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Re: You are trying to force fit thin evidence into a sweeping statement - Edit 1

Before modification by Sidious at 12/12/2015 06:48:17 AM


RJ certainly went out of his way to show us that Talents and personality traits go hand in hand ... doesn't really matter if it's driven by Talent or the other way around, the point is the author wrote it into nearly every character in one way or another. It's obvious he wanted us to see that there was a relationship between OP abilities/Talent and personalities.

But maybe RJ is wrong, and before the whole internet implodes remember that it is his philosophy, probably on life in general. Do you believe that your Talents in life have driven you? I'm a medical doctor and I can tell you that "I want to help people" is not the majority reason for doing medicine. If a woman has a Healing Talent then apparently she will want to Heal, but Moiraine's ability is pretty good and she never felt the desire to join the Yellows. Don't you think it's more likely that people come across what they are good at and decide for themselves if they want to invest in it? I like to travel the world... would I have a Talent like Androl that is secretly driving me? This is a serious claim against the free will, which RJ also cherishes.


I think it's pretty obvious that Semirhage had limited ability with weather in a broader scope here. What point of mentioning it in the context of weakness if she was still effective at it?

I'm saying it's all relative. She said she was an indifferent Tcheran player, and we know that Ishamael was a master. It depends who is saying what. If I wanted the weather manipulated I would not ask Semirhage out of the Forsaken, but she still might be better than the whole White Tower.


And why would she hate the very Talent that enabled her to "take her pleasures"? Without her high level Talent she would have been forced into much more mundane techniques, like Temaile was, to fulfill her sadism. What she did was a twisted reflection of Healing. According to RJ, IIRC, she was already far gone before the bore was even drilled.

Because Healing is helpful and she is not. From her own PoV she says that she could Heal anything and was whisked around the globe for such purposes. It was all about greatness and glory, and not the patient who was suddenly healthy. She's similar to Aginor in some ways. Surprise surprise...but Semirhage was evil long before the Bore was drilled.


Let's look at the other major strength channelers with NO Talents:

Asmodean
Sammael
Mesaana
Be'lal

30% of the Forsaken had no major or minor Talent and Lanfear shows only 1 as does Moghedien and Graendal. Maybe, Rhavin and Demandred might have a single Talent each, Compulsion and Traveling respectively, and Semihage might have had a second Talent with Traveling, but it's never 100% confirmed.


We don't know that, and yes I realise that since I made the claim I must prove positively that strong channelers have more Talents, but it's also about exposure. Sammael doesn't channel much around us, and neither did Be'lal, for instance. Lanfear on the other hand could have multiple Talents including Healing, Travelling and shields - we've seen her use all three, and she goes for shields first in combat against channelers of significant power.

Semirhage is a Healer and can block gateways. Demandred is probably strong in all the flows and has multiple powers like Egwene but he wasn't fleshed out.


Ishamael uses the TP almost exclusively so nothing he does can be called a Talent of the OP.

True, but he used every flow against Rand in the Stone. He's not weak in anything.


I think you are conflating Skill with Talent to be honest.

Maybe, but maybe they're all more interlinked than you care to admit. According to you, someone can either be a ninja or a body builder - but the idea of having traits of both is unacceptable.


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