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Elder_Haman

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Posts posted by Elder_Haman

    2 minutes ago, Sabio said:

    Honestly they can't make Egwene too powerful, she has no idea what she's doing.  If she starts blasting away after the small fire she tossed at Valda, something will be wrong.  

    I think they can give her a buff though. Especially if she's seen training a bit with Amalisa beforehand. Establish that she's a quick learner.

    2 minutes ago, ManetherenTaveren said:

    I'm nauseous already. The unbridled expansion of their world view and baptism by fire tests their friendships, not some juvenile nonsense.  

    What? I'm talking about a very specific plot point between Rand and Perrin.

     

    Spoiler

    Rand convinces everyone that he and Perrin have had an argument and that Perrin is no longer allowed in his sight. This was a ruse. 

    Portraying early tension between Rand and Perrin serves that plot point.

    1 minute ago, Sabio said:

    Seems like the rest of the group does indeed stay behind.  If Rand dies it means Perin can really start flirting with Egwene.

    I don't know what about your quote above triggered this thought, but -- 

    Spoiler

    the "love triangle" also helps to establish a foundation for believing in the later intentional break between Rand and Perrin and the way it goes down.

    That is all.

    14 hours ago, Bruan said:

    My biggest problem with Ishamael in the dreams isn’t his appearance. It’s more the fact he’s been reduced to a jump-scare monster out of some B horror flick. His appearance isn’t what made him scary. His dialogue did.

    This is true. But the repetitiveness of his dialogue got annoying for me. 

    Remember in EotW, Ba'alzy doesn't know it's Rand at first either. At the beginning, all the kids are having dreams and its unclear how long they continue to do so, since we don't get any of their POV to speak of.

     

    I think we are going to get some scary dialogue in this coming episode. And Ba'alzy, (or Ishy or Moridin - it will be interesting to see how much of the re-naming stuff they do) will be established as the antagonist. At least that's my prediction.

    4 minutes ago, DigificWriter said:

    We don't know why Laila didn't go to Egwene's Women's Circle Initiation.

    What if it's entirely the other way around? What if Egwene was hot for Perrin and made a move on him, but Perrin was in love with Laila? Laila and Egwene have a falling out over it. Perrin doesn't understand it. Blames himself for leading Eg on. 

     

    Flamin' ashes if that wouldn't be entirely on brand for Perrin.

    2 minutes ago, UOweTamASword said:

    Rafe's said he thinks Jordan would write the series differently if alive today. Leaving aside the distasteful act of putting words in a dead man's mouth to prop up your own viewpoint, that opinion alone indicates his vision of WoT and mine will never align well enough for me to enjoy it.

    Wow. If this isn't the pot calling the kettle black.

     

    3 minutes ago, UOweTamASword said:

    I've heard directly from Brandon that reading through the draft of scripts he found the characters to be unlikable and even ***holes (strong words from Brandon). To me that's not a time for a revision, but a time to question the entire approach. Obviously that's not plausible because they involved Brandon as a late in the process consultant (correct me if I'm wrong).

    And you are cherry picking (and taking out of context) Brandon's statements. He has said very positive things about the show. Very positive things about the way Rafe approaches the process of the adaptation.

     

    Likewise, Harriet has publicly said very positive things about the show and about Rafe. You ask why you should be reassured? Because the people who know the most are saying reassuring things. The degree of cynicism required to simply assume without evidence that their public opinions have been bought is mind boggling to me.  

    4 minutes ago, UOweTamASword said:

     

    Hmm, I actually thought it was an interesting twist having Aran'gar infiltrate the Aes Sedai camp while channeling saidin. What did you not like about it? I'd wager you'll get your way though on that, the show seems to have very different opinions from the book on what and how male/female channeling differs.

     

    On top of that I believe they're trimming the Forsaken from 13 to 8, and Balthamel and Aginor are no doubt near the top of that list.

     

     

    As I said before, if they can brush off Sanderson, they can brush off Sarah (a WoT superfan?). So you can see how this reassures me not at all. All this makes clear to me is that Sarah is not a direct part of the writing process (in that she's not in the writing room) and no other expert is either (or they wouldn't need to consult her as such).

     

    That they consult with someone on things like this after they come up with them wouldn't even assure me if they actually had veto power (which they clearly don't). After all, we are dependent on the writer's room (no WoT experts and some non-readers) to determine what is a change and whether its even worth paying their consultant to consider. Or at least I hope she's paid!

     

    I'd be interested to hear whether Sarah thinks the WoT books are great as-is or if she'd like to edit them in certains ways if given a chance (and how). That would illuminate a bit what kind of expert opinion they're occasionally including.

    They have Sarah on the team. They have Brandon Sanderson as a script consultant. Harriet is involved. What more do you want? Short of resurrecting Jordan and having him write the scripts, what could possibly satisfy you?

    2 minutes ago, UOweTamASword said:

    As in Chess, you can plan a move out many turns ahead and "succeed" in that minor tactic, but its the overall strategy that determines whether you're successful and thought the game through thoroughly enough.

    The Chess analogy is an interesting one. 

    The object of Chess is, obviously, to checkmate your opponent. But there are many different strategies for obtaining that result. Different ways to attack. Different ways to defend. You can only judge the game once it is over.

     

    Rafe has spoken numerous times about looking at the series from a long-term perspective. He wants to tell the entire WoT story and his aim is "to stick the landing" (his words). It's very easy to analyze this show episode by episode, talk about what has been cut and what has been changed and how much it differs from the books. But until you see the entire product, you won't know whether the strategy behind those changes was effective or ineffective. You can't know whether they've "stuck the landing" until the routine is compete.

     

    I've liked a lot. I've disliked some. I'm ambivalent about some. So far, they've made some moves I wouldn't have made. In chess terms, call it using a slightly unconventional opening.  

    1 minute ago, TheMountain said:

    Where Tolkien excelled was in the creation of languages, cultures, legends, religion and histories. There are volumes and volumes of worldbuilding he wrote before ever getting started on LotR. I know because I've read almost all of them.

    100%. I'm not arguing about whether Tolkien created vast amounts of lore. I've lived and breathed Tolkien since I was 5.

     

    I'm talking about translating the stories to a visual medium. The LotR movies didn't have to incorporate nearly as much worldbuilding as WoT does to make sense. LotR was free to use broad strokes because - at the end of the day - it isn't necessary to understand Middle Earth intimately to understand Frodo's quest. The same isn't true of Randland.

    6 minutes ago, TheMountain said:

    It just doesn't need a ton of clunky exposition, because the filmmakers succeeded in making it feel natural.

    Eh, slight disagree here. It's more that the LotR story doesn't require much worldbuilding. Apart from the nature of the One Ring and the broad outlines, the worldbuilding has very little to do with the actual story. The "lore" in the LotR movies is just the background against which the players play - sort of a matte painting.

     

    In WoT, the worldbuilding is intrinsic to the characters and the plot. You not only have to explain it, but you have to incorporate it into nearly everything. For example: in LotR, the magic is mysterious, vague, and rarely seen. In WoT, the magic is ubiquitous and central to how the characters interact. So while LotR is like a series of matte paintings, WoT's lore is like an immersive video game design.

     

     

    1 hour ago, UOweTamASword said:

    But many indisputably had zero purpose, like making Mat’s parents deadbeats and him a reluctant thief.

    Indisputably? Wrong. I understand the purpose completely. They want us to understand that Mat is troubled by the idea that he is not a good person when, in fact, he is a good person. They want us to know that he is ashamed of his parents, but loves his sisters. 

     

    Was this Mat's story in the books? No. Was Mat's character consistent in the books? Also, no. We got about three different versions of Mat. 

     

    Was changing his story a good choice? We don't know. It may pay off. It may not. But there was absolutely a purpose to the change.

    39 minutes ago, Yojimbo said:

    which is why (for me) even the implication that he was interested in Egwene makes him look awful. How long ago did he fridge his wife?   It certainly doesn't seem like long enough that he would be ready to move on to someone else.   That whole scene made everyone look pretty bad.

    Here you say: (1) there was an implication the Perrin was interested in Egwene; (2) it makes Perrin look awful, because (3) he recently killed his wife; and thus (4) he shouldn't be ready to move on to someone else. Therefore (5) he looked pretty bad.

     

    I don't understand how I am misinterpreting that.

    2 minutes ago, Yojimbo said:

    I wasn't saying that.  I was saying that Nynaeve's comment implied that there was interest

     

    34 minutes ago, Yojimbo said:

    even the implication that he was interested in Egwene makes him look awful. How long ago did he fridge his wife?   It certainly doesn't seem like long enough that he would be ready to move on to someone else.

    You were saying that. You were specifically saying that he was 'ready to move on'.