The Heroes at Falme - Thunder Thieves

[MikeRiley]

There didn't seem to be much of a point to Bornhald moving a legion of the Children in an attack on Falme, other than to force Mat to blow the Horn of Valere. We know when Mat did this it caused the Wheel to take control of events (or was it the Creator? I can't find the note on that). Because of this I have to think Mat wasn't meant to sound the horn here and that leaves a legion of the Children of the Light ready to descend on Falme in a surprise attack. You could say the pattern wove for Mat to sound the horn here and I'm entirely wrong, but Robert Jordan stated that Fain sidestepped the pattern. His carrying the Horn to Toman Head might have put it in the wrong place and it was never meant to be sounded there. He used his newly gained powers to take the Horn of Valere south rather than north into the Blight like his rescuers had planned. Anyway..

 

During the scene where the Heroes come up out of the fog, they speak to Rand like he's an old friend. They even laugh when he says there was a girl that needed to be saved. Hawkwing says they will drive away the invaders for him - he says this like he's granting a favor to a friend and this leads me to believe he really meant it as a favor and didn't have to. It's only after granting this favor that he realizes he can't. His horse pranced and he realized something was holding him back. He says the weave is already set and the pattern wraps around them like a halter. "We have come to the Horn, but we must follow the banner. And the Dragon."

 

This seems to me where the glitch comes into play. They are meant to follow the Horn, but in this case the Wheel is forcing them to follow the banner and Dragon instead. During Rand's fight, the banner is splayed behind him across the sky. The weave is already set so that means there is an inevitable outcome. The Heroes being there ultimately don't change much, and their fight is set to mimic Rand's fight with Ba'alzamon. It seems that the Whitecloaks would have failed their attack if Rand lost his fight, but would succeed somehow if he succeeded. Since the Whitecloak legion was destroyed by the Heroes, it was the Heroes who were set to destroy the Seanchan as well. The Wheel took direct control of them to make sure this specific line of events was not changed.

 

So we would have the Whitecloaks all set for victory at Falme, but because the Horn was moved into place there, the Heroes were summmoned and stole their thunder. They were wiped out and the Heroes took up their role, settling on the ultimate outcome if Rand was to win his fight. If Rand lost, the Heroes would dissipate and the Seanchan would have their rather confusing victory over the Whitecloak legion.

[Quorothorn]

But Geofram Bornhald, as much as I liked him, was in charge of just 1,000 cavalrymen, all entirely ordinary. Good soldiers--possibly some of the best south of the Borderland and west of the Waste--but they were grossly outnumbered and up against mass weaponized chanelling. Even if they had gotten the advantage of surprise--which they didn't, because of the raken, I should remind you--they could not have won. Without considerably greater force or Rand puling a similar trick to the Eye (which would require a powerful angreal or even a sa'angreal, since the Eye was unique and all) the Horn was the only thing capable of driving the Seanchan back. How could the Whitecloaks be linked to Rand's fight against Ba'alzamon? It doesn't make much sense, really. In fact, Rand's actions just ten minutes before--his forgiveness of Ingtar--show pretty clearly how he and the Children are incapable of working together at that point.

 

To be honest, I was under the impression that the Horn, combined with the banner, was the reason why the Rand-Ba'alzamon and Heroes-Seanchan fights were linked in the first place.

[perrin51]

Fain side stepped his fate in the pattern. Perhaps. However the Dragon had to have that battle in the sky above Toman Head. That is in the Proficies. As Quorothorn mentioned. The Whitecloaks had no chance. They were being shredded by Damane before the horn was sounded. Now do you think that Rand and co gave them away. That was done by Nyn and Elayne when they rescued Eggy. That was cooincidental to Rand recovery the horn. If Rand hadn't been there Bornhold's legion would have been wiped out to no effect. With Rand there, they were the reason the Horn was sounded. Also, the WC were wiped out by the Seanchan, there weren't many left when the heroes got there.