Also, there were some non-Darkfriend Reds including Elaida and Barasine who were involved.

LOC

Delana opened her mouth to say that she had never heard of any Halima Saranov, and a woman appeared in the doorway. Delana stared in spite of herself. The woman managed to be slender and lush at the same time, and wore a dark gray riding dress cut ridiculously low; long lustrous black hair framed a green-eyed face that probably made every man who glimpsed it gape. That was not why Delana stared, of course. The woman held her hands at her sides, but with thumbs thrust hard between the first two fingers. Delana had never expected to see that from any woman who did not wear the shawl, and this Halima Saranov could not even channel. She was close enough to be sure of that.

ACOS

"I am here only to advise Berelain, though the truth of it is, she ignored my advice by coming in the first place." The Taraboner woman held her head up, voice confident. She was rubbing her thumbs for all she was worth, though. She could not do well at the negotiating table if she was that transparent. "For the rest," she said carefully, "I have reached no decision as yet."....

....That accusing glare hit Annoura so hard, she almost fell off the bed. "The Aiel War?" she gasped, steadying herself. "The years after, I spent trying to make the so-called Grand Coalition more than a name."

Merana looked at Annoura with interest. A good many of the Gray Ajah had scurried from capital to capital after, the war, in a futile effort to hold together the alliance that had formed against the Aiel, but she had never known Annoura was one of them. She could not be that bad a negotiator if she was.

"secret" meetings are not proof.

No one said anything about proof. I'm just saying, she might not be the best example to use to make your point.

1. Masema

2. Brandon confirmed that Masema's shiny dragon man was an illusion created by a woman.

3. She was giving Cadsuane the Black Ajah secret signal when they met.

Annoura was shielded; Crown of Swords Chapter 5. She seems bound to the 3 Oaths; the Oaths seemed to still apply when she was shielded.

Annoura is probably Black Ajah.

The severing weave is a shield with a sharp edge. The shield merely blocks the connection; the other severs it. So it's doubtful shielding affects the Oaths.

ToM, when Graendal realises Perrin & co. have escaped the dreamspike, she decides to spring the trap anyway. She thinks that her last chance to kill Perrin is Jaret Byar, who might be able to off Perrin despite his ta'veren-ess during the chaos of a battle.

How does she second guess that Perrin will return from Whitebridge and be there at all?

And, why does she believe that Perrin will come within killing distance of Byar?

 

IIRC we aren't told specifically that Byar is a Darkfriend are we?

Brandon essentially said he was never a nice guy:

Ryan Lawler on Twitter - 6 January 2011

I'm a bit ahead on my #wotrr but I am confused by Byar's actions in EotW chapter 38. He seems to "noble" for deceitful actions...

Ryan

It also seems out of character for Byar to release suspected Darkfriends who killed Whitecloaks. Insight on his reasoning?

Brandon

Byar never was noble. What he does there is more telling of who he is than anything he says or claims.

Brandon

He wants them dead. Trick them into an escape attempt, then get them executed.

When Graendal speaks of a Whitecloak, she didn't name him.

No, but Occam's Razor would appear to be our friend, in this case. It may be that Graendal simply Compelled him, but Brandon's comments speak against it being entirely necessary.

I have wondered for some time, wouldn't it be possible to make yourself invisible with a Mirror of Mists? Or make yourself look that small nobody will see you?

Ummm... Rand made himself invisible once- and Egwene too- but I don't remember if it was a Mirror.

It wasn't called anything, as it was in Egwene's POV (though you might say Rand was laughing at his pun):

"Don’t move!" In a disgusted tone he added, "Burn him, it seems it ripples if you move. I’ll fasten it to the floor, but you still can’t jump about. I don’t know how big I can make it, and this is no time to find out." Somara’s mouth had fallen open, though she snapped it shut quickly.

 

Fasten what to the floor? What was he talking —? It came to her so suddenly that she forgot to wonder who the "him" was. Rand had woven saidin around her. Her eyes widened; she was breathing too quickly, but she could not stop. How close was it? Every shred of reason told her the taint could not seep out of whatever he channeled; he had touched her with saidin before, but if anything, that thought only made it worse. Instinctively she narrowed her shoulders and held her skirts close in front of her.

 

"What —? What did you do?" She was very proud of her voice, a trifle unsteady maybe, but nothing like the wail she wanted to let out.

 

"Look in that mirror," he laughed. Laughed!

 

Grumpily she obeyed – and gasped. There in the silvered glass was the gilded chair on its dais. Some of the rest of the room. But not her. "I’m... invisible," she breathed. Once Moiraine had hidden them all behind a screen of saidar, but how had he learned it?

***

I think it was called Bending the Light or something...something with "light". Or I could be imagining it...

Moiraine contributed the 'bending':

Setting the bay's saddle in line with the others, he unfastened his saddlebags and blanketroll from the cantle, turned, and stopped with a tingle of fear. The Ogier and the women were gone. So was the stove and all the wicker panniers from the packhorse. The hilltop was empty except for evening shadows.

 

With a numb hand he fumbled for his sword, dimly hearing Mat curse. Perrin had his axe out, his shaggy head swiveling to find the danger.

 

"Sheepherders," Lan muttered. Unconcernedly the Warder strode across the hilltop, and at his third step, he vanished.

 

Rand exchanged wide-eyed looks with Mat and Perrin, and then they were all darting for where the Warder had disappeared. Abruptly Rand skidded to a halt, taking another step when Mat ran into his back. Egwene looked up from setting the kettle atop the tiny stove. Nynaeve was closing the mantle on a second lit lantern. They were all there, Moiraine sitting cross-legged, Lan lounging on an elbow, Loial taking a book out of his pack.

 

Cautiously Rand looked behind him. The hillside was there as it had been, the shadowed trees, the lakes beyond sinking into darkness. He was afraid to step back, afraid they would all disappear again and perhaps this time he would not be able to find them. Edging carefully around him, Perrin let out a long breath.

 

Moiraine noticed the three of them standing there, gaping. Perrin looked abashed, and slipped his axe back into the heavy belt loop as if he thought no one might notice. A smile touched her lips. "It is a simple thing," she said, "a bending, so any eye looking at us sees around us, instead. We cannot have the eyes that will be out there seeing our lights tonight, and the Blight is no place to be in the dark."

 

"Moiraine Sedai says I might be able to do it." Egwene's eyes were bright. "She says I can handle enough of the One Power right now."

 

"Not without training, child," Moiraine cautioned. "The simplest matter concerning the One Power can be dangerous to the untrained, and to those around them." Perrin snorted, and Egwene looked so uncomfortable that Rand wondered if she had already been trying her abilities.

And then Janya contributed the 'light' bit:

"Good day, child. Do you have any more discoveries for us today?" As usual, Janya Frende spoke as though there was no time to get the words out. "Such remarkable strides you’ve made, you and Nynaeve, especially for Accepted. I still don’t see how Nynaeve does it, when she has so many difficulties with the Power, but I must say I’m delighted." Unlike most Brown sisters, often absentminded beyond their books and studies, Janya Sedai was quite neat, every short dark hair tidy around the ageless face that marked Aes Sedai who had worked long with the Power. But the slender woman’s appearance did hint at her Ajah. Her dress was plain gray, and stout wool – Browns seldom thought of clothes as more than decent covering – and even when she was talking to you, she wore a little frown, as though squinting in thought about something else entirely. She would have been pretty without that frown. "That way of wrapping yourself in light to become invisible. Remarkable. I’m sure someone will find how to stop the ripples, so you can move about with it. And Carenna is quite excited over that little eavesdropping trick of Nynaeve’s. Naughty of her, to think of that, but useful. Carenna thinks she sees how to adapt it to talk to someone at a distance. Think of it. To talk with someone a mile away! Or two, or even – " Anaiya touched her arm, and she cut off, blinking at the other Aes Sedai.

ok, well my follow on question from that is related to this quote from ACoS, chpt 19, when Annoura first meets Cadsuane, from Merana's POV

 

"I am only here to advise Berelain, though the truth of it is, she ignored my advice by coming in the first place." The Tarboner woman held her head up, voice confident. She was rubber her thumbs for all she was worth, though. She could not do well at the negotiating table if she was that transparent.

 

Then later

 

Merana looked at annoura with interest. A good manyh of the Gray Ajah had scurried from capital to capital after the war, in a futile effor to hold together the alliance that had formed against the Aiel, but she had never known aAnnoura was one of them. She could not be that bad a negotiator if she was.

 

Is the rubbing of the thumb, actually a cry of help in case either of them are Black Ajah? A thumb can be rubbed against the middle finger, thus causing the same action Delana saw, albeit a little more discretely.

 

Another scrap to consider is the visits she paid to Masema in secret and him being controlled.

 

I haven't seen the case for Annoura being a Black put forward, is it worth a little bit of merit?

Good catch!

A random thought popped into my head and I doubt anyone will know the answer, but here goes: why is Logain always refered to by his first name, and Taim by his last name. It's never Mazrim and it's never Ablar. It's always Logain and Taim. Any reason for this?

Dunno. Maybe because word of Taim got out from Bashere, who is a general and therefore more likely to address men by last name, while Logain was a minor lord, and the nobility seem to be mostly referred to by given name. Usually it makes sense in the context of military association - like Bryne and Thom; one is military (last name), one is not (first) - but not always. Tam is Tam, maybe because he gave it all up. Asha'man are military, but Logain was famous before he went to the Black Tower. Agelmar Jagad is nobility...but then, so are Davram Bashere and Rodel Ituralde. It may be that RJ had a logical system for this that makes sense to him - for instance, Shienar wasn't always of the Borderlands, so maybe they have southland nobility traditions, where Bashere comes from ancient Blightborder stock. I'm just guessing. Ingtar Shinowa was also nobility in Shienar, and military.

PS - I've thought about this before, and I came to the conclusion that it didn't make sense. But RJ did have a lot of thought processes that were clear to him if not to the rest of us; I've been reminded of that a lot lately while digging through interviews. Things he thought were obvious, but the fandom was confused about.

Question 1: I was thinking about AoL singing involving Nym, Ogier and Aiel team. The BWB says they had some OP abilities which they used to affect plants. And, as I see it, the Aiels sang to enhance their actions. So, my question is: was what the Nym were doing an ability specific for them- a very part and nature of themselves- or could a human channeler imitate this?

We don't know. I had a (loony) theory that Nynaeve was going to rip out Someshta while she was at it with Rand, but for some reason I think it unlikely. I'd say they couldn't duplicate it in the Age of Legends, or else there would have been no need to create the Nym, but just because they couldn't do something in the Age of Legends doesn't mean it's impossible, so it's quite likely the Nym are not needed. (There is careful precedent for that, not least Moridin's POV in TPOD 2).

Secondly, we don't know that Rand's soul has ever before turned to the Shadow.

Yes we do; RJ said so.

 

This is something I've wondered about for some time. People try to make a distinction on this saying that since RJ only said CoL not the "Dragon Soul" it means that someone else had been turned. Do we have any evidence that the CoL has always been the same soul?

Of course.

1. When someone asked RJ about the possibility of a female dragon, he said he did not intend to explore that at first, and that it was always the same soul. Later he offered up the possibility that another, female soul could play that role, but obviously he felt under pressure from accusations of sexism, so that doesn't mean anything.

2. Brandon said that Rand's and Ishamael's souls are often woven together in the Pattern like Birgitte and Gaidal.

3. There is absolutely no reason to believe that it's ever anyone other than Rand (or Rand's soul).

Secondly, we don't know that Rand's soul has ever before turned to the Shadow.

Yes we do; RJ said so.

Semirhage explains it in LOC 6.

You aren't thinking of where she talks about sweating again?

I think they're talking about how the Yellows had a look at Siuan and Leane and declared them to be in prime childbearing condition.

Well, the Black Ajah is released from the Oaths to swear their new Oaths, so most likely it doesn't reset, or they would live longer than other Aes Sedai (particularly those who were recruited later in their lives). Verin is somewhere over 200 years old, but she was only recruited 70 years before. It didn't appear to slow her aging any, or reverse it.

@Feral - You're not the first to wonder. I believe Luckers said something to Brandon about it, how he'd like to see a scene with Ariena suffering because of Nicola's death.

 

And what did Brandon say?

I don't recall. Brandon didn't respond IIRC, so I didn't record it.

Except that we know it didn't happen in a Portal World because we saw it onscreen, nowhere near a Portal Stone...

 

 

The "Death took him" line always seemed a little foggy in that instance for me. I always read it as his assassin wrapped him up and took him away. *Shrugs*

RJ was asked about that a few times, and that's where the 'Asmodean went for the long jump in that scene' line came from. (Some thought it was a pun on Moridin, but he thought that was really ridiculous.)

Except that we know it didn't happen in a Portal World because we saw it onscreen, nowhere near a Portal Stone...

@Goldstar - if the weave is exactly the same they can see each other, so most people try to explain it with 'Rand unconsciously copied Asmodean's weave exactly'.

@Feral - You're not the first to wonder. I believe Luckers said something to Brandon about it, how he'd like to see a scene with Ariena suffering because of Nicola's death.

What it showed us is that people get fixated on some really strange things.

That, too

My point still stands, though. Disagreement isn't an indication of slow-wittedness.

By itself, it isn't, but I'm not making over-arching general statements about disagreement; that's all you.

Well, if Asmodean's saga has shown us anything, it's that reasonable people can (an in fact, frequently do) disagree.

What it showed us is that people get fixated on some really strange things. I never got into the Asmodean debate, being in the apathy faction, but toward the end there it amused me to argue for Aviendha, just for argument's sake.

However, just so my position is clearly stated in here: I stand by the theory that Graendal was in the Caemlyn palace following her discovery of Rand's altered plans, met with Asmodean when he went snooping around, and took him out of the equation herself. And my personal feeling is that she did it with BF, RJ's comments about it be damned.

Balefire fits with RJ's comments. In fact, it's the only thing that fits really. Small amount of balefire combined with distance from Shayol Ghul. Ishamael was further away when he died, but he wasn't balefired. Be'lal was, and despite Moiraine's comments about 'a few seconds', not incredibly weakly (we saw tiny balefire from rand in Caemlyn). Graendal presumably used balefire because it doesn't require too much of the Power, and because she thinks of things like Breaking-era ter'angreal (which is why the prologue of TOM rankled so much), and presumably she used the smallest amount possible to escape detection. Even a tiny bit of balefire kills. She could even argue to the Dark One that she was trying to leave open the opportunity for transmigration....but he could probably only transmigrate a balefired person if they were killed with a minimal amount near Shayol Ghul, where his power is strongest.

This is one of the few Asmodean arguments I ever bothered with; I found it much more interesting than the debate over who killed him. Conveniently, it worked with Aviendha. (I had various arguments for how she might have known the weave, and how she knew who Asmodean was, etc.)

So, Brandon's insistence from a later Q&A that the identity of the actual perpetrator was left unknown on purpose seems unfounded, to me. Brandon (and indeed, Harriet) has nothing to go on but RJ's note saying the Sherlock Holmes version "is right". To me, that means it's right about Graendal's having been to the palace, and meeting Asmodean in person. Actually, back when I read it the first time, I felt it must be that fan theory RJ was fond of saying was right (his excuse for why he didn't have to say it out front, for a few years).

Actually, I haven't updated the footnote, but Maria told me she fond the Sherlock Holmes thing and gave it to Brandon along with the notes. Apparently RJ told her who the killer was, and she took it from there. RJ knew of the Slayer theory, etc., and he would have said if Graendal had gotten someone else to do it, so we can be sure she did it personally. (Well, those of us with any amount of sense can be sure.)

No, he doesn't know how. And the relevant quote is in the database, Asmodean category. (It's from Paris.)

Brandon has confirmed that she killed Asmodean personally.

Simple question:

Is it explained anywhere how the third oath, "Never to use the One Power as a weapon except against Darkfriends or Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme defense of her life, the life of her Warder or another Aes Sedai" is seemingly broken all the time.

 

The oath isn't, "You'll not kill anyone with the power", it's that you won't use it as a weapon. Non-black ajah are constantly running around wacking each other with the power "as a weapon."

It's all a matter of perception, and they've convinced themselves that light chastisement doesn't count as 'weapon'.