Timewaster's Guide Archive

and the wolves!!! They ALL came together to save Rand because at least THEY know that without him the world is doomed.

Yeah, their response when Perrin says "they have caged Shadowkiller" was a very nice moment.

Why did the Shaido turn on them?? They helped them capture Rand. It was the only part I didn't quite understand, although I did pick up that Sevanna wanted Rand for herself.

Sevanna wants Rand for herself.  Do you really think any group of Aes Sedai would willingly hand over the Dragon Reborn to an Aiel?

Rand manages to untie the shield on saidin and free himself from that locked chest with so much force he actually stills two of the Aes Sedai that were shielding him.

Three, actually.

Okay, when Taim and the Asha'man showed up, I almost leaped out of my seat. The image of all of the Asha'man wearing black and channeling against the Shaido was one I will never forget. That REALLY must have made all the Aes Sedai present very nervous. LOL.

That was definitely what really made the scene for me.  This is really the first full scale One-Power battle shown directly in the entire series and it is also the first major action by the Asha'man.  The sheer carnage that that many powerful combat-trained channelers can cause is incredible.  Plus, I really don't think Rand would have been able to win without them there.

It was a great battle. I'm glad that no major characters died. Rand forced the Aes Sedai that came to help him to kneel and swear to serve him. I felt a little bad for them because they tried helping, but after his torture and imprisonment, I don't expect Rand to trust any Aes Sedai ever again. When he told them "Kneel! Or BE knelt!" I was like ooooooooh it's on!! Rand's not going to take crap from anyone ever again!

Actually, that line was Mazrim Taim's.  Rand gave the demand to kneel, but Taim gave the threat of forcing them.

I especially liked the stated reasoning behind it - the promise of equal footing with the Tower, and enforcing it with the Tower Aes Sedai's current status because they didn't follow his directions.

BTW, he needs to go back to Tear and get Callandor so this crap won't happen to him again!! That thing has been stuck in the Stone of Tear for like 3 books!!

Patience, Callandor will return eventually.  Oh, if you go back and reread the scenes where he uses it you might notice something...

-Herid and Fel are torn apart by a gholam. I actually don't remember who these people are. I won't go to another WOT encyclopedia because I ran across some spoilers last time.

As stated already, Herid Fel is a single person and is the philosopher that was helping Rand puzzle out the Prophecies and his answers from the Aelfinn.

-Demandred's last words to the Dark One, "Have I not done well?" makes me believe even more that he is Taim, or is at least working with him.

Demandred is not Mazrim Taim.  Robert Jordan stated that explicitly when asked.

Yes, I did read it.  Unless I am greatly mistaken, "released over a two-year period" means release dates of November 2009, November 2010, and November 2011.  This, when the speed of the progress bars seems to indicate that all three should be ready with time for editing probably by May 2010.

Aaaaaand confirmation.  Complete confirmation of everything but the cover.

This may take some time to figure out how to properly express my rage without resorting to death threats or otherwise getting dismissed for being too rabid and irrational.

Also, there doesn't have to be just 16 Shards. I thought 16 was Preservation's number, not necessarily anything that we could apply to all Shards. Now, there could be 16 Shards, but I don't know yet. We shall see.

I'm pretty sure one of Sazed's chapter headings says something about the number 16 being fundamental to a lot more than just Preservation and Ruin.

Edit: Found it.  Chapter 71.

As for the other aspects of the number . . . well, even I am still investigating that.  Suffice it to say that it has great ramifications regarding how the world, and the universe itself, works.

I don't really care how many separate physical objects it comes in (within reason, of course).  It's the possibility of delaying publication of parts of it longer than necessary that concerns me.  I realize it's not done yet, and even November this year might not be enough time to finish the whole thing.  My impression of the pacing on this is that November 2010, however, would be at least half a year later than necessary, probably more, and November 2011 is just ridiculous.

When it's done to both Brandon and Harriet's satisfaction, publish it.  All of it.  Immediately.  Most of the fan base interested in purchasing at all will buy all of it immediately no matter what part of the year it is.

They're the same thing.

And yes, this is rather off topic for this thread.

So, where's that update we were promised, uh, two weeks ago?  We need our vicarious reading fix!