How Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time Changes The Dragon Prophecy (& Why)

How Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time Changes The Dragon Prophecy (& Why)

The Prophecies of the Dragon are an essential element at the heart of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. Amazon’s TV series makes some improvements.



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How Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time Changes The Dragon Prophecy (& Why)

Warning: Contains spoilers for The Wheel of Time episode 4.

In adapting Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books, Amazon’s The Wheel of Time TV series has made some small but crucial changes to the original prophecies regarding the Dragon’s rebirth. While the show has been a relatively faithful adaptation of the books so far, there have been several changes. Most notable of these are the aging up of several cast members, the more overtly dark tone, and the changes to who the Dragon Reborn could be.

In Jordan’s Wheel of Time books, the previous Dragon was Lews Therin Telamon, and he was partially responsible for the Breaking of the World. The Dragon is prophesied to be reborn again to fight the Dark One in the Last Battle. The Prophecies of the Dragon say the Dragon will be born on Dragonmount and be raised by the “old blood,” which helps to guide Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) to the Two Rivers, where a great civilization once stood. Twenty years before the beginning of The Eye of the World, during the events of the prequel novel New Spring, a Foretelling, or prophecy, from the Keeper at the White Tower announces the Dragon has been born again.

While it might seem strange to make changes to something that is as central to a story as the Dragon Prophecy is to The Wheel of Time, the changes do a lot of good. The new take on the prophecy in the show allows significantly more mystery around who the Dragon is at the start of the series, whereas the identity of the Dragon is fairly clear early on in the books. The changes also do a lot to improve on how The Wheel of Time handles gender. Here’s how and why Amazon’s The Wheel of Time changes Jordan’s original Prophecies of the Dragon.

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Moiraine Believes One Of Five Could Be The Dragon

How Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time Changes The Dragon Prophecy (& Why)

In the Wheel of Time books, when Moiraine arrives in the Two Rivers, she has narrowed the possible candidates for the Dragon in the town to just three people. These are Rand, Mat, and Perrin. All three were raised in the Two Rivers or the surrounding area, a land that was once Manetheren and is filled with the relatively insular descendants of those warriors, meaning they fulfill the criteria for being raised by the old blood. The Keeper’s prophecy also indicated the Dragon would be born during the Battle of the Shining Walls, and all three boys were born within days of one another in the midst of that battle.

In The Wheel of Time TV series, Moiraine states the Dragon is one of five people in the Two Rivers. As Moiraine’s Aes Sedai oaths mean she cannot tell an outright lie, she must believe this to be the case. The expansion from three possible candidates for the Dragon Reborn to five is then confirmed when Dana, the Darkfriend in Breen’s Spring, states that in her dreams from the Dark One, she sees it is one of five people.



In the original Wheel of Time books, Egwene is younger than the rest of the group, which clearly ruled her out as a possibility for being the Dragon Reborn. The Amazon series has aged her up along with the other characters to make her close enough in age to be considered. Nynaeve, on the other hand, was several years older in the books and was therefore not a candidate. While the adaptation has kept the notion of her being older, episode 1 put a large question mark over her age. The possibility of her being the Dragon is then reinforced despite the potential age disparity when at the end of episode 4, she displays huge talent with the One Power and leaves Logain marveling that she is so much stronger than he is. These elements that allow for more candidates for being the Dragon Reborn provide a more plausible level of mystery throughout season 1.

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The Wheel of Time’s Dragon Prophecy Addresses Jordan’s Gender Issue

How Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time Changes The Dragon Prophecy (& Why)

When Jordan wrote the Prophecies of the Dragon for The Wheel of Time books, he used male pronouns throughout. It was never questioned that Lews Therin would be reincarnated as a man, and the Keeper’s Foretelling of the Dragon’s birth also used male pronouns. This helped to reinforce the idea the Dragon was either Mat, Rand, or Perrin and played into ideas of gender essentialism and the gender binary. Based on established traditions, what is known about Jordan’s life and experiences, and the fact The Eye of the World was published in 1990, this is not terribly surprising.

Amazon’s The Wheel of Time TV series fixes this issue of gender essentialism for a present-day audience by removing the gendered language from those prophecies. When Moiraine introduces the series, she notes explicitly they do not know if the Dragon will be a man or a woman, and while this still assumes a binary understanding of gender, it is a step forward from Jordan’s original approach. This move away from gender essentialism is emphasized in The Wheel of Time episode 4, when the characters are discussing previous false Dragons. While in the books all who have proclaimed themselves to be the Dragon have been male, Amazon’s series mentions that female Aes Sedai have also attempted to claim the title at times.

Changing The Dragon Prophecy Means More Recognition Of Female Characters

While only one of the characters in The Wheel of Time can be the Dragon Reborn, several of them are still marked as being more significant than others. These characters are ta’veren, key threads in the pattern woven by the Wheel of Time that have greater effects on the world and its inhabitants. In Jordan’s The Wheel of Time books, of the five characters highlighted in the television show as potential candidates for being the Dragon Reborn, only Rand, Mat, and Perrin were explicitly noted as ta’veren. Some long-time readers have felt there was always a good argument for Egwene and Nynaeve to also be considered ta’veren, however the books never classified them as such.

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In seeming to consider the possibility that these women could be the Dragon, the interpretation of prophecies in Amazon’s The Wheel of Time implies they might also take a larger, more defined role in the weaving of the pattern. The Wheel of Time episode 4 supports the possibility of Nynaeve in particular being ta’veren; in the books, one of Logain’s talents is the ability to identify ta’veren, and when he sees Nynaeve use the One Power, he is markedly impressed by her. The inclusion of Egwene and Nynaeve as ta’veren, alongside considering them as possible identities for the Dragon Reborn, goes a long way in giving The Wheel of Time a less gender essentialist view and a more equitable portrayal of significant people. While the show is still tied heavily to binary concepts, it is possible the inclusion of Min, a particularly androgynous and potentially non-binary character, later in the TV series might help to break that notion.


Link Source : https://screenrant.com/wheel-time-show-books-dragon-prophecy-egwene-nynaeve-change/

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