Everything else aside, I don't think we can call this something new for a couple of reasons.

The first, Power Wrought items CAN be destroyed and clearly do get destroyed, it's just harder to do.

The second, we in general know that the story takes place in the future, with myths and legends specifically throwing back to our day and age.   We have myths about Thor's Hammer, Mjolnir.  Which means the Thor archetype in the turnings of the wheel always has a hammer with a similar name.  Which means proto Perrin from before our time also had one forged. 

10 hours ago, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

Just doing my first reread, on LOC. Maybe it doesn’t matter, but I can’t help but want answers for every question. Any clues why liah wasn’t found on initial trip? Where was she, what happened? 

I don't believe we have official details, but she got trapped somewhere or immediately fell to the selfish corruption and hid from everyone.  It slowly drove her more and more possessive and reclusive, similar to Golumn that by the time Rand found her again she was a shadow of her former self.

8 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

TV and movies are harder because the stuff is right in your face without imagination being able to compensate for whatever is 'wrong'.  I'm just not as forgiving with what I deem as failures on the screen.  Just can't turn off the judgement.  Not to say I never suspend disbelief or cut slack.  But my ability to do so is usually directly correlated to how much I care about the show.  Ruins my enjoyment of some stuff - but just the way I am...

Makes sense to me.  I'm a bit better, but it's largely because I also understand stage fighting and acrobatics and so I tend to look for those technical aspects instead of an actual fight.  Even then, it only works so long as nothing triggers my brain to see it as such.

Fun example is Phantom Menace.  I give a lot of props to the Duel of Fates.  And StarWars has never been THAT realistic when it comes to sabre fights.  But then I saw an interview where Ray Park bragged about how he choreographed the entire sequence and never left a single opening...  And now anytime I watch that fight it's just "You die there, you die there, you die there."   Ruins my ability to just have fun with it.  🙂

18 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

Boring is a matter of opinion - just as is cool.  I've seen TV and movie characters modeled to be like a Warder.  I was not bored, but rather tense - what is this person going to do?  Are they going to explode into a flurry of bloodshed?  Will they casually take care of business then return to tense alertness?

Absolutely.  And for someone insightful, or with the ability to see nuance, or someone trained, it can be cool seeing that.  But for the average viewer? 

Once I was looking for a new martial arts school and I decided to go check out a BJJ studio for the first time.  Some friends who claimed they were interested came along.  We watched a few sparring matches, took a look at the school.  One friend and myself watched a fight and saw technique, skill, precision.  The third friend said "Why are they just lying on the ground hugging?"   

The show has to aim at the wide audience.  This is true in everything.  It's why the Swordplay in almost any fantasy movie or show is garbage and nonsense.  Flash is more interesting to look at.

 

6 hours ago, Guire said:

 

First, warders through out books are described as dangerous, hyper-alert, always on the edge of violent action. They are also juiced by the bond to almost a superhuman level.  No where did I say a warder couldn't be sensitive, effeminate, short, or comically muscular.  The show has chosen them to be primarily emotional support and assistants.  Yes this is part of the bond but we just dont get much of the other.  Think Arya from GoT.  There should be a stillness, an economy of movement, an always on duty feel.

The thing is, telling us that in a book is cool, actually showing that on TV is boring.  Do you know what always on the edge of action, always calm, cool, in control looks like?  Boring.  It's small subtle things.  You notice when they walk they don't bob up and down like normal people, you notice their hand is always free and able to quickly move to a weapon or opponent's limb.  You notice the eyes are never quite resting.   And on camera that... Looks like a person casually walking or standing.   Again, nothing I've seen in the show suggests they aren't super competent warriors.  A handful of Sisters and Warders took down an army of 100's.  It was a little sloppy, but it happened.
 

6 hours ago, Guire said:

Given us a bit more characterization for EF5 and borderlanders while staying within restrictions of covid.  Maybe the need to use already shot footage and lack of availability of Agelmar or Amalisa actors may have hampered this. Otherwise it was bumbled.

That's just it, it wasn't Covid Restrictions as an existing thing, it was Covid shut down production for months and caused everything to be scrapped and rewritten in a two month period.  I don't argue that it looks kind of bad, I just think the real world reasons for that give some excuse and leeway.
 

6 hours ago, Guire said:

Why would you be personally offended by warders characterization as warderdoodles. 

To be clear, I'm not specifically bothered by your statement, I just disagree with it.  But being perfectly frank, the statement is intended to make a comparison between the TV and Book Gaiden and then have the TV ones seem inferior.  Regardless of if you're okay with the term you are trying to make one lesser, which does put it in the category of what I was saying I was getting tired of.   

It's also not something you're doing heavily, but I spent months watching certain individuals on this forum essentially preach that a "real" warder was X, Y, Z and that the TV ruined it by showing things like... Them laughing, them having humanity, them caring about something.  Heck, some people ranted over something as small as "Lan shouldn't cry!"   It's become a pattern.  

5 hours ago, DojoToad said:

I take it you recommend this series?  Is it complete?

Recluce continues to get new books, however it isn't a continuous narrative, so "complete" isn't really applicable.

Putting them in Chronological order along with their relative times assuming Magi'i is "1"

Magi' of Cyador+Scion of Cyador: Year 1: The Empire of Cyador stands strong, techologically and magically superior to it's neighbors, but time has taken its toll and things are slowly changing.  Lorn is the son of a respected Mage who ends up choosing the path of a military captain instead.  His sees the path to strengthen his land and his own dreams, but can he take it?

Fall of Angels+Chaos Balance+ArmsCommander: Year 401: After being stranded on a desolate mountain top a ship's crew begin to create a new home called Westwind, the story focuses on Nylan, a Smith and crafter as he struggles with a more peaceful outlook in a world that is anything but.  His fellow companions see things in different lights, most notable his lover, Ryba, who understands that only might will allow them to survive.  Meanwhile another ship officer, Saryn, must struggle with having always lived in the shadows of others and taking orders vs finding her own path.

Cyador's Heirs+Heritage of Cyador: Year 425: Decades after the end of Cyador, it's people have created a small land in the distant continent of Hamor.  Lerial, the younger son of the Duke, must find his place in the world where his land could be more, or fall to the wayside.

Mongrel Mage+Outcasts of Order+Magefire War+Fairhaven Rising: Year 500: Beltur is supposed to be a Chaos Mage, but he's not very good at it.  A series of events will lead him to his true calling, but ultimately, no where is safe for people like him, not unless he and his friends make such a place himself. 

Two Towers: Year 900: Westwind has never allowed a son to train in arms or become a warrior.  That changes with Creslin, firstborn of the Marshal of Westwind.  When he is being forced into an arranged marriage he decides to plot his escape to the eastern kingdoms to seek his own destiny, one that may change the world.

White Order+Colors of Chaos+Magic Engineer: Year 1190: Cerryl grows up poor, but a latent talent for Chaos magic sees him thrust into the Leadership Caste of Fairhaven.  There he must handle intrigues from jealous superiors as well as the breakout of a trade war with a kingdom that wants to use the roads and services Fairhaven provides without paying proper tariffs for that use.  Meanwhile, Dorrin grows up on the land of Reluce, the Bastion of Order founded long ago by a powerful Weather Mage.  But when his desire to build machines leads to his exile from his home he finds a place welcoming him and willing to let him build his heart's desire.  But what changes will the Steam Engine bring to the world?

Natural Ordermage+Mageguard of Hamor: Year 1500: Rahl feels his life is unfair, and is somewhat proven right when it is revealed he is a "Natural" mage, meaning he cannot be taught but must stumble and sort through his abilities on his own.  When this leads to mishaps he is banished from Recluce to the land of Hamor.  Will his bitterness lead to his destruction or can he find purpose and position in a new land?

The Order War: Year 1650: Justin is an engineer on Recluce, complacent and somewhat bored, but when Recluce is called upon to assist the Land of Sarronyn in a war with Fairhaven he will begin to realize that the world was never meant to be Black and White and the path forward is Grey.

Wellspring of Chaos+Ordermaster: Year 1710: Kharl is a cooper, one of the best in Brysta, married, children, successful.  But when he stands up to the Lord's son by stopping their assaults on young women on two separate occasions he is driven from his home and must pick up a new path very late in life.

The Magic of Reluce+The Death of Chaos: Year 1850: Lerris grew up sheltered in Recluce, sometimes doubting that any danger or magic even existed.  But when his refusal to apply himself leads to a "Dangergeld", a controlled and temporary exile to learn about the world, he must decided what path he wants to follow.  

We also have Recluce Tales which is a collection of short stories that span the entire series timeline.  And coming next year is "From the Forest" which is set earlier than Magi'i of Cyador.
 

Sorry if it's already been mentioned, but L. E. Modesitt Jr.

He's prolific and has several fantasy series running, some completed, some still open.  He tends to look at world histories so you usually have 2 or so books about a single protagonist before jumping to another time.  He also tends to focus on humans vs humans so there's rarely a true villain, just selfishness or different view points.  His fantasy series are as follows, starting with his biggest and main one.

The Saga of Recluce: First Book: The Magic of Recluce.  This is a world where the magic system is people who can tap what are essentially the fundamental aspects of entropy and creation in the universe.  Order Mages heal, bond, craft unbreakable items, control the weather.  Chaos Mages throw fire, bend light and in general break things apart.  The series covers approximately 2000 years of time across 23 books and 14 Protagonists.  It is also written out of Chronological order (The first book is second to last on the timeline)  So we read books that mention myths or legends of the ancient past, then eventually go back to that time and see the real people that gave birth to those legends.  

The Spellsong Cycle: First Book: The Soprano Sorceress.  2 Protagonists across 5 books.  This is a complete series that is set in a world where music is the foundation of magic.  Want something, sing it, it happens, but even the slightest off note can cause devastating results.  The first Protagonist is a vocal professor from Iowa who finds that despite only being good to middling here, her years of training plus basic understanding of science and math make her literally the most powerful person in the world.

The Corean Chronicles: First Book: Legacies.  3/4 Protagonists across 8 books.  This is a complete series where the world is a bit alien, green skies, stranger animals.  Magic is a Talent people have that is essentially aura sensing and lifeforce manipulation.  It focuses heavily on the price of a stable society and where the line has to be drawn between progress, safety and natural order.

The Imager Porfolio: First Book: Imager.  4 Protagonists across 12 books.  Imagers are people that are commonly thought to be able to create anything they want from nothing.  In reality they are essentially reality warpers who become more powerful with stress, practice and understanding of how the world works.  The first three books are set in an allegory for Industrial Revolution Europe with the main character becoming part of an EU type magic CIA.  Later books go back to see the original founding of this EU style solitary land and then moving forward some to see when it changed from a monarchy to a democratic republic.  This is my favorite of his works.

The Grand Illusion: First Book: Isolate.  So far 2 books, his newest series is kind of a magical early 1900's US.  We have cars, steam and electricity, magic comes in the form of Empaths who can project emotion even so far as to force death or overloading people.  There are also then Isolates, people who are completely immune to an Empath's powers.  The main character is a security and assistant to essentially a US Senator.

On 12/26/2022 at 2:23 PM, Guire said:

The show seems to want to undermine all authority from the start instead of gradually revealing the weakness and doubt present. 

The books do the same thing, the Village Council are immediately undermined by the Women's Circle who are immediately undermined by Moraine, who gets ignored or fought by the kids frequently.
 

On 12/26/2022 at 2:23 PM, Guire said:

Borderlanders aren't disciplined soldiers but cartoonish, arrogant, and inept

I didn't see cartoonish, they're arrogant in the books too.  As for inept, the battle for the gap was sloppy, but that was due to Covid more than anything.  I can give some forgiveness because it was a case of "Something will be put out, now figure it out or else."  So they do something simple and hope they can redeem later.
 

On 12/26/2022 at 2:23 PM, Guire said:

Warders are now emotional support dogs instead of barely constrained wolves. I call them warderdoodles.

This is nonsense and I really do start to take offense at this insistence that any man being sensitive or more than a brick wall with a sword is somehow failing the Gaidin.  If you know the books to compare then you KNOW the bond and the warders are not what Lan portrays in book 1.   Not even Lan is what Lan portrays in book 1.
 

On 12/26/2022 at 2:23 PM, Guire said:

Aes Sedai are no longer mysterious and awe inducing.  Now they are just squabbling house wives of Tar Valon County.

As they were in the books?  Maybe it comes from years of being a D&D player or maybe it's from reading Modesitt before Tolkien, but I NEVER took the Aes Sedai as mysterious and awe inducing, they were always just the magic users.  The infighting starts showing up at the beginning of Book 2 and gets worse progressively, so not sure what the complaint is supposed to be.

2 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

This wouldn't be a bad idea. They will need to find someone to replace Siuan as Egwene's mentor during her rise to power and someone else for Nynaeve to heal. But otherwise, Siuan's arc is dispensable.

Combine it.  Moraine disappears from the narrative in Book 5, postpone the RedStone Doorway, Moraine gets stilled fighting Lanfear in Cairhienin, goes with Egwene when Egwene is called.  Acts as her mentor, gets healed by Nynaeve, returns to Rand, Lanfear attacks again, Redstone.   

Or maybe Moraine's stilled now, we start Egwene's path sooner and then she gets healed to go face Lanfear.

It's clunky.  But I'm also not a paid writer taking time to think all the ramifications through, I'm just off the cuff improvising.

On 11/27/2022 at 3:18 PM, Sir_Charrid said:

Anya is also understandable, she has a real defined reason for how she is, it is not about all bad guys being redeemable, it is about them being understandable.

I think we're on different pages for what sympathetic means.  I don't mean well written or we can understand how they got there.  I mean we actually feel for them and wish things could have worked out.

I care about

I don't care about Anya's Nihilism.  All it shows is that she fell into the trap so many people who quote Nietzsche incorrectly do.  That she feels the lack of any overt victory or reward means who cares, do what you want is the wrong solution and Cerryl very clearly says it at the end.  If nothing we do matters all that matters is what we do.

In fact, it's done again in

Similar to Sauron, wanting the heat death of the universe so that things won't be chaotic is hardly sympathetic

PS: sorry for a very late reply, but forums are a bit slow and this has been a fun discussion.  🙂

Edit: Sorry, just realized we're in TV forum, not Book, covered potential spoilers.

I'd say there's probably more mild Ta'veren effects around a reborn her that protects the mother until birth and then protects the kiddo.

I think the answer is "yes" and "it depends" and "it's complicated".

Fun fact.  Do you really have free will?  Or do you have the illusion of it which is so near indistinguishable as to make it an irrelevant point for us?

Could you go walk in front of a bus?  Really?  Not, are you capable of it, but could you do it just because?  I'd argue no.  

After decades of martial arts training there are certain responses to a physical threat that are so muscle memory that I don't actively do them.  Do I have free will to act or not act?  One might argue that my free will was the decision to train years ago.  But then I respond with what made sure I was near that MA school or what made me decide learning to fight was worthwhile?  You can always roll it back and find some external reason that forced a choice going all the way back to your Parents circumstances leading to you existing (And then you can keep going).

On 11/12/2022 at 11:09 AM, Stedding Tofu said:

What's the Creator's reason for needing an avatar? If he can use an avatar why does he need a champion? 

Could be a lot of things, but the easiest that comes to mind for me is a concept like we have in the Film Dogma or Supernatural.  Direct interaction could break us.   So a vessel is needed to act as a filter/translator.

As for why does he need a Champion?  If the experiment really is free will for some purpose or other then directly saving breaks that.

On 11/20/2022 at 8:50 AM, SinisterDeath said:

His universe doesn't have entropy.
Sol, the star in the center of our solar system will never die in the WoT Universe. The universe will never expand to the point of heat death. (No Big Crunch/Big Bang repeating)
Even "Evolution" isn't really a thing in the WoT universe... as long as the wheel exists.

Or... Here me out....

It does and the individual ages are so much greater than we think they are.

What if the last age in the cycle is the Crunch/Bang?  Age 1 is where we are, Age 2 is AoL, Age 3 is the repair, etc and then it keeps being longer and longer ages because of entropy and expansion?   O:-)

On 11/20/2022 at 3:52 AM, Sir_Charrid said:

If you consider that aes sedai of the 3rd age are simply rediscovering what was known in the age of legends then if there was an ability to make anyone channel it would have happened and the forsaken would know it and therefore the dark lord. I imagine he would have wanted more channelers made. 

That's not the case.  There's repeated issues of this age figuring out things the AoL assumed were impossible.  From things as simple as flipping Gateways horizontal to as complicated as Healing Severing or the Warder bond.  Several Forsaken remark on it throughout the series.

 

12 hours ago, bringbackthomsmoustache said:

I do not recall seeing that

It's not in the books proper, it's in the Companion, it stated Setalle was relieved that Nynaeve could not heal being burned out because she would prefer to just stay a normal woman with her family at this point, but had a sense of duty that said if she COULD be more and help she had to.

The only thing I'd really argue is against the idea that villains need a sympathetic backstory.  They don't all have one. 

For every character like an Anakin Skywalker or Killmonger who has reasons the reader can make the mistake of sliding in line with there are villains like Sauron or Anya.

Even the complete monster villains can still HAVE things that make them relatable.  I mentioned Anya from Recluce.  She is a fully bore Nihilistic Hedonist.  A woman cursed with forsight who walked away from knowing the future with the attitude that nothing matters so manipulate, take, kill and do whatever based purely on what YOU will enjoy.  She's irredeemable, she's a monster.  She still comes off interesting and human without any real tragedy or sympathy coming up.

1 minute ago, tsunamic84 said:

I think this might be my favorite thing I've heard about this series. The only reason I might not agree is that it is implied that while time is cyclical in the series, that doesn't mean the same characters and events. If that is the case, it would make sense to say it is not a single gash. It is not a single attempt. If it was, it would be exactly the same every time, right? And it isn't.

 

But maybe that isn't quite right. Maybe it could be more accurate to say the Dark One fights EVERY SINGLE Tarmon Gaidon all at once? And gashes the tire an infinite number of times at once. Each time representing each turning of the wheel.

That's essentially what I was saying.  From the perspective of the insect inside the tire, the gash is new each time.  From the perspective outside, it happened once.  

So from our perspective as mortals ON the world, it happens every spin (Bore, Patch, Sealing) and repeats, but from the Perspective of the DO they only tried once.  

It's not a perfect match but think of Dormamu in the end of Dr. Strange.  The cast and director have mentioned that we saw only a sliver of Strange's deaths and confrontations.  Enough time passed for Strange to essentially let him move from talented novice to the level of competence he shows in Infinity War forward.  During all that time, Strange perceived multiple deaths, multiple confrontations, tried multiple different tactics to endure.  Dormamu perceived an upstart mortal showed up and was killed.  

It took millions if not billions of spins before Dormamu finally started to sort of sus out something was wrong.  Maybe the DO would be the same (an idea for a story) but how many turnings have their been?  And for the DO even if it's repeating without their ability to perceive the repeat, there's such a gap in time between each one.  Dormamu figuring it out after millions+ times back to back with no stop.  the DO has 5 ages between each attempt.

6 minutes ago, tsunamic84 said:

But then how are there different outcome at the end as Rand spins the pattern? Are all possibilities real and occur in different worlds? As discussed when they talk about the portal stones? And if so, that would imply that at the beginning of the universe (or all of them?) when all the different patterns were spun, was it determined the Dark One failed his infinite battles from the get-go because if he won any of them ever, and he is outside time, then he could affect any time period he wanted (or any instance of the turning of the wheel). Maybe this is why Jordan or Sanderson (whoever it was) said the Dark One CANNOT win, since he already failed every time. But this doesn't imply he didn't lose on purpose. But it also might make it confusing to say he lost on purpose because he was bored, since they all happened at once?

I think this walks into Multiverse theory and it's own fun.  But aside from that, Independently I think there's no way for Rand to "win" permanently.  I think that's what Fain/Mashadar/whatever represents.  It's always described as an evil different from, separate from the DO.  I think if Rand had given into hubris, killed the DO and ended that threat Fain would have slipped into the void left and slowly become essentially a new DO.  We already saw in the last few books how utterly alien their thinking was becoming, as well as an obsession with the Dragon.  It's a pet theory only obviously, but I think the Fain thing is a failsafe built into the system.  Rand made the "right" choice so Fain had no purpose and the pattern shoved Mat in to deal with the now unneeded factor.  

A good comparison would be the Matrix IMO.  Each iteration of "The One" involved a reset of the system to status quo and things continuing.  And let's be fair, while there's a lot of bad stuff in the Matrix, for the VAST majority  it's just life without issue.  Once Neo breaks the pattern a new evil starts spiraling out of control that is an enemy to both Neo and the Opposition.

The thing is, to look at this and say the Dark One never learns, adapts or works to win implies that it sees these turnings as multiple attempts.

I really don't think it does.  It's outside of Time, it's existing in a 5D world looking at a 4D object.  Much like we are 4D and can't really comprehend time save it moving in one direction, I think the DO sees time as a dimension that same as width, lengths and depth.

So from the DO's perspective, picture looking at a tire spinning very slowly.  You reach out and puncture it in one place, drag a gash in it, get push back and finally shoved away from it.   From your perspective the tire doesn't come around and you poke again, that's just all there is, you can see the slash from your single attempt and that's that.  Meanwhile an insect sitting stationary inside the tire would would see the gash, have offspring, die as the gash disappears, the offspring have offspring, etc, etc, then the insect's progeny would see the gash come around again and perceive it as a new thing..

I think the DO made a single attempt, was smacked down and that was it, from its perspective.

On 10/13/2022 at 9:36 PM, bringbackthomsmoustache said:

Except that the majority of readers would support the right to a jury of your peers for a judgement,

Not really even going into the rest, but this first sentence.  It's a deflection from the actual discussion.

No, not every reader automatically assumed Jury trial with certain rules.  But aside from that, the situation is already 100% established that Perrin and Galad both accepted Morgase as sole arbiter.  So discussing a jury or not isn't important here.

And you didn't really say anything that counters my original argument.

In fairness, it's not even just the Borderlands that get avoided.  Sabio mentioned the strong nations where the White Cloaks don't really operate.

That's be everything in a rough diagonal across the map from NW to SE.  In the books the White Cloaks are starting to push into Andor and very much mostly in the west and south where the throne's hand is weak or non-existent.   They run throughout Tarabon, Altara, Amadicia(Their home), Ghealdin and Murandy.  I don't recall offhand if they are in Arad Doman.

7 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

Thank you for the response.  I appreciate the thoughtfulness rather than being attacked for not using the correct terminology while I learn.

 

If I'm understanding you right - genetics stays the same, but gender (or gender identity) doesn't necessarily match AMAB/AFAB.  Correct?  But I wouldn't be surprised if I messed it up...

 

Would be interested to see if the show decides to tackle it - especially in a channeler.

In as much as I can be definitive in a fictional world, yeah.  Real life Trans people don't change DNA (Though to be fair our biological sex is not actually a binary system, just has 2 options far more common than others, but there are XXY, X and XXX, XYY, etc)

In the real world a trans person is the gender they identify with, but the biological sex doesn't change.  So there's two ways it could work with channeling. 

Soul Ties to Biological sex:  You'll always get the Aran'Gar situation.

Souls aren't tied to Biological sex: You get the scenarios already touched on that wouldn't be particularly well known.

 I will be curious if they tackle it in the show, I'm not expecting them too, but would be pleasantly surprised.

Edit: Unintentionally responded to much older post, Apologies.

Edit Edit:  But then the topic continued politely so... 😄

I'm perfectly happy with Rafe's answer.  It's not that the Dragon can be someone other than Rand.  It's that it's an old Prophecy, as others already said.

People argue over every single line of text in the Prophecies of the Dragon, except that specific one?   We argue what slaying people with a leaf means, we argue over what "Breaking the world again" means.  But not one person ever goes "What if it's not an obvious man reborn?"   Specially combined with a world that is largely female dominated due to only women having magic and influencing things....

I never took it as "OOh, maybe it's not Rand."  I took it as people are dumb and history gets foggy and that leads to mistakes.

7 hours ago, No Prince of Ravens said:

Sure, we see them struggle for a bit, and I can understand the struggle, but I am not invested in the struggle that takes more build up. That is the difference for me. I don't feel their struggle and hopelessness.

Where as I found how much it drug out in EotW obnoxious.  Opinions are all well and good but they don't make it "poor writing and lack of vision."
 

7 hours ago, No Prince of Ravens said:

I read this as you being part of the crew then?

I use the word we in quotes as part of a theoretical statement, not as an indication that I was directly involved, which I was not...
 

7 hours ago, No Prince of Ravens said:

But we are entitled to different opinions. This is just my take on what made GoT a hit with non-fantasy viewers flocking to it while WoT has a hard time even keeping the fantasy nerds watching.

Of course we can have our different opinions.  I'm not making some kind of demand that you stop hating the show or admit you secretly think it's good.  I'm pointing out that hyperbolic statements like "It's just poor writing and lack of vision" are essentially useless.

You're not sharing your opinion and discussing, you are ignoring any response you dislike and writing it off as "No, it's just bad."

Also, as a business owner you should be fully aware that some things are just out of your hands.

11 minutes ago, No Prince of Ravens said:

Case in point, I sure didn't miss in the books when a chapter started with "month later", since there was no need to tell us that in the books. Instead we were shown the hardships and hopelessness of it all. 

Yes, because books are different from TV.  The show specifically points out time passed.  As for being shown the hardship and hopelessness.  We see Rand and Mat's struggles, we see Perrin and Egwene's before the tinkers take them in.  I understood the struggles, unsure why you didn't.
 

13 minutes ago, No Prince of Ravens said:

Also I don't buy into size of the world as an argument for not portraying the vastness better. Nor Covid as an excuse for not having larger groups of people, that is all a matter of CG. 

You're misunderstanding the issue.  It wasn't "Because Covid there weren't a lot of extras"  it was "Because Covid we had to completely shut down filming for months, lose most of our sets and when we got back to shooting we had a ridiculous tight schedule to get those last two episodes done and ready."