Chapter 1 - Spoilers - First Impressions, Thoughts

[Padraic_Seebrr]

Hehe, the Dark One broke wind. Hehe.

[jaimevotrechapeau]

It was definitely a bit jarring to see the difference in the prose style—I'm rereading KoD right now and am really immersed in RJ's story-telling. Things with the sentence structure and word choice and just kind of a feel to the characters makes it very clear that it's not RJ. Like when Cadsuane said, "For all the girl's dramatic talk...", that stuck out at me. Among other things. Minor and totally livable, but a little weird. It's something to get used to, I think.

 

That being said, there was a certain briskness to it that I liked and I'm very eager to for the rest of the book to come out. As for Sanderson's style, it's not my own personal thing. I don't dislike it; I'm just not wild about it. I thought there was a weird choppy feeling to parts of it and if it was the WOT he was finishing I doubt I would read this book as a standalone piece.

 

Basically, whatever extremely minor issues I have I'm still super excited to see how he gets us through the plot. And it was a hell of a good teaser.

[demonspawn]

So, I've read the chapter and have a few points to make...

 

1. You're reading my comment?

2. Now you're saying/thinking that's a stupid fact.

4. You didn't notice that I skipped 3.

5. You're checking it now.

6. You're smiling.

7. You're still reading my comment.

8. You know all you have read is true.

10. You didn't notice that I skipped 9 too.

11. You're checking it now.

12. You didn't even notice there are only 10 facts.

 

well... I didn't say I would make sense

[sheikh chilli]

rand is a contradiction. heartless bastard yet can't harm a sadist forsaken who blew his arm off. what is he laying at? kinda interesting seeing  his opinion of egwene.

 

Nice hearing LTT sound coherent for a while. but his plan to seal the bore was reckless. if the women joined him we would have insane aes sedai too 'shudders'

 

edited,

 

 

reading the chapter again i think i can safely say that rand is going nuts if he hasn't already.

[broberts]

I think everyone is overlooking something about the sword.  As Rand stated: 

 

"It felt right beneath his fingers..."

 

This tells me it was not likely Hawkwings' sword and he also stated it was only recently "unearthed".  Also "completely unaware of what they were holding".  It would seem to me that Hawkwings' sword Justice had plenty of descriptions attached to it for people to recognize.  I think this is something else and could possibly even be a ter'angreal or angreal. 

[Davian93]

There is this quote to consider:

 

 

And men cried out to the Creator, praying, O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain, according to the Prophecies, as he was in Ages past and will be in Ages to come. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs. Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

 

 

    from Charal Drianaan te Calamon, The Cycle of the Dragon, Author unknown, the Fourth Age

[Jaric Mar Tedronai]

i think while somewhat flowery and over-descriptive, it was a good intro into TGS. all wot books start out this way, but i think the wind thing went a little over the top.  cant understand why rand is clinging to the whole not harming women thing, esp. when semi's knowledge could be priceless in helping him against both the rest of the forsaken and the DO.  i re-read rands whole trip to rhuidean and couldnt find anything about the sword, and also the scene with the heroes in TGH. he did have laman's sword re-hilted, but for some reason i remember it being wrapped in leather, not cloth, and also with a plain boarhide sheath, so this isnt that sword either.  a possible reason he chose to wear it right away is because it could be a one handed sword, smaller in size and weight. it could possibly be the sword of the false dragon from arad doman from hundreds of years ago (someone said the name in an earlier post but i cant remember it).  but after reading all of it the sword is stuck in my mind for some reason.... 

[Padraic_Seebrr]

There is this quote to consider:

 

   

And men cried out to the Creator, praying, O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain, according to the Prophecies, as he was in Ages past and will be in Ages to come. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs. Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

 

 

    from Charal Drianaan te Calamon, The Cycle of the Dragon, Author unknown, the Fourth Age

 

It could have been just metaphorically speaking.

[Davian93]

There is this quote to consider:

 

   

And men cried out to the Creator, praying, O Light of the Heavens, Light of the World, let the Promised One be born of the mountain, according to the Prophecies, as he was in Ages past and will be in Ages to come. Let the Prince of the Morning sing to the land that green things will grow and the valleys give forth lambs. Let the arm of the Lord of the Dawn shelter us from the Dark, and the great sword of justice defend us. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

 

 

    from Charal Drianaan te Calamon, The Cycle of the Dragon, Author unknown, the Fourth Age

 

It could have been just metaphorically speaking.

 

Oh definitely.  It could very well be metaphorical.  However, there is a long tradition of Rand having symbolic swords now. Consider Tam's sword, Laman's sword, and Callandor.  All three have huge symbolism attached to them.  Therefore, it is likely that this sword is very important too.  Hawkwing's sword would be a very powerful symbol.  It would grow in significance as he is dealing with Tuon and the Seanchan on a truce.  Carrying Justice would make quite the impression to them.

[jemron]

I just thought of something.  One of the commentors said that the sword could be a ter'angreal or sa'angreal.  Lanfear told Rand way back in tSR, I believe it was, that there was a third powerful sa'angreal (other than Callandor and the Choedan Kal) that was created specifically for a man.  Could this be it?  This could be why it feels so right in his hands (or, hand, I guess).  Maybe he saw it in his memories from his experience in Rhuidean(sp?).  Anyway, just a thought.

 

I still think it is Justice, and that quote from the Cycle of the Dragon seems to confirm that theory for me, but, we'll probably know for sure when we get the prologue.  It's just nice to have something new to talk about after four years of no new material!

[deepak_dragonreborn]

I dont remember the part abt the 3rd great sangreal...could u post the quote..I still think the sword is Justice though.

[Luckers]

My general thoughts were that whilst it was a bit over-flowery in parts, mostly it was just different. And Brandon never hid that it would be. He is no ghostwriter, and I agree with all the reasoning behind them choosing a distinct author as opposed to having a ghost writer do the job.

 

What I would point out to those that are have a problem with this is that this particular part of the book will be the place were the differences in style will be most noticeable because of his need to match RJ's wind motif.

 

Like others I suggest waiting before you make up your mind about the stylistic differences. And lets not forget Brandon brings his own type of cool with him, for instance 'Few looking on the Tower would guess that at its heart it had been broken and corrupted. Seprately.' Not something RJ would have writen, I think, but nonetheless awesome.

 

A few other thoughts. Firstly Maj, it appears you were right about the fact that Rand probably won't be seeking out the borderlanders any time soon. With all that talk about Graendal it's looking like he'll be focusing on Arad Domon in the first part of this book, though I still maintain that Aviendha will be the key. It makes sense though if Aran'gar is going to be invovled.

 

Amusingly it seems clear that some sort of confrontation will occur between Interulde and Rand. I say ammusingly because of Interulde's thought to himself that he had plans that could deal with anything short of the Dragon Reborn appearing.

 

Not that I think it will play out that cleanly--Rand wants to put a stop to Interulde, whilst Interulde wants to put a stop to the Seanchan. Maybe if he comes to see that the peace will secure Arad Domon, but should be fun. I'm guessing too that Interulde will be the source of uncovering Graendal. Rand's knowledge via Lews Therin is enough to understand what Interulde knows about the Lady Basne.

 

There is the question of why Tuon hasn't responded to Rand's overtures, given her greatest desire seems just that--the simple answer is she doesn't know of them. Suroth may well have killed the sul'dam to silence them, and Tuon may not even have returned yet. In which case the meeting is suitably delayed to give time for the Tower attack, and will probably result through Turan.

 

The sword sounds coolish--and everyones right, the most likely possibility is Justice. A few other thoughts pop to mind--Rand describes the sword 'almost as if it were made for him' which I find interesting, does that mean its a single handed sword? As I recall wasn't Justice a double-handed sword, akin to Rand's old swords. I don't know too much about how swords differ between the two styles, so maybe some guru could throw in on this?

 

If im not completely wrong about that other ideas occur to me--one of Gaidal Cain's swords for instance, or maybe the Sword of the Sun.

 

Nynaeve--is being groomed to replace Cadsuane as errant, reblious Aes Sedai. Notice how Brandon compares them--clothing, ter'angreal, actions. I think that pretty much spells doom for Lan though.

 

The one thing that did jar for me, though, was the attempts to describe clothing ala RJ. It just felt clunky and over-achieving, but other than that I didn't have a problem.

 

And of course now im wickedly excited. Damn.

[jemron]

I dont remember the part abt the 3rd great sangreal...could u post the quote..I still think the sword is Justice though.

 

TSH pg.182 of the US Paperback:

 

Lanfear: "I cannot trust you fully, Lews Therin.  Not yet." She came closer, and he considered simply seizing her...  "Not with that, certainly," she added, grimacing at Callandor.

"There are only two more powerful that a man can use.  One at least, I know, still exists.  No, Lews Therin.  I will not trust you yet with that."

 

Later, on pg. 184, Lanfear talks about the Choedan Kal, "Two great sa'angreal were made just before the end, one that you can use, one that I can.  Far greater than that sword.  Their power is beyond imagining.  With those, we could challenge even... the Great Lord himself.  Even the Creator!"

"You are mad, " he said raggedly.

 

Who knows?  I still think the sword is Justice, but how do we know that Justice wasn't a great sa'angreal that Artur Hawkwing simply used as a sword?  Far fetched, maybe, but I'm excited to RAFO.

 

Lanfear knew that one of the other two (other than Callandor) exists because she was with Rand in Cairhien when he was drawn to it in tGH.

[Phariah]

nice theory Jemron,  . very interesting i'm w/ u i wanna RAFO. and he says he recognizes it and he was suprised LTT didn't fits if it is the sa'angreal.

 

hey Luckers maybe its because the Seanchan forces were sent to the WT already? you know how they are hung up on etiquette. maybe she doesn't want to start the talks until she can recall them ? seeing as how if they started the talks and it was found out she would be seen as a liar and it wound harm her honor? or maybe its like someone else said in another thread that they were attacking the WT to get the horn and want to use it as leverage negotiating w/ Rand? just a crazy thought,

[jemron]

Ramble on.

 

I think that Tuon is still in mourning for the loss of her mother/the fall of the Empire in Seanchan, and that may be what is causing her slow response.

 

Maybe she's going through the process of becoming the actual Empress (if there is a process) and she is waiting to act as Empress, instead of as the Daughter of the Nine Moons, when she confronts Rand (or he confronts her).

 

I've always believed that the Seanchan version of the prophecies is skewed, and that Rand won't bow to the Crystal Throne, but rather the Empress (or the Crystal Throne) will actually bow to him (as is stated in the Randland version of the Prophecies, I believe).

 

Ramble off.

[Luckers]

I just checked the stephen cooper timeline and the answer is that Tuon was not back in Ebou Dar yet. Rand sends the sul'dam back on Aine 25, Nynaeve's comment puts that scene only a few days after that. Between Aine 28 and Adar 3, I would guess. Tuon arrives back at Ebou Dar around Adar 15.

 

It is curious, however, that Suroth does not seem overly distraut about Semirhage's fall. Maybe Galgan hid the sul'dam from Suroth--after all the knowledge of Semirhage disguising herself as Tuon casts a clear spin on the fake Tuon extorting jewels, and the rampant fury that resulted from it. Galgan, knowing that, and knowing of the deaths of the Empress and her kin, should easily have realised the implications of Semirhage doing that--that she was seeking to place someone new on the throne. As it wasn't Tuon, and it wasn't himself, that clearly suggests that it was Suroth.

 

 

[RAMb0211]

That's an interesting theory about the third sa'angreal to be sure. could be very useful if it's really more powerful than Callandor. That would explain why he says they had no idea what they were giving him as well as how it comes from hi own memory. I actually really hope thats what it is cause that would allow Rand to be a complete BA without the limitations of Callandor and the overwhelming power of the Chodan Kal. Frankly it's looking to me like he needs a little something extra in his state.

[Luckers]

I dunno though, two sword sa'angreal...?

[RAMb0211]

It's possible, there were after all two Lanfears, two Ishamaels, two Aginors, and two Balthamels  ;D Why not two Sword sa'angreal?

[Alghar Khan]

I just read it (a little late, I know). I liked it a lot. Don't know who wrote what, and I don't care. I can't come up with anything in particular "to criticise". Probably makes me a bad critic.  :P

 

[fikkie77]

@those believing the sword was Justice: why would Justice have a Dragon on it?

That's why I dismiss that possibility.

[Luckers]

The sword itself has no dragons, and the scarbard may have been made for the gift. Rand doesn't say it was the scabard that was significant.

[Davian93]

The sword itself has no dragons, and the scarbard may have been made for the gift. Rand doesn't say it was the scabard that was significant.

 

Exactly.  Also the description implies that he recognizes it as in he's actually seen it before, not something he vaguely heard about from Lanfear.

[The Watcher and Wanderer]

I love it, six pages worth of discussion and debate just based on one chapter.  I can't imagine what these boards are going to be like once the actual book comes out.  I can't wait because frankly after a 4 year drought in new material we have really be stretching to come up with new discussion topics.

[jemron]

I agree Luckers.  The scabbard may have nothing to do with the actual sword that was given to him.

 

It's Justice.  Who wants to bet on it?  ;D