The Wheel of Time Re-read (currently reading - Lord of Chaos)

Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum

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I'm going to let myself ball behind for a bit. I've fallen in love with another book, and work has been busy most of the time. :look:
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Ooh, we've finally caught up to where I was in my own reread, before I put it on hold :)

Yeah, I just listened to the chapter where the girls meet the Aiel and then are captured...
First off, I understand Egwene's frustration about Nynaeve deciding for all of them that they will disembark from the ship. That is a decision they should make together. Nynaeve is so used to being in charge (when there is no Aes Sedai around) so it is important that she is reminded to include the other two. When it comes to the Healing though, I understand why she made the decision alone. First of all, she is the Healer amongst them, and second, there really wasn't an opportunity for them to debate it.

I cringed during almost all that conversation between them and the Aiel though... Why talk and display such ignorance OVER and OVER? But it is good that they did help them, since they needed their distraction during the bandit attack...
 
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You're right Hal, I think I've just accepted it as fact, but there never really was any proof.
 

Toral Delvar

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The gray man (the extra one he didn’t see) makes it likely they were.
 

Morgana Arakos

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I'm finally caught up on my reread! :joy Gonna hop in to discussions once I read back through the past 26 pages. :giggle
 

Aduiavas Ida

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I read the chapter where Perrin & Co are in Illian.
I love the paragraph where the Gray men are coming, how he notices them, but doesn't think about it.
But why does Moiraine insist that she must go to investigate alone?
 

Jaryd Kosari

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But why does Moiraine insist that she must go to investigate alone?

Thanks to details like this and when Moiraine took off from Fal Dara mysteriously near the same time as the Darkfriend meeting at Shayol Ghul, I am halfway convinced that Jordan originally intended for Moiraine to either be Black Ajah, or somehow compromised between EotW and TGH, and then changed his mind. :P
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Yeah, he certainly makes Moiraine a lot more mysterious in these first three books than I remember her being later...
 

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I always wonder how much of a multi-book storyline authors have when they sit down and write the first couple books.

I imagine authors sometimes feel a bit constrained by decisions they made 4 books before when they get some better idea about a plot direction or characters backstory...
 
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Yeah, he certainly makes Moiraine a lot more mysterious in these first three books than I remember her being later...
She disappears for half the series though.
 

Toral Delvar

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I didn't dislike Mat in the earlier books in the way that some people did, but he was a little whiny and irresponsible (even if some of his worst attributes were dagger inspired, and other poor choices are at least as much the fault of Moiraine or others for assuming that if they just keep him ignorant, he would behave the way they wanted), but he is now by far my favourite character
 

Toral Delvar

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plenty of excitement in these chapters, hardly any dead space at all
Chapter 42
Back to Easing the Badger

I'm a little amused that Perrin thinks the girl is singing things right out rather than hinting
Nieda doesn't believe in snow
Moiraine is frightened, but Perrin can't smell it
Perrin smells the wrongness of the gray men - they were after him. The smell goes when they die
What are boggles and bugbears?
Moiraine finally realises Perrin is important. She thinks the Amyrlin might be able to use him and Mat to affect world events - I don't think this is how ta'veren work
Chapter 43
Perrin stands straighter when Faile mentions how strong he is, then slouches when he realises he is doing so
"Darkhounds are almost as dangerous as Myrddraal" - I think Lan is wrong here, they are a lot more dangerous
Perrin sees Mat dicing with ba'alzamon - is this a general thing, or something specific he is doing now
He also sees Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve fall into a trap and sees Liandrin laughing at them and Lanfear laughing at her
Chapter 44
How does Moiraine know that it is Sammael who rules Illian?
Is Loial right that the carving was an Ogier? Why would someone carve an Ogier?
How did Moiraine know balefire?
"Forbidden by vows almost as strong as the three oaths" - this is an odd way of phrasing it
Mat is investigating fireworks, trying to see what happens
Darkfriends seem to find Mat really easily.
Mat is bothered by the woman Thom kills, but he doesn't seem to obsess over it the way Rand does
Chapter 45
Mat remembers thinking Caemlyn was too loud, but now it sounds like a hearbeat pumping wealth
Mat has holes in his memory and only remembers parts of Caemlyn
The guard tries to arrest Mat for a Darkfriend
Rand is mentioned as looking like Tigraine. We don't have enough information yet to figure out she is his mother, especially as we know she was an Aiel warrior
Mat never gets round to reading, though he always intends to
 

Hal Bahalla

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How did Moiraine know balefire?

I don’t recall if she mentions where she learned it, but didn’t she say in an earlier chapter/book that she could be stilled just for knowing the weave for it?

And for as dangerous everyone seems to talk about BF being, and how much no one uses it anymore, an awful lot of people seem to use it pretty regularly if they think they can get away with it...

And something I’ve realized this reread is that I had the source of Matt’s gifts wrong from my first read. I thought he got his luck, old tongue skills, and battle field know how from his deal through the doorways. But he clearly has them long before either trip through the doors. He gets more detailed memories from the second door, but there are signs here and there of the potential natural skillfulness through the earlier books. However I would have thought he’d be a better stones player than he is...
 

Aduiavas Ida

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I think Moiraine mentions that she learned it recently, in the period when she was AWOL. I think it was in the Great Hunt, or beginning of Dragon Reborn. The quote is "more dangerous than when I last faced the Forsaken" or faced something anyway, I don't remember exactly what she says...
 

Toral Delvar

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Is it possible to learn weaves from a book, or only by copying someone? Other than when someone spontaneously creates a new weave - Rand does it with balefire as well.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Both Egwene and Nynaeve seems to learn weaves instinctively, but that may be because they are still learning?
Many of the Sisters who's POV we see, have some sort of weave that they think they are alone in knowing...
 

Toral Delvar

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Do we ever see someone fully trained spontaneously doing something new? When Egwene and Elayne demonstrate their new weaves, we see Aes Sedai making new things out of them, but Egwene (I think) is suspicious of how quickly they adapt it, and she suspects that this one one of the personal weaves the Aes Sedai already knew (spying on people, making them do things and Healing seem to be the most common things that wilders do)
 
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