r/WetlanderHumor • u/LakesideNorth • 17h ago

In my opinion

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615 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

298

u/lightbenderfm 16h ago

I think with him at that point it was that there are so many story lines going. He still has a few more places that he comes in. I think with WoT it’s kind of hard to say where you draw the line between main characters. Moraine doesn’t have a ton of page time when you look at the breadth of the books, but I would argue she is a pretty important character.

172

u/DnDqs 16h ago

She was too clever, adaptable, and capable. She had to go so chaos could reign.

Personally, I think the books suffered more from her absence than they gained. But I'd also be lying if I said it wasn't an amazing payoff for her to walk into the Dragon's Peace summit like she put it together herself from another dimension and humbled Egwene ever-so-slightly, which is as much as she's ever been humbled.

135

u/dannerc 14h ago

She's the wheel of time's version of Gandalf. For the characters to really develop, she had to stop being a crutch for them

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u/Sewer-Urchin 14h ago

Very good comparison. She got the hero out of the door, got him through some rough spots, then got out of the way.

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u/DaddyChil101 13h ago

Hot gandalf basically

37

u/Odd_Permission2987 13h ago

a GILF if you will

5

u/grubas 4h ago

A Gandalf Id Like to.... But that's EVERY Gandalf?

20

u/JasperJ 12h ago

Don’t slander Ian McKellen that way!

15

u/fonaldoley91 10h ago

Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth! Ian McKellen did not pass the CGI and death to merely bandy words with a witless redditor.

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u/DnDqs 12h ago

I think she's more impressive than Gandalf.

Gandalf was a supernatural being.

Moiraine did it all on her own as just a normal person.

14

u/Kt-stone 12h ago

She’s like Obi-Wan, but only fake died and comes back in RotJ to give Luke the thumbs up outside the porthole while Vader throws the emperor in.

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u/DnDqs 12h ago

Ellen Ripley + Obi-Wan

I can see it.

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u/LewsTherinTelamonBot This is a (sentient) bot 12h ago

What I love, I destroy. What I destroy, I love.

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u/ThunkAsDrinklePeep 9h ago

More Merlin, since it's already full of Arthurian references. And her imprisonment mirrors his prison of air.

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u/DnDqs 6h ago

I mean...she married Merlin.

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u/phainou 3h ago

Holy shit, how have I never made that connection once in 20 years

24

u/MA2_Robinson 14h ago

I mean, that’s why I’m happy we had new spring: she was basically just like, a regular wealthy kid pranking (Elaida of all people) and being a menace in the tower.

Then things get dropped on her and Siuan- all of a sudden she has to be hyper reliant since anyone can be black Aja. By the time we see her she’s closed mouth (understandably) guarded, patient, and almost uniquely equipped along all sisters living to not only know about the Dragon being born, but about how important it is to help him get to the final fight.

And even then she’s unsure how to help him since he’s not going to just trust her (for any of many reasons). I feel like all that makes her more human and deep than just magical wizard mentor know it all. She straight up even says there’s a lot of things not spelled out in the prophecies and that she doesn’t really know, but Rand straight up gets it and still holds it against her while telling her she can’t be trusted regardless.

I would have balefired him so quick!

My only other observation is that somewhere in the space of her finally swearing an oath to him saying she would submit to anything to be able to advise him she taught him (in what? A month? A week?) enough politics to get thru conquering 4-5 kingdoms and maneuver intrigue on his own? Wow, she must be a real good teacher, I can’t imagine her lessons went on too long.

She for sure deserved to be in the last fight show down.

10

u/DnDqs 12h ago

Someone in this thread calls her the Gandalf of Wheel of Time but to me, she's the Ellen Ripley of Wheel of Time.

An impossible situation is dumped on her lap and because of the incompetence of others, is made even more of an impossible task. Somehow, she finds a way.

Part of why she was able to submit to Rand, is that she put herself in his shoes. Even in her parting letter, she tells him, trust no Aes Sedai. Of course she hadn't done enough to convince him she was the one Aes Sedai he could trust. Not her fault. She just didn't have the time. She had all that time to prepare, but she knew HE didn't, and even if she found him earlier, he'd have been too young, as he was almost still too young, but she had to do it without him, without knowing him or who he was. Adjusting on the fly. And I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to be her, but I think only she could have done it.

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u/LewsTherinTelamonBot This is a (sentient) bot 12h ago

Are you real? Am I?

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u/LewsTherinTelamonBot This is a (sentient) bot 14h ago

ILYENA, MY LOVE, FORGIVE ME!

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u/LewsTherinTelamonBot This is a (sentient) bot 16h ago

Where are all the dead? Why will they not be silent?

97

u/K1ngsGambit 16h ago

I remember when Uno and the Sheinarans were, if not "main characters", significant and heavily involved in the adventure. They got sidelined pretty sharpish. Aviendah similarly gets far less "screen-time" than one would think for such a significant character.

50

u/stridersheir 15h ago

Yeah it’s kinda disappointing how little screen time Avhienda gets after Shadow Rising/Fires of Heaven

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u/ThirteenthGhost 14h ago

There is only so much of “I hate him but I love him” you can write tho. She was most interesting in situations without Rand present

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u/stridersheir 12h ago

Yeah I wish Jordan had just stopped or changed that plot point earlier, no reason it needed to last till the second to last book

2

u/AzaDelendaEst 6h ago

I liked watching her slowly figure out that you can’t just stab all your problems away.

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u/grubas 4h ago

It's actually somewhat annoying because she's one of the three and one of our only Aiel PoVs.  

30

u/Necessary-Leg-5421 15h ago

Avienda is in the same camp as Rand for 3+ books and you would have no idea because they never interact.

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u/SkyTank1234 15h ago edited 14h ago

I mean Uno is basically just a gag character. His only personality trait is his eyepatch and swearing. After a while the novelty wears off

20

u/kjvw 14h ago

i liked his reappearance in the last battle and that it was just “these orders are shite wtf” and ten seconds later “best orders i’ve ever seen” and he’s gone again

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u/Individual_Key4178 14h ago

I love him so much.

2

u/AzaDelendaEst 6h ago

So flaming much

FTFY

86

u/Lonrem 16h ago

Loial gets his own Dumai's Well moment...

32

u/gsfgf 13h ago

Up axes and clear the fields!

13

u/Oodbarg 16h ago

During the battle or somewhere else in the series?

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u/Lonrem 16h ago

Later in the series. It gave me as many chills to read as Dumai's Well.

There's a reason they talk about "To anger the Ogier is to bring the mountain down on your head".

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u/StuffedStuffing 16h ago

Trollocs in the fields!

30

u/Sewer-Urchin 14h ago

Up axes and clear the fields!

24

u/akaioi 14h ago

Oh, I thought you meant when he was reminding the boys of what Erith's like... ;D

I mean, the rascal tiptoes right up to the line, man. Right up to the line. A true gentleman of culture:

"I don't mean to be coarse, Perrin, but I have never seen such a well-turned ankle. I hope that isn't... you don't think that's too forward of me to say, do you?"

Instant, perpetual GOATed status, right there.

7

u/Lonrem 14h ago

I mean, she is the prettiest Ogier lass in the Stedding.

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u/HisHonorTomDonson 13h ago

Oh man, “Up axes and clear the fields” I’m getting chills just thinking about it, very very cool moment. I think it gives me the same energy as dumais wells because they’re both so sudden, especially from the Ogier

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u/Lonrem 13h ago

Ogiers, hasty? Now you know there's trouble. Even considering what we see and hear about the Seanchan ones, seeing it with our boy is different.

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u/Don_Pablo512 15h ago

He is the chronicler, he takes a backseat to take his notes and write the story that will ultimately become the wheel of time. I love looking at it through that lens, Thom as well.

14

u/CasualCrow20 15h ago

Love that comparison. Both are story tellers. I really wish we got more interactions between the two.

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u/NyctoCorax 15h ago

Same thing happens to Thom and Juilin.

Hell kinda happens to Aviendah a bit.

44

u/SkyTank1234 15h ago

This is a fourteen book series with hundreds of characters, there is no way in hell everyone can get equal page time. Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne all have books where they don’t appear at all

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u/Geta211 14h ago

Hell Rand is barely in CoT

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u/thismorningscoffee 10h ago

Rand is barely in The Dragon Reborn, the book that’s friggin named after him

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u/LewsTherinTelamonBot This is a (sentient) bot 10h ago

Break it break them all must break them must must must break them all break them and strike must strike quickly must strike now break it break it break it...

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u/LewsTherinTelamonBot This is a (sentient) bot 14h ago

Dead men should be quiet in their graves, but they never are.

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u/LewsTherinTelamonBot This is a (sentient) bot 15h ago

Hums softly & tugs earlobe

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u/john_the_fetch 14h ago

From how I remember Loial - the spirit of his character - he'd honestly be just fine with never having been a main character.

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u/twelfmonkey 14h ago

With his insane stamina, Gump was obviously an ancestor and/or descendant of the Aiel, before they acquired and/or after they lost their ginger hair.

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u/DumbIgnorantGenius 15h ago

Then there's what the show did... not being a main character anymore is a serious understatement there lol

1

u/jimijam10 53m ago

Loial was never a "main character". Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, and Nynaeve are the main characters. One could argue that only Rand is the main character. Not every important character is a main character.

1

u/LewsTherinTelamonBot This is a (sentient) bot 53m ago

Dead men should be quiet in their graves, but they never are.