#Wot S2 review

[onaperduamedee]

Thoughts on episode 4

The post-cold open scenes with Anveare putting on her armor for a day of political intrigue was beautiful. I love the way this world comes off as cruel and ruthless, and how often characters talk about it being broken.

Perrin, Elyas and Hopper scenes were the most enjoyable to me. I'm really digging their energy together and the Wolf language is cleverly, beautifully shown. Perrin and Hopper were adorable, and Elyas "adopting" Perrin makes them the first healthy mentor/mentee relationship of this season. There isn't enough of them though.

So Moiraine is 70-80... I don't know what to do with that information. I understand why they did it story-wise, but you remove A Lot of Moiraine's motivations by doing that. I'll have to WAFO. I'm very attached to the parallel between Siuan, Moiraine and Lan, and the EF5 when they started out: cutting it for the sake of a point already driven home by Liandrin's son seems wasteful.

I like that Liandrin works so hard to gain Nynaev'es trust because it makes Nyn's taking her "help" at face value much more believable than in the books (where she was frankly gullible). Nyn's rejection of the White Tower is leading her straight into Liandrin's arms and thus playing into the Dark One's hand. Nynaeve is going to feel so betrayed and her distrust of every AS will grow tenfold. The show hasn't made clear yet except in bonus material that Liandrin is specifically a DF which is confusing.

Moiraine's machinations are fun, as are Liandrin's, but the latter work better for me because we're getting so much more insights into hers. I cannot fault Alanna for believing Mo may be a DF because Mo, I love you, but you are at your shadiest here. That said, the Logain and Moiraine scene was a lot.

Where the hell is Siuan? At this point, I am assuming that two scenes in her empty study and multiple characters mentioning her absence are significant details enough for her to be doing something really important off screen. Is she on a secret mission? Is she trapped somewhere? What in the Light is going on?

I love Egwene with my whole heart. I love Nyn with my whole heart. I find their relationship fascinating but I'm really not sure about how they are being written. I like that the estrangement is paralleling Anvaere and Moiraine but Egwene and Nyn's relationship is different and it's bugging me. It's keeping with the books' theme of communication being the characters' greatest foe.

Egwene wanting to protect her friends and feeling like she failed Rand at the Eye... Yeah, that jealousy angle is BS and Elayne misread the situation through and through. Egwene is feeling useless not jealous, which is why she makes rash decisions at every turn to go help her friends.

Extremely unsure about this Min/Mat business. I like that Min is unwittingly embroiled in DF business and promised something she truly desires by Ishamael. I like less that Mat seems not to have an arc at all. They do have fantastic chemistry though so the writers hit jackpot.

The visual of Lanfear getting stabbed and replaced by Moiraine... Perfect. Between the colour schemes, the choking, and the location, they are really driving home that Lanfear is a dark mirror to Moiraine. I'm looking forward to Moiraine unearthing Lanfear's twisted teachings of Rand.

I really enjoy meeting Alanna's family and the dynamic between Maksim, Ivhon and Lan. I love seeing that Aes Sedai can have a fulfilling family life outside of the Tower because that was one of my greatest points of frustration in the books.

The Lan plot is really not doing it for me though. The incertitude about Moiraine's status is making it difficult to embrace this storyline as the characters are always dancing around whether or not Mo and Lan are indefinitely severed. I was curious about Lan getting a storyline outside of Moiraine, but he really isn't? I also dislike the idea that Lan just apparently doesn't care about their mission outside of Moiraine? He learns that Rand is alive and goes "not my problem"? If Mo and Lan were really fighting in lockstep, why is he abandoning their mission now?

As much as I love Moiraine getting to sleuth around Cairhien and avoid her terrifying sister, her storyline is dragging as well. We really need to move forward with the power thing or at least get an insight into what she is thinking because she's losing the general audience's sympathy and I cannot fault them.

The episode was tied by the theme of family in its various forms, biological, adopted, packs, sisterhood, with the biggest parallels between Nyn and Eggy, and Moiraine and Anvaere. Funnily this also sets Rand as part of the Forsaken pack. I suspect that unfortunately Lanfear did a lot of damage to his psyche and the fact that he has more bursts of anger, one ending in him choking Moiraine, is telling. It's exciting.

Overall, I'll have to wait to see how certain plots will resolve to judge whether or not their execution was satisfying here because I'm very unsure about them.

[blemiish]

I love the Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime

[ofthebrownajah]

Just like Robert Jordan intended 😌

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Season 2, episode 1

I'm at it again! I know I never posted the season 1 finale review, and maybe I will go back and do that later. But for now, I just finished the season premiere, and I have to say, Perrin is 100% correct. The five of them are much more impressive together than apart. Which isn't to say I disliked it. They are all on the struggle bus, but that is where character development is at its peak, and where we get to see their true inner strength. Which is to say, I LOVED it. Bring on the angst!

The season opener with the round table of evil plotters was a fun and clever way to deliver some exposition without boring us. Having a little girl crawling under the table, disturbing the Very Important Shadowy Cloak Meeting really humanized every single one of them, and seeing the Fake Dark One be so gentle and patient with her gives some insight into how people can become dark friends. They are just concerned parents. I am now calling him Nancy Reagan, since he is their leader. I also definitely want to pet a trolloc. They look much cuter when they aren’t being ordered to kill everyone in sight. Are they tamable? Or...redeemable? I am still not sure of their level of free will/sentience, so I am not sure which word applies.

The first scene post-credits is Moiraine working hard to take her Very Sad Alone Time Depression Bath. Just one woman, chilling in a hot tub, cuz the water gets cold without magic. It was a very good idea to show the first hot tub scene in the recaps, so I could get the full emotional subtext here. Bathing is a communal activity in this culture, but she can’t handle having someone else see her in such a vulnerable position when she already feels so vulnerable all the time. But the longer she spends isolated, the more alone and vulnerable she will continue to feel.

She and Lan are hiding out with their friends, Sassy Twin, Serious Twin, and Tom. Tom is married to one of them, but I forget which one. Without the warder bond, Lan must have lost the rapid healing that allows him to withstand his severe clothing allergy. Good thing the Sassy Twin is there to helpfully point out additional clothes that might be hurting him, and to reassure him it would be fine to remove them in her home. She truly speaks for all of us. I’m glad Lan has these three friends around to support him as he supports Moiraine. This poor man is having to learn, at the tender age of forty-something, to use his words to describe how he feels. He is afraid for his best friend, he is hurt about being pushed away at a time when he would expect to be leaned on even harder, I am pretty sure he blames her for blocked bond because she had put the block up prior to being shielded, and he feels like he is losing his only purpose in life.

And in the face of all that, he has to exhibit so much patience as Moiraine acts like every insecure teenager ever and tries to push him away. His previous experience with teenagers taught him what this behavior is like, but not how to handle it. Her “I am so aloof and do not care at all about the feelings of others” routine was incredibly transparent to everyone except Lan. He really needed his friends to lovingly slap him in the ego and remind him that the only way to truly help her is to let himself be the vulnerable one, so she can see how it' it's done, and realize it's something she can live with.

But now he has to do it the old fashioned way, by walking upstairs to check on her. Good timing, too. Slightly worse timing for Serious Twin, but at least she could handle all the Eyeless. Hopefully one of the twins does healing.

Meanwhile, at Aes Sedai High, Nynaeve and Egwene are in novice training. Egwene is dealing with a bit of culture shock. She accidentally witnesses an actual, honest to Light, bisexual orgy on screen. She is going from being a big fish in a small pond to being a big fish in an ocean surrounded by other big fish, but she is handling it better than I expected. Nynaeve is handling the entire thing exactly as I hoped she would. While Egwene focuses on adding extra challenges by learning to weave with both hands tied behind her back, Nynaeve is semi-consciously stopping herself from doing any magic at all. Polly tries playing on her pride, by saying she is just scared, and Nynaeve responds by drinking dirty dishwater while making direct eye contact. Such a power move, there. Unfortunately, it leads directly to an unwanted face-to-face discussion with JK Rowling, which quickly turns into a surprise duel. I thought JK was torturing Nynaeve by hurting her, but my husband said she was only making the air too thick for Nynaeve to move through. And really, nothing could possibly torture Nynaeve more than placing an unwanted restriction on her. She did end up shielding her, temporarily, and that was described as one of the most brutal forms of assault. Pretty sick, but also pretty consistent with boarding school hazing rituals.

Later, Nynaeve and Egwene read the letter from Perrin, where he hopes they will all stick together. And JK Rowling goes down to her secret Man Dungeon For Men to read a heavily edited version of the letter to her prisoner, New Mat. And, to this I have to say, come on JK Rowling! Why do you go and pull a stunt that the actual JK Rowling also used in her own book? Your name is getting more and more accurate as time goes on, and that is not a compliment. Anyways, Mat responds in pretty much the same way Harry Potter did, by trying to break out of jail. I’m not sure how I feel about New Mat so far. He seems a bit like a soggy bed sheet, but he is also in the exact circumstances that would lead to soggy bed sheet behavior. His puckish attitude was mostly a mask he put on to lift the spirits of those around him, and his private moments were entirely spent dwelling on his own misery. Presumably the only person he has interacted with for months now is someone who actively feeds on that misery. JK Rowling is a cursed dagger unto herself.

We get a brief glimpse of Rand, with his new haircut. He is sad and has no lines. I assume he will be more present in future episodes. He lights a lantern, presumably for his mother, but maybe for the innocent version of himself that will never exist again. Maybe for his friends he thinks he can never see again. They light the lanterns for those they lost, which might not necessarily mean the ones who died.

Perrin, meanwhile, is on a quest to find Padan Fain and steal back the magic horn. He has found another Wolf guy, who seems to be teaching him how his wolf powers work. Apparently he can see the past? Maybe he is smelling the places where things used to be, like Angua does in Discworld? So then, is he a werewolf? This is a very confusing power that has still not been explained at all. I would have liked to see Perrin get a training sequence similar to Egwene and Nynaeve, but the defining trait of wolf guys is that they aren’t a chatty bunch. They find a bunch of bodies of the traitors from the final battle, presumably disposed of once they were no longer useful. The group holds a proper funeral for them, which confuses Perrin. He doesn’t understand how they can go to such effort for the people responsible for the deaths of hundreds. The prince guy responds that if his people spent their time seeking revenge on those who betray them, they wouldn't have time for anything else. It is more helpful to the ones left behind to let it go and focus on the mission. Sort of the way of the leaf, but with a more productive twist. Perrin is really on a quest for a moral philosophy that he can live with, and this one seems slightly more compatible with him.

At Bel Tine, he lights a lantern for his wife. The first time he has to do so. He places his wedding ring on the lantern, but takes it back at the last second. He isn’t ready to let go of his own guilt just yet, but at least he can move forward while carrying it now. Loial seems good for him. And Perrin is good for Loial. He’s way more likeable now that he has gotten used to the wonder of living in the human world, and stopped condescendingly and incorrectly explaining how it all works. They are both figuring that out together. I am not sure how he survived being stabbed with the cursed dagger. By all rights it makes no sense. So I guess… Loial returned somehow. And we are also moving on from it and focusing on the mission, even if we carry our confusion with us.

Other episode reviews

[lordgolden]

*clenching fists* *refreshing wot s2 rotten tomatoes*

[amemoryofwot]

WoT Reviewers: S2 is slower paced compared to s1

Me when they’re already including Lan’s and Myrelle/Alanna’s mashup Warder bond from ACoS:

[wheelwheelwheel]

I posted 516 times in 2022

123 posts created (24%)

393 posts reblogged (76%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lordofscars

@daughter-heir-moved

@amemoryofwot

@queenofmalkier

@ofthebrownajah

I tagged 509 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#wot on prime - 174 posts

#wot book spoilers - 99 posts

#wot s2 - 51 posts

#wot on prime spoilers - 34 posts

#mistborn - 29 posts

#moiraine damodred - 26 posts

#elayne trakand - 25 posts

#wheel of time rewatch - 24 posts

#wheel of time - 21 posts

#emma’s reading tag - 20 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#when i started reading the books i thought egwene was supposed to be like ‘likeable’ one and nynaeve was supposed to be the ‘unlikeable’ one

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I think it’s very funny that Adolin is described as a ladies man and all his girlfriends are an almost constant source of conversation considering that the “courting” he’s been doing so far has consisted of double booking lunch dates, walking around the war camp, half heartedly buying apology gifts, and *checks notes* waving

103 notes - Posted September 29, 2022

#4

I hope when we meet Slayer in the Tel’aran’rhiod he’s played by Daniel Henney in a different wig and a fake mustache

114 notes - Posted September 21, 2022

#3

I know a lot of people don’t like how Mat was written out at the Waygate, but I think it unintentionally created one of the most interesting scenes in the show

We have Moiraine “the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills” Damodred, who is as prepared as she’ll ever be in her entire life to face the Dark One. She has herself (who according to New Spring is one of the more powerful Aes Sedai to be raised to the shawl in a while), she has four ta’veren (who if we’re going off the books at least three are some of the most powerfully ta’veren people to be ta’veren), she has two other powerful channelers (including Nynaeve who is one of the strongest channelers Moiraine has ever seen), and she knows one of them is the Dragon Reborn who is the most powerful channeler to have ever lived. On top of that Moiraine just put all her affairs in order, said goodbye to Siuan, and is fully prepared to die and/or watch everyone she’s bringing with her die or kill them herself in what Moiraine believes to be the Last Battle. THEN by some weaving of the Pattern one of the ta’veren potential Dragons just decides not to go. And Moiraine has to grapple with the thought that either a) Mat is the Dragon and the Pattern saved him for something else which means they’re all going to die without accomplishing anything or b) for whatever reason Mat was not supposed to be at the Eye of the World and that could very well save all of them

125 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

#2

For all my Mistorn mutuals who celebrate, I hope they find that metal

126 notes - Posted November 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

In the show Jasin Natael should exclusively play “ancient songs from the Age of Legends” and they should all be covers of contemporary pop songs

401 notes - Posted September 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Real quick general plea: When we talk about WoT S2, could we--for the love of ALL THAT IS HOLY--stop splashing gifs, screencaps, and clips of Egwene and Renna hanging each other? I am WILDLY uncomfortable with how comfortable some of y'all and some reviewers are with proudly splashing the fetishization of women being tortured and dying horribly across the internet.

The sul'dam and damane are important to the world of WoT, but quite frankly? We can talk about it without tacitly supporting the weird pattern of fetishizing women's pain and deaths that the show is doing. And if we want to talk about THAT, we can do so without images that might trigger people. Particularly in reviewer spaces--I want to hear what you have to say about the show, but I refuse to rewatch those scenes to do it.

At the VERY FUCKING LEAST, slap a trigger or content warning on that shit in reviewer spaces.

[queer-as-used-by-tolkien]

Masterpost

Notice to those who didn't catch it: I'm changing my blog's primary content from GW2-only to more main personal blog. (Original post here.)

My main topics will be

#Miraculous ladybug (#mlb)

#children and #homeschooling

Guild Wars 2 (tagged #gw2)

The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings (#tolkien)

#christianity (also tagged #faith)

my fic writing (tagged with the name of fic + fandom + #writing)

random other stuff (added to this list as needed)

--

Masterlist of my high-quality original posts, sorted by topic and length (may make separate fandoms in separate posts at some point):

Multifandom character study (examining the theme of sacrifice in my blorbos) fandoms: the Hobbit, WoT, GW2, Cadfael Chronicles

Story Study: Luka Couffaine in S4E2 Truth (strong of character, of heart, of will)

Middle-Earth Content:

Content Review: The Hobbit (book and movies!)

Storyline Study: LotR (books only)

Character Study: Bilbo Baggins (press your comfort zones, y'all)

Guild Wars 2 Content:

Series posts:

Ascended Reborn: Knight of the Thorn (P1, P2, P3, P4) - WIP

Character Study: Braham (P1, P2, magic, P3, P4, S1 Recap)

"Commander of Death" (P1, P2)

The Heartrending Mind (P1)

The Chronicles of the Tiffany: Phillipe (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7, P8)

-

'Studies'

Character Study: Trahearne ('grey morality' or not?)

Character Study: Trahearne (his relatability as a character, focusing on loneliness)

Storyline Study: Personal Story (in light of some posts on Tolkien's works)

Storyline Study: S2 (the Shadow of the Dragon traumatized the Commander)

Storyline Study: S3 (why we didn't kill Jormag + Primordus before IBS had the chance to happen)

Storyline Study: S3 (One Path Ends-inclusive)

Storyline Study: Bangar and Almorra and also playing IBS as a Vigil main.

Character Study: Logan Thackeray (on love and inner demons)

Storyline Study: Order Mentor (but really all about Forgal)

Character Study: Caithe (and a part 2, through the eyes of sylvari PC)

Character Study: Sieran

Location Spotlight: Macha's Landing, LA

Storyline Study: S2 to IBS (high-level overview of GW2 and the Commander's trauma written just after Shadow in the Ice)

Character Study: Ryland (feat. Rytlock) - with planned sequels featuring Braham and the Commander

Character Study: Taimi (inspired by that moment she was arguing with Braham in Champions: Truce)

Character Study: Canach

Storyline Study: Sea of Sorrows (feat. Macha) - the thematic messaging of SoS

-

Headcanon:

Sylvari: Body Heat, Photosynthesis, and Energy (science! and headcanons!)

How norn life expectancy affects cultural trauma (feat. Forgal Kernsson)

Norn phases of life (norn lifespan affects great-great-grandchildren)

The origin of the name Soulkeeper (featuring Bangar as 'abusive boyfriend')

Shadow Signs (as storytelling aids for skaalds!)

Dreamscape (mindscapes versus sylvari pre-life visions/memories)

Hunting Trophies (headcanon based on norn tutorial!)

Headcanon Time: Ranger Pets feat. Tiffany Commander (plus her weapons and magic use!)

The Role of Story in Norn Culture (feat. Ancestor Battles)

Norn Headcanons (a collection of smaller headcanons about norn)

Snowflakes (what's the norn take on 'all snowflakes are unique?')

VotP: A Legend in the Making (a Forgal backstory thing... not a headcanon? more of a one-off fic?)

Guardian Magic feat. Braham

-

OC Stuff:

Notebook Asks: Tiffany about Taimi

Notebook Asks: Tiffany about Gorrik and Blish

Notebook Asks: Tiffany about Rox

Introducing: Vriré and also her OC Interview

Introducing: Tiffany Oksuré (Commander of the Ascended Reborn timeline)

Introducing: Ninuvinan (and Part 2 of my character study on Caithe)

Vibe Assocations: Eveanin and a further vibe check

The Structure of the Vigil (headcanons relevant to my Vigil OCs)

Introducing: Stringpole

-

Main Timelines:

The Chronicles of the Tiffany (the Commander is my main, Tiffany Commander). Exclusive tags: tiffanycommander, timeline one and the chronicles of the tiffany.

Building a Network (the Commander TBD). My main isn't in this timeline. This is the timeline where my dad and I play three different characters together (plus siblings). Exclusive tags: lord zedyin, ferrocy, ninuvinan, tiffany teine, ivmara siegebound, delormiz needsiege, and timeline two.

Dreams Versus Dragons (there are multiple ""Commanders""). My (technically unannounced) WIP. This is Vriré's native timeline. Exclusive tags: wip and timeline three.

LWRP Timeline (the Commander is Pharlt). My main is not the Commander because [LWRP] doesn't let us RP the Commander :P. Exclusive tags: timeline four.

Other Timelines:

Commander Adrien

If the Commander Stayed Mad At Braham

Violinist AU (Tiffany Sterling)

-

Tag Definitions:

commander poobah - 'universal Commander' thoughts

tell my tale - posts about the backstory I've been writing for Forgal's

[jossujb]

There is not so much reviews of Jago & Litefoot s14 and besides, I've always had different opinions anyway. But I did see that the argument, fall down and making up Jago & Litefoot was a little random The Corridors of Power.

I think it plays differently because it's not acted out by Benjamin and Baxter, but I have listened the series enough to get the jist of it.

In the story they're separated from each other and have communicators that stop working, but they keep on talking to tge device as if the other could hear, and then when do meet it plays on the disappointment that actually no, they did not miss me and my white knighting as much as I thought.

And I get it, cos this is basically what happens in Forever, but on Jago's side only. He's so adamant to rescue Litefoot that despite being afraid it brings him to tears. And I understand that when Litefoot upon meeting tries to play it like I didn't need you to put yourself in the harms way, he takes it as an insult.

The critique I've seen is that why do they make up a big argument like that with snap of a finger.

I dunno what to tell you, that's just really in character for them. Remember way back s2, Litefoot & Sandees, where Litefoot is absolutely brutal to Jago in hopes of hurting his feelings so bad that he wouldn't pursue after him and hurt himself because of it? And remember how Jago drops the hostility on the second that's revealed.

Jago is an emotional guy, but he does not hold grudges. I dunno, when listening The Corridors of Power I just saw it that way. When Litefoot gives him a reason not be angry, he jumps on it. That's the kinda man he is.

I would agree that it doesn't play as clearly read out loud by someone else. If it was your first experience with the characters, ir you don't know the lore, then I suppose it's like ummm wot xD

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Season 2 Episode 3

Rand gets Pretty Womaned. Perrin has to once again make a choice between the hammer and the axe, and once again lets someone else make that choice for him. Nynaeve is missing, presumed dead, until she literally breaks the laws of physics to get back home because nobody tells her what she can and cannot do, not even reality. Egwene never stops believing in her. Mat escapes with the psychic bartender, but it was actually all orchestrated by the biggest bitch on the wheel.

Rand is the personal attendant to the False Dragon, who is now more of a lizard. He desperately begs to be taught how to control his powers before he suffers the same fate, but Lizard was never all that empathetic to begin with, and now he is actively suicidal. He agrees to teach Rand everything he knows, at the price of some fancy wine. Rand knows exactly how to earn that, and turns on the charm for his landlady. Selene really skeeves me out, for more reasons than just the predatory relationship with a barely legal guy who is clearly very mentally ill. I think it is the way she keeps trying to pretend this is more than a transactional relationship? The way she plays at romance, while still reminding Rand at every turn that she holds all the power? The way she pouts at him when he refuses to play along? I don't know, maybe she just has a sinister personality.

She gets him the wine, and an invitation to a dinner. He makes friends with some older lady who looks like Moiraine in disguise, who snarks at him about how much rich people suck. Okay, Not!Moiraine, way to hypocrite all over the place. Anyways, Rand is incredibly upset to realize the lady that has been preying on him is also preying on other desperate souls, so he runs off to Lizard. Lizard approves of the wine, and delivers the entirety of his advice: accept the madness and eventual death, because there is no way to avoid it. He then returns home where his landlady assaults him, and then they bang. Or maybe he just fell asleep and had a sex dream/hallucination. Either way, he accidentally Mannels, and burns down her inn. She rushes from the flames to find him, and I still get the feeling she's just Off.

Perrin and his friends have all been captured, except his Wolf Buddy who looks like Discount Heimdal. These are apparently the Seachan I have heard so much about. I now realize it is pronounced Shaun John, not See Chan. If there are no special effects from here on out, at least the rest of the budget was well spent on the Shaun John costumes. They are creepy as hell. Nancy Reagan is with them for reasons yet to be explained, and he keeps checking out Perrin. They take the Eyepatch guy up to force him to swear fealty to their throne, and immediately kill him when he refuses. Everyone else submits without question, though Perrin is still angry about it.

At some point he must have been knocked unconscious, because he wakes up alone, chained up in a carriage with Nancy Reagan. This dude is playing jumprope with the line between sweet grandfather and sexual predator. He wolf-baits Perrin, and comes out as the Dark One, which is still a lie. Perrin asks what he wants with him, and Nancy leans in like he is about to kiss him, and says he wants Perrin to be his. GAAAAAAYYYYYY. Heimdal and the wolves break Perrin out, and Perrin wants to rescue the others. Heimdal has another plan. Run away. Perrin follows along, but I sense some complaining in his future. He hates the choices other people make for him, but goes along with them because he still can't handle the thought of being responsible for another major mistake after his last one. Someone should tell him that choosing to follow orders is still a choice, and he is still responsible for the consequences of his choice. I fear he is going to find that out the hard way.

So onto Nynaeve, the heavy hitter of the episode. She is presented with an opportunity to walk through the swamp three arches, where she will face her greatest fears without even the force one power to protect her. If she succeeds, she will become a true Jedi master Accepted Aes Sedai. Her three greatest fears are really all the same fear. Watching people she loves suffer and die and choosing to leave them to their fate rather than fighting to save them. First up is her parents, then the Two Rivers folk, and finally, a brief flash of visions that end with her covered in blood. That last one haunts her so badly that she chooses to leave the tower, run away with Lan, and PSYCH! She was in the arches the entire time. She didn't even notice the archway return for her.

When the arch lit up and faded, the head Aes Sedai all realize she has been lost forever. The Principal of Novice School wallows in guilt, but has enough left over to remind JK Rowling that her self-righteousness won't actually wash away the blood on her hands. JK actually seems to feel shame, which I wasn't sure she was capable of before. She is suddenly more complex than the cardboard cutout lunch room bully she has been up until now. No more likeable, but painfully realistic with her ability to justify any and all actions as a defense against the deep self-loathing she can't afford to face. We all know someone like this. Someone so dedicated to their cause that they can't see the fact that they have become the exact thing they claim to fight against. In this case, She Woman Man Hater, Protector of Girls Everywhere has manipulated and murdered a young woman by treating her as a tool to power, rather than a person. But she doesn't have a penis, so she must still be Good. Right? Right? Her shields are failing. I wonder if she thought she loved Nynaeve, in whatever way her shriveled husk of a soul could comprehend love.

Egwene has recovered from her self-pity sleepover with Elayne, and is committed to appreciating Nynaeve a lot more. She goes to wake her up for school, but finds the Principal there instead. Principal stiffly and woodenly informs Egwene of Nynaeve's death and then walks out, in a way that seems cold to Egwene, but like she is inches from breaking down sobbing to the audience who saw her earlier performance. Elayne tries to comfort Egwene in her sincere, awkward way, but Egwene has just lost her final tie to home, and is not ready to pour her heart out to someone she met yesterday. Read the room, Elayne. Not that you have ever had this skill. Aren't princesses supposed to get etiquette training? She must have failed that class.

JK Rowling does find a way to blame a man after all. She WOULD have prepared Nynaeve properly, if only she hadn't been stuck tormenting Mat for no real reason except that she likes manipulating people. It is really all his fault, for being so manipulable. She releases him, after delivering a scathing rant about her own insecurities projected onto him. Someone in that room is certainly an insidious coward who mistakes their own moral failings for cunning and wallows in self pity. He and Min make a run for it, but Min goes back for a quick chat that serves no purpose except to let us the viewer know she's been working with JK all along.

Egwene goes to the arches, and pours everything she has into opening the archway for Nynaeve, but it just isn't enough. Elayne comes by for a second attempt at comfort. She is able to convince Egwene to stop trying to kill herself by overchanneling at the arches, but promises to sit with her until she's ready to leave. Maybe she CAN learn how humans work after all.

Nynaeve, meanwhile, has been living peacefully in a fantasy similar to Rand's. She and Lan are happily married, with a rambunctious daughter. They live in the Two Rivers with Mat and Perrin, and get letters from the Powerful and Amazing Egwene Sedai. After many happy years, however, her home is invaded by trollocs. She has to hide her daughter in a cellar, while she tries to fight, in a clear parallel to her own memories of losing her parents. The adults do their best, but Mat, Perrin, and Lan all die brutally within seconds of each other. Nynaeve rages so hard that she channels inside the arches. Okay, I understand. Her biggest fear is that being an Aes Sedai will keep her from protecting her loved ones because her duty will come first. She has overcome it by realizing that her power is the one thing that could have saved them all. But now for the final test. Her daughter comes upstairs for a hug, just as the archway appears. Nynaeve knows she must walk through, but she can't abandon her child to her fate. So she gathers up the girl and rushes through, only to emerge empty-handed and covered in blood to a shocked Egwene, who hugs her as she cries. Was that life ever actually real? Is there a world out there where a little girl closed her eyes and trusted her mother to carry her to safety, only to end up helpless and alone against a horde of monsters and the corpses of her family? Nynaeve will never know. Congratulations on becoming an Accepted, and on never knowing peace again.

Other episode reviews