Interesting passage from PoD

[Kal11]

So was flipping through PoD yesterday and came across this in the chapter where Cyndane and Moghedien visit Graendal (page 289 in the PB edition). "He would ride horses to death to reach Ituralde,and if that message, delivered by Alsalam's close cousin, supposedly coming from the King himself with Gray Men trying to stop it, did not satisfy the Great Lord's command to increase chaos, nothing would, short of balefire. And it would serve her own ends nicely as well. Her own ends."

 

There is the well known theory of Demandred using balefire for some purpose at the DO's command (a theory that Sanderson said we should all be paying attention to for some reason)so I won't rehash it, it is easy enough to find. I found the thought on Graendal's part to be interesting with that in mind. She mentions the DO's command to increase chaos then thinks of balefire being the best means to do so, the end part implies it is a line she won't or does not want to cross. In the end her own ends mean most to her(Surprise!) than anything else.

 

I thought that bit was a reinforcement of the idea that Demandred is using balefire somehow to create a chaotic effect. And that it is something that not even the other Forsaken are aware of besides Moridin perhaps, we know they fear the overuse of balefire. I am thinking that Demandred's marching orders might have been something even the Forsaken will not like.

[Kahsm]

I was just looking for a quote for another thread and came across this, which I had not seen before related to your topic:

 

Now the bad news: I attended the Robert Jordan book signing here in Charlotte, NC tonight (11/4/05). While he was signing my books, I asked him if he could credit or discredit the theory that the Dark One charged Demandred with the task of wielding Balefire in an attempt to weaken the Pattern, so that the Dark One may be have a better chance of victory at Tarmon Gai'don.

 

He didn't quite understand my point and asked me to explain it again. When I did, alluding to the consequences of Balefire, and quoting the Dark One's asking Demandred about his willingness to use Balefire for the Dark One, he quickly shook his head and gave an unequivocal no.

 

I'm not really up on this theory, but that seems pretty definitive. There was a quote above confirming he wants the forsaken to use it to unravel the pattern, but this quote suggests it was not a specific task for Dam.

 

**It's specifically noted the reported response was from a new theoryland member.

[Lacanos]

I was just looking for a quote for another thread and came across this, which I had not seen before related to your topic:

 

Now the bad news: I attended the Robert Jordan book signing here in Charlotte, NC tonight (11/4/05). While he was signing my books, I asked him if he could credit or discredit the theory that the Dark One charged Demandred with the task of wielding Balefire in an attempt to weaken the Pattern, so that the Dark One may be have a better chance of victory at Tarmon Gai'don.

 

He didn't quite understand my point and asked me to explain it again. When I did, alluding to the consequences of Balefire, and quoting the Dark One's asking Demandred about his willingness to use Balefire for the Dark One, he quickly shook his head and gave an unequivocal no.

 

I'm not really up on this theory, but that seems pretty definitive. There was a quote above confirming he wants the forsaken to use it to unravel the pattern, but this quote suggests it was not a specific task for Dam.

 

**It's specifically noted the reported response was from a new theoryland member.

That quote's not really so clear though, is this him saying "no" to being able to discredit/credit it, or saying no to the actual theory?

 

In any case, the important point from this seems to me to be that Demandred using Balefire won't weaken the Pattern to the extent the DO has a better chance of victory.

Rather, the purpose of using Balefire is to cause "chaos" in some way. And we know Demandred IS charged with using Balefire for some purpose.

[ironisles]

Since you mentioned PoD, I've noticed that its this book where things seem to really start bogging down. From Egwene and her Hall to the AS, Windfinders and Kin, the story just.. slows to a mind numbing crawl.

[Kal11]

Since you mentioned PoD, I've noticed that its this book where things seem to really start bogging down. From Egwene and her Hall to the AS, Windfinders and Kin, the story just.. slows to a mind numbing crawl.

 

Yeah it does. I just recently reread ACOS and enjoyed it, I don't see why many people seemed to dislike it so much. I remember disliking the Bowl of Winds story line the first time through but in hindsight it had many good scenes, especially in Mat's case. Not one of the best books of the series by any means but it wasn't a bad book. Except for the cover art which looks like a reject album cover for Thriller. Ironically I have read the series several times and just saw it for the first time recently, my wife's copy had the cover ripped off and the spine bound with tape. Now I know why.

 

In PoD though I find myself skipping scenes altogether at times. I just finally read Elantris and I am about to start Game of Thrones (and the subsequent books of course), I will have to come back to my reread after that. It will be interesting to see how the pacing feels.

[Sid]

AGoT (and the subsequent books of course) will rock your world. Just saying.

[RyanL24]

That's true. I just started DwD, and I'm so excited about reading the book. It made me sad, because I didn't have this feeling when reading the two recent WoT books. And I thought I liked WoT a lot more than aSoFaI (or however they do that)...

[Kal11]

AGoT (and the subsequent books of course) will rock your world. Just saying.

 

I am about 20% into book 2 now, really enjoying it even though I had a major plot point or two ruined for me prior to starting. Awesome series so far.