First let me say, I am in the ‘I love the Wheel of Time (WOT) books-thought the tv series was disappointing and gradually lost interest in it but was glad it was giving other fans enjoyment’-camp. Since the tv series now is cancelled by Amazon Prime I will post my reflections here in what will be a very long post. It will be critical but is not meant as a rant, simply my honest reflections and I hope people will bear with me.
I have lived with WOT since the early 1990s and have roleplayed with characters from the Wheel of Time universe for 25+ years so WOT means a lot to me. Robert Jordan’s masterful saga is among the best books in fantasy I have ever read and since I have been so involved with this universe for so many years it is special to me to a greater extent than say Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire which I also love.
When I first heard they were going to make a tv series of the WOT I was struck with a mixture of feelings. Joy for I thought this amazing fantasy saga deserved the tv series treatment although I never thought it would happen due to the enormous source material, but also kinda dread because I feared a tv series would never be able to do this majestic saga and story justice. But I wanted to give it a chance and was excited like most fans.
As I watched season 1, however, my joy diminshed and much of the reason was the huge changes from the books. We all know some narrative changes need to be made when a book is made into a tv series or film. Not everything transfers well from the book page to the tv screen. Also some things need be cut and simplified. That is all fine. But the question is, what do you cut and what do you change. I thought there were far too many changes to season 1 compared to The Eye of the World and some of these changes were to me unfathomable and deeply serious.
The worst mistake was to create the illusion that the Dragon Reborn could be either male or female. In what world was this a good choice? The whole danger-element with the Dragon Reborn being male with his Saidin and fears he will destroy the world in madness is gone if the Dragon Reborn is a female. You just cannot make such a radical change if you care for and are faithful to the source material regardless of wanting to keep excitement as to the reveal for viewers (and be politically correct). Some changes you just don’t make. It is disrespectful and damaging to the integrity of Robert Jordan’s vision and books.
The opening with the running man chased by Red Sisters was a total misfire. Firstly a viewer who never read the books will not have a clue as to what is going on, it is just confusing. One needs some backstory to understand the madness and that there is just one person running and not two. And who the riders are. I cannot fathom that they thought this was a good decision, especially since they had not introduced the concept of the One Power, Saidin and Saidar.
What they should have done instead? I see several options. To stay faithful to the books they could/should have had the epic opening from the Prologue in the Eye of the World, with Ishamael and Lews Therin. It might have seemed a little strange to viewers not having read the books but would have been a hell of a lot better than what they gave us. A second option would have been to start as with Rand and Tam in the books. A third option, if they needed something more exciting/dramatic, would have been to have started with a Lord of the Rings-type beginning with a voiceover speaking and showing events happening in the Age of Legends, the War of Power and thereby giving a proper backstory to the saga. Three minutes of this could have done the job, so a solid opening.
And if neither of these options were on the table, then they could have started with the dramatic Logain-opening from ep 4 season 1 (the war in Ghealdan in which Logain is battling his way to the King) which would have been impactful and brought interest and also be a red herring for a twist as to the Dragon Reborn. Quite frankly, all those four options would have been better in my eyes.
Dropping Caemlyn was another mistake in my view, it was an interesting and valuable and sweet moment in the book when Rand sees the captured false Dragon and when he falls off the wall and is met by Elayne with the subsequent “foretelling” by Elaida. Adding a wife for Perrin? Really? And making all the boys less innocent? Next, portraying the Forsaken Ishamael as a calm philosophical man looking no more dangerous than your friendly neighbour was another unexplicable change for me. We remember him from the books, a half-mad dangerous character and evil villain and quite frankly having him appear in a hooded dark cloak kinda like the Nazgul in the Lord of the Rings say with the hint or red eyes from the hood, that would have made it work a lot better for me.
The ending at the Eye is also revisionist, changing everything, and disappointed me. Cutting the Forsaken from 13 to 8 as I got the impression was another blunder. The number 13 has important significance in Robert Jordan’s saga as we know, so of course there should have been 13 Forsaken in the tv series even if we only saw say 7 or 8 of them acting on screen (we would know the others were present somewhere in the lands).
It is a question of being faithful to the important things, the characters in the books, how they look and how they behave. Important scenes and happenings. That is what we expect and what we deserve. If you change too much it becomes fan fiction or the story seen through a Portal Stone World, while it is Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time world we want to see. Game of Thrones was much more faithful to the books especially in seasons 1 and 2 and as we know, the more you change at the beginning, the more you need to change later. So never change too much at the start. As for adding some things, though I want to stay faithful to the story I can accept some additions if they make the story even better on screen. Adding Arwen to the brilliant Lord of the Rings movies was such an example. An example in WOT is the moment with Nynaeve and Logain when Saidar blossoms in her. That was an awesome scene visually and I enjoyed it even though I knew it never happened in the books.
As for seasons 2 and 3, though there was better production quality and improvements, there were still too many changes for me with some of them more impactful than others. Having Rand seek out Logain in season 2 which never happened in the books. It felt jarring to me. And Min manipulated by Liandrin and then Ishamael? This is totally different from the books. And Ishamael working with the Sanchean? From the books we know it was an other Forsaken who did that. Not to mention Moiraine’s stilling and her arc and depiction which did not sit well with me, neither Ishamael’s arc. Sometimes I scratched my head in bewilderment. Lanfear as an innkeeper in Cairhien? Seriously!? Can anyone who read the books imagine proud, glory-hunting, classy in a dark way Lanfear as an innkeeper? The premise is preposterous. Make her an advisor to a King, someone who whispers in the King’s ears, or say a Noblewoman. But innkeeper? What were they thinking? Other changes I could mention too, several from season 3, but I think you get the point by now.
Let me add that I do think Rafe had the heart in the right place and wanted to make the tv series worthy of Robert Jordan’s books. He made a great effort and some book fans did indeed enjoy the tv series despite its many differences (they were able to look at the two mediums as separate something I never managed). Personally though I think his creative vision and choices were often misplaced and what he gave us may have worked for non-book readers and some book fans but not for those of us who wanted a faithful and worthy adaptation of Robert Jordan’s story.
As mentioned, I feared they would not be able to do this majestic story justice simply because there are 14 books (+prequel) to incorporate and these books are thick as bricks and filled with massive storytelling. Even if you cut away the surplus descriptions etc and less important subplots etc you are left with say at least 10 large books telling the main story in all its brilliant intricacy and glory. When I heard how few episodes would be in each season I thought this will never work. For the showrunners to do The Wheel of Time justice one would need 10 seasons of 12 episodes in my view and I quickly understood that would never be possible, partly because it would cost too much and partly because it would be impossible to keep hold on actors, producers, other show workers etc for 15 years.
I therefore thought it more realistic that the tv series would get 6/7 seasons which would make for a much simplified story but where they might at least be able to complete Rand’s arc from the start to the end. That the tv series now only got 3 seasons making the story nowhere near finished was surprising to me since I had the impression the tv series did quite well for Amazon and I was pretty certain it would at least get a couple more seasons. I am sorry for the fans of the tv series and disappointed with Amazon, although personally I lost interest in the tv series as it went along and find much more enjoyment in re-reading the brilliant books and having much fun roleplaying in Robert Jordan’s universe (PS. I recommend roleplay-writing at DM, in earlier years it was very popular here at the site but in recent years interest in roleplay has unfortunately dwindled, so join in and have fun!)
I recommend the fantastic The Wheel of Time-books for any tv series viewer who wants to dive into this fascinating world. However, people are different and some will prefer the books, some the tv series, and some will enjoy both. Perhaps it was too ambitious of Amazon to try and bring the massive The Wheel of Time to the tv screen, but they deserve credit for the guts to try even if they lost faith half-way through.
