2024-03-19T19:28:57Zhttps://desmondrivet.com/2024/03/19/152857
<p>Texture</p>
Breaking The Wheel2024-03-16T18:33:22Zhttps://desmondrivet.com/2024/03/16/wheel-of-time
<p>It's safe to say that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time_(TV_series)"><em>The Wheel of Time</em></a> TV series, streaming on
Amazon Prime, has divided fans of the source material, namely <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan">Robert
Jordan</a>'s enormous, sprawling, epic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time">book series of the same name</a>,
spanning 14 door-stopping volumes published over a period of 24 years
(1989-2013).</p>
<p>I would not call myself a great connoisseur of fantasy, but I do know
something about these particular books, having been introduced to them as a
teenager by a high school friend in the early nineties. I have warm
memories of the series, and less warm memories of the tense, multi-year
waits in between installments.</p>
<p>Their publication also coincided with the birth of the Web and the
popularization of the Internet that came with that. It's impossible for me
to separate my memories of these books from my memories of scouring <em>Wheel
of Time</em> themed newsgroups and fan sites, often over dial-up, looking for
plausible answers to the various plot mysteries that had maddeningly
accumulated over the years. I even had a fan page at one point, now lost to
the mists of time.</p>
<p>I lasted until book nine, after which I gave up. The infamous slog had
begun, and I was knee deep in it. Sometime after book six, it became clear
to me that Robert Jordan didn't know what to do with all the loose narrative
threads he had created, and I despaired of them ever being resolved in a
satisfactory manner. He eventually died without finishing his life's work.
I know <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson">Brandon Sanderson</a> picked up the baton after Jordan died, but I
never finished reading the series.</p>
<p>I say all this to give you some sense of my relationship to these books - my
credentials, if you will. I'm a fan, but I'm not an <em>uber</em> fan. I haven't
even read the whole series <em>once</em>, let alone multiple times. I liked the
books a lot, and they definitely left an impression on my teenage mind, but
I can't say that I <em>loved</em> them - especially the later ones. I am (or at
least was) an <em>enthusiastic</em> fan but not an <em>obsessive</em> one. Keep that in
mind for what follows.</p>
<h2>The Difficulty of Adapting <em>The Wheel Of Time</em></h2>
<p>When I heard that Amazon was adapting <em>The Wheel of Time</em>, my primary
emotion was surprise followed by...curiosity? I wanted to see how (or if)
they would pull it off.</p>
<p>Adapting such a well-known and well-loved series has to be a
difficult and thankless job at the best of times, but it must be
<em>particularly</em> hard in the case of <em>The Wheel of Time</em>, with
thousands of characters, and hundreds of locations. Amazon didn't do
itself any favours by restricting the seasons to eight episodes each.</p>
<p>But it's not just the size of it. The simple truth is that this is no
ordinary book series. Its structure doesn't really
translate well to a traditional season-based TV narrative format. It's
been deemed unfilmable more than once and it's not just because of its
length.</p>
<p>So much of the series is <em>invisible</em>. Aes Sedai in the books are famously
composed - almost Vulcan-like. Warders are famously stoic. A lot of the
plot consists of people thinking to themselves, something that is nearly
impossible to portray compellingly in a visual medium. And don't get even
me started on the background material. Half of the story takes place in the
insanely comprehensive glossary at the back of each book, before you even
read the first page.</p>
<p>Add to this: the books are full of characters and artifacts that often
appear in one or two chapters in one book, and then don't reappear until
several (long) books later - if, indeed, they ever do at all. This might be
workable in a printed medium (barely) but it becomes a real problem when you
have to hire real actors, and you're at risk of losing them to different
projects in between seasons.</p>
<p>It doesn't help matters that Robert Jordan originally intended <em>The Wheel of
Time</em> to be a trilogy - and it shows painfully in the story structure. The
first three books have a drastically different feel to them than the rest of
the series. He basically recycled the same ending three times - it's the
same sword fight between the same two characters. In some cases, major
characters were almost completely rewritten later on; fan favourite Mat, for
example, might as well be a different character in book four.</p>
<p>In fact, it's generally agreed that it's only around book four that the
series really starts to come into its own. That might not matter to patient
readers, but it makes life infinitely more difficult for people trying to
adapt it into a episodic, season based visual format. I mean, what exactly
are you supposed to do? I don't know, but I'll tell you what you <em>can't</em>
do - you can't really do a straightforward "one book = one season" kind of
adaptation. You need to adapt the whole series at once, and that's <em>hard</em>.
I don't envy the people who've been given this task.</p>
<h2>Separating the Wheat From the Chaff</h2>
<p>Okay, so with all that in mind...was <em>The Wheel of Time</em> show any good?</p>
<p>Before I express any concrete opinions, there are a few things I need to get
out of the way. The first is that, as a general rule, I don't consider
"faithfulness to source material" to be the yardstick by which I measure the
quality of an adaptation. We're talking about fiction, not historical
documents and writers are allowed to take some liberties. Changes, in and
of themselves, don't bother me unless they make the story demonstrably
worse - and this goes double for something like <em>The Wheel of Time</em>. There
is a kind of fan who won't be happy with anything other than a scene for
scene adaptation but this is something that is simply not possible with this
franchise, and hence I'm not going to devote too much time to this pipe
dream. I wish these people good luck.</p>
<p>Other fans veer into legitimately racist territory, focusing on the skin
colour of the cast. For obvious reasons, I won't devote any time to these
people either except to say that while the show has a lot of flaws, the cast
is not one of them.</p>
<p>This leaves us with the fans who, for whatever reason, criticize <em>the actual
show</em> and it's here that we can have an actual discussion. We're obviously
headed into major spoiler territory, so be warned. I'll also point that
that if you're not already familiar with either the books or the show, then
literally nothing I say here will make any sense whatsoever - but if that's
the case, then why are you even reading? :-)</p>
<p>Alright. Here we go.</p>
<p>On the whole, I <em>liked</em> the show, but I didn't <em>love</em> it. I <em>wanted</em> to,
and there were moments when I thought I <em>could</em>, but I never quite got
there.</p>
<p>There were <em>definitely</em> a lot of changes, and they were definitely a mixed
bag. Some of them made the story flow better, some of them were utterly
baffling and some of them just...<em>were</em>. To say that the quality of the
show was uneven is to put it mildly.</p>
<p>The show was at its best when it made changes that expanded on
underdeveloped aspects of the books. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11316280/">Season one, episode four ("The Dragon
Reborn")</a> is a good example, A Logain-centric episode depicting events
that happened "off screen" in the books, it was, in my opinion, the best
episode of the season and one of the best of the show. I say "one of"
because the title of "best episode" has to go to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11316280/">season two, episode six
("Eyes Without Pity")</a>, an emotionally intense Egwene-centric episode
that explicitly portrays certain events that were, at best, only hinted at
in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Hunt"><em>The Great Hunt</em></a>.</p>
<p>Moiraine and Siuan's romantic pairing on the show is another example. The
books hint that these two characters may have been more than friends at some
point in their past, but it's never made explicit and it's open to
interpretation. The show makes it explicit, and it adds to the drama. I
liked the change.</p>
<p>In some cases, the show added depth to characters who sorely needed it.
<a href="https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Liandrin_Guirale">Liandrin</a> comes to mind in this regard; introduced in The Great Hunt,
she exists as little more than an evil foil for Nynaeve and Egwene, but the
show turns her into a complete three dimensional powerhouse without
fundamentally altering her role. I love it.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the writers made significant alterations to the lore in order to
simplify the narrative mechanics. One of the best examples is in how they
streamlined a Forsaken's relationship to death. The Forsaken, if you
recall, are the Dark One's main lieutenants - <em>The Wheel of Time</em>'s
<a href="https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Nazg%C3%BBl">Nazgûl</a>, if you will - and, in the books, their deaths were always
complicated affairs. A Forsaken could be killed, like anyone, but they
could also be resurrected at the Dark One's whim in a different body later
on. Robert Jordan did this quite a bit - the only Forsaken, killed by
conventional means, who <em>doesn't</em> get resurrected at some point is, to my
knowledge, Asmodean.</p>
<p>This kind of works in print, but it's confusing in a visual medium. You'd
have to hire a different actor to play the same character, several seasons
later. So, on the show, they simply make the Forsaken straight up
unkillable - at one point, Moiraine slits Lanfear's throat and Lanfear just
magically heals up and continues along as if nothing happened. I like the
change; the result is more or less the same as the novels, but less messy.
If you look closely, Lanfear's eyes have small specks floating in them as
she comes back to life, indicating that the Dark One is connected to this
regeneration ability via the <a href="https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/True_Power">True Power</a>, a little nod to the lore that
I very much appreciated.</p>
<p>In the books, the only way to permanently kill a Forsaken is to use balefire
and though it obviously remains to be seen, I suspect that show will do the
same.</p>
<p>Sometimes, the writers made changes...just because. My opinion on these
tends to be neutral. Many people, for example, disliked the way Mat gained
his extra memories on the show, by sounding the Horn of Valere and suddenly
remembering his past lives. In the books, it's a bargain struck with some
weird, otherworldly creature in the Aiel waste. I don't really care either
way - the end result is a character with new memories that will become,
presumably, more useful later on. When I say I'm not overly concerned about
faithfulness to source material, this is partly what I mean.</p>
<p>Of course, not all the changes were positive or neutral, and I would be
remiss if I didn't mention the ones that rubbed me the wrong way. I hated
everything related to the Rand-Egwene-Perrin love triangle - it came out of
nowhere and added nothing. I also didn't care for how they gave Perrin a
wife just to kill her off and give him an edge - <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WomenInRefrigerators">fridging</a> at its most
blatant.</p>
<p>I <em>especially</em> didn't like how the ending of season one robbed Rand of his
big power moment against the Trolloc army in order to give it to Nynaeve who
had, by that point in the show, already had several big power moments of her
own. The show does this in season two as well; despite Egwene having a
<em>major</em> character arc, culminating in a final confrontation with one of the
more despicable characters in the show, the showrunners still, apparently,
found it necessary to insert her into Rand's final confrontation with
Ishamael. It's almost as if the writers hate Rand, which is awkward given
that he's supposed to be the protagonist. At this point I'm not sure why
we're supposed to be invested in him at all.</p>
<p>Some of the problems with the show are more systemic. The writers don't go
out of their way to explain how the magic system works and indeed, go to
some length to de-emphasize certain crucial aspects that I suppose were
deemed "problematic". The fact that there's a male and female half of the
One Power, for example, isn't specifically stated on the show, which is
puzzling because this aspect of the magic system is so deeply entrenched in
the books that you can't really get away from it and still have the same
story. It permeates every aspect of the plot and trying to pretend
otherwise makes for some very confusing TV.</p>
<p>Why is it that only women can use the One Power safely? Why do men
eventually go mad when they try? The answer is an essential part of the
written lore - the Dark One tainted the male half of the One Power, and left
the female half untouched - but the show downplays the gender split so much
that I suspect a lot of non-readers don't understand that there's a
difference in the way men and woman channel at all. It certainly doesn't
help that the show implies that people can switch genders when they're
reborn (Nynaeve as the Dragon Reborn?), or that it's possible for women to
give men channelling lessons (something that's simply impossible given how
the One Power works in this world). It's frustrating because Robert
Jordan's magic system and history are probably some of the most meticulously
crafted aspects of series.</p>
<p>The show's treatment of written lore is a general sore spot for me. I
<em>liked</em> learning about the history of that world in the books. I <em>liked</em>
learning about the <a href="https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon">Dragon</a> and the <a href="https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Age_of_Legends">Age of Legends</a> and the <a href="https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/War_of_Power">War of
Power</a> and the origins of the <a href="https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Forsaken">Forsaken</a>. I <em>liked</em> learning about
<a href="https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Artur_Hawkwing">Artur Hawkwing</a> and his relationship with Aes Sedai. None of this is
in the show, and its absence is deeply felt. How are we supposed to know
who the <a href="https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Seanchan">Seachan</a> are without knowing about Artur Hawkwing? The show
mentions <em>once</em>, in passing, that the Dragon tried to "cage darkness", but
what does that even mean and why would he do that? Who exactly is the Dark
One and why would a bunch of channelers go over to his side? Is it even
clear that the Forsaken are channelers? So much is missing.</p>
<p>It might be a deliberate ploy. The writers might be planning to trickle the
history out bit by bit in later seasons. That <em>might</em> be their plan but...I
wouldn't hold my breath. It makes me sad.</p>
<h2>Closing Thoughts</h2>
<p>I guess you could summarize my feelings on the show as "mixed". The good
parts are good enough for me to say I liked it and I will eagerly watch
season 3 when it comes out. And the bad parts aren't enough to turn me off
completely.</p>
<p>But it's frustrating. The overall quality is uneven. You'll see a great
episode, with amazing acting, followed by one that makes little sense at
all. You sometimes get the impression that, because this is a fantasy show,
the writers believe that they can get away with non-sequiturs and
inconsistencies if they paper them over with dramatic lines containing
little of substance.</p>
<p>The show appears to be setting up an ensemble cast, but it's done at the
expense of making Rand completely uninteresting. I can only hope that
season three is better in this regard. I know it's supposed to be adapting
<em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Rising">The Shadow Rising</a></em>, which is reason for optimism; that book is one of
the best in the series, and Rand features quite prominently in it, so it's
chance to make the show version of the character more engaging. The Shadow
Rising is also where the series finally starts breaking out of the
repetition of the earlier novels and starts becoming more straightforwardly
adaptable.</p>
<p>I guess what I'm saying is that, despite everything, I'm looking forward to
the third season. I hope they make it to their planned eight.</p>
2024-03-12T17:37:19Zhttps://desmondrivet.com/2024/03/12/133719
<p>In general, I take a dim view of graffiti. This, however, makes me smile.</p>
2024-03-11T22:32:38Zhttps://desmondrivet.com/2024/03/11/183238
<p>Buildings like this fascinate me for reasons I can't fully articulate. I guess, to my eyes, it just feels like it has a story to tell, like a grizzled chess player in the park.</p>
2024-03-11T13:12:49Zhttps://desmondrivet.com/2024/03/11/091249
2024-03-04T01:26:57Zhttps://desmondrivet.com/2024/03/03/202657
<p>To some extent, the contrast between the IndieWeb and standard social networks mirrors the contrast between Linux and, say, Windows or MacOS. People keep asking when the former will become mainstream and it's kind of the wrong question to ask, because going mainstream was never the goal. The masses were never the target audience.</p>
2024-03-03T23:37:50Zhttps://desmondrivet.com/2024/03/03/183750
<p>I'm kind of impressed with Github Actions. Easy to use, very composable.</p>
2024-03-03T23:02:40Zhttps://desmondrivet.com/2024/03/03/180240
<p>So, I've ditched Netlify, opting instead for a raw nginx on a relatively modest VPS. I had heard some horror stories of people being charged thousands of dollars over a denial of service attack.</p>
<p>So far so good. I no longer have to worry about running out of build minutes either.</p>
2024-02-09T14:26:46Zhttps://desmondrivet.com/2024/02/09/092646