| Nine Moons Rising
Mat’s destiny is “To marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons!” The Seanchan imperial family is centred in the Court of the Nine Moons. Mat is currently buried under a wall in Ebou Dar, a city that the Seanchan have recently invaded. I foresee a meeting soon between Mat and his betrothed... In one of my previous essays, The Golden Hawk, I explained why the Daughter of the Nine Moons is most likely Tuon, the Empress’ second daughter and heir-apparent to the Crystal Throne. In the same essay I theorised, as part of a future link between Tuon and Egwene, that Tuon is a dreamwalker and will meet Egwene in Tel’aran’rhiod. For quite a while, I’ve held the belief that Tuon will be placed in command of the Return, as the personal representative of the Empress. The arrival of The Path Of Daggers did nothing to confirm or deny that belief, as the Return has not yet occurred; the invasion of Ebou Dar seems to be merely another wave of Forerunners. If the Return does not happen in the next book, I will be seriously disappointed. Let’s hypothesize that Mat is found (or more likely has been found; even Mat couldn’t survive under a wall for more than a month) by the Seanchan. For various reasons, they won’t dismiss him as yet another prisoner, these reasons being; Mat’s ashandarei: (if he’s carrying it) marked with ravens, a symbol of the Imperial family. His ring; a fox chasing two birds, inside a border of nine crescent moons. I doubt he changed before searching for Olver, so his coat pocket contains a note from Tylin, which itself contains the phrase Who is this Daughter of the Nine Moons I made you think of? If anyone tries channeling at him, they’ll soon find flows of the Power dissolve when they touch him. His injuries may make him delirious, in which case he’ll probably start babbling in the Old Tongue - most likely about battle, and possibly about fighting alongside Hawkwing. If the Seanchan spy from Lord of Chaos is around, he may recognise Mat as the man in the tavern who grumbled “Blood and bloody ashes, next thing I know the Daughter of the Nine Moons will walk in and claim me!” On the surface Mat may appear to be some young lordling who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but look any closer and everything about him screams out of the ordinary. They won’t have the faintest idea what to do with him. So when the Return returns, they’ll be only too happy to hand him over to the Imperial representative to deal with. Their meeting, however, is unlikely to lead straight to marriage. For one, Tuon is a princess (if the Seanchan use that title) and future empress, while Mat, whatever strange capabilities and possessions he may happen to have, isn’t even Seanchan. For another, he’s likely to resist the notion with all his might. Marriage is not something Mat wants to be burdened with any time soon. If Tuon is a dreamwalker, though... Well, it does seem that prophetic Dreams are very often about ta’veren - and that they are almost always relevant to the dreamer. All of Egwene’s dreams have concerned either her or her close friends. So perhaps Tuon has dreamed she will marry Mat, and recognises him from her dream? Or, if anyone listens for awhile to Mat’s Old Tongue ravings, they’ll figure out they have a very good general captive, and may force him into taking over as chief strategist for the Return. A marriage of convenience between general and crown princess makes sense, as well as binding Mat more closely to the Seanchan. Or, she might just fall in love with him. At any rate, it’s almost certain that Tuon, not Mat, will be the one to insist on marriage - judging by Mat’s general reaction to the word, and by another of Egwene’s dreams; Mat, wrestling with a Seanchan woman who tied an invisible leash to him. Several more dreams associate Mat with the Seanchan. However, it has been brought up in the books that Mat, once he makes a promise, keeps it to the full. I’m guessing that would apply even if he was forced to make that promise, so whatever his feelings, he’ll be loyal to Tuon. Why does this matter? Because I’m also guessing that at some point Tuon will get into trouble and it’ll be up to Mat to get her out of it. What trouble? Well, there are a couple of possibilities. Several people have theorised that Tuon can channel. If she’s around Mat’s age, then it’s possible she has the spark but that it hasn’t manifested yet. Alternatively, she may know she can channel and got herself named as commander of the Return in order to avoid being tested and leashed. If that’s the case, and someone Seanchan finds out about it, Tuon will indeed be in very great trouble. The other possibility is that somehow someone will find out that Tuon has been in communication with Egwene (read The Golden Hawk) which from a Seanchan point of view surely amounts to treason. Either way, Tuon’s main enemy is likely to be Suroth. Tuon’s arrival will oust Suroth from her position as commander, and also reduce Suroth’s chances of being adopted into the Imperial family (since the credit for any successes will go to Tuon instead). If Tuon is somehow discredited, that puts Suroth back in charge and Tuon will be forced to flee. Where to? Well, where is the last place the Seanchan would be able to kidnap Tuon from, even if they thought of looking there? The White Tower. An idea which is supported by yet another of Egwene’s dreams: Rand confronting her, and the women with her, and one of them was Seanchan. And then what? I can guess what will happen in the end; Mat will end up falling in love with Tuon, she’ll fall in love with him if she hasn’t already, Suroth will be killed, the Seanchan will join Rand, Seanchan society will undergo radical rearrangement and everyone will live more or less happily ever after. I also believe that some time during the books, the Empress will die and Tuon will be named Empress. And I hope that at some point Egwene and Tuon will team up to give Suroth some of the worst nightmares they can think of. As for how it’s all going to happen, I haven’t the faintest idea. Read and find out. |