"The Wheel of Time continues to turn."
Hello everyone!
Like, I know I'm usually behind stuff and all that jazz, but, come on now!
I suppose I re-discovered them after digging around the internet a bit about whether or not we might see the second season of Wheel of Time at any point soon, considering.
Then I read that another batch of these webisodes was supposed to start dropping back in August 2022 - and nothing happened!
I swear, at this point I have no idea what Amazon's doing.
Their marketing strategy seems to be all over the place, and incredibly bad about some stuff. Have they never looked at other giant corporations and how they do it? Disney? The works??
Apparently not, because let's face it, announcing a season three before season two airs, dropping a teaser trailer, and then going radiosilent is NOT it, chief.
So let's drum up some hype on our own, looking back at The Wheel of Time: Origins instead!
Links to all related works can be found at the bottom of the page, as per usual on this blog.
Now as you may - or may not - know, Wheel of Time is an action-packed fantasy adaptation of the novel series carrying the same name, written by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. It's live-action, but the shorts they released to accompany the story are animated, and really good.
At least, to this girl who never before touched the books until after watching season one.
There are six episodes in this first season of the webisodes, and they each cover a certain legend or dig deeper into Wheel of Time lore, so let's start where we're supposed to start - right at the beginning.
The Breaking of the World introduces us, via voice-over, to the time when Lews Therin and his Aes Sedai went up against the Dark One and imprisoned him, but of course it wasn't going to be that easy. Because it was only male Aes Sedai - and not the usual, male/female complement that achieved such wonders together during the Age of Legends, a time of huge advancements and progress - they only partly succeeded.
And oh yeah, the Dark One tainted Saidin, the male part of the True Source, driving every male channeler mad - starting and ending with Lews Therin, the Dragon. The female Aes Sedai, rising from the ruins of the world in the aftermath, then dedicated their lives - and purpose - to preventing such a thing from ever happening again.
The Fall of Manetheren would probably have been the most highly anticipated webisode, because we hear about Manetheren from Moiraine during the show. King Aemon and his army stood at the river to hold against the Dark One's forces - until no help came, and they could hold no longer.
Queen Eldrene (who visually reminds me of Liv Tyler), the only remaining person in the walled city, felt her husband die and reached for the One Power, destroying the Dark One's army, the city, and herself. But the land was saved, as were the people they'd sent to safety into the mountains, and eventually the community of Two Rivers would spring up in that same spot.
The Greatest Warder moves from matters of politics to matters of Warders, the companions Aes Sedai choose to accompany them, and that there was one who was the greatest swordsman of all ... but who was eventually brought down by a farmer with a pikestaff.
The lesson here being: never underestimate your opponent, no matter how good you are, because it's the man that makes the weapon, not the other way around.
Saidin, Saidar, Stone once again returns to the Aes Sedai teaching their novices about the differences in male and female channeling, the darkness tainting the male side and how it is a torrent, wild and destructive, whereas the female side is gentle, and the women guide and shape rather than attempt to control it.
It's also a pretty good study into the differences between men and women, if you ask me, just overall.
The White Tower, the penultimate little episode (as these are no longer than three minutes each) tells how the seat of Aes Sedai was built, what function it serves, and introduces the Ajahs that comprise the order which these women all belong to.
And it also drives home the point that the reason Tar Valon was chosen for the building of this seat is the Dragonmount - for the Aes Sedai know the Dragon will be reborn again, and for that reason they need to stand watch.
And wait.
An Ogier's Longing feels completely at odds with all the rest of the other webisodes because it alone touches on a different race entirely - telling of the Ogiers' loss of their Steddings during the Breaking (their homes) and how they then developed a Longing to find them again. But then I get confused because the guy literally says 'and even though we eventually found the Steddings again, we still longed for home'.
Bruh, you're legit home. Finding something again means you've returned to the same place - so I think this was either a mistake or I'm reading it wrong, because it probably means that while they found STEDDINGS again, they didn't find their ORIGINAL ONES again, and that's what the Longing is for.
The closest description I can compare it to is how the Elves hear the call of the Sea in Tolkien's writing, longing to return to Valinor, eventually.
Well, the Ogier explains how it's all well and good, but adventure is sometimes best, and then he hops on one of them, just like Bilbo Baggins, to learn more of the world through actually experiencing it, rather than through books.
And there you have it!
Six quick shorts, six little in-depth looks into what makes the lore of the Wheel of Time so special, and if you don't get at least moderately curious about some of the details, then I don't know what to tell you.
But I'm perfectly happy to keep drumming up the hype. Chatter online is that we might get season two come fall, so I'm hopeful we will, because dang it, it's been YEARS since season one at this point. I'm not particularly fond of this new trend post-pandemic where the seasons don't rotate with the years the way regular shows on networks like CBS or NBC have them. I mean, I sort of get it, I suppose, but still.
Fingers crossed we get more soon, and more of the webisodes! Especially as one should feature Lan Mandragoran quite heavily, and we all know we want THAT.
xx
*images and video not mine
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