Hello, all!  And welcome back to "WoT If?".  This week's theme is something that we will be debating for a long time: Nakomi.  I don't think there's any concrete information on her, and all the interviews with Brandon Sanderson and Team Jordan that I've seen are very vague.  That means it's up to us to put the pieces together and puzzle out who/what she is.  But first:

SPOILER WARNING.  This will include content from A Memory of Light.  Please DO NOT read this if you have not completed the book.

When Nakomi first appeared in Towers of Midnight, I'll admit that my first thought was she might be Verin.  The reasoning for this is that Verin was the one person we saw hopping around from place to place, passing on secret information.  Nakomi's appearance and advice seems to be in the same vein as this.  There's also the fact that in the audio books, Kate Reading reads Nakomi's voice like she reads Verin's.  However, all this evidence—and many fans thought the same—has been debunked.  Here's an interview from the A Memory of Light book signing tour where Brandon actually gives us a straight answer.

Freelance: When Rand is exiting the tunnel into the Pit, if he had gotten a good look at the woman who spoke to him there, would he have recognized her?

 

Brandon Sanderson: He didn't get a good look at her.

 

Freelancer: Understood, but if he had, would he have known her face?

 

Brandon Sanderson: I should RAFO that, but no. She wasn't Verin.

 

Freelancer: Oh, I never believed it could be Verin.

 

Brandon Sanderson: Then who do you think he would recognize?

 

Freelancer: A face from his visions in Rhuidean.

 

Brandon Sanderson: Aha, very subtle, I didn't see that coming. Still no.

 

Freelancer (note): So Nakomi (and we're sure it was Nakomi based on previous answers from Brandon who said Nakomi could be found near the end of A Memory of Light) is not one of the Jenn seen by Rand at the founding of Rhuidean. She could still be another of the Jenn. For others attending an upcoming signing, consider how to follow up on this question and try to get something useful.

So Verin is out.  But the questions asked lead to another idea.  Rand wouldn't have recognized her face, but, as pointed out, he didn't see all of the Jenn Aiel.  It could have been someone else from the past who had the longevity of a channeler. 

Let's explore that a bit.  When Nakomi is first introduced (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 39, "Into the Three-Fold Land"), Aviendha notices the other woman can't channel.  This doesn't necessarily mean the woman can't.  The characters are often wrong in what that think is "truth."  We know it's possible to mask the ability.  Aviendha also thinks the woman is "middle aged" and that she has "furrowed skin."  Again, this implies that the woman can't channel since she has signs of aging.  But, we know from the dealings with the Kin that a woman who can channel—but isn't bound by the Oath Rod—will still age, but slowly. 

With that information, I think we can't say one way or the other if Nakomi is a channeler.  If she is a Jenn from the past, how old would she have to be to be alive today?  Reanne Corly—Eldest of the Kin in Ebou Dar—is 412 years old (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 31, "Mashiara").  Reanne has gray hair and looks middle-aged.  If her life is only half over, that means she could live to about 800 or 900 years old.  (Lews Therin was also around 400 years old when he died, and he is called "a tall man just into his middle years" (The Eye of the World, Prologue, "Dragonmount"); that would mean he would have lived to about 800 or 900 as well.)

So, if Nakomi is a "middle aged" unbound channeler, she would be about 400 years old, or a little older.  The last time we see the Jenn Aiel is in the glass-column ter'angreal in Rhuidean.  In the first vision Rand sees, he is the sept chief, Mandien.  The Jenn are dying off, so they need some other way to pass on the secrets of the past.  But, it's hard to tell how much in the past Mandien's timeline is.  There are a few clues, though.  The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time (the Big White Book) says that the Aiel made peace with the Cairhienin in 509 NE (Chapter 14, "The New Era").   In the glass-columns, the memory before Mandien is Rhodric, and the scene shown is the Aiel receiving water from the Cairhienin.  Because Rhodric is Mandien's greatfather, that must mean that Rhodric's memory is sixty or seventy before Mandien's.  Since Rhuarc said, "It took us long to discover who they [the Cairhienin] were," (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 34, "He Who Comes With the Dawn"), I think it's safe to say that Mandien's memory is before 509 NE. 

With that logic, if Nakomi was of the Jenn, she would have been alive before 509 NE, making her at least 500 years old.  Most likely, Mandien's memories are from much earlier than 509 NE.  It just depends on Rhuarc's definition of "long."  Probably a couple hundred years—making Nakomi 600 or 700 in this scenario.

But the Jenn's reason for brining the chiefs to Rhuidean in the first place still holds.  The Jenn will die off.  And it must have been coming soon, if the chiefs were assembled then.  One of the old Jenn women said, "A day will come when the Jenn are no more, and only you will remain to remember the Aiel. You must remain, or all is for nothing, and lost" (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 25, "The Road to the Spear").  If even one of the Jenn remained alive, the glass-columns would not be necessary.  If Nakomi was Jenn, she could have instructed the Aiel about their past, not relying on the ter'angreal. 

Those two points—how old Nakomi would be and the fact that no Jenn should still be alive—makes me assume Nakomi is not Jenn Aiel.  So what are some of the other possibilities?

Another idea is that Aviendha is taken—somehow—into Tel'aran'rhiod during this scene.  There are several clues that point to the encounter being more than what it seems.  First, Aviendha wonders why she hadn't heard the woman approach.  Second, Aviendha thinks that it's odd for Nakomi to be wandering around by herself.  Third, the coals of the fire appear as if from nowhere.  Fourth, the food gets cooked quicker than it should have and tastes better than it should have.  And finally, Nakomi disappears abruptly. 

These point to Tel'aran'rhiod because of how easily that world is to control with thought.  The coals could appear out of nowhere.  The food could taste delicious.  But Aviendha isn't a dreamwalker.  Is it possible she had been pulled into Tel'aran'rhiod against her will, possibly by another Wise One?  They say it is an evil thing to pull someone into the World of Dreams, but we know the Forsaken make use of it frequently.  Perhaps the Dreams told the dreamwalkers that Aviendha needed to see something in Tel'aran'rhiod.  If it was for the greater good, I think the Wise Ones would have broken the rule.  Especially because this one event was what caused Aviendha to go into the glass-column ter'angreal a second time, resulting in her saving the Aiel from destruction.  

Another explanation could be that, because the layers between the worlds was already becoming thin, Aviendha was caught up in the World of Dreams on her own—without the help of anyone else.  In that case, Nakomi could be a Hero of the Horn.  Someone waiting in Tel'aran'rhiod and, like Birgitte, willing to break the precepts against aiding those who enter.  This would also make sense how she was able to gain access to the Bore and encourage Rand to perform the body-swap.  Since she is not physically in the world, she wouldn't have a problem getting into the area.  She also didn't come out of the Bore, only Rand and Moridin did.  Nakomi, if a Hero, wouldn’t have to.  She would just return to Tel'aran'rhiod when the need for them was finished.

Just when it starts to make sense, though, we need to remember that Brandon said Rand wouldn't have recognized her.  Would Lews Therin—a Hero himself—fail to recognize another?

There's so much more to discuss about Nakomi, so we'll continue this next week.  Of the two options here, I think it's much more likely she's a Hero of the Horn, but even that theory has plenty of doubts.  And there are some other possibilities too.  So, keep thinking about it and we'll discuss more next time.  Thanks for reading!