#aiel

[necarion]

For whatever reason, Jordan didn't have the Aiel with polyandrous relationships, a thing I suspect he would have had he been writing 20 (or even 10) years later.

In part because sprawling Aiel polycules would be hilarious, with insane complicated rules that confuse the hell out of the wetlanders. The relationship between Rhuarc and his wives, for all that it baffles Rand, really isn't that complicated. What happens if it crosses clan or society boundaries? What happens if two women who dislike each other find themselves sister-wives because their husbands' wives are married to a common husband? What if one of a pair of first sisters isn't interested in the husband (for aro/ace reasons) but the husband is in her for platonic reasons?

Jordan wouldn't have to hold back, and could have had a ton of fun just making up random rules.

Aviendha would constantly insist this makes total sense, and is superior to whatever polycules the wetlands have.

[oliveoomph]

Far Dareis Mai - The Wheel of Time - s02e08 - What Was Meant to Be

[amyrlinegwene]

I really love the narrative choice to have Egwene dive deep into Aiel culture to the point that the Wise Ones say she’s ‘Aiel at heart’ and offer for her to become a wise one and marry a future chief. And all the while, Rand, who is Aiel by blood and arguably has greater reason as the car’a’carn to learn about their culture, often refuses to examine their culture on deeper levels and still fundamentally misunderstands key aspects of their tradition and culture months and year(s?) into knowing them.

It was somewhat infuriating yes when he didn’t bother to try to understand them, but a good choice narratively. Rand’s Aiel blood and the connection to their prophecy through his Aiel blood is the key reason why early series Rand is able to wage war and conquer nations, but it’s just blood, a tenuous connection. It doesn’t make Rand anymore able to understand the Aiel and their culture. Fantasy books are full of the trope where a ‘lost child’ returns to their culture and is able to integrate seamlessly, it feels natural to them, like their culture or way of life was innate. I like that RJ turns this on it’s head and says what we know from real life, that culture comes from socialization and there is nothing innate about it.

It also shows an important distinction between Rand and Egwene and their journeys. In many political situations, we see Rand try to use his power (political, prophetic, saidin, and Ta’veren) to get his way, his status as a legandary figure automatically awards him fear/respect. Whereas Egwene is constantly put into positions of inferiority (Wise One’s apprentice, and puppet Amyrlin) where she has to work for respect and influence. Therefore, (in addition to difference in natural curiosity) you see Egwene being much more interested in learning about Aiel culture because she needs to know these things to gain the respect of the Aiel Wise Ones, in a similar sense she dives into the intricacies of Aes Sedai politics in order to get the better of the sisters who are trying to control her. We do see Rand make political moves but most are based in his existing power and status as the Dragon Reborn.

[bel-by-the-sea]

[oc]

[moghedien]

You ever think about how the Age of Legends Aes Sedai had an entire race of people that seemingly lived only to serve the Aes Sedai and their lives were seemingly centered around which Aes Sedai they served to the point where they had to get permission to marry someone who served another Aes Sedai and this race of servants could be identified on site and were all for some reason sworn to extreme nonviolence in a way no one else in the world was despite it being a time of absolute peace and they referred to other people who weren’t themselves or Aes Sedai as “citizens” which implies that they were something other than citizens

Because I think about that a lot actually

[quietcontradictions]

Aiel posting be like:

[tan colored moodboard with pictures of spear, desert landscape, and a pair of calloused woman's hands] #just girly things

This is Blorbo from My Gleeman Tales. He has much Ji.

[picture of a ordinary cow in a green field] captioned Wet Beast Wednesday

[salazar-bollinger]

Poor old Rand and the fantasy racism

[wafflelovingbatgirl]

The crew of Wheel of Time : it’s really difficult to find redheads who will cut their hair short so the Maidens have long hair. Yes, that’s not how it is in the books but we have to make changes.

Josha, actively buzzing his pretty red curls off: Just a little off the top to express how Rand is in hiding.

[nat111love]

THE WHEEL OF TIME ↳ Season 2 ↳ Episode Seven |  Daes Dae'Mar

So, you're all just fine now? Friends again? I fulfilled my toh to Jolien and restored my ji. Toh is… "obligation"? Like what you said you owe me? It is dishonorable to remind me. But yes. I was defending myself when Jolien took the sword to her back that killed her. It's my fault she died. That was my toh.

[toomanylizzes]

Been thinking a lot about how carefully RJ considered his world due to how many little details just make sense when you dive a little deeper.

The biggest and best example I can think of is the little throwaway facts about the Aiel. They don’t use maps. They have, like, one chair per hold. They have an oral history. Books and sung wood are very precious. Peddlers are on the very short list of three kinds of people they allow into their land. Communication is almost always done by sending runners, so it’s extremely important to have systems where people can send messages without being straight-up murdered. All of these details - ALL OF THEM - stem from the fact that the Aiel live in a fucking desert.

Desert mean very few trees, and the trees they do have are put to much better use as sources of shade. So they’re not cutting them down to make paper or furniture. And even if they were going to use something else to make paper, the process still needs water, as would any kind of ink they would make. So that rules out making maps, or writing books to record their histories.

Peddlers are literally their only source for books or paper, and they’re not exactly coming by every day. Any scraps of precious paper wouldn’t be wasted on writing letters, so it’s super important to have systems in place where even warring factions can still literally talk to one another. The only letter we’ve ever seen an Aiel write is the one the Wise Ones send to Moiraine at the Stone - information too important to be heard by anyone else, sent by one person trusted enough to deliver it to the right hands.

All of this? Is because the Aiel live in a fucking desert.

[wot-tidbits]

Wise Woman and Maiden of the Spear

Two Rivers/Andor

Cairhien

by juliacarl_art

[necarion]

Post-WOT thought:

Lan can never truly restore Malkier-as-it-was. There are too many dead, the people are too dispersed, etc. However, he can do a few things: he can refound a city on the site of Malkier's dead capital, and he can keep the Borderland states from fighting over the new territory suddenly opening to their north where the Blight used to lie.

I'm guessing, then, that his solution is something like:

Lan becomes King of Malkier, again. This has happened already, it's done, but he takes the role as a leader of a people, and not just as a battle king

As the four Borderland states were already essentially following Lan as a battle leader, this becomes official: they are now the Confederation of Malkier (or something) with Lan as their leader and the refounded Seven Towers as the capital.

The Borderland states are no longer "borderlands", because the blight is gone. I think these people will be much like the Aiel, in that they have their entire identity shaped by a millennia-long war that they've suddenly won, and they will need a new purpose.

Who better to lead them into that uncertain future than Lan, a person whose journey has already been coming to terms with not dying in that war and having something to live for instead.

Also, he doesn't know this, but they're also unusually well-behaved because Queen Nynaeve Sedai arrives in secret and yells at them a while if they're making Lan sad.

[oliveoomph]

Far Dareis Mai - The Wheel of Time - s02e07 - Daes Dae'Mar

[amyrlinegwene]

Yes!! I love how they’re showing the brutal nature of Ji’e’toh in Aiel society and how physical punishment/brutality is often used to make up toh and regain ji. I think with violence on a page it is often hard to convey the severity/drastic nature the same way that film does. Maybe now people will finally listen when I critique Aiel culture as not being as perfect as many fans make it out to be

[bel-by-the-sea]

[oc]