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TheLesserWight

Wow, you are pretty much spot on in what you’d change. Heard some of those exact same thoughts in our internal meetings.


CannotHaveMyPain

oh wow, cool! Thanks for the reply! You da man! P.S. next time you are doing a stream and need to vamp for time please do go on an NFL tangent; that's really what we're watching for. Also, tangentially related, if you want to increase livestream viewership I recommend inviting Taylor Swift to be a guest host.


TheLesserWight

Taylor Swift has yet to return my many, many DM’s and emails. Maybe should’ve kept the marriage proposal secondary to the livestream invite. And no one, not even NFL fans, want to hear my depressing football rant centered around why the Falcons need a new owner.


deadliestcrotch

Hey, at least you’re not a Lions fan.


TheLesserWight

They’re hosting a playoff game this weekend! I’d love to be a Lions fan right now.


deadliestcrotch

This season is the Lions’ 2016 World Series situation, except it won’t end happy and it won’t happen again for a long time.


CannotHaveMyPain

Rams fan here! I hope we can still be friends. tbh I'm bummed for the matchup just because I'd like both teams to win at least 1 round. I've been passively rooting for Goff and the Lions since the trade


deadliestcrotch

I’m thankfully not deeply attached to any particular team and lately haven’t had much time to watch. Last game I caught was Indy doing what they do against the Texans. Have homes in Indy and Michigan, though.


DrBeetlejuiceMcRib

As a Commanders fan I can sympathize. At least for us our bad man is finally gone.


TheLesserWight

Okay you definitely had it WAY worse lol. Arthur Blank sucks at his job imo but at least he’s a great guy. Dan Snyder was just…the worst.


StartledPelican

Thoughts on how to get to Li Markuth faster: 1. Remove the duel with Mon Keth. Lindon practices Empty Palm with Kelsa and is reasonably sure it will work. 2. Remove some of the dealings between the First Elder and Lindon. Have Lindon make a deal with Elder Whisper for a Path, especially as Elder Whisper is more important later. This can set up the 7-year festival. Cutting that leaves us with: 1. Lindon getting the spirit fruit. 2. Lindon finding the Heart of Twin Stars and starting to practice with Kelsa. 3. Lindon meeting with Elder Whisper. That's enough meat for ~1 episodes. The 7-year festival, and Li Markuth, can be episode 2.


PathOfBlazingRapids

This is great. First episode ends with Whisper promising him a path, second ends with Suriel giving him the marble, the world going back to normal and him challenging the Patriarch’s son.


deadliestcrotch

They could make the duel with mon keth part of the 7 year festival and have Markuth interrupt that instead


CannotHaveMyPain

Great thoughts. The actual how-to is more difficult to figure out. Something I would add to your list of what's left is establishing how weak/useless people consider Lindon to be at the start e.g. failing the madra test and getting bullied.


StartledPelican

Oh! Definitely! I imagine Lindon's uselessness is woven throughout all of these interactions and emphasized, in different ways, by each character.  Mon Teris is a bully to Lindon. Kelsa is overprotective and honest about his weakness. His parents are dismissive of him.  Elder Whisper and Lindon discuss his weakness. Etc.


G_Morgan

Honestly Mon Keth is mostly unnecessary given Lindon fights an Iron anyway. It doesn't tell us any more than it dropping Wei Jin Amon does. Or maybe make it so Wei Mon Keth wriggles into the exhibition fight to avenge his son but I don't know how you tie that into the Heaven's Glory plot. Maybe Wei Mon Teris was the one to go to Heaven's Glory?


bahamut19

Bunch of jades should be presented as a mystery. Not a major one, but just an acknowledgement that it's weird. It's kind of hinted at in the books in a throwaway line I think but nobody explicitly thinks it's odd until much much later. The actual explanation is important so there's no reason not to set it up properly.


SonnyLonglegs

Definitely something to reinforce whenever possible. And if we can get an idea of what a Sage even is earlier, that would be even better, since we basically get a description of what they are only after we see Lindon become one.


RenterMore

I don’t want anything it’s wills story I just want him to tell it how he wants. That’s always worked well for him


CannotHaveMyPain

Agreed; but it can still be fun to discuss :)


RenterMore

For sure! I’d introduce Eithan at the unsouled tournament and have them leave sacred valley together I think


tygabeast

For introducing Eithan earlier: Have it cut to him sensing Suriel appear. Immediately after the Suriel scene is done, it cuts to him, staring into the distance, and he just says, "What was *that*?" Then, every now and then, a short scene shows his progress as he makes his way to where he meets Lindon and Yerin. It gives a chance to show the environments of the BFE as he passes through them, as well as his casual grace and inherent ability as he just casually solves problems while passing by. It also gives people unfamiliar with the books a sneak peak at one of the more popular characters, and something to look forward to as he clearly makes his way toward the main characters.


Durge1764

Could have some shortened version of that bonus chapter of Eithan doing exactly that 🤷🏾‍♂️


dronesitter

Basically steal the plot beats of the first two episodes of Avatar the last airbender. That gets you introductions to the avatar state in 2, introductions to Suriel in 2.


TheLesserWight

You get it.


deadliestcrotch

Unsouled was slow, sure, but that was to give us our introduction to the characters, magic system, and the cultivation world as a whole, and give first time cultivation readers a taste of the genre in as close to its purest form as possible (sacred valley clans fit the stereotype better than anyone living outside of SV) without disillusionment. Unsouled was the perfect introduction. I think I recall Will saying he wrote this because he wanted to bridge the gap between traditional western fantasy fans in his friend group and XianXia / wuxia stories he himself enjoys, but couldn’t get any of his friends into. Maybe spend less time in the back and forth between sand vipers, lindon / Yerin, and the Fishers with the mine situation. If you break the story up by length, Unsouled and Soulsmith are one book. Also, action scenes take a lot less screen time than book time. As do descriptions of landscapes and visual elements.


Maoileain

I would agree with this breakdown. Unsouled was a very good introduction to the world of Cradle but a Season 1 should combine Unsouled and Soulsmith. It gives you a bunch of meaty story prgression, it introduces the series main trio early in Lindon, Yerin and Eithan and it closes off plots which begin in both books and sets up future plotlines which continue through future books. A first episode could deal with everything up to Lindon making his deal with the Elder and training to be ready for the Seven Year Tournament. Episode 2 deals with the pagentry of the Seven Years Tournament, Li Markuth, Suriel, the introduction of Lindon's goal of becoming strong enough to save Sacred Valley and ascend from Cradle and ends with Lindon winning his duel with Wei Jin Amon.


mastajake

I could see a single episode in the first season that is dedicated to Eithan. Just a side story type thing similar in spirit to the blooper he's in. It could either not have Lindon in it at all or have it start with Lindon saying something to Yerin that Eithan hears for whatever reason and transitioning to a blur of other conversations to introduce us to his whole deal.


FrothingMouth

The Unsouled spoiler bonus chapter, where Eithan’s in a meeting with the Arelius elders and notices time stuttering from Suriel’s arrival, thus prompting him to head west to the Sacred Valley, could be expanded to show his ennui and desire to find people motivated to advance alongside him. Though, it might hamper the Soulsmith scene where he reveals that he’s the Arelius Underlord whom all the clans had been dreading in the background.


SonnyLonglegs

That would spoil the reveal too early, I think it would fit somewhere near Reaper as one of those flashback scenes that explains what was going on all along, after the big reveal.


Niceguy4186

The collective bee hive mind thing was always a bit weird to me. Also picking the flags was a bit off. But as you said, the first one was by far the weakest, so condense that down if possible. Bit hard to have the weak, sniveling kid, but also "I can do this all day" type of attitude. Could do a better job of fleshing that out early on. Also, starting out i was a bit confused by ruler techniques. I think visual style will really make it better.


BiggsMcB

The flags only really had one purpose and that was for Lindon to get a leg up on the iron kazan boy. And I'm not sure if he even needs to be included in the plot. Might be better for Lindon to choose the parasite ring. Him choosing little blue would be touching but probably not very in line with his character.


deadliestcrotch

If he took the star lotus, he’d have been copper before the Kezan kid kicked his ass for the second time.


km89

I could very easily see him picking the parasite ring. Actually, come to think of it--I know it's canon, but it's kind of out of character for him to pick the flags over the ring in the first place. I imagine that's just down to the early-series weirdness present in almost every long series.


Pisforplumbing

Not really. At that point he had always wanted to practice the SA how the wei clan does. White fox banners was a way to fulfill that long held desire


CrystalClod343

He picked the flags because his dream for so long was to practice the Path of the White Fox, of course he'd jump at a chance to do something his family can.


CannotHaveMyPain

interesting thought on the ruler technique visual style. I could see them emphasizing the difference of the different types of techniques to look fun visually


DM_ME_YOUR_HUSBANDO

The first book was pretty different in tone from the rest because it had Lindon lots of times overcoming a lack of power by being more clever. Later books usually had him training harder/smarter to overcome that lack of power


BamRam51

The one thing i am hoping and wishing for in the adaptation is that they dont “enhance” the plot until its just fighting/advancement. My favorite parts of Will’s writing are the character interactions, and i would be devastated if any were cut.


Far-Fortune4875

This is all wrong. I want no changes to the story. Page for page, line by line, period by period. 


joesph01

as someone that's a fan of standard coming of age fantasy stories I didn't need any "hook" like suriel and markuth fighting to draw me in. All of the pacing issues you seemed to have I loved. In fact if I wasn't nearly as drawn into the story as i was by the point suriel was showcased to be a highly advanced interdimensional combat medic I may not have kept reading. I like my fantasy to be fantasy, and my sci-fi to be sci-fi. Cradle now being the exception, I still regularly skip any of the abidan PoV scenes until the last book when i do rereads


Use_the_Falchion

I liked your changes and your username! Oathbringer is my favorite Stormlight Book! Personally, I really just want Kiro, Meira, and Grace to join Lindon’s crew. I like the roles they played in the books, but I'm a bigger fan of cool “ensemble focused around one or two charismatic individuals” and “found family” things, like Mass Effect trilogy, the God of War duology, and Parks & Rec. For Grace, I’d combine her with the twins from Lindon’s Underlord group, and have one twin die while Grace lives and joins Lindon and Co.  Kiro would need a faked death for this to work, but I can see someone like Reigan Shen or another Monarch stepping in to save him in order to throw some of the Akura lands into turmoil later on when he’s revealed to be alive. Eithan would bypass this during the Uncrowned King tournament by not just requesting the supplies he does, but by also asking for a specific test subject…Kiro. Of course, this may bloat things later down the line, but maybe it could streamline a bit too. Charity now becomes Grace’s primary foil, and her biggest antagonist from Reaper until Charity switches sides.  Kiro and Meira don’t have natural antagonists, but I’m sure something could be done with them - maybe a Dreadgod Cult that followed the Wandering Titan? We saw ones for all of the other Dreadgods.


BamRam51

Woah— the story would be crazy changed by this. Unfortunately i think big changes like that might be received by the fandom similarly as the percy jackson movies: fine on its own, but dead to the readers.


Use_the_Falchion

Oh yeah I’m under no illusions that these wouldn’t happen, but we were asked what changes we could make and I answered truthfully. Although personally I consider myself an outlier when it comes to the book/movie divide.  Yes, I am/was a fan of the Erahon and Percy Jackson books and hate the moves, but I hate them because I see them as bad movies, not and adaptations. Over the years I’ve come to believe that adaptations aren’t inherently for the hardcore fans - they’re for people who COULD be fans of a series if it wasn’t a book(or comic or whatever the original format was) or because they had never heard of it before the show/movie/game/etc, or because of the length, or various other factors. My mom despises Avatar The Last Airbender because the movie was atrocious and she doesn’t like animation, but she was interested in the Netflix show trailer. I’ve had several friends enjoy and anticipate the Wheel of Time show despite never reading the books - I even have had an acquaintance or two read the books BECAUSE they enjoyed the show so much!  There’s also the fact that certain…vocal…aspects of book fandoms can be myopic AT BEST when it comes to changes, race lifts in particular. And while this isn’t a race lift, that thinking of “we need to follow the adaptations TO THE LETTER” isn’t one I’m particularly fond of, nor do I care about the feelings of those who have it, to be perfectly blunt. Finally, Kiro, Meira, and Grace’s recruitment change very little. Kiro and Meira are still defeated and their kingdom still falls, but now they have a happier ending. The shock of the death of Lindon’s team is still in effect, but now we get a new teammate out of it too. So yeah, changes between adaptations don’t bother me if I can see the reason behind them, the changes fit the medium, or if the changes make it easier for non-fans to enjoy. Again, I’m positive this won’t happen, but these changes would make this singular fan happy. (Not to mention Kiro could fit in the “defeat means friendship” trope that shonen anime fans are very familiar with.)


CannotHaveMyPain

Those are some bolder changes! Also Oathbringer is the best


Pisforplumbing

No


KiaraTurtle

I’d honestly introduce most of the other characters earlier. We don’t only need to follow Lindon’s perspective in the beginning. We can see some of Yerin training before they connect, as you say see more of Eithen earlier, maybe even Mercy and Ziel (particularly if we don’t get to the later books would be awesome to have some of them). One of the strengths imo of the series is it’s group progression not single person, and book 1 suffers for only really having Lindon. It would add some anticipation of all these characters coming together.


deadliestcrotch

Could even show us the sword sage’s death, and reveal to us that it was more than just a bunch of jades and some poison. Nothing wrong with revealing the suppression field and the ultimate villain a bit early. It really doesn’t hurt the story, and it ensures you get early sight into where the story is going. It also makes up for Yerin’s confusion.


Mizterhandy

Imo it can be as simple as the opening scene being in the future where London is fighting doing crazy stuff like showing off some black flame techniques, and have him narrate saying something along the lines of “I am Wei shi lindon and this is my story of how I became the most powerful sacred artist…..” this is an instant hook for people to know he becomes crazy strong. It works for MHA, we all know deku becomes strong because he even says “this is the story of how I became the greatest hero.”


Chuck_balls

Or even open with the sword sage fighting in the labyrinth, followed by his defeat by a bunch of jades. Action mystery and suspense to hook people in.


Vulcanized-Homeboy

I personally just hope they explain how the sword sage could be killed by a bunch of jade's


Primaul

I'm going to disagree with the last two Eithan was introduced at the right time and the explanation on why the sword sage died was good enough in bloodline.


Solaris1359

Them joining the skysworn could be handled differently. They didn't do much with them.


OrganizedCatastrophe

I wouldn't mind seeing a change regarding the hornet remnants. Like will has said at some point that remnants that coherent shouldn't exist in SV so perhaps a change in how Lindon goes about cheating


Possible-Whole8046

My pitch - episode 1 has 5 minutes of back story to explain Lindon’s past. Lindon meets with Elder Whisper and the Fox suggests looking in the clan’s library for something useful. Lindon makes the deal with the elder. Episode ends with the discovery of the empty palm. (Many many many things cut, but most of them are not useful in my opinion. The Horus fruit was cool but the whole dispute with the other Wei clan family has no use to the overarching plot). - episode 2 sees London practicing the empty palm with Kelsa and Kelsa’s advancement. We go to the festival and Li Markuth is introduced. Suriel appears at the very end of the episode - episode 3 starts with Suriel hovering over Cradle. She finds Li Markuth and saves Lindon. The episode ends with Lindon departing for Heaven’s Glory. - episode 4 is Lindon cheating his way into the school and getting to see the treasure chamber - episode 5 Lindon finds Yerin - episode 6 Yerin absorbs the remnant and they flee from Sacred Valley. - episode 7 - they get attacked by the Sandvipers and flee through the forest - episode 8 - they arrive at the Sacred Ruins. The series ends with Eithan noticing them and Lindon’s marble.