On 7/13/2011 at 9:14 AM, Toy said:

Did Lanfear die in the ToG? Or was she rescued? I thought Moiraine witnessed her death.

Cyndane? The DO brings her back.

Why has Rand effectively ignored the Black Tower for ... five books now? Four? I can't remember

  On 7/10/2011 at 9:48 PM, Toy said:

  On 7/10/2011 at 12:33 PM, WhiskyJack said:

One question on TP:

 

 

How did forsaken learn to channel TP? Is it exactly like OP (five elements) and weaves are exactly the same? But that couldn't be since weaves are not the same for Saidain and Saidar. So how did Rand know what to do in tGS?

 

We know very little about it, but what we do know I can hazard some guesses:

 

1. Ishy has been using it for many years, which is why Moridin has saa.

2. In the death of Mesaana scene, we know Rand channeled Fire to break the Domination band and balefire Mesaana and Elza.

 

So yes, expertise in one transfers to the other, they both use the same elements and weaves, and it is simply an alternate source of the OP.

 

But this leads to disturbing speculation about the relationship between saidar, saidin, and the DO.

Not sure about this. Seem to remember that TP comes directly from the DO himself. OP probably from the Creator, then? White/Black - there is a certain symmetry. Also the Creator doesn't interfere personally in the Pattern (for whatever reason) so he wouldn't deny the Forsaken OP, whereas TP is only for those chosen by DO .. certainly sounds like it'd fit into RJ's general WoT philosophy, if you see what I mean.

Also, Rand learned to channel intuitively, in large part, and so did the Wisdoms of The Two Rivers. He was killing (one of the three) love(s) of his life! That's enough pressure for anyone to come up with balefire. Maybe. In any case, I don't think the weaves are the same, just as saidin/saidar are not the same (which one would TP correspond to?). The 5 elements theory sounds plausible because there doesn't seem to be much of an alternative, looking at it from an author's perspective (to whatever extent that is possible).

Why is there so much fear of and revulsion for the Dragon? Not Rand al'Thor but the man prophesied to save the world .. the man who bound the Dark One and the Forsaken in a prison for three millenium? Why is the Dragon's Fang a symbol of ... whatever it is a symbol of? I never quite got this. I mean, he will break nations and all that sounds bad, but if he's saving them from the Dark One... It's like accusing the sun of causing skin cancer (best I could come up with on short notice haha).