The Forsaken getting sealed away with the Dark One. Always seemed a little too lucky for me. Any quotes out there that set the record straight? "Yeah, the Light side totally lucked out on that one." or "The Dark One knew what was coming, and since it was obvious he wouldn´t turn the Dragon this time, he/she/it just wanted some generals safely tucked away to be used next time."

This is selection bias. The GLoD used to hold regular tea-parties. Only the 13 who happened to be visiting at the time and got sealed, are remembered. There were at least 29 FS, who had been allowed to use the TP, so quite a few of GLoD's favoured ones didn't get sealed. There were many more Darkside channelers as well. They died in the normal course of things.

was semirhage or lanfear the one who sent trollocs in the stone of tear when sammael sent his attack?

Semirhage.

The a'dam are the only ter'angreal the Seanchan actually make according to Brandon.

Damane are tested for their a'dam-making skills.

I think you're misreading the damane status thing. IIRC, damane who have some special talents like foretelling. skill in earth /metal weaves, etc, end up deployed with the Empress (MSLF) and the royal family. Pure power isn't the criteria - Alivia is basically a great killing machine.

Egwene's conversations in TGH with Bethamin, Seta, Renna may offer clues.

Are Bair and Perrin the only non-channelers (excluding Slayer) who can enter T'A'R?

The late Seana was also a non-channeler DreamWalker - there could be others, since people can randomly do it once in a while.

If you can get injured in Tel'aran'rhiod, how come you can't get healed?

 

You can, but the same there/not there effect that happens to items happens to people as well. So you get healed, and then the dreamworld forgets you were healed and you're injured again. Nynaeve healing Rand after he was injured by Rahvin, who'd gotten balefired and so the injuries on Rand should have dissapeared but didn't: Dreamworld lagging between what is there/not there.

 

 

That still doesn't explain why you can get injured but not healed. In the dream world you can get injured or even die, and that will stay with you even when you wake. Shouldn't healing be the same?

 

I believe there is some mention of the Aiel Dream walkers entering a person's dream to aid Healing.

 

As to why you can't get healed in TAR, maybe it's because pain and hurt are more real to the mind (even in our Age) than health and happiness.

Just like why there are more nightmares than there are Egwene's ponies walking around T'AR.

Can't remember the Dreamwalker business at all. In fact, IIRC, in TSR with every Aiel Dreamwalker present, Amys regretfully says to Mat post-Rhuidean that none of the DWs can do healing, though some other WOs can.

Again, IIRC, in TAR, we've seen few instances of healing. Egwene trying to soothe her lacerated bum in LoC, which would fall into the category of self-healing (impossible anyhow) and Nyn trying to help Rand after his scrap with Rahvin.

Is there any other instance of somebody onstage trying to heal an injury caused in TAR, within TAR itself?

Yes, since there was no panic the guardian picks up channeling beyond its dampening influence.

Corelle bonded Flinn

Can't be done. Most have several scenes where there is no body count. Egwene at Carhein, in the WT for instance. Elayne unravelling the Gateway at the farm in Ebou Dar. Mat in several battles including off-stage. Rand ditto. Perrin ditto. Nynaeve has the lowest body count since she's never actually been involved in a serious battle where she used OP to kill.

Two small questions.

 

The first being, does Rand know the Elayne is pregnant? I can't remember if I've read anything that indicates he's been told, or that he managed to find out.

 

The second is this: didn't Mat mention the letter to Tom all the way back while they were in Salidar. I think there was a comment about rescueing a women and leaving her to get her head cut off. I don't remember the exact words. Was it before Tom read the letter?

Avi may or may not have told him. He never refers to it in his PoV so he probably doesn't know since we'd expect him to be mildly gobsmacked (or LTT to yell his head off).

Mat gave Thom the letter in LoC. The letter specifically instructed Thom not to tell Mat anything about the contents until asked.

If Warders :lan: are called Gaidin, will Birgitte be called Gaidar?

 

*** runs for cover ****

ah gees, watch Brandon read this idea and RUN WITH IT

Depending on how it's pronounced, "gaidar" would mean either "traitor" (emphasis on "ah") or "lizard" (emphasis on "i") in about a dozen Asian languages.

I'd guess Amys belongs to the "show me the corpse" school, especially when it comes to AS and Forsaken.

Rand had some reason to assume Moiraine was dead (Lan's bond had snapped) but none really to assume Lanfear was dead.

Amys would not necessarily even have known about the bond mechanics.

RJ said Thom cannot channel and he never meant Thom to be capable of channeling. So unless Brandon decides to change that, it's not going to happen.

 

No, RJ said that Thom cannot channel, and he never meant people to think he could. That is not to say he is incapable of learning.

Q: Can Thom channel?

RJ: Absolutely not. I never intended anyone to think he could.

(Edward Liu) I brought up the hereditary point (i.e. Owyn) but he said just because your parents have a particular gene doesn't mean you'll receive that particular gene. Also he made a point that Owyn was Thom's nephew so therefore not necessarily very similar gene-wise. When I pressed him again on it, he said (I'm quoting) 'There is no way in hell Thom can channel.' All he offered for explanations is that Thom is a 'mysterious man.'

"No way in hell" would strongly imply that he cannot learn.

RJ said Thom cannot channel and he never meant Thom to be capable of channeling. So unless Brandon decides to change that, it's not going to happen.

I think it's a physical need - if the AS is in distress, the warder feels pain.

And if she dies, he is likely to go nuts and die as well.

Got nothing to do with whether they like each other really.

I remember reading that Taim has been unaffected by taint, even before Rand cleansed it. Is this any indication of him being a forsaken in disguise?

Sure there is (for example, his referrences to the 'so-called Aiel'), but this question is better suited to any number of Taim-specific threads on this board.

FWIW, we don't know he is unaffected. We only have his assurance that he is not mad (and Perrin's sense of smell at Dumai's Wells). 

Gray hair and unlined face?

Or first, they'd have to contruct vast forts of iron, and then cuendillar them.

 

Yeah I was thinking that.  I don't believe they went and Ogier'd up all the places.

 

edit:  Moridin found the place, then cuendillar'd the beeyotch is what I mean.

 

But really was just wondering if people thought male cuendillar would be black.

Awful waste of time, metal, resources - why bother? The black-white colour thing may also be a function of what base material was used, or a slightly different weave for different colour (can you get rainbow cuendillar?) though most people seem to think it is a saidin-saidar difference.

(If "Saidared" is a verb ala Mat, why not cuendillar?)

No, the Black Tower and Moridin's fort are just black rock.

Graendal would probably have recognised that substance and remarked on it.

Ditto all the AS in the BT.

Black is a cool colour or at least, both taim and Moridin think it is.

Producing cuendillar in that quantity would require huge numbers of male channellers beavering away day and night (assuming it is saidin produced). It would also be a beeyatch to work architecturally.

Or first, they'd have to contruct vast forts of iron, and then cuendillar them.

We've also been told that both explanations are correct!

Yes Min is another possibility.

Mordeth would almost certainly know the language in which the Ways direction was written. He lived in a time (Ten nations) when the Ways were in common use before they became dark and tainted.

The Ways were constructed by men (saidin channelers) and not only used by Ogiers though they were a gift to help Ogiers avoid habitations while going from stedding to stedding.

So, the directional symbols would have been somewhat universal.

Moiraine's remarks in TSR seems to suggest she does know the face of her husband.

How? We don't know.

She makes this statement before she goes to the Finns for her questions and before she runs the rings at Rhuidean. It's not in her test for the shawl.

IIRC, her Accepted test is not described (it happens 2-3 years before NS).

Maybe she saw his face there?

I have a simple series of questions. They're all the same question basically: 'How'd they do that?'

 

1. When Padan Fain first travels through the Ways and meets Machin Shin he's using his Rand-seeking nose to follow the heroes through to Fal Dara. The good guys themselves need an Ogier with specific knowledge to find their way through. Liandrin needs to have written instructions when she uses the Ways in TGH. Fain on the other hand manages to enter a waygate in Cairhein and emerge as intended from a waygate on Toman Head. Presumably he doesn't have an Ogier buddy or written instructions from the Dark so: How did he successfully navigate the Ways?

Two Answer Ideas:  He absorbed Machin Shin's knowledge of the geography of the Ways OR.. the Ways aren't actually that big and he kept trying Waygates until he found the right one (since he's not scared of the Wind).

He also has access to Mordeth's memories from a time when the Ways were still more or clean and being used regularly. This probably means that he can read the instructions as well.

2. Verin touches the poor Ogier who met with Machin Shin and she was able to draw conclusions about the mental state of said Ogier. But this takes place in a stedding where Verin is unable to channel. So how'd she do that?

Not channelling - explained by RJ as a scene where the lack of soul can be detected more or less by anyone.

See the descriptions when Perrin is too long and too strongly in TAR - lack of soul can apparently be figured out.

3. A Tinker woman named Leya comes to the mountains with urgent news for Moiraine (In TDR). In some way that she herself doesn't understand she knows where to go. How did Moiraine do that?

Never clarified.

4. In TDR, Moiraine manages to figure out which Forsaken is running the show in Illian.  How'd she do that?

Never clarified. One possible answer that has been thrown up is that Sammael had a very recognisable scar and Moiraine placed him from that and descriptions she had culled from her studies with the twins (Vandeme-Adeleas). More interestingly, how did identify Be'lal in Tear because she knew very little about him?

 

5. How did Moiraine learn balefire?

All AS know of BF - it is forbidden.

She probably worked it out from first principles, givem descriptions in her studies with the twins. Note that other AS (of different Ajahs), notable Cadsuane seem to know it as well. Nynaeve did it instinctively as well (as did Rand).

Moiraine is a talented channeler and a highly intelligent researcher.

Maybe Verin just looked in the poor Ogier's eyes; and I'm willing to accept that Moiraine can do just about anything..  but question 1 is bothering me.  Any ideas anyone?

Just a thought. The Blight has existed for 3K years.

Trollocs live in the Blight. While their food chain is mysterious, they are creatures that need to eat and there are a lot of them.

"Blightstrain" crops suggest crops bred to be capable of surviving in the Blight.

Presumably they are used to feed either trollocs, or meat animals eaten by trollocs.

Aginor for example, was a biogenetic researcher of genius.

Trollocs are bright enough to have developed tribal societies, which read, make their own weapons, etc.

Fades are around average human levels in intelligence.

No reason why Aginor or somebody trained by him, who wasn't trapped in the Bore, could not have developed food crops that survive in the Blight. Fades and trollocs and fades would be more than capable of sustaining that agrarian link in the food chain. Especially if Baalzamon was around to prod them every so often.

So, I'd guess Blightstrain crops are either trolloc-edible, or edible by some meat animal trollocs eat.

Aginor (or somebody who was a biogenetic researcher) may also have found a way to breed crops that could be winnowed/ boiled/ treated in some simple way to remove the "spots of blight taint" and make them edible for the trolloc food chain.

All the above is pure speculation. of course. 

Which means that it is true - if first oath-bound AS believe it is, then it is.

About a written lie.

Moiraine gave Rand to understand that it couldn't be done when Rand asked this specific question about Alviarin's letter. But she nodded, did not explicitly say "Yes".

So ---