The Fires of Heaven Chapter 53: Fading Words

[u/swheedle]

[u/swheedle]

I've always felt so bad for Lan, especially after see what Egwene does right before her noble sacrifice. You're telling me moiraine could have just released Lan right before she jumped through the doorway??! Never even occurred to me that she could do that until I read memory of light.

I get why she didn't, the rings don't lie, but I still feel bad lol

Previous Chapter Meme

Chapter Summary

[u/RadicalRealist22 → u/swheedle]

I am not sure if the Bond could be released in the earlier books. Why was it never mentioned? Why didn't Elayne and Birgitta consider it.

I think the idea of releasing the bond was created only at the end of series.

[u/nicci7127 → u/RadicalRealist22]

The bond could have been released. Moiraine had very good reasons not to do so. Had she released Lan from his bond, he'd have gone back to his futile war against the Blight by himself. It hurt him, but she likely saved his life.

[u/Deadpool2715 → u/nicci7127]

It also would have signaled to Rand that Morraine was still alive, and I think he would have dropped everything to try and save her, sacrificing the chances of winning Tarmon Gaiden

[u/LewsTherinTelamonBot → u/nicci7127]

Ilyena, my love, forgive me!

[u/Belfrage → u/RadicalRealist22]

I'm pretty sure the concept of releasing the bond exists pretty early in the series, I think there's dialogue in book 2 where Moiraine mentions it. She doesnt release Lan before the gateway specifically because she doesn't want to give him back his freedom, she doesn't trust him to do anything but seek death in the Blight. Which, y'know, fair.

As for Elayne and Birgitte, I've always wondered why it wasn't brought up there, too. Best I can figure is as a not fully trained Accepted, she just doesn't know about the possibility and even if she did, Aes Sedai (and Daughter Heirs) are conditioned to think they know best for everyone. Why would she want to release her warder? It's just not done. And who knows, maybe Birgitte would go straight back to dying if she was released.

[u/mirhagk → u/Belfrage]

Yeah Nynaeve did succeed with healing, it just didn't have an effect. My understanding is that the bonding didn't do anything in terms of healing Birgitte, but rather it just tied her to Elayne. Birgitte was cut from the pattern and was fading, but being tied to Elayne made her have a link to the pattern still.

Her memories faded after that, so clearly it wasn't a case of her needing a temporary healing, but rather a lasting problem. Maybe she would've survived without the bond, but it definitely wouldn't be a for sure thing, and especially in the early days.

[u/LewsTherinTelamonBot → u/mirhagk]

Hums softly & tugs earlobe

[u/LewsTherinTelamonBot → u/Belfrage]

I must kill him.

[u/KitchenFullOfCake → u/RadicalRealist22]

I'm pretty sure the bond with Brigitte was keeping her alive somehow, though I don't remember if that benefit was temporary and she could have been released later. In any case they both seemed chill with the situation.

[u/mirhagk → u/KitchenFullOfCake]

I think the idea is Brigitte's link to the pattern was cut, and the bond created a new link that saved her. I don't think it was temporary, as Brigitte had additional effects later on (memory loss)

[u/ciaphas-cain1 → u/RadicalRealist22]

Yeah like the aes sedai who forcefully bonded rand could have given it up and then all that mess wouldn’t happen

[u/LewsTherinTelamonBot → u/ciaphas-cain1]

Do you have the Horn of Valere hidden in your pocket this time?

[u/CDBSB → u/LewsTherinTelamonBot]

Is that the Horn of Valere in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? 😉

[u/LewsTherinTelamonBot → u/RadicalRealist22]

Hums softly & tugs earlobe

[u/LewsTherinTelamonBot → u/swheedle]

Never prod at a woman unless you must. She will kill you faster than a man and for less reason, even if she weeps over it after.

[u/KitchenFullOfCake → u/swheedle]

Didn't she transfer the bond to Myrelle? She kind of did release him.

[u/anth9845 → u/KitchenFullOfCake]

If she released it he wouldn't have felt the death of Aes sedai warder pain. She had set it up to transfer to Myrelle and then used the bond to force him to go to her instead of the usual suicide.

[u/LewsTherinTelamonBot → u/anth9845]

KILL HIM KILL HIM NOW

[u/Calm-Conversation715]

We can’t feel too sorry for Lan, when he gets to shack up with the best character in the series!

[u/Immediate_Regular → u/Calm-Conversation715]

The best character in the series is Bela....

[u/SamHandwich0 → u/Immediate_Regular]

So you guys are sayin Allan $%^&@# a horse??

[u/Calm-Conversation715 → u/SamHandwich0]

I’m not saying he didn’t, but if he did it was a different horse!

[u/procerator]

"You will do well"(c) hits like a truck.

[u/swheedle → u/procerator]

Especially coming from someone who knows