Bela SPOILERS

[LordOfBattle]

Bella did so much more. She saved egwene life about 4 times. Nynaeve . Rand perrin oliver. Just mat I think did not ride her. Bela was a star. And she died senseless. That is what hurts the most. She deserved a grand death. But sadly like her creator the ole horse had to lie down. Thumbs up to the greatest writer ever lived.

 

[Almira ni'Caldazare]

In book four Rand names his horse Jiahadan (spelling?) Because he wanted the horse to get him home but I thought even then that Bella has to be the horse to get him to Tam in the end. Loosing Bella was almost as bad as Rand's fight with Tam when they reunite. Bella's death is the death of more than a horse... It is the death of Rands old life and/or a normal life.

 

[Iria Saronin]

I was also very sad and heartbroken about Bela. And the last words Olver says to her are just so... oh, I'm about to start crying again. They are so childish, yet very genuine and true. Bela would have deserved so much more, but I think that this ending made everything more real, with all the feelings of sadness, frustration and even hatred towards no-one particular. (Well, of course, because this is a book, we can always be angry at the writer or editor, but in real life when we have lost a loved one without any understandable reason, that anger points to nothing.)

I also think that Bela's death was one way to represent the randomness and insanity of war. Even though there were many deaths in the Last Battle, almost none of the 'important' deaths happened by simple accident, which I think made them easier to bear. Bela was a representation of innocent people (and horses ) dying at wars without almost anyone noticing, remembered and mourned only by those who knew and loved them.

 

[Amina Coram]

I also think that Bela's death was one way to represent the randomness and insanity of war. Even though there were many deaths in the Last Battle, almost none of the 'important' deaths happened by simple accident, which I think made them easier to bear. Bela was a representation of innocent people (and horses ) dying at wars without almost anyone noticing, remembered and mourned only by those who knew and loved them.

This is probably the most profound thing I've read today. I agree.

 

[Emerald ní Róhan]

I believe Sanderson has said that Harriet had specifically said that Bela had to die.

My response? F*** Harriet. And Sanderson.

 

[Rhed al'Tere]

I learned this past weekend that we'll learn something new about Bela in the companion coming out in November.

Also, the best costume I saw was a dead Bela. Harriet also approved, though it seems as though most people in this thread wouldn't care if she did or not. :P

I hated to see Bela die. But I don't see any way around it, either.

How did Olver end up on her to begin with? Maybe if that was shuffled around, Rand could have ended up on her. However, I also see the mad dash from the Trollocs with Olver as a connection to the mad dash from Emond's Field in book 1.

In my head, Bela is so totally tied to the Horn. She saved so many people (important people!) just by being herself, and she helped win the Last Battle. Sweet, stout little Bela with the heart of a warrior.

 

[Wil Cambrae]

Yes, angelic Bela :rofl

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

If wolves are tied to the Horn, so can horses

So yes, Bela is totally tied to the Horn Maybe she even is Rands/LTs horse

 

[Murun]

@ Axis m'Troutilas: Thank you! Your arguments made me laugh out aloud. But then, we've got to work with the text as it stands, haven't we?

Otherwise, I'm not a horselover (my Mom did't call me Philipp), and horses are just "collateral damage" in the wars of men (remember the final battle in KoD, "ah, the poor horses"). And no matter that Bela belonged to the al'Thor family, she was Egwene's horse most of the time. Whose demise ... hm. regrettable, but unavoidable? Eg was really used up by the pattern. And one can't even call it a tragedy ("an averagely good person, through a small mistake, falling from high to low" - Aristotle), it's just the fulfillement of her whole career.

 

[Emerald ní Róhan]

Well, you won't catch me crying over Egwene. From book 1 I wanted to slap her, and that never got better. But as Perrin noted, men choose to go to war, horses aren't given the choice, so what you call "collateral damage" I call victims of human arrogance. Like humans are somehow more valuable than horses? Please.:tug

 

[Roheryn ni Galghandhrei t'al'Djinn]

Well, you won't catch me crying over Egwene. From book 1 I wanted to slap her, and that never got better. But as Perrin noted, men choose to go to war, horses aren't given the choice, so what you call "collateral damage" I call victims of human arrogance. Like humans are somehow more valuable than horses? Please.:tug

QFT^ Thank you, Em!!

 

[Emerald ní Róhan]

QFT^ Thank you, Em!!

:fistbump

 

[Ixialdor Lathanril]

Because Harriet should not be in charge of plot decisions.

She's not a writer, and quite frankly she's a bad editor.


And killing off Bela was a bad decision. Would have been so easy to get her out of trouble. I'd like to see Rand ride away on her at the end, united back with the horse that was there when it started. That's a tearjerker.

That said, it's not only humans that are bound to the horn, animals can be as well. And if any animal deserves to be a Hero its Bela.

How cool would it have been for Bela to be the horse that Noal was riding in the end? Two of Olver's friends come back for him!

 

[Falone Charpontier]

How cool would it have been for Bela to be the horse that Noal was riding in the end? Two of Olver's friends come back for him!

*sniff* Perfect.... Ixialdor Gaidin, that would have been a triumph.

What I didn't like, was what made her so 'special'? A stout shaggy horse that could seemingly magically outrun a Thoroughbred?? Appears to Egwene in the World of Dreams??