My reactions to Eye of the World

[Fifth of Daybreak]

So I thought it might be fun for everyone who's already read through the series to see what I think might come to pass after reading the Eye of the World for the first time. I know I enjoy hearing what people think about books and series as they are going through them. 

 

First, I want to say that I'm very frustrated, as I had a lot of theories coming through the book that were pretty much confirmed by the end. For instance the Lan/Nynaeve relationship budding, Rand being the dragon reborn, Thom Merrilin not being dead, Rand using the one power. (I caught that after learning about the symptoms from touching the one power, putting that together with the scene in Baerlon, when he got lightheaded talking to the Children of the Light.)   I had assumed that Moiraine was the missing queen from Camelyn, but the end chapter for her paints a different story. 

 

So, with a greatly reduced list, here I go:

 

Rand and Perrin will continue to credit each other on being the better ladies man, and eventually Matt will end up better with women than both of them.

 

*Thom has been gentled, which is part of his distrust towards the Aes Sedai.

 

*The inkeeper at the Queen's Blessing is Thom's brother, and it was his son who ran afoul of the Aes Sedai.

 

*I'm guessing that his nephew heard from Thom what Gentling was like,

 

He tried to resist forcing the Aes Sedai to kill him. 

 

Perrin and Egwene, (I'm trying to keep myself from getting attached to these two as a couple, after the travesty my hopes came to in Harry Potter.)

 

Padan Fain will have a huge redemption arc. Maybe even last second. He seems to be the Gollum equivalent. 

 

Rand and Elayne. A daughter heir gets what she wants. 

 

Loial will grow into a very powerful magic user through his tree songs. I was very much struck by the power he commanded at the end of the book when he preserves the Green Man's grave. The Green Man mentioned how hard it was to keep the blight out, so what Loial did had to be some pretty powerful stuff. 

 

Loial will eventually reclaim the ways from the black wind. Again, he seems a lot more powerful to me than he gives himself credit for. 

 

Moiraine also struck me as way more powerful than she should be. I'm not saying as an Aes Sedai wielding the one power, but on a whole different level. She's wielding the three Ta'veren to basically weave the pattern herself. The Green Man was very surprised to see her twice, but she knew without a doubt that she could find him again. So she basically broke the known laws of magic, and had no doubts that it would happen that way. 

 

Lan will never develop a sense of humor. Waylaid kings take themselves way too seriously. 

 

Logain is Rand's biological father. 

 

Most of Nynaeve's animosity towards Moiraine, at least towards the end of the book, is jealousy because of her relationship with Lan. 

 

*Thom has been captured by the Dark One, but will eventually escape on his own, because he's just that awesome. (Seriously was disappointed he didn't appear again in this book. I thought Thom was the most interesting character. Being a court bard for a queen involved with Aes Sedai can only explain so much about his knowledge.)

 

The Children of the Light may have members whose intentions are pure, but the command structure has been completely tainted by Darkfriends. 

 

*Mat's dagger will actually become an asset. He'll learn some sort of control over it, which he can then teach to Rand to stop him from going mad due to the taint on the one power. 

 

 

So, in conlcusion, I thought it was a great read. At first it struck me as a Lord of the Rings clone, but the elements already have diverted enough that I barely notice it, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

 

I did choose to post this where I know spoilers could leak in, so I won't hold it against you if they are posted on this thread, but bear in mind I will still be reading through. I'm just starting up the Great Hunt today. Hopefully my thoughts give you guys a kick.

Edited May 26, 2014 by EMTrevor

[+Quitecontrary]

With most 17th sharders finding their way here through the Wheel of Time, it's refreshing to find one who's yet to read the series.

The Eye of the World normally don't hold a lot of fascination for most readers, but being of an older generation, I truly enjoyed it the first time I read it. There was nothing like WoT in its time.

So you got it right on some points, and on some, you're waaaay off.

But congratulations on completing the first book of such an influential series.

[GreyPilgrim]

As Quitecontrary says, you are right on some of these, but I would say that the majority are significantly off. The series develops in many different and interesting ways, and I bet you'll enjoy it. I'm interested that you latched on to so many of the other characters so early on. I didn't really care about Mat, Elayne, or the Darkfriends for several books. You will be surprised by where the story goes, I think. Good job catching the hints about Rand's channeling. I didn't get them until rereads.

[Fifth of Daybreak]

I'm gonna go ahead and asterisk the theories I think are more out there, just for funsies. 

 

Mat annoys me sometimes, but I think he's got the greatest room for growth as a character, and that draws me to him. Especially since I have very limited information on what the properties of the dagger are, beyond corruption. What really drew me to it is that the Dark One notices it enough to put it on the representations. Both of the other two, the Dark One notes about what protects them, and in Rand's case makes him vulnerable, so I feel like there's something about the dagger that protects Mat from the Dark One, especially considering the fade/trolloc reaction to Shadar Logoth. 

 

I really like Elayne. She strikes me as the strong female archetype that I look for in a book. Nynaeve is a little too bitter for me, and Egwene is just a little too frivolous. Her jealousy and manipulation of Rand turns me off from her character.

I enjoyed Min too, but I felt like she was hinting at a physical relationship, and not an emotional long standing one. 

Edited May 26, 2014 by EMTrevor

[Topomouse]

I certainly find it very interesting to read other people's reactions the books, If you continue to write your impressions/theories as the books go by I'll be sure to comment them.

 

As for this one: good job in noticing Rand channeling. The first time I read the books I didn't put everything toghether till the end, I wasn't even sure what the Dragon Reborn represented.

As for your theories, you got a lot of things right, at least on a macrospical level. Some of your guess are wrong, but woud have been vvvery awesome if they were true.

Don't worry about Mat, he takes a while to get a POV chapter and really shine but he will give you satisfaction.

[Argent]

Rand and Perrin will continue to credit each other on being the better ladies man, and eventually Matt will end up better with women than both of them.

The Wheel of Time in a nutshell, right here.

 

Padan Fain will have a huge redemption arc. Maybe even last second. He seems to be the Gollum equivalent.

 

Fain is going to be... weird.

 

Rand and Elayne. A daughter heir gets what she wants.

 

Hooboy. You are so right here, but also so wrong.

 

Moiraine also struck me as way more powerful than she should be. I'm not saying as an Aes Sedai wielding the one power, but on a whole different level. She's wielding the three Ta'veren to basically weave the pattern herself. The Green Man was very surprised to see her twice, but she knew without a doubt that she could find him again. So she basically broke the known laws of magic, and had no doubts that it would happen that way.

 

I am just going to say that the Pattern-shaping abilities of the ta'veren is pretty difficult, if not downright impossible, to control. It will get explained a little better in later books (though not as well as I would've wanted), but one way to interpret this ability is to treat it as something that slaps the laws of probability around.

 

Lan will never develop a sense of humor. Waylaid kings take themselves way too seriously.

 

I think he made a joke in one of the earlier books. Not sure though.

 

Most of Nynaeve's animosity towards Moiraine, at least towards the end of the book, is jealousy because of her relationship with Lan.

 

I don't know about "most," but it's definitely a part.

 

The Children of the Light may have members whose intentions are pure, but the command structure has been completely tainted by Darkfriends.

 

You underestimate the horror that is religious fanaticism

[Fifth of Daybreak]

 

I think he made a joke in one of the earlier books. Not sure though.

 

 

 

I didn't expect to get proven wrong so quickly:

 

"...If you don't watch your step, sheephearder, you will find yourself married into a Shienaran House before you realize what has happened." Suddenly he burst out laughing; it looked odd, like a rock laughing.

The Great Hunt Page 100

[Aether]

It is amazing how many of your theories are right, and how many are ridiculously way, way off. Up-votes for great insight into a the mind of a first time WoT reader.

 

And Argent, shush! You're dangerously close to actively spoiling things.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Aether

[Fifth of Daybreak]

 

And Argent, shush! You're dangerously close to actively spoiling things.

 

 

Haha, this statement compelled me to reread Argent's post like 5 more times. 

Edited May 28, 2014 by EMTrevor

[Argent]

Meh, you shush. The closest thing to a spoiler is my Elayne comment, and I've intentionally made it vague enough to neither confirm nor deny anything solidly. I know how to thread the spoiler line

[Aether]

Meh, you shush. The closest thing to a spoiler is my Elayne comment, and I've intentionally made it vague enough to neither confirm nor deny anything solidly. I know how to thread the spoiler line

I was merely pointing out that you are balancing on the very edge of that spoiler line. Good luck though, EMTrevor, in figuring out exactly what is what.

[king of nowhere]

[spoilered for shortness]

So I thought it might be fun for everyone who's already read through the series to see what I think might come to pass after reading the Eye of the World for the first time. I know I enjoy hearing what people think about books and series as they are going through them. 

 

First, I want to say that I'm very frustrated, as I had a lot of theories coming through the book that were pretty much confirmed by the end. For instance the Lan/Nynaeve relationship budding, Rand being the dragon reborn, Thom Merrilin not being dead, Rand using the one power. (I caught that after learning about the symptoms from touching the one power, putting that together with the scene in Baerlon, when he got lightheaded talking to the Children of the Light.)   I had assumed that Moiraine was the missing queen from Camelyn, but the end chapter for her paints a different story. 

 

So, with a greatly reduced list, here I go:

 

Rand and Perrin will continue to credit each other on being the better ladies man, and eventually Matt will end up better with women than both of them.

 

*Thom has been gentled, which is part of his distrust towards the Aes Sedai.

 

*The inkeeper at the Queen's Blessing is Thom's brother, and it was his son who ran afoul of the Aes Sedai.

 

*I'm guessing that his nephew heard from Thom what Gentling was like,

 

He tried to resist forcing the Aes Sedai to kill him. 

 

Perrin and Egwene, (I'm trying to keep myself from getting attached to these two as a couple, after the travesty my hopes came to in Harry Potter.)

 

Padan Fain will have a huge redemption arc. Maybe even last second. He seems to be the Gollum equivalent. 

 

Rand and Elayne. A daughter heir gets what she wants. 

 

Loial will grow into a very powerful magic user through his tree songs. I was very much struck by the power he commanded at the end of the book when he preserves the Green Man's grave. The Green Man mentioned how hard it was to keep the blight out, so what Loial did had to be some pretty powerful stuff. 

 

Loial will eventually reclaim the ways from the black wind. Again, he seems a lot more powerful to me than he gives himself credit for. 

 

Moiraine also struck me as way more powerful than she should be. I'm not saying as an Aes Sedai wielding the one power, but on a whole different level. She's wielding the three Ta'veren to basically weave the pattern herself. The Green Man was very surprised to see her twice, but she knew without a doubt that she could find him again. So she basically broke the known laws of magic, and had no doubts that it would happen that way. 

 

Lan will never develop a sense of humor. Waylaid kings take themselves way too seriously. 

 

Logain is Rand's biological father. 

 

Most of Nynaeve's animosity towards Moiraine, at least towards the end of the book, is jealousy because of her relationship with Lan. 

 

*Thom has been captured by the Dark One, but will eventually escape on his own, because he's just that awesome. (Seriously was disappointed he didn't appear again in this book. I thought Thom was the most interesting character. Being a court bard for a queen involved with Aes Sedai can only explain so much about his knowledge.)

 

The Children of the Light may have members whose intentions are pure, but the command structure has been completely tainted by Darkfriends. 

 

*Mat's dagger will actually become an asset. He'll learn some sort of control over it, which he can then teach to Rand to stop him from going mad due to the taint on the one power. 

 

 

So, in conlcusion, I thought it was a great read. At first it struck me as a Lord of the Rings clone, but the elements already have diverted enough that I barely notice it, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

 

I did choose to post this where I know spoilers could leak in, so I won't hold it against you if they are posted on this thread, but bear in mind I will still be reading through. I'm just starting up the Great Hunt today. Hopefully my thoughts give you guys a kick.

BY my count, you half-guessed three of those (meaning you went in the general direction, but what happened was still substantially different from your guews).

And you guessed correctly only one, which is "mr.-I've-never-heard-of-this-aragorn-now-excuse-me-but-i-have-to-reclaim-the-throne-of-my-ancestors will never develop a sense of humor".

 

EDIT: to expand a bit, while still avoiding any major spoiler:

EDITED AGAIN: According to aether, that's still spoilering too much, and he's probably right. So, while this do not contain any real plot-critical information (except one thing that will be revealed in the prologue of book 2, so no surprise there), it's still moderately spoilery and I put it under spoiler. Hoping the OP check the forum no more than daily.

- elayne will definitely do something with rand, but she'll be far from his only love interest. actually, the romantic life of rand will become so complex that entire soap operas could be based on it. the way it will end is something that I've never seen anywhere before (no, not even in porn, just in case you were thinking rand will do a threesome with elayne and egwene because "I can't think of any other fantasy book where this happens").

- not only perrin and rand think both is the better ladies'man; mat, rand and perrin all think the other two are better with women.

As a matter of fact, both rand and perrin are pretty hopeless, and it will require some very tireless women chasing them to finally get them. mat instead is actually good, but he is more adept at flirting than anything more serious, and sometimes he will also have the problem of keeping unwanted attention away.

- you correctly guessed that darkfriends infiltrated the command structure of whitecloacks (no spoiler here: the very prologue of the second book shows a meeting of darkfriends, and the pow character is a captain commander). However, "heavily" is probably an exaggeration: the lord captain commander is a good man whose only fault is to take the facts and jump to all the wrong conclusions and the chief inquisitor is just a crazy psycho. Another lord captain we'll get to see is instead a power-hungry psycho, but not a darkfriend.

- as far as rand's biological father, he has nothing to do with logain, but this is again something that could take a soap opera, except it would be too complicated to actually fit into one. I'm not going to discuss details, let's just say that he is half-brother of elayne's half-brother galad, that his parents took the decisions that led them to be together and rand being adopted because of a foretelling, and that Rand's biological father instead was actually killed by a relative of Lan. and leave you to discover all the mess that lies behind that (I'm saying all that spoilery-looking stuff without fear because I know for certain there's no way to guess that without information you won't have for at least 3 or 4 other books, and by then you'll have probably forgotten this).

- being a taveren is not as great as it sounds, and it don't really grant you any special power. it certainly is impossible to control. it basically means that the pattern will railroad your life much like a bad dungeon master in a roleplaying game. You'll see mat trying to escape his fate to become a great leader, and having plenty of hilarious stuff happening to him that will always railroad him back.

Edited May 29, 2014 by king of nowhere

[Aether]

BY my count, you half-guessed three of those (meaning you went in the general direction, but what happened was still substantially different from your guews).

And you guessed correctly only one, which is "mr.-I've-never-heard-of-this-aragorn-now-excuse-me-but-i-have-to-reclaim-the-throne-of-my-ancestors will never develop a sense of humor".

 

EDIT: to expand a bit, while still avoiding any major spoiler:

- elayne will definitely do something with rand, but she'll be far from his only love interest. actually, the romantic life of rand will become so complex that entire soap operas could be based on it. the way it will end is something that I've never seen anywhere before (no, not even in porn, just in case you were thinking rand will do a threesome with elayne and egwene because "I can't think of any other fantasy book where this happens").

- not only perrin and rand think both is the better ladies'man; mat, rand and perrin all think the other two are better with women.

As a matter of fact, both rand and perrin are pretty hopeless, and it will require some very tireless women chasing them to finally get them. mat instead is actually good, but he is more adept at flirting than anything more serious, and sometimes he will also have the problem of keeping unwanted attention away.

- you correctly guessed that darkfriends infiltrated the command structure of whitecloacks (no spoiler here: the very prologue of the second book shows a meeting of darkfriends, and the pow character is a captain commander). However, "heavily" is probably an exaggeration: the lord captain commander is a good man whose only fault is to take the facts and jump to all the wrong conclusions and the chief inquisitor is just a crazy psycho. Another lord captain we'll get to see is instead a power-hungry psycho, but not a darkfriend.

- as far as rand's biological father, he has nothing to do with logain, but this is again something that could take a soap opera, except it would be too complicated to actually fit into one. I'm not going to discuss details, let's just say that he is half-brother of elayne's half-brother galad, that his parents took the decisions that led them to be together and rand being adopted because of a foretelling, and that Rand's biological father instead was actually killed by a relative of Lan. and leave you to discover all the mess that lies behind that (I'm saying all that spoilery-looking stuff without fear because I know for certain there's no way to guess that without information you won't have for at least 3 or 4 other books, and by then you'll have probably forgotten this).

- being a taveren is not as great as it sounds, and it don't really grant you any special power. it certainly is impossible to control. it basically means that the pattern will railroad your life much like a bad dungeon master in a roleplaying game. You'll see mat trying to escape his fate to become a great leader, and having plenty of hilarious stuff happening to him that will always railroad him back.

Honestly, this is pretty heavily into the spoiler category. I would spoiler tag it (second thoughts, I'm going to do that for the quote), though preferably not say it at all. Let EMTrevor read and discover things on his own and regale us with his amusingly correct/incorrect guesses.

[king of nowhere]

Honestly, this is pretty heavily into the spoiler category. I would spoiler tag it (second thoughts, I'm going to do that for the quote), though preferably not say it at all. Let EMTrevor read and discover things on his own and regale us with his amusingly correct/incorrect guesses.

Look, the way I understand it he posted exactly because he wanted that kind of reaction. what would be the point of coming here after reading book one and posting all kind of theories if the only reaction he get is RAFO? I assumed he wanted tidbits, while avoiding big spoilers - and I didn't mention any really plot-critical element. So I tried to give enough details to stimulate his curiosity, while avoiding telling really anything. It's exactly what happens when people ask questions to brandon, after all. or when chapters get released in advance - people are all oer their heads trying to discover as much as possible about a new book before reading it.

[Aether]

Look, the way I understand it he posted exactly because he wanted that kind of reaction. what would be the point of coming here after reading book one and posting all kind of theories if the only reaction he get is RAFO? I assumed he wanted tidbits, while avoiding big spoilers - and I didn't mention any really plot-critical element. So I tried to give enough details to stimulate his curiosity, while avoiding telling really anything. It's exactly what happens when people ask questions to brandon, after all. or when chapters get released in advance - people are all oer their heads trying to discover as much as possible about a new book before reading it.

He specifically said he was doing it for others to gleam his reactions to other WoT fans. And while he did post it where "spoilers could leak in", he also asked us to hold back. While you didn't give up any plot significant spoilers, I still think you stepped over the line, especially concerning your comments about Rand's parentage and Mat's destiny.

 

I am not really trying to pick a fight here, but there is a difference between balancing the spoiler-line by commenting on his predictions as Argent did (which I already felt was going over the line) and blatantly giving the answers away.

[Fifth of Daybreak]

Peace! I knew that this was a high probability event, so I'm not upset. I appreciate you trying to protect my unspoilered mind, but if I get a spoiler, I'm sure it will still be an exciting read.


But on the other hand, I did start this mostly because it is something that would really amuse me to read had I already finished the series. But I don't think you truly spoiled much.

So you're both right!

Actually, the biggest spoiler I've seen to date I did to myself when double checking how to spell Nynaeve's name. It listed her full name for me. Now I'm wondering how much soap opera angst those two are going to go through. (Lan already gave her the ring. These two seem more hopeless than me in high school.)

Edited May 29, 2014 by EMTrevor

[Argent]

Now I'm wondering how much soap opera angst those two are going to go through.

 

How much soap opera angst? All of it.

[king of nowhere]

in 14 books there's room for all the space opera angst you may eveer wish

[Haradion Drogon]

Well, since I got the red wedding spoilt for me when reading the books, but before it came out, I am personally extremely anxious to avoid spoiler-ing anything.

 

But I will say I agree - many of your statements are half-spot on, and yet at the same time, half completely out there. There is one prediction which just made me laugh out loud. I hope you can work out which by the end

Enjoy!