u/Requiemofa17

The question might sound weird but let me explain what I mean-

So Aginor made Trollocs by mixing human with beasts like Boar, Bear, Wolf (Strange in retrospect no?) Eagles and Ox- so on. And Fades have a 5% chance of being born from a litter of Trollocs. Being a "throw back" to the "human stock." Now correct me if I'm wrong but I thought I read somewhere that's a similar ratio to normal humans and those who can Channel right? Also Fades can't channel and it doesn't seem to be a biological block like Ogier. More like they simply aren't able to but instead are born in general and have weird abilities like being able to use shadow travel, sense channeling and "link" with Trollocs which seems very close to the One Power in usage. Traveling, Linking, Shadow Bending and so on. Trollocs can't Channel but they are mostly animal, Gholam were made specifically to be resistant to channeling so that makes sense why they wouldn't. But Fades despite being mostly human and having other abilities like channeling can't actually seize the one power.

I bring this up because Aginor himself thinks they simply don't exist in reality and or are out of phase with it. They don't have a sense of humor which even Trollocs do and was a big thing with Rand not losing himself or his humanity; Cadsuane wanted him to laugh and get his humor back. Though I think the biggest thing is they don't dream. Which we can assume at least as far as I know that everything else can dream including their parents Trollocs. Graymen can't dream but they're already dead and have given their souls to the Dark One hence what they are.

Therefor I purpose the theory which might already exist but I haven't see it- that Fades are Channeling Humans or those with potential to be channelers born from Trolloc stock and there for still bore with no soul but animated by the Dark Ones touch. Not his literal touch but whatever Aginor was able to use to create them that I would think the Dark One provided. Nothing we see in the story from the One Power implies the ability to create biological life- the Nym seem to be weird golems while Trollocs are actual Homonculi. The Dark One also can link with Corvids and Rats as well as with the True Power letting you control animals. (Though I guess you could have just used straight genetic tampering from the AOL but then why are they called constructs? Though so are the Nym too I guess...) Still my own theory stands I think!

Reading the series I couldn’t help but from basically the 2nd book on wondering what kind of Weaves are possible. So here are some I had ideas for and I would love for you to share your own. These will be different in style and tone from what Jordan or Sanderson used and closer to my own style of magic in my own writing in what you could call “theme.” Though I’m trying to keep it most faithful to the One Power of course but I don’t have Jordan’s notes obviously so which elements does which thing? Who knows, I’m just guessing on context clues. 

I assume most of them would be quite powerful and need someone super skilled to use them.

[Quagmire] A weave of Earth and Water which turns the ground before the user into a massive quagmire, depending on the amount of water and power added it can be straight liquid or a thick soup.

[Human Death Gates] A weave of Fire, Spirit and Earth which creates a gateway that opens horizontally across a person slicing them in half at the waist.

[Thorns of Earth] Fire and Earth drawing up metal from the ground and making large spikes. Used to destroy calvary charges and terrain. Can also help to deal with lightning. Isn’t really useful in one-on -one combat.

[Death Bolts] Fire, Earth, Water and Wind used to create arrows of stone which fly from the ground. They’re charged with electricity so when they hit something they explode into a spray of deadly shrapnel. Good for taking out groups. 

[Fang of the Dragon] All five elements weaved into a very fine pattern forming what is basically a black tornado that sucks everything around inside of it, destroying everything with scorching winds and shrapnel. Named for the shape it makes when it stretches into the sky.

[Lava Plumes] Spirit, Earth and Fire used to draw Lava up from the ground and into pillars of the liquid which spreads above into a canopy that rains down destruction.

[Electrical Stimulation] A very dangerous weave of Fire, Spirit and Water used when one is feeling weak and nearly faint. If they can still use the power they can send a small charge of electricity into their muscles and brain basically shocking them back to attention. However it’s basically just an Adrenalin shot and can quickly fry your nervous system and overheat your brain. It also only works for a few minutes, it’s not able to make you fight for hours. You hope it can help your escape though I imagine some abuse it and find out the consequences quickly when they end up vegetables or dead. 

[Shield of Windows] A weave of Spirit, Fire, Earth and Air. It creates a bubble of air around the user which when penetrated responds by nearly instantly weaving a gateway which the attack will pass through. Another gateway will open on the bubble this time facing the attacker and sending their attack back at them. This is of course super draining and requires the utmost attention to hold.  The user can’t move while using it as they’re stuck in place and also can’t attack. They can still be overwhelmed by brute force and numbers as well. So if you just shoot a bunch of arrows at them from all sides they can’t- unless their Rand pretty much counter all of them. Though if enough people stand close together they can form a larger bubble. Doesn’t work with linking.

The entire final section of the book reads like:

"Robert Jordan could have chosen his pen name from Robert the 1st of Western France. Who would overthrow the Carolingian King Charles the Simple. Carolingian being in reference to South Carolina and Charles from Charleston his home town. Perhaps this is in reference to his home town of Charleston South Carolina as well as overthrowing Tolkien in me and many readers eye. The surname Jordan echoes the Japanese word which I will not include that means "Ancient Past" for his love of the ancient past."

I don't doubt that Livington put his heart and soul into this book and that he loves WOT more then I do. But that whole last section is just... he should have stuck to the things confirmed.

For example he says

That Easar Togita comes from as "Echoing the Japanese word for the square in which troops gather to receive orders." I know Japanese and I did not know nor could I find a word for this. The closest I got was 斗形: Togata which is an older and variant reading for 升形 Masugata which refers to "rectangular space between the inner and outer gates of a castle (where troops can gather)" Which I highly doubt Jordan knew about because that is NOT a normal word that even most fluent Japanese people would know and took me 10 minutes to find on Jisho.

Also that Da'Shain being a "Japanese word refereeing to a member of a company." Which would be 会社員 Kaisha'in which don't sound like when pronounced and the spelling is a stretch. It would be said as Kai-Sha-In with the last being like "Yin."

Edit:

When I looked up "Robert" on google the first choice was Robert the 1st of Western Franca and I only read the first paragraph of his Wikipedia article and made all of those correlations. It's really easy to do which is why it's dangerous.

I really wish Jordan would have gave Blade Masters and Swordsman in general a bit of a buff and spotlight. When he introduced the void at first I thought it was going to be that buff that pushed them into true peak human. In the way they can smell better, see better, hear someone coming at them from behind, their muscle twitching reacts faster and so on. Not superhuman but closer to what the Warder Bond Gives. The Warder Bond itself should have pushed them up a bit more Maybe into low superhuman. Not superhero tier but being able to dodge arrows or bend metal bars (Thin ones like what you'd see on prison windows).

Instead they're just jobbers who I can't invest much into the credit of. Yeah it's impressive when Galad cuts through a bunch of Dragon sworn or Gawyn beats two veteran warders at once. But I know they'd struggle against a Fist of Trollocs and probably die to them or the Fade. But I don't want them to match Forsaken or Dreadlords, that would be stupid unless somehow the Channeler got shielded and then it turns into a fight of pure skill. That's why Rand in Far Madding was pretty cool. We got to see human level conflict again from the main characters.

Hence why I think there should have been a mid tier opponent! Look Jordan really messed up his power scaling early on. No, I don't mean calculating joules or sweat scaling. I mean that By book 2 Rand was a Blade Master, by the start of TDR, Perrin Kills a fade and during the battle of Edmonds field you have old grandmas killing Trollocs with kitchen knives. They're all great scenes but it also makes you wonder why Trollocs or Fades even matter anymore when they're dealt with so easily. That's when you get into the Battle at Lord Algarin's manor where you have to have ten thousand Trollocs and Hundreds of Fades to be an actual threat. One of the best scenes in the series again but also ridiculous in size. Black Ajah were supposed to fill that void of mid tiers, but the issue is what about Blade Masters? Blade Masters get screwed because they're just nuked from Orbit before they can even get close enough to draw their sword.

Look, Tolkein had Orc > Uruk Hai > Troll > Ring Wraith > Balrog > Dragon > Sauron > Morgoth. If you compare that to Wot you have Trolloc > Myrddraal > Black Ajah > Forsaken > Ishy > Dark One. You're missing a solid mid tier, someone who not every Blade Master can beat, but when you do it makes you legendary, even Channelers struggle against them. Maybe they have a Shaidar Haran weave dispersion affect.

My solution? The Limited Production Super Fade. Glorious Blonde hair, tan skin, bigger and badder, sexier? Okay I'm joking but really I think one step above a Fade would really have helped put Blade Masters into the spotlight a bit longer. Because right now all I expect from Lan, Gawyn and Galad is to fight a shielded Demandred since he's the sword guy and a bunch of Fades. Also yeah Slayer Exists and so does Fein but they're both super specific situations and more oddities then actual consistent threats.

So from what I understand The Breaking altered the planet beyond recognition. Oceans boiled, Seas turned to deserts, mountains raised or buried.

But my question is- how strong were the male channlers to do this? Even Lews Therin with his strongest attack only raised Dragon Mount which will impressive is a massive hill not the Alps. The Spine of World has port cities on top of it with boats and the two rivers mountains of mist was underwater before the Breaking wasn't it?

How were men able to do such large damage if they were each weaker then Lews Therin? Even assuming there were thousands they can't link together and boil the ocean together. Did one man just boil a few miles of it an burn himself out for another to do the same right after? I'm more confused on the massive scale of the damage and how it was carried out. It seems rather unified. Like the insane men got together and had a pep talk about how they were going to make a mountain range here, or sink this part of the world underwater before hand. (This is a joke)

It's been a few months since I would have read ACoS and PoD but I seem to recall that during the later half of ACoS or early PoD, Rand tells Min about Lews Therin.

Something along the lines of "I'm too dangerous to love Min, Cadsuane is right, I do hear voiced in my head. The Voice of Lews Therin at that, I'm going insaaaaane!" And Min responding with "I don't care if you are insane you wool headed fool, I still love you and I'll make sure to keep you sane!"

Not exactly of course but along those lines. Did I just fabricate this in my head? Because in KoF when Semirhage says that Rand is hearing voices in his head and that she knows he is Min seems taken a bit aback by the comment. At least that's how I read it. But rather then shock like she didn't know it was more shock that it was being confirmed or restated or maybe even that it was being said aloud?

From what I've read online from various East Asian social media spaces, it's seen that northern Vietnamese are known to be quite tall. And in my personal experience I've met Northern Vietnamese who were 5'10 - 6'0.

But when I try to look into this more I keep getting the same "5'3 - 5'6" average. Can anyone offer their own experiences or thoughts here? I want to know if I just have selection bias or is there is a real difference in regional height.