public universal fox

"a beggar¹." the innkeeper² grunted. "half mad, I hear. even so, he could take the Queen's Bounty at the Palace, even with things as hard as they are. on High Days, the Queen³ gives it out with her own hands, and there's never anyone turned away for any reason. no one needs to beg in Caemlyn."

so, first of all, BASED. however, it keeps going:

"even a man under warrant can't be arrested while he's taking the Queen's Bounty."

THAT'S RIGHT, Y'ALL ... someone WANTED for a CRIME can walk into the PALACE and take WELFARE from the QUEEN'S OWN HAND and then LEAVE AGAIN and NO ONE can arrest them!!!

1/2

@bookstodon #WheelOfTimeOnPrime #WheelOfTime #audiobookstodon #audiobooks #AmReading #AmReadingFantasy

¹ Padan Fain! (though of course we don't know this yet)
² Basel Gil! good friend of Thom Merrilin and my favorite innkeeper
³ and it's always the Queen, bc Andor is always ruled by a woman

Jun 11, 2025 at 7:23pmWeb
Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

I had definitely forgotten this little detail, and like, the TV show just collapses this entire plotline, which again, I do understand, but they all get separated in Shadar Logoth and then meet up in Tar Valon, instead of Caemlyn

and they don't appear to be doing the Padan Fain/Dark One's Hound/Mordeth/Machin Shin/Ordeith/Shaisam story, so it makes sense to cut out this specific conversation, since Fain isn't a madman

HOWEVER, I still think it's important that the capital city of one of the greatest nations in this world basically has Universal Basic Income, and this book was published in 1990

2/2

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Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

"do you know what rumor those idiots¹ have started now? *strange shapes*. can you believe it? *strange shapes* creeping around outside the city in the night." the innkeeper chuckled til his belly shook.

I can't remember how or even if this resolves, but it feels like more of the Strangeness of the World stuff that I'm missing in the TV show (though Rand thinks it's a Myrddraal)

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¹ The Whitecloaks, aka The Children of the Light, aka fucking religious bigots

Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

speaking of:

"the crowd was so thick that jostling was inevitable. even Whitecloaks did not enjoy their little open spaces¹ in the throng today. as Rand let the crowd carry him toward the inner city, he realized that not all animosities were being reined in. he saw one of the Children of the Light, one of three, bumped so hard he almost fell. the Whitecloak barely caught himself, and started an angry oath at the man who had bumped him, when another man staggered him with a deliberate, aimed shoulder. before the matter could go any further, the Whitecloak's companions pulled him over to the side of the street, to where they could shelter in a doorway. the three seemed caught between their normal glaring stare and disbelief."

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¹ when Whitecloaks move around in a crowd, there's always a bubble of space around them, bc they're fucking assholes who will call you a Darkfriend for accidentally bumping into them ... RJ may have based them on Knights Templar, but they're fucking cops

Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

Elaida Sedai keeps calling Logain the False Dragon "the Unbeliever", and I don't think it's ever explained what the fuck this means

like ... bc he proclaimed himself the Dragon Reborn, he's an atheist? or ... idk what else it could be 🤷🏻

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Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

another detail left out of the TV show: the Dagger from Shadar Logoth draws the Dark One's minions to it, which is why Rand and Mat are confronted by so many Darkfriends and Fades, etc

it's a small detail, but 🤷🏻 idk, bc Shadar Logoth is itself a metaphor about, like, #fascism, y'know? bc the city was aligned with the Light, but Mordeth basically convinced the city to eat itself over time, and that's how fascists operate

so leaving out that detail (and Mordeth still being kind of alive and trapped in the dead city) ... idk. I wish they'd kept in more about this particular kind of evil that started out serving the Light

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Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

Loial, #ActuallyAutistic icon:

"Loial liked to talk, and talk at length when he had the slightest chance, though he usually seemed to think a story needed two or three hundred years background to make it understood"

wait, is that autism or #ADHD? or #AuDHD?

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Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

OMG, HOW DID I FORGET THE GREEN MAN???

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Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

I also totally forgot that the Ways were made by the male Aes Sedai during the Breaking ...

and the story about granting male Aes Sedai sanctuary during the Breaking is so interesting and honestly so important to the world, in my opinion

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Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

Loial: I'm an Ogier, not a cat

was RJ a #StarTrek fan???

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Show threadEdelruth, PBS Passport HolderJun 11, 2025

@agenderfox @bookstodon

That was my big sad about season 1

Show threadlittlemiao Jun 11, 2025
@agenderfox @bookstodon Another interesting detail I overlooked despite reading that book like three times!
Show threadpublic universal foxJun 11, 2025

@littlemiao @bookstodon yeah, I mean, it goes nowhere, so it makes sense that you wouldn't remember it ...

the Wheel of Time series/world isn't quite the same as Star Trek or Doctor Who, evolving over time and building the world over time, but there is some of that¹, and this feels like that, like RJ had some idea about this Unbeliever thing, but as the series went on, he changed his mind about it, maybe?

I mean, the series was only supposed to be a trilogy at first lol

¹ for instance, in the first book, a week is probably seven days, but by the third or fourth book, a week is ten days