The Wheel of Time

Review: John Winterson Richards

In the race to produce the next Game of Thrones, Netflix was first off the mark with The Witcher. Amazon pursued a different strategy, taking its time and investing huge sums in developing better known and more prestigious intellectual properties, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time cycle of fantasy novels and a "prequel" to the grandfather of them all, J R R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien spawned a host of imitators, David Eddings and Terry Brooks being among the more commercially successful. Jordan and his friend George R R Martin, who wrote A Song of Ice and Fire, the basis of Game of Thrones, represented a generational shift to a more realistic style of "big map fantasy." Jordan, like Tolkien, but unlike many other fantasy writers, a very intelligent and well-read man with broad life experience, had polished his craft writing sequels to Robert E Howard's 'Conan' novels (it is perhaps surprising that the highbrow academic Tolkien was familiar with Howard's so-called "pulp" fantasy and thought well of it). So when he came to write his own Tolkienesque cycle of novels, The Wheel of Time, he brought a grittier, edgier Conanesque tone to it.

This, and Jordan's association with Martin, should make The Wheel of Time the natural successor to Game of Thrones. However, while the latter was produced by HBO, which has cultivated a very "adult" image, The Wheel of Time is very much a product of Amazon's more "family friendly" sensibility. It has an obsession with sex that is almost entirely absent in Tolkien, but the sex is referenced more than shown and even when shown it is not explicit. Nor is the violence as gory as Game of Thrones or the language as foul. It seems to be pitched right in the middle between the Lord of the Rings films and the Game of Thrones television series in its tone.

It is therefore in danger of being neither one thing nor the other. It is not the High Fantasy of Tolkien, Eddings, and Brooks, or grimy pseudo-historical fiction with touches of fantasy, which is what Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire really is. This is a spoiler light overview of its first season.

It gets off to a very poor start. The now very stereotypical ultra-strong women, happy multi-ethnic peasants blissfully unaware that they are about to be attacked, pretty scenery, and good looking young people give it the feel of a minor "Sword and Sorcery" feature from the 1980s, or perhaps a cheap Hercules the Legendary Journeys or Xena Warrior Princess knock off from the late 1990s.

Stick with it, however. It does get better, especially when the unfortunately named "Trollocs" turn up. They are genuinely frightening, a combination of Sir Peter Jackson's orcs with traditional representations of horned demons, except big and fast. Animalistic carnivores, they are directed by the even more nightmarish "Fades," ghouls right out of Hieronymus Bosch, practically faceless but for their huge teeth. They are, and remain, formidable adversaries.

Happily, our principal protagonist is there to show what she can do, and a superb night battle literally lights up the hitherto dull opening episode. Apart from anything else, it is a good to see a fight that really does look as if it could go either way. Moiraine is a powerful magician but by no means invincible or invulnerable. There is nothing superhuman about her in spite of her impressive introduction. Indeed, the more we get to know Moiraine, the more human she becomes, thanks to a subtle yet commanding performance from Rosamund Pike. She is definitely the best thing in the show, and it is a pleasant change to see a woman in the prime of life, neither a young sex object with unlikely wisdom beyond her years nor an older woman playing basically a character role, as the lead in a major action show. No one thinks twice about men in their forties playing age appropriate leader types, but actresses tend to disappear into a mid career trench. The talented Pike, so brilliant in Gone Girl among many other projects, paints a realistic portrait of a female authority figure in early middle age - it seems ironic that it takes a fantasy drama to provide one.

Moiraine has great natural presence of the type that can silence a room just by walking in, but beneath the calm exterior is a complex woman. She can be hurt and exhausted. The certainty she projects on the surface is not a reflection of what she really feels. She does not know everything about what is going on and that worries her. She is a loner within an organisation that emphasises sisterhood, an individualist sworn to obedience. More characters like this, please.

Although she is very powerful, her power does not rely on physical strength. This is a relief: the woman warrior superior to any man in battle, once a clever reversal of expectations, is now an overused cliché. For physical protection, she relies on her Warder, Lan (Daniel Henney), a taciturn samurai bound to her by the tightest possible psychic bonds.

The younger characters, to whom most viewers would usually be expected to relate in projects like this, are far less interesting. There is the young village "Wisdom," or healer, Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) and four apparently ordinary youngsters, one of whom is the "Dragon Reborn," a Messianic figure who might equally end up a sort of Anti-Christ if he turns to the Dark. The script makes a half-hearted effort to keep us guessing which, even if it is pretty obvious. Is it the handsome farmer's son Rand (Josha Stradowski)? Or the would-be apprentice healer Egwene (Madeleine Madden)? Or the blacksmith Perrin (Marcus Rutherford)? Or the gambler and petty criminal Mat (Barney Harris)? Do we really care?

The juvenile characters were aged slightly from the books in the casting because the producers did not want to be associated with the "young adult" market - in spite of the fact that teenagers are often played by actors in their twenties in such projects. As a result, the four possible Dragons come across as slightly immature for their supposed ages: they look like adults but still talk and act more like children. At the time of writing it has been announced that Harris has been replaced as Mat in the upcoming second season: no reason has been given, but it is surely not his acting because, of the four, he gives by far the most engaging performance.

There are a number of familiar faces in the supporting cast: Michael McElhatton from Game of Thrones makes the most of the chance to play a nice guy, Rand's father; Clare Perkins from The Outlaws is a sensible member of the highly politicised order of dedicated women to which Moiraine belongs; Peter Franzen from Vikings is her Warder; and Maria Doyle Kennedy is the leader of a likeable band of pacifist travellers. Best of all is Sophie Okonedo as the leader of Moiraine's order, who, even more than Moiraine, must hide her vulnerability behind a façade of strength. Fares Fares, is a Satanic figure who, like all the most effective tempters, adopts a plausible manner. Hammed Aminashaun is agreeable as a pedantic ogre.

The plot is straight out of the Joseph Campbell playbook. We get a lot of the sequences familiar to genre fans - the hurried departure, the chase, a City of the Dead, the parting of the heroes, temptations and ambushes, unexpected help, reunion of the heroes, the wonders of a Great City, politicking among supposed allies, and an epic final battle. The pace picks up as it goes on and it begins to trot along nicely, in spite of some odd editing decisions and a lot of exposition.

Jordan's cycle runs to fourteen thick novels, filled by over two thousand named characters and four million words. He had a particular interest in developing an elaborate mythology, and even a sort of theology, for his carefully constructed world. Most fans of the books seem to have accepted that a television adaptation would have to cut this drastically. Even so, a lot of time is still spent explaining needless details of things that do not actually exist while some important plot points are passed over very casually or in complete silence.

The production does, however, score very highly in terms of its visual aesthetics. The combination of clever location work with CGI is symbolic of the perfect synthesis of reality and magic it produces. At its best it merits comparison with Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which it references frequently and quite deliberately. This is not a criticism. Indeed, other fantasy projects would do well to emulate The Wheel of Time in its use of light and colour. The landscapes of Croatia, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic are gorgeous, and there is a welcome cameo appearance by the Alcazar of Segovia, which looks as if it belongs in a fairy tale but is honestly quite real.

It was a nice touch that the City of the Dead, Shador Logoth, looks a lot like a less vibrant version of Tar Valon, the Great City which is the initial objective of our heroes' journey. There is a message there somewhere.

Comparing The Wheel of Time with its Netflix rival, The Witcher, Amazon's contender wins on photography and special effects, but loses on characterisation. In terms of story, the first season of The Wheel of Time has a tight, cohesive plot, which is more than be said about the first of The Witcher. The big question is where they both go from here. If the writers of The Wheel of Time are just going to wander around Jordan's world, exploring its detail, it is not going to attract audiences that justify its budget. The key to a good story is writing good characters: if you do that, you can do almost anything with them and people will care. Moiraine is interesting, but none of the other principals in The Wheel of Time is as compelling as Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri in The Witcher. Of course, the real test for both shows will come when they face Amazon's other big contender, their Tolkien prequel. Even if this is based on little more than his appendices and desk jottings, minor Tolkien is still Tolkien. The old Professor understood story construction, which is why Jordan followed him so closely. The scriptwriters of The Wheel of Time and its rivals could learn a lot by going back to him.

Season Two

Season Two built successfully on the strengths of its predecessor while at the same time addressing the weaknesses in plot and characterisation with a risky strategy that seems to have paid off. The show is even better looking this season. Once again, it makes great use of locations, especially in a part of Morocco that is now familiar to film makers, and in Czechia. This is combined with imaginative use of CGI and a fearless embrace of colour, both in costumes and in computer grading, that other shows, especially fantasy and history drama, would do well to study.

It also gives its talented star more room to stretch herself as we get glimpses of the side of herself that Moiraine likes to keep hidden behind the facade of imperturbability. Pike balances both sides of her character, the powerful magus who always has to be seen to be in control and the secretly vulnerable woman, with such apparently effortless skill so that we are never entirely certain which will prevail in any situation. Moiraine is all the more realistic because she can be quite unpleasant in the way she treats others - she combines an aristocratic brusqueness with a fanatic's belief that ends justify means - and her decisions are not always logical. It is these imperfections that make her so fascinating, a Gandalf with issues.

This deeper exploration of our main protagonist's background and psyche is part of the general high risk strategy of putting more emphasis on character. Television is not supposed to do this in 2023 when it is generally assumed that viewers demand lots of noise and movement to keep their attention fixed on increasingly small screens.

Yet Season Two gets away with it, so that it comes as a shock when one realises how few action scenes and big set pieces there are before the final episode - which, it has to be said, more than makes up for their previous absence. The show has tricked the viewer into finding things like personal development and the interplay of characters involving, even moving (beware of a big emotional moment in the last episode). Clever show.

It does this by abandoning the main spine of the narrative, which was one of the great strengths of the first season, and separating the main characters. This is another brave decision, but it enables us to get to know them one by one. In particular, our five young juvenile leads were something of a generic group in Season One, so this time apart helps them grow as individuals.

The biggest winner in this process is Madeleine Madden as Egwene, the young apprentice healer who has been persuaded to become a Novice with the Aes Sedai, the feared sisterhood of magi. She gets some good Hogwarts type scenes in the early episodes, contrasted with some truly harrowing scenes later on. Madden impresses by how well she copes with everything that is thrown at her. As blacksmith Perrin, Marcus Rutherford shows how even a rather dull character becomes interesting when accompanied by three attractive warrior women and an even better looking wolf. His only problem is that his wolf, Hopper, steals every scene in which he appears. Hopper's presence also begs the question why even the slow witted Perrin did not wonder about his own lupine tendencies before this.

Donal Finn, already an experienced actor, is fine as Mat Cauthon, but one cannot help thinking how the subtler Barney Harris would have handled the same scenes. Harris' departure remains unexplained. We must respect his statement that it was for "very personal reasons," but it did not stop the internet doing what it always does in such situations, rushing in to fill the information vacuum with what turned out to be demonstrably inaccurate speculation. The moral of this story is that if you are in any sort of position in which the media and the internet take an interest in you, it is best to feed the beast before it feeds on you.

Zoe Robins as Nynaeve is given a strong character arc, including a very clever sequence of truly disturbing tests, but still comes across as petulant and even immature. This is doubly odd because she is supposed to be the oldest and wisest of the five - indeed, her job title is "Wisdom." The character does not seem to be progressing at all. The other disappointment is Rand, played by Josha Stradowski, who was, surely to absolutely no one's surprise, revealed at the end of the previous season as "The Dragon Reborn." Considering this means he is meant to be the extremely powerful Big Hero, he displays very little agency and has in effect taken over from Perrin as the most pointless character. Perhaps he needs to get himself a wolf - or, better still, an actual dragon.

We also get to spend more time with some of the intriguing recurring characters from Season One. The openly antagonistic "Red" Aes Sedai Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood, great) is given layers of complexity that force us at least to wonder which way she will bounce before the end. Alvaro Morte all but eats the scenery as a false Dragon, a long way from his nuanced, controlled performance in Money Heist. Sophie Okonedo as the head of the Aes Sedai gives us a good case study in the loneliness of power. Daniel Hanney continues to brood a lot as Moiraine's hunky Warder, an uneasy combination of bodyguard and sex toy. Kae Alexander as a likeable barmaid demonstrates why the ability to see the future would be a curse rather than a gift. Stuart Graham strikes the right note as a member of an order of religious fanatics who retains a sense of honour and decency, while Abdul Salis is a straightforward fanatic in the same order with more than a touch of sadism about him. Guy Roberts enjoys himself as a surly soldier and it is a pity we do not see more of his character's background. Hammed Aminashaun channels Treebeard the Ent from Lord of the Rings very effectively as an amiable ogre, or rather Ogier. Fares Fares makes a Satan analogue seem almost reasonable with a definite point of view.

They are joined by some intriguing new characters. Best of all is Natasha O'Keeffe from Peaky Blinders as a convenient innkeeper with secrets and her own agenda, even if she is not always certain herself what it is. Ceara Coveney is believable and actually quite charming in the potentially difficult role of a young VIP who is sent to be educated as a Novice by the Aes Sedai. Lindsay Duncan knows better than anyone how to do female authority figures and is well cast as an aristocrat with a complicated family history. Meera Syal is maternal as an Aes Sedai living in very comfortable retirement who nevertheless rediscovers her taste for a little intrigue. Rima Ti Wiata is suitably Headmistressy as the Mistress of Novices at Aes Sedai Hogwarts. The fondly remembered Hayley Mills turns up in a very brief cameo.

As we find out more about these characters, the manoeuvring between the various players and factions becomes ever more compelling in much the same way that Game of Thrones achieved at its zenith. The ending of Season One left this reviewer in no particular hurry to see more, but that is definitely not the case after the conclusion of Season Two. Season Three is now eagerly anticipated - perhaps more so than the next seasons of any of its three competitors, certainly more than The Rings of Power and, sadly, The Witcher post-Cavill.

The good news is that the third season is already in production, commissioned immediately after the first was screened. However, although the initial viewing figures for Season One were good, and Season Two seems high in Amazon's "most watched," it still has not made the impact on the public consciousness that The Rings of Power did, even if much of the coverage the latter got was not for the reasons intended. The Wheel of Time looks like a very expensive show to make. There is a danger that it might indirectly fall victim to The Rings of Power: even Amazon cannot afford to run two costly but commercially disappointing big fantasy shows at the time and given how much they paid the Tolkien Estate for the rights they cannot back out of The Rings of Power. If a choice has to be made, it is almost certainly by far the superior of the two shows that will be cancelled. One can only hope that, before that happens, word will somehow get around that The Wheel of Time is getting a lot better.