Season 3 Sneak Peek

[Mailman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 12:49 AM, Turin Turambar said:

There are numerous other times that physical attacks have been effective against chanellers and turned the battle  decisively. Not sure of the spoiler situation for some so not gonna give all the examples here. 

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Yes for sure but they are to gain an advantage once you have that advantage i would return to my speciality ability as quickly as possible to finish it as quickly as possible.

[Turin Turambar]

Reasonable,  but I think she was just enraged by the affront of the Black existing and attacking her sisters.

 

Sometimes you just wanna beat down a darkfriend. 

[Mailman]

I was thinking about how I would rework that 11 minutes to make it work better and this is what i have come up with.

 

1 Completely remove the Moiraine and Lan sections (it is possible that the full episode could change this). The show is already desperately short on time and these scenes provide nothing.

 

2 I don't like sitting the reds out as it damages Siuan characters reputation as a political master but for this I am going to keep it.

 

3 Bring the oath rod out when you reveal Nynaeve is present and have the black ajah steal it when fleeing, this fixes the issue of Nynaeve just being there convincing Liandrin she is caught. It also prevents the tower from simply using the rod to reveal all black sisters which would be a high priority following the incredibly public revelation of their existence.

 

4 Have the battle start with Blacks stabbing a sister next to them giving no warning of the attack beforehand then rushing to defend this would make the numbers more even. Have them on the defensive for most of the encounter slowly being worn down then have the 2 black sisters that turned up outside arrive and start killing all the warders outside which evens the battle as the Aes Sedai react to the deaths. The Reds then turn up and start fighting those outside.  This gives you a more feasible reason why the blacks are able to escape allows you to set up that not all the reds are evil angle if that is what they are trying to do.

 

This is admittedly a rough idea but it would I believe fix some issues and enhance some things going forward

[Mailman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 12:57 AM, Turin Turambar said:

Reasonable,  but I think she was just enraged by the affront of the Black existing and attacking her sisters.

 

Sometimes you just wanna beat down a darkfriend. 

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I think they did it because they wanted the visual. It's a dangerous slope when you start to prioritise visuals over the story. I am not saying that this incident is a super terrible example of it but an example it is.

[Ithillian Turambar]

They didn't have their Warders in there, to protect while they were working up their weaves. Can you remember how long it took Moiraine to do anything with the One Power. Just as well Lan was such an awesome fighter cos she'd have been cut down before she got a fireball off.

 

The Black Ajah has been used to using the One Power in violation of the Three Oaths.

 

If I had had someone coming towards me and had the choice of spending a good few seconds weaving something up, and being vulnerable while I did it, or just battering them with a big stick then I'd choose the big stick too.

 

I think it all just went to show how unprepared and over confident they were. They had NO idea what they were up against.

 

#hubris

[Andy MacLeod]

  On 2/23/2025 at 2:30 AM, Ithillian Turambar said:

I think it all just went to show how unprepared and over confident they were. They had NO idea what they were up against.

 

#hubris

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I think that is the reason they showed Moiraine and Lan: Moiraine underestimates the situation, saying "It's not about [Suan} today"

 

So does Alanna, when she tells her Warders that they've got it covered and shouldn't worry. 

[Turin Turambar]

  On 2/23/2025 at 2:08 AM, Mailman said:

I was thinking about how I would rework that 11 minutes to make it work better and this is what i have come up with.

 

1 Completely remove the Moiraine and Lan sections (it is possible that the full episode could change this). The show is already desperately short on time and these scenes provide nothing.

 

2 I don't like sitting the reds out as it damages Siuan characters reputation as a political master but for this I am going to keep it.

 

3 Bring the oath rod out when you reveal Nynaeve is present and have the black ajah steal it when fleeing, this fixes the issue of Nynaeve just being there convincing Liandrin she is caught. It also prevents the tower from simply using the rod to reveal all black sisters which would be a high priority following the incredibly public revelation of their existence.

 

4 Have the battle start with Blacks stabbing a sister next to them giving no warning of the attack beforehand then rushing to defend this would make the numbers more even. Have them on the defensive for most of the encounter slowly being worn down then have the 2 black sisters that turned up outside arrive and start killing all the warders outside which evens the battle as the Aes Sedai react to the deaths. The Reds then turn up and start fighting those outside.  This gives you a more feasible reason why the blacks are able to escape allows you to set up that not all the reds are evil angle if that is what they are trying to do.

 

This is admittedly a rough idea but it would I believe fix some issues and enhance some things going forward

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I disagree. 

1. Meh, whatever it doesn't look like it was very long and seemed to just be part of setting the scene. 

2. I think this is intended to be a mistake which helps to validate the 

  Reveal hidden contents

Red ajah coup, deposing Suian.

3. The Oath Rod needs to stay in the tower.

Liandrin knows what she did. She knows she is guilty and trying to go along with the investigation will not work because if Nyn is there then most likely  the other two wonder girls are as well. It would have been a disaster for the BA. The combined testimony of the 3 young stars of the tower probably backed by the Oath Rod. The fact that someone in authority signed them out of the tower. They couldn't risk a trial. They were forced to act.

4. No one carries weapons into the Hall. Not even belt knives. Pulling a hidden weapon takes time meaning surprise is unlikely. The BA got the jump on the others. Initiative is crucial.  They were able to defend, do damage and escape. They would have been overwhelmed if the battle goes too long.

A side note, there can't be too many Sitters killed as they are needed named characters going forward. The Reds being outside actually helped keep people  alive by defending against the other 2 BA(I'm  pretty sure Most of the people knocked about were not dead out there, just stunned).

 

 

[Mailman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 2:30 AM, Ithillian Turambar said:

They didn't have their Warders in there, to protect while they were working up their weaves. Can you remember how long it took Moiraine to do anything with the One Power. Just as well Lan was such an awesome fighter cos she'd have been cut down before she got a fireball off.

 

The Black Ajah has been used to using the One Power in violation of the Three Oaths.

 

If I had had someone coming towards me and had the choice of spending a good few seconds weaving something up, and being vulnerable while I did it, or just battering them with a big stick then I'd choose the big stick too.

 

I think it all just went to show how unprepared and over confident they were. They had NO idea what they were up against.

 

#hubris

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But thats not what happens at all.

Take the opening of the battle before anyone would even be holding the power.

Alanna insta casts the shield on Liandrin.

The Yellow/black sister insta casts a fireball

the white/black sister insta caster whats appears to be a slice of air

Leane insta casts a shield to deflect these attacks.

 

So it's clear you dont need a long build up to deal an attack.

 

Then looking back there is the hilarity of just watching them all walk calmly into the middle of the room to defend woman who has outed herself as black ajah with the other Aes Sedai doing absolutely nothing.

 

[Ithillian Turambar]

Alannah is a Green they are the Battle Ajah. They train in attacks to be able to fight the last battle. She'd be well practised at shielding and attacks.

 

Shielding is a defence not an attack. Regular Ajah members would have no reason to learn attack weaves. Saying they are quick at defense has no bearing on whether they have learned and practised attack weaves.

 

Black Ajahs can use the One Power to attack so they learn and practise how to do it.

 

I'm just saying, using the TV show only, regular Ajah people take AGES to attack.

 

Apart from the Greens (battle ajah), the Reds (who were excluded but were well used to taking down male channelers) and the Amyrlin who has that instant 'gonna spike you if you get too close' weave

 

But a weave has to be learned and practised. None of them ever expected to be attacked. Most of them are just doing admin. 

 

I mean. Even cleaning water took ages!

[Mailman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 3:26 AM, Ithillian Turambar said:

Alannah is a Green they are the Battle Ajah. They train in attacks to be able to fight the last battle. She'd be well practised at shielding and attacks.

 

Shielding is a defence not an attack. Regular Ajah members would have no reason to learn attack weaves. Saying they are quick at defense has no bearing on whether they have learned and practised attack weaves.

 

Black Ajahs can use the One Power to attack so they learn and practise how to do it.

 

I'm just saying, using the TV show only, regular Ajah people take AGES to attack.

 

Apart from the Greens (battle ajah), the Reds (who were excluded but were well used to taking down male channelers) and the Amyrlin who has that instant 'gonna spike you if you get too close' weave

 

But a weave has to be learned and practised. None of them ever expected to be attacked. Most of them are just doing admin. 

 

I mean. Even cleaning water took ages!

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Oh come on so Green Red and Black ajah are the only ones with those abilities that seems incredibly stupid and short sighted and they get insta cast as what a class bonus. 

I guess rigorous decades long training really does not mean that much

 

Fair enough that you have some people who are better at fighting than others but to make the claim that the others need some sort of wind up time or something is just silly. 

 

Just lol that the most powerful woman and channelers in the tower are mostly just admin.

Edited February 23 by Mailman

[Storeebooq]

The regular sisters entered that room expecting drama on the level of Real Housewives, and instead, they were surprised with a Game Of Thrones level betrayal. It makes sense to me that they could be temporarily bested by just 4 ruthless Black Ajah. Between the cut scenes, it seems that the fight takes longer...but in reality all of that happened in seconds, or a couple minutes at most. 

 

The impression of more time due to the cut scenes also makes the Black Ajah's casual departure from the Hall a little funny. The final blast they did probably incapacitated the sisters long enough to make an escape, and then our next scene inside there is the victims recovering. Clearly they aren't going to show several minutes of Aes Sedai just laying around when they have only so much time in the show. 

 

I hope the Red sister who defended against Jeaine survived, despite it showing her laying on the ground. I liked how fierce and fast to react she was. 

 

Also, when the Black Ajah gang show up at the gate, the Yellow who was in the Hall isn't there...what happens? Is she on an errand, or are there going to be more fights? 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

My own two scents on the Verin scene. Book-Verin would have known Nyomi was Black...but it's possible Show-Verin wasn't fully aware and might have actually trusted Nyomi. Even Book-Verin missed a few Black sisters in her search. Otherwise I don't think she would have endangered her sister like that. I think her fast reflexes (cause she's a badass) saved her.  It's clear the Black Ajah had a lot of intel on things and were crafty, so they may have known the Amrylin was going to send Verin to protect the 13th Depository and setup Nyomi to be there. I think that if/when we learn about the Forsaken's hand behind the Black Ajah in the tower we'll learn how they knew what was going to happen and could have been prepared. 

 

I think there's also some un-explained things that Book readers might figure out, but will leave some good mysteries for newbies watching the show. I am sure they will expect this to be ALL the Black Ajah in the tower for example..... 

[Elder_Haman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 3:41 AM, Mailman said:

Oh come on so Green Red and Black ajah are the only ones with those abilities

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Correct. This is book accurate. 
Aes Sedai are not used to combat in general. The Greens are the battle ajah. The Reds have to be able to go after men who can channel. And the Black are the Black. 
 

To this point, the other ajahs have no reason to learn battle magic. And they obviously would be taken completely by surprise by that level of violence in the heart of the Tower. 

[Figs and Mice]

  On 2/23/2025 at 5:04 AM, Elder_Haman said:

Correct. This is book accurate. 
Aes Sedai are not used to combat in general. The Greens are the battle ajah. The Reds have to be able to go after men who can channel. And the Black are the Black. 
 

To this point, the other ajahs have no reason to learn battle magic. And they obviously would be taken completely by surprise by that level of violence in the heart of the Tower. 

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Well , up to a point.  Moiraine doesn't seem to be too bad at combat despite being a Blue. Not that it all matters much - however unlikely the outcome of the punch-up it serves to reveal a bunch of Blacks and get them exiting the Tower : though I will be intrigued to see what one Green is going to do to stop them in the streets as the episode continues...

[Elder_Haman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 5:26 AM, Figs and Mice said:

Moiraine doesn't seem to be too bad at combat despite being a Blue

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Yeah. But Moiraine is a unicorn. 

[DigificWriter]

Being able to turn one's usage of the One Power towards an offensive purpose is not the same thing as specifically training oneself to do so, and even the most well-trained person can have a slow reaction time depending on the circumstances they're facing.

 

Under ordinary circumstances, it might strain credulity that 5-to-16 odds would favor the 5, but we don't know exactly how powerful that 5 were in terms of raw strength. Those 5 were also aided by the fact that 4 of them had the advantage of surprise.

[Mailman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 5:04 AM, Elder_Haman said:

Correct. This is book accurate. 
Aes Sedai are not used to combat in general. The Greens are the battle ajah. The Reds have to be able to go after men who can channel. And the Black are the Black. 
 

To this point, the other ajahs have no reason to learn battle magic. And they obviously would be taken completely by surprise by that level of violence in the heart of the Tower. 

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They are not specifically combat orientated but they could throw a fireball or use a thread of air to hit something without having to "charge up".

 

What the hell is the purpose of the power in the Tower then outside of the Red, Green and Yellow since they apparently have no actual use for it and are rubbish using it even in defence of their lives.

 

If you watch the Ryma fight again she starts with some of the stupid hand waving which then burns the sul'dam, but then basically within 1 second casts the ability to destroy the 2nd sul'dam

 

Even if I agreed with all this there are 3 green sitters in the hall why are they not being effective in battle against the black. None of the 3 green sitters was of the black.

 

And again what about the corridor battle you have 2 Red Ajah and about 20 warders vs the 2 Black sisters yet again the Blacks win taking zero casualties. even if you allow that a black/yellow sister = a Red sister the fact they have to avoid 20 of the best soldiers in the world while fighting would surely tip the fight in the lights favour.

 

And where exactly is this Black Ajah training school to turn the nufties into battle ready warriors making them the match to the Ajah that exclusively trains as the battle Ajah.

Edited February 23 by Mailman

[Mailman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 5:46 AM, DigificWriter said:

Being able to turn one's usage of the One Power towards an offensive purpose is not the same thing as specifically training oneself to do so, and even the most well-trained person can have a slow reaction time depending on the circumstances they're facing.

 

Under ordinary circumstances, it might strain credulity that 5-to-16 odds would favor the 5, but we don't know exactly how powerful that 5 were in terms of raw strength. Those 5 were also aided by the fact that 4 of them had the advantage of surprise.

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But they did almost nothing with that surprise they launched a couple of attacks towards Alanna and Siuan which got blocked by Leane then they walked into the middle at an unhurried pace turned and set up a defensive circle around the Black Ajah sister. 

 

If each of them had a dagger hidden up their sleeves they could have killed 4 sitters before they even embraced the power. 

[Mailman]

What about everyones arguments about Lady Amalisa being a trained channeler being the reason she could use Egwene and Nynaeves power at the end of season 1.

 

She never made it even as far as an Ajah so would have received zero training in offensive abilities. How does this match up to this arguement that only certain Ajahs are trained in combat.

[DigificWriter]

  On 2/23/2025 at 7:33 AM, Mailman said:

But they did almost nothing with that surprise

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Not true at all. They horizontally bisected a Brown Sitter and collapsed several sections of the Hall's support pillars and upper levels within seconds of Liandrin calling them to join her. Directly attacking Siuan was the third/fourth thing they did, and they only did that once they were in the center of the room.

[A Memory Of Why]

  On 2/23/2025 at 7:27 AM, Mailman said:

What the hell is the purpose of the power in the Tower then outside of the Red, Green and Yellow since they apparently have no actual use for it and are rubbish using it even in defence of their lives

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In the sacred texts the head of the green Ajah was embarrassed with her an a her Ajahs performance during a certain attack, is it really surprising this ambush was handled abysmally?

 

Most fans talk about how arrogant and incompetent the Aes Sedai are, yet you're arguing they shouldn't be?

 

And I still think there is a couple of black sitters that didn't get involved, staying quiet for the coup.

 

  On 2/23/2025 at 7:27 AM, Mailman said:

And again what about the corridor battle you have 2 Red Ajah and about 20 warders vs the 2 Black sisters yet again the Blacks win taking zero casualties. even if you allow that a black/yellow sister = a Red sister the fact they have to avoid 20 of the best soldiers in the world while fighting would surely tip the fight in the lights favour.

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There were 3 Reds, it's weirdly cut when the black intervene which makes me think we aren't seeing everything but there were 3..

 

I think you may need to take off those black tinted glasses dude 😎

[Mailman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 9:11 AM, A Memory Of Why said:

 

In the sacred texts the head of the green Ajah was embarrassed with her an a her Ajahs performance during a certain attack, is it really surprising this ambush was handled abysmally?

 

Most fans talk about how arrogant and incompetent the Aes Sedai are, yet you're arguing they shouldn't be?

 

And I still think there is a couple of black sitters that didn't get involved, staying quiet for the coup.

 

 

 

There were 3 Reds, it's weirdly cut when the black intervene which makes me think we aren't seeing everything but there were 3..

 

I think you may need to take off those black tinted glasses dude 😎

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Ok firstly there where 3 Reds initially yet the black sisters hit one of them with the power when her back was turned as I never saw her again i assumed she was of the fight making it 2v2. 

 

It's possible that a couple of blacks did not get involved however i would assume that anyone sitting on their hands in a fight between the Light and the Shadow would have some serious questions to be answered. 

 

You have people here arguing that only the green red and black are even remotely able to fight, and you are comparing it to a sneak attack against a fragmented tower by battle hardened units.

 

Maybe you should get some glasses.

[Mailman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 8:41 AM, DigificWriter said:

 

Not true at all. They horizontally bisected a Brown Sitter and collapsed several sections of the Hall's support pillars and upper levels within seconds of Liandrin calling them to join her. Directly attacking Siuan was the third/fourth thing they did, and they only did that once they were in the center of the room.

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You are wrong.

The first things they did was cast a fireball and what appears to be a thread of air attack these are blocked by Leane.

Then straight after that they walked into the middle and surrounded Liandrin then after setting up that defence.

Then they cast a fireball and another air attack slicing the Brown in half.

Edited February 23 by Mailman

[Turin Turambar]

  On 2/23/2025 at 7:54 AM, Mailman said:

What about everyones arguments about Lady Amalisa being a trained channeler being the reason she could use Egwene and Nynaeves power at the end of season 1.

 

She never made it even as far as an Ajah so would have received zero training in offensive abilities. How does this match up to this arguement that only certain Ajahs are trained in combat.

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She had an immense amount of power (hers, Nyn, Eggy, the other two) and spent a long time setting up one massive lightning blast to wipe them out. But they were nearly upon them by the time it set off. It looked like the trollocs had run miles from the gap to the city. That was an eternity in a battle.

 

You talk about Moraine, do we ever see her do anything quickly? In the first episode she does the lightning thing that takes forever. At Faltme the fire attack takes a long time. Aes Sedai in the show aren't very battle proficient.  Now Lanfear, she is a problem. Snapping heads and casually flipping fireballs at a moments notice. 

 

Something else I just thought about, I think they show Moraine and Lan at the beginning because they will make an appearance in one of the battles. Perhaps saving Siuan. 

[Mailman]

  On 2/23/2025 at 10:02 AM, Turin Turambar said:

She had an immense amount of power (hers, Nyn, Eggy, the other two) and spent a long time setting up one massive lightning blast to wipe them out. But they were nearly upon them by the time it set off. It looked like the trollocs had run miles from the gap to the city. That was an eternity in a battle.

 

You talk about Moraine, do we ever see her do anything quickly? In the first episode she does the lightning thing that takes forever. At Faltme the fire attack takes a long time. Aes Sedai in the show aren't very battle proficient.  Now Lanfear, she is a problem. Snapping heads and casually flipping fireballs at a moments notice. 

 

Something else I just thought about, I think they show Moraine and Lan at the beginning because they will make an appearance in one of the battles. Perhaps saving Siuan. 

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Thats not the point people defended that scene and said it was her practice with the power that allowed her to use those attacks and now people are claiming that massively more powered Aes Sedai with decades maybe centuries more experience with the power are incapable with it. How would she even now how to conjure a lightning blast since she never even attained an Ajah and offensive abilities are only being taught to the Red and Green. If she had simply used massive simple attack like fire or air slices it could be explained. But that does not make a great visual is the answer.

 

Its the Dothraki charge with flaming swords. Fantastic visual shit storytelling.

 

As i said its possible the full episode could give meaning to the Moiraine and Lan scene.

Edited February 23 by Mailman

[Mailman]

Think about what you guys are arguing for.

You have a powerful group of gifted power channelers.

You know without any doubt that the Dark one and the forces of the shadow are real.

You know that there is an entire nation dedicated to killing you.

You live for hundreds of years.

And you are saying that they are completely garbage at using the power they have in the defence of themselves their warders or others. Except for 2/7ths of your population.

Edited February 23 by Mailman