@timewalkerauthor-the problem is err....timeline.

we already know that rand is going to issue a series of proclamations

concerning everyone in randland:rulers,countries,future relations etc.

assuming that he will convince everyone including egwene that breaking the remaining seals is the only way,his next move is to redeploy all the armies

from the field of merrilor to different combat zones,caemlyn,tarwin's gap etc.

on the same day(he said so himself) he will go to shayul ghul with his group.

so if he is going to send perrin and his army let's say to caemlyn,and on the

same time go to shayul ghul they cannot be together.

and what about mat?he is not even there,the last we saw of him,he was planning to go

to caemlyn.

@metal head.

i am not so sure about the alternatives to replace perrin's command.

look,i am not a great admirer of perrin,far from it actually,but for that certain

army he is the unifying factor.

davram bashere leads part of rand's army,galad is a whitecloak and that army

will never follow him,and tam is in the two rivers at the moment.

the most important factor is that it is a very bad strategy to replace one general with another on the eve of an army's greatest battle.

as i wrote before,i am still undecided about perrin's role in the last battle.

a very interesting question,let me start with mat:

mat is the perfect general for a conventional warfare,he is a brilliant strategist, brave(but not on point being suicidal) and lucky.

so if we are talking about open warfare,army vs army with or without channelers,mat is our man,so i don't see him going with rand to shayol ghul,,the battle between the do and rand will be anything but conventional

the role of perrin is more...problematic,i do believe(like mark)that part of battle

with the do will take place in tar,and perrin is the perfect dreamwalker/warrior

to assist rand there,but i have one big problem with that,perrin arrived with an

army of 100000 (actually,its a coalition of armies)at the field of merrilor,and i don't see anyone but him leading them,so i am still undecided about perrin.

@peregrine.

do you pronouce it nina-eve?

i know her name should be pronounced nigh-neev,but i always preferred

nina eve.

@gwenifer.

hahahaha,is that a good awww or a bad awww??? lolololol

@wolfbrother15

to add a few words on the subject,rand's first trip to rhuidean happened

in the "shadow rising",when he walked through the ter'angreal columns

and saw a series of flashbacks.

@wotfan4472

min viewing in tom was:two dead men laying on the ground,surrounded

by ranks and ranks of trollocs,they can be anyone,not just rand and moridin.

wonderful selene/lanfear.

@damer flinn.

actually,despothera wrote about something like this in one of his theory blogs,

rand will get an onyx hand ,in the same or similar way benedict got his

silver hand in the first chronicles of amber(book 4,the hand of oberon).

@metal head.

moiraine bracelet is an angreal,not a sa'angreal,i just finished rereading

the relevant pages in tom.

@metal head.

"i really really really hope that moiraine takes out lanfear".

hahahaha,i dont believe this is going to happen lol.

i know,i know, we differ greatly in our concept of lanfear,but please bear in

mind that she is my absolute female favorite in randland(and i am talking

about lanfear only,books 2-5)so part of what i am writing is wishful thinking.

i do believe she is going to supply rand the missing data regarding the bore.

cyndane does nothing to me,she is a two dimensional insignificat nobody.

by the way,wonderful post on the true birthplace of the dragon.kudos!!!!

our dragon was born twice on dragonmount,tai'shar rand al thor.

@metal head.

i always considered falme the true birthplace of the dragon,not tear when rand

took callandor.

i agree with you about the wheel,whether or not the wheel is neutral is immaterial,its all about self preservation.

let's look at falme again:rand's company was trapped between two armies,

with the banner and the horn,was it coincidence? it was more likely a manipulation from the wheel.

the whitecloaks army was annihilated in seconds,no more than cannon fodder,well,it was more like damane fodder,and like mashiara said

some of them were good men,misguided maybe,but good men,so does the wheel care?

no it doesn't. it uses everything in its arsenal for its purposes.

its more like huge game of chess,you lose some,you win more(hopefully),

and the horn is just a powerful tool nothing more.

orange7

i checked the world of robert jordan again,and it clearly states(page 23)

that women can initiate a link,men cannot,a little later(page 25) it says

that when a circle contain just two channelers,a man and a woman,the

man is always the leader,exactly what rand and nynaeve did in the cleansing,

she initiated the link and he took control.

@snowball.

you are correct,the whitecloaks were annihilated by the damane in seconds

at the very beginning of the battle.

by the way,rand's company was just himself,mat,perrin and hurin.

verin and the shienarans were not there and ingtar stayed behind to guard

their backs

@mark

you are correct.

nynaeve initiated the link and rand took control.

to the best of my knowledge,a male channeler can not initiate the link only

a female channeler.

by the way,its not the only error in chapter 2.

@mashiara

when perrin said that he fought on the same side as bornhald it was a complete distortion of the truth.

everything started in falme because rand small company was trapped between

the seanchan army and the whitecloaks so mat decided to call for help.

perrin had no way of knowing the intentions of the whitecloaks in falme .

when the battle actually started,it was rand vs ishamael and company+heroes

vs seanchan.

the whitecloaks were mere nuisance in falme,doing much of the dying,not much of the fighting!!!!.

the wheel was not showing off,the main reason for the appearance in the sky

was rand himself:

for 18 years rand was a nobody,a solid and stubborn sheep herder,living in a

small village.

we all know what happened next,so i am not going to write about it,let me say

that rand is in denial about who he really is until falme,because in falme,the

wheel decided that rand needed a push,not just a small push mind you,a mega proportion push,so the battle was broadcast live for half randland to

watch.

everything changed for rand after falme,exactly what the wheel wanted.

in my opinion all the other reasons are secondary(false dragons,to boost

morale etc)

@gwenifer.

"with her channeling awesomeness"

a wonderful tribute to an awesome and amazing character,

taishar nynaeve.

chapeau to you gwenifer.

@mark

rand is not going to save lan,he is going to send help,his destination is

shayol ghul, for some small and overdue battle with the do.

@mashiara.

the white tower will save lan?really????don't hold your breath.

if you recall egwene knows about the shadowspawn invasion in the north

(tom,chapter 27),did she do something?she did nothing!!!!,did she save

maradon?again a resounding no,rand did.

egwene is too busy playing politics,she ordered many rulers and their armies

to come to the field of merrilor for her own agenda i.e to intimidate rand.

the white tower army is at the field of merrilor,like all the other armies,and like

many other cities,tar valon is defenceless,and ripe for a seanchan surprise

attack via gateways this time.

so my best bet is still the armies of the north.

let's examine lan situation from a different angle,so forget about min's viewings:

the last we saw lan,he was charging light brigade style 12000 warriors strong

without channelers vs a shadowspawn army of 150000,so the odds are very much against him.

i am 100 percent sure that nynaeve will be one of the selected few to go with

rand to shayol ghul after his proclamations,so she not going to be anywhere

near tarwin's gap.

so everything boils down to one question:will rand send help in time?the most

obvious answer to this is the four armies of the north,but where are they?

did rand left them in far madding?did they come with him to the field of merrilor?

look,this gathering at the field of merrilor is sheer idiocy from a military point of

view,why concentrate so many armies(20+) in one place and leave so many

cities defenceless?and on top of it all,their best general,lord of luck himself is

not even there.

hands down the best depiction of aviendha i ever saw!!!! kudos.

something in her face...amusement?defiance? i can't really tell

but it is very captivating.

aviendha is my second(female) favorite character,so kudos again.

@metal head

rand was not completely wrong about moiraine,she did manipulate him.

look at the situation from rand pov: his advisor is always keeping her cards

close to her chest,the only information he gets is on a need to know basis,

in the first three books he basically was her puppet.

the first real shift of power happened when rand took his entourage to the aiel

waste instead of conquering illian.

in the fires of heaven i was expecting a change in their relationship, a change for the better,maybe a more balanced one.

the confrontation with lanfear took me completely by surprise!!!!

so instead of a better rand-moiraine team,we got that...that dreadful grandmother from hell cadsuane baaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.

to tell you the truth,if i was in rand shoes,i'll greet not only moiraine with

open arms,but probably padan fain too,just to get rid of that woman.

@mashiara.

i like your theory.

the only aes sedai who can pull it off is nynaeve,she is powerful,resourceful

stubborn with never say die attitude.

now,the relationship between nynaeve and rand is fascinating,in the earlier

books she behaves like an annoying big sister,but something changed between them around winter heart(even before the cleansing).

it started with baby steps,but now its a very strong friendship,sure nynaeve

is still nynaeve with her grumpings etc,but she cares deeply for rand.

counting out mat,perrin and his three lovers,nynaeve is his only friend.

@gwenifer,

you had mentioned parallels,so i have two more very intersting parallels for you:

when rand met min for the first time after his epiphany he tells her:

"all its eyes are fixed directly upon me,and will be until i blind them",vs

"and then shall the lord of the evning come.and he shall take our eyes..."

and a little later:

"the confrontation is assured and the scream that begins the avalanche

has been sounded." vs

"let the screams begin,o followers of the shadow.beg for your destruction.