Wheel of Time ... I've got worries, folks.
Okay, the latest trailer dropped a few days back and I've got issues. My Game of Thrones buttons are getting pushed and my faith is being shaken.
I understand the need for changes when you go from medium A to medium B, but the changes I'm going to touch on are not related to medium and seem to have been made for no good fucking reason.
Not from this trailer -- I fucking HATE they have changed the name of our little village from Emond's Field to "The Two Rivers." The story behind the name of Emond's Field is a great one. Saying that people can't get the idea that Emond's Field is a village in the Two Rivers, is like saying people find the concept of Los Angeles is a city in California too hard to grasp.
(Which means we're going to get a watered down bastard version of the "old blood" of Manetheren, and that was such a rich and beautiful backstory, especially the story of how Emond's Field got its name.)
They have changed the 3 Aes Sedai oaths for fuck's sake!
The oaths from the books are:
(1) To speak no word that is not true
(2) To make no weapon with which one man may kill another
(3) Never to use the One Power as a weapon except against Darkfriends or Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme defense of her life, the life of her Warder, or another Aes Sedai.
This speaks to me of they are going to try and wring some cheap drama out of "Oh noes, I can't use the one power as a weapon! There's nothing I can do!" At some point. The book figured out all sorts of drama that came from oath #3. "Um ... there's a shitton of [baddies], aren't you going to do something?!" "Um ... I can't until I'm actually afraid for my life, and I'm not there yet."
"One of the 5 of you ...."
No. No. No. NO. Just fucking no.
1) Reincarnation is a canonical thing in this world. "By my hope of salvation and rebirth" is pretty much the biggest fucking oath you can swear.
2) The ability to channel is tied to the soul.
3) Men channel Saidin. Women channel Saidar. Meaning there are male souls and female souls.
4) The first Dragon was a man, and thus his reincarnation will always be male*
5) A MAJOR theme of the books is redemption, of having a 2nd chance to fix mistakes & do better. The Dragon is reborn to have the chance to fix his mistake. Plus, the greater theme of a man fucked the world and now a man is going to unfuck it. And not in the "well, no woman could ..." chauvinistic way, but in the karmaic way of if a man fucked it up, a man has to unfuck it or else the cosmic scales won't balance.
6) Also, the fact that the Dragon was going to be reborn at some point? Not a secret. Everybody in the world knows the story of Lews Therin Telemon, the first Dragon, and every culture** has prophecies about his return. Every major world culture knows the story of the Breaking, and in the Westlands, many people can quote a line or four from the Karaethon Cycle (the name given to the prophecies of the Dragon from the Westlands) because it's regularly sung by the Bards and Gleemen, and it's a work that has never fallen out of print.
"I was shown a vision ..."
Facepalm.
Why not use the book version, which is pretty dramatic, and often quoted, in whole, or in part by fans, because the words and the scene are that beloved and memorable.
"He is born again! I feel him! The Dragon takes his first breath on the slopes of Dragonmount! He is coming! He is coming! Light help us! Light help the world! He lies in the snow and cries like the thunder! He burns like the sun!" And as soon as the words are ripped from her throat, Gitara dies from the shock of it.
It's a great moment for the story of Moiraine, who, as a young woman, an "accepted" of the White Tower, by pure chance is in the room when Gitara has her vision & keels over, and now has the entire course of her life set by it. She is one of a handful of people who knows one of the biggest secrets in the world. A secret that the wrong people will KILL to know.
Whatever life Moiraine was planning for herself? It ended that day. The entire course of her life changed in an instant, and her plans/dreams/goals went out the window.
It's not like Jordan's words are holy writ & free of flaw (holy shit, the slog!), but I find these changes needless, and worse ... not trusting of his ideas about theme, motive, and worldbuilding.
I get necessary changes between mediums, but none of these are necessary. NONE. And some of them change key plot elements and ruin much loved scenes that fans have been dying to see.
*So ... your soul can forcibly be put back into a body of the wrong kind (an act of torture), but you will still channel the kind of power tied to your soul. This becomes a key plot point, and there's a VERY dramatic scene tied to it in the books. "She's holding Saidin!"
**
Westlands = Kareathon Cycle
Seanchan = Essanik Cycle
Aiel = Prophecy of Rhuidean
Athan'an Miere (aka "Sea Folk") = Jendai Prophecy
The Blight = Prophecies of the Shadow
Click to viewI understand the need for changes when you go from medium A to medium B, but the changes I'm going to touch on are not related to medium and seem to have been made for no good fucking reason.
Not from this trailer -- I fucking HATE they have changed the name of our little village from Emond's Field to "The Two Rivers." The story behind the name of Emond's Field is a great one. Saying that people can't get the idea that Emond's Field is a village in the Two Rivers, is like saying people find the concept of Los Angeles is a city in California too hard to grasp.
(Which means we're going to get a watered down bastard version of the "old blood" of Manetheren, and that was such a rich and beautiful backstory, especially the story of how Emond's Field got its name.)
They have changed the 3 Aes Sedai oaths for fuck's sake!
The oaths from the books are:
(1) To speak no word that is not true
(2) To make no weapon with which one man may kill another
(3) Never to use the One Power as a weapon except against Darkfriends or Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme defense of her life, the life of her Warder, or another Aes Sedai.
This speaks to me of they are going to try and wring some cheap drama out of "Oh noes, I can't use the one power as a weapon! There's nothing I can do!" At some point. The book figured out all sorts of drama that came from oath #3. "Um ... there's a shitton of [baddies], aren't you going to do something?!" "Um ... I can't until I'm actually afraid for my life, and I'm not there yet."
"One of the 5 of you ...."
No. No. No. NO. Just fucking no.
1) Reincarnation is a canonical thing in this world. "By my hope of salvation and rebirth" is pretty much the biggest fucking oath you can swear.
2) The ability to channel is tied to the soul.
3) Men channel Saidin. Women channel Saidar. Meaning there are male souls and female souls.
4) The first Dragon was a man, and thus his reincarnation will always be male*
5) A MAJOR theme of the books is redemption, of having a 2nd chance to fix mistakes & do better. The Dragon is reborn to have the chance to fix his mistake. Plus, the greater theme of a man fucked the world and now a man is going to unfuck it. And not in the "well, no woman could ..." chauvinistic way, but in the karmaic way of if a man fucked it up, a man has to unfuck it or else the cosmic scales won't balance.
6) Also, the fact that the Dragon was going to be reborn at some point? Not a secret. Everybody in the world knows the story of Lews Therin Telemon, the first Dragon, and every culture** has prophecies about his return. Every major world culture knows the story of the Breaking, and in the Westlands, many people can quote a line or four from the Karaethon Cycle (the name given to the prophecies of the Dragon from the Westlands) because it's regularly sung by the Bards and Gleemen, and it's a work that has never fallen out of print.
"I was shown a vision ..."
Facepalm.
Why not use the book version, which is pretty dramatic, and often quoted, in whole, or in part by fans, because the words and the scene are that beloved and memorable.
"He is born again! I feel him! The Dragon takes his first breath on the slopes of Dragonmount! He is coming! He is coming! Light help us! Light help the world! He lies in the snow and cries like the thunder! He burns like the sun!" And as soon as the words are ripped from her throat, Gitara dies from the shock of it.
It's a great moment for the story of Moiraine, who, as a young woman, an "accepted" of the White Tower, by pure chance is in the room when Gitara has her vision & keels over, and now has the entire course of her life set by it. She is one of a handful of people who knows one of the biggest secrets in the world. A secret that the wrong people will KILL to know.
Whatever life Moiraine was planning for herself? It ended that day. The entire course of her life changed in an instant, and her plans/dreams/goals went out the window.
It's not like Jordan's words are holy writ & free of flaw (holy shit, the slog!), but I find these changes needless, and worse ... not trusting of his ideas about theme, motive, and worldbuilding.
I get necessary changes between mediums, but none of these are necessary. NONE. And some of them change key plot elements and ruin much loved scenes that fans have been dying to see.
*So ... your soul can forcibly be put back into a body of the wrong kind (an act of torture), but you will still channel the kind of power tied to your soul. This becomes a key plot point, and there's a VERY dramatic scene tied to it in the books. "She's holding Saidin!"
**
Westlands = Kareathon Cycle
Seanchan = Essanik Cycle
Aiel = Prophecy of Rhuidean
Athan'an Miere (aka "Sea Folk") = Jendai Prophecy
The Blight = Prophecies of the Shadow