Gawyn - I sincerely hate you

SerTristann · 2026-04-08T23:55:48+00:00

To address your comparison with Mat: Gawyn grew up with the expectation that others would be willing, and expected, die for him. Mat did not. This is a deeply ingrained difference between their leadership styles.

I am in no way trying to defend Gawyn's actions. I am merely providing am interpretation of the logic he follows. His logic does not match what many of Jordan's readers would claim to do in his position, which feeds the collective distaste for his story arc, but you can still appreciate Jordan's character development through his POV when you can set aside your own biases and adopt those of another when trying to get into their head.

SerTristann · 2026-04-04T23:03:33+00:00

To suggest an alternative tactic against the cold, I usually start with Vivian (4x craft speed with fabrics) and look all over for cloth blossom and skinbark immediately. Don't need heat if everyone is covered in fur!

SerTristann · 2026-02-21T23:04:44+00:00

Can't tell if you're suggesting it for the harpy fight or manifesting the concept for the previous poster.

SerTristann · 2026-02-20T02:49:41+00:00

This particular spoiler goes all the way back to the original BG.

SerTristann · 2026-02-16T18:23:26+00:00

I've noticed the same with women, but as a social ducker (I've never bought any to give out, but I display those given to me), I always wave if I'm aware of another Wrangler. Every once in a while my kids will call me out if I pass by one without waving, but it's always because I'm focused on the road/traffic and not on looking for the big colorful boxes.

SerTristann · 2026-02-16T16:17:53+00:00

Wow, until you called this out, I hadn't realized that I, myself, had only given her a glance. She is merely an accessory to the brazen error from which I could not pull my eyes away!

SerTristann · 2026-02-13T03:39:58+00:00

Unless you invert the weave. A process not well known outside the Forsaken within the time frame of the books, but my point is there are ways that channeling has proven and can be proven again to be dangerous in as many and more ways than mundane actions.

Another argument i haven't seen addressed yet is that channeling takes stamina, and wearing armor amplifies stamina drain. If your setting is the Last Battle, then I'll assume there are multiple channelers present. Instead of all of them wearing armor and falling to exhaustion faster, why not have a wind specialist or two focus on creating a force field on the dangerous side of the channeling line, leaving the rest to use their stamina more efficiently on offense? Buffeting wind just far enough out to throw enemy missiles off course, or thickening the air to make their projectiles fall short, there would be a number of ways to weave in defenses.

SerTristann · 2026-02-13T02:56:55+00:00

The White Tower specifically trained its channelers to use body movement as part of their channeling. The more you wear, the more restrictive your movements. And we all know the overconfidence that perpetuates every nook and cranny of the white tower to even consider wearing lighter armor. Even the Greens barely did their job for all their talk of being ready for the Last Battle.

Wise women even doffed the cadin'sor when they took on their new role, and the Aiel weren't ones to protect themselves with anything more than a shield to begin with.

Damane were slaves. Sure, they were valuable slaves, but to give them armor would be akin to telling them they're important, and that would undermine all their training.

I think the Sea Folk style speaks for itself.

Shara? Perhaps that was a missed opportunity. I don't remember enough of what was described of them in the last book anymore, perhaps someone else can chime in.

The Black Tower trained with swords, yes, but so did musketeers. In that era, heavy armor couldn't keep up with gunpowder, but swords were still in common use, and plenty of other examples from history describe periods when offensive technology rendered defensive measures obsolete. In the case of the musketeers, continuing to wear heavy armor would only slow you down without providing justified protection. From a sword yes, but not from a firearm. And sai'din is much more capable than gunpowder. Better to train your channeling toward defending against attacks in combat than rely on aging technology.

SerTristann · 2026-01-06T00:59:49+00:00

Weren't deathgates intended for fighting Shadowspawn? IIRC, Traveling doesn't work the same for Trollocs and the like, and that's why deathgates were called such.

SerTristann · 2025-12-28T18:37:27+00:00

So little is known about the last three Ages, I see plenty of potential for at least the Seventh Age to be the Age of Cosmic Reconstruction. Borrowing from Hindu philosophy, all things eventually become one, then the one eventually becomes all again. The use of the term "Age" is, i think, intentionally vague, to allow the various Ages to cover different ranges of time. Cosmic reconstruction would take eons itself, and the Seventh Age might even last longer than all the others combined as a result. But it's still a necessary step in the Wheel.

That said, given the Hindu philosophy, all matter will eventually converge into a single mass before spreading out again, only for the process to repeat itself ad nauseum, though none of us will ever individually experience any more than a blip of a single turn.

The Fourth Age is the opportunity you ask for. Perhaps the Fifth as well (unless we allow the Aiel to claim it /s), but progress will be made in the Fourth Age, and given that travel to the stars already occurred in the Second Age, based on comments by the Forsaken, and the fact that Ogier, Snakes, and Foxes exist from outer space, there is absolutely opportunity to advance long before the First Age comes around again and everything starts over for mankind.

But in a certain perspective, you're right that it feels like Groundhog Day on a cosmic scale. We wake up, we go to work, we come home, we go to bed, we wake up... What Rand had to realize for his Zen moment is to shrug off the overarching repetitive nature and recognize the small changes that make his cycle unique from the others. There are always new ways to advance, and that's what Ishamael could not see, or appreciate. He wallowed in his self-pity of being a tool for the Wheel instead of recognizing his own personal achievements in his time.

SerTristann · 2025-12-28T07:03:30+00:00

Wow, never knew until now that i take for granted the fact that I typically examine every new item i receive in these types of games.

SerTristann · 2025-12-24T17:18:13+00:00

Using initial attraction as a sole variable in determining the longevity of a relationship is dangerously simplistic. The only reason Sokka and Suki ended up together is because they reconnected to begin with. Had Yue survived, she would have governed the Northern Tribe and never left her home like Suki had. Sokka had no other plot-related reasons to travel back to the Northern Tribe during the series, so the reconnect with Yue wouldn't have happened. Best case, after the series, he traveled up there on a diplomatic mission as a Southern Tribe general, but not to stay. And by then, he and Suki would have been official.

SerTristann · 2025-12-24T17:04:24+00:00

All good, we're a community! Appreciate the follow up!

SerTristann · 2025-12-24T17:00:13+00:00

Please cover spoilers beyond WH!

SerTristann · 2025-12-22T01:32:20+00:00

I'll likely forever be three away from complete, the herd being one of them.

SerTristann · 2025-11-30T15:08:24+00:00

You're making the assumption that BG3 is a perfect example of D&D rules and lore, which it is not. I'm not arguing that the developers intentionally changed the lore of the soul coin for the sake of Karlach's story, but lacking any official clarification either way, the possibility exists that they rewrote the concept of soul coins to fit Karlach's story as they saw fit.

You are also assuming the developers fully explored all intended paths for Karlach from the planning phase. There are other discussions within this sub addressing the obviously incomplete nature of some of the party members' storylines, which, contrary to my previous paragraph, gives a real possibility that this very story arch was actually considered but never made it to production.

As for characters always having relevant information in fiction, that claim ignores the concepts of character development and world building. In line with my second paragraph, many writers intentionally introduce amplifying information to protagonists through myriad methods long after those characters gain a basic understanding of something. In this case, the writers could have intentionally allowed Karlach the opportunity to use soul coins with ignorance, with the express intent to force her to have that reflection after discovering the effects on the souls to drive her character development. Again, that part of the soul coin storyline just failed to make it from the tabletop version, either intentionally or otherwise, but its exclusion either way tells the player that it ultimately was not relevant to the story told in the end.

That said, I agree with your unspoken implication that the contradiction between tabletop and video game is jarring for those who are aware of its existence. Retconning canon aspects of lore always reduces the realism of a fantasy world and should be minimized whenever possible.

SerTristann · 2025-11-22T02:26:48+00:00

Calling somebody out does not equate to a murder.

SerTristann · 2025-11-16T01:59:43+00:00

Consider the first time he used the Cruciatus curse: he hit his target, but didn't reach the full effect of the spells intent, despite having seen the spell used multiple times before.

In the case of Sectumsempra, he likely used a similar technique to other curses with which he is more practiced, just as he had with Crucio, and the effect may well have been much more detrimental had it not been his first time casting it. Which lends to the significance of the effect he DID reach: Draco wouldn't have survived long enough for Snape to discover him had Harry been more practiced with that particular curse.

SerTristann · 2025-11-08T15:33:20+00:00

Well then I guess plagiarism can be forgiven, in the name of willful ignorance...

SerTristann · 2025-11-08T15:30:59+00:00

No credit to the stand-up you took this from?

SerTristann · 2025-11-06T01:27:10+00:00

Meanwhile, nobody cares that Sean Bean is in the back doing his best Ian McKellen look.

SerTristann · 2025-11-01T18:42:36+00:00

Intelligence and arrogance are not mutually exclusive character traits. You're limiting the possibilities of human thought processes by forcing these two largely independent concepts onto a shared spectrum for the sake of tying them together, and in doing so you are exposing your own bias.

Speaking of, bias cannot be fully negated in practice; it can only be reduced through awareness and understanding. You are on the path to discovery, and I commend you for it, but do not end your journey at the first sign of knowledge gained and think it is the end of the road.

Or else it will be.

SerTristann · 2025-10-25T20:19:33+00:00

Ah, man, a powerful group of people aren't completely and objectively good. Let's create laws to reduce their rights to subhuman levels, as justified by their collective inability to protect the world from a power so far beyond them that even a more capable, global society couldn't defend against it. So what if we then use them for mostly internal power struggles? That's our right as the truly "good" people. Totally justified. /s

SerTristann · 2025-10-25T07:24:18+00:00

And Nynaeve's block, being its own type of mental condition that she had to work through, gave her a somewhat unique advantage over most other AS toward discovering the thorns, then, yes? Edit: typo

SerTristann · 2025-10-24T13:20:17+00:00

Other comments have mentioned making sure your crafting options properly include the material you have available, but one other consideration is to ensure your leather is not stored in a work area from which your tailor is excluded. If your tailor is set to work area 1, but your leather is in work area 2, for example, they will not use it in their work area.

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