Originally Posted by
Murk
I'm not surprised by controversy either, but I think the casting is fine.
I agree that all the Randland countries should have a visually distinctive touch, but skin colour is not the only way to be visually distinctive. I'd say it isn't even the easiest way to be visually distinctive. Wheel of Time is filled with weird mustacheless beards, silly hats, strange tattoos, braids or pony tails, colourfull or dull dresses and many other visual cultural marks that can be pasted onto any actor independent of skin colour.
If all Two River folk have braids and embroidered shirts (while no other people does), they will be absolutely visually distinct, an obvious separate ethnicity, and it's easy to make Rand a clear outsider.