Re: TOM spoiler inside - Edit 1
Before modification by DomA at 25/09/2010 11:50:54 PM
Back in CoT, ch.7, Perrin noticed this Super Darkhound Pack in Altara, which was apparently hunting someone with urgency (around 3 months ago in the timeline, IIRC).
We don't know they were hunting someone with urgency. There was a smell of urgency about them.
Or maybe Fain simply went mini-Mashadar on them and killed them off. Since we haven't seen him onscreen in several books it's easily possible that he could have had this ability well before TOM. Then used the Ways to head to the blight.
We saw this happen in Far Madding, taking control of someone, the fog etc. in Far Madding. So yeah, Fain had this power. We don't know how far back the new Fain scene is. If he's following Perrin's timeline, then he's weeks after we saw the DH, not months.
The matter for me isn't if Fain has or hasn't the power to deal with Shadowspawn. If he can take on Worms...
The matter is firstly that I never understood the logic of having DH hunt for Fain. Fain's so elusive, because he can use the Ways, and the Shadow must have figured this out long ago. He appears.. then he vanishes to reappear somewhere else. Shadowspawn can't even use gateways, so if DH were hunting down Fain, they'd be hunting him in the Ways... except Fain seems to attract Mashadar, so the Waygates he uses are quite possibly unpassable a while after... Otherwise, there's really no purpose to set DH packs on Fain. He'll be gone before they ever get near him. Fain must be hunted by looking for signs of his presence. It's a job for a human hunter, like Slayer. Slayer can't count on Shadowspawn, he has no means to bring them from point A to point B, where he locates Fain. I seriously doubt Moridin has packs of DH roaming the land, hoping to catch Fain's smell ... that's the proverbial needle in a haystack.
The DH in CoT were a very long way from Cairhien and Far Madding, an heading in the directions of neither. They were not after Fain.
DomA's theory is interesting though ... But IMO is a much more likely Forsaken controlled thing than a ST controlled one.
ST? I'm not sure what you mean by Forsaken-controlled either. You've totally lost me there, I'm afraid.
Ryan's thought seems to support Demandred being in Murrandy gathering armies for a surprise attack. This would not shock me either.
I sure hope these Demandred in Murandy theories are wrong. That would be so lame. I don't like Demandred, never found him of much interest, but stacking him with the Murandians would be worst than uninteresting....
Demandred's mighty Murandians: watch out of they'll steal all your livestock one sheep raid at a time, and turn each of your daughters into a whorish tavern maid. They'll also make your streets as dirty as Lugard's. What is Demandred planning? Steal so many Andoran sheep Lews Therin Shepherboy will come at him to rescue them?
*shrugs*. Roedran's Murandians might be nuisance if he gets ideas of grandeur, but little more. They're not DF, won't follow a Forsaken into battle. Demandred could only use them as a distraction. As soon as exposed, they'd be one more national army for the Light. Brillant. Roedran will be lucky if he's not overun by the Seanchan soon... Poor Seanchan.... unless Sufa has a moment of compassion and forewarns her new masters that not even Seanchan rule could bring order to that nation, and they better go above and aim at Andor right away....
If the DH are gathering to Demandred who is in Lugard, well those were mightily lost, being in western central Altara and heading south.... Murandy is, like, completely the other way...