#Winter's Heart

[butterflydm]

Biggest Wheel of Time 'Oh That Explains Some Things' about Jordan's background:

To expand on these further:

If you look up the Citadel (where Jordan went to university), so many of the ways that Jordan writes all teachers and places of learning seem based in what is reported out of this school: brutal hazing, breaking people to teach them duty and discipline, the symbol of graduation is even a special ring (though that's not uncommon), faux-military atmosphere.

Rand comes across as weirdly passive in his love life because Jordan was passive in his own -- when he was dating two women at once, they made all the decisions about when he would be seeing which girl.

Jordan has talked about how uniquely scarring it was for him to kill a woman during his military service, and this was adopted wholesale for Rand (and Mat at various points) despite their background not matching Jordan's.

[bgmoth]

elayne trakand, establishing intimate soulbonds with women left and right, yearning for said women to be close, surrounding herself with women warriors at first chance

robert jordan: she's so heterosexual you guys

[wot-tidbits]

Chekhov's statue

[lordgolden]

robert jordan i absolutely love you i love that you name the birds characters hear. blue tits are native to the two rivers <3 perrin notices them

[vallasochrasy]

Birgitte as Captain General of the Queen's Guards i know who you truly are

[kaiartx]

i think my favorite WoT book so far is Winter's Heart, im loving it sooo much

[orbit-of-eternity]

Rand: I would have all three of you if I could!

Nynaeve: *prays to Randland Jesus*

Lan: ...this bowl is rather interesting.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Wheel of Time: Winter's Heart Cover Art by Darrel K. Sweet

[lovequotesandcoffee]

A man who trusts everyone is a fool and a man who trusts no one is a fool. We are all fools if we live long enough.

Robert Jordan, Winter's Heart.

[butterflydm]

Overthinking the leaked casting for s3

wotseries.com posted another (rumored) casting for s3 a couple of weeks ago and it prompted me to go through all our known casting so far and (probably) do some overthinking (plus, the last time I Did Speculation, we got some new info very soon afterwards, so maybe that will happen again, lol):

Our new casting spoiler is Ann Ogbomo, a British actress who was part of the South Africa filming cast (which was used for both Rhuidean and Tanchico, I believe). So she could be Aiel, or one of the flashback characters, or a character in Tanchico.

She seems too old to be Tuon (otoh, Tuon might get aged up and sorta combined with Tylin in the sense of being an ~older woman~ for Mat? The books never really did anything interesting with Tuon looking younger than she was, and her being older would make her more experienced as a sul'dam), but could possibly be Egeanin or another Black Ajah Sister in Tanchico.

Other 'recent' (since the last time I posted about it) castings are Cameron Jack, Fredrik Wagner, and Michael Lindall. We don't really know anything about what Fredrik might have filmed but it looked like Michael filmed on the Two Rivers set. Cameron Jack is an actor who looks to have potentially filmed during both the Czech Republic and the South African stints of filming.

We got our first official casting of a Sea Folk character in Carmela Bonomi as Jorin din Jubai (who has a good rapport with Elayne during their time together in the books, and is the reason that Elayne figures out that the Windfinders can channel). Given the director she worked with, it sounds like she's in 3x5 and/or 3x6 -- if we meet the Sea Folk in 3x5 and then leave with them from Tanchico in 3x6, this backs up the idea that maybe our Tanchico kiddos will reunite with Rand's side of the storyline in 3x7 & 3x8 (maybe in Tear). My current speculation of "2 episodes together; 4 episodes in the Waste/Tanchico; 2 episodes together" still sounds like it could be valid (except for Perrin, of course, who would still be in the Two Rivers at the end of the season), and gives Rand & Elayne and Lan & Nynaeve screen-time to spend together to build their relationships.

We also learned about Olivia Popica as Jeanine. She gets added to Liandrin's group of Black Ajah Sisters who are likely going to break out of the White Tower in ep1 (probably killing at least one Sister in the process) and then head to Tanchico to be part of Elayne & Nynaeve's storyline.

Total Black Ajah Sisters that will Probably go to Tanchico: Liandrin, Jeaine, Ispan, and Joiya. If Moghedien is also in Tanchico, I wonder if that's going to be the extent of our Black Ajah Sisters -- it probably would be good if the number of known BA Sisters didn't outnumber the number of known non-BA Sisters!

Other leaks that wotseries.com has mentioned before:

For Andor: Morgase (Olivia Williams), Elaida (Shohreh Aghdashloo), Galad (Callum Kerr) -- we will almost certain also have Gawyn here, since s2 confirmed his existence in the world of the show, but no casting leak yet. Shiaine (Raksha Hoost) might fit in here as well, though she might also be a Secret Character, since her identity gets taken over by a Darkfriend at some point, iirc.

We also have a listing for someone for Jaq Lounalt (Rob McLoughlin), who works for Arymilla in the latter books but might work for Jaichim Carridan (Jared Doreck) in the earlier ones? He's a Darkfriend, at any rate. Might appear in a couple of potential places. Carridan is in Tanchico working with Liandrin & co in TSR, so they might both be there.

For 2R/Perrin: Faile (Isabella Bucceri), Jac al'Seen (Paul A Maynard), and Marin al'Vere's actress is now Rina Mahoney.

For Aiel/Rand: Maigran, da'shain Aiel (Tereza Duskova), Latra, older version (Ania Marson), Solina, Aes Sedai during the Breaking (Thandi Sebe) - these all seem likely to feature in the glass columns sequence.

For the White Tower: Lelaine (Rebecca Root)

We also got a leak that an actor named Robert Strange shot for the show and this is interesting because he's a creature actor and has played several non-human characters in his career (that said, he is also very tall, and so might be an Aiel). But thanks to @markantonys for noticing that he's mainly a creature actor, because otherwise I would have fixated on his height and assumed Aiel! But given that he does act as a lot of creatures, I feel like he's a strong candidate for a Finn.

Then we have a bunch of leaks that aren't attached to a particular role:

Diêm Camille (5'9" - maybe Aiel?)

Nuno Lopes (I've seen spec that he's one of the Forsaken)

Luke Fetherston  (seen spec that he's Luc)

Nukâka Coster-Waldau (I suspect an Aes Sedai)

Björn Landberg (6'6" - maybe Aiel? taller than Josha)

Synnøve Macody Lund (6' - maybe Aiel?)

Clare Dunne (5'9" - maybe Aiel?)

Salóme Gunnarsdóttir (5'7" - maybe Aiel?)

Clare-Hope Ashitey (has been nominated for several acting awards)

And other potential cast who are more tenuously suspected:

Iman Marson (looks young, maybe 2R character?)

Ian Atwiine (also pretty young; maybe 2R character?)

Ferdinand McKay (very little info)

Kiren Kebaili-Dwyer (6' - maybe Aiel? maybe 2R)

Diana Dulinkova (5'7" - maybe Aiel?)

Natasha Culzac (6'1" freckled redhead - Aiel?)

Lots of potential new characters. Nothing that I've seen disproves my most recent speculation about s3, though that can change quickly.

[bgmoth]

“A taste of the strap will set you right, and clear your head of nonsense,” the tall woman went on in a voice like ice. “Ask for it and be done.”

- Anath out of context

[wot-tidbits]

[headlesssamurai]

[lordgolden]

winter's heart is good so far on reread because I've been skipping the Perrin chapters <3 god bles

[highladyluck]

It's very funny re-reading Winter's Heart with full awareness of the rest of the series.

Five hundred men of the Deathwatch Guards had come off the ships and remained in Ebou Dar for some reason.

Tuon, Mat. It's because Tuon's there.

The ordinary sort of crime expected in any large city had fallen off dramatically under the Seanchan, but the Guards took to patrolling the streets as if they expected cutpurses, bullyboys and maybe fully armed bands of brigands to spring out of the pavement.

Indeed, Mat. I'm sure this increased police activity has nothing at all to do with you meeting the new management last chapter while looking like you'd been attacked in the street (because you were).

[onaperduamedee]

And another thing: with Lan and Moiraine's relationship, Jordan crafted an extremely intricate and raw relationship that one could discard because it's platonic, but the moment you see their bond as a marriage, it's just such gut punch after gut punch.

Many quotes after TFoH have a double edge in the way they relate both to Nyn and Mo, his future and past. The crux of the issue is that Moiraine is part of Lan and Lan of Moiraine and the severing could not solely occur because of Mo: it's a marriage; it's complicated.

To me, the story of their relationship disintegration and the aftereffects is one of the most captivating in the books so far. It's honestly a marvel, albeit painful and subdued, but the bond in general captivates me.

Bonding is essentially saying "I am now entrusting you with what could really hurt me, with what could mortally trap me. I trust you not to" which is what committing to someone beloved feels like. It is a marriage, but with a very real "till death do us part" clause.

There is no denying the nature of the bond creates a power imbalance, but also requires a show of trust on both sides, between a group that is notoriously guarded and particularly dangerous warriors. It makes the commitment all the more poignant.

Like handing someone a knife and baring one's chest to them as a way to show dedication.

For that reason, that imbalance comes closer to the relationship between a knight and his lady than a reversed patriarchal twist on marriage.

All the marriage won't be happy or without abuse or deception, but it is a testament to what the parties involved are willing to give, which is fascinating.

And RJ sees it as such, particularly with complicated cases like Elyas, who pretty much separated from his Aes Sedai, Lan, whose Aes Sedai transfered the bond without consent, or Kennit, who is actively hunting his Aes Sedai to kill her because she is BA.

As Stepin observed "No bond is closer than an Aes Sedai and, uh, her Warder. Not husbands and wives, not parents and children."

Very telling that characters like Lan or Rand would be so eager to bond with the ones they love, even after all that happened with their bond-holders.

It is the gravest danger a man can place himself in; the reward must be immeasurable.