Lathspell said:

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I always felt the Alethi were presented int he books as more middle-eastern/Indian than east-asian. However, due to Shallan's descriptions in the books, I've understood the Vedens to be much more caucasian.

She is literally described as pale-skinned, freckled, and with red hair. But i'm supposed to think she looks Asian? I call BS on that.

I've also always gone back and forth on the people from Iri, Rira, and the Reshi Isles. So many of them are blonde with tan skin.

And the end of the day, the exact race of each people isn't the MOST important thing to me. I do hope any adaptation doesn't present roshar as a modern day American city. You're supposed to notice someone is specifically Makabaki or from Vedenar, or Thaylenah. That's such an important part to the worldbuilding, and I know Brandon has specifically mentioned that. You may see more mixed near certain borders, but the various cultures stay fairly segregated. That is, aside from Bridge 4, apparently.

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I think people tend to imagine themselves /people that look like them in things they read unless it's explicitly notated. Especially main characters. BS didn't make any of the characters with specific analogs in his descriptions, so I can see why fan art and the like tends to lean Caucasian with big Hollywood name comparisons. I know I did when I first read WoK (which is still my absolute fave) I guess I read something about the characters having more Asian characteristics between that and WoR, so since then I've always imagined the characters that way. For example, I've always envisioned Adolin to be like Henry Golding. Ironically I also have envisioned Dalinar being a Bautista type.

I would also echo that my hope, is with Hollywood knowing this, it encourages them to eventually do a worthwhile adaptation, with an heavily minority cast. Especially in the heels of how well received Shogun(and others) was.

My mental picture of Kaladin in WoK is Aladdin.

Bautista is an interesting choice, though I don't know if he has the range to pull off such a leading character. Dalinar is in my top 3 favorite characters in any book I've read. I would have very high expectations for anyone taking on that role.

Difficult to find an Asian actor between 45 and 60 who has the sheer size and presence described to Dalinar. That would be such an important casting for any adaptation, if you want it to truly impact an audience.

I was googling Asian actors in that age range, just to see if any passed the "eye test" for me, and I thought Takehiro Hira's look could pull it off. He's also 6" tall, and you could boost him a little more with boots and such.

I would also wonder if you focused on a specific Asian culture for each Rosharan country. It's harder for me to tell the difference between chinese, japanese, korean, etc, and wouldn't want to just lump anyone with epicanthal folds into a single group. Granted, then you may run into simple casting issues.

Fun to think about.

Lathspell said:

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Bautista is an interesting choice, though I don't know if he has the range to pull off such a leading character. Dalinar is in my top 3 favorite characters in any book I've read. I would have very high expectations for anyone taking on that role.

Difficult to find an Asian actor between 45 and 60 who has the sheer size and presence described to Dalinar. That would be such an important casting for any adaptation, if you want it to truly impact an audience.

I was googling Asian actors in that age range, just to see if any passed the "eye test" for me, and I thought Takehiro Hira's look could pull it off. He's also 6" tall, and you could boost him a little more with boots and such.

I would also wonder if you focused on a specific Asian culture for each Rosharan country. It's harder for me to tell the difference between chinese, japanese, korean, etc, and wouldn't want to just lump anyone with epicanthal folds into a single group. Granted, then you may run into simple casting issues.

Fun to think about.

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I could see Daniel Dae Kim

I agree with Takehiro. Him or Tadanobu Asano would be good. Honestly, I'm just thinking of Shogun and the standout actors from that series ha

Yeah, I was looking at him, but thought he was probably too good looking and not rough looking enough for Dalinar, but you can do wonders with makeup.

You would probably end up with some very new actors for Kaladin (19-20 in WoK), Shallan (17), and Adolin (21-24).

Agreed on Dalinar being a favorite character. Been a while since I read 1-4, but I think Oathbringer is my favorite of the bunch in no small part thanks to Dalinar.