Rather than a war of conquest and destruction.
The tension would have been more tangible if you could see the Shadow capturing a specific number of nations, overrunning designated capital cities, holding half or two thirds of the physical territory on the continent, having so many thouands of evil channelers etc.
Essentially, a story centered around the War of Power, or the Trolloc Wars would have been more immediately terrifying than one where the Shadow is subtly weakening the Pattern, or whatever their current strategy really is.
In such a series, the overlord of the Shadow would have been someone in the vein of Demandred. Just like he was only a hairsbreadth from being the overlord of the Light in the War of Power.
Seeing city after city fall to the Shadow, seeing men women and children being fed to the Trollocs in their thousands, seeing evil monstrosities being created by Aginor, seeing hordes of Mesaana's children running amok, seeing the Hall of Servants razed to the ground - that would have been a tension filled tale -culminating in a desperate strike by the hero to seal the Dark One's prison again in a last ditch attempt to save the world.
This current conflict has very little of that. Instead, it focuses on the state of mind of the hero, and the subtle spread of chaos through the mad, seemingly senseless plans of the Nae blis.
I think RJ's Wheel of Time series would have been more enthralling if it covered the War of Power than it is while covering the adventures of a group of teenagers running around trying to fight an invisible enemy while at the same time trying to remember laughter and tears.
And in a nutshell, the two opposites can be summarized as the Moridin vs Demandred model of villainy.
The Final Battle should take place on a metaphysical level because it needs to shake the Pattern to its core. That what a true godly duel is - something that threatens the universe. If it was just two massive armies fighting it would be very poor indeed.
Still, I think Demandred is a better choice than Moridin as a leader. Moridin is so obsessed with total chaos that he can't even formulate a simple plan without making it incomprehensible to his minions. Demandred would at least use an ordered plan to release the chaos.
What is worrying about Demandred is that he refuses to use balefire which many of the other males have used. That means he holds back, which Moridin and Rand do not to. He also hesitates to kill Flinn in case it brings Callandor upon him. Perhaps the Shadow is better off with a madman who doesn't think 'what if?'
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Fan of Lanfear
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Could Moridin be a false Nae'blis whom the DO wants to replace with Demandred?
05/07/2010 05:11:43 PM
- 1288 Views
Not a chance...
05/07/2010 06:30:38 PM
- 918 Views
What about winning?
06/07/2010 09:24:11 AM
- 777 Views
Remember what Verin said? Don't analyse the DO with human values..
06/07/2010 10:20:37 AM
- 667 Views
Assuming Verin is right
06/07/2010 08:09:02 PM
- 567 Views
Re: Assuming Verin is right
06/07/2010 08:44:22 PM
- 559 Views
Re: Assuming Verin is right
06/07/2010 09:06:20 PM
- 578 Views
Exactly. The Dark One just needs to get free. Then he can break the Pattern at his leisure...
06/07/2010 09:48:10 PM
- 598 Views
Well I agree and disagree
06/07/2010 09:55:49 PM
- 571 Views
Sure. That's for RAND to win. For the Dark One to win, it is as simple as just killing Rand...
06/07/2010 09:58:30 PM
- 521 Views
Says who?
06/07/2010 10:04:31 PM
- 587 Views
Because Rand is the only one who can stop him from breaking free.
06/07/2010 10:05:52 PM
- 563 Views
Sadly no. But it would have made for a more enthralling physical war...
05/07/2010 06:54:11 PM
- 729 Views
Demandred?
06/07/2010 12:44:56 AM
- 620 Views
Moridin is to blame because he is a symbol of RJ's choice to make this a metaphysical war...
06/07/2010 12:56:32 PM
- 620 Views
I think metaphysics is more important
06/07/2010 09:18:49 PM
- 641 Views
Re: Sadly no. But it would have made for a more enthralling physical war...
06/07/2010 02:31:31 AM
- 634 Views
Will be interesting to see...
06/07/2010 07:19:41 AM
- 546 Views
Re: Will be interesting to see...
06/07/2010 07:36:00 PM
- 517 Views
I don't think so. But neither do I think Moridin is the true Nae'blis
06/07/2010 02:25:47 PM
- 577 Views
Re: I don't think so. But neither do I think Moridin is the true Nae'blis
06/07/2010 07:52:54 PM
- 717 Views
Re: I don't think so. But neither do I think Moridin is the true Nae'blis
06/07/2010 08:03:12 PM
- 548 Views
Re: I don't think so. But neither do I think Moridin is the true Nae'blis
06/07/2010 08:58:38 PM
- 1123 Views
Re: I don't think so. But neither do I think Moridin is the true Nae'blis
06/07/2010 10:32:39 PM
- 662 Views
Re: I don't think so. But neither do I think Moridin is the true Nae'blis
07/07/2010 06:03:46 AM
- 751 Views
Re: I don't think so. But neither do I think Moridin is the true Nae'blis
07/07/2010 03:58:19 PM
- 631 Views
Re: I don't think so. But neither do I think Moridin is the true Nae'blis
07/07/2010 06:30:33 AM
- 521 Views
I claimed long time ago that Demandred is an agent of Light
07/07/2010 04:29:28 PM
- 616 Views
But why would they expect someone to survive into the nhext Age?
07/07/2010 06:47:12 PM
- 876 Views
Re: But why would they expect someone to survive into the nhext Age?
07/07/2010 08:04:21 PM
- 543 Views
Re: But why would they expect someone to survive into the nhext Age?
07/07/2010 11:38:40 PM
- 540 Views
Re: But why would they expect someone to survive into the nhext Age?
08/07/2010 12:37:08 AM
- 513 Views
Nah, we already got that twist....it was cool when Verin did it, but RJ wouldn't overuse the idea *NM*
08/07/2010 01:15:46 AM
- 276 Views
That would make Demandred my new favourite character
08/07/2010 10:15:41 AM
- 626 Views