Re: I sure as hell hope this is an inaccurate report... - Edit 1
Before modification by Cynewulf at 23/03/2010 08:49:17 PM
I can verify that the bridges are arched, cf. these quotes from TDR:
"The bridge was only the beginning. It arched straight to the walls that surrounded the island, high walls of gleaming white, silver-streaked stone whose tops looked down on the bridge's height." (TDR:107)
"[...] as she led Egwene and the others through the village to the great bridge, arching over half a mile or more of water like lace woven from stone." (TDR:106)
Anyway, had the bridge been entirely flat, it would still be ridiculous for Chubain to order a blockade to be set up outside the walls of TV. I wonder what the rationale for that move could possibly have been for the author? Also, this apparent lack of military insight makes me fear a bit for what the results will be of the presumably many battles that will be coming our way in ToM and AMoL... I know there is a huge demographic of WoT-readers with military connections, many of which have been in the same armed forces that Jordan served in. These people highly value Jordan's knowledgable take on battles and tactics. It seems to me that Sanderson's lack of experience and insight here might serve to give us incoherent/illogical battles, which would be a huge detriment for this series.
You are probably right, though, that it may be too much hassle for Sanderson to change these details at this point, as these basic misconceptions form the basis for much of the description for very many chapters in the book. I still hope that they will do it, however, as they apparently have been doing a lot of corrections in conjunction with the release of the digital versions of the books. And I certainly hope that they will take the time to eliminate more erroneous details from Towers of Midnight, before that book is released. Otherwise, we will just have to keep brushing over these mistakes.
"The bridge was only the beginning. It arched straight to the walls that surrounded the island, high walls of gleaming white, silver-streaked stone whose tops looked down on the bridge's height." (TDR:107)
"[...] as she led Egwene and the others through the village to the great bridge, arching over half a mile or more of water like lace woven from stone." (TDR:106)
Anyway, had the bridge been entirely flat, it would still be ridiculous for Chubain to order a blockade to be set up outside the walls of TV. I wonder what the rationale for that move could possibly have been for the author? Also, this apparent lack of military insight makes me fear a bit for what the results will be of the presumably many battles that will be coming our way in ToM and AMoL... I know there is a huge demographic of WoT-readers with military connections, many of which have been in the same armed forces that Jordan served in. These people highly value Jordan's knowledgable take on battles and tactics. It seems to me that Sanderson's lack of experience and insight here might serve to give us incoherent/illogical battles, which would be a huge detriment for this series.
You are probably right, though, that it may be too much hassle for Sanderson to change these details at this point, as these basic misconceptions form the basis for much of the description for very many chapters in the book. I still hope that they will do it, however, as they apparently have been doing a lot of corrections in conjunction with the release of the digital versions of the books. And I certainly hope that they will take the time to eliminate more erroneous details from Towers of Midnight, before that book is released. Otherwise, we will just have to keep brushing over these mistakes.
I'm not sure there is a quote describing the bridges as arched. Perhaps in NS or something, as Moiraine/Siuan ride on one. Perhaps I got this mental image from the NS comic, where the TV design approved by RJ showed the bridges as arched. Perhaps it's the White Bridge that misleads me, or perhaps it's just a logical guess based on the fact big ships go under those bridges. Anyway... that's the sort of details that need to be double-checked before going to Brandon and telling him "you made a mistake with this and that", out of respect not to make him lose his time over nothing. Several "mistakes" like this have not stood after deeper research (one example: some argued that the number of Younglings with Gawyn in TGS didn't match the number he had after Dumai's Wells. Further research showed that indeed those numbers didn't match, but there's also a brief mention by RJ in one book that Gawyn had left a good chunk of Younglings not far enough advanced in training at TV, and Elaida has kicked them out and sent them to Dorlan - so Brandon's numbers were right).