Narm in the Wheel of Time

[EmperorAllspice]

"Narm is a moment that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor execution, excessive Melodrama, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, the drama is lost to the point of surpassing "cheesy" and becoming unintentionally funny." - Tv tropes entry on Narm.

 

Ever noticed any moments like these while reading the Wheel Of Time? Something that's meant to be genuinely serious but just makes you laugh?

 

This whole speech makes me laugh for some reason:

 

“He is born again! I feel him! The Dragon takes his first breath on the slopes of Dragonmount! He is coming! He is coming! Light help us! Light help the world! He lies in the snow and cries like the thunder! He burns like the sun!”

[TootThatHorn]

I just finished rereading tEotW so anytime Moiraine spoke it seemed so overly dramatic.

[EmperorAllspice]

Oh, and the beginning of book 3, where the questioner is being intimidated by a fade. The Fade just lobs him at a wall and he lands face down in the carpet. The Fade asks him to obey, and the guy just responds by mumbling a muffled "I hear,,, and obey" into the carpet.

 

The mental image just makes me crack up

[Alric]

I can't think of any in tWoT to be honest. I guess it depends a lot on the attitude of the reader. RJ has made some situations absurd on purpose, but I doubt that counts?

 

Gitara's foretelling in NS was quite powerful for me, probably because i was in total excited fanboy-mode about a much awaited prequel with Moiraine, Lan and Siuan. That was one of the moments I had looked the most forward to. That line doesn't have the same effect when Moiraine quotes it in tGH, but it never struck me as funny.

[EmperorAllspice]

Maybe it's just the way my mind natrually envisions things.

 

(Woman having heart attack and screaming this out. Dramatic music)

 

(Smash cut to baby crying in the snow with no music)

[TommyRocker]

Maybe it's just the way my mind natrually envisions things.

 

(Woman having heart attack and screaming this out. Dramatic music)

 

(Smash cut to baby crying in the snow with no music)

 

Yeah, RJ definitely should have left out the orchestra in this scene.

[lolguy26]

Matt

[EmperorAllspice]

Maybe it's just the way my mind natrually envisions things.

 

(Woman having heart attack and screaming this out. Dramatic music)

 

(Smash cut to baby crying in the snow with no music)

 

Yeah, RJ definitely should have left out the orchestra in this scene.

 

What, you've never scored a scene inside your head? boy, you're missing out :P

[Orderofolde]

Maybe it's just the way my mind natrually envisions things.

 

(Woman having heart attack and screaming this out. Dramatic music)

 

(Smash cut to baby crying in the snow with no music)

 

Yeah, RJ definitely should have left out the orchestra in this scene.

I thought RJ never wrote to music as he found it distracting.

[BFG]

Cinematically, I see her gasping out the words, then the camera switching to the battlefield starting out by panning along then zooming further and further out. Can't decide whether or not you'd hear the baby, but definitely never see it.

 

(on a side note, for some reason the title you've used, makes me want to respond with Eddies in the Space Time continuam)

[Veracohr]

^

Oh, is he now.....

[Luckers]

"Narm is a moment that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor execution, excessive Melodrama, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, the drama is lost to the point of surpassing "cheesy" and becoming unintentionally funny." - Tv tropes entry on Narm.

 

Ever noticed any moments like these while reading the Wheel Of Time? Something that's meant to be genuinely serious but just makes you laugh?

 

This whole speech makes me laugh for some reason:

 

“He is born again! I feel him! The Dragon takes his first breath on the slopes of Dragonmount! He is coming! He is coming! Light help us! Light help the world! He lies in the snow and cries like the thunder! He burns like the sun!”

 

I always found that particularily clunky. Another example, which I know more than a few disagree with me on, was Moiraine's 'My Dearest Thom' letter in KoD. Brandon has any number of whoopers too--for instance the Borderland prophecy which I think I once summed up as 'I see the Dragon! He stands before you! You will spank him!'

[yoniy0]

VoG. Those clouds spinning around Rand might as well have been care-a-lot castle.

[Sephie913]

The Towers of Midnight. That whole scene was f***ing surreal, to me. Enough so to make it unintentionally funny.

Perrin "helping" Rand in the counterpoint to VoG. And, while we're at it, Rand's raging in VoG.

Perrin in ToM. Anything he's in.

 

All I can think of, at the moment. Unfortunately, all are the last books, but RJ at least drafted on VoG and ToM scenes, I think.

 

By the way, I always thought "He burns like the sun!" was a delightful line, almost beautiful. Look at it closely, and it works on different levels. Yeah, the rest is Narm-worthy, but I think that last makes up for it.

[Alanna]

Aww, Gitara's Foretelling was awesome for me. Still gives me chills when I read it.

 

There have to some of those moments for me, though. Can't think of any off the top of my head.