I decided to actually think through a theory on Asmo's death. I usually just read what others write and say "no/maybe," then forget about it. On the site, I noticed that Birgitte was introduced in tFoH. Then I remembered that her memory started fading much later. I checked, and realized that our heroes have catastrophically dropped the ball in their fight.

I remembered that the folks who know her Hero status are Mat, Elayne, Nynaeve, Juilin, and Thom. Mat learned in aCoS (I think). Perrin should know her, but he's kinda dim and I can't remember them meeting after TSR. Still, I understand B's desire to keep her identity a secret.

I also used the site to verify that starting in aCoS, Birgitte's memory has been fading. That's the same time Mat found out. Still, if she remembered the age of legends very well, why hasn't she been questioned repeatedly on... um, everything?

Surely she would remember the day that the DO got free. Anyone would want to learn anything she might know on how he got out, right? Even if her companions don't particularly care to hear the details, they certainly know that Rand could use that info...

But that's not all, of course. She would remember the progression of the battle with the Shadow - tactics, strategies, other things that would surely be useful. They could ask her what kind of weaves she had seen, how the world worked, learn that the Jolly Green Giant was one of many.

Over 2 books, I would certainly ask about the DO Sealing and Breaking, and get descriptions of all the Forsaken. She might have heard that the DO brings people back sometimes. She might even know that there is a DO-only power. And, speaking of power, if Birgitte knows about Slayer's (and his dual identity), it would be a sin to not warn everyone else.

Here's another. Birgitte may very well know The Song. She would at least know about it, wouldn't she? "Hey, B, I know that sitting on our asses in Caemlyn/Salidar/Ebou Dar [or "traveling with this circus" is kinda boring. Let's chat. I was just thinking about all the crops failing. Did the DO do this in the AoL? Really?... What did you do for food, then?"

Or you could play a round of "can you remember THIS Terangreal?" That would be a game that I would make B learn to love had I been in the shoes of 4 "smart" characters for about 2 full books. Why Thom never did it, I really don't know. And, good lord, this is only over the time that she had a memory "like an often-read book." She must still hold on to quite a lot...

What have we gotten? Fantastically useful info on the gholam - bless her for that. Still, her recollections - which may be her best weapon, really - were more useful before she came back into the world. I can't imagine any reason to not seek out some of this knowledge, much less spread it. When they want to pass the info along, they could say they heard it from a Hero of the Horn in The Unseen World. Perrin would verify that he saw some there before.

Maybe Robert Jordan didn't plan to give this series a good ending - or maybe he'll note that they could have achieved a better ending, were it not for the "Spaceballs" rule: Evil will always triumph, because Good is dumb.

"You guys called that a 'binder?' No $@^%..."