Sealed With Blood Red Wax

[dark ta'veren]

So, the common theory is that one of Verin's dying letters was simply to tell Galad that the Dragon Reborn was his brother? That seems a little unimportant to me, what with her imminent death and all.

Seems more likely that it would be about Darkfriend Whitecloaks, or perhaps something about what she thinks he ought to do with the Whitecloaks (though I'm not sure how she would know to give the letter to him in either case...). I think at some point he's going to have to actually admit that not all Aes Sedai are "witches". Her letter may have been something to get him to admit it.

i find Galad being informed the Dragon's his brother, and the Shadow know this and may use this information against Rand to be very important. the idea that a Whitecloak would take advice from an Aes Sedai??? " hey,i know i'm Aes Sedai but i think you should do this". i don't think so! a Aes Sedai telling a whitecloak you have DF's, and Galad thinking how would you know that... hmm. and what could she say in a letter to make him admit all "witches" aren't bad. oh, i joined the BA to serve the light?

 

[Jacqueline Casalain]

Possible, but I doubt he'd believe it.

And I don't think it's only that Rand is is brother. Gawayn was the one who hated Rand, not really Galad as much.

It has to be something to do with his character. (I mean his emotional composition, not the fictional character in this case.) Maybe some knowledge she has of the Whitecloaks in general, or more probably something about his "right is always right if it's right no matter what" thing.

 

[Morrighan Daghdera]

Alanna's letter: such a dark brown side of Verin---letter is fetching instructions for the flag & horn to be delivered to Rand. Letter delivered by ANY of the Dumai's Wells buddies of hers & Logain's. Asha'man gates her to retrieve items, uses her bond to deliver all the packages to his feet. She is more than encouraged to dissolve the force bond.

She washes Rand's feet w/her hair (Jendai!) for forgiveness. Asha'man bonds her.

Galad's letter: Verin's confessional of why she chose Black, which she thought was Right, & what she learned. Oh, Rand's your brother.

...more later about when Galad uses V's advice

 

[Taika Vinh]

Galad's letter: Verin's confessional of why she chose Black, which she thought was Right, & what she learned. Oh, Rand's your brother.

I don't think Galad's personal views about what's Right would matter that much to Verin. My guess is that it's more general, like naming some important darkfriends among the Whitecloaks or telling him about some Dark side scheme that affects him or the Whitecloaks. It might be also about the Tigraine/Rand connection, but somehow I'd think that's too insignificant for being the only "news" of her letter.

 

[Gerrok Grenshaw]

Honestly, information about darkfriend whitecloaks would cause Galad some trouble since in his mind that can't happen. We don't actually have enough information to even guess if that's right or not, but it could be true.

 

[Marcia Quadrarin]

Of course Verin, in her infinite Brownness, had links and resources and knowledge way past anything we can imagine. It is likely that she would have a list of Darkfriends in the WC, just as she had for the WhiteTower.

But I am confused on the time line here. When Verin died, had Galad already attained any rank in the WC? Did she know he was with the WC? - scratch that, she's Verin, of course she knew. But how could she know that he would become the ultimate leader? Of course she might have sent the list to him regardless, knowing he would do the right thing.

 

[Jacqueline Casalain]

Bornhold (I think I'm remembering the right name?) was a DarkFriend under direct control of Greandal. And he's been with Galad since the beginning. She may not have known all the DarkFriends in the Whitecloaks, but she knew at least that one, surely. And from him, she knew all about Galad.

 

[Carr al'Tyne]

I thought it was Byar, not Bornhold...

 

[Jacqueline Casalain]

I don't remember which it was. One of the Whitecloaks who was a DarkFriend. I got those two confused the whole time I read the series.

 

[Venric Methalion]

It was Byar. He played on Bornhold's grief over the death of his father, which was the Whiteclock that captured Perrin in EotW.

 

[Gerret Farlon]

So, the common theory is that one of Verin's dying letters was simply to tell Galad that the Dragon Reborn was his brother? That seems a little unimportant to me, what with her imminent death and all.

Seems more likely that it would be about Darkfriend Whitecloaks, or perhaps something about what she thinks he ought to do with the Whitecloaks (though I'm not sure how she would know to give the letter to him in either case...). I think at some point he's going to have to actually admit that not all Aes Sedai are "witches". Her letter may have been something to get him to admit it.

I think at some point he's going to have to actually admit that not all Aes Sedai are "witches". Her letter may have been something to get him to admit it.
The problem with this theory being that Galad has already admitted this. While Verrin doesn't know this it would add nothing to the story.

Seems more likely that it would be about Darkfriend Whitecloaks, or perhaps something about what she thinks he ought to do with the Whitecloaks (though I'm not sure how she would know to give the letter to him in either case...)
Maybe........but this plot device has already been used. It is plausable. As to why she would give him the list, she may not have known that he was Lord Captain Commander but she could have easily found out that he was a Lord Captain through Friends of the Dark.

So, the common theory is that one of Verin's dying letters was simply to tell Galad that the Dragon Reborn was his brother? That seems a little unimportant to me, what with her imminent death and all.
Why not. We've seen how loyal Galad is to Elayne and Gawyn. If Verin thought that it might help to bring him and the Children to the Dragon Reborn for the last battle?

Of course she might just be telling him that he has an over do book from the Tower Library. At a silver penny a day the fine adds up.

 

[Jerm Walt]

Seems more likely that it would be about Darkfriend Whitecloaks, or perhaps something about what she thinks he ought to do with the Whitecloaks (though I'm not sure how she would know to give the letter to him in either case...)
Maybe........but this plot device has already been used. It is plausable. As to why she would give him the list, she may not have known that he was Lord Captain Commander but she could have easily found out that he was a Lord Captain through Friends of the Dark.

Or she was counting on him to do something about it regardless of his rank. Do the Right thing! Actually that the plot device was already used lends credence to the theory that this letter was the same thing. Verin decides the best use of her info is to give it to someone that will do something about the darkfriends before the last battle and doles that info out across the board to those she feels best equipped or most likely to follow the actions she sees as necessary.

Of course she might just be telling him that he has an over do book from the Tower Library. At a silver penny a day the fine adds up.

 

[Emerald ní Róhan]

Post of Resurrection... ACTIVATE!!!!!



I don't know about Verin's letter to Alanna. I think that Verin had something important she wants Alanna to do, but the fact that Alanna responded so quickly and absolutely makes me think that Alanna is Black and that Verin, as a high-ranking BA member, gave her a command she had to obey. Why would Verin not tell Egwene that Alanna is Black? Perhaps to protect the bond with Rand and keep her useful? That's not really a good excuse, so that would be evidence against Alanna being BA. I ust can't think of any other reason Alanna would respond to Verin's letter the way she did.

I think the letter to Galad says he's Rands brother or tells him of Darkfriend's among the Whitecloaks or even both. There is justification for telling him both things.

I also like that someone pointed out that Verin was in on the Portal Stone ride in TGH. So she saw many possible futures. Who knows what kinds of information she gleaned on that trip?

 

[Tehmpus]

If Allana is black, then I suppose Verin's message would be to send her toward some sort of trap, or at least send her on some sort of lengthy mission to keep her occupied for a time.

I don't think Allana is black though. She's just got that green Aes Sedai desire to have talented, powerful men as warders. And you don't get more talented or powerful than the Dragon Reborn. She probably also had a secondary motive of trying to tie a string onto Rand for the Tower. But let's be real. She wanted Rand as a Warder. Her bonding while maybe not purely selfish... was mostly selfish.

No, I think Verin's letter to Allana had something to do with recovering the Horn of Valere that Verin probably secreted somewhere in order to help Rand win the last battle. I'm not the first person to suggest this. I think someone earlier in the thread mentioned it as well.

 

[Analiese Sinclaer]

So I think I missed that part when I read the last two books. When do we find out that Byar is a darkfriend? My books are at my father-in-law's right now, and, yeah, wow... How did I miss that?

 

[Venric Methalion]

It's in ToM, when he attacks Perrin during the fight against the Trollocs, and Bornhald ends up killing him to save Perrin's life. I think after that Graendal either thinks to herself or mentions to someone else (Moridin or Shaidar Haran, possibly) that he was one of her agents.

 

[Emerald ní Róhan]

Hm. I wonder how long he's been one of her agents. If it went all the way back to book one, it could be an alternate explanation of why he smelled almost rabid. Seems like he would have had to be Compulsed (I don't care if that's not the right word ) early on. Either that or not at all. Just a genuinely devoted Darkfriend. His role in the books seems strangely out of place compared to that of other Darkfriends, though. He seemed genuinely devoted to Bornhald, despite being kind of a lunatic.

 

[Analiese Sinclaer]

Could he have been a tool of Graendal's without being a darkfriend himself? Just duped and brainwashed by her to do what she wanted?

 

[Vendri al'Varrak]

Some people serve the Shadow willingly, some unwillingly, and some unwittingly. He may not have even known. When he cut Perrin and Egwene loose in Book 1, I immediately thought the statement about needing to travel faster was just an excuse to get them killed for the Shadow. It still might possibly be the reason. Seeing how devoted Byar was to the Bornhalds made me doubt it, but it could have all been planned by Byar's superiors. It could go both ways for both situations.

 

[Emerald ní Róhan]

Exactly. It's a tough call.