Skip to main content

the wheel of time - Was Lan ever really dead?


One of the key climactic scenes in A Memory of Light involves two majors characters fighting and apparently killing each other:



Lan manages to kill Demandred by "sheathing the sword", that is, allowing Demandred to land a blow in order to land one of his own. In this case, both strikes appeared to be fatal.



This death leads up to the major turning point in the battle:



As the Dark One gloats about all of the deaths, Rand "zooms in" on Lan and says something like "You're wrong about one", as we see Lan stand back up and hold Demandred's severed head over his own.




I have seen several comments on this site (and elsewhere) that assume the character in question was killed and resurrected



by Rand,



but I did not get that impression at all from the novel. That, IMO, is counter to everything else we know about how things worked. To me, it was obvious that the character in question was never dead -- the apparently fatal blow was not fatal, merely extremely severe, and he was able to push through it and keep going.


Is there any indication, other than



The Dark One's claim, which is highly suspect




that the character actually died and was resurrected?



Answer



I'd cautiously suggest that he wasn't resurrected, because others who were resurrected, such as Moridin, bore none of their prior wounds, while this character was still half-dead. Those other characters also required new bodies, while this character didn't.


It's technically possible that said potential resurrector acquired new, unexplained powers - he has before. However, in the past, his powers made a certain amount of sense in the universe, whereas power over death really isn't his vibe.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...