I'm slowly digesting what I've just read, and the implications of it all. That Rand did not kill the Dark One and ended up switching bodies with Moridin is of no real surprise to me. I think that Gawyn's death could have been a bit more impressive, however, it did fit in well with the character. Egwene's death was awesome(in the that was a great way to go way), and I loved the way that Rand was able to see the battle as it happened. I do not think Rhuarc's capture fit in well with the book, nor Moghdein's. This book was fantastic, of that I have no doubts. It feels like the book was actually two different novels, the preparations and individual fights, and then the full blown Last Battle. The ending was beautifully written. I love Rand's wake up scene "just Rand al Thor". Those lines, meaning no link with Moridin, no memories of Lews Therin, no mantle of the Dragon Reborn. It's fantastic. This is easily the best series/novel I've ever read, the most beautifully written ending. Thank you Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson for this incredibly mind blowing work of art.

Great theory, but I'm still convinced it was Fain, Myrdaal obey him and Machin Shin appears to as well. He could have given it some humans in exchange for letting the trollocs pass through pretty much unharmed. You haven't convinced me but I look forward to the next one

Is CoT worth reading on a reread? Ive read it before so I know what hapens, but are there any really good scenes in it that warrant a reread?

Do we see any scenes with Elyas' Aes Sedai? When I came across the name in TPoD I thought it was familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint the source.

Never felt any real Egwene hate, I am on book 12 now though and I find myself irritated every time Egwene opines on the Dragon Reborn and asha'man in general. She is too arrogant, too sure of the Aes Sedais place as being at the top managing others.

 

I am in the beginning of this book yet but if this goes further I can see why she rasies some peoples hackles. But in this she is almost like every other WOT character so far, I find myself angry everyone at turns and rooting for them at others. The only one I wholly dislike so far is Tuon, and her handmaid.

Is it Tuon you dislike or is it the culture she represents that you dislike? Of all the Seanchan I think Tuon is one of the most understanding of the new cultures she conquers than anyone else we've seen. Suroth destroyed the cultures of the Almoth Plain, Tarabon, and Amadacia, while Tuon accepted the Ebou Dari culture, and just slightly altered it to make it fit well under her rule. Tuon looks as if she is ready for a change (that I think we will see), and she is proving that by marrying Mat, both a commoner(technically) and a foreigner, and has raised Beslan to the Blood.

I've never understood the level of Egwene hate. She has her annoying habits (as do many of the characters) but that is what makes them feel more real.

 

I think she is great when she stands up to Elaida and in fighting off the Seanchan. These are her best scenes in my opinion.

The Elaida one is definitely her best scene. I also liked the fight with Mesaana. I've just never liked her personality as a whole. Hell the only person I've actually liked is Mat, and that's because he is comedic relief, also because unlike most of the other characters (Rand, Nynaeve, Elayne, Egwene, Berelain, Gawyn, Deira Bashere, Mazrim Taim, Logain post-healing, etc.) he isn't incredibly arrogant.

 

Except for Taim they're also all nobility, even royalty for some.

I think we are drawing important parallels. It appears that RJs message is "People with power are annoying, condescending, arrogant, asshats."

I've never understood the level of Egwene hate. She has her annoying habits (as do many of the characters) but that is what makes them feel more real.

 

I think she is great when she stands up to Elaida and in fighting off the Seanchan. These are her best scenes in my opinion.

The Elaida one is definitely her best scene. I also liked the fight with Mesaana. I've just never liked her personality as a whole. Hell the only person I've actually liked is Mat, and that's because he is comedic relief, also because unlike most of the other characters (Rand, Nynaeve, Elayne, Egwene, Berelain, Gawyn, Deira Bashere, Mazrim Taim, Logain post-healing, etc.) he isn't incredibly arrogant.

Side note: I just noticed that almost all of the characters mentioned above are channelers. Huh... I guess people with that kind of power are usually super arrogant.

Wouldn't the conduit have to be of the power? If the power can remake it, that leads me to think that the power is what makes it. Maybe males are made of saidar and females saidin?

 

Possibly, that could explain why a woman can heal a man back to full strength but only give another woman back a faction of her original power and vice versa. However it do seam likely that if this is the case that the connection is made up of both sides with a main bulk of it being made up of the opposite side from the gender of the channeler since a woman can heal a female channeler at least partly, and if a woman's connection was pure saidin and vice versa then a channeler should not be able to heal severing in someone of the same gender as them at all.

The Cleansing scene seems to say that Saidin and Saidar repel each other, which then implies that saidar has some sort of attraction to itself. So making a Saidar Conduit out of Saidar would lead to a "clogging" of the flow of the power, while saidin would allow for complete flow.

 

While I'm not supporting this theory, it could also be that since saidar and saidin repel, all of the saidin channeled through a conduit of saidar makes it to the other side, whereas saidin channeled through a conduit of saidin is permeable, meaning the pipe is leaky, and leaks just go right back to the True Source, while only a much lesser amount makes it across the bridge.

 

This makes sense.

 

The only other option i see for healing stilling would be prompting the body to regrow it, much like normal Healing does. The problem with that that I see is that it should be possible without Nyn's skill and normal healing should fix this. Don't we know that you cant heal just one problem with someone, like you cant heal their arm but leave a headache behind?

Everything is fully healed, EXCEPT in the most extreme circumstances such as Mat's healing from the dagger. Where all 10 Aes Sedai with the most powerful women's angreal can not heal everything. Egwene thinks to herself then that she thought healing cured everything, but he still looked almost dead, and his face was thin and gaunt.

What gave it away for me was the scene in Path of Daggers where he undergoes a complete personality change and starts to lecture Rand on the "strangeness" of Saidin (during Rand's campaign against the Seanchan in Altara). He's suddenly a different person altogether, angry and pedantic instead of his typical aloof and apathetic self, which made me think the whole "guy with his head in the clouds" thing was a front. The fact that we knew Aginor was in his new body trying to position himself made him the prime suspect.

Especially because after that Rand mentions the Forsaken and Dashiva flinches. The Ashaman dont flinch from anything. They watch others die or go mad all the time.

 

To be fair, watching a person die and dealing with the Forsaken, people kids are raised to fear are two different things. I mean, look at how many of the younger Aes Sedai still get a little jumpy when the BA is mentioned. Flinching at the mentioning of the forsaken is not really a clear sign. Even a battle hardened veteran who has killed or watched others die most of his life could get a little edgy when you mention them.

That's how I read it the first time. But on rereads you notice the subtleties. I didnt figure out that Dashiva was O'sangar until they told us. I wasnt even suspicious of him.

As when he tells them in PoD I think that "noone stands toe to toe with the Dragon Reborn, even the forsaken could tell you that. Right Dashiva." And he flinches, cuz its true he had been killed by Rand once already.

Thanks for the quote I was missing. I also never considered the fact that Rand had killed him once. hm...

What gave it away for me was the scene in Path of Daggers where he undergoes a complete personality change and starts to lecture Rand on the "strangeness" of Saidin (during Rand's campaign against the Seanchan in Altara). He's suddenly a different person altogether, angry and pedantic instead of his typical aloof and apathetic self, which made me think the whole "guy with his head in the clouds" thing was a front. The fact that we knew Aginor was in his new body trying to position himself made him the prime suspect.

Especially because after that Rand mentions the Forsaken and Dashiva flinches. The Ashaman dont flinch from anything. They watch others die or go mad all the time.

In regards to Allanna "controlling" Rand thru the bond, she had told Cadsuane that she "has tried but it was like trying to control an avalanch." ( I don't remember the exact quote ) and Cadsuane thought to her self that" knowing Allanna she did'nt think she would have had any better chance than she at controlling him"

The quote for what she told the other Aes Sedai in Caemlyn is

"Have you ever attempted to uproot an oak tree with your bare hands, Kiruna? It was much the same."

Actually the more likely reason was not the amount of Power drawn (far more saidin was used than saidar [an ant/mole hill next to a mountain]), or the strength of the channeler who used it (Nynaeve is cited as having sufficient strength, and the point you're referencing (Moghedien's comment) about the Choedan Kal being used at great strength for a long period of time is just as applicable to the male one--more so, because more Power was used). The most likely reason was the USE to which saidar was put.

 

 

Though really the simplest reason the female one didn't survive and the male one did was because the female one was still buried with only the sphere free while the male one was no longer buried. So the excess heat used while wielding that much power was able to dissipate for the male one and wasn't able to for the female one. So you ended up with Slag for that one.

 

The only part of the sa'angreal that seems to produce anything in the way of ambient energy was the sphere, which wasn't buried. Beyond that there is no evidence to suggest that the Choedan Kal produces heat as a by product.

 

I still maintain the simplest line of logic runs clearly to the only known stressor involved in the event--Rand trying to force saidar to mix with saidin.

he wasn't trying to mix them,in fact the reason he used saidar was because they wouldn't mix and saidar would remain safe

 

He was, actually, though of course he was fully aware that they couldn't. That was one of the core two principles which allowed the Cleansing to occur. Here, I'm going to re-post my original description, since its clear the point is not being made...

 

Actually the more likely reason was not the amount of Power drawn (far more saidin was used than saidar [an ant/mole hill next to a mountain]), or the strength of the channeler who used it (Nynaeve is cited as having sufficient strength, and the point you're referencing (Moghedien's comment) about the Choedan Kal being used at great strength for a long period of time is just as applicable to the male one--more so, because more Power was used). The most likely reason was the USE to which saidar was put.

 

Specifically, in the Cleansing Rand used saidar to wring the Taint from saidin--as if saidin were a wet towel, the Taint were the water, and saidar were the hands that wrung it. Of course it's actually more complex than that, and far worse--saidin and saidar cannot mix and Rand used that concept to generate the force that compressed the Taint out of saidin--and saidar was the side of the Power he used to generate that force.

 

Hence, saidar was the stressor, whilst saidin was largely passive--the effects on it being the result of the application of force upon it by saidar. And, as a result, though more saidin was used, it was saidar that expended the effort, and thus the saidar Choedan Kal that felt the strain of it (and like you might snap a tendon in your hand if you wrung a towel too forcefully, so too did the Choedan Kal break)

I agree with this reasoning. Of course, it is just as likely that RJ needed an excuse to get rid of the CK so that there wasnt anyone with ultimate power for the Last Battle. As Rand convenientlydestroyed the male one

I really enjoy reading Nynaeve. She is one the most passionate characters in the entire series. But what I like the most about her is that she cares so much about Rand Mat and Perrin. She doesnt think of them like tools, but instead as friends (or young children at the beginning at least). She cares about there mind set too. She is one of the most driven and passionate characters in the series. Whether its to kill moraine for ruining their lives (as she thinks) or to support Rand and help him as he needs it she is a very vibrant character. I think the only problem she has straying from her normal personality is during the trip to Ebou Dar when she spends the entire time hiding from Mat.