Damodred. Mantear. Trakand.

[didymos]

And while I hear he is super awesome in ToM I always felt bad for him in the series because he had to be the most tramatized of all the characters, except maybe Tam al'Thor who developed Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome during the Blood Snow.

 

Really? Tam and Galad are the two most traumatized characters in WOT. Really!?

 

Uhhh....no: that'd be Rand. Hands down. Or, actually, hand down. For the runner-up spot, I'd nominate Morgase. Or maybe that one myrddraal Padan Fain was hauling around for a while. You just know that wasn't any fun.

[yoniy0]

Uh, well, they don't actually exist. You just had someone pretending to be one to provide a neat excuse for any errors in the book.

You go (way) too far. Jordan was a co-author of the BWB, and I'm sure he personally approved every comma in it. If a mistake shouldn't have been made in his opinion, it wouldn't have been.

[nophone]

Rand has no claim, Lion Throne has a special clause in it requiring you be a woman

 

Rand is a bit of a woman sometimes.

[Moon Sedai]

Okay, reexaming Lord of chaos, ch 9 (When Morgase finds out Galad is a Whitecloak), she has a thought of caring just as much for Galad as Gawyn and Elayne.

 

But, I maintain that it is highly possible that as a child, Galad might have thought Morgase loved them more than him. [my whole point on that earlier post was speculative anyway.]

[yoniy0]

But, I maintain that it is highly possible that as a child, Galad might have thought Morgase loved them more than him. [my whole point on that earlier post was speculative anyway.]

Elayne said that praise from Morgase was never held back if she felt it was deserved. I think she'd been a good mother to the three of them, but I admit that's almost pure speculation on my part.

[Nooska]

Succession laws don't mean a thing, and wouldn't be worth the paper they were written on in any randland country. None of them are constitutionel monarchies - the monarchs are omnipotent to the degree that they hold the actual military power (much like mideavel monarchies). The laws therefore aren't applicable to who can succed, as any monarch can change the laws unilaterally. It is the tradtions "stronger than law" that are relevant - because those traditions are what dictates whether a specific person could be recognized as the monarch and thereby gain the power in the land.

 

Regardless of what went on de jure or what Rand thought himself, de facto he was king of Andro while he held it. De facto he was king of Cairhien (and to a big extent, still is) he relinquished the throne and power without a fight, true, and he never intended on keeping it, but he ws king of Andor, de facto, and is the King of Cairhien, de facto. He is the king of Illian, de jure (unless some obscure law prevents the removal of a living king from power - in which case he is king by right of conquest and surrender) and imperator of Tear which has its own king now in Darlin.

 

For any monarchy, indeed any country, which does not have a universally recognized constitutional document or body, the leadership of said country is determined by who holds the might to force his or her will, or alternatively is recognized freely by however many subjects as constitues a de facto rule.

[yoniy0]

Not quite. New Spring makes it quite clear that succession laws hold actual validity, in Cairhien, at least.

[Nooska]

Not quite. New Spring makes it quite clear that succession laws hold actual validity, in Cairhien, at least.

 

While I'll concede the point here, its been too long since I read the series (only just started a reread getting bogged down in eotw), I will postulate that the succession laws only hold sway in Cairhien because the possible candidates want them to hold validity due to it being to their benefit in the Great Game - its easier to manipulate if you hold to a set of rules to manipulate around (the reason Daes Dae'mar didn't 'work' on Rand - he didn't care about it). So the laws hold validity because the powerholders and potentials honor them, and none hold enough power to ignore the others.

 

(A mouse can starve on the difference here, but with an expected delivery of nov 10th for ToM I have to discuss something else until then :))