Why did the Aiel attack the Stone?

[Guest zacaj]

Ive been discussing the Wheel of Time with a friend while they read through them, and I realized I couldnt find any reason for the Aiel to attack the stone of tear. I havent been able to find anything, scanning through that area of the book again. It seems like the most reasonable explanation is that they somehow found out Rand would be trying to infiltrate the stone and also attacked, but theres no mention of that anywhere. It seems like they just decided to attack it... From the chapter where Mat enters through the arrow slit it seems like it was all planned. One Aiel says 'it is time', possibly like they were going according to a plan, or it just seemed like a good time. Is there a mention somewhere else in the book for why they chose to attack the stone Im not finding?

[LazyMonk]

Perrin guessed that "He who comes with the dawn" is Rand and directed Gaul to the Stone.

Why did the Aiel decided to take the fortress itself? They figured no one would allow them through the front door to calmly search for their man.

[mb]

As far as I recall, none of the books explain why the Aiel attacked Tear's Stone.

 

Maybe the reason relates to something their scouts found out.

[Ataxia]

“Tear?” The Aiel sounded surprised. “Why . . . ? But it must be. Prophecy says when the Stone of Tear falls, we will leave the Three-fold Land at last.” That was the Aiel name for the Waste. “It says we will be changed, and find again what was ours, and was lost.”

[Luckers]

And too we don't know what other signs or portents that the Aiel may have known to look for/have allowed to guide their steps [we know from Urien and Rhuarc that there ARE such things, and that the Aiel were supposed to know them when they found them]. And certainly there were signs and portents aplenty between the dreams Be'lal and Rand were throwing about, Mat and others skulking around the Stone, the ta'veren swirl of the boys, and likely other things besides.

 

So yeah, whilst we don't know their full reasoning, we know enough to know there was more at play.

[Sharaman]

The WOs had seen it perhaps? The letter Moiraine received from them, issuing orders for her and Avi indicates that.

[jsbrads]

like hunters for the horn they went everywhere, but like hunters they knew to follow the unlikely, mat thinks he can fight them and he is very good, but rarer than that is Mat going into the stone to free the women

maybe they thought they were just helping out Mat, they could have been drawn by his need for them, or they could have consciously tried to help Mat because they thought it would be fun to do so, or they went to see a wetlander fall on his face or succeed against all odds, they may have placed bets on him and needed to see how long he would last to collect their bets.

 

Or maybe Rand drew them, and they felt the proverbial fish hook pulling on their soul, so went knowingly because the dreamers told them follow your instincts, or investigate strange (above) or they went unknowingly because the pull was enough...

[Kaznen]

The Aiel didn't know much about the Prophecies of the Dragon Reborn. So they didn't know about the "the Stone will fall to the People of the Dragon" line. At the end of tDR when one of the wondergirls ask if they are the people of the dragon now Rhurac is like "oh, you're prophecies say that, well that's the Aiel."

 

Basiclly they attacked the stone because they had to.

[yoniy0]

I think it was Mat, but either way the prophecy only said that it wouldn't fall until the return of the People of the Dragon. It didn't say anything about their having part in its fall, AFAIK.