I really don't think that the writers,  Rafe included, are as interested in Rand's arc as the other characters. He's been significantly nerfed and downplayed so far, I don't expect that to change all that much even now that the "whodunnit?" has been revealed.

Sarah has gotten pretty quiet starting with Episode 5. Rafe also has barely posted anything since the premier.

It's probably Rand pining over Egwene and the family he wanted to have with her, nothing more. I also expect the meaning of the visions to be explained right away in the next episode. Subtlety and things that pay off later don't seem to be a focus of the show lol

36 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

He has started book 12 ?

That gives me hope that maybe there will be at least one person in the room advocating for Rand's character arc

Episode 7 was 10x better than 5 and 6.

The closer they are to the books, the better the episodes. Huh, they might be on to something here...

8 hours ago, AdamA said:

Then you definitely can't be gender-locked because souls previously incarnated in sexually dimorphic species may reincarnate as species that reproduce asexually, don't have sexual dimorphism, or can change sex over the span of a single lifetime.

 

Gender-locking also seems jacked up for intersexed souls. What happens if some future genetically enhanced human race that has cured abnormal chromosome disorders no longer has intersex people? Or if we figure out how to reproduce without sex and no longer need men? Now there can never be a dragon at all.

There are 7 ages. Time and the events of the world, flow according to a cycle.

15 hours ago, Frenata said:

 

See also: Paul, Alia, and Leto 2 Atreides. But I think the 'gendered/degendered' part of that is much less a contributor than merely having the awakened memories at all.

RJ said that the Dragon is always male.

5 hours ago, DigificWriter said:

Lews Therin, as the Dragon, would have been female at some point in one of his previous lives.

Imagine having ALL the memories of a past life with degendered souls? That would be one sexually confused Dragon.

6 hours ago, SinisterDeath said:

From this limited set of data, we have 
2753 Book readers.

65.2%  liked it.
24% liked it enough

10.8% don't like it.

 

From this limited set of data, we have 
226 Non-Book readers.

73.4% liked it

17.3% liked it enough

9.3% didn't like it.

 

As to the quality of that data... If we are to believe people who hate the show, they have made claims that Reddit mods ban show haters for offering any criticism. Whether true or not, any data sample is gunna have flaws. ? 

I can personally vouch for this. My posts get removed automatically from r/WoT, but my comments are allowed to stay. There's kind of an evil genius to the methods of the mods there. The automod doesn't tell you that your post has been removed, it just looks like nobody is reading or upvoting it. Only if you try to find it separately will you see that it doesn't show up in "new posts." You can also use one of the "has my comment been removed?" bots to confirm. r/WoT used to have much more activity, but it has died down a lot recently. I'm pretty sure that this is why. There was a post a couple months ago from the mods saying that most criticism of the show would be removed as "low effort." 

r/wheeloftime allows criticism and is pretty hands-off though, and it's starting to grow bigger. I've had some really great discussions there.

r/WoTShow is the most ridiculously positive sub there is, they would eat up absolutely anything Amazon served them. Ironically though, I'm actually allowed to post there and haven't been banned or shadowbanned yet, I just get a lot of downvotes lol. I hear a lot of people complain about it though... I guess it just hasn't happened to me. One thing to be careful of... if you want to stay on the sub, do not comment, join, or post on r/WhiteCloaks (haters of the show), because r/WoTShow will automatically ban you.

31 minutes ago, Kudzu said:

 

It's a waste of time debating this but... Where are you getting "FIVE-headed dragon" from?

 

The line in the show is many-headed and Suian asked why would the Wheel split one soul into many. No fives.

Yeah I removed that last one right after I posted, must have taken a bit to update.

36 minutes ago, KakitaOCU said:

Kudzu beat me to it, this was never the plan, the DR was always the same character it was in the books, this mystery did not change that, they are not rewriting the entire series around a change that big.

The Female was simply a possibility.  The Multi Headed was specifically brought up as a ridiculous and nonsensical idea and dismissed as such immediately.  Why do people think it has any real liklihood of possibility?

They're not exactly subtle with their numbers.

"Rumors of FOUR Ta'veren in the Two Rivers."

"It's one of the FOUR/FIVE of you."

"It has to be one of you FIVE."

I think that equality and inclusivity could have been better served by the introduction of the Ameresu concept, perhaps through a LotR style intro (think Galadriel talking about an endless cycle of battles against the Dark One with alternating male and female saviors). That way, you preserve the worldbuilding and lore of the books, without the massive ramifications and ripple effects of making the Dragon possibly female and degendering souls. Then, you lean hard on the madness and fear of the Dragon Reborn to differentiate it from the classic "white male savior" trope.

There's a real dearth of critical analyses that take into account the differences with the books. Most of the reviews that even mention the books are along the lines of "the show is more diverse, inclusive, and does away with the gender essentialism of the books, therefore it is objectively better in every way."

I also noticed that every time there is a controversial change in an episode, ScreenRant comes out with an article saying, "Here's Why That Change Was Incredible and Exactly the Right Choice!!!"

Datapoint: My wife stopped watching with me after episodes 5. She said it was boring ?

1 hour ago, Hobo said:

If they wanted to change it so heavily why not just write a new story?

 

 

The cynic in me says that this way they get a guaranteed built-in audience, and a reassurance that the "general concept" of the story is something that can make money.

I can't watch the Dusty Wheel lol. He is way too positive about everything.

1 minute ago, orbops said:

Remember that Amazon said early on that the initial focus of season 1 would be from Moiraine's POV. 

It's more than that though. As I said earlier, Nynaeve and Egwene have gotten 6 episodes of character building, while Bland al'Thor is barely a character in his own story.

3 hours ago, DaddyFinn said:

 

Found this on discord when someone pointed out how Rand has been shoved to the background.

 

 

 

Data can be meaningless without context. It's not just a straight word count that matters, but the focus of the story, events that happen, characters they interact with, things they say, etc. I think it's pretty obvious to most people that Rand has been sidelined so far.

20 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

I suppose so. No matter what disappointed fans think of Rafe, he's definitely not incompetent at his job.

Not incompetent, though I do think that he was an odd choice for showrunner... as his resume is a bit bare for an epic fantasy adaptation of this scope, and I think it shows.

We have 6 episodes of character building for Nynaeve and Egwene, and 2 episodes left for Bland al'Thor to actually be a character in his own story.

After watching this episode, I feel the Dark Side calling me again

3 hours ago, CaddySedai said:

 

I suggest listening to it on its own. there are now 3 albums. The First Turn, Season 1 Part 1, Season 1 Part 2.

I'll check it out, thanks ?

1 hour ago, Arie said:

 

Only those that can use the One Power can bond, as a warder can not channel the bond can not be returned in the same way. Though the emotional connection and physical benefits are there. 

?

I totally get that, but the show has changed things before, and Stepin said "we bonded each other" instead of "she bonded me."

3 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

How could that work if the warder can't channel?

No idea. Perhaps through the aid of a ter'angreal? I just remember Stepin saying that they "bonded themselves to each other." I've found that more often than not, the hints of changes we get from little snippets like this end up panning out, so I want to know how they are handling it on the record.