The Great Hunt Top Ten Scenes for the Amazon show

Blood and Ashes! It’s been a week since my last post on the ten scenes I would like to see from the Eye of the World (the first book in the Wheel of Time) and now it’s time for book 2 The Great Hunt. I have heard that the first season of the show might combine the first two books so this may pertain to the first season as well. For whatever reason I have reread the second Wheel of Time book the least out of the first six books. Although I did read it in one 24 hour period once, which my eyes have yet to recover from, I have not read it as much as the third and fourth book. I’m not exactly sure why. I think it annoys me when Rand purposely tries to distance himself from Mat and Perrin. Although his reasons make sense, I don’t like the way he goes about it. The second book always struck me as more of an adventure book than the later ones. Although a lot is set up in this book for the future, it feels like it could stand as its own adventure while later books seem to be setting up for the Final Battle. Rand becomes too big to go on adventures by himself in later books once he accepts his role as Dragon Reborn. I think The Great Hunt was written when the Wheel of Time was still supposed to only be only six books long (I’m pretty sure Robert Jordan originally pitched three books but Tor signed him for six knowing he would go longer). I wonder if The Great Hunt would have been written differently if Jordan knew the series would go bloody eight books more than he originally planned.

Below are the top 10 scenes I would like to see in the upcoming Amazon show. Warning, there will be spoilers (for this book and the series as a whole), so if you don’t yet know what Ogier’s do with their ears when they feel awkward go back and read the books!

1. Rand meeting Siuan Sanche. Siuan is one of the first Aes Sedai outside of Moraine and Elaida that we meet in the series. When you think about how big this story becomes and how many Aes Sedai we meet it’s amazing that we only came in contact with two (Elaida only for a few pages) in the first book. Rand meeting the Amyrlin is a big deal in the series so far. We also see some of that stubbornness from Rand for the first time. In the last book he was afraid to even look at Moraine, now he’s showing the boss some attitude at the beginning of this story. Good job Rand
2. Fal Dara being attacked and the Horn of Valere, along with Mat’s dagger, being stolen. This sets up the entire book. Literally becoming a great hunt for the Horn of Valere, no longer just a legend. Mat’s dagger is equally important if not moreso to this story. It gives us a ticking clock that raises the stakes of this hunt personally for our heroes.
3. When Rand, Loial and Hurin go to the alternate world ‘finding’ Selene. The alternate world is a very cool concept in this book but I can’t remember if anyone ever goes back there anytime else. For that reason I can see why the showrunners wouldn’t put this in the final cut for the show but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be useful to the story. It sets up the Forsaken as a real mystery. Do they want to kill Rand? If they do why didn’t Lanfear kill him here? Who is Lanfear? Where are the rest of the Forsaken now? It also sets up how Rand, Loial and Hurin get ahead of Mat, Perrin and Ingtar and get the Horn on their own.
4. Perrin guiding the group by talking to wolves. When Rand is gone it allows our other heroes to shine on their own. Perrin is able to guide the group because of his ability to talk to wolves. This scene shows Perrin’s character grow while hes with this group of soldiers. Plus I love this wolf ability of Perrin’s.
5. Egwene, Min and Elayne meeting in Tar Valon. These three meeting are crazy important for the rest of the series. All three love Rand (in different ways). Elayne and Min’s relationship become very interesting throughout the series. This is the first time we really see Tar Valon. We also learn how females learn how to channel rather than it being some mysterious power like it was in the last book.
6. Nynaeve testing for Accepted. Nynaeve is one of those characters that I couldn’t stand when I first read the books but now respect (even though she can still be really annoying. I think someone counted how many times she pulls her braid, I’m guessing above 800.) Seeing a huge Ter’angreal and alternate realities at work on the screen would be a really cool way to show us what is truly important to these characters. It will also show us how determined Nynaeve is to becoming an Aes Sedai. Nynaeve is one of the rocks of the series. So many characters change over the course of the books but Nynaeve to her core never wavers who she is.
7. Lan and Moiraine fight over Nynaeve. Although like Mat I find it hard to believe that any man can fall in love with Nynaeve I do enjoy the Lan and Nynaeve love story and how it progressed through the books. We’ve seen how much Lan protects Moiraine and how emotionless Lan could be but this gives us an insightful glimpse into his head. As we learn later, just because Aes Sedai seem emotionless does not mean that they are so. Same thing here with Lan. He has deep feelings for Nynaeve which makes Moiraine question his loyalty which gives the book, and future show, some good drama.
8. Rand runs into Thom again. I should have added Thom’s sacrifice in The Eye of the World as an honorable mention as a scene I would love to see in the show. Thom should be one of everyone’s favorite characters in the books. It feels weird rereading the first book and Lan not trusting the gleeman when he joins the group in the Winespring Inn’s stable knowing how important he becomes as a mentor to the power trio.
9. Mat sounding the Horn of Valere. Finally we get to see what this horn can do! And then not use it at all for 12 more books…. It does give us some incredible questions to think about though after Mat uses it for all those books. If Mat blew the horn then only he can use it while he’s alive. The question of does he die in The Fires of Heaven leads us to wonder for the rest of the series of if only he can use the horn or if anyone can use it again. This scene with all the heroes coming back should be very cool to see on screen. Some of these heroes we will see again, hopefully they cast a certain archer well.
10. Rand’s duel with Ba’alzamon. And finally the climax of the book (and how the first three books end). I always imagine Rand fighting Ba’alzamon and how that must have looked in the sky so I’m very interested to see how the show portrays this.

Some honorable mentions I think would be meeting Aiel for the first time and the Seanchan. Robert Jordan had an amazing way of depicting different cultures (some cultural difference even within the same country i.e. The Two Rivers and Caemlyn). The Aiel and Seanchan are probably the most important outside cultures that enter this continent and I love seeing how our characters interact with these different world views (I’m still trying to figure out Aiel humor sometimes). I’m very interested to see how they pull off these different cultures meeting in the show.