The Healing Tears of Nynaeve al' Meara and Egwene al' Vere

[Silencia Roamadred]

Episode 8 we see Egwene Heal Nynaeve after she almost burns out as part of a circle defending Tarwins Gap (ignoring that this is not supposed to happen

Does anyone else think the Healing Tears of Egwene were inspired by Egwenes BreakBone Fever and Nynaeves healing of it?

on my re-read I found this in the text which I found interesting:

tEotW: Page 322:
"....to look after her sometimes when she was a toddler, when her mother was busy - and I started crying because I was going to have to watch her die. When Mistress Barran came back an hour later the fever had broken. She was surprised but made more over me than Egwene"

We know this is likely the first time Nynaeve channelled. Also from mistress Barrans reaction - could she channel? We know that there are many more Channelers in the world than the Tower is aware of.

Do you think this small snippet from the book is what inspired Nynaeve Healing Tears on the show? Any other thoughts?

 

[Alexr al'Petros]

I think that is a very reasonable speculation. And it certainly seems to be in line with other "similar but different" type things compared from the Books to the TV show. For example, the Dark Friend woman/bar keep in the TV show seems to parallel the Dark Friend woman that the boys meet at the Tavern, while the entire incident seems to parallel the Dark Friend barkeep and merchant encounter from the book.

It is one of the things that I have really enjoyed about the TV show is these "almost echo's and call outs" to the Books.

 

[Jennithel Al'Bayern]

I like your take on the idea. It certainly is an interesting perspective and makes me want to do another binge.

 

[Dianna Melear]

I would like this explanation a lot. To be honest, Egwene healing Nyneave of burning out and almost dying in episode 8 is one of my quibbles with the show, and in particular that episode. (To be clear, I love the show. But I quibble with episode 8 quite a bit.)

In particular, I wish that they had reversed who was doing what in that scene. I wish they had had Egwene burn out and almost die, and Nyneave heal her. If they had done that, it would have been more in keeping with their characters as well as foreshadow future events.

Spoiler: Putting details of the foreshadowing under here.

Nyneave healing Egwene of almost burning herself would be direct foreshadowing to Nyneave healing Logain of being Gentled and Siuan and Leane of being stilled. I'm assuming they're keeping that plot line based on who they cast for Logain and Siuan.

Meanwhile, having Egwene channel so powerfully she nearly burns herself out is foreshadowing of when she does channel powerfully enough to kill herself during TLB. They've already foreshadowed that during the Manetheren story, when the camera lingers on her while Moiraine talks about Eldrene's grief-fueled channeling surge that ends her life.

But if they didn't reverse it as a direct call back to breakbone fever and Egwene taking on the mantle of Wisdom now that Nyneave has her block, I'd accept it...I guess.

 

[Ibon Caseï]

It was confirmed in an interview with a cast member (don't ask me whom, but I saw it on YouTube) that the plans for that scene changed a lot because of covid.

From that I found it likely that she was supposed to have used cpr or other wisdom skills, really. But they couldn't allow that level of proximity. So they magic'ed it in stead.

 

[Catt Heckathorne]

Tbh the magicking of the healing scene makes way more sense for a fantasy series anyway, but with book!Egwene's arc it makes more sense to do it so tv!Egwene already has a history of recklessness with her channeling, if you will. Willing to bet that once the tv!Aiel training start that's going to be a huge issue.