Who *are* you, Nakomi? (Full spoilers)

[Maurelle]

I'm going to put this here because I think it can fit because of the suggestion that Nakomi might be some form of Egwene. We know all the original Aiel went to the great tree and "disappeared." We know that Egwene, after discovering the "Flame of Tar Valon," turned into crystal. There are giant pillars of crystal all around the tree that the Aiel use to see their past, and we now believe, their future. What if all the Aiel didn't disappear? What if they turned into the ter'angreal using a version of Egwene's discovered weave(as in it is actually a re-discovered weave put to a different purpose)? Aviendha talks about how she tries to use her talent on it and can't sense anything, but when she gets frustrated and basically asks it to show her something to help them have a purpose it does so. Is it possible that Nakomi is one of these original Aiel who gave their lives to help preserve the Aiel as a people? She could have touched the weave briefly like Egwene did when she spoke with Rand...

 

Just a theory. I'm more than will to listen to corrections if I have a fact wrong.

[Rhienne]

This might also explain the viewing of Rand's 3 girls and the boat. It got lost in the shuffle.

 

I don't think it neccessarily got lost - it could just be really vague, like the concept of Rand now being adrift in the world with no one but his three bondmates knowing his identity, location.

[Kestrel]

 What if all the Aiel didn't disappear? What if they turned into the ter'angreal using a version of Egwene's discovered weave(as in it is actually a re-discovered weave put to a different purpose)? Aviendha talks about how she tries to use her talent on it and can't sense anything, but when she gets frustrated and basically asks it to show her something to help them have a purpose it does so.

The idea that the crystal columns in Rhuidean ARE the Jenn Aiel, transformed, had also occurred to me. It seems a likely explanation for why they disappeared so quickly and completely, without even a remnant to tell the tale.

[jedman67]

A desert can swallow anything. The Jenn could not survive in the waste with their pacifist mentality/theology. For arguments sake, the true* Aiel began with the establishment of Rhudian as the test for the leaders - it created a covenant that could not be ignored (as those clans that did ignore it ended up dying out) and created a common bond between all the clans and societies, so even when there was feuding, there was something greater that bound them and kept them from killing each other completely. The concept is that there was a much greater Ji that was broken, and a much greater Toh to be met, that the clan chiefs and wise ones were able to see past their differences when necessary.

 

Let's put this at about a hundred or so years before the Trolloc Wars - when the last AS from the AoL were dying, and the young civilizations were beginning to establish themselves. 

Even assuming the Jenn were pacifistic when it came to the Trolloc Wars (i imagine they even went to the waste, and were soundly defeated, but at great cost to the clans). It's fair to guess that the Jenn also fought the Trollocs (perhaps as noncomabtants aiding the fighters, et al) and took heavy losses; the remainder either fled the waste or assimilated into surviving clans. 

But my assumption is the Jenn, who were still serving the handful of surviving AS, were still around when the ter'angreal columns were introduced in Rands vision. 

IIRC, when Avi tries to learn what the columns can do with her Talent, she is overwhelmed by the sheer strength of the ter'angreal, not that it "ignored" her.

 

*By "true Aiel" i mean the most common identifiable ancestor to the 'modern day' Aiel in terms of culture, spirit and civilizations. The whole idea that the Aiel and the Tinkers share a common ancestor was a means by RJ to show that 3,000 years can make a culture unrecognizable to its forbearers.

[Maurelle]

I didn't say that it ignored her. I said that she tried to use her talent on it and didn't sense the purpose. As in, I don't think that the crystal columns are a ter'angreal the way that other ones are. There is something very special about them, and with the fact that after giving all her power to the weave, Egwene turned into crystal I think it's reasonable to wonder if the Jenn Aiel didn't do something similar in a way that would allow them to help their combat oriented future generations. It's also possible that the desert did swallow some of the Jenn Aiel the way you suggest. It could've done that and some of the Aiel end up as the columns.

[Hemis AlRhoid]

Here's my thoughts on Nakomi.

 

Tigraine? I don't think so. Avi spent a very long time in the Royal Palace. We're told about the paintings of the Royal Family, and Tigraine's in particular, hanging in the Palace. For me it's too far of a stretch to think that as observant as Avi is she would not outright recognize her. Or at the very least be thinking this woman looks very familiar. It's possible she changed her appearance, but I'm not sure how we would get any clues that it is her this way (which is alluded to). The Hero of the Horn theory would have her looking like her last incarnation from what we know of those mechanics.

 

The Creator or their avatar? As others have mentioned RJ explicitly states The Creator does not take an active role. So for me this rules out this possibility. Though it does show a balance to the Dark One and his own Avatar. Unless someone with access to RJ's information proves otherwise, I just can't see this. RJ was not his usual ambiguous self on this point.

 

So who do I think it is? One of the last Aes Sedai at Rhuidean. They have been shown to have taken actions to guide the Aiel towards their destiny to fulfill their role at The Last Battle. It's not a stretch their investment in them would stretch past The Last Battle by making sure the Aiel survive and flourish. This explains the guiding of Avi to shape the Aiel's direction. They created a Ter'Angreal that is able to allow some sort of time manipulation and consciousness transference of connected threads in the Pattern. This somewhat relates with Rand's manipulation of the Pattern we see in the final confrontation. So my theory is that at least one of the Aes Sedai involved with the last of the Jenn gained enough knowledge to be able to manipulate time and the Pattern in much the same manner as Rand does. Even Rand's body swap somewhat mirrors the transportation of consciousness to a connected thread that takes place in the Ter'Angreal at Rhuidean. Just instead of thread connection being that of ancestry, the connection here is from the Balefire incident. Which explains Nakomi's understanding of what Rand is doing at the very end.

Edited June 7, 2013 by Hemis AlRhoid

[Occams whiskey bottle]

I think Nakomi is Rand's mother. I know she supposedly died, but given the mysteriousness of the Aiel in the final chapter I think it makes the most sense.

[Plato]

Am I the only one who read her as a plot device and simply moved on afterwards.  (Especially considering what happens next for Avi).

[Suttree]

Am I the only one who read her as a plot device and simply moved on afterwards.  (Especially considering what happens next for Avi).

 

Not in the slightest...

[clutzyninja]

Am I the only one who read her as a plot device and simply moved on afterwards.  (Especially considering what happens next for Avi).

I'd honestly forgotten about her until I saw this post.  I was curious about who she was when she first appeared, but she didn't stick with me as an important mystery.

I'd like to find out for curiosity's sake, but that's it.

[Hayward1979]

When Rand states in AMOL that he "heard the voice once before", I assumed the following:  (1) He was referring to the DO; and (2) the "once before" was referring to his LTT memories and the initial sealing of the Bore. 

 

Actually, as side note, I was really hoping that Rand's encounter at SG would be interspersed with a re-telling of LTT's perspective when he brought the Hundred Companions to SG, maybe sort of skipping back and forth between Rand's current battle and LTT's battle in Age of Legends for a chapter or two.  I was always hoping we would get a more direct, descriptive account of LTT at SG (I realize we did get a little throughout the series via LTT speaking in Rand's head).  Just thought that would have been really cool without having to eat up too many pages.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Hayward1979

[aranyaka]

Is it possible there is a 'Light One'?

 

The Creator create the world. The world contains light and shadow. That means the Creator does not represent light. There might be a Dark One's opposition. People didn't realize it just like they didn't realize DO's exist before.

 

And Nakomi might have some relationship with this 'Light One‘.

[clutzyninja]

That's the Creator, the antithesis of the dark one.  Creator - Destroyer.  Besides, I'd hate the idea that the only thing the Dark One's counterpart did in the whole series was cook dinner for Avi, lol.

[Michael Wentz]

In ToM, I had just kind of assumed that Aviendha was hallucinating from dehydration.  After mulling over how soft the Aiel had become in their months in the wetlands, I just assumed that Aviendha herself had softened up, and was no longer able to tolerate the heat/lack of water as well as she was used to.

[Victoria Sedi]

So... is Nakomi the one that shows up at the end in the Pit of Door with Rand? what is her role there?

[Victoria Sedi]

****I DID NOT WRITE THIS, but I found it on another website, and it clearly describes exactly who i think Nakomi and her connection to Rand in the Pit Of Doom and his impossible pipe... so i thought Id repost it.**** here is the link to the original: http://www.readandfindout.com/wheeloftime/messageboard/271556/ - written by "Light in The Night". 

 

 

 

Anyway, I just finished reading the TorChat with Brandon Sanderson and a few ideas popped into my head. First, the chat:

"There are three questions Brandon is not allowed to answer about the Wheel of Time:
1. Who Nakomi was.
2. How Rand lit the pipe at the end of the series.
3. How Rand and Moridin swapped bodies.

Not even Brandon knows what’s going with Rand’s pipe-lighting at the end of A Memory of Light. “I put it in as RJ instructed, and I know nothing more about it than fandom does, I’m afraid.”

The very final scene, where Rand lights his pipe and heads off into the world was the ending scene that Robert Jordan wrote when it became clear that he would not finish the series on his own. The entire epilogue is Jordan’s, barring a few small Loial inserts and Perrin’s scenes, and was written and not dictated."


It appears to me that Brandon doesn't know everything, and RJ hiimself left us dangling with a few things, including, IMO, the introduction of the character Nakomi. (She was the "Aiel" that Aviendha met on her second trip to Rhuideen in ToM).

Here are some of the things we learn about Nakomi according to Aviendha:

She wears Aiel garb. Not cadin’sor or the garb of a Wise One; dark skirt, tan blouse, shawl and a kerchief.
She has graying hair, furrowed skin, appears middle aged and carries no weapons.
Aviendha could not sense an ability to channel in her.
Aviendha notes that while she doesn’t wear the clothing of a Wise One, there is something about her.

Nakomi seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, sneaking up on Aviendha unaware. (A mean trick, that) She asks to share water and puts on tea to boil. Aviendha notes that the fire has grown very warm and there appears to be more coals than there should be. They go on to talk about the Aiel and their future, etc. Nakomi serves up a meal that Aviendha notes is better than any she had eaten in the wetlands, and Nakomi leaves, saying she needs to "see to nature."

The whole scene is surreal, splashed with hints that there is something "special" about Nakomi, and I believe there is. From Wikipedia: 

"Earth-Mother, aka Nookomis - "Algonquin legend says that "beneath the clouds lives the Earth-Mother from whom is derived the Water of Life, who at her bosom feeds plants, animals and men" She is known as Nokomis, the Grandmother."

So, let's just pretend for the moment that Nakomi is "Mother Nature" or the "Earth-Mother". 

Now let's fast-forward to Rand exiting the Pit of Doom in aMoL, carrying Moridin:
"Rand tripped. The body in his arms was so heavy. He slipped to the ground.
He could...see, just faintly. A figure kneeling down beside him."Yes," a woman whispered. He did not recognize the voice. "Yes, that's good. That is what you need to do."
"He blinked, his vision fuzzy. Was that Aiel clothing? An old woman, with gray hair? Her form retreated, and Rand reached toward her, not wanting to be alone. Wanting to explain himself. "I see the answer now," he whispered. "I asked the Aelfinn the wrong question. To choose is our fate. If you have no choice, then you aren't a man at all. You're a puppet..."" 

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the "Aiel" woman waiting outside the Pit for Rand is Nakomi. She performs the "Soul/Body switch between Rand and Moridin. (Something along the lines of the First-Sister bonding we witnessed between Elayne and Aviendha.)

That leaves us with the how. Aviendha said that Nakomi couldn't channel, and yet, strange things happened that Aviendha couldn't explain. Back to Rand in aMoL:
"By instinct, he reached for the One Power to light it. (his pipe).
He found nothing. No saidin in the void, nothing. He paused, then smiled and felt an enormous relief. He could not channel. Just to be certain, he tentatively reached for the True Power. Nothing there either.
He regarded his pipe, riding up a little incline to the side of Thakan'dar, now covered in plants. No way to light the tabac. He inspected it for a moment in the darkness, then thought of the pipe being lit. And it was."

So what's going on? Let's go back to when Rand was sealing the Bore:

"Rand hurled the Powers forward with his mind and braided them together. Saidin and Saidar at once, the True Power surrounding them and forming a shield on the Bore.
He wove something majestic, a pattern of interlaced saidar and saidin in their pure forms. Not Fire, not Spirirt, not Water, not Earth, not Air. Purity. Light itself. This didn't repair, it didn't patch, it forged anew.
With this new form of the Power, Rand pulled together the rent that had been made here long ago by foolish men. 
He understood, finally, that the Dark One was not the enemy.
It never had been."

I believe that what Rand is doing to light his pipe, is using both saidin and saidar, both halves of the One Power, in Pure Form, (no weaves). It is after all, "One" power. This provides the story with the irony of why the Bore was drilled in the first place, (so men and women didn't have to work in tandem). 

Nakomi also uses the same "One" Power, (hence the reason Aviendha doesn't sense her ability). I believe she is, in essence, an avatar of the Creator, (along the lines of the Dragon), doing a little damage control for the Dragon Reborn.

 

What do you guy think about that?! I think he/she nailed it!

Edited August 1, 2013 by Victoria Sedi

[Guest LandOfMadmenman]

I like that synopsis. 

 

Yes, it is annoying that a completely new plot element is introduced at the end of the series, a series in which fans have had to endure a lot of waiting and uncertainty and ambiguity in so many areas.

 

But I dont want to dismiss it. Why? Because it's fun. But also because it is part of what makes sf/f so awesome: in debating things like this, we are essentially creating the answer...sure, there is canon and then there is speculation, but I think, author/audience notwithstanding, fantasy is a communal experience, in that the rules of the narrative are not pulled out of thin air by the author per se, but rather dictated by deeper social/psychological/existential/spiritual experiences which we all share, and by debating together what this plot element means we are essentially discerning as a group where Nakomi belongs in our collective unconscious mythology.

 

Or whatever. Just sayin to all you haters that it matters.

 

I think the connection to Harriet is kinda awesome, and the Tom Bombadil connection is not irrelevant either. Again, working with the idea that these stories are more than just fabrications but are manifestations of a common mythology, Bombadil is essentially a similar trope. Sure he's got more explanation to him, but if you take LOTR in isolation, as WOT has no equivalent of Silmarillion and was cut short by Jordan's passing, he is a character intimately bound with the land whose magical qualities have no place in the system built by the rest of the story. He's there, then he's gone, but he has always represented, in the story and beyond it, something bound to the land.

 

 The idea that Nakomi is Egwene is pretty cray, but im fond of it anyway. 

 

The Hiawatha cycle stuff is pretty cool too, but Tigraine doesnt sound right to me, unless she has become deified for some reason, as Holy Mother or something, and thereby connects with the land-based stuff. 

 

The Aiel more or less represent a deep rootedness with the land, a paradigm which always transcends society's (read:Randland's) battles between Good and Evil (even regardless of the actual History of the Aiel in the AoL). So it would make sense that a figure outside of history would take a special interest in them, rewarding them or encouraging them as special players in a cyclical drama.

 

 I would like it if Nakomi were one of the original AS in ghostly form or something. The liminal stuff surrounding TG and SG would allow for this, not to mention the freaky stuff happening at Rhuidean. Could the Dragon's special powers or the touch of an avendesora leaf have released an ancient AS soul from its cryogenic fugue in a ter'angreal? Find out next time on....oh wait the series is over. doh!

 

 I think the idea that she cant channel is kind of suspect because we know that people can mask that ability and wear the mask of mirrors so theres no reason she couldnt be a channeler of any background  in disguise as an Aiel (except that she seems to know and care about contemporary Aiel customs). But the synopsis above is more attractive to me; i.e. that she is working with something similar to Rand re: the pure one power.

 

If the current team isnt going to provide any answers, why dont we just elect a new Authorial Canon from within our ranks to round out and continue the narrative? It used to work that way once upon a time. That way we could build a story as confusing as the book of Genesis!

 

No offense Team Jordan...job WELL done as far as I'm concerned.  

[Tommar]

She could be a Wise Woman Hero of the Horn. Caught Avi in the Dream and got Rand when the horn was blown.

[Guest purestwater]

My current belief regarding the identity of "Nakomi" is thus:

 

I believe it to be Verin Sedai. After re-reading key points in many books to completely understand the timeline... I've found that Verin would be dead at the time of the meeting between Avi and Nakomi. However, this is actually WHY I believe it to be Verin Sedai. I believe that when she died she was inducted into the hall of heroes that are summoned by the Horn. Her deeds are great enough to worthy her a spot and we know they exist in T'A'R and we know they can interact with people in meaningful ways.

 

Verin had the knowledge, Verin had the power and Verin had the heart.

[clutzyninja]

My current belief regarding the identity of "Nakomi" is thus:

 

I believe it to be Verin Sedai. After re-reading key points in many books to completely understand the timeline... I've found that Verin would be dead at the time of the meeting between Avi and Nakomi. However, this is actually WHY I believe it to be Verin Sedai. I believe that when she died she was inducted into the hall of heroes that are summoned by the Horn. Her deeds are great enough to worthy her a spot and we know they exist in T'A'R and we know they can interact with people in meaningful ways.

 

Verin had the knowledge, Verin had the power and Verin had the heart.

But why disguise herself? 

[Apoc81]

 

We got very little in the way of hints about Nakomi in AMoL, but their location make this thread full-spoilers by necessity.

 

So, let's have it. Did anyone glean anything about Nakomi that we didn't know before AMoL?

 

PS

If you want another poll-option, let me know.

It seems to me that the powers she displays in ToM were akin to what Rand did in the end with his pipe, as well as how he made food taste good again. She seemed to have managed to add more coals to the fire, and make delicious food. Plus, the inspiration for her comes from deep in RJ's notes on Rand. All this suggests there is a connection to Rand. 

 

Another thing to note is that Nakomi's name is an obvious derivative of Nokomis, an Iroquois name meaning "Daughter of the Moon" as well as "Grandmother". These names can fit Lanfear very well, but even though I can imagine a situation where she wants the Aiel to survive, I can't see her helping Aviendha of all people, nor can she possibly have said anything to Rand when he came out of SG (she was dead by then).

 

The only other character that can be called Daughter of the Moon, and Grand Mother, is Egwene. I really resist this idea, because for Nakomi to be Egwene, we'd need to have time travel involved.

 

But consider these quotes:

 

 

Startlingly, a smile bloomed on Sorilea's leathery face. Her multitude of bracelets clattered as she shifted her shawl in a satisfied manner. "You see? I told you she would understand. She could be Aiel."

 

 

 

If you take what you did to meet your toh and make it so it might as well never have happened, how have you met toh? Remember your Aiel heart, girl.

 

 

 

She wished her Aiel heart and her Two Rivers head could get together.

 

 

Its been constantly remarked that Egwene could easily be Aiel. She even considers that she has an Aiel heart... could she just be Aiel at heart?

 

And then there's the manner of her death. One way or another, her weave plays with time. Its supposed to freeze someone in time, but what if it does more? After all, there are ripple effects to balefire's burning of threads back in time. What if there are ripple effects to the Flame too? What if, instead of unspooling the Pattern, using the Flame does the opposite, and creates events in the past that allow the Pattern to be stabilized in the future? 

 

This is admittedly so far out as to be ridiculous. But perhaps by this or some other mechanism, Egwene was actually there for Aviendha and the Aiel, and is responsible for the remnant of the remnant (the heart of the Aiel?) surviving?

 

And her role with Rand in the end also would make sense. We had a lot of foreshadowing of Egwene "killing" Rand. Instead, she nudges him along the path that will "help him die" but not kill him.

 

So, my theory is this: Nakomi is an ancient name, referring to a soul that's a counterpart to the Dragon's. She complements his purpose (as did Egwene), and also has strong ties to the Aiel. Perhaps her last birth was as an Aiel Wise One, and this is the form she choses to take even after her death in this life. After the death of Egwene's body, perhaps because of the manner of her death, Nakomi was able to do several things. Firstly, as Egwene, she conversed with Rand about death. Then she saw to the Aiel. Then she returned one last time to nudge Rand towards his "death".

 

And a little bit more to hint at a connection:

 

 

"If you'll excuse me," Nakomi said. "I need to see to nature."

 

 

 

In that moment—maiming, destroying, bringing death upon the enemy— she felt as if she were one with the land itself. That she was doing the work it had longed for someone to do for so long. The Blight, and the Shadowspawn it grew, were a disease. An infection. Egwene—afire with the One Power, a blazing beacon of death and judgment—was the cauterizing flame that would bring healing to the land.

 

 

Egwene does seem to "see to nature" quite a bit in aMoL.

 

Anyway, this is admittedly a whacky theory. Feel free not to add Egwene to the voting list. But... thoughts?

 

 

 

Seems like you are really, really stretching to make a connection to Egwene, imo.

[Emily Jarrold]

 

 

We got very little in the way of hints about Nakomi in AMoL, but their location make this thread full-spoilers by necessity.

 

So, let's have it. Did anyone glean anything about Nakomi that we didn't know before AMoL?

 

PS

If you want another poll-option, let me know.

It seems to me that the powers she displays in ToM were akin to what Rand did in the end with his pipe, as well as how he made food taste good again. She seemed to have managed to add more coals to the fire, and make delicious food. Plus, the inspiration for her comes from deep in RJ's notes on Rand. All this suggests there is a connection to Rand. 

 

Another thing to note is that Nakomi's name is an obvious derivative of Nokomis, an Iroquois name meaning "Daughter of the Moon" as well as "Grandmother". These names can fit Lanfear very well, but even though I can imagine a situation where she wants the Aiel to survive, I can't see her helping Aviendha of all people, nor can she possibly have said anything to Rand when he came out of SG (she was dead by then).

 

The only other character that can be called Daughter of the Moon, and Grand Mother, is Egwene. I really resist this idea, because for Nakomi to be Egwene, we'd need to have time travel involved.

 

But consider these quotes:

 

 

>Startlingly, a smile bloomed on Sorilea's leathery face. Her multitude of bracelets clattered as she shifted her shawl in a satisfied manner. "You see? I told you she would understand. She could be Aiel."

 

 

 

If you take what you did to meet your toh and make it so it might as well never have happened, how have you met toh? Remember your Aiel heart, girl.

 

 

 

She wished her Aiel heart and her Two Rivers head could get together.

 

 

Its been constantly remarked that Egwene could easily be Aiel. She even considers that she has an Aiel heart... could she just be Aiel at heart?

 

And then there's the manner of her death. One way or another, her weave plays with time. Its supposed to freeze someone in time, but what if it does more? After all, there are ripple effects to balefire's burning of threads back in time. What if there are ripple effects to the Flame too? What if, instead of unspooling the Pattern, using the Flame does the opposite, and creates events in the past that allow the Pattern to be stabilized in the future? 

 

This is admittedly so far out as to be ridiculous. But perhaps by this or some other mechanism, Egwene was actually there for Aviendha and the Aiel, and is responsible for the remnant of the remnant (the heart of the Aiel?) surviving?

 

And her role with Rand in the end also would make sense. We had a lot of foreshadowing of Egwene "killing" Rand. Instead, she nudges him along the path that will "help him die" but not kill him.

 

So, my theory is this: Nakomi is an ancient name, referring to a soul that's a counterpart to the Dragon's. She complements his purpose (as did Egwene), and also has strong ties to the Aiel. Perhaps her last birth was as an Aiel Wise One, and this is the form she choses to take even after her death in this life. After the death of Egwene's body, perhaps because of the manner of her death, Nakomi was able to do several things. Firstly, as Egwene, she conversed with Rand about death. Then she saw to the Aiel. Then she returned one last time to nudge Rand towards his "death".

 

And a little bit more to hint at a connection:

 

 

"If you'll excuse me," Nakomi said. "I need to see to nature."

 

 

 

In that moment—maiming, destroying, bringing death upon the enemy— she felt as if she were one with the land itself. That she was doing the work it had longed for someone to do for so long. The Blight, and the Shadowspawn it grew, were a disease. An infection. Egwene—afire with the One Power, a blazing beacon of death and judgment—was the cauterizing flame that would bring healing to the land.

 

 

Egwene does seem to "see to nature" quite a bit in aMoL.

 

Anyway, this is admittedly a whacky theory. Feel free not to add Egwene to the voting list. But... thoughts?

 

I like it.  Very interesting, especially the part about it being a counterpart to balefire.  I bet you many of the answers we seek will be revealed when we see these issues in the light of Jordan's fundemental concept of this series, the idea of balance.  

One or the other alone doens't work well, but together things are as they should be.

 

Me too! have been very curious for a while but hadn't drawn that conclusion at all, I will take this as the truth of it unless a better theory pops up, cheers.xx.

[Tyzack]

While I think that the best answer is that she is an avatar of the Wheel/Creator, I do not think that fits in very will with the description of the Creator given in the series. I think that the most realistic solution is that she is a surviving membet if not of the Jenn Aiel, but of the Aes Sedai who lead them - surviving through some combination of the arches/dreamworld/one power/stasis boxes/or whatever. 

 

They knew at the end of the War of Power that the war was not over and that the War would have to be fought again so they took their stash of *'angrel and went off, taking the Aiel with them. 

 

Even if it isn't the right, or true, answer, it's the answer that makes the most sense to me.

 

I can discount the other ones easily enough:

1.) Not a foresaken - they are all dead/incapacitated by the time she apears outside the bore.

2.) Not Egwene's avitar - there is a possibility of this, I will admit, but the episode in the Waste is iffy. If she's not an Aes Sedai/Jenn Aiel, then this, I think, is the second most likely.

 

3.) Re: Harriet/body swap/Brandon for RJ: This is the most reasonable, but I don't want to believe it.

 

Therefore, I believe she is a/the remaining Aes Sedai/Jenn Aiel for the AoL who has tied herself to the Wheel to see that the correct course is followed. Perhaps the one who had the Foretelling to begin with?

 

Second to that, it's Eqwene's avitar.

 

Third, and most logical/reasonable, it the harriet/body swap/brand/RJ thing. 

 

But, as has been mentioned before, like Tom Bombadil, she's a character in a fantasy series who doesn't really fit in, so each reader will have their own opinion. IMO, Tom Bombadill is an avitar of either Manwe or Ulmo, I'm sure I'm wrong, but I really don't care; it's truth to me.

 

That being said, wow, I just finished, it was everything I could have hoped for in a epic fantasy series. 

 

Thank you.

Edited September 12, 2013 by Tyzack

[Emily Jarrold]

 

I like that synopsis. 

 

Yes, it is annoying that a completely new plot element is introduced at the end of the series, a series in which fans have had to endure a lot of waiting and uncertainty and ambiguity in so many areas.

 

But I dont want to dismiss it. Why? Because it's fun. But also because it is part of what makes sf/f so awesome: in debating things like this, we are essentially creating the answer...sure, there is canon and then there is speculation, but I think, author/audience notwithstanding, fantasy is a communal experience, in that the rules of the narrative are not pulled out of thin air by the author per se, but rather dictated by deeper social/psychological/existential/spiritual experiences which we all share, and by debating together what this plot element means we are essentially discerning as a group where Nakomi belongs in our collective unconscious mythology.

 

Or whatever. Just sayin to all you haters that it matters.

 

I think the connection to Harriet is kinda awesome, and the Tom Bombadil connection is not irrelevant either. Again, working with the idea that these stories are more than just fabrications but are manifestations of a common mythology, Bombadil is essentially a similar trope. Sure he's got more explanation to him, but if you take LOTR in isolation, as WOT has no equivalent of Silmarillion and was cut short by Jordan's passing, he is a character intimately bound with the land whose magical qualities have no place in the system built by the rest of the story. He's there, then he's gone, but he has always represented, in the story and beyond it, something bound to the land.

 

 The idea that Nakomi is Egwene is pretty cray, but im fond of it anyway. 

 

The Hiawatha cycle stuff is pretty cool too, but Tigraine doesnt sound right to me, unless she has become deified for some reason, as Holy Mother or something, and thereby connects with the land-based stuff. 

 

The Aiel more or less represent a deep rootedness with the land, a paradigm which always transcends society's (read:Randland's) battles between Good and Evil (even regardless of the actual History of the Aiel in the AoL). So it would make sense that a figure outside of history would take a special interest in them, rewarding them or encouraging them as special players in a cyclical drama.

 

 I would like it if Nakomi were one of the original AS in ghostly form or something. The liminal stuff surrounding TG and SG would allow for this, not to mention the freaky stuff happening at Rhuidean. Could the Dragon's special powers or the touch of an avendesora leaf have released an ancient AS soul from its cryogenic fugue in a ter'angreal? Find out next time on....oh wait the series is over. doh!

 

 I think the idea that she cant channel is kind of suspect because we know that people can mask that ability and wear the mask of mirrors so theres no reason she couldnt be a channeler of any background  in disguise as an Aiel (except that she seems to know and care about contemporary Aiel customs). But the synopsis above is more attractive to me; i.e. that she is working with something similar to Rand re: the pure one power.

 

If the current team isnt going to provide any answers, why dont we just elect a new Authorial Canon from within our ranks to round out and continue the narrative? It used to work that way once upon a time. That way we could build a story as confusing as the book of Genesis!

 

No offense Team Jordan...job WELL done as far as I'm concerned.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got very little in the way of hints about Nakomi in AMoL, but their location make this thread full-spoilers by necessity.

 

So, let's have it. Did anyone glean anything about Nakomi that we didn't know before AMoL?

 

PS

If you want another poll-option, let me know.

It seems to me that the powers she displays in ToM were akin to what Rand did in the end with his pipe, as well as how he made food taste good again. She seemed to have managed to add more coals to the fire, and make delicious food. Plus, the inspiration for her comes from deep in RJ's notes on Rand. All this suggests there is a connection to Rand. 

 

Another thing to note is that Nakomi's name is an obvious derivative of Nokomis, an Iroquois name meaning "Daughter of the Moon" as well as "Grandmother". These names can fit Lanfear very well, but even though I can imagine a situation where she wants the Aiel to survive, I can't see her helping Aviendha of all people, nor can she possibly have said anything to Rand when he came out of SG (she was dead by then).

 

The only other character that can be called Daughter of the Moon, and Grand Mother, is Egwene. I really resist this idea, because for Nakomi to be Egwene, we'd need to have time travel involved.

 

But consider these quotes:

 

 

>Startlingly, a smile bloomed on Sorilea's leathery face. Her multitude of bracelets clattered as she shifted her shawl in a satisfied manner. "You see? I told you she would understand. She could be Aiel."

 

 

 

If you take what you did to meet your toh and make it so it might as well never have happened, how have you met toh? Remember your Aiel heart, girl.

 

 

 

She wished her Aiel heart and her Two Rivers head could get together.

 

 

Its been constantly remarked that Egwene could easily be Aiel. She even considers that she has an Aiel heart... could she just be Aiel at heart?

 

And then there's the manner of her death. One way or another, her weave plays with time. Its supposed to freeze someone in time, but what if it does more? After all, there are ripple effects to balefire's burning of threads back in time. What if there are ripple effects to the Flame too? What if, instead of unspooling the Pattern, using the Flame does the opposite, and creates events in the past that allow the Pattern to be stabilized in the future? 

 

This is admittedly so far out as to be ridiculous. But perhaps by this or some other mechanism, Egwene was actually there for Aviendha and the Aiel, and is responsible for the remnant of the remnant (the heart of the Aiel?) surviving?

 

And her role with Rand in the end also would make sense. We had a lot of foreshadowing of Egwene "killing" Rand. Instead, she nudges him along the path that will "help him die" but not kill him.

 

So, my theory is this: Nakomi is an ancient name, referring to a soul that's a counterpart to the Dragon's. She complements his purpose (as did Egwene), and also has strong ties to the Aiel. Perhaps her last birth was as an Aiel Wise One, and this is the form she choses to take even after her death in this life. After the death of Egwene's body, perhaps because of the manner of her death, Nakomi was able to do several things. Firstly, as Egwene, she conversed with Rand about death. Then she saw to the Aiel. Then she returned one last time to nudge Rand towards his "death".

 

And a little bit more to hint at a connection:

 

 

"If you'll excuse me," Nakomi said. "I need to see to nature."

 

 

 

In that moment—maiming, destroying, bringing death upon the enemy— she felt as if she were one with the land itself. That she was doing the work it had longed for someone to do for so long. The Blight, and the Shadowspawn it grew, were a disease. An infection. Egwene—afire with the One Power, a blazing beacon of death and judgment—was the cauterizing flame that would bring healing to the land.

 

 

Egwene does seem to "see to nature" quite a bit in aMoL.

 

Anyway, this is admittedly a whacky theory. Feel free not to add Egwene to the voting list. But... thoughts?

 

I like it.  Very interesting, especially the part about it being a counterpart to balefire.  I bet you many of the answers we seek will be revealed when we see these issues in the light of Jordan's fundemental concept of this series, the idea of balance.  

One or the other alone doens't work well, but together things are as they should be.

 

Me too! have been very curious for a while but hadn't drawn that conclusion at all, I will take this as the truth of it unless a better theory pops up, cheers.xx.

 

have just read the above theory as well as the Egwqene one and i prefer the top one!

[Drewf91]

I chose to vote on an effect of the wheel, but what I mean really is this... Comparing the way she mysteriously does things by willing it just like Rand does when he lights the pipe, I think they are directly related. I kind of think that it has something to do with that sacrifice of the dragon reborn. So I believe she was once a dragon and when making that sacrifice and correctly doing it (unlike Lews Therin originally did) you become a sort of spirit of the pattern, never to be reborn but to guide the world in subtle ways. The concept of a wheel of time (very popular in the east) makes the whole idea of 1.2.3 ages irrelevant. It means that each of those ages have come to pass, come to pass and once again come to pass. I think Jordan kind of went a little off of the concept of a wheel of time but by him using it he even says how essentially there are no beginnings or endings. In an age some refer to as the 3rd age, I believe it has come before and will come again (the main concept of a wheel of time) so it is kind of a stretch but its just an idea of come to think. There's truly a huge mystic connotation to her, so I definitely believe she is not just some random Aiel.