scruffy
Matthew - Well Min has set forth to convinve everyone, including IC, that the Destroyer is in fact Matty, so i hardly need to say anything. He seems to fit in with most of the criteria, except IC's stipulation that we haven't guessed him already (or at least, we hadn't guessed him in August 05), and Min was convinced it was Matty back in 2004. But I do just love the idea - Matty as destroyer is perfect. He's already in the LotRQ, he has access to the Entina/sentinal, he's a rash, passionate sort of bloke whom we all love, he hates the beforetimers and he hates Ariel, and he's always been a pivotal character....
Dameon - for much the same reasons as Matty. And, he loves Elspeth, there is more of that delightful duality that IC loves - he loves her, and yet he also turns out to be her nemesis. AND, he's a character that would tie in the underlying theme that Empathy is where it's at. Again though, there is that problem that people were thinking it could be Dameon back in 2004.
I think it may be someone Elspeth knows but not necessarily someone she loves. I think there's a strong possibility it's one of the minor characters, eg Elii, the first character we meet in the series.
Elf herself could be the Destroyer - everything points to her when you really think about it EXCEPT one thing - Everyone - even Atthis - refers to the Destroyer as 'he'. The Destroyer has been dubbed male - whether that is just so because aggression and destruction is associated with males, we'll just have to wait to find out. One of the main arguments for Elspeth being the Destroyer is Maruman's talk of 'the dark path' to Elspeth. He often tells her that he sees her walking the dark path, with all gone - Obernewtyn gone, and nothing left for Innle. Elspeth interprets this that to fulfil her destiny, she will have to give up everything. But what if these are cryptic warnings from Maruman? Maruman is seliga - roughly translated as 'between worlds' (I think?), and travels the dreamtrails a lot of the time, and the dreamtrails hold everything that has been, is, will be and can be. Atthis could simply have taken Maruman to a possible future - one where Elspeth becomes the Destroyer, thus metaphorically traveling 'the dark path' (think 'the dark side of the force' - Star Wars). Thus if she chooses the way of the Destroyer, she will loose everything. What if Ariel’s coming onto Elspeth in TKP is because he’s realised she’s the one who has to do his work? What if he really is trying to get her on his side, since he is the dark equivalent of Maruman? He needs Elspeth, because she is the ONLY one with the power to unleash or deactivate the weaponmachines. I mean, if Ariel's not the Destroyer, wouldn't he simply go after the Destroyer and stop chasing Elspeth? Then there is the thing about the Destroyer being Elspeth's equal. Who is more equal than herself? Here's another way out theory interlaced here and it has to do with Elspeth's killing power. She is always feeling it surge in her mind, and pushing it back so it doesn't take control of her. When you repress something long enough, the energy can't be released and the power will manifest. Elspeth is quite often chased in her dreams by a shadow? She presumes it's the Destroyer (and Ariel). But what if it's her own mind - the killing power that she won't let herself use? Perhaps it's becoming a separate entity on its own. And when the moment of truth comes, when Elspeth stands over the weaponmachine, the killing power will have the strength to take control of her and the situation if she doesn't learn to control it or live with it - rather than repress it. Maybe that's the battle that has to be fought, the one in her mind, against herself or her negative energy that's built up over loosing people (Cameo, Selmar, Jes, Pavo, Jik, etc) powered by the killing instinct that only she carries? Well, sure, Jes had it too. But I've asked Isobelle if Jes is the Destroyer, and she has also said no. The short of it is, her killing power could be manifesting in her mind, and Ariel could be trying to gain control of it, or perhaps push her to unleash it. If Elspeth can't gain control of it, perhaps she will become the Destroyer. Laura Fraser - Scottish accent, younger than Julia Ormond... Amie has elaborated on the theory that Elspeth is the Destroyer: 'I looked at my body, and noticed that, though it's aura was dullish, it was chiefly gold and deep violet, with a single flash of white marred by a seam of dark crimson. 'That is the life you took,' Maruman sent, his voice now quite clear. 'Life?' I echoed, but even as the question formed in my mind, I understood that the red stain had been caused by my killing Madame Vega when she would have cut Rushton's throat...' - p 208 of The Keeping Place Now if there is a record of Madame Vega's death on Elspeth, that could possibly mean that there is a part of Madame Vega that has been shifted to Elspeth through her death. Will the Destroyer in her perhaps be fueled by Madame Vega's death-mark? Or for that matter, the other death-marks or pain that Elspeth must have felt after so many deaths? As well as that; 'I found myself standing on a rocky plateau looking at Ariel who was leaning against some sort of rocky mound. He was the man I had seen in my dream travels: fair, lithe, handsome. He lifted his brows and held out his hand. 'Admit that you admire me, Elspeth.' I recoiled. 'I do not!' 'Then why do you dream of me?' I was confused. Dream? Of course, I was dreaming. 'You are a nightmare,' I said, but my voice lacked conviction. 'I think not. You dream of me because you know we belong together. I am waiting for you.' His voice was husky and seductive. 'Why don't you come to me?'' - p251 of The Keeping Place So here is the famous scene where Ariel tried to seduce Elspeth. Why - we presume that its to get the location of the weaponmachine maps. But if he just wanted that, he could simply pluck the thought from her mind, even using force. Ariel has to want something more, like Elspeth's power. He needs to gain control of her to gain control of the Destroyer's power - that she could potentially have.
Firefall
Someone like Elii or even one of the orphans, who makes a brief appearance so we know they're there but then disappears so we forget about them, would at least make the revelation of their being the much-theorised-about Destroyer more startling.
My main problem with this is that it means I pay too much attention to random background characters in the first book - sometimes I have these ridiculous moments where I ask myself why the Destroyer couldn't be that outspoken orphan girl from the first chapter (sidenote: did IC ever say it was someone mentioned by name?), or the Head of Kinraide orphan home, or Sly Willie? :P