Best Use of Action

[True Source Creator]

"The Wheel of Time" has plenty of combat amongst characters, especially with so many individual wars brewing at the same time. What are the best duels or battles you've witnessed in the series?

 

Some of my favorites:

 

-Lanfear at the docks ("The Fires of Heaven")

 

-Rand versus Rahvin ("The Fires of Heaven")

 

-Rand versus Ishamael at Falme, and also the Seanchan being repelled by the Heroes of the Horn ("The Great Hunt")

 

-Dumai's Wells ("Lord of Chaos")

 

-The Battle Near Shadar Logoth (a.k.a. The Cleansing of Saidin) ("Winter's Heart")

 

-Seige of the Two Rivers ("The Shadow Rising")

[Suttree]

tPoD "A Time for Iron" is right up there with the best. Saidin going haywire and some epic lines...

 

LTT

Madness waits for some, Lews Therin whispered. It creeps up on others.

 

&

 

Do you have the Horn of Valere hidden in your pocket this time? Lews Therin asked slyly. Rand snarled at him silently.

 

Weiramon...one of the best DF's ever!

 

Gedwyn was idly playing with his reins, his features cold with contempt. The Tairen was red-faced. “I don’t care who you are,” he was saying to the black-coated man in a low, hard voice, spittle flying, “I won’t take more risk without a command direct from the lips of...”

 

and best of all

“Nobody stands nose-to-nose with the Dragon Reborn,” Rand growled. “The Forsaken could tell him that, whoever he is. Right, Flinn? Dashiva?” Flinn nodded uncertainly. Dashiva flinched. “You think I can’t surprise him, Bashere? Watch!” Pulling the long bundle loose, he stripped away the cloth covering, and Rand heard gasps as raindrops glistened on a sword seemingly made of crystal. The Sword That Is Not a Sword. “Let’s see if he’s surprised by Callandor in the hands of the Dragon Reborn, Bashere... “I am the storm,” he whispered—a shout in his ears, a roar—and he channeled.”

[Superhal]

Until Dumai's Wells, it was the Battle of Two Rivers, but now, I'm going with Egwene standing up to Elaida in tGS. The build-up, execution, and aftermath all fit in very well and didn't seem hurried. Dumai's Well skipped the aftermath and the Two Rivers had a corny ending.

[Sid]

It wasn't a lot of action, in fact very little, but one of my favorite battle chapters is Mat's section of 'A Plain Wooden Box' in KoD. It's just a snapshot of the Band's campaign to leave Altara, but everything from "I mean to bloody the Seanchan, bloody them so hard and fast and often that they're reacting to what we're doing instead of making their own plans." to "This is a new kind of war, they'll have to wait for their own to give them aid." and then Tuon's "A lion can have no mercy." gives such a great look at what the Band is like when Mat's in command and has an objective. He did all his homework, had people watch for all but the most unlikely of scenarios, caught a little break, and destroyed a force of superior numbers in less than a minute.

 

Certainly not the 'ragtag affair' that Tuon originally expected.

[Superhal]

It wasn't a lot of action, in fact very little, but one of my favorite battle chapters is Mat's section of 'A Plain Wooden Box' in KoD. It's just a snapshot of the Band's campaign to leave Altara, but everything from "I mean to bloody the Seanchan, bloody them so hard and fast and often that they're reacting to what we're doing instead of making their own plans." to "This is a new kind of war, they'll have to wait for their own to give them aid." and then Tuon's "A lion can have no mercy." gives such a great look at what the Band is like when Mat's in command and has an objective. He did all his homework, had people watch for all but the most unlikely of scenarios, caught a little break, and destroyed a force of superior numbers in less than a minute.

 

Certainly not the 'ragtag affair' that Tuon originally expected.

 

Sadly, of the 100+ skirmishes, only 1 was shown "on screen." :(

[Mr Hindley]

An action sequence that seems to get less attention than it deserves is the threeway battle in ToM with Perrin vs Slayer, Egwene vs Mesaana, and Gawyn vs Ninja Super-Assassins.

 

I still think it's impressive that such a massive showdown wasn't even the climax of that book.