Things you find funny in the books (spoilers)

[Alliiara]

I have decided that I love Uno as comic relief. His constant cussing and trying to not cuss. I also love everyone’s reactions to Elayne cussing. It has been offering me moments of comic relief in all to serious final book. I laughed out loud when Elayne went to Matt and he had predicted it.

[Dedicated]

My favorite comedic scenes involve Mat. Him constantly trying to get away from the pull of the pattern, him clumsily presenting himself before the Wise Ones to ask permission to enter that special space of Ter'angerals and doing a poor imitation of Rand's request.

 

But one of my favorites is when Zen Rand goes before the Seanchan court accompanied by Mat who is skittish and afraid shit is going to go down and Rand starts singing the Song to make plant life start growing around them and everyone is freaking out. But Mat is sitting there tapping his foot along to the beat and is like, "I know this song.. is that [insert random song title]" and Rand is whispers back, "you're not helping." 🤣

[Mailman]

18 hours ago, Dedicated said:

My favorite comedic scenes involve Mat. Him constantly trying to get away from the pull of the pattern, him clumsily presenting himself before the Wise Ones to ask permission to enter that special space of Ter'angerals and doing a poor imitation of Rand's request.

 

But one of my favorites is when Zen Rand goes before the Seanchan court accompanied by Mat who is skittish and afraid shit is going to go down and Rand starts singing the Song to make plant life start growing around them and everyone is freaking out. But Mat is sitting there tapping his foot along to the beat and is like, "I know this song.. is that [insert random song title]" and Rand is whispers back, "you're not helping." 🤣

Mats letter to Elayne was great as well.

 

[Tenobia si bashere kazadi]

Mat and Uno are the funniest characters in WoT for me, and just all the curse words in general

 

[qlorin]

In Shadow Rising and Fires of Heaven, there are scenes Aviendha trying to teach Rand customs of Aiel. Some of the funniest parts are the internal monologues of Rand in those moments.

Also LTT inside Rand's head is amazing 😄 I want one.

[Asthereal]

Mat's response to Egwene "playing" Amyrlin springs to mind as one of the funniest moments in the series. 🤣

But there's lots of fun moments. Jordan was very good at character-based humor.

[Elendir]

True about Talmanes Delovinde sense of humor.

[DojoToad]

I liked Uno for comic relief at first, but the routine with the cursing got too predictable.

 

For me Talmanes was much better, probably because of his interactions with Mat.  Most of the comic relief moments involving Mat's interactions with anyone worked for me.

[Bodewhin]

On 6/26/2025 at 3:31 AM, Asthereal said:

Mat's response to Egwene "playing" Amyrlin springs to mind as one of the funniest moments in the series. 🤣

But there's lots of fun moments. Jordan was very good at character-based humor.

 

That scene was great! 

 

Another I found hilarious is the part in the A Crown of Swords where Nynaeve and Elayne come to the inn to apologize to Mat who is suffering from a serious hangover. 

 

Whenever Mat acts appalled over 'where Olver is getting such bad influence' pinning it on the band, when the kid is picking up a lot of questionable habits from Mat is gold.

 

Honestly, Mat's my fav comic relief throughout the books in general. 

 

I also enjoyed the reactions Loial gets whenever he tries to explain something and everyone is like 'hurry up'. 

 

I find Nynaeve amusing as well, because of her indignation and how she often misreads people, motives and situations. 

 

[WoTwasThat]

When Mat first meets Olver (I think Lord of Chaos) and crouches down face to face and gravely tells him “you see, Olver, you smell bad, so we’re gonna get you a bath.”

 

As a dad, I literally laughed out loud at that. 

[Loose Theremin]

I found the "courtship" between Rand and Aviendha in the Waste very funny. Especially the time when she came back in a "quivering fury" after Rand had unwittingly got her into trouble with the Wise Ones.

 

Aviendha was caught between her promise to Egwene to "look after" Rand for Elayne and her own unwanted attraction to him. Which made her situation totally impossible and led to her growing frustration and anger. And of course Rand was completely clueless about the whole situation.

[Andra]

Nynaeve's discovery of the consequences of getting married in a Sea Folk ceremony.

[urrutiap]

funniest moment in the Wheel of Time book series is  in the tail end of Towers of Midnight where Mat and Perrin reunite by luck. 

 

Mat has a badger in a bag for some reason lol

[Andra]

18 hours ago, urrutiap said:

funniest moment in the Wheel of Time book series is  in the tail end of Towers of Midnight where Mat and Perrin reunite by luck. 

 

Mat has a badger in a bag for some reason lol

Re-read the beginning of Eye of the World.

It's literally that long of a throw-back.

[urrutiap]

9 hours ago, Andra said:

Re-read the beginning of Eye of the World.

It's literally that long of a throw-back.

what does the beginning of Eye of the World have to do with the badger in a bag?

[Mailman]

32 minutes ago, urrutiap said:

what does the beginning of Eye of the World have to do with the badger in a bag?

Mat had caught a badger when he meets Rand in the village that he was going to release on the green to scare the girls decorating the Bel Tine pole.

Edited September 25 by Mailman

[Figs and Mice]

Mat and Nynaeve make me laugh often throughout the series.  Talmanes good for a chuckle or two also but those two the star comics  - if mostly unwittingly.

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

There is a bit of dialogue about the badger at another point in the story, too, "I wonder what Dav did do with that badger". Or was that the same scene, lol, could have been, hehe. 

 

My favourite joke wasn't really that funny (though I did like how Jordan strung out the "Good Night's Ride" joke), all the way back in Eye of the World.

 

Egwene (innocently): Who is Elayne, Rand?

Rand: She is the Daughter Heir of Andor.

Egwere (angrily): Well, if you won't be serious for one moment... storms off

Rand:  I wish was Mat or Perrin....

 

Not that funny at all but it tickled me as a teenager. Shame it didn't make it to the show, and they didn't carry on a bit of silly humour like "ooo, Mat, the hero who didn't wear a coat when it was slightly chilly".

 

Mat's letter as well, Thom and Mat were a good pairing, Mat and anyone was good, but too often his partner had too much of an advantage over him (like Tuon, Alludra, etc) but Thom was pompous enough that he sometimes over did it and Mat's quick mind and quick fingers could get revenge.

[Andra]

On 9/25/2025 at 4:03 AM, urrutiap said:

what does the beginning of Eye of the World have to do with the badger in a bag?

That's where the original event being referenced happens.

Before anyone left Emond's Field.  Or had a reason to think they needed to.

[Jaysee]

I've been going through the series writing about all of the chapters, and there is plenty of humor to be found.

 

For example, the wake of destruction Moiraine leaves in The Eye of the World is absurdly funny, when you think about it. First she shows up in Emond's Field and Bel Tine is ruined. Then there's the whole, "Oh no, your ferry" moment after they cross the Taren. When the Stag and Lion went up in flames, I couldn't help myself and imagined Moiraine checking items off her to-do list.

 

Or how about how absurdly similar Mat behaves to Ferris Bueller when the group reaches Shadar Logoth? Within moments of the group arriving, Mat has concocted a plan to sneak out, play hooky from Moiraine and Lan, and strong-arm Rand and Perrin into exploring the city. He even wants to go up to the top of a tower and search for treasure.

 

Also, The Dragon Reborn contains enough references to braid tugging that you can make a drinking game out of it.

[urrutiap]

On 10/8/2025 at 8:52 AM, Jaysee said:

I've been going through the series writing about all of the chapters, and there is plenty of humor to be found.

 

For example, the wake of destruction Moiraine leaves in The Eye of the World is absurdly funny, when you think about it. First she shows up in Emond's Field and Bel Tine is ruined. Then there's the whole, "Oh no, your ferry" moment after they cross the Taren. When the Stag and Lion went up in flames, I couldn't help myself and imagined Moiraine checking items off her to-do list.

 

Or how about how absurdly similar Mat behaves to Ferris Bueller when the group reaches Shadar Logoth? Within moments of the group arriving, Mat has concocted a plan to sneak out, play hooky from Moiraine and Lan, and strong-arm Rand and Perrin into exploring the city. He even wants to go up to the top of a tower and search for treasure.

 

Also, The Dragon Reborn contains enough references to braid tugging that you can make a drinking game out of it.

 

why would you think its funny for a sorceror to cause mayhem/destruction on a town?

[Jaysee]

1 hour ago, urrutiap said:

 

why would you think its funny for a sorceror to cause mayhem/destruction on a town?

 

Are you familiar with dramatic irony? If the humor in Moiraine's path of destruction doesn't come from dramatic irony, then it's something very close to it. The perspective held by all of the bystanders in the Wheel of Time universe is exactly what you just said. They're all saying, "Hey, this isn't funny! This witch steamrolled through the area -- she ruined Bel Tine, she destroyed the ferry, and because of her, the Stag and Lion burned to the ground." But we readers know better. Moiraine is doing what she needs to do because fate of the world hangs in the balance. We can laugh at how it must look to outsiders, particularly because Bel Tine wasn't really Moiraine's fault, and she made sure the ferryman and the owner of the Stag and Lion were well compensated for their trouble.

[Jaysee]

I thought of another one. And I will admit that this is fairly dark humor, so it definitely won't be everyone's thing.

 

It's from New Spring. Recall that Moiraine has a list of Women Who Just Might Be The Mother of the Dragon Reborn, and she's traveling all over the place just to interview them, because this is her grand plan for finding the Dragon Reborn. In chapter 17, she's speaking with Jurine Najima, whose husband Josef recently died in a barn fire along with their three sons. One of the sons was the right age to potentially be the Dragon Reborn. This is the bit that got me laughing:

 

Quote

Moiraine disliked feeling relief in connection with the death of an infant. Yet she did. The dead boy was not the one she sought.

 

Translation: Whoopsie daisy! Look on the bright side: at least the little tyke wasn’t the Dragon Reborn, amiright?

 

Like I said, gallows humor, but finding these things and writing about them is the only thing that keeps me powering through the series.

[DojoToad]

Mat was giving Loial a hard time about the 'beautiful' Erith.  Rand and Perrin saw that Loial was hurt so they start giving Mat the business about some girl in EF that he used to play kissy-face with.  Saying she was ugly as a goat or whatnot.

[Jaysee]

48 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

Mat was giving Loial a hard time about the 'beautiful' Erith.  Rand and Perrin saw that Loial was hurt so they start giving Mat the business about some girl in EF that he used to play kissy-face with.  Saying she was ugly as a goat or whatnot.

That was a fun moment in The Great Hunt. And it was right next to another moment that is funny if you take a step back and notice the absurdity of the situation:

 

Rand and company are chasing after the Horn of Valere, as Fain recently stole it back in Cairhien. They have reason to believe he's gone to Toman Head, and time is of the essence, so they decide to head to Stedding Tsofu to use the Ways to follow him there. And I guess it's -- I don't know -- polite or something to ask the elders for permission to use their Waygate, so they seek an audience.

 

Remember, time is of the essence. Whoever blows the Horn first will be linked to it for as long as they live, so it's really important to get it back before Fain figures out how to open the box. But the elders insist on trotting this drooling husk of an Ogier out from a back room, and showing Rand's group what happened to the last of them to have gone into the Ways. Fain could be halfway to Toman Head tooting out a rendition of Yankee Doodle Dandy, but here we are receiving a PSA. This is your brain. This is your brain after the Ways. Are you sure you want to go?

 

Gosh, I don't know, are you sure you want the good guys to win in the Last Battle? We've been in the Ways before, so we'll just be on our way. If you guys really want to protect people from the Ways, I hear there’s a Waygate up by Fal Dara that needs a new door!