Second appearance of a “grey man” in ep 5. In the books they are fearsome because any weaves simply fall apart when directed at one. In the series they’re just really sneaky undead which is kinda lame.
It’s good to see they’re keeping Egwene as stupid as ever. “oh yes I promise not to enter the dream world without you!”… The very next night… “sure lemme take you into it Moraine, I’m sure it will be fine…”
You’re confusing Grey Men and Gholams, I’m pretty sure. Grey men are very very hard to notice, but easy to kill with mundane or magical means.
Oops. My bad.
Yeah. Also, Grey Men are, while not common, not completely rare either. IIRC there were only six Gholam ever made because even the Forsaken didn’t want something so clearly lethal even to them out and about.
Episode 6 is a little slow at the start but gets spicy towards the end. The whole episode is a great, slow build. I’m really liking this season so far.
Glad to see Thom Merrilin back. I always wanted more of him in the show. Moghedien is very scary.
This latest episode (7) was my least favorite so far for this season but it didn’t lack for excitement and action and was important to the story arc.
And, I gotta say, while she doesn’t get much screen time, I really like Faile.
Y’all should be watching this! Season 1 was kinda meh (not awful but…meh). Season 2 was better. Season 3 is legit good.
Perrin really should have killed Padan Fain but I get why he didn’t.
The last episode is out and it’s great.
Anyone waiting to binge it all in one go can do so now.
I will be really upset if Amazon doesn’t ok a season 4 (they have been silent on that so far).
ETA: The series diverges more from the books here. Makes sense though since the pacing is much faster than in the books.
Also…huge props for Sophie Okonedo. Such a great actor. She nails her role. I can’t imagine her character being done better by anyone else. It had to be her.
I know Lanfear is the most powerful female channeler ever or is possible but shouldn’t Moiraine with the Sakarnen in hand been able to best Lanfear?
The Sakarnen is one of the most powerful ter’angreals in existence. And while Lanfear is much more powerful than Moiraine normally Moiraine is no slouch and with Sakarnen I’d think she’d be close to unbeatable 1v1.
But, Lanfear (almost) wins despite all that (and only loses when Moiraine gets a burst of will at the last second).
Would Moiraine have ever had access to a ter’angreal before? Certainly not that one. It may be powerful but even if Moiraine is a powerful channeler, it undoubtedly takes practice to use it to its fullest potential. She spends a little time practicing in the show but I’d think it would take years to really learn. Like, give an F1 car to someone used to driving their street Porsche at the local track… they’ll probably go faster (if they don’t kill themselves) but they still won’t be close to the potential.
Good point. Moiraine almost seems a match for Lanfear but not quite. Lanfear is as strong with the One Power as a woman can be. She also has access to the True Power and she is also much more experienced and adept at channeling.
I just thought the raw power of the ter’angreal would win the day. Even if less experienced at driving the F1 car will blow the doors off the Porsche.
I get the TV show needs drama.
Nitpick: the Sakarnen is a sa’angreal, not a ter’angreal.
Angreals and Sa’angreals are force multiplier (the latter more powerful than the former), which increase the amount of Power a channeler can channel. Ter’angreals, OTOH, are devices designed for a specific purpose, and channeling through them creates a specific effect. They include the various collars and gates, as well as things like the fluted black rod of balefire.
There’s a sort of related problem that seems to come up in a few areas: the Aes Sedai seem to have skills in a number of areas that would be hard to practice. Stilling, for instance–that must be an incredibly rare operation, and yet just about any Aes Sedai seem capable of participating. How would one practice that? You can’t do it on non-channeling humans, let alone animals or the like (unlike, say, healing).
They’re called “weaves” for a reason - it’s about manipulating the Power in a particular way, not about the interaction with the target. If you can form a perfect stilling weave on a practice dummy then it’ll work on an enemy.
Hmm. And that’s observable by a third party? Someone knowledgeable that can inspect the results?
Yes. Women can see other women weave (and men can see men’s weaves). IIRC Nynaeve learned a few ticks by watching a Forsaken do a weave.
Ok, I suppose that makes sense. The show doesn’t always make it clear who can see what we’re seeing as a viewer. Or the weave itself vs. the effects of the weave, which I gather are distinct.
In the show I think everyone can see the weaves. They aren’t real clear about it but it sure looks like others see the magic happening and are impressed. Otherwise, Rand with the Aiel would just look like some guy waving his arms around to most people there (although the effects would be noticed).
I think it the books is was more restricted about who could see what.
The show is pretty vague about who can see weaves. My guess is that if you had to pin them down, the rule would be:
-Book rules apply… only channelers can see weaves, and only of the same gender
-BUT, when people are channeling particularly powerful things, there are often side effects that are visible… like, maybe when Rand was making it rain, non-channelers could immediately see condensation in the air around him, or something like that.
But it’s specifically pointed out in S2 that only a male channeler would be able to see whether there was a shield around Moiraine (although in the show a stilled/gentled channeler can still see weaves, as Logain was able to see the shield).
Overall, S3 was head and shoulders better than the previous seasons, and I thought the ending was strong. I thought the surprise deaths were totally fine and understandable, and it’s fun to watch not always knowing precisely what is going to happen.
My main frustration with the finale was leaving the Tanchico storyline so unfinished. There was no resolution, and there was very specifically no (that big fight that book readers were all expecting).
As for Moiraine vs Lanfear, I do think one of the things the show has done the worst is any concept or consistency of relative power levels. Book readers have a general idea of who is stronger than who, who is likely to win a fight vs who, by how much, etc. For the show, it seems like the outcome of any particular conflict is just whatever fits the storytelling desires. Alanna and two warders vs five or so Black Ajah sisters? Super-close! Could have gone either way!
Moiraine vs an entire fleet of ships full of channelers? She nukes them.
etc.
Actually I’d say we’re currently the closest we’ve ever been. Basically all of the main characters are somewhere along their book arc. A solid majority of S3 was either close-to-straight-from-the-books or at worst, took-things-from-the-book-and-rearranged-them.
There are a few dead characters who “shouldn’t” be dead. But honestly, the main part of their storylines were done.
Did we really want to see Suian hanging around in the background, occasionally advising Egwene, and doing Gareth Bryne’s laundry? Did we really want to see Loial, umm, having a girlfriend and giving a speech to the stump? Clearly the series is going to have to cut storylines, and all of those storylines are, imho, totally reasonable ones to cut.