Sorry everyone, I just figured out how to use the search button. I'll seek my answers elsewhere.

Alright, maybe this is the part I don't understand. When a person dies what happens to the thread? Does it end? If so, what difference does balefire make to the pattern? That thread would just become shorter. It still has to weave around a hole. I see the paradox it creates for people, but not for the pattern itself, unless the pattern is predetermined. Therefore a murder with balefire or a murder by conventional means causes the same hole, only one being slightly larger. Take a fictional scientist that has one great discovery and then retires to a deserted island. There are only up to 10 days in his life where a murder by balefire makes a significant difference in his impact on the world versus a conventional murder. That's a pretty small window. Sure it might cause some confusion for the people around him, but why would that confusion greatly alter the rest of their lives versus his murder?

In tEotW chapter 45 it appears that Moiraine attempts to use balefire on the Machin Shin that is attacking. Is this correct, have I interpreted this correctly?

 

Obviously this raises a couple of questions such as where did Moiraine get the knowledge of the weave from? Also it didn't appear to get rid of the Machin Shin, and then there seems to be an acceptance that Machin Shin in someway 'bonded' with Padan Fain, imprinting on each other. If that did happen does it possibly mean that Fain is immune to balefire?

 

I could have completely got the wrong end of the stick there, Moiraine may not have used balefire, but the description suggests it.

I believe this was balefire. Moiraine definitely knows the weave and I believe she gives a vague description of how she intuited the weave, somewhere. As to the reason it didn't remove Machin Shin, it could be because it's like a reef. Moiraine destroyed a part of it, but it is made up of thousands of individual pieces, so it was able to survive as a whole. Fain might be able to join with it in case of balefire, but I think his body would be destroyed.

So does that mean that the pattern controls fate? The paradox exists in men's minds not in the pattern. Why would it matter to the pattern which threads continue and which don't, except in the case of saving a life where two threads would end leaving a lint ball. Maybe I'm thinking too much in absolutes. If you destroyed everyone in a city, (especially without mass media) with balefire it just happens two days earlier with some paradox around the fringes where lightning just kills everyone.

I have some questions about balefire and its effects. If the speculation about Asmodean's killer being Graendel is correct. Is it possible we might see Asmodean alive again? How much power does it take and is the timeline even feasible?

 

Also, How did Rahvin's death effect Morgase and Caemlyn or did it not erase his life long enough to matter? It seemed as if Rand gave it everything he had when he zapped him, so I figured it removed him for quite a while.

 

It was mentioned somewhere that when both side used balefire as a weapon, days worth of the pattern were burned away. How long ago was Asmo killed? Months at least. The volume of balefire needed would be staggering.

 

Rahvin's influence on Camelyn was only balefired back to the beginning of the battle. Sure more balefire could have been used to erase a couple days worth of influence, but as mentioned above, eliminating months worth of influence doesn't seem possible.

 

Also remember that when a thread is burned out of the pattern, all of the connecting/related threads are impacted as well. As a result the entire pattern could unravel if you burned out months of someone's thread.

Thanks for the answers, but I need a little more clarification. If only a few days can be removed from the pattern, why is balefire much worse than a simple murder (unless balefire destroys the soul)? Either way the thread ends and two days probably doesn't make a huge difference in most lives. However, if months or years can be removed I can see the exponential effect it would have.

If balefire destroys the soul, is that the reason that the Do can't raise the balefired? and does that mean that when the wheel rolls around to the AoL quite a few forsaken won't be reborn. and if that's the case, if Rand can heal the bore and destroy Lanfear's soul the bore will never be opened? Sorry this last part's a bit of a tangent and most of it just dawned on me, but now I need answers to it too.

I have some questions about balefire and its effects. If the speculation about Asmodean's killer being Graendel is correct. Is it possible we might see Asmodean alive again? How much power does it take and is the timeline even feasible?

Also, How did Rahvin's death effect Morgase and Caemlyn or did it not erase his life long enough to matter? It seemed as if Rand gave it everything he had when he zapped him, so I figured it removed him for quite a while.