Faile in The Dragon Reborn.

[Magicana]

I was just re-reading the series for the umpteenth time, and I am a little perplexed at Faile. When they find the darkhound prints, and she finds out, her reaction is far from what it should have been. She spoke of Old Grim on the hunt, Fetches, etc, as if they were a fanciful tale. She is Saladean. She should know all too well what Myrddraal are. She should know about darkhounds, etc. Why didn't she?

[Bob T Dwarf]

There's a lot about the whole Bashere clan that doesn't add up.

 

It seems apparent to me that all Faile has ever done is ( consciously or not ) serve to distance Perrin from Rand. I'm afraid that when things get really tough, Perrin is going to have some very hard choices to make regarding his wife.

 

Even in the Borderlands, encounters with Myrddraal would be rare and largely a matter of legend. Darkhounds are even more rarely seen or encountered. It's conceivable that she would have no personal knowledge of either.

 

Remember, she became a Hunter for the Horn largely to escape the confining circumstances of her social class that kept her isolated from the real world. She'd had training etc. but little real experience with the nastier side of life. So, the reaction you cite doesn't strike me as all that unusual for her level of real-world experience.

[Jeppit Groccin]

My best guess would be that the Darkhounds aren't seen much anywhere. Sure she knows of Myrdraal and Trollocs and the like, and Fetches are simply another name for Myrdraal, a regional name.

 

The Darkhounds are extremely rare though, they only appear when the DO is becoming exceedingly strong, when he is close to breaking free, from what I gather.

[rd2000]

In many boderland cities, No one is allowed to conceal their faces, so fades can't travel around in public. This tells us that Mydraal are common enough that most if not everyone knows what to look for.

[Bob T Dwarf]

It tells us that everyone has heard stories. That doesn't mean that anyone who has not personally encountered a Fade really believes they exist.

 

How much of all the things your parents told you did you really believe until you'd had a good bit of experience out in the real world?

[RobertAlexWillis]

Um ... things that send your parents off to war in the Blight and kill your brothers are usually pretty well accepted as real.

[Bob T Dwarf]

Trollocs, sure. Eyeless things that step out of shadows and eat little children? Kinda farfetched.

 

You might be smart enough to take precautions, but you'd never actually expect to encounter one. Kids in Randland probably think there are monsters under the bed too. And, just like here their parents have to deal with that in ways that let everybody get some sleep. The messages are always mixed and the kids almost never believe everything they should.

 

BTW, since it's dark under the bed, how can any of us be sure there isn't a Myrddraal under there?

 

:lol:

[RobertAlexWillis]

Eyeless things that step out of shadows and eat little children? Kinda farfetched.

 

Except when they are REAL. Which in the story (which is the real world for Faile) they are.

 

I'm sorry, but that just seems absurd to me. Did she assume that her father was lying when he said that Myrdraal were real? I don't think he only told her about them in the bedtime story sense, since he certainly knows they are not bedtime stories. The Trolloc raids are often led personally by Myrdraal. Odds are she had seen a Myrdraal, or at least a cadaver of one, before she ever came south.

 

In a fantasy story, things that are not real in this world, are actually real. So, for the characters in the book, assuming that they would treat those stories the way we would if a Wal-Mart greeter told them to us is just plain absurd.

[yolindamo]

I keep a myddraal under my bed just for any dark emergencies that may come up.

[Bob T Dwarf]

Sometimes a horse is just a horse, and sometimes a young inexperienced woman is just a young inexperienced woman.

[chuckievi]

That true Bob, but shes also a "young inexperienced woman" who is third in line for the throne of a MAJOR borderland country.... no way she is THAT unexperienced.

[Naudran Grimnir]

I can believe it from someone that lives in the south of Randland. I mean, none of the Emond Fielders really believed in Trollocs and Myrdraal, until that fateful night.

 

She on the other hans lives in one of the Borderlands. They see Trolloc & Myrdraal action on a regular basis. If you remember in tEotW, the raids went quite far into the Borderlands that whole winter. It's a part of their lives.

 

Also her father is the main General of the Saldean army. He would have told her what is what, since he raised her like one of his sons.

 

Given that, she knows what Trollocs looks like, she knows what Myrdraal looks like.

[Bob T Dwarf]

Nobody who hasn't seen one knows what a Myrrdraal looks like.

 

Descriptions can't convey reality. At best they can give you a general idea about things.

 

Remember the old story about the blind men and the elephant? During the American Civil War, one of the first things the greenhorns wanted to know from the vets was, "Have you seen the elephant?" Meaning have they experienced actual combat? Many of those soldiers were farmboys. Some were frontiersmen. They'd hunted. They'd either been in or heard about nearby skirmishes with Indians. They weren't inexperienced. They were just smart enough to know how much they didn't know and want to learn as much as they could before they had to face it themselves. Even though they knew the descriptions would not convey the reality.

 

Not everybody ( especially in this series of books ) is as smart as an illiterate backwoods kid from Michigan, Minnesota, or Alabama.

[chuckievi]

I don't know why you gotta hate on Minnesota, one of the best school systems in the country.

 

But anywho, you are still avoiding the fact that shes royalty in this country, and although she is sheltered, she is not cloistered in a room with padded walls that she can't see out of. Saldean women go with their husbands to war, as evidenced by the pack of them in Andor, which means that being a generals daughter, and in the line of rule for the country she is going to have a better than average education.

[Bob T Dwarf]

Yes she is. And, I aint hatin on Minnesota. It's just that in the 1860's it was VERY backwoods and the people who lived there weren't all that edjumicated. Today it does have an excellent school system, wonderful roads, and terrific people.

 

Being edjucated is not being experienced. Hearing the stories, maybe even believing the stories is not the same as being there and experiencing it yourself.

 

Faile has a very high opinion of herself. I don't think she feels that anything could phase her. Which makes her young and foolish, not necessarily sinister.

 

Knowing things in your head is not nearly the same as knowing them in your gut.

 

Now, I believe that Faile is a minor baddie. But not because of this.

[Magicana]

(After reading some of the above posts)

 

If you live in the Borderlands, and not far from the blight, and your country was constantly raided by forces from the blight... how could you not know of Myrddraal? I will quote the exact passage of what she said.

 

"'Are you telling me Nieda was right?' Zarine demanded in a shaky voice. 'Old Grim is really riding with the wild hunt? Light! I thought that was just a story'"

 

And a little down the page

 

"Now you bring Fetches into it"

[TaeaDawn]

The one thing I always got from Faile and her story was that she was protected by her family, very sheltered. Now, there's no real way to hide Trollocs and what they do, but if you wanted to protect your only daughter... why WOULD you tell her the horrors of Fetches? Just let her know the trollocs will gobble up people. No need to tell her that Daddy is scared spineless when the Fetch meets his eyes (as everyone is) and that they are as bad as all the stories say they are. Nope, much better to leave that part out.

 

Just a thought anyway :P

 

[RobertAlexWillis]

"'Are you telling me Nieda was right?' Zarine demanded in a shaky voice. 'Old Grim is really riding with the wild hunt? Light! I thought that was just a story'"

 

It is entirely possible that Faile thought that Darkhounds were a story, as they are not common even along the Blight. But Myrdraal are a different case. When "Fetches" were brought into it, she did not diplay the same credulousness as with the Darkhounds, just an increase of nervousness. She says,

"Now you bring Fetches into it"

She knew what Myrdraal were and what they were capable of. She doesn't say "You mean Fetches are real too?!"

 

Now, there's no real way to hide Trollocs and what they do, but if you wanted to protect your only daughter... why WOULD you tell her the horrors of Fetches?

 

Because your daughter is your heir, and she will be responsible for protecting your people from them. Not in the sense of fighting with the army, certainly, but to make informed decisions about how to use her estates' resources, she'll need to know what her armsmen face.

[Bob T Dwarf]

That might be the common sense way in which you or I would approach the problem if we were one of her parents. Since when has any character in any of these books displayed an ounce of common sense?

 

Given all the other nonsensical things that have gone on in these books, I can readily believe that she was sheltered from this particular reality.

[Voices of Reason]

Could Faile have possibly been acting naive when she had that conversation with Perrin just to ensure her past could not be traced to anywhere near Saldea? If she is trying to keep her identity secret (which she was) it might not be to bad an idea to act like an ignorant country girl when it comes to such nightmarish things. She would look a little suspicious if she let on like she already knew about shadowspawn while claiming to be southern farmer's daughter.

[aznprince001]

Seeing Faile now the wife of Perrin, she has to have seen some dang freeky things. When perrin was being attacked by his own axe, she helped fight it off kinda.

 

If that is real (in the story) then alot of things are...

[Jellybelly]

Since when has any character in any of these books displayed an ounce of common sense?

 

Given all the other nonsensical things that have gone on in these books' date=' I can readily believe that she was sheltered from this particular reality.[/quote']

 

Oh, come on. That argument is not even worth the virtual ink it is written with. I would be willing to bet that most of the "nonsensical" things that have occurred only seem so to you, personally. Rand not being willing to balefire a human being just to get his hand back, for example.

[Bob T Dwarf]

Not at all. Now, if he truly were as crazy as most here think he is, that is exactly what he'd do.

 

Semirhage's value as an intelligence asset far outweighs the loss of his hand. Shield her. Turn her over to Cadsuane and the Wise Ones. But killing her out-of-hand, not very sensible.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Now, if he truly were as crazy as most here think he is, that is exactly what he'd do.

 

You're making gross assumptions about Rand's insanity. Part of his insanity is an inability to hurt women (which you yourself pointed out in another thread), which Semirhage definitely is, derived from pathological guilt over his split soul's actions leading to the death of various women, mostly (at this point) Moiraine and Ilyena. His insanity makes it impossible for him to seriously contemplate balefiring Semirhage.

[Bob T Dwarf]

Rand's a hick from the sticks with overly romantic notions about women. He's not alone in that. His inability to knowingly kill a woman constitues a personal quirk, not insanity.

 

There are people who always put on their left shoe first. Does that make them insane, too? No, it's just something they do without even thinking about it. Another personal quirk.