Galad and Rand: SHOWDOWN...?

[Daruya]

Galad was Tigraine's son. Galad, Gawyn and Elayne all share a father. Galad and Rand share a mother.

 

When the Aiel were telling Rand of his mother, Shaiel (sp?), they told him she left behind a son she loved (Galad), and a husband she didn't (gah! drawing a blank on his name! But that's Galad, Gawyn, and Elayne's father).

 

Remember how Elayne kept saying that Galad was not her brother? That was because they had different mothers. :D

 

Here's a website that discusses the relationship: http://www.wotmania.com/faqtopic.asp?ID=14

[chuckievi]

First off aznprince001...you are an idiot, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. You stated they were half COUSINS, which they aren't... they are half brothers. Also you said that Rand and Galad share a father.... which again is WRONG, they share a MOTHER, making them half BROTHERS.

[TheDiceAgain...]

Actually, Tigraine Mantear was the Daughter-Heir of Andor and married to Taringail Damodred. Galad Damodred is their son.

 

She was in the White Tower as per the usual arrangement between Andor and the WT along with her brother Luc (now one half of the being known as Slayer)and was told by the Keeper of the Chronicles Gitara Moroso (the same one who had the Fortelling at Rand's birth and set Moiraine and Siaun on their search) that she must go to the Aiel Waste and become a Maiden of the Spear. She left for the Waste and became Shaiel and had a child (Rand) by Janduin, Clan-chief of the Taaraad Aiel. Luc went to the Blight and met Isam Mandragoran (Lan's cousin) and became Slayer(two entered, one returned, but both still are - the Dark Prophecy scrawled in blood on the walls of the prison in Fal Dara - The Great Hunt).

 

When Mordrellen (the Queen before Morgase) died, the lack of a Daughter-Heir touched off The Succession in Andor. Morgase Trakand was eventaully crowned and she married Tairingail to provide a link to the former royal family and cement her own rule. Gawyn and Elayne are their children.

 

Galad is Morgase's step-son and Rand's half-brother. This is a very well documented fact at this point in the series but just in case you wish to dispute it:

 

http://encyclopaedia-wot.org:8008/ewot/characters/t/tigraine.html

[Will al Seen]

yeah, rand and galad are half brother not cousins. And i wouldnt be too quick to assume he's powerless now. I mean, not " POWERless ", but physically. he'll probably learn the sword again with the one free hand as he said he will have to do and probably still end up pretty damn good at it i think.and lews therin was a master swordsmen too dont forget, actually i think somewhere it says he was one of the first to actually start the art of swordcraft or something wild like that, so that will aid rand big time i'd say

[ArieBombarie]

yeah' date=' rand and galad are half brother not cousins. And i wouldnt be too quick to assume he's powerless now. I mean, not " POWERless ", but physically. he'll probably learn the sword again with the one free hand as he said he will have to do and probably still end up pretty damn good at it i think.and lews therin was a master swordsmen too dont forget, actually i think somewhere it says he was one of the first to actually start the art of swordcraft or something wild like that, so that will aid rand big time i'd say[/quote']

 

maybe he can channel himself a hand of air ;) Likely the loss of his hand means that he is out of the swordman buisness, maybe just use his sword of fire that does not take a hand I guess.

 

Overall I am not to happy about him losing his hand.

[Gentled Ben]

I don't think that Rand will live long enough for the whole "Can he still fight with a sword" thing to matter, and if he does live, I think he'll live the rest of his life looking a lot like Moridin ( ), who, as far as we can tell, has two good hands.

[Phil_Megrim]

I( think that Rand will fight against Gawyn and kill him, thus incurring the anger of the Amryin Seat as in Elaida's Phophecy

[viking]

Rand lost his hand O_o man i really shudent have been reading here currently reading books 7 but i have read the first 9 books befor but that was some time ago

[Bob T Dwarf]

Kadere -

 

Galad on the other hand knows his step mother's alive, has decided to join with the Aes Sedai in the Last Battle, and is Rand's half brother. I can't see these two fighting over much of anything.

 

Given that Galad's whole justification for killing Valda was that Valda's actions had led to his step- mother's death, how is it that he now somehow knows Morgase isn't dead?

 

They haven't met. She has certainly not let anyone know who she really is. Faile doesn't know. Perrin doesn't know.

 

How did he come by this knowledge? Why would he not blame Rand for causing the conditions which led to her being in a position for Valda to kill? Galad thinks Morgase fled from Rand, not from Rahvin.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Galad does not know that his step-mother is alive. However, she is only a relatively short distance north of him, in the hands of one of Rand al'Thor's friends (who happens to be wanted by the Whitecloaks, and especially Byar, who happens to be fairly close to galad now). Lots of potential for chaos there.

[A Nightmares Nightmare]

On the note of Rand becoming a blademaster again, I doubt that it will happen. In my opinion, the whole point of him losing his hand was for him to rely more on the power.

However, on the unlikely chance that he does relearn the sword, it would be really awesome if he did something to his stub to help him fight... Like turn it into cuendillar and then use it as a shield :twisted:

[RobertAlexWillis]

He should get a pike grafted onto the stump, like Panamon Creel. Why, you ask? Because Panamon Creel is cool that's why!

[DemandredFO]

Will Al' Seen I think it was Lews Therin and Be'lal(forget his pre-forsaken name) who restarted the art of swordfighting.

[chuckievi]

He should get a pike grafted onto the stump, like Panamon Creel. Why, you ask? Because Panamon Creel is cool that's why!

 

 

lets get realistic here for a second. It TOTALLY needs to be a chainsaw..... so he can say "Hail to the king baby"... or better yet "Hail to the Dragon baby."

[Naudran Grimnir]

OK, wait a minute... I just found this on the WOTMania FAQ:

 

"Would Rand technically be a Blademaster since he killed the Seanchan Blademaster in The Great Hunt? Or is there more to being a Blademaster than that?

 

There's more to it than that."

 

and

 

Just how 'organized' is the institution of Blademastery, if we can call it that? I believe you hinted before that there's more to Blademastery than beating a Blademaster and taking his sword. And, how many Blademasters do you imagine exist in Randland at the time of the books? Just how rare is it?

 

First off...rarity. Fewer than 100 men in the nations that are spoken of in the book. It is a semi-formal thing that is normally one is chosen to become a Blademaster by other Blademasters. There's no real organization. IF you want to become a Blademaster, you have to find other Blademasters who are willing to acknowledge you as an equal.

 

Here is the link, it 3/4 from the bottom: http://www.wotmania.com/faqtopic.asp?ID=58

 

Has this somewhere been changed now? If not then technically Galad is not a Blademaster and neither is/was Rand...

[Voices of Reason]

It says in the prologue of KoD (the same time he talks about performing before 5 blademasters) that you can become a blademaster by defeating a blademaster in a fair one vs. one fight.

 

And btw, I disagree to the extreme with whoever said that Rand killed the Seanchan BM due to "sheer dumb luck". He completely owned the guy. He was losing until he attained the void. And then he just out-fought the guy. True the Seanchan underestimated Rand at first, but that still has nothing to do with luck.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Valda had not gained the heron-mark sword by favoritism. Five blademasters had sat in judgement of his skills and voted unanimously to grant him the title. The vote always had to be unanimous. The only other way was to kill the bearere of a heron-mark blade in fair combat, one on one.

 

(Knife of Dreams, p. 23, prologue Embers Falling on Dry Grass)

 

That's Galad's POV, and Galad wouldn't lie even in his subconscious thought stream.

 

Rand did truly defeat High Lord Turak in The Great Hunt. Turak played with him until he assumed the Void, and then Turak was simply beaten. Saying Rand "owned" him is a bit of an exaggeration, but Rand definitely won. By that definition, Rand is a blademaster, as is Galad. Both duels were one-on-one, and both resulted in a clear victory (one dead, one not, nothing but blades used).

[Naudran Grimnir]

Thanks, I found the passage, Page 23, Ember Falling on Dry Grass, KOD:

 

Galad thinking of Valda:

 

Five blademasters had sat in judgement of his skills and voted unanimously to grant him the title. The vote always had to be unanimous. The only other way was to kill the bearer of a heron-mark blade in fair combat, one on one.

 

What is interesting is that those quotes on my previous quote are replies from RJ... makes one wonder if he changed his mind.

[Naudran Grimnir]

Lol.. .posted the same time as Robert

[gak]

this is one showdown that i dont think is going to be epic in anyway... and if it came to a fight... since rand has lost a hand wouldnt it be easier to for rand to hold galad down with sadin until he calms himself down

[Naudran Grimnir]

Quotes from WoT Mania FAQ, questions RJ answered:

 

Quote:

 

"Would Rand technically be a Blademaster since he killed the Seanchan Blademaster in The Great Hunt? Or is there more to being a Blademaster than that?

 

There's more to it than that."

 

and

 

Quote:

 

Just how 'organized' is the institution of Blademastery, if we can call it that? I believe you hinted before that there's more to Blademastery than beating a Blademaster and taking his sword. And, how many Blademasters do you imagine exist in Randland at the time of the books? Just how rare is it?

 

First off...rarity. Fewer than 100 men in the nations that are spoken of in the book. It is a semi-formal thing that is normally one is chosen to become a Blademaster by other Blademasters. There's no real organization. IF you want to become a Blademaster, you have to find other Blademasters who are willing to acknowledge you as an equal.

 

Quote from KOD:

 

Valda had not gained the heron-mark sword by favoritism. Five blademasters had sat in judgement of his skills and voted unanimously to grant him the title. The vote always had to be unanimous. The only other way was to kill the bearere of a heron-mark blade in fair combat, one on one.

 

 

(Knife of Dreams, p. 23, prologue Embers Falling on Dry Grass)

 

That's Galad's POV, and Galad wouldn't lie even in his subconscious thought stream.

 

 

Ok, so here we have 3 quotes. 2 states that you can't become a blademaster from killing another blademaster. The other states differently. How can this be? Which one is true?

 

We've seen in many parts of the books that what a character believes is true, doesn't necessarily make it true. Could this be the case? Could Galad be wrong in that statement? Or could RJ have made a mistake?

 

I really think the only way to get this sorted out is to ask RJ at one of is Q & A's. But because of the different statements made here, I'll have to go with the "Galad believes wrong".

 

As such, I still don't believe that killing a blademaster automatically makes you a blademaster.

And until such a time as someone has come out and either proved me wrong, I'll have to stick with it. ;)

[RobertAlexWillis]

Which one is true?

 

The published books trump interview answers. Interview answers have been subject to corrections and amendments, based on things subsequently published in the books. Since the Galad POV was deliberately published in the most recent official book, it is what I regard as Jordan's latest, most accurate definition.

 

This is just my opinion, but it answers the question of how to deal with seemingly conflicting, or possibly misunderstood author's statements in or out of context. When he gives an interview answer, it is off the top of his head. When he publishes something in the book, he's been over it multiple times, with the assistance of others. The published books have to be regarded as more reliable.

 

In my opinion.

 

 

All that said, your argument here ...

 

We've seen in many parts of the books that what a character believes is true, doesn't necessarily make it true.

 

... raises a valid possibility ... however, the actions of the other Whitecloaks in retrieving and giving Galad the sword says that if he is wrong, they all share the same misconception. Possible, but less likely.

[Naudran Grimnir]

That could indeed be true. But could the "giving of the sword" not also be related to what Valda said earlier?

 

If that one tries to refuse, his belongings and rank forfeit to his accuser as the law states.

 

(Knife of Dreams, p. 19, prologue Embers Falling on Dry Grass)

 

Now we saw upon Galads victory, the other Whitecloaks already starts to call him Lord Captain Commander. He is now the leader of the Whitecloaks. Upon Galad's victory, Valda forfeited his rank and his belongings (of which Valda's sword is among those).

[Bob T Dwarf]

I think Jordan's statement is correct in the context of, "How is one formally annointed as a Blademaster?"

 

In parlous times, and these are indeed parlous times, I would guess the formalities are rather overlooked. When two guys faceoff over drawn blades, there really isn't time to convoke a formal conclave of The Brotherhood of Blademasters and confer status based on points scored.

 

If you're good enough to kill a Blademaster, you are automatically a Blademaster as a result. You take his blade to formalize your claim later, when time and circumstance permit formalities.

[teehee]

back to the subject of rand's hand. in book 4 Nynaeve says "Healing stilling or getling is as impossisible as Healing a hand that has been utterly destroyed" (or something like that) and since Nynaeve has Healed Severing don't you think that was a hint from RJ that rand will get his hand bak!?