Bubbles of evil were first mentioned by Moiraine Damodred, who speaks of the Dark One's evil in the form of "bubbles rising from the things rotting on the bottom of a pond."^[1] The bubbles attach themselves to threads in the pattern and burst causing supernatural and typically deadly events to occur. These are especially attracted to ta'veren.

Most bubbles of evil cause some form of bizarre, unnatural destruction that takes place in a short amount of time, a matter of minutes or perhaps hours. A strange exception to this happens in Hinderstap, where the bubble of evil acts like a lasting curse.

Known Bubbles of EvilEdit

• The air turns solid and forces Rand upon Lan's practice sword, wounding Rand.^[2]

The following three occur at roughly the same time:

• • Perrin and Faile are attacked by Perrin's axe in the Stone of Tear^[1]
  • While gambling in the Stone of Tear, the images on Mat's playing cards come to life and try to kill him. ^[3]

• • Rand's reflections in the mirrors and polished surfaces in his room in the Stone of Tear come to life and try to kill him.^[1]
• As they leave Rhuidean after their first visit, Rand and Mat are attacked by creatures formed from dust and sand.^[4]
• In Salidar, the Little Tower and its environs are beset by animated objects with murderous intent. ^[5]
• A young man in a Seanchan-occupied village coughs up beetles until he literally becomes deflated.

• In the White Tower, while Egwene is visiting Leane, the iron bars and the stone begins to melt.^[6]
• A man named Adrin spontaneously combusts and ignites the building he's in.^[7]
• A tent of the rebel Aes Sedai fills with Sharan four-spined roaches.^[8]
• The people in the town of Hinderstap enter a murderous frenzy every night, yet wake up unharmed and alive the morning.^[9]
• The tents in the rebel Aes Sedai camp come to life and try to lash out and strangle people, killing an Aes Sedai and two others.
• The weapons in Perrin's camp became animated and began attacking their owners. The only way to stop them was to throw dirt on them.
• A neighborhood in Tear called All Summers is completely frozen in place; when touched, everything from paving stones to buildings to people disintegrate into dust. A gust of wind blows the entire section of the city away. There are no survivors.^[10]
• A fog in the Rahad neighborhood of Ebou Dar kills people.^[11]
• A hundred trees die and dry up overnight.^[12]

RumorsEdit

There are rumors floating about of strange occurrences, the description of which make them likely instances of bubbles of evil:

• Two-headed calves talking.^[13]
• Men smothered by swarms of flies.^[13]
• All children in a village disappearing in the middle of the night.^[13]
• People struck dead by something unseen in broad daylight.^[13]
• A man died with centipedes crawling out from him.^[14]

Thought to beEdit

While these bubbles of evil are occurring more and more frequently, some events thought to be bubbles of evil are not.

• The duel between Rand al'Thor and Toram Riatin outside of Cairhien is interrupted by the arrival of a Mashadar-like mist and apparent monsters hiding within it. This is actually one of Padan Fain's new powers.^[15]

NotesEdit