Jeffan Caliarthan
Aes Sedai
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2005
- Messages
- 7,131
- Pronouns
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- They - Them
- Rafe is in communication with everyone on Team Jordan (Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, Maria Simons, and Brandon Sanderson) and is letting their thoughts inform, but not direct, his decision making.
- Rand's romantic plot will not stay the same in the television series. We don't know as to whether or not this means that he won't be in love with all three women, or he will be in relationships with all three, but not at the same time, or something else. It may simply mean that they will play up Rand and Egwene's romance, but everything else afterward will remain the same. Out of everything revealed, this is probably the most radical departure from canon.
UPDATE: Rafe has clarified this and stated that he is "much more interested in polyamory than polygamy." This leads us to believe that Aviendha, Elayne, Min, and Rand will all be in a relationship with one another, instead of the three women having their own relationship with Rand. - More LGBTQ characters will be shown in the television series. There weren't many openly LGBTQ characters in the novels, although they did exist, so whether or not he will be making sexuality more fluid in the series, or if he will be expanding upon some romances that are shown off-screen is still unknown. He does say that there will be "pillow friends out the wazoo", though.
- Channeling will be shown visually on-screen. Rafe notes that he particularly liked how magic was shown on Doctor Strange.
- Scenes that happened "off-camera" in the books will happen on screen in the television series.
- There will be less braid tugging and skirt smoothing than in the books, but one braid tug did make its way into the pilot episode!
- The latter middle books in the series will be condensed. We can probably safely assume that that condensing will end with The Cleansing of Saidin.
- Rafe's favorite characters are Egwene, Graendal, and Moghedien.
- Logain's story will be expanded upon.
- The television series will not be shying away from issues surrounding gender, sexual identity, or mental health. Rafe is working with a team of advisers and writers to make sure that these are tackled in a thoughtful manner.
- Episodes will be one hour long.
- The five scenes from the first two novels that Rafe is most excited to adapt are Tam and Rand in the Westwood, Winternight, Tarwin's Gap, Tomon Head, and Egwene being leashed. He is also excited to write Dumai's Wells.
- Instead of "Light vs. Dark", Rafe views the central conflict in the series as "Balance vs. Imbalance".
- Rafe is particularly enthralled with Moiraine, saying that she "redefined the 'guide' character in fantasy'. Of all the characters, Moiraine is the one that he is most excited to bring to the screen, citing what she can mean to young women.
- The books feature violence, sexual comments, nudity, torture, and quite a few other themes that would give the series a mature rating. Rafe's only comment regarding these were that he intends to make the show feel "simultaneously adult but accessible to all."
- There is a plan in place for either highlighting/emphasizing or condensing/cutting some of the Forsaken.
- Rafe says that it is "very important to [him] that the show is feminist in today's context". This was in answer to a question regarding the outcomes of female villains (getting raped, ending in permanent bondage, etc.) vs male villains (who primarily just die).
An earlier version of this article gave the wrong definition of polygamy/polyamory, for which we apologize.
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