#she is still manipulating the HELL out of nynaeve

[queenofmalkier]

So help me if the world finally gave me a goddamn interesting villain who doesn't give a shit about being redeemed and then give her a bloody redemption arc I WILL RIOT.

[asha-mage]

Assorted Thoughts From Forcing My Friends to Watch all of WoT as a birthday gift, Season 2 Edition-

When taken as a whole unit, the show actually completely conveys what's happening with Lan's bond from the jump, it's just that several characters are incorrect or working with incorrect information- as was often the case in the books. Lan thinks he's just been blocked out, but in reality Moiraine has released his bond entirely (as she floated she might do to Alanna back in season 1) and you can see the moment he realizes this in episode 2, when saddling the horses- he realizes that he didn't sense the Fade and what that means, and then Moiriane realizes he has realized.

The show in general is a lot more subtle, and a lot more willing to delve into the idea that often characters are just...wrong, or uninformed, or lying, without holding the audience's hand to explain that fact then I think people give it credit for- which is very in line with Jordan's ethos. For example, Ishamael's telling of Perrin 'the more wolf you become the more you are mine' is a blatant manipulation attempt to scare him into being afraid of his Wolfbrother powers and Perrin, who is going through hell, just buys it- and that makes sense he's already wrestling his own anger issues and fear. He doesn't question why Ishamael would tell him this, or what the effect would be (i.e not trusting the wolves, and thus maybe making himself more vulnerable to the Shadow) he just accepts it because it plays into his existing fears and biases about himself.

Anvare also raises this point really well when she gives her 'ask yourself- is it true?' speech to Moiraine. Moiraine is operating at that point under a lot of assumptions that aren't true- not just that Lanfear is going to hurt or capture Rand, but also that she really was stilled, that she can't trust Lan with her fears and doubts, that her presence is a threat to Barthanes and Anvare (when really Barthanes's presence is a threat to her)- and this moment, is meant to cast doubt not just on that, but on a lot of the assumptions the audience has likely been making too, which characters their taking at face value and which characters their thinking off through the lens of their own biases.

Continuing the trend of Moiraine displaying many of the bad coping mechanisms that will later dog Rand/Rand will internalize from her- @ofthebrownajah pointed out recently Rand's consistent issues with food and eating, which made it stick out to me how frequently in the show Moiraine has a similar problem. People repeatedly try to reach out to Moiraine via food/encouraging her to take care of herself, and she repeatedly rejects them. Lan's attempt to get her to come down for dinner, then to bring dinner to her in her rooms, Barthanes's sandwich, tea with Anvare- Moiraine has her walls raised so high she rejects this basic form of self-care and attempt to reach out hand in hand. This is especially notably because their is a repeated emphasis on food this season. Every major character gets at least one scene eating or drinking this season (Egwene and Elayne doing bootleg, Rand grabbing flatbread on his way to work, Mat with Liandrin's honey cakes, Nynaeve preparing dinner in the arches world, Lan sharing dinner with Alanna's family at her farm) but even Moiraine's eventual forced tea with Anvare goes deliberately unshown.

On rewatch I think that, while I really really love the moment where Renna and Seta are left to the mercy of their own culture by Nynaeve and Egwene in the books, the moment of Egwene killing Renna just makes the most narrative sense for the show- and I think will be a change that they are going to walk out through it's consequences.

The point of that sequence in the book is that Nynaeve understands that Egwene's bloodlust and anger are valid- but that the fact of killing will not help her in the long run. "It's okay to hate them. They deserve it. It's not okay to let them make you like them." I suspect, especially given how thoughtful the show has been about violence and death (and how clearly hollow the experience of actually killing Renna is for Egwene) that the show will take the plank of 'she deserved to die- but killing her did not undo everything you went through or heal you'. Which, again makes sense both Egwene's oncoming Aiel arc, and the fact that the books do spend a lot of time focusing on Egwene working through the trauma of her captivity.

The arches are another thing I've come around on after initial trepidation about their changes. I think each manages to still cut at the heart of Nynaeve's character arc and her struggles. The last one was my biggest concern, the shift from Nynaeve deliberately rejecting a perfect life with Lan for the sake of going back for the other Emond's Fielders to Nynaeve going back after realizing that such a life lived with Lan, as much as it might give her joy for a time, would still be hollow in the end. She can't turn her back on the struggles of the world and her friends without consequence- she can't just go back to life in the Two Rivers. She has to keep fighting for what she loves.

I think the choice itself also works when put in the context of the steady removal of Nynaeve's charges one by one. She thinks Rand is dead (and is probably blaming herself for his death as pops up in her interaction with Tam), Mat ran off, and Perrin is safe with the Shinearans. Her main charge left is Egwene- and hering that she's not helping Egwene but hurting her, overshadowing her- removes the final reason she really had for being at the White Tower, staying on the adventure. If the people she left home to save don't need her- then why is she there?

I continue to really think people are over hyping how bad the show supposedly makes Siuan look- my friends despite being largely uninitiated in the book series immediately groked that Siuan and Moiraine where just doing what they felt was right, in a complicated situation. They both are trying to save the world, and they love each other- but the world is more important.

Moiraine also brings a lot of the trouble on herself by not telling Siuan she was stilled and damaging the trust between them- leaving that detail out is the first crack in Siuan's ability to trust Moiraine still be honest with her, her partner in all this, and then her seeming to have either lied or regained that power, right at the moment she's allied with Lanfear, is the final blow any hope they where still standing together.

Despite stopping frequently to talk at even minor moments, we ran through almost the entire finale without pausing and then collectively all just sat there speechless. Man is the battle of Falme and everything around it so good.

Quote one of my friends re: Moghiden "Oh she's a little freak."

Also shout out to Lanfear for making one of my MLM friends doubt his sexuality with her 'short hair pirate t shirt look'.

That entire scene in the dream world bedroom cased a collective meltdown and one of my other friends to say 'oh I see why you where insane about this'

The effects continue to be killer throughout the season and god I can't wait to see season 3.

[ozbian]

Wheel of Time tv series huh, I Ioved the books and was putting off watching in case it was terrible, but there's been a lot of really positive posts so ...

Ooooh unsure of the Dragon Born's gender? I LIKE that, that is an excellent change from the books

Moiraine <3

Red Sisters still very fucked up. They're gonna be even more pissed off about the Dragon Reborn in this version

Lan Mandragoran oh my god yes

Nynaeve!!

A coming of age ceremony with philosophy that is also applicable to the use of magic, that's so good

Egwene!!

Mat and Perrin!!

Ok I liked the womens circle stepping in to that dynamic between egwene and her dad, the polite social affirmation that she's an adult

Not liking Rand very much, but I never really did anyway

That's an *entrance*, Lan Mandragoran, and I love that protective fearless Nynaeve is the first thing you see. You are in so much trouble, Sir.

Perrin is married, already met the falcon? Laila does seem a lot like Faile, I like her

Well Mat's already more sympathetic... I didn't really like him in the books at first either, he's at his best when he's being bullied by fate and luck

Padan fucking Thane. That was some fine acting

Actually all the actors in this are really really good

Oh shit here we go

Nynaeve roaring back at that trolloc and then stabbing the fuck out of it with her tiny knife, she is my favourite

The magic is fucking beautiful, i love how it flows and how Lan and Moiraine fight together

I'm crying this fight is so fucking good

The heron marked blade hell yes

Oh Mat's sisters, how could I have forgotten about them, they better survive

I love the womens circle cooperating to take that trolloc down

Oh no oh Perrin baby no :'(

Moiraine is a badass and this soundtrack fucking slaps

Well this is a departure, oh jeez i hope Nynaeve is alright

Oh damn, Moiraine is gonna save the world, even if she has to play the mystical all-seeing witch and manipulate these village kids into life threatening danger, and I can respect that

[neuxue]

Wheel of Time liveblogging: The Gathering Storm ch 49

Rand sees a city and climbs a mountain

Chapter 49: Just Another Man

I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve seen the Avendesora leaf chapter icon. The Dragon and the Wheel have rather dominated this book, which makes sense all things considered.

Chapter title drop in the first few sentences:

He was just another man walking in the streets of Ebou Dar.

All signs thus far seem to point to a more contemplative and therefore a less kill-everything-with-fire sort of chapter, but at this point, with Rand, you really can never be sure.

As long as a person wasn’t able to channel, he or she could find stability here. Safety.

That’s a pretty major caveat.

On the other hand, it’s hard to blame those who can for seeking that stability and safety here, given the whole…*waves hands at the map* situation.

Anyway, Rand finally gets to have the pleasure of visiting Ebou Dar, because you really wouldn’t want any of our protagonists to miss out on that lovely place. Plotline. Thing. Perrin, you don’t know how lucky you are (though in fairness he got Malden, which was just as bad).

They were his enemies. They were conquerors. He felt their lands shouldn’t be peaceful. They should be terrible, full of suffering because of the tyrannical rule.

No, that’s your lands.

Though, again, it’s not quite as simple as that. But as to the overall impression of a place…yeah. Rand’s looking for something that stands out immediately as ‘enemy’. As ‘evil’ or ‘wrong’, as something he can cleanse with merciful fire and feel justified in it.

And they’re not giving him that; it’s like those arguments where one person is itching for a fight and trying to bait the other, who just remains absolutely serene and unyielding so that everything is absorbed or glances off, and it’s both effective and absolutely infuriating.

Not unless you could channel. What the Seanchan did with this group of people was horrifying. Not all was well beneath this happy surface. And yet, it was shocking to realise how well they treated others.

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Look too closely and yeah, there’s some horror there (not to mention slavery), but for so many others it’s a shelter from the storm. And what was that Rand said a few books ago? I am the storm.

Enemies are not always perfectly straightforward, not always perfectly evil in every action and consequence. And, conversely, allies are not always perfectly good and perfectly morally aligned with you on every point. Sometimes it’s a choice between atrocities, or a question of fixed-term tolerance, or truly just an enemy-of-my-enemy situation. Sometimes it’s very much a matter of perspective, and a question of what can and should be endured, and to what ends. Sometimes, it’s just…messy and human and complicated.

Tinkers camped outside the city in large groups. Their wagons had not moved for weeks, and it seemed they were forming villages. As Rand moved among them, he’d heard some of them speak of settling down.

Because they’ve found a place of safety. They’ve found what they were charged with finding, thousands of years ago. Considering that, and the history of their people (and who and what they fled from and because of), that’s…not insignificant.

Last night, Rand had listened to them at one of the campfires. They’d welcomed him in, fed him, never asking who he was.

There’s no real subtlety to this, but subtlety isn’t really what Rand needs right now—nuance, yes, and a hell of a lot of complicated introspection, but not subtle hints—and I almost read this as the Pattern itself making one last push at Rand to fix this, realise what’s happening, take a step back before it’s too late, remember who you are and what you’re doing. Because it’s falling apart and he’s falling apart and it’s so close to being too late, too far, too much.

Also, this is lovely regardless of whether it’s an obvious morality play or not. For the Dragon Reborn to be welcomed as just another man in need of fire and food and friends by the people his own past life’s actions cast adrift is rather poetic.

And representative of human goodness and compassion and so forth, fine, yes, that too.

He’d kept the dragon on his hand hidden and the access key carefully tucked in his coat pocket, looking at that fire burning down to coals.

I see what you did there.

Fire as something gentle and warming even as it’s allowed to burn down peacefully, rather than as something hard and bright and almost cold, destructive and full of terrible mercy.

Also, ‘dragon’ singular. So which one is it? Once the dragon for remembrance lost, or twice the dragon for the price he must pay? Which one has he lost? (What hand shelters, what hand slays?) Is the one that was burned away representative, even then, of the price he must pay? The dragon marking and his own hand, pieces of himself lost and sacrificed as the cost of what he must do and who he must be? Or has he lost that remembrance once more, lost who he was and where he came from?

He’s lost one of his herons as well—which one? Actually this I could find out, because he got them at different times. Once the heron, to set his path…that was his right hand, wasn’t it? In which case that’s still there, the first symbol of setting him on this path and of his task, but if he’s lost twice the heron, to name him true that’s rather fitting, because it’s almost like how he’s lost his way, lost that certainty of naming, of self, of who he is. He’s faltered without really knowing it, without ever taking his eyes off that path, and he has to find his way back—has to name himself true once more.

Or maybe I have it backwards and you can ignore all the threads of meaning I’ve just tangled up like a cat. I do that. (And then, also like a cat, I look up from this absolute mess I’ve created expecting praise for my beautiful artwork).

He hadn’t ever been to Ebou Dar itself

Oh trust me, YOU’RE NOT MISSING MUCH.

Rand could remember what it was like to live as [the Tuatha’an] had. In the visions of Rhuidean, he had followed the Way of the Leaf. He’d also seen the Age of Legends. He’d lived those lives, the lives of others, for a few brief moments.

He has lived far too many lives (and seen far too much) for someone barely past twenty. Lews Therin’s past, the Portal Stone alternate realities, Rhuidean…

And that’s not even getting into all the people he currently shares his mind with.

In a way it’s no wonder he’s tried to shut down his capacity for empathy, and his capacity to feel at all.

On the other hand, the Dragon is one with the land, and this is a more metaphorical take on ‘land’, but he has experienced the lives of these people, of people other than himself. He walks among them now as ‘just another man’ and he comes from just another village and if he can remember that this is what the whole thing is about, this is what he’s fighting for, these are the people he’s trying to save and he is just one of them, maybe that’s what he needs.

(Let’s just ignore the grammar of that sentence taking a random left turn somewhere in the middle).

The Tinker also gave him a walking staff, which Rand used as he walked, slouching slightly.

Ah. Didn’t Perrin have a vision of this, back in TSR? I had almost forgotten about that.

And now we get to the real issues here.

He had nearly killed his father.

Yeah, that.

He hadn’t been forced to by Semirhage, or by Lews Therin’s influence. No excuses. No argument. He, Rand al’Thor, had tried to kill his own father. He’d drawn in the Power, made the weaves and nearly released them.

This is almost a perfect echo of what I thought when he did it. It’s a different sort of lowest point than when he nearly killed Min, and then killed Semirhage arguably in self-defence, because it was his choice. He wasn’t being controlled or manipulated; he just reached a point where that seemed like an okay thing to do. Because he has let go of so much of himself, has told himself he’s already crossed the last line, that nothing he does matters. So why hold back?

And the fact that he realises this is precisely what shows that there’s still hope for him, still a chance for him to come back.

That, and the fact that for all he made that choice and wove balefire, in the last second he didn’t go through with it.

But YES, Rand, FOLLOW THIS THOUGHT.

Rand’s rage was gone, replaced by loathing.

I mean, fair, but also at some point you’re going to have to deal with the self-loathing and maybe forgive yourself if you’re actually going to move past this.

He’d wanted to make himself hard. He’d needed to be hard. But this was where hardness had brought him.

YES GOOD KEEP GOING. FINALLY.

Lews Therin had been able to claim madness for his atrocities. Rand had nothing, no place to hide, no refuge from himself.

What shelter is there from the storm, after all, when you are the storm?

Still, even mixed as they are with self-hatred, these are some pretty key realisations for Rand, at last, to come to. To look at how far he has come, and where he is now, and what he has made of himself, and to finally question. To look at what he has become and let himself feel that horror, rather than shutting it away and trying to hold together for just a little longer.

He has, for a long time now, needed something to push him to this point, something to break through that ever-harder shell he was encasing himself in, and the longer it took the more impactful it was going to have to be.

But nearly killing his own father, by his own choice, has finally forced him to face what he’s been running from this entire time: himself.

On a much lighter note, I appreciate that Rand is basically ignoring all the sights of Ebou Dar. Good choice, Rand.

Tinkers were safe here, but Rand’s own father wasn’t safe in his empire. Rand’s friends feared him; he had seen it in Nynaeve’s eyes.

And finally he’s letting himself actually think about this, rather than noticing it and letting it just glance off of him. His father is less safe with him than with those he considers his enemies. Nynaeve, who has stood by him through everything, is afraid of him. And finally, finally, he’s starting to let that actually sink in as something that is not simple necessity but something that is utterly, deeply wrong.

Also, ‘empire’ is an interesting word for Rand to use, there. I mean, he’s not wrong. But…yeah.

A man in a colourful silk vest jostled Rand on the street, then offered a lengthy, overly polite apology. Rand hurried on, lest the man want to start a duel.

That would probably not go so well for the man.

But the first thing that flashed into my head here was Charn getting knocked down in the street, in the Rhuidean visions. I wonder if that’s deliberate.

This did not seem like an oppressed people.

Okay, but that’s sort of…difficult to see at a glance. And also there’s the slavery thing. So yes, I get what you’re going for here Rand (and Sanderson/Jordan), but there’s a weird undercurrent of ‘there is no war in Ba Sing Se’ going on here as well. So it’s an effective point, but also a creepy one if you look too closely.

I sort of wonder if there’s another layer to the point that’s being made here, which is not so much that ‘things are better off under the Seanchan than under Rand as he is’, because that’s…dubious, but more…playing off of the chapter title again. Rand is ‘just another man’ here, amongst these people whose lives he so briefly lived and witnessed (and destroyed). And the Seanchan, too, are…just another people. Rand has brought some good to the nations he has conquered, and some destruction. The Seanchan have brought stability and safety and slavery. Neither is perfect; both are deeply flawed, but both are also ‘just another’, in their way. It’s almost like a ‘not so different, you and I’ except the differences are part of the point, to emphasise that different can be both better and worse, but at the end of the day they are allies in the war of humanity against annihilation.

And also that it’s messy and nothing is simple and you can’t just solve all the world’s problems by making moral judgements and executions by balefire.

It’s a point along the lines of ‘we’re all just human’.

And it’s a point that, in a weird sort of way, comes back to the idea of redemption, which is kind of what Rand is struggling with right now in reference to himself—is what he has just done unforgivable? What about everything that came before? This was his choice, and is thus his responsibility, and ‘what am I doing?’ ‘No more than I’ve done before’. On the individual, introspective scale: is there something in him worthy of redemption, something worth saving? On the broader, external scale: is there something in the Seanchan worthy of redemption, something worth saving? Is that kind of redemption possible?

So you get this back and forth where he’s looking both inwards and outwards and while he doesn’t connect them in his thoughts except to hate himself, there’s that unifying thread, which is the concept of redemption and the dualities of good/evil and salvation/destruction, and the questions of how far is too far, and is it possible to find a balance?

The Seanchan have done terrible things, and Rand has done terrible things, and is there anything worth salvaging of either of them? And so we get Rand hating himself but also looking around at the good things the Seanchan have done, which kind of…allows you to complete the rest of that parallel.

He didn’t want to confront what he had nearly done back in the Stone.

No kidding, but at this point Rand I really don’t think you have a choice.

Rand couldn’t focus on that. He had not come to Ebou Dar to gawk like a farmboy.

Rand al’Thor if you shove this away and encase yourself in that illusion of cuendillar again I will reach through the book and also reality to kick you in the balls.

He had come to destroy his enemies! They defied him; they needed to be eliminated. For the good of all nations.

Damn it, Rand, stop it. Look around you again, let yourself actually process those thoughts, stop turning to balefire as an easy solution. One monstrous act does not give you licence to continue with more and you know that.

But if he drew that much power through the access key, what damage would he cause?

GOOD FUCKING QUESTION. MAYBE ANSWER IT BEFORE YOU DO WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO DO.

The promising thing, here, is that even if he won’t admit it to himself, he’s stalling. Hesitating. Letting those other thoughts in, even if he tries to push them away a few moments later. Taking the access key out but not quite unwrapping it. He doesn’t want to do this, and some part of him is holding him back with whatever is left of his willpower and self.

It felt so odd to be just another foreigner. The Dragon Reborn walked among this people, and they did not know him. To them, Rand al’Thor was far off.

To Rand al’Thor, Rand al’Thor is far off.

But…yeah, he hasn’t had this kind of anonymity since, oh, sometime in TSR probably, if not even earlier. He’s tried once or twice, but it never lasts and never really works.

And so here, while in mind he’s about as far from the Rand we first met as it’s possible to be, externally he’s almost back where he began. Just another young man trying to find his way in a new place.

We’re getting all these contrasts, all these meetings of opposites, and it’s representative in a way of what’s going on in Rand’s mind and self, and again the surface level of what’s going on here isn’t subtle (and isn’t intended to be), but there’s so much beneath that to dig into and I love it.

They would not know Rand until he destroyed them.

Oh, Rand.

That’s also one hell of a line, but…oh, Rand.

They wont’ know him until he destroys them, but they’ll hate him until he saves them, and that’s part of this hand he has been dealt and this role he must accept.

It would be a mercy, Lews Therin whispered.

Oh.

So we’ve reached that.

Forgive me for calling this mercy as well. Then, at least (and this is grasping at straws here even so), there was a very very clear enemy. A clear evil he could aim at. Now…he names the Seanchan his enemy but he’s walking through these people who are just people, and recognising that despite the wrongs they have committed, the Seanchan have brought some good to some people’s lives as well, and still he allows himself to think that annihilation would be merciful.

When your hero can look at the world—even just a part of it—and think it would be more merciful to just end it…

Well, it’s almost exactly what Moridin has thought. So that should uh…tell you something.

And is it not exactly what the Dark One wants? To turn the Dragon without ever needing him to truly switch allegiances? He must know suffering. He must know pain of heart. And now he does, now he has, and this is where it has brought him. To a point where destruction and annihilation look like mercy, where life just looks like condemnation.

The Dragon is one with the land, and the Dragon wants death, and so it would be merciful to extend that to the land as well.

Death is always a mercy. The madman didn’t sound as crazy as he once had. In fact, his voice had started to sound an awful lot like Rand’s own voice.

Well…yes.

But again, Rand…follow that thought. Follow it, even when it hurts, because these are the things you’ve been pushing away and holding apart from yourself and even now you’re keeping yourself from these realisations that are hammering at the walls you’ve built.

The Daughter of the Nine Moons would be found in there. He could give those walls a purity they had never known, a perfection. That would make the building complete, in a way, in the moment before it faded into nothingness.

Wow, that’s utterly terrifying.

Note that he refers to Tuon by title, not by name. If he is just another man, is not she just another woman? Easier to use her title, to look at her as a representation of the enemy, as an abstract concept he can burn with merciful fire.

And now he’s just planning this destruction, this annihilation, slipping back into that cold and calculating and entirely emotionless place he was in before, forcing himself into it, thinking of nothing but destruction and his plan and Rand, no.

He unwrapped the access key, just another foreigner, standing on the muddy bridge. After destroying the palace, he would have to be quick. He’d send off bursts of balefire to destroy the ships in the harbour, then use something more mundane to rain fire on the city itself, throw it into a panic. The chaos would delay his enemies’ reaction.

The stark contrast here, between ‘just another foreigner, standing on the muddy bridge’ and…everything that comes after it is chilling and so perfect to capture the contrasts in Rand’s mind and situation, and the battle going on within him even if he doesn’t acknowledge it.

But also. Unleashing balefire, unleashing chaos, deliberately using these as tools…well, he’s following very well the orders the Dark One gave to Demandred, all those books ago. ‘Will you unleash the balefire in my service?’ ‘Let the Lord of Chaos rule.’ Why bother turning the Dragon when you can drive him to do this for what he believes to be his own cause, his own side?

What are you fighting for, Rand?

He vaguely remembered scout reports of supply camps to the north, well stocked with both soldiers and foodstuffs. He would destroy them next.

Just like it’s one thing to almost kill Min while being controlled by Semirhage and another to try to kill Tam of his own choice, it’s one thing to leave Arad Doman to starve when there’s very little he can do, and another thing to actively plan to destroy supplies for a city.

He’d Travel quickly, never remaining in one place long enough to be caught by the Forsaken. A flickering light of death, like a burning ember, flaring to life here, then there.

Wow, that’s…an image. Damn.

Don’t do this, Rand.

Saidin makes him even more sick and dizzy than usual, to the point where it’s briefly incapacitating, and I wonder if this is the Pattern’s last play, in a way. One last effort to get him to stop. The world itself resisting what he is about to do, what he is about to become.

He had to strike.

But he could not. The people looked so concerned. So worried. They cared. Screaming in frustration, Rand made a gateway, causing people to jump back in shock.

And so once more he brings himself right to the edge of what might truly be the last threshold, right to the point of absolutely no return…and can’t go through with it, and weaves a gateway in desperation.

Running from himself, as he has been running from and fighting himself for so long. Only now he can’t push through it, can’t brush it aside or silence that conflict within himself. He can’t harden himself to this, no matter what he does. And so he runs once more from himself, from what he wants to do and yet is absolutely terrified of doing, runs from his power, runs from what he has become, because he can’t let himself do this.

Why can’t I be strong enough? He didn’t know if the thought was his or if it was Lews Therin’s. The two were the same.

Because they are the same. Two different lifetimes, but Rand is the Dragon Reborn and the barrier between them has eroded and that’s what it means. Lews Therin’s past and Lews Therin’s mistakes are his, just as Lews Therin’s knowledge is his, because Lews Therin is him.

And I think, contrary to not being strong enough, Rand’s strength of self and will is what allowed him to run, here. To stop himself. He, Rand al’Thor, is strong enough that even when he has tried to push everything of himself away, he could hold on enough to keep from falling completely.

He’s Skimming rather than Travelling, and the ancient Aes Sedai symbol is all very symbolic (tautology is tautology), but where…

But Rand was necessary destruction. Why had the Pattern pushed him so hard if he didn’t need to destroy?

Destruction and salvation, Rand. It’s about the balance. Accepting destruction as a cost so as not to paralyse yourself, accepting that some things must be destroyed or changed or sacrificed, but without forgetting why. Destruction is not the end in and of itself. Necessary destruction, but to a purpose.

But once again he’s actually letting himself think about this, think about the limits he tried and failed to put on himself, thinking about what it means that he must destroy, trying to actually think through this. He keeps shutting some of it down almost reflexively, but now it doesn’t go away, and those questions and thoughts just keep coming back and he can’t run from them.

OH HE’S

THIS IS

HE’S HERE HE’S ON A FIELD OF SNOW AND ICY WIND AND

Here, the world spread before him.

RAND HAS COME TO DRAGONMOUNT.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS.

SINCE THE ABSOLUTE BEGINNING.

HE’S HERE.

He must stand on his grave and weep, and here he is on his grave, Dragonmount which was made by the Dragon’s dying, Dragonmount where the Dragon was reborn, Dragonmount which is both beginning and ending, where past and present and Rand al’Thor and Lews Therin meet and I’m. We’re here. This is happening.

Why have we come here? Rand thought. Because, Rand replied. Because we made this. This is where we died.

THAT.

RAND THOUGHT. RAND REPLIED.

All of what he says, as well, but mostly the dialogue tags.

Because it’s just…Rand. Rand speaking in the plural ‘we’, but no longer a separation between them because that barrier is gone. Because here, on Dragonmount, this place of death and rebirth (hope and despair, defeat and renewal, salvation and destruction), it’s as if he finally lets it go.

He’s just…himself.

He’s been brought to the point of catastrophe, the point of almost repeating Lews Therin’s past, and he has run from himself and been at war within himself for so long, and finally, finally it has brought him here, to this place that is ending and beginning, and if ever there were a place and time for Rand to finally truly accept who he is, and let go those walls, and stop fighting against himself and holding himself divided and letting go all that he is…it would be here.

I’ll refrain from quoting every last line of foreshadowing that’s led to this point (well, all those I can remember; no doubt that barely scratches the surface), but I can’t resist one: Rand could not imagine why a man would want to climb a mountain (The Fires of Heaven).

The dun sky was clouded above him. The ground seemed equally distant, barely visible, like a quilt marked with patterns.

The entire world, sky and earth, and fire in the chasm behind him. The Dragon looking out at the land, balanced on this peak that reaches into both his lifetimes. It’s a true point of balance, of unity, of everything drawn together.

He set the access key into the bank before him and wove Air and Fire to keep himself warm.

Then he rested his elbows on his knees and his head on his hands, staring at the diminutive statue of the man with the globe.

To think.

Staring, in a way, at a representation of himself. A man made of power, holding the world.

This is such a lovely, lovely image.

And such an excellent scene to finally see play out.

This is something the entire series has been building to, literally from the opening pages. Making a beginning out of an ending. Letting the story come full-circle at last. Bringing Rand along this path, until finally he finds himself here (yes, that is intended to have a double meaning).

And it’s…perfect.

No, it’s not surprising. But it’s an excellent example of something that doesn’t have to be. Something that, really, shouldn’t be. Instead, it’s satisfying. It’s the release of something that has been built up across twelve books, the fulfilment of a promise made in the first chapter; it’s allowing something that has been needing to happen for a very long time now to actually happen, at the exact moment in this long and tumultuous character arc that it most needed to happen.

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[rationalnerd62]

Okay, but, that anon ask pissed me off, so here's some thoughts.

I'm going to assume this was about Siuan, and as a result this post will have spoilers for the Wheel of Time books. If you haven't read them but you keep reading this... Well you have been warned.

So hear me out.

The survival of Siuan Sanche, a queer woman of color... Does not affect the plot.

I will even go further!

The survival of Moiraine Damodred and Siuan Sanche, two middle-aged queer women, and the survival of their relationship... Does not affect the freaking plot.

Or at least, it will affect it way less than all the folks thinking Siuan Sanche will die during the coup, and nobody seems to have much of an issue with that theory, despite how incredibly frustrating it is to see folks ready to get rid of a black queer woman before the major events of her own storylines.

Siuan Sanche is an incredible mentor to Egwene, and, to a lower extend, to Nynaeve. She's the ex-Amyrlin Seat! She taught Egwene everything she needed to succeed in the middle of the Tower politics. She taught her how to freaking manage the Tower, and history of the past Amyrlins that only few knows about. And with the show making Siuan a dreamer, she can be the Aes Sedai to tell Egwene about the dreams, and could still be a useful dreamer after the coup since it's not related to the OnePower.

She also has a very moving and inspiring storyline! She started from the bottom, couldn't even read when she reached the Tower, but was so freaking smart and powerful and great at her work that she was raised Amyrlin at the age of 30, the youngest Amyrlin ever at the time.

For two decades, she worked behind the scenes to find the Dragon Reborn and save the world, because only her and Moiraine were still alive and aware of his rebirth on the side of the light, and they had no idea who to trust. They almost trusted another Aes Sedai, and thank God they didn't. So Siuan freaking sacrificed decades of her life to that mission, putting her away from the only person she could feel like herself with.

And when the Stone of Tear finally fell, when she thought she could have a unified Tower behind the Dragon Reborn because the Last Battle was getting closer, she got betrayed and lost absolutely everything. She lost her political power, the recognition of her name, her access to the source, and everything she had worked so hard for and had given up so much for.

But what did she do? Did she give up and became hopeless? No. She freaking kept going, dragging Logain with her, because she refused to consider that the decades of sacrifice were for nothing, so who cares if the Tower is broken and Aes Sedai will treat her like shit. She will still take part in the fight against the DO, even if she has to manipulate everyone in Salidar to ensure they do what is right.

Does she need Gareth to do any of that? Fuck no. She definitely does not need to be his servant and then to fall for a "master". Especially not when the show has build this long lasting queer relationship between her and Moiraine. A relationship that Jordan developed in New Spring, and maybe even hinted at in TGH during the unique time where the two get to see each other. Hell, who knows whether RJ would have made them endgame, had he written at a time where queer relationships were more accepted?

IMO, the show is only repairing a wrong done to queer folks, whose relationships have been constantly hidden or dismissed in any movie and TV genres because of bigotry, when they did not completely ended in trauma and death. Finally, we get to see the lead of a fantasy show as a queer woman. Finally, a black queer woman is considered as the most powerful person of the world. Freaking finally.

So if the show decides to change a few minor storylines to give an happy ending to the two queer women who got a shitty book ending (they didn't even get to talk in AMoL!), if they decide that Thom doesn't need to marry someone he only saw for a few weeks (he has plenty to do as Mat's mentor!), if they decide that Gareth doesn't need to put in servitude a black woman that was the most powerful person in the world to then date her later on (he can still have plenty to do as a great General!), then hella yes I am here for it.

It doesn't even affect Rand and his fight against the DO. It's an easy change, with minor to no consequences on the general plot, and will give queer folks a good and positive representation that we've been longing for for freaking forever.

Just admit you place more importance in the survival of a queer woman of colour above plot, damn.

ok, i place more importance in the survival of a queer woman of colour than in plot.

[queenofmalkier]

Queen Nynaeve is nowhere to be seen in the second of the season

Interestingly, the showrunners seem to be favoring Egwene by making her the hero in both season finales. However, I have high hopes for Nynaeve's character development in the next season, depending on how the writers handle her storyline. One thing that I don't enjoy about the books is the lack of Nynaeve's point of view in the later books and the disregard for her safety by her friends. Nynaeve is my favorite character, and it's disappointing to see her become an afterthought to move the plot forward at times in the book, so I am happy with the show expanding her storyline. With that being said, I was disappointed with the finale, but I do see a path forward in season 3 and future seasons. What are your thoughts on the lack of focus on Nynaeve in the second half of the season? What is your expectation for season 3 and future Lan and Nynaeve moments?

I love this ask because I have so many thoughts.

To start with, I have felt disappointment with Nynaeve in the show not being straight up BAMF. I want to see her get hulk!mad and blow stuff up! SHE ANGY!!! But when I take a step back from my violent need to see Nynaeve commit violence of all forms, I'm actually left pretty satisfied with what they've done so far?

Season 1 was about establishing everybody, including Nynaeve. We needed to see that she came from a position of power and respect in the Two Rivers despite her young age. People trusted her because of her knowledge, because she'd proved herself worthy of that trust.

As she's older in the show we don't see the outbursts she's known for in the books nor does she whack people with a stick, but that's too be expected. She's grown past feeling like an imposter as a wisdom - though she still feels the sting of it, as evidenced by how she interacts with Moiraine.

We see her do some incredible things, and then we see she's capable of wielding some truly awe-inspiring power.

Season 2 takes that Nynaeve and scares the hell out of her. I think Ishamael said it best - she's afraid of power. I have a whole schpeel on the arches that I want to do because I think that episode (mostly) hammered home that pure terror she has about wielding the one power, but that's for another day.

Contrary to the books, Nynaeve isn't treated as another novice. Instead these mythical, powerful women she does not trust are borderline obsessed with making her channel . They keep talking about her potential, about her gift, about what she'll do... but none of them is really talking about Nynaeve al'Meara doing those things. They're thinking about the woman they want her to become: Nynaeve Sedai.

They don't even ask what she wants.

The fact that she has a block and cannot control her power is explored more in the show than it is in the early books, in my opinion. Later books she breaks down and admits just how afraid she is, but instead we're getting that earlier - in the arches, she can't heal Tam, then later she explodes in the same rage she did in season one but nobody is healed, nobody is saved.

Close your eyes, think of a flower. We've seen Nynaeve react negatively to that statement more than once, and I think that's a really, really good way to demonstrate just how unlike the other Aes Sedai she is. "It doesn't work for me like that!"

It's heartbreaking to see, and it's why Liandrin is able to manipulate her, because she doesn't treat Nynaeve like everyone else, nor does she really put her on a pedestal. She challenges her, she shows her the possibilities, she tells her there's no one way to be an Aes Sedai. She makes Nynaeve feel seen. (Putting aside the stolen Siuan scenes.)

Ryma is also able to break through Nynaeve's fear because she approaches it on Nynaeve's level, from a place she'd understand. No flowers, no soft petals. Healing.

Without Ryma there she cannot heal Elayne's leg, and she's so hurt and upset that she can't, but she can still help. She still has all the knowledge of a Wisdom inside of her. It lessens the blow of being unable to channel through her fear.

As much as I want to see Nynaeve channeling like a beast, I'm enjoying watching her work her way through her fear in a way that will make her channeling later on feel earned.

I'm hoping in Season 3 that she acknowledges that fear, as well as her feelings of being a failure to those around her when that imposter syndrome comes back in full - and that she gets past it with the help of Egwene and Elayne, two women who see her for her, and not for the power she can wield.

In regards to Lan/Nynaeve if we don't get the ring scene in Season 3 I'm gonna be so upset lol. It's really difficult to judge where they're taking things from here - how's Tear going to fit in? The hunt for the Black Ajah? Are we staying together? My guess is the 'better together' theme of Season 2 is going to expand to Rand breaking up the gang again because of his own fears, but I really don't know and I'm trying not to overthink it.