I meant if he had died (specifically via sheathing the sword) as you suggested it would have been weirdly intimately linking him to those two. I agree, he barely knows them, it would sort of imply he succeeded where they failed because he had a passion to avenge them as there's no other strong personal connection to him killing Demandred but it's made out as a big deal. I'm not sure why we're celebrating him standing up after killing a dude, it's a powerful blow against the enemy, but kind of weak for an implied character peak. I'm starting to think it's just smashing action figures together to see if Batman or Superman would win, maybe these final books just aren't for me.

Dying against Demandred though? Sheathing the sword is when you want your goal more than life. Demandred's an important commander but I just don't think Lan has a personal enough connection to him for that to be satisfying. If he wants Demandred dead more than life, why? I'm not sure what's meant to be going on with the handing around of the medallion (other than some sort of comparison of power level thing which is kind of silly), but it'd come across as a bit... "died avenging Gawyn and Galad". Actually, now I'm not sure why Lan was fighting him at all and why a big deal was made of it. It's not like it's a growth moment for him. Yeah, he's still fighting, he's been doing that for a while, nobody ever called him a quitter on that front nor did he overcome his morbid mindset, he actually leaned in to it. I guess his arc is keep being willing to die for vengeance and eventually you'll get a good (?) outcome. It's not like he had more willingness to die than Gawyn or Galad so maybe it's just a celebration of competence?

My reading on why he won't raise the Golden Crane was partly that he knew it was a waste of lives for no real gain but also he doesn't want people who would feel obligated to come, as he himself does, to feel like they have to go out of a sense of duty. It's kind of miserable to get dragged around by and throw your life away (literally or figuratively) for duty, especially when you are pulled between multiple. It's not that he cannot ask for help, it's that he doesn't want to do to others what is/was done to him. He's got a protective personality. When he was discussing the borderlands with Nynaeve in KoD he's talking about Rand just messing around when he should be getting the borderlands in order and someone should be sent to convince their leaders to do their job. They talk about how he's ridden with people but he won't lead them into battle. He's also throughout the series mostly a supporting character and that's kind of his strength. It was jarring to me in the new books that he apparently was planning to literally ride by himself and die facing a 100,000 strong army and do his best to avoid anyone else. That's not helping anyone Lan 🙄

It's not the "not dying" I'm struggling with it's the "being king". Was that an RJ note? I feel like there's a whole mass of connecting tissue missing if so. I get the parallels with Aragorn (and I'm not a fan of his story, but it 'fits' in lotr), but Malkier isn't run by stewards, it's uninhabited wasteland (now recovering) and his potential father-in-law isn't standing in the way of marrying his (very passive) lady love until he's crowned, so the same drivers aren't there for him.

Appreciate the perspective. Turning both your posts over in my mind. Agree on Moiraine, her fight’s done and I don’t think either of them feel a need for each other anymore, more of a pop-in on an old friend every so often going forward. Not sure on the offering more – it was never an argument even he seemed to buy into, especially since he both decided to marry and then decided he had to go fight anyway. I really thought that was the point - he didn’t need to offer more than himself and to let people come along with him if they wanted to (marriage or in to battle). He’s not a one-man army or one man who is the whole of the Malkieri people. Basically, I thought the thread was going to be he’s not the embodiment of his peoples in the form of one man (a King), so I’m having trouble figuring out how that fits. He’s just never had much of a uniting role throughout the series I don’t think, which I would have expected to be hinted at, maybe I just need to look back through with that in mind. I can see that being a leader now does not just mean his people will go to their deaths. From anyone else that would click for me, no problem. However, he never seemed to be particularly upset about soldiers dying – even when Moiraine “died” he seemed to think she died doing an important job. Death is what it is. We don’t get his POV though, so maybe I’ve been misreading him. Maybe that’s the angle to come at it from, that it’s not just about death anymore, I’ll mull it over. I’m not sure what to do with Min’s future visions though. I honestly thought his was going to be either that the seven towers are broken because he either leaves them alone or dies and hands *something* to his child (sword in the hand of the baby), either a task or a fight or something else. I suppose it could be just that he gets the broken towers (and presumably restores them, so why are they broken in her vision?) and passes the battle on to his child (why a sword/battle if it'll be peaceful times though?). Still though, new Age, new beginnings, let’s go back and restore this dead kingdom is… I dunno, not all clicking together :S Though hmm, maybe there's a resurrection theme I've overlooked.

Much like why Puck Man was changed to Pac Man, if you vandalised his name on a poster it would say "Ferrin" = iron.

I think it could be a reference to Blinky Bill (the koala). He's coloured brown in a lot of the older illustrations that were coloured at all. If you're not too familiar with actual koalas you might describe them the way he has. Also, the first story about Blinky Bill has his parents coming up with a name for him since they wanted him christened finally when he's one year old. Edit to add: Blinky Bill gets caught by hunters and lives in a zoo for a while in the books. Remembering this woke me up in the middle of the night, so clearly it was important 😄

I guess to me "living the life his parents wanted" is a downer ending. He's been doing that for years- being a battle lord and trying to avenge what could not be defended. Didn't seem to make him too happy. Finally succeeded beyond what could ever have been imagined. That was his out! He avenged! But the ending is now he's going to rebuild what couldn't be defended. I really got the impression his whole arc was living free rather than getting dragged around by duty forever. His parents made promises on him as a literal baby, he's done the impossible, now he's signing up for more parental cleanup duty? His wife has a job to get back to! Why, in a meta sense, transfer his bond away from Moiraine- obsessed with fighting the shadow, use people as needed, born into nobility- to Nynaeve- tearer down of hierarchies, people are not tools, small village woman? What's the symbolism if not that the first does not lead to a happy ending for him? I get the trope, I do, but I can't reconcile it with the series. I'm going to have to re-read and see if I can find any hints I guess.

Spoilers for the whole series I guess. I finally got around to reading the Brandon Sanderson novels (without rereading the RJ ones which I read when they came out, so there's a bit of a time gap there). I'm not trying to have a go at them, but one thing that really surprised me and even after trying to think it over I just don't get is Lan's ending. Thematically, aside from writing differences and author voice etc, I mean. Both Lan and Nynaeve were characters that struck me as torn between what they want and what they feel they need to do, happy when their duty lines up with helping those they care about. When you get right down to it, they'd both abandon duty to save people they care about, (and feel terrible about it). Lan never struck me as desperately wanting to be a king, is it just meant to be a slightly downer ending for him? Here's some more duty, even though it's just more weight for you. I had a flick back through some of the earlier books and Nynaeve seems to be happiest when she's bossing people around, but not when she IS the boss. She likes helping people and helping them help themselves. And Lan seems happiest when he's being useful and given tasks to do, but not ordered around. He's also not much of an order-er, more an advice giver to help people improve themselves. I just can't reconcile that the tone seems to be this is what it's all been leading up to and it's a "good" outcome for them. He's now "crowned" king of an even more dead people and is I guess going to restore Malkier for the benefit of the dozen survivors who want to settle back there? I guess I was just expecting if anyone was going to let go of the past and ride off into the sunset just going around being helpful in small ways to the world it would be those two. Fought the shadow and won, gonna go live my life now. Or even dead on the battlefield makes more sense to me- his duty is done, Nynaeve spends the rest of her life mad at him (and a bit sad). Did anyone think it was good or coherent? Can you explain why?