Wheel Of Time What Introducing The White Tower Early Could Mean For The Story

Wheel Of Time: What Introducing The White Tower Early Could Mean For The Story

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The Wheel of Time season 1 has fully introduced the White Tower, earlier than its second book appearance. Here is what that could mean for the series.

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Wheel Of Time What Introducing The White Tower Early Could Mean For The Story

Warning: Contains spoilers for The Wheel of Time episode 5 and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time.

In The Wheel of Time episode 5, “Blood Calls To Blood,” the folks from the Two Rivers arrive at Tar Valon and the White Tower far earlier than in the books and it suggests major changes for the upcoming story. Amazon’s The Wheel of Time TV series is based on Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books which spans 14 main novels and a prequel novel. Showrunner Rafe Judkins has confirmed that The Wheel of Time season 1 will include material from the first two books, but placing some of these key events out of order might mean some shockingly large deviations from the source material.

After fleeing the Two Rivers while pursued by Trollocs and at least one Fade in The Wheel of Time episodes 1 and 2, the group of main characters is split up after spending time in Shadar Logoth. Lan, Moiraine, and Nynaeve work with a group of Aes Sedai and Warders to make it back to the White Tower along with the false Dragon, Logain. Meanwhile, Rand and Mat are helped along the road by the gleeman Thom Merrilin and arrive in Tar Valon at around the same time. While Egwene and Perrin come within sight of the tower, they are waylaid by the Whitecloaks and captured, but will presumably head to the White Tower as originally planned after their escape.

In Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time novels, the group is split up in this way in the first book, Eye of the World. However, none of the Emond’s Fielders go to the White Tower until Egwene and Nynaeve get there in the second book, The Great Hunt, and Mat does not go until book three, The Dragon Reborn. This might seem like minor timing details, but the events that take place for each character at the White Tower define their arcs, and having them visit the White Tower now when there is not a compelling reason to leave might cause issues for the character development down the line. The White Tower was likely introduced earlier in The Wheel of Time TV series than in the books as a way to better explore the systems of the Aes Sedai and the Warders in a visual format, however, that promises to pose problems. Here’s what introducing the White Tower so early in The Wheel of Time could mean for Amazon’s TV series.

Rand Might Face The Eye Of The World Without His Friends

Wheel Of Time What Introducing The White Tower Early Could Mean For The Story

In Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, the group is separated as in the Amazon adaptation of the books, and Perrin and Egwene are captured by the Whitecloaks. However, rather than going to the White Tower, the group is reunited in its entirety, along with Loial the Ogier, who they meet in Caemlyn. Loial warns of a threat to the Eye of the World, a well of power that contains one of the seals for the Dark One’s prison, and the whole group travels there together to help protect it. Rand battles two Forsaken and uses the well of power, leading Moiraine to conclude that he is The Wheel of Time’s Dragon Reborn.

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While Jordan’s first book saw the whole group from the Two Rivers travel to the Eye of the World and play some role in the battle there, this will be hard to justify with The Wheel of Time TV series already having traveled to the White Tower. Several of the characters have good reason to want to stop their journey at the White Tower and spend time in Tar Valon after their arrival there in later books. This could ultimately mean that Rand arrives at the Eye of the World with Perrin as the only member of the Two Rivers group still by his side. In the books, it is hard for the group to accept Rand’s identity as the Dragon Reborn and their eventual acceptance is helped along by having seen him fight at the Eye of the World. Without seeing this directly, the TV series will add additional complications to Rand’s relationship with the rest of the group.

Egwene And Nynaeve Could Start Their Aes Sedai Training Early

Wheel Of Time What Introducing The White Tower Early Could Mean For The Story

The characters from the Two Rivers stay together as long as they do in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time because they are traveling side by side to reach different destinations. Egwene and Nynaeve are not thought to be potential candidates for the Dragon Reborn, but are originally with Rand, Mat, and Perrin to support their friends and eventually because they need to go to the White Tower to be taught how to properly handle their channeling abilities so that it does not run the risk of killing them in later life.

In Amazon’s The Wheel of Time, Egwene and Nynaeve have both shown their conscious ability to channel in front of others and are expected to eventually be inducted into the White Tower. As they have already arrived at the White Tower in season 1, there is not currently a compelling reason to explain why they would leave. This could mean that Egwene and Nynaeve might start their Aes Sedai training well before the battle at the Eye of the World, throwing off the timeline for their character progression and potentially meaning that the Seanchan will be introduced much earlier than expected.

The Rebellion Against The Amyrlin Could Happen Now

Wheel Of Time What Introducing The White Tower Early Could Mean For The Story

A major turning point for the White Tower comes in Robert Jordan’s fourth Wheel of Time book, The Shadow Rising. The Aes Sedai rally around a Red sister, Elaida, and eventually depose Siuan Sanche, the Amyrlin Seat and leader of the Aes Sedai. This removes Moiraine’s key contact in the White Tower and makes the White Tower even more vulnerable to manipulation by the Black Ajah.

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By introducing the White Tower so early in The Wheel of Time TV series, the show might be forced to enact this storyline exceedingly early in the series. The Red sister Liandrin, a Darkfriend in the books, might be getting set up to take Elaida’s role with her political machinations and her growing support among all the Ajahs consistently being referenced. As the character needs to be revealed as a Darkfriend and a member of the Black Ajah relatively early in the series, if Liandrin is absorbing the role of Elaida, the removal of Siuan as Wheel of Time’s Amyrlin Seat will need to happen soon and could have massive ramifications for the plot of the series well beyond The Wheel of Time season 1.

Padan Fain Might Get The Dagger Soon

There is one hint that The Wheel of Time might have a solution to all of these problems. In The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan has Padan Fain, a complex antagonist in the series who is first seen as a merchant in the Two Rivers, steal the dagger that Mat found in Shadar Logoth. Mat cannot be properly healed from its influence without the dagger being present, so Rand, Perrin, and Mat all go on the hunt to retrieve it together. This path for The Wheel of Time’s story is supported by the season 2 casting announcements that include Agelmar, Amalisa, Uno, Masema, and Ingtar.

After making an appearance in episode 1, Padan Fain is glimpsed again, this time in Tar Valon in The Wheel of Time episode 5. If his presence around the White Tower is suggesting that he will steal the dagger now rather than after the fight at the Eye of the World is completed, it could move the focus away from the White Tower until later in the series. Knowing that it is needed to heal Mat, all of the Two Rivers folk might insist upon going after him together for Mat’s sake and find themselves at the Eye of the World together because of it. This would mean that going into The Wheel of Time season 2 Rand and Perrin could pursue their own independent story arcs while Mat, Nynaeve, and Egwene return to the White Tower for training and healing. This would mean delaying the political plot of the Aes Sedai that the series has already started, but will allow them to have laid the groundwork for later on in the series.

It is, of course, important that an adaptation of any work into a new medium is able to make changes that better suit that new medium. It is logical to expect changes to The Wheel of Time’s plot that will make the series work better on screen without Jordan’s extensive exposition, and to make it more accessible to new audiences. However, introducing the White Tower so early could so drastically alter plotlines and character arcs as to cause a complete divergence from the books. By having Padan Fain steal Mat’s dagger and draw the characters back away from the White Tower, The Wheel of Time can fall closer in line with the original order of events from Robert Jordan’s books after introducing the White Tower so early.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/wheel-time-white-tower-introduce-early-story-impact-change/

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