cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11138902

> !Viccini and Shen an Calhar

Wow I enjoyed that. I feel like they more than made up for season 1. I really enjoyed most of season 2 and the last few episodes really got me excited for what's to come.

Fwiw, I read the books (1-8 I think) like 20+ years ago so have memory of little bits and pieces of the story and vague name recognition. Season 2 knocked it out of the park!

Introduction

So generally I've been pretty negative of the first two books (book 1 , book2), both as a fan of the show but also against the reputation the series has as a whole and the general interest in the world the show and the series's reputation has garnered.

I'm aware that book 4 is widely regarded as when the series actually starts or hits its stride, and aimed in my reading to at least read up to book 4. But I found books 1 and 2 to be strangely disappointing and so was curious to see how I felt about book 3. It seems, in hindsight, that books 1 and 2 are basically parts 1 and 2 of the same opening book of the series. I wouldn't be surprised if story-wise they started off as a single book in Jordan's mind, for instance. So I was curious to see how things go once Jordan was free from the opening work.

The short story is I very much liked book 3, in general and more than books 1 and 2, for about the first half. The second half and the ending though were a pretty bad let down however and, at the moment, seal my opinion that the first 3 opening books are kinda problematically "not good" for a series this long in well loved.

Positives

What worked for me was that Jordan did seem free to write within the world rather than to paint it for the reader, and that worked well for me. The women and Mat in Tar Valon and the rest in the mountains or chasing Rand ... these felt like focused and organic story and character threads where any mysteries felt looming (how good was Lanfear in tar valon!) and actions and risks felt like they had real and palpable stakes. Compared to book 2, Perin and Mat gain focus and it works well. Perin, as I'm guessing is not unique of me, is a favourite. Mat's whole luck thing, is something I'm not sure about, but it's a fun and interesting character that has been underdone so far, so getting more focus on him was good.

Egwene, Nyneave and Elayne

The three women, while I enjoyed very much the Tar Valon setting and their role in it, weren't terribly well written from a character perspective I'd say. I'm aware there's a whole "obnoxious women" opinion out there, and while I can see how some might feel that way, that wasn't my issue. I think they were simultaneously given a pile of agency that didn't quite make sense within the book, as bait going of to Tear at great risk, it seemed strangely risky all of a sudden. But then simultaneously, their characters were somewhat childish and superficial in the tension between them without any real attempts at digging into it giving the characters to a chance to work through their issues or suffer consequences. I get that the characters have growth to do and are flawed and all, but the combination of choices with the group felt somewhat crude and contrived for the broader plot. Also, that they twice were rescued without needing to be rescued was odd and I'm not sure what purpose it serves. And while being shitty to Mat is just part of the gender and character dynamics ... again, it felt superficial ... like in a situation like that I think even the most stuck up people would be relieved to see a friendly or familiar face out of nowhere trying to help them. And then, in the end, they almost played no role in the overall plot ... ?

Negatives

On which, we get to the latter half, where book 3 sadly shared a formula with books 1 and 2 to the point where much of the plot machinations just felt contrived to lead to the ending Jordan had decided on. It was somewhat strange that the women were going to Tear to trigger the trap with the Amyrlin's blessing. Maybe it's illustrative of the dangers of the Aes Sedai, but I knew Jordan wanted the characters to be split apart to then all converge onto a single location housing a special magical item where Ba'alzamon would appear out of nowhere and confront Rand in some inexplicable magic battle that Rand would "instinctively" be able to win to prove that he is the Dragon Reborn. So, the women, Rand, and then Mat (learning things by luck I guess), and of course Moraine, Perin and co chasing Rand, all deciding to head for Tear just felt cheap and manipulative by this point. While I'm guessing that in universe the Forsaken/Ba'alzamon were manipulating things toward this, the plot formula is pretty obvious by this point and just wasn't compelling reading once all the threads were in place. Generally, I suspect that Jordan, for me, is at his weakest when he feels like he needs to move people around. The obviousness of the plot mechanics being one aspect, but I suspect there's something how Jordan thinks his unveiling his rich world for the reader when for me it feels more like noise ... characters and places without much substance or "thematic momentum".

The Ending

As for the ending ... at this point I don't think I can be negative enough about it. I'm honestly a little shocked and kinda questioning if I even like fantasy. Like, how is it OK for a celebrated series to have basically the same ending in the first three (not short!) books all so that Rand can finally recognise he is the Dragon?! That Rand was hardly in the book is probably a big factor as to why enjoyed this one more ... I'm not sure Jordan knows what to do with is "chosen one" trope and generally the character is obviously a bit thin. A series just about the three women, Perin and Mat, without the chosen one and "dark one" tropes would probably be much more interesting. By this point, I think Jordan really needed to have created a character in Rand that was more fleshed out and interesting. Chosen ones are often dull plot mechanisms, but spending so much time, and ending drama, on Rand learning to accept that he is the Dragon without us the reader having any hooks into his character and its growth and how it feels from his perspective in the same way we do for Perin and Egwene and Mat, seems like a failure of the series thus far.

Like, if the series didn't have the reputation and the world weren't interesting, I'd be totally done with the series. I'm somewhat curious to see how I feel about books 4 (and maybe 5 and 6) because despite liking book 3 more it's cast way more doubt on whether I can enjoy the rest of the series ... Sorry, I just cannot get over how all three books were "Look, it's Ba'alzamon out of nowhere, quick Rand, do all the things you know how to do only when it's a climactic ending that transcends reality and the celebrated hard magic system ... we've brought everyone to this newly introduced city just to see it!!" It strikes me as odd that fans openly admit to book 1's ending being off but I've yet to see mention of the repetition of the basic pattern in the first three. I'm really not sure you easily separate them.

Favourite parts and curiosities

• Lanfear in Tar Valon was awesome and gave me chills in moments. Realising that she was doing entirely as she pleased and manipulating things in the Aes Sedai stronghold was scary as hell! Like who is this person, how powerful is she and what is she actually up to! Of course the dream Perin has where he sees her loyalty to the dark being questioned only cements the mysterious wonder. I love that the show has leaned into this character so much and can see why.
• Dream world (tel'aran'rhiod) is definitely interesting, and the revelation that the wolves are basically natives to it was very "cool" for lack of a better word. I'm curious to see if it's just another dimension in which things happen or if there's more to it though ... because already by this book it feels like it maybe doesn't serve an immediate purpose other than to have more magic to the world and was maybe a tad overused already? ... definitely curious to see what Jordan does with it.
• So, obviously, what's up with Mat and his luck? My guesses are Shadar Logoth and the dagger have left a mark (the book explicitly hints at this IIRC). Whether this leads to luck doesn't really make sense, but broadly it would make sense that Mat's path/purpose is to somehow be the representative of the older Menethren Shadar Logoth fighting spirit against the dark which entails some curious powers given the shadow that is Shadar. Otherwise, the wheel's willing things for him in the moment and can do it better during chance events? Even during fighting? It's really unclear and in a way that is both tantalising but also annoying.
  • A big and related question here is also what is the deal with Lanfear and Mat. She's obviously toying with him, but then, in disguise as Else, seemed almost spooked by him, which implies that as a manifestation of Shadar he's rather threatening to darkfriends etc.
• So Ishamael/Ba'alzamon. As a show fan, this details was obviously spoiled. But also, I'm not sure how I feel about it in the book. It seemed to be an underwhelming twist and I'm not clear on what effect it was supposed to have. Is Ishamael actually dead? I would guess not really but then the book has been happily killing off forsaken and I'm probably more attached to Ishy than I should be because of the show. But then again Ishamael is in the opening prologue of EotW and has spoken of himself as recurring in the wheel like the Dragon.

The Opening Trilogy

I'm really hoping that Jordan just spent a long time in the opening trilogy building up to the setting of their being a Dragon Reborn and the story he wanted to tell from that point onward and painting his world. If true, the world has been wonderfully detailed and set up, but with stories that are problematic introductions to a series (IMO, so far).

The Show

I'm not sure how much of book 3 season 2 has tried to incorporate, but generally I've very much appreciated the portrayal of the villains. Ishamael, Lanfear and Liandrin are, IMO, so much better in the show and are informing my mental image of the books.

I think I also appreciate what they've done with Rand compared to the books. I think show Rand works much better and I appreciate the work the show has put into making that adaptation work. The toned down and more emotionally focused ending of season 1 helps a lot (as I've said before, book fans are not good show critics in their difficulty letting go and accepting an adaptation as an adaptation ... season 1 in hindsight was rather good I think). And the more direct character beats with Lanfear in season 2 have helped a lot too.

A follow up from my previous post on book 1

I do have to apologise ... this rant turns out to be pretty negative

---

So finished book 2 last night, just writing some off the cuff thoughts.

Thoughts on the show

First, I think I'm settled now in being a show fan first, which I'm sure is odd or strange for many book fans. But, for the first two books, I prefer the show and think it's doing a good job at adapting the books. Reading the books after seeing the show has made me miss things the show did and understand the challenge the show has had not just with compressing things into a tight TV schedule but managing the difficulties of adapting these books which include, IMO, pretty glaring flaws or at least awkward elements. Unfortunately, I've now got a pretty clear prejudice against book fans that heavily criticised or hated the show ... with all of the understanding/sympathy in the world, I think they just weren't ready to watch an adaptation and weren't being reasonable about how good or bad the first two books are.

Rest of season 2

Otherwise, for the rest of season 2, I'm in a curious position. I know how the second book ends, and so can see some of where the show is headed, but it's also going in some other directions almost certainly influenced by later books. I'm guessing it's bringing in a lot of book 3, and from what I can tell about where book 3 sits in the series (IE, it was supposed to be shorter and kind of wraps up this opening act of the series) I'm guessing it's going to try to wrap adapting all of book 2 and 3 ... so in a way I don't really know what's going to happen, which is cool, except I'm betting Egwene gets rescued and maybe something about Fain gets revealed? Will we get a battle in the sky though, will Lanfear kinda help Rand??

Thoughts on the book itself

So, for me, I lump book 2 along with book 1. Overall, it's a somewhat clumsy and seemingly rushed intro into the world and the series, probably written under a cloud of doubt and with an urge to publish quickly. I rank book 2 lower than book 1, largely because I don't think it achieves much and feels a lot like set up and info dump without a clear purpose or coherent story in its own right. For me, the sudden appearance of Moraine at the end, after Lanfear's sudden appearance and revelation, both with some info dump, along with Rand just jumping around the map without any real clear reason as to why it was happening, was all rather telling.

Reading it, I got the impression that the book was the clumsy/bad adaptation of the show (honestly serious). Like, Rand magically falling into the portal world and having a slightly B-tier fantasy sequence with Selene, who was obviously dodgy and likely lanfear, seemed like a cheap vehicle to get Rand to Cairhien. The portals then seemed like a cheap mechanism to get Rand to Falme while also being able to have the revelation of Machin Shin kinda following him. The whole multiple worlds and multiverse of timelines seems like it was supposed to be telling us something, at least thematically, maybe leading up to Rand's certainty that he's never sided with the dark one in a past life. But it never hit for me ... all I can hope for is that it comes up again in the series. The deal with Fain being mysteriously evil and yet not concluding it in anyway through plot in the book to then be clarified by a Moraine info dump, again felt like Jordan just needed this to be clear for later stories and didn't quite know how to do it.

Despite the kinda cringey super saiyan deus ex machina ending of book 1 ... we get ... another super saiyan ending in book 2? Fighting in the sky with magic swords or something again? Despite having blown the horn, the outcome of the battle still somehow depended on Rand winning the match? Also, somehow, out of no where, Rand is a master swordsman against Turak (and Ba'alzamon)? In the first book, I guess we can infer that the ending was intended by Ba'alzamon ... but I don't know what I'm supposed to glean from his fight in book 2 ... is Rand just powerful now without much explanation cuz "Dragon" ... cuz that's how it feels.

Personally, these are not satisfying endings, and the ending of season 1 compares rather favourably to both of the first two book endings. For a series that is celebrated for its magic system, and by implication not having a bad soft magic system, the first two books literally end with Rand being able to do things mostly involving flying in the sky like Goku that make no sense and have no set up other than "it's his fate to fight in the final battle". I say that as someone who's rather fond of soft magic systems ... but this literal deus ex machina stuff is the cardinal sin of soft magic and is not working for me it all. Like when the horn was blown, and hereos came out of nowhere swearing allegiance to Rand, even though that's what the horn is supposed to do ... and then Ba'alzamon appears out of nowhere and Rand starts fighting ... I was honestly thinking ... "really?!"

Sense of the series over all

I'm hoping my general contextual critique is accurate, and that these first 3 books are really an introduction that aren't representative of the series because they weren't written with the knowledge that the series was going to happen.

I always set out to read at least up to book 4 (and hopefully book 6), as many say that's when the series actually starts (I'm guessing it's the beginning of the second act of the series) ... and I will still do so ... as the first two books have definitely set up a very interesting world that I'm a fan of already.

Looking ahead though, I'm starting to wonder about the series as a whole. The slog is well known (however controversial), and I'm already starting to write off books 1-3. So, it's a 14 book series, where 1-3 are clumsy/flawed set up (my critique ATM) and 7-10 are "slog", leaving 4-6 and 11-14 ... so it's a more or less conventional double trilogy book series?? I know I'm being harsh here (and uninformed!!), and maybe I'm just bitter from book 2, but I'm starting to wonder how much the whole "the series doesn't start until book 4, oh and there's a slog 3 books later" is way too casually brushed off ... like I think I would have preferred a greater warning about what books 1 and 2 are and feel somewhat mislead. Maybe I just don't like Jordan's style ... I'm definitely curious to find out, but I feel like the first two books have structural issues that deserve (from the little I've seen) more commentary.

Back to the show

Thing is, as I said, I'm a show fan first, and it's actually the show that has set up the world for me with the books kind of being an awkward supplemental of additional detail.

For instance, Egwene in Falme is awesome in the show, and it felt like Jordan didn't quite appreciate the depth of the character moment he had created, with her being tortured etc kinda being brushed over as mostly info dump ... except of course when Egwene is free and loses her shit, which was a very nice way of clearly showing the effect of her experience, but also felt somewhat contrived because we had to infer how bad it must have been for her. In the show, if they free her, I am going to feel her liberated rage when she realises what vengeance she can do.

Generally, the character development of the girls is wonderful in the show and Jordan's treatment shows its sexism age. THe amount of talk of who gets to marry Rand, as well as hair combing ... was pretty cringe. Also, the seanchan do not come off as brutal in this book as I think book fans remember, it's often very after the fact when I feel like at least one clear depiction would have been rather impactful.

Fleshing out Liandrin and Moraine and Lanfear in season 2 has been awesome as well ... really smart choices it seems. Even leaving out Perrin's wolfbrother stuff with Elyas until season 2 seems smart in hindsight as he is pretty much not a focus of book 2.

General story thoughts and questions

Ok, so what was ba'alzamon's plan? Without getting into more critique of the books, because I could be really off base here ... but either the book is being intentionally mysterious, or I totally missed something, but I did not feel like ba'alzamon was a threat in this? Is the idea that many things surprised him ... Fain's extra double shadow nature ... Lanfear's interference ... Mat blowing the horn? When Ingtar revealed he was the darkfriend I had already forgotten about the prologue and that he was the obvious candidate ... largely I think because it really wasn't clear that any plan was pushing things around too much.

Putting the show together with the books ... I'm guessing it's a relatively big reveal later on in the books that the dark one is actually just Ishamael (which has been fairly clearly hinted at in the books). The show seems to have no cared for that mystery too much (which I've liked) ... I'm curious to see where it goes and for what purpose in the books.

I'm pretty sure it's me ... but I am not feeling the whitecloaks at all as an element of the world. Their involvement in book 2 was confusing to me ... did I miss something? But also, I guess I just don't like Fanatical Christian tropey stuff.

From book 1, I was always curious if Shadar Logoth and the Ways would become things ... and I'm pleased to see that they are. Fain being a Shadar creature, that is so against the dark that it is its own kind of dark is super cool to me. And Machin Shin and Siadin are some sort of thing ... right?! That the seanchan are an alternative forked culture was also super cool ... I just wish it was more fleshed out in some way ... and I'm guessing they come back and are a permanent part of the world.

Generally, as any WoT fan probably things, the diversity of cultures and angles especially on what "the dark" even is wonderful! Going on from that, I feel like the book is trying to hint at me that the relationship between the Dragon and the Dark is not so clear cut. For instance, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a revelation that Ishamael and the Dragon have had their roles reversed in previous ages. This is probably what's keeping me in the series the most ... what is Jordan going to do with his "evil" and "hero" dynamic here.

I haven't seen all the shows. And I'm not a purist, the show script doesn't have to follow the books as scripts are creations of the show writers. I just enjoy seeing it come to life on screen. I enjoyed season 1 with all the faults and all. have mixed feelings about season 2 so far. I just want to hear what others' thoughts are on it.

Just finished the first book ... thought I'd post some quick thoughts and hopefully get some fun discussion

The TV adaptation

Generally, my feeling of reading the book after seeing season 1 of the show is that, though it's been a while since I saw season 1, it felt like a much better adaptation than I would have guessed given its negative reception. Yes there were changes, especially at the end, but generally it was a pretty faithful adaptation of the story whereas I got the impression that it was doing huge injustices to the main story. As for the ending in the book, well, I'm not sure that could have worked on TV, and honestly, I did not enjoy the ending of the book and probably prefer that of the TV show. Season 1 had clumsiness and seemed to stumble in its writing and direction and fail to capture the tension of the story ... but in the end, to me, much of that seems to have been first-season-jitters and the shortness of the season.

The only problems I have with the adaptation, at a distance, are the delaying of the Perrin Wolfbrother progress into Season 2 (which I'm guessing was a common problem), and, to some extent, Morraine losing her powers. For me, Perrin and the wolfbrother stuff were some of the most enjoyable of the book, so I'm not entirely sure why that was pushed back out of season 1, though I'm sure time constraints were a big factor. As for Morraine losing her power, AFAICT that's a mechanism to get her into season 2 more (keeping in mind I haven't read book 2), which I'm personally behind. Somewhat tangentially, Rosamund Pike was probably the actor that shone through into their character in the book the most ... as in I heard her voice when she spoke in the book.

I seem to recall debate about the appearance of the weaves and that they are visible at all ... generally I like being able to see the weaves in the show and more or less "saw" it that way as I was reading the book.

The Book

So ... my immediate impression is that I'm not sure I actually even liked the book.

I'm eager to read on though. The series and world has more or less been sold to me by its reputation, the show (including season 1 to be fair) and that the first book is widely regarded as not the best of the series. But, after finishing the book, I'd say it's now more likely than not that I won't end up finishing the series because I can imagine it becoming unsatisfying at some point (however reflective the first book is of the rest of the series).

I mentioned that the ending would not have been appropriate for a direct adaptation to TV, and part of my reasoning/bias there is that I didn't enjoy it. It was clearly rushed, kinda cartoonish and a few too many deus ex machina's for my liking. A telling aspect of it for me was that I didn't have a clear image at all in my mind as I was reading and was instead just absorbing plot points. By contrast, at least with the show, I got clear image of what happened.

"The Green Man" was never not funny sounding from the first time it came up and I was honestly confused thinking it might be some weird typo or something when it first appeared. That it was more or less a cross between an Ent and Tom Bombadil didn't help. The appearance of the two foresaken out of nowhere like Scooby-Doo villains felt rather off as well. And I'm not sure how I feel about Rand's going Super Saiyan to fix everything. Giving that to Egwene and Nyneave seems like a sensible idea, especially as a way of alleviating some of the itchy gendered vibe in the book, and, at least, as a way of giving them something to do in the ending. From the ending of season 1 I have the feeling that it's an intentionally Pyrrhic victory, and I liked Morraine's suggestion that the artifacts revealed by the eye may have been there for protection not to be collected ... but overall it felt like a quickly thought up ending designed to climactic and get us along to the next book.

Besides the ending, the obvious LotR borrowings were always a turn off for me, but I can forgive them. There definitely felt like some bloat, especially Rand and Mat's journey to Caemlyn and maybe the whole road from the Two Rivers to Caemlyn. The dialogue and characters surprisingly felt more childish or YA than I expected. I forget how old the 5 two rivers characters are supposed to be, but I was surprised that the dialogue felt the way it did compared to the show.

Surprisingly, apart from Perrin as a wolfbrother, the other character that I came to like was Mat. Season 2 Mat seems closer than Season 1 Mat (I know they're different actors) to the impression I got of him in book 1. I've heard he becomes a well-liked character ... and just from book 1 I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that Mat was the main character of the series and Rand kind of falls into the background as the literally larger than life "Dragon" always off doing Dragon things.

Generally, though, Jordan seems very good at managing character perspective and I did enjoy his ability to put me in the action from a certain person's perspective ... it reads quite well and compellingly ... is this something the series is known for in fantasy?. Otherwise, romance doesn't seem to be his forte thus far. I understand he has a military background, and that soldiers can to be scarred with a certain utilitarian take on romance/intimacy. I kept thinking that Jordan was injecting that kind of experience into the WoT, which is perhaps fitting for the turmoil the characters were going through ... but still it came off as awkward.

One final note of praise ... Ogiers are definitely a cool fantasy race. I'm not a fantasy buff, so I don't know how original they are/were ... but I'm so down.

Overall, I'm definitely going to keep reading, but my impression is that I'm hoping the series' writing stabilises. On a broad birds-eye level, the book has done well at setting up this whole world and only showing us parts of it and setting up the very clear idea that the battle has only just begun, even to the point of being a tad too explicit with Loial's declarations of their being ta'veren and having destinies around which the world bends ... wondering if there'll be any subverted tropes there.

Newbies Questions (non-spoilery please) or Fellow first time readers' speculation time

• Seriously ... what was up with "The Green Man" ... is it something that just gets forgotten or did Jordan admit that it was awkward?
• I seem to recall that one of the foresaken at the end admitted to Ishamael already being free and walking around yet it didn't seem to be acknowledged by anyone. Given that the show has gone with Ishamael being the main/only agent, I'm guessing that this comes to the fore in book 2.
• I guess that this could only be answered with spoilers that I don't want to hear ... but I keep wondering about Shadar Logoth (perhaps being a sucker for dark mysterious things that aren't obviously "The Dark One") ... anyone have any non-spoilery thoughts or speculations on what is actually going on there or what meaning it has or whether it will play a role further in the series?
  • Even if you now know ... what did you think about it when you first read the first book? Obviously there's Mat and his Dagger, which has left something of a Petrov's Gun in the way that it somehow got the foresaken into the Green Man's place (though I guess that could be easily explained by what Morraine says about the way that darkfriends and fades could sense the dagger from afar)

I'm currently up to the part where they've split up after Shadar Logoth and Perrin+Egwene have just met Alyas.

Only now though did I remember that foreshadowing is a thing in this series and that I may already be able to pick on the meaning of some if knowing plot points from the show, but also maybe I could be keeping a look out generally.

Without any spoilers for the rest of the story ... anyone have any guidance on whether I should keep a look out for foreshadowing and if so what sort of things I might want to look out for, especially anything that's likely to link up with seasons 1 and 2 of the show (as I'm unlikely to catch up to the show before the end of season 2)?

Seems we’ve got two communities [email protected] and [email protected].

Got nothing against multiple communities and diversity etc, but in this case I’m thinking it might be unnecessary? Was there an argument amongst mods?

If true, I don’t know what to do exactly, but figure some discussions around what people would prefer might help.

For me, I’d collapse down to one community, merge the moderators, and create some basic spoiler guidelines to separate non-book readers from book discussion and spoilers for the show etc.

The first 3 Episodes of the show were released earlier this evening. This thread is for discussion of all 3. Book and show spoilers may be posted unmarked in this thread.

No spoilers for episodes past episode 3 may be posted here.

Lots to talk about in here!

The Dusty Wheel LIVE from WoTCon tonight at 11pm Eastern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo0GRYgGPqA

Rather late stream by normal schedule but they will likely be discussing the #WoTCon convention and the latest #WheelOfTime news.

\#TheWheelOfTime #WoT @wheeloftime

Unraveling the Pattern just dropped a huge season 2 story breakdown & predictions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLCHXXnAUU0

Lauren has gone through every #WheelOfTime season 2 teaser and photo (over 95 shots) and tried to create a storyboard for the whole season.

\#TheWheelOfTime #AmazonPrime @wheeloftime

The Dusty Wheel is doing Lanfear week, starting live today at 4:00 PM Eastern

Join them for deep dive into #TheWheelOfTime Mierin Eronaile, or as she became known the Daughter of the Night, #Lanfear. The most powerful female channeler of her age, infamous researcher at the Collam Daan.

Expect full series spoilers at some point in the live stream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkgplFCt4p0

@wheeloftime #WheelOfTime #WoT

So excited about these discussions!

The first show of the week airs today, and it's a character deep dive. My kind of jam

Wheel of Time meets Ted Lasso - fancasting live stream

The 3 Fold Talks crew will be going live at 9:00PM Eastern, doing some #WheelOfTime x #TedLasso fancasting. Come have some fun and chat with other Wheel of Time fans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9meQHV1FUZg

\#WoT @wheeloftime

Did you know that there is a Wheel of Time fan-made board game?

It's called Third Age and there is a league of fans that play it. If you want to see what it's about, Kritter XD has a league game tonight that she'll be streaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OwjBzMNj0w

The game is available through Tabletop Simulator.

@wheeloftime #WheelOfTime #WoT #TableTopGames

cross-posted from: https://darkfriend.social/users/hybridhavoc/statuses/110607454403859138

> Monday at 8:30PM Eastern, join the Wheel and Chill live show to discuss new cast members > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGIocX5ABJE > > LANFEAR!? New Wheel of Time Cast News & Speculation with special guest Rebecca from Reading the Pattern! > > @wotshow #WheelOfTime

We Don't Talk Like That Uno

Because I just saw the original song referenced in a toot, I thought I would share again the #WheelOfTime parody song, We Don't Talk Like That Uno, from this year's WoT Idol. This was one of my favorites.

https://youtu.be/7Dop\_445IHo @[email protected] @[email protected]

Watch The Dusty Wheel discuss theories on the end of Season 2 of #TheWheelOfTime, the Horn of Valere, Heroes of the Horn, and prophecy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7AIaagZ884

\#WheelOfTime @wheeloftime #AmazonPrime

The Dusty Wheel and Michael Livingston discussing Wars, Battles, Robert Jordan, and the Wheel of Time

Join The Dusty Wheel for a discussion of Wars, Battles, Robert Jordan, and #TheWheelOfTime with Dr. Michael Livingston, author of Origins of The Wheel of Time, Professor at the Citadel, Secretary-General to the United States Commission on Military History, and a man of many other titles and accomplishments.

\#WheelOfTime @tootersoftime @wheeloftime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyVldg7mggg

September! Grrr. I can't wait for the new season to begin. Did they renew season 3 and 4 too? I forgot.

3 Fold Talks to discuss The White Tower episode of Wheel of Time Origins

3 Fold Talks is another #WheelOfTime talkshow on YouTube, hosted by several Aiel and their token Wetlander. They typically talk about news among the fandom, play WoT-themed social games, and just generally have a good time. Live stream starting in moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Q0kTDB0EI

@wheeloftime

The Dusty Wheel - the LIVE call in talk show all about #TheWheelOfTime - will be talking about the #WoTWednesday drops today

In addition, guests Dani and Brett will be on to talk #NewReader reactions and predictions to Crossroads of Twilight.

Going live around 9:00pm Eastern. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXCa-2IYa98

@wheeloftime #WheelOfTime

I'm personally a huge fan of Lord of Chaos. It's always a high point when I re-read the series. I really like all of the subtle foreshadowing of what's coming up, all of the careful politics and groundwork that RJ laid for the latter half of the series, and then of course Dumai's Wells is such an incredible moment in the series.

Nobody seems to have posted here yet, so I'll start with some useful resources for readers and show watchers alike.

I personally think that TarValon.net's Library is the best Wheel of Time resource for people who are currently on their first read-through of the series. They have excellent chapter summaries for helping you remember what happened 5 books ago, and their chapter summaries are, in my experience, meticulously spoiler-free. They are very careful about marking spoilers on TV, and hiding them so that you don't accidentally find yourself reading them.

The Wheel of Time Wiki is generally well maintained and accurate, but be warned- it is extremely full of spoilers and spoilers are often not tagged and in introductory paragraphs of pages. I hate that it is indexed so high on google, because a lot of the search results for main characters immediately show end-of-series spoilers.

Brandon Sanderson is very active on Reddit, and sometimes talks about the Wheel of Time. His username is u/mistborn. Be warned, his comments contain spoilers for all of the Wheel of Time, as well as for all of his other currently released books. He interacts with fans quite a bit, and has some great discussions with them- but many of them are very full of spoilers.

For TV show news, The Wheel of Time Twitter Account is a good go-to. They may occasionally post mild book spoilers, but nothing serious. Rafe Judkins's twitter is also a good place for news.