I think this is one of the issues where the Aiel get caught flat-footed because they cannot conceive of someone failing to act appropriately and fulfil their toh. The way they are constantly being surprised by Couladin or Sevanna's perfidy. No Aiel woman would refuse to do what must be done to protect her unborn child, so there is no enforcement plan or even policy. They say "So, Shaiel, you must put aside the spear so long as you carry a child." Shaiel says "No," and they're like "what now?" The Maidens might intervene, or they might not, recalling the various times Rand clashes with them over the issue of personal responsibility and how people cannot dictate how others act. All the comments and arguments that would have shamed a born Aiel Maiden into compliance would roll off Shaiel, because ji'e'toh is just something she picked up a few years ago, rather than take in with her mother's milk. And overall, maybe this is a thing for the battle-leader, but the combination of his infatuation with Shaiel and the general notion in the setting that men's opinions on women's matters are not welcome, thank you very much, mean that nothing gets done, because when you get right down to it, pregnancy is a problem with an inherently limited shelf-life. Just like I'd bet that at least some people were willing to let her try to join the Maidens because they expected her failure to be inevitable, I'd guess that some people figured Shaiel would crap out eventually, and the rigors of her condition would mandate her taking a reduced role, and then once there was an actual baby in hand, of course she'll see reason.
That is the most sensible explanation I've heard for how Shaiel could feasibly end up in combat at full term of her pregnancy.
Most of the actors have little to no resemblance to their ITB characters. Ignoring that aspect, I think the acting has been good. I don't love the writing, but so far the actual performance of the actors hasn't bothered me.
I saw that. He also had an issue of Nynaeve leading with her knife, pointing out that there are lots of women in the series who would do that, so what separates Nynaeve from Egwene or Aviendha? And he also noted that Healing is Nynaeve's central aspect, not violence.
This is one aspect of the writing that really bothered me. Nynaeve actually tried to kill Lan. With that set of facts, Nynaeve could fairly be convicted of attempted murder in our legal system. If she had succeeded, she could be fairly be convicted of first degree murder in our system. She also had to be coerced to help treat the dying Moiraine. It was as if Judkins had asked himself how he could make Nynaeve the opposite of her book character. All to show how badass Nynaeve is. Then Lan falls in love with the woman that tried to murder him for no reason at all. Killing Lan would not help her locate the two rivers people, but would make it all the more unlikely that she could ever find them. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't see how I would ever fall for a woman who literally tried to murder me.
I shouldn't have added the part about it not being wise to apologize when you aren't wrong. That was just a bit of my personal philosophy. My main point is that I don't think book Rand would apologize in that situation as he is both stubborn and not in the wrong.
Yeah Moiraine doesn't have a downfall in the books. But lack of basis in the books is not a deterrent to Rafe Judkins. Moiraine will probably get stilled and then healed to full strength by a woman.
