The Field of Merrilor

[Luckers]

Go.

[deepak_dragonreborn]

I think Rand will make the pact of peace with each nation and the Seanchan. That is the reason why he told Egwene about breaking the seals. So that she could gather all the nations. Then he will tell them he is going to break the seals whether they like it or not.

 

Also, Min's viewing abt Perrin saving Rand is still not completed. So i think Rand will fall in trouble with Lanfear and Perrin will prob save him. Coz Perrin is awesome in the World of Dreams and he is prob the only one who can challenge Lanfear there

[fborch]

Actually think Perrins next saving will come at Shayoul Ghul. The Fields will most likely be in the first 10 chapters of amol. Preparing everyone for the war, and binding the monarchs to Rand. Still curious about the absence of the Seanchan. I always assumed they would have to fight as well.

[Cazajay]

The Seanchan are preparing a War on the WT somehow I don't think Rand will allow this as he needs all free channellers at the LB, Aviendha needs to prevent the Aeil being left out of this Treaty to avoid the future she envisioned.

However I think it's a mistake for Rand making peace with the Seanchan as they still intend to continue leashing all channellers. Something that Rand has already said to Tuon that he will not tolerate.

It would also cause a war with the Aeil as the Seanchan have taken Wise Ones as gaishan in their eyes which is forbidden under Aeil ji' eh' toh you heard Amys say that they will give them the alotted 1 year and a day to return the Wise Ones as they did not know but after that it's War.

Aviendha now knows war against the Seanchan would finish the Aeil.

Rand needs to show strength against Tuon this is when he needs to bully and threaten if he shows weakness the Seanchan Empress exploits it. If I were him Id say join us in peace free the captive Aes Sedai, Wise Ones, WF from our continent OR I wipe you all out as we now know he can. The trouble is it tires him out not good before LB but Tuon doesn't know this. She will after seeing him in action at the LB though.

[Guest]

About the seanchan issue, Rand needs to confront her as a superior, she can not be percieved as above him.

 

The issue about the seals i think will disappear at first because:

 

Rand will arrive with Aiel and Asha'man at the field.

 

Reports will come in of battle at the WT and in Caemlyn

 

Rand will forcefully order all the groups into two big armies, attacking the seanchan and shadospawn. Ta'veren will make this impossible to resist, even for Egwene who will not voice one word of complaint.

 

The caemlyn force will be in trouble, and at the end i think the seanchan will be lured into the alliance and be removed of their damane. Possibly with the help of Egwene who has secretly trained every Aes Sedai and accepted to use the windtrick to remove a'dams.

 

Tuon will have no choice but comply, and meet the Dragon with lowered eyes *sneer*

[Templadir]

Wrote in another thread that i belived the Seanchan would show up and crash the party under the impression that the Field was just north of Tar Valon as Rand said in chapter 3. Noticed on my re-read that is actually pretty far away by the border of Shienar so this is not likely.

 

Perhaps Mat will be in Tar Valon to claim the horn when the second attack occurs, halt it and then bring the Seanchan to the meeting. This assumes he's not occupied trying to save Caemlyn. Perhaps Moiraine asks to be brought to Tar Valon before Mat returns to Caemlyn. I guess that they escaped the Tower at the same time Olver beat the Snake and Foxes game legally.

Any rough estimates of the book timeline out there yet? Official word is that there is a week and half gap for most characters before the Field of Merrilor so is the escape and Caelmyn invasion taking place during that week or nearly on the day itself?

 

Still belive the Ogier will show up on that very day and possibly meet their Seanchan counterparts if the Deathwatch guard is present.

 

Rand will have to postpone his immediate attack on SG to bring in the Seanchan, save Caemlyn, reinforce Lan and reclaim the Black Tower. There is a lot of manpower on location to distribute.

[GB]

About the seanchan issue, Rand needs to confront her as a superior, she can not be percieved as above him.

 

The issue about the seals i think will disappear at first because:

 

Rand will arrive with Aiel and Asha'man at the field.

 

Reports will come in of battle at the WT and in Caemlyn

 

Rand will forcefully order all the groups into two big armies, attacking the seanchan and shadospawn. Ta'veren will make this impossible to resist, even for Egwene who will not voice one word of complaint.

 

The caemlyn force will be in trouble, and at the end i think the seanchan will be lured into the alliance and be removed of their damane. Possibly with the help of Egwene who has secretly trained every Aes Sedai and accepted to use the windtrick to remove a'dams.

 

Tuon will have no choice but comply, and meet the Dragon with lowered eyes *sneer*

 

 

yeah i kind of think along the same lines as well.

 

news of both assaults will come via the kin and sisters in the WT.

 

and elayne, as queen, will do her duty and go back to caemlyn, and rand will go with her, since she is pregnant, accompanied by a whole bunch of aes sedai and ashaman and aiel and soldiers.

 

perrin might accompany rand to save caemlyn or end up with the 2nd force sent to the WT.

 

and mat will likely be trying to get into the palace which would be the base of operations from which he will formulate a plan and moiraine will help him get there with her angreal.

 

rand arrives via gateway with elayne, get reunited with mat and moiraine.

[Arc]

Tuon is way to bullheaded even to consider an alliance with Rhand. I think it will come down to Rhand swearing loyalty to Mat as the prince of ravens to sooth her and in that way gaining acces to the Seanchan armies for the LB.

Of course this will happen where every single noble on the field can see it, so they can al start to call Mat nobility now, .. justas he likes :).

[JDJ]

Tuon is way to bullheaded even to consider an alliance with Rhand. I think it will come down to Rhand swearing loyalty to Mat as the prince of ravens to sooth her and in that way gaining acces to the Seanchan armies for the LB.

Of course this will happen where every single noble on the field can see it, so they can al start to call Mat nobility now, .. justas he likes :).

 

While Tuon is stubborn, I would say she has made herself more of a slave of the prophecies or signs that appear before her - that is what guides her action more than anything else.

[nolirion]

Tuon is way to bullheaded even to consider an alliance with Rhand. I think it will come down to Rhand swearing loyalty to Mat as the prince of ravens to sooth her and in that way gaining acces to the Seanchan armies for the LB.

Of course this will happen where every single noble on the field can see it, so they can al start to call Mat nobility now, .. justas he likes :).

 

While Tuon is stubborn, I would say she has made herself more of a slave of the prophecies or signs that appear before her - that is what guides her action more than anything else.

I think this is what he plan , but not what will happen

[TigerGamer]

Snap an a'dam around her neck, that will clear it all up.

[nolirion]

Snap an a'dam around her neck, that will clear it all up.

that will do much harm then good I think but I would damn like it

[FarShainMael]

Concerning the Seanchan, and their intention to invade the WT, I think they may be in for a nasty surprise.

 

In ToM 47, after Suffa/Elaida has demonstrated gateways for the Empress (mslf), we hear (see!) this, in Seanchan handtalk:

 

"But think. Delivering thousands of soldiers into the White Tower through a hidden basement room. Striking with the force of a thousand hammers against a thousand anvils!"

 

But in tGS39, when Egwene - who is still a prisoner at this point - is talking to Siuan in T'A'R, we hear this:

 

"Once I am upheld fully as Amyrlin, this room and any like it will be removed, the doors ripped out and the cells themselves filled with bricks and mortar."

 

And Siuan assures her that they will make certain of it. But, of course, Elaida didn't know anything about that..

[Kaveman26]

I think that the Fields meeting will be all about the Tavern. The Seanchan puzzle is going to be solved by Mat somehow. Whether it is Mat blowing the Horn and Hawkwing himself Ordering the Seanchan to follow the hornblower, or Mat revealing that Tuon can channel and this forces her to cede control of the empire to Mat as Prince of Ravens. Somehow Mat is the key to Seanchan. I get the feeling that Caemlyn's invasion by Shadowspawn, WT invasion by Seanchan and BT civil war are all going to boil over at the same moment. That is the Shadow's D Day. Create strife and draw the eye to Borderlands, then let everything boil over in the three strongest seats of power in Randland. Andor, WT and BT. Perrin's mantle of leadership will be tested by defending Caemlyn and Rand will confront his ultimate mistake in the form of the BT.

[Byzantine279]

They were talking about the prison cells far, most likely the seanchan are talking about like the angreal room. But that is foolish for a similar reason, all of those rooms are warded to detect gateways ever since Egwene took control of the tower (partially in order to prevent an Aes Sedai from being tempted).

[FarShainMael]

They were talking about the prison cells far, most likely the seanchan are talking about like the angreal room. But that is foolish for a similar reason, all of those rooms are warded to detect gateways ever since Egwene took control of the tower (partially in order to prevent an Aes Sedai from being tempted).

 

And of course, they know Elaida was taken and a'dammed, and that she knows about Travelling, so they are forewarned.

[Guest]

I think that the Fields meeting will be all about the Tavern. The Seanchan puzzle is going to be solved by Mat somehow. Whether it is Mat blowing the Horn and Hawkwing himself Ordering the Seanchan to follow the hornblower, or Mat revealing that Tuon can channel and this forces her to cede control of the empire to Mat as Prince of Ravens. Somehow Mat is the key to Seanchan. I get the feeling that Caemlyn's invasion by Shadowspawn, WT invasion by Seanchan and BT civil war are all going to boil over at the same moment. That is the Shadow's D Day. Create strife and draw the eye to Borderlands, then let everything boil over in the three strongest seats of power in Randland. Andor, WT and BT. Perrin's mantle of leadership will be tested by defending Caemlyn and Rand will confront his ultimate mistake in the form of the BT.

 

from what i read in Sanderson Q&A The Black Tower timeline is behind the field of merrilor, which means Rand must solve this before he comes.

 

i think Caemlyn and WT are the only things happening simultaenously, and borderlands ofc

[FarShainMael]

Also, Min's viewing abt Perrin saving Rand is still not completed. So i think Rand will fall in trouble with Lanfear and Perrin will prob save him. Coz Perrin is awesome in the World of Dreams and he is prob the only one who can challenge Lanfear there

 

Have a look at the chapter where Perrin gets to Dragonmount in the wolfdream and sees what Rand is doing there.

[Bob T Dwarf]

 

from what i read in Sanderson Q&A The Black Tower timeline is behind the field of merrilor, which means Rand must solve this before he comes.

 

i think Caemlyn and WT are the only things happening simultaenously, and borderlands ofc

 

As others have pointed out, when you try to makes sense of the timeline, there is a lot of time that Rand is not ( so far ) being shown to be doing anything.

 

I think we will see what he has been doing during those 'vacant' days in the Prologue to A Memory of Light. I only hope that this includes handling the Black Tower problem or something equally pressing.

[AutomatedTeller]

I'm sure three things will happen:

 

1) Nynaeve will make an impassioned plea for the White Tower to save Lan and make up for it's slowness is helping Malkier, then will lead a group of Aes Sedai/Asha'man/someone's soldiers to rescue him.

2) During the "break the seals" discussion, Moraine will show up to confirm that Rand, in fact, has to do that

3) Someone will show up to tell Elayne that, oops, Caemlyn has burned to the ground.

 

Things I think will happen:

 

1) Aveindha will show up and object to whatever Rand has in mind for the Dragon's Peace

2) Min + some combination of Moiraine and Cyndane will tell everyone what has to be done to seal the bore

3) That will include Rand having to die

 

Things that will happen somehow, but I don't really know how:

 

1) Mat shows up with Tuon and the rest of the Seanchan and everyone goes off to kill some trollocs.

[Bob T Dwarf]

I'm sure three things will happen:

 

3) Someone will show up to tell Elayne that, oops, Caemlyn has burned to the ground.

 

 

Nah. Just that every goat has been carried off and there is no more warm goat's milk to be had. Elayne WILL throw a party.

[Kidicaris]

Snap an a'dam around her neck, that will clear it all up.

that will do much harm then good I think but I would damn like it

 

One wonders how much actual good it would do. I would think that Fortuona May She Live Forever, would be quickly and quietly removed as Empress by every and any of the High Blood if it is discovered she's actually marath'damane, an animal, less than a slave.

 

I don't know how RJ/BS intends to write this, because it is clear that the revelation that sul'dam can channel is where we are going. Can the revelation that the Empress herself can channel sway the Seanchan people away from a deeply ingrained cultural belief that has its roots in a time BEFORE Luthair even sailed west? I will have to rafo. I wonder if Tuon doesn't jump off the highest tower in Ebou Dar the same day she learns she is actually one of the very creatures she views as prized pets.

[randsc]

I'm hoping, of course, that the meeting at Merrilor will result in an epic smackdown of the Aes Sedai, expecially Egwene. I'd like to see them all humiliated, their political power broken, and their entire organization reduced to irrelevence. I want Egwene to have to deal with a "Rand Sedai" moment of her own, only not as a quiet aside, but rather as a crushing rebuke before the assembled leaders of the world.

 

But I don't really expect it. I'm expecting something more along the lines of Rand quietly taking charge, and people being unable to resist going along with him.

 

I think Elayne, Egwene, Cadsuane and the Aes Sedai generally are SUPPOSED to be annoying. Jordan was frequently criticised for being unable to write strong female characters without turning them into witches, but I think the growth we have seen from Nynaeve demonstrates that he could do it (or Sanderson can.) So if the other female leads don't show similar growth, it must be intentional.

 

But I worry that Jordan/Sanderson have done too good a job of making the Aes Sedai irritating. They infuriate me to the point that I will be disappointed with anything less than their abject humiliation, which is for a variety of reasons (including gender politics in the publishing industry) is unlikely. So I am likely to be a little bit let down when the series concludes.

[nogoodatnames]

Actually in KoD, Mat tell's Tuon during their confrontation with Joline. That anyone that can use an a'dam can be taught to channel. An she respond that she chooses not, an thats what makes it different. Maybe the big reveal about channeling in the seanchan culture, is that the Empress/ruling nobles have always know about it.

[Caius Callus]

If by "epic smackdown" you mean "calm reasoned arguments that will illuminate the project at hand in a way as to persuade everyone involved what the proper course of action should be", I certainly agree. Everything doesn't have to be resolved by violence and others form of coercion, not even in the Fantasy genre.

 

Dragon: "I think this is the best way to do it, and this is why." [Explains reasoning]

Everyone else: "Oh, that sounds like a good plan, but here's how it can be improved..."

 

 

Of course, for the sake of narrative, one expect more like this:

Dragon: "BEND TO MY WILL!"

Everyone else: "Noooo!" [refuses]

Dragon: "Yes, you will!"

Everone else: "Oh, all right then."