Alanna & Rand & The Bond in AMOL

[Cat-Sister]

While doing my re-read, I can't help but think that Alanna having bonded Rand earlier in the books won't have more significance before the end. I was wondering if anyone has any theories about why the bonding ever happened, as it would seem unlikely RJ would just have thrown it in there for no major reason...perhaps the wheel wove this in the pattern for a higher purpose? AND if for a reason, is the reason in helping the light or the dark side?

[Cat-Sister]

MY APOLOGIES - I posted this in the wrong thread...I am gonna re-post this in the spoiler section...

SOOORRRYYY

[Cat-Sister]

(I don'tknow if this is actually a spoiler thread, but I DID intend to post this in the general discussions...)

[Luckers]

This belongs here. It's aMoL speculation. Spoilers are fine, just not a Memory of Light spoilers, when they come to exist.

[Pinzarn]

Rand is the only person that is bonded by more than one person. He has four bond holders.

 

My opinion is that Alanna will have a grand moment and will somehow die via the bond instead of Rand. As in Rand dies, but Alanna will transfer her life force through the bond; therefore, sacrificing herself to save Rand. While nothing in the books really points to that this can be done, I wouldn't put it past Alanna as something that Verin told her or something she dug up in her travels. The unauthorized bonding is too significant just to be a red herring, and has been around for too long just to forget about.

[OptimusPrime]

While doing my re-read, I can't help but think that Alanna having bonded Rand earlier in the books won't have more significance before the end. I was wondering if anyone has any theories about why the bonding ever happened, as it would seem unlikely RJ would just have thrown it in there for no major reason...perhaps the wheel wove this in the pattern for a higher purpose? AND if for a reason, is the reason in helping the light or the dark side?

 

So I think the Forsaken-possibly Graendal-will declare Alanna as a high priority target because of the bond. I reckon Moiraines role is to either force Alanna to pass her the bond before she dies in order to protect Rand, or to deal with Dark Rand once the bond snaps. Im hoping for the latter.

 

Basically, Rand is bonded to people, its got to be used against him, but it cant be any of his three wives, Narg forbid any harm to come their way (mumble mumble Moridin to kill Min) so Alanna naturally becomes the one who dies or is used against him.

[spoke]

But the bond has already come into play before.

 

Verin, probably following orders, induced a sister to bond Rand (she couldn't do it herself since she was 'brown'), therefore further driving a wedge between the White Tower and Rand. The Dark One has been orchestrating wars between humankind in order to weaken them and further divide them so that they are easy pickings when the time is ripe for the last battle, and to distract Rand from what he really needs to do.

[Sharaman]

Ok -recap.

Some 25+ days before Rand's timeline ends in the Field of Merrilor, Alanna rushes off to the Borderlands, probably her home-nation of Arafel. This roughly coincides with a massive invasion of the entire Borderland and the next we hear, large chunks of the Borderlands have been overwhelmed according to the eyes and ears of craven AS who don't even consider Travelling there to help repel the invaders.

Rand felt her leave and he knows very roughly, which direction she's gone in, and how far off she is.

The Darkside obviously knows about the Bond - Verin, Elza, xx (Ferane?? the third Black who was around Cadsuane's group)- all know about it. So do the WOs.

If she'd popped it, or been captured and tortured, he would have felt something, for sure.

She is therefore, alive and probably in reasonable health but she may not be a free agent.

 

He might not feel anything if she's 13x13-ed. Or he may.

We don't know since the only AS we've seen who seems to be 13x13-ed is a Red without warders.

Ditto about Compulsion. Rand may not pick it up - he's used to the fact that Alanna's a moody, difficult woman anyway so he won't respond to any emotions short of gross distress/ trauma.

 

I agree there should be some plot point to Alanna bonding Rand.

Plotlines have to reconcile the above info.

Some plot possibilities - not mutually exclusive and certainly not exhaustive

a) She has been captured by the Shadow or she was Black Ajah anyway.

b) She has been turned 13x13 / Compelled

c) She's going to be a last ditch weapon for the Dark and will not be maltreated until necessary. If Rand looks like he's going to get away with sealing GLoD off, Alanna will be killed or tortured, to put him off his stride. This might not work - warder rage may not be the same when a saidin channeler is the warder; Rand's other bonds might protect him. Also it might have an unpredictable effect on Moridin but that wouldn't stop Demandred, for instance, if he controls Alanna.

d) She's going to be the Shadow's spy inside Rand's head. This is unlikely to be very effective. They don't get too much emotional feedback from each other. But she can tell approximately where he is, which may be useful tactically.

e) Something whacky like getting Alanna to imitate Cyndane in his dreams or simply using her to get into his dreams and drive him nuts.

f) Light knows what. Or GloD does.

[chuckievi]

Or the bond has already played the role it was intended for, lending warder strength to Rand to survive the beatings + box treatment and allowing Alanna to lead P-money to Rand to help save him. Not that it can't have more relevance in AMOL, but my point being it doesn't HAVE to; it already had a significant role.

[Kaveman26]

I think Nynaeve's scene in ToM wherein she makes Myrelle pass the bond and Lan's later uncertainty is a big fat foreshadowing. Alanna can give that bond to whomever she feels like, and Rand may be able to tell the difference and he may not. Just for giggles lets say Verin was in the employ of Lanfear and somehow compelled Alanna to bond Rand. Alanna later transfers that bond to Cyndane/Lanfear who is Moridin's puppet. Could that be what allowed Cyndane to enter Rand's dream? Is the desire and yearning to help her part of the warder bond seeping through? For a long time the whole Rand/Moridin melding has been attributed to the crossed balefire, what if it actually a symptom of Moridin holding the mindcage of someone that is warder bonded to Rand?

[yoniy0]

I doubt she'd be used to locate him. They don't need her for that, as Rand notes himself. It's very hard to miss a ring of sunlight several miles wide. I'm pretty sure the DO's fixed on Rand, and will remain so until the end.

[Sharaman]

Speed --- every time Rand Travels, that ray skitters around but it might take a while before local DFs raise the alarm.

If the Shadow knows immediately when he changes location, it might make a difference.

There's all the chime alarm stuff that AoL channelers used as a courtesy when Travelling.

It could be modified to give alarms - That is Rand jumps West (for example) and alarms chime in every Western DF stronghold. Could have saved Halima if something like that had been in use.

Anyway it's only one of many possible ways to use Alanna, assuming she has been captured/ turned.

[Guest Primus]

The bond gives the warder extra endurance, the ability to withstand wounds, as well as the ability to sense shadow spawn. I am sure that Rand is constantly useing all of these benefits. Does being bonded by 4 women help increase these benefits? I believe there is some sort of added benefit from multiple bondings. Rand has been going nonstop for years, and there was a time when he was only bonded to Alanna. Plus there are the wounds in his side that the bond is likely helping with. As far as what the bond with Alanna still has to play in it, she could be part of what keeps Rand from going berserk if 1 of his girlfriends dies.

[yoniy0]

Well, he could sense Shadowspawn before that through his own OP ability, but your point stands. It's a good thing he was Bonded during ACoS.

[Shalon Casbin]

i am surprised no one has brought this up yet.

 

Verin, in the beginning, and recapped in ToM, warns Perrin and Matt not to trust Alanna, and that she frequently disappeared without reason to places no one knew.

 

Now we know Verin was Black, but we also know her sacrifice and why she did go to the Dark One. Could she not have warned the boys about trusting her, because Alanna was Black as well? Or has there been proof of Alanna's side in the series between then and now? I can't recall any really.

 

If Alanna is Black, it would explain her fleeing to the north, to Borderland nations that we see in previous chapters begin being over run by shadow-spawn. It may also explain why one of the Aes Sedai said lately they had heard Alanna crying in her rooms before escaping the Stone of Tear.

 

If you recall, that is when Rand returns with the ability to see Darkfriends for what they are. It makes her exit seem all the more timley and planned. Perhaps she will be used against Rand, as killing her would hurt him through the bond?

[Luckers]

Verin warned Perrin about Alanna because Alanna was thinking about bonding him, as she later did Rand.

 

"They all should have been bonded at the first chance. They are too important to run loose, him most of all." Color blossomed suddenly in her cheeks; it would be a good while yet before she had full control of her emotions again.

 

Verin knew what caused the blushes; Alanna had let her tpngue run away with her. They had had Perrin under their eyes for long weeks while testing young women in the Two Rivers, but Alanna had quickly gone silent on the subject of bonding him. The reason was as simple as a heated promise from Faile— delivered well out of Perrin's hearing—that if Alanna did any such thing, she would not leave the Two Rivers alive. Had Faile known more of the bond between Aes Sedai and Gaidin, that threat would not have worked, yet her ignorance if nothing else had stayed Alanna's hand.

[Shalon Casbin]

Yes, that is true. But it doesn't explain why Alanna's need to disappear frequently without explanation has been being foreshadowed since that book, and continues now in ToM with her flight to the borderlands.

[knutz]

Yes, that is true. But it doesn't explain why Alanna's need to disappear frequently without explanation has been being foreshadowed since that book, and continues now in ToM with her flight to the borderlands.

 

How often dod Morraine tell any Aes Sedai what she was up to? Or Verin?

This is normal.

[Shalon Casbin]

You're right.

 

Which is why i wonder why they take the care to point it out.

[knutz]

You're right.

 

Which is why i wonder why they take the care to point it out.

 

Could also be as simple as Aes Sedai enjoy nothing more than complaining about other Aes Sedai

[Sleeper]

I was just reading TPoD and I came across a passage that I thought might hint at what will happen. I dunno, it just stood out to me because I was thinking about the subject of this topic earlier.

 

"The bond does not work in that fashion," she said. "If you kill her, he will die, then or soon after."

 

That was between Cadsuane and Sorilea.

 

Maybe Alanna will die in AMoL which will lead to Rand dying in some way, as has been speculated will happen to him.

[David Selig]

Speaking of this, I found it quite weird that when Alanna disappeared in ToM, everyone was worried only that she may be used to find Rand. What about if she is killed or tortured? Especially given that Cadsuane and Nynaeve don't know about the triple bond between Rand and his girlfriends which may help prevent him from going into Warder suicidal rage if Alanna dies.

[Sharaman]

Cadsuane knows about the bond with Min.

[DocBean]

I don't believe the bond itself is what causes the Warder Rage, at least not completely.

It seems to me that it's just a natural tendency for anyone to want death when that person has learned of a great loss.

Magnify that with the bond and sense of honor that Warders feel, and it's probably too much for them to overcome.

 

It seems to me that any Warder would go into a rage because of the close relationship they share with their Aes Sedai.

They are a part of one another, and all but Rand have come together willingly.

What if the Aes Sedai and Warder aren't close at all? The depression wouldn't be nearly as strong.

 

Lan survived even though he thought Moraine was dead, partially because his bond was already passed on to another, partially because his sense of duty drove him to seek her out.

He was greatly affected, but at the same time he was VERY close with Moiraine.

When Moiraine passed the bond, she used an Aes Sedai that had saved other Warders in the past, so we know it's possible to survive.

If anyone is going to survive it's going to be Rand who has 3 other bonds, and no emotional connection to Alanna.

 

Rand would feel her die, but I don't think he would rage. He's not close to her emotionally, which is what I believe leads to the Wader rage.

[yoniy0]

It wasn't Lan's sense of duty. He was compelled to seek her in the way that AS can do with their Warders. Moiraine's told him that he would be beforehand.