Just one thing to correct about your last post Joe. The man that comes to the palace in Caemlyn to see Rand in the end is Davram Bashere, Marshall-General of Saldaea, not Mayene. Saldaea is one of the Borderland nations that borders the Blight. Just had to set that straight since Bashere is one of my favorite characters 
You are correct!! My mistake!
I'm curious JoeC if you had to guess who done in Asmo who would you pick? I'd like to see your thoughts before you start on LoC. 
Hmmmm.....Yeah I've been thinking about it a lot. It really could be anyone. Rand even. Maybe Lews Therin took him over completely for like 10 minutes and decided to take some revenge on Asmoidean. Who knows?? It didn't explain the manner of death either. It just said death "took him." By Power? By blade? I guess I'll have to wait and find out. I would say one of the other Forsaken but that's a hard case to make. Rand would have sensed any of the male Forsaken channeling just as the wise ones or Aveindha would sense a female Forsaken channeling. Unless they were already there. Honestly, for some reason, Mat keeps popping in my head. I'm not 100% sure why either. It just popped in my head as I was reading it. I pictured him whirling his spear and finishing Asmo with a deadly slice before he even knew anything happened. Again, I'm not saying I believe it was him, just a funny feeling I have that's all. Afterall, Moiraine had figured out who he really was before she died. Who else did too? Who did she tell? Did she really figure it out, or was SHE the one who was told? Did the wise ones enter his dreams?? Is that how Moiraine found out? I don't know. I hope it wasn't the wise ones who killed him. That would be anti climactic for me. LOL We'll see. Consider me part of the "Who killed Asmodean debate" you guys.
A family friend who is a published author once said to me, "Writers don't borrow; they steal." Make of that what you will.
I guess that's accurate in it's own way. It's hard to have a good vs. evil story that hasn't been thought up already. Some would say there's only a few degrees of good vs. evil. It's a very binding story plot that limits what you can write about and so many people have done it already. I personally don't mind. I've read some stories that are very similar and some that are very different. A lot of things I've seen in WOT could have been borrowed from R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books, which started coming out a few years before WOT did. Before you people explode, I know RJ spent most of that 80's writing these books and worldbuilding and NO I'm not accusing him of stealing. I'm just giving an example of similarities that are in many good vs. evil stories. It's all a matter of how you perceive it. How much does it bother you? Me personally, unless it's really obvious, like borderline plagiarism, I won't care. I just like a good story. Chris Paolini's Inheritence Cycle rips off a LOT of books. It is a very unoriginal story but it is enjoyable so I read it. I don't let it bother me. Some people, however, take this very personally. Maybe so much so they see what they think is plagiarism on every page of everything they read. Again, I think it's up to the individual reader to decide. The world needs stories, good and bad. Original and unoriginal. Choose for yourself and read what you enjoy. If two books are similar, but you enjoy both, what's the big deal?? Let the authors fight it out. That's not to say I don't appreciate an original story. Mistborn swept me off my feet.
