Thom's quips

[Sam 19]

You know in shadow rising when thom is all oh la la over Moiraine he thinks about how she has all the right qualities including laughing at a man's quips. I have always wondered how he knew that about her, b/c it suggests a lot of off screen time between them

[RedAjahWarder 0]

The one scene I can think of offhand is when Moiraine laughs at Thom's antics with his dagger as they're all waiting for the ferry across the Taren river.

 

I'm actually listening to tEotW audio right now...it's amazing the things you notice on a re-read or a re-listen.

 

For example, Moiraine seems to know exactly who Thom is at their first encounter. I also noticed that, when Rand brings his wounded father to the Winespring Inn, desperate for help, Thom is on the verge of suggesting he seek out the Aes Sedai, but he hesitates and instead asks who scrawled the Dragon's Fang on the front door.

Edited January 5, 2011 by RedAjahWarder

[Deadsy 19]

You know in shadow rising when thom is all oh la la over Moiraine he thinks about how she has all the right qualities including laughing at a man's quips. I have always wondered how he knew that about her, b/c it suggests a lot of off screen time between them

 

Not a "man's" quips. That's kind of an important difference. In Thom's PoV he thinks that she specifically laughs at his quips. She finds Thom funny/entertaining. Not random other guys. But the same thing applies, there was definitely stuff off screen.

[Marie 73]

Actually it is a man's:

 

Now there was a beautiful woman, with every grace a man could want, including laughing at his quips

 

Grammar wise the "his" is referencing the general man from before. It doesn't actually add up to any real difference since Thom counts as a man.

 

And now I sound like a grammar Nazi.

 

EITHER WAY they clearly had some interaction outside of the main story. She thinks back to seeing Thom juggle with both hands while blindfolded, which begs the question: why was she standing around watching a gleeman juggle? Answer: she has a crush.

 

Which in turn makes me wonder if Thom is actually as funny as Moiraine's giggles imply or is she so infatuated every joke/snide remark is oh so witty.

[Deadsy 19]

Actually it is a man's:

 

Now there was a beautiful woman, with every grace a man could want, including laughing at his quips

 

Grammar wise the "his" is referencing the general man from before. It doesn't actually add up to any real difference since Thom counts as a man.

 

And now I sound like a grammar Nazi.

 

 

The point is, he meant his own, even if RJ wrote it weirdly. He wouldn't want her to laugh at random other guys. Then he'd get all jealous-like. He's talking about their off-cameraness in the past.

Edited January 5, 2011 by Deadsy

[RedAjahWarder 0]

Also wanted to point out that, while Thom was traveling with Moiraine and Co., he would entertain them all at night after they stopped to make camp. Plenty of times for her to laugh at his quips then.

 

There are also hints of some sort of encounter between Moiraine and Thom when they were in Baerlon, on their way south into the Two Rivers. It seems that Min's famous viewing about the two of them marrying occurred then. In one of his recent Tweets, Sanderson mentioned that one of the unpublished prequels included this backstory.

[Sam 19]

Wow are we arguing over semantics now?

 

Allllllllllllllll marie was pointing out was this was false:

In Thom's PoV he thinks that she specifically laughs at his quips.

she's an english major. grammar is what they do. Thom might be referencing himself, which we ALL know he is doing, but he doesn't specifically think about himself. you two can stop battling it out for title of #1 Mo fan. we're all friends here...

 

I suppose she could have laughed at him during their journey in eotw. I guess I never saw her as laughing much during then because of idiot two rivers folk.

 

hmm wish I had seen the tweet. not much of twitter person.

[Marie 73]

 

I'm not fighting anyone. I just get stupidly anal sometimes.

 

I would love to read about Min giving Moiraine that viewing. I'm undecided on if it would be more entertaining from Min's PoV or Moiraine's.

[Kaitlin 22]

I really wish we had that prequel to read, and that I still paid attention to Sanderson's tweets. I kind of lost track. :3

 

It always seemed to me that Mo and Thom had at least met before eotw, from the reaction of Thom when he first sees Moiraine outside of the Inn and also of Mo when Thom hops down out of the hay later on.

 

They had plenty of time off-screen during the early part of that book too. He must have quipped at her a lot. :>

[Marie 73]

For whatever reason I have never been convinced Moiraine and Thom met before Emond's Field.

[Olivia 26]

I have never been convinced Moiraine and Thom met before Emond's Field.

 

I think he just recognized an Aes Sedai face, and once she heard his name she recognized it as the Gray Fox (or she later had her informants do a check on him).

[RedAjahWarder 0]

I guess I should clarify: Sanderson tweeted that one of the prequels involved a backstory involving Thom's arrival in Emond's Field...he did not explicitly say that it involved an encounter between him and Moiraine, but it would have been the same prequel that also told of Moiraine and Lan's arrival.

 

But listening to tEotW again, there are just so many hints that indicate a previous encounter. I don't think they "met," per se, but they were somehow aware of one another. They were both in Baerlon at about the same time; Min mentioned that her viewing was of two people, who never spoke to one another, that would marry. When they were on their way back north, of course they had spoken by then. Lots of things like that.

[Marie 73]

I have never been convinced Moiraine and Thom met before Emond's Field.

 

I think he just recognized an Aes Sedai face, and once she heard his name she recognized it as the Gray Fox (or she later had her informants do a check on him).

I have an ally!

[Erika 4]

Yes let us not fight!

 

I like the idea of them seeing each other in passing and then meeting up again in the Two Rivers. That would explain his reaction and her curiousity about him joining them.

[Deadsy 19]

nobody is fighting, weirdos

 

Now I feel like fighting about the fact that nobody is fighting.

 

This is text so I guess you can read things differently but I certainly wasn't upset about any of it.

 

 

Can we stop talking about how the prequel could be even more awesome than I imagined? I don't want to have to wonder whether it will be released, heh. I hope Harriet ends up saying yes.