It is the Fain. Rand confirms it in Fal Dara when they capture him.

Didn't Mat stab or cut the bloated form with the dagger.

Mat is the only one that has question marks. To the best of my knowledge, he only has 3 confirmed lovers Melinhdra, Tylin and Tuon. It is heavily implied that he slept or pursued a number of maids and waitress's but from what I can remember all the scenes that actually are in the books ended with nothing more than dancing and kissing. Perrin only sleeps with Faile. Rand only sleeps with Aviendha (two times only), Elayne (once) and Min (multiple times). It is possible that if you are assessing it on amount of times they actually have sex in total and not partners that Perrin could come out on top.

I'm not sure if it was a talent but I remember the sister brought into the hall asking for permission to channel towards the Ash'a'man because he was bonded to one of sisters that had come to present the offer from the Black Tower. Actually having to channel would vastly reduce it's effectiveness as the man would be able to sense you channeling while you were scanning. I think they might have potentially developed this from the idea given from Moggy, although I am not sure if that was confirmed. There was definitely Ter'angreal that could detect and track channeling. The devices in Far Madding also had the same tech as Cadsuanes trinkets.

The rebel Tower does come up with a method to sense somewhat Saidan and the direction of it as demonstrated when the Black Tower envoy is addressing the hall. It is not much more explored than that I think. I don't remember them specifically sensing male channeling outside that though. There is another scene i think where Graendal and another female forsaken are about to strike at each other and Demandred (I think) starts to gather power to do something which is interrupted by one of the other male forsaken and it is stated that neither had any idea what he might have been doing.

Not sure what the fact that 3 young virgins experienced more sexual activity after they left the village has to do with what is the accidental or forced activity you are referring to?

Assuming that the staff is not insanely thin then those weapons are not going to straight cut through a hardwood staff cleanly which means until the integrity of the weapon was compromised by repeated blows that the weapon could continue for a considerable time. Then the question would come down to the armour being employed full plate until gunpowder came to the fore was more beaten by attacking the weak spots or blunt force than being stabbed through. None of the BS of running a man through the front and back of a plate armour with a single thrust. The staff would also have the potential advantage of greater range than anything apart from the spear.

I don't think this statemen is correct. Not being entirely sure of your book progress i will not start examining things in detail but if you could provide the examples that have led you to this belief would be handy.

mistake

But retention of members is key as well if you are only watching WoT on Prime then you only need to be a member for 2 months every 2 years. That is a shit outcome for Prime. It's one of the reasons I cannot understand how we have got to the point of loads of shows doing 8 episode seasons with near 2 year breaks, If anything the old 24 epsiode season with yearly release feels like a far better fit for the modern streaming market.

After all this time barring new announcements it is most unlikely that new insights are going to emerge.

An argument on the meaning of a prophecy does not make it an unreliable narrator. It is the same as a battle plan being wrong does not make it one either. And none of this changes the fact that the prophecies themselves are remarkably accurate. You seem to be asking for a list instead of a prophecy and anything short of that makes the prophecy an unreliable narrator. Mr. Rand Al'Thor born Dragonmount adopted by Tam Al'Thor living in two rivers for 18 years before becoming The Dragon and eventually bleeding on the rock outside Shayol Gul before fighting the Dark One/Ishmael is hardly going to work as a prophecy. Nialls belief in what the final battle is simply him being wrong and not an unreliable narrator as we are aware at the time he is thinking it that he is wrong. Odin and Thor have nothing to do with anything in this conversation even if they are the inspiration for the characters in some manner. I would argue that the ability to try again and too do better and continue to try and do our best when we come back is a far more clear theme especially when viewed during Rand's final battle with Ishy, also within his fight with Ishy and the Dark One is the fact that they want to break this pattern and stop the wheel forever.

Interested in how the Prophecy could possibly be considered an unreliable narrator especially considering how they all seem to come true. If you are giving the prophecies the definition of a narrator, which i am not sure you can, they seem to be incredibly reliable. People forgetting knowledge over millennia also does not meet the definition of the unreliable narrator.

I don't think that you can really describe this as an unreliable narrator. Firstly the information in it is correct. Secondly even if you are examining it in relation to the act of not being able to remember things long in the past that in itself does not make it false. These openings are purely to establish the cyclical nature of the world and the vast scale of the time that they represent. I do not believe even if this was to be true that it makes unreliable narrator the main theme or even a core theme of the series.

I tend to think of it as just fantasy, however I believe that you could also trace a progression throughout the series with it being far more applicable to place the first few books into a YA category as opposed to the later books. I may be biased however as I read the first book when I was 12 I think.

I feel this is a disingenuous argument. The vast majority of beatles tribute bands would be an exact copy of the original works with inferior vocals and acoustics and the relative abilities of the bands could be debated. If you were to then start changing the words to the songs then you get into a different set of arguments. If you changed the words in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to include unambiguous references to Heroin and Cocaine then you can start to have conversations like we have had on these boards in regards to changing the meanings behind the songs. The difference between these is stark the first is simply an opinion on the ability of the artist to copy the original the second is a discussion on significant changes to the original work, you can approve or find fault with this per the evidence and your feelings. So saying people here are the equivalent of screaming you are not the real beatles is a poor framework for the argument simply because they are not as good.

Mat had caught a badger when he meets Rand in the village that he was going to release on the green to scare the girls decorating the Bel Tine pole.

You saying something is a red herring does not make it true. You can continue to ignore the facts that Elayne was the most gifted Aes Sedai with Ter'Angreal making her a valuable component to a mission to locate and possibly use one. Elayne was one of only two people to have seen the location of the bowl. Nynaeves eyes were enough? It's a bloody city not a one tavern backwater hamlet! Just imagine trying to search any city by yourself on foot with barely any landmarks to work from. Doubling the ability to search is a major advantage. Elayne could have gone to Camelyn at any point prior to Egwenes arrival but was not being allowed to by the Rebel Tower. Could have Travelled there after Egwenes arrival but was still being prevented by the Tower and herself considered locating the bowl to be more important. So in fact all this conversation about her going to Andor at this point is actually irrelevant. On a final note I am not going to get into a back and forth with insults, you have started your last two posts with insults about my comprehension, I responded to the previous one which I am sorry for, please cease this.

I disliked Nynaeve the most out of the group and it mostly falls back to her using a switch or stick to hit people she argued with and it flows through to Cadsuane in the same way of her use of physical punishments simply for arguing with her. I very much enjoyed Tam standing up to Cadsuane after his meeting with Rand.

No it is you who is not reading so good. You can argue the benefits of either approach but claiming things are red herrings is just silly. Elayne herself actually says that finding the bowl is more important than claiming the throne. Facts Without a doubt the most gifted person with Ter'Angreal that the Aes Sedai had was Elayne. She had already established that it was a device for controlling the weather. Only 2 people on the planet had seen the location of the Ter'Angreal and Elayne was one of them making her uniquely helpful in finding its location, a 2nd hand description is far less useful than her firsthand sighting. The fact that this ended up not being a factor is irrelevant. The band is actually entirely irrelevant to Elayne going to Andor as she could have travelled there at any point via gateway or even gone with the delegation sent by the rebels before they got to travel. I also believe that the rebel hall was against letting Elayne out of their control and go to Rand who was based in Camelyn at this point. The fact that she was unable to use the bowl is entirely irrelevant as the qualifying factor is who had the best chance among the Aes Sedai and again that is unarguably Elayne.

Did we ever learn the reason for the original Mat leaving?

No I say it because having the person with the greatest talent with Ter'Angreal known to the Aes Sedai handling a Ter'Angreal that is crucial to averting an apocalypse level event is a valid reason for her to go. The other support she could have sent would not have had the first hand advantage of having seen the location and thus would have been far less useful. I notice you have failed to address any of the concerns I stated about the band actually being of assistance to Elayne in retaking the throne because you could not explain it. You have also failed to address the fact that the endless summer was the greater threat out of the 2.

I feel having the most skilled Ter'angreal user known to the Aes Sedai in place to deal with a Ter'Angreal that was vital to the survival of the world is fairly self-explanatory. Having only 1 person to search an entire city is a daunting prospect having 2 makes it half that.

Having the most talented person with Ter'angreal present when searching for that item is a valid reason. Which was more important ending the endless summer that was crushing the world or gaining control of 2 kingdoms? I am falling on the side of ending the summer. Could Elayne have used the Band to reclaim Andor. Problematic considering Mats association with Rand and I am not sure the Bands size would have been sufficient to the job at the time. From the way it seemed using outside forces would have massively turned needed houses against Elaynes bid especially one so strongly attached to Rand. You have to remember as well that Elayne was only one of two people who had seen the location and it was not like they had a postal address to use, hell they even debated between the 2 of them how many stories the building had. Could it have been done differently, yes, but to claim it as the insane mistake you have is going too far.

They met Sea Folk in the shadow rising, however it was a different crew than they met in Altara and the Wavemistress if I remember was furious and demanded to know who had told them of the weaving of the winds. The point I was trying to make is that the bargain was only made after they arrived to search for the bowl so using it as a reason for Elayne to go there is not valid. I fully agree that the bargain later helped and played a role in Elaynes rise.