Amazon’s The Wheel of Time has just wrapped up season 1. Now that the full season is available to view (WOT was released on a weekly schedule, similar to what Disney Plus has used for their Marvel TV series over the last year), I wanted to provide a review of the full season. To date, we have simply been publishing weekly reviews about each of the 8 weekly episodes.
The Basics
Amazon bought the rights to Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series of 14 novels (plus a prequel) some years back and WOT season 1 represents their adaptation of the first novel from the series, The Eye of the World.
The novel series tells the story of the fight between good and evil, represented by The Dragon Reborn (good) and The Dark One (evil). The story follows a large cast of characters, telling various parts of the story from each character’s viewpoint.
However, the main characters are 5 teenage-ish aged kids from a small rural town called The Two Rivers, along with Moiraine (a sorceress) and Lan (her warder - a sort of psychically bonded bodyguard).
The Two Rivers folks include Rand (The Dragon Reborn), Perrin, Mat, Egwene, and Nynaeve. While Rand is the protagonist of the main storyline, each of these characters has their own story, all of which play large roles in the overall narrative.
The Big Changes from the Books
As with any adaptation of a novel for the screen, certain changes are almost inevitable.
First, because the director and producers have a vision for the story, which may differ from the author, and next because of simple logistics. It’s easy to tell an overwhelming sprawling story in a novel (which The Wheel of Time is). But trying to replicate it scene-for-scene to the screen is extremely difficult and not entirely feasible for any number of reasons.
Amazon’s WOT makes several key changes to the story for various reasons and with different impacts on the story itself.
The Dragon Reborn Could be 1 or More of 5 People
In the novels, it is fairly obvious early on that Rand is the Dragon Reborn, even if the official reveal doesn’t come until the conclusion of the book. The internal story suggests it could be Rand, Perrin, or Mat, the reader picks up on who it is fairly quickly, even if no one in the story knows.
The idea is that the original Dragon (named Lew Therin Telamon) fought The Dark One and succeeded in imprisoning him and his 13 most powerful sorcerer followers in a magical tomb. But, in so doing, the Dragon allowed The Dark One to infect the male half of the One Power (the source of all magic).
So, all men who could touch the One Power would be driven mad by the taint on the source of power. The Dragon goes insane and ‘breaks the world’ leading to an age of darkness as the world tries to rebuild itself. So, in the books, the Dragon was a man, and he was prophesied to be reborn at a time when The Dark One needed to be defeated again. It was simply taken that he would be reborn as a man.
Amazon chose to open up the possibilities that the Dragon Reborn could be a man or a woman. The show even suggests at one point that the power could be split into multiple people, all Dragons Reborn. This is a major departure from the books. F
rom a narrative perspective, it allows the show to leave open the idea of which one of the characters might be the Dragon Reborn until the last minute. It also provided a chance to be more inclusive from a gender standpoint.
Personally, I didn’t think this change was necessary. Every one of the 5 characters from the Two Rivers in the books has their own fascinating story and I certainly wouldn’t suggest that the stories of the 2 female characters are any less important or that they are less powerful than the male characters.
So, from that standpoint, I felt it was more of a distraction than anything else. Yes, it left the question open, which may have intrigued viewers who haven’t read the books.
But, by keeping the focus so thoroughly split among the 5 characters, we didn’t really get to know our eventual hero very well. If anything, Rand was the least interesting character among the 5, making his revelation near the end of the season somewhat of a major shift.
Character Ages and Perrin’s Wife
In the novels, Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Egwene are all likely in their mid-teens (using years from the real world). Nynave is a bit older, perhaps in her early twenties. In the books all the characters are aged up by about 5 years, making them all young adults.
However, many of their reactions to what is happening to them are the same as the novels, when they were described as much younger. So, to me, some of their behaviors feel childish or a bit petulant from an adult.
Perrin has the most significant character changes, as he is married and his wife appears to be pregnant. When Perrin mistakenly kills her in a battle with Trollocs in the first episode it creates an entirely new storyline that didn’t exist in the novels - his guilt over what happened.
This does dramatically change his character, as he is now drawn to the peaceful Way of the Leaf that he learns about from the Tinkers and he is then unable to fight at the end of the final episode.
The aging up of the characters allowed Amazon to add more of an adult romance to the story, but otherwise, I honestly don’t know that it brings a log to the story. Perrin’s change is jarring, and we don’t really get a full payoff on it in season 1.
Mat Leaves the Group
Throughout the first (and later novels) the main characters are separated due to circumstances on various occasions, but they always come back together for key scenes, like the final battle at the end of season 1 and the first book.
However, Mat decides to leave the group prior to the end of season 1 and does not make a return as the season ends. He seems to be off following his own path, which we don’t fully understand.
While he could be brought back into season 2 easily enough and more or less enter the story without any real impact, it seems odd that they made this change. Perhaps it will lead to some fairly significant changes in the story in season 2.
What I Liked About the Series
First off, I loved the book series, which I started reading just after graduating from college and then kept up with for over a decade. So, that absolutely colors my opinions about the show. While I want to remain open to another perspective on the story that I am so familiar with, I am also going to be a bit biased toward changes to things that I simply don’t like or that don’t make sense to me (at least not yet).
That said, I think Rosemund Pike as Moiraine was an excellent choice. Madeleine Madden as Egwene is also solid. But, none of the other main actors really strikes me as perfect for their roles. This also may simply be the way the roles were written.
The special effects are good, but not great. The Whitecloaks are extremely villainous, and Abdul Salis as Eamon Valda (the Whitecloak inquisitor) is especially evil.
The focus on political intrigue within the Aes Sedai was a strong point of the plot. And, honestly, this is a very detailed and long book that is not easily translated into an 8 episode series. So, I give the showrunners credit for covering as much of the story as they did. It is also largely entertaining if you enjoy a good fantasy series (which I do).
What I Didn’t Like
As you can probably tell from my mention of the 3 main changes to the storyline, I wasn’t a huge fan of any of them.
Largely, this is because I don’t see how those changes are used to tell a better story in the series. Perrin’s wife in particular is still one I can’t fully wrap my head around. His wife was introduced only to be killed and have her death become a plot point to be explored, although not really that much in season 1.
I think increasing the age of the characters is fine, but then their behaviors also needed to change a bit, to adjust for their greater maturity.
Finally, the armies of the Dark One didn’t have quite the feel of menace in the series as I found in the novels. I also found their CGI appearance to be a notch down from something like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones.
Watch it or Not?
Obviously, I watched all 8 episodes and no doubt I will watch all of season 2 as well. I love the story, so I’m invested in seeing how it is adapted. I think the show may be most enjoyable to someone who isn’t intimately familiar with the novels. It’s still interesting content and fun within its own arena. So, consider my rating a 2.5 or 3 out of 5.
