It's a fantasy world, so I don't see the point of trying to apply real world logic. A lot of this age stuff is kind of irrelevant imo - because again it's fantasy. In Eye of The World Egwene is 17 and being old enough to braid her hair is her rite of passage to womanhood. That is a Two Rivers custom - doesn't mean that age applies anywhere else in the setting. Let's be honest, the reason Rand, Mat, Perrin and Egwene were all rounded off to 20 in the show was for the "Who is the Dragon" mystery box. A decision which mildly annoyed me but that it didn't overly bother me until I realized all the problems it created in the adaption on the whole. The tone itself is what I was far more concerned with - if Emond's Field isn't the same as the books (which it wasn't) and the characters weren't the same (which they weren't) the tone of the story and setting is irrevocably impacted (which is ultimately what I feel happened). So many tone choices really changed how the setting was presented - Egwene getting pushed off a cliff in some rite that imo made no sense whatsoever. Mat's dysfunctional family reducing him to a victim and thief, Perrin's slaying of his made-up wife and his supposed crush on Egwene, Nynaeve's backstory and the whole "Wisdom's can't marry" - those were the things that felt off. It didn't match the book and was needless.

I think you could easily achieve something within a budget, with a voiceover, even something a tad animated and abstract like the art seen in the Amazon series S1 theme song would have worked imo. I honestly don't see that type of opening requiring 5 mins even, probably closer to 3 mins. Look at the opening of the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender - that was simple, quick and informative.

I really dislike the stamps myself - (and not just because I disliked the Amazon series) I find it cheap looking. Second-hand book dealers will have older books and often in great shape you just have to be selective and make sure you can communicate with the sellers before making the purchase. If you're looking for WOT copies, without the stamps, I'd recommend giving that a go.

The time RJ gave the WOT can be found in the book glossary. 1 day = 24 hours 1 week = 10 days 1 month = 28 days 1 year = 13 months Btw the description of 'grubbier little house on the prairie atmosphere' totally gave me a chuckle 🤭

Everytime an adaption is made the books pop up with the series/movie either depicted on the cover or with that stamp thing - it's just about marketing and trying to make an easy buck on people who are interested in said series/movie. Typically, I haven't seen reprints after the initial publishing of books like this. It probably comes down to supply and demand... I believe WOT books are still pretty easy to get a hold of - so I wouldn't expect new reprints anytime soon.

I didn't have a major issue with how the series started - the opening wasn't a pet peeve on mine. Since this is a wish fulfillment type of topic - pretending I was adapting WOT I might have started with something similar to Jackson's Fellowship of The Ring opening - a voiceover that briefly covers the Dark One being bound, and the creation of Dragonmount and the prophecy - then jumped to Rand and Tam on the road, Rand seeing the Fade and on to Emond's Field for Bel Tine. It's not original, it's a standard fantasy intro, but would have allowed a quick setup.

WOT does have it's own calendar - 13 months make up a year (they all have names - offhand the two that stuck with me were Nesan and Danu). The 13 month calendar was likely inspired by Celtic and Druidic traditions. Time is mentioned frequently throughout the books, such as days, weeks, years. Edit to add more on topic: For me the tone shift wasn't about saying characters were 20 instead of 18, 19 - it was how the world was presented in a very grime, color drained, cheerless fashion. The Two Rivers was a place in the books that captured a certain vibe - life there, the people in it - Emond's Field was very different in the series. This may seem unimportant, but by the end of the books, a lot about who Rand was in 'that turning' is tied to how he was raised - he was a better person than Lews, and the Two Rivers had a lot to do with that. Which was entirely absent in the series' retelling. Honestly, the Two Rivers example is just one - the Tinkers have already been mentioned, and there are countless others. The tone is different compared to the books and it did impact how I viewed the series.

You know, I never really thought it in that light. I always assumed the shift was more that the Two Rivers was very backwater to start with - and Morgase was this distant queen that had no association with it - so they were comfortable in their independence. Then later you had a major shift with Trollocs attacking, village burning, Whitecloaks on the doorstep, a huge battle, refugees and the whole Perrin being Ta'veren aspect - Reading it unfold, the shift felt like a backwater village finding its place as a growing kingdom, and Faile stepping up as a competent authority figure/Perrin's wife to bring order to the chaos. That was my interruption.

@Ithillian Turambar Thank you! I'll definitely take some time to look things over, and see what might be a good fit - I appreciate the info. 🙂 I do a lot collaborative writing, and research and world building, and I spend time gaming with my nephew, so I need balance time commitments. The Orgs are probably more my style! Lol I really appreciate the direction, as it's been quite some time since I was on a forum. 💙 @HeavyHalfMoonBlade Thanks so much for the welcome as well! 😃

Same for me! Fairly new to WOT (I started the books in Covid pandemic era) and I really liked Faile from get-go. She's a fun character and her development goes through a lot of stages throughout the series. Faile and Perrin are probably my favorite ship in the books on the whole. They complement each other and are growing as a result of their relationship. Yes, they're both flawed. I find perfect characters, who make perfect decisions, from perfectly rounded cultures, and find their perfect romance unrealistic and exhausting to read. I don't read Faile as toxic. She's a product of her society and upbringing - not unlike pretty much every character in WOT.

The title of this topic on a fan forum was so weird to see - But anyway, If I believed Rand, Perrin and Mat were badly written characters - I never would have gotten past Eye of The World. RJ's characters are what I love most about WOT, period. Unlike a lot of authors - who I find super pretentious - RJ never gave me the impression he was forcing readers to like his characters or agree with their choices - which was quite refreshing. They're flawed, they make mistakes, they frustrate - but all those little quirks make WOT characters real to me. Ultimately, I rooted for them, I sympathized, I empathized, there were times, I yelled at them in my head, and I enjoyed WOT because of the characters. I think Rand, Perrin and Mat are pretty ingenious incarnations to the fantasy genre - each bringing something different to the table and having story arcs within the grander scheme of the overall plot. They are extremely well written imo. I don't see how you could find them badly written and stay invested in a hefty series of books like this .

If memory serves Warhammer 40K has been in development with Amazon ever since Henry Cavill left The Witcher (in fact, I believe he started pushing for the project before exiting) - I'm surprised it had any bearing on WOT since it's been a project in negotiation for a long time - but maybe Amazon was looking to cut corners and save some cash? ROP definitely locked 5 seasons from get-go as part of the agreement, it's honestly astounding that Amazon hasn't found a loophole out of it - it must really be a tight legal contract - or like you say, they're holding out being able to produce more LOTR fanfiction in the coming years, and see it as long term profitable.

Reading the books, I definitely thought Taim would be revealed as Demandred. I wasn't shocked to learn that RJ originally planned on this, but changed his mind, because it seemed to be headed that way - I had the same intuition when it came to Gaidal Cain and Olver (from what I gather that was something RJ changed too?) I think Taim being Demandred makes sense in theory - adds some interesting layers to his motivations and interactions with Rand - but obviously RJ changed his mind about that. I really loved the Demandred and Lan face-off in the last book so I'm not going to complain. I actually thought that played out well - I didn't feel there was a need for too much lead up to Lan going after Demandred, or a need for parallels between them - because there's a certain intensity in the unexpected nature of Lan taking out Demandred (especially after Galad fails). I also liked how Taim and Logain were pitted against each other along with the fate of the Black Tower as well. So, overall I don't feel it was a bad change, merely different than what I expected - perhaps that was RJ's intention when he changed his mind?

Hi there - My most reckonings, I'd be considered a newcomer to RJ's WOT. Although, I read a ton of fantasy - I only got sucked into WOT around the covid pandemic era. If I recall I was on the last bit of the 3rd book by the time the Amazon TV series first aired. Prior to that - I'd always heard about The Wheel of Time but it kept getting pushed down my read list for no particular reason - I started reading Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives due to my brother recommending Way of Kings (which is my fav Sanderson book) and Mistborn sagas and I heard he was the guy who finished WOT after RJ's untimely passing. Slipping into the books - I fell in love with the Emond's Fienders, and found myself getting more invested page by page - by the time I reached the end of WOT the characters felt like old friends. RJ's world building, and his ability to weave familiar mythology and fantasy themes into a new story is something I have a lot of respect for. I mainly joined this forum because I consider myself a WOT fan - no one I know has read the WOT in full which makes having a conversation about it outside a place like this, slim pickings. Another reason is ever since finishing the books, I've had some withdrawal symptoms lol. It's seriously hard for me to find anything quite so engrossing to read. Maybe it would interest some long time WOT fans to know the books still attract newcomers - ^_^ May you always find water and shade.

The prologue in Eye of The World is fascinating - but I didn't have a problem not including it as the show's open. I had no idea this was a controversial opinion but... I actually liked the opening of the S1 E1 - it setup a quest and I liked how it was filmed. It set a good pace to get things rolling imo. Oddly, I missed the moment where Rand and Tam were traveling to town and Rand sees the Fade - more than wishing for the prologue. I really don't see how the absence of the prologue led to what I saw as bigger problems in the series from a book standpoint - or can be blamed for the cancellation, not hooking viewers more readily. Watching the first episode with a non book reader, they were able to grasp the story fine with how it opened.

I'm not sure how you can make the ending land, when the takeoff (establishing characters and their arc) and flight pattern (the story) deviated so greatly. I think it's fair to question the amount of sway Judkins had with the Amazon tops - I recall Sanderson saying that Judkins went to the bat for him over the Perrin/wife/killing thing but was ultimately shut down. His remarks I take less to heart - being that a lot of shows/films will say "This season we're delving deep into this motivation" - then you watch the season/episode and the delving deep turns out to be a footnote or one scene. Without bringing other media into this - it happens frequently. Imo like I said on my post, I think the showrunners had a particular vision and followed it - for good (to those to liked it) or to ill (to those who didn't). I definitely think a lot got lost or confused for whatever reasons - for example, I will never understand why season 2 spent so much time on Moiraine family drama and loss of the one power. That time could have been spent on actual source stuff instead - things to get the story on track to reach important points. To be entirely honest, I thought the series take on Mat was a mess - from the recast standpoint, and just the lack of charm and humor in his character on the whole - even when they switched actor, it was not working for me. I don't even know what his arc was in the series. Similarly to Perrin with the wolf brother plot, I thought it was messy. I don't fault the actors, my gripe is with the writing/adapting. Then there were cases like series Min - I'm not even going there. But I do agree that a lot of things were spread too thinly, not enough time to really do the characters justice- which could be why my takeaway from above is what it is. I'm not here to argue. Differences in opinions is what makes the wheel go round. I understand where you're coming from. Thanks for the thought out response.

Coming into the books as a newbie, I actually enjoyed the prologue setup in the WOT - some were more interesting than others to be sure (I definitely had my favorites) but like someone else on this topic mentioned - they read like cold opens. I feel like it worked really well in setting up scenes and situations that were important or noteworthy in context but wouldn't have worked as stand-alone chapters wedged in the middle of the book. I always treated the prologues like chapters though. I never expected to finish the long ones in one reading.

I wouldn't want to assume that Judkins and the rest of the showrunners went into WOT with bad intentions - the amount of work that goes into a fantasy series would make it kind of insane if the series had been a spite project - intended to destroy RJ's WOT. Having said that, I do think they had a particular vision and did not follow the source material or adapt the books in a satisfactory way IMO because of that vision. I've seen the idea floated around that the limited time of 8 episodes contributed to some of the huge changes - which I don't personally agree with. If Jackson was able to condense the three LOTR books into three long films, I think a lot could have been accomplished book-wise into a few seasons for WOT. But the storylines the series highlighted were often not even taken directly from the books or shifted around which created a lot of shuffling or rendering other plots incompatible. I thought a lot of the casting of the series was good, the acting solid, but (to me) the characters were very altered from their book namesakes and some weren't recognizable. The same goes for the world building. I actually wasn't bothered by the special effects and okay with the production values (with a few exceptions like the look of the Ogier). I personally hold the opinion that the series could have been a lot more like the books - even with some acceptable shifts and changes like any adaption. I just don't believe the showrunners wanted to follow the books any closer - and had their own vision. I'm not demonizing them for that, they obviously have their reasons for approaching the adaption as they did - just as I have reasons for disliking it. The WOT series cancellation is just unfortunate for a lot of reasons and on a lot of levels. Mostly, because Amazon didn't show good faith in seeing the rest of this story through in whatever shape, or form the showrunners had in the works. I did wonder season to season if there was a pre determined plan going on to reach an ending or not - but I do believe those involved wanted to finish it. There's been a lot of silence about the cancellation from many of the actors like Rosamund Pike for example, which makes me wonder what happened bts. I would actually like to hear some of the reasoning behind many of the creative choices and why they didn't choose to follow the books more closely but chose to adapt WOT anyway - but I'm doubtful we'll ever get that.

I like to think so. I actually had only just started the WOT books when the series first aired (If memory serves, I think I was finishing The Dragon Reborn). I knew of the books, but they were on a 'to read' list that I took a long time to get around to. So, I was pretty open minded to begin with.. Post series: I definitely have a deeper appreciation for Saidin and Saidar and the way channeling works in the books. I find it pretty interesting. Also, the world building and cultures and how the various peoples/nations were dealt with etc. I also was able to look deeper at the characters, their personalities, their arcs, how it all went together in RJ's story vs how things were depicted and unfolded in the series. It made me think long and hard about the themes in the books - what made me ultimately prefer the books to the series - what made the books more 'my style' when it comes to fantasy storytelling. I think those are pretty positive takeaways.

My opinion is The Gathering Storm is the weakest of Sanderson's WOT installments. There are moments I enjoyed, such as the prologue - but overall, it does what it needs to do, but not much else. I went into Towers of Midnight with lower expectations - it actually became my favorite of Sanderson's WOT books. I personally find Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light to be strong reads. Of course. It's just my opinion and some readers don't like Sanderson's WOT books, some do. Ultimately, it's personal preference - but at least for me, the last two were very enjoyable/great reads.

It's really nice to see I was not the only one who felt this way. It's what I told my brother was my biggest hangup with the series on the whole when we watched it - the tone never felt like WOT. It has nothing to do with what happens when adapting from book to screen, you can have a departure from source in various ways and still get the tone right. I agree completely.

Hi all, first post here but I was introduced to WOT by listening to the audiobook by Kramer and Reading - opinions are always subjective but I would say the narratives helped hook me on WOT. lmo they do an outstanding job - especially Kramer, though Reading really got better imo after the first couple of books - she starts putting more into the characters POVs whereas I found Kramer strong from the get-go. Again, audiobooks are really personal preference but I definitely recommend the Kramer/Reading versions - when asked.