Interviews and News Articles

[Ralph]

4 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

Balefire!! 

then it will really never have existed

[Elder_Haman]

6 hours ago, Ralph said:

then it will really never have existed

Correct. 

[Skipp]

Great video here by Nae'blis.  He talks about being taken out to Prague to tour Jordan studios and other BTS set locations.  It is really interesting when he talks about the restrictions, or lack there of, that Amazon had for them especially concerning the ongoing strike.

 

Don't know why but when they showed the Tar Valon set it kinda broke my brain.  I knew they built a large set but I didn't imagine it to be so continuous.

 

 

[nsmallw]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:16 AM, Scarloc99 said:

Where is that Rand's moment being lost?

They had already depowered Rand even before that confrontation with the 3(?) different times he was shielded easily.   The "battle" with Ishy at end of season two wasn't really a battle, Ishy LET Rand stab him. Ishy wanted to die once he knew that Rand wouldn't turn to the Dark.  Similarly, the "battle" with Ishy in season one was also not really a battle since no matter what Rand did, Ishy would win. 

 

Knowing all that, I think the show is going to have a more difficult time powering UP Rand. 

I am hopeful season 3 does exactly that.

[Samt]

1 hour ago, nsmallw said:

They had already depowered Rand even before that confrontation with the 3(?) different times he was shielded easily.   The "battle" with Ishy at end of season two wasn't really a battle, Ishy LET Rand stab him. Ishy wanted to die once he knew that Rand wouldn't turn to the Dark.  Similarly, the "battle" with Ishy in season one was also not really a battle since no matter what Rand did, Ishy would win. 

 

Knowing all that, I think the show is going to have a more difficult time powering UP Rand. 

I am hopeful season 3 does exactly that.

 

 

There is a model of human development where first we are dependent, then we are independent, and then we can be interdependent with the people around us.  Trying to jump straight to interdependent makes it just feel like dependent.  We need to see Rand as independent first.  

[Scarloc99]

On 11/17/2023 at 2:11 PM, nsmallw said:

They had already depowered Rand even before that confrontation with the 3(?) different times he was shielded easily.   The "battle" with Ishy at end of season two wasn't really a battle, Ishy LET Rand stab him. Ishy wanted to die once he knew that Rand wouldn't turn to the Dark.  Similarly, the "battle" with Ishy in season one was also not really a battle since no matter what Rand did, Ishy would win. 

 

Knowing all that, I think the show is going to have a more difficult time powering UP Rand. 

I am hopeful season 3 does exactly that.

Robert Jordan struggled to de power Rand once he realised he had more books to develop him in, it is one of the weak points of the first 3 books. He did it by having Rand lose control of the world around him politically and by constantly finding new power levels for the bad guys and things they could do. Oh and having Rand “forget” how he did things. 
 

The TV show is doing his build the right way, the way RJ would have done it if he knew in book 1 he had a 14 book arc to tell this story. People really need to remember that. 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Scarloc99

[Samt]

On 11/18/2023 at 5:20 PM, Scarloc99 said:

Robert Jordan struggled to de power Rand once he realised he had more books to develop him in, it is one of the weak points of the first 3 books. He did it by having Rand lose control of the world around him politically and by constantly finding new power levels for the bad guys and things they could do. Oh and having Rand “forget” how he did things. 
 

The TV show is doing his build the right way, the way RJ would have done it if he knew in book 1 he had a 14 book arc to tell this story. People really need to remember that. 

It's likely that some things would have been different in the first few books if RJ had the full scope of the series when writing them.  However, I never got the feeling that there was a big problem with needing to depower Rand after the first 3 books.  

Spoiler

At the Eye of the World, Someshta and Moiraine help Rand hold off Balthamal and Aginor long enough for Rand to get the pool of Saidin.  It's then with the help of the pool (and presumably through that power triggering the LTT muscle memories) that Rand is able to defeat Aginor, the Trolloc army, and Ishamael.  I feel that this showdown doesn't necessarily match the tone of some of the books to come and the writing feels very mysterious and abstract.  But there isn't a power problem afterwards because Someshta is dead and the pool is gone.  

Similarly, at Falme, Rand is being toyed with by Ishamael until he sheaths the sword.  This is a good payoff for Rand's training and he has to bear the price of that victory for the rest of the series with the wound.  In this way, it doesn't feel cheap and we don't feel like there is a question as to why Rand can't just do that again.  

 

In Tear, Moiraine helps Rand double team Belal and is actually the one who takes him out. This allows Rand to claim Callandor and use it to finally conclusively best Ishamael.  Callandor does create some power issues going forward, but it also kicks off the rest of the story and moves Rand into his real struggle.  

 As you mentioned, Rand's struggle in the books is only rarely about obtaining enough personal ability to complete his mission.  (You seem to think that this is somewhat forced by the fact that Rand is superpowered very early on in the series and needs other types of struggles.  This may or may not be true, but it is the story that we get in the books and it isn't a bad one.)  He struggles with political maneuvering and overcoming or accepting his own impending madness.  His arc is about mastering himself as a person and learning to trust and rely on his friends. That arc works because he starts as someone who could believably expect that he is the independent savior of the world.  In the show, we don't see a compelling reason to believe that Rand is anything other than a puppet and figurehead or that he wouldn't believe that himself.  

[Scarloc99]

19 hours ago, Samt said:

It's likely that some things would have been different in the first few books if RJ had the full scope of the series when writing them.  However, I never got the feeling that there was a big problem with needing to depower Rand after the first 3 books.  

  Hide contents

At the Eye of the World, Someshta and Moiraine help Rand hold off Balthamal and Aginor long enough for Rand to get the pool of Saidin.  It's then with the help of the pool (and presumably through that power triggering the LTT muscle memories) that Rand is able to defeat Aginor, the Trolloc army, and Ishamael.  I feel that this showdown doesn't necessarily match the tone of some of the books to come and the writing feels very mysterious and abstract.  But there isn't a power problem afterwards because Someshta is dead and the pool is gone.  

Similarly, at Falme, Rand is being toyed with by Ishamael until he sheaths the sword.  This is a good payoff for Rand's training and he has to bear the price of that victory for the rest of the series with the wound.  In this way, it doesn't feel cheap and we don't feel like there is a question as to why Rand can't just do that again.  

 

In Tear, Moiraine helps Rand double team Belal and is actually the one who takes him out. This allows Rand to claim Callandor and use it to finally conclusively best Ishamael.  Callandor does create some power issues going forward, but it also kicks off the rest of the story and moves Rand into his real struggle.  

 As you mentioned, Rand's struggle in the books is only rarely about obtaining enough personal ability to complete his mission.  (You seem to think that this is somewhat forced by the fact that Rand is superpowered very early on in the series and needs other types of struggles.  This may or may not be true, but it is the story that we get in the books and it isn't a bad one.)  He struggles with political maneuvering and overcoming or accepting his own impending madness.  His arc is about mastering himself as a person and learning to trust and rely on his friends. That arc works because he starts as someone who could believably expect that he is the independent savior of the world.  In the show, we don't see a compelling reason to believe that Rand is anything other than a puppet and figurehead or that he wouldn't believe that himself.  

Season 2 he becomes the one in charge, when he decides to enter the world of dreams it is his choice and everything from there is his decision. That is the entirety of season 2 Rand taking charge of his destiny, but also understanding the independence of others (egwene didn’t need saving which is a really neat way of setting there relationship in the books). 

[Samt]

5 hours ago, Scarloc99 said:

Season 2 he becomes the one in charge, when he decides to enter the world of dreams it is his choice and everything from there is his decision. That is the entirety of season 2 Rand taking charge of his destiny, but also understanding the independence of others (egwene didn’t need saving which is a really neat way of setting there relationship in the books). 

The point is that story is less believable and compelling because Rand hasn't been shown to be powerful or competent.   The foundation of the arc is that Rand is superpowered and it develops from there.  It doesn't make sense for Rand to think that he is going to save the world singlehandedly when he hasn't been shown to be more powerful than even a below average Aes Sedai.  

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

7 hours ago, Samt said:

The point is that story is less believable and compelling because Rand hasn't been shown to be powerful or competent.   The foundation of the arc is that Rand is superpowered and it develops from there.  It doesn't make sense for Rand to think that he is going to save the world singlehandedly when he hasn't been shown to be more powerful than even a below average Aes Sedai.  

Or you could argue that it helps define it - the challenge that he must overcome, not only must he do it alone, but also has to overcome everyone that is trying to help him as well as those who are trying to stop him. And given as yet he is untrained, it would make zero sense that he is more than a match for them all. The books had no choice but to have him "instinctively" do things with the power and beat those that would have been a challenge for LTT. The show is taking the opportunity to do it differently. Imho, of course, but most definitely your opinion is not the only way of looking at it, as it relies very heavily on your interpretation of the book. 

[Samt]

6 hours ago, HeavyHalfMoonBlade said:

Or you could argue that it helps define it - the challenge that he must overcome, not only must he do it alone, but also has to overcome everyone that is trying to help him as well as those who are trying to stop him. And given as yet he is untrained, it would make zero sense that he is more than a match for them all. The books had no choice but to have him "instinctively" do things with the power and beat those that would have been a challenge for LTT. The show is taking the opportunity to do it differently. Imho, of course, but most definitely your opinion is not the only way of looking at it, as it relies very heavily on your interpretation of the book. 

The show is free to do whatever it wants and it's clear that is what Rafe is doing.  But to suggest that the show has created a clear explanation of power progression and comparisons among the main characters is a stretch.  If anything, they have doubled down on the idea that the main characters can just do whatever they want, whenever they want and the power will allow it.  

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

39 minutes ago, Samt said:

The show is free to do whatever it wants and it's clear that is what Rafe is doing.  But to suggest that the show has created a clear explanation of power progression and comparisons among the main characters is a stretch.  If anything, they have doubled down on the idea that the main characters can just do whatever they want, whenever they want and the power will allow it.  

That did not answer anything I wrote. 

 

So the show is wrong if it differs from the book, it is wrong if it follows the book, and the main thing to take out of it is that it is Rafe's fault, his personally. 

 

OK, thanks for clearing that up. So glad we could discuss Rand's arc in terms of his growth of power. 

[Rhaze]

On 11/18/2023 at 6:20 PM, Scarloc99 said:

Robert Jordan struggled to de power Rand once he realised he had more books to develop him in, it is one of the weak points of the first 3 books. He did it by having Rand lose control of the world around him politically and by constantly finding new power levels for the bad guys and things they could do. Oh and having Rand “forget” how he did things. 
 

The TV show is doing his build the right way, the way RJ would have done it if he knew in book 1 he had a 14 book arc to tell this story. People really need to remember that. 

 Yet they did it with Egwene and Nynaeve. Egwene literally healed a husk of a shell of a burned out Nynaeve and then went back to novice. Nynaeve pulled galaxies together and bubble healed an entire room and then back to struggling. But hey we cant let Rand show any power, he is only the Dragon Reborn.

[Skipp]

1 hour ago, Rhaze said:

 Yet they did it with Egwene and Nynaeve. Egwene literally healed a husk of a shell of a burned out Nynaeve and then went back to novice. Nynaeve pulled galaxies together and bubble healed an entire room and then back to struggling. But hey we cant let Rand show any power, he is only the Dragon Reborn.

Rand broke cuendillar, something we have only seen Ishy do.

[king of nowhere]

This thread is for news and articles.

If you want a detailed discussion on rand's arc, you should make another thread for it

[Scarloc99]

16 hours ago, Rhaze said:

 Yet they did it with Egwene and Nynaeve. Egwene literally healed a husk of a shell of a burned out Nynaeve and then went back to novice. Nynaeve pulled galaxies together and bubble healed an entire room and then back to struggling. But hey we cant let Rand show any power, he is only the Dragon Reborn.

Rafe has addressed the Egwene thing, he has apologised and stated it was a mistake, it is what it is. The Nyn thing how did she pull galaxies together lol, she healed an entire room because she was scared and angry and yes she can';t do it again nor because of the block and not understanding what she did. 

Rand has shown power, but if you have him massively OP like he is at the end of EOTW you have to have a whole exposition to explain that, His arc mirrors the girls, learning, developing and slowly gettig to be the man who ends up saving the world. 

[Skipp]

This was a wonderful article and interview.  It is nice to see WoT getting noticed aside from what I would call "the regular" sites.

 

https://defector.com/how-the-wheel-of-time-made-great-art-out-of-great-pain

[books of Robert Jordan]

https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DEIA_InclusionReport_2023_RF.pdf

[Samt]

On 3/3/2024 at 3:50 AM, books of Robert Jordan said:

https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DEIA_InclusionReport_2023_RF.pdf

Lies. Everyone knows that Aviendha was always supposed to be black and there is no way they changed things in order to check boxes.

[Mirefox]

On 3/3/2024 at 4:50 AM, books of Robert Jordan said:

https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DEIA_InclusionReport_2023_RF.pdf

If you check enough boxes then the quality of the product doesn’t matter.  The subjective value of art is secondary to the objective value of making sure you’ve got more checked boxes than the next guy.

[Kaleb]

https://www.wotseries.com/2024/04/26/thandi-sebe-joins-season-3-of-the-wheel-of-time/

 

LIGHT BE PRAISED!!!

Can't wait to see this episode, I re-read those Rhuidean columns chapters just on their own like 20 times.

 

"Actor Thandi Sebe joins the cast of The Wheel of Time for its third season. According to the actor’s resume, she will play the role of Solinda, an Aes Sedai from the time of the Breaking of the World."

 

Spoiler for those who haven't read The Shadow Rising

Spoiler

"According to The Wheel of Time Companion, Solinda was “an Aes Sedai during the Breaking who helped make the Eye of the World.” It was Solinda who set Jonai on his way with the remaining Da’shain Aiel to carry the objects of the Power to safety. She told the story of the 10,000 Aiel who linked arms, surrounding a mad male Aes Sedai who killed them one by one as they closed their ranks and sang, buying the citizens valuable time to flee. She had implored Jonai to “keep the Covenant” and ensure that the Da’shain “keep the Way of the Leaf.”"

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Kaleb