But the way I see it, is that Rand's ancestors didn't ACTUALLY look just like him; Josha was merely cast in those roles so that people watching the TV show would "get it."

But let's not forget, there is a WHOLE lot of "not-much" between Books 6 and 11. I would say the majority of those books could be easily glossed over, and the plot would barely be affected at all.

I think most of Book 4 will be covered this season. I'm hopeful once Rand and co. are finished in the Waste, they'll head back to Tear and have the taking of Callandor as the finale. Having finished off Ishamael by... y'know, taking three slow steps towards him and stabbing him in the belly... I wonder if they might have Rand fighting Rahvin there instead. If / when Season 4 comes, I can see them combining Book 5 and 6. Possibly even squeeze in some of Book 7. Getting into the "slog" phase of the story...

What an excellent episode. I honestly can't believe I'm saying this... I'm really enjoying the Wheel of Time TV show! If you'd asked me that after Season 1 or 2, I would have thought you were crazy. For years, the images of this event - Rand going through the columns in Rhuidean - has been locked in my imagination. And while it isn't EXACTLY as I imagined it, it's still so exciting to see it brought to life on screen. As someone above mentioned, when the showrunners just TRUST the source material, it works. This episode definitely pushed Josha further as an actor than any of the rest of the show, and I think he mostly delivered. (I couldn't really buy him as an old man... 😅) Must have been fun developing all of the different characters. Did anyone else get goosebumps with the opening of the bore scene? I WANT MORE!! I want to see so much more of the Age of Legends! Since it was never directly shown in the books, I feel like THIS is the part of the story the showrunners could really develop and show us something really new and exciting. Makes me wonder if one day we'll ever get the Book 1 prologue scene. This show is going from strength to strength this season. Let's hope they can keep up the momentum!

Lan had a smile on his face. I don't think he was fighting for realsies. He was humouring her, to an extent. That's how I saw it.

Yeah, I feel like if an Accepted spoke to the Amyrlin like that in the books, she would be serving some SERIOUS penance, probably for years. The fact that they all just looked after Egwene like, "Oh, that's disappointing, but we won't say anything," seemed very uncharacteristic of powerful Aes Sedai.

I've mentioned it in the episode posts, but so far I'm MUCH happier with this season than the previous ones. Rand is better. Mat is better. Elayne actually has something to do. New characters are great. And for the most part, characters are actually heading in the right directions. Even though it's a change, I think heading towards the end of Book 3, via Book 4, is actually a very smart choice.

My goodness, this season is a big step-up in quality. I'm still wishing it stuck closer to the source material, but it's feeling like a genuine adaptation, for the most part. A few thoughts... My theory on Gaebril being a real person and Rahvin just wearing his face as a disguise turned out to be completely wrong. Oh. Compulsion. Oh well. That makes sense too I guess. 😅 Elaida's scheming is great, it shows what kind of adversary she's going to be going forward. But wow, my own throat hurts every time she talks. Min and Mat's dialogue was weird this episode. It's like they took a single conversation that was in one scene, and split it up into multiple scenes with no lead-in. Mat is my fave though. His fight vs. Galad and Gawyn was awesome. 😎 And we have Faile too, now. Apart from the mullet hair, she looks pretty similar to how I'd imagined her. Does anyone else get occasional whiplash with the amount of different accents in a single scene though? I like that people from different regions have different accents, but sometimes I find it a bit hard to follow. All up though, I'm actually excited to see what else this season has in store. I definitely wasn't saying that after three episodes of the previous seasons! 😅

Yeah, I thought the exact same thing. I know they're trying to portray him as super-hot hyper-stud, but his character in the books was actually incredibly stuffy and serious. If he found out Gawyn was engaging in such activities, he would have given him a very stern talking to. Anyway. The show is determined to sex the story up, so it can be seen in the same light as Game of Thrones. But overall, I'm happy to say that I have very little to complain about with Ep.2. A couple of niggles, but overall, I think it may possibly be the best episode so far. Even though the writers still want to change events to make the story theirs instead of Jordan's, I felt like Ep.2 was actually beginning to "feel" like Wheel of Time in some scenes. (Finally!) I loved the journey back to the Two Rivers. (That scenery!!) 😍 I actually lolled at Mat a few times. Donal is fantastic. He's really beginning to feel like the Mat we know and love. And even though the plot points have been rearranged, I really enjoyed seeing the Trakand family and Elaida finally introduced into the story. Looking forward to seeing more of them in the future. Gaebril is interesting. According to the show's lore, the Forsaken were only released at the end of season 2. But Elayne treats Gaebril like a loving stepfather that she's known for years. That doesn't make sense. I'm going to guess that Rahvin has probably murdered the real Gaebril and is using some kind of glamour spell to appear in his likeness. Which works. I'm okay with that.

I guess the fact that in this version he's barely any taller than a human and from a distance could easily pass as one, means that he doesn't draw too much attention. 🤷‍♂️

Yes! Absolutely! That is NOT what that relationship was! I will grant that Moiraine and Siuan has SOMEWHAT of a reference from a time when they were young, but this has no reference at all. Imagine if, in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, Aragorn and Boromir suddenly started making out and feeling each other up!

Just finished watching Ep1. On the whole, it feels like a step up from the previous season. Rand and Mat are finally beginning to feel like themselves, with actual, y'know, personalities. But why oh why did they have to make Elayne and Aviendha lesbian lovers? I mean, they've already torpedoed so many book relationships in the previous seasons, but come on.

I see scenes that are recognizable from Shadow Rising, and I dare to let myself think... Maybe THIS TIME they'll finally get it right... I feel like such a sucker. -_-