Further thoughts on Towers of Midnight.
Lo, it shall come upon the world that the prison of the Greatest One shall grow weak, like the limbs of those who crafted it. Once again, His glorious cloak shall smother the Pattern of all things, and the Great Lord shall stretch forth His hand to claim what is His. The rebellious nations shall be laid barren, their children caused to weep. There shall be none but Him, and those who have turned their eyes to His majesty.
In that day, when the One-Eyed Fool travels the halls of mourning, and the First Among Vermin lifts his hand to bring freedom to Him who will Destroy, the last days of the Fallen Blacksmith's pride shall come. 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.
And then, shall the Lord of the Evening come. 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. And the Lord of the Evening shall face the Broken Champion, and shall spill his blood and bring us the Darkness so beautiful. Let the screams begin, O followers of the Shadow. Beg for your destruction!
-from The Prophecies of the Shadow
OK, the first paragraph is general gloom and doom. The nations already lie barren, except around Rand. Their kids already weep.
The second paragraph is where the meat begins.
The One Eyed Fool is obviously Mat. Travelling the Halls of Mourning could be the Tower of Ghenjei - and probably is, but you cant really be certain.
There's been speculation that the First Among Vermin is Ishidin, but my money is on Fain. He fits the vermin tag better. But, the First Among Vermin "lifts his hand to free "him Who will Destroy" - so does that mean that Fain destroys the remaining seals, thereby forcing Rand's hand? Does Fain prevent fighting between Rand and Egwene? Ta'averenosity making Fain do this? There’s another school that believes Rand is the “First Among Vermin”, echoing Lews Therin being the “First of Servants”. My bet is Fain, however.
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The Last Days of the Fallen Blacksmith’s Pride. The Blacksmith is Perrin, but the “Fallen” bit could be anything. It could be his “Fallen Pride” – and a reference to Perrin’s refusal to consider himself anything other than a blacksmith. It could refer to the wolves that travel with him – though its a pack that travels with him, not a pride. It could be Morgase, Lini, Tallanvor and Galad – all Andorans.
The broken wolf- multiple possibilities here. One is Hopper – who is broken – killed in tEoTW, thus becoming “One who Death has known”. But its unlikely that Hopper’s death will cause “fear and sorrow to the hearts of men”. Only Perrin grieves for Hopper. The next possibility is Rodel Ituralde. Great captain, nicknamed “The Wolf”. His death would mean that a number of Domani would grieve, even Bashere’s Saldeans.
And there is Lan. The first Badass we see in the series. All round cool guy. “The Golden Crane flies for Tarmon Gai’don”. And “I may be a king without a land, but I am still a king”. Nyn’s husband, Rand’s tutor, Moinraine’s warder, Dai’shan. His death would cause all around grieving and tie in nicely with Min’s vision of Nynaeve weeping over a grave. It would also tie in nicely with the vision of two men lying dead surrounded by ranks and ranks of Trolloc corpses.However, the “shall fall and be consumed by the midnight towers” part is a bit iffy. I can’t find anything that clearly ties Lan as being the “One who Death has known”. The only ones whom “Death has known” are Mat, Aviendha and the late Master Natael. Unless of course, it’s not Lan, but Slayer we talk about here. “One that death has known” – check; “Broken Wolf” possible; “Fear and sorrow in the hearts of men”- if they thought Isam was Lan, it is possible. But odds are on it being Lan.
“Fall and be consumed by the Midnight Towers”. Unlikely to be the Seanchan towers of midnight, but the remaining Forsaken – Ishidin, Demandred, Moggy, Graendal and Cynfear. The last is not so likely, given how she figures in “And After” – and my hunch that she goes in for her Heroic Sacrifice. That leaves Ishidin, Demandred, Moggy and Graendal. My guess is that it is Demandred.
The rest of it is straightforward. DO faces Rand, blood is spilled in Shayol Ghul. Bad things happen. But maybe those things happen only to the “followers of Shadow”.
Things to Look Forward to in AMoL:
- Moiraine meeting Rand
- The face off on the fields of Merrilor, where the Amyrlin is unable to stop Rand from destroying the seals
- The Battle for Caemlyn
- Avi and the Aiel future
- Lan’s last stand – or the battle for Malkier – however it turns out
- The Rand/DO face off
- Demandred’s appearance
- Taim vs Loghain
- Mat taking the Horn of Valere from Tar Valon
Things I wish would happen
- Elayne dies [please please make this happen]
- Rand, Nyn and Moiraine take on the DO with Callandor
- Perrin or Mat bag themselves a Forsaken each
The images are taken from Seamas Gallagher's blog
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