The Big Ball of Black

[Spidy]

I thought I posted this and something went awry.

The big black,(darker than black) ball of Taint above SL brought about through the cleansing, is a direct counterpart to the Sharom in both size and opposite nature.

Lifetime of the ball is not relevant as the taint was around for 3000 years or so in a form other than the ball. It is the nature of the great things of the Sharom, undone in an instant through the breaking of the world through the taint. An immediate breaking of the Sharom is matched by the similar short existence of the BBB. Spherical shape and 2 mile size only helps to confirm this.

[Weird Harold]

I thought I posted this and something went awry.

The big black,(darker than black) ball of Taint above SL brought about through the cleansing, is a direct counterpart to the Sharom in both size and opposite nature.

Lifetime of the ball is not relevant as the taint was around for 3000 years or so in a form other than the ball. It is the nature of the great things of the Sharom, undone in an instant through the breaking of the world through the taint. An immediate breaking of the Sharom is matched by the similar short existence of the BBB. Spherical shape and 2 mile size only helps to confirm this.
One minor flaw -- the timing. The drilling of the Bare and the destruction of the Sharom happened century or so before the Strike at Shayol Gul and the Tainting of Saidin.

[Spidy]

Which is why I tried to articulate that time frame of existance and destruction wasn't actually all that relevent. Exclude time and go on physical properties only and it fits. Yeah!!

[Ozymandias]

two things... one, the Sharom was a research lab, I thought? And two, I didn't realize there was a ball of Taint at SL, I thought it was a dome....

[Weird Harold]

two things... one, the Sharom was a research lab, I thought? And two, I didn't realize there was a ball of Taint at SL, I thought it was a dome....
When it vanished, it took the hemisphere (dome) above the ground and a two-mile-wide one mile deep hemishpere (scoop) from below ground (the new Lake Aridhol.)

[Spidy]

Lying on her belly atop her high vantage point with her chin in her hands, she was watching the great dome. Black no longer seemed to describe it. There was no term for it, now, but black was a pale color by comparison. It was half a ball, now, rearing like a mountain two miles or more into the sky. A thick layer of shadow lay around it, as though it were sucking the last light out of the air. She could not understand why she was not afraid. That thing might grow until it enveloped the entire world, or perhaps shatter the world, as Aran'gar had said it might. But if that happened, there was no safe place, no shadows for the Spider to hide in.

Ok, a dome it is, but only the bit visible above ground.

[Weird Harold]

Which is why I tried to articulate that time frame of existance and destruction wasn't actually all that relevent. Exclude time and go on physical properties only and it fits. Yeah!!
If there IS any symmetry involved with the resemblance of the destruction of the Sharom to the demise of the Taint, timing is part of it -- and would suggest T'G is as far away as the STrike on Shayol Gul was from the drilling of the Bore.

And if the resemblance isn't about symmetry then it's pointless coincidence.

[Spidy]

If there IS any symmetry involved with the resemblance of the destruction of the Sharom to the demise of the Taint, timing is part of it -- and would suggest T'G is as far away as the STrike on Shayol Gul was from the drilling of the Bore.

That is an arbitrary time that you have decided to bring in. I am not supposing time at all, rather the relevence of the event. The 3000 year reference was to offset a period of time in the Aol that may match the taint period.

Timing, scope, size may all be wrong in metrics but I have a feeling that RJ wanted to have something the matched the Sharom in the opposite State and time and I am selecting the SL dome/ball.

[Terez]

I like it. The ball was created by the opposing forces of taint/Shadar Logoth, and the Sharom was held in place by mysterious natural opposing forces, obviously. :D

Others who had seen Charn's hair were gathering around him anxiously asking the same questions, but he ignored them, not even thinking of whether he was being rude. He actually began to push through the crowd, his eyes fixed on the Sharom; the white sphere, a thousand feet in diameter, floated as high above the blue and silver domes of the Collam Daan.

Mierin had said today was the day. She said she had found a new source for the One Power. Female Aes Sedai and male would be able to tap the same source, not separate halves. What men and women could do united would be even greater now that there would be no differences. And today she and Beidomon would tap it for the first time – the last time men and women would work together wielding a different Power. Today.

What seemed a tiny chip of white spun away from the Sharom in a jet of black fire; it descended, deceptively slow, insignificant. Then a hundred gouts spurted everywhere around the huge white sphere. The Sharom broke apart like an egg and began to drift down, falling, an obsidian inferno. Darkness spread across the sky, swallowing the sun in unnatural night, as if the light of those flames was blackness. People were screaming, screaming everywhere.

[Weird Harold]

That is an arbitrary time that you have decided to bring in. I am not supposing time at all, rather the relevence of the event. The 3000 year reference was to offset a period of time in the Aol that may match the taint period.

Timing, scope, size may all be wrong in metrics but I have a feeling that RJ wanted to have something the matched the Sharom in the opposite State and time and I am selecting the SL dome/ball.
Thanks for the other description Terez.

Spidy, I know what you're trying to say, but the two events just don't match in any way. The imagery is not symmetric or complementary. The symbolism is not symmetric or complementary. The SIZE isn't symmetric or complementary. Nothing about the two events tie them together in any meaningful literary convention.

[Terez]

I bet Shadar Logoth is right where the Collam Daan was!

And be nice, WH...Spidy is probably trying to get a nomination for a Nynaeve Award. :D

[4Alethinos]

Terez, it is much more likely that the Sharom was located where the DO is most available to the Forsaken now. After all, the Sharom was making the Bore at the weakest point in the Pattern.

Shadar Logoth was a place that was against the DO. Not as likely a possible place for the Sharom in the AoL. Besides there has been some serious geological rearrangement of the land consequent to the Breaking.

Just a nit to pick, lest it become an unwieldy bug.

I agree with WH, the differences outweigh anything other than some mere symbolic representation at the best.

"My mind may be weaker, but my heart is 75%." :)

[GonzoTheGreat]

May I ask a question on units of measurement?
I'll take a part from each description, and stuff them into one quote.

It was half a ball, now, rearing like a mountain two miles or more into the sky.
He actually began to push through the crowd, his eyes fixed on the Sharom; the white sphere, a thousand feet in diameter, floated as high above the blue and silver domes of the Collam Daan.
Now, from what I know of it, if half a spere (a dome) is two miles, then the diameter of the sphere is four miles. This means that four miles is supposed to be 1,000 feet, so one mile is 250 feet.

This raises the question: how large are Ogier feet?

[Ozymandias]

What is the point of your post? You acknowledged you took two descriptions... so what was the point? To set up a lame joke?

[GonzoTheGreat]

One was the description of the big ball of black, produced at Shadar Logoth. The other was the description of the big ball of white, produced at the Collam Daan. Supposedly, those two were the same size, but unless the feet and miles are defined very oddly, the sizes differ by a large amount.
According to Wikipedia, a mile is commonly 5,280 feet, which means that the four miles of Rand's ball is about 20 times as large as the 1,000 feet of Lanfear's. That means a difference of a factor 8,000 in volume. Not really similar, in my view.

[Uno]

According to Wikipedia, a mile is commonly 5,280 feet, which means that the four miles of Rand's ball is about 20 times as large as the 1,000 feet of Lanfear's. That means a difference of a factor 8,000 in volume. Not really similar, in my view.

A mile can be a term for any number of measurements. A Norwegian mile is 10 kilometers or about 6.2 English miles, but that's only been the case since the introduction of the metric system, and an "old mile" is about 11.3 kilometers, or approximately 7 English miles. In the Age of Legends, they probably had standardized measurements, but preindustrialized, decentralized societies generally don't, and measurements are usually local in nature. In the seventeenth century, a pinte was 0.93 liters in Paris, but in parts of the provinces it could be as much as 3.33 liters, more than three times as much.

[Crispin's Crispian]

Terez, it is much more likely that the Sharom was located where the DO is most available to the Forsaken now. After all, the Sharom was making the Bore at the weakest point in the Pattern.

Shadar Logoth was a place that was against the DO. Not as likely a possible place for the Sharom in the AoL. Besides there has been some serious geological rearrangement of the land consequent to the Breaking.

Just a nit to pick, lest it become an unwieldy bug.

I agree with WH, the differences outweigh anything other than some mere symbolic representation at the best.

"My mind may be weaker, but my heart is 75%." :)

Well we know that the Bore is at Shayol Ghul, which used to be an "idyllic island in a cool sea" and a vacation spot for those who like the "rustic". Doesn't sound like a hopping research hub of the AoL.

Plus I have a hunch...just a tiny inkling of an idea...that Terez might possibly be...could very well be...joking.

[Terez]

Did I say Shayol Ghul? noooooooooooooooo :rolleyes:

[Weird Harold]

One was the description of the big ball of black, produced at Shadar Logoth. The other was the description of the big ball of white, produced at the Collam Daan. Supposedly, those two were the same size, but unless the feet and miles are defined very oddly, the sizes differ by a large amount.
According to Wikipedia, a mile is commonly 5,280 feet, which means that the four miles of Rand's ball is about 20 times as large as the 1,000 feet of Lanfear's. That means a difference of a factor 8,000 in volume. Not really similar, in my view.
According the glossary, a Randland mile is one thousand paces -- roughly 6,000 feet or a r/w Nauthical Mile.

The sizes don't match by about 2400 percent.

[Spidy]

Hmmph!

Sounded like great idea to be when I read that bit about the BBB in Winter's Heart. I'm gonna stick my head in the sand on this one.

[Terez]

Spin a nice web, you'll catch something.