Watching Wheel Of Time Season 2 after reading The Great Hunt

What was it like to watch Season 2 of the Wheel of Time after reading the first 2 books.
Goodreads: / neville-ridley-smith

[@tofystedeth]

I don't remember the exact relationship between Moiraine and Barthanes in the books, since they added about 20 years to Moiraine for the show. But they were definitely members of the same extended family. Moiraine is actually related to a _lot_ of people in the books. It's pretty funny when you see her family tree.

[@NevsBookChannel]

Interesting. I just finished book 3, and although it’s not mentioned anywhere in the prose, the glossary mentions how she’s from house Damodred and grew up in the royal palace!

[@tofystedeth]

Yep, at the point you're in, in the books 2 Damodreds ​other than Barthanes that I can recall have been brought up. One is King Laman, who was also mentioned in the show as their uncle. He was the one who triggered the Aiel war by cutting down the tree the Aiel had gifted Cairhien to make a throne.

[@danmacarro]

Ive been waiting for this Nev! Wheel of Time is the only fantasy I can get my wife to watch, thank you for your takes!

[@NevsBookChannel]

Thanks Dan! My pleasure!

[@lawrencenehring2567]

Season 2 was much better than the first season, but they also were able to work without COVID restrictions, so the producers had much more freedom. I really LOVE the adaptation. The books are perfect for their genre, wordy descriptions meant to build an enormous world, and a TV/film series has to be so much more efficient. Jordan could use pages to describe Padan Fain but Rafe Judkins has to use a whistle sound cue or a brief glimpse in the crowd. They have to compress everything (like merging the two big battles into one for LOTR). Anyone who thinks they should religiously follow every comma and long horse ride while the boys chat about how they don’t know how to talk to girls… doesn’t understand how conversation to film has to happen. I think the show is brilliant so far.

[@NevsBookChannel]

Thanks for your comments! It’s a tough job adapting a book. It’s an absolute miracle how good the LOTR movies were

[@WheelUpTime]

I would say some of your confusions may be answered by the third book :) the perrin/aiel stuff in particular, but in general probs a good idea to continue reading anyway as most of the b3 stuff that will be done soon has been by now :) season 3 is intended to be closely matched to book 4

[@NevsBookChannel]

Ooh interesting! I didn’t know that about season 3

[@jan2bratt]

I haven't watched the show and don't think I will. I'd rather get back to reading the books, I've only read the first two. Next year.

[@NevsBookChannel]

I’m probably going to finish the third book today. Review video coming soon

[@jamesdouglas1787]

Great to hear your unique perspective - in between those who haven't read the books and those who have. Having read the books myself I was just as confused myself at times :-D I found it helpful to think of the series as "Another turning of the wheel" as Brandon Sanderson says :-) Looking forward to hearing your thoughts as you work through the rest of the series

[@NevsBookChannel]

Thanks for sharing! Good to know I’m not the only one confused.

[@DutchGreyBeard]

You sound as if you're more confused than that you really enjoyed the show, Nev. Which I can relate to. I understood that they also incorporated things from the third book as well in season 2. My own main confusion is the involvement of Ishmael with the Seanchean. Up until book 11 (where I am at right now) that is not in the books. Storywise it works, I guess, but it took me about two episode to come to terms with that strange plottwist. Good to see another video of you. Love to hear you talk about books, or TV-shows for that matter. Thnx!

[@NevsBookChannel]

It does come across that way but I genuinely did enjoy the show!

[@csarmii]

in the books Baalzamon says he set the Seanchan empire up AND he's responsible for bringing them here at exactly the wrong time. it's more like a longterm/indirect thing but it's there for sure, I think they drew from those elements and showed them more directly cause that's always more iteresting (same trick they did with Nynaeve bei away longer so that people can react to the trauma right there and directly) instead of piecing that together from clues here and there later

[@DutchGreyBeard]

@@csarmiiThanks, you read the books better than I did. I missed that element.

[@gilian2587]

@@DutchGreyBeard Read The Eye of the World again and pay close attention to what Ba'alzamon is saying to Rand in his dreams.

[@DutchGreyBeard]

@@gilian2587Perhaps I will one day.

[@willbarnstead3194]

As a reader of the books, viewer of season 1 but not 2, there is a lot of, a) that isn’t in the books and b) that can’t be in the books it’s not possible.

[@thesci-fished]

Happy new year mate, I always enjoy these 🎉

[@NevsBookChannel]

Thanks Peter. Happy new year!

[@tofystedeth]

The Moiraine and Lan subplot was in large part because they are mostly absent from book 2. Present for a couple chapters at the beginning, one Moiraine PoV chapter in the middle, and then she shows up at the very end to be like "How's it going everybody? Rand is the for real Dragon!" The tension between between them basically an expansion of the one chapter Moiraine had at the sisters' house where was deliberately antagonizing him about what he would do if she died.

[@NevsBookChannel]

“Hey everyone, how’s it going?” Lol! Yeah, I suppose that’s kind of true.

[@csarmii]

also, that tension is certainly there in book 3 too and we see a lot of it

[@gilian2587]

The tension is there in book 3 -- but it's very understated and it's not even close to being to the same degree as what is seen in the show. The show has basically been playing up drama just for the sake of having drama -- WWE style; if you're worried people are losing interest... just turn up the volume and the number of people screaming at each other.

[@philc2729]

Yes, they have said they will be skipping book 3 in the tv show. However, they have incorporated some minor elements from the book into the show already. The long journeys in books 2/3 are similar in some ways so they decided to skip book 3. This means they will probably have to deal with consequences of Tear differently, without spoiling book 3 for you.

[@NevsBookChannel]

Oh, interesting. I just finished book 3 this week so I know what you’re referring to. Yeah, I think most of the book is quite skippable for the tv show but the end seems pretty important.

[@philc2729]

@@NevsBookChannel Unless they take the story in a different direction, Rand will have to revisit Tear at some point or acquire Callandor in a different way, possibly in Rhidean (book 4 location). You'll read about this location hopefully shortly. They have confirmed that Rhuidean will be S3 of the TV show.

[@NevsBookChannel]

@@philc2729 ah ok. I plan to read book 4 in Apr-Jun. Looking forward to it!

[@frankkennedy9270]

You might want to read book 3 now. Book 2 & 3 were combined into season 2 Season 3 should follow closely book 4

[@NevsBookChannel]

Finished book 3 last night!

[@csarmii]

@@NevsBookChannel so have you seen some elements ofit inseason two? if so, which ones?

[@NevsBookChannel]

@@csarmii well one is that the glossary states that Selene is Lanfear. Then there’s the whole Perrin rescuing an aeilman thing (except it’s a male). That’s mostly it for plot. The girls grow in power. There’s really not a lot else as far as I can tell

[@gilian2587]

@@NevsBookChannel And no letter opening glowstick from Tear; but at least we know the Aiel are a thing that exists.

[@VinnyCThatWhoIBe]

Season 2 started off strong but my goodness they drove it off a cliff by the end. I don't know if I can bring myself to watch a third season at this point. They've basically neutered Rand and handed all his major victories to Egwene and Nynaeve. The Aes Sedai keep commenting on how important he is and central to everything, and yet what has he actually done in the show? I'm a big fan of the books and don't want to spoil anything for you, but I can already tell they have / are going to cut some of my favorite elements. They're unfortunately just going to leave us with a generic "fantasy show" with nothing that sets it apart. Side Note: I'd recommend NOT googling anything, no matter how much you want to. You have a lot of books to read and I'd hate for more to be accidentally spoiled!

[@NevsBookChannel]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Yeah, it’s quite tricky to avoid spoilers. I’ve mostly succeeded but that google was a lapse ;). I’ve just finished book 3 and was surprised at how little Rand is actually in it.

[@csarmii]

they did show us how powerful Rand is, just in subtle ways (watch the scene with Logain, compare his channeling in how he handles Turak or Ishy once he's free)

[@rapunzl347]

An important thing to understand is that they’re not adapting each “book”. It would be impossible with 15 books. They’re adapting the whole “story”. The plot points are pulled from everywhere and reshuffled and combined to advance character & story development to fit into the planned 64 episodes. I highly recommend the Wheel Takes Podcast. They’ve been working through the books for the last 3-4 years, and they recorded episodes for the tv show too. They both work in the entertainment industry and offer a unique perspective on why certain decisions may have been made for the show. And just like the books, the show is much better on rereads/rewatches. You catch more details and make the connections you missed the first time through. 😅And NEVER Google anything unless you don’t want all the spoilers. Just ask the fans for a spoiler free answer. You’ll probably get RAFO’d though.

[@NevsBookChannel]

It’ll be fun to come across those reshuffled plot points. How many rereads and rewatches have you done?

[@rapunzl347]

@@NevsBookChannel rewatches and rereads (audiobooks) are continuous. It’s a Wheel. It just keeps turning and rereading and rewatching.

[@targgthewise2892]

Long story short…. The show sucks

[@jimmykawasaki833]

No. None if it comes out later in the books.

[@NevsBookChannel]

I’m a bit confused which question you’re responding to

[@gilian2587]

Rand never knocks knees with Selene. Ever.

[@mtandazomoyo7840]

The show is just terrible. Please continue reading the books

[@NevsBookChannel]

Just finished book 3!