The Wheel of Time TV Show 4: The Budget Rising [BOOK SPOILERS]

[Gertrude]

On 7/25/2021 at 2:12 PM, Corvinus85 said:

That's how I imagined the strands of the Pattern to look. For weaves, I've always tried to picture semi-translucent, energetic, fabric weaves.

Agreed that the strands are threadlike. I've always pictured the weaves as complicated braids, but I'll be happy just to see how talented professionals interpret it.

[Myrddin]

Someone on Reddit posted a bunch of shots from a magazine article. I'm heading into a meeting, so I can't track down the original source, but here's the Reddit Link.

Cue the Fellowship Heroes Theme

 

 

 

[Slurktan]

4 minutes ago, Myrddin said:

Someone on Reddit posted a bunch of shots from a magazine article. I'm heading into a meeting, so I can't track down the original source, but here's the Reddit Link.

Sadly my first though was...  Rand is not tall enough lol. But the shots were good other than that, I like the wardrobe department very clearly makes it look like the 5 are hanging out with two people with much better means.

[Myrddin]

20 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

Sadly my first though was...  Rand is not tall enough lol. But the shots were good other than that, I like the wardrobe department very clearly makes it look like the 5 are hanging out with two people with much better means.

That is the coat of a woolheaded sheep herder.

ETA Two interesting tid bits from the article:

-It mentions Andor's succession in the discussion about the matriarchal nature of this world. Is this just a passing reference or will be actually see Camelyn (as it's rumored we won't).

-It cites building Shadar Logoth from scratch only for 15 minutes of screen time. This gives us a clue on the speed they're rolling through the story.

[Poobah]

The thing I found most interesting from these stills, as a total WoT nerd, is the inclusion of Kerene Nagashi in the capture of Logain. Now I think it's very reasonable to include Alanna here because she's a semi-important character so introducing her early makes sense, and we can also see some Reds in the background, where obviously this is very much a Red Ajah thing and this would be an ideal opportunity to introduce important Reds so this is so far so good.  

Kerene though is interesting for a bunch of reasons. When I heard that she was cast I think my assumption was that she'd be appearing in flashbacks to the New Spring era, but to see her in the present raises questions and speculation. First she was a very powerful Aes Sedai, mentioned as one of the most powerful in centuries short only of Cadsuane, which puts her well above the norm in the tower where Moiraine, Elaida, and Siuan were generally thought of as the strongest living/active Aes Sedai, and the appearance of Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve was heralded as a major thing, and would make her immensely influential given the dumb way the Aes Sedai give respect and deference to raw strength in the power. Second, you might have noticed the past tense in the last sentence and that's because in book lore she's dead. She was one of the searchers that Tamra trusted with the knowledge of Gitara's prophecy and sent out to find the Dragon Reborn and was subsequently murdered by the Black Ajah.  

This leaves me wondering how much book lore are they following here? Cadsuane would have been another very important green they might want to throw into this scene with Logain, and could actually have been there too, so why's she missing, are they using Kerene in her role for some reason? Is this a Kerene who survived the assassination attempt and has also been looking for the Dragon all these years? Is this actually Kerene Nagashi I'm looking at here, perhaps she still died but was replaced and this is actually our Mesaana role rather than Danelle? Are they just playing really loose and using a book name for basically an OC?

[Gertrude]

I like the costuming. It might be a small thing, but I like that the Aes Sedai are shown wearing actual pants instead of just divided riding skirts. It tells me that they are active participants in their world, and their work is important (and wouldn't risk tripping over decorative skirts) Egwene's costuming is my favorite I think, though there are some things to like in all of them. I like that they went with a plaid for the girl's skirts because that's not something I had imagined, but it fits perfectly and adds a bit of character. Mat is looking completely disheveled, like he would, and Rand's shearling coat is a nice touch. It looks a bit modern, so I will have to adjust a bit, but that fits the setting just fine.

I did want them to break away from the traditional fantasy mold and twist it a bit, and I think they've done that well on first look.

[Corvinus85]

I, too, had the initial reaction about Rand's height, but maybe the actor for Perrin is just too tall.  I guess we should not expect towering Aiel in the show.

Lan's costume is very eastern Asian, but curious about the colors. He's wearing blue, signifying his allegiance to Moiraine, and next to him Nynaeve is wearing green. Isn't that Lan's favorite color? Nice hints.

The Logain shot, which looks pretty good, tells me that we won't see Caemlyn. Maybe the main characters run into the Aes Sedai party taking Logain to Tar Valon in a random location.

[Myrddin]

RE: Mat's Beard

Initially I was taken aback since I always pictured him clean shaved as the lady's man of the trio (even though Perrin and Rand know SO much more about women... ), but given Mat's state of mind (or I guess, soul) during this leg of the journey, it makes sense he's completely let himself go. It's a very minor thing, but it'd be a nice character visual to have him clean shaven when they leave EF but have the beard and wild hair grow the longer he has the dagger. Especially contrasted with clean shaven Rand.

[Ran]

Like the plaid in the skirts, quite a nice touch, but why do the lads have no hint of similar in their clothing? Dislike how unembroidered everything is, even Moiraine's clothing just being solid blue. Ditto what we can see on the other Aes Sedai, just solid blocks of color, including the Red Ajah who just end up looking a bit like Handmaids. 

Like Lan's outfit pretty well, though. Don't blame them for not going through the trouble of the color-shifting cloaks.

[Gertrude]

45 minutes ago, Ran said:

Dislike how unembroidered everything is, even Moiraine's clothing just being solid blue. Ditto what we can see on the other Aes Sedai, just solid blocks of color, including the Red Ajah who just end up looking a bit like Handmaids. 

I think I see a hint of embroidery on Nyneave's collar, but I'm not sure. I don't actually mind the Aes Sedai dressing practically and not fancy. Like I said, I like that they look as ready to work as the men. I hope the color coding is for public-facing events and we see a variety of dress in their down time and more fancy garb for more formal, diplomatic work and not the field work we're seeing in these photos. Moirane does a mix of hiding her status and announcing it in their travels - anyway, I'm fine with seeing how it all shakes out in the larger scheme of things.

[Myrddin]

For the show, I think the color coding makes sense. We don't have (or need) character inner voices to explain who every Aes Sedai is and why they're aligned to this ajah or that. Plus, unless they make a big deal about it, it may be a detail only book readers will catch on to initially.

I can see my co-workers now: Why are all the red dressed women hating men? And why are all the librarians wearing monk brown? Waitaminute....   

[Gertrude]

2 minutes ago, Myrddin said:

For the show, I think the color coding makes sense.

Agreed. I was just hoping it would be a little less, you know? The Aes Sedai with Logain look like they are in uniform - which again, makes sense for a party of Aes Sedai performing public duties in the field. I just hope they aren't always in "uniform".

[Ran]

To be clear, I have no problem with the color coding at all. Makes perfect sense, and most Aes Sedai favor wearing the colors of their ajah. I'm just remarking on the sheer blockiness of the solid colored outfits -- everyone except the poorest beggar (and sometimes even them) has embroidery at sleeves, hem, neck, etc., and figured we'd see that sort of thing to give a little more individuality to the clothing. As it stands, the two Red Ajah women look like they're in interchangable uniforms.

[Werthead]

Trailer tomorrow.

[Corvinus85]

Can't wait. And wow, Tar Valon looks great. I wonder if that's a young Moiraine.

[Ran]

Wonder why they opted for visible seams in the masonry of the White Tower? Odd choice given that the Ogier are supposed to be so good at masonry that the stones are laid seamlessly.

[fionwe1987]

Tar Valon, the little we can see if it, looks good, but pretty tiny. The island is about 8 miles long, and the Tower is more or less in the center. This looks like a much tinier island, given that the river snakes up, so we're either looking North or South.

Pretty excited for the teaser though. I hope the show looks good.

[Rhom]

7 minutes ago, fionwe1987 said:

Tar Valon, the little we can see if it, looks good, but pretty tiny. The island is about 8 miles long, and the Tower is more or less in the center. This looks like a much tinier island, given that the river snakes up, so we're either looking North or South.

Pretty excited for the teaser though. I hope the show looks good.

I’m sure it will be as big as it needs to be for whatever shot they are doing at the time…

[Werthead]

29 minutes ago, fionwe1987 said:

Tar Valon, the little we can see if it, looks good, but pretty tiny. The island is about 8 miles long, and the Tower is more or less in the center. This looks like a much tinier island, given that the river snakes up, so we're either looking North or South.

Pretty excited for the teaser though. I hope the show looks good.

Yeah, the island is about the same size as Manhattan, and the White Tower is only 600 feet tall (less than half the height of the Empire State Building), so you'd be able to see way more of the island.

I wonder if this is the White Tower then and maybe another, lower tower in Tar Valon much closer to Northharbour. 

[Corvinus85]

I would like to point out that it appears the Ogier masons must have gone to the Star Wars School of Architecture and Engineering. (Easy fall, no railings )