I.E. a way to legally enforce that servers which federate with you are not allowed to serve ads alongside content from your server, and must be run by not-for-profit entities?

I'm curious about some sort of strategy that blocks Meta from extracting money from the content creators in the current fediverse by using legal licensing of some sort, similar to how the GPL software license requires any derivative software to be open source.

Cross-postong from https://Kbin/m/wheeloftime

⚠️⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS ⚠️⚠️

Cross-postong from https://Kbin/m/wheeloftime

⚠️⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS ⚠️⚠️

Originally posted on /r/wot

⚠️⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS ⚠️⚠️

Original Post ----------

At the end of the Third Age, when Rand is gearing up to start the Last Battle, he announces his plan to break the seals of the Dark One's prison as the battle commences. He believes this is the only way to forge a proper prison for the Dark One, rather than patching the faulty prison from the Age of Legends.

Egwene see the plan as madness, and it's pretty common in the fandom for people to lampoon her choice to do so, often citing it as an example of how annoying and self-righteous she is as a character.

But I contend that she is not at all wrong to call Rand's plan out and push back against it, and what we are supposed to take from this story beat and it's resolution isn't that Egwene was wrong and had to listen to Rand, but that Rand and Egwene are both partially right, and are both partially wrong. They succeed by listening to and trusting each other, avoiding the same folly that takes place at the end of the Age of Legends.

The situation presented to us on the precipice of the Last Battle has symmetry with the events leading up to the Hundred Companions strike on Shayol Ghul. Lews Therin Telemon and Latra Posae Decume find themselves at an impass: Lews Therin wishes to strike directly at Shayol Ghul and attempt to re-seal the bore, while Latra Posae finds the plan far too dangerous. She wishes to use the Choedan Kal to restrain the Dark One's influence to a given area, but has lost the access keys.

When Lews Therin decides to assault the Bore alone, Latra Posae and the women refuse to help. This choice often gets pointed to as what cost the world a full victory and resulted in the opening the Dark One needed to taint saidin. I often see it remarked that if only Latra had agreed to go with Lews, The Breaking could have been avoided.

But I believe that there is strong evidence that Latra's refusal to join Lews, her instinct that the plan was incredibly reckless, was a choice that saved the world, and allowed for eventual victory against the Dark One at the end of the Third Age, because unlike Rand, Lews did not have access to the True Power.

If Latra Posae had gone with Lews to the Bore, without the True Power to protect them, both halves of the One Power would have been tainted by the Dark One's counter-stroke.

Let's look at how the True Power is used by Rand in the final moments of the Last Battle From A Memory of Light:

> > > This was the most dangerous part of the plan. Min had figured it out. Callandor had such flaws, such incredible flaws. Created so that a man using it needed women to control him, created so that if Rand used it, others could take control of him … > >

> > > Why was Rand to need a weapon with such flaws? Why did the prophecies mention it so? A sa’angreal for the True Power. Why would he ever need such a thing? > >

> > > The answer was so simple. > >

> > > “Now!” Rand yelled. > >

> > > Nynaeve and Moiraine channeled together, exploiting the flaw in Callandor as Moridin tried to bring it to bear against Rand. Wind whipped in the tunnel. The ground quivered, and Moridin yelled, eyes going wide. > >

> > > They took control of him. Callandor was flawed. Any man using it could be forced to link with women, to be placed in their control. A trap … and one he used on Moridin. > >

> > > “Link!” Rand commanded. > >

> > > They fed it to him. Power. > >

> > > Saidar from the women. > >

> > > The True Power from Moridin. > >

> > > Saidin from Rand. > >

> > > Moridin’s channeling the True Power here threatened to destroy them all, but they buffered it with saidin and saidar, then directed all three at the Dark One. > >

> > > Rand punched through the blackness there and created a conduit of light and darkness, turning the Dark One’s own essence upon him. > >

> > > Rand felt the Dark One beyond, his immensity. Space, size, time … Rand understood how these things could be irrelevant now. > >

> > > With a bellow—three Powers coursing through him, blood streaming down his side—the Dragon Reborn raised a hand of power and seized the Dark One through the Bore, like a man reaching through water to grab the prize at the river’s bottom. The Dark One tried to pull back, but Rand’s claw was gloved by the True Power. The enemy could not taint saidin again. The Dark One tried to withdraw the True Power from Moridin, but the conduit flowed too freely, too powerfully to shut off now. Even for Shai’tan himself. > >

> > > So it was that Rand used the Dark One’s own essence, channeled in its full strength. He held the Dark One tightly, like a dove in the grip of a hawk. > >

> > > And light exploded from him. > >

Emphasis mine.

In this passage, the use of the True Power is explicitly called out as the reason that the Dark One cannot taint saidin again. Saidar is not explicitly mentioned, but just like Rand, Lews and the companions would likely have been linked with women, channeling saidar , and thereby exposing it to the same counter-stroke that tainted saidin, without the True Power to insulate it.

This theory is strengthened by a later passage:

> > > Rand yelled, thrusting the Dark One back through the pit from where it had come. Rand pushed his arms to the side, grabbing twin pillars of saidar and saidin with his mind, coated with the True Power drawn through Moridin, who knelt on the floor, eyes open, so much power coursing through him he couldn’t even move. > >

> > > Rand hurled the Powers forward with his mind and braided them together. Saidin and saidar at once, the True Power surrounding them and forming a shield on the Bore. > >

> > > He wove something majestic, a pattern of interlaced saidar and saidin in their pure forms. Not Fire, not Spirit, not Water, not Earth, not Air. Purity. Light itself. This didn’t repair, it didn’t patch, it forged anew. > >

It's clear the actual prison was re-made using saidin and saidar. So why was the True Power, and Callandor, so crucial to Rand's success this time around if he could have succeeded without it last time, if not for the women? If loss had soley been caused by the lack of Women Channelers, Rand would have had no need of the True Power or it's sa'angreal.

Rand is using the True Power to insulate both halves of the One Power against another taint, something Lews would have been unable to do in his day. If the women had agreed to be there, they would have made a perfect prison for the Dark One, but at what cost? Saidin AND saidar would have been lost, which would have been disasterous on so many levels; it would have been a fate worse then the Breaking and a flawed prison for the Dark One.

Beyond the immediate force multiplier for the Breaking, and taking all channelers off the board in the Third Age, and making it impossible to still or gentle rogue channelers, since anyone capable of doing so would be mad themselves -- it also would have made it impossible to cleanse the source again, removing the use of the source from humanity for all time. Rand uses a coil of clean saidar to shove tainted saidin through as part of the process for removing the Taint. From Winter's Heart:

> > > Awkwardly, forcing himself to work gently, to use the unfamiliar saidar’s own immense strength to guide it as he wanted, he wove a conduit that touched the male half of the Source at one end and the distantly seen city at the other. The conduit had to be of untainted saidar. If this worked as he hoped, a tube of saidin might shatter when the taint began to leech out of it. He thought of it as a tube, at least, though it was not. The weave did not form at all as he expected it to. As if saidar had a mind of its own, the weave took on convolutions and spirals that made him think of a flower. There was nothing to see, no grand weaves sweeping down from the sky. The Source lay at the heart of creation. The Source was everywhere, even in Shadar Logoth. The conduit covered distance beyond his imagining, and had no length at all. It had to be a conduit, no matter its appearance. If it was not . . . > >

Emphasis mine.

Latra may not have had a better plan than Lews, but she was right when she felt that Lews was going off half-cocked to the Bore, to fear that there was information they may be missing. Lews and Latra refused to work together, and in doing so, they are only able to halfway save the world.

Through Lews' heroics, the Dark One is stalled for an Age, buying time, but at a terrible cost: the male half of the True Source.

Through Latra's abstention, saidar is spared, but the Dark One's prison is not complete, doming the World to his influence and another apocalyptic showdown.

Let's return to the Third Age. Rand and Egwene are at the same impass. Rand wants to go off, half-cocked, and break the seals immediately. Egwene doesn't want to break the seals at all.

But Rand has learned something from his past life: the folly of not listening, because Lews Therin knows what happens when he doesn't allow his impulses to be tempered. From The Eye of the World:

> > > He was still touching saidin, the male half of the power that drove the universe, that turned the Wheel of Time, and he could feel the oily taint fouling its surface, the taint of the Shadow’s counterstroke, the taint that doomed the world. Because of him. Because in his pride he had believed that men could match the Creator, could mend what the Creator had made and they had broken. In his pride he had believed. > >

Egwene and Rand come to a compromise, they agree to trust each other. Egwene agrees to trust Rand's instincts that the seals must be broken, and Rand agrees to trust Egwene's instincts that now is not the time to break them. To let Egwene be a hero too, a mistake he made not just with Latra in the previous Age. From A Memory of Light:

> > > Of all those to turn to the Shadow, Demandred’s betrayal seemed the most tragic. The man could have been a hero. Should have been a hero. > >

> > > I’m to blame for that, too, Rand thought. If I’d offered a hand instead of a smirk, if I’d congratulated instead of competed. If I’d been the man then that I am now … > >

Both sexes having to work together to temper and strengthen each other, to check each other's worst instincts, is a core theme of The Wheel of Time. The lack of symbiotic balance between Lews' hot-headness and Latra's caution is what loses the day. Pinning the failure of the previous age solely on the women for not doing what the men wanted would be just as would undercut one of the core themes of The Wheel of Time.

Rand and Egwene's compromise, their trust each in other's instincts and cooperation is what lets them succeed. Neither of them is right, but each has part of the right idea -- Rand needs the seals to be broken to reforge the prison anew, but if he had broken them at the beginning of the battle I can't see how it would have ended well. Egwene's insistence that he dial that back allows for them to be broken by Logaine right as Rand is ready to launch his final attack.

To reduce the story beat to Egwene not sucking it up and doing what Rand wants because he's right is to miss the point and in many ways, get the message backwards.

(spoilers for the premises of various books)

Children of Time: What if spiders were sapient?

Children of Ruin: What if octopi were sapient?

Children of Ruin (again): What if slime mould were sapient?

Children of Memory: What if raven couples were sapient?

The Final Architecture: What if moons were sapient?

Dogs of War: What if networks of sapients were sapient?

Bear Head: What if Trump were sapient?

Moving some of my higher quality posts over from Reddit. Originally wrote this for /r/Arcane

⚠️⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️⚠️

Original Post ----------

One of Arcane's achievements is it's ability to not reach for cheap drama, which I find especially refreshing in a fantasy context. There were a lot of moments where Arcane geared itself up to do The Dramatic Thing™ and then subverted it, not by doing The Dark Thing™, or the Out of Left Field Thing™, but by doing the human thing instead.

Examples:

• Mel not being a Femme Fatale. She genuinely wanted what was best for the people and respected Jayce. I thought for sure she was just using him, and I'm sure it started that way, but they really developed their relationship in a beautifully natural way so there's no Moment™ where she either sees him for the first time and totally changes or betrays him.
• Powder overhearing Mylo vent to Vi about her and leaving before Vi takes her side. They talk it out later that night and reach an understanding.
• Powder and Vi's reunion. They just hug and share a genuine moment before their differences begin to manifest.
• Vander's tough but supportive reaction to the failed job. He uses it as a teachable moment for Vi, and Vi takes the feedback rather than it being a well you're not my real dad moment. We get to learn a lot about the trust and care these characters have for each other.
• Vi and Caitlyn cooperating with each other right out of the gate, resolving differences as they come up in good faith (even when heated) rather than constantly being at each other's throats the way most shows would do. Storytelling, as a craft, has an obsession with conflict. Almost all works on how to tell stories focus on how to craft good conflict. And yes, every story needs good a central tension (which Arcane has in spades), but Arcane shows that moments of cooperation can be just as dramatic as conflict, and isn't afraid to let it's characters find ways to come together as a way to mine drama.

I can't think of a single contrived dramatic beat. There's no forced misunderstandings or characters overreacting. It lets the drama flow from the characters and their choices, rather than a contrived situation they are being put into. It forces the show to dig deep and find the things the characters truly care about so it can push those buttons.

Silco's genuine care for Jinx and his people underneath how abusive and shitty he is for both is another great example. Most villains -- even when given a good motivation and philosophy -- feel Evil™, like the philosophy they are espousing is more an excuse to be cruel, or is a purposefully twisted misreading of a moral precept to justify and deflect their actions; the fiction needs to prove to you that they deserve their demise. Arcane manages to give it's villain an actually noble goal of freedom for his people and lets him genuinely believe in it while he paves his way to hell.

No moment of tragic redemption, either, where he repents his choices and accepts the moral of the story into his heart. Arcane mines it's characters for additional depth instead of changing who they are. Character arcs, while strongly present, are just as often a study in revelation as change. Silco's moment of crisis when he is asked to give up Jinx is used to reveal another layer, rather than change what we've already seen. The show isn't afraid of making us feel for it's villain without changing him. His evil is able to be the best he is capable of for who and what he cares about.

Silco is such a great villain: A man forged by the cycle of violence who can only love and care in toxic ways. He's both awful and tragic. A choice that genuinely surprised me: In act 2 I thought for sure he was going to betray Jinx and reveal she was just a tool to him, only to be changed in some moment of connection. Instead -- again -- there is no Moment™ where he either gives into his evil completely or repents to the light. He is a consistent, contradictory human to the end: genuinely ruthless, genuinely caring, genuinely idealistic, and genuinely cynical to his last breath. The scene of him agonizing over his situation at Vander's statue isn't one of a crisis of choice, but a crisis of acceptance. He is lamenting what's important to him. We get to see a beautiful moment of self reflection and sorrow because Arcane echews the normal cheap conflict many shows would grasp for: drawing out the suspense of what Silco will do to mine for drama. Instead, Arcane mines the acceptance of his inability to choose anything else.

Even between adversaries there is often a deep respect and/or complex history that isn't just boiled down to a single feeling. Silco vs Vander. Ekko vs. Jynx, Jayce vs Victor, Mel vs her mother, Marcus vs Grayson. All these relationships have a rich interpersonal interaction that never makes it feel like they are completely at odds, even when they are in each other's way.

Sevika, who is set up to be super jealous of and frustrated with Powder has that "She'll come to you when she's ready" moment with Silco; we learn SO MUCH about her character in such a small interaction. We get to see her in a redeeming moment of reassurance, where many shows might twist the knife a bit with a catty line because well, she doesn't like Jynx.

Instead, Arcane chooses to let us see over and over that while there might be an overriding top layer to a character or relationship, moments of deeper layers peeking through are where the real story lies.

Moving some of my higher quality posts over from Reddit. Originally wrote this for /r/Arcane

⚠️⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️⚠️

Original Post ----------

One of Arcane's achievements is it's ability to not reach for cheap drama, which I find especially refreshing in a fantasy context. There were a lot of moments where Arcane geared itself up to do The Dramatic Thing™ and then subverted it, not by doing The Dark Thing™, or the Out of Left Field Thing™, but by doing the human thing instead.

Examples:

• Mel not being a Femme Fatale. She genuinely wanted what was best for the people and respected Jayce. I thought for sure she was just using him, and I'm sure it started that way, but they really developed their relationship in a beautifully natural way so there's no Moment™ where she either sees him for the first time and totally changes or betrays him.
• Powder overhearing Mylo vent to Vi about her and leaving before Vi takes her side. They talk it out later that night and reach an understanding.
• Powder and Vi's reunion. They just hug and share a genuine moment before their differences begin to manifest.
• Vander's tough but supportive reaction to the failed job. He uses it as a teachable moment for Vi, and Vi takes the feedback rather than it being a well you're not my real dad moment. We get to learn a lot about the trust and care these characters have for each other.
• Vi and Caitlyn cooperating with each other right out of the gate, resolving differences as they come up in good faith (even when heated) rather than constantly being at each other's throats the way most shows would do. Storytelling, as a craft, has an obsession with conflict. Almost all works on how to tell stories focus on how to craft good conflict. And yes, every story needs good a central tension (which Arcane has in spades), but Arcane shows that moments of cooperation can be just as dramatic as conflict, and isn't afraid to let it's characters find ways to come together as a way to mine drama.

I can't think of a single contrived dramatic beat. There's no forced misunderstandings or characters overreacting. It lets the drama flow from the characters and their choices, rather than a contrived situation they are being put into. It forces the show to dig deep and find the things the characters truly care about so it can push those buttons.

Silco's genuine care for Jinx and his people underneath how abusive and shitty he is for both is another great example. Most villains -- even when given a good motivation and philosophy -- feel Evil™, like the philosophy they are espousing is more an excuse to be cruel, or is a purposefully twisted misreading of a moral precept to justify and deflect their actions; the fiction needs to prove to you that they deserve their demise. Arcane manages to give it's villain an actually noble goal of freedom for his people and lets him genuinely believe in it while he paves his way to hell.

No moment of tragic redemption, either, where he repents his choices and accepts the moral of the story into his heart. Arcane mines it's characters for additional depth instead of changing who they are. Character arcs, while strongly present, are just as often a study in revelation as change. Silco's moment of crisis when he is asked to give up Jinx is used to reveal another layer, rather than change what we've already seen. The show isn't afraid of making us feel for it's villain without changing him. His evil is able to be the best he is capable of for who and what he cares about.

Silco is such a great villain: A man forged by the cycle of violence who can only love and care in toxic ways. He's both awful and tragic. A choice that genuinely surprised me: In act 2 I thought for sure he was going to betray Jinx and reveal she was just a tool to him, only to be changed in some moment of connection. Instead -- again -- there is no Moment™ where he either gives into his evil completely or repents to the light. He is a consistent, contradictory human to the end: genuinely ruthless, genuinely caring, genuinely idealistic, and genuinely cynical to his last breath. The scene of him agonizing over his situation at Vander's statue isn't one of a crisis of choice, but a crisis of acceptance. He is lamenting what's important to him. We get to see a beautiful moment of self reflection and sorrow because Arcane echews the normal cheap conflict many shows would grasp for: drawing out the suspense of what Silco will do to mine for drama. Instead, Arcane mines the acceptance of his inability to choose anything else.

Even between adversaries there is often a deep respect and/or complex history that isn't just boiled down to a single feeling. Silco vs Vander. Ekko vs. Jynx, Jayce vs Victor, Mel vs her mother, Marcus vs Grayson. All these relationships have a rich interpersonal interaction that never makes it feel like they are completely at odds, even when they are in each other's way.

Sevika, who is set up to be super jealous of and frustrated with Powder has that "She'll come to you when she's ready" moment with Silco; we learn SO MUCH about her character in such a small interaction. We get to see her in a redeeming moment of reassurance, where many shows might twist the knife a bit with a catty line because well, she doesn't like Jynx.

Instead, Arcane chooses to let us see over and over that while there might be an overriding top layer to a character or relationship, moments of deeper layers peeking through are where the real story lies.

Cross posting from https://kbin.social/m/wheeloftime

⚠️⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS ⚠️⚠️

Cross posting from https://kbin.social/m/wheeloftime

⚠️⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS ⚠️⚠️

Figured I would start moving over some of my high effort posts to the fediverse. This is a post I originally made on the /r/wot and then posted to [email protected] and [email protected]. Hope it's all right that I'm re-posting here. Just trying to do my part to get some content going

⚠️⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️⚠️: This post analyses a rather infamous arc that centers on male rape.

⚠️⚠️ FULL SERIES SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️⚠️

Original Post ----------

Mat's arc with Tylin sparks a lot of discussion, and I notice a fair number of comments wishing the books took her actions more seriously, or taking the character's amused reactions as the book itself signaling this should be funny and rightly finding that disconcerting. I want to take some time to post an analysis of this arc and show that you are meant to find her actions and the lackluster reactions of the other characters disturbing at best, and sickening at worst.

There were a lot of great comments in this thread about how this arc was meant to mirror and comment on media from the 80's and 90's where rape of women is played for laughs. Jordan really liked to take tropes like this and reverse the roles to make a point or make people examine why they felt uneasy. I won't retread those points here, but think that thread is worth checking out.

I had the same initial reaction, but the more I think about it, the more I like the way it's handled.

One other thing to keep in mind with Jordan's writing is that he was absolutely steadfast in maintaining the unreliable narrator and letting things play out the way they would in real life without the book itself moralizing about right and wrong. All moralizing is done by the characters, and often we are meant to realize that what the characters are presenting as "right" is wrong. This is especially obvious in matters of fact when we know something a character is saying with 100% confidence is 100% wrong, but Jordan often does the same thing with moral lessons as well, where something a character is presenting as morally right is meant to be taken as morally wrong.

Jordan wrote his story the way he felt it would actually unfold, and left it up to you, the reader, to apply your own moral lens without being told by the book how to feel. Character's moral sensibilities are strictly bound by their culture, upbringing, and personality. No character ever breaks the fourth wall and applies our moral sensibilities to a situation for the sake of teaching a lesson to the audience.

That means a couple things for this arc:

• The prose itself never casts Tylin as a rapist, since none of our protagonists see it that way. Mat is a man so they find Tylin's "pursuit" of him amusing, the way Jordan believes they actually would given their culture.

• Mat does not have the language to describe or process what is happening to him. We clearly see he knows on some level it's wrong but his inner monologue is his normal, brash, humorous, self. Mat lies to himself about a lot of things and this is no exception.

However, there are a couple things that I think clearly demonstrate that RJ saw her actions as wrong.

First: Mat's inner dialog is really hard to read, he's constantly oscillating between confusion, despair, and cracking jokes. It's so clear he doesn't have the ability to process what is happening to him, and this makes his sections gut-wrenching. I think it's why so many people have a visceral reaction to the arc. A sample:

> > > “It isn’t natural,” he burst out, yanking the pipestem from between his teeth. “I’m the one who’s supposed to do the chasing!” [Tylin's] astonished eyes surely mirrored his own. Had Tylin been a tavern maid who smiled the right way, he might have tried his luck—well, if the tavern maid lacked a son who liked poking holes in people—but he was the one who chased. He had just never thought of it that way before. He had never had the need to, before. > >

> > > Tylin began laughing, shaking her head and wiping at her eyes with her fingers. “Oh, pigeon. I do keep forgetting. You are in Ebou Dar, now. I left a little present for you in the sitting room.” She patted his foot through the sheet. “Eat well today. You are going to need your strength.” > >

> > > Mat put a hand over his eyes and tried very hard not to weep. When he uncovered them, she was gone. > >

> > > ... > >

> > > There was also a red silk purse holding twenty gold crowns and a note that smelled of flowers. > >

> > > I would have bought you an earring, piglet, but I noticed your ear is not pierced. Have it done, and buy yourself something nice. > >

> > > He nearly wept again. He gave women presents. The world was standing on its head! Piglet? Oh, Light! After a minute, he did take the mask; she owed him that much, for his coat alone. > >

The crying is what really drives it home. If this was meant to truly be played for laughs Mat would not have such a painful inner monologue. Instead, Jordan is creating a dissonance between the humorous tone the other characters approach this arc with and Mat's inner emotional distress. It feels like Jordan asking us to consider the inner life of characters in other media that are the butt of rape jokes. Should we really be laughing at them? Or are we the palace maids to those characters' Mat?

There's also some points to make around Mat trying to figure out why he feels this way and reaching for reasons like "I'm the one who chases" rather than "she raped me" being a really great illustration of victims who can't even articulate why something was a violation in the aftermath of a traumatic experience and the gaslighting that happens to them, but let's move on to another character who laughs at the victim.

Second: when Mat tells Elayne what's happening, Elayne laughs at him initially, but then Mat, in a moment of selflessness, offers her the foxhead medallion to protect her from the Gohlam. She pauses, reassesses him, and:

> > > I. . . .” That faint blush returned to her cheeks. “I am sorry I laughed at you.” She cleared her throat, looking away. “Sometimes I forget my duty to my subjects. You are a worthy subject, Matrim Cauthon. I will see that Nynaeve understands the right of . . . of you and Tylin. Perhaps we can help.” > >

> > > “No,” he spluttered. “I mean, yes. I mean. . . . That is. . . . Oh, kiss a flaming goat if I know what I mean. I almost wish you didn’t know the truth. > >

> > > ... > >

> > > Aloud, she said, “I understand.” Sounding just as if she did. “Come along, now, Mat. We can’t waste time standing in one spot.” Gaping, he watched her lift skirts and cloak to make her way along the landing. She understood? She understood, and not one acid little comment, not one cutting remark? > >

This moment is narrated through Mat's eyes, so we don't know exactly what Elayne is thinking, but we DO know that Elayne is often depicted as having the highest EQ / empathy in the series. She plays peacemaker between her friends, cares for animals, and is the glue that holds her, Min and Aviendha together as friends rather than rivals through the tight bonds she consciously forms with both. She makes friends easily and is fiercely protective of them.

She also has zero issues with calling Mat on his bullshit.

So it's telling that she seems to recognize that this is affecting Mat deeply, and respect that even if she doesn't understand it. She may not go as far as realizing what is actually happening, and it may take her a moment to get there, but we can infer from her that she recognizes on some level that Mat is in real distress over it, and reacts to that, even offering to help him resolve it. This moment really stood out to me on my first read through.

There's a bunch of other things to dissect here, especially around the way victim-blaming and slut-shaming is interwoven into this scene (Elayne implies Mat was asking for it and got a taste of his own medicine, even though Mat is never shown flirting with someone who does not show interest), but let's move on to the next point.

Third: Tylin is killed by the Gholam.

Now, this may not seem like a point in the book's favor. Tylin's death seems to be played as a tragedy. When a character is killed for karmic reasons, most books wink at the reader a little, with some line of narration or dialog emphasizing that they got what was coming to them.

This is not the case with Tylin. Robert Jordan writes Mat's reaction authentically, and Mat has come to care for his abuser, as often happens in the real world. Her death is "played" as tragedy because that's how our narrator feels about it.

> > > Mat did not realize his knees had given way until he found himself sitting on the floor with his head buzzing. He could hear her voice. You’ll get your head cut off yet if you’re not careful, piglet, and I wouldn’t like that. Setalle leaned forward on the narrow bed to press a hand against his cheek in commiseration. > >

> > > ... > >

> > > [Tuon] was watching him, a neutral expression on her face. “Did you care for Tylin so deeply?” she said in a cautious voice. > >

> > > “Yes. No. Burn me, I liked her!” Turning away, he scrubbed fingers through his hair, pushing the cap off. He had never been so glad to get away from a woman in his life, but this…! “And I left her tied up and gagged so she couldn’t even call for help, easy prey for the gholam,” he said bitterly. “It was looking for me. Don’t shake your head. Thom. You know it as well as I do.” > >

But I contend that this death is one of Karmic justice. The Gholam only finds Tylin because it is looking for Mat, and his scent is all over her room as a result of her actions, so her immoral actions directly lead to her death

Further, she is killed by the Gholam while tied up and helpless, a perfect mirror of the situations she forces on Mat with her pink ribbons. Mat even remarks that she never would have stood a chance and couldn't call for help, which has symmetry with the absolute political and social power Tylin had over him. We even have scenes earlier on when he realizes the whole palace is complicit in serving him up to Tylin and there's no one he can turn to for help.

Such symmetry between death and actions is typical of characters being punished for their transgressions, but Jordan's style is not to moralize about it directly. Instead he presents to us the character's authentic reactions and thoughts. The symbolism and meaning is there for us to pick up on, but the unreliable narrator lenses it as a senseless killing of an innocent woman.

Jordan wants to make us uncomfortable, but he's not interested in handing us the answer to why on a silver platter. It's up to us to use our own reasoning and morals to suss that out.

TLDR: Jordan doesn't moralize himself in the books. He expects you to feel the outrage and uneasiness yourself, then connect the dots. Tylin's killing bears all the hallmarks of Karmic justice, so while our characters don't take what she is doing to Mat seriously, I think we are clearly meant to conclude it is wrong.

In many ways Jordan used this arc to examine Rape Culture before "Rape Culture" was a mainstream discussion.

Cross posting since the communities are all so small right now. Thought I would spread the content around. Please let me know if that's not okay and I will remove.

Figured I would start moving over some of my high effort posts to the fediverse. This is a post I originally made on the /r/wot and then posted to [email protected]. Hope it's all right that I'm re-posting here.

Original Post ----------

Padan Fain gets ganked like a chump at the last battle. His incidental death disappointed many fans.

Yet if we peek below the surface of Fain's demise, I believe hints of a subtle design in the Pattern emerge that can be spun forward into implications about the Creator's deepest convictions.

The theory I'm about to lay out rests on an existing theory many of you will be familiar with: Fain as a backup Dark One.

Let's review:

In the depths of Shayul Ghul, Rand is grappling not just with the Dark One, but with himself. He enters the fray determined to destroy the Dark One for good, and throughout the battle is challenged with visions of the meaningless existence he would leave for the world, were he to achieve his goal.

At this point, the Pattern can't rely on what Rand will choose, so it has Fain on standby to take the Dark One's place if needed. And just like the pattern shanked the False Dragons it produced after Rand took up the mantle, as soon as Rand chooses not to destroy the Dark One, the Wheel unceremoniously disposes of Fain; it's clear the burgeoning God is no longer needed to spin the Pattern as intended. Mat is just a convenient nearby tool it has arranged to complete the task.

A few passages back this up:

> > > [Padan Fain] was not reborn yet, not completely. He would need to find a place to infest, a place where the barriers between worlds were thin.There, he could seep his self into the very stones and embed his awareness into that location. > >

At that moment, Fain is going towards the Mouth of Shayul Ghul to kill Rand. Rand is at the perfect place for Fain to infest: the Bore. The Pattern aimed him like an arrow towards where it needed him at the Last Battle. And it did it all the way in book one, when it tricked the Dark One into imprinting Fain on Rand.

Let me say that again.

The Pattern tricked the Dark One into helping create and maneuver His own replacement.

I mean, just look at Faine's new name for himself:

> > > Shaisam rolled onto the battlefield at Thakan’dar. > >

Shaisam. Looks a lot like Shai'tan, huh?

There's a few implications I LOVE about this theory. Let's look at another passage:

> > > The process would take years, but once it happened, he would become more difficult to kill. > >

> > > Right now, Shaisam was frail. This mortal form that walked at the center of his mind … he was bound to it. Fain, it had been. Padan Fain. > >

> > > Still, he was vast. Those souls had given rise to much mist, and it—in turn—found others to feed upon. Men fought Shadowspawn before him. All would give him strength. > >

This snippet implies that although Fain is vulnerable, he's approaching the amount of power he can weild. His power is, if not equal to, at least comparable to the Dark One when the Pattern composts him. This makes sense. The Pattern's need for him was imminent if the Dark One was to be destroyed; there isn't a TON of time left for him to rank up his power.

Which leads to a conclusion: the Pattern could have also easily disposed of the Dark One at any point in the story. It just doesn't. Instead, it keeps the Dark One just contained enough to allow the universe's inhabitants to live their lives while having the choice to give into evil or not. If we think about it, walking that line likely takes even greater dominance than simply defeating the Dark One outright.

This solves another problem. We know that in other turnings of the Wheel, the Champion of the Light went over to the Shadow. In those turnings, the war was a draw. From the Crossroads of Twilight book tour:

> > > Robert Jordan: Yes, the Champion of the Light has gone over in the past. This is a game you have to win every time. Or rather, that you can only lose once--you can stay in if you get a draw. Think of a tournament with single elimination. If you lose once, that's it. In the past, when the Champion of the Light has gone over to the Shadow, the result has been a draw. > >

That always struck me as weird. Can you imagine if god-tier Rand had gone over to the Shadow? How could that possibly end in anything other than a decisive loss on the Light's part? It strains credulity that the Light could eek out a draw from such a situation over and over again through eternity. Statistically, if the light has triumphed an endless number of times (because if they hadn't, the universe wouldn't exist) it' not an unlikely win, it's an inevitable one. It has to have a 100% chance of happening, because even a 0.00001% chance of the Light losing existed, it would have happened long before the turning we get to see.

The Creator stacked the deck. The Wheel could handle Darth Rand going over to the Shadow like it easily handled Fain. As easily as it could handle the Dark One. It's not fighting against The Dark One, it needs the Dark One to fulfill its purpose and spin the Pattern, because the Pattern is dominated by the interacting lives of those grappling between choosing the Light or the Dark. It's preserving the Dark just as much as it's preserving the Light. In fact, the Pattern needs the Dark so badly the creator set up the Wheel to spin out new Dark Ones the same way it spins out Champions to fight them.

Speaking of which, Fain's existence as the waiter-in-the-wings has a counterpart on the light. Nakomi's inclusion in the story may seem unrelated -- and often puzzling -- at first, but it plays directly into the worldbuilding here. If we accept that The Pattern has positioned her to take up the mantle of Champion should Rand fall — either to death, or despair — she and Fain as a pair reinforce that the conflict between light and dark is the greatest purpose of the Pattern, and must be kept going at all costs.

I'm not going to belabor how CLEARLY this paints the same picture Rand ultimately embraces: to the Creator, the choice between right and wrong is essential for being human to be meaningful.

Instead I want to examine the differences between Fain and the Dark One. The fact that they even are different is interesting. Fain is able to corrupt Trollocs and Mydrall with his power, and it changes their appearance and demeanor. From A Memory of Light:

> > > [Faine's] drones stumbled down the hillside, cloaked in mists. Trollocs with their skin pocked, as if it had boiled. Dead white eyes. He hardly needed them any longer, as their souls had given him fuel to rebuild himself. > >

The Dark One's followers are fueled by greed and ambition to a tee. They want to dominate others to their will, they want Immortality to rule the world.

But Fain / Mordeth's / Shaisam's 'followers'... those he has touched like dagger-Matt, Shadar Logath, Faine's Whitecloaks -- they're disheveled where the Forsaken are polished, Paranoid where the Forsaken are conniving. Fevered where the Forsaken are cold. Isolationists where the Forsaken crave the spotlight. Give into base instinct where the Forsaken plot.

There are theories that Elaida and Masema were touched by the Dagger, and they exhibit these same tendencies which make them feel pretty distinct from the Forsaken.

If Fain really is meant as a possible replacement, then that means the Pattern might need that replacement. If there's even a miniscule chance Fain might be needed, then given eternity, there's an almost certain chance that the Dark One we know is not the first Dark One. And Fain is different from Shai'tan. So the Dark One before Shai'tan was likely different from Him as well.

Why would the Wheel allow variance in the Shadow and what it brings out in people if it needs things the way they are to spin the Pattern?

Maybe it isn't chance, maybe it's a design feature.

The Wheel of Time offers reincarnation as a way to help people get better in each life, to build on what they learned in the past.

Shai'tan tempts and stokes a very particular part of His followers: the hunger for power and acclaim.

Shaisam would stoke their paranoia and distrust.

And people would grow the most from experiencing both types of temptation and darkness. A rotating cast of Dark Ones makes the turnings of the Wheel varied enough that souls can keep growing.

And while I'm not sure this is what Jordan intended, I think it's an interesting possibility in the text.

I'm moving some of my higher-quality posts over from Reddit. This post was originally made on /r/wot, and as there doesn't appear to be a dedicated Wheel of Time or fantasy magazine yet, I am posting here.

FULL SERIES SPOILERS AHEAD

TRIGGER WARNING: This post analyses a rather infamous arc that centers on male rape.

The original text of the post starts here:

Mat's arc with Tylin sparks a lot of discussion, and I notice a fair number of comments wishing the books took her actions more seriously, or taking the character's amused reactions as the book itself signaling this should be funny and rightly finding that disconcerting. I want to take some time to post an analysis of this arc and show that you are meant to find her actions and the lackluster reactions of the other characters disturbing at best, and sickening at worst.

There were a lot of great comments in this thread about how this arc was meant to mirror and comment on media from the 80's and 90's where rape of women is played for laughs. Jordan really liked to take tropes like this and reverse the roles to make a point or make people examine why they felt uneasy. I won't retread those points here, but think that thread is worth checking out.

I had the same initial reaction, but the more I think about it, the more I like the way it's handled.

One other thing to keep in mind with Jordan's writing is that he was absolutely steadfast in maintaining the unreliable narrator and letting things play out the way they would in real life without the book itself moralizing about right and wrong. All moralizing is done by the characters, and often we are meant to realize that what the characters are presenting as "right" is wrong. This is especially obvious in matters of fact when we know something a character is saying with 100% confidence is 100% wrong, but Jordan often does the same thing with moral lessons as well, where something a character is presenting as morally right is meant to be taken as morally wrong.

Jordan wrote his story the way he felt it would actually unfold, and left it up to you, the reader, to apply your own moral lens without being told by the book how to feel. Character's moral sensibilities are strictly bound by their culture, upbringing, and personality. No character ever breaks the fourth wall and applies our moral sensibilities to a situation for the sake of teaching a lesson to the audience.

That means a couple things for this arc:

• The prose itself never casts Tylin as a rapist, since none of our protagonists see it that way. Mat is a man so they find Tylin's "pursuit" of him amusing, the way Jordan believes they actually would given their culture.

• Mat does not have the language to describe or process what is happening to him. We clearly see he knows on some level it's wrong but his inner monologue is his normal, brash, humorous, self. Mat lies to himself about a lot of things and this is no exception.

However, there are a couple things that I think clearly demonstrate that RJ saw her actions as wrong.

First: Mat's inner dialog is really hard to read, he's constantly oscillating between confusion, despair, and cracking jokes. It's so clear he doesn't have the ability to process what is happening to him, and this makes his sections gut-wrenching. I think it's why so many people have a visceral reaction to the arc. A sample:

> > > “It isn’t natural,” he burst out, yanking the pipestem from between his teeth. “I’m the one who’s supposed to do the chasing!” [Tylin's] astonished eyes surely mirrored his own. Had Tylin been a tavern maid who smiled the right way, he might have tried his luck—well, if the tavern maid lacked a son who liked poking holes in people—but he was the one who chased. He had just never thought of it that way before. He had never had the need to, before. > >

> > > Tylin began laughing, shaking her head and wiping at her eyes with her fingers. “Oh, pigeon. I do keep forgetting. You are in Ebou Dar, now. I left a little present for you in the sitting room.” She patted his foot through the sheet. “Eat well today. You are going to need your strength.” > >

> > > Mat put a hand over his eyes and tried very hard not to weep. When he uncovered them, she was gone. > >

> > > ... > >

> > > There was also a red silk purse holding twenty gold crowns and a note that smelled of flowers. > >

> > > I would have bought you an earring, piglet, but I noticed your ear is not pierced. Have it done, and buy yourself something nice. > >

> > > He nearly wept again. He gave women presents. The world was standing on its head! Piglet? Oh, Light! After a minute, he did take the mask; she owed him that much, for his coat alone. > >

The crying is what really drives it home. If this was meant to truly be played for laughs Mat would not have such a painful inner monologue. Instead, Jordan is creating a dissonance between the humorous tone the other characters approach this arc with and Mat's inner emotional distress. It feels like Jordan asking us to consider the inner life of characters in other media that are the butt of rape jokes. Should we really be laughing at them? Or are we the palace maids to those characters' Mat?

There's also some points to make around Mat trying to figure out why he feels this way and reaching for reasons like "I'm the one who chases" rather than "she raped me" being a really great illustration of victims who can't even articulate why something was a violation in the aftermath of a traumatic experience and the gaslighting that happens to them, but let's move on to another character who laughs at the victim.

Second: when Mat tells Elayne what's happening, Elayne laughs at him initially, but then Mat, in a moment of selflessness, offers her the foxhead medallion to protect her from the Gohlam. She pauses, reassesses him, and:

> > > I. . . .” That faint blush returned to her cheeks. “I am sorry I laughed at you.” She cleared her throat, looking away. “Sometimes I forget my duty to my subjects. You are a worthy subject, Matrim Cauthon. I will see that Nynaeve understands the right of . . . of you and Tylin. Perhaps we can help.” > >

> > > “No,” he spluttered. “I mean, yes. I mean. . . . That is. . . . Oh, kiss a flaming goat if I know what I mean. I almost wish you didn’t know the truth. > >

> > > ... > >

> > > Aloud, she said, “I understand.” Sounding just as if she did. “Come along, now, Mat. We can’t waste time standing in one spot.” Gaping, he watched her lift skirts and cloak to make her way along the landing. She understood? She understood, and not one acid little comment, not one cutting remark? > >

This moment is narrated through Mat's eyes, so we don't know exactly what Elayne is thinking, but we DO know that Elayne is often depicted as having the highest EQ / empathy in the series. She plays peacemaker between her friends, cares for animals, and is the glue that holds her, Min and Aviendha together as friends rather than rivals through the tight bonds she consciously forms with both. She makes friends easily and is fiercely protective of them.

She also has zero issues with calling Mat on his bullshit.

So it's telling that she seems to recognize that this is affecting Mat deeply, and respect that even if she doesn't understand it. She may not go as far as realizing what is actually happening, and it may take her a moment to get there, but we can infer from her that she recognizes on some level that Mat is in real distress over it, and reacts to that, even offering to help him resolve it. This moment really stood out to me on my first read through.

There's a bunch of other things to dissect here, especially around the way victim-blaming and slut-shaming is interwoven into this scene (Elayne implies Mat was asking for it and got a taste of his own medicine, even though Mat is never shown flirting with someone who does not show interest), but let's move on to the next point.

Third: Tylin is killed by the Gholam.

Now, this may not seem like a point in the book's favor. Tylin's death seems to be played as a tragedy. When a character is killed for karmic reasons, most books wink at the reader a little, with some line of narration or dialog emphasizing that they got what was coming to them.

This is not the case with Tylin. Robert Jordan writes Mat's reaction authentically, and Mat has come to care for his abuser, as often happens in the real world. Her death is "played" as tragedy because that's how our narrator feels about it.

> > > Mat did not realize his knees had given way until he found himself sitting on the floor with his head buzzing. He could hear her voice. You’ll get your head cut off yet if you’re not careful, piglet, and I wouldn’t like that. Setalle leaned forward on the narrow bed to press a hand against his cheek in commiseration. > >

> > > ... > >

> > > [Tuon] was watching him, a neutral expression on her face. “Did you care for Tylin so deeply?” she said in a cautious voice. > >

> > > “Yes. No. Burn me, I liked her!” Turning away, he scrubbed fingers through his hair, pushing the cap off. He had never been so glad to get away from a woman in his life, but this…! “And I left her tied up and gagged so she couldn’t even call for help, easy prey for the gholam,” he said bitterly. “It was looking for me. Don’t shake your head. Thom. You know it as well as I do.” > >

But I contend that this death is one of Karmic justice. The Gholam only finds Tylin because it is looking for Mat, and his scent is all over her room as a result of her actions, so her immoral actions directly lead to her death

Further, she is killed by the Gholam while tied up and helpless, a perfect mirror of the situations she forces on Mat with her pink ribbons. Mat even remarks that she never would have stood a chance and couldn't call for help, which has symmetry with the absolute political and social power Tylin had over him. We even have scenes earlier on when he realizes the whole palace is complicit in serving him up to Tylin and there's no one he can turn to for help.

Such symmetry between death and actions is typical of characters being punished for their transgressions, but Jordan's style is not to moralize about it directly. Instead he presents to us the character's authentic reactions and thoughts. The symbolism and meaning is there for us to pick up on, but the unreliable narrator lenses it as a senseless killing of an innocent woman.

Jordan wants to make us uncomfortable, but he's not interested in handing us the answer to why on a silver platter. It's up to us to use our own reasoning and morals to suss that out.

TLDR: Jordan doesn't moralize himself in the books. He expects you to feel the outrage and uneasiness yourself, then connect the dots. Tylin's killing bears all the hallmarks of Karmic justice, so while our characters don't take what she is doing to Mat seriously, I think we are clearly meant to conclude it is wrong.

In many ways Jordan used this arc to examine Rape Culture before "Rape Culture" was a mainstream discussion.

This is a post I originally made on the /r/wot subreddit. Figured I would start moving over some of my high effort posts to the fediverse. There doesn't appear to be a big fantasy or Wheel of Time community yet so I thought I would post here

FULL SERIES SPOILERS AHEAD

Padan Fain gets ganked like a chump at the last battle. His incidental death disappointed many fans.

Yet if we peek below the surface of Fain's demise, I believe hints of a subtle design in the Pattern emerge that can be spun forward into implications about the Creator's deepest convictions.

The theory I'm about to lay out rests on an existing theory many of you will be familiar with: Fain as a backup Dark One.

Let's review:

In the depths of Shayul Ghul, Rand is grappling not just with the Dark One, but with himself. He enters the fray determined to destroy the Dark One for good, and throughout the battle is challenged with visions of the meaningless existence he would leave for the world, were he to achieve his goal.

At this point, the Pattern can't rely on what Rand will choose, so it has Fain on standby to take the Dark One's place if needed. And just like the pattern shanked the False Dragons it produced after Rand took up the mantle, as soon as Rand chooses not to destroy the Dark One, the Wheel unceremoniously disposes of Fain; it's clear the burgeoning God is no longer needed to spin the Pattern as intended. Mat is just a convenient nearby tool it has arranged to complete the task.

A few passages back this up:

> > > [Padan Fain] was not reborn yet, not completely. He would need to find a place to infest, a place where the barriers between worlds were thin.There, he could seep his self into the very stones and embed his awareness into that location. > >

At that moment, Fain is going towards the Mouth of Shayul Ghul to kill Rand. Rand is at the perfect place for Fain to infest: the Bore. The Pattern aimed him like an arrow towards where it needed him at the Last Battle. And it did it all the way in book one, when it tricked the Dark One into imprinting Fain on Rand.

Let me say that again.

The Pattern tricked the Dark One into helping create and maneuver His own replacement.

I mean, just look at Faine's new name for himself:

> > > Shaisam rolled onto the battlefield at Thakan’dar. > >

Shaisam. Looks a lot like Shai'tan, huh?

There's a few implications I LOVE about this theory. Let's look at another passage:

> > > The process would take years, but once it happened, he would become more difficult to kill. > >

> > > Right now, Shaisam was frail. This mortal form that walked at the center of his mind … he was bound to it. Fain, it had been. Padan Fain. > >

> > > Still, he was vast. Those souls had given rise to much mist, and it—in turn—found others to feed upon. Men fought Shadowspawn before him. All would give him strength. > >

This snippet implies that although Fain is vulnerable, he's approaching the amount of power he can weild. His power is, if not equal to, at least comparable to the Dark One when the Pattern composts him. This makes sense. The Pattern's need for him was imminent if the Dark One was to be destroyed; there isn't a TON of time left for him to rank up his power.

Which leads to a conclusion: the Pattern could have also easily disposed of the Dark One at any point in the story. It just doesn't. Instead, it keeps the Dark One just contained enough to allow the universe's inhabitants to live their lives while having the choice to give into evil or not. If we think about it, walking that line likely takes even greater dominance than simply defeating the Dark One outright.

This solves another problem. We know that in other turnings of the Wheel, the Champion of the Light went over to the Shadow. In those turnings, the war was a draw. From the Crossroads of Twilight book tour:

> > > Robert Jordan: Yes, the Champion of the Light has gone over in the past. This is a game you have to win every time. Or rather, that you can only lose once--you can stay in if you get a draw. Think of a tournament with single elimination. If you lose once, that's it. In the past, when the Champion of the Light has gone over to the Shadow, the result has been a draw. > >

That always struck me as weird. Can you imagine if god-tier Rand had gone over to the Shadow? How could that possibly end in anything other than a decisive loss on the Light's part? It strains credulity that the Light could eek out a draw from such a situation over and over again through eternity. Statistically, if the light has triumphed an endless number of times (because if they hadn't, the universe wouldn't exist) it' not an unlikely win, it's an inevitable one. It has to have a 100% chance of happening, because even a 0.00001% chance of the Light losing existed, it would have happened long before the turning we get to see.

The Creator stacked the deck. The Wheel could handle Darth Rand going over to the Shadow like it easily handled Fain. As easily as it could handle the Dark One. It's not fighting against The Dark One, it needs the Dark One to fulfill its purpose and spin the Pattern, because the Pattern is dominated by the interacting lives of those grappling between choosing the Light or the Dark. It's preserving the Dark just as much as it's preserving the Light. In fact, the Pattern needs the Dark so badly the creator set up the Wheel to spin out new Dark Ones the same way it spins out Champions to fight them.

Speaking of which, Fain's existence as the waiter-in-the-wings has a counterpart on the light. Nakomi's inclusion in the story may seem unrelated -- and often puzzling -- at first, but it plays directly into the worldbuilding here. If we accept that The Pattern has positioned her to take up the mantle of Champion should Rand fall — either to death, or despair — she and Fain as a pair reinforce that the conflict between light and dark is the greatest purpose of the Pattern, and must be kept going at all costs.

I'm not going to belabor how CLEARLY this paints the same picture Rand ultimately embraces: to the Creator, the choice between right and wrong is essential for being human to be meaningful.

Instead I want to examine the differences between Fain and the Dark One. The fact that they even are different is interesting. Fain is able to corrupt Trollocs and Mydrall with his power, and it changes their appearance and demeanor. From A Memory of Light:

> > > [Faine's] drones stumbled down the hillside, cloaked in mists. Trollocs with their skin pocked, as if it had boiled. Dead white eyes. He hardly needed them any longer, as their souls had given him fuel to rebuild himself. > >

The Dark One's followers are fueled by greed and ambition to a tee. They want to dominate others to their will, they want Immortality to rule the world.

But Fain / Mordeth's / Shaisam's 'followers'... those he has touched like dagger-Matt, Shadar Logath, Faine's Whitecloaks -- they're disheveled where the Forsaken are polished, Paranoid where the Forsaken are conniving. Fevered where the Forsaken are cold. Isolationists where the Forsaken crave the spotlight. Give into base instinct where the Forsaken plot.

There are theories that Elaida and Masema were touched by the Dagger, and they exhibit these same tendencies which make them feel pretty distinct from the Forsaken.

If Fain really is meant as a possible replacement, then that means the Pattern might need that replacement. If there's even a miniscule chance Fain might be needed, then given eternity, there's an almost certain chance that the Dark One we know is not the first Dark One. And Fain is different from Shai'tan. So the Dark One before Shai'tan was likely different from Him as well.

Why would the Wheel allow variance in the Shadow and what it brings out in people if it needs things the way they are to spin the Pattern?

Maybe it isn't chance, maybe it's a design feature.

The Wheel of Time offers reincarnation as a way to help people get better in each life, to build on what they learned in the past.

Shai'tan tempts and stokes a very particular part of His followers: the hunger for power and acclaim.

Shaisam would stoke their paranoia and distrust.

And people would grow the most from experiencing both types of temptation and darkness. A rotating cast of Dark Ones makes the turnings of the Wheel varied enough that souls can keep growing.

And while I'm not sure this is what Jordan intended, I think it's an interesting possibility in the text.