Forgive me if this has been answered somewhere. Does anyone know where the expression "blood and ashes" comes from? I've been looking since I started reading WoT a few years ago and haven't had any luck. I understand "bloody" and "flaming" as being mainly British slang, but I can't find an origin for blood and ashes. Is it something RJ just made up or is it actually used somewhere in the world?

Just a guess, but I think that I heard that that phrase originated from the days of the plauge. Dead people being burned and all.. Then again I could have made that up in my own mind... who knows..

My guess would be RJ made it up.

i was pleased by the fact that they dont use any words that are profane in english. they have their own set of explatives. =] i know ring around the rosies was associated with the plague, but i had never heard blood and ashes until WoT. unless theres some great plague in WoT that i dont recall.

i know ring around the rosies was associated with the plague

 

Ring around the Rosie had nothing to do with the plague. It's just a nonsense nursery rhyme which someone recently decided to interpret associations with the plague.

 

The idea that it had to do with the plague is nothing more than urban legend, and its pervasiveness is really irritating. So go tell your friends, there's no interesting story to be found in that rhyme!

 

http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm