My first reaction was, "That's it? Nothing about the future? It just ends when the battle ends?"
Upon further reflection, I came to two things. I now get why Robert Jordan planned to do outrigger novels focusing on Mat and the Seanchan. At the time that I first heard about this, I thought, "Um, really? Count me out." But now, after reading the ending, I get it. The major things that remain unresolved center on the Seanchan. The damane, the relationship with the Aiel, their status in the Dragon's Peace, a bunch of the major characters (not only Mat and Tuon, but also Min, Moghedien, and others). You could probably also have new-body Rand show up (briefly), and probably Perrin, Elayne, Lan, and the rest of the crew. They're basically all kings and queens, now, so they'll be dealing with the Seanchan.
I also get why Sanderson said that he didn't want to do the outriggers. We have visions of the future in the books, most obviously Aviendha's Rhuidean visions and Rand's battle with the Dark One for the shape of reality.
Various other random thoughts:
Man, I liked the way that Callandor ended up getting used. Probably my favorite prophecy/plot point in the whole book.
The body swap was about as well executed as it could have been. I never liked the idea that much, but I didn't hate it when it happened.
The total lack of resolution on Rand and his three women was probably for the best.
Roedran was kind of disappointing. I thought that the Band working for him would have some kind of meaning.
Demandred was intense. After having been missing in action for so long, he was pretty awesome. Getting all of Shara on the side of the Dark was a little... uh... hard to believe, but it worked. The girl who he got to love him was a nice touch; none of the other Forsaken quite did that (without, you know, Compulsion). Lan vs. Demandred was pretty cool, too. I wasn't that into the Gawyn or Galad fights, but I guess they worked in the broader scheme of things.
I also liked that we got the other sa'angreal more powerful than Callandor (finally! After Lanfear mentioned it ages ago!), and it made sense that Demandred had it and used it at the Last Battle.
Lanfear... oh, Lanfear. I wanted something a little more special for Lanfear. Working for the Light only so that she could be the one to save the Shadow in the end wasn't the most interesting way that she could have gone out. I was one of the ones who was hoping that she would try (and fail) to turn to the Light in the end. For all that we hear that no one has been in the Shadow so long that he cannot turn back to the Light, the only one we really got was Ingtar, and sort of Verin and Tomas. Lanfear would have been perfect for this, even though there would've had to have been some sort of caveat ("This doesn't make up for you, you know, drilling the Bore and torturing/killing lots of people and stuff").
The time distortion seemed sort of cheap. I guess it was necessary, but I didn't like it.
Ituralde is a badass and always has been.
I wish Nynaeve had played a little bit more of a role.
Olver's heroism and the Horn was maybe the second-greatest plot point in the book. Mat should've been bound to the Horn, though, despite all his protests. Hurin, too. Horn-summoned Birgitte was pretty badass.
I didn't really get the Leilwin plotline. It just seemed like it was going to be more than it was.
Cadsuane as Amyrlin was pretty hilarious.
I did come to like Egwene more as the series went along. I wasn't that into her death, but it was fine. It worked.
Someone really needed to Heal Setalle's stilling. I'm going to choose to believe that someone figures out to do that (Flinn, maybe? He lived, right?) early in the Fourth Age.
The explanation about making angreal was good, but what about sa'angreal? I had always assumed that the fundamental difference was the way that they were made, but we never got a resolution on that, I think. I'm also going to choose to believe that Elayne figures that out relatively early in the Fourth Age.
Unless I missed it, we didn't ever really get a definitive answer on Pact of the Griffin or Court of the Sun. Yes, it makes sense that the latter involves Cairhien in some way, and yes, there are reasonable speculations about the former, but... oh well. Again, this is why outrigger novels would have been good.
I wanted something with the Land of Madmen to happen. Anything at all. Everywhere else in the world got in on the action eventually.
That's everything that comes to mind about the plot, anyway. It was good. Really good. I'm glad that I got to sit and read it straight through. I'm probably going to go back and re-read bits and pieces in the next few days, and I may even do a full-series re-read eventually, but this is it for the Wheel of Time for me for the most part.
The "OMG I just finished!" Thread
in Wheel of Time Books
Posted · Edited by Kelandon
My first reaction was, "That's it? Nothing about the future? It just ends when the battle ends?"
Upon further reflection, I came to two things. I now get why Robert Jordan planned to do outrigger novels focusing on Mat and the Seanchan. At the time that I first heard about this, I thought, "Um, really? Count me out." But now, after reading the ending, I get it. The major things that remain unresolved center on the Seanchan. The damane, the relationship with the Aiel, their status in the Dragon's Peace, a bunch of the major characters (not only Mat and Tuon, but also Min, Moghedien, and others). You could probably also have new-body Rand show up (briefly), and probably Perrin, Elayne, Lan, and the rest of the crew. They're basically all kings and queens, now, so they'll be dealing with the Seanchan.
I also get why Sanderson said that he didn't want to do the outriggers. We have visions of the future in the books, most obviously Aviendha's Rhuidean visions and Rand's battle with the Dark One for the shape of reality.
Various other random thoughts:
Man, I liked the way that Callandor ended up getting used. Probably my favorite prophecy/plot point in the whole book.
The body swap was about as well executed as it could have been. I never liked the idea that much, but I didn't hate it when it happened.
The total lack of resolution on Rand and his three women was probably for the best.
Roedran was kind of disappointing. I thought that the Band working for him would have some kind of meaning.
Demandred was intense. After having been missing in action for so long, he was pretty awesome. Getting all of Shara on the side of the Dark was a little... uh... hard to believe, but it worked. The girl who he got to love him was a nice touch; none of the other Forsaken quite did that (without, you know, Compulsion). Lan vs. Demandred was pretty cool, too. I wasn't that into the Gawyn or Galad fights, but I guess they worked in the broader scheme of things.
I also liked that we got the other sa'angreal more powerful than Callandor (finally! After Lanfear mentioned it ages ago!), and it made sense that Demandred had it and used it at the Last Battle.
Lanfear... oh, Lanfear. I wanted something a little more special for Lanfear. Working for the Light only so that she could be the one to save the Shadow in the end wasn't the most interesting way that she could have gone out. I was one of the ones who was hoping that she would try (and fail) to turn to the Light in the end. For all that we hear that no one has been in the Shadow so long that he cannot turn back to the Light, the only one we really got was Ingtar, and sort of Verin and Tomas. Lanfear would have been perfect for this, even though there would've had to have been some sort of caveat ("This doesn't make up for you, you know, drilling the Bore and torturing/killing lots of people and stuff").
The time distortion seemed sort of cheap. I guess it was necessary, but I didn't like it.
Ituralde is a badass and always has been.
I wish Nynaeve had played a little bit more of a role.
Olver's heroism and the Horn was maybe the second-greatest plot point in the book. Mat should've been bound to the Horn, though, despite all his protests. Hurin, too. Horn-summoned Birgitte was pretty badass.
I didn't really get the Leilwin plotline. It just seemed like it was going to be more than it was.
Cadsuane as Amyrlin was pretty hilarious.
I did come to like Egwene more as the series went along. I wasn't that into her death, but it was fine. It worked.
Someone really needed to Heal Setalle's stilling. I'm going to choose to believe that someone figures out to do that (Flinn, maybe? He lived, right?) early in the Fourth Age.
The explanation about making angreal was good, but what about sa'angreal? I had always assumed that the fundamental difference was the way that they were made, but we never got a resolution on that, I think. I'm also going to choose to believe that Elayne figures that out relatively early in the Fourth Age.
Unless I missed it, we didn't ever really get a definitive answer on Pact of the Griffin or Court of the Sun. Yes, it makes sense that the latter involves Cairhien in some way, and yes, there are reasonable speculations about the former, but... oh well. Again, this is why outrigger novels would have been good.
I wanted something with the Land of Madmen to happen. Anything at all. Everywhere else in the world got in on the action eventually.
That's everything that comes to mind about the plot, anyway. It was good. Really good. I'm glad that I got to sit and read it straight through. I'm probably going to go back and re-read bits and pieces in the next few days, and I may even do a full-series re-read eventually, but this is it for the Wheel of Time for me for the most part.