#shaido

[iliiuan]

The Shaido plotline gets a lot of flak, but I started thinking what the alternates would be. First, let's realize the setting:

Perrin is in Murandy/Amadicia with his odd assembly of armies. The Shaido are roaming around thanks to Sammael. The Seanchan are in Amadicia, pushing East and gathering forces for the assault on the White Tower. Galad's Whitecloak army is marching to Tarmon Gai'don. Masema is wreaking havoc with his (seriously misnamed) Dragonsworn.

Given all of this, an encounter with the Shaido was inevitable, perhaps especially when the ta'veren was off to visit Masema. (Now that I'm thinking about it, that actually justifies the timing.) So, what are the possible encounters and their likely outcomes?

A small group of Shaido comes across Perrin's army camps, leading to the death and capture of many, plus the dispersal of the rest.

A small group of Shaido comes across a small group of Perrin's allies, leading to their capture. (This is what happens in-story.)

A large group of Shaido comes across Perrin's army camps, leading to the capture or death of everyone.

A large group of Shaido comes across a small group of Perrin's allies, which triggers a scouting party who find the rest and now we have #1 with extra steps.

Perrin's scouts find evidence of Shaido and everyone goes into Very Careful Mode.

Some scenarios that wouldn't happen include Perrin's armies kicking Shaido ass on first encounter and the Shaido ignoring Perrin's group.

Now, Faile's capture forms the basis for both Perrin's and her character growth arcs. She transitions from being a spoiled brat runaway princess into an actual leader. Perrin finally grows into a leader of his people, accepting his role and filling his duties.

I understand where people are coming from when they criticize the plotline for placing Faile as a damsel in distress. If we look at it a different way, however, Faile is a prisoner of war. All of the things she endures are things that POWs endure. They are helpless, but we don't read their stories and think, wow, let's be angry because this strong character is helpless. Rather, we think, wow, that situation was shit. And yes, male POWs also have to deal with sexual harassment and rape.

Another aspect of the story as told involves Perrin making poor choices and over focusing on Faile's rescue. It's not just because she's his wife; she's the only family he has left. Even as he rescues her, he watches her take charge of the other prisoners and revels in her competence. Yes, someone had to rescue her, because that's the nature of being a POW, but it didn't rob her of awesome.

[wot-tidbits]

RJ’s notes Part 78 by Matt Hatch

Note. The following text is manually written by hearing as most of the notes were only read and not shown on the screen. There are going to be some mistakes from the original text because of it as English is not my native language. I am sorry for the inconvenience and I would appreciate if someone can help me to fix the transcription.

1996 Letter to Bill Fawcett

34. World View. […] Also, extend Seanchan a little farther south. Make southern portion of Seanchan wider by 75%, all south of equator.

Professional correspondence, 1996-2008, Box 57

Seanchan’s salute is a fist pressed to the heart normally to the left.

Seanchan insists on protocol before comfort including damane rising and bowing when sul’dam enters the room. Someone out of the Blood greeting a High Lord or High Lady is expected to prostrate themselves fully and usually to kiss the floor ground.

Carlinya Sorevin - an Aes Sedai of the White Ajah. Min had a viewing about her and in that viewing there was a tattoo of a raven on or near her. A lot of people thought that had to do with the Seanchan. That’s not how it turned out. But in Robert Jordan’s notes does say she is fated to be captured by the Seanchan and made damane. Everything that shows up in the Robert Jordan’s notes doesn’t necessarily mean it actually translates to a plot that ends up happening. Carlinya stayed in the White Tower and she didn’t end up captured by the Seanchan. 

Although that king Roedran as much looked down upon, he will turn out to be one of the better opponents of the Seanchan. He is willing to follow Mat’s lead much more than any other nobles.

Fate of the Shaido.

This is from the beginning of book 8. The Shaido will fall under the control of the Seanchan. Mainly because they have no other choice. They are scattered, not united, surrounded by enemies for most Shaido the choice between annihilation and fighting for the Seanchan rather than against them is not a hard call. They would be welcomed in a way because Seanchan’s records would indicate their fierceness as fighters. The fact that the Aiel were the only ones to defeat Hawkwing. Plus by that time the Seanchan will have encountered the Aiel here and seen it firsthand. Under Seanchan law they would be allowed to keep their permanent gai-shain, their slaves who simply count as covale - property. Under Seanchan law however Wise Ones who can channel, of course are marath’damane – there is no getting around that. The discoveries of the true nature of sul’dam is still fairly closely held secret. Sevanna might well cooperate in this amalgamation of the Shaido and the Seanchan forces in the beginning at least. Especially if she is encouraged by the apparent promise of wealth etc. Her normal desire for power would lead her to fight the Seanchan the same as any other wetlander but she is no fool. Besides discovering some of the Wise Ones who opposed her have been collared placed at her disposal would help. Rather along the lines of better to rule in hell then serve in heaven. Especially if your enemies are made to serve you in turn. May be what she would not want to cooperate is in being tattooed with the ravens which all the Shaido are to be and the rituals of submission which she as property of the Imperial family is expected to make. Given the choices though except the ravens as Deathwatch Guards do proudly accept their servants do as property does submissively or fail to accept and face the impaling stake Sevanna would decide to kiss the Daughter of the Nine Moons’ feet, so to speak, and pledge to serve. She would be expected to make sure that the rest of the Shaido accepted as well by emphasizing the honor or however.

SOURCE

[birgittesilverbae]

tdr ch 39

loc ch 26

Dailin ends up on Rand's list despite having died before any of the Aiel ever met Rand -> Aviendha told him about her cousin dying in the search for him

[staledirt87]

I'm loving Mat and Rand's random battle and political knowledge from ages ago. Give me more

[toastandjamie]

Things about the band of the red hand that I think about on the daily:

-all the nobles in the Band competing to be Mat’s Favorite Noble(the answer is Talmanes but no one tell them that)

-after the battle of Cairihan, Talmanes and Nalesian putting aside their differences to defend Mat’s honor from the perceived slight of him not getting a parade

-Talmanes clearly knowing Mat is trying to ditch them and proceeding to insist on going with Mat literally everywhere until Mat gave up

-every noble in the band preening over being on Mat’s short list of “tolerable nobles” they are very proud of this fact and will brag about the fact that Mat willingly interacts with them

-Mat, half delirious from pain, teaching the band Jak’o’shadows and immediately regretting it as the band begins to sing it at every given opportunity and adds an entirely new verse dedicated to him

-while Mat was stuck in Ebou Dar every member of the band that was not with him simultaneously feeling the Ta’veren pull like a Spiderman esque sixth sense for knowing their general is in trouble

-upon feeling the Ta’veren pull, Talmanes immediately guilting Egwene into telling him where Mat is

-the band collectively deciding that their Olver’s cool uncles and teaching him to gamble, flirt with women, use weapons, and steal horses. You know, like responsible adults.

-when Mat is at the tower of genji, Talmanes being left in charge of Olver like the worlds most reluctant babysitter

-after seeing Mat refuse Aes Sedai healing every single member of the band deciding that they to would heal the old fashioned way

-a large portion of the band going out and getting tattoos together after they officially became the Band of The Red Hand

-Mat making one off hand mention of the original Band of the Red Hand from Manethran and the Band deciding that that was now the name of their mercenary band despite Mat’s protests

-the band deciding that No, they will not serve the Dragon Reborn, instead they’ll enlist into the service of the guy who Does Not Want Them

-the band deciding that Mat was a lord on principle because he’s just that good at fighting battles

-not a single member of the band was ever revealed to be a dark friend, they all just genuinely wanted to follow Mat with no ulterior motives

-every member of the band being willing to die for Mat at any given moment

-when Mat initially showed up to warn the army that they were walking into a Shaido ambush, Talmanes calling Mat’s bluff and getting him to begrudgingly agree to leading a portion of the army

-Mat effectively death glaring the bands nobles into a meritocracy

[asha-mage]

Robert Jordan finished WoT AU 😈

[Send me a potential AU and I'll answer with five things from that story!]

ahahaahahaha, you bait me so zorpi! This is more a 'things I reasonably can guess from my many read through the series' more then anything else, but-

Based on Perrin's portion of the Jordan written ending their was clearly meant to be a moment where Perrin had to choose between Faile's safety and the fulfillment of his duty- and choose his duty, trusting in Faile to protect herself and make her own choices. This is also pretty clearly what Malden and the battle with the Shaido was meant to set up: Perrin realizing that his obsessive desire to protect/love Faile was as much flaw as virtue, and that true love would be trusting her strength and courage. In Jordan's ending I would guess that this would likely have manifested having a choice between leaving the Two Rivers force at the front lines to go rescue Faile, who is carrying the Horn to Mat, or else stay with the Two Rivers Forces and trust Faile- choosing the later. Thus his racing through the battlefield in the aftermath, and finding Faile still alive in the carnage, would be his arc reaching it's conclusions, being rewarded for his trust and faith in her.

Mat was, I suspect, supposed to play a much larger role in the negotiations to get the Seanchan into the coalition against the Shadow, serving as leverage and pressure to get Tuon to the table and to agree to the terms- I also suspect based on his reticence regarding the Empire from when he and Tuon part in KoD, he was supposed to be a lot more reluctant/put off on the idea of commanding the Seanchan forces, and it was originally supposed to be Tuon's idea and/or part of her compromise- she'll join, but her army will follow Mat, not the Dragon appointed supreme commander.

I think we would have gotten a lot more Gabrelle, Toveine, and Logain as our Black Tower PoVs/the counter coup against Taim- Toveine was already being set up in this role in KoD and prior, and it would make sense as a means for her to 'redeem' herself of the Vileness, and it fits with Jordan's usual 'closing of the circle' that one of the Red Sister who helped with the slaughter of the men who could channel, would be one of the first and strongest converts to the Black Tower's cause.

I think we where supposed to also a get bit more thematic conflict/contrast between Graendal and Rand in Arad Doman. In general the political situatuion in Arad Doman feels very....off from how Jordan normally works politics. I think the broad beats (destruction of Natrin's Barrow, failure to stabilize the region, Rand abandoning Bandar Ebon to starve at his lowest moment) would be the same, but it feels very strange things like the merchant council politics and Graendal's broader parallels to Rand (especially in that moment- as she /also/ crumpled under impossible standards and failure to live up to perfection as Rand is currently inthe process of doing) would be far more dug into.

Finally, I think we would have had a least one major reunion scene with the original Emond's Field 5- I know this is something Sanderson wanted to do and tried very hard to manage but didn't quite fit in, which I think is sad. It really feels like their is a missing moment in there, where Mat, Perrin, Rand, Egwene and Nynaeve where all supposed to sit down and reflect on how far they've come and how before the final battle. It especially feels like something that would have been appropriate from either Nynaeve and Rand's perspective.

[dropoff99]

Moderate Wheel of Time Book Spoilers ahead:

I can’t speak for the WoT community but seeing WoT discourse for over 20 years I’ve seen all kinds of takes on the Seanchan but there seems to be some confusion on their role in the story overall from show audiences so I will simply give my take.

The Seanchan are a civilization that was needed to demonstrate that the forces of the shadow aren’t the only major threat to Randland. There are several examples like this in the story of groups who have degrees of selfishness, cruelty, and prejudice but none as strong as the Seanchan. These include the Whitecloaks, the Red Ajah(Elaida), Shaido, Tairen/Cairhienin Lords, and generally anyone with bigoted ideas or power-hungry agendas who aren’t darkfriends or members of the shadow. The shadow uses these people and groups as useful tools to enact the dark ones bidding.

The Seanchan aren’t inherently “evil” (only the shadow/forsaken/dark one really occupy that role) but of course do lots of evil things and are more or less the worst active group in the story outside of the shadow. They are manipulated by the shadow (forsaken) which the show pretty much tells you but doesn’t go into how far back that goes. But they also don’t need a lot of help when it comes to being awful. The only defense of them you will really find among the fan base are things cited directly from the books or individual characters that were redeemable.

For example, once you swear oaths to Seanchan rule they more or less leave you alone (aside from the channelers obviously). They eliminate crime and corruption (though not from their own ranks as effectively) and arguably treat their citizens more fairly than many kingdoms they conquer. This is all governed by a strict legal code and honor culture followed in their society. Jordan demonstrates the downside of that culture and how it has developed and been exploited to thwart and enslave Aes Sedai and channelers.

The Seanchan are a major example (along with the Aiel) of how morality and ethics change among cultures after long periods of isolation. They have been across the Aryth Ocean for 1,000 years and their knowledge of their own history isn’t much more than legend. The people they are invading know their pre-history better than they do (particularly that of their founder Artur Hawkwing).

But ultimately they are pretty horrible. They will annihilate anything that opposes them. What they do to channelers and those who show the slightest disobedience is indefensible. They are more or less a demonstration of how “evil” a society can become when you marry ignorance/bigotry with enormous military power.

This is all just to say that if you see a book reader defending the Seanchan in any way, it likely is related to how effective they were at fulfilling a certain role in the series, not due to some sort of agreement with their world view. But even that is kind of rare because they just simply aren’t that popular and only have a couple characters that are really relevant in the long run despite having a constant presence. They are baddies who aren’t the shadow but are still awful/scary.

[cannoli-reader]

Perrin's quest, from Rand's perspective

Bouncing off @toastandjamie's post about what Rand's shenanigans look like to Mat, I thought about Rand's reaction to learning about Perrin's adventures in the Two Rivers. We just get a quick reaction when he meets the Tower-bound girls in the inn, before his attention becomes much more preoccupied with what happens shortly after, and then his reunion with Perrin is from Perrin's PoV.

So they know they are ta'veren, and know about stories of Hawkwing and so forth, but they generally can't see how it applies to themselves, except in the really obvious events that break the probability curve. But Rand does have some experience with a sudden rise to leadership. By the time the Two Rivers folk reach Caemlyn, he holds at least four or five different leadership positions himself. He's the ruler of Tear, by virtue of being the Dragon Reborn, he is the Car'a'carn, the conqueror of Cairhien and the de facto regent of Caemlyn.

Rand is a figure of prophecy, and the most powerful ta'veren in history. In Tear, he drew Callandor, the object that is the raison d'etre of the Stone of Tear, and by extension, the High Lords and their nation. And getting them to cooperate without death threats is like pulling teeth. He doesn't observe any qualities of the Tairens that impress him with their determination or resolve or independent spirit, but he just cannot get anywhere with them, without the direct application of force. Then there are the Aiel, with more prophecies singling him, and every clan sending spears across the Dragonwall to find him, and one prophecy in particular known to all the Wise Ones and clan chiefs that their survival absolutely depends on him. And again, a good third of them tell him to fuck off and another third drag their feet, only joining up after the other claimant to the position is dead. Bearing in mind that every chief and Wise One among the clans following Timolan, had to know that Rand was telling the truth and Couladin was a total liar. And they still held out until Couladin is eliminated. In Cairhien, where the food he sent saved people from starvation and the troops he sent proved to be the difference in holding the city against the Shaido, and he himself led the liberating army that drove them off, he could not even get them to cooperate in asserting their own national identity and sovereignty. In Caemlyn, where they had actual Shadowpawn corpses for evidence, and all he wanted of them was to restore the status quo of their own laws and customs and kept insisting he had no intention of ruling, all he got was people trying to get him to assert his authority or demanding he not do any of the things he said he wouldn't. And bearing in mind, in the latter two countries, they have to be aware of his position and destined leadership role. But the "good" faction of Andoran nobles are more ready to fight him over their class privilege and independence (a readiness none of them showed wrt the man who actually crowned himself King of Andor and claimed the Lion Throne, whom none of them even knew could channel) than talk about preparing for Tarmon Gaidon.

And then Perrin goes home, where the Children of the Light have somehow been sent by Padan Fain to terrorize their people (think of that trope in movies and so forth, where the hero arrives at home or wherever his family is, to discover his enemies have popped in for a visit and his loved ones are learning about their conflict for the first time, and after the confrontation is resolved, his parents or spouse are angry and upset and demanding explanations: that should, to Rand's & Perrin's thinking, have been the Two Rivers folk to Perrin & Rand over the enemies they caused to descend on their hometown), where their own actions and failures have led to this invasion of their homeland, and he's going to try to make it right. There are the folk whose reputation for stubbornness and independence is known in the court of Andor, by people who are unaware of their current standing with the national legal system. Gawyn doesn't know how utterly indifferent the Two Rivers folk are to his mother's rule, but he does know they are stubborn and difficult to lead. And Rand, Mat, Perrin and Nynaeve have spent the last year and a half telling the Aes Sedai who did help them when the Shadow was hunting them, where to head in, while Egwene has been about as cooperative as a broken-legged mule at helping her ex do anything other than hook up with her bff, never mind that the fate of the world rests on his success (arguably with the hooking up as well, though neither of them know that).

And when Rand meets some people from home, it's all Lord Perrin this, and Lord Perrin that. Also, at some point, Rand seems to have twigged to the fact that the girlfriend Perrin never introduced to him is also the daughter of his current advisor, since it is on his mind when Perrin leaves his rooms to go meet the parents, and no mention of any surprise at learning this during their visit. And Perrin has married the daughter of a triple lord and great captain, the uncle of a queen and Marshal-General of one of the most militaristic states in the known world. Meanwhile the Lord Dragon before whom the world kneels in awe, is getting hate mail from one woman for trying to support her career, and the one he actually slept with, is treating him like he has a communicable disease, while not cooperating at all with his efforts to protect her from the danger he attracts.

Rand saved Cairhien from Shaido and the Stone of Tear and the Royal Palace of Andor from Trollocs. He is the only hope of saving the Aiel from Tarmon Gaidon. And you'd think these were crimes he had committed against them for all the gratitude they show, much less obedience they give.

The majhere of the Stone makes Rand feel guilty about asking for extra mattresses, Reene Harfor searches Rand's room for loot, but Mistress Luhan curtsies to Perrin. He has to be wondering, how the hell is Perrin doing it? Which one of them is actually the super-ta'veren again!?

[markantonys]

I deeply enjoy coming up with WOTshow season structure predictions that will inevitably end up being completely wrong, so behold my rough outline for 8 seasons! I tried my best to think objectively about what's likely to happen, but there are definitely places where I get carried away by What I Personally Want to happen, so let's call this a mix of bona fide predictions and a wishlist.

Season 2

We already know the main structure of this season, so in brief:

Rand wandering alone, then Daes Dae'mar-ing with Moiraine and Lan

Perrin hunting the Horn

Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, Mat, Min, Gawyn, and Galad at the Tower

endpoint: Falme

romance checkin: early groundwork laid for Egwene/Gawyn; final letting go of Randgwene on Egwene's side; Rand, Elayne, Aviendha, and Min all meet at Falme

Season 3

Rand, Mat, Egwene, Aviendha, Moiraine, and Lan go to the Waste, then come out of it to take Tear

Elayne and Nynaeve travel to Tear to hunt Black Ajah

Perrin in the Two Rivers

Min, Siuan, and Gawyn involved in the Tower coup; Galad joins the Whitecloaks

endpoint: Two Rivers battle; Stone of Tear battle combined with elements of the TFOH Cairhien battle (such as the Shaido and the formation of the Band) and TSR Nynaeve vs. Moghedien Tanchico battle

romance checkin: Perrin/Faile meet and possibly get together; Rand/Aviendha get together (officially, rather than hooking up and then avoiding each other like in the books); groundwork laid for Rand/Aviendha/Elayne via Rand learning about Aiel polyamory and discussing with Aviendha how pretty Elayne is

Season 4

Rand, Mat, Egwene, Aviendha, Moiraine, Lan, Elayne, and Nynaeve in Tear to start, tackling misc TSR-LOC plot beats (such as: Elayne and Moiraine teaching Rand politics, Mat starting to become a general, continuation of Egwene and Aviendha's Wise One training, Elayne bonding Birgitte, Rand founding the Black Tower, the retaking of Caemlyn, and of course Moiraine vs. Lanfear)

Min, Siuan, Leane, and Logain pass through Tear on their way to Salidar; Nynaeve heals stilling and gentling in Tear; Min stays in Tear to join the main crew; Logain could possibly also stay with Rand to become one of the first Asha'man; Siuan and Leane continue on to Salidar (after Siuan witnesses Moiraine's "death" in an appropriately devastating scene)

Perrin and Faile in the Two Rivers doing some made-up plot before heading off to join up with Rand & co

Gawyn with Elaida's army, Galad with the Whitecloaks

Egwene goes to Salidar and is raised rebel Amyrlin

endpoint: Dumai's Wells

romance checkin: Perrin/Faile in a serious relationship by now; Lan/Nynaeve are reunited; Rand/Elayne get together, so we now have an established Aviendha/Rand/Elayne V with Rand as the hinge; groundwork laid for Elayne/Aviendha; Min grows closer with the other 3 and groundwork for her romance(s) is laid (Elayne/Aviendha romance is a guarantee, but I'm undecided on the likelihood of Min dating Elayne and/or Aviendha in addition to Rand)

I desperately want the Ebou Dar crew to participate in Dumai's Wells, but this poses 2 problems: 1) Elayne being at Dumai's Wells would interfere too much with Gawyn's arc since he'd defect from Elaida's army immediately if he saw Elayne there. 2) Elayne spending the entire season in Rand's plotline means she would Have to be involved in retaking Caemlyn, and if she did that, then she'd have to stay and start her Succession plot early, which I initially was all for, but as I was hashing out this structure I realized that wouldn't leave enough for her to do in later seasons.

So sadly, we may have to send at minimum Elayne, Nynaeve, and Birgitte, if not also Mat, Lan, and Aviendha, off to Salidar/Ebou Dar partway through the season. But Mat, at least, will probably need to still be with Rand for retaking Caemlyn so he can Die And Live Again (and on a personal note I'll be devastated if Rand going apeshit over Mat's and Aviendha's deaths is cut!). This portion of the story is really where everyone ends one plotline and embarks on a new one, so there's lots of room for rearranging various threads.

Season 5

Mat, Elayne, Nynaeve, Aviendha, Lan, and Birgitte in Ebou Dar searching for the Bowl for half the season (midseries climax is Seanchan invasion of Ebou Dar with Mat getting left behind and the others escaping)

In the second half, Mat plans his escape; the others travel to Caemlyn and kick off the Succession

Egwene leads the rebels towards Tar Valon

Rand recovers from Dumai's Wells, meets Cadsuane, defeats Sammael (if he's still around - I've seen theories he might replace Rahvin in Caemlyn, and thus he would already be gone by this season), and fights the Seanchan

Perrin hunts Masema

endpoint: Mat leaves Ebou Dar with Tuon; Rand fails drastically against the Seanchan and realizes a) Callandor is flawed, b) he needs to cleanse saidin; Faile gets kidnapped; Egwene gets kidnapped

romance checkin: Rand/Min get together; Elayne/Aviendha get together; Lan/Nynaeve get married; Mat meets Tuon (note: I strongly hope for Tuon to be introduced in season 4 or even 3 as a character unrelated to Mat who is spearheading a Seanchan plotline)

Season 6

Perrin searches for Faile

Egwene works on taking Elaida down from inside the Tower

Gawyn abandons Elaida's army and joins Egwene's

Mat and Tuon have a plotline that I PRAY is more interesting than the book version of the circus roadtrip and involves actual character development for Tuon

Rand and Min go to Caemlyn early on and the polycule is formalized; Rand leaves Min behind and takes Nynaeve (and Lan) with him for the cleansing, which will be the midseason climax

Elayne, Aviendha, and Min are in Caemlyn doing the Succession (with Min using her viewings to help Elayne), Wise One training, Callandor research (with Elayne and Aviendha using their ter'angreal talents to help Min), and strengthening their relationships with each other (personal hope: first-sisters is maintained as specifically a metamour relationship, and so with Elayne and Aviendha on the path to be regular wives instead of sister-wives, it is instead Aviendha and Min who do the first-sister ceremony. Controversial to take away a major Avilayne moment, I know, but they have so many great moments and Avi & Min desperately need some.)

Rand visits his partners in Caemlyn while recuperating from the cleansing and learns of Elayne's pregnancy, which will proceed to have a major emotional impact on him for the rest of the show, as it should have in the books. The S1 setup of both Rand and LTT as (aspiring) fathers is a strong indication that Elayne's pregnancy and LTT's murdering of his own kids will play a significant role in Rand's emotional arc in the show.

Lan leaves for the Blight after the cleansing

endpoint: battle of Malden; Rand loses his hand to Semirhage; Egwene emerges as uncontested Amyrlin after the Seanchan attack on the Tower (and this structure would mean Tuon is NOT the one responsible since she's still off with Mat, which would assist the arc she should've had wherein Mat's "you're not my enemy but your empire is" line actually makes sense)

romance checkin: we've achieved full polycule formation; Egwene and Gawyn are reunited; Mat and Tuon grow closer

Season 7

Darth Rand

Since Min is still in Caemlyn, Nynaeve is the one Rand almost kills when collared in an early episode, which causes him to subsequently send her away To Protect Her. He does this by ordering her to go investigate the situation at the Black Tower on his behalf, and then the Black Tower plotline is led by Nynaeve and Logain instead of Androl and Pevara (shoutout to @butterflydm for this godtier idea!)

With Min and Nynaeve both elsewhere for the bulk of this season, Rand will actually be completely emotionally isolated during the portion of his arc where he's supposed to be at his most emotionally isolated

But these 2 bullets are definitely my personal wishes, not necessarily genuine likelihood! I just think that in terms of Rand's love life, having S3 focus on Rand/Aviendha, S4 on Rand/Elayne, S5 on Rand/Min, S6 on full polycule, and S7 on Rand alone makes sense and is a much more even distribution of screentime among the various relationships than we see in the books. Plus, sending Nynaeve to spearhead the Black Tower plotline solves the problem of her fading away into a secondary character post-cleansing.

Egwene works on patching up the Tower and hunting Seanchan Bloodknives and/or a Mesaana equivalent (personal hope: Lanfear will take over Mesaana's role in the White Tower)

Adjusting Egwene's timeline to make her already uncontested Amyrlin before Rand's epiphany allows for their first meeting about the seals to be while Rand is still in ruthless mode, which will make their clash and Egwene's wariness of him more believable

Perrin deals with the Whitecloaks and the consequences of his behavior during the search for Faile, finishes wolf bootcamp, and battles Slayer

Mat reaches Caemlyn and Tuon has returned to Ebou Dar to take the throne (personal hope: this is a changed Tuon who's begun unlearning Seanchan conditioning and accepting that she can channel, so her return to Seanchan territory is higher stakes since her worldview now clashes with theirs and Empress Fortuona is only a mask she's putting on to keep them from being suspicious of her)

Elayne ties up loose ends in Andor and with the Black Ajah, then takes the Sun Throne in more detail than she did in TOM

Aviendha completes Wise One training and goes to Rhuidean

Min does something, idk, they're gonna have to do a LOT of storyline-inventing for her throughout since she doesn't do shit after book 4. Hmmm maybe if they were to REALLY overhaul Tuon's arc, she could reach Caemlyn with Mat, make an alliance with Elayne, and then be gateway-ed to Ebou Dar with Min as her Truthspeaker and the intention of trying to end the Seanchan's war against the Westlands?

endpoint: Rand's epiphany

romance checkin: Egwene/Gawyn get together; Mat and Tuon have caught feelings but probably haven't admitted it yet

Season 8

Mat rescues Moiraine, with Birgitte replacing Noal as the person who sacrifices themselves and Siuan possibly replacing Thom for the romance of it all (though I'm unsure how Siuan could cross paths with Mat in time to join the Moiraine Rescue Heist, and I would be ok with Thom still being involved but in a platonic capacity). Unless they want Rosamund back sooner, in which case this could be in season 7.

But they'd have to save at least 1 major pre-AMOL plot point for the last season because AMOL alone is not nearly enough to fill up an entire season. If you condense the repetitive battle scenes it'd be like 4 episodes tops.

So somehow I've gone from "how will they pack 14 books into 8 seasons?" to "wow, 8 full seasons is almost too much time" haha but some seasons are pretty crowded in my structure, so they could shift things around in order to spread stuff out more evenly than I've done using my "the slog scarred me so much that I'll die if the show doesn't resolve every plotline in the same season it's introduced" rule.

[plethoraworldatlas]

Basics of WoT: 4th Age

This is the starting information/overview of the state of the world in the grand scale for the Fourth Age project I worked on.

The setting takes place 25-35 years after the very end of the series (Most likely 1035 NE; A new Calendar has been proposed amongst all Dragon Peace nations, but only some have decided to start phasing it in, using two calendars until 1100 NE/65 PD "Post Dragon Reborn")

The Industrial Revolution has taken swing, the new Printing Press in particular igniting a thousand different fires of revolution and repression

Powers and abilities from Ages past creep back into the world, and new Powers never seen appear as well

The "Peace" of the Lands

The Dragon Peace unites all of the Westlands (also called Marhol) not occupied by the Seanchan, as well as the Aiel Three-fold Lands under a order of peace, with the Aiel taking the role of the primary Peacekeepers

The Griffin Truce, named for the Seanchan Raven and the Lion of Andor as the signing took place in Caemlyn, has formalized non-aggression between the Dragon Peace United nations and the Seanchan occupation and its Imperial Dominions

The Seanchan Empire under Empress Fortuona rules its Dominions, yet under the the Viewings of the Doomseer, they have yet to return in force to their fractured home Continent to reform the Empire as a whole

Republicanism has become a fire sweeping through a world of Monarchies, splitting the young Empire of the Sun and the founding member of the Republic's League, the Rivers Republic

The White Tower is rocked by scandal after the greatest journalistic reporting of the century reveals to the world a major secret of the Hall, as well as the different directions the Ajahs move

The Black Tower raises in prominence, yet the world still distrusts male channelers

The great Empire of Shara has collapsed to the joy of those they subjugated for centuries, only for the "Restoration Peacekeeping" to lead to strife as outsiders try to decide the fates of entire peoples

the Aiel balance their role as peacekeepers with the reckoning coming towards them; Fueds with the Seanchan, the uncertain future of the Three-fold Lands, New visions of possible futures guiding their choices as peacekeepers yet still each choice made to prevent one dark future seems to cause another. The Clans united under the Dragon Reborn, but what of the new holds in the Wetlands? What of the remnant Free Shaido? What of the Warrior society's without wars?

The Atha'an Meire have formed their Empire of All Seas in reaction to the new age of imperialism, Traveling and Gateways, and industrial trading

The Shadow's Corruption has diminished from the Blight, yet monsters and Trollocs and Darkfriends and Turned remain; With the Dark One sealed away, however, the now Free Trolloc are said to have turned from the chains their old master put on their minds, and collaboration between the White and Black Towers lead many to believe those forcibly Turned to the Shadow may yet be saved. Ancient hate does not die easily, and the Broderlanders and the world at large itch to take the new frontiers of the Wild North, to Crusade against what is seen as the last vestiges of the Dark

The Borderland Bloc has formed to unite the weary borderlanders among the Dragon Peace and rebuild greater and with more prominence; In 2 years, the First Premier Imperator's 12 year term shall end and a new ruler of the Bloc must be elected, with nearly every choice leading the Bloc into one grand conflict or another

Everloyal Darkfriends scheme still, and those forced to serve the Dark fight to survive a world where there is little mercy for those so much as touched once by the Shadow. Dreadlords attempt to carve out realms of their own

This and more is the state of the world.

Will the peace hard fought for stand strong, or is such a thing a fantasy during the rising Age of Empires and Industry? Will the world become one where all peoples and perhaps even all species exist together, or is domination inevitable? In a new age, called the Fourth Age by some, will the times to come be known as a Great Ending, or a Great Beginning?

Notes:

I ramped up on some of the poetical wordings for this. Also, my notes are harder to read than I remember. Marhol is directly from @highladyluck from Tumblr, I was working on this long enough to see them post their idea for the name of the Continent and I always liked it better than Westlands. Obviously, Rand wanted the Dragon Peace to bring, well, peace, but it's still basically just a Renaissance version of the EU; These are nations that have fought since their founding, facing a changing world, an empire occupying their Continent's western coast, and strung together under an agreement they were forced to sign with peacekeepers they don't understand as a culture who also aren't honestly the best option. The Aiel got flanderized in the last books by Sanderson, but there are serious issues with them being last minute made into basically the nationality of Peacekeepers. The Seafolk Empire is interesting in that it forms to protect their trading culture as well as the ports they were granted yet remains a brutal empire. The Borderland Bloc is similar, the borderlanders basically thanklessly fighting the Shadow for centuries while many thought the Trollocs they fought fairy-tales, being the most devastated nations after the Last Battle, unifying to rebuild each other and make sure the rest of the Dragon Peace remembers them; Still, every choice for the future leader is an iffy one. Don't worry, Malkier has been reformed, it has an interesting place in this mess. Everyone admits Shara was a mess, so I decided to try and fix it; Shara is the name of the Continent, but also the Empire that ruled it, and the other nations they oppressed and erased are "free" with its fall. This being the beginning of the age of imperialism, though, how "free" they are under "reconstruction" is soon to be decided. That's it for this one, go ahead and ask questions about the summary, keep in mind I will be doing posts for basically every nation and faction I have so asking things like "what's up in Andor?" will be answered later or have a special post to ask under. Please share if you like, this is basically my first big attempt at a project like this.

[iliiuan]

My pick:

Hannah Waddingham as Sevanna of the Shaido Aiel.

[wot-tidbits]

This is a spectacular list by Linda Taglieri and co from whcih I will copy the overall numbers and you can click for more detailed information and names.

Summary of Deaths

Known count: 58 Unknown count: 400+

Total Deaths: 458+

Named: 61 Unnamed: 397+

Blue Ajah: 8 (3 Black) Brown Ajah: 7 (2 Black) Green Ajah: 11 (4 Black) Red Ajah: 5 (2 Black) Yellow Ajah: 7 (4 Black) Grey Ajah: 6 (4 Black) White Ajah: 5 (1 Black) (Black Ajah: 68+)

Unidentified Ajah: 361+

Summary of Captives

49 still bonded to Asha’man.

29+ still held by Seanchan.

3 held by the Ogier.

1 still held by Shaido.

2 presumed dead.

Total: 84+ captives

Named: 17 Unnamed: 67+

Red Ajah: 4 (2 Black) Yellow Ajah: 3 Gray Ajah: 2 Green Ajah: 2 Brown Ajah: 1 Blue Ajah: 0 White Ajah: 3 (3 Black)

Unidentified Ajah: 69+

OVERALL SUMMARY

Over 465 Aes Sedai have died since The Eye of the World opened:

the 458+ dead from the “dead” list.

the 2 presumed dead from the “captured” list.

the 5 presumed dead from the “missing” list.

plus additional unquantified ones that were likely killed when Logain was taken, or during the White Tower and Black Tower coups, or that were executed when Egwene cleansed the White Tower, or anonymously killed in the Last Battle and not included in the count.

That’s over 46% of the total population of Aes Sedai (which was under 1000).

About 161 Aes Sedai have been captured or gone missing since The Eye of the World opened:

82+ from the “captured” list that are not presumed dead.

79 from the “missing” list that are not presumed dead.

That’s another 16% of the total original population of Aes Sedai.

Combine the dead/captured/missing, and the total of well over 626 represents over 60% of the Aes Sedai. Huge losses.

[sixth-light]

Following up on the "good Seanchan/bad Seanchan" idea for the show, I think there would still have to be conflict about slavery generally and damane specifically with any 'good' Seanchan, and it could go something along the lines of: "we see we made a mistake and we're willing to let the [Randland] channelers we've captured go as a gesture of goodwill, but we still can't just unleash all *our* damane right now, some of them are hundreds of years old and they've never been free and who knows what would happen; and besides we need to fight the Last Battle the way we know how".

Which would be a valid concern in some regards that nevertheless would not erase the key moral point, to which, it is fucking abhorrent to enslave people and the right thing needs to be done anyway. An argument like this would give show!Tuon and Rand(/Mat) a genuine conflict pre-the Last Battle where Tuon isn't just advocating for the Actual Worst Thing/ignoring the new information she's learned, it would make any version of Alivia a really interesting character with stuff to do beyond...whatever it was she did in the books, it would give Red Ajah sisters a chance to make the case for their Ajah (in their show version of 'magic cops'), and it would cut to the heart of the philosophical questions the books ask about free will and what it actually means to fight evil.

And it gets even more interesting if at some point Perrin has made his book!deal-with-the-devil and there are more than a few Shaido Wise Ones/Black Ajah/etc currently held as damane who will absolutely want to be free...but also can't be relied on once they are free. RJ used becoming damane as a get-out-of-jail-free card for sidelining but not killing practically all his female channeler villains. The show can interrogate that narrative and I think it should.

[hxans]

I was reflecting on the Aiel and their customs, and Perrin's storyline in particular. Like, what did they think of him, as a blacksmith, taking up war? Why wasn't more made of the dynamic him in opposition of Wise Woman Sevanna in the dragged out too long Shaido plot, as she acted less and less like a wise woman and more like a war lord? (I mean, it's frustrating enough how badly Perrin "leads" because he's expected to as a ta'veren and Faile thinks is no less than his destiny)

It's a bit like the way Aram as a Tuatha'an taking up a sword wasn't explored more, where Perrin has an Aiel bff on one side and a Tuatha'an on the other, and how do they feel, post Rand's revelations?

In The Shadow Rising we get so much fleshing out of the Aiel as a culture and so many interesting charatcers from there, and then in later books they largely fade into the background who vaguely try to influence the main characters but hardly seem like big players themselves anymore. I think I would have liked to see more from their points of view as their culture was fracturing.

(Also imagining a Seanchan-Aiel compare/contrast on their foundations being shattered by certain revelations and how that could have played out alongside the peril of trying to stay cohesive long enough to survive TLB)

[anira-naeg]

Captured by the Shaido

[toastandjamie]

Of course Rand’s pov of Al Cair Dal and the subsequent fight with Asmodean is super cool and a tad stressful- but thinking about it from Mat’s pov is so much funnier. To start a bad time off worse this is the second time Mat’s flipped a coin to decide whether or not he should tag along only for the coin to land on the edge. First of all how do you even cope with that happening twice to you and just knowing that it’s some magic shit you don’t understand. Then we’re in Al Cair Dal, which first of all everyone’s yelling and arguing almost immediately, and the Shaido are here and you’re pretty sure someone’s going to get stabbed. Then Couladin declares himself as Cair’a’cairn and things are looking Bad so you try not once- not twice- but three times to get your friend off the damn podium and on his horse so you can hightail it out of there before you two are the ones who get stabbed. Then your friend drops like the most random lore you’ve ever heard and now everyone is screaming and Couladin throws a spear at your friend. He summons a giant rain storm and immediately disappears in a magic bubble only to reappear at least an hour later with that random gleeman that’s been tagging along with the merchants who your friend has repeatedly warned you has Bad Vibes. Like, it must be so exhausting to be Mat Cauthon. To not even know the plot of your own book, you’ve lost the plot two books ago and you don’t even go here. Can you imagine how awkward it must’ve been just sitting there in the pouring rain for Rand to get back, while the Maidens are trying to break the magic bubble with spears and everyone else is having a heated debate about their culture and that one guy who has chucked a spear at you at least twice at this point, is just standing right across from you getting progressively more agitated. Just the fact that when Rand did get back Mat was just sitting next to the magic bubble waiting for him. It’s so funny