I'm confused after reading Knife of Dreams....

[Dagon Thyne]

I just finished KoD and started TGS.  I was wondering...what is the meaning of the title Knife of Dreams?  I was thinking from the title that the book would involve a knife of some sort that was involve, in some fashion, with Tel'aran'rhiod. 

[gambril]

http://13depository.blogspot.com/2010/06/knife-of-dreams-read-through-1-titles.html

 

That should help.

[Fains nose]

What does fires of heaven mean then if your so clever?

[gambril]

What does fires of heaven mean then if your so clever?

 

To me it seems FOH the title represents Rands growing strength in Saidin.  Would love to hear other peoples takes on what the various titles represents :)

[Sid]

The Great Hunt refers to "The Great Hunt of the Horn"

The Eye of the World is a reference The Eye of the World in the Blight at the end of the book.

A Crown of Swords refers to...

;)

[Noreallyjustsomeguy]

The specific phrase is found in the epigraph at the beginning of the book:

 

"'The sweetness of victory and the bitterness of defeat are alike a knife of dreams' from Fog and Steel by Madoc Comadrin"

 

In addition to the good comments in the 13th depository article referenced be gambril, one of the ideas that this phrase (and the title derived from it) suggests is that both victory and defeat can be equally haunting.  This seems particularly true for Mat: he always manages to win, but at what cost?  In real life, even the victor often doesn't sleep well the night after a battle, and that battle can be personal as well as on the field.

[water_seeker]

The Shadow Rising is actually a cookbook of evil breads. :P

[Noreallyjustsomeguy]

So THAT'S where the "bubbles of evil" are coming from ... too much yeast!

[water_seeker]

Exactly :D

[The Desert Pea]

What does fires of heaven mean then if your so clever?

 

To me it seems FOH the title represents Rands growing strength in Saidin.  Would love to hear other peoples takes on what the various titles represents :)

 

FoH title has always represented Rand's use of balefire in the book for me