One of the things I enjoyed about the books was the sheer amount of detail they included, as well as how every time I re-read, I pick up on something new.
They can’t preserve all that detail in the series (unless maybe they went to 20-50 episodes per book), but they are doing a decent job of capturing the richness of Robert Jordan’s world.
RE: the “white swirlies”. In the books, I can’t remember if there are different colors, but the One Power has different “strands”. So you can weave earth, air, fire, spirit, water.. I think that’s it. In the book, Aes Sedai can tell what other people are weaving, and there are some “spells” that are more complicated and the weaving is described as being more intracate. Like healing is supposed to be really hard because the weaves are intricate and you have to weave multiple things together.
I think that’s something that they had to dump for the show, so it’s made the One Power feel a little more one dimensional than in the books.
While my wife was in an appointment this evening, I caught up on WoTShow easter egg videos on YouTube.
In the easter egg video for Episode 4, he paused on some of Logain’s swirlies. You can actually see the white swirlies in there beneath the blackness, supporting the notion that the black is just the taint.
Just watched episode 6.
I know that Sanderson said this episode was his favorite of the season, but this might be the episode where deviations from the books became a bit too distracting for me.
My wife wanted to watch the new one with me, but first we had to watch the fifth episode because she hadn’t seen it yet. So I only managed to see the little bit before the opening before I had to go to sleep. So tonight hopefully I’ll get to watch it!
I’m going to talk about EPS 6, so beware if you havn’t seen it.
So Moiraine and the Amerlyn Seat are outwardly conflicting but secretly super-close. as in SUPER Close. nttawwt
Obviously, that was a big shock to see M & S doing the deed. Is that the way things proceed in the books? (In ASOIAF, the character Renly is only hinted at being gay, but the GoT tv show left no doubts about it - he was gay from the beginning. I wonder if the WoT tv show is just also being more obvious about things than the books were)
So when was the first book written? I have made jokes here about similarities between WoT and GoT and Harry Potter, but the whole Exile thing for Moiraine seems exactly the same as the discommendation that Worf took on Star Trek. (Stardate 43685.2 or 3/19/1990.) It was obvious that the words Moiraine spoke in her vow were a little different than Siuan said, and the the vow will come back to haunt her if Siuan dies before she can absolve Moiraine. Which means that Siuan’s days are numbered and we will get treated to the politics of the election of a new Amerlyn Seat to sit on the Iron Thro…, I mean Amerlyn Seat.
One detail that bothered me was that it seemed Moiraine lied to Egwene over something unimportant for no real reason. When she first sees Egwene & Perrin, Egwene asks about Rand and Mat, and Moiraine know where they are but tells them that she has people out looking for them. Why wouldn’t she tell them that R&M were there in Tar Valon and safe, especially after Moiraine had severed Mat from the horcrux (I mean the evil valyrian steel dagger).
Honestly, if the real Dragon is a character that exists, with his madness, in the world, then I think that is a positive spin for the storyline from the original author and TV show writers. But so far, most things that I have watched are not that original, and a lot of the “twists” are predictable and/or derivative of other works of fantasy/sci-fi. So I fully expect that the Dragon will somehow overcome the madness. I like the show, and I will keep on watching it. It’s an hour per week of enjoyable TV. But it’s not groundbreaking in any way.
That’s kind of why I asked about when the book was originally published. The events at the end of eps 6 were clearly the same as a Star Trek TNG episode that aired in March 1990.
Book 1 was published January 15, 1990. So pre-dating that TNG episode, just barely.
Lol. Wifey was genuinely mad at me last night when I revealed I’d watched Ep5 last week without her (she was out of town). I had no idea she was that invested. We’ll watch both tonight. Not clicking on any spoilers until probably next week.
Ok, but the wikipedia plot summary of Book 1 does not seem to follow the WoT tv series, so I was thinking that scene was from a later book. Anyone know?
Similar situation for me! She had told me I could watch an episode without her. Turns out that was just because my brother was in town and wanted to talk about it. That was ep 4, so I watched 5 without her and she didn’t like that. But I told her if she wants to watch it with me then she’s got to get caught up because I’m watching the new episodes Thursday nights 
And my post reminds me of this video (some NSFW language)
In the book they are called “pillow friends” and there isn’t much doubt there, but exact details aren’t given. Also it was more of a past relationship than a current one from what I remember.
It’s been a bit but I believe that scene is not in the books. Exiles are, but not discussed in the first book that I recall. I don’t think the concept is new though, and likely predates star trek using it.
Published between Books 10 and 11, “New Spring” was a prequel book that went into how the search for the Dragon got started.
In it, Moiraine and Siuan were portrayed as having been very close friends as Novices and Accepted, although Siuan in the books is a bit of a prude.
In the books, Siuan and Moiraine have publicly gone their separate ways as full Aes Sedai, although they quietly remain close friends as part of maintaining secrecy of their quest.
So Moiraine explicitly demanding oral gratification from Suian wasn’t in the books. Good to know. But this makes it a little more awkward to continue watching with my teenage kid.
I could see several book fans watching this with their kids thinking it would be like LOTR, and realizing the degree of sexual engagement is a little different.
Not a of talk from you guys on this week’s episode.
Well, I have been trying to find discussion elsewhere and I found that this episode has a hastily re-defined ending.
Evidently, the actor (Barney Harris) that plays (played) Mat had something happen to him. There’s no info I could find about it anywhere, so I assume it was both private and big. I surmise that he had something like a nervous breakdown or an overdose or something else just as serious. Mat was supposed to enter the waygate. But the producers had to cut him out because he would no longer be there on set. So they re-edited the scene so that he was reluctant to go with his mates, thereby cutting him out of the rest of the season. And the producers wasted no time in re-casting his part for next season, so obviously they had no inclinations to deal with Harris’s issues.
This explains much.
Other question I can’t remember…didn’t they take the horses with them in the book? I vaguely remember references to the horses reacting to things but I could be totally off with that one.
Yes, in the book the horses stay with them. And they waygates don’t require channeling.
Figures the 1 character I somewhat liked and IMO the least wooden acting in the show so far is the one that gets axed.