I don’t know how many of the names are actually pronounced, my head canon is probably way off 😂

well my hats off to you for being the one who snagged the best user name ever! We also have the privilege of hearing about “morning after head” from time to time. Priceless. Oh absolutely agree with you on the rand topic! I can accept that it may have been essential for the overall fulfillment of the plot, but it doesn’t make me cringe any less when I read it

Thank you for sharing! Ok, now start over 😂

First of all, your name is filling my heart with joy. I can’t to this day read that phrase in the books and not chuckle followed by unfortunate thoughts and images that derail me entirely from the narrative because despite my age, I have a weakness for immature hilarity. Don’t even get me started on all the references to fingering. Yikes I may have crossed a line into full inappropriate conversation. If you’ve made it this far, allow me to comment in All seriousness. I agree. The way Rand intitiated and then subsequently abandoned/neglected and /or completely forgot about, eliminating any desire to participate or interact with his creation and the male channelers and his initial responsibility/creation of said institution is thoroughly frustrating

Mat always struck me as a character who didn’t want to be a “hero” and told himself that he had no interest in the whole and was just trying to look out for number one. But if you forgive me for the cliche, actions speak louder than words. He wasn’t comfortable with seeing himself as a “hero” or humanitarian, yet one way or another he found himself reluctantly in that role. What I gained from this is that, this character isn’t consciously trying to do the “right thing “ and therefore can’t possibly make decisions that are consistently considered “perfectly and selflessly” informed, but when it comes down to it, he did almost always act (admittedly reluctantly) in ways that contradict his own beliefs and attempts to convince himself otherwise. Additionally the fact that he doesn’t want to be and isn’t trying to be a hero or savior yet is anyway is IMO the best evidence that he is genuinely and authentically exactly that. The best and most suitable leader is typically someone who has no desire to take on that role.

Yup. The author or creator of content and the reader or consumer will never have identical understanding or interpretation of the material.

This and there were also other things I was hoping would be resolved or satisfying. I admittedly and naively thought until I finished reading that everything I thought should and would be explained or information that I expected certain characters would discover actually was going to happen. Silly me!

For the record I meant to hit the laugh button but I do also like your post

I hear ya. I agree with you. It’s futile in most cases to attempt to be civil and rational with people who come in hot and make it clear from the start that they don’t want to engage in that sort of thing. I have a glitch which occasionally compels me to try anyway. 🤷‍♀️ thanks for your post and reality check

I was wondering if that was the closest we’re going to get to the Gaul character

Hahaha yes! Who is in charge of the letter writing campaign for a name change? 😂

Just consider the description of the genre. If you put science in front of fiction, or the word historical in front of fiction, it inherently provides some merit by using terms that convey mainstream legitimacy. On the other hand, fantasy implies exactly that, and many people hear “fantasy” and automatically dismiss any possibility of finding intelligent, compelling, mature, meaningful themes. I guess my point if there is one is that mainstream appeal for a genre titled fantasy may be at a disadvantage from the start.

Remember the creation of the character Roz in GOT who wasn’t in the books? It seems like they added her to the show solely for the purpose of sex 😂. ps, I hope you will stick around the forum for more than 2 days and give this community a chance…not everyone agrees but we all agree on one thing, WOT is important and beloved enough to us to take time and focus and put it into interacting here to discuss it with other super fans. If some posts come across offensive to you, well sh** happens, but consider the likelihood that the poster has as much conviction and love for the wot as you do (just a different perspective) or they wouldn’t bother to express their viewpoints or even bother to come on a forum at all. You don’t have to like or agree with everyone and not everyone is going to like or agree with you, but we’re all here for the same reason which is a love for and/or extraordinary connection to the wot. I’m sorry if I’m coming across icky or preachy, I genuinely don’t mean to criticize or condescend or offend, I just appreciate the opportunity to hear as many perspectives and opinions as possible from the fans. I’m not trying to agree or disagree, just enjoy the chance to discover what other fans perceive and interpret from the material from their own unique and individual perspective, so I would hate to miss out on one.

Huh? What happened here?? Discussions about personal opinions and providing the reasoning behind the individual opinions is no reason to feel that your right to do the same thing should result in getting other people to agree with you or bail from the community entirely. Additionally, if you think that book readers who don’t see things your way don’t know anything about the books, you’re limiting your viewpoint significantly. I don’t normally engage in this type of comment because arguing differing opinions is futile but perhaps that’s the very point I am trying to make and the reason for my comment.

Ahhh. Well I haven’t been around here long, and I don’t read every thread, thanks for setting me straight.

It would be! I hadn’t thought of that option, but considering how much the forsaken go traipsing around TAR, it seems quite conceivable that the core slayer elements could be incorporated into one or many of the forsaken characters.

I would add that IMO in the books, especially if you include NS, there was the clear illustration that from 20 years ago, the key “dragon hunters” were basically searching for a needle in a haystack. They tracked down every woman who gave birth within a certain radius. Sure they may have known that they were able to focus their broad search down to male babies in the books, but I allowed for the lose gender knowledge in the show as a way to efficiently demonstrate how and why it has been such a painstaking and long term journey for moiraine to narrow in on who and where to look for and then verify the dragon reborn for a certainty.

Well shucks, that sucks for the actors who don’t get to stick around! I agree that it’s doable, just wondering if the show will go through the potential hassle of recasting and presenting it in a coherent way. We shall see! If they do it and do it well, then it could provide some exquisite twists and surprises for the unsullied viewers

I hope your idea of a redemption arc for Abel comes to pass! I love a good redemption arc

Forgive me for throwing this off kinda topic thought at you, but your point about isolation and young people potentially leaving the world they know and “seeing the world” reminded me of a minor show change that I enjoyed. When Aram says that the custom in their culture is for young people at a certain age to leave the society and make sure they genuinely want to live by the way of the leaf. Or something to that effect. I thought that was cool.

Don’t forget cenn buie! 😂

What are we thinking about slayer, will we see him?

Do you who have read the books prior to the show think that you would like the show more or less if you hadn’t read the books? I feel like in some ways the knowledge and context of the source material was a big plus for me in terms of my ability to hang in there with elements that struck me as potentially confusing or even overall may have lacked the draw or interest of viewers who had no book experience. On the other hand, I wonder if some of my grievances about the show would not exist without having read the books first and therefore coming to the show “fresh”. Any thoughts?

Another key element in the books that will by necessity likely have to be left out is the forsaken returning with different appearances and names. Also the age factor of stilled AS. But who knows, maybe the show will go for it?

I agree and I also feel like Gaul is important early on as an introduction to the aiel and their values and culture. Also as you said it is significant for Perrin as well, deciding to free him despite the risk to himself. I don’t know if there will be time for the show to give his character and arc enough or any screen time, but I hope he will be included as well as Bain and chiad.