My favourite parts of ToM

[Ananta]

What did you all forget about Ituralde's defense of Maradon? I thought that part was awesome.

 

Also I really enjoyed Gawyn's fight against the Blood knives simply because it showed even the lamest characters can do cool things every once in a while.

I hated the Gawyn fight because it went way overboard. Had there been 2 Bloodknives it would have been a little more believable (but not by much, 1 should have been able to keep Gawyn busy while the other kills Egwene), but the fact that 3 Bloodknives, 100% dedicated to their mission, so dedicated that they actually kill themselves to do it, go and fail miserably. They fight 3 on 1 against a random encounter while they could easily have ran to 3 different directions and thus force Gawyn to pick one, then the 2 others would just kill Egwene. There's only so much space a lone man can cover, so while one would have fought Gawyn, 2 others could have just stuck a knife into Egwene.

 

Anyhow, not to make this into an arguement thread about that, here's my favorite scenes, in no particular order:

 

Perrin making his Hammer

Rand meeting with his father

Aviendha's Rhuidean thing, and the Nakomi part on the way

Androl scenes (I love all Black Tower scenes in general)

Rand's epicness at White Tower

[muddymess]

What did you all forget about Ituralde's defense of Maradon? I thought that part was awesome.

 

Also I really enjoyed Gawyn's fight against the Blood knives simply because it showed even the lamest characters can do cool things every once in a while.

I hated the Gawyn fight because it went way overboard. Had there been 2 Bloodknives it would have been a little more believable (but not by much, 1 should have been able to keep Gawyn busy while the other kills Egwene), but the fact that 3 Bloodknives, 100% dedicated to their mission, so dedicated that they actually kill themselves to do it, go and fail miserably. They fight 3 on 1 against a random encounter while they could easily have ran to 3 different directions and thus force Gawyn to pick one, then the 2 others would just kill Egwene. There's only so much space a lone man can cover, so while one would have fought Gawyn, 2 others could have just stuck a knife into Egwene.

 

Anyhow, not to make this into an arguement thread about that, here's my favorite scenes, in no particular order:

 

Perrin making his Hammer

Rand meeting with his father

Aviendha's Rhuidean thing, and the Nakomi part on the way

Androl scenes (I love all Black Tower scenes in general)

Rand's epicness at White Tower

 

My list is basically the same. All those scenes were just really, really good.

[seanzor]

What did you all forget about Ituralde's defense of Maradon? I thought that part was awesome.

 

Also I really enjoyed Gawyn's fight against the Blood knives simply because it showed even the lamest characters can do cool things every once in a while.

I hated the Gawyn fight because it went way overboard. Had there been 2 Bloodknives it would have been a little more believable (but not by much, 1 should have been able to keep Gawyn busy while the other kills Egwene), but the fact that 3 Bloodknives, 100% dedicated to their mission, so dedicated that they actually kill themselves to do it, go and fail miserably. They fight 3 on 1 against a random encounter while they could easily have ran to 3 different directions and thus force Gawyn to pick one, then the 2 others would just kill Egwene. There's only so much space a lone man can cover, so while one would have fought Gawyn, 2 others could have just stuck a knife into Egwene.

 

Anyhow, not to make this into an arguement thread about that, here's my favorite scenes, in no particular order:

 

Perrin making his Hammer

Rand meeting with his father

Aviendha's Rhuidean thing, and the Nakomi part on the way

Androl scenes (I love all Black Tower scenes in general)

Rand's epicness at White Tower

 

Alright fair enough I was just stoked to see Gawyn do something that didn't piss me off, also I just wanted to add something new to the discussion but I agree all the things you mentioned were tight

[Mandro]

I've made reference to this in various threads when I was hating on Egwene.

 

My favorite single moment was "Do you keep up that game cadsuane, calling me boy?" then a little lecture on how he has shown her respect and he says "If you wish, you may call me Rand Sedai."

 

I want him to pull that with egwene "I...Am...Amyrlin!" and I want rand to go "That's so cute! So am I."

 

Another moment I like, cuz it's a truly human moment. (I'm talking moments not chapters) When after rand talks with the borderland lords, the first thing he does is ask to speak with hurin to correct the wrong he did to hurin.

 

I also like Perrin and Galad. "Do you think this will affect my judgment?" "It had better." another simple human moment.

 

I also like When Perin Learns about Noam's history and why he chose the wolf. By chosing the wolf Boundless became more human than he was ever treated as a two leg.

 

I dislike that the entire book, was basically a tour of rand apologizing.

 

Oh, I also loved the battle in saldea. "He raised his arms, and they began to die." It's a simple literary trick, but it works.

[Miseo]

There are way to many for me to say right now but I actually started to teary eyed and all choked up when Lan raised the Golden Crain

[Mandro]

For myself, my favorite part was Nynaeve in and after the test for the Shawl. She ripped into Egwene and all the Aes Sedai pointing out exactly what was wrong with them, exactly how Nynaeve would. Choosing Lan over the shawl and TG over Aes Sedai plots was excellent.

 

then of course, Mat in ToG.

Black Tower.

Anything with Rand.

Perrin from about half way.

 

Good pick on Nyn. She is the most maturated female character in the series. Nynaeve seems to be the only AS who cares about anything other than being an AS. Also the testing was a low point for egwene, and that's hard to reach. She is the "leader." but she was nothing but a petty self serving follower who was willing to torture her friend to prove her position with her new crowd.

[Mandro]

Mat's thoughts on honor. A very brief moment, a single sentence in fact, but it encapsulates why the unwarranted cycnicism of the very young, who imagine themselves too worldly and sophisticated to believe in concepts like courage and honor, is not only obnoxious but also actually indicative of a LACK of experience and sophistication.

Can you please give a quote ? I don't remember that. Although we know well that Mat is honorable, the way he says it can only be interresting :)

 

I suppose that for context, more than a sentence is needed. It comes just after Noal's, "you tell him Jain Farstrider died clean" moment.

 

He and Thom entered another chamber. Thom was weeping, but Mat held his tears. Noal would die with honor. Once, Mat would have thought that kind of thinking foolish ---what good was honor if you were dead? But he had too many memories of soldiers, had spent too much time with men who fought and bled for that honor, to discredit such notions now.

Dorm-room philosophers still tend to think as Mat once did, and see that way of thinking as proof that they have moved beyond childish and romantic notions of justice, courage and honor. But in reality, they just haven't seen enough in their safe and pampered lives to come to appreciate the importance, and the truth, of such concepts.

 

Matt never disbelieved in honor in my opinion. He just felt trapped and wanted to deny it because like many heros and men of honor they are affraid of seeing it in themselves.

 

 

 

[edit: I screwed up the quoting, just had to fix that. twice]

[Mandro]

There are way to many for me to say right now but I actually started to teary eyed and all choked up when Lan raised the Golden Crain

 

Yeahp. "The Golden Crane" from KoD is my favorite chapter. It was the chapter where I stopped despising Nyn, and the initiation of Lans fate by raising the banner 'If I must lead then I will lead, Rais the Golden CRANE!" GREAT moment. But I'm a fan of militaristic altruism.

[Gathering Storman Norman]

just to throw in a personal note for me. If there was one thing in the world I could do, it would be to make honour a core value again. . . it is so sad that it was lost through time

 

I hate to ask this, but when was honor a core value? Was it when the Roman's ruled the world for 500 years through power, fear, and enslavement. Or was it when the Catholic church invented wars (the crusades) simply to remain in control of Europe.

 

We think so well of the past, but was it really that nice or do we just really remember the best parts?

[Mandro]

just to throw in a personal note for me. If there was one thing in the world I could do, it would be to make honour a core value again. . . it is so sad that it was lost through time

 

I hate to ask this, but when was honor a core value? Was it when the Roman's ruled the world for 500 years through power, fear, and enslavement. Or was it when the Catholic church invented wars (the crusades) simply to remain in control of Europe.

 

We think so well of the past, but was it really that nice or do we just really remember the best parts?

 

You would be welcomed into the dorm room.

 

Maybe Honor was an important part of a lot of normal peoples lives. The guy who knocked up the girl next door, and even if he didn't marry her he made sure that his kid had a father. Or the person who is watering their garden and see's their neighbors garage on fire and realizes they have an extra length of hose. Maybe the person who hears a who hears a cry of fear and run towards it rather than away. Maybe the person who realizes they can sit in the safety of a house with internet access and can philosophize about the ancient cultural failures and use it to trash modern society and noble concepts to realize that maybe they had it too effing easy for too effing long, and finally nutsed up and put on a Uniform?

 

But Maybe my dorm was too stupid. It was filled with Marines.

 

[update: sorry, I had to respond.]

[White_star]

I've made reference to this in various threads when I was hating on Egwene.

 

My favorite single moment was "Do you keep up that game cadsuane, calling me boy?" then a little lecture on how he has shown her respect and he says "If you wish, you may call me Rand Sedai."

 

I want him to pull that with egwene "I...Am...Amyrlin!" and I want rand to go "That's so cute! So am I."

 

Another moment I like, cuz it's a truly human moment. (I'm talking moments not chapters) When after rand talks with the borderland lords, the first thing he does is ask to speak with hurin to correct the wrong he did to hurin.

 

I also like Perrin and Galad. "Do you think this will affect my judgment?" "It had better." another simple human moment.

 

I also like When Perin Learns about Noam's history and why he chose the wolf. By chosing the wolf Boundless became more human than he was ever treated as a two leg.

 

I dislike that the entire book, was basically a tour of rand apologizing.

 

Oh, I also loved the battle in saldea. "He raised his arms, and they began to die." It's a simple literary trick, but it works.

Isn't that what people wanted from him?

[Mandro]

I've made reference to this in various threads when I was hating on Egwene.

 

.

 

I dislike that the entire book, was basically a tour of rand apologizing.

 

Oh, I also loved the battle in saldea. "He raised his arms, and they began to die." It's a simple literary trick, but it works.

Isn't that what people wanted from him?

 

It was rather heavy handed, is really what I mean. After all one of my favorite parts was his apologizing to hurin.but he appologized to EVERYONE. I can't recall one POV where rand didn't apologize.

[Finnssss22]

I've made reference to this in various threads when I was hating on Egwene.

 

.

 

I dislike that the entire book, was basically a tour of rand apologizing.

 

Oh, I also loved the battle in saldea. "He raised his arms, and they began to die." It's a simple literary trick, but it works.

Isn't that what people wanted from him?

 

It was rather heavy handed, is really what I mean. After all one of my favorite parts was his apologizing to hurin.but he appologized to EVERYONE. I can't recall one POV where rand didn't apologize.

 

 

I thought it was necessary to be honest and what finally sets him apart from almost every other leader we have met.

He finally came to realise what and who it was he was fighting for and that the people had to fight for him because they believed in him, not because he made them or they felt they had to to avoid punishment.

[PhoenixUK]

I too found the rand apologising to EVERYONE a bit tedious. His speech is v stilted too, don't think Brandon wrote the Tam-Rand reunion v well. The "Gawyn stops hating Rand" scene wasn't great either. Moiraine's mode of speech sounded wrong too, and elayne made me cringe when she confronted perrin.

 

But yes, TOM is full of awesomeness, almost too many to list

 

- Perrin's training in TAR

- Egwene's shock when Perrin shrugs off her chains and deflects balefire

- Slayer vs Perrin converges with Egwene's army vs Mesaana's army (although I wish slayer had definitively died)

- Morgase's reunions (shame we didn't see her slap some sense into Gawyn)

- Hopper dies :*(

- Androl's scenes in Black Tower, the creepiness of the evil brainwashing

- Ituralde's horrific battle against the Shadow in saldea

- Rand's ultimatums to the Borderlanders

- Creepiness of the tower of ghenjei, the horror of mat losing his eye

- the red veiled savages with filed down teeth - I can imagine them tearing out throat of their victims

- end of the gholam

- Rand tells Cadsuane to behave herself

- Nynaeve shows more sense than many other Aes Sedai. At least she finally will get some respect from them, having passed the test and sworn the oaths. She has come a long way.

[Thor]

Perrin didn't deflect balefire, the balefire simply ceased to exist because he knows it shouldn't exist.

 

And I don't like the way the gholam is dumped into the skimming gateway. Who's to say he won't fall on another skimming platform next time someone travels in there?

[MasterAblar]

Perrin didn't deflect balefire, the balefire simply ceased to exist because he knows it shouldn't exist.

 

And I don't like the way the gholam is dumped into the skimming gateway. Who's to say he won't fall on another skimming platform next time someone travels in there?

 

I believe Sanderson said that it died after a few minutes of falling.

[tkroll]

I think my favorite parts was the drastic change in Rand - Apples First, "Suin I thought he looked like an Aes Sedai", and how he brought Ituralde to the King after that horrific fight.

 

Mat was awesome in the book and Perrin was very good too.

 

Nynaeve curing madness....And then Rand telling her not to let them change her too much...and she didn't.

 

That little bit at the end of the book in Rands dream where he saw Lanfear suffering and his response... Probably a trap but I thought it was cool. Always chasing after a woman to save....

[Mandro]

Perrin didn't deflect balefire, the balefire simply ceased to exist because he knows it shouldn't exist.

 

And I don't like the way the gholam is dumped into the skimming gateway. Who's to say he won't fall on another skimming platform next time someone travels in there?

 

I believe Sanderson said that it died after a few minutes of falling.

 

I don't care what sanderson said, the mechanics of TAR are 100% will. Perrin, not knowing that it was balefire, decided that it wasn't there, and perrins will was greater than the weak aspect of channeling in TAR. Perrin decided it shouldn't exist, so it didn't, because Perrin had the greater will.

[MasterAblar]

Perrin didn't deflect balefire, the balefire simply ceased to exist because he knows it shouldn't exist.

 

And I don't like the way the gholam is dumped into the skimming gateway. Who's to say he won't fall on another skimming platform next time someone travels in there?

 

I believe Sanderson said that it died after a few minutes of falling.

 

I don't care what sanderson said, the mechanics of TAR are 100% will. Perrin, not knowing that it was balefire, decided that it wasn't there, and perrins will was greater than the weak aspect of channeling in TAR. Perrin decided it shouldn't exist, so it didn't, because Perrin had the greater will.

 

I never said anything about balefire. I was talking about the gholam falling off the skimming platform.

[Mandro]

Perrin didn't deflect balefire, the balefire simply ceased to exist because he knows it shouldn't exist.

 

And I don't like the way the gholam is dumped into the skimming gateway. Who's to say he won't fall on another skimming platform next time someone travels in there?

 

I believe Sanderson said that it died after a few minutes of falling.

 

I don't care what sanderson said, the mechanics of TAR are 100% will. Perrin, not knowing that it was balefire, decided that it wasn't there, and perrins will was greater than the weak aspect of channeling in TAR. Perrin decided it shouldn't exist, so it didn't, because Perrin had the greater will.

 

I never said anything about balefire. I was talking about the gholam falling off the skimming platform.

 

sorry, I crossed posts. and I agree with BS, because the gholam was ShadowSpawn and shouldn't be able to survive a gateway While skimming is a technique of traveling, I think it's hard to argue that the method, or at least the gates are anything but "traveling." So I think the gholam died as soon as mat landed the kick.

[Mandro]

another part I love, as it's been reminded to me, thanks to the talk of matt killing the gholam.

 

Matt, the "manchild," calling up the calls of vengenance as he strikes at the gholam. Mat didn't know (other than his belief that he would make it to TOG and TG) if he could survive, he lashed out with all of the wicked anger of those he had lost at the hands of the enemy he was facing. He called up Manetheran, he Called up Tylin, he called up all of those that were his and then he thought of all those that he could if he didn't succeed, and he ended up succeeding.

 

That's a pretty powerful moment too. Not The Golden Crane, but not that far.

[Hopefire]

This is it then, isn't? He thought, eyes toward the too-yellow grass below. The fight just ended.

 

Almen slumped down, feeling a weight on his shoulders. Adrinne, he thought. There had been a time when he'd been quick to laugh, quick to talk. Now he felt worn, like a post that had been sanded and sanded and sanded until only a sliver was left. Maybe it was time to let go.

 

He felt something on his neck. Warmth.

 

He hesitated, then turned weary eyes toward the sky. Sunlight bathed his face. He gaped; it seemed so long since he'd seen pure sunlight. It shone down through through a large break in the clouds, comforting, like the warmth of an oven baking a loaf of Adrinne's thick sourdough bread.

 

Almen stood, raising a hand to share his eyes. He took a deep, long breath and smelled . . . apple blossoms? He spun with a start.

 

The apple trees were flowering.

 

That sequence may actually be my favourite in the entire series. Almen Bunt (note the obvious symbolism behind the name) has been worn down, defeated by the Shadow. The end didn't come with hordes of Fades and Trollocs, it wasn't a matter of fire and ice and lightning raining down the skies, it was hope and faith being ground away to nothing, his entire life being reduced to dust on the wind. The fight is over. He sits down to die.

 

And then, hope returns.

 

It doesn't return with blaring trumpets or bright swords, he doesn't regain his faith from the sight of large armies or the fires of heaven being called down. It's not a rousing speech, or the sight of an enemy being destroyed. It's a young man, walking through the fields, bringing sunlight and life and hope back into the world. It's the sight of apple trees flowering.

 

For me, without a doubt, the best moment in the entire series.

 

 

 

 

He took Nynaeve by the shoulder in an odd gesture. “Don't let them ruin you, Nynaeve. They'll try.”

 

“Ruin me?”

 

“Your passion is part of you,” Rand said. “I tried to be like them, though I wouldn't have admitted it. Cold. Always in control. It nearly destroyed me. That is strength to some, but it is not the only type of strength. Perhaps you could learn to control yourself a little more, but I like you as you are. It makes you genuine. I would not see you become another 'perfect' Aes Sedai with a painted mask of a face and no care for the feelings and emotions of others.”

 

“To be Aes Sedai is to be calm,” Nynaeve replied.

 

“To be Aes Sedai is to be what you decide it is,” Rand said, his stump still behind his back. “Moiraine cared. You could see it in her, even when she was calm. The best Aes Sedai I've known are the ones who others complain aren't what an Aes Sedai should be.”

 

Wonderful, wonderful words about what was wrong with Rand, what is wrong with the White Tower, and what's right with Nynaeve and Moiraine.

 

 

 

She looked at Rand and took his hand. “You will be strong, Rand. You'll do this. You'll lead them. I know it.”

 

“You saw that?” he asked. “In a viewing?”

 

She shook her head. “I don't need to. I believe in you.”

 

“I almost killed you,” he whispered. “When you look at me, you see a murderer. You feel my hand at your throat.”

 

“What? Of course I don't. Rand, meet my eyes. You can sense me through the bond. Do you feel a sliver of hesitation or fear from me?”

 

He searched her eyes with his own, so deep. She didn't back down. She could meet the eyes of this sheepherder.

 

He sat up straighter. “Oh, Min. What would I do without you?”

 

She snorted. “You have kings and Aiel chiefs following. Aes Sedai, Asha'man and ta'veren. I'm certain you'd get along.”

 

“No,” Rand said. “You're more vital than them all. You remind me who I am. Besides, you think more clearly than most of those who call themselves my counselors. You could be a queen, if you wished it.”

 

“All I wish for is you, stupid looby.”

 

“Thank you.” He hesitated. “Though I could manage without quite much name calling.”

 

“Life's tough, isn't it?”

 

I love that exchange for the juxtaposition provided. Rand is the Savior, his mere presence causes the clouds to break and the greens things to grow, he's the one that battles the Forsaken without fear. But when he falters, it's Min that's there to help him up and keep him going. And I love the juxtaposition of roles: Rand is the Dragon, with kings and Aes Sedai bowing to him, able to call up armies whose scope is beyond that that the world has seen in a thousand years, and he's done a great deal that he regrets to get to this point. But Min can still look past all of that to see the earnest and good young sheepherder.

 

I think that Elayne sees the dashing prince, naturally an expert at everything he puts his hands to, a man born to lead men. I think that Aviendha sees the proud chief, canny and ruthless in battle and compassionate and wise in peace. Min sees a young man with the weight of the world on his shoulder, with a good heart and a brilliant mind.

 

Of all the relationships in the series, the one between Rand and Min is my favourite, and that scene is one of their best. I'm reminded of a video I saw once, where an old man was pushing an old woman in a wheel chair. After a while, he stopped pushing the chair, and she got up. He sat down, and she started pushing him.

 

I can see Rand and Min as that couple.

[Hopefire]

sorry, I crossed posts. and I agree with BS, because the gholam was ShadowSpawn and shouldn't be able to survive a gateway While skimming is a technique of traveling, I think it's hard to argue that the method, or at least the gates are anything but "traveling." So I think the gholam died as soon as mat landed the kick.

I think that the mechanics behind the Gholam might be different than those of other creatures of the shadow. If I recall, there's a couple of Jordan's quotes that indicate that - that Gholam weren't bred, they were crafted, that Gholam don't have souls but Trollocs do, etc. There might be some essential differences in their nature that mean that Gholam actually can travel, unlike Trollocs. By way of example, if the reason Trollocs die is because their souls can't enter a travelling gate, but Gholam don't have souls, then for the Gholam nothing is lost.

 

We don't have sufficient information to state that the Gholam's are like other shadow spawn in being unable to travel.

 

Alternatively, a skimming gate might not function like a typical traveling gate. We know that shadow spawn can enter the Ways, and skimming has been compared to the Ways once or twice.

[Sharaman]

BS confirmed that the Gholam is "improved Shadowspawn" so it can Travel. However it can also eventually starve to death and it's not in a stasis box but a "no-space". For it to land alive, on a skimming platform, the platform would have to be created with exactly the right coordinates, before the gholam died.

Tough call - not likely to happen.

[MasterAblar]

This is it then, isn't? He thought, eyes toward the too-yellow grass below. The fight just ended.

 

Almen slumped down, feeling a weight on his shoulders. Adrinne, he thought. There had been a time when he'd been quick to laugh, quick to talk. Now he felt worn, like a post that had been sanded and sanded and sanded until only a sliver was left. Maybe it was time to let go.

 

He felt something on his neck. Warmth.

 

He hesitated, then turned weary eyes toward the sky. Sunlight bathed his face. He gaped; it seemed so long since he'd seen pure sunlight. It shone down through through a large break in the clouds, comforting, like the warmth of an oven baking a loaf of Adrinne's thick sourdough bread.

 

Almen stood, raising a hand to share his eyes. He took a deep, long breath and smelled . . . apple blossoms? He spun with a start.

 

The apple trees were flowering.

 

That sequence may actually be my favourite in the entire series. Almen Bunt (note the obvious symbolism behind the name) has been worn down, defeated by the Shadow. The end didn't come with hordes of Fades and Trollocs, it wasn't a matter of fire and ice and lightning raining down the skies, it was hope and faith being ground away to nothing, his entire life being reduced to dust on the wind. The fight is over. He sits down to die.

 

And then, hope returns.

 

It doesn't return with blaring trumpets or bright swords, he doesn't regain his faith from the sight of large armies or the fires of heaven being called down. It's not a rousing speech, or the sight of an enemy being destroyed. It's a young man, walking through the fields, bringing sunlight and life and hope back into the world. It's the sight of apple trees flowering.

 

For me, without a doubt, the best moment in the entire series.

 

 

 

 

He took Nynaeve by the shoulder in an odd gesture. “Don't let them ruin you, Nynaeve. They'll try.”

 

“Ruin me?”

 

“Your passion is part of you,” Rand said. “I tried to be like them, though I wouldn't have admitted it. Cold. Always in control. It nearly destroyed me. That is strength to some, but it is not the only type of strength. Perhaps you could learn to control yourself a little more, but I like you as you are. It makes you genuine. I would not see you become another 'perfect' Aes Sedai with a painted mask of a face and no care for the feelings and emotions of others.”

 

“To be Aes Sedai is to be calm,” Nynaeve replied.

 

“To be Aes Sedai is to be what you decide it is,” Rand said, his stump still behind his back. “Moiraine cared. You could see it in her, even when she was calm. The best Aes Sedai I've known are the ones who others complain aren't what an Aes Sedai should be.”

 

Wonderful, wonderful words about what was wrong with Rand, what is wrong with the White Tower, and what's right with Nynaeve and Moiraine.

 

 

 

She looked at Rand and took his hand. “You will be strong, Rand. You'll do this. You'll lead them. I know it.”

 

“You saw that?” he asked. “In a viewing?”

 

She shook her head. “I don't need to. I believe in you.”

 

“I almost killed you,” he whispered. “When you look at me, you see a murderer. You feel my hand at your throat.”

 

“What? Of course I don't. Rand, meet my eyes. You can sense me through the bond. Do you feel a sliver of hesitation or fear from me?”

 

He searched her eyes with his own, so deep. She didn't back down. She could meet the eyes of this sheepherder.

 

He sat up straighter. “Oh, Min. What would I do without you?”

 

She snorted. “You have kings and Aiel chiefs following. Aes Sedai, Asha'man and ta'veren. I'm certain you'd get along.”

 

“No,” Rand said. “You're more vital than them all. You remind me who I am. Besides, you think more clearly than most of those who call themselves my counselors. You could be a queen, if you wished it.”

 

“All I wish for is you, stupid looby.”

 

“Thank you.” He hesitated. “Though I could manage without quite much name calling.”

 

“Life's tough, isn't it?”

 

I love that exchange for the juxtaposition provided. Rand is the Savior, his mere presence causes the clouds to break and the greens things to grow, he's the one that battles the Forsaken without fear. But when he falters, it's Min that's there to help him up and keep him going. And I love the juxtaposition of roles: Rand is the Dragon, with kings and Aes Sedai bowing to him, able to call up armies whose scope is beyond that that the world has seen in a thousand years, and he's done a great deal that he regrets to get to this point. But Min can still look past all of that to see the earnest and good young sheepherder.

 

I think that Elayne sees the dashing prince, naturally an expert at everything he puts his hands to, a man born to lead men. I think that Aviendha sees the proud chief, canny and ruthless in battle and compassionate and wise in peace. Min sees a young man with the weight of the world on his shoulder, with a good heart and a brilliant mind.

 

Of all the relationships in the series, the one between Rand and Min is my favourite, and that scene is one of their best. I'm reminded of a video I saw once, where an old man was pushing an old woman in a wheel chair. After a while, he stopped pushing the chair, and she got up. He sat down, and she started pushing him.

 

I can see Rand and Min as that couple.

 

Wow, all three of those are great choices. I swear I've already re-read a lot of the books, and certain parts numerous times, but there are still passages like these that are simly amazing. It's great how quiet conversations can be just as incredible as huge battles.