Towers of Midnight synopsis

[Shryke]

I'm still coming it's Camelyn getting it's ass kicked and Elayne dying.

[pat5150]

While it's not necessarily significant, I'm quite convinced that Lan is going to die in this book, my guess at the end as the Last Battle starts. I think many of the Aiel we have seen like Rhuarc and Amys for 10 books will die as well. I also think Thom is going to bite it rescuing Moiraine, possibly with the classic stay behind hero motif so that the others can escape. Of the major chars, Elayne/Mat/Egwene/Perrin/Rand certainly won't die but I'm growing on the idea that Nyneave will, likely with Lan.

Dude, this is a Robert Jordan story.

No one dies... :smoking:

Patrick

[Gertrude]

Hasn't it been foreshadowed a bit that Nyneave won't be happy until she's healed someone three days dead? I'm sure I've read a theory or two about that.

[Slick Mongoose]

And Rand is the one major character we know almost certainly is going to die.

Would be interesting if it's at the end of this book.

[Poobah]

I'm still coming it's Camelyn getting it's ass kicked and Elayne dying.

Hopefully she's killed just as she's about embark on another lengthy bathing scene.

[Arataniello]

It was foretold (way back - at Rhuidean?) that Nynaeve will die on the day that she learns that Lan is dead. So its entirely possible that they will both bite the dust.

[Poobah]

Nynaeve is in the last chapter of A Memory of Light, so I doubt it.

[Lightning Lord]

This is WoT.

Weiramon is gone if he's still kicking around. Dobraine is going to bite it. Cenn Buie's a goner. Maybe a Conger. And we a great captain to die... Agelmar, you're the major "twist" death.

All deaths of more major characters will be temporary at worst.

[Maithanet]

All deaths of more major characters will be temporary at worst.

I agree, I can't really imagine any of the Big Seven characters (rand, mat, perrin, nyn, elanye, av, egwene) dying before the final book, unless the Last Battle really begins in earnest in this book, which seems highly unlikely.

If I were predicting deaths, I'd go with Alanna and Thom. That's relatively big (huge in comparison to the other books), but they're still properly expendable. Lan is a possibility, if we are getting really crazy.

[Old Nan]

I dunno where the expectation of Thom's death is coming from, but I have to say it would be fantastic if Moiraine has manipulated him into having romantic feelings for her just so he could die saving her from the space-elf dimension.

Nynaeve? Please. Lan and Alanna are possibilities. The Basheres are near certainties. A whole bunch of Aiel and Bordermen, sure. Some of the nobility, OK. But Rand/Elayne/Aviendha, Nynaeve, Perrin/Faile, Mat/Tuon, Egwene/Gawyn, Galad, Berelain, Moiraine, and Logain have plot-related invicibility for the moment.

What about Min? That'd be interesting. Siuan and Bryne?

I wonder if Padan Fain is still in Far Madding, ready to work his magic on the Borderlanders.

[CryHavoc]

It was foretold (way back - at Rhuidean?) that Nynaeve will die on the day that she learns that Lan is dead. So its entirely possible that they will both bite the dust.

As said up-thread, Nyn (who will die on the day she hears Lan is dead, though not necessarily in-story) has to heal a man three days dead, which in my opinion is probably Rand due to all the threes and the sacrifice/resurrection stuff--three women on the boat with a dead man, dies to save mankind, resurrected after three days, etc. And Rand can't bite it for a while yet, because if/when he dies/"dies", it needs to be at Shayol Ghul--his blood on the rocks, etc.

My half-baked idea about Nyneave (half-baked mostly in that I doubt Jordan would ever actually off the both of them, but also because it's half speculation) is that Rand dies near the beginning of the battle. Three days of hopeless fighting later, Nyneave feels or hears of Lan's death at another part of the battle, and in a fit of despair and/or rage tries to do the impossible and heal the three-day dead Rand, succeeding and killing herself in the process. Rand then rallies everyone and ass-kicking and shield-building ensues. But that would be in the final book, and as much as I like the idea, I doubt Jordan would do it.

Knowing Jordan, the death toll won't be that high, and Nyn will actually either heal Lan, or Lan won't die and she'll heal Rand and live. For this book, I'm guessing the heart-breaker is probably the death of a major minor character or four. Maybe Thom.

[Wouter]

I dunno where the expectation of Thom's death is coming from, but I have to say it would be fantastic if Moiraine has manipulated him into having romantic feelings for her just so he could die saving her from the space-elf dimension.

Since it is very likely that Min "saw" Thom and Moiraine marrying, it's very unlikely Thom dies in this book (unless they marry on the spot in the *finn realm - don't think so!). Noal/Farstrider may be a goner, though. And Matt will not have a great time, "giving up half of the light" (losing one eye, no doubt).

Nynaeve? Please. Lan and Alanna are possibilities. The Basheres are near certainties. A whole bunch of Aiel and Bordermen, sure. Some of the nobility, OK. But Rand/Elayne/Aviendha, Nynaeve, Perrin/Faile, Mat/Tuon, Egwene/Gawyn, Galad, Berelain, Moiraine, and Logain have plot-related invicibility for the moment.

The Bashere's, and maybe others from the borderland group do seem to have a target painted on their back. Faile and Perrin have been more or less prophecied to inherit a crown, allthough we aren't exactly sure what that crown entails. Min saw "dark images" around Bashere, IIRC.

I hope Hurin makes it. And that Rand at least attempts something to help Lan, after his moment on dragonmount.

What about Min? That'd be interesting. Siuan and Bryne?

Will almost certainly survive until deep in the last book, I think. Probably survive the WOT alltogether.

I wonder if Padan Fain is still in Far Madding, ready to work his magic on the Borderlanders.

Something strange is going on with the borderlanders, but unsure who/what is behind it. I doubt Fain would linger for long in Far Madding though, after Rand and co left there. He has tended to move around a lot in the books, and he is himself also avoiding assassins from the DO. I guess he'll end up near Shayol Ghul in the end, when Rand and the DO (or maybe just Shaidar Haran and/or Ishamael) show off.

[Liadin]

Since it is very likely that Min "saw" Thom and Moiraine marrying, it's very unlikely Thom dies in this book (unless they marry on the spot in the *finn realm - don't think so!). Noal/Farstrider may be a goner, though. And Matt will not have a great time, "giving up half of the light" (losing one eye, no doubt).

I have no idea who that is, so he's a safe bet. :laugh:

Seriously though, a lot of people think that since Jordan hasn't killed any major characters in the first 12 books, he won't do it in the last one, and I'm just not convinced. My theory is that he conceived the story up front, with the normal amount of major character deaths one would expect for epic fantasy that tries to be dark and foreboding (10%?), and the reason none of them have died yet is that the story got stretched out so ridiculously long. The most dramatic deaths happen at the end; it's just the way epic fantasy (and literature in general) works.

So since we're fast approaching the end, I would not be shocked to see Lan or Thom or Siuan die. It's not like Jordan literally never kills anybody. I also would not be shocked to see one of the most important characters die in the Last Battle, maybe Nynaeve.

[Lightning Lord]

I've never believed Rand is going to die, even temporarily. That line "his blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul" leaves enough wriggle room that he can just get cut, bleed a bit, then move on and win. It doesn't say "his life's blood" or "his body's last drops of blood" or anything that demands he die.

And since good people don't die, I still think Rand lives. I concede that he MAY die for as much as a week. But I don't truly believe even that happens.

[CryHavoc]

I've never believed Rand is going to die, even temporarily. That line "his blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul" leaves enough wriggle room that he can just get cut, bleed a bit, then move on and win. It doesn't say "his life's blood" or "his body's last drops of blood" or anything that demands he die.

And since good people don't die, I still think Rand lives. I concede that he MAY die for as much as a week. But I don't truly believe even that happens.

I've always kind of hoped he would, at least temporarily, but the "blood" line is indeed problematic. Rand just getting stabbed (or his stupid Fisher King wound ripping open again) in Shayol Ghul after all this religious/mythological allusion and buildup about sacrifice and moaning about his inevitable doom would be painfully anticlimactic. Maybe if you turn your head sideways and squint it qualifies as a twist (or maybe it would have been more of a twist if not for 13 books of no one ever dying), but now I'm just hoping. :dunno:

Though I will say that I think he has to temporarily die, appear to die, or come very close so we can get the three women on the boat with a scale and Rand/the one who is dead yet lives. Since I think

most of the Lews Therin previous life/multiple personality stuff was resolved in the previous book after the Dragonmount scene

the dead yet lives part has to be some sort of actual ailment at this point.

[Liadin]

To me, Rand looks way too much like a Christ figure to do anything other than die and then be revived. I fully expect him to go the route of Aslan and Harry Potter (hmmm.... are there any adult examples of this trope other than, y'know, Jesus?).

ETA: Never mind, I see there are tons, some examples more apt than others.

[Old Nan]

This is a somewhat pertinent link, especially since the FAQ seems to have been discontinued. Was the Nynaeve-dying-when-she-hears-of-Lan's-death thing an actual prophecy, or just something she melodramatically shouted at him? I seem to remember that, but the memory is of the latter.

[CryHavoc]

This is a somewhat pertinent link, especially since the FAQ seems to have been discontinued. Was the Nynaeve-dying-when-she-hears-of-Lan's-death thing an actual prophecy, or just something she melodramatically shouted at him? I seem to remember that, but the memory is of the latter.

You know what, I fail. Muchly. I just googled it to figure it out, and it turns out it's backwards.

Melaine says to Nyneave: "Aan'allein will die on the day he learns that you are dead." (Fires of Heaven)

And since there's an element of timing to it,--he has to learn she is dead--she has to die first, if it's indeed foreshadowing. Though this does open up a way for him to die without her dying, as long as he thinks she's dead.

It's entertaining, though, because I'm pretty certain I actually remembered it the other way from ages ago, even before reading it being posted upthread. There goes that pet theory.

Anyway, in the case of the quote, it's Melaine to Nyn to bully her into staying out of Tel'aran'rhiod. So it's not explicitly prophectic in that she doesn't claim it's a dream or a vision, but given how things tend to work out in WoT....

[Slurktan]

I dunno where the expectation of Thom's death is coming from, but I have to say it would be fantastic if Moiraine has manipulated him into having romantic feelings for her just so he could die saving her from the space-elf dimension.

I feel Thom is going to die because it makes a good story and as far as I can recall there are no prophecies involving him living later. I honestly think he will "dazzle" the Aelfinn and Eelfinn with music allowing Mat, Moiraine, and likely Noal to retreat safely from the Tower.

Nynaeve? Please. Lan and Alanna are possibilities. The Basheres are near certainties. A whole bunch of Aiel and Bordermen, sure. Some of the nobility, OK. But Rand/Elayne/Aviendha, Nynaeve, Perrin/Faile, Mat/Tuon, Egwene/Gawyn, Galad, Berelain, Moiraine, and Logain have plot-related invicibility for the moment.

Again I see no reason why Nyneave cannot die especially since her character arc is finished. Elayne/Aviendha are all safe due to prophecy; Mat/Tuon are safe because the outrigger novels were (I think) supposed to be about Mat and Tuon in Seanchan; Galad and Berelain can certainly die in the next book, all they have to do is meet first; Logain is safe as he likely leads the male channelers post Tarmon Gaidon; Perrin is safe due to various prophecy stuff that hasn't happened, Faile however is not safe and I'm sure that possibility makes some people happy; Egwene and Gawyn I'm not sure on, I can't remember prophecy stuff about them other than the one of Gawyn breaking her neck.

[Poobah]

Like I said upthread, Jordan said years ago that Nynaeve was in the final chapter of A Memory of Light. So she's pretty safe.