I would watch 100 episodes of Brandon explaining the Wheel of Time to Dan

Regardless of all our opinions about the show, this was a great convo -- thanks guys

Brandon LITERALLY never stops working on his books.

People will be shouting from the roof tops when one of Sanderson's series gets adapted. If I ever see a trailer for a Stormlight series, I'll be super pumped.

I love when he finishes a stack of signings, and they just bring him another massive one 🤣

I just love the fact that Brandon was geeking when explaining the "4 eras" of WOT.

I attempted a timestamp for the talk: 0:00 Working as a "consulting producer" 5:48 Appealing to book fans, attracting new fans 7:50 Faithful adaptations, staying true to the soul of the books 13:10 About characters (minor spoilers): POVs, Mat, Rand. 15:50 Writing for TV and Hollywood, Brandon's role in the show 21:35 Adapting characters, the influence of grim-dark 26:38 (spoiler for episode 1) Changes 36:14 Compressing material, the 4 eras of WoT according to Brandon 43:41 Cast talk 47:50 Conclusion: appreciating the show for what it is

As someone who’s read the first two books so far, I found this INCREDIBLY insightful without any spoilers. Man, I could listen to Brandon talk all day long.

My wife is heartbroken. This was her favorite series. I bought her every hardcover about one every paycheck at the time. I personally only read the first book back around 2001. I fell asleep watching the series with her last week and woke up to her saying she doesn't think she can endure another season..... I feel badly for the hard-core fans that have dreamed of this series being made for 20 years only to be so disappointed.

21:43 - by his pronunciation of Nynaeve, Dan Wells is Liandrin confirmed

I love that Brandon hates Cadsuane. That's hilarious.

So glad to live in an age as Brandon Sanderson. Apart from all that was talked about, he is so precise with everything he does and honest to the boot.

There’s something cool about how comfortable they are discussing money regardless of the fact that they are both personally in very different places financially.

Love BS's humility in relation to the WoT. He was a good choice to finish the series for RJ and is an amazing author in his own right> Appreciate his honesty in regards to the show

I reacted exactly as you said to the big Perrin change. I always identified with him as a big guy who learned to always be careful, but then they gave him very deep psychological trauma. I did not care for that change one bit.

TEotW did feature three chapters of Nynaeve’s perspective as she traveled with Moiraine and Lan, searching for the others.

Even though people were pissed about the changes to the Fellowship of the Ring, those changes were small relative to the actual story. WOT the show is changing whole elements of the story, important story and character arcs, etc.

Brandon and Dan are more like Elayne and Nyneave in this podcast than anything I've seen. Dan, barging in with blanket statements destined to ruffle feathers, and Brandon, the consummate diplomat smoothing everything over as much as he can. GET THE BOWL OF THE WINDS ALREADY, YOU'VE BEEN IN TANCHICO FOR TWO BOOKS

What I hate the most in The Wheel of Time tv show is they're keep saying that Dragon can be man OR woman. WTF what danger can pose a woman Dragon if she wouldn't go mad using magic... The whole reason why Dragon Reborn is dangerous is the fact that Dragon is going to be man. Women are extremely important and powerful in the series anyway, there is no reason to change that...

"I believe strongly that an adaptation is a new piece of art, even one that is sticking close to it. Let the new piece of art be a new piece of art because it DOESN'T CHANGE THE BOOKS. You can always go read the books again, and people who love the show can go read the books and get something new from them." Wise words from Brandon.

11:27 Brandon: It is Rafe saying "Alright, I feel like I can not adapt the Wheel of Time to the screen in a way that is going to convey what's in the books." It is at this point that Rafe should have stepped aside and let someone who COULD adapt the story as it was in the book make the show instead. Like seriously what is wrong with these people in Hollywood?

Moiraine: Rand eat your beans. You need protein. Rand Al'Thor the dragon reborn: I refuse to fall in some aes sedai trap.

Dan, your WoT show reactions are totally valid. The non reader reactions are my favorite! Please theorise away! Brandon, thank you for the wonderful thoughts on WoT and for your input on the show!

Can we take a moment to appreciate how many nice guy vibes Brandon has? So chill and considered considering his mammoth output.

Thank you, I really needed this. As a long time/die hard fan of WoT I`ve been very much on the fence about the first episodes (loved episode 4) and a few things have really bugged me. Perrin killing his wife was one of those things for the exact same reasons you gave and it really pulled me out of the immersion. Your explanation of why certain choises where made also made it easer for me to accept (tho I will never agree that Perrin killing his wife was a good storytelling choise). There are other things I find hard to accept but I just need to change my mentality into accepting that this is just a different turning of the wheel. You pointing out many of the same issues as I have with this adaptation really helped. The youtube fandome reaction to the show has been really strange to me. Its either every single thing the showrunners have done is great/perfect/fantastic, or it is that everything is straight up trash. I fint it hard to express with words but it was such a releaf to hear your disagreements with the showrunner and you beeing willing to point that out. So far the show is not trash and its not the greatest thing ever. Its a promising fantasy show that hopefully has many more seasons to come.

LotR movies actually followed the plot of the books. More then 50% of what we have seen so far in WoT is made up nonsense and the parts that do resemble the books have been massively reworked. At this point when we randomly find ourselves in a book situation, it feels like an Easter egg and not the point of the series. That is a major concern.

So happy we have Mr Sanderson to bring us to the mind of an author who spent years in The Wheel of Time. Wonderful!

Thank you for your insight. The whole process of adapting books for television seems a lot more complicated than we could imagine. I appreciate these glimpses into this world.

Instead of seeing this as another turning of the wheel, I've been looking at this as a gleeman's version of the story documented in Loial's history.

I've always felt like Reckoners would be such a great opportunity for a screen adaptation.

As a book reader, I'm really struggling with this show so far. Some of the early changes I could understand a little, like Perrin's wife, Mat's family, and skipping Baerlon for example. However, some of the changes in the past couple of episodes (3-5) are leaving me more confused as each episode comes out. The entire Stepin plotline and switching from Caemlyn to Tar Valon was probably the worst offender to me. All of this seems unnecessary and almost contradicts the story from the books in a way that I have no idea where things are going or how they're going to get there now. My GF and I literally took 2 hours just to watch episode 5 because we kept stopping every few minutes to vent about the changes. Listing to Brandon talk about his take on things after being able to read the scripts and see the broader vision behind the scenes does help a little bit. Though, as a weekly viewer who doesn't have the same benefits of seeing the bigger picture, I feel each week will continue to push me away even further. I truly wish that the showrunners could put out a barebones outline of their vision and how they are changing things, this way we book-readers can help get over that hurdle a little better. As it stands, the show is clashing way too much with the book as is and I'm left either bored or angry when watching the episodes because I know none of this has anything to do with the overall story and I have to wait to see where it's going to go. I'm really trying to give this a chance and I WANT to put my faith in Rafe and the others but I'm just not seeing how this will end well.

Died at "so he's the other writer who's a WRITER, what do we do with him?" 😆

Edit: Anyone who makes disparaging remarks on the following thread about the sexuality or race of the characters of woT is getting their comment reported. Leave your comments to that effect elsewhere, don't bring be into it. Back to the original comment. I think people tend to hold LOTR as the gold standard of adaptation, rightly so imho, but forget that it did make big changes. Faramir, Aragorn, Merry, Pippin, Gollum, Frodo, all saw big changes to their characters. And the films were better for it! It's just such a part of the zeitgeist now that everyone forgets how mad they were that Faramir wasn't a perfect paragon, or that Aragorn had some inner conflict about kinghood. That's not even mentioning plot lines and scenes that didn't make it into the show or were changed completely (cough SCOURINGOFTHESHIRE cough cough). I loved the ending and return to the Shire in the books, but I don't at all miss it in the film. I can see 100% why that would have been a terrible film ending. It already had like 5 endings as it is! 😆

36:09 Dan: "Okay. Hurt him, but don't kill him." Me: "I've read Way of Kings, I know where this is going."

I am one of those that WANT to love it, but just can't. My main problem is not with race or sexuality etc, but when they change fundamental physics of the WOT universe. Like the oath rod scene. That is just worldbreaking that they added that. Another is Loial. The actor is doing a great job with portraying Loial's personality, but there is nothing here to explain what an Ogier IS. He has no identity, agency or purpose in this adaptation. Also, he is WAY too small. As far as I remember, he is supposed to be larger than a trollock, and that is not what we are seeing here. Also, geography. There is no feeling of how vast this world really is. They teleport from one part of the map to another, much like you can do in later parts of a video game. Linking? Why are they shielding Logain one and one? Later in THE SAME episode, they show you that they can link. Why not use that? And that Valda torture scene, don't get me started. Pfft. What were they thinking? The logical inconsistencies in the world THEY are building is ruining the show. I can view this as a separate story adaptation, but when they break their own universe again and again, it turns out that the writing is just lacking, and the show suffers from it.

I just finished book 12 and didn’t realize that was the first one Sanderson worked on - he wrote the heck out of it! I really enjoyed book 11 (after dragging myself through books 8-10), but 12 is probably my favorite after books 1-3. I love the pacing, and the drastic reduction of spankings and use of the word ‘bosom.’ Pacing is something the show has a chance to improve. The book series should have been shorter, with a lot of the gristle trimmed out of books 9 and 10 in particular

This is the WoT reaction video I’ve been waiting for.

Staying more true to the source material doesnt automatically mean it cant be successful to a broad audiance. The changes to the serie has made it something totally different. This is more than just not liking a casting.

The purity test can (and should) always be good writing with limited plot holes and quite honestly, that is not what is happening with the WoT adaptation. Logical character motivations and actions that hold true through out a scene/episode (or hopefully the whole season) should be a standard we can all agree on.

Notice how the Game of Thrones, when it stuck to the script, was best reviewed and when they went off on their own, doing whatever they want. the series started to suck major ass? That's exactly how Wheel of Time is starting off. This first season is as bad as the last season of Game of Thrones. Also, the number of people upset about Glorfindel and Bombadil is completely dwarfed by the number of people upset by the changes in WoT so far. Jackson did a good enough job with everything else that people were willing to let go of Glorfindel and Bombadil. That isn't true of this series. Nothing has been done very well.

they're both so wholesome!! man, no wonder Sanderson's fandom is so nice, they've got a great example to look up to.

“Rafe is a great writer…” Then how do you explain season one?

The mental gymnastics to accept this is ok to be adapted this way is incredible. I guess its maybe good to live life with positive bias.

I love how Brandon summarized each of the groupings of books. That was perfect.

Also, lets be honest. Is it ENTIRELY possible to translate this story to scene. Look at the first season of GoT. It had hardly any magic. Yet Dand and Dave simply followed the book EXACTLY, not just in script but also in tone as closely as possible and the result was unanimous positive reception and the biggest show in the world

I want to like the Wheel of Time adaptation. I realize changes must be made. But they have changed motivations and behaviors in ways I don't like. Thus I have decided to think of it as fan fiction. I like the scenery, settings, props, costumes. The casting is good. But the changes to the story are extremely disappointing. Thank you Brandon Sanderson for the excellent way you completed the series.

Sanderson is a great writer though thinking the WoT show is a near recreation of the book is nuts

Hey Brandon, now that the 6th episode is out, I would love to hear your perspective on what made it your favorite. For me it was difficult to watch, but you always give such good spins on the things I would never have thought about. Next time you speak on the WoT TV show could you take a moment to talk about those things that made the 6th episode the best for you?

There’s major backlash. Its not respectful to describe the book fans as whiners. And no one ever said a show was bad since it stuck to the book. Look at GOT amazing. WOT crap.

They put you in the front credits so they can gain extra validation for all the wackiness they were going to do to the "adaptation". I'm glad Brandon expains how the show runner isn't trying to really make it close to the books. the "different turning of the wheel" mind trick is something most of us fans who literally grew up with the books ( 12 at the first book, 33 at the last) will have to do .

At this point, I'd rather not see anything adapted to film or TV if the original work will simply be butchered for the 'mass audience', never mind all the nonsense hollywood seems to inject on their shows. The story as told by the books is really good. Making all these massive changes to try and appeal to more audiences is basically saying, no the books are not good enough and we will make it 'better'.

I'd personally rather have Robert Jordan's story brought to the screen instead of Rafe Judkin's story brought to the screen. Robert Jordan's story is one of the most famous fantasy series in the world for a reason. I don't like that they're cutting stuff from the real story, and adding fluff that never happens in the real story (like the sad warder arc). That said, I'm enjoying the show more than I thought I would, and the actors are doing a good job embracing the soul of the characters.

Sanderson has not only castrated the end of the Saga, but his attempt at modernization has made the Three eunuchs. When he says the soul of the characters remains True, he declares himself Darkfriend. I weep for what was lost,...

Sorry Brandon, I’m 8min into the podcast and you say “I’m not worried about that” referring to book fans giving up on the tv adaptation or not supporting the project. Frankly, you should be worried and I’m absolutely flabbergasted as a fan to see the my one best chance at a live adaptation tossed in the trolloc cook pot… way to many concessions and unnecessary changes. I get appealing to a larger audience and diversifying aspects of the canon and yet trying to stay true to the story.. but did you really stay true? Burn me, I’m a dedicated fan and am genuinely appalled and utterly gutted over the disaster that is the WOT show. I pray to the Light that the next season retains more of the essence of the books. May you always find shade and water.

I feel like Matt really gets good in book 3, and continues in 4 to expand into greatness.

This is the level of pure nerding out that I've been looking forward to ever since the series released!

Loved this discussion, thank you Brandon and Dan. It might not change the mind of the most vocal of show haters (it's become part of their personality at this point) but it may just comfort some of those willing (but not currently able) to like the show. And if anyone cares, below are my thoughts (an essay really, lmao) about the show and how I approach it as a piece of art. TL;DR - I align with Brandon, and superficial, head canon, or minor plot differences are not important to me. What's important to me in a TV show - good acting, writing, music, beautiful scenery and sets, and an engaging plot. In my opinion, this show has succeeded in delivering these things to us, and I am thrilled about it and so are my non-book reader wife and friends. They are enjoying the hell out of the Dragon mystery, are absorbed in the world, and won't stop talking about it. That means a lot to me - growing the WoT fandom, especially in my everyday life, has brought me so much joy! To get into some detail, the actors - pretty much regardless of experience - use subtle facial cues and body positioning to emote their inner thoughts, while delivering well-crafted lines that create or smooth conflict as needed in the ebb and flow of the plot. Nynaeve talking with Moiraine at the sacred pool is one such example, as is Rand's discussion with Mat about the events at the Grinwell farm in episode 5. Just so well done and effective. The only time I feel the writing/delivery seems off is when they're obviously rushing through a scene - like during Moiraine's monologue in the series cold open and at then end of the same episode when they rushed out of EF. Lorne Balfe's score weaves so wonderfully into the landscape and character moments that half the time I forget it's there until I swell up with emotion and realize the music is magnifying the epic events on screen. Can't say I totally dig Thom's song (it's just fine, great symbolism/foreshadowing though), but for diegetic music the Manetheren song was awesome and a good unifying moment for the EF4. And the opening sequence, both musically and visually - holy shit, so good! The sets and scenery are gorgeous, no complaints at all on that front. And the plot beats, while about 40-50% different from what I remember from the books (I last read EoTW for the 7th time about 2 years ago, currently on PoD this reread) all drive home the nature of the world and our characters, and many 'different' scenes are only different in timing or location or dialogue - they still achieve the same things. Thinking hard about it now, but the only plot moments I don't think serve much of a purpose (although I am willing to be convinced there are others, or that this was important) all involve 'ol Fire Eyes - one jump scare was good, two was enough, but for crying out loud start telling us why this scary dude is important! The looming threat of the Dark One doesn't seem to be affecting my wife or friends and I think this is why. How they've used different plot beats to characterize Nynaeve and Lan though, for example, have been amazing - I feel like I can appreciate those characters way sooner than I did in the books, even though they both have arcs on the horizon that will change them some (making them softer/harder) in later seasons. Now, what's not really important to me in a TV show - character height, skin color, eye color, or anyone's (including my own) head canon. None of those things not matching with the source material should affect your enjoyment of the story being told unless they are KEY plot points (like Rand's hair color linking him with the Aiel). You used your imagination while reading the books, now use your imagination again while watching the show. Enjoy the story coming to life or complain about something that actually matters - with actual examples to support your point. Moiraine being tall doesn't affect her plot - her presence and charisma (whether she's short or tall) are what allow her to do what she does in book 1. And so on. Finally, what's never important to me - the opinions of anyone who complains about something using the word 'woke'. Unfortunately, the list of people in the WoT fandom I've had to disregard for that reason has grown more than I anticipated over the past year or so. Oh well, the Wheel weaves I guess. Time to end this essay.

4 POV characters in Book 1, but Nynaeve and Moirains's are very brief in book 1.

The Wheel Of Time series had everything they needed to be successful and it proved out with viewer numbers but they’re alienating all the book fans with these crazy unnecessary changes. Why invent characters that have nothing to do with the storyline? What they’ve changed makes no sense. I understand removing or blending things to make the story work but this series has become awful because of what was added. I haven’t even stopped watching because of the differences from the book, I came to terms with that, it’s because they’ve re written the story into something that’s unwatchable. I’m not sure what they’re ultimate goal is but I can’t watch it without getting angry and a lot of book fans feel the same. We’ll see how they do without avid book fans to hype the show, it will have to keep people interested with their own writing and production and it will fail. It’s too bad because I was super excited, best series ever written. RIP Robert Jordan, we miss you.

I would love to hear you discussing this series without worrying about spoilers.

Seeing a ton of negative comments right away, I read the books and really enjoy the show! Not everything is perfect of course, but I think a lot of us who are really liking it are the silent majority. Don’t let the loud negative nancies ruin your opinion or view of the show!

My heart skipped a beat when Brando mentioned the Mistborn Adaptation.

A bit late to the party so to speak, but I for one refuse to believe someone who is a genuine fan of the books would make so many absolutely unneccesary and in many cases downright detrimental and world-building contradictionary changes to an adaptation. Sure, there were things I enjoyed about the show, but by the time I had finished watching the sixth episode it was obvious to me that this was not going to be the Wheel of Time I was reading when I grew up. That knowledge depressed me immensely.

There was one episode like two weeks ago where I thought, wow, 90% of this entire episode didn’t happen in the book. Yes Thom fought a fade, and yes Egwene danced…and that was it 🤷‍♂️ I finished the book the night that the show pr misted so it was super fresh in my mind.

I've been very mindful of trying to avoid the stereotypical gut reaction to any form of change. I'm all too aware of how easy it is to slip into that reactionary resentment. Nonetheless, I have to confess that I am struggling to enjoy the show. I appreciate it's massively difficult to try and adapt this type of very long-form fantasy series for TV, but I can't force myself away from feeling that the heart of the books isn't there. Perhaps it's more fair to say, what resonates with me as being the heart or soul of the books is lacking. I realise there's a great deal of irony in this, but I feel that too much is being done 'for show'. Most recently, Lan's theatrics at the end of episode 5 - this scene really lost me. It's such a complete diversion from the heart of the character, Lan is stoic to a fault, to the point of it being almost offensive at times. My discomfit with strange character deviations began with how Mat's parents were portrayed, I feel that it takes away from him as a character rather than build him up in any way. Fair enough, Emond's Field may not be as idyllic as The Shire, but I've countered that neither is it Tarren Ferry. I can't help but feel it's the 'Game of Trones-ification' of The Wheel of Time, and I believe this intent is further demonstrated by the immediate push for large scale fight scenes with a lot of special effects, emulating some of the later Game of Thrones seasons. The over the top edginess of Valda is another symptom of this to me. It's too 'in your face'. The viewer isn't allowed to simply come to the conclusion that this group, despite claiming to support the Light, is morally and ethically corrupt, it has to be reinforced in a somewhat inelegant fashion that this fellow eats a little bird that cuts his own mouth, so he must be a bit of a hardcore freak. I think the portrayal of him burning a woman alive after cutting her hands off was sufficient, but having said that, I don't believe the books (and their heart / soul) are well served by this overtly grizzly approach in general. Of course, women who can channel would likely be tortured to death - this could well include said hand removal and burning. The difference lives in what Robert Jordan displayed explicitly, and what is left to the imagination or open to interpretation. Perrin killing his wife falls into this category too, it felt to like he couldn't just be Perrin, he had to be made 'edgy' Perrin. I do not wish to detract from others' enjoyment of the show. This is one man's opinion, I'm not trying to sway or dissuade anyone, but I felt the need to express my feelings through some medium. Perhaps I should have written a letter and never sent it instead. I'm delighted for those who are enjoying it, I'll keep watching in the hopes that I can come around and enjoy it along with you, but there are yet a lot of hurdles to overcome.

To me it sounds like Brandon has to pretend the wheel of time isn't the wheel of time in order to enjoy the show.. if you have to pretend in order to enjoy a show, isn't that a red flag?

When you say "How's that Ben" at the end there it really feels personal. Even though that you are not talking to me. Good, that is my answer, it was a good discussion. Keep it up!

The books aside, the writing and editing in episodes 5 and 6 are simply terrible. Moiraine explicitly lies at least 3 times in episode 6, and that's just one of the many internal inconsistencies. There are MANY. I managed - with great effort - to seperate myself from the books after rewatching episodes 1-3, but every time I notice terrible editing, or terrible lightning or atrocious writing, it takes me out of it. To enjoy this show, I literally have to turn my brain off. I don't understand how anybody can objectively look at episide 5 and 6 and say they're off anything but poor quality.

I had to come back to this video, because something has been bothering me for 7 days now. I really do not believe people should not speak out against what Rafe Judkins has done to Wheel Of Time, out of fear of this being the only adaptation we get. This has gotten so bad. Not only because the books mean so much to people, but what this is doing to Robert Jordan’s life work. Why is nobody talking about this? There is no way anyone truly believes this is the adaptation he would of wanted.

I was disappointed that they felt they needed to give Perrin a wife. And also they bypassed Rand and Mat's stop in Caemlyn. With that said, I am enjoying the show. The actor who portrays Valda is amazing.

As a huge fan of the books, I am very impressed with the show. There's no way they could make it scene by scene. What they are doing with it is great 👍

I've gone through my stages of grief (mostly publicly on WoT channels) and have come to the same conclusion as Brandon. We have to judge the show as a show and forget the "adaptation" piece. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it's working as a show...yet.

I want to see a dark, animated Mistborn! Someone with some motivation should get a kickstarter going.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I'm changing my 'head cannon' to thinking of this as a new cycle of the Wheel. As one of those fans that have read the entire series -- including New Spring -- multiple times, I was having a very hard time with the Wheel of Time on Amazon. I'm reframing it and recalibrating my expectations so I can relax and enjoy the story.

The "Netflix adaptation" memes exist for a reason. Most of the time so many changes are made, from a different creative mind, that those who liked the original work for a specific set of reasons will most likely not find those same reasons in the new work. That's why they complain.

This show is a mess. It had heaps of material to work from, and threw it in a sjw-blender and then poured it out through a strainer of "wokeness". Episode 5 was the start of my breaking point. Show-runner said too much material and had to cut some, then makes an entire filler episode of material that doesn't matter and changes characters (Lan) from the books, but after watching episode 6 I'm done with this show. My wife who hasn't read the books said at the end of episode 6 that she thinks Rand and Mat aren't necessary for the story! Pulling my hair out!

I love that you gave a nod to what Rafe is doing with the emotional experience of Wheel of Time. I felt this with Loial. His dialog was so close to the books, and it being Loial the Wheel of Time bookworm himself made me so very happy. Did you have anything to do with that? It seems like a clever little nod that is just hidden enough to be a Sanderson level easter egg.

Hard core fan here. They committed murder on this show. It's horrid. It's yet another case of them taking something and just using the same names. I stopped watching after episode 4 and from what I hear, that was the "best" episode.

7:16 Dan, when that adaption is so horrible, it's worse than not having one at all. Because we're not watching The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. We're now watching some other writer's vision usurping the name and story we love. In effect, we have been cheated out of a real show.

Hearing about your head cannon and your role in the show make me want to give it another try. Also hearing you guys namecheck Paolini by his first name amuses me greatly for some reason

Book split was 3 biomes as far as the relevant part of the episode goes: Mat and Rand were on a river boat. Perrin and Egwene were on the Caralain Grass (A giant mostly empty plain with sparse wooded areas), and Moiraine, Lan, and Nynaeve were on the heavily wooded south side of the river.

It feels good, as a hard core WoT fan, to hear Sanderson have many of the same opinions on the show as I do. I almost felt like a traitor to the books to like the changes in the show. At the end of the day, it is its own piece of art and I’m digging it. Also, Perrin’s whole axe arc in the first episode, yeah that’s the one thing I’m ticked about. Could have happened to another character, but I’m gonna give it a chance

I really want to like the show but I am really disappointed in the fact that they didn't present the main characters as kids with innocence to lose. They are basically fully formed adults. Rand is having sex. Parrin is married and kills his wife ...??!!! Matt is stealing? Matt was shady but never a thief.....

The grim dark still feels accurate to the book. When I reread the books as an adult I realized how terrifying the horror elements actually were. They don't read super dark, but fades are evil beyond belief.

I’m currently toward the end of book 4 so I’m just starting the “World Building Political Epic” era and I can definitely see the Dune references.

Out of all the major changes the series is making, the fact that Sanderson's biggest beef is with creating then killing Perrin's wife is encouraging to me. After the first couple episodes I was really afraid that they would try to homogenize the genders with regard to the one power, eliminating saidin vs. saidar, and allowing the Dragon Reborn to be a different character. But that would change SO MUCH in the plot that I don't see how it could be even a spiritual adaptation of the book. It would be a completely new story. Perrin's wife is merely a change in motivation, and if that's the biggest problem, then I'm excited for where this can go.

26:00 I'd say pushing Egwene off a cliff wasn't just to shoot a cool scene.. when she later channels, I've seen non-readers react with "Ohhh, like the river, she's letting go." I'm loving that people who don't know are connecting dots.

"Rafe was a legit fan of the books." Coulda fooled me. Season 1 was such a massive disappointment that I don't see any hope for the series. It ruined so many plotlines that the story is becoming unrecognizable. I understand that there will be changes from the books to a TV show, but many of the changes make no sense, serve no apparent purpose to promote the on-screen story, or else seem to be plain bad changes. I've appreciated good book-to-TV adaptations that diverge from the source material. Wheel of Time isn't it.

With absolute respect, I find this show to be closer to 75% reimagined.

I haven’t watched it yet, but I got Amazon Prime Video so I can, when I’m ready. But I respect Brandon. I trust Brandon. I believe he helped save The Wheel of Time. So having him be an advocate for us. As a representative for us as book lovers, to at least be able to watch and have them show him what they are doing. That’s a transparency and openness that speaks of respect for what this property is to us. And no matter what they change, if they maintain that respect they’ll have mine in return. That’s what D&D lost with GoT. They stopped respecting the property, and fans. Got petty and bitter and tired. I trust Harriet too, but she represents RJs interest more than we can.

'You stupid kid! Listen to Moiraine!' Love it! Really enjoyed this conversation. I was not blessed with a very good memory so though I've read the series twice so many details are fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure Mat is supposed to be roguish and funny, yes? I started reading them in the early 90s.

The issue with the scene where Perrin killed his newly introduced wife is that they actually did the Whitecloak scene but with the reaseon that Valda saw them for the second time and not that Perrin actually killed a Whitecloak. Thus, the argument of not having time for it is just wrong. So there was no reason at all to change the two scenees actually besides an apparent conviction of the showrunners in their superior story telling abilities and/or political motivation to change character motivations.

Can we just be honest and call the show what it really is? This show is "The Wheel of Thrones" through and through. The showrunner has stripped several of the main conflict subplots from the whole series. I would say that getting rid of Saidar/Saidin is the same as getting rid of the Ringwraiths in The Lord of the Rings. A major conflict that was built into the very fabric of the world has been removed in order to make it possible for a woman to The Dragon Reborn.

The show disrespected the books too much. Already stopped watching. I would prefer no "adaptation" at all. Books are finished so no one can ruin them. Thank you Brandon for finishing the story. Excellent job, loved them.

Wonderful conversation. Glad they address the one major misstep so far of the show, which is is Perrin's wife being fridged. I don't mind him being and Matt being given sadder back stories, but creating Perrin's wife just to killer her was stupid.

Thank you for publishing this episode before your spoiler stream next week. It will save so much time on the fans asking your opinion on the show during those streams.

Hi there, i did not notice that Perrin's name is base on a slavic god Perun which as a slavic person myself is really cool.

Putting the WoT in the hands of Marcel’s CW failure (last 4 seasons of Agents of Shield were the same feeling as this show). That’s how successful this show will be. Agents of Shirkd successful. And to Brandon; why support the ‘change everything, try to keep the arc’ mentality when GoT stayed very true to the books for seasons 1-4 and that is when it held the pound for pound greatest show ever title. Rafe has Jordan turning over in his grave. I’m guessing you got a fat pay check with options for 8 seasons and that none of your choices for the show were ever seriously considered.

I'm still very skeptical, but as of yet, there are no major screw ups that would really anger me as a fan of the books. The things they have changed have added to the intensity and the pacing of the show and improved the translation to the screen in comparison to an adaptation by heart. As Brandon said, the character arcs are mostly there, just much more condensed, the emotional beats are present and developed well. I'm very happy about the actors, I think every single one of them portrays the corresponding character perfectly. Just the Two Rivers, a region that has been isolated for decades if not centuries, being as diverse as modern day New York is really stretching my suspension of disbelief, especially since there are different regions with different ethnicities being in the majority, as well as huge cities which might as well be the same kind of melting pot as modern metropoles. if the actors were not as good, this would have somewhat ruined the show for me already. Acknowledging that genetics, heredity and geography are a thing isn't racist. The portrayal of the shadow spawn is great, as well as that of the dream sequences. How they implemented the one power is better than what I would have expected. Too bad they cheaped out on some of the other sfx. The pacing is ok, they sometimes slow down to a halt to really hammer home some aspect of the world building, which might be necessary for new viewers. What I'm kinda worried about is the content which they portray extensively versus the content that gets cut. The decision to focus on the captivity of Logain, how warders deal with the death of their aes sedai and the thuatha'an seems very strange to me. It's also weird that they've bunched multiple stations of the journey of Rand, Mat and Thom together and replaced Caemlyn with Tar Varlon as the place where everyone meets back up. That means that there are a couple of important characters still missing, such as Elyas, Domon, Min, Morgase, Elayne, Gawyn, Galad, Elaida etc... Well, making the royals from Caemlyn come to Tar Valon with Siuan and Min live in Sheinar could fix that somewhat in an instant. The "One month later" opening shot of episode five was very dreading, it didn't help much to make the world feel bigger, which the show is already struggling with.. I really hope the writers know what they are doing. Game of Thrones didn't derail until season 6 when they ran out of source material.. TWOT should have enough material available to make it past episode 6... P.S. I liked the Egwene-river scene in the first episode. I took it as a hint that in order to control the female side of the one power, women must let loose and let the flow take over, instead of fighting it, which would mean certain death or at least harm.

"You're not my real mom!" - So... Cadsuane. Gotcha. :)