Pretty sure they use Matrim's medallion. But I could be mixing that up with the time Mat gives it to Elayne to study.

I'm picking up what you're putting down @Bugglesley. I need more tho. Something deeper.

Thanks for the reminder.

Hmm...[the official sound of speculation about to happen].

Aside from this, I don't recall any other reason presented as to why "This Turning" is more significant.

I don't see why we shouldn't consider Rand's goosebumps as foreshadowing. Looking at it this way only adds to the story. Additionally, we know very little about how male channelers begin their journey in channeling, at this point in TEotW and even after the series is over. So it's difficult to dismiss the idea.

That's the part that I tend to shrug off. 🤷‍♂️ But I'm extremely generous in this regard, and unbiased to an extent as I've never read Sanderson. I sort of make my head canon work, to my personal benefit I'm sure. I agree that we will never know, exactly, about many things in the last 3 books. Sadly. But that's ok imo. I can live with it and happily make stuff up to fill the gaps. Some of which is sometimes plausible. For me, it's the journey, not the destination. And the journey is often better when shared.

I whole-heartedly agree. This was a BOSS move that I, for one, never suspected was anything more than a cool weapon, especially for Matrim. From my point-of-view, this speculation is what leads to a deeper personal understanding of and connection with the series. Especially on re-reads. And provides fodder to share/discuss. I guess fruit is in the eye of the beholder? Hope that doesn't lead to infection tho... Anyone: "Man, your eye looks awful. What happened?" "Me: I got strawberry-and-cherry eye from too much speculation about, and re-reads of, the WoT. Have you ever read it?" Anyone: "No. What's it about?" Me: "I can tell you, but...are you free for the next couple hours?" Anyone: "Is the eye-thing contagious?" Me: "Don't worry about that. You won't even notice yours at first." 😊

Certainly, for certain. But I doubt [L]oial reads these forums.

Either saidin & saidar, or the opposition between the two, is what powers the Wheel of Time. Not to far of a stretch, if any, to consider this a creative force and or "The Creator". However, this would imply that the all-caps voice at the beginning and end of the series is the voice of the "fuzzy-logic computer" we call the Wheel of Time. And I think this makes pretty good sense unless it contradicts Canon?

I believe keeping to the Way of the Leaf, does have a much deeper meaning. Developing a very personal, spiritual connection or relationship with reality and all the entities therein.

I think it all boils down to choice, And consciousness. You may think this is a given, but I'd argue that there's an infinite variety in awareness levels. And if you're not aware that you have a choice; if you're not conscious of the choice on any level. Then how can you have any free will to choose? Choices matter and free will is ultimately a choice of what mental/emotional/psychic or spiritual state you choose to interact with reality through. Free will is a metaphysical filter.

I always took 'The Matrix' to be life, as in messy IRL...problems and all. So people have issues on a daily basis. The machines figured out that our nature requires us to be challenged. No challenge or too easy and we suspect the nature of reality and revolt or otherwise not serve the purpose the machines have given us. Too hard, and we commit suicide, or revolt, etc. I took Neo as the system check to remind us of our innate humanity; a reminder to pursue your dreams, no matter how unlikely or outlandish; and finally a reminder that the reality you experience isn't necessarily the ultimate or true reality, so test your individual boundaries and see how far you can push the envelope. A good comparison to the DR, but not a perfect one, imo. What I still struggle to understand is how the machine was able to incorporate Neo into the Matrix program to produce a more-improved Matrix iteration. Neo isn't a program but an individual human consciousness. Unless the machine is/was able to implant an AI into a human embryo?

I too like this theory.

This is where I was going with my idea. The way I read it, [or remember it working], was that over time the man could gain control of the link. So, in essence, eventually it would be fight of wills as to who controls the link. And men in the WoT are known to be stubborn and mule-headed, especially the Two Rivers variety. According to Nynaeve anyway.

The Domination band might be just what it takes to force change in the Empire after all. I'm sure the Sul'dam have a pecking order or hierarchy, just like every other social organization in Randland. All it takes is for one/more of the highest Sul'dam to be dominated by a collared man into channeling themselves while describing what they are doing, and having this happen in a very public venue.

Touche.

Dreaming is supposedly a rare Talent, so mayhap that's why there's no T'A'R social clubs. Or maybe it's like 'Fight Club' rules? If suspect this is how the Portal Stones were researched and created. I also suspect the Wise Ones would say this is 'evil' as you'd have to travel between the realities in-person. I sort of agree with you when I first read the series. Since then, I've had more exposure to various metaphysical musings as well as various Quantum Mechanics theories. T'A'R makes a little more sense to me now, but not much more. There's a theory about the nature of the Randland universe that I stumbled across in a thread here on Dragonmount. I should run across it again fairly soon, as I read, and re-read, these threads while I'm bored at work. In a nutshell, the true reality is T'A'R. All the infinite worlds are shards split off from T'A'R by the Creator at the time of creation. And something about that relates to how Rand got his newfound ability at the end of AMoL. There's more to the theory but that's all I can recall right now.

Many/infinite worlds, but only 1x Creator, 1x DO, and 1x T'A'R that connects everything and to everything.

If Mat was Aemon reborn, how do you account for Mat's extreme, some would say sensible, dislike/suspicion of AS? How do you account for Mat's OT outburst during the dagger-healing in the WT? He's pretty mean, too mean I would think were Mat channeling Aemon, so to speak.

I'm with you then HHMB, which may be how I felt when I first read the series.

You just touched on something many ancient religions/philosophies expound upon. That humankind's collective negative thoughts / energies are the source of all our problems, so to speak. GG

Heh... old man brain strikes again. I wonder where, or when, my wires got crossed. Is there any significance about the Three then? Seems an odd fact to just be all by itself.

Before reading this thread, I always though that was Ishmael taunting Ranf from within his own mind, like he does sometimes with the boys' dreams. And now I'm no longer certain. Ishmael doesn't quite fit for me anymore, as Rand isn't sleeping. Could be Fain as we don't know the extent of his mashadar powers, but there's nothing like this from Fain later on, that I can recall. Could be internal monologue. But the quote above gives me the impression that this voice is something new to Rand. Something intrusive. Something external but within himself now. I think this may just be the first signs of the madness taking hold.

If Anayia Sedai is the third member of "The Three", she may have been killed off to help provide cover for Messana's impersonation of Danelle Sedai. Anayia and Cabriana, being Danelle's [only] close friends in the WT, would have been able to notice the behavioural changes in Messana's performance and potentially start asking questions or otherwise draw unwanted attention towards Danelle Sedai. The timing may have been chosen by RJ to throw the reader off-track from making the connection?