Wot Prime Spoilers - Tumblr Posts

Sorry for being so absent the last couple of days, especially when I was so geared up to do that book club. Currently in the middle of finals and am working on catching up. The only reason I’m posting this is because I got too excited and needed to put it somewhere.

So... I watched the episode last night with a friend and we immediately got on the topic of Warder/Aes Sedai bonds (naturally) and how that affects people, especially since one of my favorite relationships in the series is Moiraine and Lan. We generally moved on to soul bonds of different kinds throughout the series and I started raving about that relationship and Moridin and Rand’s (another of my favorite relationships) and she looked me dead in the eyes and said, “This makes so much sense; you’re on your platonic soulmate thing.”

I felt so called out. Let’s get one thing straight: I have a very well-known (among my friends) hatred for the romantic soulmate trope as it is usually done. I have so many issues with it as a concept in general. I love when people do interesting things with it (which would take me all day to discuss). What I do enjoy is antagonistic and platonic soulmates (especially when the latter results in found family tropes, because I am weak). 

I have this whole thing about romantic relationships (as a whole, not individually) not being the pinnacle of human connection and treating nonromantic relationships as equally important and sometimes more important than romantic relationships which confuses my friends because I’ve definitely had a couple of friends ask my aromantic ass if I like them romantically, not understanding that I tend to put all of myself into friendships for personal history reasons. 

Which brings me back to why I like wheel of time so much as a series. The friendships and friendship dynamics are SO GOOD. The romantic relationships can tend to be poorly written, but I’d be hardpressed to find a friendship that I have trouble with. They also don’t tend to be typical or delineate along gender lines as so many series like this would do. I mean: Moiraine and Lan, Elayne and Mat, Rand and Nyneave, and Perrin and Egwene are a few of the ones I love pointing to. I’m just happy to see that the show is doing a good job of it to and even if the last episode broke me emotionally, the connection between Stepin and Verene was just so beautiful. “She gave me the honor of becoming her friend,” giving so much credence to “I had to become worthy of her” and it didn’t come across as some pining to me but seemed just as intimate and important all the same (plus their earlier interactions were just *chef’s kiss*).

The episode did tear me apart though, but I was happy about it. 

SPOILERS FOR TV SHOW AND FOR THE BOOKS

Okay okay

So while I’m working on eating alone, Moiraine’s weird energy has taken me along for the ride. Forever ago I made a post about writing a Wheel of Time time travel fic, but since then the Wheel of Time tv show finished its season and I’m at a crossroads.

I decided that I wanted Moiraine to be the person to raise Rand in this fictional scenario, but I’m not sure how I want to go about this, because I need to decide on what flavor of Moiraine I want. So, my options are as follow (spoilers) and I am taking suggestions because all of these sound exceptionally fun. I also am debating about whether she goes alone or with others and who with

Fires of Heaven Moiraine that just tackled Lanfear and thinks she’s dead/dying

Shadows Raising/Fires of Heaven Moiraine that is so fucking lost about what to do next

TV finale Moiraine that suddenly finds herself in a place of raising the boy that she just figured out was the dragon reborn and can no longer channel

New Spring Moiraine as a newly minted Aes Sedai that suddenly has to raise prophecy child

EDIT: Note that there were two more on here, but I decided that they were less interesting. Pre and Post Last Battle Moiraine, while somewhat fun, makes her journey less interesting than the other four.

It's interesting hearing people talk about the polycule in the books vs show, and the possibility that the show will go "full polyamory" or whatever. There's this implication that the book polycule would have been more accurate if Min had also been dating Elayne and Aviendha, so all four characters would have been romantically entwined together.

Obviously it's a fantasy series and the writers can do whatever they want, but irl most polyamorous people date individually in dyads, rather than 3+ person relationships. It's much more realistic that not all of Rand's partners are dating each other.

Triads, quads, and other group relationships are uncommon in polyamory because they're notably more difficult than dyadic relationships. Lots of newbies experiment with them because of the stereotype that it's how polyamory works.

Anyway, this is all to say that I think the relationships in the show will work best if Rand is dating all three women, Elayne and Aviendha date each other, and Min only dates Rand. Developing romantic relationships between Min & Aviendha and Min & Elayne would take more time than the show has, and it's not necessary for the polycule to work.

Lindsay Duncan / Artist: Miki Földi (digital painting)

take me back to s1ep6 NOW !!!