The more I dig into this, the more I'm convinced that renewal will have nothing to do with viewership numbers. This is just a money issue right now. I think we will get another season.

Obviously, I don't know all of the details. But the big picture is that Sony holds the rights to the IP. Amazon licensed those rights from Sony. Sony has apparently decided that it is not going to move forward with the development of a bunch of their external IPs, wanting to focus on Sony IPs instead. My own suspicion is that Red Eagle is trying to use this situation to do a quick cash grab and that if Amazon wants to get the rights from Sony, it can and will get done.

While I have heard this as well, I have also heard that it is Sony that is the roadblock to renewal as opposed to Amazon. Which leaves open the possibility that a deal to remove the impediment can still get done.

(a) Nielsen's aren't the be all, end all. (b) The series is enjoying sustained success globally, a metric not captured by Nielsen. (c) You're probably right.

Again, you lack even a pretense of objectivity. I can't take your opinions seriously.

That's crazy. They have set up, then paid off a whole bunch of stuff. Your distaste for the show is playing with your objectivity here.

Not sure. all I’m saying is great big stone circles seem well designed for being portals…

This is your initial (false) claim. I (correctly) pointed out that no one claimed this. You then posted a number of quotations - none of which argued that Aes Sedai could not produce shields because they lacked training or experience. In fact, several of the quotations stress the difference between offensive and defensive use of the One Power. (The reason for this distinction is that your initial complaint was that a small number of Black Ajah members were able to easily beat a large group of Sitters) So yes, you’ve moved the goalposts. No one talks about lack of training being a reason they ‘could not produce shields or defend themselves.’ They DID produce shields. They mentioned lack of training as a reason that the Black Ajah were better and able to pull of their surprise attack.

The goalposts move again…

Exactly zero of these quotes argue that a sister couldn’t produce a shield because she was untrained. ZERO.

No one argued this.

They are fighting on a big stone circle. That seems suss.

Don’t really care what you or anyone else thinks.

The instant Renna is collared, the fact that it’s a weapon no longer matters. Renna is collared. She is not the Sul’Dam. She is damane. Also, if you want to be technical, it’s the bracelet that’s the weapon - not the collar.

Correct. The collar is not a weapon. Renna does not view it as such. It is only when Renna is collared that it becomes capable of being used as a weapon. And then only if the person collared can channel. It’s really not all that complicated.

Sigh. No. It is Egwene’s belief that the collar is not a weapon that allowed her to collar Renna. Egwene’s belief that once made a damane, Renna is no longer a Sul’Dam that allows her to attack through the collar. 2 steps: (1) collar not a weapon; (2) collared woman not human, therefore not Sul’Dam.

Did Renna continually lecture Egwene about “uncollared damane”? Does Egwene even know what that is? Or did Renna continually tell Egwene that she was subhuman because she wore the collar? Except that isn’t what happened. It’s not a weapon.

No one is making the collar 'irrelevant'. Egwene doesn't know anything at all about how the Seanchan view the 'uncollared'. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Renna equates being collared with being Damane. So, no.

Only because you continue to misrepresent the argument. The sitters were taken by surprise. They were attacked by friends that they have known and trusted for decades. It took many of them a moment to regroup. To use @SinisterDeath's parlance, they were slow to recognize the need to channel in that moment.

Egwene no longer believes this. And, once collared, neither does Renna. The power of the collar is ultimately tied to the will of the channeler. So Egwene is able to exert her authority as Sul'Dam whereas Renna is not. I think at the end of the day, you just want to reduce this to 'collar go bzzzz' and eliminate the other dynamics. And if that's how you see it, I get why it annoys you so much. I think they are trying to do something more meaningful with it, which is establishing Egwene's stubborn determination and mental resilience.

Wrong. It is the crucial part of the interaction. Renna advises Egwene that she is not able to think about hurting her Sul’Dam. Once collared, Renna is no longer a Sul’Dam. Egwene is then not only able to think about hurting her, but to do so in fact, so long as she can endure the pain from the feedback loop.

No. A damane can’t be a Sul’Dam. Damane are not human. Damane are animals. No damane could be a Sul’Dam. Sul’Dam could never be a damane. Sul’Dam are elevated. They are above others. It is impossible to conceive of a Sul’Dam being something as low as a damane.

What are you talking about? Egwene doesn’t do anything to Renna until she is collared.

No. Once collared, Renna is no longer Sul’Dam. She is damane. There was nothing preventing her from attacking another damane in the absence of a Sul’Dam.

But that's not what happened. Egwene convinced herself that the collar was not a weapon. And then she just out-toughed the damane.