I was surprised by most that weren't blatantly obvious.

5 hours ago, Disco said:

If you named your kid Elayne you'd have to live with it being a spoiled brat who thinks she knows better than everyone, never learns her lesson and refuses to love her brother because he told on her a few times 

Because everyone with the same name acts the same...  🤣

12 hours ago, Disco said:

I am 40 years old and read the series again, having joined when book 7 was released.

 

After reading this thread all I wanted to say was - as a kid, I was obsessed with the idea the male Aiel channelers would have been turned. It was the only thing that made sense to me. I thought if that shadow had any sense they'd park some black ajah and mydraal north of the Aiel. Since the dark one could grant immortality... Anyway it used to frustrate me that no one had thought of this and I wondered if Jordan had 

 

You're just smarter than the rest of us.  Or at least smarter than me...  😁

I personally had little problem with the transition to Sanderson.  He did an excellent job picking up the load for Jordan in my opinion.  Not perfect by any means, but who could be?

3 minutes ago, WhiteVeils said:

But that scene's not in the books? 😉  

If anyone makes the trip to Tar Valon, it will be the reps from the Women's Circle

2 hours ago, Asthereal said:

 

His editor would be his wife, lauded as one of the best editors in the genre. Perhaps she decided to let him have his things with mature women acting like brats. And spanking. 🤣

Love the series of course, but if she is one of the best...  How bad was it before she got her mitts on it? 

15 minutes ago, Asthereal said:

 

This is definitely true. Also, the fact that Jordan isn't with us anymore means that every little detail that doesn't get explained in the books or in his notes is doomed to remain a mystery forever.

Wish that were so.  Reveals by Brandon and/or Jordan's teams have been disappointing for me so far.

What got you into the books - the show?

On 3/30/2023 at 11:32 PM, Sabio said:

There is a difference between never growing old and able to be brought back from death.  Remember even Moiraine told Rand death is permanent.  The little they know of the Forsaken has most of them going over for power not immortality.  Few people know of the DO's ability to stuff a soul back into a body.  To almost everyone of the time, once you're dead that's it.

18 hours ago, Sabio said:

Every expects the pattern will spin people out again and again.  But no one expects someone to die and then be walking around again a month later.  

I'm obviously not understanding your point, because you appear to be contradicting yourself.  In the first quote 'once you're dead that's it'.  In the second quote 'the pattern will spin people out again and again'.  Straighten me out here.

Where you say 'no one expects people to die and be walking around again a month later' - I disagree.  When 'reincarnation' is discussed in the books, there is not a timeframe given that I can recall.  Can be a month or 500 years.

19 hours ago, SinisterDeath said:

Before you speculate too much about why the gap, consider some of Amazon's more popular original tv series, and their release dates.

The Boys
S1 premiered July 26th, 2019.
S2 premiered September 4th, 2020
S3 premiered June 3rd, 2022

Carnival Row 
S1 Premiered August 30th, 2019
S2 Premiered February 17th, 2023

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
S1 Premiered March 17th, 2017
S2 Premiered December 5th 2018
S3 Premiered December 6th 2019
S4 Premiered February 18th, 2022

The Man in the High Castle 
S1 Premiered January 15th, 2015
S2 Premiered December 16th 2016
S3 Premiered October 5th 2018
S4 Premiered November 15th, 2019

Notice the bolded text.
The Boys had a 13 month gap between S1 and S2, and then a 21 month gap between S2 and S3.
Carnival Row had a 38 month gap between S1 and S2.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had a 21 month gap between S1 and S2.

The Man in the High Castle had a 23 month gap between S1 and S2.

TLDR: this is par the course for Amazon, they are atrocious at giving us yearly releases.

They do seem very slapdash with their releases. Streaming world is different than network. Be interested to see which model wins or if they can coexist. 

3 hours ago, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

I replied to another post already but I think it was actually the scene with sevanna and crew after meeting with sammael and graendal in disguise and then we got the perspective change from “the watcher”? You old school fans have way more insight than I do though, I could be wrong. I love hearing from you all!

Not everything was obvious to me either. I learned more here on DM and by reading the Companion. 

2 hours ago, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

I recently heard on a podcast I listen to that there are some things that NEVER get cleared up! WHAT?!? I guess that’s what we love about the series, but damn if I didn’t hope that everything has an answer 

Life is rarely so nice and neat. I don’t expect my books to tie off everything with a beautiful bow. Loose ends seem more real. And leaves room for debate - what happened next?  

5 hours ago, Sabio said:

I don't remember but I think his first appearance was Moghi meeting him after being freed.  I assumed it was Ishy.  Whoever it was had been given a lot of power and authority by the DO.  It just seemed odd to me that would happen with a totally new person.  Ishy was the DO's go to person.

???  Did you read the Companion?

5 hours ago, Sabio said:

There is a difference between never growing old and able to be brought back from death.  Remember even Moiraine told Rand death is permanent.  The little they know of the Forsaken has most of them going over for power not immortality.  Few people know of the DO's ability to stuff a soul back into a body.  To almost everyone of the time, once you're dead that's it.

Dark One's ability aside.  I thought renewal and rebirth were a theme of the whole series...?

I started reading in 1992 (I believe) and there is still stuff I haven't caught on to.  🤔

2 minutes ago, WoTwasThat said:

I’ll add a different take to @Lightfriendsocialmistress and @DojoToad…

 

I derive pleasure from sharing awesomeness with others. I enjoy watching a movie I like, or taking a favorite hike in the mountains, by myself, but I enjoy it so much more if I can share that experience with someone else who has never seen it.

 

When I heard that WOT was finally in production, I was thrilled that a broader audience would finally get to experience the same awesomeness I did (well - at least through book 6 before things sort of derailed). It made me so mad and disappointed when I started to realize around Epi 2 that this was not my WOT, and for a great many people this Rafe-WOT is the only WOT they would ever know.

 

I felt the same way walking out of the theater after Dark Tower. I was so pissed. Sure, I have the books. I know the real story, but I wanted that story to be shared.

 

One other thing that excited me about WOTTV is I thought it might actually be an opportunity to improve on the books by tightening up the story and fixing a lot of flaws from Book 7 onward. That’s never going to happen now, which is disappointing. 

Dark Tower was so bad.

2 hours ago, Lightfriendsocialmistress said:

I’m fairly new to this community but figured I’d share my 2 cents regarding the original question. I personally enjoyed the show for what it was, and despite being tempted to watch it through the perspective of the books, made the decision to experience the show separately. One reason is simply that I crave more WOT based content in any form, another reason being that due to the massive undertaking of translating the books to television, I was immensely grateful that someone was willing to attempt it. I had come to accept that it wouldn’t or couldn’t be done, so I can appreciate it for existing at all. I understand all the criticism, and even leaving the books out of it, I could definitely find things to criticize as well. Overall I enjoyed it and look forward to future seasons. For me it simply gives me more content to dive into and an appreciation for the people who were willing to tackle the job. 

Funny how different people are.  I have never been one to crave more content for the sake of content.

For example - I loved the first book of the Dune series.  But didn't like the 2nd and 3rd - much less beyond.  But I was content to read the 1st book over and over even though I wanted more.  Same with the screen adaptations.  The 1984 movie stunk (for me).  I watched it twice over the years but never again.  Same with the Sci-Fi series, watched it a few times but it was just not good enough to enjoy.

My rationale - why waste my time on something I don't enjoy and am critical of just for the sake of more content?  I know I love the book, I'll just read it again.  Same with the Avenger movies.  I really love some and dislike others.  Seen them all but only re-watch the ones I enjoy.

I get more out of less.  Others get more out of more.

3 hours ago, mogi68 said:

He is great as Tam. One of the bright parts of the show imo

For sure, and his best scene was cut.  Here is to hoping that is fixed going forward...

A couple fan art images I found.

I have not.  No one I know has either.

23 minutes ago, SilentRoamer said:

 

Weird how the "Old blood of manatheren" runs strong in the Emonds Fielders - but they're also racially diverse? I'm not claiming a completely isolated community, I am saying that their relative isolation, mixed with their mistrust of outsiders and the stubborn streak (which runs in their blood) leads them to be a naturally isolated and racially homogenous peoples. 

Strong in the old blood could be 10% of the population.  Or even 5%.  To have Manetheran's blood basically made some Emond's Fielders super heroes (in a fantasy way).  To have even a small percentage of folks with the ability to manifest 'lost' or unusual abilities would be a mother lode for the Aes Sedai to study, harness, or whatever.  Still lots of room for 'normals'.

Plus  - do we know the diversity of Manetheran's population?  I imagine it was huge and very diverse before the trollocs wiped them out

31 minutes ago, SinisterDeath said:

It's new because we have never seen it before.
 

It's one of the few cut scenes that was actually filmed, and it ultimately hit the cutting room floor to meet Amazon's ridiculous time limit.

Many of the fans love Michael McElhatton's acting in this scene, and the foreshadowing from his moment of dialogue is fantastic. 

If you want to take a negative conspiracy theory route, this scene was probably cut because it outshined Rosamund Pike's acting in her Oscar bait episode.

It was filmed over two years ago, so maybe new on a geologic scale.

I'd settle for - Never before seen!

How is this new?  It is old and was not considered important enough to include in the show - compared to what was left in.

Would be nice to get something actually new from Rafe and company.

On 3/16/2023 at 5:01 PM, Cipher said:

IMO Callandor and Tear could be over by s3 e2-3.  Episode 3 having Rand, Mat, and Moiraine going into the land of the finn and then heading out by the end of the episode. Then episode 4 has Elayne, Nyn, Thom and Julian going to Tanchico.

 

Julian as Latino or Asian?  I sometimes cast him differently in my mind.

I thought Julian was very dark skinned

3 hours ago, WhiteVeils said:

Lanfear is going to be played by an actor, just like every other character in the show.  No person will be able to match up to 'most beautiful woman alive', so there will be people who complain that the actor who plays her isn't attractive enough.  <shrug>

Better get someone who can act, or is beautiful.  If RJ2 misses both...