The Wheel of Time

 

by Robert Jordan
and Brandon Sanderson

The Wheel of Time is now a TV series available from a streaming service which shall remain nameless. To say that I am a devotee of the fantasy series would be a gross understatement. To say that I am disappointed in the TV production would completely misstate my reaction to what they've done to Robert Jordan's epic fantasy.

I understand how remote the likelihood is of most people reading any series consisting of  fourteen volumes and a prequel, totaling 10,173 pages in the hardback editions -- not including glossary or appendix page counts. That's 4,410,036 words according to Wikipedia.

Hard to even think about, isn't it.

But that's even more reason that the TV series folk should have more faithfully interpreted Jordan's story. And they could have done. They could use video in place of many of those millions of words.

This is an overview of Robert Jordan's life's work, so ably completed by Brandon Sanderson.

The Plot, simple, time tested, Good versus Evil. Not unlike every war humans have ever fought. At least from your side's point of view.

     Thousands of years before the book series starts, The Creator created a world
     based on the concept of balance with the Wheel of Time to run it. The Wheel,
     driven by the One Power, spins out threads (the lives of men and women) which
     are woven into the Patterns of the Ages. The One Power is divided into saidin 
     which men can channel and saidar which women can channel. Those who could
     channel, both male and female, were the original Aes Sedai. They worked together
     to protect and serve the peoples of the world.

                      
 Ancient Symbol of the                                    Snake eating its tail    

  Aes Sedai, men and women                                   the golden ring              

               (Looks familiar, doesn't it!)                                  Aes Sedai women                               

     Underpinning the sense of balance in this world, there was a destroyer, Shai'tan, 
     the Dark One. The Creator imprisoned Shai'tan away from the Wheel, but during
     The Age of Legends, also long before the series starts, something happens and
     The Dark One's prison is ruptured allowing him to touch the world and corrupt
     some of the powerful and ambitious people to support him. They attempt to
     free him.

     In that Age, the Wheel spun out the Dragon Lews Therin Telamon to defeat
     The Dark One and his followers. Using seven seals, Lews Therin resealed the

     Dark One's prison, but The Dark One cast a taint on saidin, the male half, which
     caused any male channeler to go insane doing all sorts of damage to the world
     and the people around him before he dies. This left the female Aes Sedai to 
     consolidate their power and rule the part of the world on which the series focuses.

     
     Unfortunately the seals Lews Therin used were flawed and by the Third Age,
     which is when Jordan's book series starts, the seals are failing. The Wheel spins
     out a new Dragon to battle The Dark One and his forces.
    

You don't need to know all this before you start the books. You discover it as you read.

The Theme, also simple and time tested. Seemingly ordinary people from ordinary lives do have what it takes to step up and save the world.

     “Egwene and Nynaeve, Rand and Mat and Perrin. All five from Emond’s Field
     in the Two Rivers. Few people had come into the Two Rivers from outside,
     except for occasional peddlers, and merchants once a year to buy wool and tabac.
     Almost no one had ever left. Until the Wheel chose out its ta’veren, and five
     simple country folk could stay where they were no longer. Could be what they were
     no longer.”

Characters. Robert Jordan was not only a master at world building, he drew characters that you can know well enough to recognize on the street in your own world. Each of the five main characters has their own story arc. Indeed, the supporting characters have their story arcs. And even some of the minor characters.

The three young men from Emond's Field are twenty years old, only just coming into adulthood. Egwene is a couple of years younger. Each comes from a stable home and is raised with traditional values. Nynaeve is several years older and holds a position of power in their community. She was trained by the town Wisdom to provide medical care to the Emond's Field people. When her mentor died, she became the Wisdom  and she took on the responsibility for the well-being of the town with a passion. That passion became an obsession focused on the four young people forced out of Emond's Field by the Wheel's will.

These young people travel through their world. They learn about and from the many differing cultures. They flee from and battle against The Dark One and his devotees. And they become powerful enough for Good to defeat Evil.

Now about this TV production.

Contrary to the perverted television series, Perrin was not married at the beginning of the story and did not kill his wife, accident or no. Mat's father was not a drunk and womanizer. Nor was his mother crazy.

For that matter, Egwene's father owned the Winespring Inn and was the town's mayor. Rand's father made the cider and brandy served there and was a respected member of the town council. Egwene's mother cooked the meals served in the inn's common room and was active in the town's Women's Circle. I can assure you, the inn was clean and the patrons there, orderly, even during festival.

And don't get me started on the misbegotten costume designs!

They did do a good job of the Trollocs.

Perhaps if the TV production were intended to fill the niche left empty at the end of Game of Thrones, this abomination might be understandable. Understandable, not acceptable. 

Please, please, please. Enjoy the TV series, if you must. Just remember, it in almost no way reflects Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's well-crafted story.