If Mat had the horn could he sound it at will?

[GaseousAnomaly]

I'm at book 8 maybe it's answered later. Does anything prevent the current "owner" of the horn from blowing whenever and for whatever reason he wants?

[White_star]

I think he can blow it all he wants but in TGH the HotH (Hawking I think it was) said they must follow the Dragon and the Banner.

 

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

[GaseousAnomaly]

I think he can blow it all he wants but in TGH the HotH (Hawking I think it was) said they must follow the Dragon and the Banner.

 

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I remember reading that too. But I check out this link http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Horn_of_Valere and it says

The Horn of Valere is a powerful artifact. Little is known of how it works, but the effect is clear: when the Horn is sounded, the great heroes of the Pattern are summoned to battle, and will serve whoever blew the Horn. It has recently been discovered that if in the presence of the Dragon Reborn it will follow his orders whether or not he sounded it, despite nothing ever linking the two.

But as you said I distinctly remember the dragon and the banner being important to them. But regardless, for the sake of argument lets imagine rand and the banner are present each time.

[BareUpperLip79]

Heh..

 

Mat: "Blood and Ashes.. I can't find my keys. Oh well..." *blows Horn of Valere* ".. 'sup Heroes. Help me find my keys"

 

Hawkwing: "Burn me Cauthon, not again!"

[jmikea]

It's kind of confusing. There was a big deal in book 2 about how the heroes will answer whoever blows the horn, even if he was a darkfriend. Then Hawkwing asked if Rand had the banner with him, implying that they followed the banner. Maybe the banner was a personal preference thing for the heroes? 'We'll serve the dude who blew the horn but it would be nice if we were riding behind the dragon banner while we did it.'

[moratcorlm]

I remember reading that too. But I check out this link http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Horn_of_Valere and it says

The Horn of Valere is a powerful artifact. Little is known of how it works, but the effect is clear: when the Horn is sounded, the great heroes of the Pattern are summoned to battle, and will serve whoever blew the Horn. It has recently been discovered that if in the presence of the Dragon Reborn it will follow his orders whether or not he sounded it, despite nothing ever linking the two.

The wiki is just a fan site, and not at all one of the most credible of them. It states a number of interpretations as facts.

 

It is not likely we'll ever get an answer as to whether the Horn must follow the Dragon or whether the particular Event at Falme necessitated it. As Hawkwing says,

“Something is wrong here. Something holds me.” Suddenly he turned his sharp-eyed gaze on Rand. “You are here. Have you the banner?” [...] “The Pattern weaves itself around our necks like halters,” Artur Hawkwing said. “You are here. The banner is here. The weave of this moment is set. We have come to the Horn, but we must follow the banner. And the Dragon.”

 

We honestly can't answer your question definitively because

the Horn has not been seen since Verin tucked it away in the Tower in TDR

 

[Morh]

This is something I have wondered about too.

[capuga]

Heh..

 

Mat: "Blood and Ashes.. I can't find my keys. Oh well..." *blows Horn of Valere* ".. 'sup Heroes. Help me find my keys"

 

Hawkwing: "Burn me Cauthon, not again!"

 

[Durinax]

I think it was just the weave of the moment. If Mat was desparate and blew the horn I think the heroes would rally and attack if mat continued to fight

 

and if it was mat and perrin they would need both teh Dragon banner and mat playing the horn

 

and all 3 it will play out like falme.

 

but if its only mat and rand will the dragon banner be required?

[Kaznen]

The AS facts are in question too. The horn wasn't used in the AoL. In fact it wasn't unearthed until around the breaking. So how would the AS know it only works for the original horn blower in his lifetime and it will work for any side?

[Agitel]

It's my opinion that the Banner and the Dragon aren't exactly necessary, but the needs of that particular moment were dictated by the Pattern. Keep in mind that the whole battle in the sky and everything was a 'trick' of the Wheel, a sort of declaration that the true Dragon had emerged, and two false Dragons were cast down.

 

The Horn of Valere was made way before Lews Therin's time, before the Dragon lived, so it can't be necessary in every circumstance.

[blazetheearth]

The AS facts are in question too. The horn wasn't used in the AoL. In fact it wasn't unearthed until around the breaking. So how would the AS know it only works for the original horn blower in his lifetime and it will work for any side?

 

I've been wondering about that since the BWB came out. How could the AS possibly know this as a fact?? The Horn was never sounded during AoL, and the AoL is the earliest Age of which we have even had a document referenced. Since the Breaking started, it had been hidden in the Eye, so WHO COULD HAVE DISCOVERED THAT INFO ABOUT IT, AND HOW WAS THAT INFO PASSED ON? We have zero references to pre-AoL knowledge being stored in the WT libraries. So far as I know that question was never asked in any interviews and I doubt that RJ left specific notes about it. So we are left with DEM, or the AS lying or believing a lie that someone else told them and have passed it on. Ishy might have lied about it to the BA, and Verin (IIRC) is the first character we see mention it, I even believe that she was the one that told Suain about it right after bringing Mat to the Tower. But if Ishy did tell them this, that doesn't make it true. It would simply be coincidence (or luck) if that information turned out to be true, becaue if Ishy did tell the BA about it, then he would have only done it to encourage them to kill Mat or which ever ta'veren blew the Horn) or let him die.

 

I would say that the only person that could be reliably asked about the conditions needed and the abilities and powers of the HoV would be Brigette. And her memory has gone all swiss-cheesy like Mat's was (well sort of, her memories of almost everything prior to being cast out from TAR are fading), so it's quite possible that even she does not know now.

 

Brigette calls Mat "hornsounder" repeatedly, especially while speaking the OT, and the first time she does it she still had all her memories.

 

What if......What if, Mat is the only key element. What if Mat's soul (the Gambler, The Son of Battles) is that of Valere (the original owner/maker/sounder of the Horn). What if Mat is the only one who can Sound the Horn, not because of being the one to sound it in this Age, because his soul is tied to the Sounding itself. What if Mat's soul is tied to the Horn as it's Sounder across the Ages (as a HotH he can be spun out at other times for other lives, just like RJ said the Dragon could be spun out to live a normal life), and therefore in the hands of anyone else it would be a normal horn.

If these are true then yes Mat could possibly summon the heroes to find his second best scarf (the one with a little lace at each end, just a little lace mind you).

 

I know there are a lot of what if's there, but it is questions about things like this that have kept me rereading this series for 20 years.

[BareUpperLip79]

 

I've been wondering about that since the BWB came out. How could the AS possibly know this as a fact?? The Horn was never sounded during AoL, and the AoL is the earliest Age of which we have even had a document referenced. Since the Breaking started, it had been hidden in the Eye, so WHO COULD HAVE DISCOVERED THAT INFO ABOUT IT, AND HOW WAS THAT INFO PASSED ON? We have zero references to pre-AoL knowledge being stored in the WT libraries. So far as I know that question was never asked in any interviews and I doubt that RJ left specific notes about it. So we are left with DEM, or the AS lying or believing a lie that someone else told them and have passed it on.

 

One possible source of this information (which many Aes Sedai seem to put a lot of faith in) is FORETELLING.

 

I can only imagine that a foretelling in the dim distant past (during the Breaking?) described in detail the 'link' to the Horn and also the Heroes fickle tendency to follow not the light but instead the Hornsounder.

 

After all, there MUST have been at least one foretelling regarding the Horn or it would never have been hidden with the banner and the seal.

[Joanna63]

Heh..

 

Mat: "Blood and Ashes.. I can't find my keys. Oh well..." *blows Horn of Valere* ".. 'sup Heroes. Help me find my keys"

 

Hawkwing: "Burn me Cauthon, not again!"

 

LOL

[Durinax]

I dont think he could, I think if the horn is blown frivilously that the heroes turn and kill the a$$hole who keeps summoning them