Can someone please tell me what exactly is the reason for the treatment and punishment siuan received? I’ve never quite understood what the offense was. When she and moiraine would say they would be stilled and possibly executed if they were found out, I always felt like I was missing something because I couldn’t figure out what was so terrible about what they were doing. Then it happened and I still couldn’t quite grasp what the issue was. As the amyrlin seat shouldn’t she have made it a priority to find the DR and not allow him to be gentled so he can win the last battle? As far as the secrecy, that is how AS roll, especially the amyrlin seat doesn’t share everything with everyone all the time. What am I missing here?

Interesting observation! While it’s clear that becoming a knife throwing expert is plausible, Min wore tight/short coat and pants, she must have really been skilled at finding hiding places for her knives 

Weather manipulation, if I recall, was not something that had precisely predictable results. For example verin in the two rivers and the bowl of the winds. They kinda had to do their thing and then see what happened?

On 6/26/2023 at 1:07 PM, Samt said:

I think it would be weird if they were played by different actresses.  While it's noted that they look different, no one ever fails to grasp that they are the same person.  I think a makeup or costume change would be more appropriate. 

 

Cyndane, of course, should probably be played by a different actress, but it's hard to say what the story will look like by the time we get there.   

Agreed. Plus considering how often certain characters in the books who can channel use the option available to change their appearance, it’s a possibility probably better left out of the series entirely IMO

I’m wondering which of the book characters will be melded or consolidated into one show character, so viewers don’t necessarily lose the baby with the bath water when a character from the book doesn’t make the cut but some of the content survives by assigning it to someone else. Same concept applies to certain storylines. Really curious to see how the significant factors relating to cut book content will be condensed and reassigned. 

I just rewatched season one for the first time since reading the full series. I always have subtitles turned on when I watch anything. I noticed that in the scene with logain where he we see the beings whispering in his ear, at least one of them has a name. Elusha or something. I don’t recall anything about that in the source material, does anyone know what that’s about? Maybe the show is going to give him a LTT equivalent in his arc?

I recently rewatched season one and since I had just read this thread, I was completely obsessing the whole time Rand was on screen trying to figure out if he was wearing a wig or not. At this point I’m not sure what his real hair looks like and have no clue what’s real and what isn’t 😂🤷‍♀️

For the record, I have resumed my WOT reread for now instead of continuing the other series 😂 Even though I have just embarked upon the notorious start of “the slog”, at least where I personally consider the slog to begin, I still would rather be rereading WOT than something else 

I wonder too if some of the above mentioned plots become melded rather than cut

Then we have the knitting circle…and like @DojoToadmentioned, Luca’s menagerie. They had a lot of attention in the books but hard to imagine being incorporated into the show 

4 hours ago, Samt said:

Many weaves simply permanently alter something. The weave isn’t tied off or maintained. The weave is completely gone but the effects remain. The simplest example is killing someone. You don’t have to tie off the weave to keep them dead. 
 

Other examples include the warder bond, severing, compulsion, Balefire, and the making of Terangreal and Angreal. The effects of the one power persist even when the weave is gone.

Very good examples, thank you! Warder bond and severing end up to be capable of being altered but only when the accepted beliefs are questioned and challenged 

We got to experience so many complex and interesting plots in the books thanks to the lack of limits such as time and budget. Obviously the show has to operate with limits in every aspect. With that in mind, what significant book plots do you think might have to be abandoned in the show? I think some of the lengthy focus on the Elayne succession or the faile/Perrin abduction and rescue saga will either need to be condensed or eliminated. Just to name two. Any other thoughts or examples?

47 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

in that case, weaves could be tied so they would dissipate over time, or so that they would stay. the weaves around rhuidean are one examples of waves active after 3000 years

Oohhhh yes I see your point. I kinda wonder if I was specifically confused about weaves used on people. There’s a lot of evidence of permanent effects of channeling that modifies inanimate objects but I think I was viewing it in terms of permanently altering other people. Your point helped me realize that even if we limit the discussion to the possibility of weaves directed towards people that cause irreversible consequences, I just thought of an example myself which is graendals form of compulsion. Appreciate your input!

Plus it’s fantasy, and 15 books including prequel. In a practical sense, how would including language differences improve the story? How could it have been incorporated in a meaningful way without being cumbersome and disruptive to the overall forward movement of the plot? I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, I’m genuinely curious as to how it could have been done? I’m aware we have examples like lotr and asoiaf where language differences are there, but doesn’t it require some other character being fluent in the other language in order to work?

1 hour ago, A Memory Of Why said:

I know that look..

 

Poor dude just stubbed his toe after a bad day. You know when you straight up know cussing isn't going to help and the best you can do is sit where you're at and just feel and have a bit of a cry.

 

Than you get yourself together, stand up and to make up for it mumble some cusses while telling yourself; it's ok, these things happen, you'll be right.

 

So you find yourself a good stick, a nice solid  walking stick and for some reason that really helps. Maybe you were right, things will be ok.

 

And next thing you know you see a couple of Princes acting all Princy and thinking they're cool...

Yup. We’ve all been there 😂

8 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

if you tie a wave, it stays there. there are plenty of waves from the age of legends still around, like the ones in [spoiler, not sure you read the books]. the people who made them are long dead, but the waves remain.

 

on the other hand, stilling would send lan into the death spiral, just like the death of the aes sedai.

but then, several details have been changed from the books. for example, in the tv show you can overdraw while in a circle, while in books you cannot. and women can feel their strenght just by being close, while in the tv show they cannot - moiraine didn't knew nynaeve was stronger than egwene until she channeled.

 

so, don't overanalyze what can or cannot be done with the one power according to book lore; the tv show made some changes, and I'll be fine with them as long as they stay consistent

Ok thank you for your input! I think your point about book mechanics are not always comparable to show canon is a good thing to remember. I think my confusion was based on my limited understanding and interpretation of instances in the books where tying off a weave would eventually wear off or weaken if the weaver left it alone. 
 

I have read the books, by the way, so spoilers are ok. My questions are based on my limited exposure from only one full read through. 

In the last episode moiraine masks the bond so lan doesn’t follow her to the eye. Or something like that. Then she is cut off from being able to touch the OP. When lan finds her he is relieved that she is alive meaning the masking of the bond is apparently still in effect. I had been under the impression that any weave that is created has to be upheld to some degree by the channeler, such as maintaining a shield. I know that weaves can be tied off as a way of avoiding having to maintain it, but I don’t recall if tying it off would maintain the weave indefinitely. I assumed that if a channeler is shielded then they can’t access the source therefore any weaves in progress would dissolve meaning lan would have regained awareness of the bond. Can someone explain the mechanism behind the mask remaining intact without moiraine channeling to maintain it?

2 hours ago, DaddyFinn said:

He's crying because he couldn't eat all three whole chickens

I meant to react with a haha but it showed up as a like. For some reason I couldn’t let it go and felt compelled to make you aware that I in fact did “like” the post but the reason is because it made me laugh 😂 laughter/humor is the best form of magic IMHO. 

I have so many questions about so many things, one thing that I always wondered is why logain never seemed to show any signs of madness. Presumably he had been channeling the OP for some time, but I don’t recall seeing any significant evidence of him being affected by the taint. Being gentled effed him up but I don’t remember him showing any signs of madness. 

2 hours ago, Guire said:

I think Madaleine or Zoe have best chance in series to really embody the roles and get more attention as actors.  

Agreed. Watching those characters embodied by those actors helped me to “fill in some gaps” in terms of how I responded to them purely on the page. I’m really curious if the same will happen for me with Elayne. 

I could have used more spanking and boobs

1 hour ago, DojoToad said:

Didn't Hawkwing force that on the tower?

If I recall correctly, the oaths were a direct result of hawkwing. I don’t remember if he forced it per se, he may indeed have, but I do think his power/influence/mistrust of aes Sedai combined with the war/siege was the reason for the aes Sedai deciding that in order to facilitate trust and respect (and control) they needed to adopt the oaths. The aes Sedai of the age of legends, as we’re often reminded most notably by the forsaken, were an entirely different breed. The superiority complex endured, but it seemed to be based on arrogance and ignorance rather than genuine service to all. Servant to all became servants to self. In response to your question, I think hawkwing was the clear turning point illustrating that the general opinion had changed, reflecting that the fundamental principles had changed. 

19 hours ago, wotfan4472 said:

A stilled Wise One, or Windfinder would look no different.

 

The reason the Aes Sedai look younger after stilling is because of the Three Oaths.

 

Gentled men are like the Wise One or Windfinder. No physical change.

Well I feel like a dumb dumb. Thank you for pointing out the obvious explanation. Wtf is the deal with the oath rod? It really does a number on the oath taker 

Reading through this thread triggered a thought about the fantasy/sci fi genre that I hadn’t considered before. I’m putting it out there on the spot so admittedly I haven’t thought it through and I may very well be off base. That being said, I think that most of the fantasy and sci fi books that I can think of that have been successful in their mainstream appeal, especially in terms of adaptation to film or television, have been categorized or marketed as young adult. I acknowledge that I simply might not have been exposed to content that would prove otherwise. The main examples of adult geared fantasy that come to my mind off the bat are game of thrones and lord of the rings. Sci fi has more but the ones I can think of were not based on books, screen only (such as the matrix). Then when I look at the other big adaptations, they seem to have mostly been initially made for young adult audiences. Harry Potter, the hunger games, the divergent series, maze runner series, the superhero genre is mostly based on comics, which I would suspect are typically thought of by the majority of society who don’t read comics as being consumed by kids, or at least the initial interest began in childhood. The interesting thing to me about this, if indeed my observation has any truth to it, is that adults seem to enjoy the content as much if not more than the original audience they were made for. Even many of the animated so called children’s movies are actually in my experience more enjoyable to adults and contain humor and themes that really can’t be fully understood and appreciated by children. So this long and rambling train of thought is basically just a curiosity that occurred to me, is fantasy more likely to be accepted by adults if it’s presented as being created for children or young adults? Are most adults (not our community obviously 😂) ashamed of their affinity for imagination and fantasy unless they can label it as kid stuff? Who knows and probably who cares! I just posted the thought on impulse. 

I’ll admit that I assumed Jain was female in the books until it was clearly stated otherwise