What where your thoughts when you started your first re-read?

[rizman]

I finished TGS about a week ago. Yesterday I started my re-read of the series. I'm only about chapter 5 of Eye of the World and hell did I find stuff that now makes complete sense which was absolutely non-sense back when I read it the first time. Just consider the prologue 'Dragonmount'.

Ten years! you pitiful fool! This war has not lasted ten years, but since the beginning of time. You and I have fought a thousand battles with the turning of the Wheel, a thousand times a thousand, and we will fight until time dies and the shadow is triumphant!

The first time I read this I was more like, yeah, whatever he's talking about. Although you can figure out a little bit what he means. But now I'm like, 'Hell yeah, that's so cool'.

Other example from 'Dragonmount':

Desperately he [Lews Therin] reached out to the True Source, to tainted saidin, and he Traveled

As a first time reader I took something like this for granted. I mean, what is saidin? How is it tainted? What is 'Travelling'. Now I know and it makes perfect sense.

 

In chapter 4, 'The Gleeman', Thom adresses Rand saying

You, lad, You're a tall one...and as tall as an Aielman

How the hell would I be able to know what an Aielman is during my first read, not even considering the fact that I didn't even know that Rand is indeed an Aielman.

 

There are more examples. But to say, even after only 5 chapters into book 1, there is so much I can enjoy that I just seemed to either overlook or take for granted.

 

I actually now understand why some people have read the books multiple times. There are so many hints to future events hidden. It is total fun.and I really hope it will continue on like this (though I'm pretty sure about that)

 

So, how was your first re-read of WoT?

[Pikapi]

I found the same thing when I did my first re-read of the series (I think I did my first re-read when I got either WH or CoT). Things that hadn't made sense to me the first time around made sense when I went back and went through the books again :D Not to mention that re-reading always gives a fresh perspective, and I get to know the characters all over again.

[dokfeelg00d]

I just started my like 6th reread and i still cant help but marvel in the first few chapters thinking "Salidar Amyrlin, Dragon, General, Wolf, Accepted that heals stilling and helps cleanse saidin, Aes Sedai that balefires a Forsaken then ninja pwns another, The peddler that turns into one of the best bad guys ever, and uhhh Lan.. lets not forget the potential creator in Bela who was introduced on like the first page"

 

Did Moiraine use a form of compulsion when she gave the coins to the boys?

 

That is chapter 1.

 

[OptimusPrime]

One thing I thought on my first reread... Kari al'Thor having red hair was put in there purely to give Rand a reason to deny being Aiel when he first heard of it. It just felt kind of odd, that Kari would have reasonable signs of being Rands mum even in her appearance, just in order to make it a bit more believable.

 

Also on my first reread, I thought I saw signs of Rand being a Dreamer (but not a Dreamwalker) from as early as TGH, I think.

 

I also wondered why we never ever saw anyone use an item as a focus for the One Power other than Moiraine.

[Kadere]

My first reread was the most enjoyable read I ever had. It was almost five years after I'd originally read the series, so most of the small plot points were foggy to me, but as I read I could piece things together with what I remembered. I knew where the story was going and what parts were important and how they related to other points. I could catch the foreshadowing better, and I just found that the whole series had MUCH more depth then I'd originally thought on my first read through.

 

What also helped me was the website http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/ which I used as a read along guide that helped me remember certain minor characters, keep the Aes Sedai straight, and find more then I remembered.

 

In subsequent rereads (I've read the whole series 7 times now) I've memorized most of the notes, but it's nice to have a resource like that.

[PCL]

I just recently started a reread / catch up a few weeks back. I read the first 5 or 6 books when they came out new. But, then life changes prevented me from reading anything for several years. So, I am starting at the beginning again and look forward to the new books I have not read. I just started book 5 last night. I had forgotten what a great story WOT is.

[Thanatos]

I started my first re-read after tSR.  There is so much that you just pass over when you are trying to take the story in.  I just recently started a re-read after tGS, and I am immediately noticing certain things about certain Aes Sedai.

 

I also wondered why we never ever saw anyone use an item as a focus for the One Power other than Moiraine.

 

I could not agree more.  I wonder if it is just something RJ put in the early books, and decided to go away from later on in the series, or if it has some purpose yet unknown.

[Dredlord]

The first thing that really caught my eye on my first re-read was Masemma.  I had completely forgot about him the first time I read the story, So I didn't realize who the prophet was!  When I saw his name in EotW I was like OH! THAT guy!!!  Alot of other things were kind of hard for me to get through because I had read book 5 first, then went back and read 1-6 and the rest as they came out.  So I didn't have the basic description of characters in book 5, because by then you should already know what they look like. I had to fill the blanks in with something but it took me my second time reading through to finally get the mental imaging right. (And I still don't have it 100%, I just CAN'T picture the Aiel with red or blonde hair!!, Avi is a brunette to me lol)

 

IT also took me until my third time through to realize that Bela running, the ship mast hitting the trolloc and The lightning in the window were all Rand channeling! (I'm kinda slow!)

[kivo]

Moiraine calling Thom "Master Bard" on their initial meetup in Emond's Field.

[ravenfier]

Dont feel so bad, i've re-read the series so much that ive had to buy it 3 different times, darn pages keep falling out and I still dont know what the heck is the bid unknoticed thing in books 6-8. I'm doing another re-read, and this time im taking notes.

[rizman]

Something I came across yesterday in EotW is Lan talking about Trolloc tribes. After the attack on Emond's Field, Lan is counting iirc 7 different trolloc clans. They seem to wear some sort of badge, sign, pin whatever (I don't have the book here to check). I can't remember anything about trollocs clans/tribes from my first read (though there is certainly A LOT I can't remember :-) ). Is this something I just missed or did RJ give up on the idea and keep the Trollocs as cannon fodder?

 

There are so many interesting things going on. In the chapter 'Tellings of the Wheel', Rand dream from Thakan'dar and Shayol Ghul and remebers already having been there. The first time I read this, I probably didn't even notice it. But this time I was like: Crap, Lews Therin (or his memories) is already taking over Rand's mind :-) He can already remember pieces of his past lifes.

 

I'm almost only reading on my round-trip to work and back home (train/bus). Sometimes, I notice people looking at me because I'm just sitting there and staring at my book. Grinning, been shocked etc...by the mere facts that I can now better enjoy the foreshadowing, the hints laid out by RJ to what is to come. I think this might just get even better then the first time around.

[Pikapi]

IT also took me until my third time through to realize that Bela running, the ship mast hitting the trolloc and The lightning in the window were all Rand channeling! (I'm kinda slow!)

 

See, I never connected those to Rand's channeling, even several re-reads later, but on an external WoT site (could've been the WoT Wiki or something like that), I realized those three events were connected to Rand. But only very recently did I learn that the boom hitting the Trolloc was Rand's doing, and that wasn't even on a re-read! But re-reading does help a lot, and it gives you a better understanding of the series, and helps you pick up on character insights that you might've missed the first time around!

 

(And now that I have a correctly printed copy of tGS, I get to do another re-read to refresh my memory XD)

[teacher723]

I'm on my first re-read right now, almost finishing the 5th book.  I figure this is the best way catch up on what I have forgotten before attacking TGS.  Of course, as I read each chapter I then check the WOT Encyclopedia and Leigh Butler's Re-Read on TOR for her comments.  It's great to catch the little bits of prophect and foreshadowing that you missed the first time.  And since it's been years, you forget all the little things.  I can't believe I forgot about the first battles of Mat and his defeat of Couladin off-screen.  The other great thing is seeing the humor in scenes I didn't before because I was so engrossed in understanding what was what and who was who.

[Matrim DeLaneous]

1st re-read:       "I wonder how much I missed"

Later re-reads:  "How the hell am I going to keep track of all these Aes Sedai names?"

[Dredlord]

 

(And now that I have a correctly printed copy of tGS, I get to do another re-read to refresh my memory XD)

 

Correctly printed?  What's so different?  If its just small misspellings and such I don't need a 3rd copy around... or Do I? (one signed one to read, both bought the day it came out.)

[Taryntula]

I'm on my 3rd re-read...my first re-read I was almost just as overwhelmed as my first, but now that I'm on the third I'm picking up a lot I didn't before...and it's amazing how much you can forget even after reading it 3 times!

 

My favorite "aha!" moments were in the very beginning...when Mat & Perrin's futures are forshadowed in the first couple of chapters (Mat is intrigued by talk of battle, Perrin asks a question about wolves)! WOW! How in the world did RJ have it all mapped out in his mind? And Min's viewing of Rand loving 3 women? We don't even meet the 3rd girl until TDR! And Moiraine telling Egwene she could be Amyrlin one day? And Nynaeve always believing/knowing in her heart that ANYTHING short of death can be healed? Just blows my mind.

[Pikapi]

 

(And now that I have a correctly printed copy of tGS, I get to do another re-read to refresh my memory XD)

 

Correctly printed?  What's so different?  If its just small misspellings and such I don't need a 3rd copy around... or Do I? (one signed one to read, both bought the day it came out.)

 

Heh, the first copy I bought was missing some pages, and another section of pages was repeated twice, before the story carried on normally. I went to a bookstore in the city yesterday, and got another copy, which had all its pages, and no section was repeated :) (I flipped through just to make sure I wasn't getting another dud ^_^; )

[Shryke]

major thing i never noticed until i read through again

 

Thom kills the Cairhienin king and sets off the whole civil war

[Taryntula]

Thom killed the Cairhienen king??? How did you deduce that? I'm on my 3rd re-read and didn't notice that one!

[Kadere]

TGH Ch. 34. Thom is told the people who killed Dena were sent by King Galldrin. He then marches off thinking he still has someone to kill. Then in Ch. 38 Elayne says Galldrin is dead. Then in TDR Ch. 31 Mat asks Thom why he left Cairhien, he responds that it was because he killed a man. Thom killed Galldrin.

[Shryke]

i aleady liked Thom, but he got so much more badass in my eyes after i figured that out  ;D

[Pikapi]

I have no idea how long it took me to work that out XD I think it was after at least a few re-reads that I realised, "oh, hey, Thom killed Galldrian. Duh".

[scion9]

I've done several rereads; some aborted before completing the as of yet uncompleted series.  I'm doing my first Audiobook listen through now though, and have picked up a few tidbits that I never really noticed before because they have to inferred. 

 

Like Elayne's scandalized reaction to Birgitte's story about a woman who gets her head stuck between the slats of a fence.  I don't think I ever stopped and thought what that story actually was about until now.

 

Or why one of the supergirls has so much trouble with the veils in Tanchico and the others don't.

 

Or Mat's inability to recognize traits in others that he possesses himself, and his general lack of introspective qualities.

 

My favorite is Perrin's internal dialogue about his intelligence, and how people think he's dumb, but he's really just ponderous or pensive.  Perrin is kind of dumb, and like a lot of dumb people thinks he is as smart or smarter than others.  It's really hammered home in Winter's Heart I believe when Faile is explaining why he shouldn't tell the Two Rivers men to put away the Manatheren banner while they are Ghealdan.  She gives enough of an answer for a normal person to infer her reasoning, but Perrin is about to respond in a way that makes him believe he will come across as dumb, so he instead responds with a Homer Simpson-esque, "Go on...".  The humor of the scene never really struck me before.  Perrin is approximately smart enough to apply the axiom of 'better to remain silent and be thought stupid, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.'

 

As for Moiraine's usage of items as focuses, we actually see Egwene use a smooth pebble as a focus for the eavesdropping weave when she tries to spy on Elaida's delegation in Cairhien.  She learns the weave from Moiraine of course, and Moiraine learned it before going to the tower as one of her sparker 'tricks'.  Once you learn something a certain way, it's nearly impossible to unlearn it.  Moghedien teaches Elayne and Nynaeve about boring through a ward and eavesdropping with the power and doesn't use focus items.  Moiraine is a secret wilder like a lot of sparkers apparently, and her use of items is just an idiosyncracy born of that.  The Aes Sedai make hand motions when they do certain weaves as well, and the Aiel Wise Ones comment on it being bizarre.  The same thing applies there.

[Dredlord]

Like Elayne's scandalized reaction to Birgitte's story about a woman who gets her head stuck between the slats of a fence.  I don't think I ever stopped and thought what that story actually was about until now.

 

Or why one of the supergirls has so much trouble with the veils in Tanchico and the others don't.

 

Umm... What and Why?  Guess I still haven't picked up on those two lol

[Hadilmir]

Umm... What and Why?  Guess I still haven't picked up on those two lol

1. A women bent over and unable to move... Fairly self-explanatory.  ::)

 

2. Emond's Field had a sickness that ran through and everyone wore a brandy-soaked veil for two months. That is why Elayne has so much more trouble with the veil than Nynaeve.