Kaylee stared up at the young man looming over her. The bells hanging from his braided jingled gently, as he smiled down at her. She balled her fist, ready to let loose the frustration that the day had built up and stoked inside her. Shifting her weight preparing to launch herself at this overbearing popinjay, Kaylee felt something popping in her hand. Glancing down, she could see the angry bruising around knuckles. Experimentally she squeezed her fist. Again, she felt the subtle movement. She had broken at least one of her knuckles. The ache would set in in a few hours. The merchant had had a tougher jaw than she would have given him credit for. Probably punching someone else was not going to be a good idea. That did not mean it would not be worth it. Slumping back on the bench, the humour of the situation caught up to her. She chuckled and finally took a long drink of her wine. "You actually be wanting to fight a duel with me, puppy? Because of the honour of your runner? You do be lucky that I be rationing myself to punching only one man a day." Fishing a silver mark out of her belt pouch, she placed it beside the young man's cup of water. "Here, buy your pretty little friend something nice to make him feel better, if that be making you feel better. I'll just mark the cost up to a bad day. I have had worse." Grimacing, Kaylee finished her wine, pointedly turning her shoulder to young man.

Kaylee again carefully placed her wine cup untouched on the table. "Manners indeed do be going a long way. And insulting me won't be helping you to live long enough to have to shave everyday, boy. I be no having the best of days, and I'll no be having some child insult me because he's trying to protect his pillowfriend from the rough side of my tongue. I'm no the most polite of people, there you have me to rights, but call me a bully again and we'll be seeing exactly what skills you do be having after all."

"No, lad, I choose to be this bloody rude all the time." Kaylee carefully placed a damp cloth to the side for herself and then with another wiped up the spilt wine. No one appeared to be hurrying to clean the table, the wench was obviously as bone idle as the boy. "Lift the mugs." When the two men did not move quickly enough, Kaylee moved them herself and then wiped down one side of the table, and then moved them back again to clean the other half, Glaring at the young man, Kaylee fastidiously cleaned her hands with the second cloth. "These days, I do be finding little reason to be all simpering and kind to people doing a job they are paid for." Finishing with her hands, she quickly cleaned her face and neck. "I have never remarked that a boy will bring you a cup of wine quicker if you have a soft tongue." Kaylee appeared to hesitant to go on. "Thank you for bringing the wine, Fortune prick me if I knew you could not just call for it. Even if you did spill half of it." The last was muttered nearly inaudibly. Kaylee picked up her wine cup, then hesitated, placed it back down and then snatched the used cloths up and took them the bar. Uno flinched as she passed. Kaylee rolled her eyes extravagantly, which did unfortunate things with her scar.

No you are wrong because you saying that the motivations of a character are somehow matters of opinion rather than fact. That you think they are well written is quite different from them having rounded motivations. It is not about a degree of complexity - it is a degree of how they are defined as being bad. They are petty and shortsighted, and are bad for being bad in and of itself, even though they have to make huge sacrifices for it personally. Saying you are confused by the criticism does not refute that criticism, nor does it mean that your opinions are somehow given more weight. You not understanding the criticisms on reflects on your ability to understand the issue, and not favourably on your ability to pass judgement upon it.

The mercenary recruiter offered Kaylee a drink of water as she sat with a barely contained sigh. A faint aroma emanated from the cup, was it apples or... chicken? Kaylee took it with a grimace. Probably the cup was not clean, she was not going to drink from it. The boy do be having skills now? Kaylee narrowed her eyes at the youth but shrugged. He could be a blademaster five times over for all it mattered to her. At least he was not a runaway apprentice. "I do be Kaylee Tammuz, late of the City of Illian, Captain No Name." Kaylee drew a finger along the table, it looked sticky. "Looking for a hire to take me out of the city. I be skilled in the working of leather, and can take care of any repair work that is needed, and I know which end of my spear has been sharpened. This last year I have been employed in a mercenary band round Cairhien, though our Cap'n be dead now, wasting sickness from cut from a rusty knife in a bar fight. Nasty business, that." Kaylee shook her head and nearly touched the suspicious water to her lips. She took in the mercenary's open countenance. Could be worse, she grudgingly admitted to herself. "That be my skills, if they do be to your liking." Kaylee coloured slightly, uncomfortable with the possible double meaning in her words. "This do be quite far north enough for me, but work is work." She called to the youth that she had accosted when she entered the inn. "Boy! Bring some wine. And damp cloths." She caught his arm again as he tried to rush off, causing another yelp. "And clean this table, my aged grandmother would no be eating from it, and she ate in the worst inns in the perfumed quarter every night." Kaylee frowned at the boy as he shrank away from her, which did not seem to improve matters. Sighing she fished out another copper. It would have been cheaper just to have knocked a few teeth out in the first place.

They are two dimensional and childish. No one is evil for evil's sake - everyone thinks that they are right and morally correct. Ishamael is interesting because of his motivation. Daved Hanlon you could say was a classic sadistic psychopath. But bad guy after bad guy were motivated by lust for power, greed, and hatred, self recognised and chosen because they were just bad to the core. They had no motivations beyond personal enrichment even though it was obvious what they were involved in was more likely to end up in painful, humiliating death in the short term, yet they were convinced by vague promises of life eternal and power and some later and vague date. However much you may not agree with the criticism, denying that most of the bad guys were cardboard cutouts compared to characters like Ingtar or Verin, that were evil and acted evil because they were evil only shows that you weren't paying a lot of attention when you were reading the books. It's totally fine that you like the way the book is written, totally fine that you wished they had flourished capes and twirled mustaches more, but trying to claim they were believable rounded characters with human motivations is just false, no matter what your opinion is.

Roleplay is not a game as such, it is like creative writing but where each person writes their own character and develops their character's story arc along with the other people in the story. I am still very new to all this, so I don't have all the nuances down, quite how you work together with other players to write overarching plotlines, but basically each person takes turns writing a piece that will contain what their character is doing - and can discuss what is happening in a thread outside of the story thread if that is needed. If you sign up, will see far better explanations from people more eloquent than me and also have linked resources, and can see the stories that are being written at the moment, and people's ideas for stories in the future. Would be cool to see you about 🙂

Don't feel any pressure due to us Lily. We won't be going anywhere, just you get better and rested. You don't want to be pursuing evil unless you are 100% 🙂

It is one of the failings of the books that the "evil" characters are so two dimensional. The bad guys are just bad. Jaichim Carridin and Hadnan Kadere both had apparent family ties, but these were wholly subservient to being bad. Liandrin is just spiteful and greedy. They nearly are always blinded by greed or hatred or both. I assume this was an attempt to have a clear contrast between evil and good. A powerful vision of good and evil, as Orson Scott Card proclaimed. Also I cannot overlook that most of them had sold their souls, or were being manipulated by the One Power, that I cannot deny would help remove nuance. But for Byar, who could have been a very interesting character with his conflicting loyalty and cruelty, a strong sense of honour and total lack of empathy, instead was sold down the "bad guy" route, that made him very unsatisfying for a character that features nearly through the entire story.

Hi William, Great to have you onboard 🙂 It took me a very long time to finish reading the books as well, but that is one of the comforting things about books, how patient they are. The ending of a book as large as WoT is pretty hefty, and I have still not completely recovered. Lot of unresolved issues for me. I hope though you were not like me and employed some sort of rudimentary note taking. After finally finishing the books last year, I rushed online to look up all the things that had been bothering me, and fortune prick me if I could remember what any of them were. Look forward to seeing you about on the forums and hearing your point of view about the story 🙂

Hmm. Could ask for another vowel... Could I have an N this time, please?

Could I guess an A, please?

To interject, I think it is always strange why those who do not like the series always gloss over how many fans of the books hated the first three (or some of at least) books. And how many fantasy diehards started the series and gave up. And how the book teases the concept of the Dragon, teaching the reader a little bit at a time with huge doses of unreliable narrator with only Rand's uneducated view point. How would that work when the press releases for the series say "A new Amazon prime show about the Dragon Reborn, the most powerful magic-wielder of all-time come back to save the world and destroy it! Moiraine is an Aes Sedai sworn to protect the Dragon from the evil Dark One trying to destroy the world! Oh by the way if you are going to watch it, forget what I just said. I mean, it could be about a lot of things. Nothing saying Rand is the Dragon just because he is the main character. I mean, maybe the Dragon hasn't been reborn, thought of that, huh? Don't just go jumping to conclusions!". So many things had to be changed. Judging it by simply how accurate it is to the book was always going to be an exercise in frustration.

Could I guess an R, please?

Could I guess a B, please?

Children scattered in front of Kaylee as she strode down the road. She struck the paving stones with more force than was strictly necessary with her spear, glowering at the fleeing children. One of the boys paused, as if to hurl a complaint back at the woman who had disrupted their game, but a good look at Kaylee’s scowling, scarred face and seeing how she appeared to be looking for something or someone to use that spear on, made him spin on his heel and race off down the alleyways after his friends. The wondrous impression Merrilor had made on her was starting to wear off. In fact, it was gone as completely as the warmth of the sun two hours after sunset. Kaylee drew her cloak closer, these Northern climes were so much colder than Illian. Her bruised knuckles smarted as they gripped the spear she was using as a staff. When she had first arrived in the city that was rapidly growing across the plain of Merrilor, everything had gone so smoothly. The first inn she had stumbled upon was reasonably priced, comfortable and with an exceptional cook (though she used far too many herbs for Kaylee's taste). The very first leather shop she had visited had had some very profitable work for her and gladly offered a letter of introduction to merchant with a lot of influence in the city. Kaylee had briefly entertained thoughts of having her own shop by the end of the month. But then she had met the merchant, an oily overbearing man, Danvid Collarn by name, who had peered myopically over her work. The fat Andoran had made disapproving noises in throat quite at odds with the surreptitious glances he kept darting at Kaylee. Her irritation soon grew to anger as the esteemed Danvid had explained with feigned regret that there was no work available in Merrilor, though if she would care to entertain thoughts of some more intimate agreement for her lodgings... Kaylee had been satisfied to see oily lech spit out a bloody tooth as she spun on her heel and left his office. Her bruised knuckles were a small price to pay for the opportunity to let Danvid feel just exactly how she felt about such an offer. At last she found the inn she had been looking for. After returning to her own inn to gather her belongings, she visited the first leather working to collect her earnings and bid farewell for the time being. Then she had headed out on her back-up plan that she had thought she would not need. The tall building was certainly imposing, but Kaylee was in no mood to be affected by the Respite's grandeur. Inside she was directed to a large cork board, where her attention was immediately drawn to a gaudy advertisement. Kaylee snorted derisively at the text. A young boy with dark hair dashed past on some errand. Kaylee caught his arm. "I don't have time.." he began, and then cut off with a yelp as a grip, that had spent long hours cutting, hammering and sewing leather, tightened painfully on his arm. "You do be well having the time to be telling me where I can find the fanciful bard who wrote this detail, boy. Fortune prick me, or I'll be convincing you of otherwise." Kaylee was wondering exactly how many teeth she would have to knock out today. It started such a good day. "The purple booth, on the South wall." The boy squeaked. "Mistress," he added belatedly, as she fixed him with a flat stare. Kaylee fished out a copper for the lad before letting him go. It was not his fault after all, not exactly. As the boy had said, the mercenary was sitting in conversation with another boy at the purple booth. The mercenary was not much older himself. Kaylee sighed. It be yer own fault for having to leave in a hurry. Serves you right if you have to babysit the whole way. Just be grateful they probably won't need lullabies at bed time. Stomping over to the booth, Kaylee cleared her throat loudly, leaning on her spear. "And so where in the north do we be going, Captain? And where do be the gleeman that writes your posters?"

I'll check tonight. The bit that always sticks out for me is when they are given the scarves by the farmer for the dust that were his sons'. It always jars as it happens at the beginning of the section and the end, but it doesn't seem like it is the same event, or the same person, and they don't say ah no it is OK we already have some. Maybe I just couldn't keep up with the narrative, but I'm convinced there is something off. Though without checking, I must be feeling confident to just claim that outright, lol.

Every time I read that section, I have the feeling that it is not sequential. I've never sat down and tried to plot it all out (which is odd considering how often I have read tEotW) but I always get the feeling that they get dropped off by a farmer before he picks them up. It could just be the use of flash backs, or it could be deliberate to give an impression of the delirium that Mat and Rand are going through. Or I could just be imagining things. But this could have been a deliberate misquote, either to show how confused Rand was, or to show warped our journey with the boys were. I should go back and look, it is a silly thing to be unsure about.