The Bookworm Daydreamer

Books. Fantasy/Sci Fi shows and movies. 25|Filipino|she/her

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

Mostly been playing otome games and jrpgs in my Switch lately. My current obsession is Octopath Traveler II. I simply love the combat system and the turn based mechanics and every time I play it, I am reminded of why I cannot care for hsr combat or any gacha combat. I’m really glad they retooled the Octopath gacha into a proper console game because gacha combat is so limited by the monetization scheme even if it has flashy animations.

I’ll play Dragon Quest III HD-2D remake next. I think it’s even prettier than Octopath and I enjoy Dragon Quest.

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

My asoiaf take is that I think the Targaryens are very interesting characters.

I enjoy reading history books about the Plantagenets and royal houses throughout history and fortunately, I never see unhinged takes about them.

I dislike discourse surrounding Targaryens especially from Targ stans because it sounds like monarchy stans and it gets very very annoying.

I like the characters. I think they’re complex and complicated. I don’t think the stans enjoy complex and complicated and flawed

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

Don't go into my posts to call me a fake fan after I defended most of the show until they started going in directions I found a headscratcher. I love the books and I like the cast. I wish they were given better material to work with, but honestly speaking the writing just isn't good. Even from S1E1, I couldn't say it was good. They were simply not better writers than Robert Jordan and I hate that I'm seeing book fans say that the first few books were bad. They weren't and the show was worse than the first few books so where do we go from there?

Mind you, the first few books all had amazing conclusions. S1-S3 season finales each fell flat for me.

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

The Wheel of Time would have been a much more successful show had the story stuck to the books. Instead, it cultivated a fandom so defensive of significant changes that they are actively hostile to dissenting opinions. I used to be so excited for the show and yet the changes they made were annoying enough to piss off even book fans who used to defend the show.

I was told an adaptation doesn’t need book fans to succeed but I disagree. When the show doesn’t yet have a wide audience, they need book fans (aka the established fandom) to spread word of mouth and explain things to newcomers. It’s also easier for newcomers to follow the story of a faithful adaptation because they can read the books and see what happens plus the explanation for it. An adaptation and the source material should exist hand in hand.

I feel sorry for the cast, I like them. However, I can’t say I’m entirely sorry for the show.

[near-dareis-mai]

The funny thing about show-onlines defending Siuan's death by saying "She never even wanted to fight the shadow anyway, she only wanted to be Moiraine's wife, I'm glad she's dead and doesn't have to fight a fight she never wanted to fight." is that it exemplifies just how poorly the show has characterized Siuan from the start as nothing but Moiraine's girlfriend.

Siuan Sanche in the books wasn't a weepy little woman who wanted nothing except to be Moiraine's little housewife while Moiraine went out gallivanting and having adventures. Siuan Sanche in the books was an ambitious woman who opposed the Dark One with everything she had, who fashioned her whole life to be an arrow directed right at the Dark One's heart, who had a moral clarity and purpose to her that the show never understood.

I'll say it again, when it comes purely to writing women's motivations rather than anything else, Robert Jordan was feminist in a way that Rafe Judkins cannot even dream of. He knew how to write women being motivated by something other than domesticity or sexual abuse, and I can't say the same about Rafe.

Three quotes about Siuan from the book to illustrate what I mean:

“I think I actually understand you now, Siuan Sanche. You are a woman of honor. It’s just that nobody else’s requirements of you can ever be more harsh or more demanding than your own requirements of yourself. You owe such a self-imposed debt to your own sense of duty that I doubt any mortal being could pay it back.” “You’re a driven woman, Siuan Sanche. Driven to save the world from itself." “But only after you feel the world can care for itself. I won’t agree to it before then, Siuan. You’ve given your life to something. I’ll see that you survive through it; I hope that once you’re done, you’ll be willing to give your life to something else instead.”

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

Mid-tier villains like Liandrin can be developed in the show but not side characters like Siuan who play important roles and are vital to the success of their side?

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

Anyway I will be re-reading The Wheel of Time now. Here, I can see Siuan who gets up and fights after her stilling, who manipulates the rebels, mentors a new Amyrlin, brings a Great Captain to the rebels, and helps ensure that the Aes Sedai are not overtaken by Black Ajah.

[near-dareis-mai]

and when I say these writers have never understood siuan or her arc, or what was so inspiring to me even as a 12 year old reading about how a 40+ year old woman having her whole career and life taken away from her and still choosing to get up and keep going and keep fighting and MAKING A DIFFERENCE

the writers have never understood what made siuan great and irreplaceable and so I'm not surprised that they did this

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

Three seasons in and still being told to trust the process and the showrunner and writers. Sorry, for me they’ve fumbled THREE season finales in a book series with great finales. I don’t trust them because they’ve shown their willingness to flanderize characterizations and add to unnecessary characters while cutting back on characters that actually do get a lot of characterization and time in the book. And now they killed Siuan whose arc begins after she’s stilled. Sorry I don’t feel as forgiving as in Season 1. I am quite frankly tired of excuses that land poorly for me. All I see so far is holes they dig for themselves in terms of writing and the ways they have to dig themselves out of them.

These writers are not better than Robert Jordan, they’re not telling his story better and they’re doing it a disservice.

[near-dareis-mai]

Rafe: We have to kill off Siuan because she was basically useless in the book after her stilling

Every Siuan fan: You fool. You uncomprehending baboon. Every book Siuan fan agrees that Siuan's story BEGINS after her stilling. Before the stilling, she's just a poor fisher girl who couldn't even read who rose to become the most powerful woman in the world (and who was, according to the author himself, one of the most competent Amyrlins to ever take the seat), which is inspiring by itself. After the stilling, after her power and wealth and influence and even her friends have been taken from her, she still chooses to get up and say "I'm still fighting the Dark One, though. With no gas in my tank and nothing left to give up, I'm still fighting the Dark One." AND SHE DOES. She's the literal epitome of "It was about all of us." you utterly media-illiterate troglodyte.

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

Yeah Season 3’s ending makes me feel tired and drained. They did Siuan’s character a great disservice by making her almost incompetent, bumbling, and mostly about Moiraine. Where is the schemer and manipulator? The proud Siuan who redefines who she is and helps make Egwene a worthy Amyrlin? And now they kill her even though her role greatly expands AFTER her stilling and deposition. It is after she is cast down that you see her true fire, her determination, and devotion to her cause.

I don’t even have the energy to discuss how I disliked how they showed Nynaeve breaking her block because it wasn’t against Moghedien.

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

I don’t talk much about the Wheel of Time but that’s because after E4, I feel like things went downhill. E7 was supposed to be Perrin’s episode and yet they condensed every moment that led to him becoming called “lord”. His leadership wasn’t truly showcased, they show Alanna and Maksim being more proactive. It wasn’t just because Perrin is one of them that they followed him. Anyway, it’s no use complaining because the showrunners have shown they’ll do what they want anyway. I do not have high hopes for the season finale as I’ve already been let down by Season 1 and 2. I like the cast and their work but I dislike the show writing. It’s quite freeing no longer having to phrase my criticism with “I like the show but…”

Anyway, I feel like the show fandom actively dislikes and is hostile to book readers, even when our criticism is not rooted in bigotry and is based on the series we love. I’ll only engage with my moots about this show and afterwards, I will enjoy my reread in peace. I’ll at least thank the show for giving me faces to visualize as I read.

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

Complaining about the Wheel of Time is so annoying because my complaints tend to revolve around the same thing and it’s Season 3 already. Things have gotten better a little bit but still not great. Rand is my favorite character in the series and I actually felt like the show isn’t for Rand fans until S3E4 and then I feel like Episode 5 is another step back despite some moments I like (Nynaeve and Elayne, Perrin saving Mat’s sisters)

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

I’m watching the Wheel of Time S3 and I’m not commenting too much on it because I want to avoid unnecessary discourse. Anyway I did step back from it during S2 because I was annoyed at how much the show kept downplaying Rand and giving the things he does in the books to other characters. Going forward, I don’t think they can do that anymore especially because so much of what he does is tied up in who he is. The recent episodes do give me hope it’ll be better and S3E4 is the best WOT on Prime episode so far.

[brechtian]

ursula k le guin said sci fi/fantasy does not have to be about giant wars or battles of good and evil or galactic disaster; it is best served as a lens through which to examine what is actually intrinsic to the human condition and what, once removed a few layers from our own perceptions & assumptions, begins to fall apart. and she was correct.

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

Trying out the SNES version of Dragon Quest I+II and while I'll continue playing the older versions of the series, I'll definitely be buying the HD-2D remakes (on sale, they don't do regional pricing as well these days).

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

I think the spoilers I saw for Veilguard has solidified my decision to never play the game. What a slap to the face. Does Bioware even like or respect fans? I was willing to play it in a couple of years after the hype and outrage has died down and after my own feelings about their lack of respect for and dare I say, laziness about player choices in previous games (they were able to handle this well ten years ago but now it’s too hard for them according to defenders) But seeing what they did to previous regions in the previous games and effectively what it did to beloved characters in those regions (ineffective, incompetent, or now irrelevant) is too much for me. Forget it. I’ll look for a different series to love and content myself with three Dragon Age games.