#wot rambles

PROMISE I'LL TALK MORE COHERENTLY... LATER.

That’s leaves Nynaeve. The oldest of the five. The one who helped raise those kids. She left Emmonds Field to protect them and she outlived them all. She’ll outlive Lan too. She’ll at least have Elayne but that won’t change the fact that those kids she cared so much about are gone. That potentially three of them died violently, that she couldn’t protect them. The long lifespan of an Aes Sedai is a cruel thing, especially for someone like Nynaeve who cares so deeply about the people around her.

Then think about this from Olver’s perspective. He’s been alone for who knows how long, forced to flee his home, to bury his mother, and now all alone in some strange place. He was likely sleeping in the stables, and that was how he ended up trying to make friends with the Hunter of the Horns horse. Then this Hunter drags him out to the middle of the street, threatening to Jill him. Olver was brave about it but it must’ve been terrifying. Especially upon realizing that none of the other refugees would help. Then suddenly a man in nobles clothes, a strange hat and the coolest looking spear he’s probably ever seen intercedes on his behalf. A man Olver has never seen before, a foreigner no less, but here he is coming to rescue Olver like some gleemans hero. Then Olver sees Mat fight, while to Mat this was hardly even a struggle, a few cracks with the blunt of his spear and the ‘fight’ is over, but to Olver, Mat probably looked like a warder with how easily he handled two armed men presumably trained in using those swords they carry. We as an audience see Mat mainly through the eyes of people who don’t take him seriously, Mat himself included, so it’s easy to overlook just how badass Mat must seem to anyone else looking from the outside, especially a young angry boy who wants to fight the aiel who killed his father. We don’t know how Olver found out, or when, but imagine being Olver and hearing the most certainly exaggerated story of Mat “dueling” Couladin. Is it any wonder that Olver hero worships Mat? That inspite of what Olver perceived as Mat being hypocritical and foolish(or as Mat sees it trying to properly care for a child and be a good influence) he still considers Mat to be someone to emulate. Whether Olver sees Mat as more a mentor, brother or father figure he very clearly idolizes him. He wants to be like Mat, he wants Mat’s attention and praise because despite Mat being “no bloody hero” to this little boy he IS a hero, one worthy of any gleemans story

However, his death and the way his madness manifested was incredibly important narratively. It forced Rand to really think about what he had done to the Ashaman. Fedwin’s death and madness forced Rand to confront the fact that the Ashaman are not only human but many of them are barely adults, just like he was when he first started channeling, when he learned he was the dragon reborn. Rand being the one to poison Fedwin despite Taim offering to take care of it, the kindness and compassion that he showed while killing Fedwin was him finally taking responsibility for what he had done to the Ashaman. Fedwin, the rogue Ashaman, and the Ashaman that he killed fighting the Seanchen are what push Rand to take so many risks to cleanse Saidine, beyond his own madness Rand was forced to confront that he had a responsibility to the Ashaman as their creator. As well as showing us that Rand still had that kindness, showing that despite everything he was still Rand Al’thor of the Two Rivers and cared about others.

Look, I think the show does many things well, i will praise the actors and actresses to death, but the show is very very bad at character death. They also do have a horrible shock value habit, I find irritating. Stand outs include setting up Rand’s sword fight with Turak only to unceremoniously and quickly kill him to undercut the moment knowing many book readers anticipated the fight. It shows a lack of commitment to their own story in a lot of ways.

The brain rot, it’s kicking in.