#juin

[kronika-ilustrowana]

[fuckyeahalphonsemucha]

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 37: What Might Be

Everyone has that moment that they've looked back on and wonder, "What if I'd done it differently?" Sometimes we can move on, put what-ifs to rest, but sometimes that question will haunt us for the rest of our lives. Don't let this post be that moment. Don't let future you think to themself, an hour from now, "What if I just hadn't spoiled the whole Wheel of Time series for myself by reading this post? What if I'd enjoyed the books by reading them without spoilers?" Don't click "Keep reading" unless you already know all the spoilers and thus will not forever be wondering.

(And yet... perhaps if you do not choose to spoil yourself, years from now you will look back on this moment and wonder what might have happened if you had.)

This chapter has a Portal Stone icon because we're doing one of the best chapters in the whole damn series.

“We stood it upright,” Alar said, “when we found it many years ago, but we did not move it. It . . . seemed to . . . resist being moved.”

Probably the Stones are all entangled in some sort of higher dimensional quantum process, on one part just to be able to function at all and on another to ensure that no one warps off to an alternate world where it turns out that the Stone was tossed into a volcanic caldera a few years back and thus they instantly die. I wonder if there's wiggle room to allow stuff like Stones falling in one world but not another, or if they're all so tied up that reorienting it in one world caused it to be fixed in all of the others too.

Forgive us for our lack of ceremony in leaving you, but the Wheel waits for no woman.

Since I've given Jordan a bit of guff here and there for enforcing his own gender beliefs on the settings, point here for having Verin use "woman" as the default term. Hashtag HER-story, amirite?

Ingtar’s back stiffened. “I hold back at nothing. Take us to Toman Head or take us to Shayol Ghul. If the Horn of Valere lies at the end, I will follow you.”

Really you might argue that this here was the real moment of redemption for Ingtar and that all the rest is just the formality of seeing it through.

I have never used a Stone; that is why your use is more recent than mine.

"Bitch I'm just covering so no one has to know you're the Dragon Reborn. Do the plot thing already!"

Also I kinda feel that Verin is really stretching the oaths she's pretending to have here.

What would I not give to talk with this girl of yours? Or better, to put my hands on her book. It is generally thought that no copy of Mirrors of the Wheel survived the Breaking whole. Serafelle always tells me there are more books that we believe lost than I could credit waiting to be found.

Honestly, even though rumors are so rarely right in this world, I think popular opinion is correct and none survive. I also find it pretty doubtful that there's that many lost books left to be recovered at this point: three and a half thousand years is a long-ass time, too long for most forms of writing to survive.

Apparently, not every Stone connects to every world, and the Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends believed that there were possible worlds no Stones at all touched.

Among others, any timeline where a Portal Stone was never constructed would by definition remain off of the network. I wonder how they decide what Stones connect to what, though. Was it perhaps based on what ifs related to the nearby areas? What other worlds were missing?

With one finger she outlined a rectangle containing eight carvings that were much alike, a circle and an arrow, but in half the arrow was contained inside the circle, while in the others the point pierced the circle through. The arrows pointed left, right, up and down, and surrounding each circle was a different line of what Rand was sure was script, though in no language he knew, all curving lines that suddenly became jagged hooks, then flowed on again.

I expect that these worlds have extremely non-Euclidean geometries at play, based on how they were used to make the Ways. Likely the arrow has something to do with a physical force, probably gravity.

As my father would have said, it’s time to roll the dice.

Headcanon: Mat is Verin's dad reborn.

“I am Rand al’Thor,” he growled. “I am not the Dragon Reborn. I won’t be a false Dragon.” “You are what you are. Will you choose, or will you stand here until your friend dies?”

As I've said before, the one thing Rand's not allowed to do is stand still: every time he does the pressure only mounts until he has to act. Verin at least offers the kindness of spelling it out for him.

The flame consumed fear and passion and was gone almost before he thought to form it. Gone, leaving only emptiness, and shining saidin, sickening, tantalizing, stomach-turning, seductive. He . . . reached for it . . . and it filled him, made him alive. He did not move a muscle, but he felt as if he were quivering with the rush of the One Power into him.

After all this time, I still can't decide if being a channeler would be really awesome or really awful.

“Father!” Rand screamed. Clawing his belt knife from its sheath, he threw himself over the table to help his father, and screamed again as the first sword ran through his chest.

Though of course the Mirror Worlds take from the Many Worlds Theory, we must remember that they're not actually the same. The Many Worlds Theory is a way of resolving one of the fundamental mysteries of quantum mechanics. When not observed, particles don't have discrete locations but probabilites of being here, there, or even over there. These odds are called a "waveform". When observed, the waveform collapses and the particle is only in one of those places. The thing scientists don't get yet is the mechanic of that collapse nor the reason. Many Worlds Theory says "The collapse is an illusion. All of those possibilities exist somewhere but since we can only exist in one place we can only ever observe one possibility. All worlds continue on, none with more value or reality than any other except in that those who exist in only one must favor where they are."

This is not what the Mirror Worlds are. The Pattern of Ages is a specific framework which dictates one reality (T'A'R) reigns supreme above all the others, and that among these the closest reflection (the Prime Reality) is inherently more valid than the increasingly distorted copies.

In Many Worlds theory, one can discuss the relative probabilties of different timelines. One location for a particle might have had a 2/3rds chance of being the real one while the other two were each only a sixth. Amid the Mirror Worlds, there's no such thing. T'A'R and the Prime reality each have a 100% chance of being true and all other worlds have a 0% chance of happening.

That said, the Wheel does seem to think some Mirror Worlds are more plausible than others, and I think Rand's journey is - at least at first - moving in order of descending plausibility. Him dying immediately when the story began is a very "likely" outcome - to some degree more likely than other potential deaths later in the timeline just because in each of those scenarios Rand had a little more experience to keep him going.

There was a year when neither merchants nor peddlers came, and when they returned the next they brought word that Artur Hawkwing’s armies had come back, or their descendants, at least.

It's bizarrely heartening to think that even the Seanchan invasion will completely miss that the Two Rivers exists.

Also note that this world - where Rand is never found by Fain or Moiraine and never leaves as a result - seems next most likely amid the categories.

Egwene grew frightened when the moods were on him, for strange things sometimes happened when he was at his bleakest—lightning storms she had not heard listening to the wind, wildfires in the forest—but she loved him and cared for him and kept him sane, though some muttered that Rand al’Thor was crazy and dangerous.

I wonder what happened to this Egwene that she accepts the Two Rivers life without complaint while Rand is forever ranting about how life should be. I also do think that the haters should remember that this is the "no inciting incident" default Egwene: a caring person who stays with Rand until the end. The pair grow apart because of outside forces, not because Egwene is fundamentally flawed as a person.

Women came, too, shouldering what weapons they could find, marching alongside the men. Some laughed, saying that they had the strange feeling they had done this before.

This is both nice foreshadowing for how the Two Rivers folk will respond to the real Shadowspawn invasion and another hint of the old blood amid the people. It would not be surprising at all if many of them were truly the last of Manetheren reborn.

Tam tried to console Rand when Egwene took sick and died just a week before their wedding.

The nextmost implausible sort of world: no inciting incident and Rand survives his channeling sickness but Egwene does not. Being a slightly mainer character than she is, it tracks that this is more plausible than a world where he dies young while she stays on track to be Wisdom.

Elayne did not look at him, of course; she married a Tairen prince, though she did not seem happy in it.

I'd be upset too in this position. What a strange world this is, that a gal who should be the first Aes Sedai queen in centuries should end up married to anyone from Tear. What the fuck is going on at the White Tower to lead to this? I would guess that the reason Moiraine didn't find Rand is that Siuan isn't Amyrlin and that whoever is in charge instead has run the place into the ground.

Also, assuming "prince" means "son of a High Lord or Lady", if not "High Lord" directly, I wonder which horrible family Elayne is stuck with.

He knew he was mad, and did not care. A wasting sickness came on him, and he did not care about that, either, and neither did anyone else, for word had come that Artur Hawkwing’s armies had returned to reclaim the land.

1. It seems that this Rand is doomed to never be able to complete his character development without the actual plot happening.

2. What's delayed the Seanchan by years if not a decade? How far back does this timeline's divergence have to be to account for all of this?

Many of the people of Caemlyn had fled already, and many counseled the army to retreat further, but Elayne was Queen, now, and vowed she would not leave Caemlyn. She would not look at his ruined face, scarred by his sickness, but he could not leave her, and so what was left of the Queen’s Guards prepared to defend the Queen while her people ran.

I expect that this was foreshadowing Caemlyn's importance in the Last Battle, an importance that Sanderson didn't fully follow up on. Even in this life, Rand finds himself head of an army by Elayne's side leading a desperate last stand.

I have won again, Lews Therin. Flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker flicker.

There's some great details in the paragraph that precedes this bit, much too much to analyze. It says a great deal about the central nature of Rand to the Pattern that he can have so many bizarre outcomes: I expect no one else in the party had anywhere near so much variety in their lives.

We also get confirmation that Rand is Aiel, which is nice, though it's sad that the closest thing to a reference Aviendha gets in this procession is "women he had never seen before".

Of course, Rand's lovers aren't the important part here. Elayne and Min get mentioned but it is Egwene who receives a similar multi-faceted fate. So often she is a central figure in his life; she can't help but be his opposite even when their lives have gone horribly off-script.

And of course, our iconic line. The Dark One wins again and again, but like I already said: none of these worlds have even a 0.00000000000000000000000000000001 percent chance of happening. None of these victories matter in the slightest.

“Does it surprise you that your life might go differently if you made different choices, or different things happened to you? Though I never thought I—Well. The important thing is, we are here. Though not as we hoped.”

I desperately wish I had the slightest idea what Verin had seen in her procession. Were there worlds where she avoided the Black Ajah altogether, or worlds where she happily threw in with them? Maybe a world where she poisoned Cadsuane, or one where she was in Moiraine's place and threw Lanfear through the twisted red door?

You should not have tried to bring us directly here. I don’t know what went wrong—I don’t suppose I ever will—but from the trees, I would say it is well into late autumn.

Presumably it's the nature of those arrow worlds. I've joked about the Ways being akin to the inside of a black hole and suggested that they had strange geometry and I expect this is proof. They did come instantly but it also took four months by another spacetime's reckoning.

“Rand, I’d never tell anyone about—about you. I wouldn’t betray you. You have to believe that!”

It's true! Mat doesn't do that in this reality and none of the other ones count. But I do think he was tempted at points. Not enough to go through with it (and he had no real opportunity to do so), but still. Now though, that door is permanently closed.

The curly-haired youth dropped his hands from his face with a sigh. Red marks scored his forehead and cheeks where his nails had dug in. His yellow eyes hid his thoughts.

Wolf boy here probably had one hell of a time in the pack. Or perhaps he just got out of that weird timeline where he mistakes Laila for a Trolloc.

Rand backed away when she reached for him. “Don’t be foolish,” she told him. “I don’t want your help,” he said quietly. “Or any Aes Sedai help.” Her lips twitched. “As you wish.”

1. I expect that nearly everyone has now forgotten a good deal of the experience thanks to Verin's help, which ironically helps Rand even though he doesn't want it.

2. Verin must really chafe at the sheer ingratitude of this, considering just how much she's doing for the dumb boy.

3. That's the end of our chapter folks! Next time: Remember Egwene? She still exists!

[fidjiefidjie]

🦞 Červen ( Juin) 🍒

Illustration 🖍🖌 de Josef Lada

Bel après-midi 👋

[federer7]

Poilley (Ille-et-Vilaine) Bretagne, France. Juin, vendredi, 1974

Photo: Madeleine de Sinéty

[alexios-tjoyas-fructuosus]

PHARMAKON pister dans la brousse / parmi la caillasse / ce qui empoisonne / trouver le remède / tracking into the bush/ among the quaint / what poisons / find the cure

[unbulletjournalbanal]

Le calendrier mensuel, toujours sur deux pages. Il me permet de m’organiser en y notant les grands événements à venir. 🗓️

[juinreed]

he's not really judging you, he's just distracted

[yescla]

[plumedepoete]

Juin - Raymond Delattre

Une forte chaleur mais pas torride : Tout baigne dans la bonne humeur. Le jardin resplendit des mille couleurs De fleurs à la mine splendide. - Le feu du ciel accroît les senteurs. Le chien au bruit d'un bourdon s'éveille. De campanule se coiffe l'abeille. Le soleil emplit d'allégresse les coeurs. - Une coccinelle se pose Sur mon bras,... y marche gaiement ! J'ai de la chance, assurément. Le beau temps y prédispose ! - Meurent limaces et escargots : Tant mieux car le basilic pousse ! Je m'assieds sur l'herbe rousse Parmi les fiers coquelicots ! - Ma copine toujours dynamique Sur un hamac à présent somnole Bercée aux trilles d'un rossignol À l'ombre d'un chêne presqu'antique ! - © Raymond Delattre 19/6/2023  

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[kronika-ilustrowana]

Июнь

[barbiemonamie]

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 36: Among the Elders

Let's keep this simple. This post? Spoils all of The Wheel of Time. Literally this specific post references the last pages of the final book. You shouldn't be reading this if you don't already know everything or at least don't care about spoilers.

Oh also there's a gif with an incredibly moderate amount of flashing at the bottom. I don't think it should hurt anyone with conditions but I'm feeling overcautious so this is your heads up.

This chapter is another example of the new trefoil leaf icon because we're still hanging out with the Ogier.

A number of Ogier women were watching him, from white-haired grandmothers to daughters Erith’s age, a knot of them talking among themselves but with all eyes on him. His ears jerked, but he looked at the broad door to which the stone steps led down, and nodded again.

Poor Loial really isn't ready for the Pangossipcon of the Ogier steddings.

The Ogier woman in the middle of the dais sat in a chair raised a little higher than those of the others, three bearded men to her left in long, flaring coats, three women to her right in dresses like her own, embroidered in vines and flowers from neckline to hem.

We can conclude here that while Ogier society is a bit dominated by the ladies (almost nowhere in Jordan's world is perfectly equal), it's still one of the more egalitarian and thus thematically functional places.

“I will find the Horn,” Ingtar said angrily. “I must. If you will not permit us to use the Waygate. . . .” He fell silent as Verin looked at him, but the scowl remained on his face.

What are you going to do, Ingtar? Slaughter them all? That's some redemption.

His face sagged, without any expression at all, and his big eyes were vacant and unblinking, not staring, not looking, not even seeming to see. One of the women gently wiped drool from the corner of his mouth. They took his arms to stop him; his foot went forward, hesitated, then fell back with a thump.

It's a shame brain scanning is a long dead technology because I would LOVE to know what's going on with all this. Perhaps Nynaeve will delve into the Ogier victims someday, though I expect that's probably rather unlikely.

“No mind. No soul. Nothing of Trayal remains but his body.”

So what happened to his soul? Did it just get immediately sent back to T'A'R? Is it still rattling around in Machin Shin? Is this a Hopper-esque true death, or will Trayal manage to be reborn someday?

“We do need him,” Verin broke in smoothly. “Few any longer know the Ways, but Loial has studied them. He can decipher the Guidings.”

Verin once again being the useful team member by giving a reason for Loial's presence. Ingtar is continuing to be a handicap at this point. When wtas the last time he actually did something useful?

“I will,” he told her. It had the feeling of a commitment, the swearing of an oath.

Presumably death gets Rand out of his oaths because dude up and ditches Loial as soon as the weaving of the Pattern is done.

“That’s not true,” Mat said, straightening abruptly. “Marisa Ayellin thinks I’m handsome. She told me so more than once.” “Is Marisa pretty?” Loial asked. “She has a face like a goat,” Perrin said blandly. Mat choked, trying to get his protests out.

It's good that they're bantering again. Gotta say though Perrin, I think your standards for pretty are a bit different than most Two Rivers boys.

Around the edge of the clearing the Ogier had built a low stone coping that seemed as if it had grown there, suggesting a circle of roots. The look of it made Rand uncomfortable. It took him a moment to realize that the roots suggested were those of bramble and briar, burningleaf and itch oak. Not the sort of plants into which anyone would want to stumble.

We should let the nuclear waste storage people know about this method because it seems a lot more effective than the whole "THIS IS NOT A PLACE OF HONOR" bs.

“I have told you,” Verin said, “the Black Wind is a creature of the Ways. It cannot leave them.”

With Rand around, anything is possible Verin. Even bad shit. Hell, especially bad shit.

Verin stood with eyes unfocused in thought. Mat was sitting on the coping with his head in his hands, and Perrin watched him worriedly. Loial seemed relieved that they could not use the Waygate, and ashamed at being relieved.

Raise your hand if you've ever felt the way Loial does.

That said, this affair has definitely gone to shit and I'm not even angry at Ingtar for immediately going back to plan "Smash heads until I get what I want."

“What we need,” Hurin said diffidently, “is one of those Portal Stones.” He looked to Alar, then Verin, and when neither told him to stop, he went on, sounding increasingly confident.

Dude really has low self-esteem for someone who is by all rights an independent contractor. I'm beginning to wonder if Borderlander culture is more messed up than the books let on.

“I can find it,” Rand said reluctantly. He felt ashamed. Mat’s going to die, Darkfriends have the Horn of Valere, Fain will hurt Emond’s Field if you don’t follow him, and you’re afraid to channel the Power. Once to go and once to come back. Twice more won’t drive you mad.

"Yeah I said I was only going to use ultra-heroin at parties, but my buddy's coming over and it would make me a bad host if we didn't hit it up a little."

“The Brown Ajah knows many things,” Verin said dryly, “and I know how the Stones may be used.”

I wonder if this is a Brown Ajah secret, a Black Ajah secret, or in fact just a Verin Mathwin secret. Any answer seems possible.

Next time:

[fidjiefidjie]

🌹"Lady of June"🌹

Peinture 🎨 © Angela Rochelle (R) Sasser

(Série Ladies of the months)

Bel après-midi 👋

[bedifferentdz]

سبحان الله

[bonheurportatif]

Quelques trucs bien en juin

1er juin Courir parmi les escargots Échanger quelques mots avec le labrador du bas de la rue Prendre le temps d'un peu de volley sur la plage avant de coucher la plus jeune 2 juin Boucler une matinée de mails, barbante mais indispensable S'amuser du cadeau reçu par la poste (deux places pour un parc à thèmes où l'on n'ira pas) Rester jouer près d'une heure dans l'eau

3 juin Rouler dans les flaques d'eau à vélo en levant les pieds pour ne pas se tremper Avancer opiniâtrement dans l'abattage des travaux en cours Supporter la jeunesse dans un tremplin rock 4 juin Faire de l'houmous-maison-minute Retrouver Proust par un sentier facile Aller faire quelques passes sur la plage 5 juin Manger ses premiers abricots Retrouver le titre de Goldfrapp à partir du fredonnement approximatif de sa fille Mettre un terme à la carrière d'emmerdeuse de trois mouches, coup sur coup 6 juin Doubler, l'air de rien, deux groupes de coureurs eux-mêmes occupés à se doubler Avancer, toujours aussi opiniâtrement, dans l'abattage des travaux en cours Faire chier les méduses 7 juin Tomber sur deux titres que l'on croyait perdus dans une des bibliothèques de la maison Dévoiler ses "trucs bien" à de nouveaux lecteurs Recevoir plusieurs sollicitations pour des ateliers à l'automne 8 juin Entendre juste après la pluie de la nuit le premier chant d'oiseau Arriver à la station service juste avant que le réservoir ne soit complètement à sec Passer à côté d'un massif odorant de chèvrefeuille 9 juin ... et encore une nouvelle proposition d'ateliers d'écriture Préparer un riz cantonais végétarien Croiser un magnifique spécimen de Johnny Hallyday 10 juin Découvrir le premier titre du prochain album de Dominique A Se faire offrir et croquer des feuilles au goût d'huître Boire sans trop de modération 11 juin Composter son premier billet numérique Décrocher un premier rendez-vous pour visiter un appartement pour son fils Organiser au débotté une soirée d'anniversaire 12 juin Sentir l'odeur du sol chaud après la pluie Trouver la dernière place du parking Savourer l'élimination sèche de certains candidats aux législatives 13 juin Courir vite Écrire vite S'arrêter tôt 14 juin N'avoir que 20 mn pour une réunion et en profiter pour aller à l'essentiel Abattre plus de boulot qu'envisagé Faire un foot avec les enfants sur la plage au coucher du soleil

15 juin Visiter un beau haras, bien caché Contenir la chaleur caniculaire Entr'apercevoir le bout d'une looongue séquence de boulot 16 juin Feuilleter le nouveau Matricule des anges, et cocher déjà trois bouquins lus Voir l'horizon se dégager sur le front du cancer Se voir proposer une nouvelle collaboration sur un projet d'écriture 17 juin Repérer la pointe d'accent belge dans la voix de son interlocutrice Porter un chapeau de paille Lire dans l'après-midi des conseils contre les piqûres de méduse, et les appliquer le soir-même 18 juin S'appliquer à faire un gros plat de taboulé Après quatre jours caniculaires, sortir sous un vent frais Regarder le spectacle des éclairs depuis les fenêtres des étages 19 juin Se réveiller dans une maison fraîche Se faire offrir un cerf-volant Se faire offrir deux cerfs-volants 20 juin Se faire offrir une poche de viennoiseries Abriter la retraite d'une pipistrelle apeurée Dessiner des silhouettes dans le trait de côte des pertuis 21 juin Accepter des ateliers d'écriture de récits prospectifs, ce qui relève déjà de la science-fiction Croquer dans un gros ourson à la guimauve artisanal Assister au premier soleil couchant de l'été 22 juin Rayer enfin le dernier truc à faire de la longue liste de tâches établie en début de mois Se fixer une destination de vacances et commencer à se projeter Se plonger avec un brin de fascination dans l'imposture mégalomane d'une vague connaissance 23 juin Sentir les immortelles le matin, le pétrichor en soirée Écouter sa fille et une copine causer littérature avant leur bac de français Acheter une table de ping-pong 24 juin Courir entre deux averses Céder totalement à la fatigue Participer à l'éveil sportif de sa fille 25 juin Gagner sa course contre la montre de la librairie à l'atelier de sa fille Répondre à un quizz en anglais, et ne pas trop mal s'en tirer Prendre le train un arrêt plus tôt, et découvrir un profil peu familier de sa ville 26 juin Se faire offrir des abricots Croiser des dromadaires Me reconnaître dans l'Autoportrait au radiateur de Christian Bobin

27 juin Faire ses impressions Faire bonne impression Jouer les correcteurs 28 juin Choisir un doudou à offrir Fabriquer les petits bouquins pour les participants des ateliers Trouver un peu de courage et finir son travail de relecture avant le dîner, plutôt que de s'y remettre après 29 juin Travailler efficacement tout en papotant avec une personne qu'on apprécie Recevoir un gentil courrier de lectrice pour un vieux texte Ne pas mettre de réveil pour le lendemain 30 juin Observer l'ombre dansante des fanions sur le bitume Finir une poche de bonbons acidulés super-chimiques Boucler une moitié d'année de trucs bien Ces “Quelques trucs bien” s’inspirent directement des “3 trucs bien” de Fabienne Yvert, publié au Tripode. > Quelques trucs bien en janvier. > Quelques trucs bien en février. > Quelques trucs bien en mars. > Quelques trucs bien en avril. > Quelques trucs bien en mai.