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at seeing things?

by Orko: 2003-02-07 | Not yet rated

Previous Categories: The Walking Dead

Hello, First time poster here. Hope I don't get flamed. I was curious about a passage in CoT pg 633-634 where Mat is leaving the circus with Tuon and Selucia to go buy material for a dress for Tuon.

--It was a short walk away from the rising sun to the town, along a hard-packed road through hills that were treeless here, but people dotted the road the way windmills and salt pans dotted the hills. Staring straight ahead, they moved so purposefully they seemed not to see anyone in front of them. Mat dodged a round-faced man who nearly walked right into him, which made him have to jump away from a white-haired old fellow making a good speed on spindly legs. That put him in front of a plump girl who would have run up the front of him if he had not jumped again. "Are you practicing a dance, Toy?" Tuon said, peering up at him over a slim shoulder. Her breath made a faint white mist in front of her cowl. "It isn't very graceful."

He opened his mouth, just to point out how crowded the road was, and suddenly he realized he could no longer see anyone beyond her and Selucia. The people who had been there were just gone, the road empty as far as he could see before it made a bend. Slowly, he turned his head. There was no one between him and the show, either, just the folk waiting in line, and that looked no longer than before... ...He pressed fingers against his chest, feeling the foxhead medallion through his coat. Just a piece of silver on a rawhide cord. He wished it felt cold as ice.--

later on he is thinking to himself

-- He could not recall any of them breathing a mist, either.--

Since it was very cold out stated earlier in the same chapter, the people must have been some sort of illusion or vision? Or was someone playing a trick on him or a test of some sort? I have read several other posts about whether or not Tuon has ESP or some kind of mental powers beyond channeling. Is it possible she has some form of ter'angreal which would have some of these powers? i.e. give her the power to train damane, communicate telephatically, play a trick on Mat's mind? possibly several ter'angreal? Someone in that high of a position would have access to some pretty powerful items? Maybe her power is somehow along the lines of Perrin and Elyas's wolf telepathy? Anyways, any and all replies will be much appreciated.

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Comments

Tamyrlin: 2003-02-07

Welcome to Theoryland. Actually, you bring up an interesting alternative. In different spots in CoT, ghosts are brought up. Perrin and company visit that ghost town and someone Elayne is visiting sees a ghost. So I always assumed that this was the same kind of thing...but maybe Mat's episode is different. First, he saw a ton of people and he was the only one to notice them. Tuon and Selucia see nothing. Why would only Mat have seen these ghosts? I think your idea is worth exploring, was something else at play here?

Dedicated: 2003-02-07

Good first theory. I think there could be another possible explanation. Like all royalty, Tuon (and Selucia, for that matter) is good at ignoring things she thinks are beneath her notice. Maybe she was just watching her future husband stumble his way through a crowd. This doesn't explain why their breath wasn't misting, though. Intriguing.

Shadowkiller: 2003-03-27

I agree with dedicated that Tuon and Selucia were ignoring them. I believe that they are ghosts and it is a sign that the DO is breaking free. Ghosts do not breathe.

mazrimashaman: 2005-04-07

why does every one automaticly asume its the darkone, ghosts arn't neccissarily evil, we havent seen any thing to say that they are, just every one being afraid of them because there dead

Yaga Shura: 2005-04-08

"why does every one automaticly asume its the darkone, ghosts arn't neccissarily evil, we havent seen any thing to say that they are, just every one being afraid of them because there dead"

I agree that there is no evidence that the ghosts are evil. they don't really seem to be anything at the moment.

The connection between the Ghosts and the DO, for me at least, comes from the Lord of the Grave being another name for the DO. I see the ghosts as just a sign of the DO drawing closer to being physically in or able to touch the world; the Lord of the Grave and the Citizens of the Grave, as it were.

"Is it possible she has some form of ter'angreal which would have some of these powers? i.e. give her the power to train damane, communicate telephatically, play a trick on Mat's mind? possibly several ter'angreal?"

Unlikely, I think. Unless ter'angreal are much more common on the other side of the Aryth, she would be extremely lucky to possess such objects.

Next, someone would probably realise that they were objects of the Power. Given that the Seanchan are not massive channeling fans, it seems unlikely that they would keep these objects. (although this is a highly contentious point, since they do not seem to mind/don't realise, about the a'dam and the Crystal Throne. In these cases i would say that they don't mind for the a'dam, because the good outweighs the bad. For the throne: I don't think they realise, since it works all the time. So unless Tuon's hypothetical ter'angreal are also always on, they don't fit in to the same category. Also with the crystal throne, i shouldn't think many people can resist it's effects long enough to think too deeply on it's nature.)

Lastly, RJ likes to give a fighting chance at seconding guessing him. Not much comes up that isn't foreshadowed or hinted at somewhere. So far as I remember, no repeated mention is made of any jewellery worn by Tuon.

Although that was all far from conclusive, and the issue is far from proven.

"Maybe her power is somehow along the lines of Perrin and Elyas's wolf telepathy?"

Not to be too harsh, but that doesn't seem very likely. First, Elyas and Perrin can't communicate with each other by Wolfpower. Second, why hasn't Mat shown any other signs of his connection to this ability?

mazrimashaman: 2005-04-09

wait wait wait... did I miss something, since when is the crystal throne a ter angreal, and what does it do, also where does it say this

Yaga Shura: 2005-04-09

" wait wait wait... did I miss something, since when is the crystal throne a ter angreal, and what does it do, also where does it say this "

It's in the BWB, chapter 17, The Seanchan: "The Crystal Throne itself is a great ter'angreal that causes anyone who approaches it to fell immense awe and wonder."

gleeman: 2005-04-10

ok, the rumor going around the ghost town perrin visited was that if a ghost touched a living person, that person died.

correct me if im wrong, but didnt mat instinctively do a little caper and managed to avoid touching any of the ghosts? is that mats luck kicking in when he least expected it (or even knew he needed it), or was the touching rumor simply a rumor?

JakOShadows: 2005-04-29

I don't think a ghost touching someone could kill him. That would mean that he has physical properties and stuff like that. And the connotation that the word ghosts gives is that it can't really touch the world as far living things are concerned. How could they kill you if they can walk through a wall and not affect that? Now this is a fantasy world so it might not behave like our world, but for them to touch someone and kill them it would have to be an occurence more like Shadar Logoth than a soul without a body wondering around. And it could be a bubble of evil or something that only he could see. This would account for the fact the women don't react at all.

flayer: 2005-05-22

Ok, wtf is BWB? is it "The World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time"?

Note from Tamyrlin: Yes, flayer, the BWB, equals the Big White Book, or what you correctly named The World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time

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