AMOL Prologue Spoiler Discussion

[randsc]

All that either of them knew about Roedran was that he formerly had little power outside of Lugard. He has been King for only a very short time, right? Suian has no special knowledge of him. As recently as 3-4 years prior to today (in the books), the Tower was trying to unify Murandy under Dulain, yes? Roedran simply took advantage of changing conditions to improve his political situation, like several other monarchs, including Egwene. The only reason Egwene is surprised is because she cannot reconcile his personal habits with his political accumen. Hell, why else even think about his reputation, in that POV?

 

Still, Roedran is Demandred.

 

You don't think people like Norry and Siuan would have info on all the powerful nobles even if they are not King? The very fact that Siuan was trying to unite Murandy under one backs that point. All of these events going on show a marked change from the person they knew of before.

 

So why wasn't Egwene's thought,

 

 

"Egwene made a vexed sound. It was a remarkable plan, the sort of thing Siuan might devise, and hardly a scheme she thought Roedran Almaric do Arreloa a’Naloy could carry off. Suian said the fellow was useless, and in an off-screen conversation, Elayne's secretary agreed. But then, it was hardly a scheme she would have believed Roedran could think up."

 

But if you prefer, fine: Egwene has no endearing qualities whatsoever. Also, what eff-ing right does she have to be "vexed?"

 

Better?

[Suttree]

"Egwene made a vexed sound. It was a remarkable plan, the sort of thing Siuan might devise, and hardly a scheme she thought Roedran Almaric do Arreloa a’Naloy could carry off. Suian said the fellow was useless, and in an off-screen conversation, Elayne's secretary agreed. But then, it was hardly a scheme she would have believed Roedran could think up."

 

But if you prefer, fine: Egwene has no endearing qualities whatsoever. Also, what eff-ing right does she have to be "vexed?"

 

Better?

 

[yoniy0]

3 years prior to the story being recounted, in tFoH.

I'll need some more help. Certainly, that isn't mentioned in connection to his name anywhere in TFoH (I did check, although I restricted myself to the paragraph in which his name was mentioned -- the only one according to Ideal Seek -- and the one immediately following it).

[randsc]

3 years prior to the story being recounted, in tFoH.

I'll need some more help. Certainly, that isn't mentioned in connection to his name anywhere in TFoH (I did check, although I restricted myself to the paragraph in which his name was mentioned -- the only one according to Ideal Seek -- and the one immediately following it).

 

Look at Chapter 12, as well as 28. In Chapter 12, Byrne doesn't yet know that Dulain was the cause of his confrontation with Suian. She explains in 28. Dulain died in 996.

[yoniy0]

Okay, in chapter 12 Bryne does say that the deal with Siuan happened three years before. I didn't recall that. I did remember that Siuan later confided in him that Dulain was dead shortly after (in chapter 28, as you say).

 

Now, how does that mean Roedran wasn't King already? Having a King doesn't mean that they're united, or that the Tower wouldn't look at a promising Lord as someone who could succeed him and do a better job.

[Pinzarn]

I didn't care for the prologue for two major reasons:

 

1. The whole metal becoming soft thing is a great idea in principle, but horrible in application. I am guessing it will be played off as an overnight occurence or a very localized event. I wouldn't be surprised if we never hear about it again other than someone thinking "back to the day/night when the metal went soft", but now everything is fine.

 

2. I did not like the the idea that a force large enough to take and hold Whitebridge is hanging out in Andor without anyone knowing about it. With the various mercenary groups and different lords seiging Camelyn, are you telling me that there are more Andorans that didn't take part in that? With the previous events in Camelyn, I thought every able-bodied Andoran was already called into service by his leige lord.

 

I did like the overall draw of the Dragon.

[Terez]

I didn't care for the prologue for two major reasons:

 

1. The whole metal becoming soft thing is a great idea in principle, but horrible in application. I am guessing it will be played off as an overnight occurence or a very localized event. I wouldn't be surprised if we never hear about it again other than someone thinking "back to the day/night when the metal went soft", but now everything is fine.

 

It doesn't have to be "played off" as localized because all the bubbles of evil have been localized. We assumed it was probably localized before Maria confirmed it.

 

2. I did not like the the idea that a force large enough to take and hold Whitebridge is hanging out in Andor without anyone knowing about it. With the various mercenary groups and different lords seiging Camelyn, are you telling me that there are more Andorans that didn't take part in that? With the previous events in Camelyn, I thought every able-bodied Andoran was already called into service by his leige lord.

 

Elayne has known about Jarid's army for a long time now. For example:

 

The arrival of Luan and the others below the city two days ago with their sixty thousand armsmen had occasioned more than a little excitement, and impromptu celebrations in the streets by the citizens, once it became clear they were not going to occupy the camps abandoned when Jarid Sarand left. Taking with him men from Houses that now sided with Elayne, though they could not know it yet. The Light only knew what trouble that bloody man was going to cause.

[Pinzarn]

Thanks Terez for the clarification. Obviously, I didn't make that connection with the character names. I like the prologue a little more now.

[Terez]

Happy to be of service.

[Treemaster]

I wasn't overly thrilled with the Prologue, but the style and tone of the writing actually felt like Jordan and not Sanderson to me. The prose felt Jordian. There were no sentences begining with "however" that I remember or any other tell-tale signs of Sanderson's writing that I dislike. The fact that it was released this early also makes me think it is more likely to be written by Jordan. (Harriett is supposed to be doing an extensive read of Sanderson's completed draft.) Of course there's no way to confirm who is the author.

 

The theme of the excerpt was consistent with that from the The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight Prologues, but it didn't hit me as hard emotionally. Perhaps because I was skimming it on a work computer. It would have been nice to have had some more directly relevant content in the excerpt, but I would have been stunned if Tor had released anything like that this far in advance of the publication. I was pleasantly surprised that the previous Prologue confirmed that Graendal had not died.

[yoniy0]

I know for a fact that Brandon had to work very hard to have this piece of prologue ready for JordanCon, so even if Jordan did write it some version of it, it wasn't finished by a long shot. Naturally, though, we got a reading of the 'unknown' PoV, just as we did last time. Graendal's PoV was part of the paid version of the prologue, the one that was available a month or so before the release; it's been a tradition that the prologue is sold before the book comes out, and I'm fairly sure we can count on in happening again (as well as a chapter or two released free of charge on Tor.com). That won't be until much later this year, though.

[Terez]

Actually, last time we got Lan. For TGS we got the unknown.

[yoniy0]

Oh, yeah, right. Thanks.

The underlying point, though, that the piece we get in advance is a mood-setter that doesn't contain any real new information, still stands. Actually, thinking about it, ToM's 'unknown PoV' had too big a detail to fall into that category.

[Terez]

Also,

 

I know for a fact that Brandon had to work very hard to have this piece of prologue ready for JordanCon

 

Curious about this. I feel like I'm missing something. (If you're trying to hint vaguely at something, then sorry. )

[Barid Bel Medar]

Well I thought it was pretty awesome for just a random PoV character nobody has heard of in an army nobody much cares about. It kept me interested in it, rather than thinking "Damn, I don't care, just give me a Forsaken PoV!

[yoniy0]

Curious about this.

Ahm, well, you know I have no secret relationship with BS. No, I was told that much by people I trust (both to say the truth and to know about these things), by way of making sure I knew that the rest of the book is nowhere near this level of polish.

[Luckers]

What Yoni says is true (and not told to him by me, by the way). This scene was barely ready in time.

 

That being said there IS a higher degree of sophistication to this scene. I believe we are either seeing a scene that was written rough draft by Jordan, and edited by Brandon, or (and this is my hope) that we are seeing a scene written by Brandon which is showing the benefit of the stricter, more thorough editing and polishing sequence that has caused the delay.

 

 

[dhammett11]

Tiny army of evil farmers eh? What are they gonna do, grow corn at TDR? A lot of people are moving towards the borderlands, FoM is north of a lot of places. Sometimes a spade is just a spade...

 

**is wondering if use of the word spade is intentional farmer-tool pun.

[Agitel]

Brandon's style is very to the point, not flowery in anyway. It's always jarring when I go from reading Jordan or Martin (the latter of which I was reading just before I looked at the prologue). Jordan's prose had a distinct cadence and flow. That said, I adapt to the style quickly when I'm able to commit myself to his books.

[Terez]

I dunno if 'flowery' is the right word to use when making a distinction between RJ and Brandon (though 'cadence' and 'flow' are good). RJ was rarely flowery, and that's one of the things that makes my second sig quote stick out like a sore thumb. Which makes it more likely to be foreshadowing. The prologue of TEOTW was probably the purplest thing in WoT, and it's not very purple IMO.

[JakeBarnes]

What did this mean:

 

Her Aes Sedai must be weakened after the stunt they pulled tonight, otherwise she’d have attacked.

 

Is it Jarid being crazy, was it in reference to the ghosts, or did something happen that I do not recall?

 

Edit: Maybe he thinks Elayne and the Aes Sedai melted their weapons?

[TreeJoe]

Forgive me if others have said this, but to me the scene was far more profound than the few pages of commentary i've read (which does not include everyone's).

 

The deep, deep takeaway for me was this: all around randland, the petty is over. No ruler is able to hold a group of people onto any target but the Last battle. If they try, their army will not hold. The personal guard of Jarid, his closest confidantes, walked off - those who gave their oaths. This is the true fulfillment of the prophecy - that the Dragon severs all ties and oaths. It is not coming true for those who've never met him, the land over.

 

This is Manetheren's wives and infirm coming to the battle lines of the trolloc wars - except it's happening everywhere now.

 

As much as we have pondered over how all the various factions and disputes are going to get resolved, this prologue offers something interesting and profound: the concept that they won't need to get resolved. That instead, the Last Battle - the battle for existence - will strike into the very souls of even dedicated men and have them gather under the Dragon.

 

Reading the prologue did little for me - I didn't break into goosebumps as I have before at certain points. But THINKING about the prologue's implications....holy cow. That's powerful.

[Terez]

I thought about using this as one of my sig quotes:

 

"Always leave a way out, unless you really want to find out how hard a man can fight when he's nothing to lose."

[capuga]

What Yoni says is true (and not told to him by me, by the way). This scene was barely ready in time.

 

That being said there IS a higher degree of sophistication to this scene. I believe we are either seeing a scene that was written rough draft by Jordan, and edited by Brandon, or (and this is my hope) that we are seeing a scene written by Brandon which is showing the benefit of the stricter, more thorough editing and polishing sequence that has caused the delay.

 

I talked to Brandon last week at a quick signing he did for locals on his newsletter list after he was done with a writing seminar in Las Vegas. He indicated that that section was not the part of this prologue that RJ wrote. Meaning that scene was his. I thought he did a really good job with it. Very RJ-esque in my opinion.

[Terez]

What Yoni says is true (and not told to him by me, by the way). This scene was barely ready in time.

 

That being said there IS a higher degree of sophistication to this scene. I believe we are either seeing a scene that was written rough draft by Jordan, and edited by Brandon, or (and this is my hope) that we are seeing a scene written by Brandon which is showing the benefit of the stricter, more thorough editing and polishing sequence that has caused the delay.

 

I talked to Brandon last week at a quick signing he did for locals on his newsletter list after he was done with a writing seminar in Las Vegas. He indicated that that section was not the part of this prologue that RJ wrote. Meaning that scene was his. I thought he did a really good job with it. Very RJ-esque in my opinion.

 

Can you supply date, town, and bookstore?