I always read the reference to Salya as a reference to Salyut, the Soviet space stations that orbited from 1971 to 1986.

Let's see, he's a blacksmith, so that's a start. Then he's Goldeneyed. He confesses to having a Tin Ear. We've seen him in action as Perrin the Silver Tongued, and for those who know what Chrysostom means, Golden Mouthed as well. Even his wife concedes he has a Heart of Gold, though sometimes a Head of Lead. What else can we add?

Yes, you just have to wathc out for those Jaws that bite, those Claws that catch ... very well done!

I'm wondering if anyone's yet composed melodies to go along with the songs in the Wheel of Time? I've found myself at times thinking such-and-such a melody would fit Mat's lyrics in TLoC, though I haven't got around to doing anything with my musings. And likewise, humming a melody to the plainchant spear songs of the Aiel - I learnt one Maori chant - Te Tau o Matatua - when I was learning the Maori language in the 1980s. And the Aiel battle songs seem quite like the Maori chant. |That is, it wouldn't have a wide range, and would be very rhythmic, and so on.

While reading that hilarious scene of Mat trying to make sense of the Aes Sedai at Salidar celebrating Egwene's ascent to the Amyrlin Seat, I read that bit about Mat anti-Power angreal going chilly after dancing with Halima and wandering on, and I thought, of all the things Halima is most likely to try, it's Compulsion. He's ta'veren, he's got the ear of the Dragon Reborn, he's clearly one of the linchpins of the resistance to the Dark One, and taking him out of the play and making use of him is going to get Halima major kudos from the Dark One and Chosen cohorts. What do people think?

A romantic meeting between Semirhage and Shaidar Haran. (It doesn't bear thinking about .... 🙂 )

In FoH, when we finally reach Samara on the Ghealdan side of the river, we see the animals Valan Luca has in his menagerie. RJ's slipped it in, so quietly you'd never notice, but I am re-reading the series, and this leaped out at me: I've seen them in Tidbinbilla in ACT. They're koalas. I suppose RJ may have had a visit or two to Australia, and perhaps visited Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney, or so.

Getting back to the topic, I think the characterisation of Lanfear as evil is somewhat lacking because she doesn't twirl her moustache ... Seriously, I thought RJ made Byar a monomaniac,which fitted his purpose in the series reasonably well. However, where he slipped up was failing to bring out the reason, unlike Muadh, whose one-line characterisation gives an excellent reason why he should hate Darkfriends. I suspect Byar's just one in a long line of fanatics, but it would've been better to have had some more detail.

I don't know if anyone's remarked on this before, but re-reading tDR, I realized that Padan Fain had used "Great Lord" in front of Pedron Niall, and Pedron Niall hadn't noticed. Admittedly he was using it as a term of address for Pedron Niall himself, but it leaped out at me that Padan Fain had betrayed himself, and the person he was speaking to, hadn't noticed. What do people think of this?