No one asked you to believe it. But Slayer was the one using the Ways; we know this from Slayer's mouth and Fain's thoughts.

Does Fain know how to use the ways?

 

Just wondering if he opened the waygate to the Two Rivers.

 

Or was that Verin? Thinking about it that kind of makes sense.

 

And iirc Alanna sometimes goes off alone to do something... do we know why?

 

Why does Verin tell Perrin not to trust Alanna? Does she know Alanna wants to bond him?

 

*confusion*

 

Yes, Fain knows how to use the Ways.

 

Verin had nothing to do with the Waygate, it was Fain both times (EOTW and TSR)

Actually, it was Luc using the Ways in TSR. But Fain has often used the Ways to travel since then, off-screen. It's easy enough to tell when he's using them by his travel times, but RJ confirmed it in interview iirc.

Could you remind me when the scene when Alanna goes off for a while?

Just before Perrin's men get slaughtered in the Waterwood. I think it's meant to be a red herring (much like Moiraine's disappearance around the time of the Darkfriend Social in TGH).

in which book/chapter do we find out the conditions of the sea folk marriage between Nyneave and Lan? or are they just implied in their actions throughout the books?

It's made fairly clear at the end of ACOS, but it's said explicitly here:

And there was Nynaeve, and Lan. Most definitely Nynaeve and Lan, with her near to bursting at the effort of holding her temper around him, mooning over him when they had to sleep apart – which was nearly always, the way accommodations divided up – and torn between eager and afraid when she could sneak him off to a hayloft. It was her own fault for choosing a Sea Folk wedding, in Elayne’s estimation. The Sea Folk believed in hierarchy as they did in the sea, and they knew a woman and her husband might be promoted one past the other many times in their lives. Their marriage rites took that into account. Whoever had the right to command in public, must obey in private. Lan never took advantage, so Nynaeve said – "not really," whatever that was supposed to mean! She always blushed when she said it – but she kept waiting for him to do so, and he just seemed to grow more and more amused. This amusement, of course, screwed Nynaeve’s temper to a fever pitch. Nynaeve did erupt, out of all the explosions Elayne had expected. She snapped at anyone and everyone who got in her way. Except at Lan; with him, she was all honey and cream. And not at Alise. She came close once or twice, but even Nynaeve could not seem to make herself snap at Alise.

I can't say that we've ever seen a prophecy to be so misleading as to say, 'the east and the north must be as one, the west and the south must be as one', and then go on to say 'the two must be as one' but not in reference to the two similarly joined geographical regions just mentioned. It's like...

(0.25 + 0.25) + (0.25 + 0.25) = 5.2

Nope. Luckers thinks he's proved it was Moiraine, but many think it was Ingtar.

All I'm saying is that I don't think the taint on Saidin theory being responsible is wrong, just incomplete. I believe the taint from SL also plays a role, just like it did on Mat. The wound inflicted by Ishy could be a factor as well. Hell, his link to Moridin prolly has a role in the final result.

We can't ignore or rule out any of it at this point.

No one has ruled out anything, but there is no evidence that the dagger wound affected Rand's memory seepage, and evidence against. Same with Mat's memories.

 

 

Evidence against? I don't see any evidence against it in Rand's case, only a possible lack of evidence supporting it.

The fact that the frequency of memories did not change after the wound is evidence against. If you want to look for factors other than the taint, you should look for something that happened before TFOH. But you probably won't find anything - Brandon's comment seems to point in other directions.

All I'm saying is that I don't think the taint on Saidin theory being responsible is wrong, just incomplete. I believe the taint from SL also plays a role, just like it did on Mat. The wound inflicted by Ishy could be a factor as well. Hell, his link to Moridin prolly has a role in the final result.

We can't ignore or rule out any of it at this point.

No one has ruled out anything, but there is no evidence that the dagger wound affected Rand's memory seepage, and evidence against. Same with Mat's memories.

Rand started remembering long before he got the dagger wound, and all Semirhage tells us is that there are variable causes for 'barrier degradation' or past life memory seepage.

Like I said there, the DO's taint got the ball rolling and the SL taint finished the job.

In what way? Can you document any changes in the memory frequency after the wound? There's no doubt that the wound has made him more paranoid, but there's no indication that this increasing paranoia would cause him to remember more of his past life. As early as LOC chapter 2 Rand could recall an amazing variety of detail about all thirteen Forsaken, but he never displayed a working knowledge of the Old Tongue, though I'm sure he's fluent since DM2. In other words, there are two things going on here - Rand's encroaching insanity, and Rand's past life memories. He's not remembering his past life because he's insane. He's hearing a voice in his head because he's insane. (And in a way, because he is sane, for what sane man would remember Lews Therin's life and identify those memories as his own? RJ is a tricky bastard like that.)

BS already confirmed that that the taint from the DO is a part of it but not all of it.

Yes, but that doesn't mean that you can just make up whatever and say 'that's the rest of it'.

Rand started remembering long before he got the dagger wound, and all Semirhage tells us is that there are variable causes for 'barrier degradation' or past life memory seepage.

Birgitte remembers because she was ripped out of Tel'aran'rhiod. Theoretically, her barriers are regenerating as time goes on. And just because the taint is capable of eroding those barriers doesn't mean that it will necessarily do so.

Has this been answered: Why Rand was able to remember life and likes of LTT? I know it's taint related but LTT died and dragon was reborn as Rand.

It hasn't really been answered. Brandon said the taint had something to do with it, but that there was more going on there. The common theory is that there is a barrier in the mind blocking past life memories, and that the taint corroded it. Theoretically there is a new barrier for each life, and Rand only breached the one barrier. But of course that theory has a few small problems with it.

Are there any theories suggesting where Merilille and Talaan ended up going after they ran away from Caemlyn?

None with any evidence to support it.

That was over three months ago in the timeline, and I think at least one or both of them knows how to travel...

Merilille is not strong enough, but the description of their leaving suggests that they didn't Travel.

She didn't come because she didn't want to.

Surely there had to be more to it than that? She must have known that there would be grave consequences for not going. If she was afraid she could have gone and stayed out of danger much as I seem to recall Moghedien doing.

I assumed it was because 1) she hadn't accepted the Nae'blis thing yet and thought she could get away with it, and 2) she hadn't yet been properly introduced to Shaidar Haran at all, aside from her trip to Shayol Ghul where he didn't even speak to her or acknowledge her presence in any way. That visit is probably what led her to believe that she could go her own way.

Are any of the new bodies for the revived forsaken from people we've seen before?

Not that we know of. Someone asked Maria if Cyndane was in Cabriana Mecandes' body, but she said no. There haven't been any other popular theories on the bodies, so no one's asked.

Are there any black sisters among the egwene-embassy to Rand?

The embassy to the Black Tower? None were mentioned, and you would think that Egwene would have thought of it in the context.

Who are the sisters that go to the black tower to bond ashaman?

The rebels? We don't know how many they sent, since they could bond multiple men, and the only four named were Faolain, Myrelle, Nisao, and Theodrin (to point out that they had all sworn to Egwene, which suggests that Sheriam had something to do with the choosing).

Is Rand still in posession of a male terangreal? I was just thinking that could explain his powers at Maradon.

You mean sa'angreal? He still has Callandor. He doesn't have any other angreal that we know of since he lost the fat man.

Does the bonding effect the gonads (ovaries & testes)(specifically the gametes(eggs & sperm)) of those involved in the bond? Meaning, any offspring from those involved in the bond, would they have a "special" bond w/ their parents?

I discussed this some here: Aviendha's Babies. Short answer: there is a reason why Melaine wasn't at the sister-bonding ceremony in the prologue of WH.

Q. Although I can appreciate the fact that Matt is single-handedly inventing black powder firearms - why spend all the money and effort building dragons in a world full of channelers who can pretty much accomplish the same thing (hurling objects a long distance) without the time, effort, or resources? What would you rather have, a dozen heavy cannons that have to be loaded, reloaded, maneuvered into place, targeted, and fired...or a dozen Ashaman?

1. The Asha'man are pretty new on the scene. Mat didn't get the chance to use their services until TOM.

2. The Aes Sedai won't use the Power as a weapon. See the battle where Teslyn and Joline 'helped'. It has limits.

3. Most military disputes don't involve channelers, and it's hard to see channelers getting involved.

4. What if you have to defend against channelers? In that case, you want something that will even the playing field a little bit. This was Aludra's idea - she doesn't want to have to depend on the Aes Sedai or anyone else to take care of the Seanchan. She has her own idea. (Give credit where it's due.)

Like WJ said, they had books. Gaul talks about his vision of a forest from reading about them, compared to a real forest.

They had just left the Waste, if you'll recall, in the previous book. I'm assuming you got that from the Encyclopedia or some such? Books are better:

"They have shared dreams, some of which concern you." She sounded slightly strangled until she paused to clear her throat, then fixed him with a steady, determined gaze. "Melaine and Bair dreamed of you on a boat," she said, the word still awkward after all these months in the wetlands, "with three women whose faces they could not see, and a scale tilting first one way then the other. Melaine and Amys dreamed of a man standing by your side with a dagger to your throat, but you did not see him. Bair and Amys dreamed of you cutting the wetlands in two with a sword."

Indeed.

Is there any difference between the Ages? The only one I've been able to find is that peaches are now poisonous.

Harriet implied that this was a misunderstanding in the Third Age, because peach pits have arsenic, and this led to people believing that the whole peach was poisonous. But this seems to contradict what RJ said on the subject.

It was pretty much the same thing with the kerchief trick. Aviendha could do it, but Min and Birgitte couldn't manage it.

it took me some time to figure out which kerchief trick you meant but yes, you are right, it seems to be the same there. Except that the kerchief trick didn't seem to work for Min at all while the anti-sweating trick seems to work for Siuan at least a little. It was that half way business that I found confusing.

I think that is more or less explained by Siuan's previous experience.

I'm surprised you didn't mention that Maria agrees with you (though it doesn't seem like she was going by the notes)

I'd forgotten about that.

She does mention that some Aes Sedai would only see her as a young woman that vaguely resembled her. So i dont think she is any different (or not drastically) from her younger self, its just that nobody would remember/think to make the conection.

Siuan contradicts that herself:

She had met women who would pay any price to lose fifteen or twenty years; some might even consider her price a fair bargain. She often found herself listing such advantages, perhaps trying to convince herself they were real. Freed from the Three Oaths, she could lie at need, for one thing. And her own father would not have recognized her. She did not really look as she had as a young woman; the changes maturity had made were still there, but softened into youth. Coldly objective, she thought she might be somewhat prettier than she had been as a girl; pretty was the best that had ever been said of her. Handsome had been the more usual compliment. She could not connect that face to her, to Siuan Sanche. Only inside was she still the same; her mind yet held all its knowledge. There, in her head, she was still herself.

It was pretty much the same thing with the kerchief trick. Aviendha could do it, but Min and Birgitte couldn't manage it.

I get the impression that it's a matter of concentration, but it's made much easier if you can channel.

I got the impression that it interferes with Dreamwalking somehow.

Anyway, I think that David Selig is correct about both things he said. And btw it took me several re-reads before I connected Paitr from TEotW and Paitr from LoC

Good one. Never did catch that myself. Since you already went through the motions, do you mind telling me what convinced you that they were the same person?

Major blow to your geek cred, dude.