Active Users:353 Time:28/04/2025 12:55:57 AM
and slaughter the Seanchan empress on her own throne thowing the empire into chaos darius_sedai Send a noteboard - 17/06/2010 09:30:27 PM
Lanfear is formed of root words meaning daughter (of the) night, and this compound word itself appears to be a poetic name for the Moon in the OT. That's most likely not the common name for "moon".

There's nothing pejorative in the name itself, it's not a scron name, Mierin made it up herself.



She's such a drama queen :P


What's especially hilarious about Lanfear is that even serving the Shadow, she managed to find a way to be in the spotlight. In all the concepts of darkness, shadow, night etc. she chose one of the two things luminous (stars and moon) and settled from the biggest brightest one of the two (she wouldn't settle for small distant lights!). The whole irony is that unlike the small stars, the Moon has no light of her own to cast, she only reflects the sun's - and I'm pretty sure that didn't occur to Lanfear when she chose the name.

Lanfear's sigil shows the Moon as the Queen among the smaller stars. They're also between the pincers of the crescent, as if she controls them and can crush them. Of course, as the moon waxes, those stars would disappear.

She sure has a high opinion of herself. She sees herself as the Light coming out of darkness. In truth, she just reflects the daylight from the sun on the other side of the earth. When the sun's not around, she's complete darkness.

It's also funny how the lunar cycle reflects well her "I love LTT/I hate LTT" phases.

I have a suspicion that if "twice dawns the day" involve an eclipse, the scene with Rand during this eclipse will likely involve Cyndane somehow as well (or else Egwene... Egwene sort of became the moon after Lanfear fell.. she too is heavily Moon Goddess based, going back and forth between warrior/maiden/queen as Amyrlin/Accepted-novice/damane and even lunar berserker shooting stuff out of the night sky as in TGS ) .


I'm not sure this went through her mind, or would go through anyone's mind really. When she decided to go over to the Shadow she probably decided to invest heavily in her Talent for TAR, and thus chose the moon and stars as a sigil. The moon looks bigger to the human eye, so it makes sense its bigger on her sigil.

For someone who caused such horror through the world of dreams, I can't think of anything more appropriate than a woman called 'Daughter of the Night' with a moon and stars sigil.


Sure she terrorized common people in TAR, like the Freddy Kruger of the AoL, but overall she was much less impressive than Graendal, Semirhage, Ishamael, Demandred or Sammael IMO. No evidence that she did anything the others didn't in TAR.

We certainly saw Ishamael do far more in TAR early in the series than anything we've seen Lanfear do ... in fact, I don't recall seeing Lanfear do anything particularly impressive in TAR other and simply claiming it as "her world".

Face it, like everything else about her, this too was a carefully calculated move to make her seem more impressive than she really was. Lanfear was pretty much an OP strength powerhouse and little else.

Maybe now that she's a slave she'll show us something more impressive :)


There's no point trying to diminish Lanfear. Nothing in the series ever suggested that she was anything less than one of the most proficient Forsaken during the War of Power. RJ included her in his list of the top Forsaken. The BWB says that TAR was her domain, and goes into details regarding her atrocities.

I also don't agree that Lanfear is merely a powerhouse. I think she's a highly intelligent villain. Rahvin said she was a notorious and dangerous backstabber, and even Semirhage said she caused devastation wherever she went and meddled in others plans. She snared Asmodean, and was on the verge of possibly killing Sammael and perhaps Rahvin and Graendal in her little plot to capture Rand. Of course then she fell to her flaw, and met Rand at the Docks.


See my response to Etzle above. I think you guys have created a whole myth around what Lanfear was, but if RJ wanted her to be truly impressive we'd see more of Cyndane getting herself free.


A lot of Lanfear was a myth, but you place undue credit on other Forsaken like Graendal and Semirhage. Both of those Forsaken have amounted to nothing either. The Lady of Pain turned out to be an impotent villain, who in the whole third Age, only managed to break one Cabriana Mecandes.


much like Graendal destroyed AD and Shara, and who knows how many other smaller regions by taking their leaders?
Domani Drag Queen in the White Tower ... Aran'gar watch out!
Reply to message
Forsaken translations - 17/06/2010 09:16:36 AM 2274 Views
Yeah... - 17/06/2010 09:31:15 AM 1568 Views
Semirhage is named as "The Lady of Pain" in KoD, by Rand... - 17/06/2010 11:14:56 AM 1908 Views
You are right... - 17/06/2010 11:31:05 AM 1467 Views
Do Semirhage & Bel'al actually mean those things or are they other nicknames? - 17/06/2010 11:38:18 AM 1327 Views
On Be'lal - 17/06/2010 11:42:31 AM 1239 Views
Nice ideas! - 17/06/2010 02:10:43 PM 1372 Views
Gai'shain = those sworn to peace in battle - 17/06/2010 09:22:02 PM 1202 Views
Gaidin = Brother to Battle ... which is what I think the OP meant to use - 17/06/2010 09:32:20 PM 1136 Views
Presumably he meant "Dai Shan", or "Battle Lord", as he said. - 17/06/2010 10:37:07 PM 1216 Views
or that *NM* - 17/06/2010 10:45:49 PM 691 Views
About Aginor - 17/06/2010 12:50:04 PM 1534 Views
Great! - 17/06/2010 02:11:47 PM 1327 Views
Some Old Tongue translations - 17/06/2010 01:34:18 PM 1244 Views
ah Thanks! *NM* - 17/06/2010 02:12:00 PM 704 Views
Good luck with that - 17/06/2010 02:36:36 PM 1289 Views
Re: Good luck with that - 17/06/2010 03:24:52 PM 1145 Views
Very interesting! - 17/06/2010 08:34:36 PM 1231 Views
As always, - 20/06/2010 02:25:07 PM 1136 Views
I always thought Lanfear probably translated to something closer to a Moon translation - 17/06/2010 02:43:04 PM 1431 Views
it's the other way around... - 17/06/2010 02:58:33 PM 1191 Views
good point - 17/06/2010 03:13:17 PM 1190 Views
Re: good point - 17/06/2010 04:05:50 PM 1252 Views
Not to mention she STILL hasn't earned a 3rd (or in 4th) name - 17/06/2010 04:16:57 PM 1233 Views
What about Cyndane - 17/06/2010 04:48:03 PM 1131 Views
It must be her favorite one, since it's the only one she actually earned *NM* - 17/06/2010 05:43:41 PM 616 Views
Well she earned Mierin *NM* - 17/06/2010 08:27:05 PM 766 Views
how so? I figured mom and dad gave that one too her *NM* - 17/06/2010 08:36:24 PM 643 Views
she earned it by being born... ha! gotcha *NM* - 17/06/2010 08:39:10 PM 604 Views
HA! But technically I think her mother earned that *NM* - 17/06/2010 08:58:30 PM 534 Views
well she earned Eronaile by virtue of her genetics *NM* - 17/06/2010 09:04:36 PM 617 Views
Tee hee ... I'd credit her father on that one *NM* - 17/06/2010 09:31:19 PM 667 Views
Re: good point - 17/06/2010 04:47:01 PM 1264 Views
Again, a self-proclaimed ownership aimed at making her seem more impressive - 17/06/2010 05:55:12 PM 1139 Views
I disagree - 17/06/2010 06:20:08 PM 1253 Views
Personally I think that order was off the cuff - 17/06/2010 08:55:28 PM 1367 Views
Re: Personally I think that order was off the cuff - 17/06/2010 09:02:06 PM 1341 Views
Disagree - 17/06/2010 09:28:51 PM 1283 Views
Re: Disagree - 17/06/2010 09:41:23 PM 1216 Views
I'm not being very clear - 17/06/2010 10:14:10 PM 1223 Views
Re: I'm not being very clear - 18/06/2010 08:06:56 AM 3596 Views
Re: I'm not being very clear - 18/06/2010 03:33:12 PM 1234 Views
Re: I'm not being very clear - 18/06/2010 04:35:12 PM 1085 Views
The point isn't if Lanfear has the skill, it's that it was poorly shown. - 18/06/2010 05:31:11 PM 1231 Views
I think it's shown well - 18/06/2010 06:10:55 PM 1336 Views
your own examples show only OP prowess though! - 18/06/2010 06:54:38 PM 1335 Views
How can you say Semirhage didn't achieve anything? - 18/06/2010 01:59:44 AM 1278 Views
I'm partial to Sammael myself. - 18/06/2010 02:24:49 AM 1084 Views
The statement makes clear that those 6 were all quite impressive - 17/06/2010 10:51:49 PM 1057 Views
I don't see that bearing out in the text at all - 17/06/2010 10:57:36 PM 1248 Views
Well, with this point I don't disagree.. *NM* - 17/06/2010 11:10:34 PM 1099 Views
- 17/06/2010 11:12:58 PM 1233 Views
Lanfear's motives were never Shadow-driven - 20/06/2010 06:47:22 PM 1225 Views
not ballsy, just psycho - 20/06/2010 07:25:46 PM 1239 Views
Like Etzel I don't agree - 17/06/2010 08:30:37 PM 1115 Views
I think she's a weak villain - 17/06/2010 08:58:01 PM 1091 Views
Re: I think she's a weak villain - 17/06/2010 09:03:47 PM 1184 Views
and slaughter the Seanchan empress on her own throne thowing the empire into chaos - 17/06/2010 09:30:27 PM 1202 Views
Semirhage has done more than anyone since Ishy destroyed the Ten Nations - 18/06/2010 02:06:30 AM 1178 Views
Regarding "Demandred" ... - 17/06/2010 04:51:43 PM 1194 Views
I always thought it was a coincidence - 17/06/2010 08:32:39 PM 1309 Views
Lan/Lanfear isn't a coincidence... - 18/06/2010 12:19:58 AM 1151 Views
Wow. I'm not quite sure where this came from... *NM* - 18/06/2010 05:24:25 PM 590 Views
Re: Lan/Lanfear isn't a coincidence... - 20/06/2010 07:01:55 PM 1304 Views
No, it was supposed to be a joke. - 20/06/2010 07:23:19 PM 1211 Views
Re: No, it was supposed to be a joke. - 21/06/2010 06:36:44 AM 1254 Views
Re: I always thought it was a coincidence - 18/06/2010 05:20:11 PM 1240 Views
Perhaps Lan-fear meaning Night-Daughter would make more sense - 17/06/2010 06:00:35 PM 1193 Views
Interesting *NM* - 17/06/2010 08:33:03 PM 687 Views
Re: Perhaps Lan-fear meaning Night-Daughter would make more sense - 18/06/2010 04:23:38 PM 1424 Views
Regarding "Far Dareis Mai" ... - 18/06/2010 05:28:41 PM 1140 Views
We also have din in Mera'din/Brotherless and far in Far Madding - 18/06/2010 08:16:14 PM 1242 Views
Re: Regarding "Far Dareis Mai" ... - 20/06/2010 03:56:38 AM 1368 Views
And Dragon translations... - 17/06/2010 10:53:02 PM 1306 Views
Re: And Dragon translations... - 17/06/2010 11:01:25 PM 1176 Views
But of course the NT word for Dragon isn't Dragon - 18/06/2010 05:45:34 PM 1385 Views
Ah yes, that sounds reasonable. *NM* - 18/06/2010 08:28:54 PM 650 Views
If "aman" is the Old Tongue name for Dragon, maybe "DEMANdred" contains a reference to Dragon too... - 20/06/2010 08:13:35 PM 1421 Views
"Dragon Wannabe" *NM* - 20/06/2010 09:23:09 PM 489 Views
Lizard? *NM* - 20/06/2010 10:04:21 PM 657 Views
"Scaled Worm"... though I doubt he'd take that name up in pride . *NM* - 22/06/2010 01:23:03 AM 585 Views
It's probably too much to attempt to guess at the meanings of words... - 17/06/2010 10:58:06 PM 947 Views
A nice article about the Old Tongue and my ramblings - 18/06/2010 11:14:24 AM 7390 Views

Reply to Message