I have to think the body is either Brys or Heboric. Brys because contextually it seems obvious that Mael is referring to him and looking at him at the same time. But, not conclusive. Heboric seems to fit for all the reasons mentioned above.
When Calm talks about there being twelve Pures, my first thought was twelve Pure dragons of Starvald Demelain (though it might indeed refer to Pure FA).
Looking back through MT:
Midnight Tides, p. 588, TOR MMPB said:
The boy shrugged. 'T'iam, Kalse, Silannah, Ampelas, Okaros, Karosis, Sorrit, Atrahal, Eloth, Anthras, Kessobahn, Alkend, Karatallid, Korbas....Olar. Eleint. Draconean. Dragons. The Pure Dragons. The place where the road comes from is closed. By the mixed bloods who gathered long ago. Draconus, K'rul, Anomandaris, Osserc, Silchas Ruin, Scabandari, Sheltatha Lore, Sukul Ankhadu, and Menandore.'
Now - there are 14 dragons listed. T'iam and Korbas I would place in a separate category, since they are unique. That leaves...the twelve dragons for the twelve gates? We know Sorrit is dead - and Tiam too, right? So out of the original 14, only 12 are alive.
[EDIT: Ok, there are 15 dragons including Olar Ethil. Either she is unique and not pure (first Soletaken, perhaps?), or one of the other dragons may be dead (perhaps Calm senses Kessobahn's imminent demise) and Olar is the 12th one living.]
Calm says:
Quote
Twelve Pures remained, feeding. Twelve. Perhaps there were others, lost in farflung places, but she knew nothing of them. No, these twelve, they would be the faces of the final storm, and, pre-eminent among them all, she would stand at that storm's centre.
The 12 being dragons instead of Forkrul Assail fits nicely with the TCG blurb about dragons coming again. Also, check out that cover and tell me you don't see a fucking dragon at the head of the final storm.
Also, did anyone else just notice the name KESSOBAHN among the dragons listed by Rud Ellale? What the fuck. So the Liosan just slew a major dragon, like Sorrit, who probably controlled a warren. However, Kessobahn is still alive which jives with Calm still sensing 12 dragons (unless this timeline of 10 pages is just crazy).
Quote
He'd known what the answer would be and he nodded. Our father. Your pain, your blood, our gift. Celebrate our rebirth, Our Father Kessobahn, with your death. And for you, there shall be no return.
I think this gives a lot of insight into Eleint. "there shall be no return" suggests that if Kessobahn had not been subsequently torn apart by these new Soletaken, he would have returned. This sounds exactly like how Rake and everyone drank the blood of T'iam.... and now that T'iam isn't coming back, perhaps she was torn to pieces like Kessobahn instead of being allowed to "return"?
There was an interesting comment about how not even the Azath can breach Akhrast Korvalain - does this mean there is no path in the Azath that leads to this realm? Previously it's been assumed the Azath leads to all (or most) worlds/realms...
My crazy theory is that since the Azath housing the Gates of Starvald Demelain is dying, Shadowthrone's gambit is to somehow usurp this Azath like he usurped the Deadhouse and become master of Starvald Demelain (healing the wounds of the gates and resealing them with the Azath, saving the world but also becoming the most insanely powerful god...ever?).
This post has been edited by ansible: 03 February 2011 - 01:03 AM
We sail in and out of Time, then back again. There is only one ship, the captain says. All the ships we hail between the galaxies or suns are this ship.