Satara al'Caelahn
Aes Sedai
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2009
- Messages
- 8,680
- Moderator
- #1
When the show first came out, I didn't keep an eye on anything "salty" and overly critical about it because I didn't want to hear bad things about something that made me happy. Even now that I can appreciate some of the criticisms (minus rage-filled, bookcloak "fans") I still haven't ranted much about the show's failings myself.
But I have to get this off my chest. Warning: long rant incoming.
Rand is a very polarizing character. People usually either love him or hate him, but most people can agree that he's an interesting character at the very least. As someone who loves Rand, I've been really upset with his entire story in the show.
Why, might you ask? Thank you so much for asking. Sit. Have some popcorn. 🍿
They've taken so much away from him that made him a bit of a badass, and it didn't just start with the episode-that-must-not-be-named (S1E8). As book readers, we know that most of the first book is told from Rand's perspective, and that builds empathy for him and what he's going through. We know almost from the very beginning that he's the Dragon Reborn and that builds on that existing empathy, knowing that he's going to have a hard road ahead of him; even harder of a road than if he was just a male channeler, though that's hard enough. Instead, the show is told primarily from Moiraine's perspective which is a really odd choice in my opinion, considering how secretive she is. Secretive characters make really bad "narrators" generally speaking.
But I could get past that. I could get past the fact that the show made Rand look like an overbearing, moody asshole who was only there to guilt trip Egwene because of his own poor, hurt feelings.
I began to have true disappointment with the season 1 finale. One of the more cool, awe-inspring things that Rand does in the end of book 1 is defeat half (or more) of the trolloc army at Tarwin's Gap, but that task was given to others. Instead, he's resting comfortably in Moiraine's lap for most of the finale, and then instead of dealing a fairly significant blow to the Dark One, he just let Ishamael out.
I've forgiven it, considering the rewriting they had to do, Barneygate, covid restrictions, etc. They did what they had to do and I wrote it off as something that they'd make up for later on.
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
For most of the season, Rand isn't too bad except that he's clearly acting like a horny 15 year old with Selene which... let's be real, is to be expected. I liked that he was learning sword forms from Errol and I didn't mind the other divergencies from the book like seeing more of Logain. But again, the finale has failed me when it comes to Rand.
The fight with Turok was a bit of a disappointment, although a pretty funny one. I like that it showed Rand in a very "I don't have time for this" kind of way, but in a selfish way, I missed the sword fight. I hear we'll get it later on, so I'm being patient, but it was still a disappointment. Not the biggest, though.
My first real Rand-shaped disappointment came with Mat's Horn of Valere scene. In the books all of them were together when Mat blew the Horn, andArthur Hawkening Artur Hawkwing addressed Rand as a fellow Hero of the Horn, even though Rand was still in denial about being the Dragon Reborn. That moment was taken away from Rand and given to someone else. And I can't hate it, because that was some awesome character development for Mat that he sorely needed after Barneygate. It tied up some plot holes and lose ends from season 1. I get it. I do. I love that for Mat. I just wish it hadn't come at Rand's expense.
And then the top of the Tower scene.
*sigh*
I know Egwene is clearly Rafe's favorite character. It shows. It's true that she's amazing and awesome and I can't wait to see her grow. But she was never supposed to go head to head with Ishamael (and frankly, imo, couldn't have truly posed and obstacle for him). That was Rand's moment to prove himself to the world. Don't even get me started on Egwene breaking herself out of the a'dam. The whole terrifying prospect of the a'dam is that you cannot break out of it without help, no matter how hard you try, no matter how strong your willpower is. That's what drove Egwene to become as strong as she did, and that was essentially taken away from her, too. Sure, it showed that she was cool and powerful, but it eliminated her reason and motivation for getting cool and powerful. But I digress.
Same as in the season 1 finale, Rand was supposed to have cool moments of badassery, and once again, he was sitting down with his head in someone's lap, being coddled like a little baby. Instead of facing off against Ishamael, all he did was get tossed around, stabbed, healed, whined about being shielded, and then walked up and poked Ishamael with his sword. He did the bare minimum while everyone else in the episode carried the weight. Except maybe Nynaeve, bless her heart.
I like that Mat got his cool moment. I like that Egwene got her cool moment. I just hate that they had to take those moments away from Rand. Mat and Egwene did enough cool stuff on their own. Why take moments of badassery away from Rand? Moiraine got a cool moment. Heck, even Lan got a cool moment. Rand? The person the entire thing is supposed to be about? Not so much.
And that leads me to my final point. By neutering Rand's badassery, they've really taken the power out of what it means to be the Dragon Reborn. And this was a running theme from the begining, if I'm honest. They didn't make mentions of how utterly terrified people are of men who can channel. They never showed or told us how people felt bone-chilling, existential dread at the idea of the Dragon being reborn because he was prophecised to break the world. Again. I don't even think they call him Lews Therin Kinslayer at any point. Like... this man is supposed to make the world shake with every step, insanely (pun intended) powerful and intrinsically tied to the fate of the world. He's supposed to be cool and intimidating.
So when he stands on top of that tower in Falme and people cheer for him? What's up with that? They wouldn't cheer. They'd fall to their knees and weep, pull their hair, hide their children, break their oaths, pray for salvation, and Light knows what else. They wouldn't be happy about it. They'd be terrified.
But instead of being a badass who instills fear with just the barest whisper of his name, Rand just gets to rest his head in people's laps while they do all the work, I guess.
But I have to get this off my chest. Warning: long rant incoming.
Rand is a very polarizing character. People usually either love him or hate him, but most people can agree that he's an interesting character at the very least. As someone who loves Rand, I've been really upset with his entire story in the show.
Why, might you ask? Thank you so much for asking. Sit. Have some popcorn. 🍿
They've taken so much away from him that made him a bit of a badass, and it didn't just start with the episode-that-must-not-be-named (S1E8). As book readers, we know that most of the first book is told from Rand's perspective, and that builds empathy for him and what he's going through. We know almost from the very beginning that he's the Dragon Reborn and that builds on that existing empathy, knowing that he's going to have a hard road ahead of him; even harder of a road than if he was just a male channeler, though that's hard enough. Instead, the show is told primarily from Moiraine's perspective which is a really odd choice in my opinion, considering how secretive she is. Secretive characters make really bad "narrators" generally speaking.
But I could get past that. I could get past the fact that the show made Rand look like an overbearing, moody asshole who was only there to guilt trip Egwene because of his own poor, hurt feelings.
I began to have true disappointment with the season 1 finale. One of the more cool, awe-inspring things that Rand does in the end of book 1 is defeat half (or more) of the trolloc army at Tarwin's Gap, but that task was given to others. Instead, he's resting comfortably in Moiraine's lap for most of the finale, and then instead of dealing a fairly significant blow to the Dark One, he just let Ishamael out.
I've forgiven it, considering the rewriting they had to do, Barneygate, covid restrictions, etc. They did what they had to do and I wrote it off as something that they'd make up for later on.
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
For most of the season, Rand isn't too bad except that he's clearly acting like a horny 15 year old with Selene which... let's be real, is to be expected. I liked that he was learning sword forms from Errol and I didn't mind the other divergencies from the book like seeing more of Logain. But again, the finale has failed me when it comes to Rand.
The fight with Turok was a bit of a disappointment, although a pretty funny one. I like that it showed Rand in a very "I don't have time for this" kind of way, but in a selfish way, I missed the sword fight. I hear we'll get it later on, so I'm being patient, but it was still a disappointment. Not the biggest, though.
My first real Rand-shaped disappointment came with Mat's Horn of Valere scene. In the books all of them were together when Mat blew the Horn, and
And then the top of the Tower scene.
*sigh*
I know Egwene is clearly Rafe's favorite character. It shows. It's true that she's amazing and awesome and I can't wait to see her grow. But she was never supposed to go head to head with Ishamael (and frankly, imo, couldn't have truly posed and obstacle for him). That was Rand's moment to prove himself to the world. Don't even get me started on Egwene breaking herself out of the a'dam. The whole terrifying prospect of the a'dam is that you cannot break out of it without help, no matter how hard you try, no matter how strong your willpower is. That's what drove Egwene to become as strong as she did, and that was essentially taken away from her, too. Sure, it showed that she was cool and powerful, but it eliminated her reason and motivation for getting cool and powerful. But I digress.
Same as in the season 1 finale, Rand was supposed to have cool moments of badassery, and once again, he was sitting down with his head in someone's lap, being coddled like a little baby. Instead of facing off against Ishamael, all he did was get tossed around, stabbed, healed, whined about being shielded, and then walked up and poked Ishamael with his sword. He did the bare minimum while everyone else in the episode carried the weight. Except maybe Nynaeve, bless her heart.
I like that Mat got his cool moment. I like that Egwene got her cool moment. I just hate that they had to take those moments away from Rand. Mat and Egwene did enough cool stuff on their own. Why take moments of badassery away from Rand? Moiraine got a cool moment. Heck, even Lan got a cool moment. Rand? The person the entire thing is supposed to be about? Not so much.
And that leads me to my final point. By neutering Rand's badassery, they've really taken the power out of what it means to be the Dragon Reborn. And this was a running theme from the begining, if I'm honest. They didn't make mentions of how utterly terrified people are of men who can channel. They never showed or told us how people felt bone-chilling, existential dread at the idea of the Dragon being reborn because he was prophecised to break the world. Again. I don't even think they call him Lews Therin Kinslayer at any point. Like... this man is supposed to make the world shake with every step, insanely (pun intended) powerful and intrinsically tied to the fate of the world. He's supposed to be cool and intimidating.
So when he stands on top of that tower in Falme and people cheer for him? What's up with that? They wouldn't cheer. They'd fall to their knees and weep, pull their hair, hide their children, break their oaths, pray for salvation, and Light knows what else. They wouldn't be happy about it. They'd be terrified.
But instead of being a badass who instills fear with just the barest whisper of his name, Rand just gets to rest his head in people's laps while they do all the work, I guess.
