Picking apart Nicola's fortelling

[Angelhydes]

I'm rereading the Lord of Chaos (or listening I have all the books on Audio), and I'm at the point were Nicola is in the Circle and has her first fortelling, and I found myself picking the fortelling apart now that I know so more about the books. It's pretty straightforward and I think most people will come to the same conclustions I did.

 

“The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond. Three on the boat, and he who is dead yet lives. The great battle done, but the world not done with battle. The land divided by the Return, and the guardians balance the servants. The future teeters on the edge of a blade.”

—Lord of Chaos, Chapter 14

 

So picking the fortelling apart this is what I came up with...The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond...Elayne, Avianda, and Min...Three on the boat, and he who is dead yet lives...and Rand all on a boat. The great battle done, but the world not done with battle. The land divided by the Return,...The last battle is over presumable won in the fortelling, but with the return and other things going on war is still on the horizon...and the guardians balance the servants. The future teeters on the edge of a blade....the Guardian's are Asha'man the Servant's are Aes Sedai, the rest is pretty much self explanatory, and all pretty obvous to anybody who has read the books more then once. Thoughts anybody want to poke holes and my interpetation please do. :)

[Glyphwright]

The future teeters on the edge of a blade

And the blade is either Callandor, or Justice.

[rand4747]

it might not mean anything there beyond that the future then is ready to go up in flames, a temporary peace that will be broken. A precarious balance that can be upset by a small event.

[Sid]

I believe you've come to the same conclusions that most people generally accept. Not to say that that's definitely what it means, but it seems that it's what we're meant to think it means at the time.

[Darksmoon]

I believe you broke down the main components.

 

I believe the last few lines are very telling that the land may be done fighting the Dark One but is still going to have issues.

 

The land divided by the Return. - There is still going to be war remember Avienda's trip in Rhuidean to see the future. The Aiel and Seanchan were going at it. Perhaps this will change with her what she saw but it sounds like things could go bad.

 

And beyond that the land is going to have to learn how to deal with Male channelers after so many years of fearing them.

[yoniy0]

It's been suggested that 'the great battle' ins't necessarily TG, but instead perhaps the battle of Caemlyn or something similar. It would fit with what some of us have come to expect, that Rand will die before TG, then be brought back to life (dead yet lives).

[thisguy]

The great battle is probably sealing the bore but does that mean that the battles with the shadowspawn are over once the DO is sealed up? I'm not sure. It may not be the seanchan, or just the seanchan, they need to battle afterwards. Think trolloc wars.

[jsbrads]

just so we are clear it ain't a real boat, its a metaphor, "surely he means all purveyors of dairy products."

[yoniy0]

just so we are clear it ain't a real boat, its a metaphor, "surely he means all purveyors of dairy products."

I don't know; The Arthurian parallel is rather strong.

[thisguy]

just so we are clear it ain't a real boat, its a metaphor, "surely he means all purveyors of dairy products."

I don't know; The Arthurian parallel is rather strong.

 

As someone else mentioned, it could be Elayne's skimming vessel. It could also just be a boat on the water - if everyone's fighting TG then the water's a fairly safe place to be since shadowspawn don't like the water.

[driedraspberry]

just so we are clear it ain't a real boat, its a metaphor, "surely he means all purveyors of dairy products."

I don't know; The Arthurian parallel is rather strong.

 

As someone else mentioned, it could be Elayne's skimming vessel. It could also just be a boat on the water - if everyone's fighting TG then the water's a fairly safe place to be since shadowspawn don't like the water.

 

Makes sense. If Rand gets ripped out of TAR he's bound to be weak for a while and he'll need a safe place to rest.

[TootThatHorn]

just so we are clear it ain't a real boat, its a metaphor, "surely he means all purveyors of dairy products."

I don't know; The Arthurian parallel is rather strong.

 

As someone else mentioned, it could be Elayne's skimming vessel. It could also just be a boat on the water - if everyone's fighting TG then the water's a fairly safe place to be since shadowspawn don't like the water.

 

Well and for all we know, perhaps the elusive Sea Folk have made a return during this point in the story and one of them is giving birth, and that's why everyone ended up on a boat, since it could be anything....

[thisguy]

Maybe Rand's last wish before dying was to have sex with three hot chicks on a boat.

[Luckers]

I'd always taken the boat to be Rand's floating funeral pier, the girls getting on it to prepare Rand's body before setting it loose and cremating it.

[Durinax]

Maybe Rand's last wish before dying was to have sex with three hot chicks on a boat.

I know thats my last wish

[driedraspberry]

I'd always taken the boat to be Rand's floating funeral pier, the girls getting on it to prepare Rand's body before setting it loose and cremating it.

 

Say their goodbyes etc. That's where I lean towards. He lives in name/TAR/the wheel but is dead.

[Orderofolde]

just so we are clear it ain't a real boat, its a metaphor, "surely he means all purveyors of dairy products."

I don't know; The Arthurian parallel is rather strong.

 

As someone else mentioned, it could be Elayne's skimming vessel. It could also just be a boat on the water - if everyone's fighting TG then the water's a fairly safe place to be since shadowspawn don't like the water.

Perhaps the lakes around Far Madding?

[b3arz3rg3r]

It's been suggested that 'the great battle' ins't necessarily TG, but instead perhaps the battle of Caemlyn or something similar. It would fit with what some of us have come to expect, that Rand will die before TG, then be brought back to life (dead yet lives).

 

Not the battle of Caemlyn. That one doesn't deserve to be called "the great battle". It's just a warm up compared to what's to come. The only things which can be the Great Battle are either TG or the battle against the main army of trollocs.

 

I'd always taken the boat to be Rand's floating funeral pier, the girls getting on it to prepare Rand's body before setting it loose and cremating it.

 

That idea always struck me as odd. Why would they make a floating funeral for Rand? Which people in Randland has such a burial rite? Not the Aiel, not the borderlanders, not the people of the Two Rivers or the rest of Andor. So why would they do that for Rand?

You can't tell me it's so that they can fake Rand's death. They could have done that a lot easier, by simply placing an inverted mask of mirrors over some corpse they found.

[FarShainMael]

I don't think it'll be a funeral either, but there's a definite Arthurian reference here. See

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/72879-three-on-the-boat/

 

for details.

 

I think the 'boat' will be a Skimming platform, provided by Egwene, as in ACoS12, to take the body to Tar Valon.

[BFG]

"The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond."

 

I'm 99% certain that it means Elayne (as warrior Queen of Andor at time of Last Battle), Avienda and Min. But there's a 1% that says that Aviendha is no longer a maiden of the spear, and is a Wise One. I also know that there's another WO dream that mentions three women on a boat (faces obscured) and that as such the dedicated apear is unlikely to refer to a dedicated (from the BT), but there's a niggle that's not happy.