Wheel of Time (Series Three) Critique 1/4

The main characters split into three groups heading to the Aiel Wastes, the Two Rivers and Tanchico. Meanwhile, there are Aes Sedai traitors in the Tower.

 

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Visuals: Magic

 

The way magic was animated was truly spectacular. In the first episode of the first series, I was amazed with how creative and beautiful magic itself looked. So for the consequences of magic to be as creative, as beautiful? Simply brilliant.

            In the first episode of this series, Liandrin is shielded from her power. This shield looked and acted like cobwebs, being both sticky and difficult to extract herself from. The fact this shield also looked like gossamer-fine cobwebs was both a bright idea and was the thing that made me realise it acted like cobwebs, too.

            Elaine kills one of Liandrin’s lackeys with balefire. The Aes Sedai’s body vanishes, leaving only red lines in place of her skeleton. Then this image starts to expand before just exploding outwards. (It looked like it could have expanded more, so to have it explode before reaching this point was a shock.) Everything in this sequence caught me by surprise. Very creative.

Moghedian (a Chosen) pulls all the blood out of another Chosen. She attaches these strands of blood to the ceiling and walls, making them look like spider webs. These blood strands suspend the dead Chosen’s body a few inches off the ground.

 

This series starts with this big, magical fight. This show usually does smaller amounts of magic with far few people involved.

Due to this, seeing loads of Aes Sedai participating in combat magic at the same time was great. (Coordinating it would have been complicated; animating it would have taken a lot of time. No wonder the creators haven’t done this before.)

Many kinds of magic were used, from fire balls to magically-created swords. Alanna of the Green Ajah was particularly brilliant to watch in this fight.

What a perfect way to start the show, grab attention and demonstrate how many talented people are on the team!

 

 

Visuals: Eelfinn and Clothing etc

 

Matt meats a creature called an eelfinn after portalling from an archway (presumably to another world).

The eelfinn looks like a fox. He has orange-red fur on his back like a fox. Instead of white on the front, though, it’s a slate (blue-grey) that accents the red.

The eelfinn looks like he has cloven feet (an interesting choice for a predatory creature). But when we see his feet from the side, you can clearly see his flat foot resting on a platform. So his footwear has the appearance of cloven feet, which is also an interesting choice.

Whenever the eelfinn grants one of Matt’s requests, the screen shakes. The same thing happens when the eelfinn does one of his baboon laughs.

The eelfinn doesn’t have pointy ears sticking from the top of his head like a fox. He does, though, have them on the side of his head, a position better suited for humanoids. The bottom edge of the ear is very long, making the eelfinn ears appear as long as fox ears.

 

The clothing was spectacular.

Each of Queen Morgase’s shoulders has a long half-cape, creating something stunning and dramatic. But because the material was veil-like, it appeared delicate, enhancing her femininity. The ruler of her country is always female and all Aes Sedai are female, so emphasising femininity is a clever move.

Ryma Sedai wears yellow clothes to match her Ajah. It’s in an African print, bringing her culture into her life.

Elaida of the Red Ajah was always dressed decadently. Yet when she was the new Amyrlin Seat, with the extra trappings of power and a headdress mimicking sun rays? The stylists involved with her costumes really know their stuff.

Lanfear at one point has these thick, long, jet black cat flicks on her eyes. Then they have a thin strip of white along their lower edge, highlighting them even more.

The clothes in Tanchico were fun. Nynaeve’s dress was elegant and smart. Matt’s veil was definitely too much but the silliness of it suited his carefree, fun-loving attitude. Elaine’s costume, however, was super boring, but I suppose if you’re a princess slumming it, you might as well go all the way.

 

There were two little things also worth mentioning.

One prince lounges in a chair in a relaxed, domineering way. Perfectly portraying the arrogance of his position.

Perrin strikes a hot iron in his dream, making sparks fly in the air. Then a wolf jumps up into the air to snatch at the sparks, just like dogs do for bees, butterflies and bubbles.