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Re: Swordsmanship is not a primitive game darius_sedai Send a noteboard - 01/02/2013 02:36:18 PM
Why won't you let this Demandred-sword thing go?

By all accounts, the sword was a game practiced widely in the AOL. Be'lal hinted as much, until they turned it into a lethal sport during the Collapse. It may even have been an elite sport practiced by all the snobs of the day, much like polo or croquet in our world. It seems Tcheran was another such game that people were required to play to be popular, though Moridin was excellent and Semirhage was not.

Be'lal was a lawyer, Asmodean was a musician, Demandred/LTT were statesmen and Sammael was a sportman. All were good at swordsmanship. There is nothing to hint that it was some sort of olympic sport that only Sammael excelled at. From what we've seen, Moridin may be skilled too. The only Forsaken who we know sucked was Osan'gar whom Rand said looked ridiculous and clumsy with a sword.

The heron mark may be from the AOL. It's not a third age practice Brandon put foolishly onto Demandred... Be'lal himself had a heron mark blade.

I do think Demandred could have killed the men with channeling, but its part of his arrogant persona... To beat a man at his own game, to prove that he is the best in all things.


I don't think being a Blade Master is out of character for Demandred (although I was amused that Asmodean was supposed to be one), but I do think the duels were distracting and the mentality he suddenly displayed was very different from the glimpses RJ dribbled our way throughout the series. During the Cleansing he flat out stated that the front lines was no place for a General and resented the fact that he had to get his hands dirty.

I, god help me, actually agree with Shannow on his main question here though ... How much of the last 3 books are actually cannon? Sanderson did not have a strong grasp of the mechanics of the OP and regularly gave us strange information that didn't really fit I to the rest of the series. He had a poor handle on many main characters (Mat, Graendal, Aviendha and many more) which led to some strange character interactions and left us with a lot of half ass resolution to plot lines .... Seriously a couple of paragraphs and Tuon pulls a full 180 and joins up with Rand, signs his treaty and abandons her own versions of the Prophesy after her people spent a millennia of belief in it??? Focussing nearly the entire last book on a battle,made it action filled, but ultimately robbed us of satisfying plot resolutions. I would have rather have seen no resolution to characters like Moghedien and Alviarin rather than the weak one sentence wrap ups. Or just tell us what happened off screen instead. Nynaeve spotting Moghedien in an a'dam or Cadsuane getting a report that the BA leadership had been captured and were being held in a Stedding awaiting prosecution would have been a less clumsy way to wrap these things up IMO. I'm sure there were many places with sketchy or no notes for guidance, but the whole book felt crammed because he spent 600 pages explaining a battle.
Domani Drag Queen in the White Tower ... Aran'gar watch out!
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Swordsmanship is not a primitive game - 01/02/2013 02:16:27 PM 1214 Views
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Re: Swordsmanship is not a primitive game - 01/02/2013 02:36:18 PM 1050 Views
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