Fantasy fans have not always had the best run of it on screen, with a litter of failed adaptations for every breakout hit. But there’s reason to hope that The Wheel Of Time might go the distance. Like a couple of other very successful adaptations, this one has long walks, double-crosses and a bit with a dragon, but it has the great benefit over certain other TV shows of coming with a ready-made conclusion that the fans largely approved of – even if there will be some changes to the vast and sprawling plot to get us there.
Gone Girl’s Rosamund Pike heads the cast, with the first three episodes premiering Friday 19 November worldwide, and the remaining five episodes of season one running up to Christmas. Season two is already deep into filming, which suggests a certain confidence on Amazon's part. Could this really crossover from fantasy nerds (hi!) to everyone else? Well, the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, as they say in this world, but the signs are promising. Here's some background information about the world that may be helpful: the show will gradually drip-feed you much of this as it unfolds, but sometimes it helps to have a primer. Please note that this is the situation as we join the show and differs in some respects from the books, and that we're going to try really hard to avoid anything spoiler-y.
So this has dragons and such?
Sort of. There's a bloke who was called the Dragon (aka Lews Therin Telamon) who lived a few thousand years ago and could use...let's call it magic for right this second. When the Dark One (think that giant anti-life planet in The Fifth Element) threatened all of Creation, the Dragon led the fight back against him and his human apostles, the Forsaken. Good news: our boy won, and locked the baddies all away in the Pit of Doom at Shayol Ghul. Bad news: the Dragon and his mates were driven mad by the Dark One's counterstrike and ended up breaking the world with their powers in the aftermath, nearly killing everyone in the process. A prophecy says that the Dragon will one day be reborn to fight the Dark One again, and people understandably aren't sure how they feel about that.
But now it's prophecy time!
Well, that's what Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) believes. She's another... let's say magic user, for now. She has devoted the last two decades to looking for the Dragon in whatever body he or she now lives, with her devoted Warder (we'll get to that) Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney) by her side.
And now she's found him?
Maybe. She's turned up to a quiet country town – because when things happen in fantasy books, that's where they traditionally start – known here as the Two Rivers (in the book, it’s a town called Emond’s Field in an area called the Two Rivers, to be exact). There she finds no fewer than four ta'veren, extraordinary people who essentially bend the laws of reality around themselves in ways they do not always control.
Aha, random words in italics! Now we're in high fantasy!
Oh my sweet summer child, have we got italics for you! And an entire Old Tongue, this world's equivalent of Latin, full of alternative names for people and things (pretty much everyone has at least two names by the end). But we'll try to skip the definitions to avoid scaring the normies away with chat of sa'angreal or da’covale.
Oh god. But tell me about these four people. Innocent farm kids, I hope?
You betcha. Rand al'Thor (Josha Stradowski) is a sheepherder; Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) is a blacksmith; Mat Cauthon (Barney Harris, currently) is... um, kind of a petty thief but also a good babysitter; Egwene al'Vere (Madeleine Madden) helps out in her parents' tavern. The slightly older Nynaeve al'Meara (Zoë Robins) is the village Wisdom, a sort of healer and community organiser, and is also of interest to Moiraine for reasons that are initially unclear.
So they all leave the farm, go off on an adventure and yadda yadda, save the world?
If only it were that simple. So one of them might be the Dragon Reborn, but all of them are going to have to struggle to manage powers of one kind or another – and also to unite the warring nations of their world, and battle Trollocs and Myrddraal.
Whatnow and whosit?
Trollocs are monstrous, bestial berserkers who just want to kill you and eat you. They're partial to a stew, but will gnaw you raw if that's what it takes. They are led and controlled by, the Myrddraal, aka the Eyeless, aka Fades, aka Halfmen, Shadowmen, Lurks, Fetches or Neverborn. These things can see perfectly despite having no eyes, inspire terror with their very presence, have acidic blood and poisoned swords and are rat bastards of the highest order. If you think Orcs and Black Riders for these two species, you won't be a million miles off. Problem is, there are waaaaaaay more than 9 Myrddraal.
OK, two sets of bad guys! Now we're cooking!
If only that was all. There are also the thirteen Forsaken, locked away with the Dark One but, perhaps, still able to touch the world. They may even break free before their Master. We may see beasties like Darkhounds, Worms (note the capital W) and Sticks (scarier than your average twig). And then there are the purely human threats, like the religiously fanatical Whitecloaks, who disapprove of magic use with extreme prejudice. In fact, "extreme prejudice" would be a pretty good slogan for them.
But our heroes are gonna slay the baddies, rally the goodies and save the world all the same?
Let's hope! As long as those with powers have learned to control them, those with destinies accept them, and those who conquer countries manage to keep them together long enough to fight the Dark. It's A Lot, and new complications keep arising in the warring, weird nations of this world. Hence the length of the books.
Ugh, geopolitics. Boring.
It's interesting! You loved it in Game Of Thrones, and Succession, and House Of Cards, and…
Fine! But you mentioned magic?
...OK, good distraction, I'll bite.. Yes, it's worth talking about how magic works here because it’s cool. There is a force (that binds the galaxy together) called the One Power. It is split into two halves, saidar, wielded or “channelled” by women, and saidin, channeled by men. The latter, saidin, was corrupted by the Dark One's counterstrike to the Dragon and now all men who can channel eventually go mad. All of them. We'll meet one such, a false Dragon called Logain (Álvaro Morte) in this first season – and while he's just about hanging on, let's say he could go cuckoo in the coconut any day.
Well that seems unsafe, having madmen running around with superpowers!
QUITE. Which brings us to the women. Women can "channel" saidar with no particular risk of madness, at least (though uncontrolled magic can still be dangerous). Those who can, train and join the Aes Sedai. That's the group that Moiraine belongs to, an ancient order of women whose name means "servants of all". And just to add more confusion, they have seven sub-orders, or Ajahs, with particular specialties. Moiraine is Blue Ajah, who deal in seeking out information, foiling plots (or plotting to their own ends) and general do-gooding. The Red Ajah specialise in hunting down men who can channel. The Yellow are healers, the Grey negotiators, the Brown nerds (OK, researchers), the White logicians and the Green warriors. All of them “weave” threads of the Power together in different ways to do anything from healing wounds to blowing up, well, anything.
Please don’t make me take notes.
Just pay attention to everyone’s dresses and the Ajahs should become clear pretty quickly. The important thing is that the Aes Sedai are formidable and have sometimes competing priorities. They’re led by a woman known as the Amyrlin Seat – currently Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo) – whose job it is to keep them in line. And for purely physical threats, they bond with Warders, fighting men who can watch their backs and look cool doing it. The Warder / Aes Sedai bond is complicated and the subject of a bajillion pieces of fan fiction, but basically means they have an awareness of one another’s emotions, a tendency to share goals, and in some cases – especially Green Ajah – are bonking each other.
Bonking is good.
Early episodes suggest that the show has a bit more sex than the books, which were more chaste than some of their contemporaries (looking at you, GRRM). The show is also pretty fast moving, which is good because there is a lot of plot to get through.
Maybe I should read the books first.
Very much depends on your reading speed. There are 14 books, plus a prequel. 4.4 million words. Enough named characters to fill a fair-sized town. More descriptions of dresses than you can shake a measuring tape at. The show's principal cast are still racing each other through the series, a season and a half into shooting (Josha Stradowski is currently in the lead, fact fans), so it's not a small undertaking. Worth it though.
Anything else I need to know?
Oh god yes, but we just don’t have time to get into the Aiel, the Seanchan, the precarious finances and complicated line of succession to the Andoran throne, the meanings of all the Sea Folk jewellery, or the use and care of ter’angreal. It is worth mentioning the Ogier, however. They’re very large, normally very peaceful sentient beings with their own, independent civilisation that involves creating gorgeous stonework and growing enormous trees. Like Ents, if ents read a lot of books and enjoyed a good bit of philosophical criticism. One of them will be turning up and we don’t want you being alarmed.
Giant tree dude, got it.
Eh, close enough. But that’s probably enough to be going along with. The Wheel Of Time turns, and ages come and go, leaving memory that becomes legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten by the time you finish reading this piece…