It Works in Theory: A Faint Thread of Music Caught Perrin's Ear

Good stuff as always Despothera!

 

I really like the idea that Perrin finds the song. He is always conflicted when the Tuatha'an are around. Having read your comparisons between Perrin and Sir Percival, perhaps that conflict is his affinity for the Way of the Leaf versus his sense of duty to act against evil. I recall reading early in the series that Perrin never sings because he's been told he sounds like a frog being stepped on, but he seems to have many connections to the Tuatha'an and singing. I think you're right on that one.

 

So Aviendha had resolved to take the Aiel back to the Waste, and even as she was thinking this Nakomi arrives. They have a discussion where Nakomi leads Aviendha to think about the future of the Aiel, and then Aviendha sees the bleak future of the Aiel in the glass columns. Some have speculated that Nakomi was really one of the Forsaken in disguise, but I doubt it. I don't pretend to know Nakomi's source, but I think she had the Aiel's best interests in mind, and led Aviendha to consider the best way to lead the Aiel into the future.

I truly enjoy the idea of Perrin being the real saviour. He has been carefully cultivated to become a figure of enormous power - who can't channel. One of the few. (I also think he may be immune to compulsion through his link to the wolves, but that's another theory for another time)

 

One thing that seems unusually untouched within the series is the fact that the Blacksmith is sacrosanct to the Aiel. It never gets explained.

 

I wonder if your Theory fits in with the idea that Perrin helps lead the Aiel back to their true purpose and, fitting with the wheel of time, the Blacksmith becomes a sacred role to the Aiel.

i like the idea, but i dont think perrin knows the song(yet)...

 

i think, that its more likely, that the wolves know it, as noam says, "the wolf is peace"... and as wolves have such long memories, they would be at a good position to remember it... so, perrin may charge the dark one singing the song, but stemming not from nakomi, but from the wolves(or a mix thereof)... and would explain why it has been lost, if it can only be sung by a wolfbrother... not many have existed until recently...

 

plus, it fits in with the brutal irony of the tinkers searching for the song, but their dogs know it(or at least know of it)

 

:D just my theory

 

 

and redshield. aviendha has not resolved to take the aiel back to the waste... she's resolved to get rand to give the aiel a purpose :)

There are several things playing into this type of scenario. At this point in the story both Rand and Perrin are physically with a mile or so of each other, so an early meeting between them is very likely. There is also a large gathering of Tuatha'an near Ebou Dar, and Rand is aware of them. However getting a mass of them to the last battle quickly may involve coming to terms with Fortuona and the Seanchan.

 

One thing arguing against Perrin's role is that he may not be on the best of terms with the Tuatha'an after Perrin give permission to Aram to pick up a sword.

Once again, great stuff Des!

 

I hadn't considered the Nakomi connection before, nice!

 

The one problem I (previously) had with Perrin rediscovering the Song was how exactly he was going to accomplish this. I had considered Rand due to his merge with LTT, but don't like that too much because he already has his great deed to do. Mat has 'saved the world' and will presumably blow the HoV. Perrin needed a save the world moment too. (apart from saving Rand for a second time)

 

Nakomi; Jenn Aiel, roaming the World of Dreams... I like it a lot!

 

Good point TreeJoe about the Aiel and blacksmiths, that could possibly solve the problem of how exactly Nakomi ends up meeting with Perrin.

I also like the idea of Perrin being a blacksmith having something to do with why Nakomi singles him out.

 

It does kind of make sense though for Aiel culture to have so much respect for blacksmith's, being a warrior culture and everything.

 

The only thing which I'm still wondering about is if a Nym will be needed or not. In the original Seed Singing, Aiel, Ogier, and Nym were all needed for it to work, but it might have been just for the specific task of singing to grow crops. To me the Talent of Singing can be used to aid channeling in general, so it might not be necessary to have a Nym at all. Should one be needed, perhaps there's one more which has been hidden for so long, but this seems unlikely. Nym are constructs of the One Power though, so perhaps one can be made in time for the Last Battle.

Interesting thought processes. I have to say, Despothera, that your theories give me quite a bit to consider.

 

I think all of the signs, though, point to Perrin's death. Referencing the aforementioned prophecy, "The strongest thing I see about the big, curly-haired fellow are a wolf, and a broken crown, and trees flowering all around him." I think the trees flowering around him are the apple trees in the Two Rivers where the rest of his family are buried. Also, I think the dark prophecy mentioned in a previous post indicates that Perrin will perish, though the circumstances will likely lead to the victory of the Light rather than the inferred Shadow victory. Undoubtedly, he will live on in the world of dreams, but I do not think he will be involved with the rediscovery of the song.

 

I am torn between two theories for the rediscovery of the song. First, we can speculate that the Ogier with the Seanchan arrived in that land following the Breaking - as it is highly unlikely that would have traveled with Hawkwing's army. It is possible that those Ogier know the songs of growing. The other option is that the Wise Ones and Clan Chiefs already know the song from traveling through the ter'angreal at Rhuidean, but they only sing battle hymns and laments for the dead. If that's the case, either Rand or Aviendha could convince them to take up Singing.

 

I am unsure if the Tinkers, as contaminated as their blood-lines are, would even still have the Voice. It would be tragic if they were to find their elusive Song only to find they cannot sing it as it was meant to be sung.

Maybe a Nym will pop out of a stasis box somewhere.

 

Poor Tinkers, that would be awful. Wouldn't the Aiel be upset if they had to take another trip down (bad)memory lane and sing the Song themselves.

 

Though I think that the Tinkers will be able to, TGS-ch38 Egwene uses 'need' in Tel'aran'rhiod and it takes her to a Tinkers' camp. This implies to me that they must have a part to play in Tarmon Gai'don.

@Rabbott85... I've been reading the Dark Prophecy at the end of ToM:

 

"Yea, and the Broken Wolf, the one whom Death has known, shall fall and be consumed by the Towers of Midnight..."

 

I actually believe that this is a reference to Hopper instead of Perrin (the Fallen Blacksmith). The basis of this is simple:

 

1: The One-Eyed Fool is obviously Mat, and the First Among Vermin is Rand (breaking the seals to re-open the Bore), and the Fallen Blacksmith is Perrin. The reference to the Broken Wolf seems more a reference to another person.

 

2: Of the 3 Ta'Veren, Mat and Rand have both known Death (Rand as LTT), but Perrin has not. Hopper did, however.

 

Admittedly, I haven't found a solid reason why Hopper's death should impact the masses indicated in the dark prophecy, but the 2 points raised about Perrin above are still sound.

 

Another factor to consider is the "Blacksmith's Pride"; this statement doesn't fit what we know of Perrin at all. He is humble to a fault. If anything, his pride came into play when he relinquished his unwillingness to lead and accepted his roll as the Leader of a unique coalition.

 

The again, remember that the Dark Prophecy and Prophecies of the light cannot both be correct.

Taelin, it might be a good idea to check out the theory blog from two weeks ago, it covers the dark prophecy in detail. Also, Robert Jordan confirmed in a Q&A session that the light and dark prophecies aren't competing, they'll both come true.

also taelin, the capitalization of "D"eath makes me think that its a name... moridin. which leads me to think, that its a reference more to slayer then hopper :) moridin said he'd give grendal the dream spike and the man with two souls... clearly they know eachother.

The nice thing about the Broken Wolf being Slayer is that it doesn't have to be his death which brings fear and sorrow to the hearts of men, the actual line in the prophecy is 'his destruction', which could easily mean he kills someone important, like Rand or Perrin or someone else important. The only problem I have with this is that if he kills Rand in T'A'R, Rand is dead forever and then the Shadow definitely will win. Either way if the Broken Wolf isn't Rand, my best bet is it's Slayer. There's a great thread about the 'Broken Wolf' and who it may be in our discussion forums.

the broken wolf is noal (jain farstrider),his death in the towers of ghenji will despair the red hand. the singing will be perrin but not with his voice,it will be metal singing making new seals for the bore,lik he an some aes sedai did when he made his fancy hammer

One thing to consider as a difference between Perrin and Rand and the blossoming trees. Where Perrin goes things endure growth happens, the shattered Two rivers has grown and rebuilt. He has forged alliances of trust between previously bitter enemies. When Rand comes along and heals things they return to their previous state after a time.

 

All that being said Rand is the one with the actual knowledge of the growing song. He, and other clan chiefs presumably, have heard it. The fact that the Tinkers do not believe the Aiel could have the "song" to me was a strong indicator that they do even before we learned of the connection between the two.

 

There is another possiblity to consider too. It wasnt Aiel alone singing the growing song Ogier were there as well. And the Ogier of Seanchan are very different from those of Randland. I think Loial has a bigger part yet to play too.

 

All in all I think Perrin will be the one to help build a lasting peace once all is said and done. (Though we may never actually see this in story form) I think he will be the one who "retrieves" the song from Rand. He is the only one of the three to never enter the Aiel waste or specifically hasnt visited Rhuidean. I think this fact will be very important in both rebuilding after TG and giving the Aiel new direction.

Just wondering, is it just me, or does anyone else remember that early on, I think it was in EotW, Loial mentions that he just happens to be a "Tree Singer" and that this talent is almost lost to the Oiger? I'm fairly sure that this was NOT just happenstance, as we all know, RJ did nothing with out a reason, so I think that this off-hand remark has/had a purpous in moving the story ahead, but then I could be wrong......nah, I don't think so, eh?

I love your blogs i just have one problem with the identiy of Nakomi right after the quote you used Aviendha meations how she wished she had some basic herbs or spices and how her mother awlays cared a small amount with her and the fact that the boundray between the deed and the living is not so stable and that people see the dead walking

 

well Aviendha would not nesasarly reckenise her mother a young women and i belive there was even a coment from Aviendha about that "Nakomi " looked formilualer and that this women has herbs or spices whetever with her and the gets up and disapeares

@madmuo, there was also a memory of the nym's singing and dancing... i *think* loial will be involved in the finding of the song that the tinkers have been seeking

 

@bougher, nakomi is the first walking dead that we've seen where people have actually been thoughtful from... the rest seemed... unaware of the livings presence... so i think the "walking dead" theory is wrong...

 

i really have no idea who she was, where her creator-like powers come from, or where she went...

seems to me that wolves have a vague rememberance of distant things and wouldn't remember the words or melodies of human singing... LTT and the reintergrated rand would have exact memories of it ("are you here for the singing, friend?" or something like that) and perhaps participated in it as well as the tamilyn. another possibility might be to just gate the tuathan to ruidien and run them or the seeker through the terangal.. they'd certainly be "strong" enough for it. please excuse the spelling errors; i'm not looking all those words up!

I like several references made here:

1. Loial being a tree singer

2. wolves remembering the song and passing the memory to Perrin

3. The Seanchan Oiger having the song--the Seanchan have much stronger ties to tradition and are such sticklers for superstition, mayby they have it written down somewhere or passed through verbal tradition.

 

And here are a few of my own that came up while reading:

1. Perrin's strong ties with Loial would make him a perfect candidate for the song

2. The Tinkers aren't all opera singers, Perrin sounding like a stepped on toad doesn't exempt him--I think it actually makes him a stronger option

3. The need for a non-existant Nym could be Morraine's big deed at the last battle... we saw in book one that she already knew the Nym, maybe she studied him the first trip and understands his workings... would explain why she had to return, and her diminished powers wouldn't really matter. We read in NS and other places that the Blues are adept in manipulating bugs and the earth (her attack on Lan with the ants and water, and Suian mentions it as a `Blue secret`), would set Morraine up as the perfect person to rediscover the creation of this race just in time for the end of this age.

4. Perrin's involvement in this would be a great way for RJ/BS to represent the metaphor of Perrin putting away the axe (not participating in the actual battle) and using a hammer's blow to the dark forces (by leading the Song and righting nature).