All the book changes in The Wheel of Time season finale

Welcome to our weekly feature where we walk you through the latest episode of Amazon’s The Wheel of Time and fill you in on how it differs from The Wheel of Time book series by Robert Jordan. In the season 1 finale, “The Eye of the World,” Moiraine and Rand venture through the Blight to reach the Dark One’s prison as Trollocs attack Tarwin’s Gap.

The Blight

In the show: The first part of the episode shows Moiraine and Rand traveling through the Blight, an encroaching corruption spreading over the land from the Dark One’s prison. Rand is warned not to touch anything. They talk about Egwene and Rand wonders if Moiraine will teach him to channel, but she says she cannot. Moiraine gives Rand an angreal, an object through which he can channel the One Power, which will multiply his own power. She tells him to use it to destroy the Dark One when the time comes. Rand is unsure how to channel, but Moiraine assures him that when his life is in danger, the One Power will be there.

Along the way, they see the now-corrupted towers of Malkier, where Lan was born and his family died. Moiraine explains that it’s only been 40 years since Malkier fell, a sign of the growing strength of the Dark One. As they rest, Rand is visited by a mysterious man in his dreams, the same one who showed up for him and the other Emond’s Fielders in the second episode. Rand assumes that this is the Dark One. Rand denies him and wakes from the dream by falling on his sword.

Rand and Moiraine push through the corruption, and eventually reach the Dark One’s prison at the Eye of the World. There they confront the Man, who tempts Rand with a vision of a peaceful life he could share with Egwene. Rand denies him again and blasts him with the One Power, seemingly ending the threat, although there are hints that there’s more we don’t know.

In the books: Moiraine, Lan, Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve, Perrin, Mat and Loial all head for the Eye of the World. In the books, there is no qualification that anyone who is not the Dragon during this confrontation will die, so there’s no reason for Moiaine and Rand to go off on their own. In fact, they’re not even going to the Eye to confront the Dark One, but only to investigate and warn the one who guards it of a coming threat.

As they cross the Blight, the walk through the lands that were once Malkier. The companions become uneasy over the tainted landscape and corrupted wildlife. Loial is particularly upset at the affront to nature.

Lan sets a hard pace, cautioning that there are things in the Blight that can kill in an instant, and warns them not to touch anything. They venture further into the corruption, but the creatures within the Blight start to attack. As they flee, the stumble upon the Green Man, the ancient protector of the Eye of the World.

The Green Man comes out to greet them. He recognizes Moiraine as well the Ogier, and calls out Perrin as a Wolfbrother. He says things to Rand about the People of the Dragon, which Rand doesn’t understand. Moiraine quickly explains they came to see the Eye of the World. The Green Man agrees to take them there.

At the Eye of the World, the group encounters  Balthamel and Aginor, two members of the Forsaken, lieutenants of the Dark One who have been sealed away at his prison in Shayol Ghul for millennia. (In the books, the Eye of the World is not the Dark One’s prison, just a place of great importance left over from the Age of Legends.) The group manages to defeat these two, who do not appear in the show. Instead, the show appears to sub in Ishamael, another member of the Forsaken who plays a bigger part throughout the rest of the story.