Samt

I'm wondering if it's actually just the original forsaken. It seems in this version of the story there are only 8 instead of 13. Last season, they played with the idea that the forsaken were a shadow version of the main characters in this age. This plays up the angle that it's all about the choices you make.

Have you met any 20 year olds? They act like children all the time. I agree that Mat's character is sort of weird early on since it's simultaneously implied that he has some experience carousing and also that he doesn't. And, as you say, how could he?

A one page summary would never include a list of things that didn't happen or shouldn't be included. By that logic, Rand killing his father in a fit of rage would also not be a huge departure from the book since Tam probably doesn't even make the 1 page summary. From a character development standpoint, Rand being innocent and Mat not being a scumbag are sort of important. And Perrin growing into his own sense of manhood is very important. None of the things mentioned sink the show on its own. They are just huge red flags that the creators don't get it. TV needs to use images and symbols to efficiently give us information about the characters and story. These symbols and images are contradicting what needs to be told about the characters early on to set them up for their book arcs.

I saw that too and was at first wondering if that is actually Avi, but Avi wouldn’t be caught dead in heeled boots.

I enjoy the prologues. To enjoy the WoT you have to be willing to go with the flow and not worry about getting back to any particular story line right away. If you only want to hear about the main characters and their plotlines, the prologues can feel like a drag.

Callandor the object is not important early. Callandor the plot device that changes Rand from passenger to driver is critical and its absence leaves Rand a passenger in his own story. In regards to Mat, I just intend to believe people when they tell me who they are. If I had faith that the creators understood Mat's arc and thought it was important, I could believe you that they might still do it justice.

I was thinking I might be curious about season 3 and then about halfway through I was reminded why the show is irredeemable. No Callandor. No Tairen doors for Matt. It's so far offtrack that any attempt to bring it back on track would just push it further off track.

I recently saw a joke about a DnD item that is a "truth serum." But instead of making someone tell the truth, it simply alters reality (retroactively and including memories as necessary) so that whatever is said is true. Along those lines, do Min's visions become locked because she sees them, or is she simply an observer of that which was already locked? Does she herself have enough free will to avoid seeing the visions that she was "supposed" to see? Would it matter? To what extent are some of here visions self fulfilling prophecies where those who know about them change their actions because of the visions and thus cause them to be fulfilled? (Alivia?)

I have assumed that the world maps onto parallel worlds (Tel and others). Although distance and time may be different in other worlds, they still scale consistently and thus map onto each other point to point. This seems to be a prerequisite for things like portal stones to work. As such, travelling requires that you know the area where you are as it relates to this metaphysical grid. Moving around a locket (or even an enclosed wagon) would thus not be helpful since that item moves around the grid and is not a useful landmark. Knowing I am inside my car doesn't really tell me something useful as to where I am. Knowing I am on top of the pyramid of Giza does. I don't think the books really give details about how this works, but I don't think a small mobile device helps you travel or make gateways. That said, I think gateways can be used to communicate over long distances. There are ways to use the one power to track others (like the bond or Moirraine's coins). If you can make a gateway from where you are and use such a device to know where someone else is, you can probably create a gateway to them and talk to them through it.

Fair enough if we're talking about book 1. But that definitely is not the 7 core characters of the series.

I think it depends on what you expect from your fiction and what genre you think you are reading. Is this a story about epic heroes with destiny and foreshadowing leading to a cathartic climax where everything has a place and a reason and Chekov's gun always goes off? Or is this supposed to be some realistic fiction where things raise questions about the meaning of life and sometimes things happen and we have to ask if there really is a higher power or is it all just pointless? I think WoT falls in the middle between those two and is a little of both. We do have some epic struggles between paragons. But also, some things happen just because. I think that Lan is characterized by a hopeless struggle with the shadow. If he were to die, it wouldn't be about the specific nature of his opponent. It could be Demandred or a horde of trollocs overrunning him. The point would be that he met his fate on his feet with a sword in his hands. Of course, I ultimately think it's good that he survived, but I don't think that his personal connection to his opponent or to Gawyn and Galad is important.

Bit of a tangent, but who do you see as the 7. I've mostly seen references to the 6 being the EFF+Elayne. Who is #7?

I'd agree the repetitive nature of the Gawyn, Galad, Lan attack is a bit weird. However, I don't think Lan's attack is really related to a desire to avenge Gawyn and Galad in particular. He barely knows them. And he doesn't have a particular grudge with Demandred either. His battle with the shadow is so personal that it isn't personal at all. It's his entire reason for existing, or at least was before he met Nynaeve. He attacks Demandred because he is the visible leader of the shadow's forces. The medallion is somewhat a plot device that makes it plausible for non-channelers to maybe present a threat to channelers.

I've always been torn on whether or not Lan should have actually died when he sheathed the sword. On the one hand, it seems cheap that sheathing the sword is supposed to be about willingness to pay the price for defeating evil and neither of the times we see it in the series does it result in death. At least Rand pays a price with the wound. Lan is just somehow not dead and doesn't really have to suffer. On the other hand, Lan's line is that duty is heavier than a mountain and death is lighter than a feather. Death was never the price that he should narratively be required to pay because he was too willing to pay it. And if Lan does, it leaves Nynaeve a widow, both narratively and literally. If Lan were to die, I think it would be poetic if we find out that Nynaeve is pregnant with their son. She goes to Malkier and becomes a dowager queen regent who raises the next king. Of course, being a powerful Aes Sedai, she would live long enough to be adviser to the line of the kings of Malkier for generations. But ultimately, I think it's good that Lan lives because he needs to fulfill his duty and death would only have been a release from the duty. Of course, if Lan lives, I think it makes complete sense that he goes and rebuilds Malkier after the last battle. He resisted becoming king because he didn't think there was a future and didn't want to lead others to their deaths. With the shadow defeated and the blight pushed back, Malkier has a future. And Lan is the king. It's his duty to rebuild his land and be a leader for his people. That part never bothered me. It would have been weird to me if Lan doesn't rebuild Malkier after defeating the shadow.

What are the apostrophes in the old tongue supposed to mean? Are they guttural stops, pauses, omitted vowel sounds (if so, which ones), or something else? Are they just added to make it look fantasy? How do you pronounce them when reading? Personally, I just read the words as if the apostrophe weren't there and assume that they are sort of added for "flavor." But I'm not sure that is the intention. Thoughts?