Three Elves in a Trenchcoat

Bear with me. It’s been about a year since I reread The Wheel of Time and while I love Robert Jordan (may he rest in peace), the books are very long-winded and things tend to blend together.

Also, did anyone ever have trouble reading those books in order? Like, I picked up one, read, it, and then I thought I was picking up the second, but it actually started smack in the middle of the first–but then there was some other story that may have also been the second…

Anyways, I read the first book twice and enjoyed it, so I was so excited for the Amazon Prime Show!

I want to start with the most basic thing: Did I like it? Absolutely! It was amazing and I can’t wait to continue it. (Sadly I have to work in the morning and I need my brain to perform Vet Assistant stuff.)

The aesthetics were wonderful. Costumes? Beautiful and unique. Setting? Gorgeous. Special effects? So much better than other Amazon originals I’ve watched (AHEM Mythica, which I just had to dig through my watch history for). And the Trollocs–oh my god they were so much cooler than I’d imagined!

The Fades deserve their own section. They were on screen for all of thirty seconds and I can’t sleep. Mission accomplished. I never imagined them being that scary; I was thinking Ringwraiths this whole time and I never expected them to look like Voldemort’s sleep paralysis demons. Thank you, Amazon, for such wonderful and terrifying monsters that will keep me up all night no matter how tightly I hug my anime body pillows. (In all seriousness–they were awesome, and probably my favorite part because they elicited such a reaction).

Casting: A+. When I tell you that Egwene, Nynaeve, and Mat look exactly the way I imagined them to, I’m being serious. And everyone else fits their characters so well! The acting was wonderful (unlike Mythica).

I think I’m knocking on Mythica too much. I love to hate it. I’ve watched every movie, and the first one I’ve watched twice. It’s like Twilight: I laugh and yell the whole time, but I watch TV to get some kind of emotional reaction and that’s exactly what it gives me.

Back to The Wheel of Time! I think I need to address the most important issue of all: How loyal is the show to Jordan’s masterpiece?

For the most part, it follows the overall story. (Keep in mind, I have watched one episode and I already have qualms about it. This is not a good omen.) We have our four heroes, one of which might be the Dragon, leaving Two Rivers with Moirrane the Aes Sedai. But there is so much going on that wasn’t in the books.

First off, the tension between Rand and Egwene is totally revamped as they are already partners. And having sex. This took years off my life. While we still have the tension that Egwene has other goals in life than marriage (as she should), the way it’s portrayed is almost like a B Horror. She’s talking with Rand and all of a sudden they start making out. For no reason.

Seriously. Is this just because I’m ace? Are straight people okay? Please tell me this is exaggerated.

Second, we have a lot more character development on Perrin’s and Mat’s ends. Perrin is married to the lovely Laila, who in the books was married to someone entirely different. Their relationship seems rather strained. Given the shots on Laila’s stomach and the fact that Perrin stabbed her there, I’m going to say this has something to do with childbearing. This certainly gives Perrin’s gentle-giant character a different spin. I’m not sure how to feel about it (probably because I was simping over Laila and her muscles and thirteen piercings). What was the purpose of having Perrin kill her? I have to assume this is going to turn into something big later on. It better. If not, it’ll just be a weak plot device to free up Perrin to leave Two Rivers. Book Perrin is still my favorite, but I do love this actor and he’s doing a very good job.

As for Mat–I very, very much like what was done with him. While he has the playful, Han Solo air of Book Mat, he is also very serious and devoted to his broken family. He is especially protective of his two little sisters, which is another one of my favorite parts. Listen: Loveable troublemakers are my favorite characters. Mat’s devotion to protecting his sisters and keeping his family together gives his character more depth. (I’m not saying that Mat had no depth in the books–it just took longer for his character to develop).

The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the sex. That almost killed the show for me. Unfortunately, sex was a huge theme in Robert Jordan’s books and it always frustrated me. It’s such a good fantasy series, minus the sexual undertones in everything. I’m hoping this will be toned down in the series.

I mean, come on, Jordan. The whole gentling thing…that just has some weird vibes. And the whole marriage thing. Why is everyone in those books so eager to get married? Oh no, I can’t be a powerful wizard because what if I want a husband and kids one day!

Why can’t you be a magical wizard and be married? And why is every single character so obsessed with the opposite sex?

Maybe I just need to write a book where all the wizards are asexual. That’s actually a great idea. Just gonna add that one to the list folks.

In all seriousness, though! That first episode was great! I loved the action! And Nynaeve–my girl kicked ass! The scene where she screams back at that Trolloc? I can’t tell if I’m in love or if I just want to be her. Probably both. And Egwene! That’s one thing that I really love about this: It’s that there’s no idea of ‘Oh my god, a girl is strong? No way!’. Instead, the men and women are fighting alongside each other as equals. Perrin gets to land his blows and so does Laila.

Sometimes on each other.

Ahem, too soon.

I’m really excited to see where this series goes. Also, I’m going to need to reread the books so I can more accurately fact-check these episodes. My memory is not strong enough to keep track of so many characters!