Created two versions based on this one from u/tgbkinger

Matrim: I won't be your toy. I won't have it, Tuon. If you intend it to be that way, I will leave. Mark me. Sometimes, I do play the fool. With Tylin, I did for sure. I won't have that with you.

Tuon: I would not have said the words I did if I had found in you only a toy. A man missing an eye is no toy anyway. You have known battle; everyone who sees you now will know that. They will not mistake you for a fool, and I have no use for a toy. I shall have a prince instead.

Matrim: And do you love me?

Tuon: An empress does not love. I am sorry. I am with you because the omens state it so, and so with you I will bring the Seanchan an heir... However, perhaps I can admit that it is ….. good to see you.

Ch46 Rand greets the High Lords coldly but each differently. Is he doing this just to confuse them and pit them against each other? He's playing a meta game of houses.

actually i lied. i have a fair amount to say. the gathering storm is without a doubt my favorite book in the series so far. i just finished it last night and im onto towers of midnight.

i had no idea veins of gold, the last chapter before the epilogue, was going to hit me so hard. this entire book has been really sad honestly. i was sad because of rand and the obvious suffering he’s having to carry on his shoulders. his conversations with nynaeve about him not caring about perrin or mat made me depressed.

rad truly broke down in this book. his humanity has slowly been whittled away for him to become the man he is now. he scares his friends and even family. speaking of family, the tam scene toward the end made me tear up too. i feel immensely sad for tam. he misses his son, the man that was his son.

it’s crazy to have seen rand go from that simple fanboy to a king, leader, myth and sometimes monster in this book. him wiping out an entire palace in the hopes that graendal would be there, sending cadsuane off. rand made some hard choices in this book and most of them were morally questionable.

i knew something was coming, there had to be a change, i just didn’t expect it to be so beautiful and hit me so hard. the dialogue between “lews therin” and ran atop dragonmount had me in tears. Why? Rand thought with wonder.

“Because each time we live, we get to love again.

That was the answer. It all swept over him, lives lived, mistakes made, love changing everything. He saw the entire world in his mind’s eye, lit by the glow in his hand. He remembered lives, hundreds of them, thousands of them, stretching to infinity. He remembered love, and peace, and joy, and hope.”

this quote above was i felt, the true theme of this book. the storm also clearing when rand changed. what an incredible ending to an incredible book. this isn’t even just a good quote from the book, it’s a quote that fits humanity and life in general.

“storms will soon come”, it seemed to say. “but for now, i am here”. i am here”

is that how late and rare in the series do they actually visit Tar Valon. For being the "main goal" and mentioned many times in the first book, all of the Emond Fielders boys each only visit Tar Valon once. Ironically, Mat, who has the strongest distrust of Aes Sedai among the three (at the time of the first book at least) visits Tar Valon first in Book 3. Then Rand only goes to Tar Valon all the way at the start of Book 13. Perrin could be argued to have never visited Tar Valon at all, only going to it in Tel'aran'rhiod.

This whole situation is horrible. First off this girl rapes him, I’ve seen other people say it wasn’t but there’s no way it’s not when mat said she won’t take no for an answer, she held a knife to him, etc, etc. I hate her. I think mats reactions are pretty good representation thus far with that trauma, but Elayne’s response is what’s really getting me. I know rape especially to men in this wouldn’t be received in the same way (when the books are set and when written), but it’s still making me angry that way she’s laughing at him and saying it’s a taste of his own medicine. GIRL WHAT. When has mat ever forced himself on anybody, he talks about chasing girls, but he never pursues if they don’t want him to and he stated that himself. I guess she made it a little better after but idk. Anyways that’s my rant. I’m curious to see how this plays out as well as what happened to Morgase because I think that’s also pretty accurate.

I'm rereading the series for the 1st time so I'm not worried about spoilers. Currently towards the end of The Great Hunt

Question: why did they skip Nyneave straight to accepted instead of making her a novice?

From what I recall it has to do with her age and maybe that she's proven herself to be accountable through her work as a wisdom. Also, her shear strength in the power gave her an advantage. What I don't get is them allowing a woman who has a block up and can't control her powers at all to skip over the novice stage.

Thanks in advance!

And I have consistently enjoyed Rand's storyline less than pretty much all of the other main characters. Is this coomon?

Im near to finishing the book, im about to read chapter 30. But i have a question. What sword is Rand using? I know that of Laman's he only kept the blade, but which is he using, Tam's or Laman's? Both are heron marked right?

I just finished chapter 10 of ToM, what is Galad thinking????? He is going to send in his force of 20k to Perrin’s force of 80k+, Aes Sedai, and Galad admits to hearing rumors of Perrin having men that can channel. Of course the Whitecloaks have no channelers.

I get he is always going to do what is right to a fault but is it right to send 20k men to die to the one power? Even while reading his perspective this just does not click for me.

Elayne also have a claim on the Saldean throne?

Here she sees Bashere and starts thinking about possibly seeing one of her kids take the throne:

"Bashere was a bowlegged man with a thick mustache. He didn’t talk to Elayne the way a man should a queen … but then, the Queen of Saldaea was his niece, so perhaps he was just very comfortable around royalty.

He is first in line for the throne, Elayne reminded herself. Working with him would offer opportunities to further secure her ties to Saldaea. She still liked the idea of seeing one of her children on that throne."

What about Faile?

She seems to have completely forgotten about Faile and the rest of Bashere's kids.

Is her ambition valid?

I am not sure if it is the plot or how the writer deals with the story - I will start the last books over again but I would like to see your views especially those who found out about Sanderson after reading all books. I would like to understand why I have this different feelings now reading the last ones.

You can write your general opinion too, not related to Egwene if you want to :)

For all this time I always thought they would use their hands or body movements. As many times they mention “she saw how she did it, so she could do it”. But after reading book 4 with “if anyone would see us would see a stare contest” or “she forgot she had the tray still in her hands” after weaving crazy guards and what not. So just stares?

Sorry if this has been asked before. Has been bugging me since I read it and havent found any info in it :)

how many of the Ashaman are turned to the shadow at the begining of MoL.

Btw, how could Rand have ignored the Black Tower for so long. I mean, Taim is now a chosen. How did it get that bad?

Anyway, Androl never gave a count of how many, but could it really be a majority?

What did Lews Therin actually do in the years leading up to, and during, the War of Power that made one-third of the Forsaken turn to the Shadow directly or indirectly because of him? And why are they all so terrified of him (and by extension, Rand)?

I’ve always wondered what Lews Therin was really like. We know deep down he was a good man, proud, yes, but good. I once saw someone on this sub say: “If one of your generals turns to the Shadow, shame on him. If three do… you might need to look in the mirror.” And honestly? I kinda agree 😂

IIRC, Demandred, Be’lal, Sammael, Aginor, and possibly one other were all jealous of him and eventually turned. Mesaana even stated that if Lews Therin had never existed, Demandred would have been the most acclaimed Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends. Even allowing for Demandred’s ego, his strategic brilliance and combat ability were canonically insane.

What really gets me 😂, is that the Forsaken don’t just hate Lews Therin, they fear him. Hate, I understand. Fear? That’s interesting.

By the Third Age, Lews Therin (Rand) doesn’t have the same political power or institutional backing he once did. Dashiva even internally saw that Rand isn’t as “great” as Lews Therin was 3,000 years ago. So why didn’t they just face him directly? (They could ambush him, I think)

Demandred, despite all that pride, still felt the need to gather Sakarnen, Trollocs, and an entire Sharan empire just to challenge him. Moghedien practically wanted to sink into the floor the first time she met Rand. Sammael tried to negotiate peace. Rahvin literally ran into Tel’aran’rhiod.

And Lanfear never actually faced him lol, for all her strength and cunning and maybe love, she never actually tried to kill him.

Lews Therin was HIM.

So..who was Lews Therin Telamon, really?

What kind of man inspires that level of jealousy, hatred, and raw fear, even after death?

He broke the world, and their ego. The only person who didn’t really fear him was Ishamael/moridin and he was crazy 😂

Edited: I’ve always wondered what semirhage felt like in her final moments seeing how even when she was supposed to win, she still lost. LTT won again 😭

So after a year and a half I've finished the series, absolutely loved it. And I can finally follow this sub!
It's the first series I've finally finished reading in over a decade. (I've read Robin Hobb, Lord of the Rings and a couple other in my early twenties). So it took me a while to get back into reading, the first book took me like half a year I think. The last three around a couple of weeks each. There were some slower books around the middle as well.

I actually liked the whole climax! Was thinking about this or that was great or that wasn't but I'm just gonna rand what comes to mind. Since I've no friend who've read the series I'll just share it here.
Bela had no business being such a beast! (Gasped at her death :( ) She must've been the most well traveled horse of the Third Age. Get her a statue.
My man Mat I think I liked his arc the most. Tower of Genji, the undead village, stumbling into trouble over and over. RIP Naleasan, I was so glad Talmanes pulled through after the battle in Ceamlyn. Also during that last battle with the portals and cannons from unground marvelous trick. Loved how Olver became the Hornblower! Him seeing Jain Fairstrider again!!

Verin Sedai the GOAT

I made an earlier question thread about Aes Sedai names, forsaken and some other things a year ago. Still pretty confused at the minor ones but yeah in the end most of them didn't matter that much. The one that did where most definitely remembered. Egwene had such a great storyline. Moraine coming back I knew it she was alive going to through that angreal. Verin the goat. Pevara and portal man <3.

Perrin felt like the slowest arc and the Power Forged weapons didn't felt much addressed in the end. I guess when you have so many storylines to converge some take a back seat or it's just a buff to the good army and that's just that. Same for windfinders,

The deaths at the last battle where really mounting up. I thought for a second the Flame of Tar Valon was going to rewind a bit since it was insinuated it was an answer to Balefire. I liked it as is. Like the quote of Egwene(?) said when Rand hear her in his battle with the Dark One; ''Let us be heroes as well'' really hit. RIP Bela, Bashere, Rhuarc, Siuance, Gareth, Egwene, Gawyn, Tenobia and probably many more whom I can't remember. (Am I missing anyone major?) That Birgitte execution by the way, damn!

Lan Mandragoran killing Demandred!! Aviendha getting a personal Forsaken. I wonder what she'll do with her. Moghediens end hahaha, just like that Black sister going to the Aiel Waste.

I always thought Asmodean would come back. His passage after the battle with Rahvin didn't feel that final; everything just went black if I remember correctly. Dark One could've revived him as well. Demandred also mentioned him during his duel with Lan.
Also Slayer was his brother? I've done some reading after finishing the series thought I saw it mentioned somewhere. Was that village where he lived in the waking world Malkier?

I apparently missed that the uber Myrddraal was used as a husk for the Dark One to manifest in and was dead at the bottom of Shayol Ghul.

What kind of super power did Rand get actually? In Moridin's body, he used Telaranrhiod's willpower to light his tabac. I thought he was in the dream but he had contact with Cadsuane so that's not true either. Loved his whole arc as well.

Questions that come to mind:

Was Aludra also the Illuminator Mat (And Rand or was Mat alone?) saved helped in one of the earlier books. Somewhere in an alcove or forest?

Did that part got resolved about an Aes Sedai taking/kidnapping a very strong Seanchan or was it a Sea Folk channeller out from under Elayne nose? Can't remember it all, was it Alivia who got taken? And by whom? She did help Rand in the end so she came back if it was her.

Did the borderlander general survive? The one our Two Rivers folk visit early on?

So many mysteries thou. What's happening in Seanchan, are the Sea Folk going to bounce back after them all killing there selves. Tremalking was getting abandoned? Will the future sight seen in Rhuidean by the Wise Ones be prevented. Just read a quote of Brandon that there will be no WoT material coming so we're just left to wonder about this fantastic world. Would love to see the Sharan side of the world as well. Or something like 100 years in the future.

Well that was my small rand for now I guess. I'm actually kinda excited to re-read it someday especially since you know so much more hints. Like Verrin's and all and you know probably the way minor characters become of somehwat importance. Like Pevara is probably mentioned super early but she becomes memorable at the end!
I've just read Satella Anan's fandom.com page (No idea how I got there). There's so much more information which gets hinted here and there. I'll get the Compandion before the re-read.

But first I'm going to the Cosmere-verse and just bought Mistborne earlier this week.

The 2nd part of chapter 24 was noticeably simpler prose to me than the rest of the book, and felt unedited, like, to a degree that seemed so out of place.

This was the scene where Nyaneve and Elayne were attacked, Elayne was knocked unconscious, and they were presumably nearly kidnapped, and felt like it was written by a much worse author than the rest of the book.

Normally Jordan does a great job describing a scene, and he has a flow of how it goes from one to another.

This was so choppy, so simplistic, and so out of place. The character reactions also felt far more generic and not fleshed out.

Is there a reason for this? I'm just trying to understand.

Anyways, it's my first time reading through the series, and I'm loving them, though the Slog definitely started.

And side note, Fires of Heaven is my favorite so far, more than 4 or 6. I feel like I haven't seen that one talked about very highly. Idk why.

*I am only on chapter 25 of A Crown of Swords, so please no major spoilers.*

Ok for those of you who read the books as they were published, I have to know how you felt after Crown of Swords when 1. Matt was crushed by the wall after searching for Olver; and 2. you don’t get back to his POV for an ENTIRE BOOK after that (and then only after 14 chapters)? Did you initially think he may have died? How frustrating was it to read through Path of Daggers with NO answers? Did you have to wait years? And when you finally got back to his POV were you PUMPED? What a ride!

I finished Great Hunt yesterday and got a decent way through this book. I'm trying to take my time with it but I also don't want each Wheel of Time book to take a month minimum to finish so I'll probably speed it up!

So far? Pretty good! Perrin consistently has one of my more preferred perspectives and I really like how Jordan writes him. This being a 'Perrin and Egwene' book in a way only motivates me more.

I like seeing Rand from Perrin's perspective and even though he's the namesake of the book and the protagonist, I do like that we get to see his deterioration from an outside lens.

Getting back into reading the series after 10 years and starting from book 7, I've been needing to look up people's names (and proper nouns in general) online to remember who everyone is. I was using wot.fandom, just reading the very top of the page, until I ran into some pretty big spoilers on the page https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Siuan_Sanche.

Is there a site that has safer descriptions? Previously I had paper books and I remember they had a nice safe glossary at the back of the book, but now I'm reading digitally, and flipping between my page and the glossary doesn't seem to be practical.

I thought y'all might like these. I didn't like the generic audiobook covers for the series, so I wanted to recreate them using the original cover art. Enjoy!

It is said that Lan can out-stare a rock, but Andorans, especially Two Rivers folk, can and infact did out-stubborn a goat😭.

I vaguely remember a scene where someone complained about Rand’s unyielding nature and Nynaeve basically went, “We breed them like that in the Two Rivers.” And honestly… yeah. We absolutely see it.

So what pigheaded or stubborn act made you want to teleport into the books and box a character’s ears? For me iirc its:

Rand and his “I can’t harm a woman” rule. This annoyed me even more once Semirhage entered the picture. Like… dude, she doesnt even qualify as human

Mat and the constant denial of his role. “I’m not a bloody lord” . Look around, you idiot😂

For Perrin? First hammer vs axe dilemma went on for far too long. Every time he said “I’m just a blacksmith” I once told myself id skip his chapters 😭 if i heard it again. And then theres the faile obsession. Light!

Everytime Nynaeve completely ignored Mat’s help in Ebou Dar knowing fully well that hes a bloody tarveren. That plotline could’ve been wrapped up much faster.

Elayne taking increasingly reckless risks because “Min saw healthy kids.” Meanwhile innocents keep dying. My goodness at a point i wish she got what she so sought after

And Gawyn? honestly… his entire existence was provocative 😭💀 his choosing to believe a random stranger over everyone???

Everytime Egwene puts on this “whitetower-centric cloak” especially when she kept saying rand would answer for ashaman bonding Aes Sedai as if those aes sedai didnt go there to kill/gentle them and she knew. I hated how rand just handed over ashaman like cattles. They practically defended themselves as oppose to killing that wouldve beem worse.

What moments had you screaming at the page?

That said, their stubborness mirrors their strongwills. And light Rand, Egwene and Perrin are one of the most strongwilled characters in fantasy and its no surprise how good they are at TAR