After watching...
Message:Look, the book series just isn't that great. It's quite derivative of everyone else who was derivative of Tolkien and CS Lewis. (If George RR Martin ever finishes "Song of Ice and Fire" - aka "Game of Thrones," at least he'll have done something different!). There's a little but of "DUNE" in there, as well. I think the author was going for a "War of the Sexes/Women's Lib" theme, but, careful analysis shows many, MANY issues with the attempt. They've been broken down by people far more nerd-obsessive than I, and I can provide some links if anyone cares.
In my prior comment I said I hoped they'd cut 2/3 of the book's fat. So far, yeah, they've cut a LOT of material - of mixed benefit to the show. For example, there's a 25-page prologue to book 1. This would easily be at least half an episode. Instead, screw that, here's a 30 second voiceover that tells you not enough of what you missed. Then again, when Rand's dad is wounded in the Trolloc attack, the book spends a good hundred pages of Rand dragging dad through the forests. This is mercifully cut and Rand just gets to the village directly from his cabin.
On the other hand, VITAL expository information is missing. In my prior post I defined the "Ta'veren" concept. It's a good thing *I* did, because the show didn't. The point of the Ta'veren isn't that ONE of the four - Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene - is the reincarnation of "The Dragon," but that ALL FOUR have protagonist powers, and all four of them are High-Fates character who will shape history around them. The phrasing in the book is more like, "Those around whom the Pattern of History is woven."
Which, incidentally, explains the opening credits sequence for ya. The opening titles aren't just a tapestry being woven for no damn reason - it's core cosmology for the show's world. Of course, the faces shown aren't any of the four Ta'veren, but represent the heads of the seven Ajahs of the White Tower.
Yeah, there are seven different subgroups of the female magic users in the White Tower, broken down by color of the spectrum. Each color has a specific job. Don't remember most, but, if you see a female mage in red, assume she's a man-hating lesbian, because, well, the man-hating lesbians get the job of killing all the male magic users.
Would have been nice if the show had bothered to explain WHY all the male magic users go insane... It's kind of a bit of vitally important information. Jumping to LOTR for a comparison, it's really really important to understand that Sauron put half of his soul into the One Ring. Peter Jackson gives this exposition.
So, important backstory, and a problem with the "Women's Lib/Gender Equality" theme. There is "One Power," but men and women wield it differently. Women must SUBMIT/SURRENDER to the Power while men SUBDUE/DOMINATE the power. I guess because women are weak things who must use indirect methods to wield power while men are big brutes who smash everything?
Anyway, "The Dragon," is the strongest male mage from thousands of years ago. He fought the Dark Lord ("Shai'tan," in case anyone didn't realize the book's author was a good Catholic) to a standstill, but the Dark One managed to "taint" the Male half of the One Power so that male magic users go crazy.
Anyway, think of the Dragon Reborn as the Kwitach Hadarach from Dune, and you've more-or-less got it.
Again, knowing that the Dark One personally tainted half of magic is vital backstory that the TV show didn't give you.
Another bit of knowledge the show hasn't given yet it that an Aes Sedai witch and her Warder are soul-linked. If Morriane dies, so does Lan. Again, this would be a good thing to know, since it explains much of episode 3.
Instead of backstory and vital information the TV show added a whole bunch of stupid character drama to the Ta'Veren. In the novels Rand and Egwene are the friends from childhood who everyone assumes will get married because they live in a crappy little inbred town where there aren't a lot of people around. The show adds baggage by having them be sexual partners (a dangerous thing, for, if they were caught, they WOULD be forced to marry). Gotta rachet up that angst, right? Perrin in the books isn't married and doesn't axe his pregnant wife in the stomach. But, in the books Perrin has zero personality other than his magic ability to communicate with wolves - I make zero apologies for that spoiler - so, y'know, he needed something to be all gloomy about for no reason. Mat, in the books, is a SUCCESFUL con man and womanizer. In the books Rand and Perrin are CONSTANTLY all, "Gee, I wish I was good with girls, like Mat." In the TV show, Mat's pretty useless so far. He's a crappy con man, not good with the girls, AND he has to be the dumbass who grabs the cursed dagger. Thanks, drama!
In general, and in most shows, I don't care if everything is presented in a multicultural fashion. It's usually not important. However, Wheel of Time does quite a bit with specific racial divisions. In the show Morriaine talks to the Ta'Veren about how the "old blood" is strong in Two Rivers. This is because they're a crappy little inbred town. We can assume the mighty city that fell thousands of years ago was a major trading hub where people of all races met, and that the survivors settled the area, but, that means I'd have expected intermarriage to have reduced everyone to dark hair and dark eyes (dominant traits) and fairly dark skin. As it is, the multicultural nature is working against the storyline... I'll just say that Rand Al' Thor's pale coloring and bright red hair is HIGHLY unusual for Two Rivers, and that Ep 3 flat-out foreshadowed a major revelation. If you watch Ep 3 again knowing that in this world genetic characteristics are important, well... I think you'll spot it. Pay attention to the dead guy in the cage.
Finally, the show runs into one of my personal major pet peeves... If the author is nice enough to provide a pronunciation guide for names and titles and things, then you damn well use it. If you happen to have vocal recordings of the author saying those words, the you follow it. Period. "Aes Sedai" parses as "EYES sed-EYE" not "AY-es sed-EYE." And her name is "NIN-eh-vae," not "NINE-eve." While I'm at it, in LOTR Galadriel's husband is "KEL-e-born," not "SELL-e-born," and, in Dune it's "har-KON-an" and "sar-DUKE-er," not "Har-kahn-an" and "sah-du-KAR."
Anyways, Laura is a big old fan of the series, and has read it multiple times, to the extent where, when Perrin first runs into wolves Laura brightly chirped "Hi, Hopper! Of, they gave him a distinctive coat pattern so he'll be easy to spot later!" I've read it once and it was a slog, so I kinda remember most of the major beats, but have completely forgotten entire characters. For example, I thought there were TWO *spoiler not given* while there will be THREE!
But, y'know I'm gonna have to watch the damn thing. Maybe it will get better.
Yours,
IronMike
26-Nov-2021