That honour goes to Galad and Berelain, who apparently literally fell in love at first sight with nary even a word exchanged. Apparently the first time each saw the other every single braincell drained out of their heads, leaving two previously interesting characters as starstruck dribbling morons.
I mean, Galad perhaps, he wouldn't know an emotion if it bit him, but Berelain? Driven, political, cynical Berelain, one of the few characters in the series who gives us political realities? I was disappointed.
Yeah, but she's been running all this time with people who don't give any credit to that stuff. Remember when Nynaeve, Elayne and Birgitte had to play nice on the boat ride, lest they give their misogynist captain the satisfaction of fighting, and then ended up becoming sincere about their friendliness? I think the same thing happened with Berelain. She played nice with Perrin while his wife was gone, and it stopped being playing after a while. Her discussions with Faile and her new insight into their own way of looking at relationships probably opened her eyes some more. After all, given her description of her sexual experience, her outlook at that point had to be a rather cynical view of sex as a form of exploitation and a commodity. She likely saw it was 'either you're screwing someone, or getting screwed' in both the literal and figurative senses, which explains a great deal of her attitudes towards Perrin. Once she comes to accept how Perrin and Faile see their relationship, her past interactions with Rand probably make a lot more sense to her as well. Remember, she tried to seduce him and was firmly rejected, but at the same time, he offered her freely what she sought to gain by seduction. Meanwhile, he gives the appearance of having a more advantageous partner in mind (if Aviendha was right about how widely known his thing with Elayne was, Berelain almost certainly knew about it, which would also explain her switching targets to Perrin, and even entertaining for a moment the idea of Mat - she saw Rand as out of reach, but was not frightened away because she was still eager to work with him, so Elayne is the best explanation of her reticence), and Elayne appears to have succeeded where Berelain failed, when he tells her he intends to give her the Sun Throne (which he claimed to have selected an occupant for back when he sent the Tairens north). Faile's explanation of how Perrin (and by extension, possibly Rand) see relationships might have thus been the key to understanding a great deal that had passed before her eyes to this point, and opened her up to a whole new way of dealing with people. And right at this juncture, along comes a man who makes every vaguely heterosexual woman except his step-mother and half-sister stare in awe at his looks. That would be enough to at least catch her interest at a receptive moment, and from there, she is ripe for romance. Plus the fact that he is a good and decent person at heart and in his overt behavior, would be more of a clincher to someone who has only experience of men has been exploitation. As for what he sees in her, his own straightforward and sterling character probably make him a good judge (contrary to popular fiction tropes, genuine virtue does not blind you to disreputable behavior, it simply makes you more likely to be generous to the less honorable on the off-chance they might be open to redemption, and more forgiving of flaws - it does not remotely make one more gullible if he chooses not to be taken advantage of) of others' character, and despite their disapproval of her sexual mores, both Perrin & Rand found things to admire about her, as did Faile in spite of herself. The only character to scorn Berelain and constantly look upon her as a worthless slut is Egwene. Surprise, surprise.
Cannoli
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
This message last edited by Cannoli on 28/04/2011 at 10:02:12 PM
Egwene vs. Gawyn (ToM spoilers of course)
28/04/2011 05:01:46 AM
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There's fifty feet of crap between rock bottom and your post... *NM*
28/04/2011 07:40:04 AM
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Almost three days since the last post...at least I'm trying.
28/04/2011 12:17:59 PM
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What is to discuss here? You hate Egwene and will spin anything to put her in a negative light
28/04/2011 12:59:58 PM
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But he's so good at it. all the pieces are in there and close to the right place... like a picasso.
03/05/2011 12:51:54 AM
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I'd say there's no need to take it so seriously when there's so few posts lately. You should see
28/04/2011 05:59:19 PM
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while i agree with you on most of this
28/04/2011 04:53:06 PM
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hmpf, i post a good point and nothing
28/04/2011 11:09:53 PM
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you could say the same about a lot of the relationships in this series
28/04/2011 04:59:19 PM
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I agree there are plenty of underdeveloped and somewhat one-sided relationships in the series
28/04/2011 08:15:52 PM
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Re: I agree there are plenty of underdeveloped and somewhat one-sided relationships in the series
29/04/2011 06:55:14 PM
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In regards to the letters...
28/04/2011 05:28:13 PM
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But Gawyn was not Egwene's subject
28/04/2011 06:09:31 PM
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Which was why I thought it was appropriate, since he meant to act as Egwene's Warder.
28/04/2011 06:19:53 PM
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The only issue is that Warders are not minions - they are honored junior partners.
28/04/2011 07:39:18 PM
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No, the junior partners are Accepted. Warders are essentially personal bodyguards and/or assistants.
28/04/2011 08:00:17 PM
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Accepted are not anything, let alone junior partners. Don't think N&E's experience was typical
28/04/2011 09:32:22 PM
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Here's the thing though...
28/04/2011 11:20:32 PM
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No, but it's cute and quirky when Faile does it.
29/04/2011 03:06:50 PM
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But...
29/04/2011 10:52:03 PM
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That's not really clear
29/04/2011 11:41:20 PM
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Actually, it is...
30/04/2011 06:37:42 PM
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Re: Actually, it is...
30/04/2011 11:17:21 PM
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Didn't Siuan, Gareth and Gawyn tell her about the Bloodknife they encountered?
02/05/2011 02:33:08 PM
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Re: Accepted are not anything, let alone junior partners. Don't think N&E's experience was typical
28/04/2011 11:36:24 PM
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My two cents: yes, a little, maybe, and possibly not.
28/04/2011 06:05:09 PM
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Regarding your reference to another Emond's Fielder: What are you talking about?
28/04/2011 09:06:13 PM
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both together, couldn't separate them in my mind - perrin's evasiveness or nyn's trickiness *NM*
28/04/2011 10:16:57 PM
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It isn't the worst romance in WoT
28/04/2011 08:10:23 PM
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Galad is a great option for a political marriage
28/04/2011 09:04:46 PM
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Yes, but...
28/04/2011 09:40:39 PM
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but galad knew nothing of berelain's closeness to rand, so that couldn't have affected anything
28/04/2011 10:12:23 PM
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Yes. An often overlooked point is that ELAYNE, not Egwene, gains the most power in ToM
28/04/2011 09:42:43 PM
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Except they're both really hot.
28/04/2011 10:01:46 PM
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I can only quibble; Egwene became so insufferable in ToM I'm convinced her fate will be unpleasant.
04/05/2011 12:41:53 AM
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Siuan...
04/05/2011 05:42:59 AM
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Re: Siuan screwed up big time.
07/05/2011 03:35:46 AM
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Good points all round (do you switch brains when getting into real world politics? ) & re: the Talk
12/05/2011 02:04:06 PM
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Thanks, (and no, you just become less and less astute as we move farther from fiction. )
15/05/2011 11:46:41 PM
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