Wheel of Time: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WHEEL OF TIME
Eas Sedai. The Dragon Born Again. a large number of names that appear to have apostrophes put at random. The Wheel of Time is this.Launches a new tab. Well, it’s hardly making a dent on The Wheel of Time’s surface.
The high fantasy book series, which began in 1990, featured a rich universe with fascinating people, magic, peril at every turn, and a never-ending conflict between light and darkness. Despite not having the opportunity to complete it himself, author Robert Jordan let this grand tale escape from his thoughts and into the world. Jordan passed away while he was finishing the series’ last episode. With the aid of his widow Harriet McDougal and the detailed notes Jordan left behind, Brandon Sanderson picked up the story’s slack and wrote three volumes to finish it. The last book was released in 2013.
You could be seeking for a summary of the books without any spoilers to get a better understanding of The Wheel of Time in light of the currently showing Prime Video TV adaptation. We’ll keep it simple as it’s a vast planet with more complexity than even Game of Thrones.
How Many Books Are in The Wheel of Time Series?!
I’m not going to skirt this issue, I promise. There are 14 books in the Wheel of Time series overall, plus one prequel. Each paperback in the series contains, on average, 826 pages. You agree to the specifics of pub dinners, people with “blunt fingers the sizes of sausages” (you’d be astonished how often this phrase arises), and attire. To be clear, I support all of that, but sometimes the worldbuilding gets in the way of moving the primary story arc along.
The Eye of the World, The Gathering Storm, The Dragon Reborn, The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, Lord of Chaos, A Crown of Swords, The Path of Daggers, Winter’s Heart, Crossroads of Twilight, Knife of Dreams, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light are all included in the series’ full list of books. New Spring is the name of the prequel.
Do you need to read all the novels to understand the storyline? Yes, sort of. Jordan frequently gets lost in his wandering while disclosing important facts. Although I don’t advise it, you can skip Crossroads of Twilight and read the summary if you have to. You could skim such chapters if you feel like a certain character’s point of view is tedious.
Give Me The Wheel of Time Plot Basics
The Wheel of Time, to put it crudely, is a high-stakes tale of good versus evil with a liberal sprinkle of hero’s journey phases and archetypes. It is a narrative about the Chosen One. The Dark One, a powerful embodiment of evil, seeks to influence the universe, pervert perceptions, and ultimately transform it into his realm. He is described by a character in the book as “the embodiment of paradox and evil, destroyer of reason and logic, breaker of balance, the unmaker of order.”
Our heroes face challenges from The Dark One and his numerous henchmen everywhere they go, sometimes even in the realm of dreams. The hero who must take on the Dark One is the Dragon, the head of the Light. The Dragon, a reincarnation of a single soul, has repeatedly fought the Dark One. The Dragon may have as many allies as the Dark One. The role that many lands of the world play in this conflict, as well as who has been reborn as the Dragon, are all explored in The Wheel of Time. It’s a large area with complex politics, which brings us to…
What’s the World Like?
The story told in The Wheel of Time is one that has repeatedly occurred. “The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend,” the opening lines of the novels say. When the Age that gave it birth returns, legend turns into myth, and even myth is lost for a very long time.
The Dragon’s Prophecies foretell current-day events and reveal the identity of the Dragon’s reincarnation. Just wait until you see how much fun it is to overthink the predictions in Game of Thrones. As they proceed on their journeys, the characters learn more about these predictions. The series hasn’t yet delved further into the predictions, though.
And without magic, what would this fantastical world be? The Five Powers, also known as the Channelers, are in charge of using the One Power, which is derived from something known as the True Source. Like spells, they weave the flows of the elements. In the Dark One vs. the Dragon conflict, the One Power is crucial.
The female half, known as saidar, and the male half, known as saidin, make up the One Power. According to the account, the latter is poisoned at the time (it wasn’t before). Male channelers are uncommon and frequently go insane when they attempt to draw the One Power. Aes Sedai is a group that many female channelers, but not all, are members of. Most Aes Sedai link a Warder, which functions somewhat as a bodyguard.
An crucial last point is that, unlike Middle-earth, the world of The Wheel of Time lacks a name.
Who Are the Main Players in The Wheel of Time?
About 100,000 characters make up The Wheel of Time. If you need assistance keeping track of everyone and how their names are pronounced, consult the glossaries in the books’ backs. The five protagonists who are dragged from their sleepy village of Emond’s Field into a world that is positively bananas in comparison to their previous quiet lives are Rand al’Thor, Egwene al’Vere, Perrin Aybara, Matrim ‘Mat’ Cauthon, and Nynaeve al’Meara. Naming the main characters can be subjective, but I’m going with these five names. Each character has an arc that occasionally draws the other characters in and occasionally diverges in a different path. You won’t believe how far they progress from their initial appearances to their final ones.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also include Moiraine Damodred. Aes Sedai in search of the Dragon Reborn. She and Lan arrive at Emond’s Field at the same moment as the Dark One’s henchmen. The gang is led into the outside world by Moiraine, leaving their house. The premise of the Prime Video adaption is also that Moiraine sends these young people out into the world, where… so much happens.