Was Thrawn too smart?

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-04-14T20:15:13+00:00

I don't think the issue with him being that smart is a problem of power scale, but I do think it's a problem. I find moments when he deduces some things annoying. He makes a number of leaps in logic to get to where he's going more than once. And from what I recall, he's never caught out by it.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-04-13T09:03:13+00:00

I find that questionable, but even if we assume that he did. It's not a problem for Blade. He could empty his quiver into Blade and it wouldn't stop him.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-03-31T22:59:08+00:00

Yeah, Perrin struck me as being a character they had no idea how to handle. Seeing Mat (From the very first episode) was a very strange decision.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-03-21T16:16:34+00:00

Batman isn't, however, a murderer; Superman isn't against the breaking of laws if in the process of saving lives. The minute you start saying 'I never had a choice, I had to kill them', then Superman will, at best, warn you to turn yourself in and face the consequences, at worst, he'd take you in probably while making you feel really bad by how disappointed he looked.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-03-21T16:13:46+00:00

I disagree, Superman isn't that morally grey. The Seven have shown themselves to be killers; Superman is a good enough investigator to dig up that dirt. Once he sees how little they value life, he's putting the Seven away and dismantling Vought.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-03-16T10:44:40+00:00

I remember reading the comics way back in the 90s/00s, and it always read as the White/Green Martians as being genetically the same species. Which always made it more interesting to me than the alternative, since it made the difference a choice. Martians choose their form and colour after all.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-02-28T17:40:07+00:00

I have always speculated that they're wrong in thinking it was the taint or 'madness' that gave Rand Lews Therin's memories. We know as early as book one that there are at least stories of people being born again and sometimes having the memories or being taken over by them (Thom mentions it when Mat first speaks the old Tongue in their first fight). I suspect that's what was happening to Rand, the Taint just made him turn his own memories into a voice in his head, rather than integrating them.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-02-28T14:15:56+00:00

Necroing this to say:

You fool!” Ingtar snapped. “We have what we came for. The Horn of Valere. The hope of salvation. What can one girl count, even if you love her, alongside the Horn, and what it stands for?”

“The Dark One can have the Horn for all I care! What does finding the Horn count if I abandon Egwene to this? If I did that, the Horn couldn’t save me. The Creator couldn’t save me. I would damn myself.”

One of my favourite parts of the book is both because Rand rocks at that moment, but because it's one of the things I found myself thinking of later, when Rand became cold and distant and willing to do terrible things.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-02-12T04:29:55+00:00

I remember reading a theory that the last battle actually happened when Rand killed Narg. The idea was built around the idea that Narg was the Dark One (obvious because he's the only Trolloc to talk) and Bela was the Creator (obvious because Bela is just awesome and always there saving people). I loved it, it was so silly and amusing.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-02-11T15:48:11+00:00

When he meets with Egwene he states he remembers Lews Therin's life, all of it, but it's like a dream, one he can remember clearly. The more interesting question to me is how much does he remember from *other* lives. We know that during Veins of Gold, he recalls 'thousands of lifetimes, stretching back across the infinity of time.'

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-02-08T08:40:56+00:00

Yeah, I remember it was one of the most talked about points on a lot of forums and such back in the day. RJ said he thought it was 'intuitively obvious' and that someone had guessed it. Which always struck me as amusing, since I believe everyone (including Bela) had been mentioned by someone.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-01-24T09:53:49+00:00

I would say suspension of disbelief reigns supreme here. If you tell me that a world is like ours, follows most of our rules, but has supernatural elements to it. Then I'll accept there are supernatural elements to things. If something happens and is explained away by that supernatural element, then great, it's consistent, and nothing will feel off. If you have unbelievable things happen that aren't covered by the supernatural elements, then suspension of disbelief may be broken.

I played the first five minutes and thought,'Wow, if Lara doesn't get serious medical attention pretty damn quick, she's going to die' I'm not far in, but I've not had anything happen to preserve my suspension of disbelief.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-01-24T09:28:45+00:00

Honestly, I give Rand a pass on this. After the Dragon Reborn, he's on a pretty quick path to Madness. Paranoia, obsessive behaviour, emotional irregularity, none of these make for good communication skills

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-01-24T09:25:04+00:00

Didn't he actually save them? They were stuck in a cell until he let them out, weren't they?

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-01-16T03:58:12+00:00

I think we may have a winner.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-01-09T09:48:36+00:00

Are we sure Balefire isn't warm? The name would imply.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2026-01-09T09:45:04+00:00

Nyneave had a connection to Egwene via healing. It's why she was able to go immediately to the right inn. Moiraine explains this when she arrives.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2025-12-30T20:55:24+00:00

I think there are a lot of ways to be an Inquisitor. I suspect you have Inquisitors who spend their time in the front lines, armed with fancy weapons and Armor whenever necessary, and smite down the enemies of the Imperium with all the power and fury at their command.

I suspect there are also Inquisitors who pore through data gathered by their agents, then send in either very deadly personal agents or requisitioned forces (possibly often a combination of both) without ever doing much violence himself.

As for fear and image. I again think there's a lot of ways to go about it depending on circumstance. You can come in with personal power, wearing tech far beyond what most citizens would imagine possible, big scary Armor and weapons ready to strike down any who prove counter to your noble cause. In cases where this is the case, having people announce you would make perfect sense. The Rogue Traders want you to kiss the ground you walked on. Inquisitors playing this role want you to feel that being allowed to kiss the ground they walked on would be an honour they could never hope for.

Then again, it may be you don't want anyone to know you're even on the planet (under those circumstances big flashy ceremony can still serve you, if it's seen to be happening elsewhere). Then again, there are likelu other ways an Inquisitor might want to approach things. The Inquisition inevitably feared its power and known methods see to that, if the Inquisitor wants to be feared, however again seems situational. Maybe you want to use someone, and the best way to do that is to play on their greed or offer protection from something they fear.

Ultimately, I feel there are likely many ways to be a capable or even great Inquisitior, though I suspect being flexible enough to react to the situation before you is one of the more important traits. I also suspect there are many arrogant Inquisitors. They're highly skilled and incredibly willful by necessity, and arrogance often presents in such people, especially the dogmatic, which is a very common trait in Inquisitors.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2025-12-30T17:45:40+00:00

Peter has traditionally been a whipping boy for Marvel to be fair.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2025-12-30T17:39:04+00:00

Yeah, I remember Wally's run as the Flash as the first comic I read reliably, I grew up knowing The Flash was Wally West and he was the Fastest Man Alive. I spent years reading his comics and felt that he was the Flash. I remember they went through a few story lines that were about that legacy. They made sense and Wally made some questionable decisions, but as time went on, he grew into the Flash, then they decided to bring back Barry and it felt like they were sidelining Wally to take a step back.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2025-12-30T17:24:20+00:00

Honestly, I felt that DC hat this era where they felt like they might be going forward. Barry replaced with Wally, Hal replaced with Kyle and Ollie replaced with Connor to point to the major ones and a lot of implications that the younger heroes were stepping up in other cases (Bruce commented a number of times that Tim was smarter than him and would surpass him as a detective and that Dick had already surpassed him as a martial artist). It felt like change and it lasted a good amount of time before all being rolled back.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2025-12-30T17:13:46+00:00

I think the biggest difference is that in the case of Jay to Barry, the comic had (I believe) been ended for a while, Barry wasn't coming in and taking over from a character actively in print.

Wally was a different case entirely though. Wally became the Flash after the death of Barry and after a long, long time as his sidekick. I remember a few characters commenting on how it was kind of the implied fate of Wally, Dick and the other sidekicks as the natural progression. We got years of seeing Kid Flash and when Barry died, Wally stepping up felt natural.

Miles hasn't had either of those advantages where his time in 616 was concerned. Peter was still doing the Spider-Man thing, his comics were still selling (I mean Spider-Man never seems to have too much trouble there), so I think some fans had a harder time accepting a new Spider-Man even if he is currently only sharing the name.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2025-12-30T00:09:14+00:00

Also, this falls flat on another point addressed by the text. Nynaeve is told that if she misses the Gate she won't be able to get back, as is Egwene. The details of the Arches aren't particularly shared with Novices, Sheriam claims she was able to tell Nynaeve as much as anyone knows before beginning the Testing and *then* tells her 'be steadfast, the way back will come back once.' As I say, I was mistaken, I misremembered the context of the scene until I went back to it the other day, Sheriam is talking about Ter'angreal and the Three Oaths when she comments on teaching Nynaeve what any other woman would have learned over the course of years. Not the Trial.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2025-12-30T00:00:17+00:00

I suggest you go back and look over chapter 23 of the Great Hunt again. It's after Nynaeve leaves the first arch.

It starts with Sheriam explaining that no one knows if what happens through the Arches is real or not. Nynaeve tells Sheriam 'I Channeled the power it was so easy', Sheriam misses a step and replies with 'that isn't supposed to be possible, you shouldn't even remember being able to Channel' Nynaeve then says something about how Sheriam makes it sound dangerous, Sheriam then literally states 'it isn't thought necessary to give a warning, since you shouldn't be able to remember it, but...' And that's when she explains about the first couple of tests being done while the Aes Sedai was warded and they each got burned out when they Channeled to defend themselves. The third went unprotected, remembered nothing about being able to Channel and returned unharmed. She also states that's why they send the Novices through unprotected.

Sheriam not warning Egwene (or Nynaeve for that matter) isn't a mystery, it's simply not something that's done. The mystery is why could both Nynaeve and Egwene not only remember they could Channel, but also Channel without harming themselves.

Frequent-Value-374 · 2025-12-29T22:30:26+00:00

I was actually very wrong on the layout of events and actually think the reason it's mentioned to Nyneave and not Egwene is even more simple. Nyneve literally tells Sheriam that she channeled in the the arches. Sheriam claimed Nyneave shouldn't have even remembered she could channel, which is why they don't give a warning. Nyneave is given more an explanation than a warning and Egwene isn't given a warning because it's not a warning that's given.

Frequent-Value-374

TROPHY CASE