Topic: WoT to be finished by Brandon Sanderson

[Archelous]

Moridin is Ishamael, but probably more messed up then he was posing as Ba'alzamon. The DO resurrected him after Rand killed him with callandor, and since that he goes around using the dark ones power (maybe he did that as Ba'alzamon too?).

EDIT: Woops, someone already answered. Well...

Actually, Moridin seems a lot more like the Prologue Ishy than the Ba'alzi we all know and... um, want to kill RJ over. He actually acts intelligent. Mind, it's more the author's doing - or rather, redoing - than the character's, but any improvement over the idiocy that is Ba'alzi's attempt to fight Rand with a big staff is something.

I could be wrong, but I think the main difference between Ba'ali and Moridin is that Ishamael is no longer in a body where his mind and body has been ravaged by thousands of years of use of the True Power. Moridin allows Ishamael to return to a measure of sanity. I mean if you can take one persons insane brain and it's chemical imbalances and replace it with one that is balanced it would return that person to sanity.

The staff fight in the skies has always been one of my favorite moments. Althought I must admit for a channeler of Ishamael's power it doesn't make a lot of sense. Chock it up to Ba'ali insanity. Afterall he did think he was the Dark One made flesh.

Well, as in EotW and I suppose even TDR, Bal'za didn't want to really harm Rand (Or as he thought, Lews Therin), which makes me reason out his use of a stave, though as when Rand confronts Be'lal, even he references to when in the AoL, they brought back the use of swords for dueling purposes, so the use of a staff and not a sword by Bal'za is a little odd to me, because I'd think Ishamael would be proficient in the sword if Lews Therin was.

But back to my original point, Ba'ali's intent before the battle in the Stone was to turn Rand by using fear, though he said he would have him Dead, he always put emphasis on wanting him to turn alive, and I would suppose in his fractured mind, that meant any type of weapon that couldn't kill would be preferable.

[Genia]

Oh, please! The issue isn't whether Ba'alzi should be using a sharp-edged or a dull-edged weapon. The way I understand it, you can kill a person just as neatly with a stave anyway - see Mat in tDR. The point is that Ish's a philosopher; a cross between Neitszche and Heidegger. Do you see Neitszche pick up a stick and go at his enemies' head with it? What happened to his ability - mentioned in the Guide - o incite a crowd into pitch-fervour, and create a mass conversion out of an army march? Where is the mind manipulator? He tried at the beginning, and it worked! Rand's mistrust of Aes Sedai and his messing up every trust issue he had throughout the next 11 books can be attributed to Ba'alzi's hand. Imagine what would ahve become of Rand if he had kept at it. I bet we would see a lot more in the way of converts to the Shadow out of Rand's gang of helpers.

[G-Man]

Oh, please! The issue isn't whether Ba'alzi should be using a sharp-edged or a dull-edged weapon. The way I understand it, you can kill a person just as neatly with a stave anyway - see Mat in tDR. The point is that Ish's a philosopher; a cross between Neitszche and Heidegger. Do you see Neitszche pick up a stick and go at his enemies' head with it? What happened to his ability - mentioned in the Guide - o incite a crowd into pitch-fervour, and create a mass conversion out of an army march? Where is the mind manipulator? He tried at the beginning, and it worked! Rand's mistrust of Aes Sedai and his messing up every trust issue he had throughout the next 11 books can be attributed to Ba'alzi's hand. Imagine what would have become of Rand if he had kept at it. I bet we would see a lot more in the way of converts to the Shadow out of Rand's gang of helpers.

Agreed.

Unfortunately for Ishy, Asmodean taught Rand to shield his dreams. (Ishy worked pretty hard btw, he kept up giving Rand psychologically traumatic dreams day in/day out for the first three books). Nevertheless, I wouldn't put it past him to masterminded all the forsaken schemes to destroy Rand psychologically. The biggest one probably being Mesaana's plot to kidnap Rand, stick him in a box and physically abuse him (indirectly through the aes sedai).

There is good reason for his strategy though. The dragon isn't easy to kill. He is ta'veren and the pattern buffers him in a lot of ways. We see throughout the series that he faces overwhelming odds time and time again and always is victorious, especially near the start of the WOT series.

Do you recall morridin's game of shar'ah?
The Creator is a very good player, any attempts at a bloodied assault on his most prized minion will be thwarted with ease (and don't forget that Rand has Mat on his side. And the Ashaman (dpepending on how far Taim and Demandred's grip on them are))

So how can the Shadow defeat him?
The way i see it, there 3 options left.
a)psychologically break him so that he is mentally unfit to fight Tarmon Gaidin and hence loses.
b)as above, except he doesn't lose Tarmon Gaidin, but because of his mental state he is unable to devise a way of winning it without essentially giving the next age over to the shadow (a bit like the strike at shayol ghul only worse)
c)turn him over to the shadow. This is by far the darkest fate and the worst that could happen. Even if the creator ceases Rand's ta'veren nature, he wont be able to find another pawn to take his place before the dark one kills the great serpent and the wheel.

At any rate i suspect the creator likes the idea of free will and ta'veren are just a test of morality for his creations. Ta'veren can change the world. for better or for worse. the choice is up to them. they can save the world or destroy it.