Um... Can someone tell me why Rand...

[Iceman]

SPOILER to Knife of Dreams!!!! Warning given!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe this was covered and I just didn't see the thread, but WHY, Oh WHY didn't Rand use Balefire on that forsaken when he lost his hand?!

 

"No hand?! That sucks. Oh, wait. **BALEFIRE**

There, one less forsaken to worry about AND I get my hand back! Win-Win!"

 

Was this too obvious? I kept reading sentence after sentence, expecting him to let the Balefire Fly... but... NO?!

 

Anyone else find this screwy?! :shock:

[drakhon]

That would be an extremely selfish use for balefire, though admittedly I contemplated it too when I read it.

 

Also, they need to get information out of her.

[RobertAlexWillis]

He didn't care enough. He usually uses balefire to bring back/protect others.

 

Rahvin: Avenging Aviendha and Mat. In fact, he didn't even use it consciously to bring them back, he was surprised to see them.

 

The "Cadsuane slap" incident: Min was with them in danger.

 

Sammael: He wanted Liah dead before her agony had begun.

 

He hasn't used it much since the nausea incidents began.

 

In case you didn't notice, losing his hand didn't bother him that much. He treated it kind of the way I would treat dropping an egg on the floor while I was cooking breakfast. "Ah, crap ... oh well." Thats part of his problem.

[drakhon]

All true. I doubt he would have used it even if he cared, though.

[Graf Ashaman]

Also the problem with balefire is that it can unravel the pattern itself. Something important that happens to Rand, who is standing in the center of the pattern, think of what would happen if you pull out a string from the center of a carpet while you are weaving it. NO GOOD IDEA!!! With Liah it did not matter because she is a small weaving beside Mat and Aviendha, those two he must have had coming back or he would not be able to fulfill the prophecies.

[Taishar Manetheren]

In LoC there was an assassination attempt in caemlyn on rand from whitecloaks and one maiden died saving his life, so he wanted to balefire the shooter to solve the problem, but besides not finding the shooter (the aiel only captured the observers) lews therin kept going in his head :" not balefire, never again."

 

So i'm guessing he wont be using it a lot like its "cancel last action" button. after all its very dangerous.

And dont forget that semi is a woman and he is not likely to kill her himself.

[Cancerian]

Personally, I think he's suffering from major depression and just didn't care. He's taken a pretty fatalistic point of view by then. Minn describes it when she says something like he's already moved on. And if he doesn't find the strength to feel again...

[Ashaniel]

My opinion on the matter is that its a combination of the fact that Rand was indifferent to having lost his arm as well as the potential well of information that Semi could become. The fact that Cadsuane was right there probably did not help matters any.

 

Still, Balefire hysterics aside I think its usage will remain. Sure, the weapon is a dangerous one as had been stressed again and again but let's face it, Rand judicious use of Balefire will probably continue to occur. When he fought the Dark Hounds originally, his sword of light did not work at all. As of right now, Balefire seems to be the primary way of dealing with dark hounds. I don't believe that if Rand finds himself in a situation where there is a pack of shadow hounds between himself and an objective, he will hesitate to use the one weapon he knows will work against them.

[okstate91]

im gonna say he was aware of the nausea problem and didnt want to take chances.

[TheDiceAgain...]

Balefire seems to be the primary way of dealing with dark hounds. I don't believe that if Rand finds himself in a situation where there is a pack of shadow hounds between himself and an objective, he will hesitate to use the one weapon he knows will work against them.

 

Actually, he has got other things now that he knows will work i.e. Deathgates, Blossoms of Fire, the stuff he has learned through LTT. I'm guesing that as long as Cads is around he's going to avoid using balefire as much as possible...

[Ashaniel]

Balefire seems to be the primary way of dealing with dark hounds. I don't believe that if Rand finds himself in a situation where there is a pack of shadow hounds between himself and an objective' date=' he will hesitate to use the one weapon he knows will work against them.[/quote']

 

Actually, he has got other things now that he knows will work i.e. Deathgates, Blossoms of Fire, the stuff he has learned through LTT. I'm guesing that as long as Cads is around he's going to avoid using balefire as much as possible...

 

I don't recall reading anywhere in the books that deathgates and blossoms of fire have been used against dark hounds succesfully. If they have, and you will provide a quote of it I will happily concede the point. :)

[RobertAlexWillis]

They haven't yet, because Rand has not encountered any Darkhounds since he learned them. However, Darkhounds are Shadowspawn, and it is explicitly stated that, "Shadowspawn can't survive passing through a gateway." (Knife of Dreams, Vows, p.413) So, we at least know that Deathgates would work.

[Gandaal]

SPOILER to Knife of Dreams!!!! Warning given!

 

Maybe this was covered and I just didn't see the thread, but WHY, Oh WHY didn't Rand use Balefire on that forsaken when he lost his hand?!

 

"No hand?! That sucks. Oh, wait. **BALEFIRE**

There, one less forsaken to worry about AND I get my hand back! Win-Win!"

 

Was this too obvious? I kept reading sentence after sentence, expecting him to let the Balefire Fly... but... NO?!

 

Anyone else find this screwy?! :shock:

 

No offense but have you been reading the books? Rand would lose both his hands and consider it fair trade if it meant that he didn't have to kill a women.

[Iceman]

No offense but have you been reading the books? Rand would lose both his hands and consider it fair trade if it meant that he didn't have to kill a women.

 

Read the books? No' date=' no... I just pulled this question out of my @$$. :roll:

 

Yes, fine... he doesn't want to kill women.

Yes... Balefire is "bad" and gives everyone the oogies.

Yes... a captured forsaken would be a fount of useful knowledge going into TG.

Yes... he's suffering from major terminal depression.

Yes... he's a pukefest waiting to happen when he channels.

Yes, yes, yes... Everyone has given good answers that makes sense. (how dare you)

 

But... She's a Forsaken! One of the few remaining, deadliest-with-the-power, [b']EVIL[/b] beings on the planet... and she just took his hand!

 

Ge... Cha... Wha... Why is she still standing there?!?!?!

Where's the *Kaboom*?! There's supposed to be an earth-shattering *Kaboom*!

 

Well, that's what I would've done in his place anyway... then thrown up. :D

[Luckers]

Because some people like to think before they act?

[RobertAlexWillis]

Lanfear was killing him, the woman he had had sex with a couple chapters ago, and a girl he had known since childhood, and he couldn't do anything to her because she was a woman. Why do you think he could do anything to Semirhage in cold blood after she had been captured?

[Gandaal]

No offense but have you been reading the books? Rand would lose both his hands and consider it fair trade if it meant that he didn't have to kill a women.

 

Read the books? No' date=' no... I just pulled this question out of my @$$. :roll:

 

Yes, fine... he doesn't want to kill women.

Yes... Balefire is "bad" and gives everyone the oogies.

Yes... a captured forsaken would be a fount of useful knowledge going into TG.

Yes... he's suffering from major terminal depression.

Yes... he's a pukefest waiting to happen when he channels.

Yes, yes, yes... Everyone has given good answers that makes sense. (how dare you)

 

But... She's a Forsaken! One of the few remaining, deadliest-with-the-power, [b']EVIL[/b] beings on the planet... and she just took his hand!

 

Ge... Cha... Wha... Why is she still standing there?!?!?!

Where's the *Kaboom*?! There's supposed to be an earth-shattering *Kaboom*!

 

Well, that's what I would've done in his place anyway... then thrown up. :D

 

Did you read his "battle" with Lanfear? Or his internal struggle every time Lanfear appeared in the Shadow Rising? Or his insane ramblings to himself during A Crown of Swords after the battle of Dumai's Wells?

 

He can't kill a women. He just can't no matter who they are. No matter what they've done.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Um .... that was my point. I said, in essence, since we know he wouldn't do anything to Lanfear, when much more was at stake, why would we think that he would do anything to Semirhage? The implied answer is, well, duh, he wouldn't (as he didn't). Sorry if that wasn't clear.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Oh wait ... sorry, you weren't talking to me, were you Gandaal? .... my bad, I agree with Gandaal.

[drakhon]

Real forum users edit their posts to cover up their mistakes and then claim they never made them.

 

:D

[RobertAlexWillis]

<sigh> I'm just too honest.

 

 

Besides, its fun to look silly once in a while.

[Luckers]

That it is.

 

Although i dont see the significance of arguing that Rand didn't use balefire coz he didn't want to kill Semirhage... it never even occured to him to do that. The loss of the hand did not disconcert him out of his mind, and the value of the Forsaken was evident.

[RobertAlexWillis]

That was what I said first.

[Luckers]

Yeah i know. Just reiterating.

 

(i didn't know, i didn't read the thread. :) )

[RobertAlexWillis]

You shameless, SHAMELESS liar .... who immediately admits it but STILL! :x