Full spoilers for the Wheel of Time, the show up to season 1 and all books.

Hello, everyone. You stumbled upon one of my wordy texts, thoughts I put down instead of letting them run around endlessly in my head. This time, I'm attempting to imagine and build a structure for the early part of the Wheel of Time, and to find the important ideas that should be introduced and developed to fill that structure. This is an exercise that will pertain to the Eye of the World and to the show's first season, but should be relevant for any fiction work with a sprawling imaginary universe. This is all subjective, interpretation and lengthy discussion that may go beyond the explicit scope of the source material. Enjoy reading and please share your thoughts afterward. Cheers.

Foreword

Before you go running from me as I am talking about the show or about exercises, or before you quickly skim the article, I would like to introduce what I want to do, and what I would love for you to do. Whether you like the show or not, whether you like all the books or not, whether you like adaptations and derivative works or not, when talking about any story, you have to consider what you are going to talk about and how you are going to relay it to the audience. When discussing the Wheel of Time, or any fantasy epic, there will be debate about the structure, the worldbuilding, the character development, the themes.

As book readers, we are relatively omniscient about the story and the world from the Wheel of Time, and thus we may sketch some outline of everything. We need a draft of the structure and a list of possible content. The goal is to write it in the first place, to adapt it to another medium, or to write it anew. Rewriting or adapting means choosing between: taking only parts of it and cutting the rest, or taking themes and imagining a new story, or making a faithful transcription, or expanding on it. Here are a few questions we would like to answer: who are the characters we are focusing on? what are the themes we are developing? what are the events we are including? what is the information we need to relay? how long is the whole thing going to be?

In this article, I will develop some general aspects of storytelling and specific items from the Wheel of Time. There are a bunch of raw listings, since going in depth for even a few of those would require writing a whole book. Such a discussion has a large scope, meaning some points may end up underdeveloped or forgotten, that is on me for not limiting myself more for the topic. In another post, I will look into how the Eye of the World and the show's first season go about their structure, and maybe do my own arrogant attempt at creating a script for a first season as a TV series. Keep in mind that we are not here to bash or praise a particular execution of the Wheel of Time, but to try to produce some draft fitting what is in our mind. Please share your thoughts and your answers.

Events

If we strictly follow the story from the Eye of the World, events would be: the attack on Emond's Field, the long flight from the Two Rivers, staying in Baerlon, the night in Shadar Logoth, arriving in Whitebridge, the road to Caemlyn, finding Elyas then the Tuatha'an, being captured by the Whitecloaks then freed, Caemlyn, traveling the Ways, spending some time in Fal Dara, adventuring into the Blight and the stuff at the Eye of the World itself.

There are other events which happen around the same time, or prior to the start of the adventure, and which are relevant: Lews Therin's death, the Breaking of the World, the fall of Manetheren, the Aiel War, the war in Ghealdan and the capture of Logain, Moiraine looking for the Dragon, Aes Sedai doing stuff in general. All these are hardly depicted directly in the books, beyond the EotW prologue and New Spring. At that point, it is up to us if we wish to remain evasive about those or if we want to include them and expand the scope of the story.

I personally feels like the show demonstrates that you can shift things around a lot and change the sequences of events, but retain the core identity, the feels and the story beats. I would probably make massive changes to the events as they are depicted in the Eye of the World, maybe even over the first three books. But then I also love these books as they are and I have no real intention of rewriting them, so it is really a thought experiment.

The major events that need to happen are Moiraine finding the ta'veren in Emond's Field, the attack on the village by the Trollocs, the flight, and then really any set of events as the heroes get separated and find themselves in a large and hostile world. As for the end, we need some revelation about Rand being the Dragon, and a manifest threat from the Forsaken and the Dark One, notably Ishamael messing with the heroes and probably some kind of attack by Shadowspawns. Many particular events, meetings and locations can occur later or earlier, be skipped or added: meeting the Aes Sedai, the Tuatha'an, the Whitecloaks, the Borderlanders, the Andor royal family, the Aiels; visiting Caemlyn, Tar Valon, the Borderlands; going through the Ways and the Blight.

Worldbuilding

There are many places and peoples in the Wheel of Time. Rather there are many characters, nations, factions, cities, groups, hamlets, names. If we limit ourselves to the ones relevant to the early events, we have the Two Rivers, the Aes Sedai, the darkfriends, Andor, Manetheren, Shadar Logoth, the Tuatha'an, the Whitecloaks, the Borderlanders, the Blight. By the end of book 3, we will have to add the Seanchan, the Aiel, Tear, and more.

The Aes Sedai at least are central as the main institution in Randland and need some early introduction. The Aes Sedai and channelers, as well as leaders and soldiers, all help introducing some of the larger themes, such as duty, arrogance and politics, as well as the One Power and how it is viewed. That is already quite the work to do. The Two Rivers, Andor and the Borderlands are also notable in being quite important to the characters and to the events. At least, they don't need that much explanation, that is until Lan starts explaining the names associated with him, and until Elayne appears.

Beyond describing the current world and its inhabitants, there is also history to teach. That would be the Age of Legends, the Breaking of the World, the Trolloc Wars, the Aiel War, the prophecies. I think you could include any of those, probably not all of them, to give this epic feeling that fans talk about with the prologue (and the LotR opening), or you could put none of it and let the world reveal itself in time. On that front, a cool introduction in my eyes would be a sweeping shoot over the lands, just like the wind does at the beginning of every book. This would give scale and build up expectations without spoiling or introducing completely different events.

Giving glimpses into the past can be done later, following examples of the Blood Snow and the flashback to the Age of Legends in the show, and I would just put that as a choice of storytelling rather than a requirement in one way or another. The books did stay rather evasive in giving lots of information and explicit details about past events, but without it having a particular impact that is often seen with dissimulating or manipulating history.

The Dragon

While the Dragon is only one soul, and in the end only one hero among many, his role is at the forefront and the term will bring up many ideas: Lews Therin, the Breaking of the World, the prophecies, the Aes Sedai, the False Dragons, the Taint on Saidin, the madness of male channelers, the mystery of the Dragon's identity, Moiraine's search, Tam's story and finally of course Rand himself.

From rereading the Eye of the World, I confirmed memories that the idea of the Dragon is not at the foreground there just yet. Early chapters reference it to an extent, but even then it is talking idly about the legends and about False Dragons. Only the prologue with Lews Therin and the references to Logain are explicitly and directly about the Dragon. As for the identity of the Dragon in this age, it is fairly obvious pretty quickly but from a meta point of view, then half confirmed by the end of EotW, and truly confirmed beyond any possible doubt by the end of TDR.

I am unsure of how much the mystery itself should be played up. They are many other stuff to fill the story, and being in the Dragon's mind, knowing its relation with the madness, is crucial in introducing the impending doom of the Last Battle. The Dragon will both save and destroy. At the same time, the stakes can be communicated without revealing the exact person, and it puts everyone under heavy pressure and a constant questioning of oneself: Egwene is eager to go on an adventure, Mat wants nothing do with responsibility, Nynaeve only wants to heal and protect, Perrin struggles with violence, Rand wants a normal life. All of them actually rise up to their challenges and demonstrate tremendous courage and intelligence, plus their share of twists of fate.

While the Dragon is the main player, it would be a mistake to focus only on him. The book puts the issue in the background as the characters spend weeks on a mad dash. The show puts the issue in the background as we do not know who the Dragon is. Both reveal little actual information about it, and even that information is considered unreliable. There is probably quite a few ways to go about the Dragon: put it at the forefront with all its meaning to show the awe and the danger, then push it to the back to expand on the other characters; hide it as long as possible to play up the mystery and the intrigue, bringing up every character at the same time; reveal it quickly and focus on the events to up the pace; follow Rand directly like in EotW, to be more intimate and maddening.

Characters

How many characters you say? A lot. Even just the main group is already large: Egwene, Lan, Mat, Moiraine, Nynaeve, Perrin, Rand. And the ones that join for a while: Thom, Elyas and Loial. And the tens of minor and not so minor characters that will come back later: Tam, half of Emond's Field, Padan Fain, Min, Aram, named Whitecloaks, Logain, Elayne, Gawyn, Galad, Morgase, Elaida, Tallanvor, Agelmar. And all the others that will also be relevant: Lews Therin, all the Forsaken, Siuan and Leane, hundreds of Aes Sedai.

EotW gives us Rand's viewpoint for most chapters, and some of Perrin's too. But overall, the Wheel of Time depicts a huge ensemble of characters, many of those need an early introduction and some development. For the early events, we should focus on at least the ta'veren and the candidates to be the Dragon, so the three boys and most probably Egwene and Nynaeve as well. Lan and Moiraine are also major characters which need to appear, do stuff and be talked about.

It is not inconceivable to favor one or two characters, Rand or Moiraine perhaps, to ease the audience in. But the other characters would still be there, and their actions need to be communicated: Egwene and Nynaeve starting to channel, the bond between Moiraine and Lan, the romance between Lan and Nynaeve, Mat and the dagger, Perrin and the wolves.

There is again room for choice here. You could focus on Rand like EotW, you could build up the ensemble cast, you could focus on Aes Sedai. Furthermore, you can pick and choose which extra characters you bring in, where and in what order, like the show swapped the Andor royal family with the Amyrlin Seat. There is so much content for characters that it is both a deep reserve and a headache, by allowing endless possibilities but forcing you to cut something somewhere.

Magic

The One Power is the main magic system in the Wheel of Time, and plays a major part in the story, as it gets handled regularly by many of the protagonists and antagonists. When introducing the One Power, we should talk about its laws, rules and theories. When developing it, we should talk about its users, effects, applications, produced items, concepts, institutions. That means a long list already, let's see: the One Power, the True Source, channeling, weaves, the five elements, linking, Saidar, how to channel it, Saidin, how to channel it, the Taint, burning out, stilling, gentling, shielding, the addiction, talents, Foretelling, angreals. And that were the things directly related to the One Power, you could add a number of items which are indirectly but closely related: the madness, the True Power, the steddings, the Ways, the White Tower, the Aes Sedai, the Breaking of the World, the Dragon and False Dragons.

Obviously, we have a long story to develop the One Power and everything related to it over time. Early on, we probably want to explain it succinctly, describing the channeling and weaves in general, mentioning the divide between Saidar and Saidin, showing off the Power and introducing the Aes Sedai. Perhaps we can wait before giving any kind of exposition, and just launch the fireworks, especially if we focus on Rand and him being completely lost and alone in regard to the One Power.

At the same time, EotW does contain a number of events that may require some understanding of the One Power. Namely, the prologue, Egwene and Nynaeve and Rand starting to channel, Moiraine doing her stuff, Logain being shown as a False Dragon and gentled, the Ways, all the things at the Eye of the World.

Themes and philosophies

To me personally, themes and philosophies may be the most important to keep and to highlight. For as much as I care for the characters, love the world and enjoy the events, what remains with me is feelings and thoughts. The Wheel of Time is about Rand and the others, it is a fantasy war of good against evil, and a complex story with countless characters, factions and intrigues. However these concrete ideas eventually meld and turn into fuzzy themes. You may not believe in a savior yourself but you joined Rand on his journey. You may not have a love to call your own but you remember the romances and people caring for their loved ones. You may be unhappy with life and the world, but you saw the courage and determination of heroes.

Themes and philosophies might be the hardest to hit accurately, because most of it is between lines, and within your mind. An artist rarely writes explicitly as the first line: "This is a critique of war, that's all." Some people could even leave with ideas opposing the original message. Art is something that exists in everyone's head. As do emotions, morals, dreams, memories.

I typically summarize the main theme in the Wheel of Time as "Do better". A mix of a sense of duty, hope, doing what is right, selflessness, progress. It is a major part of the way of life for Tam and Rand, and it is also tied with the nature of the Wheel of Time and the rebirth concept. Another large theme is duty in itself, with many characters living their life following some kind of mission and having some personal outlook upon their own actions. Rand and Lan are forefront on that one, with the "Duty is heavier than a mountain" line, but it is relevant to Moiraine, with her mission to lead the Dragon to the Last Battle, to Nynaeve, as leader and protector of the Emond's Field's folks, to Mat, in trying to run away from duty as fast as possible only to do what is right, to Perrin, who rises to the challenges even though he is afraid of himself, to Egwene, who assumes leadership for the Aes Sedai during a crisis and is unbending.

Here are some other major themes: arrogance, by thinking you are more important than everyone, or capable of any feat; tolerance, by bringing people together despite their differences; gender roles, by assigning arbitrary traits and skills to men and women, but bringing them together to prevail; free will, by fighting against your already written destiny; humanity, by saving because it should be done rather than it needing to be done. And again some more themes: peace, love, family, loyalty, sacrifice, balance, duality, authority, strength.

When writing Wheel of Time, you should keep these themes in mind, at least whatever collection of them that feels right. Several are driven by the very nature of its universe, the Wheel and the Pattern, which are understood as matter of fact, rather than myths or a religion. For all intents and purposes, they are the same because your life cannot affect your next one in any meaningful way, but in the end it does not matter. We do what we do because we believe in something, whatever it is.

The bullet list

And now the raw list of everything, restricting it to the early part of the story. With very short notes on the extent with which they were included in the first book and first season, and if I would want to include them myself. Obviously, this is just a big heap of stuff, so expect mistakes, and feel free to disagree. I grouped items with tiers and categories, based on an arbitrary appreciation of their importance, it has no meaning, it is only to make it easier to digest.

Tier 1

• Events: The attack on Emond's Field (book: major; show: medium; me: yes and major)
• Events: Shadar Logoth, Mashadar, Mordeth, the dagger (book: medium; show: medium; me: yes and major)
• Events: Rand, Mat and Thom traveling (book: major; show: medium; me: yes and medium)
• Events: Mat being sick because of the dagger (book: major; show: major; me: maybe and medium)
• Events: Mat being cured (book: minor; show: minor; me: maybe and minor)
• Events: Perrin and Egwene with the Tuatha'an (book: medium; show: medium; me: maybe and minor)
• Events: Perrin and Egwene captured by the Whitecloaks (book: medium; show: medium; me: maybe and minor)
• Events: The Eye of the World (book: major; show: major; me: no)
• Events: The Horn of Valere (book: very minor; show: very minor; me: no)
• Events: The Dragon Banner (book: very minor; show: nothing; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: The Two Rivers, Emond's Field and its habitants, the Women's Circle, the Village Council (book: major; show: major; me: yes and major)
• Worldbuilding: The Ways, Machin Shin (book: medium; show: medium; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: The White Tower and its Aes Sedai, the Amyrlin Seat, the Hall, the oaths, the ajah, the politics, the warders (book: very minor; show: major; me: yes and medium)
• Characters: Moiraine and Lan (book: major; show: major; me: yes and major)
• Characters: Egwene, Mat, Nynaeve, Perrin, Rand (book: major; show: major; me: yes and major)
• Characters: The EF5 families, Tam, Thom (book: medium; show: medium; me: yes and medium)
• Characters: Padan Fain (book: major; show: medium; me: maybe and minor)
• Characters: Forsaken: Ba'alzamon/Ishamael, Aginor (book: minor; show: minor; me: yes and major)
• Characters: Lan, Moiraine, Nynaeve doing stuff and glaring (book: major; show: major; me: yes and major)
• Characters: Lan+Nynaeve (book: minor; show: major; me: yes and medium)
• Characters: Egwene+Rand (book: very minor; show: major; me: yes and medium)
• Characters: Named Aes Sedai and warders: Alanna, Elaida, Leane, Liandrin, Siuan, Verin (book: very minor; show: major; me: yes and medium)
• Magic: Rand channeling (book: medium; show: minor; me: yes and very minor)
• Magic: Perrin becoming a wolfbrother (book: medium; show: minor; me: yes and minor)
• Magic: Egwene learning to channel (book: minor; show: medium; me: maybe and minor)
• Magic: The One Power, the True Source, channeling, weaves, the five elements, linking (book: minor; show: medium; me: yes and medium)
• Magic: Saidar, how to channel it (book: very minor; show: very minor; me: yes and medium)
• Magic: Saidin, how to channel it, the Taint, the madness (book: very minor; show: minor; me: yes and major)
• Magic: Burning out, stilling, gentling, shielding, the addiction (book: very minor; show: minor; me: yes and medium)
• Magic: Dreams, dream invasion, dreamshard, dreaming, foretelling, Tel'aran'rhiod, whatever else there is (book: medium; show: minor; me: maybe and minor)
• Themes: Do better (book: nothing; show: very minor; me: maybe and minor)
• Themes: Duty (book: minor; show: major; me: yes and minor)
• Themes: Arrogance (book: nothing; show: major; me: yes and major)
• Themes: Gender roles (book: medium; show: minor; me: yes and major)
• Themes: Free will (book: major; show: medium; me: maybe and medium)
• Other: Darkfriends (book: major; show: medium; me: yes and major)
• Other: Shadowspawns: Trollocs, Fades (book: major; show: medium; me: yes and medium)

Tier 2

• Events: Searching for the Dragon (book: nothing; show: medium; me: maybe and medium)
• Worldbuilding: The Dragon, Lews Therin (book: minor; show: minor; me: yes and medium)
• Worldbuilding: The Breaking of the World (book: very minor; show: very minor; me: yes and medium)
• Worldbuilding: The prophecies, Gitara's Foretelling (book: nothing; show: minor; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: The Wheel and the Pattern (book: minor; show: medium; me: yes and major)
• Worldbuilding: Ta'veren (book: medium; show: very minor; me: yes and major)
• Worldbuilding: The Dragon Reborn (book: very minor; show: major; me: yes and major)
• Worldbuilding: False Dragons, Logain (book: minor; show: major; me: yes and major)
• Worldbuilding: Andor, Baerlon, Caemlyn, Whitebridge, other towns (book: major; show: minor; me: yes and medium)
• Worldbuilding: The Whitecloaks, Valda, Bornhald, others I don't remember (book: minor; show: medium; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: Ogiers, Loial, steddings (book: minor; show: minor; me: no)
• Worldbuilding: The Borderlands, Shienar, Fal Dara, Tarwin's Gap, Malkier (book: major; show: medium; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: The Borderlanders, Agelmar, Hurin, Ingtar, Uno (book: medium; show: medium; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: The Aiels, the Aiel War, Blood Snow (book: nothing; show: minor; me: yes and medium)
• Worldbuilding: The Blight (book: major; show: medium; me: no)
• Characters: Min, her viewings (book: minor; show: minor; me: yes and minor)
• Magic: Nynaeve learning to channel (book: nothing; show: nothing; me: maybe and minor)
• Themes: Tuatha'an, The Way of the Leaf, Aram (book: medium; show: medium; me: maybe and medium)
• Themes: Duty is heavier than a mountain (book: very minor; show: minor; me: yes and major)

Tier 3

• Worldbuilding: The Age of Legends (book: very minor; show: very minor; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: Manetheren (book: medium; show: minor; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: Andor's court: Elaida, Elayne, Galad, Gawyn, Morgase (book: medium; show: nothing; me: no)
• Worldbuilding: Tar Valon, Dragonmount (book: no; show: medium; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: Blademasters, Great Captains, heron marked blades (book: minor; show: very minor; me: yes and medium)
• Worldbuilding: The Old Tongue (book: medium; show: minor; me: maybe and minor)
• Worldbuilding: The Dark One, its prison, the seals (book: minor; show: minor; me: yes and medium)
• Worldbuilding: The Trolloc Wars (book: very minor; show: very minor; me: maybe and medium)
• Worldbuilding: Other countries that might be talked about: Cairhien, Ghealdan, Tear (book: nothing; show: minor; me: maybe and minor)
• Magic: Ter'angreal, angreal, sa'angreal (book: very minor; show: minor; me: no)
• Magic: The True Power (book: nothing; show: nothing; me: no)
• Other: Training with the sword, sword forms, the Flame and the Void, archery (book: medium; show: very minor; me: yes and major)
• Other: Narg (book: minor; show: nothing: me: no)

Thanks for reading. Cheers.