Ha, should've known you'd be more critical than me about Elayne. 
Legolas Send a noteboard - 02/09/2023 11:40:16 AM
Legolas Send a noteboard - 02/09/2023 11:40:16 AM
View original post4:01 Please tell me this is not an insane asylum for male channelers.
Even after the end of the third episode, I'm still not sure what it actually is, but yes, that seems to be the best guess... which indeed makes no sense at all.
View original post4:42 Lan and Moiraine in their Borderland retreat, with its palm trees.
Right?
View original post20:05 Her mother trained at the White Tower, there is no way Elayne should be under any illusions she would be allowed all the trappings of her outside life. It’s amazing how much you have to break in the characterization or worldbuilding, because you could not be bothered to introduce her in the first season, so that there would be some way for Egwene to figure out who Elayne is without this rigmarole that makes her look spoiled, changes her family history or messes with the Tower’s fundamental attitude toward the outside world.
View original post20:42 You know how often this happens to Elayne ITB? Never, because she was raised to master courtesy and social situations and is extremely diplomatic.
In the books, Elayne does occasionally come across as spoiled or arrogant - not in her own PoV chapters obviously, but in those of others. Certainly the show is a bit more blatant about it, but that's inevitable. But they do also quickly show her intelligence, her diplomatic skills and her kindness and loyalty to her friends - so yeah, I'm pretty happy with her characterization so far.
There was a reference, but it may have been in the third episode, to Elayne having spent a lot of time at the Tower herself as a child, which I'm pretty sure isn't in the books but OK, so she wouldn't even have needed to rely on her mother's memories but her own. But then, as a visiting princess she would have had all those luxuries and while she'd have seen the novices around, she might not have seen how sparsely furnished their rooms were... eh, I'll buy it. By the standards of this show at least, it's plausible - and it might also account for her familiar way of interacting with Aes Sedai that you comment on later.
View original post21:45 Cadsuane Melaidhrin had a close friend with whom she formed a legendary pairing of Aes Sedai. Ok, totally tracks. In normal circumstances, I might find it funny, considering that over the course of the series, Elayne is part of a pairing that in just a couple of years utterly blows any three Aes Sedai’s accomplishments out of the water, but not with her next-door neighbor novice, or even a woman with whom she shared a novitiate in any way.
I guess not a bad way to start building up for the eventual appearance of Cadsuane, though not sure why they couldn't have taken an actual book Aes Sedai for the name of the close friend.
View original postAlso, according to Verin, Moriaine brought the boys to the Tower in the autumn. Which means that one month of travel time that had elapsed when they arrived there means that Rand & Mat fled the Fade Thom fought and Nynaeve spontaneously Healed everyone and Logain was gentled after the attempt to recapture him and Perrin and Egwene joined the Tinker caravan a month before autumn. In other words, the first few episodes took place over a whole spring and most of a summer.
It doesn't seem like anyone is paying any kind of attention to the timeline, no...
View original postAnother, even worse possibility is a Lanfear redemption arc. There seems to be a segment of the fandom who are obsessed with her, and her combination of beauty and channeling capacity and are constantly wishing she was a good guy or at least was closer to Rand than she was ITB. Given what other elements the producers seem to be pandering to, it would not surprise me in the least.
I hope not - though I wouldn't mind a somewhat less extreme, more believable version of ITB Lanfear's character. Same with other Forsaken, really - arrogant and thinking of themselves as gods, sure, but a touch more common sense wouldn't hurt.
View original post34:24 It’s just a cherry on top of the shit sundae, but going through Egwene to get to Nynaeve only reinforces their old hometown ties that the Tower is, or should be, interested in breaking up. By treating them as a unit, they encourage Egwene and Nynaeve to see their relationship as having significance.
This is a good point I hadn't considered, but definitely too subtle for this writer's room. In fairness, probably too subtle for any TV writer's room, unless it concerns things that are much higher priority for the overarching plot.
View original post39:00 This is the first time I saw that Mat’s digging tool is a spoon. Which means that Liandrin is also inept in handling a prisoner, because she can’t be bothered with something as basic as counting the utensils.
Wait till you see what she does in the next episode... it might not be 'inept' so much as 'can't be bothered'.
View original post39:51 Is it me, or do they all look embarrassed for Adeleas? I can’t give the show credit, because they are like that creepy “cool mom” or wine aunt who think their sex talk makes them cool, so they have no business characterizing Adeleas as weird and out of touch. Adeleas did not make them write Alanna last episode or have Min’s first question to Mat be about sex.
Yeah, I also got that impression.
View original post46:44 Elayne not having any friends before the Tower is generally accepted by readers, because it can be inferred, but it’s not something she ever says. She does not pity herself and only mentions the restrictions on her growing up, in the context of an activity coming up that she had never been allowed to do before, or to explain her ignorance in a particular situation.
It's a TV show - it's inevitable to have things said out loud that were only hinted at or shown indirectly in internal dialogue in the book it was based on. Unless you have an external narrator who can fill those gaps, which works in some cases but wouldn't make any sense in this kind of show.
View original post48:30 “Egwene, I know we’re just getting to know each other, so I hope you’ll forgive me when I say…” I would much prefer Nynaeve as my partner. She sounds totally badass, and you’re kind of a drip.
Amen.
View original post48:38 Are they calling Egwene out!? And using Elayne to do it! Also canonical!
Yep.
View original post50:42 Not having Nynaeve take the test naked does not make up for the scripting of every Aes Sedai whose name begins with “A”.
I noticed that too - taking the opportunity to distinguish themselves from GoT. As you point out on many occasions, they are far more open about sexuality than the books, but on the other hand less inclined to have actual nudity (which in fairness was often of a non-sexual nature in the books, but on TV, it is almost inevitably sexual). But then, that was always going to be the case with a TV adaptation nowadays, I wasn't expecting anything else.
View original postJust about everything out of her mouth is nonsense. She took pains to sneak away from the house without Lan, and without him, she would never have survived until Verin & co arrived. To say he failed her is ridiculous. But is she shielded or stilled? If the former, how can she believe some of the crap she’s spewing and if the latter, why Is Lan experiencing nothing like Steppin?
Stilled, surely - so yes, she could be blatantly lying, but I don't think the writers actually intend for her to be lying...
View original post56:32 Why are they dragging him? The funky helmets makes me think Seanchan, and who cares about geography.
The helmets looked nothing at all like the Seanchan ones in the books, but whatever... and amen re: the geography.
View original post1:01:52 Of course. Game of Thrones style plotting. “Narratively it made sense, because we wanted it to happen.” The Game of Thrones writers’ excuse for twisting a couple of storylines unrecognizably to make Tyrion and Daenerys meet as soon as they could get away with it. It makes no sense for a rebel leader to be put in any sort of place that is as easy to get someone in to see him as Rand finds it here. Even if he can’t channel, he could still be used as a symbol and rallying point. Dress him in fancy clothes and parade him in front of an army and he can still be used to gain support for a cause, without his own pesky ideas or agenda getting in the way. That Rand is here to see him is proof of how bad this is from a security perspective. This makes no sense that it is possible, but the writers want to put Rand and Logain together, so it’s going to happen.
Agreed.
View original postThis was a little less dumb, and then the Seanchan and Logain turned up. What is Lanfear even doing with Rand in this plotline? How is what we’ve seen in service to her goals, and how is she incompetent at getting her way if it’s not. We got to waste two episodes on Aes Sedai bullshit, proving they learned nothing from Steppin and Kerene last season and Nynaeve still has not taken her Accepted test. The only progress in the whole Tower storyline was the introduction of Elayne who has not been ruined as much as everyone else, and if you squint, might pass for the same character. Meanwhile, the image of the Aes Sedai is plummeting to Galactic Empire in “Obi-Wan Kenobi” levels of ineptitude. Pretty clear the Seanchan are going to be the narrative whipping boys for most of this season.
Nynaeve's Accepted test will be the main part of episode three - looking forward to your thoughts on that. Personally I thought it kind of works in the end, even if they went about it rather strangely.
But yeah, for a show that's never going to have enough time to cover even the essentials of the book plot, they do continue to waste a lot of time on nonsense. Making major changes with some characters cut and parts of their roles moved over to others is one thing - for instance, after episode three I think I understand what they're planning to do with Logain - but there's a lot that just seems dumb and not really building up to anything useful.
Season 2 Episode 2
- 02/09/2023 06:06:52 AM
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Ha, should've known you'd be more critical than me about Elayne.
- 02/09/2023 11:40:16 AM
69 Views
- 02/09/2023 11:40:16 AM
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Re: Ha, should've known you'd be more critical than me about Elayne.
- 02/09/2023 04:51:13 PM
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- 02/09/2023 04:51:13 PM
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