#it starts with a confused rand

[markantonys]

thinking about gawyn during the coup. upon first read i took min's pov of his behavior at face value and was like "oh no, he's being so scary and cold!" but going back i realized Oh.............Actually, He Is Incredibly Traumatized :(

Worry and fear filled his blue eyes, and his face was a mask of determination not to give in to them.

He was as tight as coiled steel, ready to burst out in any direction.

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.

he was brittle, ready to shatter at the wrong blow.

[frizz22]

Me trying to keep all the freaking Forsaken in Wheel of Time straight.

[deathbxnny]

RARARARARARA HIYA MOOT 😈😈

Time for me to request!!! If youre requests r on ✌️✌️

Anyways

Yanqing, Bronya, Blade, Gepard with a reader whose like "i cant fight!" And then proceeds to do a zhongli ult (you know what i mean bestie 😌) sorry if its vaguely described idk how to describe it..

Wowoowowowow ✌️✌️❤️❤️!!

-----♡

A/N: Hey there! Thank you for the request! It was honestly funny to think about lol.<33

Content: unserious, established relationship, mentions of fights/violence, sfw

Reader has no set pronouns!

((Not fully proofread))

-----♡

》Yanqing

Yanqing is more than willing to protect you, in fact, he'd prefer it. He wants to impress you with his strength and skill after all! Therefore he didn't mind, when you told him that you couldn't fight.

So you can also imagine the shock he was in, when he saw you practically throw a whole meteor onto your enemy out of nowhere. He recovers quickly though and immideatly asks you how you did it. He'll probably wants to try it out in training too with you, but you'll have to stop him, because you don't want him to get hurt.

-----♡

》Blade

Blade never expected you to be really able to protect yourself and usually kept you safe himself. It gave him a sense of control and strength he liked to have alot. So when you told him, that you were unable to fight, he didn't comment on it nor paid much mind to it.

However, seeing you just casu summon a meteor out of the skies to throw at your enemies made him feel nearly deceived, if he wasn't absolutely confused on why you didn't deem that as a form of self defense. He eventually just decides to not even question it, deeming it as too much of a headache, despite how impressed he was.

-----♡

》Bronya Rand

Bronya takes great pride in keeping you and the people of Belobog safe, which is why she doesn't mind your incapability to protect yourself. Why should you anyways, when you have her after all? She even reassures you, that it's alright and that she'll take care of everything for you gladly.

That is, until she just sees you casually use your abilities on your enemies. To say that she is baffled would be an understatement. She wouldn't really know how to react at first and decides that praising you for your strength was a good start. She'd question you throughly about this later though.

-----♡

》Gepard Landau

It's his duty as the captain of the Silvermaneguards to protect all citizens of Belobog and you are therefore one of his priorities. That's why he doesn't mind your inability to fight either and swears to keep you safe with his own life.

And so, seeing you summon a whole meteor down onto your unfortunate enemies was certainly not something he could've ever seen coming. He might scold you for keeping that hidden from him and then praise you for your strength after. He'd also like to know more about your powers, just in case it might come in handy again somehow.

-----♡

A/N: I hope this was okay for you! And I thank you again for the fun request hehe<33

[lakesparkles]

I wasn't going to post today, but the part 2 of this AU is already done so....

Pickles is unironically my favorite character here, I have big plans for her.

More informations under the cut:

Like last time, it's Instagram's original description so it might sound confusing in some parts.

Bojack and Rand being swapped was the easier choice because, to be fair, they're kinda similar. Buuuut also so different the plots will have to change a lot, especially their relationship with Diane and Reagan. Rand used to be, well, a famous actor in sci-fi sitcom: one that has a way better reboot and where Brett stars. He's very bitter about all of this obviously. Reagan grew up in the celebrity world but was never truly part of it. She prefers to just write for it and support Brett. Meanwhile, Bojack used to be Cognito's CEO with Herb (and Diane's dad ig), but he was kicked out and now is Diane's roommate. They have a mostly peaceful relationship, but are terrible influences for each other.

And about Pickles:

Alright, let's go! Pickles wasn't swap with anyone, she's her own character, I guess. She works at the PR and Media Manipulation department with PC and is a kind of a "fake influencer" that tries to manipulate her public as Cognito wishes. She doesn't think it's very nice, but they convince all she does is worth it. Besides this little thing, she's living her dream job with an amazing boyfriend and friends she loves… Right?

Her plot won't be so different from canon, what'll change is her relationship with other characters and the fact she's there since the start (when PB met Diane, he was already dating Pickles). And she really, really admires Diane!! She thinks Diane is smart, fun and even says how "she wishes to be like her someday"

So when PB eventually cheats on her… with Diane of all people… Everything hits Pickles a little more, but she tries to understand. Their relationship can still work. She can forgive. She can forget. But, in the moments she feels the worst, she can't help but look at the people that works with her and compare to the public that watches her all time. Why do the people that seems to truly cares about her are the ones she's paid (very badly) to manipulate? Pickles is confused.

[plantwriting]

Thinking about Kian (no this doesn’t surprise anyone but wait i’m not done) and how much he must have internalized that he could never be protected or saved by anyone else.

Thinking about Kian as a little kid, with drug addicted cultists for parents, who could never give their child the love and care he needed. Thinking about Kian going hungry more often than not, never having clothes that fit, clearly not being properly taken care of by his parents. Thinking about all the other adults in his life seeing this, and choosing to ignore it.

Thinking about Kian internalizing that it’s just how things are supposed to be.

Thinking about Kian as a slightly older kid. Thinking about him seeing that his experiences aren’t normal for the first time, when he visits Rand and his home is always warm and welcoming, his parents are never high on anything, the house doesn’t smell of rotting food badly covered up by insence. Thinking about him seeing the way Donna would fuss over her kids and John would get confused when he called Rand ‘Rand’ because a family is supposed to share a last name. Thinking about him finally connecting the dots that his experiences aren’t normal.

Thinking about Kian internalizing that he can’t ever have the same kind of love and care as everyone else.

Thinking about Rachel going missing. Thinking about Rolan seeing bodies in the water that aren’t there. Thinking about both of his best friends falling into despair, and Kian being left to pick up the pieces. Thinking about him so desperately trying to help them feel better, bandaging their wounds, offering them support, never asking for the same in return. Thinking about nobody even noticing as Kian starts doing worse, and worse, and worse because there’s other things, other people, to focus on.

Thinking about Kian internalizing that he’s not worth it, that nobody will ever want to carry his burdens for him.

Thinking about Rolan leaving, with barely any warning, barely even a goodbye. Thinking about Rand and him fighting, Kian in the middle of it, the accusations of abandonment and betrayal. Thinking about Rand being so upset about Rolan leaving, fighting so hard to keep him, only to fail. Thinking about Kian trying to help Rand get over it for months, before leaving as well. Thinking about none of the anger being there this time, Rand letting him go without a fight, just telling him to come visit sometime.

Thinking about Kian internalizing that Rand never really cared about him as much as he cared about Rolan.

Thinking about Kian in Hollywood. Struggling to make the ends meet while failing to become a rockstar, in a city where he knows nobody and can’t get help from anyone. Thinking about Kian ending up homeless, nobody caring to help him, nobody looking at him for long. Thinking about the “demons” in Hollywood, the people who would hurt him, not even bothering to do so behind closed doors because nobody was going to stop them anyways. Thinking about him having a stalker, the police are no help, they never are, they don’t care about people like him. Thinking about Kian in Hollywood, hurt and abandoned and followed home from a club and abused and getting attacked in a dark alleyway by someone with a grin he could never forget. Thinking about those around averting their gazes, acting like they don’t even notice him.

Thinking about Kian internalizing that nobody’s ever going to keep him safe or protect him from danger.

Thinking about him high and drunk out of his mind, unable to stand straight or even speak, still going for another hit. Thinking about him going well over the speed limit while driving, because what does it even matter? Thinking about him, with a weapon in hand, wondering how long it would take for anyone to even come and find his body.

Thinking about Kian internalizing that nobody’s ever going to keep him safe or protect him from himself.

Thinking about him going back to Galloway. Slowing down his car only when his friends are in it with him, chasing after Rolan and trying to help him, seeing that same horribly familiar way that officer Dudes smiled at him. Thinking about him on two hp after the crash, patching himself up, ignoring the eyes on the back of his neck, making sure Rolan got taken care of before him.

Thinking about Kian knowing that nobody is going to take care of him.

Thinking about him going to see Becky. Thinking about him hoping that maybe Rand would come with him to keep him safe. Thinking about him telling himself that it didn’t matter if he left Dickman behind, because he was never going to protect Kian anyways. Thinking about him kissing her, feeling the stinger go down his throat, hoping and begging and stalling so that maybe, maybe, maybe someone would come save him. Thinking about him dying a horrible and painful death, alone.

Thinking about Kian knowing that nobody is going to protect him.

Thinking about Rolan finding “him”. Thinking about Rolan running away as soon as it wasn’t him anymore, thinking about Kian losing himself. Thinking about him trying to tell his friends to save him, hoping and begging that they would, that they’d care enough to do that. Thinking about Rolan slicing his body in half to protect Rand, killing him for a second time.

Thinking about Kian knowing that Rolan will never care about him as much as he cares about Rand.

Thinking about them bringing him back, Rand hugging him, him telling them the truth. Thinking about him trying to help, trying to find any kind of useful info, but failing. Thinking about Becky trying to kill him again, him only surviving with luck, nobody being there to help him. Thinking about him witnessing the queen, knowing he can’t stop what’s about to come, knowing nobody else is going to try and stop it either.

Thinking about Kian knowing that this is just how things were supposed to end.

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

A Great Big Phech-niverse Chapter 12

Tech and Phee try to figure out what to name their baby as the months go.

AO3

“We need a name.”

“Hm?” Tech looked up from his datapad and over at his spouse. “For what?”

Phee smiled at him from the other side of the couch, her hand coming up to rest on her small baby bump. Tech smiled back and set the datapad down on the coffee table. She quickly scooted over to him, resting against him. In the last month, she’d wanted to cuddle more and more. He wondered if it was tangentially related to the beginnings of some nesting instinct. Whatever it was, Tech would not deny her desire to be close to him.

“This kid,” she brought Tech’s hand down to her belly. “They’re going to need a name.”

Tech frowned. “A name?”

“Can’t keep calling them Baby Brown Eyes. Or Beebee.”

“Beebee?”

“Baby Brown Eyes. BBE is the initials. So Beebee.”

“I see,” Tech nodded. “We still have four months though. There’s plenty of time to think still.”

“I know,” Phee leaned her head against his chest. “Didn’t feel confident about thinking of actual names before our appointment today.”

“Why not?”

She rubbed her eyes and Tech saw her lips wobble.

“Phee,” he reassured, rubbing her arms. “Everything is fine. The doctor told us their development was on track. You are in excellent health and so is our baby.”

“I know,” she murmured. “Didn’t want to get ahead of myself. Now feels better to start thinking.”

“I guess so,” Tech nodded. “It will be interesting to be naming the child before they show understanding.”

“That’s normal life, Brown Eyes,” Phee squeezed his hand.

-0-

Tech studied the paint swatches in front of him. There had been another appointment today, and both he and Phee had been able to see their baby. Phee didn’t want to know the sex, but Tech had figured it out before the screen was cropped. Now that he knew the biological gender, there was some temptation to throw out a few of the samples. Then again, gendering color was ridiculous. 

“What do you think about Bayla?” Phee asked from the counter.

“Pardon?” Tech looked up and got up from his chair. “What are you making, dear?”

She fixed him with a look as her fork hovered over the pickle jar. “I’m hungry, okay?”

“Pickles and meiloorun?”

“Hey, don’t judge me,” she gently prodded her stomach. “Beebee is making me want sweet and sour.”

Tech held up his hands, watching Phee dish out the concoction into a bowl. “This is an…interesting craving.”

She screwed the jar lid on and walked over (definitely not waddled, Wrecker took heat for that one last week). “I don’t know, okay? But anyways, Bayla?”

“I’m very confused.”

“Yeah, I’ve felt that too lately,” Phee sat down with her fork and bowl of fruit and pickles. “I’m talking about names. We only have three months left.”

Tech glanced at the swatches of paint. “I don’t know if Bayla will be a good fit.”

“Rand?”

He shrugged noncommittally.

“Well, have you got any ideas?” Phee asked while spearing a piece of fruit.

“Uh,” Tech glanced at where his datapad lay on the couch. “99021?”

Phee swallowed the meiloorun, then poked a pickle. “Tech, they’re not going to be a soldier.”

“They are the child of one,” Tech said. “Unless we named them after one of us.”

“Uh uh. They deserve their own name. Besides, they’re getting our last name.”

Hearing her refer to the surname he now had as our sent a little happy thrill through Tech. “I suppose so.”

“Well, we still have three months left.”

He watched as she ate a piece of fruit and pickle together, her face souring. “It’s not good, is it?”

She shook her head. “I wanted it. But ugh, not anymore.”

“Can I get you something else?”

Phee pushed herself up and started walking to the bedroom. “How fast can you take off your pants?”

-0-

Tech stepped off the ladder to admire his handiwork. While he initially didn’t see a point of painting the nursery, it had grown on him. The repetitive brushstrokes helped calm his anxieties of impending parenthood and his replication of the sky. Crosshair had been able to hear about both when he’d come over to help him and Phee blend the shades of blue together seamlessly.

“Should we paint the starship along that wall?” Phee pointed to the adjacent wall. “Or is it too much?”

“I thought we were painting stars?” Tech asked her.

“We could do both?”

“Let’s set the paint dry before we do anything else.”

“Good plan,” she nodded as she placed her hands against her back. “Ow.”

Tech raised his eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sore. Can we go to the couch and look over names again?”

The couple made their way into the living room and Tech retrieved his datapad. He watched Phee lower herself to the couch slowly and grabbed another pillow for her. As fascinating as it was to watch their child grow, Phee’s discomfort wasn’t easy to watch. They had both wanted this, yet she had to endure both the physical and emotional process.

“So far,” he opened his datapad. “I have Spanner, Rocket, Wave, Kickback, Wire-”

Phee shook her head. “None of those.”

“Fair. What about Hyperdrive? Coil? Switch?”

“No,” Phee frowned at him. “Tech, I’m sorry, but those are terrible names.”

Tech sighed. “This is difficult. How can we name him when he has no input or way to express his personality?”

“He?”

Tech froze and glanced over at her. His mouth went dry as he realized he had let the gender slip.

“I, uh, I…” he floundered. “I was just referring to h- them in a general way.’ “Baby Brown Eyes is a boy?” Phee’s eyes were wide. “You saw, didn’t you?”

“Last month,” Tech nodded. “I was going to wait until he arrived. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t,” Phee wiped the moisture building in her eye. “At least I don’t have to stress out over girl names anymore. They’re hard. But we need an actual name, Brown Eyes.”

“Those are names.”

“A name that isn’t also a common noun.”

-0-

“Eli?”

Tech lifted his head from the pillow. “Phee?”

“Beebee won’t let me sleep,” Phee grumbled in the dark. “I’m thinking of names. Eli?”

“I still don’t see why we don’t let him name himself when he’s old enough to make his own decisions.”

“That’s how we end up with a kid named Vrathean or Mantell Mix or something like that.”

“My brothers and I had to name ourselves,” he reminded her, reaching his hand under the folds of the covers towards her belly. “May I?”

“You’re always allowed. And you never had anyone else to name you! It was yourselves or just being a number. That’s not right!”

Tech pressed his hand to her stomach and brought the other to where he assumed her face was. “It’s okay. I should have asked earlier, but why is this naming so important?”

“I know you were born as a number,” Phee told him in the dark. “I’m used to people naming babies actual names, not kids growing up having to name themselves. And the more I think about it, giving them a name is important. It’s showing him he’s wanted and that we care.”

Tech considered her words. “But what if it doesn’t suit the person our child becomes?”

“Then I’m okay with them choosing a new one.But to give a name from the start, it’s a sign of love.”

Reassurance bathed Tech and he felt the baby’s foot press against his hand. “I see now.”

“Thank you. And we…we don’t need a set name yet. Just a few we feel really good about. When they come, seeing them might make the choice easier. But if I...”

Her hesitance made Tech scoot closer and hold her closer.

“I’m scared,” she muttered. “There’s only a month left.”

“It may be less if you go into labor early.”

She shuddered against him. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when he’s ready to come out. There’s things that might go wrong. And I want to be ready.”

Tech kissed the side of her face. “I can’t promise anything, but I will be by your side the whole time. And when we see our child for the first time outside your womb, I think we can figure out their name.”

“So can we add Eli to the list?”

“I think so. What about Ace?”

“Maybe.”

-0-

Engaging in some frisky activities after Mother’s Day had been intended to help Phee feel better, but Tech only succeeded in sending them to the Pabu’s clinic and single delivery room. The doctor assured Tech he had not triggered labor early several times and their baby was well on its way to coming out, but it fell on deaf ears. For two people who rolled with the punches easily, both of them had panicked about nearly every little thing that happened over the long course of Phee’s labor. Calm finally came over the both of them when the little boy was born and made his presence known with a cry that altered their worlds.

“That’s our baby,” Tech whispered after the child was placed in her arms, a cold pack on his bruised hand. 

“Our baby,” Phee repeated, staring down. “Holy shit, we made that.”

“Language,” Tech said, even though he was thinking the same. “Do you still want to call him Eli?”

Phee shook her head. “No. He doesn’t feel like an Eli.”

Staring from his son to Phee, Tech found himself thinking of how important both of them were. Phee had changed his life even before they’d procreated. With her, he had found both an equal and a balance. He had learned so much more about love and life beyond the Grand Army with her. But there was someone else who had challenged his mindset before her who he still thought of from time to time.

“What if we named him Romar?”

Phee lifted her head. “Romar?”

“My siblings and I met a man on Serrano shortly after our first encounter,” Tech explained, reaching over to gently brush their son’s nose with his knuckle. “He gave Echo, Omega, and myself shelter after I was injured. He was trying to repair a unit storing Serranian cultural data. He challenged how I thought of things, and I stopped generalizing former Separatist planets afterwards.”

“I like that,” Phee mused. “Romar. It kinda sounds like roamer. Fits for the son of a defector and a liberator of ancient wonders. Romar Genoa.”

“Romar Genoa,” Tech repeated. “Now that we’ve named him, shall I go get my siblings?”

“Not yet,” Phee shook her head. “Hold him first.”

She passed him over to his waiting arms. Tech tensed at first when Romar was transferred to him but relaxed as the baby settled against him.

“Romar,” Tech said, feeling a sense of rightness as he spoke the name. “Welcome to the galaxy, little pilot.”

[ebro-devoo]

After having some time to reflect on 2x07, I think Siuan’s actions were justified and somewhat sympathetic given the information she knew. First off, Lan came to Siuan and told her that moraine have been deliberately withholding essential information from her (the fact that she was stilled ) and was threatening to pass Lans bond which both indicated that Moraine was not in a good place mentally or physically to complete their mission (train and protect Rand/the world from Ran).

Now cut to when she meets with Ran. While we as viewers know that Ran is not evil or mad yet, from her perspective he is a nuclear bomb that could either become evil or go mad in the process of saving the world. The last dragon literally killed a ton of people and destroyed the world, and as the head of the “servants of all” it’s Siuan’s job to protect the world from Rand, and so when she sees that Moraine has no power to control him if he starts to go insane and has failed to teach him anything, she makes the decision to shield/control him, which in her mind is what’s best for the safety of the world. While we know it’s the wrong choice, I don’t think this is anything like the Seanchan who literally enslave an entire group of people while I think of the dragon more as the trolley problem (sacrifice the one to save the many).

Then in the final confrontation with Moraine and Lanfear, I think her confusion and perceived betrayal from Moraine dictates most of her actions. First she finds out that Moraine and Verrin tricked Leanne into letting them escape, then arrives at the way gate to see that Moraine has channeled, meaning that she lied about being stilled making Siuan think that she could be a darkfriend. While the using of the oath was awful and definitely violating, I don’t think Siuan felt as if she had any choice because she wasn’t going to let a suspected dark friend walk away with the dragon reborn. You could also see on her face afterwords how broken she felt in that moment.

Anyways, I think both Siuan and Moraine were trying to do what they thought was right and neither of them are villains and that’s what made this episode so hard to watch.

[ottersandfandoms]

spoilers for WoT s2 e7

ok so just binged wheel of time season 2 in one night, staying up until 2 am, which I now regret lol. But episode 7 emotional destroyed me, but also left me with a faint glimmer of hope. So here’s my theory/reasoning for why Siuan did what she did:

—when Lan tells Siuan that Moiraine has been stilled, she is shocked. Siuan and Moiraine have been conversing for months and Moiraine has made not one mention of this. Siuan has no idea what to expect when she goes to Moiraine, as all the letters she’s received are now questionable and confusing. She has no idea what to expect while going going to Caihrien so she brings backup. She wants to trust Moiraine but is confused why Moiraine never made one mention of being stilled. Siuan is starting to doubt her trust in Moiraine.

— Siuan arrives in Caihrien and immediately sets up a meeting with Moiraine. In this meeting, Moiraine is cold and distant, unlike how she usually is when alone with Siuan. Siuan questions her but Moiraine doesn’t directly answer and instead throws questions back at Siuan. Siuan keeps trying to appeal to Moiraine’s emotional side but Moiraine never relents. When Siuan puts her hand on Moiraine’s cheek, she is trying one last time to brung Moiraine’s armor down. You can see for a split second, Moiraine leans into the touch but only a second later she pulls away. Moiraine, who usually lets down her guard for Siuan, is just as guarded, if not more, the she is with everyone else.

—now when Siuan goes to meet with Rand, she finds out that Moiraine hasn’t trained him or prepared him at all. She is losing her trust in Moiraine and all their planning is meaningless. All the time and sacrifices they have made seem futile. So Siuan does the one thing she had not tried yet: follow the rules.

—when Moiraine escapes with Rand and Lan, Siuan quickly goes after them, now not knowing who to trust. Her fears seem confirmed when she find Moiraine channeling, just after she found out she was stilled. She believes Moiraine has lied to her, making one of Siuan’s worst fears seem confirmed: Moiraine has betrayed her and turned to the dark. Siuan wants to believe in Moiraine but she can find no other meaning for what had happened. The only way for Moiraine to have lied to her is to break one of the oaths, a feat that can only be accomplished after turning to the dark. Moiraine tells Siuan that she has not lied to her, but now Siuan has no idea what to believe. The door has opened and Moiraine is taking Rand with her. So Siuan does the only available option left to her, force the oaths. This will make either one of two things happen, one: the oaths will work, closing the door while also proving that Moiraine hasn’t turned to the dark, or they won’t work proving that Moiraine has turned to the dark. Siuan activities the oaths and they work. You can see a slight look of relief in Siuan’s face when the oaths work

-- and now Lanfear arrived. Siuan tries to fight but Lanfear is too strong. Lanfear opens the doorway and is angered when she sees Moiraine with Rand. You can see that Siuan is not totally unconscious when she is knocked down, she sees Lanfear go up to attack Moiraine but Rand protects her. This is again proving that Moiraine is not sided with the forsaken. Rand and Lanfear go through the doorway and Moiraine is caught between Siuan and Lan. Lan is asking her to follow them, but Moiraine has paused and is staring at Siuan. Siuan murmurs one last thing before she finally goes unconscious, “Moiraine please”

this could be interrupted in many ways. It could be Siuan telling Moiraine to stay and help her, or it could be to tell her to follow Rand. Moiraine eventually makes the decision to go after Rand but just as she walks into the doorway, she looks back and locks eyes with Siuan.

there are many things exchanged in this one second. It is letting Siuan know that Moiraine loves her and she doesn’t want to leave her behind. It is a promise that they will see each other again.

you can see a slight smile on Siuan’s face as she falls unconscious, despite all the events that have occurred, she trusts Moiraine.

[moghedien]

I am considering reading the books but I've seen it said that Rand is the protagonist of the book series and that characters like Moiraine and Egwene who are basically my favourites have significantly less to do in the books, with Moiraine being absent for chapters and chapters at times. I'm also not a big Rand fan (i love a disaster man and Mat is right there, come on) so I'm wondering would you reccomend the series to me? What are the big differences between it and the adaptation?

so #1 advice for anyone regardless of where they're at with wanting to read the books: If you're already watching the show, don't start reading the books until after this season is over. There's a lot of rearranging and changing of stuff in the books and I think that can get confusing if you're trying to consume the show and the books at the same time.

Ok so regarding Rand, yes, he's the main character and is the vast majority of the POVs in the first book. Its extremely obvious who the dragon reborn is in the book and its never really presented as a mystery. As the books go on, it becomes much much more of an ensemble type story and Rand will be almost entirely absent for long periods of time, but he's still largely the main character. but there are 148 different POV characters in the books, so its far from a Rand-only story

Regarding Moiraine and Egwene, while I wouldn't really say that Egwene has a significantly lesser role in the books (at least after the first book), Moiraine's role is definitely beefed up for the show. We don't get her POV until a few books in (well there is a very brief POV in book 1), and she's largely missing from book 2. She is a much more (emotionally) distant figure and definitely the sort of Gandalf/mentor role in the books rather than the main character. But if you like Egwene, there is plenty of Egwene content for you in the books, do not worry.

As for differences, the main difference between the books and the show is the first book is not the first season. There are definitely elements there, but the first book is best viewed as an homage to the fantasy genre that Robert Jordan had to make a certain way to get it through publishing. Its not *bad* but its definitely a Lord of the Rings-y story that follows that kind of formula. The show made sure there was a lot more worldbuilding and future plot threads established in season 1 than there was present in book 1. It doesn't start becoming truly its own thing until book 2, imo, and it's a common sentiment where books 4 and 5 are really where it starts becoming the Wheel of Time and holding its own ground. Like as much as some people do complain about it and as much as I do like the Eye of the World, it would have made a terrible on screen experience if it were told entirely faithful to the book

So I wouldn't say absolutely to read it or not. obviously I do want people to read and enjoy the books, but its also a commitment, and if you're coming to them off of the show, its best to be aware that's its going to be different going in. You're not going to see some of the things that happened in season 1 at all, but you're going to get a much more detailed account of the story and it might give you better context for some of the things going on in the show, even if its not how it happened in the books.

So if you're ok with the fact that its different, I say try it once the season is over. If you don't want to finish it or continue on with the series, then there's no harm in trying and you can always keep watching the show even if the books aren't for you

[kevin-sedai]

Wheel of Time pool party

Elayne: Decided to have a pool party because she got a new in-ground pool installed. Planned on keeping the look of it secret, but ends up ruining it herself with all the selfies she posted on Instagram.

Aviendha: Is floored by all the water that wetlanders get to just float in and play games. Is first angry at the waste of water, but Elayne enjoys it, so why not her? She takes a bunch of pictures with it and in it to send to the Wise Ones. They never answered.

Egwene: Got there early to help Elayne set up, but ends up setting up by herself because Elayne is playing Marco Polo with Aviendha.

Nynaeve: Shows up shortly after Egwene and brought water and cupcakes. She helps Egwene until she gets sprayed by something in the back. Turns around and sees Mat with one of her cupcakes, whom she begins to chase with promises that he'll regret the first kiss his father gave to his mother when she catches him.

Mat: Shows up with so much beer. Like, so much. Also brought water guns. Nynaneve just needs to lighten up. It's water. Is in a speedo.

Moiraine: Shows up with Thom and ice cream sandwiches no one thanks her for. Siuan is there. She spends a lot of time in the deep end.

Siuan: Is so excited to see Moiraine is finally able to swim so well in the deep end. She came with Gareth Bryne, who can't swim at all. Goes to swim with Moiraine.

Thom: The self-appointed DJ. He does not take requests and asks Gareth to bring him drinks. Anyway, here's Wonderwall.

Perrin: Is so excited. Once he and Faile say hello to everyone, he jumps in the pool. He mostly stays in the shallow end because, you guessed it, he can only doggy paddle. Swimmies are too small for his blacksmith arms.

Faile: Is already mad at Perrin because he's spending too much time in the shallow end. Berelain is in the shallow end. She calms herself down and gets the volleyball net and ball she brought. She's finally going to show Berelain who's boss.

Berelain: Unbothered by the daggers that Faile is shooting her, because Galad is there, jumping off the diving board. She gets on a float and goes to the deep end to purposely knock herself off when Galad jumps to get his attention. "You make such big waves," she tells him.

Galad: Is so confused; he doesn't make waves when he dives. He perfected diving so long ago. Anyway, he enjoys what time he can before Morgase comes home. She never gave Elayne the okay to have this party, you know.

Rand: Enjoys himself more than he thought he would. Spends a good amount of time on a lounge chair under the umbrella. Gawyn made him a burger and Rand compliments him on how well he did it. Is confused as to why Gawyn throws the spatula down in a rage though.

Gawyn: Self-appointed grill master. That is, until al'Thor had to ruin it. He made that burger well-done on purpose because he thought al'Thor wouldn't like it like that, but he does anyway? Goes to assert his pool party dominance by doing a flip off the diving board. Belly flops.

Min: Amused that Gawyn belly flops. Figured that's what the red circle she saw over his head was about. Spends most of the time with Rand and Loial to read. Goes in the pool when the volleyball game starts.

Tuon: Went because Knotai is there, and she wanted to make sure he acted properly. The speedo was her idea. Waited five minutes after Egwene told her to go in the pool to actually go in, because it was her decision. Will not put her head under the water because she didn't want to get her hair wet. "She doesn't even have hair, is she crazy?" Elayne is heard asking.

Lan: He spent most of his time so far sitting at the edge of the pool, trying to tune everyone out. Decided that he couldn't anymore. It is time for the volleyball game.

Birgitte: Took so many pictures of Elayne for Elayne while she does all these poses on floats, at the edge of the pool, and on the pool deck. Sees Lan setting up the volleyball net and ditches Elayne to help him.

The game starts pretty friendly but then becomes incredibly competitive. It ends because Faile spikes the ball into Gawyn's face and leaves a red mark on him. "So that's what the red circle meant," Min is heard saying.

Loial: Takes notes during the whole game. What a crazy summer ritual these humans have.

[markantonys]

The show hasn't really gotten into the Breaking as much as I think they should have at this point. Which does kinda go into the fact that Lews Therin doesn't seem to be feared by the general public at least as far as we know? Which does make me a bit concerned as that is important. It does seem like the AOL flashbacks are leading up to Dragonmount and therefore the Breaking so maybe that's why it hasn't been addressed as much yet? Rafe did say there's less knowledge of the prophecies or at least less belief that they're 100% accurate since they're over 3000 years old and translated a million times so that might play a role too? Idk I'm curious for them to get into the prophecies more so we know what the world thinks and believes about the Dragon.

i just wanna say that as someone who studied ancient history and ancient literature, it is completely accurate that the current people of randland know very little about what happened 3000 years ago, that the average population outside of scholars doesn't care about what happened 3000 years ago, and that nobody is willing to put full trust in the accuracy of the few ancient texts and prophecies that survived to the present.

and mind you, i ran into all these things in my studies of events that happened only 2000 years ago. 3000 years, we are talking the late bronze age collapse in the mediterranean region - an event that's infamously mysterious precisely because we have so little surviving evidence to say what caused it.

when it comes to human history, 3000 years is a MASSIVE amount of time, and to be honest i don't think RJ/the books really understood just how massive (for example, randland should have been able to advance more, technologically, in 3000 years than it did, even considering how destructive the breaking was and how destructive the taint & false dragons & shadowspawn continued to be). the general population outside of scholars does not spend a second thinking about things that happened 3000 years ago or specific people who lived 3000 years ago. they just don't. realistically, lews therin shouldn't be anything more than a vague fable to the average population of present-day randland. of course they're not afraid of him. why would they be? he's insanely far-removed from and irrelevant to their lives - for now. i daresay they'll start to get nervous once they start to see true signs that the dragon has been reborn and that the last battle will happen in their lifetime. but until then, i cannot emphasize enough how much any dragon- & breaking-related shit is not on the general population's radar. they don't care about the bronze age collapse. they don't care about any sort of war or destruction or apocalypse until it starts to affect them personally (see: nobody caring enough to help falme in s2, just as nobody cared enough to help manetheren).

i will also add that as someone fresh from reading the books for the very first time, i can comfortably say the show is NOT lagging behind on Breaking Info-Giving compared to where the books were at this point. we had zero clue about the bore or any of that stuff until rand's rhuidean trip (and even then, i didn't really understand what the hell was going on in his visions until quite a bit later, and in large part due to learning some extra-book information that explained it better). as a show-only during s1, i can assure you that the 3000 years later flashback showing us a futuristic society made me go OH SHIT and hit home the full impact of the breaking far more than anything in the books, where we don't even see any AOL scenes onscreen aside from the rhuidean visions (which are very confusing to a first-time reader) and the dragonmount prologue (which isn't very useful since it's the first scene in the whole series and a first-time reader has zero context for anything learned there).

honestly, i think longtime readers forget just how much of our AOL/forsaken/breaking knowledge comes from extra-book sources like the companion, Word Of Jordan, etc; the books alone are very vague about so much of that stuff and i remember being repeatedly bewildered as to how you guys knew so much about the AOL when the books either didn't have those details at all or had them so vaguely that they flew right over my first-time reader head. i'm not 100% sure, but i believe latra posae decume isn't even MENTIONED in the books and comes purely from "the strike at shayol ghul", as do many of the details about the strike and the bore and the breaking. and so i definitely think the show has already included more information, and more CLEAR information, about the breaking than the books alone had by the end of TDR and in fact for much of the series.

[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.

[mass-convergence]

I’ll be honest with you - in season 1 of WOT:

I didn’t exactly love what I’m calling the Main Character Squad (Rand, Egwene, Perrin, Mat, Nynaeve). Like don’t get me wrong - I didn’t hate them. I just thought they were … idk … boring? And this may warrant a rewatch, I’ll admit I was not in the best place emotionally while watching the season. But I just felt like they were kind of flat with maybe the exception being Mat and Nynaeve who I was kinda like 👀 what’s going on. Mat had that whole corrupted by darkness thing going on with him and Nynaeve was just a fucking badass and seemed highly motivated to protect her friends from the get go. But idk Rand felt like he was just kinda …… there? Same with Egwene and Perrin.

(This is ending up turning into an essay so I’m gonna put shit below a cut)

They were cool characters and I obviously was rooting for them to get reunited and stuff but I was like “eh???” Until maybe the very end when things started falling in place and the plot became a lot more sticky (as my friend describes plots that suddenly have a lot of competing motivations all coming together)

So I think my main issue was with their writing rather then the characters themselves. I’m coming at this as a complete outsider to WoT - never read the books and even if I did, I believe an adaptation must be able to stand on its own. And what I think happened was that season 1 like *had* to catch everyone up on the lore of the world, why Moiraine was so hellbent on finding the Dragon, what the hell the Aes Sedai were, etc. etc.

And it may have somewhat put characterization on the backburner until the end when they were like “we caught you up to speed now here’s the plot”. I guess they felt passive, like the plot was just happening to them instead of them driving the plot. Like we got hints of stuff - I was confused about what was going on with Perrin, then really intrigued towards the end when the wolves attacked the White Cloaks camp. And then of course the whole Eye of the World thing and Ishamael being released and him cutting Moiraine off from the One Power.

But idk, most of that season just fell flat to me.

The second season however, whooooo boy did I get fucking invested in those crazy kids. I was like “why can’t Nynaeve deliberately channel? [Insert Spiderverse “can’t do it on command” meme here]”, “oh fuck how is Egwene going to get out of this and also fuck you Renna”, “Rand please don’t go crazy”, “Perrin is like spiritually connected to wolves??? I need to know more about how that is a thing”, “Mat I swear to god you better not be evil because I’m like rooting for you”.

And of course I was really invested in the supporting characters - like Moiraine’s journey, Liandrin’s betrayal, Lanfear’s … everything (god I love her).

And oh god was it almost empowering to see their arcs play out.

- Rand struggling with the fact that he is indeed the Dragon Reborn and that male channelers tend to go batshit and kill everyone they love.

- Perrin becoming more familiar with his wolf-powers (I forgot what they were called or if they even had a name I’m sorry) … and being caught between his humanity and his wolf side. RIP Hopper, I’m glad you were avenged almost immediately.

- Egwene first off like: struggling with the fact that Nynaeve was kind of distant (because Nynaeve was obviously dealing with her own issues) but sticking with her friend. And then getting fucking captured and enslaved and like thrown into one of the most disempowering positions one can get into… and she fucking still held her own and never gave in. God I think her arc is like my favorite one this season. Fuck you Renna I’m glad you fucking got what you deserved.

- Mat dealing with the aftermath of the dagger and just having this darkness inside of him. He had been pushed down and kicked all his life, people viewed him as a loser, and he had that attitude towards himself as well. I felt like a connection to him because yeah, that boy is just a touch depressed, and as someone who’s dealt with their own mental health issues and ADHD absolutely making me feel like I’m constantly failing everyone including myself …….. good lord did his arc make me feel some feelings. Like he took that darkness - namely the dagger - and he used it to fight his way out. And then he’s a fucking hero of the horn. That is unironically super fucking inspiring to me.

- Nynaeve not being able to channel on command, being almost afraid of the power she can wield (I think that’s the angle they’re going for at least - though it also does seem to be very attached to her emotions). Out of all the main character squad: I liked her the most in the first season. She was very much motivated to protect her friends. Like I do see her kind of as the mother figure of the group (and not in a derisive way - like she will absolutely fuck a person up if they hurt her friends as we saw in season 2 with that sul’dam), the “heart” in the five man band. Like *almost* like Katara in a way and I really loved Katara so there you go.

- honorable mention to Moiraine because she thought that she had to handle this shit on her own. She had to figure out what Ishamael and the Dark One were planning while protecting Rand and also dealing with the aftershocks of her being cut off from the One Power. Something that Verin very much analogized to being assaulted or raped. And Moiraine just kept trucking, carrying the burden of what she felt like her own responsibilities like she carried those fucking buckets up the hill. The season was her realizing she could rely on others and she didn’t have to be as closed off as she was being. And oh my god once she got the One Power back she (a woman who was already plenty fucking badass during this entire season) like went to fucking S-tier levels of badass. God I fucking love her.

Basically: I’m saying that I loved season 2 very very much and I’m now rooting for these crazy kids to fuck shit up and save the world.

Also I love every single woman in this show who’s not Renna or the Seanchan because fuck those slavery loving assholes.

[ohplagg]

I Love Yoo Timeline Part 4/4

The Timeline

This is part 4 of 4 of my I Love Yoo Timeline as of Episode 241.

Part 1 and 2 consists of laying out all the detailed evidence with descriptions, screenshots and episode number.

Part 3 consists of explaining the evidence, connecting the dates and some math because the I Love Yoo universe (the Yooniverse, if you will) uses letters instead of numbers to represent official years.

Part 4 is the I Love Yoo Timeline.

---------

If you havent read the previous 3 parts of this mega post I highly encourage you to go check them out before continuing since up ahead I will be writing and explaining under the assumption that you have read the previous 3 parts.

All the events are placed where they are according to the evidence. I will not be providing much explanation in this post as to why things are placed where they are in the timeline so if you need explanation go back to the previous parts.

I also won't be adding most of Shin-Ae focused events otherwise the timeline becomes unnecessarily messy.

And lastly, I won't be mentioning every single event that has happened in current year of the story (20XX), only major events. If you want a more detailed timeline for present year this old reddit post that goes up to episode 146 has more details.

While I was finishing writing this timeline AugmentedElle from reddit published her own version of the timeline (Elle, if you see this, big fan. I don't have reddit but big fan) which has some parts I disagree with based on my interpretation of the evidence but her timeline is so well written and easy to follow + it's more detailed than mine that I honestly do recommend checking it out as well because Elle did a way better job than me in that regard.

Without further ado..

Cheat sheet

Because the Yooniverse uses the alphabet instead of numbers to keep track of years, it's hard to really grasp how much time has really passed. This is why I created this little chart where it lays down the year with the number equivalent and the age each character had in each specific year.

Dieter, Soushi, Maya and Rika were born the same year as Shin-Ae.

Sang-Chul and Alyssa were born the same year.

Meg was born the same year as Kousuke.

Yui's age is not exact. We only know she is in her 40s meaning she can be either 40 or 49. Meaning she was pregnant with Kousuke between 16-25. I chose 20 for no other reason than it's right in the middle.

I have no idea of anyone else's age (Rand, Hansuke, YuJing, etc) so I didn't even add my guesses to not confuse the timeline. If you know any clue about someone's age I would love to know!

The Timeline

I'll start with the earliest date and move forward from there.

Italic means that it's not known when exactly in the year that specific event took place. I still placed the event where it makes most sense.

January 20WA === 50 years ago

Young-Chul Kim become Chairman of Hirahara Corp.

Prestigious Prep School starts mishandling reports of SA

+ 25 Year

October 31st, 20WY === 25 years ago

Young-Chul Kim steps down as Chairman after SA accusations

Hirahara Corp CFO of several years, Randulph Hannesson is a witness against Young-Chul Kim

Next year

January 20WZ === 24 years ago

Yui and Rand get married without the public's knowledge

Yui and Rand have their honeymoon in February

Kousuke is conceived in February

Rand gets announced as temporary chairman of Hirahara Corp on March 27th

As of March 27th, the press and public only know that Yui and Rand relationship goes as far as "seeing each other in public"

Kousuke is born November 8th

+ 5 Years

January 20XE ==== 19 years ago

Nol is conceived around March

Kousuke has his 5th birthday

Nol is born December 21st

+ 6 Years

January 20XJ ==== 13 Years ago

Nol and Nessa move to USAsia

Nol and Kousuke meet for the first time

Kousuke has his 11th birthday

Nol has his 6th birthday

+ 4 Years

January 20XO ==== 9 years ago

Kousuke Graduates High School (Nessa is at the park the same day)

Yui and Rand's public marriage reconciliation

Kousuke starts college

Kousuke gets a college friend group

Kousuke has his 15th birthday

Nol has his 10th birthday

Next Year

January 20XP ==== 8 years ago

Kousuke has his 16th birthday

Nol has his 11th birthday

Nessa is found dead December 21st

The brother incident happens

Nol is taken to the Mental Facility

+ 2 Years

January 20XR ==== 6 years ago

Nol gets out of the Mental Facility

Nol get's officially introduced as Rand's bastard son

Kousuke has his 18th birthday

Nol has his 13th birthday

Next Year

January 20XS ==== 5 years ago

Nana moves to US Asia*

Nol moves in with Nana*

Shin-Aer starts going to Min-Hyuk's middle school

Shin-Ae has her 12th birthday

Alyssa has her 13th birthday

Shin-Ae and Alyssa meet

Kousuke has his 19th birthday

Alyssa pushes Shin-Ae

Shin-Ae gets out of the hospital

Nol has his 14th birthday

*This could have happened in late 20XR. It all depends on how exact "5 years" ago was.

Next Year

January 20XT ==== 4 years ago

Shin-Ae has her 13th birthday

Alyssa has her 14th birthday

Min-Hyuk graduates middle school and starts high schools

Meg has her 20th birthday

Kousuke has his 20th birthday

Nol has his 15th birthday

For the past 2 years Nol has had no friends (ever since he got out of the mental facility) and Kousuke has been acting like his "guardian" (during which Kousuke has been constantly badmouthing Nol to everyone)

Next Year

January 20XU ==== 3 years ago

Shinae graduates Middle School

Shinae, Dieter and Soushi have their 14th birthday

Alyssa has her 15th birthday

Nol and Dieter meet while running during "summer before year 1 of high school"

Dieter, Shinae, Soushi and Nol (and the rest) start high school

Nol starts trying to befriend Soushi*

During a very rainy period Nol tries to meet his mom after 5 years of not seeing her*

Kousuke talks to Soushi*

Nol becomes friends with Dieter and Soushi*

Nol hangs out with Dieter and shortly after Soushi joins the group.*

Kousuke takes a break from babysitting Nol*

Nol, Dieter and Soushi meet Alyssa*

Nol and Alyssa start dating*

Alyssa starts the path of becoming a Kpop idol*

Kousuke and his college friends have the fallout**

Meg meets Kousuke*

Meg has her 21st birthday

Kousuke has his 21st birthday

Nol has his 16th birthday

(*All these events need to happen in that order, the placement on the timeline in relation with the other events depend on when Nessa's birthday was or when exactly Nol tried to "see" his mom)

(**I've decided to assume Hansuke doesn't really remember the exact facts of how, what and when Kousuke lost his college friends since he was in a different college, he would only occationally tag along and he was very busy with his doctor exams at the time)

Note: Whatever happened with Kousuke's friends, the fallout could perfectly have dragged throughout a couple of weeks/months. It doesn't necesarily need to have happened in a one day event.

Pretty eventful year

Next Year

January 20XV ==== 2 years ago

Kousuke graduates from his master's degree at 21 years old*

Dieter and Soushi have their 15th birthday

Alyssa has her 16th birthday

Kousuke has his 22nd birthday

Nol has his 17th birthday

(*I've decided to take Meg's flashback gossip about Kousuke with a grain of salt. This could have happened at the end of year 20XU instead of the beginning of this year.)

Next Year

January 20XW ==== Last year

In March a SA investigation in prestigious prep school (the one where Kim Sang-Chul is the Student Council President) gets launch

Min-Hyuk graduates high school

Kousuke has his 23rd birthday

Nol has his 18th birthday

Next Year

January 20XX ==== this year

Min-Hyuk goes to USA for college

Dieter, Soushi, Shin-Ae have their 17th birthday

Alyssa has her 18th birthday

In July the SA investigation in the prestigious preschool ends with nothing found and nothing done.

Dieter confesses to Shin-Ae

Saturday September 17th is the party where Shin-Ae meets the brothers

Thursday November 8th: Kousuke has his 24th birthday

Between Friday 9th and Saturday November 10th Shin-Ae's dad goes into a coma

Wednesday November 14th is the Gala. (That same night Shin-Ae was supposed to get evicted)

December 1st Min-Hyuk returns

Monday December 16th Nol has his trial (and he's sentenced for 120 days starting December 22nd)

Tuesday December 17th: Shin-Ae and Nol meet in the rain, Nol blocks everyone.

Saturday December 21st: Hirahara's Chirstmas party, Min-Hyuk's welcome home party, Nol turns 19 year's old

Sunday December 22nd: Nol is at the hospital (his sentence is pushed to start December 25th)

Personal Thoughts

This timeline broke my brain more times than I can remember. Whenever I thought I was close to being done with it I would remember something new or come across new information that would force me to rethink almost everything.

When I first started writing this timeline it was only going to be 2 parts, the evidence with the explanation and the timeline layout, but it kept getting bigger and bigger. It was supposed to be released the first week of October. We are in November. I've been writing this for 2 months.

I almost wrote this timeline in a manner that I would drag you all along through the same path of insanity that I went through but I decided against it not because I felt compassion for you all but because I plan to come back to these posts in the future for when I want to refresh my memory and I didn't want future me to go through that confusion again. I've suffered enough.

Shout out to my friend who lend me her DMs whenever I was going crazy and let me rant myself into sanity every time.

Conclusion

The timeline is not perfect, specially the events that happen between 20XS (5 years ago) and 20XV (2 years ago), but I'm satisfied with how it turned out considering the information we have so far.

Please don't take this timeline as the one that rules them all. If you have a suggestion on the order of events or theories on what could have happened I would more than love to read about them, so please do share your thoughts!

--------

This is part 4 of 4. In case you missed it, go read the previous parts:

Part 1: The Evidence Part 1

Part 2: The Evidence Part 2

Part 3: Math and connecting the dots

[toastandjamie]

So an AU where Mat isn’t Ta’veren and becomes our POV in the Black Tower.

Now the first dilemma I faced was how much Mat should be integrated into the main plot, especially given that the Black Tower isn’t created until book five. So here’s what I got so far input for what this goofy little guy should get up to is welcome.

So after Winter Night, Perrin, Rand, and Egwene go with Morraine and Lan leaving our non-Ta’veren ordinary guy Mat behind. Now Mat, not knowing the details, is quite upset because as far as he knows his two best friends just ditched him to go on an adventure without him. When Nynaeve goes after them Mat tries to tag along but Nynaeve very firmly sends him back home. However, Ta’veren or not this is still Mat Cauthon we’re talking about so he goes after them himself. He spends the rest of Eye of The World having narrow misses with the plot, running into Thom at Whitebridge after the Myrdraal incident and drags that poor man all the way to Camlyn only to discover that he once again missed his friends and now has no idea where they’ve gone.

In The Great Hunt we find Mat traveling with Thom and Dana as an apprentice Gleeman, until they meet up with Rand in Cairihan. Rand tells him about the the horn but leaves out the whole, he’s the dragon reborn bit. Now this version of Mat doesn’t believe he’s a hero but he also has yet to discover Consequences so he really wants to be one, so he immediately insists on joining Rand to find the horn of Valere. Rand tries the tried and true method of being the worst to your loved ones to drive them away for their own good but while it DOES upset Mat, you aren’t shaking him that easily especially since he’s already invited to that party Rand and friends needs to break into. Things end up going relatively the same from their and they all go to Falme, Mat gets a late reveal there that Rand is the Dragon Reborn, we have Seanchen problems and Mat is still the one to blow the horn of Valere.

The Dragon Reborn baby, in order to try and keep Mat safely out of the plot Rand convinces him to escort the girls back to Tarvalon. Now no one but Rand and Perrin know he blew the horn of Valere and at their urging Mat decides to keep it that way, but he quickly finds that when your a man and not Ta’veren or the known sounder of the horn of Valere you very quickly get bored of the White Tower. After spending some time gambling at every tavern in Tarvalon and training a bit with the warders and Gawyn and Galad, the girls give him the letter for Morgause and send him on his way no Armylin permission slip required. Things go pretty similarly as they do in the book, Mat picks up a depressed Thom, discovers a plot to kill the girl’s, gets some fireworks and breaks into the Stone, though he is now slightly less effective without his supernatural luck.

The Shadow Rising finds our boy Mat feeling severely put out and a bit helpless. The girls as usual were less then grateful for the rescue and Rand and Perrin are too busy to talk to him. He still goes to Egwene for advice and hears about the Red Stone Door and still goes through it, though this time he actually gets to ask his three questions before getting kicked out since there’s now only One Ta’veren in there. Mat’s still contemplating what his confusing answers mean when Rand pops out, and things continue from there as planned. This time however Mat does not go to the Wastes and instead joins Thom and Julin as unwanted bodyguards for Nynaeve and Elayne. Hilarity ensues. More importantly however during the Tanchico arc Mat starts considering the possibility of learning to channel. After all, the girls aren’t wrong about him not being much help against the black ajah without channeling. So using the scraps of information he has he tries to teach himself how to channel. But it’s not going so well. However once they reach Salidar he finds a certain someone who might be able to help with that…

In Fires of Heaven and onwards we get more of Mat feeling helpless to protect his friends and using his most powerful weapon, his puppy dog eyes, he gets Logain to grudgingly agree to help teach him though one problem is that Logain is gentled but Mat won’t let that stop him. Egwene shows up, Logain is de-gentled and Mat get’s the bright idea to take the bow healed Logain and head to the Black Tower. Mat proceeds to get tangled up in both the Black Tower sub plot and Elayne’s Succession plot line. He also finds Olver at some point. That’s all I got so far

[clownfire]

BitB! Prime Defenders AU

The division of character roles isn't straight forward so I'll try to explain as best I can. (warning this au is kinda depressing im not gonna lie)

10 years after the disappearance of their friend Ashe Winters, William Wisp, Dakota Cole, and Vyncent Sol reunite in their sleepy hometown of DeadWood Louisiana.

William never left. Out of a misplaced obligation to find his missing friend or just plain cowardice, he still lives there with his parents.

Dakota never became the sports star he dreamed of being. Instead he teaches high-school PE in California. He's adored there, but it still eats him up inside. Hopefully he can help someone else live up to the greatness that he never could.

Vyncent could say that he was successful. He got his degrees, became an accountant, and earns enough to make his parents proud. He should be happy. But his thoughts still linger in DeadWood, guilt haunting his every waking moment.

The night Ashe would go missing, the four were invited to a Halloween party at Summer's house. As the night went on, many drinks were had and a shouting match broke out between Vyncent and William. It started with William throwing petty insults at Vyncent for dancing with Summer (framing it as 'how dare you dance with my crush?' instead of 'my crush, how dare you dance with someone?'), and escalates when Vyncent accidentally lets slip that he's moving to Chicago as soon as he graduates. William's jealousy turns to fear of abandonment, and Vyncent's confusion and frustration boils over, angrilly calling William immature and naive. William ends the fight by storming out, Ashe finding him and taking out on a walk to cool him down. Dakota stays behind and diffuses the lingering tension at the party.

Ashe and William end up wandering deep into the bayou where they are attacked by the newly emerged elder-brain. They both die that night. Ashe is subsumed by the hive and becomes the host for the queen, William is replaced and spat out as its first 'worker ant'.

Vyncent is ultimately the one who finds Will after a week of the two being declared missing, washed ashore by their favourite tree. Ashe is never found.

Dakota blames himself for not being there to protect them. Vyncent blames himself for not looking hard enough. Will believes deep down that when he begged the bayou to spare him, it listened.

================================

Miscellaneous

For the most part, William = Rand, Vyncent = Rolan, Dakota = Kian, and Ashe = Rachel. The major deviation being that William was the first to be bugged, as Rolan was in canon. Another is that Dakota is the one coming to DeadWood for his parent's funeral (in this AU Dakota doesn't become an orphan until his thirties, yay!).

Mark fill's Mr Dickman's role. He heavily resents Will, placing the responsibility squarely on him, but he is the only person left who hasn't given up on finding his son, so they exist in a tense alliance based on this mutual goal.

Bookworm fills Rat's role. After Dakota and Vyncent leave, he befriends Will and helps him research.

GhostKnife exists in this AU, with all the 80's repression and pent up guilt of KeepersChampion.

Haven't decided yet if anything resembling the Becky encounter happens. If you have any ideas of how to integrate it / something to replace it with, let me know.