Mat's Arc

[FarShainMael]

would it be great if having an eye from a ta'veren let those nasty snakes and foxes literally "keep an eye on the world"?

It may have the opposite effect! Mat has already wondered whether the 'finns establish a link to humans who visit so they can track them when they return to Randland. This from 13thDepository:

 

'Mat thinks the Eelfinn create some sort of link to any human who visits them, a link that allows them to copy all of the person’s memories after that right up until the moment that person dies (Knife of Dreams, Dragons Eggs). He also believes that the Eelfinn, and maybe the Aelfinn too, therefore know everything Mat now does or experiences through this link (Knife of Dreams, A Village in Shiota).'

 

http://13depository.blogspot.com/2002/03/aelfinn-and-eelfinn.html

 

If that link is through one of his eyes - possibly the one corresponding to the Aes Sed-eye on the foxhead medallion - they've lost that link. They may be a trifle annoyed about that..

 

(apologies for the dreadful pun btw )

[Fryn]

Loved the chapter "Boots." Just showed how deep Mat can be while being so simple at the same time.

 

Kinda wondering what happened to the horn. Wasn't the last person seen with it Verin? To be honest I was expecting its location to be in the letter ><

[Nimic]

So in effect, they've just shot themselves in the foot. They'll now have an eye on the world with slightly diminished depth perception.

 

Way to take one for the good guys, Mat!

[Sentinel78]

Wait a sec. I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but the gholam was Shadowspawn. Shouldn't it have died the moment it stepped through the gateway?

 

Ayup, gholam a construct do be. Made by the Shadow it do be. Even today's Trollocs, Myrrdraal, Drakhar, etal., born and bred descendants of the original constructed version cannot go through gateways. Mr. gholam either should have dispelled the gateway or died on the spot, your choice do take.

 

Rand's own Deathgates were Travel-gates, not Skim-gates. Each side of a Skim-gate is half of a Travel-gate. Rand (or RJ) didn't say they died upon entry into the gateway. In Rand's case, he simply implied that, upon exiting the Travel-gate, the Shadowspawn (or construct) would die. Perhaps the gholam would have died upon exiting the Skim-gateway on the other side.

[rygar]

2 cents - letter was great, cracked me up. Stop worrying about RJ vs BS and enjoy the damn books!

 

Moraiane will be the one to work callandor with Nyn and Rand, right? Hence save the world by sealing the DO back up again?

[Guest Semirhagewaswasted]

Does anyone else find it significant that Mat wanted to go back for his dice in the ToG? Perhaps his luck will be diminished now that he has lost them.

[nogoodatnames]

Nah his lucks still good, as seen by killing the rabbit and finding a pot to cook it in.

 

He probably just likes the dice. He has a strange attachment to a lot of things, like unusal stones he finds and coloured feathers.

[Bob T Dwarf]

Does anyone else find it significant that Mat wanted to go back for his dice in the ToG? Perhaps his luck will be diminished now that he has lost them.

 

Nope. He flips his knife behind himself and kills a rabbit. He looks over to the side and notices a pot laying at the edge of the river. He now has supper and a pot to brew tea in.

 

His luck is just fine.

[bubbers]

i read almost all the posts, but I think I missed a post or 2....

 

has anyone put together the "lightning his eye" prophecy yet?

something like, when fortune rides on high, luck his soul, lighting his eye, something something something

well fortune isn't fortune, its fortuana, and she has to lead an attack or something from a raken or something

and luck his soul, obvious

and lighting his eye, well I remember years ago people thought it was either the bands "speed" mat always brags about, and some thought it was the cannons

but he only looses 1 eye, and the prophecy says "eye" not "eyes" I think... so maybe he replaces it, or maybe the other begins to represent, something that represents lighting?

[Jaelan]

Isn't it over 13 people that a man is required to be in charge?

I don't know the official RJ theory, but in ToM page 170, where Neald figured out how to link with the women:

 

"...Masuri looked a little sick, and she smelled of fear. Edarra smelled curious and wary. Grady had mentioned that creating a circle this way seemed to require the men to gain control over the women."

[bronnt]

Given how Brandon explained the "BUT" I'm now certain that the Ashandarei was it all along. It was always a bit of an oddity, since we saw how Mat's other requests were granted, but we never understood why he got the thing in the first place. It wasn't as unnoticed as BS made it out, though, it was just more a background thing, and no one ever stumbled onto its significance.

 

The "boots" thing...it started out all right, like something Mat would say. It got to be too long, though. He ended up out of character there, even though it began like something that fit him much better.

[Rand Skywalker]

 

The "boots" thing...it started out all right, like something Mat would say. It got to be too long, though. He ended up out of character there, even though it began like something that fit him much better.

 

I loved the "boots" speech, especially what Mat said you should do with your best pair. Didn't seem labored to me at all.

[jonno]

Isn't it over 13 people that a man is required to be in charge?

I don't know the official RJ theory, but in ToM page 170, where Neald figured out how to link with the women:

"...Masuri looked a little sick, and she smelled of fear. Edarra smelled curious and wary. Grady had mentioned that creating a circle this way seemed to require the men to gain control over the women."

The official word, from the Guide is (my emphasis)

[...] Women can initiate a link; men cannot, though they can be part of it and even lead in certain circumstances.

[...]

The one who forms a link is not necessarily the one to lead it. Control can be passed voluntarily, and in the cases of some mixed-gender circles must be passed in order to weave flows.

 

A circle of up to thirteen female channelers can be linked together without the presence of a man. If a man is added to the link of thirteen women, they can then increase the link to include thirteen more women, or a total of twenty-six women and one man. Two men can take the circle to include thirty-four women. The next total is forty-five, with three men linked with forty-two women, then fifty-four (four men and fifty women), then sixty-three (five men and fifty-eight women), and finally seventy-two (six men and sixty-six women). This last, a circle of seventy-two, is the maximum possible link in terms of numbers.

 

Other gender mixes are possible in a link as well. The number of men in a circle is limited only by the fact that with the exceptions of the linking of one man and one woman or of two men and one woman (and, of course, two men and two women), there must always be at least one more woman in the circle than the number of men. Thus, three men would need four women to be in a circle together, four men would need five women, and so on. There can also be smaller circles than thirteen, whether of women alone or of men and women.

 

[...] Although men are stronger than women, the strongest linked circles were those which contained nearly equal numbers of men and women. A smaller circle with a closer balance can be stronger than a larger, unbalanced circle.

 

The most powerful circle potentially, depending on the strengths and gifts of those linked, would be one containing thirty-five men and thirty-seven women, achieving the maximum possible size of seventy-two members as well as the greatest possible balance of male and female.

 

In most cases, either a man or a woman can control the link—this is called leading, focusing, or guiding—but in the case of a circle of seventy-two, a circle of only one man and one woman, or in most circles of up to thirteen which contain more than one man, a man must lead. Excepting the examples given above, and other circles of thirteen or less, a woman must lead where the minimum number of men are present.

So if Neald, Grady, and no more than 11 women formed a circle, the woman that initiated it would have to pass control to either Neald or Grady for it to be of any use.

[bronnt]

 

The "boots" thing...it started out all right, like something Mat would say. It got to be too long, though. He ended up out of character there, even though it began like something that fit him much better.

 

I loved the "boots" speech, especially what Mat said you should do with your best pair. Didn't seem labored to me at all.

 

I also loved the part where he explained what you do with your best pair. That was the truest part of the whole thing. But given how much gold Mat is usually carrying about, and how easy it is for him to replenish his wealth, the end conclusion wasn't quite right. Mat doesn't mind gratuitous wealth, he's actually in favor of it, generall. I don't think Mat's issue is that Talmanes owns 40 pairs of boots, I think his issue is that a noble takes for granted how important good boots are, and how significant a good cobbler can be. It's not that Talmanes has a sense of style, because Mat has his own sense of it as well, and is conscious of style. I could certainly see Mat deciding it's worthwhile to buy ten pairs of boots, at some point, so he'd have variety. But Mat would still understand which pair was the absolute best for a long journey, and he'd be able to speak to their virtues without thinking about them.

[Tervvo]

I remember Tuon wondering if Matt would be a husband she didn't have to worry about plotting against her.

I'm thinking if she bonded him,she would know it completely and it could be the one thing that might change her outlook.

[Owayn The Traveller]

Hey don't know if this has been mentioned but inthe chapter 'Blood in the Air' the Ghloam taunts Mat about being proud that 'who now controls me wants you more than anyone else'. I take this to mean it isn't operating under Sammy's instructions anymore. So who is the controller, Moggie? Moridin? I'm going to say Moridn delegated it to Movgie and she must of realised there's a Ghloam around. What ya think?

[Bob T Dwarf]

Hey don't know if this has been mentioned but inthe chapter 'Blood in the Air' the Ghloam taunts Mat about being proud that 'who now controls me wants you more than anyone else'. I take this to mean it isn't operating under Sammy's instructions anymore. So who is the controller, Moggie? Moridin? I'm going to say Moridn delegated it to Movgie and she must of realised there's a Ghloam around. What ya think?

 

My take is that originally it was working for Demandred. He was using it to hunt Elayne as its primary target. The other Wonder Girls, Mat and probably Perrin as secondaries. Now it's working for Moridin and Mat has been "elevated" to primary target.

[Owayn The Traveller]

Btw it's Gholam sorry guys. Anyhows I reckon it's Moghedian who controls it because of it's command not to attract notice, that's her all over. Also who would know about Tuon? Demandred might through Semirhage but I don't think he gives two figs about Mat what with being busy preparing for war. Moggie was around in Ebou Dar when Tuon arrived and this is how she might of heard about the Gholam being in that area. How she connected Mat and Tuon from being in the area is sketchy but Miridin prob told her when he gave her the job.

[gambril]

I just wanted to say that my all time favorite line in the series derives from the newly TOM and it is in the chapter where Mat fights the gholam and shouts in the Old Tongue, "For Light, Glory and Love!" This encapsculates Mats character so completely in such a simple, yet powerful sentence I just get chills thinking of it relating to Mat. Who is of course, my favorite fictional character of all time. May Mat remain the man forever, that is all.

 

P.S. His thought later in the chapter about giving the two copied foxhead medallions to Olver and especially Tuon tickled me to death. I can't wait for Tuon and Mat's reunion. Let AMOL be here already gah!

[Sharaman]

Intriguing thought - Fortuona or any other Marath-damane may be able to pass the A'dam by just wearing one of Elayne's copies.

[Owayn The Traveller]

Hey don't know if this has been mentioned but inthe chapter 'Blood in the Air' the Ghloam taunts Mat about being proud that 'who now controls me wants you more than anyone else'. I take this to mean it isn't operating under Sammy's instructions anymore. So who is the controller, Moggie? Moridin? I'm going to say Moridn delegated it to Movgie and she must of realised there's a Ghloam around. What ya think?

 

My take is that originally it was working for Demandred. He was using it to hunt Elayne as its primary target. The other Wonder Girls, Mat and probably Perrin as secondaries. Now it's working for Moridin and Mat has been "elevated" to primary target.

 

Moridin seems to pass the job down the ladder lately a lot lately for example Greandal and Perrin so I don't see why he would take a direct hand in Mat related affairs. It seems like Lanfear has been giving the task of Rand so it isnt so hard to assume that he gave Moggie the Mat affair to deal with.

[OneAwesomeOpossum]

Y'know, I have to wonder why in the world Mat chose Noal as the third person. I understand that if he hadn't then everything probably wouldn't have turned out, but if I was Mat, I would've tried to get someone other than a gnarled old man. Like maybe an Asha'man to destroy the CRAP out of those damn snakes and foxes.

[Bob T Dwarf]

Y'know, I have to wonder why in the world Mat chose Noal as the third person. I understand that if he hadn't then everything probably wouldn't have turned out, but if I was Mat, I would've tried to get someone other than a gnarled old man. Like maybe an Asha'man to destroy the CRAP out of those damn snakes and foxes.

 

Mat doesn't know that saidin is clean. He still thinks Rand and every other male channeler is bug nuts. He's still incapable of seeing past his prejudice where anything and anyone concerned with channeling is concerned. Besides, Noal volunteered.

[BladeDancer]

So Matt planned for some time to go to the Tower of Ghenji. He must have considered the possibility that to get back Moraine, he would have to bargain with the Foxes and Snakes. If so, why did he not prepare a list of demands ahead of time? A safe escape route etc. If he had done this, rather than making it up on the spur of the moment, then he would not have forgotten to include the Snakes in his demand not to be attacked on the way back. It is this oversight and lack of planning that is DIRECTLY responsible for Noal being killed. I would have thought Matt should have felt a little guilty about that after he had escaped imo.

[jmniles]

Y'know, I have to wonder why in the world Mat chose Noal as the third person. I understand that if he hadn't then everything probably wouldn't have turned out, but if I was Mat, I would've tried to get someone other than a gnarled old man. Like maybe an Asha'man to destroy the CRAP out of those damn snakes and foxes.

 

Mat chose Noal because Noal is very well traveled and also Mat doesn't trust people who can channel, he hates the idea. Mat also couldn't have taken anyone important to the Band like Talmenes (can't spell).