all of mine are first editions and not a single one of them are intact anymore most have fallen apart. i switched over to my kindle for my last and final read through. Although right now im readign TDR in book form so the wife can use the kindle for her books.

I already have reading copies of the entire series. This would be completely untouched, for display only. I have a special room in my house that I keep completely dust and static free just for my books.

What gave it away for me was the scene in Path of Daggers where he undergoes a complete personality change and starts to lecture Rand on the "strangeness" of Saidin (during Rand's campaign against the Seanchan in Altara). He's suddenly a different person altogether, angry and pedantic instead of his typical aloof and apathetic self, which made me think the whole "guy with his head in the clouds" thing was a front. The fact that we knew Aginor was in his new body trying to position himself made him the prime suspect.

Especially because after that Rand mentions the Forsaken and Dashiva flinches. The Ashaman dont flinch from anything. They watch others die or go mad all the time.

To be fair, watching a person die and dealing with the Forsaken, people kids are raised to fear are two different things. I mean, look at how many of the younger Aes Sedai still get a little jumpy when the BA is mentioned. Flinching at the mentioning of the forsaken is not really a clear sign. Even a battle hardened veteran who has killed or watched others die most of his life could get a little edgy when you mention them.

Ryse al"Tara stood on a hilltop overlooking the city of Fal Dara. His horse, a brown and white gelding, named Counter, for his tendency to stomp his hoof when he became impatient, nuzzled his neck. Ryse mounted and road down the slope of the hill until he reached a small dirt road leading to the wall of the city. He pulled the hood down before reaching the gate and the guard let him pass with little trouble.

The city was quiet at this time, people were still cooking their morning meals and preparing for the day. The smell of bread baking filled the air and made his stomach rumble. He turned Counter toward an inn called "The Trollocs' Bane", with a sign hanging above its' door showing an armored and mounted Shienaran soldier driving his lance through a trolloc's stomach. He dismounted and tied Counter's reigns to the inn's hitching rail before walking into the building.

The common room was mostly empty, with only a few men eating their breakfast. The innkeeper, a portly man just past his middle years, with more gray than brown in his hair, looked up from his own breakfast to see who had come in. "Peace favor you sword, my lord." The man said as he stood up and walked over to Ryse. "How may I help you?" The man walked with a certain grace that named him a warrior, or rather a former one, given his girth and age.

Ryse smiled at the innkeeper and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I told you a long time ago Master Korbin," he said, "I am not a lord. There is no need to stand on ceremony when I come here." The innkeeper smiled back at him and offered him a chair at the table that he had been sitting.

"Alda! Bring some bread and cheese for Lor.....I mean Master al'Tara!" The innkeeper called to one of the serving girls. A pretty girl, withn brownish blonde hair and dark eyes. "So, my young friend, what brings you back to my humble little inn?"

"I received a letter from my grandfather." he said as a second serving girl came over with a pitcher of mulled wine, and poured him a mug. "It says he wants me to visit him."

"Last time we spoke, you gave me the impression that you were not close to your mother's family." The blonde haired girl returned with a tray of hot bread, fresh fruit and cheese. "Why would he send you a letter?"

Ryse shook his head. "I have no idea, Reandel. I have never even met him." He took a bite of cheese. "I did not even know their house name until a few years ago."

"Well, House Indril is well respected in Fal Dara" Reandel said. "And Lord Tomal is one of the greatest warriors in all of the Borderlands, even if he never earned the Blademaster's sword."

Ryse nodded slowly "Well I suppose I need to at least see what he wants." He took another bite of cheese and smiled "If anything I can learn what my mother was like before I was born. She was always closed mouthed about her life." The innkeeper smiled, but said nothing. He knew that it was rare for Ryse to talk about his parents, and that he could grow.......broody, if conversation lingered on them too long. The two men ate in slience as the serving girls hurried about their chores, preparing for the rush of locals coming for a bite to eat and a drink at midday.

What RP's are good for a new freebooter character?

I just realized it would have been just as effective to have the sword stolen by the man who killed Jonal. It would have added another reason for Ryse to hunt the man down, and avoided the "Is he a blademaster?" problem.

I realise the blademaster swords are rare and I admit I overlooked this due to being happy that the RPer didn't try to force his way in to 'being' a blademaster and to be honest, I was quite impressed with the manner in which he incorporated it in to the bio. The background is believable, the manner in which he optains the blade may be rare but not unrealistic (I can well believe a BM getting tired of a life of constant fighting. The Light only knows what they have to face half the time). It does come close to the real WOT story with Tam, I grant you though.

 

On the other hand, we don't get that many people that ask to be a blademaster and this one doesn't ask it either. He merely owns his father's sword, which is not uncommon in the WOT world.

 

If there are no serious objections, I would like to request that this be accepted. He will still start at WS 5 and will need to go through the entire WS route before being allowed to call his character a BM himself. I don't know if this is what he would like to do. For all we know, he may even end up losing the sword or deciding to give it away or whatever road he wishes to take with this character.

 

By my knowledge, this is the first time a Blademaster 'sword' is being used at the Freelanders since I took over in 2009. So yeah, it is rare. Even with us.

 

Not all Bm's need to be Warders or Banders, right?

I do not think someone would simply give away a prized possession that belonged to their dead father. But I would be willing to have it broken if a good storyline came up that called for it.

I am looking for copies of each book, including New Spring, to keep as collectors items. I would prefer ones that have been signed by RJ, but will take usigned copies as well.

I will pay anyone on here for their copies, but if no one would like to sell, I would like to know any sites or stores that have them.

Gawyn was a Tower trainee. He had some sort of obligation to the Tower as an institution. We are not told the exact nature of the trainees obligation to the Tower, but it almost certainly involved legal duties of some sort, formalized with an oath.

 

The President of the United States is impeached for high crimes, and removed from office by the Congress, which has the legal authority to do so. Certain senior military officers like the current President better than the alternative, and so conspire to unlawfully return the impeached President to power. A West Point cadet discovers this conspiracy and has the ability to stop it. You're claiming he should not do so?

 

Christ, I can't believe you're making me defend Gawyn.

Gawyn is not technically a full trainee. He is simply learning swordsmanship for his duties as First Prince of the Sword. He has no obligation to the tower, in the way that people who are actually going to become warders do. I mean, Galad just leaves the tower and joins the whitecloaks, that would be desertion if he had any legal obligation.

i find this link to be the most fascinating thing going in the series and I think it will play THE crucial role in the outcome. I read a theory once that said balefiring balefire creates a paradox. They both cause the other to cease to exist, but if one ceases to exist, the other exists, and so on is the paradox. The only way for the pattern to solve this paradox is to make the two balefire streams (and thus their source) become one. I am not sure I buy into this theory fully, but it is interesting. I always wondered how (pre KOD) people thought this was the taint. I thought it was very clear right away that the dizziness was from this.

I believe that the link is connected to the "to live you must die" part of the prophesy. Rand's soul is linked to Moridin's.....Therefore, if Rand kills moridin, he will kill part of himself.....Rand must kill a part of himself in order to defeat moridin and survive....

Is there any list of such things?

 

If not, let the compiling begin!

If you know any instances of the books being mentioned or seen onscreen in any television shows, movies or songs, share them.

I see mostly references to Christianity and the Legends of King Arthur, both of which RJ based the story on. Not much more than that.

unfortunately andor will be destroyed not by the trollocs but by the incompetence of the lord dragon who allowed the rotting sickness that has spread to the black tower. A sickness that resulted in AS and AM being turned to the shadow.

Taim was always a Dark Friend and the people he personally "Trained" were too.

The reason that they seemed to be coming along so quickly in therir training is because they already knew what to do. Taim brought them into the Black Tower in order to be able to gather his forces right under the Dragon's nose and prepare for the Last Battle where they would serve as Dreadlords.

It's actually very simple. Egwene wants to scare Rand into changing his mind about breaking the seals, and Elayne agrees with her. They do not understand that it is part of the prophesy, and part of his duty to free the Dark One, so that he can fight him, though Rand seems to think it is ust to reseal him again, but even then the Dark One could simply taint Saidin again, and nothing would have been changed. Anyway, Egwene needs all of the Armies of the Westlands in order to make this work. She thinks that Rand will listen to her if every majory army, Andor, Tear, Illian, Tar Valon, and Cairhien, sides with the White Tower, than logically, Rand would join up, and change his plans, since he needs all of those nations in order to defeat the Shadow. But something tells me that everyone will come around to Rand's side with from his influence as a Ta'veren.

It's actually very simple. She wants to scare Rand into changing his mind about breaking the seals. She does not understand that it is part of the prophesy, and part of his duty to free the Dark One, so that he can fight him, though Rand seems to think it is ust to reseal him again, but even then the Dark One could simply taint Saidin again, and nothing would have been changed. Anyway, Egwene needs all of the Armies of the Westlands in order to make this work. She thinks that Rand will listen to her if every majory army, Andor, Tear, Illian, Tar Valon, and Cairhien, sides with the White Tower, than logically, Rand would join up, and change his plans, since he needs all of those nations in order to defeat the Shadow. But something tells me that everyone will come around to Rand's side with from his influence as a Ta'veren.

anyone remember when this link was formed? could be the big unnoticed thing lol...

apparrantly it formed when Moridin and and Rand's balefire streams crossed....I call it the Ghostbuster Effect......

It does make sense....Balefire can burns someone from the past...If Rand and Moridin succeeded in buring each other from the pattern, then both would still be alive because neither existed to burn out the other one.....wait it doesn't make since....kinda like how John Conner was able to send his own father to the past to knock up his mom.....a loop in space and time......if one thing changes, the whole timeline changes.....

The only way to fix the rift in time is for the pattern to weave a new thread using both Rand and Moridin.......I think it is the fulfillment of part of the prophesy.....Rand and Moridin are one person....one thread......two two threads made into one...whatever......

But anyway....The prophesy said, "to live, you must die".....I think that it means that Rand must kill Moridin....and because they are the same person in the pattern now, he will be killing part of himself...maybe he will lose all of his memories of LTT's life.....or something like that...but he will. live on without that part of himself.....

I was hoping for something a bit more specific, possibly Noal specific, for they are leaving Ebou Dar at the time, and the man is part of a group of Seanchan Ship's Archers.

 

There is no specific answer--we've never seen a dark skinned man with blue eyes other than amongst the Seanchan. Perhaps the weirdest part is Noal rules out both Shara and the Atha'an Miere, the two places he is the most famous for having travelled. So if not there, then where?

 

However if its tied to Noal's bad memories, that might be a subtle hint towards it being a darkfriend, someone involved in Farstriders time as a prisoner in Shayol Ghoul.

You are forgetting that Seachan is a large continant with many different peoples on it...it's not unlikely that they have several dark skinned tribes yet to be mentioned

I was under the impression that one had to be linked directly to the Dark One in order to be able to touch the True Power...but Rand was able to without such a link......

For awhile, I was thinking that it could be because of the link between himself and Moridin.

Can somone clarifiy this for me?

In New Spring, several references are made to Lan having unnaturally good luck. Plus, there's an instance where the prince falls 50 feet from a balcony and only gets a few bruises.

 

So I'm wondering if Lan himself is ta'veren or if Rand's ta'vereness is so strong that it starts working on Lan before Rand is even born, just to make sure Lan is there to help Rand survive.

 

I'm leaning toward the former, since Rand wouldn't have any effect on the falling kid. But even though Lan is ta'veren, he's just overshadowed by Rand, Mat and Perrin.

As for pure hotness, it has to be Graendal. It's not just about looks, but attitude too, and she has plenty of sexy attitude.

I disagree.  To me there is nothing sexy about a woman who walkes around all but naked and begs to be looked at.  I like the older women oersonally, so I would have to say Morgase is quite sexy.

 

 

 

 

Yes, the Aes Sedai want to bend the people to their will, because the way they do things is the RIGHT way,

 

 

Ummmmmmm almost nothing the Aes Sedai do is right.  They think that without the tower the world would fall.. guess what the white tower didnt exist in the Age of Legends, and it was 100000000 times better then the third age.  And no, I'm niot mistaken.  In the age of Legends, the Aes Sedai were led by a type of Channeling guild called the Hall of Servants, which was led by the "First Among Servants" aka The Dragon.  Half of the tower seem to believe that they should gentle the Dragon reborn and leave the world defenseless when the DO breaks free.

 

Also, they seem to think that keeping their little tower intact is more important then anything else. 

 

I'll admit that a lot of Aes Sedai are good people, but most, Like Elaida, care only for getting as much power and credit they can during the Last battle.     

 

Look at how they view the Ashaman.  Even after they realize that the taint was destroyed, they looked down on them and treat them like animals instead of people. 

 

I also hate how they beleive that their way of teaching is the only legitimant way of learning to channel. 

 

Guess what, the Aiel were around since before the breaking, though known by another name and hated war >>;, You can't tell me that since that time they didn't have channelers.  So, since they have had channelers before the the breaking and the white tower was not created til after, how is the white tower better at teaching the then them?  Hell, Aes Sedai are a step away from declairing that using the one power without their permission is punishable by death. 

 

 

I Find it funny, how the Aes Sedfai are proven wrong about the one power every 10 seconds.  "YOu can't heal severing", "You cant unravel a weave", There is no way to detect when the oposit gender channels".  Face it, Aes Sedai claim that anything they cant do is impossible and tells people they are not allowed to do it.  Hell, just one of the lost talents, like Traveling, makes the Ashaman twice as powerful as the white tower.

Sure Aes Sedai have a level of self-importance that is borderline unhealthy, but really, given their task (preparing the world for TG), a little bit of ego is probably necessary.

It is not the Aes Sedai's task to p[repare the world for the last battle.  That is the sole reason, that and killing the DO that the dragon reborn was born.  The Aes Sedai just think that only they can even fight the shadow.  Thats why they have it in their heads that they must leash Rand and use him as a weapon.

I, personally, find the Aes Sedai to be conceited.  They beleive they have the right to decide how the world should be ran.  Alot of them even think that rulers have no right to their thrones unless the White Tower thinks they should.  They are especially stuck up when it comes to the one power.  They think that they own the OP and no one except those that they choose, have the right to even touch it.  If most Aes Sedai had their way, using the OP without, the white towers consent, would be punishable by death.

I find this very foolish, since I'm pretty sure the Aiel Wise Ones had been using the OP before the White Tower was even formed. 

Most Red Aes Sedai would have gentled Rand before the Last Battle just to prove that the Dragon Reborn wasn't beyond their power.  The Aes Sedai actually beleives that without the White Tower, the world would be dextroyed without them to police the would and manipulate everyone like puppets.

It could be earth.  We could all be living in the final days of one of the turnings of the wheel.  Maybe the world will break soon and be remade.