Doing a WOT rewatch and Moiraine and Lan are so funny, they just barge into this tavern like they stepped out of a Western and announce themselves in a Totally Not Suspicious way and then Moiraine walks up to the fireplace like "ah this is nice" all while knowing everybody is staring at her and expecting some sort of explanation as to why she's there. But nope. Gotta get cozy first, nevermind that I just disrupted everyone's night by making it hella awkward. And Lan is just. Standing there. Being Lan. Again, it's hella awkward. They KNOW it's hella awkward. They do not care. 10/10 peak comedy
Still has spoilers through the s3 information that we have so far and book spoilers through a memory of light.
1x05
Both beginning and ending this episode on funeral rituals worked so well. Great structure.
Time skip for traveling! Mark a month off on the calender.
We can really see how Mat has deteriorated in the last month by the way he snaps at the kid who runs into him.
Love the shot of Dragonmount looming behind Tar Valon. They exist always with that reminder of what the Dragon did.
Mat has no appetite. Poor sad wet cat.
The betrayal of there being Two Beds in this inn room, lol. Why are we not respecting the classic fic tropes?
Rand reassuring Mat that he didn't kill that little girl or her family. Rand believing so hard in Mat's goodness maybe partly because he can see that Mat is having a difficult time seeing it in himself.
Even with Nynaeve's coat off, she's still half Green and half Yellow.
Moiraine trying so hard to mentor Nynaeve and she Does Not Want It.
Man, Perrin and Egwene had a much more cheerful journey than either of the other sets. But they get plenty of trauma right now, so they don't need to be jealous.
Once again, the show does such a good job showing us the strength in the Tuatha'an. And this thread will continue into Perrin's storyline in s3, with both Whitecloaks & Tuatha'an. They've done a solid job of tying Perrin to them both.
Loial shows up and immediately calls Rand an Aielman, lol. Poor Rand!
Oh, I see you, Fain!
Oof, people throwing food at Logain and mocking him. Baffled at the people who say the downsides of being a man who can channel weren't shown.
The promise scene between Mat & Rand is so good. Ultimate sad wet cat Mat. I really do love everything about this scene.
I really like our exploration of Stepin's utter and compete grief and emptiness after Kerene's death. How much the other Warders try to help him, how Nynaeve tries to help him but it isn't enough.
Love love what they did with the old rings being melted down (to create new).
Between what happens with the Whitecloaks here and then the Seanchan in s2, Egwene reacting by being as fiercely independent as possible makes all the sense in the world.
The Whitecloaks and Tower novices both wearing all white seems like it might create some emotional dissonance for Egwene, but I understand why the show didn't go there. That's just down to Jordan making too many groups of people wear white.
Oof, the Whitecloak stuff with Egwene & Perrin is hard to watch.
But our first hint of Perrin's golden eyes.
I note how Valda feels about all channelers similarly to how Liandrin feels about male channelers. And then we can get into the Seanchan's dehumanization of channelers as well.
Liandrin trying to bond more with Nynaeve. Has she been having ta'veren dreams? Ishy has had a month to try to figure out at least some of the places where his potential ta'veren have gone.
Our first reunion! It's always such a relief when any of them get to reunite. Man, Mat really does look on the verge of death.
Nynaeve can now join Rand & Mat in the Not Trusting Aes Sedai or Moiraine squad. Oops.
She tells Rand a story about Egwene to reassure him of Egwene's strength, never realizing that it's also the moment when Nynaeve likely channeled for the first time (to heal Egwene).
Perrin shares his deepest shame and secret with Egwene here - that he killed Laila by accident during the battle. So Perrin & Egwene's journey ends up being also very traumatic but the trauma was concentrated into the last day or so of the journey.
And just like was hinted at with the fire, Egwene & Perrin are finding their power at the same time. I wonder if this will happen again with their TAR training in s3? I really hope they run across each other in TAR. Let the characters stay connected!
Liandrin definitely got shot down by Moiraine at some time in the past.
Love the whole "shrine to ward off the Forsaken" thing. Great touch.
Siuan has been off in Caemlyn - was she talking to Elaida about Elayne, or was it about politics?
Moiraine: the White Tower's Woman of Mystery. Everyone wants to know what she's up to!
Alanna got such a glow-up in the show compared to the books. She's great here.
We get another nod to accepted poly relationships (amid the Green Ajah, at least).
Great conversation between Stepin & Lan. And a heartbreaking conclusion to Stepin's little mini-arc of grief and the Warder bond.
1x06
Little baby Siuan! ❤️ ❤️
Our first look at Tear as well.
Such a great way to introduce Siuan, considering they wouldn't have her for more than one episode this season.
And we learn in some places that it's dangerous for a woman to learn to channel - it's not only the Whitecloaks who assume that everyone who can channel is a Darkfriend.
Given that we know now (as of s2) that Moiraine & Siuan are older here than in the books, I wonder if that means her dad has already passed on.
Much like Egwene, Siuan is strongly associated with the water.
(This scene made me tear up too. I've cried three or four times today, I think)
Leane wearing light colors here vs the darker colors she wore in the s3 sneak peek to bash a Darkfriend's head in.
Another scene that gains so much depth on rewatch- knowing about Moiraine & Siuan's relationship & knowing about Liandrin being Black Ajah.
We just saw Stepin choose death in the previous emptiness of losing his bond, now Logain seeks and is refused death while suffering the emptiness of losing his connection to the One Power.
Everyone does still look good here, but the costumes definitely got a glow-up in s2 & again in s3.
The only main player in this scene not playing an elaborate game is Alanna. Siuan and Moiraine are pretending not to be in cahoots, Liandrin is pretending not to be Black Ajah - Liandrin trying to fracture the divides between the Ajahs, and also throwing Moiraine under the bus. A lot of Daes Dae'mar going on.
I also feel obligated to note that around this time frame is the jumping off point of my (now over 500k!) fic series: voice in the back of my head (archiveofourown.org/series/2688649). It is Cauthor-focused (Mat & Rand romance), though it does bring in the canon romances for Rand later on and we have some fun poly relationships going on, and it is currently spoiling through the twelfth book, but each fic in the series says how far that particular fic goes with regards to spoilers. The fic premise is: Liandrin found Rand & co instead of Moiraine finding them, and Rand is motivated enough to instinctively Travel himself, Mat, and Nynaeve to Tear because he wants to escape her.
This fic has been a lot of work and I am pretty proud of it so if you feel at all inclined to read an AU of the series that starts with the idea of "what if we gently slid Mat into Rand's romance situation?" and is a mix of show and book canon... give it a try. If you like it, please let me know your thoughts. <3
Anyway, Moiraine be spying on Rand & co., waiting for Nynaeve & Loial to leave to go talk to Rand & Mat.
Rand's protectiveness over Mat on this scene is really what threw my shipping switches on for them. He pulls a sword on Lan, despite knowing he had no chance against him!
"The world doesn't need a Dragon like me."
But Moiraine has figured out this is something else, not going mad from saidin, and Mat gets healed of the dagger's sickness.
So... was Rand using the One Power to help keep Mat from succumbing to the dagger's pull? Moiraine thinks that Mat shouldn't have been able to resist as long as he did.
We get some Tower politics, and we get the first hints of the Seanchan.
Moiraine is just encountering so much weirdness with these kids. Now there are wolves, she must be thinking to herself. Wolves!
The romance reveal scene! I like this change for several reasons- it's better romance than either gets in the books, it follows naturally from the NS relationship setup, and it adds drama for Moiraine, who did get a bump from mentor figure to being a protagonist.
It also gives the show a chance to show softer and warmer sides to both Moiraine & Siuan. Plus the nice play between duty & love bodes well for other romances.
I love how they reunite and only afterwards does Moiraine let Siuan know about the Dragon. Priorities!
And it makes so much sense that Moiraine has been doubting their prophecies after all this time on the road, while Siuan hasn't been out there with disappointment after disappointment.
This conversation also (unintentionally, given that it was a last-minute change) sets up Moiraine deciding she'd rather have the Reds potentially gentle the Dragon than risk Mat choosing to join the Shadow, because she thinks he's not strong enough to resist.
Ishy deliberately sent Siuan that dream. 😭
Liandrin knows too much. She definitely has been getting Ishy dreams.
Another reunion!
And the convo with Siuan is great. Nynaeve not bowing still cracks me up. Egwene going "wtf, nynaeve can channel? and she's stronger than I am?" with just her face is also hilarious.
Egwene & Nynaeve get a much kinder pep talk from Siuan than poor Rand gets in s2.
Moiraine's exiling is another great, emotional scene. And it also teaches us more about how the Oath Rod works, and sets some reasons in place for the Hall to be wary of Siuan. And sets up some precedents for the future.
And Moiraine trusting and giving more to Siuan than she was asked to give in the Oath - not just exile but obedience. That's gonna hurt a lot when we get to s2.
Even though she literally asked for it, it's obvious how hard it is on Moiraine to see her Sisters turn their backs on her.
But now we do (briefly) get our full Two Rivers reunion, and that is lovely. Hugs all around! Fond teasing! They love each other!
So we know that it wasn't actually the Dark One who was trapped at the Eye, so... it sounds like the knowledge of the location of the Dark One's prison is lost to time. It does make sense that Darkfriends would target that info specifically.
Moiraine not able to tell them that she trusts them, due to her Oaths, is a. so funny and b. makes it mean so much in s2 when she is willing and able to say that she trusts Rand (this is the real reason why it's difficult for me to get on board with The Ruse (TM) theory - because it feels like it would retroactively ruin that 2x07 moment between Moiraine & Rand).
Now that he's pretty sure Mat can't channel and isn't the Dragon, Rand knows deep down who it really is.
But then we lose Barney-Mat at the Waygate and I'm sad!
You can tell this very last scene was shot after the post-covid shutdown, because Maddy (Egwene) lost some roundness in her cheeks during those in-between months and it makes her eyes look a lot bigger.
I adore Donál's Mat but also miss Barney's. The feelings are both very present.
1x07
The Blood Snow! So epic. I love everything about this scene.
I will say, given that we have a stabbed pregnant Tigraine in the side here and it looks like we're getting a flashback to pregnant Morgase in s3, it does feel fairly likely that we will get pregnant Elayne as well, later on in the series. Tigraine gets stabbed the same way that Elayne is described as being stabbed in one of the super-late books (can't remember which, so I'll tag through AMoL) iirc.
Tigraine really did give every ounce of herself to her destiny, and I'm so glad the show version of her got a moment of kindness and compassion at the end.
Moiraine's cynicism about Mat vs Rand's rose-colored glasses about Mat: fight!
Nynaeve doing her job as Wisdom to keep all the kiddos together and make a promise to find Mat later.
"The one thing that we cannot afford is for the Dragon to turn to the Shadow."
Lan trying to cheer Nynaeve up is very sweet.
Egwene wants to sleep near Rand and he lets her this time (contrast to 1x02, when he pushed her away).
I like negging Machin Shin better than the version in the books, I admit it. It's more personal! Just relentlessly dunking on everyone's deepest fears.
Everyone looks so haunted. Poor kiddos.
I don't understand the people who don't understand the big fight. Everyone is so on edge from what they just went through! They are all overly emotional and vulnerable right now. The fight could have been MUCH uglier and still been valid tbh.
Uno! Congrats on your s2 upgrade to Hero of the Horn!
Another confession: I find this Lord Agelmar & Lady Amalisa much more interesting and memorable than the ones in the books. And I was kinda relieved that the show took the whole Five Great Captains thing off the table right away.
I also love their outfits.
Oh, hi, Fain! I suspect we'll get to see more of him in s3.
Min is so much better in the show than the books, omg. Just... on every level. She actually is jaded and world-weary.
"There is a man they must find. A boy, really."
Given that we saw Mat visibly recoil at hearing the Red Ajah mentioned in that s3 clip, I wonder if we're going to see him & Moiraine actually talk about it. I mean, it's in character for both of them to avoid that particular convo, so we will see!
Egwene's little quip at Rand's cooking is cute but I bet contributes to that feeling of Rand's that she doesn't see him as a man but as a boy.
I like how Min's visions were used here. And that she does what Moiraine blackmailed her into but holds back enough to protect what she knows would be the biggest secret (that Rand is the Dragon) because she doesn't feel like it's hers to reveal.
I really love how the shot with the three kids is framed to show the empty chair at the back to emphasis Mat's absence.
Anyway, I like the fight. Characters should be allowed to be messy and argue. Each of them has a perspective and is stubborn about that PoV.
Egwene is right that Moiraine can't lie, but the others are right that she can mislead or withhold.
And I love that the tipping point for the actual fight is Mat & his absence.
And then Nynaeve lobbing a bomb into the conversation as soon as it gets heated enough that she's getting uncomfortable. I mean, they aren't arguing about Mat anymore, at least?
Perrin's super-close "the only woman I've ever loved is my wife" and the hot five seconds that I shipped Perrin & Rand (but then Mat was mentioned in Rand's 1x08 fantasy world and I was right back to Cauthor lol).
I like that Lan had Malkieri friends alive in Fal Dara & I'm pretty stoked about the s3 Melindhra spoilers as well. Very cool to dive more into those relationships than we did in the books. Nynaeve getting an introduction to Lan's people & culture! After he got to know hers in 1x01! Very nice.
Jump-scare Lan does crack me up.
Anyway, good for Nynaeve and Lan for hooking up when they think there's a chance they might die in the morning.
Rand struggles with coming to terms with being the Dragon but Egwene thinks this is all about the big fight earlier. So they are having two different conversations right now.
Hey, in light of this convo- Rand is going to go to, well, Tar Valon anyway. Maybe not the White Tower itself. We'll see if he gets a doorway visit or not.
But this is Rand's big final burst of denial before he goes and talks to Min, confirming to himself that he's the Dragon, as he's tried not to believe that he is. So we've now had two instances of Randgwene sex used to delay or avoid an important conversation.
I am... very curious if the pattern continues in s3. Pretty sure they'll sleep together again, from what we've gotten in the trailers & such, but I am curious about the framing & context.
This montage of Rand accepting the truth about himself gives me chills.
Min's exhaustion here makes her so relatable.
I am so glad Tigraine had someone to hold her hand at the end. That she saw that her son would be taken care of.
"Rainbows and carnivals and three beautiful women." 😍
Elayne only three episodes away (2x02, right?), and Aviendha a little bit after that, but they are on their way! And this is our first hint about them.
1x08
3000 years ago, whoo!
Love their outfits.
Love the choice to have the AoL scenes in the Old Tongue.
LTT is perfect. Genuinely so good.
And the gut punch of seeing how technologically advanced the world used to be. It was a magitek utopia (or at least seemed that way to them).
I do wish that Rafe & co could have brought their original vision of this episode to life, because it is so devastating to go over all the things they lost (a principal actor! Their original Blight location! Their stunt team! Even more that I can't recall at the moment too I bet) but they did so much with what they had. I am so fucking impressed.
"I love him, Perrin." And then she thinks he died to save all of them. Yeah they do need to finish things off properly in the show.
Lan 100% thinks that going after Moiraine right now means his death, hence the sweet but flowery speech to Nynaeve here.
Ishy and Rand come face to face. I wonder who Ishy thought the Dragon was (he says he didn't expect it to be Rand). I love the reveal of Ishy's true face. And trying to touch Rand's face right away lol.
"Stubborn as ever, Lews."
The convo between Moiraine & Rand is interesting (all of them are) but partly because Moiraine doesn't actually say that she believed it was Egwene. I think she hoped it was Egwene but that's not quite the same. And Rand doesn't ever really think it was Egwene either, except maybe at the start, because we know he was worried it was Mat during that month of them journeying together.
Hey, the horrible bully from Moiraine's story! We're gonna meet her in s3. Because that story is about Elaida. She beat a novice with the One Power to force her to channel.
Min is very amusing in the show. I like her a lot. I really like that we get to go on an emotional journey along with Min about the downsides of having her viewings in s2, instead of it all happening before we show up in her life.
Again, really like the relationship between the siblings here - Lord Agelmar & Lady Amalisa. It's sweet.
"Let us hope we will buy the women and men of this world enough time to stand a fighting chance."
Rand recognizes the place where he locked Ishy up years ago. Love that we get to see that moment in s2.
Moiraine talking about the Tower's histories getting destroyed by Darkfriends. Very important note, I feel.
And Ishy springs his win-win trap. There was no actual way for Rand to win here, because he didn't know who he was fighting.
I've mentioned this before but I love that the show split up the battle into philosophical (Rand) vs physical (everyone else) because that's the Last Battle too. Rand's fight is a philosophical one and it always was. The Power is there to get him to where he needs to be to make that choice.
Our mention of Mat in Rand's temptation world, where Egwene is clearly being fondly exasperated but not truly annoyed. So, you know, like how Rand feels about Mat.
Ishy plays with his food, taunting and shielding Moiraine.
Perrin and Loial's friendship being a throughline for all three seasons, getting to know each other here, spending more time together in s2, and Loial going home with him in s3.
Rand struggling against a hollow perfect reality. Major, major foreshadowing for the endgame so I'm glad I already listed amol spoilers.
And Rand also needs to forcibly let go of Egwene and his dream of their life together in order to wake up from his encounter with Ishamael, something that Egwene doesn't get the opportunity to do, because the boyfriend she recently reunited with heroically died in order to save the world (to her understanding). So Rand and Egwene go into s2 (and presumably s3) with very different contexts about where their relationship left off.
You know, in retrospect, it's so appropriate that the Horn was being guarded by one of the Heroes.
Ishy is so smug here because he really does win no matter what. Tbh I feel like waking up Lanfear was his big mistake in s2. Because her agenda is different enough from his that they ended up conflicting, even though they share an LTT obsession.
That being said, even though this is a win-win for Ishy, what Rand learns here can/will help him win the Last Battle. So it works out in the long run.
Rand & Moiraine believe that the Last Battle is won, so she's willing to let him wander off to die in the wilderness if he wants... and then she kicks herself forever when she realizes how wrong she was. Like, it's Moiraine & Siuan's plan that fully releases Ishy. They thought they could do an endrun around the prophecies (which Moiraine has to be fully aware that Rand has not accomplished!).
As Moiraine might say "the arrogance".
Love the setup here at the end by Fain.
"Rand may be the Dragon but all five of you have a part to play."
And Moiraine. "This wasn't the Last Battle. I fear it was the first."
And our great intro to the Seanchan and how wildly different they are to anything we've already seen.
Tomorrow, I'll start rewatching s2 and see how far I get!
Watched two more eps. Some more disjointed observations.
-Dana is incredibly charming for a Darkfriend. But then that's kinda the point. It's not always going to be the super shady person who you can spot from a mile away as trouble.
-the way she assumes Rand and Mat are a couple having relationship troubles amuses me still.
-Thom says to Mat: don't let me find you hanging in a cage somewhere. Potential renunion where one or the other finds them hanging in a cage?
-Egwene telling Perrin it wasn't his fault, and how he absolutely doesn't believe her
-Aram telling Egwene how when they're 20, tinkers leave the group for a bit to work out if it's truly the life they want. Kind of like the Amish. Or a gap year. I have a feeling his grandmother will hate his gap year.
-I love the fleshing out of Warders we get. Outside of Lan or Gawyn, they rarely seemed to exist except as extensions of their Aes Sedai. Lap Dogs on Two Legs, indeed.
-the way I am immediately ride or die for Show!Logain. I want to see more of him, pretty please can we eventually have him and Nynaeve working together on the Black Tower plot
-Liandrin has such a punchable face. I love to hate her.
-the little girl offering Mat her Birgette doll is precious
-I know the dagger is making Mat sick and he wonders if he killed the family, but I also feel the dagger/mashadar's hatred of shadowspawn is what led him to the Fade first
-I love how everyone immediately pegs them as two rivers folk based on clothing, accents, and attitudes lol
Oh wait, is this the part where Zoe kept on out-running the cameras? Good stuff.
It's interesting how adaptations works. The sacred pool in the Two Rivers is an excellent mirror for the Eye of the World from the books (in this case a well of saidar rather than saidin). It's also in the pool where we see Nynaeve really battle evil for the first time and kick evil's ass.
It also mirrors what happens to Nynaeve at the end of the first book, without extraneous Forsaken and gross attempted rape.
The Dragon's Fang in the water is such a great touch.
The hair flip! Hot damn I love Nynaeve al'Meara.
"That's not how roads work." One of season one's most iconic lines.
Wolves are howling in the distance? I guess Perrin's around.
They're just, they're all friends, you know? They care about each other, they support each other, they call each other dumbasses (affectionate AND derogatory). I'm just having a lot of Feelings about Them.
Another quick book comparison. I recently re-read EotW and was really disappointed with the bits where Egwene and Perrin are separated from the group. At that point, RJ didn't have a really good idea of who Egwene was. And Perrin was written like a ginormous ass. Plus, the undercurrent of "Men think women are mysterious and women think men are stupid" that would permeate the rest of the series really reared its head for the first time.
Anyway, I like the show version a whole lot more.
Nynaeve gathering herbs my beloved.
Perrin, Perrin, Perrin. They wolves aren't trying to hurt you. They're trying to help you.
I love cowboy rockstar Thom Merrillin. Also this song is another banger.
Dana is such a good character. Such a great way to start off the series' true philosophical discussion.
Lan already has Nynaeve's number. Love that for them.
Maria Doyle Kennedy makes every show better. That's just science.
A little Aiel 101. I'm sure we'll never need this information at any point in the future.
This really is the Mat Studies episode. It's all about the contradictions with that one.
