Its unlikely, but they could be ter`angreal. Something he picked up on his travels. There are ones that exist that don't require channeling to use so it may be that. I doubt it, but eh :P

As Luckers said, Taim and Logain are extremely close in strength, probably so close that it'll simply come down to experience and which one has the funkier weaves (if they end up battling against each other at all.) I would lean more toward Taim only because Logain has complained about Taim teaching weaves only to his select few Asha`man, which suggests that he may know more then Logain. However, thats purely speculation.

Mordeth would almost certainly know the language in which the Ways direction was written. He lived in a time (Ten nations) when the Ways were in common use before they became dark and tainted.

The Ways were constructed by men (saidin channelers) and not only used by Ogiers though they were a gift to help Ogiers avoid habitations while going from stedding to stedding.

So, the directional symbols would have been somewhat universal.

 

Moiraine's remarks in TSR seems to suggest she does know the face of her husband.

How? We don't know.

She makes this statement before she goes to the Finns for her questions and before she runs the rings at Rhuidean. It's not in her test for the shawl.

IIRC, her Accepted test is not described (it happens 2-3 years before NS).

Maybe she saw his face there?

 

 

 

Min could easily have told her in the first book. Moiraine seemed particularly adamant that Thom was still alive despite his apparent death at the hands of the fade.

I could see that.  Especially considering Rand's school, and the guy inventing the steam engine.

 

I'm glad somebody else remembers that quote, I was afraid I was imagining it!

 

Now let's hope someone can find it.

 

Regarding gunpowder: that's been around since the 1100's!

Its been around as long in the WoT world as well (or close enough) its just the Illuminators haven't allowed it to spread beyond them using it. Thats part of the point of Mats ta`veren I suppose; fast tracking the use of gunpowder in war.

Yeah its 1700's with a few differences mainly due to the One Power as well as the Illuminators jealousy guarding gunpowder.

Ive made this argument before but I really doubt that Mat is Aemon reborn, or anyone like that for that matter. No one else remembers their memories except for Rand. Everyone is reborn, or close enough anyhow, and yet memories are not remembered. Rand is the exception, and he is the exception because it actually makes sense for him to remember. Mat on the other hand it doens't. Same goes with any other character. More likely Moiraine was simply correct (for a change): the Old Blood is strong in him. Egwene almost recognised what Mat said too.

Do people actualy think that was the creator at Tarwins Gap, it was obviously(to me) the dark one

"IT IS NOT HERE. I WILL TAKE NO PART. ONLY THE CHOSEN ONE CAN DO WHAT MUST BE DONE, IF HE WILL."

Doesn't really sound like the DO; you would think all the DO would do is laugh in Rands head. However its possible I guess? Don't know enough about the Creator to know whether it would be him or not.

Why don't the Forsaken grab the Horn of Valere?  Neither Siuan nor Verin knew all that much about the Dream World when they hid it in the Tower so it's not like there's any kind of Dream World shielding around it, so I assume that they can just use the need thing to pop over and find it - or if that's too dangerous for them to do personally, just yank one of the Black Ajah into the Dream World and let them do it - and then hide it up at Shayol Ghul so that Mat can't use it to mow through their armies on the way there.

 

They obviously faced the thing back in the AoL since the Aes Sedai of the time had it, so they know what a potent superweapon it is, so removing it from the field of play would seem like a sensible Day One activity.

According to the TOR website it wasnt used in the AOL at all actually; it was from a previous age and was only known in much the same way everyone knows about it now; through legend. No one ever really thought to use it because its power was considered a myth and they had better things to do. Its only through Foretelling that it was placed where it was.

Not to mention, the Horn of Valere is apparently not mentioned in the Karatheon Cycle. And due to Be`lal going after Callandor and whatnot, it does seem that at least some of the Forsaken pay attention to the prophecies.

As for the language thing, its illogical that in a land so splintered by chaos and mayhem for such a long period of time there wouldnt be different languages. I just throw it up to the Pattern weaving it that way and leave it at that :P

Well, there is fairly strong evidence that Mat is Aemon reborn, the last king of Manatheren.  After all, he began shouting Aemon's battlecry even before they went to Shadar Logoth, and had a dream of leading the King's personal bodyguard into battle against the Trollocs.  So I think he's definitely reborn... I'm just not sure if Aemon was super lucky or not... although his battlecry was "It is time to toss the dice" so it's certainly possible.

Well, thats also explained with the Old Blood as well. I am just not sure why Mat would be remembering his previous life at all when no other character really does (with the exception of Rand, and thats a strange case there.) Perrin for instance has no weird memories, or Egwene or Elayne or anyone. Unless theres some strange situation behind it (i.e Rands insanity) it doesnt seem to fit with everything else. Its not impossible however, I just find it unlikely.

The main reason why I believe Mat is a Hero of the Horn is by RJ...

Gender/soul rebirth he said is best illustrated by Mat and Birgitte. But he then said that there was more to it than that. Not sure what he meant exactly. Probably the point.

The argument against it however is that none of the heroes at Falme seemed to really give a crap about Mat, except for him being the Hornsounder. Birgitte however seems to be quite impressed with him, but that could be because she actually sees the value in him.

And its possible the luck is manifested by the dagger. I noticed on my reread that Fain has been accused of having the Dark Ones own luck, although the only character I can expliticly remember saying it is Dain Bornhald. While this saying has been attributed to a number of characters and is quite a common term, its interesting nonetheless - and could potentially be a link.

I guess I must've just interpreted this a certain way and then assumed that my interpretation was fact, because I thought it was explained very clearly that the dice in Mat's head have to do with important events or decisions that have to be made.  When those things happen, the dice stop dead.  This are all important events that have to occur in order for the Pattern to "properly" thread a certain way...  This is what I thought the dice were.

 

To better explain, whether it has to do with luck, or winning a battle, or just saying certain words that seem to have no apparent significance to someone at the time, all of these things are important to the Pattern and Mat's ta'veren "power" making things happen a certain way.

 

When he says something weird to Tuon, and the dice immediately stop, it's because those words had significance to the overall Pattern of events that NEED to occur.  I don't think I'm explaining this very well, but I think the dice stopping are meant to give significant emphasis on events that occur to/around Mat at the time.  This makes sense in my head, but I don't think I'm explaining it well.

I agree thats what they are, but why? Why does Mat need the dice? As I said in my first post, Perrin and Rand don't need some indication of something important happening, and you would think if anyone needed it it was Rand. Why are ta`veren who are so bound tightly to the Pattern needed to be told "hey yo, something important is happening." And why book 3? In theory if it was because of his ta`veren, it would have started happening before that.

I just cant help but think there is something more at work here.

I've always been a bit dissatisfied with the dice Mat has rolling around in his head. There seems to be no clear indication of what they are, or what their point is in the scheme of things. They obviously start up when something important is about to happen, but on a few of the occasions no real luck was involved in what happened afterwards, so no basis there. Not to mention, why does Mat need an indicator of something important about to happen, but Rand and Perrin have no such thing?

All the other things in the characters heads have been sufficiently explained. Rand and his Lews Therin voice obviously has a somewhat logical basis there. Perrin is a wolfbrother and is attuned to wolves and that explains his heightened senses, etc etc. Mats dice on the other hand... nothing. In theory its meant to emphasise luck, but it stops when he agrees to something perfectly logical, when no luck was involved.

Am I looking too much into it, or have I missed something? Or is there more of an explanation to Mats dice then it seems? It doesn't fit the criteria of the big surprise; however that doesn't neccessarily mean there isn't something.