So my question is about the variations in how many more powerful sa-angreals there were in existence at the end of the AoL. I know of at least 3 or 4 different quotes that contradict each other.

Really? which are those?

When talking about Callandor, Lanfear I believed that only 2 more were made that a MAN could wield.

Two more powerful than Callandor.

So 1 is definitely the Access key for a MAN, whats the other one? Was it a miss print where it should have said "only two more were only made that were more powerful"

The other one, Lanfear wasn't sure if it still existed. The implication is that it probably doesn't.

Rand didn't think it was needless, though...because he's right, you never know when you're going to end up in a situation where you can't use the Power. But of course, the main reason Rand did it was to avoid Lews Therin.

Why did Bashere try to kill Rand in the beginning of LoC?

Foreshadowing of that moment when Rand can't use the Power to defend himself. Bashere asked him why; Dumai's Wells kinda demonstrated the point. (Not that his sword did him much good in that case. He did kill some Warders with his bare hands, though.) I have a feeling it will happen again.

According to Brandon, she killed him personally.

Well you would know better than me about what he said. But afaik, he only gave an accidental slip, saying of Asmo's killer, "Well Graendal...", then realizing he wasn't supposed to be answering that, backtracked & said something along the lines of "...is certainly a good candidate."

lol. That's what he said at the AMOL panel last JordanCon, talking about a discussion he had with Matt before the beta reading.

We badgered him on this point, and finally got him to say in Paris that she did it herself:

]Towers of Midnight book tour 16 November 2010 WH Smith, Paris, France - Jonathan B. reporting

[/font]I also asked about how Asmodean was killed now that we know Graendal was responsible for his death. Brandon said that when he arrived at Harriet's and asked to see the ending and got the pile of Robert Jordan's notes including the ending, on top of that pile was a message from a fan in the form of a dialogue between a Sherlock Holmes character and a Watson character with a note from RJ saying 'this is right'. Emily asked if it was from Matt Hatch and Brandon didn't think it was. He said that he can probably send me that message so we know exactly what RJ said 'this is right' to.

 

This is apparently all of the information that is available from RJ himself about the actual method of Asmodean's murder. In Brandon's vision of the story, he imagines Graendal killed Asmodean (did the deed herself) with balefire, but apparently this is not in the notes. So its possible that it could have been done by another kind of weave and we are free to speculate on that.

It is indeed. I must admit I must not be that observant cause it never occured to me that she (or he) did it.

Well I don't think she killed him personally, but she's certainly held responsible.

According to Brandon, she killed him personally. If it had been Slayer, RJ would have said so - he knew Slayer was one of the main suspects.

It doesn't have any more 'flat out errors' than the regular books, but there are some.

 

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I've seen some people use that claim to discredit pieces from the BWB that don't fit with their opinion so I just wanted to clarify.

I also dislike this tendency. One has to balance what is said in the BWB against what is said in the books and interviews, and take into consideration the fact that it was written like a fallible history book, but nothing should be dismissed for no other reason than that it came from the BWB.

It doesn't have any more 'flat out errors' than the regular books, but there are some.

Yeah, the 'almost half of the Black Tower' is probably still mostly deployed. It's Logain's inner circle we're not so sure about, the ones that forcibly bonded the Aes Sedai - he seems to have taken most of those back to the Black Tower and left them there.

I also got the impression that there was no big deal to using the rings - the 'knives just put them on.

You have to put a drop of your blood on it while wearing it to activate it. Not something he's likely to do by accident. (Though admittedly it's possible. Just saying - it's not that simple.)

Give a man a fish... You seem very curious about a lot of things. I'm just saying that a lot of your questions are probably answered in the interviews, and you might enjoy reading it.

Ahh, thank you, both of you. Do you know where I missed this?

Aside from thematic hints (fans guessed it), the interviews. See my sig > reference library > interview database. I have given you a lot of quotes from there today; maybe now you should read some on your own.

I was going to reply, but it seems like a good topic for a new thread.

I think it is more than possible he will not use them at all, at least not in the way they are supposed to be used. But, he saw how just the sight of one dagger upset a Seanchan. How would a Seanchan opponent react if he pulled out a necklace with three rings on it? That could give him the edge he needs. And there is quite a chance Gawyn will find himself face to face with quite a few seanchan soldiers in the near future...

Good point, I've been thinking about it & I also believe he won't end up using them. But what about him giving them to his sister who might figure out how to make them safer? I know your scenario is more likely if for no other reason than there probably won't be time for such a lull in the action in the last book, but could it play out where she makes one or two that will make the difference for someone in a crucial fight?

 

You said it yourself, it is too late in the story for such a thing to happen.

Unless it's very much apart of the most important events in the last book.

From the looks of it, within the first five chapters all hell will have broken loose.

Agreed. Merrilor is (along with the Dragon's Peace), I think, a big fat red herring. Not that the peace won't happen, but I don't think it will happen that early.

If he uses them, it will likely be:

1. To stop Rand from breaking the seals (likely at Egwene's order).

2. To kill Dark Rand after the merge with Moridin.

3. Something to do with Shayol Ghul? Hard to see him thinking it worth the sacrifice otherwise.

And Alivia can always show him how to use them.

Morgase was raped by Valda and Rahvin. Mesaana, Moghedien, and Graendal are raped by Shaidar Haran. (Cyndane was not.) Min saw rapes in Daved Hanlon's future. And then there is Tylin and Mat. That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but I think it's also mentioned elsewhere.

Someone at Theoryland actually guessed before KOD came out that it would have to do with the Amayar reaction to the statue melting. He didn't predict mass suicide, though...I forget what his ideas were specifically. But most people agreed that it was anti-climactic.

I believe it was RJ who said it was Ingtar. In some signing or other.

Wotmania interview, if it makes a difference. (More reliable than the average signing report.)

Wotmania Interview 2004

Q: Did Ingtar free Padan Fain in The Great Hunt? Or was it someone else?

RJ: It was Ingtar. Didn’t expect a straight answer, did you?

Padan Fain, was it the Dark One or Ishamael who turned him into the Shadow's hound? Early on in the series I believe Fain says it's Baalzamon who gave him his powers, which would imply Ishamael. However, when he's caught in the White Tower by Alviarian he describes to her being led to an area in Shayol Ghul that sounds remarkably similar to the area where Demandred speaks with the Dark One.

It was the Dark One. Moiraine says he was taken to Shayol Ghul, where he met Ba'alzamon, but his distilling happened in the Pit of Doom itself.

She sees the clouds break in the middle of her Rhuidean visions. So Rand did his Dragonmount thing some time during that. (It takes a few days usually.)

In TDR, Rand wipes out a woman and her guards..how did he know they were DF's?

Some might say he was being overly paranoid because he knew he was being hunted, but the circumstances were simply suspicious, so he made a call, and it was a good one.

Do pasta or noodles exist in the WoT universe?

I don't think so. At least, the word 'noodle' isn't used, or any variation of it. Linda might have written something on WoT Food at 13th Depository.

I think it was probably another one of those situations where none of the Aiel wanted to be separated from Rand. That's why Gaul wasn't able to get any more Aiel to come with him to the Two Rivers, and though Perrin is more recognized by the Aiel at this point, I get the feeling Rand was only able to talk that many into going with Perrin because they needed to get Sulin away from Rand (and Nandera). (And of course Sulin herself probably felt a great debt toward Perrin for Dumai's Wells.)

Do we know, roughly, how many Aiel are with Perrin's army?

 

Afaik, the only fighting Aiel with Perrin were always Bain, Chiad, and Gaul. But, after the rescue of Faile, there were an undetermined number of Aiel gai'shan taken prisoner, so now the number is unknown.

I thought the only number we had was that Gaul was the only male Aiel with them. After all they would not have sent 4+ WO's without adequate protection, plus theres Sulin

About two dozen Maidens:

Movement behind her turned into Bain and Chiad. And Sulin, with a dozen more Maidens. Perrin’s eyebrows rose. He wondered what Gaul thought of that; the Aielman had said he was looking forward to getting Bain and Chiad alone. Even more surprising were Faile’s other companions... ...In a clear, fairly flat hollow beyond the trees, the Two Rivers men stood beside their horses, a column of twos that wound out of sight around the side of the hill. Perrin sighed again. The red wolfhead banner and the Red Eagle of Manetheren stirred slightly in a hot breeze at the head of the column. Maybe another dozen Maidens squatted on their heels near the banners; on the other side, Gaul wore as close to a sullen expression as Perrin had ever seen on an Aiel.

In the begining of TGS the forsaken have a get-together and Greandal thinks somethink like, weird to think that Demandred could have been a dragon under different cirkumstances. Explenation?

Well, I the name 'Dragon' was given to Lews Therin, presumably because of his actions in leading the Lightsiders against the Shadow. Since Demandred was one of the Light's best generals, Graendal was speculating that, if Lews Therin had not been around to steal his glory, Demandred might have been named Dragon by the people and would have in that case presumably never turned to the Shadow. I don't think Graendal is trying to imply that Demandred could have been the Light's champion; if she is trying to suggest that, then it's reflective of her attitude toward the theology of the world. It may be that she sees the Dark One as being the only true power here; she's aware of things like ta'veren effects, so obviously there is some self-delusion on her part, but she's made some comments about prophecy that suggest a certain non-subscription to the world's theological truths, such as they are.

What happened to that runaway Windfinder apprentice?

We don't know, other than that Merilille took off with her (they both wanted to escape the Sea Folk, so they made a good team); Brandon has been bugged about it, so maybe he'll clue us in somewhere in AMOL.

How long was the DO free from his prison after Lanfear created the Bore and before LTT and the Hundred Companions sealed it? What did the DO do during this time?

He's not free from his prison now, much less then. But there was a period of about 100 years (called the Collapse) between the drilling of the Bore and the onset of the War of Power. Since he didn't really have the power to touch the world, all he could do was sit back and wait for people seeking power to come and find him, at which point he was able to give them orders and start building the network of Darkfriends through those people. Ishamael and Graendal were the first two. There were certain things he could personally do at Shayol Ghul, but that required followers. That's why it took so long for society to break down; he had a lot of work to do, and a lot of limitations. The drilling itself had a sort of subtle effect on human inclination in general, though, and of course the Blight began to grow during that time.

How does Alivia join Rand's group? I went back and re-read everything leading up to it, and found no clues. She just suddenly appears at the beginning of tGS.

She has been more or less with him since Nynaeve brought her to Far Madding. She was with the group that went against Semirhage at the end of KOD.

I have a couple of questions:

 

1. How many trollocs have appeared "on screen?" How many trollocs total can be extrapolated from this? My guess would be 1-2 million have died so far, hinting that there may be 10 million+ reserves/in-training.

 

2. Given the relatively small population of the Borderlands and the lack of food in the Blight, how can that many trollocs be fed?

Brandon indicated that they have to get food from elsewhere. Sharans probably make good food.

3. Of the Aes Sedai (as of ToM) who haven't returned to the tower since Egwene took over AND who haven't been outed yet (waiting to bond Asha'man at the BT, with the Borderlanders in Fal Moran, traveling with Perrin/Mat, etc.) how many are known BA's?

Javindhra and Fera are the only ones we know by name. Most of the named Blacks were either in the Tower or with the rebels, but there is an unknown number among the unaligned.

4. Do hiss-staves use standing weaves or gunpowder?

We don't know. They remind me of Roman candles, but the relative lack of pain indicates a high speed bullet of some kind.

5. How many total heroes can be called by the Horn of Valere?

Less than 100.

It would seem to make sense that some of the heroes were already reborn, and thus couldn't be called, but it seems like 100-150 heroes (as were called at Falme) is a pathetically small number if there were hundreds of cycles of the Pattern already.

Some of them probably are killed permanently every now and then.

6. Why did the TAR Artur Hawkwing have the same name as the original when he was called by the Horn? Was he a first-timer who was added to the Heroes (like he hinted to Julian)?

We assume they go by their last incarnation in the afterlife. Hawkwing is presumably major enough that he's only born once every thousand years or so.

7. Given that Machim Shin will also attack Shadowspawn, if they wanted to bring 100k trollocs through the Ways, how many would they have to send to get that number assuming a % would be lost?

We don't know. They might have some way of controlling Machin Shin.

8. Why do past memories only go back 3000 years up to the end of the Age of Legends (Mat, Bridgette, LTT/Rand)? Why doesn't Rand/LTT remember at least the histories that were available during the Age of Legends, or the beginning of the Age of Legends? It is implied that the Wheel has turned many times, possibly in the thousands. While it is possible that their original threads were created at that time, it seems too convenient that nobody remembers anything before the end of the Age of Legends.

Rand remembers only his last life because that's the one he needs the most, presumably (though some think that lives are divided by barriers and that Rand's barrier only degraded enough to let the last life come to the surface; some believe it's a matter of being able to remember more recent memories more easily); Birgitte is forgetting due to limited brain capacity; Mat was given memories from the period of time most useful for battle - the height of the art of war. The nature of the Pattern is really great for these 'too convenient' things.