The Wheel of Time - 2.6 Eyes Without Pity
Apr. 4th, 2025 08:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessThe most involving plotline was the torture of Egwene, which left me hoping her ‘trainer’ dies a slow death, or any death really. At first, I thought Egwene’s spirit was just going to make herself hurt herself, but it wasn’t really a choice of exercising caution and hoping for a chance, when her captors were about breaking her will by dealing with her intent. And the collar and its relationship to the wrist thing was just vile, but an expression of the dehumanising worldview. It was a bit satisfying when her would-be trainer’s ‘friendly on my terms’ demeanour snapped, as she’d given Egwenne a taste of what it would be like to use her weaving the ‘correct’ way (ugh, the destruction of fire instead of growth, which tied into what we’d seen Loial’s singing do, although I wonder if there was meant to be an echo of the burning bush, except I’ve seen very little Judeo-Christianity in WoT). Anyway, how vicious she got in beating Egwene for not yielding then showed that Egwene had got to her, and suggested that it was personal, that it was expected they’d be a dyad, a twisted version of Aes Sedai and Warder, when it looked parasitical.
Rand turning up in a dream really wasn’t much help to poor Egwene. And it was only after she had been broken enough to stop seeing the potential weapon and pour the water that her mumbling neighbour started talking clearly (and we saw her). Of course she was the Aes Sedai the yellow one had been talking about. And Egwene had fought longer than her, which suggested that she had greater power – which we’ve had plenty of hints of, but the Aes Sedai hadn’t really told her during her stint at the White Tower, being all googly eyed about Nynaeve’s ability.
Which she can’t control, any more than her stubborn bluntness, more often than not.
Selene/Lanfear was interesting, as Rand tried to reason with her in the dream world. She was against Moiraine and wanted to separate them – SUCCESS! She also hurt herself by giving him the ability to see anyone he wanted, who was of course Egwene, and see her captive state. We saw him revert to more of s1 Rand around Egwene and Mat. I can totally believe that he’d be all set to rescue Egwene after the vision, more than I bought his total acceptance in the previous episode. Oh well, they made up for it by Lanfear pressing on his frustrations with and resentment of Moiraine here. He had a quick lesson with the false Dragon, who got to see quite how much power Rand can wield.
Interesting that Lanfear referred to Rand by the former Dragon’s name. She does seem to be willing to go against Ishamael, protecting (or ‘protecting’) Rand, but also in her popping up at Liandrin’s and pointing out that there were many dark paths, while, you know, ‘mercy’ killing Liandrin’s son, playing on her misandry and exposition dropping how young Liandrin had been abused (clever to have the blondest female character be the one to have been a child bride.)
The yellow Aes Sedai at Falme was horrified to learn of Liandrin’s treachery. She was all about the sisterhood in a way that even got through Nynaeve’s one-track mind. Of course, we knew that the brown Aes Sedai were on Liandrin’s case, who we saw along with Liandrin at the end, but they didn’t.
Getting ahead of myself, but there was a lot going on – and no time for Perrin.
Abandoned by Rand, starting to feel the strain of not sleeping (not to mention being stilled), Moiraine had now reached the point where she was willing to reach out to Siuan. So cool to see the script she was writing in! Her focus meant that she was dismissive of her nephew (erm, while he does seem nice, he’s very effete and fascinated by Rand, am already pitying his future wife, although it’s probably a political match.) Which upset her sister, who railed against Moiraine for not coming to see their dying dad, who favoured Moiraine. Presumably Moriaine was plotting to save the world even then, but instead of saying as much, reminded her jealous sister that she was the heir and could take over the house if she wanted. This goaded her ladyship into telling her to go the next day, which probably was enough to get Moiraine to write the letter (though it looked as if it was delivered back in time somehow...)
Very interesting that Lan was thinking it was time to reach out to Siuan too, even though he had different (less) information. Alanna and her warders insisted they camped at a Forsaken temple (which gave the audience the heebies as that they weren’t who they said they were. But
I thought I heard one of them mentioning ‘projection’, so maybe Alanna was projecting them? And all three of them were suspicious of Lan because he’d said so little and lied?? Anyway, they ended up helping him get to the Amilyn.
In Fearne, Nynaeve and Elayne bickered (as ever, I’m on Elayne’s side because she speaks more sense.) They wouldn’t leave Egwene to take the news to the White Tower, and a lot of their dialogue with the (very cool) Yellow Aes Sedai was about how loyalty is catching. They got an idea of how bad things were in terms of how channelers were treated, and the three of them examined a collar, with Nynaeve finally tapping into the Source – uncontrolled – but getting somewhere, even if ‘it needs to be healed by being around a woman’s neck’ does not sound good. This use of the Source got them noticed, and the girls had to watch the Aes Sedai and her Warder face off their dark opposites and soldiers, with the Aes Sedai finally being taken captive.
What we knew and they didn’t was that Loial and his hot associate were in the same city, being treated as servants by a louche and careless upper class, with Loial being forced to ‘sing’, which, as I said, was a cool ability, and one that caused a little ripple of awe. What they’d found out about Egwene’s plight was not good, but Loial was determined they’d rescue her. (If only Rand knew – no, obviously, he’s got the most power, and plenty of motivation. And at least he knew this was a trap.)
Min was feeling bad about what she’d done and what she was being ordered to do, namely let Mat go off with Rand, when she knew it would lead to Mat killing Rand. Part of my brain noted that this is the problem with recasting, it’s not the same actors who’d interacted in the past, but the other part of my brain was remembering that Mat didn’t know that Rand was dead. But I remembered him not going to Egwene when she was crying her heart out at the White Tower. Granted, Rand was more of his friend, but there was a completely different tenor to their reunion.
After Min had revealed the truth and that she’d betrayed him, Mat stormed off, but then calmed down enough to not go to Rand as he’d said he would, letting Rand think he was letting him down once again. (Er, couldn’t you have just told him what you knew? Mat’s ‘development’ doesn’t make that much sense, and I’ve never cared all that much about him.)
Hilariously, none of the Aes Sedai knew that the Dragon Reborn was in town, as the Amirlyn Seat and 14 representatives she’d brought together demanded to see the banished Moiraine...
Rand turning up in a dream really wasn’t much help to poor Egwene. And it was only after she had been broken enough to stop seeing the potential weapon and pour the water that her mumbling neighbour started talking clearly (and we saw her). Of course she was the Aes Sedai the yellow one had been talking about. And Egwene had fought longer than her, which suggested that she had greater power – which we’ve had plenty of hints of, but the Aes Sedai hadn’t really told her during her stint at the White Tower, being all googly eyed about Nynaeve’s ability.
Which she can’t control, any more than her stubborn bluntness, more often than not.
Selene/Lanfear was interesting, as Rand tried to reason with her in the dream world. She was against Moiraine and wanted to separate them – SUCCESS! She also hurt herself by giving him the ability to see anyone he wanted, who was of course Egwene, and see her captive state. We saw him revert to more of s1 Rand around Egwene and Mat. I can totally believe that he’d be all set to rescue Egwene after the vision, more than I bought his total acceptance in the previous episode. Oh well, they made up for it by Lanfear pressing on his frustrations with and resentment of Moiraine here. He had a quick lesson with the false Dragon, who got to see quite how much power Rand can wield.
Interesting that Lanfear referred to Rand by the former Dragon’s name. She does seem to be willing to go against Ishamael, protecting (or ‘protecting’) Rand, but also in her popping up at Liandrin’s and pointing out that there were many dark paths, while, you know, ‘mercy’ killing Liandrin’s son, playing on her misandry and exposition dropping how young Liandrin had been abused (clever to have the blondest female character be the one to have been a child bride.)
The yellow Aes Sedai at Falme was horrified to learn of Liandrin’s treachery. She was all about the sisterhood in a way that even got through Nynaeve’s one-track mind. Of course, we knew that the brown Aes Sedai were on Liandrin’s case, who we saw along with Liandrin at the end, but they didn’t.
Getting ahead of myself, but there was a lot going on – and no time for Perrin.
Abandoned by Rand, starting to feel the strain of not sleeping (not to mention being stilled), Moiraine had now reached the point where she was willing to reach out to Siuan. So cool to see the script she was writing in! Her focus meant that she was dismissive of her nephew (erm, while he does seem nice, he’s very effete and fascinated by Rand, am already pitying his future wife, although it’s probably a political match.) Which upset her sister, who railed against Moiraine for not coming to see their dying dad, who favoured Moiraine. Presumably Moriaine was plotting to save the world even then, but instead of saying as much, reminded her jealous sister that she was the heir and could take over the house if she wanted. This goaded her ladyship into telling her to go the next day, which probably was enough to get Moiraine to write the letter (though it looked as if it was delivered back in time somehow...)
Very interesting that Lan was thinking it was time to reach out to Siuan too, even though he had different (less) information. Alanna and her warders insisted they camped at a Forsaken temple (which gave the audience the heebies as that they weren’t who they said they were. But
I thought I heard one of them mentioning ‘projection’, so maybe Alanna was projecting them? And all three of them were suspicious of Lan because he’d said so little and lied?? Anyway, they ended up helping him get to the Amilyn.
In Fearne, Nynaeve and Elayne bickered (as ever, I’m on Elayne’s side because she speaks more sense.) They wouldn’t leave Egwene to take the news to the White Tower, and a lot of their dialogue with the (very cool) Yellow Aes Sedai was about how loyalty is catching. They got an idea of how bad things were in terms of how channelers were treated, and the three of them examined a collar, with Nynaeve finally tapping into the Source – uncontrolled – but getting somewhere, even if ‘it needs to be healed by being around a woman’s neck’ does not sound good. This use of the Source got them noticed, and the girls had to watch the Aes Sedai and her Warder face off their dark opposites and soldiers, with the Aes Sedai finally being taken captive.
What we knew and they didn’t was that Loial and his hot associate were in the same city, being treated as servants by a louche and careless upper class, with Loial being forced to ‘sing’, which, as I said, was a cool ability, and one that caused a little ripple of awe. What they’d found out about Egwene’s plight was not good, but Loial was determined they’d rescue her. (If only Rand knew – no, obviously, he’s got the most power, and plenty of motivation. And at least he knew this was a trap.)
Min was feeling bad about what she’d done and what she was being ordered to do, namely let Mat go off with Rand, when she knew it would lead to Mat killing Rand. Part of my brain noted that this is the problem with recasting, it’s not the same actors who’d interacted in the past, but the other part of my brain was remembering that Mat didn’t know that Rand was dead. But I remembered him not going to Egwene when she was crying her heart out at the White Tower. Granted, Rand was more of his friend, but there was a completely different tenor to their reunion.
After Min had revealed the truth and that she’d betrayed him, Mat stormed off, but then calmed down enough to not go to Rand as he’d said he would, letting Rand think he was letting him down once again. (Er, couldn’t you have just told him what you knew? Mat’s ‘development’ doesn’t make that much sense, and I’ve never cared all that much about him.)
Hilariously, none of the Aes Sedai knew that the Dragon Reborn was in town, as the Amirlyn Seat and 14 representatives she’d brought together demanded to see the banished Moiraine...
