quoted from the last paragraph of pg 437 of The Shadow Rising.

"Letting sword and Power go, he ripped the rope away from Mat's neck and pressed an ear to his friend's chest. Nothing. Desparately, he tore open Mat's coat and shirt, breaking the leather cord that held a silver medallion on Mat's chest. He tossed the medallion aside,listened again. Nothing. No heartbeat. Dead. No! He'd be all right if I had'nt let him follow me here. I can't let him be dead!

 

 

I don't know how you might define dead, for me this does it rather nicely.

No heartbeat, no breath, you cant get any deader. Also, this condition lasted far longer than the almost instanaeous moment he was dead before Rahvin was Balefired. So if the link to the horn is broken this is the moment it happened.

It is intirely possible that RJ forgot at the moment the question was asked that this incident took place. Making Mat's death at the hands of Rahvin, seem to be the moment of the Finn proclamation.

 

Robert Jordan said he did not die in Rhuidean. The quote you posted here does not support your claim that he died, either. Rand appeared back in Rhuidean and saw his friend hanging from a tree. He had no idea how long he'd been there. When he got Mat down and checked for a pulse he was panicked to hell. That is what you're reading there.

 

What Rand did brought Mat back from the brink of death. It was meant to be a close call and it was.

Errrr....He was PRONOUNCED Dead.

 

Rand pronounced him...in the same exact passage you just referred to lol.

 

 

Fish

 

 

''Treasures. Dealings. Lots of things in books.''

Rand didn't stand up and say "Mat is definitely dead." He is not a doctor. He saw his friend hanging from a tree and was panicked. "He's dead. If i didn't come here he wouldn't be dead! It's my fault!" sort of thing. To put another way, Rand was not thinking clearly.

 

Edit: Just to clarify some, after his reviving Mat there could easily have been (and maybe was, been a while) a sigh of relief and him saying "I thought you were dead." His saying "You died" would not have fit the scene, though.

Fair enough Mike...

 

I mean its just my opinion...but...in My Opinion: Someone (Cauthon, in this case), who is not breathing, and has no heartbeat, and has been Hing, and has been PRONOUNCED Dead (As Mat was by Rand in this case) .... Well ... that kinda has to equate to D.E.A.D by all The Laws of Man and Nature and Physics and Medicine - even to the most skeptical of reader ;)

 

Fish

 

 

''Treasures. Dealings. Lots of things in books.''

Fair enough Mike...

 

I mean its just my opinion...but...in My Opinion: Someone (Cauthon, in this case), who is not breathing, and has no heartbeat, and has been Hing, and has been PRONOUNCED Dead (As Mat was by Rand in this case) .... Well ... that kinda has to equate to D.E.A.D by all The Laws of Man and Nature and Physics and Medicine - even to the most skeptical of reader ;)

 

Fish

 

 

''Treasures. Dealings. Lots of things in books.''

 

Your opinion doesn't matter.  RJ's opinion matters.  RJ himself said that Mat did not die in Rhuidean.  Argue with the creator all you want, you're just wasting your breath.  You're like that guy who tried to stump George Lucas with a Star Wars related question.

Did he Stump him?? ;)

 

 

Fish

 

 

 

''Treasures. Dealings. Lots of things in books.''