On 4/28/2022 at 9:00 AM, Stedding Tofu said:

 

Oh, I agree.  What I meant was there is, for me, a disconnect between the Mat who has gained enough maturity and responsibility to undertake an impossible rescue mission and sacrifice his eye in the process and the Mat who then decides to head to Ebou Dar as it's as far from Rand as he can get, leaving Talmanes to lead The Band in his place.

 

The first action is who Mat has become, the second is who he was around FoH and the battle of Cairhien. I know having characters in conflict and torn between duty and heart's desire is pretty necessary but the balance just felt off in Mat to me.

 

The badger in the sack on the Green is the Mat of his childhood who didn't have a care in the world.  He's just killed (sort of) The Gholam and is about to rescue Moiraine so it felt to me that Sanderson wanted something light-hearted and roguish to capture the essence of Mat but came up short (refers to cheat sheet: dice, drink, women, swearing, prankster - "hmm, what would he do?").

 

I read BS Mat thinking he was trying too hard to find humorous things for Mat to do that made me notice the switch from RJ: the character back stories he writes out, the sweetbuns for Joline, the overly brusque note to Elayne, the captured badger.  These don't feel like what RJ would have written to me.  It's a minor complaint at most but it jumped out at me first and second time reading.

 I think this is a really good capture. Sanderson butchered Mat's language but mostly nailed his actions -sans the badger act-

From a writing perspective Brandon did not recognize that Mat is a Deadpoolesque  -Marvel reference- type in that he is almost a self aware narrator in the series. Which I would say helps add to the fact that he is certainly the series unreliable narrator. 'I just happened to come across this dude who was talking shit about my homie, then ended him... totally a mistake'

On 4/26/2022 at 3:13 AM, Asthereal said:

Well, Rand can't channel anymore, he has no influence on bubbles of evil and he isn't in Tel'aran'rhiod at that moment. So I don't see any other way Rand should be able to light his pipe within the rules or the world we know of. Technically, we also don't know about his ability to influence the pattern at will, but he did it at one point in the story, so perhaps he retained that ability to some extent.

 

Also, I would like to point out that it's a bit harsh to state that my strong opinion/interpretation of one line in a series that's over 4 million words long defeats every reread. I'd say there's more to the series than just that one fun idea in the epilogue of book 14. ? 

What are the bubbles of evil though? Really? Esp considering the idea that this moment in GH is a bubble of evil... which actually pushed Rand to gloriously defeat Ba'alzy in the sky at falme. Two of my former observations are geared toward dissecting two of the greater mysteries we have left

I apologize for any harshness

The first and greatest mystery of course- who and what the hell is Mat? Literally left hanging

PS Just found out there is a movie called 'battle flame' probably part of where this battle at falme comes from

On 3/28/2022 at 4:22 AM, Asthereal said:

 

Yeah, I think OP may be connecting things that aren't actually connected. Rand lighting his pipe at the end of AMoL should be just Rand being able to influence the pattern itself, which he learned to do when he was fighting and trying to lock up the Dark One.

This is the main idea but 'should be just' is defeating every reread and it's probably untrue. RJ wanted us get more than the words 

On 4/15/2022 at 6:12 PM, qlorin said:

 RJ said in an interwiew this is the one of the first bubble of evil we see...

Right, right

But RJ also famously sucked in some of his mysteriousness in the initial trilogy- and RJ was also notorious for not answering in a truthful manner

So- yes, bubble of evil? Maybe.... Maybe... 

1- Rand is pushed by the wind in Fal Dara practicing with Lan. 'Strange things happen this close to the blight'

This is perhaps the first sighting of mysterious ability Rand taps to light the pipe at the end of the series

2- While in the Portal Stones world Ishamael -as Ba'alzamon tells Rand something like 'she's not strong enough to protect you, she's never strong enough' 

We assume this is about Egwene but perhaps this is the first reference to Nakomi. 

Keep in mind these are two of the myserties that Sanderson has famously said he can't answer

3- This one is not really true but must be shared

Just before using the portal stones 

'Rand grinned in spite of himself. Marisa was almost as pretty as Egwene. And this was almost like old times, almost like being back home, bantering back and forth, and nothing more important in the world than a laugh and twitting the other fellow.'

So maybe Jack Dorsey is telling the truth about looking down the dictionary to invent twitter. Maybe. However- four dudes invented twitter. Twitter was based on Flicker. So... maybe we have a truly amazing synchoncity or maybe, maybe, RJ is responsbile for the name Twitter. Pretty funny either way really

2 minutes ago, VooDooNut said:

Who keeps leaking the scripts?!

It's just moving up a Lan Crown of Swords moment. You know his most bad ass moment- when he nailed Nynaeve on a boat and what not. Truly glorious. 

13 minutes ago, Gothic Flame said:

Hmm...careful you don't borrow trouble or burn any bridges. The anonymity of the internet isn't always so...anonymous.

Right? most of us rightfully know you as a WItcher fan who frequents Dragonmount.com

Just now, WoTwasThat said:

 

Sorry, I missed this one response. "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

I guess it was good.... I, myself, or any other one needs to respond to you or your ranty cohorts- it's on you

17 minutes ago, JeffTheWoodlandElf said:

Likewise, I would love to see the next season hyper sexualize the domination that Egwene undergoes at the hands of the Seanchan, just to see the hate. 

Well- you're views are well known so it's fine but uhhhhh yeh the egwene torture with breakout from the collar might get a better relevance. I'm all for that. Good Idea

22 minutes ago, JeffTheWoodlandElf said:

What's definitely gonna be some BS is if they don't at least make the main Aiel characters fairly tall. You can't do this for everyone, but you can do it for the important players and achieve a similar effect. 

See now I just want to see Gaul as a midget- and that small mofo go savage- just to see the hate.

Really though it's always more about spitting in the eye rather than any actual physical modality

Just now, DaddyFinn said:

Don't be shocked if the aiel men won't be close to 190cm-200cm on average. 

Bruh that's the line in the sand- if Aiel ain't 6-5 Michael Jordan on average show is some BS

2 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

But you and RJ2 don't.

You won't post this in the book forums will you? It has to be show bull shit. It's a troll

5 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

 

 

I'm truly glad many folks are enjoying the show, but I still think some of them are defending it because something is better than nothing.  Or that they naively think it will drastically improve with the same showrunner in charge.  That is just pure speculation on my part.

This is at least fair. I give it a solid 4 star -more leaning to 3+- review but I'm in no way swayed toward it becoming some mega hit. There are some great moments in season 1 that make me think it has good potential. Will it live up to that? The 1st season was erratic but if you liked some campy and hopeful live action fantasy you most likely found a good spot.

So onto season 2 and maybe some of y'all will stop moving goal post after goal post. Remember when the DR was a female on this site?

Just now, Raal Gurniss said:

….It’s really not a success…Calling it a success doesn’t make it so.

 

Lotr was a success as was GoT… WoT is more a made for TV movie on SyFy.

fer sure- no metric shows the show as success all smoke and mirrors 

It's nothing real- go ahead and show me a legit post on the book forums. I know I wont be seeing you there

22 minutes ago, Raal Gurniss said:

Alternatively will you do similar if the 2nd season is the last?

I am in no distinct impression of anything. The general consensus- aside from your poorly wrought ideals renders season 1 a general success. Will it go down hill? It's always possible- have never made any such claims of superiority- or cared to. I will gladly be sad about it right here... right now. I don't even want it from any of y'all- it's not like you got book things to do

2 minutes ago, Gothic Flame said:

I myself will dole out the $5 I bet against that happening, and say "I was wrong."

I'm glad to hear it but how much crow- or maybe in this median raven will you have to eat after a Season 3 annoucement bro? ?

Edit: on this forum- public style

1 minute ago, DojoToad said:

Of course it is an opinion.  Why would you think otherwise?

huh?

2 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

I'm not sure what this means.  Can you dumb it down for me please?

See below

2 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

I said nothing of the sort.  I think that 40 years after the "Dark Crystal" we can do better than the "Dark Crystal".  Whether that be through CGI, puppetry, hybrid, or something else.

so thinking that all that isn't an opinion? c'mon bro  

Not gonna get bogged down in it. I'll be not seeing you in the book forums soon

1 minute ago, DojoToad said:

You quote yourself a lot.

yeah- and I see you all up in the book forums making topics.... oh wait.... that WAS me

Just now, Blackbyrd said:

It's clear that you have your own tastes which are fine. You talk as if CGI is better than puppetry in some visual

mediums.... I'm unsure if this is always the case... Yet to piggyback on mindless dislike is in fact a mindless flight. That is clear in any attempt to give something a fair critique- and a fair critque involves  the zeitgeist as much as you or even I might dislike that

So no- it's unclear besides the most generic of reasons

3 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

I was replying to your comment on my supposed ideals.  I've given plenty of reasons why I dislike the show in many threads over the last several months.  If you feel these reasons are somehow invalid - okay.

 

I feel a lot of my reasons are subjective.  For example, I think the trollocs look like ridiculous creatures that could fit into 'The Dark Crystal" with ease.  We haven't come any further in 40 years?  Other people subjectively love them.  Cool.

 

Clearer or no?

It's clear that you have your own tastes which are fine. You talk as if CGI is better than puppetry in some visual mediums.... I'm unsure if this is always the case... Yet to piggyback on mindless dislike is in fact a mindless flight. That is clear in any attempt to give something a fair critique- and a fair critque involves  the zeitgeist as much as you or even I might dislike that

Just now, DojoToad said:

Ideals?  I just don't like it.  Purely subjective.  I'm sorry that my dislike of the show gets you so worked up.  You're love of the show doesn't bother me in the least.  But hey, you do you.

You imply I love this- this is untrue. Purely subjecive is a truly great cop out of actually giving critique- and it's not that your feelings are untrue but  to voice them in such a way? Well- fair enough. 

3 minutes ago, DojoToad said:

If it is the same as season 1 - not watch.

 

What will you do?

Uhhhh... I will be watching... not partaking in your  'ideals' and your unreliable critique of the show

1 minute ago, DojoToad said:

Not with season 2 coming up...

What will you do if season 3 happens?