Companion discussion!

Rhed al'Tere

Aes Sedai
Joined
May 4, 2002
Messages
14,053
Location
Durham, NC
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
I just love some of the phrasing used and how it would never have been used that way in the series "pull him out of his funk" "on the lam" "adventures were her bag" "roundheels".
At the signing Saturday, Team Jordan mentioned how the Companion was more casual than the books. They pulled a lot of the writing straight from Jordan's notes, so we're basically seeing how he wrote to himself. :D
 

Rhed al'Tere

Aes Sedai
Joined
May 4, 2002
Messages
14,053
Location
Durham, NC
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
While I enjoyed myself, I wouldn't say it was fun, exactly. It was nice to see Harriet, Maria, and Alan, as always, and a contingent of JordanCon regulars showed up from Atlanta and Nashville, so it was nice to see them as well.
 

Cahalan Sothron

Meme and Money Queen
Aes Sedai
Joined
Feb 10, 2015
Messages
17,808
Age
50
Location
Georgia
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
Discord
Maihgread#0
I have just noticed that the Altaran border is actually going pretty far north :look: If you study the map (yes, I am a map geek :geek) you see that Altara is actually between Ghealdan and Murandy almost all the way up to Emonds Field :look:

I'm a map geek, too. I probably know the WoT map better than the US map :laugh:
 

Alora Sionn

Mama Wolf
Gaidin
Joined
Oct 30, 2012
Messages
44,898
I got mine from Kass in the mail today! :joy
First entry read: Arafel :)
 

Eniara Kisharad

Historica Emerita
Aes Sedai
Joined
Sep 7, 2002
Messages
542
Location
Wellington, New Zealand
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
I know *most* of the women in the series are short compared to me, but I was always under the impression that I, at 5'10", would be average height among far dareis mai. But the ONLY two women I've been able to find in the Compendium who are my height or taller are Semirhage and Lanfear. This is sad. :p
 

Aduiavas Ida

Aes Sedai
Head of the White Ajah
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
20,134
Age
34
Location
Drøbak, Norway
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
The height measures don't mean anything to me, since I am a logical person in a country that uses the logical metric system :p So the only thing I could use them for is comparing them to each other :look: I could of course use a converter, but that is just too much bother :p
 

Rhed al'Tere

Aes Sedai
Joined
May 4, 2002
Messages
14,053
Location
Durham, NC
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
Really, Eniara? I thought the Maidens would be my height or taller. :scratch
 

Eniara Kisharad

Historica Emerita
Aes Sedai
Joined
Sep 7, 2002
Messages
542
Location
Wellington, New Zealand
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
Really, Eniara? I thought the Maidens would be my height or taller. :scratch

Yeah, the maidens and Wise Ones I looked up were averaging 5'8". Threw me! The men were all over 6', of course, and specific characters right around where I'd pegged them. I think RJ needed to revise his female heights with all that tall DNA in the Waste. :laugh:
 
Joined
Nov 29, 2015
Messages
3
Cadsuane is a badass. :swordy

Her entry describes the charms in her hair, and what they do, and one of them allows her to know there's a man who can channel within 30 or 40 feet of her. Which could be how she brought 20+ men to the Tower for gentling.

Men who, by the way, survived much longer after gentling than most. Something that Cadsuane did made the men live longer than other gentled men.

Cadsuane is by far my favourite character in the series. I know she gets a lot of hate, and I guess that's a testament to the quality and widespread appeal of the series that it can produce such divisive opinions. But I think she's awesome. RJ does have a way of producing powerfully dynamic female characters. I find that very enjoyable.
 

Alora Sionn

Mama Wolf
Gaidin
Joined
Oct 30, 2012
Messages
44,898
So I'd be maiden height, I kind of imagined them to be about that tall. I'd imagine Egwene to be about 5'3" and Moiraine to be about 5' :look:
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2010
Messages
4,315
Age
35
Location
Sweden
I've so far been very surprised at the power rankings and scalings.

I was very surprised that Rahvin was ranked on equal terms with Rand/Lews and Ishamael. At no point is that ever alluded to. I was certain Demandred and at least Aginor were superior to Rahvin in terms of ability

Haven't read the companion yet, but ... pure strength doesn't necessarily translate into applicable talent. We know that the modern Aes Sedai put way too much value into pure strength in the One Power. There's your skill at Talents and your finesse at weaving that also determine how powerful a channeller you are. So while Rahvin might able to draw as much of the One Power into himself as Rand and Demandred, perhaps he's just not as gifted otherwise, has fewer Talents and is crappy at weaving. That would explain why it's never mentioned that he's an especially powerful channeller (as far as Forsaken goes).
 

Rhed al'Tere

Aes Sedai
Joined
May 4, 2002
Messages
14,053
Location
Durham, NC
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
Very true. We see Kinswomen who can barely channel who can handle very complex Healing weaves that Elayne can't manage.
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2010
Messages
4,315
Age
35
Location
Sweden
Yeah. And we know that the strongest women can do the same thing as the strongest man (because women are typically better at making weaves). So perhaps Rahvin is the opposite of that, so clumsy at weaving that his raw power is wasted.
 

Kassina Tendar

Aes Sedai
Joined
Feb 22, 2012
Messages
11,584
Age
35
Location
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pronouns
  1. She - Her
Got the Companion for Christmas! :joy

Regarding levels with the Power, is there somewhere in the book where there's a description of what the numbers mean? All I see is random numbers in characters' entries. :brown-blink: Is there somewhere that mentions what the scale is? :scratch
 
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Messages
6,888
Age
39
Location
Israel
So I've just started, haven't even read anything yet, BUT...

I am really disappointed with the editing of this book.
While I understand wanting to do everything in an A-Z format, it just doesn't work here.
Where is the map index? Am I supposed to guess which maps are included and where they are? Also I was REALLY hoping to find some new map formats in this book. Instead they reused the old map drawings, which I hate. Wizards of the Coast have some GREAT maps in D&D now, and I really kinda hoped for something more updated in that spirit.
Where is the old tongue dictionary? Am I supposed to remember how each thing is said in the old tongue to find it by alphabetical order? If I remembered that, I wouldn't need a dictionary!
Why are geographical features presented in an A-Z order? A section for each geographical area should have been made in A-Z, but gather all the entries related to that place (for example, under A we could have found a section on Amadicia, which should have included Amador, the white cloaks, etc.), while all the characters should have been mentioned with an index page (so a white cloak would appear in Amadicia under "See page X").

In other words, while I'm sure this volume includes some excellent entries, I find it rather useless when I need to locate information not based on name. If I can't remember the name of the head of Tarabon, how am I supposed to look it up?!

I am very disappointed.
 
Top