Karaethon Cycle

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The Karaethon Cycle is a compilation of prophecies concerning the Dragon. It was originally written in Old Tongue which makes the prophecies difficult to interpret. Its equivalent in Seanchan (but with some differences) is known as the Essanik Cycle.

The Eye of the World

  • "And men cried out to the Creator, saying, O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain, according to the prophecies, as he was in ages past and will be in ages to come." (The Eye of the World, Opening prophecy)
  • "According to prophecy and legend the Dragon will be born again at mankind's greatest hour of need to save the world. This is not something people look forward to, both because the prophecies say the Dragon Reborn will bring a new Breaking to the world and because Lews Therin Kinslayer, the Dragon, is a name to make men shudder, even more than three thousand years after his death." (The Eye of the World, Glossary)

The Great Hunt

  • "And it shall come to pass that what men made shall be shattered and the Shadow shall lie across the Pattern of the Age, and the Dark One shall once more lay his hand upon the world of man. Women shall weep and men quail as the nations of the earth are rent like rotting cloth. Neither shall anything stand nor abide... Yet one shall be born to face the Shadow, born once more as he was born before and shall be born again, time without end. The Dragon shall be Reborn, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth at his rebirth. In sackcloth and ashes shall he clothe the people, and he shall break the world again by his coming, tearing apart all ties that bind. Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light. Let tears flow, O ye people of the world. Weep for your salvation." (The Great Hunt, Opening prophecy)
  • "For he shall come like the breaking dawn, and shatter the world again with his coming, and make it anew." (TGH, Ch. 5)
  • "He will be of the ancient blood, and raised by the old blood." (TGH, Ch. 8)
  • "When the winds of Tarmon Gai'don scour the earth, he will face the Shadow and bring forth Light again in the world." (TGH, Ch. 8)
  • "Five ride forth, and four return. Above the watchers shall he proclaim himself, bannered cross the sky in fire." (TGH, Ch. 22)
  • "Twice and twice shall he be marked, twice to live and twice to die. Once the heron, to set his path. Twice the heron, to name him true. Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost. Twice the Dragon, for the price he must pay." (TGH, Ch. 26)
  • "Twice dawns the day when his blood is shed. Once for mourning, once for birth. Red on black, the Dragon's blood stains the rock of Shayol Ghul. In the Pit of Doom shall his blood free men from the Shadow." (TGH, Ch. 26)
  • "It is said that when the Dragon is Reborn, he will break all oaths, shatter all ties." (TGH, Ch. 49)
  • "Little known and seldom spoken of, the Prophecies, given in The Karaethon Cyle, foretell that the Dark One will be freed again to touch the world. And that Lews Therin Telamon, the Dragon, Breaker of the World, will be reborn to fight Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle against the Shadow. (The Great Hunt, Glossary)

The Dragon Reborn

  • "And his paths shall be many, and who shall know his name, for he shall be born among us many times, in many guises, as he has been and ever will be, time without end. His coming shall be like the sharp edge of the plough, turning our lives in furrows from out of the places where we lie in our silence. The breaker of bonds; the forger of chains. The maker of futures; the unshaper of destiny." (The Dragon Reborn, Opening prophecy)
  • "Twice and twice shall he be marked, twice to live and twice to die. Once the heron, to set his path. Twice the heron, to name him true. Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost. Twice the Dragon, for the price he must pay." (TDR, Ch. 2)
  • "The blood of the Dragon Reborn on the rocks of Shayol Ghul will free mankind from the Shadow." (TDR, Ch. 5)
  • "Callandor will be but one fulfillment of The Karaethon Cycle, as his birth on the slope of Dragonmount was the first. He has yet to break the nations, or shatter the world. Even scholars who have studied the Prophecies for their entire lives do not know how to interpret them all. What does it mean that he shall 'slay his people with the sword of peace, and destroy them with the leaf'? What does it mean that he shall bind the nine moons to serve him? Yet these are given equal weight with Callandor in the Cycle. There are others. What 'wound of madness and cutting of hope' has he healed? What chains has he broken, and who put into chains?" (TDR, Ch. 6)

The Shadow Rising

  • "The Shadow shall rise across the world, and darken every land, even to the smallest corner, and there shall be neither light nor safety. And he who shall be born of the Dawn, born of the Maiden, according to Prophecy, he shall stretch forth his hands to catch the Shadow, and the world shall scream in the pain of salvation. All Glory be to the Creator, and to the Light, and to he who shall be born again. May the Light save us from him." (The Shadow Rising, Opening prophecy)
  • "His blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul, washing away the Shadow, sacrifice for man's salvation". (TSR, Ch. 3)
  • "Power of the Shadow made human flesh, wakened to turmoil, strife and ruin. The Reborn One, marked and bleeding, dances the sword in dreams and mist, chains the Shadowsworn to his will, from the city, lost and forsaken, leads the spears to war once more, breaks the spears and makes them see, truth long hidden in the ancient dream". (TSR, Ch. 6)
  • "Twice and twice shall he be marked, twice to live, and twice to die. Once the heron to set his path. Twice the heron, to name him true. Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost. Twice the Dragon, for the price he must pay." (TSR, Ch. 9)
  • "Into the heart he thrusts his sword, Into the heart, to hold their hearts. Who draws it out shall follow after, What hand can grasp that fearful blade?" (TSR, Ch. 21)

The Fires of Heaven

  • "With his coming are the dread fires born again. The hills burn, and the land turns sere. The tides of men run out, and the hours dwindle. The wall is pierced, and the veil of parting raised. Storms rumble beyond the horizon, and the fires of heaven purge the earth. There is no salvation without destruction, no hope this side of death." (The Fires of Heaven, Opening prophecy)

Lord of Chaos

  • "The unstained tower breaks and bends knee to the forgotten sign. The seas rage, and stormclouds gather unseen. Beyond the horizon, hidden fires swell, and serpents nestle in the bosom. What was exalted is cast down; what was cast down is raised up. Order burns to clear his path." (Lord of Chaos, Closing prophecy)

A Crown of Swords

  • "There can be no health in us, nor any good thing grow, for the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and he one with the land. Soul of fire, heart of stone, in pride he conquers, forcing the proud to yield. He calls upon the mountains to kneel, and the seas to give way, and the very skies to bow. Pray that the heart of stone remembers tears, and the soul of fire, love." (A Crown of Swords, Opening prophecy)
  • "As the plow breaks the earth shall he break the lives of men, and all that was shall be consumed in the fire of his eyes. The trumpets of war shall sound at his footsteps, the ravens feed at his voice, and he shall wear a crown of swords." (ACoS, Ch. 18)
  • "The north shall he tie to the east, and the west shall be bound to the south." (ACoS, Ch. 34)
  • "Master of the lightnings, rider on the storm, wearer of a crown of swords, spinner-out of fate. Who thinks he turns the Wheel of Time, may learn the truth too late." (A Crown of Swords, Closing prophecy)

Winter's Heart

  • "The seals that hold back night shall weaken, and in the heart of winter shall winter's heart be born amid the wailing of lamentations and the gnashing of teeth, for winter's heart shall ride a black horse, and the name of it is Death." (Winter's Heart, Opening prophecy)

Crossroads of Twilight

  • "And it shall come to pass, in the days when the Dark Hunt rides, when the right hand falters and the left hand strays, that mankind shall come to the Crossroads of Twilight, and all that is, all that was, and all that will be shall balance on the point of a sword, while the winds of the Shadow grow." (Crossroads of Twilight, Opening prophecy)
  • "Fortune rides like the sun on high With the fox that makes the ravens fly. Luck his soul, the lightning his eye, He snatches the moon from out of the sky." (CoT, Ch. 28)

Knife of Dreams

  • "The Prophecies say I have to bind the nine moons to me. I only understood what that meant a few days ago. As soon as Bashere returns, I'll know when and where I'm to meet the Daughter of the Nine Moons. The only question now is how do I bind her, and she'll have to answer that." (KoD, Ch. 18)

The Gathering Storm

  • "'As the plow breaks the earth shall he break the lives of men, and all that was shall be consumed in the fire of his eyes,' Egwene said. 'The trumpets of war shall sound at his footsteps, the ravens feed at his voice, and he shall wear a crown of swords.'" (TGS, Ch. 16)
  • "How was he to cause war, as the prophecies say he must? How was he to break the nations and bind them to him? How could he 'slay his people with the sword of peace' or 'bind the nine moons to serve him' if he was locked away? Do the prophecies say that he will be 'unfettered'? Do they not speak of the 'chaos of his passing?' How can anything pass at all if he is kept in chains?" (TGS, Ch. 16)
  • "He shall hold a blade of light in his hands, and the three shall be one." (TGS, Ch. 48)
  • "At the end of time, when the many become one. The last storm shall gather its angry winds to destroy a land already dying. And at its center, the blind man shall stand upon his own grave. There he shall see again, and weep for what has been wrought." (The Gathering Storm, Closing prophecy)

Towers of Midnight

  • "I see him before you! Paitar quoted. Him, the one who lives many lives, the one who gives deaths, the one who raises mountains. He will break what he must break, but first he stands here, before our king. You will bloody him! Measure his restraint. He speaks! How was the fallen slain? Tellindal Tirraso, murdered by his hand, the darkness that came the day after the light. You must ask, and you must know your fate. If he cannot answer, then you will be lost. You will bring his end swiftly, so that the final days may have their storm. So that Light may not be consumed by he who was to have preserved it. I see him. And I weep." (ToM, Ch. 51)
  • "By the Dragon came our pain, and by the Dragon was the wound repaired." (ToM, Ch. 57)

A Memory of Light

  • "And light shall fail, and dawn shall not come, and still the captive rails." (AMoL, Ch. 1)
  • "His blood shall give us the Light... Wait upon the Light." (AMoL, Ch. 1)
  • "And it shall come to pass that what men made shall be shattered, Moiraine whispered. The Shadow shall lie across the Pattern of the Age, and the Dark One shall once more lay his hand upon the world of man. Women shall weep and men quail as the nations of the earth are rent like rotting cloth. Neither shall anything stand nor abide. Yet one shall be born to face the Shadow, born once more as he was born before and shall be born again, time without end! The Dragon shall be Reborn, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth at his rebirth. In sackcloth and ashes shall he clothe the people, and he shall break the world again by his coming, tearing apart all ties that bind!" (AMoL, Ch. 6)
  • "Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light. Let tears flow, O ye people of the world. Weep for your salvation!" (AMoL, Ch. 6)
  • "He shall slay his people with the sword of peace, Moiraine said, and destroy them with the leaf." (AMoL, Ch. 6)
  • "The unstained tower breaks and bends knee to the forgotten sign..." (AMoL, Ch. 6)
  • "There can be no health in us, nor any good thing grow, Moiraine quoted, for the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and he one with the land. Soul of fire, heart of stone. She looked to Gregorin. In pride he conquers, forcing the proud to yield. To the Borderlanders. He calls upon the mountains to kneel... To the Sea Folk. ...and the seas to give way. To Perrin, then Berelain. ...and the very skies to bow. To Darlin. Pray that the heart of stone remembers tears ... Then, finally, to Elayne. ...and the soul of fire, love." (AMoL, Ch. 6)
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