Wheel of Time questions

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******* NO SPOILERS *********

Well I'm on book two and I'm hooked on it or at least until book seven if what everyone say's is anything to go by there's just something I don't understand so far though.

RJ writes about a whole lot of stuff, something to do with a flame and emptiness and the void, and yet I'm under the impression that Saidin and the void are two seperate things and the void is what he goes to to try and get away from the taint, when he stole the horn and dagger back of Paiden Fain somewhere halfway through the book he end's up using the void and slaughtering some Trollocs whilst simontaneously tries to fight off the Saidin taint, all of that left me a bit confused as to when he is weilding and when he's just using his own sword training and even wether there is a difference between the void and the Saidin, and yes I know all about the drogon reborn stuff and all that but I'm not past the second book yet and am not familier with the whole setting yet.

 

Don't worry, I thouroughly enjoyed it up 'till book nine, it was only his latest (book 10) which left me a little annoyed. Try reading them all immediately after one another, or else you may start getting confused, or lose track of characters.

Ok, I'll try and do this without guiving away any spoilers. The void is what he uses to concentrate, it is an exercise used to clear his mind, concentrate, and ready himself to use saidin. He can focus far better while in such a heightened state of awareness, thus it helps him with his sword-fighting abilities. Because his mind is in such an, for want of a better word, open state, that is, he is ready for saidin, then then he can feel the magic on the edge of his awareness, ready for him to grasp. Because he can feel the magic on the edge of his perception, the taint starts to creep in as well, and as it effects its users through madness this is not surprising.

Jordan explains the differences between the Aes Sedai or female use of the magic as compared to how it feels to male users in good depth, and the contrast is great indeed, do not worry, all this will be explained, as will the reasons why he has to fight off the taint so vigourously.

You are correct, the void, saidin, and his sword fighting are all different things, and he is not necessarily weilding saidin whenever he is bringing forth the void- but it does make saidin perceivable, and at the moment he has not yet mastered his abilities, so when he concentrates on one he finds it difficult to block out the others.

Edit: Think of the void as being akin to a meditative state. He can focus better, thus good for fighting, and has a heightened or altered awareness or perception, thus he can sense saidin, because he blocks out the distractions of the world around him.

 

Void sound's like a strange term to describe his state of mind when he goes like that although very apt. So you're basically saying that it's like some yoga exercise he can put himself into to heighten his awareness right? maybe if I learnd to do that it would improve my school grades

Also I had a couple of unspoilerish questions to ask.

1. Does Selene have any significant part in this?
2. Is Egwene always going to be annoying? There's time's when I think she's ok but occasionally she just does something to ruin it all.

 

1) Yes, Selene will have very important role. IIRC, she is that "absolutely perfect" woman, right?

2) I, too, have found her to be a real b-ts -especially in book 5 and 6. Frankly, I would start making little marking to help you skip those annoying parts -they get rather disgusting in the third read-through.

 

All women in the WoT books are extraordinary annoying, some more than others but in general you want to strangle all of them. Believe it or not but the women will grow even more stubborn, headstrong, ignorant, arrogant and outright stupid as the series progress.

To illustrate my point I can say that I have all in all read the entire series perhaps 8 times, but there are chapters I have read 20 times and chapters I have only read once. The chapters I have read once are without exception those dealing with the girls/women. Jordan seems to delight in writing as obnoxious women as possible. Not to forget that their chapters are usually the chapters where absolutely nothing of importance is happening.

 

in looks yes shes the perfect woman.

ive always found egwene annoying but near as much so as nynaeve(sp?)

 

What does everyone think the funniest Moment was?

For me it was when Rand said the Dark ones name and then ran out in the ladies room's and then the icing on the cake was when Lan came into it, I was never able to picture that man laughing like he did and making fun of the situation the way Lan did, since he is such a quiet strong silent type of person, I never even thought he might have even a trace of humor

 

Funniest moment? Possible spoiler here: When Rand meets the Emondsfield girls in Caemlyn at that inn and scares the **** out of them and subdues Verin and Alanna.

 

which book is this in? I think it may be two since he's in Camelyn in there and that's where you meet Verin and that other person.

I can't really compare the two but you have to admit that Lan laughing was unexpected

 

@ joacqin

Yeah I really liked that part

 

I'd have to go with casey on this one, Lan's laghter was so unexpected it got me laughing as well.

Can't recall the book you're asking about though casey, been too long since I read them.

 

I think my event happened in the Lord of Chaos, so you might not have reached it yet Casey. A true goosebump moment.
Ah, that was the last book that truly had a bunch of those...I miss the good ole days.

 

What about coolest character? for me I think it was Lan because in book two there's a couple of things I found quite funny about him, one I just mentioned and another shortly after where Rand goes to see the Amrilyian (sp?) seat and he starts giving Rand advice on dress and behaviour like his mother probably would, I don't know why I thought it was funny but it was. Lan so far seems to be one of the best built characters in the series, or at least as far as 3/4 through book two goes that is, to me he seems to act as a kind of part time father figure for Rand, Mat and Perrin or maybe it's just me (shrugs) who cares

 

Coolest character would be Mat. He reminds me of me in some ways.

 

Mat is definately the funniest character throughout the series. Sure Perrin and Rand have their moments, as do some of the lesser characters, but they can't consistently compete with Mat.

 

I read something in book two about when Rand was channeling I think and he saw things about himself from the previous ages and when he went out of it and Mat came in saying something like "I won't betray you, I won't betray you etc." The Point I'm getting at is I've seen references to "the betrayer" and also I knew Selene had a major part in the series right from the word go, so I was wondering something, is the rest of it going to be this obvious because if it is I will be very dissappointed.

Sorry if I have not been clear enough on this but I'd have to go back and re-read to be 100%

 

*SPOILERS*


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It's taken for granted that Rand is the Dragon Reborn, and is in fact pivotal to the story, don't worry, there are plenty of good story-lines and plot-twists amongst all the tugging of braids.

Damn braids.

 

And the sniffing. And the crossing of arms beneath breasts. And a whole lot of other things that make every female character in WOT (with the exception of Moiraine) unbearably annoying shrews.

 

Could you please elaborate Shura? And also how does what you mentioned make them annoying? imo it only makes their personalitys more realistic.

 

If "unbelievably Annoying" is realistic to you, Casey, all the better for you.

Despite popular belief, I do know some women in real life.

Let's just say that I would not choose to associate or even engage in polite conversation with the likes of Ewegene, Nynavae, or Aviendha.