The Wheel of Time Turns

The fantasy genre has exploded in the wake of the release of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in cinemas, compounded by Game of Thrones, even if most are less than enthused about the way that particular show ended. There are an awful lot of fantasy worlds out there, all lovingly crafted by their creators. The world of the Sword of Truth series, Midkemia of the Riftwar Saga, Shannara, Middle Earth, Earthsea, Roshar and the rest of the Cosmere. The worlds of Athas, Krynn, Eberron, Toril and the like from various roleplaying systems such as Dungeons & Dragons. So many worlds, all with their own rules and creatures and magic systems and characters and factions. But we aren’t going to discuss any of these, instead we will focus on the world of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Given the fact that the first season of the Wheel of Time series is due to be released in November of this year, and the fact that it is my personal favourite story, I feel that the timing is right for this.

The world is our own evolved and destroyed and rebuilt. It has experienced many Ages as the Wheel turns, and in one Age, the Age of Legends, it experienced an enormous cataclysm known as the Breaking of the World. The story in the novels is set during the Third Age, three thousand and more years after the Breaking. There is (naturally, because it’s a fantasy story!) a good vs evil dichotomy that plays out over the course of the novels coming to one of the rare satisfying endings to a story of such magnitude and scope.

The forces of the Light are fractured and mistrusting of one another, even within their own factions. Aes Sedai (a phenomenally powerful group of magic using women) are often distrusting of their own sisters, for example. Amongst the Children of the Light, more commonly known as the Whitecloaks, nobody trusts the Hand of the Light. Different countries are often warring. It is a very human, very believable world in these respects. Squabbling, infighting and normal human ridiculousness abound.

The forces of the Shadow are equally fractured and mistrusting of each other, as the thralls of evil often are, and as such they are often not as effective as they could be. There are monstrous Shadowspawn, Trollocs that have been bred from animals mixed with humans in the Age of Legends, horrific hybrids of man and beast that continued to breed over the centuries, occasionally making war on the world of humanity. Sometimes the Trolloc offspring turn out more human, at least physically. These are the Myrdraal, looking mostly human, except for the fact that they have no eyes. Simply a blank forehead. Shadowspawn will eat anything, or anybody, though they prefer the meat of mankind. Shadowspawn come in many varieties, and none are particularly pleasant.

The magic system is unique and different, with the One Power only safe for women to use, as at the end of the Age of Legends the Dark One tainted the male half, sending all male practitioners of the Power irrevocably insane through use. There is, of course, a prophecy that states that the hero of the Age of Legends, a man called Lews Therin Telamon, a man that was known as The Dragon, would return and save the world from the Dark One in a climactic Last Battle. A male Aes Sedai. The Dragon Reborn to save the world would also end up going completely insane and potentially could end up destroying it.

It is an incredibly different world from that imagined by most fantasy authors, with unique creatures and different races, interesting cultural differences that often prove humorous within the books. I would love to be able to say in time that my own fantasy worlds are as unique and interesting as that which Robert Jordan created, and will always hold his Wheel of Time series up as the gold standard to which to aspire.

If you, my reader, has not yet experienced this world I implore you to do so. Yes, 14 (15 with the prequel novella) books is a daunting prospect, and had there been that many when I began that journey with Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve… well who knows. It might have scared me off as well, though I think that unlikely.

In short, the Wheel of Time stands out as the best fantasy world by a wide margin, at least in my own eyes.