... who according to a truly good man, rarely lies - Edit 1
Before modification by Sidious at 01/10/2009 06:00:28 PM
She doesn't need an elaborate plan to take advantage of a situation. The best lies are those that contain an element of truth. Yes, it's true that LTT is living in Rand's head. Yes he is mad, and he is obviously getting worse. But a one time listen to Semi's statements leads one to the very real probability that Ra'T is most likely on the irreversible path to terminal madness. She didn't need to plan it, I'm sure that sowing discord and fear is very natural to her, she's had lots of practice.
Semi's statement is MOSTLY true. The main problem is that you are looking over a transcript of it, while the WoT characters only have the one listen. There is no way of knowing what Graendal said. There is no way of knowing if Rand's 'sanity slide' is inevitible or not. There is no way of knowing how quickly it will occur if it does occur. Semi intimates all of most negative of results in her statment.
NaCl(just because there is some truth, doesn't mean that it's not a lie)H2O
Semi's statement is MOSTLY true. The main problem is that you are looking over a transcript of it, while the WoT characters only have the one listen. There is no way of knowing what Graendal said. There is no way of knowing if Rand's 'sanity slide' is inevitible or not. There is no way of knowing how quickly it will occur if it does occur. Semi intimates all of most negative of results in her statment.
NaCl(just because there is some truth, doesn't mean that it's not a lie)H2O
I'm not sure what your point is, though. As a reader it doesn't matter what I think of her - whether I trust her or not. The important thing is that we do have an omniscient view of the series. We know that from the information available to us, Semirhage was telling the truth. You're looking at her statement as a possible way to sow dissent among Rand's people, but I think it was RJ using 'AOL knowledge' to diagnose Rand's mental condition. Cadsuane once said that mad males hear voices, but Semirhage arrived with the proper diagnosis, from a Restorerm or former Restorer turned totally evil, however you want to put it.
Even so, I'm wondering what message you're trying to get across to me. I almost feel as if you're trying to tell me not to trust Semirhage because it will cause me not to trust Rand, and the Light will lose. I don't doubt that Rand's allies see him differently because of her statement and that her statement will cause trouble, but we have the advantage of seeing the situation objectively. I'm not Nynaeve or Alivia... I know exactly what's happening with Rand, and I can judge Semirhage's words accurately. The Forsaken are a combination of evil and incredible knowledge... it doesn't always have to be a hybrid of both - sometimes you can get a knowledge boost about what's happening in the series if you analyze their words.