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Wheel of Time: Towers of Midnight
Posts
"Jesus, this girl won't stop grabbing her braid or stop jabbering about men. But, damn, Mat looks good. Onward!"
I want to see charts.
I'm definitely enjoying Perrin's/Rand's POVs over Elayne's/Nynaeve's. No Mat was disapointing. Does he play a big part in book 9? And where the hell are the Ogier. They're one of the more interesting parts of the world but they only show up every other book and Lorial is a very minor character. I kinda want to see more time-travelling like Rhuidean.
Also, I can't decide if Jordan is sexist or not. He writes like he always got turned down by women.
He appears in Winter's Heart, but it's incredibly boring.
Jordan is feminist. I think.
The women in Wheel of Time are like men where before the feminist movement.
Um, did you miss the bunch of stuff about them in KoD that explicitly says they'll play a part in the end of the series?
And hints are that it may be a very big part.
Being that it's been many years since I read it, I effectively did miss it.
Also, re: the Slayer speculation:
My opinion is that Slayer works for the highest bidder (sowing chaos so staying on TDO's good side) and he visits the tower of Ghenjei because the Aelfinn/Elfinn pay well (possibly for wolf souls, being why he kills them so frequently)
Anyway, why does it matter who killed Asmo's last body? He's back now so move on?
My assumption up until now was that Aran'gar was the reborn Asmodean as she appeared at roughly the same time and Asmo was known for his lustiness. I had assumed his more active role was due to him being chastened by TDO for failing in his last life.
I see the wiki is listing Aran'gar as Balthamel though, which seems just as likely I suppose. Although their only evidence appears to be in attitude as they don't have any proof listed.
Either way, even if Asmo is "dead" dead, it still seems so utterly irrelevant which one of the thousands of murderers in TDO's employ did the actual murdering.
And you're right, it's not actually probably that big of a deal. I think it only became a big deal because of how the death was written and the fact that RJ seemed to think the identity of the killer should be obvious. It became a running joke in the email discussion group I belonged to that whenever a newbie joined and asked 'Who Killed Asmo?' we'd construct these long theories about how it was obvious that Bela was the killer.
Plus there's a description and prelim cover art. Beware, both give away what'll probably be the main focus of the book.
Really? I was kinda hoping that would be the third book.
Also, now that he's free of the "emo" I'd love to see him use his new knowledge to craft a tied-off hand out of Fire or Earth/Air. Something he can change the shape of at will to use as a weapon when desperate
Also, Aran'gar is Balthamal. Balthamel was the lusty one, not Asmodean.
That would be cool. Honestly the more time we have with rescued Moiraine the better.
I'm wondering this too.
Plus, it's pretty easy to spot the WoT section in the bookstore with all the similarly horrible covers.
No, Asmo was very lusty too. He used that pretty darkfriend for sex constantly, lying to her all the while. It even says in the wiki that his namesake was the essence of lust.
Thus my point that labeling Aran'gar as Balth just because she's a tranwhore.
And Aran'gar wasn't exactly bedding every guy in sight.
Look, I'm perfectly willing to accept Aran as Balthy, I just think you need a little bit more than one non-specific throwaway TDO line and some speculation about a guy that died in the first book.
Actually, she was.
There's quite a few throw-away lines. And a whole POV of his.
Shit, it was clear right from the start in LOC if you knew what you paid attention.
Well nobody has listed them then?
I'm not looking to start a fight here but the only proof of this assumption that I've been presented at this point is one reference from the beginning of LOC about traitors. If there are more nobody has mentioned it.
http://steelypips.org/wotfaq/1_dark/1.2_forsaken2/1.2.1_gars.html
Barring Moridin the forsaken all seem to fear it. I think it is like channeling the essence of the DO itself, you don't control the DO, it controls you. Moridin is either granted protection from the negative effects like the male forsaken are from the taint of the one power, or he is strong willed enough to function using it for a time.
Rand channeling the true power is very foreboding. It may have been better to be enslaved than start down the slippery slope of being a conduit of the DO. After that incident his black aura seems worse and I seem to remember the wound in his side responding to the true power, but maybe not it's been a while since I have read TGS. I credited the true power for his darkening moods, loosing his regard for human life (the whole unraveling the compulsion and using the noble as a probe), his distancing himself from Min, and using baelfaire to nuke the whole castle.
How he was able to channel it depends on whether you need to DO's permission or not. If not then he just did, remembering from LTT how to but not remembering the understanding of what it meant. (I remember LTT going crazy with doom in Rands head after the incident) Or by crossing the streams with Moridin he is partially linked and gains the ability that way. And so if Moridin has a DO "filter" to be able to use the TP exclusively, then Rand may as well.
I had thought that perhaps the True Power may be the key to defeating the DO forever, turning his own power against himself. Like if you hit the DO with baelfire made from the true power, what would happen?
So anyway, maybe if Rand creates some sort of wacky seal using the TP but done in such a way that the DO can't retract or unravel it, it might make a permanent seal without corrupting the Source again.
Adding to this:
He was, essentially, setting him up. Its very possible that the entire Graendal/collar/Moridin-link/TP draw was a huge set up to try and corrupt the soul that is the Dragon once and for all.
It actually would have worked, I think, if he hadn't had the Choeden Dal to rely on as a balance to the pull of the TP.
I think in the next book the pattern will hand Tuon her fate, and the Mat becomes the new crystal throne, and Rand will kneel to him, for a moment.
It's my understanding that the kneel to the crystal throne phrase was added to the Seanchan prophecies by Ishamael during one of his 50 year jaunts in our world in order to create chaos later.