#and Aviendha has her own problems in them.

[illusions-in-octarine]

Book SPOILERS - SKIP IF SHOW-ONLY

I LOVE this Aviendha, can't wait for her to meet Rand and affectionately mock the living daylights out of the Dragon Reborn.

I can see Stradowski's rough sincerity and Smart's sharp joy working very well together. She's cracking wit at Perrin! She's been out of captivity - should I say, a Box - for all of a few hours and she's deriving happiness from messing with her free-r and fellow traveler. She has a debt and it doesn't phase her for a beat! The antithesis of "duty heavier than a mountain". Duty and joy existing side by side.

[markantonys]

the single best thing the show could do for the polycule is a very simple change: make it happen on purpose. make all four members work together from the beginning to set up a poly relationship intentionally, rather than stumbling into one due to a mix of miscommunication and Fate Said So.

in the books, rand thinks he's having a series of unconnected romantic encounters with three different women and has no idea a polycule is developing until the women come to him to propose the final product. it is documented that the reason rj wrote it this way is because it's inspired by a similar situation he was once in, so i can't exactly blame him for writing based off personal experience, but it does cause several problems in the story.

Problems:

a) rand has little to no input on his own relationship(s) and spends the whole series being extremely passive in his love life. this makes him come across as at best a victim to the whims of his partners who is not allowed to express what HE wants out of the relationship, and at worst an asshole who doesn't really care about any of them as people and doesn't care what arrangements the three of them work out so long as he gets to fuck SOMEONE. it also means that the romances don't have as much of an emotional impact on him/his character development as they should (and as they do on the women) because he's just kinda floating along going "oh whatever you guys want, makes no difference to me."

b) elayne and aviendha get a bad fandom rap as being bad partners to rand because they confuse him on purpose and play games with him. like most of elayne's (in particular) bad fandom raps, this is an unfair exaggeration, but it's rooted in the fact that rj wanted rand to wind up in a polycule by accident rather than helping arrange a polycule on purpose, which means that rand has to hook up with 3 different women in a row without realizing that a polycule is brewing, without having discussed the idea of additional partner(s) with his prior partner(s) and gotten their permission to hook up with other people, AND without coming across as a cheater. which means that rand has to believe himself sufficiently broken up with the prior woman before he can hook up with the next one, which means that elayne has to send him conflicting letters so that he can get away with hooking up with aviendha and aviendha has to freeze him out so that he can get away with hooking up with min.

("they're just greedy/indecisive/cheaters" is probably the biggest harmful stereotype against poly people, and the above approach from the books flirts with that far too much, so the show definitely needs to change that. the majority of people have a very very difficult time understanding polyamory (just look at tumblr, where even the ~wokest~ WOT fans are saying the polycule should be split up into 2 monogamous pairings bc they think the poly aspect is "weird" and they insist that elayne Actually loves aviendha the most or rand Actually loves min the most and that they can't possibly REALLY mean it when they say they love multiple people equally), which is why it's especially important that the show portray it in a way where it's abundantly clear that it's not cheating or rand being greedy/indecisive/stringing a bunch of women along.)

c) the problem for the other 3's approach to the polycule is miscommunication. the problem for min's is Fate Said So. she is rammed into the polycule by prophecy rather than by spending enough time with the other parties to come to want it on her own, and so she coasts along on "you have to let me join your relationship because it's fated to happen no matter what" rather than needing to put in the same work elayne and aviendha do of bonding with each other, making an effort to learn about aiel polyamory practices (in elayne's case), and growing to genuinely want to share their partner with each other and to genuinely enjoy seeing the other happy with him.

the result is min feeling out of place in the relationship: elayne constantly thinks about how she loves rand and aviendha equally, then sometimes hastily adds min as an afterthought; aviendha is very firm that she can't share rand with elayne until they're first-sisters, but shrugs and makes an exception for min for no reason (but then proceeds to think how she wishes she didn't have to share her partner with a near-stranger); min barely cares about the other two and frequently thinks how she wishes she could just have rand to herself and it's unfair that she has to share him. it's a very glaring contrast how elayne and aviendha come to feel genuine joy and compersion at rand's love for the other, while the most positive thought min ever has is "if i HAVE to share (which i'd rather not), then elayne isn't the worst option for a co-partner."

on this last point, monogamous people forcing themselves to try out polyamory for their poly partner's sake (which is absolutely how book!min comes across) is something that happens and gets people hurt irl, and contributes to the societal misconception that polyamory never works out long term and that a choice will inevitably have to be made (again, see tumblr deciding that the endgame will have to be elayne & aviendha happily monogamous in caemlyn and reddit that it will have to be rand & min happily monogamous traveling the world). so if the show is going to portray polyamory, imo it has a responsibility to show that it is a viable long-term relationship type that people can be genuinely happy in. thus, all 4 parties need to choose this type of relationship because they want it, not because fate said they had to, and especially min since she's the one who is the most explicitly in the "only doing this bc fate" camp in the books (whereas rand, elayne, and aviendha all come across as genuinely polyamorous people who likely would have settled on this arrangement even without prophecy foreknowledge).

Solutions:

i made a post recently-ish with a hypothetical timeline for 8 seasons of the show, so if i make any unexplained assumptions in this section about what seasons various characters will be spending time together during, that's where they came from.

i feel pretty confident that rand/aviendha will be the first romance we see in the show, since he's still getting over his much-more-serious-than-the-book-version relationship with egwene and it would make sense to give him season 2 to finish that up and to hold off on new romance for him until season 3. i'm predicting he and aviendha will also meet elayne at falme in 2x08, but i also expect the characters will set off on their TSR roadtrips by the end of 3x01 at the latest, which gives rand and elayne no more than 1-2 episodes together - enough to establish Crush Vibes, but not enough to actually have anything happen between them. so, the show will go out of order and start with rand/aviendha.

which is a perfect way of changing the polycule from accidental to intentional! having rand's first romance be with the partner who is from a poly-aware culture means that the entire set of relationships is now being built off a poly-aware base. from the get-go, aviendha can explain the concept of polyamory to rand and make it clear to him that she is comfortable with that sort of relationship, which means that they can get together and stay together rather than needing to backslide so that rand has an excuse to go off and fuck other people. he doesn't need excuses if he instead has permission! also, rand/elayne not having happened yet would mean aviendha has no reason to feel guilty and pull away from rand after sleeping with him.

so, rand and aviendha are solidly together and poly-curious by the time they reunite with elayne in s4. aviendha can see that rand and elayne like each other, so she encourages them to get together, and rand/elayne can indeed get together without rand/aviendha needing to be tanked first since rand and aviendha are both on the same pro-poly page. elayne knows a little about polyamory from meeting bain and chiad at falme (and maybe from meeting alanna or other greens at the tower), and she has feelings for rand but also likes aviendha and doesn't want to interfere with their relationship, so she is happy to agree to the arrangement. but she still has plenty to learn about aiel ways and about aviendha, and aviendha wants to become first-sisters as is proper, so even without aviendha having toh to elayne for banging rand, the two of them still have a reason to want to bond and grow closer (and for the show, this arc will result in them falling in love instead of or in addition to becoming first-sisters).

so we've fixed the narrative relying on miscommunication to get rand, elayne, and aviendha into the polycule. now to fix the reliance on Fate Said So for min. we can safely say that she's already had her 3-women viewing judging by that line in s1, so she already knows the polycule is fated. this in itself is fine - wrestling with knowing you're fated to love someone is an interesting character arc if done well and done sparingly [sideeyes rj on both counts]. what needs to be changed is how min USES this foreknowledge.

don't have her share it with elayne, aviendha, or rand until after the four of them have gotten together naturally. have her discuss the viewing with her aunts in s2 (or, hell, even with mat, could be a good way to contribute to the friendship they're supposed to have at the end of the series) instead of with elayne, and have her say she knows who 2/3 of the other people are but would never want to tell them about this viewing because it sucks to know you're fated to love someone before it's happened and she'd hate to burden anyone else with that knowledge. have her keep the viewing to herself because she wants rand and elayne (and aviendha, tho min doesn't yet know who she is) to have the freedom to fall in love by choice, even though she herself can't have that freedom. (shit, now that i write it out i actually LOVE the idea of mat being the one she's having this convo with since he too will soon be struggling with a Fated Romance.)

in the books, by telling elayne soon after meeting her that she'll have to share her boyfriend with 2 others and then in salidar going "one of them is me btw so you'd better give me permission to fuck your boyfriend when i see him soon," it feels like min is using her viewing to bully elayne (and later aviendha) into letting her join the relationship. min telling rand in eotw that he shouldn't bother with egwene because they won't end up together also contributes to this vibe, and the show has thankfully already cut out that moment, so i have high hopes that they're attempting to make min more..........empathetic, i guess, in terms of how she uses her viewings. book!min is understandably afraid of being left out in the cold since she doesn't know which if any of them rand will love back, so she uses her viewings to prime the other parties to be willing to Let Her In when the time comes, basically, but it's still kind of a shitty thing to do. however, so far, due to being older and much more mature and much more reluctant to share viewings, show!min gives me the vibes that she would rather quietly resign herself to unrequited love than have to burden other people with the knowledge that their love is Foretold (particularly once she comes to view elayne as a friend in s2).

so, if min doesn't share the viewing with elayne and aviendha in advance, then she will have to join the relationship naturally, by spending time with and getting to know all 3 parties, rather than by telling them they have to let her in because Fate Said So. i see space for all 4 of them to be in the same place together during season 4, while avirandlayne is brewing but min is still just a friend, so that would be a great time for min to bond with them all prior to getting with rand (and maybe as a result, rand develops a crush on her and confesses it to elayne and aviendha, who are happy to give him permission because they already know and like min; alternately, rand has an obvious crush on min but is totally oblivious about it, so elayne and aviendha tease him like "if there is...............anyone else you're interested in.............maybe a certain bartender............you can totally go for it" and rand is adorably baffled as to why they believe he has a crush on min, and then in season 5 he finally Realizes).

and like, wouldn't it be so cute if after the four of them are in a committed polycule, min finally says "hey, i actually had a viewing ages ago that this would happen, but i didn't want to tell you guys and make you feel pressured to love each other" and they all have a good laugh about it together? that would be SO cute!

so, overall, the seeds of a wonderful polycule are there in the books, and the show doesn't have to make a TON of tweaks to help it live up to its best potential! i'm really excited to see what they do with it because it's such a unique romance storyline and one of my favorite aspects of the series, it just needs the Updating For 2020s touch (and the Updating To Reflect The Way Real Human Adults Behave And Communicate With Each Other touch) that the show has so far excelled at applying.

[ankh-morporkianpostalworker]

Now that I've finished The Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart, we're gonna update the Most Based Wheel of Time Character List:

10 - Min: While I don't mind Aviendha, Aviendha is also the sworn sister of the nost cringe character in the series, making her cringe by association. Min not being totally cringe (and her really cool power and supporting Rand without trying to control him) gets her the number 10 spot.

9 - Perrin: It's not Perrin's fault he got burdened with a filler arc. Saving his wife is a worthy goal that shows loyalty and caring for her, but reading the parts where he's just tracking her down in Winter's Heart, coming off the high of his performance in The Path of Daggers, really lost him some points.

8 - Lan: As much as Lan is a Wife Guy, he's also willing to help summarily execute people who tried to kill the man who was, for a time, his friend. He also stands up to The Dragon Reborn despite knowing what he can do, which shows courage, a based property.

7 - Davram Bashere: One of Rand's best men, Bashere is also willing to call Rand out when he does something deplorable, like his use of Callandor resulting in the wanton slaughter of Rand's own men. Rand trusts him completely, and such loyalty is pretty based. He'd cracked the top five no problem if it weren't for the fierce competition he faces.

6: Lews Therin: The Original Dragon. His moments of increasing lucidity provide some of the most interesting lines in the series thus far. The fact that he's growing more and more aware of Rand, and thinks Rand is a madman (including the line "I would not mind you in my head, if you were not so clearly mad") add an absolutely fascinating aspect to the series, and I'm excited to see what happens next.

5 - Birgette: She's a badass, despite being bonded to the most cringe character in the franchise. She also acts as said character's moral compass.

4 - Nynaeve: Of the Emond's Field Folk who left in the first book, she's the only one who has kept her eyes on the prize. Her original goals were to 1) protect Rand, Perrin, Mat, and Egwene, and she has continued to do so in one way or another for most of the series (being forcibly separated from Mat after being the only person to treat him with empathy at the climax of A Crown of Swords doesn't count against her). Of all the Aes Sedai in the world, Rand trusts only her to link with him to cleanse said saidin, a moment of extreme vulnerability. Her other goal, to learn to Heal with saidar, has been accomplished, along with her secondary goal of marrying Lan.

3 - Rand: Rand being willing to sacrifice his own life to cleanse saidin, and pulling it off, was pretty based. While his descent into madness isn't great, he's also an absolute badass who takes so much punishment throught the series that when he's bonded to Min, Aviendha, and Elayne they all gasp in astonishment at the pain he constantly carries with him. Also, him telling Alanna to fuck off was enormously rewarding, especially when he tells her what everyone else has been thinking about her forcibly bonding him.

2 - Moiraine: Has she been dead for thousands of pages? Yes. Did she teach Rand most of what he knows about politics? Yes. Did she Gandalf one of the Foresaken? Yes. Is she the first person on Rand's list of women who's deaths are on him, one he chants like a litany, showing that her mourns her death? Yes. The first three make her based and the last shows her impact on Rand.

1 - Matrim fucking Cauthon: He's got the loyalty of his men, even when he's away from them. He almost died saving his adopted son. He engineers a plan to escape an occupied city in a way that prioritizes said son's safety. He escapes his relationship with his abuser. All cement his place at the top of his list, making him tbe reigning champion and most based character.

[cannoli-reader]

Rand was right to yell at her, she was behaving irresponsibly and immaturely. That's not how you discharge a ranged weapon and she is a trained soldier who should know better.

What was going on was that Rand had just saved her from one Draghkar, that had her in thrall, and she was all twisted up over her self-inflicted toh conflicts and did not want to have toh to him. Hell, earlier that same night, she was insisting on matching him gift for gift so she could not feel any obligation regarding the bracelet, which absolutely no other Aiel sees as an issue, because A. Rand was giving it to repay her in the first place, and B. checked first. Aviendha has a problem with Rand at this point in the story, and it is her problem, existing entirely in her own head, based on information only she knows, but ever since she emerged from her test at Rhuidean, she has been making it his problem. And now he has just saved her life and she has toh and so when she sees the Draghkar, instead of warning him, she takes a risky shot herself, to be certain that she can claim to have saved his life and clear the scorecard between them. Which is, in itself, a childish attitude, that no real soldiers hold. When someone has saved your life, they have saved your life, period. The number of times or the difference in saves on each part does not matter. Nothing you can do can erase that fact, and no amount of reciprocal savings reverses the debt.

And Aviendha knows she is wrong, because of how she reacts. She never reacts like that to anything Rand does at any other point in the series. She is petulant and passive-aggressive, rather than asserting the facts on her side, as she generally does when Rand tramples on issues of honor and toh. She refrained from arguing and went into the tent because she knew he was right to rebuke her.

Oh another fun parallel is when Aviendha shoots some fire past Rand’s head to take out the Draghkar behind him and he yells at her before he knows what she was actually doing, versus Tuon trusting Mat when he throws a dagger past her

[agardenandlibrary]

The Dragon Reborn: chapters 37-38

Shorter post this time so I can finish a different book for my podcast, now that I'm starting that up again.

Something I forgot to mention at the end of chapter 36 is that Rand murders a bunch of people (they might've been hunting him? this is unclear. Rand's perspective is so paranoid and disjointed) and then does this with their corpses:

The Power still filled him, the flow from saidin sweeter than honey, ranker than rotted meat. Abruptly he channeled-not really understanding what it was he did, or how, only that it seemed right; and it worked, lifting the corpses. He set them in a line, facing him, kneeling, faces in the dirt. For those who had faces left. Kneeling to him. "If I am the Dragon Reborn," he told them, "that is the way it is supposed to be, isn't it?" Letting go of saidin was hard, but he did it. If I hold it too much, how will I keep the madness away? He laughed bitterly. Or is it too late for that?

On to Egwene et al!

Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne are on a boat. They're passing Cairhien which is currently smoldering piles of ash, mostly, thanks to the civil war going on.

Egwene has been Dreaming almost every night. Her dreams don't give her anything concrete to work on really. She continues to be super into Channeling, in like a "probably going to channel too much some day and die about it" way.

"Terrible," Elayne murmured. "It is so terrible." "What is?" Egwene said absently. Elayne gave her a startled look, and then a frown. "That!" She gestured toward the distant smoke. "How can you ignore it?" "I can ignore it because I do not want to think of what the people are going through, because I cannot do anything about it, and because we have to reach Tear. Because what we're hunting is in Tear." She was surprised at her own vehemence. I can't do anything about it. And the Black Ajah is in Tear.

Now you're thinking like Aes Sedai! You can't solve every problem in your way. I do think there's a balance between always looking at the bigger picture and helping the people around you. The Aes Sedai have become, perhaps, too attached to the big picture of late.

Their boat wrecks and Nynaeve declares they'll walk to the next village. Egwene makes a good point that Nynaeve has a tendency to tell them what to do, like she's still the Wisdom, even though technically they should all be on the same footing.

On their way, they encounter some Aiel, including!!

Aviendha!! Elayne's future girlfriend!!

Aviendha is here with her own girlsquad, presumably also searching for the Dragon Reborn. She asks for their help to heal one of her wounded. We get some Aiel cultureshock, Egwene finds all of this suspicious, etc. etc.

"I will help her if I can," Nynaeve said slowly. "I cannot make promises, Aviendha. She may die despite anything I can do." "Death comes for us all," the Aiel said. "We can only choose how to face it when it comes. I will take you to her."

Nynaeve gets angry so she can Channel and Heal, and all's well that ends well.

Ugh, I was gonna say please take the Aiel to help you hunt down the Black Ajah but the Aiel are sworn never to harm an Aes Sedai and they seem like they take their oaths seriously. OH WELL.

[fedonciadale]

An ask to shake things up a little from That Other Topic: You and I both loved the WoT tv show, but nothing's perfect, of course, so what would you change about it if you could? What do you think could have been done better? Is there anything you're hoping they'll improve on next season? I want to hear your thoughts!

Hi there!

I'll talk gladly about that!

I wouldn't change that much to be honest, mostly because there are quite a lot of things that we'll have to see how they develop in later seasons. And there are changes I'm definitely very happy about.

My main problem was pacing. I think the season should have had 10 episodes and longer as well. There were some things that were underdeveloped and difficult to understand for Non book readers. Take Padan Fain! He was shown several times following the EF5 but it was too short to stand out. So, I don't know if show watchers even got his importance.

I know the actor left but I would have introduced the next Mat actor for episode 7 and 8. It was noticeabke that they tried very hard to work around that and it didn't quite work. Padan Fain had to confront Mat, Perrin made no sense.

I would have had Nynaeve heal Egwene in episode 8, not the other way round - or if Egwene really used the 'flame of Tar Valon' weave show that it was something super special and not normal channeling.

I'm a bit torn about the fact that they haven't introduced yet in detail that the True Source has two halves - Saidin was mentioned only on the age of legends cold open. And as much as the gender essentialism of the True Source is problematic in itself it is a huge part of the world building. And Moiraine mentioned only once that women and men can't see each other channeling. It's not easy to find a way around the male-female binary but I think it could be done : it could be too dangerous for humans to touch the source as a whole and that is why they can only touch one half. (The counterpart of the One Power the Dark One's Power is only one and it's too addictive - so that makes sense). Then you could have men tending to Saidin and women to Saidar (maybe especially if they have the spark) but enbys or trans people (people who can choose to learn) could choose. That's my solution anyway and I wonder how they will tackle that problem. It's a rather important part of the story that Rand needs a teacher after all. And that he is not exempt from going mad. I certainly would keep that in the show women and men seem to be equally strong.

In general I'm happy about how they handle romance. Lan / Nynaeve was one of the few ships I liked and it is now even better! Not sure about Perrin / Egwene though. On a rewatch I saw it but I'm not sure where they are going with that. Otherwise they can only improve on the romances in comparison to the books and they already did!

For my part they could just have scratched Min. Sigh. She's part of the show though and there is hope they just skip her attitude towards Egwene (which I hated so much in the books). I guess I'll never like her but I may be able to tolerate her. Lol. If I could change the polycule without enraging the fans, I would make Elayne and Aviendha bisexual, let them both have a crush on Rand (and get their one night stands) but I'd let them end up with each other and Rand either on his own (everybody really thinks he is dead) or if it can't be helped with Min. Actually anything but that weird male fantasy Jordan wrote....

I think it's reasonable to expect that they merge book 2 and 3 for the next season. Book 2 is still very much centered on Rand and he's barely there in book 3. If they want to keep making this an ensemble it makes sense to try to combine book 2 and 3 - it would help to reduce repetitive duels as well. We could end season 2 with Rand holding Callandor... That would be nice. The girls could escape the Seanchan mid-season and still end up chasing dark friends in Tear (you don't reall need the Seanchan to vanish completely. Moiraine could regain her strength in a fight with one Forsaken! Perrin could meet Faile already.

There's still so many thoughts! I can barely wait for season 2!

[cannoli-reader]

Dividing Robert Jordan’s “A Memory of Light”

A couple of times in recent months, the topic of Sanderson’s changes to the series has come up, and given me cause to think over his mistakes in how he divided the finale. Jordan clearly intended the story he laid out to be a single story, in one book, so I was dividing it, I’d do it into three volumes, intended to run together, without prologues and conclusions and the wind rising at the beginning of each. 

But if f the finale had to be in three separate books, it should have been, in my opinion, as follows (beyond the cut):

Book 12: The Breaking Storm 

(because “Gathering” is so trite and not really fitting this late)

Rand’s arc climaxes with the Dominion Bond incident, more use of the warder bonds to leave all three women horrified, Min traumatized by the incident, Aviendha fuming impotently at her separation from them and the Wise Ones’ harassment, Elayne dealing with a negative feedback loop of political fallout, as she tries to deal with Andor & Cairhien together, with a vague awareness of Rand’s deteriorating state shading everything for the worse.  Andoran problems should prevent her from giving Cairhien the attention it needs, Cairhienin issues drag her attention away from Andor just in time for more trouble to rear up, while she scrambles to find food for both countries. 

Mat should be having issues with managing the larger, reunited Band, maybe with some PTSD as alluded to at the end of KoD, when he says he no longer sees battles as gambling. He should struggle with a lot of setbacks and problems as he and Elayne try to get the cannon project going. His presence with the Band should cause her political difficulties, and his departure at the least convenient time for her. Maybe taking out the gholam at greater personal cost, and he’s freaked out, and can’t go after Moiraine yet. 

Perrin should have the Whitecloak conflict and reveal of Morgase, right away, get it over with, and then the Slayer thing comes up, and the Trolloc threat. His position at the end of the book should be impotence with the problem of the Berelain rumors blossoming among his people, remnants of Maseema’s people attacking and blaming him for the Prophet’s death, Perrin having developed an interest in saving the Children of the Light, but they aren’t about to cooperate and everything is going to get picked off by the Shadow, and Elayne is out for blood over his “rebellion” because so many other political problems have boxed her in and she can’t let another thing like this go.  There is just enough communication between his camp & Caemlyn to raise the stakes, not enough to be the basis for understanding.

Egwene’s story should see the Tower deteriorate more, with more splits and dissension in both the rebel camp and Tar Valon. Romanda and Lelaine’s conflict should come to a head, driving the older sisters back to the Tower, even while disgust at Elaida sends some loyalists out to the rebels.  More people should be listening to Egwene, only to find all their efforts uselessly stirring the pot, and the Seanchan attack destroys what unity is left.

The 13x13 plot should be out there and threatening Logain’s loyalists, with more interplay between Pevara’s group and Myrelle’s. Lan’s gathering of an army should be played less humorously and with more of a sense of ‘too little. too late’ and witnessing problems in the Borderlands, like political infighting, with lords the readers, but not the heroes, know are Darkfriends making their move more widespread than just Ituralde’s OTL problem at Maradon. 

Book 13: Towers of Darkness (or Shadow) (or Towers IN\AT Midnight)

The point is, that there should be some sort of sense of disaster and doom with the White Tower, Black Tower and Ghenji.  Maybe there could be scenes of Lan arriving at Malkier so the ruins of the Seven can play a part in the horror atmosphere. Groups and alliances discussed using metaphors of crumbling or toppling towers. That kind of thing.

Rand plunges deeper into Dark Rand, climaxing with his confrontation with Tam and beginning his sojourn among the Seanchan.

Egwene should be raised in the aftermath of a Seanchan attack that hits both the Tower and the rebels, maybe the groups coming together as they flee a literally burning White Tower.  It should be made abundantly clear that she’s only a compromise candidate, that all the sides are still fighting over who did what in the split. All they can agree on is that Elaida was bad and they have to work together, but blame each other for leaving so Elaida ran wild, or staying & supporting her administration and both sides expect the other to do more compromising, and this is just a shitty thankless job she has to shoulder.  The physical reclaiming of the Tower and cleanup efforts should be a recurring background issue, with emphasis on the destruction and now-crummy living conditions, but Egwene is making them stay in the battered shell of the Tower, rather than split up in the city, which would invite dissent. She’s trying to present a strong face to the rest of the world, but running into problems with the nations, both because of the Tower’s long neglect of the rest of the world for their own squabbles and because the Tower’s old habits of supremacy stumble against new bases of loyalty centered on Rand or other institutions.  Egwene can make things worse for Elayne and vice versa.

Rand and Egwene’s encounter should be in this book, when he’s still Dark Rand. His Merrilor notice should be more of an ultimatum, with Egwene’s efforts to gather the rulers and armies to have the sense of a last-ditch effort to confront him when he needs to be stood up to, and to try to salvage something if Rand goes full evil or insane. That way it seems less like a wrong-headed mistrust of her old friend. She also is fighting Mesaana and the Black Ajah, with more of an ongoing guerilla thing, rather than one big battle in one night. 

Perrin should be having all the Slayer conflicts in this one has he tries to bring all his people back together to fight the Shadow threats and hold off a war with Andor or the Children of the Light.

Mat should be stalling on the Moiraine thing out of accumulated trauma from the gholam and recent campaigns, belated loss of self-confidence from being Tylin’s Toy. He goes to Tuon, and even that turns bad when he realizes how things are with Rand and that his wife is getting ready to go to war with his best friend and maybe hears plans as well to go after Perrin and the Whitecloak “deserters”, maybe he encounters some damane he recognizes from the White Tower or even Elaida herself.  His moment of getting back on track should be deciding to go to Ghenji with Thom & Noal, and the climax should be the adventure there, with him losing his eye, and they get out in a less than awesome state, just sitting there in the Mountains like ‘now what’. 

Elayne’s political difficulties escalate, though she manages to get the crown of Cairhien settled, only for the Trolloc attack on Caemlyn, and Talmanes and Aludra barely escaping while the city burns. 

The Black Tower breaks into open warfare, Ituralde’s situation in the Borderlands deteriorates, there is a schism among the Aiel, maybe the siswai’aman start getting a little more Maseema-like in their beliefs, turning against the Wise Ones and clan chiefs for lying about Rhuidean all this time.  Aviendha plays a role in that, decides she’s a Wise One, goes to Rhuidean, has the bad future visions, where the current Aiel conflict is shown to come to fruition in the successive generation, and the world is a harsher, most nasty place in the wake of Rand’s victory, because he did it wrong. The alliance that won Tarmon Gaidon is falling out and the Aiel are taking sides with or preying on different wetlander factions, before the Seanchan crusade becomes their new unifying element. There should be a sense that the Raven Empire is doing what the original conquerors did in Seanchan, unifying a broken and conflict-ridden land and the Aiel are only exacerbating the conflict. 

Everything sucks, but a few people are still determined to keep trying. Lan, Perrin, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, Tuon, Logain.  Mat, Moiraine & Thom have a technical win under their belt. That’s as good as it gets.

Book 14: A Memory of Light

Rand’s vision is failing as he spends more time wandering among the Seanchan and Tinkers with more of a “I’m done with all your bullshit” tupe of mindset.  He hears about problems going on in the rest of the world, sees collared Aes Sedai and even recognizably Aiel captives, and can’t care less, he’s going here and there weaving preparations for something big that’s going to kill everyone in the area in one dramatic burst of the Power when he triggers it with the Choedan Kal, and he’s doing the same thing in Bandar Eban, around Far Madding and the Borderlanders, in Tarabon and maybe even the Black Tower. But eventually something cracks and we get Dragonmount. 

Perrin finally makes some headway in getting people together, winning back trust, and he’s on the verge of rescuing the Whitecloaks, when he forges the new hammer, which is closely tied in with Rand on Dragonmount, even inspired by his witnessing of it. 

Mat and Moiraine’s recovery is likewise tied to Rand’s epiphany. Maybe Rand comes looking for them thanks to ta’veren vision, and helps them get over their ‘Finn trauma. A symbolic first act of Healing. He goes with Mat to make amends with Tuon, reunites with Tam, goes to the rescue of the Borderlands & Lan.

Perrin & Galad come to the rescue in Andor, Elayne is dealing with the mess of Caemlyn, and small armies start showing up, the results of her campaigning as seen in CoT, and a massive relief force comes from Cairhien, with commoners and craftsmen saying “You fed us, now we’ll feed you”. Food comes up the rivers in Zaida’s ships.  Elayne brings the Borderlanders from Far Madding to help contain the Trollocs.  She ends up as the focal point of a large cooperative effort, with the Kin as the One Power muscle for her group. Needless to say, the turning point of this stuff should be tied into Dragonmount. Elayne’s & Perrin’s peace agreement is based more of cooperation, rather than who is entitled to what. 

Egwene defeats Mesaana, thanks to Perrin bringing the dreamspike on his way to Dragonmount to back up Rand, and now people are cooperating more afterwards.  Likewise with Logain’s victory at the Black Tower, which more of a group effort with Logain as the public face, and not the Androl’s Big Adventure we actually got. Loial should also succeed in persuading the Stump after Dragonmount.

And then, just when things are looking up, the attacks begin. The scheduled meeting at Merrilor is much more of a “quick, let’s get together, there’s no time left” vibe. Moiraine’s return is less dramatic, but she does move Rand & Egwene past a minor sticking point. Rand meets the Borderland rulers for their little test thing.  Elayne’s ascension as supreme commander is more of an organic thing, because of the connections she’s forged among so many groups, that she’s the only major leader known to the Borderlanders, the Aiel, and the Sea Folk, is related by marriage to the King of Tear, rules Andor and Cairhien, who are now buddies from fighting together, and the fact that she’s been fighting this whole time.  That way the political storylines mean something, rather than Rand just appointing her because his old Aes Sedai friend said so, and the rulers are all standing around wondering what these people are talking about but going along because the protagonists said so. 

[cannoli-reader]

And why does he talk about Ilyena? Because he fucking killed her. Rand's post-Two Rivers romantic life began with being woken from a dream of two girls he was crushing on (in which he started to rot alive, after hurting the feelings of his nominal love interest), to a smoking hot noblewoman attempting to seduce him ... and a bubble of evil almost gave them both a death by a thousand cuts. Then one of his crushes stopped in to try to help him with one of the biggest problems in his life ... and he lost control of the Power, which included a violation of her person and stripping her of any means of self-defense, while causing fires and explosions. Then a Forsaken shows up to throw her hat into the ring ... and a Gray Man penetrates the layers of security around him and gets into his rooms, and they don't notice until it's almost too late.

His love life for the series commences with a three-fold revelation of how dangerous Rand al'Thor all by himself is to women with whom he shares a mutual attraction (which he does with Lanfear & Berelain, if not any other kind). The visit with Lanfear was the first manifestation of which he is aware of Lews Therin creeping in, and "LTT" talks without Rand's consent.

Rand's fear is Lews Therin taking over. Rand's fear is Lews Therin repeating the act which drove him insane when he became aware of it, only on Elayne, Aviendha or Min. He tells Min at one point that he'll tear off his own arm before hurting her, and down the line, when "LTT" does the thing he's most afraid of, - seizing control of the Power and using it in opposition to Rand's will - Rand then, the next time he is going into potential danger with Min at his side, refuses to embrace saidin, on the off-chance it happens again, and loses his hand as a result. Because that's better than "Lews Therin" using the Power to kill Min the way he killed Ilyena.

For the record, the other two have to be working with similar fears. The first time Perrin really linked up with a wolf was Hopper, moments before he was killed, and the empathy and intimacy it created in Perrin drove him to murder two men for no good reason. A year later, the first time the wolves actually fight for Perrin, he loses control to the wolf pack mind, and embraces their psychotic hatred of a Neverborn, going after it with no regard for his safety. Not too long after that, he meets a man who has lost his humanity to his wolf powers. So Perrin thinks he could end up being taken over by a mind that acts in ways he believes he would not otherwise choose, just like Rand.

Similarly, Mat doesn't trust alien forces in his head. He has already had the experience of the Old Blood, which he said he didn't like, and right after that, met Mordeth, and was subsequently told that Mordeth could have taken over his body had Mat let his desire for the treasure lead him into cooperating. As it was, he was infected with the ruby dagger, which has destroyed parts of his mind, losing memories and experiences. When he turns to the Aelfinn and Eelfinn for solutions, he gets the adventurers' memories, in response to his request to fill the holes in his memory. These new memories have literally replaced his life and mind! He lost a piece of himself and got this instead. Absolutely nothing about either of his encounters with the 'finn gives him any reason to think they are dealing in any sort of good faith or benevolence. Just because they don't initially present as malicious does not mean the memories will not turn out to be some sort of poisoned gift like the ruby dagger. It's why Mat Cauthon, whose first reaction to learning that a friend, or someone his friend cares for, is in danger, is plunge after them, flails and refuses when Thom asks for his help rescuing Moiraine - because the 'finn might be able to use whatever was done to him against his friends. Just like Rand and "LTT".

Contra the knee-jerk reader reaction, borne at least in part by a subconscious assumption of Protagonist Armor, to each of the three ta'veren, their coolest "power" represents both the abstract horror of losing their identity and sense of self, and the practical danger of harming their loved ones. It's not that they don't appreciate the benefits or get overly agitated about a minor inconvenience, it's that the thing that gives them the most ability to make a positive difference in the world, also represents the greatest danger they can cause.

[markantonys]

also, i feel like the "rand's polycule feels like a harem, so the girls all need to date each other too in order for it to feel like polyamory" crowd isn't latching onto the right issue with the relationships/characters. because i won't deny that there is a harem-y element in the book version, but i DO deny that it comes from the simple fact that rand is dating 3 women who are each only dating him.

now, this is all down to personal interpretation, but i never got any harem-y vibes at all from elayne/rand & aviendha/rand. because here, we have one man with multiple girlfriends, yes, but the girlfriends are fully fleshed-out people with lives and obligations outside of him. in addition, elayne and aviendha have a good relationship with each other. of course, irl metamours don't have to be besties (although aviendha, specifically, does prefer to be close with her metamours than to be cordial acquaintances), but the utter lack of jealousy or competitiveness between them does a great deal to prevent any sort of "harem vibes" of a bunch of women fighting each other to be Top Concubine. i'll love for elayne and aviendha to date each other as well as rand in the show, but imo the relationships between the three of them already do feel like polyamory even when elayne and aviendha's relationship is platonic.

the issue is min - and the issue is NOT that min only has one partner while rand has multiple, the issue is that min doesn't have any connections or obligations outside of the relationship at all while rand has many. if the polycule feels like a harem, it's because min's entire character and pov sections revolve around pleasing rand. she DOES feel like someone who wants to be Top Concubine because her only long-term goal in the whole series is to make rand want her and to be near him 24/7 at the expense of any other friendships or responsibilities she might have, and because she's constantly going "ugh it's not FAIR that i have to share him" and "this sharing arrangement is all well and good as a temporary thing, but which one of us is he REALLY going to marry?" (again, she doesn't have to be besties with elayne and aviendha, but i'd hope she would at least feel comfortable with the arrangement and feel that it has long-term potential rather than expecting that A Choice is inevitable).

this bleeds into people's perception of the entire relationship, so you get takes like "it's so annoying that a ton of women are obsessing over rand 24/7" when it honestly is only min who does that; in their own povs, elayne and aviendha think about rand as often as you'd expect someone to think about their long-distance partner whom they miss and worry about, but nowhere close to 24/7 because they both have plenty of other relationships and responsibilities to occupy their thoughts, unlike min, who truly does obsess over rand 24/7.

so no, min doesn't need additional partners in the show to make the polycule feel like polyamory rather than a harem. she just needs a life outside rand! she just needs friends! and those friends don't even need to be elayne and aviendha; min being cordial acquaintances with her metamours would be totally fine as long as she a) is happy in the poly arrangement and respects their relationships with rand, and b) has other friends in, say, mat and nynaeve and whoever else, so that she has some connections outside of rand, the same way that HE has connections outside of HER. and the show is already making great strides towards this by giving her a friendship with mat, a family, a backstory, problems other than "i'm fated to love rand but idk if he likes me back", and goals other than "make rand like me back."

[butterflydm]

Getting Mat to Falme - some possible paths

This is going to have spoilers for pretty much all the information that we have for s2, as far as I'm aware of it, at least, plus also book spoilers through book 4: The Shadow Rising. I also used @markantonys's post (here) where she pulled together all the various photos & teasers that we've gotten as reference too, because it looks pretty solid to me, plus added some thoughts based on her post here as well.

Because Mat is the big person of mystery -- we know he gets to Falme but how and with who? -- I kinda wanted to lay out the four main potential paths that I see for him and assess my own feelings on their likelihood.

I feel like there are two main branching paths of possibility:

Mat never escapes the White Tower.

Mat does escape (or is released from) the White Tower.

So, where the first path would take us is Mat being brought along with Liandrin, Elayne, Egwene, Nynaeve, and possibly Min. The main factor in favor of this possibility is that Mat is still wearing his Two River clothes in the picture we have that looks like it's from Falme (the background matches one of the Perrin & Aviendha photos).

But that's really the only thing that leans me towards this branch of possibilities -- I feel like that leaves Mat a lot of time where he's just not really doing anything. I do feel like Mat needs to spend some significant time in captivity though, for two reasons: a. it will mirror Egwene being in captivity at the end of the season; b. the show has shown itself to care a lot about setting up Mat's later choices to make sense in context of his characterization, so I think they will make sure to give a solid foundation to his personal fear/wariness towards Aes Sedai and to making it stronger than Rand's or especially Perrin's.

I think we are more likely to go with option 2, where he will get released from the White Tower, much as he does in The Dragon Reborn, either by Siuan Sanche or by the Wondergirls.

Path two gives us some more options about where Mat could go. Specifically, whether he gets to Falme by himself or if he joins up with either Perrin or Rand.

(a.) If Mat is going to Falme on his own, there are a few potential companions that he could have going with him from the White Tower: Verin or Min (since we know that Thom isn't in s2, at least per his actor), or maybe one or both of Elayne's brothers.

I think Verin is less likely -- I suspect we'll spend time with her in Perrin's plotline (maybe Rand's, but Rand doesn't need 'an Aes Sedai' in Cairhien if he already has Moiraine and only having Moiraine and not having an Aes Sedai who has access to saidar means that Rand would be the one that Moiraine would need to lean on for any channeling, like say for a Portal Stone to Toman Head; and if Verin and Perrin spend time in S2 getting to know each other, then she could simply go along with him to the Two Rivers in S3), though we may briefly meet her in episode one, before she leaves and then reappears in Perrin's plotline.

Min is a distinct possibility if Mat is going off on his own, though. She is likely to be in Tar Valon when the season opens (based on two factors: it's her hometown and her aunt was cast for the second season, and the most likely place for Min to have scenes with her aunt is in her hometown). Min and Mat having a road trip together would also be helpful for the future, since it would give them some time to bond.

The problem with Mat going off with Gawyn is that... Gawyn actually getting involved in all the various ta'veren shenanigans would make him going back to Tar Valon to work underneath Elaida feel kinda weird (unless the split up after Falme ends up being more "a bunch of people go back to the White Tower and then split up again from there", so Elayne, Gawyn, Egwene, & Min all go to the Tower with Verin (who takes the Horn back with her?), and Elayne & Egwene get raised to Accepted in S3, then get sent off again... but then how/when does Egwene ends up in the Waste?).

Mat going with Galad might make more sense because -- well, the Whitecloaks are in Falme directly fighting against the Seanchan. It's literally going to be their Best Look Ever and Galad could join up with them without looking like the worst brother ever, because they actually are trying to help at that point in time.

Going with both of the brothers together potentially solves the "Gawyn knows too much if he goes to Falme" issue -- if Mat runs into the Whitecloaks, he and Galad could get tugged along into heading in their direction towards Falme (maybe even with Mat being a semi-prisoner again, if he's recognized by any of the Whitecloaks as being part of the group from the Two Rivers that was traveling with Moiraine?) while Gawyn takes off on his own at that point (ending up back at the White Tower, while Galad eventually ends up joining the Whitecloaks after the Battle of Falme?).

Now, where would Mat be going on his own?

Straight to Falme seems possible: if Min or Mat overhears/finds out that Liandrin took Egwene, Nynaeve, & Elayne away for sinister purposes, then Siuan could ask them to go to Falme on her behalf; and both Gawyn and Galad would have reasons to want to go after Elayne to try to help her.

Mat could also do the "letter to Morgase" plot and go to Caemlyn, though I feel like it's... unlikely that they would cast Morgase & Co this early on. But it's a possibility, and it would mean that Mat could overhear a plot that would send him in the direction of Falme.

(b.) Mat might join up with Perrin and his group. I have to admit... this does seem fairly unlikely to me, because from the photos and teasers that have been released, it looks like Perrin is going to be running into the Seanchan in episode 4 (5 by the latest, as Loial is already a prisoner and hanging out with Suroth in the episode 5 picture). It just doesn't seem like the pacing would work out for Mat to be captured, held by Liandrin, get set loose (maybe by Siuan), and then find his way to Perrin by episode 4.

(c.) Okay, confession: this last one is definitely my favorite possibility. But I feel like it has some solid backing! It is, of course, the one where Mat goes with Rand to Falme.

Here's how this one would work (I'm also making some guesses at where those leaked episode titles might fall and what they refer to):

2x1 - A Taste of Solitude (confirmed title for ep 1): Mat is captured by the Red Ajah in Tar Valon and secretly held captive. We know he has at least one scene with Liandrin, so I'm gonna place it here. Egwene & Nynaeve arrive at the White Tower; Rand is off wandering on his own; Moiraine and Lan are either doing research or on the hunt for Rand. Mat focused episode in Tar Valon, so that the audience can settle in with "new Mat" right away.

2x2 - Eyes Without Pity (Wolfbrother eyes): Perrin hunting the Horn meeting Elyas, maybe with a quick reminder that Mat is locked up & all other plotlines, etc. This might also be when Rand meets 'Selene', after he's had a taste of solitude in the previous episode. Perrin focused episode.

2x3 - What Might Be (Accepted testing): Probably when Nynaeve is raised as Accepted; maybe Elayne discovers that a man (Mat) is being held prisoner in the dungeons of the White Tower (the lantern image) and tells Siuan, who brings him up to the healing quarters and chastises the Red Ajah (stirring them up even more against her?). Rand arrives in Cairhien? Maybe Perrin & co entering the Ways to chase after the Horn & dagger towards Falme? Nynaeve-focused episode, with some Elayne & Egwene.

2x4 - Daughter of the Night (Lanfear): It looks like this is when Moiraine, Lan, & Rand meet up, Foregate goes up in flames, and Rand probably begins his training, both with politics (Moiraine) and the sword (Lan); I'm guessing that Rand will learn Selene's identity here. This may also be when Perrin & co encounter the Seanchan, when Perrin meets Aviendha, and when Loial gets captured. Rand, Moiraine, & Lan focused episode, with Perrin as the main subplot.

2x5 - Strangers and Friends (Seanchan and Darkfriends): We know that we're going to get some looks at Suroth & Ishamael, and we might learn about the Dark One's plans. This may also be the episode when Liandrin tricks the girls into leaving Tar Valon and Mat finds out about her plans (like he originally overheard Gaebril in TDR) and tells Siuan Sanche, maybe because he doesn't have anywhere else to turn. She sends him to Cairhien with a message for Moiraine (I'm assuming that Moiraine has let Siuan know that she's in Cairhien via a coded message of some kind). Potentially the episode when Egwene gets collared (at the end?).

2x6 - Damane (Egwene in captivity): Mat travels towards Cairhien, either alone or with Min (as per the reasoning in path a), potentially meeting Aludra along the way and getting some fireworks, as she would have been exiled back in episode four when the chapterhouse went up in flames. Another possibility here is that Siuan takes Mat to Cairhien herself; thus giving us a Moiraine & Siuan reunion in the next episode. Focused on Egwene in Falme (maybe also Nynaeve & co run into Perrin & co and they team up?).

2x7: Mat arrives in Cairhien and tells Siuan's message to Moiraine and we may get emotional fallout of Moiraine sending the Red Ajah after Mat from both Rand and from Lan, who does pull away from Moiraine in the books and this would give the viewers a solid reason why he might begin to do that. Moiraine realizes that the only way to get to Falme quickly is to use the Portal Stones, but Rand will have to channel to use them, because Moiraine is still shielded and/or stilled (but my guess is shielded). Focused on Moraine, Rand, Mat, Lan in Cairhien (and maybe Min, if she went along in Mat's plotline instead of going along in Egwene's). I don't have a guess about the episode title for this one, as we only got six potential titles leaked. Siuan would head back to the White Tower at this time, if she's the way that Mat got to Cairhien.

2x8: Moiraine, Lan, Mat, and Rand arrive in Falme and the fireworks go off for everyone, big finale. We don't have a spoiled title that feels like it fits this episode but I've seen people speculate that it'll be "The Grave Is No Bar To My Call" and that makes sense.

(actually, if the show doesn't go in this direction, I might end up writing it as an AU after the season airs, lol)

[neuxue]

Wheel of Time liveblogging: The Gathering Storm ch 37

Two words: Natrin’s Barrow

Chapter 37: A Force of Light

That sounds almost positive, so it probably isn’t.

Oh it’s a Min POV! I’ve been wanting one of these.

I like the way the POV is shifting in this book so far, bouncing off of Rand to other characters briefly, then coming back to him on the way to another character, touching sometimes on his own thoughts and sometimes on those around him. It’s a change from the previous few books, and adds to the sense that we’re drawing closer to an ending; everything is being pulled tightly around him as he stands at the centre of this storm.

The previous few books, we’ve seen more of things falling apart, divisions growing, unity failing, the right hand falters and the left hand strays – reinforced by the way POV sections were grouped by character, so you’d see one character and one storyline for a few chapters, and then either not at all or maybe only once or twice before the next book. The stories were separate, the characters were separate, and the impacts of the Dragon Reborn and the impending Last Battle and everything that goes with it were being flung across the world. Now, there’s a sense of pulling that back in, and so it becomes tighter, faster, and yet at the same time slightly more chaotic and frantic.

And Rand stands at the centre, but he still has relatively few viewpoint chapters of his own; often, now, he is narrated by one of those near him. Because while he is the point around which everything turns, he inhabits a slightly different level – partly out of his own doing, deciding that the Dragon Reborn cannot be truly human, giving himself to his role and duty and leaving nothing for himself, writing out his own agency in a way; and partly out of the role he is given.

Anyway, let’s get to the actual chapter, shall we?

These opening paragraphs, with Min watching Rand dress in meticulous detail, sharp and tense and exact, remind me a great deal of two other scenes. The first is Rand preparing to go to Caemlyn to face Rahvin at the end of TFoH, where he thought about how he needed to be cold, with no mistakes, and Aviendha watched him. The second is Min watching Rand prepare to go to Illian to face Sammael. There’s a trend here, is all I’m saying.

“Do you want to talk about it?��� she asked.

Rand did not turn from the mirror. “About what?”

“The Seanchan.”

“There will be no peace,” he said, straightening his coat collar. “I have failed.” His tone was emotionless, yet somehow taut.

“It’s all right to be frustrated, Rand.”

“Frustration is pointless,” he said. “Anger is pointless.”

Tuon left that meeting and immediately declared herself Empress and war on the Tower (like my zeugma there?). Now, I think, we’re seeing Rand’s version of that. Two leaders walk away from a ruined attempt at peace and set their held plans in motion, cold and clear and ruthless.

The air shimmered above Rand, and a mountain appeared there. Viewings were so common around Rand that Min usually forced herself to ignore them unless they were new – though she did spend time some days trying to pick them all out and sort through them. This one was new, and it caught her attention. The towering mountain was blasted out on one side, making a jagged hole down the slope. Dragonmount?

Finally someone says it. Dragonmount’s been hanging over Rand for…well, technically his whole life I suppose, but in the last few chapters those hints have been getting heavier than either duty or a mountain.

It was cloaked in dark shadows, as if shaded by clouds

Or by metaphor.

That was odd; whenever she’d seen the mountain, it had reached higher than the clouds themselves.

With your self-taught philosophy, Min, I trust you can work this one out without too much difficulty.

Dragonmount in shadows. It would be important to Rand in the future. Was that a tiny prick of light shining from the heavens down onto the point of the mountain?

A memory of light, even?

He will stand on his grave and weep, laughter and tears, death and rebirth, memory and shadow and light…

Lews Therin killed himself in a blaze of light on what would become Dragonmount, and it would be fitting, would it not, for Rand to at last choose life in the very place his past self chose death? A fitting way to answer the question he has been struggling with since learning who he was: does sharing Lews Therin’s soul mean sharing Lews Therin’s fate?

My question is how. How does he get to that point? What would drive him to Dragonmount, and what would compel him to such a choice, as far past the edge as he is? It seems so perfect, so fitting; I can’t see what else all of this could be leading to, but nor can I see how we get there.

She’d begun to think of herself as a last defense for Rand.

Ah, Min. And she has been – her bond with him and her love for him have been among his very few anchor points for so long. But he is absolutely his own worst enemy right now – the external threats pale in comparison and they’re not insignificant – but it’s hard to defend anyone against that level of commitment to self-immolation.

Min had discovered just how useful she was as a ‘line of defense’. She’d been about as useful as a child! In fact, she’d been a hindrance, a tool for Semirhage to use against him.

Yeah, I knew she must have her own reasons for not pushing to accompany Rand to the meeting with Tuon. And of course it’s not quite the same reason Rand assumed. But why can he not feel this through the bond – her frustration with herself, her growing sense of helplessness? Or if he can feel it, why does he not think about it?

(Yes those questions are mostly rhetorical).

So she studied and tried to stay out of his way. He’d changed on that day, as if something bright had turned off inside of him. A lamp flickering out, its oil gone, leaving only the casing. He looked at her differently, now. When those eyes of his studied her, did they see only a liability?

It’s not a lack or a diminishing of love, but it is a…distancing…between them. Yet another anchor Rand is slowly losing, because now there is this thread of uncertainty and fear and doubt and misunderstanding between them, even if each reads a different reason or cause into it. And the fact that this is happening even with Min, who has been closer to him than anyone for a very long time, is indicative of just how far gone he is.

“You’re going after her, aren’t you?” Min found herself asking. “Graendal.”

So she’s not the only one getting a sense of déjà vu from this scene.

“Fix the problems you can, don’t fret over the ones you cannot. It was something Tam once told me.”

Okay, Rand, that’s good advice and all, but I’m fairly certain Tam al’Thor did not intend it to apply to this particular situation.

“Don’t think you can leave me behind!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said flatly.

Maybe Nynaeve can dream of it on his behalf.

Too soon?

Once, he would have done everything in his power to persuade her not to. But now, the possibility of her death is something he has…accepted, in the cold way he accepts anything and everything he must do or sacrifice. It would be just another wound to carry until he can die.

From the night stand he picked up the statuette of a man holding aloft a globe. He turned the ter’angreal in his hand, inspecting it, then looked up at Min, as if in challenge. She said nothing.

He does not challenge her decision to accompany him, so she does not challenge his decision to bring the nuke along. (Great).

It all adds to this very well-executed sense that something is very, very wrong here. He’s so different, eerily so at times, and so the characters around him are caught in this…dance, almost, of trying to figure out how to get him to respond, trying to either unsettle or provoke him or get any sort of reaction from him at all besides this terrifying calm.

He glanced at the pair of Maidens guarding the door. “I go to battle,” he said to them. “Bring no more than twenty.”

However misguided his earlier attempts were to keep them from the fighting, this is more frightening by far, because it’s not him. It doesn’t come from a place of finally understanding and accepting their choices; it comes simply because he’s stopped caring – or at least, stopped acting on his caring – about any of the things he once did. He is a different person, and all can sense it, and it comes across so exquisitely in the narrative, and it’s both beautiful and terrible, and filled with this sense of foreboding, of calamity on the horizon.

He had rushed off like this to fight Forsaken before

And that’s always worked out so well. He wins, but there’s always such a high cost to pay. Rahvin, maybe, was the one where the scales tipped the most in his favour, but even that had its price.

He seemed like a thunderstorm, contained and wrapped up, somehow bound and channelled towards a single goal. How she wished he’d just explode and lose his temper, the way he used to! He’d exasperated her then, but he’d never frightened her. Not as he did now, with those icy eyes she couldn’t read, that aura of danger.

More than most, she sees the depth of the changes in him. It’s an excellent description, and she’s not wrong to be afraid, though it’s heartbreaking to see that she is.

One of the interesting things here is the comment about his temper. Because in the early-to-middle books, he and others thought about how that was a change in him; how he’d never shown much of a temper before. And he didn’t, until TDR/TSR. But now, this lack of a temper, this complete failure to explode even when pushed to what should be a breaking point, doesn’t feel even remotely like the gentle shepherd he once was. It’s not a return to or a remembrance of that. Instead it’s a warped, twisted reflection of it, the way so much about him now is. There are echoes of the person we first met, and yet they’ve been distorted, given these harsh edges, taken too far and reached from the wrong direction.

Since the incident with Semirhage, he spoke of doing ‘whatever he had to’ regardless of cost, and she knew that he must seethe at having failed to convince the Seanchan to ally with him. What would that combination of failure and determination lead him to do?

YOU AND ME BOTH, MIN.

I’ve been wondering that pretty much since The Last That Could Be Done, because that was the crossing of his personal threshold, but you don’t have a character become unfettered in their own minds without then giving some…outward indication of that. Rand is cold and terrifying and not at all like himself, but he hasn’t yet crossed that line externally. And I think so much of the tension from his last several chapters has been a result of that sense of waiting for him to do exactly that. It seems an inevitability, and because there are no limits it’s just a question of when – because it could be any time. It could be anything. So the reader and the other characters alike are walking on eggshells here, because he’s already at that point, he doesn’t need to be pushed, he just needs to decide something is necessary…

And we’re heading for Graendal’s hiding place. Bets on this ending well? Anyone?

Speaking of ending well…there are those arguments that crop up periodically in this genre that anything not ‘gritty’ or grimdark or ‘anyone can die’ is boring because you know it’s going to end with good triumphing over evil and minimal major deaths. And I think this serves as a good illustration of how that’s not at all true. I am 99% sure this series will end with a victory for the Light, that Rand will remember laughter and tears before the end and will rise from this low point, that most if not all of the main cast will make it out alive. But that doesn’t make the story less compelling, or this current darkness of Rand’s arc less tense or frightening. It just shifts the focus. The question is not who will win and who will die (to paraphrase a certain proponent of the other side of this argument), but how they will win, and what the cost will be, and how far they will go and what that will do and how they will find a way back and a way forward and what that future will look like, with ‘the battle done, but the world not done with battle’.

This chapter – Rand’s whole arc this book – is filled with a sense of foreboding, a sense of the true darkest hour, and the almost certain knowledge that he will somehow come through this doesn’t make that tension any less. I’m still waiting to see him do something catastrophic, and throughout the books leading up to this I was watching him break slowly, and it wasn’t a question of whether he would survive, or even whether he would fall to darkness, but of what he would do in order to endure. It becomes not an exploration of simply life or death, of failure or success, but of the difference between hardness and strength, of the balance of desperation and hope, of identity and duty and power, of the limits of endurance.

And I don’t think that’s boring. Because it’s not about how it ends, really. It’s about how the story gets there, about watching these characters walk these paths, wondering what it will do to them, wondering how they will reach their destinations and how much of themselves they will leave behind, or perhaps discover.

Don’t get me wrong: I also enjoy stories that do have the potential to end in true darkness, or in failure or death, and where those are the main uncertainties. But sitting here, reading as Rand prepares in calm cold apathy to eliminate one of his enemies and holds the power in his hand to destroy the world, sure this can’t possibly go well, I don’t feel like that sense of dread and anticipation and excitement is in any way lessened by the probability that eventually, he will come through this.

Once that would have made him smile. She kept forgetting that he didn’t do that anymore.

It’s so casually phrased that it’s funny until the meaning hits and it’s not funny at all.

Instead of smiling Rand decides to give us all a lecture on the history of Natrin’s Barrow. I suppose having a lifetime of memories from three thousand years ago, but nothing between then and now, would give some people an interest in history. And send others running for the hills.

“Tell me this: How do I outthink an enemy I know is smarter than I am?”

With a long-range sniper and very good aim.

The actual answer to this is to not try to outthink them, because you won’t. Don’t try to outplay a master of the game but don’t refuse the invitation; take the first steps as expected and then ignore the rules completely, and in the most erratic or unpredictable – and preferably final – way possible. Move your pawn and then flip the table over and start shooting. Don’t engage in the game of wits and strategies. Go for simple, and for overkill, as far outside the rules as you can. It helps not to care about consequences or collateral damage.

As for why Rand is asking this of Ramshalan, idiot and worst fashion disaster since Tylin had control of Mat’s wardrobe, I have no idea.

“I…My Lord, if your foe is that clever, then perhaps your best course of action is to request the aid of someone more clever?”

Rand turned to him. “An excellent suggestion, Ramshalan. Perhaps I’ve already done just that.”

He’s mostly mocking Ramshalan without Ramshalan noticing, because that’s a fun cruel game, but there’s a possible double meaning here because…Lews Therin. He has the memories of a man who by all accounts was a great strategist.

“I’d make an alliance, my Lord,” Ramshalan said without pausing for another second. “Anyone that powerful would make a better friend than foe, I’d say.”

Yeah that worked out so well for Sammael. It’s not a bad idea in theory, but only if you’re certain you would hold the upper hand in that ‘alliance’; in a problem such as the one Rand has posed, where your enemy is the cleverer strategist, this would fall squarely into the category of playing their game, allowing them to determine the rules, and then having to try to outthink them where they are at their best.

And now Rand’s just sending him off through a gateway, presumably to Natrin’s Barrow, as his ‘emissary’…this feels quite a lot like moving that first pawn. So what does flipping the table over look like?

What was Rand’s game?

Sha’rah, technically.

“Go in my name and seek those who rule the keep. See if they are willing to support me, or if they even know about me. Offer them rewards for allegiance; since you have proven yourself clever, I will let you determine the terms.”

This is also clever, because by leaving a lot of the specifics of whatever encounter takes place up to Ramshalan, he adds another layer of uncertainty and thus unpredictability.

Min found herself feeling sorry for the man.

Yeah, life’s hard on pawns sometimes.

“Graendal understands people better than anyone. Twisted she may be, but she is crafty, and should not be underestimated. Torhs Margin made that mistake, I recall, and you know his fate.”

Min frowned. “Who?” she asked, looking at Nynaeve. The Aes Sedai shrugged.

Insert ‘margins of history’ pun here.

It’s odd that neither Min nor Nynaeve seems to pick up on what’s happening here, though. They both know about Lews Therin, and by extension about Rand having knowledge that does not come solely from this lifetime.

“You’ve obviously already decided what you intend to do. Why ask me?”

“Because what I am about to do should frighten me,” he said. “It doesn’t.”

Oh.

I…okay, yeah, wow, give me a second here because there’s a lot in that.

We’re there, aren’t we? At the last line I’ve been waiting for him to cross; he’s crossed his own last threshold, so now we need to see what that actually means. It’s one thing to see it in his mindset, in what he says, even in walking away from a peace accord. But all of that feels like the build-up to something. And now this…seems like it. Whatever it is that he’s about to do.

Which brings us to the other part of this: he knows it should frighten him. He’s so cold, so calm, so apparently unfeeling, and yet even through all of that he knows that whatever it is he is walking so calmly towards should frighten him. But it doesn’t. And that’s the truly chilling part.

He knows on some level that the fact that it doesn’t frighten him is wrong. Which means he can tell, on some level, that what he’s about to do is worthy of that fear. He just can’t let himself feel it, but that he even knows that, that he voices it and it clearly worries him even through that layer of ice, the fact that he even says this, as if he’s reaching out to two of the last people he trusts and begging them to stop him, conveys a staggering sense of magnitude here, in scale or in horror or simply in how far across that line it is. And so there’s this sense that some part of him – a part he can no longer acknowledge but that same place from whence came the quiet warning “He named you friend. Do not abandon him…” – is screaming. But without any way to be heard.

It’s a hell of a line.

But neither of them says anything to him because what can you say to that? He’s reaching out so desperately for help he could never accept, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop him at this point. And so whatever small part of him is still truly him has to just…watch.

I feel like there’s some small element of symbolism to the fact that he steps through a literal gateway – across a threshold, if you will – right after he says this.

The mountain air was more chilly than the breeze had indicated.

Colder than the wind, hmm?

Atop a ridge of its own, high above the water, was an impressive white stone structure. Rectangular and tall, it was built in the form of several towers stacked atop one another, each one slightly thinner than the one beneath. That gave the palace an elegant shape – fortified, yet palatial. “it’s beautiful,” she said breathlessly.

Nice palace you have there. Would be a shame if something happened to it.

The palace was distant, but not so distant that Min couldn’t make out the figures of men walking the battlements on guard, halberds at their shoulders, breastplates reflecting the late sunlight. A late party of hunters rode through the gates, a fine buck deer lashed to the pack horse, and a group of workers chopped at a fallen tree nearby, perhaps for firewood. A pair of serving women in white carried poles, bucket at each end, up from the lake, and lights were winking on in windows the length of the structure. It was a living, working estate bundled up in a single massive building.

Thanks for the census there. How many civilians, precisely? And do tell me, what colour shirts are these numerous people wearing? Because it’s sounding a hell of a lot like red.

And now Rand’s stroking the statue again (there’s no clean way to say that; believe me, I tried).

I have a very, very bad feeling that I know what’s about to happen here.

Not sure what Ramshalan’s purpose is, though. Rand seems sure Graendal will get the whole conversation they had from him, which implies he wants her to – which means she’ll know about Rand asking how to beat someone cleverer than you are, which means she’ll know Rand is looking for a way to defeat her, which would put her on guard…or maybe make her think she has the upper hand? Seems like a risk regardless, but perhaps she’d have found out anyway, and this way Rand can control to some extent the delivery…

“You make it sound as if you can’t win,” Nynaeve said, frowning. […]

“We can’t win, you say?” Rand asked. “Is that what we’re trying to do? Win?”

Ah, Rand. Wise of you not to try to beat her at her own game, but the mindset behind this is…troubling.

Nynaeve raised an eyebrow. “Do you not answer questions anymore?”

Did he ever?

Rand just does that new staring trick of his and Nynaeve is thrown by it and every time he does it it’s still kind of chilling. Especially when it works on people like Nynaeve, who have never truly feared him before.

They waited quietly on the mountain ridge as the distant sun made its way toward the horizon. Shadows lengthened

And so the pathetic fallacy continues. I honestly love this. The Dragon is one with the land, after all…

More lights had been lit in the fortress windows. How many people did Graendal have in there? Scores, if not hundreds.

Why does this sound so much like a pre-emptive tally of collateral damage?

Oh hey Ramshalan’s back.

Oh.

“Is he infected?” Rand asked of Nynaeve.

“By what?” she asked.

“Graendal’s touch.”

He was literally just a canary in a coal mine, wasn’t he? To make sure Graendal is actually there. While Rand still stands at a distance. On a ridge. Looking down at the mansion. Full of collateral damage people.

It was growing dark

Yeah no kidding.

And yet this chapter is called A Force of Light. I’m…Concerned.

Besides the dim evening light, the only illumination came from the still-open gateway behind them. It shone with lamplight, an inviting portal back to warmth, away from this place of shadow and coldness.

There is no light ahead, only vanishing sunset and darkness. The only light and warmth is behind, back across that gateway, that threshold. Light only if you look back, but none ahead, not this way, not on this path…

“Rand,” she said, touching his arm. “Let’s go back.”

“I have something I must do,” he said, not looking at her.

Something that should frighten him. Something that does not allow him to look back, towards light and warmth, but only ahead, towards growing darkness and lengthening shadows and cold and a fortress full of people and his enemy. Oh, Rand, no.

His face was clasped in shadow, but as he turned toward her, his eyes reflected the light from the open gateway.

Shadow ahead, consuming him, but as he turns towards her, towards Min, towards one of his last anchors even though she’s not enough to hold him back now, there’s a remnant of light there. But that’s all it is. A reflection, a remnant, a memory if you’ll pardon my extreme overuse of that particular pun.

The sun set; Rand was now just a silhouette. The fortress was only a black profile with lanterns lining the holes in its walls. Rand stepped up to the lip of the ridge, removing the access key from his pocket. It started to glow just faintly, a red light coming from its very heart.

As ominous and frightening as this is, it’s also an absolutely lovely image. Everything in silhouette, Rand merely a shape, an outline, a space in the world rather than a person. A role that must be filled, a silhouette that shows no human features, no identifying marks. Just a shape, a darkness against the setting sun. A fortress that, too, is no more than a shape, an outline, a representation rather than a reality.

And then just this glowing light of power. Outlines and representations and roles, and power, and all else fades. It’s terrible but it’s so, so lovely.

He’s going to destroy it isn’t he?

“Neither of you were there when Callandor failed me,” he said into the night. […] “Cadsuane told me that the second failure came from a flaw in Callandor itself. It cannot be controlled by a lone man, you see. It only works if he’s in a box. Callandor is a carefully enticing leash, intended to make me surrender willingly.”

Okay why are we talking about Callandor now? No doubt because he’s holding the access key, but still. Does it have to be a willing surrender? And Rand, it’s need not be a box, or a leash. Willing surrender has its place; trust has its place. But he cannot do either anymore, and after the Domination Band is it any wonder he would see Callandor as simply a more elaborate trap?

The access key’s globe burst alight with a more brilliant colour, seeming crystalline. The light within was scarlet, the core brilliant and bright.

Light – strong, brilliant, bright light – but terrifying. Light against the shadow and darkness of night, but there is no sense of warmth or comfort to this.

“I see a different answer to my problems,” Rand said. Voice still almost a whisper. “Both times Callandor failed me, I was being reckless with my emotion. I allowed temper to drive me. I can’t kill in anger, Min. I have to keep that anger inside; I must channel it as I channel the One Power. Each death must be deliberate. Intentional.”

Once, you tried to use Callandor for life rather than death…but of course the solution is to be colder, to be harder, to turn inwards rather than to surrender and rely on trust, or to care about the outcomes.

This whole passage is chilling in that quietly escalating way horrifying things are. The way the light from the access key keeps growing as Rand speaks, the way we’re given this alternation between descriptions of it and Rand’s calm, emotionless words against that escalation of building power and brilliant light and yet nothing but cold…it’s so well done, and the sense of anticipation and dread is excellent.

Min couldn’t speak. Couldn’t phrase her fears, couldn’t find the words to make him stop.

There are no words to make him stop, Min, and that’s what makes it both so terrifying and so heartbreaking. Even he couldn’t find a way to make himself stop; he knew this should frighten him. But it doesn’t, and if they cannot stop him, none can. Nothing can. There are no limits, no restraints, and this is what that means.

His eyes remained in the darkness, somehow, despite the liquid light he held before him.

That says it all, really, doesn’t it? Despite the brilliant light he holds, despite all this power, his eyes are in darkness, because that’s all he can see before him now.

That light hurled shadows away from his figure, as if he was the point of a silent explosion.

The only light is from the gateway behind him and he cannot look back; the only light is from the immense power he holds but he cannot let himself feel, and so all is in darkness though he is the champion of Light, holding light and wreathed by light, yet all he sees is darkness, and all the light does is throw more shadows. A brilliant light, but the shadows it casts from him…a force of light, and yet who stands to gain? A champion of the Light, and yet with this cold, unfeeling, unfettered power, which side does he truly serve?

And Min and Nynaeve are just watching, because what else can they do? What can anyone do?

When he’d been so close to killing her with his own hand, she hadn’t feared him. But then, she’d known that it wasn’t Rand hurting her, but Semirhage. But this Rand – hand aflame, eyes so intent yet so dispassionate – terrified her.

Oh Min. She has stood by him through so much and never turned away, never flinched, never feared him. No matter what he did, or what people thought he had done, or what so many feared him capable of. Always she stood by him in love, and if she was afraid it was for him, never of him. Now even she fears him. And still nothing is said of the bond between them, of what she feels through it or perhaps what he does.

“I’ve done it before,” she whispered. “I once said that I didn’t kill women, but it was a lie. I murdered a woman long before I faced Semirhage. Her name was Liah. I killed her in Shadar Logoth. I struck her down, and I called it mercy.”

It was mercy. A painless death, ‘gone before her agony began’ as I think it was phrased, or the torment of Mashadar? There’s no question.

He turned to the fortress below.

No.

Oh, no.

“Forgive me,” he said, but it didn’t seem directed at Min, “for calling this mercy as well.”

...

...

That sound you might have heard was me literally, quite literally, gasping out loud.

It is, perhaps, the most perfect line that could have been written there—

Something impossibly bright formed in the air before him

—because this is unforgivable; this is not mercy; he knows it, and does not expect the forgiveness he asks for. Just as he knew this should frighten him but it did not. There is nothing for him now, nothing to hold him back, and there will be no forgiveness but he believed that the moment he reached for the True Power, the moment he killed Semirhage, the moment he stepped across that line. He asks forgiveness here the same way Lews Therin cried for Ilyena’s forgiveness: with the assumption – no, the certainty – that it could never be granted, that there will be no absolution.

The air itself seemed to warp, as if pulling away from Rand in fear.

The world afraid of him. The land is one with the Dragon and yet now even the wind pulls back from him, turns away from him, fears him.

Min could no longer make out Rand, only a blazing, brilliant force of light.

Before, he was a silhouette. Just a shape in the darkness, to be filled in. Now…similar, and yet opposite. Not a person, still, but a shape made of light. The Light’s champion, the Dragon Reborn, a being of sheer power and light rather than flesh and humanity.

Light, but terrifying, because there is no humanity to it, nothing of Rand in that shape of power, nothing to contain it and direct it. Unfeeling light, that could burn anything it touches, with no sense of meaning. Rand is gone, subsumed by this force, by the outline of what he must be, by all he has let go of himself, to feed this force of light until it is as destructive as any darkness could ever be.

This is light unfettered, and it’s terrifying. He has gone too far; he is too far gone, and this is what it looks like when that is unleashed.

In that moment, she felt as if she could understand what the One Power was. It was there, before her, made incarnate in the man Rand al’Thor.

Except there’s nothing of Rand to it; he has emptied himself of that, to become little more than a vessel for this power and for the duty and role he must take on, because that is the only way he could find.

It’s still beautiful, though. Despite what he is undoubtedly about to do, despite what this power is building towards, despite all its destructive potential.

And then, with a sound like a sigh, he released it.

Ahhhhhhh this is perfect.

All this power, this blazing force, this sense of something bursting to light, of power that can barely be contained…and then this breath of softness. With a sound like a sigh. The contrast of force and gentleness, of furious power and a soft sigh, so much destructive potential and energy and very likely death, released so gently, so quietly. Easily, almost. So light, for such a weight. This is absolutely gorgeous.

Just a sigh. Just a breath. That moment of almost quiet, of gentleness and softness and simplicity before…well. It’s almost long enough to forget where this is leading, almost enough, with the paragraph before it of pure light and power and Power, to make this only a moment of beauty. Except.

A column of pure whiteness exploded from him and burned across the silent night sky

And here is the violence. There’s the gathering of power, the potential, then that sigh of gentle release…and then it all hits. It’s like that effect you sometimes see in movies where everything is slowed, everything is quiet, and then just at – or sometimes just after – the moment of impact, sound returns and everything is jolted back to its ordinary speed and that brief moment of soft waiting out of time is lost.

The stones came alight, as if they were breathing in the force of the energy. The entire fortress glowed, transforming into living light, an amazing, spectacular palace of unadulterated energy. It was beautiful.

It is beautiful; this whole scene has been beautiful, but. It’s balefire. It has to be; he knows now that nothing else can absolutely kill the Forsaken beyond the possibility of resurrection.

So.

It was beautiful.

And then it was gone.

Yeah. That.

He just.

This is the thing I’ve been waiting for. The point where he crosses that last line, not just for himself but for all to see.

Well, those few remaining who matter, anyway. Those who have – had? – not yet turned away from him.

Burned from the landscape—and the Pattern—as if it had never been there. The entire fortress, hundreds of feet of stone and everyone who had lived in it.

Yeah.

It’s such an exquisitely done scene, the quiet but inexorable approach, the ‘forgive me for calling this mercy as well’ and then the sense of simplicity and silence, and yet immense gathering power, and then that single quiet moment of release, the whole thing beautiful and lit only by the fading light of the sunset and then the brilliant light of destruction, silence and beauty and power. And then devastation, but even in that, silence. Nothing remains; there is no visible destruction, no visible harm, nothing to draw feeling or pain. There’s just…nothingness. Emptiness. Void. (The Dragon is one with the land…)

Something hit Min, something like a shocking wave in the air. It wasn’t a physical blast, and it didn’t make her stumble, but it twisted her insides about. The forest around them—still lit by the glowing access key in Rand’s hands—seemed to warp and shake. It was as if the world itself were groaning in agony.

And this is where reality returns, where that silence and softness and beauty is broken, where the true force of the devastation hits. Because there is damage; there is pain. The world itself has been shaken here, the Pattern torn. There’s no visible damage, but beneath that, reality itself is being pulled apart. It’s not a quiet, beautiful, consequences-free display of power. It’s not mercy.

So this scene echoes something of his own state of mind, gives us an outward expression of just how far he has gone, of what he is doing not just to himself but to the world he is meant to save. That’s what this is here for. This is the cost, of what has been done to him and of what he has done to himself as a result. This is where we stand now.

This is a lot.

And one of the things that’s so well done about it is this sense of…not numbness, quite, but of delayed impact. Of understanding without feeling, of observing what is happening as it happens, yet in such a way that the description doesn’t quite allow for horror until afterwards, and even then…all of it is softened; it’s presented clearly, and there’s no blurring of details, but that sense of quiet and gentleness and beauty, the focus on the power itself rather than on its effect until later, the way we just get ‘It was beautiful. And then it was gone.’ with none of the signs that would ordinarily be associated with violence or death or destruction; just beauty and then nothingness…it conveys, wonderfully, the state of mind in which this was done. The emptiness, the sense almost of surreality even as what is happening is all too real. And then it’s done, it’s gone…and then we get the horror, as the impact hits Min and the world shakes and the full truth of this strikes home.

It’s not the immediate shocking ‘no’ or ‘it is HIM’ of The Last that Could Be Done. It’s a different kind of horror, a different kind of realisation, a different kind of impact. And yet they are inextricably linked; that is what led us here. (That, and everything that came before it).

“What have you done?” Nynaeve whispered.

Yeah.

It’s…yeah. A Force of Light indeed.

And again, the pacing here is excellent, in the way that we’re given such a long, almost gentle scene of the buildup and the actual releasing of the power…and it’s not until the moment that it strikes that everything snaps back into place, and we’re brought back to something like normal speed as the impact hits, and now we’re back to reality, after that long dilated moment that seemed to hang suspended. And so now all the realisation is happening, all the reactions you’d expect, and that comes through to the reader as well, with this sense of ‘wait this actually just happened’.

Rand didn’t reply. Min could see his face again, now that the enormous column of balefire had vanished, leaving behind only the glowing access key. He was in ecstasy, mouth agape, and he held the access key aloft before himself as if in victory. Or in reverence.

Only now, now that we’ve had the chance to take in a little more of what has just happened, now that we’ve felt that resulting impact and taken a second to understand the enormity and the truth of it, now we get to see Rand through a slightly different lens, see what this actually looks like, and see not the soft, silhouetted emptiness or power or bright pure light, but the horror behind it. This image isn’t beautiful or gentle; it’s jarring and terrible. He’s just destroyed a city, burned it out of existence, but all we see is ecstasy, a man almost consumed by this power that just moments ago seemed beautiful.

Or in reverence. If that had come earlier, when he was just a figure of light and power, before all of it was unleashed, when it was still a force of light and frightening in its way but beautiful, that line would read very differently. Yet instead it’s here, where the sheer wrongness of it comes through, where it feels jarring and warped and ominous.

Then he gritted his teeth, eyes opening wide, lips parted as if he were under great pressure. The light flashed once, then immediately vanished. All became dark.

The light vanishes immediately now, after…that. And once more we’re in complete darkness, which again feels like a revealing of the truth.

Had he really done what she thought he had? Had he burned away an entire fortress with balefire?

Yes. Yeah. He did that.

Yeah. 

And again, it’s paced so that only now do we get the stark statement of it, as part of this growing horror of realisation.

All those people. […] They were gone. Burned from the Pattern. Killed. Dead forever. […] So many lives, ended in an instant. Dead. Destroyed. By Rand.

Now it’s all short, fragmented sentences, or even single words, as reality has hit and she’s trying to encompass it, trying to put it to words but it hardly even goes.

It’s not as if Rand hasn’t caused death and destruction before. But in a world where rebirth is a guaranteed part of life – and when the continuation of that cycle is a large part of what he’s supposed to be fighting for in the first place – this is different, because he’s taking even that away.

And it’s also just the way approached this. This wasn’t desperate self-preservation, or a battle, or a war. This wasn’t even losing control of his power and killing his own people as a result. This was planned, calmly and coldly; he stood on a ridge and looked down at this palace and wiped them from existence without a sound, without a fight, without warning or care.

I suppose whether or not that makes it worse than what he’s done before depends on whether you consider intent or only outcome in your morality, but it is undeniably a different situation.

Strategically, it was clever. How do you beat someone who is smarter than you are? Refuse to play the game, and then destroy it completely. Send in a pawn, then stand on a ridge and wipe the gameboard from existence. It’s a good solution.

It’s just also…well. That.

A light appeared from Nynaeve, and Min turned, seeing the Aes Sedai illuminated by a warm, soft glow of a globe above her head.

It’s fitting, that she is the source of light here. A gentle, soft light, so unlike the power Rand just unleashed. A guiding light, a beacon of sorts if only he could follow it.

“I do what must be done,” he said, speaking now from the shadows.

Speaking now from the shadows indeed. I see what you did there.

And now he just wants her to see if the Compulsion is still present in Ramshalan’s mind, because still he’s the canary here.

“I hate what you just did, Rand,” Nynaeve snarled. “No. ‘Hate’ isn’t strong enough. I loathe what you’ve done. What has happened to you?”

Nynaeve, who has always seen him as Rand al’Thor before the Dragon Reborn, who has never truly stopped seeing him as the boy from her village, even as she has recognised the changes in him. Who reached out to try to heal him, after he faced Rahvin and told her he wasn’t sure how human the Dragon Reborn could afford to be. Who linked with him to cleanse saidin, and who never hesitated to scold him when she thought he needed it. But now she’s seeing him differently, because this is so much different from any of what she’s seen before. This is too far; this is across that last line.

Before, he was irredeemable mainly in his own eyes. Now…

(‘Dream on my behalf, Nynaeve’)

“Before condemning me, let us first determine if my sins have achieved anything beyond my own damnation.”

Wow okay that’s a line.

Ends before means. But he knows, without any doubt, that he has damned himself. He cannot see any possibility for redemption, is certain he will not be forgiven, knows this is an act to condemn. He just…sees it as an inevitability, and thus as something to simply accept and let go. He is damned; so be it. What more does it matter? And so it’s all about the results now; the methods no longer matter because what more could be done to him, that he has not done to himself already?

Only it’s not just about him, it’s about the entire world; he could end existence and carry all of them into this damnation he has already accepted for himself as a guarantee.

Okay the Compulsion is gone but I’m not quite as sure as Rand is that Graendal is dead. The evidence would point that way, but we didn’t see her die and there’s no corpse and in this genre, that spells ‘suspicious’.

Min felt at her neck, where the bruises of Rand’s hand on her neck hadn’t yet faded.

Yikes.

Min, too, looks at him differently now. This has made her do that, when nothing else he has done ever has. This is where he crosses the line.

And has he? I live for this sort of thing, for watching as characters are dragged to moral event horizons and made to do cartwheels on them, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying this, awful as it is. But I’m also fascinated by where those lines are drawn and how they can be manipulated and how characters can be pushed across or pulled back from them, and at what point a character truly tips into irredeemability. I think it’s different for every reader, and depends on all kinds of other factors, but that’s part of what makes it interesting.

So where is Rand, with respect to that line? We watch this scene through Min’s eyes, as even her view of him is forced to change. We see Nynaeve struggle to express how much she hates what he’s just done. And so as a reader it puts us in the position of wondering much the same thing – how far is too far? Is this too far? Can he come back from this and if so, how?

“How do you fight someone smarter than yourself?” Rand whispered. “The answer is simple. You make her think that you are sitting down across the table from her, ready to play her game. Then you punch her in the face as hard as you can.”

Well. I can’t really argue with that, as it’s very close to the way I answered that question earlier. And he’s not wrong, strategically speaking.

It’s just that the reason it’s a good strategy is because it’s so far beyond what anyone would even fear to expect. Because it’s so far across that line. Especially with no threat, no warning. Just zero to balefire in a few seconds, because it’s the only way to completely annihilate the game and opponent.

(I’m probably not the only one thinking of certain…decisive actions taken near the end of the second World War here.)

And then he just turns and walks back though the gateway, calm and without looking back. It’s done; time to move on.

“What you have done is an abomination, Rand al’Thor,” Nynaeve said as soon as the gateway was closed.

But all he does is justify it. Calmly. Last time they spoke, her words reached him on some level and he told her to dream on his behalf and there was just a hint of Rand still there. He dismissed her concerns, but he also agreed with them, and there was that moment of…not vulnerability, or even emotion, but a sort of wistful echo of both, a handing over of the hope he could no longer let himself hold.

Now, though, it’s just flat justification. And it’s different as well because this isn’t Nynaeve telling him that he’s destroying himself. This is Nynaeve being forced to consider that he’s destroying other people, destroying the world perhaps. It is an abomination; this isn’t about concern for him anymore. It’s now about facing someone who has done something monstrous, and she can’t get through to him.

He knows it’s an abomination. He just doesn’t…think that matters anymore.

Which is horrifying.

As Nynaeve is realising, I think.

Though it’s telling that she even tries to confront him, rather than simply walking away. That’s not her way. This is abhorrent on every level, and she doesn’t know what to do with that, but still it’s not in her nature to just give up. But it’s…different from when she just wanted him to stop hurting, wanted to help him, or wanted to protect him.

“I did them a favour.”

“A favour?” Nynaeve asked. “Rand, you used balefire! They were burned out of existence!”

“As I said,” Rand replied softly. “A favour. Sometimes, I wish the same blessing for myself. Good night, Nynaeve.”

Um.

Second of all, that…sounds perhaps like Moridin, which is a whole lot even on its own, but first of all…um.

I just…

I don’t even think I can summon a ‘this is fine’ because this is so far away from fine it’s in another dimension entirely and ‘as I said, a favour’ and he does hate what he’s done, hates it and hates himself enough that he wants to be wiped from existence and thinks he deserves it, but…it’s not enough to stop him. Because what’s the point?

A favour. A mercy.

It’s…he is coming very close, with this, to a ‘wouldn’t it be kinder, more merciful, to just end it all?’ sort of moment. Which is rarely the province of heroes, but that’s where Rand has been driven. He wants to die, and he no longer lets himself care about costs, and he believes he is damned and that there is nothing he can bring to the world but more destruction, and even a fragile peace is doomed to fall apart at his death anyway so what does it matter; he wants to die and he shares a link with a man who seems to want existence itself to be destroyed, and how far is he from looking at that and calling it mercy? It’s so much easier to burn everything with cleansing (bale)fire, to put an end to pain, than to find a way forward, a way to rebuild. To break the cycle rather than embrace it. It’s easier to end the suffering by an ending, rather than by continuing. There are no beginnings or endings to the Wheel of Time, after all, so providing an ending…

It would be a victory for the Shadow, but how far is Rand from seeing it as a…force of Light?

Until that moment, [Min] hadn’t realised just how drained she was. Being around Rand lately did that to her.

Oh Min. I feel like it would be laughable at this point to point out that that’s not exactly the sign of a healthy relationship, but she doesn’t even consider abandoning him. Still, their relationship is more…strained, now. She still loves him, and he her, I think, but it’s…harder, now, than it once was.

“I wish Moiraine were here,” Nynaeve muttered softly, then froze, as if surprised to have heard herself say that.

Pretty much speaks for itself. It’s a nice way to close that arc that began almost at the start of EotW. I hope Nynaeve and Moiraine have a chance for a reunion, to truly bring closure there, but there’s so much growth and understanding in just that simple statement.

“What if he’s right?” Nynaeve asked. “Woolheaded fool though he is, what if he really does have to be like this to win? The old Rand could never have destroyed an entire fortress full of people to kill one of the Forsaken.”

“Of course he couldn’t have,” Min said. “He still cared about killing then! Nynaeve, all those lives…”

“And how many people would still be alive now if he’d been this ruthless from the start?” Nynaeve asked, looking away.

That seems…huh. I was about to say that seems very much out of character for Nynaeve, the one who almost always chooses compassion over pragmatism. But I wonder if that’s kind of the point; it’s out of character for her because he has absolutely no idea how to confront what just happened, how to process it or make sense of it.

And so maybe because she’s trying to look at it through something more like Moiraine’s pragmatism, or maybe just because she’s…lost, and grasping at anything at all, trying to put all this horror into some kind of coherent picture, trying to find a way to…not quite deny it, but make it make sense. I don’t know how much she truly believes any of what she’s saying here. 

“Can we dare send a man to fight the Dark One who won’t sacrifice for what needs to be done?”

Min shook her head. “Dare we send him as he is, with that look in his eyes? Nynaeve, he’s stopped caring. Nothing matters to him anymore but defeating the Dark One.”

“Isn’t that what we want him to do?”

(Isn’t that what we’ve asked him to do? Isn’t that what the world itself has demanded he do?) There’s an element almost of realisation in that question, of the enormity of the task he has been set. Of the fact that he is doing all this because of what they – the world entire – want and need him to do.

“Winning won’t be winning at all if Rand becomes something as bad as the Forsaken…We—”

“I understand,” Nynaeve said suddenly. “Light burn me, but I do, and you’re right. I just don’t like the answers those conclusions are giving me.”

Yeah, that feels like Nynaeve. She agrees with Min, and knows she does, but that’s a harder truth to face.

And apparently it comes with Cadsuane attached. First Moiraine, now Cadsuane…Nynaeve’s making all kinds of strides today.

“I dislike the woman, and I suspect she returns the emotion, but neither of us can handle Rand alone.”

I’m so proud of you, Nynaeve.

“Handle” Rand? That was another problem. Nynaeve and Cadsuane were both so concerned with handling that they failed to see that it might be best to help him instead. Nynaeve cared for Rand, but she saw him as a problem to be fixed, rather than a man in need.

I’m actually not sure I completely agree with Min here. I think the focus on handling rather than helping him is true of many, and probably more so of Cadsuane than of Nynaeve, but even Cadsuane I think does want to help him, for himself as well as for the world. She’s more or less said as much. Still, I’ll grant it with her; she’s tried too hard to manipulate rather than simply aid, and it has cost her.

Nynaeve, though…yes, she’s spoken sometimes of handling him, or of trying ot get him to do what she thinks he should, but it’s always seemed more like a holdover from when she was his babysitter, and now something of what she has become as an Aes Sedai. That’s just who Nynaeve is, to some extent. And the rest of their relationship really has been about her trying to do what she can to help him. She followed him and the others from Emond’s Field to try to protect them. She captured a Forsaken and went to Caemlyn in a dream just to have a chance of helping him in some way when she knew he could be in trouble, and at the end asked ‘at least let me heal you.’ She linked with him to help him cleanse saidin and has stayed by him since to try to help as she can and to protect him from what she sees as threats, and has tried at every possible opportunity to heal him (“how can it be enough, when you’re still bleeding?”). And then recently, in that conversation they had…she just wanted to get him to stop doing this to himself, because it’s destroying him. So yes, she’ll stand up to him and contradict him and push him. But she’s there, in the end, to try to help him however she can.

He’s just at a point, now, where he isn’t letting himself accept the help she or Min or anyone else can give.

Nynaeve stepped up to the front and knocked on the sturdy oak door; it was answered shortly by Merise. “Yes, child?” the Green asked, as if intentionally trying to goad Nynaeve.

“I have to speak with Cadsuane,” Nynaeve growled.

“Cadsuane Sedai, she has no business with you right now,” Merise said, moving to close the cottage door. “Return tomorrow, and perhaps she will see you.”

“Rand al’Thor just burned an entire palace full of people from existence with balefire,” Nynaeve said, loud enough to be heard by those inside the cottage. “I was with him.”

I have to laugh; I do love these kinds of moments, where one character just drops a truth like a bomb on everyone around them. That’s definitely news that will get you in to see Cadsuane at midnight.

And so Cadsuane and Sorilea and the others get the story, because this is not a time for withholding information or pettiness of any sort.

Oh, Rand, Min thought. This must be tearing you apart inside. But she could feel him through the bond; his emotions seemed very cold.

Mention of the bond, finally. And…there’s effectively nothing there. I think Min is right to some extent; it probably is tearing him apart inside, but he’s shut all of that off so completely that he can’t actually feel it, and so it’s just another necessity, just another reason to hate himself and reaffirm his belief that he deserves annihilation. There’s no more that can be done to him, so it’s just another thing.

“You were wise to come to us with this, child,” Sorilea said to Nynaeve. “You may withdraw.”

Nynaeve’s eyes opened wide with anger. “But—”

“Sorilea,” Cadsuane said calmly, cutting Nynaeve off. “This child could be of use to our plans. She is still close to the al’Thor boy; he trusted her enough to take her with him this evening.”

Okay, so maybe there is still plenty of space for pettiness. Not that Sorilea or Cadsuane would see it as such, but this is not a time for dismissing Nynaeve, or keeping things from her. They may not see her as Aes Sedai or as anything more than a child, but this is not a time to try to simply use her.

Though perhaps they’re giving her a chance:

“But can she be obedient?”

“Well?” Cadsuane asked of Nynaeve. They all seemed to be ignoring Min. “Can you?”

Nynaeve’s eyes were still wide with anger. […] Nynaeve tugged on her braid with a white-knuckled grip. “Yes, Cadsuane Sedai,” she said through clenched teeth. “I can.”

For this, she can. For this, she can swallow her pride and agree to obey even Cadsuane. That’s how important this is. It’s not about her pride or her assertion of authority or any kind of rivalry she has with Cadsuane for any reason. This is about what may be a last chance.

Come on, Cadsuane, the least you could do is reward her with the whole plan. But she won’t, and Nynaeve accepts even that. And for Cadsuane’s part…it doesn’t seem like she’s giving much, but Cadsuane is not a woman accustomed to making compromises. But there’s an element of grudging respect between them now; Cadsuane is testing her, but from her that means she’s giving Nynaeve a chance to prove herself, rather than dismissing her entirely. It is, in its own way, a kind of trust.

“Your part,” Cadsuane continued, “is to find Perrin Aybara.”

…What?

Why Perrin?

Does she intend to find Mat as well? Could this be anything at all to do with Verin’s letter to him? Trying to bring all three ta’veren together for some reason? It has to happen eventually, but how would that help with Rand’s whole…uh…inability to be a person right now?

Or maybe it’s about Perrin’s whole group? People from the Two Rivers, maybe? People from Rand’s home, to try to make him remember—oh. Tam is with Perrin. Or was, last we saw Perrin. Could that be part of it? His friend, his old village, his father…hmm.

Whatever the plan, someone would need to watch out for Rand. His deed this day would be destroying him inside, no matter what he proclaimed.

Destroying him, as he just destroyed. Tearing him apart, as he just tore at the fabric of reality. Fisher King indeed.

There were plenty of others worrying about what he would do at the Last Battle. It was her job to get him to that Last Battle alive and sane, with his soul in one piece.

Somehow.

No easy task. But she has not turned away from it, nor from him. She still wants to help him, still wants to look out for him and help him, still worries more about what he’s doing to himself than anything else. And she may be the last, or one of the last, who can look at him that way. He needs that, as he has needed that for so long, but if he can’t accept even that anymore, if it’s not enough to pull him back from this edge, not enough to keep him from doing what he’s done, what will be?

Next (TGS ch 38) Previous (TGS ch 36)

[cannoli-reader]

A more interesting and deeper dive into the characterization of Liandrin than the scripts deserve (she was legit the best character of season 2, almost entirely by default).

If the final interpretation is ungenerous, it's because the show has been disappointing generosity for 16 episodes. It's very likely the right one. This is the show that added Rand grabbing Lanfear by the throat, in an act of partner violence, without seeming to recall how serious a thing that is for Rand. Forget "I cAn'T kIlL a WoMaN!", Rand is driven by his fear of reprising the crime that drove Lews Therin insane a second time. It's not just Rand's Two River chivalry, there is a reason why throttling a woman with whom he is in a relationship is "the last that could be done" to him. Because it's the last thing Rand ever would do. Except, oops. Season 2.

Let's also not forget that this show chose to introduce Aviendha, Bain & Chiad this season by having them appear in several episodes, never make an on-screen distinction between the sworn sisters (Bain is the very tall one, which I know from looking up the relative heights of the actresses listed in the credits as those two characters), except that one might be interested in sleeping with Perrin and one would not. Meanwhile, our primary exposition on ji'e'toh, the code by which the Aiel live, consists of a scene of two white women smacking around a black woman until her face was visibly marked. They did not have to cast a black actress to play Aviendha. Given that in both seasons, they made an explicit point of having characters recognize and insist that Rand is Aiel, despite his owning a sword, solely by his looks, one would argue that it's actually a bad choice to cast a non-white actor for any Aiel role, if they are going to be maintaining any sort of consistent world building. Since they already have an Asian actor playing Min, and a white actor playing Elayne, one wonders if they didn't think it was cute to give Rand a "matched set", one love interest from each IRL race. Also, while this did not become a plot issue, I can't help but noticing that the four native Two Rivers when sorted by degree of manifesting Old Blood, correlate to their actors' race.

They also cast black actors to play the main characters in whom they clearly have the least interest, having gutted the character arcs of Perrin & Nynaeve, stripped them of all their accomplishments, and made them much worse human beings in the bargain. This absolutely looks like the show has a problem with easy moralizing and not giving the slightest thought to any deeper implications of what they are doing with the race and gender stuff. For example, "Bastard" is a commonly used and pejorative term on the show and it never appeared in the book series, where parents' marital status seems to have zero effect on one's social or legal standing. They made a real life woman stand motionless with a vapid smile on her face for the climax of the first season finale, while two men talked about her and praised her agency and determination, using words that denigrated a conventional female role. They really really ARE that stupid.

I don't exactly know what Wheel of Time is trying to do by suggesting that Liandrin was subjected to so much (gendered) violence as a girl. I don't know that this show can support a complex plotline about a victim ultimately turning into a perpetrator without falling into oversimplification. (The fact that they made up a secret son as a backstory for Liandrin does not bode well, imho. Talk about clichés.)

The most generous interpretation I can give is that Liandrin has lived all her life in fear and mistrust of everyone, essentially bargaining with and finding loopholes in oaths and institutions in order for her and her child to survive (born into a family that mistreated her -> forced into a violent marriage -> escapes to the White Tower which however won't allow her to keep her son -> eventually swears oath to the Dark). Her allegiance is not with any place she's been in, although her belief in the Red Ajah's "mission" is likely sincere; there's always, however, a more basic math at play I think. The Tower forced her to live without her son, and so Liandrin will never put the survival of the Tower, much less its rules, above her own. As a related note, I think the power of what Lanfear offers to Liandrin is precisely that it is, for once, more than survival through nominal observance of random rules. Lanfear already knows everything there is to know about Liandrin, so Liandrin doesn't need to fear discovery anymore. If she lets all her other secrets go (her fondness/animosity for Moiraine the most prominent among them), then Liandrin will be unfettered—although still bound by her oath to the Dark. But Liandrin has never known an oath-free life, has never lived without someone having the power to force her to obey. There's never been a true way out for her, so a little more (apparent) wiggle room is incredibly tempting for her.

The ungenerous interpretation is that this whole thing will turn into a sketchy distinction between two types of victims, the good virtuous ones and the bad ones, Liandrin belonging to the latter. Maybe there's a case to be made about victimhood being weaponized (I feel like it matters here that Liandrin is played by a white actress), but is it something that a fantasy show like WoT can do well without falling into easy moralizing? Again, I don't know.

ETA: I'm allowing reblogs now, but please keep any eventual addition on topic; also I kindly ask to not minimize my concerns in additions or in tags.

[shallicomparetheetolagrenouille]

2019 in books

First book of The Wheel of Time series read in 2019! 8 read, 6 more to go!

Language: English

They finally managed to set the weather right! Ugh, this subplot has been going on for three books and, to be quite honest, I was getting quite frustrated with it. But, anyway - I’m glad that’s been sorted out!

Also, I like how the solution turned out to be another problem for everyone - from drought to the middle of winter; how are people going to survive with no way to grow food?

I really basked in the first half of the book. Perrin is my favorite POV character, and I also really enjoy the girls’ chapters and Mat’s. Rand’s are so full of pain and anguish - they’re so stressful to read (which just means they’re well-written, all things considered, just not very pleasant).

The things I find most hard to follow in this series are the random one-time POV chapters (usually at the beginning of each novel, usually featuring an antagonist), because, to be quite honest, I half-forget most of the details in them by the midway point of the book. This is definitely one of those series that require rereads.

I liked this book, all in all. I always get to a point where I need to know if the character I’m reading about survives/escapes, and that’s something I really enjoy about adventure/fantasy books.

Sevanna’s chapters are so frustrating, ugh!

Faile had better be okay!!

Morgase’s appearance in Perrin’s plot was so much fun! I love that we’re keeping track of her and Tallanvor - and Lini! Lini, too, had better be okay!

If there is one fantasy trope I abhor, it’s the fanatic-religious-warrior-order thing. I can’t stand the Children, nor Masema’s group of righteous bandits. UGH!

Logain popped up! I like Logain.

I really liked Egwene’s stratagem to get the reins of the Hall - I’m forever worried about her, but the fact that she comes up with a new idea each time to get back the control of the situation makes her plot so engaging.

I also hope Aviendha and Nynaeve get their own plots - it’s nice seeing them act in alliance with Elayne and the others, but I’d like it if they got to shine on their own for a bit in the next books.

I.. think that’s all.

[shinylitwick94]

Shinylitwick reads Wheel of Time - Book 14 -A Memory of Light

Warning:Contains spoilers for the whole series

So here we are - finally at the end!

Took me about 3 months to get through the whole series, although admittedly with a lot of skimming in some of the slower storylines.

All in all it’s been a great journey and I’ll do a whole series post too, but for now on to AMoL!

Hands down the best book in the series, although perhaps that is not so surprising - it’s what we want from a good finale, after all!

Compared to the rest of the series, even to the other Sanderson books, the pacing here was extremely fast.

It had to be, otherwise we’d probably have ended up with 15 books instead, but that means that unfortunately many of the smaller characters and storylines and even some of the bigger ones don’t really get closure at all.

The difference in style between Jordan and Sanderson is also pretty clear here -action is what Sanderson likes best and it’s what he does best and there’s plenty of it to go around. I suspect if Jordan had had the chance to write the last battle, there would have been more character interaction and less cool and inventive ways to kill Trollocs. And I don’t mean to criticise Sanderson here at all, I think he did splendidly, but they do have different strengths as writers.

I don’t always think epilogues are necessary, but I feel like this could have benefitted from one. I liked the ending scene itself pretty well, but I just wish we’d had a little more time for everyone else.

What takes up the bulk of this book isn’t Rand’s struggle against the dark one, but everyone else’s struggle against the armies of the shadow. Which, I think, makes perfect sense - deep down we all know how Rand’s clash with the Dark One will end. We know, because that’s the way stories work, that even if the hero somehow were to fail at the end, he’ll find a way to turn the tables.  So Rand was actually not as interesting to me in this book as he has been up until now.

Still, I was surprised he made it out of there alive - I wholly expected him to die for real.

Rand’s whole peace treaty thing also felt a little out of place to me. I think it’s totally justified, given Rand’s character, that he would try. I also think it won’t last 10 years, let alone 100.

So that whole conflict was a bit meh, because it was just...Rand sweetie I know you’re trying to do the right thing here, but it’s really really not going to survive your corpse.

The whole meeting was worth it for Moiraine’s entrance though.

As for the other stories, I loved Pevara and Androl to pieces and I’m super happy they made it through. I was a little disappointed he never got to confront Taim more directly, I was looking forward to that.

Lan was one of the other stand out characters in this book. He’s pretty one-note as a character overall, but this book brings out all of the best in a character like Lan and doesn’t stop until the end. Loved every scene with him!

I was a little surprised that none of Rand’s 3 girls died. I thought for sure Aviendha was going to die in that fight with Graendal. I think I would have liked it if one of them had died, probably Min or Aviendha, killing pregnant Elayne sounds too dark for this series, but it’s fine this way too.

I was really sad that we lost Siuan and Gareth Bryne, I really liked their relationship, but I suppose Siuan’s character’s purpose was pretty much gone the moment Egwene became Amyrlin.

And speaking of Egwene, that’s the death that probably hit me the hardest. She’s had such a long journey as a character and it was an incredible finale for her, but I really wanted the Two Rivers kids to get back together at the end.

Perrin’s story was more engaging than usual, however I still feel that Slayer is too obviously made to be Perrin’s villain and feels a little too dettached from the main storyline for me to fully connect. At least here there was the Black Tower at first and later protecting Rand too.

I kind of wanted Faile to die, not because I dislike her character, but because I think it would have been tragically ironic for Perrin to spend half the series worrying about Faile, only to fail at the end. Again, probably too dark for this series.

Mat was pretty great in this, as I’m sure everyone expected him to be. I don’t think anyone had any doubt that Mat would lead the armies of the Light ever since he got his memories. And of course he did splendidly at that.

There were still some incredibly irritating Mat moments, mainly whenever he was around Tuon. Mat on his own was mostly ok. What stuck out to me was him threatening to spank Egwene and Tuon. What.The.Fuck is it with this series and spanking? It just pulled me completely out of that scene (and it was such a great scene too!). It was stupid, absurd, out of place, infantilizing and just plain gross. Who in their right mind would say that at that stage?!

The Seanchan problem was left completely unresolved in this book, unfortunately. I found the way Rand agreed to Tuon and the way Mat fawned over her to be a little disgusting, to be completely honest. I’ve never been sold on Mat/Tuon, but I’d sort of grudgingly accepted I’d have to deal with it. To see Rand accept those terms, when he has been so much harsher with everyone else and went around changing the laws of every country he ruled just pissed me off.

I get it - end of the world, deal with the devil, etc, but Rand didn’t even seem to be all that upset about it.

I think I might have accepted his decision better if we actually got to see Rand struggle with it, instead of getting the whole scene form the point of view of Mat, who doesn’t give a shit.

I liked Demandred and from what I hear there’s a whole short story about him and the Sharans. I kind of wish that had made its way into the main books. This way the Sharans felt like they were coming completely out of nowhere, just so that the Light’s forces would need to get help from the Seanchan.

Nyneave didn’t get much to do here, as a side effect of being with Rand for the duel with the Dark One, but I still enjoyed what little we got of her.

All in all, it was a spectacular final book for this series and I’m very happy I stuck around long enough to read it all the way through!

Favorite scene(s): Lan and Demandred, Egwene’s flame of Tar Valon, Moiraine’s entry into the command tent, Androl’s lava gates, Rand’s final scene, Brigitte’s return, Olver blowing the horn, that refugee woman with Logain, many many other scenes

Least favorite scene(s): The part of the Mat-Tuon-Egwene scene I already mentioned, Rand and Tuon, some of the smaller battle scenes felt a little repetitive sometimes, 

Favorite character(s): Lan, Egwene, Androl, Pevara, Moiraine, Nyneave, Rand

Least favorite character(s):  Tuon, Taim (just disappointing...)

Book rankings so far: 1.MOL 2.TOM 3. TGS 4.LOC 5.TSR 6.TGH 7.TFOH 8.ACS 9.TDR 10.WH 11.KOD 12. TEOTW 13.TPOD 14.CoT

[swordofsun]

WoT Women

So over on /r/books Wheel of Time made it to the top post the other day. I was reading through the comments when the inevitable hit.  Some ass hat pulls out the tired statement of all the women being the same.  Which is just bullshit.  I’m sorry, but if you think that every woman character in the Wheel of Time series is the same then the problem is with you.

Ask five fans who their favorite character in the Wheel of Time series is and you’ll get five different answers.  This says something about the writing.  The characters are all distinct individuals, both the men and the women.  Yes, Robert Jordan had some issues with making a lot of the women sniff in distaste/annoyance/whatever and as much as I love Nynaeve she does tug on her braid a lot.  But those are two really superficial things.  I mean hell, Nynaeve is the only one that tugs on her braid so fuck you.  Also Robert Jordan was a boob man, that much is very clear.

Let’s make a (short) list of the main woman characters.  

Nynaeve, Egwene, Min, Elayne, Aviendha, Moiraine, Faile, and Tuon.  (I said short and yes I’m missing so many people that could be considered main characters, but I can’t list them all or we’d do nothing else today.) Someone, please, tell me how any two of these awesome women are “the same”.  

Let’s take the two who are arguably the most similar, Faile and Min.  They both support their love interest more than they drive their own storyline, they both love knives, they both are ready and willing to get down and fight, and I love Min and hate Faile (I’m making an effort to re-evaluate her on this read through).  

Min is straightforward in her approach to life, supports and protects Rand with a gentle teasing manner, and will fucking cut an Aes Sedai trying to cause him harm.  Min has a love of dense as fuck philosophy books, accidentally starts a fashion trend, and can see the future. And she sure as shit can’t embroider worth a damn.

Faile pushes Perrin to take the leadership role that he is actually really fucking good at, accepts his wolfbrotherness without hesitation, and has a jealous streak a mile wide.  Faile is a great spymaster, can run an army camp like no one’s business, and knows how to use gossip to her advantage.  She sure as shit can embroider, not that she’ll ever admit to that fact.

You could do the same comparison with Nynaeve and Egwene and Elayne and Tuon.  Arguably characters with similar set up, but widely different executions.  They share traits, both small village girls thrust into a scary big world or both next in line for their respective kingdoms thrones.  But you have to admit they are widely different characters.  

I’m just tired after all these years of stupid fuckers ignoring all of the amazingly different women characters Wheel of Time has.  

[cannoli-reader]

I don't know, there's a lot of stuff in there that seems to be about accruing rank or power without any personal improvement tied to it (also, "my way or the highway" really only describes Egwene of the EF5; the other four bend and compromise a lot, they just stick to their principles when it's important. Their characteristic stubbornness is more about not giving up than getting what they want).

Egwene isn't content with personal growth, she needs others to recognize it. She digs in her heels very often when she doesn't have a better alternative, just because she doesn't want to obey anyone she thinks she should not have to. For examples we have her conspicuous display of her braid, and then ditching it when Moiraine tells her that there is no status association with it outside the Two Rivers. Rand laughs at the idea of her serving as backup Wisdom for several decades, knowing that she wants the status of the job, not the skills or the opportunity to help her fellow villagers. She is bound and determined to help Rand whether he wants it or not throughout tGH (because it makes her his benefactor), but as soon as she realizes he is the Dragon Reborn, suddenly "he's not safe." He's no less safe then when she tried to hide from the Aes Sedai among a bunch of women & children who had no idea of the risk Egwene was putting them under. Too, her choices for hiding places are wildly impractical, and their only virtue is that they are unexpected. Both dungeon & women's quarters would essentially trap Rand if the ruse failed, or if someone decided to check them anyway for thoroughness sake. The real advantage is they are places Egwene is more familiar with and perceives herself to have control over Rand's situation.

Her fighting with Nynaeve is all about status and her own imagined equality. Nynaeve is 7 years older, and has held adult responsibilities for years, whereas Egwene is barely acknowledged as an adult. Nynaeve has been Accepted much longer than Egwene, and Egwene was there when Siuan said that if not for a channeling technicality, she'd have been promoted to Aes Sedai. There is no practical reason or sensible grounds for Egwene to think Nynaeve should run every decision past a teenager she has had to rescue twice, it's just about the status. She wants to spend their irreplaceable funds on clothes that will tell the world how important she is, and the sheltered princess has to be the one to point out that Aes Sedai do wear more modest & practical garb (and they have just spend half a year traveling with Verin, so it's not like Egwene should need the reminder). In Tear, she wants to be friends with Aviendha, but also not to give up the status of being Aes Sedai. She uses her familiarity with Rand purely to demonstrate that his own rank and position do not place him above her, while never once showing any interest in his company for his sake or friendship. Then, of course, she flips that whole perspective on its head as soon as she gets some claim of status of her own.

When she does become Amyrlin, she is often really petty, and often self-destructive regarding her ruse as a puppet. If her primary concern was keeping Salidar on the right track, she would be delighted that her cover was being maintained and that everyone overlooked and disregarded her. Instead, she chafes, fumes and endangers the ruse with bad tradecraft when Moghedian escapes. She flings an inkwell because Romanda didn't kiss her ass, she is pissed that Romanda and Lelaine argue with each other instead of presenting their respective cases to her for adjudication, when, again, she is supposed to be overlooked and seen as a helpless puppet. When it comes time to execute her plan, she can't even wait until the declaration of war is successful, she has to make a big thing about her authority in public at the meeting, because she can't stand not being taken more seriously.

This is a problem none of the other MCs have. Nynaeve & Elayne are not good at pretending to be less than they are, but they don't really have a problem with it. Mat gets annoyed at how he is perceived in the Tarasin Palace but he doesn't let that annoyance sabotage his escape plan. Rand quickly gets used to his status and generally being the center of attention and finds himself getting irritated when he isn't, but again, he doesn't rage against it or turn around and slam his friends with his power and authority just because he can.

Someone who was all about self-improvement would have embraced the opportunity to learn more from Mother Guenna, or accepted the Wise Ones' knowledge of dangers and so forth. She would have been interested in learning from Moiraine's conversation with the Wise Ones, that only happened to touch on the fate of the Dragon Reborn and his connection with the Aiel. But it wasn't about her, and that's what she keeps trying to drag the conversation back to. Why does she tell a bunch of barbarian witch doctors who have already admitted they can't do anything about Mat's cuts, much less Rand's evil wound, about it when Rand is resisting their attention and she is only present by his insistence and authority? To, again, have the spotlight for a moment, and exert some control where he is concerned. If she really cared about learning and growth for their own sakes, she'd have understood that maybe Perrin has something to gain from traveling with Elyas, not to mention the issue of protection against the Shadowspawn hunting him. But then, Egwene resists acknowledging that fact, scoffing at Rand's claim, despite Moiraine and Lan being present and not gainsaying him, just as she refuses to believe he met the royal family of Andor until Elayne confirms it, and again, Moiraine takes the danger of Elaida seriously when Rand tells his story. Let's not forget that there is exactly zero evidence of Rand telling tall tales or making up stories for practical jokes in the series or referenced in his backstory, and both times Egwene disbelieves him, Moiraine is present and supports his story with her actions. When the boys reveal the Baalzamon dreams, Egwene is weeping, but somehow it means Nynaeve is comforting her, rather than the men who are being haunted by the Shadow. It's a consistent pattern of not wanting them to have the spotlight or acknowledge that the mission is all about them, and not her.

Even when they come to Rhuidean in the first place, Egwene is a nobody. Take away our knowledge that she is a point of view character in a fantasy series, and what reason is there to think she is at all of any importance next to the company in which she arrives on Chaendar. Rand, whom she has observed the Aiel follow, guard and obey, Mat, a ta'veren, whom Moiraine revealed just last book blew the Horn of Valere, and was stressing the importance of his presence to Rand at the start of their trip, Moriaine, an Aes Sedai to whom the dreamwalker Wise Ones sent a letter, and Aviendha, a countrywoman of theirs, in whom they have some interest, which has been brought up more than once in Egwene's presence. And yet, Egwene assumes that when Amys says that there is someone who came with Rhuarc she wants to talk to, she can only be referring this girl who made a nuisance of herself in Tel'Aran'Rhiod the night before, whom she told she would deal with her after he business at Rhuidean. And later, of course, assumes she has to go to Rhuidean, because the nobleborn Aes Sedai who has slain a Forsaken and met the Green Man twice, the Dragon Reborn and the sounder of the Horn of Valere all went. What possible difference could anyone perceive between her and them?

Egwene is obsessed with putting down Rand, and Nynaeve, until she outranks her. No one Egwene holds as important can say anything complimentary to Rand without her having a negative comment. Her reaction to encounters that don't go well for her is always about how she comes across, how she will be seen as a result. She resists going along with any course of action, no matter how right, helpful or necessary, if it gives the appearance that she is subordinate to the person suggesting it. She doesn't even really have any ethics, just doing whatever she thinks will give her win. We see this in the conversation in Tear that explains the Fifth, initially shocked at a practice outside her knowledge and reflexively denigrating it, as soon as Rand indicates his awareness and acceptance, she twists it around to accuse him of being the intolerant one, because she has to "win" every conversation. And Rand finds it nostalgically amusing, because this is something she has a long history of doing. A similar incident happens when Rand is trying to escape Fal Dara, and she physically assaults him, and again, the focus of her dialogue is on asserting her supremacy over him, comparing him to a beast of burden and then bragging about her superior channeling abilities. When she demonstrates how little she actually knows, and Rand extricates himself, she accuses him of bullying her, rather than admit she screwed up, much less apologize (compare Rand's demeanor when he loses control in Tear, after considerable provocation from Egwene & Elayne and their own demands that he participate in their fatuous channeling exercise, over his reluctance). When they part outside the women's quarters, Egwene has no reason to disbelieve his claim that he was not trying to force his way in, and she, more than anyone knows who is truly responsible for his prior trespass, that has Agelmar & the other Shienarans suspecting the worst of Rand. But she still lectures him, with not-so-subtle reminders of who has the power here. After all, the noblewomen are looking at him as marriage material, and she can't let this possible social elevation of him stand.

It is always status and one-ups-manship with Egwene.

Hi. So okay, this is gonna be an absolutely batshit crazy rambling about a missed opportunity for the ending of Wheel of Time that I’m super freak about.

Listen, LISTEN, I’m the first person to say Rand deserved to be happy, that he deserved his little relaxing trip in his brand new skin and enjoy his life. But like also- I do kinda think he should’ve died in the last battle. And it’s not because of the angst factor, like I love the angst but that’s great for fanfiction and what ifs not necessarily actual storytelling.

I think that thematically Rand should’ve died because Egwene died. Now bear with me while I explain this okay.

So, Rand and Egwene are character foils. Two sides of the same coin. Mirrored character arcs. They ARE Saidine and Saidar incarnate. They ARE the Aes Sedai of the age of legends, powerful together and doom the world when they refuse to cooperate and listen to eachother. So I do think that if one dies the other should’ve died as well, but specifically in the context of them both becoming Concepts, of ascending beyond being People and becoming these esoteric figures of myth, representing the hopes and futures of the world, they Are the One Power. Figuratively.

Like Egwene dying by becoming a literal beam of light and the one power. Becoming one with the true source as I interpreted it. So good, no notes. Absolutely love that as an thematic ending for her; but it feels a bit empty without well, the other half of it. A major theme in the Wheel of Time is the concept of balance and duality. Light and dark, masculine and feminine, selfishness and selflessness, joy and sorrow. The idea that Both need to exist, that one cannot truly exist without the other, that these forces balance eachother. So if we take Egwene and Rand as representations of the two halves of the one power, then one should not exist without the other. I guess in some ways Rand losing his ability to channel and his original body is a form of death, but I don’t know, I would’ve liked the follow through I think lol