It was in Cairhien and about power struggles. Plus dropping the Old Tongue is just cool. But seems fairly straightforward, and as Aes Sedai invented the Great Game, concentrating on Moiraine and Suian as they try to rest control of Rand from each other as Lanfear saunters in and takes him away seems reasonably fitting.

It has not been stressed, but there was the conversation with Loial where he is dismissive of helping Egwene, at least following the book. Given the dialogue with Perrin, then the dialogue with Loial, that seems like a fair amount of setting up. For someone new to the story, Ingtar should still seem to a bastion of the Light, Agelmar's right hand man, the one entrusted to take the Horn out of hiding, and to go get it back. Given how little time there is in the series, it seems to me that if things play out as the books, someone new to the show is still going to be shocked, and will be moved if the scene is filmed well, and then there will be the little clues to go back and pick up on a rewatch. Of course we need to WAFO, but the setting up there has been would be totally out of place without some sort of similar action as the book, and surely it is a stand out moment, and easy to replicate with a specific type of character, if for example Ingtar had not been included in the show. So I would be very surprised if the show is not heading the same place as the book, though I have been surprised before and will certainly be so again.

Wow, I have never heard of Inktober, thank you for the education. I am tempted, though I cannot draw, much less use ink. But I have been trying to get my creative juices flowing, this does sound like a good motivation. Though those prompts. How is dream a prompt for a drawing? The sadists.

Yes, absolutely.

That is not wholly true, when Min knew, she knew. It was just that often she did not. Like the eye on the scales, she had no idea. But when she saw the tinker with the blood on her face, or the colours around Logain, she knew, and it was going to happen. Which then brings us to that book Min would never have told Mat not to go Falme, as she would know that whatever she did or said, that vision was going to come true. If Mat is going to stab Rand, that is what is going to happen. If she tries to interfere either it is going to be ineffective or she'll unwittingly cause what she is trying to prevent. She knows this. Or she should, has she not even read the books? Schoolgirl error on her part.

I very much liked many aspects of Perrin. The wolves, because I have a mental age of 14, his willingness to self-sacrifice, his refusal to acknowledge the greater good as a reason to do bad or convenient things, his deliberateness, he was a smith, even his slow acceptance of leadership, which was a bit slow really. I just felt the books asked us to take a lot on trust about why he was so cut up about things that clearly were not true. He was the character least likely to hurt someone out of spite or for enjoyment, yet fear of this was one of his most powerful motivations as a character. I get why he was not given a darker side, but I also get why the show could decide to not rely on poetic license so much, though so far they have not done much with his spousicidal (that is a real word by the way) past, but maybe they will yet in the Faile storyline. Could be pretty explosive there, if she accuses him of being too gentle with his women.

Not saying that my interpretation is better than yours, but Perrin having a unique experience makes no sense in a story full of characters going through the same thing without having so much self doubt. It is not consistent with the rest of the story. Perrin was having kittens because he thought about killing Egwene instead of letting the ravens have her. He constantly beats himself up for enjoying fighting and killing, even though he never does anything to seek it out, never encourages it, never prolongs it, never does without good cause. He absolutely is not going through what every soldier in the story is going through even if it is relatable to real life soldiery. In the context of the story, his book angst and fears for himself are totally neurotic and disproportionate to his experiences. Of course, all in my most humble opinion.

For me Perrin was always a bit over the top. The nearly all the books, he freaks out about getting a bit angry now and again. He refuses the wolves over and over again despite all the times that costs him dearly. He's just too much of a torn-faced loon too often, and for little reason. And if a Forsaken had ever gotten a hold of Faile, and told him to jump off a cliff or they would kill her, he would have and doomed the world. Which devotion to me never sat well with his well meaning, quiet mannered heroism. The shows back story is an interesting take on making all that angst and mindless devotion much more understandable. Though did not agree they gave Mat a reason to always want to return to the Two Rivers, and Perrin a reason to never want to go back, as that seems the wrong way round really. I love the books, but the show changing something is not in of itself a bad thing. It dependsTM.

Totally off topic, but the fascination with black also annoyed me. Now I have worn exclusively black for most of my life, but that was because it was a contrast to those around me. If everyone wears black, then that is so monotonous and boring. Why did they not choose different colours? Have some individual style? Too which one of my mates (who is too sharp for his own good) replied, you mean like the Power Rangers? Though thinking about it, black works, could be worse.

But is not the half-naked tai-chi like exercises not meant to impart that he is on another level of martial expertise?

Whoa, don't start being reasonable to Lan, surely that is against the forum rules? Btw, you guys do realise that if you don't capitalise his name, it looks like you are talking about some dude called Ian, which does not sound that exciting to me. One of the reasons I did not enjoy the Matrix is that my hearing is not the best, and I thought the lead character used the cool handle "Neil". What kind of writing is this, I had to ask myself.

I don't know, the boys were repeatedly held up as being as good as Hammar, who was a skilled Warder with the sword, so in the books the two concepts are neatly tied together. In the show, not sure, Warders are meant to be elite fighters, with preternatural abilities thanks to the bond. Difficult to say how much of that would seep through to someone who has not read the books, but I think they should have the idea that Warders are a big deal. I don't think it will happen though, as I would say that they know such a scene would be a fan favourite, and they would not want anyone stealing Mat's thunder. Also if Rand and Alanna are there (was she, cannot really recall), would the outcome with the Power not be more important than any fisticuffs? Could happen though, will just have to WAFO.

Depends, will they have "Eye of the Tiger" playing in the background? If yes, I am all for it. Otherwise, pass.

I think only in flashbacks, I seem to remember one mention of caring for a lamb under his cloak and another of driving off a wolf from the flock (which could be the same passage actually) where Nynaeve is reminiscing about "I remember the boy who was so proud..." But at Winternight it was still too cold for shearing, and he we never saw him go back to the farm after that. Should there have been a parallel to Perrin in the forge in Tear, Rand grabbing a sheep and shearing it, or hijacking a flock and taking them for a joy ride because it has just been too long? Could have worked 🙂

Stylish tunic, harem trousers and pointy sandals. I think I can make that work 😄

Slow down, Mother! No one said anything about skipping. I'm out of practice. And I'm still getting used to this white Novice... What do boy Novices have to wear in the Tower actually, Mother? I feel I should have asked before now.

It is a bit early to be thinking about an Ajah, though I never saw myself as a Red. Worse I did one of those silly quizzes a few days ago, and it said I should be Yellow! Even less likely! I can barely stand people, let alone going around healing them all day. But who knows. Having a nose around the tower seems to indicate all the Ajahs are keen of looking pictures of beautiful women in fantastic dresses, so I think I could live with that.

That's... not really helping. You mean the rest only want to have whips and chains. Or only pretend to... Actually nevermind, I don't want to know 🙂

Aww. Well, if it is obligatory, I suppose I could see my way to putting up with it. Just for a while, obviously 🙂

There was also the burying of the Sheinarin darkfriend, that also makes a lot more sense given what happens in the books, which then would mean it should be with Perrin, as he knows that Ingtar values this service.

They are gaidin, Morgase's whelps were just students. And also in the books the whole point was not their ability but the fact that the women were ogling them. Putting Mat against two warders to help out Rand would be making it much more difficult (Gawyn is taken out before he realises that Mat is any kind of a threat) and more heroic.

Totally agree 🙂

As someone pointed out in another thread the damane is named in the credits (or whatever that Xray thing is) and her name is Miri.

Subtitles can be weird. My ex always wanted subtitles on everything, and they had to be English (as otherwise I would have to listen to criticism of the translation) and often they were just garbage, like with the same kind of meaning, but using different analogies, similes, grammar, etc., like it had been translated to another language, then back translated to English without much care. Them being based on a dubbed script would make a lot of sense (as then you don't have only the character limitation and character speed of subs to worry about, but also the timing of the spoken language to take into account). Hmm, mystery solved 🙂

There is also that Nynaeve in the show needed a bit of attention. Certainly not saying I would not have done it differently, but book Nynaeve shows the morning of Beltine that she is as hard as nails - flying about while exhausted, being a veritable Florence Nightingale of hygiene and effectiveness, looking at Tam and kindly telling Rand he is as good as dead, take him away now, and off again to the next patient. Moiraine in some scenes reaches this kind of zen effectiveness and ruthless emotional control, but she is not as emotional as Nynaeve to start with, very few other Aes Sedai, some Borderlanders? In the books I think this allows Nynaeve to show petulance as we know when the mess hits the fan she has it under control. Though, imo, RJ kind of looses control of that a bit and leaves Nynaeve a bit of a joke through most of the books, but I guess we can put that down to exaggeration for comic effect.