Rand's Hand

[BlueSmoke]

Why didn't he balefire the foresaken who had injured him in order to recover his hand?

[Fryn]

Blame Cadsuanne =p

[Asmo]

Again...

 

1) Rand can't kill women, Semirhage is a woman. If he couldn't kill Lanfear who was about to kill him, what are the chances he could kill Semirhage who was unable to defend herself?

 

2) Cadsuane was there, she wouldn't allow Rand to use Balefire. For good reason, too. Balefire is too dangerous to let loose on the world, since continuous use or overuse can unravel the Pattern.

 

3) Rand reckons he is going to die soon anyway, if he doesn't go mad first. How much can a missing hand weigh against that? It's not like he needs both hands to channel or anything.

 

4) Balefiring Semirhage would have given the weave to Logain and Narishma and the other Asha'man there. Rand said he wanted the knowledge of Balefire to vanish from the world completely.

 

5) Semirhage, as a captured Forsaken, would provide a lot of valuable information on the Shadow which could be more than crucial this close to Tarmon Gai'don.

[Luckers]

Rand values the information she has over the value of his hand--because he values victory of the shadow over his life. He's given up that struggle... self-preservation is a pointless idea to him--thus it would not even occur to him to balefire semirhage. Simple as that, nothing to do with him not wanting to harm women--that wouldn't even come up, because he simply would not have concidered it to begin with.

[Sabio]

I disagree, I think it was mainly his not being able to harm a lady.  Had it been a male I think the idea would of at least came to his mind, though with Cadsuane and the Asha'man there he probably wouldn't of done it. Course then he could of just of balefired the asha'man to remove that problem.  =)  Plus as for the information, I doubt any of them could resort to the methods that might make Semirhage talk.

 

Though would be interesting if Min had died from the fireball if he would of balefired Semirhage then.  Don't know why but still have the feeling Min is going to bite the dust.

[Cockta]

How many here wants to see Faile bite the dust?

[bjclinton]

It probably didn't even cross his mind as an option. Its been awhile since I've read that book (currently on book 10 of reread), but if i remember correctly, doesn't he consider his hand as almost another necessary loss that he must suffer? I dont remember him running around wondering "WHY!? HOW!? I MUST GET MY HAND BACK!!!"  ;)

 

I think he just figured that having both hands isn't going to help or hinder him during TG so move on.

[CUBAREY]

I think he just figured that having both hands isn't going to help or hinder him during TG so move on.

 

While Rand was pretty stoic about the loss of his hand, and his fate in general, the above comment is a bit overblown. Rand did comment to Bashere that he would have to relearn the sword as most forms he used were two handed. Rand accepts the loss of his hasnd as he does his general fate but this does not mean he is totally blase about being slowly dismembered.

[Hybrid]

At the same time, though, it is specifically mentioned that Min feels nothing through the bond except for a brief stab of pain.  Rand accepts his loss and moves on.

[Spirit1025]

At the same time, though, it is specifically mentioned that Min feels nothing through the bond except for a brief stab of pain.  Rand accepts his loss and moves on.

 

Is Rand even capable of feeling more than that, with how he's hardened himself?

[Guest Dreadlord]

I think he is capable of feeling more than that myself, he is hard but not quite made of stone. If he didnt care about the women that had died for him, then maybe it would be a different story

[Asmo]

How many here wants to see Faile bite the dust?

 

Faile doesn't deserve the screentime neccessary to have her killed. I'd rather she wasn't mentioned until Book 13: The Chronicles of Fail.

[RAND AL THOR]

I'm sure RJ is exagerrating Rand's so-called 'hardness.' It is impossible for anyone to be able to not notice pain in such a situation , void or no.

 

There are several exagerrated features in WoT. This is just one.

[Fryn]

Well you can tune out pain, especially in the heat of the moment. That is especially true if you have another injury that you can focus on instead. Rand has a massive chest wound he can focus on and anything else would be minor. And since he has had the chest would for so long even that wouldn't seem too bad (for him). The human mind is a wonderful thing for pain management.

[Hybrid]

I'm sure RJ is exagerrating Rand's so-called 'hardness.' It is impossible for anyone to be able to not notice pain in such a situation , void or no.

 

There are several exagerrated features in WoT. This is just one.

 

My long jump teacher once told me a story in which he was running the 100 meters.  He heard a sharp crack halfway through, but finished the race.  He thought it was a gunshot or something.  When he woke up the next morning, his leg was obviously broken.