What locations will appear in the first season of The Wheel of Time?

Pictured (L-R): Daniel Henney (Lan Mondragoran) and Rosamund Pike (Moiraine Damodred). Credit: Jan Thijs. © 2021 Amazon Content Services LLC and Sony Pictures Television Inc
Pictured (L-R): Daniel Henney (Lan Mondragoran) and Rosamund Pike (Moiraine Damodred). Credit: Jan Thijs. © 2021 Amazon Content Services LLC and Sony Pictures Television Inc

Oh, the places you’ll go in Amazon’s massive adaptation of The Wheel of Time.

We’re less than a month away from the series premiere, and there are enough trailer trailers, production leaks, and community speculation to start mapping out how the season might go down. Fans expect some overarching changes to condense Robert Jordan’s 14-book epic fantasy series into a TV show, but how many of those will we see in season 1? As showrunner Rafe Judkins said last year:

"In the first book alone they go to more than 20 villages and cities. To try to do that is physically impossible for the show, so most of the work we do in the room is geographical, figuring out how to condense the story and move it through places we can physically create."

So fans of the books won’t see every nook and cranny of The Eye of the World brought to life on screen, but there’s plenty of locations to get excited about, starting with…

Tar Valon

The premiere season of The Wheel of Time will turn the spotlight on Moiraine Sedai (Rosamund Pike), so it makes sense that we would see something of Tar Valon — the city of Aes Sedai — even though we don’t actually glimpse it in the first book. The official teaser already showed off the city, an island fortress connected by beautifully constructed bridges. Tar Valon is an important location, so expect the White Tower set to stick around throughout the series’ run.

And if we’re visiting Tar Valon, that means we’ll meet Siuan Sanche the Amyrlin Seat, played by Sophie Okonedo. In the behind-the-scenes video “Moiraine’s Quest,” Moiraine mentions what fans know as the foretelling, “a vision of a baby being born” who could change the world, before setting off on her search. Perhaps we’ll see Moiraine and Siuan talk about it before Moiraine sets out.

Emond’s Field

Quiet and peaceful, Emond’s Field evokes J.R.R. Tolkien’s Shire from The Lord of the Rings, a place of comfort and familiarity. In the books, that’s all stripped from our heroes as they set out on a journey that will change their lives forever, for better or worse.

The Emond’s Field set built on the outskirts of Prague, but was ultimately burned down for the “filming the end of the first episode.” We may not see the town outside of the first episode for a few seasons.

Tarren Ferry

After fleeing from Emond’s Field from servants of the Dark One, our heroes make their way towards Tarren Ferry, their only way out of the isolated Two Rivers region. Though this location could have been easy to cut, it looks like we’ll watch the companions make it north across the river and continue their journey. If you look closely at the video above, you’ll see a cluster of buildings on the edge of the water with a dock and boat, around the 0:28 mark; our money is on that being Tarren Ferry.

Shadar Logoth

It’s a bit of a mystery where the travelers will go after leaving Tarren Ferry, but at some point they’ll end up in Shadar Logoth. The shadow city plays a big role in the first book, and we’ve glimpsed it plenty in the latest teasers and trailers. It’s looking impressive, even though the Emond’s Fielders may not be spending a lot of time there.

The show has confirmed that an important ruby dagger from the books will show up, as will the terrifying Mashadar, a shapeless evil that shows up on TV as an oozing darkness rather than the white fog described in the books. It looks similar to the oily taint of saidin, the male half of the One Power, as we’ve glimpsed in scenes with Logain.

Grinwell’s Farm

After escaping Shadar Logoth, Rand al’Thor and Matrim Cauthon travel together, often stopping in small villages and farms. Judkins has said that many of these stops will be cut, but casting notices suggest they’ll at least be stopping at the Grinwell farm, if not the town of Whitebridge.

In the book, Master and Mistress Grinwell shelter the Emond’s Fielders in exchange for work on the farm. They are offered a barn to sleep in, which could explain a shot or two from the teasers. It will be interesting to see what the show does with daughter Else Grinwell, who plays a larger role down the line.

The Ways

The official Twitter account for The Wheel of Time released a poll letting the community choose the show’s official emoji. One of the choices confirmed the strange pillars shown in the trailers is a Waygate, an entry point into the foreboding world of the Ways.

Made from the One Power, the Ways are a corrupted place our heroes can use to travel to distant places in little time. But haunting the suspended islands and bridges that make up the Ways is Machin Shin, known as the black wind in the Old Tongue, a devouring wind that sings bone-curdling chants.

Everything about the Ways poses a creative challenge for the production team, and we can’t wait to see how they tackle it.

Fal Dara

Coming out of the Ways, the heroes should arrive near the Blight, and stay in the border city of Fal Dara. Judkins described the Fal Dara set as being his favorite, so we know it’s there in the first season.

There’s also a shot in a behind-the-scenes video — above — that shows the filming of a cavalry charge of what could be Borderland soldiers in Tarwin’s Gap. There have been banners spotted as well. One appears to be of a flying hawk, possibly the sigil of Shienar, and three foxes, the sigil of Lord Agelmar of Fal Dara.

The events at Fal Dara and the adventures nearby in the Blight mark the end of the first Wheel of Time book, The Eye of the World. We don’t know if that’s also where season 1 will end. Judkins has said before that the first season takes elements from at least the first three books in the series, though that could mean a lot of things.

In the official Wheel of Time trailer above, we can see Fal Dara and Tarwin’s Gap around the 1:17 mark; this was confirmed by Judkins in an IGN trailer breakdown. Expect the city to play major role in the final episodes of the first season.

From what’s been confirmed, the first season of The Wheel of Time starts down a path very similar to the one followed in the books. Though other locations, like Camelyn, won’t appear at first, it’s likely they be reworked into the story later on. We can finally see for ourselves when the show premieres on November 19.

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