We are given clues throughout the O-Chron to the truths behind Elspeth's quest. Here are some of them. If you have a quote or something Isobelle has said that will fit into this section, comment below.
NOTE:
This was written before the Stone Key came out. Yes, I realise it needs a bit of updating. Help out and post the relevant stuff in a comment ;D remember to quote exact page number references, who said it, etc.
[hr][/hr]
The Task:p207, Obernewtyn, Sharna“I dreamed your life has a purpose which must be fulfilled, for the sake of all things…I will help. The seeker must be shielded.â€
p223 Obernewtyn, Maruman“There is danger for you in these mountains,†Maruman said pensively. “But it is in the mountains that you must fulfil the Prophecy…â€
p230 Obernewtyn, Cameo“…I dreamed the is something you have to do. You alone. I dreamed it was more important that anything else in the world. It has something to do with this place and with the map that Alexi seeks. The map…shows the way to a terrible evil…It shows the way to the Great White…You have to stop them from getting it. You have to destroy the Darkness. You have to find the Great White and destroy it …You are the Seeker…So long as it exists, fate will draw you to it.â€
p239 Obernewtyn, Elspeth …The doors! Marisa had had it carved into the pattern on the front doors!…And I saw more, not something from Marisa but a vision came to me of a dark chasm in the ground from which rose a thick brownish smoke and I knew I was seeing the very place indicated on Marisa’s map…
p248 Obernewtyn, ElspethDeep in my belly, I felt again the tingle of the power I had wakened. Such power must have a purpose and I thought of a dark chasm somewhere in the mountains and again the restlessness filled me. If Cameo and Maruman and Sharna were right, it was my destiny to stop anyone from ever unearthing that terrible power.I would not fail them.
p32, Farseekers, Atthis“…I come only to warn you that your tasks have not ended, and to remind you of your promise. The death machines slumber, waiting to be wakened…When the time is right for you to seek out the machines, you must be ready to act swiftly and without doubt. You must not allow the concerns of your friends or your own needs to sway you. When the time for the dark journey is near, you must come to us and we will provide you with help…â€
p280 Farseekers, Atthis“Long ago I foresaw that the machines which made the great destructions had not been destroyer. I saw that a second and greater destruction would come to the world, if these machines were used. And despite all the funaga did to bury the past, it was inevitable they would be discovered, unless they were destroyer. That will be no easy matter, for the machines have a kind of intelligence, and will protect themselves. Then I dreamed one would be born among the funga, a Seeker to cross the Blac wastes in search of the death machines, one who possessed the power to destroy them…The machines have slept without harm for hundreds of lifetimes. The danger of their discovery along would not be enough to make me act. But I have forseen that there is another funaga whose destiny is to discover and resurrect the machines. Your paths intersect. If you do not get there first, he will succeed. You are the Seeker, he is the Destroyer. If you do not find the machines before him…â€
p295 Farseekers, Elspeth“…I had only to think of Henry Druid and Alexi, to know there would always be men and women prepared to pay and price for power. Even our own Teknoguild would risk agonising death to revive the knowledge of a lost age. The Elder was right. It was inevitable the machines would someday be unearthed and used. Atthis said I was the only one who would be in the right place at the right time, the only one with any chance of destroying them. So that made me the Seeker. But even she had not been able to say if I would succeed.
pp325-326 Farseekers, Maruman“When the others come, it will be time to make the dark journey…you will not go alone. The old ones have promised,†I received a vague mental picture from Maruman of what looked like many dogs. One, I knew. “Darga?†I whispered…
“He will come, and when he returns, it will be time….â€
p9, Ashling, Ariel“…But my revenge will wait, because there is a thing you must do for me…Do as you wish and you shall still do my bidding…And when you have served my purpose I will kill you…â€
p498, Ashling, Atthis“Go back and let yourself heal, for the world had seen of you. Go back, or the H’rayka wins. Go back or the beasts will never be free.â€
p505 Ashling, Temple Overguardian“It is said Lasanda took the signs from her dreams, and strewed them across the lands so that they should not be found except by the Seeker. There are rumours that they lead to the deepest tresures of the Beforetimers. Still others say they are the key to a power that is great enough to shift the stars, even quench them…I know that when the Seeker journeys forth with the Day and Moonwatcher, with one of Kasanda blood, they will be looking for the final sign. Then may the Kasanda, who is the Overguardian, aid them.â€
p17, TKP, Elspeth…As I turned I saw a dull yellow flash and it came to me with great clarity that I was dreaming and that this was a dream I had experienced many times before…
p524 TKP, Cassy’s friend/lover“Nothing will happen. Any more than the world will end no matter what your precious Hannah says she forsees…â€
p640 TKP, Gahltha“H’rayka hunts ElspethInnle, but nothing will decided on dreamtrails. The glarsh wait in the land of realthings.â€
p651 TKP, Maruman, Elspeth“The oldOnes said to return to Obernewtyn to discover/possess last sign, else toolate.â€
“The last sign is at
Obernewtyn?â€
The Seeker, The Destroyer: p223 Obernewtyn, Maruman“The Seeker must seek the darkness and destroy it forever. All else is second. We each do what we must.â€
p273 of Farseekers, Illyx“The Seeker is the one who Seeks and either you are or you are not. I say not, or you would not ask such questions.â€
p326 Farseekers, Maruman“Fear of no, you must do what must be done. You are the Seeker…â€
p639 TKP, Elspeth and Gahltha“Ariel is the Destroyer.â€
“Ariel-li is H’rayka.â€
…The word meant One-who brings destruction.
- The Destroyer doesn’t know what he’s going to do. (from IC)
- What happens in the end is an accident (explain that!). (from IC)
- The Destroyer isn’t necessarily evil. (from IC)
- The Destroyer isn’t necessarily Ariel (from IC)
- It isn’t Jes or Swallow either, but Swallow is the SORT of person she would guess if she were in our positions (extremely vague…). (from IC)
- 'It's someone not obvious at first, but who will seem obvious once revealed.’ (from IC)
- The Destroyer has always been referred to as a ‘he’ by oracles, and as a human. (from the books)
- H’rayka = bringer of destruction, not Destroyer. (from the books)
The Moonwatcher; The Daywatcher:Though they are now confirmed as Maruman and Gahltha, here's the speculations we had back thenp25 Obernewtyn, Elspeth…Another time he confessed a Guanette bird had told him his (Maruman's) destiny was twined with mine…
p30 Obernewtyn, Elspeth…Maruman spat at the moon which had risen in the day sky. It was full. I wondered again why he hated the moon so much. It had something to do with the coming of the Great White, I knew…
p289 Farseekers, Gahltha“The voice told me a funaga would be brought here whom I must keep safe. One day, this funaga would fight a great and periolous battle whose outcome was unknown even to the wisest of the wise, but which might mean the destruction of all life on the earth for ever. I must carry this funaga wherever it wishes to go, and protect it with my own life if it were
needed.â€
p504 Ashling, Temple Overguardian“…the Seeker would bear the Moonwatcher and be borne by the Daywatcher, who is the colour of shadows…The Moonwatcher’s daylight eye, and the Daywatcher’s shadow-hue are complimentary…The implication is that one may emulate the other in times of need…â€
p18 TKP, Maruman“The oldOnes say you must not walk the dreamtrails without me, ElspethInnle. I must guard you on them, as Gahltha guards your waking trails.â€
The Kasanda Blood:p260 Ashling, Elspeth…This meant Swallow was the son of the leader of the gypsies and therefore descended from this original leader…
pp267-268 Ashling, Swallow,“The voice spoke again into my dreams that night, sending me to another market, lest all promises be broken…What could it mean but the ancient Twentyfamilies promises?…Save her, the dream voice had told me. She is everything to you…I obeyed the voice because such voices of power speak for higher reasons than to save the life or one man or a girl…I obeyed too, because it ill behoved me to disobey; I, who must someday carry the weight of the ancient promises of the Twentyfamilies, for they are matters of high destiny…I saw a vision. I saw this girl speak the words of the ancient promises in the place
where first they were made…And more. I will stand by your side when that day comes. I feel the weight of that meeting across my soul and across the fatepath of the Twentyfamilies like a great heavy shadow.â€
(despite what it seems at first glance, this could simply be that Swallow will be with Elspeth when she unlocks the sign protected by the Twentyfamilies. It doesn’t say that he’ll be with her when she confronts the Destroyer.)
p504 Ashling, Temple Overguardian“There is a story…It tells of one who will come across the sea in seach of the fifth sign of Kasanda…it is said when one comes in seach of the signs, three companions will come also, one of whom shall be of true Kasanda blood.â€
p524, TKP, Cassy“I want it to be indelible and I won’t get bored with it…It’s a symbol of a promise I made.â€
p525 TKP, ElspethOne part of Kasanda’s message had bade me seek a woman who had first forseen the darkness that would come. Was it remotely possible that this referred to Hannah Seraphim?
p638 TKP, Dameon (this is a dream of Elspeth’s so it may well be false)“This is the way…Kasanda is here. She has something to tell you.â€
The Signs:p154 TKP, Elspeth…if the panels had been brought to the mountains with the gypsies at Kasanda’s behest…They had to be one of the five signs I was supposed to find.
p413-416 TKP, Elspeth (from Fian’s translation)I, Carandy? have left [steps/signs/things] behind me which the [leader/wanderer/searching one] must find before…
That (KEY?)which must be [used/found] [before all else] is [with/given/sent to?] she who first dreamed of the searcher – the hope beyond the darkness to come.
Who [would/must] enter the [sentinel/guard/watcher] will seek the words in the house where my son was born.
That which will reach the [heart/centre/core] of the [sentinel/guard/watcher] seals a [pact/promise/vow] which I did forge, but never witnessed/saw.
[That which] will [open/access/reach] the darkest door lies where the … [lies/sleeps]? Strange is the keeping place of this dreadful [sign/key] but there is no other, for all who knew it are dead save one who does not know what she knows. Seek her past…Only through her may you go where you have never been and must someday go…danger…Beware…dragon.
p417 TKP, ElspethWhat if these ‘signs’ left by Kasanda were really devices or instructions to gain admission to the weaponmachines…