#tylin

like yes the maidens and min push the bounds of verbal consent a great deal with rand, but in every encounter Rand initiates as much with Min as she does with him (who pulled his shirt off? Anyones guess) and with the maidens, even though Rand feels flustered and embarrassed its so clear in the subtext how he goes from literally destroying his room and doubting his sanity (cadsuane) to joking around and feeling confident about approaching the sea folk. Like “rand al’thor might have been routed in a bathtub”. He refers to himself by name. They make him feel human. They make him feel sane. And they wouldnt push as much if they didnt recognize this also.

My endless list of TAVs

Introducing TYLIN (insp.)

Got a little interest on that worldbuilding poll I did the other week (about the different races of a particular country and the armor they wear in their army), and I'll admit, it was more interest than I'd expected! :D So I did a (more accurate) drawing of said races and thought i might give them all a brief description here. :) Sorry for the poor quality; I can usually edit my colors to look decent but the computer was not cooperating. ;)

Left-to-right, the races of the Merfaen tiz Ornaru! Simi, Fi, Kubli, Noki, and Sor.

Simien are the smallest out of everyone. They have piggy snouts and large, batty ears. They may be small, but they're known for their larger-than-life personalities! In their original design they had six eyes that went all the way around their heads, giving them a 360 degree view of their surroundings. But also they were kinda creepy so I deleted that feature in later versions. :)

Fien are the most human-looking of the bunch - except of course for their wings, and their colorful hair, which ranges from pink to blue but is normally some shade of purple. Most of my main characters (from this country anyway) are fien, including Vellatra. (Well, sort of. But that's another story.)

Kublien are small, but not quite as short as the simien. They're a little more spindly, and have very long, narrow ears and noses. They generally have keener senses than the other races, and excel at tracking and hunting.

Nokien are just a touch shorter and stockier than humans (the average male noki stands at about 5 feet tall). They have black hair, dark green skin, and brown spots that come in during puberty. (Although there are rare instances of nokien - "clearskins" - who never gain their spots, and are renowned for their youthful beauty.) They are generally quiet and stoic people, who put a lot of emphasis on duty, tradition, and familial ties.

Soren are the gentle giants out of everyone. While they are, naturally, the strongest, they often tend toward peaceful occupations, like blacksmiths or miners. Maiga, the sora pictured, is a medic in the army.

Mat thinks Nynaeve’s glower is for him but Elayne’s commiserating face, Nynaeve’s glower and Tylin’s words all suggest to me that a) the glower is aimed at Tylin and b) Nynaeve had words with her telling her to back off. I just wish we got those words on the page. Nothing I know about Nynaeve tells me she would’ve left without saying anything & had they remained in the city while she continued making Mat’s life hell, I’m sure both girls would’ve made what they did to cow Amathera seem like child’s play. Nynaeve threatened the Seanchan Empress, who they needed for peace before the Last Battle just because she said something slightly negative about Mat. Tylin, with her heinous actions and power base of a single city, wouldn’t stand a chance. The only reasons it seems like they didn’t do enough to protect Mat are because they didn’t know what was truly happening to Mat until just before they were leaving, because we didn’t see that confrontation on screen and because RJ has a knack of writing sexually traumatising scenes and just never touching on them and the effect they have on people ever again. He does it with Nynaeve’s Accepted Test, he does it with Mat at the hands of Tylin, and again with Mesaana and Moghedien at the hands of Shaidar Haran. All these things happen and neither the bystanders or the victims ever think about it again. I HATE that aspect of the books.

I have one answer to both these questions.

1) I hope the show keeps the Mat/Tylin plot-line as a way to show how men can get assualted too.