#the amrylin seat

[jpiercecreative]

“A fount of power”

Egwene fan art /// scene from The Gathering Storm

[created with Midjourney] /// imagined by @wheeloftime.animated — my IG for animated WOT imaginings!

[wafflelovingbatgirl]

If I could, I would go back in time and tell RJ to not have a white Ajah, but make them some other color so that the only people in the tower who wear white are students- and the Amrylin herself. Maybe her Keeper too.

I think it would be a really effective symbol of her being “of all Ajahs and none”, as well as symbolizing giving up her Ajah to serve the Tower and the world.

It would also make Egwene’s return to the tower under Elaida dressed as a novice more interesting. Especially if Elaida has red embroidery & jewelery (or fully red dresseslike in the original story), while Egwene was stuffed back into novice dresses.

[deeplyridiculouslyinlove]

My favorite Moiraine Moments in The Great Hunt

TGH spoilers below the cut

1. "They are more than old enough to be off apron strings," Moiraine said dryly, "and you know very well why you could never do that, for one of them at least. Besides, it would mean leaving Egwene to go to Tar Valon alone. Or have you decided to go Tar Valon yourself? If your own use of The Power is not schooled, you will never be able to use it against me." Nynaeve spun to face the Aes Sedai, her jaw dropping. She could not help it. "I do not know what you are talking about." "Did you think I did not know, child? Well, as you wish it. I take it that you are are coming to Tar Valon? Yes, I thought so." Nynaeve wanted to hit her, to knock away the brief smile that flashed across the Aes Sedai's face. (Chapter 8)

You can HEAR Moiraine's smirk here and I am living for it.

2. To her surprise, Moiraine felt a flash of jealousy. She had never felt that before. Certainly not for any of the women who had thrown their hearts at [Lan's] feet, or those who had shared his bed. Indeed she had never thought of him as an object of jealousy. Had never thought so of any man. (Chapter 22)

She had never thought of any man as an object of jealousy I am throwing up!!

3. Her sisters in the White tower knew a few of her tricks, and suspected others, including some that did not exist, some that had shocked her when she learned of them. The things she did with the stone were simple and small, if occasionally useful, the kind a child would imagine. But if the wrong women had accompanied the Amyrlin, the crystal might put them off balance because of the tales. (Chapter 4)

I am truly obsessed with how much of a legend Moiraine is in the Tower. She spent basically no time in the Tower and STILL everyone talks about her?? Also the version of Moiraine whose main trick is spying on people is so New Spring, and New Spring Moiraine is my littlest babygirl.

4. The Amyrlin shivered as if she felt those winds icy on the back of her neck. Her hands went to the flattened cube of gold, blunt, capable fingers finding precise points in the complex designs.(Chapter 5)

Tell me more about Siuan's fingers, Moiraine 😏

5. Now that she had stirred life in the other woman, Moiraine returned to outward calm herself. Calm, but firm insistence too. "The pattern pays no heed to human plans, Siuan. With all our scheming, we forgot what we were dealing with." (Chapter 5)

I swear, Moiraine goading Siuan into an emotional response just to be deadly calm herself is one of the most Moiraine moments of this whole book.

6. As soon as the door closed, the Amyrlin stood and Moiraine felt a momentary tingle in her skin as the other woman channeled the One Power. For an instant, the Amrylin Seat seemed to her to be surrounded by a nimbus of bright light. "I don't know that any of the others have your old trick," the Amyrlin Seat said, lightly touching the blue stone on Moiraine's forehead with one finger, "but most of us have some small tricks remembered from childhood. In any event, no one can hear what we say now." Suddenly she threw her arms around Moiraine, a warm hug between old friends. Moiraine hugged back as warmly. (Chapter 4)

The fact that they STILL have the tingle!! Don't make me cry!

7. The Amyrlin nodded as if it was all of no consequence. Moiraine's eyebrows lifted in surprise before she caught herself and smoothed her features. (Chapter 4)

I just love all the times the narrative makes clear Moiraine and Siuan may not be as careful as they think.

8. Leane gave Moiraine a sharp look when she came out into the anteroom, then darted into the Amyrlin's chamber. Moiraine tried to put on a chastened face, as though she had endured one of the Amyrlin's infamous upbraidings--most women, however strong-willed, returned from those big-eyed and weak-kneed--but the expression was foreign to her. She looked more angry than anything else, which served much the same purpose. (Chapter 5)

This is also just so perfectly in character for New Spring Moiraine, my beloved.

9. Moiraine could not keep the sharpness out of her voice, and she heard Leane shift. One did not speak to the Amyrlin Seat in that tone. Not even a king on his throne did. "You should know, Daughter," the Amyrlin said dryly, "that Elaida harms no one except those she considers dangerous. Darkfriends, or those poor fool men who try to channel the One Power, or one who threatens Tar Valon. Everyone else who isn't Aes Sedai might as well be pieces on a Stones board as far as she is concerned. (Chapter 4)

Both another example of my favorite thing--Moiraine being the Aes Sedai version of out of pocket around Siuan--but also does this imply that Elaida considers Moiraine dangerous given the tenor of their interactions in New Spring??

10. "Most girls who want to become Aes Sedai, even most girls with the seed inside them like you, are afraid of it too. Even after they reach the Tower, even after they've learnt what to do and how, for months they need to be led, step-by-step by a sister or by one of the Accepted. But not you. From what Moiraine tells me, you leaped into it as soon as you knew you could, fumbling your way through the dark with never a thought of whether there was a bottomless pit under your next step. Oh there have been others like you. You are not unique. Moiraine was one herself. Once she knew what you had done, there was nothing for it but for her to begin teaching you. Did Moiraine never explain any of this to you?" (Chapter 12)

[butterflydm]

wot on prime rewatch: 1x7 the dark along the ways (part 2)

spoilers through the end of season one of the wheel of time. I will do a reblog of this soon after I post it, with additional book-related spoilers.

1. And now we are introduced to Min Farshaw, a bartender in Fal Dara, and the Seer spoken of by Moiraine and Lady Amalisa. You can tell that she just Knows why Moiraine is here with this group of people lol.

2. She delivers drinks to their table and Egwene thanks her while Rand is involved in a conversation with Perrin about the Tuatha’an (though from what he says to Moiraine later, he’s partly paying attention to what Moiraine is doing here). Perrin is trying to explain their overall philosophy, but Rand is stuck on the idea that they don’t eat any meat at all (because it does harm). Now that he’s away from them, Perrin is very admiring of their ways. Egwene teases Rand about him being a bad cook.

3. Nynaeve, though, is paying attention to Moiraine over at the bar, and wondering what she’s up to and why she’s brought them here. Moiraine, of course, is grilling Min on whether or not she’s ‘seen’ anything. Min tells Moiraine that what she does is very invasive and that she doesn’t do it lightly, and Moiraine essentially blackmails her into talking when she balks at the idea of telling Moiraine what she sees (she ‘reminds’ Min that the Aes Sedai are keeping her a secret and that, if her talent were revealed, her life would get much harder and more complicated). 

4. Much like how Rand’s Machin Shin whispers reveal part of but not all of what he hears, we don’t find out everything that Min knows yet either. But I like that, as we find out when Rand goes to speak to Min at the end of the episode, she really felt that he deserved to hear the truth first on his own, and when he was ready, rather than her spilling his personal secrets to Moiraine. 

5. Min tells Moiraine a handful of vague things about what she sees -- a gold ring, a white flame, yellow eyes and blood, a baby, and all four of them linked together as sparks fight a shadow -- but when Moiraine tries to press her about if one of the visions is clearer, she says no. And instead tells Moiraine a viewing about herself -- the Amrylin Seat in full regalia, being her downfall. Definitely emotionally impactful for Moiraine! 

6. Later that night, Moiraine comes and tells the group that they will be leaving for the Eye of the World at sunrise. And that’s it. She turns to leave at that point. Then Rand challenges her -- who was that bartender that she spent so much time talking to earlier? Again, continuing a pattern of Rand challenging Moiraine and of how him doing so gets them answers that she otherwise was not willing to give them. I feel like a lot of the people I saw who disliked Rand challenging Moiraine just straight-up don’t acknowledge how little information Moiraine was willing to give them without being challenged. Moiraine tries to deflect, and Nynaeve backs Rand’s play. And Moiraine bends, and tells them about Min’s gift. She tells them that she was hoping Min could say who the Dragon was but, since she couldn’t, Moiraine just has to bring all of them, sacrificing the lives of the ones who aren’t the Dragon.

7. Setting dressing & blocking note. I LOVE that there is a prominent empty chair every time we go to the group shot of Perrin, Egwene, and Rand. Constant reminder that one of the group isn’t there.

8. I also love, and we know this from the next episode, that this is a great illustration of Moiraine just being wrong. She didn’t die at the Eye of the World. The Eye of the World wasn’t what they thought it was at all. “Ground to dust between two forces of nature” isn’t what happened at all. But Moiraine believes it or she couldn’t say it! And it’s a great illustration of how Moiraine not being able to lie doesn’t mean that Moiraine is always right, even when she speaks plainly. She can be wrong as long as she’s honestly wrong.

9. Perrin -- who has been quiet through so much of this and who hasn’t ever challenged Moiraine before -- is the one who speaks up here, which I really like. He basically points out every possible flaw in Moiraine’s argument! What if Mat’s the Dragon (and then we all die)? What if we live because you’re just wrong and it’s not actually the case that the ones who aren’t the Dragon die? I love this so much because it actually really makes Perrin feel like he genuinely is The Thoughtful One. He’s just been keeping his own council all this time, thinking thing over, and now he’s coming out with specific questions that poke holes in Moiraine’s train of thought. (Moiraine is able to answer exactly none of his questions, by the way. She just deflects)

10. And Nynaeve tells Moiraine, straight-out, yes, you’ve chosen to follow this path. And now it’s our turn to make a choice. You don’t get to harry us along and make it for us. So that’s three of the four currently united against Moiraine. And Nynaeve has been standing off on her own during the rest of this conversation but now she goes and stands with the rest of the Two Rivers’ people. And I love the shot after Moiraine (and Lan) leave because we now have all four of the Two Rivers’ people... and that prominent emptiness opposite Egwene (because there are other empty chairs as well, but the actual  head of the table is empty).

11. Egwene is generally a pretty vocal character but she sat out that entire conversation which is very interesting. She didn’t ‘pick a side’, essentially. But she didn’t argue on Moiraine’s behalf against the others, as she’s done before.

12. Now the Two Rivers’ folk are alone, and we get to see them clash against each other. All four of them have recently suffered a pretty big trauma (going through the Ways) and now they’ve been told that three of them are likely to die soon. Rand is edging towards fatalism, once Moiraine is gone -- “Nothing an Aes Sedai says is optional. She’ll force us if she wants to.” But Nynaeve is just... a very firm bulwark here -- “Let her try.”

13. I actually really liked this fight. It starts with Egwene saying “we need to do this to protect our families” while Nynaeve comes back with “so Moiraine says.” It’s essentially the same argument that Egwene and Rand had in 1x2, where part of the reason there’s a fight at all is because of how widely the level of trust in Moiraine differs between the two parties. “She can’t lie,” Egwene argues, and Rand comes in now with “She can mislead.” And Nynaeve says (which goes back to Perrin’s point) that even if Moiraine absolutely believes what she’s saying, she still could be wrong. But Egwene says (roughly) that she’s willing to sacrifice her own life on the chance that Moiraine is right, because if she is, then it would be a worthy sacrifice. And Egwene bringing this up after Moiraine has left also brings me back to 1x2, where she didn’t challenge Moiraine when the others were present but did challenge her in private. 

14. Rand, of course, has been struggling with his identity all season, keeping a secret from everyone (about what his dad told him, that we get to see in a flashback later on). And he’s coming to a realization. “I can’t lose anyone else in this room,” he says. He doesn’t fully admit it to himself here, but he’s beginning to. Perrin momentarily deflects everyone off of this point by bringing up Mat again -- what if Mat is the Dragon? Egwene scoffs and Rand reacts immediately, incredibly protective even though Mat isn’t present. Which builds off of the way we saw their dynamic in the last episode too, how Rand tilted instantly into protective mode over Mat. Rand launches into an incredibly passionate defense of Mat here.

15. Nynaeve tries to calm down them down before the fight gets worse, but Egwene defends her position, saying that Mat was the one who stayed behind and that he’s probably gone after the dagger, and when she says that Mat left them (the group), Rand makes it personal with, “Well, I guess you’re the expert on that, aren’t you? ... you’re the only one that’s ever really left me,” and Perrin immediately jumps in to defend Egwene. The entire fight helped illustrate how the Rand-Mat and Egwene-Perrin pairs further bonded in their journeys together. Perrin’s protectiveness over Egwene mirrors Rand’s protectiveness over Mat. Rand takes an attack against Mat as if it were an attack against himself.

16. Then Nynaeve basically single-handedly derails the brewing fight into something that was between Egwene and Rand but still about Mat, into a fight between Rand and Perrin about Egwene instead. Nynaeve made a bunch of assumptions based on old information and instantly regretted it (you can see the “yikes, wish I hadn’t said that” on her face right after the words come out and stop literally all other conversation in its tracks). And their internal fears that Machin Shin to fed them helps lead into the fight, a hundred percent. Everyone is affected by what the Black Wind said, very much including Moiraine, despite her warnings.

17. Rand is just so completely ??? at the idea that Perrin might have been fighting with him “over” Egwene when Nynaeve brings it up, then he starts doing mental math on a subject that he has very obviously never considered before in his life. Egwene ALSO looks very startled at this idea. But this fight does also lead to a moment of Perrin having Vibes with Rand as he gets super close and says the only woman he loved was his wife while he stares at Rand’s mouth; lol, A+. Here’s another question I have, though - was Rand willing to let this fight happen once it started because he was already making his decision that he was going to sneak off to Moiraine and go to the Eye together? Rand picking fights with his friends to try to get them to like him less so that he can go risk his life alone is a canon thing from the early books. Poor Nynaeve is so upset that she made all that happen (from her PoV).

18. Lan tries to reassure Moiraine over the situation, as she broods at the balcony. This conversation between the two of them is great. “I feel like I’ve taken everything from you. And more.” Moiraine is seeing that Lan is capable of having a life after this mission and so, just like Rand does, Moiraine leaves Lan behind at the end of this episode as well. I also wonder if this version of Moiraine perhaps feels like she’s been more selfish than the book version, because she has had romantic love all these years, though she and Siuan have needed to spend time apart as well.

19. The dinner scene is cute. It definitely does soften Lan’s character beyond what we normally got in the books, but it’s implied that Nynaeve DOES see a softer Lan than pretty much everyone else, and this is a way for the audience to see what she sees. She gets to see him in the context of his culture and also gets to see the way he behaves around children. I feel like all that (plus their potential impending deaths) makes them sleeping together feel pretty earned, given that we already know from Rand and Egwene’s relationship that Two Rivers’ folks don’t have the same hang-ups around sex outside of marriage that they did in the books. 

20. Rand is still struggling here. We can see that he lacks focus by his inability to hit the bullseye with any of his arrows. Egwene comes out, mad at him because he didn’t come apologize to her, which gives us more information about their relationship dynamic back in the Two Rivers, probably. I actually wonder if Rand was hoping that she would stay away entirely (though once she does come, he engages with her mostly sincerely) to make it easier for him to make his choice and come to terms with himself. I do note that though Rand apologizes to her (for letting himself take the whole Perrin x Egwene thing seriously), Egwene doesn’t apologize for attacking Mat’s character. She just tells Rand that he should have known that she cared about Mat anyway. Like, sure, maybe she would fight and die for him... but she also doesn’t seem to like him much as a person or think very highly of him. One does not necessarily imply the other. And she’s certainly not obligated to like Mat! But it does strike me as interesting that the characters are talking past each other again -- Rand apologizes for something that Egwene doesn’t care about (him taking the Perrin x Egwene thing seriously for a moment), while Egwene doesn’t really address the thing that was bothering Rand about how she was talking about Mat. 

21. But Rand is definitely in “make my goodbyes” mode here -- he tells Egwene that he doesn’t want to lose her, and urges her to go to the White Tower to make the most of her abilities. Egwene says here that she doesn’t want to go without Rand - “I’ve already made that mistake once” (about breaking up with him to get a job, essentially; again, I am so baffled that anyone watched the first season and came out of believing that Rand was being clingy to a girl who wasn’t interested in him anymore -- Egwene has shown several times that she still cares about Rand romantically at this point in time). But obviously hearing this means a lot to Rand, because she did break up with him very abruptly in the first episode. ...and then he lies to her. “I’ll come with you to the White Tower. Every Aes Sedai needs a Warder.” They kiss and Egwene promises Rand that if he’s the Dragon, she’ll stand by him.

22. I am so curious about how long the show/Moiraine will keep the secret of Rand’s survival from the others. I’ve going to do a bit of speculation in the spoiler reblog.

23. After Nynaeve and Lan have slept together, they talk about responsibilities and obligations that they have. She finds out that Lan is the uncrowned king of a lost country, and she feels like that gives her some insight into why Lan and Moiraine are bonded together -- that Moiraine gives him a ‘home’, essentially. Lan turns that around on her and points out that she also has obligations (that she has chosen) to the Two Rivers’ kids. And he asks her to stay the rest of the night. <3 (I feel like Moiraine and Siuan having a current relationship also makes Lan making this choice more likely).

24. From one post-coital room to another -- Egwene has fallen asleep but Rand is having flashbacks to the night of the attack, when he found out that his father found him and then took him home to raise as his own. And he admits to himself that he knows the truth about himself. But he still wants to confirm it further, and he goes to speak with Min, the Seer.

25. I love how exhausted and jaded we can see that Min is. And now she softens when Rand apologizes and talks to her instead of at her, essentially. We learn that her first viewing ever was seeing Tam in armor in Tar Valon and ‘seeing’ him finding Rand and taking him home to raise in the Two Rivers, an ‘impossible’ baby.

26. And when we finally get to see the ending of the flashback, it’s genuinely such a beautiful moment. Tam reaching out and helping, instead of attacking her. This moment of two people connecting despite being on the opposite sides of a battle, because they are just two people at this moment, and Tam sees her humanity and sees that she needs kindness. And she gets to see Rand being born and gets to know that he’ll be safe before she dies.

27. In the morning, Egwene goes to talk to Nynaeve and finds that her room is empty and her bed untouched. When Nynaeve arrives, she teases her a bit. And Nynaeve apologizes for what she said the night before about Rand, Perrin, & Egwene. Perrin then arrives... also to seek out Nynaeve? It actually makes a lot of sense that they would go to Nynaeve’s room... they’re still thinking of her as their Wisdom. Egwene has a little bit of difficulty looking at Perrin, but then she does look up and she says she wants to go (to the Eye). She then wonders where Rand has gone to off and we get cuts between Lan arrives to Nynaeve’s room that morning to say that Moiraine is missing, while we get a cut to the night before of Rand arriving at Moiraine’s room, and Egwene connects the dots that Rand and Moiraine left together. So, everyone there knows that Rand, at least, believes that he’s the Dragon.

[thenaptimepod-blog]

Recently finished rereading this one. Overall, I enjoyed it more than expected. But...still pretty sloggy. Some important moments though (cue Egwene's rise to greatness). And some broody moments...

The Bowl of the Winds was great, but felt awkwardly paced across this book and the previous. Then the girls' storyline dwindled.

Also: no Mat! wtf

[herparadisekiss]

Aes Sedai: 7 Ajahs + the Amrylin Seat

[agent-of-sam]

Wheel of Time: New Spring

Moiraine and Siuan: Hello, can you fill out these forms? The Amrylin Seat just wants a record of all the births in the area following that big climactic battle. Just for posterity. No ulterior motives or anything. Nothing to do with prophecy. Anyway, did we mention there’s a huge cash prize? Make sure to include your address.

Tam al’Thor [hiding a whole-ass child under his cloak]: Welp, Imma head out. It’s been fun.

[wafflelovingbatgirl]

Vote for Siuan Sanche, the Amrylin Seat!! The most powerful woman in the world, head of an order of sorceress, who took power to guide the world through the apocalypse!

Siuan put her long standing relationship with her “pillowfriend” aside for duty. But the two where joined at the hip as young adults. The tv show adaption kept their relationship but made it forbidden love.

Character, author, and book names under the cut

Sundew- Wings of Fire by Tui T Sutherland

Siuan Sanche Sedai- Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

[roosterjazz]

I love love LOVE Verin.

Listening to the Wheel of Time books for the third time, and she’s just been introduced.

She goes from ‘just a nerd’ to ‘#1 threat’ so fast it’s hilarious.

Moraine and the goddamn Amrylin Seat herself find themselves on their asses because Verin, so very nonchalantly, so seemingly innocently, rips the rug right from under their feet so fast their heads are left spinning. Oh Verin!

What I love the most is that she’s still a nerd, she’s just a dangerously smart and perceptive nerd.

[wolfvampirefury]

Moiraine’s Oath. In thinking about it. Why I think the oath was a wedding commitment/vow. It makes perfect sense from the heart and for practicality for her change the oath. It’s for her eternal survival. If she’d binded herself eternally to the “Amrylin Seat” she would no longer be Moiraine. She’d possibly be a slave to the ‘Seat’ whoever occupied the ‘seat’ for eternity. If she had to bind herself to anyone for eternity, it would be no one other than Siuan. Siuan as much as said that’s what she believed is their fate, with her “in this life or the next” comment. And this is Moiraine’s wish as well so no matter how the wheel turns out their souls again, she would be bound to Siuan. Additionally, it’s my understanding (Not a booker) that using anything in reference to the Amrylin’s past life or humble beginning is a major assault so to the others who may have heard her oath, it could appear that she is insulting the Amrylin on her way to exile. It’s just all so brilliant. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen on TV in a very very long time! I love this scene so much. I’m so in my feeling for these two characters. 🥰🥰🥰 And Maigan’s facial expression could be saying, ‘you just have to go down swinging don’t you?! You ass!’ 😂😂😂. Just my thoughts on my 10 watching of this scene. I’ve just started the “New Spring” so I may have more to say later…😂😂😂

[geek-and-destroy]

Wheel of Time - It's Raining Points of View

This is post 9 in The Wheel of Time Read - see the previous post - covering the prologue and chapters 1-9 of book 2.

A few days ago, I started reading The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan's sprawling fantasy series. And because I have nothing better to do, I decided to post my thoughts on the internet, a few chapters at a time. Right now, I am at book two - The Great Hunt. This post talks about my first impressions of the book two prologue and chapters 1 (The Flame of Tar Valon) through 9 (Leavetakings). Chapter summaries can be found here (I’m not putting links to the individual chapters, I don’t want to venture too far into the wiki).

MOIRAINE POV MOIRAINE POV MOIRAINE POV YAYYYY!

My joy is immeasurable and my day is made. There were many delightful new POVs this time around, it's almost difficult to keep track. Let's see, prologue Darkfriend 'Bors,' Rand, Perrin (ly), Nynaeve (yay), Egwene (yay!), Papa Bornhald (ugh), sinister Red Sedai Liandrin, Dark peddler Padan Fain, the Amrylin Seat herself and, of all people, Bayle fucking Domon! Whew. That is quite the jump after the three POVs from the last one.

The prologue has only driven home the point that absolutely anyone could turn out to be a Darkfriend. There's really no telling exactly when this prologue takes place, but I'm assuming this is directly after the battle at Tarwin's Gap at the end of the first book. Or it could be before the first book took place too, but that isn't much plausible either. Rand took centre-stage in Ba'Alzamon's little holographic powerpoint, so I guess he knew after the final battle at the end of the last book that he's the Dragon. There's also no telling when the Domon POV in chapter 9 takes place - probably takes at least two weeks to sail from Whitebridge to Illian, plus some time for rest after which he was offered the Tar-Valon-mark money. I'm assuming the source of that is one of the two Black Ajah Aes Sedais seen in the prologue.

But coming back to more joyous things: MOIRAINE POVs! Aaaaaahhh I am so happy that I don't even care that she's more of a Dumbledore than I thought she was. These things tend to go a certain way, in that Moiraine and the Amrylin's end goal will be achieved, but they lose a lot of control over events and get schooled for their manipulative ways. Ends don't justify the means, using people to play prophecy is bad, blah blah, blah, fuck that. I want my Aes Sedai intrigue. When they started referring to the Amrylin Seat as a person and not like a throne, I was trying to have some random fun by imagining her as literally an authoritative sentient chair, but RJ had to go and make her a character with nuances and layers and shit. Not that sentient chairs can't have those, dgmw.

Anyway, Siuan Sanche is yet another enigmatic presence to look out for. I think her POV was more of a one-off thing, though. The less I see of this type of character, the better their impact is. Liandrin, along with Elaida, is being set up as another temporary 'antagonist' at Tar Valon. Her physical description juxtaposed with her demeanour gives off very creepy vibes indeed. Knowing Elayne, she was very unlucky indeed to be found by the stuck-up faction. I wonder which ones are the Dark Aes Sedais? I bet we've seen at least one, and I bet none of them is from the Red Ajah.

As for the Ajahs, the Brown is easily the best one. Verin is easily the best side character so far. I hate this 'book smart vs street smart' stereotype, man. Browns seem to be the perfect Aes Sedai who have been distanced by the rest because of how perfect they are. In crisis situations, I bet the Browns handle themselves the best while the other Ajahs call them naive from their fucking graves.

Yeah, that's not gonna happen, is it? Sigh.

These first chapters leave many more questions than in the first books, courtesy of the reader being immersed in the world now. What was the wind thingy? Who gave the orders to bar the gates? Who was the attacker? Who rescued Fain? Are they different people, or the same person? When is that stupid narrative of 'friends cross at protagonist due to dumb thing he said' trope gonna stop? Who gave the money to Domon? How did he end up with Heartstone? Was it an accident or is he a Darkfriend? How does he even know what it is?

I read on.

[offbrandnatureink]

Ok. Imagine the Enchantress and Azura from Fairytopia as Siuan (Amryline Seat) and Moiraine from Wheel of Time. Rebellious sassy blue mom and rainbow bow-to-me glorious leader. I can’t unsee it.

[wafflelovingbatgirl]

It’s very appropriate that the stole of the Amrylin Seat is a rainbow given how gay all the Aes Sedai are.

[reareadswheeloftime]

The Great Hunt

Second book came in, so here we go!

Prologue-Ch 5

At the end of Eye of the World, Rand thinks he killed Ba’alzamon, the prologue shows us this is clearly not the case. Even then that claim felt far fetched. But in these early chapters, it’s something Rand still believes. I’m curious how he’ll react to finding out he’s wrong- will it be a slow, gradual suspicion that grows into realization, or will it happen all at once in a huge shock (to him). 

Rand is...fascinating right now. He knows he needs to leave, but wants to be with his friends, but desperately needs to learn to use his sword, so he’s stuck in limbo. Which very much puts him at in a hard spot when all the Aes Sedai arrive, and he finds out the gates are barred from letting people in or out. 

Also, what was with that wind while he was with Lan? Lan said it could just be Blight weirdness, but maybe it’s something more?

We’re also seeing the Aes Sedai get fleshed out a little more, very little was told to us in the first. I can already see that there’s going to be one if not several plot points that will arise from this, and I’m not sure how much I’m going to enjoy that. Moraine and the Amrylin Seat scheming their own things already shows this. I do look forward to how Moraine’s character will turn out though, since she’s indicated to the reader that there’s some things she’s holding back. 

We also have a line following the Children of the Light/Whitecloaks. I feel like it will give insight and explanation to some of the things that will happen, but I’m also concerned that it’s going to make it feel like things are dragging and convoluted if we’re following a lot of people.  

[thenaptimepod-blog]

Staring at her as if for the first time, he finally bent his head. Strangely, that seemed more formal than his bow had. “It will be as you say, Mother. Tell me, are you sure you are not ta’veren, too?”