The future of the blight

[MasterAblar]

What happens now that the DO's sealed back up? Discuss.

[rand4747]

Weve seen the blight retreat suddenly early on in the series so I don't doubt it will vanish completely in a short time if it hasn't so already.

[Lord D]

The horribly corrupted flora and fauna of the Blight showed how evil the Shadow was in tEotW.  But apart from Faile's brief journey, we haven't returned to the Blight since that first book.  I feel that we should have seen more of the Blight, and it would have been good if the Blight had expanded, threatening the Borderlands at some point.  With the DO banished, I think the Blight will die fairly quickly, though will creatures like the Worms die with the Blight, or will they feed on Randland animals?

 

A big unanswered question regarding the Blight is: if it is so hostile to any life, how can the hordes of Trollocs live in it?  It might have been good to have a POV from a smarter Trolloc somewhere in the series to try to explain this.

[NitroS]

The horribly corrupted flora and fauna of the Blight showed how evil the Shadow was in tEotW.  But apart from Faile's brief journey, we haven't returned to the Blight since that first book.  I feel that we should have seen more of the Blight, and it would have been good if the Blight had expanded, threatening the Borderlands at some point.  With the DO banished, I think the Blight will die fairly quickly, though will creatures like the Worms die with the Blight, or will they feed on Randland animals?

 

A big unanswered question regarding the Blight is: if it is so hostile to any life, how can the hordes of Trollocs live in it?  It might have been good to have a POV from a smarter Trolloc somewhere in the series to try to explain this.

this is what i dont understand. I remember one forsaken said even trollocs are scared of what the borderlanders call "worms"

 

How did they have millions of trollocs sustained in the blight all this time. Who continued to create them? why didnt they just storm out before the dragon was here. Its also interesting to note what will happen to all the other scary stuff that was living in the blight now that the dark one is gone.

[Cybertrolloc]

There's plenty of mentions of things Blight-related in the books, but with different levels of reliability. RJ expanded on some of it in Q&A, but can be lots of changed premises or worse in that too.

 

My biggest possibly still answerable question would probably be the big Darkhound pack and what they were doing for the last 6 months or more.

[Lord D]

Another question on the Blight which I've also asked in the Shadow thread is: Why didn't the DO push the Blight south, swallowing the Borderlands, as the Seals weakened?  Instead all we got were the Bubbles of Evil, which became de rigeur.  The nastiest Evil Bubble was when Rand's reflections attacked him.  We know that the Blight was expanding before the main sequence as it swallowed Malkier, yet it did basically nothing in the whole WoT series.

[Suttree]

After Rand's victory in tEotW the Blight started retreating:

 

TSR Ch. 17

The only good news I have heard is that the Blight has retreated for some reason. Two miles or more of green beyond the borderstones, without a hint of corruption or pestilence, all the way from Saldaea to Shienar.

 

but as the series came back and Rand grew more Dark it was coming back south.

 

TGS Ch.22

After that, Bashere had suggested that Rand ride up to inspect the Blight. The scouts had been surprised at how quickly the Blight was advancing, and Bashere thought it important that Ituralde and Rand see for themselves. Rand agreed. Maps sometimes couldn't convey the truth eyes could see.

The sun was dipping toward the horizon like a drooping eye longing for sleep. Tai'daishar stamped a hoof, tossing his head. Rand raised a hand, halting his group—two generals, fifty soldiers and an equal number of Maidens, with Narishma at the back to weave gateways.

Northward, on the shallow slope, a scrub of broad-bladed grasses and squat brush swayed like waves in the wind. There was no specific line where the Blight began. A spot on a blade there, a sickly cast to a stem there. Each individual speck was innocent, yet there were too many, far too many. At the top of the hillside, not a single plant was free of the spots. The pox seemed to fester even as he watched.

There was an oily sense of death to the Blight, of plants barely surviving, kept alive like prisoners starved to the very edge of mortality. If Rand had seen anything like this back in a field in the Two Rivers, he would have burnt the entire crop, and would have been surprised that it hadn't been done already.

To his side, Bashere knuckled his long, dark mustaches. "I remember when it didn't start for another few leagues," he noted. "That wasn't so long ago."

[Lord D]

I guess those quotes indicate that the Blight is related to how Dark or Light Rand currently is, and to whether he's had victories over the Shadow.

[Suttree]

There is the old Fisher King parallel.

 

There can be no health in us, nor any good thing grow, for the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and he is one with the land.

 

Although we also know that the Bligh is land corrupted by the DO so there are other factors as well.

 

Interview: Apr, 2003                                                   

Budapest Q&A (Verbatim)                                            

Question                                                                          

 

Was there any time when there was no Blight?

                                            

Robert Jordan                                                                                      

Oh, yes. The Blight is an artifact of the War of the Shadow and the Breaking. There was no Blight before the Bore was created, and the drilling of the Bore did not immediately create the Blight, but the Blight came into being after that.

QUESTION

Was the Blight [mumble] from the Dark One, or one of the Forsaken?

ROBERT JORDAN

From the Dark One. It is land that has been corrupted by the Dark One.

 

&

 

Interview: Oct 9th, 1996                                       

ACOS Signing Report - Erica Sadun (Paraphrased)                                                                                

Question                                                                                     

Tell us about the Blight.

                                            

Robert Jordan                                                                                       

 

You can not enter it from Tel'aran'rhiod because it is apart from NORMAL UNIVERSE and can not be touched. The Blight is not part of the normal universe.

[NitroS]

 

There is the old Fisher King parallel.

 

There can be no health in us, nor any good thing grow, for the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and he is one with the land.

 

Although we also know that the Bligh is land corrupted by the DO so there are other factors as well.

 

>Interview: Apr, 2003                                                   

Budapest Q&A (Verbatim)                                            

Question                                                                          

 

Was there any time when there was no Blight?

                                            

Robert Jordan                                                                                      

Oh, yes. The Blight is an artifact of the War of the Shadow and the Breaking. There was no Blight before the Bore was created, and the drilling of the Bore did not immediately create the Blight, but the Blight came into being after that.

QUESTION

Was the Blight [mumble] from the Dark One, or one of the Forsaken?

ROBERT JORDAN

From the Dark One. It is land that has been corrupted by the Dark One.

 

&

 

 

Interview: Oct 9th, 1996                                       

ACOS Signing Report - Erica Sadun (Paraphrased)                                                                                

Question                                                                                     

Tell us about the Blight.

                                            

Robert Jordan                                                                                       

 

You can not enter it from Tel'aran'rhiod because it is apart from NORMAL UNIVERSE and can not be touched. The Blight is not part of the normal universe.

 

Am i wrong or didnt slayer and perrin both enter it in the blight? i mean slayer lived in the blight all his life. Also is Shayoul ghul counted as the blight wasnt perrin there in TAR?

[Lord D]

The lands around Shayol Ghul are called the "Blasted Lands", and are not part of the Blight.  The Blasted Lands have no life, not even the corrupted life of the Blight.

 

RJ may have meant that the Blight would not be reflected in TAR.

[NitroS]

The lands around Shayol Ghul are called the "Blasted Lands", and are not part of the Blight.  The Blasted Lands have no life, not even the corrupted life of the Blight.

 

RJ may have meant that the Blight would not be reflected in TAR.

ahhk that makes sense then but doesnt explain if slayer entered into his position he was in the waking world in TAR or if he just entered into the closest point reflected in TAR which could be the waste or something.

[Barid Bel Medar]

It is explained when Rand sends Perrin into TAR in aMoL

[Suttree]

Interesting tidbit here...

 

Q: Why is it that Lan ended up surviving? Was this your decision, or RJ/Harriet's? Lan has pretty clearly been building towards dying to the Shadow the entire series. Was it just too obvious of a move? That being said, it was one of my happiest moments when he stood back up. Kinda nice to see Lan stay an unstoppable juggernaut

Brandon: Lan's survival was mandated by RJ. It was something we could have changed, in that he didn't say directly "don't kill him" but some of his notes talk of what happens after the Last Battle, and those involve Lan. It is clear to me that he wanted Lan to live. I took comments like this as mandates unless there were very good reasons to do otherwise.

Note that I have not weighed in on whether Lan died or not. The position some fans have theorized (that he died, and Rand changed the Pattern) is defensible. Some asked me about it on tour. I haven't said whether it is the case or not.

And, because I have more leeway with such things now, here are some nice quotes from you directly from RJ's notes regarding what happens to Lan and the Borderlands following the Last Battle.

"Malkier might have a lot of uniting to do with the western end of the Borderlands under Lan, who will find himself made king out there..."

"The Blight recedes to some extent, I'm not sure how far, it recedes a good bit, though. And they can reclaim some, I'm not sure they can reclaim all of Malkier at this point, but the Blight has visibly retreated so they can go down there and check the towers on the Blight Border. And they are miles inside the Borderland now, instead of being right on the Border, towers sitting right on the edge of the Blight. They're not on the Blight anymore."

[haplo333]

are there any trolloc or myydraal cities in the deep blight? We have been told many times that there is huge amount of trollops and myydraal's, so where do they live and how could they survive in the hard conditions in the blight??