On 12/4/2021 at 3:03 AM, feliasgrimm said:

For starters, while I applaud the diversity in the cast I think it's ultimately a long-term disservice for a short term gain. ... BUT: if you see a black person in WoT they're almost always either Sea Folk or Seanchan (not all seanchan, but tuon for starters). Valda and Fain being black is odd to me (although the actor is bloody fantastic) because it disrupts the ability all randlanders seem to possess to identify country of origin based on physical characteristic... Similarly, all the reds almost having "uniforms" makes their cultural deviations less noticeable, whereas in the book although they're all wearing red, the cuts/etc of the clothes tell you a lot about the country the woman comes from... It also felt weird that there was so much diversity in a remote village, where typically over the course of the thousand years since Manetheren the interbreeding would have theoretically homogenized the village

I disagree with most of these points.

There are several cultures with dark-skinned inhabitants in the books. While book-Fain was certainly not dark-skinned, book-Valda definitely was. Many characters from Altara (including Tylin and Beslan), Arad Doman (Leane), Arafel (Alanna), Shienar (Ingtar), Ghaldan (Logain), and Tear (Juilin, Darlin) are described as being dark-skinned to various extremes.

The ability of Randlanders to identify where people come from is less based on the color of their skin and more based on how they dress and various facial characteristics (hair, cheekbones, nose). The reds (and most of the characters on the show) have dramatically different costumes based on where they are from. These might not be the specific styles described in the books, but they are very distinctive nonetheless. The culture-driven costumes are something this show has absolutely nailed.

I'm not sure there was much diversity in the Two Rivers (apart from Rand - for obvious reasons - and Mat, for some reason not quite fitting the general bill), but that part was fairly rushed, so I can't be certain. I also get the feeling that show-Two Rivers is not nearly as isolated as book-Two Rivers.

On 12/4/2021 at 3:03 AM, feliasgrimm said:

Costuming is in a similar line - There's been a pretty diverse range of costumes for the andorans (including extras), which makes them less distinctly "andoran" ... Visually you couldn't tell any difference in Gheldan (for the logain sequences) versus other places... If I didn't know 'we're not in andor" I wouldn't have realized they were different places.

Not sure what you mean. The only distinct places we saw in Andor were the Two Rivers and Breen's Spring, and there was not much variation in costumes across those. Ghealdanin costumes, on the other hand, were mostly armor, and quite different.

On 12/4/2021 at 3:03 AM, feliasgrimm said:

A little disappointed that saidar is visible to everyone (literally 'blinding' a man)

I am fairly certain she created a visible explosion of light along with the healing weaves, and he did not actually see her weaves. In fact, if you look closely, you can see some of the weaves within and distinct from the general explosion of light, which was just a side-effect of her use of saidar.

On 12/4/2021 at 3:03 AM, feliasgrimm said:

VERY disappointed we had to add a wife to Perrin JUST to 'fridge' her. Seriously? That added nothing to the story and just filled another trope.

This was absolutely the worst thing in the show so far.

On the other hand, the Nynaeve/Lan/Moiraine triangle is shaping up well, and the warders have been a key highlight of the show so far.

On 12/4/2021 at 3:03 AM, feliasgrimm said:

Skipping out on Caemlyn and Baerlon is OK ... I was pleasantly surprised to see Loial in the most current episode, although he feels too old/wise to me.. rand climbing the wall in caemlyn - I don't see how they can fit it into season 2 ... Same with Min

Small disagreements here. I thought Loial was absolutely perfect. Rand will probably "bump into" Elayne, Gawyn, Elaida, and Morgase some other way; that is the only crucial part of him scaling the wall. Min will probably show up in Tar Valon or somewhere; she is slated to appear this season, and it doesn't matter where she shows up so long as she does.

Quote

A scene from the second episode hints at a possible change to the Three Oaths: Moiraine indicates she can kill people inadvertently if she does not 100% know they are there or that will happen, as opposed to the books where it feels like Aes Sedai can’t channel destructive weaves indiscriminately if there’s even a chance an innocent might die in the crossfire. Whether this is a deliberate change or Moiraine was able to ascertain via some application of the Power that no innocents were in the firing line remains to be seen.

This is definitely not true. The Oaths haven't been changed much from the books (except dropping the mention of Darkfriends and Shadowspawn, terms the story doesn't use or introduce until later, from the third Oath). In the books, that Oath allows far more latitude than you might think, and what Moiraine did was, in true Aes Sedai fashion, very much within the letter of the law. The Oath only prohibits the use of the Power as a weapon against non-darkfriends except in defense; you can accidentally kill someone while doing something else, beat someone else so long as you don't think of it as using a weapon

, and much more besides. It's all a matter of how each individual interprets the Oath.