Galad's role in aMoL

[herid]

I've been thinking about parallels between WoT and Arthurian myths (most are, of course, well known and rather obvious) and it occurred to me that Galad might have some rather interesting role to play based on that.

His most obvious parallel is, of course, sir Galahad but I think that he just might have some strange parallel to Mordred and I wonder how that can possibly play out. There are a number of other more obvious Mordreds in WoT, namely, Fain/Mordeth, Moridin and Demandred. Galad would seem to be an extremely unlikely Mordred. However, his last name is Damodred which is similar to Mordred. Moreover, as was recently discussed in another thread, the fact that Galad's last name is Damodred and not Trakand or Mantear is somewhat strange. There has to be a reason for it. Also, Mordred was a son of Morgawse and he had a brother (or half-brother) Gawain ( a well-known parallel to Gawyn). Lastly, Mordred had the hots for Guinevere (=Egwene) and Galad did too for a while. All this seems more than a little coincidental to me.

 

Now, I don't foresee Galad being any kind of traitor as Mordred was but maybe he will play a role in Rand's death somehow (maybe similar to Alivia in some way). I admit, it's very hard to see how as Galad has sworn to obey Perrin till the LB is over and I don't see him braking that oath.

 

Interestingly, he might also play a role in resurrecting Rand. Galahad healed the Fisher King at the end of the Grail Quest.

[LemonPastie]

What was the shadow prophecy

Blood calls blood?

 

might be another piece of the puzzle in Nynaeve is going to resurrect him 'normally' (not from TAR)

[Feral]

Those are some interesting thoughts... Would be nice to have Galad do something a bit more major than we've seen so far in the last book.

[Finnssss22]

Those are some interesting thoughts... Would be nice to have Galad do something a bit more major than we've seen so far in the last book.

 

 

Galad doesn't do interesting stuff, he just does what's right

[jwood01]

I thought Galad was jsut there to end the Berelein/Perrin/Faile triangle arc? #notserious

[Demiandre]

I hope Galad has an important role in AMoL. Since the first book, we hear that he only does what is right, and the more the story progress, the more he takes importance, till he becomes the leader of the Whitecloaks in KoD (even if we aren't really aware of this as of ToM IIRC).

 

If we think about the most common/most popular theory, there are the body swap, the resurrection, and the person helping him die. You can all link them to Galad. As stated above and just before in my post, Rand could switch body with Moridin, be killed by Galad and resurected with Galad's blood. (I like the theory about "blood calls blood" BTW).

 

Galad just ending Berelain/Perrin/Faile unilateral triangle is lame and useless. Faile's death could solve it just as rapidly (:D)

[yoniy0]

What is this, HP? You can't resurrect someone with blood, not in the WoTverse. The only conceivable way we came up with is the tel'aran'rhiod trick, and blood plays no part there, does it? Unless it's important for locating Rand, but I can't see how it would be. Once in TAR, Rand reverts back to his 'soul', no longer really connected to Galad at all (no more than LTT is, for example).

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

if he wrote it once he wrote it. . . lots. . galad will do what he thinks is right no matter who it hurts.

 

i'm expecting him to hurt someone important to the light. someone al'thorish.

[yoniy0]

Tam, do you mean?

Seriously, Galad appears to get past that to a degree, doesn't he? Morgase tried to help him realize that reality is messier than he might want to believe, and his judgement in Perrin's trial suggests he realized she's right.

[Feral]

Hmm maybe Galad just goes mad and decides to start doing everything wrong instead of right. Kinda like how Graendal's personality flipped to the opposite when she joined the DO. I can just imagine PoVs from people he's about to slaughter. Instead of worrying about death they'd be thinking about how he's too good looking for a man lol.

[herid]

What was the shadow prophecy

Blood calls blood?

 

might be another piece of the puzzle in Nynaeve is going to resurrect him 'normally' (not from TAR)

I never thought of that one. I don't like the idea of blood needing to resurrect Rand being anybody else's blood but his but who knows.

 

What is this, HP? You can't resurrect someone with blood, not in the WoTverse. The only conceivable way we came up with is the tel'aran'rhiod trick, and blood plays no part there, does it? Unless it's important for locating Rand, but I can't see how it would be. Once in TAR, Rand reverts back to his 'soul', no longer really connected to Galad at all (no more than LTT is, for example).

I would agree except for the prophecy "Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed.

Once for mourning, once for birth." That just might mean that Rand's blood will play a role in his resurrection somehow.

 

if he wrote it once he wrote it. . . lots. . galad will do what he thinks is right no matter who it hurts.

 

i'm expecting him to hurt someone important to the light. someone al'thorish.

yes, I thought of that too. Galad has changed somewhat in ToM but he may not have changed enough.

[Kal11]

Total darkfriend. He doesn't have ridiculous ethics and high ideals, he just knows how to build a good cover. The real sociopaths are the ones you don't expect.

[Kal11]

Very interesting parallels to Mordred though.

[Stitch]

His feelings for his biological mother and how Rand's birth meant that he was abandoned by his mother may prove an interesting stressor for Galad. If it is revealed will Galad be happy to have found a new half brother? We know he idolises his step mom but what does he feel about his own mother?

 

His approach to always doing the right thing might be a symptom of the loss, resentment and possibly hatred he feels towards his mother whom he may or may not know left him because it was the right thing to do (how old was he? old enough to perhaps recall the memory of her hasty departure?) Now, meeting the one whom his mother did the 'right thing' for (by abandoning Galad) what does that mean for his mother's actions and of his own way of life?

 

Personally I think it is more likely he would resent Rand for the loss of his own mother...

[Seaine Sedai]

His feelings for his biological mother and how Rand's birth meant that he was abandoned by his mother may prove an interesting stressor for Galad. If it is revealed will Galad be happy to have found a new half brother? We know he idolises his step mom but what does he feel about his own mother?

 

His approach to always doing the right thing might be a symptom of the loss, resentment and possibly hatred he feels towards his mother whom he may or may not know left him because it was the right thing to do (how old was he? old enough to perhaps recall the memory of her hasty departure?) Now, meeting the one whom his mother did the 'right thing' for (by abandoning Galad) what does that mean for his mother's actions and of his own way of life?

 

Personally I think it is more likely he would resent Rand for the loss of his own mother...

 

Funny I was just coming to the Galad part of the topic to say something about this. I wasn't thinking about Rand's relationship to Galad so much as Elayne's. I'm going through Leigh Butler's re-read of the series and I'm at the part where Elayne and Ny just found out Galad became a Whitecloak and Elayne has told Galad she will "think about" letting him escort her safely back to Caemlyn, then she tell Ny that they need to GTFO NOW because Galad always does what's right and he MIGHT decide that would be turning them in.

She then mentions to Thom Merrilin "You know how horrid he was as a little boy, he's ten times worse now" or something to that effect (it's not a direct quote).

I hadn't really thought about this before, BUT, poor Galad's mother left him when he was little boy, a very little boy. And apparently they were kind of close because Shaiel mentioned to the Aiel that she had a son she loved, but a husband she did not. Then Galad's father dies on him when he's STILL a little boy. And of course this after his dear old dad marries another woman and has 2 kids, so I'm really betting Galad felt a LOT left out at that point in his life. Some part of him probably believed that if he was REALLY REALLY GOOD and did everything he was supposed to that his mother would return, and it probably became so ingrained in him that it became a way of life. Galad's never really been a character I cared much for, either in a good or bad way. I mean we don't even get a POV of him until nearly the parts where BS started writing anyway, at which point I rather started to think Galad was a true badass because he pulls off a lot of things that Perrin has had to without even being Ta'Veren himself. (I'm specifcally mentioning where he keeps an entire battle from happening when he and Asunawa meet up again by just talking everyone down from it. Perrin has had to do this a few times but it seemed to be when being T'V is working in his favor)

Anyway, I can imagine growing up with no parents to speak of, although I think Elayne does mention once that she doesn't really remember her father because it seemed he was only really interested in Galad when he was still around, and yet having to live with the people that replaced you really does mean you have to find your place quicker than most people have to. My heart actually goes out to Galad now in the re-reads. I'm definitely glad to see that this late in the game Elayne stopped being a nasty bitch towards him (it was the one thing I really did not like about Elayne, how she refused to treat this guy like her brother because she apparently got in trouble so many times from him tattling on her and didn't get over herself with that).

 

I really am curious to how everyone will react to Rand announcing he's Tigraine's other son. And I'm almost betting Elayne might stop her bid for the throne in Cairhien to let Galad have a stab at it. He seems like one guy that wouldn't under any circumstances let the Great Game pull him under. If anything, he'd be the one person in the series I might count on to shame all the Cairhienin into stop playing because it just makes them foolish. Then again, it's also looking like he'll be the First Lord of Mayene at some point as well (or whatever they call the spouse of the First).

[Ananta]

Blood calls blood makes me think that Nynaeve will kill Galad to ressurrect Rand. And Galad, always doing the right thing, is willing to do it to save the world.

[David Selig]

I really am curious to how everyone will react to Rand announcing he's Tigraine's other son. And I'm almost betting Elayne might stop her bid for the throne in Cairhien to let Galad have a stab at it. He seems like one guy that wouldn't under any circumstances let the Great Game pull him under. If anything, he'd be the one person in the series I might count on to shame all the Cairhienin into stop playing because it just makes them foolish. Then again, it's also looking like he'll be the First Lord of Mayene at some point as well (or whatever they call the spouse of the First).

 

Elayne already a Queen of Cairhien, isn't she? After all she sat on the Sun Throne, ordered the mobilisation of the Cairhien armies and they were preparing coronation feast for her in her last PoV chapter of ToM. Too late to stop the claim, besides even if she has warmed up on Galad, no way she'd step aside for his sake, I don't see how Rand announcing Galad is his half-brother would change things in this respect. Plus nobody in Cairhien supports him for the Sun Throne as far as we know, and neither does Rand. Galad himself wouldn't want it anyway since it probably require to give up being Lord Captain Commander and he's committed to that.

 

Taringail died when Galad was already a teenager, BTW - he was born around 970 NE (Tigraine disappeared in 972 NE according to the Glossary), Elayne in 981 NE, and Taringail died a few years after that. I don't think Galad had that bad of a childhood - his mother's disappearance was certainly tough on him, but his stepmom loved him as her own children according to her thoughts, Gawyn really looked up to him, and Elayne was too young to cause problems for him.

[Clayden69]

i hope Galad does the right thing and chops off Gawyns head

[Sharaman]

Foreshadowing - Bornhald killing Byar? Will Galad do something similar and kill a comrade because it's the right thing.

[Seaine Sedai]

I really am curious to how everyone will react to Rand announcing he's Tigraine's other son. And I'm almost betting Elayne might stop her bid for the throne in Cairhien to let Galad have a stab at it. He seems like one guy that wouldn't under any circumstances let the Great Game pull him under. If anything, he'd be the one person in the series I might count on to shame all the Cairhienin into stop playing because it just makes them foolish. Then again, it's also looking like he'll be the First Lord of Mayene at some point as well (or whatever they call the spouse of the First).

 

Elayne already a Queen of Cairhien, isn't she? After all she sat on the Sun Throne, ordered the mobilisation of the Cairhien armies and they were preparing coronation feast for her in her last PoV chapter of ToM. Too late to stop the claim, besides even if she has warmed up on Galad, no way she'd step aside for his sake, I don't see how Rand announcing Galad is his half-brother would change things in this respect. Plus nobody in Cairhien supports him for the Sun Throne as far as we know, and neither does Rand. Galad himself wouldn't want it anyway since it probably require to give up being Lord Captain Commander and he's committed to that.

 

Taringail died when Galad was already a teenager, BTW - he was born around 970 NE (Tigraine disappeared in 972 NE according to the Glossary), Elayne in 981 NE, and Taringail died a few years after that. I don't think Galad had that bad of a childhood - his mother's disappearance was certainly tough on him, but his stepmom loved him as her own children according to her thoughts, Gawyn really looked up to him, and Elayne was too young to cause problems for him.

 

 

Yeah, I'd actually already forgotten about Elayne being Cairhien's queen already. I guess because in my mind that is too big of a responsibility for one person--Andor itself was in bad enough shape where she had to fight for what was rightfully hers, but Cairhien is a complete mess and has been basically since book 2 even despite Rand having Berelain and Dobraine take care of it for him for awhile. No one has been taking care of Cairhien for some time so it has to be an even worse mess. And I personally just think Galad would have a better claim to that throne, particularly since we've only heard of Cairhienin kings aside from Colavaere's brief usurping. I also get the feeling that if Elayne is to fix Cairhien she'd actually have to spend a lot of time there to do it because of all the scheming that goes on needs to be watched and curtailed. IF she did do that, I'm betting the Andorans would feel like their queen is putting her own true homeland behind a country they used to fight more often than not. This is what I mean by it being too big a responsibility for one person to hold both thrones.

Also, Galad does go by his Cairhienin name (unlike Elayne) and he is the older Damodred. Elayne had to be queen of Andor by virtue of being the only female Trakand, but it doesn't work that way in Cairhien. But whatever, Jordan's world, not mine so what I think in that case doesn't matter.

Thanks for the math on that for me, for some reason in my mind I had just never made Galad that much older than Elayne and Gawyn, particularly since Gawyn and Galad start their warder training at the same time.

Alright, so Galad didn't have a mommy for awhile when he was a little boy, which I still think might be the point in his life that made him have to be such a goody-goody. He had his dad until he was an adolescent, and a stepmom that loved him, granted. But it really wouldn't be a far stretch to say he's damaged from the abrupt changes that happened in his life at such young ages.

[randsc]

Galad has some very major role yet to play. I say this based on the theory of Chekhov's Gun. Galad was introduced early, keeps showing up, and hasn't done anything important.

[Clayden69]

Total darkfriend. He doesn't have ridiculous ethics and high ideals, he just knows how to build a good cover. The real sociopaths are the ones you don't expect.

 

 

yeah i got a sneaky feeling u might b right on that 1

[herid]

Blood calls blood makes me think that Nynaeve will kill Galad to ressurrect Rand. And Galad, always doing the right thing, is willing to do it to save the world.

care to elaborate? how would killing Galad help resurrect Rand? and why Nynaeve? As I mentioned above there are indications that Rand's blood (some think it will be Galad's blood) will play a role in Rand's resurrection but it has to happen in a way consitent with the rules of the WOT universe.

 

Generally, I'm still hoping for some ideas about how the formal parallels between Galad and Mordred can possibly play out. The only idea (which is pretty far fetched) I have is this.

King Arthur was killed by Mordred in the battle of Camlann. There are several obvious Mordreds running around who will have a hand in Rand's death. Moridin and Mordeth already gave him unhealable wounds which are pretty sure to play a role in this. Demandred (another Mordred) is set to do his thing (whatever it is) at the battle for Caemlyn. It seems to me that Galad who has some obvious formal parallels with Mordred should have a piece of Rand too. However, there doesn't seem to be any plot lines set up that would lead in that direction and I have a hard time seeing how it can actually happen.

Whatever it is it might actually tie in with Galad's parallel to Galahad who cured the Fisher King. Rand needs to die in order to survive the LB and killing him (and later resurrecting him) might be the only way to heal the unhealable wounds in his side and maybe also severing the link with Moridin.

[Entreri]

King Arthur/Rand's knights:

 

Sir Lancelot = Lan = greatest fighter of all the Knights, #1 blademaster of WoT.

 

Sir Gawain = Gawyne = "is often portrayed as a formidable but brash warrior", #3 blademaster of WoT.

 

Sir Galahad = Galad = Galahad is able to conquer all of his enemies because he is pure. Also described as having incredible battle prowess. Currenty #2 blademaster in WoT.

 

I suspect that Rand and Ishamael will nuke each other in AMoL and somebody will have to bring back Rand. We shall see...

[mb]

I thought Galad was jsut there to end the Berelein/Perrin/Faile triangle arc? #notserious

Actually, that could have been one of his roles.

 

 

Tarmon Gaidon, he possibly lead the Whitecloak forces and possibly also Mayene's.

Memory of Light, he might marry Berelain before Tarmon Gaidon.