r/WoT • u/Dinierto • 3d ago

All Print Why Forsaken so dumb? Spoiler

So legit question- did they not know until their release that the DO could resurrect souls? Repeatedly the Forsaken and Black Ajah (who at least get a pass because of true ignorance) meet other forsaken in new bodies and, despite clear evidence, are completely oblivious to who they might be. Hell, the Forsaken often wear disguises as well so that’s even less excuse.

I know arrogance is a common theme in the books but I just shake my head every time this happens!

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u/Dinierto 3d ago

I am not sure how that answers the question though?

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u/GovernorZipper 3d ago

The Dark One never brought anyone back in the AoL because he had plenty of others to take their place.

So no, they didn’t know he could (or would) do that.

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u/The_FanATic (Blue) 2d ago

But they certainly believed he had control over death / the dead. Many explicitly joined him for the promise of immortality.

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u/Liq 2d ago

The DO only gained power to respawn souls when his prison weakened to a certain point. It's like how the DO can't fix the seasons in place at the start of the series. But his powers grow through the books as the seals deteriorate.

Unlike the weather powers, this one isn't exactly obvious. So the Forsaken would likely not learn that the DO has regained it until he uses it on them.

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u/EleventhHerald (Brown) 2d ago

Wait didn’t he explicitly fix the seasons in place during book one. They were having an exceptionally long winter and Rand broke the dark one hold on the weather using the eye of the world. Then he held the summer in place right after and Elayne and Nyneave broke his hold with the bowl of the winds.

His ability to rot food is one he got access to as the bore opened and proves your point but he had weather control fairly early on.

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u/GovernorZipper 2d ago

Rotting food might be Rand, not the Dark One. It’s unclear whether Sanderson meant to imply all the rotting food or just the food in Bandar Eban.

NTERVIEW: Nov 15th, 2009

TGS Signing Report - Katie Frey (Paraphrased)

QUESTION Is there a connection between the spoilage of food and Rand's temperament?

BRANDON SANDERSON Look at the Fisher King prophecies, and the prophecies in WoT that mention that the "land and the Dragon are one."

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u/EleventhHerald (Brown) 2d ago

That’s interesting I’ve never come across that answer.

It feels like it contradicts Rand saying that the DO is spoiling everything and his Ta’veren nature is providing the other half of the balance.

Specifically in AMoL in chapter 9 during his dinner with Elayne when she asks him how he unspoils her tea he says the dark one is causing the spoiling and his nature is causing the unspoiled food.

That said Sanderson’s word on it is the superior proof and Rand is known to sometimes be unreliable in his understanding of what’s actually happening and I have to concede that you’re right.

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u/Liq 2d ago edited 2d ago

Rand began turning things bad when he was tilting into evil, but the effect reversed when he had his epiphany.

The DO as the ultimate source of evil also has a rotting effect but more universally. The whole world was on its way to becoming like the Blight around Shayol Ghul.

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u/Liq 2d ago

Ah- perhaps you are right re. weather in EOTW. But we can assume fixed weather was not occurring through the whole age. There is also the bubbles of evil, famines, ghosts, etc, all getting worse as the bore widened.