#moiraine-core outfit

[deeplyridiculouslyinlove]

I finished book 12! I enjoyed this book a lot. It’s probably blasphemy to say because Robert Jordan obviously created the incredible world we spend so much time in in this series, but I think I prefer Sanderson’s writing. I at least appreciated the toning down of some of the stuff that bothered me the most, like the women always wanting to look sexy for men and the description of every woman’s breasts in every outfit. (I’m honestly not sure we heard the word “bosom” even once this book!) Also, given that I care the most about the Aes Sedai and Egwene and Siuan, obviously this would be a book I would enjoy :)

We also finally got some of the human stakes for the last battle that I’ve been longing for in Rand thinking about why he needs to save the world and live at the end of the book. But I think his conclusion that the reason to live and make sure the wheel keeps turning is “love” would be *so much more powerful* if I had literally any idea *why* Rand loves any of the people he does in these books. What does he love about them other than their love of him?? I also continue to think the books would have been stronger if this theme had been present throughout the books (presumably through other characters because Rand understandably has to go through his own journey to get there), and not shown up at the end of book 12.

Speaking of Rand, I’m realizing part of why his core arc is sort of “meh” for me is that so much of who Rand is and becomes is tied to his abuse in the box. And like, while I definitely don’t condone the torture and beating part of that experience and I find Rand’s PTSD arc a compelling one in terms of what it means for the characters around him who care for him, I actually was pretty okay with Rand initially getting put in the box because I enjoyed seeing him finally be bested after being an asshole towards literally everyone for so many books (and especially by Aes Sedai after he had been so intent to put them in *their* place, often for just being in his presence the early books).

Also the chapter this book focused on the Ajah heads scheming says that Elaida *deserves to be a Seanchan slave* because of her domineering actions. Yet Rand being put in a box for his own domineering behavior is portrayed as understandably horrifying and explanatory of his further actions including almost killing his father with balefire?! I continue to think that keeping Rand kinder and more human for longer in the earlier books would have made his whole arc dramatically more compelling for me. Rand spent the early books yelling “I won’t be controlled!!” while bossing people around and never facing a consequence, and that decidedly didn’t resonate on a vulnerable and human level for me. Which means that I don’t feel very emotionally invested in his much more compelling struggles starting with the box and continuing from there. I’m *very* excited for how the show handles all of this, because I generally think the show has made these characters so much more human and I think I will feel Rand’s struggle and descent much more viscerally in the adaptation. I *want* to care for and worry about him so I feel emotional stakes in his chapters, but unlike the characters in the books I didn’t grow up with him and am not forced by fate to be in love with him for unexplained reasons, so the fact he was never a particularly sympathetic character makes me struggle to care about him.

Speaking of the show, I had accidentally spoiled myself that Verin was black Ajah and had no idea I’d have to wait THIS LONG to get to it in the books. But I didn’t know any of the context so I still got some sort of reveal, which was fun. And I’m happy I can still root for her on the show!

I’m also so excited that Moiraine comes back next book!!! Even if it’s only at the end and even if it does mean soo much Moiraine and Thom 😭

#wheel of time #wot book spoilers #dril reads wot

[markantonys]

WOT sims shenanigans: polycule wedding edition

mat flirted with faile at his own engagement party 💀 he is OUT of control! list of people sim mat has flirted with so far: rand, elayne, aviendha, faile, egwene, nynaeve. thankfully, it was only the one flirt and not enough to develop a romance bar between them. and also i’d disabled jealousy game-wide in order to minimize issues with the polycule, so mat didn’t get murdered by perrin djfkgj

the engagement party’s dresscode was Party Outfit, and for most sims i make their Party Outfit just a regular-looking outfit but certain fancy sims i will give a fancy Party Outfit. so the result here was that everybody showed up in normal clothes except for elayne who was in a freaking ballgown. canon.

aviendha dipping rand is something that can be so personal:

gawyn shows up at the polycule’s apartment almost every single day asking if anyone wants to workout with him, so one day i finally had rand and elayne take him to the gym (mat and avi were at work) but then the two of them ended up fucking in the shower at the gym and ignoring gawyn. poor gawyn.

lan was not invited to elayne and aviendha’s bachelorette party but showed up anyway to hang out with nynaeve, bless that wifeguy

nynaeve repaid this devotion by CALLING MAT ON LOVE DAY TO ASK HIM ON A DATE god i am spraying sim mat with a water bottle! he’s out of control!!!! (i had him say no to the date ofc, don’t worry)

elayne tried to flirt with moiraine because i hadn’t bothered setting them as aunt and niece jdkjfg thankfully i caught her in time to prevent it. the problem is that very often when a sim sees their significant other they get in a flirty mood, and since i have 4 sims who are dating each other all living in an apartment together they’re pretty much CONSTANTLY horny because they love each other so much, except then they will just hit on any other sim nearby rather than only the partners who inspired that horniness (and elayne and mat are the worst of the bunch bc they both have the Romantic trait which also often puts them in flirty moods). at their core sims are slutty bisexual messes and i love it.

last year on Love Day, rand gave mat a flower and mat hated it. this year mat gave rand a flower and rand hated it! how the turn tables. rand has been waiting all year for his vengeance.

and finally we come to the wedding! here’s everybody’s outfits. yes i’m still crying over rand in his little flower jacket 🥺

the wedding went surprisingly smoothly! the guests all showed up and watched at least the first few ceremonies, though by the end of it most had wandered off. the only hitch was that it took the literal entire 8ish-hour wedding event just to get through the 5 different ceremonies, so in the last pics with the cake cutting, the wedding had actually ended by that point and i was holding the guests hostage at the venue djfkjg

first, some pre-ceremony selfies because i foresaw it would be dark out by the time the ceremonies were over (but even so it was kinda cloudy):

next, everybody being walked down the aisle by their sim of honor! nynaeve for rand, perrin for mat, gawyn for elayne (don’t ask me why i made their hair different colors, elayne was originally blonde but then i found a good cc red-gold hair whose base color is red so now she’s a redhead but gawyn’s still blond) and egwene for aviendha. can you tell that dark red is my go-to sims formalwear color lmao

and finally the ceremonies! moiraine officiated some of them but then wandered off for others, and alas i didn’t get a screenshot of rand and mat’s kiss because it happened too fast, so instead here they are being dorks while exchanging vows:

not pictured: gawyn doing pushups and lan situps during avilayne’s ceremony

you can’t see her here but moiraine had returned to officiate matlayne’s ceremony! and then left again. actually now that i think about it i believe mat was the one i had ask moiraine to officiate, so maybe the game only registered her as the officiant for ceremonies that mat was involved in.

rand and aviendha’s was last and the only guests who were still sitting and watching by that point were egwene, gawyn, and siuan. absolute troopers, gold stars for them.

i had rand and elayne do the cake cutting because i figured they’re the saps who would most want to :’)

in conclusion, you know the part in princess diaries 2 when the choir conductor has to conduct really fast to match the pace mia is setting down the aisle and then collapses against her music stand once it’s over? that was me when i finished this wedding.

#wot sims shenanigans