#wot premiere

[onaperduamedee]

Thinking again about how the gender essentialism in WoT is aggravating not because there is gender essentialism in magic because that's the entire premise of the books but because RJ set to explore that particular premise without fully understanding how gender essentialism and patriarchy affects women differently that it does men. That's how you get Berelain's writing, the internal monologues of Nynaeve in tel'aran'rhiod, groups of women in power often written as petty squabbling fools, practically all the powerful female leaders at the start of the series will be depowered and humiliated by the end, the Aiel warriors being women presented as something foreign...

In RJ world, men are naturally stronger than women in the OP: this rule isn't subverted and permeates every aspect of his worldbuilding. There's a reason only the boys are ta'veren, that Mat ends up taking control of the armies over Elayne, that Perrin is naturally better at tel'aran'rhiod than Egwene, that Nynaeve the strongest channeler we've seen in a thousand years becomes a glorified battery for Rand in the end.

In a way, it's a fascinating psychological phenomenon that the entire premise of his fictional world is based on gender essentialism yet he doubled down on several core elements of gender essentialism instead of subverting them.

When I discuss gender essentialism in his work I do it so because he made it "gender essentialism: the fantasy edition", so while his women challenge gender essentialism in some ways, it's entirely legitimate to question why he didn't expand the subversion in other aspects of his world.

[flo-n-flon]

"I see sparks of light trying to fill the shadows, and the shadows trying to swallow the sparks."

[emylilas]

Fandom: Wheel of Time Prompt: Aging (from HalfAMoon2024 on Dreamwidth) Characters: Liandrin Guirale, Moiraine Damodred, Anvaere Damodred Content warning: character's death, some flashing, Wot show S2 spoilers Summary: Through the characters of Liandrin and Moiraine, The Wheel of Time has explored the curse of seeing your loved ones age faster than you'll ever will. Watch in HD if you can!

[markantonys]

self care is taking 9/1 off work to celebrate Wheel Of Time Day

[aidenwaites]

Gomens tomorrow,,

[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.

[moghedien]

Ok reminder for the Wheel of Time season 2 premiere

I will be live-blogging when the episodes drop at 7 pm CST on Thursdays. I will use the following tags so you can black list as needed:

- “wot book spoilers” for any posts that references spoilers from the books that hasn’t played out on screen yet (yes for the entire series im not tagging book by book sorry)

- “wot on prime” for anything that is about the show specifically, even things not necessarily considered spoilers

- “wot show spoilers” for anything that occurred in the latest episode specifically (I’ll use these for a few days at least depending on how major the spoiler is)

- “wot liveblog” for my reactions while watching

- “wheel of time” for just any and all Wheel of Time content

If I miss a tag feel free to point it out but don’t complain if you saw something I posted and didn’t blacklist.

Also this was a problem last season, so just please remember to be aware that all of the posts in the tags are not from book readers and I might reblog some of those posts. Last season I had to threaten to start blocking people if they didn’t stop spoiling show fans i reblogged so like be fucking aware please I wanna be able to interact with people without feeling bad about it

[buffyfan145]

Got the latest "Rings of Power" season 2 spoilers from Fellowship of Fans today but starting out with actual news about the show in general and when it'll likely air!!! :D

Amazon is planning to have the show be done in post-production by June 2024. This indicates a fall 2024 release as compared to season one they finished post-production in May and it started airing in September. Most of us have been thinking it'll be fall of 2024 due to multiple factors with the strikes, no promotion so far this year, skipping both major Comic Cons in San Diego and New York, and then Amazon also having their other popular fantasy series "The Wheel of Time" and not wanting these two shows to compete against each other. I've seen others speculate too it's likely now both these shows will air in opposite years to avoid this as 2021 was s1 of "WoT", last year was "TROP", this year was s2 of "WoT", 2024 will be s2 of "TROP, 2025 s3 of "Wot", 2026 s3 of "TROP", and so on. So likely "TROP" will be at both SDCC and NYCC next year too.

Now onto the major spoilers!!! :D

The first scoop was that Charlie Vickers and the actor playing what FOF called the "Original Form" but is likely Annatar filmed a very important scene together that the showrunners were present for. This was filmed before the writers strike happened in May too and the showrunners insisted on being present for this scene. In the YouTube video the FOF's hosts all think this scene is likely either showing either Halbrand/Sauron turning into Annatar in front of Adar before going to Eregion and the audience is in on this plot, or that Annatar shapeshifts back into Halbrand in front of Galadriel and Celeborn in the season finale battle shocking not only them but the audience which was a scoop we had a few weeks ago. :)

FOF clarified too in the YT vid that this scene is not a flashback. Also they insisted again that there's no indication that this Annatar actor is staying past this storyline and is only a recurring guest-star compared to Charlie being a series regular and the main actor as Sauron for the rest of the series. Supposed the Annatar storyline is also only in episodes 6-8 at the most. Though was funny hearing in the YT vid the hosts compare this to "Sailor Moon" transforming. LOL But realistically they think like myself that it'll be similar to how we've seen other shapeshifters like Loki, Mystique, Martian Manhunter, and more do it on-screen in live-action shows and movies.

Then the final scoop was that Círdan will make his debut in the season 2 premiere!!! :D I didn't think he would show up that early but excited for it. Very curious as to how as supposedly the premiere is Sauron centric but this could still work too to show Círdan. In the YT vid they also talked more about him and if his story will connect with the other elves and if he'll get his ring Narya this early or later, and if this will tie into the storyline with The Stranger (possibly Gandalf) and Nori as we've had very little spoilers on their storyline besides them filming in Spain. Still don't know Círdan's actor yet either but again excited to see how this plays out.

[ofthebrownajah]

Re: Red Eagle/iWot for people who are new to the fandom:

So Red Eagle Entertainment (now iWoT) sued Harriet awhile back over rights issues for Wheel of Time and they're the ones behind this animated White Tower movie. They also made Winter Dragon and are notorious for sitting on the rights and not doing shit with it. Winter Dragon was a desperate attempt to hold onto the rights in 2015, they released it on FX at 3 am (whoever was on WoT Tumblr then remembers 😭 I blame the Dark One for my lack of sleep)

afaik the rights issues for WoT are now divided so Sony and Amazon own the TV rights and Red Eagle/iWot own the movie rights. I think the lawsuit from when they sued Harriet are to thank for this? So we can at least thank it for even making the show possible

A lot of us are thinking this might be another situation like when they announced those Age of Legends movies. The timing is suspicious, they announce this right around when s2 is close to premiering. They did the same thing with the Age of Legends movies announcement not long before s1 premiered. So they might be trying to remain relevant/in the news.

[websriot]

@novaragno    ( f.    parking )    sent:    ❝  it's 2007. there's a woman named jill zarin living in manhattan. she is approached by a production studio in new york city, and by a man named andy cohen, to star in a series called manhattan moms. she is told to bring together a group of manhattan socialites, all in the upper middle class or 1% of new york city. she brings together bethanny frankel, luan de lesseps, ramona singer, and kelly bensimon in season two. and that franchise is not manhattan moms, but moves on to be the real housewives of new york city, which premieres in 2007, becoming the first show to franchise the real housewives series.  ❞ 

❛❛ ...    wot the £!¢? are you on about. ❜❜

[libraryleopard]

me when rand finally turned up in premier of wot season 2

[flo-n-flon]

Perrin Aybara, blacksmith, Goldeneyes

[lordgolden]

I GOT SO LUCKY FOR WOT PREMIERE DAY YA’LL first it’s coming out at 8pm and second I don’t even have to work Thursday my company picnic got rescheduled (was supposed to be last week) so I only have to pop into that for an hour and it counts as a whole work day so I will be hashtag Online all day Thurs

[markantonys]

Was there an actual trailer for wot season two yet???

Like,,, what’s up with that

not yet, but there have been 2 short teaser reels! they came out quite a while ago so you might've already seen them, but linking them just in case 1 2

from what i've read, it seems that the average window of time between official trailer and release date for prime shows is smaller these days than it was back when s1 came out. it's confirmed that WOT will have a panel at san diego comic con on 7/20, which will include "exclusive season 2 content" and a "sneak peek" into the season, so we can definitely bank on a trailer releasing then at the latest.

however, i still have hope that we may see one this upcoming week! my reasoning is based on two comparable-ish prime shows. a) good omens released its first season 2 trailer 7 weeks before the premier date. this week is 7 weeks before september 1. b) rings of power allegedly released its trailer the week before sdcc last year rather than during sdcc (i saw someone say that but i didn't fact check it). and i do think that makes sense bc then the panelists can see the trailer in advance and know what specific things they'll be allowed to talk about, and whoever comes up with panel questions for sdcc (i'm not sure how it works) can also have a week to think up some questions related to footage shown in the trailer.

maybe i'm a clown, but i'm going to be ready for a trailer this week just in case!

[amemoryofwot]

Anyways. Not to get ahead of myself BUT. The Boys S4 is going to premiere in June 2024 so I can’t imagine S5 sooner than June 2025. Gen V evidently had a tragedy during S2 production and so other reports have suggested mid 2025 as well. Therefore WoT with a wrapped S3 would be the most available for an early 2025

[asha-mage]

WoT S2 Premier - The Good, the Interesting, and the Messy

Now that I've had a chance to sleep on it and become half way coherent again, I want to say that I really really liked what their doing so far in season 2. You can see the seems of course, the places where COVID era production and changes had to shift things around, but the show is continuing it's central ethos of adapting the heart of the series and characters, even while having to shift the details to suit their limitations and medium, and that to me is far far more important then one-to-one accurate book scenes.

I don't have anything bad to say about the show, so instead I am going to split up my more general thoughts into three broad categories: The Good (stuff I adored), The Interesting (Things I'm very very curious to see where they are headed), and the Messy (the places where some of their working within limitations has created complex problems for further down the road, or might inform certain things more directly).

The Good

Every actor so far has knocked it out of the fucking park. I have to give special shout outs to Rosamund Pike, Joshua Stradowski, Zoe Robins, Natasha O'Keeffe, and Ceara Coveney for really clearly managing to convey the nuances and complexities of their characters in ways that just blow me away. The show's writing continues to get these characters on a fundamental level and every actor is turning in a performance that conveys their heart so well.

The visual look of the show still rules, but channeling especially has taken a huge step forward in how it's depicted. I didn't mind the way it looked in season 1 the way some did, but I appreciate that they've decided to hew to something closer to what the Darkhorse Comics did, especially as we have so many characters now trying to figure out how to actually channel the One Power.

I also like that we're seeing sharp differences already in the different groups channel, just visually. The Aes Sedai use sweeping graceful gestures, the damne sharp, short gestures, with little wasted energy, all clearly rehearsed as if drilled into the military style.

In other ways the visuals of the show, especially in it's art direction, also rule. The way Cairhien has a mix of Versailles era France and Han Era China in architecture and fashion. The way the Seanchan feel alien, strange, and other, and yet how key parts of their Empire's culture come through even as their conquering and destroying.

The use of the Texan/American accents hits the PERFECT balance I was hoping for to add to that level of strangeness. It's not heavy enough to be a joke, but it's so stark in comparison to everyone crisp vaguely European accents. On that note- the sheer brutality of the village's subjugation, this tiny nowhere village probably somewhere on Almoth Plane, just one ant being smushed by the huge fingers of the Empire. Talk about effective introductions.

The Interesting

I was admittedly a little skeptical of the choice ot have Rand working a asylum but having seen the show I'm glad I reserved judgement because it fits in perfectly with hie Messiah vibe. Here is the savior of the world, and is he staying in palaces and toppling cities? No (well not yet). He's spending his time caring for the sick and the mad, doing menial back breaking work for those society rejects and wants to forget. And of course, it's more complicated then simple altruism: Rand is being driven by his own fear of going mad, his own desire to know what he's facing, and yet that compassion still shines through.

I also really like that, since Rand can't be Lan trained in the show, they decided to do something very Jordan: take a classic trope (cooky wise old master) give it a shine of realism (he's got dementia and PTSD from being a vetran soldier) and dig at the humanity underneath (Rand is letting the old man train him as much to help the man as to learn the sword).

Liandrin is a character I'm shocked by how much I am enjoying her in the show. The decision to explore her depths more, to dig into her anger, her arrogance, her desire for control and power, is fascinating, and her relationship with Nynaeve and Egwene even more so. Her scene with Nynaeve where she gets Nynaeve to channel (an adaption of Siuan scene from the books) especially kicks ass. It's got the same fundamental point as the book: Nynaeve is limiting herself, holding herself back, but the show lets it be starker, crueler, because it IS Laindrin, not Siuan.

The choice to have Perrin be solo with the Shienarans, even if was basically forced on the writers by Barney Harris's departure. They don't waste any of that time, using it to explore Perrin's growing sense of isolation, his grief at Lalia, his relationship to Loial, and his growing fear of the wolves. I've always felt that Perrin, who is very introspective and quite, was the hardest of the main heroes to adapt, and the ways their bringing his conflict out and literalsing continue to be very smart.

The Messy

Some of the merges have caught me off guard, even though I knew they where coming. Elays and Hurin makes a great deal of sense. I have a strong fondness for Hurin, but I can admit he's an easy cut. It does raise the question though of how they are going to incorporate the element of noblesse oblige, which is an important part of how the series explores it's themes of government, nobility, responsibility, and duty. Of course, even if they had kept Hurin the party splitting means he'd probably be no where near Rand right now, so this was almost certainly the right choice.

Nynaeve's Acceptatron Test. Having sat with it, I still like it a lot, and I understand the choices they've made. I wish it had been a little bit more clear that her decision to go back in the final arch was her decision, having a scene of her forcing the arch to appear with the Power, but overall I think they had a good job otherwise. The first test was always going to have to be different since they've cut Aginor and Balthamel from the show, and the important part was Nynaeve choosing to go back over her own anger and desire for revenge, which they kept. The second arch probably would have required half the run time of the episode if they wanted to do it in full, so I don't mind them condensing it down, and again the important thing is that Nynaeve choose to leave the role of Wisdom behind for good, to seek the power to truly make a difference in the lives of those she cares about. The third arch is the big one, and the point of that sequence was always Nynaeve rejecting paradise in order to go back and protect those she loves. She is offered everything she could possibly want, but it isn't enough because her friends, those in her charge, are still at risk, and nothing has changed. She has to go back to save them, because that is the essence of who she is. The show takes the plank of showing that paradise would be hollow anyways, doomed to fall apart because the world needs Nynaeve, she is called to duty, and she can not reject it. It's....actually moment very reminiscent of Rand's Portal Stone journey/his arc in TGH which makes sense since they've always been parallel characters, and the closest thing to a male and female lead the series has.

Verin being merged with Vandene. This is one that it will take far more for me to decide on. On a very practical level it makes a lot of sense, but it has long term implications for Verin's arc in the series that wont be apparent for a very very long time. How will Adeleas factor into Verin's scheme? Does she know? Is she in on the plan to bring down the Black Ajah? Is she ignorant and Verin has been carrying this off in secret while her own sister had no idea? A lot of how this merger goes hinges on how those questions swing. Also, there is Adeleas's murder to consider. It's likely to be kept, but the circumstances being different, and Verin being Verin, the vengeance she seeks will likely be a great deal more dramatic and direct then what Vandene could do.

Past that though I mostly just have gushing and nitpicks, and far more gushing then nitpicking all things considered. Overall....another banger start. I probably liked the opening to season 1 a little bit better, but I suspect season 2 is going to go to some Interesting Places that I am Ready For.