I love your videos! I'm currently reading through the Wheel of Time and I love watching your read along's as I'm progressing.

Another great summary and analysis, thank you!

I love this breakdown. Now I need to catch up with everything.

This was fantastic

Hey man, u are doing great. Doing a re read and have been watching around 10 reviews per book. Yours are the most insightful by far and yours is the first i watch after a read. Keep it up! Hope u still have more content after u finish the series!

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

Wow, thanks! I definitely have some plans on what I'll do after the series (and I'm currently working on the video(s) for A Memory of Light.)

Very interesting take on Lan. I never thought of that.

Damn I can’t believe you have so few views, those summaries by themselves are brilliant, I’m currently always listening to them after I’ve finished the respective books and listening to the next one, it’s amazing to get a little reminder and out things in perspective. The analysis is great as well!

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I should probably try to plug my videos a bit more on social media... but I really hate doing that. I just want to talk about books. I'm honestly really happy to have a handful of people who seem to really engage with what I'm talking about!

Very much enjoyed that, I have been burning through the series ever since the TV show and wow what a ride. Also so much better than the absolute slog of Crossroads

Thanks for not dumbing this discussion down to “Seanchan bad because slavery”. It is such a common interpretation in these bits from new readers these days and the nuance that the author worked hard to write into the theme is mostly missed / ignored because people sometimes can’t look past the surface level. Great breakdown as usual. I disagree slightly with your interpretation of Suiane and Moraine’s sexuality from New spring but that’s neither here nor there and admittedly somewhat open to interpretation.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

That nuance is really what makes WoT so amazing - I'm glad to see that other fans also have an appreciation for it! Yeah, though I think my interpretation of Siuan and Moiraine is perfectly valid, it's probably the point I've found the most pushback for when discussing anything in WoT... which is a little surprising to me, given some of my fairly aggressive takes on the Aiel, Seanchan, Whitecloaks, and Aes Sedai. I'm glad to say, however, that (with one particular exception from a personal acquaintance) everyone I've discussed New Spring with has been pretty fair-minded about it, even when they disagree.

glad you liked this one. its for sure one of my favorites in the series. you will really enjoy the next one as well even with the author change.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

If the last few are anywhere near as packed with stuff then I'll definitely love them. The series has been great since the start, but you can really tell how much RJ grew as an author in Knife of Dreams.

Very late to this party but I thought I'd explain that it was a ter'angreal own/worn by Cadsuane that broke Semirhage's illusion.

If you mentioned it, I didn’t catch it, but Jordan explicitly discusses a number of the Aes Sedai having very fluid sexualities. Tarna, for example, was courted by Galina to be her “pillow friend”. The “honey in the tea” chapter is full of the Aes Sedai discussing who was sleeping with whom.

@thelukepillar

5 ай бұрын

I went into that a lot more in my New Spring video.

See I don't think Elayne decided that she's invincible. I'd have a hard time fetching the quote but she does comment in her PoV how it doesn't, there's a lot of ways it could go wrong. What I think she does is she uses it as an excuse, something to throw at people when they are being overprotective of her (and sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't).

Also I just had an idea, you could maybe show a map at the beginning with the names of the important characters on it. E.g. who currently rules in the main kingdoms, where our heroes are etc. don’t know how much effort that would be but for me it would be a great addition as I‘m often a bit confused as to what the current geopolitical situation is while reading all the different povs.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

That's a really good idea! I *almost* just took the maps from Bengt (here: bengtpatvars.blogspot.com/ It's in a link on the page) for a couple of videos, but to be honest, I was just too lazy to reach out and ask for permission or to make my own versions. Maybe I'll put in the extra effort with some more geographical information for the last few videos.

@tobiasgrunbaum7575

Жыл бұрын

@@thelukepillar thanks for your answer, that’s an amazing resource I’ll have a look at them right away!

Thanks for the video! A spoiler but not a very spoiler: we won't see Galina anymore :) I'm not sure that The Dark One intentionally changed the world replacing one part of the Tower by another. It seems it just happened randomly because of the world had been destabilizing and was continuing to destabilize. The thought that parts of non-happened worlds replaced parts of the real world looks very true. I love your comparison Rand and Egwene and their approach to pain. Funny, while the last reread I thought Gawyn a little bit looks like a very patriarchal girl/wife devoting her life to a man and not having anything else. It seems it's not only my impression :) The Mat's victory at the end is the best part for me. And Tuon reaction. And their marriage ceremony. Mat's the best general, I'm looking for your reaction on the Last Battle. Well... I think, It's possible to speak about this book hours, but may be I should not just repeat all cool things that happened there. So...

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

It's just crazy how much stuff was in this book. While editing the video I kept thinking of things I didn't mention, like Loial and Harnan having an Ogier warcry or speculation on what Berelain is going to do next (I really can't tell whether she's going to pick her game with Perrin back up, now that Faile is back, or if she's over that now.) Agreed about the world destabilizing. While editing, I kind of came around to thinking that I was overthinking the spatial aspect of the changes a bit... but I really wanted to keep in the part about non-Euclidean geometry because it loops back in to my theme of parallels.

Tuon wouldn't know any of what you speak of regarding the mechanics of channeling. And while you are right that sparkers have little choice, they could technically get stilled before it manifests or they could live a life in Far Madding. But more importantly, it's a question of whether normal people can ever trust people with the power not to try to continually push their advantages and push the world towards this dystopian two-tiered society where your birth dictates how high you can rise. You know, like it was before the breaking, when the Aes Sedai ruled the world. The Seanchan solution is problematic and probably needs to be revised eventually, but the idea of treating channeling as something that doesn't belong to the individual but that must be used for the good of the Empire might be the best solution for the common person. It just might make have to become involuntary strict oaths rather than the a'dam.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

I think that Tuon - and the Seanchan as a whole - *could* know about the mechanics of channeling. To the extent that they don't, that's just willful ignorance. But, I agree that *something* has to be done to keep people who can channel from dominating those who don't. The Seanchan solution is horrifying, but the idea of harnessing the power for the Empire isn't necessarily bad. Requiring that anyone who can channel use their abilities for the good of the Empire feels wrong by modern sensibilities, but in the WoT, it would feel pretty natural: we're not talking about a bunch of 2023 democracies, we're talking about a world mostly run by manorialism. Merely requiring the three oaths would actually be pretty permissive, and requiring a fourth oath to serve the Empress when called upon wouldn't really be any different from the expectation for all people. If the Empress needs a farmer to give up some crops, they'd be compelled to do so. If she demanded military service, it would be compulsory. In that society, it wouldn't be strange at all to have a magically enforced oath for anyone who can channel. I maintain that my political analysis in the video is correct, particularly for Tuon's specific comments, but it wouldn't really make sense for any society in the WoT to let channeling go completely unregulated. There really isn't a direct parallel for channeling on our world.