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I cannot wait to see how your mask drop off when you become the admin in question. Let us see how noble you are in that position. You are no different.

Dear anon,

I have good and bad news about it.

The good news is that you actually do not have to wait for me to become admin. Right now I have been doing administration for several WOT places (international and Bulgarian) for many years now (almost 10 years).

The bad news is that I cannot provide with evidence of what you desire for.

When I talk about abuse of admin power in the WOT fandom, I am not talking about hypothetical situations. I am in the position to talk about my experience of how I handle people who do not share my opinions. I try many approaches, but one thing I can guarantee you – I have not banned one single soul with the reason that I do not like that person, for the reason that I do not agree with their opinion, for the reason that they are different gender, different race, different person. Not a single one. I am not saying that I have not banned people of course – trolls that disrupts the peace on purpose are the usual suspects. But not a single soul can come up and say that they are being banned because of “political” differences with me.

Also while we are on the topic how I am no different about what I talk, I will bring other example. I have been here on Tumblr for 11 years. I have several feuds, scandals, disputes, etc. I am publicly known as an asshole who do not like to shut up. Which is easy to assume that it translates as I would be even worse on private. Unfortunately for these 11 years there is not a single person with whom I had private chat that can come up with screenshot or cite case where I humiliate, curse, harass or be aggressive in the cozy zone of DMs. 11 years.

Back on the admin matter, there is one very telling clue of my behavior – on all occasions when I have been promoted to be admin, it was by someone else’s own decision.

I have never asked, I have never talked, I have never begged anyone to make me admin.

Every single time someone else made the first step to appreciate and value my profile and to decide on their own to approach me. In one case I was not even asked – one morning I just woke up with the notification without even being contacted by the founder. Being chosen instead of begging for it – this is very important distinction when I talk about taking the admin mantle. For long time I was with the mindset that I do not want to be admin even if someone offers it to me. But I changed my mind very quickly when I faced with the disgusting examples of terrible admin abuse all over the WoT communities. I might do poor job of administration but one thing was certain for me – still I wouldn’t be that bad. I am far from being "noble" but at least I won't let my position to expose a god complex over other fellow nerds.

On another tangent on the matter when I plead that there can be places where show fans and critics can coexist, I speak from my example. Another easy assumption on my behalf would be that because I am loud bookcloak then I am admin of haters groups, of course. This is something that I can truly say that I am proud of – I am admin of communities where both sides coexist. I am not saying it is paradise and people behave like angels. Far from it. Both sides are represented in fair numbers and this can tell you something when showfans continue to stick around. In our current environment of WOT bubbles, my places are pretty much unheard of and even would be thought to be impossible.

I have to thank you, anon, for giving me this opportunity to talk about a side of me that is completely unknown here. For so many years it never occurred me that I can share my “double” life as I am mostly known here as the racist, the homophobe, the bigot, any other lazy label and as your “expectations” of me show it off.

Let the Light keep you safe. LightOne.

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I am impressed from your answer. You could so easily say fuck to the Amazon Prime and leave it there. You give so well thought answers. Why you say that people despise you? Why you say bookcloak you dont sound so rabid? This is confusing.

Hello, anon. Thank you for your kind words.

It feels like a little miracle that someone can read my posts with such appreciation.

The bookcloak stuff is confusing situation for me too. Of course they are people who talk nonsense and of course their hate is unhealthier but that is the usual minority. The confusing part is that a big part of the fandom decided that everyone who makes strong case against the adaptation, automatically becomes bookcloak. Nobody cares if their reasons are much clearer than the “rabid” attacks. Nope, put them in the same bin of mockery and censorship. No one deserves respect for their critique. I have spoken against it since day one but to no avail. This way of handling the opposition destroyed the fandom and alienate thousands of people who were ready for communication but were kicked out for daring to have own voice. Complete lack of acknowledging that people are allowed to not want the same thing and they are not monsters for speaking their expectations what an adaptation should look like. Again the same kind of adaptations that we have seen in the last 30 years, not the malicious manipulation that somehow someone expects “1 to 1 adaptation”.

Second, I got used to all the false labels thrown at me through these 11 years. What is one more label? If you see the complete list of these labels you won't recognize the same person who writes “well thought answers”. I am a monster obviously.

By using bookcloak in specific I just try to achieve a little bit of destigmatization if possible. I am not afraid to be bookcloak because I know who I am and no blind label can change me.

Let the Light keep you safe. LightOne

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Alright! Done with Fires of Heaven after 84 years. I have to say, Nynaeve carried this book! It’s not even a competition. People online said the circus arc is awful but I enjoyed every bit of it — to the point of it being my favorite arc in the whole book. I wish eternal success upon Valan Luca’s Grand Traveling Show and Magnificent Display of Marvelous Wonders 🎪🤸

The narrative was a little tighter in this book than TSR if I’m being honest. No one arc felt wasted. And all the mains had pretty decent character development! I didn’t even realize Perrin wasn’t in this book until chapter 45!! That’s how great the plot was! But I still missed him when I remembered my wolf king of new Manetheren. I hope he’s in LoC. But every single plot line in this book — every single one! — was amazing.

Book Ranking So Far:

The Fires of Heaven – Impeccably structured, character-driven, and tragic in all the right ways. Multiple arcs, all strong! Good 4.5–4.75 book!

The Shadow Rising / The Dragon Reborn – TDR is tighter and better woven, but TSR has higher emotional peaks. It’s a toss-up depending on my mood. But each is a solid 4.3–4.5!

The Great Hunt – The Horn of Valere storyline and the damane arc are just too iconic. Rand and Egwene really carried that book. Also, that Falme climax?? I thought it was just perfection! It’s honestly not far off from TDR/TSR if I’m being completely honest.

The Eye of the World – This is such a great series starter. It has all the whimsy and wonder one looks for in epic fantasy. I’d honestly say that on a good day, this is pretty even with TGH. But it’s ultimately weaker in character arcs than the others, so it ranks last.

Favorite Characters (Top 5):

Nynaeve al’Mother: The embodiment of what it means to be Aes Sedai, “servant of all”. This book cemented her as my favorite in the series. What makes her shine in FoH is that RJ lets her fail, doubt herself, and wrestle with guilt…yet she still claws her way to triumph. She takes down a Forsaken, faces another, and saves the world while insecure and broken. Literal goddess behavior!

Moiraine: Oh, mother Moiraine! How I weep for you! How I mourn you 😭 She spends the whole book slowly letting go of trying to control Rand and coming to terms with her own impending doom. Yet she does what she must. She walks the razor’s edge between savior and manipulator, always for the greater good, but not always for the greater kindness. She’s one of the best written characters in this series, so perfectly morally grey, and I will not argue about it!

Siuan: When RJ wants to write a strong woman, he writes a damn strong woman! Her scenes post-deposition are some of his most mature character work. A proud, brilliant woman suddenly cast down and stripped of power…but not purpose! She will get her lick back, no matter what it takes. The Salidar Aes Sedai are all dumb as bricks, and they’d be nothing without her!

Mat: He’s a walking contradiction: “I don’t wanna be a hero”… then proceeds to be one anyway. It’s just like that flop Couladin to fall to the ONE guy who wants nothing of glory or battle. Mat, in many ways, outshone Rand in this book. His character arc was super rewarding, especially with him building his little army.

Rand: My depressed king is doing the best he can in an increasingly horrible situation. His growth as a military leader and king was super rewarding, but he did get overshadowed by the women. Anyhow, he got Moghedien to call him “a remarkable man”. He is, and always will be, HIM!

There were some other surprises. Egwene fell — rather hurtled — down my rankings after what she did to Nynaeve in chapter 15. But Galad is now one of my favorite minor characters! Who’d have thought?!?

Honorable mentions: Sulin, Asmodean, Logain, Min

Anyway, I’m taking a few days to emotionally recover before I start Lord of Chaos 😮‍💨 I’m a little scared since I know what happens to Rand… Let’s hope I can stomach it…..

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In a few months it will be twenty-one years since we began the search for the Dragon Reborn.

Isn't Rand only 19 in The Fires of Heaven?

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Credit to @blacktowernews on Twitter for corralling WOT fans for  #readitlikemoiraine

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T-shirt by wotmerch

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New Russian editions.

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by merzost.artbypersephone0000

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when she gently pointed out things that Nynaeve did not know, the woman was quite capable of accusing her of having an arrogant manner, or of lecturing

While Nynaeve is indeed a prickly person, one has to wonder how condescending Elayne was being.

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Hey there!

Quick question, to put you in context I'm a huge fan of the wheel of time and didn't quite like the changes at the beginning of the TV Show, Perrin killing his wife for some reason when he's supposed to be this gentle giant in conflict with his new identity (that charges so much violence within)... Also the overpowered characters (I delight in the limitations and weaknesses), the overall "we don't know who the dragon reborn is" and the grim approach.

However I liked the show when they arrived at Shadar Logoth and as I like the casts I thought the show was still salvageable, nonetheless I ended season 1 a little disappointed and with the cast change of Mat I didn't continue watching... Not so much of a quick question, it seems, but is it worth following?

Hello, anon!

Thank you for the question.

Unfortunately you are asking a bookcloak.

Also on top of that I have different approach for watching the TV show.

I have always been asked as I "hate" it so much then why I follow it? Why I don't stop watching it?

You have to decide for yourself, anon, what you want.

Because for me I have no doubt that I will continue following the TV series, not because I love to hate it, not because it is good or bad but because it bears the (stolen) name of the Wheel of Time. I am devoted fan enough that I will watch everything that it is labeled WOT - the same way as I watched the other attemtps for adaptation in the past - Winter Dragon and Flight from Shadow.

As a bookcloak I can easily answer "No" but as a Wheel of Time fan ask yourself - can you bear the trouble to follow the TV show further. What is more worth for you - keeping your sanity or consuming every content that means WOT for you despite the heavy mental cost.

Sorry that I was not very helpful with definitive answer.

Let the Light keep you safe.

LightOne

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For people who constantly read the subtext in WOT, they miss the subtext of "genders are equal" and always complain about how Robert Jordan describes men and women as "different". Or missing the subtext of "working together united even with your enemy" because there is always a worse enemy - nope, people decided to divide the fandom and to never hear each other. People even think that Seanchan is worse than the Shadow for example. Or how about the subtext "murder is not the answer" and not killing Renna as essential confession of real Vietnam veteran. But people do not like to talk about THAT subtext to be shown in the TV series.

It is always about the sex.

I have seen too many people to express it as “a matter of fact”. I have always read it that way! Why people do not read it like me? Why they do not see the subtext?!? They are stupid! Let them cry!

And once again (as it is usual) no one called for common sense. No one is obliged to read the books the same way like you. Because if people are obliged to, then it means that YOU ARE OBLIGED TOO! What a shocker!!! What happens when I start demanding that same obligation of you for my reading of the subtexts shown above that you explicitly miss out and show no reading comprehension when I read these examples of subtext clearly. What then?

Oh, only your subtext matters? Only the subtext of sex and queerness is allowed to be obligation for all of us?

No one is obliged and no one should be judged when they say “No, I do not read it that way”. This freedom of choice does not make them homophobes. It is called SUBtext after all.

How many times you missed a subtext which was clear for others? Do we have to shame you with labels about it? Again only the homophobes are allowed to be shamed for the same lack as yours???

Classical example of one more scenario where people completely forget that there is other side of the coin. What happens when you are the one on the other side? You are delusional enough to think you will always be on one side of that coin only? Yeah, this is not how it works.

People are allowed to say “No”. And this is OK. Because tomorrow you won’t be allowed to say “No”.

And we do not even touch the question of how Judkins barely have 24 episodes for THE TEXT to be shown properly on screen but we are praising him for wasting precious time on the subtext? Really? While constantly pointing out how it is impossible for the text to be adapted we have no problem for the same text to be pushed aside for personal gain. Sure.

Let the Light keep you safe.

LightOne

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My feelings about queernormative worlds in SFF is that I can often enjoy it, but I rarely believe it.

Almost everything surrounding gender, sex, and sexuality, and all the different social norms and expectations that different cultures build up around them, derive ultimately from the various realities of sexual activity and pregnancy: who can have it, who can’t, for how long, who does have it, who doesn’t, and what that means for society. I’m not being bioessentialist here, because human bodies are all quite different and different cultures develop different ways to react to that, and rates of and reactions to fertility can be different, and what different sexual and gender roles mean in different cultures and who can and can’t embody them can get extremely different. (Hell, how pregnancy itself even works can be different depending on where you live, what your lifestyle is like, and what your diet consists of!) But like, the reason gender even matters, historically, has been because of reproduction. And the reason reproduction matters, in agricultural societies anyway, has very often been because of property ownership and the need to work on farms.

So I’m totally here for queernormative worlds. But to interest me you have to answer the questions of: okay, but how does your culture work though, and how is kinship structured, and how is reproduction seen, and how is property inheritance understood, and how does gender fit into all this, for me to feel like you’ve actually tried. (And don’t say that there ARE no norms, so no one falls outside of them. There’s no culture where that’s true.)

Sci-fi worlds can get away with this easier than fantasy worlds, imo. Partially because they can posit that it is our future but we’ve gone through all of the Social Justice Struggles already and solved them, but also because technology can really alter all of these topics. The Vorkosigan Saga, for instance, makes it clear that Beta Colony is as gender-egalitarian and free-love as it is because of contraception and uterine replicators, which FULLY decouple “the ability to have children” from “the need for anyone to be pregnant.” This is huge, and the Vorkosigan Saga treats it as appropriately so! Ancillary Justice is another one that thinks a lot about how the genderless culture that decenters romance as a core social organizing principle works. But I read so many low-ish-tech fantasy worlds that are happily queernormative and gender doesn’t matter and they just feel shallow. I don’t believe this world. I don’t dislike it, exactly, I just don’t believe it, I don’t believe people would be like this because you’ve put no effort into imagining a world that works like this makes any sense.

Which is totally fine for people’s D&D games and cute oneshot comics and personal works and such, but when you want me to take your worldbuilding seriously, you’re going to have to convince me! And a lot of it is not convincing.

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Artwork is by Seamus Gallagher. Spot the difference created by Weaves of the Wheel