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Update: The Seanchan appear to be jerks and I don't like them.
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Dec 18, 2015 19:38
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The Seanchan are actually Cool and Good and Get Things Done.
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Dec 18, 2015 20:06
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How are u posted:The Seanchan are actually Cool and Good and Get Things Done. I think "Seanchans make the trains run on time" was a theme in the latter books, so there's that.
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Dec 18, 2015 20:08
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How are u posted:The Seanchan are actually Cool and Good and Get Things Done. The whole empire riding on the back of slaves bit ain't so cool, tho.
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Dec 18, 2015 20:17
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Pash posted:Basically the only fun Aes Sedai to read about was Verin... so having them continue to do dumb things with the bowl of wind was hardly surprising... if still dumb... While Verin was amazing, I definitely enjoyed reading about Elaida's continuous mistake. She's just like Cersei, so wrapped up in herself that she can't tell that she's ruining everything.
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Dec 19, 2015 17:05
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Mad Hamish posted:While Verin was amazing, I definitely enjoyed reading about Elaida's continuous mistake. She's just like Cersei, so wrapped up in herself that she can't tell that she's ruining everything. I just wish her comeuppance didn't result in the Seanchan getting all of Egwene's weaves.
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Dec 19, 2015 22:06
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ShadowCatboy posted:I just wish her comeuppance didn't result in the Seanchan getting all of Egwene's weaves. Travel is the big one, the Seanchan didn't have any trouble picking up and using various damage weaves. And I would surmise that universal Travel will do more for diplomacy and peaceful relations in this era than not. E: well that and nobody being in any position to start any poo poo against anyone else plus the Aiel, the devastation of Seanchan ensures that Fortuona can't really go back to resupply and reinforce VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Dec 20, 2015 |
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Dec 20, 2015 02:10
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broken clock opsec posted:Travel is the big one, the Seanchan didn't have any trouble picking up and using various damage weaves. And I would surmise that universal Travel will do more for diplomacy and peaceful relations in this era than not. Yeah the Seanchan are probably the best people to figure out the whole "Oh Empress this door-to-anywhere magic is the best communication tool ever", which would have averted, like, half the crises throughout the series. Instead the Black Tower got closest with their far ranging recruiting parties. Everyone else be all "okay I'm gating you 50 miles north because I can't bear to possibly slice a farmer's fence in half and I'll talk to you in a year and a half instead of checking in every 48 hours bye" Or the Aei Sadei. Who use traveling to go back to old school pigeon cotes with all the vulnerabilities thereof instead of maybe traveling to the agents or to handlers in central locations.
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Dec 20, 2015 02:18
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Yorkshire Tea posted:They can't do that without literally countermanding a command from the Amyrlin seat. It's the same reason Elayne is able to argue for Nynaeve and her's authority over the Aes Sedai. Sure they can. They didn't have the "this letter lets you act in my capacity whenever gently caress yall" letter from Siuan anymore. They had a "find the bowl of winds" mission. Also Merana was taken hostage and threatened with bodily harm, yay trading. She should've pulled the "You were holding me captive for days, this agreement is null and void also as the dragons appointed ambassador this is the same as assaulting his person. Here have some aiel"
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Dec 22, 2015 11:53
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Pash posted:I honestly am still not entirely sure if Book 11 was good or if it was just so much better than the drivel that was book 10 that I thought it was amazing... but ya... It's all uphill from book 10. Book 11 is when Jordan gives the massive domino stack that he spent 10 books setting up a nice flick. It really is a shame that he couldn't finish the series off himself completely, but I'm still very happy with what we got.
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Dec 22, 2015 19:02
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RembrandtQEinstein posted:Book 11 is when Jordan gives the massive domino stack that he spent 10 books setting up a nice flick. It really is a shame that he couldn't finish the series off himself completely, but I'm still very happy with what we got. Yeah, it was definitely a great opening act to the conclusion and what we got was "good enough". We'll never really know if Jordan would have done it better or not and I don't think Sanderson has gone into much detail on what he did, touched up, or left alone.
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Dec 23, 2015 07:15
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Jordan would have dragged it out another 3-4 more books, for better or worse. Probably better for the most part.
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Dec 24, 2015 20:29
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Atlas Hugged posted:Yeah, it was definitely a great opening act to the conclusion and what we got was "good enough". We'll never really know if Jordan would have done it better or not and I don't think Sanderson has gone into much detail on what he did, touched up, or left alone. The Black Tower story was almost 100% Sanderson, the opening to Towers of Midnight was entirely Jordan (which should be noticeable due to the different feel of combat), the Hinderstrap story was entirely Jordan, as was the Aelfinn and Elfinn world in ToM. There are some other bits that Sanderson mentioned, but he certainly hasn't said it all. I'm ok with not knowing.
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Dec 26, 2015 22:05
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I thought I read an interview that said hinderstrap was sanderson, to show the effects of balefire on the pattern.
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Dec 27, 2015 01:22
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I kind of like that there's some ambiguity in the bubbles of evil and other weird poo poo that happens (man vomits beetles until he turns into a sack of empty skin) where any or all of it could be because of balefire and "bubbles of evil" might not actually be a thing.
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Dec 28, 2015 07:35
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I always thought when Rand went out to the rebels outside of cairhien and met Toram and Fain that what happened was a bubble of evil. But that was Fain right? _________________ Also apparently you can read path of daggers in 8 hours if you skip the boring parts. There are some very good parts though. Hunting black ajah, fighting against seanchan.
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Dec 28, 2015 11:33
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Well the first time we see one is in book 4 and that's in the aftermath of Moiraine having just blasted the Forsaken that had set up shot there.
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Dec 28, 2015 13:05
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So I'm rereading and its hilarious bow much nyaneve fucks things up. In Tarabon she sets off a civil war, in gheldien she sets off a war. Just back to back books she is directly causing riots. Also gently caress Egwene. Look at me everything goes my way no matter what
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Jan 3, 2016 08:50
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Just flicked through the Companion in a bookshop and it is absolute dreck. Did you know that Moridin was 'very intelligent and damned clever'?
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Jan 3, 2016 12:58
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They really needed the time to touch up the companion huh. It's pretty interesting to think of all the Bubble of Evil poo poo as being caused by Balefire. Not sure if it applies to the time they all get attacked by bedsheets though... but there might have been some Balefiring going on then too. Man, Jordan was really good with "mindfuck/time-loop/Mirror-images/Playing Cards attacks"-scenes (maybe his more pulpy-Conan background there).
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Jan 4, 2016 21:40
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Pimpmust posted:They really needed the time to touch up the companion huh. Moraine used Balefire in The Dragon Reborn to kill the dark hounds, so it could work timeline wise
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Jan 4, 2016 23:47
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Pimpmust posted:They really needed the time to touch up the companion huh. I thought Jordan was pretty good at getting into someone's head. Like Rands ongoing interactions with lews therin make sense in his head but then looking from outside you see how insane he is. Or mat having a nice game of cards and then out of loving nowhere hurling daggers through his cards and screaming at the top of his lungs.
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Jan 5, 2016 06:59
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Yes, the psychological immersion is one of the higher points of the series, and sometimes a weakness ("alien" thought process depending on the reader/character). On the earlier Aiel chat Topic, something not bought up is that Jordan based them quite heavily on the Zulu - ritualized warfare/raiding, but also silent bad asses with spears that broke with their earlier "bloodless" style of warfare when westerners enter the picture - and certain native american societies with the touch honor thing (and cotton, maize etc). A little jewish and muslim parts sprinkled on top for background stories/cultures.
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Jan 5, 2016 14:40
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I finally decided to pick WoT up again and I'm on book 4 (right after cold rocks got attacked) and drat the Aiel are by far the most badass/interesting thing in these books so far. I hope we get lots and lots more Aiel. Meanwhile Perrin/Nynaeve continue to annoy the poo poo out of me.
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Jan 5, 2016 19:14
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Stereo posted:Meanwhile Perrin/Nynaeve continue to annoy the poo poo out of me.
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Jan 5, 2016 19:32
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Nynaeve becomes the best of the supergirls by the end of the story. She's actually quite likeable there. Unfortunately for Perrin, his girlfriend is central to one of the worst storylines in WoT. The Aiel remain mostly cool, and they feature more or less heavily in all of the remaining books.
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Jan 6, 2016 10:04
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Torrannor posted:Nynaeve becomes the best of the supergirls by the end of the story. She's actually quite likeable there. Unfortunately for Perrin, his girlfriend is central to one of the worst storylines in WoT. The Aiel remain mostly cool, and they feature more or less heavily in all of the remaining books. I find I really don't mind Faile at all after that storyline though. She's just super helpful afterwards and actually seems to get along with Perrin.
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Jan 7, 2016 19:18
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Lord of chaos remains my favorite book in the series. I'm so happy I'm finally to it.
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Jan 8, 2016 02:18
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Pesmerga posted:Just flicked through the Companion in a bookshop and it is absolute dreck. Did you know that Moridin was 'very intelligent and damned clever'? Yup. We now have the Big Black Book of Bad Glossaries to go with the Big White Book of Bad Art.
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Jan 8, 2016 05:55
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fordan posted:Yup. We now have the Big Black Book of Bad Glossaries to go with the Big White Book of Bad Art. Yeah but it talks about the age of legends and stuff. So that's cool
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Jan 8, 2016 06:25
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Torrannor posted:Nynaeve becomes the best of the supergirls by the end of the story. She's actually quite likeable there. Basically: Book 1: "I hate all Aes Sedai forever because one of them saved me and all my friends from getting killed and the guy I like won't bone me." Book 2: "I hate all Aes Sedai forever because they keep treating me, a student, like some sort of student or something." Book 3: "I hate all Aes Sedai forever because I went off like a dumbass and got myself into yet another mess again and got rescued by a man. Also, a couple-few of them did try to kill me." .......... Book 7: "I hate all Aes Sedai forever because those inept autistic witches failed to come to grips with basic political realities and stuck my friend in a box and rendered themselves impotent through infighting and marooned me on the other side of the world looking for a stupid bowl." .......... Book 13: "Hey, I just realized that maybe I should try to fix that whole Aes Sedai thing now that I'm on the inside. Who knew?"
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Jan 8, 2016 23:44
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I actually give Nyn a lot of slack. Yes she is one dimensional in some ways but! She can only channel when angry. Her entire life has been a process of being angry and saving lives. Then she's in training but can only advance if she's angry as gently caress all the time. It makes sense that she gets better once she starts being able to channel without being angry.
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Jan 9, 2016 15:43
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She's a lot like the Hulk if you think about it.
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Jan 11, 2016 18:56
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Yanno, it's been well fleshed for what the inspiration for the Aiel society and all that, but what about all the other nations in Randland? Like what mixture of analogues would make Arad Domain or Saldaea? Andor sounds like a bit too much of a fanciful England, down to the stuffiness, pasty pale haired nobility, and Camelot-with-a-funny-name for a capital. The Dipshit fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Jan 11, 2016 |
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Jan 11, 2016 21:37
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I always figured Cairhien and Tear to be France and Spain analogues respectively, but frankly there doesn't seem to be a straight 1:1 comparison for any of the nations - Jordan seemed to like to pick and choose from various like-societies - which made them more interesting imo
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Jan 11, 2016 21:59
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Lord of Chaos is good.
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Jan 11, 2016 22:07
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RC Cola posted:Lord of Chaos is good. It is. The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven and Lord of Chaos are probably the best Wheel of Time books. The pace slows down noticeably in the later books, though there are still brilliant scenes in them, like Swowan Night in A Crown of Swords, The Law in Path of Daggers or With the Choedan Kal in Winter's Heart.
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Jan 11, 2016 22:16
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JawKnee posted:I always figured Cairhien and Tear to be France and Spain analogues respectively, but frankly there doesn't seem to be a straight 1:1 comparison for any of the nations - Jordan seemed to like to pick and choose from various like-societies - which made them more interesting imo I kinda thought Cairhien was a bit of a mix of French and Japanese social elements (especially with the con and the powdered heads), with Tear being god-knows-what, not merchant princes(es) like Arad Domain, but some odd mix of some super oppressive caste-like culture with a Mediterranean climate.
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Jan 12, 2016 00:27
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Arad Doman is Influenced by China - you'll note they eat Chinese food with chopsticks and are described as Asian in appearance, good traders who will rip you off ( but not as good as the sea folk), and their women are particularly seductive - all oriental stereotypes. That being said, Shara is more like China in other respects ( socially and politically).
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Jan 12, 2016 09:28
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The Lord Bude posted:Arad Doman is Influenced by China - you'll note they eat Chinese food with chopsticks and are described as Asian in appearance, good traders who will rip you off ( but not as good as the sea folk), and their women are particularly seductive - all oriental stereotypes. The Domani are pretty interesting in that they're basically people from the Indo-Chinese border, in that the way their attitudes to people are typically more Indian as are their looks, but the stereotypes that develop as well as other aspects end up being more Chinese.
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Jan 12, 2016 18:23
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