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ow Can a Day Dawn Twice?

by fooster: 2008-01-30 | Not yet rated

Recent Categories: How Will It End?

The Wheel of Time. It is driven by the two halves of the one power. In other words the two opposites abiding in the same moment and location in space time generates the momentum that causes the Wheel to spin out its will which is reflective of its nature or in fact the creator's nature.

The name of the series is the Wheel of Time because the story is about its turnings. It's not about Dragons and Aes Sedai and the Dark One. They are all players on a bigger stage. Just as a main character in a play is not the entire play. In LoC ch 18, RJ reveals some clues as to how the final chapters will end, sort of a vague outline of it all. In this chapter Herid Fel explains that the Prison has to be returned to its original state before it was drilled. In essence, returned to the state where the Bore does not exist. And Herid also surmises how this will happen he suggests that the Wheel itself will spin it back so to speak. In other words "heal" reality. In that chapter Herid also mentions the idea of a state where no one remembers the Dark One at all. Now I won't quote the whole chapter but here is some of it:

"Someone had to make it sometime. For the first time, that is. Unless you think the Creator made the Dark One's Prison with a hole and patch to begin." His eyebrows waggled at the suggestion. "No, it was whole in the beginning, and I think it will be whole again when the Third Age comes once more. Hmmm. I wonder if they called it the Third Age." He hastily dipped a pen and scribbled a note in the margins of an open book. "Umph. No matter now. I'm not saying the Dragon Reborn will be the one to make it whole, not in this Age necessarily anyway, but it must be so before the Third Age comes again, and enough time passed since it was made whole - an Age, at least - that no one remembers the Dark One or his Prison. No one remembers.Um. I wonder..."

Remember what is written on Mat's spear?

"Thought is the arrow of time. what is asked is given the price is paid."

And...What is the name of the last book? And what does Rand have to remember before the end? It seems that Herid Fel is suggesting that after the last battle the world will need time to forget the Dark One before the third age. This fits with the prophecy that says, "The last battle done but the world not done with battle". There will be a time of confusion and rebuilding and a time to remember the light and forget the dark. During the time nations rise and fall and people will fight for thrones and titles and border expansions as the new world begins to take shape.

Let's press rewind for a second. Back to the day when Mierin drilled the Bore in the first place.

Mierin had said today was the day. She said she had found a new source for the One Power. Female Aes Sedai and male would be able to tap the same source, not separate halves. What men and women could do united would be even greater now that there would be no differences. And today she and Beidomon would tap it for the first time the last time men and women would work together wielding a different Power. Today.

At dawn that day, the Dark One's Prison was whole, unpenetrated and unblemished. By sunset that day, there was a hole.

The resulting backlash destroyed the floating Sharom, shattering it like the egg it so resembled, and creating ripples in the fabric of reality as shock waves from the breach shook the pattern. It was not an indivisible source of the One Power the team had discovered, but the place outside the Pattern where the Dark One had been imprisoned since the moment of creation. The emanations that Mierin and the others had sensed with such hope were his dark energies, trapped just beyond the thin place in the pattern that covered his prison. The hole they created has been ever after known as the Bore.

What followed after the Aes Sedai realized what this was, a war and Lews Therin's strike at Shayol Ghul.

Now it seems pretty clear that the seals were just a patch job. A quick fix. Enough to buy the human race time. There is that word again. Time. Lews Therin was called Dragon only after this hole appeared before that he was simply Tamyrlin. Before that there was no need for a Dragon.

After the rupture, need is what motivated the will of the Wheel's next turning and thus spun out the Dragon and several Ta'veren to hold the Pattern on its course. In essence what I am suggesting in this first part is that once the Prison was ruptured, need caused the Wheel to start turning backwards to undo what damage had been done outside its will. The story we are all reading now are the events that take place in between the two points in time, which will eventualy merge into the same moment. It is a story of the undoing of evil itself!

This explains a couple things.

1. It explains why the Dark One is trying to create chaos in the world. Chaos strains the Wheel's progress of undoing what happened that day because the Wheel also has to maintain balance of the present age which is referred to at the end of CoT as the Age of Illusions. You see the Dragon is not the real threat to the Dark One. I wrote another theory that wasn't posted on that whole ball of wax. The Wheel is the bigger threat to the Dark One and is the only thing that can undo the event of the Bore itself and everything the Dark One has done, and thus restore the Prison to adequately contain the Dark One forever.

2. It also explains why the Dark One tainted Saidin. Until I got this theory in my head I thought he did it to hinder the Dragon for the future battle. But now I think the Dark One was trying to either hinder or influence the Wheel's turning. After all the one power is what drives the Wheel of Time!

3. It also explains why people are starting to see dead relatives walking around. Think of it as a juxtaposition happening here. The past and the present are merging into one moment called NOW and who's version of NOW is at stake; and time is being undone. Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end and time itself is the Illusion (or at least this particular timeline is)

4. It also begins to shed light on what the Finns told Rand when he asked how to survive the Last Battle. They said to live you must die. And if I am right in this it establishes that Lews Therin is in fact real, and it explains their likely integration. In fact it even makes it easier to understand how it is possible for Rand and Lews to occupy the same consciousness; and also this unknown third.

5. It also explains Min's viewing of Rand's apparent death. You see the Finns were very clear: to live you must die. The Dragon must die. It is the will of the Wheel. Rand Al'Thor must be undone and with him the Dragon. However, this is not the ultimate end of Rand just that particular version of Rand. You see if the Bore never happened. Rand as he is currently known would have never been born because the Wheel wouldn't have needed to weave him in as a Dragon. A different Rand would have occupied that thread in the Pattern. thus explaining this "third" one in mins viewing. Therefore rand doesn't die; but he does. As the Wheel turns backwards time following with it to a moment that predates the Bore, where there is no need for time.

It is my belief that the Dark One was originally restricted to the confines of time and the human race was placed in the true NOW. Once the Bore occurred, the Dark One "ascended" into humans realm of existence, trying to establish his version of the timeline, which the Wheel has set out to undo. This is what I believe Robert Jordan had in mind as one of his foundational concepts in his story and why he named it The Wheel of Time.

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Comments

1

Tamyrlin: 2010-10-26

Wow. Ok, while I'd like to dismiss this to the far end of loony bin, it is quite fun to play with as you are throwing out an interesting concept. In essence you are suggesting that the way to seal the Bore, to return it to it's state prior to the creation of the Bore, is for the Wheel to use the Taint and the Dark One's touch on the Pattern against the Dark One. In essence, the Wheel will attempt to merge part of a Past/Future Mirror World where no Bore exists into the Real timeline, thereby doing in effect what you are calling "going back in time."

Maybe that isn't how you'd explain it, but that's how it makes sense to me. It was the first thought I had reading your theory. Could the Wheel use the breakdown of the Pattern by virtue of the Dark One...against the Dark One...and I have to tell you that it doesn't sound impossible.

Thanks fooster. Sorry it took me so long to post.

2

Chazle: 2010-10-26

Really interesting and complex. I honestly don't know what to make of it. On the one hand, I love it for its complexity; while on the other hand, I don't like it for the same reasons. However, I DO think that this would support the idea of Mat's spear having a larger role then just a nice memento.

To touch on the "mysterious third"...I've always considered it the first age's "Dragon." There are three Ages that have "happened" so far. The second Age, we had Lews Therin. The third Age, we have Rand Al'Thor. In the first/fourth "Age" we had someone else. I believe that person is the mysterious third. (first age = fourth age). Just my thoughts on the matter.

Overall, I enjoyed reading it, and I think it's fun to speculate on...but it reminds me of the plot of Inception. A dream within a dream. And I'm not too sure how I feel about that.

3

WoTcasual: 2010-10-27

I enjoy the theories here.

Back in the '90s while reading the 2nd book I was hoping WoT would conclude in 3 books but somewhere in there it became evident that it would continue for many more. I wanted Rand to mature and be a hero. In the 3rd book I hoped that RJ would open up the WoT series to at-large authors (like the conan or star trek series) because I had a premonition he would die before completing the last battle. I had no idea he was ill. I'm happy that the WoT conclusion will be published soon. The fans are creative and a pleasure that keep me returning to WoT. I applaud you all.

Some of the less mentioned events that I initally thought could return later with great signicance for the light's victory over the shadow are: *Perrin's freeing the wild beastman that lost his humanity to the wolf call (it felt right).

*Verin's secret stash of knowledge (the where abouts of the Horn of Valere and the research papers on Tel'aran'rhiod)

*Egwene's experience in her accepted test where the resonance in Tel'aran'rhiod almost resulted in disaster.

*Many of us may agree that the tinkers will and must sing the lost song again to repair the pattern or the land, but I think it is likely that tinker Raen, with Perrin and Tel'aran'rhiod, is the key to finding the song.

*Even recently in TGS Egwene used "NEED" in Tel'aran'rhiod and found a Tinker (was it the same Raen?) camp. Mysteriously the fire kept burning, something that should not be possible...

All of these things are linked to Tel'aran'rhiod. Strong Belief is powerful in Tel'aran'rhiod. Tel'aran'rhiod must be understood and used in a special way that, up 'till now, has not been seen in the WoT series.

I imagine the above events to play roles in mending the pattern and nullifying the D.O. once again.

A common thread that has been woven throughout WoT is the pattern manipulating events and people to bring about results. Sometimes it has been minor events, characters, and darkfriends but most often it is through characters that are praying for the light to be victorious. I have great expectations that the major characters will start interacting with Tel'aran'rhiod in such a way that assists in the repair of the pattern, returning light to the world and sealing the DarkOne.

BELIEVE IT!
LOL :)

4

Homeschool: 2010-10-27

I like the concept of getting the pattern back on track, but I think the time repair concept is a little off.

To start, we know that Loial lives into the 4th Age (from the quoted excerpt of his book), so clearly it will be the 4th Age and not a redo of the 3rd. ;) But there's a little more I want to talk about on why I think the redo is the part of this theory that needs some additional work.

As I recall, there are 7 ages. Fel indicates that the Bore must be fully repaired so that when the 2nd Age comes again, the Dark One will be forgotten. That suggests that the 3rd Age is not a mistake, but a part of the pattern.

Taking that further, when traveling via Portal Stone, something goes wrong, and they live endless variations of their lives, each of which ending with "I have won again, Lews Therin." Now, that opens two possiblities: 1) Rand's success must be identical with each turning of the Wheel (re-sealing the Bore), or 2) the only thing that matters is that Rand stands against the Shadow to his last breath. I'm not sure which possibility is more likely OR more attractive to me. :)

Either way, the point made is that there are countless worlds, and if the Dark One is bound on any, he is bound on all; freed on any, freed on all. The Dark One has never and WILL never break free, because if he does, he will always have been and always will be free. If freed, the pattern will be remade, and past/present/future/alternates will all reflect the change. The pattern has a bore at the start of the 3rd Age and is healed at the start of the 4th, and the only way that will change is if the Dark One is freed.

5

greyfalconway: 2010-10-27

Wow, great theory, it seems to really fit.

It would also be a really good explaination for the problems with balefire; any time balefire is mentioned in the books, the gist is that it totally removes somebody from the pattern forever, with no rebirth, and is almost the only way to do such a thing, but then in an interview question, RJ says differently, heres the quote from the interview database:

blindillusion: Is there any way for someone to be removed completely from the Pattern?
Brandon: (Sorry I cannot put out his precise words, but here is the gist) – Jordan started by having balefire do this, but he later debunked this theory by saying someone killed by balefire can be reborn at some point. We currently know of nothing/no method that will completely remove someone from the Pattern.

- I thanked him and turned to walk away at this point, so that he could continue with the signing. But he called me back and commented that: The wolves in the Wolf Dream. We know that in the Wolf Dream something can be completely removed from the Pattern. (Again, not his exact words, but this pretty close. Perhaps J.D can back me up here. He was there.)

If the wheel is 'rewinding' itself in a way (not as simple as that, but 'so to speak'), then that would be a great way balefire could do both things, since the people would be removed from this pattern, but once the age resets to zero with the dark one sealed perectly again, then those threads have another chance.

Another of my thoughts on balefire has been that its caused the spoilage of food and is doing much worse stuff to the pattern, and would eventually be a great undoing for the forces of light, and this theory doesn't really support me lol.

But of course it could just happen that Rand fixes the bore perfectly at the end of the age and time forgets til the next Age of Legends rolls around, but I really like the logic of this Theory, thanks for giving me another way to look at things!

6

brother of Battles: 2010-10-27

"As I recall, there are 7 ages. Fel indicates that the Bore must be fully repaired so that when the 2nd Age comes again, the Dark One will be forgotten. That suggests that the 3rd Age is not a mistake, but a part of the pattern."

This is correct. It is quite simple. I am against this theory on the simple fact that time is liner. It can not reverse (with the exception of Balefire, but then time isn't really reversed just whatever actions took place didn't).

Your quote:

"Thought is the arrow of time. what is asked is given the price is paid."

When does an arrow ever travel backwards? The solution is simple, To win TG Rand must seal the bore. Herid Fel, Min, LTT, and Rand himself realizes this. With 7 ages of the wheel, the current age being the 3rd and the age of legends being 2nd that leaves plenty of time for the seal and dark one to be forgotten. How many things in our own time line have we forgotten? If every age is roughly 3,000 years, you are looking at several thousand millenia between when Rand seals he Bore, and when the age of legends comes again.

7

Janduin1873: 2010-10-27

Well this is my first comment on a theory so please forgive me if it doesn't quite come out right.

Fooster interesting theory but i have fundamental problem with it.

If your Theory is correct does that mean that everyone currently living in the Third Age would be erased? I find it hard to believe that RJ's grand concept would be nothing more than the literary equivalent of the scene in Dallas where Bobby Ewing's appearance in the shower relegated the previous 2 seasons to one long dream sequence.

I have to believe that there is a solution to the DO's prison which doesn't rely on "It never happened".