S2E3 "What Might Be" -- w/ Book Spoilers

[Jocasta Braithe]

Wow guys, this is a great thread!

Pretty sure they are setting up Liandrin to be black ajah and merging her character with Alviarin. She outright lied when she said "no mention of you at all" when the scene before established that Perrin had talked about Mat specifically.

I watched a review yesterday where this lie was mentioned, so I went to check the words:
"A dozen letters now and not a single mention of Mat Cauthon."

It must be a lie. I don't see how the words can be bent to be "not a single mention of Mat Cauthon.... in the first half of the letters." or something like that

I don't know who they will merge Liandrin with, but it is obvious they intended her to be Elaida at some point. But now we know there will be an Elaida, so I dunno... she is so many characters, but Liandrin she is not!

I agree she's likely to be a hodgepodge of Liandrin-Alviarin-Galina by the end of the series. Kate Fleetwood is an amazing actress and I don't see any reason to waste her by exiting when Liandrin exits the main story in the books when they absolutely need to condense characters anyway. Alviarin and Galina are good choices to condense because we have an equally hateable character who can easily step into those roles in Liandrin.

Also great catch with the lying. I noticed the lie but my brain didn't register its importance until now.

It also leads me to question was Liandrin really trying to recruit Nynaeve to the Red Ajah, or was it really the Black Ajah.

As for a Black leader, Sheriam will still be in the Tower.

Spoiler

Definitely getting a vibe that she intends to recruit her for the Black if possible and if not, to kill her.

How are you making those fuzzy in line spoilers?

No, Joiya is in the gardens with Sheriam, Alanna, Liandrin, in the Gray garb with shaved head. Joelle is the actress who plays her. It's funny I always thought Joiya was White, and it turns out it's because there are past editions of the Shadow Rising where it was mentioned she was White, and in later editions it was changed to Gray.



I cannot shake this feeling off also, either recruiting her to the Black by saying "There are more ways to become Aes Sedai." or, as Black, she is trying to kill her in the Arches, so that she is not a threat to the dark.

Good catch on Joiya. I hate that she's such a repulsive character because I love the name Joiya. I think it sounds so beautiful. It was the name

Spoiler

Rand and Egwene named their baby in Egwene's accepted test too.

I think Liandrin does in the series what Elaida does in the books. Personally handle the ones she think is interesting and train them, like Elaida did with Siuan and Moiraine in New Spring. I think she genuinly wanted Nynaeve to pass the test, but also wanted to be the strongest influence on her, whether to the Black or not.

Yes, totally agree with this, nice catch.

 

[Jalahna Caldwynn]

How are you making those fuzzy in line spoilers?

I used the ispoiler tags instead of spoiler tags.

 

[Roheryn ni Galghandhrei t'al'Djinn]

I watched a review yesterday where this lie was mentioned, so I went to check the words:
"A dozen letters now and not a single mention of Mat Cauthon."

It must be a lie. I don't see how the words can be bent to be "not a single mention of Mat Cauthon.... in the first half of the letters." or something like that

I don't know who they will merge Liandrin with, but it is obvious they intended her to be Elaida at some point. But now we know there will be an Elaida, so I dunno... she is so many characters, but Liandrin she is not!

The only thing that makes me second guess this actually being a lie is, (and we've seen so many Aes Sedai in the books make words dance for them), what if she can say it because there have been multiple, its true, there wasn't a single mention, there were lots of mentions.
And trying to get that thought into words that might make sense of the point I'm trying to make is about as twisty as following some of the "truths" in the books.

 

[Megana Vallentin]

Everything with Selene and Rand is strange and confusing. Not touching that until I've seen more.

Agreed with this!

The further I get into the series, the more weird it feels to not have any explanations for how we got from s1 to s2. How Rand met Selene is just one of the many things that kind of get glossed over due to the passage of time without even a throwaway comment anywhere to explain it.

Otherwise I'm really enjoying things so far. Nynaeve's third test and Uno's death had me gaping in shock at my TV. As much as I want to see the story I know play out, I really love being surprised like that too!

 

[Thaddius al'Guy]

You know what's really nice about it? I know the books pretty much backwards and forwards and despite knowing the story beats, the show is keeping me on my toes for what happens next.

 

[Sorcha Al'Verdan]

Spoiler: re: episode 8 predictions :)

Regarding Uno, I had the thought that he might have been an incarnation of Gaidal Cain, and we might see him again when the horn is blown. Who knows, he might even get ripped out of TAR with Birgitte and walk the world in the flesh again

I win the internet today lol Also the episode name relation between episode 3 and 8 is amusing to me

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

We're just getting around to season 2, after a re-watch of season 1.

This episode did a very good job of ripping my heart out.