cannoli-reader

[cannoli-reader]

I don't think we can really rely on much she has to say to him by this point. Her feelings, her attraction and her utter inability to figure out how to address or cope with them, or deal with him in that regard, they're fucking with her judgment, plus her inability to swallow her pride and back down from her initial position that he is Elayne's, and so she's just flailing whenever she has to deal with Rand directly on anything but external matters. I think this was where Rand was under the impression she was going to say something else, before she seized the ji'e'toh ball and ran with it.

Amusing note: Back in the day, a lot of people thought Aviendha might have gotten pregnant in the sex igloo and one of the theories was that she was on the verge of confessing here, before changing her topic. Another point in the construct was her getting nauseated on the Sea Folk ship. That lasted until Winter's Heart definitively proved otherwise, but some of them didn't accept until a later book where Elayne points out that they could not have gone through with the sisterhood ceremony if either of them had been pregnant.

"This morning you shamed me to the bone.”

So. Just to recap. Rand asked some questions about Sulin's toh, and then asked whether he had toh to Sulin. And these actions of his, with respect to his own person and actions, were shaming to Aviendha.

The thing she should feel shame for is trying to take on someone else's fucking ji'e'toh.

Absolutely ridiculous system.

(She also needs to get over herself with respect to her own toh. She's truly insufferable about everything.)

[cannoli-reader]

I think the turning point is actually Moiraine faking her death and laying a guilt trip on him, on top of everything associated with the Rahvin fight (guilt over Elayne's mother, fear from seeing Aviendha die, determination to avoid it, freaking out about Asmodean's escape, etc). LoC is the outcome.

Also, I don't think it's as simple as the madness manifesting as LTT. I think LTT is a mental construct where he puts all the thoughts and ideas he is denying, including anything he can identify as memory leakage from the prior life. Therefore any knowledge he should not have, manifests as Lews Therin's voice saying it. Bizarre, random or unhealthy thoughts are Lews Therin talking. I think the taint is exacerbating those sorts of thoughts and the memory leakage and whatnot, but the LTT construct is his (bad) coping mechanism for all that.

I think that's why LTT does the ear-thing and is so gross around Berelain. Rand loves someone(s) else, he should not be attracted to Berelain, so it's LTT who has those impure thoughts. It's also why LTT never has anything to say about the people Rand loves. Rand doesn't like or trust Taim and maybe even recognizes something bad there, but it's an irrational reaction as far as he is concerned, so it goes into the LTT file, along with the instinct to break the Seal.

By contrast, despite what Bel'al says about them learning swordsmanship together, LTT never gets involved with that. To Rand, swordsmanship is associated with his father. He studied under Lan to live up to the sword Tam gave him, to create an additional connection to give himself a claim to Tam, and ironically, the very rapid speed with which he picked it all up (Lan told him in tGH that he could train Rand into a blademaster in five years, if they both had the time to spare for a full-time training program; yet, despite his rather busy life since, he more or less achieves blademaster skills in less than one year) is probably remembering the skills from his prior life. But because his associations are different, he never attributes his skills to Lews Therin.

And circling back to my original point, the self-loathing really started with Moiraine/Morgase/Maidens/Aviendha etc all on the same day. Before that, the prior life stuff just came out as Rand. Rand said the stuff to Lanfear and Asmodean, and he was freaked out by it, and that, plus the shame and guilt and everything else, contributed to the mental break, wherein he "created" Lews Therin as the avatar of his self-hatred.

Rand shouted at her. Fel was not her fault, not her responsibility, but Rand left her white and trembling.

Poor Idrien. She didn't deserve that.

Rand's irritability is already getting out of control. Lord of Chaos is the turning for him, in my opinion. His madness begins manifesting as Lews Therin's voice, and his personality begins to fracture under the strain of being the Dragon Reborn. From here through Veins of Gold, his character erodes and his morality increasingly falters. He becomes a rather loathsome person. I didn't really like his transformation when I was younger. While I still don't enjoy it by any means, I do now understand the purpose and point.

[cannoli-reader]

How, exactly, is her old Black Ajah adventure supposed to get her a promotion or power? If not, how is it relevant to her now? I mean, if we drag the Black Ajah into this Rand-relevant issue, it might mean he has the moral high ground over someone from the Tower, and that is just a thing that can happen, right?

“She’s one of Alviarin’s,” he said thoughtfully. “Galina. She is one of Alviarin’s friends. I’d bet on it.” Planting herself in front of him, she sniffed. “You’d lose your coin and stick yourself in the foot with a pitchfork, too. Galina is a Red, or I never saw one.”

Egwene believes that a Red and a White cannot be friends. Long before complaining about fractures in the Tower, I might point out. But even if true, what could a Red and a White possibly have in common, Egwene? You were on the Black Ajah hunting team. Have you forgotten that they exist?

[cannoli-reader]

I don't think it changed much. They were always going to do what they were going to do. At most, it made them take him slightly more seriously as a target. Instead of taking for granted that they would easily catch an ignorant man (see Toveine's initial assumptions when her party runs into the Asha'man), they figured he had a sister watching out for him, so they maintained their security and precautions and went in full-bore. Trying to half-ass his capture, when he is a far more competent channeler than they expected might have resulted in open combat between Rand and the sisters, right in the Sun Palace, and aside from the obvious issues about Rand fighting, and possibly ending up killing, some of them, there would also be the optics and the effect on relations with the Aes Sedai going forward. For all he suffered for it, Dumai's Wells was probably a cleaner, neater resolution for all concerned than throwing down in Cairhien itself.

Behind the Aes Sedai came a full dozen more women, plainly dressed, with coarse linen dustcloaks hanging down their backs.

And here is where Egwene fails. She should be able to sense the ability to channel in the other women, but doesn't bother. She fails Rand in this moment.

[cannoli-reader]

And the infuriating thing is that she has an exaggerated view of her own superior competence and insight. Rand thought further than she did, on his first encounter, while she's had a lot more time to deal with the issue of the embassy, was in town with them for longer, and had advance knowledge of two of the sisters, but she thinks she has to manage him and curate his relationships with the Tower and Aes Sedai, because he's just this idiot shepherd outsider.

Behind the Aes Sedai came a full dozen more women, plainly dressed, with coarse linen dustcloaks hanging down their backs.

And here is where Egwene fails. She should be able to sense the ability to channel in the other women, but doesn't bother. She fails Rand in this moment.

[cannoli-reader]

And don't DARE point out her cast-iron hue, because she has grown from that village girl! She's no longer the same, she could never fit back home in her tiny little origin story. But Rand is a shepherd, Mat will never change, Perrin thinks with his muscles and would never give up his axe, and there is just no possibility of them ever being anything other than their pre-Winternight state.

she was in favor of anything that kept him from getting too big a head

Ha! Too bad there's no one to apply the same to you.

I think Nynaeve tries in a way, but the task is beyond her.

[cannoli-reader]

And down the road, contrast her attitude toward Bode Cauthon treating her in a familiar manner. The behavior that Egwene crushed down in Bode was, apparently, just trying to chat like they are still the same old Emond's Field neighbors, not anything actively disrespectful, or barging in and talking to her like a child (For the record, there is less of an age gap between Egwene & Bode than Egwene & Rand).

she was in favor of anything that kept him from getting too big a head

Ha! Too bad there's no one to apply the same to you.

I think Nynaeve tries in a way, but the task is beyond her.

[cannoli-reader]

To the extent that he does believe Alviarin, it's because of the tidbits Egwene has given him, and then cut off the intel. She told him that there were Aes Sedai who supported him, in order to get him sympathetic to Team Tower, but could not bear to admit the schism to an outsider, so she refused to confirm or deny anything that would help him understand the truth.

The irony is, Rand is better at sussing out the essentials than Egwene, e.g. Galina's alignment with Alviarin. If Egwene could just have told him "the friendly sisters I was referring to are the rebels, I have no idea whatsoever where she is coming from" he might have started to think about the fact that Alviarin is Keeper to one Red, and closely associated in some secret way with another Red. A Red Rand also observed at their first meeting, does not like him. But Egwene got his whole journey of logic off on the wrong foot, and so he is proceeding from the errant first principle that he has secret supporters and Alviarin is the most likely candidate to support him. She is literally the only one who behaves in a way congruent with Egwene's news of supporters, by contacting him in secret.

FFS, she was in the room when Moiraine confirmed that Alviarin should not be able to lie. Make a really strong case to Rand that the letter is waaay OOC for her and you are dead certain she is NOT one of the friends, and actually let him know just what you meant by the promise of allies. Maybe they could have figured out that Alviarin is Black and thus Galina as well. In the long run, it would have helped Egwene's agenda of getting him opposed to the Tower so much better.

As it was, the one who was really screwed here is Egwene, because if there is one thing Rand is picking up that is also objectively correct, it is that Egwene puts the Tower well ahead of him.

He had been properly doubtful concerning Elaida’s letter, yet he believed Alviarin’s.

Once again Egwene, you have wildly misinterpreted Rand's intentions.

[cannoli-reader]

Except being in Tel'aran'rhiod is not beneficial sleep. That's the opposite of healthy sleeping habits.

imagine how annoying it must be to date Lanfear if she just constantly hounds you to get to bed at a reasonable hour because she wants you in Tel'aran'rhiod

like

"Sorry boys, no second beer for me, I need to get to bed by 10pm to get dream-banged by evil incarnate or she'll probably do war crimes about it"

I mean I guess it's good to develop healthy sleeping habits, but still

[cannoli-reader]

I attended a briefing by the chief of my small town fire department about the importance of calling them fast, and they showed a pair of rooms, I guess like sets for a TV show. One room & its furniture was made of old fashioned materials and traditional construction techniques, and the other of the latest methods and materials. Both of them had a fire started behind the couch, under a window, and the modern room was fully engulfed before the flames in the other room were more than peeking up from behind the couch, and starting on the curtains.

At some point, we switched from making walls out of plaster to making them out of chalk, and I've gotta tell you, I don't think that was an improvement.

[cannoli-reader]

"hated politics (Andrew Johnson wanted to replace Grant with Thomas as general-in-chief, US Army)"

Not sure how that datum pertains to his hating politics (did he refuse the offer because he hated politics?) or says much good about Thomas. The most obvious assumption to take from the proposed promotion to be that he was an opponent of Reconstruction, or simply that Johnson had a preference for his fellow Southerner.

That also provides a very plausible and not at all "weird" reason for Grant to minimize his contributions. It's not exactly the most ethical method of writing history, but when you're going to be the Reconstruction POTUS, and the Southern President wants to replace you, arguably, minimizing your replacement's CV could be for the greater good.

For the record, I too rank Thomas as among the best Union generals (and tend to think the various CSA generals are overrated), based solely on what I know of the fighting, and the only biographical detail I was aware of was that he was Virginian who stayed with the Union. This stuff is all new to me, I am just telling you what it looks like from what you are saying here.

Not an American, but I do find the Civil War very interesting. Do you have any underrated (by whatever metric you feel most appropriate) commanders or other figures you reccomend I look into?

I recommend reading about George Henry Thomas, affectionately called "Pap" by his subordinates. He was a competent, methodical commander who prosecuted battle with exceptional skill. He was mostly overlooked in contemporary history because unlike many of the commanders, he didn't publish his memoirs, due to a combination of him dying in 1870 and his personality as a quiet, reserved man who was uncomfortable with self-promotion and hated politics (Andrew Johnson wanted to replace Grant with Thomas as general-in-chief, US Army).

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of thebKing

[cannoli-reader]

This has been the pattern from the very first Disney Marvel shows (and continues in the Daredevil abomination they hijacked from Netflix). I went into the first shows, Falcon & the Winter Soldier, and Wandavision (I don't drink coffee or use amphetamines, so I was unable to make it through an episode of Loki) in good faith, liking all four title characters.

Wandavision had Wanda enslave a town full of innocent bystanders, compelling them to live out supporting roles in her fantasy life of being married to Jarvis and raising kids. When a government agent tried to investigate why the town stopped answering its phones, she was briefly engulfed in the mind control, before Wanda caught on and expelled her at high velocity in such a fashion as would result in fatal or paralyzing injuries, had the writers a better comprehension of combat and physics than your typical middle-aged spinster Lit or Drama major. In the end, Wanda gave up her delusion, including her imaginary children, and quailing at the stares of the townspeople who had been aware the whole time (at one point, one of them pleads with Wanda to let their children, at least go free), she is comforted by the government agent (black, female, BTW) who tells her "they'll never know what you sacrificed for them." The show really believes that Wanda was justified, and that her surrendering the pretend life which was built on the ongoing mind-rape of dozens, if not hundreds, of innocent bystanders, was actually a noble sacrifice. At one point, another government agent, inexplicably depicted as a villain (guess what skin color & sex that agent is, uniquely among all the LEOs shown investigating this phenomenon), is confronting Wanda with tactical team, and justifies his "belligerent" posture by pointing out that she has taken a town hostage, to which our hero snaps "You're the one with the guns." And this is treated as a legit smackdown by the narrative.

Falcon & the Winter Soldier, had the government appoint a new Captain America and give him Steve's shield, after Sam decided he did not want it (this US military veteran thinks it was offensive of Steve to ask him, as a black man, to carry a shield representing America, and Bucky apologizes for agreeing with Steve and supporting his bequest at the time). This new guy, John Walker, is a military hero and three time Medal of Honor winner. He is portrayed as respectful of Steve, and deferential to Sam & Bucky, and grappling with his inadequacy to follow in Steve's footsteps, despite winning three more Medals of Honor, and almost certainly serving for longer than the 3 years America fought in the ETO of WW2, much of which Steve spent fundraising with showgirls. Eventually, despite the risks, he takes the serum which was used to give Steve his powers, and which has now been replicated.

Throughout the show, Sam and Bucky's attitude to the new Captain America ranges from dismissive to contemptuous to hostile, as he and his best friend & partner, Lamar, repeatedly ask for their help fighting a terrorist group. It culminates with the terrorists, who were similarly enhanced by the serum (John got his dose by confiscating it from them), murdering Lamar, and John chasing them down. He catches one, who smashes a concrete planter on the shield, before John kills him in a scene staged to recall Steve's final fight with Tony in Civil War. Except the terrorist has superhuman strength, instead of a suit of armor that can be disabled by smashing the glowing target in his chest, so John's blows with the edge of the shield to his chest have to kill the terrorist before he stops. A crowd films it on their cell phones, there are dramatic shots of the shield "stained" with blood, and John is subsequently branded a murderer. He killed a multiple murderer in the heat of combat, who was still struggling and could not be restrained or safely taken into custody. The narrative & Disney shills try to argue that the terrorist was surrendering, since his hands were "up" but only because he was lying on his back, flailing at the opponent on top of him, much as Tony's hands were up when Steve was on top of him, pounding the same shield into his chest.

After Sam & Bucky break John's arm to take the shield away (conveniently forgetting all the men Steve killed with it, most of them ordinary humans without powers or enhancements, and in at least one case, staggering dazed by gas) John is fired as Captain America and stripped of his military pension. He makes himself a new shield, and attaches his medals to the inside, to remind himself of them while in combat, and goes after the terrorists. At the climax of the final episode, with several politicians who are the terrorists' target trapped in a paddywagon, the lead terrorist drives it to the edge of a precipice and bails out. Bucky is below (safely & responsibly, unlike John, beating on a terrorist with an I-beam) and can only look up as the van starts to slide over the edge toward him, when suddenly it stops as John's battered homemade shield comes tumbling down. John threw aside the shield with his medals, to save the van full of victims (who were also his political persecutors), rather than pursue his revenge against his partner's killers, and while he is struggling to pull it back, the terrorists attack him, forcing him to try fighting them off with one hand, until they pull him off by tackling him over the edge. The van continues to teeter over the edge until Sam flies up in a new, patriotically-painted Falcon armor suit with advanced Wakandan technology (three guesses whether or not they would ever give John what they gave Sam, and why) and catches the forward bumper and starts pushing it up. The music is stirring and triumphant as Sam groans and bellows like he is overcoming gravity through sheer willpower, and his actual body or muscles are doing this, instead of the propulsion system of his backpack. The gathering crowd of black people cheer as they film this with cell phones. Bucky give a big, beaming smile, where he merely observed, stone-faced, John's initial effort to save the same people.

The villains on that show are called "The Flag Smashers". They are a group of young Eurotrash, who came of age in the lustrum after Thanos turned half the population to dust. Raised by electronic devices, these empathy-deprived children grew up thinking everything was theirs for the taking, looting the possessions of the dead people and squatting in their homes. But now that the Avengers have restored them to life, these scavengers are being turfed out and their stolen property returned to their rightful owners. The politicians in charge of sorting everything out and making provisions for the trespassers now-displaced Blip survivors are not moving with sufficient alacrity, so they turned to terrorism, using the Captain America serum and attacking the international relief efforts, including blowing up buildings, and the political commission in charge of it. Those political figures were the people who were in the van John and Sam saved (they were also the committee who fired John for some reason).

The leading terrorist is named Karli and is played by Erin Kellyman, a mixed race actor Disney has been pushing on the world since she reached adulthood. She first appeared in "Solo" as the leader of the thieves who were constantly harassing Han Solo & Woody Harrelson, stealing their take and inciting the anger of the mob boss for whom Han & co were compelled to carry out jobs, and causing the death of Woody's wife and his pilot buddy. In the confrontation near the climax, she dramatically pulls off her mask to reveal her pale, freckly, African-featured face like that, and that alone was supposed to inform our opinions about her. Like, up to that point, we view her as an antagonist and a bad guy because of all the death and mortal danger she is causing the character we came to the movie to see, but when we see she is a young woman, possibly when we see she is not strictly white, we are supposed to suddenly change our minds and sympathize? It's fucking Star Wars, not the deep South! There is no reason to assume IRL racial politics apply. Pre-Disney, the most prominent black people in Star Wars were the guy in charge of Bespin, the top military officer(s) of Naboo, and the highest-ranking Master in the Jedi Order. Are we supposed to assume that African features mean Enfys Nest is automatically oppressed and worthy of support? After F&tWS, Kellyman also had a prominent role in "Willow" before Disney memory-holed that show, and I can only assume scheduling conflicts kept her from appearing in the last Indiana Jones movie to complete the set of Disney IP defilements.

Like with Solo, the Disney authorities are so enthralled with Kellyman that they expect audiences to automatically take her character's side, regardless of the violence, murders and the-more-you-know-the-less-you-like cause she espouses. After she and her fellow terrorists are blown up by Zemo, Falcon, in full robo-winged regalia, carries her body Pieta-style to the politicians, an angel confronting the indifferent or apathetic with the corpse of a martyr to make them face the consequences of their failure, and he proceeds to reprimand them for calling Karli & her ilk terrorists, blame them for her crimes, and talks over or dismisses their points that the whole situation and the disputes are complicated, by pointing out how much power they have, and they should just give everyone whatever they ask for, demand that they "do better" and cloaks his ignorance of the specifics by pointing out that he is Black.

Later, in the Thunderbolts movie, John's backstory is summed up as "you killed an innocent man" and his defense is a tacit concession as he replies "define innocent." He is called "a piece of shit" by the main character in a context of her telling him a harsh truth, and the nadir of his personal failure is that with his child in a crib literally a foot away from him, and perfectly fine, he was looking at his phone, thereby being an abusively neglectful father, causing his wife to leave him. She's totally not abandoning him because life is less fun when your husband is no longer a celebrity and is sad about his best friend's murder.

John Walker is a selfless hero, who is treated by the narrative like a violent, hateful thug, shamed for non-existent crimes, that not even his critics claim had any selfish motive or evil intent, accusing him of being vengeful (over the murder minutes before, of his best friend, in the same ongoing combat operation) or afflicted by drugs (he took to succeed in his mission).

Welcome to Marvel, where we make our Strong Empowered Black Women selfish jackasses who use their powers to steal from others for their own gain and then expect you to see them as heroes.

Have the almighty writers hand her as many unearned moments as you want. You'll never come close to what Tony managed to do in a cave, with a box of scraps.

[cannoli-reader]

Hey!

Channeling in a town full of hostile channelers is her thing! Don't take that away from her.

Egwene's botched attempts at spying on the Aes Sedai at Lady whoever's house are SO FRUSTRATING.

For one thing, she desperately needs the stuff Nynaeve and Elayne have learned from Moghedien. But given that she doesn't, SHE WOULD HAVE SERVED BETTER BY STAYING AWAY.

Shit, turning herself in would have served better.

Trying to listen to Aes Sedai with weaves that they can see and feel. Fucking hell.

Amateur hour in spy craft around here.

[cannoli-reader]

Also, her judgment of people who are openly and unabashed supporters of Rand. Somehow always negative. Weird.

"I assume Mat was appointed to lead this army by Rand (despite attending the meeting where Rand asked WTF is up with this army you're leading? and Moiraine went on for quite some time about how it's all Mat), and I also therefore assume he is incompetent."

"Why do the Wise Ones respect the woman Rand put in charge of Cairhien? She's a massive ho-bag!"

"Aviendha hates Rand? Besties for life, she's going to be the only friend with whom I make it formal!"

"Gawyn dreams of cutting off Rand's head? Gotta put a ring on that!"

“Make sure they don’t choose any siswai’aman,” Egwene said. Those would certainly resort to the spear at the slightest hint of a threat.

I doubt it. Your track record with reading people's motives is pretty crap, so pardon me if I don't take your word for it.

[cannoli-reader]

I keep saying "The Everlasting Man" but somehow I think this might secretly be my desert island book, if my subconscious is allowed to make the pick.

111 Years Ago Today: War Declared By All

[cannoli-reader]

I could understand, albeit possibly disagree, with her either deciding that Gawyn was too important to her to use or abuse, and lock down any intel he might spill, in order to protect him in case anything got back to the Tower sisters, or deciding that Salidar was the most important thing, and she needs him to become an asset.

But what she did was the worst of both worlds. She betrays Gawyn's trust, possibly endangering him if she uses information and the Tower sisters trace it back to him, while at the same time, not actually doing as much as she could for the cause that is so important that she will risk her partner's life, safety or ethics.

The deeper I get into this rabbit hole of Egwene's perception, ethics and morals, the harder it is to believe my view of her is a death-of-the-author personal opinion, and not Jordan actually intentionally writing a monster just to see who picks her as their favorite.

If he let slip something she could use, she would—she had to—but she would not dig, not for the smallest scrap.

The moment where Egwene chose exactly the opposite of what she needed to. Gawyn would have spied, and she should have let him. "Oh, I'll use what he lets slip. That's better than reading him in as my asset. Definitely not using him if I don't make an explicit request. I'm being Very Responsible by doing this."

I want to scream at her.

[cannoli-reader]

Balwer's an outside contractor. You can love them both without making them compete.

Niall is my favorite general/national leader. Yes, Morgase is cool, but she doesn't do much ruling in the series, and also, the fact that they get along so well despite being mortal enemies just kind of vindicates my pick as far as I am concerned.

Omerna my beloved. You are my favorite Whitecloak. Keep being confidently wrong about everything, except for the one thing that will be Amadicia's undoing. Absolute king. No notes.