The Official KoD thread *SPOILERS*

I was actually leaning towards the Seanchan having more Randland men than regular men if anything.

Do you remember when Banner General Furyk Karede meets with whatever that one Seanchan guy's name is (in KoD) and Karede figures out Mat is heading for the Malvide Gap. That one general tells Furyk Karede that General Chisen's army is 100 K men and half of them are Seanchan. All of the other Seanchan armies that Mat has been beating up in Altara were 90% local conscripts or higher. All along the road from Ebou Dar to northeastern Altara Mat and company see way more locals who have signed up with the Seanchan than they actually see Seanchan men.

The same is true of Rodel Ituralde's portion of the book. The supply camp he raids has only a few Seanchan. The majority are taraboners and Amadicians that signed up with the Seanchan.

I might be wrong, but I always assumed that by now the Seanchan had at least several hundred thousand local enlistees.

I think you are right in the nubmer of locals soldiers, but i think when Rand and Ituralde will be able to put up a more solid resistance, many will drop off for them. When they were attacked by a couple of hundred soldiers, they stayed with the senachn, but imagine when i force of hundred of thousands will emerge, wanting to free their native lands. I would surely switch side;)

Hmm... keeping on the Seanchan's side and fighting Ashaman or joining Rand and fighting Damane... Not good choices. :san_tongue:

ok i have a few things...first off, Rand loses his hand!?!!? I didnt see that one coming, no sir lol That sucks so much i dont know if he should have included that in the book... another thing which i thought was really cool was how Lan is riding through the borderlands, seriously the part when nynave is talkin to the malkieri then when they all stood up was the best part of the book lol....another thing is i found this interview with RJ

""""" At one point RJ gave a cryptic message to us about Knife of Dreams. RJ Said:"Something that has previously happened in the series is going to be revealed to have a terrible cost." He added, "When you read it your reaction will be, 'Gasp. How horrible!'" """"

Ok maybe i missed it but what could that be about? i really have no idea lol if u have any idea please tell me

The event we all cheered was the cleansing of saidin. The event that was revealed to be the terrible cost was the mass suicide of the Amayar, the people who lived on the islands owned by the Sea Folk. The cleansing caused the female ter'angreal to melt remember? We found out in KoD that the female Choedan Kal had melted as well. The Amayar prophecies told them that this heralded the end of the world... and so they left this mortal coil...

Sad certainly, but seeing as we haven't seen anything of the Amayar before really, it didn't have as much impact with me as Jordan seemed to think it would.

And word @ Rand losing his hand. That was a shocker. I hadn't expected to see him seriously hurt like that... I mean he's had the wounds on his side... but I just always expected those to be healed eventually.

And the rising of the Golden Crane was dope indeed. Nyvanae's sacrafice and deception were the first good things we've seen from her in a long time.

OOOOhhhh yea I didnt even realize with the Amayar...thanx man

I know there were fan speculations that Rand would lose his hand, due to one of Min's fortelling or Egwene's dreams (can't rember which).

Yes, Min had one about a red hot iron and stuff... There was a dream too, the first one might not have been fulfilled yet (it was over elayne, a hand but not hers, a red hot iron and something more).

Heh, almost posted this in the Campaign map thread, but I stopped myself.
Someone talked about the numbers of Seanchan left behind.

How many troops were on the Seanchan land that were left? I mean if the death of the Emperess and her Heirs plunged everything into total devestation...

I would say at least the half of their aremd forces were left their, and with provisory militias that would make between 300K and 500K? Many of them will be dead by now though, IMO...

word - with various nobles trying to sieze power... everything probably fell apart down to the provincial level, so you've got a lot of private armies all clashing for one huge reward, the Crystal Throne... has to be a lot of death

On the note about rand's hand - he's supposed to identify with the character of the Fisher in Ishmael's game - I believe I remember the Fisher lacking a hand and being blind... which bodes badly for Rand's eyes... lol

Well put it simpli now Rand is in contition of a train wreck. He cant properly chanel (partial blindnes and sicknes) he can't use the sword (he got only one hand and basicaly all sword forms rely on two hands).

And yes in Seanchan is happening what happened after AH's death in Randland, war of 100 years.

even worse than the war of 100 years, because at least then, there was powerful nobles in charge of things - so you had basically nations fighting each other... since the whole Imperial Court was wiped out... there's no important people left - that means the fighting is every thug who can gather a few men, grasping for power

and word - Rand is in a horrible postition - all of his power is now reliant on the service of others... his own power is negligable

Holy crap your right...he's gonna have to pull a fast one at the Last Battle lol I hope he does I want to see him go all out and actually be in some sort of shape to do it and not all crapped out like he is now...It's just not fitting for the Dragon Reborn to be like that idk how good of an idea it was to make that all happen to him unless Jordan has something up his sleeve...

Well either Nynaeve or even Semihage (the best healer ever) is going to heal him (I wander what price would Semihage demand, a private sesion with Rand perhaps :D) or he is going on a suicide mission all or nothing in TG.

Well nobiles were viped out, but field comanders arent. Every army now responds for itself. Sul'dam may get upper hand because they got dammaine and more firepower than else.

Well Rand has always thought he would die. And judging by his past interpretations of prophecy, I'm leaning towards that he will survive.

Though it is just a hand... he doesn't need it to channel. I know he has that after afect of Morodin's messing him up, but if he somehow removed that (killing Morodin?) I think he would do a lot better, especially with some sa'angreal.

Problem with healing Rand is not in lack of strenght of healer (they got Nynaeve) but that no body knows how. Maby only Semihage.

What they had not was Damer Flinn, and maybe to reconstruct a hand you would need both male and female healers, and I guess there is no one better at healing then those two, except Semirhage and the Kin woman.

And I also think rand will survive, with only one personality. And that might be an important part of the final battle, to cheat LTT and NOT die, only let him die and not the soul of the dragon.

And I think he can channel with the phantom hand he has now, it is only the image of the motion, not the motion it self that is neede IMO.

I think he'll get his hand back, some way or another. I remember Rand thinking that he could still his fingers bending when he bent them, but his hand wasn't there. I think he'll have some sort of super 'power-wrought' hand or something.

A little OT, but something I just remembered. I'm very glad Tam got back into the story. I was almost afraid that RJ had forgotten about Tam, and he'd never mention him again. Maybe a reunion with Tam and Rand could spark some new strategies and maybe soften Rand up a bit? Eh?

Yes, that about Tam is a idea I have had for some time, a reuniting and a relizing what is important more then saving the world, to save him, if not for himself for the man who took him of a battlefield to keep him alive. And why is that OT? Everything about KOD is alowed here:)

Tam and rand will probably meet soon. Mat perrin and rand cant stay apart for long the pattern will draw them back together and since Tam is with perrin they should meet before the last battle.

That is, if Perrin do not send him back to the two rivers again....

Yeah, I'm afraid that Elayne will end up sending some soldiers to kill the Two Rivers "rebellion". Though I think Perrin should rule all of Andor, Elayne was foolish to not accept the support of the superior Aiel, Borderland and Dragonsworn soldiers. Admidetly it did work out alright, but it would have been a lot faster with using real warriors.
Or Rand should marry Elayne and become King of Andor. :san_grin:

I dont think Elyane would send soliders before perrin was firmly warned, If she attacked she might lose the support of the tower too

The problem with accepting their support is that she would appear weak in others eyes, and what would have happened when they left? Just look at the iraq situation, if US left now the country would fall over since there isn't a strong government. It might have taken longer time this, way but now she has the country.

And I think Perrin as a leader would be fatal, since he don't want to rule and don't know how to do it. And Faile will get her nation soon enough anyway, now that Davram is dragonsworn and all. And I think perrin is more fitted for a borderland court anyway.

Perin is more fittet to cut trough enemy ranks.

But I can imagine Elayne's siege of TR.
It would be un utter fiasco.

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The problem with accepting their support is that she would appear weak in others eyes, and what would have happened when they left? Just look at the iraq situation, if US left now the country would fall over since there isn't a strong government. It might have taken longer time this, way but now she has the country.

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But if she declared for the Dragon, then it wouldn't be an issue especially if the training ground of Dragonsworn continued to be there. Especially if she married Rand or became his consort or something. She would get the support of the other Dragon sworn nations, and instead of having to rely on the Andorian soldiers, she could use Dragonsworn (I doubt Rand wouldn't give her permanet troops, better than the ones she has now).
Besides, she's an Aes Sedai, it will be seen that she had outside help anyway.

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And I think Perrin as a leader would be fatal, since he don't want to rule and don't know how to do it. And Faile will get her nation soon enough anyway, now that Davram is dragonsworn and all. And I think perrin is more fitted for a borderland court anyway.

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But if her father was cut out of the succession, wouldn't she be as well? Especially with the temper of the Queen of Saladea.

the thing being - there is no guarantee that Rand will survive the Last Battle... so pinning your hopes on Dragonsworn may not be a good idea

Yes, I was also VERY glad that Tam came back into the story, I think he will meet with Rand and let Rand know that he is human and eas him up a bit. I think that Rand will make some sort of power-wrought hand as well and I think RAND will survive Tarmon Gaiden, but the LEWS THERIN inside him will die...Maybe Lews Therin will take control, burn himself out and destroy himself and the dark one in the process, leaving Rand still alive tho....Think about it, if Rand all out died, look how many people would be affected by it...RJ couldn't leave the books like that...Elayne Aviendha Min Mat Perrin Tam and a countless list of other would feel a part of them die well you know what I mean you can't leave a fantasy epic like that lol


"Christ, girls are uselss enough already...What the hell is the point of lesbians?!?!" - Jeebes

i got a feeling rand will die at tarmon gaidon... the dragon has to be reborn again.. the wheel of time turns and etc etc so i think at the end another golden age will come and the two towers will join together as they once were people will live happy for a few hundred years and then it will all come crashing down again.....and about how all rands buddies feel when he dies i think that will give him some space to wrap up the saga and gives us all a bit of closure for the loss of rand... thats just my guess (and rant) anyway..............keep up the good work!!