Top 10 Differences Between The Wheel of Time Book and TV Show

This is a very different turning of the Wheel. For this list, we’ll be looking at the most drastic deviations in Amazon’s adaptation of Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Our countdown includes Perrin's wife, Moiraine's exile, the entire final battle, and more! If you could restore one moment from the books to the show, what would it be? Tell us in the comments!

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[WatchMojo]

If you could restore one moment from the books to the show, what would it be? Tell us in the comments!

[muzzebn]

What I don't understand is why you take such a wonderful story, loved by so many people and then at every chance you get you gut it out of everything that matters. the defining parts and the motivations of the characters that originally made the books so great. I think the biggest problem is that series writers think people want small, easily digestible stories with lots of unnecessary drama every time they watch rather then a slowly building story that with every episode grows on us. I don't feel any emotion for anything in the series because there is no build up to love anything. I have never been more disappointed in an adaptation :(

[ravenwind]

I just wanna say I'm mad about Mat's family. They made it seem like he had a horrible home life and that his dad was trash. Abel Cauthon is a good man. It even says so in the books.

[nicko]

Egwene healing Nyneave from death should have been on the list. Healing with using the one power is extremely difficult, and death cannot be healed in the books. Also, if Rafe is going to kill off surprising characters, I'd rather see the show canceled before he can ruin it even more

[princesscandlewax]

Great video! Thank you!

I’ve devoted countless thousands of hours of my life to reading The Wheel of Time…I started back in the mid-1990s and re-read it every time a new book was released, all the way to the end. I am currently half-way through “A Memory of Light” after I decided to re-read the series when I heard about the show last September. I was so excited! I always dreamed of someday being able to see my favorite story on screen! I couldn’t wait!….

Let me just say this to non-readers: everyone and everything in the book in painstakingly described in minute detail. There is a glossary at the end of each book with pronunciations, definitions, and descriptions of all the main people, places, things, events that occur in that part of the story. There are “companion” books to the series that go into even greater detail and cover everything imaginable. You need to understand that there is absolutely no ambiguity in the story at all as far as how characters look, dress, and behave…the 15 books and the companion material provide a crystal clear blueprint for any screenwriter to use.

I fail to understand why the show creators chose to abandon such a clearly defined story and do their own thing. How hard would it have been to have the actress playing Nynaeve tug her braid???? Nynaeve does this constantly and her character is known for it! Loial looks completely wrong…he’s supposed to have tufted ears on top of his head! And the WAYS!!!…The Waygate is supposed to be a stone door with a realistic carving of a tree/leaves on it; Aes Sedai don’t open it using the One Power, anyone can open it by removing the trefoil leaf of the Avendasora tree! And if they had let Machin Shin catch them, like in the show, they would have all died in the Ways!

I could rant about how the show has failed on so many levels for hours! If you have read the books, as everyone should, then you understand the pain I feel having suffered through eight episodes of yelling “WHAT?!” at my tv screen every few minutes. How could they have fucked up the greatest fantasy story ever written this badly?!?! Shame on them for crushing my dream! Jerks.

[nexusrev]

This show makes The Witcher look like a perfect adaptation

[CrtJester]

I was so excited when I heard they were making this into a series. sadly watching the whole first season was a chore. I wish they would have followed the book more closely rather than a "fresh new take".

[closetmonstar]

The show also changed the fundamental nature of Maichin shin making it a purely mental corruptive influence instead of a physically corrosive and voracious entity. They also omitted Mordeth and Padan Fain’s merge with him, and Fains apparent control of Maichin Shin. The choice to make it so the waygates can only be opened using the One Power, which completely negates their function as a gift to the Ogier from the male Aes Sedai.

[Peregrin]

Top Ten Biggest Changes
The Soul
The Spirit
The Characters
The Lore
The World
The Magic
The Plot
The Morals
The Quality
The Consistency

[FirionDude]

After watching the show and reading the lore online, I wanted the adaptation to be way more loyal to the books. The story in the books is way more interesting and the fact that each character becomes way more unique than the show, makes it way more interesting.

[danielbroome]

Perrin's wife was probably one of the more insulting changes from the books by making him manslaughter her immediately so that they could just side-line him for the entire season because they didn't want to spend the time developing his character and didn't want to cast Elyas to help awaken Perrin's powers as a wolf-brother. Plus the obvious problematic implications of fridging a woman immediately to further a man's story when it wasn't in the books and didn't actually further his character. IF she had been a darkfriend about to kill him and his Ta'veren luck had killed her to save his life by chance, THEN it would be more acceptable, but as it is, it's just a flaccid "Durrr violence bad" message from a guy who clumsily murdered his wife. They turned the in book misconception of Perrin as a big dumb oaf rather than the slow to speak gentle giant he is, into what he LITERALLY is in the show.

[TheAsmodha]

I would like to have Perrin character development back. Because they totally thrash it in this season.

[dematar]

an easier list would be what they didn't change. 1 - character names, 2 - location names. that's it.

as a long time fan of the series, I can see where the show can appeal to an audience unfamiliar with the books, but to me, it's just bad fan fiction. the fact that Rafe designed it in a way to irritate, if not just piss off, long time fans of books is a just an asshole move.

[moonbow]

The last episode sucked. Rand had no dragon reborn moment.

[kingleoxvii]

Unforgivable that they left out Rand's father talking about his past while suffering from delirium due to his wound

[nmbalo]

I'd like to add some that WatchMojo didn't have:
1. Weaves are learned, the two women in the show are able to do so much with the power yet they have not learned the specific weave. The targeted healing of 4 plus people at once, the holding back of the black wind, he healing of a woman who burned herself.

2. Women can sense other women who are close to channeling and their potential power

3. The dark wind, when it touches you it rips the victim apart, inside out. Also it did speak but always sounded at the edge of understanding. I think only Padan Fain could understand it

4. The Ways, they don't need channeling to work. Also they haven't explained how the trollocs used them if channeling is needed

5. Lan, the strong man has been degraded to a man crying on his knees, a man who has nothing to live for b4 Moraine. Lan has a kingdom he has been fighting to reclaim before he met her, Lan once said " the only job a man has is to face anything that comes on his feet", paraphrasing. Plus Lan has barely been to the tower yet there he is crying over a dead warder when he never cried when people closer to him died

6. The relationship between Lan and Nynaeve. There was no reason Lan would show interest or view her in a good light. She tried to kill him when he was explaining and also threatened to let his Aes sedai die. This isn't how she is in the books, they forced them to be close but it was built on nothing really

7. Tom teaching the boys some of his trade so they could make a living and travel well, also his colorful coat is always on display not hidden inside

[robwalsh]

Amazon's Wheel of Time is what happens when you have so-called "fan fiction" that is not actually written by fans.

[LtColWhiskeyPilot]

A more difficult task, find ten similarities between the books and the show.

[customsongmaker]

Main difference: people have kept reading the books for 32 years, while this show lost most people's attention in under 8 hours.

[bdmarchant]

Those who haven’t read the books won’t understand what’s going on, and those who have read the books won’t like the changes.