Blood Knives ter'angreal and the Warder Bond

[KrisAnton]

When Gawyn defeats the Bloodknives, he keeps their rings and puts them on a chain around his neck. Assuming he figures out their purpose, could he use them to gain a momentary surge in power? We know that the use of these rings sucks the life force of those who wear it, but Gawyn is bonded to Egwene. I think that Gawyn could be kept alive through the strength he receives through the Warder Bond while benefiting from the use of the rings. If he did so, would that suck the life force of Egwene, or would her ability to channel constantly refresh Gawyn's life force and allow him to use the rings without penalty?

 

In my mind, the Warder Bond should allow him to use the rings without any harm coming to him, but it may drain Egwene's life force. If the True Source is what invigorates the Warders, then it may be a limitless supply of energy that would negate any consequences of the Bloodknives ter'angreal. Assuming they aren't a special one-time use only sort of ter'angreal, Gawyn should be a hyper badass anytime he puts on the ring.

[sleepinghour]

Assuming they aren't a special one-time use only sort of ter'angreal, Gawyn should be a hyper badass anytime he puts on the ring.

It could be that the Warder bond will allow Gawyn to use the rings and survive, but I personally wouldn't want to see Gawyn rewarded for his stupidity. If he's stupid enough to keep and use the rings despite being warned, he should pay some sort of price for it.

 

Also, Brandon's comments make it sound like it's something Gawyn will end up regretting:

 

Some interesting reading if you're thinking/talking about Gawyn as a character can be found here:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

One other way to think of it is thus: The Wheel will keep on turning, and the Age that we live in (or like unto it) will someday arrive. Legends from what is happening in these books will have survived, and become the Arthur legends during our day. Or, in other cases, stories of other characters have survived in other mythologies. (Look up the Slavic god Perun sometime.)

 

Perrin is not a god, nor is Gawyn the knight of that story I linked. But perhaps someone who lived long ago, in another Age, gave birth to rumors about a young nobleman who made a mistake, and bore the weight of that sin for the rest of his days. And that gave birth to stories, which in turn inspired a poet to write a tale.

--Brandon on Facebook - 21 June 2010 8:34 pm

[SuperFade]

I hope he uses them and suffers some kind of consequence. We've already seen a Warder Bond heal Birgitte, there's no need to turn it into a magical cure-all. It would also be a refreshing twist, since it would mean that the prophecy of Gawyn dying would be the true one, rather than him dying of old age in bed.

[KrisAnton]

I hope he uses them and suffers some kind of consequence. We've already seen a Warder Bond heal Birgitte, there's no need to turn it into a magical cure-all. It would also be a refreshing twist, since it would mean that the prophecy of Gawyn dying would be the true one, rather than him dying of old age in bed.

 

Why, what's wrong with Gawyn? He's a good guy and he's grown up since switching his allegiance. Egwene would need a super warder if she were to tackle the Seanchan.

[Ashandarei]

I don't think the warder bond "draws" on strength from the Aes Sedai, since that would imply a continuous transfer as well as implying that the AS loses something. A more apt description would be to say it's a permanent advantage the warder gets upon bonding (at least until the AS dies, after which it's debabtable).

 

That being said IMO Gawyn doesn't know about the bloodknife ring ter'angreal disadvantages, he only suspects the advantages provided, although he must also suspect that they're only usable for a limited time frame since otherwise he'd just use them right away.

 

I see it going down one of two ways: Either he uses one or more of the rings and dies or the warder bond helps him survive long enough that the combination of Elayne's knowledge of ter'angreal and Nynaeve's "new" healing methods are able to save his life. Also, it would be interesting to note that if he used only one and managed to survive, even if only barely, it could provide interesting possibilities for the remaining two rings to be used. Lastly, if the rings effects' are additive I think it would be completely worth it to have him die to have a scene where he straight up lays waste to his enemies. Ideally, he'd just barely survive while Egwene somehow died anyway...

[Incom]

My guess is Eggy dies. Gawyn uses the rings in the Post-Mortem Warder Rage and kills somebody important. Demandred possibly.

[Ashandarei]

My guess is Eggy dies. Gawyn uses the rings in the Post-Mortem Warder Rage and kills somebody important. Demandred possibly.

 

As much as I would love that to happen, the Eg dying part, I don't think she can die, mainly because of the ridiculous amount of foreshadowing through the series of her becoming one of the Great Amyrlins which she couldn't really do if she died at the Last Battle. Don't get me wrong, she's already done multiple "great" things for the Tower, but I don't think she's up in the Great Am's list yet. By foreshadowing I mean during the test for her being raised to Accepted when she sees herself as Am, when the the yellow sister (forget her name) tells Romanda how she expects Eg to become a Great Am, and also any dreams Eg might have had relating to it (don't remember if there any for sure).

[KrisAnton]

Ye Gods! Warder rage plus the ter'angreal??? He should be able to lay waste to a small army with that combination. I doubt Egwene will be dying, but I do think we will be losing one of the major female characters. Possibly Min?

 

An addictive taint to the rings is a neat idea if he can somehow survive the drain of life force. I thought that possibly Saidar might influence the Warder Bond and recharge the drain he might experience. I think clearly Gawyn has to do something extremely Warder-ish to redeem his character. Taking out three Bllodknives assassins was neat and all, but Old Man Gareth Bryne killed one with barely a passing thought. Gawyn all hopped up on Bloodknives ter'angreal goodiness would be a force to be reckoned with.

[Tollieman]

Regarding Gawyn not knowing about the repercussions, the ex-damane and suldam told him that the bloodknives die because of the poison in their blood. Of course Gawyn might completely ignore what they said to him (and that would be consistent in character I think).

 

But he really should know that using them will probably kill him eventually, since they told him so.

 

I could see him giving one, two (keeping one for himself as a last resort to save Egwene) or even all three to Rand. The 'super-warder-who-will-die' suits the guy who is supposed to die anyway.

[ashaman kingpin]

I also noticed that passage in the book. I think the rings will play an important part in the next book. Somehow I suspect Gawyn is going to use it to kill Rand. I have no evidence for this but a hunch.

[RembrandtQ.Einstein]

Perrin is doomed to die. Gawyn will end up slaying Perrin with them for viewing him a traitor and probably darkfriend for daring to raise rebel banners.

[aross]

It would be just like Gawyn, overly brave and constantly displaying the brains of a donkey, to activate the ter'angreal. I guarantee this - he won't survive becoming a Bloodknife. As it is, with his job done (keeping Egwene alive) his days appear numbered anyway.

[haloun]

yes cause the only threat egwene ever had was the from the bloodknives. TG will be less trying for her than telling rhuarc she lied....wait she hasnt done that yet. :)

[Terez]

I think that Gawyn and Galad will end up using them, maybe with someone else. Would be a nice fulfillment of the dream of Galad and the shroud.

[snooze1128]

I'd like to revive this topic, as it doesn't seem to have been discussed recently.

 

I think the blood rings will serve a purpose other than granting super assassin mode in the wearer: I think the rings will play a sort of political role in convincing Tuon to redirect the Seanchan's energies against the DO. Now don't get me wrong, I still think the rings will be worn (yes, most likely by Gawn; and most certainly Galad, as we've been reminded time and time again of his selflessness, as well as his prowess with a sword...), and the wearer has a high chance of dying after their assassination attempt or whatever.

 

Still, I like the idea of Mat showing up in Ebou Dar (that's where Tuon's hanging out, right?), asking Tuon to quit attacking the White Tower, and to and of course she'd be all defiant and be like "why would I do that, Toy?" ... Then Mat whips out his blood rings and dangles them in front of her and she's like "what?! NObody's ever killed a blood knife"... and so the Seanchan proceed to squabble and Tuon starts being nice to Mat for a change and actually does something useful with those cool RAken dragon things...

 

OK, I guess that's kind of far-fetched and not so likely to happen, but the blood rings will exceed the expectations of most in the last book... well, besides supplying us with a sweet fight scene :P

[Sasha Grayes]

super gawyn? more like dead gawyn in a week and hopefully a suicidal egwene to follow.

[Maleshub]

Aside form the possibility that these rings might be used; or that Elayne might figure out how do duplicate them without having to kill the wearer .... they might serve a "psychological" purpose if Egwene were to meet any Seanchan High Blood, Commander, or even Fortuona. That Seanchan would see Egwene's warder with 3 BK ter'angreal rings, learn that the man killed them, and would probably drop her/his jaw in amazement.