In the prologue, titled “Distinctions,” Lan Mandragoran rides on toward death; Perrin Aybara, Lord Goldeneyes, has a disturbing dream; Galad leads the Whitecloaks into harm’s way; one who has left humanity behind creeps through the Blight; and the Blight border faces invasion.
1.Lan rides:
I would expect that this will be Lan first encountering the support troops of Malkier and others that Nynaeve has managed to gather up. It will probably start with him being all convinced of his death, and then meeting others who insist on joining him, which will give hope that maybe it won't be "toward death" afterall.
2.Perrin's disturbing dream:
In TGS, there were mentions that Perrin has had dreams of losing control to the wolf. He even specifically mentions a dream where he tried to kill Hopper. Given that we have been told there will be timeline jumps, is it possible that we will see that dream and witness Perrin lose it and go berserk on poor Hopper.
3.Galad leads WC to harm:
Could be Seanchan, Perrin or even Trollocs. Are there any unguarded waygates around the area where Galad is now? Other possibility that the "harm" is not actually battle but something else such as some huge bubble of evil, and Galad thinks that the WC should try to save people or something and actually live up to their name as "Children of Light" by doing something good.
4.Who left humanity behind:
Fain is the likely suspect. Though I did notice that strictly speaking the sentence only says that the creeper has left humanity behind. It does not say "one who has left _his_ humanity behind". So in theory this could be someone very human that is on a suicide mission to the blight with no intention of ever leaving the blight and returning back to "humanity", such as a male Aiel channeler who has yet to learn that saidin is clean. Or somesuch. Though in truth this is wordplay and Fain is the likely suspect, unless someone is trying to deliberately trick us.
5.Blight invasion:
I wonder if this will be just a raid or something, or if the last battle truly begins in this chapter with a vast army that overruns the weakened borderlands. Probably not a major invasion though since we jump back in time and surely Rand would have heard of it. Another possibility is that the invasion is not referring to a military conflict, but rather to the blight itself beginning to expand. There was a scene in TGS where Rand&Ituralde visit the blight and see that it has advanced significantly. Could be that this significant expansion of the blight is the "invasion".
ToM: prologue
28/08/2010 06:44:55 PM
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Good to know, even though I'll probably skip it and wait for the full book. *NM*
28/08/2010 06:56:53 PM
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Got a huge Gollum flashback after reading the part about the creeper *NM*
28/08/2010 07:24:11 PM
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I figured it was Fain.
28/08/2010 07:48:21 PM
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My money's on Slayer or perhaps Moridin rather than Fain.
28/08/2010 08:50:33 PM
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Left humanity behind... could be Fain, Slayer or Moridin I guess. *NM*
28/08/2010 07:58:31 PM
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Graendal at one point considered herself "no longer merely human" or word to that effect *NM*
28/08/2010 08:38:58 PM
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It's Narg, obviously *NM*
28/08/2010 09:29:13 PM
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That would be a great easter egg as an ebook exclusive (leaving it out of the full printed release). *NM*
28/08/2010 10:04:18 PM
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So who wrote what?
28/08/2010 09:43:34 PM
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Is it just me, or does "Distinctions" rank as the flattest-sounding prologue title to date? *NM*
29/08/2010 01:04:41 AM
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since when is Sept 21 more than a month away from Nov 2? its 11 days!
29/08/2010 03:25:28 AM
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Speculation
29/08/2010 04:53:38 AM
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"Another" meaningless bloodbath? Aren't most people annoyed at the lack of such thus far? *NM*
31/08/2010 04:07:15 AM
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Re: ToM: prologue
10/09/2010 11:51:46 PM
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