Lan's PoV

[Luckers]

Discuss it now. Or rather, tomorrow when the Prologue comes out.

[algspkr]

We already had half of it, but it was good.

[The Fisher King]

I like the Lan a whole bunch.

 

He has been one of the most GENUINE characters since Day One. Steady. True. Honest with HIMSELF - which sadly has been a RARE quality in most WOT characters.

 

I have a theory. I don't think Lanis going to jump into the front of the battles during Tarmon Gaidon leading the charge after all...I think he may well be in position to be coming in from the rear...mayble like a reserve marching in at the the last minute with reinforcements. Lan may SAVE THE DAY!!!

 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

Fish

[jemron]

Good stuff. I'm glad that his unwillingness to accept being a leader wasn't dragged out for a whole book or two like others' insecurities. I'm glad that Borderlander stuck with it and convinced him to let him follow. He'll come around, and whether he likes it or not, the Golden Crane will be raised once more.

 

And the one became two.

[Jimmy]

I see Lan's breakdown in allowing someone to join him will, of course, be just a beginning. it will lead to more and more people joining with him. each time, he will think of the same thing; that his word is his honor and he will feel that he has to let them join him.

At some point, the Gold Crane will fly again. I would love to have the Malkier brought back before the end of the series but I don't believe we will see it at all unless a post Tarmon Gaidon book is written. there may be a small tidbit where the blight is pushed so far back after Rand wins the last battle, that Lan's army marches up to Malkier and takes back the land.

[DemandredFO]

The Kandori tower POV makes me wonder if Lan will engage at the Aesdishar(sp?). If the towers on either side and one in the rear are gone, I think the Aesdishar will be a battleground. I hope we have at least some borderland POV that is annoyed with their rulers for leaving with half their armies. If these borderlanders are so good at war they should know that giving one a false sense of security indicates a massive attack.

[Crael123]

he is such a hardass and hes full of himself to think he can do shit against millions of trollocs.

[subwoofer]

Lan nudged Mandarb into motion, Bulen followed on foot. And the one became two.

 

 

That is what I took away. Lan was bound and determined to wage a personal war with the Shadow. He was going to throw himself at the Blight by himself. Donkey. Through the persistence of this one boy, this one who

 

Kept to the old ways

 

 

Lan is no longer alone. I think this was necessary as the rest of the Borderlands empties to follow the Golden Crane. Heck, when the Borderland armies finally come back- Man! And then Mat's army, and Bryne's army and the White Cloaks. It will be one for the Ages.

I am soooo stoked!

 

Woof™.

[subwoofer]

Lan isn't a hardass in that way... he wanted a release. An end to his burden. He wanted to die. That funeral/ dead flower thing/ hairy chested drivel he keeps on handing Nynaeve. It is good that was put to bed here by this one boy that Lan met in New Spring.

 

Woof™.

[dwn]

Y'know... for all his capabilities and experience, Lan has a very childish worldview and spends much of his time sulking about it. It never really occurred to me before, likely because we haven't seen many POVs from him, but Lan actually has just as much growing up to do as Nynaeve.

 

-- dwn

[TheAngryDruid]

Y'know... for all his capabilities and experience, Lan has a very childish worldview and spends much of his time sulking about it. It never really occurred to me before, likely because we haven't seen many POVs from him, but Lan actually has just as much growing up to do as Nynaeve.

 

-- dwn

 

This is actually the first Lan POV outside of New Spring.

 

While I didn't take as harsh a view on Lan as you did (or Nynaeve, who has made some strides recently, especially in tGS), I was kind of disappointed he STILL seemed to view this as a personal bit of honor because of Malkier. As if 20 years of riding with Moiraine, trying to find and protect the Dragon Reborn, and ensure humanity has a chance at the Last Battle, is all over.

 

In defense of Lan, he probably believes (rightly) that the burden is now Rand's. And Rand did nothing to try to include Lan in his plans, so he went on his own. Maybe Rand will change his mind on this.

 

I do like the observation that Lan may be able to attack from the rear. And also, Ituralde could appear to save the Tower as well. And where are Renald Fanwar and all the others like him that rode north, they could make an impact as well.

[dwn]

A theory/prediction concerning Lan just occurred to me. I really have no evidence to back it up beyond reasonable speculation.

 

Where is Myrelle?

 

From Egwene's POV, everyone seems to think Myrelle went with the delegation to the Black Tower, but that doesn't really make sense. Myrelle had three warders, then added Lan when Moiraine died. She was then bludgeoned into bonding Kairen's warder after Halima killed Kairen. The point is why would Myrelle go to the Black Tower? Surely she has her hands full with five warders, two of which are unstable/suicidal.

 

Now, two events happened quite closely in Knife of Dreams: Rand decided to let the Aes Sedai bond 47 Asha'man, and Nynaeve took Lan to Saldaea. Surely Myrelle noticed that her 4th warder was now in the borderlands and, more importantly, what that could mean for him.

 

We don't see a sign of anything unusual in the ToM prologue, but I think it's quite likely Myrelle could soon be involved with Lan's plot arc. Myrelle was/is the head of the Green Ajah among the rebels, so she's definitely in a position to start corralling Greens for assisting the defence of the borderlands.

 

Edit: I finally found the references to Kairen's warder Llyw in CoT. It's not actually confirmed that Myrelle agrees to bond him. Still she's none to happy at the thought of bonding another.

 

-- dwn

[sleepinghour]

From Egwene's POV, everyone seems to think Myrelle went with the delegation to the Black Tower, but that doesn't really make sense. Myrelle had three warders, then added Lan when Moiraine died. She was then bludgeoned into bonding Kairen's warder after Halima killed Kairen. The point is why would Myrelle go to the Black Tower?

 

As Egwene notes in TGS, there's something fishy about Myrelle, Nisao, Faolain, and Theodrin (those sworn to Egwene) being sent to the Black Tower. Nisao is Yellow and already has a Warder, while Theodrin and Faolain aren't considered to be full AS. It's possible that someone was trying to get rid of Egwene's supporters.

[Sharaman]

Myrelle headed the Rebel delegation. I assume that, apart from whatever political stuff was happening, the rebs wanted Greens to go (since they didn't have any Reds). I mean not just because of the multiple warder tradtion but because if the worst came to the worst, the Greens supposedly know battle weaves.

[TheAngryDruid]

Myrelle headed the Rebel delegation. I assume that, apart from whatever political stuff was happening, the rebs wanted Greens to go (since they didn't have any Reds). I mean not just because of the multiple warder tradtion but because if the worst came to the worst, the Greens supposedly know battle weaves.

 

While Lelaine could have been trying to get Egwene's supporters out, I don't think the Black's had enough Power (or Sitters) to be involved much. Though 1 vote could have been the difference.

[dwn]

Myrelle headed the Rebel delegation. I assume that, apart from whatever political stuff was happening, the rebs wanted Greens to go (since they didn't have any Reds). I mean not just because of the multiple warder tradtion but because if the worst came to the worst, the Greens supposedly know battle weaves.

 

Thanks for the information. I'm rereading CoT, KoD and TGS in parallel and must have either missed that bit (or not come to it yet). I remember those four being sent, but not that Myrelle was in charge. I'd assumed the delegation was lead by one of the sitters who went.

 

-- dwn

[Sharaman]

I'm saying this from memory (Myrelle heading the delegation) without reference to either KoD or TGS so I could well be wrong. However Myrelle is one of the original Salidar six and head of the rebel Greens and might in that sense, outrank the 4 (?) sitters who went to the BT.

[sleepinghour]

I don't think she actually headed it; the only mention in the text of her going to the BT is in TGS ch 45 where Egwene thinks about her being included in the delegation.

 

I think Myrelle heading the delegation is unlikely -- Ajah Heads aren't supposed to be known to sisters of other Ajahs, so it would raise questions why a relatively young (mid-40s) AS had been put in charge. Also, the Green rebel Sitters seemed pretty amused at having browbeat Myrelle into bonding Kairen's Warder, which suggests Myrelle's having issues with her own Ajah.

[Sharaman]

Anybody got a hang on the timelines?

a) Lan's in North Saldaea and it's fairly early into his ride because only one chap has caught up with him. Bulen walked from Chachin, Kandor so they meet close to the Kandori Saldaea border hence, it's North-Eastern Saldaea. Other folks who Nyn contacted in Saldaea itself are either waiting on the wrong road, or something else.

b) In TGS Ituralde has already had a couple of minor clashes with trollocs in Saldaea itself. We know Rand got hold of Ituralde some days after Lan had already split for the Borderlands. So, Lan's PoV is earlier in chronological sequence.

c) The Kandori Heath (?) Tower (only have the audio version) is attacked in the last section of the prologue but there's no external dating for that incident. It seems like a serious invasion, rather than a raid.

I'm trying to guess if Lan will already be in Kandor and fighting, maybe at the Plain of Lances, before Ituralde gets involved at all in the Borderlands.

Or if Ituralde and Lan will get to link up.

[martianblues]

It would be an interesting twist in the pattern if Lan got caught up in some of the fighting with trollocs along the way. Maybe unwillingly taking command of an outpost after its command is killed, seeing that they will be slaughtered if someone doesn't step up to lead, and that is how his army starts to grow.

 

Also I hope we get to see the characters from KoD that Nyn talks to, the jewel merchant and the other two Malkieri that were involved in that memorable scene, tracking down Lan.

[DemandredFO]

Some AS may come to help Lan because they failed Malkier last time and I'd imagine even in the aftermath of TG that if they fail the last king, it won't be pretty. Maybe the black tower contigent will show up by tracking Lan(similiar to how Cadsuane found Rand with Allana) or at least of them. Two reasons a foresaken trained Dreadlord would rip an army of any size apart and even 500,000-1,000,000 aren't going to be stopped or even slow by a non-channeling army. The idea of taking them in the rear is the best way since facing that size army is a good way to die.

[Jimmy]

It's possible the BT congregation went to the blight border. Myrell would have felt LAN there and knew what it meant and went to help him instead

[Sentinel78]

From BS's Interview:

 

JO: Are there any “Easter Eggs” that the well-versed Wheel of Time reader might find contained in TOM, and can you name at least one?

 

BS: Oh boy. Well, one person’s Easter egg is another person’s very obvious thing. In chapter one, “Apples First,” in which a character from THE EYE OF THE WORLD shows up, I intended that to be more of an Easter egg and not tell people who that was. But Harriet asked for a big reminder near the end of the chapter of where the characters had met. So there are things like that, where characters return, but most of the time we have erred on the side of giving a little bit of an extra reminder of who these people are. If you look in Lan’s plotline, several characters from NEW SPRING make reappearances. The well-versed Wheel of Time reader is not even going to consider that an Easter egg, since it’s going to be pretty obvious to them, but to other people I think it will be surprising. Will there be an Easter egg on the level of THE GATHERING STORM’s reference to Plato? I’m sure that there are a few things like that embedded in there, as Robert Jordan always liked to embed references, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.

 

So far there's Bulen, but who else is even still around from New Spring? A lot of the characters died, although Moiraine may come back and meet up with Lan at some point.

 

Edeyne maybe? Lan's lover who tried to coerce him into raising the Golden Crane 20 years ago?