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Re: I always thought of the victory at the Eye as the Lights first big win in the series guttering flame Send a noteboard - 30/04/2012 07:04:06 PM

I think the Shadow recovered way too fast from the events at the Eye for this to really count as "a big blow"


Actually the time gap between the unnatural winter in EoTW and the unnatural summer is pretty big. A whole winter passes between tGH and tDR so it's at least a year between the two unnatural season. What's more, unlike the winter the Bowl produced, the spring Rand brought was much more supernatural and unambiguously beneficial to humanity and the world. In the spread of hours or days at the most a year's worth of crops grew, the ecology returned to its natural course and no one drowned, say, in condensed spring thaw. The bowl was a supreme human achievement, the Eye-spring was nothing short of a miracle.

and it seems the last of those was telling Aginor about it or otherwise attract his attention to this pool of saidin in some way,


Robert Jordan said in one of his Q&A that Aginor and Balathamel found the eye by following the taint on Mat's dagger. Their unique state half in half out of the Bore let them see the Pattern from a godlike position.

But well... in the end there's just Rand's epiphany and the Cleansing of Saidin that are very obviously huge blows to the Shadow. I think we're very likely missing the real meaning of other events at this point to find a third event that really stand out. There's so many other events that played their part in placing the right people in the right place, hurting the Shadow's plans that it's near impossible to determine which one counts more than another. For example, the kidnapping of Tuon and Semirhage's capture largely put an end to centuries of efforts to manipulate the Seanchan for the Shadow's purpose and, it appears, prevent them from playing their true prophecized role in the Last Battle. But none of those events seem to be in the same league as the Cleansing and Epiphany. My guess is that for one or more events in that league, we have to wait for AMOL.


Two central turning points in the early series that lead to many of the subsequent victories are the visit to Shadar Logoth in EotW and the visit to Rhuidean in tSR.

Shadar Logoth prevented the Horn from disappearing into the Blight, gave Mat his luck, enabled the Cleansing of Saidin, split the group so each would grow into their own, mostly Perrin through his meeting with the wolves and Rand's meeting with Elayne and Loial.

Rhuidean gave Mat his place in the Pattern, Rand the memories and credentials to lead the Aiel (and much more in all likelihood), it gave Moiraine and Aviendah the visions to guide them down the path to victory, the tool to capture Asmodean and turn him into a tutor.
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Biggest blows to the Shadow... - 12/03/2012 07:15:32 PM 2026 Views
Re: Biggest blows to the Shadow... - 12/03/2012 11:44:08 PM 784 Views
Re: Biggest blows to the Shadow... - 13/03/2012 12:37:55 AM 911 Views
Those were the exact three I had first on my list. Good call. *NM* - 13/03/2012 04:55:29 AM 419 Views
Re: Biggest blows to the Shadow... - 13/03/2012 04:51:32 AM 1003 Views
Re: Biggest blows to the Shadow... - 14/03/2012 06:22:51 PM 767 Views
Re: Biggest blows to the Shadow... - 14/03/2012 11:36:00 PM 895 Views
Another Concord... - 15/03/2012 12:33:51 AM 818 Views
The LB started in the epilogue of TOM, if you ask me... - 15/03/2012 04:24:43 PM 679 Views
That's the war against the Shadow... - 20/03/2012 06:01:02 AM 779 Views
This is a wonderful summary of what I feel the situation at Merrilor wil be and I wish I wrote this - 29/04/2012 07:41:53 PM 793 Views
Shouldn't my post have ended in NM? *NM* - 29/04/2012 07:49:07 PM 283 Views
Re: Biggest blows to the Shadow... - 13/03/2012 08:03:59 PM 788 Views
I disagree on number three don't think it's broad enough - 17/03/2012 02:53:08 PM 662 Views
I wonder if it was advertised though? - 17/03/2012 04:25:23 PM 733 Views
I very much doubt it - 17/03/2012 04:48:56 PM 636 Views
Re: I very much doubt it - 17/03/2012 07:33:48 PM 586 Views
It's funny because I don't think the Forsaken have proven particularly effective either - 17/03/2012 07:47:58 PM 677 Views
I think they've been pretty effective - 19/03/2012 10:46:11 AM 664 Views
Yet they have done very little to move the grand plan forward - 19/03/2012 11:51:59 PM 640 Views
What plan? - 20/03/2012 08:18:40 AM 835 Views
Re: I very much doubt it - 17/03/2012 09:59:15 PM 663 Views
Regarding Demandred - 19/03/2012 11:11:22 AM 623 Views
Re: Regarding Demandred - 19/03/2012 06:26:49 PM 756 Views
Re: Regarding Demandred - 21/03/2012 09:48:40 PM 608 Views
Re: I disagree on number three don't think it's broad enough - 17/03/2012 05:46:31 PM 781 Views
I always thought of the victory at the Eye as the Lights first big win in the series - 17/03/2012 07:27:12 PM 711 Views
Re: I always thought of the victory at the Eye as the Lights first big win in the series - 17/03/2012 09:16:08 PM 771 Views
I largely agree with you - 18/03/2012 03:25:17 AM 696 Views
Re: I always thought of the victory at the Eye as the Lights first big win in the series - 30/04/2012 07:04:06 PM 687 Views
"Seemingly young girl"? Is she actually old or something? Maybe she's not a girl? - 19/03/2012 01:39:12 AM 745 Views
Re: "Seemingly young girl"? Is she actually old or something? Maybe she's not a girl? - 19/03/2012 10:35:57 AM 814 Views
Oh, I'd probably die. That's not the important thing. - 20/03/2012 03:08:37 AM 685 Views
Not that this debate really matters... - 20/03/2012 03:40:37 AM 640 Views
Re: Oh, I'd probably die. That's not the important thing. - 20/03/2012 08:14:51 AM 639 Views

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