The Broken Towers

[Deviations]

There was a shot of the seven broken towers of Malkier in ep8 that I haven't seen discussed in much detail yet.  My first reaction is that they look more like termite mounds from Africa than broken towers but that's just my predisposed negativity at this point.  Upon closer look, were those towers formed to look like figures?  Past Kings?  I don't remember any lore from the books......

[MasterAblar]

Kinda made me think of Angkor Wat. Athough the towers are thinner and taller.

[Elder_Haman]

Just now, MasterAblar said:

Kinda made me think of Angkor Wat. Athough the towers are thinner and taller.

Same.

[Deviations]

I feel like I can see faces....  Third from the right seems to have arms wrapped around the mid section?  Maybe there is a little totem pole structure?

 

I'd imagined something like this originally (Great Wall of China given Asian influence)

 

 

The images from ep 8 don't look martial.  They look religious unless they are historical figures like these...

 

[Jaysen Gore]

 

What I always thought of for the 7 towers of Malkier. This is the town of San Gimignano in Italy, and even has 7 towers.

[DaddyFinn]

For some reason I thought the towers would be scattered on the edges of Malkier and not be in a tight group like that. Is that just my head-canon?

 

I zoomed a bit on those and there sure seems to be some kind of figures.

[ashi]

53 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

For some reason I thought the towers would be scattered on the edges of Malkier and not be in a tight group like that. Is that just my head-canon?

Quote

The Eye of the World, chapter 48, The Blight

 

Beyond them to the west lay a network of lakes, the waters glittering darkly in the slanting sunlight, like beads of random size on a necklace of many strings. In the distance, circled by the lakes, stood jagged-topped hills, thick in the creeping shadows of evening. For one brief instant the sun's rays caught the shattered tops, and Rand's breath stilled. Not hills. The broken remnants of seven towers.

 

Chapter 49, The Dark One Stirs

 

The seven towers stood plain in the morning light, distant broken stumps, like huge, rough hills that merely hinted at grandeur gone. The hundred lakes were a smooth, unruffled blue.

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by ashi

[Andra]

I always pictured it more as if the seven hills of Rome each had a tower on its crest.

Not spread out along the country's border (the way wachtowers would be) but still not all bunched right next to each other, either.  Spaced out similarly to the "topless towers" of Cairhien.

[Dagon Thyne]

Keep in mind that the CGI blight onl happened because of Covid.  I'm sure they were originally going to look different, but with limited staff, budget and time, they had to make due

 

[SingleMort]

I agree they weren't what I expected. They seemed too close together. 

[Deviations]

14 hours ago, ashi said:

Beyond them to the west lay a network of lakes, the waters glittering darkly in the slanting sunlight, like beads of random size on a necklace of many strings. In the distance, circled by the lakes, stood jagged-topped hills, thick in the creeping shadows of evening. For one brief instant the sun's rays caught the shattered tops, and Rand's breath stilled. Not hills. The broken remnants of seven towers.

I missed this in my memory.  The phrase "Broken Towers" obliterated "jagged topped hills" in my head cannon.

[Dagon Thyne]

18 hours ago, Andra said:

I always pictured it more as if the seven hills of Rome each had a tower on its crest.

Not spread out along the country's border (the way wachtowers would be) but still not all bunched right next to each other, either.  Spaced out similarly to the "topless towers" of Cairhien.

The are surrounded by the lakes, so they have to be in the same general area.

[Andra]

2 hours ago, Dagon Thyne said:

The are surrounded by the lakes, so they have to be in the same general area.

Right.  But those lakes could surround an entire city, with the towers all being within it.

[Dagon Thyne]

I don't personally see an issue with the way the towers look.

 

Look at Stormseat/The Shattered Plains in the Stormlight Archives.  It's deteriorated so much that most people can't even tell it was once a city.  There's no telling what sort of effect the blight would have on buildings.  It can easily be explained that the blight caused them to deteriorate much faster than normal and so the towers look like natural pillars.  

 

I also don't have an issue with their placement.  The books never specify where the towers were relativeto each other, and there could be any number of reasons that the towers could be grouped together.  

 

 

[Deviations]

I think the thing for me is that these look like anthills.  Structurally, a tower should be hollow unless it's a statue.

[TheSmurf]

I honestly thought the depiction of the towers was half arsed, very little thought or effort. 

 

Basically, like they had certain requirements for the episode and this was the very last one they could squeeze in.

[Deviations]

We're supposed to be happy they are there at all.

[AdamA]

They're in the EOTW comic and look much more like jagged, broken hilltops, much less like intact towers overtaken by invasive vines:

 

 

[TheSmurf]

Every time I'm feeling down or ungrateful or negative, I think of the Rafe of Time Towers and I.......

 

... read that chapter to help me feel better ?

[AdamA]

I suspect the problem with depicting them this way in the show is the way they made the blight, it would have just totally covered this and the towers wouldn't be visible at all.

[Deviations]

19 minutes ago, AdamA said:

They're in the EOTW comic and look much more like jagged, broken hilltops, much less like intact towers overtaken by invasive vines:

 

 

See!!!  Hollow Towers!!!

[Andra]

6 hours ago, Deviations said:

I think the thing for me is that these look like anthills.  Structurally, a tower should be hollow unless it's a statue.

Yeah, those are more like the remains of columns that have weathered with time.  Rather than towers that have been broken.

 

Also - the earlier depiction of Paaren Disen is supposed to show 3000+ years of abandonment.  While the Towers of Malkier have only been vacant for about fifty years.  The parts of the towers that remain would hardly be eroded at all.

Edited January 13, 2022 by Andra

[ArrylT]

3 hours ago, AdamA said:

They're in the EOTW comic and look much more like jagged, broken hilltops, much less like intact towers overtaken by invasive vines:

 

 

 

I have looked a lot of different Seven Towers of Malkieri images and they all have a similar look/feel to what was shown on the show.   I havent read the last GN of EOTW and now I learn there was a comic - guess that is next on my to find list.  ?

[Terry05]

On 1/14/2022 at 8:02 AM, ArrylT said:

 

I have looked a lot of different Seven Towers of Malkieri images and they all have a similar look/feel to what was shown on the show.   I havent read the last GN of EOTW and now I learn there was a comic - guess that is next on my to find list.  ?

I bought the series month to month when it was released! Some great art and some of the covers are really nice.

[ilovezam]

I read a comment from somewhere that the Towers looked oddly phallic and could not unsee it ever since. 

 

To make things worse, Daniel Henney is stupid sexy as Lan.