your own examples show only OP prowess though!
darius_sedai Send a noteboard - 18/06/2010 06:54:38 PM
And how is that impressive to the Dark One?.
It shows that certain people are more impressive at getting ahead than others. Lanfear being the only one of this group who hadn't been internationally famed prior to her association with the DO leads me to think that she's not particularly accomplished outside of being strong in the Power, which made her difficult to kill for anyone. We know the DO likes his minions to be selfish and if there is one thing Lanfear is, it's selfish!
So the other twelve were proficient in their evil to the point that they were 'gifted' with names, except for Lanfear, who the public thought wasn't worthy enough of a name given in scorn? Go with that then.
I'm saying she was a nobody. She didn't get a name because the world at large didn't really know who she was, or care. IMO her personality would not allow for that so she did her typical drama queen thing and gave herself a Forsaken name and made a public spectacle... As Graendal would say "threw one of her tantrums"
I can see how Balthamel and Be'lal are so much more interesting.
I think Aran'gar, Moghedien, Graendal and Semirhage are all much more developed characters. I also think Sammael and Ishamael were more intense bad guys.
Lanfear seemed one-dimensional to me.
He's never shown lots of things, it doesn't mean they aren't there. Demandred is the most skilled man since Lews Therin and we've barely seen him channel. According to your philosphy, the man is obviously not very skilled at all.
Actually what we have seen of Demandred has been rather unimpressive IMO too! I've said it before, I'm not holding out hope that he will do anything of note before he gets killed off... mind you I'll be happy if he does!
There was plenty of opportunity to show Lanfear as something more than a big wad of OP strength. He chose to show us practically nothing else about her though.
Everyone is terrified of Semirhage, and Moghedien was the subject of the conversation because Nynaeve was tracking her. Birgitte didn't comment on the other FS either - doesn't mean anything. Lanfear is highly proficient in TAR because the author made her that way. Crying about the fact that you haven't seen her playing around in there doesn't mean she doesn't have the Talent.
You wanting Lanfear to be the greatest minion of the DO of all time doesn't make it it so either.
I've never said she didn't have Talent in TAR, that's obvious. I'm saying it fits her character to make grandiose gestures, like giving herself a name and claiming an entire dimension as her domain and thinking with the CK she and Rand could rule the universe. She was all talk and no action in the books. The most interesting thing she did was skin a DF and then die.
Note also that her big plan was all about gaining more OP strength! Why didn't her plot involve her "world" in anyway?
RJ used her over and over to show strength in the OP and pretty much nothing else. Semirhage and Graendal are shown to be highly skilled experts throughout the books, Moghedien showed us more about TAR than any of the other FS (possible exception of Ishamael).
I thought it was obvious that Lanfear served herself and was intent on winning Rand over and then killing everyone, including the DO.
It is ... which makes her stupid. The others all serve themselves too, but they are at least smart enough to put on a good show of serving the DO.
A half-trained girl, backed up by the DRAGON REBORN and a whole dock full of Aiel. Objective evaluation there from you.
Dude she was whipping Rand like a dog, and that was before she picked up the angreal! And that dock full of Aiel who couldn't channel? I like to refer to them as cannon fodder. Please.
I guess it's a triumph, though any of the Forsaken could have done it.
Sure, if they had spent the time to set up the situation and struck at the right moment. Diminishing the acts of the others to make Lanfear look better is a poor argument.
I'm just attacking your weak point that the Forsaken are all doing what they want there. Clearly they don't all have a dreamwalking Talent.
The point isn't what they did there, it's that Lanfear, the self-professed QUEEN OF TAR, let others stroll around her realm without even making a show of ownership.
What action? What are you talking about? Does Graendal plot revenge against other Forsaken who use Compulsion?
When did Graendal make the claim that Compulsion was her personal weave? But you can bet your ass she'd eliminate anyone who started mucking around in Arad Domon. Do you think Sammael would have been fine with Demandred roaming around Illian? Or Graendal would have let Mesaana set up shop in Bandar Eban? Look how fiercely Mesaana and Aran'gar fight over the WT groups!
The point is Lanfears claim to TAR is completely empty. Even if she was the most skilled there she had no hope of actually having ownership of TAR. The fact that she's not even the most skilled just highlights for me that she's all about the appearance of power, even if she doesn't have it. It fits with her character, but it makes her boring.
It was foolish and they're lucky they didn't die. I think you underestimate the mindtrap though. They were probably told to go there and bring Graendal to heel, and if she refused to summon SH. They were broken and terrified, and not themselves. Even Graendal says she started to feel uneasy at how they were behaving.
So Moridin is stupid too? Cyndane was certainly not acting meek or terrified until Moridin touched her Trap.
I'm sure the orders you summarize were pretty much as you said, but to tell them to stand there and do nothing is a good way to get two very powerful slaves killed. If Moridin thought they could subdue her he would have told them too do so, then summon SH when she was safely contained. At best Moghedien panicked and channeled when she should not have and the result was nearly being destroyed.
In any case it's an irrelevant point here.
I don't think she's the Dark One's best minion. I merely think that she's on a level with Semirhage and Graendal as the best of the female Forsaken. RJ wanted her portrayed like this, though you disagree that he did a good job of it. I'm not here to convince you of her prowess, merely to refute your statement that she is nothing more the OP strength. I think she's got lots of valuable qualities as a villain. Rand thought she was incredibly skilled when she fought him, and she did a fine job against Alivia. I don't really see a problem.
The top 6 are the top 6 ... all about equal in terms of deadliness and OP skills. As RJ told us these are people who are very skilled in both politics and personal protection... nothing to say they were the hardest working DO minions!
In fact I'd argue that these 6 were probably simply the most personally powerful of the Forsaken. Given that survival seems as important as anything else! What I like about Graendal especially is that she's got such skill outside of the OP, as did Sammael and Demandred! IMO she's a much better villain than Lanfear. Semirhage being a sadistic physician was a nice touch IMO, gave her some real dimension just like Graendal being the evil psychologist. Lanfear being the psycho-stalker was just bland to me ... "oooh the scary ex-girlfriend is gonna boil your bunny".
As for the others (not top 6), I think they had to make themselves more valuable to the DO in order to survive. Judging from SH's reaction to Alviarin I doubt very much the Forsaken just went around killing each other without some kind of rationale ... kill someone too valuable and you'd likely end up in hot water (maybe literally!). Who was going to kill Aginor for instance? He was likely the most significant contributor to the DO, but he's a wuss so he never had the nerve to be in the spotlight. But let's face it, without Aginor there would have been no WOS.
Domani Drag Queen in the White Tower ... Aran'gar watch out!
Forsaken translations
17/06/2010 09:16:36 AM
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Yeah...
17/06/2010 09:31:15 AM
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Semirhage is named as "The Lady of Pain" in KoD, by Rand...
17/06/2010 11:14:56 AM
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Do Semirhage & Bel'al actually mean those things or are they other nicknames?
17/06/2010 11:38:18 AM
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Nice ideas!
17/06/2010 02:10:43 PM
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The beauty of a re-read is that there are so many little gems I'd forgotten
17/06/2010 02:48:19 PM
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Re: The beauty of a re-read is that there are so many little gems I'd forgotten
17/06/2010 04:43:48 PM
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Gai'shain = those sworn to peace in battle
17/06/2010 09:22:02 PM
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Gaidin = Brother to Battle ... which is what I think the OP meant to use
17/06/2010 09:32:20 PM
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I always thought Lanfear probably translated to something closer to a Moon translation
17/06/2010 02:43:04 PM
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it's the other way around...
17/06/2010 02:58:33 PM
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good point
17/06/2010 03:13:17 PM
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Re: good point
17/06/2010 04:05:50 PM
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Not to mention she STILL hasn't earned a 3rd (or in 4th) name
17/06/2010 04:16:57 PM
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What about Cyndane
17/06/2010 04:48:03 PM
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It must be her favorite one, since it's the only one she actually earned *NM*
17/06/2010 05:43:41 PM
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Well she earned Mierin *NM*
17/06/2010 08:27:05 PM
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how so? I figured mom and dad gave that one too her *NM*
17/06/2010 08:36:24 PM
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she earned it by being born... ha! gotcha *NM*
17/06/2010 08:39:10 PM
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HA! But technically I think her mother earned that *NM*
17/06/2010 08:58:30 PM
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Re: good point
17/06/2010 04:47:01 PM
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Again, a self-proclaimed ownership aimed at making her seem more impressive
17/06/2010 05:55:12 PM
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I disagree
17/06/2010 06:20:08 PM
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Personally I think that order was off the cuff
17/06/2010 08:55:28 PM
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Re: Personally I think that order was off the cuff
17/06/2010 09:02:06 PM
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Disagree
17/06/2010 09:28:51 PM
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Re: Disagree
17/06/2010 09:41:23 PM
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I'm not being very clear
17/06/2010 10:14:10 PM
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Re: I'm not being very clear
18/06/2010 08:06:56 AM
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Re: I'm not being very clear
18/06/2010 03:33:12 PM
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Re: I'm not being very clear
18/06/2010 04:35:12 PM
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The point isn't if Lanfear has the skill, it's that it was poorly shown.
18/06/2010 05:31:11 PM
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I think it's shown well
18/06/2010 06:10:55 PM
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your own examples show only OP prowess though!
18/06/2010 06:54:38 PM
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The statement makes clear that those 6 were all quite impressive
17/06/2010 10:51:49 PM
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I don't see that bearing out in the text at all
17/06/2010 10:57:36 PM
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Like Etzel I don't agree
17/06/2010 08:30:37 PM
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I think she's a weak villain
17/06/2010 08:58:01 PM
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Re: I think she's a weak villain
17/06/2010 09:03:47 PM
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and slaughter the Seanchan empress on her own throne thowing the empire into chaos
17/06/2010 09:30:27 PM
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Semirhage has done more than anyone since Ishy destroyed the Ten Nations
18/06/2010 02:06:30 AM
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Regarding "Demandred" ...
17/06/2010 04:51:43 PM
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I always thought it was a coincidence
17/06/2010 08:32:39 PM
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Lan/Lanfear isn't a coincidence...
18/06/2010 12:19:58 AM
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Re: Lan/Lanfear isn't a coincidence...
20/06/2010 07:01:55 PM
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Perhaps Lan-fear meaning Night-Daughter would make more sense
17/06/2010 06:00:35 PM
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Re: Perhaps Lan-fear meaning Night-Daughter would make more sense
18/06/2010 04:23:38 PM
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And Dragon translations...
17/06/2010 10:53:02 PM
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Re: And Dragon translations...
17/06/2010 11:01:25 PM
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Why would they call themselves "Spears of the fictional creature"?
18/06/2010 12:29:49 AM
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It was meant as a joke, but really it could be some generic term rather than meaning
18/06/2010 06:00:36 AM
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Except that they don't know what a 'Dragon' is, except as it relates to Lews Therin/Rand
18/06/2010 05:11:30 PM
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like I said, I was just making a joke of it ... you are quite right with "Rand's Spears"
18/06/2010 05:32:42 PM
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But of course the NT word for Dragon isn't Dragon
18/06/2010 05:45:34 PM
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If "aman" is the Old Tongue name for Dragon, maybe "DEMANdred" contains a reference to Dragon too...
20/06/2010 08:13:35 PM
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"Dragon Wannabe" *NM*
20/06/2010 09:23:09 PM
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Lizard? *NM*
20/06/2010 10:04:21 PM
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"Scaled Worm"... though I doubt he'd take that name up in pride . *NM*
22/06/2010 01:23:03 AM
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It's probably too much to attempt to guess at the meanings of words...
17/06/2010 10:58:06 PM
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