Moiraine's Arc (Full Spoilers)

[Luckers]

Figured she deserved her own thread. Can also cover Thom.

[Chaotic222]

I was kind of disappointed by how little Moiraine there was in this book. She might be my favorite overall character from the series, and I was really looking forward to her interacting with the other characters now that they've changed so much. There were a few small moments here and there, but other than FoM, she doesn't really do very much in scenes where she's present. I mean, even Nynaeve gets something to do while Rand is fighting the Dark One. Moiraine's role is to just stand there.

[Luckers]

I was disapointed in the cheap way she was used, playing Egwene to Egwene's Elaida with the recitation of prophecy. And then she fades to the background. Meh.

[dark_hound]

I did like when she almost tricked Rand into getting her tea. Little things. And yeah, she was totally wasted and didn't live up to the catharsis when she was finally rescued at the end of ToM.

[Christina Gleason]

Let's not forget that Moiraine was no longer a very strong channeler because of her captivity with the 'Finns. She may not have done much at Shayol Ghul physically, but Rand needed someone he could absolutely trust to link with him, someone who was not needed elsewhere. It could not be one of the three women he loved, because they couldn't be trusted not to act on their feelings. He had Nynaeve there, but he needed a second woman. He and Egwene had too many issues, and as we saw, she needed to do what she needed to do. Moiraine was it. Moiraine couldn't have even been very helpful fighting alongside other Aes Sedai because of her loss of strength in the Power. The most important thing she needed to do was be there, to do what needed to be done. And she did it.

[Suttree]

Let's not forget that Moiraine was no longer a very strong channeler because of her captivity with the 'Finns. She may not have done much at Shayol Ghul physically, but Rand needed someone he could absolutely trust to link with him, someone who was not needed elsewhere.

Actually with her item of power she was as strong if not more so than before.

 

Total agreement with Luckers. Her showing up and "reminding" everyone of prophecies /role ahe played was not well done.

[Random_Person13]

I liked her in the meeting it seemed very much her. manipulating everyone but for their own good. Then she did become more background that made sense becasue her part was done. that was what she needed to do make everyone see sense

[athrian]

Yeah I thought it was pretty ridiculous. All this foreshadowing about how she absolutely had to be rescued from Sindhol and at the Last Battle, and she really does nothing that any other female channeler could have done really. Maybe the recitation of prophecies was important, but that seems more about the post-LastBattle stuff rather than the actual victory over the Shadow.

[esvath]

I like Moiraine showing her affection to Thom, I like her interactions with Rand but as a legendary figure, she was meh...

 

1) We don't get her reunion with Lan.

2) We don't get her reunion with Siuan.

3) We don't get her interaction with Cadsuane (only a little from Rand's POV about her anc Cadsuane not coming to Rand at same time). I was waiting for their interactions like a child waiting for a firework. And then, the rain falls and the firework show is canceled.

4) We don't get her interaction with the Wise Ones. As one Aes Sedai that the Wise Ones respect, there should be some kind of interaction between them, but noooo...

 

Nynaeve hugs her made me teary though :D

[Viperswhip]

Well, I agree that she wasn't necessary for Rand to win so far a I can see. Brandon's way of making her necessary is to have her instrumental in obtaining the Dragon's Peace. It was not done super effectively but the point is that Rand is walking out of the tent when Moiraine shows up. The she jedi mind tricks everyone into signing. She and Nynaeve make their peace and establish a relationship.

 

Then she goes to SG where she isn't ultimately necessary, but she's a safety net. Rand knows she will try to kill him if he goes evil, that's probably why she is there instead of say Aviendha or Alivia. She helps shove the DO back into the Abyss, yes Rand did that, but we give Nynaeve credit for the cleansing and this really isn't any different.

 

That's a few important actions there.

 

If there is no Dragon's Peace the armies lose cohesion, the Borderlands are overrun, any force he takes to SG is overwhelmed by Trollocs who have not faced any unified opposition. Probably the White Tower is attacked by the Seanchan as well. There were not a lot of reasons for Tuon to sign that treaty, other than the fact the entire rest of the continent had signed it and would be unified against the Seanchan. She didn't really know that the the treaty would be void if the Seanchan didn't sign. The main reason the Seanchan have advanced as far as they have is that their has been no unified efforts against them.

 

So, it's important the treaty is signed, it's a bit contrived that Moiraine is the one to move the process along, on that I will agree, but her actions there were very important to the Light.

[Woolheaded]

Mo's meeting with Rand seemed quite forced and not as emotional as I would have hoped... but she still did her thing.

[Ashaman Valen]

I just wanted more of her and like others I wanted a moiraine and cadsuane interaction. If I got that I would have felt a lot better about her arc.

[GB]

wish we had more of moiraine in the book would have been pretty cool

 

her role wasn't as bada** as i thought it would be

[BLKNIGHT18]

I definitely would have liked to see more Mo reunions.

 

She also off screen convinced Rand not to go to the Black Tower and attempt to deal with Mazrim Taim personally, so that's another way she possibly saved the day. 

 

I wonder why at the very end she couldn't have been written as helping Perrin kill Lanfear.  Moraine and Perrin spent most of tDR together, she knows about Min's visions of Perrin, etc.

[garryturk]

We got reminded yet again in AMOL about the "give up half of the light of the world to save the world" so obviously Moi's return had to be absolutely critical to a Light-side victory.  I guess we all expected her contribution to be either in combat or to reveal some wisdom from her 3 questions.

But instead it was in getting the rulers of the world to sign up to the Dragon's Peace and -- probably more importantly as stated above -- agree to a single unified command.  We saw even in the FoM meeting that Rand was bluffing -- he'd never have refused to go to SG if they hadn't signed the Peace so it had to be the single commander.

I can grok that but it is for my taste a little indirect for the frequent repetition of "save  the world".  I think RJ may have overplayed the foreshadowing and BS was a little subtle on the import of her reactions.  Which is a nice turn-around given much of the criticisms of previous books.

[Ixade]

I honestly wonder if part of it is the waves of her return, such as Thom being one of the guards for the cave where Rand, Moraine, and Nyaeve fought the Dark One. 

 

Not to say this is satisfying in any real way, but it is a factor.

[David Selig]

There was a Moiraine arc?

 

Why did she come back at all? We didn't see any of the potential scenes which would've made her comeback worth it - her reunions with Lan, Siuan, Perrin, etc. More influence on the LB than sitting still in a cave for 3/4 of the book. Anything worth reading, really.

[Chackern]

I was pleased with her role in the book. Just like in TEOW, she arrived just in time. She arrived just in time to find the Dragon Reborn and she arrived in time to unite everyone to Rand.

While I would have enjoyed more of her character, there was just not enough room, it was the end of the world

[Ixade]

Or is it simply the fact that Moraine is the witness of the Dragon Reborn. Present when it was declared that he was born, discoverer, guide, moral support, and observer. If that was the role that RJ intended for Moraine then she had to be there to witness the end. 

 

Similar to ObiWan Kenobi in Star Wars. Ultimately the living had to decide and act, but he watched.

[Ataxia]

I didn't see the point in having a reunion between her and Lan/Siuan. They would be happy to see each other but they would recognize that the battle isnt over and idle chat could wait.

[Treebeard]

There was a Moiraine arc? Why did she come back at all? We didn't see any of the potential scenes which would've made her comeback worth it - her reunions with Lan, Siuan, Perrin, etc. More influence on the LB than sitting still in a cave for 3/4 of the book. Anything worth reading, really.

so with you there . in the first book she i fantastic then she slowly fades away into oblivion ( for me at least )

[hjustinpace]

My only real gripe with the book, although it ends up a fairly large one, is how the precious page capacity is allocated among characters and plotlines. Moiraine's arc is a perfect example of something that got short shrift.

[Jnai]

I think the fundamental problem with Moiraine is that because she has to be near Rand, and because of the Inception-Style time flow that characterizes Rand's position relative to the rest of the characters, there's nothing really that she could do. I mean, there's no long sequence she could possibly be involved in, because it wouldn't make temporal sense.

 

But - do we ever find out what she asked for aside from her angreal? Do we know what knowledge she gained or gifts she received?

[hjustinpace]

She could have, and I think should have, gotten more screen time before going into SG. I'm glad we didn't see much of her there, because I didn't really think the stuff with Nynaeve and Alanna worked.

[Viperswhip]

Why not? Nynaeve has been using herbs and traditional medicine much to the consternation or amusement of every other Aes Sedai in the series. It was a great moment of validation for Nynaeve in front of one of the earliest critics of her use of herbs. I thought it was a wonderful nod to one of her central conflicts with others. Nobody will ever be able to question it again because she can honestly now say that herbs and sewing saved the world.