My UPS box was sitting on the porch when I got out of work! See y'all when I'm done.

Also, the entire Luthair thing was probably set up by Ishy. He was the one who turned Hawkwing against the Aes Sedai, and tainted the Seanchan prophecy. Seems like sending an army across the ocean is just another dot in that line.

I vote "Unresolved". This seems like something that we might get no resolution to.  There are a lot of ends that still need to be closed up in the limited number of words that are left in the series, this one might not make the cut.

Unless they managed to sneak in a super extended epilogue.

WOT if....Mashi canceled her vacation early so I can get my fix? ;-)

cyndane is totally thrown by Alivia at the cleansing because Alivia is stronger than her. though we never saw an ending to that encounter, so you may not be wrong...

You may be on to something with Rand knowing what she's about. That might be the reason we've all pretty much accepted her wholesale.

The theory makes sense. A few things to point out, though. I'm up to the Whitebridge chunk of ToM(this re-read), and I don't believe Alivia has made an appearance in this book, or more importantly since Veins of Gold.  Rand trusted her when he was making his descent into "terminal madness" in the good words of Semi, but there is nothing to indicate whether or not that still holds.  It wouldn't surprise me if this scenario turns out to be true and zen Rand manages to sniff it out and foil her plans. It would be a fitting way to write her off like so many of the secondary and tertiary characters who have popped up since tPoD, and been conveniently disposed of since the pacing has been fixed.

I'm currently on my Towers of Midnight reread, so I'm not 100% sure, but has Rand seen Alivia after his epiphany?  Actually, after a quick check on my Kindle, Alivia's name isn't even mentioned in Towers of Midnight.

so unfortunately, I'm not buying this :

These theories for a darkfriend are interesting, but like Myrddraai wrote, 'Rand's power as a ta'veren/dragon reborn make it so he can identify darkfriends'. So this means that they are not darkfriends, but something else? Maybe the dark has them fooled into working for them without them understanding it?

The theory makes sense. A few things to point out, though. I'm up to the Whitebridge chunk of ToM(this re-read), and I don't believe Alivia has made an appearance in this book, or more importantly since Veins of Gold.  Rand trusted her when he was making his descent into "terminal madness" in the good words of Semi, but there is nothing to indicate whether or not that still holds.  It wouldn't surprise me if this scenario turns out to be true and zen Rand manages to sniff it out and foil her plans. It would be a fitting way to write her off like so many of the secondary and tertiary characters who have popped up since tPoD, and been conveniently disposed of since the pacing has been fixed.

I just read TGS last week, and I'm fairly certain Rand actually shattered the crystal on the actual statue, not the access key. The one on Tremalking melted or exploded, which was verified by one of the Red Blacks, a few books back. The choedan kal are donezo

@ paul

Rand, Perrin, Egee, and even Nyn comment on the striking resemblance of Isam to Lan. Not to mention that the scene where slayer flees to the tower of ghenji is in TSR, which would indicate nothing more than that Slayer has access to Finnland.

I will agree on the point that the Foresaken all turned during the previous age, and are currently working with the same souls, if not bodies.  I mentioned last week that I don't believe the DO has access to the souls of the world in the ages where he is completely sealed, because he is outside of-and thus exerting no influence over-the pattern.  There will always be enough selfish goons in the world that the DO wouldn't need to try to preserve his following for the next round.

That one might be in off limits territory. Slayer didn't have a pov until winter's heart. But he had a pretty extensive one in some of the newest material.

Also, its seems like Moiraine would at least recognize both Luc Mantear, and Isam. Luc, at least, would be something she would see as totally reasonable to discuss with Thom.

I have nothing new to contribute since last week. With that being said, I don't care who ends up on what side, I'm going to Taco Bell!

@jack

Tsuki pretty much nailed it. I'm obviously not big on research, its how I'm able to stay in the closet as a nerd. But the mass food spoilage in Bandar Eban happens right when Rand decides to flake. The line about the dragon being one with the land is from one of the prophesy excerpts at the beginning of one of the books. Spring comes but doesn't come with Darth Rand, then apples is his first pov after veins of gold, and he's reversing it. I've seen it bandied about that the cloud cover is more Rand than the DO(not the stuff from the TGS prologue, but the gloom in the rest of Randland). And I've gone on record stating that I like Zen Rand, and he is what he needs to be. Darth Rand was just so much more fun to read.

Bandar Eban was a case of "the Dragon is one with the land," as Apples First was the antithesis of that.  In regard to the True Power, it would seem like a prudent move to always have the Dragon soul switched on, so to speak, since the Dark One only has to win once. It also seems unlikely that the TP would be able to be turned against him, so it seems like a good move.

Slightly off topic, but Moridin keeps coming up here, so... Ishy throws around the struggle between him and the Dragon being eternal, but I'm not so certain I buy it.  Rand may possibly have full access to the Dragon soul, not just LTT. But all the instances Ishy mentions in TEOTW happened during his imprisonment, and give us no indication that he has access to past lives. There are ages where the Dark One is completely outside of the pattern, and essentially doesn't exist. It stands to reason that he can only be the "Lord of the Grave" when he is able to influence the pattern. Where the Heroes of the Horn live on in TAR, which is within the pattern, it doesn't seem possible for the DO to take his champion with him into storage outside of existence.

All idle speculation, of course. I'm on TGS in my reread, and some of this stuff has been popping up around here lately, so its been floating around in my head at work.And I'm spent.

The only way I see this hammer saving Perrin is if he accidentally kills her with it and subsequently retrieves his manly bits from the jar on the mantle. I am not disagreeing with your theory. You are probably correct. But haters gonna hate. LOL!

I've always taken it to be Tigrane/Rand. Elaida definitely says that she attached herself to Morgase as soon as she became the frontrunner, which strongly implies that she just misunderstood her own foretelling. Actually, I've always been curious if she's going to get a sliver of redemption by having one of her foretellings actually turn out how she imagined them...But I'm not holding my breath.

@gwen There are a "sad" awww, and a "cute" awww. I learned of this after college, when I was unfortunately introduced to text messaging, haha.

@ everybody else, I read most of the names as the 'Merican English that they were probably concocted from(Bridget, Fail, Suzy). I'm a horrible fan ;-)

@Metal Head. If her connection to the Horn was broken, and is to be reestablished, I think she's banking on street credit. She had the misfortune of being tied to Elayne's story arc for 9 books now. Nothing happened, let alone anything heroic.

Moiraine might be able to duel with Suian, Lanfear would trash her, angreal or not. Though, I'd have to agree the only resolution we'll get on Birgitte will be if she dies and comes back with the blowing of the Horn (onscreen).

weren't the whitecloaks annihilated by the damane in seconds? IIRC, "Rand's party" consisted of Verrin, the Shienarans, and the boys.

I tend to agree with Jack. Egwene isn't the caring little girl from the Eye of the World, she is an Aes Sedai. People are just numbers, and the Tower is separate, and above all. They're allowed to feel shame, but not required to reconcile their blunders with the lowly masses. I wouldn't shed a tear if the Tower was turned to a rubble heap, and the Servants of all were required to do a little soul searching, and go back to their roots.

What if Rand and Moridin concoct a scheme to kill the Dark One? Then we can have our Lord of the Rings happy ending where all the shadowspawn drop dead as the pockets of resistance are all about to be overwhelmed. Jeebus, I hope not, but it could happen.

That's wicked friggin awesome

so my actual kindle is busted, and i've been reading on my app. i bought CoT and the prologue here, but i guess i need to "sideload" it in to the kindle app on my phone. so far this hasn't been a success. i would never ask for a refund, but if i can't get this to work, i will no longer use this store. any pointers will be appreciated.

edit. disregard. after not opening the app for a couple days, the book mysteriously decided it wanted to work. haha, guess my money can stay here.

what she said^^^

I'll be damned if I have to find something new to geek about!