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Now that that's out of the way...
It's time to talk about things we all noticed in KoD and how that may impact this here mod. :)
Post away everyone!
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Now that that's out of the way...
It's time to talk about things we all noticed in KoD and how that may impact this here mod. :)
Post away everyone!
A few things I noticed:
1. The Band of the Red Hand has changed a good bit with grenade throwing sling-staff men, fast cranking crossbows, flares and more...
2. We got our first up close look at Ogier weapons, in both the Westland variety and the Gardeners.
3. We know to mess with the numbers on effectiveness of projectiles a good bit, it's been remarked in RTW that archers can use every arrow and hardly impact a unit; in WoT however units have repeatedly been shown to get slaughtered to the man by the clever use of projectiles
4. We now know about possible emerging factions like Manetheren and The Golden Crane. We knew people were talking about Perrin raising Manetheren for a while, but now we see how widespread that talk and feeling had gotten. And we can be sure that The Golden Crane is flying by the end of this book.
One note... we should keep things we noticed to things that happened in this book. This mod will be done long before the next book or Guide comes out... so speculation on Mat's "dragons" for instace is no good. We can't include cannon yet... because they don't exist... Aludra may die for all we know...
Oh, that reminds me: We saw a train too! :)
I loved it, because it gives a lot more possibelties for horse archer units. Between the Domani, the Tarbon guys fighting for the Seachaen, the Band of the Red Hand, not to mention the Saladaens and the rest of the Borderlands, I think at least one lancer with a bow unit is needed. :charge:
And I'd love to see a a Golden Crane faction, or at least a rebel unit or mercanary unit or something (given the large amount of Malkieri figthing for Borderlanders).
One thing I was confused about. Did Perrin end up being a vassal to the Seachean? He offered it, I know, but when they parted ways the general didn't really make any mention of it.
All in all, deffiently the best in the series for a long time.
yeah... that was a bit confusing... because he didn't really submit to the Seanchan... his offer wasn't lordship of the Two Rivers, but more along the lines of refraining from raising Manetheren's banner in opposition to the Seanchan...
so if the Seanchan never make it that far... as seems likely given Elayne being in Andor with popular support in Cairhein and baby momma to the Dragon freakin Reborn... then I think his offer is considered null and void...
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another cool thing I noticed - we got our first look at a Sharan :)
Ok... A Sharan? Did I miss something? Noal? Hell my asstuteness is questionable sometimes... hell I still think it was Semirhage who killed Asmodean.... well, that was my first thought anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by SMZ
A Manethran faction would be cool though.
yep, yep - we only see the Sharan for a brief moment however...
When Rand goes to the inn in Tear... as he is entering he hears a fellow with dark skin and tight, curly hair using an "odd musical accent" while talking about obtaining andberry leaves for silk worms he has. The fellow is speaking haltingly... almost as if he was trying to use a language he isn't familiar with :) My money says it's a Sharan. Because a few seconds later, Alivia hears the familiar "drawling accent" of Seanchan and goes into shock. So a fellow using a strange accent and with dark skin has to be either Sea Folk, Seanchan, Sharan or from the Land of Madmen.
Madmen are presumbably madmen. Sea Folk have familiar accents by this time as do Seanchan. Sharans on the other hand do not, AND Shara is the source for silk, and thus silk worms. :)
For those who thought that without Mat, the Band would not continue his reforms, they were wrong.
The 4.000 fast reloading crossbows prove it.
I'm relauching the debate : Is the Band an Elite Unit ?
~D
Well, I suppose you get the right to brag on yourself a bit...
Don't do too much, or I'll find a technicality to argue about it, just for principal - lol.
And it would appear, that the Band units will indeed be elite level units. We've got grenade throwing sling-staffs, fast-cranking crossbows and horse archers/lancers... Too bad we didn't get a chance to see the rest of the foot... the pikemen may have undergone changes too... Anything else you guys noticed about the Band?
I wanted to know how that King guy betrayed them, or whatever.
Oh, I did notice them talking about their core of builders (or something). Mabye they can build watchtowers/forts easier or cheaper (if possible)? Obviously this would have to be for the entire Dragon faciton, but...
Masons you mean...we cannot do that, as far as I know...
And the crossbowmen ae still not elire really, they have a techincal lead, and are in good order, better then msot common units, but they will not be better then for example aiel, or generals unit. Somewhere in the middle there....
My estimation
A soldier of the Band = 1.2 to 1.3 common soldier
For comparaison :
A Death Guard = 5 to 6 commons soldiers
The bands units deserve the Hardy trait and big moral boost.
Hardy because the Band can make multiples raids and ambushes during a same night.
Big moral because the Band is often outnumbered in tactical and surendered in strategic
They aren't the Aiel sure but they are above any standard unit and by a fair margin.
:bow:
The masons and such the Band has along would mostly be a part of their movement bonus. Which that just comes as a trait with Mat or Talmanes or whoever. We'll prolly give em the trait "Engineers Corps" or something and give a siege building bonus and movement bonus from them building bridges and whatnot...
As far as to how the King betrayed them... I would guess that after putting them to use in getting the country under his control he probably wanted a nice resounding victory to put on his record and secure his status as a popular hero. So he prolly asked the Band to do something with the intent of annihilating them, thus making himself popular and erasing all evidence of the ploy he had used on the nobles... Just guesswork, but that's how I would see it...
I agree with Andreas and McFungos... The Band is to normal soldiers as Aiel are to The Band... Given their technology advantage however they'll likely be some of the most valued troops. We're going to have to make their costs high to balance it. The grenades and fast-cranking put them on the path toward Aes Sedai like power... can't have a player with an entire army of Band soldiers...
The king Rheodran made a secret dealing with the Band and Talmanes.
Rheodran paid the Band to stay in Murandy to pose as a potential threat while Rheodran gather support against the Band.
The Band leaved Murandy just before king Rheodran was ready to strike them.
It's similar to the deal between Elayne et the Borderlanders army in Andor save the money part.
:bow:
yeah - but Rheodran didn't keep his side of the bargain completely... as Talmanes says when he meets Mat. That's why the Band is scattered a bit, because they had to quick march their way out of Murandy to avoid getting backstabbed
Oh, and you guys need to have a Zebra mount. Mabye for just the general, or something, but you need at least one Zebra! ~D
lol - razors can't be zebras... I don't care what anybody says
What? Why not? The description is exactly matching a zebra. You don't get horses with straight white and black stripes. You can get paliminos, but not like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by SMZ
Besides, there are elephants, lions, why not zebras?
well - one: zebras are the size of donkeys and this horse was described as being "17 hands" I think... two: zebras for all intents and purposes cannot be domesticated - they just aren't trainable...
iunno... might be some kind of zebra-horse hybrid creature... which would explain their rarity... since the offspring would be sterile
Hmm, your right, zebras are only 11-13 hands high, I read...
Though perhaps in the Wheel of Time world, they evolved to be bigger? ~;)
Seriously, I really can't imagine having a horse with that sort of patterns, nor the Domani being so protective of it if it was a normal horse...
Regardless, I would really want to see a Domani general on a razor. ~;)
They will have it...
And it's not a zebra, those have vertical lines IIRC, where the razor has horzontal, and the razors line are stright where the zebras are all wavy. They are just very good horse with a cool look.
It was horizontal lines? Oh, ok, then they aren't zebras. But they are cool, and I'm glad they will be in. ~D
I'm not sure if they're horizontal or verticle... the picture I got in my mind was horizontal at first tho... I don't think Jordan specifically said - unless it's in a interview or book signing quote somewhere?
how I pictured it was:
b=black, w=white
bbbbbbbbbbwwwwwww
wwwwwwbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbwwwwwwwww
wwwwbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbwwwwwwwwwww
wwbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bwwwwwwwwwwwww
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It was interesting to learn that the female Choedan Khal melted - previously I'd been assuming that Rand would go looking for another access key (I thought only the key had melted) but with the sa'angreal gone as well... that shrinks Rand's options considerably... maybe Egwene will provide the white rod from the Tower? still, that's a poor substitute...
Yeah, with those Sea Folk land people (can't rember there name) all commiting suicide. Did the male version melt as well? I can't remember...
And I was glad there wasn't much emphasis on the Aes Sedai this one, they are so boring to me.
I wonder how Logain will end up serving Rand, or if he betrays him (how does he get his glory?). And what was with Rand's headaches? Could it mean the taint is back? But then, the Aes Sedai who bonded the Ashaman still seem to think its clean.
The male version is fine as far as we know... it's just when you're talking about taking on the The Dark One, Sightblinder, etc, etc, The Great Lord of the Dark himself... using both Choedan Khal while linked would've been a big help from any angle we can think of right now... the next most powerful female sa'angreal we know of is that rod in the tower. But like seven Aes Sedai linked while using that had a hard time just fixing Mat's dagger attachment! I can't imagine how much good it'll do against the Dark One.
I think Logain might end up being the next Tamyrlin... or whatever equivalent exists after the Last Battle. I have a feeling Rand is going to get burned out at Tarmon Gaidan.
I think Rand's headaches are another side effect of the balefire streams crossing with Moridin. The two are becoming one somehow... I think Rand is attuned to the True Power somehow now - just he can't access it because the Dark One doesn't grant it. Moridin feels quesy whenever Rand uses the One Power - I think there's an allergic reaction so to speak to using the One Power after prolonged True Power usage. And I think Rand is picking up those effects thru his bond with Moridin.
You think that about the TP? And who made you think that???:P
And the male should be fine, the ter'angreal is, and I think they reflect each other...
And rand's sickness has nothing with the taint to do... (From Jordan).
And it says horizontal, with the lines straight as if cut with razors.
(It's ayamar:P)
Edit: A nice sumup of the ituralde attack, if you are interested: http://www.wotmania.com/wotmessagebo...ssageID=268069
lol - did I get that from you? I know we talked about it... I can't remember what thoughts are my own and things I picked up elsewhere anymore...
heh - word - credit Andreas with the Rand-Moridin relationship
and that's a nice link there :)
Actually, come to think of it... "stripes" is an uncommon way to refer to horizontal lines. Anytime somebody says "stripes" I think it's common to think of verticle lines... and most animals that have "stripes" have verticle lines. ie: tiger stripes, zebra stripes, antelope stripes...
A horizontal series of lines would probably be called "bands".
I'm really uncertain of how that horse looks in Jordan's mind - what did you base your interpretation off of Andreas? I prolly missed something...
I'm kinda liking my idea that the razor is a zebra/horse hybrid though. :)
EDIT: Now that I just said it again - look at this: zebra/horse... "ra-hor" ... hmm... we've all seen Jordan's penchant for reinventing words from the real world... Armageddon = Tarmon Gaidan, etc, etc
I hereby submit that the "razor" is a zebra/horse hybrid and Jordan got the name by combining the two. Then he thought up the clever little "lines like they're sliced by a razor" bit as a better way of explaining the name than his actual method.
Possibly. However, if you type in "zorse" into google, you'll see that sometimes the horse is brown (following the horse). I suppose it depends if the zebra or horse is the mother, and the color of the horse.
But the zorse is more likely than a special horse, in my mind. ~;)
Yeah there are a lot of great developments in KOD, I finally feel like the books are getting along again. As for the band being an elite unit I dont think so, I think they should have a huge morale boost for they always believe they will win no matter the odds with Mat at the command, they should be able to hide anywhere which will be great for setting up crossbowman ambushes like Mat does, this is due to their new green armor. The thing thats bugging me is how could we implement the true power of crossbows into RTW, the games only missile really is bows and crossbows are much much more powerful than bows able to punch through armor and the sort, I think to show their damage you would almost want to overwrite javelinmen possibly, this is something to discuss and for someone to test.
As far as we know now Mat may have sealed the Seachan to Rand, he's the prince of ravens or maybe even now like a king of the Seachan or something we are not really told how that works. Im excited to read about the great stump and loial convincing the ogier to go to the last battle im sure that will be a good passage, we also all now want to know about Lan im curious how many men are going to be following him by the end. Rand finally is making decisions and seems to be preparing for the last battle (by sending Tear's troops to the borderlands)
Another question thats been stirring in my mind - we are told humanities only chance is if Rand is at the last battle right? and even if they still may lose. Well with full strength (including Seachan) how many men can be mustered to the borderlands id guess a few million? so if that can be beaten how many friggen trollocs are there and the dreadlords have yet to show themselves we saw what some what 40 asha'man and aes sedai did to thousands and thousands of trollocs..
Quote:
Originally Posted by CrownOfSwords
Think about what Taim said in the end of the book: Let the lord of chaos rule. (or something like that...)
That same thing was used in some former book by some of the Forsaken... Wouldn't that mean those Taim's men are darkfriends or Taim himself at least?
That epilogue was great, I must say. Very well written.
Regarding the Black Tower, I think it's pretty well established that Mazrim Taim is a Bad Guy. I don't know if you've followed the WoT fan community at all, but for a long time (pretty much from when he first appeared in Lord of Chaos) there was a very popular theory that Mazrim Taim was in fact the Forsaken Demandred, although events in Winter's Heart disproved this. I think it was also Winter's Heart that proved that Gedwyn, Torval, Rochaid and Kisman, the four Asha'man who attacked Rand Al'Thor in the book before that were also all Darkfriends. All four of them were Taim's personal "students" and IIRC it actually explicitly states that Taim ordered them to kill Rand.
Also, I'm pretty sure than in the KoD epilogue all the Asha'man present are laughing (hundreds) which is pretty significant. So basically it's like this: Rand Al'Thor established the Black Tower and oversees it in it's infancy, but once the recruitment really gets up and running he just leaves it all to Taim - I don't think he's even visited there since then. In fact his only contact with the Black Tower seems to be to send for more Asha'man occasionally. He has a few of the earliest Asha'man with him (guys like Narishma and Flinn) and they are loyal to him personally, and maybe a few others like Logain, but the rest of the Asha'man have probably never seen Rand Al'Thor, all they know from the Black Tower is Taim. They may nominally swear allegiance to the Dragon Reborn, but their true loyalty is to the M'Hael, Mazrim Taim. And if Mazrim Taim is a Darkfriend.... No doubt it this will make a very interesting plot thread.
I think that's right. I read KoD recently (duh) but it's been a year or more since I read the rest of the series, so I'm probably a bit rusty.
Antagonist
Yeah, Taim is deffinetly a Darkfriend. I don't think he's Demodred as many previously thought, because at the showdown in that haunted city (Shahol Ghul?), he didn't recongnize one of Rand's Ashaman.
He was probably trained by one of the Forsaken though, consider how quickly he picks up on a lot of things.
And Jordan has said right out that he is not:)
yeah - that epilogue was very cool - I could picture it so vividly...
Anyone else notice the extra chairs in the meeting of the Forsaken? I think the DO has raised new people to Forsaken level and only Moridin knows this. Everything else that Moridin does has symbolic meaning, I'm sure the additional chairs are there for a reason
I'm guessing Taim is now one of the "Chosen". Any specualtion as to who else may be?
Problely just taim because only three have been lost beyond the D.O. reach.Quote:
Originally Posted by SMZ
Rahivin and Be'al and the D.O. just is refuseing to reincarnate Asomondan we guess any way.
Interesting Sammual is still alive or so it seems.
Didn't Jordan go on record (at a convention or a signing or something) and state unambiguously that Sammael was dead? That's what I recall, anyway. I think there's something like that in the various FAQ's around.
Antagonist
Sammual could have been reincarnated like mordrin, os' gnar and ang'narQuote:
Originally Posted by Antagonist
Yes, he only said he did not survive Shadar Logoth, not that he isn't ressed IIRC.
But wasn't balefire used against him?
Mabye someone pretending to be Sammael was commanding those Trollocs they mentioned. That's what I figured, anyway.
I believe RJ has said that if the dark one has advanced warning of balefire which shall take place he can be ready to catch the dying person, also it depends on the amount of balefire used.
If we assumed that the Dark One knows what his chapion knows and does similarly to shadar haron, then we can guess he was ready for it as the 2 flows of balefire combine to hit Sammael if it is Mordin's "lance of balefire whihc hits first we could assume the balefire is week and thus the 2 nessesities for the dark one to save Sammael are there.
I never got why Morodin would want to kill Sammael...
Nope, it was the Mashadar(sp...?) that killed him. Rand directed his bale to kill the maiden instead, to save her form the above mentioned.
And you do not survive bales, no matter the size of them.
I just finished KoD earlier today. Few things I've noticed, for one, I read an interview with Jordan where he flat out said we'd found out who killed Asmodean in KoD. Looks like he either forgot or just hadn't thought the whole plot out yet. Also, Jordan said he wouldn't go over 12 books, yet I don't see the series ending in one more book. There's just too much left to happen.
Egwene totally has the tower in the palm of her hand, it's only a matter of time before the rebels take the city.
I also thought that one of the most intriguing cliffhangers was Lan's mission in the Borderlands. He's going to do some damage.
I understand that RJ has admitted he has to extend the books. As for Asmodean, it wasn't cleared up, unless I missed anything.
As for Egwene, I don't get why they haven't assaulted the Tower. I fail to see how gathering a few novices and Aes Sedai can help make her Aymaril. Surely Gareth will need to assault the Tower, otherwise why is he even there?
Yeah, but I have a feeling that once Egwene convinces enough sisters to her cause, they'll take Elaida down, maybe even without an assault.
Yeah - it's amazing that she has anybody supporting her in such a short time...
The sisters rarely show what they're thinking - but given the amount of support the novices and Accepted are showing - you've got to wonder what is going on in the sisters heads... They're all worried about the decaying situation in the tower with the Ajahs splitting... and the news of Elaidas various bunglings - how many of them are thinking that maybe that "other" Amyrlin might be a better choice... remember it was a sister that compared her to Cadsuane
The Mistress of Novices is a powerful position - and support from her can gather a good backing - Egwene came to power among the rebels with support from their Mistress...
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If anyone saw something NEW about Asmodean - I wanna know - lol... and I mean NEW... not the same old theories...
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Personally I'm hoping RJ goes for 13 books. It'll have more symbolism - and let him complete everything nicely... there's still so much to be done
Surly he dosn't want too many causulties. You have to relize with tar valon you cant use seige towers and can only asulut the walls above the bridges. It will not be an esay seige.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steppe Merc
As for Asmodean maybe he reveiled somthing in the diriction of sermighedge(just a feeling)
But why can´t they will just travel inside the walls at night when nobody is prepered. Surely they would win quite easy?
Yeah. Travel inside, slit Elaida's throat (or still her), and any other major leaders, shield or still the rest of the Aes Sedai, and raise Egwene again.
That would work. But I still feel that Egwene wants a completely non-violent end to the conflict. You can definetly see the Mistress of Novices (Can't remember the name) starting to drift over to Egwene's side, simply because she won't give in.
Regardless of whether that worked or not, it would kill a very large number of sisters, and the White Tower cannot afford to lose any more numbers. There is also the possibility that would fail too (however slight), which would definately screw the Tower over. Between the 'negotiations' and the hunt for the Black Ajah and Egwene, I'm thinking a non-violent resolution (heh, atleast for the non-Blacks) of the split can easily be achieved.
Well I hate the Aes Sedai, so I'm not that understanding of their plots. ~;)
I do not think so, since he has said he will make it 3000 pages of that is needed. He says he cannot write to complete books, it will be like splitting a normal book to one part with no real ending, it will just stop.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steppe Merc
wordems - I hope that he will write such a massive story - that the publishers will have to split it
That could cause problems... He seems like wanting to get his way
yeah - but it's impossible to print a 3000 page story
it would have to come in leather-bound edition only... and even that would be pushing it...
I just hope he doesn't shove it all in 700 pages... I'm pretty sure the story would suffer
Heh. Or maybe they'd just release the last book all at the same time, in ~900 page parts. The publishers would sure love that.
I wanted to continue a discussion with Andreas from another thread, but since our discussion wasn't about the Campaign Map and since it contains KoD spoilers I thought this would be a good place to continue.
I agree with you that Seanchan can't field 1 million soldiers. I don't think New_Name was saying that either. I'll have to go back and look, but I think he has the Seanchan at roughly 600,000 soldiers by the end of KoD. That includes all the Seanchan native troops along with all of the conscripts they've had join from Tarabon, Almoth Plain, Amador, and Altara in the past couple years.
I agree with you that 1 million is probably too many soldiers for the Seanchan to have, but I think New_Name's estimate of 600K is about right. How do you feel about 600 K soldiers? (I think the Seanchan have about 250-350 K native soldiers and about 300K enlistees from Randland).
cdaulepp
300K from Seanchan sounds about right. Luthair took 300K with him across the Aryth to conquer Seanchan in the first place and that took about 3000 ships, so the descriptions of the hundreds and hundreds of ships at Ebou Dar (and even more at Tanchico according to Winter's Heart), plus the fact that the Forerunners seemed to have 200-500 ships by themselves in Great Hunt would seem to move into that ball park. I'm guessing the settlers came across seperately but shortly afterwards (although this dovetails into the colossal distance from Randland to Seanchan, which is another subject altogether).
Uhm, 600K could be fair enough... 300K from seanchan at least... I doubt they would be able to produce 300K westland soldiers in an actual fight though:)
I was actually leaning towards the Seanchan having more Randland men than regular men if anything.
Do you remember when Banner General Furyk Karede meets with whatever that one Seanchan guy's name is (in KoD) and Karede figures out Mat is heading for the Malvide Gap. That one general tells Furyk Karede that General Chisen's army is 100 K men and half of them are Seanchan. All of the other Seanchan armies that Mat has been beating up in Altara were 90% local conscripts or higher. All along the road from Ebou Dar to northeastern Altara Mat and company see way more locals who have signed up with the Seanchan than they actually see Seanchan men.
The same is true of Rodel Ituralde's portion of the book. The supply camp he raids has only a few Seanchan. The majority are taraboners and Amadicians that signed up with the Seanchan.
I might be wrong, but I always assumed that by now the Seanchan had at least several hundred thousand local enlistees.
I think you are right in the nubmer of locals soldiers, but i think when Rand and Ituralde will be able to put up a more solid resistance, many will drop off for them. When they were attacked by a couple of hundred soldiers, they stayed with the senachn, but imagine when i force of hundred of thousands will emerge, wanting to free their native lands. I would surely switch side;)
Hmm... keeping on the Seanchan's side and fighting Ashaman or joining Rand and fighting Damane... Not good choices. :san_tongue:
ok i have a few things...first off, Rand loses his hand!?!!? I didnt see that one coming, no sir lol That sucks so much i dont know if he should have included that in the book... another thing which i thought was really cool was how Lan is riding through the borderlands, seriously the part when nynave is talkin to the malkieri then when they all stood up was the best part of the book lol....another thing is i found this interview with RJ
""""" At one point RJ gave a cryptic message to us about Knife of Dreams. RJ Said:"Something that has previously happened in the series is going to be revealed to have a terrible cost." He added, "When you read it your reaction will be, 'Gasp. How horrible!'" """"
Ok maybe i missed it but what could that be about? i really have no idea lol if u have any idea please tell me
The event we all cheered was the cleansing of saidin. The event that was revealed to be the terrible cost was the mass suicide of the Amayar, the people who lived on the islands owned by the Sea Folk. The cleansing caused the female ter'angreal to melt remember? We found out in KoD that the female Choedan Kal had melted as well. The Amayar prophecies told them that this heralded the end of the world... and so they left this mortal coil...
Sad certainly, but seeing as we haven't seen anything of the Amayar before really, it didn't have as much impact with me as Jordan seemed to think it would.
And word @ Rand losing his hand. That was a shocker. I hadn't expected to see him seriously hurt like that... I mean he's had the wounds on his side... but I just always expected those to be healed eventually.
And the rising of the Golden Crane was dope indeed. Nyvanae's sacrafice and deception were the first good things we've seen from her in a long time.
OOOOhhhh yea I didnt even realize with the Amayar...thanx man
I know there were fan speculations that Rand would lose his hand, due to one of Min's fortelling or Egwene's dreams (can't rember which).
Yes, Min had one about a red hot iron and stuff... There was a dream too, the first one might not have been fulfilled yet (it was over elayne, a hand but not hers, a red hot iron and something more).
Heh, almost posted this in the Campaign map thread, but I stopped myself.
Someone talked about the numbers of Seanchan left behind.
How many troops were on the Seanchan land that were left? I mean if the death of the Emperess and her Heirs plunged everything into total devestation...
I would say at least the half of their aremd forces were left their, and with provisory militias that would make between 300K and 500K? Many of them will be dead by now though, IMO...
word - with various nobles trying to sieze power... everything probably fell apart down to the provincial level, so you've got a lot of private armies all clashing for one huge reward, the Crystal Throne... has to be a lot of death
On the note about rand's hand - he's supposed to identify with the character of the Fisher in Ishmael's game - I believe I remember the Fisher lacking a hand and being blind... which bodes badly for Rand's eyes... lol
Well put it simpli now Rand is in contition of a train wreck. He cant properly chanel (partial blindnes and sicknes) he can't use the sword (he got only one hand and basicaly all sword forms rely on two hands).
And yes in Seanchan is happening what happened after AH's death in Randland, war of 100 years.
even worse than the war of 100 years, because at least then, there was powerful nobles in charge of things - so you had basically nations fighting each other... since the whole Imperial Court was wiped out... there's no important people left - that means the fighting is every thug who can gather a few men, grasping for power
and word - Rand is in a horrible postition - all of his power is now reliant on the service of others... his own power is negligable
Holy crap your right...he's gonna have to pull a fast one at the Last Battle lol I hope he does I want to see him go all out and actually be in some sort of shape to do it and not all crapped out like he is now...It's just not fitting for the Dragon Reborn to be like that idk how good of an idea it was to make that all happen to him unless Jordan has something up his sleeve...
Well either Nynaeve or even Semihage (the best healer ever) is going to heal him (I wander what price would Semihage demand, a private sesion with Rand perhaps :D) or he is going on a suicide mission all or nothing in TG.
Well nobiles were viped out, but field comanders arent. Every army now responds for itself. Sul'dam may get upper hand because they got dammaine and more firepower than else.
Well Rand has always thought he would die. And judging by his past interpretations of prophecy, I'm leaning towards that he will survive.
Though it is just a hand... he doesn't need it to channel. I know he has that after afect of Morodin's messing him up, but if he somehow removed that (killing Morodin?) I think he would do a lot better, especially with some sa'angreal.
Problem with healing Rand is not in lack of strenght of healer (they got Nynaeve) but that no body knows how. Maby only Semihage.
What they had not was Damer Flinn, and maybe to reconstruct a hand you would need both male and female healers, and I guess there is no one better at healing then those two, except Semirhage and the Kin woman.
And I also think rand will survive, with only one personality. And that might be an important part of the final battle, to cheat LTT and NOT die, only let him die and not the soul of the dragon.
And I think he can channel with the phantom hand he has now, it is only the image of the motion, not the motion it self that is neede IMO.
I think he'll get his hand back, some way or another. I remember Rand thinking that he could still his fingers bending when he bent them, but his hand wasn't there. I think he'll have some sort of super 'power-wrought' hand or something.
A little OT, but something I just remembered. I'm very glad Tam got back into the story. I was almost afraid that RJ had forgotten about Tam, and he'd never mention him again. Maybe a reunion with Tam and Rand could spark some new strategies and maybe soften Rand up a bit? Eh?
Yes, that about Tam is a idea I have had for some time, a reuniting and a relizing what is important more then saving the world, to save him, if not for himself for the man who took him of a battlefield to keep him alive. And why is that OT? Everything about KOD is alowed here:)