The Merrow Beast

they/he | aroace | hozier enjoyer | water creature | writer | wretched and divine

[aromerrowace]

I have no one to talk to about this because I’m the only person I know who has finished this series so

‼️ A MEMORY OF LIGHT SPOILERS ‼️

(Aka me griping about Sanderson’s writing style and some of his choices, as well as the epilogue)

You have been warned

-

-

-

Brando Sando is a pretty good writer overall, but no one is perfect and that includes him. I also understand some of these were Robert Jordan’s choices for the series, but while I appreciate him greatly for writing this series, I don’t believe he’s above criticism either.

1. Sanderson writing gripes

Okay so. This is easily the weakest of the Sanderson books to me. He started very strong with Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight was also good but not AS good, and then Memory of Light wasn’t strong either. Sanderson has an awful telling problem in these books where, instead of showing the character’s emotions, he’ll have another character tell them how they’re feeling, and it drove me insane. There was one instance where Silviana comes into Egwene’s office, and instead of writing something like:

Silviana stormed in upon receiving Egwene’s permission to enter, her face a thunderhead. “Oh dear, what is it?” asked Egwene

Sanderson essentially wrote the following (which I’m paraphrasing because I read the whole series on audiobooks borrowed from Libby):

Silviana entered the room. “You look angry, Silviana,” said Egwene. “What is it?”

It’s a really amateurish way of trying to show through other characters how Silviana feels, but it’s still telling rather than showing, because Egwene quite literally tells the readers (though indirectly) how Silviana feels instead of showing it (which Jordan was quite good at, though he sometimes was too subtle with it and important point of the scene could be obscured through just how many details there were).

There’s multiple instances of side characters explaining things to narrators that work alright (such as Balwer admitting to Perrin that he’s a spymaster and why he enjoys it) but it can come off as obligatory info dumps, especially when Sanderson has Rand explain to Elayne that he is the Dragon Reborn and the Light shines through him and therefore his presence undoes the Dark One’s touch, which is why Rand can fix Elayne’s spoiled tea just by holding it. Which she undoubtably knows by now considering it’s the final book of the series. I found it disrespectful to Elayne’s intelligence.

This is not a problem Sanderson has in Tress of the Emerald Sea, so clearly he has improved since then, but it still drove me insane. I actually had a friend who would do the inefficient telling hack too, and I found it lazy, and then I learned where he got it from and got more frustrated. Glad he’s broken the habit

OH and “tempest”. He used the word in three consecutive sentences one time. It was ridiculous. We all have our crutch words but it takes a while to notice someone who overuses filler words like “just” or “that” vs a less common word such as “tempest.” His editors need to rein him in

2. Siuan and Bryne’s deaths

Siuan and Bryne as a pair was already a bad idea, seeing as their “romantic chemistry” is basically just them arguing all the time. I would have preferred a Lan and Moiraine Warder and Aes-Sedai thing where they hold great respect for each other but aren’t romantic, but alas we were stuck with what we got. I would have preferred they got forcibly separated from each other rather than being stupid and separating because Min failed to say “you two have to be together ALWAYS AND FOREVER or else you’ll both die” instead of implying it was a one time thing. It just felt needlessly stupid for them to die that way.

It would have been much better if one of them was forced away from the other by enemy fire, an accident with a gateway, etc etc, but no they just misunderstood Min’s viewing. If characters have to be stupid to fulfill something about the plot, it’s proof that the plot isn’t very good in that respect.

3. Egwene’s death

If you’ve seen my post talking about the ships in this series, you’ll see that I don’t care for Egwene and Gawyn at ALL. Their romantic build up was crumbs (much like a lot of this series’s romance lol) and he spends most of their relationship getting in her way and pissing her off. His death was frustrating because he had not learned a single lesson from Egwene’s frustrating at him getting himself into big trouble for her sake.

I think having anyone else who’s more important than him (like Siuan maybe!) dying and setting Egwene off badly enough that she went out in a blaze of glory would have been more fitting AND I would have cared more. It’s mentioned in her final pov that “Aes-Sedai she loved were being killed around her” but none of them were named. Which Aes-Sedai? Gawyn just felt frustratingly inconsequential for his death to be the thing that pushed her over the edge. It would have felt more fitting for someone she’d worked beside from the beginning or early on to be the cause of her final moments of power.

4. Androl

I enjoyed him but he’s quite a blatant Mary Sue. As pointed out by other people online, he robs Logaine of his role in the Black Tower plot, breaks the gateway size limit, etc etc. He also has the blatant fingerprints of Sanderson all over him in that Sanderson loves to stick his arm up his character’s asses and make them play with the magic system even when it feels mildly out of character (ahem Tress. Based on Tress’s character, I don’t believe she would be interested in the spores outside of necessity to find Charlie, but Sanderson wanted her to be, so he made it happen. But that’s another thing for another day)

Androl also wasn’t as he was described in Winter’s Heart (ten years younger than he’s implied to be with a ring that indicates he’s a noble) which means Sanderson forgot basic continuity.

Despite all that, I did like him and Pevara’s story. I just think it’s worth mentioning how blatant of an oc he is and how it’s warped the plot. Even before it was confirmed to me (through other posts on the same subject) that Sanderson was allowed to do whatever he wanted with one character, I could tell Androl was either Sanderson’s creation or Sanderson was taking great liberties with him

5. The body swap

Although technically Rand and Moridin’s body swap and Rand running off to be a regular person fits thematically (with Rand letting people live their lives without him) I found it a little straining on my suspension of disbelief in how things work in this world AND unrealistic that Rand would completely abandon everyone who loves him for the sake of exploring as a regular person.

ESPECIALLY considering Tam had to watch his son’s body burn and Rand was RIGHT THERE to see that. Tam is part of the reason Rand didn’t go fully insane in Gathering Storm because Rand had to sit and think about how far gone he must be if he was willing to attack his own father.

Since Rand has some sort of undisclosed pattern-warping ability, I’m surprised he didn’t use it to do something else. I’m surprised there wasn’t some sort of memory warp thing that happened where Rand ended up just being a regular person (no tattoos, channeling, or old injuries) and everyone knew the Dragon had died, but had forgotten Rand was the Dragon.

If Rand’s happy ending was to be a mostly regular person, it would have been perfect if all the Dragon aspects of him had died after the final battle and he was reverted to a normal person in the end and only him and his girlfriends remembered what really happened. Everyone else is somehow unable to connect Rand and the Dragon as the same person but not questioning it at all, knowing Rand did his part in the Last Battle and not much else, and not questioning it.

But then again, I’m quite displeased with the concept of him taking Moridin’s body and letting his own died because… Because. I don’t know, it just makes me sad that he can’t keep anything at all from his own life (which technically fits the themes but it feels weirdly hollow)

Obligatory: this post is my opinion and you’re allowed to disagree

[aromerrowace]

It’s been almost four years since I read it but I still smile when I think of that scene in Great Hunt when Rand was trying to dramatically Strike Out On His Own and Egwene caught him and, to keep him from doing it, screamed and tackled him to the floor and they spent a good portion of that scene with her sitting on top of him and scolding him while he lay face down on the floor in utter bamboozlement

[redstonedust]

one of my least favorite tropes is when a character has a crush that is explicitely unrequited and hopeless, yet in the timeskip epilogue they inexplicably get married. like bro if you fruitlessly pine after someone and they show no interest for the whole 3 year run of the story and then suddenly change their mind. i think theyre settling for you. quite frankly both of you need to learn some self respect. get divorced immediately.

[atsu-kinnie]

Doomed siblings have me on a chokehold in a way no trope can ever achieve. Something so gut wrenchingly beautiful about two kids going through unimaginable trauma and coming out damaged forever. I always eat it up. Maybe they stay together and find solace only in each other, used and kicked out by society! Maybe they end up on opposite sides of the war! Maybe they end up betraying one another! Maybe one of them dies haunting the narrative forever! Maybe one of them destroys the world for the other! So many endless tragic possibilities!

[redstonedust]

hate how step trackers try to tell me how many calories im burning like im not HERE for that!!! im going on walks to gain enough leg strength to kick my enemies to death!! stop telling me about my calories!!!

[homoquartz]

i’ve warmed up significantly towards the concept of small talk ever since i learned that its sole purpose is to make friendly noises.

as long as you smile and nod, people are satisfied. it’s just to show that you are nice and there with good intentions. we’re small in a big world and have to rely on other people to be decent to us. so we do our little human dance to each other to say, “i’m not here to hurt you. here’s something we have in common, like the weather or sports or itchy sweaters, so we both know we’re on the same team. we both agree on a basic fact, like that it is rainy or that being itchy is uncomfortable, and this proves we can get along. i’m being light-hearted and non-threatening right now.”

small talk isn’t to get to know a person. it’s just a greeting to affirm you’re buddies in the universe.

i am motivated by wanting the other person to know i am friendly, so i have gotten pretty decent at small talk when i used to hate it.

[piratedgender]

[themisally]

[wheelofmeta]

The Androl Problem

So! Something I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while.

Androl original appeared in Winter’s Heart with a few lines, reporting to Logain. Toveine had a point of view where she looks at him, thinking about for all he’s wearing a signet ring (traditionally something on nobles do) he looks more like he’s an apprentice who shaved off his mustache. It’s during a scene where the men loyal to Logain are reporting to him on things. That’s the only time we see him before Towers of Midnight. And easy enough moment to miss.

Excluding that moment he’d been named, everything else was a creation of Sanderson’s. 

So, you may be staring at me. Then what’s the problem?

The problem is Sanderson quite literally gave Androl too much to do. 

Androl was the result (in part) of Sanderson wanting to do something with a character who actually was, for lack of better term, a true teleporter. Someone who actually took full advantage of how to use Traveling. So Sanderson took a canon Asha’man (Androl) who’d had limited screen time and could serve as a blank slate for his writing purposes. Which is exactly what he did. 

Okay, neat, great. Honestly gotta agree a character like that needed to exist because wow. Was Traveling underutilized when it came down to it. Taking advantage of named character who had limited affect on the previous storyline to do that made sense. 

The thing with Androl is that in many ways Sanderson used him to fill in basically any hanging plot threads that Jordan hadn’t given to a previous character. So things like the fight for the Black Tower, he used Androl to lead that. He used Androl to save the Andoran forces. He used Androl to get the seals. He used Androl to do the double bond shit with Pevera.

Androl, Androl, Androl. 

Androl, a character who basically had no previous affect on the plotline now has an absolutely massive one. And we know, per Sanderson’s own words, that Androl and everything he does is his own creation, though he is filling in the blanks for certain plot threads that remained from Jordan’s writing, such as the Black Tower stuff. So yeah, Sanderson deciding to use what’s basically his OC to fill some of that makes sense. 

What’s aggravating is how much that then meant Androl overshadowed previously introduced Asha’man, such as Narishma. It’s heavily hinted early on that Narishma is going to be important in the future (he’s fucking mentioned in the Prophesies of the Dragon), but during the Last Battle we see him maybe twice, and he doesn’t do anything distinct beyond heal Lan post his fight with Demandred. On the other hand, Androl seems to have his hand in everything *but* the fighting at Shayol Ghul. Yes, that’s an exaggeration, but not as bit of one as it really should be.

Seriously. I understand the desire to have your OC do things, but you can’t over do it.

The other thing is, that in Androl’s ‘backstory’, Sanderson also had him have too many adventures. Seriously though, it seemed every time he and Pevera spoke, he brought up a different thing he did and none of them where anywhere near each other. She does too, but she’s also a hundred plus year old Aes Sedai, so she’s had the time to do a lot of shit. The issue there is, per Toveine’s point of view in Winters Heart, Androl should be only in his twenties. Based on her mental description of him (looking like he could be an apprentice), it means he looked young. Almost every apprentice who appears on page is implied to be under thirty. But if you don’t remember Androl’s original appearance, based on all the things he tells Pevera it would be fair to think he was closer to his late thirties, early forties. And men generally start channeling on the later side of things, so he shouldn’t even be slowing that soon (I think Androl may even have been specified as not starting to channel on his own but needing to be taugh, in contrast to Logain or Taim).

On top of that was a pretty common issue of Sanderson’s; namely, his habit of dropping and adding random character aspects (hello the fact apparently Mat can’t fucking write a letter that isn’t full of grammar and spelling errors, even though we’ve seen him write on-page before and it was just fine; obviously this is a major pet peeve of mine). Like, a really interesting thing he could have done with the original bits? Explain why Androl was wearing a signet ring, especially with the explanation that apparently he was a leatherworker. Was he pretending to be a noble? Was he actually a noble? Who the hell knows because Sanderson never followed up on that detail. 

I would have much preferred it if Sanderson had actually allowed the previous appearing Asha’man to play more major roles during the Last Battle rather than over using Androl (and he was overused). Narishima, again, should have played a bigger role. We never get an explanation for the ‘he will follow after’ stuff; is that supposed to hint he’d eventually lead the Asha’man after Logaine? Again, who knows since Sanderson never wrote anything about that.

(And before someone asks, at some point I will be doing meta about Sanderson’s penchant for dropping character traits/apparently forgetting certain plot threads. Like it wouldn’t be so aggravating for me if I didn’t like Mat so much and found Sanderson to just not be very good at writing him.)

[wheelofmeta]

The Androl Problem

So! Something I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while.

Androl original appeared in Winter’s Heart with a few lines, reporting to Logain. Toveine had a point of view where she looks at him, thinking about for all he’s wearing a signet ring (traditionally something on nobles do) he looks more like he’s an apprentice who shaved off his mustache. It’s during a scene where the men loyal to Logain are reporting to him on things. That’s the only time we see him before Towers of Midnight. And easy enough moment to miss.

Excluding that moment he’d been named, everything else was a creation of Sanderson’s. 

So, you may be staring at me. Then what’s the problem?

The problem is Sanderson quite literally gave Androl too much to do. 

Androl was the result (in part) of Sanderson wanting to do something with a character who actually was, for lack of better term, a true teleporter. Someone who actually took full advantage of how to use Traveling. So Sanderson took a canon Asha’man (Androl) who’d had limited screen time and could serve as a blank slate for his writing purposes. Which is exactly what he did. 

Okay, neat, great. Honestly gotta agree a character like that needed to exist because wow. Was Traveling underutilized when it came down to it. Taking advantage of named character who had limited affect on the previous storyline to do that made sense. 

The thing with Androl is that in many ways Sanderson used him to fill in basically any hanging plot threads that Jordan hadn’t given to a previous character. So things like the fight for the Black Tower, he used Androl to lead that. He used Androl to save the Andoran forces. He used Androl to get the seals. He used Androl to do the double bond shit with Pevera.

Androl, Androl, Androl. 

Androl, a character who basically had no previous affect on the plotline now has an absolutely massive one. And we know, per Sanderson’s own words, that Androl and everything he does is his own creation, though he is filling in the blanks for certain plot threads that remained from Jordan’s writing, such as the Black Tower stuff. So yeah, Sanderson deciding to use what’s basically his OC to fill some of that makes sense. 

What’s aggravating is how much that then meant Androl overshadowed previously introduced Asha’man, such as Narishma. It’s heavily hinted early on that Narishma is going to be important in the future (he’s fucking mentioned in the Prophesies of the Dragon), but during the Last Battle we see him maybe twice, and he doesn’t do anything distinct beyond heal Lan post his fight with Demandred. On the other hand, Androl seems to have his hand in everything *but* the fighting at Shayol Ghul. Yes, that’s an exaggeration, but not as bit of one as it really should be.

Seriously. I understand the desire to have your OC do things, but you can’t over do it.

The other thing is, that in Androl’s ‘backstory’, Sanderson also had him have too many adventures. Seriously though, it seemed every time he and Pevera spoke, he brought up a different thing he did and none of them where anywhere near each other. She does too, but she’s also a hundred plus year old Aes Sedai, so she’s had the time to do a lot of shit. The issue there is, per Toveine’s point of view in Winters Heart, Androl should be only in his twenties. Based on her mental description of him (looking like he could be an apprentice), it means he looked young. Almost every apprentice who appears on page is implied to be under thirty. But if you don’t remember Androl’s original appearance, based on all the things he tells Pevera it would be fair to think he was closer to his late thirties, early forties. And men generally start channeling on the later side of things, so he shouldn’t even be slowing that soon (I think Androl may even have been specified as not starting to channel on his own but needing to be taugh, in contrast to Logain or Taim).

On top of that was a pretty common issue of Sanderson’s; namely, his habit of dropping and adding random character aspects (hello the fact apparently Mat can’t fucking write a letter that isn’t full of grammar and spelling errors, even though we’ve seen him write on-page before and it was just fine; obviously this is a major pet peeve of mine). Like, a really interesting thing he could have done with the original bits? Explain why Androl was wearing a signet ring, especially with the explanation that apparently he was a leatherworker. Was he pretending to be a noble? Was he actually a noble? Who the hell knows because Sanderson never followed up on that detail. 

I would have much preferred it if Sanderson had actually allowed the previous appearing Asha’man to play more major roles during the Last Battle rather than over using Androl (and he was overused). Narishima, again, should have played a bigger role. We never get an explanation for the ‘he will follow after’ stuff; is that supposed to hint he’d eventually lead the Asha’man after Logaine? Again, who knows since Sanderson never wrote anything about that.

(And before someone asks, at some point I will be doing meta about Sanderson’s penchant for dropping character traits/apparently forgetting certain plot threads. Like it wouldn’t be so aggravating for me if I didn’t like Mat so much and found Sanderson to just not be very good at writing him.)

[scallioncreamcheesebagel]

she thinks she's drinks

[aromerrowace]

Aroace gripe of mine: people assuming I enjoy something because someone involved is good looking. I told my dad about Project Hail Mary and while talking about how good it was, he went “also because Ryan Gosling is dreamy right” and I was like “ummm sure anyway he does a good job portraying this awesome pathetic loser who has to save humanity” like yeah he’s objectively good looking but I was thinking much more about his outfits and his acting skills than his face

Not that enjoying something just because there’s a pretty person in it isn’t valid, but that’s not what I’m talking about when I tell you how good the effects and music and coloring and lighting is and how hopeful the story is despite everything and how awesome the Rocky puppet is. And it’s weird that people assume that’s a primary motivating factor

[plaguedocboi]

Wait why is youtube now putting an ai button on videos that’s like “tell me what this video is about”??? Do they think we’re too stupid to watch video now?

[plaguedocboi]

Like is the pitch at this point really that we should be relying on ai to do our jobs, make our art, make our music, do our homework, do our chores, research for us, write our papers and emails and texts, summarize all our books and videos and movies into a single sentence, strap a chatbot to your physical body so it can tell you how to respond to people in real life, replace therapy and friends and partners, think for us, do for us, exist for us, and this is being sold as “convenience”? Wow ai saves me so much time! It’s so nice to have something that can live for me so I have more time to *checks notes scribbled on hand* uhh. Sit and stare blankly at a wall? I think that’s all that’s left really

[thedoormann]

[ganymedeshouse]

Sharing this text from my mom bc i like it

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

still annoyed my mom threw out my wisdom teeth. you don't just RECYCLE SOMEONE'S TEETH, MOTHER

[rueval]

My sister got our cousin’s baby teeth (both graduated from college at this point) for Christmas and they were perturbed to say the least

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

always, this website beckons me back with its siren song

[wubrh]

@biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist well, since you asked so nicely :)

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

the post that keeps on giving

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

can't decide if the notes on this post are a goldmine or a minefield

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

im being held hostage

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

[scarecrowbutch]

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

love it when my fellow they/thems refer to themselves with gendered language specifically to make situations gayer and/or funnier.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

i knew an enby who got married and they both referred to each other as "my wife." until the other spouse transitioned, at which point they became husbands.

the cherry on top? introducting each other to new acquaintances as "my ex-wife and current husband"

[aromerrowace]

Absolutely incredible work being done here

[otherwindow]

Mermaid witnessing a werewolf transformation by the beach and believes all humans are like that. Pirate: ahoy Mermaid: awooo? Pirate: a what

[otherwindow]

Pirate: [digging up treasure] Mermaid: no… bad boy… bad… no diggy hole… [sprays water] Pirate: what the fuck Parrot: what the fuck

[thespectacularspider-girl]

She thinks the parrot is just a transformed human too.

[red-queen-on-the-heathen-throne]

Love how the mermaid, whose home is presumably underwater, knows absolutely nothing about humans but does know about The Spray Bottle.

[otherwindow]

#can you imagine seeing a mermaid on a rock and she just fucking#throws her head back in a perfectly wolven howl#in the middle of the fucking ocean

[tlirsgender]

Getting too into gender theory and feminism and such feels like cosmic horror. Like I know too much and now I'm going insane babbling to people who have no idea what I'm talking about. I saw through the Gender and it broke something in me psychologically. Everything is misogyny and nothing is real except the material consequences of misogyny. I gotta get out of here (gender) but my personal choices don't really matter because other people will continue Gendering me

[tlirsgender]

As far as I can tell women are real but the signifiers of Femininity are culturally constructed. Men only exist in opposition to women. I'm not opposed to women so I'm excluded from Men. I'm only a woman when men are talking to me. You can tell gender isn't a choice though because I never could have Not been nonbinary