Never Look Into A Trolloc Cookpot…

A series of books that got both me and “J” through our college years was Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. It is a fantastic series, an almost opera in nature. When you consider that the prologue for many of the books in the series is well over 100 pages, you know that the book itself is going to be encyclopedic in nature. Indeed, when you take a look at Book 1 , Eye of the World, it has the shortest prologue of only about 15 pages - and this is significant with the critique of the Amazon Prime series of the Wheel of Time which is now ongoing where (from what I have viewed) is based upon this book.

Jordan - a historyophile - based his series on Eastern culture and religion, and included creative sayings he included in the vernacular of the populace of varying groups, cultures, creeds withint he story. “Never look into a Trolloc cookpot” is one of these. Trollocs, giant half-man-half beasts that were created for war, are the basic carnivore that eat just about anything (including slower Trollocs); their cookpots are filled with dismembered parts best left to the imagination - but the saying also means for folks not to look further into a messy situation lest they be disgusted by what they see.

There are many ongoing discussion threads on Reddit for the Prime Series, and suffice it to say that folks are in one camp or the other - either you like it, or you don’t. To be honest, I am really confused..but leaning to “hate it”. Personally, I am flabbergasted that Robert Jordan’s wife/editor, Harriet McDougal and Bryan Sanderson (who finished the novels after Jordan’s death) approved some of the garbage writing of the show. They actually blessed it.

If you dont want potential spoilers…stop here.

For example, the entire theory of “the One Power” stems from a Yin-Yang concept - there is a male and female part of the One. The “breaking of the world” in the last age (the concept follows the Buddhist Wheel of Time structure- ages end, then the world begins…people are reincarnated, etc. more in that in a moment), the male portion of the One was tainted (this is explained in other books, but basically it was humanity playing God). But in this retelling, the audience is submitted to viewing a chase by Red Ajah chasing down a male wilder (which they never explain) and stating that the One Power was only meant to be handled by women.

Another example is that with this concept of reincarnation, a person from the last age may reappear. The whole story revolves around seeking “The Dragon” who is to be reincarnated…but Moiraine states that the Ayes Sadai don’t know if it will be woman or man, but it must be found. In the whole of the books - the theory of reincarnation (with one exception) always fell into the same sex lines (not that I care) - but it is a disconnect from the books which seems only to appease certain audiences.

My favorite example was pointed out to me by a fellow gamer who observed six women with pitchforks disposing of a Trolloc - when we had just observed a single Trolloc laying waste to several men armed with more substantial weapons. (By the way - the armorer who built/designed the Heron Sword… you need some lessons from Hattori Honzo )

I guess what I am getting at is that I feel that more and more adaptations of loved stories are getting influenced by the media; they stray from the original. Now, that may be for good reasons - watch the Maltese Falcon , and then go read the original story and you can see what I mean. There is a lot of (for the time) porn and slurs tossed around in there - but the story line is unchanged for the most part. If you like L.A. Confidential - the book (and series) is SO much different; they are truly different stories. And that is what I am afraid of Wheel of Time becoming. A different story. I mean - the preview of Loyal (a 10’ tall tree creature - think the ‘Ents from Lord of the Rings) is surely a disappointment of epic proportions.

But then, I am definitely looking into the ugliness of this Trolloc pot.

Another series that opened this past week was a retelling of Cowboy Bebop on Netflix. This was truly a retelling - and what was great is that they embraced it. The first few episodes I have watched in the series demonstrates that folks can do this sort of thing “right”. It’s not just a retelling, they take the good parts of the original anime / movie and put their own fresh spin on it. Does it need to be done ? No. But, it looks good doing it and is entertaining without bogging the viewer down. I mean, Ed isn’t involved yet - but the preview that I have seen is less disappointing than Loyal.

I just hope Wheel of Time takes a step back and listens to its critics.

Damn. They just fired Matt. One of the few main character actors with any talent. I guess the cookpot just got some more seasoning.

Five Miles Downrange:

We have published two new chapters in Slipping the Gears on Kindle Vella. Also, Blue Summer and Gruff Ending are now available in hardcover ! Just in time for the holidays.