Review of S1 E1 of The Wheel of Time, “Leavetaking.” Spoilers for the episode and light spoilers for the books.
The Wheel of Time turns. Thirty one years ago, this fifteen-book series first came to print. Twenty-six years ago, I started reading it, when it was up to Book 6. Fourteen years ago, the author, Robert Jordan, tragically passed away, and passed the torch to Brandon Sanderson to co-write the remaining three books. Eight years ago, the series was completed and I said my farewells to these characters. But last week, the series came to the screen.
A few years ago, after hearing the announcement that The Wheel of Time would become a TV series, I decided to level-up my book collection from paperbacks to hardbacks. (I now have the entire series, as seen in the header image.) In the last few months, I’ve started re-reading Book 1, The Eye of the World. This is my my fourth or fifth time to read it. The books are highly re-readable (well, the first six anyway), and I wanted to come into the TV series with the book fresh in my mind.
As I watch through the show, I’m going to provide my own analysis of how it stacks up the books. I’ll divide my comments up into four categories: Cheers, Groans, Ramblings, and Theories. What’s become apparent to me is that the show is in some ways a different canon than the books. Expect to see a lot of commentary on that. If you haven’t read the books, though, don’t worry––I’ll try to keep the spoilers light. (But I can’t guarantee some things won’t slip though.)
Episode 1: Leavetaking covers roughly the first ten chapters of Book 1.
CHEERS
The setting. My goodness, it’s beautiful. This looks like an unfamiliar world. The mountains near the Two Rivers almost look like ancient ruins of skyscrapers, hinting at the forgotten Age of Legends.
The Red Ajah chasing Logain, and him being insane. The Aes Sedai’s line about the madness already taking him, and the One Power being for women only. Great way to set up the backstory of the magic system. Also a great reveal into the haughtiness common with Aes Sedai. Right away, some may see this as a pro or anti feminism story, and the interesting thing is that you can arrive at either interpretation. But ultimately WOT is about the world being out of balance because of the war between the sexes.
It was a good decision to show a bit of romance between Rand and Egwene. Their relationship was mostly in the past in TEOTW, hinted at but never really shown. Mostly understood through Rand’s inner monologue. And there’s no real way to show thought life on screen. I was prepared to not like this element that we saw hints of in the trailer, because I thought their romance would persist through the whole season. Looks like they are more so at the beginning of a breakup, which is consistent.
Rosamund Pike knocks it out of the park as Moiraine. She nails both the serenity aspect of an Aes Sedai, as well as the quiet menace of a channeler that puts everyone else on edge.
The scene with Tam and Rand lighting the Bel Tine lantern and talking about the Wheel hit me deep. Tam is such an awesome father, one of the best male characters in the whole series. He’s the counterpoint to the “men broke the world” narrative, living proof that men can be good. His positive portrayal of manhood speaks to me on so many levels. All that was missing was his lesson to Rand about the Flame and the Void, but maybe they are saving that for a flashback scene (see below in Theories). But when Tam got out his heron-marked sword, I cheered out loud!
The music and cinematography are breathtaking.
The Trollocs were truly terrifying to watch. Huge, fast, and brutal. But what makes the people of the Two Rivers awesome is that they immediately rose to the challenge to fight back hard. This is a great nod to the books and the “old blood” of the villagers.
Moiraine’s channeling against the Trollocs was stunning. I liked the variety of attacks she launched by using various Elements of the One Power (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit). Others have complained about her hand movements or even the fact of seeing the weaves, but it works perfectly well for a visual medium. But even there, she’s able to use “Air” to fling an axe at a Trolloc, by just looking at it, i.e. without hand motions. Kind of a nod to the Force in Star Wars. But what really works with Moiraine using the Power is that it takes time for her to weave things, and Lan has to protect her in between weaves. She even gets stabbed. Great way to show that Aes Sedai are not invincible goddesses.
GROANS
Let’s get the big one out of the way: Moiraine’s line that she doesn’t know whether the Dragon Reborn is a boy or a girl. This is a major fork from the books, in which the Dragon Reborn is unapologetically a man. There’s an entire prequel written about this, Moiraine’s discovery that the Dragon has been reborn––as a boy child. A female Dragon Reborn is a category error. Brandon Sanderson said it best: “This is a major change to the canon.”
Moiraine and Lan sharing a bath tub, with brief nudity, was bizarre. It also has a hint of romance, which is way out of character for them. She makes a comment about being surprised there even was a bathtub in this town. But why wouldn’t they simply take turns? It’s nonsensical and gratuitous.
Perrin killing his own wife was very dark. In the books, he didn’t have a wife when the story begins. I see what they’re trying to do, showing his potential for extreme violence but then his hatred of it, which is a central theme for him in the books. He’s been called Robert Jordan’s conscience, so I understand the setup. But killing your own wife would be about the most traumatic thing a person could do, and would normally break someone utterly.
RAMBLINGS
“You think it’s one of them. Which one?” Lan’s question to Moiraine seems to be the theme of the season. But I’m not sure a non-book viewer cares yet. It hasn’t been very well established why the Dragon Reborn matters. In the books, he is seen equally as a Savior and Destroyer figure. People mostly dread his rebirth, for two reasons: it will mean the Dark One’s return, and a male channeler being unleashed on the world.
There’s quite a bit of blood on screen, as well as a strong horror element when the Trollocs show up. No surprise, really; this is a series with a ton of battles. It’s just something else to see it with your eyes than with your mind. So quite honestly, the show kind of straddles the TV-14 / TV-MA line here. Whereas I would put the books firmly in the YA category. A lot of the violence and other adult content is rarely described in graphic detail. And the story focuses on young adults coming of age. That’s what made it a great series to read in high school, and why I plan to let my kids read it at that age. But I’m not sure yet at what age I’ll let them watch the show.
Overall it does a good job introducing us to a world with magic and all that entails. WOT has a very well developed magic system that has a lot of social and political impact.
Moiraine talks about the Dark One awakening, and how “his whispers are already in the backs of our minds.” This is a really unique thing about the central evil figure in the WoT. He doesn’t simply send physical attacks (like with Trollocs) but also psychological ones. When the Dark One first pierced his way into the world during the Age of Legends, he corrupted the minds of countless people. And now that the seals on his prison are weakening, he’s able to once again influence people directly. Strong connection to how spiritual warfare works in the real world.
THEORIES
We didn’t see Tam’s fever dream in this episode, but we did see him get attacked by the Trolloc (Narg?), and then Rand brought him into town. So everything was set up for that to happen. But since it reveals so much, and because of the season theme (ambiguity of the Dragon’s identity), I think we’ll see that in a later episode as a flashback scene.
I’m hopeful that the TV series won’t actually change who the Dragon Reborn is, and that as Sanderson said, this is just to provide some mystery to the first season.