Prologue Through to the End of the Epilogue--Full Book Discussion.

[Axon]

 

I'm grateful to the readers who decided to share some spoilers on this forums. Now I better know what to expect and can avoid hoping for too much and being painfully disappointed. It seems reading through the last book will be an ordeal for me - almost everything I hoped for won't happen and things I feared are in fact happening and playing pivotal roles. I will still read it - to the bitter end

 

I expected some deep and interesting developments connected with Moridin and Lanfear. Apparently, I'm not getting any.

I expected some meaning for the whole Fain storyline. Tough luck.

I expected that people who were proven to be qualified in either One Power or serious fighting to shine in the Last Battle. Whereas apparently it's Egwene who shines the brightest.

From the things people say here, it seems it reads like a huge melee.

 

Re: the duality in WOT. I think there is even a direct RJ quote pertaining to the fact that he in fact wanted to use a very clear-cut good/evil divide in his series. It is fairly obvious that WOT is as unrelativistic a series as could be, with good and evil gods, good heroes and evil monsters. What is relative about the evil of the Trollocs, the Myrdraal or, alas, the Forsaken? The one notable exception to this rule is the Dragon Reborn, who used to be quite an interesitng fellow up to epiphany.

 

 

I did not expect much out of Moridin.  He's the undercard, and when has Rand failed to punk out a Forsaken?  He's been making mincemeat of them since book 1, and now he actually IS the Dragon.  I understand Moridin has become very popular, and his charisma certainly shined through during their meeting in TAR, but I never saw him as much of a threat.   In a sense, we've already gotten what we needed out of him.   That's a part of the (very minor) issue with this book; most of the character arcs have already peaked, and a lot of people are just waiting around for Rand to kick their ass. 

 

Fain did kind of go out like a punk.  Unfortunately, he didn't have much to do at this point in the story.   See above. 

 

Lanfear was better than you might think.  Wait to read it.  But yes, it's not quite what you wanted.  

 

Matt and Demandred steal the show in many ways, and you will not be disappointed in those characters.   Honestly, I thought the ending was good.  I guess the problem is we all have this fantasy of what the ending was going to be, and it's exactly how we want it in that fantasy, but the reality is different.   It's not bad, just different.  My sole complaint is that we received no glimpse of the future.  That's the one point that would have been emotionally satisfying.  The last battle is so costly for both sides - it would have been nice just to see some green grass and kids playing, rather than corpses that need to be burned. 

[dragosh]

I'm grateful to the readers who decided to share some spoilers on this forums. Now I better know what to expect and can avoid hoping for too much and being painfully disappointed. It seems reading through the last book will be an ordeal for me - almost everything I hoped for won't happen and things I feared are in fact happening and playing pivotal roles. I will still read it - to the bitter end

 

I expected some deep and interesting developments connected with Moridin and Lanfear. Apparently, I'm not getting any.

I expected some meaning for the whole Fain storyline. Tough luck.

I expected that people who were proven to be qualified in either One Power or serious fighting to shine in the Last Battle. Whereas apparently it's Egwene who shines the brightest.

From the things people say here, it seems it reads like a huge melee.

 

Re: the duality in WOT. I think there is even a direct RJ quote pertaining to the fact that he in fact wanted to use a very clear-cut good/evil divide in his series. It is fairly obvious that WOT is as unrelativistic a series as could be, with good and evil gods, good heroes and evil monsters. What is relative about the evil of the Trollocs, the Myrdraal or, alas, the Forsaken? The one notable exception to this rule is the Dragon Reborn, who used to be quite an interesitng fellow up to epiphany.

egwene was one of the strongest of the white tower but she wasn t brightest, she didn't plan shit and was more busy with gawyn than the war,shehad only one epic moment...androl had a bigger impact than egwene, in the building up to the battle , during the batte and aftermath.

 

and don 't forget she had sa'angreal.The thing is, we don 't see the sedai from the white tower doing great stuff, so yess she was the brightest but only from the white tower.even demandred thought they were weak, not use to battle

 

and you had enough duels: demandred vs every proven swordsman except the man who he hated the most

tham did some nice things too

lan was rambo

 

I actually love fain' death...it was written that it would be fain vs mat...and mat killed him by a simple trick,mat style....it doesn't always have to be epic battles

[squiga]

i felt it was a slow starter, the prologue, chapter 1,2 and 3 not really starting much off. as this was the last book i started to resent these chapters as not much was happening and it meant there less space for the rest. i suspose this is a consequence of them being pre release material, but it just seemd like a waste of words. a little less androl and a little more epilogue would have suited more.

 

i enjoyed fains death, but thought more would have been made of the 'different type of evil' that he encompassed, i thought his absence in the preceeding books combined with his lack of page time demeans him as a character.

 

moridin was a bit of a wet fish. worst naeblis ever...

 

possibly the worst name for a weave ever, 'flame of tar valon'.

 

im not sure how i feel about the ending. the books seem to present themselves as a contradiiction with regrds to the metaphysical elements. the pattern does not alow certain choices, but does others, the prophetic elements give an underlying impression of fate not choice etc.

 

if rand cant channel anymore, he cannot travel. randland is a big place if you only have a horse.

 

thought narishma would have bit more of a contribution.

 

happy overall, would have liked epilogue but i did not expect so many charcters to survive so even a couple of pges is nice. egwene needed to die to provide some amount of validity.

[fionwe1987]

 

I'm grateful to the readers who decided to share some spoilers on this forums. Now I better know what to expect and can avoid hoping for too much and being painfully disappointed. It seems reading through the last book will be an ordeal for me - almost everything I hoped for won't happen and things I feared are in fact happening and playing pivotal roles. I will still read it - to the bitter end

 

I expected some deep and interesting developments connected with Moridin and Lanfear. Apparently, I'm not getting any.

I expected some meaning for the whole Fain storyline. Tough luck.

I expected that people who were proven to be qualified in either One Power or serious fighting to shine in the Last Battle. Whereas apparently it's Egwene who shines the brightest.

From the things people say here, it seems it reads like a huge melee.

 

Re: the duality in WOT. I think there is even a direct RJ quote pertaining to the fact that he in fact wanted to use a very clear-cut good/evil divide in his series. It is fairly obvious that WOT is as unrelativistic a series as could be, with good and evil gods, good heroes and evil monsters. What is relative about the evil of the Trollocs, the Myrdraal or, alas, the Forsaken? The one notable exception to this rule is the Dragon Reborn, who used to be quite an interesitng fellow up to epiphany.

egwene was one of the strongest of the white tower but she wasn t brightest, she didn't plan shit and was more busy with gawyn than the war,shehad only one epic moment...androl had a bigger impact than egwene, in the building up to the battle , during the batte and aftermath.

This is... amusing.

and don 't forget she had sa'angreal.The thing is, we don 't see the sedai from the white tower doing great stuff, so yess she was the brightest but only from the white tower.even demandred thought they were weak, not use to battle

Right. Hence, he brought the army of an entire continent to destroy them? You forget that their theatre in the early battles was doing the best. And in the final battle, they once again did very well before Taim's entrance, at which point Egwene did what she did, and still achieved the most significant result in that battle: the removal of the most major chunk of channelers the Shadow had in that battle. I'm confused how any of this adds up to "weak in battle".

[Callandora]

i felt it was a slow starter, the prologue, chapter 1,2 and 3 not really starting much off. as this was the last book i started to resent these chapters as not much was happening and it meant there less space for the rest. i suspose this is a consequence of them being pre release material, but it just seemd like a waste of words. a little less androl and a little more epilogue would have suited more.

 

i enjoyed fains death, but thought more would have been made of the 'different type of evil' that he encompassed, i thought his absence in the preceeding books combined with his lack of page time demeans him as a character.

 

moridin was a bit of a wet fish. worst naeblis ever...

 

possibly the worst name for a weave ever, 'flame of tar valon'.

 

im not sure how i feel about the ending. the books seem to present themselves as a contradiiction with regrds to the metaphysical elements. the pattern does not alow certain choices, but does others, the prophetic elements give an underlying impression of fate not choice etc.

 

if rand cant channel anymore, he cannot travel. randland is a big place if you only have a horse.

 

thought narishma would have bit more of a contribution.

 

happy overall, would have liked epilogue but i did not expect so many charcters to survive so even a couple of pges is nice. egwene needed to die to provide some amount of validity.

yeah that weave seems like it was pulled out of a hat to make Egwene's death more epic. Having read all the books i dont recall any mention of a weave that can repair or undo balefire. I kind of doubt whether the more powerful channelers from the age of legends even knew such weave existed. Im basing that on the fact that it was mention in one of the books that during the war of powers a semi agreement was reached between the shadow and the light not to use balefire because of its affect on the pattern. Had they known that weave i would have thought they would have a "balefire party" knowing that the damage could be fixed. So absent any additional information i find the "flame of tar valon" extremely cheesy IMO

[fionwe1987]

 

i felt it was a slow starter, the prologue, chapter 1,2 and 3 not really starting much off. as this was the last book i started to resent these chapters as not much was happening and it meant there less space for the rest. i suspose this is a consequence of them being pre release material, but it just seemd like a waste of words. a little less androl and a little more epilogue would have suited more.

 

i enjoyed fains death, but thought more would have been made of the 'different type of evil' that he encompassed, i thought his absence in the preceeding books combined with his lack of page time demeans him as a character.

 

moridin was a bit of a wet fish. worst naeblis ever...

 

possibly the worst name for a weave ever, 'flame of tar valon'.

 

im not sure how i feel about the ending. the books seem to present themselves as a contradiiction with regrds to the metaphysical elements. the pattern does not alow certain choices, but does others, the prophetic elements give an underlying impression of fate not choice etc.

 

if rand cant channel anymore, he cannot travel. randland is a big place if you only have a horse.

 

thought narishma would have bit more of a contribution.

 

happy overall, would have liked epilogue but i did not expect so many charcters to survive so even a couple of pges is nice. egwene needed to die to provide some amount of validity.

yeah that weave seems like it was pulled out of a hat to make Egwene's death more epic. Having read all the books i dont recall any mention of a weave that can repair or undo balefire. I kind of doubt whether the more powerful channelers from the age of legends even knew such weave existed. Im basing that on the fact that it was mention in one of the books that during the war of powers a semi agreement was reached between the shadow and the light not to use balefire because of its affect on the pattern. Had they known that weave i would have thought they would have a "balefire party" knowing that the damage could be fixed. So absent any additional information i find the "flame of tar valon" extremely cheesy IMO

The name is very cheesy, and I find it troubling that even Egwene doesn't really know what she's doing. Almost, it seems as if RJ didn't leave detailed notes on this, so Brandon just chose to not come up with them himself. That seems to be the case at several points, actually. But its hardly impossible for Egwene to innovate and do something no one in the AoL thought of doing/managed to do. 

[Guest PiotrekS]

Thanks for your replies, Axon and dragosh!

 

I take your word that Fain's death scene was good. My beef with hime is more in terms of lack of explanation - he was shown to become more and more powerful and as was said above, " a different kind of evil". Since the book seems to confirm that the DO is the cource of all evil, Fain's ability to challenge and in fact negate DO's power through the evil of his own becomes even more incomprehensible. That he would go out through a simple trick, "Mat style", is kinda disappointing, even if the trick itself was awesome. Too much "philosophical" exprectations, I guess.

 

I kind of wish the last book was written by Terez. I would probably have to spend weeks looking for a damn ending and then decrypting it, but no doubt it would be perfectly thought out.

[Eureka]

The most *goosbumpy* moment for me is when they killed Bela. I mean, WHY?!? T_T

just... why..?

*sobs in the corner*

 

BTW, who was that woman in page 892 (I think...) - was that Nakomi? Do we know who Nakomi is?

 

I had a theory that Nakomi and Bela were linked somehow like Rand and Ishamael, and I thought this was going to help win the LB, but I guess I was wrong (or was I....?).

 

And another question: do we know what Moiraine 2 other demands were?

[Guest PiotrekS]

The most *goosbumpy* moment for me is when they killed Bela. I mean, WHY?!? T_T

just... why..?

*sobs in the corner*

 

 

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

 

I hate this book.

[dragosh]

 

 

I'm grateful to the readers who decided to share some spoilers on this forums. Now I better know what to expect and can avoid hoping for too much and being painfully disappointed. It seems reading through the last book will be an ordeal for me - almost everything I hoped for won't happen and things I feared are in fact happening and playing pivotal roles. I will still read it - to the bitter end

 

I expected some deep and interesting developments connected with Moridin and Lanfear. Apparently, I'm not getting any.

I expected some meaning for the whole Fain storyline. Tough luck.

I expected that people who were proven to be qualified in either One Power or serious fighting to shine in the Last Battle. Whereas apparently it's Egwene who shines the brightest.

From the things people say here, it seems it reads like a huge melee.

 

Re: the duality in WOT. I think there is even a direct RJ quote pertaining to the fact that he in fact wanted to use a very clear-cut good/evil divide in his series. It is fairly obvious that WOT is as unrelativistic a series as could be, with good and evil gods, good heroes and evil monsters. What is relative about the evil of the Trollocs, the Myrdraal or, alas, the Forsaken? The one notable exception to this rule is the Dragon Reborn, who used to be quite an interesitng fellow up to epiphany.

egwene was one of the strongest of the white tower but she wasn t brightest, she didn't plan shit and was more busy with gawyn than the war,shehad only one epic moment...androl had a bigger impact than egwene, in the building up to the battle , during the batte and aftermath.

This is... amusing.

>and don 't forget she had sa'angreal.The thing is, we don 't see the sedai from the white tower doing great stuff, so yess she was the brightest but only from the white tower.even demandred thought they were weak, not use to battle

Right. Hence, he brought the army of an entire continent to destroy them? You forget that their theatre in the early battles was doing the best. And in the final battle, they once again did very well before Taim's entrance, at which point Egwene did what she did, and still achieved the most significant result in that battle: the removal of the most major chunk of channelers the Shadow had in that battle. I'm confused how any of this adds up to "weak in battle".

 

like i said i don't think they did that good, especially with the planning...

 

examples:

-left their captains without protection in TAR (sure you can blaime the wise ones as well)

-she should had given the bond to someone else when gawyn was dying, she was the leader of the white tower and should never be that vunerable.

- it is a fact that sharan channelers were far stronger than the aes sedai, since they were born with war

-i didn't say that egwene didn't do nothing, she did wiped the majority of the sharan channelers in that epic battle vs taim but it wasn't the decisive blow.

 

Lan did more by killing demandred

androl did more by saving the black tower,planning, creating circkels with aes sedai and ashaman, spying, etc...

mat wel off course did more

perin did more by saving rhand by killing lanfear at the real battle

same with nynaeve by keeping allana alive

etc...

 

That's why i think she didn't shine the brightest, others did better

 

o well i just don't like egwene, everyone was thinking about the world, and she was the only character thinking about her lover.

even perrin choose rhand above faile.

 

-

[squiga]

it doesn't help that we aren't really sure as to what she did. i have no problem with egwene discovering things on her own, however balefire has always been portrayed as the omega of weaves. she discovered a get out clause. a new weave that had no forshadowing and thankfully solves the light's impending problems. reminiscent (and please dont lynch me) of the deathly hallows. as far as a literary device goes, this is a particularly weak one. 

[Lord Melkor]

Some minor questions, if I may:

 

Did Aes Sedai made circles with Ashaman en masse or was it only Androl's group? Were any normal soldiers even relevant in Last Battle when we had hundreds of channelers facing each other? Did Taim's men constitute a large number of Shadow channelers?

 

Thanks.

[fionwe1987]

 

 

 

I'm grateful to the readers who decided to share some spoilers on this forums. Now I better know what to expect and can avoid hoping for too much and being painfully disappointed. It seems reading through the last book will be an ordeal for me - almost everything I hoped for won't happen and things I feared are in fact happening and playing pivotal roles. I will still read it - to the bitter end

 

I expected some deep and interesting developments connected with Moridin and Lanfear. Apparently, I'm not getting any.

I expected some meaning for the whole Fain storyline. Tough luck.

I expected that people who were proven to be qualified in either One Power or serious fighting to shine in the Last Battle. Whereas apparently it's Egwene who shines the brightest.

From the things people say here, it seems it reads like a huge melee.

 

Re: the duality in WOT. I think there is even a direct RJ quote pertaining to the fact that he in fact wanted to use a very clear-cut good/evil divide in his series. It is fairly obvious that WOT is as unrelativistic a series as could be, with good and evil gods, good heroes and evil monsters. What is relative about the evil of the Trollocs, the Myrdraal or, alas, the Forsaken? The one notable exception to this rule is the Dragon Reborn, who used to be quite an interesitng fellow up to epiphany.

egwene was one of the strongest of the white tower but she wasn t brightest, she didn't plan shit and was more busy with gawyn than the war,shehad only one epic moment...androl had a bigger impact than egwene, in the building up to the battle , during the batte and aftermath.

This is... amusing.

>and don 't forget she had sa'angreal.The thing is, we don 't see the sedai from the white tower doing great stuff, so yess she was the brightest but only from the white tower.even demandred thought they were weak, not use to

battle

Right. Hence, he brought the army of an entire continent to destroy them? You forget that their theatre in the early battles was doing the best. And in the final battle, they once again did very well before Taim's entrance, at which point Egwene did what she did, and still achieved the most significant result in that battle: the removal of the most major chunk of channelers the Shadow had in that battle. I'm confused how any of this adds up to "weak in battle".

like i said i don't think they did that good, especially with the planning...

 

examples:

-left their captains without protection in TAR (sure you can blaime the wise ones as well)

-she should had given the bond to someone else when gawyn was dying, she was the leader of the white tower and should never be that vunerable.

- it is a fact that sharan channelers were far stronger than the aes sedai, since they were born with war

-i didn't say that egwene didn't do nothing, she did wiped the majority of the sharan channelers in that epic battle vs taim but it wasn't the decisive blow.

 

Lan did more by killing demandred

androl did more by saving the black tower,planning, creating circkels with aes sedai and ashaman, spying, etc...

mat wel off course did more

perin did more by saving rhand by killing lanfear at the real battle

same with nynaeve by keeping allana alive

etc...

 

That's why i think she didn't shine the brightest, others did better

 

o well i just don't like egwene, everyone was thinking about the world, and she was the only character thinking about her lover.

even perrin choose rhand above faile.

 

-

 

Well, it appears Egwene-hate is far from over. Thank god.

 

And yes, there was a very plot-device feel to her weave. If there is an explanation, I at least hope we get it in the encyclopedia. This was a crucial part of the endgame. I can't believe we never got foreshadowing for it. I'm going to be keeping a lookout when I re-read next.

[Callandora]

My earlier post was not addressed in any way to Egwene's likability factor. RJ did a great job in casting her as Rand's most prolific antagonist which is what drives most of the negative reaction that she has received from alot of readers. One of the things that made this series so popular to the masses is all of the foreshadowings and prophecies that sowed the seeds early on . They were meant to set us up for the events that would happen later on in the series and were sly and obscured enough to drive alot of the theorycrafting that has gone out in the community. I agree with fion that hopefully the encyclopedia or BS interviews will shine some light on some of the unanswered questions we have. Generally speaking i dislike storylines where things get made up as you go along in a series and the reader is left to wonder whether it was foreshadowed or not. Hopefully there was a foreshadowing on egwene's weave but we havent found it cause it was cleverly hidden.

[squiga]

enough of us have obsessed over these books for a very long time, ive never seen a post or a theory re balefire being revsered. i hope you are right, but if you are if must have been very very well hidden, bordering on invisible... 

[Elvira_Sedai]

  One of the first Min's Viewnigs about Egwene was the White Flame. It always seems being intrepretated as her become the Amyrlin, but I think now that it was a Forshadowing of that Weave.

[Callandora]

Yes that's why im not getting on the war wagon yet to blast BS or RJ on their use of cheesy plot driving devices cause it is still possible that there is some foreshadowing out there that was placed maybe 20 years ago. Haha i was still in high school getting ready to go in the military when i first picked up and read The Eye of the WORLD.

[Guest PiotrekS]

The problem with Egwene is that she wasn't set up as Rand's counterpart until late in the series, and therefore when that finally happened it seemed to me to be artificial and badly prepared. Still, after TGS there could be no doubt that she is as important to the author as the DR, which also fits in the general theme of the books. I wonder though if RJ planned for Egwene to play that role from book 1, of if he decided who the "female Dragon" will be, later.

[Orderofolde]

 

 

Can I ask why Rand can't channel in the end?

 

A question I would like answered as well.

 

This is complicated.  It's part of the body swap thing.  And answering this requires a pretty long and intricate explanation about how Rand decided to deal with the Dark One which I'm not sure I'm capable of actually summarizing adequately.

 

To make a long story short, Rand soul is somehow transmigrated into Moridin's body.  Moridin's conciousness or what's left of it is placed in Rand's jacked up, tainted body and burned.

 

Now the question is why can't Rand channel? 

 

Well . . . the simple answer is that in doing what he needed to do, it can be argued that he channeled more Saidar, Saidin,and the True Power than all of humanity combined in history.

 

That sorta thing can burn a guy out I guess.

 

Thing is while most are devastated by being burned out or stilled Rand seems just fine with it.   Then again, if he can just THINK shit and it happens like the way he lit his pipe then maybe something else is going on I don't understand.  Normally that's something you do in T'A'R but we're pretty certain we're in the real world there at the end.

It is part of how in Avhienda's viewings among the columns in Rhuidean that Rand's Children don't even need to embrace the source to channel, they can do it without thought or any effort.

[fionwe1987]

I've been looking into this. An interesting thing to note that is that the earliest references to Balefire are all from Egwene's PoV. Till we see Moiraine use it, its all Egwene. I've collected them here:

 

 

If Elaida, or another, truly did wear the stole of the Amyrlin, the Warders might well not admit her to the Traitor’s Court. She knew she could- force a way in. It would need to be done quickly; there was no point if Rand was gentled while she was still wrapping Warders in Air. Even Warders would break if she loosed the lightnings on them, and balefire, and broke the ground under their feet. Balefire? she wondered. But it would also do no good if she broke Tar Valon’s power to save Rand. She had to save both.

 

 

The first sign of balefire is in Egwene's Accepted test for the future, where she contemplates using it to save Rand. Then we have this interesting tidbit:

 

 

It was almost a relief to read of a fluted rod of black stone, a full pace in length, that produced balefire, with the notation DANGEROUS AND ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTROL writ so strong in Verin’s hand that it tore the paper in two places. Egwene still had no idea what balefire was, but though it surely sounded dangerous if anything ever did, it just as surely had nothing to do Corianin Nedeal or dreams.

 

 

Interesting... the first time she hears of it in the real world, the first time she gets some info, it states that a black fluted rod produces it, and is dangerous and almost impossible to control. In all caps, on paper that has been torn twice. While this doesn't foreshadow Egwene will find a way out, it does foreshadow/mirror the finale, where a white fluted rod weilded by Egwene was used to patch a second tear in the Pattern. I begin to wonder if, when Elayne and Nynaeve used Need, what they were being directed to in the White Tower basements was Vora's sa'angreal.

 

The next instance of a mention is from Aviendha:

 

 

“As you say, Aes Sedai. But the old stories are all clear on one point. We must never fight Aes Sedai. If you bring your lightnings and your balefire against me, I will dance with them, but I will not harm you.”

 

 

To which Egwene replies with:

 

 

“Balefire,” Egwene said. “Aviendha, what is balefire?” The Aiel woman turned her frown on her. “Do you not know, Aes Sedai? In the old stories, Aes Sedai wielded it. The stories make it a fearsome thing, but I know no more. It is said we have forgotten much that we once knew.”

“Perhaps the White Tower has forgotten much, too,” Egwene said. I knew of it in that . . . dream, or whatever it was. It was as real as Tel’aran’rhiod. I’d gamble with Mat on that.

 

 

Egwene is very curious about Balefire. Usually a good sign that she'll find out something about it. 

 

Then we come to a strong bit:

 

 

Balefire, Egwene thought. She did not know how she knew, but she was certain of it. Reluctantly, she made herself release saidar; made it release her. She did not know which was harder. And I did not see a thing of what she did!

 

 

This is right after Nynaeve uses it. And Egwene immediately figures it out, but doesn't see the weave itself. She does this instinctively. How? We see with Taim that she almost seems to sense Balefire. She spins around on him before he releases the weave. Its almost as if she really can sense it, or its effect on the Pattern. We similarly see her sensing the effect of her own weave, feeling the Pattern get healed. Is there any precedent for this? Somewhat:

 

 

Egwene slumped back against the wall. Rand. Logain always made her think of Rand. She had not dreamed about him in months, now, not the kind of dreams she had had on the River Queen. Anaiya still made her write down everything she dreamed, and the Aes Sedai checked them for signs, or connections to events, but there was never anything about Rand except dreams that, Anaiya said, meant she missed him. Oddly, she felt almost as if he were not there any longer, as if he had ceased to exist, along with her dreams, a few weeks after reaching the White Tower.

 

 

This happens right about when Rand was going through multiple portal worlds while trying to travel to Falme. They lose four months there, and Egwene gets a feeling Rand is no longer there. It seems to me she is sensing a change in the Pattern in response to the Dragon no longer being there.

 

Now this next bit is weak, but its from when Siuan is using Vora's wand to Heal Mat. Its Egwene's first sight of it, but not the first time she has heard of it:

 

 

Egwene fought the urge to open herself to saidar and add her flow to the tide. It was a pull so strong she was about to be jerked off her feet. Elayne tightened her hold on her hand. Nynaeve took a step toward the table, then stopped with an angry shake of her head. Light, Egwene thought, I could do it. But she did not know what it was she could do. Light, it’s to strong. It’s to - wonderful. Elayne’s hand was trembling.

 

 

What was Egwene thinking she could do? This comes before she hears of balefire, though, so its probably meaningless.

 

The next bit is from Moghedien:

 

 

That is not metal, but a form of cuendillar. Even balefire cannot destroy cuendillar.

 

 

Egwene, then, has already discovered one thing that can resist balefire.

 

Then we have this:

 

 

If the litany dismayed Taim, he did not show it. All he said was "I have been in the Blight; I've killed Trollocs before, and Myrddraal." He pushed a low branch out of the way and held it for Rand. "I have never heard of this balefire, but if a Darkhound comes after me, I will find some way to kill it."

"Good." That was for Taim's ignorance as much as his confidence. Balefire was one bit of knowledge Rand would not mind seeing vanish from the world completely.

 

 

I suspect Taim was being honest here. And I suspect Rand, by revealing the name, made him curious enough to ask Demandred. 

 

The strongest hints seem to be Egwene's connection to the Pattern, and her discovery of Cuendillar. One could argue cuendillar freezes iron in time. The white fluted rod being critical to reverse the effect of a weave made by a black fluted rod is also strong. The two rips in the paper foreshadows this final situation. Taim's knowledge of balefire, or initial lack there of, is documented, and Rand's wish that he not know it is foreshadowing that he will, I think. 

 

Also, nice catch with Min's viewing. It could indeed be a viewing about this weave. Doesn't change the utter cheesiness of the name though.

[jeffrey_ashaman]

um, not a demand. But can someone isolate what took place with my beloved Aiel? The remnant of a remnant line? AND how did Rand and Aviendha's bam-chicka-wow-wow moment come about?

[GuyangMao]

The problem with Egwene is that she wasn't set up as Rand's counterpart until late in the series, and therefore when that finally happened it seemed to me to be artificial and badly prepared. Still, after TGS there could be no doubt that she is as important to the author as the DR, which also fits in the general theme of the books. I wonder though if RJ planned for Egwene to play that role from book 1, of if he decided who the "female Dragon" will be, later.

 

This is an unquestionably false assertion.

[Orderofolde]

 

They have said definitively that there will be no prequels or outriggers.

 

just like George Lucas said he'll be making no more Star Wars films :P - should be a politician that guy the way he plays with words.

 

Seriously though, in 3 years time Harriet may change her mind

Especially if WOT gets made into a movie.  There will be so much pressure that they will hire a ghost writer and explore new material, for the cash inflow if for nothing else.  I mean...yes, RJ's notes leaves a lot open for interpretation and likely barely detail the outriggers, but he announced them to fandom and therefore created them in a sense making his work incomplete as of AMOL still.  A knowledgeable writer and possibly a fan could do a great job wrangling the outriggers into completion.  Not to mention Hollywood's penchant for offering newer versions of books made into movies with the movie covers and slight changes to accommodate the script.  RJ created something that has the scope of Tolkien, he didn't create a GRRM or a Sword of Truth series, or even an Eragon movie here.  If Hollywood has lingered this long since having the rights, they are either not going to do it, or will be doing it to piggyback off the Hobbit releases and the massive interest in Fantasy based movies that will follow in a tidal wave as we saw with all the crap they did following LoTR.  I can so see a Peter Jackson director doing a pair of trilogies back to back. 

[Axon]

 

The problem with Egwene is that she wasn't set up as Rand's counterpart until late in the series, and therefore when that finally happened it seemed to me to be artificial and badly prepared. Still, after TGS there could be no doubt that she is as important to the author as the DR, which also fits in the general theme of the books. I wonder though if RJ planned for Egwene to play that role from book 1, of if he decided who the "female Dragon" will be, later.

 

This is an unquestionably false assertion.

I agree.  I thought the second their "romance" was over, they basically became antagonists, even if it took some time for it to develop.  I also suspected - and I'm sure I'm not alone - that the rift between them would ultimately be healed. I just did not expect it in this manner. 

 

As to the flame of tar valon weave, I had no issue with it.  People figure things out all the time, and there are plenty of extremely convenient weaves discovered throughout the series. 

[Zefram]

I was wondering if there some sort of further explanation or resulution regarding Aviendha's disturbing vision of future of Aiel and some deal between Seanchan and White/Black Tower and marath'damane? (Beyond what already been revealed in Prologue and first few chapters).

I was so hoping there would be some sort of "ever after" epilogue not just Win, Funeral and The End that it looks like to be here.

 

I really hope even if there are no more WoT sequels at least there will be some sort of very revealing WOT Encyclopedia with some sort of "history" notes about end of 3rd age and beginning of next age toward history of main characters, both towers, main countries and Seanchan with Aiel.