When the first Hobbit movie was in theaters, I went to see it with my sister. I remember it very well. As we watched, every few minutes my sister would lean over to me and ask, “Did that happen in the book?” On almost every occasion I told her it had not, and we went back to watching until the next instance of creative license in movie writing arose.

You probably already know where I’m going with this. But there is a difference. You see, while I thought making three movies out of three books (The Lord of the Rings) and then making three movies out of one much shorter book (The Hobbit) was odd, much of the extra material was taken from Gandalf’s account of what he did after he left the party and the appendices of the trilogy. While I was not enamored with some of the changes, I understood them in the context of the movie. One can quibble about Saruman, Elrond, and Galadriel showing up at Dol Guldur, the battle of Helm’s Deep taking up a third of The Two Towers opposed to one chapter in the book, or the idiocy of betraying Frodo’s presence on the very doorstep of Mordor to the Lord of the Nazgul no less. But the movies were still recognizable as Tolkien’s work.

That’s important. While movies and TV shows no doubt draw in curious viewers who have not read the source material, the backbone of those who will offer their allegiance are those who have read the books and want to see the story come to life. Like me. I have always thought the Wheel of Time (hereafter denoted as WoT when speaking of the series) would translate well to the screen, notwithstanding the problems of adapting a huge world with source material spanning 14 books and 4.4 million words. The writers of Lord of the Rings understood where the spine of their support would come from, and they wrote the movies accordingly. Unfortunately, I have the distinct impression that the writers of WoT skimmed through the books and set out to create a “better” story than James Rigney (Robert Jordan was one of the author’s pen names) gave us. That suggests not only great hubris, but a tone deafness about what fans want to see that is simply astonishing.

It is unfortunate, but WoT is not a unique case, as this seems to happen with distressing frequency. I cannot speak to Game of Thrones, as I never watched it. I had checked out of the book series many years before the TV series was a blip on the horizon for reasons I will not go into here. The one example I can use for this phenomenon was the Shannara series. Another one of my favorite worlds in fantasy fiction, Shannara was gutted by its writers, and its short life and poor ratings were an indication I was not the only one who thought so. And it really was too bad, as the casting and the world were well done. There’s your first glimmer of gold. But by the time the writers got finished with it, the story was barely recognizable from the books, to say nothing of the strange decision to bring the second book to the screen and ignore the first.

Now, let me state that I understand full well that a TV series cannot be made exactly as the books are written. Any translation from book to screen loses the characters’ motivations, thoughts, and so on, and it is a bit much to cram an 800-page book into a season of TV episodes. The studio would almost need to make one episode per chapter, which would be a huge undertaking, and even then, it would not do it complete justice.

But cutting material to fit the delivery method does not imply wholesale changes that serve only to make the world unrecognizable. It is necessary to cut out a bunch of things just to get the story into a predetermined number of episodes. But why does every screenwriter have the impression they can do better than the author, a man who sold millions upon millions of copies of his work all over the world? It is a question I cannot answer and one of the main grievances I have with the first season.

I do not know how many of you will find this interesting enough to read. The second season is not far away, and the first is months in the rear-view mirror. I understand this. I meant to post a larger review, but one thing or another drove it down the list of things to do. For the purposes of this blog post, I am whittling it down to the major problem with the series, how they changed a seemingly small piece and rendered one of the main themes of the books irrelevant or highly confusing. I will have a small glimmer of gold for the end, so it won’t be all negative. Just mostly. So now, without further ado:

Who is the Dragon Reborn?

Early in the series, I think it was the first or second episode, Moiraine, who serves as the protagonist of the TV series, tells the five of Emond’s Field—Rand, Mat, Perrin, Nynaeve, and Egwene—that she’s certain one of them is the Dragon Reborn. Run that by me again? That’s just stupid; I will explain. This explanation will be a little long, though I am doing my best to condense it as much as I can. There is some context you need to understand if you have not read the series. If you’ve read the books, my apologies for going over material you already know. Hopefully this will serve as something of a refresher.

The World of the Wheel of Time

To understand, we need to start at the beginning. Or as close to the beginning as we can get, for anyone who has read the series understands, “There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time.” That reference to every book of the series aside, the first concept you need to understand before we get to the wheel itself is that the series takes place in our world. There are several references in the text which makes this a certainty. Our time happened many millennia in the past, likely in the first age. More on that below.

The Creator and the Dark One

Obviously with such a set up as this, there must be some guiding hand behind it, right? In WoT, that being is referred to as simply “The Creator.” We’re not given much information about the creator, only that he created everything. The creator does not take a direct hand in the turning of the wheel, the world, or anything therein. To do so would cause the wheel to break and the world to come to end, not to mention freeing the Dark One. However, that does not mean the creator is powerless. He works through intermediaries, the primary of which is The Dragon mentioned by Moiraine. There are only a few places in the series where we hear from the creator, once near the beginning where he tells the protagonist that he can’t intervene, and the second near the end where he tells the protagonist that it is time to confront the Dark One. There is also a suggestion that a mysterious character that appears once in one of the later books serves as the creator’s avatar.

The Dark One is the creator’s antithesis, a being of untold malevolence and malice. The Dark One is the source of all evil in the world. It is said that the creator imprisoned the Dark One in the moment of creation. Thus, the Dark One’s goal is always to escape his prison, and to do that he needs to break the wheel and end the world. The Dark One drafts willing souls to do his dirty work, much as the creator works through intermediaries, but swearing service to the Dark One is much more intense than serving the creator. The Dark One is a jealous master, cares nothing for his tools, and does not willingly let go. He can also reincarnate his followers into new bodies in certain circumstances, which, you can probably see, is a major problem for the good guys.

There is never any physical manifestation of the Dark One. He exists in a prison outside the Pattern (some speculate that the Pattern is his prison, though the author never said as much). Under the right circumstances, the Dark One can reach out and touch the world, and much as Satan in our world, he influences the world and inspires to evil. In the third age, the Dark One’s prison is known to be in a blasted land, centered around a mountain by the name of Shayol Ghul.

The Wheel of Time

The wheel of time is a great, cosmic, metaphysical loom that weaves the great pattern. The wheel first. The wheel is just that—a seven-spoked wheel that serves as the primary mover of all time, each spoke of the wheel representing an age of the world, from first through seventh. In the series, all the action happens in the third age, but there are many references to the second age, also called the Age of Legends, and a few to the first age. We hear little of the fourth through seventh ages, primarily because they happened so far in the past that the events of those ages have “faded into myth, until even myth was forgotten.”

As you may have already guessed, as a wheel (circle) has no beginning or end, and the thing continues to turn, the ages come and go time and again. Thus, each age is not only in the present, but in the past and the future. Thus, the events that occurred in the novels will repeat themselves over and over again, because again, “There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time.” The astute among you may suggest that the fight they just had will play itself out an infinite number of times and you would be correct. One of the Dark One’s head lackeys makes the point that the Dark One only has to succeed once and everything ceases to exist, so it is statistically inevitable. The story covers only the events of one turning of the third age.

Now, a couple more points about the wheel. First, there is no indication from the author that events play out in exactly the same manner every time. Indeed, because of human agency and the concept of chance, among other things, events can be random to a certain extent. Second, there is no saying that the ages last an equal length of time, or even that each age lasts the same amount of time in each turning. The third age, for example, lasts a little over 3,000 years, most of the action taking place in about the last three years of the age. Did the previous third age last 3,000 years? We don’t know. It might have been longer or shorter. In a general sense, ages are typically long, accounting for stories turning to legend and myth before being forgotten altogether. But that does not preclude the possibility of a shorter age.

The Pattern

As I said above, the wheel of time is a loom that weaves what is commonly referred to as The Pattern. Think of the Pattern as a great blanket spun out by the wheel. Each thread of the Pattern represents a person, their lives short or long, each seamlessly fitting into the greater whole. There is nothing left out of the Pattern, each event contained therein, sometimes needing thousands of years to play out.

There is a faint whiff of preordination in the Pattern, as whatever is guiding the creation of the Pattern—and there is a separate pattern for each age—weaves without respect to people’s wishes, dreams, what have you. The people of this world have a saying: “The wheel weaves as the wheel wills” suggesting there is little people can do to alter things. But people do have their freedom of choice, which does allow for a certain randomness. People can even escape their destinies if they try hard enough, though it is difficult.

Ta’veren

At the center of the Pattern, lies the Web of Destiny, and in the center of the web there is often a ta’veren. A ta’veren is a special person within the Pattern who influences the Pattern for a time. When the wheel finds that the weave is drifting away from how events need to proceed, it uses ta’veren (usually one ta’veren, though sometimes more) to bring everything back on course. Thus, ta’veren are the only ones who can affect the Pattern to any great extent. Not all ta’veren are created equal, for some less powerful ta’veren affect parts of the Pattern, while especially powerful ta’veren twists the entire Pattern around them. And because ta’veren are so important to the Pattern, they actually have less free will than most others; the wheel tightly controls their destinies.

Reincarnation

Perhaps it is not surprising, but if every age comes and goes in an eternal loop, people also come and go in the same manner. Each person is thought to be a reincarnation of a soul who lived in previous ages, but with no memory of their former lives. In the books it’s referred to as the wheel “spinning them out” to live their lives, and when they die, the soul leaves the world to await rebirth.

Now, it is possible for people to cease to exist and not be reborn. There is one weapon in particular that when used causes a person to be “burned from the pattern” precluding the chance of rebirth. Are these souls replaced with new ones? That is unclear, but as even a small number of souls “dying the final death” would add up over an infinite number of turnings, it seems likely they are replaced by some means. To the best of my knowledge, Robert Jordan never spoke on the subject, so that is my conjecture.

The One Power

Now, let us return a little to the wheel. This continually turning loom must be powered by some means, or it will grind to a halt, no? That power is referred to as the One Power. The One Power or simply the Power is divided into two parts: the male half or Saidin, and the female half or Saidar. These two parts of the power work together and against each other to drive the wheel and keep it moving.

In addition, the power is accessible to certain individuals who are sensitive to that sort of thing, giving the world its version of magicians. Each half of the Power, however, is strictly accessible to the genders—Saidin can only be accessed by men, while Saidar is for women. There are no exceptions.

Aes Sedai

Many of those who can use or “channel” the One Power are called Aes Sedai. Note that Aes Sedai is a title and a society, not a name used to refer to all power users. In fact, in other lands they have other names for Power users. The Aes Sedai in the area most concerned by the story are all women for reasons we will get into later. They are revered, feared, and even hated. They wield much influence and political power, not only because they can use the One Power, but also because those abilities give them unnaturally long life span, the pretense of wisdom (certainly not always, as there are some abjectly stupid Aes Sedai), and their society lends great weight to their words.

The Age of Legends

As I suggested earlier, the Age of Legends (AoL) was the second age, or the age previous to the one in which the story takes place. As the name would imply, it was an age of such incredible technology and sociopolitical harmony that those in the third age, in much reduced circumstances for reasons we’ll cover, viewed it as a time of miracles. We are told that the world was ruled by Aes Sedai of both genders, was an era of peace and prosperity never before seen in the world. Except for the previous second age. And the one before that. And maybe some other ages. And . . . Well, you get the point.

The world was at such harmony in the second age that the very concept of war had been forgotten, and there were few societal ills. The very existence of the Dark One himself had been forgotten. Poverty, homelessness, hunger, want, and even things such as unemployment did not exist. There is some suggestion that underneath if one looked deep enough there were problems, but by all accounts, they were far less than we see in our world today.

The Dragon

As I mentioned before, the Dragon is essentially the creator’s avatar in the world, specifically put there to oppose the Dark One. The Dragon is a man who can channel the One Power, a ta’veren of unsurpassed power and strength. The Dragon is almost always a man of great fame and renown in the land, and if he doesn’t have great renown when he begins to act for the creator, he gains it very quickly. The Dragon is not the chosen champion in a particular age, the same soul is always reincarnated as the Dragon. It is unknown if the Dragon is reincarnated in every age, for there may be ages where the Dark One is not at risk of breaking free of his prison. But if the Dark One is stirring and striving to break free, the Dragon will be born to oppose him.

And the Dragon is not the only soul who is separate from most of those who are reborn into the world. There are a certain number of souls or heroes that are similar in that they are born repeatedly and always have great deeds to achieve. There are some differences between them, but they are not germane to the subject, so I will not go into that in any detail. Suffice to say that the Dragon is special, as he is what stands between the Dark One and the end of everything.

Then What Happened?

How did the world go from an age of technological advancement and universal harmony to a medieval world such as you might have found in the dark ages? That is a tale that could be long in the telling, but I will condense it as much as I can. We’re getting closer to the point of this post. I hope you are enjoying it. Whew! That’s a lot of information boiled down into a few pages! One of the things I love about WoT is how intricate it is, and how much the author filled into the backstory of his world.

The Bore

A little more than one hundred years before the end of the Age of Legends, a team of researchers, thinking they had found a new source of power separate from the One Power, drilled a hole into the Pattern to find it. They got more than they bargained for, as what they found was the Dark One’s prison and the Dark One himself. Now, there is no indication that the researchers were anything other than well meaning. But their actions had devastating consequences on the rest of the world.

The Collapse

The hundred years following saw a general collapse of society, as evils long forgotten made their way back into the world. A thousand ills were unleashed on the unsuspecting populace, leaving an unprepared world devastated by the chaos. As I mentioned earlier, the Dark One now had access to the world, and he used it judiciously. For many years, the people had no idea why their world was falling apart around their ears, and it was not until several high-profile defections to the Dark One’s side made themselves known that those in charge began to understand what they were up against.

During this time, small skirmishes broke out, and those who foresaw what was coming began to discover lost arts, such as the concept of war. In another series of books I once read, the author made the point that the true horror of war was that good meaning people must take up the prosecution of war and become more skilled and ruthless than their enemies if they had any chance of winning. In this, however, the side of the light had little to no chance, so flat-footed had the disintegration of their world caught them.

The Dark One’s Armies

One of the defectors to the Dark One was a genius biologist, who created the Trollocks, or WoT’s version of Orcs. Trollocks are essentially a cross between man and beast, and while possessing limited intelligence and ability to reason, their main strengths were their size, their ferocity, and their sheer numbers. Trollocks formed the backbone of the Dark One’s armies.

The War of the Shadow

About ten years before the end of the Age of Legends, the Dark One’s forces, or the Shadow, struck, bringing war to the world, which grew to be a worldwide conflict. Their purpose was, of course, to dominate and bring about the release of the Dark One from his prison. It is interesting to note that most didn’t seem to understand what releasing the Dark One meant. But those who did his bidding were lured by promises of power and immortality, and many signed on as might be expected.

On the side of the light, the second age incarnation of the Dragon  was the leader of the Aes Sedai at the time and, therefore, essentially ruler of the entire world. He took fulfilled his destiny by taking command and opposing the Shadow’s advances. For the first three years, the good guys were on the defensive and lost large swaths of land to the Shadow. Then they found their stride and began to push the Shadow back, reclaiming over the next four years much of what they had lost until a yearlong stalemate was achieved.

Impending Defeat

The Shadow had a rather large advantage over the light, beyond the surprise they had achieved. Unlike the light, which strove to do good and heal the hurts caused by the Shadow’s forces, the Shadow could basically starve or murder great parts of the population over which they ruled. Their disregard for life eventually allowed them to gain the upper hand, and they began to push the light back, slowly at first, but with ever increasing speed. It was clear the light could no longer afford a protracted war, and that if they did not do something to quickly end the conflict, defeat was inevitable.

Opposing Plans

There were two plans in consideration to attempt to end the war, and the proponents of each plan drew into two camps that could not reach an agreement about what to do. The first plan, proposed by the female Aes Sedai, entailed using a pair of great devices, amplifiers of the One Power, to end the war. These devices were the most powerful ever built, one using Saidin and the other Saidar. The plan was to erect a barrier in which they would trap all the forces of the Shadow until they could figure out how to deal with them on a more permanent basis. The problem with this plan was that the devices were still under construction, and defeat was looming, perhaps within a matter of months.

The second plan, proposed by the Dragon, was to lead a strike force of powerful Aes Sedai to Shayol Ghul, where they would use the Power to put a patch over the bore, sealing the Dark One away again. The means to do this is irrelevant and would entail another long explanation. Suffice to say that the Dragon contended that the seal could be placed precisely, cutting the Dark One off from the world again, and the strike would take out anyone there, basically decapitating the Shadow, allowing them to deal with those remaining after.

Unfortunately, the proponents of the first plan reviled the Dragon’s plan as a reckless disaster waiting to happen, while supporters of the Dragon charged that the other plan relied on devices that had not actually been built yet and may never be completed. Given the speed at which defeat approached, the Dragon argued for his plan to be implemented at once. I won’t go into the details of why members of both sexes were required to undertake the greatest feats, but every female Aes Sedai of sufficient power coming out against him basically doomed the Dragon’s plan.

Which was the best plan? Difficult to tell. Subsequent events suggest that the Dragon’s plan was, indeed, reckless, but how might things have turned out had the ladies been persuaded to implement his plan? It is impossible to say. On the other hand, would the use of the devices have worked? They were certainly powerful enough in the short term, unless the Dark One completely broke free of his prison altogether. But continuing to hope for this plan when it was obvious it was lost was nothing less than sheer stubbornness.

Disaster Strikes

While this debate was going on, the armies of the Shadow struck, overrunning the locations where these two devices were being built. It is fortunate the Shadow did not possess the keys to use the devices, or they might have destroyed the world right then and there. As it was, the devices no longer in possession of the forces of the light, the first plan became moot, leaving only the second with any viable possibility of success.

But still those supporters of the first plan refused to yield and held out hope, thinking to smuggle the devices out of the lands now held by the Shadow. There was heavy military activity on all sides, pressing against the forces of the light, such that had any of these offensives broken through, the end would have come swiftly, perhaps in as little as a week or two. As the Aes Sedai could not come to an agreement and every woman of sufficient strength refused to take part in the Dragon’s plan, he resolved to set it into motion himself.

The Strike at Shayol Ghul

As the supreme military leader of the light, the Dragon assembled a strike force comprised of the Hundred Companions (a large and loud group of the Dragon’s Aes Sedai supporters) and ten thousand guardsmen. Through the use of the One Power, they could open gateways, basically a door through space, allowing them to run through this door right into Shayol Ghul. There they struck mercilessly, killing anything defending Shayol Ghul and setting the seal over the bore in the Dark One’s prison.

In this, their timing was impeccable, as thirteen of the Dark One’s highest leaders were gathered in conference. The result was that while there was heavy resistance and fighting, the Dragon was able to place the seal, capturing the Dark One’s highest lackeys in the prison with him. The Dragon had achieved his aim of decapitating the head of the enemy and sealing the Dark One away from the world.

The Counterstroke

As you might imagine, the Dark One was not precisely pleased, nor was he about to go quietly into that good night. While his influence through the small bore was profound, his ability to actually touch the world was limited. Still, he was not without means or malice.

In sealing the Dark One away from the world, Saidin, the male half of the One Power was used, and at the moment the seal took hold, the Dark One’s counterstroke tainted Saidin. What the counterstroke was or how he managed it is not explained, but it’s described as an oil slick on top of Saidin. A man could still use it, but he had to go through the taint to get to it. The counterstroke caused every surviving channeler in the invasion party to go instantly insane. It had the secondary effect of slowly driving every other man who used Saidin insane over time. You might simply say to stop using it, but you might as well stop using your arm. The ability to use the One Power was a part of the person it.

The Breaking of the World

The war ended, but the breaking of the world began, as each of those insane began to use the Power to tear the world apart. This is what completed the final destruction of the Age of Legends, as those survivors of the war turned their attention to surviving the cataclysm, while the female Aes Sedai turned their efforts to save the world and prevent the men from as much damage as they could.

The breaking lasted at least two centuries, and more. Aes Sedai were very long lived, some of the most powerful ones living at least six or seven centuries. And there was a steady supply of men going mad, and that prolonged the breaking. During this time, mountains were cast down, new mountains raised in their place, seas opened up and filled. The entire world took on a new shape from what it had been before. Thus, the Dragon had saved the world, only to destroy it. That is a common theme in the books.

Why Did You Tell Me All of This?

Because it seemed to be the thing to do at the time? If anyone is still reading this post almost 5000 words in, I might admit to a little surprise. But the reason I went to this amount of detail—and trust me there is a huge amount I have left out—was because you need to understand the background to understand the colossal error the writers of the TV series made.

Prophecies of the Dragon

As you may recall, the Dragon is the soul reborn into the Pattern whenever the Dark One needs opposing. The poor schlep is always called upon to do the difficult job of sending the Dark One back to his prison until the next time he flexes his muscles and attempts to escape. One of the side effects of the Pattern is the possibility of prescience, or prophecy. In the third age, there are many prophecies of the Dragon which serve to warn of the Dragon’s return to oppose the Dark One. While most of these are rather cryptic and cover the events leading up to the confrontation with the Dark One, that the Dragon will return is a fact known to everyone; the smallest child hears stories of how the Dragon will return as soon as he or she can speak.

Understand that this is not a question of whether the Dragon will return and if it’s a good thing. The Dragon must return, for if he does not, the Dark One wins. The Pattern has no choice in this matter. If the Dark One is active and seeking to escape, the Dragon must be present to oppose him. There is no other choice.

Do We Really Want the Dragon to Return?

So what do the common people think of this? Think of it this way. Suppose someone comes to your house and uses a sledgehammer, breaking all the windows, putting holes in the walks, knocking down your door, and eventually causing the entire structure to fall when he takes out the support pillars and the beams. Would you want this guy to return once you had it all repaired?

It’s a little different, but still analogous. Yes, the Dragon defeated the Dark One after a fashion, but he also set a series of events in motion that led to the very face of the earth being altered until it was unrecognizable. Yes, he saved the world, but he also ushered in a period of more than two centuries of untold suffering, where those remaining had to struggle to survive. The Dragon is not thought of with any excitement or eagerness.

Furthermore, though three thousand years have passed, Saidin is still tainted. No one can safely use it without eventually going mad. There is a faction of Aes Sedai who exist solely for the purpose of seeking out men who can channel and taking the ability away from them. It sucks that it leads the person losing their ability to touch the Power basically giving up on life and dying, but the alternative is to allow them to become insane and cause untold damage. It is very much a case of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the one.

Thus, while the Dragon’s return is necessary, as the seal he placed on the Dark One’s prison the previous age is breaking down, nobody actually wants him to return, for they know he will be able to use the Power. As he is among the most powerful beings in the world, him turning insane is not a consequence to be considered lightly. The hope is that he will do what he needs to do before he goes crazy. There are references all over the books about the Dragon returning to save and destroy them.

Who is the Dragon?

Do you see where I’m going with this? Let’s go back to the initial question I posed. The five are the villagers that appear in the first episode—their names are Matrim Cauthon, Rand al’Thor, Egwene al’Vere, Perrin Aybara, and Nynaeve al’Meara. If you watched the show, you will know that Egwene and Nynaeve are female. Then how can they possibly be the Dragon?

Let’s be clear. The Dragon is always a man. The savior and destroyer of the world and all that entails is a man. There is no change of sex of the souls in this world. In fact, the author is very clear on this point. As I mentioned previously, the Dark One has the ability, in certain circumstances, to take his followers and put them in new bodies, presumably when a person has died through whatever means. On one occasion, he takes one of his male followers and puts him into a female body. While the body is female and the man begins to act and even think to a certain extent like a female, the essence of his soul remains male. This is proven by the fact that while he’s in a female body, he continues to use Saidin and not Saidar! I am certain you can see the benefits of this switcheroo. That character can wield the One Power, but as he does not wield the same half that the ladies do, he’s able to create a lot of havoc without being discovered!

Why is this a Problem?

Let’s go back to the second age and what happened there, and then go down through the third age where they Aes Sedai is hunting down and taking the ability to channel away from every man they can find. The Dragon set events in motion that led to centuries of suffering and civilization decline, and every person in this world grew up on those stories. It’s also true that he saved the world before destroying it, but saving the world is a rather nebulous concept, no?

As I said above, it’s a complicated concept. The Dragon must oppose the Dark One, but he also might complete the job of destroying the world. It’s a catch 22, and something the author makes a big deal of throughout the story. Yet, if you suddenly say that the dragon can be anyone, male or female, then you’re undercutting one of the main points of the story. If the dragon can be a woman, then why does everyone fear his coming so much? You could possibly make the case that they feared that he would be a man, but that doesn’t carry the same weight. I can’t imagine this being anything other than a royal screw up on the parts of the writers.

It was All so Unnecessary

It was unnecessary to make this change, though I know exactly why the writers did it. Everything in the world now is all about diversity and equity. The thing is that the series is hardly a study in sexism—this is not Tolkien, who had very few female characters who mattered. There are lots of strong female characters in the series, and they get lots of screen time. For that matter, there’s lots of diversity. The writers did not need to create diversity. They just needed to read the freaking source material.

Case in point, consider that the users of magic in this world are mostly women. Given that, the ladies have an outsized influence, as the most respected and feared among them are women. Furthermore, women are well represented in general, for there are women in military, business, aristocracy, and all walks of life, and they often possess great power. At least two of the nations that I can think of off the top of my head are led by hereditary female monarchies, and there are several others that are led in the moment by ladies or councils of ladies. This is not a world where women are oppressed and ignored by men.

At the core of the story, you have the big three, the boys who all grew up in the same village: Rand, Mat, and Perrin. But Nynaeve and Egwene especially are integral to the story, as are several other characters, many of whom are ladies. The author sometimes goes many chapters focusing on these other characters. Women are not underrepresented by any means. Thus, taking a sledgehammer to one of the main pillars of the series to make women “equal” to men is beyond stupid.

At the very least if they were going to do this, they should have altered the story to ensure it still made sense. But they didn’t do that. They just pulled this large change out of a hat and went with it, and they attacked fans who did not appreciate how they completely brutalized the story. And they didn’t learn their lesson, as it appears The Rings of Power was a dumpster fire itself. Fortunately, I read the tea leaves, saw how the story was getting ratioed by the fans, and gave Rings of Power a pass. Thus, I have no direct knowledge of it—putting that out front so no one misunderstands.

Where’s the Glimmer of Gold?

Unfortunately, I have little to offer. I concentrated on what I saw as the biggest problem with the series, but there is a myriad of problems, such that I could probably write a novel about them. The settings were generally pretty good, and the casting was good in spots, though overall kind of a mixed bag. You can consider that a glimmer of gold I suppose.

For myself personally, the glimmer of gold is that sometimes studios find their stride in the second or third seasons. When the second season comes out, I will almost certainly give it a shot and see if it’s improved. I don’t expect it will be, so I doubt I’ll last to the end of the season. But hope is a curious thing. We’ll see.

I hope you stuck with me through this long-winded explanation. Below are some of the resources I used to write this post, along with my own knowledge of the world. If you have read the books and would like a little more explanation on the backstory, these sites are a great place to start. The images I have used are also publicly available and drawn from those wiki sites.

References:

https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Wheel_of_Time
https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Creator
https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon
https://dragonmount.com/Books/Strike_at_Shayol_Ghul/index