I am curious, might the restricted material be for the Matt novels or a trilogy/series after the Last Battle, going into the next Age ??? Brandon is a bit busy to write them, though a whole bunch of Star Wars EU writers suddenly need some work (lets take the good ones and leave the rubbish ones to the Aiel)...

Any word on these books, I have been away from the forum for quite a while...

Tam is the everyperson in the series... especially the first one.. would a few trollocks knocked him out in the first book otherwise... he is a very talented and special guy, though no more than that.... Every main character looks up to him as the epitome of rightness, to tamper their increasing abilities...   Not every character has to be so special, some were just normal..... nothing wrong with that...   

(glad to be back, have been gone for awhile)

Perhaps it hasn't happened yet...  Highly unlikely, though if the speculative outrigger novels happen(Matt's adventures in Seanchan and Shara, ascended Rand and whatever he gets up to, etc), perhaps the bits of prophecy that haven't been tied up with be addressed then...  

I took my time and read the book slowly.. savoring each scene break and chapter end... even bought a nice bottle of scotch to sip while reading... 

Noal coming back of olver actually made me tear up, just a bit...  Egwene dying shocked me as well, though after Gawyn I sensed her time was about at an end...  I feel as though many of the important deaths occured "off-screen". Narrative reasons aside, how Siuan died, mentioning the deaths of Bryne, Bashar and others almost as an aside seemed overly dismissive.. not everyone needs a big death scene, granted, just feel as though this characters' deaths deserved a bit more attention... 

Perrin's study of TAR has only recently started to crossover with Egwene and the wise ones... perhaps once they discuss it, a new front of attack can be opened... once Rand dies, perhaps he has to have them join him in TAR to finish sealing the bore... Or perhaps a group has to seal it in TAR at the same time as in the waking world, perhaps that is where Lews went wrong in the first place.. would allow Rand to be pulled out of TAR after his death.. how does Elayne, or the Throne of Andor, as seen in Elaida's vision work into this... Wonder if it is a coincidence or not that Matt is still in Camalot...

Mashadar... though I wonder if it counts as a non-human entity or more of a sympathetic parasite with "shady" intentions... Being a third alternative to the Light and Dark paradigm and immortality has an allure all its own....It is difficult to know the exact effect it had on Padan Fain, that poor guy has had a tough few years... the only friends he can get are zombie <<<<<s after all...

There was the topic last week of Nynaeve grabbing Rands' departing soul and putting in back in his or Moridins' body after his death... perhaps she does this to Lan instead, after he is killed at Tarwins' Gap... Rands' death and return will probably be a bit more involved, if he dies/returns at all...

We should keep in mind the amount of time that passed between when RJ first conceived of the magic system and these characters. Ideas grow and change, even between individual books and of course over ~25 years.......

It is not lazy writing or a cop-out if certain themes and scenarios are inconsistent or fully over-written. It is the evolution of his vision.

As painful is it might to be to consider, the various "pulls and tugs" could simply be plot tools used as the situation dictated. RJ could have employed the gimmicks, hoping to resolve them (or not) later in the series. Similar to the beams of light connecting Rand and the Forsaken at the end of The Eye of the World. Never again are we to see cutting the beams severs the connection to the source. Perhaps, as RJ grew more comfortable with the writing about the One Power, he simply did away with that limitation. The same could be true with the "tugs and pulls". Perhaps he moved away from that as being overly unnatural and forceful a narrative trick. Simply a thought...

St.Rukos, on , said:

 

What, no hat...?

 

Yes, and two eyes too. It's from the ebook cover art for The Shadow Rising. That's apparently Avendesora in the background, so this is Mat leaving Rhuidean after Rand revives him (thus before he buys Kadere's hat).

 

http://www.tor.com/b...er-by-sam-weber

Spoiler warning... not everyone might be that far into the series... 99% of us our, few might not be...

What, no hat and two ***s ??? Nice coat though... where is the writing on the blade ? or is this a fan art example ?

I haven't read this since shortly after it was released.. I am starting my re-read of the series after Halloween... I seem to recall there being a issue of Aviendha having her dreams manipulated and the glass column vision being an extension of that (a complicated, last minute attempt to influence Aviendha's actions towards the shadow)... That being a stretch (or simply wrong), seeing through the perspective of one individual is limiting and biased. Different people see the same event in slightly different ways, no matter how clear cut they might seem. Especially if the latter Aiel are so beaten down and not in communication with each other, what is seen might not be universal. If nothing else, fodder for eventual sequel and prequel series (just keep Brian Herbert away).

I was just watching the most recent episode of Supernatural(yep, I know the derision of the show, still enjoyable as background while making EDH decks) and shortly after, I read this blog. No evidence I can think of right now to support this idea, though perhaps Slayer was a being(from the age of legends or a previous age, residing in a TAR penthouse like the the Heroes of Horn) and somehow possessed Lord Luc while he was in the Blight (or was put into him by someone/something).

Just an idea...

Lets see... This isn't George RR Martin... great characters won't be killed without some sort of notice (nothing wrong with that, just a different type of writing.

Rand as we know him will buy the farm.. not Two Rivers either. He might switch bodies, get pulled out of TA, fake his death, get beamed up by a scotsman(Tairen?) or some such. He will 'die'.

Rand, 9.999/10

The girls of Rand 2/10

They will all survive. RJ doesn't go that dark. In fact, I would add a reformed Lanfear to his harem.

Mat and Perrin 1/10

Too much has been spent setting these kids up for after the LB...

Lan, Nyn and Moraine and Thom 3/10

Only giving a three here, cause Lan really has been asking for it...

Gawyn 6/10

I doubt RJ would do him in, after finally getting bonded and bedded and the such, though he has to pull the trigger a few times

Logaine 2/10

The guy is seen stepping over rand and wrapped in glory, "as he rallies the troops to victory in the LB while Rand is using his Morph ability (or would it be Persist)"....

Just mild speculation

I like the idea of Logain hearing his past life in his head, lets see if this bears out... though as far as glory goes, He will probably be on of the major surviving powerful Asedi-type on either side. The process of mending the towers, joining them together, beating back the Seanchan, etc will probably fall to him and whoever is left in charge of the White Tower... The 4th Age will probably start out with Logain in charge, taking over the empire left by Rand...

Egwene could trigger an eruption, split the island (hence two cities) and stain what is left of the tower Grey... Perhaps it is done, if as hypothesized on an earlier blog, after the Seanchan and the White Tower stop fighting each other and join forces against a larger and more threatening horde of shadowspawn(muppets with antlers keep coming to mind, not sure why). She triggers the eruption and flees with the survivors via gateway... the two cities are built after the LB, with the Grey Tower as its center (not an imposing name though, maybe Tower of Power, too cheesy)...

Something that seemed to jump out at me... You mentioned the Gray Tower might get its name from battle or the eruption of Dragonmount... Perhaps Egwene, who we all know is very skilled in Earth weaves, triggers an eruption to cover a retreat through a gateway, while leaving the Seanchan to be roasted by lava (superheated gases mostly, to be specific).

Great article as always.. only found this blog and Dragonmount site a week or two ago, glad to have done so...