@ Sharaman

I'd be very surprised if Taim passed any TAR knowledge on. Maaaybee a little to one trusted lieutenant, but I doubt it. We don't know for sure though.

As far as the dreamspike goes, I suspect that Moridin will be keeping a close eye on it, he seemed quite possessive over both of them when talking to Graendal.

@ Waldo

Suffa - imagine lying across a horse on your stomach, face down

balescream - I don't recall any reference to how far a balescream reaches. I would imagine it is all to do with how strong your balefire was in the first place.

Silversmiths get a day off / week to work if they are taken gai'shain. Also see how the shaido treat wetland smiths.

Ah, interesting. Where can I read more? Do tell.  (I hope it's not BWB, as I don't have a copy)

Also confusing is that in KoD Rand sends Logain to the Black Tower to investigate for him, then sends Neald (or Naeff?) later too, yet Ituralde comments that Rand supplied him with Asha'man shortly earlier, yet after events in KoD.  How did Rand get those AM? 

What you've highlighted here are the confusing timeline issues

Ituralde is promised 100 AM in TGS, aprox 50 days before Maradon. This is well after Logain removed about a half of the BT AM to distribute between Illian and Arad Doman (that was aprox 100 days before Maradon), presumably this is where Ituralde's AM come from.

Naeff wasn't sent to BT till the day after Maradon (the morning before FoM) and we don't know when Logain was sent to BT, except that Rand expected him to be there when he sent Naeff.

There. Clear as mud.

edit: I had posted a link to a timeline, but realized it contains spoilers for AMOL pre-release material. Apologies 

Why do the Aiel treat blacksmiths differently?

I've seen the references to say that they can't declare a feud with one, and other hints, but do we know why?

Is there anything in the BWB?

its basically all smiths, not just blacksmiths. But its likely because their skills are specialized and absolutely necessary to the survival of the sept

Do you have a reference for all smiths being particularly respected? Or could you explain what makes you think that? Anything specific?

It's just that everything I've looked up so far singles out blacksmiths in particular. But, then again, this is turning out to be quite a difficult concept to search for, so I've probably missed stuff.

Why do the Aiel treat blacksmiths differently?

I've seen the references to say that they can't declare a feud with one, and other hints, but do we know why?

Is there anything in the BWB?

Hall of Mourning is a good name for the home of the Warriors of Final Regret." 

Have to agree with you there.

But we have 'halls of mourning' instead of 'Hall(s) of Mourning' and that small difference has always made me wander.

(and Warriors of Final Regret - what the heck could that mean?)

Oh well, rafo I guess. Thanks again

Hmmm, I've always taken the 'halls of mourning' to mean Mat is mourning, rather than Mat is in a place called the 'halls of mourning' since there are no capital letters.

But, some people seem convinced otherwise, so I wandered if I missed something.

Thanks

I have seen several posts which claim that the 'halls of mourning' from the dark prophecy refer to the Finns.

Could someone point me to the reference which supports this?

I can't find it. What am I missing?

One scene not mentioned yet that made me chortle was back in TSR when Perrin turns up at the Two Rivers inn with Aiel and an Ogier.

It's not a funny line as such, more of an entire mental picture, made funnier still by the very sad scene right in the middle of it all. By the time we get to the image of Loial sitting on the kitchen floor, ears quivering, drinking tea from a bowl while Mistress al'Vere downs shots of brandy, I was laughing out loud.

There was a whole discussion over the last few days with that and other quotes starting at about here

Thanks for that, guess we'll just have to wait to see what he does with them

I've been wandering about the rings Gawyn has.

Could he use all 3 at once?

Would that triple the effect or just make him die 3 times faster?

Any opinions?

Not only a way of breaking the girls and using their strength, it raises the opportunity of a set up where Rand can be forced to fight them and ruins the chances of a peaceful 'binding of the Nine Moons'