WOT Help

[Patriotic Kaz]

It is also possible that they are all former lovers of his and that since they are all born in the same era that he is attached to them all...

Ileyna Elyane???

[Shard]

Yeah I have seen that theory before as well, it's an interesting theory and topic for that matter. There's not that many stories out there with reincarnation. At least not in main stream US literature that I have seen anyways...

[Reaves]

It is also possible that they are all former lovers of his and that since they are all born in the same era that he is attached to them all...

Ileyna Elyane???

That and other similarities convinced me that Elayne was Ilyena. However, Rand loves three different women. So I've basically come up with two different rival theories:

1. Elayne, Min, and Avhienda are all 1/3 of Ilyena. Somehow her thread got frayed in the cosmic scheme of the Pattern or whatnot.
OR
2. Elayne is Ilyena, and she is who Rand loves as Lews Therin. Min is who Rand would have loved as himself if he had not been the Dragon. Avhienda...not really sure. I never liked her anyway

Unfortunately, neither of these theories are really satisfactory.

[Renoard]

Um maybe Rand is just honest.  Given the number of historical figures who were polygynous, and how many men have "a little something on the side" it seems likely that it's a part of human biology to be polygynous.  Our nearest primate relatives are.  And yes, as unequal as it is, Chimps are polygynous but not polyandronous.  Top ape protects his harem until he's too old, then the girls leave him and find another dumb ape to fawn over.  Remember I'm talking about chimps not people.  Hey put down that frying pan!

   

[JoeC]

Update!! I finished Crown of Swords last night!!

Not a WHOLE lot happened, but some very good scenes. I'm so glad I did that update yesterday as opposed to waiting for today. Great book btw.

-Mat finally convinces the Aes Sedai to leave Ebou Dar. Although he did it in a fashion I didn't expect. He basically told everyone how it was and ORDERED them to leave. I got to read about Birgitte explaining the gholem to him. That they were specifically made to fight channelers. There are six in total. 3 male and 3 female and the Power is useless against them. I think they are so cool! Why wait this long to put them in the series?!? I can't wait to see them in a full on battle.
  Okay, anyways, Mat leaves the palace to go find Olver before they leave and he finds that the Seanchan are attacking. He witnesses them burning ships and collared female channelers destroying the city as people run away. In an alley he is attacked and a big brick wall falls on top of him. Mat's final thoughts are that they dice stopped spinning in his head and that his luck had ran out. I'm fairly confident that this isn't the end of Mat. It BETTER not be. I've come to suspect any death that RJ writes that doesn't include balefire or beheading...lol.

-Rand, even though he's weakened, decides to take the Asha'man to Illian to kill Sammael. This was a great scene of Rand chasing Sammael through the city after setting off all the wards that had been set to warn of Rand's coming. Rand chases the Forsaken to Shadar Logoth....and it's NIGHT there! When the mashadar is at it's strongest. He battles Trollocs and Fades while eluding Sammael's lightning strikes. At one point he sees Liah, the Maiden who dissapeared last time they were in Shadar Logoth, kill some Trollocs. Apparently, she has lost her mind a little bit but recovers when she sees Rand's face and hears his voice. Yet she runs away anyway. This was confusing to me, and even more confusing when Rand spots Liah later when he's trying to ambush Sammael. She has been grabbed by the mashadar and Rand balefire's her to save her the pain. He also balefires in the direction where Sammael was. The Forsaken is gone and Rand is not sure wether he killed him or not. But how did Liah survive all this time?? Why didn't she respond when they searched for her the day she ran off??
  Also, earlier when Rand was running from the lightning strikes, he almost falls through a rotted floor and is saved by ANOTHER mystery man. Love these mystery men! Seeing mashadar heading for them they both unleash balefire at the fog. When they do this they accidently(?) cross the streams of balefire (Ghostbusters reference!!!!) and it appears Rand got very close to tearing the Pattern of where they were. I never thought of the consequences of crossing balefire streams. Very interesting, yet it's too bad Rand doesn't heed Cadsuane's words. I feel like he might get balefire-happy and cause something terrible to happen. The mystery man runs away after hinting to Rand where he can find Sammael. Only then does Rand realize that the man channeled without Rand sensing it. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that the mystery man was Moridin/Ishamael and Rand couldn't sense his weaves because he was drawing from the True Power of the Dark One. But then, why the heck would Ishy help Rand?? Man there are layers and more damn layers with this book. I love it!!

This was a great book in the series, though Fires of Heaven still remains my favorite. I don't feel that the series has been going downhill. I feel the books have kept a steady stream of entertainment even if some of the plot lines go on too long. I can imagine what it must have been like to wait years for the next book in the series only to be confronted with more questions than answers, and another few years for the next book. By the way, I'm no stranger to this. LOL I know I joke about how you must hate me for not having to wait for the books, but believe me I've been there. It was AGONY waiting for Stephen King's The Dark Tower series to conclude. Same with Mistborn. I feel very fortunate to be able to read WOT straight through and be caught up with everyone else in anticipation for Memory of Light. I got my hardcover of Path of Daggers and I'm ready to go!! Thanks for the response guys!! Take care!!
-Joe

[Renoard]

I hate when that happens.  Nothing as miserable as popping into the gate keep when you mean to go to Jaffar. . .  And the blight worms! sigh.

[Shard]

About beheading and balefire, that's a good rule of thumb JoeC always demand to see the body!

As for Liah I suspect she has become corrupt and a carrier of the Shadar Logoth taint. She was no longer safe to leave the place. This is just my theory on it but I think she didn't want to face Rand because he would have to kill her.

I noted you didn't ask but I wanted to save  you any frustation but Sammeal is dead. The sooner you know that the better, Mashadar btw was what got him and no the book will not tell you that.

Well PoD the next book is where I think people really felt the story went down but I don't think it was bad at all. I think the abscense of the two year wait will make a huge difference as well. I think people built up too much expectations on what should happen and all that in the next book they felt dissapointed and didn't value what DID happen.

Well at the rate your going your going to join the "waiting for the next book" since the Last one is being split into three and we get one each year, or at least that's the plan. So you'll be waiting for books 13 and 14 with the rest of us. 

[douglas]

Mat hasn't married the Daughter of the Nine Moons yet (remember that ter'angreal doorway in the Stone of Tear?), so of course he's not dead.

I especially liked the bit about deliberately setting off every last ward in the entire city.  Setting off one or two?  That's like announcing ignorance and stupidity along with your attack.  Setting off every single one?  That's like saying "Hi, I know exactly what you did to prepare for this.  Go ahead and come back to face me, I dare you!  I'm ready."

Ishamael has a very specific goal - he wants Rand to die at the Last Battle.  That, or turn him, but I think Rand's convinced him pretty thoroughly that's not going to work.

And yeah, you'll be joining us in the impatient waiting soon enough.  At the rate you're going you'll be completely caught up even before The Gathering Storm comes out this November, and it'll be another two years after that before it's finally done.

[Renoard]

Waiting was  odd, because I had a lot going on IRL. About the time I could raise my head to look around, a new volume was released.  KoD was the only one that felt lagged for me.

It was a relief when the Asha'man got deployed in Illian.  I kept expecting that they would be held back until TG.  I still don't see why people like Nyneave.  I'm convinced that when the twenty and thirty somethings get to be fourty something they'll realize she is still seriously immature by KoD.  Egwene and Elayne are maturing much faster.  When Rand scales the wall, Elayne seemed like little more than a sweet child, and Egwene was pretty bad when they left Emond's Field.

But Rand is pretty stagnated by the messiah complex. . .

[Shard]

Nynaeve had alot happering her attitude, her always having to be angry enough to channel and her frustrations with Lan. After those two things were surrmounted in aCoS she does become alot easier to read, at least for me she did. She becomes less snappish, less judgemental in some regards and eventually even begins to be nicer about the boys. I think honestly she really came through in WH. Elayne on on the other hand... *grumbles*

[Zhalfirin]

I got to read about Birgitte explaining the gholem to him. That they were specifically made to fight channelers. There are six in total. 3 male and 3 female and the Power is useless against them. I think they are so cool! Why wait this long to put them in the series?!? I can't wait to see them in a full on battle.

He didn't wait, it was the/a gholem that killed Harid Fel.

As for Nynaeve and Elayne, I agree with Shard that Nynaeve's attitude has gotten much better while Elayne seems to be getting worse (even before she got knocked up). The middle of the series when both of them were stuck together, those sections were a difficult read 

[Patriotic Kaz]

@ Renoard I watched a 2 hour discovery channel special on the biological anaylsis on human mating and promiscutiy acctually exist in some humans on a biological level it comes from the lack of a certain chemical in the brain...but if you do have it you are much more likely to stay faithful to one person your entire life.

[Rrikor]

I'm glad you are enjoying the books.   I am doing my reread and am just finishing The Great Hunt.  Only 40 pages left.  I stopped last night right after Rand killed the Seanchan lord in a sword fight.   It amazes me that he can beat a true swordmaster after less then a year of having a sword.  The void isn't specific to men who can channel so most swordmasters probably use it.   This was also the part were we learn all sul'dam can be leashed.  I can't wait to get home and read about the battle in the sky.

[Shard]

I heard a saying once that Sword fighting isn't about skill, but about timing. Still it was not an easy fight for him at all.

[JoeC]

I noted you didn't ask but I wanted to save  you any frustation but Sammeal is dead. The sooner you know that the better, Mashadar btw was what got him and no the book will not tell you that.

How do you know? The WOT encyclopedia? It seems odd that RJ would leave such an important death so vague. Thanks for telling me though, I would have been expecting Sammael around every corner LOL.

Mat hasn't married the Daughter of the Nine Moons yet (remember that ter'angreal doorway in the Stone of Tear?), so of course he's not dead.

I was thinking of that today actually hahaha. I'm about 100 pages into PoD and I haven't seen him yet. Though Nyneave, Elayne, and EVERY one else EXCEPT Mat took off for the Kin farm to use the Bowl of the Winds. They just left him there!!

As for Nynaeve and Elayne, I agree with Shard that Nynaeve's attitude has gotten much better while Elayne seems to be getting worse (even before she got knocked up).

Um....haven't gotten there just yet. LOL