It will not be long until the Amazon Prime adaptation of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time begins airing and I could not be more excited for it.
I recently finished Book Nine, Winter’s Heart, and am planning to rank the books when I actually finish the rest of them.
Until then, I will be reviewing every episode of the adaptation when it comes out on November 19.
In anticipation of this date, a new trailer was recently released and it is interesting to say the least.
By that I mean there is a lot to love about this trailer but also a few things book readers are concerned about.
Before I talk about it, though, just in case any people happen to read this who have not read the books, I will keep most of this post spoiler free.
I will have a spoiler section at the bottom where I talk about certain things from the books but, until then, this will remain spoiler free except for what we see in the trailer, character names and place names.
The trailer begins with Moirainne swearing the oaths of the Aes Sedai, “to speak no word that is not true, to make no weapon with which one person may kill another, and to never use the one power as a weapon.”
From here, the trailer cuts to her containing the captive named Logain as a Warder tells someone that Aes Sedai means “servants of all,” setting up the role they are supposed to serve in the world to the viewer.
Then we see exactly what Moiraine’s goal is, with her and her Warder, Lan, heading to the Two Rivers in search of someone, followed by brief shots of our five Emond’s Fielders, Nynaeve, Egwene, Rand, Perrin and Mat.
Speaking of Mat, unfortunately news has come out that Barney Harris will not be returning for Season Two and Donal Finn will be replacing him.
The reasons for why this recasting happened is not currently known.
Nonetheless, it is a shame considering that, from the trailers, Harris looks to be a pretty good pick for Mat.
Let’s just hope he does a great job in this season and that Finn also follows up his performance well in subsequent seasons.
Back to the trailer, we get a brief shot of one of the monsters hunting our characters, A Mydraal, and Moiraine says that the reason such monsters are appearing is because “the Dark One is waking, but there will be one who can stand against him and it’s one of the five of you.”
This is definitely the most controversial part of the trailer for book fans but I will get into the reason why in the spoiler section down below.
After this controversial moment, however, came a part of the trailer that I think most book readers can agree looks perfect: the Trollocs.
I said they looked great in the few glimpses we got from the first trailer and I felt validated watching this new trailer for the first time.
It looks like they’re mostly practical as well, giving the Trollocs an especially dangerous feeling.
I cannot wait to see the moment when the Trolloc (maybe Narg?) breaks into Rand and Tam’s home, causing a fight to ensue.
We then see Lan riding off, carrying someone who appears to be an unconscious Moiraine, before the scene cuts to them arriving at the borderland city of Fal Dara and possibly meeting Lord Agelmar.
This is followed up by the much more gruesome sight of an Aes Sedai from the Yellow Ajah, bening burned alive at the stake by a White Cloak, Aemon Valda, who has a bunch of Aes Sedai rings, and drinks smugly at the sight of the burning woman, the reflection of this clear in his cup.
Next, we have the unusual sight of Lan crying, beating his chest, and Moiraine crying with him, with Egwene.
Rand then says he can’t lose Egwene, followed by a shot of her and Perrin being surrounded by White Cloaks, raising the intensity of the trailer since we just saw one burn a woman alive.
Egwene insists that Rand won’t lose her, and then we get brief glimpses of two other characters, Loial at a Waygate with the main group, and Thom fighting off what appears to be a Mydraal.
We then see more action shots of Moiraine fighting Trollocs with the One Power, Logain’s prison melting, Logain holding off an attack, Alanna fighting with her Warders ducking, and Rand preparing to let loose an arrow.
Most iconic of all, though, are the shots of an Aeil fighting a knight in the blood snow.
The title is then brought in with the just as iconic line from Moiraine, “The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.”
The trailer then finally ends with Perrin asking Egwene if she thinks they will ever go back home, followed by more action shots, and Egwene saying no.
This trailer was great.
I liked it even more than the first because it really gave an idea of what to expect from the show and got me excited for many scenes, like the Trolloc attack.
Also, if you watched the special version of the trailer and moved the screen around, you will see various old tongue words and a face with fire eyes, which got me even more hyped for it.
Explanation for the face down below.
As for the rest of the trailer, it was fantastic and I cannot wait for this show to come out so I can review each episode as I watch them.
Spoiler Section:
That face was definitely Ba’alzamon and it has me quite intrigued to see how he will be implemented in the show.
Now, for the rest of the book moments I wanted to discuss but could not because of spoilers.
For starters, I find it interesting how the White Cloaks are looking to be much more vicious in the show than they were in the books.
The White Cloaks in the novels are kind of a bunch of bumbling idiot fanatics.
The show looks to be changing that by having Valda burn the Aes Sedai at the stake.
Although, numerous people have raised concerns over how this would even be feasible and allowed in the world of The Wheel of Time.
Another thing people have raised issues about is Lan being so emotional in that one scene where he is beating his chest.
Lan is usually such a stoic character so this scene struck most book readers as an odd misunderstanding of the character.
Showrunner Rafe Judkins has said this is because of Moiraine’s Warder bond with him, which could explain it in context, so we will have to wait and see how it is portrayed.
Now for the most controversial part of the trailer, Egwene and Nynaeve being added to potential candidates for the Dragon Reborn.
In the novels, Rand, Mat and Perrin were the only ta’veren and Dragon Reborn candidates.
However, the show looks to be adding Egwene and Nynaeve and, in another teaser, Moiraine even states that the prophecies of the Dragon do not state whether the Dragon Reborn is a man or a woman.
This changes a huge part of the lore because in the novels the Dragon Rebrorn is stated in the prophecies to be a man, which is a big deal because all male channelers eventually go insane because of the taint of Saidin, which we see when Logain channels in the trailer.
The possibility of a woman being the Dragon Reborn would remove a lot of the stigma and fear around them because they could be much less dangerous than a male one would be, potenitally causing some plot holes.
Still, this possible contradiction in lore could be worked around, and I expect the writers did this to create more of a mystery for who the Dragon Reborn is.
Maybe they’ll set up Egwene to be it, creating hope through the Dragon Reborn being a woman, only to rip that hope away when it is eventually revealed to be Rand, causing panic to spread because the saviour of the world is doomed to go insane and could destroy them all.
So, let’s try not to judge this or any of the other changes until we see them in the show with context because they could be implemented well.
For example, I am quite interested to see how Logain’s show original storyline could play out.
It could serve to hype up his character more for his storyline, which I am still waiting to pay off in the books but it looks to be getting there eventually.
Overall, I find many of these changes to be intriguing, even if some of them are a little worrying.
Either way, it does not decrease my excitement for this show.
As Moiraine said, “The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills,” and it will either weave this show to be good or it won’t.
Time will tell.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 