For a fire made of bales of straw or wood, see Bonfire

Bonfire

A bonfire is a controlled outdoor fire used for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Celebratory bonfires are typically designed to burn quickly and may be very large...

. For the book series by Cate Tiernan

Cate Tiernan

Cate Tiernan is the pen name of Gabrielle Charbonnet, an American author.Writing as Cate Tiernan, she is best known for her Sweep series, which follows the Wiccan adventures of a cast of high school students...

, see Balefire (book series)

Balefire (book series)

Balefire is a fantasy novel series, published in the US, Canada, UK and the Netherlands , by Cate Tiernan, the author of the Sweep series....

Balefire, in the world of the Wheel of Time

The Wheel of Time

The Wheel of Time is a series of epic fantasy novels written by American author James Oliver Rigney, Jr., under the pen name Robert Jordan. Originally planned as a six-book series, the length was increased by increments; at the time of Rigney's death, he expected it to be 12, but it will actually...

, is a weapon created with the One Power

One Power

In The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan, the One Power is the force that maintains the continuous motion of the Wheel of Time. It comes from the True Source, and it is separated into two halves: saidin , the male half, and saidar , the female half. It is used in the series by people...

 or with the True Power

True Power

The True Power is a source of mystical power found in the Wheel of Time books of Robert Jordan. It is similar to the One Power, but differs in some important respects.-Use:...

.

Description

It has only one known weave, and when evoked, summons a blindingly bright beam of "liquid light" that is capable of destroying nearly every known substance. The real danger of balefire, however, is that it can undo (or erase) the past actions of anyone it hits: for instance, Rahvin

Rahvin

Rahvin is one of the primary antagonists of The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan. He is one of the Forsaken.-Origin:...

, a Forsaken, killed several characters but was later balefired by Rand al'Thor

Rand al'Thor

Rand al'Thor, also known as the Dragon Reborn, is the fictional main character and protagonist of The Wheel of Time, a series of fantasy novels by Robert Jordan.Rand al'Thor has many other titles within the series:...

. "After", the slain characters' deaths were undone and they were later found alive, having a blurred memory of their death and at times others who were witness to it express surprise at seeing them alive. Another important fact is that it removes the victim from the Pattern completely, preventing Forsaken from being resurrected. Balefire has different effects based on what it hits. For living beings, a mere touch seems to be enough to wipe the entire being from existence. For normal structures and objects, it seems to destroy only what it touches.

Balefire dates back in its use to the War of Power, when it was used to destroy entire cities. It is implied that the channelers of the age did not entirely understand what they had discovered, but that when they realized they were unraveling and destroying entire swathes and days of the Pattern, and in doing so threatening the very fabric of Creation itself, both sides mutually abandoned its use, on their own, with no actual negotiation needed. In the era of the novels, only the Forsaken

Forsaken (Wheel of Time)

In the fictional world of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time fantasy series, the Forsaken are the most powerful and favored servants of the Dark One. They were formerly Aes Sedai, but became corrupted by the desire for power and immortality...

 (survivors of the War of Power), Rand al'Thor

Rand al'Thor

Rand al'Thor, also known as the Dragon Reborn, is the fictional main character and protagonist of The Wheel of Time, a series of fantasy novels by Robert Jordan.Rand al'Thor has many other titles within the series:...

, Nynaeve al'Meara

Nynaeve al'Meara

Nynaeve al'Meara is one of the main characters of The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan.-Personality:Nynaeve's personality often runs a gamut of emotions, meek at times before more experienced women but also able to stand up and run down others. While she will deny it, Nynaeve is...

, Moiraine, and a few of their associates have access to balefire without the assistance of a ter'angreal.

Cuendillar is the only known material to resist balefire. Rand al'Thor

Rand al'Thor

Rand al'Thor, also known as the Dragon Reborn, is the fictional main character and protagonist of The Wheel of Time, a series of fantasy novels by Robert Jordan.Rand al'Thor has many other titles within the series:...

 did once part a stream of balefire with (or through) the sa'angreal Callandor in the Stone of Tear, but whether or not this is an integral quality of Callandor (or, for that matter, what The Sword That Is Not A Sword is made of) has yet to be addressed.

It is possible that the intersection of two beams of balefire can cause adverse effects in the channellers. When Rand and an unknown-to-him male channeller (the forsaken Ishamael

Ishamael

Ishamael is one of the primary antagonists of the Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan. He is one of the Forsaken...

, later re-named Moridin). used balefire at the same time and the beams crossed, both were nearly knocked unconscious by the backlash. Some regulars in Wheel of Time newsgroups consider this to have cause in temporal paradox: both men were still channelling exceptionally powerful weaves that they had never actually cast. However, this may also be because Moridin was most likely using the True Power, drawn from the Dark One, rather than saidin. It is also possible that balefire has unknown effects when performed on weaves.