Favorite Quotes/ Moments (Full spoilers)

[Tom Sawyer]

 

Er. She said it soothed her to see damane broken. But I'm saying that's OOC from everything else we knew about her pre-TGS. Example: She felt so bad about having the damane beaten while she was on the boat that she had Anath beat her. I loved her from book 9-11, other than the damane issue, which I was/(maybe still am) certain she will change her views on.

 

IIRC, she didn't feel badly about seeing the damane beaten earlier on in the series. She felt badly that she let a damane provoke a reaction from her, since it was beneath her to be affected by such a creature.

 

She's always been this way. I don't get why people are surprised by her being this way.

[AnthonyJamesEnglish]

Er. She said it soothed her to see damane broken. But I'm saying that's OOC from everything else we knew about her pre-TGS. Example: She felt so bad about having the damane beaten while she was on the boat that she had Anath beat her. I loved her from book 9-11, other than the damane issue, which I was/(maybe still am) certain she will change her views on.

 

The Damane on the boat was beaten "without reason" that's why Tuon felt ashamed. she had the damane beaten because she didn't like the answer she got from viewing her future. i didn't think it was OOC at all. Plus you must remember she's in a vengeful mood especially after what Rand did during the talks.

[efulton]

re: empress snooty one...It's also very simple; at least in 9-11, I was actively trying to give this person a chance, since I knew her fate regarding marriage from the instant we met her. So, it was a kind of "oh, please let this not be double-plus unpretty, for Mat's sake." There was just enough ambiguity to allow for the possibility that she wasn't as horrible as she was likely to be, and there was just enough of Seanchan armies wandering around with a not-gut-wrenching-horrible purpose to allow for the possibility that something, somewhere about them was redeemable.

 

And then "...breaking of damane is soothing..."

 

It's about nine thousand kinds of incredible to me that this fictional villainous society gives me such a real visceral emotional reaction. It's not 'just' the slavery, as Leigh has mentioned over and over in her read-through on Tor. There seems to me to be a really big, really ugly step between the already ugly "people can be property" to the "that is not, and never has been, a person."

[Sid]

2. Mat is gone. Or rather, our Mat is gone. I don't know, I really liked the parts with Mat, as I always do, but up to KoD I liked reading Mat. Not even what he did or said, but how he was written, they were beautifully written section. Sly, witty, slapstick-y, a 'woe is me', thing, but those things weren't overdone. This Mat, he's...like if you took Mat and then made him more Mat, you exaggerated everything about him. Which Perrin actually says in the book. I don't know, I'll still read and reread those parts more than any other char's sections, but still, I can't help but be saddened that the old Mat is gone. And also, the letter I liked, the typos were just baf(Mat is not an idiot, we've seen a letter he wrote before) humour that Brandon shouldn't have done, he's trying to make Mat ha-ha funny which unfortunately he can't pull off most of the time.

 

I agree with this, even after ToM. Mat got a much better grade this time, but still fell a bit short. It's not something tangible that you can really grasp and say "this is how to do it right" either. TDR through KoD Mat was amazingly clever and marvelous. Probably impossible to capture once gone.

 

I hold out hope, however, that the last chapter of AMoL has at least one Mat PoV in it, even if it's somewhat short. If there is one, it would go far to soothe whatever ill feelings or sense of loss I've had pertaining to this.

 

I read *somewhere* a few weeks ago, where someone had complimented Brandon on the Tower of Ghenji, and his response was that he could take very little credit. So, if your hope for AMoL last chapter is because you want RJ Mat, bear in mind that you've just gotten a couple of chapters of him. If you didn't like him here, it's not that likely to be made better in AMoL.

Those were actually by far my favorite Mat chapters, the only ones that felt 'locked in' if you could call it that (maybe a few other short passages too, it was a long book). I didn't exactly dislike the huge majority of them much at all in ToM, but there were usually parts that nudged me out of the story, keeping me off balance. The last thing he yells at the Finns sounded incredibly appropriate when compared with his curses in the land of the Eelfinn back in TSR though. I remembered re-reading it the same way I did 'sheep swallop and bloody buttered onions' the first time.

 

I guess part of the discomfort I feel comes with the knowledge that there's a chance that at any time I might suddenly be reading something that takes me back to his 'quips' and 'bandying words' that went so far afield in TGS. (They did show up again in ToM and you can't deny it.) Once we get to that last chapter, we know for sure what we're getting into. I can let my subconscious guards down and just read the damn thing without any mental second guessing.

[Steinman]

Highlights:

 

Loial's introduction. I dearly want to hear his speech (and not just the short version we got in KoD) and see the Ogier in the Last Battle.

 

I loved the small connections to the beginning of the series (Mat catching a badger, Rand meeting Almen Bunt (was also awesome to see Zen-Rand as well - I'd like to see the Tuatha'an meeting him now), Jain having a similar last stand as Ingtar had (using almost the exact same words)). Made me think about when I first started reading the series 15 years ago and how these characters have been with me since then, and also got me thinking about some very early scenes (Rand falling into the royal garden in Caemlyn is probably my favourite - a fun ta'veren moment, and Rand acted all cool and charmed a Daughter-heir).

 

Nynaeve healing madness. I can't believe this didn't spread like wildfire among Rand's gang (in my mind it's much larger than her healing Stilling). We barely heard about it again. I hope they're just saving it for the last book.

 

Nynaeve's overall rise into a true Aes Sedai. I hope she'll talk some sense into Egwene (who sadly wasn't as cool as in the last two books).

 

Rand's overall redemption, and especially him crying when hugging Tam. Now I want to see him introduce Elayne and Aviendha as well

 

Aviendha in Rhuidean. Rand in Rhuidean is probably my favourite passage (and one of the most heart-breaking) of all, so after reading Aviendha's first recollection I knew it was going to be hard to continue reading, but I also knew it was going to be one of the best passages in the book. What shocked me was how far the Aiel had fallen so quickly. Even though I seriously dislike the Seanchan it was the Aiel's (Rand's own blood!) own fault (by tricking Andor into the fight).

 

Tower of Ghenjei. I especially liked Mat's reaction to Moiraine now that he's matured a bit; Mat finally solving the riddle of his spear; Mat finally getting to know that Noal = Jain; and Thom's and Moiraine's love.

 

Perrin's acceptance of himself as a Wolfbrother (I loved Hopper and Perrin's meeting with Noam was powerful) and as a leader, and his forging of his hammer.

 

Perrin charging down the hillside and saving the Children - and being saved by Bornhald!

 

Now I'm waiting for version 2 of Rand (with a light halo instead of a dark) meeting Tuon. I hope she (and them) will start to learn some humility. Even though Tuon has made some bad decisions and has some serious flaws I still think she can change, and also make the Seanchan change.

Like said above it'd also be fun to see Seanchan and Shadowspawn battling it out in an otherwise empty Tar Valon

 

My main detractor was the huge amount of typos, missing words, extra words, wrong words etc. And the timing of Veins of Gold and the Tar Valon-fight seems very odd when you combine Perrin's and Egwene's POVs.

[waffle]

So many moments to choose from. This book kicks some serious backside.

 

Perrin: *stops balefire*

Egwene: :O

Perrin: *shrug* it was just a weave

 

The whole sequence from the forging of Mjolnir to Galad agreeing to follow Perrin was kickass.

 

Perrin easing the badger.

 

Pretty much anything Perrin did after the trial.

 

When Ituralde decides to not retreat from Maradon and give it his all. Anything with ituralde really.

 

Aviendhas second trip through the rings. Can´t call it one of my favourite scenes, because well, i really did not like the future painted there. I don´t mean this as "RJ/BS, you wrote a sucky scene". It was powerful. When it clicked for me that she was seeing the future (about when the Raven Empire was mentioned), every step she took, i was afraid. It was a great scene. But i doubt i will ever want to read it again. Because it was too damn good.

 

Nynaeves test. I was sort of hoping that she would tell the Aes Sedai that they can all piss off though. Oh well, can´t have everything.

 

Gawyn pulling his head out of his blistered backside. About time really.

 

Byar getting his comeuppances. I wonder if Bornhald is ever going to come clean to Perrin about what happened to his family.

 

 

But my absolute fav scene was Elayne getting so superbalefired that not only did it remove her annoying, pointless politicking scenes from this book, but from all previous books too. Failes POV-s also got balefired. Ok, these scenes were just wishful thinking *sigh*

[1eejit]

When Matt realises his mistake about the snakes :)

[karehiro]

There were some really great parts in this book; in fact the whole book was fantastic and I enjoyed it immensely. In general I was very much impressed with Perrin's, Ituralde's and Galad's parts. I felt there was a bit too much of Elayne and Egwene though. Some other things I greatly enjoyed:

 

-Rand Sedai and him wiping out the Trolloc army

-Nynaeve being awesome in her testing and with healing madness

-Mat owning the Gholam by kicking him into the Skimming portal

-Rand setting Arad Doman right

-The evolution of Gawyn's character and him facing off against those BloodKnives (he was actually likable this book which I thought would be impossible!)

-Moiraine

-Androl

-The forging of Perrin's hammer (and like I said, I pretty enjoyed all of Perrin's story this book and was very impressed)

-The whole battlescene against the Trollocs with Ituralde, amazing battle sequence and shows why Ituralde is among the top generals, on the level of Mat

-Perrin's and Hopper's training, and Perrin casually dispersing away balefire a la Neo

-Aviendha's look at the future

-Rand and Tam meeting

-Rand seeing Mierin/Lanfear in his dream, her cryptic warning, and his reaction to her was really something that made me excited

 

Awesome book and was entertained throughout.

[AliasKelly]

I have a LOT of favorite quotes/moments from throughout the book, which I hope to list some of later, but for now I'll just say my favorite moment related to the book was when my son (who also enjoys WoT) broke the silence of our mutual reading (yes, one household, two copies of Towers of Midnight) to start cursing.

 

"What?" I asked.

 

"Just when Perrin started to get really interesting, the perspective changed to someone else!" he grumped.

 

-AkaK

[ShadowsFell]

2. Mat is gone. Or rather, our Mat is gone. I don't know, I really liked the parts with Mat, as I always do, but up to KoD I liked reading Mat. Not even what he did or said, but how he was written, they were beautifully written section. Sly, witty, slapstick-y, a 'woe is me', thing, but those things weren't overdone. This Mat, he's...like if you took Mat and then made him more Mat, you exaggerated everything about him. Which Perrin actually says in the book. I don't know, I'll still read and reread those parts more than any other char's sections, but still, I can't help but be saddened that the old Mat is gone. And also, the letter I liked, the typos were just baf(Mat is not an idiot, we've seen a letter he wrote before) humour that Brandon shouldn't have done, he's trying to make Mat ha-ha funny which unfortunately he can't pull off most of the time.

 

I agree with this, even after ToM. Mat got a much better grade this time, but still fell a bit short. It's not something tangible that you can really grasp and say "this is how to do it right" either. TDR through KoD Mat was amazingly clever and marvelous. Probably impossible to capture once gone.

 

I hold out hope, however, that the last chapter of AMoL has at least one Mat PoV in it, even if it's somewhat short. If there is one, it would go far to soothe whatever ill feelings or sense of loss I've had pertaining to this.

 

I read *somewhere* a few weeks ago, where someone had complimented Brandon on the Tower of Ghenji, and his response was that he could take very little credit. So, if your hope for AMoL last chapter is because you want RJ Mat, bear in mind that you've just gotten a couple of chapters of him. If you didn't like him here, it's not that likely to be made better in AMoL.

Those were actually by far my favorite Mat chapters, the only ones that felt 'locked in' if you could call it that (maybe a few other short passages too, it was a long book). I didn't exactly dislike the huge majority of them much at all in ToM, but there were usually parts that nudged me out of the story, keeping me off balance. The last thing he yells at the Finns sounded incredibly appropriate when compared with his curses in the land of the Eelfinn back in TSR though. I remembered re-reading it the same way I did 'sheep swallop and bloody buttered onions' the first time.

 

I guess part of the discomfort I feel comes with the knowledge that there's a chance that at any time I might suddenly be reading something that takes me back to his 'quips' and 'bandying words' that went so far afield in TGS. (They did show up again in ToM and you can't deny it.) Once we get to that last chapter, we know for sure what we're getting into. I can let my subconscious guards down and just read the damn thing without any mental second guessing.

 

This is what bugs me about people picking apart character voices, when only BS and team jordan know who wrote what.

 

(paraphrased)

Person A: I didn't like Mat in this book at all, didn't feel right.

Person B: Brandon said he didn't do much of ToG sequence

Person A: Umm, I mean I liked Mat in ToG, I really meant it was the OTHER chapters of Mat I didn't like....

 

Seriously?

 

Moving on; personally, I liked the book, actually wasn't a single part I didn't like. Well, Perrin's woe is me part in beginning, maybe. Best part for me was Perrin's hammer forging, more than any other ... had a strong emotional punch.

[elteryon]

Just finished my first read through. I no particular order:

 

I loved seeing Perrin finally accept and step into the role of leader and lord with the Last Battle approaching. The forging of Mah'alleinir was one of the clearest mental images I have created while reading the entire series.

 

Rand's meeting Tam choked me up.

 

I really liked Lan's charge into the Gap. Made me think of The Charge of the Light Brigade "Into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of hell", which has me wondering how well he will fare.

 

Perrin stopping balefire.

 

Thom playing to Moiraine while he waited to die.

 

The Perrin/Slayer, Egwene/Wise Ones/Aes Sedai/Black Ajah/Mesaana, Gawyn/Bloodknives sequence was nothing short of epic. I had to put the book down and recollect myself after the end of that one.

[Rasputin]

I'm not around much, just when the books come out.

 

Loial's introduction was awesome. I felt so proud of him which is kinda silly but there ya go.

[ravenfier]

the entire last Mat chapter rocked, so loved it all from the excape to Moraine telling Thom that she'll marry him. Also the forging of Thor's hammer by Perrin and the rediscovring of the weaves needed to make power enhanced wepons was so cool, expecialy whith the fact that Perrin was standing in the middle of an iron star at the end, as soon as he steped up and started working the forge I said out loud that he's making Thor's hammer.

 

oh and one more thing the fool of a tool is nolonger a fool or a tool, man he grew some, hope he keeps going in that direction.

[ravenprincess]

"Are you going to curse in the letter?"

"How else will she bloody well know it's me?"

 

Had me in stitches...

[Gandaal]

"Are you going to curse in the letter?"

"How else will she bloody well know it's me?"

 

Had me in stitches...

The badger was my favourite part.

 

"I caught a badger. Want to let it go on the village green?"

 

And he actually caught one too. LOL!

[Kaznen]

 

Nynaeves test. I was sort of hoping that she would tell the Aes Sedai that they can all piss off though. Oh well, can´t have anything.

 

I was kinda hoping for something like that too. She shows up to swear the oaths and right before she does she say, "Hmm, I never really wanted to be an Aes Sedai. After I became one and saw how you operate, I am sure I don't want to be one, so no thanks."

 

Then she opens a gateway and as she walks through she takes off he ring and flicks it into Egwene's eye.

 

Speaking of which, I liked her even less then Faile when she was at her worst. Not saying it was bad writing, I think that's how we were supposed to feel about Eggy.

 

And it has gone unmentioned, but Darlin's letter to Egwene. She thinks she has him on her side but when I reread it I got a "I'll listen to what you have to say, but don't expect much" vibe from him.

 

And what do you expect from the only character that has the cool/badass/Spanish undertones that the only actor who could play him it WoT was made into a movie is Antonio Bandaras.

 

And I loved when Perrin went to the gathering and Faile was asking if he was going to try and stop Rand and Perrin was like, "Nope, I think Rand's right."

[Sid]

This is what bugs me about people picking apart character voices, when only BS and team jordan know who wrote what.

 

(paraphrased)

Person A: I didn't like Mat in this book at all, didn't feel right.

Person B: Brandon said he didn't do much of ToG sequence

Person A: Umm, I mean I liked Mat in ToG, I really meant it was the OTHER chapters of Mat I didn't like....

 

Seriously?

 

Moving on; personally, I liked the book, actually wasn't a single part I didn't like. Well, Perrin's woe is me part in beginning, maybe. Best part for me was Perrin's hammer forging, more than any other ... had a strong emotional punch.

I'm not going to lie and claim what I said doesn't sound a little like how you put it your paraphrasing, but what I said isn't false. Even in the ToG sequence, even though it rang true more than most other sections (to me anyways, everyone seems to have differing opinions), it included a few 'bloody ashes' comments. Perhaps I'm nit-picking too much, but that phrase didn't exist before TGS came out (sans the 'blood and' preceding it) and in the two newest books it's suddenly used an awful lot by an awful lot of people. Something like that stands out. I'll happily eat my words if the phrase ends up in AMoL's last chapter. I guess I'm a little biased as far as Mat goes, due to having read his scenes about twice as often as other characters' overall. I'll try to not rant about the subject in the future.

[smileyman]

So many

 

Perrin forging Mah'alleinir. That scene was incredibly powerful to me because Perrin has always been my favorite character.

Perrin casually stopping balefire in Tel'aran'rhiod.

Mat catching a badger again--this is how we first met him way back when.

Finally learning what "Easing the Badger" means.

Min running out to meet Rand after he comes back and him not turning her away.

The Borderland rulers slapping Rand hard enough to draw blood and him not balefiring them where they stood.

Olver winning at Snakes and Foxes and Talmanes standing there poleaxed.

 

"One became two" Possibly one of my favorite lines in all of the Wheel of Time

[Tai'daishar]

So many

 

Perrin forging Mah'alleinir. That scene was incredibly powerful to me because Perrin has always been my favorite character.

Perrin casually stopping balefire in Tel'aran'rhiod.

Mat catching a badger again--this is how we first met him way back when.

Finally learning what "Easing the Badger" means.

Min running out to meet Rand after he comes back and him not turning her away.

The Borderland rulers slapping Rand hard enough to draw blood and him not balefiring them where they stood.

Olver winning at Snakes and Foxes and Talmanes standing there poleaxed.

 

"One became two" Possibly one of my favorite lines in all of the Wheel of Time

 

Olver winning at snakes and foxes is my favorite part...I am obsessed with this. HOW? WHY? Did he cheat? (his reaction makes it seam unlikely). A weakening of the pattern? Mat messing with the ToG? It shouldn't be possible mathematically, so this seams really significant to me...i'm just not sure what it means....

[smileyman]

So many

 

Perrin forging Mah'alleinir. That scene was incredibly powerful to me because Perrin has always been my favorite character.

Perrin casually stopping balefire in Tel'aran'rhiod.

Mat catching a badger again--this is how we first met him way back when.

Finally learning what "Easing the Badger" means.

Min running out to meet Rand after he comes back and him not turning her away.

The Borderland rulers slapping Rand hard enough to draw blood and him not balefiring them where they stood.

Olver winning at Snakes and Foxes and Talmanes standing there poleaxed.

 

"One became two" Possibly one of my favorite lines in all of the Wheel of Time

 

Olver winning at snakes and foxes is my favorite part...I am obsessed with this. HOW? WHY? Did he cheat? (his reaction makes it seam unlikely). A weakening of the pattern? Mat messing with the ToG? It shouldn't be possible mathematically, so this seams really significant to me...i'm just not sure what it means....

 

I don't think we're given a hint of the timeline but if I were to make a wager I bet that Olver beat the game at the exact same time that Mat was cutting his way free of the TOG.

 

Or, and this just came to me, maybe Olver beating the game on this side allowed Mat to realize what he needed to do to beat them in the TOG? Now I don't know, but I'm sure they're related.

[brown_hound]

Hands down:

 

The battle of Maradon..... Ituralde is for want of a better word- epic...

 

Was also awesome to see Rand come to the fore for some bad-ass fighting again!! Bigger than Dumai's Wells? YOU BLOODY BET!!

[brown_hound]

Oh oh oh!!! Also, in the epilogue, sneaky BS throwing in through Shaidar Haran the "3 Chosen" comment, finally revealing bloody Asmo's killer!! Pretty inconsequential though... really.

[Diederichos]

I think ultimately the people who say that people can't tell who wrote what need to give their fellow readers some credit. I've been with these books since 2002(not a long time compared to others, but still), I've read and reread Mat parts so many times I can't even count them anymore. Mat is the favourite character of a lot of folks and I like to think that people can just sorta tell him. I can't be certain of this or that, but I can only say that I liked ToG and it felt like how RJ wrote him and I liked most of the letter and I am reasonably certain that Brandon wrote it because even though I liked it, I am also positive that he messed up by adding the typos.

[waffle]

Loony prediction: Seanchan participate in the last battle *by accident*: They gate into Tar Valon, while at the same time shadowspawn creep out of the TV waygate also expecting to storm the Tower. But nobody's home because they're all arguing with Rand. Hilarity ensues. That'd be one fight where I'd be cheering for the Shadow...

 

Garg took himself another helping of the meal made from the small dark bald woman. It was not nutritious meal. There was not a lot of meat on her and Garg had almost choked on one of her long fingernails. Very annoying. But Garg was lost in thought: "A pity brother Narg is not here. I wonder what happened to him. He said he was just popping out to get a pouch of tabac. It was one of Nargs few failings. His fondness for Two River tabac. Oh well, more meat for Garg"

[drewk]

I agree with most of the ones listed here, and most of the sentiments regarding the characters. I did like Mat, I thought Egwene was annoying etc.

 

Although one overlooked scene IMO was where Egwene totally schooled the Hall of the Tower. The only part of that I didn't like was how two AS walked in and said

"What are we standing for?"

"Something important."

"Oh well I guess I'll stand too."

"Me too."

 

Other than that it was great how the one was sitting there trying to figure out what Eg was doing and she finally realized...just a second too late. Then Egwene finally shakes a little sense into them by rewriting Tower Law.

 

I also like how Rand discovers that love etc is the key to staying alive and winning and this book has loves finally getting together (or discovering each other in the case of Galad and Berelain). Honestly Galad and Berelain were made for each other, and I've been thinking about them getting together for 2 books now.

 

"I'm fond of the horse." made me burst out laughing. I was rather proud (I don't know why) of the way Galad took hearing that. Maybe he realized he got what he deserved for being such a tunnel-visioned nutjob for most of the series.