Discuss Rand's Offscreen Movements

[gary0044187]

my guess is that the gap in Rand time is Black Tower followed by Tarwin's Gap.

[Sharaman]

my guess is that the gap in Rand time is Black Tower followed by Tarwin's Gap.

Not BT - just Tarwin's Gap. He sends Neaff to BT just before he's off to meet the Borderlanders

[Hatrel]

If I recall, he does tell Naeff to go to the BT and tell Logain that "We are men, not weapons" It is possible that the BT has been resolved and that Logain is in charge now...

[Hopefire]

If I recall, he does tell Naeff to go to the BT and tell Logain that "We are men, not weapons" It is possible that the BT has been resolved and that Logain is in charge now...

.

 

Was he in Andor, perhaps? Or in the Borderlands?

 

If you look at the map, there's almost a straight line from Tear > Caemlyn > Maradon, could he have been in Saldae at that time, saving Ituralde?

I think that the easiest explanation is that he was at the White Tower. We know that he was there, it fits the time frame. In this case, the most simple explanation is probably the best.

 

Day 0: The Last Battle starts after Rand almost kills his father, culminating in Rand travelling to the Dragonmount and awakening (I'm taking Rand's internal battle as the kick-off for the Last Battle, as it appears to be the culmination of the Dark One's "Get the Dragon to wreck the pattern" plot and that it looks like the armies of the Dark are only set in motion after the events of Dragonmount).

Days 0-3: Rand walks down off Dragonmount, to the White Tower. Confronts Egwene. Min's chapter sensing him to the north occurs here.

 

After that, we're lost. We know that he goes to Bandar Eban and then Maradon, and that he goes to Far Madding immediately before going to Merrilor. It leaves a gap of somewhere between 24-27 days.

 

There's a fair amount that it could be that doesn't really require much to be said: gathering up his collected armies, ensuring that they have channelers capable of Travelling so that he can move them quickly, and putting them on notice that they're going into combat in the near future. Firming up lines of command, so you don't have people from Tear refusing to take orders from an Aiel clan chief, or people from Illian refusing to follow Bashere, or anything else that could go wrong. Establishing with his captains that Mat will be in overall command of military forces, teaching the Asha'man with him tricks from the Age of Legends, researching everything he can with Min about the Prophecies and trying to determine how to reseal the Dark One. There's a lot that could happen in there that would bloat the book, but not actually move anything forward.

 

 

The thing I wonder most about the plain brown cloak he had: he may have had a similar cloak in the Dragon Reborn, just before he took the Stone. The brief glimpses of Rand that people had showed him in a brown cloak, with a flute case on his back. I can't help but wonder if the cloak was discarded after he took the Stone, and eventually made its way back to him years later, illustrating Rand coming back to what he was, patched up but holding together.

[smileyman]

 

There's a fair amount that it could be that doesn't really require much to be said: gathering up his collected armies, ensuring that they have channelers capable of Travelling so that he can move them quickly, and putting them on notice that they're going into combat in the near future. Firming up lines of command, so you don't have people from Tear refusing to take orders from an Aiel clan chief, or people from Illian refusing to follow Bashere, or anything else that could go wrong. Establishing with his captains that Mat will be in overall command of military forces, teaching the Asha'man with him tricks from the Age of Legends, researching everything he can with Min about the Prophecies and trying to determine how to reseal the Dark One. There's a lot that could happen in there that would bloat the book, but not actually move anything forward.

 

 

Why do people assume that Mat is going to be in overall command of the Forces of Light? There are several Great Captains available for this, and I suspect that Mat and Perrin will be with Rand when he finally confronts the Dark One. Mat's had too much foreshadowing to be involved in merely being a general at the last Battle.

 

 

 

[Hatrel]

I agree. I mean, sure, he has the memories of a number of great captains throughout history and would do great as the commander of the combined armies, but it feels anti-climactic. He and Perrin should be together. "The three shall be as one". Though I get a feeling that it could be talking about the link made with Callandor...

 

Bah that's crazy talk :)

[scott7279]

I'll chime in on this one...

 

I think that one of the things Rand did during his hiatus involved Logain. We know Logain isn't at the Black Tower, but Rand tells Naeff to give a message to Logain, as though he knows where he is.

 

BTW...how do we know that Maradon was towards the end of his MIA? I must have missed that...I thought it was closer to the beginning.

 

FWIW...I think Mat will help make the overall plans for the Last Battle, but he won't be on the field for the LB (will be with Rand instead)

[Sharaman]

I'll chime in on this one...

 

I think that one of the things Rand did during his hiatus involved Logain. We know Logain isn't at the Black Tower, but Rand tells Naeff to give a message to Logain, as though he knows where he is.

 

BTW...how do we know that Maradon was towards the end of his MIA? I must have missed that...I thought it was closer to the beginning.

 

FWIW...I think Mat will help make the overall plans for the Last Battle, but he won't be on the field for the LB (will be with Rand instead)

 

First he asked if there was any word from the BT. Then he told Naeff "When you find Logain--" rather than "Find Logain in such-and-such place" implying that he didn't know where Logain was.

Maradon is towards the end of the timeline (FoM-2) because he came straight through to Tear from Maradon, with Ituralde, both still tired and shagged out from the battle, and said to Bashere "Tomorrow I'll meet your niece".

At the Borderlanders, he said he was off to FoM tomorrow to meet the monarchs of the world.

[babuada]

I go with the theory that after Bandar Eban he saved Lan at Tarwin's Gap. But he would probably be visiting different cities along the way and restoring Light like Bandar Eban.