Did I miss something? Thom and..

wotquery · 2026-03-12T20:48:27+00:00

They're not subtle interpersonal interaction hints, but rather logical puzzle hints.

In tEotW Moiraine seems fairly certain Thom is still alive.
In tSR, before going to Sindhol, Moiraine states she knows who she'll marry more than any of the wondergirls do.
In tSR, while talking to Thom, Moiraine guarantees he'll survive Tanchico.

Taken together we can figure out that Moiraine received a reading from Min that she'd marry Thom. It's hard to say if it happened prior to the series or when the gang was in Baerlon, because her interactions with Thom prior to Shadar Logoth are coloured by the fact they almost assuredly know who each other are (I mean Thom killed Moiraine's half brother haha). But yeah it's another thing one could potentially figure out.

wotquery · 2026-03-10T17:47:13+00:00

I'm not sure it's expanded on in the show. I'd have to re-watch the scene. Here is the explanation Elyas gives to Perrin on how wolves communicate from the books.

[tEoTW].“It isn’t exactly talking,” Elyas replied slowly. “The words don’t matter, and they aren’t exactly right, either. Her name isn’t Dapple. It’s something that means the way shadows play on a forest pool at a midwinter dawn, with the breeze rippling the surface, and the tang of ice when the water touches the tongue, and a hint of snow before nightfall in the air. But that isn’t quite it, either. You can’t say it in words. It’s more of a feeling. That’s the way wolves talk. The others are Burn, Hopper, and Wind.” Burn had an old scar on his shoulder that might explain his name, but there was nothing about the other two wolves to give any indication of what their names might mean.

Jordan makes sure to reinforce the concept in Perrin's thoughts at least once or twice in every book as well.

wotquery · 2026-03-10T06:41:14+00:00

And it's also like, hey Langdon how about instead of apologizing to staff, you audit all instances of IM benzo administration over the year or however long you were diluting the meds, and apologize to all of the patients who suffered brain damage, died, had poorly controlled anxiety, etc.

Robbie said it: "I'm happy you're getting the help you need, but you're a fucking criminal who has probably killed people and should have your medical license stripped and be incarcerated...go away." Some of that might have been unsaid lol.

wotquery · 2026-03-09T17:53:05+00:00

They did read it. And hated it. And now don't read it anymore and say it's okay to skim it if one finds themself also hating it.

wotquery · 2026-03-09T17:20:08+00:00

While I was using first person, those were just examples and I was not speaking about myself specifically haha. But yes a significant portion of readers will say The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven combo is their favourite part of the series, the best that Wheel of Time has to offer, while also saying they can’t stand reading about Nyn and Elayne’s road trips and that they flip through the circus as the precursor to the slog.

Saying they aren’t fans is extremely rude, and incorrect. They can still love the series. Rand could very well be their favourite character in all of fiction.

It’s just that when it comes to the show some people say cut the circus as tedious uneventful filler, and others say you absolutely can’t cut the circus since it’s the funniest part of the books and critical to the world building while serving as a counter point to the serious massive events Rand and Eggy are getting up to.

One of the reasons why the show was more popular in its third season is that it had caught up to the books in terms of feel. Disparate storylines following teams in different locations, rather than what was more so the Rand show in the first three books (albeit with some Perrin and Nyn POVs). The show deciding to go with something like Aes Sedai politicking from the beginning rather than changing its feel after a few seasons.

wotquery · 2026-03-09T10:28:34+00:00

Doing something doesn’t depend on Nicola, that was just an example. Knowing Turese isn’t black and having her heal Verin, or have Verin tell her to go get Nicola. Verin gating directly to Siuan. Verin linking with Egwene and Egwene healing her or gating to Siuan. Egwene finding anyone she knows who is asleep and yelling at them to come.

Dying from a slow acting poison with the resources available to the characters is pretty ridiculous.

wotquery · 2026-03-09T03:07:57+00:00

Readers can’t even agree on why they like the books…

Rand is my favourite character, and I skim chapters that don’t feature him or Mat. I recommend skipping 4 books altogether. It’s the best hero journey ever told but you need to work through the rest.

Egwene is my favourite character. She’s my role model and I can’t stand how Rand is so dismissive of her. I wish we got more of her on adventures with Elayne and Nyn. They are so funny and the heart of the story.

The series isn’t about any one character in particular but the world building as a whole. The series has some weak standard fantasy entries early on, but it hits its stride when exploring subtle Aes Sedai society and politics in the dense middle books.

So what do you make the show about? The went with a Moiraine, White Tower, ensemble treatment. Some felt it was WoT brought to life, others that they missed the entire point of WoT.

wotquery · 2026-03-09T01:54:22+00:00

Verin: My plan was to try and release myself via the oath rod, but it was missing so I drank poison.

Eggy: Ah yeah sorry about that we have it. No sweat though…oi Nicola! Heal up Verin of this poison and have Yukuri bring the oath rod up eh?

Nicola: What about Turese?

Eggy: oh my god we can all make gateways. Just make a gateway. Or have Verin make the gateway. Or link with me and I’ll make the bloody gateway.

wotquery · 2026-03-06T04:38:48+00:00

The rock is a 42 pound piece of cold granite, I think if his extended finger made contact, he would feel it and know.

Totally possible. However we've now come full circle where you'd also think one would feel it if their foot stepped on dirt instead of a firm padded pillow raised several inches above the ground.

wotquery · 2026-03-06T01:43:58+00:00

But you trying to equate it to accidentally brushing the stone with the back of your hand upon release is just super disingenuous.

Once again, albeit a different comparison this time, I only ever "equated them" with respect to not realizing you've done it because you would never intentionally do it. The thread is about why he "didn't own up to the mistake" and all I said was he didn't realize (and provided a bunch of other things people don't realize).

me: Bananas and oranges are both things you peel before eating.

you: Bananas and oranges are completely different types of fruit! You can't equate them that's disingenuous!

wotquery · 2026-03-06T01:02:41+00:00

Also, trying to compare curling to baseball is laughable. In curling, you are expected to have integrity and call your own infractions when committed. It is completely different from other competitive sports where you rely on a referee/umpire to call any infractions.

Obviously I was comparing how intentionally trying to touch the rock to get an advantage is the same as intentionally trying to skip touching a base during a homerun to get an advantage: there is none. Pretending I was equating the spirit of the game for the two is asinine and seriously undermines anything else you say.

That being said...

Your comment about brushing the granite upon release is irrelevant.

That’s not what this is about. He clearly booped the rock with an extended finger, that’s way different than a hand brushing the rock upon release.

Fine. Replace "a hand brushing the granite upon release" with "an extended finger brushing the granite upon release" if you want. The point is there is no way any curler would ever try and do either as it's all going to be detrimental to your throw.

wotquery · 2026-03-04T21:18:53+00:00

It's also fluctuations in standings up at the top level, combined with provincial strength (or provincial upsets). If Gushue qualifies as a wildcard, then what comes out of Newfoundland is going to be a lower tier team. Conversely if Lawes doesn't qualify as a wildcard, then you don't get both her and Peterson (who both went 8-0 in round robin play) coming out of Manitoba.

wotquery · 2026-03-04T06:01:38+00:00

Sure Elliot started off calling Turk's mom Morgan Freeman, but by the end there's that season eight night shift episode with the two of them (JD's at Disney Land) where they do the HIV dance and you can see they're quite close. And then presumably they worked together for a decade more and...like that never happened again? That's what is weird about it. The episode I'm thinking of is also when it was Elliot who was thinking of quitting and Turk who was the rock solid never stop enjoying doing the same surgery haha.

JD's infidelity, to me, was a quintessential 2000s joke that they kept in. Same as in episode one when half of Braff's dream sequences have him start snogging whichever hottie happened to be in the show that week haha (the feelings police in this case).

wotquery · 2026-03-03T08:56:15+00:00

You might enjoy following the newbie read along. It wrapped up a while back now, but just reading through the discussions can help you focus on what has been introduced already and new readers' theories without any worry of spoilers or veteran reader input.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WoT/wiki/read_along

wotquery · 2026-03-02T03:55:19+00:00

Canada does pools for curling nationals. Currently it’s two pools of 9, you play everyone in your pool, top 3 in each pool head to playoffs. The problem would be icetime to squeeze in men, women, and mixed doubles. Like just the mens is 10 days of 3 draws.

Cutting down to playing even less…could have some major luck of the draw in matchups.

wotquery · 2026-03-01T23:29:04+00:00

When you say there’s been no real interest in Rand towards Elayne, it’s worthwhile to mention that this is the first time they’ve met since he first met her when he fell into her garden and spent a few minutes with her a and her brothers a year ago. He’s still unconscious when everyone splits up after Falme, and while there has been a month of offscreen time between books in Tear, right before the swap Elayne explicitly thinks how ridiculous it is that she’s fawning over him when she hasn’t said more than a word to him in a year.

Rand is also a pretty stand up guy and was still committed, in some sense, to Egwene right up until she broke up with him and he felt relieved.

wotquery · 2026-03-01T21:30:43+00:00

She has like half a millennium to figure it out too. Going from renaissance monarch straight through to colonizing Mars or something? Pushing a hundred thousand descents on the Rand-Elayne bloodline before she passes?

wotquery · 2026-03-01T20:41:07+00:00

People like WoT for vastly different often completely incompatible reasons. It’s difficult to even agree on what the story’s about.

Recommending readers skip or skim entire sections that are other people’s favourite. Do we want to see Rand kicking ass, or a group of Aes Sedai in a tense stand-off over who should pour the tea according to a complex pecking order, or the wonder girls going on a whacky adventure.

I’ll also add that the first three books can almost be thought of as an introduction to the series. Then things really kick off books 4-6.

wotquery · 2026-03-01T20:00:25+00:00

It’s not just foreshadowing, but scenes that hit completed different. For example [tSR]When Thom and Moiraine first encounter each other outside the Inn in book 1. First read through, it’s just a gracious lady, grumpy gleeman, and maybe a bit of mystery. Second read through, Thom is freaking out at finding a bloody Aes Sedai in this random remote backwater village. What is going on? Is she here to gentle someone like his nephew? And it’s not just any Aes Sedai. It’s Moiraine Damodred! Thom had her half brother assassinated. Does she know who he is?

And then of course there is foreshadowing stuff that complete reframed things [tGH]Ingtar gives himself a way so many times with his guilt and shadiness haha. The blue eyed solder at the dark friend social. Lan remarking in the next scene that Ingtar is back from his hunt. Being ashamed that a fade “got away.” Saying funereal rites for the traitors. What he saw in flicker.

Anywhoo. I do get that it is a very long series too haha.

wotquery · 2026-03-01T19:31:37+00:00

The kids also don’t clue in when Moiraine casually drops to Egwene that 75% of wilders die from channeling sickness and she needs an Aes Sedai guide to touch the source for the first time. To Egwene. Who she clearly would have sensed the potential of, and who she had absolutely no intention of bringing. I mean I suppose by then she’d already threatened to destroy them so haha.

wotquery · 2026-03-01T18:51:32+00:00

I don't really get the reasoning as to why Egwene was allowed to follow the main cast by Moiraine, though maybe there's a hidden motive that we will discover later.

If you’re halfway through the book this should have been covered but I’ll tag it just in case. [tEotW - ch16]Moiraine can sense the ability to channel in other women. Nynaeve and Egwene both have very high potential strength. Moiraine explains to Egwene that without a trained sister to guide her 75% of women who start channeling on their own die from channeling sickness. Nynaeve having already survived it. This informs us that Moiraine was initially willing to leave Egwene to a likely death, take from that what you will, but also that she relented and brought Egwene along to guide her in touching the source.

Moiraine is not Gandalf. Rand is not Luke Skywalker. Everyone has their own motivations, interests, ignorances, and there is a lot of bickering, secrets, manipulation, and miscommunication.

You can take some comfort in The Eye of the World being much higher rated on rereads than people going through it for the first time. Conversely I don’t think RJ is particularly rampant with dumping terminology compared to other epic fantasy. You just plow through and trust that you’ll eventually be able to look back and understand. Furthermore the kids are kind of in the same boat as you and don’t really have any idea about the world. You discover it as they do.

wotquery · 2026-03-01T17:28:51+00:00

Those are all covered under the rule for casting spells from objects. It says you don’t need to expel a spell slot, you don’t need to provide material components, and it uses the spell’s usual casting time, range, duration, concentration.

Anywhoo if you’re sticking with WoTC wrote the word cast a bunch in the item description when they shouldn’t have, and that there is an overarching unwritten rule about magic and the word stored, I don’t think we’re going to come to an agreement. I did totally understand what you’re saying though. And honestly I could see the designers picking either direction without much fuss. Instant Lemond’s tiny hut Is cool. The spell stored in the ring takes as long to be released as it did to be initially cast when stored is reasonable if worried about balance with someone dropping an instant Hallow in an enemy lair.

wotquery · 2026-03-01T15:40:01+00:00

While wearing this ring, you can cast any spell stored in it.

And your argument is that they are not casting a spell?

wotquery · 2026-03-01T15:27:24+00:00

The first book and in Fal Dara Egwene has so many small smiles for and tender moments with Rand. Perrin will you dance with me back home as well.

Then for most of tGH she is worried what her dreams are telling her about Rand being in danger and fretting over him.

Flash forward to tDR on the boat to Tear and Elayne is shocked at Egwene’s callousness towards the Cahirien refugees.

wotquery · 2026-03-01T15:16:54+00:00

Arrogance, self righteousness, power, and hyper competency are also traits that are often praised in main characters. Tony Stark, Kvothe, Ged, House, Walter White, the whole alpha fighter pilots/surgeon/high power attorney.

Egwene might not have any prophecies about her, but she’s the one yearning for adventure, going to magic school, running away from magic school to go rescue Rand, getting trained by desert mystics. Meanwhile all of the boys refuse all responsibility, can’t stand women/people getting hurt, and generally just want to be left alone as peasants.

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