Did Lanfear die in the ToG? Or was she rescued? I thought Moiraine witnessed her death.

Cyndane? The DO brings her back.

Why has Rand effectively ignored the Black Tower for ... five books now? Four? I can't remember

One question on TP:

 

 

How did forsaken learn to channel TP? Is it exactly like OP (five elements) and weaves are exactly the same? But that couldn't be since weaves are not the same for Saidain and Saidar. So how did Rand know what to do in tGS?

 

We know very little about it, but what we do know I can hazard some guesses:

 

1. Ishy has been using it for many years, which is why Moridin has saa.

2. In the death of Mesaana scene, we know Rand channeled Fire to break the Domination band and balefire Mesaana and Elza.

 

So yes, expertise in one transfers to the other, they both use the same elements and weaves, and it is simply an alternate source of the OP.

 

But this leads to disturbing speculation about the relationship between saidar, saidin, and the DO.

Not sure about this. Seem to remember that TP comes directly from the DO himself. OP probably from the Creator, then? White/Black - there is a certain symmetry. Also the Creator doesn't interfere personally in the Pattern (for whatever reason) so he wouldn't deny the Forsaken OP, whereas TP is only for those chosen by DO .. certainly sounds like it'd fit into RJ's general WoT philosophy, if you see what I mean.

Also, Rand learned to channel intuitively, in large part, and so did the Wisdoms of The Two Rivers. He was killing (one of the three) love(s) of his life! That's enough pressure for anyone to come up with balefire. Maybe. In any case, I don't think the weaves are the same, just as saidin/saidar are not the same (which one would TP correspond to?). The 5 elements theory sounds plausible because there doesn't seem to be much of an alternative, looking at it from an author's perspective (to whatever extent that is possible).

For the first like... 6 books I think. maybe more, maybe less. the first third of the book was nothingness. it was a catch up from the last book but for a good 200 to 300 pages (for example: rand in tear after callendor.. gahhhh) I remember telling my boyfriend at the time "oh sweet!! its finally to the part of the story when something happens". i understand that some people had to wait for it to come out and so some things are needed to remind what has happened, but that is just way too much of the book to make me happy. it did start to go away though...

 

BUT the other thing i dislike about the books is the repetition in some descriptions. stone faced. aes sedai agelessness. tugging her braid. looking down at the nub where his left hand used to be. colors swirling EVERY TIME. the repetition drives me crazy. thesaurus people! sanderson uses the word "tempest" WAY too much. i understood in the gathering storm but there's no need for the over use of the word in ToM.

Haha I wrote the exact same thing (http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/61366-thoughts-on-towers-of-midnight/) about repetition. I was getting all insecure too about criticizing RJ on this forum. But it's true. I don't know if they do it for consistency and reinforcement, like a character's catchphrase or something, or just because it's always at the top of the page with notes on those characters (:p).

Why is there so much fear of and revulsion for the Dragon? Not Rand al'Thor but the man prophesied to save the world .. the man who bound the Dark One and the Forsaken in a prison for three millenium? Why is the Dragon's Fang a symbol of ... whatever it is a symbol of? I never quite got this. I mean, he will break nations and all that sounds bad, but if he's saving them from the Dark One... It's like accusing the sun of causing skin cancer (best I could come up with on short notice haha).