WoT Television Adaptation

[Jofwu]

Now that we've FINALLY (one year later?) gotten a bit more news about the WoT television series I'm curious what people think about this...

If you were in charge of adapting Wheel of Time for TV, what would you change?

SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS

Edited April 20, 2017 by jofwu

[Julio]

Well... I'd prefer to not have much of anything changed. Oh, except one, really... make the "nameless" forsaken more unique, and make the women not all act like insufferable jerks all the time... 

Of course, we wouldn't be able to recognize that it was WoT if the women didn't cross their arms under their breasts every scene they're in...  

Oh, and, because it's a TV series... I'd make Noal/Jain Farstrider be Hoid. Or, at least, stick Hoid in randomly. All in all, I think they just need to keep it close to the original books... focus it on the politics and interpersonal interactions. 

[king of nowhere]

It would be good, when making such an announcement, to also link to the offical announcement. the closer I found is this http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/wheel-of-time-tv-series-sony-1202390897/

I'm not familiar with tv show industry. I know a lot of stuff is planned and then never done. I have no idea if what is said in that announcement actually means that there is a high probability the wot series will be made for real, or if it is yet another bubble that will likely burst at any time, or slowly deflate. I can only say, I really hope it becomes real. I am waiting for commentary from more experienced people than myself to let my hopes high, though.

[Erunion]

@Julio - the women being 'jerks' is actually a sneaky, clever little integral part of the worldbuilding. You see, they're not jerks, they're sexist. WOT has a lot of mild/moderate sexism in it directed against men. A lot of people, including myself, didn't notice it, so I think RJ intentionally made Far Madding so terribly, clearly, obviously sexist. 
These books are one of the main reasons I'm a feminist today, because they showed me what mild sexism in our modern society looks like - the way women treat men in WOT is how men treat women in our society (Not always, and often in different ways, but it is very similar. The whole worldbuilding created a realistic premise where RJ could invert our cultures sexism, and he did a very subtle and imo a very good job of it).

I'm nervously excited about it. It could be great, or it could be terrible. Mostly, it will be very very difficult. But if they pull it off? I will be thrilled.

[king of nowhere]

I checked on the sony pictures official site, and there is nothing about wheel of time. it does not necessarily means anything, but i think they would post a notice if they were sure of making it

[Farnsworth]

On 4/20/2017 at 10:16 AM, Julio said:

Of course, we wouldn't be able to recognize that it was WoT if the women didn't cross their arms under their breasts every scene they're in...  

Yeah, and tug their braids. Why are their all these quirks? I feel like RJ was basing all his WoT women off one person. I REALLY want to know who. I guess if I ever meet a Nynave like person, I'll know.

[maxal]

On 4/21/2017 at 3:03 AM, Erunion said:

@Julio - the women being 'jerks' is actually a sneaky, clever little integral part of the worldbuilding. You see, they're not jerks, they're sexist. WOT has a lot of mild/moderate sexism in it directed against men. A lot of people, including myself, didn't notice it, so I think RJ intentionally made Far Madding so terribly, clearly, obviously sexist. 
These books are one of the main reasons I'm a feminist today, because they showed me what mild sexism in our modern society looks like - the way women treat men in WOT is how men treat women in our society (Not always, and often in different ways, but it is very similar. The whole worldbuilding created a realistic premise where RJ could invert our cultures sexism, and he did a very subtle and imo a very good job of it).

I'm nervously excited about it. It could be great, or it could be terrible. Mostly, it will be very very difficult. But if they pull it off? I will be thrilled.

Thank you for writing this. Being a woman, I have always loved the WoT women and I have always felt completely deflated in seeing the Internet community hate them with such passion. After all, dismissive towards women, brash, mouthy and arrogant male characters are legion within work of fiction and I have yet to read ONE rant against such characters, but when it is a female who behaves this way, people just hate it. Just yesterday, I stumbled upon yet another thread on Reddit where people bash against the "strong arrogant female" character type as if it was a terrible representation of female character, as if women weren't allowed to be strong, to be arrogant, to think highly of themselves, to be sure of themselves, to impose.

Women have the right to be anything they wish to be and I am sadden to see, still to this day, the meek, submissive, shy, introverted, unsure of herself but willing to put the male character at the center of her life female character remains the crowd pleaser. It is why I have always hated Min's character: she has no agency, her entire story arc remained around her trying to be around Rand, about her following Rand, about her just being at Rand's side, clinging to him. Oh how I hated her, as a young woman: she was everything I fought not to be. I was terribly shocked to read most readers preferred Min to Aviendha, Egwene or Elayne who all have their own life, their own agencies, their own personalities and whom wouldn't wait on any man before acting.

As a woman, it is my thoughts we need more Egwenes, Elaynes, Aviendhas and Nynaeves and less Mins, considerably less Mins. I certainly hope the producers of the series will keep the integrity of the world Robert Jordan built. I hope to watch strong women who aren't taking the word of any men, who are their own being and for whom, there is no glass ceilings. Our world needs more of those, not less.

So please, allow Robert Jordan's innovative and "avant-gardiste" world to come to life just how it was intended to because, more than thirty years later, it remains relevant.

[king of nowhere]

I always liked Min because she is one of the very few open-minded characters in the saga. whereas most characters (of both genders) are mule-headed, going their own way regardless of everything else, and completely dismissive of anything that doesn't fit their worldview, min was one with whom you could have a real conversation with a real exchange of ideas. Now I can't recall any specific instance, I can't even recall where min was through most of the story, but I remember this attitude from her. I also liked Elayne for the same reason, she did try to understand others and she could be reasoned and bargained with.

By contrast, egwene would manipulate you into doing what she wanted, nynaeve would bash you into doing what she wanted, and aviendha would call you her enemy and kill you. Well, ok, I'm exaggerating a bit here, but you get the point. Rand, Mat and Perrin instead would probably reject anything you say that doesn't conform to their ideas and go on with their plans expecting you to do as they expect.

I say we need less people like that, and more people like min. less people who want to lead at all cost, who want to be right even when they know nothing of what they are doing, and more people who are willing to support and help others. we all know the wheel of time would have been a trilogy if the good guys had cooperated more. the real world is equally hampered by needless infighting and butting egos. we do not need any more of that.

This comes from mistaking bullying for strenght. A lot of people make that mistake. A bully looks strong when he bullies others. feeling strong is a big part of the bully's motivation. There are people, of both genders, who are specifically attracted to bullies for the air of strenght they project. Women in the wheel of time are both strong and bullies. I love egwene when she is strong; when she is abused in the tower but never gives up, when she leads the aes sedai in battle. I hate her when she is a bully, wanting the world to conform to her wishes and forcing others to comply. I cannot speak for society as a whole, because I am aware that there are many segments of it that are still culturally backwards on many aspects, but for me liking Min and not the others has nothing to do with genders.

I also liked Lan a lot, and Lan is a man who put his whole life behind a woman. Had he not been willing to put down his ego for the sake of something greater, both him and moiraine would have achieved little of value.I generally like characters who can step down and help others over those egocentric megalomaniac who must lead at all cost. In most fiction, I end up liking the supporting cast more than the main protagonists. Though I respect leaders who lead through vision and skill, rather than tricking or forcing people; leaders like raoden or kelsier, for example.

P.S. maxal, I would not say that there are no rants about " dismissive towards women, brash, mouthy and arrogant male characters ". I have seen plenty of rants against male characters in the wheel of time. they just were not related to the whole "gender" aspect. They were rants against " dismissive towards others, brash, mouthy and arrogant ___ characters ". egwene bullies mostly other women, and yet she is probably the most disliked, which doesn't hold well with the whole "sexism" interpretation. nynaeve mostly browbeats males, but she seems better recieved, probably because her altruistic reasons are clearer or because she has a more honest way to go about it. Unfortunately, injustice and unfairness are still commonplace, but ever since we became conscious of discrimination issues, then unfairness of men towards men, or women towrds women, or even women towards man, is "alas, this sucks, but that's the way of the world", while unfairness of men towards women is "omg! sexism! someone alerts the press and the minister for equal opportunities". Same problem with enthnic and religious discrimination. By what I hear, social class discrimination used to be treaated like this too.

EDIT: with this, I do not seek to claim that there are no problems with discriminations, because there really are. But I do claim that they are made to seem bigger and more pervasive than they actually are as regular human nastiness is often mistaken for genuine discrimination whenever the perpetrator and victim falll into the appropriate categories. EDIT//

I was originally going to write, in place of the last paragraph, a rant about male characters insisting to protect women and keep them out of danger when said women are actually more qualified than they are, of how it shows them no respect and no honor, but now I'm not in the mood anymore

P.P.S. I still haven't seen an answer to my original question: how serious is that announcement? how much committment does it shows? how likely does it make that they are reallly working towards it?

Edited April 22, 2017 by king of nowhere

[maxal]

To make it short, I would state Min Farshaw is exactly the kind of female character I take no enjoyment in reading: she gives up everything to follow a man. Once she gets him, she has no other ambitions but to be at his side, to live and breath for him. She has no other purpose in life but to be his "wife". At a time where most female oriented fiction featured girls dropping all personal ambitions, all personal dreams, all personality just so they could attach themselves to a man, she came in unwanted, for me at least.

I have been deflated to know she remains what people wish in a female character: submissive and solely living for a man. I much prefer female characters such as Egwene who might come across as forceful at times, but at least pushes through challenges keeping her head high. Each time she was presented with one, she tucked her sleeves, raised her nose and claimed she would not only do it, she would do it better than anyone else. Now, that's attitude. So few female characters had this sort of spirit.

This being said, I am very happy about the news. I hope they make it into a high quality product such as GoT and not a cheap one such as Sword of Truth and/or Shannarah. I think WoT has a lot of potential, but it needs commitment from its producers, it needs someone with a vision, with taste.

[Erunion]

@maxal - I don't have a problem with Min becuase WOT has Egwene, and WOT has Lan. 

Yes, Min does drop everything to be with a man - but Elayne, Egwene and Aviendha all don't (and Min has her strong points too! She is reasonable, understanding/etc.). WOT also has Lan, who drops everything for a woman... twice. 

So I don't have a problem with Min, and even like the character, as she shows that women can do whatever they want, even if that means dropping everything for a man. But men can do that for women as well. It's balanced - as is fitting in WOT  

[king of nowhere]

to be fair to min, she was caught into rand's taveren swirl. she didn't want to end up like that. she was a strong, independent woman with her own agenda. even later, she does not become meek and submissive; in fact, she's one of the very few characters who can influence rand to change his mind sometimes. and I'm not convinced people like her because she drops everything for a man; as I said, there are plenty of reasons to like her above the others that have nothing to do with her dropping everything for a man. vin, sarene, jasnah are also strong female characters who have the positive traits of egwene and they are well-liked. I keep thinking that for the vast majority of people liking min more than egwene has nothing to do with perceived gender roles and is simply because egwene is a jerkass and min isn't.

Also, at least rand treats her well. egwene treats gawin as utter crap all the time, and yet gawin keeps loving her. she was treating also rand as utter crap all the time when they were together, by the way. I think if they had inverted genders you would have found their relation much more irritating than the one between rand and min. In general, if egwene hadn't been a strong female role model, but had she instead been a male, would you be so forgiving of her(his) other flaws?

finally: please, someone come with updated informations or direct sources and bring this conversation back on topic. alternatively, someone open a new thread for this discussion.

[Jofwu]

On 4/22/2017 at 10:24 PM, maxal said:

Once she gets him, she has no other ambitions but to be at his side, to live and breath for him. She has no other purpose in life but to be his "wife".

I don't know if that's entirely fair. She did have her "scholar" thing. You could argue it was just to help Rand, which is true. But surely part of her was doing it for the sake of the world in general, so her purpose was bigger than Rand. My complaint would just be that Jordan didn't play up this role enough. Especially considering her strange talent, it would have been really cool to see Min dive into the prophecies and become a competent scholar who makes some notable discoveries and interpretations that help Rand (and others) succeed. That would have been a great place for her in the story.

So, in line with my original question, I suppose it would be great if the television show gave Min something more to DO besides being Rand's clingy girlfriend.

On 4/23/2017 at 4:51 AM, Erunion said:

I don't have a problem with Min becuase WOT has Egwene, and WOT has Lan. 

This is a really good point. There are plenty of women who DON'T drop everything for a man. There's nothing wrong with a man or woman choosing to let themselves fall in another's shadow. That's their decision. I think it's good to include characters on both sides of that decision. Literature or fantasy may need fewer "damsels" in general, but WoT certainly doesn't.

I definitely don't like Min above the other girls. But I do like her most as a partner for Rand. She's the only one who spends enough time with him to make their relationship believable to me.

On 4/21/2017 at 3:03 AM, Erunion said:

the women being 'jerks' is actually a sneaky, clever little integral part of the worldbuilding. You see, they're not jerks, they're sexist. WOT has a lot of mild/moderate sexism in it directed against men.

My opinion is unpopular among fans I think, but I partially disagree with what you're saying here. I do think Jordan was trying to do what you say, but I DON'T think he was very good at writing women. I could go on and on, but for the sake of staying succinct my biggest piece of evidence is the way women treat one another.

People naturally complain about the gender battle in WoT. The women tend to stereotype men in negative ways, so perhaps it's just easy to jump on that. But the real problem is much deeper, because the women are just as awful to one another most of the time. Every woman in WoT is trying to scheme against and manipulate everyone else. Even their friends, half the time. They're practically incapable of just being nice to one another. And no. In typical, traditional fiction I don't think that male characters get a free pass on this kind of behavior. Take something as one sided as Lord of the Rings, with like... two or three notable females? You'd argue that all (or just most) of these characters act the same way as the WoT women? And the reader is expected to ignore it? I wholeheartedly disagree.

I'm not saying the WoT girls are unlikable. I'm just saying that Jordan fumbled on the point he was trying to make. He wasn't very good at writing strong women. The idea of them, at their core, is fantastic. And the execution isn't all bad. But the dislike is understandable. People don't dislike them because they're sexist. People don't dislike them because they're uncomfortable with a flip in gender stereotypes. People dislike like them because half the time they come across as petty, squabbling children if you don't learn to put a filter over it in your mind.

I love these books and the girls. If my criticism sounds harsh, it's just because I'm trying to make a point.

On 4/23/2017 at 8:05 AM, king of nowhere said:

finally: please, someone come with updated informations or direct sources and bring this conversation back on topic. alternatively, someone open a new thread for this discussion.

It sounds like you're looking for more solid information about how the project is progressing. I didn't post any sources, because there was already at least one other thread about the announcement. The show could absolutely be scrapped at any moment for all we know. Nobody is claiming that it will be filming by the end of the year. I had intended this post to be a just-for-fun discussion of what changes you would make from the books. Either because of something you don't like in the books or in order to suit the different format.

[king of nowhere]

53 minutes ago, jofwu said:

I'm not saying the WoT girls are unlikable. I'm just saying that Jordan fumbled on the point he was trying to make. He wasn't very good at writing strong women. The idea of them, at their core, is fantastic. And the execution isn't all bad. But the dislike is understandable. People don't dislike them because they're sexist. People don't dislike them because they're uncomfortable with a flip in gender stereotypes. People dislike like them because half the time they come across as petty, squabbling children if you don't learn to put a filter over it in your mind.

I got the impression instead that it was part of the point jordan was making. it certainly was with the forsaken: there is a post by him explaining that even the most apparently monolithic dictatorship had in truth a lot of scheming and backstabbing, and failed in large part for that - he used nazis and soviets as examples. So my read on it was that people with power tend to get magalomaniac and will actually act like squabbling petty children when fighting for control. even if they can be great people otherwise. from the politics we see on the news, I'm tempted to say that jordan was spot on, and his books have very realistic political interactions.

I recall men in power behaving better, but only because they were borderlander leaders, united by the constant fight against the common enemy, or aiel. and regarding the aiel, it is worth noting that while wise ones could almost always present a unified front, because when one managed to get enough ji in front of the others, they would follow her (exception: shaido. 'nuff said), of the aiel men almost half decided to take weapons against rand. aiel don't look like idiots who spent energy infighting when the world was in danger solely because they did all their infighting between books 4 and 5. and the battle at cahirien was about as bloody as all the wetlander wars fought during the books. aiel don't play politics, they follow you or they stab you.

overall, I'd say that men and women in power, after differences among countries and different backgrounds are taken into account, behaved equally bad

P.S. thanks for the explanation of what that announcement meant. I missed that other post.

Edited April 24, 2017 by king of nowhere

[Jofwu]

2 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

overall, I'd say that men and women in power, after differences among countries and different backgrounds are taken into account, behaved equally bad

Absolutely, but that's only part of the equation. There are more non-powerful women who make you roll your eyes than there are men. The problem transcends social class.

I'd also probably disagree with you on your point about men vs. women in powerful positions. For most of the western nations I agree that men and women are equally awful in leadership positions. But I don't think the Borderlanders get a free pass. The men are much more likeable than the women (see Tenobia). The same goes for the Aiel; humble, honest clan chiefs... manipulative, controlling Wise Ones.

Again, I don't mean to plaint it as black and white. Both genders have a mix of nice people and jerks. And the differences aren't tremendous. But I do think women are portrayed more negatively with how they treat other people, on average. (regardless of social class)

[maxal]

Sorry I haven't had time to come to this thread in a timely manner. I wanted to post as few additional things, but I was busy elsewhere. I have seen/read a few discussions relating to the WoT TV series on Tor.com. I will post the links here so people on this forum might become aware they exist.

In this one, people talk about how the series should be portrayed. So far, the discussion has focused on how to represent channeling on a television medium. There has been some talk about on whether or not adding sex/nudity is a good idea. Some expressed concern they would turn into a teenager oriented series.

http://www.tor.com/2017/04/24/excitement-and-dread-looking-ahead-to-the-wheel-of-time-tv-series/comment-page-2/#comment-663052

In this one, well, there are casting ideas. These threads are always fun to read, but also infuriating as a large chunk of the discussion is being wasted on whitewashing. I find the term is not appropriate to WoT: some suggestions truly clash with the author's intends such as turning the Two Rivers into a multicultural town, having Galad be black and changing the Aiels from white and red headed to dark skinned and dark haired because "it is more logical".

http://www.tor.com/2017/04/20/casting-ideas-for-the-new-wheel-of-time-tv-series/

As to Min, to answer to @jofwu, it isn't the existence of Min, as a character I critic, but the fact she ended being the one a majority of readers prefer. I was sadden a majority of readers would prefer the one character who gives up everything for a man, who lacks agency and a purpose to other much more interesting characters and better role models (IMHO). I do agree it would be best if they revamp her character to make less me the one who just follows a man around, but the scholarship story arc truly got on my nerves when I read the book. I found it implausible a barely literate stable girl would have the capacity to turn herself into a scholar just because she read a few books. I lacked a plausible background here, so perhaps they could show Min loving books and seeking knowledge, even in her small town, to make her progression more realistic.

[king of nowhere]

@maxal

re: links: thanks, not everyone here knows all the right forum (for example, me), so links are never wated.

re: whitewashing: well, it really is ridiculous that in a fantasy setting where most people never moved more than 50 km from their home there would be multiethnicity, except maybe in large cities or near borders. there is no need to change stuff to give wot a multiethnic casting anyway: if I got the descriptions right, the altarans are arabic/greeks, the sea folk are black, the seanchan are chinese.

re: min's unlikely scholarship: it's unlikely, but there's always the whole ta'veren business. damnation convenient for an author: whatever contrived coincidence is needed for the story can be justified by saying ta'veren. I tip my hat to robert jordan for having found a way to put something so conveneint for him in a way that made sense into the story. Anyway, books and printing exist in randland, so it isn't too far-fetched to assume min got some culture by herself, and/or in the time she spent in the white tower.

[maxal]

There is plenty of diversity within WoT (Borderlander are most probably Asian, Saldean arabic, but we could go Asian too), but the main cast of six is resolutely white. Somehow, every single character cast with a white actor, these days, has to pass to a screening test to make sure it couldn't be portrayed by any other ethnicity even if it isn't accurate. Obviously, you get I am extrapolating, but these discussions create a lot of anger in me. I recall the one thread they made about the WoK casting.... Even in cases where white actors would be better able to portray a given character, people rant it is whitewashing and wigs, dyes and artificial make-up is preferable. *Sigh* I think I hate casting discussions.

Min not having any prior experience with culture truly was an element which made me dislike her character more and see her as a plot device. I do think it would be easy to fix this, within the series, by having a few selected scenes where Min is seen reading and/or if it is made obvious she loves to read from the start, not just novels, but books about stuff to learn more stuff. 

[Jofwu]

On 4/29/2017 at 9:54 AM, maxal said:

As to Min, to answer to @jofwu, it isn't the existence of Min, as a character I critic, but the fact she ended being the one a majority of readers prefer. I was sadden a majority of readers would prefer the one character who gives up everything for a man, who lacks agency and a purpose to other much more interesting characters and better role models (IMHO). I do agree it would be best if they revamp her character to make less me the one who just follows a man around, but the scholarship story arc truly got on my nerves when I read the book. I found it implausible a barely literate stable girl would have the capacity to turn herself into a scholar just because she read a few books. I lacked a plausible background here, so perhaps they could show Min loving books and seeking knowledge, even in her small town, to make her progression more realistic.

I'm skeptical that she's preferred by a majority of readers. In most of my online interactions I get the sense that Aviendha is the crowd favorite. But I see what you're saying. And I 100% agree on her story arc. It would be an easy thing to fix. Have her reading books a lot. Have her ask philosophical questions here and there. Have her be the one who suggests the school idea to Rand. Little things like this. And have her start making small, helpful observations in the prophecies sooner. Preferably tie it in to her Viewings, so that those seem less shoehorned. Like maybe she sees images that help her make connections to some prophecies that others wouldn't be able to make.

[Brightlord M. Alhstrom]

I'll be honest, if they actually do good CGI with this, then the only thing I can think of that would completely ruin a WoT show would be excessive Sex/Nudity. It's probably unavoidable because of how important both the sweat tent scenes and the spankings are to the plot, but in my mind, the less the better.

[king of nowhere]

2 hours ago, Lord Maelstrom said:

I'll be honest, if they actually do good CGI with this, then the only thing I can think of that would completely ruin a WoT show would be excessive Sex/Nudity. It's probably unavoidable because of how important both the sweat tent scenes and the spankings are to the plot, but in my mind, the less the better.

The funny thing would be that most television spectators will assume that all those nude scenes were deliberately added by the executives to boost shares with fanservice. Heck, I'd think it, if I hadn't read the book.

[Zionite]

This will probably be Controversial Opinion but I think one of the ways this series can differentiate itself from the Crowd is to play up its Diversity of races.The World of Wheel of time is such a mix of different Races and Cultures.If they Play it up the show would certainly look different from your standard european Fantasy.



The Diversity of the Wheel of time world should allow them to Racebend without it contradicting the Stories.



I would love to see Rand and the Aiel played by an Indian Actors and Actreses.Just Dye their Hair red.

Emond Fielders Id like played by Hispanic Actors and Actresses.

[maxal]

4 hours ago, Zionite said:

This will probably be Controversial Opinion but I think one of the ways this series can differentiate itself from the Crowd is to play up its Diversity of races.The World of Wheel of time is such a mix of different Races and Cultures.If they Play it up the show would certainly look different from your standard european Fantasy.



The Diversity of the Wheel of time world should allow them to Racebend without it contradicting the Stories.



I would love to see Rand and the Aiel played by an Indian Actors and Actreses.Just Dye their Hair red.

Emond Fielders Id like played by Hispanic Actors and Actresses.

While racial diversity certainly is a very good idea for WoT, I disagree with changing the Aiel's outlooks. The fact they are tall, very white, red headed desert dwellers is such a strong part of the WoT imagery, I feel it would ruin it completely to cast them as anything else just for the shake of diversity.

There are however other possibilities for diversity. The Emond Fielders could be cast with actors, actresses having a distinct ethnic origin: the only thing of import is they are to be coherent as they are a small village closed onto the world. Most readers love to picture Lan as Asian and Faile as either Asian or Arabic. The Borderlanders countries can easily be cast with whichever of these ethnicity works best with casting. Once they reach the White Tower, then they can implement a lot of diversity as people came from everywhere in Randland to be Aes Sedai, the casting should reflect this reality. Tuon, Semirhage and Ravhin are black just as a significant proportion of the Seachan are. The casting could easily decide all of Seachan is portrayed by black actors/actresses.

There is a lot of racial diversity within WoT already: changing one of the core groups who's representation is crucial to the world into something else just to avoid casting white actors/actresses really isn't a good idea. Also, I am completely against dying the hair of a bunch of Indian actors just to pretend the show is more diverse. I am against it for SA, I am against it here and I will always be against it. 

When it comes to adapting stories for the big or the small screen, there always is some flexibility to casting, but physical characteristics which are important/crucial for any given character should be retained and cast accordingly. For instance, Rand is a red head: this is important. The actor they chose has to portray it and not wear some wigs nor silly dye just to attempt at making viewers believe he is actually a red head. They won't buy it. It will look fake and if it looks fake, then you will lose viewers. On the other hand, Moraine's hair color however isn't really important, nor is her skin tone, but they can't go with a black actress because there aren't any black people onto Randland prior to the Seachan coming. They were all into this faraway city I forgot the name, right across the Aiel waste.

[Left]

7 hours ago, maxal said:

While racial diversity certainly is a very good idea for WoT, I disagree with changing the Aiel's outlooks. The fact they are tall, very white, red headed desert dwellers is such a strong part of the WoT imagery, I feel it would ruin it completely to cast them as anything else just for the shake of diversity.

There are however other possibilities for diversity. The Emond Fielders could be cast with actors, actresses having a distinct ethnic origin: the only thing of import is they are to be coherent as they are a small village closed onto the world. Most readers love to picture Lan as Asian and Faile as either Asian or Arabic. The Borderlanders countries can easily be cast with whichever of these ethnicity works best with casting. Once they reach the White Tower, then they can implement a lot of diversity as people came from everywhere in Randland to be Aes Sedai, the casting should reflect this reality. Tuon, Semirhage and Ravhin are black just as a significant proportion of the Seachan are. The casting could easily decide all of Seachan is portrayed by black actors/actresses.

There is a lot of racial diversity within WoT already: changing one of the core groups who's representation is crucial to the world into something else just to avoid casting white actors/actresses really isn't a good idea. Also, I am completely against dying the hair of a bunch of Indian actors just to pretend the show is more diverse. I am against it for SA, I am against it here and I will always be against it. 

When it comes to adapting stories for the big or the small screen, there always is some flexibility to casting, but physical characteristics which are important/crucial for any given character should be retained and cast accordingly. For instance, Rand is a red head: this is important. The actor they chose has to portray it and not wear some wigs nor silly dye just to attempt at making viewers believe he is actually a red head. They won't buy it. It will look fake and if it looks fake, then you will lose viewers. On the other hand, Moraine's hair color however isn't really important, nor is her skin tone, but they can't go with a black actress because there aren't any black people onto Randland prior to the Seachan coming. They were all into this faraway city I forgot the name, right across the Aiel waste.

The Tearans are dark skinned actually. I don't think they necessarily were intensely black, but still black. 

[king of nowhere]

i imagined tearans with hispanic/arabic skin tone. the sharans are deeply black, and also the sea folk and some of the seanchan. so there are some black skinned people in randland before the seanchan arrival, but they stick to the sea. still, showing some in tar valon would be pperfectly fine, since their ships trade upriver too (I think, not 100% sure)

[maxal]

1 hour ago, Left said:

The Tearans are dark skinned actually. I don't think they necessarily were intensely black, but still black. 

I pictured them as dark Indians, but I agree they could decide to go with black and ignore the fact there aren't any black people outside Seachan and Sharah (I think, spelling). I mean, this isn't a really important point, Tuon just have to look exotic to Mat.

50 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

i imagined tearans with hispanic/arabic skin tone. the sharans are deeply black, and also the sea folk and some of the seanchan. so there are some black skinned people in randland before the seanchan arrival, but they stick to the sea. still, showing some in tar valon would be pperfectly fine, since their ships trade upriver too (I think, not 100% sure)

But the Sea Folks never sent their girls to the White Tower... I think the production will have to agree on where to put in black people: there certainly are many in WoT, but not in all locations. They have to decide if they want to retain this or change it. 

This being said, I do think the Mat/Tuon romance will be heavily played on as it is rather "modern": the white man falling for the black girl. I see much potential for it given the trend and the plea for diversity these days.