Mat and Perrin unbalanced, or just different ?

[Aquarius]

Mat has a great influence in the WoT world: he marries the empress (may she live forever), he leads armies, he helped the failuregirls fix the weather (how ungratefull they were for that), he will probably save Moirane and lead the armies at TG.

 

Perrin leads a couple hundreds farmers would-be-bowmen, talks to wolves is married to a ... I don't even know how to say that in english without beeing really rude...

 

Ok, Perrin is the Builder, the guy who keeps his head on his shoulders, but not more than Mat, even if only in a different way. I feel Perrin's character misses something. Something big, character-shaping.

 

What do you think ?

 

 

[yoniy0]

Oh, I agree. While Perrin matured earlier in the series (he wasn't all that immature when the series started, for that matter), Mat's really come into his own the last couple of books, and Perrin's still struggling.

I fully expect his actions to be vital in the LB, though. I think we're going to see him come to peace with who he is in ToM, just in the nick of time.

[Val Mickey]

That's unfair to Perrin. He saves Egwene's life once, brings Aes Sedai to swear fealty to Rand, has a queen as a liege, He saved Emond's field and is the most democratic Lord ever. He might become King of Saldaea or Arad Doman, will probably bring peace between the Seanchan and Rand, and save Rand's life (again) for Light's sake. Those Shaido will wet their breeches if they see Perrin again. Did I mention he was King of the Wolves?

 

Nothing as glamorous as Mat, but then Mat likes gaudy things. :)

[Kaman]

Perrins storyline is in major need for some action. I used to love Perrins caracter but after he chased Faile and the Shaido for how many books and with way to many years between those books I am now just sick of the whining. It's time to man up and grow a pair. Slayer needs to die in the next book and Perrin needs to move himself in place for the last battle. He is the "Bannerman" after all.

[Stanley the Bugman]

Perrin was at the battle of DW, and pretty much destroyed the Shaido as well. Both events were pretty important.

 

But yeah, it does seem that he's the least important of the three Ta'veren.

[Tom Sawyer]

Perrin just seems rather pointless at this point.  He finished mopping up a group that Rand had already destroyed and has been wandering around by himself not doing much while Rand and Mat were kicking ass.

 

The wolfbrother thing was cool in the first couple of books, but when you've got armies in the hundreds of thousands and hundreds of channellers and cannons on the field, it's fairly irrelevant whether or not a bunch of wolves decide to show up.

 

He just doesn't seem to have a whole lot of relevance and is just kind of the other guy.

 

[StefanR]

I expect the next two books will have Perrin coming into more importance

[Morsker]

Perrin and Elayne both feel second-rate compared to Rand, Egwene, Matt, and Nynaeve. I'd rather they suffered early deaths than had any more time spent developing them though. :P Perrin could've died to his arrow wound in #4, and Elayne to the Gholam in #7. Perfect!

[Fains nose]

I used to love Perrin in the early books but he pretty much becomes completely irrevelent after Dumais Wells. To me Perrin is the prime example for this series losing its way after book 6, the whole prophet mision/rescuing Faile arc just seemed like it was giving him something to do while the other characters actualy did things of importance, i mean people complain about the Elayne/Andor politics/1 book of bathing being a waste of time, but Perins one of the three core primary characters, and hes done nothing for 6 books!. I would honestly have prefered him to just stay in the Two Rivers after Dumais wells, then Elayne chalenges the Two Rives independance in KoD, and he goes to caemlyn to meet her, runing into Galad on the way, just in time for the next book, then he resumes his original awesomenes, because the way its been done, ive been conditioned to switch off my brain when he comes on-screen

[Durinax]

actually I feel he isnt missing much, he destroyed the shaido (as mentioned before) a major help to rand because the maurauding aiel are dead and now the populous can be alittle more at ease with rand's aiel (part of the reason arad doman was troublesome).

 

he destroyed the prophets mob and his woman killed the prophet which helped greatly reduce the chaos being done in Rand's name

 

saved the two rivers, and that includes tam, and verin both which had very big parts in the future books

 

Perrins character is as an important supporting character. also I think the reason people hate them so much is that Perrin's and Faile's PoV's where right after one another and had quite a few thoughts of the other, so the two sort of combine in peoples minds making it a lot more tedious than it is. As for whinning I can actually connect with his thoughts in TGS where he thinks to himself he feels derelict only the duty of saving Faile made him push through each day, and with that done he is just floating there, I can connect with that.

[Tom Sawyer]

I think that Perrin's destroying of the Shaido would have been more impressive if he'd not done it after they'd already been destroyed.  That plotline had run its course at Dumai's Well and then just kind of pointlessly continued on for a few more books for no particular reason other than to fill up space.

 

The Prophet was a cool idea when he was first introduced as a little side story of religious hysteria, but it was as essentially pointless to the main plot as everything else that Perrin has been doing.  You can see how Mat's storyline is going to fit into the main plot and the buildup of the things that he's been doing has relevance.  Perrin's pretty much just been deadweight on the story and his marriage to Faile is going to have some purpose with the Borderlanders through this Broken Crown bit, but that'll be an entirely new plotline unrelated to any of the other stuff that he's been doing.

 

If Morgase wasn't still alive, I'd say that Perrin is the most useless, go-nowhere plotline that the series has.  He was great up until book four but since then, he's been filler.

 

[Duskfire]

I've always thought that out of the three, Perrin would be the most important after TG. He is the builder, and I can easily see him forging new relationships, keeping things together, being essential in the recovery of what is lost. He is a great leader and that would be incredibly essential after the smoke has cleared and people need someone like that.

 

Perrin has done alot of things however that to some extent are underrated. He finished destroying the Shaido - and if it werent for him theyt may have been a problem for ages. Destroyed Masema and his dragonsworn army that had been wrecking as much havoc as almost anyone, had Queen Allindre swear fealty to him in an area of the land that Rand doesn't have much of a presence, etc etc. Also he will be intergral in forging the Rand/Seanchan alliance, if his relationship with Tylee means anything.

[DemandredFO]

Perrin did bring help to Rand but Taim did the real work.  Also the Shaido victory would've been less hollow if he didn't accidently do it.

[Durinax]

Perrin did bring help to Rand but Taim did the real work.  Also the Shaido victory would've been less hollow if he didn't accidently do it.

how was it accidental? anything that requires lots of planning isnt accidental, or do you mean his motive was accidental?

[Val Mickey]

Yeah, Perrin's parts are quite drab. But I heard on the podcast that some of the older readers like Perrin's POV.

[Axon]

Egwene should have been the third Tav, but whatever.

 

Perrin's just very bland. Too much "oh, I don't want to fight" stuff all the time, over and over. Rand is a good example of a reluctant warrior.  He's normal.  He does not generally seek out battle, but if you get under his skin he reacts appropriately. I realize that a lot of the things he does at the Dragon Reborn are premeditated, but if he had the choice he would not do them.  Perrin is just too goody goody.

[talligan]

I think Perrin's storyline brings a personal conflict into the fold. Rand is running around killing forsaken because they need to be killed, Egwene is trying to reunite the tower, Matt is pinching pretty girls and in turn being pinched so a lot of what those characters are doing is political.

 

Perrin's wife (as much as I hate her) was abducted and his story is one driven by his own love as opposed to  the prophesied/political drive the other characters have. Although that's from where I am in book 9 at the moment.

 

Also, it didn't take Rand very long to come to terms with who he was so this could be RJ's way of exploring how a country bumpkin comes to terms with being one of the most important/powerful people on the planet.