Almost 30 years in the making & waiting
I first picked up Eye of the World my first semester of Uni at a used bookstore, that had been there decades already. The smell was of old leather, dusty paper, cigarette and pipe smells and was a home for me. I'd take money every paycheck (which wasn't much given I was a full time student and a part time worker and being paid 90s retail wages, wasn't much at all!) and put it aside for a once a month trip to the bookstore to procure my allotment of leisure reading.
One I found was Eye of the World. It was a brick and I thought, "Why not?"
Bear in mind I hadn't read Tolkien yet (In fact, I didn't read Tolkien for another 10 years!) but was a hard-core sci-fi nerd (Asimov, Bradbury, Pohl, etc.) and tomes didn't phase me.
Like many, I was lost in the prologue - but then the horror of "Shai'tan take you, you lightblinded fool!" and the terror or Lews Theren Telemon and how he reacted to what he wrought.
the short respite in Baerlon.
And the tale had wormed its way into my soul and has never let go.
Of course, I had to go out and purchase the next 3 books - and paid full price for them (in paperback - because I was a poor college student paying their own way when you could afford it.)
When I first read it, I strongly identified with Egwene, who was so thirsty for knowledge and yet pushed beyond all bounds of safety, enmeshing herself into everything she stuck her toes in.
Later, it was Nynaeve, who was in a position of authority and not necessarily respected, which I went through as well.
It's only now that I easily Identify with my namesake, who had earned much honour, was a whole person, respected, trusted, with spouses and loved ones and yet no one says a thing for her not having kids of her own (much ji to Wife Lian!)
I'm sure later it will be Sorilea, or Cadsuane, or Siuan. I don't know.
Each one on the page - all fearless in their own ways, some thinking themselves cowards when their actions are far from it (a show-not-tell example of imposter syndrome if I ever saw it!) - picking up the pieces from going from the most powerful person in the world to the most meagre in an instant - Surviving the worst case scenario and yet still trooping on, carving out a new life from the shattered remnants from before.
But these women, committed to page decades prior, are imperfect yet perfect examples of women being celebrated, held in respect and esteem, and giving voice to someone other than the Maiden, the Mother, the Crone.
And then there is the one who was thrust into a destiny not intended, knowing the stakes of failure and facing it down like the fiercest of Aiel, screaming defiance and spitting into Sightblinder's Eyes and doing it anyway while trusting that there is one thin thread that rescue might come - and doing it anyway.
All of this story, born from a man born in pre-segregation South Carolina, who went to war and returned, and found that he had a story to tell and set out on the road - the Road from the Mountains of Mist - to tell it and yet never lived to see it finished, all showing up on the little big screen.
This dawning of a new age, where Dragonsworn will have their spears tested and yet welcome the Wetlanders into the fray, enjoying the new turning of the Wheel.
Tai'shar Rigney and let the Dragon fly on the Winds of Time.
baratheonpilled
theartofmadeline
ellievsbear
turnnoffyourmind
kaledo-art
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snowghoul
