Hi all, this is my 1st post so please be kind. <br><br>Has anyone ever considered the fact that mats memories of other lives arent the memories of people who have gone through the eelfinn (or aelfinn, forget which) portal? I believe that the memories are of mat's own past lives-which would probably make him a hero of the horn, would it not?<br><br>When Mat was in the land of the foxes, he had no idea what was happening, of course. But he quite specifically said "I walk around with holes in my memory, holes in my life, and you stare at me like idiots. If i had my way, I would want those holes filled, but at least answers to my questions might fill some in my future." I think that to get the memories of people who had gone through the portal, he would have had to demand just that. The foxes simply filled in his past memories instead of his present ones. <br><br>Another reason for this belief is variety of memories. If the memories were all from fox-finders, you would think they would all be aiel, because the portal was in Rhuidean, or from the age of legends, before the aiel took it to Rhuidean. But no, there are memories from manetheren, memories of dancing with a sea folk ambassador etc. Memories that an aiel or age-of-legendsian would never have. <br><br>Another point, of course, is that the memories started returning not just after Mat met the foxes, but before when the Aes Sedai were Healing him in tDR. During this Healing, Mat shouted "Pikemen prepare to pass cavalry forward! Forward the heart guard!" but even long before that he was shouting the ancient warcry of Manetheren as he raced into battle in tEoTW. this shows that the memories were already there, just... holey, which the foxes fixed. <br><br>Another factor was the length of the memories. Each memory of someones life lasted from the moment they were born to the moment they died. If the foxes had been stealing the memories and distributing them to unwary travelers, they would record the person coming into the ter'angreal but then stopping. They wouldnt record any more of that paticular persons life.<br><br>Mat seems to believe that the memories were of ter'angreal goers, but it is not possible to believe everything Mat says or thinks. He has been wrong before. <br><br>Well theres my theory. I hope you like it.