In EoTW we saw that when you're injured by a Myrddraal you die. The steel of it's sword is lethal. It's pretty much what happened to Tam until Moiraine healed him.
We saw Thom meet the Fade with his knives and they created all sorts of blue light when the blade and sword met.
All I can think of is that the Fade touched him in some sort of ghoul way, and gave him some sort of curse, if this is possible. However, we've seen a Fade manhandle Carridin without any effect.
Thoughts?
Well, here is a potential idea.
We know that it is not actually being injured by Myrddraal that causes you to die. It is the blade made in Thakan'dar that has been somehow inbued with the DO's power or somesuch that is lethal. Basically the Myrddraal carry blades that act like the Shadar Logoth dagger when Mat used it to kill the Seanchan in book 2. Except the evil comes from the DO rather than SL and is less intense since it takes longer to kill.
We see this creation process happen in LoC prologue where Demandred observes the creation of new blades. He also states that Myrddraal are "gnashing their teeth" because they are running out of blades. He also states that the blades fail after a time and have to be continually replaced. The blades also require human victims to create which is why they are running out at LoC.
Is it possible that the Myrddraal that attacked Thom had such a blade. A Thakan'dar blade that had almost "ran out" of its DO power and was close to failing as Demandred says. In that case the blade might no longer be as lethal as new blades or the blade that was used on Tam, which was not close to failing and still had plenty of juice in it.
Basically not all Myrddraal and their blades are necessary equal.
Character discussion 3 : Thom Merrilin and Noal Charin
17/05/2010 01:01:17 PM
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How did Thom survive the Myrddraal?
17/05/2010 05:18:17 PM
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I always figured the Fade simply gave the old man a bitch slap that sent him flying
17/05/2010 05:22:21 PM
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Re: I always figured the Fade simply gave the old man a bitch slap that sent him flying
18/05/2010 05:36:27 PM
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Re: I always figured the Fade simply gave the old man a bitch slap that sent him flying
18/05/2010 10:08:08 PM
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Magical ter'angreal knives. They're the only explanation that makes any sense. *NM*
17/05/2010 07:30:48 PM
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I'm going with Plot Flash Depicting a Boss Fight as per JRPG and manga/anime standards
17/05/2010 08:21:12 PM
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Re: How did Thom survive the Myrddraal?
17/05/2010 11:10:29 PM
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Re: How did Thom survive the Myrddraal?
18/05/2010 01:48:44 PM
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I just miss when he was a badass
18/05/2010 05:36:47 PM
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I think that some political skills will serve him well in Ghenjei
12/09/2010 03:24:50 AM
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You mean Thom and Jain?
21/05/2010 11:57:52 PM
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Noal claims to be Jain's cousin
28/05/2010 04:14:05 PM
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A geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water
28/05/2010 09:47:06 PM
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