Timewaster's Guide Archive

Yeah, you have to keep in mind that there are a full 13 Forsaken and several of them are female.  This is, I think, the first appearance of a female Forsaken other than Lanfear, so it's not too surprising you just assumed it was her, but keep that in mind for the future.

As for Nynaeve + Elayne vs the Black Ajah... when have those two ever been prepared for anything?

Oh, did our comments help at all with your understanding of the Rhuidean history sequence?

For that scene?  I don't recall any of the names in any of those memories being mentioned anywhere else in the entire series.  Well, except the names of certain Forsaken, but the ones before they received their current monikers aren't really important to understanding the scene and the one after is well known long before this.

Also, I had no trouble understanding it perfectly the first time.

I found the scene where Rand was seeing important events in Aeil history very confusing. I kind of got it, but I kind of didn't, you know?

Go back and read it again, and pay particular attention to the names of the viewpoint characters.  You are not seeing "assorted important events in Aiel history," you are seeing an account of the origins of the Aiel in reverse order.  Each person you see a memory of is mentioned or present as an old relative in the previous memory.  The account stretches from the founding of Rhuidean and the establishment of the principle trial Aiel chiefs must go through (note the Aes Sedai present for that; she is old enough to personally remember most, if not all, of the events shown in this sequence), back through the trip to the Aiel Waste, further back to the abandonment of the Way of the Leaf, through the desperate search for safety in the chaos of the Breaking of the World, through the devastation caused by insane male Aes Sedai and the attempts to deal with it, through the end of the War of Power, and finally all the way to the creation of the Bore, the hole in the Dark One's prison that allows him to touch the world.  I found it an incredibly tragic story that almost brought me to tears, and a lot of what it reveals is completely new.

It also has quite a few references to other things you should already know, and it's interesting to pick those out.

That...  is a very rude way to bump a thread.

This forum has a fairly small number of active posters.  I imagine quite a few of them came in, read your post, saw how extremely specific it is about one minor issue, decided to let someone else respond, and forgot about it.  With the small number of posters here, it is not very surprising to me that all of them did that, or just saw the title, misinterpreted it, and decided not to read a probably mistaken "proof" of some unidentified crackpot theory.  When I see the word "proof", checking a written document for errors is not the first thing that comes to mind.  Try some variation of "proofread" instead.

When a post goes unanswered for several days, the appropriate thing to do is to post a polite reply to bring attention to it and inform everyone that "someone else" never did respond, not insult the entire forum.

As for your original post, my reading of that scene is that it is written from the perspective of a third person omniscient narrator, not from Sazed's point of view.  Sazed may not see the blink through the bandage, but the narrator does.  I agree it is not entirely clear, however, and might benefit from a little editing.

There is quite a bit of speculation that Noal, the mysterious old guy wandering around with Mat who volunteered to be the third for the Moiraine rescue expedition, is Jain Farstrider.

The song the Tinkers are seeking is shown in the Age of Legends memories Rand experiences in Rhuidean in The Shadow Rising.  As I understand it, that song's return and full power use would require the revival of the race that the Green Man at the Eye of the World was the last survivor of.  It is remotely possible that the song might be rediscovered, but I expect it to just be a flavorful bit of history and I very much doubt the Nym will return.  There is a faint possibility that some were preserved in a Stasis Box, but I doubt it.

I am not certain the female Choedan Kal was actually destroyed.  All we really know is that the access ter'angreal for it melted and that the actual statue glowed very brightly.  There were quite a number of access ter'angreal originally.  One piece of a broken one was discovered I think in the Tarasin Palace (my memory's a little vague on that), and it's quite possible another intact one will be discovered somewhere else.

There are a few hints that the age before the Age of Legends is the present day modern world.  Two of them that I remember off the top of my head, both tales mentioned by Thom, are Mosk and Merk, two giants that battled with spears of fire that reached around the world (Mosk = Moscow, Merk = America, spears = ICBMs), and Anna the Wise Counselor (Ann Landers?).

By the way, Moiraine was a real witch with a capital B in this book if you know what I mean. I understand she has serious responsibilities and Aes Sedai reputation to uphold.....but jeez lady lighten up. I like her most of the time....but why be so flippant and coy with Perrin and the others? It might have been because Perrin walked in on her naked....lol maybe.

It's a common trait of Aes Sedai.  Whether it's good or bad depends on who you ask (the White Tower will of course say it's good), but the training and society Aes Sedai go through has a rather strong tendency to produce that attitude.

Zarine was a welcome addition to the book (though I didn't feel that way at first) I REALLY like learning more about the Aeil.

Then you will REALLY like The Shadow Rising.  There's a whole lot more to learn about the Aeil, and a huge chunk of it is in that book.

Most of all I liked was the ending. I was glad to see the characters all in the same place and it was a great battle with Rand finally getting Callandor. When he was chasing Ba'alzamon through dimensions was probably THE highlight of the book. Great resolution. Dying to know what happens next.

Only one dimension, really, and Rand was very lucky to have Callandor in that fight.  That "dimension", which you will learn more about soon, has properties that Ba'alzamon knows very well and that would have allowed him to easily crush Rand in his ignorance if he hadn't been able to bring overwhelming strength to bear.

which would also explain Saidar's "weakening."

As I recall, that was specific to things that prevent decay, keep out rodents, etc.  I took it as another sign of the Dark One touching the world more strongly, as the Dark One has been causing food to spontaneously go bad all over the world, rats and such are among his common spies, and everything else mentioned fit thematically as well.  Saidar is as strong as ever, but those applications of it are now having to hold off the Dark One's influence in addition to natural causes.