4 hours ago, Ralph said:

 

In the books there is also only one source, just two parts of it. 

 

Yes, of course. It was just for simplify: for the show watchers, everyone channel the same part

They should keep Alanna bonding Rand but, with more development

On 10/10/2023 at 6:01 PM, Ralph said:

 

And Rand… there’s so much to dig into, but I want to ask about his confrontation with Turak. Instead of engaging in a swordfight with a blademaster, he uses the One Power against Turak. How did you develop this scene?

Judkins: For us, we haven’t really told the story of Rand and Lan training together yet. It is coming. But we hadn’t told it yet. But we still needed to pull off this Rand/Turak confrontation. I think it’s just one of those scenes that’s etched into your mind from the second book that we had to do.

What we tried to do is combine it with a scene in the third book with Rand where he kills all these men who are attacking him and they all fall to their knees with the One Power. It’s a very disturbing, unsettling scene in book three that puts a question mark in your mind of what path Rand is headed on and gives the audience its first real glimpse of the amount of power he wields, which I think is really important. That’s what we were trying to do with that scene. We wanted to deliver the iconic scene from the books. But Rand hasn’t had that storyline with Lan yet, so this is a way we could bring it to the show.

 

 

from https://nerdist.com/article/wheel-of-time-season-two-finale-showrunner-rafe-judkins-interview-forsaken-dragon-reborn-prophecy/

Sorry If I'm quoting an old post but this one to me is a good news indeed. I missed this interview that bring more hope to me regarding S3. 

Now I understand better the reasons beyond that scene and it is also quite clever.

So this help my optimistic outlook for S3, seeing a Rand finally with good scenes and arc.

Thank you

On 10/18/2023 at 4:45 PM, Samt said:

Lots of things that Liandrin and Moraine say in season 1 seem intentionally written to be vague on the subject of the Saidin/Saidar dichotomy when there doesn't seem to be an in universe reason for them to do so (unless the show Aes Sedai actually themselves don't understand).  This really isn't a particularly complicated idea that requires exposition.  Men and women channel differently.  That's all that the casual viewer needs to know and it would have fit organically into the story at lots of points.  

 

This vagueness is also what leads lots of book viewers to suspect that maybe they are changing something.  It would have been simple and straightforward to establish that nothing has changed and it would have made the show easier to understand (both for book readers and non).  The decision to not do this raises questions as to the intention.  

In ep1s1 cold open (literally the beginning) Liandrin said: "When you touch the source, you make it filthy. That power is for the woman, the woman alone"

For the watchers there is clearly just one source, till now

----

Reading a lot of post here about BS works make me feel like a black sheep. My second preferred book for the entire series after Shadow Rising is Gathering Storm. I barely survived after Crossroads of twlilight. The first BS Book got me enterely hooked again.

I disliked (hated) the Epilogue and some Mat's chapter but, a part from that, it was great.

On 10/23/2023 at 5:01 PM, BookMattBetterThanShow said:

Watching the show I have felt like they really want Egwene to be the Dragon Reborn, guessing Harriet would not allow it. So instead they are giving Egwene an arch that makes her look like the Dragon Reborn version 1a.

Instead an alternative DR, I do think more like this :

On 10/24/2023 at 4:39 AM, Jaysen Gore said:

I legitimately don't think they're looking to treat Egwene as the Dragon Reborn. I think what they are doing is setting up Egwene as the main protagonist who watches as her best friend and former lover becomes a 3,000 year old legend who is going to to break the world to save it, then watch him struggle as he becomes a ruthless dictator and potentially insane.  As she learns to trust this violent monster to do the honourable thing.

 

We are getting very little of what's happening in Rand's head (only what he's impacting in the world, and how others  treat him),  and so for most of the second half, I think they're going to play Rand as a villain (think Dumai's Wells from the Aes Sedai perspective, or the Nobility of Cairhien, or any other decision as he becomes "emperor"). Elayne had a speech about him becoming a king and that he needs to- she will see it, Egwene won't, and that will be the character conflict. 

 

Then they will have him interact with Tam for Veins of Gold, and show that there is a very big difference between a man being hard (pardon the pun), and a man being strong. 

 

That has been my expectation since about 1/2 way through S1, and nothing I've seen to date makes me want to change my mind.

So Rand=Anakin Skywalker. Rafe is confirmed Red Ajah at this point:

* Making Liandrin one of the favorite villain character among the watchers

* Casting Shohreh Aghdashloo as Elaida

* Shielding the DR as much as you can

:-))

On 10/19/2023 at 8:22 PM, nsmallw said:

Having cast such a big actress for Elaida, Shohreh Aghdashloo, i expect that they increase her time on screen much like they've done with Moiraine being Rosamund Pike.

I'm so sad that they chosen her for Elaida and not for Cadsuane. After Liandrin's arc, Rafe clearly is red Ajah at this point. I love the actress and I want to hate Elaida just as the books

Changing subject, Rand in a box will be present but he won't still/gentle anyone while he's doing the unboxing thing.

Someone is going to rescue him (again)

On 10/15/2023 at 4:37 AM, DreadLord31 said:

 

I just don’t think Rafe likes Rand…

But - to be honest, the first time I read the books I didn’t like Nynaeve. So - to each their own. 
 

 

 

If I have to judge based on the extras (x-ray), I would guess: No, he clearly doesen't like his character. He barely speak about Rand as a character. Only as the DR (plot device) for the others. In S2 he mentioned him clearly on Ep1S2 extra with: "We wanted to be clear about the fact that Rand is not the main protegonist"

But...

I will give him the benefict of the doubt and maybe, his plan is to give him a proper arc from s3 and all these rants will be adressed

On 10/9/2023 at 6:21 PM, notpropaganda73 said:

 

I think we may just not agree on this but I really don't think this would help all that much. Because I think they have managed to explain certain elements of lore/world building quite well, so to my mind the inability to explain other parts of the Wheel of Time comes down to execution, poor writing and maybe exec/storyboard decisions?

 

Something I thought was explained beautifully in S1 was the Way of the Leaf. They didn't need a huge amount of time for it, with one scene in particular very well written (Ila explaining it to Perrin). I think they have explained ji-e-toh well enough so far, with the limited screen time of the Aiel in S2. Finally having Elyas in S2 we got one scene explaining the wolves/how they communicate (to a degree). Effectively done in limited time. So if they can manage that, why do they mess up other key elements of lore? Sometimes it's poor writing and sometimes I wonder whether it's purposeful obfuscation 

 

I have to agree with this. Since all this explanations are present in the show and effective, the lack of any kind of explanation about other key aspect of the lore is weird. Clearly, for the source (saidin vs saidar) it is vague and totally unclear because the showrunners do not want to cleary say that the One Power is binary and gendered.

They are afraid but, at the end, it's better being crystal clear from the start. At the same time, they could also add a character who can channel the other half of the Source (Alima style)