DRAGONMOUNT

I made it back from Dragon*Con in one piece and am ready to resume my weekly updates. All of you should consider coming to Dragon*Con sometime. It's a great way to meet fellow Wheel of Time fans.   It looks like plenty of exciting things have happened on the forums since I last was here. One interesting thread you should check out is in our General Wheel of Time Discussion forum, where people are talking about references in the Wheel of Time to real-world pop culture and history. The thread has a very comprehensive list so far.   Who is the best movie director of all time? Visit our Movies Discussion forum and see if you agree with anyone's picks.   The theme for the September Challenge in the Artists, Crafters, and Writers Guild is "Swap." The goal is for everyone to swap their usual creative medium for something new this month.   The Aiel Social Group is discussing holidays and their meanings. What do various holidays mean to you? Do you know the history behind why some holidays are celebrated around the world?   The Wolfkin Social Group is discussing their favorite autumn foods. My mouth is watering just from reading this thread!   Our role players have been hanging around the Blight lately. Check out "Discovery of a Puzzle" to see what adventure unfolds.   If you want to see some of our Twitter updates from Dragon*Con, go here. It looks like we have quite a few pictures from our Wheel of Time costume contest.   That's it for today! I'll see you all next week.

Bonjour, my brilliant boarders of Dragonmount! Welcome back to another weekly installment of "It Works in Theory," Dragonmount's newish theory blog, which just so happens to be entrusted to my hands. I apologize for the extended delay between new entries; as many of you are aware, Dragon*Con was held this past weekend in Atlanta, Georgia, and I had the privilege to go this year for the first time. In short, it was simply a blast, and particularly exquisite because my birthday fell on the last day of the event. It was, in fact, the first convention of any kind that I had ever attended, and it did not fail whatsoever to impress me. I greatly urge any fans of the Wheel of Time series to try and make it out next Labor Day weekend or even this coming spring when JordanCon will be held in the same city. And now, onto our disclaimer:   WARNING!!! Spoiler Alert!!! WARNING!!!   This blog is based on theories that will include facts and material from the latest books in the series, so if you have not read through Towers of Midnight, continue reading at your own risk! This weblog of "It Works in Theory" is copyrighted by Despothera and Dragonmount for the private use and enjoyment of our audience. Any other use of this weblog or any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the blog without consent from Despothera "signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, lost, found, queried, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighter" (from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is greatly encouraged. To be honest, I don't really think it is copyrighted per se anyway, but just to be on the safe side, maybe just include a link back here or something.   Alright, here's one more thing I wanted to get out of the way that I hope my editor won't mind terribly: I don't believe many of you know this, but in addition to having somewhat of a penchant for writing, I also happen to pretend to have minor musical talent as well. I am in a band that goes by the same name as my handle here on Dragonmount (Despothera). We recently got our website up and running to feature our newly recorded EP, so if anyone would like to check it out and see if you like it, just visit www.despothera.com. We play hard rock and metal, but have a broad spectrum of musical influences so many might be able to enjoy the songs on the site. I'm particularly proud of the song which I wrote, a 9-minute instrumental which I named "Tarmon Gai'don" in reverence of The Wheel of Time. Now that I have finished shamelessly self-promoting my band, let's go ahead and move on to the subject of today's blog.   I thought it fitting today after already bringing up my love of music to go into further detail about a subject I've referenced in earlier blogs: the importance of the Talent of Singing in helping to save the world of Rand and his allies. As I mentioned in my premiere blog entry, we now have a pretty good idea that the "Song" which the Tuatha'an (Tinkers, or Traveling People) have been seeking might not actually be a singularly important song, but rather a longing to return to the happier ways of their people when they were Aiel and used Seed Singing to help promote the health of the land around them. The Tuatha'an practice the Way of the Leaf and have a strong affinity both for nature and music, making them something of an oblique allusion to groups in our own society that dedicate their lives to following peaceful ways and jam bands (any Deadheads out there?). Luckers, one of our own site's admins, has written a very helpful article which talks about this subject in further detail: Demystifying The Song.   Many people, including myself, believe that it might be essential for the Talent of Singing to be rediscovered in order for the forces of Light to have any chance at winning. However, the big question is, how will it be rediscovered? One of the characters who is connected to this mystery most often happens to be my favorite character in the series: Perrin "Goldeneyes" Aybara. We'll get to why so many people believe he will have a central role in rediscovering the lost Talent in a moment, but first, I wanted to examine one of the character parallels that exist in the personage of Perrin.   If you haven't been to The Thirteenth Depository, a Wheel of Time blog headed by Linda Taglieri (who I had the pleasure of meeting this past weekend at Dragon*Con), please take time to visit there at some point. While I have a fantastic time writing my blog and am proud of what I've been able to put out so far, the theories and notions I have presented are a grain of sand on the beach compared to the many musings and thoughts that have been expressed by Linda on her site over the years. I'm particularly impressed by her ability to find the many historical, literary, and mythological references and allusions found in The Wheel of Time; Robert Jordan was simply a master of his trade when it came to selecting various figures and stories throughout the history of mankind and injecting derivatives of them into his tale. One of the connections Linda has made that I particularly enjoy is the parallel between Perrin and the fictional character of the knight Sir Percival from Arthurian Legend and Grail stories (you might have to scroll far down the page to get to that part).   It's my feeling that the story alluded to the most in The Wheel of Time is the story of King Arthur, The Fisher King, and the search for the Holy Grail. We won't get into the plethora of references and allegories to this legend, but it is a good idea to focus on the Perrin/Percival parallels to see how Perrin might end up being involved with the rediscovery of Singing. First of all, it's very easy to notice the similarities in their names. In fact, another name for Percival found in the early writings of Grail legend is Peredur, which is even more phonetically similar to Perrin. Percival was of noble blood but was raised in the forest in a simple upbringing until he was fifteen, when he saw a gallant group of knights that inspired him to become one himself. His genuine interest in doing the right thing is stressed almost to the point of naivete, but it is his purity of heart which singles him out to be the knight who is best equipped to find the grail.   We know about Perrin's modest upbringing in the Two Rivers. Although he wasn't entranced into a life of heroics, he has nonetheless been transformed into a hero, even a lord, by both the nature of him being ta'veren and the circumstances which have surrounded him. In spite of his transformation, he has kept the same noble and modest personality, and the purity of his heart has never come into question. Of the three ta'veren from Edmond's Field, he is easily the most noble; Rand has a constant struggle of internal torment at his role as the Dragon Reborn, and Mat, while very lovable himself, is somewhat of a scoundrel.   In the Grail stories, Percival is plagued by being in constant conflict with temptation in his quest for the grail, as Perrin is plagued by the conflict against succumbing to the wild, violent side of himself represented by the axe he leaves behind in Crossroads of Twilight. Percival was so afflicted with internal struggle in the face of temptation that he wounds himself by piercing his thigh with his own sword rather than lay with a temptress. Perrin is wounded badly in the thigh in one of his confrontations with Slayer in Tel'aran'rhiod in Towers of Midnight. One of the most important congruencies between the two characters, though, is their potential role in saving the health of the land.   We know how Percival helps to save the health of the land; by finding the grail, he is able to rejuvenate the Fisher King and, through him, the land. One of Min's visions gives us a glimpse of how Perrin might be connected to the health of the land:     The wolf image is obvious as Perrin is a wolfbrother. The broken crown is a reference to his connection to the Saldean crown, for which Perrin is now in the line of succession since his wife, Faile, is second in line after her father, Davram Bashere. The trees flowering all around him are a strange viewing for Min to have about Perrin. It would make sense if she saw the image about Rand, since we see in Towers of Midnight that Rand now has an aura about him which instantly brings health and vibrancy to the immediate area around him. Being that the image is around Perrin, though, it's likely that he will end up having an important role in rejuvenating the land even as the Dark One's shadow grows strongest. But how will he end up doing this?   We're now going to venture into a subject that was talked about recently in our 4th Age Podcast: the mystery of Nakomi. Just as a quick refresher, Nakomi was the woman who appeared to Aviendha on her journey to Rhuidean, where she saw the bleak future of her people. Many theories have been raised regarding the identity of this strange figure, but one which I particularly enjoy and find to make the most sense has to do with one particular line in the book right before Nakomi's introduction:     Perhaps Aviendha wasn't awake at all during her encounter, but instead had drifted off to sleep with her mind filled with the problems her people faced. Aviendha has a history of doing things "accidentally," as when she first wove a gateway to get away from Rand to try and hide her shame, so it's possible that she slipped into Tel'aran'rhiod. Another possibility is that she was drawn there somehow in her need to find further clarity. Once in Tel'aran'rhiod, she is visited by Nakomi, who happens to be a Jenn Aiel who is a Hero of the Horn and resides in that dream world. It might be against their precepts to interfere or talk to people from the real world, but we already have a precedent for it and since there is a dire need for Aviendha to gain understanding about her people's predicament, it's probably okay in this circumstance to break the rules.   I also like other ideas about Nakomi, such as how she might be a spirit guide, or even possibly the Creator in person (remember how she has to go "see to nature"?), but let's roll with this idea for now. I don't think it's a stretch to imagine there will be a huge confrontation in Tel'aran'rhiod in the last book, especially if Perrin somehow has to save Rand from the clutches of the Dark One after Rand's death. In such an important encounter, the forces of the Light will use any tool they have to help give them an edge, so I expect to see Dreamwalkers, Wolfbrothers, and Heroes of the Horn, possibly including Nakomi.   Even should Nakomi not be present at the battle in the dream world, what if she still finds the time to make another appearance to Perrin at some point when he's traveling through Tel'aran'rhiod? Perrin is not just a warrior, but a blacksmith, and has the ability to create as well as destroy. The title of this week's blog is actually a direct quote from The Shadow Rising, from the last paragraph of chapter 40, and could be important foreshadowing. The music he hears is from a band of Tuatha'an he meets in the Two Rivers, and it turns out he's familiar with this particular group of Tinkers and their leader, Raen, from when he traveled with them for a time in The Eye of the World. Raen hails Perrin with the customary greeting a Tuatha'an will ask upon meeting someone in the world:     Perrin might not know the Song yet, and this might be a stretch, but perhaps Nakomi helps Perrin discover something else hidden deep inside himself. Perhaps, even as Perrin's hammer, Mah'alleinir, sings its own song of destruction as it carves swathes of death through ranks of Shadowspawn, Perrin Goldeneyes will let his voice resound against the Dark One himself at the sealing of the Bore. Leading a heroic grouping of Aiel, Tuatha'an, and Ogier (and maybe even a Nym), he will Sing the Song which ends up being the Light's salvation.   Wouldn't that be something?

JordanCon is pleased to announce its dates and initial guests for 2012's convention. JordanCon 4, "Car'a'con," will take place April 20-22 at the Doubletree Inn Roswell, just outside of Atlanta, GA.   JordanCon's Author Guest of Honor will be Mary Robinette Kowal, winner of the Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the 2011 Hugo for Best Short Story. Kowal's first novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, is available from Tor Books. Its sequel, Glamour in Glass, is forthcoming in April 2012. Additionally, Kowal is an award winning puppeteer who has worked on the hit TV show Lazytown.   New this year to JordanCon will be the Art Show. In honor of this, JordanCon will be having its first Artist Guest of Honor, Sam Weber. Weber is best known to Wheel of Time fans for his Chesley Award winning painting for the eBook edition of The Shadow Rising. Sam Weber's art, along with that of other fantasy and sci fi artists, will be on display at JordanCon.   Pre-reg for JordanCon 2012 is $45, discounted from $65 for the whole weekend. The host hotel is the Doubletree Inn Roswell, located an easy twenty minute drive from Atlanta, GA. JordanCon will be April 20-22, 2012. For more information, please visit www.jordancon.org

When New Spring: The Graphic Novel became a bestseller, fans clamored for more Wheel of Time books in this format. I am pleased to announce that The Eye of the World, which was made into a comic book series, will soon be released in graphic novel form.   The first volume of the graphic novel is in hardcover and includes issues 1-8 of the comic series. It begins in the Two Rivers and follows the protagonists through their flight on the road to Baerlon. The rest of the story will be continued in future graphic novel volumes.   Chuck Dixon, who was the writer for New Spring: The Graphic Novel, worked closely with Robert Jordan's estate on The Eye of the World: The Graphic Novel. He has written for DC, Marvel, and other major comic publishers. He is perhaps best known for his work on the Batman comics. Chase Conley provided the pencilling and inking in the stunning illustrations for the comics and graphic novel of The Eye of the World.   The Eye of the World: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 will be released on September 13, 2011. You can pre-order the novel from Amazon here.

Hello all! I'm back from Dragon*Con and slightly more together than I have been for the last month. And as promised, I have a special treat to make up for being as flaky as I've been recently.   As previously covered on Dragonmount, Tor Books has been re-releasing the series as eBooks. The original plan was to release all the main series books, along with the prequel novel New Spring AND the young adult editions as eBooks complete with new cover art. For the young adult editions, they also commissioned new interior art.   To catch everyone up who might not know, The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt were each split into two books and marketed as young adult editions. Not only was new cover art painted by Charles Keegan, but interior art was commissioned as well.   Unfortunately, Tor has decided not to publish these editions as eBooks after all. Luckily for us though, Charles Vess and Tor Books have graciously given permission for Dragonmount to host these images in our gallery for fans to enjoy. I've selected a few to highlight for Fan Art Friday this week.     This is what would have been the "cover" of the eBook. It looks like it features all three ta'veren plus Egwene fighting Trollocs. One of the things I like about these images is the very old fashioned fairy-tale illustration quality they have. I'm not sure if it's as good a fit for the tone of the story, but it's very striking and distinctive. I particularly like the contrast between the brightly colored figures in the foreground, and the more drab Trollocs in the background. It makes things really pop.     This one looks like Trollocs attacking Emond's Field or the al'Thor farmhouse. The expression on the Trolloc's face is adorable. "Come back!" he says. "I just want to snuggle!" The detail of shading and line on this is just amazing. I keep stopping to look at it again.     Rand eavesdropping on Moiraine and Egwene. I love how it manages to be detailed and yet ethereal at once.     Ahhh! Moiraine! Scary, spooky Moiraine! This one is my favorite. I love her "This is totally no thing, guys. I do it all the time." half smile.   To see the other images (there are eleven total) please visit our gallery. http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/gallery/album/137-charles-vess-album/

Hello again, everyone!   So, I've been having a great time telling you about various odds and ends in the Wheel of Time fandom. This week, I'm turning back to our home base, Dragonmount. I will be guiding you to a new place on Dragonmount every other week.   There is a lot more to this board than just information about The Wheel of Time. It's a fantastic platform through which fans can meet their fellow fandom members. Dragonmount offers a variety of features with which fans can interact on our forums. There are discussion boards, boards for creative-minded artists, writers, and crafters, and even game boards. Besides those, a large part of the forums is dedicated to Social and Role Playing Groups. Both base their structure on the various organizations that are found in the Wheel of Time books, but the Social Groups--as the name implies--are for social interaction of members. The Role Playing Groups concentrate on exactly that, role playing characters as though they were present in Randland.   This week, I'll bring closer to you a place that is a frequent first stop for new members. The discussion boards are a great place for people to voice their opinions--in a peaceful, non-flaming way, of course. There is a great variety of discussion topics available. We have entire boards for the discussion of individual topics, be it to discuss theories about our favorite series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson or to discuss other literary works in our General Discussion forum. For those needing a break from book-related matters, we have a Debates and Discussions board on which you do exactly that--debate. We also have Entertainment boards in which you can discuss games, tv shows, movies and sports.   So, next time you have some time on your hands and nothing to do, why don't you pop over and add your voice to the fray?

<p>Old World Parallels is the topic for the 105th Episode of The 4th Age Podcast. Your hosts for this episode are Andrew, Virginia, Spencer, and Carrie.</p><p>(This episode, like most of our talks, is chock full of spoilers if you haven’t read Towers of Midnight yet!) <span style="color: #800000;">Warning: SPOILER ALERT!</span></p><p>Be sure to check out <a href="http://www.dragonmount.com">Dragonmount.com</a> for forums, comments, and all the latest news in the Wheel of Time world.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>ATTENTION! THERE ARE TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT SPOILERS in this podcast!</strong> </span><em>Also, spoilers on ALL the other books are VERY likely!</em> If you haven’t read all the way through the Wheel of Time, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS of all previous books! There also may be spoilers of other book series, tv series, and movies as well, too, or anything ELSE we can think of in the known and unknown universe…. We will try to give warning. We can give no guarantees, however.</p><p>Hosts: Andrew, Virginia, Spencer, and Carrie</p><h6>Editor for this episode: Richard F. Editor-in-Chief: Spencer</p><p><strong><a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-105.mp3">Download'>http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-105.mp3">Download this Episode now</a> </strong></h6><h5>A HUGE thanks to all our editors, past and present, from all of us here! We couldn’t make this happen without your help and technical expertise. We are usually in need of editing help – please, contact Spencer at <a href="mailto:podcast@dragonmount.com" target="_blank">podcast@dragonmount.com</a> if you are interested in volunteering.</h5><h5>Music by: Josh Needleman. His website is at <a href="http://www.joshneedleman.net/">www.joshneedleman.net</a> and he has the music available to hear on his MySpace page at <a href="http://www.myspace.com/joshneedleman">www.myspace.com/joshneedleman</a>. Its title is <em>Floodgate</em>. Thanks, Josh!</h5><div><strong><a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-105.mp3">Download this Episode now</a></strong></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/4thAge/~4/kshjIjgNZzI" height="1" width="1"/>

It's almost time for Dragon*Con! This means that some of your friendly neighborhood Dragonmount Admins, including me, won't be able to post things on our front page for a few days because we will be busy representing our fandom at the convention. You'll still see some of your favorite features during that time, but we won't have a Fan Art Friday this Friday or a Weekly Roundup next Tuesday. Everything will be back and better than ever after Dragon*Con, though!   I always enjoy it when our theory blog inspires people to post in our forums. If yesterday's blog made you hungry for more discussion of who the Broken Wolf might be, head to our A Memory of Light Non Spoiler Discussion forum and fill up with some hearty theories.   Whether you call them wizards, sorcerers, or something else, their magic is still fascinating. Who are your favorite magic-wielding characters in the fantasy genre? Come share your picks in our General Discussion forum.   It looks like the Ogier Social Group has some new entries in their haiku thread. Let's hear some of yours!   The White Tower & Warders Social Group wants to know everyone's thoughts about why a man would choose to be a Warder. It seems like they are having a riveting discussion so far!   More than just a nice story of an Aes Sedai and her Warder, Dancing Among Golden Leopards is a well-written role play that even features some original poetry. Come check it out!   If you checked our Twitter account today, you may have noticed that we posted a link to an amusing comic featuring Rand and Lanfear. Did it make you chuckle?   That's all I have for you today! Keep your eyes on this page, because we'll have plenty of exciting updates for you after Dragon*Con.

Salutations, my savvy sojourners of Dragonmount! Welcome to another weekly installment of "It Works in Theory", the new theory blog this gentleman has the giddy pleasure to write. I hope everyone's had fun so far in picking my brain apart; I know I've had plenty of fun (not as much sleep, however). I have enjoyed your comments so much, in fact, that I was inspired with what I think might be a great idea. Many of you who have left comments or have posted on our forums have very good theories of your own that often have my head nodding and my mind thinking of all the implications they would entail. So, I thought it would be serendipitous if some of you could send in some of your ideas, and I could pick one idea once a month (or perhaps several if they can fit) and elucidate on all the ins and outs on my blog. Just to clarify: I more than likely wouldn't pick one out that I disagree with just to pick it apart. It's more than likely I'll go with one I find to be interesting or provocative, and try to expound in other ways that the theory could be significant.   If this sounds like a good idea, or if you had any other suggestions or possible topics for my blog, you can either PM me here on Dragonmount or e-mail me at hazelkrs110@hotmail.com. If you think this is me being lazy and you don't feel like doing my work for me, feel free to pretend your computer monitor is my face and dash it, dash it good. Now, on to our weekly disclaimer:   WARNING!!! Spoiler Alert!!! WARNING!!! This blog is based on theories that will include facts and material from the latest books in the series, so if you have not read through Towers of Midnight, continue reading at your own risk! "It Works in Theory" is not intended for human consumption. Should any hypothesis or presupposition come into contact with your skin or eyes, flush the affected area with a tepid saline solution for at least 10 minutes. Should a rash or itching persist, consult a physician or visit the forums.   I figured we'd go with something slightly different this week, both to give my fingers and my readers' eyes a rest. Instead of breaking down another one of my wacky, convoluted theories for umpteen paragraphs, I thought it might be nice to highlight an individual set of prophecies or viewings every now and again. We already have a great resource for general Wheel of Time questions in our Wheel of Time FAQ, and there you can find an explanation of what the prophecies might be referring to, so this is just another take on it. Today, we are going to examine the Dark Prophecies.   There's some uncertainty over one of the prophecies--the one introduced to us when Padan Fain escapes from the dungeons in Fal Dara, towards the end of The Great Hunt. It was written in blood on the walls of the dungeon, and we were lucky enough to have Verin record it down for us so that she could study it and give her thoughts on it. It was verified later to be a Myrddraal, possibly influenced by Ishamael, who actually wrote the prophecy on the wall. When asked about whether or not the Fal Dara prophecy was a true dark prophecy, Robert Jordan gave us a Read And Find Out response, leading us to believe that even if it's not true prophecy, there's still something we can gain from studying it.     The Daughter of Night is obviously Lanfear, and she walks again in the world after being released from the prison containing the Dark One. She fights his ancient war against the Light. I will say there might be subtle foreshadowing in the phrasing of "yet fights" relating to her capture and "death" in the land of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, which she survives to fight yet again.   I talked about the next line last week in my blog when I spoke of the possibility of Lanfear gaining control of Rand through Callandor (here's the link in case you missed it). I think Rand is her new lover--new because he's not quite the same person she remembers from the Age of Legends--but others have brought up the possibility of her falling for someone else. I'm still not quite sure how Rand might serve her after dying, though, but I've got a theory (not to be revealed this week, however).   The last couple of lines are fairly important because part of them might be overlooked. "Who shall stand against her coming" could possibly be a reference to Moiraine, who stood up against Lanfear in The Fires of Heaven, but could also be foreshadowing of a future event. Then we come to "The Shining Walls shall kneel", which many take to mean that the White Tower (Shining Walls) will defer to someone else's authority, most likely Rand's. I contend that the line is both a metaphor and not one at the same time. "Shining Walls" refers to the White Tower, but when it says the "walls" shall "kneel", I take that to mean the shining walls and towers of the White Tower will fall.   We know the Seanchan are gearing up for a second attack on Tar Valon, and that the White Tower is lightly defended because so many forces are currently gathered at the Fields of Merrilor. There isn't any indication, however, that the Seanchan would want to hold the White Tower. They just want to capture as many marath'damane as possible, so it could very well come to pass that they simply demolish the Tower after they pillage it for whatever resources and treasures they can find.     This is the refrain from the prophecy we're currently reviewing, and I just wanted to address some things I felt were relevant. We have a good amount of references to the Dragon's blood having something to do with mankind's salvation, but nothing indicates why we might specifically need his blood for the Dark One to be defeated. I also have a theory on that (yes, I'm saving that one too), but I feel the last line of the refrain might be hinting at something. Blood is--Rand is the Dragon Reborn, and the Champion of the Light. Blood was--Lews Therin was the Dragon and helped seal the Dark One away for three millenia. Blood shall ever be--either the Dragon will always be reborn to fight the Dark One, or perhaps that Rand survives Tarmon Gai'don using his "blood"?     The channeling man is Rand, and the second line is referring to the callus way in which Rand uses those around him to get what he thinks he needs. He puts Mat and Perrin, as well as countless others he meets, directly in harm's way with little hesitation. The next part is very interesting because it can be interpreted in two completely different ways. The first way is from the perspective of Darkfriends: one path leads him to "death beyond dying" because either he's balefired, the Dark One grabs his soul, or his soul is destroyed in Tel'aran'rhiod; the second path leads him to life eternal, for that is what is promised by the Dark One should he come to rule the land.   The alternate way of looking at it is that Rand can either end up destroying the Pattern, which leads to "death beyond dying", or he can take the other path and seal the Dark One away. The last line is also very significant because it is ominous foreshadowing to both the hand that he lost when he captured Semirhage and to Rand's internal conflict as he wonders which hand was destroyed, the one that shelters, or the one that slays.     This whole stanza involves the origins of one of our most mysterious bad guys, Slayer. Perrin knows there is some relationship between Slayer and Lord Luc, who he met when he went to the defense of the Two Rivers in The Shadow Rising, because their smells are somewhat similar. One of the most interesting aspects of Slayer is the fact that both halves of his makeup have very interesting lineages that could have many possible outcomes in the last book: Lord Luc is Tigraine's brother, making him Rand's uncle; Isam is the son of Breyan, the woman known for having a large part in Malkier's betrayal, and through this line he is Lan Mandragoran's cousin. This is better than daytime soap operas, huh? The last bit we can glean from this particular passage is the reference to the Darkhounds' hunt, which Slayer is at least involved in, and more than likely leading. He's also been referenced as being given the task of hunting Padan Fain down, so he has plenty of possible confrontations in his future. The "time of change" simply refers to the last days before Tarmon Gai'don and the possibility of the Pattern being unraveled.     The "Watchers" are clearly the "Watchers over the waves", who wait for the return of Artur Hawkwing's armies from across the ocean. The "seed of the Hammer" refers to Hawkwing's descendants, the Seanchan, where he was known as "The Hammer of the Light". The Seanchan burned the ancient tree when they defeated Tarabon because Tarabon's sigil is a tree, which is supposed to be a sapling of Avendesora, the Tree of Life. The middle two lines are pretty cryptic and hard to discern, but the next line is somewhat enticing to me. One way to look at the "seed" slaying ancient wrong is by correlating the Seanchan with the earlier mention of seed. The ancient wrong that they would slay could potentially be the practice of leashing channelers as damane, or possibly even slavery in general. Another way to look at it is switching Rand out with the Seanchan, and his ancient wrong could be the Dark One himself. I see this possibility and other obscure references as hints to Rand's possible re-altering of the Pattern itself, in which he replaces the cyclical expression of time in his universe with a linear expression of time. This is very iffy, but I'll probably explore that idea further some other day.   Next, we have the grade "A" approved Dark Prophecy, found at the end of Towers of Midnight. This prophecy is misinterpreted earlier in the same book by Graendal, when she attempts to set a trap for Perrin and his army.     The seals holding the Dark One's prison are weakening, and the "limbs" more than likely refer to the the ancestry of the male channelers who created his prison, and how the skill and ability to use the One Power is being culled out of humanity. Channelers today aren't able to complete anywhere near the same type of feats as they were able to in the Age of Legends. The rest of the excerpt goes on to elaborate on how awful and dark things will get as the Dark One's influence grows.     The one-eyed fool is Mat, and the halls of mourning could possibly be when he went into the realm of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn to rescue Moiraine. The Aelfinn and Eelfinn feed on emotion, and it seems the particularly delectable morsels are the emotions drawn from those suffering and in agony. It also seems pretty clear that many have died in its halls, which is another reference to mourning. Lastly, they describe themselves as "the warriors of final regret".   The "first among vermin" is most likely Rand because it's a good play on the wording of Lews Therin's title in the Age of Legends: First Among Servants. There's other ideas relating the first among vermin to either Fain, Perrin, Moridin, or possibly Slayer, but Rand is the best option because he's the one who will be most directly responsible for freeing the Dark One when he breaks the seals.   As for the "fallen blacksmith", that most definitely is Perrin, but the fallen part might be more ominous than we realize. There is a chance that Perrin might be one of the characters who don't survive the Last Battle. Don't start throwing things at me yet! The great thing is that even after he died, he could still have a hand in shaping things, especially concerning his abilities in Tel'aran'rhiod. Many would say, though, that the part concerning "the fallen blacksmith's pride" was fulfilled when he quit trying to deny the mantle of leadership, which is a reasonable enough conclusion.   One idea I thought of, though, could be the possibility that the pride here refers to his wolf friends. We've had an image ready to visualize for a long time of Perrin riding into battle with thousands of wolves running with him and burning through the hordes of Trollocs like a brush fire in west Texas. They're his pack, not a pride as we normally think of with lions, and his connection to the wolves is where he gets a big source of strength, individuality, force of will, and pride. So, the line could refer to Perrin leading a very large number of wolves to their death, which would be heartbreaking because it would be the second time Perrin will have been responsible for that many wolf deaths (the first being Dumai's Wells). Wow, I really like theorizing about deaths of characters and races, don't I?   The way you interpret the last part of the passage depends on your idea of what "broken wolf" means. Some might think this would be Perrin, or a bunch of other alternatives that make less and less sense, but there's a much stronger case for Rand. There are a couple of comparisons made between Rand and wolves in the books, and he even has his own wolf-name, Shadowkiller. The point is that Perrin isn't the only one in the series who could be connected with wolves somehow. A much more thorough and elaborate argument is made by Terez in the Wheel of Time FAQ; she pretty much lays it all out very well.   Still, after all that, there is one line which is usually interpreted one way but could easily mean something else.   "His destruction" is generally considered to be his death, but it is very possible it could be referring to the destruction he will cause. There's still only one person who truly could be said to cause enough destruction that it could shake the very will of men. That's right, you guessed it, Dark Rand 2.0 came back to rear his giant, ugly, prophetic head. I actually meant to make this connection last week, but forgot in my sleep deprived, zombie-like state of mind. Imagine Rand going to the Midnight Towers to be used like a puppet, wreaking a wild, destructive force across the countryside, balefiring friend and foe alike. Yeah, that would shake the will of men alright.     The Lord of the Evening more than likely refers to Moridin, in that as Rand is known as the Lord of the Morning, Moridin as his arch nemesis would be the opposite. Being that the Lord of Morning will face the Broken Champion, it stands to reason that Rand would be the Broken Champion for a few reasons. No one else could really face Moridin and have a chance, unless they had some kind of sa'angreal or something, which would probably be referenced in the prophecy. Rand is the Light's Champion, and he refers to himself as being broken several times in the books.   Then we come to the last part of the prophecy, another reference to the spilling of Rand's blood possibly being a necessary catalyst for the freeing of the Dark One/defeat of the Dark One. I definitely want to contemplate this "Blood" issue hopefully in the weeks to come, so I might need a little more time for dramatic build up and eager anticipation to occur. You might or might not be seeing a blog from me next week, as the site will be busy handling the Dragonmount duties at Dragon*Con this coming weekend (plus it's my birthday next Monday), so it might be a good idea to emotionally, mentally, and physically prepare for a possible week of no theory blog. I'm sure you'll manage!

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