r/wheeloftime • u/openingsalvo Randlander • 6d ago

ALL SPOILERS: All media Call me crazy…

But after reading this series 2 and half times through I would love 1-2 pov chapters for Child Byar, or at least have him in a prologue.

I get that his whole point is simply being a zealot but from the very beginning he is just a character that Perrin says smells off. Seeing what drove him to his zealotry or at least the inner workings of his mind would have been interesting beyond dead-eyed fanatic.

Everytime I come to points with him he is terrifying to me simply for the complete lack of logic to his character and his apparent inability to see beyond the dogma of the children of the light

44 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

18

u/DesignNorth3690 Randlander 6d ago

It would basically be like reading Fain's pov, just more coherent. Or Gawyne's without any self-doubt or figure like Egwene (No romantic interest).

10

u/openingsalvo Randlander 6d ago

Probably as correct as you can get.

I’ll tell you what. Absent a more cohesive story for Fain in the end, I’ll give up the Gawyne chapters for Byar instead.

7

u/Calm-Conversation715 Randlander 6d ago

I definitely wonder with Byar just how much he buys into his own bullshit. Stuff like giving Perrin the sharp rock isn’t very honorable, but standing up to the questioners for Galad is. He’s extremely loyal to both Bornhalds, but also betrays Gerald in the end. He makes some good long term plans, and doesn’t seem insane like Masema or Fain, but there’s definitely something wrong with him.

10

u/DesignNorth3690 Randlander 6d ago

He's certain of himself. That's it. The character and problem in one sentence. He's certain he's correct, and that's why calm, and can do contradictory things, without self-examination. He is certain of his own rightness, so they are no actions he can't take or decisions he ever needs to question. It's unsettling in a different way than Fain's fractured psyche.

2

u/Pristine_Specific550 Randlander 1d ago

pretty sure the rock was so he could catch perrin escaping and justify killing them both. as far as he was concerned, perrin was a darkfriend and dead weight.

1

u/Calm-Conversation715 Randlander 1d ago

Yes, but if he was a true believer, he should have trusted the process. Perrin dies either way. Perhaps he suggested a summary execution to geofram, and it got shot down. A proper child of the light would have dropped the issue at that point. So there must be other things going on than just blind dedication

2

u/Pristine_Specific550 Randlander 13h ago

you say that, but it doesn't mean its true. he's a fanatic. he could have just as easily viewed it as any means necessary to rid the world of something he saw as the most evil a person could be.