A Great Lan Quote

You can never know everything, and part of what you know is always wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing that. A portion of courage lies in going on anyways.
-Lan Mandragoran

And THAT is the reason why Lan is my favorite character in the books. A blademaster who is amazingly wise. It follows the notion of the warrior-poet: a man who is skilled in both the martial and fine arts. A great way to live one's life.

I have to agree with Eric 100% that Lan is my favorite character. I loved reading about Lan and i think Jordan did an amazing job in creating his character.

Where is it that this warrior-poet falls in love and marries the fair madden?

O wait wrong story.......?

Lan is one of my favorites as well. He's a living Yin Yang. Always two sides to everything about him. Warrior/Poet... Loving husband/stone cold killer. And it's no wonder since there are SOOOO many Yin Yang references in the books. Am I wrong, or has anyone else always pictured the ancient Aes Sedai symbol as a Yin Yang?!

Mart

I think I'm going to create categories for each of the major characters for focused discussion. I could gush about Lan all year.

The Aes Sedai symbol is obviously ripped from the Yin Yang. Jordan borrows from many Asian philosophies, including martial philosophy. The entire concept of the flame and the void is borrowed both from Japanese and Chinese philosophy. The Japanese call this mental state "mushin" which has been translated into "mind like a mirror." My sensei teaches this philosophy, and I've always interpreted it to mean that your mind is in ultimate control of your body, not the other way around. All external forces reflect off of your mind--you don't allow intimidation, fear, anger, or other emotions to affect your actions. My wrestlers believe they should get angry to help them win a match, and I constantly argue with them that anger just clouds your judgment and prohibits you from executing your best moves. Anger does not allow one's muscles to perform as trained--it clouds muscle memory. I'm currently trying to find evidence that the European swordmasters followed a similar philosophy. I find it hard to believe that eastern martial arts has a monopoly on the philosophy of a warrior's mental state. Western martial arts have been in practice since before the time of the Greeks, so one would have to assume that there's writing somewhere on the topic.