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You guys, you guys, I’m on chapter 49 of Tower of Midnight*, and the Glass Columns of Infodump are back! I LOVE the Glass Columns of Infodump! (I’m not being sarcastic; I actually do love that ter’angreal. It’s even cooler than Egwene’s trip through the three rings and Nyneave’s test for the shawl. Speaking of which, how badass was Nynaeve’s test for the shawl?).
Also, Perrin and Mat have met back up. <3 <3 <3 Gawain still isn’t good enough for Egwene, but he appears to finally have accepted that he needs to get the hell over himself and accept his role as hersubmissive warder. I fervently hope this means an end to the incessant emo moping.
Lan is still wallowing in his annoying “I’m going to go to my death in the blight alone because that’ll totally accomplish something somehow!” manpain. Lews freaking Therin had less manpain than you, Lan, and he never did anything but rave insanely about his dead wife (okay, so not actually less manpain, but he was a cackling voice in Rand’s head caused by saidin-induced craziness and the dissociative identity/fragmented psyche stuff that accompanied him was interesting, and you’re an actual person with POV sections I have to listen to). I kind of hope you die so that Nynaeve can get together with someone else. Maybe Egwene.
Rodel Ituralde is my new favorite pov that isn’t Perrin/Mat/Egwene/Nynaeve/Tuon/Siaun/Padan Fain/that dude at the black tower who makes gateways. His desperate defense of the blight border even when he believes no hope is coming is really appealing in a last stand at Thermopylae sort of way. I’m also starting to actually like Galad, not just more than Gawain, because let’s face it, I like practically everyone who isn’t Lan more than Gawain, but in his own right, which I never expected to. Galad started out the kind of person I loathe, and the Children of the Light in general are the kind of group I honestly find more evil than the Dark One and the Forsaken. Every single one of them and their entire belief system is another Shadar Logoth waiting to happen. It’s been a really nice twist to see the Children breaking free of that under Galad’s leadership, as he himself gets a series of slap-to-the-head wake-up calls that a lot of his beliefs are wrong Which is why I truly don’t think Sanderson could be responsible for this particular plot development, because I don't think a person with his religious beliefs would be capable of writing someone breaking free of the Whitecloak’s mindset and depicting that as a good and necessary thing. Maybe writing this storyline will be good for him. It's interesting to see a crisis of faith that's more complex than a character simply "finding god," or rejecting their 'verse's deity/deities to become an atheist.
I’m also eagerly awaiting finding out how the Seanchan problem will be resolved, because it’s clear that if she continues on her people’s current path, Tuon’s going to plunge the continent into generations of war, but I don’t see an easy way to turn her aside from it. I also don’t see how Mat’s going to fit into her life and her court at all, for all that I adore their relationship even more than Perrin and Faile’s and a part of me can’t wait for her to tattoo raven on his shoulders and make him her bitch. (Gently, of course, since Mat probably has some issues re being dominated during sex thanks to Tylin’s campaign of sexual harassment that ended in borderline rape. I remind myself of these issues when he’s being particularly chauvinistic/misogynistic and annoying, which is often). The western parts of Randland seem to be doing well under her rule, and she’s a good leader and good ruler despite being essentially a colonial/imperialist invader, and her army’s unification-by-force of the west and general unbeatable war machine-ness may end up helping save them all at the last battle, but the Sul-dam and Damane system clearly has to go – it’s based on a huge misconception about how women who can channel work, for one thing, and it’s slavery and wrong, for another, and it will be impossible for the Seanchan to have any kind of peaceful diplomatic relations with Andor and the White Tower as long as it continues, for a third, and one theme throughout the entire series has been that channelers shouldn’t stand apart from ordinary people and don’t need to (the Windfinders, Kin, and Aiel Wise Ones vs. the White Tower, Grady and Niall’s role as members of Perrin’s command who fit in alongside everyone else vs. Taim’s factions in the Black Tower and their arrogance, Galad’s grudging realization that the Whitecloaks need to work with Tar Valon and the Dragon Reborn because they have a common enemy who represents actual evil), just as another theme has been that traditions should be adapted and changed when needed rather than clung to (the immigrants coming to the Two Rivers, Aviendha’s search to find a new path for her people while keeping their culture alive, the White Tower needing to change its views on “wilders” to accommodate the Wise Ones, Windfinders, and Kin, etc.).
*Note: Towers of Midnight, like Gathering Storm and whatever the final volume of WoT will be titled, was written 100% by Robert Jordan before his death, with possible assistance from Harriet Jordan. No such person as Brendon Sanderson has ever put his paws on it, or contributed so much as a single word. I NEED MY ILLUSIONS, PEOPLE. PLEASE LET ME KEEP MY DENIAL.
Also, Perrin and Mat have met back up. <3 <3 <3 Gawain still isn’t good enough for Egwene, but he appears to finally have accepted that he needs to get the hell over himself and accept his role as her
Lan is still wallowing in his annoying “I’m going to go to my death in the blight alone because that’ll totally accomplish something somehow!” manpain. Lews freaking Therin had less manpain than you, Lan, and he never did anything but rave insanely about his dead wife (okay, so not actually less manpain, but he was a cackling voice in Rand’s head caused by saidin-induced craziness and the dissociative identity/fragmented psyche stuff that accompanied him was interesting, and you’re an actual person with POV sections I have to listen to). I kind of hope you die so that Nynaeve can get together with someone else. Maybe Egwene.
Rodel Ituralde is my new favorite pov that isn’t Perrin/Mat/Egwene/Nynaeve/Tuon/Siaun/Padan Fain/that dude at the black tower who makes gateways. His desperate defense of the blight border even when he believes no hope is coming is really appealing in a last stand at Thermopylae sort of way. I’m also starting to actually like Galad, not just more than Gawain, because let’s face it, I like practically everyone who isn’t Lan more than Gawain, but in his own right, which I never expected to. Galad started out the kind of person I loathe, and the Children of the Light in general are the kind of group I honestly find more evil than the Dark One and the Forsaken. Every single one of them and their entire belief system is another Shadar Logoth waiting to happen. It’s been a really nice twist to see the Children breaking free of that under Galad’s leadership, as he himself gets a series of slap-to-the-head wake-up calls that a lot of his beliefs are wrong
I’m also eagerly awaiting finding out how the Seanchan problem will be resolved, because it’s clear that if she continues on her people’s current path, Tuon’s going to plunge the continent into generations of war, but I don’t see an easy way to turn her aside from it. I also don’t see how Mat’s going to fit into her life and her court at all, for all that I adore their relationship even more than Perrin and Faile’s and a part of me can’t wait for her to tattoo raven on his shoulders and make him her bitch. (Gently, of course, since Mat probably has some issues re being dominated during sex thanks to Tylin’s campaign of sexual harassment that ended in borderline rape. I remind myself of these issues when he’s being particularly chauvinistic/misogynistic and annoying, which is often). The western parts of Randland seem to be doing well under her rule, and she’s a good leader and good ruler despite being essentially a colonial/imperialist invader, and her army’s unification-by-force of the west and general unbeatable war machine-ness may end up helping save them all at the last battle, but the Sul-dam and Damane system clearly has to go – it’s based on a huge misconception about how women who can channel work, for one thing, and it’s slavery and wrong, for another, and it will be impossible for the Seanchan to have any kind of peaceful diplomatic relations with Andor and the White Tower as long as it continues, for a third, and one theme throughout the entire series has been that channelers shouldn’t stand apart from ordinary people and don’t need to (the Windfinders, Kin, and Aiel Wise Ones vs. the White Tower, Grady and Niall’s role as members of Perrin’s command who fit in alongside everyone else vs. Taim’s factions in the Black Tower and their arrogance, Galad’s grudging realization that the Whitecloaks need to work with Tar Valon and the Dragon Reborn because they have a common enemy who represents actual evil), just as another theme has been that traditions should be adapted and changed when needed rather than clung to (the immigrants coming to the Two Rivers, Aviendha’s search to find a new path for her people while keeping their culture alive, the White Tower needing to change its views on “wilders” to accommodate the Wise Ones, Windfinders, and Kin, etc.).
*Note: Towers of Midnight, like Gathering Storm and whatever the final volume of WoT will be titled, was written 100% by Robert Jordan before his death, with possible assistance from Harriet Jordan. No such person as Brendon Sanderson has ever put his paws on it, or contributed so much as a single word. I NEED MY ILLUSIONS, PEOPLE. PLEASE LET ME KEEP MY DENIAL.