#the wheel of time

[ladyalysoftheblueajah]

Re blogging for that darn bowl

Moiraine taking a (much needed and deserved) break :)

prints available here

[emillungs]

all it took for verin to enter my top 5 wot characters was a single pov. i love u verin sedai

[thatordinaryoddity]

S3 character studies 💙

[midniteowlet]

Same. This show has other characters? I thought those were extras. 🤣

I do not watch The Wheel of Time for Rand and his fellow 20-something-years old friends. I watch it for the middle-aged magic weaver ladies and the homoerotic tension between them. Giving them less screen time would be boring. There, I said it.

[dndspellgifs]

look, I know I've talked about this essay (?) before but like,

If you ever needed a good demonstration of the quote "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", have I got an exercise for you.

Somebody made a small article explaining the basics of atomic theory but it's written in Anglish. Anglish is basically a made-up version of English where they remove any elements (words, prefixes, etc) that were originally borrowed from romance languages like french and latin, as well as greek and other foreign loanwords, keeping only those of germanic origin.

What happens is an english which is for the most part intelligible, but since a lot everyday english, and especially the scientific vocabulary, has has heavy latin and greek influence, they have to make up new words from the existing germanic-english vocabulary. For me it kind of reads super viking-ey.

Anyway when you read this article on atomic theory, in Anglish called Uncleftish Beholding, you get this text which kind of reads like a fantasy novel. Like in my mind it feels like it recontextualizes advanced scientific concepts to explain it to a viking audience from ancient times.

Even though you're familiar with the scientific ideas, because it bypasses the normal language we use for these concepts, you get a chance to examine these ideas as if you were a visitor from another civilization - and guess what, it does feel like it's about magic. It has a mythical quality to it, like it feels like a book about magic written during viking times. For me this has the same vibe as reading deep magic lore from a Robert Jordan book.

[queen-serena]

Btw this is the freebie you get if you adopt a WoT bookmark 🍂💫

[flo-n-flon]

"There was an Aes Sedai at the White Tower when I was a novice. She was everything that I wanted to be. She was strong, controlled, precise. She… she was terrifying. "

Super quick but I need to bite someone I'm so excited: this was the way to avoid that

Welcome to Shohreh Aghdashloo in The Wheel of Time universe

[midniteowlet]

I agree with everything you've said and then some.

Poor Hopper. Selfishly, I wish Perrin was a woman. From Romulus and Remus to White Fang, fictional wolves are commonly depicted as objects of men's affection and used as a symbol of masculine loyalty, ferocity, and power. It's a peculiar contradiction given that most wolf packs are led by a female. I don't dislike Perrin, but I wish creatives would exercise more diversity when tying wolves to characters. Female werewolves/shapeshifters are too few and far between.

Dr. Nynaeve Field Surgeon? Like Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman? Lol. Upon giving the arrow to the knee more thought, she should have cut the fletching off regardless of its length or the implements available. Or leave the arrow as it is until it can be properly removed. The issue is that as soon as she sends the fletching through the wound she's easily quadrupling the risk of infection. I've read cases wherein doctors have accidentally left bits of cloth in patients after closing a surgical wound. It doesn't end well. Elayne will be fine despite real-world statistics because of "magic," but it's still an odd choice. Call me Dr. Midnite Owlet, Tell Me The Odds Analyst.

The Wheel of Stagnation

I’ve had one year and some change to process season two of The Wheel of Time and while I enjoyed my second viewing more than the first I’m still frustrated by its inconsistent character development.

Season one, for better or worse, revolved around Moiraine’s quest to find the dragon reborn - which sees her playing governess to five unruly twenty-somethings hellbent on reenacting middle school drama while trying to save the world. Conversely, season two largely focuses on Rand the Bland and Nynaeve Al’do-anything-I-damn-well-please Meara. The shift in focus, from Moiraine to Rand and Nynaeve causes the story to drag even while the writers sprint through an eight-episode arc. They didn’t have time to squander character development, but squander they did.

The most glaring issue is that Rand and Nynaeve persist in being stubborn to the point of stagnation. When we meet up with Rand in Cairhien it becomes obvious he spends most of his time shacked up with Lanfear and slumming about bars. He’s not shown to have a particular goal in mind nor does he express an urgency to become the dragon. I get it. I would rather spend time with the sinfully dressed Lanfear than the hobo-gone-loco Loghain too. That said, he acts like he has all the time in the world to become the prophesied hero he is meant to be. I know that his stagnation becomes a central plot point, but I could easily argue that this is bad writing because we still don’t know who he is after 16 episodes.

While Rand sightsees in Cairhein, Nynaeve is shown to be stubbornly tolerating the Aes Sedai at the tower. She stagnates by rejecting magical training (something most children dream of being able to do) to drink sewer water. That’ll teach your instructors a lesson! Don’t cleanse your water of impurities, give yourself a parasite or hepatitis! She then stubbornly stagnates in the gates to live with an alternate reality Lan and his baby child only to nearly be trapped there forever. Then she stubbornly stagnates to leave the tower with Egwene and is duped by Liandrin and delivered to the enemy Sul’dam. So, if we’re keeping score, thus far she’s made zero good decisions. And then because she refused training at the tower, she accidentally alerts the Sul’dam to her location when she attempts to channel which leads to the death of a warder and the capture of a sister. FFS.

Moiraine is the best character on this show even though she was on the same journey as Rand and Nynaeve in season two - one of stubbornness and stagnation. The difference is that it killed her to stand still. And so it broke my heart when she lost access to the source, and did the best she could to control affairs from afar, all whilst dealing with the most petulant young adults I’ve ever encountered in fiction. I can only imagine the seismic sigh I’d have heaved in my blue dress while angrily leading this lot through the countryside listening to them talk about how they’re trying so hard while doing absolutely nothing that I have asked them to do. This woman possesses the patience of a saint.

And then, to be accused by the woman she loved of lying after twenty years of affection, adoration, and honesty across vast distances. Blasphemy. Am I frustrated that Moiraine didn’t write Siuan and explain why she wasn’t training Rand? Yes. But even Lan, a man tortured by Moiraine’s dismissal of him this season, knows her heart is good and always in the right place. He performed his duty to her and put her first in all ways. Moiraine didn’t make it easy, but relationships never are. Siuan though? How do you not give Moraine the benefit of the doubt when she cannot lie and is standing before you swearing that you know more than anyone else? When she swears she would never lie to you while tears form in her eyes? To ignore all of their past and violate Moraine’s free will by forcing her to obey an oath is unforgivable. You cannot love a slave.

Let's stop pretending this show is about Rand.

[rosamundpkes]

Moiraine Damodred & Lan Mandragoran in The Wheel of Time (2021 - present)

[markantonys]

nobody wants mat carnally: the ongoing saga

[pien-art]

take me back to s1ep6 NOW !!!

[youronebraincell]

Moiraine and Lanfear in the season three teaser

[thatordinaryoddity]

Bestie, I absolutely love your Wicked and Wheel of Time fanart! For totally unrelated reasons, I’m just gonna leave a ref pic here.

😭😍 thank you so much!

and omg!!? i‘ve seen this ref before! it‘s so perfect ughhh.

say less—

update: final art

[nervouspearl]

Moiraine Damodred in season 3 of The Wheel of Time

[wibblyrlin]

MOIRAINE AND SIUAN +  looking at each other