Why does Else avoid Mat like the plague in TDR?

[Caar One-Hand]

The question is in the subject.  She seems to be terrified of him when she meets him for a short time in Tar Valon.  Anyone know why this is?

[Hack n Slash]

That's Lanfear, pretending to be Else.

[Caar One-Hand]

Really?

 

Is there a quote or reference for this?

 

Has Else always been Lanfear?  Even when Mat and Rand visited her farm in TEoTW?

[alligator]

No, Else was not always Lanfear. I heard some speculation the other day that it could've been Mesaana impersonating Else, but I always thought it was Lanfear. But it definitely wasn't the real Else. Can't remember where that comes from exactly though, sorry.

[Agitel]

'Else' comes and asks Egwene and Elayne and maybe Nynaeve to go somewhere, they go, they come back, they mention Else to an Aes Sedai and the Aes Sedai says Else was kicked out months ago or something.

[Luckers]

Indeed. Else goes to tell Egwene and Nynaeve that the things the Black Ajah left behind are being held for them to look through. Egwene runs after her because she is worried Else will blab, and instead runs into Lanfear. Lanfear dismisses her, then leaves, and Siuan later tells Nynaeve that all the things the Black sisters left were burned, and that Else had been sent home two weeks prior.

 

Which, chronologically, is before Mat ran into her. So yes Else was Lanfear in a wig.

[Gympok]

lol, I'm on my 3rd read though and just read this part today and figured it out at that time.  Glad to see i'm not the only one that didn't see that right away.

[Caedn of the Taardad]

The thing I've been trying to figure out is WHY she avoided him.  It can't have been fear of the lasting effects fo the taint, she'd already visited him in her true form.  And it can't have been fear of him seeing through her disguise, she was so out of character by doing what she did that almost anything else would have been more natural...  I don't know, just something that's bugged me since I connected it back on my second read through...  Your thoughts?

[Knightfall]

lol...

 

Wow, I feel incredibly stupid for not picking up on the Else/Lanfear thing at all ... especially after reading through the series almost 5 times.

[alligator]

lol...

 

Wow, I feel incredibly stupid for not picking up on the Else/Lanfear thing at all ... especially after reading through the series almost 5 times.

 

Haha, I never made the Noal/Jain Farstrider connection until visiting the forums  :)

[Luckers]

The thing I've been trying to figure out is WHY she avoided him.  It can't have been fear of the lasting effects fo the taint, she'd already visited him in her true form.  And it can't have been fear of him seeing through her disguise, she was so out of character by doing what she did that almost anything else would have been more natural...  I don't know, just something that's bugged me since I connected it back on my second read through...  Your thoughts?

 

She didn't know how well he knew Else. She risked exposure, so she avoided him.

[mb]

Maybe the impostor avoided Mat in order to prevent being exposed.

If Lanfear, Mat would likely think the voice being similar to Selene's.

 

[Caedn of the Taardad]

Ah, there we go, I didn't consider the voice...  That makes a bit more sense then, without that realization it just wasn't quite clear...

[Luckers]

You can disguise your voice with the One Power--that was confirmed by RJ.

[WWWwombat]

It's not about the voice.  It's about Lanfear not knowing a thing about Mat's relationship with Else, like Luckers said.

[Caedn of the Taardad]

That just doesn't seem to fly with me, she made NO attempt at ANY dissembling whatsoever.  Besides, with what Mat knew of the OP, he wasn't about to suspect anyway.  And the way Lanfear behaved for Elayne and co. implies she knew enough of both voice and mannerism to fool most people.  A though occurs to me however.  Lanfear is using the mirror of mists to look like Else, which means she is definately taller then she looks, so if she knows anything about Mat's temperment, she might fear him getting a tad too close and discovering that there is a tall, beutiful Forsaken hiding behind the pretty little novice, so it may have been a matter of avoiding any revealing contact with a rouge and a scoundrel. 

[Forgemage]

I agree with Jenn Hama there's something fishy in that response, have to think on that one.

[Balefire to da face!]

That just doesn't seem to fly with me, she made NO attempt at ANY dissembling whatsoever.  Besides, with what Mat knew of the OP, he wasn't about to suspect anyway.  And the way Lanfear behaved for Elayne and co. implies she knew enough of both voice and mannerism to fool most people.  A though occurs to me however.  Lanfear is using the mirror of mists to look like Else, which means she is definately taller then she looks, so if she knows anything about Mat's temperment, she might fear him getting a tad too close and discovering that there is a tall, beutiful Forsaken hiding behind the pretty little novice, so it may have been a matter of avoiding any revealing contact with a rouge and a scoundrel. 

 

That's exactly it. She didn't know if Mat was going to run up and give good ol Else a big huge and mess with the illusion. I thought this was made pretty obvious by the author because Lanfear's words and actions were geared towards Mat not getting close enough to touch her.

[Thorum]

Saw this today (RJ answering):

 

Was Else always Lanfear?

 

  No.  Else did exist as a separate human but was played by Lanfear

  after Else was expelled.