> LOL hmm, the Bible example seems to provoke a strong response; it was an ill-considered example. I shall have to remmeber to be more careful in future ; - )

Not at all. It was the perfect example, because it was easy to debunk it as one. :-) You'll have to do that more often in the future. :-)

> Without wanting to cross into a realm of which I'm definitely no expert, one of the comments i keep hearing about Jordan's books, from both New Age types and not, is that they 'resonate' with the reader; so many have commented that they feel like (intuitively) that there is a truthfulness to the stories; that on some level, they were/are real ... A lot of mystical hogwash? Perhaps - I cannot say. But I've heard it too many times from such a broad range of people (male and female) - none of them apparently stupid.

This is absolutely valid and important. It's pretty obvious that's he's connected with a lot of readers in this way, and that in itself is a remarkable accomplishment, regardless of whatever flaws there are in the work.

> LOL My my, an interesting interpretation of The Mists of Avalon .... I didn't see it as terribly PC, and it was written some time before PC was fashionable, I believe ... As for uther, Arthur, Lancelot and Merlin being manipulated and destroyed by the wiles of women LOL very amusing - but i disagree; they're own choices, they're greed, desires are what destroyed them ...

I was speaking facetiously, so I exaggerated a little bit, but I don't think it's wholly untrue. Uther certainly met his end from greed and lust -- you can't say it was Igraine's fault! (Did I get the right name there?) And Lancelot's arrogance was instrumental in his own downfall, although Guinevere must share the blame for her unfaithfulness to Arthur. But Arthur's destruction by Morgause (or, in newer accounts of the legend, Morgan le Fay) and Merlin's destruction by Nimue were absolutely out of their own hands. Morgause and Nimue saw what they wanted, ensnared Arthur and Merlin by using their gender against them, and left them crushed. Anyway, it's hard to deny that the Arthurian legends were all about how women destroyed great men (regardless of fault), just as the Iliad is all about how one woman destroyed an entire civilization (this time not her fault at all -- in this case it probably says more about men than women).