And so far... - Edit 1
Before modification by DomA at 30/04/2012 07:33:59 PM
... a very great deal of fairly small things seem to get resolution.
It sounds more and more like short of a few plot points he specifically designed as "red herrings" (or "ambiance" to enrich the world building so the reader didn't feel everything happening was there for a reason), pretty much everything he included and left to hang like... forever... has a hidden purpose for the finale.
I get more and more the impression that what RJ intended to do was not to give a too neat ending to the storylines rather than truly leaving things "unresolved". For instance, we might well never get to see how the Seafolk's economical importance will concretely increase post TG, or we may never get to know for sure what has happened to Therava's Shaido unless they still have a TG purpose or something else (eg: we might see Therava and Galina are now damane), otherwise we may not learn if a group of them has managed to return to the Waste or if the Seanchan have managed to corner them.
Surely among the mass of ultra minor "mysteries", there are "red herrings" that will leas to nothing and never return. I'm thinking of stuff like what happened to Ewin Finngar and his two friends for instance, the trio that decided to go adventuring outside the TR around the LOC time. But you never know... I would have put Shemerin's escape in that category for sure and yet, it turned out this little thing mentionned a few times in the mid-series only - a mere thrown away line in a scene where the girls were reading several messages in TAR, did have a very specific and key purpose to play in the finale.
Quite a few believe Merrile and Talaan may be one of the threads left hanging, mostly because they think Careane murdered them to make it appear Merrilile kidnapped Talaan and thus create strife between Elayne and the Windfinders and convince them to leave Caemlyn.
No doubt a ton of Min's more minor viewings were not meant to get resolution but simply were there so that not each and every single viewing by Min was important.
And stuff like this... we already know which important storyline RJ intended to leave quite short of fully resolved, and it's the Seanchan's, who won't leave the Westlands before many years after TG. No doubt a lot of issues between nations, between groups and so on will be "open ended".
It's hard to see which storyline or real plot point people expect RJ didn't mean to resolve, really. I get the feeling what many mean by that is rather answers to old "mysteries", not plot points which are still relevant. There are tons of examples of this. People expect we'll know who killed Sara, and get a definitive answer as to who ordered the murders of the BA in Tear in TDR etc. One thing RJ always said is that he didn't want the readers to get all the answers, because the characters don't have all the answers and will never get them. Asmodean was like that, only Graendal knew she killed him. Only Graendal knew she had somehow tracked down and used Jain Farstrider (as revealed lately by Maria Simmons) and no doubt is the one who made him spy on Sammael's agents in Ebou Dar to find out what he was up to (because he was old and ugly and the Forsaken have fallen for her deception that she just don't do old and ugly). Who killed Barthanes, who freed Fain etc. It's all answers RJ didn't intend for us to have, though for a few many many years after the book's release, when it no longer mattered, he gave us an answer in a Q&A.
There's not a ton of true unresolved plot points at this juncture - tons were resolved in TGS/TOM. Most of those left seem to concern the LB or the early aftermath.
It sounds more and more like short of a few plot points he specifically designed as "red herrings" (or "ambiance" to enrich the world building so the reader didn't feel everything happening was there for a reason), pretty much everything he included and left to hang like... forever... has a hidden purpose for the finale.
I get more and more the impression that what RJ intended to do was not to give a too neat ending to the storylines rather than truly leaving things "unresolved". For instance, we might well never get to see how the Seafolk's economical importance will concretely increase post TG, or we may never get to know for sure what has happened to Therava's Shaido unless they still have a TG purpose or something else (eg: we might see Therava and Galina are now damane), otherwise we may not learn if a group of them has managed to return to the Waste or if the Seanchan have managed to corner them.
Surely among the mass of ultra minor "mysteries", there are "red herrings" that will leas to nothing and never return. I'm thinking of stuff like what happened to Ewin Finngar and his two friends for instance, the trio that decided to go adventuring outside the TR around the LOC time. But you never know... I would have put Shemerin's escape in that category for sure and yet, it turned out this little thing mentionned a few times in the mid-series only - a mere thrown away line in a scene where the girls were reading several messages in TAR, did have a very specific and key purpose to play in the finale.
Quite a few believe Merrile and Talaan may be one of the threads left hanging, mostly because they think Careane murdered them to make it appear Merrilile kidnapped Talaan and thus create strife between Elayne and the Windfinders and convince them to leave Caemlyn.
No doubt a ton of Min's more minor viewings were not meant to get resolution but simply were there so that not each and every single viewing by Min was important.
And stuff like this... we already know which important storyline RJ intended to leave quite short of fully resolved, and it's the Seanchan's, who won't leave the Westlands before many years after TG. No doubt a lot of issues between nations, between groups and so on will be "open ended".
It's hard to see which storyline or real plot point people expect RJ didn't mean to resolve, really. I get the feeling what many mean by that is rather answers to old "mysteries", not plot points which are still relevant. There are tons of examples of this. People expect we'll know who killed Sara, and get a definitive answer as to who ordered the murders of the BA in Tear in TDR etc. One thing RJ always said is that he didn't want the readers to get all the answers, because the characters don't have all the answers and will never get them. Asmodean was like that, only Graendal knew she killed him. Only Graendal knew she had somehow tracked down and used Jain Farstrider (as revealed lately by Maria Simmons) and no doubt is the one who made him spy on Sammael's agents in Ebou Dar to find out what he was up to (because he was old and ugly and the Forsaken have fallen for her deception that she just don't do old and ugly). Who killed Barthanes, who freed Fain etc. It's all answers RJ didn't intend for us to have, though for a few many many years after the book's release, when it no longer mattered, he gave us an answer in a Q&A.
There's not a ton of true unresolved plot points at this juncture - tons were resolved in TGS/TOM. Most of those left seem to concern the LB or the early aftermath.