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Now that A Memory of Light has been released are we able to deduce what Moiraine's questions / answers were and Rand's final one was from / to the Aelfinn?

We know two of Rand's:

  1. Question: How to cleanse Saidin? Answer: Unknown, but Herid said it "stated sound principles in both high philosophy and natural philosophy."
  2. Question: How can I win the Last Battle and survive? Answer: "The north and the east must be as one. The west and the south must be as one. The two must be as one. If you would live, you must die."


Edit: The third question will apparently be revealed in the forthcoming (print) encyclopaedia. (Source)


I don't think we know any of Moiraine's. We get to witness Mat's 3+

Related: What did Rand ask the Aelfinn?

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    And... what else did Moiraine ask of the Eelfinn?
    – Anthony
    Commented Jan 25, 2013 at 15:54

2 Answers 2

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Moiraine tells Egwene and Elayne in tSR that:

"I could wager I know the face of the man I will marry better than either of you knows that of your future husband."

[...]

The Aes Sedai appeared regretful of having spoken. "Perhaps I only meant we share an ignorance. Do not read too much into a few words." She looked at Nynaeve consideringly. "Should I ever choose a man - should, I say - it will not be Lan. That much I will say."

This is before Rhuidean and the rings ter'angreal, so this knowledge could have come from the Aelfinn. Alternatively it could have come from a viewing by Min (for evidence, see the tEotW passage quoted by @DavidH in the comments), though I can't remember us ever seeing Min knowing about Moiraine and Thom in a Min-PoV chapter.

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    The knowledge of her future marriage to Thom came from Min in The Eye of the World.
    – David H
    Commented Mar 3, 2015 at 7:22
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    In TEotW ch.45, Moiraine tells the group that Thom still lives, and Rand wonders how she could be so sure. "Min? She had a viewing about Thom?" "She saw a great deal," Moiraine replied wryly. Besides, Min sees marriages all the time, and we have know reason to think Moiraine would have wasted one of her three questions on something so frivolous.
    – David H
    Commented Mar 3, 2015 at 23:53
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Just rereading the series from the beginning after reading AMoL. From Moiraine's discussion with Thom in TSR Ch. 17, we might infer at least two questions:

  1. She has asked about her fate and the fate of her companions from her assertion that she can promise Thom that he will not die in Tanchico and that they will meet again because he will survive Tarabon (p. 245-246). Does she know how much later they will meet again at this point? Not sure, but such knowledge might help to stiffen her resolve about how she will deal with Lanfear after she goes through the rings in Rhuidean. Inferring the question was about more than Thom because she seems to know in a way that exceeds mere caution that Ny and El will need some help staying alive in Tanchico (and along the way back).

  2. She asked about Owyn's circumstances. No evidence before or since that she had collected this info elsewhere. (Not that we ever get the answer...) I've looked at the phrasing carefully, and I don't think she's using sleight of tongue here to suggest she has info that she doesn't. Plus Thom perceives sympathy and regret from her, though he tries to deny it. This tracks with her knowing about this tragedy in her future sweetie's past.

Granted, these are inferences, but now that we know all we're going to get except info to be dropped in the forthcoming Encyclopedia, they fit the story. Moiraine has known about the doorframe for some time now. I can picture her formulating a first question with exact wording, and then having a path A/B/C for the other two depending on the answer to the first (as opposed to Mat's just blurting out what's on his mind at the time).

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  • I can't remember exactly but something about her letter to Rand after she dealt with Lanfear implied to me that one of her questions involved how Rand was going to learn to channel and that's how she knew about Lanfear and Asmodean.
    – KutuluMike
    Commented Aug 9, 2014 at 13:04
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    Moiraine knew Thom would survive Tanchico because Min told her they would marry in The Eye of the World in Baerlon. This is also how she knew he had survived the fade in White Bridge.
    – David H
    Commented Mar 3, 2015 at 7:27

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