36 minutes ago, Mnemosyne said:

I took Friday off work but now it seems there's a possibility it might air in my time zone on Thursday night... in which case Friday will be re-watch day! ?

Shoot! This changes everything! I'm Central Time US, so it's going to be out Thursday evening? But the best time for me to watch it alone and nerd out with my bread and cheese is still Friday afternoon! So I have to shuffle through life lie some kind of lobotomized zombie Thursday evening thru Friday morning trying to act like The Wheel of Bloody Time isn't RIGHT THERE on my Roku, ready to fire up? Truly, this will test my will power like no other trial...

<wife wakes up at 2am Friday morning, hears Trollocs howling in the basement> 

1 minute ago, JaimAybara said:

I have a tradition in how I get people to read Wheel of Time… “I’ll buy you the first book if you read it.” And now I have a large group of friends that are fans. So, we are doing an in-world feast, including but not limited to: stuffed Cornish hens, meat pie, shepherds pie, stew, French bread, cheese, honey cakes, beer, brandy, (and everyone is getting a wooden mug). We will also do prediction games before each episode with a ten to twenty dollar buy in, winner take all after the third episode on who has the most accurate predictions.

Awesome!

Thank you, good sir.

Hey Elder_Haman, any idea why this thread has not gone public yet?

47 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

Intend to drop a podcast sometime the following week. 

Where can I find your podcast?

I would love to know what everyone else is planning on Friday! I know there is a wide mix of excitement and apprehension on these forums (I'm somewhere in the middle myself) but I find as The Day draws closer, a slowly surmounting wave of palpable nervous-energy and glorious giddiness is building up in my soul. I have been reading WoT since I was 16. It has the primo spot on my bookshelf. I never would have started writing myself if I had not stumbled across The Eye of the World, working in an old, independent bookstore after-hours back in high school. I have been following the production like a creepy ex-boyfriend since before there was a production. 

So what is everyone planning for Friday? Watching alone, with family, or friends? Having a medieval feast fit for a Winternight celebration? Taking the day off work/school?

I am fortunate enough to have Fridays off, although there are other things I *should* be doing. I will not be doing those things. I am going to watch all three episodes in a dark room with the windows drawn so the blacks on the screen are as black as possible, crank up the soundbar loud enough to make the dishes in the kitchen cupboards upstairs rattle, and sink into the couch for three straight hours. Possibly have a few candles lit  to add to the fantasy atmosphere. Phone ringer off. Platter of bread and cheese, maybe an afternoon ale. No breaks between episodes—WoT marathon, baby! Not sure if I will rush onto DM right after watching, or wait a day and watch the first three episodes again before popping online to participate in the reactions.

My wife has not read the books and does not especially enjoy this sort of show. That hasn't stopped me from bring her up to speed on the behind-the-scenes debates and the basics of the EoTW, prepping her to watch with me. But I finally realized I *need* to watch this alone. No questions, no explaining things, no eye-rolling... unless it's from me ?  If she is interested, we can watch it together later in the weekend for the 3rd or 4th time. 

So... plans?

Christmas is coming early! What a fantastic job they did keeping this secret! 

Another downstream ripple effect of aging up the E5... If you are a lighthearted, mischievous 17-or-18 year old, you can still get away with that class-clown persona, but  even two or three years later, when you're in your early 20's and you keep up the same tired shtick, people roll their eyes and say 'grow up.' 

And either you grow up and cut out the childish pranks, or you lean into the class-clown stereotype even more, except you're not in class anymore and it just comes off as kind of sad and pathetic.

I loved the Barney Harris casting initially (still do), and I know a lot of us loved his short zinger at that table read over a year ago, but I can't help but look at all the production stills and teasers, with Mat looking haggard, scraggly-bearded, with his sleeves extra-long to make him look like some kind of roving beggar, the way he slumps when he sits, and I find it kind of sad, like they took our beloved class-clown, teenage Mat, made him two or three years older, but decided that in those off-screen years his character chose not to grow up, but leaned into the 'class-clown without a class' role... which in a small village like Emond's Field would essentially amount to a young man rejecting the traditional roles expected of him and following a trajectory to become, at best, a recluse or outsider, and at worst a dirtbag and a thief. I know young men today live with their parents until they're 46 years old, but back then if you weren't pulling your weight and living up to your responsibilities, I'm not sure how long you would remain welcome in a small, close-knit village like Emond's Field.

I know some of this has to do with the dagger, but even shot in (the) Two Rivers, he just looks so scummy and bummy. 

I am loving how Rand's coat looks so red here. Not too hard to imagine how he'll look in this one...

I'm doubling down and predicting a massive battle against Logain before he is first captured.

Makes more sense to spend the money/time on a Logain battle—it would show/tell so much about the Power, Logain, Aes Sedai, false dragons, current geopolitical landscapes... and provide incredible contrast for when Rand blows away everyone at Tarwins' Gap with 10x the power Logain showcases.

While Blood Snow is extremely important, I don't think it's quite as much bang-for-the-buck story-wise to show a big battle scene with characters and armies the audience will never see again.

12 hours ago, DaddyFinn said:

There's a lot of stuff faithful to the books. Don't focus on the negative things and you'll see.

Keeping in mind, of course, that it only takes an extra tablespoon of salt to ruin an entire cake, even if you get every other ingredient right. 

17 hours ago, Maximillion said:

I just read online that Rafe has said in an interview that the story is about a different turning of the wheel to the books. Can't find the interview clip right now, but will hunt it down.

This has become a common mantra (although I don't think it's officially endorsed by Amazon), but I find it to be a cheap excuse, only made possible because Wheel of Time IS literally the Wheel of Time. There is no other (or very few) other shows/books you could adapt and say "It's just another turning of the wheel," or "it's just another spinning of the web," or what have you. And yet other shows/books are adapted all the time, and when/if the adaptations differ significantly from the source material, those showrunners can only shrug and say, "hey, it's an adaptation, what do you expect?" Only with the Wheel of Time can the showrunners shift the blame or try to sidestep the issue by saying, "hey, think of it like a new turning of the wheel."

Because, really, if it was a New Turning of the Wheel, would Rand's name still be Rand al'Thor, and would his friends' names be Mat, Perrin, Egwene, and Nyneave? Would Emond's Field still be named (the) Two Rivers? Would the trollocs show up on Winternight? Would there be a gleeman specifically named Thom and a trader specifically named Padan Fain?

I don't believe RJ ever definitively answered the question of exactly how alike are the Ages when they come again. Is every single molecule in the world the same, every name, every spoken word, every blade of grass in every field, every cloud in the sky, every thought in every person's head? My impression was alwasy to the contrary; not everything is the exact, carbon-copy same. Names might changes. Minor 'plot' points might change. The same ta'veren souls might be spun back out, yes, but how they navigate from Point A to Point B might change. 

But this TV show is about Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Nynaeve, Thom, Tam, Fain, Lan, Moiraine, (the) Two Rivers, etc, etc, etc. This is not another turning of the wheel—this is the story from the books, adapted for television, with significant creative liberties taken. The showrunners should abandon any halfhearted pretense with these cheap excuses and own up to what they are producing, for better or worse.

8 hours ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

What if @Thrasymachus was right all along?" ?

He often was, especially last year when we were all guessing about the release dates. Dude never wavered.

That clip is a huge turn-off to me.

'The arrogance' line doesn't sound like Moiraine at all to me. I thought she was always a bit more tempered, and a student of history, and would have a more nuanced understanding of the motivations and circumstances surrounding the male Aes Sedai effort to seal the bore. I guess not. 

And that line, "...if he was reborn as a girl or a boy." Ugh.

I suppose we can go back to all the previous forums of the last few weeks where a bunch of people were defending the previous clip, suggesting Moiraine only said 'one of you four' or 'one of you five' in order to motivate Rand or to light a fire under their butts to leave (the) Two Rivers or because she was not referring to the DR at all, and put a knife in all those theories. Because now we know. Moiraine thinks the Dragon could be a girl.

I'll say it again: Moiraine thinks the Dragon Reborn could be a girl. 

Honestly, if you had read that two years ago, wouldn't you be a little concerned?

A lot of people have already expressed their dislike of this; add me to the list.

The line doesn't even sound good—it almost sounds as if it was dubbed in later, kind of rushed with a wonky cadence. Maybe they knew how ridiculous it sounded as they were recording it.

If this show was made five years ago, would that line be in there? Impossible to see this as anything other than modern-day ideologies being shoehorned in; either its modern gender ideology planting its flag, or its some kind of ham-fisted pandering to female viewers who Amazon assumes will only watch if a girl gets to be the hero, which is condescending. Either way, it's disappointing. 

Death by a thousand paper cuts.

1 hour ago, TheMountain said:

There is clearly a difference in the upbringing between show Mat and book Mat. It looks like in the show his parents are going to be dirtbags/drunks/cheats/etc.

If this is true, I don't like it. How long would dirtbags/drunks/cheats last in a small village like Emond's Field? You'd be run out of town! No one would ever do business with you!

I'm confused... are these posters with all the colorful weaves official or did some fan just work them up?

Also, does Lan's sword look kind of small to anyone else?

Daniel Greene mentions in his trailer breakdown that Rafe offered some kind of explanation for this Lan scene in an interview with IGN. Anyone know what he is talking about? I searched IGN but could not find anything.

Edit: at the end of the video, Daniel says Rafe's explanation is that Lan is feeling Moiraine's pain through the bond. Still not sure of context or timeline.

Edit #2: Found it! 

https://www.ign.com/videos/the-wheel-of-time-exclusive-trailer-breakdown-with-showrunner-rafe-judkins-ign-first

Fast Forward to about 7:30 for the Lan stuff. Still light on details, but it does rule out some of the other theories being suggested.

Thought I would just throw up this screen grab for people who had not seen it yet...

Loved it!!!

Great music. Beautiful sets. Love getting more bits and pieces of dialogue from the E5. Feel like we've seen half of Winternight already, wow!

Love hearing Lan say "Where next?" as if they have been searching in vain for years already.

Love free-framing on trollocs! Did you guys see the Bird-face trolloc Moiraine fireballs near the end?! Glorious! And Narg's sword when he is fighting Tam is brutal-looking! I think they totally nailed the designs. There's some in the woods running on goat legs, some with disguising tusks, bird-face, etc. Great job all around.

Valda is beautifully sinister—great touch with the ring collection.

Logain melting his cage!

The Aiel War—! The double-spears on his/her back! Awesome!

Is that Loial hunched over by the waygate, with curly hair...?

A dead tinker in the woods in a rainbow coat...?

As for the "one of you five" comment, I have zero complaints, and I can nitpick with the best of them! Totally acceptable for Moiraine to dance around the truth, as long as it is cleared up before long since the E5 *should* have some level of familiarity (however shaky and uncertain) with the lore of the Dragon, and confront Moiraine with a few episodes about that comment.

More to come... 

Hi and welcome, good to have you aboard

I am going to stack all 14 books on my body as I sleep tonight to make sure the trailer is spectacular. I think it would be appropriate if everyone else did the same.

There is still a lot of wiggle room here, even with these alleged leaks and the clumsy marketing materials. 

Could be they really play up how remote the Two Rivers is, so that even though the villagers have all heard varying versions of the old stories about the Breaking and the Dragon Reborn, they have gotten so muddled over the years that no one in Emond's Field is really sure how it all works.

So when Moiraine shows up and sees there are three boys and one girl who maybe fit the other details of the prophecy, she knows right away that Egwene could not be the one, but she plays up the ambiguity and answers all their confused questions with vague half-truths in order to convince them all to leave town with her asap.

Hopefully, if this is the case, there would be a scene before too long (perhaps during their first night camping) where Egwene says something like, "Excuse me, Moiraine Sedai... but some of the old stories say the Dragon will be a man, because he's destined to go mad, isn't he? And he will Break the world all over again..."  To which Moiraine then explains to the E5 (and the newbie audience) that the DR will/must in fact be a man, officially ruling Egwene out while also providing some necessary exposition for the E5 and new viewers alike.

I don't love it, but it could still fit with all the details we have seen so far.

2 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

As a more general principle, if they do that, they won't do anything else we really don't like

? If they do that, they will do anything!

25 minutes ago, Agitel said:

The DR is (according to the marketing materials) prophesied to save or destroy the world, and if souls are de-gendered such that LTT can be reborn as either a man or a woman, cultures are waiting with baited breath to see if he'll be reborn as a woman with clean magic or a man destined to go insane.

I was always under the impression that souls were reborn as their original sex, and when the Dark One resurrected his minions as the opposite gender it was only possible because the Dark One himself got involved and made it happen. There's no evidence that Birgitta or Artur Hawkwing or any of the other Heroes of the Horn ever come back as the opposite sex, is there?

19 minutes ago, Katherine said:

So much of this has felt like amateur hour. 

Definitely some unforced errors in this particular Prime marketing release.