Threat to Borderlands PoV

[Suttree]

Another question occurs to me. Where are all of these trollocs coming from? So far in the past three years we have seen close to 500,000 or more killed, maybe a million. That doesn't include all of the myrddraal that controled them. This seems like a very large number of troops to lose before a major offensive. Maybe it is just a drop in the bucket though.

 

Brandon has gone on record and says that the Dark One has access to orders of magnitude more Trollocs than can be supported by the Blight alone. Whether this means they get food from elsewhere and have it shipped to the Blight, they live in the Ways or some other world attached to the Ways, or whether they are being stored on another world and commute via Portal Stone is anyone's guess, but hopefully it's explained somehow. Ishamael only came back in the past 20 or so years, and he didn't have a huge amount of extra Trollocs lying around after Book 1, so it's unclear where armies of millions of Trollocs can be raised / supported. 2 years of breeding wouldn't do it.

Somebody may have already answered this but in the begining of tGS, we see how the Trollocs are made. In terms of parallels to LoTR, I think the DO has been amassing his troops for some time.

 

Woof™.

 

Could you provide a quote for that please.

 

It doesn't exist.

[Barid Bel Medar]

Another question occurs to me. Where are all of these trollocs coming from? So far in the past three years we have seen close to 500,000 or more killed, maybe a million. That doesn't include all of the myrddraal that controled them. This seems like a very large number of troops to lose before a major offensive. Maybe it is just a drop in the bucket though.

 

Brandon has gone on record and says that the Dark One has access to orders of magnitude more Trollocs than can be supported by the Blight alone. Whether this means they get food from elsewhere and have it shipped to the Blight, they live in the Ways or some other world attached to the Ways, or whether they are being stored on another world and commute via Portal Stone is anyone's guess, but hopefully it's explained somehow. Ishamael only came back in the past 20 or so years, and he didn't have a huge amount of extra Trollocs lying around after Book 1, so it's unclear where armies of millions of Trollocs can be raised / supported. 2 years of breeding wouldn't do it.

Somebody may have already answered this but in the begining of tGS, we see how the Trollocs are made. In terms of parallels to LoTR, I think the DO has been amassing his troops for some time.

 

Woof™.

 

Could you provide a quote for that please.

 

It doesn't exist.

 

I think that they are talking about the tGS prologue Graendal PoV.

 

She sees the "Blightstrain Crops" being grown.

 

This isnt trollocs being made.

 

While Aginor created the first construct of the Trollocs, they breed "naturally" (as far as you can call Trollocs "natural").

 

Remember thats how Myrddraal were created. Aginor didnt actually create them. It was Trolloc's breeding to create a mostly human throwback that became the Myrddraal.

 

Blightstrain crops are exactly that. Crops in the blight.

[Loophole]

Loved the borderlands scene, certain scenes in this series make my skin tingle and this is certainly one of them. The courage and mindset of the borderlanders give me hope for the rest of the mostly petty people in randland.

[Sharaman]

This was my favorite section of the prologue. Not only does it give us a nice POV from a Kandori (have we had one yet? I can't recall), but it's also touching, and really shows why people respect the borderlanders so much. I don't think there has been a borderlander character I have not liked (well, Faile is somewhat lame), and this part continued the tradition.

 

I hope someone arrives to help them, but I suppose that's extremely unlikely. Oh well.

 

 

I wonder where in the timeline this occurred.

We had a PoV from Kandor's queen, Ethenielle in TPoD's Prologue where the Borderland Rulers make the pact to find the Dragon Reborn.

Pevara is Kandori.

[The Dirty Landry]

I have a bad feeling that at least one of the Borderland countries is going to get overrun in this book. After all, it would be ridiculous to think that there won't be any consequences for removing that many soldiers from the blight. From the prologue, it certainly appears that Kandor is the likely candidate right now.

 

Rodel will probably be either able to stop some of it or to bring revenge on the country that bites the bullet, but there isn't enough of him or the Ashaman to be everywhere at once.

[Pete4]

Reading this POV, I thought about this crazy theory:

 

May the shadow be using the storm and clouds to transport armies?

 

I mean, the shadow has been moving large amounts of trollocs through Randland without notice.

But we've seen the clouds for a long time. And we know the storm is not just a storm.

 

May it be used as a mean to transport armies.

The simplest way I guess is to hide toraken o similar creatures full of trollocs.

 

But I can also think about different power-made artifacts supported by this storm.

[yoniy0]

What caught my notice in this scene is the way the Shadow attempts to break down the Kandori early warning system. They are careful not to allow word of the invasion to get out. Makes me wonder what other measures they've set in place beside the Draghkar. I wouldn't bet on those light riders making it to Chachin.

 

Also, this makes me think that this attack is part of a focused invasion, and not an all-out attack on the Borderlands. What could they be aiming at? Splitting the Borderlands in two seems plausible. Intercepting Lan before he assembles a mighty army is also an option. Another is, I believe, Tar Valon and/or Caemlyn. Both are roughly south of Kandor and Arafel, and Arafel is rockier, more difficult to move an army through.

 

What do you guys think?

[TankSpill]

This was my favorite section of the prologue. Not only does it give us a nice POV from a Kandori (have we had one yet? I can't recall), but it's also touching, and really shows why people respect the borderlanders so much.

 

Yeah, I liked it a lot, and your point made me question: Are there any major characters we've even seen that are Kandori? That's always the kingdom I'm most likely to forget even exists whenever I'm thinking of Randland nations (and Murandy).

[sumquy]

May the shadow be using the storm and clouds to transport armies?

 

ya not a fan of that idea, but does anyone know if it is possible to move shadowspawn using a tp gate? we know a op gate will kill them, but i don't remember anything about a tp one, or if we've even seen a tp "gate"

[fborch]

I would think the TP could transport them, considering the TP is essentially the DO. But again, it would be a question of logistics, considering only Moridin and Rand is known to have used it. Or did Graendal do it in the prologue? Cant remember.

[Cyf]

I find it unlikely that the True Power could transport them for one reason: Ishy had the TP in the first few books -- he explicitly says that the burning eyes and so on is a result of overuse of the TP in a Moridin musing. And yet, he had to use Waygates to move his Trollocs around. If he could use the TP to open a portal, one would presume he'd do so.

[yoniy0]

Plus, LTT was well aware of the TP, yet Rand maintains (through his memories) that Shadowspawn cannot use Gateways. You'd think that a method of transporting Shadowspawn would come into play during the War of Power, and it's beyond incredulity to suggest that LTT would've been ignorant of that.

[Lisa Campbell]

@Alsgpkr, Suttre an Barid

 

I think that what you are referring to in latest post #27 is shadow wrought blades being made from human sacrifices. I believe it is agreed that Trollocs breed independently without the need for sacrifice.

[Cutlass]

Another question occurs to me. Where are all of these trollocs coming from? So far in the past three years we have seen close to 500,000 or more killed, maybe a million. That doesn't include all of the myrddraal that controled them. This seems like a very large number of troops to lose before a major offensive. Maybe it is just a drop in the bucket though.

 

Brandon has gone on record and says that the Dark One has access to orders of magnitude more Trollocs than can be supported by the Blight alone. Whether this means they get food from elsewhere and have it shipped to the Blight, they live in the Ways or some other world attached to the Ways, or whether they are being stored on another world and commute via Portal Stone is anyone's guess, but hopefully it's explained somehow. Ishamael only came back in the past 20 or so years, and he didn't have a huge amount of extra Trollocs lying around after Book 1, so it's unclear where armies of millions of Trollocs can be raised / supported. 2 years of breeding wouldn't do it.

Somebody may have already answered this but in the begining of tGS, we see how the Trollocs are made. In terms of parallels to LoTR, I think the DO has been amassing his troops for some time.

 

Woof™.

 

Could you provide a quote for that please.

 

It doesn't exist.

 

I think that they are talking about the tGS prologue Graendal PoV.

 

She sees the "Blightstrain Crops" being grown.

 

This isnt trollocs being made.

 

While Aginor created the first construct of the Trollocs, they breed "naturally" (as far as you can call Trollocs "natural").

 

Remember thats how Myrddraal were created. Aginor didnt actually create them. It was Trolloc's breeding to create a mostly human throwback that became the Myrddraal.

 

Blightstrain crops are exactly that. Crops in the blight.

 

 

Has there ever been reference to female trollocs? do they fight alongside the males? orare they kept back in the blight for breeding? or do trollocs do there reproducing the same way they do there feedign (gathering "livestock" from the borderlands? They must have a way of reporducign very quickly... the numbers being thrown around are huge and considering the amounts of trollocs that were slaughtered througout the series how have they been sustained?

 

theses and other questiosn are what keeps me up at night...

[Lisa Campbell]

Yes many Trollocs have been killed but still you ask what do they feed on and how could there be more than 1m all up? They constantly raid the borderlands and have done so since time immemorial. Yummy.

 

If 200k is roughly 50-60% of their (Borerlands) total army combined then they have enough camp follower equivalents (as demonstrated with armies in the series) left at home plus the 40-50% remaining troops to feed the Trollocs for quite a while.

 

Also many Trollocs have been out and about for the last year so not such a strain on the home feeding grounds.

[Cutlass]

Yes many Trollocs have been killed but still you ask what do they feed on and how could there be more than 1m all up? They constantly raid the borderlands and have done so since time immemorial. Yummy.

 

If 200k is roughly 50-60% of their (Borerlands) total army combined then they have enough camp follower equivalents (as demonstrated with armies in the series) left at home plus the 40-50% remaining troops to feed the Trollocs for quite a while.

 

Also many Trollocs have been out and about for the last year so not such a strain on the home feeding grounds.

 

 

...how many people does it take to feed a trolloc? - ;)

[Impressive Bosom]

Yes many Trollocs have been killed but still you ask what do they feed on and how could there be more than 1m all up? They constantly raid the borderlands and have done so since time immemorial. Yummy.

 

If 200k is roughly 50-60% of their (Borerlands) total army combined then they have enough camp follower equivalents (as demonstrated with armies in the series) left at home plus the 40-50% remaining troops to feed the Trollocs for quite a while.

 

Also many Trollocs have been out and about for the last year so not such a strain on the home feeding grounds.

It has already been mentioned that Brandon alluded to the fact that the Shadow has access to many more Trollocs than the Blight would be able to theoretically support - many more by orders of magnitude. I'm not certain how that's being done, and though many theories have been put forth each have been as improbable as the last. I'm really hoping that revelation is made in the books so that we understand WHY there seem to essentially be limitless numbers of Trollocs.

 

Not that this has any direct bearing on the point, but I'm absolutely certain there is a major city in the Blight that everyone else in Randland is completely unaware of.

[Lisa Campbell]

Is that a trick question?

 

Just in case:

 

I don't think it's too way out there to think that they could survive like snakes, big cats, wolves etc who have a high tolerance for starvation and relentless hunting instinct, able to run for days without tiring.

 

Just in case not:

 

as many as it takes to screw in a lightbulb.

[Impressive Bosom]

Yes many Trollocs have been killed but still you ask what do they feed on and how could there be more than 1m all up? They constantly raid the borderlands and have done so since time immemorial. Yummy.

 

If 200k is roughly 50-60% of their (Borerlands) total army combined then they have enough camp follower equivalents (as demonstrated with armies in the series) left at home plus the 40-50% remaining troops to feed the Trollocs for quite a while.

 

Also many Trollocs have been out and about for the last year so not such a strain on the home feeding grounds.

 

 

...how many people does it take to feed a trolloc? - ;)

Well, let's keep in mind that they are fine feeding on one another - and a hell of a lot more logistically efficient than caring for the wounded.

[Lisa Campbell]

Hi Boosies (sorry it's gonna stick cause your username is too long like mine). Just call me Elci if you want.

 

I think what you said validates my post about numbers of Trollocs and other shadowspawn. Major city in the Blight has to be Thakan'dar, probably also where Moridin's hideout is.

[Crossroad]

My guess is the Trollocs are taken for another plain where they are in huge numbers, They enter Randland through the Portal stones. That is why they can be just about anywhere in Randland. We haven't heard much about the portal stone for awhile so I'm thinking thats how they are going to move them into key position around Rands world. I know the Ogier will be shutting access var the Waygates.

 

"Portal Stones are remnants from an age before the Age of Legends. A portal stone facilitates transportation between other Portal Stones in this world and even in other worlds." (Quote from http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/)

 

Other worlds may be able to support large numbers of Trollocs

 

Whom ever manipulated the borderland Leaders and there armies into leaving their posts is now making their move to securer the northern Borders of the Blight protecting the Bore while then massing Trollocs at Key position to minimize any assistants to Rand when he heads to SG.

 

Its a simple plan block entry to the Blight and then release the rest of your army on the divided world of Randland

[Tom Sawyer]

The Portal Stone thing does make sense. It's always seemed odd to me that there's so many Trollocs and nothing in the way of Trolloc infrastructure to support the Trollocs. If they're hanging out in other worlds and being ferried over now that TG's starting, it would solve the logistical problems.

[Cutlass]

The Portal Stone thing does make sense. It's always seemed odd to me that there's so many Trollocs and nothing in the way of Trolloc infrastructure to support the Trollocs. If they're hanging out in other worlds and being ferried over now that TG's starting, it would solve the logistical problems.

 

Really does seem a little too conveinient tho. I would like to see some revalation as to how they come about, and how they can be slaughtered by the thousands and still more come. (or maybe they reproduce like rabbits, have a tremendousy short "infant-to-active-killer" growth cycle, and a city in the Blight produces feilds of "livestock" for their nutrition... Just a crackpot theory)

[Kara]

I loved this scene too - but was I the only one that expected Jon Snow to appear on the Wall..?

[Tom Sawyer]

The Portal Stone thing does make sense. It's always seemed odd to me that there's so many Trollocs and nothing in the way of Trolloc infrastructure to support the Trollocs. If they're hanging out in other worlds and being ferried over now that TG's starting, it would solve the logistical problems.

 

Really does seem a little too conveinient tho. I would like to see some revalation as to how they come about, and how they can be slaughtered by the thousands and still more come. (or maybe they reproduce like rabbits, have a tremendousy short "infant-to-active-killer" growth cycle, and a city in the Blight produces feilds of "livestock" for their nutrition... Just a crackpot theory)

 

Yes, it would be astoundingly convenient to have something like that be the reason that there can be so many Trollocs in the Blight when people started asking how the Blight could support that many Trollocs. Sort of like how it just so happens that Shadowspawn can't go through gateways once people started asking why Ishamael didn't just use gateways instead of the Ways back in book one and it wasn't at all because he hadn't figured out how Travelling worked at that point and got caught in a plot inconsistency he had to shoehorn his way out of.

 

There's millions of Trollocs because an army of millions of Trollocs is scarier than a heavily outnumbered army of Trollocs with only a few channellers to back them up. Accept it and move on without delving too far into the reasoning.