I would have bet money Nynaeve showed off some Ta’Veren mojo in this regard. Maybe it was someone else. Like I said, it has been 20 years since I read it. Not memory I will insist on.
Was it after Moraine had some power removed (but could still channel) after being with the Finn?
I didn’t care for the first season, but am really enjoying this one. I think the trollocs still look terrible, and I’m having a horrible time trying to get a sense of the world (GoT’s opening was brilliant in this regard), but it’s fun.
I barely remember the books, so I’m still getting surprised, but have a tiny bit of background remaining that helps.
I just remembered who it was:
Book spoiler (which may or may not become a TV series spoiler): Nynaeve “cures” Siuan Sanche and Logain from being stilled/gentled in the books.
For fun this YouTube channel has a few videos that discuss the history of this world. It is based on the books and comes across as a military history. Still fun though:
Fares Fares plays a character…that is not The Dark Lord? Did I misunderstand season 1? Now he is calling himself Ishmael and he is the chief representative of the Dark Lord.
My wife and I are both confused about this. I thought he was the Dark Lord in human form.
???
He does represent himself that way in the first book, calling himself the dark one or some such. Rand defeats him and he retreats, still not really using the name Ishamael in the second book either.
So much in this show is different. On one hand, I want it to move faster because I know it won’t last 15 seasons. On the other hand there’s SO MUCH that happens that’s integral to the plot, it’s hard to see what they can condense more than they already are to fit more than one book into a season.
This plays out much differently and for much longer in the books, but… in essence, you’re supposed to have be confused. Our young heroes spend the first few books being tormented by a mysterious dark-clad being with burning eyes who refers to himself as “Ba’alzamon”, which they are told means “heart of the dark”. And, logically enough, they assume that is the actual Dark One.
Turns out it is just a human being, albeit a very powerful one. Ishamael, the leader of the Forsaken, who either was insane and believed himself to be the DO, or just enjoyed the grandiosity of letting people assume he was the DO.
In the books it’s a pretty epic mic drop revelation, whereas in the series it’s just kind of dropped in without much commentary.
I can imagine it being done well… but so far at least, her and Lan’s storyline is by far the least interesting of the season. Every time he has a long heart-to-heart with one of Alanna’s warders, it’s just a snoozefest. And I do not understand Moiraine pushing him away.
Frankly, the “push someone I care about away to protect them” trope is far lamer, imho, than someone getting depowered. But it at least vaguely makes sense when it’s Peter Parker realizing that supervillains might come after Mary Jane. In this case… Moiraine needs Lan more than ever now. And he’s already “in the game”, so to speak. She knows how important a warder is to keeping an Aes Sedai alive and safe. How much more important is his presence now that she’s just an relatively helpless non-magical woman? Baffling.
Oh, hard “yes”.
Apologies for popping in with a question that’s unrelated to the conversation. But my husband and i just stumbled upon this, and wonder if it might be fun. Neither of us has read the books, and i don’t want to read the entire spoilery thread.
If you like high fantasy then this may be good fun for you.
I wasn’t thrilled with Season 1. It was ok but didn’t quite work well for me (which may be a result of the need to introduce characters and world build, something Season 2 need not do). I am enjoying Season 2 much better (with a few quibbles).
Overall, I would say it is worth a watch if you like the genre. It is mostly well-acted and shot (very high production value).
You do not need to read the books to watch the show. Obviously the books will provide more background but you can just ask here if curious (or an easy Google search). The TV show stands on its own just fine I think.
I thought this episode was excellent, if hard to watch. But that’s fitting, because the Egwene Damane scenes were hard to read.
Looks like Lan-moping is finally getting wrapped up (although I thought it was very clumsily handled how Alana and her warders were suspicious of him… makes sense in retrospect, but just wasn’t told very well).
Loved Rand and Mat reuniting, and now I’m pumped for the presumed big Falme finish.
Yeah…threatening to kill him? Really? As if he hasn’t proven himself to be an implacable foe of the Dark One for decades? Lan knows Alana can’t do that unless she is Black Ajah. I suppose her warders could do it…still, no way she or her warders would likely do it. And then Lan just blurts out the biggest secret in all of the world at that threat? Yeah, could have been done better.
Otherwise a good episode and exciting to watch.
If Alana isn’t black ajah but is certain that Lan is a darkfriend, she can certainly wrap him up in air and let her warders kill him.
I think they underplayed “they’ve always trusted and liked and respected him, but suddenly have very strong circumstantial evidence that he is and always has been a darkfriend”. Would have worked better if there had been more buildup to that. (And of course it’s particularly hard for us book readers to process small hints in that direction because to us it’s so ridiculous to think he’s a darkfriend.)
Upon re-watching some episodes in this TV series I am thinking Moiraine has not been stilled…she has been shielded.
When we see Ishamael “still” her we see the same special effect that we see when the Aes Sedai are shielding Logain (NOT gentled…shielded…it’s different).
Later, it is mentioned that it takes eight Aes Sedai to still/gentle a person and there is no way Ishamael could do it alone but it is shrugged off assuming he is just that powerful (and he is powerful but probably cannot still someone by himself).
As such, Moiraine needs a male channeler who can see the Saidin weaves and unravel them and she’ll be good to go.
Just speculating…
Season 2 has been excellent and S2E7 is pretty great. Enjoying it a lot. Bummed there is only one more episode this season.
Also, I was right about Moiraine. (pat myself on the back)
Am I the only one missing Thom Merrilin? I know he was in one episode but he should be in so many more. I don’t understand why he isn’t.
The real-world explanation is that the actor had scheduling/COVID conflicts, but will be in season 3.
I thought episode 7 was a bit of a letdown… wasn’t bad, but it was basically all buildup, no payoff. How much will actually get crammed into the season finale?
If things are going to more or less follow the book, we need:
-Egwene gets rescued (seems certain to happen… hopefully along with some others?)
-Rand and Ishy fight in the sky (seems nearly certain to happen)
-Mat blows the horn? (probably? horn hasn’t been played up, but damn this would be a shame to miss)
-Rand duels Turok? (seems unlikely, given that Rand is just learning sword forms. My theory for an awesome way for this to go would be that Turok encounters Rand, sees his Heron-Marked blade, and says “ahh, let’s see what it takes to be a blademaster on this side of the ocean”, and then he’s clearly about to slaughter Rand (maybe Rand can’t channel for some Lanfear-related reason) and then… foosteps… and Lan shows up saying “he’s just a sheepherder who inherited his father’s sword… if you want to face a blademaster, try me” or something, and then LAN BLADEMASTER DUEL!!!)
-Seanchan flee west (probably unneeded… if 14 books are being compressed to 8 seasons, as is apparently the plan, having them leave and come back later seems overly complicated)
-Whitecloaks show up at some point (strongly hinted at)
-Ingtar reveal (but we’ve hardly seen him in episodes, so… maybe not? doesn’t seem like it would have the impact)
We also need everyone to re-meet-up and have their plots all intersect again… hopefully Perrin and the spearmaidens show up in the nick of time to help someone out, or something.
Shouldn’t Rand be hanging with the Aiel by now???