Was the flame of tar valon not a symbol specificly tied to the amyrlin seat? rather than Aes Sedai in general? up until we see it's more literal use in the last book anyway.

In regards to the size of the seal, it may well be possible that we still get to see palm sized seals later on. If we are to assume that there are more seals (and the dark one hasn't started flaying everyone yet so it stands to reason there are) then we could start to see smaller seals that are tied into a larger one. Maybe Rand damaging the Eye of the world weakens the others, allowing them to be damaged more easily and to let everyone's favourite villains slip out and wreak havoc on the world.  

1 minute ago, CaddySedai said:

 

 

I also would wager the whole "We don't know its purpose" will come back to be relevant somehow. 

I am starting to suspect that this is the case, and perhaps that Moiraines examination of the broken seal will prompt her to either discover the dragon banner and either fragments of the karaethon cycle or hints about some of the forsaken.

I do wonder if we will discover that another Aes Sedai had arrived at the eye much earlier, then decided to hide the horn in what would normally be a fairly secure location. I would feel a little better about the uncharacteristic depiction of Agelmar (rude to Aes Sedai, poor strategy and preperation etc) if we do infact discover that he knew the horn was there but had sworn to safeguard it for the Dragon. Potential for a hint at the existance of the black ajah infact, assuming that an Aes Sedai hid the horn and also warned Agelmar not to trust any other Aes Sedai with it's location. 

55 minutes ago, KakitaOCU said:

As for LTT looking more desperate.  Would be horribly out of character.  Like him or hate him, how often did you ever see Obama or Bush or Clinton appear desperate no matter what the situation was?  Or any other public leader, just hitting a few of ours since I know details more.  

A Leader does not show weakness or vulnerability, he shows confidence and control at all times.  That's just kind of standard operating procedure.  

 

 

If it was a public meeting I would agree, but in a private setting while discussing potentially literal world shattering events? He would not have to show his emotions for the entire meeting either, a quick slip of the mask as she leaves, or a nod to the flame and the void would have made all the difference and would not have taken up any more screen time than the scene already did.

People keep bringing up Lews Therin's arrogance being accurate but as far as I can recall when Rand admits this himself it's in a completely different context. 

The plan to risk ripping apart the world by fighting the dark one head on with the access keys was hubris, not the plan to seal the dark one.

What WAS hubris was Lews Therin's treatment of other key figures that later turned to the shadow, for which Rand feels responsible, wondering if he should have extended a hand and offered encouragement instead of competing with each other.

I do agree that they will probably expand on this later, maybe (hopefully) taking the time to show us the sheer lunacy of relying on what is essentially magic nukes (in scale not in application) which had already fallen under the shadow's control. Yes the shadow did not have the access keys but the forsaken clearly show enough knowledge about them to  have been capable of seeking them out if the war dragged on.

Anyway rambling aside, I would have been more accepting of this particular depiction of Lews Therin if they made the effort to show him looking desperate, and if the view outside was less... nice. The sunshine makes sense since we see the same effect with Rand later, but the city looks untouched.

6 minutes ago, WhiteVeils said:

One of the annoying and stereotypical things from 'heroes quest' stories, IMO, and something audiences recognize, is the idea that a character can have a 5 minute training montage and suddenly be expert at something.  It can sort of make sense, I guess, with a wild and uncontrolled burst of magic, but not with becoming a  swordmaster.

In the books, Perrin and Rand and Mat all become awesome fighters extremely quick somewhere between EOTW and The Great Hunt.  Well, maybe not Mat, but he gets an excuse later, IMO, as he draws on the old blood after dagger healing.  And Rand is clearly a very good shot with a bow. The show is choosing to avoid the trope in some interesting ways.  They avoid early fights with them, and make it clear that they are not in control or really capable yet.  They are going to avoid, it looks like, training from super-warder.  

This argument would make sense with the show depiction of the characters, but kinda falls flat when you add in the missing details from the the books. Lan starts training the two rivers trio to fight near enough from the start of their journey which in itself is months but really Lan seems to mostly be adding onto existing foundations, except sword forms with Rand.
 

Rand: Flame and the void from Tam which if I recall right is a blademaster's thing, I also suspect that the mentions of the sword "belonging with him" despite being a novice ties into Lews Therin in the same way that Rand sometimes knows how to do things with the power that he shouldn't.  Archery + quarterstaff from two rivers upbringing.

Perrin: Harder to say because we only see a POV of him in combat in book 3, but I believe he was given the axe after being caught training with it, skilled archer as all two rivers men as shown to be. Perrin seems to rely on brute strength and animal instinct, any formal training, super-warder or otherwise is probably irrelevant when it's the wolf at the wheel.

Matt: Skilled with bow and staff, he first starts shouting in the old tongue before the dagger so seems like he has the whole ancestral memory thing going for him. Probably doesn't help that the show turns him from prankster with a heart of gold (ok, maybe silver...) into a thief with daddy issues, because reasons I guess.

anyway i'm rambling, but it seems that all three characters are being made less than they were. These are not supposed to be young boys with no skills, they are young men each with their own skill sets and it feels like it is glossed over, Perrin and Rand in particular.

On 12/22/2021 at 4:15 PM, Skipp said:

 

Having Rand teleport to the Gap and then talk with the Creator(?) was always a bit confusing.

I was under the impression that this was the dark one, mirroring the way he speaks to Rand in the last book and the forsaken throughout the series.

assuming i'm right it would actually be a useful way to hint that the dark one isn't who they think he is, furthering the theme of the Aes Sedai not knowing nearly as much as they think they do

2 hours ago, VooDooNut said:

Ok, fair point, that makes it tricky though. I guess I'd just assumed Rand never got the opportunity to hold a child of his own with his "Rand" body (later with Moridin's body, sure), and even if he did it would be at the end of the series. Definitely the most puzzling of the viewing so far.

I suspect they are going to have him and maybe others have children before the end of the series, though if not maybe Min would see the viewing as Rand just because it's still him regardless, same soul and all that.

1 minute ago, TheDreadReader said:

 

May not be all that big of a change.

 

Egwene = White Flame = Amrylin

The Amrylin will be the death of Moiraine.

Lanfear gets jealous of the "Amrylin".

 

 

it isn't Egwene that Lanfear gets jealous of though, personally I suspect it will be more to do with Elaida (or whoever theye merge her with).

Though to be fair even her 'death' is walking shaky ground with what we know already from the books.

Just now, Ralph said:

For me it is the Tam fever dream, but again I hope we will be having it later

 

 

I strongly suspect we will be getting that alongside the blood snow next episode

My personal favourite moment that we probably won't see is whene Rand is in the throne room after accidentally falling into the palace gardens and everything is fine, then Elaida goes:
 

“A shepherd from the Two Rivers,” she said softly, a whisper meant to be heard by all, “with a heron-mark sword.”

Jordan, Robert. The Eye Of The World (The Wheel of Time) (p. 566). Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition.

The whole scene was great, and I think it did a great job of reinforcing just how big a threat a blademaster can be.

 

1 hour ago, DojoToad said:

@JenniferL - my thread "On your knees!" was locked but referred to another thread.  Is this it?

 

My thread was more about the phrase uttered than the relationship between Siuan and Moiraine.  I guess some people had a problem with the phrase being used in the bedroom.  My question was it's relation to Rand at Dumai's Wells.

 

So is this the right place to ask that question or not?

 

Thank you.

I believe rafe mentioned in his Q&A that dumais wells was a pivitol moment, or one of his favourites I can't recall his exact wording, so I would be surprised if it isn't a subtle nod to that.

The romance side of things is fine, though I wonder if the doorway they used is the same in function as the doorways used for the testing. If so I wonder if Siuan will have her authority attacked further for hoarding ter'angreal later on.

I feel like people are overthinking the Siuan's father thing, but it's probably worth noting that (i'm 90% sure) Tear helps to send girls that can channel go to the White Tower, and the dragons fang clearly shows that people are aware that she can channel so you would figure whoever is in charge of getting the girls sent off would be made aware.

41 minutes ago, KakitaOCU said:

Rand stands out as the only Red Headed Blue eyed person in Emond's Field.  Also, all Jordan ever said was Dark Hair and Eyes.  Never anything about skin tone.  This was talked to death on Tor.Com when the casting first came out.

Again, Manetheren (And AoL before it) were diverse ethnically.  2000 years is 60-100 generations.  That is not enough time to forcibly breed out recessive traits.
 

First time posting here after lurking for quite a while, I know it tends to be a sensitive topic since it skirts a bit close to race etc but just have chime in before I crawl back into the woodwork.

I've seen the point being made quite often here and elsewhere that the two rivers folk are only described as Dark haired and dark eyes, which isn't wrong... however, on the other hand we also see from Perrin's perspective that newly arrived refugees from the west (Domani in particular if I recall right) are noticeably darker than two river's folk, who are 'sun dark' whatever you want to interpret that as.

Personally, I don't mind how 'diverse' the depiction of the world in general is in the show, though I do feel that it will end up unintentionally downplaying some of the themes that appear later on when dragonsworn end up working together from various cultures and backgrounds. Maybe they can work around it with costuming, we will have to see.



More on topic: Egwene's reaction after thinking she was the most powerful channeler for a second was priceless. 100% matches up with book Egwene.
I'm also sort of hoping that we will later find out that Saidar was needed to open the waygate because the talisman was missing, Loial does mention in the books that removing the talisman would mean an Aes sedai would be required to open it again, so that would be an easy enough save for thee show writers to not have broken the lore here.