Noal = Jain Farstrider

[RJJT86]

Hello Everyone,

 

I'm new here but I just thought I might voice a question that has been weighing on my mind for sometime as I've read the last three books. It seems to me that even thought he's denied it, Noal is actually Jain Farstrider. Now I could be wrong. But to me it seems like he's Jain and he's created this rather shabby looking exterior and gone into public hiding to try and forget all about his past, and his mistakes, the one's that Noal talk about. Does anyone else have some ideas on this. I mean if I'm wrong feel free to tell me, but please offer another theory. Cause the only other one I can think of is that Noal is Jain's son and has been looking for him and that's why he's been to Shara and all those other places.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Yes, Noal is very probably Jain himself. His shabby exterior and occasional absent-mindedness are probably more than the result of guilt/regret though. Ishamael seems to have messed him up throroughly at some point, although we don't get much in the way of detail.

[Guest cwestervelt]

Noal being Jain Farstrider is the generally accepted theory.

[Guest cwestervelt]

RobertAlexWillis wrote:

Yes, Noal is very probably Jain himself. His shabby exterior and occasional absent-mindedness are probably more than the result of guilt/regret though. Ishamael seems to have messed him up throroughly at some point, although we don't get much in the way of detail.

 

I agree. Unfortunately all we really know is that Ishamael wasn't lying to Rand (or was it Mat and Perrin too?) about playing Jain the fool At least not entirely. Loial later confirmed part of the story when he mentioned the unnamed and unbalanced stranger that showed up in a Stedding raving about a threat to the Eye. Jain's mind was either broken by torture or an overdose compulsion. Considering how Noal now has his mind blank episodes when he tries to remember, I lean to the overdose.

[Will al Seen]

Yeah, it's most likely that is actually farstrider. He seems to try to cover it up by saying it's his cousin, but by the way he talks about his " cousin " being selfish and leaving his wife alone to die so he could have adventures kind of gives it away i think. He sounds so grieved and resentful i think maybe he's even ashamed to admit he is in fact jain farstrider.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Jain's mind was either broken by torture or an overdose compulsion. Considering how Noal now has his mind blank episodes when he tries to remember, I lean to the overdose.

 

That may be correct, but those are hardly the only options that fit the rather vague condition afflicting Noal. My statement that Ishamael, "Messed him up thoroughly" doesn't imply anything specific, just "something bad."

[Guest cwestervelt]

cwestervelt:

Jain's mind was either broken by torture or an overdose compulsion. Considering how Noal now has his mind blank episodes when he tries to remember, I lean to the overdose.

 

RobertAlexWillis

That may be correct, but those are hardly the only options that fit the rather vague condition afflicting Noal. My statement that Ishamael, "Messed him up thoroughly" doesn't imply anything specific, just "something bad."

 

I should have stated those were the two that I consider most likely. Other possibilities definitely exist.

[demonspawn]

I think that if Noal does indeed turn out to be Jain (which I believe to be the case) it will be revealed in MoL that he was Compulsed/forced by Ishamael to betray someone or carry out some vile deed

[Luckers]

Not nessasarily. Farstrider was sent to the Ogier with stories of the Eye, but i don't think he carried out any really vile deed. My guess is that Noal's bitterness and guilt stems from leaving his wife and having her die while he was away.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Indeed.

[Guest cwestervelt]

I agree with Luckers on this one. It really comes out when Noal talks about Jain and his family.

[OzzieAlThor]

Ok, I'm relativley new to this discussion.

 

How could Farstrider be alive at this point?

 

Wouldn't he have been dead long ago?

 

And if he wasn't, where in the series did Ishmael "mess him up"?

[Guest cwestervelt]

No one knew what happened to Jain. It was assumed he died when he disappeard in the Blight a few years after the Aiel War.

 

In the Eye of the World he is refered to as "young Jain Charin" when he captured Cowin Gemallen Fairheart around the year 955 in the current Randland calendar. If we estimate young to mean early 20s, he would be in his mid to late 60's when Mat meets Noal.

 

Ishamael brags about making a fool to Jain when he is invading Rand's dreams in The Eye of the World. This is semi-confirmed when Loial tells about a crazy man who showed up at a Stedding raving about a threat to the Eye. This occurred sometime between Jain's disappearance in the Blight and the events portrayed in The Eye of the World.

[OzzieAlThor]

No one knew what happened to Jain. It was assumed he died when he disappeard in the Blight a few years after the Aiel War.

 

In the Eye of the World he is refered to as "young Jain Charin" when he captured Cowin Gemallen Fairheart around the year 955 in the current Randland calendar. If we estimate young to mean early 20s' date=' he would be in his mid to late 60's when Mat meets Noal.

 

Ishamael brags about making a fool to Jain when he is invading Rand's dreams in [u']The Eye of the World[/u]. This is semi-confirmed when Loial tells about a crazy man who showed up at a Stedding raving about a threat to the Eye. This occurred sometime between Jain's disappearance in the Blight and the events portrayed in The Eye of the World.

 

Thanks, my wife and I are reading through EotW for her right now so I'll see this all soon enough.