Machun Shin/Far Madding

[Asgard Thorin]

I suspect that the Black Wind is, if not dead, then severely set-back. In Book Nine, Shadar Logoth became a filter to cleanse the taint. We don't know where Machhin Shin came from, but we do know the Ways are outside the Pattern, or at least normal space. But also, in Book Eleven Rand's locale was attacked by an army group, not an army, an army group of shadowspawn, an hundred thousand trollocs, near enough. I reckon that on the outside, Rand was at that place three weeks, our weeks. Even if it were a month, that would mean several hundred a day for thirty days if only one Waygate was used-if they had to avoid a fully predatory Black Wind. I think it had much to do with Shadar Logoth, (some of the voices in the Wind greeted Fain like a brother; others howled from him and M<achhin Shin(sp?)fled once it touched him.) Regardless, unless a million Shadowspawn died to get that hundred thousand through the Ways, then the Ways must be partially cleansed at least to allow that many Trollocs into Tear. Compare with the effort to put twenty thousand of them into the Two Rivers.

Therefore, I believe FarMadding will be destroyed. It is the perfect place for Moridin to send an army. No one can channel there, it's very far from the Blight (aserious incursion would draw massive numbers from Blight; what a co-inky-dink, those numbers happen to be there) and it stands between the two strongest nations overkinged by Rand. If the bad guys launch Tarmon Gaidon (even if Rand does) I'm betting at least a raid-in-force will come to Rand's faaaaaaaaavorite city.

[HighLordXanthus]

There is some logic there. I did suspect that the black wind was tied to SL, and SL's destruction would impact machin shin.

[Barid Bel Medar]

I suspect that the Black Wind is, if not dead, then severely set-back. In Book Nine, Shadar Logoth became a filter to cleanse the taint. We don't know where Machhin Shin came from, but we do know the Ways are outside the Pattern, or at least normal space. But also, in Book Eleven Rand's locale was attacked by an army group, not an army, an army group of shadowspawn, an hundred thousand trollocs, near enough. I reckon that on the outside, Rand was at that place three weeks, our weeks. Even if it were a month, that would mean several hundred a day for thirty days if only one Waygate was used-if they had to avoid a fully predatory Black Wind. I think it had much to do with Shadar Logoth, (some of the voices in the Wind greeted Fain like a brother; others howled from him and M<achhin Shin(sp?)fled once it touched him.) Regardless, unless a million Shadowspawn died to get that hundred thousand through the Ways, then the Ways must be partially cleansed at least to allow that many Trollocs into Tear. Compare with the effort to put twenty thousand of them into the Two Rivers.

Therefore, I believe FarMadding will be destroyed. It is the perfect place for Moridin to send an army. No one can channel there, it's very far from the Blight (aserious incursion would draw massive numbers from Blight; what a co-inky-dink, those numbers happen to be there) and it stands between the two strongest nations overkinged by Rand. If the bad guys launch Tarmon Gaidon (even if Rand does) I'm betting at least a raid-in-force will come to Rand's faaaaaaaaavorite city.

 

Not sure about the whole Far Madding, seems fair enough, but you are wrong on several points.

 

Machin Shin was a product of the Taint.

 

The ways cannot be healed because the taint was removed.

 

 

Q: About Machin Shin in the Ways: since it seems to absorb the creatures that pass through there, could you regard them as a servant of the Dark One or perhaps almost as a Forsaken?

RJ: It's not a servant of the Dark One. It will kill Trollocs or anything else. You can say it's a parasite that grew in the Ways because of the taint and the One Power that was used to initially create the Ways, and the Talisman of Growing that was used to extend the Ways.

So it's not a servant of the Dark One, but its definitely on the evil side.

Q: Would it be cleaned with the cleansing of saidin?

RJ: No. It's like a bacteria breed. Just by cleaning up the chemicals that caused the bacteria to come into existence, unless its feeding on that, those chemicals, you are not going to destroy the bacteria. You simply cut off what helped to create it.

 

 

Machin Shin is not connected to Shadar Logoth in the way you are thinking. It is completely separate, but it...attracts the SL evil.

 

Q: In The Great Hunt, when Rand, Mat and Perrin are trying to enter the Ways, Machin Shin is waiting there for them. It seems like Padan Fain has it waiting there for them. Is Machin Shin in any way related to the evil of Shadar Logoth?

RJ: In some ways. Machin Shin is linked, or you might say drawn, to that. It's not a matter of linked, but more attracted by, in much the same ways as I spoke about the evils being attracted to one another due to opposite polarities. (Shadar Logoth and the taint)

In the same way there is an attraction because Machin Shin was created in effect by the taint. It grew out. You can see it as a fungus that was constructed with the wrong type of materials. If you think about it as that way you get a better idea about its true nature.

[Asgard Thorin]

'"You can say it's a parasite that grew in the Ways because of the taint"'

That is a very ambiguous statement. It may only be residue of the taint, but why did it flee Fain as soon as it enveloped him? Why did it greet him as a brother? To say it was absolutely one thing because of that statement....I believe I must disagree. The statement is not sufficiently definitive.

 

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand then I finished reading your post. (Note to self: read everything first next time.) I still think something happened to Machin Shin, something must have happened to Machin Shin or that Shadowspawn army group could not have crossed the Ways. Perhaps the Waygate was damaged early in the cleansing, enough to spray the "bacteria" of the Ways with a large dose of Lysol. One Power Kind.