#✧Rising Star|(Pre-Game Verse)✧

[sojourner-between-worlds]

I finally did it. I finally organized my 5Ds playlist. If you saw the original post eons ago, some songs have been abandoned for this one, but, uh, I also added, like, 30 more. So. There's that.

Full track list, all 109 119(currently) organized (roughly) by character under the cut. The first song of each section is linked for (slightly) easier navigation.

General - The Greatest Show - The Greatest Showman (Riding Duels) - Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons - Catalyst - Linkin Park (Satellite) - NEW Nerves - Icon for Hire (Satellite) - Land of Broken Dreams - Jonathan Young, feat Caleb Hyles (Satellite) - NEW Round and Round - 3 Doors Down (City and Satellite) - Hero - Skillet - Lost and Found - Zack Hemsey (First two arcs in particular) - Witching Hour, feat. Brooke Griffith - Tommee Profitt (Dark Signers Arc) - This is War - Thirty Seconds to Mars - Here We Stand, feat. SVRCINA - Hidden Citizens - Ready Aim Fire - Imagine Dragons (Pre-WRGP-Ark Cradle arc) - Finish Line - Skillet (Specifically always makes me think of Jack pushing his runner during the WRGP, but... lol) - See You Again, feat. Charlie Puth - Wiz Khalifa (The final few episodes, as everyone is parting ways)

. . .

All Six Signers - Young - Hollywood Undead - Renegades - ONE OK ROCK - Relate - for King & Country - We Are - ONE OK ROCK - Hey Brother - Avicii - Meet Me on the Battlefield - SVRCINA - Fight the Night - ONE OK ROCK - Answer the Call, feat. Claire Guerreso - Hidden Citizens - Saviors of the World - Skillet - Time To Go To War - Manafest x UNSECRET - Not Gonna Die (+Intro) - Skillet - We Won't Give Up - The Afters (I specifically associate this with the WRGP but) - NO-LIMIT - Fairy Tail OP25, English cover by AmaLee - Caught In the Fire, feat. Sam Tinnesz - Tommee Profitt - Strike Back - Fairy Tail OP16, English cover by NateWantsToBattle - Unleash the Power, feat. Sam Tinnesz and Rayelle - Tommee Profitt - Born For This - The Score - NEW Lead the Way - Nathan Wagner

. . .

Yusei - Child of the Stars - Fish in a Bird Cage - Speechless - Aladdin, cover by Caleb Hyles (Specifically early FC arc) - Soldier, feat. Fluerie - Tommee Profitt - NEW Fine - Mike Shinoda (DS arc) - Darkness Before the Dawn - Caleb Hyles, feat. Lacey Sturm (DS arc) - Believe in Myself - Fairy Tail OP21, English cover by NateWantsToBattle - Rise - Ashes Remain - Not Alone - Linkin Park (Arc Cradle) - If I Die Young - The Band Perry, cover by Sam Tsui - Where the Skies End - Starset - Can You See Me? - Krista Siegfrids (Second verse doesn't totally work but eh.) - The World You Want - Switchfoot - NEW Shining A Light Over You - Gentle Sparrow (Post-series)

. . .

Jack - Kings - Tribe Society - Leave It All Behind - Cult to Follow (Pre-series-DS) - Vagabond, feat. FJORA - Tommee Proffit (Pre-series-DS) - Lost Souls - Nathan Wagner (Pre-series-DS) - From Now On - The Greatest Showman (Post Fortune Cup) - When I Was King - ONE OK ROCK (Post Fortune Cup) - Run Run Rebel - Hidden Citizens (Burning Soul arc)

. . .

Aki - Brick by Boring Brick - Paramore (Pre-series-DS) - Innocence - Nathan Wagner (Pre-series through mid-way Dark Signers) - Paper Crown - Alec Benjamin (Pre-series. Arguably ship-y but only if you watch the video, lol) - NEW I Didn't Ask For This - Beth J Crowley (Pre-series through-DS) - Monster - Beth Crowley (Pre-series through Fortune Cup) - NEW Demons - Icon for Hire - I Want To Live - Skillet - Masayume Chasing - Fairy Tail OP15, English cover by AmaLee - Surviving the Game - Skillet - Unbreakable - Fireflight

. . .

Rua/Leo - Pretender - AJR - Battle Symphony - Linkin Park - The Chosen One - Smash Into Pieces - Something Big - Shawn Mendes - Prove - ONE OK ROCK - Children of the Sky - Imagine Dragons (Kinda all of them but heavy focus on Rua/Leo)

. . .

Other Assorted Characters - Fight Song - Rachel Platten (Ruka/Luna) - Counting Stars - OneRepublic (Crow) - A Shot in the Dark - Smash into Pieces (Crow) - Far From Home, feat. Sam Tinnesz - Tommee Profitt (Crow, Dark Signers arc) - Higher - The Score (Crow) - Memories - Maroon 5 (Bruno, or rather the others about him)

. . .

Kiryu/Kalin - Watching As I Fall - Mike Shinoda (Pre-series) - Monster - Fight the Fade (End of Team Satisfaction) - Hell's Comin' With Me - Poor Mans Poison - All Eyes on You - Smash Into Pieces (Crashtown arc) - Face to Face - Citizen Soldier (Crashtown arc)

. . .

Villains - World So Cold - 12 Stones - Monster Made of Memories - Citizen Soldier (Dark Signers) - Feed the Machine - Poor Mans Poison (Rex Godwin) - How Villains Are Made - Madalen Duke (Pretty much all of them, but specifically Godwin and Z-ONE) - With You Til the End, feat. Sam Tinnesz - Tommee Profitt (Z-ONE et al) - Last Survivor, feat. Nilka - Unsecret (Z-ONE) - The Sound of Silence - Disturbed (Z-ONE) - Cold World - RED (Z-ONE) - SCAVA - Hollywood Undead (Z-ONE et al)

. . .

Combinations - Mad World - Tears for Fears, cover by Smash into Pieces (An odd combo: Pre-series Kiryu/Kalin and Aki) - Ready As I'll Ever Be - Tangled: the Series (Signers vs Dark Signers. I feel like this one needs a breakdown but only upon request, lol.) - Hold On For Your Life, feat. Sam Tinnesz - Tommee Profitt (Yusei vs Kiryu/Kalin; Jack vs Carly) - NEW It Had To Be You (Dark Version) - Tommee Profitt x Tiffany Ashton (Jack vs Carly and Yusei vs Kiryu/Kalin) - Battle Scars - Paradise Fears (Team 5Ds and Team Taiyo) - Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush, metal cover by Jonathan Young and Caleb Hyles (Aporia and Team Ragnarok) -The Antihero vs The Hero - Nathan Wagner (Z-ONE et al and Yusei)

- Where We Rise - Neoni (Jack and Yusei) - No Limits - Zayde Wolf (Yusei and Jack) - Who I Am - Citizen Soldier (Yusei and Aki) - This Is Me - The Greatest Showman (Fortune Cup Yusei and Aki. I wish I could use the movie version solely for what’s going on in the background at one point but the only video has ridiculously quiet audio...) - Collide - Skillet (Yusei and Aki, FC-DS arcs) - Wake Up - Smash into Pieces (Jack and Aki, pre-series) - Running Away from Home - Smash Into Pieces (Jack and Aki) - Already Over - Mike Shinoda (Jack and Aki) - Alive - Daughtry (Yusei, Jack, Crow, Aki) - The Musician - 14th Melody (D.Gray-man OP), English cover by AmaLee and Andy Stein (Yusei, Jack, Crow, Aki) - Brother - Kodaline (Yusei, Jack, Crow) - Save You, feat. Redlight King - Manafest (Yusei, Jack, and Crow) - Hall of Fame - The Script (Jack, Crow, Rua/Leo; post-series) - NEW Cool Kids - Echosmith (Rua and Ruka/Leo and Luna)

. . .

Ships - Still Worth Fighting For - My Darkest Days (JackxCarly) - Angel With a Shotgun - The Cab (JackxCarly) - Stolas Sings (Owl in a Cage) - Helluva Boss [Sam Haft], cover by Caleb Hyles (One-sided JackxCarly) - Bleeding Out - Imagine Dragons (JackxCarly, specifically Carly as a DS and their duel) - Slip Away - Ruelle (JackxCarly, specifically their duel in the DS arc) - Counting On Me (Acoustic Version) - Smash into Pieces (JackxCarly, DS arc) - NEW If You Fall - UNDREAM & Brad Arthur (YuseixAki) - Better Than One - The Score (In my head, YuseixAki, but any really) - Monsters - Katie Sky (YuseixAki. Could absolutely be interpreted platonically too imo.) - I Found the Answer in You - Loving Caliber (YuseixAki)

[ryan-the-poet]

So @rebelrayne challenged me to write a song about someone I have a crush on, and, umm so I did it

👉 👈

(Verse 1) In a crowded stadium, under the bright lights, A hot blonde footballer, shining so bright. Lewie, you're the star on the field of my dreams, Your every move, more captivating it seems.

(Pre-Chorus) I'm just a fan in the stands, you'll never see, But I'm singing this song, hoping you'll notice me. With every kick, every pass, every goal you score, My heart races faster, craving for something more.

(Chorus) Lewie, Lewie, under the sun's golden glow, I'm the one in the shadows, you'll never know. Yet my heart beats for you, a secret untold, Hoping one day, my love will unfold.

(Verse 2) Your jersey's a canvas, telling tales of your might, With every victory, you set my world alight. I watch you from afar, my feelings running deep, As you chase your dreams, I'm lost in sweet reverie.

(Pre-Chorus) I'm just a face in the crowd, you'll never find, But I'm pouring my heart out, hoping for a sign. With every sprint, every tackle, every dazzling play, I can't help but wish that you'd look my way.

(Chorus) Lewie, Lewie, under the moon's tender gleam, You're the star of my nights, the subject of my dream. In this symphony of emotions, my heart takes flight, Yearning for a chance to be held in your light.

(Bridge) You're the sun that rises, the moon that sets, In this love-filled match, I'll place my bets. I'll keep cheering you on, even from afar, Hoping that someday, you'll see who you are.

(Pre-Chorus) I'm just a voice in the crowd, my feelings concealed, But this song is my confession, my heart unsealed. With every leap, every header, every victory shout, I hope you'll notice me, without a doubt.

(Chorus) Lewie, Lewie, as the seasons go by, I'll be here in the shadows, letting out a sigh. In this game of love, my heart's the referee, Whistle me in, Lewie, set my emotions free.

(Outro) So here's my love song, a melody so true, For the hot blonde footballer who makes my skies blue. Lewie, may destiny weave our paths together, In this love-filled game, let's chase forever.

@footballer-lewie *runs and hides*

[svt-yexi]

'Mastermind' Lyrics - English Translation

(Verse 1)

In the quiet of the night, I find my way,

I'm the architect of dreams in the light of day,

No more shadows holding me down,

I'm the mastermind, I wear my own crown.

(Pre-Chorus)

I'll write my story, paint my skies,

With every step, I'll reach new highs,

In this world, I'm a symphony,

I'm the mastermind of my destiny.

(Chorus)

I'm the captain of this ship, I'm the star of this show,

In the game of life, I'm the one who's in control,

No more waiting for fate, no more mystery,

I'm the mastermind of my destiny.

(Verse 2)

Through the storms and through the rain,

I'll rise above, I'll break these chains,

With determination, I'll pave the way,

To a future where I'll have my say.

(Pre-Chorus)

I'll write my story, paint my skies,

With every step, I'll reach new highs,

In this world, I'm a symphony,

I'm the mastermind of my destiny.

(Chorus)

I'm the captain of this ship, I'm the star of this show,

In the game of life, I'm the one who's in control,

No more waiting for fate, no more mystery,

I'm the mastermind of my destiny.

(Bridge)

I'll stumble and I'll fall,

But I'll rise above it all,

With courage in my heart, I'll see it through,

There's nothing in this world that I can't do.

(Chorus)

I'm the captain of this ship, I'm the star of this show,

In the game of life, I'm the one who's in control,

No more waiting for fate, no more mystery,

I'm the mastermind of my destiny.

(Outro)

I'll stand tall, I'll shine so bright,

I'll conquer the day and own the night,

With every breath, I'll set my spirit free,

I'm the mastermind of my destiny.

Taglist: @multiplums @giverosespls @sunflower-0180 @smoooore @kimhyejin3108 @enhacolor @wcsterias @kimhyejin3108 @allthings-fandoms @cixrosie @alixnsuperstxr @honeylovemoon

[originemesis]

@kugel-bitch from xxx

That name...

Every letter, every syllable drills itself pitilessly through the calcium shell of her bones where it permeates her marrow like an infection, spreading through her venous system, stretching it's shiver inducing tendrils along every nerve, every vessel until the sickness is so all consuming she can barely choke back the urge to gag in abject repugnance. The gall. The unbridled audacity. To use his name. His hallowed, illustrious fucking God given name for this impudent, bullshit charade? His name? HIS NAME?? "Hhhh..." Adam. 𝒜𝒹𝒶𝓂. ᗩᗪᗩᗰ. α∂αм. ค๔ค๓. Ȁ̴̲̻̪̀͐͌̑̈͆̇̑ď̶̢̛͔̟̩̩͑̈́̽̕̚̕͜͝à̷̢̨̞̗̟͙̣̤̫̄̋̔̕ḿ̴͓̖̭̙͋̓̈́̐́̓̅͌ͅ It bounces around the inside of her cranium like a nuclear ping-pong ball, eating through any notion of a ground plan, any pre-determined course of action. She had wanted to do this cleanly, covertly—but no. No, she needs him dead. She needs him dead more than her lungs need their next breath. She needs him dead. He needs to die. Now. Now, he needs to die now!

Tremulous talons grasp the lip of the bar counter, inadvertently knocking the tumbler of whiskey she had been lapping at over the course of the last half hour off the edge. A thousand crystalline pieces of glass besprinkle the worn floorboards like freshly formed verglas and the way it catches the ceiling lights, it makes her think of stars, and that thought, in turn, prompts the rise of a gold plated, prosthetic hand, the tapered crests of cybernetic claws slipping beneath the hood of her cloak, to touch the place where the last piece of him rests. Nestled flush against the crown of her head. Mindlessly, the opposite hand—the flesh and blood one—snatches a serrated steak knife off some abstracted imp's plate. Blessed steel would be much too kind for this pustule. This one needs to suffer before she cuts his feculent soul loose from this immortal plane. He needs to writhe in agony for every second he's incorporated her husband's image into his derisive game of dress-up. The display of her helmet slips over her pallid visage, dim and featureless, as she stomps her way through the sparse crowd, towards the opposite end of the counter. The closer she draws the quicker the leather soles of her white boots click against the sticky floors until she's within range to grasp him by the back of his hoodie and sling an arm around his shoulder, oil coated blade poised to slit his throat and bleed him like thoughtless animal that he is.

With his chin propped in an open talon, he worked on that 'deposit' mentioned...by depositing a warble of a sigh down onto the face of the phone as it lit up again from a follow up dial. Bastard had to be on the fritz to think he'd pick up after without making more spitty, frothing sounds to indicate a poor connection being the reason they couldn't talk now. When a third attempt lit the phone up again, he had to hand it to him...bro was persistent. Being the first man and all, he knew the power in persistence when it came to being the origin of the species. That and chicks always seemed to like a little whining with their dining. The absolute sadists. It was likely why he was so well versed in the art of stringing someone along until he felt he got enough out of the exchange to put out-...yet another soul patch to download in an effort to make a broken game like him play through, that was.

He was half tempted to hit block on the next attempt at reaching him so he could at least check the time, but the shattering of a glass nearby interrupted his remaining braincell of the night to hesitate stepping onto the bus bound for endless scrolling. With a curious tilt of his head towards the commotion, he wondered if the bartender had finally succeeded in bashing an imp over the head for still trying to give him head. Of course, with the lapse in a distraction, that perceived feeling decided it was not only reminding him that it was still there, but also that it was coming in hot. Before he could whip around to meet it, he was distinctly aware of the sound of footsteps that began to hurry when he began to swivel his head around the joint like he could make out where it was coming from. Though his eyes are but tools to make sense of what he'd see after the fact, it was the wing clamped under his arm that twitched in awareness of an approach.

Snap. It came out with a cantankerous crack of golden- notably unpreened feathers and shoved the figure in his blind spot back with a firm, singular beat. There. Found it. "The hell...?" He grumbled, shoving his own chin out of his grip in favor of slamming a palm down onto the bar top and using the firm slam of the gesture to push off the counter and turn around to face the watchful force. "What's your problem, fucko? Setting off wing alarms for shits and giggles until you get your stupid face broken?" A flick of his wrist and a rolled shoulder later, he seared the other with a squint. Was that a...steak knife they were holding like a demented crayon? "Oh, I see. You want an autograph. Sorry, sweetie, but I don't do the whole...carving my name in your skin thing you weird fucks are into. Find a pen and we'll chat, mmk?"

[astranova3661]

Gears & Circuits! By Astra Nova!

(Verse 1) In the shadows of the stars, they rise, Forged in metal, sparks ignite the skies! One made of gears, brass and flame, The other a circuit, no two the same! Through the void, where justice bends, They fight the war no one defends! Clockwork blades, and neon steel, The universe will feel their wheels! (Pre-Chorus) They’re the hunters, for hire, in the endless fight, Through chaos and fire, they shine so bright! (Chorus) Gears & Circuits! In the dead of night, Racing through the galaxies, bringing wrong to right! Gears & Circuits! They’re the final call, When the system fails, they’ll break them all! (Verse 2) Engines roar, through time and space, They leave no trace, just a cold embrace! Brass pistons pound, with thunderous might, Circuits pulse, in electric light! No villain’s safe, no world too far, They’ll find you hiding, wherever you are! From the steam, to the cyber-net, Their legacy, we won’t forget! (Pre-Chorus) They’re the legends, feared in every land, With iron fists, they make their stand! (Chorus) Gears & Circuits! In the dead of night, Racing through the galaxies, bringing wrong to right! Gears & Circuits! They’re the final call, When the system fails, they’ll break them all! (Bridge) Through shattered stars, and broken dreams, They cut through fate, with silver beams! No chains can hold, no code can bind, Gears & Circuits—warriors of time! (Final Chorus) Gears & Circuits! The stars align, Interstellar justice, they redefine! Gears & Circuits! Fear their name, On the edge of reason, they play the game! (Outro) Gears & Circuits, gears and steel, Their power’s real—you're their next deal!

[panelrank]

New Song by Eric J. Luevano, "Rising High: The Journey of Eric J. Luevano, ATM King," Premieres on Lyrics.com

Eric J. Luevano's Anthem Chronicles His Rise to Prominence in the ATM Industry

Eric J. Luevano, celebrated as "The ATM King," has unveiled a powerful new song titled "Rising High: The Journey of Eric J. Luevano, ATM King," now available on Lyrics.com. This anthem captures Luevano's incredible journey from humble beginnings to becoming a prominent figure in the ATM and real estate sectors, blending innovation and melody to inspire and empower listeners.

Verse 1 of the song paints a vivid picture of Luevano's early life in Pasadena, California. From a young age, he was driven to achieve greatness, with the California sky fueling his aspirations. His college years, spent mastering network marketing, laid the foundation for his entrepreneurial success.

"Born into humble beginnings in Pasadena, Eric J. Luevano knew from early on he'd reach for more and try his hardest to fly high - the California sky was nothing if not his inspiration for success.

From college days of network marketing's game, he found his true calling: he discovered network marketing's passion. And his vision was crystal-clear: it would pave a path he alone would pave in order to redefine success in ways unknown at that time."

Verse 2 celebrates Luevano's rise to prominence, where his innovative strategies and relentless determination led to the creation of Prestige ATMs. His efforts not only generated personal wealth but also set the stage for future generations to thrive.

"At twenty-three, he took off, turning setbacks into opportunities wide open. Through Prestige ATMs he built wealth for future generations - creating wealth that endured. His star soon shined bright."

The Pre-Chorus and Chorus highlight Luevano's influential presence on social media, particularly Instagram, where he engages over 50,000 followers. His platform serves as a beacon of inspiration, promoting financial independence and entrepreneurial success.

"Social media serves as his stage, where he shares his voice. 50 thousand strong take part in celebrating him; Mentor, leader and pioneer who pave new roads; Empowering others so they may fulfill their dreams."

"Eric J. Luevano has become known as 'The ATM King'. From building empires and creating waves every day to successfully placing thousands of ATMs at once, his innovative spirit meets musical harmony in every case."

As Luevano expands his ventures into real estate, he continues to share valuable lessons on resilience and financial freedom, broadening his impact and reach.

"As real estate embraces him, Bridge broadens his reach, whilst teaching life lessons along the way with resilience and drive that will help him reach financial freedom no matter the challenges or setbacks that may lie ahead."

The song concludes with a celebration of Luevano's legacy as a business and entrepreneurial icon in Pasadena, his journey serving as a beacon of inspiration.

"Eric J. Luevano stands tall as an icon in the realm of Pasadena business and entrepreneurial history, his journey a testament to dreams that ignite and illuminates Pasadena's bright light."

Eric J. Luevano is widely revered as "The ATM King." Through innovative ATM placement strategies he has transformed the ATM industry allowing thousands to generate passive income streams. Luevano's career can be summarized by three hallmarks - his pursuit of financial freedom; mentorship of emerging entrepreneurs; and an influencer presence on Instagram.

[adonaldson]

Basic breakdown of my verses (will be added to my blog later), different from what is on my verse page because the movie spans a few years I realized I can't just do pre movie, movie, and post movie.

Love - Tennis academy days and before, up until the Jr Open that Art comes in second at and wins mens doubles.

15 - Stanford era, the four years that Art is at college.

30 - Post Stanford and pre Tashi coaching him. This is where most things will happen in threads because it opens up Art for relationships and such. It is also the time he is still a rising star, and it is what we know least about.

40 - Tashi is his coach, and up until the New Rochelle Challenger. This includes things like Atlanta, and his marriage to Tashi.

Game - Anything after the New Rochelle Challenger.

Deuce - An AU for anything that differs from the movie. Such as Art leaving Tashi because of Atlanta or even New Rochelle. Art not fucking with Patrick and Tashi in college, or if we discuss and write it may even go for altering movie stuff.

[existentialmagazine]

Review: Crashing Castles’ new genre-blending single ‘Fireflies’ weaves together synthwave and rock into one atmospheric dream

Inspired by mixed rock & electronic music, Crashing Castles follow in the footsteps of acts like Bring Me The Horizon, Linkin Park and Pendulum with their own striking originality to match. With their first single only debuted last year, Crashing Castles have already amassed over 2,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and it’s without a doubt for good reason, as it certainly won’t be long before they’re not just taking over digitally but on stages across the world.

Now beginning 2024 with their most recent and second offering ‘Fireflies’, they only further build upon the mass of momentum stored beforehand, connecting once again to their dedicated listeners with something vivacious and bold. Cascading in with striking electronic beats that almost seem to ripple out of the soundscape, the atmospherics of ‘Fireflies’ soar right off the bat, shimmering through the most vibrant pops of colour and sound. This is only further elevated by pulsating, darker synth twangs, a contrasting blend between a lo-fi front and emotionally clouded undertone.

The opening verse cuts short this mesmerising beginning, clashing in with thumping drums that add a raw edge to the sound’s opposingly electronically-heavy production. Otherwise continuing through their pre-established palette of synth and vapourwave-esque beats, Crashing Castles introduce impressively soaring vocals, smothering their emotion behind light synthetic feeling effects while rising and falling through an infinite feeling range. The instrumental elements continue their diverse layerings around this, building-upwards with a more intense patchwork of scattered sounds and beats that mould together a thumping electro-based tempo, fizzling synth, bright keys and so much more always weaving into new fluctuations.

Taking inspiration from the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack, in particular ‘Stickerbrush Symphony’, as well as old video game soundtracks, ‘Fireflies’ definitely feels retro and nostalgic at heart. Keeping a hold of that wistful air and burying it through their carefully crafted sound, you can’t help but feel that even though ‘Fireflies’ is bright and positive, it's drawn-out notes capture so much more hidden depth. A perhaps unintended modern air rings through too though, reminiscent of the recent Ghostunner 2’s cyberpunk-ladened soundtrack as well as Subnautica’s soundtrack and its’ unexpectedly electronic lean.

As they sing of the finite nature of life, Crashing Castles don’t just deliver a completely enthralling sound in ‘Fireflies’ but an equally integral message beneath, urging you to remember both your loved ones here and those passed on that have shaped you into who you are today. From lines like ‘just a fleeting point in time, but it means more than we know’, they don’t hesitate to look deeper into our existence as humans, an existential lean that is thoughtfully aware of how short our mere lives may be. Continuing ‘I’m looking for the answers we don’t have questions for’, they delve even further below the surface, unbothered by the typical questions of our existence but instead seeking answers where they know no bounds. Finding a solace in those we miss dearly in the universe above, Crashing Castles sing the all-too comforting line ‘we look up to the stars, and see a piece of us’, finding a sense of guidance and familiarity in the sky above where our loved ones may reside. Centred so much around the unknown, ‘Fireflies’ thrives by simply allowing you to feel without believing in any one notion, just finding your own peace in being alive and carrying your love at the forefront of everything.

With a euphoric end that pushes everything to the max, as well as introduces some new elements like highly spirited saxophone and orchestral strings, ‘Fireflies’ really looks to be a single that encompasses elements from a handful of styles into something unlike anything before it. It’s without a doubt that ‘Fireflies’ is a one-of-a-kind atmospheric dream through and through, painting pictures of vast scenic worlds that you can only really understand if you listen along for yourself here. You definitely won’t regret giving Crashing Castles a moment of your time before they’ll undoubtably be giving the world theirs.

Written by: Tatiana Whybrow

Photo Credits: Unknown

// This coverage was supported and created via Musosoup, #SustainableCurator.

[doxie-gay]

lyrics:

SEPARATION - DOXIE

Midnight dreams, you were my star,

But now I see who you really are.

Took my love, turned it into a lie,

You had me fooled, I can't deny.

(Pre-Chorus)

The flames are rising, I won't give in,

This time I'll fight, won't let you win.

(Chorus)

Heartbreaker, you tore me apart,

Left me with the pieces of a shattered heart.

I'll rise again, break from your curse,

No longer captive in your twisted universe.

(Verse 2)

You had your way, played your game,

But now I know it's time to break the chain.

The truth revealed, I'm standing tall,

I won't look back, I'll conquer all.

(Pre-Chorus)

The flames are rising, I won't give in,

This time I'll fight, won't let you win.

(Chorus)

Heartbreaker, you tore me apart,

Left me with the pieces of a shattered heart.

I'll rise again, break from your curse,

No longer captive in your twisted universe.

(Outro)

From the ashes, I'll be reborn,

I'll face the world, no longer torn.

[clever-beets-moved]

Continued from x

@paintedwithroses​

The child’s eyes refuse to meet Rose’s as he accepts the ice pack and begrudgingly allows the bruise to be looked over. The bruise itself is minor injury at best, likely due to the fact that his hattena was more focused on getting away rather than actually striking hard enough to do lasting damage.

Bede places the pack lightly on the bruise, eyes flicking downwards with an expression that almost borders on apologetic. Almost.

“... I’ve been trying to. It’s looking like I’m a bit rubbish at following it, though.”

That, perhaps, wasn’t entirely true. Bede has mellowed out some. He hasn’t been starting nearly as many physical fights as he used to. Whether or not his tendency for starting verbal spats would follow suite has yet to be seen.

“I’m unsure if I deserve such confident faith. Surely my lack of progress is letting you down?”

[clever-beets]

Tag Dump!

[sojourner-between-worlds]

I will never resist talking about my favorite things, especially when I can combine two of them in the same post -- in this case Yugioh 5Ds and music. @yu-gi-overload has given me the excuse, and I'm going to run with it, lol.

This playlist was up to 98. Then Certain People (you know who you are, yeah, you) gave me more and now its up to 110. Granted, some of them I hear and think to myself that I should actually take them off because they don't fit as well as I initially thought (most of those are from when I watched it originally 10+ years ago, so that explains why) but I'm lazy and have not. All that to say: this list does not have 110 songs on it. But probably pretty close.

Some of these songs probably only make sense to me and my weird brain. I will not be offended if anyone looks at this and goes "what the heck is that song doing on here?" Because it makes sense to me and that's all that matters.

There are also characters that have only one (or even none) songs for them. This makes me sad. If you have any good ones, please let me know.

On to the playlist! (Categorized for Convenience!)

****All link are to YouTube****

****Feel free to add your own in the comments/reblogs/tags! I'm always happy to find new stuff!****

Yusei - Now or Never - Josh Groban - Soldier, feat. Fluerie - Tommee Profitt - If I Die Young - The Band Perry, cover by Sam Tsui - So Silent - Zack Hemsey (Less 'perfect lyrical fit' and more 'it's got the Vibes' but... Yusei at Jack, Aki, Godwin in that order on the verses) - Where the Skies End - Starset - Can You See Me? - Krista Siegfrids (Second verse doesn't totally work but eh.) - Take Me Over - RED (Same vein as Where The Skies End) - The World You Want - Switchfoot - Renegade - Daughtry (More the Vibes than exact fit but eh) - Believe in Myself - Fairy Tail OP21, English cover by NateWantsToBattle - Child of the Stars - Fish in a Bird Cage - Still Alive (Looking For A Reason) - RED - Rise - Ashes Remain

. . .

Jack - Run Run Rebel - Hidden Citizens (Burning Soul arc) - From Now On - The Greatest Showman (Post Fortune Cup) - When I Was King - ONE OK ROCK (Post Fortune Cup) - Good For You - Dear Evan Hansen (More, other people about him, pre-series) - Kings - Tribe Society

. . .

Aki - Innocence - Nathan Wagner (Pre-series through mid-way Dark Signers) - Paper Crown - Alec Benjamin (Arguably ship-y but only if you watch the video, lol) - Monster - Beth Crowley (Pre-series through Fortune Cup) - I Want To Live - Skillet - Masayume Chasing - Fairy Tail OP15, English cover by AmaLee - Surviving the Game - Skillet - Ignorance - Paramore - Unbreakable - Fireflight

. . .

Villains - Monster Made of Memories - Citizen Soldier (Dark Signers) - Feed the Machine - Poor Mans Poison (Rex Godwin) - How Villains Are Made - Madalen Duke (Pretty much all of them, but specifically Godwin and Z-ONE) - World So Cold - 12 Stones (More like Yusei about the villains but. Hard one to categorize, haha.) - Will I Make It Out Alive, feat. Jessie Early - Tommee Profitt (Z-ONE et al) - SCAVA - Hollywood Undead (Z-ONE et al) - With You Til the End, feat. Sam Tinnesz - Tommee Profitt (Z-ONE et al) - Last Survivor, feat. Nilka - Unsecret (Z-ONE) - The One to Survive, feat. Bruce Williams - Hidden Citizens (Z-ONE) - The Sound of Silence - Disturbed (Z-ONE)

. . .

Other Assorted Characters - Iridescent - Linkin Park (Lua/Leo) - The Chosen One - Smash Into Pieces (Lua/Leo) - Pretender - AJR (Lua/Leo) - Something Big - Shawn Mendes (Lua/Leo) - See You Again, feat. Charlie Puth - Wiz Khalifa (Bruno, or rather the others about him but) - Memories - Maroon 5 (Bruno, or rather the others about him again) - All Eyes on You - Smash Into Pieces (Crashtown arc Kiryu/Kalin) - Hell's Comin' With Me - Poor Mans Poison (Kiryu/Kalin) - Far From Home, feat. Sam Tinnesz - Tommee Profitt (Crow, Dark Signers arc) - Higher - The Score (Crow) - Counting Stars - OneRepublic (Crow) - Fight Song - Rachel Platten (Luka/Luna)

. . .

All Six Signers - Young - Hollywood Undead - Relate - for King & Country - Answer the Call, feat. Claire Guerreso - Hidden Citizens - All For One - Hidden Citizens - Hey Brother - Avicii - Heart of the Darkness, feat. Sam Tinnesz - Tommee Profitt - Saviors of the World - Skillet - We Won't Give Up - The Afters (I specifically associate this with the WRGP but) - Caught In the Fire, feat. Sam Tinnesz - Tommee Profitt - Strike Back - Fairy Tail OP16, English cover by NateWantsToBattle - We Are - ONE OK ROCK - Unleash the Power, feat. Sam Tinnesz and Rayelle - Tommee Profitt - Born For This - The Score

. . .

Combinations - Where We Rise - Neoni (Jack and Yusei) - Ready As I'll Ever Be - Tangled: the Series (Signers vs Dark Signers. I feel like this one needs a breakdown but only upon request, lol.) - Hall of Fame - The Script (Jack, Crow, Lua/Leo; post-series) - No Limits - Zayde Wolf (Yusei and Jack) - Alive - Daughtry (Yusei, Jack, Crow, Aki) (Warning: flashing) - Hold On For Your Life, feat. Sam Tinnesz - Tommee Profitt (Yusei vs Kiryu/Kalin; Jack vs Carly) - Face Down - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (Yusei at Divine about Aki) - Brother - Kodaline (Yusei, Jack, Crow) - Who I Am - Citizen Soldier (Yusei and Aki) - Carry On - The Score x AWOLNATION (Yusei and Aki) - Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush, metal cover by Jonathan Young and Caleb Hyles (Aporia and Team Ragnarok) - The Hero - Nathan Wagner (Yusei and Z-ONE)

. . .

Ships - Still Worth Fighting For - My Darkest Days (JackxCarly) - Angel With a Shotgun - The Cab (JackxCarly) - Monsters - Katie Sky (YuseixAki. Could absolutely be interpreted platonically too imo.) - Better Than One - The Score (In my head, YuseixAki, but any really) - Island - SVRCINA (JackxCarly. Feel like this one needs an explanation but it's a Whole Essay so not on this post, lol) - I Found the Answer in You - Loving Caliber (YuseixAki) - Stolas Sings (Owl in a Cage) - Helluva Boss [Sam Haft], cover by Caleb Hyles (One-sided JackxCarly)

. . .

General - Meet Me on the Battlefield - SVRCINA - Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons - Here We Stand - Hidden Citizens - Finish Line - Skillet (Specifically always makes me think of Jack pushing his runner during the WRGP, but... lol) - This is War - Thirty Seconds to Mars - Not Gonna Die (+Intro) - Skillet - Shattered - Trading Yesterday - Lost and Found - Zack Hemsey (First two arcs in particular) - Hero - Skillet - Witching Hour, feat. Brooke Griffith - Tommee Profitt (Dark Signers Arc) - The Greatest Show - The Greatest Showman (Riding Duels) - Catalyst - Linkin Park (Satellite) - Midnight Sun - Phillip Phillips

[dandaelions]

aespa’s “savage” album thoughts! 🐍😈

from debuting in controversy to rivaling established groups in the span of a year, the meteoric rise of this group has been veeeeeery interesting to witness. though I was initially one of those people with serious doubts about their concept, there’s no denying the powerhouse talent and energy these ladies are bringing to the scene - and the gobs of $$$ SM is throwing at this social experiment. they've definitely got some of the best visual designers working on this and it shows! going into this mini. I'm not quite sure what to expect - everything they've put out has looked GORGEOUS but do they deliver on the music? let's find out...

aenergy - can't quite understand what they're saying (edit: looking at the lyrics...I'm think I'm gonna need a glossary lol) but this is a pretty epic intro...in case you had any doubt what this group is about, now you know! I've never been a huge fan of chant-y verses so not quite digging the "everydaaAAAYYY we get better" but that beat HITS. oh gosh what does this rhythm remind me of?? I swear there's another song with this beat but I can't remember...

savage - intro really reminds me of super m's one (monster & infinity), that's a great build-up going into the chorus which then...goes nowhere...ok...I'm a little confused tbh. I wish the chorus was stronger to match the fierce energy from the verses. man these girls are KILLING it though! YAS THIS INSTRUMENTAL BREAK THOUGH!!! oh wait ok was that a key change? hold on whoa ningning is blasting off and then...it ends?

i feel under- and overwhelmed at the same time with this...like there are elements that are really great but that chorus totally kills the vibe, and don't quite understand the decision to add a key change at the end. everything ends up sounding quite disjointed when put together :/ mv looks AMAZING though so this is where dftf budget went lol jk jk corporation is gonna do what corporations do also props to the members for bringing their all, this is def very unconventional and honestly they sell it. we'll see how this does in the long-term...

I'll make you cry - oh fck. hold up. there's something going on here. the skitzy synth with those staccato verses and drum machine...

ok but that empty beat drop then that EXPLOSION at 1:15!!! THIS HITS!!! YAS I'M JUST!!! love this trap/hip-hop interpretation of a cyberpunk-y video game! I WANNA RACE A CAR TO THIS!!! the girls sound positively dangerous and I can totally imagine them as the protagonists of a futuristic action movie! OH BUT THE BRIDGE!! oh it's so sparkling and WOW they sound so amazing with their lower registers. the mixing actually sounds really incredible in this song, there's a lot going on but it's all balanced really well and all the vocal flourishes and harmonies!! despite the intensity, there's plenty of space for all of the members to shine. OKAY DOKEY I was not expecting that but MAN I was vibing!!

edit: QUEEN KENZIE THANK YOU

yeppi yeppi - the beat is PRESENT. sounds almost like they took a red velvet song and synth-ified it...oh WHOA the section that starts at 1:20 the drum machine!! the beats!! wooooo what a roller coaster ride! actually you know what, this almost seems like something that might've been slated for f(x), this song just gets weirder and weirder the more it goes on...holy SHIZ how much did they cram in here?? I'm just sitting here like 😧 producers really had fun with this one lol. def not for everyone's taste but I think I like it! might have to give this a few more listens...

iconic - ohh all right spy movie-action sequence vibes...heavy rap verses with this one, I'm glad they get to show so many different sides. nice contrast with the pre-chorus there, letting the space expand for a bit before packing the beats right back in. I am half expecting taeyong to drop in for a few lines here lol, sounds very much in nct's alley. lyrically the chorus feels a bit juvenille but I can vibe to it, the chromatic descents add enough movement to keep it going. ahhh the bridge sounds so refreshing! hmm yeah I feel this one!

lucid dreams - just based off the title I'm expecting something a bit more laid-back, and it seems like I'm right! the sustained synths add more mood and atmosphere here...really like the background noise, that's a nice touch! oh it's so nice to hear their voices a little bit more stripped back :) the trap beats are back at it again, except a bit more relaxed here. tempo is still pretty fast though. OOOOHHHH YESSSSS THE CHORUS. YES. sometimes doing less is more, and that's exactly what's working out here. the harmonies really get a chance to shine and they're able to convey so much emotion, paradoxically, by not conveying much at all. nice transition from the layered chorus to the singular vocal line, sonically a very interesting moment. love the shooting star effects and little touches going on in the background! OH THIS BRIDGE! oh wow what a way to close out the album

overall - I AM SO PLEASANTLY SURPRISED!! wow this really delivered some amazing stuff and I am so happy that a lot of this is in the vein of what I like listening to, like trap, synthwave, and electronica. sm back at it again with the weak title tracks, but I am honestly so glad the ladies got some b-sides to show what they're really about. clearly they're got the vocals and the musicality to tackle whatever is thrown at them, and I've really been impressed by them so far. even in the saturated landscape of kpop, this sounds fresh and interesting and PROPS to the producing team!! they brought it!! my playlists grew a bit today, yayyyy :)

[gryffindorkxdraws]

JACKUNZEL EXPLANATION in 0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You) by Tomorrow X Together

as a MOA and a jackunzel shipper, i couldn’t help but notice that the song fits them and i can add it to my ship playlist *smashes it in LOL

and the way they keep playing with the words “freeze,” and “thaw,” as if the boy was stuck in a cold and lonely world (JACK?!) until he met a girl who melted it all with her light and warmth (RAPUNZEL??!?)

"The song’s lyrics, which expresses the emotions of a boy who is confident that his love for a special girl he met in this chaotic world is real. The title of the track is an equation representing the story of a boy with a hole (0) in his soul in a world full of zeros (0) and one (1) girl who approaches the boy."

this explanation of the song *HEAD IN HANDS and my mind immediately just went DEAR LORDE ITS JACKUNZEL STFU I’M TAKING IT

so i decided to break down the english lyrics while imagining/explaining the ship mostly in jack’s POV to go with the song

[Intro: Taehyun]

I know I love you [Verse 1: Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Huening Kai] In this world of zero I know you're my one and only In this endless darkness like Oh my god, so holy From the tip of my fingers Everything runs far away My life before you was a mess Couldn't win one round of this chess Oh we

“When Jack Frost was reborn he lost all memory of his previous life and immediately began his adventures of fun and mischief, discovering his powers. The Man in the Moon only ever told him his name, and he quickly discovers no one can see him when he enters a village and is walked through for the first time.”

he was left alone with nothing but questions as soon as he was reborn. and he had to deal with it, along with his loneliness and frustration, all by himself.

for a while at least, until he met the others. but judging from their former opinions and judgements on jack, i doubt that they formed a deep bond with each other before the movie’s current timeline.

just, 300 years?? he had to deal with everything ALONE for 300 YEARS. i’m pretty sure he hides all that negativity behind his mischief and pranks, because what else can he do besides demanding for answers from the man in the moon?

he was going in circles without progress, and he knew it

[Pre-Chorus: Yeonjun, Soobin, Taehyun] From this bottomless pit You're the only (one) shining gold Now I can't stop thinking 'bout you When I'm sinking alone Angel who one day appeared to me Take me away to your hometown I know it's real, I can feel it

but what if...

what if he meets a strange girl with an even stranger hair. and he expected nothing from it. just another curiosity to check out and that was all.

but then she proved him wrong.

with her wonderstruck eyes and excited giggles and suggestions of never ending plans for the two of them that would take them far and wide (after they got through the phase of suspicions and getting hit by a frying pan LOL). 

and he’s in shock. lost for words. because holy hell “You can see me? And you even wanna stick around with me??”

[Chorus: Huening Kai, Taehyun] I'm full of problems, love sick No way to go I was fine to die I'm a loser in this game The only (one) rule of this world Save me Take my hand Please use me like a drug (I know I love you)

and everything falls together as they embark on adventures together

with them pushing and pulling each other out of their comfort zones. their trust in each other growing as time goes by. showing the other a world that they never knew of, or maybe they did but they never got to experience it until now. and simply reminding the other to live (directly or not).

just live.

for themselves and no one else.

[Post-Chorus: Seori, Taehyun] Say you love me, say you love me Till the end of the world All or nothing, I want all of you I know I love you Say you love me, say you love me Till the end of the world All or nothing, I give all of you I know I love you

jack is well aware of their differences. that perhaps maybe she's too good for him. that she's definitely someone way out of his league.

and those thoughts brought something lurking in the back of his mind. telling him to prep himself always when the time comes. when rapunzel sees him for who he is and leaves him in disappointment

he’d even tell himself that he wouldn’t blame her if ever she did

[Verse 2: Soobin, Taehyun, Yeonjun]

I'm not going to make it I won't be able to get into heaven I don't belong there No place for me in heaven At the tips of my feet Everything turned pitch black My life before you was trash Could never even light a single match Oh we

but god, he’d do anything for her.

if she asked him to, he’d write her name on the stars for everyone to see. he’d take every bit he can think of to change the tides of her life. he’d freeze everyone who’d go against her. he’d turn the world upside down for her if he has to.

but also, he’d bear himself open to her. he’d let her in his secret world that hasn’t seen light for years. he’d trust her with his delicate heart, something he made sure was kept hidden from everyone all the time.

just one word from her and he’d do it.

[Pre-Chorus: Beomgyu, Soobin, Taehyun] In this world of ice You're the only (one) shining glow Now I can't stop thinking 'bout you When I'm sinking alone But angel who somehow appeared to me Take me away to your hometown I know it's real, I can feel it

and rapunzel doesn’t know it. not yet at least. about how much she meant to him. their shared laughter. their light hearted banters. their friendship. their connection. everything

while jack teases her a lot to either mess with her or get a reaction from her, he adores her dearly. treasures her wholeheartedly. and maybe even he wasn’t aware of it at first. after all, it grew slowly, surely, dancing along with them in the wind

once he caught up with his heart, he knew without a doubt that it’s real and no one else can tell him otherwise

[Chorus: Huening Kai, Taehyun] I'm full of problems, love sick No way to go I was fine to die I'm a loser in this game The only (one) rule of this world Save me Take my hand Please use me like a drug (I know I love you)

jack rises with the moon. with a side hidden from the world. wearing a mask to show only what he wants to be shown. bottling things up and leaving them in the dark corners, wishing they’d go away. but they don’t

and rapunzel rises with the sun. bright and full of honesty. unafraid to face the world with her heart on her sleeves. running in full speed. reaching out for her dreams and not even thinking of giving up as a choice.

or at least that’s how he sees it. this poor boy who didn’t have as much confidence from the start

[Bridge: Soobin, Yeonjun] The hole in my soul begins to mend Frigid air starts to thaw In this world of zero I found warmth that's you Take all of me Girl, I need you

this alone

i don’t need to explain it

it screams jackunzel all over

[Chorus: Huening Kai, Taehyun] I'm full of problems, love sick (Oh) No way to go I was fine to die (Oh) I'm a loser in this game (Game) The only (one) rule of this world Save me Take my hand Please use me like a drug (I know I love you)

but while jack was caught up in all that

rapunzel. i can see her telling him that if she’s the sun who lights up his life full of zeros, then he’s her moon who brightens her life even in the darkest hours

that if he keeps bringing himself down, then she’ll slap him out of it

because they both matter

in their own ways

to each other and to everyone else

and she’d defend him with all her might against those who think otherwise

[Post-Chorus: Seori, Huening Kai, Taehyun] Say you love me, say you love me Till the end of the world (I love you) All or nothing, I want all of you I know I love you (You) Say you love me, say you love me Till the end of the world (Till the end of the world) All or nothing, I give all of you I know I love you

I JUST LOVE JACKUNZEL AND TXT LET ME HAVE THIS *SHAKES

[vinyls-and-valentines]

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Entertainment- Rise Against// Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys- My Chemical Romance

[Text description: 7 sets of lyrics from Entertainment by Rise Against side by side with various lyrics from Danger Days by My Chemical Romance.

1: Zero Percent

“All we are is entertainment caught up in our own derangement/ Tell us what to say and what to do” “Heartbreak, heartbeats/ Got the eyes on you/ And give us something to say/ 'Cause I got something to prove”

2: Vampire Money

“ All we are are pretty faces, picture perfect bottled rage/ Packaged, synthesized versions of you ” “ (Come on!) When you wanna be a movie star/ (Come on!) Play the game and take the band real far/ (Come on!) Play it right and drive a Volvo car/ (Come on!) Pick a fight at an airport bar”

3: We Don’t Need Another Song For California

“ We've all made petty fortunes but we can't afford a life/ Confined to pull out quotes in hotel rooms/ They all scream California and it's toppling empire/ But can't you see the end is coming soon?”

“ Occupations, the opportunity to see yourself in a light [Verse 1] And all the city fires/ And the tabloid lies/ And the television guys/ For the missions and the boulevards/ And the way it is when money's all you got [Pre-Chorus] Stop and stare/ At the accidents and stars that bore you/ We don’t dare to sing another song for California”

4: The Kids From Yesterday

“ Come one, come all, the new sensation guarantees then obligations/ Spotlights follow every single move/ Basking here on ten foot stages, pouty lips and oh so jaded/ All as if we have something to prove”

“ All the cameras watch the accidents and stars you hate/ They only care if you can bleed/ Does the television make you feel the pills you ate/ Or every person that you need to be?”

5: Party Poison

“ And if we cared at all about this unknown plight/ Then we'd do something more to finally make this right ” “ If we were all like you in the end/ Oh, we'd be killing ourselves by sleeping in/ So, hit the lights, I'll do it again”

6: Party Poison

“ Is this only entertainment? Pull the curtains, places please/ We've learned to sing and dance and cry on cue/ But this is more than entertainment in a world so sick with pain/ This is the only thing that's real or true”

“ This ain't a party, get off the dance floor/ You want the get down, here comes the gang war/ You're doing alright, I got the answer/ Cause all the good times, give me, give me good times/ People, tonight! This ain't a party, get off the dance floor/ You want to get down, here comes the encore”

7: Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back

“ We've all made petty fortunes but we can't afford a life/ Confined to pull out quotes in hotel rooms/ They all scream bloody murder over graves already dug/ But can't you see the end!?”

“ I'll tell you all how the story ends/ Where the good guys die and the bad guys win/ Who cares? This ain't about all the friends you made/ But the graffiti they write on your grave”

/End description.]

[neuxue]

Wheel of Time liveblogging: Towers of Midnight ch 3

I have been waiting for this reunion for literal years. It did not disappoint.

Chapter 3: The Amyrlin’s Anger

Oh, we’re doing this!?

One thing I can guarantee: I am definitely not ready. Childhood friends turned childhood sweethearts turned near-siblings turned uneasy allies turned near-enemies, perhaps turned uneasy allies once more, with prophecy and opposing institutions and the apocalypse hanging over them?

I’m just. In case you haven’t noticed, I have a lot of thoughts about this whole dynamic, and I have been waiting for this… probably since they last saw each other in Lord of Chaos. Before that, even. Since they were set on their separate paths, but with this thread, strained and near at times to breaking but a thread all the same, of some kind of love between them that might, in the end, be enough to do what their predecessors could not, and face the end together.

Also their stories have been running in this fascinating not-quite-parallel for so long but they haven’t interacted in so long that I’m just! Very excited for this reunion and the pain it will no doubt bring!

I should start reading now, shouldn’t I?

Egwene floated in blackness. She was without form, lacking shape or body. The thoughts, imaginings, worries, hopes, and ideas of all the world extended into eternity around her.

The imagery of that last bit catches my attention here because it plays very close to the position Rand holds: stood at the centre, a force, or a being more than a person, touching all the world or – in Egwene’s case – all the world’s dreams. It’s just an interesting one, in amongst all the other parallels and inversions between them.

Though her feelings for Gawyn were still strong, her opinion of him was muddled recently.

Just break up with him already. Please. You’ve already once decided that actually no, I don’t want a storybook romance with the designated hero thank you very much; you can do it again.

The dreams of all the people here – some from her world, some from shadows of it – reminded her why she fought. She must never forget that there was an entire world outside the White Tower’s walls.

This is her anchor, just as Rand has now at last found his. Or, not even an anchor so much as a reason. Something to fight for, something to remember and strive for beyond the fight itself. And again this places her very much at the centre as well, looking at all the people, all the dreams, the entire world. They just each have their own ways of going about it, and their own reasons for doing so.

Time passed as she lay bathed in the light of dreams.

Just quoting this one because it’s pretty.

It’s sad to see Egwene thinking of the Wise Ones in terms of ‘dealing with’ them, but also not really surprising; there’s been a distance between them ever since she took on this role. They hid the events of Dumai’s Wells from her and she chose the Aes Sedai over them and it is, perhaps, one of the harsher aspects of the way she absolutely embraces her role, the good and the bad.

Ugh, fine, dream of Gawyn if you must.

A more simple life. It could not be hers, but she could dream…

Everything shook.

Or not. I’m just imagining this as the Pattern itself interrupting like ‘EGWENE, PLEASE. YOU CAN DO SO MUCH BETTER THAN HIM.’

(Yes, the Pattern speaks in all caps. No I will not be accepting constructive criticism on this point).

This pleasant dream interrupted by an emergency broadcast: thirteen black towers rising and then all but six falling. In case you weren’t keeping track of how many Forsaken were still alive, I suppose.

And then a follow-up as a reminder, I assume, that Mesaana is still in the Tower.

Unless the eagles-and-snake bit is referring to the Black Tower? Still no idea what’s going on there these days; it’s been a while and I’m very, very curious after that ominous line drop in the KoD epilogue.

She saw an enormous sphere made of the finest crystal. It sparkled in the light of twenty-three enormous stars, shining down on it where it sat on a dark hilltop. There were cracks in it, and it was being held together by ropes.

There was Rand, walking up the hillside, holding a woodsman’s axe. He reached the top and hefted the axe, then swung at the ropes one at a time, chopping them free. The last one parted, and the sphere began to break apart, the beautiful white globe falling in pieces. Rand shook his head.

Innnnnnnnnteresting.

The sphere (and its breaking) sounds – first of all a lot like the Sharom because what, you thought I’d pass up a Rhuidean reference? – like the Dark One’s prison, perhaps. With Rand cutting the ropes like breaking the seals.

Or maybe the Choedan Kal, with all the brilliant light of that enormous power, that he has now broken. Or the world itself, I suppose. I’m going with the Dark One’s prison here, probably.

But what are the twenty-three stars?

Thirteens are common, you can’t swing a cat in this series without hitting a duality, threes and sevens crop up on occasion… but what the hell numbers twenty-three? Except for the graves Bashere once had to dig for oak trees on the orders of the mad general he served, but while there may be no such thing as coincidence, that’s a bridge too far even for me.

Nations? Okay now I’m just curious if I can name them all, so… in the wetlands we have: Altara, Amadicia, Andor, Arafel, Cairhien, Far Madding, Ghealdan, Illian, Kandor, Mayene, Murandy, Saldaea, Shienar, Tar Valon, Tear. Then the Aiel, or: Chareen, Codarra, Daryne, Goshien, Jenn (?), Miagoma, Nakai, Reyn, Shaarad, Shaido (?), Shiande, Taardad, Tomanelle. Then Seanchan and Shara on the edges, the Atha’an Miere and the Tuatha’an, and the dead nations of Malkier, Manetheren, and the Amayar. The Ogier. The even-more-dead nations like Almoth and Eharon and whatnot. But even playing with the obvious ones like how to count the Aiel, or the dead nations, or the city-states, there’s not an obvious 23.

The Hall of the Tower maybe? Three Sitters from each Ajah is 21, so with Amyrlin and Keeper we’re at a much cleaner 23, and there is the whole ‘Watcher of the Seals’ element of the Amyrlin’s role, so twenty-three stars watching could make sense.

Or, hell I don’t know, maybe there are 23 verses in the Karaethon Cycle. Meh.

Well, Egwene’s focused on the Mesaana implications (rather than the Messiah implications; I crack myself up sometimes), which seems fair enough.

“He’s here, Mother. At the White Tower.”

“Who?”

“The Dragon Reborn. He’s asking to see you.”

HERE! WE! GO!

Because you know what this means? It means, once again, that we’re going to get outsider POV of Rand, after a crucial turning point in his character.

Twice. Because first, we got it via Almen Bunt, effectively a random character. We got to see a ‘first glimpse’ of Rand, as it were. But now we get to see through the eyes of one who knows him – or rather, one who knew him. One like him in some ways and so very different in others. An opposing role who once was a friend. There’s just so many potential layers there, through which to observe, and I am inordinately excited for this.

*

Though okay right as I say that we shift POV to Siuan, so I may be pre-empting this.

That said, it’s either going to be some form of outsider POV or it’s going to be Rand’s POV and either way I’m going to be on the damn floor so it’s a win-win situation here.

The Dragon Reborn? Inside Tar Valon?

I mean technically that was the goal all the way back in EotW, so you could argue that he just took a really, really long detour. Across the entire continent, a past life, and near-destruction of the world, but… details.

“He was at the Sunset Gate”

How appropriate. Is there perhaps a Wind Tower for him to climb?

“What is his game, do you think?” Saerin asked.

“Burn me if I know,” Siuan replied. “He’s bound to be mostly insane by now. Maybe he’s frightened, and has come to turn himself in.”

“I doubt that.”

“As do I.”

Harsh, Siuan. But not entirely unfounded – at least on the mostly insane part. He’s not, but first of all how would she know that and second of all, if this were a few days earlier, that would be a much harder one to argue. (For the record, my own interpretation of Rand’s sanity or lack thereof before Dragonmount is a strong vote in favour if It’s Complicated).

Of, course, then there’s the whole issue of ‘how long can you stay sane when the entire world is waiting for you to go mad’ but that is, perhaps, a moot point now.

“Maybe he heard that Elaida was gone,” Siuan said, “and thought that he would be safe here, with an old friend on the Amyrlin Seat.”

Oh no this already hurts. Honestly I think any reference to Rand and Egwene as old friends is probably going to, at this point, but also the way Siuan goes to this idea of Rand needing a place of safety. A refuge. Because in so many ways, for a very long time, she wouldn’t even have been wrong. It’s just that it wasn’t an option and there was no such place and the Dragon Reborn couldn’t afford that kind of weakness, and anyway he was never looking for safety for himself; it was keeping others safe from him that he wanted, back when he was just a shepherd boy holding himself together with determination and fragments of Warder instruction against power(s) trying to claim him from within and without.

But Siuan is remembering that boy, and I’m also remembering Rand in the early days at the Stone of Tear, trying so earnestly to let Elayne and Egwene help him with saidin, and how that, from a certain perspective, is not really so different from trying to find some safety in friends.

“Reports call him mistrustful and erratic, with a demanding temper and an insistence on avoiding Aes Sedai.”

I mean, up until – what, a day ago at most? That would be not at all inaccurate. Especially from the outside.

Really I think this whole scene with Siuan and Saerin is largely to remind us of how Rand comes across to the rest of the world. Because the thing about that Dragonmount epiphany – a crucial part of it, but one that is likely going to also result in some complications – is that it was unwitnessed. Just Rand, alone, thinking. And if the cleansing of saidin was difficult to believe by those not directly involved (and even by some of those who were), how much harder will this be, in its own way?

And just to set the scene even more ominously as far as anyone but the reader is concerned, the floor tiles are now the colour (and sheen, and probably texture, and very possibly actual chemical composition) of blood.

It is interesting to contrast the feeling of approaching this meeting to how it felt in the buildup to Rand’s meeting with Tuon last book. That was just full to the brim of impending doom, of ‘there is no possible way under the sun that this will end well’, of ‘oh no, how disastrously is this going to go?’ because at that point Rand was in freefall and the only certainty was disaster. Now, there’s a sense of lightness in approaching this meeting. I mean, I’m still quite sure it’ll hurt me, but the actual tension is different. It feels like waiting for catharsis, almost, rather than waiting for catastrophe.

So hey, maybe we just look at that meeting with Tuon as a practice run for Rand in terms of how to negotiate treaties with a woman who controls a decent part of a continent. If nothing else, it set the bar about as low as it could possibly be, so this can only be an improvement!

Siuan had harboured a small hope that she herself would be chosen [as Keeper]. Now Egwene had so many demands on her time – and was becoming so capable on her own – that she was relying on Siuan less and less.

That was a good thing. But it was also infuriating.

Oh, Siuan. Siuan’s thoughts about her position in the Tower and how it has changed are always a little sad to read. She’s so strong that it’s easy, almost, to forget just how much she’s gone through – and she can’t even just put it behind her and move on because she’s surrounded, every single day, by constant reminders of all she has lost and all that has changed. And even so, we only get these occasional moments of sadness or bitterness or frustration from her. The rest of the time she just… keeps going.

She wanted to do what she’d set out to do, all those years before with Moiraine.

It really is kind of incredible dedication to a cause. Even if ‘shepherding’ the Dragon Reborn is perhaps not really what is needed, she has paved so much of the way, and even from the sidelines has been instrumental, and this has been more or less her entire adult life. A thankless and often punishing task, one that has gone and will likely continue to go largely unacknowledged, one that has brought her hatred and suspicion and pain, and yet she does not question it, does not falter.

It's… I guess in a way it comes back to the whole idea of those who choose vs those who are chosen, but I like the way we see these characters who aren’t the Chosen One but who still give everything they are, and everything they have, to this world and this cause. Some because they must and some because they choose to and some for reasons in between but it’s again this sense that while Rand stands at the centre of it, there are all these other stories and sacrifices and triumphs and tragedies spiralling out from that centre, all weaving together into this pattern. Or Pattern, as it were.

Also, I would like to strongly second the ‘with Moiraine’ part of that sentence. Can we have her back yet please? I’ve been good, I promise!

Bryne’s here too, which means I also get to reminisce about the first (and last) time he met Rand, even before Siuan did, but another scene of Rand as little more than a shepherd, uncertain and afraid and getting by on determination alone and yet, as with his meeting with Siuan, still surprising those around him by being just a little more than expected.

(As for Rand’s first meeting with Egwene, we have no textual evidence but given their ages it probably involved eating mud).

“You came faster than I’d assumed you’d be able to,” she said.

That is, quite literally, what she said. I’m sorry, I’m twelve.

“She’s what we need now,” Bryne said, “but you’re what we needed then. You did well, Siuan.”

YOU DID WELL

I’m sorry, Moiraine’s letter to Rand really just loaded all variants of that phrase quite heavily and it’s not Moiraine saying it to Siuan but it may as well be, and to have anyone looking at all she has done and all she has been through, looking at someone most Aes Sedai now dismiss as inconsequential at best and to blame for their problems at worst, and actually seeing everything she’s achieved and everything she’s sacrificed and to just acknowledge it outright is… such a small phrase but it means so much. Because how many others would say that? How many others could? So few even know what she’s done and why and for how long. Egwene, maybe, but Egwene is still in some ways her protégé and so not really in a position to give that kind of praise. Moiraine, but she’s still… on holiday. And that’s really kind of it.

There’s a reason these kinds of tasks are called thankless.

“He’s standing below, watched over by at least a hundred Warders and twenty-six sisters – two full circles. Undoubtedly he’s shielded”

My first thought was ‘good thing this is Rand after Dragonmount otherwise I don’t think there’d be a Tower right now’, but then, Rand before Dragonmount would probably quite literally not have been caught dead within balefire distance of the White Tower.

Whereas now… what a stark difference this highlights in his entire mindset and character. Once, the possibility of thirteen Aes Sedai sent him away from a city he was holding, tense and desperate and furious. Once, being shielded was – well, I believe the direct quote was ‘Lews Therin fled screaming’. Once, Aes Sedai so much as touching the One Power in his presence without his permission was like dancing on a minefield.

Now… he stands calmly, shielded and within the Tower itself, the stronghold of the Aes Sedai, of his own free will (and that’s it, isn’t it; that’s what truly makes all the difference in so many ways).

Also a bit of a random comparison but I can’t help but be reminded of Taim walking into Caemlyn to claim Rand’s amnesty, guarded and distrusted and hated by pretty much everyone around him and yet appearing, himself, all but unaffected by it.

“Well, what did he look like, then?”

“Honestly, Siuan? He looked like an Aes Sedai.”

Well. Lews Therin was. In an even older sense of the title.

And if we’re looking at the title itself, and its meaning… servant of all is sort of in the job description of a messiah figure, in a way.

I like how we’re reminded that, because of her Talent for seeing ta’veren, Rand literally glows to Siuan’s eyes. Which means the Dragon Reborn, the chosen one, the saviour, having now fully embraced his role, is walking into the Tower literally haloed in light. There’s just a tiny bit of religious symbolism here, is what I’m getting at.

I also – for all that I’m still hoping for a glimpse of Rand through Egwene’s eyes – am very very happy with the choice to show this through Siuan’s POV. Because in so many ways it is a reflection of that scene in TGH where he is summoned to the Amyrlin, and she gets her first look at the boy who will be the Dragon but does not yet know it, and tells him what his role will be, and he surprises her in his stubbornness and strength but still does not truly accept what she says.

Now, we get the Dragon Reborn calling for an audience with the Amyrlin, having finally and truly embraced the full reality of that role. The first was, in a way, to set his path. This, then, feels almost like closing it. And in between those bookends was that long, fraught journey towards acceptance.

Me? Obsessed with symmetry and reflection in a narrative? Never.

She froze as he met her eyes. There was something indefinable about them, a weight, an age. As though the man behind them was seeing through the light of a thousand lives compounded into one. His face did look like that of an Aes Sedai. Those eyes, at least, had agelessness.

This is one of the things I just absolutely love about outsider POV: the way it allows you to almost re-experience the full weight of what you already know. To be able to almost… soft-reset, and then open your eyes and have the impact of it all over again. None of this is news, really, to a reader who has seen Rand atop Dragonmount, or even in the first chapter of this book. But we get it again anyway, because for one thing it’s fun and for another it just serves to highlight what he looks like to one who does not have the privilege of being in his head (not that that’s… a particularly exclusive list these days, but that’s beside the point).

And it’s also interesting how this doesn’t humanise Rand in the perception of others – he’s still very much in the position of being seen more as a force of nature than a person – but the tone and the effect are so very different to before, for instance when he was lost or in pain or just desperate (or all of the above) and yet perceived as arrogant, inhuman, even monstrous. There’s still this sense of… not being seen as just a person, being seen more in the heroic lines and angles of power and weight of legend, but the difference, I think, is that Rand himself accepts it now. It is now a part of who he is, and a part of him he accepts, and embraces, and steps willingly into.

It also gives him some rather extraordinary weight of personality so making his way through a crowd of Warders is a piece of cake. See, sometimes being the chosen one has its benefits.

“And Siuan Sanche. You’ve changed since we last met.”

Oh. Okay yeah the fact that we get him saying this to her, rather than the other way around, is a really, really excellent way of just subtly shifting the entire balance of power – not even quite power; something else I can’t think of a good word for – of the scene.

It's the way it takes the way this scene is so neatly set up to be a bookend of that first meeting between them, and just… flips the obvious line on its axis. It’s still there, we’re still on script, but it’s ever so slightly not what you expect, and that difference itself becomes the point. Because Rand is no longer the object of the scene; he is very much its subject. The assignment of agency and proactivity has shifted (he has chosen, now, rather than been chosen; a semantic shift that makes perhaps literally all the difference in the world), and this is just a really cool way to play with that.

If that made any sense.

“You once took an arrow for me. Did I thank you for that?”

This… this gentleness is absolutely killing me and we’re only a few lines into his actual appearance in this chapter. The way it’s no longer forced, or agonised, or desperate, or serving only as a sharp contrast to either anger or apathy to remind you of who he once was. Instead it’s just… there. Without brittleness or the aching sense of something lost. There’s just a weird kind of beauty in the simplicity of this, in how it’s just… him, without any of the hundred things waiting to shatter beneath that statement.

Maybe that’s it; the gentleness that doesn’t feel like the precursor to shattering glass. The way this isn’t a veiled threat, or a barb, or a forced admission, or a conversational gambit. Just thanks, remembered honestly and offered freely and that’s… it.

(Moiraine once took a Forsaken for you, Rand. Be sure to thank her for that too).

Anyway, Siuan sings Egwene’s praises as Amyrlin, of course, and apparently everything Rand says or does in this chapter is going to just get me because:

He smiled again. “I should have expected nothing less. Strange, but I feel that seeing her again will hurt, though that is one wound that has well and truly healed. I can still remember the pain of it, I suppose.”

Again it’s just the gentleness that pervades all of this, where once there was turmoil and pain and a rage in him fit to burn the world, or else terrifying coldness and absence and a distant voice screaming. It’s like everything has finally fallen silent and only then do you realise how loud everything was before, and how maddening. Just… Rand being able to smile simply, and feel and express emotions in the normal human range.

And that sense of… wonder, almost, that you get from him at that fact. It’s—there is very much a rebirth kind of feel to a lot of this, because a part of it is that Rand is very, very aware of where he has just come from and where he stands now. That’s the whole point: to get to this, he had to choose it and realise it and open his eyes, I suppose. And so now he’s seeing everything through that new filter (or perhaps without the noise of the old one) and there’s a kind of beautiful simplicity and something like but also entirely unlike innocence to it.

Tiana has a letter for him with a red seal… one of Verin’s, maybe? If so, Rand sure has a track record with Aes Sedai and letters left to him. She did have several, when we saw her with Mat… and I struggle to think of who else would have left one. Cadsuane, maybe?

“Do your best to calm Egwene when I am done,” he said to Siuan. Then he took a deep breath and strode forward

CHILDREN. ALL OF THEM. That, right there, for probably the first time this book, is absolutely 100% a glimpse of Rand al’Thor, Woolheaded Sheepherder, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Wise, gentle, reconciled to his role, remembering his past life and accepting who he is… and still taking a deep breath and making contingency plans before going to a stubborn-off with his former childhood sweetheart. I’m laughing.

*

OH IT’S EGWENE, WE DO GET TO SEE THIS IN EGWENE’S POV, YES THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANTED.

This was not Rand al’Thor, friend of her childhood, the man she’d assumed she’d one day marry.

Oh no, just start right out with a gut-punch why don’t you. No, Egwene, he is.

Except… he also isn’t, and that’s the sad part. But if this is to work, I still think that’s going to be the key: that they know—knew—each other as people. Except now Egwene is deliberately telling herself not to do that, and while it’s understandable it’s… that way lies the end of the Second Age.

No. This man was the Dragon Reborn. The most dangerous man ever to draw breath.

This hurts me in exactly the way I was hoping it would.

Just as Rand has finally accepted himself, and in some ways come back to himself (not quite, because you can’t go back you can only go forwards as the Wheel of Time turns, but he’s no longer forcing everything about who he was away), Egwene is forcing herself to see him as anything but that. As just the Dragon Reborn, legend and monster and saviour and destroyer. It’s a perfect mis-alignment of timings.

(Egwene is steeling herself, just as Rand has finally stopped trying to become steel).

“Egwene,” Rand said

IT’S! ABOUT! THE NAMES!

She’s thinking of him, emphatically, as the Dragon Reborn… but the dialogue tag betrays her. We are in her POV and as soon as he speaks, he is Rand.

And the first word he says is her name. Not ‘Mother’ or ‘Amyrlin’, not the opening of some request or demand. Just… ‘Egwene’.

He is the Dragon Reborn, come to see the Amyrlin—he asked for the Amyrlin—and she is the Amyrlin steeling herself to face the Dragon Reborn and yet in the first moment, when that silence of waiting is broken, they are Rand and Egwene and—

I just. Maybe I’m reading too much into this but it’s perfect and it hurts and I love it.

(Names are important).

He nodded to her, as if in respect. “You have done your part, I see. The Amyrlin’s stole fits you well.”

WHY DOES THIS HURT ME? WHY AM I EXPERIENCING AN EMOTION?

They’ve both just come so far and through so much and they hardly even know one another anymore, and there’s this almost-but-not-quite uncertainty and almost-but-not-quite familiarity, and yet it feels not like the anticipation before an ‘everything goes wrong’ moment but instead the anticipation of… maybe, finally, finding their way back to something? Or forwards, I suppose. It’s like the tentative formality of meeting someone for the first time in years, unsure of them and of yourself and of everything that’s happened in the interim but there’s something weirdly hopeful about it.

Maybe I’m just so used to liveblogging pain that I don’t know what to do with myself when it’s not there, except in echoes and memories and all the space that has grown between them, but this is like… a hand offered across that intervening space.

From what she had heard of Rand recently, she had not anticipated such calm in him.

I mean. That’s… fair.

Well, or she might have been led to anticipate a very different kind of calm. The calm of ice or cuendillar that could in an instant become, you know, balefiring an entire fortress out of existence.

Maybe save your musings on whether or not he’s a criminal for whatever passes as a Geneva Convention in this world, Egwene. We don’t have time to unpack all of that right now.

“What has happened to you?” she found herself asking as she leaned forward on the Amyrlin Seat.

“I was broken,” Rand said, hands behind his back. “And then, remarkably, I was reforged. I think he almost had me, Egwene.”

HELP.

THIS IS JUST.

I… wow. What do I even do with this?

Just as the first word out of his mouth was her name, and her first thought of him was as Rand… now, despite sitting on the Amyrlin Seat—which we are quite literally reminded of here, and I don’t think that’s accidental—her first words are… call it concern, call it curiosity, call it demand, call it accusation even, but that’s not Amyrlin to Dragon Reborn there. That’s not the opening of negotiations or a summons or a meeting. That’s Egwene, looking at Rand. It’s like Nynaeve in TFoH reaching for him almost instinctively and saying ‘at least let me Heal you’.

And then Rand’s response!

‘I was broken’. Such a simple statement for so, so much more. And yet… that’s what it is. It’s the simplicity, again, that gets me. The simplicity and the self-awareness and the way he can look at it now, with that sense of removal, but this time not because he’s walled himself off from the pain; instead, he lets himself feel it but he has accepted its reason and its source and its necessity. He’s no longer fighting against himself, and that lets him bear so much more, because so much of that pain came from that battle against himself, and from the fear of what he might become.

He spent so long trying to forge himself into steel, but in the end that’s not the reforging he needed. And now he knows that, and sees it, and there’s just something about a character who can stand on the far side of their own breaking and their own agony and speak of it calmly, whole.

It's just an entire situation I’m having here.

And that last bit. ‘I think he almost had me’. The memory of ‘it is HIM’. And the fact that Rand can see that too, now; can see how close he came to the Shadow without ever turning from the Light, and understand that nuance.

But also… there is still one very glaring loose end there: Rand has used the True Power. Sure, he doesn’t seem particularly… uh… compromised by that at this point, but I still just cannot imagine that won’t be brought back in some way.

He spoke differently. There was a formality to his words that she didn’t recognise.

And then it’s lines like this that keep this scene from being… to perfect? Not in terms of execution, but in terms of ‘things going well and painlessly for characters’. Because there is still a sadness to this, to Rand and Egwene looking at one another (and naming one another!) and seeing the person behind the role, and looking for the person they knew, and yet also still seeing elements of a stranger.

Because they have changed. Neither of them is at all the child they were when they left Emond’s Field, and there is so much between them now, and that connection they have is worn and thinned and this isn’t a joyful reunion. There’s catharsis here, and a tentative possibility of peace or friendship, but there’s also this recognition, each to each, of how much of what used to be is now gone. They’ve both been hardened and shaped by their experiences and they both know it and recognise it in each other—perhaps in part because they both also very clearly by this point recognise it in themselves.

“Why have you come before the Amyrlin Seat?” she asked.

And now we get the opening of Amyrlin-to-Dragon. But that’s not where we began. We began with Rand and Egwene, and I’ll shut up about it in a minute but this whole play of naming and identity is one of those little things that gets me pretty much every time it turns up in a story.

“I’ve hated you before,” Rand said, turning back to Egwene.

I’M FINE! THIS IS FINE!

Yes I am quoting pretty much every line of dialogue in this scene but LISTEN, IT HURTS ME.

The thing is, this is a statement utterly without malice. It’s not a threat or an insult—not even the childish sort of insult they might have exchanged last time they met. It’s… really, the only word that comes to mind is a confession.

Which plays into one of the features of Rand’s character that stands out so far in the brief moments we’ve seen him in this book: genuine self-knowledge, and self-knowledge that he fully accepts. There is no longer any remnant of denial.

And that allows him to make statements like this and have them come across as, weirdly, almost benevolent. Nothing he has said is said with the intent to deceive, or to wound, or even really to manipulate. It’s just truth—and truth that he himself fully understands and accepts now.

So he’s not fighting against her out of fear of being caught up in Aes Sedai strings, just as he’s not fighting against Lews Therin’s memories out of fear of being caught up in Kinslayer’s fate. Instead of fighting against everything up to and including himself, he’s just… him.

“It occurs to me that I’ve been trying too hard.”

That’s exactly it. He’s been fighting, when in some ways what he needed was to learn how (and where, and when) to surrender. Though even ‘surrender’ connotes a struggle or a conflict, and I think a lot of this realisation is that it’s not about fighting or forcing or struggling; it’s about accepting, and guiding, and leading. And choosing, of course.

“A fear that the acts I accomplished would be yours, and not my own.” He hesitated. “I should have wished for such a convenient set of backs upon which to heap the blame for my crimes.”

Wow. Okay, that’s… a line.

Um.

Damn.

It’s almost ironic, the way he instead tried to heap all the responsibility on himself and take all that blame and pain, and let it damn him and in doing so tried to pretend it freed him to act as he needed, no longer held back by such trivial concerns as humanity and his own conscience or sense of redeemability. But ultimately it came down to the same thing, in a way: an inability to accept what he was doing, and so trying to find a place to put all that pain.

(Or, as Lews Therin once advised, ‘If it hurts too much, make it hurt someone else instead’).

But now he sees that, too, and so instead of trying to escape the pain or treat it as ‘I’m damned either way so may as well burn it all’, he understands his responsibility but in a more… balanced way, I suppose.

The Dragon Reborn had come to the White Tower to engage in idle philosophy

Moridin? That you?

I do sort of wonder, because I’m me, what impact, if any, Rand’s epiphany might (or could; I don’t really expect the story to go there, much as I might wish it to) have on Moridin, given the link they share.

“Rand,” Egwene said, softening her tone.

And now we get the reflection of the names from the opening of this conversation! It’s about the names! It’s about the dialogue tags! It’s about identity and perception and that thread of friendship that still binds them and might in the end be enough to save them from their predecessors’ fate!

“I’m going to have some sisters talk to you to decide if there is anything… wrong with you. Please try to understand.”

I mean you could not have phrased that less tactfully if you tried, Egwene, but it is kind of understandable. We may know full well that there’s less wrong with Rand now than there has been at pretty much any point since the start of the series, but how in the Light would anyone else be able to be sure of that? He’s certainly not acting like the Rand Egwene once knew, or even the Rand she last saw. Nor is he behaving like the Rand from whatever reports she’s received.

And yes, while I think the world waiting and watching for him to go mad hurt far more than it helped, there’s also the fact that that is what everyone and their mother expects—because up until what, a few months ago, that was inevitable.

So then in walks the Dragon Reborn, acting like… well, this, and what else are you going to do? A bit like the cleansing of saidin, as a reader you want all the other characters to just take it on faith, but the rather sad irony of Rand’s position is that his own word is the one no one is entirely sure they can trust. And the only one here who can vouch for him is himself. Elayne or Aviendha or Min might be able to, but none of them is nearby, and also that bond’s been kept pretty quiet.

So anyway. Yeah, I can see where she’s coming from on that.

To his credit, so can Rand.

“Oh, I do understand, Egwene. And I am sorry to deny you, but I have too much to do.”

There’s the woolheaded sheepherder again. He’s smiling here, and I am quite sure this is a bit of the old Rand dropping by to say hello and needle Egwene just a bit, because that’s what they do.

“A friend rides to his death without allies.”

HE NAMED YOU FRIEND. AND NOW YOU REMEMBER HIM. THIS IS FINE I’M FINE EVERYTHING’S FINE.

“This is the part I regret. I did not wish to come into your centre of power, which you have achieved so well, and defy you. But it cannot be helped. You must know what my plans are so that you can prepare.”

To be able to say that without so much as the hit of a threat in it is… quite a power move, I have to say. Because even here, I think he’s still just being absolutely and even benevolently honest. He doesn’t want to undermine her. He doesn’t even really want to challenge her. He understands where she’s coming from – which itself puts us so, so far from where he was just days ago, that he can meet her uncertainty and suspicion and say ‘okay yeah, that’s fair’.

And if he had time, I wonder if he might actually agree to that particular request.

But he doesn’t have time. Which brings us to the other extraordinary part of this statement: willingly offering up communication. Just. Straight up saying ‘you need to know my plans’. Mark this date in your calendars, friends: a Wheel of Time character just offered, unprompted, voluntarily, to share their plans with another character, so that they can prepare.

I am astonished.

“The last time I tried to seal the Bore”

You know, just the other day.

“I believe that saidin and saidar must both be used.”

I think he’s absolutely right there—it’s a part of what I love about Rand and Egwene, childhood friends for all that they’ve grown apart, holding the roles that they do; the idea that this bond between them, strained as it is, could allow them to do what Lews Therin and Latra Posae could not—but I also… he shall hold a blade of light in his hands, and the three shall be one. I just… wonder.

Egwene leaned forward, studying him. There didn’t seem to be madness in his eyes. She knew those eyes. She knew Rand.

YES!

THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANTED! That she sees him. Looks past the Dragon Reborn, past her role as Amyrlin, and for a moment she is just Egwene looking at Rand and it is by nature such a simple thing—stripping away everything but that simple identity—but it’s also the thing that can give them a chance to do it differently this time. This chance of understanding, this one small thing that could tip them towards cooperation and trust rather than letting them turn away from each other or fall apart.

Light, she thought, I’m wrong. I can’t think of him only as the Dragon Reborn. I’m here for a reason. He’s here for a reason. To me, he must be Rand. Because Rand can be trusted, while the Dragon Reborn must be feared.

Maybe it’s very Sanderson to have this stated outright, but I’m not even going to complain, because it’s… perfect. To allow, in the end, trust and friendship and who they are rather than purely what they are come into it as well, even just in some small way, to bridge that gap. It’s what Lews Therin and Latra Posae couldn’t do, but Rand and Egwene have a chance to try again.

I just… have been spinning around on this EXACT CONCEPT for, I don’t know, several books now, and to see it playing out so plainly here is everything I want and I am never going to be okay again in my life.

“Which are you?” she whispered unconsciously.

He heard. “I am both, Egwene. I remember him. Lews Therin. I can see his entire life, every desperate moment. I see it like a dream, but a clear dream. My own dream. It’s part of me.”

It’s a nice touch, that he speaks of it as a dream, to the one who understands dreams so well.

It’s also just a lot, to have gone from ‘so many parts of him, mind splintered in glittering shards, all of them screaming’ to ‘sorrows and his own suicide’ to a clear dream he accepts as a part of himself. The pain and desperation of it are still there, but he’s no longer fighting them, because he no longer sees it as something he’s bound to. It’s just a part of who he is, but it doesn’t have to define what he will be.

I also like this because Egwene was one of the first to notice him speaking to a voice in his mind. And now she gets this, just an honest and accepting response. It seems fitting, somehow.

The words were those of a madman, but they were spoken evenly. She looked at him, and remembered the youth that he had been. The earnest young man. Not solemn like Perrin, but not wild like Mat. Solid, straightforward. The type of man you could trust with anything.

Even the fate of the world.

THAT’S IT THAT’S IT RIGHT THERE. If they did not know each other, this could be an impasse. Not as disastrous as Rand’s meeting with Tuon, perhaps, because he’s a little… uh… less omnicidal at this particular moment, but likely just as unsuccessful. An Amyrlin who could not trust the Dragon, and a Dragon who could not afford to give her the assurances she needed, and so two powers working in parallel but separately, almost in opposition.

But she knows him. And it’s the youth he had been—it is LITERALLY THE MEMORY OF A SHEPHERD NAMED RAND AL’THOR, the echo of one of my favourite quotes—that tips the balance the other way this time.

It’s Rand. The boy he tried for so long to destroy, because to be him hurt too much.

And I also really love how it isn’t about some Grand True Love between them that does it. They were childhood sweethearts, sure, but the love between them is that of friends, of a shared childhood, of something very much like family. And I like that there’s this implicit importance and weight placed on that; that in its way it’s as crucial to this moment as the ‘veins of gold’ were on Dragonmount

This is what Latra Posae and Lews Therin had. And so instead it falls to Egwene and Rand, to learn from their mistakes, and do what they could not. It is what Rand realised on Dragonmount, and what he is playing out now. A chance to try again.

And it’s because he’s Rand that that’s possible. It’s not Lews Therin, or the Dragon Reborn (but it is also both of those, because he is both of those).

“In one month’s time,” Rand said, “I’m going to travel to Shayol Ghul and break the last remaining seals on the Dark One’s prison. I want your help.”

Well. I mean. Okay. Points for honest and straightforward communication, I suppose. I love that he just walks into the Tower and drops this on her like a grenade, though. It amuses me.

Ah, so she thinks the crystal sphere in her dream represents the seals or the prison as well.

“Rand, no”

Rand: Rand yes!

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

“I’m going to need you, all of you”

Rand openly admitting to needing anyone or anything, and again just as a statement rather than a threat or an angry demand, is another thing that’s new and kind of refreshing.

“I hope to the Light that this time, you will give me your support.”

Rand to Egwene, remembering Lews Therin to Latra Posae. And if everyone is someone reborn, who’s to say she isn’t? (I’m not… really sure whether I’d want that to be true or not, so I suppose it’s nice that it’s not stated one way or the other, at least up to this point. But it could be a fun one to play with). Either way, those very much are the roles they’re echoing, and I swear I’ll shut up about this but I still just love how, so closely following Rand’s realisation on Dragonmount, we get to actually watch that kind of chance-to-try-again play out. A chance to work together, rather than apart.

“And then… well, then we will discuss my terms.”

Ah well, I suppose it was too much to hope for him to communicate the whole plan right now. Baby steps and all that.

Also, you know, narrative choices and the need to keep at least something back.

“Your terms?” Egwene demanded. “You will see,” he said, turning as if to leave.

So… the way it’s framed puts us into very slightly antagonistic (and much more familiar) territory of lack of communication and demands and terms.

But I wonder what terms he’s referring to, because there is a nonzero probability that he’s talking about Callandor here. In which case, it’s not entirely impossible that the terms he’s referring to are, in effect, those of his own surrender.

I could be wrong. I very probably am. But it’s… an interesting possibility to consider. And it would be kind of fitting, in a way, for that to be the uncommunicated and therefore misunderstood thing here.

Turns out ‘the Amyrlin’s Anger’ is Egwene just shouting at her childhood friend ‘don’t you turn your back on me when I’m talking to you, Rand al’Thor’ and Rand turning back like a boy who tracked mud into the house. I love them, I really do.

“We must talk about this,” she said. “Plan.”

“That is why I came to you. To let you plan.”

He seemed amused.

Oh, he’s absolutely amused. Part of him still is the boy you knew, and this is honestly just classic Rand-and-Egwene, for all that it’s also on an entirely different level. They antagonise one another: it’s what they do. But I don’t think there’s true anger here, on either side. And again, that is what could save them. That ‘anger’ between them is… this, rather than that snapping of tension and dropping of any possibility of a truce and turning immediately to planning their next moves, all thought of alliance or restraint over, between Rand and Tuon.

Anyway. The other thing here is that… it’s easy to be exasperated with Egwene, because just listen to Rand, he’s sane now damn it, and he’s almost certainly right about the seals.

But honestly? In her position? Knowing what she knows—and not knowing all the things she doesn’t know, like the actual state of Rand’s mind—it’s hard to fault her for pushing back on this. He walks in, says he’s fine and that he remembers a dead man’s entire life and also that they need to break the prison of the embodiment of entropy and chaos and evil, okay bye!

Like. As Amyrlin, it’s her job to say ‘okay, right, I’m with you, but also what the fuck’. It would be irresponsible not to.

Of course… I get the impression Rand knows that, too. And is, perhaps, counting on it. He came to her to let her plan, and he doesn’t seem surprised or upset by the fact that she doesn’t just immediately say ‘okay cool when do we start’, and he has a certain respect for the position she holds.

I think it’s entirely possible this is what he wants from her. For her to plan. Because he doesn’t have time to. And because, just as she looks at him and sees someone she can trust with the fate of the world, he looks at her and sees someone he can trust with planning and logistics and getting the Aes Sedai to get themselves where he needs them. A kind of ‘this is what I’m going to do, now do whatever it is you need to do because I don’t need to micromanage and I also don’t have time to, okay see you at Tarmon Gai’don’.

“And so here we come to it,” Rand said.

Yeah, he saw this coming.

“Egwene al’Vere, Watcher of the Seals, Flame of Tar Valon, may I have your permission to withdraw?”

He asked it so politely. She couldn’t tell if he was mocking her or not.

The thing is, I really don’t think he is. It’s like how earlier he said he didn’t want to come into her place of power and undermine her. He’s giving her, I think, an honest gesture with genuine respect. Because now, at peace with himself as he is, it costs him nothing to do so. She is not his enemy, and I do think his respect for her is honest, and I think he still cares about her as a friend, and what does he lose by giving her a small bow and her titles and the opportunity to grant him permission to leave?

And of course Egwene is conflicted, because on the one hand she can’t keep him here like Elaida tried to, but on the other hand…

“I will not let you break the seals,” she said. “That is madness.”

“Then meet me at the place known as the Field of Merrilor, just to the north. We will talk before I go to Shayol Ghul. For now, I do not want to defy you, Egwene. But I must go.’

Ah. And so we have a battleground.

As for the rest… well. It’s not quite accord, but nor is it disaster. It’s not even quite a true impasse. There’s tension now, sure, but it’s a) not even in the same hemisphere as as bad as it would have been if Rand hadn’t had some alone time on a mountain to think, literally, about his life choices and b) not insurmountable.

And c) I still think there’s a very real chance this is all Rand actually needed or wanted out of this. Egwene now knows his plan and his timing and the battleground, and she can take care of the rest.

It’s almost—gasp—as if Rand al’Thor, Dragon Reborn, has truly learned to delegate.

The chamber was still enough for Egwene to hear the faint breeze making the rose window groan it its lead.

The wind, for Rand, against the rose, for the Aes Sedai. (Also, listen, I have not forgotten that Eldrene was the Rose of the Sun).

“Very well,” Egwene said. “But this is not ended, Rand.”

“There are no endings, Egwene.”

IT’S! ABOUT! THE NAMES!

They talk a big game about each other’s titles, and wonder if they’re really the person they each once knew, but they both open and closes with nothing but each other’s names, and it means absolutely everything.

Also, that’s… really not a bad outcome. Honestly, this could have been so much worse. Anger? Try ‘okay um that’s unexpected and I’m still not sure you’re not insane but…sure. Okay’.

Which really is all you need, right? It’s agreement with a bit of hesitation, and at this stage in the game that’s a damn victory.

Again, I can’t help but contrast it with that absolute catastrophe at Falme, and compared to that? This is just friends sticking their tongues out at each other on the way out. Rand knows he can count on Egwene to be there, at least. Will she agree with him when she arrives? Who knows. But that’s a problem for another time. For now, he at least knows she’ll go, and that’s all he can ask. And he can leave the rest of the planning in her hands.

And she knows what he’s planning, and knows he wants her as an ally, and can therefore make said plans.

I don’t think this is ended either, and I’m sure there’s plenty of potential conflict to come, but this was, all things considered, really kind of impressive in its lack of explosions.

(Also, ‘there are no endings’. Now who’s giving Aes Sedai answers, Rand? As well as probably spoilers for the last line of the series. Rude.)

Oh, interesting. So Rand’s ta’veren hyperdrive powers pretty much literally froze all the other Aes Sedai in place. Because this needed to be a meeting between Rand and Egwene. Because of their roles, yes, but also because of that thread of connection they still share. And so it had to be the two of them, because that was the only chance of this working at all.

Egwene frowned. She hadn’t felt it that way. Perhaps because she thought of him as Rand.

I… yeah. Because that’s what he needed: to have this conversation with someone who could see him. Even then, it barely came out to something almost resembling accord. They needed that small weight on the scales, to have that chance. And so she was free, because it was the Dragon Reborn, and not Rand, who was holding the others silent, in a way.

Or at least that’s how I’m reading this because it plays into my entire thing for names and identity and perception, and the importance thereof.

“We need to discuss his words. The Hall of the Tower will reconvene in one hour’s time for discussion.”

Which, really, is exactly what they need to be doing. Now they have the information, and they can figure out… a battle plan, I suppose. Okay. We’re there now. We have a place and a time (this place, this day, which of course is followed by the lesser sadness, yes I remember sequences of chapter titles why are you looking at me like that) and the beginnings of a plan. I’m… it’s been five years and I’m not entirely ready for this.

“And someone follow to make sure he really leaves.”

You’re just afraid he’ll find some way to prank you on his way out, don’t lie.

“Then how? How do we stop him?”

That, Silviana, is not the question you need to be asking. I mean, I get it. I really do. And I’m not sure how they could not think that, at least initially. But… the time for working against each other’s aims, when you are all on the same side, is over.

“We need allies,” Egwene said.

Which, again, I think is precisely the point. That is something it makes absolute sense for Rand to delegate to the Amyrlin Seat, who has the power and the standing to gather allies and play the games of politics, and bring her portion of the Forces of the Light to… the Field of Merrilor, I suppose.

She took a deep breath. “He might be persuaded by people that he trusts.” Or he might be forced to change his mind if confronted by a large enough group united to stop him.

Oh, Egwene, no. You can’t be another Latra Posae.

But perhaps it would be too easy for this to actually just be their only not-quite-conflict. I still think it was more a success than a failure, all told, and I stand by everything I said about the importance of their friendship in letting them see each other, but I think we’re looking at one final testing of that, before the end.

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