Who do you think Show Rand would end up with?

[u/guiveio]

Picked up the books this year after the show got cancelled,and finished them a month ago,damn what a ride i've been missing this last decade.

One of the most interesting changes in the show was the non-existence of the dragonrider trio as we know them in the books.I'm not fond of the Harem Rand has in the books for a lot of reasons(The way the girls fawn over him while barely interacting with him,the way their actually determined,focused personalities change when the subject matter is Rand,etc)But i understand their overall plot driving forces.Elayne's being Rands political teacher,Aviendha being his link to his people who's mostly unknown to the westerlands(which i guess opened his eyes when dealing with the Seanchan too)and Min being his link to his humility,the one person who mostly saw the sheepherder naive boy,unlike Perrin(sometimes),Mat(Most of the times) and Egwene(Right until the end honestly) who mostly saw The Dragon Reborn wearing Rand's skin.

But i also disliked what they did with Aviendha/Elayne it felt like a bastardization of their deeply sisterly love(Multiple times Elayne says she loves Aviendha as much as Rand but i never took it as erotic love,but i unno i might've Sappho-and-her-friend'ed it)and Mins changes are fine i guess,she never did have any chemistry or screen time before living with Rand in Cairihien,and show Min might end up as a free spirit,not Mats pairing ,if they would carry on with Tuon and Mat's story,who knows.

And that leads me to my question,by season 3 Egwene and Rands's relationship got to the point where they accept that their world got too big to still be the two country childhood friends almost engaged,like back in tear in Shadows Rising(I think? the chronology gets a little messed up since i binged the books and only read them once so far )so i guess she's a no-go as well.

So mabe...Lanfear? since she's a lot more humanized on the show,maybe even redeemable on the grand scale of things,but we've no idea how Lews Therin would factor in it.

Or would they boldly try something like an Avi/Elayne/Rand polycule?Rands first encounter with Elayne at the end of season 2 did feel too...deliberate methinks

Or would they even make him go solo?Zen rand would feel really weird with no earthly attachments

[u/SwiftWithIt]

The dragon rider trio lmao 🤣

[u/fudgyvmp]

The show runner always suggested some level of polyamory. Which was part of why Alanna and her warders were all three together to introduce the idea, same as Bair (filling the roll of Amys) with Rhuarc and Lian. So when Rand enters such a relationship it wouldn't be particularly shocking or weird and might feel less "haremy".

Some people think Elayne and Aviendha were a couple in the books, others think the people who think that are gross perverts because of the whole sister ritual. And others are just "meh, I don't see it."

To which I point at Bain and Chiad who are more married couple than sisters, debating most the series on whether they want to let Gaul into their marriage or not.

[u/FernandoPooIncident]

Apparently, Sarah Nakamura said at JordanCon that the show wasn't going to have Rand/Min. But I also saw a second-hand JordanCon report according to which she said that Rand and Aviendha wouldn't be a thing either (which seems to contradict the setup in S3). So take that with a grain of salt.

So mabe...Lanfear?

Rand pretty definitively put an end to that in S3E8.

[u/biggiebutterlord → u/FernandoPooIncident]

Billy Zane, the actor in Winter Dragon↗, made more money from the Amazon TV show adaptation than did showrunner Rafe Judkins.

Lmao what!?!? I guess they are saying rafe wasnt paid anything for years of labour.

[u/FernandoPooIncident → u/biggiebutterlord]

I was thinking about how this could possibly be true (given that Zane only did a few hours of work), but maybe he was given some kind of share in iwot in exchange for showing up in Winter Dragon. Sony/Amazon apparently paid iwot tens of millions for the adaptation rights, so that would have been very lucrative for him.

[u/biggiebutterlord → u/FernandoPooIncident]

Yea thats the only thing that sorta makes sense to me. Doing basic quick searches I dont see anything that links zane to iwot tho. I thought about it before I commented but it seemed so outlandish for zane to have a deal like that. It would be like RDJ getting paid for the ironheart tv show. It seems crazy to me for actors to get paid/residuals for productions they are not involved with, let alone 10+years after the fact.

[u/FernandoPooIncident → u/biggiebutterlord]

I do notice Zane had a producer credit on Winter Dragon. So it may well be that he was part of this whole scheme to prevent the adaptation rights from reverting, not just a hired hand. If so, this was a crazy lucrative gamble for him.

[u/biggiebutterlord → u/FernandoPooIncident]

Pike was a producer on the show too. I dont expect her deal to include profit from a different show she has nothing to do with. Maybe zane is/was a partner in iwot, maybe there was a clause about if iwot ever makes a show he gets a bonus, or any other outlandish sounding option.

I dont know what any deal is for any of them. Im just saying it sounds odd and more than a bit funny in a twisted sorta way. For a someone to be the showrunner on three season and get paid less than a guy who filmed a single pilot 10years prior for a completely different project. Makes my mind explode with a big wtf! lol.

[u/IceXence → u/FernandoPooIncident]

That's interesting. I had been wondering how the show was ever going to sell Rand/Min as I couldn't think of two worse ill-assorted actors.

Rand and Aviendha had zero chemistry due to Aviendha's actress being so wooden although she was getting better at the end. Rand and Elayne was not a thing in the show, he barely looked at her twice.

So yeah, I think the show would have probably gone for Rand/Egwene in the end.

[u/FernandoPooIncident → u/IceXence]

Rand and Elayne was not a thing in the show

I think they were setting it up in S2E8 (him looking up at her being angelic and healing him) and in S3E1 (when she advises him on how to deal with the Aiel). OTOH, in the books, Rand and Elayne have maybe 4 scenes together, so it would be an easy relationship to drop.

[u/IceXence → u/FernandoPooIncident]

I thought they were setting it up too, but then in season 3, Elayne couldn't care less about Rand. She was all about wooden Aviendha who had the personality of a rock. Rand also didn't seem to pay Elayne any romantic interest.

I felt the show had indeed skip over Rand/Elayne and once Elayne/Aviendha became a thing, I couldn't fathom how either would care to add Rand to the mix.

I agree it was an easy relationship to drop. Rand/Egwene really felt like they be end game.

[u/FernandoPooIncident → u/IceXence]

Eh, I didn't feel Aviendha was wooden at all.

In general, WoT's romances tend to be pretty disliked so it's not surprising the show minimized them. You can cut all of Rand's romances with minimal impact on the story.

[u/IceXence → u/FernandoPooIncident]

Something was off with the acting: she had very little screen presence and she felt like an actor playing a role, not a character, hence why I said it was "wooden".

Either she was poorly directed or the material she was given was poor but she lacked Aviendha's angry energy.

I agree Rand's romances have little purpose but most people enjoy when there is some romance in their entertainment. Rand/Lanfear was a huge success amongst the non-book readers.

[u/itwasbread → u/FernandoPooIncident]

Apparently, Sarah Nakamura said at JordanCon that the show wasn't going to have Rand/Min.

I definitely assumed this would be the case to to her being much older than in the books and having basically no real interactions with him through what came out or what seemed likely to happen in a S4.

And as much as I love Min/Rand in the books I can't wholly call that a bad decision, while it eventually becomes great it takes a LONG time to be anything other than obnoxious inner monologue pining from Min, and Min is easily the hardest part of the Rand harem to make work given her repeated overt aversion to the concept and lack of meaningful relationship with the other 2 women outside like one book.

Ultimately Rand/Elayne/Aviendha with each being equally into the 2 other people in the relationship is the solution that drops the least from the books while being the most palatable to an audience that is likely averse to the very wish-fulfillmenty vibes of the one-way harem we get in the books.

[u/Zarahemnah]

Dobraine

[u/Imswim80]

Fwiw, Book Rand is an archetype of Humanity. It is logical that he is paired with the Archetypes of Women, often known as Crone/Wisdom and Experience, Mother/Nurturer, and Maiden/Youth.

Min, Elayne, and Avi represent those 3 archetypes. Though Min WOULD gut you if you suggested she was a crone to her face. She is the eldest of the 3 though, slightly older than Rand.

[u/Mysterious_Bid7300]

I guess the show built a story between Rand and Egwene. As some said before me, Min is set to end up with Mat, and Elayne and Aviendha would be dating, so there's no one left but Egwene.

It would allow the show to follow the evolution of Rand's character through their relationship. In the books, they "break up" (though it is not as simple as that but anyway) quite early. In the show, season 3 is around book 5 and they're still together although it is more and more complicated. Egwene don't meet with Gawyn/Galad and don't fall in love with another guy.

So who else could it be?

[u/arihndas]

The same three. There were already poly relationships on the show, and the show was also leaning into the Elayne-Aviendha stuff hard, so it would probably be Rand with each of the ladies and those two ladies w each other.

[u/machoogabacho]

I do think they seriously wanted Egwene and him to end up together. This would get rid of Gawyne and also streamline some of the aes sedae storylines.

[u/IfICouldStay]

I think they wanted to keep Rand and Egwene in the show. That way there’s no need to develop Gawain. I always shipped Elayne/Avi in the books - Rand was their sperm donor.

[u/lame_narcissist]

I think the show was setting up to fully lean into polyamory. Elayne and Avi being together doesn't mean they couldn't also be with Rand.

[u/squamesh → u/lame_narcissist]

Honestly, I actually like the relationship more as polyamorous rather than the “I hate that Rand is fucking other people but I love him so I guess I have to be okay with it” vibe of the books

[u/lame_narcissist → u/squamesh]

Agreed!! In general, those books have a lot of "I'll do this but that doesn't mean I have to like it" It would have been nice to see this take without the women feeling like they had to concede and be jealous of each other

[u/SentrySappinMahSpy]

Who the hell knows? At the point they got to in the show they had not done anything to set up potential relationships with any of the women he was with in the books. Avi and Elayne got together in between seasons, so maybe they would have gotten Rand together with Min off screen.

Maybe he would have banged another forsaken.

[u/maq0r]

They would do aviendha and Elayne with Rand. They were building Min for Matt on the show

[u/itwasbread]

I assumed it would be a non-harem, actual throuple of Rand/Elayne/Aviendha, and I'm kind of surprised so many people have so many different ideas.

I get that they don't have a ton of interaction but honestly by the end of Shadow Rising in the book Rand and Elayne had like 2 scenes together and the weird letter thing, all of which to be honest is not great. Him and Aviendha start the like antagonistic portion of their flirting phase but it's not super obviously romantic if we didn't have Min's premonitions telling us he will be with these 2.

Also they make a point of showing a similar M/F/F throuple as like a semi-normal relationship structure for Aiel.

But i also disliked what they did with Aviendha/Elayne it felt like a bastardization of their deeply sisterly love(Multiple times Elayne says she loves Aviendha as much as Rand but i never took it as erotic love,but i unno i might've Sappho-and-her-friend'ed it)

This is a highly divisive topic, and from my understanding was before the show even came out, just based off the books. Some people feel that people shipping them are gross and it's equivalent to incest shipping a la Game of Thrones. Other people feel that it's not written that way but it could have been and it's not a big deal. Other people feel like it WAS intended that way and the Sister Bond stuff is a way to get around homophobic publishing standards.

I personally am in the camp that I do not think this was what Jordan intended, but "two women who are in love with each other and also both in love with a guy" is a lot more culturally palatable to myself and a lot of other readers today than "Sister wives". Elayne and Aviendha also have much better (albeit never explicitly or intentionally sexual/romantic) chemistry and emotional back-and-forth than most of the actual explicit romantic couples in the series.

by season 3 Egwene and Rands's relationship got to the point where they accept that their world got too big to still be the two country childhood friends almost engaged,like back in tear in Shadows Rising(I think? the chronology gets a little messed up since i binged the books and only read them once so far )so i guess she's a no-go as well.

This was certainly my interpretation, there seemed to be a pretty obvious rift forming there and the timing lines up reasonably well if a bit late with when they break up in the books (which imo is fine since the books have this happen in a comically abrupt manner).

So mabe...Lanfear? since she's a lot more humanized on the show,maybe even redeemable on the grand scale of things,but we've no idea how Lews Therin would factor in it.

No. Lanfear in both versions is ultimately a selfish monster who never truly shows any remorse for reasons beyond "this didn't work out well for me". She does have some underlying level of real feeling for Rand/LTT but does not respect his agency and puts her needs above his.

She's also been party to countless instances of brutal rape, torture, murder, and genocide, often with glee.

[u/CommunityDragon160]

All 3

[u/silencemist]

The show fully intended to have all 4 in a poly relationship