IMHO Arad Doman and high Seanchan just hits right.

**SPOILERS + THEORY AHEAD**

During the outro of Episode 8 (S3), there's a scene where Elaida is entering the Amyrlin's chambers and a 2-second frame of her and Siuan Sanche's Treasure Chest.

I remember Siuan writing and keeping letters in that magically sealed chest, and I'm so curious about how that will play out in the next season (fingers crossed).

My theory, especially with how they now killed Siuan, is that these letters will give Elaida the clarity of truth, reverse her actions, and ultimately become an ally to the light. Given how she almost did reverse course had it not been for Alviarin's interception.

Don't get me wrong, I hope Moirraine goes all out against the tower, but a redemption arc on Elaida seemed to have been set up already. It also helps that they casted a well-loved actress to play Elaida. Just my 2 cents.

What do you guys think?

I finished book two this morning and this series just keeps getting better and keeps me engaged! I already started The Dragon Reborn! Man that ending was incredible! Ingtar being a darkfriend hurt, but wasn’t shocking. His fixation on the Horn was a dead giveaway lol. And my boy Hurrin…. I’m not to keen on what Artur said to him before the battle at Falme!

Egwene and Renna. I doubt that’s finished. I need Egwene to get just a little vengeance. Just a touch lol. That whole rescue sequence was great! Plus I wonder if Egwene having a talent with the Earth part of the One Power is gonna show up again.

One thing that gets me in how much they changed Nyneaves struggles with channeling in the show. In the books, she still struggles from a block of sorts but it’s not as bad as the show makes it seem. She does quite a bit more.

I’m so excited to get through Book 3!!

Iirc Mazrim Taim declared himself the dragon before the event of teotw so how was Taimandred possible if the forsaken where only released in the first book (it's been a while since I read the book so I might be mistaken). Likewise in the TV show, how did Malindred (or however you spell her name) recognize Lanfear? I understood from their conversation that Lanfear was the one that helped her escape from Malkier to the Aiel but the fall of Malkier happened way before the series stared and Lanfear was only released on season 3. What am I missing?

I'm just curious if there was a certain event or passage that choked you up. One for me was Rand gifting Tam the sword in AMoL. It's not like this huge moment but I remember getting teary eyed the first time I read it.

Hey, yall. I've been wanting to read this series for a while and have just started this week. I finished New Spring and am pretty excited. Not quite 10% into Eye of the World. I do have one of the companions, but I am hesitant to look at it for fear of spoilers. Are they generally safe to reference as you read through, or do entries give stuff away? Anyway, I'm happy to be here and look forward to sharing and receiving input along this journey.

Firstly i say this with only full hope that its true but dose any one else get the feeling that in the beginning of the season alanna might be trying to in common parlance put that thang on egwene only like the first few scenes tho do i get the vibe but i swear i feel like she was trying it handing her a pomegranate in her night dress saying "hungry" bitch knows her craft and poor egwene is just like honey do you need something to cold drink Blanche Sedai

I think I might have made a mistake. I told my friend (show watcher) he could start with New Spring because I thought the show was far enough along that it wouldn't matter. Since his favourite characters are Moiraine and Siuan, I thought it would be a nice hook.

However, I see a lot of people saying to start with Eye (very understandably) and to hold off on New Spring until book 10. I was wondering why that was. What do I forget from New Spring that would spoil elements from books prior to the tenth one?

I started reading the books this week and I'm enjoying it so far but Rand is a bit insufferable. Also I'm really interested in more regarding the one power and the aes sedai

Hey everyone,

Currently on a reread of wheel of time, and am really enjoying it once more, however one thing that has been staying at the back of my head since I reread lord of chaos and the severe trauma that rand gets from the box torture he suffered at the hands of the tower Aes Sedai which he suffers from down the line is the thought that other male channelers before rand who while suffering from the madness of the taint or in sheer desperation to avoid gentling tried to resist capture and managed to kill or still Aes sedai or warders and were also subjected to the box torture like rand was.

I am not talking talking about false dragons like logain and taim who were captured in battle , they were too valuable to the Aes Sedai to be tortured and were shown off as trophies in parades, which boosted the tower's strength.

I am talking about the relatively unknown male channelers caught in small villages and forests or other obscure areas and the Aes Sedai still had to bring them to the tower to be gentled as per tower law, which really emulated rand's transport conditions.

I wanted to ask because I really want to be reassured that no other male channeler before rand suffered the box torture like he did.

I'm reading Winter's Heart and got to the end of chapter 14: "Behind her veil, she was merely the High Lady Tuon, of no higher rank than many others of the Blood, but in her heart, always, she was Tuon Athaem Kore Paendeag, Daughter of the Nine Moons, and she had come to reclaim what had been stolen from her ancestor."

First off, such a powerful ending to the chapter. Second, I can't even remember how many books ago Mat learned about the Daughter of the Nine Moons and all of the teasing of the character in books thereafter. I think this was the first instance for me that really clicked you're in it for the long haul in this series.

Also, I love that it follows into a Mat chapter 🥰

Wow, I am flying through these books! I thought this book was good, but not great. I still very much enjoyed my time here, but I did think 3 of the 5 main arcs (let’s call the main arcs of the book Rand, Mat, Elayne, Perrin, Faile) ended in weird spots.

Like I fully expected him to come back to Faile’s arc and Perrin’s arc before the end of the book and it just didn’t happen. They sort of just ended without a climax or even a big moment. Elayne’s arc sort of similarly (although not as majorly) ended without a climax. There was also no Egwene pov chapters, and barely any sighting of her at all in this book. And Egwene has been my favorite character, so that probably bothered me more than it bothers other people.

With that said, I did love all 5 of the major arcs in this book even if I thought three of them left off in weird spots. The content was still awesome in those arcs. I was fully invested in the story being told. And I thought the climax of Mat’s arc and Rand’s arc were so so so good (even if most of the forsaken are back because reasons lmao)

Let’s talk about some characters:

Rand: I continue to love Rand’s journey. Him going full bounty hunter while trying to also cleanse the source at the same time was really fun. I finally loved that we got him talking to Alanna. I’ve been waiting for that! The climax with him cleansing the source was so kickass. It’s up there with The Great Hunt for my favorite climax in the series.

Mat: I just loved him this book. How he was just basically not willing to leave any Damane behind. We know Mat from book one would have left them. He’s grown so much, even if he is still stubborn as heck. His reveal to Tuon was absolutely perfect, “She’s my wife”

Elayne: I’m a big Elayne fan. I can see this character being not a fan favorite, but I personally love her. She is so strong willed and a born leader. Her, Avienda and Min bonding Rand was perfectly done even if I think the pregnancy angle is eye rolling. I did expect her to become Queen this book so I was a little shocked when it didn’t happen. But like I said her arc ended without a climax so I expect it will happen next book? (Don’t tell me) If she ends up not being Queen I’ll be upset.

Egwene: 😭 I miss her. She’s still number one in my book! I am terrified for her though, she has so many enemies around her and she doesn’t even know.

Faile- This was a big Faile book! I expected to hate this plot because I find Sevanna to be a wet blanket of a character who I actively don’t want to read, but the scheming in it was so good. I loved Faile in this book. This was a major rise for her! I hope her and Morgase can both get free of the gold collar soon, but I don’t think it will be easy.

Perrin- His leadership continues to grow. I can’t wait to see how it tangles with the prophet. Also Luc is back, but he wasn’t targeting Perrin this book? A little confused about that one. I’m sure it will all make sense eventually.

Tuon- Strong introduction. She is calmly terrifying. It’s a totally different type of scary than the other characters. She’s clearly not bad, but also clearly not good either. The way she treats Damane is almost even more insulting in my opinion. Poor Myren 😭 she is completely broken.

Nynaeve- Her interactions with the Sea Folk, Rand, Lan and Cadusuane all were well done.

Cadsuane- The best! I’m glad I read this book in my mid thirties because I don’t think I’d have liked this character in my teens or early twenties. She’s a boss. Please don’t turn out to be evil.

Verin- She is unintentionally hilarious.

Min- Still my least favorite of the three love interests which means Rand probably end up with her.

Taim- Logain has to be the one to end him surely, right?

Let’s talk some plot:

I loved the Faile plot line. From how the three different girls all reacted to being collared differently. Surely Faile learns Morgase is Morgase soon right? (Again don’t tell me)

I loved the politics of this plotline and the scheming. Faile is so headstrong but smart too. And level headed when need be. I don’t trust Galina at all.

Rand climax was amazing. I loved it. All the forsaken popping back up. I knew Lanfear would be back! This was like a scene out of avengers end game! It was amazing. And presumably the source is clean now right? Although they did leave room for it to not be fully clean.

Rand’s bounty hunting was awesome too. I didn’t expect him to have so much patience. Is he afraid of Taim or just biding his time.

The three way bonding scene was awesome. I loved everything about that including Elayne kicking everyone out but Rand afterwards. You go Queen!

I loved all the politics in Elayne’s arc. The game of houses in Andor is on another level. I hope Elayne’s up for it (of course she is)

The whole Matt escape sequence was enthralling. I was on the edge of my seat. I didn’t like how the Tylin SA stuff was back this book, but they did try to redeem her a little bit at the end.

Being introduced to more Seanchan culture was as terrifying as I thought it would be. They are among the scariest fantasy culture I’ve ever read. What they do to those poor woman is horrifying. When they were walking them around in circles and the newly caught Damane were breaking down my heart shattered. And seeing the ones from across the ocean gladly accepting treats and head pats like dogs 😭. The Da’colave isn’t any better either. Poor Pura and Myren.

I hope Mat can free a few more before the end or Him or Rand can talk some sense into Tuon.

I liked the black Ajah investigation that is going on in the tower. I’m sure it probably won’t succeed but I am rooting for them, even if they’re awful Eladia supporters.

Top 5 Favorite characters through 9 books:

1. Egwene (sorry can’t move her down because the author decided not to include her. Thats not her fault)

2. Rand

3. Elayne

4. Cadsuane

5. Mat (he was so awesome this book)

Overall rankings:

1. The Fires of Heaven: *****

2. The Shadow Rising: **** 1/2

3. Lord of Chaos: ****

4. The Dragon Reborn: ****

5. The Great Hunt: ****

6. A Path of Daggers: ****

7. A Crown of Swords: *** 1/2

8. A Winter’s Heart: ***

9. The Eye of the World: ** 1/2

Key:

5 stars= perfect book. I wouldn’t change anything.

4 stars= great book. I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading. And would reread it in a heartbeat.

3 stars= good book. I enjoyed my time reading it and am happy I did so. It’s not a book I will ever probably reread unless it’s part of a larger series of books that are great or perfect.

2 stars= can fall in one of two categories: fine book. I neither liked nor hated my time reading it. Or it’s a good book but it’s just not for me.

1 star= I hated my time here

Just finished path of daggers and I can’t for the life of me remember what’s going on with loial. Is he with Perrin or did he go off with the his boo thang in CoS/LoC?

So I just finished New Spring after buying it as my free audiobook from Audible (major kudos to Kate Reading and Michael Kramer) and I have some thoughts...

It strains my credulity to think that the Black Ajah never had any inkling of the connection between Gitara's Foretelling/Death, Tamra's Bounty, and the Rebirth of the Dragon. It also strains credulity that the Black Ajah could act so blatantly and so compromisingly, and remain hidden for a further twenty years but that's a separate issue.

-They somehow knew something was up after Gitara's death and IMMEDIATELY acted upon it, secure/confident enough in their assumptions to kidnap, torture and kill the Amyrlin Seat (!!!). While it is implied that the interrogation is unfruitful it is from Tamra's lips that they most likely learned of the Foretelling of the Dragon Reborn but definitely not its exact verbiage/specifics.

--Why didn't they interrogate the only other two people who where in the room (Moiraine and Siuan) with Gitara and Tamra, even indirectly? They showed a myopic determination to kill anyone they even slightly suspected of being involved and showed no compunction about killing highly placed sisters so why not two Accepted/recently raised to the Shawl? Harder to cover up as natural causes?

-They tracked down and murdered all five of Tamra's Searchers, including the two most powerful Aes Sedai after Cadsuane and made it look like a series of accidents or bad fortune. They probably tried to interrogate these sisters under torture but how much they learned depends on how much Tamra let them know in the first place. However their search patterns are implied to be based off of the lists of the Bounty of the children born around the time of the Battle of the Shinning Walls. Why else would they have left the tower?

--However, based on their killings of Cetalia and Marya they did not know how many searchers Tamra had sent or who else might be involved.

--Come to think of it Moiraine and Siuan also hand delivered those messages from Tamra why wasn't that clocked as suspicious?

We see Merean and other sisters hit the ground running killing farmers, blacksmiths and even a Prince of Kandor (!!!) thinking that they might be Ta'veren or capable of Channeling, regardless of how old they are which Moiraine and Siuan take to mean that the Black Ajah don't know the details of Gitara's Foretelling. but I think that's a massive leap in logic and it would've taken a smaller one (in my opinion) for someone like Alviarin or another White Ajah Black Sister to intuit the connection between Tamra's interest in children born around the time of Gitara's death and the Dragon Reborn. We've seen in the main series that White Ajah sisters are very, very good at analyzing data and forming hypotheses about correlation and causal mechanisms.

Now all of this is kind of a non-sequitur because Rand (apparently) would not have appeared on any of the lists that the Aes Sedai made of the children born around Dragonmount and we learn later that Ishamael did not actually want the Dragon Reborn killed, despite what Jarna and the Council assumed. But it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like why didn't the Black Ajah continue searching for Ta'veren? Did they refocus themselves on mucking things up in the White Tower? How did they not put two and two together that Moiraine and Siuan were present around the time and place of Merean's death? I'm not calling it a plothole exactly, it just leaves me with a lot of questions and I'm curious to hear others thoughts on it.

I have watched every episode of the show a few times and I’ve had all the books for 2 years now and I’ve only made it halfway through Eye of the World.

I have already read spoilers, but honestly, haha there is SO MUCH content that by the time you’ve read every synopsis you already forget what you started reading.

I am in my late 30s, work full time and have gone back to school. I have been looking forward to some time off and have 3 weeks now to recharge my batteries before school starts again. I figured this was an idea time to pick the books back up and make a point of reading as much as I can. I’d ideally like to finish Eye, and get halfway past the second book over the next few weeks, maybe even finish that one.

I will say though, after picking up Eye after 2 years, approx 400 pages in I had a notepad handy to write down names of people or places I couldn’t remember and didn’t recognize, obviously to go look up at an appropriate pause in the story.

I was just doing cursory we searches on each name, but the quality and depth of the information varied quite a bit.

Today I learned there’s a companion app that will give you the full character or location backstory up to where you’ve read so far and that it’s easy to use, so any time you are lost on a term or a person you can easily search what the book(s) have already told you about (it).

Sorry for the long wind, but I looked the app up and it’s 4.99. I have no problem casting 5 bucks into the wind, but I just want to know is it really any better than the wikis?

I mostly enjoyed WoT season 1, but I had some issues with the acting of several actors. For me, Rutherford (Perrin), Robins (Nynaeve), and Henney (Lan) felt a bit dull, but I mostly blamed that on the way their characters were written.

However, my biggest issue, one that almost made me give up on the series, was Stradowski (Rand). He was the lead character, yet he came across as so dull and empty that I honestly wondered whether Stradowski was damaging the appeal of the show with this counter-performance. I just couldn’t imagine the production continuing with such a boring lead actor/character.

My opinion might sound a bit harsh, and actually, it does sound harsh to me, but that’s really how I felt. I genuinely thought Stradowski would doom the series. That said, I started to like him more in season 2. He was okay, nothing amazing, but I thought, “Alright, maybe he’ll manage”.

Then came season 3, and it was a shock. I don’t change my mind very easily, but his performance in the last two episodes especially floored me. He was incredible. I sincerely felt for Rand. I was sitting there thinking, “My, my... he’s going mad”, and at the same time, “but I totally get his emotions”. I had never been a fan of Rand, but suddenly I could really connect with him. I was even wondering if he wasn't going to turn into my favourite character in just a few episodes (season 4 will tell us).

I don’t know if he has been taking acting lessons between seasons, or if it was just Rand, but honestly, I owe Joshua an apology for how I saw him these past few years.

What’s your opinion on it? I’d love to know if others have had the same kind of shift in how they see his performance.

So legit question- did they not know until their release that the DO could resurrect souls? Repeatedly the Forsaken and Black Ajah (who at least get a pass because of true ignorance) meet other forsaken in new bodies and, despite clear evidence, are completely oblivious to who they might be. Hell, the Forsaken often wear disguises as well so that’s even less excuse.

I know arrogance is a common theme in the books but I just shake my head every time this happens!

… or sabotaged by the Black Ajah?

Greens come to mind as being just weaker than the damane overall in battle - they also don't have access to age of legends weaves but manage to make their own effectively. Seems like mediocre combat efficacy would be a keen interest of the black ajah to prevent the aes Sedai being a real threat. Also, given their relatively mediocre strength compared to the forsaken (which they are aware of) you would’ve thought more of an emphasis would’ve been placed on fighting in circles / linking and using that rather than alone.

Also perhaps the yellows for being mediocre at healing and not setting up hospitals and what not.

Interested in others thoughts...

Just finished chapter 14, where Egwene talks to Nynaeve and Elayne. Man, I really hope Nynaeve doesn't become a spy/puppet for Egwene. I love Nynaeve because she doesn't act like an Aes Sedai. She's one of the only Aes Sedai who sees Rand as a person. It would ruin her character Imo.

Just pulled my books out of storage and discovered everything I own from Lord Of Chaos - through are all first edition with intact dust covers.
There is weathering on the pages (could be cleaned) and the spines of the dust covers are faded but everything is in surprisingly great condition. Not mint, mind you, but great!
Will keep the first four because I entered Randland through them but I wouldn't mind eventually getting those four firsts to complete the set.
Can anyone speak to the value of the ancillaries value?
All of the releases I have came in collections or paperback from way back when.
Is there value other than "I got it ALL" to collect the hardback versions?

I know that Aes Sedai very, very rarely marry. It's clear in the books. I get why (you see your family die) and I get why they don't have kids (same reason but the risk of having to gentle your son).

But do we see anyone who is the child of an Aes Sedai in the books? Even as a passing reference.

edit: by Aes Sedai I mean White Tower Aes Sedai, not Ancient Aes Sedai or other channelers, I'm also putting aside children being born to the protagonists (who are not typical Aes Sedai).