They are.... - Edit 2
Before modification by DomA at 13/11/2010 02:44:14 PM
Foretellings have to be about the future, and theoretically so are Min's Viewings (despite Min getting a Viewing of Lan's childhood in The Eye of the World, but let's ignore that)
Let's not, because it's the very same explanation for Egwene's dream. You still confuse the images in prophecies (which are not necessarily from the future) and the purpose of the prophecies, that tell things about the future, even when they use the past to represent, symbolize or explain what's coming....
Even less than Viewings, dreams always use images of the future as its symbols. Most often so far, the scenes Egwene saw in Dream were allegories, predicting a possible future, but in a symbolic way. Min's Viewing was about the importance of Lan's Oaths taken on his craddle and how this destiny would play out. This was still important for his future, KOD, TGS and TOM have made it abundantly clear. Baby Lan was just an image, a symbol - the Viewing was about the relevance of these oaths to his future. He would fulfill them.
As for Egwene's dream it showed her what has already happened to some of the Towers, so she understood what the Towers represented.
The dream showed the rise and fall, victories and defeats of many Forsaken, and the rise of Moridin as the central threat, but it wasn't its purpose, why Egwene had this dream. Egwene's intuitively interpreted some of it (and knew it wasn't the whole meaning). That dream came to her as a warning that Mesaana survived, and that it was very important that Egwene dealt with her, or something terrible would happen to the Tower soon (hint, hint: the Seanchan are about to bring full war to Tar Valon.. had Mesaana not fell, she would have used this to achieve her final goals). I don't think the Towers of Midnight represented only the Forsaken in that dream. The symbols were merged with the Forsaken and their number, to represent their association to the Seanchan. Primarly, the Towers represented the Seanchan Empire through a symbol of Paendrag imperial power, and the power of the Shadow, of the six remaining Forsaken, behind the Seanchan (the key is in the Wind scene opening the book, really). The Shadow still counted on the Seanchan dealing with the Tower and fighting Rand during the LB. Mesaana still planned the White Tower destruction - and Demandred most likely counted on her succeess. Moridin still does count on the Seanchan and the Westlands not forming an alliance, and fighting one another. He told Graendal the alliance must not happen, that she had to make it fail. The other meaning of the dream is that if the Shadow succeeds, the power of the Seanchan will keep crumbling in its fight against the Westlands and the Shadow. The fallen towers also represents the erosion of imperial power, the war that has plunged Seanchan itself in chaos (the central tower, faltering than rising higher, primarly represent the downfall of Radhanan, the destruction of the Paendrag line and how it shook the Empire toi the core.. and the rise of Fortuona like a Phoenix, higher and higher). . As for the Forsaken allegory bit, the fall of the central Tower possibly didn't even represent the death of Ishamael, but rather his failure at Falme, when the Seanchan invasion was pushed back.
The part of the dream Egwene understood is that she had to deal with Mesaana. She doesn't know about the Towers of Midnight in Seanchan, she has not identified the terrible threat that would become a disaster if she had not dealt with Mesaana yet when it came. She's not puzzled out either than behind Mesaana there's Moridin, who controls all the living Chosen, and has been involved behind the Seanchan for nearly a millenia...
Those two dreams are terribly important. They showed Egwene the next two main issues she's about to deal with: the seals and Rand's plan, and the Shadow behind the Seanchan. The Seanchan/Forsaken dream is a new warning, because she's rejected the solution the Wheel has shown her before: she's fled from her Dream showing the Seanchan woman and her must ally and help each other, to reach the top of the mountain, above the cloud cover that hides the Light....