Question about Myrrdraals' Swords.

[Darth Rahvin7]

A question that I have pondered since starting the Lord of Chaos, book 6, is how exactly are the Myrdraals swords forged. Because at the beginning when Demandred arrives at Shayol Ghul he walks past the forge and sees a woman, child ,baby, and father sitting against the wall and one of the forger creatures comes out and takes the father into the forge. Then the book says the man lets out a wail of "No! No! Noo!" and that it seems to just sink into some unimaginable distance without losing strength. Sorry if there is already an explanation for how they are made, i've just thought about it and wondered how there made. So does anybody have any ideas?

[didymos]

What that implied to me that the final step rips the soul out of the victim. What the reason for this could be, I don't know. This is supported by RJ saying it had to a human victim:

 

There is more to making the Myrddraal sword than simply quenching it in a living body. Though I am not going to go into details here, it must be a human body. Trollocs, for instance, though much easier to procure, would not work.

 

Further, though indirect, support, comes from RJ saying:

 

A Trolloc, however, bears a twisted, or corrupted soul, and would be reborn as a Trolloc. Though frankly, a Trolloc's soul is such a pitiful thing, it hardly seems worth calling a soul.

 

That would help explain why a Trolloc isn't good enough for making the blades. To speculate further, Demandred also notes that the blades "fail" after a time, so maybe the soul is used to give them a finite "charge" which gives them their insta-death capability. Or it could be they just break, though the implication is that this is something that happens to every sword eventually, and also on a regular basis, which is why a constant supply of prisoners is necessary.

[dovien]

You can't keep a soul item-bound forever. Eventually it has to be recycled.

[fborch]

This would, distrubingly, indicate that there has been a sizable human population kept for forging in the blight since the age of legends, unless the raids into the borderlands manage to snatch enough up to sustain the Thakan'Dar blades production.

[dovien]

Considering a soul raised in the blight isn't likely to be worth much, I expect the raids are sufficient.

Remember, Fades are perfectly deadly even with normal steel.

[Val Mickey]

Do they recycle steel? Or are there mines in the Blight? I'm thinking there just isn't enough material for Myrddraal swords, Trolloc armor, weapons, and pots.

[didymos]

This would, distrubingly, indicate that there has been a sizable human population kept for forging in the blight since the age of legends, unless the raids into the borderlands manage to snatch enough up to sustain the Thakan'Dar blades production.

 

Yes, it's raids. The reason there are so few prisoners is because raids into the Borderlands have been strictly curtailed at that point. Why we don't know, because Demandred doesn't think about the reasoning behind the order.

[Durinax]

I cant see why there wouldnt be mines inthe blight, some of those smith guys could mine a mean ore

[didymos]

Do they recycle steel? Or are there mines in the Blight? I'm thinking there just isn't enough material for Myrddraal swords, Trolloc armor, weapons, and pots.

 

No, it's nothing to do with a steel shortage. In LoC, Demandred watches the forge, and notes that there'll only be four blades total that'll come out the forges that day, because there were only four prisoners. He then thinks he's never seen fewer than fifty before this, and the Fades must be seriously pissed about that.

[Val Mickey]

I wasn't talking about that scene, I was wondering about the Trolloc Wars. And the upcoming Last Battle. A Gardener needs 4-5 times steel for his armor than a Deathwatch Guard, and since Trollocs are about the same size, they would need massive amounts of steel. Where is all that coming from?

[fborch]

It's obvious the trollocs are being kept in a different world, considering the blight can't sustain that many. They might use that for mining.

[Bob T Dwarf]

I wasn't talking about that scene, I was wondering about the Trolloc Wars. And the upcoming Last Battle. A Gardener needs 4-5 times steel for his armor than a Deathwatch Guard, and since Trollocs are about the same size, they would need massive amounts of steel. Where is all that coming from?

 

Those of us who have tried to play the logistics card in the past didn't get very far. Something as big and energy-burning as a Trolloc requires lots of food too.

 

Due to much authorial murkiness and handwaving, the Shadowspawn survive, thrive, and have everything they need. It's best to just accept it and move on.

 

Remember, Narg smart. Narg also apparently clever and very resourceful.

[Val Mickey]

:myrddraal:

 

I always wondered who had the patience to make barbed arrows.

[didymos]

Something as big and energy-burning as a Trolloc requires lots of food too.

 

To a certain extent, yes, but it's well documented that Trollocs are extremely lazy when not being goaded regularly. I imagine they spend most of their time not doing much of anything, punctuated by occasional bursts of violence, followed by more lazing about, with breaks for breeding and shoving stuff in cookpots. That should cut down on the calorie requirements by a fair amount. That or Aginor spent way too much time fine-tuning their metabolisms for maximum efficiency instead of making them not stupid.

[didymos]

I wasn't talking about that scene, I was wondering about the Trolloc Wars. And the upcoming Last Battle. A Gardener needs 4-5 times steel for his armor than a Deathwatch Guard, and since Trollocs are about the same size, they would need massive amounts of steel. Where is all that coming from?

 

Well, that assumes they use only steel and it also assumes they're all well-outfitted and it further assumes all their armor is of uniform make and mostly metal. None of these assumptions are all that well-justified, mostly because we have so little information to work from.

[fborch]

A bit offtopic, but what do you consider the chances of actual settlements in the waist, populated by human darkfriends, as an infrastructure for the darkspawn. Could even be cities.

[FarShainMael]

Sounds like it could be 'The Thing in the Blight'.

[dovien]

...settlements in the waist...

You mean Rand's wound?

[fborch]

My mind was elsewhere when i wrote that it seems. I obviously meant the blight.

[didymos]

A bit offtopic, but what do you consider the chances of actual settlements in the waist, populated by human darkfriends, as an infrastructure for the darkspawn.

 

Someone's been playing Dragon Age.

[fborch]

Haven't actually, but shadowspawn/darkspawn all fits well enough ;)

[dovien]

My mind was elsewhere when i wrote that it seems. I obviously meant the blight.

I'm just joking man, don't sweat it :)