ow the Darkfriends found Mat in Tar Valon
by Mairashda: 2004-02-08 | Not yet rated
Now this is no great theory on any of the major questions or mysteries of the series - this is just an observation:
In the night he escapes from Tar Valon Mat is attacked by people he thinks are footpads (only later he learns that there are no footpads in tar valon. additionally the ship he leaves on is attacked as well...). anyway... it is quite safe to assume that those people were darkfriends trying to kill him in order to weaken Rand. But how did they find him this quickly?
In one of the first taverns he visits for gambling he meets a sailor who is identified to him as one of the sea folk (tDR,ch.30 p343). He himself wonders at finding one of the sea folk this far from the sea- tar valon is about as far from it as cairhien or caemlyn and we know of the discomfort the sea folk embassy feels at being this far from salt water. he stays with mat for a while through several inns, then leaves. this is one thing that is odd... the other is that in the prologue to the great hunt carridin notices one of the athan miere at the gathering of darkfriends.
so... our darkfriend is at an inn gambling away some time between great deeds for the glory of... oh well, he notices Mat, stays with him long enough to make sure he really is, who he thinks he is and contacts some fellow darkfriends to take care of the matter...
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1
Tamyrlin: 2004-02-21
I wonder if we ever see this Athan Miere again? I don't know if that has to be the way they found him, but it sounds plausible. Lanfear was hanging around Tar Valon, and she knew where Mat was, and she was probably aware of the fact that he was leaving, so maybe she had something to do with it...although, I don't think she would have tried to kill him.
2
Davian93: 2004-02-21
Its possible that the sea folk was the one from the meeting at the beginning of TGH. Lanfear definitely wouldnt want to kill him at that point. She wanted to use him just like she would use Rand. Remember all her talk about the "glory" with him in his room in the Tower?
3
WinespringBrother: 2004-02-21
Whether or not the Atha'an Miere is a darkfriend, I think that a merchant in Tar Valon was actually responsible for tracking Mat.
TDR CH 36 - Daughter of the Night
The men huddling together cowered. "You have been given tasks," Ba'alzamon said. "Some of these tasks you have carried out. At others, you have failed." Now and again his eyes and mouth vanished in flame again, and the mirrors flashed with reflected fire. "Those who have been marked for death must die. Those who have been marked for taking must bow to me. To fail the Great Lord of the Dark cannot be forgiven." Fire shone through his eyes, and the darkness around him roiled and spun. "You." His finger pointed out the man who had spoken of Tar Valon, a fellow dressed like a merchant, in plainly cut clothes of the finest cloth. The others shied away from him as if he had blackbile fever, leaving him to cower alone. "You allowed the boy to escape Tar Valon."
4
Mairashda: 2004-02-22
That merchant was probably the person who arranged for the "footpads" to go after Mat. he didn't FIND him... of course that may be part of his failure as well.
5
Aelfinn: 2004-02-23
No matter what you say, *I* still think that Ishamael was looking through Mat's eyes, and knew when everything happened, but wasn't physically there so depended on that merchant.
Go on, try to disprove it!!
6
dragonsceptor: 2004-02-23
Aelfinn, I'll try to disprove it if you can prove it. I personally think that it stretches the bounds of reason to think that Ishy can look through the eyes of Mat. However, I have not found anything to disprove it. I also have not found anything to prove it. I'm goon a have to go with my gut on this and say I think it doubtful this link exists.
7
Darren: 2004-03-04
Mat's ta'veren and leaves an obvious trail... also grey men seem to target a soul or a thread... probably why they're soulless. I don't think there's any great mystery to that...
What I'm wondering is how the Chosen know the other Darkfriends. How did Sammael know that Kadere was a DF? Certainly Melindhra made no signs to him.... I'm thinking that being bound to the DO by those black cords must give the Forsaken the ability to pick DF's out of the crowd.... any other ideas?
8
davood: 2004-03-05
in one of the first 3 books when rand / perrin / mat are having their dreams implanted by "baalzamon" in the morning mat says something about "he has my eyes!" without any pov as to what his result in the dream was, but we know rand and perrin refused the wine because we saw their pov i think.. right?
9
charliec: 2004-03-07
I suppose the forsaken could have an ability like fain's to spot DFs, but you'd expect it to have been mentioned...
They often contact them through dreams, so it may be linked to TAR.
Or perhaps there's some kind of archive somewhere in Shayol Ghul...
10
Darren: 2004-03-07
I think the part you're referring to was back in TGH when Jordan was still doing a lot of overt foreshadowing. Mat and his eyes is also referenced in Egwene seeing him put his eye in a balance scale (TDR, I think...) and in the Finns (I can never remember which is which; I'm like that way with the One Power... saidar/saidin... I never remember) in the Stone telling him that he will "give up half of the light of the world to save the world."
11
Traveller: 2005-08-28
Okay, I too hink it was someone looking through Mat's eyes, so for an attempt at proof, read the theory: Mat's eyes, the truth at last
12
Ozymandias: 2005-09-02
could be the Black Ajah. I mean, we know there shouldn't be footpads in Tar Valon, and even though they can easily be slipped in and be ok before they do anything, the BA ncould definetly pull some strings to get them in. Plus, Ishy controls the BA, and we know he wants Mat dead. Just a thought, and almost certainly wrong
13
JakOShadows: 2005-09-05
I think the merchant is the best candidate for the job. Because the Aes Sedai don't know about him escaping, so the mostly likely thing is that he bumped into the merchant, and that's what attracted the attention. And as to Mat's eye being used by Ishmael, I think in the later books there are some situations in which Mat and Rand have a secret conversation; and that news gets out rather quickly for it to be a secret meeting. But I don't remember exactly where, so I don't know exactly where to look.
