WoT people are white and pale

[Kaitlin 22]

Something that bothered me about the comics was that all of the Aes Sedai/Novices/Accepted/Warders basically had the exact same skin tones. It should have been really varied, since channelers and warders come from all over the continent. Tar Valon itself is supposed to be considered really metropolitan too.

 

If they ever make a movie or something I think they could pretty much bend RJ's description of looks and have it even more diverse. Well, people from the Two Rivers should all have similar looks, and Rand should probably be a redhead, and Lan have blue eyes, but really even Moiraine doesn't have to be pale. The main thing about her physicality is that she's short, not that she's extremely pale.

 

*wanders away*

[Marie 73]

*disagrees with Kaitlin violently* Moiraine is Cairhienin. Cairhienin are pale. If it's not pale it's not Moiraine.

[Kaitlin 22]

She could be any shade! She could be any look ... except that she has to be a brunette!

[Marie 73]

I'd say that Scandinavia doesn't exist at all in that world. I would know, then. I think that the equivalent countries, if they exist at all, were swallowed by the blight. I thought that the early Tinkers and the Aiel were refugees from those places, but if they're Russians that theory doesn't hold.

 

Lan could be from Finland, the country of the lakes.

 

Well, none of Earth's countries exist. Even before the Breaking. Continuing from some of the previous posts, with the exception of a few nations (Cairhien, Andor...the Aiel, etc) RJ seems to have made the populace varied in terms of coloring, Tear and Seanchan being the best examples.

 

Usually when people compare a RJ land to an Earth land, e.g. Cairhien and France, it's due to the way the government/culture is described and not due to actual locale.

 

Assuming that's what you're talking about. I admit I was a wee bit confused.

 

She could be any shade! She could be any look ... except that she has to be a brunette!

 

You are so just picking a fight!

[Kaitlin 22]

You are so just picking a fight!

 

Not at all! And I win!

 

Oh yes, something about the subject: For some reason I never pictured Andor as being mostly white, not like Cairhien, but varied like the other countries.

[Marie 73]

Andor is strange. The first queen was black. But most people you see from Andor seem to have lost their color. Odd that.

[Kaitlin 22]

I heard that close contact with the Cairhienin tends to do that to people. They should have made a long thin buffer country on that border to keep them away.

[Marie 73]

I think they did. And the Cairhienin ate them.

[Kaitlin 22]

They are so dangerous. *shakes head*

 

What is the rest of Andor largely like? I pictured the Two Rivers folk looking pretty much the same, but does the rest of Andor supposedly look like them too?

[Marie 73]

I think they have more fair people (in skin and hair/eye color) throughout Andor as compared to Two Rivers. But whether there are also darker people is a mystery.

[Brynefan 2]

I'll try to make myself clear.

 

I agree that the world as it is doesn't have much of ours, but that's because of the breaking. Look at the entire world map and you'll see that it actually could be our world, only horribly twisted. Not many people survived after the Age of Legends was over either, so the few who were left were either isolated or mixed with other so called races. Given that people could travel a lot, they were probably already quite mixed before the breaking. I'm not saying that it is our world, but it could be an alternative universe to it.

 

Look at how Cairhien (France) and Andor (England) are located. Andor to the west and Cairhien to the East. Always at war and hating one another.

 

Shara is Asia. I always thought that the Seanchan continent is America. Come on, the Seanchan drawl! Taken the great distance of time they are no longer comprehensible to, for example, Andoran ears. The elephants could have come the other way from Shara.

 

I thought that the tinker way suited "my people" quite well. We haven't been openly at war for two hundred years. Mostly because of cowardice, of course.

 

I've watched too much Star Trek, perhaps. Alternative universes is my explanation for everything soon.

 

The huge difference is that we haven't got any powers, and that's just fine. It's not our world, but it is created in our world. Jordan lives here, and we do too. We are what we have already learnt, and what we learn depeds on what's there already.

[Tosh 8]

I always thought that the Seanchan continent is America. Come on, the Seanchan drawl!

That and they travel to other continents to capture people and use them as slaves. They have also subjugated an entire people on their homeland. And ofcourse they are imperialistic whatwith the taking over the world etc.

 

I thought that the tinker way suited "my people" quite well. We haven't been openly at war for two hundred years. Mostly because of cowardice, of course.

Tinkers are awesome.

That we swedish even still have a military is just plain stupid. Who are we going to war against? F**king NATO? Switzerland? Jesus christ in a bucket.

[Marie 73]

 

Look at how Cairhien (France) and Andor (England) are located. Andor to the west and Cairhien to the East. Always at war and hating one another.

Except Cairhien also has elements of Japan in it. Shienar is far more Japanese, however. Also, RJ has said Tear is on the same longitude/latitude as Florida, USA, which would make Cairhien somewhere in New England. And for added benefit(!) RJ says Saldaea is middle eastern.

 

Shara is Asia. I always thought that the Seanchan continent is America. Come on, the Seanchan drawl! Taken the great distance of time they are no longer comprehensible to, for example, Andoran ears. The elephants could have come the other way from Shara.

 

Sharans (no idea what they call themselves ) have been described with an African appearance: "tight, curly hair and dark skins". There are things about the culture that is reminiscent of China. But also things that are reminiscent of Africa.

 

The huge difference is that we haven't got any powers, and that's just fine. It's not our world, but it is created in our world. Jordan lives here, and we do too. We are what we have already learnt, and what we learn depeds on what's there already.

 

I don't disagree that WoT takes place on Earth. I only disagree with it being an alternate universe type of situation. The Breaking changed the face of the world greatly, what with oceans becoming dry and land becoming oceans. And when you trace the influcences of the nations they don't match up geographically with ours.

 

That and they travel to other continents to capture people and use them as slaves. They have also subjugated an entire people on their homeland. And ofcourse they are imperialistic whatwith the taking over the world etc.

 

We learned it from Britain. Europe (France/England/Spain...Rome!) was far better at conquering the world than the USA could ever dream of. And pretty much all countries subjugated women for how long?

[Brynefan 2]

But you get silk from Shara, through a caravan route similar to the one people used before you could take a ship to the east. Although Shara sounds a lot like Sahara. Everybody is probably right on one point or anoter.

 

A mad Hungarian guy made me think of this entire thing. I know that it is completely made up. How else could you make Arthur Pendragon and Adolf Hitler the same person and actually let him succeed and take his "good" people to another continent, living the Main Kampf life?

 

Human beings are born with trying to make out patterns and compare things. I do believe, however, that there had to be some more people further north who were doomed quite to begin with, and these people were without a land, becoming Tinkers and Aiel.

 

And Tosh, what about Russia? I'm actually a bit tense about them right now. Hopefully they're just mad with England, but they're no longer following an agreement which was supposed to browse their military power. Not a good sign at all. I hope that Carl Bildt has some "friends" over there.

 

The WoT people are not paler than I am. Not even Moiraine could be. I reflect all the light out into the room. I think that is why people don't see me unless they look for me. Then it's a 50% chance that they actually find me, no matter how close I am.

[Olivia 26]

I always thought that the Seanchan continent is America. Come on, the Seanchan drawl!

 

Seanchan always made me think of Japanese culture for some reason. I think it's the shape of their helmets that first brought it to mind, and their stiff bend-at-the-waist bows that they give, and the fact that the Empress is somehow too great to even be looked upon (I think I read somewhere a long time ago that something similar was used with the ancient Japanese ruler).

 

I just went looking for that Seanchan helmet icon that is used in the books so that I could post it, and found this cool site that details the similarities between Seanchan (particularly the military) and feudal Japan.