Sunday, July 23, 2017

What is the true cure for greyscale?

Potential Spoilers Below


In the Last Battle Egwene al'Vere, while battling M'Hael, creates a new weave as a direct counter and opposite to balefirea weave of pure creation as opposed to balefire's pure destruction. She calls it the "Flame of Tar Valon". This "Flame" turns foes it touches to crystals, though it works differently on those who choose the Shadow than on those who do not. Overusing this weave turned the entire field on which Taim and his channelers fought to statues of crystal, and turned Egwene herself into a giant pillar of crystal.

Is this not "turning foes it touches to crystals"?
In ASOIAF it seems that story lines go along the same path and then in the end there is a 180 degree change to make it different
Egwene with the white fluted rod Vora's sa'angreal
Balefire's destructive weave

Dragonglass
is volcanic glass, or obsidian. The children of the forest make weapons out of dragonglass, including daggers, blades, and arrowheads.  During the Age of Heroes it was also recorded by the Night's Watch that the children of the forest gave the black brothers a hundred obsidian daggers every year.  Dragonglass weapons are one of the few weaknesses of the Others. An Other that is pierced by an obsidian blade dies almost instantaneously. Obsidian blades are sharper than steel but far more brittle.  The Valyrians called obsidian frozen fire and made use of obsidian to make their glass candles.   

Dragonglass
Children of the Forest
An Other that is pierced by an obsidian blade dies almost instantaneously

The smallfolk like to say that dragonglass is made by dragons, while Maesters say it comes from the fires of the earth.  There are large deposits of dragonglass on Dragonstone, and it is an important export from Asshai. Mors Umber wears a chunk of dragonglass in place of a lost eye.

In the Wheel of Time a lot of the secrets that were forgotten/lost to time were found in the White Tower Library in a secret part of the tower called the Thirteenth Depository


The Thirteenth Depository
The Brown Ajah generally forsake the mundane world, instead dedicating themselves to history and study, and are responsible for the administration of the White Tower Library.  Brown sisters are noted for being dreamy, unaware of the world around them and lost in thought



Oldtown.  Basically the same as Tar Valon but opposite.  Only Men attend the Citadel and only Women attend the White Tower.


The Restricted Area




This is basically the mission of the Brown Ajah
“That isn’t the way it works, she thought. Two sides to every coin. Two halves to the Power. Hot and cold, light and dark, woman and man.

If a weave exists, so must its opposite.

M’Hael released balefire, and Egwene did . . . something. The weave she’d tried before on the cracks, but of a much greater power and scope: a majestic, marvelous weave, a combination of all Five Powers. It slid into place before her. She yelled, releasing it as if from her very soul, a column of pure white that struck M’Hael’s weave at its center.

The two canceled one another, like scalding water and freezing water poured together. A powerful flash of light overwhelmed all else, blinding Egwene, but she could feel something from what she did. A shoring up of the Pattern. The cracks stopped spreading, and something welled up inside of them, a stabilizing force. A growth, like scab on a wound. Not a perfect fix, but at least a patch.

The White Walker Ice sword and Jon Snow's Valyrian Steel blade, most likely contains dragonglass, cancel each other out just like balefire and the Flame of Tar Valon weaves.

She yelled, forcing herself to her feet. She would not face him on her knees! She drew every scrap of the Power she could hold, throwing it at the Forsaken with the fury of the Amyrlin.”

Why I don't think the White Walkers are evil:
The Forsaken numbered 13
They were evil and making the Other's evil is to cliche
The first time we see a large group of White Walkers they are in a group of 13

What do the 13 stars on the book that Sam took from the Restricted Area really signify?
“The two streams of power sprayed light against one another, the ground around M’Hael cracking as the ground near Egwene rebuilt itself. She still did not know what it was she wove. The opposite of balefire. A fire of her own, a weave of light and rebuilding.

The Flame of Tar Valon.”

“The balefire vanished. M’Hael gaped, stumbling, eyes wide, and then he crystallized from the inside out, as if freezing in ice. A multi-hued, beautiful crystal grew from him. Uncut and rough, as if from the core of the earth itself. Somehow Egwene knew that the Flame would have had much less effect on a person who had not given himself to the Shadow.”

“We are made of blood and bone, in the image of the Father and the Mother,” said Septa Lemore. “Make no vainglorious boasts, I beg you. Pride is a grievous sin. The stone men were proud as well, and the Shrouded Lord was proudest of them all.”

The heat from the glowing coals brought a flush to Tyrion’s face. “Is there a Shrouded Lord? Or is he just some tale?”

Tyrion, Stone Man & Ser Jorah

“The Shrouded Lord has ruled these mists since Garin’s day,” said Yandry. “Some say that he himself is Garin, risen from his watery grave.”

“The dead do not rise,” insisted Haldon Halfmaester, “and no man lives a thousand years. Yes, there is a Shrouded Lord. There have been a score of them. When one dies another takes his place. This one is a corsair from the Basilisk Islands who believed the Rhoyne would offer richer pickings than the Summer Sea.”

“Aye, I’ve heard that too,” said Duck, “but there’s another tale I like better. The one that says he’s not like t’other stone men, that he started as a statue till a grey woman came out of the fog and kissed him with lips as cold as ice.”






Coming out of the fog
Could the grey woman who came out of the fog have been a female White Walker?  If so did she cure him of greyscale by kissing him with ice.  Could it be that their ice is the opposite weave, Wheel of Time speak, of dragonglass?  Is it like Egwene’s Flame of Tar Valon and it is the stabilizing force?  But if that were the case how why did Shireen’s greyscale stop spreading?  If I were to stick with my theory and things get swapped up it would make perfect sense that dragonglass would be the cure to greyscale.  But GRRM likes to make political and environmental statements in his work so what if he is trying to make a point in destroying a thing we are also killing ourselves (i.e. cut down the rain forest and destroy the cure for cancer).  Are the White Walkers the cure to greyscale that they are destroying?  Could it be that one or the other is “not a perfect fix, but at least a patch”.  What if the cure is both of them combined (dragonglass + White Walker ice = greyscale cure)?  I guess we will learn the truth in short order. 


Sam hasn't read the page to the left yet but when he does he will notice the part about a possible cure for greyscale?  Is there also something there about the White Walker Ice?

Shireen
"not a perfect fix, but at least a patch"
Comments encouraged.  Love to hear the ideas of others.  Most believe that since I present my idea’s as “fact like” I’m not open to change my viewpoints which is far from the truth.  I simply look at the information presented and go from there.  If you can shine a light on another way of thinking that opens the door to debate.

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