In the books Mat's father Abell Cauton was one of the most respected men in the village, and his mother was a great mother and good cook who nobody said a bad word about ever. And here they are a cheating husband and drunken wife, and both horrible neglecting parents. I hate everything about this show and it will never have anything to do with the amazing books two incredible writers created.
Abell and Tam went to the tower to check up on the boys. Abell taught in the battle of the Two Rivers. He was very important. This adaptation has failed all of us who excitedly read the books and even waited for the next book to come out...as I did.
There are too many war crimes to count in this show, but one of my least favorite changes was the removal of the loss of innocence theme for the main characters. The story just does not work at all without that
It shows that they either fundamentally misunderstood every theme the first book established, or they intentionally ruined it out of spite. Incompetence or malevolence, take your pick!
I only have 1 reason. And it's the same as the unfortunately passed Authors, RIP RJ - I hate Fan-Fiction. This was expensive fan-fiction and everyone involved should be ashamed (apart from the actors, it's really not their fault at all imo)
This show is exactly what I would expect from rookie CW fan-fic writers. Unfortunately, they put the Wheel of Time name on it. Amazon should be ashamed. And someone should tell Rafe to stop lying; it gets rather pathetic.
@@Yoursoulismine814 none of the characters are likable* fixed it for you ;) that being said the only ones they treat with any 'kindness' are always women even so much as to give several plot points to the ladies instead of the the 3 boys
I don't mean to disrespect anyone by saying this... but... when you buy the rights to these commercially successful books, aren't there some sort of legal agreements to not alter it radically to protect the reputation of the IP? Wouldn't there even be a sort of script from the would-be buyers presented during the negotiations to convince the owners? Did the book publisher make the decisions/own the rights instead of the late RJ's family?
I feel like Wheel of Time did for you what Witcher did for me. I've read Witcher saga way before the games released. After 1st season of the show I was flabbergasted at how bad it was and how they destroyed some of my favorite characters, especially Jaskier. As for WoT - after hearing many 'nice' things about the series, I decided to finally read the first book. I liked it well enough, but while I was reading all I could thing about is how would they fk it up in the show. It's how it is now, I guess, we cannot expect shows based on pre-existing material to be anything but the most shallow interpretation of the original done only for purpose of pushing an agenda.
I watched Witcher without any prior knowledge or background. It was utter dreck. Oh, except the Witcher guy was extremely cute. If everyone had just stood mute, preening for the camera, I might've enjoyed it. But every time they opened their mouths, I was howling.
I mention this every time that shot of Rand and Mat approaching Tar Valon is shown. Unless they moved Dragonmount, Rand and Mat approach the city from the north. For some reason. Also I have to laugh that the Siuan intro is her dad sending her 2000 miles upriver. Alone.
I still think this gets cancelled after this season. That season 3 stuff was because they knew the strike was coming. They wanted to be ahead in case it got better... it's not going to be.
Agelmars sister........ my god............ to be now forever known as 'lady-who-gives-a-shit' - they kept her (of course) but we sacked elyas, mordeth, aginor, balthamel, shomestu - the entire villiage council. But yay, ladywhogivesashit saves the day guys, everything is ok - take that Patriachy!!
@@SilverMont It's not like the more strict conversions ever go bad. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Holes, Fight Club, The Princess Bride. Some of the best translations are the most line for line. Japan has made an entire industry out of it. Most manga started as LN's. Most anime started as manga, and the most successful are the most faithful to the source material.
I have noticed that - with anime being adapted from manga I've read (such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) I wonder why they seem to treat the original with more respect? That's the only way I can think to put it. As if you wanted to adapt something, and then changed it entirely, surely that suggests you don't respect it.
@@SilverMont And also when an anime succeeds in its first season and god knows why the change course from the source material it flops hard like the promised Neverland The manga and its first season were banging and when the 2nd season dropped the series just died
Too few people have covered the travesty that is this "adaptation". It was an unexpected crossover to see it from you, since the last I saw of you was a let's play of Dark Souls (yeah...), but a cathartic one. :)
Burning out in the one power doesn't USUALLY mean burning to death literally, however, that CAN* happen in extreme circumstances (but at that point, you're just splitting hairs between them burning out, and the one power killing them). Notably King Aemond's wife literally burned herself out weaving waves of fire across the army of trollocs.
According to the pronunciation guide in the back of the book, you're pronouncing Tar Valon correctly. Apparently, the show runners have never seen the books, let alone picked any of them up. At least, that's the only explanation I can come up with as to how they managed to butcher such an amazing story.
Are you actually this DUMB? The effing PRODUCER of the show happens to be the narrator for the first THREE books you turd. Look it up. Her name is : Rosamind Pike. And you disrespecting HER and everyone else by saying they havent even READ the books (never mind effing NARRATING them) is dispicable. For shame She plays Morainne in the show in case you need a pretty picture drawn too.
I looked up Rosamind Pike but couldn't found any results. You talking about Rosamund Pike, who is one of the 8 producers the show has? Also, she isn't "the" narrator for the first three books. She is "a" narrator. Michael Kramer and Kate Reading narrated the entire series. Like, c'mon dude if you are going to write things on the internet, take the 4 seconds to make sure you're correct. As to that other point, you have two choices: 1) Ignorance - they didn't read the books so they don't know what happened and made up their own tripe. 2) Arrogance - they read the books, but think they can do a better job. It's not a good look, either way.
Now they’ve released a new clip which shows that Ishamael is freeing the other Forsaken as well, which completely changes the dynamic between the Forsaken if they have to rely on him.
i agree, though its unclear how they got free after book 2-3 to star with, so its plausible he DID free them(or somehow what happened to him in the books helped free them)
There was a lot of ground to cover from the first book, I know they had to condense things but I don't get why they inserted stupid scenes that distract from the story. And in order to insert those stupid things, like the Egwayne/Rand relationship, Egwayne in the river, Perrin's wife, Matt's abusive family, a random warder that isn't in the books and dies, Moraine and more Moraine, they left out very important plot points like how Perrin meets Elyas and the wolves, Thom being with them from the start, and how he saves Matt and Rand, how Matt gradually gets sick because of the dagger, Camerlyn and Rand's first introduction to Elayne, Loial and Logain, etc etc. So many scenes that were essential to the story replaced by stupidity, sex that wasn't in the books and unimportant characters. It was very important to develop the three boys from being naive bumpkins to slowly learning and coming to terms with their predestined roles in the bigger world. They could have ended the season on a cliff hanger at the eye of the world. It could have worked if they had just followed the blueprint from the book and left the characters as they were written by Jordan. IMO they did in one episode what it took GOT showrunners 5 seasons to do, destroy the legacy of the author of the source material. WOT is GOT seasons 7 and 8 level bad.
I totally get that WoT are huge books and you need to condense and edit for a TV show... but man, that excuse doesn't work for the showrunners when they started putting in tons of original crap.
Number 8 is a great point, the point of the two rivers is the isolation, and it didn't matter WHICH ethnicity they went with for the two rivers people, it could have been anything, as long as rand was the only one who stuck out as odd.
The book where great and i can even understand why the writers wanted to make the story more diverse but all the new additions like perrins wife make no sense to me. Sorry for bad english
I read a comment on another video saying that 90% of book readers like this show. I don't believe that for a second. People who have read and understand the books know this show is a shallow facsimile at best that deliberately changes key aspects of the books in order to inject objectively worse ideas.
That 90% number is pulled directly from the Dark Ones bottom. I have yet to hear from a single solitary book reader who approves of this sorry excuse for a show. Like most of the woke BS, 'This wasn't made for you' (the fans). The producers and the audience are the same group of people.
I was quite happy when I learned that this book is becoming a series. I watched the first episode, endured the second and dragged through the third one. Then I stopped watching it, as it was clear that it can only get worse, seeing the preview of the upcoming episodes. If you like the books, there is absolutely no reason you would want to watch some boring series called "Wheel of Time" slapped on it.
I think the greatest travesty on Rafe's part was getting Moraine and Suin in bed with each other. Not only did that ever happen in the main series, Rafe hijacked the story of the first book for two episodes to make it happen. He used up a quarter of the series' run time to make it happen. It left him with having to make terrible decisions with the rest of the story. I actually outlined the first book with 8, 9 and 10 episodes. Its possible with 8 but not the way that Rafe did it. The biggest things I had to cut were Baerlon and Fal Dara. I had Min as an employee in the Queen's Blessing. Then with Fal Dara I had the group meeting up with Agelmar's army on their way to Tarwin's Gap with them on their way to the Eye. They camp together that night and then part ways. It would have been perfect with 10 episodes, as long as nobody hijacks the story for two episodes like Rafe did.
That would've made a lot more sense than what we got! But yeah, 10 episodes would've been ideal - it irks me no end that they kept claiming they had "no time" for things when they spent an entire episode (more or less) on entirely original content that served no purpose.
Mystery box writing is cheap garbage. It really doesn't work with Wheel of Time. It's like the writers hate the source material. All the changes are so stupid and detract from the experience. The forced diversity makes the world feel smaller, not to mention confusing as different cultures in the books are identified by skin color, hair color, etc. For example Camelyn which isn't even in the show should be an incredibly diverse, sprawling city. The two rivers should not. Rafe Judkins managed to make Wheel of Time as bad as Rings of Power which is an accomplishment of sorts I guess.
One correction. They didn’t say “it could be a boy or a girl” for a “mystery”. That was just a rationalization. They did it for gender inclusivity and to make sure there were girl tav’eren. Trust me, if the DR had a been a girl in the books, Moiraine would have said that 10X in her opening monologue. For the EF diversity, all you have to read is Matt’s inner monologue when he goes back to Caemlyn after he’s cured of the dagger curse (he doesn’t remember being there the 1st time). He literally is shocked to see people with skin of every shade and eyes of every shape - something he’s never seen before).
It felt like it was intended to be a mystery to me because they were constantly pushing this whole "which one is the dragon?!" stuff, and trying to use Nynaeve as a red herring for it whilst hiding any signs of Rand being the one. Either way, I wasn't a fan.
In the books, the identity of the Dragon Reborn was a mystery. However, the candidates were Matt, Parrin, and Rand. Egwene and Nyneave were not the Dragon Reborn possibilities. It was known that the Dragon Reborn was male. But which one of the 3, Two Rivers boys was not clear until the end of the 2nd book. Although there were plenty of hints that it was Rand, one could figure out. I do agree that the reason why they said that they didn't know whether the Dragon Reborn was a girl or boy was because the show runners wanted to be inclusive.
@@SilverMontIt was stupid to begin with, the reason the world is afraid of the dragon is that he could potentially break the world again as he might be corrupted by Saidar again. Saidar does not affect its channellers. From this it was always implied that the Dragon would be male. If we choose to ignore the foretelling that sets off Moraine & Siuan on their quest. Also the vileness that saw Galina and company lead the circle that put Tamra Ospenya to the Question and death
Rand althor just aceepts he is the dragon without fulfilling a single prophecy. Bad The not knowing if “the dragon” was a boy or girl? Is fundamentally wrong, the Amyrlin seat is the woman leader , the dragon the male leader , saidin the male half of the power and men going mad , is what makes things so terrifying. Woke nonsense ruining something I have waited for so long , this show is complete trash.
Yeah that's something I didn't even really touch on in this video haha, Rand's like "I can channel? Oh I guess I'm the dragon then. Never mind the number of prophecies associated with!"
Just caught your channel. I appreciate the rant. I have the same problems. Writers of this fan fiction are terrible. I write myself and cannot understand all the bad choices that are made. One of the first things I ever learned about TV storytelling is whomever has the most screen time is the protagonist. That would mean that this story is all about the women. All the men are simps, even Lan. But, what really chafes are all the people who say they love the books, and yet, like this adaptation.
I think a LOT of it is cope. Either people DESPERATELY finding things to like in the show... or PRETENDING to like the books (I've spoken to SO MANY show apologists who will OPENLY call Robert Jordan a misogynist)
@@DmGray Ha, that's a good one because if they actually read the books Jordan writes and treats women pretty well unless they are evil psycopaths like one that treats people like their objects, dolls, and puppets.
Amazon should have just written something new completely away for WoT. It would have been better. The complete miss on this series is a horrible thing for me as someone who has read the series at least 6 times over the years. I'm actually listening to it once more right now.
Which version you listening to? Rosamund Pike's or Kramer / Reading? And yeah, if amazon had just made their own original fantasy show that would've... well, not annoyed me, at least, haha.
That's the one I've listened to, as well. It's one of the more interesting ideas. If the showrunners had any soul they would've cast them in the show. Kramer as Tam, for example. Or maybe Thom, or something.
Yeah, strong opening that I wanted to acknowledge before watching further. It bothers me SO MUCH that so any people just let that one go. Not because it couldn't work ("unreliable narrator" as you say) but because the show does NOTHING to demonstrate this is unreliable... And it echoes throughout the show. Every "adaptation choice" either makes things more grimdark (as if the books aren't ALREADY dark enough) or casts men in a bad light. Or both. Even more upsetting is the apologetics for it all. "fans" will declare Robert Jordan a misogynist and that Rafe is "fixing" the WoT, but will then TOTALLY gloss over the overt sexism towards men. AND the problematic representation of women too (the characters in the show are almost universally less likeable. I think Elayne is the exception?)
On "diversity EF" It bothers me. And I'd be PERFECTLY happy if they were all any particular race (I think MANY people headcanon southern European? So, dark hair/eyes and tanned skin) with Rand being the obvious outsider. So it's not a "they have to be white" issue for me. It's a CONSISTENCY issue. But withstanding that, if they NEEDED diversity (and I DO understand the pressure of not having an "all white" main cast) then they can put in CONSISTENT explanations. They did for Nynaeve, for instance. SHE was an outsider to EF too. Makes perfect sense she might not look the same given the information the show presents. Padan Fain? Makes absolute sense. Maybe have 1-2 "mixed race" faces to represent the rare occassion of an outsider settling in EF. There are ways and means. Hell, if Andor is coded as white, and Two Rivers is all mixed race (or modelled after Egwene's actor, Madden. So, Polynesian/south asian) then adding that to the story of Manetheron provides IN WORLD context (these are the survivors of an army of 10 nations who settled in Two Rivers) It would ALSO be a VISUAL way to show the isolation of Two Rivers (and imagine the Rock as Tam al'Thor... pretty great right? :P) It's the dumb reasoning of "everyone was scattered so diversity just means everyone looks different at all times" it misses the ENTIRE fucking point of diversity...
Aye. And inadvertently demonstrating that nothing is ever enough. No amount of diversity, strong female characters, progressive themes or representation is ever enough. I'd say that the ONLY "update" I'd advocate for or support would be a balance to Aran'Gar. Perhaps some exploration into gender identity outside of the binary of Saidin/Saidar (Jordan himself simply doesn't explore those ideas, but he certainly leaves plenty of room. There are a LOT of powers presented that have NOTHING to do with "the one power") But even that is more to reassure modern audiences who MIGHT make assumptions, rather than to correct any problems with the original work. The idea of a person's identity being so intrinsic that is transcends their body and is tied instead to their soul seems to *me* to be perfectly in keeping with modern "woke" politics :P @@SilverMont
One of the many things I think they should have done with this show to make it better was not cut out all the travel stuff. I understand that they wouldn't want a whole lot of moving from one place to the next where not a lot happens because of pacing. But they could have easily conveyed a sense of time and distance (not to mention the vastness of the world) by simply doing a very short (or two very short) travel montages, where all we see is a few overlaying shots of characters traveling over different landscapes. It would have offered some gorgeous visuals, too, and would have only taken up a few seconds of screen time. Another thing I was thinking while you were talking about Thom and his Gleeman's cloak. At first I thought they left the many patches out because it would have been hard to explain the meaning behind it without exposition dialogue that would have felt very unnatural. But then I visualized an easy and cool way they could have shown it. Matt likes gambling, right? They should have introduced Thom in Emond's Field at the start. They could have had Matt and Perrin or Rand, or all three of them, run into him, and get all smiley and excited. Then have Matt say, "Rand, how many patches do you think a gleeman's cloak has? If I guess right, you gotta pay me five marks." Then have Rand roll his eyes, and Matt cheats by asking Thom how many he has, only Thon won't tell him to mess with him. That would show the relationship between the boys, show Matt's fun side and his gambling fixation, and also give nice, fun intro to Thom without taking up too much time from others. I agree with, if not all your points, then most of them. I wanted to love this show. I really did.
I managed to push through the first season, and hear people saying the second is better.... I'm trying, but even as someone who has gone through the books multiple times, I struggle to understand what's going on.
Season 2 is much harder to understand as a book reader than season 1 in my opinion. You can see where they cut and regiged things in season 1. The second season is mainly new stuff with sprinkles of what should have been.
Season 2 ended up being just as bad, frankly. The entire premise makes no sense as they are obsessed with robbing characters of motivation and agency. Everyone just blunders around and by sheer coincidence, ends up vaguely in the physical location they should be.
We shouldn't assume that Perrin is horny for Egwene, because he never confirms it. The e1 scene where he's hanging with Rand (and deliberately being noticeably taller than him) and Nynaeve tells him he to go home to his fridge product, he says "say goodbye to Egwene for me"(paraphrased). It feels like a misdirect. When they have their high school drama at Fal Dara, Rand points out that the day he and Egwene got together is the day Perrin married Layla. Perrin states(while looking down at Rand from his 3" height advantage) that the only WOMAN he ever loved was his wife. It seems like a pointless scene, why worry about it if it's a zero sum result and everybody goes back to normal?(I get it, the writing is bad enough that this might actually be the case) Or is it a foreshadowing misdirect?
They ruined all three male protagonists, and Lan Mandragoran. But they did not make the girls stronger, it makes Nyneve a Mary Sue and Nynaeve a arrogant cow.
This show was lucky in a way because the Rings of Power was so bad and more high profile that many people kind of ignored this. But my main BIG problem with it is they clearly changed the story for "diversity" and female empowerment. I guess I am "fine" with changing characters race or gender to "reflect the times" because if you get too hung up on it, you cannot watch anything anymore. But this kind of show is the worst example of it because they changed the actual story and made it worse to pursue that goal. As others said, Morraine and their leader having a relationship was dumb and made no sense, but they needed a character to be gay. And the five women defeating the evil army at the end, who were untrained novices and one tower drop out really made no sense. The dragon was supposed to do that, but it is just eye-rollingly obvious they did not want the guy to be the hero. But THAT is the entire book and premise! And that battle just caused all sorts of questions like how did Nynaeve come back to life, why the one woman let her brother and their whole towns soldiers die needlessly if they could do that? Why could they do that when Moraine could not, who is much stronger than them in the first episode? This is not just changing superficial stuff, but actually made the whole thing worse and led to stories that made little sense.
It's crazy because they didn't need to change any of it - WoT has an extremely diverse cast to the point you don't need to raceswap people for modern quotas haha
@@SilverMont That is the craziest thing! You could have sold this series on all the diversity in the actual books. But somehow, and this is the scariest/hilarious thing, it was not enough for them and had to do MORE!
The list of sins this show committed are endless, but the worst of them was Perrin. He was my favorite character in a world full of interesting, dynamic characters. What they did with him should have the entire writing staff in the dock at Nuremburg.
Yeah... they also killed off one of the Great Captains, you know just one of the characters that would lead the forces of light... not like he has an important role to play in the story like being a General that commands one of the largest armies since Hawkwing's time
Thankfully, the chances of them getting that far in the show are slim to none. I anticipate they'll cancel it or rush an ending before too long. I live in hope, anyway.
Good list and fully agree. I started reading the books after season 2 because I couldn't believe the books were as bad. On book 5 now and loving it. When I tried to re-watch an episode I had to turn it off after a couple minutes. Regarding 57: it's almost as if the writers thought that saidin is the dark side of the force and if Rand used it, he'd become a servant of the Dark One.
Dark friends scratched a dragons fang but only to serve a purpose like cause suspicion or to isolate a target. You say ignorant peasants. That’s exactly it. The whole point is it’s a yin yang with the flame representing saidar and saidin. Since saidin is tainted, the dragon has been turned into a villain for the uneducated over the years and so the dragons fang is the perfect representation. Trollocs would likely see it as a symbol of aes sedai or their opposition
I'm good with your work here, it is quite excellent. I did note that you referred to Amalisa (Agelmar's sister) as a "largely original character". Amalisa exists in the books. That she's at all capable of channeling is wrong, agreed, as it is explicitly stated by Liandrin that she wouldn't last a week as a novice. Yes, Morgase is the perfect example of a weak channeler, but since the show completely snubs Caemlyn, they could hardly bring Morgase into the action early on.
Yeah it's also not really needed, at that point in the story, I'd argue. There's a few things brought up in the show that didn't need to be, as it's better to introduce elements of magic (and world building) slowly
Mats departure makes no sense because we know that they could have just opened the gateway again. Its not like its a permanent thing. and said Mat don't be dumb lets go.
This showed up in my recommended, but I didn't click on it before the page refreshed. It took me a bit to find it because I searched for "5 reasons." I should've known it'd be difficult to get it down to just 5.
Amazon ratings are hilarious, you can go and look up 10 absolutely terrible movies and they'll prob be rated like 3.5/5 or 4/5. And by hilarious I mean worthless.
#1 - "Unreliable narrator". This is BAD, when it's done by your allegedly good characters. Either they are wrong... or they are lying. The audience is going to assume that, being a "good" character, they are telling the truth... unless/until they are caught lying. Either way, in the opinion of the audience, it's a lose-lose situation for the "good" character.
I have been able to partition my experience with the books and the show, and I'm watching it with someone who has not read. They seem to enjoy it. There are certainly... choices. Viewing it as another turning of the wheel, with a massive grain of salt, has helped. I'm now mostly just curious how certain aspects will be portrayed.
I did the same, watching it with a friend who really likes when the worlds around the stories he absorbs are consistent with themselves. This one, sadly, is not. He had as many things to rant about as I had, except where I complained about missed potential (which is all this show has IMO) he complained about how it was like it came out of the mind of someone who has only ever lived in a city where everything is convenient.
It's that turn of the wheel where the Dark One won a few days after Rand was born and then spent the next 20 years laughing at the stupid decisions everyone made.
It's the same for me. I'm not mad about it like so many people seem to be but a little sad that it deviates from the books so much. I still enjoy it though.
I think I'd have an easier time justifying it as "another turn of the wheel" if they didn't keep using names I'm familiar with. Like Birgitte remembers so many of her names in the books from all her times being spun out as a hero. Just use new names.
@@discipleofthevoid7248Yes. Although: let's be honest, it wasn't a show about "another turning of the wheel" that people were clamoring for ever since tv-show adaptation started looking possible. First, the showrunners decided to not give people what most people were likely to want, then they botched their attempt at giving them something else.
The one good thing about the show is it made me want to resd the books! The show was terrible i went into it not knowing anything, i saw all the backlash online and decided hey why not pick up the books since I've always loved books more than shows. I'm on the great hunt and already I can see how terrible the adaptation is. I didn't have to worry about spoilers since i watched the show first, it's a completly different story
#21 & #22 "He (the DR) will be all of those things, and none of those things." Moiraine LIES. "You don't listen to the wind. The wind listens to you." Another lie... Nynaeve DOES listen to the wind... regardless of whether or not the wind will listen to her.
The funny thing about Tom is that in later episodes somewhere with Rand, you see in the background a gleeman's cloak (albeit ugly representation of one in s2e3 around 30m mark).. Then why did you not put it on Tom at the beginning?!
The witcher casting crew admitted that they choose ugly people on purpose. I think WoT did that too. Just to humiliate story... Casting is just horrible. Not because of uglyness, but because of bad energy between characters, who love each other in the book
"did they kill Uno in that scene, btw, i hope not, but at least he won't be butchered by the writers later" is the funniest sentence in this video when you have watched S2 of this travesty.
38:30 - Although I hesitate to correct anything you're saying here, simply because the show deserves no defense what-so-ever, I have to correct you with regard to Kerene being able to protect the others because she couldn't see his weaves. The books actually establish at some point that a women can sense how, or what, the man is weaving the power into. Hence they can counter, if quick enough, either by slicing the man's weaves or countering it somehow else. And visa versa for the men, as they can't see women's weaves either. If neither had a way to sense what the other was doing, then essentially all battles would simply end by whoever channeled first. And that's clearly not the case in the books. Not that the writers were aware of this, I'm sure, they just do whatever for plot convenience. 45:00 - Regarding the Ter'Angreal portal, it definitely shows how stupid the writers are and that they don't know their source material. The art of making Ter'Angreal was lost 1000s of years ago, yet here's one that just magically links directly into Siuan's love shack, which, for all the world, based upon the cold open, like it's in Tear. Maybe it's in Tel'aran'rhiod, but still, it's highly unlikely they would've found two Ter'Angreal that linked to exactly the same spot. (Assuming Siuan has one as well). 1:11:48 - "Did they kill Uno in that scene, by the way, I hope not, but at least he won't be butchered by the writers later..." - 🤣🤣🤣
Having seen that part in season 2 now. Yeah. I have nothing else to say in regards to Uno, haha. As for the weaving thing - we definitely have Lanfear able to slice Rand's weaves even when she can't see them, but then she's more or less the best female channeler in the series. I think that whole scene was just really muddled in regards to who can see what, and the writers didn't stop to consider the logic of it. They wanted something to happen and nobody told them no.
Loial was vague, but Agelmar? How? He was swarmed by things that eat humans. Him living in that situation would only make sense if they say he channeled (off screen) and escaped. But that'd be stupid in its own way.
@@SilverMontApparently, you can see Lioal and Uno still groaning and moving. They also revised the dagger to not be an insta kill weapon. It is now like being poisoned and can therefore be healed. I did not know they retconned Agelmar. In my opinion, that is the biggest evidence that whoever wrote that last episode has not read beyond book 1 if that.
@@emerystheimmortal417 the dagger is more like a fast poison(such as with snake venom, but much more brutal), the reason mat can handle it,(at least later) is that he has 'protections' until they can remove the link between them
There are times I stubbornly use whatever pronunciation I'm used to. Like Sauron, (sow-ron vs sore-ron) and Aegon (ayy-gon vs egg-on) and probably a bunch of WoT characters.
LLT's plan would not have worked if women joined in, it would have just resulted in both halves of the True Source becoming Tainted. But, I agree that the show is garbage. Especially the idiotic "mystery box" plot of the first season. The series is full of poor writing that puts immediate drama and spectacle over good story telling and consistent world building. Every cheap writing trick, dead beat parents, friged wife, etc. is employed to manufacture drama, even at the expense of a consistent story.
Did RJ ever give "word of god" as to what would've happened, had Lews had access to both halves of the power at the strike? I think in theory he COULD have done it, but he probably didn't have the information/plan that he needed? Either way, I think given what he had access to, it was still probably the best plan (at the time) if not an ideal one. But yeah I guess it's possible both halves got tainted too. What was the other plan they had, to use the CK to make a giant bubble around it or something right? The dead beat parent trope here is so infuriating, also. Abel Cauthon is a fun, if relatively minor character.
@@SilverMont Yes, I believe RJ is on record in the interview database as saying that is what would have happened if LTT could have convinced the women to join him. That is why Rand had to use the Rube-Goldbery machine solution Solution of using both haves of the True Source, plus the True power via Calendor to effectively seal the DO away. I don't think it takes away from the main point and criticism of the show though. He did what he did out of desperation and he did not have any options available to him; they had already lost access to the Choeden Kal and were losing the war. I too get so frustrated by these 'updated so a "modern audience" can relate and understand' adaptations. They miss the whole point of the story in doing so.
@Erik-um1zn fair enough! Still, they had no way of knowing what would happen and I do believe it was the best plan at the time. Little comfort for them, but their failure was probably crucial to Rand's success. But yeah, show just used it to dump on men. I'm sure Egwene will end up showing up as the Creator and smiting the DO in the show after Rand falls
@@SilverMont Yeah, I always thought it was kind of a catch-22 for LTT: there was no way he was going to figure out the complex combo of Saidar, Saidin, & the TP necessary to really seal the Bore, but he had to do something and he was running out of options. In most adaptation, there is a loss of nuance and detail that is unavoidable, but in this one, there's just a deliberate "Screw You!" to the story in general.
This is one of the worst shows on right now, so boring and it goes nowhere. The writing is all modern cringe. They handed this series to a survivor contestant, kinda says it all. This adaptation is an abomination
It sucks, plain and simple. Impossible to make such a series with today's "woke" media mafia. I have no problem with the representation of different races. If a character is fictional, who cares what colour their skin is? Besides Jordan quite obviously meant for several different races and cultures to be in his books. However, diversity in the small community makes no sense. And what's with all the hyper-sexuality? It was a great story without all that! Are they trying to turn it into GOT? I barely stomached the first season, watched one episode of the second season and then gave up.
They thought sex was mature, basically. Which is hilarious given the early idea of Rand sleeping with Min in the first book which was, rightly, discarded as an idea.
There is misandry laced throughout the Wheel of Time's setting, a sense that men cannot be trusted with power that emerges from millennia of powerful men going insane and killing indiscriminately, In the books this is introduced gradually, slowly, as an extension of village politics. We are introduced to an S-tier Dad right out of the gate in Tam al'Thor, then Thom Merrilyn. Master al'Vere is a good dude. Good men are everywhere in Emond's Field. As it moves on we have constant examples of various good forms of masculinity; even the stoic Lan is a caring and supportive tutor to Rand and an excellent husband to Nynaeve. The subtle misandry is on a much larger scale, and centred most on the many matriarchal monarchies and, above all, the Red Ajah. None of this exists in the show. Tam does the absolute minimum. Thom isn't there. Master al'Vere has a half-second of screen time. Meanwhile, the boys do the minimum and almost all of it bad; Perrin kills his wife and lusts after his best friend's girlfriend, Mat is basically a piece of shit, and Rand is a whiny, unlikeable asshole. The only other significant male character is PADAN FAIN. Women get an Avengers Endgame-style "girl power!" moment in the big battle. Men just get murdered a lot (except Lan). And half the screen time is Nynaeve and Egwene doing Women's Circle stuff. So the show, which began with the idea that men are the problem, never puts this idea down, never presents a contradiction. This is not subtle cultural memory. This is straight-up hatred. This show is not actually as bad as people say it is, I swear. Josha is a fine young actor and would be great if he was allowed to DO ANYTHING. Both original Mat and new Mat have been wonderful. Zoe Robins is an annoying Supergirl in the first season but really sells it in the second, once it becomes The Egwene Show instead of The Nynaeve Show. Madeleine Madden does a great job with the damane torture sequences, despite how much the writers screw it up at the end. The effects and shots are working fine for the most part. This is a good young cast with huge potential being wasted and ruined by one idiotic showrunner and his personal vendettas.
I've rarely had issues with the actors in shows like this - just about every complaint comes down to how it's written, for me. The best actor in the world can't help that. One exception is the Acolyte, the main girl in that show was so bad at acting in it that it was really distracting haha.
Only 60? If you have nothing but contempt for the source material and the fans who have loved it for generations, your adaptation is going to fail. Just ask the show runners for The Witcher and Rings of Power...
They didn't just make the two rivers diverse, they made every place diverse. In the show nationality is not ethnicity. From a practical casting perspective this is a good choice.
I feel like they could've accurately cast characters and not had any issues. The cast of the books is extremely diverse, after all. With people from all parts of Randland (and beyond) And with EF it screws up the plot of the first book quite a lot as you don't get the whole "farmers seeing the world for the first time" stuff.
@@SilverMont Well, for one thing, "accurately" casting the two rivers would have still pissed a lot of people off, because they should at the very least look Mediterranean. In order for Rand as a pale white dude to stand out in that village the way he's supposed to, the native residents have to be more brown. Multiple characters comment that he's too pale to look like he's from the TR. And some fans were going to be mad at the presence of brown people in the show at all, regardless of their presence in the books. People can very easily ignore character descriptions and just assume Randland is medieval Europe and everyone is white. The casting is the least of the problems with the show. The amount of lore they just threw out is a bigger problem, among other things.
@@Darm0k You seem quite sure that a good portion of the fans would have problems with brown people. Why? I hope you're trolling us since the alternative is worse
@@Critical_Mass_a5s You must not have seen much discourse around the show, because there are a lot of book fans who are mad that brown people got cast at all. They had a nickname on Reddit. They called themselves Bookcloaks. Just look for anything that calls the show "woke" and you'll find the racists.
It definitely could have been worse. The casting and acting is great, the locations are epic, sets look good, CGI is good. You can see where the money has gone into it....all bought down by politics and plain old poor writing. It could have been worse, but it would have been so easy to make so much it better.
In the books Mat's father Abell Cauton was one of the most respected men in the village, and his mother was a great mother and good cook who nobody said a bad word about ever. And here they are a cheating husband and drunken wife, and both horrible neglecting parents. I hate everything about this show and it will never have anything to do with the amazing books two incredible writers created.
"we need more drama!" I wish I could ask them what the reasoning was for so many of these poor decisions.
Me too
'There never was a man as honest as Abel Cauthon and everyone knew it'
What a fucking disgrace
Abell and Tam went to the tower to check up on the boys. Abell taught in the battle of the Two Rivers. He was very important. This adaptation has failed all of us who excitedly read the books and even waited for the next book to come out...as I did.
There are too many war crimes to count in this show, but one of my least favorite changes was the removal of the loss of innocence theme for the main characters. The story just does not work at all without that
It shows that they either fundamentally misunderstood every theme the first book established, or they intentionally ruined it out of spite. Incompetence or malevolence, take your pick!
@@SilverMontfrom everything Rafe has said I'd say finish spite even though I thought the books were pretty balanced
@@SilverMont it was definitely done on purpose. They're not accidentally destroying everything that was their goal.
@@joshuatabor8755 I win again Lews Therin.
@@SilverMont They ruined it out of spite for sure.
I only have 1 reason. And it's the same as the unfortunately passed Authors, RIP RJ - I hate Fan-Fiction. This was expensive fan-fiction and everyone involved should be ashamed (apart from the actors, it's really not their fault at all imo)
This show is exactly what I would expect from rookie CW fan-fic writers. Unfortunately, they put the Wheel of Time name on it. Amazon should be ashamed. And someone should tell Rafe to stop lying; it gets rather pathetic.
Broooo, Perrin being horny for Egwene was the WORST. I feel bad for this character.
They just had to butcher every single character
Everybody is horny all the time in this show. It is absolutely disgusting. In the book Rand never had Sex eith Lanfear.
They absolutely destroyed the three main characters. None of them are even remotely likeable in the show.
you really think it's EGWENE he's horny for? You'll wish it was Egwene when it all plays out.
@@Yoursoulismine814 none of the characters are likable* fixed it for you ;) that being said the only ones they treat with any 'kindness' are always women even so much as to give several plot points to the ladies instead of the the 3 boys
It’s offense beyond imagination that these Hollywood hacks presume to be better writers than Robert Jordan. They are a disgrace.
I hate it when people take something made by someone else and just decide to ruin it. It's inexcusable to me.
I don't mean to disrespect anyone by saying this... but... when you buy the rights to these commercially successful books, aren't there some sort of legal agreements to not alter it radically to protect the reputation of the IP?
Wouldn't there even be a sort of script from the would-be buyers presented during the negotiations to convince the owners?
Did the book publisher make the decisions/own the rights instead of the late RJ's family?
I feel like Wheel of Time did for you what Witcher did for me. I've read Witcher saga way before the games released. After 1st season of the show I was flabbergasted at how bad it was and how they destroyed some of my favorite characters, especially Jaskier.
As for WoT - after hearing many 'nice' things about the series, I decided to finally read the first book. I liked it well enough, but while I was reading all I could thing about is how would they fk it up in the show. It's how it is now, I guess, we cannot expect shows based on pre-existing material to be anything but the most shallow interpretation of the original done only for purpose of pushing an agenda.
Witcher, rings of power....
I watched Witcher without any prior knowledge or background. It was utter dreck. Oh, except the Witcher guy was extremely cute. If everyone had just stood mute, preening for the camera, I might've enjoyed it. But every time they opened their mouths, I was howling.
I mention this every time that shot of Rand and Mat approaching Tar Valon is shown. Unless they moved Dragonmount, Rand and Mat approach the city from the north. For some reason.
Also I have to laugh that the Siuan intro is her dad sending her 2000 miles upriver. Alone.
She's REALLY good at sailing and catching fish. Or he's kinda mean.
@@SilverMont Or none of the writers have read the books or looked at a map and didn't put any thought into it.
I still think this gets cancelled after this season. That season 3 stuff was because they knew the strike was coming. They wanted to be ahead in case it got better... it's not going to be.
Season 2 isn't far off, and that's their last chance to improve things, for me. I just don't think it's going to happen.
Agelmars sister........ my god............ to be now forever known as 'lady-who-gives-a-shit' - they kept her (of course) but we sacked elyas, mordeth, aginor, balthamel, shomestu - the entire villiage council. But yay, ladywhogivesashit saves the day guys, everything is ok - take that Patriachy!!
WoT has like 1000 characters and yet they felt compelled to create new ones. Baffling.
@@SilverMont baffling is a very nice word for it indeed haha.
It's almost always the writers to blame for how horrible these book to movie conversions are.
It's bizarre to me how people can mess up when 90% of the work is already done, and all they need to do is adapt it for television.
@@SilverMont It's not like the more strict conversions ever go bad. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Holes, Fight Club, The Princess Bride. Some of the best translations are the most line for line.
Japan has made an entire industry out of it. Most manga started as LN's. Most anime started as manga, and the most successful are the most faithful to the source material.
I have noticed that - with anime being adapted from manga I've read (such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) I wonder why they seem to treat the original with more respect? That's the only way I can think to put it. As if you wanted to adapt something, and then changed it entirely, surely that suggests you don't respect it.
@@SilverMont
And also when an anime succeeds in its first season and god knows why the change course from the source material it flops hard like the promised Neverland
The manga and its first season were banging and when the 2nd season dropped the series just died
They do the bidding of the producers as well, they think people want to see woke trash.
Too few people have covered the travesty that is this "adaptation". It was an unexpected crossover to see it from you, since the last I saw of you was a let's play of Dark Souls (yeah...), but a cathartic one. :)
I felt compelled to, as the more I thought about it, the more irritated and disgusted I grew at what they had done.
Burning out in the one power doesn't USUALLY mean burning to death literally, however, that CAN* happen in extreme circumstances (but at that point, you're just splitting hairs between them burning out, and the one power killing them). Notably King Aemond's wife literally burned herself out weaving waves of fire across the army of trollocs.
According to the pronunciation guide in the back of the book, you're pronouncing Tar Valon correctly. Apparently, the show runners have never seen the books, let alone picked any of them up. At least, that's the only explanation I can come up with as to how they managed to butcher such an amazing story.
I go with most of the pronunciations they use in the audiobooks out of habit, for the most part
Are you actually this DUMB? The effing PRODUCER of the show happens to be the narrator for the first THREE books you turd. Look it up. Her name is : Rosamind Pike. And you disrespecting HER and everyone else by saying they havent even READ the books (never mind effing NARRATING them) is dispicable. For shame
She plays Morainne in the show in case you need a pretty picture drawn too.
I looked up Rosamind Pike but couldn't found any results. You talking about Rosamund Pike, who is one of the 8 producers the show has? Also, she isn't "the" narrator for the first three books. She is "a" narrator. Michael Kramer and Kate Reading narrated the entire series. Like, c'mon dude if you are going to write things on the internet, take the 4 seconds to make sure you're correct.
As to that other point, you have two choices:
1) Ignorance - they didn't read the books so they don't know what happened and made up their own tripe.
2) Arrogance - they read the books, but think they can do a better job.
It's not a good look, either way.
Guess I can skip the series and only read the book.
Absolutely, the show is worthless, completely without merit.
I like the Audiobooks, because my eyes got bad the last few years.
Book? I'm on book 11 there's bloody loads of them lol
Now they’ve released a new clip which shows that Ishamael is freeing the other Forsaken as well, which completely changes the dynamic between the Forsaken if they have to rely on him.
Season 1 butchered the existing characters so hard that I didn't even stop to think about how much they'll ruin future ones, including the Forsaken.
i agree, though its unclear how they got free after book 2-3 to star with, so its plausible he DID free them(or somehow what happened to him in the books helped free them)
There was a lot of ground to cover from the first book, I know they had to condense things but I don't get why they inserted stupid scenes that distract from the story. And in order to insert those stupid things, like the Egwayne/Rand relationship, Egwayne in the river, Perrin's wife, Matt's abusive family, a random warder that isn't in the books and dies, Moraine and more Moraine, they left out very important plot points like how Perrin meets Elyas and the wolves, Thom being with them from the start, and how he saves Matt and Rand, how Matt gradually gets sick because of the dagger, Camerlyn and Rand's first introduction to Elayne, Loial and Logain, etc etc. So many scenes that were essential to the story replaced by stupidity, sex that wasn't in the books and unimportant characters. It was very important to develop the three boys from being naive bumpkins to slowly learning and coming to terms with their predestined roles in the bigger world. They could have ended the season on a cliff hanger at the eye of the world. It could have worked if they had just followed the blueprint from the book and left the characters as they were written by Jordan. IMO they did in one episode what it took GOT showrunners 5 seasons to do, destroy the legacy of the author of the source material. WOT is GOT seasons 7 and 8 level bad.
I totally get that WoT are huge books and you need to condense and edit for a TV show... but man, that excuse doesn't work for the showrunners when they started putting in tons of original crap.
Number 8 is a great point, the point of the two rivers is the isolation, and it didn't matter WHICH ethnicity they went with for the two rivers people, it could have been anything, as long as rand was the only one who stuck out as odd.
Yeah it's not even just an incidental point of the books, but a fairly important one, especially early on.
The book where great and i can even understand why the writers wanted to make the story more diverse but all the new additions like perrins wife make no sense to me. Sorry for bad english
They didn't even make it more diverse - in the important ways, they made it less so. They can't even get that right haha
@@SilverMont yeah thats the sad thing and thanks for refreshing my memorys of the books.
I read a comment on another video saying that 90% of book readers like this show. I don't believe that for a second. People who have read and understand the books know this show is a shallow facsimile at best that deliberately changes key aspects of the books in order to inject objectively worse ideas.
90%? Doubt!
I love the book and stopped watching after season one
There wouldn't be a need for videos like this if the 90/10 statistic was correct.
That 90% number is pulled directly from the Dark Ones bottom. I have yet to hear from a single solitary book reader who approves of this sorry excuse for a show. Like most of the woke BS, 'This wasn't made for you' (the fans). The producers and the audience are the same group of people.
I was quite happy when I learned that this book is becoming a series. I watched the first episode, endured the second and dragged through the third one. Then I stopped watching it, as it was clear that it can only get worse, seeing the preview of the upcoming episodes. If you like the books, there is absolutely no reason you would want to watch some boring series called "Wheel of Time" slapped on it.
I didn’t even make it to the attack in the first episode; it’s complete garbage.
I think the greatest travesty on Rafe's part was getting Moraine and Suin in bed with each other. Not only did that ever happen in the main series, Rafe hijacked the story of the first book for two episodes to make it happen. He used up a quarter of the series' run time to make it happen. It left him with having to make terrible decisions with the rest of the story. I actually outlined the first book with 8, 9 and 10 episodes. Its possible with 8 but not the way that Rafe did it. The biggest things I had to cut were Baerlon and Fal Dara. I had Min as an employee in the Queen's Blessing. Then with Fal Dara I had the group meeting up with Agelmar's army on their way to Tarwin's Gap with them on their way to the Eye. They camp together that night and then part ways. It would have been perfect with 10 episodes, as long as nobody hijacks the story for two episodes like Rafe did.
That would've made a lot more sense than what we got! But yeah, 10 episodes would've been ideal - it irks me no end that they kept claiming they had "no time" for things when they spent an entire episode (more or less) on entirely original content that served no purpose.
Everybody is horny all the time in this show
To be fair it was implied in the books with the talk of "Pillow friends" RJ just didn't say who if I remember correctly.
I feel after two seasons , Rafe projects his BDSM randyness into the show. Lanfear looks like a cougar dominatrix.
I had no idea you liked Wheel of Time! I too hate the show lol, it's a complete disaster
I never really had cause to talk about it before on the channel I suppose haha
Mystery box writing is cheap garbage. It really doesn't work with Wheel of Time. It's like the writers hate the source material. All the changes are so stupid and detract from the experience. The forced diversity makes the world feel smaller, not to mention confusing as different cultures in the books are identified by skin color, hair color, etc. For example Camelyn which isn't even in the show should be an incredibly diverse, sprawling city. The two rivers should not. Rafe Judkins managed to make Wheel of Time as bad as Rings of Power which is an accomplishment of sorts I guess.
And then they upped it with season 2 and made even worse decisions, somehow, without any of the excuses they had for s1 (lockdown)
One correction. They didn’t say “it could be a boy or a girl” for a “mystery”. That was just a rationalization. They did it for gender inclusivity and to make sure there were girl tav’eren. Trust me, if the DR had a been a girl in the books, Moiraine would have said that 10X in her opening monologue.
For the EF diversity, all you have to read is Matt’s inner monologue when he goes back to Caemlyn after he’s cured of the dagger curse (he doesn’t remember being there the 1st time). He literally is shocked to see people with skin of every shade and eyes of every shape - something he’s never seen before).
It felt like it was intended to be a mystery to me because they were constantly pushing this whole "which one is the dragon?!" stuff, and trying to use Nynaeve as a red herring for it whilst hiding any signs of Rand being the one. Either way, I wasn't a fan.
In the books, the identity of the Dragon Reborn was a mystery. However, the candidates were Matt, Parrin, and Rand. Egwene and Nyneave were not the Dragon Reborn possibilities. It was known that the Dragon Reborn was male. But which one of the 3, Two Rivers boys was not clear until the end of the 2nd book. Although there were plenty of hints that it was Rand, one could figure out.
I do agree that the reason why they said that they didn't know whether the Dragon Reborn was a girl or boy was because the show runners wanted to be inclusive.
@@SilverMontIt was stupid to begin with, the reason the world is afraid of the dragon is that he could potentially break the world again as he might be corrupted by Saidar again. Saidar does not affect its channellers. From this it was always implied that the Dragon would be male. If we choose to ignore the foretelling that sets off Moraine & Siuan on their quest. Also the vileness that saw Galina and company lead the circle that put Tamra Ospenya to the Question and death
Rand althor just aceepts he is the dragon without fulfilling a single prophecy. Bad
The not knowing if “the dragon” was a boy or girl? Is fundamentally wrong,
the Amyrlin seat is the woman leader , the dragon the male leader , saidin the male half of the power and men going mad , is what makes things so terrifying.
Woke nonsense ruining something I have waited for so long , this show is complete trash.
Yeah that's something I didn't even really touch on in this video haha, Rand's like "I can channel? Oh I guess I'm the dragon then. Never mind the number of prophecies associated with!"
@@SilverMont he rejected who he was until the third book , him and Matt on the run, all the good stuff , they cut it out. Sad.
Didn't even know that shit came out
I wish it never had.
Just caught your channel. I appreciate the rant. I have the same problems. Writers of this fan fiction are terrible. I write myself and cannot understand all the bad choices that are made. One of the first things I ever learned about TV storytelling is whomever has the most screen time is the protagonist. That would mean that this story is all about the women. All the men are simps, even Lan. But, what really chafes are all the people who say they love the books, and yet, like this adaptation.
I think a LOT of it is cope.
Either people DESPERATELY finding things to like in the show... or PRETENDING to like the books (I've spoken to SO MANY show apologists who will OPENLY call Robert Jordan a misogynist)
@@DmGray Ha, that's a good one because if they actually read the books Jordan writes and treats women pretty well unless they are evil psycopaths like one that treats people like their objects, dolls, and puppets.
Amazon should have just written something new completely away for WoT. It would have been better. The complete miss on this series is a horrible thing for me as someone who has read the series at least 6 times over the years. I'm actually listening to it once more right now.
Which version you listening to? Rosamund Pike's or Kramer / Reading? And yeah, if amazon had just made their own original fantasy show that would've... well, not annoyed me, at least, haha.
Kramer / Reading@@SilverMont
That's the one I've listened to, as well. It's one of the more interesting ideas. If the showrunners had any soul they would've cast them in the show. Kramer as Tam, for example. Or maybe Thom, or something.
I think the showrunners just read a summary on each book... or they are shadow spawn @@SilverMont
@@rukadorehosa3917 definitely darkfriends, if not shadowspawn and VERY lightly(if at all) 'disguised'
It is the same like rings of power. I hate the idea and most new shows, to character assassinate the male characters.
They turned a brilliant fantasy saga into hateful, feminist trash. I knew they'd ruin it. How men can even watch tv nowadays blows my mind.
It's a shame that a series about men and women needing to learn how to work together was adapted as "men are pretty much awful and useless"
Ngl, getting S2 ads on these videos is a baller move Amazon lol
That's hilarious
In the last book there is a special sweet love story between a man who can Channel and a red.
Androl and Pevara
Yeah, strong opening that I wanted to acknowledge before watching further.
It bothers me SO MUCH that so any people just let that one go.
Not because it couldn't work ("unreliable narrator" as you say) but because the show does NOTHING to demonstrate this is unreliable...
And it echoes throughout the show.
Every "adaptation choice" either makes things more grimdark (as if the books aren't ALREADY dark enough) or casts men in a bad light. Or both.
Even more upsetting is the apologetics for it all.
"fans" will declare Robert Jordan a misogynist and that Rafe is "fixing" the WoT, but will then TOTALLY gloss over the overt sexism towards men. AND the problematic representation of women too (the characters in the show are almost universally less likeable. I think Elayne is the exception?)
On "diversity EF"
It bothers me.
And I'd be PERFECTLY happy if they were all any particular race (I think MANY people headcanon southern European? So, dark hair/eyes and tanned skin) with Rand being the obvious outsider. So it's not a "they have to be white" issue for me. It's a CONSISTENCY issue.
But withstanding that, if they NEEDED diversity (and I DO understand the pressure of not having an "all white" main cast) then they can put in CONSISTENT explanations. They did for Nynaeve, for instance. SHE was an outsider to EF too. Makes perfect sense she might not look the same given the information the show presents. Padan Fain? Makes absolute sense. Maybe have 1-2 "mixed race" faces to represent the rare occassion of an outsider settling in EF.
There are ways and means.
Hell, if Andor is coded as white, and Two Rivers is all mixed race (or modelled after Egwene's actor, Madden. So, Polynesian/south asian) then adding that to the story of Manetheron provides IN WORLD context (these are the survivors of an army of 10 nations who settled in Two Rivers) It would ALSO be a VISUAL way to show the isolation of Two Rivers (and imagine the Rock as Tam al'Thor... pretty great right? :P)
It's the dumb reasoning of "everyone was scattered so diversity just means everyone looks different at all times" it misses the ENTIRE fucking point of diversity...
It all just shows that they didn't care, or intentionally tried to make it "better" whilst, in fact, made it worse in every imaginable way.
Aye.
And inadvertently demonstrating that nothing is ever enough.
No amount of diversity, strong female characters, progressive themes or representation is ever enough.
I'd say that the ONLY "update" I'd advocate for or support would be a balance to Aran'Gar.
Perhaps some exploration into gender identity outside of the binary of Saidin/Saidar (Jordan himself simply doesn't explore those ideas, but he certainly leaves plenty of room. There are a LOT of powers presented that have NOTHING to do with "the one power")
But even that is more to reassure modern audiences who MIGHT make assumptions, rather than to correct any problems with the original work.
The idea of a person's identity being so intrinsic that is transcends their body and is tied instead to their soul seems to *me* to be perfectly in keeping with modern "woke" politics :P
@@SilverMont
One of the many things I think they should have done with this show to make it better was not cut out all the travel stuff. I understand that they wouldn't want a whole lot of moving from one place to the next where not a lot happens because of pacing. But they could have easily conveyed a sense of time and distance (not to mention the vastness of the world) by simply doing a very short (or two very short) travel montages, where all we see is a few overlaying shots of characters traveling over different landscapes. It would have offered some gorgeous visuals, too, and would have only taken up a few seconds of screen time.
Another thing I was thinking while you were talking about Thom and his Gleeman's cloak. At first I thought they left the many patches out because it would have been hard to explain the meaning behind it without exposition dialogue that would have felt very unnatural. But then I visualized an easy and cool way they could have shown it. Matt likes gambling, right? They should have introduced Thom in Emond's Field at the start. They could have had Matt and Perrin or Rand, or all three of them, run into him, and get all smiley and excited. Then have Matt say, "Rand, how many patches do you think a gleeman's cloak has? If I guess right, you gotta pay me five marks." Then have Rand roll his eyes, and Matt cheats by asking Thom how many he has, only Thon won't tell him to mess with him. That would show the relationship between the boys, show Matt's fun side and his gambling fixation, and also give nice, fun intro to Thom without taking up too much time from others.
I agree with, if not all your points, then most of them. I wanted to love this show. I really did.
Yeah, the travel was an important part of the first book and the series did an awful job at conveying any sense of time/distance/whatever.
The Ta'veren rumor thing is such shitty, nonsensical story telling I knew right then it was going to be a complete garbage show.
Right? They immediately showed how much they care (not at all)
Im starting to realize they are trying to take an idea that appeals to men and their target audience is women. It just doesn’t work
I managed to push through the first season, and hear people saying the second is better.... I'm trying, but even as someone who has gone through the books multiple times, I struggle to understand what's going on.
Season 2 is much harder to understand as a book reader than season 1 in my opinion. You can see where they cut and regiged things in season 1. The second season is mainly new stuff with sprinkles of what should have been.
Season 2 ended up being just as bad, frankly. The entire premise makes no sense as they are obsessed with robbing characters of motivation and agency. Everyone just blunders around and by sheer coincidence, ends up vaguely in the physical location they should be.
I watched about 30 minutes of the first episode and realized quickly it was going to be a terrible woke disaster.
I love the books and hate the show!
You and me both, buddy!
Idem
We shouldn't assume that Perrin is horny for Egwene, because he never confirms it. The e1 scene where he's hanging with Rand (and deliberately being noticeably taller than him) and Nynaeve tells him he to go home to his fridge product, he says "say goodbye to Egwene for me"(paraphrased). It feels like a misdirect.
When they have their high school drama at Fal Dara, Rand points out that the day he and Egwene got together is the day Perrin married Layla. Perrin states(while looking down at Rand from his 3" height advantage) that the only WOMAN he ever loved was his wife. It seems like a pointless scene, why worry about it if it's a zero sum result and everybody goes back to normal?(I get it, the writing is bad enough that this might actually be the case) Or is it a foreshadowing misdirect?
They ruined all three male protagonists, and Lan Mandragoran. But they did not make the girls stronger, it makes Nyneve a Mary Sue and Nynaeve a arrogant cow.
This show was lucky in a way because the Rings of Power was so bad and more high profile that many people kind of ignored this. But my main BIG problem with it is they clearly changed the story for "diversity" and female empowerment. I guess I am "fine" with changing characters race or gender to "reflect the times" because if you get too hung up on it, you cannot watch anything anymore. But this kind of show is the worst example of it because they changed the actual story and made it worse to pursue that goal. As others said, Morraine and their leader having a relationship was dumb and made no sense, but they needed a character to be gay. And the five women defeating the evil army at the end, who were untrained novices and one tower drop out really made no sense. The dragon was supposed to do that, but it is just eye-rollingly obvious they did not want the guy to be the hero. But THAT is the entire book and premise! And that battle just caused all sorts of questions like how did Nynaeve come back to life, why the one woman let her brother and their whole towns soldiers die needlessly if they could do that? Why could they do that when Moraine could not, who is much stronger than them in the first episode?
This is not just changing superficial stuff, but actually made the whole thing worse and led to stories that made little sense.
It's crazy because they didn't need to change any of it - WoT has an extremely diverse cast to the point you don't need to raceswap people for modern quotas haha
@@SilverMont That is the craziest thing! You could have sold this series on all the diversity in the actual books. But somehow, and this is the scariest/hilarious thing, it was not enough for them and had to do MORE!
The list of sins this show committed are endless, but the worst of them was Perrin. He was my favorite character in a world full of interesting, dynamic characters. What they did with him should have the entire writing staff in the dock at Nuremburg.
Yeah, he was my favourite character when I first read the series. Wild how badly they misinterpreted him in the show.
Yeah... they also killed off one of the Great Captains, you know just one of the characters that would lead the forces of light... not like he has an important role to play in the story like being a General that commands one of the largest armies since Hawkwing's time
Thankfully, the chances of them getting that far in the show are slim to none. I anticipate they'll cancel it or rush an ending before too long. I live in hope, anyway.
Good list and fully agree. I started reading the books after season 2 because I couldn't believe the books were as bad. On book 5 now and loving it. When I tried to re-watch an episode I had to turn it off after a couple minutes. Regarding 57: it's almost as if the writers thought that saidin is the dark side of the force and if Rand used it, he'd become a servant of the Dark One.
They seem to have only the faintest idea of what happened in the books... And why they were popular
It’s so bad. By the end of the second episode of season one I had so many problems with the plot and changes from the books that I just quit.
You did the right thing. Why I chose to suffer through all of it and the second season, I don't know why.
Dark friends scratched a dragons fang but only to serve a purpose like cause suspicion or to isolate a target. You say ignorant peasants. That’s exactly it. The whole point is it’s a yin yang with the flame representing saidar and saidin. Since saidin is tainted, the dragon has been turned into a villain for the uneducated over the years and so the dragons fang is the perfect representation. Trollocs would likely see it as a symbol of aes sedai or their opposition
I'm good with your work here, it is quite excellent. I did note that you referred to Amalisa (Agelmar's sister) as a "largely original character". Amalisa exists in the books. That she's at all capable of channeling is wrong, agreed, as it is explicitly stated by Liandrin that she wouldn't last a week as a novice. Yes, Morgase is the perfect example of a weak channeler, but since the show completely snubs Caemlyn, they could hardly bring Morgase into the action early on.
Yeah it's also not really needed, at that point in the story, I'd argue. There's a few things brought up in the show that didn't need to be, as it's better to introduce elements of magic (and world building) slowly
I hate the show so much. I resent how different it is to the nooks
Me too, man! Season 2 isn't starting off much better.
your second point - they wiped out the concept of two sides of the one power as well. Didn't they kill off mentioning Saidin and Saidar?
Yeah they haven't really touched on it, despite it having many knock on effects
Mats departure makes no sense because we know that they could have just opened the gateway again. Its not like its a permanent thing. and said Mat don't be dumb lets go.
This showed up in my recommended, but I didn't click on it before the page refreshed. It took me a bit to find it because I searched for "5 reasons." I should've known it'd be difficult to get it down to just 5.
Haha I was originally closer to 100 but I cut a few because I was repeating myself too much
How does it have 82% positive ratings and renewed for at least 3 seasons????????
Amazon ratings are hilarious, you can go and look up 10 absolutely terrible movies and they'll prob be rated like 3.5/5 or 4/5. And by hilarious I mean worthless.
That's probably because most viewers didn't read the books and don't care for all the differences.
You still believe in ratings? Lmao What planet have you been living on? 🤷♂️
#1 - "Unreliable narrator".
This is BAD, when it's done by your allegedly good characters.
Either they are wrong... or they are lying. The audience is going to assume that, being a "good" character, they are telling the truth... unless/until they are caught lying.
Either way, in the opinion of the audience, it's a lose-lose situation for the "good" character.
I have been able to partition my experience with the books and the show, and I'm watching it with someone who has not read. They seem to enjoy it. There are certainly... choices. Viewing it as another turning of the wheel, with a massive grain of salt, has helped. I'm now mostly just curious how certain aspects will be portrayed.
I did the same, watching it with a friend who really likes when the worlds around the stories he absorbs are consistent with themselves. This one, sadly, is not. He had as many things to rant about as I had, except where I complained about missed potential (which is all this show has IMO) he complained about how it was like it came out of the mind of someone who has only ever lived in a city where everything is convenient.
It's that turn of the wheel where the Dark One won a few days after Rand was born and then spent the next 20 years laughing at the stupid decisions everyone made.
It's the same for me. I'm not mad about it like so many people seem to be but a little sad that it deviates from the books so much. I still enjoy it though.
I think I'd have an easier time justifying it as "another turn of the wheel" if they didn't keep using names I'm familiar with. Like Birgitte remembers so many of her names in the books from all her times being spun out as a hero. Just use new names.
@@discipleofthevoid7248Yes. Although: let's be honest, it wasn't a show about "another turning of the wheel" that people were clamoring for ever since tv-show adaptation started looking possible. First, the showrunners decided to not give people what most people were likely to want, then they botched their attempt at giving them something else.
The one good thing about the show is it made me want to resd the books! The show was terrible i went into it not knowing anything, i saw all the backlash online and decided hey why not pick up the books since I've always loved books more than shows. I'm on the great hunt and already I can see how terrible the adaptation is. I didn't have to worry about spoilers since i watched the show first, it's a completly different story
#21 & #22 "He (the DR) will be all of those things, and none of those things."
Moiraine LIES.
"You don't listen to the wind. The wind listens to you."
Another lie... Nynaeve DOES listen to the wind... regardless of whether or not the wind will listen to her.
They just wanted something that sounded catchy or epic. Even if it makes zero sense! Haha oh man. What a trip.
@@SilverMont 61 reasons... WELL done!
I'm glad someone is speaking out about this rubbish when so many wot outubers are kissing its bumb. Great books insulting show.
Bella L
I can only imagine it is channels who nurture false enthusiasm and positivity, or channels who worry about their brand connections.
"Did they kill Uno? I hope not, but at least he won't be butchered by the writers later."
Well, yes, but actually yes.
Haha... Yeah.
The funny thing about Tom is that in later episodes somewhere with Rand, you see in the background a gleeman's cloak (albeit ugly representation of one in s2e3 around 30m mark).. Then why did you not put it on Tom at the beginning?!
"it's too goofy" is what I imagine the congregation of 18 writer drones agreed on
I cant get over how they ruined Thom. Literally nothing about the character on screen is recognizable. It's Thom in name only.
That kinda sums up the entire series for me. Without the name and terms, it wouldn't even be recognisable as the same story.
The witcher casting crew admitted that they choose ugly people on purpose. I think WoT did that too. Just to humiliate story... Casting is just horrible. Not because of uglyness, but because of bad energy between characters, who love each other in the book
My girlfriend's main issue with this show was: "everyone's ugly"
"did they kill Uno in that scene, btw, i hope not, but at least he won't be butchered by the writers later" is the funniest sentence in this video when you have watched S2 of this travesty.
"The grave is no bar to my call" Indeed.
Actually, this is more like the dark one bringing the dead back.
38:30 - Although I hesitate to correct anything you're saying here, simply because the show deserves no defense what-so-ever, I have to correct you with regard to Kerene being able to protect the others because she couldn't see his weaves.
The books actually establish at some point that a women can sense how, or what, the man is weaving the power into. Hence they can counter, if quick enough, either by slicing the man's weaves or countering it somehow else. And visa versa for the men, as they can't see women's weaves either. If neither had a way to sense what the other was doing, then essentially all battles would simply end by whoever channeled first. And that's clearly not the case in the books.
Not that the writers were aware of this, I'm sure, they just do whatever for plot convenience.
45:00 - Regarding the Ter'Angreal portal, it definitely shows how stupid the writers are and that they don't know their source material. The art of making Ter'Angreal was lost 1000s of years ago, yet here's one that just magically links directly into Siuan's love shack, which, for all the world, based upon the cold open, like it's in Tear. Maybe it's in Tel'aran'rhiod, but still, it's highly unlikely they would've found two Ter'Angreal that linked to exactly the same spot. (Assuming Siuan has one as well).
1:11:48 - "Did they kill Uno in that scene, by the way, I hope not, but at least he won't be butchered by the writers later..." - 🤣🤣🤣
Having seen that part in season 2 now. Yeah. I have nothing else to say in regards to Uno, haha.
As for the weaving thing - we definitely have Lanfear able to slice Rand's weaves even when she can't see them, but then she's more or less the best female channeler in the series. I think that whole scene was just really muddled in regards to who can see what, and the writers didn't stop to consider the logic of it. They wanted something to happen and nobody told them no.
All of this makes sense when you realize that the actors aren't even trying to play the characters, they're just being themselves.
Agelmar isn't actually dead nor is Loial... They should be but they retconed it before season 2 came out.
Loial was vague, but Agelmar? How? He was swarmed by things that eat humans. Him living in that situation would only make sense if they say he channeled (off screen) and escaped. But that'd be stupid in its own way.
@@SilverMontApparently, you can see Lioal and Uno still groaning and moving. They also revised the dagger to not be an insta kill weapon. It is now like being poisoned and can therefore be healed. I did not know they retconned Agelmar.
In my opinion, that is the biggest evidence that whoever wrote that last episode has not read beyond book 1 if that.
@@emerystheimmortal417 the dagger is more like a fast poison(such as with snake venom, but much more brutal), the reason mat can handle it,(at least later) is that he has 'protections' until they can remove the link between them
I love it when Moiraine killed Master Hightower at Teren Ferry!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that pronounces Tar Valon like that
There are times I stubbornly use whatever pronunciation I'm used to. Like Sauron, (sow-ron vs sore-ron) and Aegon (ayy-gon vs egg-on) and probably a bunch of WoT characters.
“at least Uno won’t be around for the writers to shit on him later.
😭😭😭😭 if only you knew what was coming in season 2
They actively seem to be doing the stupidest possible things
@@SilverMont genuinely.
LLT's plan would not have worked if women joined in, it would have just resulted in both halves of the True Source becoming Tainted. But, I agree that the show is garbage. Especially the idiotic "mystery box" plot of the first season. The series is full of poor writing that puts immediate drama and spectacle over good story telling and consistent world building. Every cheap writing trick, dead beat parents, friged wife, etc. is employed to manufacture drama, even at the expense of a consistent story.
Did RJ ever give "word of god" as to what would've happened, had Lews had access to both halves of the power at the strike? I think in theory he COULD have done it, but he probably didn't have the information/plan that he needed? Either way, I think given what he had access to, it was still probably the best plan (at the time) if not an ideal one. But yeah I guess it's possible both halves got tainted too. What was the other plan they had, to use the CK to make a giant bubble around it or something right?
The dead beat parent trope here is so infuriating, also. Abel Cauthon is a fun, if relatively minor character.
@@SilverMont Yes, I believe RJ is on record in the interview database as saying that is what would have happened if LTT could have convinced the women to join him. That is why Rand had to use the Rube-Goldbery machine solution Solution of using both haves of the True Source, plus the True power via Calendor to effectively seal the DO away. I don't think it takes away from the main point and criticism of the show though. He did what he did out of desperation and he did not have any options available to him; they had already lost access to the Choeden Kal and were losing the war.
I too get so frustrated by these 'updated so a "modern audience" can relate and understand' adaptations. They miss the whole point of the story in doing so.
@Erik-um1zn fair enough! Still, they had no way of knowing what would happen and I do believe it was the best plan at the time.
Little comfort for them, but their failure was probably crucial to Rand's success. But yeah, show just used it to dump on men. I'm sure Egwene will end up showing up as the Creator and smiting the DO in the show after Rand falls
@@SilverMont Yeah, I always thought it was kind of a catch-22 for LTT: there was no way he was going to figure out the complex combo of Saidar, Saidin, & the TP necessary to really seal the Bore, but he had to do something and he was running out of options.
In most adaptation, there is a loss of nuance and detail that is unavoidable, but in this one, there's just a deliberate "Screw You!" to the story in general.
In season one the dagger becomes Matts sonic screwdriver
Sonic Screwdriver? Is that some sorta sonic the hedgehog cocktail? If it isn't, it should be
This is one of the worst shows on right now, so boring and it goes nowhere. The writing is all modern cringe.
They handed this series to a survivor contestant, kinda says it all.
This adaptation is an abomination
It certainly is abominable
The reason forbthe trolloc wasnt because i wanted to or it was cool it "game of thrones did it"
It sucks, plain and simple. Impossible to make such a series with today's "woke" media mafia. I have no problem with the representation of different races. If a character is fictional, who cares what colour their skin is? Besides Jordan quite obviously meant for several different races and cultures to be in his books. However, diversity in the small community makes no sense. And what's with all the hyper-sexuality? It was a great story without all that! Are they trying to turn it into GOT? I barely stomached the first season, watched one episode of the second season and then gave up.
They thought sex was mature, basically. Which is hilarious given the early idea of Rand sleeping with Min in the first book which was, rightly, discarded as an idea.
There is misandry laced throughout the Wheel of Time's setting, a sense that men cannot be trusted with power that emerges from millennia of powerful men going insane and killing indiscriminately, In the books this is introduced gradually, slowly, as an extension of village politics. We are introduced to an S-tier Dad right out of the gate in Tam al'Thor, then Thom Merrilyn. Master al'Vere is a good dude. Good men are everywhere in Emond's Field. As it moves on we have constant examples of various good forms of masculinity; even the stoic Lan is a caring and supportive tutor to Rand and an excellent husband to Nynaeve. The subtle misandry is on a much larger scale, and centred most on the many matriarchal monarchies and, above all, the Red Ajah.
None of this exists in the show. Tam does the absolute minimum. Thom isn't there. Master al'Vere has a half-second of screen time. Meanwhile, the boys do the minimum and almost all of it bad; Perrin kills his wife and lusts after his best friend's girlfriend, Mat is basically a piece of shit, and Rand is a whiny, unlikeable asshole. The only other significant male character is PADAN FAIN. Women get an Avengers Endgame-style "girl power!" moment in the big battle. Men just get murdered a lot (except Lan). And half the screen time is Nynaeve and Egwene doing Women's Circle stuff. So the show, which began with the idea that men are the problem, never puts this idea down, never presents a contradiction. This is not subtle cultural memory. This is straight-up hatred.
This show is not actually as bad as people say it is, I swear. Josha is a fine young actor and would be great if he was allowed to DO ANYTHING. Both original Mat and new Mat have been wonderful. Zoe Robins is an annoying Supergirl in the first season but really sells it in the second, once it becomes The Egwene Show instead of The Nynaeve Show. Madeleine Madden does a great job with the damane torture sequences, despite how much the writers screw it up at the end. The effects and shots are working fine for the most part. This is a good young cast with huge potential being wasted and ruined by one idiotic showrunner and his personal vendettas.
I've rarely had issues with the actors in shows like this - just about every complaint comes down to how it's written, for me. The best actor in the world can't help that.
One exception is the Acolyte, the main girl in that show was so bad at acting in it that it was really distracting haha.
You’re nailing all the problems of this show!!!
Only 60? If you have nothing but contempt for the source material and the fans who have loved it for generations, your adaptation is going to fail. Just ask the show runners for The Witcher and Rings of Power...
And halo!
You could have the green man introduce forkroot to the series, great video.
That'd make a lot of sense
#24 moraine also would of noticed shadow spawn
Yeah, but generally it's the Warder's job to scout and take care of that sorta stuff
Only 60? You’re not even trying.
I wasn't sure my sanity could take editing a video much longer than this!
Just in time for season 2
It is asbad as Rings of power. Terrible!!!!
Also you passed 100k! Hell yeah!
There sre only 5 Taveren Rand, Matt and Perrin.
3
Lmao I'll comment as I listen. But this is funny coming from you. Have. Good day!. Thanks for the content
They didn't just make the two rivers diverse, they made every place diverse. In the show nationality is not ethnicity. From a practical casting perspective this is a good choice.
I feel like they could've accurately cast characters and not had any issues. The cast of the books is extremely diverse, after all. With people from all parts of Randland (and beyond) And with EF it screws up the plot of the first book quite a lot as you don't get the whole "farmers seeing the world for the first time" stuff.
@@SilverMont Well, for one thing, "accurately" casting the two rivers would have still pissed a lot of people off, because they should at the very least look Mediterranean. In order for Rand as a pale white dude to stand out in that village the way he's supposed to, the native residents have to be more brown. Multiple characters comment that he's too pale to look like he's from the TR.
And some fans were going to be mad at the presence of brown people in the show at all, regardless of their presence in the books. People can very easily ignore character descriptions and just assume Randland is medieval Europe and everyone is white.
The casting is the least of the problems with the show. The amount of lore they just threw out is a bigger problem, among other things.
@@Darm0k You seem quite sure that a good portion of the fans would have problems with brown people. Why? I hope you're trolling us since the alternative is worse
@@Critical_Mass_a5s You must not have seen much discourse around the show, because there are a lot of book fans who are mad that brown people got cast at all. They had a nickname on Reddit. They called themselves Bookcloaks. Just look for anything that calls the show "woke" and you'll find the racists.
This is excellent and you make all the points I have made before.
I'm glad I'm not the only person feeling that way haha
EF 90210
wha
I dunno. I like the show. I feel like its pretty well done for TV adaptation. Coulda been much worse.
I honestly can't imagine how it could be much worse!
It definitely could have been worse. The casting and acting is great, the locations are epic, sets look good, CGI is good. You can see where the money has gone into it....all bought down by politics and plain old poor writing. It could have been worse, but it would have been so easy to make so much it better.