I just saw Wheel of Time episode 4, and I’m going to say (type) the words I never thought I would: I’m glad they’re moving away from the books.
Now, this is coming from a person who moans and gripes about every little book-to-movie difference in all my favorite adaptations, at the frequency with which an angry Nynaeve tugs her braid. As you can imagine, certain scenes in popular media have inspired much ire and long-winded rants from me, including but not limited to: Dumbeldore said calmly; anything to do with Legolas’s crush on Tauriel, which rules the realm of all things Tolkien would not have enjoyed; Lyra and Pan’s lack of tearful hugging post the severing scene in His Dark Materials (why was she more concerned about Mrs. Coulter?!); the lack of Glorfindel because the world is a darker place without him; He Who Must Not Hug Unsuspecting Slytherin Boys; the absolutely unnecessary rape of Sansa Stark… the list goes on.
I also bitched a lot about Perrin’s dead-but-thankfully-not-Faile wife and unborn child (seriously WHERE did they come from, not to mention apparently The Brandon Sanderson was against this particular plot point). So I was worried when I realized they were changing quite a bit plot- and pacing-wise, though I did enjoy the introduction of Liandrin earlier on as she is a fascinating character (I hope they make her more hateful as the series progresses).
There are, of course, some adaptions with changes that I have accepted and loved overall, even seen the need for – such as nearly everything in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (even if they shafted my boy elf Glorfindel). I’m no expert, but it’s reasonable that book-to-film calls for some changes and cuts to be made, especially when there are 14 volumes in the series. But my cynical (and oft irrational) self was quite frankly dreading what would happen in Wheel of Time, and griping about the changes in the early episodes.
So I was shocked (and somewhat betrayed by my own book-purist prejudices) when I found that of all the WoT episodes… episode 4 was by far my favorite. I loved the scene where the Aes Sedai fought and gentled Logain (books sooner than they were supposed to), which was by far the most epic in the series so far. I loved the whole ‘hey, maybe raging, blazing Nynaeve is the dragon reborn’ red herring scene. I loved Nynaeve’s and Lan’s developing romance – which was my favorite romance in the books (waaay better than Rand’s foursome) but seems more natural and slow-burn in the series. And honestly, given the sheer length of Wheel of Time, I have realized I am totally okay with this extreme condensation approach (I mean they are pretty much ice beaming through the plot at this point) if it gives us cool moments between key characters, and stays true to the essence of the book. If anything, I feel like this freedom may give the series a chance to truly evolve into something spectacular, that remains an ode to Jordan-then-Sanderson’s masterpiece and adapts certain integral elements (e.g., identity of dragon reborn, saidin cleansing scene) while, perhaps, taking a slightly different path to the finish line, so to speak. Also, any series with Brandon Sanderson scriptwriting / advising / whatever is bound to be good.
So. Come at me, Wheel of Time. Change whatever you want. Shock me. Have Rand hook up with Lanfear. Make Siuan secretly Black Ajah. Let the Tuatha’an discover their song and hold some sort of a crazy music festival featuring Loial. Whatever. As long as you don’t kill my beautiful True Blade of the Malkier in Barristan Selmy fashion, I am happy. I think. And I can’t wait for episode 6, which according to Brandon Sanderson is The Episode To Watch Out For.
I just hope I can exercise this same level of open-mindedness and contentment when Amazon releases Lord of the Rings…
Now that that’s done, a few unstructured and non-chronological thoughts on the series so far:
- Of all the changes I expected, seeing al’Lan Mandragoran – Lord of the Seven Towers, True Blade of Malkier,
- Perrin with the dead wife trope… yeah… I agree that Master Luhhan may have been a better choice.
- I am not feeling the Egwene-Rand relationship; preferred the whole angsty, longing, unresolved version of the book, although Egwene got a bit annoying later on. I am actually waiting for Elayne to come in and shake things up at this point. Or Aviendha. Or Min. Whatever.
- Mat… is my favorite of the trio. Given he aggravated me greatly in the book (Pippin’s foolishness was cute and forgivable in LotR, but Mat’s was just… unbearable) this was about as unexpected as Lan’s naked ass. The actor is fantastic (pity they have to change him), and while they changed his backstory, it actually works really well. I am finding myself liking him far before his character development arcs will come to fruition. Of course, the damn dagger is going to ruin everything, but still…
- Surprisingly, Rand (who was my favorite of the trio in the books at this point) is my least favorite at this point. The actor really suits him though and I’m sure he’ll grow on me.
- The dreams and visions are way too creepy. I have to physically cover my eyes, and that bit with the bats… I couldn’t.
- The Dark One terrifies me. I don’t remember being this terrified of a fantasy villain since the Black Riders. I’m glad he terrifies me, he should. This was so well done, with the flaming eyes and whatnot.
- I know the wolves are supposed to add to the tension, but every time I see them, my mind goes HOPPEER ♡ and I feel warm and happy… and then I feel sad and want to cry. Like that scene where the wolf (presumably Hopper) licks Perrin’s leg just made me want to cry.
- WEEP FOR MANETHEREN TT did not expect this to stay as usually the songs always get cut, but that was a nice one. Haunting and beautiful and so many feels.
- Padan Fain looks so creepy, I love it. Great casting and the actor does a really good job.
- I… actually felt really sad for Logain when he got gentled. The actor did a fantastic job there as well.
- God, I hate Eamon in this (again, props to the actor). And that scene of him eating / drinking is giving me major Denethor versus Tomato flashbacks.
- The locations are absolutely stunning, Two Rivers looks so perfect! I almost wish we had some more time to spend there before the Trollocs came and destroyed everything. At least they kind of gave us Bel Tine.
- Myrddraal giving me major mouth of Sauron vibes.
- Egwene being pushed into the river was… confusing to me.
- I knew it was going to happen but Mat picking up that knife really pissed me off. Them walking around Shadar Logoth really pissed me off in general (even in the book), because I always hate plots where unsupervised characters roam off and do stupid things (if I were there I would be so terrified for my life, I would stick to Lan who is arguably the most powerful person in the room). Like, just. Quarantine yourselve in that one room, damn it. Don’t freaking leave. It’s not that hard!
- Rand and Tam fighting the Trollocs in their cottage was exactly how I pictured it in the books!
- The Aes Sedai look a lot older than expected, not that I am averse to this change. I expected Liandrin to be some sort of a snobby blonde brat (I think the book describes her as having a doll-face, which always made me think of her as cute and young-looking) but I feel this actress really captures the essence of a more mature Liandrin and has successfully overwritten my book-image. Again, not a sentence I thought I’d ever type, but there you go!
- On that note, I… unexpectedly really like Liandrin. Her line to Logain about how nature did not mean for him to have the power was intense, in a good way. And her and Moiraine working together is just so great. I almost hope they develop a friendship here that entirely breaks down later on.
Overachieving Otaku 