#wheel lore

[allmightyscroll-swag]

Proud of this one so y'all are getting it.

Sometimes you gotta draw your ocs getting silly

[wessie-in-pjs]

Made my oc croatian bc I'm learning and I feel like this would help

[mrincoherent]

Character redesign

[calllynx]

Finally back to drawing her in increasingly complicated outfits

[socksandbuttons]

Can I has more Solar Flare, please?

I offer you Jack for Solar Flare.

HI MAY I OFFER YOU THESE BEAN SOLAR FLARES IN RETURN??

[sneepity-snoop-snorpity-sneep]

SWK, putting on a mask: I will conceal my face and make this industrial pipeyard my bachelor pad so no one knows its me

also SWK: *has this epic motorcycle monkey sculpture on display*

IT EVEN HAS THE SAME BLING HE DOES SIR!!!

HOW DID NO ONE KNOW IT WAS YOU

[ofthebrownajah]

Show only tweet I just saw:

I'm a show only and I'm half way through s1 and they should've already explained what the point of the Dragon is.

Maybe I'm misremembering s1 but was it not addressed in literally every episode in s1? Including the first half?

1x01: Moiraine explains that the previous Dragon and his 100 Companions broke the world in the previous Age. She tells the EF5 that one of them is the Dragon

1x02: Rand talks about how it's said the Dragon will either save or destroy the world

1x03: Dana tells Rand and Mat how the Dragon has the ability to help end all the suffering in the world and break the Wheel (granted she is a Darkfriend and is an unreliable source but she's telling the truth about Ishy's endgame though the audience doesn't know that yet)

1x04: Logain says the Dragon is meant to save the world or destroy it and how the last Dragon broke the world but he means to bind it. Again, maybe some people don't see Logain as a reliable source but when he talks to Moiraine she doesn't contest it just tells him he's not the Dragon

Oh and Alanna talks to Moiraine about how what would happen if they Gentled the Dragon Reborn before he led them against the Dark One in the Last Battle.

There's plenty here in just the first 4 episodes so I'm confused as to what more this person wants? (And I'm probably missing some things too)

Are people just not paying attention, want everything spoonfed to them, or want all the lore explained right now immediately?

[alpaca-clouds]

High Fantasy Conundrums: The Diversity Paradox

I have some thoughts on High Fantasy and the way it currently is shifting in terms of the mainstream depictions. Meaning: No, this is not about books that much. It is more about the big franchises. The stuff with money behind it. Because those have stuff in common right now. I am talking about Dungeons & Dragons, The Witcher, Dragon Age, The Rings of Power and other more budget heavy fantasy.

Many words have been written, said, and screamed into the void of the internet about how these days you will usually see diversity in those. Most notably people that are not white.

And the self-proclaimed "conservatives" (who are actually white supremacists) will cry about how those are "medieval European worlds" and that hence there should not be Black or Asian people run around in them. Ignoring, of course, how there were Black and Asian people running around in medieval Europe.

And there will be leftists, that will defend any decision in this regard, on pure principle.

I will count myself among the second kind no doubt. I think it is good and important to see non-white characters in those big franchises. And frankly, I couldn't give less of a fuck whether or not whatever writer originally wrote a book that stuff was based on did imagine the world to be inhabited by people who did not have cheese-skin. I really don't.

Especially as the entire "realism" and "historically accurate" argument falls apart rather quickly if you consider one very important fact: There were no elves in medieval Europe. There were no dragons in medieval Europe. And there sure as hell was no actual magic in medieval Europe. So... Yeah, somehow I actually do think that Black and Asian characters inhabiting those fantasy worlds is less of an issue, when it comes to stuff being "historically accurate".

And yet...

There is something about this, that still very much irks me. Especially when it comes to some recent franchise stuff, like most of what Wizards of the Coasts did in regards of Dungeons & Dragons 5e in terms of lore - and something I am starting to expect from Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

And that is the lack of any actually non-white cultures within the world - and the lack of worldbuilding in this regard.

See... High Fantasy has generally speaking one big struggle in regards of the worldbuilding. A struggle that can be found in high fantasy world after high fantasy world: For the most part, the cultural worldbuilding is often lacking. While humans are often allowed to have a couple of different cultures, everyone else is usually treated like this: "This is dwarven culture", "this is elven culture", and "this is halfling culture". There is no variation in it. The dwarves in the high north have still the same culture, as the dwarves living in the south of the continent. And while humans do have a bit more in terms of different cultures, it usually also goes in broad strokes. Like: "This is the horse culture, this is the very noble culture, and this is the peasant culture". Am I saying I am blaming Tolkien? Yeah, maybe a bit.

This is one of the reasons I fell so in love with Dungeon Meshi. Because Dungeon Meshi literally is the first time I have seen that someone actually came up with differences between different elven and half-foot cultures and stuff. And I love it.

But Kui is the one writer I can think of, that really did that.

So... Let me talk about DnD, because I know my DnD Lore and I can tell you a bit of why this is bothering me here.

See: Dungeons & Dragons has this whole ass world in the Forgotten Realms as the main setting: Toril. Toril has a variety of continents. Just as you can see:

Now, originally half of those continents did not exist, I might add. Most of them were added during 2e and 3e. Especailly 3e and 3.5e did some worldbuilding in regards of those other continents. Even though, yes, if we are honest those continents are very much: Fantasy Asia, Fantasy North America, Fantasy Middle America, Fantasy Africa, Fantasy Arabia, and Fantasy Australia (about which, I might note, we know next to nothing).

But while 3e and 4e did make some use of those other settings, 5e did something else. 5e very much reverted back to focusing on Faerûn and the Sword Coast once more. But because by the time 5e released it was 2014 in the real world, they knew they could not make Faerûn this super white world. So Faerûn became diverse. There are Black and Asian and Brown people living there now. But... culturally it stay in the "generic fantasy Europe" sphere.

And that is my issue: The lack of different cultures.

I will talk a bit more about the issues with the High Fantasy "Medieval Europe" culture tomorrow, but today let me say this: Even these days, when non-white characters will be included into those fantasy worlds, they still will only be allowed to exist within a supposedly white cultural context. They are not allowed to have a non-white culture.

While this makes some sense in prescribed worlds - so worlds based on books that never had any intent on depicting anything but their "white" pseudo-European culture (like Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time with their respective Amazon Prime adaptions), this is less the truth for worlds that are designed around whatever they represent today.

Wizards of the Coast absolutely could put some effort into creating those other continents as good, lived in settings - and allow folks from those other continents who live in Faerûn to bring parts of their own culture with them. They could pay some PoC to actually do that worldbuilding Own Voice style. You know?

And the same is true with Bioware and Dragon Age. While I am by far not as familiar with the worldbuilding of DA, as I am with the worldbuilding of DnD, I am under the impression that there is not a lot going on in terms of non-white cultures from other continents. There are non-white people hanging around in the main plot and what not, but it does not seem as if there is a lot going on in terms of them having cultures of origin. Correct me if I am wrong. Some of those cultures seem to have names, but that is where the worldbuilding ends.

And that... You know, that is an issue. Because diversity, especially ethical diversity, is not just about the skin color. It is about culture. And somehow the culture aspect of it gets ignored a lot. Doesn't it?

[mrincoherent]

Whiteboard

[fishalthor]

the wheel of time: origins - requested by anonymous

[moghedien]

actually the absolute funniest way to reveal Lanfear's identity would be for her to have a scene alone with Rand or something and in the scene there is very clearly something that looks like a cell phone in frame and its just there and it looks like a mistake that somehow never got noticed and then the scene ends with her alone in the room and she just picks up the phone and starts texting Ishamael

[chooh2]

Lyman: "Seem in an awful rush, kiddo. Where're you off to in such a hurry?" Devan: "Just... need to get away from here. Find a change of scenery, someplace I can breathe." Lyman: "Okay... Back in time for dinner I hope? Gideon's cookin' your favorite tonight." Devan: "... Don't think so, not this time."

Running From Ghosts: 2070, Vegas-bound

[draw-the-squad-like-this]

Draw your character about to throw someone

[ofthebrownajah]

Rewatching s1 with friends who've never watched it and they do actually talk a hell of a lot about how Lews Therin broke the world and how the Dragon is the only one who can stand against the Dark One in the Last Battle, and that the next Dragon has just as much of a possibility of breaking the world as saving it. I forgot that they actually do talk quite a bit about the Breaking (and all of these other things) in just the first 4 episodes

[in-memoriam-tgwk]

[the-heart-anon1]

These people were added to the wheel @the-silliest-of-goobers @syltaxerror @autismguy55 @saturns-ringg @sisigull

Comment if you’re still not on the wheel and want to be.