1. Rand - Come on....simply the best character ever.

2. Rodel Ituralde - Best general outside of Mat that we have seen.

3. Mat - Simple fact....Mat is brilliant.

4. Moiraine - Focused on Tarmon Gaidon....that's all that matters.

5. Nynaeve - She has matured alot in the series.

6. Perrin - As much as Faile has hurt his story, he is still awesome.

7. Sorilea - Really....she is just dominant.

Thats all I can think of right now.

Why has doing that become very hard work? Partly because Jordan has overplayed the "reluctant hero" bit, maybe the biggest fantasy cliche of all. And partly due to how he has portrayed all of the side characters. We are left, after twelve books, with very few characters to root for. At this point, for me, Furyk Karede is just about the only one who hasn't been a disappointment. The other characters read like a Who's Who of negative traits. Jordan has belabored everyone's shortcomings to the point that all of the characters have become tiresome. Even the heroes. Having faults, being human is fine. Being unremittingly selfish and stupid and childish isn't ( unless you're a Bad Guy, they're supposed to be hatefully selfish ).

 

I agree with you to a small degree about overstating the negatives and and ignorant behavior of characters. Rand, Perrin, Egwene, Elayne, and Nyn(though mostly trivial) can have annoying moments.

 

However, you are overexaggerating in this regard. Logain, Loiol, Dobraine, and Dyelin at the very least are examples of characters making selfless decisions for the good of everyone.

 

I really do agree with you about some things....but I still think you are dead wrong about Cads.

 

 

And as Yoniy0 says, would it have killed her to at least apologise for not securing the collar better, with Semi in the house? I know it may be true that no defences available to her would've been adequate, but dammit she could have just apologised. The fact is, not two days after realising her similarities to Semi - which would, you might think, encourage some deeper self-examination - she carries on regardless, no dent in her confidence visible at all.

 

Yes, it would have killed her to do that.

 

Rand wanted to kill Cadsuane at that moment. Whether it was the True Power clouding his mind, his pent up frustration at Cads, or his disgust with himself and general deadening due to what he had almost done to Min...he wanted an excuse to kill Cads. Her apologizing probably would have given him an excuse in that moment.

 

I don't get what you mean about similarities. Why should she alter her behavior? If you mean she should have seen that Semi could escape and devine where Cads had hidden an object that I don't beleive Semi should have even known she had....I don't think you can blame that on Cads. It seems like the only faults you guys can find with her is that she's not quite smart enough to anticipate every single action/reaction possible in the universe!

 

Oh, and if you mean that Cads should have changed her image because it was similiar to Semi's? Not at all. Everyone from teachers to the president to dictators use certain images of authority to lead. That doesn't mean just because one does something horrible with that ability another shouldn't use it for positive things.

 

 

I'm confused. How would her apologising have given Rand an excuse to kill Cadsuane?? Surely someone admitting they've erred is more likely to mitigate against the offence than add to it??

 

As I said, it is entirely possible that Caddy's box provided the best available line of defence against shadowspawn/forsaken/dfs/whatnot: my point is that Caddy and co know next to nothing about how the Forsaken and their minions work. They know the BA exists, and Darkfriends here and there: they know other Forsaken wander the land. Under those circumstances, is it really asking too much for one of them to think, "Hey, we've caught a Forsaken here, what if someone comes to rescue her? Our biggest VIP is living under the same roof, and there's also a very rare item of Power that can be used to control him - maybe we should beef up the defences..."

 

As regards Semi herself, when Caddy is thinking about how Semi might be broken, she ponders how her own reputation and image is quite important to her, and to be humiliated would probably be the hardest punishment to bear. Now my point is, if you find sigificant similarities between your own character and that of a 3000 yr old sadist whose name is used to frighten children, is that not enough to set off alarm bells??!

Now I am not one to defend Cadsuane, as I have never really liked her methods. But honestly, shadowspawn, forsaken, these were all thought of with her defenses on the box. She, nor anyone else, could have expected Shaidar Haran coming. What can Aes Sedai/Channellers do against someone who negates the One Power?

With that said, I think it had to go this way. The whole let the Lord of Chaos rule thing. The DO had his plan, and it almost worked.

Definitely Rand.  Just the way his character has progressed from the beginning of the series to where he is now is awesome.  I feel it is so realistic.  I think anyone being put in his shoes would develop the same way.  Mat is a great character and so is Perrin, but in shear power and ability, they just don't stand a chance against Rand. 

Mat's a great general, but his weakness is that he hasn't lost a battle yet, so he hasn't learned from a mistake.  Rand "lost" to the Seanchan in PoD, and it made him realize how easily a fight can get away from you if you make a mistake.  I think this makes him not make another mistake in battle. 

All in all Rand is a badass.........