Towers of Midnight pt. 3 -- summary/thoughts (Wheel of Time series)
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Alright, the end of this book was, well, a lot. Hence the length of this video. Thanks for watching, guys! I'm trying to include checkpoints for each chapter, in case you want to skip ahead.
Y'all are the best!
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It was enjoyable to remember this book through your three videos.
I fully agree that Sanderson didn't at all get Mat right, even if some parts were better than others. He tried, at least. He did seem to get most characters right, but not Mat. Ah well. Overall I think he did great on finishing the series.
The first time I read this book I was so shocked at how long it took before they saved Moraine. I really assumed it would happen by at most halfway through the book. Instead it was near the very end. All the stuff with the tower of Genji (sp) was awesome.
The visions Avienda had were crazy! In a different but related way they were almost as cool as the initial visions you get about the Age of Legends in book 4 or whatever it was. Also, the woman she met on the way was almost crazier than her visions. I seem to recall lots of people theorized she was the Creator or an agent of the creator, I don't totally remember.
The guy who has a talent for gateways is pretty neat. He'll be in book 3 an ok amount. He was sort of the character that Harriet let Brandon create so he could have fun and mess around with the magic system. I'm utterly paraphrasing from what I recall Sanderson saying.
I could write forever about these last three books, but I best not.
Hmm, I was about to type some stuff about book 3. Nope! I think you'll enjoy it a lot, I'll just say that.
I love all the WOT thoughts! And the woman Aviendha met has me intrigued so I’ll be doing some deep diving about that. I’m really looking forward to the final book!! And to your thoughts as well!
So something to remember is that because the Wheel Of Time is a circle, they are the legends of their own legends. With that in mind, Perrin's hammer is Mjölnir, Matt is Odin, Galad is Galahad, Gawyn is Gawain, Artur Paendrag Tanreall is King arthur. Im sure there are more but those are what stand out to me
That’s sick I love that
@@melanietahna Considering Arthurian framework, Artur Hawkwing is more of a "historic" interpretation of King Artur, ie a renowned conqueror from distant past. But "mythological" King Arthur is, of course, Rand himself, up to the fact that he proved himself by taking "sword" out of "stone" and Min's vision of three women attending his funeral is related to three women who took dying Arthur to Avalon.
And of course there is more. Lan is Lancelot, Demandred is Mordred, Elayne is Elaine of Corbenic, Gareth Bryne is Sir Gareth of Orkney, and Thom Merrilin is, of course, Merlin. He acknowledge it by saying in Book 4:"Thom Merrilin. Not a gleeman-but what? Who can say? Not eating fire, but breathing it. Hurling it about like an Aes Sedai.” He flourished his cloak. “Thom Merrilin, the mysterious hero, toppling mountains and raising up kings.” The grin became a rich belly laugh. “Rand al’Thor may be lucky if the next Age remembers his name correctly.”
@@melanietahna Also, Perrin is linked or only to Thor, but also his Slavic counterpart Perun (who is usually depicted with axe, not hammer). But, (un)surprisingly, there is another layer to it. In many Slavic countries a certain Christian saint who eventually took place of Perun as patron of thunder and lightnings. It is, well, prophet Elijah, usually known in Eastern churches as "Elias".
Considering, that Perrin have a certain mentor figure, i.e. Elyas...
@@TheNightrider88 Okay this is really cool to see these connections. Especially considering how well fleshed out these characters are. Some books that use the lore of existing mythologies feel flat and two-dimensional but these books feel like they are wholly Jordan’s work, even with the inspiration.
@@melanietahna I guess that WoT books were so developed, that they can produce their own parralels, that apparently wasn't concieved by author. Like, when I was trying to rewatch "Apocalypse Now", I noticed, that story of Col. Kurtz "going native" is very nice parralel to Rand succumbing to his darkness. In particular, Kurtz' "diamond bullet" monologue sounds almost like something Rand would say in order to convince himself that he need to be harder.
Funny that you mentioned the fact about raising army of "able men and willing women", because I instantly remembered Wheel of Prime version of Manetheren last stand, where it was "women and men" defending the capital.
Okay that’s actually pretty cool. And I liked that scene with Moraine a lot.
@@melanietahna My problem with show!Moiraine is the fact that she is polar opposite of book Moiraine)
@@TheNightrider88 oh really? I’m curious in what ways? (Genuine question)
@@melanietahna In... all of them? Moiraine from the books is calm, collected, ruthless and selflessly devoted to her cause. Over the course of book 1, she (together with Lan) is helping to defend the village and they succeed, with only few houses being burnt by trollocs When she siks the ferry, she reimbruse damage with money. She spectacularly scares Whitecloaks off. In Shadar Logoth she had time to explain how to exfiltrate and then immediately starts to make a plans of reconnecting the lost companions. ShowMoiraine is a clueless irresponsible adventurer, who, over season 1, destroys the village with her "helping" and got herself wounded in the process. She kills the ferryman while sinking the ferry. She is the one who is scared of Whitecloaks, even has to submit to their search, even letting herself be manhandled disrespectfully. She lets diversions like the false Dragon caravan and the death of an Aes Sedai & warder preoccupy her while the boys are out of pocket, and leaves them alone to spend a night with Siuan. Book Moiraine decided screw the Tower's plans, and left despite their orders. Show Moiraine needs a banishment ruse to get away from much less formed plans of her sisters.
Book Moiraine gave the boys roofie trackers to better handle and keep tabs on them. Show Moiraine can't even live up to her claim that she can find them much better than Nynaeve can, in Tar Valon, where she boasts of having spies to help look. Book Moiraine rubbed Rand's nose in the fact that he was the Dragon Reborn, while Show Moiraine sat around with her thumb up her ass until he figured it out and told her.
Now, what's about their relationships with Siuan? In the books, even if they were intimate in their Aceepted years, they clearly had no desire to maintain or develop this. Moiraine actually being cited for not caring enough about Siuan's fate and her responding that her mission is too important and that she even loves the Tower more than anything, and would root for Siuan's enemies if that was what was best for the Tower. From the show, one would got an impression that they both madly in love for decades and hate their quest because it interfere with their relationships.
And what about Lan? In the book, they are true "battle pair", they totally trust and respct each other. In fact, Moiraine cares about Lan so much, that he is the only person mentioned in her letters. Yes, Moiraine calling the shots, but she would always listen to Lan's opinion. In the show Season 1 Lan is presented as bumbling sidekick, who is clearly not that respected even by Moiraine herself. He is bad at being bodyguard and he is clearly not a trusted confidant. Season 2 takes it up to eleven, when Moiraine is nothing but bitch to him and he is sad like small boy,
And speaking of Season 2 - can you imagine Moiraine from the books wallowing in self-pity? Heck, even if she would be stilled, she would simply retort to acting as Rand's political advisor.
So in short - it's a two different personalities)
Hm. Somehow my large answer is not visible...
Whole Moiraine-Thom thing became rather obvious on re-reading, when you starts to notice the clues. Min's Thom-related vision of White Tower. Thom' suddenly asking Rand if Moiraine is with him in second book. Moiraine unexpected revelation that she knows a lot about her future husband, who is not Lan in book 4. Egwene dream of Thom retrieving blue jewel from fire in book 5...
Oh hey that’s really cool! Just makes me want to reread them already. Honestly I think they’ll be great together, I’m just glad to know there were hints to it before!
@@melanietahna Yeah, rereads reveal that basically anything that supposedly "came out of nowhere" was there, but usually very subtle. Like, in book 2 Verin claimed that Moiraine sent her, but later Moiraine insists that she did not) I guess nobody stopped and asked themselves:"wait, does it mean that Verin lied?" at first reading.
I am on my second reread, and I made it a point to look for the morraine, Thom connections.. they are not super obvious, but they are definitely there
@@donofrhyme8127 I’m happy to know this wasn’t totally out of the blue. Shouldn’t have doubted Robert Jordan!