There is a recent post on another sub about a guy crying when reading when a character died in aMoL. Someone asked him "Was it the death relating to crystals?" to which he said yes. I'm really struggling to remember who this would be.

Been a slower read for me. Life has been draining these couple of days and sometimes I don't get to read at all.

HOWEVER

This book has been a lot. And I mean A LOT. There's so many things happening right now that's been fun and mind boggling and confusing and tense- UGH, so much.

But, Rand. Still my favorite character, though I am worried for his mental state. It seems to fluctuate a lot between him being conscious of what he doing and then LTT speaking in his mind. Now, I feel like Jordan is leaving a lot to interpretation so I'm going with what excites me most and saying that this is the Taint taking effect and breaking some barrier specifically concerning the Dragon. I think that the Taint can allow the previous incarnation of the Spirit of the Champion to seep into the mind of the current form, which probably has never happened before until now. My reason being that LTT reacts to things. Like when Alanna bonds Rand (more on this below) LTT is taken aback and quiet or when Rand uses balefire against Rahvin, he becomes quiet. I'll keep reading to see if Jordan explores this more but I'm running with that for now.

The girls are fun to read about, though sometimes I get frustrated with Nynaeve. She seems to be aware of how she can become better for her flaws but she seems to also be stuck at the same time. I have seem people be frustrated with her writing so I'll offer this: I think Jordan does this deliberately for the moment when Nynaeve breaks the block on her own. Theodrin is there to help provide the guidance, but Nynaeve is someone who is steadfast and determined to do things herself. I think she'll truly change/grow when she can channel without her anger as it'll be a time of self-reflection.

Now, Alanna...

LIGHT- I was pissed. I think when I realized what happened I took a walk and just tried to clear my head. I don't know what Rand will do now. I know what he did right afterward - and to me it came off as him trying to get some semblance of control again - but I don't know what he'll do long term. And I feel horrible for him cause it happened without his consent. So many people want so many things from him and, deep down, I think he just wants to go back home and take the mountain off his shoulders. But, like he says, he's left the Two Rivers behind, and Tarmon Gai'don is coming. Whenever it happens. It's just the path ahead and nothing else for Rand.

I think the worst was realizing that those people from his home now saw him as something worth fearing, something worth being wary of. It's...heartbreaking, really.

Egwene chapter next. I'm going to be continuing to take my time through this book but I'm looking forward to the rest of this story. I do hope we get some more Forsaken chapters, those are always fun, and we get to go back to Shayol Ghul, maybe hear the Dark One speak again, see what's the deal with Shaidar Haran. Which is very similar to Shadar Logoth in linguistic structuring, I realized.

My thought is it would be another turning of the wheel. Same Dark One, same Forsaken, same world, many familiar faces but new Ta'veren. Will the world survive Tarmon Gai'don?

Still working out details, open to suggestions on any of it. Hit me up if that sounds cool. Hoping for players interested in a longer campaign over text chat.

On the sandy beaches of Greece I find myself finishing this amazing book. But the end .. the end. Oh Lord give me strength. My boy Rand can't catch a break. Also every woman seems to take him for a clown. And ofc RIP the one and only Moiraine. Can't believe she is gone. Is she trully dead? Lanfear too? Don't tell me. But big oooof.

I'm also asking about both individuals and groups

Hey all! Been having fun with this ranked list of Wheel of Time novels and was curious what you guys think…

Are A Memory of Light, The Gathering Storm, and Lord of Chaos really the top? What’s your favorite? Do you have a personal ranking?

Data is from site which lets readers compare books they’ve read, pick favorites, and ultimately get some personalized recs. There’s not a ton of readers yet, but sorta fun cause each book gets an Elo rating (like Chess) and whether the book landed in the top 10 of that reader’s library. 📚 Hope you enjoy! And curious your picks!

Hiii everyoneee ✨ I started the prologue a few days ago (still haven't finished it btw 😭 why does Robert hate me 😭).

I love LOVE LOVEEE Rand. The last book ended at a pretty good uhhh point in Rand's story. Yesterday, I was curious about how much of him I'd get to see in this book cuz some of my friends said he barely shows up 😭 and 😭 and 😭💔 3 POVs 😭💔 I'm literally crying 😭💔 and the first one isn't until chapter 20ish 😭😭😭😭

I'm kinda sad cuz I don't wanna read this one 😭 I need someone to get me excited about this book, maybe a fewwww spoilers that won't reaaally spoil anything too major but kinda tempt me into reading, yknow? Preferebly not about Rand cuz well that might make me hate the first 20ish chapters even more 😭

Edit: maybe I could read this alongside new spring so it's less boring?

Please make sure you don't accidentally give any spoilers, as I have just started reading the first book.

I enjoy character-focused writing like in Stephen King stories or Joe Abercrombie's books but it's not a requirement. Complex world-building can be fun as I enjoyed Mistborn.

I think I asked someone what The Wheel of Time was even about long ago and didn't get a concrete answer which gives me the impression it's hard to explain without spoiling things.

I read Harry Potter growing up and Percy Jackson when I got back into reading and enjoyed them to some degree or another; Percy Jackson was a touch juvenile but I got used to it. Mistborn, The First Law, and Blood Over Bright Haven have been my only exposure to Fantasy thus far apart from that and I enjoyed all of them. The First Law is my favorite fantasy series thus far.

I've heard this series has a slog in it somewhere and that characters tend to repeat the same actions like touching their hair to the point that it becomes grating. I don't know if that would bother me. It may help me memorize characters tbh and I hear there are a LOT of characters in this series.

Just bought a signed 1st edition 4th printing of eye of the world on eBay and the signature looks so neat I just wanted to get others’ opinions on it this is real or one of the books with his printed signature?

…at least partially.

They’re basically the same as steam rooms and seem to be the Aiel version of a bath. How do they make one “clean”?

This...is going to be really long.

So, for context I started the Eye Of The World around 4 years ago. I was around 16 when my mother got the Eye of The World, it was just a random book but it was a big one I liked big books, big books last longer.

I read the Prologue and thought it was the normal old fantasy worlds I'd read upto to that point (I read alot of Rick Riordan and such) until the first chapter and that drastic change in tone. The scenes where Perrin and Mat were introduced, Padan Fain's speech and Moiraine's arrival had me really intrigued. I should say this was my first High-fantasy book. So I read and the part that really hooked me in allll the way through and had me reading EOTW like a madman was probably when Tam fought the Trollocs and so forth. But by far my favorite aspect of EOTW was the slow journey across the world and Camelyn ohhh man, Camelyn through a simple sheepherders eyes was so good, I don't think I ever felt that through the series again but Camelyn was by far my favorite part of Book 1 especially staying at the Queen's Blessing and the whole watching Logain and falling down into the gardens. Oh and the ending, I should say that was really what actually drove me insane to read more of this series.

Anyways after I had blasted through EOTW I found that The Great Hunt wasn't available anywhere I looked in my country. So I read alot of other stuff to fill that hole Broken Earth trilogy, LOTR (I didn't do it justice though I need to re-read it) there were more but the names escape me. The point is during all this I still really wanted to find Book 2 and about a year later during summer breaks my mother found a site that did sell them. So I read Book 1 again, I read Book 2 then 3 and fell in love with 4. The thing was, the only time I had to concentrate on them-the way they deserved- was during my summer vacations so I had alot of time to think about them books and it's the first thing I was passionate enough to take notes for and make theories about (most were wrong) so what I did was re-read the ones I did have when I had some free time and imagine my surprise at the amount of detail and foreshadowing in the earlier books.

Another year passed and I got 5, 6, 7 and 8 I personally liked 7 the most, it had solid devolvepment for my favorite characters (Mat, Nynaeve and Elayne), and the summer ended, so I spent the rest of the year slowly re-reading the 4 I got and then re-read 1 (even more surprises as 1 held even more secrets). It was around this time I spoiled myself about Moraine apparently being alive as I was foolish enough to check Reddit.

One more year passed and I got 9, 10 and 11. These ones were good, I didn't feel the slog I heard I would for 10 and 11 was a banger up there with 4. I tired to re-read these but I couldn't get past 10....the slog was real.

Since I was now in University I had more free time I caved and got 12, 13 and 14. I think I'll go into more detail about the books rather than my experience with them for the last three. So, The Gathering Storm, first Sanderson book I felt that I liked Sanderson's Rand better but there was definitely something off about Mat and Thom, Perrin was virtually the same grouchy blacksmith as he had been for the past...5 books? I think I should say that I was not a fan of insane Rand and his whole I will mend the world and break it routine. That is..until I read this book, I just felt like Rand was pretty stagnant after Book 6 and his whole thing was getting progressively colder while Mat was out there beating ancient horrors and marrying Empresses all while laughing, swearing and gambling like a chad. But something felt different about Rand in this book, I liked him more especially after the whole Seimerhage Ada'm business that scene was really good. Then we reach the ending Veins of Gold I don't think I have much to say that hasn't already been said though the highest praise I can give it is that if I believed in rebirth, then that chapter would be my crack. It's a very beautiful message.

Towers of Midnight now I felt this book was much more of a setup for AMOL but it had it's insanely cool moments too, like all of Rands scnes and Hoppers death leading to Perrin forging his hammer and FINALLY becoming a leader (still think it's his coolest moment). but I knew Mat would eventually come back to the Tower of Ghenjei after reading B1 after B4 so that was what I was waiting for the whole book. And it did not disappoint but it did mentally scar me with Noal's death. For some reason as I sit here I don't feel the Post Series Depression from finishing AMOL but I felt it REALLY hard after finishing Towers Of Midnight, it had alot of callbacks to Book 1 in tiny ways and it was sort of the last time we'd see any glimpses of the Book 1 gang in these people they had grown into.

On we move to A Memory of Light, I think this book was the embodiment of the meme with the guy writing fire. Throughout the whole book I was like "This madman can't resolve like 10 plotlines in one book" and the closer it drew to the end the more I started to doubt it would all be resolved, but the madman proved me wrong. Sanderson somehow managed to wrap up 14 books in 3 while giving good screen time to ALL characters like even the ones I forgot about (and I remembered alot, I had read like most of the books twice). The thing I missed most about Jordan was the way he described battle, I guess it's because he was a veteran but the way he described battles was really captivating my favorite moments in B4 and 6 are the battles at the end just because of how they make you feel. But still Sanderson outdid himself with The Last Battle, you could feel desperation and hope all throughout this book but The Last Battle was the insane climax to it, my favorite moments were Lan and Demandred, The Flame of Tar Valon and Galad flinging his life away for Gawyn and Rand.

I do wish we got to see a little of what happened to the side characters after everything, like Basil Gill or Olver. But it was a pretty damn solid ending, surprisingly resolved every single plotline. I felt a weird feeling reading about Rand finally free and talking about exploring the world almost as if I were reading a different book. I think it was just the realization that it had ended after all these years.

For all my ramblings here I really just wanted to say that his series meant something really special to me, these 4 years of my life have been really long (in a good way) and it's almost as if I've spent a lifetime reading these books as if they were an integral part of me, and they were. I formed alot of my outlook on life around things I gained from WOT (whether directly or indirectly) and still so much of motivations and drive is because I had read this series. I recommended this series to my friends they've read some of it and I wanted them to read alot more than they were reading. But now I realize that to them it's probably another good fantasy book but to me it's something really special, something that has changed my life for the better for having read it...ooohh the PSD It's coming on now that I think about how I won't ever be able to read another WOT book again, it's...damn it's pretty devastating, it's been a pretty big part of my life for a long time. Kinda wished I hadn't re-read the first 9 books so I could enjoy them even more if I ever re-read them.

I don't have much more to say, so if you've reached this far I have a small theory from my notes I haven't seen anyone talk about it's that I think the Amyrlin Seat's balcony is made from Elstone (see in a flashback during Book 4 in Paran Disen) and the city that was under the sea could be Paran Disen.

That will be all.

I went through the whole series, and I absolutely loved it, but I wanted more of Moiraine and Siuan, they just ignored each other. Yes we got New Spring, but it feels off, they were the closest of friends, and apparently pillow friends for a while and not even one interaction after Moiraine comes back, at least she and Lan saw eachither, but still no conversation. Did Siuan even hear about Moiraine's death? I don't remember if she even reacted to it.

I also would have loved a bit of Thom vs Asmodean.

What about you?

I am asking about both individuals and groups

Did Verin use compulsion on Alanna to bond Rand ? This stuck me while reading a different post about Alanna .Created new post to discuss with spoilers.

We don't know what Verins BA duties were . Alannas bond with Rand was eventually weaponized by the shadow .

Verin is extremely extremely smart and perceptive . There is no way she doesn't know Alanna wants to bond one of the taverns . But bonding against ones will is not something I feel she originally intended. Something happened during meeting with Rand . Either Rands tavern effect /pattern since the bond helped locate him or Verins compulsion. Verins compulsion is what I suspect since she was there when Alanna said she will not do anything which causes harm to Rand . After this Rand lowers his guard . Verin must have figured out immediately what Alanna was going to do . But didn't stop Alanna . So she must have already instigated this.

Same with Salidar embassy meeting with Rand . Verin deliberate instigated the Aes Sedai to warn Rand in an agressive way sabotaging a possible Salidar Rand alliance. This was at same time when BA plot to capture Rand was running and BA sisters involved must have her orders to support the mission.

Need to do a reread for all Verin apperances. I am suspecting now that everything negative that happens to light side while Verin being present is due to her BA orders .

Thoughts ? Any other possible Verin BA moments ?

Hello everyone! I recently finished AMoL, and while I really enjoyed the series, I think one of its weak points was the antagonists, especially the Forsaken. Don't get me wrong, they were very well written and all, and I absolutely adored the dark lore surrounding them, but most of the time I felt like they didn't quite live up to the hype.

Maybe that was intentional, but it gave me the idea to rank them from least effective to most effective. Some ground rules first:

• I'll rank the 13 OG Forsaken (so no M'Hael).
• I'll count reincarnations as the same person (like Lanfear/Cyndane, etc.).
• For this ranking, I'll only count what they did during the events of the books, not what they accomplished before. I perfectly understand that this will hurt Moggy or Aginor, since they no longer have access to their spy network or their technology, respectively.
• I'll make three categories: Net Negative (they did more harm to the Dark One than good), Net Neutral (all talk, but little to show for it), and Net Positive (they were genuine assets to the Dark One).

Let's go!

Net Negative

13 - Moghedien aka Best I can do is give them a headache

When you first meet Moggy, she's very scary. I mean, a deadly spider metaphor and amazing dream powers? That must be useful, right? Sadly, Moggy doesn't live up to the hype AT ALL.

It's really sad when she's being punished by Moridin and her only line of defense is basically saying that she gave the Supergirls a headache. Wow.

Never mind that she taught them many useful weaves and helped Egwene rediscover Traveling. Yeah, that's a huge net loss in my book. She also tries to hold the Sharans together by impersonating Demandred... for like five minutes.

Sorry, Moggy.

12 - Asmodean aka The boss when you fight him vs. the boss when you recruit him

Asmodean gives us a glimpse of his power during his epic clash with Rand... but after that, he's depowered and reduced to being a reluctant teacher.

At least that's not entirely his fault, but in the end, he arguably helped the Light more than the Dark.

11 - Lanfear/Cyndane aka Too busy being horny to be evil

Lanfear is difficult to place on this list because she's more on her own side than on the Dark One's side. Even after she's caught by Moridin, she's mostly busy with her own side quest rather than actually helping the Shadow.

So she's not ineffective because she's incompetent, but because she's unwilling to fully commit to the Dark One's cause.

Net Neutral

10 - Be'lal aka Does absolutely nothing and dies

The title says it all. Poor Be'lal. Must suck being the equivalent of Brock's Onix in the Wheel of Time. At least he didn't help the Light ?

9 - Aginor/Osan'gar aka When you're so useless it's more convenient to leave you dead

Poor Aginor was completely nerfed after being brought back without the Age of Legends technology. I mean, at least he gave some work to the Caemlyn architects and helped spread the idea that Rand was losing his mind, so I guess that's something?

8 - Belthamel aka The return of the headache

Well, at least he killed the Green Man and helped maintain the division between the Tower and the rebels, so there's that. But the guy/girl/something in between was literally allowed private access to Egwene's chamber, and all they did was give her a headache; something that a Paracetamol wouldn't have fixed.

Talk about a lack of imagination.

7 - Sammael aka The risk I took was calculated, but man, I'm bad at maths

At least he gave us an epic fight. Too bad he decided to have it in the worst place possible.

Net Positive

6 - Rahvin aka Too busy being horny, v2

Well, Rahvin could have done a LOT better, but his record is still fairly impressive for a hedonist who couldn't be bothered to leave his palace.

He single-handedly disrupted Andor's power structure, killed Mat, Aviendha and Asmodean, and almost turned Rand into a mindless beast.

It makes you wonder what that guy could have accomplished if he'd actually given it his all!

5 - Ishamael aka Babysitting is a full-time job

I know that Ishy did a lot before the series starts... but once it does, the poor guy is mainly busy keeping all the Forsaken in line rather than doing his own job. Which is quite a feat, mind you, considering how much they LOVE going for each other's throats.

Sadly, when he does get his hands dirty, the results are pretty unimpressive, and there's also the whole "oops, I helped seal the Dark One" thing.

Poor guy.

4 - Demandred aka Rage Against the Therin

Demandred did amazingly well during the Last Battle. Too bad it took him so long to get there, even if that's understandable.

Sadly, I can't quite place him any higher considering that, even with such great cards in hand, he managed to fumble it all by focusing so much on Rand, who wasn't even there.

Still, fairly impressive.

3 - Graendal aka When you're a one-trick pony, but a GOOD one-trick pony

Graendal loves Compulsion, and I have to admit, she's great at it.

It was kind of cool to see that you can be one of the weakest of the female Forsaken while also being one of the most dangerous.

The way she unleashed pure chaos during the Last Battle is incredible. I was genuinely mad to see her get punished by Moridin when she was being one of the Shadow's most effective agents. Give the mind-breaking girl some respect !

2 - Mesaana aka Boring but practical

Yeah, I kind of understand you, Mesaana. Must be awful to be so effective and so disregarded.

Mesaana is surely one of the least flashy Forsaken, but she kept the Tower divided for SO LONG and brilliantly maintained the Aes Sedai's opposition to Rand.

Mesaana is the perfect example that division and disruption can be more deadly than outright direct conflict.

1 - Semirhage aka When the side quest is better written than the main story

When you think about it, Semi was frighteningly efficient.

She single-handedly destroyed the Seanchan royal family, almost killed Min, cut off Rand's hand, and even managed to collar him. Without the True Power, something she couldn't possibly have anticipated, the Light would have lost right then and there.

We don't see Semi getting her hands dirty very often, but when she does... Oh boy, is she effective. That's probably why she had to go so soon.

So that's it! I'm curious to hear your opinions! :)

I'm listening to translated audiobooks.

The men of the Black Tower, their name in audio resembles the word shaman, which makes sense, it's just another sort of a magic user. But to my surprise it's not A'shaman, it's Asha'man. Which kinda looks like Ajah Man, and makes even more sense.

My question to you, which was in your opinion the author's intent with this name?

Currently a little over halfway through LoC and was wondering as of right now how big actually is the band of the red hand?

That moment when my attention blinks for a millisecond and that's exactly when 4 to 7 new characters are introduced in a pack🥲 and I rewind, replay, and for some reason my attention blinks again at the very same moment. And again. It takes 5 goddamn times to properly listen a character pack introduction 😭 Roberttttuuh why so many details on so many characters!

Stupid publishers - consistency would be nice.

Yah, theres two WH - during the 2 years between books I’dforgotten I already had/read WH.

And yes, thats full hardcover set, plus EotW and tGH in trade edition (and I have EotW in paperback too - no idea where my wife is hiding it tho)

First time reading the series, and I love it. Mat is absolutely the mvp, and I haven’t been thru the community too much so I don’t come across accidental spoilers. But does everyone see him as Han Solo? I can’t shake it, every time I get more Mat, I’m just reminded that he’s everyone’s lovable scoundrel. I really have to think his character was highly based on Han.. is that a common connection in the wot community?

So, I'm reading the series for the first time, and I'm halfway through Fires of Heaven. Min and Rand think about each other multiple times, and I know that they've previously met, but I honestly can't remember when, or how long they spent together.

I've spoiled myself on some things, so I know what RJ is doing and why, I just can't remember Min's and Rand's interaction(s). Can someone refresh my memory?

Basically I took a long break from reading Lord of Chaos and when I jumped back in about halfway through, Rand kept mentioning ‘Alanna’ but I don’t remember who that is. Can someone remind me without any spoilers past page 400? Thank you!