tEotW: The Prologue

Maple al'Tree

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**SPOILERS BELOW, DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE PROLOGUE YET**

I always find myself re-reading this. It captivated me so much when I first read it. Does anyone else love this? The opening sounds so beautifully written to me:

"The palace still shook occasionally as the earth rumbled in memory, groaned as if it would deny what had happened. Bars of sunlight cast through rents in the walls made motes of dust glitter where they yet hung in the air. Scorch-marks marred the walls, the floors, the ceilings. Broad black smears crossed the blistered paints and gilt of once-bright murals, soot overlaying crumbling friezes of men and animals which seemed to have attempted to walk before the madness grew quiet." ... :bow

One thing that I did notice on my last re-read, which I guess I never had before, and which I found kind of funny, is that Elan Morin is wearing thigh-high boots! yes, he is :giggle I guess they are turned down at the tops, so maybe they are more knee length which would be less showy..

I am also still not clear on some of what Elan Morin mentioned, or maybe I have forgotten, so I would really like to hear any thoughts/discussion on the meaning of these topics:

Lews Therin:
-stood first among the servants
-he wore the Ring of Tamyrlin
-he sat in the High Seat
-he summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion
-he humbled Elan Morin in the hall of the servants
-he defeated Elan Morin at the Gates of Paaran Disen


I have read up to Knife of Dreams and am okay with spoilers. Mostly I think I need my memory jogged, it has been a few years since I've read the books
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Yes, the Prologue here is beautifully written :) I always love it, and I keep coming back to it :)
I remember when a friend of mine first pushed this book on me. Three pages into that Prologue, and I was hooked :D
 

Aduiavas Ida

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As for the things we mentioned, hardly any of that is ever confirmed, or even mentioned again after this Prologue :( That Lews Therin humiliated Elan Morin/Ishamael/Moridin and defeated him is nearly certain.
Being First among the Servants are probably some sort of leader among the Aes Sedai. Tamyrlin is probably the Age of Legends Amyrlin, but we don't know if it is for men or for both, or if it was a female counterpart. High Seat can be some non-channeling leadership, or more of the same as the above...
Nine Rods of Dominion is unknown, many theories abound ;)
 

Ryu Shadowborn

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-stood first among the servants

Remember Aes Sedai translates as "Servant of all" Lews Therin Teleman was the leader of the Aes Sedai pre-taint so he "stood first" among the "Servants of all."

-he wore the Ring of Tamyrlin

Obviously where Amyrlin as leader of the Aes Sedai came from, very possibly the origin of the rings the Aes Sedai wear.

-he sat in the High Seat

Obviously Pre-White tower Amyrlin seat analouge

-he summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion

Oath Rod (s)

-he humbled Elan Morin in the hall of the servants

We see that the Aes Sedai in the current age have a hall, this is likely a hold over from the pre-breaking government.

-he defeated Elan Morin at the Gates of Paaran Disen

That we don't get a lot of detail into.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Nine Rods of Dominion can be some Oath Rods yes, but I don't think that has been confirmed anywhere :look:
 
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Actually it's a common misconception.

the nine rods of dominion are actually people, they are basically regional governors. "Summoning the nine rods of dominion" basically means calling a meeting of high ranking officials.


the oath rods are known as binders, used for ensuring no severe criminals don't repeat their crimes.
 

Ryu Shadowborn

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Actually it's a common misconception.

the nine rods of dominion are actually people, they are basically regional governors. "Summoning the nine rods of dominion" basically means calling a meeting of high ranking officials.


the oath rods are known as binders, used for ensuring no severe criminals don't repeat their crimes.

Well my bad.
 
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It's okay. The Guide often screws people up on this, so it's a very common mistake.

But RJ thankfully answered this at Dragoncon in 2005.

Question
I have a question about the Nine Rods of Dominion. We have a couple of references to this, and Ishamael says that Lews Therin summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion. And theories have been floating around, are the Oath Rods not the Nine Rods of Dominion?

Robert Jordan

They were not the Oath Rods.

Question

Well are they positions of power, were they people, or were they actual rods?

Robert Jordan

They were actual people, and they were, but you might call them regional governors of the earth, regional governors of the planet. So if I say, summon them, then we've got a guy who has been given in effect ultimate power.
 

Ryu Shadowborn

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Oh no I never looked it up I just went with logic.

"Nine rods of Dominion."

"Oath rod..that has a number on it..which nobody knows what it means."
 

Maple al'Tree

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Thanks so much for clearing some of that up for me. I thought it was the oath rods too :embarassed:

Do the ruins of the castle still exist somewhere? I can't remember if it was mentioned again in the books.

I also really like the name Ilyena. If I had a little daughter I would name her Ilyena or Aviendha.
 

Ryu Shadowborn

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Nah the castle got Wrathed, remember the Weave that Lews Therin killed himself with was the one that created Dragonmount.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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But he Travelled away from the castle before he did that, didn't he?
Anyway, I don't think the castle still exists, it is said repeatedly that almost all the world changed in the Breaking, so any rubble still standing could be underwater or buried...
 
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But he Travelled away from the castle before he did that, didn't he?
Anyway, I don't think the castle still exists, it is said repeatedly that almost all the world changed in the Breaking, so any rubble still standing could be underwater or buried...


He did indeed Travel,

It's referenced really quickly, but he heads out to wilderness (where you get to see his ability to sense if anyone is around for leagues. Something that slipped by me the first couple times I read the first book)

Funny to think that Ishamael was the first person to stand on the new island of Tar Valon


Desperately he reached out to the True Source, to tainted saidin, and he Traveled.

The land around him was flat and empty. A river flowed nearby, straight and broad, but he could sense there were no people within a hundred leagues. He was alone, as alone as a man could be while still alive, yet he could not escape memory. The eyes pursued him through the endless caverns of his mind. He could not hide from them. His children's eyes. Ilyena's eyes. Tears glistened on his cheeks as he turned his face to the sky. "Light, forgive me!" He did not believe it could come, forgiveness. Not for what he had done. But he shouted to the sky anyway, begged for what he could not believe he could receive. "Light, forgive me!"

He was still touching saidin, the male half of the power that drove the universe, that turned the Wheel of Time, and he could feel the oily taint fouling its surface, the taint of the Shadow's counterstroke, the taint that doomed the world. Because of him. Because in his pride he had believed that men could match the Creator, could mend what the Creator had made and they had broken. In his pride he had believed.

He drew on the True Source deeply, and still more deeply, like a man dying of thirst. Quickly he had drawn more of the One Power than he could channel unaided; his skin felt as if it were aflame. Straining, he forced himself to draw more, tried to draw it all.

"Light, forgive me! Ilyena!"
The air turned to fire, the fire to light liquefied. The bolt that struck from the heavens would have seared and blinded any eye that glimpsed it, even for an instant. From the heavens it came, blazed through Lews Therin Telamon, bored into the bowels of the earth. Stone turned to vapor at its touch. The earth thrashed and quivered like a living thing in agony. Only a heartbeat did the shining bar exist, connecting ground and sky, but even after it vanished the earth yet heaved like the sea in a storm. Molten rock fountained five hundred feet into the air, and the groaning ground rose, thrusting the burning spray ever upward, ever higher. From north and south, from east and west, the wind howled in, snapping trees like twigs, shrieking and blowing as if to aid the growing mountain ever skyward. Ever skyward.

At last the wind died, the earth stilled to trembling mutters. Of Lews Therin Telamon, no sign remained. Where he had stood a mountain now rose miles into the sky, molten lava still gushing from its broken peak. The broad, straight river had been pushed into a curve away from the mountain, and there it split to form a long island in its midst. The shadow of the mountain almost reached the island; it lay dark across the land like the ominous hand of prophecy. For a time the dull, protesting rumbles of the earth were the only sound.

On the island, the air shimmered and coalesced. The black-clad man stood staring at the fiery mountain rising out of the plain. His face twisted in rage and contempt. "You cannot escape so easily, Dragon. It is not done between us. It will not be done until the end of time."

Then he was gone, and the mountain and the island stood alone. Waiting.
 
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Maple al'Tree

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You are right, it was probably tossed about by all the fighting Aes Sedai.

I also noticed in my last read that Ishamael was the first person to stand on Tar Valon. I don't know why I never noticed before.

I never heard of the tv trailer for the prologue until recently, and I just watched it on youtube. I thought it was so bad. They didn't even try to follow the chapter.
 
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