Balescream

[DocBean]

In Towers of Midnight balescreams are explained to us:

 

PROLOGUE

It was coming. Graendal leaped for the gateway, rolling through it, tumbling and ripping her dress on a branch.

A blinding light rose behind her. She struggled to dismiss the gateway, and caught one glimpse of the horrified

Aran'gar before everything behind was consumed in beautiful, pure whiteness.

The gateway vanished, leaving Graendal in darkness.

She lay, heart beating at a terrible speed, nearly blinded by the glare. She'd made the quickest gateway she could,

one that led only a short distance away. She lay in the dirty underbrush atop a ridge behind the palace.

 

A wave of wrongness washed over her, a warping in the air, the Pattern itself rippling.

A balescream, it was called—a moment when creation itself howled in pain.

 

She breathed in and out, trembling. But she had to see. She had to know. She rose to her feet, left ankle twisted.

She hobbled to the treeline and looked down. Natrin's Barrow–the entire palace—was gone.

Burned out of the Pattern. She couldn't see al'Thor on his distant ridge, but she knew where he was.

 

"You," she growled. "You have become far more dangerous than I assumed."

 

We've seen that before in knife of dreams.

At the time I thought maybe that ripple was the Dark One Breaking what was left of the seals, aren't there three left?

I thought maybe the Gathering Storm would start off with the Last Battle beginning.

However, we now know that's not the case.

 

In Knife of Dreams Faile and Perrin both experienced a balescream, or more likely 3 continuous balescreams:

 

TITLE - Knife of Dreams

CHAPTER: 5

She had just reached Therava’s arrival with Galina when everything in front of her eyes rippled. She rippled!

It was not imagination. Meira’s blue eyes widened as far as they could go; she had felt it, too.

Again everything rippled, including herself, harder than before. In shock, Faile stood up straight and let go of her robe.

A third time the world rippled, harder still, and as it passed through her, she felt as if she might blow away in a breeze, or simply dissipate in a mist.

Breathing hard, she waited for the fourth ripple, the one she knew would destroy her and everything else.

When it did not come, she expelled every bit of air in her lungs from relief.

 

Later in a Perrin Chapter, (probably the same day that Faile felt it):

 

TITLE - Knife of Dreams

CHAPTER: 26

Suddenly, everything seemed to ripple in Perrin’s sight. He felt himself ripple. Breane gave a cry and dropped the pitcher.

The world rippled again, and Berelain clutched his arm. Tylee’s hand seemed frozen in that odd gesture, thumb and forefinger forming a crescent.

Everything rippled for a third time, and Perrin felt as if he were made of fog, as if the world were fog with a high wind coming.

Berelain shuddered, and he put a comforting arm around her. She clung to him, trembling. Silence and the scent of fear filled the tent.

He could hear voices being raised outside, and they sounded afraid, too.

 

“What was that?’ Tylee demanded finally.

 

“I don’t know.” Annoura’s face remained serene, but her voice was unsteady. “Light, I have no idea.”

 

My question is, Why did Perrin and Faile experience 3 balescreams?

What happened, and can we figure out from which direction it was coming from?

If Rand's super balefire only created 1 balescream, and we've never seen even a slight ripple before with balefire, why then do we get 3 that get worse each time?

Faile said a 4th one would destroy everything, Perrin felt as if the world were made of fog with a high wind coming, that makes us believe that one more strike and Perrin and Faile, maybe the world itself, would be no more.

 

However, Rand used the Choedan Kal, and blasted an entire Palace.

Graendal, Min, Cadsuane and Sorilea mention the ripple, but none of them said they thought the world was about to blow away.

What the hell would cause 3 ripples that were stronger then Rand using the Choedan Kal?

[Samhain]

Maybe your initial thought was correct. Maybe it was the seals breaking.

[Entreri]

Either an omission in The Gathering Storm or it could be almost like a rock thrown in water.

[Cybertrolloc]

At best RJ was inconsistent or unclear about balefire, and see no way to resolve BS' explanations of it (in book and comments) with what has gone before. So not much useful to add in general.

 

You can look over the KoD thread and the Malden thread in Structured Discussion, I don't think we were able to come to much consensus on the order of events in the 3 ripple events experienced by Perrin and Faile. They're both probably bad reporters at this point as well, but I have problems lining up the timing--seems Faile's hit later iirc. Granted I don't have latest KoD release either, maybe the scene was reworked.

[Byzantine279]

There is a theory that Demandred has been given order to (indiscriminately) balefire things in order to cause the pattern to unravel, based on the fact the Do asked him if he was willing to use it. If he was, then it could simply have been 3 different balescreams that he caused. Or the one Rand caused stretched out as it moved across the pattern, becoming a series of ripples by the time it reached them.

 

Also, the world has been getting more fragile the closer the DO gets to breaking out, and the more balefire is sued the more its effects are amplified. Basically what previously would have taken Rand with the CK might now only take Moiraine's former ability with it, which only burned something back a few seconds at the most. The weaker the pattern becoems the stronger the ripples are, just like a large earthquake might not knock down a building, but a series of smaller earthquakes would. Each paves the way for the next to bring it closer to collapse, compared to one that has just one shot to bring it down. In the AOL it took multiple cities being balefired, along with all of their inhabitants, before the pattern tettered dangerously. The pattern today was far frailer thanks to the increased strength of the DO's touch.

[DocBean]

I can't imagine that Rand's Balefire happened at the same time that Faile was prisoner.

I don't know what the best Timeline is to follow, but it seems to me that the Balescreams Faile and Perrin experience should have been much earlier.

 

I do like the idea that they sort of ripple as they get further away like throwing a stone into water, but if that's the case I think Cadsuane and Sorilea would have felt 2 ripples.

They were miles away, far enough that Nyaneve had to travel to them.

Natrim's Barrow on the East side of Arad Doman is really far away from Malden, I'd think Mat would have felt it if Perrin and Faile did, he was in Altara at the time.

 

Why wouldn't Mat have felt the ripples?

If my timing is correct then Mat is probably just south of Perrin and Faile.

I would think something as weird as that would have been mentioned in one of his chapters.

 

After all, most of the characters mention the stinking Sulphur smell that start the book off in Chapter 1 at it works its way across the continent.

[DocBean]

I think Lanfear used Balefire to release the Dark One, here's why:

 

The Shadow Rising: Chapter 26 - The Dedicated:

As Charn rounds a corner he collides with a man and ends up crashing to the ground. The man shouts at him to watch where he is going. The woman with him takes his arm and points out that the person he has knocked down is Aiel. The man apologises and helps Charn up. As he is righted the ground began to ripple under their feet and the air rippled too in spreading waves. The man looks uncertain and asks Charn what it is. Charn does not answer but pushes past and through the crowd of people that have gathered, his eyes fixed on the Sharom, the white sphere high above the Collam Daan. Mierin had said that today was the day, that she had found a new source for the One Power. Female and male Aes Sedai would be able to tap the same Source, what men and women could do united, would be greater, and today she and Beidomon would tap it for the first time. What seemed like a tiny chip of white spun away from the Sharom in a jet of black fire, it descended, deceptively slowly and began to drift down, falling, in an obsidian inferno. Darkness spread across the sky swallowing the sun in an unnatural light. People were screaming everywhere. With the first spurt of fire Charn broke into a run towards the Collam Daan, but he knew he was too late. He was sworn to serve Aes Sedai but he was too late, tears were rolling down his face as he ran.

 

That sounds very much like a balescream.

The ground and air rippled spreading waves. It doesn't sound nearly as scary as Perrin and Mat discribe, but it's possible this was the first time Balefire was used so strongly.

If that's the case, then the Pattern is still in really good shape and wouldn't be groaning and seeming to turn into mist like the Randlanders describe.

 

What better way to bore a hole into a spot that seems to be outside of the Pattern?

What better way to get through the pattern itself then to use balefire?

[Terez]

A few things worth noting:

 

1. Rand wasn't using the Choedan Kal at anywhere near full power when he balefired Natrin's Barrow.

2. Brandon has pretty much confirmed the balefire theory, as I discussed in the Demandred FAQ article.

3. According to Steven Cooper, Perrin and Faile felt the ripples on separate days. That might or not be correct.

[herid]

A few things worth noting:

 

3. According to Steven Cooper, Perrin and Faile felt the ripples on separate days. That might or not be correct.

I wouldn't put much too much credit in Cooper's timeline but in this instance we do have a clear verification that the ripples that Perrin feels and the ones that Faile feels happen at different times. His occurs late in the evening and hers early in the morning.

[Terez]

Good point. I am not talented when it comes to keeping up with timelines - or at least, I've always found it tedious so I trust Steven's timeline for most things.

[herid]

Good point. I am not talented when it comes to keeping up with timelines - or at least, I've always found it tedious so I trust Steven's timeline for most things.

you might want to reconsider this. I think his timeline busts your Nakomi=Verin theory. According to his timeline Verin met Mat only 2 and a half days before Rand's epiphany at Dragonmount. Avi meets Nakomi at least a week before that IMO. she has to reach Rhuidean, spend a night there, go through the columns once the next day, then go through them again. The clouds break in the middle of her second pass through the columns. but even her first pass through the columns should take a few days (Rand and Mat spend a week in Rhuidean for example). same for her second pass.

and if Nakomi Avi meeting happened before the Mat Verin meeting that would mean that Verin was stuck waiting for Mat at the time. She couldn't Travel anywhere until he showed up.

[Terez]

That's assuming two things:

 

1. That Verin is telling the truth about having been stuck there.

2. That she didn't somehow invade Aviendha's dream.

 

All of this was addressed in the theory.

[herid]

That's assuming two things:

 

1. That Verin is telling the truth about having been stuck there.

2. That she didn't somehow invade Aviendha's dream.

 

All of this was addressed in the theory.

I'm quite sure Verin didn't lie about that. why else would she sit there with a bunch of red letters ( Mat saw them in her pouch) twiddling her thumbs if she could at least deliver them. and if she couldn't Travel in real world she would not be able to find out anything about Avi's trip to Rhuidean so how would she find her in TAR or even know to look for her?

 

I think I should clarify here that while I don't believe that Nakomi is Verin I would not put much stock into the timeline arguments such as the one I mentioned above. The whole timeline is so messed up in tGS and ToM that one can't reliably use it for proving or disproving much of anything.

[Byzantine279]

I think Lanfear used Balefire to release the Dark One, here's why:

 

The Shadow Rising: Chapter 26 - The Dedicated:

As Charn rounds a corner he collides with a man and ends up crashing to the ground. The man shouts at him to watch where he is going. The woman with him takes his arm and points out that the person he has knocked down is Aiel. The man apologises and helps Charn up. As he is righted the ground began to ripple under their feet and the air rippled too in spreading waves. The man looks uncertain and asks Charn what it is. Charn does not answer but pushes past and through the crowd of people that have gathered, his eyes fixed on the Sharom, the white sphere high above the Collam Daan. Mierin had said that today was the day, that she had found a new source for the One Power. Female and male Aes Sedai would be able to tap the same Source, what men and women could do united, would be greater, and today she and Beidomon would tap it for the first time. What seemed like a tiny chip of white spun away from the Sharom in a jet of black fire, it descended, deceptively slowly and began to drift down, falling, in an obsidian inferno. Darkness spread across the sky swallowing the sun in an unnatural light. People were screaming everywhere. With the first spurt of fire Charn broke into a run towards the Collam Daan, but he knew he was too late. He was sworn to serve Aes Sedai but he was too late, tears were rolling down his face as he ran.

 

That sounds very much like a balescream.

The ground and air rippled spreading waves. It doesn't sound nearly as scary as Perrin and Mat discribe, but it's possible this was the first time Balefire was used so strongly.

If that's the case, then the Pattern is still in really good shape and wouldn't be groaning and seeming to turn into mist like the Randlanders describe.

 

What better way to bore a hole into a spot that seems to be outside of the Pattern?

What better way to get through the pattern itself then to use balefire?

 

 

I don't think that was balefire, but it WAS a balescream. A balescream is the name given to when the pattern is "screaming in pain, trying to right itself after a terrible blow" whatever they did tore a hole in the pattern to the DO himself... I would say that would have much the same damaging affect on the pattern as balefire does.

[DocBean]

A few things worth noting:

 

1. Rand wasn't using the Choedan Kal at anywhere near full power when he balefired Natrin's Barrow.

2. Brandon has pretty much confirmed the balefire theory, as I discussed in the Demandred FAQ article.

3. According to Steven Cooper, Perrin and Faile felt the ripples on separate days. That might or not be correct.

 

I still have a hard time believing that the three balescreams were not happening at the same time.

At least on the same day. If Perrin felt a second set 5 days later, then he should have felt the first one too, and would have mentioned it.

 

Perrin felt 3 balescreams, Faile felt 3 balescreams, they were not very far away from each other... If I were setting up a timeline, I'd think this is a much more solid event than crescent moons.

IF, they're 5 days apart, then there is no possible way they are coming all way way from Murandy.

If they can travel from Murandy to Malden, why would they stop between Malden and Perrin, that doesn't seem to fit.

If for some reason the first set stopped right before Perrin, then Faile would have mentioned the second set that would have passed through her too.

If it takes 5 days for the balescreams to travel a mile, then the characters should probably experience them for about an hour.

 

I'm sold on your theory that Demandred is King of Murandy; however, I think it doesn't make much sense for him to do so.

Why if you can get thousands of shadowspawn into Camelyn directly would you need to set up shop outside Camelyn?

Why would he want to be right between Camelyn, the Seanchan, and Illian? Sounds like you're just waiting to be hit from all directions.

I guess if you're an arrogant General then you'd be fine with enemies on all sides, but that seems like a bad move to me.

[DocBean]

 

I don't think that was balefire, but it WAS a balescream. A balescream is the name given to when the pattern is "screaming in pain, trying to right itself after a terrible blow" whatever they did tore a hole in the pattern to the DO himself... I would say that would have much the same damaging affect on the pattern as balefire does.

 

That's a good point.

 

We do see a big white ball hanging in the sky, so it's possible that it's a ball of Balefire.

However, it doesn't really sound like balefire, especially since we see a piece of white bust off, and I can't imagine balefire acting like a porcelain ball breaking into chunks.

[herid]

A few things worth noting:

 

1. Rand wasn't using the Choedan Kal at anywhere near full power when he balefired Natrin's Barrow.

2. Brandon has pretty much confirmed the balefire theory, as I discussed in the Demandred FAQ article.

3. According to Steven Cooper, Perrin and Faile felt the ripples on separate days. That might or not be correct.

 

I still have a hard time believing that the three balescreams were not happening at the same time.

as I said above Perrin's occurs late at night and Faile's early in the morning. That is true beyond any doubt. so they can not be the same events. I think Terez is quite right on this one. It's Demandred using balefire to unravel the pattern.

[Terez]

As I discussed in the article I linked, it's got to be pretty localized, perhaps even more so without the Choedan Kal.

 

One possibility is that Demandred was balefiring entire septs of Shaido. That's the only thing I can think of that might be close enough by for Perrin and Faile to feel it, unless it's nearby towns or villages (I got the impression that there pretty much weren't any after the Shaido came through). For Perrin to feel one set and Faile the other set, it would have had to have been very close by.

[Muad Cheade]

I'm not sure I buy into this theory. For one, Demandred wants to rule the world. Consistently using balefire would basically destroy the Pattern which is why there was an unofficial true in the War of Power: there's no point in fighting for the world when you're nearly destroying it with balefire. Only Moridin and the Dark One want the Pattern and reality to be unraveled, yet I believe the Dark One wants to be completely free when that happens.

 

I take the conversation between the Dark One and Demandred at Shayol Ghul as the Dark One testing to see if he would be willing to use the most drastic and devastating weave, which would hamper his long-term plans, in order to serve the Dark One's will.

 

Without more information though, we're merely making assumptions.

[Terez]

We do have more information, as noted above. Brandon thought we should study the theory, which is essentially a sideways confirmation of it. Demandred was reluctant to do it, but he would have done it on orders. Any of the Forsaken would have. It may be that only Moridin and his two pets are balefiring things, but the implication is that Demandred has been as well.

[Suttree]

I think the theory is pretty solid. My question is would Demandred the gambler that he is be willing to risk destroying the pattern to be named Nae'blis? Really wish we didn't have conflicting answers from RJ on this one as it all adds up pretty well.