Olver?

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I don't know if this has been answered anywhere else, but did anyone else get the feeling that Olver might be Birgitte's lover reincarnate? Birgitte always was worried about him, and it said several times that Olver was going to turn out ugly. What do you think?
 
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There's actually been a lot of speculation that I've seen about this in various forums. That was my initial conclusion as well, but it has been disproven. For one, Olver is too old; time in Tel'Aran'Rhiod can go at a different pace than the real world, but it never goes backwards ... so at most, Gaidal Cain can only be about a year or two old. Another thing is that this was brought up in interviews with Robert Jordan, and he explicitly said that Olver is not Gaidal Cain ... but that he's in the book for a very big reason, and not just to be a red herring.
 

Morrighan Daghdera

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Aulrick Vendour said:
AH HA!
Olver is Demandred in disguise!
It makes perfect sense! *nods*

:trout
 
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Morrighan Daghdera said:
[quote="Aulrick Vendour":j49kttqe]AH HA!
Olver is Demandred in disguise!
It makes perfect sense! *nods*

:trout[/quote:j49kttqe]

What? Think about it, it's perfect!
Have you ever seen them together? Have you ever known for a fact where both are at the same time? Also - what a better way to get close to Mat and learn all his plans? After all, Olver is almost allways there in the tent when they plan things or getting news!
Furthermore, this won't be the first time we've seen a forsaken do this: remember Lanfear at the Aiel waste? The forsaken often use such strange disguises.
 
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What? Think about it, it's perfect!
Have you ever seen them together? Have you ever known for a fact where both are at the same time? Also - what a better way to get close to Mat and learn all his plans? After all, Olver is almost allways there in the tent when they plan things or getting news!
Furthermore, this won't be the first time we've seen a forsaken do this: remember Lanfear at the Aiel waste? The forsaken often use such strange disguises.
The only problem with that is in ToM there is a scene written from Olver's point of view then (unless Brandon Sanderson added it in there to confuse the people who were figuring it out) Olver isn't Demandred. ;)
 
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I think Olver as a character had two major purposes in the books. First, it helped to show off the heroic aspects of Mat's character. Part of what makes a person a hero is having great skills and abilities that make a person superhuman. The second part is using those abilities to help others.

In the midst of chaos spanning the entire world, and the Dragon Reborn depending on him to help save the world, Mat takes the time to befriend a poor orphan boy and basically adopt him as a son? In real life, people larger than life really have less time to spend with the loved ones and family. Mat makes the time to hang out with Olver, teach him stuff, and play the Snakes and Foxes game with him.

Secondly, Olver was the key to Mat getting into the tower of Ghenji. Without knowing Olver, Mat would never have figured out how to get into the tower in the first place.
 
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Let's not forget Olver opening Mats letter just as the attack on Camelyn begins. It probably would have been a few more minutes to be noticed and that could make the difference.
 
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Also, at some point, RJ stated he wasn't Gaidal.
 
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Cara Libner said:
I don't know if this has been answered anywhere else, but did anyone else get the feeling that Olver might be Birgitte's lover reincarnate? Birgitte always was worried about him, and it said several times that Olver was going to turn out ugly. What do you think?


Don't feel too bad getting it wrong, this is a theory that comes up A LOT.

It's pretty much a red herring designed to trip people up.

But long story short, the timelines don't line up.

Olver is too old.
 
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Aulrick Vendour said:
Didn't state he wasn't Demandred though...

http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com/node/35

Per Jordan, prior to Knife of Dreams Demandred's alter ego had not appeared on screen. That eliminates the possibility of him being Olver or any other character we saw in the first 10 books that didn't appear as Demandred himself. Whether or not he has appeared since then is unknown.
 
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Besides, he'd have to maintain a weave of illusion that would actually make him seem much shorter. It would also have to make him light enough to climb into women's laps and rest his head on their bosoms. Without a truly superior weave, the illusion doesn't stand up to touch. So that's another bit against the idea of Demandred as Olver.

I think that Olver's main purpose was in giving Mat the keys to the Tower of Ghenjei, getting in and out.
 
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An little baby somewhere that isn't more than a couple months old. All in all, he's irrelevant to the story.
 
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