If you’ve heard of Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses book series, then you are possibly (likely?) a rabid fan. Frequently abbreviated to ACOTAR, the fantasy series tells the story of Feyre Archeron, a young mortal huntress who gets swept into a journey in the faerie lands of Prythian. With a sprawling world, deeply flawed and intriguing characters, and a whole lot of steamy love scenes, the ACOTAR series has attracted legions of fans since Maas published the first book in 2015. And now the beloved book series is becoming a TV series for Hulu.

In 2021, Maas first shared the news via a now-deleted Instagram post. But that post let us know she was working with Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander) to adapt A Court of Thorns and Roses for Hulu. Since then, we haven’t heard any updates for a while, but recently, Moore shared with TVLine that Hulu is still game for the ACOTAR series. He noted, “It’s still in development… We’ve written some scripts, and we’re just sort of waiting. I think the whole town is kind of waiting to see if we have actors before things really move forward, but it’s still in development.” Hey, we’ll take it.

If there’s one thing that’s for sure, it’s that Moore has plenty of material to work with. The first book, which carries the title of the whole series, is a loose adaptation of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. As punishment for killing a faerie, a faerie leader, Tamlin, imprisons Feyre in Prythian. He and everyone else in his court wear face-obscuring masks; a curse affixed the masks to their faces. Things just get progressively wilder from there in each of the 600-plus-page books.

Bloomsbury Publishing

A Court of Thorns and Roses TV series would have a vast playground to explore. And given Moore’s experience in telling epic stories, he seems like an excellent choice to work with Maas. Especially given his role in bringing Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander to the screen. Given the rise of fantasy books coming to the screen, with series such as Shadow and Bone delighting viewers on Netflix, it’s no surprise to see that it’s ACOTAR‘s turn.

Maas is also known for her Throne of Glass series (which Nerdist Book Club read a portion of). But just anecdotally, I feel like folks get most excited about A Court of Thorns and Roses. By folks, I mean myself. I definitely named my Animal Crossing: New Horizons character Feyre. I’ll just be over here daydreaming about who will play Rhysand.

Originally published on March 26, 2021.

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How did Panem devolve into the casual cruelty we see in The Hunger Games? The capitol of the nation prospers while citizens in many of its districts suffer and struggle to survive. Author Suzanne Collins explored the events before the 74th Hunger Games in a prequel novel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, set 64 years in the past. The story, which Lionsgate is adapting into a film, specifically focuses on Coriolanus Snow. He later becomes the tyrannical leader of Panem. But as a young man, he doesn’t see the world—or the games—so clearly. A girl from District 12, Lucy Gray Baird, gives him a new perspective.

Before you see The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, here’s what you should know about the characters and how they connect to what and who you know from The Hunger Games. We also have a few exclusive character images to share.

Coriolanus Snow

Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth, is an 18-year-old looking out for his family. He’s decades away from becoming the President Snow we know from the books and movie adaptations. Here, he’s trying to regain status for his family, as the aftermath from the war has left them under financial duress. Snow wants to keep up appearances and improve their situation. As part of this, when he is chosen to mentor a tribute in the 10th Hunger Games, he accepts the position with aplomb—even when he is stuck with a tribute from District 12, Lucy Gray Baird.

Lucy Gray Baird

Lucy Gray Baird, from District 12, is the captivating and enigmatic tribute in the 10th annual Hunger Games who young Coriolanus mentors. Rachel Zegler portrays Lucy Gray. District 12 is, of course, the coal-mining district where we later meet Katniss Everdeen. Lucy Gray charms the Capitol at the reaping and makes a memorable entry to the games. A performer in a musical singing troupe, the Covey, with her family, Lucy Gray is unafraid of the Capitol and the architects of the game. She doesn’t hesitate to enlighten Snow about what life in the districts is like.

Casca Highbottom

Oh, Casca Highbottom. Peter Dinklage plays this character, dean of the Academy and the person who came up with the concept for the Hunger Games. Highbottom once shared that idea with Coriolanus’ father and eventually, their hypothetical ponderings became reality, leaving Highbottom (rightfully) morally conflicted. Highbottom has an addiction to the painkiller morphling.

Tigris

Remember Tigris from Mockingjay? She appeared in Mockingjay – Part 2, played by Eugenie Bondurant. In that time, she owns a clothing shop and has altered her appearance; she offers shelter to Katniss. But Tigris is Coriolanus’ cousin. Hunter Schafer plays her in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Tigris is already stylish and resourceful, and she believes in her cousin and his character.

Sejanus Plinth

Josh Andrés Rivera plays Sejanus Plinth. He attends the Academy with Snow and is also chosen to mentor a Tribute for the 10th Hunger Games. He’s in a privileged position, with his now wealthy and powerful family at his back, but he still must define his allegiance to the Capitol and prove himself.

Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman

Caesar Flickerman brings pizazz to the Hunger Games in Katniss’ time. He’s a well-known figure, playing a key part in the Games’ success. But it’s his predecessor, Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman who kicks off this legacy. Jason Schwartzman plays Lucky, the first-ever host for The Hunger Games broadcast. He’s a weatherman and amateur magician eager for a chance to show his talents in the national spotlight and make the games a can’t-miss event.

Dr. Volumnia Gaul

Dr. Volumnia Gaul, played by Viola Davis, is a cruel force behind the games. An instructor at the Academy and the Head Gamesmaker, Dr. Gaul ensures the Hunger Games are riveting. She wants to show the Capitol’s commitment to the punishment of the Districts and make it an unforgettable spectacle. She operates the Capitol’s weapons division, coming up with inventive and horrific ways to torment the Tributes.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes will arrive in theaters on November 17.

The post A Guide to THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES Characters appeared first on Nerdist.

Mean Girls debuted in 2004, bringing wearing pink on Wednesdays, fetch, and the importance of October 3 with it. The film has continued in memes and through the Mean Girls musical, but there’s never been a sequel (Mean Girls 2 technically exists, but…) following the characters—until now. The Mean Girls cast has reunited to continue the story in an unexpected form: a commercial for Walmart. Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert, Daniel Franzese, and Rajiv Surendra all reprised their roles and returned to North Shore High School in the below Black Friday Mean Girls reunion ad.

Lohan’s Cady Heron narrates the video. She’s a guidance counselor at the school now. Karen Smith is a weather reporter and as… unaware as you’d expect. Gretchen Wieners is a stage mom. Yes, she is still, much to her kid’s embarrassment, trying to make fetch happen in this Mean Girls reunion ad. Kevin Gnapoor is a dad looking out for Kevin Jr., and Damian is there being a supportive friend.

The whole ad is a blast from the past. The new clique of cool girls, one of whom is Gretchen’s daughter, even performs “Jingle Bell Rock,” complete with the sexy Santa Claus outfits. Like Cady says in the video, “Some things never change.” We’re glad to pick up with all our favorite Mean Girls characters in this pseudo-sequel, even if it is only a reunion for a commercial.

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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World made an impression when it rocked into theaters in 2010. The story, adapted from Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comics about the titular Scott, came to life in stylized live-action with director Edgar Wright. Now a Netflix series will make the story even more visually splashy with a Scott Pilgrim anime. Titled Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the eight-episode series goes back to the world of Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, indie rock sounds, and lots of fighting. The animated show even brings back the entire cast of the cult classic movie. Get your best looks yet at Scott Pilgrim Takes Off with its opening sequence, trailer, and more.

The Scott Pilgrim Series Gets an Anime Opening Credits Sequence

It wouldn’t be an anime series without an excellent opening credits sequence. And we love seeing Scott Pilgrim Takes Off follow this tradition. The Scott Pilgrim series’ opening credits sequence features custom animation from Science SARU and “an official theme song “bloom” by Japanese rock band, Necry Talkie.” It’s already stuck in our heads, and gets us excited for what the Scott Pilgrim anime has in store.

Get an even better look at what’s to come with the series’ official trailers.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Shares Official Trailers

Doesn’t this trailer for the Scott Pilgrim anime make you feel like punching life in the face? In a good way, of course. We love seeing all these familiar characters a whole new way.

Netflix partnered on Scott Pilgrim Takes Off with UCP. We don’t know yet how much of the anime will adapt what Scott Pilgrim vs. the World already did. However, Scott Pilgrim‘s creator Bryan Lee O’Malley is working as an executive producer and writer alongside BenDavid Grabinski, so we know it’s in good hands.

Lee O’Malley notes of the new anime series, “I don’t know who needs to hear this but… It’s not the books. I already wrote those and you can read them anytime. The show is its own new thing in many ways. Do NOT expect a word-for-word remake. Many fun surprises to come.” We do like the sound of that!

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off‘s Official Synopsis and Cast Information

For now, Netflix has shared the following synopsis for the Scott Pilgrim anime series. It doesn’t really give us much new information, but it’s good to know the seven evil exes will still make their appearances. We certainly see them ready for battle in the latest trailer for this anime adaptation. Here’s what the streamer has to say about Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

In SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF, Scott Pilgrim meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, and discovers he must defeat her seven evil exes in order to date her. But this time, things get even more complicated. Based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley, SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF revisits and reimagines the beloved cult classic, taking Ramona Flowers, her evil exes, Scott, and his friends off on a mysterious new action-packed journey to find love.

Click To View Gallery

The Scott Pilgrim Takes Off cast includes Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Satya Bhabha, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman, Johnny Simmons, Mark Webber, Mae Whitman, Julian Cihi, and Ellen Wong. Abel Gongora will direct the Scott Pilgrim anime, while Wright is one of the show’s executive producers. Here’s some of the best news: Anamanaguchi will provide original songs and work on the score with Joseph Trapanese.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off will arrive on Netflix on November 17, 2023.

Originally published on August 16, 2023.

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We’re not absolutely positive what makes a haunt happy, but cocktails probably help. That means the ghosts aboard the Disney Treasure will be delighted because the cruise ship will feature the first-ever bar inspired by the Haunted Mansion. The beloved Disney Parks attraction has exactly the right vibe for a cozy bar with its spooky Victorian style. And from the looks of photos, the Haunted Mansion Parlor nails the atmosphere. We can’t wait to be some of the many foolish mortals who sit at this bar.

It’s been quite the year for the Haunted Mansion. The ride inspired a new film adaptation over the summer, and Hatbox Ghost is making his way to Walt Disney World. And now a Haunted Mansion bar! Disney Cruise Line shares that the Haunted Mansion Parlor focuses “on the story of a jovial captain who entered the ghostly realm after a disastrous dinner with his beloved fiancé.” Composer Shruti Kumar wrote a custom musical arrangement inspired by the ride to further set the mood. Walt Disney Imagineering is bringing the illusions to the party, too, with characters from Haunted Mansion rides around the globe haunting the bar.

We can see the iconic purple wallpaper around the Haunted Mansion bar. The space has a number of decor touches that look to be right from the ride. Then you have the three hitchhiking ghosts appearing in a window behind the bar. We wouldn’t be surprised to see other familiar ghouls show up there.

The Haunted Mansion Parlor will serve craft cocktails and sell souvenirs—a music box, a mantle clock, and a parlor mirror—and a sculpted mug. In other words, yes, we will leave one whole suitcase empty just for our Haunted Mansion bar haul. Flip through the gallery below to see them all.

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You can wrap your ghostly hands around these cocktails when the Disney Treasure sets sail in December 2024.

The post A Haunted Mansion Bar Is Coming to Disney’s Next Cruise Ship appeared first on Nerdist.

We’re all overdue for a blessing. And we could definitely use some additional joy. Frankly, we’ll take any ounce of happiness we can get. Thankfully StudioCanal, a French film production and distribution company, gave us the best possible entertainment news when they confirmed Paddington 3 was officially in the works. What. A. Gift.

The movie will continue the utterly charming story of Paddington the bear. The StudioCanal representative specifically told Variety: “We can confirm StudioCanal is working very hard on film 3 with the utmost craft and care—as with film 1 and 2.” That’s tremendous news since the first two Paddington movies are so lovely. Since we first received this exciting confirmation, we’ve learned more about Paddington 3‘s title (Paddington in Peru), team, and release date. Here’s what we know about the bearrific movie.

Paddington in Peru‘s Release Date

Paddington in Peru will release in the US on January 17, 2025. In the UK, meanwhile, it will release two months earlier, on November 8, 2024, according to Deadline. It doesn’t seem fair to have to wait the extra months for new Paddington adventures, but we guess we’ll take more of the franchise whenever we can get it.

Paddington 3‘s Title, Team, and Cast

Recently we learned who will direct the third Paddington film. Dougal Wilson will direct the movie. And the title? As mentioned, Paddington in Peru. We like how dramatic this sounds. Wilson takes over the lovable bear movies from director Paul King. King directed the first two installments. And as for Wilson, he comes from a background of music videos and commercials. Paddington in Peru marks his theatrical feature debut. The movie filmed in London and Peru. Production was slated to begin production on July 24.

Additionally, Deadline notes that the cast consists of “Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Antonio Banderas, Olivia Colman, Julie Walters, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Jim Broadbent, and Carla Tous with both Ben Whishaw and Imelda Staunton returning as the respective voices of Paddington and Aunt Lucy.”

In case you aren’t familiar, the popular Paddington Bear stories by author Michael Bond and artists including Peggy Fortnum inspire the Paddington movies. The first live-action film debuted in 2014, with a sequel following in 2017. Both films made bank and warmed hearts as audiences watched Paddington make a home with the Brown family in London. Ben Whishaw voices the titular bear; actors such as Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, and Sally Hawkins star in the movies alongside him. At the end of Paddington 2, the bear reunited with his adoptive aunt Lucy.

Originally published on February 27, 2021.

Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of The Jedi Mind, available now. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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The galaxy far, far away is coming to your kitchen courtesy of Hedley & Bennett. The company specializes in bringing chef-grade cookware and apparel to home kitchens. And now the brand has launched a Star Wars collection inspired by The Mandalorian. While Hedley & Bennett already sold a handful of character aprons, it’s expanding the line and making more styles available for adults as well as kids. In addition to character aprons, this new Star Wars kitchen collection includes towels and, our personal favorite, beskar knives.

Imagine the meals Din Djarin could prepare for Grogu with these knives! They’d cut through Grogu’s favorite frog snacks with ease. It’s true that beskar doesn’t exist in our galaxy, and even in the Star Wars galaxy, it’s mostly only Mandalorians who have the metal. But Hedley & Bennett found a workaround. The beskar knife set features 67-layered folded Damascus steel blades patterned like the Star Wars metal. One side of the knives features an Imperial symbol. That makes us suspect stolen beskar is in play. The set of three knives is limited to 3,000 sets and costs $295. It comes with a chef’s knife, a bread knife, and a utility knife.

As for other items in Hedley & Bennett’s Star Wars line-up, you’ll find durable kitchen towels with two different patterns: beskar or hyperspace. The new Star Wars character aprons, made from cotton canvas, feature the titular Mandalorian, Ahsoka Tano, Grogu, and a galactic fleet pattern. Each design has little details from character costumes or the characters themselves—like little Grogu peeking above an apron pocket! Take a look at all the aprons and towels in the gallery below.

Click To View Gallery

If you have a Star Wars fan in your life who likes to cook or bake, you might just be covered for the holidays is all we’re saying. Visit Hedley & Bennett to shop the Star Wars kitchen collection.

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One of the best parts of roleplaying games is sinking into the storytelling and letting loose with friends. And one of the more challenging parts of roleplaying games is finding a consistent game master who will do all the work and preparation to create the space for storytelling. Enter Sharkbomb Studios’ The Mending Circle. This gentle-sounding roleplaying game doesn’t require a game master or extensive prep. Made for exactly three players, The Mending Circle takes the group on a journey of healing.

The Mending Circle‘s designer Martin Nerurkar started working on the game when he was recovering from burnout. It took time for Nerurkar to finish the first edition, released digitally. Now he’s back with the second edition, a cozy and wholesome roleplaying game in which the players come together as a coven of three witches sent to help someone in need. The Mending Circle‘s full synopsis is as follows:

In The Mending Circle you tell healing stories together.
At their heart is always one or more of the Torn: someone in a state of pain or anxiety and in need of support. Most likely they are scared, poor, isolated or marginalized in some way that makes it difficult for them to access help themselves. This pain does not come from a physical ache but rather from a metaphorical, emotional wound. If it persists it often leads to more suffering radiating outwards.
But this Wound catches the attention of three witches that set out to help. Using your magical charms you will help and guide the process of healing. As a first step the Torn needs to reach a state of relative safety and stability. Only after this is achieved can they confront the source of their pain and gain awareness. Finally, they have to make a new meaning for themselves to move forward.

The game features a D6 system, quick start scenarios, and a 130+ page sourcebook. Given the vulnerable nature of the game, you’ll likely want to play with people you already know and feel comfortable being open with.

The Mending Circle is available to back on Kickstarter now.

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Best Buy is saying goodbye to physical media. The retailer plans to phase out Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD sales in stores and online in early 2024. The Digital Bits broke the news, which Best Buy has since confirmed. The company said, “To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago. Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy.”

Best Buy’s supply of physical media has been dwindling in stores of late anyway. However, the retailer did offer exclusive SteelBook titles. The premium metal case releases come with custom artwork. And also, the SteelBooks look cool on a shelf.

The end of DVDs and Blu-rays at Best Buy hasn’t arrived just yet, though. Best Buy will continue to sell physical media for the holidays, online and in brick-and-mortar stores. They will also keep selling video games. But as one of the last big retailers consistently offering DVDs and Blu-rays for all your favorite movies, this doesn’t seem like a good sign. Who knows how long Target, Amazon, and Walmart will keep stocking discs?

With the ephemeral nature of digital media, it’s reassuring to get your hands on tangible copies of the stories you love. It’s why people were excited to see the release of The Mandalorian, WandaVision, and Loki on Blu-ray. Shows and movies disappear from streaming services at an increasing rate. Even digital media you purchase can vanish into the ether. The lesson is, if you want to own a film or TV series, buy a physical copy when you can. Maybe from Best Buy before their physical media is gone.

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Last year marked the 30th anniversary of The Rocketeer. A film which, as we have discussed, deserved so much better. The Disney film from director Joe Johnston debuted in 1991. Set in the late ’30s in Los Angeles, the movie told the story of stunt pilot Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell) and the rocket-powered jet pack he tried to use for the powers of good. And while it definitely should have launched a movie franchise back then, we’re getting more of The Rocketeer in the present. Finally. Deadline reports that Disney is bringing back that world with a new Disney+ Rocketeer movie. At one point, this reboot was called The Return of the Rocketeer, but it’s unclear whether that will remain the name going forward.

Regardless of the exact title, it’s nice to see the world of The Rocketeer get another chance on the big screen. The movie’s stars, Campbell and Jennifer Connelly, specifically had contracts for at least one sequel. But Disney scrapped plans for additional films after The Rocketeer‘s just-okay box office performance. We originally heard about this Rocketeer reboot in 2021 and not since, but finally, it has some kind of an update.

Edward Ricourt (Now You See Me, Jessica Jones) was originally tapped to write the script. However, The Wrap recently reported that Eugene Ashe has come aboard as a writer as well. It’s unclear whether Ashe will engage with anything Ricourt wrote, or whether he will pen an entirely new script. Either way, we’re glad to see motion on the movie.

David and Jessica Oyelowo will produce the Rocketeer film under their Yoruba Saxon banner. Brigham Taylor will produce too, with Mortal Media executive producing. David Oyelowo (Selma, The Lion Guard) will star in the project as the titular Rocketeer.

Though Joe Johnston’s film (of Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, and William Dear’s script) pulled from Dave Stevens’ Rocketeer comics, The Return of the Rocketeer will go a different route. According to Deadline, Ricourt’s story focuses “on a retired Tuskegee airman who takes up the mantle of the Rocketeer.” The Tuskegee Airmen, of course, served as the first Black aviators in the US Army Air Corps.

We don’t have further details about The Return of the Rocketeer‘s plot, cast, or filming at this time, but we’ll certainly keep you updated.

Originally published on August 30, 2021.

Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of A Kid’s Guide to Fandom, available now. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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The ending of The Wheel of Time’s first season brought a small taste of the Seanchan and the immense power they wield. The new enemy arrived in the finale’s last moments, sailing towards a beach in massive ships, bringing a One-Power-made tsunami with them. As the show’s gone on, we’ve seen more of the Seanchan and their lack of mercy. The Seanchan demand fealty. Period. And they have the strongest of the Forsaken, Ishamael, at their side. If you’d like to know more context about the Seanchan from The Wheel of Time books without any plot spoilers, keep reading.

Who Are The Wheel of Time‘s Seanchan?

In season one of The Wheel of Time, characters mentioned something happening with ships in the west. Mysterious occurrences in the west come up in season two, as well. The Seanchan (pronounced SHAWN-chan) have arrived from that direction. But just who are the Seanchan? Well, they have an extensive history in The Wheel of Time books, but we’ll summarize.

The Seanchan empire calls a continent of the same name home in the world of The Wheel of Time. It sits thousands of miles west of the main continent, across the Aryth Ocean. After the Trolloc Wars (the same war that saw the fall of Manetheren), Artur Hawkwing sent a fleet across the ocean. Luthair Paendrag, Artur’s son, led the fleet and started a nearly 800-year process to unite the native nations, a.k.a. the Consolidation. This Consolidation formed the Seanchan Empire, ruled by an Empress or an Emperor with a very rigid class structure.

And now the Seanchan want to retake the continent their ancestors came from. They call it the Return. The Seanchan have been planning and gathering forces and supplies for the Return for decades in The Wheel of Time‘s universe. They’ve made their move thanks to Ishamael’s encouragement. And they’ve arrived in Falme with incredible numbers and formidable warriors, including a number of enslaved channelers. We see all of that in play when the Seanchan attack an unsuspecting village, Atuan’s Mill, and capture the Shienarans and Loial in The Wheel of Time‘s second season.

Alwhin tells the captives, “When the fleet of Luthair Paendrag crossed the Aryth Ocean, the return was promised.” She promises that those who swear fealty “will share in the prosperity of the Seanchan’s return, from Atuan’s Mill to Falme, to our great empire across the sea.”

Later, High Lord Turak explains the Seanchan’s purpose while scolding High Lady Suroth. They want to unite all the people of the world under their Empress to fight the shadow.

Who Rules the Seanchan?

The Seanchan have an Empress or Emperor, but their ruler doesn’t participate in the first wave of the invasion. Instead, we meet High Lady Suroth; she appears to be leading the Seanchan forces. She’s the one taking oaths of fealty in Atuan’s Mill. This The Wheel of Time season two character is part of Seanchan nobility, also known as the Blood. Originally, Seanchan nobles were strictly descendants of Paendrag, hence the name the Blood. However, as a reward for service to the Seanchan, non-descendants are occasionally raised into nobility.

The High Lady Suroth is a member of the High Blood, which sits below only the Seanchan’s Imperial family. The High Blood have the most significant leadership roles. Members of the High Blood shave the sides of their heads and grow two fingernails long and lacquer them. The color of the lacquer is connected to the wearer’s house. As we saw in The Wheel of Time TV series, when the Blood fail in some way, punishment involves cutting their nails, which they hold as a symbol of status. High Lord Turak inflicts this punishment upon Suroth.

Members of the Low Blood are still Seanchan nobility in The Wheel of Time, but they don’t hold positions of great importance.

The Seanchan Threat to Women Who Channel in The Wheel of Time

One of the primary reasons the Seanchan are such threatening conquerors is because they enslave female channelers. As we see in Atuan’s Mill, the Seanchan can identify women who channel. Soldiers then take the channelers into captivity. Women called sul’dam control the enslaved’s every moment of channeling. They call the enslaved channelers damane, which means “leashed one” in the Old Tongue. Seanchan use a ter’angreal, an object made from the One Power, to control women who have the ability to channel. It’s called an a’dam and depicted as a collar with a literal leash to a bracelet the sul-dam wear. Sul’dam means “leash holders” in the Old Tongue. When the sul’dam captured Egwene, we saw the leash. It also demonstrated sul’dam will take damane from wherever they find them and absolutely kidnap Aes Sedai. Damane are forced to enslave other damane.

As we’ve seen from the sul’dam “training” Egwene until she breaks, damane cannot ignore commands from sul’dam. They cannot remove their bonds without experiencing great pain. Damane cannot even think about harming a sul’dam. The connection the a’dam maintains damane and sul’dam prevents it. Escaping from a sul’dam is near impossible. It’s why Ryma has been trying to understand how to work the a’dam she shows Nynaeve and Egwene. She wants to set her captured sisters free.

The Seanchan sul’dam train damane to use the One Power as a weapon—something Aes Sedai make an oath not to do in The Wheel of Time. It’s a horrific use of the One Power, unlike anything we’ve seen in the TV series so far.

The Seanchan and the Battle of Falme

When the Seanchan invaded Falme, the Watchers of the Waves, a group who believe Artur Hawkwing’s descendants would return one day and maintain a watch, sent pleas for help around the world. No one answered, except for the Whitecloaks. They made a plan to remove the invaders and with the help of the Heroes of the Horn, they succeeded. The Seanchan were defeated in The Wheel of Time season two finale. Moiraine used the One Power to destroy their fleet of ships on the ocean outside Falme.

However, it’s unlikely the Seanchan are off the board as a threat. Their numbers are vast. They believe in their Empress’ cause. The Seanchan are probably here to stay.

Originally published on September 1, 2023.

The post Who Are THE WHEEL OF TIME’s Seanchan? appeared first on Nerdist.

The Wheel of Time‘s second season is well underway. If you’re not familiar with the books, you may have some questions about the characters, the Aes Sedai, or the world. As Moiraine indicated a few times in season one, the Dragon Reborn sits at the heart of the story. She and Lan searched for the prophesied figure, as has the Dark One and his forces, for years and found the Dragon Reborn in Rand al’Thor. If you’re curious to learn more about who (and what) The Wheel of Time’s Dragon Reborn is without plot spoilers for the books beyond the TV series, here’s a guide.

What Is the Dragon Reborn?

Reincarnation exists in the world of The Wheel of Time. The Wheel turns and spins out a person’s soul and puts that soul in another body. Some key figures have multiple reincarnations within the same Age, but the Dragon comes back only once during an Age. The previous dragon, Lews Therin Telamon, lived during the Age of Legends (the Second Age). He caused the Breaking of the World but also helped seal the Dark One and his powerful followers into prisons. The Dragon Reborn is a reincarnation of Lews Therin, and as such, can channel the One Power—maybe a male channeler like Lews Therin. However, men who can channel have been rare since the Breaking, because the Dark One tainted the male half of the One Power, a.k.a. saidin. Men who channel eventually go mad.

The Dragon Reborn is not an actual dragon. In fact, The Wheel of Time books don’t include your traditional fire-breathing dragons from fantasy. It’s more like a mythical idea of a dragon. Lews Therin’s banner depicted what could be a dragon, though. It’s described as a sinuous figure like a serpent with red and gold scales along its body and legs, and clawed feet.

We should also note The Dragon Reborn is the name of the third book in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series.

Why Is the Dragon Reborn So Important to The Wheel of Time?

The Dragon Reborn will confront the Dark One and the Shadow at the Last Battle in the current age, the Third Age. This person will either save the world or destroy it. Some worry the figure will bring about another Breaking. That’s quite a risk, but without the Dragon Reborn, the world stands no chance at all against the Dark One.

So of course the Aes Sedai want to identify this figure and do what they can to help him or her prepare for the Last Battle, a.k.a. Tarmon Gai’don. Some say the Aes Sedai truly want to control this person to serve their own means. Many groups have that same goal.

Prophecies About the Dragon Reborn

Many prophecies discuss the Dragon Reborn and how to identify him or her. In the TV series, Moiraine references one of her Aes Sedai sisters who saw the Dragon Reborn’s birth. That’s how Moiraine knows approximately how old the Dragon Reborn is. Season two of The Wheel of Time showed Gitara Moroso’s Foretelling of the Dragon’s return. Twenty years ago, Moiraine and Siuan stood as the only witnesses of Gitara’s Foretelling. Gitara saw Rand’s birth, happening as she had the Foretelling on the slopes of Dragonmount. Moiraine and Siuan kept the Foretelling secret and made a plan: Moiraine to find the Dragon and teach and protect him, Siuan to rise through the White Tower’s rank and prepare the Aes Sedai to support the Dragon.

The TV series also mentions prophecies connected to Falme and that the Dragon will reveal himself to the world there. “Above the Watchers shall the Dragon be proclaimed, bannered cross the sky in fire.” This prophecy comes true in the season two finale, albeit with the help of Moiraine.

In the books, we know more details about the Dragon Reborn was born. Many scholars and characters in The Wheel of Time books reference “The Karaethon Cycle: The Prophecies of the Dragon.” The collection of prophecies details signs of the Dragon Reborn’s arrival.

Darkfriends have their own prophecies, too. The Dark One and his followers have their eye on the Dragon Reborn, hoping to turn the figure to their side.

False Dragons

Not all men who have the ability to channel have the potential to be the Dragon Reborn. For example, we met Logain Ablar in the TV series; the Aes Sedai captured and caged him. A male channeler, he proclaimed himself as the Dragon Reborn, but he didn’t fit the prophecies. He’s what’s known as a False Dragon. Aes Sedai, usually the Red Ajah, hunt False Dragons with the purpose of gentling them—taking away their ability to channel.

Aes Sedai must feel certain a man is a False Dragon before they gentle him, however. They don’t want to risk gentling the Dragon Reborn and thus stopping him from being able to fight the Dark One. As you can imagine, it’s not always black and white

Who Is the Dragon Reborn?

The book series pretty much makes the Dragon Reborn’s identity known in the first book, though it doesn’t really cement it until books two and three. But The Wheel of Time TV series obfuscated who the Dragon Reborn was until the end of season one. Then, during the finale, the series unveiled Rand al’Thor as the Dragon Reborn. Rand discovered the truth at the Eye of the World where he encountered who he believed to be the Dark One.

As the Dragon Reborn, Rand carries a heavy burden. He will save the world from the Dark One or break it. As a male channeler, history says he will lose his mind because of that channeling—channeling he definitely needs to do in order to stop the Dark One. With Moiraine losing her connection to the Source, Rand has lost a mentor. He advised Moiraine to tell the others he died at the Eye. Rand must learn to become the Dragon Reborn, though, or the world is lost.

When Siuan, the Amyrlin Seat, learns Moiraine failed in her duty, she references the White Tower’s law about the Dragon Reborn—the law Siuan and Moiraine have been ignoring to this point. Aes Sedai are supposed to cage the Dragon Reborn and keep him shielded and under control. Then, they will pull him out like a weapon at the Last Battle to fight the Dark One.

Rand has escaped the Aes Sedai for now, but this interaction likely did not do much to build trust between him and the White Tower.

Originally published on November 22, 2021.

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The Wheel of Time introduced the Horn of Valere at the end of season one. Padan Fain snuck into Fal Dara and stole the Horn, courtesy of a Shienaran Darkfriend leaving a gate open for him. Perrin then traveled with the Shienarans to pursue Fain and the horn in season two. Unfortunately, working under the Forsaken Ishamael’s instructions, Fain took the Horn to the Seanchan. High Lord Turak did not expect such a powerful gift. He said, “With this… the whole world will be ours.” Here’s what you need to know about The Wheel of Time‘s Horn of Valere and why it’s so important with context from the books, but no plot spoilers beyond the TV series.

What Is the Horn of Valere in The Wheel of Time?

The Horn of Valere is a mysterious artifact in The Wheel of Time books, at least as far as its origins are concerned. It’s not clear who made it or why. The item, stored in an intricate box, looks like a curled, golden horn. We saw a peek of the Horn when Turak opened the box. The metal looks hammered, but it doesn’t appear out of the ordinary. In the books, a silver script winds around the mouth of the bell in Old Tongue. It reads “Tia mi aven Moridin isainde vadin,” or “The grave is no bar to my call.”

What Is the Hunt for the Horn of Valere?

The Horn of Valere hasn’t been seen since the Age of Legends and has since gained a legendary, mythical status. In the books, a guardian kept the Horn safe at the Eye of the World and Rand and company recovered it and moved it to a storeroom in Fal Dara. In The Wheel of Time TV series, the Horn was in Fal Dara with the Shienarans as guardians. Padan Fain stole the Horn in both cases.

But most of the world did not know the location of the Horn. In season two of The Wheel of Time, Selene (before she revealed herself as Lanfear) mentioned the Hunt for the Horn had been called. The second book of the series is called The Great Hunt. Illian occasionally calls for Great Hunts for the Horn and people from around the world gather then search for the object. No such hunt was ever successful.

What Does the Horn of Valere Do and Why Is It So Important?

So why does everyone want the Horn of Valere beyond discovering an artifact from another age? Though no one knows why or how, when someone sounds the Horn, it summons the world’s greatest heroes to battle. These Heroes of the Horn are the Pattern’s most mighty and honorable, bound to the Horn of the Valere. They are dead, hence why the grave is no bar to its call. Some believe the heroes will serve whichever side the person who blows the Horn falls on. The Horn of Valere is meant to be present at the Last Battle. Any army with the Heroes of the Horn at their side has an advantage. High Lord Turak says the Seanchan can use it to conquer the world, but that wouldn’t serve anyone but the Seanchan.

Mat Cauthon gets his hands on the Horn of Valere, though, and in the Battle of Falme, he sounds it and summons the Heroes of the Horn. It turns out he is one of them. In the TV series, around two dozen heroes appear, some legendary people in The Wheel of Time world. In the book, over a hundred heroes appear in Falme. In both cases, the heroes defeat the Seanchan.

After seeing the heroes in action in Falme, you can tell why it’s crucial to have the Horn of Valere at the Last Battle.

Originally published on October 3, 2023.

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The Wheel of Time season two put to rest the notion that Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, fought the Dark One at the Eye of the World. Under the surface, Rand and Moiraine seemed to suspect it couldn’t have been that easy. Indeed, it was not. Moiraine used the poem she obtained from Bayle Domon to determine that the broken cuendillar was part of the seal imprisoning Ishamael. Ishamael is a Forsaken—the most powerful one—and the Dark One’s lieutenant. This isn’t the first time the TV series has mentioned the Forsaken, but who are the Forsaken and why are they bad news? Here’s context with minimal spoilers from the books.

What Are the Forsaken in The Wheel of Time?

The Forsaken were channelers—most of them Aes Sedai—once. They sold their souls to the Dark One for eternal life, swearing allegiance to him. Also known as the Chosen, this group of 13 channelers served the Shadow in the War of the Shadow. That war was the beginning of the Age of Legends’ downhill slide into its end. Though many Forsaken led the Shadow’s armies, these 13 carry the title because they were the ones imprisoned with the Dark One. The last Dragon, Lews Therin Telamon, was responsible for trapping them. The Forsaken’s deeds during the war were so evil that they are remembered for them thousands of years later in the Third Age when The Wheel of Time takes place. Moiraine says the Forsaken are so dangerous, that if all of them escape their prisons, the side of Light has no hope of winning the Last Battle.

In The Wheel of Time, some don’t even think the Forsaken existed. They think of them only as bedtime stories meant to frighten children. Those who know the Forsaken are real believe they are safely sealed in their prisons, unable to inflict harm. Ishamael’s appearance in the world and the broken cuendillar prove those seals are no longer reliable barriers.

Who Are the Forsaken?

The 13 Forsaken are: Demandred, Ishamael, Lanfear, Mesaana, Semirhage, Balthamel, Aginor, Asmodean, Rahvin, Sammael, Be’lal, Graendal, and Moghedien.

As you can imagine, a group of ultra-powerful and ultra-ambitious evil-doers do a lot of jockeying for rank. They ultimately serve the Dark One and do whatever they can to accomplish the most in his name. Selfish and focused, they regularly betray and outmaneuver each other. They form precarious, untrustworthy alliances with each other and whoever they think will help them. In the TV series, Moiraine said the Forsaken spent as much time fighting each other as they did their enemies.

Which Forsaken Have We Met in The Wheel of Time TV Series?

We have met three Forsaken so far in The Wheel of Time TV series.

Ishamael

Rand believed him to be the Dark One, but now we know that is not true. Ishamael mentioned it at the beginning of the first episode when he told the little girl who he was. And now we know Ishamael is working with the Seanchan, one of whom was at his earlier Darkfriend meet-up, which cannot lead to good things. As we mentioned, Ishamael is the most powerful of the Forsaken. He shielded Moiraine from the One Power with a flick of his wrist, tying off a weave and leaving it in place. Ishamael planned to turn Rand to the Dark One by manipulating his friends from the Two Rivers before Rand killed him in Falme.

Lanfear

Surprise, Selene is actually Lanfear. The broken cuendillar Master Domon brought Moiraine was from outside Cairhien, where Selene has been running an inn and hooking up with Rand. Ishamael uttered a dark poem and broke the seal on Lanfear’s prison. In the Old Tongue, her name means “daughter of the night,” another name Lanfear goes by. She is stronger than almost all other female channelers, though not as powerful as Ishamael. Moiraine calls Lanfear the most dangerous of the Forsaken. She’s known for her casual cruelty and her mastery of the World of Dreams, or Tel’Aran’Rhiod. That connects to her Daughter of the Night nickname. We see her walk in Ishamael’s and Rand’s dreams.

Lanfear swore herself to the Dark One as part of an attempt to win back Lews Therin, the previous Dragon. She loved him and he her, until Lews Therin met his wife, leaving Lanfear heartbroken and desperate.

In The Wheel of Time TV series, Lanfear tries to betray Ishamael, perhaps to take all the power for herself or perhaps to endear herself to Rand.

Moghedien

Lanfear planned to drop the Forsaken attached to the six seals in Ishamael’s quarters into the ocean. However, Ishamael, sensing Lanfear’s betrayal, instead broke all the Forsaken out of their prisons. Moghedien snuck up on Lanfear in the final moments of season two. Lanfear is a master of Tel’aran’rhiod, but Moghedien is better. Her name means Spider in the Old Tongue, and fittingly, Moghedien prefers to operate from the shadows. She is the weakest of the Forsaken in terms of the One Power, but she’s still more powerful than Aes Sedai in the current age. And still, she succeeds at taking Lanfear by surprise in the finale. Before she joined the Shadow, Moghedien was an investment advisor (seriously).

Can You Kill a Forsaken?

As we learned in The Wheel of Time‘s fourth episode, killing a Forsaken by traditional means does not necessarily stop them. Lanfear is far from gone. She healed her sliced neck within minutes, or the Dark One resurrected her. It seems the TV series may be handling Forsaken deaths differently than the books, but in those stories, one can kill a Forsaken. It is not easy and usually requires a dangerous weave of the One Power, but it can be done.

We see Rand kill Ishamael in The Wheel of Time season two finale. He stabs Ishamael with his blade—his blade infused with the One Power. The Forsaken crumbles into gray dust.

How Many Forsaken Are in The Wheel of Time TV Series?

We may not see all 13 Forsaken from the books. The Wheel of Time TV series is an adaptation of many thousands of pages, first of all. Also, some of the Forsaken are more interesting (more terrible?) than others. Plus, we saw in season one that the Warder Stepin had statues of the Forsaken. The idea is you make offerings to them to ward off the Forsaken. Stepin had eight statues displayed, which may mean that’s all the Forsaken we’ll see in the TV series. Additionally, Ishamael had only six other seals in his space when Lanfear visited him in the World of Dreams.

And speaking of, Lanfear mentioned some of other Forsaken while talking to Ishamael, so they seem like safe bets. She named Moghedien, Graendal, and “the boys.” The latter probably refers to Asmodean, Be’lal, Rahvin, and Sammael. That would complete the set of eight. However, showrunner Rafe Judkins won’t confirm or deny if there are only eight Forsaken.

Originally published on September 1, 2023.

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Some moments stick with you. Perhaps the moment is a memory, good or anxiety-inducing. Maybe it’s a particular conversation. Or it could be a scene from a story, one so impactful and so wondrous you feel it viscerally. You never forget it, not after reading thousands of pages, not after years pass. Then an adaptation of the book series brings that scene to the screen more beautifully than you could have hoped. And it builds on the scene in a way that further sears the moment into your heart. That’s what happened in The Wheel of Time season two finale when Mat sounded the Horn of Valere. Time slowed. Music softened, then swelled as the horn rang out across Falme. Fog unfurled with pops of color, and then cleared to reveal the Heroes of the Horn.

The Heroes of the Horn. And Mat Cauthon, who has been so unsure about himself and his place, is one of them. He realizes who he is, who he has been all along. Mat, beautifully performed by Dónal Finn, swings his quarterstaff and dagger—his ashandarei—with confidence and knows he is one of them. He is a hero.

The Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins, who co-wrote the season two finale with Timothy Earle, tells Nerdist, “I still tear up. I’ve literally seen it 100 times, and I still tear up because it was one of those things that we talked about very early in the writer’s room. Writers who didn’t know the books were like, ‘We can’t do that. You can’t really pull it off. It’ll feel silly.’”

They’re not wrong. On paper, the scene sings. Mat sounds this artifact from legend and changes the tide of the battle. An army of dead heroes bound to the Pattern and to the Horn charge into battle. It has every reason not to work on the screen. But Judkins says they were committed to showing the Heroes of the Horn and doing it right. “Everyone worked so hard. Even those writers, too. Everyone really got on board with this idea of, ‘We’re going to figure out how to pull off this moment and make it emotional and make it work,’” Judkins says.

Judkins explains everyone from the VFX team to director of photography Maja Zamojda leaned into what the moment is from the books. That means smoke and mist and heroes from different ages of The Wheel of Time. VFX supervisor Andy Scrase recalls, “Rafe, at the time, was making a point to me about how this would be a big moment for the fans seeing this happen, ‘It’ll mean an awful lot to them.’”

Judkins says everyone started with the scene as written in The Great Hunt. Then they built on it. He says, “We spent unlimited time, really, trying to build to that moment correctly and get every single team building towards it. It took a lot to pull that off. It’s probably the most expensive shot in season two in terms of the costumes and the hair and makeup and the VFX, and all of it.”

The Sounding of the Horn of Valere

The Horn of Valere shines brightly against Falme’s blue skies. It’s plastic (though they considered white glass), prop master Lukas Katakalidis says, but electroplated with real gold. Katakalidis recalls, “We started with different concepts of, you could say, more traditional horns. It was quite a long process and we tried different shapes and sizes. But then, at some point when we showed Rafe—I think he had the idea that this item would come from the Age of Legends era, so we didn’t need to stick to a traditional shape and could come up with something new. We made a new shape that could fit the request.”

The Great Hunt describes the sound of the Horn as “a clear note, golden as the Horn was golden.” The very sound of Horn resonates through the ground and sky. Supervising sound editor Matthew Skelding knew it had to sound beautiful and unlike anything else in the series. “We had to design something completely from scratch, but then we threw out all those ideas and went with the music to see what that was doing,” Skelding says. “Then we worked around Lorne [Balfe]’s score to create something completely new that weaved in and out of the music so that it could tell the story but then disappear. Just sound unique really, and different to anything we’ve done before.”

The sound team combined several elements for the Horn of Valere. They bought a few things off eBay, they used bells. But above all, they wanted to work with Lorne’s music to make sure the horn sounded elegant. But they had to give the Horn of Valere its moment. Skelding says, “We shaped the world around that sound and created the space for it to take over. Doug [Cooper], the mixer, did a great job of shaping that and allowing it to be that big, massive thing and giving that sound some weight.”

The Heroes of the Horn Appear

“The heroes revealing themselves from this mystical fog that forms behind that—I think that was our most expensive shot actually [in season two],” Scrase says. “Just because of the time that goes into it and the type of work requires, there’s a lot of effect simulations, which in the VFX world, it’s a very time-consuming and expensive process. That was one of those moments where you wanted to pour a lot of time and effort into it.”

The Horn of Valere summons at least a dozen of the Heroes from ages past. Artur Hawkwing, Amaresu, and Birgitte Silverbow are easy to spot. They show up in The Great Hunt, as do Rogosh Eagle-eye, Gaidal Cain, Mikel, Paedrig, and Otarin, among others. The heroes appeared through the fog—Scrase notes they took care to make the fog distinct from the mist that obscured the Whitecloaks’ arrival to Falme. It needed to be an eye-catching moment, so Scrase says they went for an idea of explosions of colors in the smoke itself as the heroes formed. The colors are based on the main colors in each hero’s costume. He says, “There was lots of different inspiration I saw for that. Different things were fireworks going off in thick smoke, and the Holi Festival, and exploding paints and things. I looked at loads of different references for that.”

The Heroes Enter the Battle

That exploration led to the look of the heroes as they jumped into battle, holding back the Seanchan across Falme. It wouldn’t make sense for them to move like the other characters, so Scrase turned to his usual sources of inspiration in arts and science and other film and television to depict the heroes in action. He landed on a photography technique to help give the Heroes of the Horn different movement.

“I found some really cool looking things for the heroes early on, which was long exposure photography. I’d used it for inspiration on one or two other areas in the show,” Scrase explains. “But I think for the Heroes of the Horn, it gave a very dramatic look. The look for our heroes came about from all that, and it was executed really well from the Framestore, the VFX vendor working with me on this. What helps is it almost conveys this visualization of movement and drama when the heroes are fighting.”

Amaresu in particular sticks in Scrase’s mind. “With her, I think that’s a really good example because of her colors and her costume by Sharon Gilham. Combining the costumes with the environment, with our effect got this really dramatic look that I was quite happy with in the end. We had the idea that when the heroes first appear, they didn’t feel quite normal. When they’re moving into action, when they’re fighting, when they’re running, you see this hero’s effect on them that makes them stand out.”

The heroes each have a unique look and they have different sounds, too. Skelding says they used the sound to keep the audience focused through the many battle sequences in the last episode. That was especially the case around each of the Heroes of the Horn. “We tried to design sounds for each of them, to be able to pick out each person individually with bigger impacts on the huge hits. It was about picking up Mat onto his journey throughout that entire charge as well. The design is very much based around each of the different fighting styles of each of the heroes and trying to tell each of their own stories throughout the battle.”

Mat Cauthon As a Hero of the Horn

Mat recognizes the heroes immediately. He remembers himself. Artur Hawking tells Mat, “I have fought by your side times beyond number.” Bringing that revelation to Mat was an important part of the scene, Judkins says. “[We wanted to] make it have an emotional impact for Mat who… We needed a way to clearly communicate to the audience that one of his core character traits is that he doesn’t believe he’s a hero, but he is one. That’s a big part of what we wanted his story to hit hard to the audience who isn’t familiar with the books by the end of the season. This is a guy who is a hero, even if he doesn’t believe it.”

By making Mat one of the Heroes of the Horn, The Wheel of Time TV series brings together different pieces of Mat’s history. “There’s a couple of different things that happened for Mat in the books in terms of his ability to speak Old Tongue, the memories in his mind, the holes in his memories, the skills he has with the staff,” Judkins explains.

He continues, “There’s all of these various disparate traits that he has. Sometimes in the show, we’ll try to—Dave Hill from Game of Thrones always calls it fantasy duplication, where sometimes there’s multiple reasons that things happen and that one thing to look for in adaptation is how to bring it to one thing. Mat’s most iconic thing is blowing the Horn of Valere. We tried to tie some of these things to this moment of blowing the Horn of Valere. I think it actually tracks really cleanly and makes a lot of sense.”

And of course, Mat wasn’t the only familiar face among the Heroes of the Horn. Uno Nomesta, who the High Lady Suroth had executed earlier in the season in an extreme departure from the books, is among the heroes. Judkins says, “We did have that plan [for Uno] because we’re combining… This is a little bit of an Easter egg spoiler. Some hardcore fans will notice. But we signal very clearly another character in the books that we’ve combined Uno with. Two swords.”

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The Wheel of Time turns… and in The Wheel of Time season two finale, boy did it make some important moves. The episode, “What Was Meant to Be,” brought all five of the Two Rivers youths to Falme. That’s where the Seanchan and Ishamael have been the whole season. Each scene of the finale took the characters farther along their journeys. Journeys readers of Robert Jordan’s books know all too well. But the episode brought twists and delight along the way, including a moment from The Great Hunt brought so beautifully to the screen I still can’t believe it happened. We talked to The Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins, who co-wrote this episode with Timothy Earle, about the Dragon Reborn and the role of prophecy, rings, Egwene’s choice, and more.

Nerdist: We have so much to discuss. But first, let’s talk about the rings we see Lanfear, Ishamael, Lews Therin, and more wear. What can you say about those?

Rafe Judkins: We did want to give this hint of the idea that these people used to be Aes Sedai, too. They had their own ring. It’s not something from the books. But it’s something that is just hopefully a subtle thing the audience can pick up on. All of them were the same once. They were all Aes Sedai. They left to join the Dark One. We like things that push you back in the direction of thinking of the better times of Ishamael, Lanfear, and Lews Therin.

Speaking of Lanfear and Ishamael! It seems like the series is focusing on eight Forsaken rather than the 13 in the books. We saw eight statues on Stepin’s altar in season one, we see six seals in Ishamael’s room. Why only eight?

Judkins: A lot of times, you’ll see us take the 13 and make it eight because 13 is such a repeated number in The Wheel of Time series. A lot of times, we’re taking it and making it eight just because it’s simpler to produce eight clans of Aiel. It’s easier than 13. Eight Forsaken could be easier than 13 Forsaken. But I will neither confirm nor deny that there are eight Forsaken.

A real Aes Sedai answer. Let’s jump ahead towards the end of the episode. Egwene kills Renna, and it’s a huge moment for her. Tell me about taking her down this path of revenge.

Judkins: In the books, Nynaeve is there at the final moment with Egwene and Renna. For the room, we started to think about what if Nynaeve wasn’t there. We’re deep enough into the show. We need to start to show the audience who these characters are on their way to becoming. Egwene is someone who is, throughout the book series, able to make incredibly tough decisions that have incredibly severe consequences. Starting to show that here was important for us in the overall storytelling of that character. We felt like if Nynaeve wasn’t there, Egwene might do something different than if she was. This is our version of it and something that hopefully lets the audience start to really understand who Egwene will eventually become in the series.

And Rand… there’s so much to dig into, but I want to ask about his confrontation with Turak. Instead of engaging in a swordfight with a blademaster, he uses the One Power against Turak. How did you develop this scene?

Judkins: For us, we haven’t really told the story of Rand and Lan training together yet. It is coming. But we hadn’t told it yet. But we still needed to pull off this Rand/Turak confrontation. I think it’s just one of those scenes that’s etched into your mind from the second book that we had to do.

What we tried to do is combine it with a scene in the third book with Rand where he kills all these men who are attacking him and they all fall to their knees with the One Power. It’s a very disturbing, unsettling scene in book three that puts a question mark in your mind of what path Rand is headed on and gives the audience its first real glimpse of the amount of power he wields, which I think is really important. That’s what we were trying to do with that scene. We wanted to deliver the iconic scene from the books. But Rand hasn’t had that storyline with Lan yet, so this is a way we could bring it to the show.

Throughout the season, people have talked about the prophecy of the Dragon Reborn proclaiming himself in Falme. Ultimately, Moiraine helps make it happen. How do you view the role of prophecy and how it can be deterministic?

Judkins: One of the big things in the books is this idea of destiny and what it means and how much of it is what the Pattern has woven for you and how much of it is you weaving through the Pattern. Moiraine and Rand are obviously the two characters where that comes most to a head in their character arc. We wanted to give the two of them a really definitive moment at the end of this season that tackled that thematically and, I think, also have this glorious scene of Moiraine channeling again after a season without it.

We combine that together to make this banner moment that should feel really heroic and ecstatic. But also, it’s not Rand’s choice. It’s Moiraine’s choice. That sets them up very well for the storyline that they have moving forward in the books. I think it’s a really important moment for those two characters in the relationship they’re going to be building moving forward.

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Morgan Elsbeth is more than a fervent follower of Grand Admiral Thrawn. She’s a Dathomirian Nightsister. Morgan heard the Great Mothers’ dreams across the galaxy and made the plan to locate Thrawn. It was Morgan who planned the construction of the Eye of Sion and searched for the map to Peridea. In the Ahsoka finale, the Great Mothers, ancient Dathomirian witches, rewarded Morgan for her help and loyalty. They bestowed her with what seemed like greater power and magicks, and they gave her the Blade of Talzin. The weapon, which the Great Mothers conjured from swirling green magicks, is one we’ve seen in Star Wars before.

What Is the Blade of Talzin?

The Blade of Talzin is a sword made out of Dathomirian magick. Nightsisters can bring it into existence for themselves or to give to others. The Blade of Talzin appears to be metal, with green flames wrapping around its blade. There also appears to be an inscription on it. The blade is strong enough to withstand blows from a lightsaber.

Why the Great Mothers Gifted Morgan Elsbeth with the Blade of Talzin in Ahsoka

Morgan answered the call of the Great Mothers. She found a way to successfully travel to a whole other galaxy and to safely return home. By doing so, she honored her Dathomirian heritage in an immeasurable fashion. For her actions, and likely her belief, the Great Mothers gifted Morgan the Blade of Talzin after Morgan pledged herself to the sisterhood and its old ways. Based on Morgan’s reverence in the moment, we can guess the weapon is legendary, known to the Dathomirian witches.

It didn’t take long for Morgan to put the Blade of Talzin to use. In order to give Thrawn and the Great Mothers the best chance at leaving Peridea, she stayed behind to fight Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra. Morgan went toe-to-toe with Ahsoka’s two lightsabers, using the Blade of Talzin to destroy one of Ahsoka’s lightsaber hilts. Ultimately, Ahsoka wrested the Blade of Talzin from Morgan and used it to kill her. But with the power the Great Mothers gave her, who knows if Morgan is really dead?

Though Ahsoka held the Blade of Talzin after Morgan’s death, we didn’t see it again as Ahsoka and Sabine made their escape. Perhaps it disappeared back into the ether, waiting to be called upon again.

Has the Blade of Talzin Appeared in Star Wars Before?

We’ve seen the Blade of Talzin once before in Star Wars. In the sixth season of The Clone Wars (nearly 30 years before the events of Ahsoka), Mother Talzin summoned the weapon to fight Mace Windu at the Temple of Malmourral, a Bardottan demon of war. Talzin was there to perform a ritual sacrifice that would grant her a massive amount of power. She brought the blade out of the ether in a rush of green flames, though the hilt here is different than the hilt when Morgan receives it. Talzin’s magical sword held up well against Mace Windu’s lightsaber, but ultimately, Talzin lost the battle. This was the last time we saw Talzin on the screen.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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This season of Ahsoka has been all about the fantastical and the darkly strange. And so, we were expecting nothing less from the Star Wars series’ finale, and we were not disappointed. Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra have faced many treacherous foes over Ahsoka‘s eight episodes, but one of the most twisted and frightening was saved for last.

Zombie Stormtroopers in Ahsoka‘s Finale

From Grand Admiral Thrawn’s first appearance in Ahsoka, we’ve known of his partnership with the Great Mothers. The powerful Dathomirian witches seem closely connected to the tenacious Imperial. They stand at Thrawn’s side, ready to help. We see red fabric reminiscent of their robes wrapped around Thrawn’s night troopers’ shabby armor. And in the Ahsoka finale, we saw the strength of Great Mothers’ dark magick when, at Thrawn’s behest, they brought dead night troopers back to life. Yes, Ahsoka gave us zombie stormtroopers in live-action, and it was as haunting as you’d imagine. These death troopers, infused with the misty green magick of the Nightsisters, reanimated against Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra and could seemingly only be killed with shots (or lightsabers) to the head. The new zombie stormtroopers have gruesome decaying flesh and everything.

Have Zombies Appeared in Star Wars Before?

Your brain may not jump to the word “undead” when you think of Star Wars. That’s fair. But Ahsoka‘s zombie stormtroopers aside, it’s not a new concept. In fact, we’ve seen the ideas of zombies go hand in hand with the Dathomirian Nightsisters before in the current, canonical Star Wars storytelling universe. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, we saw a Dathomirian Nightsister, Old Daka, resurrect corpses from a graveyard using a specific chant. Daka raised this undead army in “Massacre.” In the Star Wars show, she tasked the resurrected zombie Nightsisters to fight against Separatists who were trying to carry out Count Dooku’s revenge against the witches. Daka tells the corpses, “Rise, sisters. Undead sisters, rise from your sleep. The time has come. Awaken. You have been called upon.”

General Grievous killed Daka in the battle, but she was the oldest of the Nightsisters on Dathomir and very likely the most powerful. Even Mother Talzin didn’t have Daka’s level of knowledge. Perhaps Daka once learned the resurrection chant and other magick from the Great Mothers.

We have to wonder if Marrok, the Inquisitor who fought beside Baylan and Shin, was also an undead servant of some sort.

Additionally, we saw a different kind of reanimated corpse in The Clone Wars when a Geonosian queen used a parasitic brainworm to bring the dead to life and control them like puppets.

Zombie Stormtroopers in Star Wars

We have even seen zombie stormtroopers in Star Wars before, though they’re quite different from the ones in Ahsoka. The Legends novel Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber is specifically about zombie stormtroopers. In the story, set before the events of A New Hope, the stormtroopers become zombies in the more traditional fashion. A virus spreads through a ship, and those infected with it become flesh-craving zombies.

Does Thrawn Plan to Make an Army of Zombie Stormtroopers?

It’s possible that Ahsoka‘s small group of zombie stormtroopers was just the beginning of Thrawn’s undead attacks. As mentioned, we only saw a small group of night troopers become zombies. The Great Mothers’ power infused into them, enhancing their abilities. The zombie stormtroopers seem to be more resilient than Thrawn’s living night troopers.

At the end of Ahsoka, Thrawn is traveling straight to Dathomir, with the Great Mothers on board, and a cargo bay full of coffin-like objects, he could have plans for a massive zombie stormtrooper army. Thrawn, the Imperial Remnant, and a host of hard-to-kill stormtroopers mean trouble ahead for the New Republic.

Featured Image: Lucasfilm

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The world of Dungeons & Dragons is impossibly rich. And that’s before everyone comes to the table and builds on it with their imaginations. The tabletop roleplaying game has continued to evolve with every edition. Dungeons & Dragons‘ fifth edition debuted in 2014, and in recent years, the game’s success has ballooned. A new book, Lore & Legends: A Visual Celebration of the Fifth Edition of the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Sam Witwer, delves into the art and history of D&D‘s Fifth Edition. We have an exclusive look at early character sketches featured in this Dungeons & Dragons book.

This spread of sketches shows off some of Dungeons & Dragons‘ most iconic dangers. We have a look at the deadly gelatinous cube from Conceptopolis (which also made an appearance in the recent Dungeons & Dragons movie). Below the cube are hook horror concepts from Cory Trego-Erdner. Then there’s a glimpse of a fresh owlbear look from artist Brynn Metheney. But my absolute favorite sketch on this page is the wereshark. That expression! Those teeth! Dungeons & Dragons rules.

The Lore & Legends synopsis is as follows:

When the reimagined fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons debuted in the summer of 2014, the game was on the brink of obsolescence. But within a few short years, D&D found greater success than it had ever enjoyed before, even surpassing its 1980s golden age. How did an analog game nearly a half century old become a star in a digital world? For the first time, Lore & Legends reveals the incredible ongoing story of Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition from the perspective of the designers, artists, and players who bring it to life. This comprehensive visual guide illuminates contemporary D&D—its development, evolution, cultural relevance, and popularity—through exclusive interviews and more than 900 pieces of artwork, photography, and advertising curated and analyzed by the authors of the bestselling and Hugo Award–nominated Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana.

Lore & Legends: A Visual Celebration of the Fifth Edition of the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game arrives on shelves on October 3. And if you can wait until November 28, you can get a special edition of the book. This edition comes with an adventure map, a custom d20, and even a pull-out drawer that doubles as a dice tray. Get all the details on the Lore & Legends special edition here.

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The world of The Wheel of Time comes with its own kind of magic—magic known as the One Power. It’s not referred to as “magic” in-universe, but that’s definitely what it’s like. Really, it’s kind of like the Force in Star Wars. And many women, but not all, who channel the One Power are Aes Sedai. Like Jedi, the phrase “Aes Sedai” can mean both the individual and the organization as a whole. Aes Sedai play an important role in Robert Jordan’s fantasy novels and Prime Video’s television adaptation. They have their hands in much of the world’s happenings and play a big part in the Dragon Reborn’s story.

If you’d like to learn more about The Wheel of Time’s Aes Sedai without spoilers from the books, you’re in the right place.

Who Are The Wheel of Time‘s Aes Sedai?

Put simply, the Aes Sedai are a group of women (during the events of the book and series) who wield the One Power. Many across the world of The Wheel of Time distrust them. In the Old Tongue, Aes Sedai means “servants of all.”

What Is the One Power?

Aes Sedai channel the One Power, which they pull from the True Source. The True Source has a female half and a male half, saidar and saidin respectively. During The Wheel of Time‘s events, saidin is tainted. If a man capable of channeling saidin tries to do so (like the Dragon Reborn, for example), he will eventually lose his mind and probably cause a lot of chaos in the process.

Aes Sedai channel saidar from the True Source, which as one character describes, it is, “the driving force of creation, the force the Creator made to turn the Wheel of Time.” Channelers weave flows from five elements—Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit—for various affects. Aes Sedai, or any trained female channeler, can see when other women are using the One Power. It glows like an aura around the wielder.

Not everyone is born with the ability to channel, or the spark. Sometimes if a girl unknowingly begins channeling and doesn’t receive training from an Aes Sedai, she will die. Others channel on their own and survive without Aes Sedai training or interference.

Can an Aes Sedai Lose the Ability to Use the One Power?

Aes Sedai are born with the ability to use the One Power, but they can lose their powers in different ways. Other channelers can temporarily block Aes Sedai from the One Power using a shield. The shield weave blocks access to the One Power; the person using the weave can actively maintain it or tie the weave off and leave it, though this leaves more of an opening for someone to break the shield.

Another channeler permanently stop an Aes Sedai from using the One Power with stilling (it’s called gentling when it’s done to a male channeler). At the end of season one of The Wheel of Time, Ishamael stilled Moiraine. She lost the ability to use the One Power as a result.

Aes Sedai can accidentally cut themselves off from the One Power by burning out. This can happen when a channeler tries to use too much of the One Power. Burning out can sometimes be lethal for the Aes Sedai and/or her Warder.

However an Aes Sedai loses her powers, it is a jarring, traumatic loss.

Where Do the Aes Sedai Live?

The Aes Sedai call the island of Tar Valon home. They occupy the White Tower, which sits in a kind of campus. Aes Sedai do not have to permanently reside in the White Tower once they’re full sisters, though many do. Aspiring sisters train in the tower from Novice, to Accepted, to Aes Sedai. Warders also train and live on the grounds.

How Does Someone Become an Aes Sedai?

An Aes Sedai can sense if another women has the ability to channel. Whenever possible, they try to bring these women, usually on the younger side, to the White Tower to receive at least enough training to prevent the women from harming themselves with One Power. Some young women find their own way to Tar Valon too. Those who can channel start as Novices, then after they learn and grow in strength (if they do), they become Accepted. At the Accepted level, the woman must pas through the arches and then she receives an Aes Sedai ring—the Great Serpent ring. It depicts a serpent eating its own tail, a symbol of the ever-turning wheel of time. From Accepted, a woman goes on to become full Aes Sedai.

Once a full Aes Sedai, the woman has to take three oaths: to tell no lies, to not make any weapons that be used to harm other beings, and to not wield the One Power as a weapon. They make the oaths on the Oath Rod, which makes the oath unbreakable with the One Power. At this time they choose which Ajah they would like to join.

Aes Sedai Ajahs

The Aes Sedai split themselves into one of seven Ajahs: Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Gray, Brown, and White. Each Ajah has its own purpose and leaders. When Aes Sedai become full sisters, they choose the Ajah they want to join. Aes Sedai often wear a color representing their Ajah, and in the books, they sometimes don vine-embroidered shawls that have fringe showing their Ajah’s color.

The Yellow Ajah heals, and the Blue Ajah is about righteous causes and justice. The Red Ajah loathes men and focuses on the misuse of the One Power, especially as it pertains to men channeling. The Green Ajah stands ready for the Last Battle, or Tarmon Gai’don. Grays are all about diplomacy and politics, while Browns put their energy towards gathering and preserving knowledge. And finally the White Ajah specializes in philosophy and logic.

An eighth Ajah exists too: the Black Ajah. Members of this Ajah have pledged themselves to the Dark One. They largely keep this allegiance secret and operate from the shadows. Not all Aes Sedai believe the Black Ajah is real. However, The Wheel of Time TV series has revealed Liandrin to be a member of the Black Ajah, possibly meaning she’s the Aes Sedai who attended Ishamael’s gathering of Darkfriends. When an Aes Sedai swears the oath to the Dark One, it breaks her Aes Sedai oath, meaning they can lie and use the One Power as a weapon. We’ve seen Liandrin do both things.

Aes Sedai and Warders

With the exception of the Red Ajah, nearly every Aes Sedai bonds a Warder. Members of the Green Ajah often bond more than one and sometimes marry one of their Warders. Aes Sedai use the One Power to bond a Warder (with permission) to serve as a bodyguard, basically. With the bonding, a Warder gains enhanced abilities such as stamina and strength. They form an emotional bond, and a Warder and Aes Sedai can sense each other’s physical locations.

Aes Sedai Politics

Amazon Prime Video

Like any organization, the Aes Sedai have a leader and a council. They call their leader the Amyrlin Seat; the position’s full title is the Amyrlin Seat, Watcher of the Seals, the Flame of Tar Valon. Once sisters raise her to the position, she leaves her Ajah behind and becomes a mother to all Aes Sedai. The Amyrlin Seat wears a stole with seven stripes to represent the seven Ajahs. The Amyrlin Seat’s right hand woman is the Keeper of the Chronicles. The Amyrlin appoints the Keeper with the Hall of the Tower’s support and typically chooses the Keeper from the same Ajah that the Amyrlin once belonged to. Though the Keeper formally leaves that Ajah like the Amyrlin, the Keeper’s stole is the color of her former Ajah.

During The Wheel of Time, the current Amyrlin Seat is Siuan Sanche and the Keeper of the Chronicles is Leane Sharif.

The Aes Sedai have a council called the Hall of the Tower. Three Sitters from each Ajah sit on the council and implement the Amyrlin’s rules and also create policies for the whole of the organization.

Aes Sedai and the Age of Legends

The events of The Wheel of Time take place in the Third Age, which spans over 3,000 years. But before that was the Second Age, also known as the Age of Legends. During that period, there were more Aes Sedai and they were more powerful. Saidin was not yet tainted, so male and female channelers worked together. The Aes Sedai in this age could make tools that helped them channel more of the One Power—angreal, sa’angreal, and ter’angreal.. The Age of Legends comes up repeatedly in the books and we’ve seen it in the TV series as well. It’s an important era to keep in the back of your mind.

Notable Aes Sedai in The Wheel of Time TV Series So Far

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Since Aes Sedai play a pivotal role in the story, The Wheel of Time TV series includes a number of sisters. We see many in the halls of the White Tower and on the streets of Tar Valon, but let’s look at some of the most notable Aes Sedai in the adaptation’s story so far.

• Siuan Sanche – Amyrlin Seat, formerly of the Blue Ajah
• Leane Sharif – Keeper of the Chronicles, formerly of the Blue Ajah
• Moiraine Damodred – Blue Ajah
• Alanna Mosvani – Green Ajah
• Liandrin Guirale – Black Ajah (formerly Red Ajah)
• Verin Mathwin – Brown Ajah
• Sheriam Bayanar – Mistress of Novices, Blue Ajah
• Adeleas Namelle – Brown Ajah
• Yasicca Cellaech – Brown Ajah
• Ryma Galfrey – Yellow Ajah, currently a damane
• Maigan – Sitter of the Blue Ajah, currently a damane
• Gitara Moroso – former Keeper of the Chronicles and of the Blue Ajah, had the Foretelling about the Dragon Reborn’s birth

Originally published on September 2, 2021.

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In the latest episode of The Wheel of Time, “Daes Dae’mar,” which translates to “the Great Game” in the Old Tongue, a number of characters made important discoveries. Mat found out about Ishamael’s existence. The Seanchan learned of Egwene’s incredible strength in the One Power. Rand probably embraced some newly inflamed feelings about Aes Sedai after his encounter with the Amyrlin Seat. But the biggest revelation involved Moiraine and her loss of the One Power.

A flashback showed the moment Moiraine and Siuan learned about the Dragon Reborn’s coming from a Foretelling. That event 20 years ago changed the course of their lives. Moiraine was to find the Dragon and guide him. Siuan was to prepare the White Tower and gather the Aes Sedai’s support for the Dragon. Siuan lays failure for Rand’s lack of skill at Moiraine’s feet and seemingly blames her for losing access to the One Power. But as it turns out, Ishamael did not still Moiraine; he only shielded her.

Occasionally in season two we’ve heard characters say that women cut off permanently from the One Power, known as being stilled, often lose the will to live. They cannot handle the absence of the connection that has always been present within them. To lose access to the One Power is to undergo a severe trauma. Verin tells Lan how strong Moiraine has been to keep moving forward. Not entirely convinced, and probably fairly unhappy about Moiraine threatening to have Alanna take Lan’s Warder bond by force, Lan does some digging worthy of a sister of the Brown Ajah.

Lan pulls statistics on Aes Sedai who were stilled and how many survived. He questions Logain, a false Dragon who the Aes Sedai gentled but who can still see One Power weaves made by male channelers. Logain tells Lan weaves sit on Moiraine, something Rand later confirms. Rand sees a knot, meaning Ishamael placed the weave and tied it off—an ability lost since the Age of Legends. Aes Sedai believe they have to actively maintain weaves for them to work. We see this in the episode when the sisters take turns maintaining the shield on Rand.

Truth, unbelievable as it may be to Moiraine, uncovered, Lan urges Rand to channel and cut the knot. Moiraine regains access to the One Power and uses it immediately. Moiraine has stood on her own without the One Power all season and confronted some painful external and internal challenges. She probably sees truth in Siuan’s criticism and believes she’s a failure for not guiding and protecting Rand.  It must be bittersweet for Moiraine to regain such an important part of who she believes she is at the same time as her and Siuan’s mutual betrayal.

The Wheel of Time‘s season two finale airs next Friday, October 6.

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It’s never a bad time to be a fan of the Percy Jackson books. However, it certainly is an auspicious time to be a fan these days. The Disney+ Percy Jackson and the Olympians series debuts later this year and we’ve seen the first trailer. The first new Percy Jackson story in 14 years arrived in the world yesterday. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Chalice of the Gods has undoubtedly been flying off shelves. Author Rick Riordan held an event to launch the book and he revealed some huge news to fans attending the event. The author unveiled another brand-new Percy Jackson book! Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Wrath of the Triple Goddess arrives in September 2024.

We first saw this news on Twitter. As you can see from the below video, fans expressed enthusiasm for the news. Though there’s no official word on how many more Percy Jackson books we’ll get, it seems likely Riordan may publish a complete trilogy about this phase of Percy’s life. Chalice of the Gods sees Percy preparing to head to college. That’s not a simple change for a regular human, much less a demigod. And let’s be real. Percy’s been busy with the gods. His school record is not impeccable. Wrath of the Triple Goddess, which will be the seventh book in the Percy Jackson series, will follow Percy as he continues his quests for college recommendation letters.

Two things we do know about Wrath of the Triple Goddess thanks to fans at the launch event: it will feature Hecate and also Mrs. O’Leary. Mrs. O’ Leary is Percy’s pet hellhound and a very good dog.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Wrath of the Triple Goddess will be out on September 24, 2024. It’s not available for pre-order yet. But that’s okay, we have Chalice of the Gods to keep us busy.

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The World of Dreams has entered the chat, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. The Wheel of Time TV adaptation of the book series of the same name by Robert Jordan has already highlighted how important the realm, known as Tel’aran’rhiod, can be. We’ve seen the Forsaken use the World of Dreams repeatedly in season two of the show. Lanfear is a master of moving through Tel’aran’rhiod. Ishamael is skilled too, but his appearance glitches, betraying himself as a dreamwalker to the dreamer he’s visiting. We’ll continue to see how events in Tel’aran’rhiod affect the story, but for now, here’s what you should know about the World of Dreams with context from The Wheel of Time books, but no plot spoilers.

What Is the World of Dreams in The Wheel of Time?

Tel’aran’rhiod is a sort of parallel world. The books basically describe the World of Dreams as an inconstant mirror of the waking world. So when Lanfear tells Rand he can travel and see the world in Tel’aran’rhiod, he can do so. He could visit the White Tower, for example, in the World of Dreams and longstanding buildings will be there. Anything fixed in the waking world is likely to be fixed in the World of Dreams. But objects that do not have permanent locations will flicker in and out. For example, letters on a desk may appear and disappear moment-to-moment in the World of Dreams, while the desk stays put. Dreamwalkers like Lanfear have the ability to change what Tel’aran’rhiod looks like.

Aside from traveling to particular locations, those who know the World of Dreams well can visit a specific person’s dreams—as Lanfear and Ishamael do with Rand (Lanfear is able to kick Ishamael out of Rand’s dreams) and as Lanfear does with both Liandrin and Egwene. It’s how she takes Rand to “see” Egwene in her dreams and why Egwene wakes thinking she’d just heard Rand. Remember the bad dreams the Two Rivers ta’veren had in season one? That was Ishamael. Dreamers remember those who visit their dreams, even if they remain unaware it was because the visitor was dreamwalking.

Can Anyone Enter Tel’aran’rhiod?

Like Perrin’s wolfbrother ability, entering Tel’aran’rhiod does not require use of the One Power. Some can access the World of Dreams at will, some may use a ter’angreal designed for the purpose, and others might stumble into the World of Dreams accidentally. Just falling asleep and dreaming does not a dreamwalker make. One has to enter the realm consciously while being asleep. It was common practice in the Age of Legends, but in contemporary times, Aes Sedai rarely possess the ability.

What Happens to the Dreamwalker’s Body?

While a dreamwalker enters Tel’aran’rhiod, their body remains asleep. If someone is unpracticed in the World of Dreams, they will usually have someone stay awake at their side to pull them out. If a dreamer knows they are at risk of a dreamwalker visiting their dreams, like Rand with Lanfear, they also may have a minder on hand. Moiraine watched over Rand for signs of distress when Lanfear visited his dreams. A body belonging to someone visiting Tel’aran’rhiod does not get as much rest as it would from actual sleep.

Can People Die in Tel’aran’rhiod?

The World of Dreams is dangerous, especially for those new to the realm. Injuries sustained in Tel’aran’rhiod happen to the dream in the waking world. This can include death.

This only scratches the surface of Tel’aran’rhiod’s role in The Wheel of Time. As the series go on, we’ll undoubtedly see how powerful the realm is and we’ll return to dig in further.

New episodes of The Wheel of Time premiere on Fridays on Prime Video.

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Final Fantasy XIV is already a hugely popular multiplayer online game, and now it’s headed to the table. Square Enix has announced the Final Fantasy XIV tabletop roleplaying set for next spring. They’re gearing this transition to tabletop roleplaying towards RPG newcomers with a comprehensive starter set that has everything you could need to run a game or explore the world of Eorzea as an adventurous player.

The Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG Starter Set comes with a player book, a gamemaster book that has three ready-to-go premade scenarios, premade character sheets, custom dice, an encounter map, and more. You can see many of the elements in the below image. The prewritten scenarios connect to Final Fantasy XIV‘s main story to make you feel even more a part of the world. Square Enix recommends five players, though as few as three could join the gaming party.

With four character sheets—for Warrior, White Mage, Dragoon, and Black Mage—already available, jumping in should be straightforward. The play system isn’t clear, though. The Starter Set‘s custom dice are six d20s and 10 d6s, so the system is likely a custom one.

The Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG Starter Set releases next May and costs $59.99. You can place a pre-order now.

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One of the beautiful things about tabletop gaming is variety. A board game that matches your specific interests and preferred play style very likely exists. For example, if you like cooperative gameplay and you have a passion for Greek mythology, Ravensburger’s Horrified: Greek Monsters is for you. Structured around the same format as the game company’s first release in the Horrified series, Horrified: Universal Monsters, and this version is geared towards Greek legends and monsters. As we slide towards the release of Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV series, Horrified: Greek Monsters is an ideal game to get in the mood.

The premise is straightforward enough. You and your fellow players choose a hero to play. Each hero has a special ability, and one of the heroes is a Traveler—a crown-wearing pegasus. Yes, I absolutely chose to play the pegasus for obvious reasons. I also picked the pegasus because that particular hero has the most actions of the group. You’ll choose the monsters based on the difficulty level you desire. Horrified: Greek Monsters comes with Minotaur, Cerberus, Basilisk, Chimera, Medusa, and Siren. Working together, you and your fellow players have to stop the monsters before your horror level hits the max. You win or lose together. Along the way, you can guide legends such as Daedalus around the board to gain perks.

Horrified: Greek Monsters is relatively simple to set up and get into, even if you haven’t played another Horrified game. And if you have played Universal Monsters or American Monsters before, you’ll find it even easier to start. You can use your heroes’ actions to choose from a long list of possibilities, and you and your cohorts will have to determine the optimal strategy. Will you try to collect as many items as possible to meet the requirements necessary to stop the monster(s)? Or will you try to focus on guiding legends to their destination in order to acquire more perk cards that could be handy later? The multi-tasking aspect of this game, like so many, is both a satisfying challenge and a frustration. It can be hard to choose what to focus on, especially when the monsters are coming at you after every turn.

In playing (and losing) a two-player game, I lost sight of the primary strategy: keeping the horror level from climbing. Well, that and we didn’t focus on stopping the more challenging monster first. Your mileage may vary, but I think if we would have turned our attention to stopping Cerberus sooner—his defeat requires precise dice rolls that can be challenging to achieve—we could have been in a stronger place.

Even with losing to Cerberus, Horrified: Greek Monsters was an enjoyable romp of a game. Like its Horrified predecessors, the storytelling around the various monsters’ abilities connects well to what we know about their mythology. The monster miniatures are detailed and would be a blast to paint. Heroes have cardboard tokens, like with the other Horrified games, and I hope one day we’ll see minis offered for those characters as well. I need a miniature of the Traveler to paint.

Horrified: Greek Monsters is set to release on October 1.

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“We’re on a break.” Stede Bonnet, Gentleman Pirate, actually says that about his and Edward Teach’s relationship in the Our Flag Means Death season two trailer. Stede and Ed, a.k.a. Blackbeard, ended season one torn apart. Stede’s crew thinks Blackbeard is going to murder Stede for breaking his heart, but Stede, as ever, is more optimistic than that. He knows he should have been more open about his feelings, and you can tell he wants to make it up to Ed. Season two of Our Flag Means Death is about to explore a lot of break-up wallowing, piracy, fighting soldiers, and hopefully a grand gesture.

Our Flag Means Death Season Two Trailer

The Our Flag Means Death season two trailer shows Blackbeard is processing some emotions. He’s giving up booze, drugs, and Stede and trying to turn things around for himself. Ed even befriends a bunny. But then Stede comes back into Blackbeard’s life. All the while, a group of soldiers are trying to bring an end to piracy. And Stede and his crew? They seem as about as a competent as ever, which is to say, things will probably not go in their favor.

But what they lack in skill, Stede and his crew make up for in resilience. This found family always gets back on their feet. They usually look utterly fabulous while doing so, too.

Our Flag Means Death Season Two Premiere Date and Synopsis

The synopsis for the second season is as follows:

Our Flag Means Death is based (very) loosely on the true adventures of 18th century would-be pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby). After trading the seemingly charmed life of a gentleman for one of a swashbuckling buccaneer, Stede became captain of the pirate ship Revenge. Struggling to earn the respect of his potentially mutinous crew, Stede’s fortunes changed after a fateful run-in with the infamous Captain Blackbeard (Taika Waititi). To their surprise, the wildly different Stede and Blackbeard found more than friendship on the high seas…they found love. Now, they have to survive it.

Our Flag Means Death season two premieres on Max on October 5.

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The Wheel of Time is a story of light and dark. The books by Robert Jordan pit the Dragon Reborn and his allies against the Dark One and his many evildoing minions. Enemies to the Dragon are everywhere. They take the form of Darkfriends doing deeds big and small for the Dark One, Whitecloaks who cause trouble via their fanaticism, or invading forces. Season two of Prime Video’s adaptation of The Wheel of the Time has been bringing two powerful foes together: the Forsaken and the Seanchan.

Members of each group are formidable in their own right. The Forsaken are powerful channelers who devote themselves to the Dark One. Meanwhile the Seanchan are invading with a massive army, spearheaded by enslaved channelers using the One Power as a weapon. Moreover, Ishamael of the Forsaken has seemingly allied with High Lady Suroth of the Seanchan. That makes for a dire situation for the Dragon Reborn, Rand al’ Thor, and those who want to help him.

“I think this season’s very character driven. In season one, we were establishing them all. Season two is following all these characters and they’re all in different places, so we have the breadth,” executive producer Marigo Kehoe told Nerdist on the set of The Wheel of Time (no writers or actors were present during the set visit). “The darkness and the light, it’s explored in all of them, including the Forsaken. So they come in and these characters pose that threat straight away. The story and their journey has that underlying threat.”

And while the Seanchan are overt in their invasion, other enemies are more insidious. Selene, it turns out, is not an innkeeper in Cairhien’s foregate; she’s actually Lanfear, one of the Forsaken. She’s been cozying up with Rand. Of course book readers knew Selene’s actual identity, but director Sanaa Hamri explained such a situation is layered. “It’s very intricate and tricky when bringing in the different dark forces, “ she said. “Because at the same time when we’re directing these scenes and creating the scope, we don’t want to tip the hat. So it has to be, especially for a viewer who’s never read the books, they should not know who a Darkfriend is going to be.”

Hamri continued, “It’s finding that fine balance of being subtle. We want to create an environment where you rewatch the scene and go, ‘Oh my God, that’s the sign.’ Especially later on because there’s a lot of things that are revealed throughout the season until the finale, so when you rewatch the show, you’ll be able to pinpoint and see those little eggs.”

One example of an egg is the name of Selene’s inn, the Crescent Inn. Its sign featured a crescent moon and stars. One of Lanfear’s names in The Wheel of Time’s books is Daughter of the Night.

Lanfear’s in the story now, but the season started with Ishamael and the Seanchan. The stakes were high, particularly with Rand and the audience knowing he is the Dragon. Executive producer Mike Weber said you’re already thinking about what he’s going to do with that incredible power and how it will affect him. So by the time we meet enemies, you can’t help but wonder what Rand will do.

“You see what evil… You see the One Power in the possession of people that do not have the moral code of the Aes Sedai, what that looks like. And the Seanchan really put that forward,” Weber said. “You see all of these different aspects of the One Power’s existence and how it is utilized and I think that really hits home in amping up the stakes.”

The Wheel of Time airs news episodes on Prime Video on Fridays.

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Season two of The Wheel of Time is well underway, and Moiraine and Lan continue to be in a challenging place. When Ishamael cut Moiraine off from the One Power at the Eye of the World in the season one finale, it severed her bond to Lan. An Aes Sedai’s bond with her Warder closely connects them, to the point a Warder knows his Aes Sedai’s moods. It suddenly disappearing affects both Aes Sedai and Warder deeply. Season two began with Moiraine investigating broken cuendillar and keeping Lan in the dark. The split between them has grown wider with each passing episode, and now Moiraine is Cairhien after leaving Lan with Alanna.

While visiting Alanna’s family, Lan seemed to relax. He let his hair down, though it’s shorter than it was in Nynaeve’s possible future, and wore more comfortable-looking clothing. The hair, at least, is symbolic of Lan and Moiraine’s lack of relationship. The Wheel of Time’s hair and makeup designer Davina Lamont told Nerdist it was about representing that change in his character.

“It was about how Moiraine and Lan had gone to another place,” Lamont said. “Moiraine was kicked out of the White Tower, and so we had a more of a relaxed look for both of them for the first episode. Then they wanted to see Lan in an even more relaxed mode as well. So, for that it was taking his hair down. It was great to play with the length and the style for him and what that would look like. So yeah, I was glad that he got a new hairstyle. He [Daniel Henney] loves his long hair.”

Lamont joked that Henney wanted to wear the long hair all the time.

Director Thomas Napper told Nerdist more about Moiraine and Lan’s struggle. The pair is in crisis, complicated by Moiraine shutting Lan out. He said, “Their relationship is in a strange, broken place where they were almost like twins, to a point. It’s so interesting to explore these other aspects of the characters, that I felt coming into the show fresh for series two, that that was a really new aspect to the show, is to see the vulnerability and to see, I guess, the darker sides.”

New episodes of The Wheel of Time premiere on Fridays on Prime Video.

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The Wheel of Time TV series, based on the book series of the same name by Robert Jordan, set up a mystery for Perrin Aybara in season one. His eyes occasionally turned golden, and he didn’t know what was happening. Perrin’s abilities have continued to evolve in season two of the show, ever since he met Elyas. Elyas recently told Perrin what he is: a wolfbrother. Here’s what you need to know about wolfbrothers in The Wheel of Time with some context, but no spoilers, from the books.

What Are Wolfbrothers in The Wheel of Time?

Also known as wolfsisters or wolfkin, wolfbrothers are people who have a close relationship with wolves. The known wolfkin in The Wheel of Time books are all men, but women could be wolfkin, too. There is no known way to detect whether someone has the potential to become a wolfbrother. It’s not necessarily a genetic trait. If someone is a wolfbrother, their condition could lay dormant for years. It usually takes close proximity to wolves and the wolves’ acceptance to bring the traits to the forefront. The person may not know what is happening.

In the first season of The Wheel of Time TV series, a pack of wolves approached Perrin in the woods. One wolf licked his leg. Later in the season, wolves help Perrin and Egwene escape imprisonment by the Whitecloaks. Perrin didn’t know what was going on until he met Elyas in season two.

Wolfbrother Abilities

Being a wolfbrother comes with special abilities, which we’ve seen in season two. Perrin’s eyes turn golden and he can see imprints of things that have happened. He witnesses what occurred in the abandoned village and watches the past when the Shienaran Darkfriend chased down a small child. Elyas uses those abilities as a “sniffer” for hire (this is different from the sniffer in The Wheel of Time books).

Wolfbrothers gain heightened vision and sense of smell, too. In the show, their tastes eventually trend towards raw meat. As we saw with Perrin learning Hopper’s name through a projected image, wolfbrothers can communicate with wolves and each other through a psychic kind of connection focused on images instead of words.

They have other interesting abilities in the books, but let’s wait and see what unfolds in the series to avoid spoilers.

Does Being a Wolfbrother Involve Channeling the One Power?

Being a wolfbrother and using the associated abilities does not involve the One Power or channeling. In fact, it’s believed the condition is older than the One Power, going back before the Age of Legends. Aes Sedai are not entirely convinced that the wolfbrother condition is separate from the One Power. We wouldn’t want to put Perrin or Elyas near a member of the Red Ajah, for example.

Who Are Known Wolfbrothers?

In The Wheel of Time TV series, the known wolfbrothers are Perrin Aybara and Elyas Machera.

The post What Are THE WHEEL OF TIME’s Wolfbrothers? appeared first on Nerdist.

Aes Sedai. The Dragon Reborn. A whole bunch of names with seemingly randomly placed apostrophes. This is The Wheel of Time. Well, it’s scratching the tiniest mark on the surface of The Wheel of Time.

Kicking off in 1990, the high fantasy book series introduced a rich world with complex characters, magic, danger around every corner, and a cyclical battle between light and darkness. Author Robert Jordan loosed this epic story from his mind into our world, though he didn’t get to finish it himself. Jordan passed as he worked on the final installment of the series. Using Jordan’s exhaustive notes and working with his widow Harriet McDougal, Brandon Sanderson picked up the torch and completed that installment with three novels. The final tome arrived in 2013.

With the currently airing Prime Video TV adaptation, you might be looking for a spoiler-free overview of the books to understand the essence of The Wheel of Time. It’s a sprawling world with more intricacies than even Game of Thrones, so we’ll stick to the basics.

How Many Books Are in The Wheel of Time Series?!

Tor/Darrell Sweet

Look, I’m not going to tiptoe around this. The Wheel of Time series includes 14 books, plus one prequel. The paperbacks for the series average 826 pages each. You’re committing to details about meals in taverns, characters with “blunt fingers the sizes of sausages” (you’d be surprised how much this phrase appears), and clothing. I’m for all of that, to be clear, but the worldbuilding does occasionally get in the way of driving the main story arc forward.

The complete list of titles in the series is: The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, Lord of Chaos, A Crown of Swords, The Path of Daggers, Winter’s Heart, Crossroads of Twilight, Knife of Dreams, The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light. The prequel’s titled New Spring.

Do you have to read all of the books to get the plot? Yeah, kinda. Jordan shares pivotal information throughout, but it’s is occasionally buried in meandering. I don’t recommend skipping any of the books, but if you must, you can pass by Crossroads of Twilight and read a summary. If you find yourself feeling like any particular character’s point of view is a slog, you could skim those chapters.

Give Me The Wheel of Time Plot Basics

To frame it in an oversimplified way, The Wheel of Time is a high-stakes story about good vs. evil with a heavy sprinkling of hero’s journey stages and archetypes. It’s a Chosen One tale. The Dark One, a formidable force of evil, wants to influence the universe and twist minds and ultimately make it his world. A character in the book describes him as “the embodiment of paradox and evil, destroyer of reason and logic, breaker of balance, the unmaker of order.”

The Dark One and his many minions contend with our heroes at every turn, sometimes even in the world of dreams. The Dragon, the leader of the Light, is the champion who must face the Dark One. A reincarnation of a single soul, the Dragon has battled the Dark One again and again. The Dragon has allies perhaps equal in number to the Dark One. The Wheel of Time explores the players in this battle, who has been reborn as the Dragon, and what role various lands of the world have. It’s a big place with intricate politics, which leads us to…

What’s the World Like?

The Wheel of Time tells a story that has happened over and over. The first words in the books explain: “The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.”

The Prophecies of the Dragon predict the events of the current Age and indicate who the reincarnation of the Dragon is. If you thought overanalyzing the prophecies in Game of Thrones was a hoot, just you wait. The characters uncover pieces of these prophecies as they progress on their journeys. However, the series hasn’t gotten hugely into the prophecies yet.

And what would a fantastical world like this be without magic? Here, it’s the One Power drawn from something called the True Source; it’s wielded by channelers who have strengths tied to the elements, a.k.a. the Five Powers. They weave the flows of elements sort of like spells. And the One Power is key in Dark One vs. the Dragon business.

Two halves comprise the One Power: the female half called saidar and the male half called saidin. The latter, saidin, is tainted at the time of the story (it didn’t used to be). Male channelers are rare, often going mad if they try to draw the One Power. Many, but not all, female channelers belong to an organization called the Aes Sedai. Most Aes Sedai bond a Warder, kind of like a bodyguard of sorts.

Finally, an important note: The Wheel of Time‘s world doesn’t have a name a la Middle-earth.

Who Are the Main Players in The Wheel of Time?

The Wheel of Time has approximately 100,000 characters. Use the glossaries in the back of the books if you need help keeping track of everyone and how their names are pronounced. Naming the main characters can be subjective, but I’m going to go with the five protagonists who are pulled out of their small village, Emond’s Field, into a world that is positively bananas compared to their previously quiet lives: Rand al’Thor, Egwene al’Vere, Perrin Aybara, Matrim “Mat” Cauthon, and Nynaeve al’Meara. Each character has an arc that sometimes pulls others of this group in and sometimes splits off in a solitary direction. Going from their first appearances to their last… you won’t believe how far they go.

I’d be remiss not to name Moiraine Damodred too. She’s an Aes Sedai looking for the Dragon Reborn. She comes to Emond’s Field with Lan at the same time as the Dark One’s minions do. It’s Moiraine that leads the group out of their home and into the wide world. And that’s the premise of the Prime Video adaptation too: Moiraine takes these youths out into the world and… so, so much happens.

Originally published on August 18, 2021.

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Since the AMPTP isn’t meaningfully negotiating with either the WGA or SAG, the Hollywood strikes continue. The longer the strikes go on—the WGA strike has lasted for over 130 days—the less TV series and other content networks and streaming services have. This could be why Disney+ and ESPN+ have come up with Toy Story Funday Football. The event is a real-time alternative presentation of an NFL game featuring the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. It will follow the action of a live football game, played at London’s Wembley Stadium, but turn the NFL gameplay into Toy Story-themed animation. It’s a lot to process, but this video spells it out.

Both NFL teams will transform into animated Toy Story-style characters and play in the setting of Andy’s room. The players’ moves in Andy’s room will replicate on-the-field gameplay from the stadium in real-time. The tracking technology uses the NFL’s Next Gen Stats player tracking data and Beyond Sports. On one hand, it’s an extension of existing technology NFL uses, and we see its appeal for bringing in younger viewers. On the other hand, this Toy Story football game is making animated versions of actual people, and in a world where AI-generated everything seems geared towards favoring AI to avoid spending as much money on humans, we’re not sure about this concept.

Toy Story characters may not be playing the NFL game itself, but some of them will be cheering on the sidelines. You’ll see Woody, Buzz, Bo Peep, Bullseye, Bunny, Ducky, Forky, Green Aliens, Jesse, Rex, and Slinky Dog. A special halftime show will even feature Toy Story‘s Duke Caboom attempting a motorcycle jump. Who would dare to miss that?

Toy Story Funday Football streams on October 1 at 9:30 a.m. ET on Disney+ and ESPN+.

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Disney Lorcana debuted to huge success in August. Such huge success, in fact, getting hold of The First Chapter has been a challenge. Ravensburger recently announced it would be reprinting chapter one in 2024 to meet demand. That reprint will come after the game’s second set of 200 plus cards. And now we know more about that second set. Ravensburger has revealed details for what’s next for its Disney trading card game. Disney Lorcana: Rise of the Floodborn brings new characters, different starter decks, and the origin of the floodborn glimmers. Here’s how Disney Lorcana will expand.

What Are Disney Lorcana‘s Floodborn?

Glimmers with the floodborn trait are characters whom a mysterious flood of ink transformed. The same flood damaged the Great Illuminary. That caused the game’s six inks (Amber, Amethyst, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, and Steel) to blend and release in a mixed-up, chaotic form. Ravensburger shared in a release, “When storyborn or dreamborn glimmers encountered this mixed ink, they surged with a power that changed them, transforming them into floodborn glimmers. As the magical ink poured out of the Illuminary, treasured lore went with it, including Disney’s King Triton’s powerful trident.”

Disney Lorcana: Rise of the Floodborn New Characters and Cards

Click To View Gallery

Matching The First Chapter, Disney Lorcana: Rise of the Floodborn will have over 200 cards, all with brand-new artwork. We’ll see familiar characters in different ways, but this second Disney Lorcana set will also bring newcomers to the game. Winnie the Pooh and Tiana will both appear for the first time. Additionally, the set will include glimmers from The Jungle Book, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Great Mouse Detective, Pinocchio, Zootopia, and Raya and the Last Dragon.

All the new Disney Lorcana cards are playable with the first set. You can preview 13 of the cards above, and you may notice a different game ability: Resist. The Resist keyword indicates how much additional damage characters may be able to withstand. For example, Resist +2 on a character would mean any damage dealt to them is reduced by 2.

Disney Lorcana: Rise of the Floodborn Starter Decks and Booster Packs

Disney Lorcana: Rise of the Floodborn will include two starter decks featuring different combinations of inks from set one. The pairings this time are Amber and Sapphire and Amethyst and Steel. Starter decks will be priced at $16.99. Booster packs will cost $5.99.

Disney Lorcana: Rise of the Floodborn Illumineer’s Trove and Playmats

The set will also feature a new Illumineer’s Trove and at least two new playmats, one featuring Winnie the Pooh and the other depicting the Beast. As a reminder, the Illumineer’s Trove includes collection storage box, two deck storage boxes, eight booster packs, 15 game tokens, and a player’s guide.

Disney Lorcana: Rise of the Floodborn Release Date

Disney Lorcana: Rise of the Floodborn will release first at local game stores on November 17, followed by mass market retailers on December 1.

Disney Lorcana: Disney100 Edition

For the holidays, Ravensburger will release the Disney Lorcana: Disney100 Edition. Available at local game stores and mass retailers on December 1 for $49.99, the Disney100 Edition comes with six cards. The cards are from The First Chapter and Rise of the Floodborn but feature alternate artwork from Disney animators. Each card features an exclusive Disney100 frame design, a satin holographic foil finish, and a copy of the animator’s signature prominently displayed.

Artists featured include:

• Mickey Mouse – Friendly Face – Mark Henn
• Elsa – Gloves Off – Brittney Lee
• Genie – Powers Unleashed – Eric Goldberg
• Stitch – Abomination – Alex Kupershmidt
• Maleficent – Uninvited – Lorelay Bové
• Maui – Demigod – Bill Schwab

Each Disney100 Edition comes with four Rise of the Floodborn booster packs.

The post Ravensburger Reveals Details for Next DISNEY LORCANA Set appeared first on Nerdist.

Ogres are not known for their fashion, generally speaking. Shrek certainly didn’t make any statements with his grubby tunic and too-small vest. Crocs might change the perception of ogres with an upcoming design, though. These Shrek Crocs, which we first spotted at Hypebeast, bring the grumpy ogre to footwear in a far too lifelike manner. They’re kind of… great. In the style of the Classic Clog and in a hideously perfect slimy green hue, these Shrek Crocs make a statement.

Click To View Gallery

The vibrant color of the Crocs isn’t the only nod to Shrek. The back heel straps are fuzzy and brown, nodding to the character’s brown vest. Shrek’s “S” logo features on the straps. But the real stars of the Shrek Crocs design are the Jibbitz. If you are not a Crocs aficionado, Jibbitz are charms you can attach to Crocs’ signature holes as accessories. Often they are cute. In this case, the Jibbitz add Shrek’s nose and ears, taking the shoes from funky to mildly disturbing. The ears and nose addition truly make the look in our opinion, but if you want less lifelike Shrek Crocs, you can leave the Jibbitz off.

Shrek premiered in 2001. Yes, it really has been that long. Sequels and spinoffs have followed. A fifth Shrek movie is potentially in the works, too. On top of that, Universal announced a DreamWorks-themed land for its Orlando, Florida park. Shrek will surely feature in that. This means you have all the occasions to bust out these Shrek Crocs.

The only bad thing about the Shrek Crocs is that we don’t have a release date yet. We’ll be keeping our eyes on Crocs’ website.

The post We’re Accidentally in Love with These SHREK Crocs appeared first on Nerdist.

At the end of The Wheel of Time season one, Moiraine found a stone fragment from a smashed seal on the ground at the Eye of the World. It shattered when Rand seemingly defeated the Dark One. She calls it cuendillar, or heartstone. As she holds the broken stone, Lan comments that he thought the material couldn’t be scratched, that not even the One Power could break it. The crumbled cuendillar set up a mystery we find Moiraine investigating in The Wheel of Time season two premiere. Here’s context on what cuendillar is and why it’s important with only minor spoilers from the books.

What Is Wheel of Time’s Cuendillar?

Cuendillar, also known as heartstone, is a near-indestructible material. Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends made the material with the One Power, which seems to become stronger whenever someone tries to break it. Contemporary Aes Sedai don’t know how to create cuendillar, so the objects made of cuendillar date back to the time before the Breaking of the World. Because of that, the rare material is valuable. We see this when Bayle Domon tries to sell the heartstone in his possession to Moiraine for a high price.

Why Does Moiraine Care So Much About Broken Cuendillar?

Moiraine lost her connection to the One Power at the Eye of the World. For many channelers, losing the ability to channel has a number of negative effects, including losing the will to live. However it seems Moiraine is pouring her energy into heartstone research to stave off those effects—or some of them, at least. The broken cuendillar seal at the Eye made Moiraine think that Rand didn’t fight the Last Battle with the Dark One, but that instead, it was only the first one.

Since destroying heartstone should be impossible, she’s on a mission to find out why it shattered. The implications could be huge, particularly if no one can repair the cuendillar or identify why it is suddenly vulnerable. The broken cuendillar could relate directly to the return of the Dark One and the Forsaken, his servants.

She’s been researching in a library for months, keeping Lan at arm’s length. Mysterious people visit her, including Bayle Domon. Based on their conversation, Moiraine has been searching for answers and trying to find other pieces of heartstone. Bayle brings her a chunk of cuendillar wrapped in cloth. He tells Moiraine he acquired it outside Cairhien and has had the heartstone for a couple of months.

Cuendillar and the Great Seals

The piece of cuendillar Moiraine picked up at the Eye of the World was from a seal in the floor. In The Wheel of Time books, cuendillar is used to make important objects—the kind you don’t want to break. For example, it was used to forge the Great Seals. Those are cuendillar disks that seal the Dark One’s and the Forsaken’s prisons. One of the Amyrlin Seat’s titles is Watcher of the Seals, and it means the seals on the Dark One’s prison. If those seals are breaking, Moiraine would be desperate to know why and to see if she can keep them whole. We’ll have to see who she chooses to share this knowledge with.

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Critical Role launched its original horror tabletop roleplaying game Candela Obscura in May. The story, set in the Fairelands, centered on an order of investigators solving otherworldly mysteries. To go with the first chapter, Critical Role’s publishing arm, Darrington Press, released a Candela Obscura Quickstart Guide so everyone can get into the world and play. And now might be an excellent time to dig in, because Critical Role just released the trailer for Candela Obscura‘s second chapter, “The Circle of Needle and Thread.” The footage teases an intense story.

The gothic horror will continue later in August. The description for the trailer says:

The fight against the otherworldly evils plaguing The Fairelands shall continue with a new three episode chapter that includes a new circle, a new gamemaster, and a whole new set of magickal foes.

This chapter of Candela Obscura will include investigators Travis Willingham, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Zehra Fazal, Luis Carazo, and Marisha Ray, alongside our Gamemaster and lead designer for Candela Obscura, Spenser Starke. Taliesin Jaffe will also be returning to continue his role as our Lightkeeper.

Candela Obscura‘s second chapter premieres on August 31 at 7pm Pacific on Critical Role’s Twitch and YouTube channels. Select Cinemark theaters in the US will simulcast the show live. The second chapter has three episodes and will air on the last Thursday of the month. The VOD and podcast versions of the episode will be available two weeks after the premiere.

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Decades before Peter Jackson’s live-action The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Ralph Bakshi rendered the epic in striking animation. (Rotoscope is cool, eh?) Now, a new project from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. returns J.R.R. Tolkien’s sprawling story to animated form. And this time, they’re going the way of anime. This trip into Middle-earth will be The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, fostered by filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama. And now, the first voice cast for The Lord of the Rings anime has been revealed, alongside more story details, a look at the concept art for the film, and the movie’s release date. It has even been announced that the story will be narrated by Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Synopsis and Stars

Miranda Otto reprises her role as Éowyn in The War of the Rohirrim. She serves as the movie’s narrator as she tells the tale of Rohan’s history. Alongside Otto, Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, and Luke Pasqualino have been cast as the leads in the Lord of the Rings anime. Cox will voice the protagonist Helm Hammerhand. Wise will voice his daughter Hera. And Pasqualino will voice Wulf, the presumed antagonist.

A press release describes the new film as an exploration of “the untold story behind the fortress of Helm’s Deep.” The material adds that this feature will “delv[e] into the life and bloodsoaked times of one of Middle-earth’s most legendary figures; the mighty King of Rohan – Helm Hammerhand.” And Deadline further shares that this Lord of the Rings anime will take place 183 before the events revealed in The Lord of the Rings movies.

Deadline‘s article also reveals more of The War of the Rohirrim‘s plot. It notes that “A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg – a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Hera, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.”

Concept Art From The Lord of the Rings Anime Movie

The below concept art by Weta Workshop certainly hints at those bloodsoaked times. That Oliphaunt doesn’t look like it’s there for a good cuddle.

Helm, the ninth king of Rohan, was famously defeated—but not killed—at the Crossings of Isen. However, he would survive for just another year, following a lengthy siege alongside his brother. Despite his defeat, Helm maintained a ferocious reputation; he was even thought to live on in some form following official decree of his death.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Director and Other Cast

The War of Rohirrim‘s director, Kamiyama, has been imbuing the anime world with color and story since the 1980s. Among his most noteworthy credits, we find several Ghost in the Shell series, as well as the 2019 Ultraman show.

Additional cast for the movie include Lorraine Ashbourne, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna, and Janine Duvitski.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Release Date

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will debut in theaters on December 13, 2024. At present, Warner Bros. touts Rohirrim as a stand-alone story; as such, we shouldn’t necessarily expect a trilogy born of this project. But given that The Hobbit was originally only supposed to be one film, we might not wish to count anything out, either.

Originally published June 10, 2021 with reporting from M. Arbeiter.

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The Wheel of Time‘s second season arrives on Prime Video soon. An adaptation of Robert Jordan’s sprawling fantasy book series of the same name, The Wheel of Time comes with a stack of important characters, locations, and terms. If you’ve read the books, or even only the first book, The Eye of the World, you know what you’re in for. But if you don’t know the books and want to feel more prepared for season two of the series, you might want more information. Though we know you can figure out relationships and basics from context, we’re here with a spoiler-free guide to The Wheel of Time‘s main characters.

Rather than one or two main characters, The Wheel of Time has an ensemble cast. That core group waxes and wanes over the books, and season two will add at least a few key players.

Moiraine Damodred

Moiraine is to The Wheel of Time what Gandalf is to The Lord of the Rings. A powerful Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, Moiraine has been on a quest to find the Dragon Reborn. She follows a prophecy about this reincarnated figure from an Aes Sedai sister and wants to find him or her before the Dark One can. Moiraine is a reserved guide figure overflowing with quiet wisdom and strong talent for the One Power. She’s kind of intimidating to the youths she brings into her journey. But Moiraine always has the greater good at heart.

Played by: Rosamund Pike

Lan al’Mandragoran

A Warder to Moiraine, Lan is so much more than meets the eye. Stoic and often serious, Lan is bonded to Moiraine; he protects her and fights by her side. His skills with a sword help save the day more than once. Lan shows loyalty to his traveling companions and values anything and anyone Moiraine deems important. Their bond isn’t romantic, though that is the case with some Aes Sedai and their Warders, but it is far greater than friendship.

Lan’s past is mysterious… until it’s not. We’ll leave it at that.

Played by: Daniel Henney

Nynaeve al’Meara

Moiraine’s quest takes her to the Two Rivers, specifically the village of Emond’s Field. However, it seems like the TV series only references the Two Rivers. There she finds Nynaeve, Egwene, Perrin, Rand, and Mat. Moiraine thinks one of these youths could be the Dragon Reborn, though Nynaeve is a few years too old to fit the prophecy.

Nynaeve is the village’s Wisdom and a leader despite her young age. As such, she looks after her home and its citizens with ferocity. She can predict the weather, a valuable skill in a farming community, and heal sickness and injuries. Others look to Nynaeve for assistance and direction in times of need. Egwene in particular admires Nynaeve.

Played by: Zoë Robins

Egwene al’Vere

Seemingly a ta’veren (in the TV series) who shows promise as a potential apprentice to Nynaeve, Egwene is strong-willed and determined. We think she might be a ta’veren because Moiraine considers her a candidate to be the Dragon Reborn. She’s the innkeeper’s daughter too, so she knows all the comings and goings since The Winespring Inn is the village’s only such establishment. Of the group, Egwene may be the only one who’s okay with having to suddenly leave home with Moiraine. She wants to see more of the world, and while she won’t accept her fate if it doesn’t align with what she wants, she’s more… flexible than the others.

Played by: Madeleine Madden

Perrin Aybara

An apprentice to the village blacksmith, Perrin is constantly moving and thinking deliberately. He kind of has the temperament of an Ent, and that’s a compliment. Taller and burlier than his friends, Perrin is mindful of not abusing his strength. He constantly worries about accidentally hurting others. Averse to violence and conflict, Perrin’s gentle and honestly, just too pure to get swept up into Moiraine’s mess. But he’s also a ta’veren, someone who can affect the Wheel’s Pattern.

Played by: Marcus Rutherford

Rand al’Thor

Another ta’veren (yes, it is highly unusual to find more than a single ta’veren in the same out of the way village), Rand is the son of a farmer. He adores his father Tam, who seems to be a good single dad aside from keeping some important secrets from his son. When Rand’s not helping on the farm, which is a little outside of Emond’s Field, he spends time with Egwene. He likes his home and has a vision of staying in Two Rivers always and raising a family of his own.

Reader: as you might guess, that’s not in the cards anytime soon.

Played by: Josha Stradowski

Mat Cauthon

Part of the best bud trio with Rand and Perrin, Mat is more devil-may-care than either of his more responsible friends. Always ready to throw dice or pull a prank on some unsuspecting person, he gets himself into trouble all the time. Truly, all the time. Real Pippin from The Lord of the Rings vibes here. He’s curious and not at all worried about consequences. Also a ta’veren, Mat is not really about leaving home either. As you can imagine, Moiraine has a great time trying to keep Mat in one piece.

Played by: Barney Harris (season one), Dónal Finn (season two)

Thom Merrilin

A talented gleeman, essentially this world’s version of a fancy bard, Thom Merrilin is the living definition of someone who knows the ways of the world. He’s well-traveled, having performed as a gleeman in common rooms across the land, even playing in the odd royal court. Thom serves as a mentor to the Emond’s Field youths in the books, offering his guidance and his skill with throwing knives in moments of danger.

Played by: Alexandre Willaume

Loial

First of all, you need to know Loial is the best. A long-lived non-human being called an Ogier, Loial is a spritely young Ogier in his 80s-90s. He’s a scholar who constantly has his nose in a book. Even while he’s riding a horse. When Loial runs into Moiraine and her companions, he’s intrigued by their ta’veren status and knack for constantly finding adventure—usually dangerous adventure. Loial provides stalwart and true friendship and multiple books worth of knowledge to the group.

Played by: Hammed Animashaun

Elmindreda “Min” Farshaw

Min appeared towards the end of season one of The Wheel of Time as a bartender in Fal Dara. She can’t channel like an Aes Sedai but she does see visions of the Pattern. Min tries to keep her ability hidden. This is a world that doesn’t take super kindly to the One Power, let alone someone mysteriously being able to see the future. Her gift presents as images around the person who said images are about.

She’s moved around a lot during her life, trying different professions while keeping her ability under wraps. Though she’s only had a passing encounter with Rand and company in Fal Dara so far, she will find herself entangled with the him, the Aes Sedai—all of it. Even if she’s not thrilled about it.

Played by: Kae Alexander

Elayne Trakand

Daughter-heir of Andor, Elayne Trakand is a noble and she knows it. Growing up in the palace, Elayne has a different background than everyone from the Two Rivers. Given her perspective and the close connection the throne of Andor has to the White Tower, Elayne comes in as a power player. On top of that, she can wield the One Power to an impressive degree.

When Elayne crosses paths with the Two Rivers folks, which will play out differently than how it did in the books, she… makes an impression.

Played by: Ceara Coveney

Aviendha

Aviendha is one of the Aiel. Season one showed the Aiel briefly in the flashback of Rand’s birth on Dragonmount. They live in the Three-fold Land, a desert region separate from the rest of the world (which doesn’t have an in-universe name) and don’t often venture across the Spine of the World. But the news of the Dragon Reborn changes things. Aviendha, a powerful channeler, plays a huge role in meshing together the spheres of the Aiel and the rest of the world. She does so all while navigating her own challenging path.

Played by: Ayoola Smart

Liandrin

Liandrin is an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah. In season one, she put her nose in Moiraine’s business whenever possible, taking great interest in the youths from the Two Rivers. Her focus, and her Ajah’s, is capturing and gentling men who can channel. She is merciless when it comes to achieving the goals of her Ajah, yet she has a secret that Moiraine exploits.

Played by: Kate Fleetwood

The Wheel of Time season two premieres on Prime Video on September 1, 2023.

Originally published on November 9, 2021.

The post A Guide to THE WHEEL OF TIME’s Main Characters appeared first on Nerdist.

Many Star Wars stories center on the Force and the Jedi who wield it. A master teaches an apprentice. Then that apprentice grows and learns and eventually becomes a master, continuing the cycle. A new behind-the-scenes featurette for Ahsoka emphasizes that legacy. It looks at the teachers and students we’ve known over the years. Qui-Gon Jinn trained Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan taught Anakin Skywalker, and Anakin was Ahsoka Tano’s master. In the upcoming Star Wars live-action series, Ahsoka is Sabine’s teacher. The below video explores Ahsoka’s origins in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and her journey to live-action. Series executive producer Dave Filoni says, “I’m telling this story about this mentor-student relationship that passes from Anakin to Ahsoka to Sabine.”

We’ve seen in trailers for Ahsoka that Sabine wields Ezra Bridger’s lightsaber. Kanan Jarrus trained her to use the Darksaber, so she’s not unfamiliar with the weapon. Ahsoka goes to Lothal to ask for Sabine’s help in the search for Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra. Sabine references that Ahsoka never made things easy for her and calls Ahsoka “master.” It makes us wonder what happened with Ahsoka and Sabine between the ending of Star Wars Rebels and Ahsoka. Has Ahsoka been training Sabine in the ways of the Jedi? Will the series explore what it’s like to be a Jedi without the ability to use the Force? Perhaps Sabine is Force-sensitive. We’ll get answers when the Star Wars series premieres, of course, but this featurette has us eager to know how the Ahsoka and Sabine master and apprentice relationship continues that particular Star Wars legacy.

The Ahsoka featurette also talks about a different mentor-student pair: George Lucas and Dave Filoni. It shows how Lucas worked with Filoni to develop Ahsoka as Anakin’s Padawan and then later visited the set while Filoni directed Ahsoka the character in live-action. The footage shows how Rosario Dawson brings Ahsoka to the screen in a way that honors all the animated appearances, in which Ashley Eckstein voiced the character, that came before.

Ahsoka premieres its first two episodes on Disney+ on August 23.

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It may be a minute until season four of The Mandalorian arrives, but you don’t have to wait too long for new stories about Din Djarin and Grogu. A new Star Wars book will put the duo into an adorable and fun cartoonish setting from Jeffrey Brown, known for Darth Vader and Son and Vader’s Little Princess. The Mandalorian and the Child brings Brown’s aesthetic to Din and Grogu, showing vignettes of their family life.

The cover alone makes us want to see this scene on-screen. No, it wouldn’t make sense for Din to have a bubble machine built into his weaponry. But what if he did? Other pages from the book promise more hijinks for Grogu, too. The little guy has charmed a number of beings during his adventures with Mando. We see Ahsoka and IG-11 in the below art, both sharing precious moments with the baby.

A press release from Chronicle Books says the book will also include Luke Skywalker, Peli Motto, Moff Gideon, Bo-Katan, and the Armorer. The synopsis is as follows:

Fans of the acclaimed, hit television show will be excited to see Brown’s colorfully funny, all-ages style terse Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin, with the adorable Grogu in tow, complementing the show’s gritty milieu while highlighting the found family sweetness at the heart of the story. Whether he is keeping Grogu from fussing with the controls of the Razor Crest or stopping him from using the Force to steal extra snacks, Mando’s lessons as a caretaker will be instantly fun and recognizable to all families.

The Mandalorian and Child arrives on November 7. You can place a pre-order now.

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The ’80s brought the world many gifts: incredible films, iconic fashion, and McDonald’s Halloween buckets. Nicknamed Boo Buckets, the first McDonald’s Halloween trick-or-treat pails arrived in 1986. The white, green, and orange plastic pails have a place in the annals of nostalgia. Boo Bucket enthusiasts got a treat last year when McDonald’s rereleased the buckets. This time around, though, fans will get the buckets in another form: bags. Loungefly has teamed with McDonald’s to make crossbody bags that look like the iconic trick-or-treat buckets.

Loungefly’s McDonald’s Halloween bags come in two colors, green and orange. If you didn’t know, the different Boo Buckets have names. So, the green bag is McGoblin and the orange bag is McPunk’n. These figural bags open from the top just like buckets. They’re made of vegan leather with applique and printed details. On top of looking absolutely adorable, both styles of the McDonald’s Halloween trick-or-treat bucket bags glow in the dark.

While a number of people have turned their plastic Boo Buckets into makeshift purses, these designs come with more comfort. These bags come lined with a print featuring the original Halloween pail trio. Yes, that means it is too nice and cute to put greasy fries or any other McDonald’s food in. Do not use it as a Happy Meal container. Since McGoblin costs $65 and McPunk’n costs $70, you’re probably likely to respect the trick-or-treat bucket bag. That said, you could use them to stash individually wrapped candies.

Both styles of bags will be available to order on Loungefly’s site soon.

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Disney Parks opened Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser in March 2022. It’s an immersive overnight experience that brings guests into the Star Wars galaxy. The two-night “cruise” aboard the Halcyon, a luxury liner, was an expensive outing, with prices for two starting at $4,800. In May 2023, Disney announced the closure of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, though the company didn’t specify why. It’s hard not to imagine the costs for both the company and the guests playing roles. And during Disney’s Q3 2023 earnings call, we learned just how much the closure will cost Disney.

In news we first saw at The Orange County Register, Disney will take a loss in the form of “accelerated depreciation” on the Star Wars hotel. Disney’s interim CFO Kevin Lansberry said, in not as many words, it will cost Disney $250 million to close Galactic Starcruiser. The hotel has been open for less than two years of operation. That loss contributes to less than stellar financial results from Walt Disney World and Disney theme parks overall for the quarter.

To put that number in an even starker light, Numlock breaks that down to a $2.5 million writeoff per room in Galactic Starcruiser. (It has 100 cabins.) Given the hit the company is taking to close the hotel, you have to wonder about Disney’s profit projections for it had it remained open.

The last Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser “voyage” departs on September 30. Disney has not yet said what they plan to do with the large and soon-to-be vacant building. Disney chairman of Disney parks, experiences and products Josh D’Amaro said in an interview “something will happen” with the building. It’s not possible for that statement to be more vague, but at least the building won’t sit empty forever. With its proximity to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, maybe they could still use it as a Star Wars experience.

The Disney earnings call also brought the announcement of increased pricing for Disney+ and Hulu.

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On an earnings call Wednesday afternoon, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced price increases for Disney+ and Hulu. The ad-free plans for each service will go up over 25% per month. And that’s not the only measure the company is planning to take to drive profit for Disney+. In news we first saw at IGN, the streamer will follow in Netflix’s footsteps. Disney will start cracking down on password sharing in 2024. Netflix’s own efforts from earlier this year brought the streaming service six million new subscribers, so it’s not a surprise to see Disney+ copying the move.

Iger said on the earnings call, “We are actively exploring ways to address account sharing and the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family. Later this year, we will begin to update our subscriber agreements with additional terms and our sharing policies. And we will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024.”

The CEO called it a priority while also stating he doesn’t know that it will meaningfully contribute to growth. To that point, Netflix has been established as a streaming service since 2007. Disney+, however, launched in 2019. The Disney service doesn’t have close to the same number of subscribers as Netflix. It doesn’t have as much to gain. But hey, maybe Disney+ is applying this tactic in order to gain more profit that they will then use to pay striking writers and actors fair residuals. After all, the streaming service wouldn’t exist without the content writers and actors create.

Netflix’s advance against password sharing started with notifications to existing customers. Eventually if a user outside of the household tried to log-in into a shared account, Netflix forced the option of creating a new account. Iger’s comments mentions Disney looking at the best options for paying subscribers to share that accounts, but we have a hunch the best one will be no sharing outside of a household.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse made an impact when it arrived in theaters in June. It shook up the box office while continuing the striking storytelling and animation from Into the Spider-Verse (at a cost, however, because animators alleged harsh working conditions). The film explores the next chapter of Miles Morales’ story, which stretches across the multiverse. While it’s still about Miles, Across the Spider-Verse focuses on Gwen Stacy as well. You can watch the first 10 minutes of Across the Spider-Verse below—10 minutes that follow Spider-Gwen.

This preview comes with the home release of Across the Spider-Verse and sets the stage for the emotion ahead. Like Miles, or any of the Spider-Mans we meet in comics, Gwen wrestles with her dual identity. She goes through life as Gwen Stacy but also as Spider-Gwen. Her father is a cop who disregards masked vigilantes. Gwen’s life unfolds on separate paths. And like any version of Spider-Man, Gwen loses someone close to her: her best friend Peter Parker. Then her dad blames the “Spider-Woman” for Peter’s death. These opening scenes of Across the Spider-Verse depict the loss in Gwen’s recent past and how she’s struggled since.

Did we mention Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a very emotional movie? We can’t wait to see what happens next in the third installment, Beyond the Spider-Verse. Though originally slated for March 2024, Sony removed the film from its release calendar. We’ll likely see a new release date when AMPTP steps up to pay striking actors and writers fairly.

In the meantime, you don’t have to stop watching after these gorgeous 10 minutes. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is available to buy on digital.

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The Barbie movie has unforgettable fashion. Costume designer Jacqueline Durran drew inspiration from Mattel’s history with Barbie and Ken, but she also created new and memorable looks for all the characters. Ken in particular gets some truly excellent ensembles. Ryan Gosling’s Ken shines in pink, denim, fringe—you name it. Every fabric in every hue is his friend. But all the Kens have a standout outfit moment. Mattel is highlighting some of the best looks with Barbie movie Ken dolls. The toy company has had most of these Ken dolls listed already, but they recently added Ken’s fringed cowboy look.

This outfit, complete with a hat and boots, sets Ken on the path to patriarchy. Incidentally, said patriarchy does not include horses. When Ken picks out and steals this outfit in the real world with Barbie, he definitely didn’t realize it was going to change his life and help him figure out his purpose.

In case you missed some of the other Ken dolls, there’s Simu Liu’s Ken in the white and gold tracksuit. It’s made for comfort and big dance numbers.

Don’t forget Ken’s denim-on-denim outfit. Pairing denim with more denim works best if the top is actually an open vest. That breaks things up nicely. Please note the detail of the briefs, just like the outfit in the movie.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House style. It’s big and bold. It’s a choice. Between the fur coat and the large, sparkling horse medallion, we’re not sure how Barbie resisted. Is he really just Ken? (He is).

When it comes to dressing like Ken IRL, don’t forget you can preorder a “I am Kenough” hoodie.

These Ken dolls are currently out of stock, but keep an eye on Mattel’s store to see if they come back. The dolls start at $50.

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You never know who, or what, you’ll meet in Exandria. Maybe a fearsome creature. Perhaps a shady noble. Or if you’re lucky, the Shadow Baker. The Critical Role elf pastry baker, whose name is actually Ephred, is wildly charismatic and smells of baked goods. He keeps a number of pastry options tucked away in the inner pockets of his cloak. Give this strong connection to food, it was probably a given that Exquisite Exandria: The Official Cookbook of Critical Role would include a Shadow Baker recipe. We have an exclusive peek at the Shadow Baker’s pocket muffins and blackberry compound butter. We’re drooling.

Introduced in Critical Role‘s third campaign, the Shadow Baker is an NPC voiced by Matthew Mercer. This recipe is just one of 60 from the book. The Official Cookbook of Critical Role is written by Liz Marsham with recipes by Jesse Szewczyk, Susan Vu, and Amanda Yee, and a foreword by Quyen Tran and Sam Riegel. In its pages you’ll find food and drinks from across Exandria.

Muffins of the Shadow Baker

The Lantern Spire is the first stop for many visitors to Jrusar, being the only way into the city on foot. Once there, you’ll find crowded streets winding up and around the spire toward the ever-burning light of the Prakash Pyre that gives the spire its name. If you ignore those streets, though, and find a way inside the spire, you could find yourself at the Elder’s Post grey market.* If you are lucky, you might come across Ephred, the master pastry chef known as the Shadow Baker. And if you are very lucky, the pockets of his cloak might still contain some delightful treats to buy.

Few among us are so lucky,** so we have attempted to re-create two of the Shadow Baker’s muffins for the home cook. Beginning with the same batter, they then diverge into savory and sweet options. The savory muffin has sausage and potato, while the sweet is topped with cinnamon sugar crumble and served with the Shadow Baker’s signature blackberry citrus butter.

*You could also find yourself extremely disoriented or extremely robbed. Proceed with caution.

**But if you are, please say hi for us! We are big Shadow Baker fans here at Exquisite Exandria.

Shadow Baker’s Pocket Muffins

MAKES 24 MUFFINS
PREP TIME: 40 minutes
COOK TIME: 25 minutes

Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Streusel Topping
½ cup / 70g flour
½ cup (1 stick) / 113g cold unsalted butter, grated
¼ cup / 50g packed light brown sugar
¼ cup / 50g granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Corn Muffin Batter
1 cup / 140g all-purpose flour
1 cup / 140g fine-grain cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup / 240ml buttermilk
2 eggs
½ cup (1 stick) / 113g unsalted butter, melted
⅓ cup / 65g granulated sugar

Savory Breakfast Muffins
4 ounces / 115g breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled
8 small purple potatoes, small diced and parboiled (see Note)
1 cup / 128g shredded Cheddar cheese
Blackberry Compound Butter (recipe follows), for serving

Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C and line two twelve-cup muffin pans with muffin liners.

To make the cinnamon and brown sugar streusel topping: In a medium bowl, add the flour, grated butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. Using your hands, scrunch the ingredients together until crumbles form. Do not scrunch too long, or the butter will melt. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the corn muffin batter: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, and granulated sugar until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and stir until a thick batter forms.

Scoop half of the batter evenly into 12 of the muffin liners and top with the streusel.

To make the Savory Breakfast Muffins: Mix the sausage, potatoes, and ½ cup of the shredded cheese into the remaining corn batter and scoop into the remaining 12 muffin liners. Top these savory muffins with the remaining ½ cup of shredded cheese.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the batter is completely cooked and the cheese is brown and bubbly around the edges of the savory muffins. Serve the muffins with the Blackberry Compound Butter alongside.

NOTE: To parboil potatoes, boil them in salted water until they are no longer crunchy, but still a bit firm in the center, 5 to 6 minutes.

Blackberry Compound Butter
MAKES ½ CUP
½ cup (1 stick) / 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons blackberry jam
Zest of 1 small orange

To make the blackberry compound butter: While the muffins are cooking, add the butter, blackberry jam, and orange zest to a small bowl. Using an electric or handheld mixer, mix on low until well incorporated and the butter takes on a purplish hue, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a small serving dish and serve with the streusel muffins.

Reprinted from Exquisite Exandria: The Official Cookbook of Critical Role. © 2023 by Gilmore’s Glorious Goods LLC. Published by Random House Worlds, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Illustration by Adrián Ibarra Lugo.

Exquisite Exandria: The Official Cookbook of Critical Role arrives on shelves on August 29. You can place a preorder now.

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Author Andrzej Sapkowski published the last book in The Witcher world 2013 with Season of Storms. That book was a standalone prequel of sorts set between The Witcher short stories and The Last Wish and told the story of one of Geralt’s monster-hunting contracts that went wrong. To be fair, most of his contracts seem to go wrong in one way or another. Anyway, it turns out Season of Storms is not the end of Sapkowski’s writings in the Continent. Sapkowski said in a livestream with Fantastic Talks that he’s been working on a new Witcher book “quite diligently.” He said that finishing the book should take him around a year, but no longer.

We first saw this news at Polygon (with translation from Redanian Intelligence). Sapkowski has said more than once the main Witcher series ended with The Lady of the Lake (published in 1999). He won’t write additional books about those events after the series’ conclusion. Then Season of Storms came in 2013. We heard in 2020 that the author had plans for a new Witcher, but this has been the most concrete update since.

Given what Sapkowski has said about the main Witcher series being done, we don’t expect a continuation of that story. The Lady of the Lake wraps Ciri’s story, with the character jumping to the world of Camelot. Yes, that Camelot. Given that, Sapkowski likely will leave the series as is. Perhaps we’ll get another short story collection or another standalone tale about one of Geralt’s many adventures.

If Sapkowski’s new Witcher book does publish in 2024 or 2025, we hope the English translation won’t take too long to follow. It’s kind of fitting to have this new Witcher novel on the horizon as Netflix is on the precipice of a major change in its adaptation. Season three of the series recently ended, and season four will see Liam Hemsworth take the place of Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia.

The post THE WITCHER Is Getting a New Novel appeared first on Nerdist.

We love Groot. We especially love when Groot dances. Luckily each Guardians of the Galaxy movie has given us a wonderful scene of Groot letting go. Writer and director James Gunn has provided the motion capture performance for Groot dancing in the past, and that tradition continued with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In an interview with The New York Times in May, Gunn said he once again performed motion capture for Groot dancing at the end of the film. Thanks to the below VFX breakdown (spotted on Polygon) from Framestore we get to see Gunn doing those sweet Groot moves.

At the end of the emotional movie, our heroes let loose on Knowhere and dance to Florence + the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over.” It’s this beautiful scene of release after an intense journey—you just kind of sink into it. You’re dancing in your heart with all of them. And from what Gunn said about filming, it sounds like that part was equally impactful. He told the Times:

Yeah, and it was a high point in my life, really. My brother Sean is dancing for Rocket, and in the moment we were shooting the wide shot and dancing toward each other, it was surreal and beautiful and wonderful. We’ve been goofing around and playing with Fisher-Price characters since we were kids in our parents’ basement, and now we’re on the biggest set I’ve ever been on with gigantic Tinker Toys instead of smaller ones, but with that same purity and imagination we had as kids. Everybody was crying as it was happening. It was a really powerful moment.

James and Sean Gunn both dancing their hearts out as the Guardians trilogy comes to end? My heart cannot. When we talked to Sean Gunn in May, he described that moment as the culmination of everything. “That was very emotional for me, but it was also very cathartic, because it wasn’t some heart-wrenching stuff. We had already gone through the ringer with Rocket’s story, and digging in—we’d already done the digging. So in that moment at the end he’s really just letting loose, and I was able to do the same thing. It’s pretty cool,” he said.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is streaming on Disney+ now. Have tissues at the ready.

Originally published on May 12, 2023.

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Ahsoka Tano has been making waves in the Star Wars galaxy since her first appearance in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie. The young Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka changed what we thought we knew about the character. As she grew up, learned from Anakin, taught Anakin, became a Jedi in a time of war, left the Jedi, helped the Rebellion—she’s stayed busy. With Star Wars: Ahsoka on the horizon, we looked back at a timeline of Ahsoka’s most important Star Wars moments and the many ways she’s impacted the galaxy.

Tales of the Jedi

Ahsoka Is Born

36 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin)

Pav-Ti and Nak-il Tano welcome a baby, Ahsoka, on the Togruta homeworld of Shili. She shows Force abilities at a young age during a ritual hunt, during which she befriends a massive sabertooth-like beast.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Plo Koon Discovers Ahsoka

33 BBY

Jedi Master Plo Koon discovers a three-year-old Ahsoka on Shili. He can tell she is sensitive to the Force and takes Ahsoka to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Ahsoka Becomes Anakin’s Padawan

22 BBY

The Clone Wars begin while Ahsoka is a Padawan. Yoda assigns her to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker months after the war begins. Ahsoka reports to her new master at the Battle of Christophsis, though Anakin isn’t thrilled about having a Padawan. He starts her training immediately, noting her reckless tendencies.

Ahsoka Dies on Mortis

21 BBY

Ahsoka travels the galaxy with Anakin, and often Obi-Wan Kenobi, fighting in skirmishes against the Separatists. On their way to rendezvous with Captain Rex, they inadvertently travel to Mortis. The mysterious realm is a vergence of the Force with avatars of the dark side and light side of the Force in the former of the Son and the Daughter. Their Father represents balance. Here, Ahsoka dies at the hands of the Son, but the Daughter sacrifices herself to bring Ahsoka back to life.

Ahsoka Teaches Saw Gerrera and the Onderon Rebels

20 BBY

Constantly forced to walk political lines, Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan travel to Onderon to teach the rebels how to fight occupying Separatists without outright helping them. Here, Ahsoka meets the Onderon rebels’ leader Steela Gerrera and her brother Saw Gerrera. Saw later goes on to employ the guerrilla tactics he learns from Ahsoka as a Partisan fighting against the Empire.

Ahsoka Leaves the Jedi Order

19 BBY

As the Clone Wars near their end, a bombing occurs at the Jedi Temple. The person responsible, the Jedi Barriss Offee, frames Ahsoka; the Jedi Council and a Republic court fall for it. They imprison Ahsoka and the Jedi expel her from the Order. Eventually she proves her innocence and the Jedi pardon her and invite her back to the Order, calling what they had done a “trial.” The incident gives Ahsoka perspective, and she decides to walk away from her life as a Jedi.

Ahsoka Leads the Siege of Mandalore

19 BBY

Just when she think she’s out… a series of events lead Ahsoka back to Mandalore, specifically to help Bo-Katan Kryze and her Nite Owls remove Maul from the position of power he has claimed. She reunites with Anakin, who gives her back her lightsabers, before leading the clone troopers (a more pressing issue pulls Obi-Wan and Anakin away) to Mandalore. Ahsoka and her allies eventually capture Maul, but very soon after, Chancellor Palpatine issues Order 66. In the ensuing chaos, Ahsoka helps Captain Rex remove his inhibitor chip and Maul escapes.

Ahsoka fakes her death and goes into hiding.

Tales of the Jedi and Ahsoka novel

Ahsoka Leaves Hiding and Helps Bail Organa

Approximately 18 BBY

Ahsoka stays off the radar in the wake of Order 66, limiting her use of the Force. But it’s Ahsoka. She helps others; it’s what she does. Her activities put her on Senator Bail Organa’s radar. He put Ahsoka’s skills to use in his burgeoning, secret rebellion against the Empire.

Star Wars Rebels

Ahsoka Reveals Herself as Fulcrum and Reunites with Captain Rex

4 BBY

In her work for Bail, Ahsoka operates in the shadows and goes by the codename Fulcrum. She organizes missions for the Spectres and eventually reveals herself to the Ghost crew. Through openly working within the Rebellion, Ahsoka soon reunites with Captain Rex.

Ahsoka Fights Darth Vader on Malachor

3 BBY

Darth Vader confronts Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger after his Grand Inquisitor fails to capture them, and this leads his path to cross Ahsoka’s. She forms suspicions about Vader’s true identity and confronts her former master on Malachor. Ahsoka initially displays anger towards the Sith Lord but eventually her compassion shines through. They duel with Vader nearly killing Ahsoka but…

Ezra Saves Ahsoka from the World Between Worlds

1 BBY

Ezra gains access to the World Between Worlds and sees many moments in time while there. Morai, Ahsoka’s convor companion who is reminiscent of the Daughter who once resurrected Ahsoka, draws Ezra’s attention to a portal. The portal shows Darth Vader and Ahsoka in their duel on Malachor; Vader is about to deliver a lethal blow to Ahsoka when Ezra pulls her through the portal, saving her life.

The Mandalorian

Ahsoka Meets Grogu

9 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin)

Din Djarin finds Ahsoka thanks to a tip from Bo-Katan. She is on the planet Corvus, looking for information about Grand Admiral Thrawn, who disappeared along with Ezra. Din presents his foundling to Ahsoka, looking for help, and she discovers the child’s name: Grogu. She advises Din to take Grogu to the seeing stone on Tython.

The Book of Boba Fett

Ahsoka Visits Luke’s Jedi Temple

Approximately 9 ABY

Ahsoka is with Grogu the next time we see her. She is visiting the youngling on Ossus, where Luke Skywalker is building his new Jedi temple. Ahsoka departs and tells Luke she might see him again one day.

The Rise of Skywalker

Rey Hears Ahsoka’s Voice

35 ABY

Many years later, Rey Skywalker calls upon the Jedi to help her as she fits Darth Sidious. Among the voices of departed Jedi, Rey hears Ahsoka.

Ahsoka will undoubtedly add more important moments. The show premieres on Disney+ on August 23.

The post A Timeline of Ahsoka Tano’s Most Important STAR WARS Moments appeared first on Nerdist.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds shimmied and crooned into a new world indeed with its latest episode. Titled “Subspace Rhapsody,” the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical episode took the crew to new notes as a subspace fold ripple has an unusual effect. It causes the crew members to uncontrollably sing their feelings, often with dancing. “I thought it was a joke,” choreographer Roberto Campanella tells Nerdist. “It took me so many conversations to understand that they were going to do a musical. It was the whole thing. They kept saying, ‘Listen, this was never done before. It’s the whole episode.’ I felt the pressure.”

It’s true that when you think of Star Trek, musical doesn’t immediately jump to mind. However, the idea has been in the works for a while. Cinematographer Benji Bakshi (who Nerdist spoke to separately from Campanella) says the discussions about the musical started when he was interviewing for the series. Bakshi, a cellist whose family has strong connections to music, brought his musical sensibility to filmmaking by using the camera as an instrument. “As early as we could, we were chewing on what the concept would be. One of the exciting things about it was I thought, ‘Oh, musical. You’re just going to go off the rails and have everybody sing instead of talk.’ But it wasn’t that. It was this really interesting, scientifically motivated plot-based phenomenon that caused them to sing instead of talk when the emotions reached a certain point.”

With songs from Tom Polce and Kay Hanley and a script from Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff, Campanella and Bakshi worked closely with the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical episode’s director, Dermott Downs. Campanella shares he read the script for episode eight before getting into “Subspace Rhapsody,” because he wanted to know where the characters were coming from. They held a number of meetings to discuss the emotional narrative, but ultimately, Campanella put his trust in the cast. “Now, the cast, as always, they know better than anybody else,” Campanella says, “If you detour, if they’re not too sure about it, then they talk to you. I knew that I was in good hands. There was that mutual trust that really helped keep an eye on where we were going and to make sure the progression didn’t peak too quickly.”

At first, the crew of the Enterprise is hesitant, confused. They ask, “Why are we singing?” Feelings they would not have otherwise shared make themselves known in verse. Bakshi notes each song lent itself to a different tone and dynamic. He says, “They’re all channeled by certain emotions, which is typical of musical numbers. You’re living in the moment of an emotion and using the song to process it.”

For example, La’an’s intensely personal “How Would That Feel” is the quietest of the episode, and as such, was filmed that way. “La’an’s song was this deeply internal struggle,” Bakshi explains, “She goes alone in her room, and we thought the lighting should be moody. This is a dramatic internal piece. She’s literally arguing with herself over, ‘Can I change as a person? Can I open up and not be this way? Why am I this way?’ Then she has a dream sequence of what it could be with Kirk, and she awakes into the idea of, ‘No, I can’t do that. I’m stuck in my ways.’ It’s an almost tragic wrestle. That needed to be a womb-like presentation.”

Campanella notes “How Would That Feel” was his favorite number in the musical episode. “Just that emotional power that she was able to express, but with everything and just standing there doing nothing,” he says. Campanella’s second favorite song was Nurse Chapel’s “I’m Ready.” It’s big, loud, and joyful. Chapel celebrates good news in the lounge with a confident song and dance number. She’s ready to move on into her next role, and everybody’s part of the moment except Spock.

“That is her character. ‘I want to be experiencing the world and I’m ready to be free. I’m ready to come out,'” Bakshi says, “We needed to capture that energy. We did flashing lights and moving the camera around and all the dancing. We planned pretty intricately on this overhead shot where she’s spinning at the camera floating and crowd-surfing.”

Campanella emphasizes that the cast all devoted as much time as they could outside their regular shooting schedule to learn their dances. He did rehearsals with dancers and then the actors would come to see the dancers, give their notes, and learn before starting their own rehearsals. Bakshi would pop his head in and they would both talk with the director to determine the dynamics and the best way to adjust it for capturing—including that epic Klingon boy band scene.

As the Enterprise crew joins their voices to stop the subspace fold’s influence, they hail the approaching Klingons. The Klingons have come to destroy the fold, which would have disastrous consequences. They appear on the Enterprise‘s viewscreen, which means we as viewers have a limited angle. But the crew rigged the captain’s chair on a track to slide back. “That became the mechanism to widen the shot and turn it into choreography. There was that aspect of it,” Bakshi says. “Then it was the writers, and I believe Nami, the composer came up with the idea of the boy band because the finale was really hitting every single music genre. So, what haven’t we touched, and what would be the most fun, because they’re trying to elevate the energy of the subspace fold to its peak. What would happen?”

The Klingon boy band made the final cut, thankfully. However, they shot two versions of the Klingons, led by Bruce Horak as the Klingon captain. The second was opera. Ultimately, the opera take felt too close to the other singing. Luckily, the Klingon boy band won. Bakshi jokes, “That said, nobody knew if that would actually go too far or break Star Trek.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will wrap season two on Paramount+ on August 10. You can pre-save the musical episode soundtrack now.

The post Behind the Scenes of the STRANGE NEW WORLDS Musical Episode and the Klingon Boy Band appeared first on Nerdist.

The debut of The Wheel of Time season two trailer last week kicked off #WOTWednesdays, a fan-first tradition in which Prime Video shares Wheel of Time gifts every Wednesday through the season two premiere. And for this edition of #WOTWednesdays, Nerdist has a special reveal. We have an exclusive peek at The Wheel of Time season two costume sketches from the series’ costume designer Sharon Gilham. Gilham also shared insight into her thought process for the costumes, which feature Siuan Sanche, Moiraine Damodred, the High Lady Suroth, and the Seanchan’s damane.

The second season of The Wheel of Time picks up after the events at the Eye of the World. Continuing its adaptation of Robert Jordan’s books, season two draws from The Great Hunt and a little of The Dragon Reborn. New locations, precarious situations, fearsome enemies—all of it means wardrobe changes or additions for our characters.

Siuan Sanche

As the Amyrlin Seat of the Aes Sedai, Siuan Sanche must put forth an image. Gilham acknowledges that Siuan remains very grounded, particularly since she comes from a small fishing village. “She wears the robes because she has to but feels uncomfortable with the grandeur and the pomp and circumstance,” Gilham says.

Siuan’s costume became simplified as they discussed the character. Here, flowers and natural elements woven together with delicate goldwork make up her headdress. The robes have three layers. There’s a gold satin crepe jumpsuit layer, a heavily decorated mid layer of wool and matte sequins, and a shoulder capelet made of a mix of original early 20th century embroidered silk. The back of the cape design includes representation of the seven colors of Aes Sedai Ajahs. Siuan wears a gold great serpent ring on her left middle finger.

Moiraine Damodred

Moiraine Damodred comes from Cairhien, and this blue and white costume design reflects that. Gilham cites the cultural influences in Cairhien being Japanese and French. She notes, “I gave all the cultures in The Wheel of Time a color palette as well as a set of silhouettes which made them instantly distinctive and different from each other. In this case I combined Japanese kimono shapes with exaggerated skirts with full petticoats in the style of traditional French costume.”

The diadem indicates Moiraine’s social standing, while other crowd members will wear headdresses reminiscent of French traditional headwear.

Though the original costume design shows a blue and white pattern, they ultimately decided the more plain fabric, and the sheen of it, felt more appropriate for Moiraine’s character.

High Lady Suroth

The Seanchan arrived at the end of season one. They were the first group in The Wheel of Time season two that Gilham needed to design costumes for. Showrunner Rafe Judkins wanted the Seanchan to appear terrifying and like “nothing you’ve ever seen before.” Since that’s how the books present the Seanchan, it’s understandable they wanted to bring the culture’s intimidating look to the screen.

Gilham took the color palette from rusting metal. “The Seanchan come from overseas, which makes them even more mysterious and ‘other’ to the cultures of the Wheel of Time world,” Gilham explains. “The Seanchan are a mix of Mesoamerica and Imperial Chinese. This is reflected in the color palette of the former and the shapes and layering of the latter.”

The High Lady Suroth’s costume in particular tells viewers much about her nature. Suroth’s costume echoes twisting detail on the Seanchan soldiers’ uniforms that convey a sense of danger and aggression. Gilham also added notes of the insect-like armor The Wheel of Time books describe. She says, “The final element is the mix of venomous reptile and deadly insect which are seen in the decoration on Suroth’s kimono coat (down the back is a repeated reptilian print like a shedded snakeskin) and the compound eye effect of her mask.”

Of course, the long lacquered nails are right from the books too. The Seanchan also shave their heads and have scarification on their shaved skin. The decorative mask and lacquered and feathered hairpiece hide that. However, Gilham teases Suroth’s “striking self” will be revealed later in the season.

The Damane

The Seanchan enslave female channelers and call them damane. They fit the channelers with gold collars, and a sul’dam uses a paired bracelet to control the damane assigned to them. The oppressive collars can only be removed when a damane dies.

The above sketch shows the collars, and their scale, in greater detail. We also see a sul’dam bracelet. The damane in The Wheel of Time series have an additional element not present in the books: a piece of metal fitted over their mouths. Gilham incorporated that horrifying touch. She says, “I added the gold mouth stopper or dummy/pacifier to symbolize their further silencing as individuals.”

The Wheel of Time season two premieres on Prime Video on September 1.

The post Get an Exclusive Look at THE WHEEL OF TIME Season 2 Costume Sketches appeared first on Nerdist.