Hardest To Adapt: The Wheel Of Time

[@mayeastrise]

Rand‘s inner conflict. Many of Rand’s scenes rely on being able to read his thoughts and his dialogue with Lews Therin. Hard to bring that on a screen IMO

[@MrToddinoz]

I was thinking that exactly. Combine that with Lew's therin trying to seize saidan and Rand struggling with him over it multiple times- I would have no idea how to portray that

[@mrthewhite2620]

not at all. That kind of thing is done all the time in tv shows and movies. "voices in head" are a pretty common trope and can be easily done with voice overs and maybe the occasional hallucination.

[@jjarmstrong5585]

I kind of want lewis to be both a voice and an actually casted character you can see hovering around rand every now and then he needs a visual for it to come off better

[@hunter002891]

It's not just rand. Every point of view character relays heavily on internal dialogue.

[@Kaladin0622]

JJ Armstrong I actually kind of like that, like a force ghost but even more subtlety

[@dasamont8274]

I just hope that the actors playing Rand, Mat and Perrin get a good friendship outside the show, so they can accurately portray their boyish and mischievous friendship. Like the scene in the stone where Rand stands in front of all the nobles of Tear, and shares smiles with Mat like two boys knowing they got away with a prank

[@jonathonborys3868]

fully agree with this.

[@ActionBob]

I really hope that the "sound of dice rolling" that Mat complains about should be a cool and tense music track based around a beat made from shaking dice in a cup like maracas.

[@Bish186]

It's tricky because he always says he FEELS them rolling not hears

[@MsTalia1]

@@Bish186 Yeah, but in a visual/audible route. That sound of dice rolling would be the "cue" for us, showing us that something is about to kick off.

[@Bish186]

@@MsTalia1 yeh I think that's the only way and like have it building up faster/louder the nearer the moment comes.

[@xyr3s]

or you can maybe show matt absently rolling the dice in his cup. you know how some people absent mindedly do stuff?? so when it's a dice rolling situation, it could be him just absent mindedly shaking his dice cup in a hand while he's whistling or doing some thing.

[@jespermadsen9297]

Ah... for some reason with this and Lews Therin in my minds eye I keep seeing a bad insert of rolling die and LT like a bad cut job being see-through or a blue floating head (Like Zordon from Power Rangers: cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/g28tlGVrg-_tR0_MemAxZpoaPDc=/0x0:475x317/1200x800/filters:focal(0x0:475x317)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49917797/zordon-power-rangers-movie.0.0.jpg) It just pops up every time. I do hope they have something else in mind.

[@janvankessel624]

In my last reread I noticed how much of the characterplot is driven in their own thoughts, not in conversation with other characters. A lot goes on in their own heads and I wonder how they will adapt that in the series. Thx for the awesome info we get on your channel man, keep up the great work!

[@sanguinewolf4482]

I literally just wrote the same post! I really do feel this is the most difficult part of adapting any literature but WoT even more so.

[@gunneratijuf8915]

GOT had to do this and it got some fan backlash for certain iconic scenes they had to modify. Created characters will be needed or certain scenarios altered to be able to display the gist of the head narration. Good news is we’ll have facial expressions and other body language in the trade off.

[@RichFreeman]

Any kind of conflict especially relies on this. There is subtle scheming. There is internal debate during combat about trying to get the upper hand. It is very Narutoish.

[@JoelJoel321]

Gray Men: Cinematography! Use camera pans that glaze past them, so the audience sees them but as though they were not supposed to be in the shot. Sort of how RJ pans past them when describing what a character sees.

[@dragonatorul]

My thoughts exactly. Have them act like extras and the camera treat them like stage sets. Something like the dancing bear on the basketball court.

[@Fenix1861]

You can also use camera focus. If you always have the Grey Men out of focus it would allow the audience to see the total scene but represent why the characters cannot.

[@kyllikki11]

Exactly, just have them in shots that are not the natural focal points for peoples attention, like the edges, or counterintuitively the center, but in the background.

[@uri4263]

Yes! Hill House on Netflix did this with their ghosts

[@roninmahony5964]

This is always the way i saw it in my head too, i think if you pair everything you guys have suggested with "the most bland actors possible" - there is actually a grey man philosophy/ community of people, who study everything possible to blend into the back ground of the world, somebody from this scene would be awesome - it wouldnt be an issue at all

[@BWDuty605]

Mat was probably my favorite character. I can't remember if it was internal dialogue or a conversation, but I remember a part where it was remembered when he jumped in the river and tried to save somebody who wasn't actually drowning. He got laughed at for about a year and talked all kinds of smack about how he would just watch next time. Then when he saw somebody he thought was drowning again, he jumped in again and saved them. People stopped making fun of him, and it really shows the size of his heart and that his bark is bigger than his bite (in some ways). I also just love his sense of humor.

[@olemissguy200]

Honestly I could see Them changing lews therrin from a voice in his head to like a person of rand’s imagination and if we see it from other people’s POV that rands just talking to himself

[@Violetsoul6]

Rand having LTT in his head may be tricky. I love the way you explained Mat's character. I think you are spot on. I want the writer's of the show to hear it, just in case they don't fully understand that he isn't just a jokester. I would hate for his character to be reduced to just the funny guy who always wins a fight.

[@linkelivarmioumai7475]

Rand's madness (AKA Lewis Therin) is easy to portray. He is a "ghost" that only Rand can "see" and hear, just have who ever they get to play Lewis Therin for the "Prologue" make the required appearances for the scenes when he is interacting with Rand.

[@Bish186]

They could do something like he sees his face in reflected surfaces talking to him or somthing.

[@linkelivarmioumai7475]

@@Bish186 That won't work unfortunately. Rand can't be near a mirror every time LTT starts mumbling and ranting.

[@patrickholt2270]

@@linkelivarmioumai7475 But not just a ghost. Also like Schizophrenia at times, or like possession, on the occasions when Lews Therin starts channelling, or changing a channeling Rand has started. I'd be against a visual mostly, but you could do it as dream sequences, with everything else slowing down or stilling and going fuzzy while Lews moves and talks, or as a variation of the demon over the shoulder notion from cartoons for when he's trying to give coherent advice. But mostly it should just be like an ambient voice just in earshot but off screen, like when characters are walking through a crowd scene and overhear people speaking as they walk by but without really hearing what they're saying. So Lews' voice phases in and out of audibility, so you can hear him clearly for a sentence or two when there's a pause in the foreground conversation between the physical characters, but he's always quieter than whoever's in the shot at the time, and he can fade down to a background buzz of his muttering when Rand's really screening him out. In fact, that's how you could introduce Lews' voice, as this odd buzz in the ambient sound that's never mentioned by anyone, and which gets louder until suddenly there are some clear words in a break in the action or conversation.

[@linkelivarmioumai7475]

@@patrickholt2270 True, It will be hard to work either way.

[@SaskaSuper]

I'm just waiting for Jak o' the Shadows song

[@sivaramansundaram9522]

Me too!

[@calebevans3690]

i'm imagining something along the lines of "rains of Castamere"

[@Victoria-if6rs]

Reflections of Sound here on youtube has an amazing version!

[@gauchesymbiote1039]

I'm hoping it'll be the next "Toss a Coin to your Witcher".

[@michaelmerrick6275]

@@Victoria-if6rs I'm hoping that they get permission to use his extended versions of the songs because dear lord are they great.

[@eduardoo31]

i've always wondered how they could bring the perrin-wolves communication to the screen, especially with goodest boi hopper later on. i guess we'll see.

[@travis1984ify]

I think the best way would be images as described in the book, but with a subtle background voice translating, then the voice growing stronger and the images less frequent as Perrin embraces his gift.

[@paulstanley86]

I'd like a quick eye zoom, rapid flashs of pictures zoom out Perrin says what he needs to say. I would super enjoy running those parts in slow motion like an in your face Easter egg.

[@joshtargo6834]

I just hope we get to see Androl pour lava on the dark one's army.

[@thewaterwarrior9817]

He is my favorite character :)

[@frocat5163]

@@thewaterwarrior9817 He's definitely my favorite Ashaman. I have to give favorite character honor to Mat, though.

[@frocat5163]

@Yay Art More power to you, brother. Demandred is my favorite Chosen.

[@CarlosRosales-ds8xn]

With the dream world some color correction could work. Like in LOTR when Frodo puts on the ring

[@teddybear5788]

When Frodo puts on the ring everything is a massive storm of colours. I imagine the dream world to have an eerie silence to it, or maybe an omnipresent humming like the sound of an aircraft. A big part is the light that seems to be coming from everywhere. I think that will do the trick.

[@sanguinewolf4482]

I have had a difficult time imagining how they are going to drive the character development and plot without an insane amount of exposition. In another reread I find my self really noticing how much of these books is inner dialogue, easy to do in a book and even easier to over do in film.

[@Railstar1976]

A voice over, a ghostly presence, a different person in the mirror (thinking of Rand/Lews here). I think the best example of split personality dialogue in a fantasy context is Gollum arguing with Smeagol in the Lord of the Rings. Masterful. It can be done visually if the director and writers are thoughtful about it.

[@baddadjokes9330]

I think the actors are really going to have to display reactions and emotions extremely well in order to show the characters growing from their experiences.

[@crunkn8tr]

@@Railstar1976 this is what I was thinking also. They could also do reflections of LTT in objects and mirrors for arguments they have and a physical actor on set to portray the guidance and struggles over the power he has.

[@matthiasschirmel5335]

The most difficult thing to adapt imo is RJ's incredible handling of viewpoint. He makes every viewpoint character feel very distinct in the way they see and interact with the world and with other characters (those subtle shifts and nuances in relationships). It is probably my favourite aspect about the books and it will be extremely tough (if not impossible) to get across on screen.

[@LuckPuddle]

Yup... that's what made the series great - the one thing that doesn't translate to the screen. Distinct personal internal viewpoints. Oh well, it still should be a fun show. :)

[@kyllikki11]

As far as how to display Mat's luck factor, I would take a cue from Jordan and use the sound cue of rattling dice. At least when his ta'vereness is exerting itself to arrange events like meeting Tuan etc, or the Battle of Cairhien, when he accumulates the Band of the Red Hand around him. Having it as a subtle audio cue in the bacground music, maybe as some part of the percussion would work, kind of the way BSG used a lot of beating drums in battle scenes.

[@animefreakazoid01]

As far as season 1 i think some of the hardest things to adapt will be Shadar Logoth and when they go through the waygate with the Black Wind. I was terrified when I was reading it happening so I’m interested to see how they’ll pull it off.

[@JCMagic]

One of my favorite scenes is Nynaeve vs Moghedien in Tanchico. It is stated that if someone were to walk in it would just look like two women glaring at each other. It would be fun to get a rotating camera angle with a servant moving around dusting and when you see the servant you don't see the weaves and when you don't see the servant you can see the weaves. Start slow maybe having the servant glaring at the women behind their backs for disturbing her work and then intensify it as she slowly starts to realize what they are doing.

[@janeswitthake1836]

I think it is much harder to adapt all the internal dialogue and viewpoints of different characters on the world than visual things.

[@chadwhitfield6946]

90% of the internal dialogue should be cut out. It's all repetitive "this character understands women better than me" bullshit.

[@KjetilVago]

I think you could pull some magic with focus for the grey men. Just have them always be at a depth in the scene where they are out of focus.

[@ceekayy79]

I'm currently listening to the series on audible and I'll be listening to a part where the entire scene is that person and their mind. I'd forgotten how much goes on between the characters and their minds. You have Rand with Lews Therrin, Perrin with his wolf sight and Mats memories. All of these things happen and the characters don't say anything at all out loud. Hoooowwwwwwwwww!!!!!

[@thehoogard]

As for the grey man, just always have them out of focus :)

[@felbarashla]

And all done by one actor.

[@auhsojonalos7558]

Nynaeve is also a hard character to portray. She has the best character development in the series. I hope they get her right as the series progresses.

[@Railstar1976]

She is such a polarizing character. I have had people tell me they absolutely hate her and one who even stopped reading the series because of her, and in every case these people stopped reading the series around book 3-4, so they never got to experience her entire arc: her reconciliations with her friends from the Two Rivers, her self acknowledgment of her own faults and how she gains strength from that, and her romance with Lan. It's so totally not fair to her character, but then, some people don't have the patience for such a long series.

[@Raiiflux]

Her cheeky setup in a northern region in the last book(s) got me so hype. Actually worth all the braid tugging! Tai'shar Malkier

[@C-MOG]

Apparently Rafe "doesn't get" Nyaeve, so don't expect him to understand her block...

[@tiagostein4057]

She has the worse development. She starts badass, able to impress even lan and morraine... and after she gets to the tower she starts to be childish and dumb.

[@boomstick900]

@@tiagostein4057 Huh. Haven't heard that take before, but to each their own I guess.

[@Jesse-B]

I always imagined weaves as different coloured threads... cables... coming out of thin air, simply being woven, as it's described, into intricate patterns alkin to complex knitting (knitting circle?). Think of Avienda trying to unravel a gateway with those freed ends lashing around like snakes. A myrddraal's cape is always described as hanging straight and still, even in a wind. There's plenty of stuff that will need a lot of thought and discussion to get it right and not risk looking ridiculous, not least of which the ageless Aes Sedai face and the cat-like grace of warders.

[@Jesse-B]

@Robertson Thirdly Quite right, it's been too many years since I read it. “It has to be done,” Elayne sighed. “The Seanchan will be at the farm in hours, for sure. Even if they wait until tomorrow, what if one of the damane has the Talent to read residues? Nynaeve, I won’t give Traveling to the Seanchan. I won’t!”... ...To her eye the gateway resembled some monstrous, distorted hundred-heads on the bottom of a pond, surrounded by flailing tendrils, every one thickly haired with threads of the Power that grew and writhed and vanished only to be replaced by new. The opening visible to anyone flexed along its edges, changing shape and even size continuously. Her legs began to tremble; strain stung her eyes as much as sweat did. She did not know how much longer she could go on. Gritting her teeth, she fought. One thread at a time. One thread at a time... ...Down in the meadow, the weave that had been a gateway fell in on itself. Haggard, looking as though she could not possibly move, Aviendha hurled herself from her saddle at Elayne, carrying them both off. Elayne had just time to see the far slope of the hill below her as she fell. The air turned white, blanking her sight. There was sound-she knew there was sound, a great roar-but it lay beyond hearing. Something struck her, as if she had fallen from a rooftop onto hard pavement, from a tower top.

[@Jesse-B]

@Robertson Thirdly All this needs to be thought through thoroughly if the show is to stand up to the books.

[@hamishkilpatrick4724]

Well, put! I totally agree.

[@rickfranzen9318]

That is such an interesting take on Mat. Bc in his head he is the most unlucky guy ever. But what we get is the lucky guy. So it´s more ineresting what he feels, rather than what happens! I love that analogy so much

[@kevincraigmile7340]

If: Barney Harris, acting, can truly be Mat = How truly he looks like Mat. Really, he is exactly the Matrim Cauthon I picture!

[@bisifen8521]

He has his face... We'll see if he has his feelings :)

[@tiagostein4057]

Same, he matches the image i had built.

[@vamsiampolu8438]

I agree with this a 💯 %, if a friend is in trouble and Matt's nearby he goes above and beyond to help them.

[@chadwhitfield6946]

I actually have always thought high end anime would be the best medium for WOT.

[@chrtravels]

Excellent description on Matt. I had many of the same thoughts and concerns on his character and really looking forward to seeing how they can pull it off.

[@nvwest]

I found out about your channel bc of the witcher series and after finishing the books I finally started reading the wheel of time today because of you so thank you

[@abhimac27]

I absolutely hate the Mary Sue concept. It's feels like it's just thrown around for the sake of negativity.

[@tahunuva4254]

It's also massively misused. No one's gonna be a Mary Sue in this wheel of time thing - unless they create an entirely new character who's better than the original MCs and who breaks cannon

[@redneck-gringa]

The slide into insanity for one main character in particular. That may be difficult to pull off if not well written and acted.

[@ccheyenne]

Yeah they have to do it really slowly. They totally fucked it up with Daenerys, she was fine one episode and psycho the next.

[@metalgearstud1]

I love your optimism this show is gonna be perfect

[@mooreapi]

While Mat does get his extreme luck, he is also "Lucky" enough to always get drawn into major events/turning-points of the story... count how many times he says "Why me?"

[@TheRemco98]

I think Amazon should ask you for help. You are clearly someone who cares a lot about the series and really understand the characters and themes. And I love you for it

[@jamesv6241]

I think the only way to properly adapt WoT is in a long running, high budget animated series. Otherwise, too many compromises will have to be made to the visuals and story to stay within budget.

[@andrewvanvelsor7426]

Thank you for your specific spoiler warnings. You’ve inspired me to start the series and I’m on book 6. So when I see a WoT video, I’m always scared to watch it, but you’ve kept spoilers to a bare minimum with enough forewarning. Thank you 🤗

[@bradleygillies6295]

That’s all well and good love the vid All I wanna know is who is playing BELA! Keep up the good work dan

[@melaniev9446]

That was announced by Madeleine Madden on her twitter feed from yesterday, picture and all. And wotprime shared it on their Instagram so I call it legit 😁

[@davidm6751]

I think all the main actors will have a huge role in ‘making’ the show.. Not to mention all the supporting actors, make up, special effects, etc etc.. Its going to take a villainess to bring this to life. Just finished the series and very bummed to be done... But sooo looking forward to the live series. Such potential to be epic!! Can’t wait...

[@felbarashla]

The key to this series hands down is going to be actively and definitively portraying that whatever is happening is how “X” sees things. This is true whether we see Mat as a trickster, which weaves we see, all sorts of things. Part of Mat and Nynaeve is going to be that they look way different to others than they actually are. Most stuff that seems problematic (wolf dreams and the world of dreams as examples) would make more sense if we were seeing them as Perrin or Egwene sees them.

[@harlanpirrung3107]

I think they need to show flashbacks of the many the past lives that Matt has in his head and the dice sounds starting and stop in his head. I would like to see a more In depth Relationship building with Tuon. Mostly because I found her parts Sparse and would like to see more of her so her character does not feel like it need to be Shoved.

[@Zeerick11]

For the Grey Men an interesting way to do it would be through the cinematography, so having them deliberately placed outside of the main focus point of any shots that their in and deliberately guiding the eyes away

[@jamesblizzard1862]

#greymen I would at least try something like fight club when the viewer would occasionally see Brad Pitt pop in for a frame or 2. #wolfcommunication I would forego dialogue entirely and use pictures along with audio to convey thoughts and emotions. Thinking Sherlock Holmes when he strategized his fight, just remove the narration.

[@Echidna23Gaming]

My first thought for the grey men was like the scenes from John Wick 3 where the 2 ninja guys are hidden in frame and then appear suddenly, and the scenes where they very smoothly are hidden with the crowds, they dont even have to use and special effects in my opinion, just fancy camera work

[@jamesblizzard1862]

@@Echidna23Gaming It may seem less of a supernatural ability this way but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It would be subtle visually and cheaper to produce.

[@aozgolo]

I think the hardest part will just be conveying the subtleties of the series accurately. There's so much that's subtle, the various tics of characters, the nuances of culture beyond just how they appear, the way channeling isn't just this vague magic system but has core components that need to be properly used together, the character interactions. There's so much that isn't obtuse or explained in a visual or audible way through the series, a huge amount of time spent with characters we aren't just seeing their actions but are in their head, and with them through even the more dull and rote milieu that helps compound how everything works. While not all of it will be necessary I feel certain things can get lost, including the basis of Mat, Rand, and Perrin's character, if you don't find a way to properly address subtlety in a way that the audience will be able to pick up on.

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

This video makes me appreciate WoT more. The biggest Mary Sue (Rand) keeps failing constantly, the guy with the biggest plot armor (Mat) sacrifices and loses constantly. All the plot armor in the world won't keep you safe in the Wheel of Time.

[@mastermagus1114]

I was thinking about this while reading Crown of Swords last night, "Mat walks out of Tylin's palace, so dazed he wouldn't have seen Nynaeve and Elayne cavorting with Carridim on a statue" (or something like that) very funny insight, non adaptable.

[@Arenuphis]

Yes, but won't be as fun

[@Railstar1976]

@@Arenuphis Which is why books, in general, will always be fundamentally superior. An adaptation doesn't need to be perfect, merely "good enough".

[@ccheyenne]

The ter'angreals. The tests in the Tower and at Rhuidean and the doorways to the Aelfinn and Eelfinn are going to be hard to show. Also, Matt's silver fox, unless they show the weaves bouncing off somehow, which wouldn't work well with Matt's POV of just feeling it go cold and seeing the people around him shocked, angry or confused. Etc.

[@avekatumba4794]

Can't wait for series!

[@stephenj2044]

I think one of the biggest challenges is making the aes sedai faces "look ageless". The concept is challenging for me to visualize

[@tompadfoot3065]

I could see a lot of visual smoothing, or the de-aging like they did for The Irishman

[@tompadfoot3065]

@David Whitlock that was rough for sure. But I think they did a much better job in later movies, and Grand Moff Tarkin looked amazing. I also think the tech has come a long way since then

[@misterjosephfloyd]

When I watched Hell Boy..the second one with Pearlman...The Prince Nuada character...he had me thinking WoT... his build..the way he moves fast swift and silent...the portrayal of his slicing a water droplet.....he could certainly pull of a Myyrdral...there is certainly precedent material to draw from as far as how to pull off presentation of WoT....that actor is awesome....the production crews talent is definitely there to draw from and reference. I'm super excited to see how it plays out.

[@dgray7537]

I saw an interview with an adult film star that was lauded for her "authentic enthusiasm". She thought it was hilarious because she was always acting, but said if you really want to know if someones enthusiasm is real pay attention to their hands. I think Daniel might be a fan of this Wheel of Time series.

[@maohpeach1425]

i think one of the hardests aspects is when the channelers are "breaking out of shields" like rand in LoC. and then there is the internal monologues... and Mats inner dice.

[@queen_zoestra]

i personally think the hardest thing to adapt is gonna be perrin smelling peoples emotions. the internal monologues all should translate to screen ok, but i feel like for the smells all your options are gonna be bad. having perrin thinking in a voiceover stuff like "she smells like a leopard" really isnt gonna work, and i cant think of any visual cues that would work...like color auras would be weird and too much to keep track of. a lot of subtlety is delivered through perrin smelling people, and you'll lose something by not having it, but also you could really wreck a scene by handling that mechanic poorly

[@richardvaldes3959]

That MUSTACHE getting strong brother!

[@bethburge6403]

Love what you said about Mat he's one of my favorite characters in the books.

[@thewingedserpent5823]

Why do you like mat so much. Does he get better? I'm just about finished with eye of the world and right now he is legitimately stupid and constantly whining

[@rick3269]

I'm on book 6 and Mat is still my least favorite. And annoying.

[@thewingedserpent5823]

@@rick3269 my favorite so far is perrin because he seems the only one to me who actually thinks things through and doesn't just act on instinct. he is basically the complete opposite of mat so far

[@huihihiohjio9046]

Mat quickly becomes the best character ever ;)

[@SmokeEater99]

@@thewingedserpent5823 matt and perrin switch later trust me, mat sucks until book 3 because Robert didn't know what he wanted to do with him

[@clarkkentnaruto4322]

Hey there Daniel. How are you doing? I can't wait to see what they do with all of the characters in the series. I am now about 40% finished with the Audio book All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doers. Elliot Brooks was doing a buddy read of this book, and I decided to join in. I have also just restarted listening to the Dragon Reborn, by Robert Jordan, and yesterday, I got into a reading mood, and started listening to the first few chapters of Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson. I will shoot you a review of all of these books later.

[@bennyjohansson1469]

Brilliant posts! I think Mat is the engine of the series, when there are long periods of other things, I long for the action to return to Mat. Still, I think Rand will be by far the most difficult character to visualize. His various mood swings are usually due to the voices in his head, which cause him big challenges.

[@grafffuller3265]

Wow! I completely agree. Very well said. I hope that the writers of the WoTonPrime production staff watches this. It couldn't have been said better. Wow. Mat is very crucial. Thanks.

[@Asschen-Sukar]

People often get caught up on the visual aspects of movies and tv, but you and I both know that even 144p can offer an amazing story. I do not envy the director that has to strike a balance.

[@Naweemshuvo]

Myrddraal - to make otherworldly, making the outlines fuzzy may help gray men - use cameleon effects maybe? Gholam - maybe use the Knight bus effect from Harry Potter and Prisoner of azkaban?

[@mrinconsistency3714]

Can’t wait to get to this series 🙌

[@mikemorenilla7444]

They were able to visualize a "luck" factor with Domino in Deadpool 2, albeit in a humorous way. You could also show a montage of him playing dice and just winning over and over to lay that foundation.

[@MrToxicB1izzard]

I feel like the inner dialogue for the 3 main characters will be the hardest to properly emulate on screen. Specially Perrin and Rand's since they are in constant conflict with what they are and the duty they are obligated to perform. They never externalize these feelings too much and appear very calm on the outside. I believe this is crucial to relating to these characters.

[@apalesch1]

I also think about Matt and Padan Fain’s physical wasting away while with the dagger as something that could be really hard on the actors.

[@lifesabeach2597]

I think a montage of Mat going from tavern to tavern winning more and more gold could establish his luck pretty well

[@linkelivarmioumai7475]

I agree with you on how they need to do things. As for the Grey men all they need to do is just have the actors ignore them for the most part. Tel'aran'rhiod can easily be portrayed by having small things changing from moment to moment just as it does in the books. The Gholam can be done using the same CGI used for Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. As for the Myrddraal I think the makeup alone will convey the creepy otherworldly factor, especially once the Emond's Fielders are actually told about them. Rand's conversations with Lewis Therin are also easy enough to pull off, just have whoever they get to play Lewis Therin show up periodically and talk to Rand, treat him as a ghost that only Rand can "see" and hear

[@mrthewhite2620]

I think Grey Men can be done relatively simply using camera and focus tricks. Keep them looking relatively plain, treat them almost like an extra in the background in terms of how you focus the camera on them. The camera would never center on them, always off to one side (maybe not fully in the frame at all at times) and whenever possible have them out of focus until they actually make contact with a regular character.

[@bobbydeuce6486]

I’d say for graymen they could do what they kinda do in the books. Have the camera pan over a crowd of people with nothing out of place. have some dialogue between characters where one of them stops talking abruptly as if they may have seen something. pan over the crowd again and this time there’s someone there dagger drawn nearly close enough to kill someone. I also always pictured them in my head as drab and dull visually. A good example and pretty much where I got this from was warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. In the book the magic system uses biochromatic breath and the more you have the more your senses sharpen and the more vibrant your body becomes (almost glowing). When you don’t have any breaths you become drab, almost completely colorless. As far as Mat goes I’d say add talking to himself as a quirk to the character. Have a dice scene to maybe introduce the ability (he throws the dark one’s eyes several time consecutively) and later scenes of him nervously watching someone he’s dicing against hoping they don’t notice. They then could throw in a scene (like the one in tear where he’s trying to find Nynaeve, Egwane, and Elayne) where Mat is either in deep conversation or talking to himself (he could be telling a story from emmonds field or singing jack of the shadows) when another character asks him where is he taking us. Mat will stop and look around and bam this is where we need to go. I think it’ll become an easier thing to adapt once it’s established that he has luck. As far as myrddraal? I dunno, the only thing I can think of is them moving as if they’re gliding and playing up the disappearing into shadows thing more. Maybe only having their face visible and some sort of vibrating camera effect to for their look of fear and maybe a general dimming of their surroundings and their face being brightened almost as if it were glowing. And in my head I always gave tel’aran’rhiod a faded slightly blueish look.

[@jenniferobin7260]

How do you think they will handle the ageless faces of the aes sedai? Or will they at all...

[@danalou_who7765]

The subtleties of the mind most importantly with Rand/LTT, but also with Perrin and smelling emotion will be challenging to convey.

[@Panyc333]

For Mat I think the “dice rolling in his head” will be a great audio cue for the luck factor. Once explained, all we will need after that is the dice rolling sound in his head to remind us and correlate with his “curse”

[@Lambake884]

I think an interesting way to approach gray men would be to approached scenes with them like the attention/focus trick videos (video has you count how many passes were made and then at the end asks you if you saw the gorilla walk across in the video)

[@Dragonklus]

Matt's luck factor is tied to random events. He constantly gets injured, he has a building fall on him! He gets cornered often by his own luck factor and is constantly freaking out due to the events he finds himself in. Matt constantly views his own luck as something that works against him rather than for him.

[@enaidealukal9203]

The hardest part about adapting WoT will definitely be the writing/producing; which characters/sub-plots to cut or trim, how to convey non-verbal features of the story (the magic system, how things look, the background/context of the various factions, etc), and so on.

[@Linda-pc2qh]

I think going through the doorways to the snakes and foxes is important for explaining Matts stresses and priorities. It's also clearly important for Moraine storyline.

[@timpeterjensen2364]

Perrin talking to the wolves, should mainly be him reciving and sending pictures, like the days shifting to indicate travel times, showing two moons in a pond, when two moons name is given, and then Perring putting voice to it when needed.

[@rosecoloredshades508]

I think something that is going to be really difficult is how to streamline the storytelling, which they will have to do, without then having so many elements feel like they are popping up randomly as the series goes on. There is so much in way of character and event that seems like it could be easily cut out but then Jordan comes back to those things and continues to weave them into the Pattern as the series goes on.

[@kityhawk2000]

For the eyeless I think they could take some inspiration from from the creature in Pans Labyrinth, the one with eyes in its hands.

[@CriticalxMiss]

I feel like Matt is just going to come off that way. Him beating both trained swordsman just getting out of bed from being sick? His general abilities? His luck? They will just have to stress that he doesn't want the responsibility that comes with the power, the conflict of seeing the past lives, and have some really cool luck moments. Domino in deadpool 2 does it pretty well (obviously have to be different)

[@charlieteneyck6797]

I’ve said this before when ASOIAF was being adapted but these show runners would really benefit to bring together a panel of HARDCORE fans of the material being adapted especially fans who are content creators and use them for inspiration and to test out ideas and thoughts.

[@rossshiell2670]

For the Gholam, we already have a solid representation of creeping through small spaces while being creepy to refer to from back in the day - X-Files episode Squeeze.

[@tompadfoot3065]

still probably the most terrifying MOTW in that whole series

[@therenegadebard3971]

I think the toughest aspect will be staying close enough to the original story to appeal to fans of the books, while making it appealing to newcomers who have no particular attachment to WoT. The insertion and weeding out process would be an insane undertaking.

[@Moretostro]

I agree with pretty much everything you said, Mat is going to be hard to adapt. But I think the hardest parts to communicate might actually be some of Rand's fights, one of the hardest ones might be the one at the end of Eye of the World, I feel like every time I read it I kind of interpret it differently than last time so Im not sure how they are going to adapt it.

[@Intiriel]

When I think about Mat's fight scenes, I remember that character from Deadpool 2 that is insanely lucky, and her fight scenes were a little bit exaggerated, just to show her luck helping her win the fight and survive.

[@justamanofculture12]

I just hope that this series rock.

[@ncthomas420]

i feel like the hardest part of the magic system will be showing the source. they take a bunch of strands of elemental energy that they weave together. that should be simple. just different color light strands. but where do they come from. the sky. the ground. do they just appear. where is the beg of the strands. how do they splice the elements from the one power. and how do they show this.

[@sambetteridge1687]

nic thomas That sounds like a good way to do it. I think the hardest part will be getting across the fact that the weaves can only be seen by certain people with the ability. Do they show it sometimes depending on who is in the scene or who's POV we are seeing the scene from or never show weaves unless only male/female channellers are in the scene or always show them and just use exposition dump to tell the audience that only X people can see them? I have no idea what would be the best option

[@ncthomas420]

@Robertson Thirdly from where in the body. and didnt it change from book to book. the first book had the weirdest description of it.

[@Arenuphis]

Always seeing it wouldn't work, since a lot of early paranoia relies on having no clue when people are channeling

[@ncthomas420]

@@Arenuphis yea i think that we should only be able to see the strands if the main charchter of that scene is a channeler. for instance if there heavy on rand. we shouldnt be able to see a girl weave. and when were focusing on mat in the tower we dont see anything. just the after effects like floating shit.

[@ncthomas420]

@Robertson Thirdly if they animate it so it comes out of their nose or ass it would. u really want to see the weaves spring from their ears or something. for that matter they get an aura once they connect to the source that other channelers can see. like a glow. how r they gonna show that. is it gonna be like dbz

[@BRoyce69]

Greymen could be done with camera tricks (fast action-style panning, blurring movements with out of sync shutterspeed) as well as maybe some post to mute their colors or overall presence more. Their supposedly excessively average, ordinary looking humanoids, just mis-colored and magically camouflaged? Just dress someone up like the other extras from x region and have the rest done around the camera work and colors. One of the things I personally think would be difficult in an A/V vs textual medium would be Rands inner monologues, of course including, most importantly, his chats with Lew's Thern, as it's a large part of his character development and the 'versions' of Rand. This also applies to all the other protagonists and their inner monologues, but less so than Rand. I'd say secondly is Nynaeve as her character is already misunderstood enough in the novels, even with her thoughts as context.

[@NoMereRanger73]

In the thumbnail, I thought Mat had a WoT tattoo on his arm...

[@derekv4552]

I can see mats luck being dealt with, but it has to be done smartly, as you've stated. I think at one point he even said that it doesn't /always/ work, but works more like a basis of need, i.e. he's taken wounds and does lose at dice. It's not often, but it's enough to add that strife and tension factor. That and the head dice can create scenes of tension as he doesn't know if he did make the right choice

[@lonjohnson5161]

Matt is my favorite. I didn't like him until the Tower freed him from the knife, but after that, I couldn't wait to see what comes next. In truth, once I reached the end of book 14, the only character I really wanted to see get their own set of books was Matt. (Okay, I'll admit to being curious about a few others, but...)

[@SlowBurnReader]

I’m going to hurry and read the first book right before the show comes out since I don’t have time to read them all with my huge TBR List.

[@BleydTorvall]

a few thoughts For the Myrddraal, I think what would work best would be a regular person in armor, but with a CGI cloak/cape to make its appearance and movements (or lack thereof) look unnatural. As for Mat's luck factor, I hope they'll take a good look at how Deadpool 2 handled Domino's luck factor. Occasionally have the camera linger ever so briefly on the unexpected or unlikely happening to relay to the viewer that this isn't a natural occurrence. And, as you said, make sure it's fun and awesome when possible.

[@wewantthetruth7040]

Matt's my favorite and I agree, he will be the hardest to portray.

[@finchbird2419]

With the fade I'd have a mix of audio ques mixed with visual ques as well. Maybe an ominous string scrape mixed with a smoky faded look. Almost like they're permeating from another realm. The grey men would be incredibly easy to portray in my opinion. It falls into the realm of the uncanny valley. They can just look like regular extras unless the camera or the characters focus on them. And even then when we see them they look ordinary except the feel... Off.

[@Noctua07]

Regarding the Greymen, I think they could be done with Camerafocus. We see what the camera focuses on. I'd guess they could be implemented in that way by not focusing on them and instead focusing on something else very hard so that they can surprise the viewer.

[@birdlaw1019]

The Gholam is easy peasy, they had the CGI technology figured out in Terminator 2 with the T1000. Showing Aes Sedai weaves and portraying the complexity of more advanced weaves will be a challenge.

[@ErikEllison]

I agreed with everything you were saying right up till you got to Matt. I always thought it was a simple matter of sound editing/mixing to insert the rolling dice in a subtle way. The one for me that I up till a few years ago thought there was no way to over come though was the ageless faces. Now though I think the de-aging tech pioneered from Marvel has solved that to an extent. Now they just need to move from perpetually the same age to however the heck you portray agelessness.

[@SleepingTurtle1]

the dream world could be done in by having much less colour saturation in the filming - verging towards greyscale, but with certain characters more normal... Some visual clue like that.

[@JoelJoel321]

Up to Fires of Heaven on my re-read and so hyped for the show.

[@dominicaudy8479]

You hit on something with Mat that I think will be a more general challenge in the adaptation for the show. It’s something that I started thinking about while analyzing the adaptation (incidentally excellent) for The Expanse. That series too is written using the third person limited voice, the biggest difference being that the number of narrators is very limited and most characters are seen externally, through their eyes. It turns out in the drama version that the narrators are the most difficult to depict properly, as so much about them relies on purely internalized elements in the novels. That requires considerable tweaks and changes, and simplifications, to externalize these characters and what they are going through. And this is where I think the real challenge for WOT resides: all the main cast and a considerable number of the secondary cast are POV characters, with a certain amount of their characterization or story points being communicated to the audience through their thoughts. It’s even very often in WOT contrasting sharply with their actions or how they are perceived by readers, or other characters. I agree Mat, and what he really goes through inside vs. what others perceive him to be will be one of the really big challenges. There are others as well that will be quite difficult, such as Nynaeve whose true self is revealed mostly in her POV, and Egwene also has some of that duality, later on Aviendah, Tuon, Siuan, etc. Rand, obviously is a huge challenge. The characters will have to talk more to one another, so the audience learns what it needs to learn about them that they use to get by reading their thoughts. And it won’t always be easy, as so much in WOT relies on the characters keeping things to themselves and not talking things through, and ultimately it requires a lot of changes to the details of the story and how events and scenes play out to accommodate the externalization/dramatization. And communicating the essentials of those thoughts through dialogue require much screen time, and hard choices have to be made, arcs need to be simplified or streamlined, seasons need to focus on only a few aspects of the characters, add layers like an onion over the seasons. Book readers will watch knowing what goes unsaid, but a drama can’t rely on its audience reading the source material - but it’s important the audience understand the characters as well as the readers do. The Expanse met that challenge well, I think, but the challenge for WOT will be to do the same when so many more characters have many internalized aspects that will need to be brought out... or cast aside as too much for the screen time they have to do that justice.

[@ccheyenne]

Well the good thing is that they can use that as an excuse to build characters' relationships: Nynaeve could talk to Lan about her issues with Egwene for example, or have Rand telling Min his paranoid ideas. I'm sure this is something the characters would actually do, even if it isn't shown in the books to that degree.