Wheel of Time Season 2 Book Fan Breakdown Part 1: Straight to Cairhien
“Let’s get something out of the way… if you survived season one, you’ll probably look at season two as glorious!
…The name of the game is summed in one word: expedite.”
Let’s get something out of the way - if you’re a book purist, you’re going to hate this season, though probably less than season one. Matter of fact, if you survived season one, you’ll probably look at season two as glorious! However, there are still changes, and though the changes are not as drastic to the overall narrative as they were in season one (who can blame them, production basically got halted by the pandemic), the way the narrative is delivered is starkly different than the books. Let’s walk through the biggest changes and discuss if, and how, they work.
Part 1: Straight to Cairhien
The first, and most immediate change is the jump to Cairhien. In the books, we spend several chapters in the borderlands before Padan Fain makes off with the Horn of Valere and the real Hunt of the Horn commences. During this time, Rand is training in sword forms with Lan.
Our show opens with the Borderlands, yes, but Rand isn’t there. Rand is already in Cairhien and he’s being seduced by Lanfear while working part-time in an asylum and is being trained in sword form theory by an old man in a mental institution. The name of the game is summed in one word: expedite.
This change works for me. In the books, we spend an egregious amount of time in the early books just getting from one major place to another until Rand and Egwene (re)discover traveling in books five and six. By placing Rand in Cairhien at the beginning of the season, and in a far more personal relationship with Lanfear than we ever see in the books, it expedites the story while also doing a better job of creating believable, relatable, and therefore more impactful villains.
Why are we already in Cairhien? Because the show is keeping with the hole they dug themselves at the end of season one, where Rand runs off on his own at the end of the season due to his fear that he’ll hurt those around him due to being the Dragon Reborn - a plot that is in the books, but not until book three. Again, this works. When Rand departs his friends and starts moving to Tear to fulfill the next step of the prophecy in the books we get a book that has no chapters written from his point-of-view, and very little interaction with him beyond a few mentions and some dreams. He’s kept in the shadows. There are justified reasons for doing this in the books, however for a show like Amazon is making, that kind of storytelling won’t sit well with audiences. This would be like Game of Thrones building up John Snow as the hero and then not giving him any real screen time for an entire season… Oh, wait…
Even with the expedited timeline, we still get many of the major plot points for Rand in Cairhien. He does, in a limited capacity, learn sword forms. He still meets with the Amyrlin Seat. He still gets roped into the game of houses (though the show spends no time explaining what that is, or even naming it) and we get to see him dawn the red and gold jacket for the first time that we know will later become his signature outfit. All in all, we gain more from the changes than we would ever lose by starting Rand’s journey in season two in the home city of Moiraine Damodred.
As a bonus, the subtle nod to the sword forms by the insane man at the asylum, the name of episode seven being “Daes Dae’Mar,” and the shape of the weaves around Moiraine taking the form of the Avendesora Leaf when she channels to open “The Ways” are more for the book readers than plot points; a tactic the writers of this season of the Wheel of Time use often - which I like. It’s like a little love letter to the longtime fans that says, “We know that you know the material. We know we changed the material. We know that you know that we changed the material. We also want you to know that we know the material.” Is it a small gesture? Yes. Yet, having worked in the film industry, those small details, and getting them just right, and being able to lace them into the show take time and concentrated effort across multiple departments, which means tens of people were involved and partially responsible for making sure those small details made it into the final cut of the show. In other words, a lot of work for a small detail, with the hope that it will garner favor with the fans of the books that have looked forward to this adaptation for years.
Join me for part two where I’ll be breaking down the biggest changes to characters, their conflicts, and who lives and dies!
