5 best changes The Wheel of Time show has made from the books

The Wheel turns, and adaptations come and pass. In this age, called the 21st Century by some, we're currently watching a television show based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time books. Thus far, The Wheel of Time has aired two seasons on Prime Video, and the reception has been somewhat divisive; there are plenty of things the show does well, as well as plenty of others that have raised the ire of diehard fans.

We're currently in the long wait between seasons, which means we're still dreaming about The Wheel of Time and whiling away the days. When will season 3 be out? Who knows, but maybe if we all just keep talking about this show, it'll come along sooner than we expect.

Last week, we went through some of the more frustrating changes The Wheel of Time show has made from the books by Robert Jordan (and finished by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan's death in 2007). Today, we're diving into some of the things it's done right — nay, some of the things it's done even better than the books.

There will be SPOILERS below for the TV show, as well as for the first few Wheel of Time novels. After all, we need to be able to talk about...

Lanfear, Ishamael and the Forsaken

The Forsaken are a key part of The Wheel of Time. In the books, there are 13 of these villains, and you always know things are about to get interesting when they show up. The television show may have trimmed that number down to eight, but what Forsaken we are getting have been improved dramatically.

Season 2 makes this crystal clear by giving both Lanfear (Natasha O'Keeffe) and Ishamael (Fares Fares) ample screen time. We get to know them far better at this point in the TV show than we do at the same point in the books.

Don't believe me? By the end of book 2, The Great Hunt, we've only seen Lanfear in disguise as Selene, except that she shows up at the very end of the book to taunt Min Farshaw by revealing her true identity and her ties to the Dragon Reborn, whom she loved in his previous life as Lews Therin. Rand doesn't find out that Selene is Lanfear for quite some time after, and it's even longer before she's acting like the chaotically radiant villainess we saw during season 2 of the show.

Ishamael, meanwhile, spends the first three books as a fiery-headed apparition named Ba'alzamon. It's only after Rand dispatches him that we learn he was Ishamael, and even longer before this important Forsaken gets enough development to feel like a fully fleshed out character.

The show essentially compressed the Forsaken so that they feel more like their late-series book counterparts from the jump. I don't think anyone who enjoyed season 2 will argue that Lanfear wasn't a huge highlight; O'Keeffe absolutely commanded the screen, so much so that I would argue she is the stand-out villain of the season. And Ishamael is much closer to the way readers would come to know in the latter parts of the book series.

Adjusting the role that the Forsaken, and especially Lanfeaer, play in the story has been a tremendously enjoyable expansion for the television show.