How has TofM affected your opinion of Perrin?

[Ananta]

I voted that I liked him a little more.

 

However, by the end of the book I actually liked him a lot more than I have for many books. The reason I only voted a little was because it still took him frustratingly long to accept his leadership role and his wolf-side. While the Faile capture story-line was a little too drawn out and boring, I didn't hate it (more just mildly irritating). However, I find it extremely frustrating that it takes him so long to just step up and accept his place as a leader and to come to terms with the fact that he has a bit of wolf in him.

 

Similarly, I found Lan's POV very frustrating with his refusal to accept leadership over the Borderlanders that wanted to follow the Golden Crane. Sometimes you just need to be a man and play the hand the Pattern has dealt you without whining over it.

 

I know this Lan thing is a bit off topic, but I really don't understand why he just wanted to go there alone to die. Especially after Nynaeve got his warder bond thing. I mean it makes no sense really. Why would he go on a one man quest to death. It's purely selfish, and rather insulting towards Nynaeve, too.

 

I'd understand if he actually went there and tried to gather an army, at least hoping to come out of there alive, but no. The man just goes there to die alone a pointless death, leaving Nynaeve a widow.. Idiotic and not something I'd expect from Lan.

[capuga]

I voted that I liked him a little more.

 

However, by the end of the book I actually liked him a lot more than I have for many books. The reason I only voted a little was because it still took him frustratingly long to accept his leadership role and his wolf-side. While the Faile capture story-line was a little too drawn out and boring, I didn't hate it (more just mildly irritating). However, I find it extremely frustrating that it takes him so long to just step up and accept his place as a leader and to come to terms with the fact that he has a bit of wolf in him.

 

Similarly, I found Lan's POV very frustrating with his refusal to accept leadership over the Borderlanders that wanted to follow the Golden Crane. Sometimes you just need to be a man and play the hand the Pattern has dealt you without whining over it.

 

I know this Lan thing is a bit off topic, but I really don't understand why he just wanted to go there alone to die. Especially after Nynaeve got his warder bond thing. I mean it makes no sense really. Why would he go on a one man quest to death. It's purely selfish, and rather insulting towards Nynaeve, too.

 

I'd understand if he actually went there and tried to gather an army, at least hoping to come out of there alive, but no. The man just goes there to die alone a pointless death, leaving Nynaeve a widow.. Idiotic and not something I'd expect from Lan.

 

I completely agree. Going off by yourself is useless, pointless, and stupid. If you want to strike a blow at the Shadow, gather the army that is available to you and go out doing something that might actually make a difference.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread from Perrin. I just brought up Lan because I found myself irritated with both of them until near the end of the book and the source of that irritation was very similar for both Perrin and Lan (refusal to accept their place as leaders).

[DanBirchett]

Perrin has always been one of my favorite characters in the series, and reading ToM has served only to cement that in my mind. Perrin is the person I identify with most in this series, though I couldn't help but draw strong parallels between him and Lan's unwillingness to make others fight for him either.

 

That is not to say Perrin's story arc has been my favorite. In fact I agree that there were some points especially with the Berelain/Faile drama that I would say "lets just bloody well be on with it already!" Or something like that, involving more mundane curse words and lots of eye rolling near-boredom.

 

Perrin as a person, and as a character however, has always made sense to me. Glad he finally decided to put those big boy pants on though.

[Ozzie_aiel]

Perrin kicked butt in this book, not only with the forging of his Hammer (way cool!!!!) but also that duel with Stepper in TAR. Super human speed and strength mixed with teleportation makes for a killer scene

[marathdamane]

I've always liked Perrin, I just feel like RJ didn't quite know what he wanted to do with him so he kind of let him languish a little bit in uninteresting story lines after the saving of the two rivers. I also just can't get over the fact thatit's taken this long for Perrin to accept being a wolf-brother. When I first was learning about that I thought that it rocked but since then Perrin did so little with his wolf-brother abilities that he basically became a 3rd tier character that almost might as well not have any special powers beyond being the Dragon Reborns childhood buddy. I'm looking forward to seeing how the character plays out in aMoL now that he's accepted his fate, though.

[Aiyen kin Leary]

As a person I rather like Perrin; he's honorable and kind. As for taking a long time to accept his leader/wolfbrother role, he's had a very difficult position (how would WE react if we thought we might lose our humanity?) and not all that much time to deal with it. The storyline has been so slow that it's easy to forget that in Randland time Perrin really hasn't taken that long to find his feet. In terms of being a good person, Perrin has done quite well.

 

Now, as a character, that's a bit different. He has been stupefyingly boring for far too long, but that's RJ's fault, not his. ToM changed all that. Total Tel'Aran'Rhiod badass! I'd say that ToM made me like him much better as a character than before, but as a person he's always been pretty good. On a rather different note (sorry if this gets too derailing, but I wanted to put it out there), ToM made me hate Elayne. I've never been particularly hostile to any of the characters (well, I want the Darkfriends to die of course, but you know what I mean), but Elayne has gone from an interesting heroine to a serious *expletive deleted*. Threatening to execute Perrin and Faile for potentially invoking Manetheren while she moves to annex Cairhien? Talk about vicious hypocrisy! Power corrupts, but Elayne has truly been twisted. And she used to be so nice...

[CTM]

I voted unchanged.

 

Dumai's Wells affected him negatively. ToM is him getting back on the path he was on before.

[dscott8]

IMHO, Perrin is the most realistic character of the three boys from the Two Rivers. He's a country boy from the arse end of nowhere, suddenly thrust into a world of plots and nobles and magic, naturally he has trouble adjusting. I always thought it a bit implausible that Rand and Mat adapted to their new roles so quickly.

 

Perrin's journey of self-discovery is one of my favorite parts of the saga. Now that he's reconciled himself to being a leader, I expect him to kick some major ass at the Last Battle, then retire to the Two Rivers, his patent of nobility confirmed by Elayne, and rule wisely with Faile by his side. Eventually, one of his children will rule Saldaea.

[quietstormrico]

Although he was a little better in ToM, it doesn't make up for all the things he's done. His failure to accept his destiny, while annoying, is forgivable. What I can't stand is his blind loyalty to Faile. Because of his "love" for her, he has ignored Rand's orders (treason), allied with Rand's enemies, neglected his own followers, and comitted torture. His pursuit of Slayer, while entertaining, is just another example. Perrin is a GENERAL now, and when he puts himself at risk in this private struggle, he puts his followers, his wife, and technically the whole world at risk. (Remember, Perrin has to be at the Last Battle for the Light to win, he can't be there if Slayer kills him.

[Mulk]

He also may or may not get there if he doesn't destroy the trap his people are in. I'm not excusing his behavior in past books. Slayer is still his better in TAR, but Perrin is good enough to get in some blows and accomplish his goals. There is no one else in his considerable army who could have done likewise. He has no contact with anyone else who can dreamwalk of their own volition, save for Egwene once before when he was new to the wolf dream and Egwene in the new book. He can't put himself in danger for no reason, but it's hard to see how he could have handled the dreamspike trap much differently except to argue tactics.

[quietstormrico]

He also may or may not get there if he doesn't destroy the trap his people are in. I'm not excusing his behavior in past books. Slayer is still his better in TAR, but Perrin is good enough to get in some blows and accomplish his goals. There is no one else in his considerable army who could have done likewise. He has no contact with anyone else who can dreamwalk of their own volition, save for Egwene once before when he was new to the wolf dream and Egwene in the new book. He can't put himself in danger for no reason, but it's hard to see how he could have handled the dreamspike trap much differently except to argue tactics.

Agreed, but he was chasing Slayer before he even knew about the dreamspike, I believe.

[Mulk]

well, someone has to kill Slayer. Who else should it be? Slayer tried to kill him once before, which gives Perrin ample reason to be after him, leaving the wolves aside.

 

The wolves can't kill him - if any of them could, imho, Hopper would have. Perrin is the only one of the dreamwalkers we have seen practice full-on combat there, and the nature of the matrix-style fight that Slayer and Perrin undertook in TAR makes me think that only one or two of the Wise Ones might be able to think and imagine fast enough for it, and certainly not Egwene. Not saying the Wise Ones couldn't come up with a trick or two, but they don't practice fighting the way Perrin has, because that's not what they normally do in TAR. The only person left with the necessary strength and ability is Perrin, and it makes sense that he would have his own personal rival or enemy or whatever.

 

It may be personal, but in this case I think it's also the right thing to do. No one else in this age is better supplied with the talent and training to do it.

[quietstormrico]

Perrin kicked butt in this book, not only with the forging of his Hammer (way cool!!!!) but also that duel with Stepper in TAR. Super human speed and strength mixed with teleportation makes for a killer scene

Umm, isn't Stepper Perrin's horse? lol