Changes to Perrin

[Mirefox]

In the recap prior to Episode 8 they show Perrin’s eyes go gold and Valda’s reaction.  In the trailer that auto plays on Amazon they show a brief clip of Perrin charging down the hall in a rage (I think it comes from Episode 8).  This .5 seconds of clips makes Perrin look more heroic and essential than the entirety of the season.  That sad truth is that Perrin did absolutely nothing at all this season. Heck, the story could have been rewritten for Perrin to first appear in Season 2 and it wouldn’t have changed much.  An absolute travesty.

[JaimAybara]

Disclaimer: I am very biased about Perrin. My first dog as a child was a massive wolf dog/German Shepherd mix that was 125lbs, I’m 6ft with a burly beard, and I’ve always been a very pensive person. I related to his character more than any other, and what they have done really stings. I know it’s just a book and kind of silly to get worked up over but still. 
 

It’s difficult for me to deal with these changes. In the books he wrestled with the potential of crossing the line, but never actually did. With the Whitecloaks it was debatable at most, because he had information nobody else could corroborate for an argument of self defense. 
 

-He didn’t get the gentle mentorship from Luhan who was basically a kind uncle figure or second father figure.

 

-He doesn’t meet Elyas. A much needed mentor. 

 

-He kills his wife… 

 

-We barely get any of the wolves. Sorry Hopper. 

 

-Where is his family? His motivation for going home. *I have been informed they were mentioned in episode 2. This is a little redeeming, so that’s good,

Spoiler

I still want some face time before the loss or else it won’t have as much impact. It will have more resonance that way. If they are just mentioned and then they are dead it won’t be as powerful.

*

 

-Doesn’t kill a handful of whitecloaks. (This should have been the big moment/what he wrestled with). Would have been easy to make super amazing visually and narratively. He felt like an afterthought and the moment was given to Egwene. (Also, I read somewhere he and Rand were put on the back burner for the Dragon Reveal).

Some think Laila dying by Trollocs wouldn’t be enough, but I disagree. Maybe have him either be so caught up in the moment he couldn’t go to help her, or have him struggle with not acting soon enough… but it would have been an excellent catalyst to push him towards the wolf and go into the rage more and more throughout the season seeking to defend what he failed to protect at first.  Then have him kill whitecloaks and create the conflict This would set it up nicely for his later development between the hammer and axe, without just relying on all the Whitecloaks being cartoonishly evil,(even though Valda does it exceedingly well*it doesn’t really make sense in the same way that he becomes their Whitecloaks most wanted*) maybe have one of them look younger as an innocence fakeout? Then he can start to contemplate.
 

A lot of people complain about how he moped in the middle of the series, this was 1000x worse than that for me. “Get rid of the Faile capture story, it’s boring and he becomes too depressed.” “Okay!” (Immediately kills a wife he never had and makes him Eeyore for the entire season). I’m going to give them season 2 to see if they can fix this, but wow. 

 

I just hate what they have done in its entirety so far for his character. I get some people love the changes/May never have liked Perrin before, but many fans did. I loved how he was always there for Rand (except a short time in The Great Hunt) and most of the time in the world of Dreams where nobody ever saw his exploits. He quietly did what needed doing.

Spoiler

His deepest loss came from his family upon his return…

and if they give him this plot still. It is such overkill. I think they painted themselves into a corner. As for potential changes I always thought it would have been cool to give him the

Spoiler

Fain kill because of the enormous loss of his family.

 

As for his struggles. He was always faithful to his wife, it was the ladies cattiness and his soldiers starting scuttlebutt in the camp in a perception vs. reality situation that always got him into trouble. (This is one thing in the show I think they did right to give credit where it’s due, but way too soon). Plus it remains to be seen that they don’t continue down this road and make it even messier. They have just overloaded us on incompetence and potential scummy behavior way too soon and at the same time no less, and there isn’t anything to balance it out yet really. It left us with a character who hasn’t really done anything all season. The Wolves got richer character development and we barely saw them. 

The struggle with killing was whether or not he liked it too much in a Viking bloodlust / the Hunt sort of way and him balancing that with the necessity of violence to protect those he loved. They’ve completely shifted it to killing = bad+guilty over Laila. This was also supported by wonderfully thought out non-violent perspectives. And the arguments for violence has been reduced to kindergartner logic. If they had Elyas he could have at least challenged their position with a subtle accusation of cowardice masquerading as virtue. Then the Tinkers could in turn question Elyas and his motivations. That as a viewer would have been really compelling to watch play out. Give me good arguments from both sides. Make me as a viewer wrestle with the decision Perrin has to make himself. Anyway, apologies for the long post. 

 

Edited December 29, 2021 by JaimAybara
*Whitecloaks most wanted*/ *Perrin’s Family*

[ArrylT]

3 hours ago, JaimAybara said:

-He didn’t get the gentle mentorship from Luhan who was basically a kind uncle figure or second father figure.

 

I would have liked to have seen Master Luhhan - however the absence of something in the show does not mean it did not occur - it simply was not portrayed.  I suppose we'll know in a few seasons if that character will make an appearance (ie will Perrin return to Two Rivers to become the Lord unwillingly).

 

3 hours ago, JaimAybara said:

-Where is his family? His motivation for going home.

 

 

 

He mentions his parents in Ep2 in Shadar Logoth and says to Mat he is convinced they will help Egwenes parents look after Mats sisters.

 

Just to be clear - I only responded to those 2 points because that was all I feel I could contribute. 

 

I completely respect your perspective on Perrin, even if I do not share it (although I do agree on some points) , and definitely did not feel it was too "long".  Personally I think posts like that are great.  I really enjoy seeing how other people think about characters and what they are looking for in that character and what is missing.

 

Anyways, basically, as mentioned above, I am happy with Perrin so far, while still quite open to having had more Perrin centric scenes.   One of my favorite sections from EOTW that wont make it in the show is the chase by the ravens just before then enter the stedding. 

 

If I had to make a top 5 of the characters from the books - Perrin would definitely be in that top 5.   He is in my current top 5 of the show.  

[JaimAybara]

1 minute ago, ArrylT said:

 

I would have liked to have seen Master Luhhan - however the absence of something in the show does not mean it did not occur - it simply was not portrayed.  I suppose we'll know in a few seasons if that character will make an appearance (ie will Perrin return to Two Rivers to become the Lord unwillingly).

 

 

He mentions his parents in Ep2 in Shadar Logoth and says to Mat he is convinced they will help Egwenes parents look after Mats sisters.

 

Just to be clear - I only responded to those 2 points because that was all I feel I could contribute. 

 

I completely respect your perspective on Perrin, even if I do not share it (although I do agree on some points) , and definitely did not feel it was too "long".  Personally I think posts like that are great.  I really enjoy seeing how other people think about characters and what they are looking for in that character and what is missing.

 

Anyways, basically, as mentioned above, I am happy with Perrin so far, while still quite open to having had more Perrin centric scenes.   One of my favorite sections from EOTW that wont make it in the show is the chase by the ravens just before then enter the stedding. 

 

If I had to make a top 5 of the characters from the books - Perrin would definitely be in that top 5.   He is in my current top 5 of the show.  

I had forgotten the part of his family being mentioned, good catch, so that’ is a little redeeming for me I’ll have to do a rewatch to pick up some more, and add a * in my original post for the correction.
 

Wasn’t overly thrilled with the flashbacks as they utilized them so I hope Luhan isn’t done that way if they do. It felt rushed when they did it for Tam. I just always found Perrin to be lithe and dangerous, even more so as he became more like the wolves, and man was he just all around a bummer to watch when he was on screen, haha. I’m not giving up yet, but it’s been rough for some of the characters. 

[Vartija]

I still struggle to see the benefits of making him kill his wife. To me it just burdened the character with something that is really difficult to shrug off for the rest of the series. It complicates his future relationships and makes his portrayal in the show darker and kind of depressing to watch. It's something I feel like they'll have to remind the viewers of in the future and every time they do it brings back the shadow over him. I understand the appeal of a tragic figure but to me the depressed Perrin just didn't make for entertaining watching. People say they want more scenes for him but I can't fully agree with that because so much of it would just be him agonizing over what he did to Laila.

 

I think the actor has struggled with portraying this side of him and in hindsight I wish they hadn't burdened him with such a dark role. The small moments of care-free Perrin that we got in E1 before the dark deed and a couple of scenes since then feel like a breath of fresh air in comparison. I think that Perrin would have made for more compelling tv and made him far more relatable than the shellshocked Perrin of season 1. They could still make him face some of his darker thoughts over killing but it wouldn't consume his character as much as killing his wife did. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Vartija

[notpropaganda73]

As things stand I would certainly agree that the change to his character in having a wife and accidentally killing her has not been justified whatsoever. I understand the arguments about so much of Perrin's struggle being internalised but he barely said a word of import for the entirety of S1 so it's hard to say that anything has changed in that regard. I will give them a bit of a pass for the final two episodes as I think Barney Harris's departure impacted the Fal Dara storyline a lot more, but his "arc" over the first 6 eps wasn't illustrated well at all. I would say the best scene he was involved in was Ila explaining the Way of the Leaf to him, talking about her daughter and being spun out in a future world etc. But he hasn't had anyone to juxtapose against that view i.e Elyas. 

 

For S2 I am assuming that Perrin will try to hunt down Fain (as he could "smell" Fain, possibly getting rid of Hurin?) and I hope that they meet Elyas on that journey. Without Elyas, it's very hard for me to see how Perrin learns about the wolf within him and controlling the violence etc.