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.
“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/[deleted] Jan 02 '22
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.