Spoilers! Chapter One - Eastwards the Winds Blew is up on Tor

[herid]

“Do you want to know the thing that twists my brain in knots, Perrin?” Rand said softly. “The thing that gives me shivers, like the cold breath of the Shadow itself? The taint is what made me mad and what gave me memories from my past life. They came as Lews Therin whispering to me. But that very insanity is the thing giving me the clues I need to win. Don’t you see? If I win this, it will be the taint itself that led to the Dark One’s fall.”

Perrin whistled softly.

Redemption, Rand thought. When I tried this last time, my madness destroyed us.

This time, it will save us.

 

 

Loved this part. I've thought the same thing myself. It's ironic the Dark One's own taint is what will be his undoing in the Third Age.

I found this passage very interesting too but I'm not at all sure it should be taken at face value. This could actually be a manifestation of madness that is still present in Rand's mind. The idea that the DO will sort of defeat himself runs contrary to the theme of the series IMO. Also, Rand only gained full access to LTT's memories during his transformation on Dragonmount which happened despite the taint on his mind, not because of it. remember the whiteness that Nynaeve saw on his mind. whatever that thing is it is the large part of what makes the new Rand new. We shouldn't fully trust Rand's thinking until he gets rid of the madness. This will happen eventually (perhaps after dying and getting resurrected?) but the madness is still there now.

[Terez]

I wouldn't precisely say they 'came from' the taint. I think they came from Rand's head, but his access was facilitated by the taint (e.g. barrier degradation theory).

 

(Sorry, I'm in a nitpicky mood today.)

[he who comes with a bong]

Well i liked the chapter for sure. The build up of the land dyiing all over the place and the general lack of hope amongst all the people really hits home that this is the end. Pretty strong i think.

 

Now for a few other things. I think Talmanes will still die, healed or not. Rand i think will make the new prison out of him self perrin and maybee mat( three become one ).Other than that i thought it was good .

 

And this will probally be my last post on here. I just cant stand the negativity that seems to happen with every topic. We all know Sanderson could of done better, bitching about it all the damn time isnt going to change a damn thing anyways so its basically pointless to keep on going on and on about how this and tha could of been different, or that could of been different.

 

I really used to like this site alot but over the last few weeks since the new material came out its gotten less and less enjoyable to look at. Maybee ill come back after the book is out and i have read it and see how many people are cutting it down like they will be for sure.

 

Just not fun any more so buh bye

[Oneiros]

Mat is supposed to survive Tarmon Gai'don, isn't he? He was supposed to be in the outriggers.

[he who comes with a bong]

He was yes but that may have changed now that they wont be writen.

[Suttree]

Just not fun any more so buh bye

 

To quote Slater from Dazed and Confused: "check you later"!

[muddasssir]

Everyone has said something so I have to chime in with my two penny's worth. I think in this chapter BS played to gallery quite a bit. He tried to silence some of the worst critics. What surprises me is that where is Cads, things are happening and happening fast. She should be in the middle of it, but she is missing. On the whole not a bad beginning on the march towards the road to end

[mjasghar786]

Another roedrad clue:

That art of war book by comadrin given by roedran

Sort of clicks with demandred discovering the art of war from aol old books

[Neophyte]

Another one - and this one is just a flat out error, I believe:

 

Rand frowned, resting his hand on Laman’s sword at his waist.

 

Doesn't Rand now wear Artur Hawkwing's sword, Justice? I thought he had Laman's sword dismantled ...

[herid]

Another things that was nice to come across was....

 

AMoL

 

 

“Do you want to know the thing that twists my brain in knots, Perrin?” Rand said softly. “The thing that gives me shivers, like the cold breath of the Shadow itself? The taint is what made me mad and what gave me memories from my past life. They came as Lews Therin whispering to me. But that very insanity is the thing giving me the clues I need to win. Don’t you see? If I win this, it will be the taint itself that led to the Dark One’s fall.”

 

 

It was always a bit frustrating watching people try to stretch the cause of the memories into differet things when there was such a straight forward answer.

 

It's just a repeat of what he said in TGS.

 

He glanced down at her. "For that . . . I need the voice, Min. Lews Therin knows things. Or . . . or I know things. Whichever it is, the knowledge is there. In a way, the Dark One's own taint will destroy him, for it is what gave me access to Lews Therin."

This is exactly why I'm so suspicious of Rand's thinking when he repeats the same thing in aMoL. Pretty much everything he thought at the time of that TGS quote was corrupted and wrong. I remember that my first reaction to reading that particular TGS passage was that it was the taint induced madness talking and I sill think so.

[Terez]

Another one - and this one is just a flat out error, I believe:

 

Rand frowned, resting his hand on Laman’s sword at his waist.

 

Doesn't Rand now wear Artur Hawkwing's sword, Justice? I thought he had Laman's sword dismantled ...

 

When Aviendha first gave it to him, yes. He put a new hilt on it and got a new scabbard. He's been wearing it ever since. He wore Justice when it was given to him but he was probably cautious about wearing it at Merrilor where so many people might recognize it. (People who were at Falme.)

[Neophyte]

Another one - and this one is just a flat out error, I believe:

 

Rand frowned, resting his hand on Laman’s sword at his waist.

 

Doesn't Rand now wear Artur Hawkwing's sword, Justice? I thought he had Laman's sword dismantled ...

 

When Aviendha first gave it to him, yes. He put a new hilt on it and got a new scabbard. He's been wearing it ever since. He wore Justice when it was given to him but he was probably cautious about wearing it at Merrilor where so many people might recognize it. (People who were at Falme.)

 

Huh. OK, I guess I'm cool with that. Didn't remember that he'd kept it around.

 

But why would he expect someone at Merrilor to recognize it? Besides Perrin and maybe Mat when he arrives, or Hurin in the Borderlanders camp, who was at Falme with him to see it? Nynaeve and Min have seen him wear it plenty of times. And why would it be a problem if it were recognized?

 

There isn't a Seanchan contingent at Merrilor, and besides he already wore it to the Seanchan at his meeting with Tuon ... and neither she nor anyone else showed any sign of recognizing it.

 

Just odd. When was the last time we saw Laman's sword? And why bring it back out now?

[msbee]

There is a possible explanation for Rand knowing Balwer a little better than we might expect.

I've always had Perrin down as arriving at FoM over a week before the main meeting, presumably with Balwer.

So it's quite possible that this is not the first catch-up that Rand and Perrin have had.

The timeline is here

[herid]

There is a possible explanation for Rand knowing Balwer a little better than we might expect.

I've always had Perrin down as arriving at FoM over a week before the main meeting, presumably with Balwer.

So it's quite possible that this is not the first catch-up that Rand and Perrin have had.

The timeline is here

Perrin may have been at FOM for a while but Rand has only just arrived earlier that day. That's made very clear in Egwene's POV in ToM, Ch 56.

[Neophyte]

Perrin did arrive earlier, but Rand didn't. He just arrived the day before. He can't really come and go unnoticed, what with the weather tracking him and all.

 

Hah ... ninja'd

[Vardar]

I'm just going to keep spilling them into this thread. Additional quibble:

 

“Tell the people,” Rand said to his clerks. “Post warnings. Earthquakes will continue. Storms. Real ones, terrible ones. There will be a Breaking, and we cannot avoid it. The Dark One will try to grind this world to dust.”

 

Post warnings? Really? I mean honestly, what are they going to put up, this:

 

WARNING: This planet is a hard hat area. Earthquake and storms likely. Everyone please assume the crash position.

 

Post warnings. Honestly.

 

Well honestly, what else could you say? Town criers? Kings/Queens announcing it? When push comes to shove, if you need to placate the people, no TV or Radio, written word has to be involved somehow (Hell even wiht TV and Radio it still has to involve written word).

 

Would you have rather he just said "Warn the people, The Storm is Coming" ?

 

There's not much choice here...

[he who comes with a bong]

Just not fun any more so buh bye

 

To quote Slater from Dazed and Confused: "check you later"!

 

I say that all the time too lol

+1

[Suttree]

Just not fun any more so buh bye

 

To quote Slater from Dazed and Confused: "check you later"!

 

I say that all the time too lol

+1

 

So awesome!

[Vardar]

Another one - and this one is just a flat out error, I believe:

 

Rand frowned, resting his hand on Laman’s sword at his waist.

 

Doesn't Rand now wear Artur Hawkwing's sword, Justice? I thought he had Laman's sword dismantled ...

 

When Aviendha first gave it to him, yes. He put a new hilt on it and got a new scabbard. He's been wearing it ever since. He wore Justice when it was given to him but he was probably cautious about wearing it at Merrilor where so many people might recognize it. (People who were at Falme.)

 

Yea but isn't Laman's sword a two handed sword?

[msbee]

There is a possible explanation for Rand knowing Balwer a little better than we might expect.

I've always had Perrin down as arriving at FoM over a week before the main meeting, presumably with Balwer.

So it's quite possible that this is not the first catch-up that Rand and Perrin have had.

The timeline is here

Perrin may have been at FOM for a while but Rand has only just arrived earlier that day. That's made very clear in Egwene's POV in ToM, Ch 56.

 

That may have been the first time he'd arrived since she'd been there, but he could have visited before that. If I remember correctly she hadn't been at FoM long, her troops were there when Perrin arrived, but not necessarily Egwene

[Neophyte]

I'm just going to keep spilling them into this thread. Additional quibble:

 

“Tell the people,” Rand said to his clerks. “Post warnings. Earthquakes will continue. Storms. Real ones, terrible ones. There will be a Breaking, and we cannot avoid it. The Dark One will try to grind this world to dust.”

 

Post warnings? Really? I mean honestly, what are they going to put up, this:

 

WARNING: This planet is a hard hat area. Earthquake and storms likely. Everyone please assume the crash position.

 

Post warnings. Honestly.

 

Well honestly, what else could you say? Town criers? Kings/Queens announcing it? When push comes to shove, if you need to placate the people, no TV or Radio, written word has to be involved somehow (Hell even wiht TV and Radio it still has to involve written word).

 

Would you have rather he just said "Warn the people, The Storm is Coming" ?

 

There's not much choice here...

 

I agree that there's nothing useful to be done, my point is why bring it up at all? I would rather he have not bothered with something so ridiculously obvious in the first place. The people in Randland don't need to be put on notice that the feces is about to impact the rotating blade.

[Neophyte]

There is a possible explanation for Rand knowing Balwer a little better than we might expect.

I've always had Perrin down as arriving at FoM over a week before the main meeting, presumably with Balwer.

So it's quite possible that this is not the first catch-up that Rand and Perrin have had.

The timeline is here

Perrin may have been at FOM for a while but Rand has only just arrived earlier that day. That's made very clear in Egwene's POV in ToM, Ch 56.

 

That may have been the first time he'd arrived since she'd been there, but he could have visited before that. If I remember correctly she hadn't been at FoM long, her troops were there when Perrin arrived, but not necessarily Egwene

 

Everybody would have known if he were coming and going. The sky announces him.

[herid]

There is a possible explanation for Rand knowing Balwer a little better than we might expect.

I've always had Perrin down as arriving at FoM over a week before the main meeting, presumably with Balwer.

So it's quite possible that this is not the first catch-up that Rand and Perrin have had.

The timeline is here

Perrin may have been at FOM for a while but Rand has only just arrived earlier that day. That's made very clear in Egwene's POV in ToM, Ch 56.

 

That may have been the first time he'd arrived since she'd been there, but he could have visited before that. If I remember correctly she hadn't been at FoM long, her troops were there when Perrin arrived, but not necessarily Egwene

 

Everybody would have known if he were coming and going. The sky announces him.

Exactly. Plus it's obvious from their talk with Perrin that they are just catching up. So they haven't been meeting somewhere outside of FOM either.

[TootThatHorn]

What's Elayne's position on breaking the seals changing all the time for no reason? When Egwene first told her about it, she was ambivalent. At the end of Tom she was all "It's a big mistake, Rand must'be stopped", with no explanation why she changed her mind. Here at the start, about a day later:

 

"Perhaps we should simply let him do as he wishes.”

“Break the seals?” Egwene asked. “Release the Dark One?”

“Why not?”

 

Well she is pregnant.

 

I read it as an attempt to minimize the damage from ToM. Just like Egwene is suddenly all reasonable and such. In ToM both were incredibly single-minded. I think this is fixing that up.

 

Ha, funny how Rand finally knows Elayne is pregnant, it amused me.

 

I found this interesting.

 

Egwene rubbed her temples. “There is a difference between touching the world and being free...."

 

Headaches again, when she is thinking about the Seals. Obvious answer is that it is stress and tiredness, but I feel that Aran'gar did something more, a crappy bit of compulsion - which is why it doesn't work really well.

 

Ya, I've always been wondering if there is a ticking time bomb still, since I never thought that enough had been done from this to merit a Forsaken involvement and what not.

 

 

I wouldn't precisely say they 'came from' the taint. I think they came from Rand's head, but his access was facilitated by the taint (e.g. barrier degradation theory).

 

(Sorry, I'm in a nitpicky mood today.)

 

Do it, it's fresh material

 

And the things I found notable, which are gonna be some repeats as I copy/pasted as I was reading

 

 

Memory of light

 

“I need to remember the people. Not doing so is a mistake I have made too often in the past.” (Rand)

Plus all the musings of LTT.

 

“The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, Perrin. (Rand)

 

Ever since Trollocs had come in the night, ever since Lan and Moiraine had dragged him from the Two Rivers, (Rand)

 

I’m to blame for that, too, Rand thought. If I’d offered a hand instead of a smirk, if I’d congratulated instead of competed.

If I’d been the man then that I am now . . . (Rand)

 

Siuan would have killed for this ability, Egwene thought as she stepped through the gateway. (Egwene)

 

I’m impressed that Moiraine managed it with Tam, all that time ago . . .” (Nyneave)

 

(So we have some past musing from Rand, some character reference from Egwene, and what I've always suspected as a change of heart (possibly) on Nyn's perspective of Moiraine, probably with a little gloating thrown in as well, cause well, she has always been in competition with Moiraine over her peers. This all to me kind of sounds like the Memory of Light is more a running theme than anything else, with consideration of Rand's memories of Demandred as well.)

 

Demandred

 

“Roedran will come,” Balwer said, his voice thin and precise. “The Queen of Andor has sent for him,

promising him gateways made by those Kinswomen of hers. Our eyes in his court say he is angry that he

needs her help to attend, but is insistent that he needs to be at this meeting—if only so he doesn’t look left out.”

 

“I thought it would be the south where they struck—I’ve heard word of Trolloc sightings there, and I’m half-certain that

Demandred is involved. He has never been comfortable without an army. But Caemlyn . . . yes, it’s a clever strike. (Rand)

 

No, I’d bet against Mat himself that this was the Caemlyn Waygate. I thought she had that thing guarded!” (Rand)

 

(Musings on Demandred, not full confirmation but with Rand's LTT knowledge of Dem it's pretty safe to say this is what Dem is up to, also, since he is striking does this place FoM after Moggy's PoV in the prologue? I would think it fits nicely, that's probably obvious but obvious isn't always my area of expertise lol.)

 

 

 

Real Life

 

The sheets had been hastily gathered by the librarians of the Thirteenth Depository.

 

(*sigh* Just a nod to a website ain't it? I get it, but it's distracting, and a plot device to hurry along and rally people quicker.)

 

Prophecy

 

“ ‘And light shall fail, and dawn shall not come, and still the captive rails.’ The captive is the Dark One?”

 

“ ‘His blood shall give us the Light . . .’ ” “ ‘Wait upon the Light.’

 

Misc.

 

“There may be a time to break the seals, but that time is not at the start of the Last Battle, whatever Rand thinks.

We must wait for the right moment, and as the Watcher of the Seals, it is my duty to choose that moment. (Egwene)

 

“She’s Watcher of the Seals, Rand. It’s up to her to make sure they’re cared for.” (Perrin)

 

Sure as the wind and the sky, Perrin had become a king. A different kind of king than Rand—a king of his people, who lived among them. ( Rand)

 

The proper course was to send help for evacuating the city, Asha’man and loyal Aes Sedai to make gateways and free as many people as possible

 

Rand frowned, resting his hand on Laman’s sword at his waist.

 

(So we finally have some main characters getting on the same page, what with Perrin and Egwene mirroring each others thoughts, and Perrin making Rand promise to come out of this peacefully, which forces him to sort of agree with Egwene.

The part about Perrin being a king could have been in the prophecy part as well, but there is a very quick finality of a viewing I suppose, even though it's a broken crown right?

Loyal AS but not loyal Ashaman? Is he oblivious to the state of Ashaman or just poor writing? ugh.

And Rand has Laman's sword, not Justice. Why? No idea, perhaps Justice is just stashed; Maybe he just felt like wearing Laman's sword, and now that Avi is there maybe it will help facilitate some boogie nights with her cause he is wearing her gift?)

 

My thoughts

 

I enjoyed reading this. I liked the characters. There was some great info to read. However, it sure as hell felt extremely rushed plotwise to get the story going and on track. Nynaeve's healing is usually something described in detail and this time it was just a peripheral. Everyone is magically agreeing to everything when that was hardly the case before, but it's necessary.

 

Also, six hours of not hearing from Caemlyn and you shrug it off? Let your mom have the throne back and rule Cairhein, it's half destroyed anyways, what worse can you do?

 

Happyish, and enthusiastic about reading this book, but not as optimistic about how I will feel about the writing as I will about reading the story.

[Vardar]

I'm just going to keep spilling them into this thread. Additional quibble:

 

“Tell the people,” Rand said to his clerks. “Post warnings. Earthquakes will continue. Storms. Real ones, terrible ones. There will be a Breaking, and we cannot avoid it. The Dark One will try to grind this world to dust.”

 

Post warnings? Really? I mean honestly, what are they going to put up, this:

 

WARNING: This planet is a hard hat area. Earthquake and storms likely. Everyone please assume the crash position.

 

Post warnings. Honestly.

 

Well honestly, what else could you say? Town criers? Kings/Queens announcing it? When push comes to shove, if you need to placate the people, no TV or Radio, written word has to be involved somehow (Hell even wiht TV and Radio it still has to involve written word).

 

Would you have rather he just said "Warn the people, The Storm is Coming" ?

 

There's not much choice here...

 

I agree that there's nothing useful to be done, my point is why bring it up at all? I would rather he have not bothered with something so ridiculously obvious in the first place. The people in Randland don't need to be put on notice that the feces is about to impact the rotating blade.

 

Well I feel the same way as you, but let's be honest here, it's kinda like RL. People are sheep. Some people will be reassured just by someone saying, CRAP IS HAPPENING, NO WORRIES, WE GOT THIS.