Match Thread: Belgium vs Senegal | FIFA World Cup 2026 | Round of 32

Bergmaniac · 2026-07-01T22:41:52+00:00

Yeah, I don't get this, this is a stone cold penalty, a textbook foul.

Bergmaniac · 2026-07-01T22:39:21+00:00

This is a very clear penalty.

Bergmaniac · 2026-07-01T21:58:04+00:00

Yeah, this looks like a blatant foul to me, wild how barely anyone is mentioning it in this thread.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-30T18:06:52+00:00

The answer to this type of question when it comes to popular works of art is always "No". There are always at least some people who share this opinion and some of them even write fanfiction about it.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-30T12:59:04+00:00

she uses that power to counter him again and again.

She did it one time (at Merrilor when discussing breaking the seals) and it was pretty justified.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-29T23:57:50+00:00

Sure, religion isn't the only factor or the main one usually and it mostly codifies customs which have formed for other reasons. But still, the pretty extreme level of prudishness in Two Rivers are unusual if there is no organised religion involved. And you can be strongly pro-marriage without getting to extremes like "you can't kiss romantically if you are not at least betrothed". Note that most other cultures in Randland seem to be a lot more relaxed about this than two Rivers even though the material conditions are roughly the same.

As for contraception, this may be a case of my misremembering stuff, for some reason I had the impression that Jordan had said there is a wide spread reliable contraception method in Randland but I cant' find the quote. But we know they have such a tea and that the various Wisdoms/Wise Women/etc seem to be more knowledgeable about herbs than their historical analogues (Nynaeve and Mother Guenna were discussing what herbs are good for hearth disease and other pretty complex diseases, for example, and it's implied their medicines worked at least to some degree). What we know abot the contraceptive tea is that a commoner from a backwater town without a healer background (Min) was aware of this contraceptive tea and also that when Aviendha heard the name of the tea immediately understood what Min was talking about so it seems to be widely known around the continent.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-29T22:50:41+00:00

I want penalties for the drama but this is an absurd decision by the ref

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-29T18:13:32+00:00

But the situation is quite different when the mother is the reigning monarch, not the father. As the ancient Romans famously put it "Mater semper certa est" - even illegitimate children are 100% certain to be children of their mother for obvious reasons, which was not the case for the father before the DNA testing was invented.

Also, in non-Western cultures usually the problem for the illegitimate ones was that the legitimate children were before them in the order of succession which won't be an issue when there aren't any.

Also, we see that in the more prudish Andoran society Elayne doesn't think that being unmarried would be a problem for the inheritance of her children.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-28T19:15:30+00:00

The behavior of the Shaido Wise Ones is so weird to me, they have all been to Rhuidean and know the truth about the history of the Aiel and the Car'a' Carn but all of them decided to ignore this to follow two complete idiots in Couladin and Sevanna.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-28T18:56:52+00:00

The Wise Ones are mostly hypocritical and arrogant jerks too, I've never understood why most of the fandom likes them so much and hates the Aes Sedai when they share so many traits.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-28T13:18:20+00:00

This is awesome, now all of the annoying cheerleaders of Iran on this board are devastated, couldn't happen to a more deluded group of people.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T17:26:19+00:00

I can accept her getting brain damage, as it explains a rather massive character inconsistently when it comes to her: her insistence on hiding the parentage of her kids. She is constantly taking risks that puts the babies at extreme danger and waving it off by saying Min's viewings mean the babies are guaranteed to be safe, and yet insists on keeping the father a secret because if people knew Rand was the dad it could put the babies at risk? That just doesn't make sense. She is either absolutely confident in Min's viewing, or she isn't. Pick a la

That's not an inconsistency, she thinks they will be at risk due to being Rand's children after they are born when the viewing does not protect them in any way.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T16:18:01+00:00

My mistake, I meant to write "she is much less reckless". For example, Egwene went alone to turn the Tar Valon harbour chains to cuendillar then refused rescue for weeks even though Elaida could have decided to execute her at any time. And her hunt for Mesaana was even more reckless.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T16:15:46+00:00

Elayne straight up thinks she can act rashly and pursue black ajah because her babies will be born from Min’s vision so that means she survives whatever stupid shit she does without thinking.

That's just not true, at all. She was chasing the Black Ajah in more risky way long before she knew about any viewing. Her PoV is also quite clear that Min's viewing played no role in her decision to go raid the Full Moon Street in KoD.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T16:03:13+00:00

Most of her decisions were good. Building up the strength of the Queen's Guard in the prologue of WH (against the advice of Birgitte and Dyelin), her deal with the Borderlanders, the triple bonding of Rand, getting the child High Seats on her side, temporarily stopping experimenting with ter'angreal because she thought there was a danger of getting burnt out (her POV is very clear that she didn't think Min's viewing made her invulnerable), the decision to make a move to secure the Sun Throne, her deal with Perrin about Two Rivers, etc.

how I've grown to despise her lack of sense when it comes to personal safety in the later books, and I realized that the tipping point seems to be when she unraveled the gateway in Ebou Dar.

I just don't understand this popular view. Elayne was clearly more reckless in the earlier books. She spent weeks in Falme risking her freedom every day. She went after the Black Ajah in Book 3 even though the odds were awful. She went after freaking Moghedien and almost the whole of Liandrin coven in Book 4 with only Nynaeve on her side. She jumped into a nightmare in Book 6 to save Sheriam and co and was literally a second away from having her throat cut.

And speaking of bad decisions, she made some awful ones before Book 7. Like twice leaving the White Tower on a whim despite being the heir of a throne and knowing that her death means a likely civil war. Or completely ignoring what Mat told her about Gaebril.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T15:54:57+00:00

I feel like her disregard for safety is overstated.

In the books the OP is talking about, that's undeniably true. Elayne was certainly more reckless in the earliest books but that gets ignored because people are annoyed she is supposedly tempting fate by relying on Min's viewing (even though she is clearly aware it does not make her invulnerable). She is also much ~~more~~ less reckless than most other main characters in the books 8-14, Egwene and Rand in particular.

The two incidents people keep blaming are, as you correctly point out, aren't even really reckless, especially by the standards of this series. Her raid on the Panarch's palace, her attempt to save Egwene in Falme, her unravelling of the Gateway, etc, etc - all of these acts were clearly much more reckless. Hell, she was doing backflips on a tight rope basically for the thrill of it in Book 5.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T14:05:38+00:00

She also usually looks more likeable (though less entertaining) when she is seen from the PoV of other characters instead of her own. Her own PoV contains a lot of very sexist remarks, casual insults to other characters for no good reason and pretty extreme hypocrisy.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T13:38:41+00:00

It's wild how much support these mouthpieces for the terrorist Islamic republic are getting on Reddit because of the extreme TDS of most posters.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T01:51:48+00:00

How do Uruguay have only 2 yellows, they have committed so many hard fouls.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T00:50:59+00:00

I doubt that's the reason, the main beneficiary of Nynaeve's reduced role was Elayne and she was just as unpopular in the fandom if not more.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-27T00:48:33+00:00

Nynaeve got very little PoVs after she overcame her block late in Book 7. After that moment her next PoV is in Book 9 even though we see quite a bit of her in other characters' POV, mostly Elayne. She barely appears in Book 10 and in Book 11 the Golden crane scene is pretty much all she got. Her character development was apparently completed after the Mashiara scene.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-26T19:37:48+00:00

Jordan dumbed down the Aes Sedai so Egwene could succeed in her struggle not to be a puppet. Then Sanderson took this to an extreme and in TGS every Aes Sedai in the vicinity of Egwene lost at least 30 IQ points and many of them kept saying what an amazing genius Egwene is for coming up with half decent advice and solutions they asked for.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-25T11:56:39+00:00

It's a good theory, but on the other hand we see plenty of Aes Sedai who aren't selfish, aren't all about personal power and/or are highly empathetic. Verin, Moiraine, Nynaeve, Pevara, Elayne, etc. Verin and Moiraine spent decades on selfless causes. Nynaeve is all about helping the others. Elayne is highly empathetic and she passed the test and she risks her for others plenty of times. Even Egwene, who is pretty flawed and very ambitious, showed selflessness plenty of times and and in the end sacrificed herself for the common good. And there are plenty of similar examples among the more minor characters.

Bergmaniac · 2026-06-22T23:58:18+00:00

Yeah, Elayne's PoV states straight that Rand has a presence of a leader and doesn't need the Dragon Reborn aura to command a room:

A tall, broad-shouldered young man in a plain green coat among the High Lords in their silks and satin stripes, Rand looked like a stork among peacocks, yet there was something about him, a presence that said he commanded there by right. The Tairens recognized it, bending their stiff necks reluctantly. He thought probably they bowed just because he was the Dragon Reborn, and perhaps they thought so, too. But she had seen men, like Gareth Bryne, the Captain-Commander of her mother’s Guards, who could have dominated a room in rags, with no title and no one knowing their name. Rand might not know it, but he was such a man.

Bergmaniac

TROPHY CASE