From the Eye of the World to the Horn of Valere, the journey from page to screen has many twists! Join us as we explore the most significant changes between Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series and Amazon's adaptation. Whether it's character ages, missing locations, or completely reimagined storylines, these differences have fans talking!
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00:00-"Come with me."
00:02-"Do I have any choice?"
00:04-"You know who I am."
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most glaring differences
00:11between the Wheel of Time book series and its TV adaptation.
00:14Naturally, there will be some spoilers.
00:17-"I can't touch this."
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00:54Number 20. The Horn of Valyr.
00:56This magical object has the power to summon the warriors of history
01:00and is sought after by the villainous Dark One and his dark friends.
01:03Perrin finds it at the end of Season 1, only for dark friend Padden Fane to steal it from him.
01:08-"Run may be the dragon, but all five of you have a part to play."
01:13In the grand Season 2 finale,
01:15Matt blows the horn to summon crucial aid at the Battle of Falm.
01:23In Robert Jordan's series, however,
01:25the horn is revealed to be at the eye of the world.
01:28The quest for the magical object itself is the whole plot of the second book of the series,
01:32The Great Hunt.
01:33No doubt the TV series wanted to streamline some elements.
01:37-"Tobiah Andi!"
01:39-"Tetobiah Saga!"
01:43Number 19. Nynaeve is Kidnapped.
01:45In an unexpected development,
01:47Nynaeve is kidnapped by her father,
01:51In an unexpected development,
01:53Wisdom Nynaeve is abducted by a Trolloc at the Two Rivers,
01:56leaving Moiraine and the rest to assume the worst.
02:06But Nynaeve not only escapes,
02:08but kills the Trolloc who kidnapped her for good measure.
02:21She eventually reunites with the rest.
02:23We call this unexpected because this never happened in the books.
02:27When Rand, Perrin, Matt and Egwene leave the village with Moiraine,
02:31Nynaeve follows them to persuade them to return.
02:33When that fails, and upon discovering her own channeling abilities,
02:37Nynaeve decides to join them.
02:39Why the series decided to have Nynaeve be taken in the first place is strange,
02:43but it does up the drama.
02:45-"I said you could ask, not let it answer."
02:47Number 18. New Dark Friend, Dana.
02:50In this season 1 episode,
02:52Rand and Matt stay at the Four Kings Inn for the night,
02:55where they encounter innkeeper Dana.
02:57She flirts with Rand and even tries to kiss him,
02:59but the latter is not having it.
03:07This is where the innkeeper reveals her fealty to the Dark One,
03:11foiled only at the timely arrival of gleeman Tom Merrilyn.
03:14This antagonist is an original character of the TV series,
03:17as no Dark Friend named Dana appears in the book.
03:20-"What are you doing?" -"Waiting."
03:23She seems to be a composite of Dark Friend Millie Skane and Samuel Haig,
03:27who owns the Four Kings Inn in Jordan's series.
03:29It's unfortunate the show didn't use any of these book characters,
03:32but Dana is a Dark Friend alright.
03:35-"Alright, we all gonna cry?"
03:36Number 17. Egwene heals Nynaeve.
03:39As a wisdom, the main healer is Nynaeve,
03:43which the TV adaptation retains.
03:45At the end of season one, however,
03:47Nynaeve, Egwene, and three women channel together to defeat the Trollocs.
03:51The effort is too much for them, and they all collapse.
03:54Except Egwene.
03:55-"We all stand with you!"
03:57-"No!"
04:02In the aftermath, Egwene then heals Nynaeve.
04:05In the books, Egwene is Nynaeve's apprentice.
04:08Healing is a very complex power in this world.
04:11Nynaeve is able to use all healing types, but Egwene is not.
04:15The show obviously wished to plump up Egwene's role,
04:18but it's odd to see such a skilled healer being the healed one.
04:29Number 16. Tom Merrilyn.
04:31This court bard turned adventurer shows up in the TV series
04:34in the third episode of season one, singing a ballad.
04:37-"The man who can't forget."
04:43He then gets hold of Matt's gold and saves them from a dark friend.
04:47Get you a guy that can do both.
04:48-"She's a dark friend, boy.
04:50Sworn body and soul to the Dark One."
04:52In the books, however, we meet Tom at Emond's Field itself as part of the entertainment.
04:57When the village is attacked, he joins the group of travelers,
05:00though they lose him around Whitebridge.
05:02Book Tom is also less grungy than his TV show counterpart.
05:06With white hair and blue eyes, this Merryman is a little less merry in the TV show.
05:11-"And a small fee for the life lesson."
05:13-"Bloody expensive lesson."
05:14-"The best ones are."
05:16Number 15. Moiraine loses her ability to channel.
05:19In the dramatic end to the first season,
05:22the Dark One cuts off Moiraine's connection to the One Power.
05:33This leaves her unable to channel,
05:35a situation she struggles with all throughout season 2,
05:38hiding it from the others.
05:40Fortunately, in episode 7, Rand cuts the shield around Moiraine using the One Power,
05:44which restores her ability to channel.
05:55Moiraine never loses her power in the books,
05:57so this change is unusual to say the least.
06:00It is more dramatic, though, an attempt to give Moiraine more of an inner conflict,
06:04which is par for the course for a TV series.
06:21Number 14. Ishamael is gone for good.
06:24-"Well, it looks like our time is up."
06:28Wheel of Time fans know this most powerful Forsaken lives on in The Great Hunt,
06:32and is killed by Rand in the third book, The Dragon Reborn.
06:35He is later reincarnated as Moradin by the Dark One.
06:38In the series, however, Ishamael seems to be vanquished as early as season 2.
06:43Once Moiraine frees Rand from the Forsaken's shield,
06:46Rand successfully defeats him.
06:55We then see Ishamael disintegrate into dust.
06:58It may be the TV show is planning to have the Forsaken return in some form,
07:02but this is far from Book Ishamael's habit of avoiding certain death.
07:06-"It's beautiful."
07:10Also known as the Black Wind,
07:12this creature torments those it comes into contact with,
07:15eating their memories and even their souls.
07:29-"You'll murder these children and call it Arrowson."
07:32Although it does not serve the Dark One, it is an ancient malevolent force.
07:36In the show, the Travelers come across it in the sixth episode of the first season.
07:41Nynaeve manages to repel it.
07:44-"You can't protect me. You can't."
07:54The Black Wind's corrosive nature is the same in both the books and the show,
07:58but it does manifest differently in each.
08:00In the show, Machin Shin is depicted as an insect-like swarm more than a wind,
08:05and it directly contacts the main characters, preying on their fears.
08:09Either way, it is a tormentor alright.
08:12-"You're wrong about everything. You'll murder these children and call it Arrowson."
08:19In the seventh episode, Matt is kidnapped and taken to Ishamael and Falm.
08:23When Matt drinks the proffered tea,
08:25he begins to have grisly hallucinations with his angry mother and himself committing murders.
08:30-"Damn prick."
08:33-"Mom?"
08:34It turns out his parents were not the best role models,
08:36with his mother being a drunkard and his father a lecher.
08:39This is not the case in the books,
08:41where Matt's corruption stems more from a cursed ruby dagger.
08:44Nor did Matt come from an abusive or dysfunctional family.
08:47-"What makes you think that I'm stupid enough to touch it again?"
08:50This is not the only thing about Matt changed from the books,
08:53but it is still puzzling.
08:55-"Just like him."
09:01Where to start?
09:02There were many changes significant and not from page to screen.
09:06For one thing, the Shang-Chan had already occupied Falm in the books,
09:09whereas in the series, they are only beginning to do so.
09:12-"Let us see what is required to earn the Heron Blade on this side of the ocean."
09:18Selene's identity as the forsaken Lanfear is revealed much earlier in the second season,
09:23whereas in the books, Lanfear is revealed at the end of The Great Hunt.
09:27Matt wasn't kidnapped by Ishamael in the books.
09:30In the show, Moiraine weaves a fire dragon above the city,
09:33whereas in the book, it's Ishamael and Ran's fight that is projected above the city.
09:46At least Matt got to blow the horn of Valyr in both media.
09:49-"I...I remember."
10:01The first books in The Wheel of Time tell something of a coming-of-age story,
10:05as the Emond's Fielders journey from their remote village
10:08into a wider world of wonders, dangers and new cultures.
10:12Showrunner Rafe Judkins decided to age the characters up to 20, however,
10:17stating that, quote,
10:33In fact, Ran, Matt and Perrin are about 19 in the books.
10:36Egwene is two years younger.
10:38So the show didn't age the characters up much.
10:41It did, however, make them a bit less naive and more adult.
10:45Ran and Egwene are in a physical relationship,
10:47and Perrin is married and a blacksmith rather than an apprentice.
10:51More on that later.
10:52-"Come on, we're talking." -"About what?"
10:54-"You're married. Your life's over."
10:59-"The Light is always with you. It needs no instruction."
11:04-"And we'll not forget your faces should we meet again."
11:06You don't want to cross the Children of the Light.
11:09Their zealous persecution of those they deem dark friends, or worse, witches,
11:14is brutal and merciless.
11:16-"An Aes Sedai should know above all others that sometimes brutality is the only path to mercy."
11:25However, in the books, they're more of a nuisance than a threat to capable channelers.
11:30A White Cloak might attack alone Aes Sedai, but only from hiding.
11:34The TV adaptation portrays the Children as a more serious threat.
11:38Eamon Valda, now an Inquisitor rather than a Lord Captain,
11:41possesses a collection of Great Serpent Rings to prove it.
11:45The show has Valda, rather than Geoffrey Bornhold, capture Perrin and Egwene.
11:49-"We are all someone important under the Light. But you're right.
11:55You're not who I thought you were.
11:57An Aes Sedai would have tried to channel already."
11:59Valda claims he knows Egwene can channel,
12:02and expects her to demonstrate without incapacitating him.
12:06Kind of makes you wonder how he even got those rings.
12:09-"You can't protect me.
12:14What are you?"
12:17Number 8. Elias and other side characters.
12:20The Wheel of Time has a staggering 2,782 named characters.
12:26Of course, some side characters are much more important than others.
12:30-"You know a lot for a simple gleeman."
12:33-"We call ourselves gleemen because a silly name makes us less frightening.
12:40Nothing is more dangerous than a man who knows the past."
12:44In the Eye of the World, one of the most pivotal is Elias Machira,
12:48a wolf brother who mentors Perrin after his escape with Egwene from Shadar Logoth.
12:53-"The wolves! They're close!"
12:58-"Quick, run!"
12:59Another doobie Ileaner ship captain, Bail Dolman,
13:02who ferries Rand, Matt, and Tom from Shadar Logoth to Whitebridge.
13:06Other, more central characters appear later in the show than in the books,
13:10such as gleeman Tom Merrilyn and Min,
13:12who's now at Faldara rather than Berlon.
13:15-"I think we got off on the wrong foot. I'm sorry, I didn't even introduce myself."
13:18-"I know who you are.
13:22Look me in the eye and tell me that you want to know what I've got to say.
13:26Because once you do, there's no turning back."
13:29We did eventually meet Elias and Bail Dolman in season 2,
13:32and got to spend more time with Min.
13:34-"So you're the possum that's been scratching at my wall?"
13:42In both the books and show,
13:44Moraine and Swan must hide their close relationship
13:47to prevent the wrong people learning about their search for the dragon reborn.
13:51-"When have we ever followed the rules?"
13:58-"Swan!"
14:09To this end, Swan does feign hostility towards Moraine in the source material,
14:13but she doesn't go so far as to exile her.
14:16-"For your disobedience and intractability,
14:22you are exiled from this town."
14:25Nor does she demand that Moraine swear to obey her order on the Oath Rod.
14:29A romantic relationship is hinted at in the books.
14:32In the prequel novel, New Spring,
14:34an Aes Sedai believes that Moraine and Swan were pillow friends as girls.
14:38But true or not, it's over by the time the books begin.
14:42They don't have a Tyr Angriol that allows them to travel to a secret hideaway either.
14:46-"What were you thinking?"
14:51-"Is it too late to change my mind?"
14:56-"There's no turning back."
14:58Robert Jordan once described Matt Cawthon as, quote,
15:01the bad boy on a Harley.
15:03In the books, he's a merry prankster who provides comic relief,
15:07a lovable rogue and reluctant hero
15:09who's nonetheless there for his friends when it counts.
15:12By comparison, the show offers a much grimmer take.
15:16As mentioned, Matt's father Abel is now an impoverished lecher
15:20and his mother Natty a drunk.
15:22-"You're going to be just like your dad."
15:25-"I know it."
15:27Moraine describes Matt as having an inherent darkness.
15:30-"What if it's him?"
15:32-"Matt, there's an inherent darkness within him."
15:36-"He was drawn to the dagger."
15:38-"And it was feeding on him as much as he was on it."
15:41When his friends travel to the Eye of the World, Matt abandons them
15:45and Moraine sends the Red Aja after him.
15:48-"There is a man that they must find.
15:51A boy, really.
15:53Matt Cawthon."
15:55-"And to whom should I send this message?"
15:59-"The Red Aja."
16:01This turn of events may be due to the departure of actor Barney Harris
16:05during filming.
16:06He was replaced by Donald Finn.
16:08-"In advance, I'd pay you."
16:10Either way, it's quite a different Matt.
16:13Number 5.
16:14Perrin's marriage.
16:15Perrin has a gentle nature,
16:17but as a wolf brother,
16:19he struggles to walk the fine line between his human and animal sides.
16:25One of the main catalysts for this conflict comes in the first book,
16:28when White Cloaks kill the wolf hopper,
16:31and Perrin loses control,
16:33killing two men.
16:35-"Your brothers?"
16:37-"How do you know?"
16:43While Moraine, Lan, and Nynaeve rescue Perrin and Egwene,
16:46the event leads to a long-standing conflict
16:49between Perrin and the Children of the Light.
16:51The show, on the other hand, gives Perrin a wife, Layla,
16:54whom he accidentally kills in the first episode.
16:57It's this trauma that instigates his internal struggle
17:00between peace and violence.
17:01-"Violence is in us all.
17:03The way the Leaf isn't about denying that,
17:05it's about accepting it."
17:08-"Maybe."
17:09Number 4.
17:10The False Dragon.
17:11-"There have been false dragons before.
17:14Women and men who've claimed the title for power or personal gain."
17:21-"False and all,
17:24his strength is more than anything I've ever seen."
17:28The Wheel of Time is an epic, sprawling series,
17:32and a lot of material was streamlined for the adaptation.
17:35However, the show also added a lot of new content,
17:38including much of the fourth episode.
17:40-"None of them understand who you are,
17:45what you're going to be."
17:47In the books, we first glimpse the false dragon Loghain
17:50when he's paraded into Camelon in the Eye of the World,
17:53and again in The Great Hunt
17:55after he's been brought to Tar-Valon and gentled.
17:57-"Let the hands of the Tower fall on you, Loghain Avla,
18:03and take back that which nature itself does not wish you to hold!"
18:09The show, however, has Moraine, Lan, and Nynaeve
18:12encounter Loghain and his captors,
18:14which now include Leandron, Alanna, and Kereni.
18:17Kereni is actually from the prequel novel New Spring,
18:20where she's killed by the Black Aja.
18:23The fate of her warder Steppen isn't explored.
18:26Number 3.
18:27Reunited at Tar-Valon.
18:29In the books, Camelon is a milestone in the Emond's Fielder's journey,
18:34bringing the wide-eyed villagers to their country's bustling capital.
18:37-"Moraine, you're alive."
18:40-"Oh, it's nice to see you too."
18:43-"Uh, Gwyn, Harren, are they here?"
18:45-"I have watchers. I'll know when they arrive."
18:48It's also where we meet key characters such as Alayne Trekand,
18:52the daughter heir of Andor, and Loyal.
18:54-"Your name sings in my ears."
18:57However, the show has the characters reunite and meet Loyal in Tar-Valon instead,
19:02covering some of the action from The Great Hunt.
19:05-"There will be time for every story as we travel."
19:07That book introduces readers to the amarylline seat Swan Sanchi
19:11and has Nynaeve and Gwyn inducted into the White Tower.
19:15-"But the truth is, the two of you have been called to greatness.
19:22The fate of all of us rests on you now,
19:27on the decisions you make in the coming days."
19:30The girls return there in the second season,
19:32which also introduces Alayne, played by Keira Coveney.
19:35-"I'm so pleased.
19:37I never thought that the Tower would let me live with the rest of the novices."
19:41Number two, The Final Battle.
19:43-"What does it mean?
19:49That this wasn't the last battle?
19:55I fear it was the first."
19:57Book one sees the heroes travel together to the Eye of the World,
20:01a pool of untainted sideen guarded by the Green Man.
20:05There, they face the forsaken Agenor and Balthamel.
20:08Rand goes on to defeat Baalzemon and the Trollocs at Tarwyn's Gap.
20:13In the show, however, Rand and Morayne journey alone to the Eye, which is empty.
20:18Baalzemon cuts Morayne off from the Source,
20:21seeming to shield her and tie off the weaves.
20:23Rand chooses the Light by refusing to impose his will on a Gwyn in a vision,
20:28then blasts Baalzemon using a sangreal.
20:31-"That woman who doesn't care about being a wizard,
20:37being a nice guy,
20:40that's not the woman I love."
20:44It's Nynaeve and Egwene who destroy the Trollocs.
20:46Nynaeve seems to be burnt out and killed,
20:49but Egwene miraculously heals her.
20:53-"No, no."
21:01Meanwhile, Paddyn Fane stabs Loyale, Ingtar, and Uno,
21:05prompting Perrin to finally pick up an axe.
21:09-"Ah, there you go.
21:12Tiny's push and you choose the dog.
21:16This is all new, substantially changing elements from Robert Jordan's story.
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21:42Number 1.
21:43The Dragon Reborn.
21:45I found five potential dragons in the same village.
21:48Five?
21:49But only for the right age.
21:50Anani is too old, but how can we discount her power?
21:54I don't know, every town has a different legend about where the dragon will be reborn.
22:01After Trolloc's attack Emond's Field, the Moraine of the Books tells Rand, Perrin and
22:05Matt that there's something in one of them, or all three, that the Dark One fears.
22:10Only at the end of the first book is it revealed that one of them, Rand, is the Dragon Reborn.
22:15It's me.
22:16In the show, however, Moraine reveals the truth to the Emond's Fielders from the get-go.
22:21The dragon has been born again, and it's one of you.
22:27Moreover, the dragon can be male or female, souls aren't fundamentally one or the other.
22:33This dramatically reframes the narrative, leaving the characters and viewers guessing
22:37throughout subsequent episodes.
22:39I don't want you to die, any of you, but whichever of you goes to the Eye of the World
22:44and is not the dragon, you will die there.
22:48The reveal that Rand was adopted comes much later, and he realizes he's the dragon before
22:54traveling to the Eye, prompting him to go without his friends.
22:57You've always known it's you, deep down, no matter how fast or how far you run,
23:03you cannot escape your fate, you are the Dragon Reborn.
23:07In other words, it's a change that has far-reaching consequences.
23:11You always have a plan, within a plan, within a plan.
23:14Don't try to convince me that for this you've got nothing.
23:17Which other differences between book and TV series had you intrigued, or made you feel
23:21attacked by Trollocs?
23:22Let us know in the comments down below.
23:23I cannot lie.
23:24You'll work out a way, you owe me that much.
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