[TV] The Wheel of Time

[Shadowferal]

I recently finished A Memory of Light and, man, what a ride it has been. The story is insanely good, very well written, with the exception of book 12 which, frankly, scared me a little. I wish I could press a button to forget the whole thing so I could re-read the whole series. The show is going to need a significantly larger budget to pull this one off.

One thing worries me about the show though. Rand has a major character defining moment in the 3rd book, which I assumed season 3 will be based off of, but I heard they are actually skipping this one completely. Like, how is that even gonna work? Has there been any news about the show that actually confirms it?

Dude, you really don't want to see the travesty that was...whatever show they called "The Wheel of Time."

[ItsRainingMetal]

Dude, you really don't want to see the travesty that was...whatever show they called "The Wheel of Time."

Oh, I've seen it. We can only hope whoever is producing/writing for this show are replaced. They have excellent source material to work with, but it seems they are choosing not to make use of that. They definitely have to make some hard decisions if they want to turn this boat around.

It's such a shame. I've become a huge fan of this universe and I really want the show to become better, but then my friend broke the news that they may(?) be skipping the next book completely. This seems odd to me.

[Biomega]

they may(?) be skipping the next book completely. This seems odd to me.

It not only isn't odd, it's inevitable.

There's no way to realistically bring this to screen and NOT skip some stuff. WoT is notoriously drawn-out and overstuffed, the book series itself is already several books longer than it should have been. They're necessarily course-correcting in the adaptation because it would be unwatchable if you stuck to everything in the books.

That being said, whether they'll do this well is an entirely different question...

[rhorle]

It's such a shame. I've become a huge fan of this universe and I really want the show to become better, but then my friend broke the news that they may(?) be skipping the next book completely. This seems odd to me.

Season 3 has a focus on the Waste so it will likely be primarily book 4. There really isn't much lost as book 3 has a lot filler that could be covered at a later point. A lot of Wheel of Time could be condensed to an abridged version and not really lose much.

[En Sabah Nur]

[Rennadrel]

Oh, I've seen it. We can only hope whoever is producing/writing for this show are replaced. They have excellent source material to work with, but it seems they are choosing not to make use of that. They definitely have to make some hard decisions if they want to turn this boat around.

It's such a shame. I've become a huge fan of this universe and I really want the show to become better, but then my friend broke the news that they may(?) be skipping the next book completely. This seems odd to me.

You realistically can't salvage what was done to the source material in this butchery of an adaptation because it intentionally misrepresents so much of the narrative just in the first season alone. Even if there is too much filler in the books, you literally can't replace major story beats like Mat and Padan Fain being connected to the Shadar Logoth dagger, which is one of several story pieces that they bastardized in the first season. At this point the show is such an objective failure of an adaptation that even one of its biggest supporters of it initially, that being Brandon Sanderson, distanced himself from it soon after it was unveiled because it makes a mockery of one of his idols work.

[rhorle]

Even if there is too much filler in the books, you literally can't replace major story beats like Mat and Padan Fain being connected to the Shadar Logoth dagger, which is one of several story pieces that they bastardized in the first season.

The dagger isn't required for any part of the story and just becomes a dangerous weapon Fain uses by the end. It is just to give a reason for the main character to go after the Horn. The show also isn't an objective failure of an adaptation. It just isn't 100% faithful which has never been the definition of adaptations.

As for Sanderson you are misrepresenting his words because of your own bias:

"Good job to the team, by the way, who are making [The Wheel of Time]. This is an extremely hard story to adapt. There’s a lot going on, they only have eight episodes. For me, I’m complaining because I feel like it’s illustrative of my philosophy on storytelling. But at the same time, it’s amazing that The Wheel of Time can be adapted and be this good." https://winteriscoming.net/2023/10/1...on-2-finale/7/

[Shadowferal]

The dagger isn't required for any part of the story and just becomes a dangerous weapon Fain uses by the end.

And you are constantly revealing you know absolutely nothing about the books at all.

[rhorle]

And you are constantly revealing you know absolutely nothing about the books at all.

I am right though. Without the dagger present the story largely remains the same. It is used to get Rand to go with the party hunting the Horn and it is used as a physical symbol of the sickness Mat has. It gets locked away in the tower until Fain steals it and then Fain uses its as a weapon against his enemies. It is of no real importance to the over all story.

[Frogguh]

Some changes make sense due to the realities of adapting thousands of pages to the screen. My objection is their disregard for the source material that has no business being changed and actually butchers the world building by getting changed.

A prime example is how the Dragon is proclaimed. In the book, the Pattern itself declares the identity of the Dragon. There is no denying who it is, so no more false Dragons. In the show, an Aes Sedai puts on a firework display to proclaim the Dragon, which any Aes Sedai could do for anyone, including herself. Absolute nonsense.

[Mace]

Incredible trailer.. truly incredible.

I 100% detest what they did to the Wheel of time series through this show, it could have been so much better sticking tot he original book, their adaptations are cheesy and un-necessarily over-woke in what was already quite a "woke" book. They ruined it, but boy, the trailer looks GOOD!

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@rhorle - genuinely whay are you such a supporter of this show? it sucks compared to the book and could have done so much better - in like every area. Most of their changes are bad and often outright terrible.

[Syegfryed]

@rhorle - genuinely whay are you such a supporter of this show?

rhorle is a supporter for all the bad shows and movies, no exceptions

[rhorle]

rhorle- genuinely whay are you such a supporter of this show? it sucks compared to the book and could have done so much better - in like every area. Most of their changes are bad and often outright terrible.

Just because it isn't a faithful adaptation doesn't mean it is a bad. Different people like different things and you even just praised the trailer as looking good. Yet if I say something seen as support it is a problem?

[Shadowferal]

rhorle is a supporter for all the bad shows and movies, no exceptions

I've noticed that myself...it's baffling.

[Corvus]

So Alcair Dal is reduced to a depression in the sand. You have to wonder how they keep it from filling up.

[Tiwack]

rhorle is a supporter for all the bad shows and movies, no exceptions

Some people are thankful for what's presented to them and take what they can get.

Personally I'm in the same boat, love the show as well as the books, they don't have to be the same and that's fine by me.

[Syegfryed]

Some people are thankful for what's presented to them and take what they can get.

Personally I'm in the same boat, love the show as well as the books, they don't have to be the same and that's fine by me.

Ans some people are rightfully pissed that they bastardised and ruined a story they like. Some people do think they have to be same and/or keep the same spirit, which should also be fine.

There is also no problem in liking bad movies/shows, everyone have their guilty pleasures.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

The dagger isn't required for any part of the story and just becomes a dangerous weapon Fain uses by the end.

The dagger kinda is required. With out it Matt isn’t corrupted, they can’t track the horn, Matt isn’t left behind in the white tower, Matt, doesn’t lose abunch of memory’s and wish for them back from the snakes which gets him every life’s memory’s, Fain doesn’t evolve further by retaking it in the white tower, and Matt can’t over come the mist at the end.

After Fains evolution it does become just a weapon but it sets up pretty much all of Matt’s character in the book.

[Zodiark]

I've noticed that myself...it's baffling.

I only read the first 7-8 books in the series. It was a while ago also. From what I remember, though the characters were portrayed much differently compared to to the show. I watched a couple episodes of this show when it first came out because there wasn't all the much going on at the time. I stopped because the tone and feel felt way off to me. I didn't like the actor choices for the most part either nor how they tweaked their motivations to align with modern sensibilities. As for rhorle and those like him on here, I've noticed some people just like to be contrary no mater what logic you hit them with.

[rhorle]

The dagger kinda is required. With out it Matt isn’t corrupted, they can’t track the horn, Matt isn’t left behind in the white tower, Matt, doesn’t lose abunch of memory’s and wish for them back from the snakes which gets him every life’s memory’s, Fain doesn’t evolve further by retaking it in the white tower, and Matt can’t over come the mist at the end.

The horn was tracked by the evil of those who stole it by Hurin. He only briefly shows up in books after The Great Hunt. They also had the prophecy left by Lanfear saying where they were headed. When Hurin goes into a parallel world with Rand Perrin uses wolves to take over tracking.

Mat needing the dagger to be healed is just motivation for Rand to go with the party hunting the horn instead of off on his own. That urge could have just been left to being a ta'vereen in the story and didn't need the dagger. Jordan even had the heroes of the horn unable to charge until Rand displayed the Dragon banner so he had an element of fate already present in the pattern.

Mat losing his memory is because of the corruption. The dagger is just symbolic really as Fain didn't need to take anything from the city though his corruption happened because of his merging with mashadar when they met. Fain would have still sought the boys out because the dark one previously made him similar to Hurin but only sensed the three boys.