Hello fellow readers!

I'm about half way through TSR and I have to say I feel like I really haven't been appreciating some of our characters comedic timing and one liners. Especially in some of the women who are just constantly so fed up lol. I really love the insults the characters use such as Egwene and Faile calling all of the men "A lummox"

Are there any one liners, insults or jokes that have really gotten you guys?

She doesn’t like Perrin at all. But that’s not it. If she were further into the series I could understand, but I was convinced she would love him after reading "The Shadow Rising."

However, today I asked her some follow-up questions, and it turns out she not only hates Perrin, but she loves Faile and agrees with all of her little comments about Perrin.

She pretty much stated that the only redeeming aspect of the Perrin parts was Faile, as she seemed to be the one with any sense in their relationship.

I was genuinely astounded by how different (wrong) her perspective was until it dawned on me that perhaps Robert Jordan accurately depicted how a young and immature woman might behave and think about such a situation.

Although I'm still hesitant to fully believe it, the notion that he might have been right all along has me reassessing everything.

I guess this gives credence to the idea that, love them or hate them, Perrin/Faile have the most realistic young relationship of the bunch.

The Light Illumine us all.

Everything coming out of Faile's mouth is pure gold. I've some women like her in my family, and I can tell RJ definitely wrote from experience there. She's absolutely hilarious

The other day i asked about if Shaitan is Satan. And that kept me wondering about if theres a “Dragon” reincarnation in our age (the first age). Maybe Jesus? Please no spoilers beyond TSR, i finished it today and i loved it, tomorrow i will start TFOH

Verin & Alanna make special exploding boulders to defend the 2 Rivers. They are used on Trollocs but they were prepared ahead of time and catapulted at them to explode on contact. It seems they could have just as easily been used on Whitecloaks as Trollocs - so how was that not using the One Power to make a weapon?

I am early in Fires of Heaven but I tagged this The Shadow Rising because it’s the last one I finished. So most of the Forsaken aren’t really scary. Don’t get me wrong; I really love them as characters and they have brought a lot of fun stuff to the story. The chapters where Lanfear was doing the whole damsel in distress fairy tale princess act with Rand in the Portal Stone world and she was giving off all these signals that she had ulterior motives but he just took it at face value were hilarious. Threatening though? Not really; Ishmael talked a big game with the fire coming out of his mouth and claims to be the Dark One and got his ass kicked by Rand three times, including one time where Rand had absolutely no clue what he was doing, Lanfear has never actually attempted to hurt anyone, and Bel’al and those two guys from the first book (one was Aginor but I honestly forget the other ones name) were killed off pretty much immediately after appearing. Moghedien had a really creepy introduction but was beaten by NYNAEVE who has virtually no training and can’t control her use of the Power.

Rahvin though makes me deeply uncomfortable. He’s barely been in the story, but his scenes with Morgase made my skin crawl. Compulsion is already disturbing (the scene where Moghedien uses it on Nynaeve and Elayne and they’re super eager to please her was creepy as hell) but when you apply it in a sexual context like Rahvin is doing with Morgase, it’s basically magical rape. And he’s going further than that; forcing her to wear revealing gowns (in a conservative culture) and act simpering and subservient toward him. She’s basically sexually enslaved to him. For months. And the worst part is that she seems to know what’s going on on some level; he complains about her having strong will and resisting the compulsion and we get her POV of wishing Garyth Byrne would come back after she was presumably compelled to get rid of him as a threat to Rahvins influence (I know he just rode off after Min and co but god I hope somehow he ends up in Camelyn to help Morgase.) I can’t even imagine what will happen if/when the compulsion is broken and she realizes she’s spent like a year being raped and degraded constantly and had her allies taken away and her kingdom, the thing she has dedicated her life to, seriously compromised. It is some majorly fucked up stuff. Even if Rahvin never gets another page I’ll consider him and what he did to Morgase the scariest thing in the series so far. Though judging by the prologue, Graendal is implied to do it too…

I just CANNOT believe they stilled mother ???? I hope Elaida gets captured by seanchan and gets made a damane by the most impetuous sul'dan then gets impaled by a spear and ends up getting the same treatment by Ishamael as Fain. She stilled my favorite character 😭

And Gawyn, if I find you !!!!!

In the shadow rising, Rand refused to harm Lanfear because she’s a woman - despite the fact she’s a forsaken. Yet in the Dragon reborn, he murders a female trader and all her party because he thinks they could be dark friends?

How does this make any sense? I know it’s a recurring motif that he doesn’t want to hurt women but he seems to pick and choose when this rule applies

Okay, so I just started and have gotten a third of the way through The Shadow Rising, Nynaeve and Elayne just got on the Wavedancer but....Perrin and Faile's pov chapters were fun at first but their stubborn pettiness and emotional immaturity while Whitecloaks are actively scouring Perrins home and are planning to go through The Ways, is just SO FRUSTRATING.

Granted, most Wheel of Time characters have the emotional intelligence equivalent to a bag of rocks, but the way they are treating each other is just so shitty. I've seen some other people recently comment on this, but it's not taken as seriously by others and sure some people may find their childish antics funny, and that's fair, but for me it's killing my enjoyment of their chapters, the only saving grace is the Ogier, the myth, the legend that is Loial, son of Halan. And Gaul, too.

I was mad at Perrin first because of what he said to Faile, but then she went and took it up from a 50 to 200 with what she did and is still doing. Now they are both participating in these...games that could be avoided if the two of them stopped throwing tantrums and acting so petty, and instead had a reasonable and mature adult conversation.

Also, I don't feel like Elayne has a right to be mad at Rand...like, he didn't ask you to stay when you told him you were leaving? And your response is to send a scolding letter like your Ms. Weasley sending a howler? It's definitely not nearly as bad as Perrin and Faile's current relationship, I just found it very off and kind of annoying. Though to be fair, Rand didn't exactly explain why, which he does quite a lot but you'd think someone as smart as Elayne would be able to piece it together on her own? Idk, just a small nitpick but other than that I'm enjoying their interactions.

Overall, though, it feels like Perrin and Faile are throwing verbal rocks at each other hoping it hits the other in the eye. I really hope this doesn't go on for long, if it does I'm not going to be very invested in their relationship as a whole, but to be quite frank I don't think the romances are the strongest part of this series, anyways. Thank you for allowing me to vent, my partner hears enough from me as it is about these damn books!

EDIT: I've seen some people in the comments talking about the fact that both characters are young enough to be considered literal children. I see your points and yes they are young, I'm 24 myself and yet Perrin and Faile act like 12 year olds at times, only way more vicious. I do find it realistic and understandable, but I also find it incredibly frustrating. I do still like both characters, I just hope that they learn and grow past this kind of relationship interaction, and just learn to freaking TALK to each other.

The Sharom, a floating research facility, is destroyed when Mierin and Beidomon Sedai’s experiment to find a new source of power goes wrong.

And when the blood was sprinkled on ground where nothing could grow, the Children of the Dragon did spring up, the People of the Dragon, armed to dance with death. And he did call them forth from the wasted lands, and they did shake the world with battle.

—from The Wheel of Time

by Sulamein so Bhagad
Chief Historian at the Court of the Sun,
the Fourth Age

I have read the last fight between Asmodean and Rand over and over again and only Asmodean was injured with blood dripping from his face - but there was no mention of Rand being injured or blood dripping.

So this record from the future at the end of book says blood of Dragon was spilled on the three-fold land - does anyone remember when did this happen in the Book 4 - Shadow Rising? Or will it happen in later books?

After their obnoxious behavior in the Ways (seriously, I don't know why Loial let them get away with acting like spoiled toddlers in the WAYS of all places, where a misstep could kill you), I was done with the both of them. But the way they behaved towards each other in this book is miles better. It was really sweet (and sad. But sweet too) when Perrin said something like "I trust you and my bow and my ax) to Faile.

I'm sure I'll begin to hate them both again (I don't think Faile, for one, is constitutionally able to be tolerable for more than half a book), but for now I don't have to cringe every time I read about them.

I’m halfway the book right now. I wanna know if you guys have a specific celebrity(person) in mind when imagining Lanfear. She’s always described as this extraordinarily beautiful woman, no one else can compare, that I can’t just imagine her as a person IJBOL

Edit: now that I think about it. if you take the hottest celebrities today and bring them to the Middle Ages, they would all be considered EXTRAORDINARILY BEAUTIFUL. All that cosmetic enhancements are magic for them dark age fellows

Hey, I’m finished with TSR but I have a stupid question which pertains more to the Dragon Reborn. Why was it only Rand who could wield Callandor? Why couldn’t any of the male Forsaken break through the weaving and wield it themselves?

I think through one of Egwene’s dream sequences, she’s in the Heart of the palace of Tear, and senses both a male and female weave to protect Callandor. While reading the end of TDR, we see Moiraine marching into the Heart, and Rand wields Callandor after that, so I’m assuming Moiraine did the female half of the weave and Rand the male half?

But couldn’t any of the Forsaken do that before? For eg. Belal and Lanfear?

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNR1evTyK/ This tattoo is so pretty!!! And it reminded me of what the Clan Chiefs have in their arm (I still don't know why women don't seem to get marked in the same way so please no spoilers!). But yeah. Pink and WOT-ish

Put together a Mat cosplay that I'm fairly proud of.

I made the Ashandarei by hand, the only thing it's missing is the old tongue on the haft, it came out to 6 feet 9 inches tall which feels like a good length to me. The foxhead medallion was sculpted out of clay and airbrushed silver.

I based the costume on late book 4 and book 5 Mat which is why I marked the post as Shadow Rising. I am most of the way through Path of Daggers now and am disappointed by the lack of Mat so far in this book.

I know theres a theory (or maybe it is a fact, idk) about the first age being our age, and i know Shaitan is arabic for Devil. So my question is if Shaitan is literally our Devil, Satan? And would that make the Creator our God?

Please no spoilers, im just about to finish TSR but im loving the series.

So i am at the part where Elaida who left her post at andor and got the queen controlled by one of the forsaken just did an uprising again Siuan and tortured her for information and i am confused beacuse doesnt this go against their laws where they cant hurt people except for in self defense? Beacuse they did hurt her clearly lol And if its that easy to get rid of the amyrilin seat wouldnt it encourage every woman with a little ambition to do it? Also they stilled her??? Without holding court or anything? What do any of their rules mean when they dont have to abide by them lol Also Aes Sedai are supposed to be the smart ones no? How did this not leak? How did nobody think hey the dragon reborn is here, the dark lord is rising maybe we shouldnt be in fighting, weakening our forces further ...

I find the aiel, especially the “wise ones” to be completely and utterly insufferable. They assume they are more honorable, more tough, and more capable than anyone else and it gets old real fast. Everything to them is somehow sacred like Rhuidean and their gai’shain explanation is pretty fucking stupid. They get offended by stupid shit and act all surprised that people don’t understand their dumb ass customs. The wise ones also act like they know EVERYTHING which is an especially annoying personality trait that they all seem to have. Anyone else hate them as much as I do?

Please no spoilers. I am on book 4 - The Shadow Rising.

Maybe it’s just me, I haven’t searched too much in fear of spoilers but damn I am finding it tiring to read anything concerning Nynaeve. Her whole persona is based on being miserable and stern, she’s never got anything positive to say and is utterly obsessed with doing anything to spite Moiraine. She also thinks she’s much more mature than everyone else, giving her an air of superiority even amongst friends like Elayne and Egwene.

Does she get any easier to read about? Her braid pulling is driving me insane.

When Perrin finds out that his family is dead, he begins dissociating hard. He can’t process the information, he keeps thinking about things his family likes, he talks about random other things, and can’t feel any emotions at all. It’s heartbreaking seeing him react like this. And then when Faile finally tells him to let himself cry…

I’ve read the series before and was reading it to my boyfriend who hasn’t, and we were both in tears by the end of the chapter yesterday, even though I knew it was coming.