Long time no see!
I get the feeling he was hoping in a way to draw the Forsaken to SG, relieving the other battlefronts.
But the whole thing was stupid. Why bother having armies fight to block the narrow pass to Shadowspawn, when a decent circle could simply have come and collapsed the canyon's walls, making the valley unreachable except through Traveling?
In their case we at least know where they were and what they did.
The Kinswomen were apparently too tired. A pitiful and oft used excuse through the book, when all they had to do was fetch some of the 1000+ channelers in Mayene and use circles.
Part of the reason Elayne acted as she did is that they wanted the Shadowspawn to follow and try to cross the river. They were sitting ducks then, and they left part of the army there to deal with them and moved on, after they learned of a new army advancing on the city (from the Portal Stone at Shangtai, based on the direction).
Supposedly, that was a plan of the Shadow all along. That's why Brandon had Hessalam show up in a BT scene, to contrive Logain finding out about the plan and arriving to save the day. Why exactly Taim would have written down that Hessalam has compelled Bashere to order a flight over the two rivers to Cairhien, only Brandon knows..
She was presumably in Ebou Dar all along.
I agree it's one of the better parts, and long foreshadowed. I think the execution was a bit lackluster at times though - a POV of Graendal daringly entering one of the camps with an inverted MoM and reaching one of the Great Captains would have been awesome (suddenly giving her Lanfear/Moghedien's tricks was a bit "meh", though I really quite like the unleashed demonic monster Graendal turned into at SG. It just lacked a little something to be really frigthening). We really didn't get enough POVs from the Shadow in the book, not only from the Forsaken but even DF. We didn't even get to see how they felt about the "Day of Return" - Alviarin and co. The ghosts are others that completely vanished, the ta'veren's colour swirls too by mid-book or so. The book strongly gives the feeling Brandon was quite overwhelmed by the scope of the thing.
Demandred sent her back to the Aes Sedai to give Rand his greetings. That was hilarious, by the way, Demandred showing up too late, a few days after Rand had already entered SG.
A good number of those who stood aside apparently didn't return after the reunification. Many joined Dragonsworn etc. The WT also lost many sisters in the fight against the Seanchan, both casualties and prisoners. Then 200+ BA. Nearly all the Yellows went to Mayene. Egwene had around 200 with her in Kandor, the rest went to Lan and to SG. She didn't offer any to Elayne, a fact Brandon kind of underplayed (the whole resent of Elayne by the WT leadership, I mean. They sort of pulled a Testuan with Eldrene, stopped using her title of Queen to refer to her as Elayne Sedai, and they left her with just the Kin and presumably Perrin's two AS).
It's hard to be sure, but Brandon's numbers seemed on the low side, and he didn't tell us how many died in the (frustratingly) offscreen battle at the BT. Logain had 40 with him at Merrilor, IRRC (that number might be wrong, I'll need a reread). Lan had a few Asha'man, Egwene too (and extra bonded AS with them). Elayne had none before Logain arrived. Aviendha had very few, those tied to Cadsuane's followers like Flinn it's implied, but not even all of them (Narishma and Merise were with Lan, for e.g.).
Funny thing is, Rand made the assumption that the Forsaken would try to attack him in the Pit of Doom like they had at the Cleansing. It looked more like he invited Graendal to interfere by announcing himself with an army. Perhaps if he had just put Alivia, Cadsuane and Aviendha inside the mouth of the cavern with instructions to BF anyone that approached?
I get the feeling he was hoping in a way to draw the Forsaken to SG, relieving the other battlefronts.
But the whole thing was stupid. Why bother having armies fight to block the narrow pass to Shadowspawn, when a decent circle could simply have come and collapsed the canyon's walls, making the valley unreachable except through Traveling?
The Windfinders were also MIA for the most part.
In their case we at least know where they were and what they did.
Good point about the river retreat. Why would you need to build a bridge when you can make Gateways that provide the same escape anyway?
The Kinswomen were apparently too tired. A pitiful and oft used excuse through the book, when all they had to do was fetch some of the 1000+ channelers in Mayene and use circles.
Part of the reason Elayne acted as she did is that they wanted the Shadowspawn to follow and try to cross the river. They were sitting ducks then, and they left part of the army there to deal with them and moved on, after they learned of a new army advancing on the city (from the Portal Stone at Shangtai, based on the direction).
Supposedly, that was a plan of the Shadow all along. That's why Brandon had Hessalam show up in a BT scene, to contrive Logain finding out about the plan and arriving to save the day. Why exactly Taim would have written down that Hessalam has compelled Bashere to order a flight over the two rivers to Cairhien, only Brandon knows..
Yes. I kept waiting to hear of Trollocs pouring into all of the countries to make the respective kings and queens want to take their armies and protect their homelands. Did Moghedien spy on that meeting?
She was presumably in Ebou Dar all along.
Using Compulsion on the Great Captains was, IMO, maybe the best parts of the book. It was a brilliant move, done subtly, and did tremendous irreparable harm to the Light's armies.
I agree it's one of the better parts, and long foreshadowed. I think the execution was a bit lackluster at times though - a POV of Graendal daringly entering one of the camps with an inverted MoM and reaching one of the Great Captains would have been awesome (suddenly giving her Lanfear/Moghedien's tricks was a bit "meh", though I really quite like the unleashed demonic monster Graendal turned into at SG. It just lacked a little something to be really frigthening). We really didn't get enough POVs from the Shadow in the book, not only from the Forsaken but even DF. We didn't even get to see how they felt about the "Day of Return" - Alviarin and co. The ghosts are others that completely vanished, the ta'veren's colour swirls too by mid-book or so. The book strongly gives the feeling Brandon was quite overwhelmed by the scope of the thing.
Couple random things. Didn't Leane get captured by Demandred in Kandor? Then she later turned back up at Merrilor with a pov and no explanation? Or did I read names wrong?
Demandred sent her back to the Aes Sedai to give Rand his greetings. That was hilarious, by the way, Demandred showing up too late, a few days after Rand had already entered SG.
The WT AS. Wasn't there something like 1100 AS at the beginning of the series? Losing maybe 200 to the Black Ajah, that still seems like about 800-900 AS fighting for the Light.
A good number of those who stood aside apparently didn't return after the reunification. Many joined Dragonsworn etc. The WT also lost many sisters in the fight against the Seanchan, both casualties and prisoners. Then 200+ BA. Nearly all the Yellows went to Mayene. Egwene had around 200 with her in Kandor, the rest went to Lan and to SG. She didn't offer any to Elayne, a fact Brandon kind of underplayed (the whole resent of Elayne by the WT leadership, I mean. They sort of pulled a Testuan with Eldrene, stopped using her title of Queen to refer to her as Elayne Sedai, and they left her with just the Kin and presumably Perrin's two AS).
The BT is a little harder to figure number-wise. Taim said he was trying to match the WT but I doubt that could have been accomplished in a years time. Then we also don't know how the split went down, either.
It's hard to be sure, but Brandon's numbers seemed on the low side, and he didn't tell us how many died in the (frustratingly) offscreen battle at the BT. Logain had 40 with him at Merrilor, IRRC (that number might be wrong, I'll need a reread). Lan had a few Asha'man, Egwene too (and extra bonded AS with them). Elayne had none before Logain arrived. Aviendha had very few, those tied to Cadsuane's followers like Flinn it's implied, but not even all of them (Narishma and Merise were with Lan, for e.g.).
Where to begin....
23/01/2013 05:22:12 AM
- 5153 Views
Re: Where to begin....
23/01/2013 01:18:31 PM
- 1460 Views
I think Rand and Moridin sword fought because channeling at SG is v dangerous so they minimised it
24/01/2013 12:40:45 AM
- 1604 Views
Re: Where to begin....
23/01/2013 04:11:13 PM
- 2756 Views
There was a HUGE goldmine of complexity that RJ planted in the story that BS just completely ignored *NM*
23/01/2013 06:35:17 PM
- 1059 Views
Seriously, the entire book I was scratching my head wondering why the hell the Channelers
25/01/2013 06:32:26 AM
- 1411 Views
Hey John
24/01/2013 04:04:39 PM
- 1885 Views
Re: Hey John
24/01/2013 05:45:30 PM
- 1922 Views
Yeah, his writing annoys me greatly at times
24/01/2013 06:57:50 PM
- 2048 Views
Re: Yeah, his writing annoys me greatly at times
25/01/2013 04:55:54 AM
- 1312 Views
I'm as much of a "mainstream" reviewer as a fantasy one these days, so...
25/01/2013 05:16:16 AM
- 1690 Views
Re: I'm as much of a "mainstream" reviewer as a fantasy one these days, so...
25/01/2013 08:37:48 PM
- 2100 Views
All but remains, for me at least, is a story that isn't as memorable as it could have been
27/01/2013 03:03:59 AM
- 3127 Views
Re: All but remains, for me at least, is a story that isn't as memorable as it could have been
28/01/2013 09:26:24 PM
- 1416 Views
Perrin growled. Slayer was too quick! Perrin was fast, too. Sooner or later, one of them would..." *NM*
24/01/2013 08:23:12 PM
- 752 Views
At one point he used the word "arabesque" - how can something be that without Arabic culture? *NM*
24/01/2013 09:25:54 PM
- 996 Views
Indeed...
25/01/2013 03:14:22 AM
- 1457 Views
He actually said he took "many advanced courses in linguistics"? That makes it even worse.
25/01/2013 02:19:31 PM
- 1166 Views
Re: He actually said he took "many advanced courses in linguistics"? That makes it even worse.
25/01/2013 08:53:38 PM
- 1521 Views
Well, Brigham Young is the *best* Mormon university out there.
26/01/2013 01:37:16 AM
- 1248 Views
Re: Well, Brigham Young is the *best* Mormon university out there.
26/01/2013 03:20:09 PM
- 1265 Views
You still Trolling the WoTBoards Larry?
24/01/2013 11:06:14 PM
- 1308 Views
Ha! I've mellowed a bit, though!
25/01/2013 04:56:47 AM
- 1865 Views
Been there
26/01/2013 09:27:10 PM
- 1210 Views
I went to the World's Fair in 1982 with my family - again, small world!
27/01/2013 03:08:27 AM
- 1957 Views
Were you the one who came up with "Selene was Mesaana"?
25/01/2013 07:44:01 AM
- 1556 Views