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Callandor, Balefire, and Two More Foresaken Down (for now)
Posted by jameson (ST),
05 December 2011
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And it's done. As usual for these books hundreds of pages of build up exploded in scarcely under a hundred pages as characters came together, battle was joined, and the light triumphed once more.
Callandor, better than a letter opener by far
Rand made his way into the Stone by scaling the outer walls and ninjaing into the Heart of the Stone. Once there Bel'al confronted him and goaded him repeatedly about how he was not himself, how they had once been friends, and mostly how he wanted Rand to grab Callandor (since only the Dragon could claim it from its protective force field thingy). Bel'al turned out to be a blademaster, and one of skill far exceeding Surak (from TGH) or Rand himself.
Balefire, a magnet on the hard drive of time
Despite everything he could do Rand was not in a winning way finally on the verge of being defeated by Bel'al. Enter Moiraine who quickly (and very nearly anti-climatically) defeated Bel'al with a single bolt of Balefire. We still have yet to get any discussion of what it does to the pattern in the books; lucky we've read ahead and know that its pretty badass, erasing the threads of the target's life backwards in time, and killing them dead enough that even the Dark One cannot save them. Count Bal'al as one Forsaken we will not being seeing again, in any way.
Oh yeah, Mat was there too
The lucky hero stumbled on his quarry when he brought Thom to get his cold looked at. Turns out he was a little late and Nyneave, Egwene, and Elayne (henceforth NEE) were already captured by Liandrin and the Black Ajah and trapped in the Stone. Not that an impregnable fortress would stop Mat from saving the damsels. Mat simply made some minor alterations to his big bundle ofexplosives fireworks and proceeded to blow a whole in the side of the Stone. After that rescuing NEE was a "simple" matter of getting Juilin Sandar (replacing Hurin as Mat's sidekick for the time being 
) to show him to the cells. Along the way he once again demonstrated his mad skills with a long stick, and his mad luck.
Dream a little dream ...
Granted NEE had managed to get themselves mostly free by the time he got there. Egwene had gone into Tel'ahran'riod (TAR) and done some pruning of the BA by way of Dream channeling to cut the women off from the power and keep them bound in spot.
She wasn't the only one busy in the world of dreams. Perrin found himself there as his only means of saving Faile's life. One can only assume that when you have the whole "reluctant love at first sight" thing going on, it takes a life or death moment to push you over the edge. Perrin dove head first into a dream trap left by the BA and made his way through TAR to save Faile with Hopper's help. He very nearly killed himself by being in the dream "too much", which probably means a coma that his body couldn't sustain without his spirit.
Loial, almost a badass ...
Almost. Maybe next time. Perrin asks Loial to guard his body while he rescues Faile from TAR and the Ogier replies with a slightly scary hint that maybe the gentle giant isn't always so gentle.
... and then Ba'alzamon showed up ...
... and got spanked down hard by Rand. They two fought in dream world and real world, with both the power and their weapons, but in the end Rand with Callandor was simply too much for the leader of the Forsaken, and reputedly the second most powerful male channeler in all of history. Callandor cut the man's link to the Dark off as easily as a knife through hot butter and then Rand ended his miserable life with a stroke of the crystal sword that aint. After the fact it is revealed that Ba'alzamon was not the Dark One himself, but Ishamael, who had been Lews Therin's rival during the Age of Legends. Still, they accounted themselves well off, for he was dead and Rand was now proven the Dragon Reborn.
Callandor, better than a letter opener by far
Rand made his way into the Stone by scaling the outer walls and ninjaing into the Heart of the Stone. Once there Bel'al confronted him and goaded him repeatedly about how he was not himself, how they had once been friends, and mostly how he wanted Rand to grab Callandor (since only the Dragon could claim it from its protective force field thingy). Bel'al turned out to be a blademaster, and one of skill far exceeding Surak (from TGH) or Rand himself.
Balefire, a magnet on the hard drive of time
Despite everything he could do Rand was not in a winning way finally on the verge of being defeated by Bel'al. Enter Moiraine who quickly (and very nearly anti-climatically) defeated Bel'al with a single bolt of Balefire. We still have yet to get any discussion of what it does to the pattern in the books; lucky we've read ahead and know that its pretty badass, erasing the threads of the target's life backwards in time, and killing them dead enough that even the Dark One cannot save them. Count Bal'al as one Forsaken we will not being seeing again, in any way.
Oh yeah, Mat was there too
The lucky hero stumbled on his quarry when he brought Thom to get his cold looked at. Turns out he was a little late and Nyneave, Egwene, and Elayne (henceforth NEE) were already captured by Liandrin and the Black Ajah and trapped in the Stone. Not that an impregnable fortress would stop Mat from saving the damsels. Mat simply made some minor alterations to his big bundle of
) to show him to the cells. Along the way he once again demonstrated his mad skills with a long stick, and his mad luck. Dream a little dream ...
Granted NEE had managed to get themselves mostly free by the time he got there. Egwene had gone into Tel'ahran'riod (TAR) and done some pruning of the BA by way of Dream channeling to cut the women off from the power and keep them bound in spot.
She wasn't the only one busy in the world of dreams. Perrin found himself there as his only means of saving Faile's life. One can only assume that when you have the whole "reluctant love at first sight" thing going on, it takes a life or death moment to push you over the edge. Perrin dove head first into a dream trap left by the BA and made his way through TAR to save Faile with Hopper's help. He very nearly killed himself by being in the dream "too much", which probably means a coma that his body couldn't sustain without his spirit.
Loial, almost a badass ...
Almost. Maybe next time. Perrin asks Loial to guard his body while he rescues Faile from TAR and the Ogier replies with a slightly scary hint that maybe the gentle giant isn't always so gentle.
Quote
"Loial, I am going to try to help Faile. But I will be helples myself while I do.l Will you guard my back?"
Loial raised those huge hands that held books so carefully, and his thick fingers curled as if to crush stone. "None will pass me while I live, Perrin. Not Myrddraal or the Dark One himself." he said it like a simple statement of fact.
Loial raised those huge hands that held books so carefully, and his thick fingers curled as if to crush stone. "None will pass me while I live, Perrin. Not Myrddraal or the Dark One himself." he said it like a simple statement of fact.
... and then Ba'alzamon showed up ...
... and got spanked down hard by Rand. They two fought in dream world and real world, with both the power and their weapons, but in the end Rand with Callandor was simply too much for the leader of the Forsaken, and reputedly the second most powerful male channeler in all of history. Callandor cut the man's link to the Dark off as easily as a knife through hot butter and then Rand ended his miserable life with a stroke of the crystal sword that aint. After the fact it is revealed that Ba'alzamon was not the Dark One himself, but Ishamael, who had been Lews Therin's rival during the Age of Legends. Still, they accounted themselves well off, for he was dead and Rand was now proven the Dragon Reborn.
Quote
He was in it too much from the Hedgehog trap, which he voluntarily put himself in to go after Faile who had sprung it on accident, instead of the intended target of Moraine/Lan.