Couples (whole book spoiler)

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I think the older man/ younger woman thing has been going on in real life mainly because of the things that attract men, and the things that attract women. How many couples do you know in real life where the woman is younger... sometimes much younger?

However, in WOT you mention the long lifespans of women channellers. I don't think that really affects the things that attract the women to the older men in the first place. Love really isn't thought out. It's there or it isn't. I think the Aes Sedai and the women of the waste deal with it in good ways for them, but it just seems weird to us because 1 man and 1 woman can live together for a lifetime in our lives. In WOT, you have wise ones that get married 3 or 4 times in their long lifespans. The Aes Sedai may not get married, but their warders get old and die... and then just get replaced by younger warders.

The women just get lots of lovers because they live so long.
 
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Hmm. The spices of life! I had forgotten about how some of the Wise Ones have been through multiple spouses and whatnot.
 
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I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but Moirane is from Cairhien where discussing anything remotely close to love and romance publicly is very rare. So it seems likely that any hints we would have from her would be subtle. Just a thought.
 
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I'll admit that the whole Moiraine and Thom thing caught me somewhat off guard, but I'll also say that I saw a few signs, thought about it and then was like "Nah, he doesn't like Aes Sedai, and in the 4th book, he wasn't pleased at being brought into "Aes Sedai plots""
 
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Since the topic title isn't specific I'm throwing my own thought about couples in here.
What is the deal with several relatively young women, who will live a long, long time, falling for men who were already much older than they are.
Siuan-Gareth
Moiraine-Thom
Nynaeve-Lan

If Moragse actually practices her Channeling, even though she is weak, it could give her extended life, and she at least has someone who is younger and won't drop off in like 20 years. :p

Yeah that's the sad side of a lot of these relationships.

Most of them (bar untimely incidents) will be living a looooooooooooooooooong time past their men.
 

Caliden Al'Waes

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The one thing that makes the relationship ok for me is they are probably roughly the same age. The only difference is she's ageless and he's aged. Ha! But I've re-read and I still didn't see the sparks. I just saw a lot of anger at Aes Sedai and then in Carhein when she corners him and bribes him to follow the girls, I just don't see the love connection. I don't even see the mutual respect.
 
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It would be nice to see a few characters not get to be happy ever after, if simply to make it a tad more realistic from an interpersonal perspective, but you can't really crowd that many Ta'veren together without expecting a few statistically unlikely things happening.

At this point, I'm betting Nynaeve and Lan don't get a happy ending :(
 

Sorcha Al'Verdan

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For me the first real sign was when Mat was talking to Thom about the letter, and Thom made the comment 'sometimes its hard to tell when a woman is a friend, enemy or lover - sometimes, she's all three.'
 

Jaryd Kosari

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Thom and Moiraine in no way surprised me. :laugh:
 
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I saw this coming, if only because I cheated and looked on the online theories before I finished and got spoiled. But it does make sense, there is alot of foreshadowing for this in the beginning. More than for some of the other things that happen, at least. Like for example the Arthurs Hawking's armies were briefly mentioned in TEoTW, in like one sentence when giving examples on rumors. And lo and behold, the seanchan came back. Or Briggity was just a story, but she ended up real also. There are others.
The only thing is, for those who think this is another happy ending in a story with lots of happy endings, I have to disagree. I think that the two women and Rand will all die in the circle with Callandar when they Face the DO. Rand will die, Moiraine will die, and Nyvern will die.
No happy endings for them or their lovers.
 

Henry Skyn

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I have an alternative view and doubt that there will be a bloodbath in the last book for the heroes and heroines of this series. Of course we do not have long to wait now to see who is right.
I base my view in that in the first 13 books there has been absolutely no important character belonging to the Light who has died. The most prominent character who has died is Verin and after all she is not only a Black but had a pretty attractive death scene.
Yes I expect a few will have to die. My personal guess is Cadsuane who has no pair which I think is a pity as I admire her character but I cannot see her joining the Kin to give her more life but I am going to keep hoping for just a little longer.
 
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The first hint I saw of Thom and Moiraine was in book two when Rand visits Thom, and notes that Thom's reaction when rand mentioned Moiraine seemed a little odd.
 

Ghorum Nuchin

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I was surprised it took that long for them to get together, ignoring the whole being locked away in a magic other-worldly prison thing.
Seriously didn't like the abruptness of their hooking up, but I haven't liked a lot of the abruptness of everything in the last book or two.
 

Almira ni'Caldazare

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Moraine always seemed a little cold to me. I never imagined her having a romance but I wanted Thom to be happy. He is passionate and I wanted him to have someone to share it with. I guess opposites attract!
 
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I always thought Thom seemed way too old for moraine even though being aes sedai she could be much older. I think it's the gray beard, it just shouts grandad haha
 
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Plus Morraine has not only been through the rings for her testing for accepted but also Rhuidean and the door way in Tear, she could have seen Thoms face at any time.
 

Dars al'Kaskade

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Having finally finished ToM, I did find myself thinking, man, is everyone going to get married right now? Thom and Moiraine is obviously the standout example at this stage, and while it seems to have been hinted at earlier, it really took a big leap from subtlety to PDA. Which couldn't help but feel a little awkward, but at this stage, there wasn't any other way to do it, as M had been out of circulation for so long.

As far as all of the other couples, I like Morgase/Tallanvor and Mat/Tuon the most, possibly because they take their time working through obstructions and even when the players aren't on the same page, you can see read the affection between the lines. Perrin/Faile work well too, but I got so incredibly tired of every other part of Perrin's arc that it soured me a bit on them.

With Rand, he and Elayne make plenty of sense (although the fact that they're almost siblings is a touch sketchy from our perspective, if not theirs as royal bloodlines in that world) but personally I've always been more invested in Rand/Aviendha. Maybe it's the rough-edges thing again. Even though Rand/Min is perhaps the single most normal relationship in the WoT, somehow I've never entirely bought it. It's almost as though we've always been told, not shown how much they love each other (except in Min's case, where being shown is being told).

Lan/Nyneave happened fast, but I like to think of Lan really being impressed when Nynaeve 'tracked' the group from Emond's Field, seeing in her someone just as passionate and stubborn as him, but in a different way than Moiraine.

Others...Egwene/Gawyn, just seemed too obvious, one perfect pairing too many (I also always thought that Egwene would've chosen Blue over Green, Ajah-wise). They work well together as Aes Sedai and Warder, but I feel that they didn't need to be developed quite so much as a romantic pair, at least not until later. Maybe leave that to the future. Siuan/Bryne, kinda odd--talk about fixating on a oath, man--but I like. Siuan is a favorite of mine.
 
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I'd love to see a Selucia - Karede union :) They'd be a perfect mother/father-in-law for Mat :rofl His favorite Seanchans :hug3
 
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Oh my gosh that would be fantastic. :laugh:
 
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