Fulfillment of prophecies

[Vermillion]

A question I have never seen asked is fulfillment of prophecy have to happen a specific way or will it be done in less obvious ways. Like if there was no Nine Moons from Seachan would there be another Nine Moons that would make due to bind?

[cortezthekiller]

huh?

[Tom Sawyer]

I think that the prophecies are just people looking into the future to see what's going to happen. Like Rand wearing the Crown of Swords, the Aes Sedai who has the fortelling saw him wearing a crown that looked like it had swords on it, so when he put on the leaf crown (or whatever it was) from Illian, he was wearing a crown that looked like it had swords on it and that's what she'd seen.

 

Similarly, if the Seanchan court were called the Court of Ten Rings, then she'd have seen him bind the Ten Rings to his service instead of the Nine Moons. The prophecies aren't like David Eddings's prophecies where you need to do A and B if you want to get Result C, they're more like a preview of what's going to happen in next week's episode. Rand may or may not need to bind the Nine Moons to his service, it's just something that he's going to do, so tune in and watch him do it.

[NetSlider]

huh?

 

HAHA! My initial reaction perfectly expressed.

[yoniy0]

I agree with Tom. The prophecies were made with specific events in mind. The prophets (let's call them that, okay?) may not have known all that there was to know, and the words might have come with the Viewing/Dream/Foretelling, but they referred to a specific event from the get-go.

[Tom Sawyer]

Of course, that does bring into question what relevance choice and free will have in the story. Could Rand decide to not bind the Nine Moons to his service? That's not a question of whether or not he'd be able to succeed at the Last Battle if he left some of the prophecies leading up to it unfulfilled, but would he be able to just ignore it without having the Pattern force him into it? If he'd noticed that the crown of Illian looked like swords, could he have said "Hey, I don't feel like being prophecy's bitch" and tossed it into the river before wearing it?

 

Based on the prophecies and Min's viewings and the like, nobody really seems to have any kind of free will or make any real choices, but instead are just automatons running through pre-scripted activities that they only think are choices based on free will.

[Vermillion]

Sorry, I didn't explain it better but it's more along the lines of were prophecies tied to specific events or would the events manifest no matter the results of the future. If there was no nine moons of seachan there would be a important woman from the Nine Moons Inn.

[Sharaman]

Of course, that does bring into question what relevance choice and free will have in the story. Could Rand decide to not bind the Nine Moons to his service? That's not a question of whether or not he'd be able to succeed at the Last Battle if he left some of the prophecies leading up to it unfulfilled, but would he be able to just ignore it without having the Pattern force him into it? If he'd noticed that the crown of Illian looked like swords, could he have said "Hey, I don't feel like being prophecy's bitch" and tossed it into the river before wearing it?

 

Based on the prophecies and Min's viewings and the like, nobody really seems to have any kind of free will or make any real choices, but instead are just automatons running through pre-scripted activities that they only think are choices based on free will.

 

Yes, they don't have free will but they have the delightful illusion that they do.

And we don't quite know as readers what exactly the Pattern (aka RJ-Brandon) has destined for everyone hence, it's still worth reading.

[Barid Bel Medar]

"Free Will" exists for the normal person.

 

Taveren however, are tools of the pattern. They shape people around them and things happen no matter what they want. They dont have much free will. However, thats only a few people. Random pesants in Andor can live their lives freely with no trouble. its the select few that are "chosen" by the pattern. And even then, we know Rand's soul isnt always a world changing Taveren, there are some turnings that his soul is just a normal guy.

[Luckers]

Sorry, I didn't explain it better but it's more along the lines of were prophecies tied to specific events or would the events manifest no matter the results of the future. If there was no nine moons of seachan there would be a important woman from the Nine Moons Inn.

 

The answer to your question is 'prophecy refers to a specific event'. If there were no Court of the Nine Moons, there would be no prophecy, if something has to happen with someone from the Nine Moons inn, there would be a completely different prophecy.

[Arkane101]

one thing that gets me about the different prophecies, the Karaethon cycle and Essanik cycle, are theres one main point that are in direct opposition to eachother, now i'm going to assume the Karaethon cycle is correct since it refers to the main character, but what happens when Rand binds the nine moons to serve him? are all the Seanchan people just going to accept this despite the fact that for generations they believed that the dragon would bow down to the empress..?

[FarShainMael]

Wait until they see that sword..