10 chapters from the first Wheel of Time book fans can’t wait to see on TV

“Prologue: Dragonmount”

There aren’t many books that start off with a bang as big as the one at the start of The Eye of the World. The opening prologue draws readers in while planting the seeds for the epic story to follow, all while setting the tone for the entire series. We’re not sure if this scene will make it into the premiere episode of Amazon’s show, but if it does, there’s nowhere to go but up. Above, you can see how the scene was adapted by FXX back in 2015. Yikes.

The chapter begins in a magnificent palace, a place that was once beautiful but now reduced to ruins, with smeared soot and scorch-marks along the walls. Among the rubble walks a man wearing what was once a fine cloak, now torn and tattered.

He walks among dead bodies, passing by prostrate corpses without a care. He is rambling to himself, calling for his wife Ilyena, clearly unhinged.

The air behind him ripples and shimmers. A man dressed in black appears. He speaks to the mad man, naming him Lews Therin, the Lord of the Morning. We learn from their conversation that Therin has fallen into insanity, a far fall considering the man he had once been. Annoyed, the black-clad figure presents himself as servant of the Dark One, a malevolent figure against whom our heroes spend the entire book fighting in one form or another, and proceeds to heal Lews Therin’s corrupted mind. Therin screams in agony, stumbling to the ground. After some time the pain recedes and he recognizes Ilyena, a golden-haired woman lying among the dead on the floor.

No longer insane, he looks around to see the faces of those he loved, all slain by his hand in madness. He reaches out for the tainted power of saidin and travels to a flat and empty landscape. Lews Therin draws deeply on the power while he shouts for forgiveness. A bolt of lightning and fire strikes from the heaven and through Lews Therin, making the earth heave while molten rock fountains high up in the air. When the trembling of the earth has finished, Lews Therin is gone and where he stood looms a tall, terrifying mountain.

It is a mysterious chapter, but a forceful and iconic one that readers would love to see done well onscreen. It’s not necessarily needed to understand the story as much of the details of exactly what’s happening won’t be filled in for a long time, but it does kick things off in a showy, exciting way that would help carry us through the sleepier sections that follow in the Two Rivers. It might be a little confusing for new fans, but what’s a good TV show without a little mystery?