#tsutama

[wot-tidbits]

Thank you for providing us with mental images for many secondary Aes Sedai who have never (or at least once-twice) been drawn before.

I spent a month of my life on this, so I kindly ask you to give an opinion about my work

[folatefangirl]

Had to pose this question in the chat so in the interest of encouraging rarepair ships, now I present it to tumblr:

[sixth-light]

Have finally managed to watch the season opener, holy shit I love what this show does, but like the seasoned WoT nerd I am I want to focus on what this means for minor Aes Sedai.

In the books, sisters die when Liandrin & co break out and steal ter'angreal but it seems to have been hushed up by Siuan and she sets the Wondergirls (well, Nynaeve and Egwene) to hunt them in utmost secrecy. If I recall correctly - someone correct me if I don't - when Seaine and Pevara start hunting the Black Ajah in ACoS they talk about it in a way that implies neither of them know about this incident or the existence of Liandrin & co. NB, they are both Sitters and have been Sitters since before the start of the series.

In the show universe, it's going to be impossible that the whole Tower doesn't know about the Black Ajah, and particularly the Sitters who are literally either dead or witnesses. So what does that mean for the Black Ajah Hunters? The show loves Aes Sedai drama so much I can't imagine them not doing some version of that plotline, especially as it provides the basis for 1) the eventual reconciliation of the Tower split and 2) the first equal-footing rapprochement between the Red Ajah and the Asha'man. I suppose the official line after the coup could be that Liandrin & co are the whole Red Ajah and everybody who wasn't involved in the breakout is safe...it is notable & important that they are mistakenly sent to hunt the Blacks by Elaida because she has noticed Alviarin is suspicious but does not know Alviarin is Black, nor suspect she might be. Others have noted that one of the Red sisters in the opener is credited on her CV as Tsutama Rath, who is the Red Sitter/future Head of the Red who sends Pevara to the Black Tower, so they seem to be laying some groundwork for that. Parenthetically, I expect almost without question the deaths in this scene will be how Elaida becomes a Sitter. But the key here is that the existence of the Black can't be in doubt for the BAH crew, just whether sisters still in the Tower post-split are Black. (Maybe we see a version where the official line is that all the Salidar Aes Sedai are Black because only Black sisters would...etc etc?)

I don't know if I have anywhere solid to go with this, I'm just really curious about how it restricts (and opens) the possibilities for the Black Ajah Hunters because I unironically love that plotline, Pevara is my blorbo, and I cannot imagine the show as it is leaving Pevara and Seaine, middle-aged ex-girlfriends reuniting to hunt evil in a White Tower riven by paranoia and fear, aside.

[markantonys]

i am capital S Shook that the irish red sitter is none other than galina!! i would never have predicted that! since galina only does One Thing in the books, i was sure she was a prime candidate for being absorbed by somebody else; my theory had been that elaida would lead rand's kidnapping personally to give elaida something more to do during midseries when she's not up to much in the books, in part so as not to sideline shohreh. but maybe it's actually preferable to shohreh to only have a main role in her first and last seasons and more of a guest/recurring role in the seasons in between, or maybe they'll bulk up elaida's storyline inside the tower and with alviarin in order to increase elaida's presence during the time between the coup and egwene's kidnapping.

anyway! at the time of watching the cold open i was like "man i wish i was watching this on regular prime x-ray so i could see the names of all the characters in the scene in case these new aes sedai are anyone i would know", but now i'm glad that i didn't find out this was galina until a week later. i liked her! i thought she had a cool vibe! i now feel betrayed (in a good way) to know this is galina! once again wotshow getting an impeccable record in managing to make the antagonists likable even when we know how decisively unlikable their book counterparts are. a very different viewing experience for me than if i'd known straight off this was galina and had therefore gone "oh i've got my eye on you" the second she arrived!

this revelation also increases my hopes that my girl tsutama survived. before, i'd thought that they were two relatively minor reds who might only be needed for this one scene and that their odds of having survived the hallway battle weren't good, especially since we do see red figures dead/unconscious on the floor afterwards. now, i'm certain galina had to have survived because if she was only a random character who's in one scene and dies immediately, they would never have chosen such a loaded name for the character; she's got to be alive. and in turn, tsutama got markedly more focus than galina did in this scene (more lines, more closeup shots), which would be an odd choice if galina is the only one who goes on to become a notable character and tsutama is never seen again after this scene, so i think this is good news for tsutama too. and having tsutama around longer would be a good counterbalance to show that, truly, there ARE some reds who aren't secretly black ajah!

exciting stuff! i have to say, you all know my hatred of WOT Minor Characters and the space they take up, i'm famous for it, but the show continues to do incredibly well at getting even me, their biggest hater, interested and invested in the minor characters. from the moment tsutama and galina arrived, i felt attached to them and wanted to see more of them! (i think being a visual medium also inherently helps with this, since it's easier to feel quick attachment when you have a face and not just a name.) i AM getting a bit "okay, maybe we should slow down" at the number of separate minor characters being introduced, but i trust rafe & co to know their limits and not go over the line with too many characters the way the books did (not least because they have budgetary constraints keeping them in check!). and tower politics is such an important thread throughout the entire series, and having a good number of Specific Aes Sedai We Know can only help with audience investment in that thread, especially since it's a thread that's so often separate from most of our main cast; it needs to include enough strong secondary characters to support it during the times when no primary characters are involved in it.

[chasingfigments]

Wheel of Time, Season 3, Episodes 1-3

Some scattered thoughts about the first three episodes of the season, including vague full book series spoilers.

(Why vague, you ask? Because I've only read the series once, and a majority of that was over twenty years ago at this point, and I am disinclined to do in-depth research for this post beyond googling spelling.)

1) I appreciate that they're having Siuan lay the groundwork for her own destruction. I'll admit, the coup caught me entirely off guard in the books, but here I can see the very careful build up:

Barring one Ajah's Sitters from the Hall.

Revealing that only 11 people (a simple majority) are needed for a vote to pass.

Siuan did not deny Liandrin's charges, and instead dodged them with the Black Ajah reveal, while still admitting that if Liandrin were telling the truth, Siuan could be deposed for what she did in Cairhien.

A number of Sitters were killed in that fight, and between that and the four that jumped to Liandrin's help, the Hall is going to have a chunk of (probably) new Sitters who may not be inclined charitably toward Siuan.

Sending Tsutama out with (presumably) seven of Tsutama's hand-picked Reds, leaves Galina and Elaida behind for power grabbing. This is extra bad for Siuan given that Tsutama seems opposed to Elaida from the start (by refusing that gift).

2) I think the show is going to keep masking/inverting weaves as a thing, primarily because Egwene did not see any of Lanfear's weaves in the "mirror" bubble of evil. We were firmly in Egwene's POV in that scene, so the audience should have seen something. Nynaeve also didn't see what was happening with the playing cards and Mat. (Then again, it's possible that the weaves were small/subtle enough Egwene/Nynaeve didn't spot them...but I'm not willing to do a frame-by-frame rewatch looking for that)

3) This is contrast to the very clever split-second pauses before Rahvin used compulsion on a BUNCH of characters in episode 2. No one in Tar Valon was capable of seeing him do that, so the audience didn't see it either. I do hope the show continues to play with POV like that now that more of the Forsaken are out.

4) LOLing over the Forsaken meetup where they point out that last time they were all fighting each other only for Rahvin to turn around and be dealing with Moghedien behind Lanfear's and Sammael's backs. And we've got confirmation that Nae'blis is still a thing.

5) Yesssssss, we're keeping Semirhage. Given the Forsaken statues we saw in season 1, sounds like we're getting Asmodean. I'm not sure if I want Semirhage fucking about with the Seanchan (we saw Ishamael doing that last season) or if I want her to take over Mesaana's plot. Maybe she can have a cold open of murdering the Empress and then jaunt over to the White Tower.

6) Mazrim name drops! Is Taimandred not happening? Or are we getting Mazrim's ascension much sooner? Either way, I hope this means Shara doesn't come out of left field in the last battle because that made no fucking sense. Taimandred did, and I'll never not be angry that it didn't happen. XD

7) Thank god they changed the Morgase + Rhavin plot, btw. I'm glad that in 2025 we're not going to have "competent queen destroys her queendom by going crazy over Some Guy" + slutshaming that happened in the books. I like that we saw Morgase murder her formal rivals to secure her power because when she starts cleaning house in Andor (we got that Bryne name drop, so there's some alienation going on already), it's not out of character for her to do this--she's purged folks before. This also makes Elayne's eventual succession crisis have even higher stakes, because like fuck is anyone going to want to fold to her once they've made their own claim because they remember what her mother did when she won.

8) It does not seem like the Choedan Kal + access keys are going to be a thing. We'll miss out on some great visuals without the giant statues, but we also won't get the Amayar's mass suicide, so that's fine with me.

9) Mat's slow build-up of annoyance with Galad and Gawyn was hilarious and made his eventual beatdown of them immensely satisfying.

10) We've already got Galad's disdain for Aes Sedai! (Though that does not stop him from fucking Novices/Accepted. XD) I wonder if we'll actually see his recruitment to the Whitecloaks in the show.

11) The Gray Men are horrifying (and also I hope we see some actual female Soulless because those were allegedly a thing we never got to see on page). Let Moghedien take a lady apart in a horrifying manner!

12) Awww, I want Mat and Min to make up eventually. Her new viewing of him was horrifying (but fun! because of course that was going to happen I do not understand why so many people thought we'd totally miss the Snakes & Foxes in the leadup to this season??? why was that even a serious worry).

13) I'm not necessarily opposed to Aiel taking in outsiders (though Tigraine was a pretty notable exception, from what I remember?), but I'm a little surprised they're repurposing Melindhra and using that as backstory for her. I doubt they'll have Lan hook up with her, but I guess this hint of a connection to Malkier could serve as a way to get her close with Lan (since Mat's off to Tanchico).

14) Very much appreciate that the show is not glossing over Egwene's PTSD or Mat's--PTSD from prior lives? (I'm not sure how to classify it, but he's also having a hard time right now.)

15) Awww, Bain and Chiad flirting with Loial was very cute. I do like that they're following Loial here, and I'm going to assume Aviendha fulfilled her toh to Perrin in the battle at Falme.

16) Ryma is free! 😭😭😭

17) ON THAT NOTE, I think we're actually going to avoid the endless the-black-Ajah-and-Seanchan-don't-exist-or-if-they-do-they-aren't-threats nonsense in the books. The White Tower was so infuriating in the books under Elaida's rule, but they've got the attack in the Hall, they have Ryma and her testimony, and the show is putting its work in to make its antagonists competent instead of caricatures, so I doubt they'll backslide and deny those things.

18) Not at all worried about not seeing Egwene and Elayne's Accepted tests--we got the "full length" version of Nynaeve's last season, and we'll certainly get flashbacks to Egwene and Elayne's as they are relevant. We had other things that had to be covered first.

19) Elayne and Aviendha hooking up is the best change they could have made to Rand's harem plotline.

20) Liandrin rescuing that child bride was both very nice and also horrifying, but hey, mind wiped and alive is probably better than dead? XD

[onaperduamedee]

Spoilers for 301 to 303:

beyond highlights and ace acting, several moments had me clapping and giggling like a loon: Tsutama calling Elaida gaudy. The Mat and Siuan scene. Call me Mandarb. Lan and Mo in the sweat tents. Forsaken meeting. Siuan making Morgase wait. Bair catching Eggy

I cannot emphasize enough how good these three episodes were

This is what ideal adaptation looks like

[pillowfriends]

I'm a Tsutama stan now and I'm not sorry. literally don't remember a single thing about her from the books, don't need to, she's sexy, sapphic, passive aggressive, arms, thank you for coming to my TED talk

[aceofthegreenajah]

The subtitles called the main red ajah sitter Tsutama. There is a minor red ajah aes sedai by that name in the books, but later than this. What do you think, is she dead or does she have a further part to play this season?

*edit I meant red ajah,😭😭 shouldn't Post without proofreading

[anira-naeg]

Different sisters. Part 1

[asha-mage]

The more I think about it, the more I like the choice to intro Tsutama here.

For those who might not recall: she is one the three Sitters who is sent into exile as part of the cover up of the Vileness (the unlawful gentling of male channelers outside the White Tower) though her actual culpability is more ambiguous then Tovine's. She is recalled by Eladia and then replaces Galina as head of the Red Ajah circa Winter's Heart. There's also an interesting tidbit in that she is one of the Sitters who was apparently pushing for the plan to install Moiraine on the Sun Throne prior to Moiraine's flight in New Spring.

But maybe the most important thing she does is that she is the first of the Red Ajah to recognize that the Reds need to change and reform to deal with the Asha'man. She is the source of the plan to have Red Sisters bond Asha'man in Knife of Dreams and the one who dispatched Pevara and Tarna to carry out the offer to Taim.

The fact that she is pretty sincere in this is important thematically to why the Red's efforts work while the Rebel and Loyalist led efforts to deal with the Black Tower both fail. Even Egwene wants ultimately for the White Tower to gain control and command over the Black Tower, both to give the Rebels an edge and to deal with what she regards as a threat. Elaida's forces meanwhile are dispatched to crush the Black Tower as a show of strength- a way to prove Aes Sedai power, and because of Tovine and Elaida's arrogance they drastically underestimate the Asha'man and blunder right into an ambush. But Tsutama's effort is good faith- a genuine recognition that the Red Ajah needs to evolve if it is going to survive as a meaningful idea. And it bares fruit in a way the other two don't- Pevara is able to upend the Dreadlord plot at the Black Tower and form a genuine working partnership with Androl that will serve as the foundation to something that might mean actual co operation, progress, and equality between the two institutions.

Obviously she is one of the characters that Sanderson didn't have the time to return to, but I think the show's choice to highlight her is important.

[talysalankil]

i love what they're doing with tsutama

[cannoli-reader]

From what Moiraine says about the income the Tower provides, I don't think most sisters worry about it, or need a special fund from their Ajah. The point is that the Tower wants Aes Sedai to present a superior image to the world, and the Warder is part of that image. So they are going to be kept in good health, with the equipment needed to do their job and the maintenance so they don't reflect poorly on their bondholders, and by extension, the Tower. And the Reds aren't going to complain about how the other Ajahs spend money, as long as they have the same discretionary financial resources. A huge part of Ajah interactions is predicated on protecting each others' business. Nitpicking how much of the Tower's money individual sisters spend invites reciprocal scrutiny. And the Tower handing out X number of gold marks per sister each year, means the largest part of that fund is going into the Red Ajah anyhow. But this is why the Tower would NOT have a special Warder fund. They just everyone a ton of money so they can do whatever they want with it. Tsutama's clock habit means the Reds aren't in any position to complain about Kiruna or Myrelle keeping four warriors in high style.

So…does a Warder have a yearly payment or the Aes Sedai shares hers with him/her/them?and if she is a Green, does she get more with each Warder?

[markantonys]

okay, here's how gawene meetcute can still win: what if gawyn and galad are *already* in the tower when we kick off, and it's only morgase, elaida, and gaebril who arrive with pomp and circumstance later in ep2?

i saw a recent reddit post revisiting the wall of headshots that was included in a behind-the-scenes video made while s3 was in production. this poster seems to have some production experience and says that these headshots most likely represent characters who are present in s3 (so characters who were in prior seasons but aren't returning would have been removed) but that the order of headshots typically corresponds to when the character is first introduced in the overall show, not when they first arrive in the specific season. and if we look at these pics in order, we can see that indeed, everybody's placement matches when they first appeared in the show.

our final s2 character is moggy. after that, it goes into all the new aes sedai we saw during the shredding. and the very next people after them? galad and gawyn (#42 and 43, not identified yet in the image but it is 100% their headshots in those two slots). and they are followed not by morgase or elaida or gaebril, but a woman who's been identified as possibly the novice mat is showing the horn to in that one shot, and after her is possibly melaine. so we have the brothers separated out from the rest of the caemlyn crew, with at least two other new characters in between them.

so! it's possible the character introduction order in these headshots is not completely precise and shouldn't be read into too deeply (for example, some of the shredding order is not exactly correct, since jeaine enters after galina and tsutama but is pictured before them here). it's possible the two women after the brothers have been guessed wrong and are actually members of the andoran party rather than mat's novice and melaine. but it's also possible that galad and gawyn are introduced several scenes before the rest of the caemlyn crew is. (for the shredding, at least all those actresses are in the same scene even if maybe they didn't have the exact order of appearance nailed down yet when this video was taken, but why separate galad and gawyn out from morgase et al unless they were certain they would appear in an earlier scene on their own without the rest of the caemlyn party?)

i wouldn't bank on them being in ep1 since we know a good amount about that episode already and it doesn't sound like there's room for them. but if egwene perhaps ends ep1 at the tower after taking her accepted test (which recent josha comments have implied takes place *after* the bubbles of evil, so the test is probably one of the final scenes in the episode, i would think), and if the brothers show up very early in ep2, then maybe she could cross paths with them at least for one scene. if #45 is indeed melaine, maybe bair is right after her as #46 out of frame in this picture, and maybe egwene sees both of them while accidentally dreamwalking, and maybe that scene, her trigger to go to the waste, doesn't occur until after we've seen the brothers in an earlier scene, and maybe egwene is in the tower and meets them and then has her dreamwalking encounter and then goes back out to town to tell rand and aviendha that she's coming with them to the waste.

now! storywise, would it work for the brothers to have arrived separately? i think so. they could say "hey elayne, mom sent us here a few weeks ago to look for you, and now it's been so long that she's coming here herself because she's really pissed". and i HAVE noticed that in the 2 pics we have so far of morgase's grand arrival, we can see her and elaida and gaebril but the brothers are nowhere in sight (at least from the angles we've been shown), which i'd figured meant they just weren't participating in this formal meeting in the hall of the tower, but it could also mean that they aren't part of the big caemlyn party that's just arriving now because they'd already come on their own earlier.

[herenya-sedai]

Sitters in the Hall of the Tower

I was looking up various Sitters in the Companion, wondering how many of the Sitters during New Spring were still around 20 years later.

This is a list sorted by Ajah, with the year(s) they became a Sitter, whether they went to Salidar or stayed in the Tower (ie. were a rebel or a loyalist) and any other relevant info.

^ Sitter when Moiraine and Siuan were raised in 978 NE % Sitter when Siuan was raised to the Amyrlin Seat in 988 NE # One of the eleven who stood to depose Siuan + Sitter after the Tower was reunited

Blue

Anlee - ?; “Sitter for the Blue at the time of the Aiel War” ^ * Eadyth - ?; “Sitter for the Blue [...] when Moiraine and Siuan were raised” ^ * Lelaine Akashi - 962, went to Salidar ^ % +

Lyrelle Arienwin - 995, went to Salidar; went to the Black Tower in 1000 Moria Karentanis - 999, in Salidar; Black Ajah, “stilled and beheaded” in TGS 

* Anlee and Eadyth both appear in New Spring. No confirmation if either were still around when Siuan became Amyrlin. Also, a Blue Sitter was “killed in the fighting when Siuan was deposed” (WOT Companion). This could have been one of them.

Brown

Saerin Asnobar - 960, stayed in Tower ^ % # +

Janya Frende - 993, went to Salidar + Takima Deraighdin - 991, went to Salidar +

Escaralde Hamday - 999, in Salidar

Juilaine Madome - 999, in Tower Shevan Gadarin - 999-1000, in Tower

Gray

Jarna Malari - ?, Sitter during NS; Black Ajah, killed by Ishamael in 983  ^

Yukiri Haruna - ?, stood to depose Siuan, stayed in Tower * # +

Varilin Zanaire - 992, went to Salidar + Evanellein Lorn - 997, stayed in Tower; Black Ajah, killed in TOM #

Delana Mosalaine - 999, in Salidar; Black Ajah; fled in KOD, killed in TOM Kwamesa Taramasu - 999, in Salidar

Andaya Forae - 999, in Tower +

Naorisa Cambral - 1000, in Salidar, chosen to replace Delana

* Yukiri was  raised to the shawl in 867 and would have been an Aes Sedai for 111 years in 978, so she could have been a Sitter then. It’s likely she was one in 988.

Green

Faiselle Darone - 981, went to Salidar % + Rubinde - 992, stayed in Tower # + Talene Minly - 994, stayed in Tower; Black Ajah, fled in KOD #

Joline Maza - 999, in Tower; set penance by Elaida, and then “unchaired”

Samalin Naerodan - 999, in Salidar Malind Nachenin - 999, in Salidar

Farnah - 1000, in Tower, chosen to replace Talene +

Red

Duhara Basaheen - 929-953; Keeper 979-984; 999, in Tower to replace Teslyn; sent to Caemlyn to advise Elayne in 1000; Black Ajah, killed in AMOL  

Lirene Doirellin - 953, resigned / exiled in 985 ^ Toveine Gazal - 952,  resigned / exiled in 985 ^ Tsutama Rath - 964, resigned / exiled in 985 ^

Amira Moselle -  became Mistress of Novices during NS and a Sitter later (985?); stepped down when Elaida returned to the Tower in 998 * Javindhra Doraille - 985; went to Black Tower in KOD % # Pevara Tazanovni - 985; went to the Black Tower in KOD % # Teslyn Baradon - 985, stayed in Tower; forced to resign in 999 % **

Elaida a'Roihan - 998; became Amyrlin in 999 *

Barasine - 1000, to replace Duhara + Raechin Connoral - 10000, to replace Pevara or Javindhra + Viria Connoral - 10000, to replace Pevara or Javindhra +

* Too many Sitters! If Javindhra, Pevara and Teslyn all became Sitters in 985, how could Amira step aside for Elaida? Either that didn’t happen - it seems to be mentioned only in Amira’s entry in the Companion and in a Q&A, not Elaida’s entry nor in any of the novels - or else Javindhra only became a Sitter when she replaced Elaida.  

** The Companion doesn’t say Teslyn stood to depose Siuan but surely she did, because she’s Red and there’s no one else who could have. EDIT for clarification: All the other Sitters are accounted for as having stood or not having been present. There’s also a line in ACOS about how Teslyn “supported [Elaida’s] rise”.   

White

Velina Behar - 974, stayed in Tower; Black Ajah, fled in TGS ^ % #

Ferane Neheran - 981-992; 999, in Tower % + Seaine Herimon - 986, stayed in Tower % + Saroiya - 987, went to Salidar % +

Aledrin Malenry - 999, in Salidar; went to Black Tower in 1000 Berana Shamon - 999, in Salidar; stepped down when Tower reunited

Yellow

Sedore Dajenna - 961, stayed in Tower; Black Ajah, fled in TGS ^ % #

Romanda Cassin - 885-973; 999, in Salidar + Suana Dragand - 919-952; 999, in Tower

Doesine Alwain - 981, stayed in Tower # % + Magla Daronos - 985, went to Salidar % +

Salita Toranes - 999, in Salidar; resigned when Tower reunited

[deathofbachelor]

May & November

may: favorite manga and favorite anime?

okay so all manga is limited to the shoujo stuff i grew up with and they are all very close to my heart so i’m probably gonna go with cardcaptor sakura (honorable mention to tsubasa)

fave anime is at the moment, haikyuu!! because i really liked it a lot. any form of media that hits close to home will typically get me good emotionally and the character development in that show is off the charts and they also win in the character category (suga!). but if we’re talking all time, sailor moon. who are we kidding here that shit was my entire childhood i had a sailor moon alarm clock

november: if i changed my name, what would it be?

hmm i can see myself with a flower name?? maybe like violet or aster or some other shit like that

[wafflelovingbatgirl]

Also, multitasking queen, she used this talk to get Min to tell Suian about “the Highest’s” plans. Suian kicks Tsutama out to play fetch with Taim. Elaida tells Galina “oh no, we need a temporary new Highest”. Elaida is proclaimed and calls for a vote. All without lying.

I loved the Elaida-Min conversation about the burden of being a Seer. Along with the idea that Elaida had spoken with Gitara Moroso about this exact same thing.