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Artonos posted:I always pictured loial as having fur all over. Is that incorrect? I may have just been way off. I missed a lot of the diversity of the races too if I'm being honest, until later in the books. Just because it wasn't focused on as much. I've always pictured the Ogier as pretty scruffy, but more like hirsute men than full-on fur.
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Sep 8, 2019 19:47
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Apparatchik Magnet posted:What weird land do you live in where Christian fundamentalists are a real threat? I confess I don't understand the point of reading fantasy when you're living one. America?
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Oct 7, 2019 18:02
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Are there any ebook deals on this series? I own it in physical form, but the books are all so chunky they're uncomfortable to read. My kindle is so small and light that it's spoiled me. I'd gladly pay a few bucks per book to get them in digital form. However, I can only seem to find them at $10/book-ish. 
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Oct 14, 2019 15:40
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Sab669 posted:Yea like a more spritely Gandalf without the beard. So I think Patrick Stewart with a mustache is probably right. Just cast Cary Elwes, dye his hair a shade towards silver, have him grow a 'stache (or give him a fake one).
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Oct 15, 2019 23:30
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awesmoe posted:actually, nobody is worse than elayne, not even faile Agreeeeeeeed
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Oct 29, 2019 21:47
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:Mat was always pretty funny, but definitely more so in the last 3 books. His swear word-laden letter to Elayne was loving hilarious. I think that was the first point in the series that actually made me laugh audibly. I loved that letter, and not just because of the words. I was so goddamned tired of Elayne's everything that it was nice just to see someone try to pop her little bubble.
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Nov 22, 2019 21:21
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ChubbyChecker posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ekugPKqFw What even is my life when I recognized this URL before I clicked
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Nov 27, 2019 21:49
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silvergoose posted:With the preview or just the url?? Just the URL man.
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Nov 27, 2019 22:21
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I'm looking forward to most of the major events in the series on screen, TBH. I hope this show does well enough to have a big-rear end budget by time they get to Dumai's Wells. Early season stuff could be done without much flash, throwing most of the fx budget at the Seanchan invasion, but Dumai's Wells really blows the lid off what channelers are capable of when they cut loose.
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Dec 18, 2019 22:22
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Gawyn rhymes with Dwayne, a name I literally can't help but associate with dumb redneck jocks thanks to growing up in rural Oklahoma. It helps me remember that Gawyn is also a dumb jock. I'm sure that's unfair to some Dwaynes, and I'm sorry.
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Dec 20, 2019 17:39
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Wait, Gawyn isn't pronounced Ga-wain? Which would rhyme with Dwayne? *checks glossary* gently caress. I've been pronouncing this wrong for like twenty drat years.
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Dec 20, 2019 18:11
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I just bought the complete WoT collection for my Kindle. I haven't read the complete series since KoD came out. 12,400+ pages. That's a lot of words.
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Jan 13, 2020 19:00
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Colonel Cool posted:Was any Darkfriend ever redeemed in the entire series? I seem to recall them all being weirdly committed in a way that struck me as kind of unrealistic. Ingtar and Verin come to mind.
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Mar 10, 2020 20:36
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The Aes Sedai absolutely live up to their reputation, too. They meddle in everything, and think it is their right and duty to do so. Think of when Gareth Bryne talked about getting dressed down by the Amyrlin in front of his whole army. That sort of thing just continues the cycle of distrust. Thousands saw that single event, first-hand.
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Mar 11, 2020 17:01
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Also Lancelot of the Lakes, etc. Names got layers! One of my favorite things about WoT is just how many layers it has. It leans almost impossibly hard into the cyclical nature of time as a narrative, with virtually every character being a reference to, or amalgamation of, multiple others both fictional and real. WoT cribs from everything, shamelessly, and treats its straight.
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Mar 13, 2020 16:06
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COOL CORN posted:Galad and Gawyn are definitely names inspired by Arthurian myth right? Galahad and Gawain? Yes. Arthurian myth shows up throughout the series. Callandor is the Sword in the Stone (of Tear), for example. Andor (and specifically the Trakand line) has more than its fair share of Arthurian reference tho. Norse mythology is also a heavy influencer, with Mat having strong Odin vibes and Perrin having more than a fair share of Thor.
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Mar 13, 2020 16:23
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Invalid Validation posted:I appreciate the Seanchan having a little nuance. They could have easily been petty tyrants to everyone. The Seanchan are kind of fascinating, in that they have had a thousand+ years since Hawkwing to develop a completely separate society from Randland. One that not only does NOT have Aes Sedai influence acting as a sort of yoke on the wheel of politics, but one that also went as far as possible in the other direction.
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Mar 16, 2020 22:21
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Vavrek posted:Yeah, that's what he said, but I'd heard Harriet always claimed Moghedien was the closest, or had the most aspects of her, something like that. Actually digging for a quote, however, led me to this interview: 
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Mar 21, 2020 04:36
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Eh! Frank posted:Awww, I was really excited about Lucy Lawless until he said that was for another show Myrelle or Moghedian are my choices.
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Mar 23, 2020 22:38
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I'm in the early/middle parts of Crown of Swords on my big re-read. The books have gotten longer, and the chapters have gotten longer. I expected that, but this time, I've noticed something that I did not notice before: much of that extra length is just recaps. A lot--and I do mean a lot--of chapters follow a sort of pattern. Recap what happened before, respond to that, then do something new. At first--I first noticed this somewhere in Fires of Heaven, which means it was probably going on for a book or two before that--recaps were limited to the early chapters in the series. Any that happened later in the book were typically short, and usually after you got back to a character who had been off-screen for a while. But now, as the number of POVs increase, and how some of them disappear hundreds of pages, we're getting lengthy recaps every time there's a POV change, which seems to be every few chapters. Chapters where the recaps are done quickly or in an interesting fashion are getting fewer and farther between. Moghedian's chapter with the mindtrap is one of those. It recaps how she escaped the a'dam, quickly, then moves into the Pit, which is always fun. But that's still the THIRD time we've seen that event. I know this is going to get worse before it gets better. I'm trying to force myself to read everything in detail without skimming, but it's getting harder. Also, twice now, Rand's internal thoughts have referenced losing his hand before he would hurt Min.
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Apr 2, 2020 15:37
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Invalid Validation posted:I wonder if it’s cause even Jordan nobody was gonna remember cause it was at least a year between books and who was going to re read that many before the new one? The recap-react-move forward method is a pretty common thing, across multiple types of media. The purest form of it is the Newspaper Spider-Man comic strips. Every day except Sunday, there's a 3-panel comic that is a recap panel, a reaction panel, and a panel that moves the plot forward. The pace is glacial. On Sundays you get a bit more movement, because there's six panels. Recap, react, and four panels for something to happen. It's a tried-and-true method to make sure people know what's happening and can jump in at any time. The ever-expanding cast of Wheel of Time drives an ever-expanding set of side plots. Every time you switch between them, Jordan has to recap and react. More and more of each book is taken up with recaps and reactions. The series becomes more like weekday Spider-Man comics, which move at a glacial pace. Same thing happened with Game of Thrones with books four and five. Too many people, spread out too far, doing too many different things.
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Apr 2, 2020 17:21
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DarkHorse posted:Reading The Dragon Reborn and it's amazing how much is foreshadowed. Also how canny Nynaeve is, like how she immediately suspected Liandrin and figured out a lot of other stuff. All while being oblivious to herself. I'm up to Winter's Heart on my re-read. I'll throw a spoiler tag on the rest, just in case this is your first time. Nynaeve was really great in the early books, but she started to grate on me after The Dragon Reborn. She was in such denial--of her strength, of her intelligence, of her bossiness, of her want to be Aes Sedai--that she became a huge hypocrite. She was constantly berating others for her own failings, projecting her doubts and (perceived) shortcomings on everyone around her. She finally snapped out of it, when she finally got some of that Lan dick, and is back to being one of my favorites. Unfortunately, most of her screentime is shared with Elayne, who is loving insufferable.
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Apr 14, 2020 01:55
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The Faile stuff is bothering me a lot less on this re-read. In fact, it's kind of fun (so far) to watch Perrin turn into this Terminator-style implacable force. He's got one goal, and there's nothing on earth that's going to stop him. Berelain is the one that gets my ire, this time around.
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Apr 16, 2020 15:46
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Submarine Sandpaper posted:Unfortunately she is possibly the most competent ruler in the series. Galad for her in the end. True, but she's also a stalker and borderline sexual predator.
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Apr 16, 2020 15:56
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Vavrek posted:Huh. I didn't notice that either. I know she shows up in their dreams and generally messes with their heads, but I didn't get rapey vibes out of it.
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Apr 21, 2020 17:57
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I don't remember that. I mean, 12,000 pages, I forget some details, but I'll be on the lookout for that this go-round.
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I'm up to Knife of Dreams in my re-read. It's nice to be past Crossroads, which wasn't as bad as I remembered. I was dreading it, a lot, but wasn't as bad as I remembered. It still wasn't good. I think my biggest complaint right now is just how few people know about the Cleansing. Why the gently caress isn't Rand proclaiming this everywhere? Or the Asha'man? It's an Age-defining event that ended three thousand years of pain and suffering, for both men who can channel and their eventual victims. The most we have so far is one Asha'man being kind of a dick about it to the rebel Hall outside Tar Valon.
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May 4, 2020 17:06
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VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE posted:And the fact that these people are all related makes the effort Elaida spent on her foretelling entirely fruitless.and pointless. Elaida's vanity makes her interpret all her Foretellings in the way that most benefits herself. She completely omits any possibility of an alternate interpretation, and suppresses anyone who tries to bring it up. Coincidentally: elide transitive verb 1a : to suppress or alter (something, such as a vowel or syllable) by elision b : to strike out (something, such as a written word) 2a : to leave out of consideration : omit b : curtail, abridge
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May 8, 2020 02:32
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Perrin and Maiden’s Kiss illustrates what I always liked best about him: he’s both genuine and implacable. He does what he thinks is right, drat the consequences, and sets about it in the most direct way possible. He’s got a lot in common with Galad, now that I think about it. They both have extremely strong moral compasses, and follow them no matter the obstacles. The biggest difference is that we most often see Galad through Elayne’s eyes, and she hates him. I wonder if he’d be more sympathetic if we knew his thoughts more often. The chapter segment where he kills Valda is the only one I can think of where that happens, and it’s pretty good. Almost everyone but Elayne seems to get along with Galad. At worst, he comes across a bit aloof or arrogant, but tolerably so. Man Elayne really is the worst.
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May 8, 2020 08:01
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The "meta" nature of the story also reduces the impact of spoilers. This is, explicitly, a story where time is a wheel and the same things happen over and over again. Infinite variations of the same story, of every story. WoT shamelessly steals from everything. It boils those stories down to their bones, and then assembles them in a new way. That's how you have a book that is explicitly about the once and future king pulling a sword from the stone (of Tear) without it feeling like a complete rehash. Hell, the series opens with a book about a bunch of country folk who are whisked away by a wizard because a great evil is after them while dodging black-cloaked figures on the road and who are later met by a powerful ally at the first inn they visit. It amuses me that Nynaeve and Lan together are basically Aragorn. Nynaeve often fills Aragorn's role, and Lan has his backstory. Is it a surprise that their fates are continually intertwined? Is it a surprise that Nynaeve eventually raises an army for Lan to save the day and reclaim his birthright all at once? No. Because they're Aragorn, and that's what Aragorn did. Is this a spoiler? Debatable. All that said, I'm 100% OK with using spoilers when there's a new reader in the thread. The Babylon 5 thread does this for new watchers, and it's one of the most welcoming threads on the forums. It brings us a lot of joy when someone new pops in and wants to liveblog their thoughts. Using a few spoiler tags is a small price to pay for that joy.
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May 13, 2020 18:24
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I just finished The Gathering Storm in my re-read and, man, so much happens in that book. Just an incredible amount.
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May 14, 2020 02:10
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I take comfort in the rebels’ ultimate triumph because, as lovely as they are, Elaida and the tower group is worse.
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May 21, 2020 18:07
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Guiness13 posted:Wasn't Dashiva one of the body snatched Forsaken, though? It wasn't a disguise, it was just some poor s.o.b. who got his body stolen to rehome a soul. Yeah, he was Osan'Gar, who was the re-homed soul of that Forsaken that got wasted in Eye of the World. Bethamel, I think? Aran'Gar was Halima, who was Aginor, whose soul got stuck in a female body. He also got wasted in EotW.
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Jun 4, 2020 17:19
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I finished my re-read last week. Some random thoughts. * Towers of Midnight is easily the best of the Sanderson books and may tie with The Great Hunt for my favorite book of the series. * I liked Nyanaeve far more as an adult than on my last full read, back when I was a teenager * I loved reading about the Seanchan and their weird-rear end society all the way through the end, even if it's objectively awful with all the slavery and tyranny. * I absolutely love how Mat's legend starts outstripping him before the end of the books. By time AMoL comes around, most Seanchan can't decide if they're horrified or awestruck every time he's on screen. * A Memory of Light is kind of a mess, isn't it? It's not bad, exactly, but it reads more like a dry history of events than the evocative tale of high fantasy that we got from earlier books, even the other Sanderson books. Thing happens, then next thing happens, then another thing happens, and... * Every alternate universe flashback or flash-forward is amazing. All of them. "I have won again, Lews Therin." * Can someone spoil what the hell happened to Noal in the time between when he was gallivanting about as Jain Farstrider and the time that he joins up with Mat in Ebu Dar? I get the sense that he was doing something, somewhere, that was important to the plot. Did he show up in someone else's chapters, or as some kind of behind-the-scenes mover and shaker? * The Black Tower plotline was, ultimately, disappointing. * Androl owns, but why wasn't he spewing lava or whatever over entire fields of trollocs during the whole last battle? * Does Traveling have a distance limit? Could someone, perhaps, Travel to the moon? (Obviously it would be a short trip unless they could deal with vacuum, but still)
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Jun 9, 2020 21:10
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My big hope for the show is that they strike the same balance between "true to the books" and "makes changes that are necessary because film is inherently different from text" that we see in The Expanse. The TV series and books diverge in myriad ways, but they rarely lose sight of the plot or tone along the way.
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Jun 10, 2020 06:09
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DarkHorse posted:You have to know your origin point really well, knowing your destination apparently doesn't matter that much. It's even commented on a few times how weird it is, that it seems like the opposite should be the case. I always wished that this worked differently for men and women like everything else. Men bore a hole to their destination. Seems like they’d need to know where they’re going. Women make the two places so similar they might as well be the same. Seems they’d need to know the origin.
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Jun 17, 2020 13:52
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VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE posted:Yeah, but turns out the Dark One isn't really interested in giving his Chosen an actual leg up in the fight. And Drakghar can fly. It's basically only trollocs that have a major limitation in their movement.
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Jun 17, 2020 15:21
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Semhirage is straight up the most classically evil of all the forsaken. She’s a high functioning sadistic sociopath that destroyed the Seanchan empire at its roots, on top of all the nasty poo poo she did on screen.
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Jun 18, 2020 06:20
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TGS is awesome and Egwene actually does a lot of cool stuff in it.
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Jun 29, 2020 01:42
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Lan and Nynaeve are the best power couple, then Mat and Tuon, followed by Berelain and Galad.
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Jul 10, 2020 17:11
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Gaul and Talmanes are probably my favorite secondary characters, because they're total bros and funny as hell.
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Aug 15, 2020 02:35
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