Sharing Speculation and Requesting Clarification (spoilers for books 2, 3 and 4)

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I just listened to the first book, The Eye of the World, on audio. There were 25 discs and each disc took an hour. An HOUR! It took forever! Two months to be exact! I had to renew the audio book at the library so I could finish it. However, I truly enjoyed hearing the book spoken, as I had read the first book (only) a few years before, and it came to life before my eyes on this second 'read-through.'

After that, I for some reason own The Great Hunt in paperback. (I think I accidentally stole it from Naomi Sedai--oops!) And started on that book right away. While I lamented not hearing the story read to me--despite the strange pronunciation and how all the evil men all sounded like Pee-wee Herman--I was also glad to be able to read at my own pace. (Which was very fast!) Namely, I wanted to share with someone--anyone!--that I think that the second book is so amazingly more well-written than the first. I recognize that Jordan was fumbling along a bit, writing the first book in the series, but I am shocked and amazed at how far his capability to write leaped forward in the second book! Does anyone else feel this way or am I just biased? Either way, I look forward to reading the third book, (curse you, library, for being closed on Columbus Day and then forcing me to use the inter-library loan because you don't have the book! Curse youuuu!) If The Dragon Reborn is as good as The Great Hunt, I will enjoy it thoroughly! If it's even better, and Jordan's writing capability increased just as much as it did between the first and second--I will die (of happiness)!

I also had a question (that may be later answered in the books). If it's not, perhaps others will speculate with me.
How did Rand's and the Dark One's battle get broadcast over cities throughout the area? I mean, awesometawesome and all! I love that it happened and what it means for Rand, but was that magic from the horn? Did Ba'alzamon do it on purpose, assuming he would win? Or was it some effect of the undead aura reflecting off the Source circulating through the energies of so many different threads of the pattern (i.e. bs)?

Another question (that may be later answered in the books):
Who was Bors? You know, the Dark Friend in the opening of the second book?

Yay for speculation, questions, and sharing about the books!
 

Morrighan Daghdera

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I have no idea about your first question, but the second one is definitely RAFO. ;) I do hope you thoroughly enjoy The Dragon Reborn & move onto The Shadow Rising quickly. The 4th book is probably my favorite. I'm looking forward to your insights. :hug
 
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:embarassed:
So we never know how Rand's battle with the Dark One got broadcast?
That's silly. :giggle

I just wanted to make sure that
the identity of Bors was not revealed in The Great Hunt, and I somehow missed it.
I was gobbling the second one up in huge gulps, and I wouldn't put it past me to miss something like that when I was reading so quickly. The second book was, in my opinion, so much better-written than the first! Did you have that experience too? Or am I just crazy?

I look forward the The Shadow Rising, if you say it's the best one, Morrighan!
 
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I'm with Morrighan Sedai on this one. TSR is my favorite as well.
 
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I think Robert Jordan had more of an overall epic story planned out, and the scope of the story took away from some of the more specific points in the first book. Later on books, he refined certain concepts (like specifically how magic works).

Like others have said, your first question never gets answered. "Bors" appears in the Great Hunt, but his identity doesn't become apparent until later on books. Part of the fun of these books is trying to figure stuff out before it gets revealed kinda like a mystery novel. If you reread the section with "Bors" in it, you might find enough clues about him to make a theory about his identity before you get to the point where it becomes obvious.

While the first question is never actually explained in full, not in the books or in any author interview that I've heard, I think I know the answer to it.

This is my theory. I will give you a snippit of it without referring to future books. At the end of the Great Hunt, the Pattern required the Dragon to show himself to the world. Rand was placed in a situation where he battled "Baalzamon" in the skies above Falme. It wasn't some special kind of magic used by either Rand or "Baalzamon". It was the will of the Creator, and part of the Pattern that they appear above the battle. The purpose was two-fold. First, the Pattern required that the world know that the Dragon had been reborn; and Second, Rand had to be put into a situation where the only solution to his problem (saving Egwene and his friends) was to sacrifice himself. He had to choose to use the one specific sword style move that Lan cautioned him was good for balance, but should never be used in a real fight because by using it, you could strike home, but would end up "sheathing the sword" in your own flesh. Would Rand be willing to sacrifice himself for the woman he used to love, and still cared for? That was the question.
 
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Actually, I've got a bit of a theory on how they were shown above the city as well.

My thought is it's directly related to the Horn. It seems to be a sort of Ter'angreal, and in using it not only brings back dead heroes, but also creates a foggy area where they come from T'A'R into the real world, and takes whoever the two Champions are (light and dark) and lifts them with Air to give them a floor of Air. Then, uses a mirror of mists type thing to project that battle to the surrounding areas. It seems very specific, but for such a unique ancient item I can see it being that specific in purpose.
 
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It was a Wheel Level Event.

Relevant quotes for the first question

Interview: Jan 23rd, 2003
COT Signing Report - Zeynep Dilli (Paraphrased)
Question

Were Rand and Ishamael physically in the sky at Falme?
Robert Jordan

No, but they could be seen there, like a mirage. They could be seen in other places as well [other false Dragons' falls].
Interview: Sep 4th, 2005
DragonCon Report - Matt Hatch (Verbatim)
Question

At the end of The Great Hunt when Rand and Ishamael were fighting in the air above Falme, they appeared in the sky over many places and my question is whether this is something done by the One Power or something done by the Creator? How did they appear in the sky?
Robert Jordan

An effect of the Wheel, really. It wasn't the Creator. The Wheel is more than a simple mechanism. Remember the Wheel can spit out ta'veren, can spit out Heroes as a self-correcting device because the Pattern is drifting from what it is supposed to be. We are not talking about something as simple as a spinning wheel at all, we are talking something more along the lines of the most complex computer you could possibly imagine. There were at that time, two, there were false Dragons that had a chance to create a lot of disruption. By the appearance in the sky at that battle, not just in Falme but in other places, those false Dragons were taken off the board because there was only room now for one, for one Dragon.
 
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I like it ... that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for those quotes Axis Gaidin.
 
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Interesting. All of the theories seem really fun.

According to the quotes, it seems that according to canon, the Wheel is the cause. I will try to keep in mind that the Wheel could use the horn as a Ter-angreal too. In effect, being the cause and the means, Wheel and horn respectively. Jordan didn't seem to elaborate on that in the interview. What do you think?

(I love figuring out all these things! :giggle So much fun!)
 
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It starts so heavily in Perrin's point of view. :( Don't get me wrong, Perrin rocks, but it's hard to break away from Rand's point of view. I've been following him for so long. :tug
 

Avelina Ermen

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I really enjoyed the increase in characters whose PoV we get to read as the series progressed. Although, as I read everything on an e-reader, sometimes the big spaces in between paragraphs indication a character shift were not always noticeable. That really bothered me, as I often got confused, thinking there was a shift mid-paragraph.
 
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BTW The TarValon Times has started publishing a series of first-time readers responses to the books. There will be one response per book. The first is posted here and was written by yours truly. :embarassed:

This is a random thing I was thinking about, but while in the shower the other day, I was thinking how
sad it made me when Hopper died. I actually had tears leaking.

It's funny how strongly the story can effect me! (blast that heroic sacrifice that always gets me.)
 
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Hopper has always been the biggest emotional hook in the whole series for me.
 

Eliza Al'Shaw

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Just read your TVT article on EotW, it was really good! I was only 13 when I first read EotW and when I recently re-read it I was surprised how different I felt about the characters and robert Jordan's writing, I agree with what you said about the detail he uses, although I find this helps me visualise the works in away I don't get with other books, when its in the middle of an exciting section of the book it drives me mad!! I often scan through then go back over it later.
 
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Haha I felt the same way. :p At least as I'm reading the next books, though, I feel like it gets better. For example, I thought The Great Hunt was much better with its balance between pacing and action. (That article hasn't been published in the TVT yet though!) Did you find that to be the case as you read the rest of the series?
 

Eliza Al'Shaw

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Yes, I like books 1-5, can't remember much of 6 but i know i really struggled with 9 so I'm intrested to see what your thoughts are when you get there!!
 
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Book 9 is "Winter's Heart." I wonder if that one will be difficult for me like it was for you. I also found out that Book 1, The Eye of the World, was one of the most highly rated books on The Ranting Dragon, a fantasy book review sight suggested to me by Stephan, the editor-in-chief of the Tarvalon Times. I felt kind-of bad about this because I really didn't think the book was that good. It read like a first-time published author's work, and for all I know, Jordan was a first time author when he wrote it. I'm not sure. I do know that The Great Hunt was much better, imho. Oh! My second article comes out in just a few days on TVT. Yay review on The Great Hunt! :clap I hope people read it. :embarassed:
 
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