I've always thought that Seanchan was the region (or rather, its remains following the Breaking) that the Dark One and its forces had held onto the longest. The way the Aes Sedai in Seanchan behave when Luthair Paendrag gets there, each fighting and killing, using the power for personal gain, without a remnant of the Hall of Servants to show them a more generous way (Randland had the White Tower as its rebuilt Hall of the Servants), is reminiscent of how the Forsaken behaved, fighting amongst each other - come to think of it, tthat's how Luthair Paendrag's descendants behave as well. Tuon's survived that horror of sibling against sibling ... I suspect her father didn't against his wife ...

While da'covale and dashain share the common prefix "da", indicating a person.

Why I think it is tied in with his going into the ter'angreal is once inside it he cannot ask any question that touches on the Dark One. So he has to think around that. And with every man and his dog assuming he's Aiel - Loial being the best example - the most profitable way is to ask, what does he have to do to bind the Aiel to him? And going to Rhuidean is the obvious answer. He's already learned that the Aiel are the People of the Dragon; he's already claimed the title of the Dragon Reborn, the proof of that being taking the Sword that is not a Sword from the Heart of the Stone.

I would say that RJ cleverly hints at that by not letting us see or hear Rand's own questions, but by giving us the corporate box (so to speak) to watch Mat's hapless attempts to get answers from the ter'angreal. And going to Rhuidean is very definitely one of Mat's answers.

I thought of the Taint more as the Dark One's essence projected onto the surface of Saidin, which meant an ordinary male One Power user had to reach through it to gain control of it. Whereas for the Forsaken, they had let the Dark One embed itself in them, or connect itself to them, so they didn't have to reach through that essence to gain control of it - they were already within it and so the negative effects couldn't touch them. (Or, they were in tune with it, so they didn't feel any discord about it being there.) FWIW.

I thought it had something to do with the questions he asked in the ter'angreal in the hold of the Stone. We can guess one of those questions, because it gets referred to every now and then. I'm guessing one of the questions was to do with his parents and his putative relations the Aiel, who he found himself surrounded by.

Well, the Taint on Saidin was a surface effect, an interference in the interface between human males and the One Power. So I wouldn't find it difficult if the combined use of the weather ter'angreal and Elayne's blundering under extreme pressure - combined with an attack which disturbed her control of Saidar - meant that other people didn't have full control of either Saidin or Saidar because some of the flow was still disturbed and taking its time in settling down.

That's my suggestion. Take it or leave it as you see fit. 🙂

You might like the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. There is after all, nothing like a luggage with legs and a homocidal mania for interrupting people threatening its master, a crazed tourist, Twoflower, from the other side of the disc, and a camera flash that scares the Eater of Souls ... let alone a dwarf whose height is generally on the large size (born to human parents, he was adopted by some caring dwarves when his parents died, so legally he's a dwarf), and his romance with a delightful female werewolf who's also serving the the City Watch ...

23 hours ago, MasterAblar said:

Yeah that’s with Fingon. I just don’t know what considered the most likely nowadays. Issue with him being Fingon’s son is it begs the question of why Turgon became king instead of him when Fingon died.

I suppose Gil-Galad's (relative) age. He was shipped off to the coast and (relative) safety while Turgon remained alive and free, and capable to doing great damage to Morgoth's rule. Or perhaps Turgon could be considered a Regent ...

I actually had that thought in relation to the Seanchan - needless filler, interesting in so far as they expand the world from the "known world" of the map, but otherwise pointless. But as we got to know them better, as RJ worked them into the storyline, made them part of the story instead of just filler, I began to see the point of having them there.

I think the Seafolk are justified by the weather-working knowledge they bring to the story, since they alone know how to handle the weaves that can break the DO's climte disaster shaping up to kill as many people as it can. FWVVLIW

22 hours ago, MasterAblar said:

 

Haven't watched the show, but that seems rather silly considering Galadriel is, I believe, older (possibly considerably so) than Gil Galad. Depending on the version of him she's his aunt, his father's cousin, or most likely his great aunt. She's like 2000-5000 years old in the second age if I'm not mistaken, hardly a youth even for an elf.

 

I tend to agree that if RoP does well, than thats better for WoT. Of course WoT is gonna have to stand on it's own legs regardless.

Let's see, Galadriel is the daughter of Finarfin the youngest son of Finwe, the King of the Noldorin, and Earwen the daughter of Olwe, the King of the Teleri, who is the brother of Elu Thingol, King of the Sindarin (Teleri who remained in Middle Earth in the First Age). Gil-Galad is the son of Fingon, the son of Fingolfin, the second-oldest son of Finwe.

Galadriel is thus Fingon's first cousin, since their fathers are brothers. She's Gil-Galad's first cousin once removed. (Source: The Silmarillion)

Spoiler Alert.

Quote

 Mat was huddled in a ball with his arms wrapped around his head, and Perrin had his fingers dug into his face as if he wanted to rip away whatever he had seen, or perhaps rip out the eyes that had seen it.

This is after that Portal Stone trip of a lifetime to Toman Head. Rand's seen an uncounted list of possibilities for his life; he's on one track, but he could've taken so many other ones ...

Quote

When he tried to straighten Mat, Mat jerked and stared at him, then grabbed Rand's coat with both hands. "Rand, I'd never tell anyone about - about you. I wouldn't betray you. You have to believe that!" He looked worse than ever, but Rand thought it was mostly fright.

And likewise Perrin ...

Quote

The curly-haired youth dropped his hands from his face with a sigh. Red marks scored his forehead and cheeks where his nails had dug in. His yellow eyes hid his thoughts. "We don't have many choices really, do we, Rand? Whatever happens, whatever we do, some things are almost always the same."

Ingtar learns enough:

Quote

"Rand, when Verin brought us here with the Portal Stone, I - I lived other lives. Sometimes I held the Horn, but I never sounded it. I tried to escape what I'd become, but I never did. Always there was something else required of me, always something worse than the last, until I was . . . . You were ready to give it up to save a friend. Think not of glory. Oh, Light, help me."

Perrin merely reiterates his earlier statement, after the Horn is blown and the Seanchan vanquished:

Quote

"I'm staying as well," Perrin said. There was a note of resignation, or acceptance, in his voice. "The Wheel weaves us tight in the Pattern, Rand. Who would have thought it, back in Emond's Field?"

There isn't much else on Mat, besides his shock at realizing he could betray Rand so very easily. I think the changes are in their outlooks, rather than metaphysical changes in skills they can access.

FWVVLIW

OT I've got the second of the Damn You Autocorrect books. Am I glad I never got an iPhone! Its final example of Autocorrect fail is "Dead Steve Jobs, Spank your Kindle for the iPoo Ouch", Autocorrect's opinion of what "Dear Steve Jobs, Thank you kindly for the iPod Touch" actually means ... 🤣

On 7/9/2022 at 12:49 AM, Gypsum said:

I reckoned it was some sort of alternate plane of reality, like tel'aran'rhiod (where people/wolves can float around in the sky) but not completely, but I also try to not think about the physics/metaphysics too hard. They are all pretty trippy!

 

I think in the first books, Jordan was making it up as he went, to some extent, and things like the tracker coins were needed as plot devices. As the series went on, he developed the system and gave it a bit more internal consistency.

Well, from where I am sitting, it struck me that it resembled the dreamworld where Baalzamon dragged the three boys in EOTW. It is Baalzamon's dreamworld, like that dream Rand has of him on the way to Falme, where his burn marks are still on the chair when Rand wakes up.

Then later, in TDR, it struck me that Baalzamon may have made that dreamworld, but because Rand is so  much stronger in the Power and is Ta'veren into the bargain, Rand is imposing whatever happens in that dreamworld, on everyone else in the vicinity. Combine that with the sudden intrusion of the Heroes of the Horn, and naturally everybody notices him, whether they want to or not.

On 8/9/2022 at 7:14 AM, Andra said:

And of the two of them, it's actually "Stone Face" Lan who treats the youngsters in the most personable way.  The weapon training is a big aspect of it, even as it helps move them beyond being the youngsters they started out as.

Moiraine starts out as being an exotic beauty, and proves she's actually a major-league warrior, wielding magic to destroy an attack by monsters out of gleemen's tales. She gives help freely, even while Rand babbles that he's willing to pay any price ... to get his father back alive.

But once they're out of the Two Rivers, she pays them little attention, leaving the boys to stew over being "caught up" in an Aes Sedai's web. And according to the gleemen's tales, Aes Sedai's webs are easier to get into than get out of. She leaves the boys to Lan, while she concentrates on teaching Egwene how to gain some early control over the Power.

Moiraine isn't quite what she appears. Lan likewise, but he is willing to spend time with the boys, giving them some hints about how to make use of their weapons.

Even being lionized in Fal Dara after they've gone into the Blight, doesn't alter that by much.

It's called the Wheel of Time because time is talked about as circular, with the Ages being spokes on the wheel. That's the explanation for the wheel with spokes you'll find on some printings of the books, and for that same image at the heads of some chapters.

As far as "Time Travel" of the sort we got in Quantum Leap, there's none whatsoever. Or in HG Well's Time Machine, again, none whatever.

And there's a lot more battles than in the Lord of the Rings. Enjoy!!! 🙂

I've always taken Rand's departure to be in part the wish to get the constant pressure of Baalzamon's presence in his mind, over and done with. I've always thought he was getting quite depressed, and one thing about being depressed is you always think you're better off not getting too close to people while you are depressed. In case you inadvertently harm them. And we see Rand already taking that view, from the uncomprehending POV of Perrin and co.

2 hours ago, DojoToad said:

Or could it be canon? 

In the between world, aka TAR, she struck up a companionship with Basil Brush. Boom Boom!!!

Well, he only had a few minutes after Baalzamon's rough mind healing, and he spent most of those talking - if you can use that word - with him before travelling far away and blasting himself into the next age (and making Dragonmount in the process.).

I've got The World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, aka The Big Book of Bad Art, both in BBBA and paperback form. As yet I don't have The Wheel of Time Companion.

The BBBA is basically an encyclopedia of WoT, useful as such. I don't know about the WoT Companion. But the BBBA gives articles on The Breaking of the World, the Forsaken, the Ten Nations, Arthur Pendraeg, the nations as they are in WoT times, the Aes Sedai as they are in WoT times, etc. FWIW

And there's always the Manifold trilogy by Stephen Baxter as well ... Time, Space, and Origin. And likewise, the Faded Sun trilogy - if you're into military SF of a different calibre, I'd recommend the Dorsai! trilogy by Gordon R Dickson - I've seen reviews comparing him to Heinlein, but in my humble opinion, he's better. And to top it all off, there's always Prince Corum of the Silver Hand, Erekose, and Elric of Melnibone, Last Emperor of the Bright Empire and all that jazz, tangling with the Runestaff ...

@SadWoTrader, I would suggest trying to write something. Turn your sadness into characters, situations, etc. FWVVLIW

Actually, try Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence, for some mind-blowing SF. And some aliens - the Xeelee, the Spline, the Qax - that are not merely humans in funny suits, the most obvious criticism of Star Wars and Star Trek aliens. And some megastructures completely unlike any others you may have come across, such as a ring one light year in diameter, around a black hole, and spinning at near-lightspeed, where the ratio pi (how many times you can measure the diameter around the circumference)  is no longer 3.14. Closer to 5 000 000.

I've always taken that time loop to be a side-effect of Rand learning how to tentatively touch saidin; though a bubble of evil makes a bit more sense. Only a bit more - Rand is the only one in that party of soldiers and tag-alongs who is affected by it.

But then, that bubble of evil that almost kills him during his sword practice with Lan, doesn't affect Lan. So we've got two sizes of bubbles of evil, the huge one that gets big groups of people, and the micro-bubbles, which affect only one person, and usually only because that one person is ta'veren and able to channel.

We certainly don't read of Lews Therin hearing voices (any extraneous voices of anyone) during the scene of devastation in the EOTW prolog. And he's very definitely mad then.

I don't remember when Rand started hearing Lews Therin's voice in his head, but he was definitely hearing him - and speaking to him - during the hellish treatment following the Aes Sedai capture in LOC.

Actually, considering Loial's species, the Ogier, hold ears in high regard as beautiful and sexy, might I suggest that we look for big-eared actresses to fill the description of "perfect human beauty"?

Selene need not be as beautiful as Dumbo the Elephant, but perhaps that is what he meant.

On 6/23/2022 at 11:33 PM, SilentRoamer said:

 

I never thought about a connection to the DO - do you mean the True Source or just some intimation of some type of connection?

 

I always took it for the untainted Saidin stored in the Eye because Rand begins to take some of the Black Cord and then starts taking it all and Aginor starts screaming "it is mine" which I don't think he would do if the connection was to the Dark one and rather to the untainted Saidin stored in the bowl.

Its a really interesting concept and it could even be PTSD or madness shining through. 

IIRC, the cord to the Eye of the World was shining brightly when Aginor is draining it; that's when Rand connects to it and he and Aginor have their little fight.

When Rand goes in search of Ishamael, he notices the black cord running off into the distance, and attacks that with his imagined sword, cutting through it and causing Ishamael to suffer whiplash. I've always taken that black cord to be his direct connection to the Dark One, since he does the same thing in The Shadow Rising to Asmodean, before boasting to Lanfear that he has broken Asmodean's connection to the Dark One.