Simpathy for the dark one?

[Anomandaris]

Has anyone else noticed that Rands first Ba'alzamon meet ("Eye of The World") reads a bit like "Sympathy For The Devil"? Whas that on purpose? ...Cause i think it's pretty cool.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

quote please?

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

for comparison here are the lyrics

 

 

Please allow me to introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

I've been around for a long, long year

Stole many a mans soul and faith

And I was round when jesus christ

Had his moment of doubt and pain

Made damn sure that pilate

Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game

I stuck around st. petersburg

When I saw it was a time for a change

Killed the czar and his ministers

Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank

Held a generals rank

When the blitzkrieg raged

And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name, oh yeah

Ah, what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched with glee

While your kings and queens

Fought for ten decades

For the gods they made

I shouted out,

Who killed the kennedys?

When after all

It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

And I laid traps for troubadours

Who get killed before they reached bombay

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah

But what's confusing you

Is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal

And all the sinners saints

As heads is tails

Just call me lucifer

Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me

Have some courtesy

Have some sympathy, and some taste

Use all your well-learned politesse

Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guessed my name, um yeah

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down

Woo, who

Oh yeah, get on down

Oh yeah

Oh yeah!

Tell me baby, what's my name

Tell me honey, can ya guess my name

Tell me baby, what's my name

I tell you one time, you're to blame

Ooo, who

Ooo, who

Ooo, who

Ooo, who, who

Ooo, who, who

Ooo, who, who

Ooo, who, who

Oh, yeah

What's my name

Tell me, baby, what's my name

Tell me, sweetie, what's my name

Ooo, who, who

Ooo, who, who

Ooo, who, who

Ooo, who, who

Ooo, who, who

Ooo, who, who

Ooo, who, who

Oh, yeah

[SylvanFox]

I actually did kind of compare it with that when I first read it, because Ba'alz is dressed really neatly and appears sophisticated... plus, at his very first appearance, I thought he really was the DO. And the DO is an awful lot like the devil. Some of the verses don't really apply, but I definitely felt like the two were kind of similar.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

... i only have the audio, don't remember the text.

[LeeM.Erickson]

I don't know if it was the very first meeting, but there are some meetings that are similar to the song, with Ba'alzamon sort of describing his triumphs over the years. "I whispered in Artur Hawkwing's ear" etc

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

it would be the righ demographic. would love to see some quotes though. not in the mood for a re-listen atm.

[SylvanFox]

"Fool,I have never been bound!" The fires of his face roared so hot that Rand stepped back, sheltering behind his hands. The sweat on his palms dried from the heat. "I stood at Lews Therin Kinslayer's shoulder when he did the deed that named him. It was I who told him to kill his wife, and his children, and all his blood, and every living person who loved him or whom he loved. It was I who gave him the moment of sanity to know what he had done. Have you ever heard a man scream his soul away, worm? He could have struck at me, then. He could not have won, but he could have tried. Instead he called down his precious One Power upon himself, so much that the earth split open and reared up Dragonmount to mark his tomb.

"A thousand years later I sent the Trollocs ravening south, and for centuries they savaged the world. Those blind fools in Tar Valon said I was beaten in the end, but the Second Covenant, the Covenant of the Ten Nations, was shattered beyond remaking, and who was left to oppose me then? I whispered in Artur Hawkwing's ear, and the length and breadth of the land Aes Sedai died. I whispered again, and the High King sent his armies across the Aryth Ocean, across the World Sea, and sealed two dooms. The doom of his dream of one land and one people, and a doom yet to come. At his deathbed I was there when his councilors told him only Aes Sedai could save his life. I spoke, and he ordered his councilors to the stake. I spoke, and the High King's last words were to cry out that Tar Valon must be destroyed."

EoTW Ch. 15

 

Ba'alzamon seemed to notice nothing. "It matters little if I have you alive or dead, except to you, and to what power you might have. You will serve me, or your soul will. But I would rather have you kneel to me alive than dead. A single fist of Trollocs sent to your village when I could have sent a thousand. One Darkfriend to face you where a hundred could have come on you asleep. And you, fool, you don't even know them all, neither those ahead, nor those behind, nor those by your side. You are mine, have always been mine, my dog on a leash, and I brought you here to kneel to your master or die and let your soul kneel."

EoTW Ch. 51

 

It's not so much that it's word for word the same, it's just the tone. We have him introduced as a handsome, well-dressed guy, and except for some of the insults he uses and the images he puts into peoples' minds, he mostly speaks/acts like some kind of evil gentleman. He also goes on at length about his evil deeds and the troubles he has caused over centuries of time, which is pretty much what the devil does in the song. There are a few lines of the song that are actually pretty close...

 

"Let me please introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

And I laid traps for troubadours

Who get killed before they reached bombay" -pretty obvious. Ishy's 3000 years of work for the Shadow have laid a gazillion gigantic traps for the world.

 

"I watched with glee

While your kings and queens

Fought for ten decades

For the gods they made" -for about 10 decades, Ishy has been watching the nations fight each other, a product of his victory over Artur Hawkwing.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

thank you!

 

yeah, it's loose, but it has the me kind of flavor and some not too dissimilar phrasing.

 

the song is well burned in my memory, but i'd have to read the books a few more thousand times before they'll get to the same place.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

... though the 100 years war did predate the stones, as did some of the other concepts, but i sense RJ was a man of his time.

 

i always pick up the dyalnish stuff. next time i re-listen, i'll keep a more open ear.

[SylvanFox]

It also reads a little bit like "The Man Who Sold the World"

 

We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when

Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend

Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes

I thought you died alone, a long long time ago

 

Oh no, not me

I never lost control

You're face to face

With The Man Who Sold The World

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Bit more of a stretch

[Anomandaris]

Although the tone, as well as the similarities between Ba'alzamon and the songs Devil, are what first drew my attention, what stood out the most for me were things like the seeming parallels between Lews Therin's last moments(with the death of his people by his own hand) and the songs reference to the Bolshevik Revolution( the end of Russias royal line by their own people)where "Anastasia screamed in vain". ...also, a comparison can be made between Lews Therin and Pilate. (which is pretty trippy if you consider that Rand is such a Jesus figure.)