2 hours ago, A Memory Of Why said:

Regarding sword fighting Nyn.. that is wierd, maybe the Accepted test?

Apparently one of Alanna's warders has said on Twitter that it's him so definitely not a case of outright scene stealing, but still a bit baffling.

8 hours ago, A Memory Of Why said:

Darfriend social or did we see 12 Forsaken?

 

Must be the social because I think we're expecting the Forsaken numbers to be cut down right?

8 hours ago, A Memory Of Why said:

Also, Eggy with a collar!!

 

Looks really good - happy with how they've done that. 

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I have just looked through the frame dump and the only thing I'm a bit scared about is that Nynaeve sword fight scene... Not just because "why is Nynaeve sword fighting?" but it also looks eerily similar to everyone's favourite Mat moment...

New teaser - new season footage starts at 25s. Sounds like a while until a full season trailer though

Character updates

Elayne

Mat

8 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

I don't think Nyn was dead. Her eyes were not burnt out like the rest. It was a pointless fakeout IMO. Why change how the linking works? It doesn't allow to draw too much in the books, right?

I'm exaggerating because I'm wound up. I just find it ridiculous that Egwene now instinctively heals someone from life threatening injuries given it's literally Nynaeve's main thing and she already jacked one of Perrin's only big moments.

I have tried to remain positive and understanding about the adaptation given the change of medium and constraints of production... but deary me that did not make me happy.

LTT is made to look like an idiot while LPD apparently knew exactly what would happen in retaliation. Oh and LTT isn't actually the leader of the Aes sedai. At least the past future looked great...

I did enjoy the dead body in the blight full of mushrooms, felt like a nod towards Balthamel and everything we were about to change...

Time in the blight seemed very weird. Set off. See the 7 towers. Then you can look back and basically see the Trollocs at the gap. But the Eye is supposed to be a way off?

Lan with some book quotes - felt a bit clunky but hey, it was there.

Dream sequence and Ishy reveal was good - Ishy as a whole I was happy with actually, really like the casting and I think manipulating Rand into a win/win with the turning / seal breaking was a good route to go. A bit more quietly menacing than his deranged ranting and failures of the early books. Didn't need the Moiraine fake out dream death given how many more fake out deaths we have (guarantee Loial is alive).

I liked the depiction of the entrance to the eye. Very Indian stepwell.

The whole dreamshard + Ishy slapping down Moiraine was pretty good and I'm fine with her being stilled (or shielded and tied off?). Jumping ahead a bit but I did enjoy Rand asking what Egwene would want and not just him, because that does tie in well for the final confrontation and the discussion of free will.

Had to laugh at the Fal Daran's moving from one fortress to the other. A cavalry charge into a new building. Poor Agelmar, absolutely butchered as a character and then killed off. You'd think if you have a battery of channelers you might put them out front or perhaps on top of your wall before sacrificing all your soldiers.

Speaking of a battery of channellers...

Logain! Your power is but a pinprick of candlelight compared to the raging sun that will be the dragon reborn 2 untrained wilders and white tower rejects!  ...I don't even know what to say about this whole sequence, it was ridiculous and then we give Egwene more pointless moment stealing. She can now hear the bad things on the wind and heal the unhealable. So I guess she's basically taking from both Perrin and Nynaeve. Pretty sure Rafe said she was his favourite character and I guess you can see that in the depiction.

The Padan Fain payoff was pretty good but I would have liked him to be a little more unhinged. I have no real problem with the horn being in Fal Dara - You just have to write off the hunt which always felt to me like one of those things RJ sort of thought was cool early on but wasn't really.

Seanchan design was pretty cool - suitably alien I think. I presume the rationale behind the tidal wave was that they didn't know what was waiting for them on the shore but it felt pretty lame given it was just a girl.

I am now convinced S2 will be Rand and Mat doing TDR storylines and then touching back on some TGH points while Perrin does the hunt with Loial  and there will be some kind of Tear/Falme merge. The wondergirls will have some hybrid Black Ajah plot that leads them to the same destination.

I will watch season 2, but this episode really lost me in a lot of places and I really question how fan consultants and part-authors can have been involved in a meaningful part of the process.

5 minutes ago, Therese Sedai said:

Is the audience just meant to believe that’s the DO and my book knowledge is ruining it? 

It's left vague to us in the books until after Tear really so I imagine this is one thing they are choosing to be reasonably faithful to. I suspect they'll hope that Ishy looks godly and then when it's revealed he's just one of 13 8 people will be like oh wow they're screwed

34 minutes ago, Jaysen Gore said:

I think the big reason for adding the two other women is to give them people who know how to channel that can just draw on the raw potential of the girls. But they'll likely exhaust themselves, not be enough, and then we'll get the OP moment from you know who.

Yeah, my assumption is that the wondergirls are going to be a battery for the other channellers. Nynaeve may be made to feel useless because she can't actively do anything on her own which will act as the motivation for her to actually go to the tower in S2.

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Looks like there's shadowspawn inside the walls of Fal Dara which means I suspect we are kicking off the 2nd book already and the horn (if it exists in the series) will be hidden in the keep. Fain presumably lets the shadowspawn in and will steal the horn preventing Agelmar from blowing it at their darkest hour and they'll rework the backstory to be that it was kept safe in Fal Dara as a last defence against the blight and not lost to time (and the great hunt will be written out entirely).

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Feeling pretty positive about the production quality, think it looks good here though I suppose they're not likely to choose the shoddy shots for a teaser.

Friday can't get here soon enough. Bring me LTT!

I got spoiled for the finale >_<

Off the wall idea and not one I believe is likely to happen but...

There's some talk of killing Moiraine given the hints/death flags for her trip to the Eye, but what if instead of that Ishy stills her. She does have channelling moments but I struggle to remember any being particularly vital to the overall narrative (beyond Be'lal but he's a prime candidate for being culled) while her guiding and advisory presence can be what keeps her going. It gives an immediate demonstration of the overwhelming abilities of the Forsaken, sets them up as a giant threat, and gives consequences rather than our heroes basically getting out completely unharmed (you can easily fix it in Finland if you want or have someone heal her down the line when she's saved)

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Favourite absurd one I saw on reddit after Mat popped up in the trailer was the idea of Fain taking on his likeness and a pure Mat being added for season 2 lol. Can you imagine.

3 minutes ago, Deviations said:

Algemar - Why is he an antagonistic ass?  Why swap his wife with a little sister?

 

Amalisa was always his sister. It really bugged me that they made him antagonistic though because he is exceptionally welcoming and supportive

17 minutes ago, Reader said:

Maybe just moving pieces on the board?  How do you get Liandrin and Mat2.0 to Fal Dara for the start of season 2.

I don't think either will get to Fal Dara. I think it's quite plausible we resume Mat's plotline from book 3 having been brought to the Tower by the Reds and Falme's finale will be condensed into Tear for the major moments.

Classic prologue as cold open.

Journey through the blight won't take long. Suspect it will be only Rand/Mo as with the bond masked Lan will say they can't track them and something will happen to prevent them even considering it.

Ishy vs Rand will happen but no other forsaken will be there and it'll primarily be non-fighting fighting - probably vision stuff, temptation and more. Rand won't actually hurt him but they'll change it so Ishy tricks Rand into doing something with the eye that frees all the forsaken properly to give him an antagonist win.

I think the Wondergirls are going to end up helping out against a big attack at Tarwin's gap for their showpiece action - I still don't understand why Amalisa can channel unless she's going to use it more explicitly, so perhaps she can't do enough and the EF group come to bail her out. 

Could still have Rand travel in to help them fight it off as the final set piece of the series.

I love @ForsakenPotato's idea of Fain stealing the horn at the end of the episode. That would  be a good set up for what comes next season (which I'm starting to think is going to be a large shifting of things to all end in Tear including the horn battle)

1 minute ago, ArrylT said:

 More Trollocs would have been nice yes but that one served its purposes (for me) both in story & setting up the reveal.

 

My assumption was that it was just a mad trolloc lost in the ways - a substitute for the dead ones they come across in the books and that Fain was unrelated to it (instead doing a creepier version of his endless pursuit)

38 minutes ago, TheDreadReader said:

 

There's a picture floating around of Padan Fain holding a trifoil shaped stone.

 

 

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It's 4am and I couldn't sleep so watched it... can't articulate thoughts. Will try again in the morning

All I want to say for now is TAM AL'THOR IS STILL A STAND UP GUY!

Can't believe people even entertained the idea he'd kill Shaiel in the predictions thread.

3 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

Now who could that be?

 

  Hide contents

*innocent whistling*

 

 

I hope his whistling starts going out of key or something. That would be fun

I think we see Fain's boots?

Quite like the design for the ways. Very moody and intense.

That Aiel better be wielding two short spears and not swords!!!

It's preview'o'clock baby

8 feels like a good number to do some justice to.

A lot of them were basically useless failures anyway and I think they'll feel like a much more compelling villain group if they're not just getting dusted twice a season and we instead spend a bit more time fleshing others out.

8 hours ago, Chivalry said:

"I win again, Lucy Therin."

Louise Therin surely!

8 minutes ago, Vartija said:

This actually happens in the books too. Lan takes the boys under his wing so to speak, teaching them to use the bow, axe and sword, and even Moiraine approves of it.

He does, but Lan gives them only a couple of night time sessions between crossing the Taren and reaching Baerlon. Rand is still completely incompetent and does nothing with the sword until Fal Dara when he spends a month training with Lan between books (which I hope we see).

I'm going to spoiler tag this because it's from a Pike interview so not strictly predictions, and I don't want to mess with anyone's experience if they're avoiding them, but I imagine most of us can discuss and it's an interesting point to ponder before ep 7

1 hour ago, Sir_Charrid said:

https://tvline.com/2021/12/10/the-wheel-of-time-episode-6-rosamund-pike-moiraine-enter-ways/
 

Interview with Rosamund Pike following episode 6 

Love or hate the show I think it's incredibly admirable how much she has got to know the character. Wasn't expecting her to toss out references to omissions like the coins or start quizzing the interviewer on whether they've read up on the background haha.

Unravelling the pattern is great for informed recaps, but I have to say I'm enjoying the complete newbies more than WoTheads.

I really enjoy and would recommend redlaytee's channel if you're interested in non-reader reactions because she asks loads of really great questions and theorises as she goes. It's fun to see where she's on the mark but also fun to see what she misunderstands and what the show sets up for someone else who is watching a bit more attentively than some others.

as @Skipp said the preview'd guys are a pretty fun too - one who is completely new to it and one who has read the books and clearly loves lots but doesn't remember all and doesn't want to spoil his friend.

I also really enjoy the Reaction Dragonz and All Maverick channels because they're quite attentive group watches and clearly make some effort to get things right (ie making notes on names) while theorising and just enjoying the actual show, though they are a couple of eps behind still.

I'm not sure I really buy the hammer up stuff as meaning that she was about to bash Perrin. You've just been unexpectedly attacked by a terrifying group of monsters, I think it's pretty natural you are still ready to hit anything that moves because you have no idea what it takes to stop them moving. The pose is a bit dramatic but would suggest that's simply a visual choice.

I suspect the only extra thing going on there is that she was still ready because she doesn't trust Perrin after whatever they had in mind for him to have with Egwene (though that seems to have been played down in edit).

As for forsaken influence, the only one I would anticipate influencing anything at this stage is Ishy and he's not going to be sitting around waiting to opportunistically exert some influence on someone's partner at a moment of crisis. Doubly so given Ishy almost certainly doesn't to kill the dragon at this point and getting your head smashed in usually ends in death.

Tiny Spoiler for 7/8

I am really curious to see how long they spend in the ways because while it's striking they really don't spend much time there in the books and they can't really do easy justice to the set.

The other thing I'm wondering about is how blighty they make the blight. It's probably a hell of a lot cheaper and more reliable to do a northern desolation where nothing grows than it is to do rotting flora and magically influenced trees/beasts.

I'd expect plenty of Lan time as they hit the borderlands.

Cannot wait for Ishy to be revealed properly so I hope we get him in a dream or something as more than just the burning man this time out.

@NinjaPowers975 - I love that idea about Min making a big deal of Mat not being there. That would be a nice touch.

48 minutes ago, GanoesParan said:

But, if episodes 7 & 8 don't stick the landing and have the climatic ending similar to what Robert Jordan wrote,

I have to say the number 1 thing I'd be happy with them changing is the ending to TEOTW haha. It's a massive mess and clearly the weakest of any of the books. It does need to feel properly climactic though - I'll be disappointed if they don't show the levels of ability we're about to start talking about because it really needs to convey that the dragon can actually tear the world apart both literally and figuratively.

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On another note and as an outside shot on Liandrin's friend. I'm wondering if it could be Taim. I feel there's very little point making him an is he or isn't he dodgy type character.