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DRAGONMOUNT

A WHEEL OF TIME COMMUNITY

Kalessin

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Everything posted by Kalessin

  1. As I remember reading, the Three Oaths came about after the Trolloc Wars, about a thousand years after the Breaking. When King Artur Paendrag Tanreall happened along, it was about a thousand years after the Trolloc Wars. He distrusted Aes Sedai, iirc, and after a long time distrusting them, he laid siege to Tar Valon. I don't recall any reason given for that in any of the WoT series. I don't own all the extra books, though; it may have been given there, but I don't know. Ishamael aka Baalzamon lka Moridin tells Rand in one of the dreams in TEotW: " I whispered in Artur Hawkwing's ear, and the length and breadth of the land Aes Sedai died. I whispered again, and the High King sent his armies across the Aryth Ocean, across the World Sea, and sealed two dooms. The doom of his dream of one land and one people, and a doom yet to come. At his deathbed I was there when his councilors told him only Aes Sedai could save his life. I spoke, and he ordered his councilors to the stake. I spoke, and the High King's last words were to cry that Tar Valon must be destroyed." The Seanchan are descendants of his armies and his son Luthair Paendrag and the inhabitants of those lands across the Aryth Ocean. From TGH: "Egwene knew incredulity must be painting her face, because Renna laughed openly. "When Luthair Paendrag Mondwin, son of the Hawkwing, first faced the Armies of the Night, he found many among them who called themselves Aes Sedai. They contended for power among themselves and used the One Power on the field of battle. One such, a woman named Deain, who thought she could do better serving the Emperor - he was not Emperor then, of course - since he had no Aes Sedai in his armies, came to him with a device she had made, the first a'dam, fastened to the neck of one of her sisters. Though that woman did not want to serve Luthair, the a'dam required her to serve. Deain made more a'dam, the first sul'dam were found, and women captured who called themselves Aes Sedai discovered that they were in fact only marath'damane, Those Who Must Be Leashed. It is said that - when she herself was leashed, Deain's screams shook the Towers of Midnight, but of course she, too, was a marath'damane, and marath'damane cannot be allowed to run free. Perhaps you will be one of those who has the ability to make a'dam. If so, you will be pampered, you may rest assured." "
  2. I don't recall it being quoted in the Old Tongue. I could be wrong, but I don't remember seeing it in any other language than English. The most prolific quoter of snippets of the Old Tongue is Mat, and he simply doesn't quote it.
  3. We get a hint from the thoughts of one Semirhage, in [Spoiler alert] Lord of Chaos Chapter 6 Threads Woven of Shadow The rods are known as binding rods; I think they are what Ishamael refers to in the preface to The Eye of the world as the Nine Rods of Dominion, in his words to Lews Therin before "Healing" him of his insanity.
  4. The Aes Sedai in the part of the world that became the Seanchan Empire were out of touch with the Randland Aes Sedai after the Breaking and the loss of the Art of Traveling. And their behaviour indicates they were probably a mixture of Darkfriend Aes Sedai and original Aes Sedai trapped into a never-ending cycle of hostilities by the Darkfriend Aes Sedai for at least two thousand years. The Randland Aes Sedai instituted the Three Oaths after the Trolloc Wars, when in the chaos of the time, they lost their original oversight of the nations of the time, and had to "prove" themselves to the new nations that sprang up after the three hundred years of devastation. Given that the pre-Seanchan Aes Sedai were happily murdering each other when Luthair Paendrag arrived on the scene, it's highly doubtful that there were any Three Oaths to remove.
  5. The arches are a part of what was once well known to everyone calling themselves Aes Sedai. They're part of the link to the past. And WoT lives quite heavily in the past, to the extent that poor Rand is thoroughly bewildered by Aviendha's assumption in The Shadow Rising that his riding a horse is part of his accepting changes more readily than she does. All the same, we don't need to see everything. Only the parts that foreshadow, and the parts that hurt the most, I'd say.
  6. Everybody knows about Robert Jordan's military service in Vietnam. I am hoping, for the sake of his reputation, that that was all it was restricted to. I've just come across a nasty little secret about the war that that war criminal and all-out creep Henry Kissinger started against Cambodians in Cambodia. https://theintercept.com/2023/05/23/henry-kissinger-cambodia-bombing-survivors/ I assume everybody knows the Questioners express RJ's view of the CIA as he saw them in Vietnam. I wonder if Shaidar Haran was his view of Henry Kissinger, assuming he did actually know of the crime against peace and humanity that the US was waging against Cambodian civilians in the border region.
  7. In the COT, Aviendha makes a comment about the pair of them melting each other, in response to a situation when Birgitte and Elayne reflect each other, Elayne Birgitte's hangover from drinking brandy to forget her grief over potentially losing Gaidal Cain, and Birgitte Elayne's pregnancy mood swings, and then adds, mysteriously, "but I think you already did," and I assume that she is referring to this incident. Birgitte is a lot less inhibited than Elayne, and I suspect in the right company, she would regard an impromptu table dance as a laugh. And she is the first female Warder, and reflects her Aes Sedai's mood very closely; so I assume she joined in the festivities brought on by Elayne's unwitting use of the red rod ter'angreal. While Aviendha stood and stared and then joined in the laughter.
  8. And then, in Crossroads of Twilight, we find Mat, having kidnapped Tuon in his escape from Tylin in the preceding book, being asked by Tuon if he remembers Artur Hawkwing's face. And he does, in Culain's memories of dying in the final battle between Aldeshar and Hawkwing's forces, and Hawkwing's final words to him as he lay dying. So of course he doesn't remember Hawkwing's face ... and Tuon, whose skill at reading lies is honed sharper than sharp by the hostile environment of her family's court, notes it, and is left open-mouthed ... 😲
  9. That was the impression I got too. I guess (personal headcanon) Elayne did an uninhibited and impromptu dance on a table, sans vêtements (pardon the French 😀), so out of her usual character, and perhaps expressing her longing for one Rand Al'Thor ...
  10. I've occasionally played around with such what-ifs and might-possiblys - after all " 'From Stone to Stone run the lines of "if," between the worlds that might be." 😀 " But I've usually posed what-ifs along the lines of how would Harry Harrison's Yilane react to meeting Tolkien's Eldar? How would Brian Aldiss's phagors (ancipitals) react to meeting Tad Williams' Sithi? Etc ... What sort of story would result from the Eldar and the Sithi meeting up Helliconia? Would Elric of Melnibone, Prince of Ruins, feel threatened by meeting Melian in Menegroth? Meeting Seoman (Simon) Snowlock in Green Angel Tower facing off with Ineluki? Would Finrod Felagund feel quite at home in Tanelorn? Etc ...
  11. I always suspected her of being one of the Black Ajah Moghedien took with her in her hunt for the menagerie containing her bete noir, Nynaeve the unskilled country girl who had bested her in Tanchico. Likewise I suspected Areina of being another Black Ajah with her ability to channel shielded ... When it turned out they were merely local color Moggie had dragged along with her to provide her with camoflage, I was surprised. But I suppose that was obvious when the two twits tried to blackmail Egwene in A Crown of Swords.
  12. When Mat and Nalesean are watching Olver race on Pip, and they collect their winnings and Mat recollects he last saw a particular woman during the flight from the Myrdraal they encountered in Whitebridge ... Nalesean: "Where are you going?" "I saw a woman who tried to kill me," Mat said over his shoulder. "Give her a trinket next time," Nalesean shouted after him. And Nynaeve - she causes Aviendha much merriment when they first visit the Sea Folk ship in the Ebou Dari harbour, when she declares that only a ninny can think to threaten someone and get what she wants ... and promptly threatens one of the Sea Folk ....
  13. It's the same crowd who try later to mug Mat, posing as beggars without having the proper brass rings to identify them as legitimate beggars. Nominal head the Whitecloak ambassador; so, not Elaida's crowd.
  14. In my current reread of WOt, I've noticed again, how RJ manages to allude to various stories, rather than directly reference them. Culain's Hound, the inn where Verin and Alanna Seadai stay at with their collection of Two Rivers prospective novices such as Mat's sister Bodewhin, is one such; and if you don't know the story of how Cuchulainn of the Ulster Cycle of Old Irish stories, got his distinctive name, it'll slip right by you. To wit, the young man Setanta was defending himself against the smith Culann's fierce guard dog, and killed it. He offered to take its place until a replacement could be found and thus became known as Cu Chulainn - Culann's Hound. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cú_Chulainn
  15. For what very, very little it's worth, I had a bottle of Perrin the other day. (Pear Cider - very refreshing.) I don't happen to have a child or a fur baby; but I suspect if I did, my (currently nonexistent) partner would not be impressed at the idea of naming a child after a character in a fantasy tale. Thinking of some past prospective partners, I expect they would be more interested in commemorating grandparents or friends than characters in novels. So far I've managed to name cats Doof (Food backwards: she was a foodaholic) and Catty-Puss (very discriminating, with sharp claws and no hesitation about using them. 🙂 ), but never Aviendha or Egwene or the like. 🙂
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