#you guys should be so glad I don’t have the amol ebook on my phone.

[alectology-archive]

and look it’s not that sanderson did anything wrong by introducing new character conflicts in the last three books because that *is* how you keep readers interested but 1. I don’t care about these conflicts 2. they overwrite and ignore character conflicts that rj *did* introduce 3. you can’t just introduce any sort of character conflict you want and walk away pretending it makes sense. I can see bullshit coming from very far away and I can recognise very generic struggles being framed as an important character point even when it isn’t 4. they hurt character development and are clearly skewed in favour of making the male characters look better etc.

case in point:

rand didn’t have an arc about learning to love and accepting his role as a hero (rather rj sympathised with him being put in the position) so the dragonmount epiphany rings hollow because it’s not the culmination of rand’s struggles in 11 books finding a resolution, it’s rand’s struggle from 1 book, a new struggle introduce by sanderson (TGS), finding a resolution (and in a very unsatisfying way that doesn’t actually tackle his mental health or the traumatic position of a hero).

rand is framed as a conquering ruler who should be worshipped because he’s a forcing bringing safety and the literal narrative warps around him post-dragonmount to present him as a figure who should have all of his whims met. the very natural world starts bowing to his will. definitely not a weird thing to introduce in a series discussing imperialism + big L especially for a series where rj eviscerates seanchan, cults and the children of the light for their saviorist attitudes.

egwene didn’t have to be beaten down and I-told-you-so-d by gawyn into learning to share responsibilities. gawyn had no place interfering in aes sedai matters, I’m sorry. it continues the trend of various men/asha’man offering elaborate critiques of aes sedai having exactly accomplished zero things themselves - including perrin, androl, rand, mat.

he walked back on character development introduced in *his own* instalments to end the series on a weirdly hostile note for elayne and galad. he also wrote out morgase and made more space for his blorbos and gave them narrative space that even some of the protagonists were never afforded.

making cadsuane amyrlin was his choice. he didn’t get the basic theme of the white tower needing reform! egwene is a survivor above all else. she would not fucking commit suicide, it’s not in-character for her to pick suicide over being burned out. also ‘healing’ the pattern enters ‘breaking worldbuilding rules’ territory and I hate the flame of tar valon weave. it has weird implications attached to it being capable of healing any sort of damage when the white tower is clearly discussed to be just as susceptible to corruption as any other institution.

perrin breaking basic TAR rules to fight in book 14 after training to be good at it in book 13 is definitely like. good writing, sure.

nynaeve and moiraine are very noticeably characterised to be mother figures/caring figures. it’s very uncomfortable! moiraine also saying that she would give up channeling for thom is very infuriating and not in character for her.

not to be weird about a romance I hate in the first place but even in the rj books moiraine/thom was about daes dae’maring, not thom acting as a warder. amol!thom is annoying. his monologue about how to describe a battle is one of the worst, most horrific pieces of writing I’ve ever read. besides mat’s boot monologue.