The Wheel of Time

Difference, you don't physically NEED to channel.

you'd think someone with a strong enough will would be able to condition themselves.

It's impossible, The True Source is highly addictive and channeling is at least partially subconscious, you can suppress the urge but it will happen at random times anyways (if your angry, distressed, or in deep need).

The taint works like a certain number of insanity points. Every ones tolerance for insanity points is different as well as how they react to them, and the amount you get exposed to depends on how much of the power you embrace and how often. Some dudes turn into gibbering wrecks, some just see things that aren't there.

And does it get worse?

Like, if someone's reflection of insanity is just seeing a grey dog everywhere he turns. Would that get worse? Or would he just stay like that?

"Does the insanity have a saturation point?" is what I'm asking, I guess

It all depends, everyone person reacts to the taint differently. I'm not sure myself.

edited 31st May '12 4:10:10 PM by LMage

I honestly wonder if there's a single decent Red Ajah.

I mean, maybe it's just Moiraine's biases (it's probably that) shining through, but it sounds like the Red Ajah are all assholes and the only decent Ajah are Blue

edited 31st May '12 4:17:37 PM by gingerninja666

Well, she seems to think the Green is okay. As are the browns when they aren't distracted by something. But yeah, she is a little biased against them all. I think the Ajah divisions make the organization as a whole weaker. It makes it really for an us vs. them attitude to take hold.

Does anyone remember why the reds and blues hate each other so much? I would have thought that it would be the green that the red would have poor relations with since they have such opposite views about men, among other things.

edited 31st May '12 10:24:39 PM by Liisiko

In New Spring Moiraine is told the two Ajah's have been feuding for centuries, so long that they've actually forgotten what started it.

Green is however often at odds with Red, however they oppose White over Red, for some bizarre reason.

Well, the hat of Green is more or less Boisterous Bruiser, (as much as Aes Sedai can get) while Whites are Emotionless Girl/The Spock. It's not too hard to see why they'd have issues with each other.

There is the occasional decent Red, but for the most part Reds are assholes and Whites are a little useless in my opinion because they're too disconnected from everything except logic problems and such. Grays, (diplomats) Browns, (active searchers for knowledge and archivists) Yellows, (healers) Blues (activists) and Greens (fighters waiting for Tarmon Gai'don) all tend to vary, but overall they tend to be better.

And naturally, members fo each Ajah feel that their own is the best and and have reasons (or prejudices) for why others are either to be viewed as lower or should be ignored until needed.

edited 1st Jun '12 12:26:54 AM by TheWanderer

"Tarmon Gai'don" could also be a bit more subtle.

and Ogier (after I learned how it was pronounced)

What name is that?

edited 1st Jun '12 6:18:15 AM by gingerninja666

Armageddon

...I never noticed that.

How's «Ogier» pronounced, by the way? I'd think it wouldn't be like «ogre».

edited 1st Jun '12 3:30:54 PM by Zizoz

OH-gehr

Hm. Normally in English, the letter g is pronounced [dʒ] (a J sound) before e, but normally in pronunciation guides it's pronounced [g] (as in «get») everywhere. I wonder which one was intended here.

Also still wondering what the first H in «KANH-dohr» means.

On page 745

I'm now just about to see the Eye of The world.

HA! I KNEW Fain was evil (even if I didn't know he was the beggar) from the moment he appeared in Baerlon

Also, WHAT THE FUCK ROMANCE BETWEEN NYNAEVE AND LAN?!

I mean, buh, wha, howdi, hama. WHAT?!

Since when have those two been that close? I'm not blind, I could see (and was groaning at) Nynaeve's attraction to Lan from a mile off, but that scene between them in the Blight is just... HUH?

... I didn't like it at any right (the whole relationship)

Romance is NOT this series strong suit. Like....at all.

What do you think of the Green Man?

I like the green man. He was more naive than I figured he'd be

Btw, what did you think of Lan's back story (which should have been at least partially explained, if I'm remembering right)?

edited 2nd Jun '12 5:25:12 PM by LMage

Eh, it's not a bad backstory, by any stretch, but I wasn't particularly blown away by it

Yeah, Nynaeve's feelings for Lan were obvious, but Lan's feelings were... I'm still really confused about that scene.

How did that scene even get past the editor? It comes out of NOWHERE!! (or at least Lan's parts did)

edited 3rd Jun '12 5:23:50 AM by gingerninja666

@ginger

Well it's implied that this isn't exactly the entire story, and that more has been going out of her view point, but Rand is kind of utterly clueless so we probably missed out on the subtleties.

So I read the first four-ish Wheel of Time books like six years ago, and my general reaction was "meh". Seemed to have potential, but the execution was lacking (mostly the Loads And Loads Of Characters, Four Lines, All Waiting, and Kudzu Plot — which are all basically the same issue), so I didn't bother to finish the series. That said, I'm looking for stuff to read, and my library has like the whole series. Since Brandon Sanderson (who I fanboy shamelessly) is finishing the series, you think it's worth picking back up from the beginning?