Numbness.....

I don't know how to feel....

It is over...  There won't be any new journeys to the Wheel of Time.  It may keep on turning, but it will do so without me getting to look in on its turnings to see what happens...

The constant tension of continuous battle throughout the book was fairly good, although I do feel like we didn't get to see any of the main characters resolve or deal with any of the consequences of what happened throughout the last book because of its frenetic pace.

The plot of turning the "great Captains" against the Light was without a doubt the most brilliant move the Shadow made throughout the entire series.  I just wish it didn't require so much build up in description of battle tactics to pull off.  I don't dislike the way it was handled, or really think that plot could have been shortened and still be effective, but now that I'm done with the series, I feel like I didn't get to see any of the main characters deal with the end of the Last Battle, or the consequences resulting from it.  I almost felt like I was reading a history of the Last Battle by Loial, son of Arent, son of Halan.  I'm glad I got to see how it ended, but I never felt like I was in the characters heads and experiencing what the were as I felt in the rest of the series.

Numbness... That's really the best word to describe how I feel.  tWoT is over as a literary series, and i will need weeks if not months to truly come to grips with that.  For all the growing pains, faults, and problems resulting from having a different author finish the series than Robert Jordan, I am still very thankful that Team Jordan found a way to bring this ending to us, warts and all.  Was it everything I hoped for?  No.  Were there things that I think should have, and reasonably could have, been done better?  Gods yes!  But for all that, the Wheel continues to turn, and I am extremely thankful and joyous that I got to see how those three farm boys from the Two Rivers played out their final moments as ta'veren.  I may not get to see new stories of the Wheel, but I can always return there by opening up these books, and Rand, Matt & Perrin will continue to be important people in my life forever more, no matter how the Wheel Turns.

Here's my example that made me wonder:

Mat is in a hallway, and comes upon a Black Sister, and she channels a strong gust of air down the hallways at Mat.  We know that no larger weather would be affected, only her weave is sustaining it.  HOWEVER, it is also true that this wind would be picking up things and blowing them at Mat.  So it is creating a physical force (wind), rather than just being weaves of air.  But this air would stop blowing once she stops channeling.  This is similar to Aviendha channeling the river to stop the Fire in tGS, I think.  She is using weaving of Water, and Air, etc, to move the water in the river, which wouldn't continue to happen without her channeling, and I think we all know doing so would get Mat soaking wet if here were to be the target of said channeling.  Just like throwing a rock (or horse dung) can hit Mat, wouldn't channeling a strong Wind at him be just moving lots of air molecules at high speed and pressure?  But at the same time, to sustain a wind indoors like that, the flows would have to be pretty pervasive throughout that blowing wind, I'd think, and so I just don't know.  Would this gust of wind throw Mat back?

Can an OP channeler weave flows of air to push/throw mat back?  ie: create a gale wind, etc., or is that gale wind considered to be weaves of the one power, and so would not affect him?

actually Fain's powers do not affect Fades the same way they do Trollocs. Trollocs rise from the dead after being "infected" by his Mashadar fog. Fades just die. At the end of ToM, Fain comments on this to himself.

I always thought it to be kind of obvious that Silvie was Lanfear.

Silvie:

-Intimate knowledge of TAR shown in conversation with Egwene

-Intimate knowledge of the Forsaken in conversation with Egwene

-Conscious of being in TAR

At this point in the series, the only people we know to ever go to TAR are Aes Sedai, Forsaken, and Wolfbrothers (hints, at least). To think that Silvie would not be from this group is implausible, because any other groups are a complete non-entity at this point. Of Aes Sedai, the only current Aes Sedai who seem to have any knowledge of dreams and TAR are: Moraine, Verin, Anaiya. Of those three, only Verin, a DF (and already strongly hinted/proven in TGH), and Brown Ajah, might possibly have enough info on the Forsaken to have had the conversation with Egwene.

For the Forsaken, only two Forsaken have been known to deal openly with the main characters thus far, and they are the only two who deal with the main characters in dreams: Ishamael and Lanfear. Given that Silvie is female, and hiding her true identity from her subject (Lanfear's MO for the most part at this point, and for a few books to come as well) while still talking openly with them, seems to definitely lean towards Lanfear more than Ishamael. Ishamael deals openly with the main characters, true, but always as Ba'alza'mon at this point, not at something else. Moghedian's MO is to watch, observe, and move only when pushed to or an extreme opportunity to gain an advantage occur. Silvie's meeting with Egwene doesn't really strike me as either of these things.

That narrows it down to Verin and Lanfear, then. The problem with Verin is that we don't know if she has another dream ter'angreal, or if she can enter TAR on her own. While certainly possible, this doesn't seem plausible as we've been given no hints that this is the case, which RJ usually would leave if it were her in this instance. So, that leaves Lanfear, the Forsaken who loves to go around to the TR crowd, acting like someone she's not, and trying to prod them in the way she wants.

So basically, the economy/population fell because that's what the plot requires.

Too true, Thrasymachus, too true.

Demographically speaking, especially in regards to population growth, he makes big mistakes that are close to unarguable. While a highly advanced civilization may have a low to negative birth rate (ie Industrialized Western World except USA because of immigration), over 3,000 years, it is highly unlikely that breeding habbits of those humans wouldn't change an adapt to the more room to grow, higher economic gain of children. After all, they have changed significantly in the Western Industrialized World in less than 200 years.

The number of children that a family has is directly related to economics of having those children. In a situation like Randland, most people would be having lots of children. You are looking at an agricultural based economic civilization, with lots of fertile land that is currently unused. The more children a family has, the more help that family has in working the farm, and the less they may have to depend on paying someone to help work the fields. In addition, with all of the fertile unused land available, the parents don't have to worry overly much over how to distribute their wealth among their children. There is plenty of land to go around. Just move there, and begin a family yourself. The United States during the first 120 years of its existence is a great example of this.

Move to 20th Century Industrialized Western World: Children are now an economic burden. That isn't to say you don't love your children, but in today's society, there is little to no economic gain by having children, yet extensive costs if you want them to be able to be successful adults. From activities to education (especially college) to healthcare, kids require many costs to be paid by the parents.

The change in population growth between these societies all boils down to the economics of those societies. In Randland society, economics dictate that the population should be booming, and yet its not. Its as Thrasymachus said, these things happened because that is what the plot needed to happen.

Total Mobilization of a State for War is a very new idea in both politics and warfare. To expect the state-actors of Randland to do so is somewhat outside their entire world-view. The reason is twofold:

1) Aristocratic societies had to balance their desire for more military power with the danger of arming the masses. This is the main reason that the armies running around in the beginning of WoT are only four or five thousand strong. You might conscript large masses in emergency situations, but those were always very short term, and in the last gasp effort (ie some of Elayne's recruits during the siege of Caemlyn). One of the reasons Rand's armies have grown so large is that he isn't concerned with arming the masses. Many who consider all bonds to be broken have now taken up arms for the Dragon Reborn, swelling the ranks of armies with people who wouldn't normally be a part of the military.

2) The level of central organization necessary for Total Mobilization is HUGE. There is a reason this didn't happen in our world until the invention of modern communication. With Travelling, we are already starting to see a trend towards Total Mobilization, but it isn't quite there yet.

Finally, to say that we should enslave the world to get ready for TG? And when people rebel because they hate your side as much as the DO? Mass Turning to the Shadow. War lost.

Actually, Rand is probably having his schools develop in the best possible way. There are NO limits on what someone can come to one of his academies to learn/design/invent. He takes all comers. So there are already quite a few people who have been working on the food shortage issue in his schools, mentioned at least a couple of times in the series. (multiple row-planter, animal-powered scythe, maybe a few others, not sure)

As for the food spoilage, we know its because of the DO. It's highly doubtful that these scholars could find a way to counteract the DO's touch on the Pattern. In pretty much every instance we've seen, it takes someone wielding the OP to counteract the DO's Pattern-Altering Abilities. (Rand in tEotW channeling the Eye at the end, Bowl of the Winds, Most bubbles of Evil are resistant or impervious to normal weapons, and must be destroyed by the OP.). And while there is a slight chance they may have solved this issue, it would have been at great cost.

To tell a group like this to focus on one thing would destroy the institution and what it was created for. In giving such a clear mission, you have now limited what types of outcomes will result out of these schools. The idea Rand has is to gather as many scholars as possible, a) to better protect and preserve them and their knowledge in the coming Breaking, and b) a safe place for these people to experiment and solve problems. Given this free atmosphere, many different scholars come together, and solve problems in many different ways. Some of the scholars at these schools have no expertise, experience, or interest in agriculture/DO touching the pattern. What should these scholars have done? Leave? Change their specialty at the whim of the Dragon Reborn? That sounds much more autocratic than the situation we have in the books to me.

Plus, to a certain degree, the food shortage issue is a short term problem. It is a result of the DO touching the world, and TG is coming soon. So either:

A) DO Wins: Wheel broken, Time Ends, Everybody dead. Food spoilage doesn't matter anymore

B) Rand and the forces of the Light win: DO at least Sealed again, and w/o him touching the world, food stops spoiling.

So if all of these schools, designed to solve problems/be a haven for knowledge, were instead tasked with dealing with food spoilage, post-TG, they'd have nothing ready to offer the world to help the rebuilding process. With the way Rand designed the schools, we already have an early steam engine, advances in military sciences, early astronomy, and a few others. Which way would you rather have the schools run?

I think that it is somewhat clear that the reasons for the overall civilization and population decline in Randland is due to the Dark One's still present, however faintly, Touch on the World/Pattern, through Lew Therin's imperfect Seals.

-Right after the Breaking, when population levels, we assume, hit a Low, Civilization somewhat re-Built itself, if not quite as well, given they only had 1,000 years to rebuild compared to however advanced AoL was (possibly 3,000 years, world had forgotten War, or maybe longer). But population levels seeming grew, allowing for contiguous countries throughout the continent. The Seals were New. No DO Touch, population grows as one would expect.

-First Major Weakening of Seals: Trolloc Wars. We know Ishamael was partially free during this time, and given that the Seals have probably been weakening for awhile, and not needed them to Break completely before things can escape it. Destruction on a large scale. Post Trolloc Wars new low point in population and civilization again.

-Rise of New Nations, eventually culminating in Artur Hawkwing: Again, population levels rose, and civilization advanced, although not quite as far in a roughly equal time period. Why? Well, the Seals were slightly weaker, allowing the DO to start affecting events, however slightly.

-Second Major Weakening of Seals: War of Hundred Years. Again the Seals have weakened enough for Ishamael to walk the world again, and again he unleashes chaos, etc, and the end of which is a new low population/civilization point.

-New Era: With the Seals at their weakest yet, indeed, they are breaking at the end of the Third Major Weakening Cycle, the Dark One's touch is most noticeable. Population levels are in decline, due to the Dark One's Touch, and while there are still Bastions of Civilization, the infrastructure, resources, and manpower just isn't there to allow for expansion. I tend to think the DO is doing this in one of two ways. Affecting birth mortality rates slightly, and possibly slightly affecting the weather enough to never allow for regions to start producing high yields of crops for extended periods, which leads to excess food, which leads to population growth in many early societies. Not on the level of Eternal Winter or Summer, but a little less rain here, a little too much there, and poof! There goes your surplus foodstuffs.

I will have to concede the shorter-sword point. I could have sworn that the sword is mentioned to be shorter than a normal one, but just did a word search for sword throughout entire tGS, and none of the references state Justice is shorter... Ah well... Regardless of the argument on one-handed vs. two-handed swords, does anyone have any ideas of how Justice will come into play in the story?

Is Shaidar Haran the DO's consciousness incarnate? Or a separate entity/consciousness? Do we even know?

^^Check OP. Already knew that part, but is it more than that, or just a normal Power Wrought Sword?(ie Tam Al'Thors, Lan's, Laman's.)

We all now know that the Dragon scabbard sword that Rand finds is Justice, the sword of Artur Hawkwing. Outside of it having one helluva good story to tell, does the sword have any other particular importance? I tend to think not, but given the way Rand seems to give it Special significance, I do wonder a bit.

We Know this from descriptions in the book:

-Power Wrought

-Black Scabbard with a red and gold enameled dragon on it

-Rand recognized the sword as that of Justice, Artur Hawkwing's sword from tGH

Outside of a few mentions in the KC, does this sword do anything special that we know of? Any evidence to say what it does/is needed for? I'm really hoping its not an angreal or sa'angreal, I think that would be a bit cheap, but maybe a ter'angreal?

Or is it just a sword? A legendary sword, seemingly used by some of the greatest heroes of Legend, but for all that, just a sword.

I really have no idea, outside of not wanting it to be an angreal or sa'angreal, but curious to see what the DM community thinks.

edit: changed format a bit to make known knowledge of Justice clearer.

2nd Edit: After Lucker's confirmation from the Author's word, changed from we are all fairly certain to we know.

Also deleted mention of the sword being a "short sword" per Boli providing the quote.

Rand is the rider, Perrin is the horse, and Mat is the Lance.

Rand is the main character of the series, the "knight in shining armor", if you will. He is the "knight in shining armor", if you will. But we've known from the beginning that the three ta'veren are tied together, and all three are necessary for the Dragon Reborn to succeed in TG. I think the metaphor of a knight, his horse, and his weapon, is somewhat apt in describing the relationship between these three. As stated earlier, Rand would obviously be the "knight". Matt, as stated earlier, is kind of the "special ops" guy of the three, always there, striking at the precise instant to turn the tide in a battle, or tip the balance in finding something, or saving someone. Of course he's been seen to do more, he's that flashy.

Perrin, on the other hand, is the support that makes sure it can all go. His main conflict throughout the series was that he accepted the responsibility of having to support Rand, but didn't realize for a very long time (maybe too long a time), that for him to be a support, he had to grow himself. If you look at his consolidation of the center of Randland, he has created a necessary buffer between Seanchan controlled Randland, and Rand/Elayne controlled Randland. Whether or not he intended it, he has destroyed the Shaido as a threat to Rand, destroyed Masema's madmen, and consolidated the center of Randland in a credible power.

I am not one to judge who's actions are more important than the other. This isn't a contest, in my mind. Rather, all three have had necessary and important roles to fill, and without them, on numerous occasions, the entire plan could have gone astray.

I think the biggest issue is probably the imperfectly sealed bore. One wonder that if Ishy could get out from time to time, was there other leakage? Something that prevented population growth to occur? Maybe affecting weather in a slight enough way that famines occurred on a more regular basis, requiring more stockpiling of food when you did gather food, and not allowing for the primary advantage of agriculture (grow more food than people need, so you can support more people being born with less work), was negated?

Or, it could just be something that we need to "suspend disbelief" on, because there is no good rational explanation for this, it is just an invention of the author's mind to suit the story.

I know that for most of the series, Rand legitimately had to fear 13 women being able to shield him. However since ToM, would 13 women necessarily be able to shield him still? I know the books always seems to say all men must be afraid of 13 women together, but after the Maradon battle display, I'm not so sure anymore. Is there any proof one way or the other for post-Epiphany Rand?

Couldn't find any reference here, or other places on this, so I thought I'd ask it here because its a fairly simple question:

Does Matt's ashandrei more closely resemble a naginata or some sort of halbred/pole arm? The description has led me more to think naginata, but I'm unsure, and didn't know if RJ or anyone else gave an explanation. Thanks!

Hello All! I've been an avid fan of WoT for going on 15 years now, and finally decided to join Dragonmount so I can join and enjoy the TheoryBlog. I'm sad to say that while I've stalked Dragonmount for years, it has taken me some time to get over my favorite all time WoT site going down and be able to join a new one (the old one being WoTMania.com) However, as the anticipation for the final book looms, I am compelled to go all in and get back into another community of us crazy WoT fans.