the "explore" tab

[Aratouial Delafeld]

Amazon put out a new "explore" feature on their page for the show. It included character bios of our main cast, plus an interactive map and timeline. There is so much cool stuff if you haven't seen it you absolutely should check it out.

Things of note:

• They are making it clear that the western half of the main continent is called "The Westlands." I was wondering about that, considering, y'know, Westeros, but anyhoo.
• They are leaning into the genderless dragon as a red herring. On the timeline it says Moiraine has heard of "four young people" who could potentially be the dragon. Certain people [insert eyeroll] are panicking at the idea that they're actually going to make Egwene be the Dragon which is just such obvious poppycock but y'know.
  
• On the interactive map there's a location marker for Breen's Spring. Again, certain people are panicking about the show supposedly "making up a town," except for the fact that Breen's Spring is mentioned as one of the stops in EotW. Just really emphasizes the need to condense the EotW travelog.

THE ABEL CAUTHON CONTROVERSY:

and here's the good stuff:

Mat's mischievous smile and witty retorts simply distract from the question constantly burdening him: Is he a good person — and how would he know? His parents were far from role models, yet he fears himself fated to follow their path.
​

There have been rumors of people who were test audiences for the first season saying that the show makes you not like Mat's parents, and this seems to confirm that. This isn't necessarily a departure from canon-- we don't know much of Abel except that Mat thinks of him as, well, quick-witted and slick, and what we see during the Whitecloaks/Trollocs/Etc business. It is entirely possible for Abel to have had a come-to-Jesus reordering of his priorities after Mat left, it's been known to happen. But, I get why people think this is a definitive change.

MY PERSONAL OPINION:

After ruminating on it for 24 hours and talking to a lot of folks, I'm actually really excited about the potential here. Usually during re-reads I am speeding through the first couple of books and my opinions of the characters are overly colored by who they grow into. I know what they end up becoming so I forgive them a lot of their earlier foibles. However, on this one, I'm doing a "close read" to help with the costume catalog and urkh I'm having issues with Mat in particular. All three boys are maddening to me but I want to smash things when Mat ... well, is Mat.

It occurred to me today that they are aging up the characters and that is a big deal for Mat. Perrin's issues are "oopsie I did a murder," which is pretty adult, Rand's are "dfklgjhsdfjgkh nope I can't channel what'd'y'mean" and Mat's are "I'm ... a literal teenager???" This presents a problem because we're not going to have Rand's "this is so out of character for Mat" POV when he's being poisoned by the dagger ... and also he took the damn dagger.

I do think they'll play up the Ordeith/mashadar influencing people's decision making in Shadar Logoth, but after all of Moiraine's warnings the fact that he takes the dagger anyway is a lot less sympathetic if he's 24ish vs 19. At 24 that's just the decision of a greedy, selfish, reckless son of a gun. But if he's a 24-year-old whose parents were absolute crap and he's desperate for security and control, those are real, relatable, sympathetic things for Ordeith to mess with.

Looking past season 1, a lot of things would make sense, too. Mat is extremely reactive, defensive, and now that I'm thinking in terms of ACEs (adverse childhood effects), hypervigilant. Everything from taking the dagger to blowing the horn to having an extreme sensitivity to unfair treatment and having words twisted around on him makes so much sense.

This, to me, says that the writer's room took the question "what are Mat's motivations? What makes him act this way?" very seriously, and looked for an answer beyond "uhm cuz teenager." I think this decision will save his character in the show-- I think it took him from being potentially unwatchable to sympathetic and relatable.

 

[Maibella ni Rhoiden t'al'Varrak]

Mat was a character I really disliked when I first read the first few books, and on rereads he still drives me crazy early on. He grows into an amazing character but his early stuff is just BLEH for me. I haven't checked out the explore link and I probably won't until after I've seen the entire first season (I like being surprised by things) but what you describe about the potential changes to Mat's character really have me excited!

 

[Jocasta Braithe]

I agree, Aratouial, and I also think it's important for ... the message of the show, the representation of the show, that all the "heroes" aren't from perfect sheltered backgrounds. Coming from a perfect sheltered background isn't a guarantee you're not a traumatized child (presents self as Exhibit A) but I am glad to see more straightforwardly that someone from a less ideal, less idyllic background can also become a hero. Rand's family is stable, he lost his mother young, but his relationship with his dad is a lifeline through the entire series. Egwene's family is stable, she has parents who love each other and siblings she seems to have good relationships with. Perrin's background is stable,

Spoiler: Spoiler

which is why it's such a blow when they're killed during the main plotline.

Nynaeve's family seems to be poor but loving, her dad is invested of her and proud of her skills, none of them seem to have a ick reputation. Later on they do show that despite the Conklins and Congars being the comic relief of Emond's Field that

Spoiler: midseries spoiler

Daise Congar rises to be a competent and effective Wisdom and a good leader

but I think changing Mat's background will put that idea much more front and center. It also explains his "bad reputation" and how it might not be entirely earned.

 

[Rollyn Montagorae]

I guess they couldn't very well call the continent "Randland" if they're trying to keep the Dragon's identity secret in the promotional materials. I wondered what they'd come up.

 

[Jaryd Kosari]

I admit to some surprise that people are surprised by the naming. "The Westlands" has been the confirmed name of that portion of the continent since at least 2006.

 

[Rollyn Montagorae]

Where did that appear, Jaryd? Was that from an RJ comment, or a map in one of the books? The BWB? I don't remember seeing it but if I did I probably mistakenly assumed it was just a nickname for the part of the continent with the Two Rivers in it or something.

 

[Jaryd Kosari]

It's from Robert Jordan, primarily referred to in the WoT tabletop RPG.

 

[Morrighan Daghdera]

So I just recognized a cultural context that may not be readily apparent outside the Southern US.

Abel was a known horse trader by profession, right? They were essentially the first “used car salespeople” as far as depth of integrity (or complete lack thereof) goes. I always kinda assumed the worst, so their backstory here is completely canon.

 

[Elania al'Manir]

I can't seem to find it, could someone give me explicit instructions as to where it is?

 

[Fee Nicoin]

It seems UK Prime doesn't have the explore tab

If you click on the wheel of time series and scroll to episodes, you should be able to click on the explore link.

 

[Elania al'Manir]

So I know now that I'm looking in the right place. Apparently some people are like me and can't see it, even when logged in from the US, and some people could even see it yesterday but can't today. I ended up looking at the video from Unraveling the Pattern on YouTube to check it out.

 

[Juliya Karisu]

I can't see it in Canada, either.

So I just recognized a cultural context that may not be readily apparent outside the Southern US.

Abel was a known horse trader by profession, right? They were essentially the first “used car salespeople” as far as depth of integrity (or complete lack thereof) goes. I always kinda assumed the worst, so their backstory here is completely canon.

I would not have thought a horse trader was anyone shady.

 

[Jocasta Braithe]

Ehhh, around here - NE US - it kind of has that connotation. Horse BREEDERS are reputable, horse traders might be a genteel way to say horse THIEF or meat market entrepreneur. There's a livestock dealer near my hometown that's where people sell their horse when they don't want to deal directly with basically the horse undertaker.

 

[Elania al'Manir]

I can see it now! I wonder if all of the original content is still there or if they removed things.

 

[Aratouial Delafeld]

I grew up in a very rural part of the Deep South. "Horse trader" was a euphemism for a bad person around us, so my very first impression of Abel was that he probably didn't have an awesome reputation. Basically he was one step above the Congars.

ETA: we got another piece of information from Barney's IGN interview, saying Mat grew up in poverty.