"There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time."
Hello everyone!
I'm actually NOT as late to this shindig as I normally would be!
I
mean, I'm still kinda late, but it's not six months or so late, only a
month instead. This is an achievement as far as I'm concerned.
Considering
the fact that we tend to not get these shows all that early to begin
with (certainly not as early as our US or Canadian counterparts) I'm
pretty pleased with how it all turned out. And I mean, it's catchy to
look at, and has a second season already (currently) filming.
What more could you even want?
So without further ado I'm going to stop spinning yarn, and start weaving the One Power instead.
Onwards!
First of all, if you don't know this already, The Wheel of Time is trying to adapt Robert Jordan's epic opus, which is 14 books PLUS a prequel that brings us to a total of whopping 15 PUBLISHED WORKS. True, he unfortunately didn't live to see them completed - Brandon Sanderson did the honours - but it's a staggering amount.
Think about it: HBO had seven books for Game of Thrones, or would have had if Martin actually finished it. That's only HALF the number, and they went up to eight full seasons.
The Lord of the Rings, arguably the epic fantasy all other epic fantasies were based off or influenced by, is one ginormous work split into three parts only, giving us an epic movie trilogy for the ages.
And now Amazon has decided, hey, let's tackle THIS behemoth.
I mean, as a non-book reader, I can honestly say it LOOKS like they've done a good job in the show thus far! (Yes, spoiler alert: I've only really read New Spring; I'm currently tackling Eye of the World, but I never really knew about this stuff until the show came out.)
We begin our journey with none other than Moiraine Sedai (Rosamund Pike, actress extraordinaire and absolutely stunning), a member of a female-only order who wields what is called the One Power, which is the magic in this world, the world that's been broken. Who broke it? A man they named the Dragon, in a fight against the Dark One's minions (I keep getting confused by this, because some say it's with the Dark One, but then it's said that the Dark One was jailed by the Creator at the beginning of Creation, so what gives?).
Anyway, the Aes Sedai were left to pick up the pieces, but they have a prophecy that says the Dragon will be reborn, and the time is drawing near, so basically it's time to hustle, which is just what Moiraine and her Warder, Lan (Daniel Henney, also actor extraordinaire, also stunning) have been up to for the past twenty years. It's especially important they find said Dragon before members of the faction called Red Ajah do, since they're liable to sever his connection to the Power if he's male. Info: click here for more on the Ajahs.
See, men can't channel, because it drives them mad - this is already explained in the beginning of the books, but in the show no one actually explains why it is men can't touch the male part of the One Power (spoiler alert: Dark Boyo tainted it); either way though, moot point, they go coocoo for cocoa puffs.
Moiraine and Lan's search brings them to the area of Two Rivers, where rumour has it there are FOUR potential Dragons on the loose, said four namely being Rand, Egwene, Perrin and Mat, with village wisdom Nynaeve thrown into the mix because, why the heck not?
It's the festival of Bel Tine, and it's supposed to be fun, even with Moiraine and Lan there to make people edgy, but it's like their presence has drawn darker forces in (actually, it isn't them, but the four youngsters). Trollocs, monstrous beasts, attack the village, apparently killing Nynaeve and wounding Moiraine, though she's a badass and destroys the entire army anyway.
But she explains the real reason why the Trollocs are hunting them, and takes the four with her as they make a hasty exit, each with a burden of their own: Rand managed to save his father, and carries a Heron-marked blade he doesn't know the lineage of, Mat leaves behind two younger sisters with irresponsible parents, Egwene was only JUST considered mature enough for braided hair, and Perrin accidentally killed his wife during the raid.
I mean, what're you going to do, right?
They flee the Trollocs, but the beasts gain on them until they decide to cross a deep river, where Moiraine displays her determination to do everything in her power to get the four to Tar Valon, the city of the Aes Sedai, when she sinks the ferry they used to cross - with the ferryman going down alongside it, much to the youngsters' dismay.
It gets even worse as Moiraine weakens from the poison, and all four of the kids experience weird dreams of a dude with fiery eyes, whom the channeler doesn't really name, but we get the hint is bad juju.
Even worse are the Children of the Light who our group meet on the road, these fanatics that hunt Aes Sedai and kill them for sport, and who could do with a dose of Lan Mandragoran lessons in etiquette, lest they lose their hands.
If only that was their biggest problem, though! Unfortunately, Moiraine ends up falling into a coma because of the poison, and Lan makes the fatal choice of leading the group into the cursed city of Shadar Logoth to escape their pursuers - only to have what looks like darkness itself pursue THEM, in return. Not only that, but it separates them, with Rand and Mat heading one way, Egwene and Perrin another, and Lan and Moiraine out of the city once more.
This is where we learn Nynaeve is actually still alive as she decides to recreate that Aragorn and Arwen scene from Fellowship, putting a sword to Lan's throat. He obviously knocks her out, but they reach an uneasy truce afterwards when they realize they need one another. She tries to heal Moiraine while he takes off to find the nearest Aes Sedai, knowing some have to be on the roads close-by because of the war that's been going on in the south.
Said war, mind you, is being waged by who we call a False Dragon, Logain, a male channeler (already half mad, but convinced he's going to repair the world anyway), and in the most bizarre set of events he burns through a kingdom, decimating this king's forces, but then heals this one booboo on the king himself and the guy is like OMG YAS! I WILL FOLLOW YOU!
Dude. How are you even king? That makes no sense!
The point here being that Lan DOES in fact find the Aes Sedai, who've captured Logain and are taking him to the White Tower in Tar Valon, so he decides to take Moiraine and Nynaeve to them.
So while things are looking up for these three, it's a bit iffy for the others, considering Rand and Mat not only bicker a lot (in an unprecedented turn of events, but Mat did manage to pick up a dagger in Shadar Logoth, natch) but end up almost being Dark One chow when a barkeep who pretends to be friendly sells them out. They're rescued by gleeman Thom Merrilin, who takes them away to try and outrun their Fade pursuer (a Fade being some mix between Voldermort and a Black Rider, in case you're wondering).
Perrin and Egwene haven't had much luck either, hunted by weird wolves that seem to be driving them into someone's path; these turn out to be the Tinkers, a nomadic tribe who are probably the most peaceful individuals ever, and who take them into their care to help them along the way.
This is good news since they're in pretty bad shape, but now at least can recover and learn about the Way of the Leaf, the peaceful rules that the Tinkers follow (which I agree with, even if they're utopian: the only way for violence to ever REALLY end is if everyone, everywhere, stops fighting).
Not so peaceful is the journey of Rand, Mat and Thom, who end up spending the night with a random farming family in the middle of nowhere ... only to be found by the Fade, which slaughters said family, though what Mat's doing, half-possessed, is anybody's guess. Thom fights it off so the boys can run into the night, so I mean, it's tough being them.
Logain has it tougher though since he's constantly in a cage made of the One Power, while Moiraine is finally healed. She also figures out he's inconveniently NOT the Dragon Reborn, but naturally having someone that's a ticking timebomb in the camp is going to backfire eventually (I have to give it to Liandrin of the Red Ajah, gentling him - severing that link to power - would have made much more sense).
When his army arrives to rescue him, the bomb goes boom, killing Kerene, the de facto leader, and forcing Liandrin to take the reins and gentle Logain on the spot - but not before there's a whole lot of drama in that the chaos and pain result in a backfire which slashes Lan's throat and injures the rest of the Aes Sedai. Nynaeve, already leaning in a certain direction, displays her own use of the One Power when she uses it to heal Lan (and the others by complete accident).
Does this make them closer?
Nope. Could have fooled anyone else, but, ya know. Anyway, the group then travels to Tar Valon, finally, and Moiraine warns Nynaeve that every Aes Sedai is a political player and will want to manipulate her (looking at you especially, Liandrin). She has watchers waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, but in the meantime must look to her own problems, aka the impending return of the Amyrlin Seat, who just so happens to be her former friend and apparently has it out for Moiraine and Lan.
Tension could be cut with a knife, even more so when the Children of the Light run into the Tinkers, and Child Valda, who we previously met while Moiraine deftly outspoke him, recognizes Egwene and Perrin and takes them hostage. See he's convinced Egwene can channel, and while that's true, she's also nowhere near ready - but just ready enough to covertly burn through Perrin's bonds while he's held on a butcher's block (Valda likes to think he makes balanced decisions, dubious as they might be).
Joke's on Valda in that moment as he gets stabbed AND his men are attacked by the same wolves that have been following our duo around for a while now - Perrin, have a secret to share with us? Like those yellow eyes that look like Geralt, the White Wolf's?
We'll circle back to his answer because, while they're busy escaping, Mat and Rand finally make it to Tar Valon, where Mat seems to grow worse by the minute, and Rand doesn't know what to do, with him or his new acquaintance, Loial the Ogier who ... honestly, I kind of want to hug him. He's so huggable!
He also just walks into the White Tower, gets Nynaeve, and brings her to the guys, where she displays a marvelously unwise decision-making skill by hiding the two from Moiraine, who could probably heal Mat in a blink. So instead, we watch Mat waste away a little longer ... and see Stepin, Kerene's Warder, kill himself instead of living without her, drugging Lan to achieve this.
I'd have loved to see Moiraine's reaction to feeling what Lan was feeling in those early morning moments, emphasizing their bond, but alas, we skip instead to the second funeral of the hour and watch Daniel Henney perform marvelously as chief mourner for this fantasy show.
But we have little time to be amazed at this because the machinations are coming to roost; the Amyrlin Seat returns and questions what's been going on while she was away (translation: what the HELL have y'all been cooking that stinks so badly?), and if you think that she's just a HBIC, think again - she is, but she also happens to be putting on an Oscar-worthy performance since she and Moiraine just so happen to be lovers, and on the hunt for the Dragon Reborn together.
Important to note here is that Egwene and Perrin have also arrived to Tar Valon by now, so Moiraine knows they're all here, but she doesn't disclose this information to Nynaeve, Rand or Mat (she does, however, detach Mat from the dagger and has some choice words for Nynaeve while she's at it. I mean, same girl.). This is a ploy of her own, probably to protect them, since all four would draw far too much attention together.
She does reunite Egwene and Nynaeve sooner rather than later, however, taking them to meet the Seat, since both can channel and could be inducted into the Tower, if outside forces weren't trying to derail that (again looking at you, Liandrin). So instead, the Seat and Moiraine decide that Moiraine is to be exiled, since her Ajah had ordered her to stay in the Tower, but this way she can leave with the Two Rivers' villagers.
She does this post-haste, having Lan get them out of the city and meet her and Loial, the friendly neighbourhood Ogier, at a Waygate, which is most easily described as a portal to a dimension between realms, where one step can mean one hundred miles in the real world. They're going to travel to the Eye of the World, discover who the Dragon is, and fight the Dark One.
Only, they'll be one short, since Mat refuses to tag along (and is later seen entering Tar Valon again, but the actor has left the show and the role has been recast for season two ... reasons), and everyone and their mother is arguing about the why of it.
They definitely chose the worst place to do so, however, because in true Moria-style, making the wrong move WILL end badly, and channeling the One Power is that move, calling down some sort of dark wind that whispers all sorts of things into everyone's ears, trying to make them destroy themselves in the process.
They have to make a hurried exit, a little sooner than planned (and Nynaeve bombs another One Power wave in there), but they're now in the Borderlands, a place Moiraine and Lan know well, Lan in particular as his homeland, Malkier, was consumed by the Blight spreading out from the Dark One's prison years ago. They now also know that Trollocs use the Ways to travel faster, something that definitely means bad news, and something to take to the lord in Fal Dara, the great fortress city and last bastion against the Blight.
It's here we actually get to see the consequences of some decisions made earlier in the season, like Nynaeve and Lan, heir to Malkier, growing closer (because praised be TPTB, Daniel Henney finally goes shirtless, and after not getting Henry Cavill in that fashion, it was a good way to end 2021), Egwene and Rand having a moment, and Rand figuring out HE just so happens to be the Dragon Reborn.
Oh and also, Moiraine has put out a hit on Mat with the Red Ajah - as you do - AND masked her bond with Lan, which prevents him from feeling her and therefore enables her to take off from Fal Dara for the Eye of the World alone, Rand by her side.
Given that he's channeled a couple of times before in the show (and actually channeled in the Ways too, calling that blasted wind), he's convinced that he's probably not walking out of the encounter in the Eye alive, even with the little statue Moiraine gives him, an ancient artifact with the power of thousands of male channelers imbued within it.
Apparently, however, she isn't as good at everything as everyone thinks, because Nynaeve tells Lan - after they group discovers what's gone down - that it was MOIRAINE she tracked to find them way back when, not him, and she can tell him how to do it, to bring Rand back to them.
This is important, as Fal Dara loses a warlord who treks off to find his wayward Aes Sedai just as a huge Trolloc army attacks, forcing foreigners to flee, the lord and his men to hold the gap that leads to the city (and eventually fall), and the women under his sister's command to hold the city itself. Said sister, who happens to know a thing or two about channeling, gathers other channelers to her so that with the One Power, they obliterate the Trollocs.
Poor Trollocs. They keep getting blasted!
Also blasted are four of the five women doing the channeling, as the sister drew too much One Power and burned them all, including Nynaeve, who takes the Power from Egwene to help her survive - which circles back when Egwene heals her on instinct, leaving them the only survivors of the devastation.
It's good they survived, though, since inside the palace, with an unearthed Horn of Valere (meant to be blown at the Last Battle to call the greatest warriors in history to fight), Perrin and Loial are in trouble when Padan Fain reveals himself to be a Darkfriend, not a merchant, and steals it after doing some stabby-stabby.
He also tells Perrin that "all five of them" are like spoke of the wheel - each will have a part to play.
None as big as Rand, however, who makes it to the Eye with Moiraine, only to literally immediately conk out when the Dark One appears, though the place was supposed to be full, but stood empty until our duo arrived.
As is typical, the Dark One shows Rand a vision of a family he could have with Egwene, but lacks actual understanding of the young man, as Rand rejects it purely because it isn't the woman he loves - he loves the independent, fierce one, not his mindless slave, and so he wakes up to channel into the sa'angreal he was given earlier (Holy Grail, anyone?) and "destroys" the Dark One.
I say "destroy" because there's a smirk on that dude's face before he looks to be obliterated, and the seal that he was standing on just so happens to be cracked - it's an interesting seal, too, a yin-yang kind of one (indicating two sides of the One Power, male and female).
Rand then makes Moiraine promise to tell the others he died and disappears into hiding, worried about going mad, just before Lan arrives, finally making his way over to the Eye. But he gets only bad news - not only was this not the Last Battle, but Moiraine is cut off from the One Power thanks to the Dark One and can't use it anymore.
Just when they might need her most, too, when weird, foreign ships arrive to the west with immensely powerful channelers that create monstrous, towering waves with which they attack the shoreline (empty, mind you, so what they're trying to achieve here is anyone's guess).
For more information, however, we're going to have to wait on season 2. Did Loial survive the stabby-stabby in Fal Dara? Is Rand ACTUALLY going to go mad? How much will Nynaeve wallop Lan when he comes back without Rand?
Also, how does the most skilled Warder manage to get ambushed three times and counting?
There's many more questions, and luckily season 2 is already in production so it should air later in the fall of this year, fingers crossed. Because I have thoughts, too!
For example, how come Lan can't track Moiraine without their bond? I get that he's been used to having it humming inside him for twenty odd years now, but he's also supposedly a great warrior, the best of his time, as well. That he needs to be schooled by a girl young enough to be his daughter from a backass village in the middle of nowhere on that is a bit suspect, though it gives them something to talk about, I suppose.
I'm also continuously confused about WHO, exactly, Rand and Moiraine met at the Eye. Some notes call him the Dark One. Some call him Ishamael, one of the Forsaken who SERVED the Dark One, and not the actual Big Bad Boss in charge. Even Wiki originally had the actor listed differently than it does now!
So what gives?
I suppose I'll either have to chew through the books to figure it out, and wait for the show to explain it more to me, but I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like I said, I'm not a book reader so don't have that comparison, and as someone coming in with fresh eyes, so to speak, it flowed easily, I understood what was being talked about, and what I didn't understand I Googled (there IS such a thing nowadays, for anyone complaining that they didn't get something in the show, you just type it into a search engine).
To all the people complaining about CGI or whatnot: I'm not sure if we were watching the same show. Was it the best? No. Was it terrible? Also no. It's all nitpicking at this point, and I don't watch shows to nitpick what's wrong with them, I get immersed in the story.
If the story's good, the rest will suit. I think the cast was very well chosen and can't wait to see what they do in season 2 now that they've established the foundations for this show. I also think that between this and the Lord of the Rings one Amazon is footing the bill for, it's got a pretty good fantasy lineup on its schedule.
Bottom line though, is that this is definitely the show to watch. The cast and crew are super passionate about what they're trying to build and achieve, and I for one support them whole-heartedly.
And I can't wait to see more of Lan Mandragoran! (I am shallow. Yes, yes indeed.)
xx
*images and video not mine
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