Timewaster's Guide Archive

For some reason as I read the book I constantly thought of the mist spirit as Alendi. That really doesn't make sense seeing how, as stated above, Alendi also saw the mist spirit. Although, maybe for each proposed Hero there is a new mist spirit attached to them maybe the spirit of the last "Hero".  Just throwing that out there.

I have to say Channeler hands down. While, as most of you have stated, the key to a mistborn beating a channeler is the element of suprise.Although with knife up my sleeve and the element of suprise on my side I could beat a channeler AND a mistborn, grant it mistborn abilities greatly enhance their chances at being undetected. To have a mistborn face a channeler head on is certain death for any mistborn. The mistborn can burn as much atium as he/she wants to but it will all be for naught when the channeler uses an attack that encompasses huge amounts of area. Back in the first book of WoT Moiraine creates a wall of fire that stretches across a whole fist of trolloc. Or how about when Rahvin turns all the air around Rand into water?  I don't care if you can see three seconds into the future and you have pewter burning your just not going to make it. Channelers can effect to big of an area for any of that to matter. Heck, even if the mistborn was really good and quickly duralumin enhanced steel pushed their way away from the first attack the channeler is definately going to hit with the next attack. A mistborns only chance is that the channeler has no knowledge of mistborn and is caught by suprise and in close quarters. Bottom line IMO channelers contain just too much power for a mistborn to contend with....

As far as the temporal effects of balefire and atium burning go I see that as a complete mess. In theory  channeler can use a stream of balefire strong enough to erase any effect the person they dispose of had on the world throughout their life. So, does that mean they won't be able to forsee the attack that effectively burns them from existence? Or would they see and be able to react to balefire the same way as they react to a coin flying through the air? That's what I believe. Until the balefire actually hits them I think the balefire would simply be another projectile for a mistborn to dodge.

Moiraine not infallible! Blasphemer! If it wasn't for Moiraine Rand would be lying dead at the end of a Trolloc scythe somewhere long ago....

As for the order vs. chaos debate goes, I have always seen it a good vs. evil struggle.  Rand would be the "good guy" and  thus the champion of good and he really does not represent order in anyway.

Rowling: "Oh now that the series has concluded the mentor to the main character was gay. Just so you know....Oh what do you mean this has caused a mighty stir in the media? Impossible. Oh well now that your all paying attention buy my books. I haven't yet sold enough to buy the galaxy......"

I wouldn't expect anything less from someone as ridiculous as her.

It's 1987, and your friend challenges you to a game of Super Mario Bros. on his NES. You accept, because you're awesome at Super Mario Bros.--you play that game all the time, and you're awesome at it because you have a Game Genie: you can slow it down for tricky parts, you can hit turbo to blast through the easy parts, and you can hit turn on super jumping power to go where no other player has gone before. The trouble is, when you get to your friend's house, he doesn't have a Game Genie. You're going to have to play the entire thing with a suite of abilities you're thoroughly unfamiliar with, because you haven't played the standard version of the game in years. Every button you hit does something slightly different than you expect it to. I think we can all agree that in that situation, no matter good you are with a Game Genie, you're going to suck without one.

Awesome! I love the analogy! Although, my point is that even though I do use the Game Genie alot I also play without it alot. So, not only am I ultra badass with the Game Genie but I'll still whoop anyone without it because I am superior in the art of Super Mario Bros. So, no matter how much you've played without Game Genie your still going to get beatdown....

You are missing the point of the lesson.  Galad and Gawyn understimated Mat.  They were taken by surprise, and were defeated before they could recover.  Plus Gawyn and Galad were not near the ability of Lan or Rand (although Galad is much closer now).  In New Spring, Lan takes on 6 people at once in a real fight and wins.  Rand has been unable to defeat 5 at once in practice, and I don't think Mat has faced that many at once. Oh, and Rand needed Moiraine's help to beat Ba'laal in book three.  He was getting whooped.

I'm pretty sure you missed the point here. Hammar told them that because the sword does not match up well against against the staff and if my memory serves me right he says something along those lines. Also, it's true Galad and Gawyn were not at there full potential then but neither was Mat AND he was recovering from the effects of the ruby hilted dagger. As for Be'laal, talk about not being up to potential yet that was in book three and once again against a superior oppenent Rand held his own. Getting whooped I don't think so. If he was getting whooped  Be' laal would have had an oppening to kill him. I still got Mat and Rand over Lan one on one....

To respond to your point, though, Lan could take him

Not a chance darxbane. Back when Mat beat Galad and Gawyn, Hammar tells all the warders in training that the best swordsman of all time lost once in his whole lifetime and that was to a farmer with a staff. Mat, by the way, is not just some farmer so Mat would win hands down.....

Avalon I agree with you 100%.

The Lord Ruler was obviously the antagonist in the first installment of the series but can any of us say with one-hundred percent confidence we would have done things different? We know he resented the fact that Alendi was the "Hero" prophesied by the people of Terris even though he wasn't a Terrisman. We can also assume that if it wasn't for Rashek, Alendi would have done would Vin did just 1000 years prior thus releasing the well spirit. So, can we say that Rashek was a stop gap between himself and the real "Hero of Ages"? Properly holding back the well spirit until the actual "Hero" Vin, or as someone stated on one of these threads Elend, came to fulfill their role as savior? It's true he did perpeptrate many a horrible crime but maybe the power went to his head. I mean really put yourself in his shoes. He stopped a supposed "Hero" from releasing some horrible(or so I think) power upon all humanity while all the while being told noone of his blood would be able to do so. Now he has almost limitless power and somehow he uses it to restrain some darker, than himself that is, power back from consuming life as it is known. My point being that without TLR or Rashek or whatever you want to call him would the world have ever produced a Vin or even a Kelsier?