The Wheel of Time (2021) / YMMV

Arc Fatigue: The romantic drama between Rand and Egwene lasts the entire first season and gets tedious, being needlessly drawn out and providing little character development. Although the central conflict of Egwene's Career Versus Man dilemma isn't bad in theory, the issue is that it's made clear Rand respectfully accepts Egwene's decision to choose her ambition to be a Wisdom / Aes Sedai over him in the first episode. Despite this, they continue to argue about it throughout the season until the final episode, where Rand refuses the Dark One's offer to enable him to be with Egwene because it's not what Egwene wants... even though Rand already came to this conclusion at the start of the story. Perrin also gets dragged into it when it's suggested he also has feelings for Egwene. It doesn't help that the only thing between Perrin and Egwene in the books is a one-line aside suggesting he's attracted to her, and book readers will also already know that the romance between Rand and Egwene ultimately goes nowhere.
Captain Obvious Reveal: Rand being the Dragon Reborn. The show's first season keeps the new Dragon's identity a mystery until the penultimate episode, suggesting it could be any of the five characters from Two Rivers before eventually revealing it's Rand. The trouble is, anyone who has read the books, or even looked up the series to prepare before watching the show, will know it's Rand right out the gate seeing as it's a major plot thread (plus Rand is positioned as the main viewpoint character of the first book). Even viewers who hadn't read the books predicted it was Rand early on due to the series comparatively never much focusing on Rand and whether he had any special abilities/traits until The Reveal; viewers guessed this was an attempt at misdirection or else the character would come off as mere support for the other characters (particularly Mat and Egwene). Mat was also taken out of the running by episode 6 due to being Put on a Bus. Some have speculated the writers were going for The Un-Twist by toying with the idea that Rand wouldn't be the Dragon in this version, but lots of viewers felt this approach wore out its welcome after a few episodes, especially since they'd basically have to rewrite the entire story and risk angering a lot of book fans if they did choose that route, which they obviously weren't going to do.
Cliché Storm: Some critics and audience members have criticized the first season for being an extremely generic high fantasy story, particularly regarding the main plot of a seemingly ordinary young person finding out they're destined to fight an ancient evil consisting of a dark lord and his army of monsters, aided by True Companions and a magical mentor as they wander around in a Standard Fantasy Setting. This may partly be a case of Once Original, Now Common: The Eye of the World was published in 1990, over 30 years before the show came out, and in that time there have been numerous takes on the classic epic fantasy formula, including the highly successful adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (to the point of possible oversaturization). Game of Thrones's release a decade earlier also popularized more subversive takes on the genre, while The Wheel of Time show plays a lot of the old fantasy tropes arrow straight. Consequently, the show may feel outdated to some contemporary viewers, even if its source material was once considered more unique. It doesn't help that the first novel does come off as a bit derivative of The Lord of the Rings (which even Robert Jordan admitted was a big influence) before developing a more distinctive identity in subsequent books.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Siuan is only in one episode of the first season, but has proven quite popular in the fanbase despite this. This is mainly due to her well-received relationship with Moiraine, and Sophie Okonedo's natural charisma.
- The Pregnant Badass Aiel warrior from the Cold Open of Episode 7 became one of the most popular characters of Season 1 despite having no spoken dialogue and only appearing in one scene, due to her fight scene being seen as one of the best choreographed of the season and her sheer badassery; she's able to defeat multiple soldiers at once while in active labour, and even after being stabbed she still manages to kill her last opponent and successfully give birth before succumbing to her wound. She's also popular among book readers who are aware she's Rand al'Thor's mother and important to the overall plot.
Epileptic Trees: A wild theory that popped up after the first episode was that Laila was in fact a secret Darkfriend, due to the fact she appeared to have been about to attack Perrin before he attacks her in a bloodlust and later appeared in his dream with Glowing Eyes of Doom. Rafe Judkins denied this when asked, but some viewers still speculate there's something sinister about Laila.
Estrogen Brigade: The show is aimed mostly at male fantasy fans, but has surprisingly developed a large female fanbase. This mainly comes in two forms: A) fangirls who consider Daniel Henney as al'Lan Mandragoran to be hot and B) the LGBT Fanbase who are here because they consider Rosamund Pike as Moiraine to be hot.
Franchise Original Sin: Some viewers and critics have thought that the show was fine, but was very derivative of other fantasy series. This is actually a frequent criticism of the first book as well, and it's in the second book that the series really starts to do its own thing.
Growing the Beard: Many fans and critics noted that Season Two showed a dramatic improvement in terms of writing, production values, and overall quality. Part of this is due to Season One's production being disrupted by COVID and one of its stars leaving part way through, but also Season Two is based on the second and third book of the series which have deeper themes and more unique storylines, as compared to the first book which the author admitted was deliberately meant to emulate The Lord of the Rings.
Improved Second Attempt: In the books, it's mentioned that Moiraine had "pillow friends" among her fellow Aes Sedai in her youth, including Siuan, although it's presented as a case of Situational Sexuality due to a lack of boys to hang around with and as an adult her love interests are all men. Nowadays, this depiction of same-sex relationships is regarded as a bit problematic due to the suggestion that such relationships are a 'phase' or less mature than heterosexual romances. The series instead approaches it by depicting Moiraine and Siuan as having a serious romantic relationship that has continued up to the present (albeit in secret for political reasons); their romance ended up being well-received by viewers. Moiraine's heterosexual romance with Thom Merrilin in the books has so far not been included.
It's Short, So It Sucks!: A frequent criticism of Season 1 is that eight episodes is too few to fully tell the story of The Eye of the World and sufficiently develop the characters and setting, so it all ends up feeling crammed-in and shallow. This was partly the result of Executive Meddling, as Rafe Judkins originally wanted ten episodes and a two-hour long pilot but was told he could only have eight, 50-60 minute-long episodes. Another issue brought up by some viewers is that despite having only eight episodes, the show also chooses to hyper-focus on characters and events that are either unimportant or not yet relevant, while the A-plot and central cast are neglected (the common consensus is that the worst offender is Episode 5, which has so much padding it borders on filler and thus leaves even less screentime dedicated to the main storyline). Some of these choices are odd because the season does make a choice to exclude the Caemlyn section of the book, which is mostly an introduction to over half a dozen characters that won't be important until later books/seasons (Logain and Loial are introduced elsewhere in the season and Elayne is the only other character from Caemlyn adapted so far in Season 2).
LGBT Fanbase: The show has a large number of lesbian fans. This is mainly due to Moiraine and Siuan being in a relationship in this version and the presence of beautiful and strong female characters. It also helps that actresses like Rosamund Pike (who plays Moiraine) already have large lesbian fanbases.
Like You Would Really Do It: The coyness the show displays about the possibility of the Dragon Reborn being any one of the five characters from Emond's Field, while hinting that the role may not be Rand as it was in the books. However, given that the other four characters have way more than enough going on in the future books, making any of them be the Dragon Reborn would severely alter and overload their arcs while at the same time giving Rand almost nothing to do. Some have also noted that if the Dragon were Nynaeve or Egwene, it would drastically alter the entire Dragon plotline, especially as a big source of the conflict is around how Rand can learn to channel and whether he can stop the Dark One without losing his mind because of the corruption of Saidin, whereas this wouldn't be an issue for the women.
Memetic Loser: The show's portrayal of Rand, as a result of being Out of Focus, being far weaker than his book counterpart, and generally being passive is mocked as a toady to Moiraine or Egwene, with people joking about Rand's accomplishments from the books being made by other characters instead.
Memetic Mutation:
- Post-Nut Clarity ^{Explanation (spoilers)}
- "That little girl had it coming—that was THE EMPRESS' (may she live forever) SAND SHE WAS FUCKING WITH!" ^Explanation
- Egwene al'Vere is the real Dragon Reborn^Explanation
Narm: Mat blowing the Horn of Valere in the Season 2 finale is hard to take seriously given the bizarre prop used, which some viewers described as looking more like a weird vase or a hemorrhoid pillow than a horn.
Nightmare Fuel:
- Egwene's ordeal once she is captured by the Seanchan in the latter half of Season 2. She's enslaved as a damane, leashed and treated like a violent dog and then physically, magically and psychologically tortured to break her will and dehumanize her. Renna, the sul'dam torturing her, tells her that she is not a person and is basically aiming to turn her into an obedient pet; every time Egwene doesn't obey, she uses the a'dam to inflict immense pain on her. There are constant screams in the distance from other women who are suffering the same horrific treatment. Finally, we get the Wham Shot that Maigan (who as a Sitter of the Blue Ajah is one of the most powerful Aes Sedai in the White Tower) was also captured, and in fact she broke sooner than Egwene did.
- Ryma Galfrey's fate; she and Basan, her Warder, sacrifice themselves to battle the Seanchan so that Nynaeve and Elayne won't be discovered, but at the last moment Basan can't bring himself to kill Ryma before she's captured and she screams in total despair as he's killed and she's collared, fully aware of the living hell that awaits her.
Older Than They Think: The idea that The Chosen One could be potentially be female. Word of God from Robert Jordan at a convention and the inside-the-making-of-the-novels book The Origins of the Wheel of Time confirmed that there are actually two Chosen One souls in the Pattern, with Rand/Lews Therin/The Dragon being the male one and the female one being one of the other Heroes of the Horn, Amaresu, and it varies which one of them will be born into the current Age to save it.
Padding: Much of the screentime of the first season's fifth episode is dedicated to a Warder grieving the loss of his Aes Sedai (killed in the previous episode), ultimately taking his own life, and the funeral rites for both characters. This doesn't really serve to develop the plot and characters save for further emphasizing the close bond between a Warder and Aes Sedai, although that had arguably already been established in previous episodes via Lan and Moiraine's relationship. Considering this, that the characters in question have minor roles in the story (in the books they've already been dead for 20 years by the events of The Eye of the World) and that the first season only got eight episodes, some viewers found it questionable that so much screentime is dedicated to these characters, at the expense of advancing the main plot and focusing more on the main cast.
Portmanteau Couple Name: Following the reveal that Moiraine Damodred and Siuan Sanche are in a Secret Relationship in this version, the fandom quickly took to referring to the ship as "Siuanraine" on sites like Tumblr and Twitter.
Realism-Induced Horror: Many viewers found it genuinely difficult to get through Season 2 Episode 6 "Eyes Without Pity", thanks to the absolutely brutal (yet fully recognisable) physical and psychological abuse that the Seanchan employ to break the wills of the women whom they've enslaved.
The Scrappy:
- Rand al'Thor in the books is a beloved character for his emotional and moral complexity and his well-regarded character arc. Rand in the show is seen as a pale imitation of his literary counterpart, whose role consists of doing what other people tell him to and continuing to moon over Egwene long after the book's version of the characters had moved on. And he fares little better with viewers who haven't read the books, many of whom wonder why anyone cares about a man who seemingly has nothing to contribute to saving the world.
- Alana in the show is disliked by some for taking up a lot of screen time despite doing little more than banging her Warders and talking about it at every opportunity.
So Okay, It's Average: The overall opinion of Season 1 falls around here, although some fans of the books are more scathing due to the numerous changes to the story. A common theme in reviews is that the series looks pretty, has some decent performances (especially from Rosamund Pike and Daniel Henney) and cool action scenes, but that many characters lack depth, the quality of writing tends to fluctuate across episodes - with the season finale being seen as especially weak - and it doesn't really stand out from other fantasy series released around the same time. Several of those who voiced this opinion about Season 1 view Season 2 as an improvement, however.
Special Effect Failure: The CGI can be uneven at times, though a particularly noticeable example is the Trollocs in the Season 1 finale, which have been compared to Playstation 2 graphics in their design and movements. It probably didn't help that these Trollocs were shown in broad daylight rather than darkness as in previous episodes (making the graphical limitations more obvious) and that, due to last-minute rewrites, there was less time to work on the effects in post-production. The COVID-19 pandemic didn't help matters either; while the Trollocs in the first episode were played by actors in costume, in the final episode they had to be CGI, due to constraints introduced by COVID.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- The changes to Perrin's character and relationships stood out as particularly controversial. Some viewers weren't keen on the love triangle added between Perrin, Rand and Egwene.^{in the books} Some felt that it was inappropriate for Perrin to be hitting on Egwene while Rand was away, making Perrin come off as a bad friend. Then there's Perrin being given a wife, Laila, who dies early on. Even during his marriage to Laila, Perrin is shown to be openly attracted to Egwene, which a lot of people found disrespectful. It's been further argued that killing off Laila in the first episode not only makes the change feel pointless in the long run, it also means she exists only to be killed off and cause angst for Perrin, which even some non-book fans found to be a questionable writing decision.
- Lots of fans were frustrated by the Season 1 finale changing the confrontation at the Eye of the World. They feel that having a group of untrained channelers (some of whom have such weak channeling ability they couldn't even qualify as Aes Sedai) fight off the Dark One's army took away from the revelation Rand was the Dragon Reborn, as in the book we first see the Dragon's power potential and importance when he decimates the army; in the show Rand's confrontation with the Dark One is a far more underwhelming Battle in the Center of the Mind and doesn't affect the plot as much. Some book fans also argue that the army being overcome by other, weaker channelers makes the villains look like less of a threat (with some speculating why the Dragon Reborn is even needed in this case) and questioned the apparent Deus ex Machina of Egwene being able to bring Nynaeve back from the dead.
- The changes Season 2 made to the climax of The Great Hunt, for each of the main characters:
  - Egwene collars Rena while still wearing her own collar, and then kills Rena instead of the Cruel Mercy that Rena was given in the book. This not only broke several rules for how magic is supposed to work in the series, but also struck many as just being less interesting.
  - The changes to Egwene's story also took away one of Nynaeve's best moments from the books (bestowing the aforementioned Cruel Mercy) and thus, after all the build up of her plans with Elayne to rescue Egwene during the latter half of the season, Nynaeve was left with absolutely nothing to do during the climactic battle in Falme (which even show-only viewers noted). Because of her mental block when it comes to using the One Power, she isn't even able to heal Rand after his fight with Ishamael, so she might as well have not come to Falme at all. In fact, if she hadn't come then Ensemble Darkhorses Ryma Galfrey and Basan could have been able to stay hidden and remain free and alive respectively.
  - Mat blowing the Horn of Valere was a huge deal in the book, where it summoned over a hundred One Man Armies who drove the Seanchan out of Falme. The heroes in the show fight a few Seanchan, but ultimately don't have any impact on the larger situation. And his ashan'darai, unlike in the books, is the dagger from Shadar Logoth tied to an old bedpost with a strip of cloth, which many viewers found silly-looking and logically questionable.
  - In the books, Rand leads the Heroes of the Horn into battle, before becoming a colossal apparition and fighting an equally massive Ba'alzamon in the air. While there's an element of Early-Installment Weirdness to this, it's still a striking scene that really sells the idea Rand is somebody of cosmic significance. In the show, Rand is shielded from the True Source, accidentally stabbed by Mat, and needs Egwene to protect him from Ba'alzamon while Moiraine frees him from the shield. What's supposed to be Rand's big moment — killing Ba'alzamon after he's freed — is accomplished with a single sword thrust after Ba'alzamon inexplicably stops doing anything. Rand is then "proclaimed" the Dragon Reborn by Moiraine summoning a giant dragon made out of fire. The show makes Rand look less like a great hero on the ascent and more like another delusional False Dragon, who is being propped up by Moiraine.
Trapped by Mountain Lions: The show's attempt to make Moiraine the main character caused complications when it came to adapting The Great Hunt into Season 2, as Moiraine plays a relatively small role in that book. The solution to this ended up being giving Moiraine a number of scenes of her talking with Verin and getting into fights with Lan and her sister, none of which really do anything to advance the plot about saving the world.
Vanilla Protagonist: Rand al'Thor, the main protagonist of The Eye of the World, ends up as this here. Rand may be the Dragon Reborn but in the first season he's easily the least developed and least interesting of the main cast. He spends most of the season following the other characters around and trying to avoid being killed, while his main personal conflict revolves around his angst over his girlfriend breaking up with him in order to pursue her desired goal of becoming a Wisdom/Aes Sedai. This is especially compared to the other main cast members, who get far more interesting things to do and more dramatic personal conflicts; while it can be argued Egwene, Mat, Nynaeve and Perrin also start out as unworldly Audience Surrogates thrust into adventure, they don't come off nearly as bland as Rand. It was to the point that even non-book readers guessed he had to be the Dragon because there's little else noteworthy about him, which was likely done intentionally in an attempt to throw viewers off the scent.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The Trollocs in their first appearance during the attack on Emond's Field look quite realistic and terrifying for the most part. A combination of practical effects and CGI were used; the darkness and use of quick cuts helps disguise limitations in the CGI, making the Trollocs more convincing overall.
Watched It for the Representation: A lot of fans who were unfamiliar with the books and uninterested in the standard fantasy premise of the show only really started to watch it when it was revealed that the TV versions of Moiraine and Siuan are a couple.
What the Hell, Costuming Department?: The decision to have damane wear gags was questionable to begin with, but the specific design they went with makes it look like the damane are sucking on pacifiers like a bunch of oversized babies.

YMMV / The Wheel of Time (2021)

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