As a writer, I was a surprisingly late bloomer as a reader. Growing up, I loved movies, and it wasn’t until I ventured into Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop RPGs that I delved into my first novels, all D&D adventures by R.A. Salvatore. In the early 90s, physical bookstores reigned, and I remember perusing all of the colorful paperback covers until one caught my eye. In it, a man reached up for a glowing gold sword. The bold blue title text read, “The Dragon Reborn”. I had a habit, then, and still do until this day, of picking a random page from the book’s interior and reading it. If I like the author’s style and handle on prose, I’ll buy it. Such was the case with The Dragon Reborn.
I actually met Robert Jordan in person. One morning, while I was brushing my teeth, a friends texted Robert Jordan will be signing books at the King of Prussia Mall today. We’re going. You in? King of Prussia was a bit of a road trip from where I lived, and I was supposed to be at work in two hours. Tooth brush hanging out of my mouth, I stared at the message, wheels churning in my head. I had two personal days to use for whatever I wanted this year. This seemed like a good whatever. Hours later, I sat with my friends en route to King of Prussia. The event was a book signing, and, when we arrived, the line was at least a hundred people deep. I patiently waited my turn, handed Robert Jordan my hardcover, and he signed it with a flourish. I, of course, still have it.
We hung around the mall until closing time, shopping, and when we returned to the book store, there was Robert Jordan and his agent, sitting at the same table, alone except for one chatting fan. My friends looked unbelievingly at each other. Robert Jordan, just chilling out, by himself, looking for someone to talk to. We made a beeline for the table. What resulted was a remarkably casual discussion between us and Robert Jordan. He told us about all of the things that didn’t make it into the books. For example, that the Aes Sedai weren’t sterile, but used an herbal birth control tea that every Wisdom knew how to brew. The chatting fan whipped out a camera and asked if he could take a photo with Robert Jordan. When he agreed, the fan leaned in, smiled next to him, and snapped a group shot. Our mouths dropped open. This was, of course, before everyone had cameras in their phones and taking photos actually required film. All of us flipped around and began search the mall for a store that sold disposable cameras. Simultaneously, an announcement over the mall intercom said, “The mall is closing in ten minutes. Please make your final purchases.”. Robert Jordan reacted to the announcement by closing up his books and starting to tidy his table. We learned a lesson that day. The lone fan got his prized photo because he didn’t assume he couldn’t get one.
What I loved about the Wheel of Time series is that it was mature. Where my previous sword and sorcery books were fun flights of fantasy, the Wheel of Time was an epic, complex series full of politics, factions, character building, and endless detail. To some extent, it rivaled Tolkien for complexity of world building. I encountered it at the perfect age - my early twenties - when I was looking for stories with more.
If you haven’t read the series, it’s about small-town folk from a place called Two Rivers that are whisked away on a grand adventure involving a prophecy in which one of them is the Dragon Reborn, a male spell caster of immense power who can either save or break the world. In the story, women are the only ones who can safely wield magic. The occasional, rare men who can wield it go insane. There is a very Tolkein-esque array of dark forces, ranging from Trollocs to Fades and Forsaken, and the theme of a small-town young man becoming an epic hero is one that works both for Hobbits and Jedis.
The novel series spans fourteen books, some of which approach a thousand pages each. The breadth of the story is massive, and certainly a challenge for any movie or television adaption. After the success of HBO’s Game of Thrones, however, you can see how a network may be up for the challenge. The network, in this case, is Amazon Prime, and the series launched in November 2021. I admit, my first reaction upon seeing the trailer wasn’t great:
Part of my reaction is based upon my love of the Wheel of Time books. It’s a cliche, but it’s always hard for a movie or show to live up to what your imagination has conjured. My other reaction was based on the look. Much like my habit of flipping open a book to a random page to get a flavor of the author’s style, the trailer’s flavor had a certain Dungeons & Dragons costume campiness to it (more on that later), and the swirling white magic looked like the type of mid-tier visualizations that something with more budget than a television episode but less budget than a movie could afford.
The first three episodes are available for viewing now. If you haven’t read the books, the story starts with an Aes Sedai spellcaster, Moraine Damodred, and her magically-bonded Warder, Lan Mandragoran, arriving at the small town of The Two Rivers, in search of the Dragon Reborn (a male spellcaster capable of immense power). They encounter Rand al’Thor, Matt Cauthon, Perrin Albara, and Nynaeve al’Maera. The Dark Lord is also searching for the Dragon Reborn, and the orc-like Trollocs descend upon Two Rivers, forcing Matt and party to flee with Moraine and Lan. This sets up a very Tolkienesque pursuit where everyone, good and bad, wants to get their hands on the Dragon Reborn.
It’s easiest to break my reaction down into categories:
Casting: The casting is excellent. All of the actors look like how I envisioned them and project their character’s personalities well. Rand (Josha Stradowski) looks similar to Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker, but fortunately channels strength and warmth in his performance.
Moraine (Rosamund Pike) is regal and guarded, and has the ageless look that Aes Sedai are known for.
Lan (Daniel Henney) is superb. He’s an actor like The Man in High Castle’s Rufus Sewell who excels at showing the viewer the wheels turning in his head. Lan is a character of few words, yet his silences have their own unspoken dialogue.
Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) isn’t given a lot of material to work with in the first few episodes other than being traumatized by his wife’s death, so we’ll have to see how he develops.
Mat (Barney Harris) is cocky and stubborn, and a good foil for Rand. The third episode, in particular, gives him a chance to both grate on and win over the viewer.
Thom Merrillin (Alexandre Willaume) is all of the rogue you expect him to be, and has real presence.
Nynaeve (Zoe Robins) is a spitfire.
So, overall, great job with the casting. My first reaction was that everyone looked young, but, then again, in the books they are. And as I get older, young people tend to look even younger.
Sets/Landscape: Throughout the first three episodes, the camera will pause to pan across a town set against a fantastic mountain backdrop. These appear to be a mix of on-location and special effects, but they really looked good. Shots have the larger-than-life, epic structures that fantasy book cover art favors. Towns, like the water-wheel powered town in the third episode, look functional and well-thought out. You feel that people could live here and that it’s not just a few set pieces plopped down as a backdrop for the characters. Nicely done.
Costumes: Here is the first stumbling point, for me. I’d describe it as “Wheel of Time by J. Crew”. All of the characters look just too hip, with modern fabrics, trendy patterns, and clothes that look like they are brand-new Christmas presents freshly donned. I found myself unconsciously looking for the size tags that you forget to remove in new clothing. Mat, in particular, looks like he’s one pair of Brooks Brothers glasses and a fall day away from being in a J.Crew catalog.
Comparisons to Game of Thrones are unavoidable, but GoT’s costumes looked functional, like the type of things one would need to wear on a winter battlefield.
Not that I want everything to be as dire as Game of Thrones, but armored warriors, like the White Cloaks, look a bit silly to me in the series:
It doesn’t quite delve into Richard Gere/First Knight territory for non-functional armor design, but it is a neighbor at times.
1995’s Arthurian mess, First Knight. If your armor is made of felt and has a turtleneck, you’re doing it wrong. Like the White Cloaks, Arthur is also a fan of the tiny shoulder shield.
Note there are some Wheel of Time townspeople shots where I appreciated that their garb reminded me a bit of the book covers. Fantasy book covers also do not usually have functional armor or dress, so emulating them in moderation, I think, is fine.
Special Effects: This one is a mixed bag. There are no bad effects, but the ghostly white tendrils of the spell weaving looks a bit cheesy.
On the other hand, the mix of practical and CGI effects for things like the Trollocs and Fade are superb. The Trolloc battle scenes in the first two episodes are terrifying.
Plot/Pacing: Lastly, although quite a bit happens in the first three episodes, the pacing is a bit slow. This isn’t a complaint. If anything, I’ve grown weary of series that need an explosion every three minutes to keep your attention, so having one that just follows Mat and Rand around as they try to earn a stay at an inn is actually great, because it’s all about character. The show does like to flip from calm to crisis in an instant, so any stretch of mundane-seeming tasks is probably going to end in someone holding someone else at sword point, but it works.
Violence/Gore/Nudity: Because this will inevitably be compared to Game of Thrones, I feel I need to comment on this. GoT dialed nudity to eleven, and episodes often contained gruesome violence. Wheel of Time has no sexual nudity so far. In fact, the only nudity I can recall is Lan’s butt as he gets into a bathtub with Moraine (the water is cloudy and Moraine is obscured). Their bath isn’t sexual - it’s just matter of fact. They’re bonded and have been through life and death together, and being naked in a bathtub is trivial to them. Wheel of Time does have a fair amount of violence and gore. Trollocs get sliced in half by the One Power, spilling intestines, and people take axes to the ribs, vomiting blood. The violence is intended to be jarring. I think the violence in GoT was matter-of-fact: in this world, people are barbaric to each other; deal with it. In Wheel of Time it’s meant to be horrific. Robert Jordan served two tours in Vietnam, and I think his experience of the horrors of battle flipping the switch from serenity to terror come across in his writing, and also in the Amazon series.
So, my verdict? I like it, and it’s growing on me. I wasn’t wowed by the first episode, but I was curious to see where it was going. The more I watch, and the more I see the character building, the more I’m appreciating it. Looking forward to episode four this Friday.