merging idea, and yet, ice and fire are opposed.  Very well done... well done indeed.

[Jaric Mar Tedronai]

I wonder how Perrin will react to Masema's death at Faile's hands (if he finds out).  I am a member of the Faile-hating club, and would like to see her hung for murder under Rand's laws. Now if this happens (not that perrin would sit still for it), Perrin will not "be there" for the second time to save Rand, like Min said in LoC, the first time obv. being Dumai's Wells. Also, remember Berelain's "ogier's oath on it, farmgirl?" Granted, the trivial issue of perrin's hawk vs falcon may have been abandoned with RJ's passing, but we can always hope...I apologize, this somewhat turned into a Faile hating rant, but if you look past that i still wonder what the repercussions will be...

[Diederichos]

There's murder and then there's expedited justice. Masema clearly was deserving of execution for the various acts he's done, Aram bit especially, Faile just moved things along. I dislike intensely how she's trying to hide this from Perrin, I mean...doesn't Perrin want this guy dead as well? Also, how much time elapsed between the end of the battle of Malden and when Masema's killed...it seemed like hours at least, days most likely, but how far was Masema's main bunch from the scene of the battle?

[DemandredFO]

What Faile did was justice, just because Perrin was blindly following those orders from(which will probably forever remain a mystery to me) doesn't mean Faile should suffer.  Perrin hung those two guys without a trial, in POD they were chasing Morgase because she was and still is being a brat.  Elayne must have wits from Tarangil because I haven't seen any from Morgase.  Masema followers were probably multiple murdereers all and Masema was, at the very least guilty of facilitating a whole mess of crimes.  He probably would've hung when he got to rand anyway but I use the POD precedent to defend Faile.