The trap I never expected Jordan(son) to step into! [SPOILERS!]

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Jordan is (or was? I think he still is the master, what with us now reading his legacy) the master of foreshadowing, prophecy, and twisting it all around. AMoL has so much of that. Things that were foreshadowed in book one came to fruition here. It's amazing.

And then Egwene died.

Don't get me wrong, I loved her death. It was glorious and wonderful and heroic and wow.

But seriously. :indifferent: Deus Ex Machina. How the heck can someone who is such an epic master of foreshadowing not even once mention the opposite of balefire? Jordan created a problem, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere comes a solution. Egwene's death provided the deus ex machina gun to pretty much change the tide of the battle.

And it just doesn't sit right with me. If there's ever a series I hadn't expected this from, it's The Wheel of Time, where everything is brilliantly foreshadowed. I'm thoroughly disappointed.

Thus, my question to you guys: am I missing something? Am I missing some foreshadowing about anti-balefire many books ago?
 
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Nope. I'm with you. This surprised me, because there were no clues, and I hate when such things happen. The emphesis she placed on Perrin's words, as if that made any sense, was troubling. Because he said "it's just a weave," she understood that it's NOT, and therefor that it has an opposite weave? Unclear.

It reminded me a little of Sanderson's mechanism in the Mistborn trilogy, with the opposite metals thing. It had a clear "Sanderson" sense to me, not a Jordan one. Not that that means it's really Sanderson and not Jordan, but it's just annoying as hell.
 
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Jaryd Kosari

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Everything in the series has a balance/opposite, and Egwene's good at coming up with new/old weaves that no one knows how to make. I was neither surprised nor unhappy about it. :P
 

Toral Delvar

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Yeah, I think one of the main themes of the whole series was balance, so a weave to balance balefire makes sense
 

Ealandrelle Melyma

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I think in some ways it was foreshadowed, to a point. As others have said, the whole series has been about Balance. Also, I found quite a lot of the book (and perhaps even ToM) repeatedly mentioned how when it came to violence/warfare, although they were more proficient in the Power, the Aes Sedai of the AoL just didn't really have a clue. When they realised what balefire did, it was more an "Oh heck, don't use that!" reaction, rather than any consideration that there may be a counter to it. It's also been repeatedly said through the series how good Egwene was at coming up with new weaves (or rediscovering old ones), so it made sense that if anyone would come up with a way to counter balefire, it'd be her. Well, that's what I think with hindsight anyway. At the time of reading it, I was a bit "WTF?! Not Egwene!". But then, she'd have been miserable without Gawyn anyway :(
 
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Perrin used the "It's only a weave" the first time in ... was it ToM? Or TGS? Not much foreshadowing there, but ...

It has been indicated that most things should have a counter. Moghedien remarked to Nynaeve or Elayne (can't remember) when she was a prisoner, that everyward can be woven through without detection, for instance. We also know that Cuendillar cannot be destroyed by it, so the imperfection of the near-unstoppable weapon has always been very clear.

So I think there are slight indications to that possibility out there. It fits with the world that there would be a counter to it.

I agree that this new weave was created very quickly, though. Too quickly. I could've done with more foreshadowing in this book. It was all very sudden. She could at least have gotten some time to consider what might counter balefire.
 

Ealandrelle Melyma

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Would anyone have thought to create a counterweave before this, though? It basically came to her in desperation, when she was in a fury. It reminds me of that weird state that Confessors would go into (Blood Rage?) to seek vengeance (been ages since I read Sword of Truth so I'm unsure on the details). People had always been told that balefire had no counter, even the DO couldn't reach beyond it. I think that it took a situation like the one Egwene found herself in to come up with it.

With all that said, I do agree it could have done with a bit more foreshadowing, as it's only with hindsight that I can see what I feel are hints about it. There was nothing in the book which made me think "This is going to happen." Maybe that's a good thing!
 

Ariadne Davion

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It was the need for balance. It was such an obvious flaw in the system that I doubt it needed foreshadowing. :)
 

Marlinya Nedruine

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I thought there could have been some more foreshadowing in the previous books, but in this book, Egwene instinctively wove something that seemed to fix the cracks when they first started appearing. I expected her to use that weave again later.
 

Jeffan Caliarthan

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"It's only a weave." is mentioned several times, and Egwene thought about it a little bit before she created the anti-Balefire weave. That, combined with her ability to rediscover/create new weaves, makes total sense to me.
 

Ty al'Djinn

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We must keep in mind that all Aes Sedai learn completely useless weaves for that machine thing, and so learn a certain amount of utility for creating some on the fly.

Egwene Al Vere also had the huge advantage of being able to see the Tower's records sealed to the Flame- the flame of Tar Valon. The Crystals it left have been seen elsewhere, or at least similar things have been, and the actual weave is, as others have said, completely about the balancing out of the other side.

Perhaps it wasn't forshadowed since the beginning since some things were, but in this case, that would not have been appropriate- I think that Egwene probably didn't have the ability to even think of something like this until TGS, and Perrin's remarks simply gave her a different frame of mind in which to work.

Being able to figure the weave out is also something you have to remember she had put -tons- of time into thinking on, even if only in her subconscious mind. That, in a moment of high stress, she would be able to rise to the challenge is of no surprise to me.
 

Braydon Roque

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I've heard people say that it is foreshadowed as the way the Jenn Aiel died. Because of some mention of Crystal. I can't remember it. Any help?
 
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Do we have any other examples of weaves that are opposites of each other? I'm not talking about a ball of fire and creating water. I'm talking about actually opposites.
 

Jodea Kegan

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No, but then balefire is the only one that would need an opposite since balefire is pure destruction. Other weaves use elements to manipulate the patter, not destroy it entirely
 

Sorcha Al'Verdan

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I think this was foreshadowed by Nynaeve, and the way she rooted out Compulsion and insanity by weaving the opposite thing. Egwene had to know about that. Her problem was that she had elevated balefire to a status where she didn't think of it as a weave anymore, and thus discounted that it had a counterpart. Perrin's reminder was needed for that reason, but she had the knowledge from Nynaeve, imo. :look:
 

Ty al'Djinn

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I'd have to agree with Sorcha. Every weave has an opposite- what can be done, can be undone, and vice versa. The weave may not be a formulaic opposite, but opposite in purpose- Egwene, with her Talents and knowledge, had by this time had enough experience to figure out how to create a weave she had been giving some time about on the fly. Something so pure, so whole, that it was the exact opposite of something that would be meant only to destroy. She did it on instinct and gut feeling from there, something I can certainly relate to.
 
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I don't have time to find the quote now, but Moghedien mentions to Nynaeve and/or Elayne in Lord of Chaos that every ward can be woven through, but that there are a thousand variations to every ward, so to figure out the correct weave to use is very difficult. That is; not destroy wards, but weave through and bypass them. That's a counter, imo.
 
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