DojoToad

Yep. WoT may be back in a week. Streaming does make everything weird. Guess we'll see if they announce a S4 before S3 drops as is the pattern for this show. Then, of course, does S3 perform as well as the first two seasons. All that said, 'High Castle' has amazing staying power. I'll have to check it out.

Probably because 'The Man in the High Castle' ran until 2019 and it is still getting Nielsen ratings 5 years later. There is something to be said for staying power - or lack thereof...

I think we agree. The reality of the Tower does not live up to the legend. I think this is deliberate - art imitating life. The Tower had its period of badassery from which the legend sprang and then it declined for any number of reasons. Not very different from any number of real-life examples: Roman Empire, Mongol Empire, British Empire, Aztec Empire, Soviet Empire. Kick ass, expand, nurture the legend, decline, change and/or fall. There are neither beginnings nor endings...

Bravo!

I think that you are correct that many of the Aes Sedai are mediocre, but I think that is because they had nothing to challenge them for hundreds of years - just border disputes and helping out with the blight on occasion. I think many of the mediocre Aes Sedai would have risen to the challenge had they been dealing with trolloc armies, Forsaken, Seanchan over the previous decades. The fact that the wonder girls did that so quickly was both unrealistic and a testament to their grit.

They enslave way more than women who can channel. Many people and Ogier are considered property. I never got that the authors approved of slavery, but when they are telling a particular chapter from the perspective of a Seanchan then it makes sense to look at from an approving angle - the character approves of Seanchan society which includes slavery. The books would have been less realistic if all the Seanchan were secretly abolitionists. Of course, they may have been more realistic if there were a few Seanchan characters that pushed against the idea of slavery/property.

It's meaningful to someone or the numbers wouldn't be generated. Maybe less relevant to WoT fans as it is not on the list. Or maybe it is more relevant as it is not on the list...

Could be. But the streaming model is new enough that who knows how it will work out.