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DRAGONMOUNT

A WHEEL OF TIME COMMUNITY

Terez

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News item Comments posted by Terez

  1. RJ said that when Lan dies, Nynaeve will get over it and keep on living. As for the price...what was the price in Birgitte's case? She was ripped into the world too early, and already an adult, while Gaidal is a baby. What would be the price for Rand? I think one of the themes of the series is that he has already paid quite enough. The resurrection method is limited in that it can only be used for about 100 people, and only under very specific circumstances. Nynaeve is the only one who saw what Moghedien did, so the knowledge is very limited.

     

    Speaking of foreshadowings for Nynaeve Healing death...IMO the best one by far is this one:

     

    Marigan, a few years older, had been plump once, but her frayed brown dress hung on her loosely now, and her blunt face looked beyond weary. Her two sons, six and seven, stared silently at the world with too-big eyes; clinging to each other, they seemed frightened of everything and everyone else, even their own mother. Marigan had dealt in cures and herbs in Samara, though she had some odd ideas about both. That was no wonder, really; a woman who offered healing with Amadicia and Whitecloaks right across the river had to keep low, and even from the first she had had to teach herself. All she had ever wanted to do was cure sickness, and she claimed to have done it well, though she had not been able to save her husband. The five years since his death had been hard, and the coming of the Prophet had certainly not helped her any. Mobs searching for Aes Sedai chased her into hiding after she had cured a man of fever and rumor had turned it into bringing him back from the dead. That was how little most people knew of Aes Sedai; death was beyond the power to Heal. Even Marigan seemed to think it was not. She did not know where she was going any more than Nicola. A village somewhere, she hoped, where she could dispense herbs again in peace.

     

    Marigan taught Nynaeve how to Heal death just a few chapters before. This scene is in Nynaeve's POV. Moghedien is there, Birgitte is there. Elayne, who figured out how to save Birgitte when she was ripped out, 'healing' something Nynaeve could not Heal. Nynaeve probably considers it her greatest failure, but Elayne had to figure it out, and she's also the one who figured out how to do the triple-bond for Rand. Presumably, she'll have to do it again when he's ripped out.

     

    Nicola is also there—Nicola, who Foretold that 'he who is dead yet lives' will be on a boat with his three women while the world hangs in the balance, still divided by the Return. The three women who are, presumably, there to save him from death with the bond like Elayne saved Birgitte. In Arthurian legend, the women on the boat take Arthur to Avalon to be healed. We don't know where the boat will take Rand, but his women are needed to heal his death every bit as much as Nynaeve is needed.

     

    Aside from all that, there are more layers to the above foreshadowing (which is only one foreshadowing of many). The name of the chapter, "To Boannda", is a reference to the Irish goddess Boann. She was a river goddess, of the River Boyne, and Boannda is on the River Boern. Semirhage's name was Nemene Damendar Boann—the third name was the one granted for great accomplishments in the Age of Legends, like Lews Therin Telamon, and Semirhage's accomplishments were in the realm of Healing. Boann is sometimes considered part of the triple goddess of Boann, Brighid, and Ceridwen. There is also a name parallel for Ceridwen way back in TGH, and already tied to Healing: Caredwain, yet another Healer—the one that the innkeeper of The Nine Rings offered to send for when Lanfear feigned illness.

     

    Marigan is paralleled in The Morrígan, who is sometimes said to be the mother of Brighid through her short affair with the Dagda. In some stories, she seduced the Dagda by offering him a battle plan that could not be defeated. The Dagda was most notoriously a lover of Boann, though, and he is paralleled in WoT as Dagdara, the most talented Healer in Salidar, and introduced in the very next chapter.

     

    Even Marigan's backstory casts her as a healer, a ridiculous claim to make considering that she has no ability for Healing at all. And yet, she taught Nynaeve how to Heal death, and all of the resonance in the above is enough to make it clear that Nynaeve will 'heal' death in the same way that Moghedien 'healed' Birgitte's death. But there is more. As recommended by Alan, read up on all those Irish mythological parallels on Wikipedia, and elsewhere, and see what you find.

     

    PS—The body-swap theory was linked in the original post. I would like to think that people don't believe it any more because I make good arguments, but I am pretty arrogant, so maybe there is another reason. :p

  2. The foreshadowing indicates that Nynaeve will 'heal' Rand's death in the same way that Moghedien 'healed' Birgitte's death. It didn't come across that way with Birgitte because she had been dead for a long time, but for Rand it will be a normal resurrection.

     

    PS—Hardly anyone believes the body-swap theory any more, from my observations. It may be that Luckers doesn't even believe it any more. :p

  3. haha, you were on the No Costume is a Costume team? :D I missed Naeff's Aes Sedai and Rogosh+Dunsinin. I put Blaes of Matuchin for the latter, but I had a feeling it was wrong. Because I just don't care about Warders or love stories. :p Other than that, probably the hardest question was Berelain's house name (Paeron). At least, I can't think of any that were harder. Hadnan Kadere, Ispan and Falion...I forget. We tied for second place with Maria, so I'm happy. It was a pleasure to meet you!

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