But then, maybe they did not know Lanfear either. The Portals were in Aes Sedai hands, and it seems pretty certain now they were unique.

What do the Finns really knew of the DO, the WOS, the Forsaken as the events unfolded, or if they learned of those events later as moronic adventurers started coming through the ToG, is a complete mystery.

Their existence seemed common enough knowledge in the AOL in any case, if Lanfear and Moghedien are any indication.

We do not know the extent of the Eelfinn's real talents. One of the spoke to Mat of giving him what he needs, with emphasis on needs. They seem to know something of the future too.

Hard to tell, but it sounds a bit unlikely Moridin could have hidden what he was, a servant of the Shadow, from such beings (it's more likely regarding the Aelfinn and he dealt with the Eelfinn, but still).



Could be, but if you ask me they seem completely aloof and focussed on their own interests...

RJ told us naming the DO in Sindhol would have really bad consequences, far worse than it does in the human world, but the Finns have not made a new rule against that, so maybe no one's ever done it and they do not know.

For the rest they punish questions touching on Shai'tan, but we have reasons to suspect it's about the fact they can't answer them with their talent.




One reason I really dislike the "ter'angreal stash" scenarios is that it's hard to see what interest the Finns might have in ter'angreal if they can't channel (and it seems a bit silly they have this huge collection they give away), and so far their "price" seems to rather be "in nature"... they drained Moiraine and Lanfear, Mat got hanged the first time (almost as if they intended to kill him, but couldn't draw his blood in their realm, by the treaty, and he lost an eye the second time. It seems likely Moridin paid with Lanfear's body.



They were a late War of Shadow invention apparently, at least Rand and Semirhage implied this.

That doesn't explain why Demandred implied they were (re) invented during the Breaking, but he wasn't exactly amazed to encounter such a ter'angreal, as he might have been if it worked on principles unknown in the AOL. Perhaps paralis nets came in so late in the WOS and were so few Demandred judged it more likely it was a post-breaking re invention. It could be they were introduced after Demandred joined the Shadow and the Shadow never found much about them except someone on the other side invented them.

Semirhage had the advantage over Demandred that she's seen up close what the device looked like.

Aran'gar is hapless.



Yup, but Moraine implied they were awake while being drained, and Moiraine was awake when Moridin visited.



Yes, but I think landing in Sindhol with the Portal destroyed would tend to sober her up and make her survival instinct kick in. She knew what she was dealing with, Moiraine did not. Moiraine must have been under the shock of her bond to Lan snapping (it's now confirmed she didn't release it on purpose, as some like me had suggested). I tend to think Moiraine was seriously destabilized/dropped the angreal or lost the source and Lanfear shielded her. Moiraine could be more useful to her alive, to trade to the Eelfinn, than dead, all the more if my hunch is right and the price of the Eelfinn is always akin to a "blood price".

Moiraine would be more likely to strike if she could, but as I said I tend to think the shock of the snapping of Lan's bond is likely to have made her lose the source.

Lanfear is the most frivolous killer - she killed Kadere merely for angering her. Also, place the scene in context. She had just been rejected for the last time by Lews Therin and was slowly killing him. She'd also killed many people at the harbour, and half-killed Egwene and Aviendha. And she most certainly knows who Moiraine is. If the two of them fell through that doorway, I highly doubt that Lanfear would have been cool-blooded enough to weigh her options. She was in the midst of an insane meltdown. Even from the other angle, I doubt Moiraine would have merely stood there. She knows who Lanfear is and what she was busy doing - I suspect she would have given her the same treatment she gave Be'lal given the chance.



I think Moiraine would have mentionned this in her telling of the events.

We are likely to learn more, a bit the way we learned what happened to Lanfear from Moghedien. Jordan (who wrote those scenes) seems to have kept details to himself knowing Moiraine was soon to have other conversations on the topic, including one with Rand who not only know far more than her about those beings, but can even give Moiraine some answers. We will know what's up with the Finns and the OP soon, from Rand, I'm pretty sure - and you'll probably get your answer too about the extent of AS dealings, and for what kind of stuff they dealt with the Finns. It's unlike Jordan to put a remark like Mat's (who wonders why, if the Finns can work the OP, they don't use weaves on them) idly, nor do I think it was idle talk to have an Eelfinn comment Moiraine's angreal is very powerful, almost a san'angreal.

My hunch is we'll learn they can't channel but know of the OP and can sense it, and use it by creating matrixes or amplifiers, and one Aes Sedai long ago got the knowledge to do this as a boon from the Eelfinn, and it's how AS began to make *angreal.

The Glass Columns of Rhuidean work with "ancestral memories" and seems like amazingly advanced technology (or rely on operators...), and the WO's Rings seem to emulate the talent by which the Aelfinn can answer questions (much like the similar Accepted Rings, it might be misused: you have to enter those focussing on topics... novices enter convinced they'll face their fears, and they do. The first women went in there fearing they could be severed, and they were. Novices are told they won't be able to channel in there and they can't. Nynaeve wasn't told, and she could, and she didn't fear being severed and wasn't. WO don't focus on anything, and get an humanely unmanageable flow of images/choices from their possible futures...).

So I'm also still holding to my old theory both Rhuidean ter'angreal were not Aes Sedai work but Eelfinn-made. Elayne is able to copy very very simple stuff, but from what we know all the more advanced stuff required equipment (my theory on this is that the more advanced and complex ter'angreal produce weaves quite beyond any channeler's capacity, some of them probably combine several sets of weaves/matrixes to create combined effects and thus to make those too complex matrixes you need simpler ter'angreal able to produce the more complex matrixes. So basically I wouldn't expect Elayne to be able to make anything very complex any time soon, and if she's able to make small amplifiers at all, it will be by turning natural material (ivory, gold, amber) into angreal, but san'angreal, which seems made of stronger "otherworldly" materials, require technology not available to her.

When the Aes Sedai had those pressing needs to help preserve the Aiel, IMO they had to turn to the Eelfinn (they just happen to have the glass columns among the stuff the AS gave the Aiel? Not so likely. The AS with Deirdre, who were desperate to know more of the future would have sent away a ter'angreal that let them see some of that like the WO's Rings... not very likely either). The price the Rhuidean AS paid? The Eelfinn get their "blood tribute' every time someone fails one of the tests. The bodies of the ones who fail in the Glass Columns or the WO rings are nowhere to be found... In the case of the Glass Columns it's more obvious, as the people in there can still be seen, but afterward if they fail there's no trace of them. That human-like leather the Elfinn wear that puzzle Mat so much... they're Aiel skins, IMO. The Eelfinn have seen few humans in 3000 years, especially after the War of Hundred Years when knowledge about the ToG vanished. Not so likely they all wear 1000 years old or more human-leather clothes...