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Except they're both really hot. Cannoli Send a noteboard - 28/04/2011 10:01:46 PM
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*
This message last edited by Cannoli on 28/04/2011 at 10:02:12 PM
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Egwene vs. Gawyn (ToM spoilers of course) - 28/04/2011 05:01:46 AM 3953 Views
There's fifty feet of crap between rock bottom and your post... *NM* - 28/04/2011 07:40:04 AM 470 Views
Almost three days since the last post...at least I'm trying. - 28/04/2011 12:17:59 PM 932 Views
Sorry about that... - 28/04/2011 10:58:50 PM 992 Views
Ah, its always good to see a good Egwene rant. Bravo! NM *NM* - 28/04/2011 01:58:46 PM 708 Views
Great work, Cannoli - 28/04/2011 02:09:28 PM 947 Views
Regarding the mother's permission.... - 28/04/2011 07:26:29 PM 1014 Views
while i agree with you on most of this - 28/04/2011 04:53:06 PM 1076 Views
hmpf, i post a good point and nothing - 28/04/2011 11:09:53 PM 853 Views
Everybody agrees with you, that's why there were no replies *NM* - 28/04/2011 11:29:13 PM 457 Views
Here's a scary thought - 28/04/2011 11:54:50 PM 1156 Views
OMGWTFBBQ!? - 28/04/2011 11:58:37 PM 915 Views
In regards to the letters... - 28/04/2011 05:28:13 PM 1117 Views
But Gawyn was not Egwene's subject - 28/04/2011 06:09:31 PM 932 Views
Which was why I thought it was appropriate, since he meant to act as Egwene's Warder. - 28/04/2011 06:19:53 PM 896 Views
The only issue is that Warders are not minions - they are honored junior partners. - 28/04/2011 07:39:18 PM 1052 Views
No, the junior partners are Accepted. Warders are essentially personal bodyguards and/or assistants. - 28/04/2011 08:00:17 PM 849 Views
Marriage - 28/04/2011 08:27:53 PM 872 Views
Accepted are not anything, let alone junior partners. Don't think N&E's experience was typical - 28/04/2011 09:32:22 PM 1075 Views
Here's the thing though... - 28/04/2011 11:20:32 PM 899 Views
No, but it's cute and quirky when Faile does it. - 29/04/2011 03:06:50 PM 1068 Views
But... - 29/04/2011 10:52:03 PM 865 Views
That's not really clear - 29/04/2011 11:41:20 PM 993 Views
Actually, it is... - 30/04/2011 06:37:42 PM 1005 Views
Re: Actually, it is... - 30/04/2011 11:17:21 PM 886 Views
Didn't Siuan, Gareth and Gawyn tell her about the Bloodknife they encountered? - 02/05/2011 02:33:08 PM 891 Views
It isn't the worst romance in WoT - 28/04/2011 08:10:23 PM 1201 Views
Re: It isn't the worst romance in WoT - 28/04/2011 08:25:31 PM 1120 Views
thumbs up to you both *NM* - 28/04/2011 08:45:51 PM 439 Views
Re: It isn't the worst romance in WoT - 28/04/2011 08:46:37 PM 1013 Views
Galad is a great option for a political marriage - 28/04/2011 09:04:46 PM 884 Views
Yes, but... - 28/04/2011 09:40:39 PM 928 Views
but galad knew nothing of berelain's closeness to rand, so that couldn't have affected anything - 28/04/2011 10:12:23 PM 963 Views
Exactly - 28/04/2011 10:27:04 PM 805 Views
Yes. An often overlooked point is that ELAYNE, not Egwene, gains the most power in ToM - 28/04/2011 09:42:43 PM 1263 Views
Except... - 28/04/2011 11:16:25 PM 925 Views
Well... - 29/04/2011 12:14:42 AM 877 Views
Re: Well... - 29/04/2011 08:39:37 AM 863 Views
Except they're both really hot. - 28/04/2011 10:01:46 PM 1060 Views
They were naive - 28/04/2011 11:10:34 PM 887 Views
Re: They were naive - 29/04/2011 03:18:42 PM 1125 Views
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 1026 Views
Siuan... - 04/05/2011 05:42:59 AM 1031 Views
Re: Siuan screwed up big time. - 07/05/2011 03:35:46 AM 900 Views
Re: Siuan screwed up big time. - 12/05/2011 02:13:08 PM 889 Views
"McClellanesque", eh? I'll have to remember that one. - 16/05/2011 12:12:23 AM 1163 Views

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