You're Gonna Die Charlie

the thing about the wheel of time is that yes it's 14.5 books long and each book is a brick and sometimes the pacing is kinda wack but if you manage to get through the entire thing and See the Vision of rj's tapestry narrative play out it will drive you crazy and you will never be able to shut up about it ever

Gotta take a moment to appreciate best boy Rand. I love how smart he is when he’s not smart, if that makes sense. When he doesn’t know something, he’ll do whatever it takes to fill up those knowledge gaps. He wants to prepare for the Last Battle but doesn’t know what to do? No problem, he’ll just scour every book he can find on the Karaethon Cycle. He knows he’s destined to destroy the world, so he gets busy with building schools in the realms he rules hoping that important information won’t be lost in the coming chaos. Even when he thinks he knows something, he’ll often second guess himself. He’s taking time out of his busy day to chat with philosophers. He’s funding STEM!! Ogier come to town and he’s immediately like, “bet, they’ll help me find the waygates so I can try and control the flow of shadowspawn”. He’s so proactive even with the most minute details. It’s just so refreshing just how intelligent and well read he is — or tries to be. I think that’s one of the major reasons why the TV adaptation didn’t really do his character justice. Yes, Rand is the quintessential male fantasy protagonist. But he’s much more than a sword or his channeling. He’s a mini prodigy in his own way; I get shocked everytime I remember he’s an actual musician lol. Anyway, he’s literally the character of all time. Rand haters y’all need to get with the program idk

if rand, mat, and perrin have their "[x] is so much better with women than me, I don't know what I'm doing" then nynaeve, elayne, and aviendha have "[x] is so much braver than me, I'm such a coward"

And if I wrote a fanfic of Rodel Ituralde and Davram Bashere kissing…what then

there are so many moments in the wheel of time that I always thought were written to sort of intentionally subvert the readers desire to see karmic justice befall characters who are The Worst, where the idea of justice gets pushed so far that there's no real satisfaction in it, it's just horrifying. what happened to galina and elaida, even the battle of dumai's wells. you spend so long waiting for rand to be freed and for him to get revenge, but when you actually see it it's just sort of sad. like I never got the impression "asha'man, kill" was supposed to be a victory, I thought it was supposed to be sad and disturbing, and a reflection of how far rand has been pushed and broken down and what he's become willing to do. anyway it's been strange interacting with the wider WoT fan base and seeing how many people really do find these moments incredibly satisfying and celebrate how the characters finally got what they deserved. I don't know if I was misinterpreting what I assumed was authorial intent, or if it even really matters one way or another, but it's always been something that throws me off a bit

[one single bloodcurdling agonized scream] ok time to lock in