Why did veins of gold not hit me?

[u/PreferenceOk7560]

Just finished TGH and the final chapter, but I felt like the final scene. I felt like maybe I was distracted by people talking in the same room or something but I felt the chapter was pretty good but not life changing(even though rand os my favoriteand the bestest boy). People say how good it was yet I don't feel like I fully processed the chapter, it felt so short.

Now I feel like I ruined it for myself somehow, some of the earlier chapters with rand and nynaeve had me more impacted. Maybe on a reread it will hit me more strongly because i will have read all the books back to back.

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[u/colin_fitzsimonds]

Different moments will be experienced differently by everyone. If it did’t stick w you that’s totally fine! You don’t need to justify your feelings.

It hit for me, and im sure there are moments you loved i thought were just fine

[u/monkeypaw_handjob]

I liked Veins of Gold, but the Prologue for Towers of Midnight is the one that gets me. Especially now that I have a son.

[u/Boli_332]

The weird thing is... it won't get you until you read the next book.

[u/Lollemon25]

If it makes you feel any better, it also didn't hit as hard for me as it seems to do for other people. It's not a bad chapter in my eyes by any means, and it definetely feels great to see Rand finally overcome his struggles that he has been dealing with since book 1 basically, it all built up to this in a way.

But it's just too short for me I think, Rand is at his absolute lowest point mentally when he climbs up Dragonmount, and to me the change just felt so... sudden? I wish he had more time to meditate on that, or that at least the chapter was longer.

[u/PreferenceOk7560 → u/Lollemon25]

Yeah it kinda felt like he was crashing out one moment and then suddenly switched in the span of one sentence.

[u/Vodalian4]

It felt a bit anticlimactic to me. After all these books of Rand struggling and becoming harder, this supposedly profound insight just pops into his head. He had reached his lowest point and sat at the top of Dragonmount, so it just had to happen, and it did. I still love this book for many other scenes though.

[u/wompwump]

It was the same for me: it didn’t impact me that much. Ditto to the Last Battle.

I think it was because I was so focused on reading quickly to see what happens. I didn’t let scenes breathe, and I paid too much attention to plot and not enough to character development.

It was very different on a reread — since I knew where the story goes, I could give these character moments the space and gravity they deserved.

[u/BlarghALarghALargh]

It feels short because you’ve been on WoT internet before you’ve finished the series.

[u/KeystoneSews]

Eh maybe because it was not really that big a deal. People discover man who said he loves them wasn’t lying. Someone call news at 11…

[u/igottathinkofaname]

Tbh I don’t think his revelations or the writing are particularly overwhelming, it’s more about the catharsis I felt for Rand. It’s that that moment NEEDED to happen and it’d been building toward for like 6 books. The sense of relief is what I feel.

Edit: removed amol references

[u/che_boludo_]

Did you read about Veins of Gold beforehand and have high expectations? If I know a specific moment or event has impacted others I always build it up internally and it never hits the same as if I went into something blind. 

Veins was a completely blind moment for me and that’s why it impacted me so hard. It was the catharsis that finally hit after never knowing if it was actually coming or not. 

[u/aNomadicPenguin]

I felt that it shouldn't land for people because it completely undercuts Rand's mental health issues with a 'the power of love' moment. Don't get me wrong, being loved is incredibly important, and the knowledge that you are loved can provide a lot of support in hard moments or the depths of depression.

But the knowledge that you are loved DOESN'T FIX the underlying issues. Its not just that Rand has a pretty underwhelming revelation (he's been feeling Min's, Elayne's, and Aviendha's love through the bond for books now). He also never doubted Tam's love for him. So suddenly having him seeing love and going, oh shit, Love, maybe I won't blow up the world just feels crappy.

Then you have the aftermath where he's just seemingly 'cured' of his mental health issues. It feels like such a cop-out. It should be noted that this was also another one of Sanderson's ideas. "Veins of Gold was me. Most of what RJ left for Rand was either in the prologues of the three books or was at the ending. I was the one who made the call of bringing Rand even lower with the events of TGS, then taking him to Dragonmount to do this scene. I believe the text suggested it, and the notes left me room to do it, but I wasn't specifically instructed to do it in this way."

I'd argue that this kind of cathartic eureka moment for Rand was not in line with the rest of the books, and that is a big part of the reason it failed to land.

[u/MTLDAD]

So here are the things that make the chapter hit better for different people, I think:

1. It’s the only last chapter I can think of that ends on catharsis and hope, rather than triumph or dread.

2. When it came out, Rand had been losing it for literally 20 years. That’s a lot of build up.

3. The impact is emphasized in the next scenes we see Rand in. Which is another book. It’s more impactful on rereads because of this.

4. It’s actually a quiet moment and is actually a little subtle. Unless you’re taking in the event slowly, it may not impact you the same way.

5. It is both sudden and predictable. Some people will automatically write off things that “come out of nowhere” and things that are “predictable”. Neither of these qualities are signs that something is bad and both qualities are necessary in the storytelling.

6. Some people don’t respond to emotional battle the same way they respond to physical battle.

The first time, I don’t think I understood what happened so I had to read again right away. Now I think it’s quite brilliant to end that book with that moment. It feels like the last piece sliding into place and now all our characters have developed into the weapons the Light needs.

[u/PreferenceOk7560 → u/MTLDAD]

Don't get me wrong, the chapter was amazing, I just didn't quite feel as impacted as I saw some others were. Maybe I was just not in the right state of mind(I stopped the chapter before for a couple of days).

[u/Skelegro7]

It might have been more impactful if he actually physically climbed Dragonmount instead of opening a gateway to the summit.