The testing arches are almost certainly linked to tel'aran'rhiod as evidenced by Egwenes trip through them that was massively affected by the presence of the twisted dreaming ring or her skill as a dream walker or a combination of both.

In Baerlon Moiraine shared the room with Egwene and then Nynaeve while the boys and Thom shared.

I am pretty they were sharing a room which the innkeeper would be aware of. Having Rand and Min claiming to be married would be a way to more easily blend in as across most of randland unmarried men and woman sharing a room would be considered scandalous.

Can be a bit of a two edged sword though, some people who gain unlimited freedom from interference from editors or other creative control can lose themselves to excess. Take Zac Snyder, Patty Jenkins and Takia Wahtiti as examples that I can think of off the top of my head. The more uncontrolled they become the worse their work became (not that Snyder in particular was good to begin with).

Finn Playing Moriarty with Guy Ritchie production could be interesting.

She has a PoV outside Shadar Logoth immediately after Moiraine reveals that she can channel where she thinks that she can learn to channel and that she can therefore use the power against Moiraine. They have another confrontation where Moiraine directly states to Nynaeve that without training how will she challenge her (cannot remember the exact point early book 2 I think?). It is not till much later after Moiraine is thought dead that she relents on this. Not saying she does not eventually overcome this or that she would fall largely into being selfish but to claim that she is completely unmoored from self-interest is wrong and claiming that she is the only one or even the best example of this altruistic nature is even further from correct.

I am not sure this is accurate Nyneave originally largely wanted to learn to use the power so that she could use it against Moiraine and a large component of this was so that she could win Lan. That can hardly be called selfless. Siuan, Moiraine and Perrin are more altruistic than Nyneave IMO.

There is no shame in being captured by wetlanders as they do not follow Ji'e'toh and thus does not count in the same way as taking a Gai'shan. In the show I thought Avi took some responsibility for the death of another maiden and that was what she was ashamed by. Although that would have required some negligence on her part to fit into the books version of Ji'e'toh. If you are referring to Egwene spanking/strapping then remember that for her being exposed was something she had struggled with, she even thought afterwards when Rhurrac was mentioned that she wanted a different punishment if he wanted to collect.

But it's not even that. Emonds Field does not have people wandering about assaulting each other for lack of respect, it is only Nynaeve. The example you provide in relation to the Aiel everyone in the society is operating under the same societal norms. The Aiel in the books did not have an obsession with spanking that I remember. The punishments seemed to vary in my memory and often seemed specifically targeted to cause the individual the most discomfort mentally rather than physically. Aviendha was subjected to running laps, cleaning, a set of stripes from Amys (unsure if this was limited to the rear) and when they went all out it was meaningless work that was prescribed not physical punishment.

If I remember rightly the Wisdom is the leader of all woman's circles in each village. The new wisdom is usually trained by the previous (watch hill i think appointed a trained wisdom from another village to avoid any favouritism). I am unsure within the villages what corporal punishment you are referring to among the adults is? The only example i can come up with is the couple who slept together before marriage and that would have been a punishment decided by the womans circle not just a random temper tantrum. I am not ignoring it with the children it is simply not relevant to include a parent disciplining a child in this discussion, and no I do not condone it as a method of discipline. This discussion has to do with a grown woman physically striking people simply for an actual or a perceived lack of respect. Saying that this actual or perceived lack of respect is enough to place some of the responsibility on the assaulted is not okay. Yes I will call it victim blaming because it is.

Nynaeve was not democratically appointed. The mayor used the illusion of a threat in Luhans's muscles to directly counter an explicit threat to burn down the Inn and kill or injure people. If you cannot see the difference between that and actually striking people whom you deem are disrespecting you then you need to look closer. The mayor did not threaten to assault Cenn when he was aware that he had disrespected the council and himself by divulging the fireworks.

It really feels like you are saying the bullied and abused must share some of the blame for her physical violence being effective. I doubt, and hope it was not, that was your intention.

Mat is the only one that has question marks. To the best of my knowledge, he only has 3 confirmed lovers Melinhdra, Tylin and Tuon. It is heavily implied that he slept or pursued a number of maids and waitress's but from what I can remember all the scenes that actually are in the books ended with nothing more than dancing and kissing. Perrin only sleeps with Faile. Rand only sleeps with Aviendha (two times only), Elayne (once) and Min (multiple times). It is possible that if you are assessing it on amount of times they actually have sex in total and not partners that Perrin could come out on top.

Not sure what the fact that 3 young virgins experienced more sexual activity after they left the village has to do with what is the accidental or forced activity you are referring to?

I don't think this statemen is correct. Not being entirely sure of your book progress i will not start examining things in detail but if you could provide the examples that have led you to this belief would be handy.

But retention of members is key as well if you are only watching WoT on Prime then you only need to be a member for 2 months every 2 years. That is a shit outcome for Prime. It's one of the reasons I cannot understand how we have got to the point of loads of shows doing 8 episode seasons with near 2 year breaks, If anything the old 24 epsiode season with yearly release feels like a far better fit for the modern streaming market.

After all this time barring new announcements it is most unlikely that new insights are going to emerge.

An argument on the meaning of a prophecy does not make it an unreliable narrator. It is the same as a battle plan being wrong does not make it one either. And none of this changes the fact that the prophecies themselves are remarkably accurate. You seem to be asking for a list instead of a prophecy and anything short of that makes the prophecy an unreliable narrator. Mr. Rand Al'Thor born Dragonmount adopted by Tam Al'Thor living in two rivers for 18 years before becoming The Dragon and eventually bleeding on the rock outside Shayol Gul before fighting the Dark One/Ishmael is hardly going to work as a prophecy. Nialls belief in what the final battle is simply him being wrong and not an unreliable narrator as we are aware at the time he is thinking it that he is wrong. Odin and Thor have nothing to do with anything in this conversation even if they are the inspiration for the characters in some manner. I would argue that the ability to try again and too do better and continue to try and do our best when we come back is a far more clear theme especially when viewed during Rand's final battle with Ishy, also within his fight with Ishy and the Dark One is the fact that they want to break this pattern and stop the wheel forever.

Interested in how the Prophecy could possibly be considered an unreliable narrator especially considering how they all seem to come true. If you are giving the prophecies the definition of a narrator, which i am not sure you can, they seem to be incredibly reliable. People forgetting knowledge over millennia also does not meet the definition of the unreliable narrator.

I don't think that you can really describe this as an unreliable narrator. Firstly the information in it is correct. Secondly even if you are examining it in relation to the act of not being able to remember things long in the past that in itself does not make it false. These openings are purely to establish the cyclical nature of the world and the vast scale of the time that they represent. I do not believe even if this was to be true that it makes unreliable narrator the main theme or even a core theme of the series.

I tend to think of it as just fantasy, however I believe that you could also trace a progression throughout the series with it being far more applicable to place the first few books into a YA category as opposed to the later books. I may be biased however as I read the first book when I was 12 I think.

I feel this is a disingenuous argument. The vast majority of beatles tribute bands would be an exact copy of the original works with inferior vocals and acoustics and the relative abilities of the bands could be debated. If you were to then start changing the words to the songs then you get into a different set of arguments. If you changed the words in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to include unambiguous references to Heroin and Cocaine then you can start to have conversations like we have had on these boards in regards to changing the meanings behind the songs. The difference between these is stark the first is simply an opinion on the ability of the artist to copy the original the second is a discussion on significant changes to the original work, you can approve or find fault with this per the evidence and your feelings. So saying people here are the equivalent of screaming you are not the real beatles is a poor framework for the argument simply because they are not as good.

Mat had caught a badger when he meets Rand in the village that he was going to release on the green to scare the girls decorating the Bel Tine pole.

You saying something is a red herring does not make it true. You can continue to ignore the facts that Elayne was the most gifted Aes Sedai with Ter'Angreal making her a valuable component to a mission to locate and possibly use one. Elayne was one of only two people to have seen the location of the bowl. Nynaeves eyes were enough? It's a bloody city not a one tavern backwater hamlet! Just imagine trying to search any city by yourself on foot with barely any landmarks to work from. Doubling the ability to search is a major advantage. Elayne could have gone to Camelyn at any point prior to Egwenes arrival but was not being allowed to by the Rebel Tower. Could have Travelled there after Egwenes arrival but was still being prevented by the Tower and herself considered locating the bowl to be more important. So in fact all this conversation about her going to Andor at this point is actually irrelevant. On a final note I am not going to get into a back and forth with insults, you have started your last two posts with insults about my comprehension, I responded to the previous one which I am sorry for, please cease this.

I disliked Nynaeve the most out of the group and it mostly falls back to her using a switch or stick to hit people she argued with and it flows through to Cadsuane in the same way of her use of physical punishments simply for arguing with her. I very much enjoyed Tam standing up to Cadsuane after his meeting with Rand.