Re: We'll have to agree to disagree on Graendal, I guess... - Edit 4
Before modification by DomA at 16/05/2012 02:06:45 AM
Aran'gar not dying, that I can see going either way. As a character, she/he just doesn't have enough personality for his death to have any thematic closure. So it could have gone either way.
With Graendal, though, I don't think being made a Myrdraal's sex slave is the best end for her. Chiefly because RJ made it clear that the naked playthings and the hedonism was all a screen. Sure, Graendal liked her pleasures, but she wasn't a slave to them, she didn't absolutely depend on them, which sets her apart from Semirhage.
The true core of Graendal's personality is a lust for control. It is Graendal who wants "a place for all things and all things in their place", with the decisions on who belongs where, and who gets to do what being totally under her control.
She perverts beauty and sexual pleasures by taking them to their extreme, but she also perverts the idea of order. She was the second of the Foresaken. It is no wonder that it is Graendal's revelation of her affiliation to the Shadow that marked the start of the WoS. In many ways, she is the female representation of the Shadow.
The true end for her, I believe, will be loss of control, via a mindtrap. No longer able to scheme, the pawn-maker will be made the pawn. From the tGS prologue, it seems obvious that her repeated thoughts on making Moridin a pawn have been read by his Zomoran. I think her lack of control over herself will be rubbed in her face, and like Cyndane and Moghedien, she too will be made Moridin's pawn.
With Graendal, though, I don't think being made a Myrdraal's sex slave is the best end for her. Chiefly because RJ made it clear that the naked playthings and the hedonism was all a screen. Sure, Graendal liked her pleasures, but she wasn't a slave to them, she didn't absolutely depend on them, which sets her apart from Semirhage.
The true core of Graendal's personality is a lust for control. It is Graendal who wants "a place for all things and all things in their place", with the decisions on who belongs where, and who gets to do what being totally under her control.
She perverts beauty and sexual pleasures by taking them to their extreme, but she also perverts the idea of order. She was the second of the Foresaken. It is no wonder that it is Graendal's revelation of her affiliation to the Shadow that marked the start of the WoS. In many ways, she is the female representation of the Shadow.
The true end for her, I believe, will be loss of control, via a mindtrap. No longer able to scheme, the pawn-maker will be made the pawn. From the tGS prologue, it seems obvious that her repeated thoughts on making Moridin a pawn have been read by his Zomoran. I think her lack of control over herself will be rubbed in her face, and like Cyndane and Moghedien, she too will be made Moridin's pawn.
I agree with all this, but I think make her perish by her image and make her totally useless and having no control on what remains to her of life is a stronger statement than making her "useful".
Graendal is destroyed, because she'd been crushed down to her image, the real woman behind all those masks is gone. In the "useful pet" scenario, her brain's still there, it's just her image which is destroyed.
Aran'gar's "theme" was that of a parasite. He stuck to Aginor, she stuck to Delana and Sheriam, and held on to Egwene, and her whole storyline parasited Mesaana's. Then she went to find a new host to parasite with Graendal. Graendal just did some pest control as (I'm convinced) Mesaana and Demandred have done to get rid of Aran'gar (it wasn't Aran'gar who killed the two women tied to her, of all things. We saw Aran'gar kill people in her way, and she was very careful not to leave traces). The first move was to have BA (Moria) convince the Hall the Cleansing was a Forsaken weapon, to bait the Rebels to the BT. The idea was to capture sisters no doubt and to use the disappearances to delay as much as possible any post-Cleansing developement (Demandred had seen mixed gender circle back in play, he needed to try to minimize the spread of that), but a side benefit was also to frighten Aran'gar away. Didn't work, she held as the Hall was dithering and dithering on the embassy. Semirhage thus leaked the information about Cabriana, Demandred sent one of the Asha'man to target the two friends (or another male channeler went, we'll see what he really has in AMOL), again a side benefit was to keep AS and Asha'man away (didn't work - Moria lead the first blow but lost control immediately as Lelaine jumped on the opening and took control of the whole Asha'man debate) and another was to get Aran'gar captured if she just wouldn't take a hint and vacate Mesaana's backyard. That still didn't work. The final nail in the coffin was, as a last resort, given to a Black Sister (Nacelle, IRRC): a weave to detect saidin weaves (the very thing Moghedien was so proud she held off from the girls...), as it seemed the AS just wouldn't make the connection between Halima and Anayia/Karen on their own. Romanda was just a bit faster.
Her end wasn't stellar, but it was fitting.