Re-reading WOT (I'm up to POD as of last night)

Re-reading ASOIAF

Name of the Wind

Lies My Teacher Told Me (Honestly, it isn't the JFK conspiracy, hippie nonsense it sounds like. It's really good.)

After that, I'll pick up Wise Man's Fear, and then I'll dive into one of my Histories (Herodotus, Suetonius, Tacitus)

Does Fain know how to use the ways?

 

Just wondering if he opened the waygate to the Two Rivers.

 

Or was that Verin? Thinking about it that kind of makes sense.

 

And iirc Alanna sometimes goes off alone to do something... do we know why?

 

Why does Verin tell Perrin not to trust Alanna? Does she know Alanna wants to bond him?

 

*confusion*

Yes, Fain knows how to use the Ways.

Verin had nothing to do with the Waygate, it was Fain both times (EOTW and TSR)

Could you remind me when the scene when Alanna goes off for a while?

Verin knows that Alanna is not all there since her warder (Owain?) died. She knew that Alanna would do something crazy like bond a man without his permission SPOILERS

Which does end up happening once Alanna gets away from Verin for a while, but it's the thought that counts.

Ah Goodkind. Worldbuilding from WoT, thematic content from Ayn Rand, sexual content for BDSM Weekly... and what does he bring to the mix? Richard and Kahlan get seperated and reunited. Rinse and repeat. Oh, and add a chicken-which-isn't-a-chicken.

 

I'd be less contemptuos if he hadn't told a fourteen year old that he 'was afraid of the truth' because he wanted more sword-fights and less Richard giving speeches to strawmen in the later books.

THIS. So much this! The author is a prick, and RJ's comments about it just seem to say, "I know he ripped off my work, but I'm a professional and can't/won't accuse him of plagiarism without rock-solid, undeniable proof, which I couldn't be bothered to gather."

The title says it all, really. What was your favorite single chapter in the series? Why?

As for mine, it's WH39, the cleansing. The rapidfire POV changes just seemed to be perfect for the scene. It just seems to capture the panic and confusion and HOLY **** THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING aspects of the cleansing perfectly.

Yes, this means that (relative to Slayer) Lan is related to Rand.

Why did Aran'gar (assuming it was Aran'gar) kill the sisters in the Salidar camp?

First of all, it WAS Aran'gar.

Second of all, all of the AS victims were close friends of Cabriana Mecandes, the AS Semirhage tortured and killed in TFOH (At least I think it was TFOH).  Both noticed her disappearance and were asking questions. 

As for why they were killed, a theory floating around a while ago is that Aran'gar's new body was that of Cabriana, and they recognized her.  A confirmed AS who had, for decades called herself "Cabriana" suddenly introducing herself as "Halima" would raise more than a few alarms.

I disagree.  There are a few reasons I see for the lack of action, but "uncaring"?  I'm not too sure about that one.

-They still see the title of Nae'blis as up for grabs.  If they play dumb and ignore Mat and Perrin, Moridin looks like the idiot, and might, in their eyes, lose the title. 

-Then there's the fact that they all have their own reasons for wanting RAND dead and being the one to do it. 

-They also have spent their entire lives working against each other as much as they work against the Light, and the whole "teamwork" thing is NEVER easy for the bad guys to pick up.

-For all the fear they are associated with, they really aren't all that bright.  Witness the cleansing and how easily they COULD have won, and how badly they all had their backsides handed to them.

Once or twice it was mentioned in KOD and COT.  I always pictured the novice quarters in a building separate from the Tower itself, with the Tower housing the full AS, classes, libraries, etc.

In previous books LTT says something to Rand about a third entity, an "other one" if I remember correctly.  I cannot recall which book this was in but I want to say it was before the Mordin balefire connection.  If I am correct in this assumption, would this be an early indication of more personalities than just LTT existing in Rand's head?  And if I am wrong, it seemed that Rand did not know of this "other" making me wonder if the coping mechanism of LTT when a little above and beyond when the connection with Mordin first popped up.

The third man shows up in TPOD, after the whole crossing-the-streams thing.  What gets me, is why is the effect of two weaves unmaking each other before they were made (I hate talking about time paradoxes.  I don't know which verb tense to use for this.  They need to invent a new one) the connection between the two who did (didn't? God I hate this!) the weaves?

what exactly is a shocklance? 

 

Sammael says that he wishes he had one and it would make things a lot easier as far as killing Rand or something.  Is it just...well, literally a lance that shocks you?

I think the bent black rod that Asne got from Moghedien and uses in KoD Ch. 31 might be a shocklance. It sounds like it works pretty much like a phaser in Star Trek - basically that it's an energy gun. She says it can kill or stun at a hundred paces, and the description of what it does sounds like some sort of ray gun to me. Thoughts?

I don't remember where this quote came from-someone else would need to dig it up-but I'm pretty sure RJ said that was kind of like a shock-pistol.  A smaller version that worked in much the same way.  And yes, it does kind of sound like a phaser.

Voila:

A Crown of Swords book tour 9 October 1996, Dunwoody, GA - Erica Sadun reporting

Q:  Are shocklances guns, or an energy discharge weapon?

RJ:  Energy discharge weapons.

 

Robert Jordan Tour Report: Dayton, OH Tim Kington

Q: Was the gizmo used to capture Elayne a shocklance?

A: It was a variation. A shocklance is more like a rifle, and this was more like a pistol.

Good stuff, thanks for the info. now if the Band had them, but I suppose you have to be able to Channel >:(

Aren't you getting a bit greedy for them?  C'mon, they already have hand (well, sling, but that's beside the point) grenades, and as soon as Aludra can find someone to build some, cannons.  That alone will make them the most formidable military force on the PLANET, save possibly for the Asha'man.  :o

what exactly is a shocklance? 

 

Sammael says that he wishes he had one and it would make things a lot easier as far as killing Rand or something.  Is it just...well, literally a lance that shocks you?

I am pretty sure it is like a rifle

Say what you will about the movie, but I pictured them as the weapons Grievous's guards use in Star Wars 3, just by picking apart the name.

Well, to reunite the WT, they required a lot of cash to pay a lot of soldiers for the siege.  The Old Delving (Delving is the word used for this in a glossary or two, as opposed to the New Delving, looking for illness) would have mitigated the problem quite a lot.

I imagine she didn't do it because of the memories it brought back.  She just tried her best to forget it (and apparently succeeded)