I was reading through the Perun and Thor mythologies and it seems that if RJ's goal was to follow these mythologies to the end, which I think it was, then Perrin will fight Shaidar Haran.

 

Perun- The god of the underworld, in the form of a serpent, steals something from Perun, possibly his wife. Perun attacks the serpent with lightning and eventually defeats him.

 

Thor- At Ragnarok, the end of the world, Thor fights Jörmungandr, the snake. Thor defeats Jörmungandr walks nine paces and dies.

 

In both mythologies the snake is evil incarnate and they fight and die against the protagonist. (They are also both associated with water. I'm not sure what to make of that except that Perrin freaks out in ToM when he falls in water in Tel'aran'rhiod) I think that Shaidar Haran is the DO incarnate. Also, why would they make such a build up in the story about Perrin picking up the hammer, which happens to be a dark spawn wrecker, if he wasn't going to use it on the baddest of the bad dark spawn.

 

One interesting thing is that Thor dies and Perun doesn't. That would mean that there is a 50/50 chance that Perrin will not make it to the end of AMoL.

Hm? I'm not sure. In Slavic mythology there isn't Last Battle, as in Nordic mythology is "Ragnarok". You're right about Thor and Perun. While Thor wields a hammer, Perun wields an axe, but I'm not sure about more similarities with Perrin.

I was reading through the Perun and Thor mythologies and it seems that if RJ's goal was to follow these mythologies to the end, which I think it was, then Perrin will fight Shaidar Haran.

 

Perun- The god of the underworld, in the form of a serpent, steals something from Perun, possibly his wife. Perun attacks the serpent with lightning and eventually defeats him.

 

Thor- At Ragnarok, the end of the world, Thor fights Jörmungandr, the snake. Thor defeats Jörmungandr walks nine paces and dies.

 

In both mythologies the snake is evil incarnate and they fight and die against the protagonist. (They are also both associated with water. I'm not sure what to make of that except that Perrin freaks out in ToM when he falls in water in Tel'aran'rhiod) I think that Shaidar Haran is the DO incarnate. Also, why would they make such a build up in the story about Perrin picking up the hammer, which happens to be a dark spawn wrecker, if he wasn't going to use it on the baddest of the bad dark spawn.

 

One interesting thing is that Thor dies and Perun doesn't. That would mean that there is a 50/50 chance that Perrin will not make it to the end of AMoL.

First of all, you have a greater knowledge or Norse mythology than I will ever have. I believe RJ was influenced (directly or indirectly) with these stories yet most connections are either happenstance or by accident. We know RJ loved history and legends and all of that would come out in his writing. No story is original totally. There will always be similar themes expressed through shared culture. This is not a bash thread and you might be right about Perrin. I just always remember that we are pattern seeking people who credit the hits and discount the misses.

Oh, I am definitely not bashing RJ or the WoT. Many characters with in the story are references to different mythological characters.(ie. Mat and Odin) I just see a very strong correlation between Perun/Thor vs. snake and Perrin vs. Shadair Haran.

Edited March 3, 201214 yr by Tomas Al'Geri