Part of that is because Brandon didn't have the balls to do what it's fairly obvious RJ meant to do, which was to make the readers totally appalled by Mat's decisions, and turn the characters who depended on him against him. By KOD, RJ had seriously darkened Mat. He was a more thoughtful, more sober, but at the same time his usual paranoia, his prejudices were still there. RJ had made Mat evolve from a funny trickster à la Reynard the Fox into the much darker trickters, the ones you can't be sure you should rely on or accept help from, as they might well turn around... when their tricks don't turn on you and cause the "end of the world". Mat's tricks were no longer inoffensive, the trickster was killing thousands of her own soldiers merely to open a path for his wife. Very costly. The Merrilor battle should have been more frightening, with Mat sacrificing tens of thousands for victory.
Brandon seems to have misunderstood what sort of regression RJ meant to bring Mat through. He made him return to his EF self, goofy and rather idiotic, going for the big laughs. He didn't get at all that RJ meant Mat to be suddenly less and less funny, or rather to become more and more uncomfortably funny.
Mat was another of RJ's really quite succesful characters, full of layers. Brandon ruined him, though. We got a good Perrin, a more than decent Rand, and pretty good if someone annoying version of Egwene. Nynaeve wasn't that bad, and Min. But Mat is a complete fiasco from start to finish. Elayne is close to that too, IMO, if not as bad.
We witnessed all of the main characters undergo self-realization or an epiphany of some sort, except Mat. Leaving your small village behind and being thrust into the limelight of world-saver, is not going to leave you the same person that you were. Yet Mat, except for when he is planning battles, is much the same pubescent teenager from the beginning of the adventure, as portrayed by Sanderson. Virtually all of his non-battle scenes are child-like imaginings in his pov's. While some boys never fully grow up, they do at least have some serious thoughts at times.
I also felt that Sanderson could never quite get a grasp of Mat's humor, either. His character stood out more than any other that someone else was doing the writing, IMO.
Where once was Shadow
Now reigns Light
Darkness fades
Into the Night
I made the switch!
Now reigns Light
Darkness fades
Into the Night
I made the switch!
Where to begin....
23/01/2013 05:22:12 AM
- 5189 Views
Re: Where to begin....
23/01/2013 01:18:31 PM
- 1477 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
- 1624 Views
Re: Where to begin....
23/01/2013 04:11:13 PM
- 2777 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
- 1070 Views
Seriously, the entire book I was scratching my head wondering why the hell the Channelers
25/01/2013 06:32:26 AM
- 1432 Views
Hey John
24/01/2013 04:04:39 PM
- 1911 Views
Re: Hey John
24/01/2013 05:45:30 PM
- 1940 Views
Yeah, his writing annoys me greatly at times
24/01/2013 06:57:50 PM
- 2070 Views
Re: Yeah, his writing annoys me greatly at times
25/01/2013 04:55:54 AM
- 1341 Views
I'm as much of a "mainstream" reviewer as a fantasy one these days, so...
25/01/2013 05:16:16 AM
- 1708 Views
Re: I'm as much of a "mainstream" reviewer as a fantasy one these days, so...
25/01/2013 08:37:48 PM
- 2126 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
- 3152 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
- 1441 Views
Totally agree about Mat
27/01/2013 08:01:50 PM
- 1333 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
- 763 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
- 1005 Views
Indeed...
25/01/2013 03:14:22 AM
- 1481 Views
He actually said he took "many advanced courses in linguistics"? That makes it even worse.
25/01/2013 02:19:31 PM
- 1183 Views
Re: He actually said he took "many advanced courses in linguistics"? That makes it even worse.
25/01/2013 08:53:38 PM
- 1541 Views
Well, Brigham Young is the *best* Mormon university out there.
26/01/2013 01:37:16 AM
- 1271 Views
Re: Well, Brigham Young is the *best* Mormon university out there.
26/01/2013 03:20:09 PM
- 1288 Views
You still Trolling the WoTBoards Larry?
24/01/2013 11:06:14 PM
- 1327 Views
Ha! I've mellowed a bit, though!
25/01/2013 04:56:47 AM
- 1891 Views
Been there
26/01/2013 09:27:10 PM
- 1236 Views
I went to the World's Fair in 1982 with my family - again, small world!
27/01/2013 03:08:27 AM
- 1984 Views
Were you the one who came up with "Selene was Mesaana"?
25/01/2013 07:44:01 AM
- 1584 Views