History Series / TheWheelOfTime2021

** In the books, Lews Therin Telamon wore the ring of Tamyrlin to mark himself the head of the Aes Sedai. As Robert Jordan explained, Tamyrlin was the first channeler in history, and this name eventually transformed to "Amyrlin Seat". Here, there was an actual position of "Tamyrlin Seat", but it's Latra Posae Decume instead. In the books she organized the construction of super-powerful Choedan Kal sa'angreals[[note]]An alternative plan to seal The Dark One. Instead of a small raiding party travelling to where the Pattern is weakest and quickly installing the seals, channelers would use all the avalable One Power to build a "barricade" against The Dark One. The plan was halted when the Shadow armies conquered the region where the secret facility making the control units was located. All attempts to smuggle the control ter'angreals out failed.[[/note]], led the Aes Sedai during the Breaking of the World after Lews Therin's death, and eventually founded what will become the White Tower with its Amyrlin Seat. We only get a brief glimpse of the Age of Legends power structure, but Latra and Lews apparently gave each other a lot of leeway as she evaluated his plan, but neither approved nor ordered him to stop.

* AmplifierArtifact: Moiraine gives Rand a sa'angreal, an object that allows him to multiply the strength of his channeling by a factor of about 100.

** In the very first scene -- Moiraine's introductory LockAndLoadMontage -- she packs an obviously important small statue. Book fans quickly recognized it as an ''angreal'' (magic amplifier) and wondered why she never uses it. [[spoiler:It was meant for the Dragon Reborn to be used at the Eye of the World. Also it's a ''sa'angreal'' -- a more powerful class.]]

* MeaningfulName: As in the source material, many characters and places have Myth/ArthurianLegend-derived names: Egwene al'Vere (Guinevere), Nynaeve (Nimue), Lan (Lancelot), Thom Merrilin (Merlin), Moiraine (Morgana), Morgase (Morgause), Elayne (Elaine), Tar Valon (Avalon), Caemlyn (Camlann), Gawyn (Gawain), Galad (Galahad), Artur Paendrag (Arthur Pendragon), Tigraine (Igraine), etc.
** As well as other allusions, like [[Myth/NorseMythology Thor]] (Rand al'Thor), [[Myth/SlavicMythology Perun]], Saint Paul Aybara (Perrin Aybara), [[Literature/TheBible Lucifer]] (Lews Therin), etc.

* MeaningfulName: As in the source material, many characters and places have Myth/ArthurianLegend-derived names: Egwene al'Vere (Guinevere), Nynaeve (Nimue), Lan (Lancelot), Thom Merrilin (Merlin), Moiraine (Morgana), Morgase (Morgause), Elayne (Elaine), Tar Valon (Avalon), Caemlyn (Camlann), Gawyn (Gawain), Galad (Galahad), Artur Hawkwing (Arthur), Tigraine (Igraine), etc.

* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Renna, a sul'dam (slave trainer) of the Seanchan, tells Egwene (her prisoner whom she's "broken in") their empress' goal is to conquer the world under the Light so they can all oppose the Dark One together and beat him, obviously attempting to justify their brutal actions. Egwene is not swayed for a moment, vowing that she'll kill Renna some day for what she's done.

* MeaningfulName: As in the source material, many characters and places have Myth/ArthurianLegend-derived names: Egwene al'Vere (Guinevere), Nynaeve (Nimue), Lan (Lancelot), Thom Merrilin (Merlin), Moiraine (Morgana), Morgase (Morgause), Elayne (Elaine), Tar Valon (Avalon), Caemlyn (Camlann), Gawyn (Gawain), Galad (Galahad), Artur Hawkwing (Arthur), etc.

* YouAreWhatYouHate: [[spoiler:Egwene figures out that Renna and the other ''sul'dam'', who cruelly control the ''damane'' (enslaved channelers) through the ''a'dam'' collars, are themselves weak channelers, explaining how they can link to their ''damane''. She then puts her suspicion into action by collaring Renna and successfully controlling her. Renna is horrified to learn this, as all Seanchan have been taught that ''damane'' are akin to animals, urging Egwene on as she's getting strangled by Egwene's weave]].

** As well as other allusions, like Thor (Rand al'Thor), Perun, Saint Paul Aybara (Perrin Aybara), Lucifer (Lews Therin), etc.

** Rand and Selene [[spoiler:have an ongoing full-blown sexual relationship while Selene (who is really Lanfear, one of the most dangerous Forsaken) is posing as a harmless innkeeper. In the books, Selene flirted with Rand and he found her attractive before she proved to be Lanfear (she was instead posing as a young adventuress seeking the Horn of Valere), but her deception didn't last long enough to get the point of them going to bed together]].

* AgeLift: Egwene has been aged up compared to her book counterpart, where she was younger than Rand by a few years. {{Downplayed}} for Mat, Rand and Perrin: their age is the same as in the books (19-20, as established by the dates given in the glossaries of the books) but they are also portrayed as far more mature than in the books, including Perrin already being married.

* AdaptationalLateAppearance: The entire Caemlyn sequence in the books was moved to Tar Valon in the show, with many of the relevant characters dropped. As of the second season, only Elayne has appeared so far and this appearance is pushed back into after the events of the Eye of the World/Season One.

* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Nynaeve tortures a sul'dam she captured for information on where Egwene's held in the Season 2 finale. Elayne clearly disapproves but does not object.

* ChurchMilitant: The Children of the Light, colloquially known as Whitecloaks due to their uniforms, are an armed Crusader/Inquisition like group devoted to hunting down Aes Sedai, female magic users whom they believe to be evil servants of [[GodOfEvil the Dark One]] (which is a mistaken belief, apart from the existence of some secret Darkfriends among the Aes Sedai like one finds among any given group in the world).
** Actually, no. The Three Oaths should make Darkfriends among the Aes Sedai almost impossible; this apparent paradox is not resolved until very late in the novels, and may not be in the same way in this adaptation - but it is not a faction or secret society just as one finds in any other group, as in important senses it should not be.