An ending

[johthohar]

I know there is already a thread for speculation about the last book. But I wanted to open thread specifically for discussion about how the series, or more specifically the Last Battle, will end. And I thought why not include a poll while I'm at it (though I have a strong suspicion where most of the votes will land). I thought about including a second poll for major character deaths but thought better of it since there is already a thread dedicated specifically to that topic. Maybe I'll add one later on. I know where my vote lies but I'll wait until a few more come in first. Go.

[Elan Tedronai]

shadow wins?dark one slain? creation destroyed? none of these will ever happen.

 

light wins. bore sealed. a few minor deaths here and there. Almost irrelevant coz i can't see any major character dying. And i don't count lan or cadsuane as a major character

[johthohar]

shadow wins?dark one slain? creation destroyed? none of these will ever happen.

 

light wins. bore sealed. a few minor deaths here and there. Almost irrelevant coz i can't see any major character dying. And i don't count lan or cadsuane as a major character

 

You can't just say "Jordan would never let the Shadow win" and automatically assume it's canon. Where is your evidence? And "the good guy always wins" is not evidence.

 

I don't get where you are taking this "no major characters will die" thing from. Just because none of them have yet does not mean they won't. Many of them had to stay alive out of necessity because they had a part to play in the Last Battle. Once Tarmon Gai'don starts those characters could die at any time once their purpose is complete. It would be a pretty cheap ending if no one major died.

 

I agree with you on Cadsuane. Although, I don't see why she will die necessarily. But Lan? How is he not a major character? He was warder to the first Aes Sedai we spend any significant amount of time with in the series. He taught Rand swordsmanship. He is currently husband and warder to one of the most influential Aes Sedai in the series. It is heavily implied throughout the series that he is instrumental in the Last Battle. I don't know see any argument whatsoever for him being minor or even secondary.

[FarShainMael]

Can we have a 'Light wins, DO slain, replaced by Fain/Mordeth' option?

[Crashy]

Or perhaps the bore will be sealed properly and Mordeth will be sealed in with Shai'tan to fight eachother for the rest of eternity.

[johthohar]

Can we have a 'Light wins, DO slain, replaced by Fain/Mordeth' option?

 

Eh.... That's a little far fetched. I won't add it as an option but I would be glad to tell you how unlikely I think it is! lol

[johthohar]

Or perhaps the bore will be sealed properly and Mordeth will be sealed in with Shai'tan to fight eachother for the rest of eternity.

 

Less far fetched but would fall under the Light wins - No/Many/Few deaths - Bore sealed option.

[FarShainMael]

Can we have a 'Light wins, DO slain, replaced by Fain/Mordeth' option?

 

Eh.... That's a little far fetched. I won't add it as an option but I would be glad to tell you how unlikely I think it is! lol

 

Noted.. but I hope you didn't feed the elephant

[capuga]

I voted Light wins, few major deaths, DO sealed.

 

I think that at least one or two major characters will die. That's just the odds in a huge crazy battle/war. However, due to various viewings/foretellings and the time spent setting up various romantic relationships, I think the vast majority of the major good guys will make it through.

 

I spent most of the series thinking that this turning of the wheel would be different and that Rand would kill the DO. I have since changed my mind. I think with the whole circular time theme that RJ set up along with how most things in this series have balance that it is more likely the DO will be sealed. (Or possibly killed and replaced - I'm kinda intrigued by the Fain taking the DO's spot theory.)

[Kierkegaurdian]

I think a lot of the major characters are going to die. I would not surprised if Perrin dies, and an already pregnant Faile survives, and rules as Steward in the Two Rivers. Actually, I could see all three ta'veren dying, after fulfilling their roles. I don't think Lan will die ... it has been implied for so long that he would, that it would kinda boring if he actually did, fulfilling everyone's expectations. I don't think Nynaeve will die, Aviendha will survive, as will Egwene. Min might die, but it is unlikely. Galad taking the Bloodknife rings implies he will use them in some final heroic effort, and then die (unless Nynaeve comes up with another miraculous Healing weave). I dunno, we will have to wait and see.

[Jak o' the Shadows]

Light wins - Few major deaths - Dark One slain

 

 

going with Rand/Dragon pulls it off this time and breaks free of this circular time, saves Randland from the DO forever.

[Express]

The Light side wins. RJ compared the last battle to a boxing match, with the Light side being down, way down, and hurting and going into the last round needing a knock out. I see the Light being hammered from every direction(Demandred attacking everywhere?) and the Dark side still bringing out new weapons, ie. dreamspike or TP having weaves the OP doesn't. The Light side has weak legs and is trembling. Rand, Mat and Perrin throw a big roundhouse that KO's the Dark side, something similar to Rand using the OP(I believe that Rand is using the True Source now) to only kill shawdowspawn.

 

No major deaths. Well, maybe one but that's not a few and there's no inbetween. Rand is the only one I believe will die, yet will live again(he still has to procreate with Aviendha). Mat and Fortuona, Perrin and Faile, Lan and Nynaeve, Moiraine and Thom, Siuan and Gareth, Egwene and Gawyn, Elaine, Aviendha and Min all have happy looking futures.

 

The Bore will be sealed. Whatever was used as the barrier that separated the TS from the TP will be recreated. Since RJ said that the DO was everywhere beneath the world and he was just that much closer at Shayol Ghul because of the bore, I think that Rand's power with the OP, Perrin's power in TAR and Mat's luck will be what the wheel uses to correct the barrier between creation and destruction.

[Elan Tedronai]

shadow wins?dark one slain? creation destroyed? none of these will ever happen.

 

light wins. bore sealed. a few minor deaths here and there. Almost irrelevant coz i can't see any major character dying. And i don't count lan or cadsuane as a major character

 

You can't just say "Jordan would never let the Shadow win" and automatically assume it's canon. Where is your evidence? And "the good guy always wins" is not evidence.

 

I don't get where you are taking this "no major characters will die" thing from. Just because none of them have yet does not mean they won't. Many of them had to stay alive out of necessity because they had a part to play in the Last Battle. Once Tarmon Gai'don starts those characters could die at any time once their purpose is complete. It would be a pretty cheap ending if no one major died.

 

I agree with you on Cadsuane. Although, I don't see why she will die necessarily. But Lan? How is he not a major character? He was warder to the first Aes Sedai we spend any significant amount of time with in the series. He taught Rand swordsmanship. He is currently husband and warder to one of the most influential Aes Sedai in the series. It is heavily implied throughout the series that he is instrumental in the Last Battle. I don't know see any argument whatsoever for him being minor or even secondary.

 

 

seriously, what are you playing at mate? RJ has already knew the ending before the first book was even finished. The dark one will be walled up just like prior to the drilling of the bore.

 

you heard the outtriger novels. mat and tuon? yeah....

[SuperFade]

RJ never did have the stomach to kill off any main characters. I'm betting either no or few major characters will die, and the Dark One will be slain, due to RJ's own assertion that a linear view of time is mankind's greatest philosophical victory.

[Jblaylock]

I think they will take the Matrix route on this. In the Matrix, the whole trilogy is building up to humans vs machines... but in the end, one of the programs, agent Smith, got so out of control that the machines had to abandon their plan of human extermination and team up with the humans so that Neo could stop Smith from destroying the machines from the inside out.

 

I think Fain/Mordeth will get so out of control, so unstoppable, his Mashadar (or whatever) spreading so far through the Dark One's minions, that the DO and the Forsaken will have no choice but to hold their fire and team up with Rand to stop him.

[Kestrel]

Major deaths.

 

Egwene leads Tuon on wild chase that ends at Shayol Ghul. Tuon kills Egwene, then realizes she must join Rand fighting against Dark One or die herself.

 

Taim gets iced by Lanfear.

 

Fain/Mordeth/Mashadar hurled into the Dark One's prison.

 

Moridin and Rand neutralize each other. Rand prevails, but is mortally wounded.

 

Major character sacrifices required to hold Fain and Dark One in prison. (Lan & Nynaeve? Perrin and Faile?)

 

Bore sealed properly.

 

Fain and the Dark One spend the rest of eternity battling each other, like Rand's two wounds battled each other while he lived.

 

The Lady of the Lake reclaims Callandor, the Heroes of the Horn return to Valhalla, Rand's funeral boat is set afire and launched towards Avalon, and the Elves depart Middle Earth for the final time.

[gary0044187]

I would like to see a forsaken redeemed in the ending, but doesnt seem very likely. For instance, the battle between moridin and rand ends up being a debate, or with Greandel.

[babuada]

I would like to see a forsaken redeemed in the ending, but doesnt seem very likely. For instance, the battle between moridin and rand ends up being a debate, or with Greandel.

It would actually be a match of Sh'ara. Moridin was pissed of because Rand left in the middle of a game and went to sleep. Eventually Rand will wake up and resume the game again. Remember the Aiel saying, Life is a dream from which all must awake.

[Arc]

What if...

 

the cyclical timeframe was connected with the DO all along?(it would be quite something for the DO to pester Humankind literally again and again and again...) so what about the option: DO transported instead of sealed away again (removed, but not death.) transported from the WoT world and put in some other world (we know there're other worlds, like Finn-land) and with that, the cyclical time in Randland will be straightened out.

... now i come to think of it, that might kill the creator though. unless the DO ís the creator of the Wheel, .. in that case:...

 

maiby an 'alternative' option in the poll would be nice. just saying

[Fel]

Light wins, rand "dies" (kind of), a few other major-ish characters bite the bullet (wise ones, aiel chiefs, lan).

Dark one killed.

Fain trapped, becomes the new dark one in 9000 years.

[johthohar]

seriously, what are you playing at mate? RJ has already knew the ending before the first book was even finished. The dark one will be walled up just like prior to the drilling of the bore.

 

you heard the outtriger novels. mat and tuon? yeah....

 

You know what the great thing about fiction is? You make it up. Just because Jordan said he intended to write outrigger novels doesn't mean he was going to. Could have been set in one of the portal stone worlds where the results of the Last Battle differ from the main series. Or it could simply have been a "what might have been" story. Either way, any prequels or outriggers aren't going to happen unless they hand them off to yet another author. At very best they are extremely unlikely. Sanderson has way too many other projects of his own that he is working on. So, if Tor decides they don't want anyone else to write them, chances are there goes Mat and Tuon's "protection". In fact, if they decide they aren't going to do the outriggers they might kill Mat and/or Tuon just so readers don't expect them.

[johthohar]

I'm actually kinda shocked at the results of my poll so far. I had assumed most of the fandom would choose the "No major deaths" option. So many WoT fans are so damn squeamish about their beloved characters dying that they insist Jordan would never kill them. Pleasantly surprised.

[Suttree]

seriously, what are you playing at mate? RJ has already knew the ending before the first book was even finished. The dark one will be walled up just like prior to the drilling of the bore.

 

you heard the outtriger novels. mat and tuon? yeah....

 

You know what the great thing about fiction is? You make it up. Just because Jordan said he intended to write outrigger novels doesn't mean he was going to. Could have been set in one of the portal stone worlds where the results of the Last Battle differ from the main series. Or it could simply have been a "what might have been" story. Either way, any prequels or outriggers aren't going to happen unless they hand them off to yet another author. At very best they are extremely unlikely. Sanderson has way too many other projects of his own that he is working on. So, if Tor decides they don't want anyone else to write them, chances are there goes Mat and Tuon's "protection". In fact, if they decide they aren't going to do the outriggers they might kill Mat and/or Tuon just so readers don't expect them.

 

Uhmm no, the Outriggers were to be about Mat and Tuon set in Seanchan AFTER the last battle. Outriggers or no Brandon doesn't have the authority to change major plot points such as Mat or Tuon being killed. The outline and dictations from RJ about the story are set in stone.

[RahulSingh]

I think bore will be resealed though I am intrigued by the Fain and DO option. I suspect a lot of major character loses. Can't have soo many high power char's running around after TG boys.

[Wolf505]

I'm of the opinion that Fain/Mordeth/Ordeith will end up being sealed in the prison to help contain the Dark One also. The foreshadowing with Rand's two wounds and the cleansing of Saidin is just too obvious to ignore.

 

Another thing I think may happen- what if "his blood on the rocks at Shayol Gul" doesn't refer to Rand, but to Galad? I find it highly suspicious that nobody, especially Rand, who knows who his real mother is, seems to have made the connection between them. He has a half brother who is a main character but nobody mentions this fact? I mean, sure, Rand knows and I think a few other people may (I don't recall who else knows Tigraine was his mother), but why is it never mentioned? Even if Rand is the only one who knows, it still seems like we would've seen him make the connection in one of his POVs, especially when he finds out who his mother is. I think this is along the lines of nobody questioning why Mat got the Ashanderai from the Eelfinn. Nobody who knew where he got it, especially Mat himself, asked why he was given it. Then it ended up being a major plot point. I think the Rand/Galad connection may be the same. Maybe Galad will save Rand's life at Shayol Gul and die in the proccess? I don't know, I just think it bears thinking about.