"The Wheel of Time" TV adaptation

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SaltyNZ

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#2324384 25-Sep-2019 09:54

Brumfondl:

This is annoyingly accurate :) I would not skip any of the parts with Perrin or Mat in them though. Especially anything with Mat. Probably my favourite character in all the books.

Good point.

Perrin: I can't save the world, I'm just a normal guy. A guy with a big hammer. *Hits thing with hammer, thing dies, teased by wife, takes it seriously, wife is offended.*

Matt: I don't want to save the world, I want to be a bro. *Gets drunk, gambles with wrong person (wins), sleeps with nearest pretty girl, has to kill henchmen next morning with a giant hangover.*

Rand: I don't want to save the world, but luckily I can teleport anywhere I like so I can sleep with all three women in the same day, which is an idea that cannot possibly go wrong. *Explosions*

EDIT for clarity: Matt doesn't use the hangover to kill the henchmen. He has a hangover, while killing the henchmen. I hope that clears things up.

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ShiroHagen

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#2324460 25-Sep-2019 11:04

Also:

Nearly all prominent females in the books: Men are nasty, men are all that’s wrong with the world, men are the source of the world’s problems. men this, men that, I hate men, I’m a feminazi who wants all men leashed up like the dogs they are. Especially any man with power needs to be chained up and controlled for their own good (and my ambitions)

I finished the series but honestly got quite worn out with this repetitive theme resurfacing time and again through the books. Yes I get that it was male channelers who were driven insane and “broke” the world with Saidin and so that might breed an anti-male culture, but sometimes I wondered if RJ was taking the p*** with his female characterization.

I wonder if they’ll tone down this attitude in the TV show – I can’t imagine it will translate well or that it will appeal to a mass audience. But maybe kind of like a reverse The Handmaid’s Tale, the idea of a dystopian society of powerful women (Aes Sedai) with anti-male views will prove popular.

sir1963

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#2324560 25-Sep-2019 12:35

Hammerer:

What!? No topic on The Wheel of Time series.

I was surprised to get no result when I searched geekzone for a topic about Amazon's announcement that they are adapting The Wheel of Time of novels to show on Prime Video. But I did find a few about World of Tanks when I searched for WOT.

‘Wheel of Time’ Series at Amazon Rounds Out Main Cast

I was even more surprised when there was no mention that a local (brought up in Lower Hutt; now living in LA?) has one of the main roles:

Kiwi star Zoë Robins joins Rosamund Pike in Amazon's Wheel of Time series

Maybe, I am the only one anticipating this premiere. I really enjoyed reading the book series.

We only started reading it because my wife brought his "trilogy" home for us to read. It was only at the third book that we found Robert Jordan had written ten books and the series was still being written ... and then he died after book eleven. So about 7/8 years later it was finally completed by Rand Sanderson whose other books we also enjoyed.

I also enjoyed Game of Thrones although that suffered from being televised before the book series was complete.

My guess it will be more like Xena and not GOT, which will be sad, the books were great.

Brumfondl

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#2324902 25-Sep-2019 21:25

SaltyNZMatt:

EDIT for clarity: Matt doesn't use the hangover to kill the henchmen. He has a hangover, while killing the henchmen. I hope that clears things up.

Let's be honest, it's Mat. If anyone is capable of using a giant hangover to kill someone it would be him...

Hammerer

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#2325830 27-Sep-2019 11:00

SaltyNZ:

Brumfondl:

This is annoyingly accurate :) I would not skip any of the parts with Perrin or Mat in them though. Especially anything with Mat. Probably my favourite character in all the books.

Good point.

Perrin: I can't save the world, I'm just a normal guy. A guy with a big hammer. *Hits thing with hammer, thing dies, teased by wife, takes it seriously, wife is offended.*

Matt: I don't want to save the world, I want to be a bro. *Gets drunk, gambles with wrong person (wins), sleeps with nearest pretty girl, has to kill henchmen next morning with a giant hangover.*

Rand: I don't want to save the world, but luckily I can teleport anywhere I like so I can sleep with all three women in the same day, which is an idea that cannot possibly go wrong. *Explosions*

EDIT for clarity: Matt doesn't use the hangover to kill the henchmen. He has a hangover, while killing the henchmen. I hope that clears things up.

LOL.

I totally agree that Mat is the most entertaining character and has the most interesting storyline. I would prefer to have Perrin as my favourite except he has a really annoying entourage that drag down his storyline.

A lot of the comments about the book series are spot on but funny as they are they shouldn't be used to decide if you want to read the series.

There are many useful guides to the series but reading any of them can spoil reading the series because developing and redeveloping understanding, and even misunderstandings, is an important part of interacting with the plot.

Here's my short attempt to provide some background without giving anything away.

The first book was published in 1990 and it definitely reflects writing in that era so don't give up at the first book. They do get better.

Many people complain about the middle books which definitely slow down the pace. But one reason for this is that most of us had to wait for the next book to be published so we were impatient for the next book to come out. Even so, authors like G.R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) have similar problems half way through their series. I've read TWOT series several times and some of my favourite scenes are in those slower books. Winters Heart, book 9, is the one I like the least but it contains two or three key turning points in the story line.

Jordan consciously wanted to evoke the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) series but, unlike Tolkein, he is much more focused on developing power to fight enemies rather than pursuing more humble means. That means that "bad" powers can be used to fight "bad" enemies. Tolkein generally presented that approach negatively.

The story starts in a rural setting with bucolic characters so it takes a while to develop a broader perspective of what is happening in the land.

The layout of the land is also similar to the LOTR with the oceans to the west and south and ranges of mountains to the north and east. Behind the mountains are the traditional known enemies and some little known cultures. But, unlike LOTR, the enemies are not necessarily evil.

The story focuses on a group of mainly-teenage young people and how they develop over about three years - I had thought middle-teens based on how they are presented but most are actually late-teen by stated age - in his later books, Jordan appears to have upped the ages of several of his original conceptions. Anyway, the main point is that their life-shattering experiences accelerate their growth from parochial teens to sometimes wise, responsible, and/or powerful adults.

Memory and history are important themes so the main characters aren't limited to their own limited perspective. Part of this is The Wheel Of Time (TWOT) which is, apparently, a series of cycles that keeps turning from development to destruction. In these cycles, sometimes good triumphs and other times evil but there has never been an ultimate resolution that prevents another cycle developing. I say apparently, because most of what we know about the cycles comes from the arch nemesis so we don't really know if this is true.

The series is set in the last years of the latest cycle. If you read the following timeline in detail, there will be some spoilers. But a quick glance over it will give you an idea of the complex backstory:

https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline

There is a strong focus on characters being forced to some end. We might call it destiny but it has a more specific representation in the series.

Characters can also have special/supernatural powers. These powers and technology can be combined to enhance each other. Both these points features of LOTR but the link between the supernatural and technology is much more developed in TWOT.

Some of the language echoes our heritage and makes it easier to realise what is happening, e.g.: Shaitan (Arabic) is like Satan; Tarmon Gai'dan is like Armageddon, with a mix of the Bible conception and the current additions.

Eastern religious and philosophical conceptions dominate with ideas about complementarity and duality. But there are also many ideas from Western religion and philosophy.

sir1963:

My guess it will be more like Xena and not GOT, which will be sad, the books were great.

I think that there is nearly zero chance of being like Xena. Even the Shannara series wasn't that cheaply presented.

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