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by Eric Schwenke: 1998-08-20 | Not yet rated

Before Winter's Heart - Archive Only: What Has Happened to Moiraine?

Mad Viking's ST:DS9 analogy is very good, and is similar to the theory I have had for a while. Some people may still think that there are some flaws to it, flaws which I will now patch.

1) If Moiraine's/Lan's bond was cut off by the destruction of the portal, why doesn't Allana's/Rand's bond get destroyed when Rand Travels?
A) The reason for this deals with the planes of existence (POE)in which the Aes Sedai and Warder are in. Even though "Elfland," as I call it, is allegedly *inside* the Tower of Ghenjei, and the Tower exists in the material world, Elfland's descriptions, as seen through Mat's eyes, suggest a place that could not possibly physically reside in a tower 200' tall and 40' in diameter. The actual land must reside in a separate plane and just be attached to the inside. Some examples of similar phenomenon are the Tardis from Dr. Who, and the Luggage from Discworld.

Since Moiraine was in a different POE than Lan when the doorframe was destroyed, there was no easy way for the bond to connect them, and the bond was cut. When Rand steps through a travelling portal, and the portal closes, the bond still exists because it can connect them through normal space instead of the portal.

2) If an Aes Sedai, and her Warder have the ability to sense the moment and manner of the other death, and Moiraine is alive, why does Lan think otherwise? Why is he emotionally affected as if she were dead?
A) We have not had a chance to understand Lan's POV on this subject, there fore we do not know just what it was he sensed at that fateful moment. Probably, what happened is that Lan felt her vanish when the bond was severed. It is easy to see how he could think her dead, given the circumstance. Lan has been emotionally affected for a few reasons. a) Lan and Moiraine had been bonded for a long time. Since two people bonded share thoughts, emotions, and sensations, the sudden cessation of this, after many years, would be traumatic for anyone. b) The shock of the sudden, unexpected and unusual nature of the severing of the bond added additional trauma. c) Lan and Moiraine were longtime friends and companions. Part of his depression is simple grief for a fallen friend.

3) If she didn't die, why was the bond still sent to Myrlle?
A) To program a bond to do something like that would have to be pretty complicated. It could be reasoned logically that it would be simpler to program it to be sent over when the bond would be cut, rather than specifically, when she died. Whether that was the only way known for it to be programed, or it was merely that Moiraine assumed that it would only be cut when she died, and then later found out otherwise and didn't change it, matters little.

4) Why didn't she tell any one that she wouldn't die when this happened?
A) I have a couple possibilities for this: a) She did not see past this event when she went to Rhuidean. (I personally don't buy this) b) She did know that she would live, and later be rescued. Knowing this she realized that it would be best to not tell anyone about it, not even Lan. This may seem cruel to Lan, and she'd probably agree, but she would have seen it as a neccessary evil.

Her reason for this was that she saw it as the perfect opportunity to force Rand into accepting his responsibility. Without his mentor to use as a crutch, Rand was forced to take command of his destiny and his obbligations in a way that would have taken longer if he thought that she were alive, and he could just zip over to the Tower of G to rescue her, and continue with things as normal. you must admit that Rand has done quite a bit of growing up between then and now. I hope these explanations will clear things up for some people.
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Comments

1

Tamyrlin: 1998-08-20

Good post. I would add that one of Moiraine's reasons for shutting up about her upcoming trip to Finnland and her transfer of Lan's bond is because she needed time. Remember in TGH when she just up and left and we didn't hear from her for a good amount of time...she was off learning and studying something. Eric, the last paragraph you wrote is definitely one of her motivatin factors, I actually started liking Moiraine at the end.