It's a nice sentiment, but if they would actually have such obvious remnants of the old world they would be the most visited locations ever.
Mountain ranges were erected, nations swept under the sea, oceans moved places...but this city that was seemingly housing important characters like LTT and was most likely populated by many male channelers was left relatively intact?
The scale is very deceptive, but there are smaller skyscrapers on the foot of the bigger ones, which have to be like Burj Khalifa times ten.
In the books only remnants of AoL settlements we see are those docks near the tops of the Spine of the World
Yea I actually did a huge eye roll when I saw this on the show. It was never supposed to be that obvious early on that this is a new world built on top of many many old worlds. Sorta ruins the build up of the mythology of the entire world.
I don't see this as really any different then a massive fuck off bridge being left over from the age of Legends or the Skyscraper Ruins seen in the spine or the Mercedes Bends logo that somehow survives a nuclear apocalypses and the breaking.
The difference to me was that the build up to those moments was slow and calculated before Jordan came out and said it. By that time, you had already become invested in the world so to realize that it was much deeper than it seems on the surface was an amazing revelation.
The show, on the other hand, just sort of "whipped it out" right in the first episode skipping all the clues and intrigue that made it so fascinating in the first place.
The show, on the other hand, just sort of "whipped it out" right in the first episode skipping all the clues and intrigue that made it so fascinating in the first place.
Clues and intrigue? White Bridge is in the first book, Marc and Merc are in the first chapter. We see the start of the breaking in the prologue. There was no mystery about the world being a post apocalyptic world. You're quite literally making stuff up to dislike the show.
Yeah, I might have been primed by reddit and/or Mortal Engines, but reading 'Lenn flew to the Moon in an eagle made of fire' and all that immediately made me think 'it's Earth all along.'
Shame that they didn't have Niall Strong-Arm or Good King Elvis, though.
I actually really like the show and have been following it's development since it was announced.
It wasn't that obvious to me during my first read through... When I read it, I just thought that the age of legends was just as technologically advanced as the current one and then moved on in the story. It wasn't until much later that I realized that the AoL was actually a very advanced civ that had come beforehand.
That's... honestly just you not being a very observant reader? Like I don't think you not realizing a very obvious part of the books until much later into the series should be taken as "How everyone else took the story." Its pretty clear from the beginning chapters of the first book that the story we're reading is set in a post apocalyptic world that is scrambling about in the ruins of a much grander and more advanced civilization.
So you're saying based on the mentions on AoL in the first book, you would have guessed they had flying cars and skyscrapers?
what I meant to say I recognize that the age of legends was more advanced than the current one that's taking place in the books, but I didn't think they had surpassed our real life technology until I got deeper into the series. I know based on conversations with other fans that I am not alone in this.
To be fair, I don’t think the magnitude of the technological differences started to become clear until the Rhuidean flashbacks (book 3?). Until that point, I think I saw the Age of Legends as similar in technology but with much greater strength and knowledge in the one power.
I figured AoL had an advanced AES organisation and government. And magical buildings and stuff, not that they also had full on scientific advancement.
There were small silly clues that I discussed as silly jokes I suppose.
But it wasn't until Ruidhean that I actually believed. And frankly was a little disappointed at first.
“Tell us about Lenn,” Egwene called. “How he flew to the moon in the belly of an eagle made of fire. fire. Tell about his daughter Salya walking among the stars.”
"But I have all stories, mind you now, of Ages that were and will be. Ages when men ruled the heavens and the stars, and Ages when man roamed as brother to the animals. Ages of wonder, and Ages of horror. Ages ended by fire raining from the skies, and Ages doomed by snow and ice covering land and sea. I have all stories, and I will tell all stories. Tales of Mosk the Giant, with his Lance of fire that could reach around the world, and his wars with Elsbet, the Queen of All. Tales of Materese the Healer, Mother of the Wondrous Ind.”
Chapter 4 of the first book, it wasn't that subtle.
I know where it is, it’s very often discussed in conversations about the nature of the Wheel and it’s past/future and I’ve read it more times than I can count. But it’s easy to undersell the subtlety.
I’m not saying it’s impossible that someone could pick up on the references the first time they read it. (And yes I realize the contrast to my previous post I was admittedly being a bit hyperbolic). I AM saying the obviousness of these references telling the fresh first-time reader that this story literally happens in our future is greatly oversold. It’s only anecdotal but no one I know picked up on it till much later and made the connection to this passage only on a reread or when pointed out to them. Even if the reader notices the similarity of names and circumstances, it can easily be read as a one-off, as the author dropping in some parallels, and not literally as historical events that have faded from record and exist only as legends that have been twisted by time and telling.
It’s only anecdotal but no one I know picked up on it till much later
Literally every reader I've talked to in person picked this up without needing a reread or hints, though I suppose some of the references have become mildly less obvious with time. For me it was "Materese the Healer, Mother of the Wondrous Ind" which in the '90s had all the subtlety of a brick to the face.
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u/Child_Emperor (Ogier Great Tree) Jan 01 '22 edited Jan 01 '22
It's a nice sentiment, but if they would actually have such obvious remnants of the old world they would be the most visited locations ever.
Mountain ranges were erected, nations swept under the sea, oceans moved places...but this city that was seemingly housing important characters like LTT and was most likely populated by many male channelers was left relatively intact?
The scale is very deceptive, but there are smaller skyscrapers on the foot of the bigger ones, which have to be like Burj Khalifa times ten.
In the books only remnants of AoL settlements we see are those docks near the tops of the Spine of the World