#i vibe with transparent robes a lot

[vinyldiskk]

pure white angel whose actions are worse than most demons <3

[vaguely-concerned]

I've been picking mostly only the essential flirt options with lucanis in the romance so far (I've personally found the dynamic much more natural and mutual when you do that, more like forming a solid friendship slowly and inevitably becoming something else and less like you keep pushing on him and getting little back b/c he seemingly just gets overwhelmed and goes into freeze instead), and I think rye is a pretty hard person to read at the best of times even though he's been Down Real Bad from pretty early on and their chemistry as people is naturally really good. so the way the almost-kiss plays out in this playthrough feels a lot like it has the added layer of lucanis realizing that no but for sure rook is flirting and not just being kind or a good friend* it IS actually happening it's not just wishful/fearful thinking!!! and then uh. maybe going a bit too hard a bit too fast in all the excitement at that revelation haha

*in lucanis' defense he has seemingly literally never had a friend who wasn't his cousin-brother before, under those circumstances I suppose some confusion is extremely natural if not outright expected lmao

[rosymourning]

The Custody Battle - a Tav build

“I’ve got a lot on my mind. And, well… in it.”

Various forces are staking their claim on Tav’s soul, who is a Great Old One Warlock with a brain riddled with tadpoles. No weapons are required to shred through a battlefield when you’ve got Illithid powers and Eldritch Blast at the ready.

[check out my other builds!]

Gameplay Notes

At its core, this is an Eldritch Blaster build with as many unlocked Illithid powers as possible. Great Old One’s physic damage resistance and general vibe make for a strong Warlock build to pair with powerful abilities like Cull The Weak, Black Hole, Psionic Overload, etc. — you’ll end up with an arsenal at your disposal. This build assumes you get the Awakened buff from the Zaith'isk in Act 1, so Illithid powers are less costly! Also, it does not itemize towards Reverberation or Radiating Orb, because I think that’s boring and irrelevant to the theming here.

Stats and Leveling

Final build: Level 12 Great Old One Warlock

Tav’s stats: STR 10 / DEX 14 / CON 15 / INT 8 / WIS 10 / CHA 17

Level 1 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 1

Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Friends

1st Level Spells [Hex is a classic]

Level 2 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 2

Eldritch Invocations: Agonising Blast and Repelling Blast

Level 3 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 3

Pact Boon: Pact of the Chain [mostly just for a lil friend]

2nd Level Spells [Cloud of Daggers is very strong]

Level 4 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 4

Feat: ASI+ CHA>18, CON>16

Cantrips: add Minor Illusion [I guess]

Level 5 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 5

Eldritch Invocations: add Mask of Many Faces [weird pick, but fun!]

3rd Level Spells

Level 6 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 6

Entropic Ward

Level 7 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 7

Eldritch Invocation: add Armour of Shadows

4th Level Spells

Level 8 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 8

Feat: ASI+ CHA>20

Level 9 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 9

Eldritch Invocation: add Whispers of the Grave

5th Level Spells [Dominate Person feels right for this build]

Level 10 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 10

Thought Shield

Level 11 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 11

Mystic Arcanum [Eyebite fits the theme]

Level 12 - Warlock (Great Old One) Level 12

Feat: Spell Sniper or Lucky [for funsies]

Eldritch Invocation: add Book of Ancient Secrets

Illithid Powers

Eat as many tadpoles as possible, and be sure to get the Awakened buff from the Zaith'isk in Act 1! In the spirit of transparency, I personally hate using Illithid powers in most playthroughs and tend to ignore them entirely, so I am not the expert here and plenty of other people have done great analyses of which powers to take first, etc. That being said, my favorite Illithid Powers for this build are:

Luck of the Far Realms

Psionic Overload [especially after level 10, when you have Psychic Resistance]

Cull the Weak

Psionic Dominance [Counterspell is really expensive for Warlocks, so use this instead]

Black Hole [so fun]

Mind Blast

Items

Armor - Potent Robe (2 Last Light/Alfira)

Melee Weapon -

Caitiff Staff (3 Devil’s Fee)

Shield of Shielding (3 Stormshore Tabernacle) [if you have racial proficiency in shields]

Ranged Weapon - Bow of the Banshee (2 Grymforge) [why would you ever use a ranged weapon though]

Amulet -

Amulet of Misty Step (1 Goblin Camp) [helpful, but not important]

Fey Semblance Amulet (3 Hag) [offsets Risky Ring]

Helmet - Birthright (3 Sorcerous Sundries)

Ring 1 - Risky Ring (2 Moonrise Towers) [offsets Spellmight Gloves]

Ring 2 - After Death Do Us Part (3 Lady Jannath’s Estate) [this is a bit of a meme pick, but does fit the vibe of the build… so…]

Gloves - Spellmight Gloves (3 Circus)

Boots - Disintegrating Night Walkers (1 Grymforge) [or something random like Mystra’s Grace (1 Arcane Tower) if another party member needs the good boots]

Cloak - Cloak of the Weave (3 Devil’s Fee) [not necessary for the build, just nice to have]

Lore and Flavor

Tav is, of course, a blank slate lore-wise. But that just means we get to write our own! For this build specifically, something about the idea of having a warlock patron and the threat of ceremorphosis looming being flavored as a custody battle for Tav’s soul makes me absolutely enthralled. [somewhat sorry for the pun] Whenever I play this build, I also make sure to sell Tav’s soul to Raphael as well, just for a bit of extra credit. It helps that it’s a super strong build that itemizes well in game, so you never feel underpowered even though it’s prioritizing story.

I picked Great Old One because I didn’t want to step on Wyll’s toes and have another Fiend Warlock, but also because I think the Psychic damage resistance pairs well thematically with the Illithid powers.

[check out my build disclaimer for info about how and why I don't min/max or completely optimize builds, prioritizing lore and vibe instead]

[noro-noro-noro]

ooh i almost forgot. here's what happened in my dream

this part was kind of vague? it was like, what if everybody just lived in HUGE hamster tunnels. like they built a suburb in a dark blue semi-transparent hamster tunnel, & outside of the tunnel there were like pink and purple club lights. but there was also a fake sun heat lamp. anyway that was just the setting. mostly what happened here was that i was sitting on a chair someone was giving away FREE side of the road type thing looking at people buying stuff from my dad's yardsale, & some kids were showing me their new pokemon cards so i was showing them my old ones. the lighting was really weird.

somewhat similar lighting, but more sedate. kind of like if you were at a really classy club &/or hotel &/or resort? dark blue, with magenta & then warmer lighting in the eating areas. anyway at this point i was like 3rd person spectating thistle dungeon meshi, but only in appearance. anyway first he was in a crowded asian-market type area. he was spying for the other side? (otherside of what? i don't know) but some HUGE boobs woman that looked like she walked right out of horny anime art somehow heard him muttering or maybe even pulled this information right out of hs head, so she made sure to loudly talk about plans (idk if real or fake) & then invited thistle to the swanky hotel? thing. idk the vibe was really weird. i don't know if it was a very expensive brothel that also did food & regular sleeping quarters or just a hotel with a lot of amenities that it was common to go have sex at. also you had to wear like this semi-sheer bluish purple robes. and no clothes underneath. which added to it. anyway they got dinner. thsitle was first very focused on his goal of information but after some time the good company & the drinks & the food were wearing him down, so he went to the bathroom to clear his head & then saw something weird out the "window" (it opened to a large central square area, fully enclosed by the rest of the hotel) so he did some acrobatics ot get to the other side of the area. this was like a gym locker? or something? or maybe it was a bunch of dudes about to have an orgy. they made fun of thistle's dick size since his robe had come untied duringt he acrobatics, but he had no time for that! he was chasing down...some informant for the boobs lady? how could she betray him? he was suspicious of her but he was also soft on her... it's like,hm. like in those noir detective stories where there's the love interest for the detective but she ends up pulling a gun on him & knocking him out most of the way through the book. that kind of vibe. except it was with thistle (small) & a huge & voluptuous woman that was almost twice his height. lol idk anyway fter that:

it cut to me & some friends at a restaurant on the lower floor (normal clothes were allowed, sheer robes with nothing else weren't mandatory) but it was really expensive. i'm talking the bill was $599 for the 4 or 5 of us. there was some kind of apple pie cheesecake? that was served on a little swing. i actually wasn't close with several of the people here, but one of them had an ex that worked here, & she said she'd knock $100 off the price if she got to eat some of the apple cake. i gave her like a 1 x 2 inch chunk of my bite, but the person a t the end of the table already paid so i was like "do yuo knock this off retroactively" & she was like "we can . mhmm we're done now"

[butterflydm]

wot reread: a crown of swords (chap 26 - end)

spoilers for a crown of swords

Current book ranking (strongest to weakest): The Fires of Heaven; Lord of Chaos; The Shadow Rising; The Dragon Reborn; A Crown of Swords; The Great Hunt; Eye of the World. I had a hard time figuring out where ACoS fits tbh. The things I dislike about it, I dislike VERY MUCH, but there are some genuinely amazing moments.

1. Up until this point in the series, the snippets we were getting of Morgase were actually working for me, but in this chapter, it’s just pointless trauma (and yet another example of consent issues in this specific book - she sleeps with Valda because he demands it and she feared the Questioners and then gets treated like trash afterwards when he lets the Questioners interrogate her anyway). Of this nineteen page chapter, we needed maybe two pages of it instead of the narrative luxuriating in Morgase’s misery (and, as a bonus, we get Breane shaming her for feeling traumatized and telling her that she’s a coward for not sucking it up and moving on already).

2. Anyway, there are two important things in this chapter: the Seanchan have invaded Altara and Morgase escapes at the end. I don’t really consider Morgase’s abdication all that important tbh considering that almost everyone assumes she’s dead already. Honestly, I feel like we didn’t really need this Seanchan scene at all -- the invasion of Ebou Dar at the end of the book is enough and would have come as more of a punch without this scene happening here. I guess it’s suppose to serve as our refresher on Seanchan culture, which remains terrible (also Suroth, who readers know is a Darkfriend, is still in charge atm). But in case we’ve forgotten: Slaves wear transparent robes that leave their bodies essentially exposed at all times; women who can channel are always property, and the Seanchan believe they have a right to own everything they want the second they want it.

3. Time for Perrin to split off into his own storyline. He and Rand staged a fight where they fought over the treatment of the Aes Sedai prisoners under the Wise Ones’ care. Perrin felt at one point during the fight that Rand might kill him for real. He and Faile and over a dozen other people are all heading off. Faile has taken a bunch of people into “her service” as she likes to do. They meet up with the Two Rivers men and a bunch of Wise Ones and a couple of Aes Sedai and Berelain’s people and a couple of asha’man. It’s a whole lot of people going off on this secret mission. The asha’man open up a Gateway for them to pop over to the west side of the continent. Sulin is one of the Aiel that’s going off with Perrin, which makes me sad about losing that connection with her and Rand. But I guess only Min is allowed to connect to Rand these days so we have to get Sulin out of there because she considers Rand a first-brother.

4. Loial is also going off on his own, with Karldin, one of the asha’man, to pop around to the steddings and see about getting all the Waygates guarded. Aw, Loial is worried about where Mat is. Yeah, you should be; he’s in a terrible pickle. He also worried that Rand will send Min away next. We should only be so lucky, but we’re stuck with her and their relationship, I’m afraid.

5. We learn that the married asha’man have figured out their own version of the Warder bond to use with their wives (and we only get acknowledgment that straight asha’man exist at this point). Honestly, this ‘wedding bond’ of theirs is sweet. I feel like Jordan will make me regret feeling that way, but it seems sweet for now, based on what we know, lol.

6. Perrin curses Rand for sticking him with Berelain but I don’t remember him telling Rand about Berelain trying to chase him. There is a certain amount of... irony?... in the fact that the whole reason that Rand is sending Berelain away is because he himself is also attracted to her (he tried to send her back to Mayene first). In general, the whole vibe around the Berelain situation just gets more sexist the further along into the books we get and it didn’t start out great. The official reason that Berelain is along is so that she can talk to Queen Alliandre of Ghealdan, ruler to ruler, to let her know that their army isn’t there to invade. And Perrin’s official job is to tell Masema to stop threatening and frightening people into following Rand and then take him and any of his people who want to go back along to Rand. I’m sure he will take care of that with the same swiftness that he used in LoC when he rescued Rand from the Aes Sedai!

7. Chapter twenty-eight focuses mostly on the horrific Mat-Tylin situation. She harasses him and then makes sure to jump away and look innocent before anyone else can spot her behavior. Mat is... desperate for other company to try to put her off, desperate not to be around her. He’s trapped and it only gets worse. And this is where we see how the power disparity hurts Mat --  as queen, Tylin can ‘starve him out’ and all of her people will work together to try to break him for her pleasure.

8. LoC!Olver felt like an actual kid that I didn’t mind reading about. ACoS!Olver is insufferable and I disown him.

9. lol, I like the bit where Elayne asks Mat to go somewhere be ‘be ta’veren’ for her. That part is funny/cute. Ah, they’re watching the place where the Circle was located (though Elayne and Nynaeve didn’t tell Mat that information). Nothing happens.

10. I do dislike that Mat apparently now... doesn’t like women. He’s attracted to women but has negative thoughts about them as human beings. This is a relatively new development; he did used to genuinely seem to LIKE women as well as be attracted to them, but now it’s a shock to him that he likes Birgitte as a person because she’s a woman and women are for sex but not for liking as people. This is very much a change from how Mat’s relationships with women and sex were portrayed in the past and I wonder if it wasn’t changed partly so that Jordan could justify Tylin’s behavior towards Mat. Because in order for her to be “turning the tables on him”, he needs to have the same attitude towards women that she does towards men (that they are for pleasure but aren’t actually people).

11. Chapter twenty-nine, Tylin rapes Mat for the first but far from the last time.

12. After Mat goes out for the day, he has to take Beslan with him, of course. Beslan is aware that his mother has made Mat her ‘pretty’ and has no issue with it. I’m not sure whether or not it matters to Beslan if it’s consensual? He seems to have the attitude that the choice is entirely Tylin’s and not Mat’s at all.

13. We get our fourth Darkfriend attack, this one on Mat & Co. Old Cully gets namedropped (not that Mat knows that the man is a high-ranking Darkfriend but we do).

14. We get a tiny hint of how the Kin don’t fully understand the White Tower culture that they worship and attempt to copy -- they believe that rank is organized by age and not by ability in the One Power, because that’s information that a woman doesn’t usually learn until after she gets the shawl, and none of the Kin have ever gained the shawl (that’s the whole point of them). Reanne suggests that every member of the Kin who doesn’t wear an Ebou Dari wise woman belt move to ‘the farm’ for a while.

15. Elayne is getting lectured for ‘revealing a secret’ that is only supposed to be known by women who have gained the shawl. As they are about to pass a punishment on her for revealing the Kin, there’s a message from the Whitecloak ambassador to let Elayne know the ~happy~ news that her mother is alive and a ~guest~ of Niall in Amador, which is very old and outdated news for the readers but brand new information for Elayne. She does not believe it in any case and her anger towards what she views as Carridan’s lies gives her fuel to stand up against the Aes Sedai trying to lecture her. Elayne is PISSED OFF about all the freaking secrets that the Aes Sedai keep from people and from each other (this is part of why she was so honest with Tylin at the end of LoC).

16. Elayne takes control of the embassy, essentially, and learns about the Kin and why the Aes Sedai have kept them secret -- they helped the White Tower maintain its aura of infallibility. And ELAYNE realizes that ‘what the White Tower knows’ about the Kin barely scratches the surface.

17. Moghedien spots Nynaeve in the streets of Ebou Dar. Recognizes her instantly. And then risks everything to chase after her and try to kill her. She tries to balefire Nynaeve but is startled by a pigeon at the last moment so balefires a slice through Nynaeve’s boat instead (ta’veren, I tell you, Nynaeve is ta’veren).

18. Very soon after Elayne gets an epic chapter, Nynaeve gets one. The Slog (tm) is very rough on our three ta’veren but Elayne, Nynaeve, and Egwene all get to shine. I hope that the show is able to improve Rand, Mat, & Perrin’s storylines while keeping the awesome that is happening especially for Elayne and Nynaeve in these books.

19. Ugh, tiny moment of ugliness that Nynaeve doesn’t realize is happening right before her eyes -- Tylin lent her an extremely expensive necklace as a ‘thank you’ for Nynaeve getting Mat to move into the palace and be readily available for Tylin to harass and assault.

20. But then we get to the meat of the chapter, when Nynaeve almost drowns (because of Moghedien’s weave) but instead is finally able to break through her block and channel freely. Congrats Nynaeve! Nynaeve realizes that she feels too hopeless and scared to be angry enough to channel and, at the final moment before it’s too late, she surrenders to saidar and is able to burst open the boat compartment that she was trapped in.

21. However, she is still about to drown due to being exhausted, so it is Convenient that Lan has just arrived in Ebou Dar (ta’veren, I tell you) and helps her get to a boat. When she realizes that Lan is there and she looks like a drowned rat, she embraces saidar again, easily this time, and channels herself dry. This scene is very genuinely romantic. Jordan can have one (1) right in this book when it comes to romance. Also this all sounds so very cinematic. I am kinda Team ‘Do we need Ebou Dar?’ but I do love this scene.

22. Oh, but then Jordan’s right immediately gets taken away as we get to Jordan’s obligatory Violence In Romantic Relationships Means Love as Nynaeve slaps Lan for being bonded to Myrelle and eventually punches him in the stomach (at least the fourth romance that involves the woman punching the man in the stomach) and doesn’t try, you know, asking him about it first. Use your freaking words, Nynaeve. I hate this for a couple of reasons: I hate that there’s so much violence in the romances in general and I also hate the whole ‘when women do a violence against a man it’s just a cutesy little woman thing that we don’t take seriously’, which is damaging in multiple different ways, both for women and men.

23. And this whole thing here is another reason I have a hard time believing that Jordan really did mean the Mat-Tylin situation as genuine commentary rather than ‘rompy sex comedy’, because he already normalizes violence in romantic/sexual relationships (as seen here and too many other places to mention). He’s also previously treated a woman ignoring a man saying ‘no’ as actually the woman doing what the man secretly WANTS her to do (in Rand x Min during LoC, when Rand explicitly tells her to stop kissing him goodbye like that). And in another Rand-Mat comparison, the man is given no privacy against the woman intruding on him whenever she wants - the Maidens letting Min without ever checking with Rand first is essentially the equivalent of Tylin having the key to Mat’s room. Mat-Tylin is a more extreme version of what Jordan is already doing in several other romances.

24. Once Lan is able to actually explain the situation to her, she realizes that he’s someone in the grips of what is essentially a sickness, the Warder grief from Moiraine’s bond to him snapping, and she extends him compassion and love. And she also makes him laugh when she asks him if there’s a way to make sure Myrelle would KNOW it’s her when she sleeps with Lan (because she’s sorta just proposed to him and says they should get married today). He tells her that her ship went down due to balefire and she realizes that Moghedien must be here hunting her. Nynaeve also realizes here that she’s not angry but still holding saidar and nearly falls over herself with delight. This scene would be so amazing if we just snipped Jordan’s endemic domestic violence out of it.

25. Elayne takes the Aes Sedai to go talk to the Kin, so she racks up another win here by marrying these two sides together. She gets to be very in control and quite queenly. She makes the offer to the Kin about the Amrylin wanting every woman who can channel to be connected to the Tower and the women are emotionally overwhelmed by this, because every woman here is someone who was REJECTED by the Tower and sent away for one reason or another (... I wonder if we’ll find out in Prime!verse that the old Wisdom of Emond’s Field knew of the Kin?). We learn there are nearly two thousand members of the Kin, which is nearly twice what the White Tower had before the schism. We also learn they live a lot longer than Aes Sedai do.

26. Mat comes into the middle of all this to let them know that he’s found the warehouse with the BotW; Elayne tries to claim that she already knew but when she feels Birgitte’s disapproval in her head, she relents and sincerely thanks Mat for being the key to them finding what they needed. “His gaping astonishment was almost worth the agony.”

27. “Women with knives make me uneasy these days”. Ugh, I hate the Tylin storyline for Mat so much. And he’s so desperate to leave Ebou Dar immediately but that idea gets smacked down by Elayne -- they are staying until the Bowl is used.

28. We get a look into Elaida’s very unpleasant dreams -- her getting to punish the rebels while "young al’Thor” quietly kneels at her side as she holds the shield on him that prevents him from channeling. She dreams that Egwene would throw herself on Elaida’s mercy and kiss her hem. She’s woken up by Alviarin to the bad news that she will NOT be getting a pet Dragon any time soon. Corvarla, the highest ranking of the sisters who escaped, has returned to talk to Elaida and tell her what happened. Twelve sisters escaped to Tar Valon (out of the 39 sent). Gawyn and his Younglings have also returned to Tar Valon, which is a deep disappointment to Elaida.

29. Elaida also learns about the asha’man at this point, several hundred of them, which makes her hands shake with fear. It means that the Black Tower is a much more formidable opponent that Elaida realized, so Toveine and the Aes Sedai sent with her (50 in total) will not have an easy time. Will, in fact, probably get curb-stomped. And it’s too late to order Toveine to retreat, due to her orders to go in secrecy. Alviarin uses all this to get a hold over Elaida and take her ‘advice’ by reminding her who will truly be punished by the Hall if all these failures become known. The ‘advice’ that she gives Elaida is something that is certain to cause discontent and agitation between the Ajahs (big goal of the Black Ajah, I assume). She also tells Elaida that it’s time for the White Tower to stand formally against Rand al’Thor.

30. Elaida goes to a White Ajah Sitter named Seaine that morning (after she has done as Alviarin ‘advised’ her). I will note that Elaida is ALSO having ‘infamous cold furies’ basically exactly like Rand does. Her brush with Aridhol seems to be affecting her fairly similarly to how the taint is affecting Rand (when we can untangle what is taint and what is trauma, which can be difficult with Rand sometimes).

31. I love the little touches of personality in Seaine’s rooms! Her little portraits of her now-deceased family and her little cat collectables. Verin is still MVP but it took me less than a page to fall back into love with Seaine.

32. “I want you - I command you - to undertake an inquiry. And you must indeed hold it in your heart. The wrong ear hearing of it might mean death and disaster for the White Tower.” More specifically she says, “I charge you to follow the stench of treason, no matter where it leads or how high, even to the Keeper herself.”

You guys, I think Elaida might be my problematic fave now. She just managed to create something amazing completely accidentally out of her paranoia and fears. From what I remember of the Black Ajah Hunter storyline, it is a genuine highlight. Because Elaida’s trying to set up, essentially, for Seaine to ferret out traitors to HERSELF but Seaine interprets it as treason to THE AES SEDAI. Which means Black Ajah! And Seaine is actually a character who is willing to CROSS AJAH LINES, here in the White Tower, where every sister looks suspiciously at all the others. Anyway, I’m sure Elaida will do something to piss me off and take her off the list, but she’s temporarily on it, lol.

33. Seaine was the Sister who proposed Siuan Sanche as Amrylin years ago!

34. Despite promising to keep this a secret, once Seaine realizes/decides that this is a Black Ajah hunt, she brings the one person that she trusts into this hunt with her: Pevara of the Red Ajah. Who is our token Actual Good Red Ajah character who shows us a different side of the Red Ajah as a whole. The Red Ajah forced Pevara to end their friendship when she joined the Ajah. But the reason that Seaine is certain that Pevara can be trusted with this is because her family was murdered by Darkfriends. This chapter is SO GOOD honestly, from start to finish.

35. Pevara is plump, short, and pretty, with a merry twinkle in her eyes and a ready smile, and she’s openly argued that the Red Ajah would find Warders useful, actually. The first thing Pevara does is apologize for cutting her off after she became Red Ajah and say that she wished she’d approached her years ago. Seaine doesn’t hold it against her. “We cannot go against our Ajahs when we are young, and later, it seems impossible to retrace our steps.”

36. Oooh! Pevara has been convinced for a WHILE that the Black Ajah were real. She suspects those two Amrylins dying so closely together right after the Aiel War seemed very suspicious and suspected the Black Ajah’s hand (correct!). Seaine has logic’d out that Black Ajah sisters must still be able to lie and get around the Three Oaths, so confronting sisters directly isn’t where they should start. “If any sister wrote that she did one thing when we can prove she did another, then we have found a Darkfriend.”

37. Rand is in a gray depression after Perrin leaves (no more Two Rivers people in his life at all; I would be depressed too) and doesn’t stir for days, only able to react once Min shows up and is let into his rooms despite his orders. I really am pretty sure at this point that Sulin was sent away because she has too much of an emotional connection to Rand and that job has now been assigned to Min. I will keep an eye out but I... I suspect that Rand’s special relationship with the Maidens is going to begin to fade into the background now that Min is here. Which I really hate because I have adored Rand’s found family with the Maidens.

38. He is also fighting hard against an arrogance that is threatening to overtake him, fighting against the urge to use all the power contained in the Choeden Kal, as he has now hidden the access key ter’angreal behind his wardrobe in his room in Cairhien. “He was the Dragon Reborn, the only hope of the world against the Dark One. And the Light help the world for it.” Rand’s increasing arrogance wars against his self-hate. He dreams of all the women who have died ‘because of him’ (he is very loose in his definition). Has nightmares that he killed Perrin during that staged fight of theirs. He has nightmares of being back in the box and taken out to be beaten again. Nightmares of trying to go to the White Tower to confront Elaida and seeing not only the Tower united against him, but Egwene and Nynaeve and Elayne on her side as well. He has nightmares about what Cadsuane said about madmen hearing voices in their heads and begs Lews Therin to talk to him again. And he’s terrified to realize that Alanna’s presence at the back of his mind has started to comfort him.

39. More violence from Min in the Rand-Min relationship as she ‘jolts’ him out of his self-hating depression.

40. Anyway, Rand tells Min he loves her, and that he loves Elayne and Aviendha. Min says that’s chill or whatever, and Rand officially makes Min his exemption in his policy of Send Away Everyone I Love To Protect Them, so that happened.

41. Yeah, Nandera kinda semi-officially hands over the duties of Caring For Rand to Min here. I’m sad, y’all. I hope we still get SOME found family scenes in the future. We sorta get one here but it’s still mostly about Min.

42. Anyway, Rand finally goes to the Sea Folk and doesn’t prepare for it at all. The arrogance definitely has him strongly in its grip. He assumes they will just bow down before him and give him whatever he wants. Honestly, Rand’s bounce from depression to arrogance here is pretty concerning.

43. Yeah, Rand is 100% embracing all the pomp and circumstance that used to majorly bother him and is attempting to use it to overawe the Sea Folk into just accepting whatever they need to accept about him so that he can go back to his ~important work. I’d be miffed at him too. As always, Rand’s awareness of the ‘honor’ being done to him is married to his certainty that almost everyone around him hates and resents him.

44. Tracking Rand’s PTSD & taint-related symptoms:

paranoia - he feels like he can only fully trust a very short list of people that consists almost entirely of his lovers or people who knew him before he was known as TDR

recklessness - despite his worries about the dangers of the world, he tends to leap in first without his guards way too often

more susceptible to flattery/arrogance - this one is very much on display right now

allowing his lust to control his choices (per the text, that’s why he sent Berelain away; he was too attracted to her and felt like he couldn’t have her around)

moodiness that comes in three flavors: cold rages (this was one of his first symptoms; he notes early on in the series that he’s having a harder time controlling his temper than when he was younger), gray depression (this started when he was kidnapped by the Tower Aes Sedai, so that one goes very much into the ‘definitely PTSD’ bucket for me), and a giddy and talkative form of mania (Min calls this euphoria a little later on and we’ve previously seen it before around Perrin and Mat; it might only come out around people that Rand trusts)

self-loathing/suicidal tendencies, which relates back to his recklessness, I think. Rand doesn’t hold his own life as very valuable, except as coin to spend at the Last Battle. This also started appearing very very early on.

specifically from his time in the box, we know that he hates confined or dark spaces

45. Yeah, Rand has become very very certain that he “knows” and understands what all the prophecies mean and believes that he can sweep aside everyone as he barrels towards the Last Battle. Again, this is a place where I think having what is essentially a ‘live-in fortune teller’ is a bad thing for him, especially when it seems like she does more to encourage and facilitate his certainty than she does to caution him to combat it.

46. Rand does basically overawe the Sea Folk into agreeing to the basics of what he needs but then he can’t fight his fear over being trapped in a small space anymore and has to leave with the Bargain mostly undone, with Merana to finish the rest. Harine does give him the useful information that the Seanchan have likely ALREADY returned to the western coast.

47. Min apparently now also cares about having ~light ~delicate furniture (she notes that she never cared before). She’s considering completely remodeling Rand’s rooms in Cairhien despite not having cared about home furnishings and linens before now. No but seriously wtf? I guess sleeping with Rand activated her dormant ‘housewife’ genes. “she was not one of those fool women who tossed their brains at a man’s feet along with their hearts”. you are literally the main example of this sort of woman in this entire series.

48. “whenever Mat or Perrin was present” lol the TWO TIMES that you’ve ever seen Mat, yes. Anyway, Min sees her purpose in life as “keeping up Rand’s spirits”. She suggests Rand "comfort her again” instead of going out to visit the rebels (he’s going out to visit the rebels because he feels like he’s on a ta’veren streak). She also notes that he is in the grips of a euphoria that seems as concerning as his depression, which is her first time encountering this side of him, I think.

49. We learn that Rand goes out without the Maidens “all the time” (yes, that’s exactly why no one knew he was missing when he was in the Box; he has not hidden this tendency as well as he believes that he has), which is that recklessness of his that has led into so many troubles for him. And will do so this time as well.

50. “she was ready to leap if he crooked a finger; she just wanted to make sure he never found out” I will MAIL YOU some freaking self-respect, Min. Please just give me your address.

Rand: expects Min to jump when called

Min: jumps when called

also Min: wow I hope he doesn’t ever find out that I jump when he calls

51. ...did Min really not realize that Rand was going to meet the rebels in person? Why is she surprised and attributing this to Rand being ta’veren? He literally told her this was his plan?? Also:

Rand: I love Elayne and Aviendha too much to be near them. It would put them in Too Much Danger!

also Rand: Hey, Min, come and meet the nobles who are rebelling against me and I will even tell the first one we meet who I am. I’m sure it won’t be dangerous at all.

He is just going to constantly & casually haul her into so many dangerous situations in the future. Not EVERY dangerous situation that he goes into, but a surprising number.

52. For someone who keeps saying she doesn’t like to share her viewings with people, Min is constantly sharing her viewings with people. Wait here a moment, MIN REALIZES SOME OF HER VIEWINGS ARE SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES: “Sometimes, before she had learned better, it had happened because she warned”. Then why do you keep telling so many viewings to Rand? Make it make sense, Min. Earlier in this very section, she thought about how she “could hardly wait” to share a viewing with Rand about Lord Darlin.

53. Anyway, we do learn the valuable information that Fain is here, chilling with the rebels against Rand. I guess that’s where he went after his assassination attempt using Whiteclocks on Rand failed? Min sees no viewings around him at all. I think I read a theory somewhere that she never saw viewings that touched the Shadow and Fain was a Darkfriend before he was More Than A Darkfriend.

54. Cadsuane is also here, chilling with the rebels. This scene could have been cut down a lot imo. So of the Aes Sedai, there’s Caddy and her two buds, and four Red Ajah that have recently arrived. Though I have to admit if Min and Rand’s relationship weren’t rubbing me the wrong way, I would probably find it sweet in a poly sort of way that Min and Rand are pretending to be married while using Elayne’s family name.

55. Rand agrees to duel with Toram, the Lord that is Fain’s companion. They duel for a while; they’re both blademasters, and then there’s a wall of fog that attacks everyone, killing one of the Red Ajah sisters. Rand does work together with Cadsuane, her group, Darlin, Caraline, and Toram to escape the attacking fog. Bubble of evil, maybe? Or maybe a Fain thing? Rand uses balefire to destroy one of the fog monsters, revealing that he can channel. Toram runs off at the sight and the realization that this is TDR, but Darlin sticks around. Cadsuane hits Rand for using balefire but he’s more concerned about telling her that the Lews Therin in his head is real.

56. Fain abruptly leaps out of the fog to attack Rand, scoring him along his side. Samitsu heals him and takes note that Something Is Wrong, revealing that Rand was cut by Fain exactly over the top of his old unhealing wound from Ishamael. They take him to the Sun Palace as quickly as possible, which is not incredibly fast.

57. Min spills out the entire story of Rand’s trauma with Aes Sedai and the box to Cadsuane, her companions Samitsu & Niande, and Darlin and Caraline. So Rand doesn’t get to share this with someone in a way where he gets reassurance, but people he doesn’t trust get to know the full extent of his trauma. “He wanted it kept secret” but Rand is never allowed any privacy or any choice about what business of his gets shared, even as everyone keeps secrets from him. Anyway, I guess that’s an additional reason that Min was on that trip with Rand, so that she could trauma-dump on people about what he went through. As much as I hate Rand goes places without telling people what he’s doing, things like this show why he feels like he needs to do it. Because if people know anything about him, they will tell other people. At this point, it kinda feels like Mat is the only person who has ever actually kept Rand’s secrets for him.

58. Anyway, I will make a mental note that Cadsuane Knows that Rand was heavily abused by a large group (39 sisters) of Aes Sedai. Cadsuane’s reaction to hearing this is to tell Rand’s unconscious body: “I will not hurt you more than I must”, while the sisters with her are way more focused on him having stilled three Aes Sedai. Min regrets that she told them everything but, well, too late now!

59. “Rand was the only thing she cared about. The only thing in the world.“ Trust me, Min, we all know that.

60. In the flurry, the asha’man arrive and Dashiva orders Flinn to heal Rand. Cadsuane’s only reaction to meeting them is to add more “boys” to her "needs manners” list. Flinn is able to Heal Rand somewhat better -- he won’t die now. Samitsu is over her fear and now demands to know how his version of healing works. What Flinn did was seal the wounds off from Rand’s body while leaving them to fight each other -- they are two different kinds of evil and dislike interacting.

61. Mat has learned from Birgitte that his spear is called an “ashandarei”. He is with Elayne and some of the Kin to go to the warehouse where he’s pretty sure the Bowl of the Winds is. Mat is so despairing and miserable over how Tylin has him trapped and “helpless”. Also, the way that Tylin is basically telling Elayne and Nynaeve that she’s abusing Mat but coding it just enough that they don’t pick up on it makes me want to throw things. Elayne, in a doubtful tone: “the queen said she finds you wonderfully entertaining and courteously compliant”.

62. This is also the section when Jordan starts transitioning to “but actually he doesn’t mind!” which he kinda goes back and forth on. But he talks about Mat enjoying himself “in sections” when “he could forget he was with a woman who thought he was some sort of bloody doll”. Basically the “it isn’t rape if you have an orgasm” argument, which we all know is BS.

63. Lan arrives with Nynaeve, which is how Mat finds out he’s in Ebou Dar. We learn that Lan and Nyneave got married last night by “Atha’an Miere custom”. Something that seems super-weird to me in this book series is how people outside a culture, if they get married by someone inside that culture, are apparently bound to follow all that culture’s traditions for married life. Having an Atha’an Miere wedding doesn’t mean you’ve magically become Atha’an Miere. This issue comes up later, too, where someone considers themselves bound by another culture’s wedding traditions even though they have no reason to want to be a part of that culture. A wedding isn’t a magic spell?

64. Lan tells Mat both that Moghedien killed his two men and also that Nynaeve didn’t want him to tell Mat about it. Mat literally thinks he would rather face Moghedien, one of the FORSAKEN, than he would see Tylin again (and Tylin has now moved him into her own apartments) and he thinks he’s about to start crying. “I say no and she laughs at me” kinda sums it all up.

65. Elayne found out that the red flowers on the basket Tylin gave him means they’re having sex and she immediately accuses him of forcing his attentions on her. Which makes Mat sputter in protest and confess to her that the exact opposite is what is happening. She doesn’t take it seriously at first (she laughs and tells him about what young ladies who catch the eyes of kings do) but eventually (after he offers his medallion for protection against Moghedien) she takes him seriously and says she will explain the situation to Nynaeve (as Nynaeve had already been told the incorrect version).

66. Mat doesn’t understand why his attempt to try to protect her by lending her medallion made her respect him and take him seriously when it’s always pissed her off before when he’s tried to protect her. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why this is the thing that makes her take him seriously either, when confessing to being forced into sex made her laugh and say it was “a taste of his own medicine”. Maybe because this breaks her previous idea of “who Mat is” more?

67. The Black Ajah sisters find them now, as Elayne has already dashed upstairs, and Nynaeve is shielded by them. Nynaeve tells Mat there’s channeling upstairs and actually asks him “Please” to check it out while she and Lan & the wise women take care of the Black Ajah sisters. Mat comes upon “an ordinary-looking fellow” in a gray coat, who manages to twist one of the women’s necks to kill her. Mat leaps into action to fight him, seeing Elayne lying on the floor and thinking that she’s dead and he’s failed Rand.

68. The man kills Nalesean and Mat is losing the fight against him. And then by chance Mat’s medallion touches him and it burns him. Mat thinks that maybe he can’t win this fight and there’s no point in dying avenging Elayne... and then he sees her hand move and he realizes she’s still alive, so he jumps back into the fight with a vengeance. He breaks off the necklace for his medallion so that he can use it as a weapon. “The first step was the hardest, but he had a promise to keep.” The man runs before Mat can get him, and Elayne calls for him, so he goes to her. Mat is still such a good character and such a good person in this book. He is trapped in an incredibly shitty storyline with Tylin but he himself has remained unbroken so far by it.

69. Elayne sees Mat with new eyes after he fought so hard to protect her and I really really hate that Mat is going to be ripped away from this plotline at the end of this book! We deserved to see how Elayne and Mat’s relationship would shift and change now that he has her respect. Instead, he gets trapped in Ebou Dar with the Seanchan and Tylin. The actual worst narrative choice that Jordan made was dropping that wall on Mat at the end of this book. “You are going to have to let me save you at least once to balance the scales,” Elayne says. Hate that this new dynamic gets cut off at the knees! Mat deserved to finish out this storyline!

70. Mat learned about the man -- gholam -- from Birgitte and shares that knowledge with the Aes Sedai. They were created in the middle of the War of Power, during the ending of the Age of Legends, and created for the express purpose of killing Aes Sedai, which is why channeling doesn’t work against them. There were only six ever made; they have no bones and are incredibly strong. Mat does get everyone to agree to leave and, ugh, another frustration --  MAT is the one who gets the Windfinders to agree to use the Bowl. He’s the one who breaks the stalemate (using being ta’veren, essentially) and then gets punished by the narrative for it, trapped into a horror show (this is not a spoiler; the Seanchan invading anywhere is a horror show by default). This actual scene itself is pretty good though. I love how integrated Mat’s memories are into how he behaves and thinks. It’s such an interesting compare/contrast against Rand.

71. Tylin and Mat’s “goodbye” scene here is so gross. Even more so because, well, he ends up getting trapped in Ebou Dar, so she will have more chances to abuse him in the future. Olver cements my dislike for this book’s version of him by being the reason that Mat has to leave the others and thus gets trapped in Ebou Dar. Disowned entirely. Though, in fairness, the fault truly is with the useless attendant that Tylin assigned to him (to get him out of Mat’s bedroom so that she could continue harassing and abusing Mat) so I guess it’s Tylin’s fault. But, yeah, Mat spends literal hours seaching for Olver, and ends up with a building on top of him as the Seanchan invade.

72. Chapter 40 is entirely Shaido nonsense. There’s loads of torture-porn, essentially, and then they get sent all over the place by Sammael to cause ‘chaos’.

73. Rand wakes up. I wonder if Min will tell him that she spilled his secrets out to Cadsuane. Nope, she just tells him about her viewing that Cadsuane will teach him something important; him and all the asha’man. idk why I’m surprised. Of course she didn’t tell him; why would she want to warn him that someone he doesn’t trust knows some of his trauma? But, yeah, Rand has a rock-solid certainty that Min’s viewings are never wrong, so Min is potentially able to manipulate Rand’s decisions by which viewings she does and does not choose to tell him, whether intentionally or not (we know that she doesn’t tell him everything; notably, she doesn’t tell him that she has had a viewing that she believes has ‘failed’ ...which is something that would puncture his certainty in her viewings).

74. Without Mat there to take charge of the army that was being aimed towards Sammael, Weiramon went ahead with just the calvary, against Rand’s express wishes. Sammael attacked back and Rand realizes that he would have known that Rand was lying in a sickbed; “everyone who had eyes-and-ears in Cairhien knew that the Dragon Reborn lay on the edge of death”.

75. Rand goes to wild lengths to ensure that “no woman” dies in this battle that where hundreds and potentially thousands of men are dying. My sighs are honestly eternal for this bit of characterization. It’s so condescending. Also, Rand is breaking his promise to the Maidens.

76. Anyway, while Sammael focuses on the army that Weiramon is sending at him, Rand goes to his secret army that Bashere is in charge of and channels a gateway right to the center of Illian, and they pour through. And then Rand and the Asha’man Travel all over the city and then channel a wide but harmless set of flows to essentially completely sweep the city so that they can set off every single alert or alarm ward that Sammael might have set up and so that he doesn’t know where they are. And it’s basically a fireworks show!

77. I am so sad that Mat has now TWICE gotten ripped out of important storylines involving other major characters: he was supposed to be the head of the decoy army and not Weiramon! He was supposed to escort Elayne to Caemlyn! And instead he gets spliced into the Seanchan invasion in Ebou Dar and NONE of the plot threads that I am actually interested in seeing him explore are going to happen! It’s so incredibly frustrating.

78. On the plus side, I actually don’t have an issue with Mat’s characterization in this book, except for two points. He’s trapped in the shittiest of situations but still manages to shine a lot of the time. The only two pieces of character development that are unfortunate are Jordan trying to ‘soften’ Tylin’s assault of him by having Mat think that he’s going to miss her and Mat not LIKING women as people anymore for most of the book (with the exception of Birgitte and then Elayne near the end). Which also felt like it was about Jordan trying to soften Tylin’s behavior to me, at the expense of Mat’s character.

79. Rand thinks that Lews Therin HAS to be real because everything that Rand knows about Sammael, everything that he’s using to make this plan work, is information that he got from LTT. But LTT stays silent. you know, maybe the lesson that Rand actually needed to learn from Caddy was “stop using balefire; it’s terrible for the Pattern”.

80. Sammael Travels from Illian to Shadar Logoth, and Rand follows. After spotting some Trollocs, he sees them attacked by a familiar face -- Liah, the Maiden who had been left behind in Shadar Logoth. It takes her a moment, but she recognizes him too. And then flees from him, her shame overwhelming her. Rand chases her as quickly as he can. “Death in a tattered red coat”. Rand.

81. Rand is saved from falling from the floor of a building by a man who tells him “You are a fool. Count yourself lucky I don’t care to see you die today.” He tells Rand to pull himself up, he doesn’t intend to kill Sammael for him. When he sees the man, he thinks of him as a “big fellow a little older than he, with hair black as the night”. He called himself a “wanderer just passing through.” Rand does not recognize his face, so he’s sure the man isn’t one of the Forsaken.

82. lol, after Rand hesitated over using balefire earlier in the scene, he uses it now. I actually approve tbh. When he stopped himself, they were in Illian and other people might have gotten hurt. Here, he uses on the fog of Shadar Logoth. However! The ~odd man~ is also using balefire and their streams cross, and Rand’s head rings like a struck gong afterwards. They both flee out of the building together and Rand demands to know who the man is. “His rescuer stood watching him; covered with dust head to toe, the fellow managed to look a king.”

83. He suggests that the man go to the Black Tower and tells him he doesn’t have to “live afraid of Aes Sedai” and the man snaps back that he’s NEVER been afraid of Aes Sedai. The man advises that Rand leave now but if he insists on staying, try to think like Sammael if he really wants to kill him. The Man (tm) also speaks about Sammael like he knows him personally. The last thing he says to Rand before he leaves is “Try not to stumble. A great many plans will have to be relaid if you let yourself be killed now.”

84. And then our mystery man is gone! Riveted by this dynamic already. I remember that I liked it but, yeah, it starts from the first scene, glued to the page, love it. Well, if Rand can’t have homoerotic tension with his best friend anymore, at least he can have it with Man Who Channels Without Saidin. Which Rand now realizes that he never felt saidin being used when the man channeled the balefire and their streams crossed.

85. Taking the man’s advice that Sammael likes to destroy people in front of their accomplishments, Rand heads to the Waygate as quietly as he can manage. He finds a tower near the Waygate and climbs it to get a better view. He sees Liah get hit by one of Mashadar’s threads of fog and channels without thinking -- he balefires Liah so that she’s dead before she can feel the pain. He sweeps the balefire across the square to catch Sammael in it; since he sweeps it all the way to meet the fog of Mashadar, he’s sure Sammael is dead one way or the other.

86. Rand Skims back to Illian to meet Bashere and the Asha’man. The Council has been eagerly awaiting Rand’s return. The remaining Council of Nine offers Rand Illian. “The crown, and the throne, and all of Illian”. Rand questions it being so easy -- he has never been offered a crown before. He asks why. They tell him the King disappeared two days ago and they fear Lord Brend (that was Sammael) had something to do with it. But, mostly, it’s because the grain he sent from Tear saved many in the city from starvation (Rand set that up way back in TSR!). The Council calls him the King of Illian, but one of his Asha’man, Dashiva, calls him “King of the World” and Rand’s PoV ends with the very ominous thought that he likes the sound of it. Honestly, pretty much everything to do with the taking of Illian and killing Sammael and what happens in Shadar Logoth is really good. For all that I have... oh gosh, MANY issues with this book, this ending for Rand is good. It is quite dark and ominous, even more so than when he took over Cairhien at the end of TFoH and had the nobles swearing fealty to him, but it’s a good kinda dark and ominous.

87. And we end with this idea that a storm is coming.

So... how would I have personally changed this book to make it (imo of course) better?

Assuming that we actually don’t want a fourteen-book series and maybe we wanted to tighten things up a bit, I would completely cut out the Shaido and cut out Tylin harassing and assaulting Mat. If... if we’re married to Mat getting shoved into the Seanchan invasion plotline, then he still has to be trapped in Ebou Dar, but if we aren’t married to it, then let the poor man escape with the others to the farm.

Rand and Min could still have gotten together but (and this change would fold back to LoC) don’t have her reinvent herself in order to appeal to him. Let Rand fall in love with Actual!Min, not this simpering Min who has grown her hair out into ringlets and explicitly thinks Rand is the only thing that matters in the world. The world is so big, Min! Please find something else that matters to you in addition to Rand.

There were also quite a few sections where Jordan goes into way too much detail. Like, I know he was proud of his worldbuilding but... it was pretty excessive at times.

Perrin’s vibe towards Rand isn’t as bad as I remembered it being, tbh, though it is HILARIOUSLY casual compared to how intense Rand and Mat were together. But another change I would make is have Berelain GENUINELY sent along with Perrin for political reasons rather than it being because she’s just Too Hot for Rand to have around now that he has a semi-official girlfriend. And then have her actually do her political things without harassing Perrin. Or let her stay in Cairhien and send Lord Dobraine along with Perrin.

Also, wow, the sheer number of non-consensual elements in this book are, like, wild compared to the previous ones. We had Myrelle raping Lan. We had Tylin raping Mat. We had Valda raping Morgase. I’m pretty sure Thevera is raping Galina too but I was skimming pretty quickly through the Shaido sections. We had Rand thinking that he’d raped Min. We had Elayne assuming that Mat had raped Tylin. We had Berelain’s persistant chase of Perrin start up in earnest, complete with non-consensual touching.

There’s also now a total of four romantic relationships where the woman has punched the man in the stomach hard enough that he’d physically reacted to it (knees buckling being one example) - Faile & Perrin back in TSR, and now Min & Rand, Nynaeve & Lan, and Setelle Anan & her husband all in this one book.

We also really start to get a spotlight on how Rand’s thing about ‘not killing women’ is actually JORDAN’S thing, because it starts to become clear what a difficult time Jordan has killing female villains off vs male villains... but he has zero issue putting those women into degrading & humiliating ‘forever punishments’ (the newest example being Moghedien being literally enslaved to Moridin).

Once the page count starts increasing and the padding starts, we also see more and more of these quirks/kinks of Jordan in the writing, so I wonder if the editing that kept the earlier books leaner and better-paced was also cutting down these kinks of Jordan’s. So, in order to improve ACoS I would have cut down/cut out the violence in sexual relationships, and all the non-consensual elements (since they are NOT handled well).

If Mat is not being raped by Tylin, then it’s possible his sexism also would not have jumped up in this book - imo, Mat’s increasing sexism is a way for Jordan to justify why he gets the evil/villain romances. Tylin is ‘turning the tables on him’ and his future Seanchan lady ‘leashes him’. And at the same time, Mat is an appreciably worse person (towards women) than he was in the books EotW-LoC, so imo Mat’s attitude towards women taking a nosedive is extremely related to his ‘romances’ kicking into high gear (this is one of the things I mean when I say it feels like Mat gets ‘thrown under the bus’ for his ‘romances’). Though markantonys pointed out an alternate viewpoint that also makes sense: Jordan just views sexism as part of being “a grown man” and so the growing sexism is meant to show that Mat is more ready to marry off and become a part of heterosexual marriage culture (it’s a very toxic viewpoint, but I think there’s probably a good chance it’s part of what was in Jordan’s head).

In this section; unnecessary scenes:

The Morgase stuff has gotten excessive at this point, so I’m adding her trauma conga-line to the list: 1 scene (19 pages)

Berelain-Faile jealousy nonsense: 1 scene (1 page)

Mat-Tylin: 1 (2 pages), 1 (2 pages), 1 (2 pages), 1 (6 pages), 1 (6 pages), 1 (2 pages), 1 (1 page)

Cadsuane negging Rand: 1 (1 page)

Shaido nonsense: 1 (14 pages)

I will add these to the total at the end as well.

SLOG TRACKER

The major plot-threads that we entered into A Crown of Swords with:

Rand: defeat Sammael (book 2 of this plot) - COMPLETED.

Elayne & Nynaeve: locate the Bowl of Winds and use it to fix the weather (book 2 of this plot) - NOT completed.

Egwene: Go to the White Tower with her army, confront Elaida, and heal the Tower (book 2 of this plot) - NOT completed.

Mat: Escort Elayne to Caemlyn and see her crowned as Queen (book 2 of this plot) - FAILED.

Perrin: For Perrin, he didn’t have a task coming into ACoS, but he acquires the task to gather up Masema and his Dragonsworn and bring them to Rand (book 1 of this plot) - NOT completed.

The plot-threads that are starting or being carried over to The Path of Daggers:

Rand: ??? for now.

Elayne & Nynaeve: Locate the Bowl of Winds and use it to fix the weather. (3/?)

Egwene: Go to the White Tower with her army, confront Elaida, and heal the Tower (3/?)

Mat: ??? for now.

Perrin: Gather up Masema and his Dragonsworn and bring them to Rand (2/?)

Unnecessary scenes throughout all of ACoS (imo of course):

3 of Shaido nonsense (35 pages)

2 of Berelain-Perrin-Faile nonsense (4 pages)

8 Mat-Tylin scenes (29 pages)

2 of Cadsuane negging Rand (4 pages)

1 Morgase Trauma Conga Line (19 pages)

Total: 91 pages.

There are 664 pages in my copy of ACoS, so that would be 13.7% of the book. And this total doesn’t include scenes that could have been trimmed to be shorter but still been just as clear, which the book definitely had.

I’ve also decided I’m going to keep track of Min viewings that are, imo, bad for Rand’s mental health. So far, we have the vague ominous warnings about Aes Sedai hurting him (LoC) that led him to flee to Cairhien and thus end up in the power of the Aes Sedai who end up hurting him. Telling Rand about the prophecy helped make it happen. I do not think either Min or Rand ever realize this.

In this book, we add that she tells Rand that he needs Cadsuane around to teach him and the Asha’man a lesson.

Though not a viewing, I’m not happy that she told Cadsuane about Rand’s time in the box and then didn’t tell HIM that she’d done it. Cadsuane now has this huge piece of information about Rand and he isn’t aware that she knows! I understand Min being desperate to try to save him, so I can excuse her telling Cadsuane in the first place, but WARN RAND that you’ve done it. And, also, you’d think she would start to guard her tongue after a while but I feel like she keeps blabbing things out to everyone in sight. We will see, I guess!

[just-strolling-by]

Was debating on whether or not I wanted to post this but I decided "eh, why not." Here's my designs for the Origin SMP. Will I make one for Charlie and Schlatt? Probably not.

Some Design Notes/Character "Headcanons":

Wilbur Soot:

- Didn't know how to make him look obviously transparent so go along with it

- (Was actually considering to make a background for all of them because of this but I got lazy)

- Should have made him float higher but didn't have enough room on my page

Nihachu:

- I forgot to put it but their's supposed to be fins on her arms

- I gave her legs cause technically she CAN go on water but she'll suffocate

- Gills are either covered by hair on neck or behind those fin-things on her head

- Blue pupils to symbolize "Wet Eyes"!

TommyInnit:

- The first clothing design I did. I really liked the idea of Avians having their wings gradually form to their arms because over time they didn't need to fly anymore

- (but you also can't really see it since his arms are covered with his clothes )

- ((no, those are NOT his "wings" I just drew it like that and I am now experiencing regret))

- Out of everyone, I feel like his is the one that's the most heavily based on his skin

- FUCK I FORGOT TO PUT THE SCRITCHY-SCRATCHY THINGS ON HIS PANTS

- Oh well

- Instead of flying they would use their strong feet to travel at mountains.

- (Also I was trying to find a "mountain chicken" type bird that lives in high places but I discovered a "mountain chicken" is a type of endangered frog. Also I think quails suits Avians??)

- I think when one first hears about Avians they'll think about like these peaceful, graceful species, like akin to elves, and the person who chose this role is Tommy of all people and I find that funny and really interesting. Like, imagine a young (and loud and brash) Avian who left the mountain because he didn't agree with the traditional ways and wanted to explore the world. Also he really wants to fly. Could be a really interesting story.

Tubbo:

- Oh God, wHERE DO I START????

- Smallest one there for obvious reasons

- Tubbo's and Jack's designs were the trickiest ones for me. Because Tubbo's main color is green it clashes with purple quite a lot.

- Added purple splotches cause the description said "protected shell-like skin" but that (along with the green cell-shading) made him look sort of sickly. Also without the gloves his hands are completely purple.

- When I colored the pants I did what any good mom would do and try to add as much green as possible. The inside of the shulker is yellow so I made it to a greenish-yellow.

- (also, because the weird robe thing I did had the pattern of a shulker box I thought it was clever to "hide" the color inside it, like the actual mob)

- Hands are shaped like that because he can't hold a shield and I think its easier to mine stone like that.

- His outfit sort of resembles a guard's uniform because there is always one shulker guarding the treasure room.

- Backpack has no straps cause it really isn't a "backpack" but an actual box stuck on his back

- Thought about basing the shulker parts on the green shulker box for a smoother transition but I thought against it since I felt like it would go against the purple-scheme of the End. Oh well.

Philza:

- The first time I ever saw an elytra in Minecraft the first thing I thought of was "insect"

- Because Elytras are from the End (a mysterious place) I make it like a magic "cape" he was born with that can turn into "cape wings" (there was this one design I saw of his wings and I think that perfectly represents what I had in mind)

- Originally thought "Would it be fine just to give him his original skin?" but I thought it was too easy so I come up with him being some sort of "treasurer" since Elytras are found in the treasure room (don't quote me on that I have not played Minecraft in years)

- I think it'll be cool if every Elytrian has a Shulk to protect them since the Elytrians are with the treasure they're probably some kind of trusted nobility so they need a guard to help them. May this guard be Tubbo is up to debate.

Jack Manifold:

- The second hardest one to design.

- Because his color scheme has a lot of blue I didn't know what to add and remove to match with the blaze (no pun intended) of the Nether.

- First thought is to replace his camo pants to a nether-camo pants. I dropped the stripes cause I didn't know what to do with them and instead gave him a gradient.

- Arms are disjointed and (don't know if you can see) his head is floating akin to a blaze.

- I gave him golden kneecaps cause... Nether

- His shoes/head is bright cause of fire(?) I headcanon that blazes have an innate fire/heat system so I carried that over to the Blazeborns

Ranboo:

- Noble that snuck away from the End to visit the Overworld!!

- When I first read the description for the Enderian the first thing I thought was of princes, princesses and nobility, with the Ender Dragon of course being the tyrannical ruler of the End.

- (plus, his skin has a liTERAL CROWN)

- I gave him a traveller's cloak and some noble-ish clothes underneath to emphasize on that "noble snuck out to explore the world" sort of vibe.

- It's sort of hidden by the hair but there is a crown underneath it. There was originally jewels there but I decided against it

- His arms are longer and I was supposed to make him taller (despite him already being the tallest person in the server) but I did not have enough room. Also he was originally not gonna have a mouth but I gave it to him anyways.

[theoppositeofprofound]

Some thoughts about costuming for the Silm live-action adaptation I will never be allowed to make (because I’m not a film major). 

The Vanyar- Gauze! Filmy sheath dresses. Androgynous looks. Very instagram fairy vibes with some slices of ancient Egypt and Tang dynasty China. All pastel colors (to make the Noldor, our Main Characters, look more saturated). Lots of glowing accessories, some greenery, maybe a bit of natural crystal. Mod bobbed hair cuts and tight curls. Their hair is fully disco reflective glittery gold and their eye colors are not quite right. 

The Teleri- Similar color scheme to the Vanyar but with more texture. Lots of feathers, netting, rope, rough canvas. Salt stained trousers, open chested vests, suntans, a little more down to earth. Ocean hippies just vibing. They wear lots of pearls but also some coral for that pop of red at the throat and stomach like dripping blood. Wigs are a more natural silver or light brown, with beachy waves. Some silverwork accessories.

The Noldor- Rich colors, deep dyes, tight silhouettes. Hosiery and bodices, the trickier the piecework the better. Lots of embroidery, especially on Feanor’s side. Very dark hair in braids and loops; rigidly bound (for workplace safety). Horrible washed out eyes that should not be so silver pale.  

Finwe’s Brood: The Aman Years

(Skipping the obvious ones like Caranthir and Curufin)

Finwe- Wears purple to bridge the gap between his feuding kids, also because it’s regal. Gold and silver jewelry both. Layers!

Indis- Pale colors with Noldor tailoring, more fitted bodices and heavier fabric. Likes gold. 

Feanor- Has stolen all his fashion cues from what other people have told him of his mother (When we briefly see her she’s in a blood red all-needlepointed robe; nothing but looks even mostly dead). Likes bright red and silver, jewelry like armor, heavy geometric embroidery, and star motifs, when he isn’t dressing down.

Nerdanel- Neutral or earth tones, usually on the warmer, redder side of brown. Lots of leather work aprons and workshop approved boots. The occasional maroon dress. 

Fingolfin- Royal blue and gold! Much more courtly, very fitted and ornamented, with some layers like his dad. 

Anaire- Dark blue and black, favors a smooth and silky look that is starting to replace the more embroidery heavy Therindian styles. 

Findis- A Vanyarin girl, dresses in lots of loose, undyed fabric. 

Lalwen- Adventure clothes, in spiteful green because she doesn’t choose sides. (But a tealish green because she sure isn’t on Feanor’s). 

Finarfin- Paler Telerin elements with Noldor cuts and styles. All the jewelry.

Earwen- A feather shawl and either a dress from home or one she’s borrowed from Anaire, depending on the nature of the event. No jewelry. 

Maedhros- Starts out in satiny dark purples to mirror his grandfather then slowly moves into shades of scarlet that do nothing for his coloring (he looks very washed out). 

Maglor- Sexy musician clothes, lots of raspberry and carmine along with some scandalously tight hose. 

Celegorm- Bright red all the time, even in the forest. Bleaches his hair badly. Looks like a blood-soaked ghost. 

Curufin’s Wife- Very into silver, maybe some shades of sea green too. Red contrast is obvious.  

Ambarussa- Do not actually match full time but instead maintain a dual aesthetic composed entirely of hand-me-downs. Caranthir’s old ironheeled boots? Sure. Maglor’s horrible v-neck? Yeah, they’ll wear that.  

Fingon- A good son who copies his dad’s look but puts a fresher, more youthful twist on it. This is some blue and gold you can get into antics with. Beads and ribbons abound. Innovates in velvet. 

Turgon- Loves layering, loves very pale blues, loves quietly blending into the background of scenes. Ideally should match the architecture. 

Elenwe- Vanyarin pride even in the heart of Tirion, keeps her gauze and starlight vibes, though she streamlines it a little bit. Less dangling sashes and more semi-transparent gathered sleeves. She and Turgon obnoxiously color coordinate. 

Argon- To differentiate him from his brothers he has a very distinctive hairdo. Still unsure what that should be but it may involve the elven equivalent of Manic Panic for teen verisimilitude. 

Finrod- Silky rainbow with necklaces and earrings. Looser Telerin hairstyles. 

Angrod- More Telerin clothing and tight to the scalp Noldorin hairstyles. 

Aegnor- Mad scientist hair and ancient athleisure (leggings, short tunic, bright neon colors)

Galadriel- Combines all three of her heritages to create a look that’s mostly focused on well-tailored pale golden dresses and athletic culottes. Loves both a good tiara and a crown of braids. Looks more than a little like her grandma and leans into it.

On The Other Side of the Ocean

Morgoth- Sad man does not know how to dress, looks engulfed by his clothes. Too much going on! He’s huge, why is his horrible outfit even bigger. 

The Sindar- Grey and twilight! Dark blue, pale purple, moss green, all those good moody colors. Natural dyes and the softest shapes. Love to accessorize with live plants, small animals, the skulls of their enemies (only once in a while). Hair is long to demonstrate that you love and support Luthien and her choices, and then short to demonstrate that you love and support Luthien and her choices. 

Orcs- Too oppressed to even have a cool skull look going on at this point? The ones closest to Morgoth just wear these sad grey sacks and the most boring, vaguely modern body armor. You have to get pretty far out into the raiding parties before you start to get some good ‘bones of our enemies’ vibes. Evil is the death of art. 

Sauron- Ideally changes outfits as often as possible, practically, should probably have some set shifts he goes through. There’s the Fire Period, the Dragon Period, the Wolf Period, the Ghost Period. Lots of experimentation, lots of shapeshifting to fit the needs of the story. 

Humans- Beor’s folk do lots of embroidery (because they’re Noldor-lite.) They also bead and treasure gemstones over metals. Hador’s clan is fond of puffy shirts and loose white nightgowns to wear at dramatic moments-- also they tend to favor armor (and gilt and metalwork) the most. The Haladin love some textures, though they tend more towards leather, patchwork, uneven weaves, and quilting and are very handicraft-centric. 

Evolutions

Post Helcaraxe Fingolfin’s squad starts wearing a lot more white and fur and white fur, to signify their trials. Otherwise they maintain their courtly grandeur, meanwhile Feanor’s kids are devolving into low fantasy chic and then post-apocalyptic nightmare. Gondolin has its own fashion system. Finrod and his brothers slowly start to adopt more human fashion cues post-first contact. Meanwhile Galadriel is experimenting with Sindarin hairstyles and fabrics in the forest.

[jamesginortonblog]

Americans might not recognize James Norton without his vicar’s collar. The British actor rose to prominence stateside for his portrayal of Sidney Chambers, a vicar turned amateur detective in 1950s Cambridgeshire on Grantchester on PBS (originally on ITV in the U.K.). Now on AMC’s new mini-series McMafia, Norton is trading in his cleric’s robes for designer business suits and a place on the wrong side of the law as Alex Godman, the son of a Russian crime family who finds himself dragged back into the family business when tragedy strikes. If you think it sounds an awful lot like The Godfather, only set in the present day and with Russian mobsters, you’d be right. Norton says he drew upon Michael Corleone and that epic series for inspiration throughout filming. But McMafia is also a lot more prescient for modern-day audiences, telling the tale of shadowy, corrupt global organizations that trade in blood money and influence driven by avarice and a lust for power. Produced by AMC and BBC, the series is based on Misha Glenny’s nonfiction book of the same name and created by Hossein Amini (Drive) and James Watkins (The Woman in Black). It also stars David Strathairn (The Bourne Ultimatum, Good Night, and Good Luck), Juliet Rylance (The Knick, Frances Ha),  and a wide-reaching international cast that includes Aleksey Serebryakov (The Method, Leviathan), and Mariya Shukshina (Yolki 3, Terrorist Ivanona).

Ahead of its Feb. 26 premiere on AMC (10 p.m.), EW called up Norton to get the rundown on playing the reluctant heir to a mafia family, why he’s fascinated by stories of the criminal underworld, and what it was like making a series that felt almost prophetic in light of recent world events.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve done several lengthier mini-series, including War and Peace and Death Comes to Pemberley – what is it about mini-series that keep you coming back for more? JAMES NORTON: The U.K., in recent times, has really nailed that mini-series format. It wasn’t an active choice. There are quite a lot of those in this country, and there are some fantastic writers and directors of the mini-series. We’ve kind of nailed the medium. From the point of a view of an actor and a storyteller, it is wonderful to have six hours to really settle into that headspace and flex the muscles…[Co-creator] James [Watkins] was always saying we’re going to make an 8-hour movie. It’s wonderful to have six or eight hours because you’re so much more in control, and you have time to really indulge in those moments, which in the movies would probably end up on the cutting room floor…As an actor, I’ve never felt so confident. That’s a really empowering feeling when you feel you know someone so well you can put them in any situation you like and you know ostensibly how they would react.

What was it specifically about McMafia that drew you in? The world of the mafia is really compelling. We’re all into it and series like The Sopranos and The Godfather and things. There’s something about the modern-day mafia, which Misha Glenny’s book so clearly portrays as something very different, but it kind of maintains whatever it is — that compelling, anarchic nature. There’s a certain romance attached to the mafia in the past. What differentiated our story is that that romance is gone and it’s a very brutal, financial money-driven world, which lacks the honor and the sort of family which those previous portrayals have focused in on. I’ve never felt like a show has been so much on the zeitgeist. We were virtually on set and the [rumored] collusion between the White House and the Kremlin was breaking – we felt like we were on a show which was, in some ways, prophetic. So, that was a huge draw. As far as the character, he’s a gift — because he has this wonderful complex mix of conflict and contradiction. You never quite know where he stands. I don’t think he quite knows where he stands. He’s constantly explaining to himself that his motivation is honorable and worthy, and it’s all about family and protecting his family and his girlfriend who he loves. Of course, like the most interesting characters, like Michael Corleone in The Godfather or Walter White in Breaking Bad, there is a whole myriad of motivations, whilst the audience perhaps are more aware. Alex is kind of the last to realize he’s being seduced and he’s in it for other reasons — less worthy reasons of avarice, greed, [and] out for power, revenge. To have all those to play with and never quite land on an answer is the kind of role I love. It’s true to life. People never really fundamentally know themselves – they try and that’s what life is about, trying to know and understand yourself, but never quite getting there. Hossein and James wrote a beautiful, textured character in that regard. We never ever lost interest in his journey and his motivation. We would constantly spend lots of time on set mining where he is in the story, why he’s choosing this, how much he’s aware of his true motivation. When you are able to mine a character to that extent, it’s really a testament to how wonderfully written they are, and how much of a joy it is to play for sure.

This series has strong Godfather vibes with its tale of the son of a crime family trying to go straight and getting pulled back in because of family tragedy – was that something you actively discussed on set or that played a hand in your research? For sure. We definitely had our main resources. The John Williams book, Augustus, was also a resource which we talked about. James recommended it because it’s about a young man who very slyly and quietly and innocuously manipulates his way to the top of the pile. Michael Corleone was definitely a source, just because it has a similar-ish structure to The Godfather story and a bit like what I was alluding to before about motivation. What is it that’s driving Michael’s demise into the underworld of corruption? He’s constantly saying it’s “family, family, family,” but early on, somewhere in Part Two when he kills his brother, you realize it’s gone way beyond just protecting family because it’s come down to killing family. We definitely drew on him. And we had other resources — we had Gomorrah, the Italian [film], as far as the authenticity and grittiness of the mafia we wanted to portray. We wanted to show the cost of these incredibly lavish lifestyles, what it is which facilitates that type of lifestyle…Michael Corleone was definitely the most useful for tracking the conflict of the worthy, honorable motivations and the self-interested greed and avarice and power motivation. There’s no one else who does that journey better I don’t think. Perhaps Walter White is the next one, but both of them were certainly kind of the focus for us.

What do you make of the timing of this series, given the heightened presence of Russians and Russian crime in the news of late?   It’s been very, very exciting…What’s wonderful about a show like McMafia is it really has an incredibly real and intact social conscience. It really felt like it mattered. Since the conception of the show and then the making of it, the amount of conversation around corruption and transparency has exploded. The further we move into a populist, right world, which seems to be afflicting many, many countries right now, the power is taken away from the people and the government and put in the hands of the corporations. If you don’t have legislation in place to control those corporations, McMafia happens. Not only is it a sort of warning sign to people, saying “This is what corruption at this level will look like if we don’t make a real stand against it and lobby government, particularly in America and the U.K., to stand up against it,” it also gives them a chance to see what at this point in time that state-level corruption looks like. It’s really hard if you’re not in the world of finance to understand a lot of jargon. Yet, you want to, because you know how important it is. So sitting down and reading all the speculation about the collusion between Trump and Putin, you read articles about these types of things, and it’s quite hard to really engage and follow. What we’ve hopefully done is made a drama which is accessible. It allows people to have a little look behind the curtain to see what this kind of corruption looks like. A show like this, it couldn’t be more timely. It feels great to be part of the conversation. The more we can be a catalyst for that very, very important conversation about transparency and corruption the better.

Did you learn Russian for the role?   I didn’t learn Russian, per se. I only learned it phonetically…It’s quite challenging learning a language like that, which has very little crossover with the Western romantic languages. The sound is so different, so I had to spend a long time learning it by rote, phonetically, endless repetition. Lots of walking around London streets mumbling to myself. It was a wonderful part of the preparation to be able to express yourself in Russian and other languages. It really tapped into something important in Alex. His relationship with Russia is two-fold and very polarized. On the one hand, he’s compelled by it and that’s why he goes to Systema classes, which I did. I went and learned this very bizarre, Russian martial art, which is fascinating to get into the sort of inner psyche and what it is to be Russian. We decided he reads Dostoyevsky and he’s always compelled by his Russianness. But he’s also afraid of it because he feels like a lot of the world has this misconception that being Russian you have a predisposition towards corruption, which is absurd, but because of the world, currently, the word Russian and corruption are often used in the same sentence. Alex is afraid of his Russianness, and whether or not it’s that which is his vulnerability. Is it that which makes him more disposed to being a gangster in the first place? Is it in his Russian genes? So to tap into that was really exciting, and the language was definitely one way in.

How much research or interaction did you have with real members of organized crime? As far as meeting proper gangsters, we had Misha Glenny. He basically knows every gangster under the sun — he wrote the original piece of nonfiction, the book McMafia. He interviews masses of people in organized crime and so he introduced James and Hoss in the writers’ room to some pretty intense, shady characters. I did meet a couple in Zagreb — some interesting characters who I was later told were pretty high up in businesses which perhaps aren’t whiter than white. But I didn’t ask them any questions because my general gangster acumen was pretty shallow. I’m definitely still the actor, not the gangster.

The series is so international, from its exotic locales to its diverse cast. What was that experience like? It was such a joyous job to film, partly because we had so many different, international actors coming on set and they all had different energies and different approaches to the craft. It was a really, truly international gig, more so than anything else I’ve ever done and I’m not sure many other shows can claim to have been shot in 12 different countries, with 150 different actors in massively different countries. It was wonderful to have Merab Ninidze, who was the Georgian actor who played Vadim, and Aleksey Serebryakov, who was Russian, and their energies were so different, yet they were speaking Russian to each other. Then you had the Israelis and the Brits. It was magic in that effect. Most of it was filmed in Croatia, U.K., London, and then Serbia and a bit of Slovenia, but that was wonderful to be able to explore…The Dalmatian coast is just ridiculous. There were a couple of lunches I remember where it was beautiful sun; we were outside standing on a villa; and most of the crew sacked off lunch in order to take off their clothes and swim at the lunch break. A couple of times I was able to join them. It’s rare that you get such extraordinary locations to be able to jump in the water. It was so glamorous because we had yachts and beautiful villas. We filmed in one location in Croatia which was [authoritarian Yugoslavian leader Josip Broz] Tito’s old villa — lavish beyond lavish, quite dark because it was paid for with blood money and dirty money, but it was extraordinarily beautiful and again, how often do you spend shooting days jumping in the water and going for a swim outside this sensational villa in Croatia? It’s pretty special.

Additionally, it seemed like you often were shooting in places like the Victoria and Albert Museum or the British Museum – what was that experience like as a Brit? I’m a Londoner and I love this city, and to show London in all its glory really was wonderful. By definition when you show a tale of gangsters and very wealthy people you get to show their incredibly lavish lifestyle. As I said, we were very keen to show the other end of the spectrum and the cost of what it is to facilitate that kind of lifestyle. For every day in the V&A, we had other scenes that were, on the whole, more shocking scenes, but it was great to show London in all its glory.

[irregardlessly-tish]

The other day I shared my first impressions on the  season 13 queens based on the Meet the Queen videos, today I'm gonna be watching the Meet the Queens of the second UK season.

Tayce: Uf... I honestly hate her look. The makeup doesn't do her any favors and her dark lip liner on the top lip looks like a weird mustache. Her earrings look like cheap plastic anal beads. Her hair is way too long and the ends look very dry. The outfit wouldn't be so bad if it didn't that those random furry bits hanging. Personally, I really hate those extremely long nails, I don't think they look good on anyone. Personality-wise, I don't know what to think.

Joe Black: Her outfit is very interesting, I really like the hand thing. I'm not a fan of the eye makeup, especially with such a dark outfit it kinda looks like her face was painted to wear a different thing? I also don't like the cleavage because it's too closed for the accessories she seems to be wearing, it's like you can see there are things hanging from her neck but that cleavage covers them.

A'whora: Her hair is nice and interesting but the dress I hate. The eye makeup is weird? Maybe too pointy She also has those awful long nails and those gloves? Uf, she really could have done it without wearing those transparent gloves...

Tia Kofi: I like her look, dress if cute and the color is very nice too, fun hair but I hate the big earrings with her name. This bitch really said she doesn't know how to sew tho... at least she seems to regret that.

Ellie Diamond: She looks very old for 22? I don't know if it's intentional. I hate those gloves with nails, they don't look good. I feel conflicted about the outfit. The hairline... I wish I didn't see that.

Sister Sister: ... I don't like her outfit. It's a nice blue but I just don't vibe with it. Her gloves look very uncomfortable and like they make a lot of noise. I do like her personality tho!

Veronica Green: Finally an outfit I don't hate. I have nothing to say about how she looks. Maybe her makeup is basic compared to the rest but it looks for her, she just looks very feminine.

Bimini Bon Boulash: I don't know how to feel about her look. She looks kind of tacky. She's a vegan, she had to mention it here so I supposed she's one of those vegans that have to mention it all the time. She doesn't make her own outfits, I'm not a fan of that.

Ginny Lemon: they look fun? The outfit doesn't do her body any favors but not everyone has to be cinched all the times

Asttina Mandella: Again, I don't know how to feel about the outfits? I'm so envious of her legs!!!! I want those muscles but definte not her hodie robe dress thing...

Cherry Valentine: I'm obsessed with this look. Her red eyes!!! That hair!!! I wish she was my sleep paralysis demon. Also, I wish the nails were shorter.  Am I the only one who thinks those kind of nails look ugly and dirty?

Lawrence Chaney: I really like her dress, I love the purple and those bedazzled gloves. I love a Scottish accent. Not a big fan of the hair but she seems interesting.

[bluemagic-girl]

Festival Pays Tribute to Singer, Civil-Rights Icon Nina Simone — Global Issues

by means of A. D. McKenzie (london)

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Inter Press Service

LONDON, Aug 29 (IPS) – It will have to be a frightening prospect to sing songs made well-known by means of the incomparable Nina Simone, however performers Ledisi and Lisa Fischer introduced their particular person taste to a BBC Proms live performance in London, honouring Simone and gaining admiration for their very own skill.

The display, “Mississippi Goddam: A Homage to Nina Simone”, paid tribute to the singer, pianist and civil rights campaigner – a “towering musical figure” – on the Royal Albert Hall on Aug. 21, greater than 16 years after Simone died in her sleep in southern France on the age of 70.

This used to be a birthday celebration to recognise her “unique contribution to music history”, in accordance to the Proms, an annual summer time pageant of classical track that still options genres “outside the traditional classical repertoire”.

The live performance’s name refers to the music that marked a turning level in Simone’s profession, when she composed it in fury and grief following the homicide of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi, and the deaths of 4 African-American women within the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.

Performing the music on the tribute, New Orleans-born vocalist Ledisi held not anything again. She put all of the anger and anguish that the lyrics required into her rendition, growing probably the most top issues of the live performance.

The composition stood out in particular as a result of the distinction between the lyrics and the rhythm, and Ledisi – who is additionally an actress and author – emphasised this disparity. While the “tune has an almost fun-filled, pulsating vibe” (as conductor Jules Buckley put it in his written advent to the display), the message itself is uncompromising.

“It speaks of murder, of dashed dreams and severe inequality, and it shattered the assumption that African-Americans would patiently use the legislative process to seek political rights,” Buckley wrote. Listeners were given the whole context, they usually have been reminded that some issues have now not modified a lot within the United States.

Conducting the Metropole Orkest, whose individuals performed beautifully, Buckley mentioned that during hanging in combination the programme he sought after to shine a gentle now not handiest on Simone’s hits but in addition on a “few genius and lesser-known songs”. With the sold-out live performance, he and the performers succeeded in offering the target audience a transparent concept of the variety of Simone’s oeuvre.

The live performance started with an instrumental model of “African Mailman” and segued into “Sinnerman”, the soulful monitor concerning the “wrongdoer who unsuccessfully seeks shelter from a rock, the river and the sea, and ultimately makes a direct appeal to God”, to quote Alyn Shipman, the writer of A New History of Jazz who compiled the programme notes.

The orchestral advent cleared the path for Lisa Fischer’s arresting front. With her shaved head and flowing black outfit, she moved around the level, making a song “Plain Gold Ring” in her inimitable voice, evoking the picture of an operatic monk. The two-time Grammy winner displayed the genre-crossing versatility for which she has change into identified, the use of her voice like a musical device and hitting sudden lows sooner than once more going top. The target audience liked it.

Fischer offered Ledisi, who wore a scarlet robe (sooner than converting to an African get dressed after the intermission), and the 2 ladies then took turns making a song Simone’s repertoire, expressing love for the icon in addition to appreciation for each and every different’s performances.

They each stored topping their earlier music, and the temperature rose with “I Put a Spell on You” (Ledisi), “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” (Fischer), “Ne me quitte pas” (poignantly rendered by means of Ledisi) and “I Loves You, Porgy” (memorably delivered by means of Fischer).

Then there used to be, in fact, “Mississippi Goddam”, which adopted a haunting, syncopated “Dambala”, a music made well-known by means of Bahamian musician Tony McKay aka Exuma, who impressed Simone. Fischer carried out “Dambala” with the needful mysticism, getting listeners to shake to the beat.

Back-up vocalists LaSharVu, comprising 3 powerhouse singers, additionally contributed to the power and luck of the live performance. Two of them joined Ledisi and Fischer for an excellent and shifting presentation of “Four Women” – Simone’s 1966 music concerning the lives of 4 African-American ladies that has change into an very important a part of her inventive legacy.

For different songs, LaSharVu teamed up with the orchestra to supply “percussive accompaniment” thru clapping, and the orchestra’s talent on shifting from reggae (“Baltimore”) to gospel underpinned the whole triumph of the display.

The live performance ended with an encore, as Fischer and Ledisi carried out “Feeling Good” to a status ovation, and to feedback of “fantastic”, “fabulous”, “amazing” and different superlatives.

The display used to be now not the one a part of the homage to Simone. Earlier within the day, the BBC’s “Proms Plus Talk” programme had featured a dialogue of the “life, work and legacy” of the singer, with poet Zena Edwards and singer-musician Ayanna Witter-Johnson interviewed by means of journalist Kevin Le Gendre, writer of Don’t Stop The Carnival: Black Music In Britain.

During this loose public match, held at Imperial College Union, the 3 spoke of the affect Simone has had on their paintings and recalled her taste and performances. They additionally mentioned the abuse she suffered from her 2d husband and the painful dating she had together with her handiest daughter, Lisa, whom Simone in flip bodily abused.

Witter-Johnson mentioned that Simone had impressed her to really feel empowered in acting other genres, in order that she may just sing and play track throughout more than a few kinds. “Her courage, outstanding musicianship and love of her heritage will always be a continual source of inspiration,” she mentioned later.

In reaction to a remark from an target audience member, a writer, that Simone have been an especially “difficult” particular person, Edwards wired that Simone have been a “genius” and may well be anticipated to now not have a very easy persona. Le Gendre in the meantime pointed to the difficulties Simone herself had skilled, with relationships, report firms, and the American status quo, particularly after she started protecting civil rights.

In an e mail interview after the tribute, Le Gendre mentioned Simone’s track had had a “profound effect” on him all over his lifestyles.

“There are so many anthems that she recorded it is difficult to know where to start, but a song like ‘Four Women’ can still move me to tears because it is such an unflinchingly honest depiction of the black condition that African-Americans, African-Caribbeans and black Britons can easily relate to,” he mentioned.

“The way she broaches the very real historical issues of rape on a plantation, girls forced into prostitution and the internal battles based on skin shade affected me a great deal because, having lived in the West Indies and the UK and visited America several times, I know that what she is talking about is simply the truth,” he added.

“There is a war within the race as well as between the races, and we will only move beyond self-destruction if we firstly recognise these painful facts. I continue to be inspired by her ability to ‘keep it real’ as well as her great musicianship. Above all else she has made me think, as well as listen and dance.”

The BBC Proms classical track pageant runs till Sept. 14 on the Royal Albert Hall in London. A live performance on Aug. 29 options “Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music”, with conductor Peter Edwards, pianist Monty Alexander and faucet dancer Annette Walker.

(This article is revealed by means of permission of Southern World Arts News – SWAN. You can observe the author on Twitter: @mckenzie_ale)

© Inter Press Service (2019) — All Rights ReservedOriginal supply: Inter Press Service

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[secondhandart]

Hello there! Could I get some input on his piece of mine? I recently made a shift in how I draw things now.

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Oh, wow! I really love this! It’s very clean and simple, and there’s not a whole lot that jumps out at me for improvement. But I’ll run through the line and see what I can get from dissecting this piece.

Anatomy:

It’s very nice! Very toony, but you stick to the natural laws of anatomy to make things look natural. I know for a fact that the over-the-shoulder look is a toughie, and you nailed it pretty good!

One anatomy flub I noticed is this:

The human arm, when hanging naturally by one’s side, is long enough that the wrist is about groin level. You were JUST shy of that, so I’m honestly just being nit-picky and this isn’t something I would worry too much about! :)

Let’s talk about that skully.

I love love love this skull guy, and I love their vibe - that they’re a friendly, cool guy that just wants to hang. Now, this was just a very SMALL adjustment, but something felt off to me about the jaw. Probably the teeth and how they kind of crook up into a smile shape? I’m not sure, but I fiddled with it a bit and found another way you can translate a smile into a skull - by just kind of setting the teeth straight and doing some curves into the cheekbones, and you still get the same ol’ effect. But this is, again, very nit-picky, and I really had to STARE to dig this up.

Lineart:

It’s so goddamn smooth how do you do that.

Only thing is - I’ve got questions about the fabric on our skull friend. Is it a robe? Is it a towel? Is it a hoodie? A poncho? I can’t really tell, and I’m not sure if it’s just my ignorance, haha.

Color/Shading:

Ooh, a nice earth-toned color palette. Very pale colors, and the red in the hood just POPS!

The shading is very simple and fitting to the style of the picture as well!

The background color, though...I can’t tell if you intentionally made it black, or it’s just a transparent image and it just appears black. Nevertheless, I feel a nice color to make this duo stand out would do better for the background. Since there’s a lot of green in here and a dash of red, how about some burgundy? The slight hint of purple will make the nice, yellow/orange outline pop-out as well.

Oof. Like wine.

Composition

I love the back-to-back pose for this, and it really works out for this piece! In fact, their faces match up in the strong points when it comes to the rule of thirds.

Also, they sorta make a heart, which makes it even better.

But yeah, Lovin’ it™

Overall

this is a very sweet, simple style and I dig it.

hope you enjoyed me analyzing the CRUD of your simple, little drawing. Now I’m real interested in these two.

thank you, @lilacbombs, for your submission!