Thanks Nik.

Now I have images in my head of Perrin and Mat having a prank off, and Egwene wants to knock their heads off them both because their pranks are backfiring on her.

Saidin is tainted in all worlds, I think. How the Dark One's manifestations worked in Randland should be exactly the same in each world, since he is touching Creation through his prison.

There are four differences, however:

The first is, other characters will deal with the issues as they occur in each world.

The second, is that those key characters in each world will be like Egwene, or Nyneave in the books at least, or Perrin and Mat at most if there are Taveren involved in those worlds. Rand is a separate issue, and is the last point. 

The third, is that certain worlds will reflect Randland, but arranged in a different layout. Remember The Gathering Storm, when a novice saw an Aes Sedai walk through one wall, and through the opposite wall above the ground.

That was not a ghost, but an Aes Sedai walking a hallway in her world and in that arrangement how her White Tower was built, since the Randland hallway in Egwene's Tower has been in the exact arrangement for three thousand years since it was first built.

The fourth, and final difference, is that Rand's fight with the Dark One ONLY occurred in Randland, since his Taveren importance only showed up here, which is why gateways did not work once he entered Shayol Ghul. All other worlds fought their Last Battle as Mat and Egwene did, fighting the reflection of the Dark One's forces in their worlds as the fight took place in the books.

The Belgariad is a looser influence than Lord Of The Rings. But, they are still present between this and The Wheel Of Time.

It gets even looser, however, when The Mallorean takes over once The Belgariad ends, and how that ends pretty much informs the previous books. 

It goes to the fact that if I was getting information along my journey that I was the Dragon Reborn, and I saw that book and realised it was about prophecies foretelling what I would do, I would have taken it from the shelf, and read the entire thing the very moment I saw it.

I mean, the very first prophecy would have confirmed what my father would have told me in his fever dream.

I also would have sat down with Loial, Logain entering Tar Valon, or not, to ask him about what he knows of the prophecies.

That fight between Rahvin and Rand mostly took place in the world of dreams.

However, it is interesting to see the type of damage that happened in that fight show up much, much later in the physical world. I still think though, the oddities in the real world later in the books are all results of bubbles of evil from the seals failing.

There exists further weaknesses with the Seanchan and the One Power. The damane cannot link with others. The maximum is two. The suldam and her damane. 

Eventually, the White Tower, Black Tower, Sea Folk and the Aiel will be able to build massive circles. If the Seanchan do invade Ghealdan, it will most likely end up facing massive circles in battle in response.

Basically, Aiel will only be vulnerable, until their Aiel male channelers are fully trained by the Black Tower, and their Wise One apprentices are fully trained by the White Tower.

This, however, depends on whether or not Cadsuaine will continue with Egwene's treaty. 

Once these steps are met, then the Aiel will be an immensely powerful political force in the Westlands. It is the same situation with the Sea Folk. They will be equally as powerful as the Aiel. The only way the Aiel become stronger than the Sea Folk, is if they learn from Graendal's knowledge.

I also do not think the Seanchan will ever overcome the issues with the male adam. They will need information about it from specific sources, and none of them are in their possession.

Moghedien is a possibility, but I doubt the Seanchan will listen to her information. Especially if Min verifies her identity the next time she sees Tuon. One whiff of Min, or Mat realising she was the spy in Tuon's camp, she is dead the instant it is known.

3 hours ago, notpropaganda73 said:

I don't really think comparing TLJ to Force Awakens in terms of box office is fair really. TFA was a once in a generation event for Star Wars fans, just like Phantom Menace before it. The joy around having the saga back on the big screen, the pure excitement, the fact that it was an inoffensive, unthinking homage to the original movie - all that plus Disney's marketing machine, TFA was always going to have a ridiculous box office. TLJ is divisive and that impacted it's overall box office without a doubt, but I don't think it's a good example of fans being pissed at the movie and that impacting the the studio... Solo more so, although I would also put forward that Solo was a movie nobody really wanted, so it didn't surprise me that it didn't do well at the box office. I'm Star Wars crazy and I only went to see it a few weeks after release. I think Rise of Skywalker is the most indicative of how even a "home run" property can really suffer if they don't make good material, but I know many would put that on The Last Jedi as well. I'd put forward that if they made episode 9 a coherent movie, it would have done a lot better. Still would have suffered from fan backlash, for sure, but I think it just being a bad movie was the bigger problem in terms of box office. They tried to please everyone and ended up pleasing nobody.

 

Someone commented about the Mandalorian saving Star Wars... I think that series is actually a great example of the tension that often comes up with fans of these properties. Everyone loved S1, and it is really excellent - it had me so excited for Star Wars because it built out things totally separate from the original trilogy, we had new characters and worlds and stories, and a main character who was magnificent on screen. I was so excited for S2. But I actually ended up super disappointed with a lot of S2, whereas I know other fans loved it even more. I didn't really like the callbacks or links to other characters that we know from other Star Wars stories. It's a big galaxy, why did we need Ahsoka? The finale... Luke just shows up, really? Even Boba Fetts impact on the season was like... oh hey here's that guy we all loved from before, why's he here again? All of those things felt very forced (wayhey) to me. It was all cool, don't get me wrong - but forced. Even Luke's appearance in the finale where he slices through all of those droids - it felt really surface level, almost video-gamey. Like yeah this is cool, but I don't really care in the context of the story I've been following for 2 seasons. Whereas I know that other Star Wars fans absolutely adored it, one of my good friends at the time said "It was magic seeing Luke in his prime on screen". I think it's a good example of how subjective fan reaction can be. 

The big issue is that after TLJ came out, no sequel film following on was going to be cohesive and understanding enough to correct what TLJ did to the story and the characters.

Especially Luke, and how he turned out on screen. That impact speaks for itself.

But, even there, TLJ was not fully responsible for how Luke turned out, because that is the fault of TFA.

As far as I am concerned, Rand in the WoT show is in a much better space after the first season, than Luke was after two sequel films, and is in far better hands than Luke was in each of those.

I know, because I got Rand's key scenes eventually in Episode 7 that showed his place in the story.

For myself, Luke Skywalker was a total disaster, and that happened in TFA, then got worse in TLJ. I have not seen ROS, and do not wish to, after sitting through the TLJ in cinemas. 

Cloverfield. Hated that movie. I saw it on dvd, after paying 50 cents. I hated the movie so much, I felt that 50 cents was too much to pay.

I use the disc as a coaster for any drinks I have.

On 1/8/2022 at 6:15 AM, Jaysen Gore said:

Of course not... she called in Tam because she thought he had would have access to a way she didn't. And it turns out, she was right. That Rand almost killed him was not her intent, but manages to get Rand to accept just how far gone he is.

 

Have you see Dawn of Justice - exact same scene and motive when Batman calls in the Big Guns to deal with the resurrected Superman.  RJ just went further by having Clark backhand Lois across the park.

That was in Justice League.

Dawn of Justice had the same moment, but for Batman instead, with the exact same character in Lois.

I am one that loves both moments, because I knew I was seeing book Rand and book Tam play out in both situations for both characters. Something I thought I would never see in anything, where a book series influences the big screen that way, and in the first film featuring both of the biggest comic characters in history.

There are three separate stipulations for the Heroes in two separate situations during battle; one, they only fight for the Light against the Dark One if they are needed to fight his forces. 

Two, if the Horn is blown during a fight between two groups of soldiers in a regular war, like the Aiel War, they will follow the Hornsounder, but only if the blower is thinking about survival when he or she blew it. 

The third stipulation is the need of the Dragon's banner in order to fight. The situation above, the Aiel War, may not need this banner stipulation to be active, I am not certain. 

The lack of conscience is displayed in the woman that guns down the street urchin, and also in Basel Gill's attempt to rob Rand. That happened because the Light did not exist.

It is this scene that prompts him to create that vision where the Dark One is destroyed, with the result of a Turned Elayne.

Both these visions are an exact match, because it shows the absence of it's opposite.

Elayne mentioned mining towns that mined for metal in the Mountains Of Mist. She spoke of them, because her mother, and even previous Queens had issues with those towns off and on during their reigns, and it is described clearly that their difficulty with those towns is what helped the Two Rivers isolation from the Queen for that period of time.

rumour

My favourite Stephen King book I have not read for years is Insomnia.

I loved that book, and was totally different from other Stephen King books I have read. 

My favourite characters outside WoT, include Ender Wiggin after Enders Game.

I always found him awesome to read once he left the first book.

Yes, I noticed the mining village mining metal myself.

I appreciated that we saw something about something that is only mentioned in the books.

With all the changes, I really enjoyed it. I cannot wait for season 2.

It is not exact to the first book, but for me, it is in parallel with it.

The catch with that question depends on which Forsaken is Nae blis at the time. If Ishamael is that, then instant death for all humanity.

If Semirhage is, then humanity will be her torture victims, but will live on.

13 hours ago, VooDooNut said:

This got me thinking...where is the projectile being fired from?

 

In this shot you can see what looks like Kinslayer's Dagger off in the distance, with the fired projectile coming from South of that. Seems like that would put its origins pretty close to Cairhein, no?

 

Alternatively, those could be The Black HIlls, and then I have no clue who's firing those things.

Could they actually be coming from ships in the river? I get a suspicion that may be the answer.

If the show map is still using the book geography, then there is a wide river meeting the Erinin just south of Dragonmount.

I mean, even in our world, ships had much greater range in siege weaponry than ground based equivalents.

If this worlds ground siege weapons have greater range of fire, then the ship equivalent should be much greater.

As an alternative, I can accept that the weapons fire may be coming from a nearby village or town that feeds Tar Valon.

On 12/18/2021 at 8:19 AM, SinisterDeath said:

(Theatrical Cut. I've heard the Director's Cut redeems it)

For me, the Director's Cut makes it worse. Because it is unneeded.

On 12/1/2021 at 8:09 AM, KakitaOCU said:

For what it's worth, I assumed Shaisam/Fain/Mordeth/Mashadar was a failsafe that ended up not being needed and so Mat got yanked in to snuff it.

Infinite turnings of the wheel, infinite times The Dragon stood with the DO held in a crushing grip and not ONCE did the dragon ever decide it would be worth the changes to eliminate the pain.  That's an improbability bordering on impossibility.

What happens if The Dragon kills the DO?  Well, there's a brand "new" evil right outside the bore with significant power.  It rolls into the gaping vacuum the Dragon inadvertently leaves behind.  The Dragon has to seal the bore with or without the DO because otherwise it's a break in the pattern.  Voiloi, new DO for the next time around.

Yes, Fain does serve the failsafe purpose. The thing is, if Rand did that, as in killed the Dark One, his eternal purpose is ended. I get the sense, that Mat takes Rand's place as Champion, since Fain has a totally different power, and so the One Power is no longer essential to the core conflict, since Mashadar cannot be fully destroyed without the Choedan Kal, and only if that location is the only place it exists. Mat pretty much ending the threat shows that Fain would always have that weakness.

Plus, if Mat did not kill Fain, Perrin would have.

It all comes down to one person and his choices having vast impact on the world and the people around him. Because, at the end of the story, Rand could have killed the Dark One, he chose not too. That choice is unique in Fantasy, since all the other big foes get destroyed, and the characters that fight their enemies have only the choice of starting the journey. Rand got to choose to start, and also got to choose how his final fight ended.

Here, and only here, does that get a fresh take. 30 years after the books started, that outcome from that choice still seems fresh.

It is the main reason I still read the books.

9 hours ago, DigificWriter said:

A misreading of things by Nynaeve and an angry and boneheaded accusation from Rand don't equal a love triangle.

Indeed. In the books, all that scene means is "t.v shows's version of annoying miscommunication, even in the critically bad moments". 

This episode is my favourite of them all, so far, and I have enjoyed them all.

Seeing this was a fun experience. 

On 12/11/2021 at 11:44 PM, Terry05 said:

I like the way Rafe and co are handling the sex scenes and the nudity from the latest episode. Fresh change from the GoT style of if it's sex or nudity, it has to be degrading.

Yeah. Leave that for Graendal.

On 11/28/2021 at 4:47 PM, bringbackthomsmoustache said:

 

Except that Birgitte and Gaidal had those names and forms (dating from age of legends) while Birgitte (who is the hero we know most about) had been spun out repeatedly since (for example she references to Elaine having been present for events during the Trolloc war - the story about an Aes'Sedai forced to bond a stubborn warder as punishment for bonding a different one while accepted and hating it which Elaine recognised as an epic love story).   

This suggests that the heroes appear as their most currently recognised archetype not as their most recent life.

Gaidal Cain and Brigette are exempt, because they have a purpose. As a result, they both have physical features that recur with each life, so they will be in the World Of Dreams how they showed up in the books between lives.

With all the other Heroes, my previous post in this thread is how they are between lives.

Gaidal and Brigette are both the exceptions that prove the rule, so to speak, when it comes to the Heroes Of The Horn.

On 12/3/2021 at 7:30 AM, DojoToad said:

That's a question I always had from the books.  Would the Dreadlords have come about without the BT?  Did the pattern have Rand found the BT in order to produce the Dreadlords for the final battle?  Or would a Forsaken have done it independently if the BT was never formed?

The Dreadlords were not just from the Black Tower and Taim. There were surviving Black Ajah as well, serving as Dreadlords, and many from Shara, as well.