1x08 The Eye of the World

I have read the first book in the series, "The Eye of the World", and I can see there are significant changes from the source material but somehow it isn't a problem for me like it was in the case of "The Witcher", maybe because I am not a great fan of the books so I don't mind the changes. It is a bit disappointing that they do not show the Green Man who helps them with fighting the servants of the dark one, he was a bit similar to Tolkien's Ents so I would like to see that. From what I recall from the book, the eponymous Eye was a pool full of pure saidin which has not been touched by the dark one and Rand uses it to defeat the baddie, I'm not sure if it is Ishamael or some of his servants, the duel between them is also much longer, with both of them creating long weaves of the power. I really hated the dark demonic vision of Ishamael which Rand has in the novels, so I rather liked the idyllic family scene he presented to Rand in the show, of his dream life with Egwene and their baby which Rand can make true if he follows Ishamael's teachings of the black magic and embraces his power, for a time it seems that Rand's going to succumb, but he manages to overcome the temptation and in this way defeat the main baddie. He then leaves - I think in the direction of Dragonmount - and tells Moiraine to lie to others that he had died.

The first scene with the flashback to Lews Therin, the original Dragon, seems interesting as it looks like the showrunners invented a new language for it (since from what I remember the language Jordan uses in his novels is not really complete and there are only phrases strewn here and there), though it seems to me that the conversation lacks some emotion, it feels dry and formal while the fate of the world is at stake. The steampunk-life world outside Lews Therin's window gives us a glimpse of the technology which was lost due to the breaking of the world which he caused.

There are many emotional scenes in the episode, but I liked the conversation between Lan and Nynaeve the best, it feels quite intimate and heart-felt, Lan confesses his love for her but they have to part as he intends to track Moiraine using the hints Nynaeve gave him, and they believe they would never see each other again (in the novels they are supposed to get married as I know from spoilers so I wonder whether it would be changed in the show since they've already changed a lot).

The battle is impressive, with some call-backs to "The Lord of the Rings" as the trollocs attacking the wall of Tarwin’s Gap bring to mind the orcs climbing on the walls of Helm's Deep in "The Two Towers." The defenders have some advantage as they can attack the enemy from overhead but they are quickly outnumbered. The ruling family of Fal Dara dies, both the brother and the sister, he is killed by the trolloc and she channels linked to other women (including Egewene and Nynaeve) and is overwhelmed by too much power, two other women are also burned to their deaths with the power, only the Two Rivers women remain. It is unclear whether Nynaeve is also killed and Egwene resurrects her with her channelling or whether she was only severely wounded but not actually dead. From Nynaeve's channelling in the episode when she saves Lan and others from the false Dragon it seems that in the show you can resurrect a person who hasn't been dead for very long yet, and it is not clear how long Nynaeve was dead as there is a cut to other scene. It is nice she's back since I liked her character in the show but the fact she's alive seems a bit too plot-armoury to me.

Perrin sees as some men from Fal Dara dig out the Horn of Valere which was hidden under the throne (this is the subject of the second volume so I have no idea what has been changed here), however, Padan Fain comes with some fades and slays the women guarding the passage, the men and even Loial, then he talks to Perrin and names all five Two River folks ta’veren, which is a significant difference from the novel as there only Rand, Perrin and Mat are ta’veren, here Egwene and Nynaeve are also included. Fain suggests that some of the ta’veren would turn to the darkness and there is a cut to Mat going back to Shadar Logoth, suggesting it would be him, though I think in the books none of the ta’veren does turn to evil (at least in "The Eye of the World"), so it is another serious divergence from the source material. I was not a big fan of Mat but it is sad they seem to change him into a negative character?

The episode ends badly for Moiraine as she loses all her power in the confrontation with Ishamael and she cannot channel anymore or feel the one power. Lan find her sitting on the site of the Eye of the World and she confides in him that she cannot re-establish their bond since she cannot channel anymore; however, it is clear that they still have a strong emotional bond as Lan consoles and supports her. I guess this was not the case in the novels either, and it seems like a worrying trend of showrunners depriving enchantresses of their magic, as the same thing happened to Yennefer in "The Witcher", with disastrous results concerning her character arc.

The end of the episode shows a girl playing on the beach who sees upcoming ships, containing what must be the enslaved channellers called damane (I've read that in book spoilers too), which suggests Seanchan will be shown next season.

This episode is just a joke. I can understand why there are differences to the books, but most of the made changes made things more complicated or just didn't made sense!
As a fan of the books I already had my issues with the whole adaption and the first episodes. But I got satisfied withe the last episode, where finally Rand was shown as the reborn dragon. And now this!
This feels so poor, stupid!
The battle on the pass for example: The army is starting on horses. Everybody who already looked forward to see an epic battle, because the start is very promising, will be disappointed because.... they don't use the horses. The men of the army will fight in the barrier and will all die very fast against the trolloc army.
And then: The 5 women, who barely can use the force are blowing the whole trolloc army away - just like this!
Thousands of men were very wasted before. Why they didn't send just these 5 women for the fight?
In the meantime the fight between Rand and the dark one is so underwhelming. You cannot see that Rand (the reborn dragon) is the most powerful Aes Sedai in the world.
The scene where Egwene needs to heal Nynaeve from death (the whole scene is so unnecessary) is one more detail, why this show is so poorly written. Oh - Loial also died in this episode! But don't be sad - he will also come back as if by magic for sure!