I thought Graendal died when Rand balefired her in her secret hiding place. But then she shows up in AMoL! What?! I didn't understand the explanation about how she was able to come back. Someone want to take a stab at explaining it to me?
Explain this Graendal thing to me (spoilers)
- Thread starter Prelille Satosh
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She didn't come back because she hadn't even died. I don't remember exactly what happened, but she realised something was wrong and made Delana do the compulsion on that Lord that came back to Rand (that's how he thought he could prove she was dead). She left Aran'gar and Delana tied and shielded, and escaped through a gateway, right before the balefire struck.
Lok Enkee
Aes Sedai
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That's about it. She realized Rand had found them (since he sent the man) and to mess with him had both Aran'gar and Delena put the compulsion on him. Then when she realized he was about to balefire the place, she left the two to die, since the compulsion would be gone and Rand would think she had died.
It's all in the prologue of ToM if you want to look it up again.
- Thread starter
- #5
OK, this is starting to sound familiar! Thanks. I think I'll be checking out the prologue of ToM again soon. 
Axis m'Troutilas
Gaidin
The actual gate out
- Admin
- #7
Yeah, the whole scene struck me as extremely contrived - who was supposed to have taught Delana Compulsion for instance
It was rather contrived. It's one of the few ways Graendal could have survived while Rand thought her to be dead, given the set up of his trap. The fact that they were both there right at that time is pretty lucky...
As for who taught Delana, though, any number of other Black sisters or one of the female forsaken (at Arangar's request) could have, easily. Or, it could be one of her self-discovered secret abilities that everyone seems to have.
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- #9
I don't think the Black Ajah in general knew, as Verin had to piece together her version and Liandrin had a much weakened version. Someone could have taught her, but why Delana? We saw from Mesaana's interaction with Alviarin that the forsaken were not particularly enthusiastic about sharing their abilities
Axis m'Troutilas
Gaidin
The reason it feels contrived, is there's no reason for Graendal not to do the compulsion herself.
This part makes absolute zero sense at first glance, there's no need for the compulsion to be done by Delana specifically. It would seem the only reason for such a thing, is that the balefire reversal that Rand used to see if he'd killed the person who put the compulsion on.
So there's no reason for Graendal to not do the compulsion, other than being able to appear dead from a balefire strike, she had no idea at the time was coming.
The only thing which even makes a tiny shred of sense, is there's a possibility of taking a compulsion and using it against the person who wove it in some way, perhaps using it as a hook to track them with for example. Something like that would give a reason why she would use a proxy to compulse someone she knew was being sent directly to an enemy.
Unfortunately we've never seen compulsion anywhere have a weakness like that, so without a reason to avoid it its just plain doesn't make sense for Graendal to not do it herself. On the other hand we have seen very little compulsion, so we don't really know its pro's and cons.
So perhaps this IS our indication of compulsion having such a weakness, Graendal does mention "false trails", perhaps it is possible to read a compulsion and use its information against the weaver in someway to track them. I mean she had Aran'gar add in a layer of compulsion in as well just to add in a mans touch to muddy the waters more, so that bit would make sense.
I think I'm going to go with this theory, its the only thing which doesn't come off as a unbelievable coincidental illogical fluke, there must be some inherant danger to yourself in letting a compelled victim be examined by a skilled healer capable of reading compulsions.
This part makes absolute zero sense at first glance, there's no need for the compulsion to be done by Delana specifically. It would seem the only reason for such a thing, is that the balefire reversal that Rand used to see if he'd killed the person who put the compulsion on.
So there's no reason for Graendal to not do the compulsion, other than being able to appear dead from a balefire strike, she had no idea at the time was coming.
The only thing which even makes a tiny shred of sense, is there's a possibility of taking a compulsion and using it against the person who wove it in some way, perhaps using it as a hook to track them with for example. Something like that would give a reason why she would use a proxy to compulse someone she knew was being sent directly to an enemy.
Unfortunately we've never seen compulsion anywhere have a weakness like that, so without a reason to avoid it its just plain doesn't make sense for Graendal to not do it herself. On the other hand we have seen very little compulsion, so we don't really know its pro's and cons.
So perhaps this IS our indication of compulsion having such a weakness, Graendal does mention "false trails", perhaps it is possible to read a compulsion and use its information against the weaver in someway to track them. I mean she had Aran'gar add in a layer of compulsion in as well just to add in a mans touch to muddy the waters more, so that bit would make sense.
I think I'm going to go with this theory, its the only thing which doesn't come off as a unbelievable coincidental illogical fluke, there must be some inherant danger to yourself in letting a compelled victim be examined by a skilled healer capable of reading compulsions.