We compare to show how things are different (and/or alike).

19 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

(4) I mostly liked S2E8. Egwene getting free of the collar wasn’t great (I wish they would have let Elayne and Nyn participate), and I thought some of it was a but cheesy, but overall I felt it was a solid episode. 

Wait a minute - so Egwene gets out of the collar unassisted?  Guess we won't need Rand to obliterate the Domination Band later on...

New turning and all that.  😁

I think that Amazon's rights would have to expire and then purchased for a boatload of money from Jordan's estate/Harriet.  If that part happens, is there enough money left over to do anything with...?

Not a lawyer, but a lot of money tends to make most things happen.

9 hours ago, fearbrog said:

Egwene will be fighting Asmo and Lanfear, maybe even alone while Rand gonna be distracted or be incapable of channeling or do important metaphysical stuff like talking to the Dark One. Either way Egg cannot sit out climax of Aiel Waste in a tent. Maybe Moiraine will help her so fight wouldn't be so unbelievable and after everything she will bring water to Rhuidean

Why would Egwene need help to make a fight believable.  Nynaeve took out a trolloc in S1:E1 all by herself.  Fair is fair!

Think I mentioned this on a thread here years ago - the last books Jordan put out were a slog for me personally (there were some great scenes, but overall hard to get through).  Had he lived, we might have gotten to book 20 and still not reached the last battle.  RJ seemed to have lost his way and was struggling with how to complete the series.  Visions of GRRM...

We got different books because Sanderson had to finish the series for Jordan, but at least he wrapped it up.  Some folks were more satisfied than others.  But I think we would have had complaints about plot line and character endings even if it had been Jordan.  So criticisms of how Sanderson finished it ring hollow for me.

And I don't really care for Sanderson's writing style in his own books.  Love the first Mistborn novel, but the other two fell flat for me overall.  Same with the Stormlight series.  Some great ideas regarding the magic system and world-building for both but in the end I didn't care about his characters.  So that Sanderson could get me loving WoT novels again was a major accomplishment from my perspective.

Jordan created a world, characters, and story that I would stay with to the end no matter what.  But Sanderson rejuvenated the series for me and brought it home strong if not perfectly.

I don't recall enough Faulkner to know.

But read 'The Belgariad' series by David Eddings and you will see lots of overlap.

34 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

Yeah, I’m not sure where he is coming up with those numbers. 

Gotcha.  I never dug into the numbers myself.

19 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

Where’s the 30% drop number coming from? I don’t understand the math. 

Going off of @Jaccsen's post.  Don't know if they are correct or not, but as you didn't disagree with that portion of the post I assumed that the drop was real...

1 hour ago, Elder_Haman said:

You have literally no idea what metrics Amazon uses to determine whether the show is a “success” or what they take into account when deciding whether the cost of the show is justified. 

True, but I doubt that Amazon would consider an almost 30% drop in viewership a success.

As @Asthereal said, Brandon is a very different writer from Jordan.  I also think Brandon did a fantastic job considering how much he had to change his own style to mimic Jordan as best he could.  I will be forever grateful to Brandon for taking on the Herculean task.  He did well more than 'good enough' in my opinion.

11 hours ago, HeroAndros said:

I came into the show with very low expectations. Why? Because it is a massive fantasy being adapted to a TV show. Even if it had been a movie I would have been leery because high fantasy does not translate to screen very well, and everyone is going to want an absolute faithful adaptation. LOTR is a great example, because all these years later you still have people complaining it wasn't a shot for shot reproduction despite being a massive success and quite frankly paving the way for something like WoT to happen.

 

Have I been disappointed in what I've seen? In many regards, yes. But this is absolutely an adaptation, and it has been clearly laid out that this is not the 3rd age we all know. It is a completely different turning, and thus things will be different. Overall I've liked what they have done, even with some of the odder changes and choices that they have made.

 

I'm also watching it with my spouse, who I spent YEARS trying to get them to read the books and they simply could not get out of the Two Rivers. They love the series, and I love that they do. It being accessible is exactly what the fandom needs. I do my best to stay away from spoilers, and not react too much to the changes, but inevitably we discuss how that episode or the season overall played out in the books and in doing so it's allowed me to see and understand why some of the changes were made.

 

TLdr: No adaptation will make everyone happy, it's impossible. As readers we must understand this isn't the story we know, or even the characters we know. It's a new turn, a portal world if you will. In the end it keeps WoT, and high fantasy in general. relevant in a world overrun by subpar literature.

I've never understood the 'it is a different turning' perspective.  If it is a different turning, change the names of the characters.  Would make it easier to swallow the other story changes because the differences in the adaptation from the book would be more obvious - for me at least.

Birgitte, for example, had many different names and adventures that were tied to her through the Ages.  So if it is another turning change Rand, Egwene, Logain, and etc.  There can be some overlap from events in the books because there are no beginnings, but the differences wouldn't be as jarring and maybe even welcome because it is obviously not the books that were adapted, but the world.  We would expect changes but still have a familiar world that we could comfortably sink in to.

🤷‍♂️ Just Monday morning quarterbacking...

I was just getting ready to stream 'The Office' on Peacock last night.  Five minutes in  - commercial.  A few minutes after that - 90 second commercial.  Done.  I've already seen all the episodes without ads, not going to sit through them with ads.  I too grew up watching ads growing up but have now been too spoiled by the streaming age.  I can't go back and don't watch network TV anymore.

I never see an ad when reading, running, working on hobbies or playing a video game.  Sorry to see Amazon is going this way.  The glowing screen will be seeing me a lot less - except for video games, of course 😁

I liked Cadsuane fine until her confrontation with Tam in the Stone when he exposed her as the bully she was - not that there weren't hints before, but it couldn't be ignored after that.  Part of being Aes Sedai is being a bully with words and the Tower mystique to get stuff done without resorting to sword or the Power.  In the end, I think she just went too far.  Still a badass character, just because I dislike her as a 'person' doesn't mean she isn't awesome/imposing in her own way.

On 1/11/2024 at 4:38 AM, HeavyHalfMoonBlade said:

But for me there is more than enough to keep the show very enjoyable, and I am eager for more. And I'll never understand those that refuse to watch it because Rand has sex with Egwene. As if that makes a difference, but yeah, as I say, I don't understand it.

I disliked many changes in the show, but I liked several too: aging up the characters, Logain prominent early, Moiraine bigger role, Mat's family having major issues, etc.

I refuse to watch the show because I think it was horribly executed.  Terrible fight choreography overall, Lan looking like he had two-weeks of sword training at the corner McDojo, superfluous time spent on peripheral characters, not enough time on main characters, writing overall, short Ogiers 😁, etc.

I think the adaptation changes shocked me at first.  Now it just comes down to quality of the final product, which I know is heavily shaded by personal preferences.  Some enjoy it and others don't for whatever reason.

Many of the characters change over the course of the books.  This may be a bit jarring for you, but the man he becomes is much better than the boy that left Emond's Field.  You don't have to like him, but I liked him better as the books advanced.

I was annoyed by some of the characters as well, but I plowed ahead because the books were great (for me).  Maybe that is why the books were great?

24 minutes ago, Guire said:

A few WoT youtubers have been encouraging rewatches of entire season to bolster case for season 4.  It appears completion rates are very important to Amazon.  uh oh RoP.

Time for spam watching?

Can't recommend when to read NS - at least not an ideal.  But as I re-read the series, NS always comes first.

@Stevzor Welcome to the books (and a new addiction)!  My favorite series - all time.  As @Elgee said, there are very obvious differences between show and books.  Be interested to hear if you like one version better than the other after reading the first couple books.

I was fine with the ending.  Don't need loose ends tied up.  Some had hero moments on page others didn't - all good.  Like many on here, I read through the early books a dozen times or more.  The entire series, prequel through AMoL, only twice - but currently on my 3rd time through...

We would have gotten something different from Jordan but I was quite satisfied how Sanderson finished it as a whole.  A few things I didn't like and/or understand - Nakomi and Shara.  Otherwise great ending to a great story for me!!

9 hours ago, DreadLord31 said:

yes, yes. I agree. Moiraine is too tall. 😉

And Loial is too short...

7 hours ago, Finnssss22 said:

One of my cats is named Aviendha, the white and beige suckball 

Doesn't look nearly thorny enough for Aviendha.  More like a Berelain

🤣

1 hour ago, St. Deraj said:

Nobody biological, but I did name my very first iPhone sa'angreal. Nowadays, of course, that may seem an absurdly generous honorific for an iPhone 4S; upgrading from a couple-dozen-actual-protruding-buttons-keyboard-with-mechanical-trackball Blackberry it made perfect sense.

Ha!  I'd say more of a ter'angreal.

Welcome to DM

22 hours ago, wotfan4472 said:

The most important moment, is when Faile is still captured by the Shaido, and reality ripples three times.

 

There were also other times similar effects happened in other books. All of those caused by Demandred's balefire.

Damn!  That's why I love this website.  Never would have made that connection on my own.  Correct or not, on this read-through I will be going in as if it is fact. 👍

11 hours ago, Dedicated said:

This topic makes me uncomfortable... That said, I have fantasized about owning 3 dogs and naming them Rand, Perrin, and Mat. 

LOL - some suggestions:

• Red Doberman for Rand
• Rottweiler for Perrin
• Greyhound for Mat

13 minutes ago, HeavyHalfMoonBlade said:

Dude, while I would love to continue discuss this, I doubt I could manage to do so while respecting the rules of the forum, so please enjoy having the last word.

You know your limits, I can respect that.