Verin's Letter

[Thor]

I am reading ToM at chap 8 right now and I am betting that Verin's letter is completely blank!

 

It is to keep Mat at Caemlyn for long enough!

[capuga]

I am reading ToM at chap 8 right now and I am betting that Verin's letter is completely blank!

 

It is to keep Mat at Caemlyn for long enough!

 

Always fun to post your theories and then see how they turn out. You'll have to wait awhile to find out if you're right about this one.

[CosmicBob]

-- Spoiler for the original poster - watch out!! --

 

 

 

The letter bugged me to no end. If it was so all-fired important that the gateway in Caemlyn be sealed up, why put it in a letter and tell Mat not to open it? Makes no sense, tell Elayne or Rand or someone RIGHT AWAY! It can't hurt to seal it prior to the actual attack.

 

And now the armies are gone and trollocs are everywhere! It was a bad way to communicate the problem.

 

 

Fixed the spoiler. Thanks!

[Phelix]

 

-- Spoiler for the original poster - watch out!! --

 

 

The letter bugged me to no end. If it was so all-fired important that the gateway in Caemlyn be sealed up, why put it in a letter and tell Mat not to open it? Makes no sense, tell Elayne or Rand or someone RIGHT AWAY! It can't hurt to seal it prior to the actual attack.

 

And now the armies are gone and trollocs are everywhere! It was a bad way to communicate the problem.

 

Um... remember, Verin swore an Oath on the Rod not to betray the DO or any of the BA plans until the hour of her death. She gave explicit instructions that Mat not open it until X date, knowing he could only wait a handful of days... which would still be after she was dead. If she'd survived, she would have come back and dealt with it personally.

 

She couldn't just give it to Rand or Elayne, or even Mat. Her Oath would have stopped her.

 

 

 

Also, I hid that all behind a spoiler thing, so as not to ruin it for the Original Poster.

[CosmicBob]

 

-- Spoiler for the original poster - watch out!! --

 

 

The letter bugged me to no end. If it was so all-fired important that the gateway in Caemlyn be sealed up, why put it in a letter and tell Mat not to open it? Makes no sense, tell Elayne or Rand or someone RIGHT AWAY! It can't hurt to seal it prior to the actual attack.

 

And now the armies are gone and trollocs are everywhere! It was a bad way to communicate the problem.

 

Um... remember, Verin swore an Oath on the Rod not to betray the DO or any of the BA plans until the hour of her death. She gave explicit instructions that Mat not open it until X date, knowing he could only wait a handful of days... which would still be after she was dead. If she'd survived, she would have come back and dealt with it personally.

 

She couldn't just give it to Rand or Elayne, or even Mat. Her Oath would have stopped her.

 

 

 

Also, I hid that all behind a spoiler thing, so as not to ruin it for the Original Poster.

 

Here's my spoilery response:

 

 

Quite right. But I still think that it relied too much on Mat opening the letter. It seemed a very convoluted way to go about things. If she had said 3 days instead of 30, it would have made more sense, since she knew the attack was coming in a month (or so).

 

But it does make for a more exciting start to the next book!

 

[herid]

Verin was constrained by the Black Ajah oaths that she explained to Egwene in tGS. that's why all the song and dance with the letter. she had to make very sure that she would not be revealing any secrets to Mat until after her death. She also wanted to make sure that Mat would do as the letter said. Perhaps she should have trusted his judgment and simply asked him to read the letter with no promises of action on his part. But she didn't know him all that well (as evidenced by the content of the letter) and what she did know of him probably suggested to her that he might not do what she wanted.

[Phelix]

 

-- Spoiler for the original poster - watch out!! --

 

 

The letter bugged me to no end. If it was so all-fired important that the gateway in Caemlyn be sealed up, why put it in a letter and tell Mat not to open it? Makes no sense, tell Elayne or Rand or someone RIGHT AWAY! It can't hurt to seal it prior to the actual attack.

 

And now the armies are gone and trollocs are everywhere! It was a bad way to communicate the problem.

 

Um... remember, Verin swore an Oath on the Rod not to betray the DO or any of the BA plans until the hour of her death. She gave explicit instructions that Mat not open it until X date, knowing he could only wait a handful of days... which would still be after she was dead. If she'd survived, she would have come back and dealt with it personally.

 

She couldn't just give it to Rand or Elayne, or even Mat. Her Oath would have stopped her.

 

 

 

Also, I hid that all behind a spoiler thing, so as not to ruin it for the Original Poster.

 

Here's my spoilery response:

 

 

Quite right. But I still think that it relied too much on Mat opening the letter. It seemed a very convoluted way to go about things. If she had said 3 days instead of 30, it would have made more sense, since she knew the attack was coming in a month (or so).

 

But it does make for a more exciting start to the next book!

 

 

 

And my equally spoilery response:

 

 

Verin assumed she knew Mat well enough to judge that he would open the letter within a handful of days. She even said in her letter that he probably didn't last 4 days. She didn't account for the facts that A) Mat loathes being used/manipulated and B) Mat really had somewhere else to be, somewhere he'd promised to be. If Mat didn't have anywhere else to be, anything else on his mind... she'd have been right, probably. He would have opened the letter and known what she was talking about... but because she didn't account for his promises and because she tried to manipulate him, it didn't go according to her plans.

 

[Thor]

Ok right, so that was a stupid bunch of mess. I guess we'll see how powerful Moiraine is, if she is going to Caemlyn.

[PNWBlue]

 

 

My guess is is that Verin's letter tells Mat where the Horn is. Only Siuan and Verin supposedly know where it is correct? With Siuan firmly entrenched on Egwene as Amyrlin.

 

 

[Phelix]

 

 

My guess is is that Verin's letter tells Mat where the Horn is. Only Siuan and Verin supposedly know where it is correct? With Siuan firmly entrenched on Egwene as Amyrlin.

 

 

 

 

 

But we don't need to guess. Olver read Verin's letter, so the reader got to read it too. It told Mat that there was a Shadowspawn army coming through the Ways to destroy Caemlyn. Unless I missed something else?

 

[Thor]

The army is already there, stop being so mysterious!

 

Like I said, Verin made a mess of it.

[htarcan]

I think Phelix's fist post clarified verin's restrictions well enough.

and it was fun to see the spoiler thing becoming an epic fail in this threat