The Thom and Moiraine verbal jousting in Tear is generally considered their version of openly flirting with each other, and especially coming so close to Moiraine hinting at this viewing by MIn (Min refers to it again in book 6 as the only viewing of hers that didn't come true because the woman in question was gone now) means that it's possible if a bit rare for people to see their romance coming from early on. You are right though, Moiraine's normally calm exterior cracking into delighted glee at Thom's knife tricks is supposed to be the first hint that she's more warm towards him than is apparent. Also, she probably clocked who he was when they first met in Emond's Field, when she refers to him as "Master Bard".

Iturald is an amazing late entry character into the series. He truly demonstrates why he deserves the great captain title.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

I know I said it in the video, but I really liked having his skill actually *demonstrated* to us. We've been hearing about "Great Captains" for most of the series, but Ituralde really deserves it (which makes me think that the others probably do as well and we just haven't really seem them tested yet.)

Your videos are amazing and I would have listened to another hour or two of your dissecting this book and series quite happily.

I recently found your videos on my recommended videos. I have watched all your videos in the last few days. I really like your intelligent break downs. My favorite was the call out for Mat being Odin.

I adore your analysis of this series. Savour the end of your journey.

Nynaeve is also the only one of our Two Rivers kids who began the story with a title and authority; she’s seen the others rise to *at least* famed lords and generals, if not the most powerful people in the world/figures of legend. She didn’t achieve that, and rather than manifest bitterness or jealousy, she’s manifestly a better person with a heart and mind for true service, neither dominance nor subservience. More broadly, thanks for these videos. They must be a great deal of time and effort, and the result greatly deepens my appreciation for this series.

Fain beeing the patterns backup plan in case rands kills the dark one is a popular fan theory

I like your new setup! Have fun with a memory of light!

Omg, thank you for quoting Nynaeve’s speech. She was my least favourite character for awhile, her brazen behaviour and anger issues made me groan every time she was on page. But slowly, over period of books I started to appreciate her, and eventually she won me over. That scene in ToM was moment when Nynaeve become Aes Sedai for me, not twisted version that White Tower tries to make but true “Servant of all”. Honestly it will be awesome if Jesus/Zen Rand gave her third name after his awakening. Curing madness, healing stilling, cleansing Saindin - things worthy of respect.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, Nynaeve took a long time to really hit her stride, but it was so satisfying to have her just break down exactly what's wrong with the Aes Sedai!

@mmccrownus2406

5 ай бұрын

NYNEVE CHANGED- FROM OBNOXIOUS TO EXAMPLAR

Nyn's character growth is really the best in the series for me. Too often growth, however slow and logical, ends up with characters very, very different from who they started out as; feeling like a totally different person. This is more just change to me, and somehow unrealistic. Nyn still feels like the same person, just better. Same core values, just expressed better.. similar abrasive personality, just less overbearing and controlling, but more protective and maternal. She seems to embrace her role as a support character the best out of all the girls, a far faaaaar cry from where she started, but it still ends up being true to the person she was right at the beginning. I think that's masterful.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

I also love that she doesn't even really see herself as being in a support role, but rather, she just has different priorities than some other characters. She wants to be a healer and she wants to protect people. Too often, people think that they need to ignore their passions to focus on something more *meaningful* (defined as being more profitable or accruing more power/influence.) Well, Nynaeve wants to heal people, so she become the best in the world at it. Let people who *want* to be leaders lead, it frees Nynaeve up for actually getting some work done.

Loved your summary as is and can't wait til your next 🖖😎👍

Thanks for the video and new ideas I've got! Never thought about could the Dark One be replaced by anyone else, but now I do. Maybe the goal of corrupting Rand was to make him a new Dark One? Also, nether thought about Tom as a Moraine's rescuer, it was always only Mat for me. I'm happy you like Galad and have spoken about him. He is worth all attention, I believe. I still would very like to listen how soft engineering influences literature analysis. Also, I would be glad if you made a video about Dragon Age games (all three) if you are interested in them.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

Dragon Age is a good idea! I haven't played them in a few years, but I absolutely loved them when they came out! I'll also probably do a video on engineering and literature at some point. Yeah, Mat really did most of the work there, but I think that Moiraine would *prefer* to be rescued by Thom 😀

Also, I know you may be too cool to do it for the subs, but I really hope you give the Cosmere (Stormlight and the Final Empire in particular) this treatment. The popular fantasy-series world rarely gets the thoughtful articulation of literary analysis that you're doing. Other books get it all the time. So while being self-serving, I do think you'll be filling a unique, underserved niche, if you go the BrandoSando way.

I saved this video to watch it when you had finished with the last book one (after going through videos from 1 to 12 book ) and now that i am starting this one i only want to say that i laughed when you said you were hoping the next book summary wouldn't be longer than this one 😂 I really like the way you analize the books, really glad I discovered your channel 😊

+1 for the Drizzt and Bruenor references. Love Salvatore's work which is underrated.

@thelukepillar

11 ай бұрын

Not sure when I'll have time, but I really want to do some Drizzt vids sometime (maybe one for each trilogy, with a focus on how the story weaves through the Forgotten Realms and how you can work it into a D&D campaign.)

I'm pretty sure there was some time-warping shenanigans when Rand was going through the glass columns - where He and Mat lost about a week (10 days) - so Mat likely did indeed hang for 9 days. Also I agree that Moraine and Thom actually makes sense - a lot of people say its not set up, but forget that we get very little Moraine POVs and outside of that, she's a very stereotypical Cairhienin when it comes to being private about her intimate life

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

That's a good point! It could've been 9 days.

The Tower of Midnight are a reference to the Forsaken, with the one growing taller than the rest being the Nae'blis.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

Oh, yeah, that seems obvious now that you mention it (-_-);

A general question (not necessarily applicable for this episode). When you just get something wrong in your recap (misread, maybe misinterpreted something) - would you like us to correct you in the comments?

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely! But, only if it's something that's necessarily wrong at that point in the series, without knowledge from later books. If you're not sure, it's better to err on the side of just leaving the mistake in rather than risking a spoiler. But, if I'm just plain wrong, I definitely appreciate the corrections (though, tbh, I'll probably be too lazy to actually update the videos with the correction: so far, I've just been loving the corrections to boost their visibility.)

Schrödinger’s Rand!🤣

Not having Mat / Perrin be confirmed reincarnations of past great souls, and the implication that the Wheel binds some souls to the Horn AFTER the first become great off their own accord, makes the reincarnation system work for me. Having a purely predetermined "caste system" of souls would be hugely pessimistic to me.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

I *want* to see it that way, but I can't shake the feeling that Mat is always reincarnated as Odin, which would reinforce the caste system if true. You have a good point in mentioning how the Horn works though: that's definite evidence that, at the very least, the roles aren't completely static. It's possible that Rand and perhaps a few others are just very special cases (perhaps even avatars of the Creator or something like that) and everyone else has more agency. I kind of doubt that Robert Jordan was intentionally communicating a worldview where souls always have the same role in each life, as, yeah, that would be pretty bleak.

re. Overt displays of power from Shaitan. The biggest one by far is the weather. You might also consider the bubbles of evil.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

That's true! I was kind of thinking of that as just part of Tarmon Gai'don, but you're right: it's something Shai'tan is doing, so it should count too.

@squngy0

Жыл бұрын

@@thelukepillar I don't remember where exactly, but one of the forsaken even mentions that Shaitan used a lot of his power for it and would not be pleased if it was corrected since it is difficult for him to do.

@squngy0

Жыл бұрын

@@thelukepillar It is also particularly interesting, because it gives as a direct power comparison between Shaitan and channelers. Apparently, Shaitans ability to directly influence the world (at that point in time) is comparable to a full circle of extremely powerful female channelers + angreals + a tarangreal

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

@@squngy0 That's from chapter 2 of The Path of Daggers, Moridin comments "The Great Lord would not be pleased. He had strained from his prison to touch the world enough to fix the seasons in place. He was impatient to touch the world more, to shatter the void that contained him, and he would not be pleased." That's a good point, I had been thinking of the weather as more of something that happened around Shai'tan, like the ta'veren warping of the Pattern around Rand, but it really is something that Shai'tan is doing intentionally, not just the end of the age. Thanks for the correction!

I thought you would mention Mjöllnir.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

I considered it. I probably should have at least mentioned how similar the names sound... but, other than that, I don't think there's actually much similarity, so I figured I'd talk about a hammer that might not be as well known.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

I'm kind of kicking myself for not getting into it now though. Even though there's not much similarity between Mah'alleinir and Mjöllnir, it would've been a good excuse to just rant about Mjöllnir for a while. Maybe also discuss how, though Rand has "Thor" in his name, Perrin has some strong similarities as well, which are further put into focus when comparing him with Mat. Ah well 😅

One more comment just for the algorithm’s sake because you deserve more viewers and subscribers than this.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! It's funny. When I first started making videos, I told my wife that I'd be happy if I just had a dozen or so people watching and commenting, like a book club. Of course, now that I've got 50+ subs, I've got my eyes on hitting 100.

@Arezoo298195

Жыл бұрын

@@thelukepillar I’m tweeting about you if it helps! 😉

I've rewatched the video and want to say. I think, Gawyn is so unlikable because he is a loser. He always wants things but nether gets them, and it seems that he always gets nothing particularly because of his decisions. Even his romance with Egwene was accomplished on her terms, not him. It's questionable how much all this is really Gawyn's fault or human's tendency to think that if we fail it's not because of us but if someone else fails it is because of them. Maybe forgiving big but not constant mistakes (like Rand's) is easier than smaller but constant ones. Also, I don't believe it's fair to compare Elayne with other main protagonists. They all were common people, so it's natural that Rand thought about feeding the poor and did not think about borders. He was never supposed to think in another way. Even Egwene hadn't forgotten her origin at that point yet. But Elayne was taught to think differently. Although I totally agree that she is awful. But with my prospective it's more about failures of estate politic system than personal flaws. Nobility are supposed to be greedy and fight for more, it's their core. Also, I do not know if you've ever watched the TV "Sense8" but maybe it would be interesting for you to analyze.

@thelukepillar

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, as much as Gawyn comes off as unlikeable, I feel like it's not really fair to dislike him just because he makes a lot of mistakes. Even if they're his own fault, he's not a loser on purpose - he's frustrated by it too! At least he's trying to do the right thing, even if he's kind of bad at it. That's a good point with Elayne. I often criticize her behavior, but I haven't really considered that it's not really her fault that she was groomed to be a ruler. If we can forgive Rand for struggling to learn how to rule, then we should also forgive Elayne for struggling to empathize with lower classes. And, as you said, this is really more a fact of manorialism than something personal. It's great to see Rand try to make things better, but expecting Elayne to fix the system she was born into, particularly given how young and inexperienced she is, isn't really a realistic expectation. I'll also point out in the next video that I don't always give her enough credit for being a fantastic ruler, much better than anyone else we see in the series. I might find her politics distasteful, but she's *really* good at it. I haven't seen Sense8, but I'll have to look into it. Also, in case you're curious, I *am* hard at work on the next video (I'm actually editing the video right now.) I'm hoping to publish it by this weekend, but it's pretty long, so we'll see how long it takes. I had to split it into two parts, so you'll get the summary first, then the analysis in a couple more weeks (I kind of went overboard this time...)

@eksh6923

Жыл бұрын

​ @Luke Pillar A great news! Well, I expected the next video will take a long time and be enormous. It's the last book and Tarmon Gai'don after all.

You say a lot of good stuff. Speaking a bit slower would help. Also, Men carry sun energy - Women's chakras are flowers that want to open to receive the sun. Women are the womb of creation. We don't need amateurs trying to muddle up Platonic Archetypes. Suffering and endless frustration comes from dabbling.