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#moiraine really out here like:
moiraineswife · 7 months
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Moiraine + That Pesky First Oath
1x06 vs 2x05
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lesbian-in-leather · 8 months
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NO SPOILERS FOR SEASON TWO
BUT I'm currently rewatching the first season of Wheel of Time as a refresher before starting the second season, and my GOD I forgot just how gay Liandrin is
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morgana-larkin · 3 days
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HMM,,, if i dare request an either chessy or melissa fic.. with... like them having a breast/lactation kink and when doing the deed- like praising reader and making them suck her tits ETC do whatever u feel is necessary with this if u even want to write it.... :) /// also inexperienced reader and/ or mommy kink....
Dare accepted! I also did a little surprise and did both of them! I don’t see Chessy as having a mommy kink though so I didn’t do that for her. So it’s quite long since I wrote about both and tried to make it as cute as possible. So good luck! Not edited in the slightest and I hope you like it!
On another note: you might have noticed that I added 2 other characters to my masterlist, adult Misty from yellowjackets and Moiraine Sedai from wheel of time. Send prompts for any character on my masterlist! I do it all, angst (with reluctance), fluff, smut, age gap.
Her Good Girl
Warnings: ok there’s a small list. Breast kink, mommy kink, praise kink, so much fluff, semi public smut, smut
Words: 6.9k (I have no regrets)
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Melissa
“When are you gonna ask her out?” Barb says to Melissa one morning.
“Ask who out?” Melissa says, even though she knows exactly who Barb is talking about.
“She means y/n.” Janine pipes up and Melissa and Barb turn to the trio.
“Ya, I mean you guys are so flirty I’m surprised you aren’t already together.” Jacob says.
“It’s really obvious.” Gregory adds and Melissa turns back around and face Barb.
“What they said.” Barb says.
“I just, I’m not ready.” Melissa says. “Where is she anyway? She’s usually here by now.” Melissa adds as she sees the time.
20 minutes later they all get up to go greet their students and Melissa sees you’re still not here. They walk to their classrooms and then Melissa sees you coming in the front door in a hurry and your hair is wet.
“If you’re not gonna ask her out then at least put the heart eyes away.” Barb teases her as Melissa looks at you longingly and with soft eyes.
You end up catching up to them as you all make your way to your classrooms. “Hey you two.” You tell them.
“Hey hun.” Melissa says right away.
“Morning sweetheart.” Barb says after looking at Melissa with a smile and shake of her head.
“Running late this morning?” Melissa asks you.
“Ya, I forgot to set my alarm clock and woke up 40 minutes ago. Took the world’s fastest shower and didn’t have time to blow dry it.” You tell her. You then both say bye to Barb as you reach her class then you both continue on to yours.
“Well I think you still look good, wet hair or dry.” She tells you with a smile.
“Thanks.” You tell her. Unknown to you is where Melissa's mind is wandering right now seeing your hair wet. Things the two of you could do in the shower. Then Melissa takes a deep breath and tries to think of other things to calm herself as she feels herself getting wet between the legs and it’s not even 8am yet.
“Did you have a coffee?” She asks you and you shake your head.
“I’m gonna get a headache from the caffeine withdrawal until lunch.” You say with a pout.
“Well here, I still have half left. Take the rest of mine.” She tells you and hands you her mug.
“Oh no, that’s your coffee, you should have it. I’ll just power through until lunch.”
“Hun, I’m offering it to you. Just take it, I had enough for the morning.” She tells you.
“Are you sure?” You ask and she nods with a smile. “Alright, if you insist.” You say and you take her mug and take a sip. You hum at the taste of the caffeine and you smile.
“Do you want to go out with me?” She asks as you reach your classroom. You choke on the coffee and begin coughing. She pats and rubs your back until you stop.
“What?” You ask her, you didn’t know if you heard her right.
“Do you want to go on a date with me?” She repeats and you smile at her.
“Yes, I’d love to.” You tell her and she beams.
“How does this Saturday sound?” She asks you.
“Sounds perfect.” You tell her and kiss her cheek, she blushes and touches the spot where you kissed her cheek and smiles.
*7 weeks later*
It’s Saturday night and you’re both cuddling on her couch, finishing the movie. The credits roll and you reluctantly pull away from her and stretch and yawn.
“I should probably get going.” You say and stand up.
“Alright hun. Will I see you tomorrow?” She asks you and you nod. She gets off the couch and goes to where you’re gathering your things near the door. You stand back up and you look at her. You lean in and give her a quick peck, then you give another and another. Then you keep your lips on hers and end up making out with her. At some point you end up moaning and she pulls away. “As much as I would love to keep kissing you, your moaning is gonna make me want more.” She tells you.
You told her you were a virgin 3 weeks ago when she asked you if you wanted to have sex and she told you to let her know when you were ready. You felt so lucky to have her, she was so patient and understanding with you. You leaned in and kissed her again and she pulled back after 2 seconds before it could continue. “I’ll see you tomorrow hun.” She tells you. You were about to put your shoes on when you looked at her again, her smiling at you and you realised, you’re ready now.
“Actually, I think I’d like to stay.” You tell her and she quirks an eyebrow at you. “I’d like to stay and keep kissing you.” You tell her and walk towards her and put your hands on her stomach gently. She flinches and looks shocked and then you start moving them up, towards her chest. She stops your hands by grabbing your wrists and looks at you, still holding your wrists.
“Hun, what are you doing?” She asks you and you smile at her.
“I’m ready, and I want you right now.” You tell her and she still looks at you.
“Are you certain? Like 100% certain?” She tells you.
“Yes, I want you to be the one that takes my virginity Mel.” You tell her and she smiles.
“Then come to my bedroom.” She tells you and makes you go first. You walk upstairs and as soon as you make it to the top. She spins you around and kisses you, and then picks you up and places your legs around her waist. She carries you the rest of the way to her bedroom and she gently places you on the bed. She goes to close the door and then makes her way back to you.
You scoot up a little further on the bed and Melissa crawls on top of you and kisses your lips. She grabs the hem of your shirt and then pulls back to look at you and you nod. She takes your shirt off and she looks at you. “God you’re so beautiful.” She tells you and you bring her back to kissing you. She trails down to your neck and kisses your neck then begins sucking on it and you gasp and arch your back. Melissa sneaks her hand under you and unclips your bra. She takes it off with your help and she throws it somewhere on the ground. She switches to the other side of your neck and she cups both of your breasts in her hands and squeezes them. You moan at that and she smirks before trailing down again to your chest and places kisses all over your chest before placing her mouth around a nipple. You grab her hair when she places her mouth on a nipple as the feeling is heavenly.
“Omg Mel. That feels so good!” You tell her and she smirks, you don’t see it but you feel it. After a minute, she switches to the other nipple and you buck your hips. After another minute of her swirling her tongue around on your nipple and sucking it, she pulls away and moves down. She takes your pants off with little effort and she places her fingers on your underwear then looks at you for confirmation again. You nod your head and she slides your underwear off slowly, just enjoying seeing your whole body without anything on it, and she’s the only privileged one to ever see it, and that makes her happy. She rubs her hands up and down your legs and thighs, just feeling your entire body. She lies down to place her mouth on your clit when you speak up. “Wait.” You say and she stops immediately and looks at you. “I want to see you too. I’m completely bare here and you still have all your clothes on.” You tell her and she grins.
“I know, that’s how I like it. But don’t worry, you’ll see my body as well. After I pleasure you first.” She says with a wink and you blush. “Are you ready?” She asks you and you nod. She wastes no more time after that, she dives down to your clit and starts swirling her tongue on it and you moan out at the feeling and you grab her hair again. She then goes lower to your entrance and you gasp. “Oh Amore, you taste so good.” She tells you then sticks her tongue in your entrance and you gasp loudly. She takes her tongue out then immediately sticks it back in again and repeats for a couple minutes. She pulls back and you whine, “have you touched yourself before?” She asks you and you look at her.
“Only with a vibrator.” You tell her and her eyes shine at that.
“So you’ve never fingered yourself?” She asks and you shake your head. “Oh Amore, I feel so privileged.” She tells you and you blush. “I’m going to stick my finger in but if you want me to stop then let me know ok?” She asks and you nod. “It might hurt a bit at first but that’s because you’re not used to it.” She says and you nod again. She starts playing with your clit and you buck your hips and she lined her middle finger up with your entrance and she slowly inserts it. You gasp out when she’s entering and then when it’s in all the way, you moan. It does hurt a bit but she stays there until you nod at her to tell her the pain stopped. She slowly slides it back out then slides it right back in again and you begin to moan again.
“Can you go faster?” You tell her and she smiles and speeds up. You gasp and grab her hair. While she’s still fingering you, she leans down to you and kisses your lips. Her thumb goes to your clit and you gasp in her mouth and she slides her tongue in and you moan. She slows down and slides a second finger in and you arch your back and gasp in the kiss again. You feel you're close to coming and your legs start to shake and Melissa notices.
“Oh baby, are you close?” She asks you and you nod. “Do you want to cum for mommy?” She asks and you don’t even flinch at the nickname she gives herself, in fact it turns you on even more.
“Yes I want to cum for you mommy.” You say and she grins.
“Then cum for me baby.” She tells you and you come immediately. Melissa slows her fingers down and gently pulls them out. You take a minute to catch your breath and Melissa comes back in with a cloth. When did she leave? She gently wipes your centre then looks at you with a smile. “How was that?” She asks you.
“Fucking incredible!” You tell her and she beams. She comes up to you and cuddles you. After about 10 seconds you go and straddle her lap.
“Something you want Amore?” She tells you with a quirked eyebrow.
“I want you.” You tell her.
“You just had me.” She teases you.
“I want to see your body and touch it and make you feel good too.” You tell her.
“Are you sure? You don’t have to, the first time might be a bit overwhelming.” She tells you and strokes your cheek with the same hand she used to finger you. You grab her hand and stick the 2 fingers she used in your mouth and lick them. She looks at you with so much lust in that moment, you think she might fuck you again. You moan around her fingers and she rubs her legs together. You remove her fingers from your mouth and you reach for her shirt and she nods before you take it off. You look at her stomach and chest and you have to wipe some drool off that slipped out and she giggles. You reach in the back and unclip her bra and you practically ripped it off. Once it’s off, you freeze and stare at her breasts. They’re so big and so soft looking, they’re irresistible, they’re perfect. “Go on and touch them if you want. I like it when people touch them and suck on them. It’s a kink of mine.” She tells you and you immediately cup both of them and then attach your mouth around a nipple and she moans. “Yes baby, just like that.” She tells you and you begin sucking on it and she grabs your hair. “Yes that’s it, suck mommy’s tit.” She says and you moan which makes her buck her hips due to the vibration on her nipple.
She practically traps your head there since she’s holding your hair but you don’t care, you feel like you can spend all day just licking and sucking her nipples.
“Baby, can you be a good girl and suck mommy’s other tit?” She asks you and you immediately pull back and attach your mouth on the other one and start sucking. “Good girl.” She says and you moan. She sees that you like getting praised, she thinks you might have a praise kink. You take her pants and underwear off after you pull back and you look at her completely naked and you blush. “Does my baby like what she sees? Do you like mommy’s body?” She asks as she strokes your cheek.
“Yes mommy, I love your body.” You tell her and she smiles.
“How about you stick your cute little fingers in me and put that amazing mouth of yours back on my nipples? How does that sound?” She asks you.
“I like it.” You tell her and you go to stick your fingers in and realise you have no idea where to put them. Melissa notices this and she guides your fingers to her entrance and you stick a finger in and she moans.
“That’s it baby, put another one in, don’t be shy.” She tells you and you stick another one in and you start sliding in and out of her. You think that she feels amazing around your fingers and you don’t want to ever pull out. She then leans down so her boobs are in mouths reach and you wrap your mouth around a nipple and you start sucking. Melissa starts moaning like crazy and it turns you on and you rub your thighs together. Melissa notices the action and looks at you with a smirk. “Oh, does my baby like the noises that mommy makes for her?” She asks you and you nod. “If you like I can fuck you with a strap after.” She tells you and you nod.
You go and suck on the other nipple and Melissa continues moaning and she is now riding your fingers while you continue to slide in and out of her, matching her rhythm. She grabs your hair and she starts shaking and you look up at her face while still sucking on her nipple.
“That’s it baby, I’m so close, rub my clit.” She commands and you obey. You bring your other hand in between her legs and you find her clit and start rubbing it. Seconds after she comes with a high pitched gasp. She takes your fingers out of her and puts them in her mouth and licks them clean. She moans when she’s licking the taste of herself off your fingers while looking at you. She smirks then gets off the bed and heads to her closet.
“Wait! Where are you going?” You ask her and she turns around.
“Don’t worry, just to my closet. I made you a promise didn’t I?” She says and you look confused. Did she? You can’t remember. She then pulls out a strap and puts it on and that’s when you remember. She walks towards you with it on and you wonder how she can look breathtaking no matter what. She climbs on top of you and puts her hands all over your stomach and chest. “So beautiful, and all mine.” She says softly and you moan. “Do you like being mine baby?” She asks you and you’re back to only being able to nod as you can’t find your voice. She wants to get you more wet to not hurt you as you only ever had a finger in you before and that was 10 minutes ago. She grabbed her smallest dildo but she wants to be cautious. She then remembers that you might have a praise kink, so she experiments with that. “Well, you don’t have to worry baby, you are mine, you’re my good girl.” She tells you and you feel all the wetness from your mouth shoot to your core at her praises. She checks your entrance and sure enough, you’re wet enough now. She lines the strap up and looks at you. “This might hurt a bit baby, but if it hurts too much then tell me straight away ok?” She says and you nod.
She then starts to slide in the tip and you feel it start to fill you. She slides more in and you feel yourself stretch to accommodate it. It does start to hurt a bit but not to the point of being painful, especially if it’s also mixed with pleasure. She slides in fully and you gasp.
“You ok baby?” She asks you, voice full of concern. It takes you a few seconds but then you look at her and nod. “Do you still feel a bit of pain?” You nod at that and she stays still, she does move a bit but only to kiss you. You start to relax and then you notice the pain disappeared and only pleasure remains and you start to squirm. Melissa feels you squirm and looks at you. “Am I correct to assume you want me to start moving?” She says and you nod. She smiles at you then starts sliding in and out of you.
You start gasping and moaning as you feel it slide out then immediately fill you back up. You look at her and of course it’s a goddess that’s making you feel this and you pull her head down and kiss her. Melissa is taken by surprise by it but isn’t complaining, she likes that you get a sudden urges to kiss her, it makes her feel wanted. She smiles into the kiss while she’s sliding in and out of you, then moves a hand down to rub your clit. You gasp into the kiss at the intense pleasure you’re feeling. With her lips kissing yours, her boobs squashed on your body, her finger rubbing your clit and the dildo sliding in and out of you at a fast pace. All that together makes you come fast and strong.
She slides out of you and removes the strap. She goes to get a cloth and cleans you up. You yelp at first due to sensitivity but she makes sure to be as careful as possible and then cleans herself up. She lays down next to you and you immediately seek her body out for comfort and she doesn’t hesitate to hold her arms out and bring you close to her, with your head on her chest.
“Do you like that hon?” She asks you once your body has stopped shaking.
“Ya I did.” You tell her with a huge smile. “Did you?”
“Ya, I loved it.” She says and you yawn. “Get some sleep, I’ll be here when you wake up.” She tells you.
“You promise?” You ask her.
“I promise.” She says and you get more comfortable and immediately fall asleep, Melissa stroking your head and finally feeling like she’s where she’s meant to be. She falls asleep with a smile on her face.
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Chessy
You catch Chessy's attention the first time you came over to the house. You knock on the door and Nick runs over to answer it. When you enter with him, Chessy is walking over to go get Hallie and Annie for lunch.
“Hey Chessy, I want you to meet my sister y/n.” He tells her and she gives him a look. She knew he had a younger sister but didn’t know there was such an age gap. You look to be 15 years younger.
“Hi nice to finally meet you.” She says and you look over at Nick then stick your hand out to shake hands with her.
“Hi, nice to meet you too. Nick has talked about all of you and wanted to finally meet his household.” You say. “Nick, I didn’t know you talked about me, I’m honoured.” You tell him and he chuckles.
“Forgive me for asking, but it seems like there’s a noticeable age gap between you too.” Chessy says and you both look at her and smile.
“Ya, 16 years, but we love each other regardless.” Nick says and puts a hand around your shoulders and you giggle.
“Wow, quite a difference. Anyway, lunch is ready, and Nick mentioned you’d be coming over so there’s enough for you to have some as well.” She says and you smile at her.
“Thank you so much!” You tell her and she blushes. She then scurries away quickly to go get the twins. Nick looked at the interaction with interest. He knows that Chessy is interested in both genders and he knows that you’re interested in women, a bit older women too. You mentioned your type to him before and now that he thinks about it, Chessy fits it perfectly. He decides not to say anything as he’s finally getting to reconnect with you in person again after not having seen you for a few years.
A month goes by and since you recently moved to California to get to know Nick’s family more, you lived in an apartment building about half an hour drive away. You mentioned it to Nick when he says you could drop by more instead of a few times a month. You told him that it’s a lot of gas and you got an apartment to pay for and not a great paying job. He then offered to let you move into the house, rent free and after a little insisting and Chessy telling you that it’s a great idea, you accept.
A couple months go by and you and Chessy spend a lot of time together. The twins notice it and also notices the looks you give each other and of course one of them brings it up and embarrasses both of you.
“Are you guys dating?” Hallie asks you both and Chessy’s cheeks turn red and you choke on your juice as you were taking a sip and start coughing. Chessy immediately goes and gives you a few pats and rubs your back to help with the coughs.
“Hal, why would you think we’re dating?” She asks her and the twins look at each other.
“You mean you’re not?” Annie asks and you and Chessy both shake your heads.
“But you spend a lot of time together, you keep giving each other looks that our parents give each other and you’re constantly being touchy.” Hallie explains and you both look at the twins then you look at each other.
“Ok get out of here you trouble makers.” Chessy says and shoos them away. She then turns back to you when they leave. “Hey I’m sorry abo-hm.” she starts but is cut off by your lips on hers.
And that was the start of many kisses and a relationship.
3 months pass and it’s the summertime and Chessy planned a date with you after Nick gave her time off for it, not knowing you and Chessy are dating.
Chessy brings you horseback riding, you take one horse though and she brings you a good distance away from the house. It’s about a 15-20 minute ride. She then gets off and helps you get down and then ties the horse to a tree then sets up a blanket on the ground.
“Did you take me on a picnic date?” You ask her and wrap your arms around her waist and kiss her shoulder blade.
“Ya, is that ok?” She asks, concerned you might not like it.
“Yes, I love it.” You tell her and she turns around in your arms. You both are the same height so she easily kisses your lips and wraps her arms around your neck.
“You know what I love?” She tells you and you look at her curious, you haven’t said the L word yet, but you know you both love each other.
“What?” You ask.
“You” she says and you smile.
“Well I love you too.” You tell her and she smiles and kisses you again.
You both have a great picnic date as she made both your favourite finger foods and you dive into great conversation.
At one point you feed her a piece of fruit and the juice runs down to your arm a bit and she goes and licks it up right away. You let out a small moan and you jump at her and crash your lips together.
“Woah.” Chessy says and it takes her by surprise, so while she still is able to put her hands on your hips, she still falls back on her back, with you on top of her.
When you pull back, you both stare at each other and Chessy smiles up at you. “Hi beautiful.” She tells you and you blush.
“Hi, sorry about that.” You say at bit embarrassed.
“Hey, don’t be sorry. I liked the surprise.” She tells you and moves some of your hair behind you that’s blocking your face. You look at her and you see the care she has for you and it overwhelms you and warms your heart. You knew she cares about you and you always blushed when she did things for you as you weren’t used to it from a partner.
Chessy knew your past relationships weren’t the best and didn’t last long as you told her about them. When you told her then she wanted to show you how a partner should treat you, with respect and love. She let you set the pace as she doesn’t want to push or pressure you, you told her that you came close to having sex once with a partner but then backed out as it didn’t feel right.
You kiss her again and neither of you pull back. Chessy knows she should pull back now as she’s getting turned on with your body on her like this and you’re making out with her. She doesn’t pull back and accidentally lets a moan slip out and her cheeks go red as you pull back.
“Do you want to have sex?” You ask her confused and Chessy is wondering how you don’t know how you effect her.
“Yes, I have for about 2 months.” She tells you. “But I’m letting you decide when you’re ready and I don’t want to pressure you.” She tells you honestly and you look at her with such love.
You cup her cheek and she leans into your touch. “How did I get so lucky with you?” You say and she hums.
“I feel like I’m the lucky one.” She says. You suddenly look around and you see there’s no one around and then you take your dress off. Chessy looks at you and cheeks go red as a tomato. “What are you doing?” She asks and you smile. You know she won’t do anything unless you tell her you’re ready but you decide to tease her first.
“What you don’t like what you see?” You ask her and you drop your smile, to play the act.
“What? Of course I do, but hon, I don’t think you realise the effect you have on me.” She says and she accidentally moves her hips a bit and rubs her thighs together.
“Well what if I told you I want you to touch me?” You tell her with a lower voice and lean down and scoot down a little bit and push her shirt up enough to see skin. You then lean down more and trail kisses up her stomach.
“Hon, I-”
“I want you to touch me, all. over.” You punctuate at the end and you slide your hands under her shirt and they land on her bra before she grabs your wrists and pulls them out of her shirt. You could tell she’s almost at a breaking point and you push a little further. You lean down and suck on her neck and she gasps. She lets go of your wrists and pulls your head back.
“Hon, please I-” she then freezes when you unclip your bra and take it off.
“Do you wanna touch them?” You ask her and she lets out a whine. “Go on then, I want you Chessy.” And at that she snaps. She flips you both over so she’s on top and she dives right to a nipple and starts sucking. You gasp and moan as she puts that experienced mouth on you and finds out quickly what you like. You take the blue sweater off of her and Chessy takes her top off quickly. She then goes to your neck and leaves hickeys all over your neck and chest. “You know my brother will find out as soon as we get back home” you tell her and she smirks.
“He’ll be happy to know you’re being taken cared of.” She says and rubs her hands up your body, starting at your hips. You grab her head and pull her down to kiss you and you unclip her bra and throw it somewhere. You then undo the button on her pants and pull them down. They don’t go far as you both refuse to break the kiss and you move your legs to try and pull them down. It was rather unsuccessful but it did give her a great opportunity since her legs are now right in between yours. She breaks away from the kiss with a laugh at your attempt and kicks them off. “I know you teased me to see how far you could go before I break and believe me, you’ll pay for it next time, but for now, since this is your first time, I want you to enjoy this.” She tells you and in retrospect you probably should have listened but you couldn’t with her boobs right in your face.
You sit up and immediately put a nipple in your mouth while cupping it with your hand and your other hand around her waist to help keep yourself up. You hum as you suck on it and can’t believe how many times you imagined them and how they would feel and taste, and now you know.
“Do you like them honey? Do you like sucking on them?” She asks when she heard you hum. You nod as your mouth is occupied at the moment and she grabs your head. “Suck on them all you want, baby. Your mouth feels so good on them.” She says and when you give a rather hard suck on them, her mouth hangs open, lost in the pleasure. You spend a good few minutes just enjoying her breasts, licking and sucking on them and enjoying the noises she’s making.
While Chessy is used to her breasts getting attention, she’s not used to this much, and she’s loving it. The men she’s dated as only ever paid like 30 seconds on them and when right to her pussy, the women usually about a minute before right to her pussy. And while she knows you’re both soaking wet right now, she can’t help but feel how good it is to have this much attention on them, it’s a kink she never knew she had.
“Oh my good girl, you’re just in love with sucking on them aren’t you?” She says when you pull away.
“Yes, I just love how big they are. I feel like I can suck on the whole thing.” You tell her and she stops you before you do. She’ll let you next time but for now, she wants this to move along. If you’re anywhere she is right now then you’re soaking wet in between your legs.
“Woah there, baby. You can next time but right now, I’ve been wondering how you taste.” She says and you smile.
“Can I sit on your face?” You suddenly ask as she takes your underwear off.
“What?” She asks. Your question caught her off guard, she knows she’ll accept, she wants to taste you and doesn’t matter to her who’s on their back.
“I heard about face sitting and was curious and want to try it.” You ask and she smiles.
“Of course.” She says to you and you get up while she gets on her back. You go up to her face and you align your entrance with her mouth and then lower yourself on her. The first lick she does and you both moan. She thinks you taste amazing and you think it felt really good and you both want more.
She starts licking all over your entrance and eventually sticks her tongue in and starts sliding in and out of you. You gasp and fall forward but she catches you and keeps you up by holding your waist. You end up bucking your hips and grab and yank her hair by accident as the pleasure is just so good. You feel bad for pulling her hand but she just moans and you think that either she didn’t mind or she liked it. You try again and she moaned again and realised that she likes her hair being pulled. She lifts you up a bit to speak. “You can do whatever you want to me, baby.” She says and then brings you back down on her mouth. Only this time she goes to your clit and you really start bucking your hips. You think that grabbing her hair isn’t enough so you put your hands back and grab her nipples. You squeeze them and she moans which vibrates on your clit and you let out a hitch pitch gasp as it took you by surprise and it felt good. You keep squeezing them as her moaning brings you more pleasure and before you know it, you’re close.
“Oh Chessy, I’m so close.” And she gives you a thumbs up to tell you to let go and cum. You do immediately after and Chessy licks it all up. You then get off of her and collapse next to her.
“Did that take a lot of you, baby?” She asks when she sees you spread out like a starfish and breathing hard, and you just nod. She just scoots up next to you and puts a hand over your chest. You turn to face her and kiss her lips, moaning when you taste yourself on her and that gives you a wave of energy. You take her underwear off and then go back wrapped up in her arms. While Chessy thinks you took them off to be able to feel her body on yours to calm down, you actually took them off to finger her. You bring her leg and put it over yours, then you bring a hand down in between her legs and immediately slide a finger in her entrance. She immediately bucks her hips, gasps and brings a hand to your arm, and mouth wide open. She hasn’t had anything in her in a few years and it feels so good. You add another one and slide them in and out of her slowly at first. “Baby, can you go faster?” She begs and you smile.
“I thought you said I could do whatever I want to you?” You tell her and she whines. Fuck sakes, she did say that.
“Didn’t think you’d make me regret saying it.” She jokes with you between gasps. You take pity on her as she made you feel really good and you want to do that for her. You go much faster and she hangs her mouth open again and gasps like crazy. “Oh god, yes baby, that feels so good.” She says and you risk it and add a third finger in her and she falls back on her back, overcome with pleasure. You put your other hand on her clit and rub it while you lean down and suck her nipple. She ends up leaning on her forearms with her legs spread wide open for you and she starts shaking. “Oh god, oh god baby, I’m so fucking close.” She says and you go and suck her other nipple. She comes immediately as you start sucking. You pull out of her and put your fingers in your mouth and lick them. She looks at you as you do that and as soon as you moan at the taste of her, she pounces at you and you end up on your back and her on top.
She wastes no time in kissing you and immediately sticks two fingers in you and you moan into the kiss. She curls her fingers in you while fingering you and you see stars and have to shut your eyes. She puts her thumb on your clit and rubs in a circular motion and you do a huge gasp and start shaking.
“Let go baby, it’s ok, I’ve got you.” She tells you and you immediately come. She pulls out of you then licks her fingers. She didn’t bring any cloths so the blanket will have to do, and cleans you both up. She the lays down next to you to help you both calm down with skin to skin.
“Hmm, I really enjoyed that.” You tell her and she giggles.
“Well I’m glad. Cause I really enjoyed it too.” She tells you and you smile. You end up getting dressed, packing everything up and get back on the horse after about 20 minutes of cuddling and you head back.
On the way back you get in a little teasing mood and you slip your hand under her shirt to cup her boob and rub her clit through her pants and underwear.
“What are you doing, baby?” She says and makes no attempt to stop you even though she could.
“Teasing you.” You simply say.
“Baby, if you keep at it then I’ll stop this horse and take you against the nearest tree.” She tells you. And you pull away from her clit but you put both your hands on her boobs after unclipping her bra.
“I just love these.” You say and she hums and leans back a bit, leaning into your touch. You both make it back to the house, Chessy nearly took you against a tree twice, and you end up clipping her bra back on. She brings the horse to the stable, she gets off then she helps you off. Once you land on the ground though, you wrap a leg around her waist and kiss her. She picks you up and brings you up against the stable wall and continues kissing you.
“Oh my god! Not what a brother wants to see!” You hear and you both pull back and see Nick there covering his eyes with a hand. Chessy puts you down and goes to put the horse away properly and give him something to eat.
“Sorry Nick.” You tell him and then laugh.
“Ya, sorry boss.” Chessy says and walks up behind you, wraps her arms around your waist and places her head on your shoulder.
“I had a feeling you two were together but I did not want to find out that way.” He complains and you and Chessy giggle. “Are those hickeys on your necks?” He says then looks to the horse and the fact you were gone for 3 hours. “Oh my god, on second thought don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. But Chessy, she is my little sister, so if you hurt her then I will fire you.” He tells her and points a finger at her.
“Well I guess it’s good that I have no plans to hurt her.” She says and gives your shoulder a kiss.
“And y/n, even though you’re my sister, Chessy has been with us for many years, so hurt her and you’ll have to deal with me.” He tells you and you turn to Chessy.
“Well I guess I’m stuck with you then.” You tell her with a huge smile. She responds to that with a hard kiss to your cheek and tickles your stomach and you giggle. You break out of her embrace and run away from her tickles and she runs after you, both of you laughing. Nick watches you run both away and shakes his head with a smile. “Such dorks.” He says out loud.
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markantonys · 2 months
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the good thing about the slog is that because such little of true import happens over such a long chunk of the series, the show is quite well-positioned to be able to tell the whole story cohesively in any number of seasons after 4. only 4 seasons would be tricky, but 5 or 6 would be just as doable as 7 or 8. (disclaimer that there has not been any news or speculation about potentially getting less than 8 seasons so don't panic haha it's just a topic i was randomly thinking about today! that being said, i do think 8 seasons is pretty ambitious in today's television landscape, especially if it continues to take 2 years to make each season, so while we're all hoping for the full 8, it's worth imagining how they could do it in fewer.)
i expect s4 to roughly coincide with the end of LOC, so, dumai's wells for rand and being raised amyrlin for egwene. perrin, mat, nynaeve, and elayne have more wiggle room in what they might be getting up to during s4 (it seems possible the ebou dar trip might be absorbed into tanchico in s3, and perrin may have to get an invented plotline or have a later plotline brought forward for s4 since he has so little in TFOH-LOC), so i won't guess at the endpoint for them beyond that it will likely leave them ready to kick into a fresh new storyline for s5. and nynaeve frankly doesn't have a book storyline after ebou dar (she's just supporting rand's & lan's storylines), so i'll ignore her in this post and just focus on the other 5 mains. fingers crossed the show will come up with more for nynaeve to do during this part of the story, but that's a separate topic.
after LOC, as far as i can recall, each of them only has 1-2 main things they strictly Must do before the last battle (obviously i've left out a bunch of stuff, but i'm thinking of just the absolute bare minimum essentials here):
rand: cleanse saidin (only requires 1 episode); reach his lowest point, then pull himself back up again, all the while simultaneously working to get as many nations under his banner as possible
egwene: unite the tower as uncontested amyrlin
perrin: finish wolf training; fold the whitecloaks into his army
mat: rescue moiraine (only requires 1 episode); get himself in charge of the seanchan forces
elayne: become uncontested queen of andor
so if s4 ends where i speculate, they'd all be perfectly positioned to spend 4-6 episodes of s5 doing these things, then the last battle for the remaining 2-4 episodes, and boom, we've fit all the most crucial things into only 5 seasons.
i know the instinct is to gasp and insist that they all have so much else to do, but.........do they really? everybody agrees that egwene & elayne & perrin only have 1 plotline during books 7-11 which is dragged out for more books than is needed to tell it, so mat and rand are really the sticking points. but if you think about it, mat spends this time repeatedly starting one plotline but then getting yanked out of it partway through to start a new one, so he doesn't actually accomplish that much story-wise. rand, meanwhile, is on a bunch of little 1-book quests (taking illian, seanchan campaign, hunting traitor asha'man, trying to meet with DOTNM) that could be cut for time or merged into his Darth Rand emotional arc from TGS. honestly, he's so emotionally stagnant for most of books 7-11 (he's either not present, dicking around doing nothing, or repeating emotional beats he already did in TSR-LOC) that i don't think going from dumai's wells straight to Darth Rand would be a bad idea at all, if the show had to; in fact, dumai's wells is kind of a perfect launchpoint for that arc, emotions-wise, and plot-wise, if they wanted to replace some of the arad doman events with some slog events, but just put the Darth Rand emotional spin on those slog events, they could easily do so (for example, him being reckless/arrogant with callandor against the seanchan and getting his own people killed could sub in for natrin's barrow in showing how ruthlessly Ends Justify Means he's becoming).
but anyway, these are imo the absolute most crucial pre-TLB plot points of the second half of the series (at least for these main characters, i'm not taking ALL characters into account in this post) and they could be fit into only 5 seasons without much trouble. now if you've got 6, 7, or 8 seasons, that gives extra room to expand these plot points and also add in some additional, not-strictly-required-but-nice-to-have plot points like more Little Rand Quests, elayne taking the throne of cairhien, egwene & gawyn hunting assassins in the tower, and the faile kidnapping plotline. (while making this post i actually had a wild thought of the faile kidnapping being perrin's s4 plotline followed by wolves & whitecloak stuff in s5 then into TLB, or alternately the whitecloaks being part of the kidnapping plotline as perrin's unlikely allies rather than the seanchan; could be a great structure for a 5-6 season scenario, but for 7-8 it would cause perrin to run out of content too quickly haha)
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theoraclej · 7 months
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THAT SEASON FINALE!
light, where to begin, a disjointed ramble of things I observed:
Dovie’andi se tovya sagain! - Mat said the words, he said the words!
And he made his own ashandarei! I hope he gets the raven-inlaid one though because I’m sure no one wants him running around with that dagger
And I know he’s going to get a massive S3 glow-up because he sees himself as MORE, now. Yay Mat!
RAND exploding the shit out of the Seanchan including Turak; nice way around his general lack of swordtraining which I’m sure will be remedied
Once the Heron, to set his path!
The interplay between Rand (and Lews Therin before him), Lanfear, Ishamael - they were besties in the Age of Legends, lmao!
I had expected the intro to be a high society polyam party they were attending, not the Sealing of Ishamael, 🤭
The Warder bond was beautiful, flowing, intimate, just what I imagined when reading these books some 25 years ago
I knew Moiraine was gonna say Lan was her better!
I’m so glad they’re back together though, legendary qpp
Nice to see the S1 intro sequence with the gorgeously woven Aes Sedai tapestry
I was a bit sad Nynaeve didn’t heal Elayne OR Rand but she DID swear to make Seta’s mother curse the first kiss her father ever gave her and THAT was cool
Hopper, my beloved! 😩 I would be chopping Whitecloaks too!
It was so satisfying to see Perrin obey his wolfly instincts already!
Elayne being the one to heal Rand’s wound was an interesting choice, and you can tell he was dazzled by her!
Book lines, book lines, book lines making me have conniptions every time one was uttered
“From birth to death I serve the Blood.”
UNO I KNEW YOU WERE COMING YA SHEEP-GUTTED MILK DRINKER
“For the Light, and Shinowa!” still gave me chills even without an expanded story behind it for Ingtar
Egwene al’Vere. I hope she earns a title of “the Unbroken” someday. Remember, Nynaeve even said that about her when Egwene was captured by Whitecloaks in S1!
Egwene, spitting out the damane gag and refusing to rain down fire on innocents, ah my girl, that’s that Two Rivers steel
Egwene, collaring Renna and choking her to death, being stronger than Renna, being able to withstand the pain of that because that’s exactly what Renna taught her
Egwene later, with that amazing shield against Ishamael to protect her friends!
Lanfear pushing Lan and Moiraine out of the ocean Waygate was very unexpected but totally within Lanfear’s lane, just to keep Moiraine away from Rand
Lanfear working to sell the Seals to Bayle Domon, which was so lmao also, and it really enhanced her utter shock when she entered the room later with the Seals all broken.
M O G H E D I E N 🕷️
She is perfectly creepy, perfect in every way. I can’t wait to see her tear shit up, or to see how she will be used in S3 and beyond
Never expected her to cage Lanfear in her webs, either, dang. Lillen Moiral wasn’t near so strong as Mierin. But we know some things are just Talents, and Moghedien is better in Tel’aran’rhiod than Lanfear
Did you notice Rand’s wound swirling with evil bits throughout the healed part? Really cool effect if you catch it
Aviendha, Bain, and Chiad showing they can fight just as well in close quarters in a city as in the Three-Fold Land; and then later acknowledging Rand as Car’a’carn
Though I’d hoped we’d get some good old He Who Comes With The Dawn in here too
Moiraine’s outstanding torpedo weaves that fucked up the Seanchan boats! And she understands the stakes - if the Dragon is gentled, or harmed, or captured, everyone’s life is in danger and that includes her and Lan
Anyhow fuck the Seanchan
Did it look like Suroth got blown up too? Does that mean she’s dead? I guess we’ll see who gathers in the scattered remnants of the Hailene!
The first “I’m not Lews Therin” from Rand
Mat taking a moment to mention Rand’s “shit hair” to Perrin while they were in the mix, lmao
That shadow ashandarei is really scary, it is a laser knife (lightsaber?) on a stick
I can’t wait for Perrin and Hopper to meet again in the Wolfdream
Speaking of which, I think Perrin’s eyes are permanently golden now
I cried at the coming of the Heroes of the Horn, I’m sure many of you did too 😭
Cool Hero fighting effects, I liked those
BIRGITTE SILVERBOW MY LOVELY
I figured Min’s vision of Mat “killing” Rand would be something like this, an accident, not an intentional thing
His blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul…
AL’LAN MANDRAGORAN, the Uncrowned King, Sworn to the Flame, bonded again, fighting as he was meant to, just slicing through armies, snatching arrows out of the air and stabbing people with them, chef’s kiss
I wonder if Nynaeve’s “failures” and inability to channel at these vital moments will give her the drive to break her block
Ishamael’s channeling at the end was really impressive, a testament to how much more he knows than Rand
I hope that’s not the last we see of Fares Fares, he was remarkable as Ishamael and a truly enjoyable villain
And since they didn’t have the Dragon banner of Lews Therin Telamon found with the Horn like in the books, Moiraine saw to it that he was heralded with literal fire
This I can imagine many people seeing from far away, and of course rumor travels further
The Falmen sure seem to appreciate it and of course the Seanchan are gone for now
Lanfear asking the LIGHT to protect Rand at the end is something interesting and NOT LOST ON ME
I REALLY ENJOYED IT and am looking forward to a full rewatch of S1 and S2!
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Proclaimed across the sky in fire 🔥🐲
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moghedien · 8 months
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ok so i was genuinely unsure about how I felt about the way Lanfear was revealed in the moment, but there are three main things that are really selling it for me:
1: It immediately sets up the threat of going up against a Forsaken:
So far we haven't really gotten much of an indication from the show about what the Forsaken really are, who they are, and why they're any different that a regular darkfriend. Obviously there's still a ways to go in explaining it, but Lanfear provided an immediate visual explanation
Because for example, we've already seen one darkfriend innkeeper who had a thing for Rand (or pretended to) take a knife through the throat
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We've even seen Rand stick around and linger by her body and its very clear that absolutely nothing happens.
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We get a lingering shot on her bleeding out and she is very clearly actually dead in this moment. Its not even really a question.
But with Lanfear we kinda get the exact opposite of this moment. We see her take a knife to the throat and clearly go down, then there is no lingering by the characters.
The camera goes back to her and we see the saa very clearly moving in her eye, then she blinks and breaths in.
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And by this being the opposite of Dana, I mean that with Dana there was no question that she was actually dead. With Lanfear, there is absolutely no question that she's still alive.
Dana was also a darkfriend, but this is very clearly showing non readers that Lanfear is something DIFFERENT. We're told she's a darkfriend of some kind, then we're seen that she actually apparently cannot die by normal means. This coming AFTER the reveal that she is definitely a channler of some kind, and if we now know she's a Forsaken, then we know that Moiraine clearly said the Forsaken are the most powerful channlers ever, more powerful than any Aes Sedai.
And now apparently they can't die.
2. Its foreshadowing.
Moiraine was able to take out Lanfear (if only temporarily) with a physical attack because Lanfear was so fixated on Rand.
The above is also a spoiler for the climax of a certain book.
I'm not gonna get into it, but its clearly like showing that there's a course of action and there is a playbook that works here.
3. NOW we have Lanfear
Before we had Selene. I'd argue there were even moments where we had Mierin, but the only time Lanfear has really come out before this was when she went into Rand's dream and threatened him in episode 3.
By this I mean that while Selene was always obviously an act Lanfear was putting on, it stopped us from really seeing how manipulative and obsessive Lanfear could be and was currently being. If we didn't know she was Lanfear (and non readers shouldn't) then there's no reason to realize the lengths to her manipulation. We still don't know that the man she was telling Rand about was Lews Therin. We still don't know that Lanfear even knew Lews Therin much less would want to rekindle any kind of lost romance with his reincarnation. Because even when Lanfear was being honest as Selene, she was keeping herself back. She wasn't latching onto Rand and telling him that he was hers. She was very clearly holding onto the memory of Lews Therin, but there has yet to be any clear indication that she 100% buys that Rand and Lews Therin are the same person rather than Rand just being his reincarnation.
So while Lanfear was definitely getting some joy out of sleeping with Lews Therin reborn, there is no real indication that that is what she wanted. She said she wants Lews Therin. She tells Rand she's more or less settling for him. Let's assume that was 100% honest for the moment (because I believe it mostly is to a point), I don't think that's the case after this episode. Because Mierin Eronaile suddenly got the one thing she'd always wanted:
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If you watch the moments immediately before this scene and immediately after, there is a shift in how Lanfear is acting here.
Before she was very clearly putting on an act. She was playing up being afraid of Rand and didn't seem at all concerned about keeping him here. The most she does is ask him where he's going to go, and even that is said in a weird tone unless you know that she's probably going to use this information to keep tabs on him and report it/follow him herself.
But Rand does the one thing he absolutely shouldn't have done with Lanfear and told her that he loves her.
So now I think is the moment where Lanfear is willing to accept that Rand is Lews Therin. Because if Rand is Lews Therin, then Lews Therin just said that he loves her.
And her entire tone shifts here. You can see she's visibly shocked in the moment, and then smiles and flips the scene to her being afraid of him, to her reassuring him and telling him that he should have told her and telling him that he didn't do anything wrong and he was just acting in his nature. Before she was bringing up the inn and was clearly trying to make him feel bad. Now she's clearly trying to reassure him and keep him around. Absolutely manipulation but I think she didn't really need him to stay until he indicated that he loved her.
So what this means is that we now have Lanfear, who is established as being unkillable and one of the most powerful and oldest being in existence, NOW becoming obsessed with Rand al'Thor and thinking of him entirely as Lews Therin. And not only that, but now she's PISSED because he just left her and was taken away from her by Moiraine exactly when she finally had him back after thousands of years.
She finally got everything she's wanted and it was immediately taken away, and I think that's frankly terrifying, so yeah, I think I do like this reveal now actually.
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suckerforcate · 6 months
Text
The Wheel's Will
Pairing: Moiraine SedaixReader
Word Count: 3975
Warning: panic attack, character badly hurt, sex, thigh riding, cunnilingus
Request: Hi, I like your fanfics aloot, could you write a moraine x reader where there’s romance angst and smut of course. Where reader is one of the five, and with the time they fell in love 🥰 for the angst something about moraine get hurt very badly in some battle and reader doesn’t know how to channel and they couldn’t help her or maybe a fight between the of them (@nohajnsstuff)
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A/n: I hope you like it and it's how you imagined it @nohajnsstuff !!!
■-----------------------------------------■
It had been a long day. The five of you, Moiraine and Lan had travelled far and without break. The sun bad set an hour ago, and it was hard to really see anything between the trees. But Lan kept saying that you couldn't rest here, it was too dangerous. You had to travel further.
You were all tired and didn't really concentrate on your surroundings anymore, when a few Trollocs shot out of the dark. The last time they had crossed your path was at home, in the village. That had been almost a month ago, you had all seen Nynaeve die that day because of these monsters.
Rand and Lan grabbed their swords and jumped off the horses and Moiraine started channelling to fight the Trollocs. Perrin, Egwene, Mat and you felt absolutely useless. You couldn't channel, nor did you have a weapon that would help you in a fight. All you could do was watch and try to scare the Trollocs away with your horses.
Even though it was scary and a situation like this meant fearing for your life, you were being distracted by Moiraine. Sitting on her horse, concentrating, she was channelling and the weaves around her made her look incredibly beautiful. She was the only Ais Sedai you had ever seen, but you were sure no one looked as good as Moiraine when channelling.
Rand was distracted by a Trolloc to your left and Lan was fighting two at a time. So he saw the Trolloc approaching Moiraine just a second to late. When he killed him, his sword had already found its way into Moiraine's shoulder.
You let out a scream and jumped off your horse. Moiraine slowly fell off of hers and Lan caught her mid-air. Rand turned around ready to kill more Trollocs, but froze as he saw Moiraine.
You kneeled at Moiraine's side and pulled her shirt to the side, exposing the wound. Your breath hitched and fear was clearly written all over your face. The others came over as well and Egwene gasped as she saw the wound.
"She can heal herself, right?" You looked at Lan hopeful, but his eyes told you everything. Panic rose in you, "Right?".
"An Ais Sedai can heal everyone else, but never herself." Your eyes flickered up to Lan and back to Moiraine's face, distorted by pain.
"It's alright, (Y/n). I'm fine." Moiraine's voice came out thin and broken. She was not fine, that was clear to all of you standing around her.
Lan looked around you, into the darkness of the woods. He was worried that the Trollocs would come back. He looked at Moiraine and then at the five of you.
"We can't stay here, it's too dangerous. There might be more Trollocs on their way. Can you stand up and ride Moiraine?" She nodded carefully and with your help she stood up. She had a hard time getting up on her horse, but once she was sitting in the saddle it was fine.
You kept an eye on her, riding right beside her at all times. Lan was occupied with looking for Trollocs and a safe place to spend the night and the others were talking to keep their mind off of the things they had seen.
You were incredibly worried. Moiraine's face lost more and more colour, she looked weaker by the minute. The Trolloc poison was infiltrating her. You rode so close to her that you could reach over if she couldn't hold herself up anymore.
"You don't have to do this, (Y/n)." Moiraine looked at you and chuckled, but it came out weaker than usual. Proving your point, that you did have do this.
"Your weak, your skin looks like snow. I won't let you fall off the horse, cause you can't hold yourself up anymore. Let's just hope Lan finds some place to rest. You'll be alright in no time." You wanted to convince yourself more than Moiraine, but she just nodded.
Luckily not much later Lan decided that you could rest now. He had found a clearing with a lot of dry wood to make a fire. You had to keep Moiraine warm, it was the least you could do.
You helped Moiraine down and made her a place to lay down that was a little more comfortable than the bare ground. You didn't leave her side for one second until the next morning.
"Lan, she looks even worse than yesterday. She's white as snow and the wound is getting infected or something. I don't know. We have to get to the Tower, fast." He nodded, you knew that he could feel her pain, all of it. It was hard for you to just see her like this. You couldn't imagine what it must be like for him.
"She can't ride on her own. I'll take her." You went back and woke her up, she was barely awake. Constantly on the verge of unconsciousness. Perrin and Mat helped you get her up on your horse and the seven of you left the clearing.
Egwene rode beside you, looking nearly as worried as you. She gave you a comforting smile, but you weren't sure she believed it herself.
"She'll be alright. She's strong." Perrin said over his shoulder to the two of you. Rand was the only one not saying anything about Moiraine. He had been suspicious of her from the beginning. He annoyed you, she had healed his father, and yet he didn't seem to care about her at all.
A single tear rolled down your cheek, and you held Moiraine closer to you, as if you could prevent her from slipping into unconsciousness completely, if you just held onto her tight enough.
"Be strong, hold on Moiraine. Please." You whispered into her ear and felt her slightly move her head as an answer. Perrin was right, she was strong. She would be okay.
Even when it felt like the wheel didn't want her to be okay. Trollocs attacked you again. Lan and Rand were good, but not that good. There were too many for them to fight on their own. So Lan led you to Shadar Logoth.
It was quiet and abandoned, no one would attack you here. You were safe. Or so you thought.
Lan and you cared for Moiraine. She was still unconscious and very weak. You tried to clean her wound a bit, but it didn't help very much.
"We need Nynaeve. She would know something to do." Egwene stood behind you, looking over your shoulder.
"She would probably be too stubborn to help her." You spat out. It was true, Nynaeve could be incredibly stubborn. Annoyingly stubborn. But she had been Egwene's best friend.
"I'm sorry. I wish Nynaeve was here too." You tried to smile at Egwene, but it came out lopsided and sad. She smiled back and left the hall to look for the others.
A few minutes past before you heard high-pitched screams from the outside. Except for Moiraine, Lan and you all the others were outside. You looked at Lan with panic in your eyes. He stood up and went looking for what was happening. Leaving you and Moiraine alone in the darkness.
As you covered Moiraine with your jacket she woke up and looked around confused. If you remembered correctly, the last time she was awake you had still been in the forest, on your horse. She looked horrible and yet so beautiful. Her face pale as the snow, dark rings around her eyes and hair sticking to her face.
"Where are we?" She whispered. You looked around but couldn't see Lan.
"In some sort of hall in... I think Lan said, it was called Shadar Logoth." Moiraine's weak eyes widened, and she grabbed your hand.
"Where is Lan?" As you turned around to look for him, he was already there. He must have felt, that she was awake. They looked at each other for a second before Moiraine shook her head.
"You've killed us all."
Lan picked Moiraine up and carried her towards the door. Hastily you followed them.
"What's happening?" You left the hall and immediately took a step back, colliding with the closed door behind you.
A black shadow was crawling over everything. The buildings, the stones and floors. It wasn't getting closer, it was rather leaving. Like it was following something, or someone.
"Something dark has been awakened here. Come on, we have to leave." You got on your horse and Lan helped you get Moiraine up in front of you. He got on his own horse and rode off. You followed him, holding Moiraine as close to yourself as you could. You felt her get unconscious again, body falling limp against yours.
"What about the others? We can't leave them!" You shouted at Lan and as he didn't answer you already thought he didn't hear you. But as you crossed the city limits he turned his head around and looked at you.
"We'll find them again." You nodded, feeling paralysed and just followed him. Holding onto Moiraine for dear life.
You rode until you were hidden in the darkness between the trees. Lan jumped off of his horse and helped you put Moiraine down in the soft grass. She was fading away. You didn't need a bond with her to know that.
"I've learnt a bit from Nynaeve. Maybe I can find some herbs that'll still the poison from doing its work. But that's just temporary. We have to get to the Tower."
"Do it. We'll rest for an hour, and then we'll ride to the Tower." So you got to work. You found a few herbs and made a paste out of them.
Going to Moiraine you uncovered the wound and cleaned it a bit. Before you put the paste on, you stroked her cheeks gently.
"This'll hurt Moiraine. It'll sting, but you're strong. You can do this, and in no time we'll be in the Tower, and they can heal you. Everything will be okay." You weren't even sure if she could hear you, but the words were probably more important to you than to her.
Gently you spread the herbs over the wound and the infected parts around it and covered her shoulder with some linen. You sat down in the grass next to her and covered your face with your hands.
Without any warning a sob escaped you. Your body started to shake uncontrollably and tears streamed down your face. All the pressure of the last months, especially since Moiraine was hurt, crushed you beneath its weight.
It felt like your lungs weren't working properly anymore, no air found its way into your system. You couldn't breathe. Your chest felt tight, and the tears didn't stop falling down your face. Panicking you looked up and searched Lan with your eyes.
He was by your side in mere seconds. Kneeling down he held your hand and pulled you into a hug.
"Breath, (Y/n). Its alright, she will be fine. But you have to breathe." Slowly and gently he calmed you down and rocked you in his arms. You felt silly, breaking down like this, when he was right here calm and pulled together. He should be the one crying and panicking. The two of them were bonded, they knew each other longer, better.
After you had calmed down, the two of you packed everything and lifted Moiraine back onto your horse.
You rode day and night, stopping for few breaks. Never longer than one or two hours. You were exhausted, both. But all you could think of was Moiraine. You cleaned her wound, spread new paste, new herbs on it. But nothing really seemed to help.
Lan was strong, for the both of you. Still his facade started to crumble, you could see his fear, his panic growing. Every time he looked at Moiraine's pale, sweaty face.
It had been over a week since you had really slept. More than just a quick nap in between rides. Your whole body hurt, your arms became sore of holding Moiraine up on the horse all day. But it didn't matter, nothing mattered, except for her.
The sun was just rising when you saw the Tower for the first time between the treetops. You gasped and tears formed in your eyes. Relief washed over you and Lan didn't even try to hide his relief anymore.
As you rode through Tar Valon eyes were fixated on you from all sides. They all recognized Moiraine as an Ais Sedai. But you were riding so fast, you couldn't even see individual faces. They all blurred into one big crowd.
Entering the Tower with Moiraine in Lan's arms, multiple Ais Sedai were immediately at your side. Asking questions, wanting to know what happened. Lan dismissed them all and took you and Moiraine to the healers of the yellow ajah.
You were so tired it was hard to even stand up on your feet, so after the Ais Sedai looked for wounds on you, they led you to your own room. You didn't even have the power to argue anymore.
As soon as you had crawled onto the bed, you were asleep.
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As you woke up it was completely dark around you. You must have slept for quite a long time. For a second you weren't sure, where you were. But as you felt the soft fabric around you and the cool breeze on your face, you remembered what had happened.
Slowly you sat up and hugged your knees, looking outside into the starry night. You desperately wanted to see Moiraine, but you were scared what you would find if you left your room. You couldn't know for sure if she was alright, if she was still alive.
You weren't sure how much time had passed, when you took up enough courage to get up and leave your room. It could have been five minutes or two hours. You actually had no idea where to go, it was your first time in the Tower after all.
You wandered around a bit before you met a blue Ais Sedai and asked her if she knew where Moiraine was. Without another word she led you to a room close by and left you alone.
Scared of what you would find, you knocked a few times. Upon hearing Moiraine's voice call you in from behind the door, you slowly opened the door and stepped in.
Moiraine sat at her desk and looked up as she heard the door close behind you. She looked healthy, wasn't as pale anymore, and her hair fell over her shoulders, freshly washed.
Tears shot out of your eyes and your hand flew to your mouth trying to silence the sob, that escaped you. Moiraine shot up from her chair and rushed over to you.
"(Y/n), what's wrong?" Her brows were furrowed with worry and confusion.
You slowly raised your hands to her face and cupped her cheek. You needed to feel her under your fingers, to believe that she was actually real.
"You're alive." It came out quieter than planned but the two of you were so close that she still heard you.
Her lips formed a little grin as she wiped your tears away. "Of course I'm alive."
You shook your head violently: "You didn't see yourself, it was... Lan and I weren't sure you'd make it. You were so pale and weak. I didn't think I'd ever hear your voice again. Ever feel your touch again."
Moiraine's eyes widened for a second at that, but she pulled herself together and gently put a strand of your hair behind your ear.
"I've experienced worse, love. Also, my job isn't done yet, and the Wheel knows-..." you cut her off by crashing your lips onto hers. She momentarily froze before grabbing your waist, pulling you closer to her and kissing back. You pull back and look her deep in the eyes, smiling shyly.
"Moiraine, I-", "Don't. Please, I wouldn't know what to do, if you're the Dragon and I would know that you- How you feel for me." You chuckle at her and stroke her cheek.
"Moiraine, I'm not the Dragon. We both know that. I'm older than the others and by far not powerful enough. It's probably Egwene or Rand, everyone can see that. And I-" you kissed her passionately before going on.
"I love you, Moiraine Sedai. And I'm so incredibly happy, that you're alive and well. I was so scared." She closed her eyes and turned her head away as if that would prevent the words from being true. You forced her to face you, even though she was still shaking her head in denial.
"Moiraine, you deserve to be loved." She slowly opened her eyes and looked at you with unspoken pain and fear in her eyes. You wished you could kiss the pain away, could give her the life she truly wanted.
She leaned forward and lightly graced your lips with hers before deepening the kiss. You pressed yourself against her, wanting to be as close as possible to her, feeling as much of her warmth as you could get.
The two of you stumbled backwards until Moiraine hit the bed and fell onto it. She pulled you with her, making you fall on top of her. You supported yourself on your hands on either side of her body and looked down at her.
"You are breathtakingly beautiful." She held your gaze for a moment before laughing and looking away. You were gently kissing her again while you started to take off her shirt and pulled it over her head. It found its way to the floor, just as your jacket and your shirt did.
"I didn't even take a bath, when we came here I fell asleep immediately, and then I came to see you." You panted between kisses, trying to get it out in a straight sentence. Moiraine just kept on kissing you and shook her head as an answer. She didn't care.
Your hand wandered down her body and lightly graced her left nipple. You planted kisses on her neck, over her collarbone and down to her shoulder. You stopped at her now healed wound and carefully stroked over it, before kissing it gently.
With your hand you squeezed her breast and played with her nipple, generating a low groan from Moiraine. You kissed her over her body further and further down. A kiss on her chest, on each breast and nipple, on her stomach and down to the rim of her skirt.
You opened the bow in the front and unwrapped her skirt, taking off all of her clothes completely and throwing them away as well. Having her completely naked right in front of you nearly made you giggle like a teenaged girl, but you managed to pull yourself together.
Your left hand remained on her breast and with the other hand you spread her legs open and held her in place at the waist. Softly you kissed her inner thighs and went upwards until you reached her core. A light kiss and blow on her centre made her shiver and a gasp escaped her. You gently spread her folds with your fingers and licked over her clit. She was practically dripping and you had just started. Your tongue played with her entrance before finding its way onto her clit again. You sucked and licked over it while your finger started to gently and slowly enter her. She shuddered at the touch and let out a low moan.
"(Y/n), please." With mischievous in your eyes you looked up at her and kept on going just as slow as before. You grinned at her before answering.
"Beg." Her eyes widened, and she stared at you, in utter disbelief. Moiraine Sedai didn't beg, and you knew that. But she would have to, if she wanted more.
"Please, (Y/n). Touch me, I need you." You loved the sound of that and as a reward you fastened your pace a little. Thrusting your finger in and out of her faster and sucking on her clit at the same time. After some time you used two fingers and felt her walls slowly tighten around your fingers.
"Oh god, I'm- that's good. Please, I'm close." She covered her mouth with her hand to prevent a loud moan from waking up the whole Tower. She pressed her eyes close together and pushed your head deeper into her as she felt herself getting closer and closer to the release. You licked her clit and simultaneously sucked at it and didn't stop as her release washed over her.
"Yes, love. That's it, ahhh..." With one last muffled scream and your name on her lips she came. Her walls clenched around your fingers, you slowly rode her through the orgasm before pulling your fingers out and licking them clean.
You crawled up again and grinned at her. Kissing her deeply, she could taste herself on your lips. She quietly moaned into the kiss and breathed heavily as you pulled back.
"You looked amazing like this, incredibly beautiful." You said as you stood up from the bed and started to take of the rest of your clothes until you were naked as well.
"Sit up and lean back on the headboard." You told her, it wasn't a question, and she immediately obeyed. She instinctively stretched out her leg and spread them to give you enough room to fit there.
Climbing onto the bed again you sat down on her thigh and let her feel how wet you were. She looked up at you, surprised and flustered that she had this effect on you. She must know, you thought, how beautiful and attractive she is.
Her hands few to your waist to support you, and slowly she started to move you up and down her thigh. At the first friction between your core and her thigh you let out a moan. You had wanted this for such a long time, wanted to feel her, touch her, be hers.
You quickened your pace and held on tightly to Moiraine's shoulders for more support. Her hands were still on your waist, and she swiftly took a nipple into her mouth, as your breasts were exactly in front of her face. At that surprising touch you let out a gasp and dug your nails into her skin.
"Oh, Moiraine. I'm so close-...ahhh..." you moaned her name like a mantra over and over again as you felt yourself approach the edge.
Holding your breath for a second and letting out a loud moan, that you didn't care if anyone heard, you came. Shuddering and gasping you collapsed in Moiraine's lap. She held you tightly as you came down from your high.
After the two of you had calmed down she kissed you gently and stood up to clean herself and came back with a wash cloth to clean you as well. Looking at her care for you, you smiled to yourself. You really didn't deserve her.
She came back to bed and covered you with the sheets and just as you snuggled closer the door opened and Lan came in.
He saw the state the two of you were in and immediately turned around to not make you uncomfortable. He knew Moiraine naked, but not you.
"I apologise. I should have knocked." Moiraine looked at you and you both just burst out laughing. All the stress and fear of the last few days felt so light and unimportant in that very moment. The only thing that matter right now was that you were together. You pulled the sheets a little higher and snuggled closer to Moiraine.
"You can turn around Lan. What is it?"
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butterflydm · 7 months
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wot deeper dive 2x8: what was meant to be
So excited to take a scene-by-scene look at this epic episode. This post will be dealing only with show spoilers and there will be another post later on that includes spoilers from the books.
I really loved season one, but season two has been richer, deeper, and so emotionally powerful. Have loved it so much. Posts that I'm planning to do in the next few weeks: I want to do a post covering each main character's s2 journey, I'm gonna do some speculation for s3, and I've got some posts planned on the imprisonment/control themes and the 'alone-vulnerable; together-shieldwall' theme that was so beautifully realized in the finale, and more.
But that's for the future.
For now, let's get into the show-only deep dive!
I don't think I really talked about the opening scene in my previous posts about the episode, but I really enjoyed it! I hope that future seasons continue the theme of having the final cold-open of the season be something from the Age of Legends.
2. What they did with showing the close relationship with Lews Therin and Ishamael really plays well with how Ishamael feels a kinship with Mat and thus believes that Mat is vulnerable to the same kind of philosophy and influences that Ishamael fell victim to -- he sees that Rand and Mat are close in the ways that he was close with Lews Therin, and thus believes that Mat being Rand's downfall is what is most likely to tip Rand over to the dark (alongside Egwene, who is our modern-age Lanfear counterpart imo). I really love what they've done with this relationship and with how Ishamael essentially tricked himself into believing that he understood Mat when he was really projecting himself onto Mat, just as he's been projecting Lews Therin onto Rand.
And we get the symmetry of Ishamael asking for death here and being denied, and then Rand killing him at the end of the episode, like he wanted.
3. We get confirmation here that LTT sealed the rest of the Forsaken first and Ishamael is last. This is where we get another name drop: Sammael. So the names that we have for sure are: Moghedien, Graendal, and Sammael (plus Ishamael and Lanfear, of course).
4. It looks like the other Aes Sedai here are all men, which ties us into the discussion/argument that Lews and Latra were having in the 1x8 cold open.
5. "They say this seal is so strong, not even I could break it." And while the seals do appear to be weakened by this modern point in time, we saw the effort that Ishamael went to in 2x4 to break out Lanfear. He did that six more times in this episode before he went to confront Rand. He was worn out, y'all.
I do think it's interesting the ways that Ishamael's nihilism interacts with his behavior with Rand. Once he realizes that Rand is here, he knows that his plan for turning Rand to the Shadow has essentially failed. Because Rand's friends have come to help him, and because of Lanfear's betrayal, Ishamael knows that it's over. And part of him is grateful when Rand kills him, and relieved. He doesn't really believe that he's going to reach Rand on that tower and turn him to the Dark -- that's why he sets two back-up plans into motion: a) releasing the Forsaken and b) trying to get Rand gentled.
6. Lews Therin's resigned apologies to Ishamael here for trapping him into a Fate Worse Than Death vs Mat's frantic apologies to Rand after he accidentally stabs him with the dagger from Shadar Logoth -- Lews Therin has been forced into this because of Ishamael's choices, while Mat was tricked into hurting Rand (both here and back in 2x6, when he 'abandons' Rand).
And I love the pan-up and the reveal that the "Eye of the World" was the place where Rand and Moiraine were tricked to go in 1x8 to free Ishamael from his seal.
7. I missed the credits! Though I absolutely understand the team prioritizing getting a little more screen time in each episode, since they were forced to choose. The golden threads bursting out when Josha's name appears always give me chills.
8. Our episode proper starts with the Whitecloaks planning their attack on Falme. The way that the Whitecloaks get introduced with that fade-in from light is very intriguing. I'm not a military expert but Bornhald's strategy sounds pretty solid to me: non-military expert, lol. We can see that they're hiding in the jungle for now, and they plan to make the assault as quick as possible because they have to take out the 'witches' first or any assault is doomed.
The Whitecloaks estimate there are 28 damane with the Seanchan at this time.
I really like how we see the Whitecloaks' ranks shown by how their armor is designed. The costume design on this show has been so striking, this season even more than s1. There's an almost stained-glass quality to the bands on the armor, which helps enhance that 'church/inquisition' vibe that we are going to also get with the children swinging incense.
9. "But we have something they don't."
haha, you don't know how long it took me to realize that Bornhald was implying "we have the Light on our side". Which, funnily enough, the Seanchan ALSO believe! Both sides believe that they are the ones fighting in the name of the Light, not suspecting that here comes Rand al'Thor with the steel chair (of the Light).
But I really love how drenched this episode is in light, after a season that has been very dark (emotionally and frequently literally).
10. "The Watchers on the Waves called for help, letters to every queen, every king in the world, to the Amyrlin Seat herself, begging, but no one came."
This 100% explains the reaction of the people of Falme at the end of the episode, imo. They have been begging for help and no one has come, so they gave up hope and are just doing their best to survive each day. And then the Seanchan are driven out in a matter of hours and they see that huge-ass dragon on the tower (and this version of the story does have people knowing what a dragon looks like -- the book that Rand looks at in season one with the Karaethon Cycle has a dragon sketch in the pages (at 17:38 in episode 1x5 -- there is SO MUCH subtle lore in 1x5, y'all) -- so they know what it means when they see the dragon on the tower). They know exactly who saved them from their recent oppression.
It also ties into a theme from the books, where the different nations are so wrapped up in their own problems that they don't see the big looming apocalypse that is coming for everyone. Everyone was so busy with their own problems that they ignored the messages from Falme.
11. "These strangers are slavers and murderers. We fight them because we must."
Where's that "Heartbreaking: the worse person you know just made a great point" meme? lol. honestly, that's something that the show has been doing really well! Even people who are doing terrible things are not 100% terrible and are capable of making genuinely good arguments. And they believe in themselves and their cause. The Whitecloaks and the Seanchan are both scarier when we are seeing the True Believers in the cause.
12. And Dain brings up the prophecy here that "in Falme's greatest moment of need, the Dragon will return to us" which really gives me "King Arthur" vibes (which is fitting! one of the cool themes in the book is heroic archetypes and how the wheel turns myth into legend, and we also see the Heroes of the Horn bringing that theme into the show in the major way in this episode). So, once again, the people of Falme are going to know exactly who to credit for their big rescue and seem pretty primed to become strong supporters of the Dragon Reborn, given the information that we've gotten about the city.
Bornhald dismisses prophecy in general as "the lies of long-dead witches" and we intercut into Lanfear leading Rand & co through the Ways, which is a beautiful transition. That was excellent.
13. A lot of characters have mentioned the Falme prophecy but I don't think anyone has mentioned it to Rand, specifically. He's not coming to Falme to fulfill prophecy -- he's coming to try to save Egwene. Much like Mat's reaction to Rand was very much colored by how he abandoned Rand at the Waygate, Rand's reactions with Egwene are colored by how he abandoned her at the end of s1. We know why Rand made that choice, of course, but now he's seeing the unintended consequences of that choice.
14. Lanfear's full plan gets revealed over the course of this episode, not in a super in-your-face way, but clear enough to put all the pieces together of exactly how long she's been planning to screw over Ishamael and the rest of the Forsaken (... since the moment she woke up and learned that LTT's new incarnation was around). Some of the details of this plan go into spoilers, so I'll put it in the later post but, in brief: she's manipulated various pieces on the board to use Ishamael's own plans against him -- trapping Egwene and Nynaeve in Falme was an Ishy plan, but Lanfear was able to use Egwene's presence in Falme as a way to get Rand motivated to want to go there to rescue her and, incidentally, fulfill a teeny-tiny prophecy. After Rand killed Ishamael and was proclaimed the Dragon, she was planning to have Doman dump the rest of the Forsaken in the ocean and then she would have plenty of time to manipulate seduce her dearest Lews Therin Rand into loving her again.
And it almost worked! Well, I don't think seducing Rand a second time would have gone as well as she was hoping, but most of the plan really worked out for her.
15. It looks like the show just revealed here that Lanfear also has the Talent of being able to see fellow channelers even when they aren't embracing the Source. ("I can see it in you.")
I love Lan protectively trying to step in front of Moiraine even though he has zero chance against Lanfear. It's giving real "bless him, he tries" vibes.
Lanfear just yeeting them out onto the beach cracks me up.
It also was really great in terms of how it set Moiraine up not as one of the main players fighting in the battle, but as support from the side, smoothing the way. When Rand and the rest of them come down from the tower and are greeted by the grateful people of Falme, none of those people will know that Moiraine and Lan had anything to do with Rand's success. It feels like such a natural progression of her role -- in s1, she was the driving force that led them all to the Eye of the World... and that ended up being a massive screw-up. This time, they all find their own ways to Falme, and none of our main six young heroes are there because they're planning on fulfilling prophecy or fighting the Last Battle. They're there to save one of their own (first Egwene, and then Rand). "Think not of glory but of salvation". They didn't quote it, but the thought is there in the action of what happened in the episode.
16. "How can you think I'd ever trust you again?"
"I'm the only one who actually cares about you, Rand. Everyone else -- Ishamael, Moiraine -- they just care about what you can do."
Lanfear attempting to use her manipulating wiles on Rand. Of course, at the end of the episode, he's going to get a big reminder that she's incredibly wrong and there are a bunch of people who care about him for who he is, but even in this moment, he doesn't look like he's falling for it. And Rand didn't walk away from his friends at the end of s1 because he believed that they didn't care about him. He walked away from them because he believed that he was dangerous to them.
(and she tried to use this tactic on Rand in 2x6 as well, but she failed there too, though she may believe that she succeeded, because Rand does still extend trust to Moiraine in 2x7 when she asks him why he was leaving Cairhien and he tells her everything that he knows/believes, including very much implying that he thinks Lanfear wants to kill him after he's been proclaimed Dragon)
Lanfear lost Rand's trust when he found out who she really was and that she had been manipulating him for months. And I think she's massively underestimating what she would need to do in order to earn any of that trust back.
17. After the Maidens warn Perrin that they are getting Bad Vibes and are pretty sure that today is going to be filled with people getting killed, Perrin asks Hopper to stay behind, trying to keep him safe. Oh, Perrin, that never works. And Hopper has just as much right to be in the fight as you do.
18. Lanfear accidentally screws over her own plan because she can't bring herself not to gloat before her future husband Rand kills Ishamael. This is the big moment when we see how much Ishamael and Lanfear's plans are diverging from each other (and Ishamael sees it too). Ishamael had been planning to play the long game with Rand, keep him away from Falme until he was ready to be turned to the Shadow. Now Lanfear has jumped the gun and brought Rand at a time when Ishamael only has two of Rand's friends in hand (Egwene and Mat) and even those two have not been broken yet. He's not ready for Rand to be here! There's still so much work to be done!
19. After this conversation, Ishamael is aware that he's potentially fighting a losing battle. But he doesn't give up -- he sends in Fain to try to accelerate Mat's corruption; he prepares Suroth for the possibility of gentling Rand. He won't give up without a fight.
Ishamael does sound so intense when he talks about how Rand isn't going to "choose us".
20. ...is Lanfear wearing a dragon earcuff? I think she might be wearing a dragon earcuff/earring. That is not subtle.
I like that it seems like Lanfear believes that she's tricked Ishamael, at least in part, just like she believed that she'd tricked Rand a lot more successfully than she had (since he was very much still lumping her together with Ishamael when talking to Mat and Moiraine).
21. ...I don't ever really have much to say about the fighty-fight part of battles. The image of the Whitecloaks galloping out of the incense/fog was pretty cool.
22. Nynaeve really does have a very rough go of it in this episode. While she does manage to help, that help is in the realm of "get Elayne to the tower so that Elayne can do something". And while I understand the frustration from her fans... her block needs to actually be a problem for us to understand why she wants to get rid of it. This episode made her block a problem, one that she wasn't able to overcome at the last second when it was desperately needed. Much like Mat's low ebb this season was intentional so that we could get the amazing high of the Horn scene, Nynaeve is entering a low ebb. At the beginning of the season, she was showered in praise and special attention that she didn't want. Now she wants the power that had earned her all that praise and she can't reach it (this is similar to how Rand's lack of training needs to actually be a problem so that we understand why he needs to get some training).
23. Oof, it's hard to watch Renna with Egwene. We do get clarification that the dark facepaint is for going into battle.
Renna cutting off Egwene's braid... much like the tree she forced Egwene to burn down, she's trying to attack something that she knows brings Egwene comfort.
Egwene's eyes when she's feeling at her shorn braid. Baby!
24. I've been finding it interesting to think about What's Up with Padan Fain. So far this season, he's stayed within Ishamael's orders (to our knowledge) but when Ishamael orders him to give the dagger to Mat, we hear the whispers of it calling to him. Once Ishamael is dead, does that free Fain to follow the call of the dagger? Because when Mat was under the influence of the dagger, he still was not a fan of the Shadow. Different kinds of evil. The evil of Shadar Logoth scared the Trollocs enough that they weren't willing to chase our people into the city. I will keep an eye on future developments!
25. Poor Mat has been having a Fucking Time of it. First, he has to watch Rand leave, knowing that he's apparently fated to kill his best friend with an evil dagger. Then he gets hit on the head and wakes up across the continent? With a scary lady who insults him? Then ol' flame-eyes is here and his eyes aren't flame anymore and Mat is just so exhausted and tired and he takes this tea that gets REAL trippy and depressing and tells him that he's destined to be awful forever. And then he's locked up alone in a room. And then... Padan Fain shows up???? With the dagger from Shadar Logoth?????
The one Mat is destined to kill Rand with?
Like... he has been having a time of it.
26. Oof, hard to watch Nynaeve torturing Seta. I understand why Elayne needs to keep looking away. Nynaeve wants so badly to find Egwene and save her. We actually get a lot of ruthlessness from the ladies in this episode -- Nynaeve with Seta; Egwene and Renna; and Moiraine's willingness to "kill a thousand innocents if there's even a chance [Rand] will live". But I think the show did a good job of showing you why each of these characters is driven to be so ruthless at this moment in time.
27. Rand confirms with his own eyes that Egwene is here in Falme, as he sees her and the other damane being led out of the kennels. And he sees the gag in her mouth -- I wonder if part of the reason for that part of the costuming was to make it easy for Rand to see from far away part of the indignities that are being forced on Egwene (obviously, he also saw what horrible conditions she was enduring in her cell back when Lanfear showed him Egwene, but now he knows for certain that what Lanfear was showing him was true).
28. Mat and Fain's conversation with Fain here is interesting because I think Mat is figuring it out -- so many people keep telling him over and over that he's destined to do the stupid thing; that he's worthless; that he's going to be like his dad; that he abandons his friends. Padan Fain is saying the exact same thing that Liandrin was saying (you abandoned your friends for the dagger). Having his old peddler from back home showing up to say the same things that the Aes Sedai who had kept him captive for months had said... that's kinda suspicious, bro. That kinda seems like someone else is supplying the script, bro. Because Mat is not in the same kind of despair here when he's listening to Fain as he was when he was listening to Liandrin. He's paying attention to who the messenger is (and who sent the messenger), not just the message itself.
The first time through watching this scene, it can feel like Mat is trying to convince himself when he smiles at Fain and tells him that he's not going to touch the dagger. But... he doesn't touch it. Instead, he inspects the room and comes up with a plan to escape that doesn't involve touching the dagger. It wasn't just bravado, when he was talking to Fain. He meant it. All these people, they keep telling Mat that they know him better than he knows himself. That they are the ones who really know his inner darkness. That they can guess what he's going to do next.
And Mat... he decides right here, I think, that he is going to prove them wrong. Maybe he WAS always terrible in his past lives? Well, then he'll fucking do better in this one. He makes the decision to do better BEFORE he learns that his past lives weren't rotten, and I think that's so important.
29. Moiraine and Lan's scene here is very sweet. I think this was a really sweet capstone to Lan's journey through the season and an affirmation of Moiraine trusting and allowing Lan and Rand to help her at the end of the last episode. Though the main culmination of the "alone we are vulnerable, together we are a shieldwall" comes in the fight against Ishamael, Moiraine has been very much a parallel with Rand this season in how she's been pushing people away so that she can face the danger alone, so her literally allowing Lan to share in her burden is a lovely little illustration of that same point. Plus the weaves and music here are just gorgeous. I really do love the intimacy here, between a man and woman who are fundamentally connected but not in a sexual or romantic way.
Meanwhile, Lan's journey goes back to a similar point as Mat's, I think, in that he accepts the idea that Moiraine views him as inferior and says he wants to help her anyway, before he gets rewarded with learning that she sees him not as an equal but as better than her. "Okay, what if this horrible thing, this thing that I don't want to believe could be true... what if it IS true and then I keep on doing the right thing anyway?"
Though I've never had the issue with Lan's storyline that I feel like I've seen some other book readers have. The only time his story felt 'slow' to me was through my first watch of 2x4 and even that changed when I did my rewatch and saw how much we were getting told about Alanna & her Warders and how it was leading up to Alanna getting folded into all the big plans. But, yeah, my main interest in Lan was never how many enemies he could kill per minute and the show has made him a much more interesting character to me than the books did.
30. I suspect all this 'getting the Horn' stuff might have been expanded on if we'd gotten ten episodes but there's enough information there to make it clear that Lanfear (as 'Selene') gave them the Horn so that her future devoted husband Rand would get his special toy before he fought Ishamael. Heists can be fun but we did get the info a couple of episodes ago that the Horn was barely being guarded, so that also tracks with it being easy for a 'slave' and a 'guard' to be able to sneak in and grab it.
...the Seanchan uniform actually looks really hot on Ingtar.
31. Perrin finds out here that Egwene is in Falme, and he instantly pivots to that information -- Egwene has been captured by the Seanchan; we have to help Egwene. We know that Perrin has been worried that all of them being isolated away from each other makes them vulnerable and here is proof! Obviously, if Egwene is here, then she has to be the priority over the Horn.
"The Horn of Valere summons the dead heroes of the past. It's the key to the Dragon winning the Last Battle."
Yeah, the show was very clear about what the Horn does. Even if you miss Ingtar's line on an initial watch, a rewatch would instantly clear it up (especially with the knowledge of what it does when Mat uses it). The fascinating thing is that Ingtar NEVER SAYS that the Dragon needs to use it, but that's clearly what Perrin assumes (and a lot of show-only reactors assumed it too, and were surprised by Mat being able to use it).
I like Loial's little speech. He shames Ingtar right out of his determination to leave the city with the Horn.
32. The way that Renna and Egwene's power struggle comes to a head in this episode was really effective I think.
We see Egwene not being able to bring herself to attack until she sees the Whitecloaks, and she takes care to place her fireball where it will only hit Whitecloaks and not any cilivians.
33. I have to admit, the view that certain book fans have that Rand did nothing in this episode are baffling (Nynaeve didn't do 'nothing' either, but both she and Rand ARE going to, I'm sure, seek ways in the new season to do more because they were both clearly frustrated by being 'blocked' from what they wanted to do). Rand did less than he wanted to do, because he got shielded -- motivation for him to want to search out some training next season, because there were several moments this season when his lack of training has been pointed out! -- but in both the Turak scene and the Ishamael scene, Rand ends the fight almost effortlessly (once he's free to do so, in the Ishy scene).
Turak and his guards stood literally no chance against Rand -- he raised his chin and looked, and over a dozen people died (but only the ones with weapons, not the Voice who wasn't a threat). I'm sorry, that is power. The idea that Rand indulging in a sword fight would have shown more power than what he actually did is ridiculous. He would have been a cat playing with a mouse instead of just killing it (and every show-only reactor that I've watched so far has had a BIG reaction to Rand doing this).
We've been shown throughout this season with the Forsaken that the less effort channeling takes and the more casual that you are with it, the more powerful you are. And that's exactly what Rand shows in this scene. Not only does he create and send the projectiles, they are precisely aimed to only target combatants.
Which means that Rand gets to see another aspect of Seanchan culture here -- the main slaves of a High Lord kills themselves when their lord dies. It really does show how deeply the brainwashing goes in Seanchan culture. And you can see that Rand is disturbed by the violence that he just did, but he has to move on, so he does.
34. I really do love how Josha embodies the physicality of Rand's channeling. He does move to channel but it feels very natural, like an extension of himself. It was that way in s1 as well. Rand channeling just... idk it hits different for me than any of the other channelers we've seen, as beautiful as the weaves can be.
35. "The Forsaken fought amongst themselves as much as they fought the Dragon," feels like a very important note for s3 -- the six Forsaken that Ishamael released are not going to be going after Rand together. Just as Lanfear ended up undermining Ishamael's plans, with the goal of killing him, getting rid of the other Forsaken, and living happily ever after with Lews Therin Rand, the other Forsaken will each have their own agenda too. So it's not complete doom and despair that they've all been released.
36. So even as Lanfear is making plans to dump the rest of the 'Chosen' in the ocean, Ishamael is busy at work releasing each of them, one by one. We learn here that Lanfear has been manipulating events in Moiraine's storyline from the very beginning of the season.
Ishamael brushing the dust of the remaining seals from his hands as he talks to Suroth: a+, lol. But to make matters even worse for him, he learns here that Turak is dead and the Horn has been stolen. And everything was looking so rosy for him before Lanfear showed up!
Ishamael's "shit, Lanfear betrayed us" back-up plans:
step 1: free the rest of the Chosen
step 2: get Rand shielded ASAP
step 3: Maybe seeing Mat and Egwene in dire straits will be enough to turn Rand to the Shadow? (it's confirmed here that Ishamael made sure to have Egwene ordered to the tower where "the whole city can see her")
*fails*
step 4: okay, we'll gentle him and then work on breaking him once he's less dangerous
*fails*
step 5: maybe I just kill him?
*fails*
step 6: well, guess I'll die. At least I screwed over Lanfear on my way out. The rest of the Forsaken will have to handle things from now on.
37. I love Mat working out a way to use the dagger without touching it. Also it kinda cracks me up that he ties the dangerous thing to a bedpost because... um... Lanfear tied Rand to a... I think that's maybe only funny to me. lol
We see here that Mat understands how the dagger works, probably a lot better than Ishamael did or Fain does. It nearly killed him last season! He's aware of how dangerous it is... but also how useful it can potentially be at the moment.
And I love that Rand's stubborn 'ACTUALLY, Mat is amazing and one of the best people who has ever lived, so jot that down' attitude from 1x7 gets proven correct here. Rand knew Mat better than anyone else, from what we saw at various points in s1, and now his certainty that Mat Is Good, Actually gets to be proven (including, very importantly, Mat himself... until the Accidental Stabbening gives Mat a brand-new guilt complex).
38. We can see here that the fireballs coming down from the damane in the tower are hitting ordinary citizens as well as the Whitecloaks -- not everyone is being as careful as Egwene.
She sees it too -- that's what makes her spit out her gag and refuse to help anymore. And this moment (among some others) really sells why this addition to the costuming works because Egwene actively and literally reclaims her voice here.
And the Whitecloaks attack on the tower work, killing many of the damane and sul'dam at the top of the tower.
39. While earlier, we saw that some of the Whitecloaks were helping pull civilians out of the way, once again, not everyone on their side is being that careful -- the Whitecloak archers shoot Seta, dressed as a damane, but they also shoot Elayne, dressed as an ordinary citizen. Both the Seanchan and the Whitecloaks are causing innocent people to get caught in between them and die.
And I do think it's clear here that Nynaeve is overwhelmed and scared, not angry. That's why she isn't able to reach the power. Her block is now officially a problem for her, one that she has a very good reason to try to get it fixed next season. This is a similar lesson to what they've been showing us in Rand's storyline: raw power isn't enough. You also need control, or other people will be able to control you.
40. And that ties into what Egwene does too -- both Mat and Egwene think outside the box in order to find clever solutions to their problems in this episode and not be limited to what their captors thinks they're capable of. They both choose an unlisted option.
She seizes control over herself and her situation, because she understands her power now. Egwene, Mat, and Moiraine all reclaim themselves after having gone through a long, rough period of being put in a situation where they feel inadequate and broken down.
And Egwene figured it out by being clever and putting together the information. We also get more confirmation here that only channelers can see weaves.
41. Reunions! Mat and Perrin's reunion here is very sweet. It's also much more straightforward than the more complex and fraught (though just as sweet) relationship between Mat and Rand. Perrin and Mat share a good long hug! Mat holds his shoulder for a moment! But when the hugging is gone, they pull away from each other and don't constantly stay all over each other like Rand and Mat were in their initial reunion scene in 2x6 (or like Rand and Mat will do in their upcoming scene, post-stabbening). So I love that we see that Mat and Perrin are very good friends and they love each other and... and it's not quite the same as Mat's friendship with Rand.
42. Poor Egwene really is so burnt out, emotionally, by her experiences and so traumatized, and we can really see how exhausted she is by everything that happened. She needs some real processing time.
I'm glad that we got Rand's apology to Egwene here, even if I think she's maybe only half-processing it at the moment.
43. I love how quickly Mat gives out the info of "Rand is alive, he's here, he's headed to help Egwene" to Perrin here. And that he takes another dig at Rand's hair, lol. When Rand regrows his hair, Mat gets the credit for it, lol. I also miss Rand's curls, Mat! You are not alone!
44. Ishamael is talking here like he's knows that it's over. He does not expect his appeal to Rand here to work -- like he told Lanfear, it's too soon. Egwene isn't broken. Mat isn't broken. He doesn't even HAVE Nynaeve or Perrin in hand. "Maybe next time it'll be different," Ishamael says, because he already knows that his primary goal of turning the Dragon to the Dark has failed.
I love the echoes of this scene to the one from the cold-open.
45. "You're his only hope" vs "betrayer of hope". I talked about this in one of my earlier posts I think, but the contrast still hits me hard.
Here we have Ishamael, blaming Lews Therin for his fall to the dark (and the stories say that it was LTT's 'fault' that Lanfear turned to), but it wasn't LTT's fault. It was Ishamael's choice. And it's Mat's choices that make him different from Ishamael.
But, yeah, this is another of those things that just gets extra weight to Mat and Rand's friendship vs Mat and Perrin's or Rand and Perrin's.
46. Dain and Perrin meet on the battlefield and get to fight back-to-back for a moment. I think everything with Perrin & the Whitecloaks & Hopper is well-done, but it's tough to talk about. Hopper does get a lovely send-off, as he see him leaping the way that he did when he told Perrin his name. Also, the tension between Dain and Perrin the next time they see each other (narratively, they have to see each other again, with all this set-up) is going to be fantastic.
Hopper's last sending to Perrin is so beautiful. And it's so easy to understand Perrin's rage here, just as it was easy to understand Egwene's need to kill Renna.
47. I like how Elayne (in agony!) is doing her best to help Nynaeve get to a place where she can help Elayne. She really takes charge of the situation and is able to bring a level of calm to it, even when she's under significant distress herself.
Nynaeve is trying so hard to channel here and she can't even embrace the Source. I do think that her 'block' probably got some reinforcement when her most recent use of the Power directly led to Ryma's capture.
(speaking of Ryma, since we don't see her in the tower or on the ships, it's entirely possible that, as a brand-new damane, she was still in the kennels and can get freed after the battle here is done; I would like that for her very much and - if they do decide to have the Wondergirls go back to the White Tower, Ryma could be the one to take them there, as she delivers the news about the Seanchan. That's one of the few reasons that I can see for the Wondergirls to think it will be safe for them to go back to Tar Valon, after they hear Moiraine's news, tbh)
But, yeah, I'm glad that Nynaeve can't just Bruce Banner "I'm always angry" at her problems. That her block is now something that is causing her distress in times when she desperately needs to be able to channel.
48. Mat blowing the Horn is such a beautiful moment. Time slowing and the music changing and the effects of how the Heroes appear. This is a moment of intense despair for everyone and Mat blowing the Horn here turns everything around. I think they did a really good job in making this the turning point of the episode. Mat blowing the Horn did bring back the hope of winning. It didn't win the battle, but it gave back hope. Instead of Mat being ~just like~ Ishamael, he is instead Ishamael's opposite. Instead of betraying hope, he creates it.
And it's such a joyous moment. Mat gets to have his self-worth affirmed by an outside source, gets to feel connected to something bigger than himself, after feeling alone for most of the season. It's really beautiful.
Just... gorgeous. And when Mat remembers and is able to get that validation that he is not destined to be a 'damn prick', just like his father, that he isn't rotten to his core... witnessing him going through that moment is so lovely. Cannot say enough good things about it, A+ television.
49. We also see that, after Mat says that he 'remembers', that he's handling his weapon differently, more familiarly, and he can now speak the Old Tongue. So we can see the impact that remembering his past lives has on him.
And, of course, we see here that Uno is one of the Heroes of the Horn! It's a nice hint to viewers who maybe weren't listening to Ingtar earlier that the Horn brings back the dead. Because we definitely all saw Uno die.
50. And, of course, being magically-fast ghost warriors, the Heroes absolutely can make sure that they only target active combatants and that no civilians get caught in the cross-fire.
Uno saving Perrin. <3 And then lending him a magic shield! Useful! I'm guessing it probably also fades away after the Heroes do.
And once the arrow is out of Elayne's leg, everyone is on their way to the tower.
51. Rand is able to push himself to his feet, despite the effects of the shield on him, and tell Ishamael, point-blank, "I will never serve him. In a thousand lives, I never have. I'm sure of it."
Ishamael knows that his main plan is a bust. It's only back-up plans and failsafes from here on out.
52. Mat's throw is a really good throw! Unfortunately, Ishamael is a trickster too, and it goes right through the illusion of him. This moment is incredibly traumatizing for Mat who only literally just now regained his sense of self-worth -- while we are going to end up with our heroes triumphing over Ishamael and the Seanchan and saving Falme... they all end up damaged and traumatized by it.
Mat just clutching onto Rand here in the wake of accidentally stabbing him. Oh, wow, it really gets to me. And Rand's anger is 100% (and very appropriately and accurately) focused on Ishamael.
And Ishamael is so distracted by this moment that he doesn't realize that Egwene has gotten up from where he threw her.
53. I love how delicate Elayne's healing weave is. And the wound left behind looks very nasty. And Rand getting healed by Elayne and then seeing the sun shining in her hair. What a way to be introduced to someone for the first time! They save your life like that and are literally wreathed in sunlight.
54. Moiraine and Lan getting on the same (ruthless) page when it comes to supporting Rand/the Dragon. And we get to really see Lan let loose with his fighting as Moiraine lets loose with her channeling.
55. I was honestly a little nervous about the idea of them actually doing a sky battle because I could not possibly picture how that would not be cheesy. I trusted the show's team but... I was nervous. What the show did was not at all cheesy. It was heartfelt and epic, but not cheesy.
I love how everyone works together to make it work. The team did such a good job of playing out this theme of having the characters be isolated and showing how that made them vulnerable, and then rewarding us with this beautiful coming together. They can be there for each other and protect each other.
And I'm confused about anyone feeling like this takes away from Rand because... they all contribute so that Rand can strike the final blow -- because Rand is the only one who could have done that part. Moiraine freed Rand from his shield and Elayne healed him, Egwene and Perrin were able to block Ishamael's attacks, but Rand absorbed Ishamael's attacks into his own weave to strengthen it, and then he wove the One Power directly into his sword and we can see the results -- instead of getting back up again, Ishamael crumbled to dust.
Ishamael himself was aware that he had lost as soon as Rand was unshielded, imo. He makes another attack after that, but it's clear that he knows that he lost. There's a reason that Ishamael's first big move in the scene with Rand is to get him shielded by the damane. That's the only way he even has a chance in this fight and he knows it. Egwene isn't able to go on the offense against, Ishamael in any way and we can see what a toll it's taking on her to hold up her shield against him - holes develop in her shield before Perrin shows up.
Minor Cauthor note: I love how after Rand gets rocked by being unshielded and he realizes that Mat got pulled away from Mat, he grabs Mat's hand again. Cute, even in the middle of a pitched battle.
56. Our poor traumatized babies! Let's count up the trauma:
a. Rand felt shielded and helpless for much of the fight and now has a wound in his side that Elayne wasn't quite able to heal. He's also very aware that his lack of training is causing big problems. And he's got a heron brand on his hand now.
b. Egwene is deeply traumatized from her time as a slave.
c. Nynaeve spent this entire battle feeling helpless and her only contribution was bringing Elayne here so that Elayne could heal Rand. Nynaeve may even blame herself for the state Rand's wound has been left in, wondering if she could have healed him fully if she'd had access to the Power.
d. Perrin just lost his new wolf BFF in a traumatic way.
e. Mat stabbed his best friend with an evil dagger (after spending months being psychologically tortured).
f. Elayne has a pretty nasty leg injury. Also, she has to be the most confused person here, by a mile. She likely knows about the prophecies and the Dragon Reborn as general concepts but had absolutely no clue that she was accidentally stumbling into the middle of them. She's gonna have so many questions.
57. But this whole section really is beautiful. Just... I love the fire-illusion dragon so much. Moiraine is always So Extra, all the time.
58. This is the first time any of them have seen Rand channel! Even though they can't see the weaves, they can see Rand walking through Ishamael's attacks without flinching, they can see his sword glowing red, and Ishamael turning to dust. And they heard Ishamael call him "Lews", probably.
It's also another incredibly intimate stabbing, though in a different way than Mat 'stabbing' Rand was. He looks directly into Ishamael's eyes the entire time and, afterwards, he stays focused on Ishamael until he's turned to dust.
59. Yeah, Falme looks pretty all-in on the Dragon Reborn. He saved them from the Seanchan and (given what the dude in Atuan's Mill said) he also saved them from the Whitecloaks. At their greatest hour of need, the Dragon really did come to save them. We also get the confirmation here that these Aiel Maidens, at least, believe that Rand is the Car'a'carn that they've been searching for.
60. At this point in time, Lanfear is feeling pretty damn happy with herself. Step one of her plan was a complete success! Ishamael has been taken care of. Lews Therin Rand has been publicly proclaimed the Dragon! Her happy ending is within her grasp!
Then, as Lanfear is basking in her victory... she discovers that Ishamael took action when he realized she was betraying him. We meet "softly, softly from the shadows" Moghedien and see her stand toe-to-toe with Lanfear. All of the Forsaken are now loose.
Love the vibe they've given to Moghedien.
We can see here that those conflicts that Moiraine talked about between the Forsaken are clear and present. Lanfear and Moghedien are definitely not on the same page when it comes with how to deal with the Dragon.
Moghedien says that "him" and "all five of them" are now the other Forsaken's business and that Lanfear is to stay away from Rand in particular.
And she vanishes before Lanfear is set free and our last words of the season are Lanfear saying, "Light help you, Rand al'Thor."
Interesting in two ways! Acknowledgement of him as Rand, not Lews Therin, and calling upon the Light to aid him. I feel like it does a good job of setting up some very clear issues for the next season.
Hope we have a shorter wait this time!
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I just rewatched 02 x 07 for the first time since finishing all the books and I can't stop thinking about it. I feel like everyone is either on the side of (1) it was all a big ploy, or (2) that's it for Moiraine and Siuan they can never come back from this--but I really don't think either of those are true.
I think the most in character thing Moiraine could possibly do is forgive Siuan, for the following reasons:
Moiraine knows that she would do the exact same thing that Siuan did here--namely, sacrifice anything (even their relationship and their trust in one another)--for the sake of the world and their mission. And this shared goal, these compatible values, and this mutual understanding is literally what has kept them together despite 20 years of distance and secrecy from the world.
[MINOR BOOK SPOILERS] We see in one of the books that Moiraine believes she and Siuan have made their beds and will lie in them one day by becoming involved in the quest to find the Dragon -- I believe the way she phrases it is about payment coming due for all the rules they've broken and the secrecy etc. that they needed for their quest. If this is her attitude, she is not only willing to give up everything, but expects to give up everything. And she expects it of Siuan as well.
Siuan has already proven how much she would give up for their quest. She became Amyrlin despite, as we learn this same episode, how much she did not want to be trapped in the tower and could not see her future there. She gave up any semblance of a happy life (how she would picture it both with and without Moiraine!) for this quest.
In some ways, if Siuan had just let Moiraine take Rand through a waygate to Falme, it would have actually been a betrayal of their mission. Their mission wasn’t “get Rand to Falme.” It was “protect and train the dragon reborn.” Siuan feels the need to do that as acutely as Moiraine does--and critically, Moiraine knows this about Siuan.
This goes quadruple if Siuan actually did think Moiraine could be a dark friend. Siuan thinks Moiraine lied to her!! And Moiraine knows this too, since Siuan does at least have the chance to say "You lied to me!" Moiraine would understand that if there was any chance Moiraine had been turned or was compelled, Siuan had to try and stop her from taking Rand off to god knows where.
Literally just a few days earlier Moiraine had threatened to have Alanna take Lan’s bond by force if he stood in her way--aka, the way of her mission. At this very moment, Moiraine herself has spent days (weeks?) contemplating what it would mean to betray the autonomy and trust of those she loves most if it means saving the world. And she knows what side she's on.
When Moiraine says, “if you have ever loved me don’t do this” my heart shatters into a million pieces. But that line is not just ,“it will be a betrayal of our love and trust if you compel me." It is that, but it's also a call for Siuan to see Moiraine for MOIRAINE. She’s saying “you know me.” She’s trying to get her (Siuan) to see that what she (Moiraine) is doing is not about her shame and pride but about the mission. Because it is ALWAYS about the mission, Moiraine IS the mission, and Siuan loves her because of that, and Moiraine knows Siuan loves her because of that 
Moiraine clearly hesitates before going through the waygate. Her character isn't one to linger out of shock and betrayal. She lashes out and she puts up distance--we've seen this all season. Moiraine moves forward. So I read her looking at Siuan here as far more "I love you and I'm sorry [I can't help you? it's come to this? we can't reconcile?]" than "How could you?" or "You're a different person to me now." I’m not trying to minimize the violation Moiraine is also feeling in this moment, I just think that if the violation was her primary emotion she would likely behave differently. And if she can have this messy a set of emotions even in the heart of the moment, I have faith she can similarly hold multiple emotions later when reconciling.
The flashback scenes are so heartbreaking but they don’t have to mean that Moiraine and Siuan feel so betrayed and far from those versions of themselves that they will never be together again. Those flashbacks can also be saying “remember when we were those people?” Holding onto those versions of themselves is how they hold onto their love despite this scene.
Those flashbacks also remind us that their relationship in the show is like 50 years old. It is deep. People don't throw away 50 years of relationship without a conversation, even if there is a deep betrayal involved. And that's normal people--not even people who have given up absolutely everything for a cause that the relationship has now gotten wrapped up in. In the books, they are together for a few years and then seemingly go their separate ways when the Dragon is reborn. I don't think the show would have gone out of its way to deepen and lengthen this relationship just to end it so quickly and unceremoniously.
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asha-mage · 7 months
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DELICIOUS LEWS THERIN AND ISHY SCENE
"I know how much you hate being alive. But I don't want to do this again." WOOF
Fascinating that this was apparently a targeted strike at the different Forsaken, probably picking them off before the strike against The Pit of Doom.
INTRO RETURNS AW YEAH
A part of me was kinda hoping for a new season 2 one with the Heroes of the Horn, but Spoilers probably meant it couldn;t be. Maybe next time. (Also the Aes Sedai one slaps anyways)
I will NEVER be able to forgive them for making so many hateable men so god damn hot, Bornhold topping the list. And by 'never be able to forgive' I mean 'never be able to thank enough'. (see also: Masema)
28 feels like to small a number of damane for the Seanchan to have in Falme, but I suppose it's a rough estimate and also not including those still in 'training'
The Watches Over the Waves have always been one of those loose threads that never really got touched on. Glad their getting a glancing shot here.
"Prophecies are just the lies of long dead witches" intereeeesting. Not a shocking take for the Whitecloaks to have.
AW YEAH THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE ROAD TRIP EVER
Dang Lanfear cold blooded still.
Perrin and Avi! Aw yeah again!
......Interesting. What is that mist I wonder?
I continue to be so happy they nailed the Aiel so right.
Man Lanfear and Ishamael really sound like they ARE trying to seduce Rand to be their third.
FUCK that's clever (re: The Whitecloak smoke trick)
Their changing the framing of the Egwene rescue a bit, but their keeping Nynaeve's half of it pretty the same, so I'm hoping it will play out like in the books. Still one of my favorite scenes in the series.
Of course Ishamael steps out of that room and IMMEDIATELY knows that Lanfear is trying to play him
Mat! And Padan Fain! Surprised we aren't getting more of a reaction to Padan Fain is A Darkfriend from Mat, but that is a reveal that's pretty old to the audience at this point.
Moiraine and Lan! Platonic marriage re-established!
I like that they gave this speech to Loial re: heroes of a new age. It's very fitting for his character.
Offff. At least it's white cloaks so Egwene isn't going to have nearly as much guilt for slaughtering them.
FUCK
RANDA AL'THOR YOU ARE THE FUNnIEST PERSON ON THE PLANET
on the one hand i've always loved the Turak vs Rand duel, on the other....yeah probably does not have the sword trainining needed to do that this time round.
By Turak! At least you got to take Suroth down a peg this time!
Glad they kept the ritual suicide of the So'jhin re: Turak's death. It's one of those moments for hitting home just how fucked the Seanchan culture is.
.....Interesting choice to cut Ingtar's confession, especially after making a point to show the Shienar falcon early in the season. By Ingtar!
Oh hey Domon! You took Moiraine's advice I see.
'Take them to the deepest part of the ocean and dump them' Pffffffft. Peak Lanfear
MAY MAKING A NAGINTA WITH THE DAGGER IS SO A?UAHGAUSDUGHASUDGHASDGAUHSDGASUHFADSUHFASDFUH?ASDFASDFASDFAS
[It was at this point that I lost all coherence and stopped being able to liveblog effectively so here are some of my assorted post credits thoughts]
MOIRAINE AND LAN KILLING IT ONCE MORE
I have conflicted feelings about Egwene actually killing Renna, related mostly to the scene from the books being so important to the under laying themes of justice and fate, but I also can't deny that with it's shifted framing, it makes complete sense for the characters, and it heightens the ongoing theme of 'The Forsaken where to Lews what the EF5 where to Rand'.
I also have conflicted feelings about Nynaeve not being the one to heal Rand's wound, but I understand the logic of the choice, even if I don't agree with it.
On the other hand it is BRILLIANT AND INCREDIBLY SMART CHOICE to have Bornhold Senior be the one to kill Hopper, and Perrin to kill him in revenge. It's going to make the Two Rivers stuff A Lot More. It will also make Perrin's conviction to give himself up to the Whitecloaks make a lot more sense.
MAT BEING A HERO OF THE HORN IS INTERESTING BECAUSE MAT SPECIFICALLY WASN'T IN THE BOOKS- HE REFUSED REPEATEDLY THROUGH MANY LIVES. This lends credence to the 'future turning of the wheel' credence of the show which I've always favored anyways.
The scene where all these pivotal character moments are happening while Mat blows the horn, all these different arcs turning on their head, is SO FUCKING BRILLIANT
ALSO CONGRATS ON THE PROMOTION TO HERO OF THE HORN UNO
They don't specifically name drop any heroes in the scene, and I'll have to go back with X Ray to see if any are named, but THEIR SURE IS A BLONDE ARCHER LADY IN THAT SHOW SO FOR NOW HIGH BIRGITTE
ALSO HIGH ARTUR HAWKWING I ASSUME on the one hand it feels weird for your line to be directed at Mat instead of Rand. On the other your part in this scene originally was really just to drive home beyond any shadow of doubt, any ability of Rand to deny it to himself for a reason beyond stubbornness, that he was the Dragon. Rand's already accepted that here so you're not strictly speaking necessary for that, but still.
The shot where everyone is standing united against Ishamael is SO FUCKING GOOD.
Also by Ishamael! We'll see you in a few seasons in your newer, hotter, twinkier body!
(I don't envy the actor that has to live up to Fares Fares, it's going to be no easy task).
ALSO ENTER: THE OTHER FORSAKEN, dun dun dun!
Moggy fucking with Lanfear is so fucking good. FEED IT TO ME SLOWLY WITH GRAPES
GIRL SET HER TRAP AND WAITED FOR LANFEAR TO WALK INTO IT JUST SO SHE COULD GET THE UPPER HAND AND GLOAT IN AN OVERWHELMINGLY LESBIAN WAY WHAT AN ICON
Oh man I am going to rewatch and binge this entire season like FORTY TIMES.
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lookingforcactus · 7 months
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Verin and the Jailbreak: Breaking down Verin's brilliant not-lies
Verin, to Leane: The Amyrlin requires your strength to protect Cairhien.
Actually, nothing in this says that the Amyrlin told her anything! Cairhien is under a huge, fiery attack by unknown forces, coincidentally just as they've captured the Dragon. I think it would be easy enough to argue that the Amyrlin requires the strength of all of the Aes Sedai there in order to protect Cairhien, especially depending on how thoroughly Verin is mentally defining "protect." Like, for example, if they wanted to prevent any more fires from being set or anyone else from dying, they presumably WOULD need every Aes Sedai they could get, even if they don't know it's Lanfear, bc more people are dying each minute. And after all, there's a lot of explosions and those explosions are clearly heading toward the Aes Sedai!
Verin, to Leane, con't.: I've been told to watch the boy.
And as for "I've been told to watch the boy," she doesn't say who told her. She could've asked her Warder or the other Brown Sister "Hey, do me a favor and tell me to watch the boy." It gets repeated back, and boom, statement true. Possibly, with that phrasing, Verin could've even gotten away with saying it to herself in the mirror or something.
Verin, to Leane, con't.: This is an order, Leane Sedai
Verin doesn't say who's giving the order. Really, anyone can give an order - it's just that only some people can give orders and actually be listened to. Who's to say Verin isn't just doing the ordering herself, here? Alternately, "Watch the boy" was the order that VERIN'S been told. "Order" could easily refer to the statement given to Verin, not the (completely implied) "Go help the Amyrlin," though that's clearly what Leane hears. And in addition to my speculation about "I've been told to watch the boy," it's entirely plausible that Siuan told or ordered all of the Aes Sedai to watch (generic) and make sure Rand doesn't get out, or that she specifically ordered that to Verin (and possibly any others) as an Aes Sedai who WASN'T going up to the wall for the battle
Verin, to Leane, con't: I'll take his shield.
This one's much clearer. Verin says that she'll TAKE his shield, not that she'll keep the shield up! And she does indeed take over the shield on Rand before releasing him!
Right after that, Leane passes the shield to Verin and says, "Don't let her [Moiraine] get close to you." Leane leaves right after saying that, and Verin doesn't respond. Door closes.
Moiraine: You are very clever with your words, sister.
This is a very Aes Sedai compliment lol. And anyway, there's nothing actually clever about just lying, for an Aes Sedai. After all, if you can just say something that's wrong, you don't need to do any of the very careful and cunning word/general manipulation that all of the other Aes Sedai have to do in order to mislead people
And then...breakout time! Cue lots of fires, lots of running, and Siuan looking Very, Very, Very Dismayed
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catknifetime · 8 months
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The Wheel of Time Ajahs ranking + reasoning. From best to worst. Inspired by a late night conversation I had with my sibling. (Full series spoilers)
1: Brown. They are the best Ajah for 2 reasons, one: they actually do what their Ajah is supposed to do and don’t just fuck around doing politics like roughly 80% of the other Aes Sedai. And two: they are, on average, some of the least insufferable Aes Sedai to talk to. + Verin bias.
2: Blue. They, like the Browns, do also actually do what their Ajah is supposed to do. The unfortunate thing is that what the Blue are supposed to do is basically whatever they want. But they seem generally the most likely to actually help normal people and be invested in making the world better. + Moiraine bias.
3: Grey. They also do their stated job pretty well and consistently. They are the last Ajah until the Red (arguably the white) to do so. tbh the Grey is mostly here because we get so little information on what they’re actually like. But they seem to be doing a pretty good job and not fucking up in any significant way, so they get 3rd.
4: Green. I like the green Ajah. They just don’t really do what they say they do. “The Battle Ajah”? Really? So why aren’t you in the borderlands helping with fighting shadowspawn? Or doing anything actually? Because I thought about it for a while, and I genuinely can’t remember a major thing that the Greens were doing, as a group, before the last battle. But they’re generally pretty cool and when the last battle did actually happen they showed up.
5: White. They’re fine, just the ones we’ve seen seem pretty annoying to talk to. They also are actually philosophers and mathematicians, but from what I can tell they don’t have a ton of contact with philosophers and mathematicians from outside of The Tower. Which is not really good practice if you want to advance those fields. So they fail at their stated job by not actually sharing their work enough. Basically they’re the much less cool and more annoying browns.
6: Yellow. AAAAHHHHH!!!!! The way the Yellows act makes me unspeakably mad. First, they completely disregard traditional medicine, because they can do stuff with the power better. HEY WHAT THE FUCK? The power has limits, especially with healing. Aes Sedai say that constantly throughout the series. But NO. No studying how traditional medicine could teach you more about the body. No seeing if some herbs could help with the recovery from healing. No interest in learning anything new! The most understandable kinda stupid thing they do is that they don’t research new healing weaves out of fear. But the second and worst thing is that they call themselves the healing Ajah, but from what I can tell don’t heal ANYONE who doesn’t come to The Tower or they just happen to heal out in the world. Again, HEY WHAT THE FUCK? There should be HOSPITALS!! At least one small one in every major city. Or at least in a few? I know there’s a problem of them not being able to heal everything, but they could still save a lot of people! Especially if they recruited people who could use normal medicine! But no. They seem to be the worst offenders of sitting on their asses in The Tower just doing politics.
7: Red. Do I really need to explain why Red is the worst? If you’ve read the series you know why I’m doing this. They are literally such a fuck-up of an Ajah that at the time of the series the there hasn’t been an Amyrlin raised from the Red for OVER 1,000 YEARS because the last one was such a disaster. And then when there is a Red raised to Amyrlin during the series she literally causes The Tower to completely fracture and have a little civil war when THE END OF THE WORLD is about to happen. And even though they technically do their job of dealing with men who can channel, they do a really bad job at it (specifically in how they treat the men after gentling, I go into it here). As well as the fact that most red sisters aren’t actually hunting men who can channel. Like 50 of them are at most. That’s 1/4 of the Ajah that’s doing it’s job. Also The Box was the Red Ajah’s idea.
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evilphrog · 8 months
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Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: Season 2, episode 1
I'm at it again! I know I never posted the season 1 finale review, and maybe I will go back and do that later. But for now, I just finished the season premiere, and I have to say, Perrin is 100% correct. The five of them are much more impressive together than apart. Which isn't to say I disliked it. They are all on the struggle bus, but that is where character development is at its peak, and where we get to see their true inner strength. Which is to say, I LOVED it. Bring on the angst!
The season opener with the round table of evil plotters was a fun and clever way to deliver some exposition without boring us. Having a little girl crawling under the table, disturbing the Very Important Shadowy Cloak Meeting really humanized every single one of them, and seeing the Fake Dark One be so gentle and patient with her gives some insight into how people can become dark friends. They are just concerned parents. I am now calling him Nancy Reagan, since he is their leader. I also definitely want to pet a trolloc. They look much cuter when they aren’t being ordered to kill everyone in sight. Are they tamable? Or...redeemable? I am still not sure of their level of free will/sentience, so I am not sure which word applies.
The first scene post-credits is Moiraine working hard to take her Very Sad Alone Time Depression Bath. Just one woman, chilling in a hot tub, cuz the water gets cold without magic. It was a very good idea to show the first hot tub scene in the recaps, so I could get the full emotional subtext here. Bathing is a communal activity in this culture, but she can’t handle having someone else see her in such a vulnerable position when she already feels so vulnerable all the time. But the longer she spends isolated, the more alone and vulnerable she will continue to feel.
She and Lan are hiding out with their friends, Sassy Twin, Serious Twin, and Tom. Tom is married to one of them, but I forget which one. Without the warder bond, Lan must have lost the rapid healing that allows him to withstand his severe clothing allergy. Good thing the Sassy Twin is there to helpfully point out additional clothes that might be hurting him, and to reassure him it would be fine to remove them in her home. She truly speaks for all of us. I’m glad Lan has these three friends around to support him as he supports Moiraine. This poor man is having to learn, at the tender age of forty-something, to use his words to describe how he feels. He is afraid for his best friend, he is hurt about being pushed away at a time when he would expect to be leaned on even harder, I am pretty sure he blames her for blocked bond because she had put the block up prior to being shielded, and he feels like he is losing his only purpose in life.
And in the face of all that, he has to exhibit so much patience as Moiraine acts like every insecure teenager ever and tries to push him away. His previous experience with teenagers taught him what this behavior is like, but not how to handle it. Her “I am so aloof and do not care at all about the feelings of others” routine was incredibly transparent to everyone except Lan. He really needed his friends to lovingly slap him in the ego and remind him that the only way to truly help her is to let himself be the vulnerable one, so she can see how it' it's done, and realize it's something she can live with.
But now he has to do it the old fashioned way, by walking upstairs to check on her. Good timing, too. Slightly worse timing for Serious Twin, but at least she could handle all the Eyeless. Hopefully one of the twins does healing.
Meanwhile, at Aes Sedai High, Nynaeve and Egwene are in novice training. Egwene is dealing with a bit of culture shock. She accidentally witnesses an actual, honest to Light, bisexual orgy on screen. She is going from being a big fish in a small pond to being a big fish in an ocean surrounded by other big fish, but she is handling it better than I expected. Nynaeve is handling the entire thing exactly as I hoped she would. While Egwene focuses on adding extra challenges by learning to weave with both hands tied behind her back, Nynaeve is semi-consciously stopping herself from doing any magic at all. Polly tries playing on her pride, by saying she is just scared, and Nynaeve responds by drinking dirty dishwater while making direct eye contact. Such a power move, there. Unfortunately, it leads directly to an unwanted face-to-face discussion with JK Rowling, which quickly turns into a surprise duel. I thought JK was torturing Nynaeve by hurting her, but my husband said she was only making the air too thick for Nynaeve to move through. And really, nothing could possibly torture Nynaeve more than placing an unwanted restriction on her. She did end up shielding her, temporarily, and that was described as one of the most brutal forms of assault. Pretty sick, but also pretty consistent with boarding school hazing rituals.
Later, Nynaeve and Egwene read the letter from Perrin, where he hopes they will all stick together. And JK Rowling goes down to her secret Man Dungeon For Men to read a heavily edited version of the letter to her prisoner, New Mat. And, to this I have to say, come on JK Rowling! Why do you go and pull a stunt that the actual JK Rowling also used in her own book? Your name is getting more and more accurate as time goes on, and that is not a compliment. Anyways, Mat responds in pretty much the same way Harry Potter did, by trying to break out of jail. I’m not sure how I feel about New Mat so far. He seems a bit like a soggy bed sheet, but he is also in the exact circumstances that would lead to soggy bed sheet behavior. His puckish attitude was mostly a mask he put on to lift the spirits of those around him, and his private moments were entirely spent dwelling on his own misery. Presumably the only person he has interacted with for months now is someone who actively feeds on that misery. JK Rowling is a cursed dagger unto herself.
We get a brief glimpse of Rand, with his new haircut. He is sad and has no lines. I assume he will be more present in future episodes. He lights a lantern, presumably for his mother, but maybe for the innocent version of himself that will never exist again. Maybe for his friends he thinks he can never see again. They light the lanterns for those they lost, which might not necessarily mean the ones who died.
Perrin, meanwhile, is on a quest to find Padan Fain and steal back the magic horn. He has found another Wolf guy, who seems to be teaching him how his wolf powers work. Apparently he can see the past? Maybe he is smelling the places where things used to be, like Angua does in Discworld? So then, is he a werewolf? This is a very confusing power that has still not been explained at all. I would have liked to see Perrin get a training sequence similar to Egwene and Nynaeve, but the defining trait of wolf guys is that they aren’t a chatty bunch. They find a bunch of bodies of the traitors from the final battle, presumably disposed of once they were no longer useful. The group holds a proper funeral for them, which confuses Perrin. He doesn’t understand how they can go to such effort for the people responsible for the deaths of hundreds. The prince guy responds that if his people spent their time seeking revenge on those who betray them, they wouldn't have time for anything else. It is more helpful to the ones left behind to let it go and focus on the mission. Sort of the way of the leaf, but with a more productive twist. Perrin is really on a quest for a moral philosophy that he can live with, and this one seems slightly more compatible with him.
At Bel Tine, he lights a lantern for his wife. The first time he has to do so. He places his wedding ring on the lantern, but takes it back at the last second. He isn’t ready to let go of his own guilt just yet, but at least he can move forward while carrying it now. Loial seems good for him. And Perrin is good for Loial. He’s way more likeable now that he has gotten used to the wonder of living in the human world, and stopped condescendingly and incorrectly explaining how it all works. They are both figuring that out together. I am not sure how he survived being stabbed with the cursed dagger. By all rights it makes no sense. So I guess… Loial returned somehow. And we are also moving on from it and focusing on the mission, even if we carry our confusion with us.
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moiraineology · 2 months
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This was one of my favourite passages in the book. I would put it in the same category as "I'd let a thousand innocents die (...)" in terms of kinda ratioing Moiraine's likeability. She's talking to someone whose husband and son recently died. The woman is having a lot of trouble reckoning with it, and just needs to talk about it, but Mo is so focused on her mission that she just doesn't have the time and energy to really listen. And she busts out this preformed response that seems like the right thing to say, but it just comes across as callous and insincere. And she notices that it's not received well, and she feels badly about that. I think she's embarrassed about her youth and inexperience, for sure, but I also think she's kind of unreliable as a narrator. She knows she wasn't kind here, but she doesn't really pinpoint exactly where it went wrong. She just chalks it up to her not being Aes Sedai enough. I don't really have a point here. I just love when RJ lets Moiraine be really unlikeable, impatient, and inconsiderate, in spite of being a person who cares deeply about the world and the people she loves. I like it when she fucks up. I think a lot of people fuck up in exactly this way, where it's more thoughtlessness and self-consciousness rather than outright malice, and this passage just makes her really, really human.
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markantonys · 7 months
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My Mom Reacts To: wheel of time season 2 episodes 1-4 (season 1)
episode 1
"if i had to carry water all that way for a bath, i'd get a smaller bathtub" you know what? that is a very fair point. just get a smaller tub, moiraine!
mom, #1 Lan Stan: so, he doesn't have any powers, right? except cunning and strength and loyalty of course me: of course
mom: so liandrin wants nynaeve to become red because she........doesn't want her to have a warder? me doing a great aes sedai truth-telling: nynaeve is really powerful so liandrin wants to recruit her for her own team
my dad predicted moiraine was scamming bayle domon and loved it when it was revealed that she was. as always, not too much commentary from him because he remains silent and seems to not be paying attention for most of the time, only to randomly come out with a completely correct prediction or read on a scene.
"i don't think it's true that neat and tidy things can't be worthwhile 🙄" clearly my mom subscribes more to the Egwene School Of Thought than to the Alanna School Of Thought
lan to moiraine after she is Mean to him: make dinner yourself mom: GOOD FOR YOU
when lan brings her the plate later and puts it on top of the maps: "what if he gets greasy food all over her maps?"
"ugh i hate dark scenes where i can't see anything" [scary fade appears] "okay maybe it's good that i can't see"
episode 2
my mom got all confused about rand's dream of him killing his friends and wondered at first if it was real, please pray for her when tel'aran'rhiod is introduced later
"HE'S BALD??????" all of us when we first saw s2 rand's new look djkfgjh
"they must like him here if he gets free food" my boy, beloved wherever he goes :')
she wasn't particularly fond of mat last season, but he's gotten quite a few laughs so far this season! (notably the moment when we ALL fell in love with New Mat, when he was miming liandrin locking the door)
she gave an annoyed TUH! at elayne dissing egwene's room, but didn't comment further, possibly because i'd just told her 20 seconds earlier that elayne was my favorite character and she didn't want to offend me jdkfgh
she was like "wait, is she blue or green???" during a scene where alanna was wearing a slightly-darker-than-normal green outfit, so i think it was definitely a good call by the show to dress aes sedai in their ajah colors always. hard to keep track otherwise!
after moiraine had her hand on her knife when verin revealed she knew about the dragon: "what was she gonna do?? just stab her right in front of all the others??? that's ridiculous!" djkfjg points were made! poor moiraine just kinda panicked and lost all her braincells for a moment there.
my mom was a randgwene shipper last season so i thought she was gonna be pissed about rand hooking up with a strange new woman whilst egwene mourns his death, but she has not said a single word about that situation yet! i did once catch her reading lanfear's wiki article which she'd gotten onto after reading lan's because "i just want to know what happens to him and i'm not going to read all those books" so maybe she retained some info from lanfear's article that made her suspect something fishy with selene?
she recognized min from s1 right away and hastened to add her to her handwritten character list, when other characters needed a couple scenes to get that honor, and i remember she laughed a lot at min's lines last season and she did again today. guys, if my mom becomes a min stan, i may never recover lmao (i'm mostly kidding, show!min has done nothing wrong and is cool. MOSTLY kidding.)
re: the list, i told her she wasn't allowed to google and print out a list of characters because she would see spoilers, only to accidentally spoil her myself last season by instinctively writing liandrin's name down in the "bad guys" column and making her ask "wait, so she's ACTUALLY a villain, not just mean??", rip (but i played it off as "oh she's just unfriendly to moiraine so that's why i put her there" so we shall see whether or not she ends up being surprised by the black ajah reveal)
when min was saying how she sees glimpses of the pattern, my mom made a connection to perrin seeing the past earlier, which i thought was very interesting! (since we hadn't yet learned that what he saw was actually a sending from the wolves.) min's viewings and wolfbrothers are the two major magical powers that have nothing to do with the one power, and it always minorly bugged me that they don't Fit In to the rest of the magic system (despite my apparently-hypocritical mocking of people who get hung up on lore rules etc haha), so i just thought it was neat to think of them in conjunction with each other.
mom, shocked and dismayed: MAT'S GOING TO KILL RAND???????? me: [vibrating with glee over The Great Cauthor Stabbening]
when nynaeve is taken to the arches: "so is she getting a promotion?"
there was some line during the moiraine-lan divorce that got a big offended gasp from our #1 Lan Stan, but i forget which one it was (it wasn't "we were never equals" it was an earlier one)
my dad just laughed when they first showed suroth and her redonkulus getup jkjfg the correct reaction to the pomp and ceremony of seanchan high blood
episode 3
when the aes sedai were saying nynaeve was ready to take the test my mom was like "NO SHE ISN'T!!!!" and was pressed about them rushing her into it
during the bandit attack in the test: "boy, i wouldn't want to live in this world!"
when nynaeve left the tower my mom was like "is this what happens in the books?!" and i couldn't reveal yet that it was still part of the test so i just instinctively said "you'll see" which is my response to everything, and she was like "no i won't, i'm not reading all these books" lmao
my dad during the version of mashiara playing during the lanaeve reunion: why is "somewhere over the rainbow" playing
sheriam: she wasn't ready mom: THAT'S WHAT I SAID!!!!!!!!!!!
she was genuinely very upset for a moment because she thought nynaeve was dead, but i think she then guessed pretty quickly that It Ain't Over Yet
scene transition from nynaeve being left in the arches over to the seanchan: "we're going from bad to worse!"
i was dithering over uno's impending death because i didn't want to spoil them but i thought my mom might want a trigger warning, and thankfully my dad went "that horn looks like it's in a dangerous spot" when they first made uno kneel, so i was all clear to say "yeah this is about to get gory" lmao
my dad wondered if suroth was the dark one which fascinated me! i think everyday negroes had the same thought, iirc. i guess it IS the logical conclusion when you know that ishy is the dark one's right-hand man and in this scene we see him being suroth's right-hand man!
my mom thought elayne might be evil or a spy! how could she! i guess she isn't accustomed to wheel of time strangers just being friendly without an ulterior motive djkfg i didn't outright say her theory was wrong because i'm not about to be a booksplainer, but i'm sure i was so visibly baffled at the idea of elayne being evil that i shot down the theory nonetheless haha
when liandrin goes to visit mat again: "how does she have time for all this? she has her sick son, she has mat, and she has whatever else she does at the tower"
when liandrin blames mat for nynaeve's death: "this lady is CRAZY!!"
mat's "is that an 'i'm here to murder you' stare or a 'light i never realized how handsome you are' stare" line was a big hit! love to see my boy getting some appreciation in this house
...............which he promptly squandered when he a) initially left his cell without freeing min too, and b) did not go comfort egwene. but i pointed out that liandrin's been psychologically tormenting him for months into thinking his friends are better off without him, because i couldn't bear to see them judge my boy!
"it's like we're in 18th century france!" was the first thing out of my mom's mouth when they went to the cairhienin party, i'm sure the costume designers would be thrilled!
mom: how did this lady from the poor district get them into a fancy party? and how could she afford these clothes? 🤨 me: 🤷👀
when logain pours out the wine: "AFTER ALL RAND'S HARD WORK TO GET IT!!"
why did my dad laugh when the inn was on fire jdkfg maybe he just likes to see rand have a bad time
mom: jeez, maybe rand shouldn't stay in other people's houses anymore me: i'm sure rand's thinking the same thing
mom at the end of the test: it's so sad that they keep getting glimpses of the nice lives they could've had 😔
episode 4
mom 2 seconds before the camera reveals who the visitor is: is her little sister moiraine? [camera shows moiraine] mom: I GUESSED SOMETHING FOR ONCE
"it's pretty rude to show up to someone's house and then say 'i don't have time to hang out with you'!"
selene: the fire wasn't your fault rand mom: well it kinda was actually
there was some moment where my dad referred to "sneezing and burning down an inn, or whatever he did" and it killed me, i wish i could remember the context bc it was even funnier in context
"i speak with the amyrlin every time i open my mouth" was also a hit! as was perrin asking if he would turn into a wolf and elyas saying "don't be stupid"
mom when moiraine waltzes into the foregate dressed to the nines: i thought she wanted to keep a low profile
just earlier that day we'd been bemoaning the lack of pockets in women's clothing, as one does, so my mom was like "[delighted] now THAT'S a pocket!" when moiraine fit a whole-ass knife into the pocket of her fancy dress. WOT costumers understand the importance of giving girls pockets! lanfear's outfits have a lot too
my dad said "she seems like a bad guy" about selene during the mountaintop scene, he been knew! but he ended up falling asleep and missing the reveal that he was right
meanwhile, mom: "i'm just waiting for a monster to crawl up that cliff and get them"
when alanna & co go through lan's bags to get the poem: "aww, i thought they were his friends! 😔"
mom: too bad moiraine won't just ask her sister about rand, she talked to him at the party! anvaere: so if you want to know where that redheaded boy is, you'll have to ask me very nicely over tea mom: [just as smug as anvaere]
when ishy shows up at min's room: "how is he EVERYWHERE????"
she didn't seem TOO surprised when liandrin attacked the girls, and she clocked that liandrin was working for ishy after this scene with min (or rather, she asked me if that was the case and i said "you'll see")
she let out the fondest chuckle when rand was like "[choking back tears] i'm going to leave now, thank you" he is BABY YOUR HONOR!!!
as the Lanfear Reveal started my mom said "i just knew she was evil" so that must be why she was so silent on the relationship and so un-judgmental of rand, she must've clocked selene's Bad Vibes from the start! or else she retained something from reading lanfear's wiki article a while back lmao
even so, she went "OH MY GOSH!!!!" and clapped her hands over her mouth in shock when moiraine slit lanfear's throat, which i think is one of her biggest reactions to anything in either season so far! the initial stabbing, zero reaction, but the followup throat-slitting, freakout.
the "i'm a monster too" line + Undead Lanfear Moment has her CONVINCED that forsaken are some kind of creatures or zombies, i'm trying to explain they're just humans who are really powerful and evil haha
at the final shot of lanfear: "i'm going to have nightmares! i'll have to go read my murder mystery to calm down before bed." duality of woman
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jaqobis · 7 months
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sorting out some finale impressions after sleeping on it
it's like.
moiraine being able to burn the ships despite the oaths; the protracted scene of renna's murder; perrin going into a rage and killing bornhald senior; rand one-shotting turak etc; mat stabbing people left and right with the dagger; nynaeve torturing the sul'dam but that plot coming to nothing (returning to that in a moment). like i read the interview, i know what the rand scene referenced. i can imagine the perrin scene was buildup for fear of the wolf. it's not that i just don't get it.
but like did dain necessarily need Valid Reason to hate perrin lol. again, i can see what they're doing. but What If The Whitecloaks Were Here To Fight The Seanchan -- which, yeah, they do oppose the seanchan in the books. but the specific framing of them to help and whatever, when no one else was willing to. specifically also throwing siuan under the bus bc allegedly the amyrlin also got a letter about this. even if this turns out to be a lie, this is the standing narrative for now, and in combination with everything else they did with siuan this season, yikes.
i read the interview, i know what the rand thing was referencing, but also that's a scene of rand acting in self-defense against darkfriends that were literally about to murder him. if he'd struck a second later, or waited, they might have succeeded. more importantly that's where he's in a situation where people have been trying to murder him literally day and night for, like, months. he hasn't slept in as long. the context is totally different. there is also a rand scene in TFOH where he talks about how it feels unfair to use saidin against non-channelers. you can just as easily argue that he Wouldn't do this.
i actually, personally, think it's very important for the egwene/rand parallels that her friends were there to save her from the seanchan, and that he later has to save himself from the box. i also think it was important for her development that she could know she has friends who would and do come for her. i also personally find that narrative much more satisfying, cool as her Moment was. i'd been spoiled about her killing renna going in, and like we can discuss morality whether rj was Right to ask if revenge is justice or if it's More Right for egwene to kill renna, we'd be here forever. i'm not really looking to comment on that. it is kind of a weird vibe to remove a meditation on violence, however, in a series that is anti-war, in a finale that seemed to make a lot of choices to depict and make this battle Cool, etc. that had us watch renna die for quite a long moment. renna certainly got what was coming to her, but idk.
Violence Is Cool. Traumatic Experiences Lead To Empowering Moments. that's the vibe it's giving.
lan continued to be used just to prop up moiraine and explain how she's feeling and talk about how good she is. at least daniel henney got a pretty cool fight scene!
tbf leaning on the whitecloaks and ishamael as sad and sympathetic has sanderson written all over it
making the sul'dam weak channelers seems to lose some of the hypocrisy central to the seanchan empire; losing some of the hypocrisy and deep societal rot undercuts the commentary on institutional-level change needed to remove the damane system. combined with the deaths of both collared sul'dams, that secret also goes lost.
(they certainly might bring it back and address it later, but arguing that It's 100% Coming, Shut Up & Stop Whining is just as much of a bad faith argument as claiming the show sucks bc hurin isn't in it. i can only comment to what exists now. also, frankly, i've been told things i was criticising previously were OBVIOUSLY going to be addressed in the finale and. weren't? so like.)
nynaeve really was allowed to accomplish nothing useful huh. no speech about justice, no part of the successful figuring out how to uncollar, no healing, no protecting her friends from forsaken, nothing. for all that elayne was immediately walking around everywhere after her dramatic wound, they could've just. let nynaeve do that.
like i obviously understand that they're showing the block is a real problem, which it is, but this is a choice that was made.
also not a single mention of ryma after her big sacrifice huh. it would add approximately 5 seconds to runtime for the wondergirls to talk about saving egwene and ryma at any point.
loial's speech about them all being heroes + mat's hero of the horn thing + crowds cheering (yes i remember the end of tdr) + etc etc really building up this idea of Heroism As Cool. could be something they'll work to subvert later but it's certainly an element that existed in the books at this point. that they've stripped out.
also like why even bother destroying the heron mark sword without the buildup of why it matters to rand or why its destruction was narratively impactful. unearned. rand saying he won't serve ishamael in a thousand lifetimes, unearned. there were plenty of other moments that didn't feel earned to me that escape me now, which. a shame!
i've already rb'd a post that laid out my feelings about rand thus far pretty well so i'll mostly spare y'all but. it's an incredible disservice to his character to take a scene where he tries to sacrifice himself for egwene/his loved ones, knowingly opens himself up to terrible pain, and thereby gets the wound that gives him chronic pain for the rest of his life and kills him, and make it...a mistake of mat's. like. yes, we've seen him try to sacrifice himself at the eye. there's nothing wrong with repeating this beat? it's called a consistent character trait. it was already a subversion of the conceit of a 1v1 op heroic battle. they tried to fix something that didn't need fixing, to make a point it was already making. also rand just immediately up and about after getting this wound, even with healing, where he was out for days in the book. it just doesn't bode super well for depiction of chronic pain sufferer rand al'thor. i don't doubt they intend to show us the wound breaking open etc etc but you're also undercutting significance on multiple levels out the gate. it bothers me! but i'm chronically ill with chronic pain so i'm not going to pretend this is some coldly logical clear-eyed opinion.
also perrin killing bornhald sr the same way he killed laila. except it's not even an immediate heat of the moment in the same way, he had to go out and find bornhald sr and stab him repeatedly and be held back. like i love hopper too (another death that felt really. gratuitous in handling.) but christ's sake. it's sure a Look.
tl;dr the themes??? ? ? the themes ???? ? ? and then i remember the sanderson of it all and i understand lmao.
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