21 hours ago, Rand the Plumber said:

 

And they had better cast her perfectly, or I will be overturning tables and stomping about in a foul temper. 

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Verin

happens to be my favourite character from the books.

And let’s not forget it is 

pulling the strings on it all from the White Tower. Another character I hope they get right.

‘Like a raging sun.’ Seems an odd choice of words if he can’t see the weaves. 
 

It’s little tidbits like that, add it to other tidbits from previous episodes. . . 
 

I sure hope I’m wrong.  

7 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

Saidin and saidar are mentioned in interviews and the bonus content/explore-section.

Good to know

A couple of thing's have started to get me thinking:

- Liandrin says to the male channeler:  'You men make it dirty.' (or some variation of)

- Moiraine emphasizing to Egwene it's all ONE power.

Has the show eliminated Saidin?  Or am I just reading too much into it?

You know, with Liandrin leading the capture, could it be foreshadowing a different end to her story?

16 minutes ago, Jaysen Gore said:

Episode 1 comment that I haven't seen anywhere:

 

What are the odds that we do in fact know the name of the poor young man who was taken by the Reds at the very beginning?

 

"A young man, who had revealed the talent, and I was not there to help him; by the time I was, it was too late"

 

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Thom's nephew, Owyn

 

Burn Me!  Could it be??  Didn't even consider it.

It's nuggets like this that is why I love these forums.  Props to you brah!

You are not!  It was a high-light of the series for me.  I love how it shows that ANYONE could be a darkfriend!  And the actress really sold it.

Right up until she started monologuing on their purpose.  To save people from the wheel??  I cringed hearing that.

Agreed.  I always pictured the borderlands with a very asian aesthetic and have 0 issues with the Lan casting.  Moiraine was always going to come down to the portrayal for me, and so far so good.  I was psyched when Pike was cast and have seen nothing to dissuade me yet.  The protrayals of the EF5 have been solid.  My issues with some of their story arcs is not the fault of the actors.

What are some reactions to seeing the Trollocs?  

1 minute ago, Mailman said:

Shes not a warrior. The idea that she could get close enough to Lan to kill him without his knowledge is absurd, Lan is the best of the Gaidin which means he is the best of the best.

When you take into account what is known about warders, and Lan in particular. . . Nynaeve is good, but to get a blade to his throat does not hold true to the source material, IMO.

9 minutes ago, Harad the White said:

A change that enhances the series: In the book Nynaeve follows the group after the attack on Two Rivers without being abducted. The series achieves the same end with the abduction PLUS shows what a badass she is.

Agreed.  I believe they missed a real opportunity to flesh out her character there by not expanding on her woods-craft abilities and how she learned them.  But I liked the Lan-Nynaeve 1 on 1 time and hope for more. 

After years of waiting, months of anticipation and weeks of anxiety.  Watching these episodes had me reeling.  Like most, the main source of disappointment was the unnecessary (IMO) changes made to some of our character's:

- Perrin 'fridging' his wife.  I expressed my thoughts on this in forum topic 'RIP Perrin Aybara.' Suffice it to say, I am disgusted by what they did to my favorite book character.

- Egwene a Taver'en.  One of the most epic facts about Egwene is that; while Rand, Matt and Perrin were affecting events on a world-wide scale (at times completely without trying) with the help of the pattern, Egwene affected the same level of influence through sheer will, ingenuity and intelligence.  It is what made her singularly Egwene, and one of the most powerful characters in Randland. 

-Mat a thief and corpse-robber.  Gambler, trickster, playboy.  Lazy, reckless and foul-mouthed.  That's Matt.  Stealing from Emond's Fielders and corpses??  Matt also never breaks a promise.  How do we reconcile that?

- Thom Merrilin.  I know he was in the show because the actor introduced himself as Thom.  It would have been easier to identify him if they hadn't decided to change it from a gleeman's cloak, to a gleeman's coat-lining.  It was the audacity of the gleeman's cloak, and the flourish with which Thom wore it, that made it such a vibrant part of the lore.  It was a bit of a gut-punch to see, given all the other changes made to the character.

- Darkfriends.  I cringed when the darkfriend started on her rant on how their purpose was to save people from the wheel.  This is an epic fantasy saga of the struggle between good and evil, Light and Dark.  There are plenty of grey-area antagonists like the Whitecloaks, Aiel and Seanchan without trying to include Darkfriends.  They crave power, riches and immortality.  Or are just sick in the head and want to watch the world burn.  Most are no better than Trollocs.

On a positive note, I like the actors portrayals.  Specifically, Rand and Tam.  The Whitecloak Questioner (someone identified him as Valda) was suitably creepy.  Please excuse me book-nerding here, but he calls himself a 'Questioner', but it is a derogatory name for the Inquisitors.  Oh, well.  I read a review that says it gets better.  

Guess I'm in the 'didn't like it' category.

What was so wrong about Perrin, as he was written??

What is so wrong about being 'that' kid who grows up a little bit bigger and stronger than the other kids?  Growing up with all the adults telling you 'Be careful, you could hurt them.'  Or 'Be careful, you could break that.'  Growing up constantly being told to restrain yourself so you don't scare anyone or hurt anybody.  So you grow up introverted and quiet, thoughtful to a fault.  Until you find blacksmithing.  An outlet for you to let yourself go, fully using your strength shaping iron and steel.

Was it too difficult to adapt his character to the visual medium?  Or did you believe your audience wasn't sophisticated enough, or intelligent enough, that you didn't even try?  Instead you chose the easiest of easy way's out and turned Perrin into a Bloody cliché.  

Rafe et al:  Poor. . . just, poor.  What a bummer.

1 hour ago, Daenelia said:

In my mind Rand and Egwene were just each other's default. They would definitely have ended up being a comfortable couple if nothing interesting had happened in their lives. They would not have been unhappy either.

 

Rand and his three ladies can stay ? I'd like to see them try and do a convincing polyamorous thing there. That would be fun. As long as it doesn't become the main raison d'etre for some of the characters. Romance is nice, but it is never the goal.

Agreed. I saw each of Rand’s relationships as such:

- Elayne taught him court politics and how to rule.

- Aviendha taught him about his Aiel heritage. 
- Min was his grip on who he was and where he came from. 
 

Each important to his growth into the Dragon Reborn and his ability to unite the nations for TG. Each a strong character independent of their relationship to Rand. As are all the characters in WOT, IMO. A testament to Jordan’s work.

51 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

 

It's true. But I think 13 is too hard to transition to screen effectively without losing track of them. I think it will be better tv if they choose a handful and do them properly. My "keepers" are: Asmo, Lanfear, Semi, Rahvin and Ishy. And then I'd want some combination of Moggy, Graendal, Mesaana, Demandred and Sammael as well.

 

I'd probably combine Mesaana with Alviarin; Possibly depower Sammael into just a very powerful Darkfriend; Combine Taim and Demandred. Moggy and Graendal are the hardest for me.

I could see eliminating Graendal completely, should they feel the need to whittle down the number of forsaken. Her role in the final battle could easily be filled by another and she is not featured in any major plot line prior. 
 

IMO Moggy is too vital an antagonist for the female leads, particularly Nynaeve, to nix or roll into another character. And the knowledge of forgotten weaves they get from her is a key plot driver. 
 

I am very partial to Sammael and cannot be unbiased on his inclusion in the show. His conflict with Rand, through his rule in Illian, and the insight into his conflict with Lews Therin that leaks out from Rand are too important in moving the story forward to leave out. 

Let’s not forget Luc and Isam, sitting in a tree. . . K-I-L-L-I-N-G wolves! #shipgoals

The most woke of WOT power couples!

44 minutes ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

 

I'm already convinced. But. 

 

Is nobody going to respond to my observation that the Bel Tine (or perhaps Tinker) dance circle is in the shape of a wheel, cut to dead bodies with Aes Sedai in middle in the shape of a wheel, cut to Hall of the Tower in the shape of a wheel. 

 

I mean, come on, anybody else think thats awesome!? Notice that?

I see you Wolfbrother! Totally awesome!

10 hours ago, Guire said:

I went down youtube rabbit hole last night and it got me thinking about how I hope certain passages from book will look and feel.  The trailer music has a very Westworld mixed up with Avenger's music feel to it.  I like this a lot but hope various scenes and cultures have a more traditional culture feel.

 

One of the videos I watched was Hu Wolf Totem.  I hope Henney is using this as a hype video every time he has to get in warrior mode.  Also I have always envisioned Aiel warrior singing as a military call and response.  I think doing wash the spears as a varant of mongolian throat singing like HU does for their songs would be amazing.  The entire Mongolian biker gang from Wolf Totem video needs to be hired as Uno's warrior band.  Another video I watched had HU song over scenes from movie Mongol.  Just type in Hu Wolf Totem Mongol and it pops.  The entire filming of Temujin's calvalry charging has a visual quality I hope Amazon can capture for Tarwin's Gap.  It feels big and violent without being overly complicated.  

 

I can't decide if I want tinker dancing to be more Flamenco or Russian Circassian dancing.  Possibly something I haven't seen yet?  I hope they pull from lots of old cultural traditions to flesh out little cultural details instead of creating them whole cloth.  When I rewatched parts of GoT with my wife recently some of the Dothraki stuff looked goofier than I remembered on first watch.  I want WoT to feel like a real world with a real history.

 

Anyone else have ideas for how they want cultural groups to look or sound now that we kind of have small idea what Randland is about?

 

 

Wow! That Hu Wolf Totem is straight FIRE!! I am ready to charge Tarwin’s Gap!

 I can see ‘Wash The Spears’ in a similar style, with the growl singing and a driving cadence. Great find!

1 hour ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

Now ... Back to the trailer itself.

What are y'all's favorite images from it? 

 

For me, it's the Trollocs & the Fade. And the wolf growling. They're even better than I imagined.

 

Because with the Trollocs it tells me the costuming and CGI is gonna be mostly very good. 

 

And the wolf tells me that Perrin isn't going to be majorly, majorly changed - and the wolves will look good and not be bad CGI wolves. 

I have to say, the scene when Egwene rises from the water with the stripes of color, the red running down her right side from her head down, and Rosamund Pike’s voice-over: ‘. . . and become LEGEND!’

Chills!! 

1 hour ago, Wolfbrother31 said:

If you freeze the trailer at 1:44. 

Lan with his sword in the gut of a Trolloc.

 

Ah. 

 

Perfecto. 

 

What an image. 

Exactly as a Trolloc should be. 

 

Only missing is...Lan's iconic book cover helmet and armor. 

Ha! Hey now, that cover is what first encouraged me to pick up the book. Many years later, still a complete nerd for all things WOT.

22 hours ago, Guire said:

I saw that Lews Therin appears to have been cast and apparently actor has a good grasp on the old tongue. This doesn't look substantiated yet. CaddySedai being in my head on another thread got me thinking of Lews.

 

Any way we might see actual Lews in some way during Rand's internal arguments?  Possibly speaking old tongue with subtitles.  I know this would be incredibly difficult to do without becoming irritating or cheesy.  Can't decide if this might be way to create this dynamic.  Even a voice over in old tongue might be cool.

I wouldn’t think at first, so they can play up the madness aspect. 

3 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

Ewww, no. I think Oosquai is like ouzo. Blech. Just a good Ebou Dari wine please, not that swill they serve in the Rahad.

Ah, but will you take kaf? It will lower your eyes to refuse. 

17 minutes ago, CaddySedai said:

Its almost a certainty there will be dialogue. Something something Dark One, Dragon Reborn, Last battle. 

 

They almost have to so non WoT legacy fans get an idea WHAT its all about. 

Agreed. I would think it would have to start leaning into the prophecies as that is a large part of the story and motivation for the majority of the main characters, particularly Moiraine. 

17 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

There will be intense backlash about "fridging" a character right out of the gate. Just be warned.

Agreed Elder and why I hope this is all just rumor. Perrin is my favorite of the 3 EF Ta’veren and his story arc is one of the most compelling in the books IMO. The Faile kidnapping was too drawn out and a used trope by that time, but still effectively showed his depth and struggle with the inner wolf and outer leader/hero. All of that should have been plenty for the show without having to resort to such things and possibly ruin a wonderfully complex and compelling character.

So, here’s hoping it’s all rumor.
 

@Elder haman Thank You! On point as usual. 
 

A great choice! I loved her work on Justfied. Here’s hoping someone is listening.

I must have missed something, or maybe the casting hasn’t happened yet, but I haven’t heard anything on Verin being cast or the show’s plan for the character. 
 

For me, Verin was a fascinating character who stole the spotlight in every chapter she was in. Then the big reveal! That solidified her as an all time great secondary character for me (right up there with the Onion Knight and Gollum).

 I hope she is showcased properly, whatever the show runner’s plan is.