Like the nod to capoeira in episode 3.  Not liking the Ewok vibe from the hobbits.

So much easier to like RoP as I know little of the background.

I liked the weather-based knowledge they brought as well, but otherwise think this was underdeveloped in the books.  Maybe a bit more time on ships and less time with "Nothing matters but Faile" would have been refreshing.  Then again, leave them wanting more isn't a terrible thing...

  On 9/9/2022 at 11:42 AM, Dagon Thyne said:

If LOTR is a major success, it could mean that Amazon would be willing to be less restrictive in future seasons of the WOT.  Give them more episodes, more money, etc.  One of the reasons why they had to cut so much and rewrite the story so much is because they had limited time especially with numerous Covid-ralted rewrites.  

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I would think they were limited by both number of episodes and money before COVID was a factor.  Barney leaving and COVID required unexpected re-writes, but would bet that Rafe and company knew they only had 8 hours and 10 million per episode way before they shot the first episode.  Didn't like it, but they knew.

I wasn't bored at all.  There were a few choices I thought were silly as far as writing.  But overall didn't hate it.

I'm coming from a place where I don't know any of the source material.  I know LoTR and Hobbit (books once or twice and the movies repeatedly) - but don't know if that counts as this is a prequel.  I'm not even sure if there is source material from what I've been reading.  Was this all made up to fit into Tolkien's world?

A few nits to pick, but so far a 3 out of 5 stars for the first two episodes.  I'll watch another and see how it goes.

As it relates to WoT - I can see how not knowing source material could have made it easier to accept changes/made up material.  And as WoT was made for a larger (non-book reading audience), I can see how Rafe and team felt safe to take liberties from the source material.  I still struggle with it but they have to play the numbers.

Not determined yet, but I'm still not sure if a successful RoP hurts/helps WoT.  Maybe they stay independent...

  On 9/6/2022 at 1:40 PM, wotfan4472 said:

There is a special edition???

 

and it is out???

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Click on the link and find out.

  On 9/6/2022 at 1:25 AM, CaddySedai said:

 

Actually back before it became uber rare they sold some to other races to be worked. The Noldor used mithril to create the alloy ithildin and decorated using that. 

 

the ring of power Nenya was also forged of mithril by the elves. 

 

But this is getting off topic. Ultimately I think if ROP does well it might have a stack on effect for WOT. People looking for more fantasy. 

 

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Shows how much I know of middle earth lore. 😂 

  On 9/5/2022 at 3:59 PM, CaddySedai said:

Point of order, the elves probably did not make the mithril shirt that Bilbo and Frodo wore. 

 

Thats the work of the dwarves (most armor tended to be, other things like rings and decorative arches were made by others) and they would appreciate you not attributing that to the fairer folk. While it may have been made for an elvish prince, the hands that wrought it were likely not. 

 

Hehe. 

 

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Dwarves mined the mithril. Due to its rarity, makes sense they would keep it all to work as they saw fit

I liked the first two episodes-other than a character trying to swim from Valinor to Middle Earth. Not best ever, but good enough to keep interest

  On 9/4/2022 at 5:13 PM, CaddySedai said:

 

Not Borked, turns out Amazon is throttling its reviews. They say they are doing this with all their shows now to prevent review bombing lol

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This strategy could possibly backfire. The bombers will wait patiently to get their review in. And those with a more libertarian bent might choose to punish them with a lower review than initially intended to punish the ‘censorship’. I doubt many scores will go up because they had to wait to enter them. 
 

Who knows, they think it will help…

  On 9/1/2022 at 12:46 AM, holger said:

As for including Egwene: the "girl demographic" angle was probably one reason for making her a potential dragon, but not the only one. They had another problem, because they also had to come up with a new reason for Egwene to join the group. The book reason (15-yo girl wanting to see the world), would not work in the show, where Egwene had to be aged up to 20 to avoid the YA genre. It would have made it look like Egwene decided to just run after her just-dumped boyfriend, after Nynaeve was presumed dead, and would have undercut her later character arc.

 

 

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I don't think they avoided the YA feel just because they aged the characters up.  The EF5 are still young in comparison to the shows other characters and are still incredibly one-dimensional in a very YA way:

• Perrin - handsome brooder
• Egwene - breaking independent
• Mat - mysterious bad boy
• Nynaeve - it's me time
• Rand - petulant whiner

Now this give the characters plenty of room to grow, but left the YA feel very intact from my perspective.

  On 9/3/2022 at 1:42 AM, Asha'man Shar'aman said:

On the one hand, I’d love that, but on the other, I know like everything canon about the AoL and it would kill me to see something not make sense. 

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It will be bent as needed by the creative geniuses in charge of the project.  Sorry for your luck.

  On 9/2/2022 at 12:50 PM, wotfan4472 said:

Meh......I pre ordered that last week.

 

Anyway, there is no word, because it is not out yet, so no one else read it.

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But you didn't get the 'special' edition.

I ordered my plain-old, everyday edition over a month ago on Amazon.  Two months to go...

  On 8/26/2022 at 4:25 AM, CaddySedai said:

I think LOTR will be even more of a hot mess. A beautiful hot mess, but a hot mess nonetheless. Which may be good for WoT because ... imagine if OUR series is the better fantasy offering. Theres not a mountain of competition and the upcoming GoT adjacent series is already getting some ugly vibes from their community. lol

 

 

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Ugly vibes?  More than WoT had from our community?

  On 9/1/2022 at 11:14 AM, ElliotWC said:

Spoilers lol 

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Spoiler was already in the video when he was asked if he was attached to both his eyes.

Hmmm.  First post is a link to buy something...

  On 9/1/2022 at 2:12 PM, WhiteVeils said:

 

No one ever seems to argue that Rand, Mat, and Perrin don't have grit, determination, force of will, and intelligence to do the things they do, that it was all just 'the pattern' making things easy for them. This argument is only ever used to argue that Egwene shouldn't get the label ta'veren despite the hugely unlikely things that happen to her that have nothing to do with her own grit, determination, force of will, or intelligence. It wasn't her ability that got her made Amyrlin seat, and she didn't 'will' being a dreamer into being.  She's had just as many unlikely occurrences selecting her as any other ta'veran, so why not get the label.

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I very much think that some of Rand, Mat, Perrin's achievements are 'diminished' because of their ta'veren status.  They are 'fated' to accomplish some things and the pattern won't 'allow' them to fail - regardless of actual ability, decisions, or likelihood.  Accomplishments might be impressive, but would be more so had the pattern not aided their cause.

Sports analogy: Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps have both had unprecedented success in their respective sports.  They both train hard, eat right, listen to coaches, and make wise decisions - and their results are unmatched.  But they both also won the genetic lottery.  They are beasts!!  Some would say they were born to dominate their respective sports (given that they put in the work, didn't get injured, etc.)  Wouldn't it be even more impressive had someone matched Bolt or Phelps doing all the same things while only being 5 foot nothing and weighing 90 pounds?  I would be way more impressed if the 90-pounder beat one of them.

Yes, Egwene had help (just as the boys did) from incompetent enemies and competent allies.  But not being ta'veren withheld the additional aid of the pattern (fate).  So she did more with less.  In my eyes that makes her accomplishments more impressive than those of the boys.  Just as Lan, Moiraine, Talmanes, Elayne, Galad and many others - they all had significant success without the aid of being ta'veren.  It is not about Egwene being ta'veren or not - it is about any character being ta'veren or not.  Independent of other outside forces, being a 'magical' ta'veren provides an edge.  Accomplishing the same task without that edge is more impressive.

  On 8/30/2022 at 6:40 PM, Elder_Haman said:

Hard disagree. HotD has been a snoozefest so far. I feel like it has a nice look, but that's about it. There's nothing that catches my attention. I haven't read the source material, so I have no idea what to expect. But if it doesn't get interesting soon, I may not even finish the season.

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That is one thing I've gotten better at in my old age - quitting shows/movies that don't interest me.  I used to finish them just because I started.  There are too many things to occupy my time to waste it on mediocre or subpar entertainment.  Give it a chance then stay or move on.

  On 8/30/2022 at 5:33 PM, CaddySedai said:

 

That is my point though. Demmy would be approaching battles from a pride and also technical version of battle. 

 

Rand as LTT would know the technical side of things but would also know the desperation side and would do things that are unexpected. lol 

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Ok.  I was confused.  I thought you were talking about Demandred's duels at the last battle - Gawyn, Galhad, Lan - all three of which had battlefield sword experience.  Versus Rand who never dueled Demandred.

  On 8/30/2022 at 3:45 PM, CaddySedai said:

Honestly I feel that the opposite is true. That in the AoL pre-breaking era there was peace so swordplay evolved into a sort of dance. A show. And people like LTT and Demmy, while they were leagues more skilled than others who may battle - being as strong in the power as they were - it is unlikely they would have used swordplay except to show off - since you could balefire entire armies out of existence. So they had no reason to grow, to incorporate more “actual battle” moves designed to break through a defense rather than flow and ebb in a pattern. 

 

Lan however being a borderlander basically lived on the cusp of death his whole life. That while the naming convention of sword forms still implies the dance exists the intent changed. No longer was it to show ones skill and defeat your foe by making one move slightly better, slightly faster, slightly better angled - now the forms were intended to directly exploit holes and to kill the opponent and make sure you aren’t dead after the win. 

 

So his training not only would have given Rand variations of moves his contemporaries would not know, but also a different mindset on the battle itself and that to me is the bigger difference. Demandred and ilk desire to show off as they battle, where Rand just wants to live and make them dead, how he looks or what people think of his skill is not a factor. 

 

 

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I don't know.  Japanese and European sword forms are still practiced today in a point-based system - because the practitioners aren't trying to kill each other.  I think this takes more nuance than a battle field.  It is easy to see who wins in battle - one person down, the other not.  Whereas in modern sparring, injuries are avoided which I think brings your point more into play about exploiting holes.  A rattan sword, wooden bokken, or blunted fencing swords must be handled with more skill to show mastery and score points - because while strikes may sting or leave bruises they don't incapacitate as a battlefield would.  The win would come with more finesse (read: skill) than someone that could chop away with a live blade.  The point fighter would still need to know how to counter a battlefield fighter.

Just thinking out loud - not an actual skilled sword fighter...

No apologies. There is still plenty to explore and new people to share with…

I don’t think they truly rebelled until they set up Egwene. They needed time to think and took it. But in the end I think the rebels were able to do the bare minimum from their perspective to take the leap. Not saying they were right, but they rationalized enough…

  On 8/28/2022 at 9:20 PM, Lexi Eve said:

@DojoToad totally respect your stance. I can only point to chapter 19 of The Dragon Reborn which does state that Mat remembers past lives in regards to the Portal Stones. Perrin is unconfirmed lime I said, but he does act weird toward Rand right after travelling which insinuates something happened to him cause he realizes and says that none of them really have any choice [in this Path they've been lead down since leaving The Two Rivers].

 

I just think it's interesting and that Robert Jordan was trying to figure out a way to play withthe idea of a multiverse as well as past life regression which is a huge part of both Yogic and Hermetic Occult Practices, which we do know heavily influenced RJ's writing of WoT. 

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You may very well be correct.  Just trying to wrap my mind around the concept.  I'm going by memory now and need to do some research.  Anyone else have thoughts?

Similar comment to the last thread you started on this: I still think they were in near stasis both physically and mentally when going through the flickering of portal travel. A little went on with glimpses of alternate realties, but these were near instantaneous. I thought the portal stones showed glimpses of their own/current lives had they made different choices or had circumstances in the world changed - not past lives/ancestors.  They lost weeks (months?) during this traveling. If they were not in stasis, why did they not starve or Mat succumb to the dagger?  If they were in stasis (or near enough) how could their brains download so much.

Plus, much of fighting skill is still physical, coordination, skill based. A download directly into their heads might give them the cerebral ability to be weapon masters, but not necessarily to translate that knowledge to kinetic action. 
 

I may be missing your point, but I still don’t make the connection between portal stones and physical ability. 

  On 8/27/2022 at 12:52 AM, CaddySedai said:

Kinda sad its a false edge stainless boi but. If you want a mantle piece, its striking.

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Damn. You had me drooling there for a second. I bought a quality katana for about $250 several years back for karate classes. Might eventually get one with a crane/heron on it. But it needs to be functional 

  On 8/27/2022 at 12:26 AM, CaddySedai said:

That is fair, but my counterpoint is that without anything like that then WoT is a dead end series.

 

That is one of the things I like about Star Wars, Star Trek, and recently even the Potterverse. Through some means more exists. 

 

It does not always have to be canon either. But it is content. And I love me some content.

 

With Every new game - Fallout lore grows, Dragon Age's lore grows, The Elder Scrolls lore grows.

 

And While some entries may disappoint (Looking at you Fallout 76) the lore it added is still intriguing to me 🙂  

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Absolutely see what you mean.  Depends on what you want.  I'm perfectly fine with a nicely tied off story.  Dune and Ender's Game both had numerous sequels that I had no interest in.  First book was plenty for me in both cases - and I still read them both every couple or three years.

For Star Wars, I couldn't wait for more movies in that universe - but now I'm done, too much.

Same for the MCU - really enjoyed some of the core character movies and the Avenger amalgamations.  But stop already.

So it depends for me - sometimes less, sometimes more.  But in the end, I don't need all the answers.  If Jordan didn't get to explore something then I get to choose what happened.  I don't need a bow on everything.  Other people want more details...