Red Sister's Hijab

[TheMountain]

Haven't seen anybody comment on this... is there any culture in the books that wears a hijab (which obviously would be called something else)? The closest thing I can think of is the Aiel Shoufa or the veils worn by foreigners in Shara. Was this perhaps an attempt to achieve greater diversity in casting? If so, I wonder if they will address this later by making this a practice of one of the existing cultures in the show.

Edited November 28, 2021 by TheMountain

[Arie]

(Moderator Note: Keep it nice, please. :))

[Elder_Haman]

I agree. It’s going to become part of one of the cultures. IIRC there’s another sister in a head covering in the shot of the full Hall of the Tower. 

[Agitel]

I interpreted it as a WOT-world cultural thing.

[WhiteVeils]

I think that this could be an interesting version of Taraboners, rather than the filmy veils in front of their faces (which would be annoying to act around anyway).

[Arie]

Oooh, i'm all for that kind of replacement of the Veils

[Guire]

16 minutes ago, Arie said:

Oooh, i'm all for that kind of replacement of the Veils

This is actually the kind of diversity I wanted in show over cosmopolitan mix of Two Rivers.  Loved Ghealdan being Iberian adjacent.  Give me a city state with hijab instead of veils.  I like to be able to kind of see big world by seeing cultural and racial identifiers.  It doesn't have to be monolith or demeaning.  I would have loved them casting whole Randland cultures from say Pakistan, Mongolia, Nigeria, and Thailand but change out their culture.  Tear as Haitian actors with nobles acting like Spanish Courtiers would be cool as snift to me.

[king of nowhere]

they are all dressed in red, but they look all of different ethnicities and are all dressed in different styles. it's just a sign of the aes sedai being multicultural.

we may see similar dress styles later; it's the kind of details they are paying attention to.

[SinisterDeath]

5 hours ago, TheMountain said:

Haven't seen anybody comment on this... is there any culture in the books that wears a hijab (which obviously would be called something else)? The closest thing I can think of is the Aiel Shoufa or the veils worn by foreigners in Shara. Was this perhaps an attempt to achieve greater diversity in casting? If so, I wonder if they will address this later by making this a practice of one of the existing cultures in the show.

As far as I know, nothing in the books that explicitly states one nation wears it... but there's also gaps in wot fashion that we don't know about. What do Gheladan women wear? Those in Kandor? Are there sub-cultures within nations?

[Zarathustra]

There may have been an anecdote about Sharan women (being based on crusader stories about Muslim women), but it was more of a "outlanders are not welcome" allusion to trading in Arabia (with a heavy shot of the Roman saying about not trusting Arab traders) or pre-opium war China.  I might be wrong though--there were only 4 or 5 places that, to me, had clear ties to real world locations/cultures (others seemed to be composites).

 

They are playing on the shawl thing a bit, but, as with their other poor choices, they've incorporated something from the BBC's new take on representation in the jolly old UK sans regards for the books.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2021 by Zarathustra

[KakitaOCU]

Not that we're likely to get into nameless red #3's backstory unless she turns out to be someone important to the story, but another take on it outside culture.

Maybe it's a personal preference?  Like, if this is Pevara for example, what if they tweaked it just a bit and she was present for what happened to her family and was scarred by flame or some such.  Or maybe her brother really loved her hair and it causes a bad memory and she lead to covering it and that became habit.

Those are two really shallow quick thought responses, but it doesn't have to be a culture piece automatically. ?

[Ryrin]

On 11/28/2021 at 2:38 PM, Agitel said:

I interpreted it as a WOT-world cultural thing.

Me too. I really think the multicultural thing is working so well.

[DojoToad]

On 11/28/2021 at 6:52 PM, Arie said:

Oooh, i'm all for that kind of replacement of the Veils

Especially with the mustaches!  Yuck

[TheMountain]

If they find a way to weave it into one of the cultures convincingly and don't leave it unexplained, I'm all for it!

[Ryrin]

8 hours ago, TheMountain said:

If they find a way to weave it into one of the cultures convincingly and don't leave it unexplained, I'm all for it!

I’m just curious on why it would need to be explained? She may just be into “modesty” and wishes to cover her hair or it may be a style she likes.
 

 

[TheMountain]

5 hours ago, Ryrin said:

I’m just curious on why it would need to be explained? She may just be into “modesty” and wishes to cover her hair or it may be a style she likes.
 

 

I guess that's fair. I just know that RJ thought out *everything*, and it would be in the spirit of his books to make a nod to that with some sort of remark about a cultural practice. It would be cool to see and better for immersion.

[Daenelia]

My grandmother wore a shawl ... or veil, mostly to cover her hair when it was windy. It was practical and not unusual. In the 50s and 60s it was quite common to wear a headcovering, which was not very unlike what you call a hijab.

 

There are certainly days where I consider wearing something close to a balaclava to hide then horrid bad hair day I am having. Or simply because it is cold. Or because it makes my eyes very pretty.

(Yes, have you ever noticed that a hijab makes your eyes very very pretty? It does!)

[grayavatar]

On 11/29/2021 at 10:52 AM, Arie said:

Oooh, i'm all for that kind of replacement of the Veils

I would rather see the Tarabon veils as described by the author. Sorry if it is an inconvenience to the actors for the 5 minutes needed to do their scene.

[Daenelia]

9 minutes ago, grayavatar said:

I would rather see the Tarabon veils as described by the author. Sorry if it is an inconvenience to the actors for the 5 minutes needed to do their scene.

Okay. So like Venetian masks?

 

Because in the book The World of The wheel of time it says they sometimes wear masks to completely hide their features. How exactly would you describe Tarabon veils?

Edited December 2, 2021 by Daenelia

[DaddyFinn]

39 minutes ago, Daenelia said:

How exactly would you describe Tarabon veils?

Impractical

[grayavatar]

58 minutes ago, Daenelia said:

Okay. So like Venetian masks?

 

Because in the book The World of The wheel of time it says they sometimes wear masks to completely hide their features. How exactly would you describe Tarabon veils?

They don't all have to be the same mass produced veil. Some can be masks, most would be silk veils hanging from over the ears. I think I remember Taraboner helmets have chainmail veils. It is definitely a unique style.

[Daenelia]

I just did google search for veils, other than hijabs btw, and wow, the variety! And they look very simple to wear: just throw a cloth over your head! (I know it is less simple: you need to pin it in place,the folds need to fall perfect etc)

 

... I did also see some veils attached to facemasks and I am kinda tempted to try and do that now. Looks like a lot more fun to walk around with.

 

Anyway: @grayavatar I think you'd lean towards the top examples, right?

[AdamA]

Most likely it is actually some cultural or personal fashion choice, but there are equivalent head coverings popularly worn in certain settings that have nothing to do with hijab. For instance, when we did field training exercises in the US Army, effectively every person would be wearing one of these in the morning before the sun was up long enough to warm up:

[Theseus78]

12 hours ago, grayavatar said:

I would rather see the Tarabon veils as described by the author. Sorry if it is an inconvenience to the actors for the 5 minutes needed to do their scene.

It's probably going to be more about how difficult it is to tell the actors apart or if we can get the visual facial expressions across vs an inconvenience to the actors.

[RhienneAgain]

On 11/29/2021 at 12:15 AM, Guire said:

This is actually the kind of diversity I wanted in show over cosmopolitan mix of Two Rivers.  Loved Ghealdan being Iberian adjacent.  Give me a city state with hijab instead of veils.  I like to be able to kind of see big world by seeing cultural and racial identifiers.  It doesn't have to be monolith or demeaning.  I would have loved them casting whole Randland cultures from say Pakistan, Mongolia, Nigeria, and Thailand but change out their culture.  Tear as Haitian actors with nobles acting like Spanish Courtiers would be cool as snift to me.

I sooo agree with this! One of the great stand-out strengths of WoT compared to other fantasy series is the world and culture building and part of that is that when you read or hear 'Illianer', 'Aiel', 'Cairhiener', etc. you get a completely different and distinct image in your head for all of them. I hope the show begins to show this more as the seasons progress and we see more of the world.