Read: Why I was a day late getting this post up.
For those who don’t know, The Wheel of Time is a series of novels, written by Robert Jordan (and Brandon Sanderson in the case of the last 2 or 3 books, when Jordon passed away). The VERY last book in the series, A Memory of Light, was released in January, and I finished reading it tonight.
It also has what is a probably record: a190 page long chapter. Which I spent between 5 and 7 hourslast night reading.
So, that what I was doing this weekend. But because hey I’m only about a 5th of the way into this space, lets talk Wheel of Time. I’m not going to spoil anything from the last book because I personally know at LEAST 2 people who will be reading it and this but have not yet done so, but the series as a whole is 15 years long and I may spoil stuff from earlier books. You have been warned.
Okay, so, basically, WoT (Wheel of Time) puts the epic in epic fantasy. It starts off at first rather derivative of LotR (what doesn’t) but quietly delves into its own world (exhaustively) extensive world. I’m not going to try to summarize it because doing so accurately would require an order of magnitude more space then I have here, but I urge anyone interested to look it up.
What I am going to talk about is the character who is arguably my favourite in the book; Mat flaming Cauthon.
Mat is a general. Mat is supernaturally lucky maniac. Mat is a hero in denial. Mat is all that and more, but most of all, Mat is flaming hilarious. This is a man with a victim complex dwarfed only by his desire to save the people who would sooner laugh at his misfortunes. A very snarky man who’s absolutely encouragible in his complete disregard for authority (including his own, once he becomes flaming royalty) and who easily has the best dialog of any character in the series.
Of course, he wasn’t always my favourite. I distinctly remember disliking him when they started. Before his heroism (and snark) was properly manifested and when he actually deserved the endless pestering and scrutiny that people would lay and his feet. Indeed, the fact that he came away from that stuff, but that those around him stubbornly (stupidly) refused to acknowledge it, it part of the character’s charm I think.
Basically, what I’m saying is that in addition to having the best dialog, his character development is second only to that of the other 2 main characters, and unlike them, he doesn’t go through a dark brooding phase in the middle books that bores me to tears.
In summary: Mat is basically the best character by every metric in a great series full of great characters. Dude is the best sort. And that is why I was a day late this week. come back next week at the usual time when I actual post at the usual time!