It's very hard to see what the blacksmith's pride could be. The one thing he might call "his pride" (and joy) is actually Faile.
She is also Perrin's greatest strength and his weakness. It's Faile he chose as his anchor to his humanity. Home to Perrin is Faile.
That does make sense. Another option that your words brought to mind would be Two Rivers. Perrin has basically just become a lord of the place. Could the pride refer to the fall of the TR? I mean it is Rand's home, and there were a lot of people who saw him openly embracing his father (and by extension perhaps his past in TR). Moridin still desperately wants Rand's will broken so perhaps he decides that Rand really cares a lot about the Two Rivers afterall, and destroys it. I think we can agree that if Moridin travelled to the center of the place, and unleashed with the True Power, there is very little that anyone could do about it. Two Rivers would be leveled.
If Perrin's greatest pride is his wife, then the Dark Prophecy might foretell her death, and this would explain the next verse, as it would shake Perrin's soul to his core, and undo much of what he accomplished in character development in TOM. He would lose his anchor to his humanity, becoming a broken wolf.
"Yea, and the Broken Wolf, the one whom Death has known, shall fall and be consumed by the Midnight Towers. And his destruction shall bring fear and sorrow to the hearts of men, and shall shake their very will itself."
I never thought of that idea. It would explain why Perrin's name changes that way, because the man himself massively changes and becomes broken due to the death of Faile (or whatever the pride is).
Perhaps this predicts that Faile will die in a battle with the Seanchan, leading to Perrin losing himself to the Wolf - his destruction that will bring fear and sorrow to his followers.
Nothing in there guarantees the Wolf's destruction will be final, however.. that Perrin won't resurface out of this as the Wolf King in truth (maybe after his death). It may herald the fact not only Rand will have to go through, more or less literally or completely metaphorically, the crucible of death soon.
This would all fit very well. The only problem I can see is the timeline. I mean with just one book left, is there really time for Perrin to have a total breakdown and then bounce back up again. There is so much other vital stuff to be solved still such as the Black Tower. It would also be quite repetitive, would it not. Perrin had this huge struggle with himself in this book, and then finally he finally accepted leadership and basically "grew up". If he goes back to "emo mode" in the final book, I suspect it will not sit well with the majority of readers, most who already think Perrin's plotline has been way too long and angst filled.
Mat travels the Halls of Mourning One-Eyed. He became One-Eyed in the Tower of Ghenjei, he didn't travel there One-Eyed. But that could be it nonetheless.
Strictly speaking, the prophecy does not claim that Mat goes into the tower one eyed, only that he travels them. I would say escaping the center of the place one-eyed, traveling to the way out and then leaving could well fullfill the whole "travels the halls" part.
Mat is likely to have a lot of mourning to do soon: the Band is at the frontline of the invasion of Caemlyn, a league from one of the gates, and without his genius commander, who might not be heading back to Caemlyn at all... As for the channelling defenses... what Elayne may have left behind are Kin, perhaps the Windfinders if they didn't follow to the meeting (where the Wavemistresses no doubt will go) and the group of mysterious sisters (long thought to have been assembled by Cadsuane) at the Silver Swan.
Yeah, the Band will likely take a beating. I wonder if this might actually be something that was meant to happen. Rand has said that he is not a weapon, and implied that he won't lead the armies of the light. Mat conveniently happens to be a genius commander connected to Rand, I wonder if the loss of Band will happen so that Mat will be forced to step up and basically take command of the entire war effort for Rand, when before he could have tried to avoid that by claiming responsibility to the Band.
There may also be Logain, if he's closer to the BT than we think... In any case, Mat might lose a lot of the Band in that battle, and perhaps a lot of the Dragons as well (also in imminent danger is Aludra herself...she makes a prime target for DF, as the no doubt now known holder of the secret of gunpowder..)
Logain might make a big difference actually. He knows the more advanced combat techniques (deathgates and such) that he learned from LTT in the attack, and he is almost as strong as Rand is. If he were to link with channelers in the city and others who might be coming (such as Grady and Moiraine like you say below), then he could really make a difference.
Could that actually be the "glory" that Min sees? I have always agreed with others that it means Logain will take over command of BT, but maybe it means that Logain will help save Caemlyn and become a big hero with lots of prestige as a result.
He would have the mean to bring the Band into the palace grounds, where perhaps many of the dragons are stored, and probably where Aludra now has her headquarters - and of course the mean to send an emergency message to Perrin/Rand/Egwene/Elayne and company.
Actually, would Rand not see it happening? If the attack in Caemlyn happens around the time of the meeting, which seems probable since Elayne is there, then it makes sense that Rand would worry about not having Mat there to support him. As a result, he would likely see Mat, and if Mat is fighting trollocs in Caemlyn then Rand would see that too and be able to send help, or even go himself potentially.
Perrin wasn't a fallen blacksmith before he gave it up after forging his hammer either.
Debatable, Perrin has not actually done any smithing in a long time. It could be said that for most part, he was a fallen blacksmith already. Then again, Rand became LTT (and therefore First Among Servants/Vermin) in this book, and Mat lost his eye too, so it makes sense that Perrin becoming fallen would coincide with the time period too.
The wording of the prophecy all seems to make these verses come true on the day when Rand breaks the seals... "In that day, when Mat travels the Halls of mourning, and Rand breaks the seals, the last days of Perrin's pride shall come, and the Broken wolf shall be consummed by the Seanchan etcé
The seanchan are planning on attacking the white tower, and the meeting place is pretty near. I suppose I could see Faile/Perrin falling in the attack.
It seems Mat may actually have come out of Ghenjei pretty much at the time of the meeting, or very close. "The last days" of Perrin's pride have yet to pass for certain, however - like Rand breaking the seals.
If the meeting is happening right away, is it possible that Mat will go there rather than Caemlyn I wonder? He has said that Rand is tugging at him, and now that Moiraine is free (and we know she has some vital role), it could be that Mat will find himself pulled to the meeting rather than returning to the band, despite his desires. That would mean that things in Caemlyn will go even worse (No Mat to lead, and no warning to Rand&co until its too late).
Right now, pretty much everyone is heading north of Tar Valon. Mat is extremely likely to be told to head for the meeting by the Asha'man with Perrin who opens a gateway to look for him every day. That Asha'man is with Perrin, going to or at the Fields already.
Right, you already thought of that.
Yes, Mat going straight to the Fields would make sense.
The Seanchan are also coming... for the moment it's with all their armies, to conquer Tar Valon... but we haven't yet seen much of Rand's preparations for the meeting. That he makes a new attempt with Tuon before the meeting, just like he did with the Bordermen, sounds extremely likely.
Is there any chance that Rand might know of the planned arrival of the Seanchan? He witnessed the aftereffects of the Seanchan attack, so he likely knows they have traveling. Makes sense he would have taken efforts to find out if they were planning on attacking any of his cities. He might be planning to have everything happen on the same day, seals breaking, Dragons peace and alliance with Tuon. Not sure how Rand would have managed to learn of it though. I would expect that to be top secret.
(though perhaps he is suprised, as I am a little, that she didn't also called back to the Tower Cadsuane and the "fence sitters".
Not calling back Cadsuane makes perfect sense to me actually. First of all, do you really think Cadsuane would have obeyed and left Rand now? I really doubt it, and odds are that Egwene (or Siuan) would have seen that. Given Egwenes situation, giving orders that she knows are going to be disobeyed would be unwise.
There is also the fact that despite everything, Cadsuane is an Aes Sedai that Rand has accepted as his advisor, Egwene might not want to risk losing even that connection between Rand and the White Tower, tenuous though it may be.
(on a side note, I think the whole thing only makes sense if the Lord of the Evening is Shai'tan. In the prophecy, Shaidar Haran is referred to as His Hand, and Moridin as Death.) :
"And He shall take our eyes, for our souls shall bow before Him, and He shall take our skin, for our flesh shall serve Him, and He shall take our lips, for only Him will we praise. "
This has already started. Shai'tan has made a Myrddraal his eyes, his lips... in Hand. Now, Graendal suggested in TOM he's taking over Moridin as well. He already speaks directly in his mind. If this prophecy is literal, it sounds like the Great Lord is soon to take over all his servants to an extent. When he so wishes, he'll speak, act, see through them.
Moridin was referred to as Death, but the Dark One was also referred as the Great Lord. I still don't think Lord of the Evening is going to be the DO, atleast not directly.
We know that Rand is Lord of the Morning. We also know that on Dragonmount he basically become something more. Avatar of the Creator? Champion of Light? I don't know.
Lord of the Evening seems like an obvious opposite of Lord of the Morning. However just like Rand is not actually Creator, I don't think LotE is going to be Shai'tan.
You bring up an interesting point in saying that Moridin is now actually hearing the DO in his mind. If the Dark One really does either possess Moridin, or somehow just imbue him with some new abilities to counter Rand's new abilities, then that would explain his name change in the prophecy. He would no longer be merely Moridin/Death, but something greater. Just as Rand has become something greater after his epiphany.
Whereever Rand goes now, the sun appears. Sun rising from darkness could be seen as being a "Lord of the Morning", even if the darkness is just DO's clouds rather than actual night. So "prophetically", Rand only truly became LotM very recently at Dragonmount. Which means Moridin might still have his Anti-Dragonmount moment to go through in order to become LotE and a true Avatar/Champion of Shai'tan.
Prophecies of the Shadow
26/11/2010 11:34:09 PM
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My take on the Pride
27/11/2010 11:16:46 AM
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Re: My take on the Pride
27/11/2010 06:12:18 PM
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Re: My take on the Pride
27/11/2010 07:44:51 PM
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Re: Prophecies of the Shadow (Broken Wolf)
01/12/2010 04:41:36 PM
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How about Fain as Lord of the evening?
04/01/2011 02:39:32 AM
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