Before I dig into this, I just want to say congratulations! This was truly an epic undertaking, and a very enjoyable ride the whole way.
I also want to say thank you, because this series really had me dig into the books as never before, and notice a lot of small stuff I hadn't before.
Hopefully, within the next month or two, I'll be able to post a couple analysis and theories that I've garnered over this read through, thanks to you. Nothing nearly as epic in size, but hopefully something that can keep this board semi-alive.
2: Egwene is still being her old friendly self. Despite her specifically Traveling in private to Elayne’s tent, citing that method as limiting the visit to merely personal, rather than official, and with no one in attendance but their brother/fiancé, she still requires Elayne to kiss her ring
This makes me chuckle every time I read it, cause it really is just such a stupid pattern. I mean, back when she's first raised by the rebels, one of the first thing she does is beg (well, command...) Elayne and Nynaeve to treat her the same as they always had. I know I'm not telling you anything new, as you noted it at the time, but like, seriously. What a bitch.
6: Egwene’s behavior over the course of the series is such that Nynaeve is surprised when Egwene offers to let Nynaeve link with her and use her strength to Heal the wounded of Caemlyn
I'd certainly be surprised if my gun shot a magical healing salve.
What’s more, Rand’s bizarre statement comes on the heels of his revelation that the madness that resulted from LTT’s supposedly precipitous action is what has given him the insight that will enable his victory.
I'm going to blanket my observations over BSand later, but this one always got to me. I can understand, if not forgive, messing up material that is in the notes, but come on, when you make opposing statements separated by mere pages, you really, really should not be writing.
8: Egwene assumes that Rand will want to be the leader of the forces of the Light, and is determined to fight him on that count, to gain that position for herself. Is there a single sentence anywhere in the series better demonstrating her habits of thinking the worst of Rand, her unwillingness to cooperate with him, and her own desire for power?
Seriously, how can ANYONE like Egwene?
10: When she sees flowers blooming around Rand, Egwene is so stricken with envy that she sends Gawyn to find out how he does it.
Typical Gawyn, too; not only does he completely fail to figure this out, he never even mentions it again.
16: Gawyn has only just this moment, after dealing with Warders for years, realized they can lie
Gawyn, setting a new bar for stupidity for 25 years.
20:
Too much to quote, but seriously. I also found it a bit that her sa'angreal just happens to magically be flawed after it being around for 13 of the books and nobody mentioning it before.
Wasn't half the point of Callandor how dangerous it was due to the flaw? Wasn't the flaw because of a manufacturing error due to rushed development during the War of Power? Wasn't that supposedly such a huge issue, and incredibly rare? Sounds to me like someone couldn't figure out any realistic way for his Mary Sue to die, and had to make her go out in a blaze of glory.
It only exemplifies the that, even though an attempt was made to make her heroic, it only underlined how selfish and bitchy she truly was.
I have a few comments that blanket most of these notations; while I am very grateful that someone finished the WoT, could they truly not pick anyone better? These whole last three books read like awful fan-fiction, and that's even ignoring the horrendous editing and pacing of ToM.
I semi-followed along with his re-read before starting the finale, but after reading, re-reading, and analysing it, I seriously have to wonder if he actually did the re-read, or had an assistant do it. There was so much failure on so many levels.
The truly sad thing is that, as (probably) the largest continuous fantasy series, WoT deserved a much better ending than this. And it could have been fantastic! Hell, BSand might even have been able to do a decent job, but then he writes, what, 2? 3? of his own books in the middle of writing these?
Come on, man, you didn't truly care, you just wanted the extra cash. And WoT deserved better.
TyrReborn
Squeee! Got a shout-out!
Not sure I deserved it. All I did was bitch when the WoT board was completely empty.
Once again Cannoli, thanks for this work, and thanks for the truly fun ride back through the series!