What the hells is wrong with Faile?

[Karthak]

I'm rereading Lord of Chaos, and I'm at the part where Berelain begins to stalk Perrin. What I don't understand is why Faile treats him like crap. He does everything he can to stay away from bloody Berelain, and yet his wife treats him as if he was cheating on him!!

 

(I'm not alone in the books in this opinion it seems. Min also expressed distaste at Faile's behaviour when she met her  :D)

[cloglord]

I'll go way out on a limb here and wager a guess....Faile's got jealousy issues?

 

I think that if you look at everything the Faile does around this time through the lens of potential jealousy, her actions and attitudes make more sense.

 

As to why she's mad at Perrin, it seems obvious from the later books, that saldean women expect to be handled from a position of relative greater strength.  For Faile, when Perrin yells at Berlain she feels as though Perrin is treating her with respect, in effect treating her as if she is strong enough to handle being yelled at.  (This is a position that seems pretty alien to me I'll admit.)  By yelling at Berlain, but not yelling at her, Perrin is triggering Faile's jealous streak and making her into a pretty intolerable person.

[nashdude]

I agree. Another way you can look at it is that when Perrin goes off on Berelain, he's VALIDATING Faile's concerns by showing that the woman can get under his skin. If you'll notice, in later books, Perrin treats Berelain as a non-issue, passing her flirting off as unimportant and beneath his notice, and Faile is fine with it---in fact, beaming with pride.

[Perrin 187]

I agree with with both Nashdude and Cloglord. Its basically a cultural issue between the Perrin and Faile and the two of them,(Nash and Clog)both point out the main reasons, of why Faile acts the way she does in those situations.

 

P.S. Guys it obvisous Karthak hasn't read all the way to KOD so don't mention any possible spoilers past LOC. Just trying to look after him,(or her) :).

[Vemynal]

well, ditching the spoilers I'll leave it at this: Faile's got issues...

[eol]

Nash got this in one. its just that Faile is irritated that Berelain can affect Perrin so much, maybe more than she can. we know this is not true but if you consider the pride that is such a big part of Faile, it becomes understandable.

[RAND AL THOR]

Dreadlord's just gonna love this topic.

 

I think the Saldean culture is really funny. I really can't imagine a woman who WANTS her man to shout at her! That is really funny. And the Saldean farmer girls are sooooo amusing.

[yellehs1966]

I feel that Faile is a whiner.  She is agravating.

[Harmless Bandit]

Faile is a hypocrite. She had lived in the Two Rivers for some time, and knew something of their culture (men don't yell at women, unless they want to spend the night outside), and she knew that usually Perrin is a gentle man, not given to shouting at people, most especially those he cares about.

 

Considering Perrin knew nothing (at that time) about Saldean (sp) women wanting, no, needing to be shouted at, I'm forced to conclude that she Failed  ;) to convey that specific element of her culture, and instead expected him somehow to figure it out. Typical. How hard would it have been to put her jealousy aside, and put herself in his shoes for an instant, and see his actions for what they were? She had some perspective to go by.

 

I wonder why she's so insecure. Hmm... her big nose?

[Vambram]

Well, it don't matter to me what the vast majority of WOT fans think about Faile. I believe that, for the most part, Faile has been very, very good for Perrin, and a great influence on his development as a leader, as well as on doing much to reinforce to Perrin what is responsibilities all are as one of the 3 major taver'en (sp?) from Emonds Field.

[metria31183]

Totally agree with Harmless Bandit.  Faile is whiney, insecure, selfish and just plain annoying!

[balefireruinssteaks]

Faile isn't that hard to understand.

 

Perrin was suddenly thrust into leadership, and Faile is a trained noblewoman of Saldea, related to some very powerful rulers.  So she is doing a great job of teaching Perrin how to act like a leader should act.

 

As far as how to handle her, it's true that she had time to see how Two River folk act, but she is Saldean and she is training Perrin how to be a noble in the ways of Saldea as she is.  So it would be strange if Faile didn't expect him to expect HER to be strong enough to handle anything.  It's like Elyas said...that's how Saldean women WANT to be treated by a man - they like the idea of a man thinking that they have the necessary strength to survive in this world, and also that the men have even MORE strength to put them in their place when necessary.

 

It's not THAT foreign of an idea.  Women like to appear strong, but now and again every woman likes to be overpowered.  At least...I think they do.  Maybe Rand would know...or Mat.

[Daphilip]

I don't get what everybody has against Faile? She is one of my favourite characters in WOT.

 

Yeah sure, she is raised with some pretty weird customs, but still, I find Rands "Never hurt a woman"-thing much more anoying, and at times I wish that Perrin could stop treating Faile like she was made out of glass.

 

I just wish that they both could just sit down and discuss all their different customs instead for Faile being jealous and angry without Perrin have any idea why. It would make it all much easier...

[42Bonzo88]

    Hey, RAND AL THOR, what do you think?

 

    Dreadlord, checking the website. "What the Hells is wrong with Faile?" Hmmm, let me count the ways... got a ream of paper I can Borrow?

 

 

    Just kidding Dreadlord!!! ;D

[RAND AL THOR]

LOL bronzo.

 

I'm surprised he hasn't shown up on this thread yet. I mean, his personal quote is :I just want Faile to die.

 

That makes me laugh EVERY time I read on of his posts and see that quote at the bottom!

 

 

And Daphilip, I love Egwene but most people on this site don;t like her and I can't understand that. So if you like Faile, then so be it! everyone's cool with that.

 

But I think she is just an annoying character. Funny at times, but annoying all the same. The Ogier trick with the Ways was particularly annoying. If she wants Perrin to tie her up and hang her upside down from the ceiling then she should TELL him!!!

[Guest Dreadlord]

How long has this blasphemy been going on for? Why did nobody tell me someone had opened this topic?

 

If you can name one thing she does that is constructive I will hold my hands up.  Bear in mind I have a gun in my hand just in case anyone does prove me wrong.

 

The only thing she does that can be seen as anywhere close to forwarding the story is getting captured, and that forces Perrin to do the bit that forwards the story, so it can't be laid at her feet. Plus its not as if she got captured on purpose is it. What a pointless, annoying character. I really hope she dies in book 12

[Bob T Dwarf]

You need to loosen up, Dreadlord.  We're ( almost ) all friends here.  Take your shoes off.  Put your feet up.  Make yourself to home...

 

Now... tell us how you really feel about Faile.

[DemandredFO]

The one thing I can't forgive Faile for is tricking Loial, the Ogier manipulate no one.  Just like I never forgive Gawyn for killing Hammar and Coulin.

[RAND AL THOR]

The one thing I can't forgive Faile for is tricking Loial, the Ogier manipulate no one.  Just like I never forgive Gawyn for killing Hammar and Coulin.

 

Exactly. In my culture, respect should be given first to your parents, then to your tutors and then to God. Gawyn did not have to kill his tutors. He had insufficient knowledge of what as happening. It-is-unforgivable.

 

He SO needs to be cast into prison.

PS; Yet another 'fantasy coincidence' :Hammar and Coulin were both very experienced fighers and yet a fighter-in-training manages to kill them. Absurd. RJ ought to have taken a leaf out of GG Martin's book.

[benr]

Ever notice how Tenobia and Faile have exactly the same personality?  I know that "nurture vs nature" thing and all, but they could have SOME differences. 

[sombrastewart]

As to the whole "Faile should have known how Two Rivers men are," stop and consider for a minute: the Saldean customs are natural to her, so even if she stopped to think "That's how he thinks he's supposed to behave," it still comes off as unnatural to her, or maybe she's just reacting emotionally.  I know that I've been angry about things that logically don't make sense, but I was still just plain mad anyway.

 

Faile is the person that helped Perrin grow into the leader of the Two Rivers.  Getting capture forced him to mature as more of a leader, yes, but she helped him long before that.

[Guest Dreadlord]

He would have gotten there without her

[sombrastewart]

He would have gotten there without her

 

Whether this is true or not, she did help him.  And there's no way of knowing how soon he would have gotten there.  The Wheel weaved her in with him, partially to help make him into a leader.

[Guest Dreadlord]

Looks like the Wheel is broke then

[Cockta]

Oh come on! What's with the hate against Faile? I don't consider myself a great fan of Faile, but she isn't annoying, only when she is acting very woman-ish. Sorry to all you females here  :)