2 hours ago, NetNightmare said:

to "fetch" the girls since Lan wen to "fetch" the boys, and maybe (we will see) to guide them through the ways at least I hope so

 

 

Or maybe that wasn't "important" sometimes the easier explanation is the one that ring most true ... is the fact they were pillow friends so important ?? well of course the answer to that depends on individuals to me for example absolutely is not. On a side note "pillow friends" can have abroad spectrum o significance  most of the time it will just be something innocent or part of juvenile sex exploration. Nonetheless since they have no time in 8 episodes season they decided to follow the "love romance" path and lend all that time to it.

 

That was a conscious choice. take it for what it is, they are not making change for time constraint, but because they wanted to tell a different "story" (call it another turning if it rings better). Many people are waiting for a convergence of all these changes to the original story line, I had to surrender to the fact this wont be the case.  I believe it will just get more different, looks at all the ripples they have created in this episode... we will see

You're talking about a time in publishing when "Don't Ask Don't Tell" was considered to be too liberal in the US military.  Pillow Friends would not have been acceptable in mainstream fiction.

The show is being written for a 21st Century audience that values identity and representation.  If it is possible to work it in earlier, they will. Is it important to the plot? Not really.  Is it important to large segements of the current audience? You'd better believe it.

IMO--

Cutting Caemlyn is fine.  It doesn't advance the story in book 1 really.  It doesn't get you to the Eye any faster.

The show needed us to know more about the Aes Sedai in season 1 than we did in book 1.  They're part of the main attraction for viewers.

"Pillow Friends" appeared much earlier than in the books, and that's great.  RJ couldn't have written it that way in the early 90s, but you can't not have that content now especially since its cannon.

I have no idea why the Ways were taken away from Loial.  Why did Moiraine need to consult him at all?

Matt stayed because of the recasting, I'm almost certain.

"5 headed dragon" and the Eye being the prison of the Dark One just seems like dialing up the unreliable narrator to 11.  I think it'll be interesting to see whether non-book fans find it intriguing or frustrating.

IMO--the episode was perfectly fine.  Its not the book.  This is what historians feel like every time we watch a historical film.  Its what Freddie Mercury felt like watching his own biopic. This is the reductive and abstractive nature of the medium.

For people decrying the fans as Book Cloaks, I'd like to explain it like this.  For a long time there has been no new content for WoT.  The Fandom has been characterized by nostalgia and needing to convert people to their cause in order to share nostalgia.  However, during the period of RJ's active writing, WoT's Fandom was just as active and divisive as any other.  There were feuds, argument, battling theories and the like. While I worry about how the newly rejuvinated Fandom will impact the acquisition of new viewers, I must simultaneously recognize that this is very much a return to the glory days.

Folks, we have new content to argue about, and life is good.

On 11/19/2021 at 9:41 PM, DojoToad said:

Guess Rafe was good to his word at being a feminist:

• Marin, not Bran, was running the inn - not that they weren't co-owners in the books, but he was an afterthought  on TV with no mention of him being mayor.  And definitely a Women's Circle with no sign of a Town Council.
• During the Bel Tine attack, a group of women isolate and take out a trolloc.  Nynaeve takes one out on her own.  Perrin only takes one out with the help of Laila.  Where are the rest of the village men - cowering in terror somewhere?
• When Perrin and Egwene are directed to the Tinkers, Ila takes the role of Seeker not Raen.
• The darkfriend that first challenges Rand (and forces him to channel) was changed from a man with some male lackeys to a single 'terminator' female.

 

So the Aes Sedai retain their role as the ultimate power - which is only right?.  But anywhere a man had authority or a lead role in the books, it has been flipped to a woman having control.  Interesting juxtaposition.

 

So what do you all think, was this needed to transition the WoT from book to TV.  Will it make the show more successful?  Where else do you anticipate men being supplanted?

I came here to draw attention to exactly this.

TBH--I think that this is what RJ had in mind, but moderated down in order to achieve mass appeal.  He spoke from the beginning about a world where men had committed the original sin and the gender roles were accordingly upended.

Aside from the things you pointed out, I think that there is some soft characterizations of a more matriarchal society as well.

• Women have a daredevil initiation rite, not the men. Men aren't even allowed to know about it.
• The women are firmly gripping tankards of cider and swilling them like fratboys.
• The innkeeper (darkfriend) in episode 3 is clearly an alpha and is maneuvering a pair of lost boys where she wants them.
• Laila is the smith, Perrin is supposed to be "helping" her.

I can't recall a specific example, but several of the lines uttered by the EF Trio are definitely things you'd hear out of a woman's mouth in a different show.

2 hours ago, Beidomon said:

I agree with you about the shotgun wedding part. But I don’t think it adds anything at all to make a fridged character a DF unless Baz uses it to torment him (and he could just as easily be lying anyway). And I think the kicker is gonna be that Perrin went through with the wedding even though it wasn’t his kid. 

In further support of my theory, I suggest one of two uses for a deceased (secret) dark friend.

Baz-Dreams

Padan Fain reveals that she was his contact in the village after he's captured.

1 minute ago, Apoc81 said:

I need to rewatch, I didn't get the idea she was attacking him.

To be fair, I don't think he got that either.

Having (and then killing) Laila works for a lot of reasons.

We all know that Perrin falls off a third of the way through the book series.  He's so inactive, so pensive, and so focused on Faile--and it all happens in inner monologue.  They needed a way to visualize that for the show (just watch for the flashbacks that are inevitably going to feature in lieu of inner-monologue). 

This gives him a reason to hesitate for violence and be afraid of his own strength.  It's much more present for us because in the book his family is killed off screen.

But additionally--I'm calling it now--Laila was a Darkfriend.

• She was estranged from the Women's Circle--didn't even attend Egwene's ceremony.
• She did not participate in the celebrations afterward.
• She was oddly estranged from Perrin in some weird ways (like maybe she married him just to keep an eye on him)
• When he struck she had her hammer/axe over head in both hands and was about to strike him.  

On the last point--look at the freeze frame.  Two handed grip, overhead.  The Trolloc is way dead.  There aren't any other trollocs in the smithy.  She's far enough back that she has a great vantage point to establish this. She's going for Perrin.

Finally, I think Perrin acts fast through his wolf-brother instincts.  That's going to estrange him from the wolves too, not just violence generally.  He felt the threat and acted.