Aelfinn bringing a 'woman...to interpret' in tSR

[James al'Dylan]

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered elsewhere (I have looked but couldn't find it), but during my re-read of tSR, something caught my eye. It's when Rand emerges from the ter'angreal in the Stone of Tear and is confronted by Moraine about what the Aelfinn said to him. He says that he couldn't understand:

 

"They brought a...woman...to interpret, but she talked like an old book. I could hardly understand some of the words".

 

Is Rand's hesitation because he's unsure of the gender of the Aelfinn? Or is he talking about some other being, or even captive inside their world? I suppose it's not hugely important to the wider story but it just struck me as odd. I never noticed it the first time round, but given the events in ToM I thought it was interesting.

[ironisles]

That is very interesting. I haven't thought of that in along time...

[Agitel]

I don't know if we can ever be sure. I assumed his hesitation was due to the Aelfinn being a different species, but that's not necessarily true.

[randsc]

He was going to say "Aes Sedai" and stopped himself.

[Suttree]

He was going to say "Aes Sedai" and stopped himself.

 

What makes you say that? I confess, I never even caught this one...

[randsc]

Just that he does that several times throughout the books. He substitutes "women" for "Aes Sedai" whenever, for whatever reason, he doesn't want to say straight out exactly what sort of women. I have no real evidence that he is doing it this time, but I think it is a more likely explanation than the woman in question being of some other species. It seems to me that he would have been more likely to comment on that rather than her speech.

[Barid Bel Medar]

Well, I confess I have never thought twice on this one. I had always assume it was just a random Finn' and he was hesitant because one cannot really call them a "woman" when they are so strange.

 

But Randsc has a good point, I might buy it. I could certainly see a Brown Sister doing this. IT would explain the "old book" comment.

 

I am thinking, could it possibly be the woman who studied the dream Ter'angreal? It was around that time in the books when she was referred to a lot. Obviously her study of the dream ter'angreal would not lead her to the Finns directly, but it brings to mind a hint we had in tSR, when Luc/Isam seems to enter the Tower in TAR. Could this be a hint that the AS thought to study the link between the two? (which we know there is no link, but she wouldn't have)

 

She could have gone through the ToG itself, or was trapped by the Finns and tricked (like Mat was) which lead to her imprisonment as eternal intepreter. I cannot say if the Finns can grant extended life, I would say not, but time is different in that realm, it is possible that it is similar to the Ways, and while she has been gone for decades (centuries?) in the "real world", it could be conceivably less so in Finnland.

 

Mind you, this is on the basis that I am remembering correctly when she was said to have disappeared randomly and never seen again.

[Durinax]

He was going to say "Aes Sedai" and stopped himself.

 

What makes you say that? I confess, I never even caught this one...

could be that Moiraine was there, and he has been fighting AS control.

 

but it makes sense

[Luckers]

Apologies if this question has been asked and answered elsewhere (I have looked but couldn't find it), but during my re-read of tSR, something caught my eye. It's when Rand emerges from the ter'angreal in the Stone of Tear and is confronted by Moraine about what the Aelfinn said to him. He says that he couldn't understand:

 

"They brought a...woman...to interpret, but she talked like an old book. I could hardly understand some of the words".

 

Is Rand's hesitation because he's unsure of the gender of the Aelfinn? Or is he talking about some other being, or even captive inside their world? I suppose it's not hugely important to the wider story but it just struck me as odd. I never noticed it the first time round, but given the events in ToM I thought it was interesting.

 

I always just read this as Rand being uncertain as to whether a female Aelfinn should be referred to as a woman.

[Sharaman]

Or perhaps, Rand is lying to conceal his understanding of OT?

[SylvanFox]

I totally missed this somehow! I think it must have been an Aelfinn female interpreter.

[James al'Dylan]

Yeah, I can't imagine RJ would just have thrown it in there if he meant someone else. I'm thinking that his story arc for the Finns must have been developed early on, so it's probably fanciful imagining to believe it could be something else. Still it is at least possible that they could have kept someone captive.

[FarShainMael]

Or perhaps, Rand is lying to conceal his understanding of OT?

 

Don't think so..

 

Rand opened his mouth to ask the meaning - he knew a scant few wrds of the Old Tongue, no more - when interpretation floated to the surface in his mind. Siswai'aman. Literally, the Spear of the Dragon.

 

So he doesn't at this point (a considerable time after meeting the Aelfinn) know very much of the OT, and this 'surfacing' of meaning seems to be new to him as well.

[Sharaman]

Yes you're right - the timeline is clear. Then it must be that he had a certain difficulty in describing a female Finn