#grow up Gawyn

[markantonys]

today's gawynposting topic is: the "gawyn wants to be a hero" fandom narrative

i think it is complete nonsense to believe he still holds this attitude by the second half of the series, and i will fight brandon sanderson himself on it. we all know that sanderson's characterizations should be taken with a grain of salt at best, and at worst dismissed as inaccurate contradictions of jordan's characterizations, and he simply missed the mark on this aspect of gawyn's character. (in my opinion he struggled with the 3 trakand siblings even more than he did with mat, but that's another topic.) and unfortunately, recency bias makes this the general fandom memory of gawyn, even though it contradicts what we saw of him under jordan's pen.

gawyn's actual arc in this regard is more nuanced. to me, he reads as a representation of a young man who's been fed patriotic idealizations of war ever since he was a kid, and maybe at first he's eager to get a taste of real war, but when he actually does, he's given a brutal and immediate awakening as to the true horrors of war. it is nothing like it was told to him growing up, and he doesn't want anything to do with it anymore, but he's already signed up for it and so he has no choice but to keep going.

and that brutal awakening happens aallll the way back in book 4, the tower coup:

Most frightening to Min, with that blood-masked face and half-glazed eyes, with his body tensed almost to quivering and his hand upflung as if he had forgotten it, he never raised his voice or put any emotion into it. He only sounded tired, more tired than she had ever heard anyone sound in her life.

“If anything happens to them,” he said in that expressionless voice, “to Egwene or my sister, I will find you, wherever you hide, and I will make sure the same happens to you.” Abruptly he stalked a dozen paces away and stood with his arms folded, head down as if he could not bear to look at them any longer.

here min is doing what she does best - completely misinterpreting other people's behavior - but to the observant reader, it's obvious that gawyn hasn't turned into some violent, emotionless psychopath all of a sudden. instead, he's incredibly traumatized by what's happened today and has shut down as a coping mechanism. in fact, his behavior here is very very very similar to trauma behavior rand frequently demonstrates. a later line in this scene even describes gawyn as "brittle, ready to shatter at the wrong blow", aka the same analogy used for rand's whole "hardness vs. strength" arc.

as of today, book FOUR, gawyn no longer has any delusions about battle and heroism and glory. for further evidence, let's take a look at some of his reactions to dumai's wells, this time from his own point of view:

Young, as indeed all the Younglings were—many did not need to shave beyond every third day, and a few still only pretended even that—but Jisao wore the silver tower on his collar, marking him a veteran of the fighting when Siuan Sanche was deposed, and scars beneath his clothes from fighting since. He was one of those who could skip the razor most mornings; his dark eyes belonged to a man thirty years older, though. What did his own eyes look like, Gawyn wondered.

the younglings as a whole are meant to represent young men - boys, really - getting indoctrinated with patriotic ideals to make them eager to join up, and ultimately ending up dead or traumatized beyond repair because of it. these are teenage soldiers being manipulated and used by adults & institutions for their own ends, and yet fandom treats them like they're psychopathic monsters who love to murder their own mentors. jordan literally chose to name them the YOUNGLINGS, guys, like, i think he was trying to say something here.

Once he would have felt regret; he had grown up believing that if two men must fight, the duel should proceed honorably and cleanly. More than half a year of battles and skirmishes had taught him better. He put a foot on the Aiel man’s chest and wrenched his blade free. Ungallant, but fast, and in battle, slow was often dead.

Turning his bay with a sigh, he rode back down to see what the butcher’s bill had been this time. That had been his first real lesson as a soldier. You always had to pay the butcher. He had a feeling there would be bigger bills due soon. The world would forget Dumai’s Wells in what was coming.

in both of these passages, we see very clearly that gawyn has long since lost the idealization of war he grew up with. he is very aware of the true cost of war, and the prospect of future battles fills him with grim resignation rather than eagerness at more chances for Glory. he knows by the ACOS prologue that there is no glory to be found in war, only death. but he keeps on going because he feels trapped out of any other path, and because he feels a responsibility to the younglings and to the white tower.

and so sanderson's TOM passage where gawyn muses about how maybe the reason he hates rand so much is because rand gets to be a hero the way gawyn wants to be - total bullshit. as of the coup and certainly as of dumai's wells, gawyn has been thoroughly disabused of any heroic notions and has no interest at all in being a hero or gaining glory. if we think that incorrectly blaming him for morgase's death isn't a good enough reason for gawyn to hate rand for so long, then i can definitely buy that he hates him because in his mind rand is responsible for overturning the world in a way that caused gawyn all this trauma and loss of innocence and that broke his family apart, but i cannot buy that he's jealous of rand for getting to be the big hero despite being a lowly peasant.

that being said, in AMOL gawyn's characterization is more or less back on track, and his stated reason for going after demandred is because it needs to be done for the good of the last battle and he considers himself someone unimportant who can be risked for the task*. the idea that his motive is Wanting To Be A Hero is a fandom invention caused by that wonky OOC scene in TOM which apparently dictated gawyn's entire characterization forever despite 12 previous books of him not being like that.

*on this note, i came across one more line from his ACOS prologue that broke my heart: the inscription on his spyglass from morgase

“From Morgase, Queen of Andor, to her beloved son, Gawyn. May he be a living sword for his sister and Andor.”

a sword for others' use. that's how gawyn sees himself, because his own mother (along with gareth bryne and many others, i'm sure) taught him to see himself that way ever since he was a child. is it any wonder that gawyn is so self-sacrificial in the last battle without stopping to consider how his death might harm others? a sword is only worth anything if it's useful, and no one mourns it if it gets broken in battle.

of course he knows egwene will be hurt by his death because of the bond, but at the same time, he so deeply thinks of himself as disposable and as a sword meant to protect people who are more important than him that when he is put into a situation where he can sacrifice himself for a chance of saving someone more important (activating the rings which will kill him for a chance of helping egwene escape the sharans; going after demandred for a chance of taking out the person doing the most damage to the light's army without needing to risk more important people in the attempt), he's going to take it. he's a LOT like lan and rand in that way, convinced their duty is to die to protect others, but lan and rand got to unlearn that and live, and gawyn never did. and i am tired of people writing him off as a character meant to embody "cautionary tale of a mediocre white man arrogantly assuming he's more capable than he is" because that is so completely not what his character is actually about, and what his character IS actually about is really fucking sad!

#every time i gawynpost somebody inevitably 'wElL ActUAlLy'-s me with the coldest stalest takes imaginable #thus obligating me to gawynpost again! there are neither beginnings nor endings etc #gawyn trakand #wot #wot book spoilers

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Interacting with wot fandom for years through various platforms made me notice a pattern: lot of fans base their opinion on wondergirls on Mat’s views. I get it, he’s a fan favourite character (he’s my favourite,too) but he’s far from being unbiased. Often, he’s an unreliable narrator - something he has in common with various other characters.

I wanted to focus on Mat’s first view on Elayne. The first time he mentions her in his point of view, his description of her does her no favors:

She’s a pretty one, even if she does have her nose in the air half the time.

According to Mat, Elayne is a pretty, arrogant girl. A typical snob princess someone could say - hardly the first royal fictional or real person who looks down on those who belong in an inferior class.

And yet when he encounters her brothers and he recalls his interaction with Elayne, we get a totally different picture:

 He wondered if he was supposed to call Gawyn“my Lord” or something of the sort. He had refused to call Elayne “my Lady”—not that she had demanded it, actually—and he decided he would not do her brother better.

Elayne - who is arrogant according to Mat- has no problem with him talking to her casually without referring her with her title. Despite the fact that growing up as a princess she is used to people referring her with honorfics basically her whole life.

Also, keep in mind that during that time Mat had barely interacted with Elayne. He met her at Falme and spend time with her - and the rest of the wondergirls- on their journey to Tar Valon. However, due to the dagger's influence he spend a large amount of the journey being ill and unconscious. They weren't friends at this point, and yet Elayne had no problem with that stranger boy - who is just a friend of a friend- to casually talk to her without honorfics. That indicates that she's the opposite of the way Mat describes her.

Unlike Mat, we have access to other information from books (like for example Elayne being very friendly from her first meeting to Egwene or her worrying over Mat's illness) that further prove that she isn't a self centered, pompous girl but a good natured, friendly and empathetic one.

It's s not the last time Mat misinterprets Elayne and/or her actions. So, I don't think we should treat his views as gospel truth.

#elayne trakand #mat cauthon #wheel of time #the wheel of time #wot book spoilers #the dragon reborn

[pillowfriends]

my thoughts on the WoT characters after book 5

before I start posting Lord of Chaos thoughts, I wanted to sum up what I think of the characters after The Fires of Heaven (and New Spring) so I can look back on it later. I’m sure I’m missing some, just listing everyone I have thoughts on.

Alanna: I have my eye on her after those sus forced bonding comments… time will tell but I don’t trust her at all. I like her though, she’s fun.

Asmodean: he was funny as hell, what a pathetic guy, and had objectively the most hilarious death in the series so far.

Aviendha: this is probably the character I have the least complicated feelings about. I just like her. she’s funny, she’s badass, her relationship with Rand is great.

Birgitte: a hot bicon. every word that comes out of her mouth is gold. she’s such a bro.

Egeanin: standout side character to me I love her so much. yes girl unlearn your cultural biases! and be unhinged and horny on main!! she better come back!!

Egwene: girl I want to like you but you're making it so hard 😭 as a character she's great. as a person I'm struggling with her dumbassery and her superiority complex and the way she's treating Nynaeve.

Elaida: she’s cringe and bad at her job but I kind of stan. she’s doing her best and it is absolutely not good enough and she’s being puppeted by the Black Ajah and only succeeded at deposing Siuan because a bunch of teenage boys stabbed people for her. I can’t even be angry at her tbh.

Elayne: book 5 was so great for Elayne. she's maturing a lot and she really shot up the list for me. her interpersonal relationships are so funny and I love how excited she is about making ter'angreal.

Faile: maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder but I miss her and want her back. she was so silly but also loved Perrin so much and I’m such a hopeless romantic that I loved the sappy parts.

Gareth Bryne: this man is a CREEP!! Siuan get AWAY from him! ugh ugh ugh. and I know it’s only going to get worse.

Galad: unfortunately this man is one of my favorite character archetypes. I didn’t vibe with him at first but now I really do.

Gawyn: I want to put him in a paper shredder. I am so angry at this man even after a full book to cool down post-coup. please let me deck him. I do think my feelings will change but right now I’m still angry as shit.

Graendal: problematic queen. do I think RJ will do anything interesting with her, probably not, but am I intrigued, yes.

Lan: THIS MAN BREAKS MY HEART DAILY. ohhhhh my god. not normal about him.

Lanfear: hmmm complicated feelings about book Lanfear. I found her introduction painful and annoying - it’s way too obvious - but she improved and I do love how crazy she is. it didn’t really sink in for me until her conversation with Rand in Tear that she’s delusional and obsessed with LTT to the point of being completely out of touch with reality, and therefore v scary. TLDR I love her now. RIP gone too soon.

Leane: I have no idea what’s cooking with her, I just have to RAFO. I’m either going to think she’s an icon or get angry at RJ for being sexist and I don’t know which.

Liandrin: the balls on this woman are actually insane, trying to Compel Moggy. she’s way too cartoonishly evil to be really interesting though. but she makes so many sexually charged dog references which I love tbh.

Logain: he’s fine I guess. hard to tell where his story is heading and he kind of hasn’t done anything.

Loial: he has never done anything wrong in his entire life, he's perfect and I love him.

Mat: I've come around and I like him now. his memory stuff is really interesting and so is the way he interacts with fate/the Pattern.

Melaine: best Wise One I love her so much.

Min: she’s never clicked with me as a character and I think her motivation is kind of dumb and repetitive. I also really dislike how salty and disrespectful she is towards Siuan but that has to do with my personal issues about the Siuan plotline so I can’t totally blame her for that.

Moghedien: I NEED to put her in a petri dish and poke her with a stick. girl you are not subtle about your petplay kink. somehow she’s scary and pathetic at the same time and I just love her a lot.

Moiraine: I can’t even put it into words. she’s my everything.

Morgase: I feel so fucking bad for her, her POVs were horrific, what a survivor. I'm excited for when she gets a bigger plotline.

Nynaeve: my favorite character who’s on page at present. first of all she has a Forsaken collared. second of all she’s so angry and I love angry women. also she has no self awareness which makes her POVs very amusing, but also sometimes devastating — I love her struggling with fear and her perceived cowardice in TFOH.

Perrin: I constantly forget he exists. not in a bad way but not really in a good way either - he’s just bland to me.

Rand: he is my idiot baby boy. go insane faster please it’s interesting.

Rahvin: good riddance you creepy fuck. not even awful in a compelling way to me, just awful. good as a character, well-written, but AAAA.

Siuan: her arc after being stilled is distressing to me and I don’t like reading it - her loss of power and influence, the way the other Aes Sedai all treat her, the sexual harassment… so I have a hard time separating that out from Siuan herself. I’m… torn. I love some of her scenes and some feel very out of left field. we’ll RAFO again.

Suroth: GIVE ME MORE. her POV was fascinating and she’s so awful.

Thom: against my best wishes, I actually like him now. he’s so dad coded and protective of Nynaeve and Elayne, and a badass, and has a good sense of humor.

Verin: what an icon!! favorite Aes Sedai bar none now that Moiraine is gone.

[inevitably there will be a part 2 when I realize I forgot some really obvious people]

#wheel of time

[an-s-sedai]

So I've already seen some comfort headcannons about if the girls actually got to go to Gawyn's nameday ceremony (which I adore), and it made me think of another fun comfort only scenario to give our girls a break. Can you imagine if after ALL the STUFF at Falme, instead of going straight on to the Threefold land (which I'm kinda thinking the show is gonna do to before the Stone in Tear arc) the Wondergirls actually do get sent back to the Tower because Siuan is adamant they need some more training before she sets them loose to hunt BA for sport. (And like. Egwene needs some serious time for Healing and RECOVERY). And they're chilling at the Tower learning all they can, stoking their little revenge fires and growing their friendship powers, until Moiraine shows up a few months later to sign Elayne out. And they get to have a very formal, "Hello, Aunt. What brings you to the Tower?" / "Yes, hello, Elayne. You look well. Your instructors tell me you're learning quickly." etc because Moiraine is TRYING to be better at difficult relationships etc. And anyway we get to the point eventually where Moiraine informs Elayne that she's gotten permission to take her to Cairhein for Barthanes's wedding to the Queen. And Elayne is like, "right of course. It makes sense for Andor to send a delegation..." and Moiraine is like "no. I was hoping we'd just go because we're family." And Elayne is both relieved and excited because, "In that case, can I bring my friends? They're pretty much like my sisters at this point..." And Moiraine who is remembering that in the first year of her own novice experience she'd only managed to befriend a mangy street dog and a very saucy Tairien girl, says, "Of course." without realizing of course that the 'friends' Elayne is referring to are Nynaeve and Egwene who are just. So thrilled. At the prospect of another road trip with Moiraine. 🤣🤣🤣

Anyways, long story short, I'd like to imagine the girls going with Moiraine to Barthanes's wedding for more auntie Moiraine, wondergirls fun, Damodred drama and absolutely NO harrowing trollock or seanchan attacks allowed. Please and thank you! :)

That's a really cute idea! I genuinely struggle to picture Moiraine reaching out to anyone familially...she just built different in my head, but I love the weird stretch this notion just did to my brain!

#aunt moiraine and the wondergirls' totally normal roadtrip #wheel of time #wot on prime #graysedai #ask

[jackoshadows]

Rafe’s Q&A on twitter

And on here courtesy of u/crowz9:

Q: Will we see more than one of these cities in season 2? Cairhien, Tear, Falme

A: Yes

Q:  I have to ask. Gawyn (and I guess the lesser brother Galad) actually beat Mat in the warder training yard in the show right? Theres no way they lose on screen is there?

A:  This is an iconic scene from the book and we are building to a believable version of it in the show.  Hopefully.  Ha.

Q:  I have a cheat question about season 1. What was the biggest change in episode 8 that was brought by COVID restrictions compared to what you had originally planned?

A:  The thing I like the least was we originally had Egwene using the Wisdom skills she’d learned in the pilot from Nynaeve to help her after the channeling in Fal Dara.  But last minute Covid changes on the day didn’t allow for the same amount of touching so it got switched and I (melting face emoji)

Q:  How much has the making of process changed in between seasons especially with how the pandemic affected season 1?

A:  It’s certainly affected us in ways both huge and small, but by the end of Season Two it had become so second nature that MULTIPLE TIMES I poured a coffee into my mask and was confused why it didn’t go into my mouth

Q:  What’s your favourite scene with Donal Finn, and why is it him blowing the horn?

A:  #LetDonalToot is now the rallying cry of a generation

Q:  Which books make it into season 2?

A:  Pieces of 1,2 and 3.

Q:  Blink twice if we see more than one Forsaken!

A: (two relieved face emojis)

Q:  How far into the books will this season take us, know the EF5 are much more split up than EotW

A:  We are trying to get a fair amount of what’s done in Books 1-3 (large parts still being held for later) by the end of S2 so that S3 can be a much closer adaptation of TSR

Q:  In comparison to season one, how much queer rep is there going to be?

A:  It depends on how many great memes you churn out.

Q:  When will Rand’s luscious curly locks return?

A:  Ask @joshastradowsk1 He should be growing them now :)

Q:  Maybe you can open with an explanation of why you had the entire seanchan ever victorious navy unleash everything they had on a poor little girl on the beach, or how you had the forces of Fal Dara hard charging the BACK OF THEIR OWN DEFENSIVE FORTIFICATION.

A:  That girl had it coming.  So did the entire coastline and all its cities

Q:  Is Liandrin’s friend a <ahem> North Harbor friend, a Darkfriend, or both?

A:  I wouldn’t tell you even if you used a weave of compulsion

Q: Why did you guys decide not to make the dagger instant death like the books? How did Loial survive being stabbed by *the* dagger?

A:  That’s a story best told in a stedding

Q: describe S2 using only alcoholic beverages please

A:  Spiked Kaf

Q: Do the Seanchan still use the ball gags on the Damane?

A:  I’ve never seen a ball gag on a damane

Q: Pretty sure I saw Uno in the behind the scenes - interested in how that is possible after last season...

A:  He’s breathing.  Watch close

Q: Can you tell us how much you will be expanding on the forsaken in this season?

A:  It’s a big point of difference from the books in S2.  We will spend more time with any Forsaken who’s in the show, more how the later books treat the Forsaken than necessarily Books 2 or 3 did

Q: Hopper?

A:  THANK YOU.  WHY IS NO ONE EVER GIVING HOPPER THE RESPECT HE DESERVES.  OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: HOPPER IS IN S2

Q: favorite Season 2 two person scene with only the character names and no more

A:  Egwene Renna

Q: Since most of the main characters split up geographically at the beginning to tGH, will the next seasons keep them on parallel timelines for a convergence at Falme? In which case, the Portal Stones left a time gap of ~4 months for Rand's group; easier to do on a page or on film?

A:  Time gaps are very difficult moving to the medium of television with the stories intercutting, but we try to do as much as we can to avoid one hour cross continent dragon flights

Q: favourite type of gin, and also, can you drop a hint about something you're looking forward to us seeing in season 2?

A:  Your pic makes me excited about where Liandrin’s character goes in S2.  We are so so lucky to have the amazing  @katefleetwood in the show and you will love, hate, and love to hate her LiLi

Q:  Any hints on Moiraine’s journey in season 2? A:  It’s much expanded from her Book 2 story. But built out of the core of that and of a couple relationships that were not explored in the books

Q:  Did everything happen as planned this season or did you guys have to change anything (as in the last 2 eps of season 1)? A: There were unforeseen changes as we shot S2 immediately after wrap of 107 and 108.  But that’s making television.  Anyone who tells you there weren’t unforeseen changes on their show is lying

Q: Are you sticking with the fun cold opens? A:  Yep!   It’s our ode to the out of POV chapters in the books and we will always have them

Q:  What new character/actor are you most excited to introduce us to? A:  There are so many — Aviendha, Elayne, others that have been both announced but not announced, and of course Bayle Domon

Q:  Does Mat get to wander the Tower practice yard, and do we learn of Jearom? A:  Get your Origins on!!!

Q:  Will we get “Do you like to dance, Perrin Aybara”? A:  Yes.

Q:  Can you tell us what role Xelia Mendes-Jones will play please A:  Xelia is playing the role of knocking their scenes out of the fucking park every time they stepped on set.

Q:  Which new cast member gave you the best “Yep! THAT’S _(insert character name)_!” moment in season 2 filming? A:  I think this moment will be in the first or second trailer of season 2.  It lives rent free in my mind at all times

Q:  How many episodes will@Season 2 be? If only 8 again, will they be longer? A:  They are longer than first season, but yes, still only 8

Q:  Are the Wheel of Times Origins cannon to the tv show or just a pretty (amazing) side piece where the stories of origins aren’t the mythology used in the show? A:  Canon

Q:  which character had his plot changed the most compared to the books? A: Mat.  But we try to bring the characters back to where they should be by the end of S2.

Q:  What is the journey like for Moiraine and Lan in season 2 with their bond still masked A:  Another big departure point for us from the books is making much more story for Moiraine and Lan.  We aren’t sitting these two amazing actors on the bench for a season, so we take what’s in Book 2 for them and expand it in a huge way.  That’s all I can say.

Q:  please tell us gawyn won’t be likable please please please you can’t do this to me A:  I love every character I write.  I think you have to find a way to

Q: Will weaves appear the same in the coming season(s)? Congrats on S3 btw! A:  They’re getting a bit of a revamp for S2.  Threads and colors and bears oh my.  But no bears.

Q:  First off, G&T is divine. Second, I want to know if you get more chances to expand the dialog more to let us see the characters better? A:  We are always trying to.  Lots of one on one scenes that didn’t get shot or didn’t make the cuts.  But I’m always fighting for them, I think that’s where the characters really live or die, and our actors can always deliver when it’s just 2 people in a room talking

Q:  What was the scene you dreamed of bringing alive the most and have you filmed it yet? A:  That scene is in the final episode of the show

Q:  Is the Darkfriend Social gonna be in the show? A:  Yep

Q:  Does Rand get his Red and Gold outfit this season? I can’t wait to see Josha officially in it A: (smiling face with open hands emoji)

#The Wheel of Time #Wheel of Time #WOTonPrime #Rafe Judkins #season 2 #Q&A

[butterflydm]

wot reread: new spring (chapters 1-4)

spoilers for new spring and as far into the main series as knife of dreams

NS is actually going to end up having at least one more post than expected, because despite being shorter than CoT & KoD, NS feels a lot more substantive.

1. Jordan is pretty good at these evocative setting descriptions and helping the reader feel what the environment is like by what the character is feeling. Lan Mandragoran is currently thinking about the dangers of fighting the Aiel and this chapter is about introducing us to this younger version of Lan but it’s also about fixing us in time -- the Aiel have poured over the Spine of the World, have already destroyed Cairhien. It’s nearly but not quite time for the prophecy that kicks off Moiraine’s search for Rand.

2. Lan thinks about how he avoids Aes Sedai as much as possible, because of how it’s said that they tie strings to people and seldom care who they use up in their schemes. Something that is really sad to me about the book series, and something I hope maybe the show can change, is how Lan probably thinks just this thing about Moiraine again now, after what she did with the bond. Moiraine blames her and Lan growing apart on him getting attached to Rand and Nynaeve, but she is on the same side as Rand and Nynaeve so their goals were aligned. She’s the one who burned the bridges between them by not respecting Lan’s choices and making plans ‘for him’ rather than making plans ‘with him’. The relationship between Aes Sedai and Warder seems more balanced in the show so far, so I’m interested to see where they take Moiraine and Lan’s relationship in the future and how that balances out against his growing relationship(s) with Nynaeve and Rand.

3. We meet one of Lan’s teachers, Bukama, and we learn here that Lan was trained to be a silent warrior from a very young age. Raising a child all their life to fight in a doomed war is... honestly pretty depressing. It certainly makes sense that this was his childhood, given what we know of who he is in the main series, though. Bukama is one of the five warriors who survived the journey out of Malkier, when Lan’s parents sent him away to safety as the Blight swallowed up their country. We learn that even though he was sent away as an infant, Lan still thinks of Malkier as his home and feels the pull to go north. We also learn that Lan’s teacher believes that all the Aiel are sworn to the Dark One. Yikes, bro.

4. We are currently two years into the Aiel War -- Cairhien has been burned and... okay, the geography here is confusing me. Lan thinks about how the Aiel went through Cairhien, then they apparently swung south into Tear and the west into Andor, and now they’re attacking Tar Valon... from the west? The only way this makes sense is if they are following the fleeing King Laman. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. And no one currently fighting knows that they’re just here to kill this one guy -- they are just assuming it’s a full-scale invasion (though we know it was just four out of the twelve clans).

5. “What Aes Sedai knew, they held close, and doled out by dribbles and drops when and if they chose.” Honestly, this is actually the Aes Sedai trait that bites them in the ass the most, once we get to modern times. Moiraine was trained to keep secrets and manipulate people politically first as a Cairhienin but then refined it as an Aes Sedai, and (not always Aes Sedai! There’s a lot of people who keep secrets) secrecy causes a lot of issues throughout the series. A brief list of things that it Would Have Been Nice To Know:

If Siuan had been open and honest with Gawyn and Galad, neither of those boys would have fallen into bad company. They are dedicated heart and soul to Elayne -- USE THAT instead of stonewalling them.

If Moiraine had been honest with Rand instead of playing games with him and encouraging his other advisors to leave, lots of issues in future books could have been avoided. I’ve talked about this one multiple times in my reread.

No one ever tells Rand anything, especially if they are Aes Sedai. In general, people try to ‘manage’ Rand instead of communicating with him like a person (yes, I am VERY MUCH including Min in this; Min is constantly ‘managing’ Rand instead of talking to him like a grown-up).

iirc, Rand is also stonewalled on Elayne’s activities in Tanchico, told that they’re “Aes Sedai” business, despite them being actively and entirely related to him. The entire reason that Elayne and Nynaeve go to Tanchico is to address a danger to RAND and yet he only gets the tiniest morsels of information about what happens there.

Egwene & Moiraine refused to give Rand any details about Salidar (not even the name), which leads to him massively underestimating their numbers and sending Mat in with an offer to help them that they just find offensive and terrifying, and which eventually ends up with Mat getting trapped in a crappy marriage with a slaver instead of being Rand’s general.

Instead of trying to send a message back to Rand, ever at any point, Egwene sends Mat off to Ebou Dar with Elayne and keeps his army as long as she can. Egwene never tries to contact Rand to create an alliance between the rebels and the Dragon Reborn -- it was pre-Egwene Salidar who sent the embassy to him, and it’s Rand who sends first Mat and then Merise & Narishma to try to talk to Egwene (as of KoD).

Elayne, Nynaeve, Egwene, and Min apparently never told anyone on Rand’s side after Falme that the sul’dam are capable of channeling too and that the Seanchan are completely unaware that channeling learners are a thing that even exists. Min doesn’t tell Rand this even after he starts fighting against the new invasion of the Seanchan. This is something that would have actually made her relationship with Rand have a point, if she’d given him that information when it became relevant. (I do understand Egwene not mentioning it - a. because of The Trauma and b. at that point, they didn’t have any reason to believe the Seanchan would be back any time soon). Like when I realized in TPoD that Rand didn’t know about the sul’dam secret, I’m pretty sure I actually blue-screened in my reread. HOW was it even possible, I wondered!

...did they ever even tell Moiraine or Verin? Or was this literally a Wondergirls + Min secret until Rand sent the sul’dam/damane pairs to Elayne and she told the people in her storyline? Like, a lot of secrets, I understand why people keep them even if I wish they’d be more trusting with their allies. But this is a secret about AN ENEMY that would greatly weaken them if it were publicly known - it should be trumpeted far and wide! Elayne should have sent out a public proclamation from Caemlyn after she escaped Ebou Dar! EVERYONE on Rand’s side should know about this! There’s no reason to keep it a secret! The only people keeping this a secret benefits are the Seanchan military & nobility! Honestly, I feel like the only reason that the sul’dam secret stays a secret is Jordan putting his finger on the scale in favor of the Seanchan, because it makes zero tactical sense but it sure does give them an advantage!

Elayne, Aviendha, Nynaeve and their various hangers-on never tell Rand that his best friend was left behind in enemy territory. I guess Rand probably eventually figured out that SOMETHING WEIRD happened with Mat going to Salidar but no one has ever told him the story. That’s his best friend! WTF, guys!

On Rand’s side, he doesn’t tell Elayne and Aviendha that he’s going to cleanse saidin. Literally baffling choice on his part. I understand keeping it a secret in general (before it happens) but not from literally two of your romantic partners.

Now, to a certain extent, secrecy is understandable, especially since there are Black Ajah in the White Tower. But if you can’t trust the Dragon Reborn not to be a Darkfriend, then you (and the whole world) are screwed anyway. So much of this ties back to Jordan’s apparently firm belief that men and women find communication with each other incredibly difficult and hazardous at every turn. But also it feels like Jordan didn’t know when to stop. Same thing with Rand’s downward spiral tbh. It felt like he knew how to make it worse but didn’t know how to make it better (which is why I very much doubt he could have actually finished the books series in fewer pages than Sanderson managed and suspected it would have been a GREAT DEAL longer tbh). He was just addicted to people not talking to each other.

6. Lan notes that it seems like every thousand years, some huge war happens -- a thousand years after the Breaking of the World was the Trolloc Wars. A thousand years after that, it was the War of a Hundred Years after Artur Hawkwing’s Empire fell. And there are rumors that the Dark One was involved in that war as well. And he’s thinking that this Aiel War is the current Next Horrible Thing but little does he know that the Last Battle is scheduled to happen in his lifetime. ~dramatic irony~

7. But Lan’s belief that the Dark One is directing all these great wars is why he came south and pledged to fight against the Aiel, and he no longer believes that the Aiel are servants of the Dark One, so he’s doubting his reasons for being here now (but he’s made an oath, so he’ll stick it out to the end).

8. Lan struggles with an internal culture clash -- the way he was raised in the Borderlands tells him that the recently arrived Tairen Lord who has come with a message about a new battle plan is behaving extremely rudely and making it impossible for Lan to respond to him properly as well. Because the Tarien Lord didn’t offer his name, Lan believes that he can’t ask the man his name without sounding boastful so he just... never finds out the guy’s name. Lan is so upset by how rude this guy is being that he needs to find the ko’di (the oneness; what Rand was taught as ‘the flame and the void’) so that he doesn’t fly off the handle. Nameless messenger rides off. We also learn here that apparently Borderlander culture is nearly as big on dueling on Ebou Dari culture is, as challenging people to duels for being rude is a thing up in the Borderlands. I feel like we were not given this info in the main series.

9. Interesting! Lan thinks about how there are some Malkieri in the consolidated forces against the Aiel but Lan will not lead them. Part of how he feels like he has to face his burden against the Shadow alone, I’m guessing? (a bad habit that he passed on to Rand while training him)

10. ...does Lan have a beard? I could have sworn that a beard has never been mentioned, but he thinks of a kid here as a “beardless youth”. The kid is apparently a “cheerful killer” and an archer of rare skill.

11. Okay, Lan is currently in sight of the White Tower itself during this battle, it seems. That wasn’t entirely clear until now. He’s three leagues away from Tar Valon. He sees Dragonmount and thinks about how it is a mountain of prophecy, a prophecy of hope and despaired that would be fulfilled “one day”, but he definitely doesn’t believe that it will be any time soon.

12. Ah, Lan here is able to ignore the cold, and the ‘trick’ that he uses is just “the oneness”, but used in a slightly different way. I guess that’s what it was meant when we were told that it was simply a matter of concentration.

13. The Aiel who are coming (at least twice what Lan was told they would be) spot Lan among the other soldiers and recognize him. I don’t think we’re ever actually told why the Aiel care enough about Lan to give him a special name. They don’t normally care about the wetlands, so why would they mark the fall of Malkier? A mystery! Anyway, the Aiel don’t attack, probably because they killed Laman and it’s time to go home, but they don’t explain that to anyone. They just leave. It actually kinda sounds like Lan might have been set up to die here and the plan only failed because the Aiel had accomplished their task? Hmm.

14. We shift gears and head into the White Tower to ‘meet’ Moiraine Damodred. She is inside the White Tower, in the Amyrlin’s sitting room along with her “closest friend” Siuan Sanche, and she is also very cold. We learn that she’s an Accepted and that, even from inside the White Tower, she can smell the smoke from the burned villages around Tar Valon.

15. Since the war began, the Accepted have all been confined to the Tower grounds. Moiraine is frustrated and feels like she has a right to know how the war is going, since her uncle is the one who started it all. In addition to Moiraine and Siuan, the other two people in the room are Tamra (Amyrlin Seat) and Gitara (currently Keeper for the Amyrlin and the person who, before she came back to the White Tower, set up the events in Andor that would lead to the creation of the very person she’s about to have a Foretelling about). Moiraine has a lot of admiration for Tamra -- a leader that she sees as fair and just, and often kind.

16. Gitara, on the other hand, Moiraine views as usually fair and always just... but never kind. She’s believed to be over three hundred years old, which is old even for Aes Sedai. Moiraine notes that both Gitara and Tamra seem nervous -- Gitara has spent the last four hours ‘writing’ a letter (mostly staring at blank paper) and Tamra has been reading the same page for hours as well. They had not been nervous when she’d seen them yesterday. This is also the third day of fighting in the area of Tar Valon. Gitara and Tamra are the only two full Aes Sedai currently in the Tower -- the rumor is that the rest of the Aes Sedai are out helping heal their wounded soldiers, who are getting injured in great numbers.

17. We get our first Moiraine/Siuan “aaah” moment in the book when Moiraine sees Siuan smiling at her and notes that it turns her face from “handsome to pretty” and makes her clear blue eyes twinkle. We also learn here in a side note that white is color of mourning in Cairhien, which I’m not sure we ever learned in the main series. The two things that Moiraine found most difficult when she was a novice was wearing white all the time and learning to rein in her temper (so both Moiraine and Lan are established here as having tempers that they must keep reined in).

18. Moiraine/Siuan “aaah” moment number two: “Siuan had that gift, making her smile when she wanted to frown and laugh when she wanted to weep.” She and Siuan have some things in common: they are both orphans (mothers died when they were young; fathers have died in the time since they entered the White Tower) and both were born with the spark. The differences between them are more substantial -- culturally, “wealthy” Moiraine comes from a place that respects Aes Sedai and she was given a “grand dance” in the Sun Palace to celebrate her departure for the White Tower; while “poor” Siuan comes from a land where channeling is outlawed and she had to leave on a ship for the White Tower as soon as her channeling was discovered. Siuan also has full control over her temper, is good at puzzles (Moiraine is not), hates horses (Moiraine is a horse girl), and Siuan is a much quicker learner in all things outside the One Power (which they learned at an equal pace). Moiraine and Siuan both completed their novice training in three years, which only one other woman has ever done (”detestable” Elaida). Elaida also completed her Accepted training in a record three years and Moiraine and Siuan hope to outdo her in that.

19. Moiraine/Siuan “aaah” moment number three: “Moiraine was all too aware of her own shortcomings, but she thought that Siuan would make a perfect Aes Sedai.” Awwww. She has so much admiration and affection for Siuan.

20. The sound of hundreds of trumpets comes from the battlefield and Moiraine is told to go and see if there is news, while Siuan makes tea. Moiraine has just returned to report there is no news, when a terrified Gitara bolts to her feet and has her Foretelling (about Rand): “He is born again! I feel him! The Dragon takes his first breath on the slopes of Dragonmount! He is coming! He is coming! Light help us! Light help the world! He lies in the snow and cries like thunder!” Then she slumps into Moiraine’s arms and dies. Tamra orders the both of them to tell no one about Gitara’s Foretelling -- as far as they are concerned, she died without speaking.

21. lol, the way Moiraine describes how drafty the White Tower is, it sounds like a misery to live in. Aaah moments number four: Siuan suggesting having breakfast not because she herself is hungry but just to keep Moiraine company if SHE’S hungry.

22. Moiraine thinks about how glad she is that the White Tower hasn’t rubbed away all of Siuan’s rough edges -- they’re a part of her (moment #5). She also thinks about how Siuan is a natural leader and she’s glad to follow her (moment #6) and that she believes Siuan will be a Sitter and an Amyrlin in the future.

23. Genuinely SO sad for Siuan’s lost dreams here? She wants to travel! She wants to explore! She wants to see what’s beyond the horizon! (sadly, it’s just slavers beyond that horizon). Moiraine feels a pang of sadness at the idea of Siuan going off on her adventures alone, without Moiraine (moment #7).

24. haha, hilarious! Gitara’s Foretelling LITERALLY SAID he “takes his first breath” and yet Moiraine thinks about how it means that the Dragon Reborn will be born “soon”. Pretty sure it just happened, Moiraine. I get why she thinks that. It is called a FOREtelling, but it’s funny.

25. Getting some very nice and useful description of what the White Tower looks like here. The Wondergirls spent so little time in the White Tower itself, comparatively speaking -- only a handful of months (yet still so much more training than any of the boys get). Moiraine and Siuan have been there for over three years at this point, learning things. Honestly, one of the big things that tripped Jordan up in the series was that the timelines really got skewed because the boys were all tripping into leadership without doing training beforehand, while the two female characters who become leaders spend a lot of time doing pre-leadership stuff. So by the time Egwene is ready to be Amrylin and Elayne is ready to be Queen, so much of Rand, Mat, (and especially) Perrin’s storylines have already been burned through, so they ended up just treading water while Elayne and Egwene do their leadership arcs.

26. I like this dive into Moiraine’s opinion on the Prophecies, because that’s going to be what influenced the way she treated Rand once she found him: that the Prophecies say he will fight the Dark One but do not say if he will succeed. That it is known that he will channel tainted saidin, which means that he will go mad and thus she worries that the Dragon’s victory has the potential just as bad as the Dark One’s victory, though she reassures herself that it must be better, if only slightly. Actually a lot of the characterization that we see in the show’s Moiraine is laid out here in New Spring. In general, between this and the still-alive Siuan relationship, it does feel like Rafe kinda gently lifted the NS!Moiraine and placed her into EotW!Moiraine.

27. Moiraine now thinks about how few women occupy the White Tower in comparison to how many it was housed to hold -- less than half of the rooms for Accepteds are filled, while back when the White Tower was at its strongest, the rooms held two women to a room, so the White Tower is essentially operating at a quarter of the strength that the founders planned for it to use. The waning influence of the White Tower is a fairly large and looming plotpoint for much of the main series -- the reforms that Egwene wants to make would return the White Tower to the numbers that it once used to boast. The White Tower is failing, Moiraine thinks to herself. But she also thinks: “The Tower taught its students to live with what they could not change too. But some things were important enough to try even if you were sure to fail.”

28. Moiraine and Siuan are so emotionally close that Moiraine feels a ~tingle when Siuan channels (moment #8). "The tingle was unusual. Women who spent a lot of time together in their training sometimes felt it, but the sensation was supposed to fade away over time. Hers and Siuan’s never had. Sometimes Moiraine thought it was a sign of how close their friendship was.”

29. They are also pranksters (though it’s a common thing in general, to relieve the tension of how stressful the training is). They pranked Elaida harder than anyone else, because of how hard she was on them during their novice lessons, holding them to impossibly high standards. They had one year with Elaida when she was still an Accepted, then one where she had the shawl, and then she was gone. So, wow, Elaida became Morgase’s advisor after only being Aes Sedai for a year? And she’s been gone from the Tower for years now but Moiraine still thinks of her as The Worst (tm).

30. Moiraine and Siuan practice for the test to become Aes Sedai and we learn the details of how the test works -- the student must create a hundred different weaves “perfectly and in a precise order while under great stress” and maintaining complete calm. So the ‘Aes Sedai coldness’ is essentially their last great test before they become Sisters. They have to be able to focus and remain calm despite provocations. I have so much curiosity about how these traditions got started, because I’m pretty sure this test is yet another “ter’angreal that was originally created for another unknown purpose but, hey, we figure it works well enough for this” like the one for going from novice to Accepted. But I feel like some kind of testing was certainly in place back in the Age of Legends, because the Aiel Wise Ones also test using a ter’angreal.

31. It’s interesting to hear about how difficult it is for them to use more than one or two weaves at once, because I’ve gotten used to being in Rand & the Wondergirls PoVs, who are all massively powerful by comparison and are able to split their flows much more easily. And, of course, Moiraine herself is much better at it twenty years from now as well. Hmm, I also wonder if these intricate “useless” weaves are possibly handed down from before the Breaking unchanged, because they don’t “require” hand gestures (which none of the weaves do, but the current Aes Sedai believe that they do). Creating beautiful weaves for the sake of being beautiful and not for any particular purpose sounds like art and not survival-mode (as things tend to be in the current Age).

32. Which takes me to a tangent on which weaves survived. Healing in particular, it’s fascinating to me that the big Healing weaves didn’t survive, only the most basic ‘battlefield’ healing. The one that was less intricate, that was easier to teach and easier to use, because it didn’t require as many flows being divided? Or Traveling and Skimming... those, I wonder if they perhaps got lost because the Breaking of the World changed the landscape so much that the weaves for Traveling and Skimming stopped working for a time. But also, so many of the most powerful channelers who could handle those ‘big’ weaves likely died in the fighting and, then, in the aftermath of the counterstroke and the Breaking of the World.

33. Yikes! Moiraine thinking here about how the Dragon Reborn would need to be gentled after he wins the Last Battle. “A grim fate, to save the world if he could, then for reward be cut off from this wonder [of using the One Power]”. Moiraine and Siuan are talking here about how likely it is that the Red Sisters would be able to hold back from gentling even the Dragon Reborn, as there are rumors that they don’t try very hard to take men who can channel alive. She thinks about how it should count as murder but she can almost understand why it doesn’t, given how destructive men who can channel end up becoming (due to the taint on the Source).

34. I feel like Jordan pulls a bit of a retcon here when he notes that Myrelle thinks that the Last Battle might be coming due to the presence of the Aiel outside the Waste. IIRC, we don’t really get any hint that the Aiel are believed by any Sisters to be involved in the Prophecies when Moiraine is arguing with Rand back in The Shadow Rising. But here, it’s said that Sisters have been arguing over the subject back and forth since the beginning of the Aiel War.

35. One of the ways that Siuan attempts to distract Moiraine during their practicing for the shawl test are “embarrassing caresses” *wiggles eyebrows* (moment #9).

36. Our next White Tower cameo is Tarna. She spent nine years as a novice, and has few friends. She’s come to tell them that novices and Accepted have a free day from classes today, because Gitara has died. Luckily, this means that Myrelle assumes that this is the ‘secret’ that Siuan and Moiraine were hiding from her.

37. Ah, interesting, Moiraine thinks here that getting Tuatha’an novices is just as rare as getting Atha’an Miere, but we (the readers) know that the Atha’an Miere are deliberately hiding from the White Tower how many channelers they have and how strong those channelers are by only occasionally sending relatively weak in the Power women to make it look like they just don’t have the talent at the Power. With the Tuatha’an... we’re told that “they did not want to channel or become Aes Sedai” and if anyone is discovered to have the spark, she is immediately taken to the White Tower, so that puts a darker spin on them being so eager to live in Seanchan lands in KoD. Perhaps they’re fully willing to throw their poor sparkers at the Seanchan as the blood-price for the rest of them getting to live protected. Also, Verin is shorter than Moiraine, which I hadn’t known before!

38. Oooh, Tamra’s secret hunt for the Dragon Reborn is that she is offering a ‘thanksgiving’ bounty to any woman who gave birth “between the day when the first soldiers arrived and the day the threat ended”. The Accepted are to be sent out to try to record the names of all these women and their information. We’re reminded that Whitecloaks are currently part of the consolidated forces and “if he can safely put an arrow through [an Accepted’s] back, it will please him as much as if she were an Aes Sedai”, so the threat of the Whitecloaks was present twenty years ago as well. That’s another place where it feels like the show drew on New Spring for inspiration. Moiraine thinks “when an Aes Sedai went out into the world and vanished, as sometimes happened, the first thought was always the Whitecloaks. The Children called Aes Sedai Darkfriends and claimed that touching the One Power was blasphemy punishable by death, a sentence they were all too willing to carry out”. And Moiraine and Siuan are the only two here who know that Tamra is sending them out to try to find the Dragon Reborn.

39. Ah, Moiraine gets a ‘getting ready for traveling’ scene here, like she does in the opening of the show, including making sure to bring her dagger with her. I am reminded of how much Jordan liked to describe clothing in great depth, though. I have to admit, I absolutely skim over his descriptions of clothing most of the time, because I just. Don’t care that much lol.

40. I have to admit, when I originally read this in publication order (which was between CoT & KoD), I’m pretty sure that it made going into KoD make me despise the Seanchan even more deeply, because of how we get to see the inner workings of the White Tower and get to see more of the people that the Seanchan/Tuon will remorselessly brutalize in twenty years (this thought came to mind as I ran across a mention of Edesina, who is one of the Aes Sedai who came with Mat out of Ebou Dar). I must profess my PROFOUND bafflement that Jordan could choose to write the Seanchan storyline the way that he did in CoT & KoD in Perrin’s and Mat’s storylines and yet, in between those books, he wrote this prequel which showcased the complicated humanity of all of these women that Tuon and her Empire want to strip of their rights and freedoms. What was going on in his brain? How did he reconcile writing NS with having Mat genuinely feel like he “more than likes” slaver empress Tuon (who he is still terrified will enslave him, personally) and Perrin thinking about what a likable person his slaver BFF Tylee is (while she’s in the active process of enslaving people)? Baffling. CoT & KoD just... screwed over all the momentum of the Seanchan storyline, presumably all for the sake of a spin-off series that will never happen.

41. Moiraine bought a horse for herself to celebrate being made Accepted and she’d wanted to buy Siuan one as well (moment #10) but anti-horsegirl Siuan refused the offer.

42. lol, Moiraine disses on the random Andorans in Tar Valon so hard. “stubborn, overproud, and they lacked imagination”. And you’re gonna get stuck with five of them in the future! lol. She hates how plainly they dress, too, in comparison with people from other countries. We also get a very loving description of Tar Valon here (pg 69-70, for reference). Moiraine feeling so awed at actually being allowed to leave Tar Valon even though she’s still only Accepted is another fascinating contrast against how not-normal Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne’s experience in the White Tower was.

43. Yeah, the brazenness of the Whitecloaks here, momentarily blocking Moiraine & Co’s path out of Tar Valon, very much reminds me of the angle that Rafe took with the Whitecloaks in the first season.

44. “After six years practically in one another’s belt pouches” (moment #11). And Moiraine makes Siuan blush here. We see that they help keep each other in check and from going too far, when necessary.

#wot #wheel of time #wot reread #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #moiraine damodred #siuan sanche #siuraine #new spring #lan mandragoran #i am ready and willing to read something that has literally zero seanchan characters in it #i need a break from them #knife of dreams

[aceofthegreenajah]

Wheel of time Season 2 Episode 5 Liveblog - no spoilers edition! Will make a reblog with spoilers in it.

Nice. Good of them to show more of Seanchan, that there is a hierarchy where Suroth is pretty high but NOT at the top.

You couldn't have bought out the horn before Suroth was disgraced Ishamael? That is not how you win loyalty from your subordinates.

Just take the horse with you!!! Dammit. I hate animal death. Also why would Lanfear take a horse anyway? See, there she gets another one it was useless anyway.

Yeah give my unhinged girl a hovercar if you won't let her travel by magic!

They are his pack edmond field 5 FOREVAH (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) Also Elyas lying to him is not cool

No more Elyas?? :(

Will hopper follow/go with?

Oo clever of Moiraine and Rand

Yeah Rand has a lot to deal with

See! Hopper! Good boy! He is so cute *★,°*:.☆(￣▽￣)/$:*.°★* 。

Why a seanchan in a cage?

AVIIIIII Damn her cage is too small to fit her gigantic personality in it

WHO IS THIS? Dain! That makes more sense than my first quess

Valda hello beloathed hey please let Avi out you'll deserve anything that happens after

Almost black over red on Liandrin. They keep being so clever.

Did Ishamael give Liandrin a time limit to convert Nynaeve? And not we're on to plan B? That would make sense of her actions and expressions! Love this for us.

I don't know what people are complaining about eyebrows or no Suroth is so pretty

Suroth Are you stupid he isn't of the blood BECAUSE HE IS OVER 2000 YEARS OLDER THAN YOUR BLOODLINE OBSESSION

Yeah Perrin save the living first

Someone loves their shaky cam in this show WHY

Aviendha is SO COOL damn this fight is good. She's unarmed and kicking ass!

'He gave you water' is such a good line here

Aww poor Uno left behind but I get it

Barthanes? Is that you? It is. He looks nothing like I imagined but you know what, I like it!

Galladran is in the show, ok.

'my liege' good try at distraction!

That was unnecessary detail on that 'on the switch' stuff Verin says, but on the other hand, little rebel Verin is a cute enough thought that I'll forgive it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sheriam's life flashing before her eyes here

Good on you Verin!

Gawyn namedrop, compulsion loredrop. Compulsion was one of my guesses on what Lanfear was starting to do to Rand at the end of e4, but on the other hand, it doesn't quite fit...

Detective Verin ❤❤❤

Our master - good good everything becoming clear

YEAH I was waiting for Liandrin to do something! She was primed to! She likes Nynaeve and they built up their relationship so well, she hates Suroth and the Seanchan and everything they stand for, and Ishamael was away so he wasn't here to catch her in the act!

Love Avi's costume. She is so pretty. She is so perfect.

'It is not a lover, wetlander' is so good, and I hate a little how she continued. You just met him! Like good that she's not prudish and maidens are, well, so I guess I'll take it.

Avi and Verin and forsaken I am so blessed.

Who is this guy watching Elayne and Nynaeve?

Nynaeve and Elayne clashing is canon but I hate it. Nynaeve PLEASE I know you're panicking but she's Egwene's friend too and she's keeping a cool head!

More head trauma for our girls. Couldn't have handled that any other way?

Liandrin being smart and thinking ahead with her alibi.

Ah here comes the homoerotic Ishamael/Rand stuff I was expecting. I am cackling here.

OO Ishy+Lanfear hanging out?

Ah he's trying to drive Moiraine to the dark.

Lanfear backstory now???

I dig the collar design. Such a small innocious thing when not in use, grows into this huge thing. And leash of power + an actual leash!

Oh this makes sense. They can't avoid sleep forever anyway so might as well see what Lanfear wants and not weaken themselves unnecessarily.

Lanfear you so dramatic.

#wheel of time #wot on prime #wot2.5 #wot show spoilers #wot season 2 spoilers #wot liveblog #liveblog

[jaqobis]

okay i’ll do a PROPER THOUGHTS POST about AMOL and total series thoughts at some point — everything is still sinking in! — but let’s do a fave characters ranking first. i am 500% sure i’ve forgotten someone i really care about, narrowing down to top 10 was hard lksmdfls

in approximate order!

1. egwene al’vere, my girl, my love, the light of my life! i may never love another character as much as i love her. amyrlin of my heaRT. every time i try to go into more detail about my love i just descend into incoherent babbling so we’ll just have to wait till my inevitable 92304 word metas about her arc slkdfjs

2. rand al’thor, this was SUCH a close second. i love rand and egwene about equally tbh, but she inches out juuuuust that little bit. that said: my boy!! my sad little doomed chosen one trying his best and sometimes committing war crimes along the way!

3. elayne trakand, INCREDIBLY SATISFYING STORYLINE, wonderful mad scientist queen, love every minute around her. huge chaotic bi energy. politicking GENIUS.

4. nynaeve al’meara, angriest healer of my heart!!! wish she had more to do in the back half of the series but every moment she’s on screen is a banger.

5. mat cauthon, gently puts a hand over his post-winter’s heart material. fantastic gambler with a heart of gold and too many knives, hilarious lad, love how badly he wanted to be in any other novel series than this one.

6. aviendha, LOVE HER! love her sense of honor, love her romances with rand and elayne, love how much she grows and learns from her experiences.

7. moiraine damodred, MEAN MAGIC MOM!!!! thrower of incredible shade. sets up the MOST dramatic venue for her “death.” did not ask for all this child-wrangling but the wheel weaves as the wheel wills. what an icon.

8. verin mathwin, RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MOST BALLER REVEAL IN THIS ENTIRE SERIES and that is NO SMALL FEAT. when this woman commits she coMMITS. incredible show-stopping amazing.

9. gawyn trakand, look. look. i’m care him. he is trying his best and his best sucks so much sdklfsjls MORE SERIOUSLY i feel like some of his more frustrating issues are reflective to broader issues around the writing in the last few books of the series and i can’t blame him, specifically, for them. he has some really swoony moments with egwene and i’m too much of an arthuriana nerd to NOT be compelled by an ill-made knight

10. loial, son of arent son of halan. I MEAN, NATURALLY!!!!! i’m so pleased he gets to write his bOOK, i hope he gets some nice restful chill time at the stedding after all this time away.

#wheel of time read #wot book spoilers #wheel of time #words

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 38: Practice

While this particular picture was of course taken by Entertainment Weekly, it comes to me by way of "hotzxgirl.com" and was labeled "Eye of the Tar Valon | Hot sex picture". Spoiler alert! Unless you have a lot of very specific fetishes, this is not a hot sex picture. It also doesn't even depict anything that happens in this chapter, but that's not going to stop me is it? What might stop you if you don't like spoilers is the knowledge that if you keep reading, you consent (in a hot and sexy way?) to get all sorts Wheel of Time spoilers from all over the series.

This chapter has a Flame of Tar Valon icon now that we're back in Tar Valon. It's been awhile! Four or five in-world months and like... fourteen chapters, I think?

She knew how easy it was to touch saidar now. She could always feel it there, waiting for her, like the smell of perfume or the feel of silk, drawing her, drawing her. And once she did touch it, she could rarely stop from channeling, or at least trying to. She failed almost as often as she succeeded, but that was only another spur to keep on.

Untainted, saidar is naturally a much bigger draw for channelers than its twin. It's also a great mindset Egwene has as a student, especially since she is also a bit concerned by her growing addiction as well. Unlike Rand, she knows damn well she's going to be a daily user.

Three short paces took Nynaeve from wall to white-plastered wall; Nynaeve’s own room was much larger, but since she had made no friends among the other Accepted, she came to Egwene’s room when she needed someone to talk to, even as now when she did not talk at all.

This is such a mood.

“Else was making calf’s eyes at Galad today while he was working with the Warders,” Min said, rocking the stool on two legs.

It's funny how Min so naturally recreates the described conditions of Emond's Field for Egwene, being the latest eyes-and-ears reporting on a woman's movement towards the gentleman Egwene has picked.

It's also clear build-up for that pairing that Jordan abandoned later on down the line in favor of Egwene/Gawyn and Galad/Berelain. It's nice and somewhat more realistic though, that unlike most of the other main characters, Egwene doesn't find her true suitor immediately.

He’d hurt a person because he had to serve a greater good. He wouldn’t even notice who was hurt, because he’d be so intent on the other, but if he did, he would expect them to understand and think it was all well and right.

This is the thing that separates Galad from being an actual fucking saint, the way his big picture focus hides him from the little details.

War in Cairhien. War on Toman Head. They may have caught the false Dragon in Saldaea, but there’s still war in Tear. Most of it is rumors, anyway.

A nod to the Gospel of Matthew, which says that a sign of the end times is wars and rumors of wars. Guess this is just what you have to expect from all the comings of Rand.

She had not dreamed about him in months, now, not the kind of dreams she had had on the River Queen. Anaiya still made her write down everything she dreamed, and the Aes Sedai checked them for signs, or connections to events, but there was never anything about Rand except dreams that, Anaiya said, meant she missed him. Oddly, she felt almost as if he were not there any longer, as if he had ceased to exist, along with her dreams, a few weeks after reaching the White Tower.

Obviously it's a bit silly to talk about abandoned ideas UNDER abandoned ideas, but one wonders if Jordan had originally intended for Egwene to stop being a dreamer at the end of the series, the way her initial foray here is so intimately tied to Rand's presence in the world.

That sent a chill through her, as it never failed to do, the thought of Rand being gentled, Rand weeping and wanting to die as Logain did.

Here the reader is reminded that though there's Mirror Worlds out there where Egwene gentles or kills Rand, they're not her true self and in any case those Egwenes were probably just as devastated as the real one would be to be backed into such a corner.

“I’m sorry, Min,” Nynaeve said in a tight voice. “Sometimes my temper. . . . I can’t ask you to forgive me, not for this.” She took a deep breath. “If you want to report me to Sheriam, I will understand. I deserve it.”

A nice bit that shows that Nynaeve's a good person who just has some issues, but it's also funny to note that Nynaeve is demonstrating she's exactly the sort of person Galad assumes everyone would be under the circumstances.

With murmurs of “forgiven” that sounded meant on both sides, the two women hugged.

Gosh Nyneve and Min are fun together. It's a real shame they won't really get to hang out much until Rand's practically having his Sith armor made.

A man who drove oxen as hard as they drive us would be shunned. I am tired all the time. I wake up tired and go to bed exhausted, and sometimes I’m so afraid that I will slip and channel more of the Power than I can handle that I. . . .

I expect that training in the AoL was still rigorous but nowhere near as exhausting and that much as battlefield first aid is the only kind of Healing still left, the only sorts of instruction that survived through the Breaking were something like the Hell Week stints before final examinations. And then naturally they never bothered to see if there was a less grueling method.

“The Traveling People are tempting,” Nynaeve agreed, “but wherever you go, it will not change what you can do. You cannot run from saidar.” She did not sound as if she liked what she was saying.

Somewhere far away, Moiraine is laughing and she doesn't know why.

Min shifted on her stool. “I don’t like reading friends,” she muttered. “Friendship gets in the way of the reading. It makes me try to put the best face on what I see. That’s why I don’t do it for you three anymore. Anyway, nothing has changed about you that I can. . . .”

Poor Min probably's been burned once or twice with a friend she thought she could trust with the secret of her power, only for the thirst for knowledge to overcome any actual relationship. It must really suck now that her friends aren't just channelers, who always have omens, but specifically the plot relevant ones.

Before she reached it, though, a dark-eyed Aes Sedai with her blond hair done in a multitude of braids stepped into the room. Egwene blinked in surprise, as much at it being any Aes Sedai as at Liandrin. She had not heard that Liandrin had returned to the White Tower, but beyond that, novices were sent for if an Aes Sedai wanted them; it could mean no good, a sister coming herself.

Especially not since the danger omen probably triggered specifically the moment Liandrin set out to the rooms.

“Do you have some word of Rand?” Egwene asked eagerly. Liandrin arched an eyebrow at her. “Forgive me, Aes Sedai. I forget myself.” “Have you word of them?” Nynaeve said, just short of a demand. The Accepted had no rule about not speaking to an Aes Sedai until spoken to.

1. Egwene why would you think a Red showing up to give you news about Rand is something to ask after eagerly?

2. Nynaeve would have acted exactly the same way she does here even if she were a Novice.

“Someday, I am sure, you will serve a cause, and you will learn then that to serve it you must work even with those whom you dislike. I tell you I have worked with many with whom I would not share a room if it were left to me alone. Would you not work alongside the one you hated worst, if it would save your friends?”

I wonder which Black sisters in particular Liandrin doesn't like. Are the 12 who run off with her included? Any non Red/Black combo?

(Also by "Someday, I am sure, you will serve a cause," she means "Next Tuesday at the latest you'll be slaves", just saying.)

You two come from their village. In some way I do not entirely understand, you are connected to them. Beyond that, I cannot say.

Surprisingly, all of this is entirely truthful. I mean, yeah the first sentence is obvious, but the second sentence means "I am not able to question my masters as to why you're important but they say you are" and the third sentence means "I'm bound by the Oath Rod not to betray their secrets anyway".

“You have my permission. Tell no one. No one at all. The Black Ajah walks the halls of the White Tower.”

Speaking of being bound not to reveal secrets, there's three options for how she pulls this off:

1. The straightforward one is what she says below, that with Tarmon Gai'don approaching this can't be denied any longer. Presumably this would be an executive decision by Ishamael or at least Alviarin and not something Liandrin is able to decide on her own.

2. Her explanation is merely a way of hiding her allegiance. The truth is she knows that Siuan and Moiraine know about the Black Ajah and possibly others and thus she no longer considers the Ajah's existing a secret that has to be held close.

3. As above, but instead of Siuan and Moiraine being the catalysts, Liandrin feels that the certainty of these girls dying as damane, utterly cut off from any way to spread the knowledge, still counts as holding the secret close and thus she can disclose it. As this is the closest to traditional "villain monologuing to a hero caught in a death trap", it's my preferred one.

“She is Aes Sedai,” Nynaeve said dryly. “I’ll wager my best silver pin against a blueberry that every word she said was true. But I wonder if we heard what we thought we did.”

Quite possibly everything she said was true, which means that the Black Ajah has been getting ahold of any letters Moiraine is sending to Siuan in confidence. Pretty alarming how deep the rot goes!

I can’t even go for a walk without the Amyrlin herself popping out and asking me to read whoever we see. When that woman asks you to do something, there doesn’t seem to be any way out of it. I must have read half the White Tower for her, but she always wants another demonstration.

Siuan is probably trying to get a handle on what's going to happen in the Tower in the lead up to the Last Battle, though unfortunately Min's symbols are far too esoteric for them to make any sense of at this point - and don't show up until they're set in stone anyway. Whatever hopes she had of Black Ajah hunting by this method must be roundly dashed by now.

I’ll bet we won’t either of us cry ourselves to sleep on an adventure.

And here comes dramatic irony with the steel chair!

I can see the danger around all of you more clearly, now. Not clearly enough to make it out, but I think it has something to do with you deciding to go. That’s why it is clearer; because it is more certain.

I think Min's on the right track but missing a little bit here. The certainty is tied to the vector of danger: Liandrin and the Seanchan. If the girls did refuse, ran to Sheriam, and told all, they might not leave the Tower at all (at least not Elayne; maybe not the others if Sheriam's out of the loop about Liandrin) and would instead have the uncertain danger of the backup plan of the Black Ajah looming over them instead.

However much she might argue beforehand, once a course of action had been decided, Nynaeve always went right to the practicalities: what they had to take with them, and how cold it would be by the time they reached Toman Head, and how they could get their horses from the stables without being stopped.

Being Village Wisdom, the only way to be effective is to worry about the practicalities, even if the woolheads on the Village Council have decided to do something stupid and won't listen to you. It'll be a trait that helps her out later too, when she's a queen.

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #egwene al'vere #nynaeve al'meara #min farshaw #elayne trakand #liandrin guirale

[spectrum-color]

There was a post going around here a few weeks ago about the EF5 each having a dark Forsaken counterpart, which is a cool idea, but the one with the most obvious Forsaken parallel is actually a secondary character.

Gawyn and Demandred. A man who believes he’s destined for greatness but always ends up trailing behind Lews Therin/Rand al’Thor and grows incredibly bitter about it. This would have been more obvious I think if Robert Jordan had finished the books, as I doubt Gawyn would have had that weird moment where he suddenly becomes super self aware and introspective and gets over his issues with Rand without even speaking to him, but it is definitely there. It would at least give Gawyn something to do toward the climax of the series other than repeatedly fuck up on minor things and annoy Egwene. It would also make Demandred, a villain with a ton of potential who just kind of fizzled out and was only in the last book, more interesting (Justice 4 Taimandred!) So yeah this was def a thing and more should have been done with it.

#wheel of time #wot #wot book spoilers #gawyn trakand #demandred #the forsaken #gawyn has a lot of unrealized potential #either in his one sided rivalry with rand pushing him in a more and more hostile direction #or being a good person who ends up on the wrong side of the schism #but none of the books fully commit to either #so he just ends up looking indecisive and like he has no internal compass

[of-stardust-and-wanderlust]

Growing up in hiding, Gawyn learned to lie at great personal cost. Their tall frame, visible tiefling traits, and glinting gold armor pieces makes it impossible to fully blend into the background, but they offset this by projecting intimidation and saying as little as possible.

Though they default to being taciturn, they can channel hotheaded arrogance, suave charm, biting coldness; whatever it takes to manipulate the people around them to their best interests.

However, just beneath the thin veneers lies a deeply haunted person who can’t speak openly about their many secrets. They are slow to trust and struggle to maintain longer-term relationships, but they can’t shake the craving for company and community that has dogged their hoofsteps from the moment they left home.

-

Full body art of my first DnD character, Gawyn (they/he pronouns)! I’ve been playing him for almost six months now, during which time I have drawn portraits of basically his entire family and novelized the campaign (55k words and counting...)

If you do have any questions/want to learn more about him, my ask box is always open <3

#tiefling oc #not free to use #yes I did say 'first' I do have already have another pc who is a cat so if you read tags and you wanna see... hmu

[markantonys]

fuck it, proposing an s3 episode-by-episode structure even though we barely have any info to go off of, because i'm bored and yearning for s3 news. can't wait to see how wrong this ends up being! i can't emphasize enough how much this is just me completely inventing structure ideas because, for real, we barely know ANYTHING yet, so do not latch onto anything i say here.

we know 4 episode titles so far, so i've included those.

3x01: to race the shadow

A-plot: the gang in falme

lots of relationship-building between various dynamics, especially rand & elayne (just friendship with Crush Hints for now) and nynaeve & lan (ring scene maybe)

rand and egwene's final breakup

mat's luck established during a gambling scene

mat goes through the doorway in turak's room of curiosities, is told to go to tanchico, gets his marriage prophecy & medallion & ashandarei, and gets cpr from rand

elayne and nynaeve learn something about liandrin that points them towards tanchico

rand decides to go to the waste and egwene does too after speaking with amys in her dreams, and perrin goes with them because he has no other plans as of yet

B-plot: aes sedai politics, catch up with siuan, catch up with liandrin

3x02: a question of crimson

i'd always hoped this would be a caemlyn episode, and the title points to that imo!! perfect title for elaida's intro episode, and red is andor's color as well.

so, A-plot: rand, egwene, perrin, et al pass through caemlyn on their way to the waste

egwene has been tasked by elayne with delivering a letter to her family; rand insists on coming with her; they trespass in the caemlyn palace and meet gawyn, galad, morgase, and elaida

i don't expect a forsaken here just yet, i think it's important to see Normal Morgase and Normal Caemlyn first so that we have a contrast later once they ARE under forsaken control.

perrin hears rumors of trouble in the two rivers and decides to split off from the group to investigate, with loial, bain, and chiad accompanying him

the rest of the group reaches the waste at the end of the episode

B-plot: nynaeve, elayne, and mat arrive in tanchico (they split off from the others in falme and go straight there, no caemlyn trip for them)

C-plot: more white tower stuff

3x03

A-plot: rand in rhuidean + general intro to the waste (rand's focal episode)

B-plot: perrin arrives in the two rivers and gets situated

C-plot: continued tanchico shenanigans, maybe they run into thom and/or min and/or tuon (who is undercover for reasons) if they didn't already in 3x02. my guess is min has been kidnapped out of cairhien by liandrin, who knows min figured out she's black ajah and doesn't want her to snitch, so maybe at some point in the early episodes there's a plotline of mat, elayne, and nynaeve rescuing min from the black ajah, and after that point min joins their scooby gang (because she's got a personal vendetta against liandrin now and also she wants to re-earn mat's trust and prove herself).

an alleged leak puts mat, thom, and min all in tanchico, so that's why i have them in this plotline. it's also why i have tuon in this plotline, as i can't think of a strong reason to move mat from the waste to tanchico if not to incorporate elements of the ebou dar trip and have him meet tuon who is filling an egeanin-type role.

3x04

A-plot: nynaeve encounters moghedien in TAR and almost dies but is saved by birgitte, whom elayne saves by bonding her as a warder (this whole sequence is the midseason climax at the end of the episode)

mat gets into some kind of shenanigan with tuon and they grow closer, but neither knows the other's true identity

B-plot: elaida, gawyn, and galad reach the white tower and start investigating elayne's disappearance and clashing with siuan

C-plots: the waste gang doing their thing, learning about aiel ways, developing avirand, etc; perrin doing his thing in the two rivers, meeting faile if he hasn't already

i could also easily switch 3x03 and 3x04 so that 3x04 is the rhuidean episode. just depends if they throw rand right into it like TSR does or if we get a General Waste Intro episode before sending him off to rhuidean. but based on a combination of leaks, we do just about know that the glass columns visions are during block 2 (eps3/4).

3x05

A-plot: perrin in the two rivers, maybe digging more into the whitecloaks, padan fain, laila trauma, luc/slayer, wolves & TAR, relationship with faile, etc. (potentially his focal episode)

B-plot: cold rocks hold stuff for the waste gang

C-plot: continued tanchico shenanigans; continued white tower politics

3x06

A-plot: alcair dal, asmodean identity reveal & capture

B-plot: some kind of tanchico conclusion. maybe this is when tuon finds out some of her new buddies can channel (and possibly even that sul'dam, and she herself, can channel) and heads back to the seanchan with Much To Think About. maybe the black ajah make their exit from the season to shift full focus onto Final Boss Moggy.

C-plots: perrin prepping for battle; continued white tower politics

3x07: goldeneyes

A-plot: perrin defending the two rivers (perrin's focal episode, unless it's instead an earlier one that's less about a major battle and more about his internal life as a character)

B-plot: tower coup? i'm very unsure where in the season to place this, i could see it at any point in episodes 6, 7, or 8. kinda doubt it would happen earlier than ep6 because i'm not sure if that would allow us enough time to build up to it, especially since major coup players like elaida and gawyn are being introduced for the very first time this season so we need decent time with them before shit goes down (plus, it just naturally feels like a Late Season Climactic Event). the head writer of 1x06 & 2x07 (aes-sedai-heavy episodes) being the head writer of 3x08 could potentially indicate that the coup happens in 3x08, but she is also an executive producer so it's not like aes sedai politics is The Only Thing she knows about.

C-plots: the waste gang travels back to the wetlands, rand learns from asmodean; tanchico crew takes a sea folk ship to the eastern part of the continent (same city where waste gang is headed)

3x08: he who comes with the dawn

A-plot: the climax of the waste crew's plotline, potentially a battle in cairhien or tear, but that may cause Battle Fatigue if 3x07 has just had a big battle. maybe this could point towards their destination being tear and them taking the stone in somewhat more of an infiltration operation like in TDR, as opposed to the more traditional battle for cairhien in TFOH? just to mix things up a bit with perrin's traditional battle in the prior episode.

okay yeah i'm leaning towards tear, plus there was the leaked alleged sammael audition script (i trust no audition scripts after the phony gawyn one from s2 lmao) where the person he's talking to is demanding to know where "it" is. so my vision is that sammael's sitting comfy in tear, rand & co launch an infiltration operation to take the stone, rand finds sammael and demands to know callandor's whereabouts, and sammael ultimately flees to continue causing trouble in a new location in s4.

A-plot part 2: the tanchico crew gets involved with the infiltration operation, and nynaeve battles & defeats moghedien AND breaks her block (if she hasn't already, that could be a good Early Win to include around ep5-6 ish)

after all this stuff is done, there is a Final Final confrontation with moiraine and lanfear getting yeeted through the doorway; nynaeve bonds lan straightaway rather than his bond going on a noncon detour to alanna

post-battle checkin with perrin, but not a ton of time with him in this episode

final stinger: our buddy tuon from tanchico is shown dressed to the seanchan nines and being addressed as the daughter of the nine moons. gasp, mat's fated wife is our buddy tuon from tanchico, who is in fact a high-ranking seanchan noble! dun dun dun!!!!!

elephant in the room: "emily, why are you having rand in the wetlands for 3x08 when an episode called 'he who comes with the dawn' would obviously be about alcair dal?" listen, i know, but i typed up this whole post before i found out about that episode title and was too attached to it to change it lmao plus, i genuinely can't think of enough for rand & co to do in the waste for 6 entire episodes. i could see an argument that they chose this episode title as a general "yeah that's a baller title for a season finale about rand coming into his own in a big moment" rather than as a specific "this episode focuses on rand coming into his own in a strictly-aiel-related way" (see: 2x07 just being about general political shenanigans rather than literal daes dae'mar). rand pulling callandor from the stone while surrounded by his aiel followers could still be a "he who comes with the dawn" moment, okay!

so i will leave this post as is, but if indeed 3x08 only takes us up to alcair dal (and the moiraine & lanfear yeeting which i think will be this episode no matter what), that actually doesn't change my structure too much. basically it'd just be slowing down both the waste & tanchico crew's plotlines and having their climaxes be still in the waste & tanchico respectively, and then we can do a travel timeskip between seasons and have s4 open with the waste crew taking tear or cairhien and the tanchico crew meeting up with them there. i do strongly believe that mat, elayne, and nynaeve will join up with rand & co for s4 and skip their whole salidar/ebou dar detours, because that positions mat to form the band and have his Dragon's General storyline in s4, positions elayne to spend time with rand and aviendha and potentially join rand in retaking caemlyn and then just stay there to start her succession, and positions nynaeve to spend time with lan in the immediate aftermath of moiraine's "death" and then join up with elayne's or rand's future storyline. for these 3, salidar & ebou dar are filler sidequests rather than Main Story storylines imo and it could be quite efficient to cut those out and just distribute the handful of Main Story elements from them into other Main Story storylines.

#wot #wot book spoilers #wot show spoilers #half the fun of speculation is being able to see how completely wrong i was once the season actually comes out jkfgh

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Attempts

Thorns & Jasmine

In which Caldyn tries to create something, while Craig wants to destroy someone.

Warnings: Dream/Nightmare, broken bones, captivity, dehydration, whipping, multiple injuries relating to previous torture

This one is one of the missed days of his captivity - between Silence and Water.

This one is also a fill for my BTHB.

Previous | Masterlist | Next

“It's only a little hole!”

Caldyn craned his neck, to look at the roof above him. From outside, he could barely see the spot where it was leaking. Last night’s storm must have blown a branch or something onto it, tearing it open. In the morning he had awoken to a puddle of water on the bedroom floor.

“Yes, but a huge fall.”

Gawyn had his arms crossed, staring at Caldyn instead of the roof, a disapproving look on his face. He was good at that, and Caldyn was good at ignoring it.

“Not that huge,” he said, taking a step back. “It’s barely more than twice my height. And I won’t fall,” he added.

“You’re not even a shaper!” Gawyn called after him as he went to grab a nearby wooden log, leaning it against the wall. “What are you gonna do up there?”

“That’s what I’ll find out,” Caldyn replied. The wooden log firmly — firmly enough — propped against the wall, he started to climb on it. “If I can’t fix it, you can still call a shaper.”

He grabbed the edge of the roof, pulling himself up. His legs swung dangerously in the air for a moment, until he managed to hook one foot into a vine. Pushing and grasping and dragging, he made it onto the roof, pausing as soon as his second leg was up.

“But —” He panted. “So far out, that might take days, so I’ll give it a try, alright?”

“Might as well, since you’re already on your way to breaking your leg.” The annoyed tone of Gawyn’s voice couldn’t hide the concern behind his words.

“I’ll be fine,” Caldyn said, casting a glance down to where Gawyn was standing. From up here it really looked rather high, so he turned his attention back to the roof instead. Crawling on all fours, he made his way up to where the hole was, sensing the path ahead to make sure the structure would hold him.

The house was a good one; sturdy and vibrant. The roof inclined upwards, but it wasn’t too steep. Steep enough to make him tumble down like the rain water it was supposed to repel, so he tried not to slip. Flat on his stomach, his feet propped against the roof, Caldyn reached for the hole. His fingers traced the edge where the leaves and vines had been torn apart.

Healing was easy. Everything knew what shape it wanted to be, and he could guide his energy to help with that; closing wounds and restoring strength. But he didn’t have to heal the plant around the hole, he’d have to shape it to cover it anew. That was harder. In fact, he didn’t know how to start. 

With a quiet hum, Caldyn traced the edge once more, reaching out with his magic to probe it here and there. The faint thought that he couldn’t remember ever hearing of a life mage who was both a healer and a shaper was pushed aside by curiosity. Perhaps it was impossible, but if it was, he wanted to find it out himself.

Time passed. How much, Caldyn couldn’t say. He was absolutely absorbed in this puzzle of finding out how to use his magic to make something grow. It didn’t seem all that impossible to him, just so different from what he usually did. He sent out his magic, probing, trying, sensing. The house and the plants it was grown from weren’t exactly resisting his effort. It rather seemed like they didn’t know what to make of it, his energy dissolving uselessly. There was enough around him to draw on, should he need to, but that wouldn’t be the case for a while. And perhaps he’d stop before it would come to that, but not yet.

A few times he almost succeeded, losing the grip on his magic at the last moment. Then, finally, a little leaf sprouted. Caldyn laughed, turning to the side, as if he still expected Gawyn to stand where he had last seen him hours ago. Not surprisingly, Gawyn wasn’t there any longer. What was still there was the visual reminder of the considerable height he was sitting at. Grasping the edges of the hole, Caldyn decided to focus instead of calling for his partner yet.

More hours passed. It was slow, and difficult, but he succeeded in letting some more leaves and vines sprout. Guiding them to grow over the hole, to intertwine and connect, he eventually managed to close it. It didn’t look very professional, and he wasn’t sure if it would hold all that long, but they wouldn’t end up getting wet feet should it rain again tonight.

“Gawyn! I did it,” he called out, not sure if his partner would be around. Seeing that the sun was already moving towards the horizon made Caldyn realize how late it was, how long he had been up on the roof. No wonder he was this exhausted. He’d have to get down first, celebrate his victory later.

Caldyn tried to crawl backwards, but his limbs were stiff from the long time he had sat still. His foot searched for purchase, but slipped off. Unfortunately, with the hole gone, there was nothing for him to hold onto. As his hand uselessly searched for grip, he slid down, slowly at first, then quicker. A surprised yelp was all he managed as he tumbled over the edge of the roof, followed by a muffled groan.

“Caldyn! Are you alright?”

Hurried footsteps accompanied Gawyn’s words. Caldyn’s reassurances died on his lips, replaced by a pained groan as he tried to get up. He… probably wasn’t. Flopping back down, breathing heavily, he tried to find out where the pain was coming from.

The gnarly root pressed into his back was painful, and would probably cause some bruises, but it was nothing bad. The dizziness he felt was most likely due to his use of magic than any real injury. His left arm, on the other hand…

“I think my arm’s broken,” he said through clenched teeth, trying to figure out a way to move without moving much at all, so he could examine it.

Gawyn knelt down next to him, reaching for him. Strong arms lifted him off the root digging into his back, pulling him against Gawyn’s chest. Despite the pain in his arm, Caldyn sighed with relief.

“Didn’t you say you won’t fall?” Gawyn said, tone gruff, but the meaning behind it worried.

“And you said I wouldn’t manage to shape.” Caldyn hissed in pain as he shifted, until he managed to rest his arm on his core. “Guess we were both wrong.” 

“Should have called a shaper anyway,” Gawyn mumbled under his breath. Then, louder, “Think you manage to heal that?”

“I think so.” Caldyn made no attempt to start trying. He needed a moment to calm down and gather his energy. He had spent most of it in his attempt to fix the hole, so he probably would have to reach out to the forest’s energy to heal himself. It was an idea he disliked.

“So… why don’t you?”

Caldyn sighed, leaning his head against Gawyn’s shoulder. He took a deep breath, taking in the scent of coconuts and fresh grass.

“I’m tired. I need a moment,” he said. “You don’t have to stay.”

Of course he wanted him to stay, but it might take an hour or two until he’d manage to focus on his magic again. It was probably unreasonable to let Gawyn sit that long on the ground.

“Because I’m leaving you alone like this, you silly sapling.” 

Gawyn sighed, looking around. Then he shuffled backwards towards the house until he could lean against the wall, pulling Caldyn with him. Still wrapped in Gawyn’s arms, Caldyn relaxed, ignoring the pain in his own arm as much as he could. Reaching out to the forest’s energy was calming, almost hypnotic. He grabbed some strands, barely visible dark wisps gathering around him, being absorbed. He wouldn’t take too much, he decided, just enough to fix the worst; the rest he could take care of after a good night’s rest.

“So you actually managed to fix it?” Gawyn asked after a while.

Caldyn hummed a wordless affirmation. The words had taken him out of his dreamlike state and he tried to assess if he would be able to heal himself now. He was never overly keen on doing that. It hurt, and it wasn’t like he was able to distract himself.

“I’m impressed.”

The meaning behind his partner’s words was oddly blank. Caldyn pondered it for a moment only, deciding that he probably masked his worry. After all, impressive or not, while doing so he had hurt himself. And now he was wasting both their time with stalling.

He shifted a bit, hissing through clenched teeth as he put his right hand on the broken arm. That was another thing to dislike — besides the general unpleasantness of his own splintered wood. He preferred to let his left hand guide him when he was healing.

“You alright?” Gawyn asked.

“I’m fine.”

Ignoring the wordless meaning of doubt behind Gawyn’s frustrated huff, Caldyns started to focus. The wooden core was snapped, but barely splintered, and the torn bark wouldn’t be that much of a problem. Still, it would be more than unpleasant. Caldyn nestled his head against Gawyn’s shoulder as he started to heal.

Wood moving, vines growing. There should have been progress. It didn’t seem like there was. The more energy he put into it, the more his arm hurt. Why didn’t it heal, why didn’t it get better? Even his fingers were burning now, pulsing with pain. They shouldn’t. They were fine, weren’t they? Caldyn tried to move his right hand to check, but found that he couldn’t. It was trapped, somehow.

He pulled against whatever was holding him. Why was everything so blurry all of a sudden? He blinked, his eyes burning but dry. It was Gawyn’s hand, both of his hands, one holding his wrist, one his upper arm. His grip was so strong, it started to hurt. Caldyn tried to grab Gawyn’s arm, but the fingers of his left hand didn’t obey his will, twisting instead of bending. Caldyn sobbed.

Please. You’re hurting me.

He couldn’t speak, a sudden pain in his chest taking his breath away. As he struggled to free himself, the pain increased, spreading from his chest to his back and legs. He raised his head, full of panic, but his partner’s face was gone. There was only darkness, all around him, creeping shadows that tried to drain his energy. He tried to fight it, but couldn’t. His strength left him, leaving him so horribly cold and empty. What was he supposed to do when he couldn’t heal himself?

Help me. Desperate meaning behind a terrified sob.

There was no one there to hear his plea. Gawyn was gone, leaving Caldyn alone and scared as the shadows claimed him. Wrapping around him, tearing him apart. His back was on fire, making him squirm helplessly as his world fell apart.

Caldyn screamed into the moss his face was pressed against, weakly trying to jerk away. He couldn’t, his arm still tied to the cage, so high he was almost hanging from it. His shoulder ached, his back throbbed with pain, and every breath stung in his chest. Footsteps close to him made him whimper, trying to curl up and hide beneath his free arm. 

“Looks like someone had fun with you.”

Craig’s voice turned Caldyn’s whimper into a sob. He didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he feared him, but the dream of Gawyn had left him utterly destroyed. The memory of the partner he had been, kind and caring, knowing that he was gone forever.

A kick to his side interrupted Caldyn’s thoughts. New pain flared up, similar to the one that had pulled him out of his unconsciousness.

“Too close. Hey, you.” Whoever Craig was talking to, this time it wasn’t Caldyn. “Here.”

Something moved outside the cage, then the tendrils around his arm snapped. Before Caldyn had time to process the pain in his shoulder, Craig grabbed his shattered ankle. As he was dragged face down across the ground, Caldyn couldn’t even scream. The patchy moss was pushed into his face and scratched over the wounds on his chest, making him shudder. It was wrong, so wrong. When Craig let go of his ankle, letting it drop to the ground, Caldyn’s body twitched, unsuccessfully trying to find a position that was less horrible. The moss pressed against his cuts, and something stung deep inside his chest with every breath.

“That’s better.”

He didn’t pay attention to Craig’s words. Burying his right hand in the moss, Caldyn tried to move, but his arm didn’t have the strength to push him up. His attempt to get off his chest was interrupted by a horribly familiar sound, making him flinch a moment before pain exploded on his back. He mindlessly tried to crawl away in the desperate attempt to escape the whip. He couldn’t move, his legs useless, his strength spent. Another lash followed, and another. Bark already torn and hardened was ripped apart again. This time, no sap ran down his back. 

Barely able to breathe and unable to scream, Caldyn whimpered under each new strike. Broken and whole fingers alike tried to find something to hold onto. As darkness started to eat away at the edge of his vision, the color seemed to drain from everything. Red thorny branches and sickly green moss turned pale, almost gray.

“I think he’s dying.”

“Good.”

Another lash of the whip, burning across his ruined back. Caldyn barely had the strength left to twitch.

“You know she wants him alive.”

“I don’t care what —” 

The sound of the whip again, but the pain didn’t come. Instead the whip hit the ground next to Caldyn’s face. He squeezed his eyes shut in terror. 

“Blight.” Barely contained anger simmered behind Craig’s words. “I guess you’re right.”

A boot dug into Caldyn’s shoulder, pushing and shoving. His head was spinning. It felt like he was falling through the floor. If only he was. Anything to hide from their cruelty. Then someone grabbed his hip, pulled him around while the boot pushed him. He was turned onto his back, his head lolling to the side. The pressure was agony in the fresh tears on his back. It was better than the piercing pain in his chest, but barely.

When a shadow fell over him, Caldyn was unable to focus his gaze. Everything was blurry and colorless, the darkness quickly taking over his vision. Another kick to his side — more of a nudge, really — made it fade fully. A wave of heat rolled over him, followed by a freezing cold. Caldyn started to tremble.

“You’re not worth getting into trouble,” Craig said.

In a short, defiant flash of anger, Caldyn hoped he would. That if he died here, he would at least take this rotten termite down with him. It didn’t last long. The cold crept deeper, leaving no room for anything but terror. He didn’t want to die, he wanted to be back in his dream; in Gawyn’s arms, where he had been safe.

“... tell her.”

“... you want, I …”

Those fragmented words were the last thing Caldyn heard before the darkness pulled him under, into what would surely turn out to be another nightmare.

Tagging: @villainsvictim​ @dont-touch-my-soup​ @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi​​ @whump-cravings​ @frenchfries893​ @siren-of-agony​ @badthingshappenbingo​

#Thorns and Jasmine #whump #fantasy whump #non human whumpee #captivity tw #broken bones tw #whipping tw #prompt: dragged by the ankle #fandom: original work #badthingshappenbingo #I was having a bad day #so I decided Caldyn can have a worse day :) #hello posting police? this one is -unscheduled- #my writing

[sleepyartattempts]

Wheel of Time - Galad-centric fic idea:

I've had an idea for a WoT fic for a while now, that I'm not sure I'll ever get the chance to write, so I want to just write some of the ideas for it down and get it out there. It's a canon-divergent fic, centered around Galad, cause he's a character I've always found interesting.

These are just random rambles, I have no knowledge in how to write plots or character arcs well, so it might sound very stupid.

Spoilers for the whole series of books below:

So, the premise is basically 'What would have happened if Galad went with Elayne, Egwene and Nynaeve in Book 3 on their search for the Black Ajah'. I mostly outlined major plot points that I imagined would happen, so there are a lot of details missing that might make some of this sound a bit hard to imagine.

He manages to convince Elayne to let him come by saying he'll go as a soldier of Caemlyn, so he'll listen to her orders. As for Gawyn, I imagined him staying at the tower, but Galad telling him to return to Caemlyn if he ever felt uncertain - which would later lead to Gawyn going with Min and co. to the rebel aes sedai camp.

On their journey together, Galad and Elayne start getting on a bit better. After Tear, Elayne convinces Galad to go with Egwene and Rand...somehow. I didn't think it through very clearly, but whatever, it happens.

Galad's wary of Rand, but he knows Elayne cares for him, so helps teach him about court politics, spars with him, etc. Then, he and Rand find out they're related. Galad never knew his birth mother, so he's happy to learn about her from the Aiel. As for the maidens, I like to imagine they act with him like they do towards Rand, as another child of one of their own :)

I have no clue how he and Moiraine would act around each other, but I imagine they would be sorta chill. He would get along well with Lan I think.

With the revelation they're brothers, learning about Rand himself, and the prophecies pretty much proving he's the Dragon Reborn, Galad is 100% in his support for Rand. I think he'd help Rand process his grief a bit better, having been a soldier for Caemlyn himself for a bit, and maybe having some experience with people dying under him. Brotherly bonding and all that.

This being around book 5, Asmodean can tell Galad can channel, and he begins training Galad. I don't know how, but Asmodean manages to survive in this AU from some of the differences.

I wasn't sure about skillsets for Galad, but I liked the idea of him being average/slightly over average in most aspects channeler, but really strong when it came to shields of any sort. Sort of him taking up a role of a protector, and him learning to become that. Not sure if it could be some sort of Talent, or if that would be too OP. Another idea I had for a Talent would be for him to be able to tell if a channeler is nearby/something similar (regardless of which source they were using).

Cutting forward a bit, Rand puts both Asmodean and Galad in charge of the Black Tower. Not sure if Mazrim Taim would still be there, but either way, Galad and Asmodean manage to structure the BT more than it was in canon. I think Galad would still be very distrustful of the Aes Sedai from their secrecy (and what they had Elayne and co. doing), so perhaps he would try to have a very transparent system, or one different to the WT. Perhaps some world-building stuff about the Asha'man's growing place in the WOT world.

Those are the main plot points I had outlined. A few other future things I was imagining was a plot point with Graendal (perhaps capturing him), Galad somehow ending up at the Whitecloak's whereabouts, learning about what happened with Morgase and a similar repeat to in canon from that, Gawyn still dying but Galad being able to help Lan against Demandred, and Galad and Elayne fighting together in the LB (because I think it would be cool, symbolic and all, etc.). And it's a bit silly but more characters living in the end, because I'm a fan of fix-it fics and happy endings.

Structurally, I imagined the fic in three parts. One from Books 3-5. a second from 6-8/9 ish and the last being the equivalent of the remaining books. The first would include a lot about Galad's childhood, exploring how he might have been shaped by his childhood, and his relationships with his family. The second part would focus on him being put into this new position, and his own struggles with channeling. The final part would be about his resolve and about how the future may be changed.

So, that's it! It's a lot of rambling as I said, but these ideas have been rotting my mind for actual years now, so I wanted to get them down somewhere. This fic was mostly spawned from just how many possibilities there are with Galad's character from the connections he has that never got to be explored (like with the Aiel), so I wanted to imagine exploring his relationship with Rand as his brother during the events of the books the most. No clue what sorta character arc it would be, but like I said I'm not a good writer, so this is just a collection of messy plot points.

If you made it this far, I hope you found some of the ideas interesting! I'm sure some of them are pretty obvious, but I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this. I have no confidence in my ability to actually write, let alone these characters who while I like very much, I don't think I'd capture very well, or with this complicated and interesting world. Who knows, maybe one day I'll actually be able to write this, haha. Anyway, thanks for listening to my rambling, I hope you're having a good day/night wherever you are!

#wheel of time #wheel of time spoilers #wheel of time books #wot spoilers #galad damodred #wot fanfic #this post is a mess #Im not sure if im meant to tag other characters or not so ill just leave it at this #sorry for any typos

[transkenobis]

okay. episode six thoughts.

EGWENE.

look. the only wot book i’ve read in full since 2018-2019 was the eye of the world. when i think of wot i tend to think more of late-series wot. coincidentally, while early-series wot shows you first hand how awful the seanchan are, late-series wot veers hard into apologia/“negotiating and making concessions for the greater good.” i forgot how hard the egwene povs in the great hunt were to get through. this episode reminded me. in graphic detail.

madeleine madden did a fucking fantastic job and i cannot wait to see her in later seasons as egwene grows and develops as a character. her scenes were so tough to watch. she deserves an award.

i do love how the show is portraying the seanchan. all of the suroth and renna scenes were deeply uncomfortable and upsetting, which is really how the seanchan ought to make viewers feel. (right, brandon sanderson? right?). using loial’s treesinging like a party trick. the flowy/frilly da’covale outfits. renna saying “oh, i’m nicer than other sul’dam, i want to be your friend” but trying to break egwene down. ugh.

there’s also something in here about “southern hospitality” and the us’s history of slavery and rj being from the south but it’s too late at night for me to get into that.

also, like, not to be matbrained, but the sheer delicacy/fanciness of the da’covale clothing makes me very afraid for the extended tylin-tuon plotline. i’m sure that if the show does it they’ll do it well (the show has already done a lot of course-correcting), so it’s not that kind of afraid, but more I Know What’s Coming afraid.

every time they mention The Seanchan Empress i get filled with a little bit more dread. god, i hope they handle tuon’s Everything well.

and siuan’s back!! finally!! i’m hoping they don’t sideline her in these last few episodes, because god knows they’ve done her dirty this season.

i really love ishamael and lanfear’s clothing. like, ishamael’s looks have been so faux-corporate, and i’m obsessed with lanfear’s leather and lace-up boots. it really does feel like an extended/future version of modern (first age?) fashion. i like what they’ve done with the age of legends’s aesthetic in general.

knowing which characters turn out to be darkfriends makes literally everything funnier.

if we must have gawyn and galad in the show. i need them to have the same vibes as barthanes. golden boys who are so so so punchable. sycophantic, even.

mat and min friendship truthers, we continue to lose. i’m hopeful that they’ll get to be friends again eventually.

ugh. mat telling rand he’ll come with him because he needs someone to keep him from becoming an arrogant prick. through the lens of wotshow i catch glimpses of hit amol chapter older, more weathered.

if i had a nickel for every time this season they’ve had a shot in a character’s dream or vision of mat lying dead with his left eye cut out, i would have two nickels. which isn’t a lot but it’s kind of weird that it’s happened twice. evil smile.

rand monologuing about how he thought him going away would protect people at mat, who is generally acknowledged as the king of the whole "being away from rand will protect me" line of reasoning. i have to laugh.

“if you love him, stay away” “[mat stays away]” i hate it when the wheel of time on amazon prime makes me feel nostalgic for the period of time where i was super invested in cauthor. like, circa 2018-2019. do you guys remember when there were only two fics and they were both from like 2013. there are now (i just checked) one hundred and sixty-one. it is such a shame i don’t ship them anymore because it’s genuinely kind of fun to have gay subtext in the gay actual-text show.

but also like. a true testament to the power of casting homoerotic besties as two white men. a loss for me (draws them both as men of color).

relatedly, i am so pleased that the top relationship tag for both the books and the show is siuaraine. quite possibly the only time i’ve ever seen a series that isn’t near-exclusively female characters (madoka magica, the locked tomb, etc.) have an f/f ship at the top. and they’re even canon… i cannot wait to see them next week.

what can i say about the wondergirls that has not already been said. i love nynaeve forever and ever. i love elayne being super into ter’angreal. i love that they both love egwene. i love that they bicker with each other. wondergirls 5ever.

also like… nynaeve getting to hang out with a yellow sister a little bit… delightful.

i’ve said this before but i’m trying to put everything in one place. i think ryma and basan’s actress and actor did an excellent job. but it’s really disappointing that the show continues to veer into anti-Blackness and colorism in its casting. it’s a pattern in both seasons and it isn’t good.

anyways. the wheel of time. i don’t think i have anything more to say right now.

#matt speaks #wot #wotshow #wot spoilers #wot book spoilers

[jackoshadows]

I was reading some posts on the WOT subreddit and came upon a Gawyn Trakand post and it dawned on me that Sansa Stark is the Gawyn Trakand of ASoIaF!

Both characters have these black and white notions of princes, knights and chivalry, an inability to see the truth right in front of them and a tendency to blame others for something they did not do.

Both characters are classic fantasy/fairy tale prince/princess who then unfortunately find themselves in a ruthless, grim dark setting. Both characters grow up with a certain idea of themselves and what's expected of them - first prince of the sword for Gawyn and the eldest beautiful, favored daughter of the Warden of the North. Both characters show a lack of loyalty and betray the nice guys - Gawyn against the Amyrlin and Warders who taught him and Sansa siding against Arya and betraying Ned.

Despite Elayne and Egwene repeatedly telling Gawyn that Rand was not responsible for Morgase' death he refuses to believe and continues to blame him. Despite Sansa seeing with her own eyes Joffrey attacking her little sister with a sword and Nymeria leaping in to protect Arya, she keeps blaming Arya for what happened.

There's Gawyn's clash with Elayne and being unable to accept her role in the greater scheme of things and Sansa's clash with Arya. And finally it's not Gawyn who is the ideal prince destined to protect Elayne because of birth and nobility. Elayne can take care of herself, she loves Rand a sheepherder from the Two Rivers who is the Dragon Reborn, destined to save the world. In the same way that as the story progresses it's Arya who starts taking center stage in the politics of the North and Jon Snow, a lowly bastard involved in defending the realm instead of the princes and knights of Sansa's songs.

We don't get Gawyn's POV in the WOT books but if we did, I suspect it will be something like Sansa's - full of idealistic notions of what should be instead of what is.

#Gawyn Trakand #Sansa Stark #Asoiaf and WOT parallels #WOT book spoilers