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Yes. As I said, it would have been a very different series. Thanks for going into detail ! RugbyPlayingAshaman Send a noteboard - 04/01/2011 04:47:51 PM
It would be a very different and arguably more mature series if the Forsaken were allowed to pose a legitimate threat to the protagonists.


Yeah but if the FS were released early enough to be important in the earlier books and were realistically competent enemies given their already existing advantages, Rand would either have to be mollycoddled for most of the series to survive, which would be tedious, or he would die in book 2. There's no way of keeping the FS in the series as a credible threat without reworking the entire thing. So it would be a mote mature series if it were utterly different. If the FS acted intelligently all the time, they would wipe the floor with everyone before Rand, Egwene etc got powerful, mature or genre savvy or otherwise good enough to touch them. That's why we have Taveren/instant protagonist-beneficial coincidence. That's why RJ had to work to make Taveren have negatives to counteract that. It's an integral part of the series. It was annoying in the early books but they had enough awesomeness to disguise the inherent flaws in RJ's world as one that we could believe.

Now both sides have seemed to mostly have tossed aside the Idiot Ball and it leaves things in an intriguing place. I'm going to try and focus on the positives of this than the early books when both sides had demonstrably intelligent characters doing really stupid things. It runs both ways (if the light had worked together from about books5-6 onward, the Shadow would have a much harder time, so RJ had to find ways of justifying idiocy on either side because of the type of conflict he wanted up set up).

Much fantasy of this type for this mainstream an audience gas simar flaws: when the protagonist or antagonist has so much power, either some really clever writing that is hard to implement and might bore much of the audience has to be created or some really stupid decisions have to be made. Read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, for all its flaws, to see how an intelligent Voldemort with all the knowledge he
had been found to have had for the entire series could easily win against a non-idiotic Harry in book 1 if he wanted to. But that would have annoyed people. As would have writing a book with characters of mediocre ability. A non- powerful enemy is dull in most people's eyes. For right or for wrong, people would rather read about a group of super powered villains making arrogant and foolish decisions than say a large society of ordinary manipulators control the hero because super powers are cool.
"Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
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How did Cyndane defeat Alivia? - 31/12/2010 08:03:39 PM 3590 Views
As RJ said, Cyndane knows a LOT more about the OP - 31/12/2010 08:33:47 PM 1660 Views
Re: As RJ said, Cyndane knows a LOT more about the OP - 31/12/2010 11:54:57 PM 1403 Views
RJ said this .. Go look at his quotes *NM* - 01/01/2011 05:59:37 AM 880 Views
Re: RJ said this .. Go look at his quotes - 01/01/2011 06:43:09 AM 1256 Views
Dude, he calls it out specifically. Cyndane beat Alivia because of her skill - 01/01/2011 03:22:48 PM 1260 Views
Search for "Alivia" - 01/01/2011 05:58:53 PM 1192 Views
nothing on either url *NM* - 01/01/2011 11:02:05 PM 548 Views
Try spelling it correctly then - 02/01/2011 01:30:23 AM 1141 Views
I did, maybe you made the mistake - 02/01/2011 07:13:54 PM 965 Views
Re: I did, maybe you made the mistake - 02/01/2011 07:51:22 PM 1060 Views
Here are few other quotes establishing how little Alivia knows of the OP - 02/01/2011 07:39:36 PM 1212 Views
Damane don't know about reversed weaves - 31/12/2010 09:56:51 PM 1307 Views
Re: Damane don't know about reversed weaves - 31/12/2010 11:48:15 PM 1145 Views
Re: Damane don't know about reversed weaves - 01/01/2011 01:18:50 AM 1102 Views
How did *Alivia* survive? - 01/01/2011 12:45:29 AM 1438 Views
Re: How did *Alivia* survive? - 01/01/2011 01:26:09 AM 1244 Views
Yes, odd. - 01/01/2011 01:45:01 AM 1171 Views
Nicola wasn't the dragon reborn with the pattern bending around her - 02/01/2011 12:24:50 PM 1064 Views
Not really ... Rand has had LTT knowledge leaking into his head for a long time - 02/01/2011 07:13:41 PM 1061 Views
reversed weaves are only useful when dealing with someone who doesn't know they exist. - 03/01/2011 07:51:01 PM 981 Views
Depends on the circumstances really - 04/01/2011 02:17:29 PM 1125 Views
but why would she have any idea that Nynaeve would be able to resist her. - 10/01/2011 07:30:49 PM 1065 Views
Well she did get attacked right off the bat... Pretty indicative that Nyn resist her compulsion - 11/01/2011 12:56:51 AM 1039 Views
Exactly. which is why she didn't have time to do any "fancy" and time consuming reversing. - 11/01/2011 03:23:50 PM 1196 Views
that's where she made her mistake - 11/01/2011 04:47:56 PM 1011 Views
It would be these memories, his t'a'veren nature & sheer luck/plot necessity that gave him the edge - 03/01/2011 10:32:43 PM 1108 Views
Well that was always going to happen - 03/01/2011 11:41:22 PM 1040 Views
Yes. As I said, it would have been a very different series. Thanks for going into detail ! - 04/01/2011 04:47:51 PM 1014 Views
agreed - 04/01/2011 02:18:23 PM 1109 Views
Re: How did Cyndane defeat Alivia? - 01/01/2011 12:56:54 AM 1229 Views
Re: How did Cyndane defeat Alivia? - 01/01/2011 01:13:39 AM 1176 Views
She's just that good - 01/01/2011 01:48:26 AM 1120 Views
magic *NM* - 01/01/2011 08:17:16 PM 510 Views
Cyndane injured Alivia, yes, but Alivia fought Cyndane off. - 02/01/2011 12:36:12 AM 1173 Views
Re: Cyndane injured Alivia, yes, but Alivia fought Cyndane off. - 02/01/2011 09:56:34 AM 1128 Views
Yup. - 02/01/2011 03:12:39 PM 1075 Views
Alivia has little experience fighting channellers, unlike Lanfear (most likely)... - 03/01/2011 12:56:43 AM 1439 Views
I agree with you - 03/01/2011 01:08:35 AM 1090 Views
Demandred wasn't commenting on Cadsuane's paralis net, but on her little bird saidin detector... - 03/01/2011 07:01:08 AM 1190 Views
Where do you get this idea? *NM* - 03/01/2011 07:19:50 PM 618 Views
Well, he's definitely right he was commenting on one of the specific ter'angreal in her "net". - 03/01/2011 10:51:09 PM 1125 Views
I'm thinking there are 2 items that break webs in different ways - 04/01/2011 07:51:46 PM 1086 Views
Very interesting point. I never noticed that before... - 05/01/2011 08:02:52 AM 1031 Views
Cadsuane has two types of weavebreakers... - 05/01/2011 12:51:38 PM 958 Views
inconclusive ... the ornament may be the same one she used to disrupt Semirhage - 05/01/2011 04:09:39 PM 1034 Views
I'm confused... - 05/01/2011 06:15:06 PM 1015 Views
Why should Cadsuane's "distance" unraveler not also go cold at nearby channeling? - 05/01/2011 06:51:49 PM 1019 Views
I'd buy this. - 05/01/2011 07:12:50 PM 992 Views
Except Cyndane had never heard of a ter'angreal that can unravel weaves... - 05/01/2011 07:18:58 PM 914 Views
Not necessarily. - 05/01/2011 09:26:49 PM 1019 Views
I doubt it since LTT claims they created the "first" ones in the AOL - 08/01/2011 05:23:53 PM 972 Views
The first paralis nets, not necessarily the first weave breakers. - 09/01/2011 09:53:56 PM 1026 Views
Maybe, but that's getting really convoluted - 10/01/2011 03:36:17 AM 897 Views
Agreed - 10/01/2011 05:14:45 PM 995 Views
It would fit the various scenarios if she had 2 kinds ... - 05/01/2011 03:53:48 PM 980 Views
Because Demandred said so... - 04/01/2011 07:28:56 AM 1060 Views
Re: Because Demandred said so... - 04/01/2011 08:45:38 AM 1087 Views
Well there you have it, then... - 04/01/2011 09:24:38 AM 946 Views
Contortions - 04/01/2011 09:56:11 AM 7909 Views
If anyone made a mistake, it was Sanderson, not RJ. - 04/01/2011 10:07:30 AM 947 Views
Re: If anyone made a mistake, it was Sanderson, not RJ. - 04/01/2011 10:35:45 AM 1126 Views
I don't think Rand is referring to the system as an indivisible whole. - 04/01/2011 10:45:24 AM 1063 Views
Besides, he knew of the Well from their previous visit to Far Madding... - 04/01/2011 11:18:39 AM 1059 Views
It's also possible that a Paralis Net is simply a name for any personal system - 04/01/2011 09:23:18 PM 1181 Views
I agree. - 10/01/2011 07:08:19 PM 1034 Views
Agreed. Knowledge is power when it comes to channeling. - 03/01/2011 10:26:37 PM 1029 Views
Re: Agreed. Knowledge is power when it comes to channeling. - 03/01/2011 11:07:20 PM 1119 Views

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