#anyboli

[highladyluck]

For the fan theories ask, can you go down the list of Nakomi theories on the wiki? (Or, if that’s too much, just Nakomi is the Creator (or an agent of the Creator))

Ok, before we get into detail on this, if any of you tell me who Brandon Sanderson says Nakomi is, I will be genuinely annoyed. I don't want to know and I hope to go to my grave blissfully unaware of the actual truth. I engage in this for the pure love of unhinged speculation and bitchy judgement. I'm including the 7 theories that @anyboli tells me are on the wiki, and then 3 bonus ones.

1) Aes Sedai From Age of Legends - this is just silly, and frankly after [specific chapter in AMOL when a long-debated fandom question was finally answered] the fandom as a whole should have stopped making theories like this. THERE IS NO PURPLE AJAH!!! I debated shoving it further into 'worst idea' territory but unfortunately it is an undeniably fun premise, and we do canonically have Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends hanging about (they're just evil) which is why everyone keeps trying to make it happen. The placement just into worst idea territory is a compromise.

2) Agent of the Creator/Pattern - this is deeply unlikely- the Pattern doesn't care and the Creator's only agent is Rand- but I like it a little better than the previous option. I also think this is the Bela option, which also nudges it slightly more into 'extremely compelling'.

3) Bubble of Good - I don't think this is the author intent, but on the other hand, it's a random positive encounter that moves the action along, and a Bubble of Evil is a random negative encounter that moves the action along. Functionally, Nakomi ACTS like a Bubble of Good, so I think this sits squarely on the border between likely author intent and definitely not author intent. I enjoy the lampshading of Nakomi as Plot Device so this is somewhat compelling to me.

4) A Hero of the Horn, or Amaresu - Ok, this actually strikes me as somewhat likely and I think if it were an RJ thing this is almost the likeliest option. As a Sanderson thing it seems a little less likely but still pretty plausible. I enjoy the specificity of it and the Heroes do seem to break their own rules about meddling a lot. Maybe Amaresu is vibing with Aviendha because Avi's going to give birth to her reincarnation or something; that's not particularly plausible but I like the emotional implications.

5) A Jenn Aiel - This seems like the most likely of the wiki options. I think the Jenn Aiel still exist, canonically, and probably they'd be in the area and have opinions. It's not the most interesting theory to me because I don't get the mystery aspect at all in this case. I'd rather just know up front that Nakomi was Jenn, then I could get a reaction from Aviendha, which would have been super interesting. It's still pretty neat but the execution could have been improved if this is really the answer. (I actually think this would be AWESOME as part of #10, but without either the use of a specific known character or a reason for the obfuscation, this is not peak cool to me.)

6) Verin - No. I don't even get why people are saying this and I don't care to be informed, either. Verin's great but we don't have to make everything about her.

7) A Wise One - Sure, maybe? But this premise is so deeply uninteresting without specifics. This is the Wheel of Time. I need any random character that shows up once and has a speaking part to have a backstory three pages deep. It doesn't all have to be on the page, but you better convince me that it exists.

8) any Cosmere character - This is my worst fear because it seems so horribly plausible. I know it has been officially denied, but like Taimaindred, it makes too much sense and you can't convince me this wasn't the original intent.

9) Lanfear - This is my personal theory and it sparks joy. Nakomi is a moon-related name like Lanfear's "Selene" moniker, Lanfear constantly goes around in disguise helping protagonists even though it makes no fucking sense, AND Lanfear is apparently still at large even after she appeared to have died? At this point, Lanfear could be doing anything for any reason, we just can't know. The only way we can truly know Lanfear is her vibes--that's why her punishment from the Dark One was to be put into a body that was perfectly good but not her aesthetic--and this whole business has Lanfear Vibes so strong they can be seen from the Age of Legends moonbase.

10) Tigraine - This is @asha-mage's theory and it's the best one I've ever heard. The only reason it's not higher on author intent is because I'm going by Sanderson intent and I don't think this was on his radar, but it absolutely seems like something RJ would have done, so I split the difference. It fits the hints I vaguely remember- someone we haven't met directly in the books but not a totally unknown character either- and it's just so cool, the idea of Tigraine surviving after all, maybe throwing in with the Jenn, and giving advice to her son's lover/a future leader of her adopted people. I want to write a series of 3 vignettes about Tigraine and the concept of legacy: Tigraine at the Tower, dealing with being the legacy kid with no magical skills. Tigraine abandoning Galad and contributing to his complex about his family legacy. Tigraine (as Nakomi) after talking to Aviendha about the legacy of the Aiel as complicated by her son. It would be so satisfying!!! This should be the answer!!!

Again, DO NOT SPOIL THIS FOR ME. I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE CANONICAL ANSWER.

[matgpt]

Eyepatch recommendations?

Plain leather is good enough for me! But it should have a fine grain and be kept in good condition, and in a color that sets off your features. Maybe with a little embossing, if you don’t want to add precious stones. Make sure it sits snugly over the socket, but not so tight that it gives you a headache.

[dingdongyouarewrong]

Have you considered doing a video on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality? I feel like there’s enough content there between some very divisive breaks with canon, the last chapter being a contest that broke ff.net rules, the meta-ness of the author choosing a fanfiction of his fanfiction to be the “official” sequel, and also just Eliezer Yudkowsky’s general weirdness?

that actually is on me and emily’s tentative list, yes!

[vethbrenatto]

Weird question, but do you know why girls’ seatings positions were scrambled after the hiatus?

uhh, no? I actually don’t. and honestly before you sent me this, i hadn’t even realized that the guys hadn’t been swapped as well. i assumed it was a totally new seating arrangement, but double checking, you’re totally right. only the girls have been shifted (according to our viewer visual perspective, obviously the entire setup is different than it was before)?

my best guess is that new seating was given to indicate that things are different, that there was a gap in real time of pre-hiatus to current. and as well, the set up is now very different with each person at their individual spots rather than two long tables. so maybe they wanted a change without swapping things completely around, which is why they left the boys where they were? that’s the best i’ve got.

i have to say, i do love some of the available new dynamics stemming from it, like more yasha+veth interactions and more beau+cad interactions, though i very very much miss sam+laura shenanigans.

if anyone actually knows, feel free to sound off in the replies

[vancouver-lord-goldeneyes]

For sure yeah there’s a lot of people standing around the table that I didn’t screenshot. I’m not convinced the short haired woman isn’t production, she was standing off to the side talking with another woman who was handing out scripts earlier in the video, she just had the most “Min” haircut

[highladyluck]

The Finn stole my baby AU

ok FINE you can all have the Eelfinn Stole My Baby in outline form

I've never pinned down the details on this, because I think it would be most interesting as an installment in a larger series and a lot of the details would be determined by the needs of the overall storyline, but this is the vague outline:

1) Fortuona has just found out from Min that her kid's going to be a marath'damane. Because a) SOME IDIOT (maybe Mat, maybe Berelain if they're on speaking terms, there's some other options depending on the scenario) made the mistake of telling her about Sindhol in some way that makes her actually believe in it, b) she's a slut for prophecy and always has been, and c) she wants to explore all her options, she wants to go to Sindhol to get some answers from the Aelfinn. The questions she intends to ask vary by setting but it's something along the lines of how to survive the current situation/protect her marath'damane child/solve the sul'dam problem/ensure stability of the Empire in the westlands/how best to reconquer mainland Seanchan. You know! #FortuonaProblems. Mat eventually agrees to escort her; both to get in, since the only way in right now is the Tower of Ghenji, and to get out.

2) But because they're going in outside of treaty rules and Mat's there, the Eelfinn are the ones waiting for them and they won't let Fortuona go see the Aelfinn (maybe they say that they won't see Mat, but they will see her, if she agrees to be escorted alone. Mat's almost like "oh, over my dead body" but catches himself just in time.) Whatever deal Fortuona makes with the Eelfinn involves something she can use to solve her existing political problems (not sure what this is but it could be something horrible, like a better male a'dam), and something for Mat (maybe a magic replacement eye?). The third item is either something else for her, something else for Mat, or a very thoroughly rules-lawyered escape clause, depending on how confident Mat was/she is about being able to escape with the ashandarai. In exchange, they take her about-to-be-born-child, which she either explicitly names as the price, or is counting on them taking as the price.

3) At least they're not gonna eat the kid; the Eelfinn want a human child who can channel to build them new treaty doors someday, and if the human child is raised by them and therefore on their side, so much the better. They're also thrilled to get another piece of Mat. I figure the Eelfinn would want the savor of Mat and Tuon fighting about this, so while there's a possibility that the world's least hygenic c-section happens before Mat cottons on to what Tuon just bargained away, I think it would be more likely that they don't strike until the price is explicit or Mat has figured it out.

Tuon's like "I understand that you're upset but it's better this way. I came to solve a problem. It's not solved the way I intended, but it's solved and I got you an incredible boon in the bargain. We can always have more children."

Mat's like "Yeah, well, you aren't having them with me! You're a monster for unilaterally trading our child to my eldritch enemies."

She's like "If I'm a monster, so are you. As soon as you found out she would be marath'damane you began setting plans in motion to take her from her destiny. From the empire. From me. Don't think I haven't noticed. At least in this situation, I'm getting something out of it that benefits both of us."

4) I honestly don't entirely know what happens next, but it's bad. Unstoppable force (Mat's desire to rescue women & his love of Tuon) meets immovable object (said woman/Tuon just betrayed him and his innocent child to his worst enemies). Would he just leave Tuon there? (maybe?) Would he try to trade Tuon's life for the baby's? (I like this because I like pain and I think he might be deranged enough in the moment to do it) Would he try to trade his life for the baby's? (maybe, but they wouldn't accept it.) Would he try to kill all the Eelfinn? (yes, and they'd still take the baby.) Like how the fuck do you recover from any of that? And the worst part is you can like… sort of see where Tuon is coming from, if you enjoy women's wrongs? And she really just wanted to meet the Aelfinn and it's Mat's fault that it isn't going as planned?

5) If there's a sequel, it would be the fully grown child showing up in their world with a terrifying knowledge of esoteric ter'angreal construction and thoroughly socialized as a *Finn some improbably short amount of time later. Maybe when Elayne and Mat mount a rescue mission in a few months. Time runs differently in Sindhol if the *Finn need it to.

Bonus: I'm still debating adding a variant of this to the epilogue of The Fox That Makes The Ravens Fly- for one thing, I haven't decided yet if Tuon is pregnant, and if she is, by whom. If I do it'll be Rand who tells her about the Aelfinn & Thom who tells her about the Eelfinn, she'll go in with Thom and someone else (Elayne, I think, in exchange for access to the dice-ring ter'angreal that replicates Mat's luck, also Elayne would love to go on that field trip, although I could see Min being interested for the metaphysics of it all), and the ostensible point is to rescue Moiraine. I think instead of that, she negotiates getting Mat back, at the cost of leaving her baby with them, and resetting the timeline so Mat never died and the canon events where Moiraine gets rescued happen, but she remembers the old timeline. I have no idea if the *Finn actually get to keep her baby, who may or may not be a sparker in this scenario, or for that matter if they get to keep Moiraine, but I bet they'd take the bargain regardless because they invested a lot in Mat & also now Tuon has some weird fucking emotions about the entire life she didn't lead. Also they're the fae, the only thing they like more than bargain eyeballs is bargain babies.

[highladyluck]

For the fic questions, 3, 4, 17, and 37

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

Two people go to a place together and have an argument that’s kinda about going to the place and kinda about something else entirely

Unrelatable narrators …that was supposed to be ‘unreliable narrators’ but yea honestly I love writing weirdass internal logic

Exploring worldbuilding implications

Humor (they all start out as a joke and then I think about the joke, possibly too hard)

I will put science fiction in this fantasy story

????

4. What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

This is kinda cheating because it’s from an unreleased WIP, but I did post the bit in question separately! It’s the villanelle I wrote for The Fox That Makes The Ravens Fly, which Thom recites, fulfilling the ‘man who remembers Hawkwing’s face’ part of Tuon’s prophecy. I’ve always wanted to write a villanelle and it was a fun way to interpret the prophecy requirements.

(Once I started thinking about it, I was intrigued by how broad that category could be, if you really wanted it to be. Off the top of my head, it covers Ishamael, anyone who was at Falme and recognized Hawkwing among the Heroes of the Horn, and anyone else who can describe Hawkwing’s features from memory, which could be a historian, artist, or court-bard… or anyone who paid attention to their art. Tuon actually had options, she just wanted it to be Mat.)

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

Well now I’ve distracted myself with the concept of an ‘Ishamael marries Tuon’ AU… what a fascinating way to make everything worse! Honestly, I just want to put Tuon in situations.

Almost all of my WIPs and outlines are now highly specific AUs and I don’t think I have any new ones I haven’t at least alluded to, and also every time I think ‘I’m the only person who could want this’ I find out I am wrong.

But if anyone wants to adopt ‘Lanfear is the Daughter of the Nine Moons and Mat rescues her and Moiraine from Sindhol’, I’d read that. I also want more of the Sedai Trek AU that @unmarkedcards sent me snippets of, where Tuon is the Amyrlin & Nyneave is the Keeper and they are taking a spaceship to the Ogier homeworld.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

Baby’s First Knife! As I say in the tags, it’s funny in the way Mat is funny, which is to say that the jokes are at his expense.

It touches—obliquely, in true Mat style—on the huge problem for Mat of having a child in an environment that isn’t safe for them from day 1, let alone years down the line. I write a lot of Mat/Tuon fluff—well, fluff by their weird standards—but this is less fluffy, more uneasy, which is a space I also like exploring with them. They’re interesting because of the tension, and I wanted to capture some of that in this story.

[highladyluck]

I appreciate that you have both Andoran Terangreal R&D and its sequel as WIPs 😂 What’s the difference and which one have you done more on?

For background, ATRDD 1 is supposed to be an epistolary spy thriller where Andor (Elayne) and Seanchan-in-the-Westlands (Tuon) fight a proxy war over magitech development and we all grapple with moral hazard. The sequel, ATRDD 2, deals with the inevitable consequences of this and has the potential to get kinda wacky (Tuon as Elayne's Aes Sedai advisor???)

Probably the one I've done more on is ATRDD 1, as I've got an actual organized outline for it and I worked through most of the worldbuilding stuff that drove the plot. I also have the opening chapter (Setalle Anan's cover letter, which is on AO3) and an early chapter that I wrote for one of the fandom events (Mat's increasingly censored letters to Nyneave). I still want it to be epistolary/based on in-universe documents, although I think that's also adding another level of complication at this point rather than making it easier. ATRDD 2 has less raw material but in some ways a much clearer story map, so I almost feel like I've done more on it even though that's not really true. ATRDD 1 feels like a Rube Goldberg machine where there's just so much setup I need to do compared to the actual run time, while ATRDD 2 gets to take the situation ATRDD 1 establishes and play with more of the implications.