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Interview #454: BYU Stormleader Dinner - Matt Hatch, Entry #5

Matt Hatch

We know that in the Age of Legends that the Forsaken/Chosen, everyone agreed to stop using balefire because of its effects on the Pattern. Is it unrealistic then to say that a great amount of power could burn someone’s thread back a year or six months? Is that an unrealistic thing to say that there is enough power available to either one or multiple people to burn somebody back that far?

Brandon Sanderson

I see what you are getting at you are trying to figure out if killed Graendal with a whole lot of balefire would bring Asmodean back to life.

MATT HATCH

…like that could ever happen…

BRANDON SANDERSON

That’s what you are digging for isn’t it?

MATT HATCH

Let’s say, if a Forsaken was responsible for killing another Forsaken…

BRANDON SANDERSON

Uh huh…

MATT HATCH

And said Forsaken was balefired…

BRANDON SANDERSON

You are under the assumption…You are trying to figure out who killed Asmodean again. That’s what you are trying to do and I’m not going to get caught and let you know…

MATT HATCH

It’s a legit question…and I’m sure whatever is said at this table stays at this table…

BRANDON SANDERSON

I’m sure, the leader of Theoryland and the guy taping this… [much laughter] Let’s divorce it. Rand balefires Rahvin as hardcore as he could and Rand is one of the most powerful people to live and he got us—what have you determined?—from the lightning killing Mat until balefire killed Rahvin, I’d guess fifteen minutes.

MATT HATCH

Well, he at least got us fifteen minutes. We don’t know how far back, we just know up to that moment.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Well, we do know because if it had been too much further than that we would have noticed a lot of discrepancies in the Pattern from things he’d done…

MATT HATCH

Let’s say thirty minutes to an hour, at the most…

BRANDON SANDERSON

Alright, thirty minutes to an hour. Okay, let’s say the Choedan Kal amplifies his abilities 100-fold…let’s say it’s a 100 times more powerful than Rand. That’s giving us, lets say he got an hour, we’ve got four days, from the most powerful, one of the most powerful sa’angreal ever created. I think it is unrealistic to assume you can get back a year, but that’s not saying it is impossible. I think that if you did that to the Pattern the ramifications would be so dramatic you’d see the Pattern unraveling hardcore at that point, it’s like balefiring an entire city. When I first read that guess I just laughed, I’m like guys c’mon lets run the math on this.

MATT HATCH

Like I said to Jennifer, it is my job at Theoryland to entertain these ideas.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes it is, it is your job to entertain them. But in the terms of Mythbusters let’s go ahead and call that one “Busted” in the realistic world. I’ve got to give you at least something, so I’ll at least give you that…If it were possible to do things like that, we’d have the Dark One just going and balefiring you know Tam so Rand never gets picked up off the mountain. […] I think it is more loose guidelines than it is a formula.

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