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Notes -
So, I watched the first two episodes of the Rings of Power -- and it wasn't that bad.
For the record, I thought Wheel of Time was pretty horrible, and while it was far from the only problem, the woke aspects (forced diversity, all men have to suck, all women have to rock) was definitely a big part of the issue. RoP has some forced diversity as well, but it's somehow not as bad. The black elf is one of the few elves who actually seems attractive and somehow beyond human -- the others come across as Roman Senator types.
Galadriel is a Mary Sue, but I guess she is in the books too. We'll see how her story develops.
I'm not happy with the proto-hobbits, and of course, the one who pushes the rules and is clever and daring is a woman, but that's mostly okay.
Dwarves -- well, of course the woman gives wise council to her buffoon husband, but it was still fairly well done I thought.
The visuals were great, and you did somehow get a sense of fleshed out, interesting and complex world. I'm very cautiously optimistic. Miles and miles ahead of Wheel of Time.
For the record, I'm /u/The-WideningGyre on reddit, but felt like grabbing one of the more common usernames I use on the new Motte.
I'm really disappointed by the weird groupthink shitshow I feel like 'normal' reddit has become, so I will do what I can to support this new Motte. Thanks /u/ZorbaTHut and other creators!
My abortive attempt to watch the new Wheel of Time ended when they gave Perrin (big, awkward, bad with words and women- Perrin) a wife to lose, and had Rand and Egwene (both young adults in a farming community with relatively traditional, rural values) fuck each other immediately. No will-they-won't-they, no nod to the traditional environment, no awkward fumbling or embarrassment or confusion (which is a reoccurring theme in the story until much later) just totally casual sex. It absolutely changed the characters, and not for the better. I'm a fan of casual sex as much as the next guy, but you can't just take 202x morality filtered through the personal experiences of writers in (presumably) a large city, assume it's a universal human experience and slap it onto a story about farm boys in a traditional, agricultural society with strong rituals and expectations around marriage and pregnancy, and call it good.
It was a train wreck.
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