Bloody ashes! - Ninja-posted by Mark Grayson. Oh well, I agree with everything he said.

That's OK. I got the name of Galina's pillow friend wrong.

Sort of hanging with the topic of Love in WoT - are homosexuals ever mentioned or talked about? It's seems like some of the Foresaken like to play fast and loose with gender and Graendal certainly seems like she could go either way but other then that, I don't recall any mention or description of any homosexual characters in WoT.

There is an awful lot of female homosexuality in WoT (pillow friends). No openly gay male characters or encounters that we have seen.

Just posted this in a thread on the spoiler boards. Contains some examples:

Funnily enough, I think her and Nicola were another couple of victims of the Bubble of Lesbianism that struck sometime around KoD.

Pillow friends were prevalent well before KoD. Moiraine and Suian are revealed as pillow friends in New Spring. Galina is obviously a lesbian early in her appearances (Elaida has a POV that shows that pillow friends were common amongst novices but that it should be grown out of as you get older. Galina did not grow out of it and was surprised when Elaida rejected her advances. Galina's POVs also show a clear attraction to women). Pillow friends were discussed as common amongst the novices in the White Tower. Cadsuane finds out that one of the Sea Folk Windfinders was having an affair with a Cairhien/Tear (can't remember which) noblewoman. She holds them captive because she thinks their secret has something to do with the renegade Asha'man attacking Rand. Etc. This was not something that just suddenly showed up unexpectedly in KoD.

About halfway through Kod and FINALLY we find out what was in the letter Moiraine wrote for Thom way, Way back in what, FoH? Is it just me or does it seem like Moiraine has a thing for Thom - My Dearest Thom..., etc? He seems kind of old for her. Plus, I kind of thought Thom would eventually re-hook back up Morgaise at some point and she would tell him that Elaine is really his daughter.

 

It did seem kind of unfair that all of the main characters have now hooked up and made love connections of some sort or another except Moiraine.

 

Rand with Elaine/Min/Avhienda

Perrin with Faile

Matt with Tuon

Nynaeve with Lan

Egwene with Galad

Loial with Erith

-and now-

Moiraine and Thom Merrilin?

 

BTW - was I the only one who knew she wasn't really dead? Fell into a Ter'Angreal? Seriously? What kind of Star Trek dead-but-not-really-dead death is that?

Nah, Moiraine's being alive in Finnland has been generally agreed upon well before the KoD letter. Mostly because of Min's viewing that "failed" because of a women dead and gone (Moiraine). We know her viewings don't fail so Moiraine must not actually be dead.

In terms of Moiraine and Thom - this has also been pretty well foreshadowed and expected. Mostly to do with Moiraine's "I know the face of my future husband better than you" comment (likely refering to a viewing Min had of her and Thom), her promise to Thom before he went to Tarabon with Nynaeve and Elayne that she knew for a fact that she would see him again, and a few other instances.

Thom and Morgase - RJ confirmed that Elayne is not Thom's daughter. And Morgase's plot has clearly been going in the direction of her and Tallanvor being together so it wouldn't make sense for her and Thom to get back together.

Egwene and Galad? Assume you mean Gawyn, as her love interest shifted pretty early on. You are definitely correct - RJ certainly seemed to have a thing in making sure that all the characters had a love interest (and you forgot Suian and Gareth).

Stick with it. The second half of CoT has some more Mat chapters which are always fun. If you're really not liking the Elayne chapters, feel free to skim them as the plot doesn't advance much until the next book (although you will miss some of the character building).

Once you get past CoT, the next book KoD picks up considerably and is very good. It resolves many of the plotlines you are currently reading. Both tGS and ToM are fast paced and I enjoyed both of them quite a bit for the most part.

I'd have to vote for the Cleansing. Just so much cool stuff going on:

- Rand and Nynaeve channeling crazy amounts of the Power and doing something world-changing.

- Several Forsaken POVs.

- A cool Power battle with Forsaken strength against good guy strategy.

- I liked the way it jumped around between POVs, this gave a good sense of what was going on all around and how hectic the battle was.

I also enjoyed Rand's trip back through time in Rhuidean but I think that was actually 3 or 4 chapters.

Avi's trip through time in Rhuidean was painful to read because of what she saw, but the chapter was beautifully written and haunting.

The Galad vs Valda duel was cool to read.

Pretty much any Mat POV chapter is made of awesome.

Some of mine, many of these I know I don't pronunce correctly but I prefer just to think of them the way I have read them for the last 16 or so years and don't make an effort to change them:

Egwene - Egg-win

Moiraine - More-rain

Nynaeve - Nie-neve

Cairhien - Car-hine

Aiel - Ale

Taim - Tame

Seanchan - Shawn-chan

Suian - Used to be Sue-ann but this was one the glossary got me to change to Swan

Leane - Lee-ann

Cadsuane - Cod-swan-A

Logain - Low-gain

I thought Tarna was somewhat unlikely because she just walked out of the building Nynaeve was standing beside a few minutes earlier, but she's possible. Moghedien's unlikely. It wasn't Aran'gar, since she was only introduced in LOC30. Maybe Areina? It seemed like the Nicola-Areina plotline was one Jordan was never sure what to do with.

I always assumed it was Nicola or Areina gathering some more blackmail ammo.

They cannot use the power as a weapon, and their oaths hold. There is a comment on it in Knife of Dreams about how a former AS damane was useless as a weapon, making her so distraught that the sul'dam had to console her with compliments on how pretty her skylights were and how wonderful her healing was. (Seanchan Death Guard's PoV)

 

 

There is speculation that the Seanchan might somehow figure out how to circumvent this, like by threatening to kill them if they don't comply and thus making their lives in danger enough to use the Power as a weapon in war.

Not sure this would allow them to attack anyone but the source (the sul'dam) of their danger though.

Hi guys ^_^

 

Long time reader, first time poster and all the jazz.

 

Question for if anyone knows though!

 

TGS, Chapter 1, Rand has a sword he's thinking about to himself. Does anyone know which Sword it is? (It may just be me, but it seems as if he's just gotten it, but its....wierd. Almost like its an Angreal or something but he's seen it initially himself. And I don't think its mentioned again? (Re-reading TGS now!)

 

The quote is below if anyone needs it. Hoping you can help :P

 

He relaxed his hand on his sword, though he did not release it. He fingered the cloth-tied hilt. The weapon was long, slightly curved, and the lacquered scabbard was painted with a long, sinuous dragon of red and gold. It looked as if it had been designed specifically for Rand— and yet it was centuries old, unearthed only recently. How odd, that they should find this now, he thought, and make a gift of it to me, completely unaware of what they were holding. . . .

He had taken to wearing the sword immediately. It felt right beneath his fingers. He had told no one, not even Min, that he had recognized the weapon. And not, oddly, from Lews Therin's memories—but Rand's own.

The sword seems to be Hawkwing's sword Justice. I believe Brandon confirmed this if someone else could provide the quote.

Is it just me or do women seem to rule the WoT world completely.. Queens, Aes Sedai, Womens Circle, general bullying and blockheadedness?

I believe that RJ did this intentionally. I remember reading something where he talks about the reason that it is the male half of the OP that is tainted is because most stories have powerful male wizards and he wanted to try something different where the women were the strong magic users. I think this attitude of respect for female channelers and fear of male channelers has influenced the world's view of men and women in general and is partly responsible for the fact that women seem to have more influence in the world than men.