Timewaster's Guide Archive

The only way to fix either loophole is to require registration to vote. Then, of course, you'd have people doing multiple registrations, and in that case they'd have to disallow multiple registrations from the same IP address. (And far fewer people would be able to get around it easily.)

Actually, I think there is an easier way to fix the private browsing loophole - there's an option through polldaddy that they apparently didn't use (based on above posts).

Quote from: Terez on April 04, 2011, 04:14:38 PM

Quote from: Eerongal on April 04, 2011, 04:09:42 PM

this wouuldn't work.

Trust me...it works, unless they changed something since yesterday.

This doesn't work. And i can prove it. Try it with this poll. I just did in both firefox and chrome, using the exact steps you posted, and it doesn't work.

Trust me, it works. We're not talking about coincidental votes here. We are talking about thousands of votes. When I was voting by myself, I watched it go up one at a time each time I voted.  If I was voting with two other people, I watched it go up 3 times every time I voted. This has been thoroughly tested.

PS - Aside from all that, like I said, the message is different when it doesn't work.

I agree it's a very real concern in general, but I don't think it is a very pressing concern for Brandon finishing WoT, or even Stormlight Archive. He's young yet.  WoT fans just get a little over-excited sometimes. We're very lucky to have Brandon finishing the books - another author might have sold the ending of the series short by doing it in one volume as was apparently intended. (Though of course it was only supposed to be 'one more' because RJ was terminally ill when he made that decision and knew his days were numbered.)

VOTE EARLY VOTE OFTEN!

As for voting often...apparently the suvudu guys are aware that there is a lot of 'cheating' going on, and they don't care because there's no easy way to do it and it requires sitting in front of your computer for hours. So, then it becomes a matter of dedication rather than just a popularity contest. If any of you are unaware of how to 'cheat', PM me and I will share the method. The QB team is going to be voting a lot, and since Brandon's fans are generally so nice I felt bad about the possibility that you guys might not know how. I'm the one that rallied support for her against Jon Snow, after all. I'm supporting QB in the finals, but I like Vin too, and it will be a close match.

Also, I'm running a contest for best QB vs Vin write-up. Prize is a personalized copy of TWOK.

http://terez27.blogspot.com/2011/04/quick-ben-vs-vin-can-you-write-it.html

Did you have any particular reason for thinking that? So far as we know, the Towers of Midnight are fortresses, 13 of them, that were the center of operations during the Consolidation. They are left unoccupied by tradition.

I believe I read somewhere that Brandon said there is a twist in the book that no one is expecting.

He did, but it is a specific sort of twist. He compared it to Vin's earring, and he said that the first clues of it show up in books 4-6 (in one of them, or all three - he won't say). He says it's a mystery we should have picked up on when it was introduced, and that it's something that comes up often in later books.

My best bet at the moment is that it has to do with Egwene's dream about ravens sinking into the flesh of Mat's shoulders. The dream was in book six, and the significance of the tattoos is explained in book four.

I think a large part of the book will take place in Seanchen.

It won't. RJ assured us that the story would not visit Seanchan again, and Brandon is respecting RJ's wishes on this. RJ left open a small possibility that there might be a visit comparable in length to Rand's and Aviendha's visit there in 'The Far Snows' and 'A Short Spear', but nothing any more substantial than that. He said the same about Shara.

Have you read chapter 1 yet? I think that's the most we'll get.

Quote from: Terez on October 04, 2010, 08:10:56 AM

Quote from: douglas on October 03, 2010, 04:32:58 PM

Rand's death will be faked or somehow temporary, so anything could happen after his "resurrection".  Rand could "die" in ToM, but I think that's more likely to be in A Memory of Light.

 The prophecies do seem to indicate that he'll die before the Last Battle is won, and then be resurrected to finish the job.

They do? Granted its been years since I've given the whole series a full read through, but I must have missed this.

Probably because it's buried under some red herrings, like the idea that he will die at Shayol Ghul, which is inspired by the 'blood on the rocks' prophecies. However, there's nothing that actually says he will die there.

Nicola has a Foretelling - 'The lion sword, the dedicated spear, she who sees beyond. Three on the boat, and he who is dead yet lives. The great battle done, but the world not done with battle. The land divided by the return, and the guardians balance the servants. The future teeters on the edge of a blade.'

Most people assume that the 'great battle' is the Last Battle, and that there was a temporary truce with the Seanchan, and now that the Last Battle's done, they've gone back to fighting each other. But that interpretation overlooks a few important questions:

1. Why is the land still 'divided by the Return'? The temporary truce idea seems weak to me, partly because it seems like the only logical option to Rand (which is often a good clue that RJ was planning something completely different). This wording makes it seem like events are simply progressing as they have been...and we know that the two must be 'as one' in order for Rand to have a fighting chance at Tarmon Gai'don.  If the truce was so fickle as that, then I don't think the words 'as one' ever truly applied.

2. Why does the future teeter on the edge of a blade, if the Last Battle's done? The Seanchan are just another enemy, when all is said and done. But if the Last Battle is not yet won, then the future truly does teeter on the edge of a blade.

3. Why are Rand and his harem central to the Foretelling, if the Last Battle is done? So far as we know, Rand's responsibilities end when the Dark One is defeated, and if it's just about bringing him back to life so that he can live happily ever after...why is it so dire?

This Foretelling is also backed up by a dream that was shared by two Wise Ones: 'Melaine and Bair dreamed of you on a boat...with three women whose faces they could not see, and a scale tilting first one way then the other.'

Again, why is that scale tilting? Why is this particular scene so important, if the Last Battle is done?

I see no choice but to assume that the 'great battle' refers to something else. The Battle of Caemlyn is likely, as it's the ultimate battle of Arthurian legend, and a likely place for Rand to die. Things definitely seem to be converging on Caemlyn, and of course the Black Tower is right outside the city. I think it's likely to be the final battle between the Seanchan and Randland forces, which would mean that Tuon would probably attack the Black Tower and the city at the same time. Rand dies, and the battle is a stalemate (something like Rand vs. Seanchan in Altara), and while Rand is dead, Mat and Tuon work out the details of the two becoming one. I suspect the marriage consummation symbolism will be at least somewhat tied into it.

Aside from the prophecies, I get the feeling that one of the questions RJ wanted to explore with this series was, 'What would happen if the Chosen One died before saving the world?' Of course, it will be alright in the end, but it makes for good drama.

Well, seems I was wrong, look at that.

If you go to 17th Shard  they have the interview with Brandon up.  He says that each order has a connection to TWO magic systems.

Yeah, that's what we were saying earlier.

On the inside cover the big circles are orders and the smaller circles are magic systems.

That is good to know.