WoT:A Memory of Light-By grace and banners fallen, the Last Battle has come

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 21, 2012 02:28

A Memory of Light is the fourteenth and final novel of the 23 years in-the-running massive The Wheel of Time series. It will be released on January 8, 2013. (Work actually began on the first novel in 1984, and it was not published until 1990.)

The thread for the thirteenth book, Towers of Midnight, can be found here.

This is the cover art for AMoL, done by Michael Whelan. A first for the series is is that this will be the cover art for both the hardcover and the e-book versions.

Why is that? Well, the original artist that did the cover art for books 1-13, Daryl K. Sweet, passed away before completing the cover for AMoL. This is his incomplete concept version.

Just what, exactly, is the Wheel of Time series?

It is by now a 14-novel (plus a prequel) series of bestselling books by author Robert Jordan (which is a pseudonym, his name is actually James Oliver Rigney Jr.) and Brandon Sanderson (more on this later).

The series draws influences from various Eastern philosophies and religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism, as well as Nordic and Irish mythology, Arthurian legend, and Christianity, and of course more. It builds a fully-realized mythological world around these influences and concepts such as reincarnation, a circular nature of time, and a dualistic view of the world.

With the estimated wordcount of AMoL at 360000, by the time of its release the series as a whole will have a pagecount of over 11000 and a wordcount in excess of 4 million.

Yes, But What Is It About?

�Wikipedia� posted:

At the dawn of time, a deity known as the Creator forged the universe and the Wheel of Time, which, as it turns, spins all lives. The Wheel has seven spokes, each representing an age, and it rotates under the influence of the One Power, which flows from the True Source. Essentially composed of male and female halves (saidin and saidar) in opposition and in unison, this power turns the Wheel. Those humans who can use this power are referred to as channelers; the principal organization of such wielders in the books is called the Aes Sedai or 'Servants of All' in the Old Tongue.

The Creator imprisoned its antithesis, Shai'tan (or Dark One), at the moment of creation, sealing him away from the Wheel. However, in a time called the Age of Legends or the Second Age, an Aes Sedai experiment inadvertently breached the Dark One's prison, allowing his influence into the world. He rallied the powerful, the corrupt and the ambitious to his cause and these servants began an effort to free the Dark One fully from his prison. In return, the Dark One promised them worldly power and immortality. Few even among the servants of the Dark One realized that one of the consequences of freeing him might be the breaking of the Wheel of Time and the end of existence itself.

In response to this threat, the Wheel spun out the Dragon as the champion of the Light. The Dragon was a male Aes Sedai named Lews Therin Telamon, who rose to great influence and power among the Aes Sedai. A century after the initial breach of the Dark One's prison, a time during which the Dark One's influence spread throughout the world, causing society to become corrupt and decayed, open warfare broke out between the forces of the Dark One and those of the Light. After ten years of a grueling, world-wide war filled with atrocities on a scale never before imagined, the Light found itself facing the real possibility of defeat.

In desperation, Lews Therin led a hand-picked force of channelers and soldiers in a high-risk, daring assault on the site of the earthly link to the Dark One's prison, and was able to seal it off, although imperfectly. However, at this moment of victory the Dark One tainted saidin, driving male channelers of the One Power insane. The male channelers, in the "Time of Madness," devastated the world with the One Power, unleashing earthquakes and tidal waves that reshaped the planet, referred to in subsequent ages as "The Breaking of the World."

In his insanity, Lews Therin himself killed his friends, his family and anyone in any way related to him, and was known afterwards as Lews Therin Kinslayer. Given a moment of sanity by Ishamael, chief among the Dark One's servants, Lews Therin realized what he had done. In his grief, he committed suicide by drawing on far more of the One Power than even he could handle unaided.

Over time, the remaining male Aes Sedai were killed or cut off from the One Power. In their wake, they had left a devastated world: the land and the oceans reshaped, people scattered from their native lands, civilization itself all but destroyed. Only women were now able to wield the One Power safely. The female Aes Sedai reconstituted and guided humanity out of this dark time. Men who could channel eventually became objects of fear and horror, as they would inevitably go insane unless stopped, and even the Dragon became a loathed figure. Among the Aes Sedai there were women whose sole function was to hunt such men down and cut them off from accessing the One Power.

What followed was three [...] thousand years of history that was marked by a series of rises then inevitable declines in civilization, a time of troubles and chaos that stood in marked contrast to the now mythical Age of Legends. Nations and civilization itself fell, rose, and fell again. Occasional periods of uneasy peace were punctuated by warfare. There were two major conflicts that were of particular importance, in terms of their effect on civilization as a whole. The first were the Trolloc Wars, in which servants of the Dark One tried to destroy civilization once more, in a more or less continuous war that lasted for several hundred years. This period finally came to an end thanks to an alliance of nations led by the Aes Sedai. The second was the War of the Hundred Years, a devastating civil war that followed the fall of a continent-spanning empire ruled by the High King, Artur Hawkwing.

These wars have prevented the human race from regaining the power and high technology of the Age of Legends, and left humanity divided. Even the prestige of the Aes Sedai has fallen, with their terrible power and shrinking numbers, and the emergence of organizations such as the Children of the Light, a militant order who hold that all who dabble with the One Power are servants of the Shadow. The human race has clawed its way back to a level of technology and culture roughly comparable to that of our 1450 to 1600 (although without the sciences, formalized learning, or the military use of gunpowder), with the difference that women enjoy full equality with men in most societies, and are superior in some. One likely explanation for this is the power and influence of the female-only Aes Sedai spilling over into everyday life.

During the last war of note, called the Aiel War and taking place 20 years before the start of the series, the nations of the modern era allied themselves against the warrior-clans of the Aiel, who crossed into the western kingdoms on a mission of vengeance after suffering a grievous insult at the hands of one of the western Kings. The Aiel have since returned to the Aiel Waste, with some saying that they were defeated and fled, but others saying that they got their vengeance and left on their own terms. Despite this confrontation, little is known of these fierce warriors in the kingdoms of the east.

Mankind now lives under the shadow of a prophecy that the Dark One will break free from his prison and the Dragon will be reborn to face him once more, raining utter destruction and chaos on the world in the process of saving it from the Dark One.

Who's Brandon Sanderson? And why?

Robert Jordan passed away in 2007 after battle with cardiac amyloidosis, but left ample notes and audio recordings of what he intended for the final book, as yet largely unwritten, to contain. Included are the verbal instructions for the conclusion of the series. The intentions were to find a suitable author to complete his work.

The publisher of The Wheel of Time, Tor Books, suggested Brandon Sanderson (among a very short list) to Harriet McDougal Rigney, RJ's wife and editor, as a possible candidate to complete Jordan's work. Harriet chose Brandon after having read some of his work and his eulogy of Robert Jordan, who he considers one of his influences.

At the time, Brandon Sanderson would have been considered an up-and-coming author, with multiple relatively popular books having been released. His taking on of TWoT has certainly brought further fame, and he is now writing his own best-selling long-running series in The Stormlight Archives.

Brandon Sanderson picked up RJ's notes and proceeded to flesh them out to a wordcount of nearly 1 million. By January, when this is all said and done, Brandon Sanderson will claim influence over nearly 1/4 of the published entirety of The Wheel of Time series.

When Brandon took over the project, the intent at that point was to release one final novel, the 12th, named A Memory of Light, to complete the series. RJ at one point joked that they would have to invent a new binding process and each copy of the book would come with its own wheelbarrow, but this became obviously impossible as Brandon and Team Jordan (the staff that grew around the series on RJ�s side) took stock of the scope of the story yet to be covered.

A Memory of Light became The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and yes, A Memory of Light. One book split into three, while BS took care to try to keep complete plot arcs isolated to their own books. This resulted in some �time lag� with some characters as they raced to catch up, in particular Perrin remained at least half a book behind in the timeline for much of Towers of Midnight, even measured against characters and their plot arcs in the same book. But the results are almost overwhelmingly positive, as Brandon Sanderson decided that Rand al�Thor�s descent into madness arc and Egwene al�Vere�s contest for the White Tower arc would take top billing in The Gathering Storm. These quickly became two of the favorite culminations in the series, alongside other longtime fan favorites such as Dumai�s Wells, the battle for the Two Rivers, and the entire end of The Fires of Heaven, book 5 of the series.

Resources

Something Awful Let�s Read Thread. Goon-run re-read thread, spoiler tags rules are in effect to keep pace with the re-read. I think we�re in Knife of Dreams, book 11, by now as of 2012/09/20.
Tor Books-hosted re-read by a long-time hardcore fan-freak (HCFF) of the series, the previous editor of the original WOTFAQ from the USENET days.
Wikipedia
Dragonmount - considered the de facto official fan site, with all the benefits and baggage that comes with it
Tor�s own Wheel of Time site - look here for lead-up events to AMoL�s release, if anything
Theoryland. The �Hardcore Fan-Freak� forum for The Wheel of Time. With all the benefits and baggage that comes with that.

And of course:

What�s Available to be Read for A Memory of Light So Far?

Every time they launch a new The Wheel of Time book, at least for the past few, they�ve released select portions of it online as teasers. So far we�ve gotten the entire prologue and selections of other chapters:

�By Grace and Banners Fallen�, the prologue to A Memory of Light, available on Amazon or DRM-free on Dragonmount.com

quote:
A man who loves the hunt begins a new pursuit, red veils appear, and one of the Forsaken stands newly revealed. The forces of the Shadow swell in triumph as the world unravels. By grace and banners fallen, the Last Battle has come.
The opening POV of the above prologue, for free.
The entirety of Chapter 1.
The opening of Chapter 11.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Sep 27, 2012

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VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 21, 2012 13:35

Haraksha posted:

Yes? But it was only recently that he got together with Rand and began undermining him. At that point, all of the Forsaken had been free for some time.

At which time Taim must have had already been holding off insanity for close to a decade, if he were a sparker.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 21, 2012 21:57

thrawn527 posted:

Geez, I don't read the thread for a couple of days and someone goes and makes another, taking the thread over for the final book. That stings a little.

You totally got Elaida'd.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 22, 2012 03:49

Isam was a child in the Darkfriend noble family who betrayed Malkier (I believe the King's brother? so Isam is Lan's cousin). So he's mentioned in TEoTW already, as lost in the Blight.

He's then directly named in the Darkfriend Prophecy Verin translates in the beginning of TGH, when Fain is let loose from the dungeons in Fal Dara. This same Darkfriend Prophecy also directly mentions Luc. I note that Luc and Isam are the two people directly named in any Prophecy (and this seems to one of those early mis-steps by RJ).

The trolloc army that ravaged the Two Rivers, in the final confrontation at Emond's Field, used Isam's name as a battle call.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 22, 2012 04:33

thrawn527 posted:

Oh, yeah, about that. Have there been any concrete theories or explanations as to why they were doing that? Were they sent by him? Is his name famous among them for some reason? I remember when I read that being really curious who that was, and when we'd meet him. And then we didn't hear it again, that I remember, for quite some time after that. And when we did, I couldn't figure out how it was connected.

Er, long and rambling write-up here.

There's a couple of plot arcs running in that whole section. One is that the Shadow is very intent on plugging Padan Fain since he turned on his rescue party in TGH and went afield with the Horn of Valere, such that he's become a priority target for Slayer whenever he appears.

Slayer was the one assigned to harrowing the Two Rivers to try to provoke Rand into returning there to be trapped, from the Shadow side. Padan Fain led Whitecloaks from Pedron Niall there to do the same, for his own purposes.

One of the early things in TSR was that once Rand had conquered his first nation (Tear) he was stuck there as a highly visible target, so Sammael had sent trollocs against him, then the DO ordered Semirhage to send trollocs against Sammael's because, well for obvious reasons. Rand realized that staying in one place is a trap so he decided to jump the gun himself and not do anything predictable--such as going back to the Two Rivers himself. Perrin went in his stead, and Perrin at that point didn't rate the effort from the Forsaken group made up of Graendal, Rahvin, Sammael, Lanfear, etc., so Slayer was left basically alone in the Two Rivers to do his thing.

Slayer could, after a fashion, "Travel". Step into T'A'R, imagine himself somewhere else, step out. This made him ideal to command trollocs assigned to him since he could go to any Waygate, open it, let the trollocs who had managed to get past Machin Shin through, without tying up a Forsaken.

So, Slayer's letting trollocs through on some Forsaken's orders to try to lure Rand, Slayer finds "the renegade", Padan Fain, doing the same thing. Slayer doesn't have the resources to take on a full Whitecloak encampment, and he's perennially unable to locate Padan Fain himself, so his frustrations mount. He starts taking it out on the local wildlife both within and without T'A'R, and Perrin finds him and starts stalking him in the Dream.

Once Perrin shuts the Waygate, thousands of trollocs die in the Ways until Slayer reopens the Waygate, then he turns his attention to completing the destruction of the Two Rivers by requesting as many trollocs and Fades as he could get his hands on. He's uncovered in his Luc persona, who in the real world doesn't have all that many powers so he wouldn't go face to face with Perrin there, so he grabs as many trollocs as his Forsaken handler would give him and turns them loose in the Two Rivers, burning Taren Ferry and working inwards towards Emond's Field.

Those trollocs and Fades, by orders, are working directly for Isam.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 23, 2012 15:46

Barthanes was probably killed by Darkfriends (maybe even Verin), IIRC.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 24, 2012 19:02

Pimpmust posted:

Yeah, that was all kinds of bullshit with her pulling a completely new and unheard of "move" out from her rear end.

What, showing how the Shadow uses their Shadoweyes (ravens, rats, etc.) is just explaining/embellishing a mechanic that was already there.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 25, 2012 05:08

His "let sleeping dogs lie" rejoinder is great, too.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 25, 2012 18:26

subx posted:

He was "torn to pieces" which (on a reread) I always assumed to be an early gholam attack. It's when he says he "has one more person to kill" and then finds out Barthanes is already dead. Then Zara tells him they aren't Barthanes men anyways, and he heads off to kill Galldrian. (I didn't remember all of this, I'm looking at the book, so I know it's accurate)

This would be pretty early for the gholam. Remember the Barthanes event is even before the time-forward-skip with the portal stones, so this, chronologically, is WAY the HELL early, even before most of the second batch of Forsaken have had time to establish themselves, much less go hunting for stasis boxes in their spare time.

For reference, I think this is about the same time Rahvin is establishing himself as a fighter for Morgase in the presumably Whitecloak-instigated riots in Caemlyn.

quote:

To be fair, if it's a Sanderson chapter, it doesn't really mean much. He likes to bounce around viewpoints during battle scenes and climax chapters. And RJ did it to an extent as well in a few places, though not with as much frequency as BS.

From what I can remember, when BS actually hits a battle scene or climax he tends to do it with just the one POV all the way through whatever the scene is.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 27, 2012 00:35

Affi posted:

And him coming to the conclusion that he turned Demandred to the shadow basically by being a twat to him. Wish this had been reflected somehow by Rand alienating a potential ally through arrogance.

Anyway I read it at work and didn't even feel bad about it. So psyched for this. It.. kinda sorta.. somehow feels like Jordan is still better at characterisation and conversations between characters but Sanderson is young and I am thrilled to have such a hard working and awesome writer to follow for the rest of my adult years.

You mean basically everyone Rand encounters, right? Because throughout the books that's precisely what he's best at. And everyone who reads these books (these forums not excepted) would pretty much always take the position that Rand's not arrogant enough. How dare these mere peasants etc etc their lord and savior?

Oh, and also Taim. You could draw a pretty good case of Taim not always having been a false flag operator. I mean, you manage to keep yourself more or less sane for a decade's worth of channeling, escape a bunch of Aes Sedai, trek through miles of danger and right through a heavily Saldaean-guarded city that hates your guts, to bring a SEAL and yourself to a promised amnesty from someone you had hoped to be mere months before, and the first thing he does is push you away from where the action is and tells you to start an entire school for him for which he will eventually get all the credit, and shows up at every opportunity to slight you at every turn, all the while doing the conquering himself.

Christ, I'd have pulled a Demandred myself. It gets so I wonder if Rand will apologize to M'Hael before killing him.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Sep 27, 2012

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 27, 2012 01:40

AlternateAccount posted:

Who has ever used the word swollen in this context? Wtf?

https://www.google.com/search?q=swollen+pregnant+belly

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 27, 2012 04:54

veekie posted:

More likely, it's still entirely justifiable(if wrong) paranoia and insanity. He did get started by trying to push all his friends away, keeping only his enemies close, and then from there, started applying how he treats his foes to pretty much everyone. Plus a power trip.

That's what arrogance is.

Oh and I just realized another parallel. Mesaana was originally denied a research position at the Collam Daan and had to go be a school administrator/teacher.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 27, 2012 13:22

Affi posted:

I meant as in Rand turning someone to the shadow directly through his actions and arrogance. (I realize he distances himself from allies through his arrogance) Taim doesn't count because he is obviously a dreadlord when they first meet.

Taim is not that obviously a dreadlord until somewhat later, when he starts associating with the actual obvious dreadlords.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 27, 2012 18:16

uugengiven posted:

My guess on Taim is he had training in the blight village of Aiel, which is why he used the "so-called Aiel" line. This is a town so they must be making deals with the dark one to remain sane enough to be dread lords, he probably made the same deal, which is also why he knows so many weaves for killing that he teaches the Asha'man.

The first is neither here nor there, but you'd think that any Darkfriend who goes there would be acutely aware that THOSE aren't the real Aiel and that's why they're over there and the second well uh, unless you're saying that every single False Dragon who could channel in the past 3000 years have gone through dreadlord training as a Darkfriend, including Logain, well.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 28, 2012 20:04

Pimpmust posted:

Yes. In short: It doesn't.

Long: It's a side-effect of the Oath Rod. Or maybe it was supposed to work like such so anyone could recognize the dicks who had to take an oath back then (criminals). And we know you had to be a pretty big dick to be forced to take an oath because not even Balthamel qualified and he was like, a woman-beating rapist. A pretty big deal if even a guy like him made the old Aes Sedai go "Maybe he'll get better after a warning?" before applying that tool.

Jedit posted:

You didn't have to be that big of a dick to be forced to swear on a binder. Semirhage turned to the Shadow specifically because the AOLAS were going to make her swear not to cause pain to the people she was Healing, and Balthamel was threatened with binding because he couldn't control his temper.

It seems something like any major mis-use of the Power in a capacity of "Servants of All" can result in Binding, or at least that's what I get from it.

Semirhage has a POV on it at some point, like, "to see the end approaching". It seems like un-bound strong channellers can live for at least twice or maybe 3 times as long as bound channellers of similar strength, so Binding is also partially viewed as a death sentence.

AlternateAccount posted:

Ah, yeah I guess the whole business with the Kin got into that somewhat, but I wasn't entirely clear. That's still a pretty drat weird side effect.

Un-bound channellers age (in terms of looks), but at a FAR slower rate. I don't think they ever get the "ageless" look.

With effective Delving and Healing they probably never get sick sick. So as long as they don't suffer violence or accidents they probably live out to the end of their full natural life span.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Sep 28, 2012

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 28, 2012 20:12

Calenth posted:

When I was a kid

Curious, but did you get to "ARC" for TSR, TFoH, LoC, etc? If so, what was that like?

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Sep 30, 2012 18:03

Haraksha posted:

I remember reading somewhere that a lot of the "bubbles of evil" were actually reality breaking because of the overuse of balefire. Like the one in Tear happened immediately after Moiraine balefired the Forsaken in the Stone.

Is this a running theory or were they really just "bubbles of evil"?

That's a running theory, and I think Brandon actually teased this at some point by pointing to a Demandred UNLEASH THE BALEFIRE theory and saying it was "close".

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 1, 2012 14:34

Jedit posted:

Thinking about it, the real reason severed men die so fast is probably because they're kept in the Tower. It's possible to avoid the fatal depression, but you have to put the Power behind you and get busy with something else. The severed men can't forget because they're surrounded by the Power every day, and they can't find something else to do because they're kept captive.

It's probably ridiculously hard anyway to find that something that you'd want to do/achieve badly enough to overcome the loss of something like that, though. I mean, the only example we have is Siuan Sanche, who has the equivalent of an oath under the Light to make ready and steer the world towards the Last Battle. Even assisting it nearly wasn't enough for Leane.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 1, 2012 14:53

evilweasel posted:

Seatelle Anan is a burned-out Aes Seadai (I think you can even figure out which one, though I forget the name), who appears to have pulled it off completely. Cadsuene's gentled men also lasted much longer on average (ten years, for one).

Oh poo poo, yeah, she'd be an example of the complete opposite of what it took Siuan Sanche.

Still wouldn't really count Cadsuane's men though.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 4, 2012 21:49

None of the Forsaken do it and neither does Rand despite his increasingly integrated knowledge of the Age of Legends from the Lews Therin memories bleeding through.

And this was from a time when they did have something like the equivalent of airplanes.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 4, 2012 22:46

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

On the other hand, they can all just teleport to wherever they want to go anyway, so why fly? Even in combat it's just "target here".

1) There still weren't that many Aes Sedai that anyone can just get teleported anywhere, and,

2) in line of sight.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 5, 2012 16:08

evilweasel posted:

I've been rereading all of the books in order, just got to TGS. While Sanderson did a good job, the shift is really apparent, much more than I realized when first reading it.

It could be worse, anyway. We could've gotten Kevin J. Anderson.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 8, 2012 00:24

Aiel humor was easy, I didn't get the joke Rand told about the farmers, the tree and the pond.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 8, 2012 02:05

Yes, I know that's what that is, but to me it's nowhere near as funny as the Aiel jokes.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 11, 2012 03:39

Obligatory "must beat GRRM on every level" joke.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 12, 2012 19:41

For what it's worth, Elaida's "unbeliever" is Logain. The only distinction that I can think of between him and the typical Red's point of view is the belief that men channeling must necessarily lead to madness, ruin, and death.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 16, 2012 23:28

There's a lot of prophetic imagery associated with the Dragon Reborn and the dawn, He-Who-Comes-With-the-Dawn, the sun going dark for 3 days, the sun dawning twice on the same day, etc. That's pretty much guaranteed to happen at or near the climax of the Main Event. He'll also probably be dead for the 3 intervening days, that shouldn't be a shocker.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 18, 2012 02:06

caleramaen posted:

The Dragon Reborn is the one book in the series I don't have at hand so I can't check, but isn't there basically no proof that those people were actually Darkfriends? As I recall they just ask to use his fire and he just straight up murders them.

No proof, other than their travelling companion the Gray Man.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 24, 2012 16:00

Audiobook excerpt, chapter 2 of AMoL: Choice of an Ajah

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/10/audioslice-a-memory-of-light-chapter-2-qthe-choice-of-an-ajahq

Terez is transcribing it right now:

http://www.theoryland.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=7454

It's opening with a Pevara POV, with her and Androl.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Oct 24, 2012

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 24, 2012 16:45

HOOOOOOOOOOLY poo poo WHAT HAVE I BEEN SAYING ALL LONG, THE BOND IS IMPORTANT, THE TWO MUST BE AS ONE.

Pevara bonds Androl without permission (from Androl). He bonds her RIGHT BACK. They MELD.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Oct 24, 2012

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 24, 2012 22:05

My Friend Radio posted:

Hmm, what does this mean for Min?

The First Sister bond the Aiel do can be performed between non-channellers. I'm guessing that Elayne is about to oversee a first-sister bond between Aviendha and Min.

In fact, in ToM:

"He shall hold a blade of light in his hands and the three shall be one"

:aaa:

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Oct 24, 2012

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 26, 2012 19:22

subx posted:

That's the general complaint: She's supposed to be smart and can't see the 19381984 ways that her babies could be born healthy and she's not perfectly healthy and happy.

On the other hand, the Last Battle is coming, nobody's going to be perfectly healthy and happy. And making all your decisions based on being perfectly healthy and happy is loving stupid.

At least she knows she'll be alive. That's already better than nearly ANY OTHER CHARACTER gets.

quote:

Nynaeve brought three goblets of spiced wine to the table, beads of condensation running down their shining sides, and small green-and-gold woven straw mats to put them on so the damp would not mar the table�s polish. �So,� she said, taking a chair, �you�ve discovered you are in love with Rand, Elayne, and Egwene has discovered she isn�t.�

The two younger women gaped at her, one dark, the other fair, yet a near mirror image of astonishment.

�I have eyes,� Nynaeve said complacently. �And ears, when you don�t take the trouble to whisper.� She sipped at her wine, and her voice grew cold when she continued. �What do you mean to do about it? If that chit Berelain has her claws into him, it will not be easy to pry them loose. Are you sure you want to go to the effort? You know what he is. You know what lies ahead of him, even setting the Prophecies aside. Madness. Death. How long does he have? A year? Two? Or will it begin before summer�s end? He is a man who can channel.� She bit off each word in tones of iron. �Remember what you were taught. Remember what he is.�

Elayne held her head high and met Nynaeve stare for stare. �It does not matter. Perhaps it should, but it doesn�t. Perhaps I am being foolish. I do not care. I cannot change my heart to order, Nynaeve.�

Suddenly Nynaeve smiled. �I had to be sure,� she said warmly. �You must be sure. It isn�t easy loving any man, but loving this man will be harder yet.� Her smile faded as she went on. �My first question still has to be answered. What do you mean to do about it? ...�

...

Elayne looked from one to the other of them. �In truth, I feared you might tell me I was foolish, fretting over a thing like this when we have the Black Ajah to worry about.�

A slight flicker of Egwene�s eyes said the thought had occurred to her, but Nynaeve said, �Rand is not the only one who might die next year, or next month, We might, too. Times are not what they were, and we cannot be, either. If you sit and wish for what you want, you may not see it this side of the grave.�

Jordan, Robert (2010-01-13). The Shadow Rising: Book Four of 'The Wheel of Time' (pp. 137-140). Tor Books. Kindle Edition.

This is her (and Nynaeve's, and Egwene's) attitude. She's no more or less foolhardy than any of the male characters.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 26, 2012 22:23

wellwhoopdedooo posted:

either the relationship is the relatively shallow but intense type that tends to form between first-timers, or that its depth was off-screen

A little of the former, a little of the latter. By any storytelling convention they are arguably good to go, it really is just that there's not as much of her and Rand in the same place together as either of the other two.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Oct 27, 2012 18:26

The sister-bond isn't quite the same, and the three-way Warder bond puts Elayne, Min, and Aviendha generally on the same side of the bond (except the mirroring of emotions, apparently). Also, that POV wasn't from Elayne.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Nov 4, 2012 16:30

AlternateAccount posted:

Guys, that's dark as poo poo. They're not gonna kill her newborn kids.

Or her either, considering she's one of the 3 women on the metaphorical boat, and around Rand's funeral bier.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Nov 19, 2012 00:27

What's left in the run-up? Text release of Chapter 2?

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Nov 19, 2012 05:56

Cartoon Man posted:

Its either that, or they are going to announce the tour stops and dates. Brandon tweeted that TOR would be releasing that soon.

I bet it's the tour dates then. I'm going to have to drag myself to one of these if they're doing Chicago.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Nov 19, 2012 17:03

I think it just kind of hit home right now that the next and last book is out in <2 months. And I'm still in ACoS in my re-read.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Nov 24, 2012 15:03

I would probably ironically wear the Tai'shar Manetheren or Mat's bloody buttered onions ones. This is too terrible to even ironically wear.

Adbot · # ¿ May 4, 2024 12:30

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE · # ¿ Nov 26, 2012 23:26

Tor just announced the signing tour. Closest one to me is going to be in Skokie, IL, which is like an hour 15 drive for me. I might have to do this. Harriet's going to be there as well, so that's extra worthwhile.