Chapter 1797
Added 2021-06-21 04:39:42 +0000 UTCComments
Were we aware of 16 Speculum-tier people in the Nexus? In ch 1645, we learn about 9 "known" Speculum-tier fighters. 1 in the Engraving Guild, 3 in the Military, 4 in the Pinnacle Seekers, and 1 not stated. Lathis N'Gick of the Engraving guild (dead, but unclear if the Patron of Feathers killed her shortly after this chapter takes place chronologically, or before. My bet is after). 3 former Commandants of the Military, including Wick's weak master Grand Marshall Devick, Zettlequil's not-a-speculum-but-strong master, and Double-Hammer Dubois. Weirdly, the creator of the Grand Pattern, the "publicly acknowledged most powerful Speculum, one of the original founders of Military High Command", doesn't seem to fit any of these? Maybe Nettlequil's master isn't in the 3 Speculum, since he "doesn't call himself a Speculum", so Military effectively has 4 in total? 4 in the Pinnacle seekers (Niermas Pence the walrus dude with a money image, and 3 others). In chapter 1778, we learned that the Swacc Family has 2 Speculum-tier fighters. I think the Swacc Family is classified as NLC, right? 4 seekers, 3 military, and 2 Swacc adds up to 9 known Speculum-tier. That all tracks, though I find it hard to believe that the Xyrt Brigade has none... So then who are the remaining 7? We can assume Don Beigon is one. He was 1 tier below the Speculum, and just spent several days training with the Skull of Truth. HIm trying to Ascend right now explains a lot of his urgency in the last few chapters. I imagine he will be the weakest possible Speculum due to not spending enough time in the comprehension stage (1 month for Wick's weak master), but a Speculum nonetheless. Of course, if he had any brains, he would've spent the last 3 days in a Dungeon to get 3 years, or even a nested Dungeon to get 1000 years of training. But... nobody in TLoRG realizes the value of time dilation. Like, I get that it has side effects, especially if you don't have a supply of Aether like Randidly, but Don is RICH, and could easily acquire that Aether by calling in some favors or putting Alymian tickets on sale. We can assume Solomon Rex is one, but based on the Patron of Feather's message in ch 1790, I think he is also one of the missing original Patrons, likely the Patron of the Deep. Deep, Borrowed and Truth were missing, and Truth and 1 other were killed, so the other is Solomon. Since Deep helped with the super-race project, I think he lived. The rest likely includes the other original Patrons, if only because they are the only other introduced Speculum. We know there were 8 (Feathers, Deep, Sun, Blooms, Borrowed, Abyss, Blades, and Truth) and we know that 2 died (Truth and 1 other). As I said, I think Borrowed is the one who died. We know that Feathers is dying from the backlash of the anti-Pine weapon, so I doubt she is trying to ascend. I think Deep is Solomon Rex. That leaves Blooms, Sun, Abyss, and Blades. I'm not sure if Sun wants to ascend, given that he thinks joining Randidly's Alpha Cosmos will keep him safe, but I bet the other 3 will. So Deep, Abyss, Blooms and Blades ascending. Even if we count Sun, that's only 5. Even if we assume Lathis's death is a few seconds from now, so he is one of the 16, that's only 9/9 of the 'known' speculum, which means 14 if you add in the original Patrons, and 15 with Don Beigon. That means we've got MINIMUM 1 unknown Speculum-tier fighter. My guess is that Sun isn't ascending, so then we've got 2 unknowns. Am I missing anything? We know of a few other "old monsters", like DiOrtho's master, but they could easily be Commandant-tier and still count. Edraine is confident that she could fight a Commandant, but is not Speculum-Tier. Velio too. I don't think we have been introduced to the missing people who are aiming for ascension. It's also entirely possible that there will be a bunch more ascending at the start of the next chapter. We only know that a few of the introduced Speculum are trying to ascend. The rest might well be playing it safe, and the other dozen are all newly-to-be-introduced. Who knows?
Fiazba Baran
2021-06-21 16:27:31 +0000 UTCI like that phrase “substance of his gaze”.
SunderGoldmane
2021-06-21 08:28:23 +0000 UTCTypo: "Ruin, the image whispered. Run from me while you can" -> Should be run not ruin
Jamarr
2021-06-21 08:13:09 +0000 UTCActually, this all gives me a potential idea for an effective way Randidly might be able to deal with Claudette's situation with her father by making use of that favor of his. However, this only really works if 1. Elhume kills or otherwise thwarts everyone who is making their attempts right now and 2. The Don is not one of those people making an attempt (because what I'm about to say will be completely moot if he is.) All Rand has to do is walk right up to the Don and say "I would like to call in my favor. Tell absolutely no one about what I am about to show you, or even that I have the ability to accomplish what I'm about to tell you about. Do not write about it or otherwise record it either." After this, he takes out the Higherarchy of burden. "I am told that this item can grant it's user the ability to leave the Nexus. Now, that's you unable to make any kind of weaseling about to screw me over on this one. Would you like to grant me a favor in exchange for a promise of future action?" I get the feeling that if the 2 things I said at the start were true he would be more than eager to gain Randidly's cooperation. About the only issue with this plan is that I really don't see it being in Randidly's nature.
Jemini
2021-06-21 07:12:14 +0000 UTCWell, this is exactly the right moment for Randidly to be staying out of all this nonsense. The only question is how he might feel if Elhume winds up killing Wick who is helping one of those people making their attempt.
Jemini
2021-06-21 07:02:53 +0000 UTCThanks for the chapter.
Joshua Little
2021-06-21 06:43:14 +0000 UTCThanks for the chapter
BlackRazaras
2021-06-21 05:39:04 +0000 UTCDamn, 16 people are trying to ascend simultaneously? I wonder if Elhume can sense when Rand uses the Dreamcatcher. There are a lot of great moments to pick from to evolve his general Nether and Aether skills, but he’s in them more often than not.
Qybalt
2021-06-21 05:07:38 +0000 UTCLol this is going to be fun.
Alexander Dupree
2021-06-21 04:59:53 +0000 UTC
