wot-tidbits

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The usual look when you show a WOT book to your friends.

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TarValon.net’s  Saturday Memes & Miscellany  Part 3

@gladysplummer @rena-sedai @letsiuanstopmakingfishmetaphors 

@not-a-darkfriend @thedevilsofficialblog

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Wot Characters and the Taylor Swift song I most associate with them and their favorite Era!(excluding Debut and Tortured Poets Department)

Rand: You’re on Your Own Kid, when asked he consistently says Speak Now

Mat: Cruel Summer, he insists he’s only really listened to Reputation-this is a lie- Midnights is his favorite album

Perrin: Paper Rings, the Lover Album is by and large his favorite- however Fearless is a close second- he just thinks the songs are pretty

Egwene: Wildest Dreams, she’s a Reputation girly first and foremost

Nynaeve: Treacherous, Folklore zero elaboration needed

Elayne: Mastermind, 1989 is her favorite album by far

Min: You Belong With Me, she’s a Red girly and was the one who got Mat to listen to Taylor’s entire discography

Avienda: Red, Avienda isn’t very familiar with all the eras but after Elayne showed her all the albums she picked Evermore

Faile: Stay Stay Stay, just like Egwene she’s a Reputation girly(secretly her favorite is Lover)

Tuon: You’re In Love, Tuon claims to not have any preference but catch her listening to Folklore on repeat

Morraine: The Lucky One, Evermore without a doubt

Siuan: Lavender Haze, she’s a fan of the classics and loves Fearless

Lan: I Know Places, his favorite album is folklore because it’s Nynaeve’s

Thom: Exile, he appreciates the storytelling of Folklore

Brynn: Epiphany, he does not know the names of the albums but he liked most of the songs on Red

Gawyn: Anti-Hero, he insists he doesn’t like Taylor Swift but the answer is 1989

Galad: Karma, without hesitation he says Midnights

Berelain: Slut!, this is a woman who listens to Red, A Lot

#wheel of time

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Of all of the cultures in WoT, Tear is among my all-time favorites. I've been wanting to take my crack at how I picture their blend of Spanish and East Asian aesthetics, and Nalesean seemed a good character to try my hand at!

#wheel of time #nalesean #the band of the red hand #artwork #fanart

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And here they are folks, the first cosplays from JordanCon9 2017. ^_^

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[wot-tidbits]

More of Elaida’s Issues

I was contemplating this earlier today while at work, after a short break and rereading Egwene’s Accepted Test and the time just before it. Her test in general is fascinating, since a lot of it feels like distorted visions of what will come (Egwene as Amyrilian, destruction of Caemlyn for example). But this thought isn’t about the test (though I will someday do a meta on both her and Nynaeve’s Tests, and my thoughts on the fact Nicola passed her’s). It’s about something I’ve looked into a little in prior meta. Namely, Elaida’s hatred (and yes, I will call it hatred, even then) of Egwene.

As I’ve pointed out previously, during Egwene’s Accepted Test, Elaida snarls at her about how she doesn’t belong, and how she should leave the Tower. About how she shouldn’t have been allowed to even test for Accepted, seeing as she ran away. Sheriam, when Elaida bitches about how Egwene shouldn’t even be allowed to test, points out that she didn’t say something similar about Elayne being allowed to test, even though Elayne has the same issue (in theory) as Egwene (while this isn’t stated full out, that has to be the excuse Elaida would use). Just after the test is finished and Egwene has barely survived it, due to the issue of the two ter’angrael, Elaida repeats her spiel about how Egwene doesn’t belong and how she should go back to Emonds Field.

Previously, I’ve pointed out that Elaida wanting Egwene gone relates to her control freak problem. I was contemplating though, what could also be another reason beyond that. Namely, that Elaida is likely aware of Anaiya testing Egwene to see if she’s a Dreamer, someone who can have prophetic Dreams (the bare minimum of a Dreamer’s abilities). Dreaming is one of the forms of prophecy we see in the Wheel of Time, the other two being Min’s viewings, and Foretelling.  Elaida’s ability to Foretell is something incredibly important to her, especially since after Gitara’s death, she may have been the only Aes Sedai to have the Talent, and due to how powerful a channeler she is, she already was highly ranked in the Tower, with the Talent giving her words more weight (presumably).

And then here comes Egwene al’Vere, with a very similar ability and more strength in the One Power.

Much in the way Suian looked at Egwene and saw a potential/actual successor, I think Elaida looked at Egwene and thought “she could replace me” or “she could outdo me”. That idea I suspect terrified Elaida, who wants to be the most powerful, the most regarded. Even with the fact that Moiraine/Suian were Elaida’s rivals as far as strength in the One Power was concerned,In some ways, her words in certain situation would have had more weight due to her Foretelling ability (since it seems like she never really told anyone when she had Foretellings) so people may have suspected she had a Foretelling relating to the events. So even though the three were arguably equals in the Power, she may have been able to sway things on occasion in her favor due to her Foretellings. Now with Egwene, who’s not only stronger, but also has a similar ability….Elaida would have detested that.

#reblog

[wot-tidbits]

Ask game #7 (for WoT)? Character you hate/dislike because of fandom?

Sorry but no amount of impassioned metas will make me like Gawyn /s

In seriousness, I think Siuan (nobody shoot me pls). I very much enjoyed Siuan's character in the books. I enjoyed her romantic past with Moiraine, and the way that they remain in cahoots (and possibly still dating) into the beginning of the main series, and are sometimes at interesting cross-purposes. But I think the fandom makes their relationship overly-starcrossed and dramatic, and it flattens Siuan's character. But I feel like she also has an interesting arc in her deposition and stilling and the way she helps Egwene in Salidar, and I wish people talked about that more. I don't necessarily hate Siuan, but I do dislike at least the way she's characterized in the fandom.

#wheel of time #siuan sanche

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Just got to Caemlyn in my EOTW reread and I’m thinking about how Rand suggests to Basel Gill that he could go to Elaida about the Darkfriends, and I’m *cackling* at the idea of Moiraine getting to Caemlyn only to find Rand with Elaida of all people.

Elaida, who is able to sense Rand is important but doesn’t know exactly what his deal is at this point, suddenly being *very* invested in lording it over Moiraine that Moiraine’s little pet came to *her.* Moiraine gritting her teeth to try and be nice to Elaida despite wanting to slap her because she needs her to get to Rand. Rand just totally clueless to the fact he chose the absolute worst Aes Sedai for Moiraine to have to deal with. Like the one sister with whom she has decades-long animosity.

#wheel of time #the eye of the world

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Aviendha kills a trolloc by Warren Tsang

#reblog

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A Lily In Winter - Elayne Trakand 

I believe this was from Winter’s Heart.  I could be mistaken.

(Probably one of my most favorite fanart pieces.)

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JordanCon 2014

To Harriet 

from Roger Powell a.k.a. Forkroot

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[wot-tidbits]

(***Knife of Dreams Spoiler*** I tagged it. And that’s probably the best I can do.) Wheel of Time triple commission - status: APPROVED! Yay! I big thanks to Andrew who gave me a great deal of artistic freedom and was very patient with me as I toiled along on his project, (and who I wanted to make sure was happy with the end result before I posted the final images, no matter how much they were burning a hole in my pocket). Some time ago Andrew contacted me and asked if I could do three character concept portraits in the same funky aged concept art style I had used for some of my original characters (this one in particular). Now, here in lies the challenge…in spite of my love for all things fantastical and adventurous, I’d never heard of the books. (Sacrilege, I know!) They are on my reading list, trust me. So I relied on Andrew’s descriptions, paired with a few images he felt properly portrayed certain aspects of each character. Then I scoured the interwebs for excerpts and sample chapters and anything I could dig up that would help emulate their personalities (and fell in love with the story in the process). So to you, loyal WoT fans, I humbly bow. I hope I have done your beloved characters justice. I did take some artistic liberties as I did not want my vision to directly copy anything from another artist. That’s not to say the idea hasn’t been done before, but it is always important for an artist to make his or her vision his or her own. I hope you enjoyed them, and thank you for looking. ♥ Pencil & Photoshop, final size is 9x12, museum quality giclee As this is a commission, I will not be selling prints of these three pieces, though there will probably be more WoT art in my future.

#reblog

[wot-tidbits]

Not Jordancon but still fun

While hardcore fans are partying hard at Jordancon I was having my little fun meeting some Bulgarian WOT fans today. There was plenty of talking about the visit of Brandon Sanderson or the fresh news for TV series. Ok, ok, not so much fun like Jordancon, I get it, but yet I got my “trademark” moment again. While discussing the series one of the girls said that the producers better be careful with casting for appropriate appearance and I was:

“Oh, girl, you better be careful with what you wish”.

She was “What, I just want them to have the proper eyes and hair and so on”.

“What about the Two Rivers’ skin colour?”

A pause for blinking.

“What… what about the Two Rivers’ skin colour?”

At that moment I got the attention of the whole table.

“You know, because they are indians”.

Every single one was looking at me like a mad dog.

“Are you f** kidding with us?!?!”

“Oh, girl, I wish this to be our little nerdy joke… I wish…”

I tell you, it will never get old to see the priceless faces of WOT fans reacting to that sentence. Their stunned expression trying to perceive the absurdity in their little non progressive minds get me through hard times.

Let the Light keep you safe

LightOne

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In which Kaitlin is one of the rare dark-haired Aiel, who has recently become a Wise One apprentice (hence the short hair)

the look says, “you know nothing, Rand al’Thor”

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The text and a healthy fandom allows for all of these interpretations, even if you may personally disagree with some of them.

Some thoughts:

The Wheel of Time is a piece of literature and it’s okay for people to interpret things in different ways or have the text resonant differently for you than another fan. And that even if you find some interpretations/ships/character arcs that people are interested in distasteful, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are right and the other person is wrong, and vice versa.

Sure, some opinions might be based more in canon than others, but RJ was an author that was deliberate in leaving room for ambiguity, misunderstanding, and critique in his characters, relationships, plots, and cultures. He also was creating a framework of the world in WoT that might have not completely reflected his own beliefs but rather an attempt to create an interesting world and power system. Canon should of course be the stable foundation of any fandom and it’s important to remember what is canon and what is not. But is also important to remember that canon can be interpreted or critiqued in many different ways.

If someone is not actively taking a bad faith approach to the text (ex: blatantly misogynistic takes on Egwene, Elayne), I feel like we have to allow multiple interpretations of the text because two contradictory views can be true at once, especially in a work as complex as the WoT.

Some examples:

- RJ’s tendency to pair women characters up with a heterosexual partner by the end of the series can be critiqued for being misogynistic. However you could argue that he was trying to fit the theme of balance between genders. You can also find a particular ship out of these pairings interesting and want to explore it more through analysis or fic. ALL three of these things can be true. You can also not agree with some or any or all of these points without completely invalidating that other fans see it this way.

- Some fans find polyamory representation they relate to in Rand having three girlfriends/wives. Other fans critique it as a misogynistic trope. Both interpretations can be valid.

- Similarly, in different wot fandom spheres Elayne and her relationships are seen different ways. Some fans insist she’s straight, some that she’s bisexual, and others that she is a lesbian who experienced compulsory heterosexuality in her relationship with Rand. These fans all have their own reasons (namely, in order: her only canon relationship is with Rand; her first sister bond and relationship with Aviendha can be interpreted as romantic in addition to her relationship with Rand; and some find the difference in chapters/care/detail that RJ gave Elayne and Avi’s relationship compared to hers with Rand to be a compelling argument for comphet). The text and a healthy fandom allows for all of these interpretations, even if you may personally disagree with some of them.

In short, consensus in fandom is great, but allowing for differing opinions and healthy dissent is better, especially with a text as rich as the Wheel of Time.

#wheel of time

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I got to make a shirt at school yesterday! Choosing between the two designs (last pic) was hard but ultimately I decided I would be too embarrassed to wear the top one haha

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Nynaeve

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