Wheel of Time Discussion - Spoilers(with book spoilers)

[Zaukrie]

After episode 5, some similar thoughts to others. The warder bit was overdone. I don't feel like we had chance enough to bond with him to give much emotional impact. It just seemed like they were dedicating the bulk of a whole episode to a tertiary character...if it is about foreshadowing, they could have done it more effectively with much less.

I also was scratching my head at a Whitecloak hanging outside Tar Valon, chopping off Aes Sedai hands. I mean, if they can just roam around and execute Aes Sedai wherever they want, what's to stop the Aes Sedai from balefiring their camp? Why is there not all-out war between the two?

Overall still very much enjoying it, but this episode stopped the curve of each episode improving and felt like a step back.

On a different note, this is the first episode where I noticed a significant divergence from the book. It has been 30 years, bud didn't Rand and Mat go to Caemlyn first, meeting Elayne there? Not a big deal, but it does imply that they're going to be shifting things around from the books.

I disagree. My wife and I were commenting on how much we care about him, compared to even 1 character in Foundation. Night and day.

I think this show, like GoT, is a good mix of close up dialogue in rooms, and action.

Other than people nitpicking the differences between the show and books, I can't see how any fantasy fan isn't liking this show.

 

[Maxperson]

oooh, that's my kind of character! Hope they keep doing him justice. I really liked his talks with the tinkers, and how even being traumatized by violence, he can't wrap his head around not using it when needed.

Yeah. In the books he had no wife and took the axe with him when he left. During that period when it was just him an Egwene traveling together, they took shelter. While resting they were attacked by whitecloaks and he had to kill some with the axe in order for them to get away. The wolves came at that point and help by attacking the whitecloaks. His first killing of humans with the axe really got to him and that's when he started to hate it and the violence that he had to do. When they met the tinkers there was a similar discussion about violence and the need for it, but his doubt stemmed from killing the whitecloaks and not his wife.

 

[Parmandur]

Well, Rand has "protagonist vibes" from the start. But I wasn't certain of it until reading this thread. I think they are doing something interesting by making it seem it will be Nyneave in the show for now. For us non book readers, it keeps us guessing.

The showrunner has been pretty open in book ran circles about this: it's a narrative device to get new viewers invested in all five characters, since they are all super important in the long run of the story, a d they need to set up all8 seasons.

There are two big changes from the book: in the book, Moraine is way more obtuse and secretive about her mission, and the villagers know more about the Dragon.

In the 51 chapter book, Rand is the viewpoint character for 44 Chapters (Perrin has 8 chapters, Nyneave has 3, and Egwene and Morraine each get 1), so most readers figure it out before anybody in the story does.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah. In the books he had no wife and took the axe with him when he left. During that period when it was just him an Egwene traveling together, they took shelter. While resting they were attacked by whitecloaks and he had to kill some with the axe in order for them to get away. The wolves came at that point and help by attacking the whitecloaks. His first killing of humans with the axe really got to him and that's when he started to hate it and the violence that he had to do. When they met the tinkers there was a similar discussion about violence and the need for it, but his doubt stemmed from killing the whitecloaks and not his wife.

Which better reflects Robert Jordan's own struggles with having killed toyal strangers in a pointless conflict.

 

[Bolares]

Yeah. In the books he had no wife and took the axe with him when he left. During that period when it was just him an Egwene traveling together, they took shelter. While resting they were attacked by whitecloaks and he had to kill some with the axe in order for them to get away. The wolves came at that point and help by attacking the whitecloaks. His first killing of humans with the axe really got to him and that's when he started to hate it and the violence that he had to do. When they met the tinkers there was a similar discussion about violence and the need for it, but his doubt stemmed from killing the whitecloaks and not his wife.

Reading this it makes me think they told the same general story in different ways. I get why they couldn't wait for episode 3-4 to start developing perrin...

 

[Bolares]

I gotta say, it's nice to be on this side of the conversation for once. Normally I'm on team book readers on this stuff...

 

[Parmandur]

Reading this it makes me think they told the same general story in different ways. I get why they couldn't wait for episode 3-4 to start developing perrin...

Yeah, in the book Perrin only starts getting big time development once the party splits. Mat doesn't get major development until the third novel. The Wheel of Time is definitely a slow burn.

 

[Parmandur]

I gotta say, it's nice to be on this side of the conversation for once. Normally I'm on team book readers on this stuff...

You know, the book community is pretty positive about the series at this point. Perrin's wife has been the only "whoa, wait, what?" moment and that's been handled well so far...

 

[Bolares]

Yeah, in the book Perrin only starts getting big time development once the party splits. Mat doesn't get major development until the third novel. The Wheel of Time is definitely a slow burn.

Matt deffinatelly seems rushed. He went from charming guy that loves his sisters but is not very responsible with his own life choices, to a lazy as**ole to basically frodo when he got hurt by the Nazgul... I really liked him in the first episode, but it went downhill from there for me. Rand is fine, a little whiny at first, but within reason...

 

[Maxperson]

Reading this it makes me think they told the same general story in different ways. I get why they couldn't wait for episode 3-4 to start developing perrin...

That seems to be the case with a lot of the series. They've changed metric craptons of what happened in the book, but retained the same basic feel and reasons for what they've changed. They're doing a very good job with that.