Wheel of Time

Tmac said:

This show seems super half-baked.

A lot of the scenes are just hyper-unexplainable. One example is the battle where the kings army randomly appears over the top of the hill and like 7 witches that can contain the greatest power in the land can't handle them and are just making the ground go boom incredibly ineffeciently.

Another example is when the barkeep wench RANDOMLY OUT OF NOWHERE is out to get the two separated guys and then the older guy RANDOMLY OUT OF NOWHERE shows up to kill her.

Another, is how the asian witch-protector took them into the city of the damned. WTF!? They didn't go through it, they literally made camp. And then the lazy kid goes down dark creepy passages, until he finds a BURIED CHEST, only to do the one thing they were told not to do. And when Moraine wakes up, she's immediately like, "You've killed us!". NO SHIT!? Why did he do that? And then they just ignore it after they escape. Nobody cares or talks about it. WTF!?

The last example is how the RANDOM FRIEND THAT BARELY MATTERS is suddenly more powerful than all the witches combined!? LEFT FIELD! WHY? And we only learn this after witch-protector guy does an equally unexplainable thing and explodes his axe into everyone throats! WTF!?

NOTHING MAKES SENSE! This is the only show in recent memory where I'll watch half an episode, get super bored or annoyed, turn it off, and then come back a day or two later to finish it, bc wtf else am I gonna watch?

I did like the gypsy people though. That was the only decent world-building part thus far. Everything else feels like a forced soap opera.

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Yep, that’s what happens when they butcher the story and cut lots of content at the same time. They forget to include scenes that explain why things matter, what is motivating someone, what they can and can’t do with the Power. Why someone was around to kill the dark friend.

For example, Thom the bard guy, he was at the farm village from the start. He went with the group when they left the town (for a reason revealed later) He was with the two boys the entire time, traveling with them. He did not show up out of nowhere in the book like he did in the show.

Caliane said:

again, not read the books.

are magical items a thing in this world? or cursed? is the knife magical, cursed? or is it just Tom and the taint?

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Yes to both. There are various types of magical items and each type has a different name. (I’m probably going to fuck up the names and spellings.) There are items that amplify a users amount of power they can pull in “angrael”, there are items that greatly to vastly amplify it “sa’angrael”. Those are solely made for channelers and amplifying.

There are items that are magical and only serve one very specific function, Ta’angrael. Some can be used by magic users, some can be used by anyone. Some items are used by current people for functions they had no intention of being used for when they were made, the knowledge was lost to time. Some they have no idea what they do. Some people have lost the ability to channel or died by using them wrong. Some are locked away in various places, some are kept by royalty, some are used by armies or aes sedai, etc.

The Oath Rod Moiraine mentioned to Ugwene (and they showed a scene with) is a Ta’angrael. When trainees get to the point of becoming an aes sedai they must swear oaths while holding the rod. It forces them to those oathes. They literally can not lie, use the power as a weapon unless as a defense for their life. They bend the truth like a mother fucker though which is why they showed that scene of her explaining how she was able to fool the white cloaks with false stories. There was enough truth in her stories she could say it. She wouldn’t have been able to say “I have never been to the two rivers” for example. If they try to lie it doesn’t come out at all or they choke on their words or something, I forget.

These items all take whatever shape possible, when they were made. From little gemstones, to tiny statues, to swords, rods, helmets, door frames, massive statues, literally anything. There are also just magically imbued buildings, weapons, bridges that aren’t really magical in a sense that they do anything extra. But they can stay sharp forever, never rot, etc. “This sword was power wrought” means someone did something with the power to enhance it in some way.

Cursed items, yes too. Basically anything from that city they were in, shadar logoth, was cursed. He just happened to take the dagger. Taking the dagger didn’t actually start that mold spread, that happens every night in that town. And it was supposed to be mist, not mold, but whatever. It’s part of the cities curse.

Thom is not a part of the taint or the cursed dagger except being around mat while he has it.

There is a huge pool of power that all magic users touch when they channel it to use magic, a male half and a female half, think of it as a literal liquid pool, split in half. The yin yang symbols you see in the show, on flags, banners, the pool of water when nynaeve soloed the trolloc represents the two halves of the power. White for female, black for male. Anyways, the male half is tainted. It has a layer of taint/curse on top of it, to reach through it to use the pure power underneath the men must go through that taint. Think of it like cursed oil floating on the surface of the water (power). They reach through that nasty shit when they channel and it slowly drives them insane. Thom isn’t a channeler.

Slyminxy said:

Nobody could see the weaves from opposite sexes. Cadsuane had a bird amulet that detected channeling and pointed into the direction, but among all of the ter/sa/angreal, that was pretty much the only one we were told about. And True power didn't even give that effect apparently. Example in Memory of Light, when Min exposes the Shadow's spy and the nearby damage and sul'dam gasp. I.e. they were totally surprised that knife stopped in the air.

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Yeah you’re right, I was thinking of inverted weaves, which is when the forsaken come along and laugh that no one knows how to do it anymore. Inverted weaves is hiding it from your own sex though, not the other.