and, theres one group of male channelers that everyone forgets ;) and they conveniently went to the blight... ripe for capture... the aiel

@runninglink, an interesting question, but has a few assumptions... she could have started her studies again in this age... or, it was a bluff :) she may have known that lews had the previous dragon in his head, and assumed rand did too... or, she had spies close to rand to notice him talking to himself...

has anyone thought that rand may have also caused the man's beard to regrow in apples first? might seem trivial, but i find it entertaining :P

well... channelers gain strength much like training with weights... the harder you train, the stronger you get, until you cap out... egwene was "forced" just like most/all of the men at the blacktower...

that much said, its only logical, that since being in a circle gives you access to more power, if you hold more than you should, youd gain strength faster... the circle itself doesnt make you cap out faster, but the use of more power than you should, does...

this is also what i think happened with rand at the end of TGS... he channeled more of saidin through the chodenkal then he used to make dragonmount... in essence, he forced himself harder and stronger than anyone really should :) but it did give him the strength he needed for the, otherwise impossible, feats in ToM

id agree... its like... eddies coming off of a paddle... the ta'veren do the broad stroke, but people around him(or connected through a bond?) generate a small movement for a while after...

and two... has anyone noticed that all of the bubbles of evil are effected directly by one of the 4 elements? the dust clouds in rhuidean are effected by wind... the fires that burnt through rands house aviendha put out with water... the dust that nyaneve swept through tear from fire... the weapons that attacked perrins crew fell still when touched with earth......... why no spirit?

and, after reading about the dove, who else reread the whole series and suspects every bird that flutters away whenever anyone gets close? it happens throughout the series...

all in all... thanks for the new episode!

firstly, not all theories can be true, so some dont have to be wrapped up...

secondly, TG isnt the end of the story, just another turning... not all theories will get wrapped up in the series... rj had thoughts of novels after AMoL...

thirdly, even asmodeons death, a theory of a thousand theories, got answered in a single offhanded quote... it doesnt take much to confirm or deny a theory, if not you dont have to have it spelt out every step of the way

@talmanes its... possible... we have had very little information about demandred... only extremely vague descriptions(if that)... tho, i think the prologue of ToM, hinted that masema(the prophet), may have been controlled/pushed by someone... i think that'd be demandred, not to mention, that mat's talisman does go cold when a man channels, and mat&talmanes are usually around eachother... so IF talmanes is demandred, he rarely(if ever) channels...

all in all, something makes me doubt it.

he doesnt need her permission, but he may need her help...

and dont forget... the light/shadow are opposites, and balanced... if the shadow's slogan is "let the lord of chaos rule", then the polar opposite would be "may the men of order live"... THAT is why i think he's summoned everybody... to create order...

long story short, i dont think he can do it alone... or, by doing it alone, there are some serious drawbacks(tainting of saidin comes to mind)

... and, i dont think brigetta will make it... min still sees all her images for her, and they show the future, not past... she'll probably die, and be born in time to keep up with gaidal(who was always older), and we have theorized who gaidal is(the son of one of the ashaman... name skips me at the momen)

id agree there, tho, its his link with the wolves, that gives him the mastery of TAR... tho, the wolves are not the best at TAR... the hero's are... brigetta had a whole conversation infront of perrin+hopper at the tower of gengi, without hopper even senseing them...

and, RJ did say that the DO couldnt be sealed away forever... this is a revolution of the wheel like every other... as i see it, the ultimate ending, is when the bore is opened, rand kills the DO, fixes the patch, stuffs fain in there as a young DO, and seals it back up... i think the repairs and slaying of the DO will have to happen in TAR, but the resealing w/ fain in the waking(fain doesnt live in TAR)...

and, rand doesnt have to die twice, he has to die and live again, i assume that means dieng in waking, and living in TAR as a hero

id agree that rand told egwene as pure manipulation... either to gather everyone together to support him, or, gather everyone together to oppose him... either way, his taverein ways would be able to effect everyone directly, all at once... tho, what will come of that... is anyones guess...

and i dunno about a second attack being fruitless or out of the question... tho now, we have both tower guards, and gareth's army inside the walls, and more sisters around, which are alot more unified... it would be a far tougher nut to crack if they tried again... even though the seanchan have gateways...

and yea, at second read, the chair passage seems unrelated... egwene saw it, but its probably talking about elain's throne that was put on its pedistle

i dont see that either smiddy... and yes... the darkfriends seemingly have much larger numbers... but, rand, mat, and perrin kinda balance the scales... rand with his crazy powerful channeling, mat with his luck and the ever victorious army and the real ever victorious army(band of the red hand), and perrin with the wolves

logain has been missing for several books now... who can say when/where he will come back... i think, he will have to attack the black tower with circles with AS... its the preverbial balance... men are stronger alone, but women in groups

@thepaperstones if it were anywhere close to being complete... id agree... but... perhaps the ashaman will speed up its construction some ;-) i mean... they built a palace, and wall, within what... a year? assuredly they could throw up a wee shack in a few months :)

well... theres three thrones i can see women being grumpy about him sitting in...

1) crystal throne of seanchan

2) lion throne of andor

3) amerlin seat

crystal throne - now, unless tuon sent for the crystal throne when she became empress, i doubt he'll get the chance. tho, she may have sent for it...

lion throne - is possible if rand comes to rescue andor from the darkfriends... but that seems more like a mat type fight... the band of the red hand is already very close...

amerlin seat - possible... i can see it where the white and black towers join, amerlin over the women, m'hael over the men.. and the dragon over both... but i dont know if we have enough time in the books for that...

also, didnt lews hold the t'amerlin seat in the AoL? the head of the hall of servants

of all, i see the t'amerlin as most likely, as improbable as it is... then... egwene, and im guessing logain(as the true m'hael), are going to meet at the plains... so its possible the t'amerlin seat may return...

oh i agree that the cities would likely be named similar, but that doesnt mean theyre located in the same places... much has changed since even part way through this age, artur's kindgom falling scrambled everything...

names are remembered... even if the bricks are different, and the locations moved... when people move, they bring bits of where they moved from... carrying traditions, culture, names......

i woiuldnt be surprised if the cities of this age are named after cities of ages past, and that cities of ages to come are named after the cities of this age... nor, would i be surprised if RJ had intentionally left clues for the names in both directions...

thanks asmo

so i suppose the question is then, if the white/black towers have fallen within a few generations, and aviendha's children never mention a taint on saidin or saidar... why dont the seanchan use damane? or do we just not see it?

its possible, but then, he used the chodenkal to sever asmodean's connection to the DO in rhuedian... the talent is to see it, but aparently, if you can see where it is, severing it can be done by anyone...

that, and im uncertain if the forsaken had the same ties to the DO in the AoL... one of the effects of it, is the protection from the taint... to borrow RJs analogy of water with oil on it, like a straw... allowing the forsaken to drink without getting a taste of the taint. in the AoL, that feature wouldnt be needed. they may have had a different bond, or, no bond at all...

then, i also have thought that the sword of light as shown in EotW, both lews' and rands, isnt saidin, but a third power to balance the true power, but thats just speculation

yes... if nyaneve isnt in the circle, i can see moraine, and lanfear... if she is, i have no idea who else would make logical sense...

and my theory for nyaneve, is my resoning why she wouldnt be in the circle with calendor... not proof that she wont... she very well might... i just wouldnt know who else would make sense with her... the only pair that make sense to me, is moraine and lanfear...

and this whole theory is also balanced on rand using callendor... in EotW, rand uses a sword of light LONG before he has callendor...

i agree with dudley, theres nothing saying that any of the AoL cities were anywhere even remotely close to where any of them are now...

when people settle an area, they often name the city to remind them of another city(new york(usa) and york(england), etc), that doesnt mean theres any physical connection between them...

and, from egwenes dream of the candle, after the ravens hit, the flame wobbled and shot off many other flames, so id say that its quite likely the physical tower will crumble, and AS's will scatter...

and, if i remember correctly, in aviendha's future-walk... theres no mention to the white tower atall... or black for that matter... even the seanchan dont use damane, but the guns...

i dont think shes pregnant already... its been several years since that event... and i think it'd be a bit of a reach... especially with aviendha's "i refuse to marry a man when i have no honour" mantra, which is restored in ToM... i think its foreshadow of the event yet to come...

and, theres been so many mentions of bonding while pregnant that there may be a wee debt there...

that would explain the colouring, but not the oddity of their channeling...

as far as we know, aviendha isnt pregnant yet...

the more i think about this, the more i move to the rands re-bonding camp... when rand dies, the "marriage bond" he has with the three women is severed... and when he "lives again", he goes through rebonding with them, that bonding is what creates the oddity... having traits from elayne, rand, and min, and the potential for their channeling ability...

but that assums that elaynes babies are born during the next book... so they arent effected in the bond... there is no mention of them being unusual. and the wise ones say that one shouldnt get bonded while pregnant, as the babies would probably die... as far as we know, it has never happened before...

i think nyaneves ability to control saidin, was a direct function of the ter'angreal... its similar to TAR, she could alter saidin, because she believed that she could...

but otherwise, i agree, nyaneve shows some very odd traits that nobody else can do, even to the point of them believing its impossible... knowing how to channel without being taught(whoops... wait... thats useful, i gotta remember how i did that!), channeling with raw emotion(anger, not cold anger), etc... which leads me to believe that she is more then we may think... as far as im aware, the only other reference to a character that could channel with raw anger, was eymonds wife(last queen of manetherin)... and only way that could be, is if nyaneve (and possibly lan) are bound to the wheel, like briggeta+gaidal are... fated to meet, fall in love, and die in a last effort to save their nations people... in this case... malkier...

meaning, if they are the same, that nyaneves place isnt with rand, its with lan.

which brings us back to, if nyaneve's place is with lan, who makes sense to circle with rand+calendor(assuming rand is part of the circle)... the only pair of people that fits to my mind, is moraine, and meirin(lanfear) :)

either way, she used one of the wishes on the angreal... and one to leave finnland... but what was the third?

firstly, it wasnt in rhuidean when she and lanfear fell through it... carhien(sp)?

and not necesasrily... she could not have know the differences between the two finn(like mat) and worded a request that she be let out(like mat) but not said when, or in what condition(... like mat)... mat was in there 7 days, and hung... moraine was kept for how many years? and sapped of her strength... but she was let out! that makes me think she accidentally asked them to let her out... like mat...

i dont think its ever been said when callendor was created... or even if...

tho the first bit of EotW, it doesnt mention that lews had a sword, until he had a "sword of light"... i dont think he did have it... its probably a new thing, relatively speaking. and why create it and put it in the stone for rand to take it, if there was no event where it was needed by him... one could either say red herring, or writers debt...

and i dont think theres any direct prophecy saying rand has to wield it...

and, its because of lanfear's experience with the bore, that i suspect she will return to the light, and be in the circle with rand, to seal it back up

thats... a very interesting theory... perhaps thats how lanfear is released... by moghedien going kamikaze on moridin... wether or not killing moridin, it could sever the mindtraps... freeing lanfear, and killing moghedien... veeeeeeeeeeery interesting...