Dark one/seals

[Aldebaran]

This is a two part question:

First off, why does everyone seem to fear the dark one's release/escape from his prison. It seems that the scenario of dragon vs darkone repeats with the ages, and from what we know of the age of legends, is that a large number of years passed between the creation of the bore and the sealing of it.
Yet, in this age, everyone seems to basically wet their pants at the idea of the dark one breaking all the seals and walking his dogs.

Now, we have heard from the forsaken/llt's memory/ter'angreal's that the current day aes sedai aren't as strong as in the age of legends. Yet, there are some points that show otherwise.
*There are a number of comments made by the forsaken regarding the wonders (the adam,healing stilling,bonding etc) that these "novice aes sedai" keep propping up. Also, i remember it being commented that the windfinders were able to make weaves that were almost as strong as those ter'angreal used in the age of legends (the bowl of winds being exceptionally strong)
*The aes sedai before the bore, were of a more peaceful nature, wars didnt happen(or rarely) and thus they may not have had some of the skills that current aes sedai do. The things they did learn, were learned hastily, over a span of a hundred years or so, while combating the shadow. The current world has had a history of warfare and turmoil since the breaking. While some talents had been lost/forgotten (travelling, dreamwalking, compulsion/what verin is using), they are making a comeback.
*Ashaman and damane are trained to be weapons almost exclusively. They are taught other skills, but these are their main purpose of existence.
*The strength of current aes sedai is weighted against the forsaken, which is a bit unfair, since the forsaken were some of the most powerful onepower wielder's of their time, and 2 of them were actually killed by moraine, while another was bested by nynaeve.

So, it really seems that if the dark one did break free, it would still take time for Tarmon Gai'don to take place, with neither side being unbalanced.



Which takes me to the next point(damn these long posts), which is the last 3 seals.
The first 4 seals broke in a duration of 5 books, and about 3? years or so. Yet for the last 4 books and couple of years, the seals that a knife could scrape off, are still standing. That seems a bit inconsistent to say the least. Did someone invent superglue?

Actually, i'm pretty sure that herid fel was killed before he could tell rand, that if he broke all 3 seals, then the dark one would have to grant him 3 wishes, while dancing the sasara, dicing with mat, and beating the finn's. But, that's just me :D

[Pope Trevor]

I'd be scared shitless if the lord of darkness was about to break free of his prison and try to kill me. Even if I knew that good would eventually win.

The first four seals broke in five books, which spaned about two years. The last four books have spaned about 6 months, if that. I think book 7 was only about 2 weeks, or something....

[Jacob]

Err....I don't get the point. I mean, I'd wet my pants too if I lived in Randland at this time. If I wasn't so darn brave, of course :)

Okay, so WE know that the dragon will win the last battle ('cause that's how it happends in books). The people living in Randland doesn't know that for sure. The DO might succeed in breaking the wheel. Practice makes perfect and the DO's had alot of practice :rolleyes:

Also, during the War of Power, the forces of the shadow succeeded in taking controll of something like 3/4 of the world before Lews Therin's last desperate strike at Shayoul Ghul. All in all, alot more people died during the War of Power and it's aftermath than survived it. In other words, even if the forces prevail, the odds for the individual inhabitant to survive are againts her/him.

Maybe people weren't that careful with the first seals that broke since they assumed that they couldn't be broken. I seem to remember Nyn and co. saying something like that when they arrived in Salidar. Now they know that the seals are fragile and thus treat them like granny's old china that they inherited.

[Aldebaran]

Bah, i dont think i wrote down that post correctly, but the main point was that everyone seems to think that Rand should be ready to do a TLC match with the dark one as soon as he breaks away the seals. There seems to be a trend that implies that TG will happen when rand shatters those last 3 seals in his possession. I hope that there will be some interval instead of everthing happening in a day, albiet a day with a solar eclipse

And obviously, the common man (dorkfriends not included), should and will be wetting their pants, but the aes sedai/borderlanders etc should be getting ready to counter the effects the dark one will unleash once he can reach out a little more (like the bowl of winds, but hopefully they'll let real sisters negotiate next time)

Well, bera/merana didnt do that good of a job, just send in mat and lan. with thom as a sideshow :D

Also, the forces of shadow/light were pretty much in a stalemate with the shadow slowly gaining, untill the temp sealing. But the thing to remember is that the people of that time were not used to warfare or trollocs and other shadowspawn.

[Theoban]

When the seals finally break, I don't think that the Dark One will be totally free, like everyone fears.

In the AOL the DO's bore was as open as it will be when the seals go, after all the bore must've been open to be able to create the seals.

The DO will not unleash all his power all at once, but it will be a gradual thing, if he could just burst out, why didn't he do it three thousand years ago?

[Schizophrenia]

One thing to think about is that it is possible that the wheel is not going to repeat itself this time around. Think about it-if the Dark One dies, hes GONE because he doesn't exist inside the pattern. He can only die once. Also, Ishmael (When acting as Ba'alzamon) mentions stopping the wheel. ;)

[Berk]

It has not yet been two years since Winternight of Book 1. Winter should be about over, of the weather wasn't screwy, so Winternight should happen in book 10 if book 10 takes place over a month.

From the guides pages on holidays and the mention of holidays in the series, plus an accurate timeline, backs up this fact.