Mazrim Taim: a rant of sorts
So I've only just started the re-read of Lord of Chaos, where Taim makes his first on-screen appearance, but I felt like I had to get some of this off my chest.
You know, I get attached to fictional characters. Like, ridiculously attached. Maybe more so than to real people. Maybe I'm somehow fucked in the head. Or maybe it's normal; what would I know about normal? I don't hang around real people enough to recognise 'normal'.
Mazrim Taim was my favourite character on the first read through. I liked him from the moment he appeared in the first chapter of this book, and throughout the book I grew to love him, fiercely. Why? What makes him so appealing to me? He's an arrogant son of a bitch, not very likeable a person and his loyalty is more than questionable. But he's got style. Oh boy, does he have style! "Kneel before the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt."
He doesn't grovel before Rand, not even after he is made to choose between submitting or gtfo. And he seems to want to see things through, all the way to Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle, standing by the Lord Dragon's side. Naturally he would resent being ordered to remain at the farm (which would later become the Black Tower) and denied a place at the center of the action, whatever that action may be. He's proud, perhaps to a fault, but not without reason; he has after all held the madness of the Taint at bay for over a decade, fought and won battles, escaped a fate worse than death (being carted off to the White Tower to be gentled) and now he has the chance to openly be what he is, a damn badass male channeler, wielder of saidin, powerful and dangerous in his own right and perhaps even more so as a trusted lieutenant to the Dragon Reborn.
Or so it seemed at this point to an innocent first-time reader. Of course, Mr Jordan being who he was, he had to turn this upside down and turn him into a all-but-confirmed Darkfriend, quite possibly one of the goddamn Forsaken.
Now, reading again that first encounter between Rand and Taim, unable to forget the speculation about Taim being Moridin/Ishamael in disguise, it all reads rather differently.
[Hmm wait a sec. I just noticed a flaw in that speculation. Unless Moridin/Ishamael has the ability to be in two places at once, he can't have been posing as Taim. Taim was winning a battle over in Saldaea while Ishamael fought Rand in Falme (the vision of which battle put an end to Taim's and led to Taim's capture). I suppose it could still be possible that after his resurrection as Moridin, Ishamael could have disposed of the real Taim and be now posing as the M'Hael of the Black Tower. Anyway, carrying on!]
First of all - holding the madness at bay for a decade? ...Well, the Dark One does seem to provide his more valuable followers some protection against it. Also, Lews Therin wanting to kill him on sight? Rand "inexplicably" disliking and mistrusting him from the start? Obviouscake is obviously nom. This even puts his infamous arrogance into perspective. Let alone when he later on orders Rand killed, among other things. (And I'm not even touching the really heavy evidence that apparently comes up in the most recent books that I've yet to read once.)
I used to write fanfiction where I bent facts and made Taim into a... not precisely a good guy, but a grey character who in the end would fight on the right side when it came to that. I could explain away even that assassination attempt. Well, I suppose it serves me right to have it shoved into my face, that Taim is a lost cause.
But I don't have to bloody like it!
Rant over. For now. I'll be back, I'm sure.
You know, I get attached to fictional characters. Like, ridiculously attached. Maybe more so than to real people. Maybe I'm somehow fucked in the head. Or maybe it's normal; what would I know about normal? I don't hang around real people enough to recognise 'normal'.
Mazrim Taim was my favourite character on the first read through. I liked him from the moment he appeared in the first chapter of this book, and throughout the book I grew to love him, fiercely. Why? What makes him so appealing to me? He's an arrogant son of a bitch, not very likeable a person and his loyalty is more than questionable. But he's got style. Oh boy, does he have style! "Kneel before the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt."
He doesn't grovel before Rand, not even after he is made to choose between submitting or gtfo. And he seems to want to see things through, all the way to Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle, standing by the Lord Dragon's side. Naturally he would resent being ordered to remain at the farm (which would later become the Black Tower) and denied a place at the center of the action, whatever that action may be. He's proud, perhaps to a fault, but not without reason; he has after all held the madness of the Taint at bay for over a decade, fought and won battles, escaped a fate worse than death (being carted off to the White Tower to be gentled) and now he has the chance to openly be what he is, a damn badass male channeler, wielder of saidin, powerful and dangerous in his own right and perhaps even more so as a trusted lieutenant to the Dragon Reborn.
Or so it seemed at this point to an innocent first-time reader. Of course, Mr Jordan being who he was, he had to turn this upside down and turn him into a all-but-confirmed Darkfriend, quite possibly one of the goddamn Forsaken.
Now, reading again that first encounter between Rand and Taim, unable to forget the speculation about Taim being Moridin/Ishamael in disguise, it all reads rather differently.
[Hmm wait a sec. I just noticed a flaw in that speculation. Unless Moridin/Ishamael has the ability to be in two places at once, he can't have been posing as Taim. Taim was winning a battle over in Saldaea while Ishamael fought Rand in Falme (the vision of which battle put an end to Taim's and led to Taim's capture). I suppose it could still be possible that after his resurrection as Moridin, Ishamael could have disposed of the real Taim and be now posing as the M'Hael of the Black Tower. Anyway, carrying on!]
First of all - holding the madness at bay for a decade? ...Well, the Dark One does seem to provide his more valuable followers some protection against it. Also, Lews Therin wanting to kill him on sight? Rand "inexplicably" disliking and mistrusting him from the start? Obviouscake is obviously nom. This even puts his infamous arrogance into perspective. Let alone when he later on orders Rand killed, among other things. (And I'm not even touching the really heavy evidence that apparently comes up in the most recent books that I've yet to read once.)
I used to write fanfiction where I bent facts and made Taim into a... not precisely a good guy, but a grey character who in the end would fight on the right side when it came to that. I could explain away even that assassination attempt. Well, I suppose it serves me right to have it shoved into my face, that Taim is a lost cause.
But I don't have to bloody like it!
Rant over. For now. I'll be back, I'm sure.