Will ‘The Wheel of Time’ be Amazon’s Game of Thrones?
This is going to sound a bit braggadocious, but, I promise I’m only saying this to give my blog credibility. I have read both the Song of Ice and Fire and Eye of the World book series.
Why would I put myself through 15,000-ish pages of mid-to-high fantasy reading as a 23-year-old man with a social life and shit to do? I suppose it’s because — despite having been an English major — I never really hit “literary puberty,” so to speak. Meaning, I never reached a point in my adult life where those big sci-fi/adventure books stopped being fun for me.
I’ve tried to start reading Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis and all those other authors that people my age are supposed to read and honestly, they just put me to sleep. Not enough dragons.
So, trust me — as someone who’s spent a substantial chunk of time with both of these stories — when I say that The Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones are nothing alike.
Ok, they do have a few minor similarities…
GOT has kids who can talk to wolves, WOT also has kids who can talk to wolves. GOT has Whitecloaks, WOT also has Whitecloaks. GOT has a character named Maester Luwin, WOT has a character named Master Luhhan. GOT has a heroine who calls herself The Dragon, WOT has a hero who is called The Dragon by others. GOT has the Children of the Forest, WOT has the Green Man. GOT has the Doom of Valyria, WOT has the Breaking of the World. GOT has the Age of Heroes, WOT has the Age of Legends. GOT has the Smoking Sea, WOT hast The Blight.
Ok, fine, there are an absolute shit ton of similarities…
That said, I still maintain that — despite a handful of suspiciously identical plot devices — the two STORIES are nothing alike.
First and foremost, Game of Thrones is not for kids. The books as well as the show contain gratuitously graphic sex scenes throughout. Many of those scenes involving prostitutes. And a handful involving rape… oh, and incest. Conversely, there is absolutely no sex in The Wheel of Time. In fact, there isn’t even any smooching. Two characters dancing flirtatiously with each other at a banquet is literally the most sexual thing that happens in the entire first book.
And then there’s the violence. Game of Thrones violence is also insanely graphic. We see people’s heads get chopped off, bashed in, and — in one case — exploded like a goddamn watermelon (RIP Oberyn). We see people get poisoned, tortured, castrated, skinned alive, burned alive, eaten alive by dogs, stabbed repeatedly, sexually assaulted, crucified, overrun by zombie children, impaled by ballistas… the list goes on and on.
The violence in The Wheel of Time is much more akin to Lord of the Rings violence. Sure, it’s pretty brutal at times. I mean, there are real battles and plenty of people really do get killed. But, it’s typically the evil non-human characters who receive the brunt of the more graphic violence. No physical harm really ever comes to the people that we care about beyond some minor cuts and bruises.
There’s also the language element. Characters in Game of Thrones say words like “fuck” and “cock” and “whore” constantly. Characters in The Wheel of Time say things like “blood and ashes!” and “the Light blind me!” One group of guys actually says “Peace!” as, like, their way of saying “fuck.” It is… straight-up childish.
I realize that these elements are more related to the content rating and not the story, but I think they’re important differences to point out. Part (if not all) of what made Game of Thrones so popular was that it managed to be gritty and dirty and sexy while still delivering those familiar fantasy tropes. The Wheel of Time is a beloved book and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but, nobody would ever call it gritty or dirty or sexy. Therefore, I think that people looking to scratch that Game of Thrones itch will be sorely disappointed by this high fantasy series in which nobody is banging their siblings or getting their head exploded in a trial by combat.
So, that’s the first big difference. One show is for kids, and the other show is for adults.
The second major difference is the plot itself.
Game of Thrones is a story about several different families vying for control of a continent. They plot and scheme and wage civil war against one another in a multilateral conflict that is, in essence, the “game of thrones.” This political infighting is eventually dwarfed by a much larger conflict between good and evil that rallies half of them together for literally one episode and then they go back to killing each other.
The Wheel of Time is a story about three young men who are being hunted by monsters because one of them is suspected to be the “Dragon Reborn,” which is a sort of Harry Potter/Jesus/Anakin Skywalker type character who is chosen/prophesied to save or destroy the world. The three young men, along with two women from their village are guided by a powerful witch and her bodyguard from one corner of the map to the other in an effort to escape the monsters that are chasing them and defeat the forces of evil once and for all (or at least temporarily) at a magical place called the Eye of the World.
Game of Thrones is a story that starts out big in scope and gets progressively smaller. The first four seasons involve multiple civil wars, five different kings, and spans multiple continents. By the end, we’re on one single continent fighting a battle between three armies. The Wheel of Time is a story that does the exact opposite. We start out very small with these three characters in their tiny rural village, and as the plot unfolds the scope gets bigger and bigger to involve whole cities and armies and myriad forces of good and evil.
If I were to sum up my take on the matter in one sentence it would be this:
The Wheel of Time does itself a disservice by inviting a Game of Thrones comparison.
It’s just not fair. There will never be another Game of Thrones. Period. If we’re going to watch this new Amazon show, we have to just appreciate it for what it is and not try to compare it to an old HBO show.
I think if we all watch The Wheel of Time and refrain from burdening it with all of our leftover GOT baggage, it will be a highly enjoyable experience. The books were awesome, so, unless they’ve completely re-written the story, there’s no way that a show with such high-quality source material, budget, and streaming platform will be anything less than a sold B+.
I look forward to watching it, but, to answer your question, NO… it will not be the next Game of Thrones.
Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think in the comments.
CP
