Discussion:
What happened with Elaida's Foretelling in TEoTW?
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Georgia
2003-08-19 18:43:32 UTC
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In TEoTW Elaida supposedly had a foretelling. She said "'This I
Foretell, and swear under the Light that I can say no clearer. From
this day Andor marches toward pain and division. The Shadow has yet
to darken it's blackest and I cannot see if the Light will come after.
Where the world has wept one tear, it will weep thousands. This I
Foretell'....'This too I Foretell. Pain and division will come to the
whole world, and this man [Rand]stands at the heart of it.'" yet in
ACoS Elaida had yet another Foretelling. "Suddenly the Foretelling
took hold of her, a certainty about things she could not see stronger
than if they had been laid out in front of her.....'The White tower
will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole
and stronger than ever......this I Foretell'. As usual, the
Foretelling left her trembling, gasping for breath." That implies
that every time she foretold something, she was trembling and gasping,
yet in TEoTW she did not. she simply told them what she Foretold.
Was she lying? Or was that simply a mistake? Nicola is suddenly
taken hold of and so was Elaida in ACoS, yet in TEoTW she got the
Foretelling when she wanted a young man questioned for entering the
palace, yet her words were true. What happened?
tenfold
2003-08-19 22:49:37 UTC
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"As usual, the
Foretelling left her trembling, gasping for breath." That implies
that every time she foretold something, she was trembling and gasping,
No, it doesn't. "Usually" does not mean "every time."
yet in TEoTW she did not. she simply told them what she Foretold.
Was she lying? Or was that simply a mistake? Nicola is suddenly
taken hold of and so was Elaida in ACoS, yet in TEoTW she got the
Foretelling when she wanted a young man questioned for entering the
palace, yet her words were true. What happened?
I've always thought that "sometimes having the Foretelling," as
Elaida does, is akin to sometimes having migraine headaches. Sure,
most of the time it leaves you gasping and moaning, but occasionally
they won't floor you.
Paul
2003-08-20 05:23:50 UTC
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Post by Georgia
In TEoTW Elaida supposedly had a foretelling. She said "'This I
Foretell, and swear under the Light that I can say no clearer. From
this day Andor marches toward pain and division. The Shadow has yet
to darken it's blackest and I cannot see if the Light will come after.
Where the world has wept one tear, it will weep thousands. This I
Foretell'....'This too I Foretell. Pain and division will come to the
whole world, and this man [Rand]stands at the heart of it.'" yet in
ACoS Elaida had yet another Foretelling. "Suddenly the Foretelling
took hold of her, a certainty about things she could not see stronger
than if they had been laid out in front of her.....'The White tower
will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole
and stronger than ever......this I Foretell'. As usual, the
Foretelling left her trembling, gasping for breath." That implies
that every time she foretold something, she was trembling and gasping,
yet in TEoTW she did not. she simply told them what she Foretold.
Was she lying? Or was that simply a mistake? Nicola is suddenly
taken hold of and so was Elaida in ACoS, yet in TEoTW she got the
Foretelling when she wanted a young man questioned for entering the
palace, yet her words were true. What happened?
Simple. Jordan did not decide to make the Foretelling take over
people and leave them shaking until later books, just like he did not
decide on Elayne's bathing habits until later in the series.
George Francis
2003-08-26 06:12:31 UTC
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Post by Paul
Post by Georgia
In TEoTW Elaida supposedly had a foretelling. She said "'This I
Foretell, and swear under the Light that I can say no clearer. From
this day Andor marches toward pain and division. The Shadow has yet
to darken it's blackest and I cannot see if the Light will come after.
Where the world has wept one tear, it will weep thousands. This I
Foretell'....'This too I Foretell. Pain and division will come to the
whole world, and this man [Rand]stands at the heart of it.'" yet in
ACoS Elaida had yet another Foretelling. "Suddenly the Foretelling
took hold of her, a certainty about things she could not see stronger
than if they had been laid out in front of her.....'The White tower
will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole
and stronger than ever......this I Foretell'. As usual, the
Foretelling left her trembling, gasping for breath." That implies
that every time she foretold something, she was trembling and gasping,
yet in TEoTW she did not. she simply told them what she Foretold.
Was she lying? Or was that simply a mistake? Nicola is suddenly
taken hold of and so was Elaida in ACoS, yet in TEoTW she got the
Foretelling when she wanted a young man questioned for entering the
palace, yet her words were true. What happened?
Simple. Jordan did not decide to make the Foretelling take over
people and leave them shaking until later books, just like he did not
decide on Elayne's bathing habits until later in the series.
I agree. This is one of those scenarios where we could re-interpret the
literal words ad-infinitum to try to
(a) see a "clue" RJ has left deliberately
(b) imply no mistake was made, even though no clue was left (eg: 'the "As
usual" doesn't mean always' explaination)

but in reality, it's most likely that he just forgot or ignored the absence
of an explicit mention of breathlessness in the previous fortelling.
Tim Bruening
2010-03-22 06:06:01 UTC
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Post by Georgia
In TEoTW Elaida supposedly had a foretelling. She said "'This I
Foretell, and swear under the Light that I can say no clearer. From
this day Andor marches toward pain and division. The Shadow has yet
to darken it's blackest and I cannot see if the Light will come after.
Where the world has wept one tear, it will weep thousands. This I
Foretell'....'This too I Foretell. Pain and division will come to the
whole world, and this man [Rand]stands at the heart of it.'" yet in
ACoS Elaida had yet another Foretelling. "Suddenly the Foretelling
took hold of her, a certainty about things she could not see stronger
than if they had been laid out in front of her.....'The White tower
will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole
and stronger than ever......this I Foretell'. As usual, the
Foretelling left her trembling, gasping for breath." That implies
that every time she foretold something, she was trembling and gasping,
yet in TEoTW she did not. she simply told them what she Foretold.
Was she lying? Or was that simply a mistake? Nicola is suddenly
taken hold of and so was Elaida in ACoS, yet in TEoTW she got the
Foretelling when she wanted a young man questioned for entering the
palace, yet her words were true. What happened?
Why didn't Elaida get any Foretellings warning her of the Seanchan attack?
Timothy Bruening
2022-06-06 18:59:56 UTC
Permalink
In TEoTW Elaida supposedly had a foretelling. She said "'This I
Foretell, and swear under the Light that I can say no clearer. From
this day Andor marches toward pain and division. The Shadow has yet
to darken it's blackest and I cannot see if the Light will come after.
Where the world has wept one tear, it will weep thousands. This I
Foretell'....'This too I Foretell. Pain and division will come to the
whole world, and this man [Rand]stands at the heart of it.'" yet in
ACoS Elaida had yet another Foretelling. "Suddenly the Foretelling
took hold of her, a certainty about things she could not see stronger
than if they had been laid out in front of her.....'The White tower
will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole
and stronger than ever......this I Foretell'. As usual, the
Foretelling left her trembling, gasping for breath."
Why didn't the ACoS Foretelling warn Elaida that she would not be the Amyrlin of the reunited Tower?
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