Foodie Similes
Animals and other creatures are often at the center of the similes cropping up in this series. These are people close to nature; they usually must themselves kill the meat they eat. Metaphorical language referencing the non-human world is a hallmark of those whose lives are spent so close to nature:
"You have been as open as a mussel, Rand, but I am not blind.”
Darkness
Since it is almost impossible to not find it in a short story, it is absolutely inevitable that darkness will crop up in metaphorical form in a 700-plus page novel. Indeed, darkness is used metaphorically throughout the narrative. And yet perhaps not so effectively as in its most efficient use:
“Darkness consumed her.”
Growing Old
A character named Viendre offers some advice to Elayne on the prospect of old-fashioned mortality and the unavoidable consequence of aging. Suffice to say, Viendre is not what one would call a real “up” person. The lecture is punctuated with a real downer of a metaphorical image on the issue of external properties:
“Your body is only clothing. Your flesh will wither, but you are your heart and mind, and they do not change except to grow stronger."
Battles of the Sexes
Many—a great many—uses of metaphorical language in this fantasy series is devoted to men pontificating about the flaws of women and women doing the same about the flaws of men. Or, perhaps more accurately state, pontificating about their perception—widespread as they may be—of the opposite sex. A typical example:
“Wildfire did not run through dry woods as fast as gossip ran through women.”
Weirdness
Every once in a while the urge to avoid a simile that has become trite or lost its impact because of overuse can push a writer to the point of desperation. At times like that it is not unusual to stumble across a metaphorical image that is so far from overused and trite as to sound downright weird and nonsensical:
“If he was going to get her back, he needed to strangle fear and see. But it was like trying to strangle a tree.”
