Others' Island (spoilers all books incl RWC)

[Farseer]

Not sure if you (or nessie!) have come across maulkin's original questioning but he wondered who fashioned the bars to contain SWR and how they obtained the iron etc...one earlier post in this thread and another in the Mythical Creatures thread. Any ideas?

Yes; we think about these books too much.

How about the Others used their Skill to persuade a craftsman who was walking the beach to make the bars for them?

Funny how things seem to become clearer when you step back from a thread for a while! If the Others are Skilled, they would not need to use anyone else to craft the bars for them if it was, in fact, them who first needed the bars to restrain SWR. Having the Skill (as we/I have assumed), and powerful enough in the magic to produce such a convincing glamour (not to mention the magic they use with regard to the path/forest etc on the island itself), the Others could have just fashioned the bars themselves!!! Among other Skill-wrought wonders that have taken place, Verity replaced the blade of his own sword using the Skill in AA, twice, and Wintrow made his stained-glass windows, so there would be no reason why the Others couldn't do the same and fashion the iron bars through the use of the Skill?

As for the source of the iron, I am still convinced it must be Forge...possibly it was taken by Raiders for the Pale Woman when the citizens of Forge were first taken hostage etc, and it was she who gave it to the Others? Both she and the Others would benefit from the capture? I have a feeling that the timeline wouldn't be right though, as SWR was restrained for many "generations" prior to her release, and the time from the first raid on Forge to her release couldn't be considered as generations, could it? Still, the iron could nevertheless have come from Forge no matter when it was? Hmmm...

I only read so many threads so I apologise if I had already made this ^ not-very-well-thought-out comment!!!

Another comment (now going back to our Kitten-Thick and drowned kittens discussion)...I noted that in AA, Chapter Twenty-Three, "The Wedding", that Fitz referred to himself as "drowned like a puppy" when Regal threw him into the Mountain Kingdom steam pool. Not sure what that means!!