#galadedrid damodred

[amemoryofwot]

“Galadedrid Damodred was Elayne’s half-brother, Elayne’s and Gawyn’s, if he remembered correctly: the three shared the same father.”

But wait! There’s more! (half-brothers)

[wheeloftimepolls]

Welcome to the great Wheel of Time POV poll! Because of the enormous number of characters, this has been whittled down to the 16 most frequent POV characters (out of everyone with 12 POVs Morgase is the only one included as she had the greatest word count; sorry Padan Fain). I'll update this post with links to each poll as they're posted. Polls will last for a day. Remember to vote for your favourite POV which is not necessarily your favourite character! The brackets are as follows:

ROUND ONE (05/03/23, 6PM GMT):

A. Rand al'Thor versus Galadedrid Damodred (X)

B. Elayne Trakand versus Nyneave al'Meara (X)

C. Siuan Sanche versus Perrin Aybara (X)

D. Morgase Trakand versus Egwene al'Vere (X)

E. Moiraine Damodred versus Gawyn Trakand (X)

F. Lan Mandragoran versus Min Farshaw (X)

G. Aviendha versus Faile Bashere (X)

H. Cadsuane Melaidhrin versus Matrim Cauthon (X)

ROUND TWO (07/0/23, 6PM GMT):

I. Rand al'Thor versus Nyneave al'Meara (X)

J. Siuan Sanche versus Egwene al'Vere (X)

K. Moiraine Damodred versus Min Farshaw (X)

L. Aviendha versus Matrim Cauthon (X)

ROUND THREE (09/03/23, 6PM GMT):

M. Nyneave al'Meara verus Siuan Sanche (X)

N. Moiraine Damodred versus Matrim Cauthon (X)

LOSERS' FINAL (11/03/23, 6PM GMT):

Siuan Sanche versus Moiraine Damodred (X)

FINAL (13/03/23, 6PM GMT):

Nyneave al'Meara versus Matrim Cauthon (X)

Have fun!!

[pillowfriends]

sad but true that Innloine isn't even the worst name in the Damodred family because there's also fucking GALADEDRID. who is coming up with these??

super random but I can't get over the fact Moiraine has a sister named Innloine. that's one of the worst names I've ever heard. she's in a loin? be so for real

[neuxue]

What do you think would have happened if Galad had accidentally found out about Moiraine's quest to find the Dragon and decided that the right thing to do is help her? Do you think that Galad's personality would have drastically changed after spending a few years with his morally ambiguous aunt? And can you imagine his swords skill after spending a few years with Rand?

It would be interesting to watch Galad and Moiraine interact–really, a Damodred family reunion of any kind could be pretty quality entertainment. But Moiraine and Galad are in some ways opposites and yet in other ways rather similar; Moiraine will do whatever she sees as necessary to save the world, regardless of who she hurts, including herself. She does not set out to cause pain, but she does see it as an acceptable price to pay in pursuit of a higher cause. “Blues. Always so ready to save the world that you lose yourselves.”

In that, she and Galad are not entirely unalike; Galad’s version of course being that he will do (what he sees as) the right thing, no matter who it hurts. I think the difference comes in where that kind of absolute dedication is aimed. Galad pursues an ideal: what is Right. Moiraine pursues a cause: enabling the salvation of the world via the Dragon Reborn. And I think a lot of the other differences–even including the way one appears to take a morally black-and-white view while the other comes across as more grey–follow from that. It’s a question of whether your moral compass is internally or externally defined, of whether you’re pursuing a specific goal next to which all else is expendable or whether you’re pursuing an abstract concept to which all else is subordinate, of whether you focus more on the ends or more on the means.

So as to the question of what would have happened if Galad had found out about Moiraine’s quest…I think it depends entirely on the context in which he found out, what else he knew, and what else he didn’t know. 

[veliseraptor]

“I do have a sense of humor, Gawyn, You only think I do not because I do not care to mock people.”

Wheel of Time Fancast: Ben Barnes as Galadedrid Damodred

credit: art by Seamas Gallagher

[emo-mosquito]

Still figuring out their looks 

[wot-tidbits]

Galadedrid Damodred (The Wheel of Time) A Character Examination

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[amemoryofwot]

I just can’t see Moggy here guys like the vibes are all off. Not Faile either. Maaaaybe Egeanin, imo that’s most likely? But seriously LOOK at this picture and tell me this is not PEAK GALADEDRID DAMODRED

(Plus has any other confirmed or rumoured casting even looked slightly similar to Galad nuh uh non binary Galad it is)

[randalthorisalive]

Have you had time to talk to Galad much yet? He is your half brother after all.

Regrettably I have yet to see him since I left the Field of Merrilor to begin assaulting Shayol Ghul. From what I hear he is currently still in Mayene with Berelain, but I never went there during my wandering. I’ve been hoping he would visit us here in Caemlyn, but it would be somewhat awkward for the Lord Captain Commander of the Children to visit the first openly Aes Sedai Queen ever, even if she is his sister.

[neuxue]

"I feel like there’s a missed opportunity in Galad’s entire character: what if he could channel? That would be so full of interesting potential." Weeell, about thaaat. :D It is not a spoiler per se but in the early Robert Jordan's plans Galad could channel and also turned into a villain because Rand slept with proto-Morgase (not Queen of Andor). But RJ scratched that "missed opportunity".

Wow, that’s somehow even more Arthurian than what ended up in the books. I would have been very, very interested in this turn of events (the channelling and becoming a villain, at any rate), but oh well. I’m sure he had his reasons.

[stillwaitingformyadventure]

I never actually hated Galad for most of the series, I was fairly indifferent towards him except at the end, I'm really glad he got a sort of redepmtion

[moghedien]

Everything Wheel of Time has taught me about men:

all men are wool heads

Galadedrid Damodred is the most beautiful man in existence

[neuxue]

I think it's fascinating how Galad joins one of the most extremist organizations in the world and yet this has zero effects on his personality while Gawyn remains in the city that was supposed to embody stability and order and he is spiraling completely out of control. I don't exactly like Galad(it's hard to like him) but I am kinda envious of just how comfortable he is with himself and his decisions

This is a really interesting observation! 

I wonder if some of it is perhaps due to where their sense of duty/self/purpose originates–externally versus internally. 

Gawyn’s role, and much of what goes with it, was given to him from an external source, and then internalised throughout his life of being raised to become First Prince of the Sword. He was told his duties as soon as he was old enough (or perhaps a little earlier) to understand them, and they subsequently became a core part of his identity. But they didn’t originate with him. So he’s always trying to fill a role that is ‘externally’ defined, measuring himself against a set of standards and often finding himself wanting. He’s striving to meet a bar he didn’t set for himself.

Galad’s role, and duties–and identity–on the other hand, seem to be much more internally defined (or self-defined). After Morgase took the throne, and Gawyn and Elayne were born, as far as I can tell Galad wouldn’t have had a specific role he was expected to fill. (I suppose he could have decided to put in a claim for the throne of Cairhien, but he didn’t). Yes, he would still have been raised in the royal family, and taught a particular set of values and skills, etc, but his actual identity and place were left more to him to define for himself, I think. For some characters that could have been disastrous, but it ended up working for Galad. So he does what is ‘right’ above all else–regardless of the consequences–but he does that because that is how he has chosen to define himself. It isn’t demanded of him, or taught to him as part of a role he is given, but rather forms part of a role he has decided to take on.

So there is an element of choice to it, it would seem. This sort of goes back to something I was looking at with Rand and Egwene, the idea of ‘hero by choice’ versus ‘hero by calling’. Neither one is ‘better’ or ‘worse’ on its own, but they do make for different stories, or different perspectives and therefore reactions to things.