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Brief explanation: this all started in early 1997, when I was an active participant on the old Robert Jordan List, an e-mail discussion group. I had recently been asking myself, "Just why does this particular character (Galad) even EXIST in the story? What has he done so far to help in the general plot development?", and before I knew it I was writing a post called "Galad's Role?" in which I attempted to examine all points of interest about his exploits to date (through COS) and the more interesting theories about where he's going to end up. This started a trend . . . over the next month or so, I wrote several more in the same vein, each examining someone I considered to be a "second-string character," as opposed to one of the superstars whose POV we have seen in a dozen different scenes or more (Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, etc.), and discussing what Jordan's reasons may be for keeping this person around. The final post in this series, "Bela's Role?" is meant to be taken with a grain of salt, and only achieved its current form about a year after I did the other "Blank's Role?" posts.
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Considering that Galadedrid Damodred is the half-brother, and thus the only living NEAR relative of THE central character of this story (the Dragon Reborn) as far as we know, it is VERY strange that thus far he has gotten so little time onstage. In point of fact, in the last two books he has gotten NO time onstage, thus striking him from the list of WoT Superstars who appear in every volume (Rand, Mat, Lan, Gawyn, Elayne, Thom Merrilin, Egwene, Min, Padan Fain).
I have always been intrigued by Galad, and would like to see more of him. Of course, once Berelain falls in love with him that will give us more to work with, but here's a question that occurred to me: What is Galad's purpose in the plot? What will his invaluable contribution to the happy ending be? Let's review what he has actually DONE so far (precious little):
Book One: He tells Morgase Rand fell into the garden.
Book Two: he is at TV and girls are gazing at him dreamily.
Book Three: Mat beats him and Gawyn in the practice yard. Their practice swords against Mat's quarterstaff.
Book Four: He seems to have left the WT before the mutiny, so he hasn't killed any Warders, AS, etc. that we know of.
Book Five: He gets a ship for Nyn and El. Masema simultaneously tries to get the same ship for them, prompting a civil war (at least briefly) since Galad's Whitecloaks fanatically follow HIS orders (seize that ship!) and Masema's disciples fanatically follows HIS orders (seize that ship!) and neither side knows why the other side wants it (they all wanted it for the same reason, but they never realized that. All that bloodshed over nothing).
Books Six and Seven: A WC Officer since before we saw him in Book Five, he is offstage somewhere, holding the line against Dragonsworn rabble, etc., along the Amadicia/Ghealdan border (or so Morgase is told - we never see him onstage at all).
Not the most significant career, from a plot perspective. I suppose the high point was when his troops and Masema's started slaughtering each other in the streets and accomplishing absolutely nothing in the process. But he must exist for a reason - in terms of RJ keeping him around because there is something that he and only he can do in bringing about the Grand Finale, that is to say - and his claim to the throne of Cairhien is a lot stronger than Elayne's. (They are both legitimate children of Taringail, who was nephew to King Laman Damodred of CAirhien. But Galad's older, for one thing, and he's actually a Damodred - a Cairhienin House, whereas she calls herself a Trakand).
Possible developments in Galad's future (I don't say all of these will happen, I just think they are various different paths his life could take):
1) He was last heard of along the Amadicia/Ghealdan border. If he leads soldiers against Masema's troops, he will have to enter Ghealdan. Perrin has recently been Gated to Ghealdan along with a small army (and most importantly, the Fearsome Faile!) and is supposed to talk to Masema, and I believe Queen Alliandre (who sent a friendly personal letter to Rand in LOC, I think it was). Morgase and Company (Lini, Tallanvor, Balwer the former Whitecloak Spymaster, etc.) are fleeing Amador and moving in an easterly direction, last we heard. Ghealdan happens to be east of Amadicia. Put it all together and we have - a three-way collision! If nothing else, this would persuade Galad that Rand hasn't killed or even tried to kill his stepmother, which ought to take a load off his mind.
Ever since TEOTW, Perrin has been considered a murdering, lying, yellow-eyed Darkfriend by the Whitecloaks. That was almost two years ago . . . by this time, Galad has presumably seen his name on the list of "Wanted Dead or Alive: Known Darkfriends!" that the Children of the Light keep up-to-date with all the names of people they don't like. So Galad will try to arrest Perrin when he meets him. DOING this when Perrin has Aes Sedai, Asha'man, hundreds of soldiers, and Faile to protect him will be very tricky (I don't think Galad can make it stick), but being the dutiful boy that he is, Galad will feel morally obligated to TRY.
2) Girls apparently develop hopeless crushes on Galad at first glance, but he is much too gentlemanly to take advantage of it. In fact, it's possible (I'm not sure) that he doesn't fully realize the problem exists! This is interesting because Berelain has much the same effect on men, except that in her case she takes great trouble to exploit it as a political weapon. Suppose she falls for Galad at first sight - and tries to flirt with him - and he doesn't even notice? After all, he probably thinks ALL women normally wear a dreamy, hopeful expression, for no particular reason, and may not even realize it's because of his own face, etc. It would serve her right if she threw herself at someone who didn't even notice her interest, and ignored her. (In the short run - since Min Viewed Berelain falling for a man in white, I have hopes that eventually Galad and Berelain will get married).
3) A big piece of the Children's command structure was presumably either killed or captured when the Seanchan took the Fortress of Light. (PLEASE let Eamon Valda have died a slow, lingering death!) It is possible that Galad will get word of this, appoint himself acting Commander of available forces along the border, and end up as the new Lord Captain Commander of the Children of Light as he gathers men to his banner. (A Whitecloak Leader who is actually honest, virtuous, and idealistic? Nah . . . it would never work :) )
TDR: First appearing in this volume, her principal role was to give Perrin somebody to talk to and fall in love with, somebody who was A) Human, B) About his own age (since the others his age had all left), and C) Female. IIRC, she didn't actually *do* anything crucial here - Lan and Perrin each killed a Darkhound, and Moiraine balefired the rest of them, for example. Her most dramatic moment was when she was a prisoner in T'A'R and Perrin rescued her. The classic "damsel in distress" character in that instance, but she's been anything BUT that ever since. On the bright side, she DID have a sense of humor - an area where Lan, Moiraine, Perrin, and Loial are all noticeably weak. The way she kept calling Lan "stoneface" and doing her best to pretend he didn't scare her caught my attention. Too bad that sense of humor subsequently seems to have been thrown out with the garbage . . .
TSR: She started to fight Berelain over Perrin, then decided to tag along with him back to the 2R (she had already decided to marry him, she just hadn't bothered telling him yet). Faile was becoming increasingly dominant/bossy/manipulative (dependent on which school of thought you subscribe to) in TSR as she:
A) Tricked Loial into promising he would take her through a Waygate before he did anything else . . . when he found out she did that to force her company on Perrin (after making him sweat) he (Loial) was visibly annoyed. And perhaps even more annoyed at the way she insisted on keeping their parties separate in the Ways unless Perrin would beg permission to travel with her.
B) Did all she could to support the idea that Perrin was the natural ruler of the 2R. I still haven't forgiven her for that one. Better if she had convinced the 2R people to hold a general election for a Governor (I nominate Tam al'Thor!) - but she's a hereditary aristocrat and I'm a republican, so we hardly see eye to eye :)
C) Forced Perrin to marry her before she would ride for help (And didn't tell him where she really intended to go for help, either, Light knows why . . .) I call that blackmail.
I enjoyed the Faile/Perrin scenes in that book. I just wouldn't want to meet her in RL.
TFOH: No appearance.
In LOC came the bit that provides the most ammunition for her enemies. Berelain flaunts herself at Perrin again, and Faile reacts as though Perrin is betraying her and refuses to talk to him about it, even. Some of her previous actions annoyed me, but this made me really dislike her. It also made me wonder if Perrin made a bad mistake marrying her so soon . . . remember how she convinced the Women's Circle in Emond's Field to waive the one-year-betrothal rule in their case? A year's waiting period mught have given them time to prepare themselves for the severe commitment and emotional strain of marriage. Juvenile marriages in RL fail more frequently than the average, and I suspect part of the problem is that young people rush into it after only knowing each other a few months, as Perrin and Faile did. Another part is that they may not really know what to do to stay happily married... sex is not the answer to every marital problem, no matter how often Faile uses that "Forward as a Saldaean farmgirl" line to end a conversation (has anyone kept count of how often she's used it? I haven't even tried). Open communication, OTOH, is vital.
COS: Faile has gathered evidence against Colavaere while Rand, Perrin, etc., were gone. But she's still jealous every time Perrin does something provocative like mention Berelain in any context whatsoever. And when we last see her, in COS:28, she is (what else is new?) angry at him again without saying why. And up to something sneaky on the side, with those young Cairhienin "Aiel Wannabees" she recruited for some reason.
Thus far, her contributions to actually getting important things done have been minimal, except for an item or two like riding for help in TSR. Will she ever do anything significant again?
Useful things she *could* do in the last 3 books:
1) Stop being a millstone around Perrin's neck and start supporting him instead so that his morale actually improves. At the end of COS:28, Perrin was thinking the sooner he and Faile were far away from Berelain, the better, but I don't think it will be that simple if she still doesn't discuss problems with him instead of sulking..
2) Explain the Broken Crown bit to Perrin. Best guess, from Davram's hints - it relates to the Bashere family claim to the throne of Saldaea if anything happens to Tenobia. Are Perrin and Faile going to end up running that country? We can hope not...
3) Drop dead so Perrin can be put through even *more* emotional agony, and subsequently marry a nice girl who will believe he's faithful to her, tell him when she has a problem they ought to discuss, and not blackmail him or try to mold him into a perfect aristocrat despite his loathing of the idea.
4) Other (Suggestions are welcome)
Back in the carefree days of yore (before Rand was publicly proclaiming himself the Dragon Reborn/Car'a'carn) Loial got more time in the spotlight. His expertise in guiding friends through the Ways was invaluable. Modern advances in Travelling have made that less important, of late :)
He was always handy when RJ wanted to give us a brief lecture on some historical point or other- the recorded information about Be'lal, the story of the man who visited Stedding Shangtai 20 years back with an odd warning about the Eye of the World (obviously Jain Farstrider), discussing Portal Stones with Selene . . . and he has been known to kill Trollocs with his bare hands in an emergency, despite his peaceable nature. In TSR that Perrin remembered a very old 2R proverb, something like, "To anger the Ogier, and bring the mountains down on your head," which everybody thought meant "To do (or attempt) the impossible." Seeing Loial fighting Trollocs (and consistently winning, despite the fact that Trollocs have armor and weapons and are presumably trained in how to use them), Perrin began to suspect that the original meaning was, "Making an Ogier angry is VERY stupid; it's as dumb as creating an avalanche and being crushed by it." A POV which is supported by Rand's ancestral memories of the Ogier role in the War of Power.
But all this was in the first four books. In #5 we didn't see Loial at all, thus striking him from the list of superstar characters who have at least had cameos in every volume to date (The current list includes: Rand, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, Gawyn, Thom, Min, Lan, Padan Fain). In #6 he fought at Dumai's Wells, but didn't do anything vital. In #7, he's heading off to the Stedding (with an Asha'man escort) to speak to the various Stumps.
So: what is Loial's role to be in the ultimate victory over the Shadow?
Possible developments in Loial's future:
1) He marries Erith (this seems to be inevitable now that his mother has approved the idea).
2) His discussions with the Elders of the various steddings persuade them the time has come to go to war again, as they did in the AoL . . . and again in the Trolloc Wars.
3) At the very end of the series, the first volume of his monumental chronicle of the Dragon Reborn is published, selling about a million copies in the first edition (making him the first Ogier to become independently wealthy in human terms) with the catchy title of THE EYE OF THE WORLD, and at least 9 more volumes to follow. (If Loial can read Robert A. Heinlein books (TO SAIL BEYOND THE SUNSET), why can't Robert Jordan read Loial books? And just be releasing his English translations of the original manuscripts? And keeping us starved for more by pretending to be sweating away over a word processor for 14 (or more) months at a time, so we'll feel sorry for him?)
4) In tEotW and TGH Loial's talent as a Treesinger was mentioned several times. He used it in a funeral service for the Green Man, and Erith mentioned that Stedding Shangtai was known to have a very young and talented Treesinger (not realizing he was standing in front of her). But since then . . . nothing. Consider:
1) Rand's ancestral memories showed Aiel and Ogier used to sing together to keep the fields producing (renew the land, I suppose - analogous to modern fertilizers?)
2) The Tinkers are seeking the Song, though they don't remember exactly why. I wonder how they expect to recognize it if they don't know what it's supposed to do?
3) Lan is the King of Malkier, and I have been assuming that, like Aragorn, he will eventually make that mean something by becoming ruler of a thriving nation. Otherwise his being a King is a pretty pointless item in the story (which is EXACTLY how he feels about it himself, granted).
4) LTT hailed Ishamael in tEotW Prologue with, "Have you the Voice, stranger?" Evidently the human end of singing, like the Ogier Treesinging part, only works for those with innate talent the Song, in other words, will not work for just any Tinker who happens to run across it.
So I favor a scenario where Loial is instrumental in leading a combined Ogier/Tinker/Aiel coalition consisting mainly of Talented Singers of both species to reclaim the Blight, beginning with Malkier, though possibly not until after TG. If Aram runs through the glass columns in Rhuidean and learns the Song, and has the Talent to use it, will his fellow Tinkers decide he's a messiah instead of an outcast? Could he finally get over this fixation he has developed on killing people with his sword?
NOTE: Some have pointed out that the AoL Songs apparently required the aid of a Nym, and there ain't no more of them around. I prefer to think, however, that Ogier Treesinging + Ancient AoL Singing could work marvellous wonders even if it wasn't up to the AoL standard.
5 or 6 WoT months and 3 volumes have gone past without him, and still no sign of the man who showed signs of being one of the DO's prize troubleshooters (as much as any non-channeler can be). We know he was badly wounded in TSR when Perrin shot him in T'A'R, but he was able to ride away in the waking world, so it's too much to hope that he died on the trail. If he's destined to be part of TG (fighting cousin Lan, maybe) shouldn't there be a bit more buildup so we don't forget him entirely before the last volume? And wouldn't the DO still have other errands for him to run, even if he didn't completely ravage the 2R as instructed?
To review what we know about his capabilities:
1) In the waking world, he is red-haired and calls himself Lord Luc; Perrin thinks he resembles Rand somewhat. Not surprising if he's the Luc whose sister Tigraine was Rand's mother, which is quite likely given the Luc/Isam connection mentioned in the Dark Prophecy in TGH.
2) In T'A'R both Perrin and Nynaeve do a double take the first time they see his face, due to a remarkable resemblance to their dark-haired friend Lan (specifically, I think both of them thought he WAS Lan, at first glance). And his Trolloc hordes call out "ISAM!" as they attack (the name of Lan's cousin, last seen in a group ambushed by Trollocs back when he was a baby and Malkier was falling). Again, the TGH prophecy indicates he's been merged with Luc. (Myself, I didn't figure all this out until my second time through the series . . . I read the warcry "ISAM!" and thought, "I've seen that name somewhere else," and tracked it down, just as I didn't have a clue what DotNM meant until I reread TGH and noticed where the Seanchan Empress lives).
3) I think Isam's personality dominates both in T'A'R and awake. I suspect Luc's mind is dead, like the original minds for the bodies Aginor/Osan'gar and Balthamel/Aran'gar/Halima are now using. After all, Ishy had the chance to raise Isam from the cradle to be a good - I mean, an evil little Darkfriend. Luc grew up in the somewhat healthier environment of Andoran royalty, and presumably had some of the same moral code Gawyn and Galad live by.
4) In T'A'R, Hopper calls the Luc/Isam fusion Slayer and states that he is there in the flesh. Birgitte says, "This Slayer is not old, archer, but his evil is ancient." (TSR:31:324). In addition, Perrin, about 2 pages earlier, thinks he smells "Cold, and not really human." Is the ancient evil and cold inhuman scent related to the fact that he is there in the flesh (which the WO condemn without explaining very clearly) or is there something else we should know?
5) Perrin first lays eyes on Slayer in a T'A'R scene in TSR when Slayer, for reasons never explained, is heading out of the 2R area and toward the Tower of Ghenjei. They reach the Tower and Slayer goes right in, but before Perrin can figure out how to follow him Birgitte pops up (that ta'veren luck, you know) and delivers a concise lecture on the Aelfinn/Eelfinn, the gist of which is, "Going in there in T'A'R is even riskier than going in awake, which isn't a good idea to begin with." But Slayer didn't hesitate, and obviously survived the experience to continue leading Trollocs in the 2R in later scenes. What was that all about? Did he make some wishes and get them granted? Did he return there as the nearest safe place to hide and recuperate after Perrin put an arrow in him? If so, is he currently playing 3-handed pinochle with Lanfear and Moiraine in the realm of the Aelfinn/Eelfinn to pass the time, waiting for Thom to show up and make a fourth so they can start a friendly rubber of bridge?
6) He still has a secret identity of sorts. Perrin knows Lord Luc was Slayer, but never recognized the name Isam as being Lan's long-lost cousin. Also, Perrin does not realize that "Luc" was the name of the long-lost Andoran Prince who was Tigraine's brother. Verin heard the Trollocs shouting the name Isam too, and may have recognized it from that Dark Prophecy about Luc and Isam that she copied down in Fal Dara in TGH. If so, she has probably realized Luc was who the Trollocs meant by Isam, though she wouldn't know about his T'A'R skirmishes with Perrin. Nobody else seems to know a thing about all this - at least, we've never seen Perrin or Verin chatting about it with their friends (does Verin really HAVE any friends? But I digress).
So if a Lord Luc shows up in some other part of the world, and meets any of our heroes EXCEPT Perrin, Verin, Faile, and others who were with them in the 2R at the time Lord Luc was there, he'll still have a good cover story, even if he continues using the name "Lord Luc."
Things Slayer might do in the future:
1) Hunt down and ambush the increasing numbers of enemy (good guy) Dreamwalkers before they get too skilled and numerous. In TSR, the good guys who were able and willing to access T'A'R either asleep or by going there physically were limited to:
4 Wise Ones, one of whom died, leaving Amys, Bair, and Myrelle. Egwene, beginning to study with them. Perrin (and presumably Elyas, if he ever shows up again) by virtue of being Wolfbrother. Rand
(specifically, he had already gone there in the flesh, as in the finale of TDR) Nyn and El were just starting to get the hang of that ring ter'angreal Verin gave Egwene.
Grand total, 8 still alive at the end of the book (ignoring Elyas, who hasn't been seen since the first book anyway and probably hasn't attracted any attention from the Forsaken yet, as long as he stays away from the main action in the national capitals); most of them still amateurs.
Balanced against them were all the surviving Forsaken (9, since Aginor and Balthamel and Ishamael were still dead) and Slayer. A complete purge of the good dreamwalkers might have been relatively simple to trained professionals like the Forsaken . . . but they didn't really try (except for Moggy chasing Nyn and El around in T'A'R, then deciding to let them live so she could infiltrate) and now the young dreamwalkers have had several month's practice and El has mass-produced some rings and many of the SAS are taking lessons in using them. The Forsaken are losing a critical advantage. Fortunately, they're too stupid to do anything about it (if the Forsaken A) could coordinate their activities together with a certain amount of mutual trust, and B) had as much intelligence for plotting strategy, etc., as my 12-year-old brother demonstrates when he plays wargames with me, they would be unbeatable. Fortunately, they're a bunch of lying morons instead).
2) He may be something Thom has to contend with in the Tower of Ghenjei, as I suggested above. He certainly didn't seem worried about going there the first time, so it's conceivable he went back, the Waygate being closed so that he couldn't just hop back to SG that way, and if he stayed out in the open in the "normal" world, Perrin and friends just might have tracked him down again, yes?
3) "Lord Luc" could return to Andor publicly. Though he has no claim to the throne, being male, he might claim a right to a sort of Regency : "Look, everybody! I was the brother of a previous Daughter-Heir; perhaps I should be running things instead of this Aiel fellow until my dear cousin Elayne shows up (if he hasn't killed her)." He would need an awfully good cover story concerning where he's been for the past 28 years, though.
4) Many of us think a Slayer/Lan duel at TG would be beautiful. This assumes, of course, that Slayer is a blademaster himself and qualified to give Lan a good fight, otherwise it wouldn't be so interesting. His clashes with Perrin were not swordfights, so we don't know.
5) There has been some speculation concerning finding a way to separate Isam from Luc. I don't think it will happen, but I don't know that for a fact. For one thing, I think Luc's mind is DEAD and Isam's consciousness dominates both the Luc body in the waking world and the Isam body in T'A'R. But if Luc's personality is still "buried" inside his own brain, or something, rescuing him from Isam's mental clutches could be interesting. This relates to suggestions raised before that the prophecy "His blood on the rocks" could mean Rand's blood, or his half-brother Galad's blood, or his uncle Luc's blood (if my calculations are correct, Luc and Galad each ought to have approx 1/4 of their DNA in common with Rand). I think it'll be Rand himself, killed at SG (and raised again), but I've been wrong before.
NOTE: Some people see Slayer (Luc/Isam) as a sort of control for judging the Dragon Reborn's (Rand/LTT) situation, ie, Rand and LTT are also stuck in one body at the moment, but perhaps something could be done to separate them? Perhaps Slayer will be a guinea pig for Aes Sedai researchers, and if they can untangle Luc from Isam (and Birgitte's experience already proves a T'A'R person can spontaneously acquire a physical body out of thin air with no need to take over somebody else's living body instead, so perhaps Isam could be forced into an Isam-body and Luc could get his own back) they could then repeat the process with Rand and LTT? Rand keeps his body, a LTT body materializes out of thin air with Lews's mind now parked inside it, and they BOTH fight in Tarmon Gai'don? I don't think so . . . but it's still an interesting idea.
tEotW: She has one scene, making a strong impression on Rand. TGH: Nothing. TDR: Mat meets her and sees her doting on Gaebril (he doesn't know Gaebril uses Compulsion). TSR: Nothing.
TFOH: We see quite a bit of her, including her POV. She does a good job snapping out of Rahvin's "spell" and sneaking out of the city to look for allies. She is beginning to take an active role in the plot.
LOC: Evidenly, she decided Ailron of Amadicia was the ally to seek (personally, I might have headed north to talk to the Borderlanders). Pedron Niall intervenes, pointing out he has more troops to spare than Ailron does. And here is where I am disappointed in Morgase: on her way to see Niall one day, she was escorted past the hanging of some Darkfriends, including Paitr (who had offered to get her out of town). She decided it was a veiled threat to have all her friends killed if she didn't cooperate. Logical but wrong - Asunawa's people really had caught Paitr in a Darkfriend meeting, and executed him for it w/o knowing Morgase knew him.
She signs a treaty guaranteeing: "A thousand Whitecloaks quartered in Caemlyn with their own courts of law, outside Andoran law, in perpetuity. Whitecloaks to stand equal with the Queen's Guards throughout Andor, in perpetuity." (LoC:31:621:pb)
She told herself she did it to get Rand off the throne (not knowing Rand refused to sit on the Lion Throne and had a smaller seat brought in, saying he was just keeping an eye on things until El was coronated) but the decision to take those terms w/o further negotation only came after she realized how much it would hurt to see Tallanvor die. This was a terrible error in judgment letting personal feelings for one man cause her to give Whitecloaks the legal right to arrest, try, and execute any Andoran citizen they didn't like.
COS: She is raped by Valda. Then comes the Seanchan invasion (we may hope Valda died in it). Considering she hadn't even believed the rumors of Seanchan until then, I think she had admirable poise in facing all the shocks in that little chat with Suroth - grolm, slavery in general, Amathera as a slave, Hawkwing's armies returned, channelling as a weapon...so many things she had never seen or believed in before.
Afterwards, she decides she can't let the Seanchan use her as a figurehead in taking over Andor (even though that's not far from what she already signed a paper letting the WC do) and whispers her abdication before preparing to dive out the window. She feels this is honorable, even though Lini and Breane suspect it's the result of depression after Valda's treatment of her and not rational strategy, and Breane rightly points out that if Morgase is found dead, the Seanchan would suspect her retainers of having killed her, which is hardly a fair reward for their loyalty.
What will happen now? Since RJ didn't let her go out the window, he must have more plans. And Balwer has linked up with her group...
Possibilities:
1) She marries Tallanvor and settles down on a little estate somewhere in the Andoran outback perhaps the one Gawyn offered to take Egwene to, so far from anywhere that the sun rises a week late. First she attends the wedding of Rand, Avi, Min, and El, and Rand has the consolation of knowing he may have 3 wives, but he has only acquired one mother-in-law, same as his friends :)
2) She dies at TG doing something unspeakably heroic - maybe she grabs a sa'angreal and figures out how to make it work, long enough to blast a Forsaken and turn the tide? Then she drops dead from having burned herself out. Tallanvor dies defending her corpse, fighting off a mob of Trollocs until they finally get him too. Romeo and Juliet, anybody?
Seriously, with all the couples who are IMHO going to be happily married after TG, one *tragic* love affair would make a nice change of pace. *Somebody* has to die at TG unless it's just a big disappointment (look! Rand beat the DO at a game of stones! Can we go home now?) and I'd rather have it be Morgase then a lot of other people. (David Eddings tends to wimp out in this regard - at the end of the Belgariad, he was only killing off relatives of Garion's best friends).
3) The WC (or the Seanchan, if the WC surrender to them) use that treaty she signed as justification for moving into Andor and executing anybody they don't like. Morgase has a dreadful time explaining to her family that yes, she DID sign that of her own free will, it's totally binding... then Galad takes over as the new LCC of the WC and lets her off the hook?
JUILIN'S ROLE?
In a memorable turn of phrase, somebody commenting on COS many months ago claimed that "Thom and Juilin seem to be grafted together at the hip" these days. (Too bad I don't remember who said it - speak up and I'll shake your hand next time I see you :). We know a fair bit about Thom's future, but what of Juilin's?
Juilin's a latecomer; we never heard of him until late in TDR. He immediately interested me, though... he was described in glowing terms by Mistress Guenna - "He's the dangerous man I know who isn't a swordsman, and the more dangerous of the two, at that," and "I think he's telling the truth. He's more reliable than most men. Just don't believe him if he tells you he loves you," come to mind.
He was assigned to track down 13 BA (without knowing what they were) and did, though they caught and Compelled him to lead them back to El/Eg/Nyn. Between Compulsion and the Law (High Lord Samon was on their side) he had no choice - and he was under to no obligation IMHO to invade the Stone with Mat to rescue them, but did.
In TSR Lan sends him to help/protect El and Nyn (as Moiraine sends Thom) and their grafting begins. He proves he is a first rate detective by tracking down 11 BA (and not being caught this time, now that he knows what he's up against), returning to the inn with his results even before Thom and Bayle do. At least 3 minutes before :)
Another thing I like about Juilin is his low opinion of aristocrats in general. Probably why he and Mat get along so well, come to think of it.
TFOH: his most memorable moment is: "Some rope to tie her," he said, grinning a grin so villanous that Elayne almost tried to step away from him, "some rags to gag her until she is ready to talk, some cooking oil and salt..." His chuckle curdled Elayne's blood. "She will talk." (TFOH:10:160:hb)
After that, he just hangs out with Thom, gathering information, standing watch at night, and crossing a tightrope while looking ghastly ill. More of the same in LOC and COS. What's almost our first look into his personal feelings is the hint that he's pining after Amathera... and I didn't even pick up on that until after I read about his unlikely love in the Glossary and started scouring his scenes to figure out what RJ was talking about. (One problem was that RJ has never shown us Juilin's POV at all). However, he didn't achieve anything notable in COS - he and Thom kept losing track of El and Nyn due to their Illusions, and Mat was the one who finally found the building with the Bowl and then got to fight off the Gholam. We haven't seen him do any successful manhunting in 3 volumes now. And he the best thief-catcher in Tear...his talents aren't getting much attention.
So, considering he hasn't been so indispensable in the past 3 volumes, what lies in his future?
Possibilities:
A) Marrying Amathera, onetime Panarch of Tarabon. Such marriage may or may not involve restoring her to power in the Panarch's Palace in Tanchico - that was done before, and didn't last.
B) Detective work. I haven't seen Juilin track down a villain since TSR - and that was supposed to be his profession before he got shanghaied into protecting and doing legwork for El and Nyn. I'd like to see him track down at least one more person who was important to the plot before the series is over. Maybe even Rand, if and when he wraps a bandage around his eyes and starts carrying a beggar's staff.
C) Torture. His threat to use rope, gags, oil, and salt was a bluff - but it makes me wonder. Thus far, we have never seen the good guys use torture to get vital information from a prisoner, have we? Hold on, I forgot Nyn used an a'dam to cause pain to Moggy so she'd cooperate. Of course, Nyn could claim that pure mental pain wasn't the same thing as roasting somebody over a fire, cutting off their fingers, etc. Anyway, it would be very interesting if at some point before TG the heroes have captured somebody - a high-level DF like Carridin, a male Forsaken (no a'dam to use on him), an obstinate Seanchan leader, some VIP of an enemy organization - who is believed to have critical information about enemy troop movements or something, info which could mean life or death for thousands of people - and won't talk.
What would you do? I don't think I'd torture him, but I was raised on a diet of civil liberties, unlike most Randlanders. What El and Nyn just might do, is hand the problem over to Juilin and leave him locked in a soundproof room with the stubborn prisoner and lots of tools... we could get some real agonizing over that decision, the whole "Do the ends justify the means?" problem.
On the surface, it would appear that Bela, originally a mare belonging to the al'Thor family if memory serves, has done nothing more important than let people ride her back and forth across the map. But we all know how Jordan likes to catch us offguard by building a certain impression and then revealing it to be a false front.
Some of my old friends on the Robert Jordan List claimed to worship Bela as the current incarnation of the Creator. I was never quite convinced, but I couldn't help noticing several very odd things suggesting that this ordinary-looking mare has hidden depths.
1) Bela is one of the very few characters who has appeared in all seven novels and still going strong, which puts her in pretty fast company : Only Rand, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, Min, Padan Fain, and Thom Merrilin have also been around since the beginning and never missed a single book. (Loial, Perrin, and I believe Pedron Niall are all tied for second place, each of them having appeared in at least one scene in 6 of the first 7 books). Obviously, like each of the others, she is being prepared for a VERY important role in the last volume.
2) Despite her repeated appearances, Bela has never yet had a single line of dialogue! Even the Dark One was heard to speak in Books 6 and 7, but Bela's wisdom is still being withheld from us. Is she even more important to the plot than the Dark One, that Jordan makes her wait even longer before speaking?
3) Bela is virtually the only running character in the series who has never even been suspected of being a Darkfriend, a murderer, a Black Ajah Sister, a Forsaken, an oathbreaker, or a wool-headed idiot by ANY other character. This really seems too good to be true. Probably Jordan's clever way of trying to brainwash us into thinking that she is as pure as the driven snow.
4) Bela is probably named after Bela Lugosi, the famous horror movie star of the Thirties and Forties. Is this a subtle hint that she is actually a vampire, a werehorse, or some other odd creature of unsuspected power?
5) On the other hand, Bela COULD be a contraction of the names of the two Aes Sedai who accidentally cracked open the Dark One's prison in the Age of Legends. (Be)idomon and (La)nfear. Of course, Lanfear was actually called Mierin in those days, but in that case, Bela's name is composed of two letters from the "good" name of an opener of the Bore and two letters of the "bad" name of an opener of the bore, two letters of a male saidin user's name and two letters of a female saidar user's name . . . thus representing both the yin and the yang, the good and the evil, the light and the dark, the male and the female, and making her name a perfect symbol for the ancient symbol of the Aes Sedai with two equal but opposite forces in perfect balance. Coincidence? I think not! The implication is that she is closely involved with the forces of the universe, i.e. with the Creator!
6) Isn't it odd that there are no prophecies identified with Bela? The Karaethon Cycle, Egwene's Dreams, Min's Viewings, various Foretellings, etc., have shown us things about Lan and Moiraine and Rand and Perrin and Mat and Elayne and Egwene and Nynaeve and Gawyn and Galad and Taim and Cadsuane and Caraline and Logain and Siuan and Gareth and Slayer and Aram and Faile and Aviendha and just about any other character who appears more than briefly in the story, but NEVER a Foretelling or Dream or Viewing or any other sort of prophecy about Bela! It's against the law of averages for her to be excluded . . . unless the full power of the Creator is being exercised to make her INVISIBLE to all Talents of Viewing, Foretelling, etc., so that nobody will realize what an important role she has to play in Tarmon Gai'don!
NOTE: Some people apparently took it WAY too seriously when I accused Jordan of being a blatant sexist with a frightful prejudice against males in general, so this time I'm adding a disclaimer: This was meant to be HUMOR. I don't necessarily believe any of the above theories. Or not very much. I just wanted to show how easy it is to build a paranoid case against just about ANY character if you stretch your imagination enough. After all the arguments I have seen over the years making Moiraine out to be Black Ajah, or Tam al'Thor to be a former Warder, or Faile to be a Darkfriend, or Thom Merrilin to be a secret channeler, or either Tam or Thom or Bayle Domon to be Jain Farstrider, etc., etc., I decided to take it to an extreme to show how silly this can get when you mix an ounce of ambiguous evidence with a ton of pure speculation and call it "proof." How did I do?