Story threads you think should be changed in the TV series

[ArrylT]

I would like to see a lot of condensing in the area of Illian / Tear / Cairhein nobles plotting against Rand.

 

Obviously not the part where 

 

Spoiler

Rand is captured and put in a box and rescued at Dumai Wells

 

just the other plots later on - the show can likely survive without the majority of those nobles.  

[Jaysen Gore]

1 hour ago, JenniferL said:

I agree, the Shaido, Seafolk and Kin can be cut or greatly reduced. The Bowl of the Winds can be cut or reduced. The Mat/Tylin relationship “has not aged well” and needs to be depicted as more consensual if they decide to keep it. Elayne’s succession war needs to be wrapped up far more quickly. 

I think they keep some of the Kin; the Bowl is what gets Mat to Ebou Dar, where he meets Tuon.  And I bet they keep the Tylin relationship as is. Also the Morgase one, and Rand's initial day with Min. 3 different takes on the grey areas of that particular topic

 

The Shaido i expect to be done with at Dumai's wells, and the Seafolk are likely out - large boats are expensive FX, and hard to fake. although it will cost me one of my favourite lines of the series:

 

" treat him well, look after the little things, and he will fight for you long after he has taken his death blow. But ignore the little signs, and he will drown you under a clear blue sky"

[Jaysen Gore]

I want to see Cadsuane, pretty much untouched. And she'll likely be way less expensive than Rosemund Pike. Unless they bring in Cate Blanchett.

 

Given that style guide picture today, the Seanchan are in. About 3 1/2 seasons worth I would guess. (2, 6-8)

 

My biggest changes:

 

1- The Shaido don't survive Dumai's Wells, Faile's kidnapping goes to Masema or the Children, and gets wrapped up in less than a season.

2 - Camelyn politics get less than a season, if any. 

3 - the Tairen / Illian / Cairhien noble stories are barely mentioned

4 - the Puppet Aes Sedai story arc (Lelaine / Romanda) is almost eliminated

5 - Padan Fain's story ends differently

 

My biggest fears:

1 - We lose the Horn, the Hunters, and the Heroes

2 - We lose the Red Veils

3 - We lose the protagonist insurgents inside the two towers introduced mid series

4 - We lose Aludra and the Dragons

 

My screwiest change:

Give Elayne Gawyn's storyline

Hinderstap stays as is

 

But honestly, even at 64 episodes, there is just so much bloat in the middle that they can do the first 4 books in 3 seasons, have 3 seasons for the last 3, and stick everything else in the middle two, without dropping a lot of the major plotlines.

[Daenelia]

Can we just totally skip book 8.

 

I really really had a hard time with book 8 and I do not want to go through it again. It was mostly filler. So I think it can be easily compressed, so we are left with the diamond it should be.

 

(Funny. I had books 1-7 in paperback, and started buying the HB from 8 onwards. Of course, the paperbacks and hardbacks were on different shelves due to space issues. So my guy decided he would surprise me by 'completing' my favourite book series without consulting me. He gave me a pb copy of book 8. The book I most dislike out of the whole series. It was not a fun christmas on the present receiving front.)

 

(( He never ever gives me books anymore withou asking me. Lesson learned. ))

[RextheDog]

yeah id say if i could make just the one change it would run like this

 

just then, Perrin noticed out of the corner of his eyes a pretty young dark haired lady with a distinctive nose, he was instantly attracted to her, he didnt know why, he turned to her but as he was about to say hello a stream of white hot light flashed infront of his eyes and where the lady was, a pair of boots stood, smoke pouring out of them, and just as quickly as that, the light was gone, nobody blinked...Perrin mulled over it for a moment then turned back to his apple brandy and hard cheese and forgot about the whole incident...life would go on, it had to....there was a world to save.

[Raezold]

20 hours ago, expat said:

The whole Sea Folk thread.  Their main plot points (Aes Sedai can be bullied, not all women channelers are Aes Sedai, and other Prophecies of the Dragon exist) echo ones that already exist with the Aiel Wise Ones.  

 

But..., I want to sail along on one of their ships and see what all the fuss is about ?

[fra85uk]

Well, for me it's difficult because I loved almost equally all the books (LoC being my favourite).

 

Since it is clear that we are going to see much more new content than the original one, I would rather respond that they can change and cut  anything they want as long as they give me Mat/Tuon arc.

[RhienneAgain]

I think the Seafolk will be cut but I'm actually a bit sad about this. I don't care for them at all in the story but it could have made for some beautiful scenes. I wonder if Bowl of the Winds could be cut entirely to?

 

I think the Wondergirls hunt for the Black Ajah may be reduced to a hunt for Moghedian.

 

Tel'aran'rhiod hasn't been introduced yet...I wonder if it could be cut? I actually wouldn't mind too much. I know it plays an important role in the book but many of the events could be modified to real world settings or removed without too much impact. Perrin and Egwene have enough else going for them.

 

Egwene's romance with Gawyn could be ditched. It was underdeveloped and I could see her story arc being fulfilled well by her being independent.

 

Agreed on ditching/cutting down Shaido and Tower politics, as well as Mordeth. I'd ditch Isam, too, and the Sharans.

 

I think Elayne's quest for the throne arc could be massively reduced and will probably be limited to Cairhien or Caemlyn (one throne for her only).

 

I anticipate Alanna and Myrelle being merged, potentially with interesting consequences - Alanna holding Lan's and Rand's bonds simultaneously? Nynaeve healing Alanna in the cave at the end after having Lan's bond passed by her? Also potentially bizarre consequences like Lan being part of a foursome with Alannaand her other Warders as his therapy for getting over Moiraine (I felt this was potentially foreshadowed by his conversation with Steppin in episode 5).

[RhienneAgain]

Oh, I would ditch the resurrections/recreations of the Forsaken, as well. No Halima, no Aran'gar and Osan'gar. Too involved and complicated, and by the time you'd be introducing them they'd be no time to develop them or explain them on screen.

[dwn]

6 hours ago, RhienneAgain said:

I think the Seafolk will be cut but I'm actually a bit sad about this. I don't care for them at all in the story but it could have made for some beautiful scenes. I wonder if Bowl of the Winds could be cut entirely to?

 

I think the Wondergirls hunt for the Black Ajah may be reduced to a hunt for Moghedian.

 

It might be possible to merge these two plot arcs. The Bowl could be among the ter'angreal Liandrin steals from the Tower. The BA hunt in Tear/Tanchico kind of peters out, and the search for the Bowl begins with Elayne using Need in T'A'R, which would be extremely hard to depict on screen.

[RextheDog]

to me the biggest test the show will face is Dumai Wells.

 

done correctly, it could be the greatest moment in high fantasy TV

 

done incorrectly......*****shudders*****...

[RhienneAgain]

18 minutes ago, dwn said:

 

It might be possible to merge these two plot arcs. The Bowl could be among the ter'angreal Liandrin steals from the Tower. The BA hunt in Tear/Tanchico kind of peters out, and the search for the Bowl begins with Elayne using Need in T'A'R, which would be extremely hard to depict on screen.

Oooh, I like this idea a lot!

[RhienneAgain]

I think they may ditch Valan Luca and the menagerie, sadly (as I think that could be hysterical!).

 

Portal stones might go, too.

[WhiteVeils]

I hope they keep Valan Luca.  But I could see them combining Tarabon and Abou Dar into one location.

I think for the TV Series, they'll do everything they can to give each MAJOR character a character arc per season.  If you look at it this way, some of the explanations for what changes have been made make more sense.
 

These are some of my guesses of what they will do, but who knows?

Season 1:
Rand > Accepting Egwene moving on, and himself moving on from staying home and the life he had to being away from home.
Perrin > Reconciling with his wife's death and that he is not to blame
Mat > Breaking from his 'bad roots', the dagger and being freed, at least partially from it
Egwene > Understanding that intelligence is her greatest weapon and learning to use it

Nynaeve > Recognizing that she has responsibilities to more than this Two River's Group

Lan > Realizing he can love

Moraine > Facing the possibility of her own death

 

Season 2:
Rand > Accepting he can channel

Perrin > Understanding and accepting, at least in part, that he is a Wolfbrother

Mat > EITHER (or both) figuring out how to live with a terminal diagnosis OR dealing with the consequences of the promise he made to Rand to kill him before he goes mad

Egwene > Seanchen. I'll leave that at that, because I don't know how they'll spin it

Nynaeve > Realizing that she needs help sometimes for some things, she can't do it alone

Lan and Moraine > Tough, since they aren't in Great Hunt really. I think they will make a new storyline for them rather than just cut them out of the show for a season.

Season 3:

Obviously much further off, but I'll give some hopes that they might tackle in terms of character arcs.

Rand > Dealing with actually being the Dragon Reborn. He wasn't really in book 3 much at all, so they may sideline him for a bit

Perrin > Opening to finding love again

Mat > Amnesia

 

 

Those are random thoughts anyway.  I want them to keep Faile, but adjust her character so she is better...they need more 'non magic women' characters; it'd be a shame to cut the most prominent one.  I'm happy to keep Galad and Gawain, though if you cut one I would cut Gawain.  I would try to diminish the role of the realm of Dreams as much as possible because I don't think it films well at all, but doing so cuts a lot.  

[Frenata]

23 hours ago, RextheDog said:

to me the biggest test the show will face is Dumai Wells.

 

done correctly, it could be the greatest moment in high fantasy TV

 

done incorrectly......*****shudders*****...

 

Given that Rafe is on record as this sequence being the thing he's most excited about adapting, they'll certainly try their hardest.

[RextheDog]

14 minutes ago, Frenata said:

 

Given that Rafe is on record as this sequence being the thing he's most excited about adapting, they'll certainly try their hardest.

awesome. did not know.

[DaddyFinn]

3 minutes ago, RextheDog said:

awesome. did not know.

Have you checked this list?

 

 

[Jaysen Gore]

26 minutes ago, Frenata said:

 

Given that Rafe is on record as this sequence being the thing he's most excited about adapting, they'll certainly try their hardest.

 

Fan boy cross over

Edited December 5, 2021 by Jaysen Gore

[Morani]

One gripe I have with the books is that everyone has to be paired up in the end, even when there is no real need for it. Both Thom and Gawyn were token lovers and the romance did not feel real or earned. Same with Galad and Berelain. Their love stories kind of cheapens the really epic ones: Lan/Nyn, Rand/Min (no, I will not include Elayne and Avi, those are filler) and yes, Perrin and Faile. 

 

I hope that they will play up Moirane and Siuans pillow friendship into a tragic love story - they give each other up in proper Blue fashion for the Quest of the Dragon reborn. Either they rekindle their love in the end, or they don't, but I could make for damn good drama either way. Especially since we have two Oscar nominated actresses playing those parts. I can see Amazon seeing that as their Emmy/Golden Globes moment. 

 

And Egwene does not need a partner. She is way too ambitious for that. She has purpose and focus and I just can't see her thinking about kissing boys. She is married to her job, if anything. 

[Morani]

Oh, and one more thing! Isam/Luc/Slayer really needs to be changed as well. We have this whole thing about him being such a huge part of the Dark prophecy and him being related to both Lan and Rand, and then nothing comes out of that. He is a villain without any personality that chases Perrin. I would have loved for him to be part Malkieri to actually MATTER. 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Morani

[DaddyFinn]

21 minutes ago, Morani said:

Oh, and one more thing! Isam/Luc/Slayer really needs to be changed as well. We have this whole thing about him being such a huge part of the Dark prophecy and him being related to both Lan and Rand, and then nothing comes out of that. He is a villain without any personality that chases Perrin. I would have loved for him to be part Malkieri to actually MATTER. 

Yes. His stuff with Perrin and the Wolfdream got boring and it just went in circles

[WhiteVeils]

Thom offering to become Moraine's warder at the end for NON-romantic reasons could be pretty cool.  They are going to have to add a season 2 plot for Moraine...if it were something involving Thom, they could forward that relationship in a pretty interesting way.

[Jaysen Gore]

1 hour ago, DaddyFinn said:

Yes. His stuff with Perrin and the Wolfdream got boring and it just went in circles

Yeah, but everything did during the slog. A reasonable edit of the slog books into good TV. and Slayer really bounces back as a concept. Just give him a personality. Like a lot of the Dark.

[Morani]

9 hours ago, Jaysen Gore said:

Yeah, but everything did during the slog. A reasonable edit of the slog books into good TV. and Slayer really bounces back as a concept. Just give him a personality. Like a lot of the Dark.

 Couldn't agree more. Slayer is like Fain - a fantastic concept that never got fully realized. Dunno if Jordan dropped the ball on it, or if Sanderson did not have any notes to go on in regards to them, but either way, they could have way better story arcs as fully fleshed out three dimensional villains.  

 

Like, why would Gitara tell Luc to seek his honor in the blight, if it would not have mattered later on? And why did he kill the Gray man that was out for Egwene in the white tower? That, and the Dark Prophecy, leads me to believe that Jordan had way bigger plans for Slayer than how it turned out. 

[expat]

Slayer is too one-dimensional, but is critical to the story as Perrin's white whale.  Perrin needs to develop his skills in order to fulfill his part of the final battle. I think that it's fair to say that Rand loses the final battel without the Perrin/Slayer storyline.