Theoryland Chronicles

Members :Tamyrlin : Verin and the Third Constant

Intoduction:

Verin speaks to Egwene concerning what she coins as 'the third constant, TDR pg. 186-191 (hardcover):

"...The Wheel weaves our lives to make the Pattern of an Age, but the Ages themselves are woven into the Age Lace, The Great Pattern. Who can know if this is even the tenth part of the weaving, though? Some in the Age of Legends apparently believed that there were still other worlds-even harder to reach than the worlds of the Portal Stones, if that can be believed-lying like this. She drew more lines, cross-hatching the first set. For a moment she stared a them. The warp and the woof of the weave. Perhaps the Wheel of Time weaves a still greater Pattern from worlds....Well, that is neither here nor there. In all of these worlds, whatever their other variations, a few things are constant. One is that the Dark One is imprisoned in all of them....There is one Creator, who exist everywhere at once for all of these worlds..."
"Forgive me Verin Sedai, but if this has nothing to do with being a Dreamer, why are you telling me about it?"
"Of course it has something to do with it, child. The point is that there is a third constant besides the Creator and the Dark One. There is a world that lies within each of these others, inside all of them at the same time. Or perhaps surrounding them. Writers in the Age of Legends called it Tel'aran'rhiod, 'the Unseen World."

To generalize, there is a heaven and a hell that lies within each world at the same time. The Creator and the DO respectively rule their 'kingdoms'. The third constant is Tel'aran'rhoid. It lies within all of these worlds, even those not accessible through the Portal Stones, at the same time. Read the following quote from Ishamael to Rand in Tel'aran'rhoid,

"Oh, I know that name you use now, Lews Therin. I know every name you have used through Age after Age, long before you were even the Kinslayer...I know you, know your blood and your line back to the first spark of life that ever was, back to the First Moment."

This encounter took place while Rand, Loial, and Hurin were in the Mirror World. What is possible through and who rules Tel'aran'rhoid?

Possibilities

1. Creation of Portal Stones
   In TGH, when Lanfear and Ishamael send Rand and his companions through the Portal Stone then awake in a Mirror World. Mirror Worlds parallel the real world and are made up of,

   "...worlds that might exist if different choices had been made, if major turning points in the Pattern had gone another way(Verin, TDR:188 Hardcover)."

   When Rand awakes he notices the Portal Stone in all of its glory. He sees the seven colors of the Seven Ajahs,

   "Something about the steps caught his eye, the different colors, seven rising from blue to red. One for each Ajah."

   So it would appear that although created before the AoL, that these stones that require the OP to be used, were made by those who could channel. Rand and Egwene show us that it is possible to travel to and fro in the flesh within T'A'R. If all of the Mirror Worlds lie within the Dream World or if the Dream World lies within all of the Mirror Worlds at the same time, then it is technically possible to access a myriad of Mirror Worlds through Tel'aran'rhiod instead of using the Portal Stones. To travel, in the flesh, from one world to the next. My suggestion would be that the Portal Stones were created by Aes Sedai who could enter T'A'R, locate the Mirror Worlds and somehow decipher a code for each world that was then placed upon the stone itself. Portal Stones then become a gateway to these worlds.
2. The Passing of Time and Aging
   What could an Aes Sedai, that knew how to use the Portal Stones or how to go to a Mirror World through the dream world, do with such knowledge? Listen to what Lanfear told Loial:

   "She says there are worlds where it is time rather than distance that changes. Spend a day in one of those, and you might come back to find a year has passed in the real world, or twenty. Or it could be the other way round. Those worlds-this one, all the others-are reflections of the real world, she says. This one seems pale to us because it is a weak reflection, a world that had little chance of ever being. Others are almost as likely as ours. Those are solid as our world and have people. The same people, she says, Rand. Imagine it! You could go to one of them and meet yourself. The Pattern has infinite variation, she says, and every variation that can be, will be."

   To travel to one of these worlds, only the knowledge of two symbols are required. If you knew that symbol, and that of our own world, you could travel back and forth at will. An Aes Sedai could extend her life hundreds of years if she knew of one of these worlds that Loial speaks of. Or she may spend twenty years learning and studying the OP and return to the real world one day later.

'Other Choices' & the Desire to Rule

But the most important idea that I can present is that of 'she' that desires to rule Tel'aran'rhoid. Here is Lanfears conversation with Mat in the White Tower(TDR pg.176-178 Hardcover):

"A Darkfriend? One of those pathetic followers of Ba'alzamon who think he will give them immortality and power? I follow no one. There is one man I could stand beside, but I do not follow...Just remember that there is another choice. You need not be a puppet for the White Tower or prey for Ba'alzamon's Dakfriends. The world is more complex than you can imagine. Do as these Aes Sedaai wish for the present, but remember your choices. Will you do that?...I alone guarantee you life and all you seek, if you do as I say."

She speaks that the world is more complex and that there are other choices for Mat. Then when Lanfear speaks to Rand in the Stone of Tear(TSR pg.184 Softback):

"We can destroy all of them, even Asmodean, once he has taught you all you need to know. You and I can rule the world together...(then speaking of the two great sa'angrael she says) we could challenge the Great Lord himself."

She speaks to him of joining with her and challenging the Creator and even the DO. Then we hear what Moghedien says to Nynaeve about what she hs seen of Lanfears plans (TFoH pg.658 Hardcover):

"Do you know that they are drawing Rand al'Thor to attack Sammael? But when he does he will find the others as well, waiting to trap him between them. Atleast he will find Graendal and Rhavin. I think Lanfear plays another game, one the others know nothing about."

What other game is Lanfear playing? Have we seen Lanfear speak of becoming nae'blis? Have we seen her in Shayol Ghul? Consider here what she says to Ishamael in T'A'R (TDR pg. 340 Harcover)):

"You make free use of my domain, she said."
"Your domain, Ba'alzamon said. You claim it yours , then? Do you no longer serve the Great Lord of the Dark?"
"I serve, I have served the Lord of the Twilight long. Long did I lie imprisoned for my service, in an endless, dreamless sleep...Dreams were always mine, to use and walk. Now I am free again, and I will use what is mine."
"What is yours, You always thought yourself greater than you were, Lanfear."
"I am as great as I am. What your plans come to? Three thousand years and more of whispering in ears and pulling the strings of throned puppets like an Aes Sedai! Three thousand years and yet Lews Therin walks the world again, and these Aes Sedai all but have him leashed. Can you contol hiim? Can you turn him? He was mine before ever that straw-haired chit IIyena saw him! He will be mine again!"
"Do you serve yourself now, Lanfear. Have you abandoned your oaths to the Great Lord of the Dark? They are not so easily broken as the oaths to the Light you forsook, proclaiming your new master in the very Hall of the Servants. Your master claims you forever, Lanfear. Will you serve of do you choose an eternity of pain of endless dying without release?"
"I serve. Despite her words, she stood tall and defiant. I serve the Great Lord of the Dark and none other. Forever!"

What we just saw was a woman who believes she has served her time in endless sleep owed to the DO and that she will not go back. Her oaths are convenient for now, and she serves him by word only it would appear. She has developed her own plans and believes she rules the Dream World.

In Search of Her Own Kingdom

Lanfear wants Lews Therin to serve or rule beside her. Rule what? The world. Although she states that she still serves the DO, what has she done in his cause. Lets review some of her actions over the series.

• She awoke and immediately sought claim to Tel'aran'rhiod
• She located Rand and cunningly pushed him into using the OP to travel out of the Mirror World
• She had the Horn of Valere in her hands and left it with Rand in hopes that he would seek the glory it can give
• She planned with three other forsaken to trap Rand, when in reality she played no part in the attempt that backfired on Rhavin.
• She brings his attention to another sa'angreal statue that exists, combined with the female counterpart, together they could challenge Diety
• She visits all three ta'veren and insists they have glory to receive, not of the DO's making, but of their own.
• She plans and practically gives Asmodean to Rand in order to teach him to control the One Power, which power could very possibly be used to 'reseal' the Dark Ones Prison.

Are these the actions of a follower of the Great Lord of the Grave, a Forsaken of the AoL? It appears to me that Lanfear believes that she can rid herself of her oaths, seal the DO again, and rule the worlds through Tel'aran'rhoid and become the Third Constant of the Age Lace.

Food For Thought

Lanfear was one of the original 'borers' of the hole into the DO's prison. I have seen alot of debate as to how the bore will be sealed for good. What Lews Therin and the Hundred Companions did was noble but obviously not a solid fix for the problem at hand. Everyone believes that Rand will somehow reseal the prison, possibly with the help of Nynaeve or a circle of women. I would suggest that the key to the 'fixing' of the bore lies within Lanfear. She made the hole and she knows how to 'undo' what she has done. Within her is the knowledge.