What was the manner of Galldrian's death in The Great Hunt? I remember the first time I read it I thought Thom assassinated him, but now I just noticed in Lord of Chaos that his Aes Sedai advisor went missing at the same time.

Were there any trees in the stedding that Perrin enters in Eye of the World? The one Loial visits when he's near Caemlyn later in the series.

My post seems like the only one that really links us to being ogiers and that was just goofing around.

 

It's possible to have the stedding properties without it being an actual stedding. Something like the device in Far Madding might have been created on a global scale. Maybe with the resulting One Power war between the Black and White towers and the Seanchan they'll agree to a truce in which their channeling ability is removed from the world. To discover the ability to channel again would simply require for that device to be destroyed or turned off. It could exist in this age in the form of something like the great pyramids or Stonehenge.

 

I sphinx I know where it would be..

 

According to Edgar Cayce, a prophet from the 1920s or so, there's a chamber under the Sphynx's right paw that holds tablets chronicling the events around the fall of Atlantis. Some time after he died they did find a chamber there, they just never went in!

My post seems like the only one that really links us to being ogiers and that was just goofing around.

It's possible to have the stedding properties without it being an actual stedding. Something like the device in Far Madding might have been created on a global scale. Maybe with the resulting One Power war between the Black and White towers and the Seanchan they'll agree to a truce in which their channeling ability is removed from the world. To discover the ability to channel again would simply require for that device to be destroyed or turned off. It could exist in this age in the form of something like the great pyramids or Stonehenge.

We are the ogier. The humans in Randland are really short, have very small noses and even smaller eyebrows. We just don't pick up on it because all descriptions of ogier so far have come from the viewpoint of humans so it seems abnormal in comparison. We found evidence of their race recently on an island. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1027_041027_homo_floresiensis.html

There were even dragons.

In all seriousness though, it could be possible. There must be a way to create the stedding and we might find out more if we get to see The Great Stump and possible flight of the ogier back to their home world.

Siuan can see ta'veren and she saw Lan a few times so it would have been brought up if he was. If Lan was ta'veren then we can argue that at least one of the wonder girls is too.

I took it as his complete paranoia. It was added in that he noticed the extra man probably for the reader's benefit so we don't see him as a murderer. Rand dreamed of a lot of dark friends but I don't believe he recognized this merchant since nothing he did suggested it. If he recognized her it would have been noted when he was thinking about how he saw her kind in the Two Rivers.

Remember that Rand wasn't getting much sleep at all. His dreams seemed to be fitful in and out of TAR. He was very tired and knew he was being chased. What sleep he did get was full of dreams of being hunted and betrayed by everybody he ever knew. He would have been completely paranoid at this point and likely thinking anybody that comes near him was a darkfriend.

The difference in book learning and real experience. Valda knew, Galad did.

Given that Valda actually had more experience than Galad, this would be the triumph of book learning?

No, Valda knew the sword moves - his book learning, to use my example. If his experience was true he would have applied what he learned in the fights to it and he would not have tried bleeding Galad to death after seeing Galad was able to hold his own for a time. This stupid move cost Valda his life and that move is why I think Galad is the better fighter. Galad kept a cool head and that is something we are told repeatedly in the series is absolutely required.

Yeah, there had to be a witness to the fight and there were none when Turok was killed. For all anybody knows (and what the Seanchan believe) Rand murdered Turok and it wasn't fair play.

If he wasn't the sadiistic fighter that like to bleed out his opponents that he was he would have cut down Galad after the opening moves.

Like I said before, this was a flaw. Valda was known for this. If he went for the kill, yeah he would have won probably. Did he? No. Why? Because his weakness is making people bleed. He lets his personal enjoyment get in the way of his fighting and this is why he lost.

It was only when Galad tricked him by playing tired and then hiself thinking a few moves ahead that he was able to win.

Galad made use of Valda's weakness using a tactic he thought out while fighting with a blademaster. If Valda wasn't flawed he would have been the better fighter, but since he has that flaw and Galad was able to best him, Galad wins it. It's as simple as that. Your mindset in a fight is as much a skill determining factor as your strength and knowledge of the moves. Valda had one but not the other and Galad clearly showed he had both (though his moves were lacking compared to Valda). Somebody could be the best boxer in the world and if they have a tendency to enter a blind rage, they'll never hold the championship title because while they might fight the best with a cool head there's always a "lesser" fighter out there who can keep their cool where it counts. The lesser fighter is the one that will be remembered.

Valda would have won, if you ask me, but he was too busy underestimating Galad and congratulating himself on the kill before he did it. Valda "knew" he could beat Galad, didnt think it was that big a fight, but because Galad kept his wits about him and fought cleverly he won.

Something tells me that part of being a good swordsman is your attitude during the fight rather than just the amount of stances you know. "A good swordsman never lets down his guard" type stuff. Galad tricked Valda in the middle of a sword fight while both were watching each other intently and concentrating on their fighting. His win was because he was the better fighter. Had Valda been less cocky he might have been better, but that flaw in him is still a flaw. Or was, I should say.

The difference in book learning and real experience. Valda knew, Galad did.

After getting cut by the Shadar Logoth dagger, Rand noticed how the two wounds throbbed seeming to pulse against each other. Later, he notices the same effect with the power in Shadar Logoth and started thinking of a way to use that. Nynaeve probably made a few improvements to the original idea.

Not all gentled men were kept prisoners in the tower. Just the false dragons who could channel. Logain was kept watched at all times to make sure he couldn't kill himself in any way and we know he did want to. We also know Owyn was turned loose after being gentled and that his village turned on him. Thom's hatred for Aes Sedai wasn't so much that they gentled him but that they didn't give him a chance because he was abandoned to his village's mercy.

Logain couldn't have died if he wanted to simply because the Aes Sedai wouldn't give him the chance. He was under constant surveillance to make sure he didn't kill himself. That changed after he escaped the tower, but he was given a reason to stick around a while longer.

With the example of Mat and the Ebou Dar Aes Sedai, Teslyn and Edesina seem sincere in their gratitude. They don't want him getting into Aes Sedai affairs which you can understand.. Teslyn steps up and stops Joline being mean to Mat though. There was a big argument that had everybody but her and Joline out of the wagon staring in astonishment. We also see them say they'll help Mat next time Joline acts up.

I'd rather be gentled than drowned. That's just me, though.

Their heads have to be forced to look in the right direction but once they see it themselves all is well. That's the way I see it. I think once this bit with the Seanchan comes about we'll see the Aes Sedai shaping up. Right now it's a bunch of people doing their own thing but they'll end up working together in the end.

The Wise Ones seem the easiest way to make the Aes Sedai learn respect, I think Egwene means to send novices or accepted to them as part of their training once there's peace. Get their minds back down to earth and their chins lowered.

I thought the big black ball was the taint itself. The taint and Shadar Logoth's evil don't mix, it'd be like water and oil. If that funnel of Saidar was open on the end inside the city and the evil of the city pumped the taint through, it could have swelled up like that.

When something is far away and so incredible sounding it's easy to not believe it. Some people need to see with their own eyes first. For a while they could have figured people went mad in the middle of the complete chaos Arad Domon fell into after book 2. There are those who still believe Rand is not the Dragon Reborn, though.

I'm missing where all these offensive posts are that people are apologizing over. Did they get deleted or am I just blind?

There is a blanket elitism in all initiates of the White Tower. A thought that they are better than everybody else because they can channel. Their channeling naturally makes them more knowledgeable of a situation and so on. I shouldn't say all, Beonin's scene in her tent in Knife of Dreams with the man bringing her breakfast suggests she's not elitist and Cadsuane merely demands respect that is due Aes Sedai.

All you really need to do is open up any book to any scene showing Aes Sedai. They take charge any chance they can, talk down to non-channelers, assume a non-channeler's plans are going to fail and they should listen to advice (meaning follow their superior's orders). You see it very well in Egwene's treatment of Mat and their sending him off without even considering he was more than the farm boy they used to know.

Egwene and Nynaeve treated Mat, Rand and Perrin as little boys once they entered the White Tower despite the "boys'" involvement in the world's most important events. They were kids to be taken care of while they are off fighting the real important battles. Hopefully Rand won't do something foolish while Elayne's away hunting Black sisters! Egwene gets out of this somewhat when she starts seeing Rand as the Dragon and not as a friend (way up in Winter's Heart or so), but she jumps to conclusions still when it comes to Mat. When the rebel army is on the move and she sees some of the Band's soldiers with the bits of red cloth on their arms, she makes the assumption that they are lacking discipline and wear it to look nice. There was contempt in her thoughts. Mat a general? He's an untamed rogue, gambler and chaser of women. He probably bedded half the women who followed his Band. Never a thought that he might have grown up or changed. He was who he was and they were doing important things and had to babysit him.

We see it a lot with Nynaeve and Elayne making Thom and Juilan swear an oath to obey them and not get in the way. We see it in the treatment of Warders all over as pets. Most especially in Crossroads of Twilight where that one Aes Sedai asks Cadsuane if she should give her new warder's dragon pin back because he wants it so much. She says she wants him used to taking things only from her. She never considered what it meant, to her it's a piece of jewelry and she doesn't care about it any more than that it's upsetting her warder that she won't let him have it.

Aes Sedai have their own ideas of how the Last Battle should be fought. Some would gentle Rand and just assume only his presence in the world is required in order to win. Others would support Elaida's idea that he could be prepared for the fight on a close leash, directed by Aes Sedai who know better. It's this that makes them close minded. The idea that their opinion is right because they are more capable to handle a situation by being Aes Sedai. Whichever way they end up going, they are always right. Because, you know, they can channel. Even their rankings point to elitism. The one who can draw the most is the wisest.

This is probably long winded. I'd give examples of non-main character Aes Sedai but I'm terrible with names and it really is all through the series. It's almost laughable when their title suggests they are servants.