Sabio is right.  We see the wonder girls get captured by river brigands whose leader set up a deal with a Fade to sell the girls to them, so it stands to reason that these bandits likely were in it for the money and the shadow was paying.  I wouldn't think it was tower involvement apart from maybe the Black Ajah.

It was another Ter'angreal for the weather.  Their second jump took them to another repository of ter'angreal and such, but one not under the WT's control.  In the comments above someone mentioned a device that needed men and women to work it to bring the two towers to working together (eventially when there was a black tower), but that wasn't the need.  The main need was as important as the Horn of Valere.  Despite the corrective effort we see eventually when the Bowl of the Winds was used to fix the weather, it was even more important during the Last Battle.  Without it and the Windfinders using it constantly to the point of exhaustion, the weather would have killed everyone there at Shayol Ghul.  About the men and women coming together mentioned above, the Bowl of the Winds needed Saidin and Saidar in order to work, luckily the Bowl could pull from the other half when Saidar was used with it, without the aid of male channelers.  I think the Wheel knew that there was too much distrust and too few male channelers for another device to be used.  The best #1 choice was the ter'angreal in the tower, the next best option was the BOW in Ebou Dar.

I think people really overlooked the importance of the Bowl and the Windfinders at the Last Battle.  I know I did until I came across this old post and its recent activity.  Maybe the Bowl is part of BS's recent comments about something we all missed.

Hehehe...nice catch.  I wondered that myself but let it go as an Oops on RJ/BS's part.

I saw these a long time ago in silver. RJ had a hand in green-lighting the design at least.  Personally I think the red enamel sets them off a little more over the plain gold-plated ones.  I've also seen then in silver but from another jeweler but can't remember which, or maybe this is the same but their copyright is 2013 so I doubt it.  I do remember they sold out fast.  These are a nice little memento for fans.

The Citadel would be a fitting place as he attended college there, or the college where his notes and such were donated to would also be a good location.  We can't talk statue until WOT hits TV's with the impact like GOT.  Once it does, everything will be milked from the WOT, outriggers, merchandise, movies possibly, etc.

In Thom's article on WOT Wiki, it mentions that an Aes Sedai healed Thom following his encounter of the Fade at White Bridge.  Did I miss something?  I know later on when Thom and Moiraine are in Tear she does something to his knee healing it slightly, and says she wishes that a good healer had bene near when the wound had happened, but I've been through the series front to back too many times to count and haven't seen where this information came from.  Was it the BWB or the Companion?  The article mentions that his life was sacved by an Aes Sedai but the damage to his knee was too great to be fully healed.  If so, who was it, and how did it happen?  Did Thom flee down river?  He was gone from White Bridge when Lan and Co. passed through.

Yes, the memories he received to fill the holes left in his head by the Dagger's corruption were harvested by the Finns who use their emotions and experience to feed from, or like drugs from the fits we see of them feeding while Mat is in Finnland.  But he also had the Blood of Manetheren that gave him a few words of the old Tongue, and during his being healed in Tar Valon, he gains memories of his past life as Eamon, King of Manetheran leading the final stand against the Trollocs at the river, commanding the Heart Guard.

On 2/23/2008 at 12:36 PM, drsarav said:

It seems there are lots of gamblers in WOT.  In the opening of TDR, even Pedron Niall muses to himself about "rolling the dice", as he positions the Whitecloaks to take advantage of Rand's proclamation. 

 

However, I too thought it was relevant somehow that Verin DIDN'T simply tell Rand to roll the dice....Instead she said, "As my father would have said, it's time to roll the dice"...she seemed to be insinuating that her father was well known for taking risks and winning high stakes bets. 

 

I think the estimates of Verin's age are too low.  Remember that female channelers who have never sworn on the Oath Rod live much longer than Aes Sedai.  Could Verin have come to the tower as a novice only after living years --centuries??-- as a "wilder"?  In that scenario her da could indeed have been a famed general & gambler.

 

 

I would suggest that her father was Madoc Comadrin, the famous General but he died 600 years BEFORE Hawkwing rose to power.  I doubt that Verin is thousands of years old.  Mat remembers being the man and meeting the man in other men's memories.  I think that the extent of life for channelers, the most powerful, who have not sworn on a binder is around 1000 years.

From the way the series read, I thought that she was about 25, the boys almost 20, and Egwene 18-19.  Then we have Perrin's observation of Faille comparing her to his age in TDR, yet later she becomes younger and younger until Perrin is almost robbing the cradle with her.  

With Nynaeve, most wisdoms started in their mid-thirties from what I felt, and people didn't approve of one that much younger taking over, but she proved herself in her short tenure before running off herself, or her lack of returning.

Perhaps we focused on the right thing but went in the wrong direction with it.  Rand is amused that he could light the pipe with a thought.  Lan was killed(Sheathes the Sword), but then we see Lan rise, albeit wounded, and later Rand lights the pipe.  Could he have spun the threads to create the perfect balance, the DO locked away, Lan semi-healed, Egwene and others dead honoring their memory, and the others alive, something so close to what would have been anyway, and the flame he creates indicates that it is all still his creation, a perfect one?

16 hours ago, Sabio said:

RJ was the same way.  Asmo deaths should be obivious, tossing out hints here about other things, intentionally being vague with some answers, or twisting his words etc..  No matter what RJ said about Asmo's death it was never obvious.  With some work you could come up with a good guess.  But obvious should mean from reading and not having to start writing down ever forsaken and going trough process of elimination to come up with a guess.  WOT was complex because a lot of those theories took a lot of work to come up with.

Yes, RJ basically killed Asmo off using a convenient means of not putting in the work to do it properly and he was very amused at the reaction and theories that spun off from it.  He'd never intended that to happen and it delighted him.  It was why the equally vague sherlock letter he leaped on praising it and agreeing that it didn't matter.  He had to write hints into how many books afterwards to leave a trail pointing at someone.

16 hours ago, solarz said:

I think it's very likely about Seanchan's capture of Moghedien.

 

That would be like the Roman empire having access to someone from our times. Even if that person was just a financial advisor, like Moghedien was.

 

In one fell swoop, the Seanchan empire has gained every advantage Randlanders had, with the exception of the Asha'man. Indeed, we learn from Avi'd visions that the Raven Empire was able to destroy all Randlander opposition, and only the Black Tower was able to still hold out using guerilla tactics.

 

More importantly, Moghedien can provide the Seanchan with knowledge about how the Age of Legends was run, and the technologies that existed then. Very likely it was instrumental behind the technological leaps we see in Avi's visions.

I can see that this would seem like a fitting ending, but there are darkfriends among all races and peoples, including DF Damane who might release her at some future point.  I think that those Dreadlords the Ogier keep have more chance at remaining out of play than her.

So apparently the entire WOT community missed something big about the ending of the WOT series, or at least no one has asked Brandon about it, so what did we miss or take at face value that meant something else?  Maybe since it is a BIG reveal, BS can give us a hint of where to start looking?  (In a recent interview about hi latest book a fan asked for a mysterious or cryptic remark and he said this about the WOT instead, that fans missed something big about the ending.)  You can find it at the very bottom of this page, the last question in the "Fan's Questions" section.  https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900003841/qanda-brandon-sanderson-on-the-importance-of-fiction-and-how-writing-influences-his-lds-faith.html

On 10/23/2017 at 5:57 AM, Maedelin said:

1. Birgitte is an unreliable narrator, and gunpowder had been used for weaponry long ago.  Due to the fact that she was here in the flesh, she could not recall it.

2. Birgitte is an unreliable narrator, and gunpowder has never been used for weaponry long ago.  However, because the WoT is cyclical, technically, this statement is false.

3. Robert Jordan experienced a series of flashbacks from a previous life, is the current incarnation of the Dragon Reborn and wrote of a time many wheel passings ago, as to end this Age.  As such, he cannot perfectly finish his description of his previous life and had to die prior to finishing to ascertain a 'corrupted' version from Brandon Sanderson.

4. Balefired people's essences scatter into the pattern to combine with others essences to make new souls that are agglomerations of their previous souls.

5. Balefired people experience Groundhog's Day until the Pattern can sort out the hiccup in their thread's journey through the Age Lace.

6. The Aes Sedai who swore on the Oath Rod multiple times (Pevara, Seaine, etc) will die much more quickly than their counterparts who only took the Three Oaths. (They've compounded their Oaths)

7. Hopper will be reborn as a human instead of a wolf.

Oh, man!  Number 5 would really be unpleasant!

Yes, after Finnland, poor Mat remembers dying hundreds of times from all the other men's memories.

Mat actually has blood ties to memories of old Manatheren.  We see this in his first battle cries early on, and in TDR Mat is linked to his historical old self through tearing away the dagger's influence when healed.  He is Aemon reborn and remembers leading the Heart Guard into battle against the Trollocs during Manatheren's fall though the memories fade quite a bit.  This is when he receives the infusion of the Old Tongue he later uses inside the first of the Ter'angreal doorways. 

I've been reading L.E. Modesitt's Imager Portfolio series lately and a lot of things have been jumping out at me more and more that remind me of WOT and RJ.  Things too close to just be coincidence I feel, but it's not like WOT but it is interesting that the guy has two magic systems in play in his Recluse books and Imager.  Of course there are a few similarities.  The guy loves personal shields.

Hi! I am reading A Memory of Light and in chapter 14 Gaul mentions animal called „lopinginny“.

 

Here:

 

“All right,” Perrin said. “I’m going to take us to the Black Tower. We hunt

a dangerous prey, a man named Slayer. You remember Lord Luc?”

“The lopinginny?” Gaul said.

Perrin frowned.

“It is a type of bird,” Gaul said. “From the Three- fold Land. I did not

see this man often, but he seemed to be the type who talked big, but was

inwardly a coward.”

 

 

I would like to ask – does the name „lopinginny“ mean something? I mean – there are many fictional animals in WoT. Some of them have names like „blacklance“ or „boar-horse“ (e.g names that actualy means something in English), while there are others with names like „corlm“, „gara“ or „lopar“ (e.g. names with no meaning in English).

 

What kind is „lopinginny“? It sort of „looks“ English, but does it really mean something? And if so, than what? For example there is English word „loping“, but it does not make a sense to me in this case.

 

Also, the non-meaning names like „lopar“ are written in italics and so is „lopinginny“.

 

It is really nothing important, but I was just curious:-)

Dodo Bird came to mind, all too stupid to live long, or Poppinjay, arrogant and flamboyant and boastful, but fleeting when confronted.

Rand's exact instructions seem uncertain.  that scene seemed to be off screen.

Ghealdan and Masema seem to be the main reasons for the trip.

 

If I remember correctly, Rand conquered Illian and sought Sammael's followers within that time.  both seemed to be needed to be done. maybe also fight the Seanchan.

It was also important for Rand to send everyone away from him because he worried his friends would all be killed being too close to him.  There was the off-screen ploy of Perrin and Rand fighting which Perrin reflects on of the mock falling out with one another which Rand hoped would protect Perrin.  When Perrin arrives back in Rand's presence after the Two Rivers battles, Rand immediately begin talking about what he needs Perrin to do which prompts the comments on Perrin not being a general.  Rand wanted to keep everyone away from him but was weak and gave in allowing Min to remain at his side more than he would have liked, and later Nynaeve during the dark times.

Rand basically wove creation itself, and as we see with the pipe at the end he can manipulate and change reality itself, so basically he was upgraded in his abilities and doesn't need to channel.  This is something we see hinted at with his children's abilities to not even embrace saidin or saidar, as they are in a constant state of a sort of "Oneness" with the power.

There's no real reason for them to move, but if they do, I think the site where Shadar Logoth used to be would be perfect. ;)

If anything, when they unite they will likely build a vast city and new tower like in the Age of Legends.  I can't remember the name, Heaven's Gates or wherever the Aiel were packing up to leave when we see the Aiel in Rand's journey through the ter'angreal in Rhudien with the Aes Sedai and the dragon banner, callandor, and the HOV.

Note: Even though the series has been concluded for years, I just joined this forum and am not sure if I should be avoiding spoilers.   So I'll play it safe and be obtuse about the details...

 

So my son is reading the series for the first time.  And he's near the end of Lord of Chaos.  At this point, there are some Aes Sedai who have a certain main character as a prisoner.  Every day, this character is beaten using flows of air.  So I have to ask... how in the world does this not violate the three oaths?  We know that *some* of these AS are black sisters.  But some are not.  How can they pull this off?  Surely this constitutes using the power as a weapon.

 

My wife made the point that they can use the power in defense of the tower.  (I'm not sure that's accurate, but I'll make her point none the less.)  And that this gives the AS a very wide loophole from which to function.  Also, she makes the point that they can use the power when administering discipline to novices.  So if that's not considered using the power as a weapon, then maybe this isn't either.  I don't buy that either.  Even ignoring the use of the power as a tool to administer discipline, beating a defenseless prisoner must qualify as using the power as a weapon.

 

I've searched the wikis and FAQs for an answer and have come up blank.  If anyone reads these forums this long after the books ended, I sure could use a reference or an answer if you have one.

 

Thanks!

This is revisited later when a certain someone sees a need, also in a rage, to discipline a certain disobedient novice.  The oaths are flawed in that a sister can lie if she believes the lie as truth, and can beat a person with the power if they feel it is discipline.  The oaths work on the brain of the sister that takes them and we can see broad differences in many aspects with the sisters.  The moment a thought triggers that it might be crossing a line, that is when the oath holds them back.

The duel was rigged.  Gawyn was wearing at least 2-3 of the Bloodrings which made him move unnaturally fast with weaves masking and aiding him.  Not to mention the Warder Bond aiding him as well.  Demandred fought without augmentation.  Holding the OP or even the TP wouldn't have given a master swordsman the edge to counter someone moving that fast.  Remember, Demandred couldn't even him him with weaves or a rock in the beginning.  So how does someone who defeated two of the best Warder swordsmen who is double augmented fail to kill someone moving slower?  The whole thing wasn't written well enough to convince me he gets defeated.  The only way to defeat a Blood Knife is to do so blindly where you don't rely on your eyes and can hear their movement.  Then suddenly Demandred can strike faster than Gawyn even with the lure to draw him in to not only shove a blade in and then out?

I suppose it was meant to be, so that Galad would be angered enough to go and face him, and finally Lan.  There was good which came from each duel, in that the massive devastation he was doing to the armies of light was interrupted bringing moments of relief.  Gawyn, Galad, Logain, the occasional Dragon's Egg, and finally Lan won out. 

Then what of the viewing? If I remember correctly in Min's viewing Gawyn had two choices, he could have submitted to her or kill her, which was represented as either kneeling to her or breaking her neck.

Yes it didn't have anything to do with the last battle, it was his indecision of not choosing a side and the choice he had to make, and he chose Egwene.  

???  Oh.  I got all excited that maybe someone had found something or had a theory on the International Novel that RJ Ghostwrote which this topic was about.  I'm sure someone else will also check in.  If you have any ideas, post them.  I'd love to read something else that he wrote even if it was in someone else's name.  Any theories on a thriller novel that reads like RJ's work?