9 Impossible things

[Arkane101]

I was rereading through the series, when I noticed a part in CoT chapter 17. Janya is talking to Egwene about Nicola's foretelling's, one is The Dragon Reborn performing nine impossible things. I assumed the first was him cleansing Saidin since he was doing it as they were speaking, meaning the foretelling had to have been prior to him cleansing Saidin. My question is what could the other eight be?

[JusticeGibson]

depends on your definition of impossible i think. taking the stone of Tear was supposed to be impossible for most people of the third age.

[Khan]

Well, it's hard for us to think what could be counted as 'impossible' as we've read all the books and we have to rely on what the people in the books count as 'impossible'. Perhaps uniting the Aiel? Or does it mean he's going to do nine impossible things? Hmm.

[yoniy0]

Someone brings this up every few weeks (not your fault, the search function doesn't work at the moment). I believe it's just a figure of speech - Nicola had several Fortellings about Rand, they all seemed impossible (you know how Fortellings are. The real ones, at least, can be hard to interpret). AS begin to mistrust her. So Janya (I'm going by what you said, I don't remember who it was) says she's Foretold 'nine-impossible-things about him' (as in, she's been doing it a lot lately).

[Crael123]

Cleansing Saidin

 

Taking stone

 

uniting aeil

 

making black tower?

 

uniting half the world?

 

staying sane?

 

killing off multiple forsaken?

 

having 3 wives?

 

ummmm.... thats all iv got...

[A2597]

Cleansing Saidin

 

Taking stone

 

uniting aeil

 

making black tower?

 

uniting half the world?

 

staying sane?

 

killing off multiple forsaken?

 

having 3 wives? surviving three wives.

 

ummmm.... thats all iv got...

 

 

fixed.

[Hybrid]

Cleansing Saidin

 

Taking stone

 

uniting aeil

 

making black tower?

 

uniting half the world?

 

staying sane?

 

killing off multiple forsaken?

 

having 3 wives? surviving three wives Elayne.

 

ummmm.... thats all iv got...

 

fixed.

 

Fixed again.

[Crael123]

Fixed again.

 

 

hahahahahaha very very very correct!

[Cut Strand]

1. Cleansing Saidin

2. Taking stone

3. Uniting Aiel

4. Making the black tower

5. Uniting half the world?

6. Staying sane?

7. Killing off multiple forsaken?

8. Having 3 wives?

 

ummmm.... thats all iv got...

I don't think numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 are impossible. And he didn't really unite all of the aiel, the Shaido punked out and I think some of the aiel took a "wait and see" approach.

 

-I think him breaking the Domination Band was pretty darn impossible.

-He also used a butt load of balefire to kill Graendal (or at least wipe out that fortress, I don't want this to sidetrack this thread).

-He successfully integrated LTT into himself in Veins of Gold. Supposed to be really hard/rare.

 

So I can only come up with 5.

 

I'm skeptical of a lot of Nicola's foretellings.

[Auld Manriva]

I'm compelled to back-up Yoniy0 on this one. The operative word is ABOUT. Nine impossible things about the dragon. Not necessarily nine things he's going to accomplish, do, make happen. Besides, I think at least a third of the list you've made are

before Nicola Treehill (she's the Anti-Hobbit, meaning not an Underhill) ever appeared on the scene.

 

*BNT: Before Nicola Treehill

 

1. Cleansing Saidin

2. Taking stone (BNT)

3. Uniting Aiel (BNT) more accurately having the People of the Dragon follow him.. most anyway.

4. Making the black tower (BNT)

5. Uniting half the world?

6. Staying sane?

7. Killing off multiple forsaken? (BNT) He'd already offed Sammael and Rahvin for good, and mostly offed Ishy twice.

8. Having 3 wives?

[martianblues]

Here is the relevant passage:

 

Ever since we found out she has the Foretelling, she’s been Foretelling two or three times a day, to hear tell of it. Or rather, to hear Areina tell it. Nicola is smart enough to know everyone is aware she can’t remember what she says when she Foretells, but Areina always seems to be there to hear and remember, and help her interpret. Some are the sort of thing anyone in the camp with half a brain and a credulous nature might think of – battles with the Seanchan or the Asha’man, an Amyrlin imprisoned, the Dragon Reborn DOING nine impossible things, visions that might be Tarmon Gai’don or a bilious stomach – and the rest all just happen to indicate that Nicola ought to be allowed to go faster with her lessons.

 

- Crossroads of Twilight, Secrets

 

It is second hand, and they are unsure whether it is a true foretelling or Nicola just trying to get attention, but it does say specifically Rand DOING 9 impossible things.

[A2597]

Fixed again.

 

Touche.

 

.

.

.

.

BUAHAHAHHAA!!!!

[martianblues]

1. taking the stone, maybe

(but that is past tense, so I don't know if that would be in a foretelling,

and it was in prophecy that it would fall eventually, so maybe not impossible anyway)

2. cleansing saidin

3. destroying Shadar Logoth

4. escaping the domination band

5. hmm, i'm out. that's only 3 non-sarcastic ones, not counting the Stone, which I don't think counts.

 

possibilities: cleansing the Ways, getting his hand back, coming back from the dead (from other theories), surviving the LB...

 

more ideas anyone?

[Byzantine279]

Technically escaping the Domination band was not impossible, in fact a man who wears it long enough will be the one in control (its the weakness of the band, the man's will slowly takes over).

[KefkaPalazzo]

Umm, since the "nine impossible things" line was not a foretelling, but a commentary on one, isn't this simply a figure of speech?

[Duskfire]

Yeah I doubt Nicola listed 9 separate things and the Aes Sedai was like, "lol, impossible." Most likely Nicola rambled off and 9 is an exaggeration. That, or Nicola mentioned something about the number 9 and it actually has some reference, and the Aes Sedai misinterpreted it.

[Carteeg_Struve]

Completed:

1. Fighting Ba'alzamon in the sky of Falme.

2. Taking the Stone and Callandor

3. Making it rain in the Waste

4. Cleansing Saidin

5. Slayed Mashadar in/under Shadar Logoth

6. Pleased Elayne

 

 

Not Yet Done:

7. Return from the grave (future prediction)

8. Mend the Bore (future prediction)

9. Understand women (actually I doubt this one... it's far too impossible for any guy to do)

[martianblues]

yeah I suppose Nicola could be full of dung, but I always wanted to take that one seriously, if only because RJ was big on the whole prophecy/viewing/foretelling thing, as a way of teasing the reader with things to come, and he never, as far as I can recall, put it a trivial/pointless/false foretelling or viewing. There is always a reason. shrug. RAFO I guess.

[martianblues]

Technically escaping the Domination band was not impossible, in fact a man who wears it long enough will be the one in control (its the weakness of the band, the man's will slowly takes over).

 

I thought of it as "impossible" because it was supposedly made of cuendillar and Rand broke the collar. I remember it falling thru a stream of balefire in Tanchico when Nyn was dueling Moggy. Rand actually BROKE CUENDILLAR! So apparently the True Power can destroy cuendillar. Hmm, but I guess the DO is breaking the cuendillar seals too...

[Random Man]

Technically escaping the Domination band was not impossible, in fact a man who wears it long enough will be the one in control (its the weakness of the band, the man's will slowly takes over).

 

I thought of it as "impossible" because it was supposedly made of cuendillar and Rand broke the collar. I remember it falling thru a stream of balefire in Tanchico when Nyn was dueling Moggy. Rand actually BROKE CUENDILLAR! So apparently the True Power can destroy cuendillar. Hmm, but I guess the DO is breaking the cuendillar seals too...

The one Rand broke wasn't cuendillar. It was one of the copies -- probably iron or something -- although it wouldn't have mattered, according to Brandon, who has confirmed that the TP can break cuendillar. Still, I'd call it a pretty impossible task to break free while under the influence of the Domination Bands.

[The Fisher King]

Cleansing Saidin

 

Taking stone

 

uniting aeil

 

making black tower?

 

uniting half the world?

 

staying sane?

 

killing off multiple forsaken?

 

having 3 wives? surviving three wives Elayne.

 

ummmm.... thats all iv got...

 

fixed.

 

Fixed again.

 

Now, THATS Funny - ROFL!!!

 

 

Fish

[Hosh]

I just got to this part in the re-read. So here are some thoughts.

 

(1) Cleansing Saidin.

 

This one is easy :-)

 

(2) Breaking the Domination Band, or more precisely, channelling the TP.

 

I had forgotten about this. I've been reading a lot more carefully in this re-read. Can't wait to examine this one when I get to that point. From the Forsaken perspective, Rand should not have been able to use the TP at all. (But checkmate).

 

(3) The Last Battle

 

As hinted in the preview chapters for A Memory of Light. Something to do with the Bore, or even inside the prison where the Dark One lives (why else break all the seals?), or who knows? If he's able to take care of the Dark One once and for all so the cycles of endless battles between good and evil stop, that's more or less impossible. 

 

(4) Resurrection. I have no idea if this really should be with (3) or not.

 

Now some others I've been thinking of:

 

 -  Splitting Balefire into two streams with Callandor, in his duel with Ishamael in the Stone of Tear.

 

 - Holding open a closing gateway.

 

Though that might not be as "impossible", since Asmodean mentioned that Demandrad can do this too.

 

 - I am not sure what happened in the scene with Moridin in Shadar Logoth, with the OP balefile crossing streams with the TP balefire. How much is the subsequent dizziness a result of that? What about later, seeing visions of Moridin (if I remember correctly?) in the same way Rand sees visions of the other ta'varen. (Is there a equivalent Shadow version of a ta'varen?) My guess is that there was something "impossible" that resulted from that, but I have not seen what that means. Maybe also a part of (3).

 

 - Asking the Aelfinn about things about the Shadow and somehow surviving. Rand asked about how to survive the Last Battle. He probably asked how to cleanse saidin, too. Moiraine believed that asking questions about the Shadow are severely punished, so how did Rand escape from that?

 

I don't think integrating Lews Therin is impossible, so much as it is a part of becoming awakened, (you might say, "enlightened") and is also a hint for (3). This was a personal struggle and wasn't impossible in the sense that others have expectations. He did not so much as "integrate" Lews Therin so much that Rand accepted that everything is impermanent, that things come and go. (Like it is written at the beginning of every book). That Lews Therin is Rand and Rand is Lews Therin. That there is unity, oneness, harmony in acceptance; and separation, distrust, chaos is exactly what made the Pattern fluid enough for the Dark One to influence. In any case, Rand didn't do that alone just as he didn't cleanse saidin alone. I think Rand would have gone irrevocably insane if he had not been bonded to Elayne, Avienda, and Min. Without that bond, he would have gotten lost in the "winter's heart."

 

At the same time, this is very, very profound -- more so than the Cleansing of Saidin, in my re-read. It reads to me that the point of the entire series and Rand's slow dive into madness was set up for that one scene on Dragonmount, a precursor to the Last Battle. After he awakened on the summit of Dragonmount, Rand was able to access things that cannot be done with the OP or TP. Like the way the "bubble of evil" popped up, or the way chaos and distrust frayed the Pattern and allowed the Dark One to mess with it, Rand could put things back into order again by simply being who he is, by accepting that things come and go, by understanding a bit more of what really drives the Wheel of Time. At least that is how I read it. AMoL and the Last Battle is going to be awesome, whatever it is :-)

[Entreri]

Completed:

1. Fighting Ba'alzamon in the sky of Falme.

2. Taking the Stone and Callandor

3. Making it rain in the Waste

4. Cleansing Saidin

5. Slayed Mashadar in/under Shadar Logoth

6. Pleased Elayne

 

 

Not Yet Done:

7. Return from the grave (future prediction)

8. Mend the Bore (future prediction)

9. Understand women (actually I doubt this one... it's far too impossible for any guy to do)

I like this list!

 

Other possiblities:

Apples (they only flower once a year, trust me, I have apple trees).  This is IMPOSSIBLE.  The grain etc, that is just probablity.

 

Only cuendillar will stop balefire, Callandor split it in half...now is that due to TAR or something else. 

 

How about the Light in his mind holding back the taint?

 

Etc...

 

Not surprised in the least that TP can destroy cuendillar and that Brandon confirmed it.

Whatever can be created, the TP/Shai'tan can destroy it (just as Grandael stated), be it Creation, cuendillar, the gholam etc.