Top Ten Scenes I want to see from The Dragon Reborn

Helllooo I hope everyone found water and shade since the last blog post on The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. This week will be about the top ten scenes I would like to see in the upcoming show from book three of The Wheel of Time, The Dragon Reborn! This book may very well be my favorite. It is a tight race between the first book and this one for me. This is where Mat and Perrin start to bloom and really become my favorite characters of all time. It sets up how these three main characters get their own storylines and how this isn’t just a tale about one man to save us all. Rand is almost entirely not in the book (even though it is titled after him). I love Rand but I’m always ready for some Perrin and Mat scenes in these early books. Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne’s story really picks up too and sets them up on their own dynamic paths. Not gunna lie I used to get alarmed reading the few scenes from Rand’s point of view because of how mad and crazy he seems all ready. After reading The Dragon Reborn many time though I now think of Rand’s scenes as Jordan’s genius writing ability. Jordan has a way of depicting this stressed out sheepherder’s intensity and loneliness as insanity. I wonder how the new Amazon show will depict this. I doubt the show will just let Rand disappear for 8 out of 10 episodes or whatever it is but I really hope Mat and Perrin get their moments in the sun. Again, as always, there will be spoilers for not just this book but for the series as a whole coming up. So if you don’t yet know what type of food Faile does not like, go read the books!

1. Rand not able to use the one power to fight the Trollocs. This scene sets up how Rand literally can’t go anywhere without being found. It also shows us that he is not all powerful. Sure he can kill some Forsaken and fight in the sky but his powers are not yet set and completely definable for him. During this first fight of the book Rand is completely useless. Very different from the beginning of the next book when he literally kills every Trolloc in The Stone. It also shows how frustrated he gets when there is literally no one to teach him. The only guide he has are the prophecies he keeps hearing about so it should be no surprise he latches on to them and tries to fulfil the one that’s easiest to understand, taking Callandor in Tear.
2. Mat being healed of the dagger’s taint. Mat is in pretty bad shape at the beginning of this book and he can finally, he thinks (maybe), be rid of his tie to Tar Valon. The last place he wants to be is the Aes Sedai city but it is the one place he needs to be to be healed. It also tells us how important Mat is now that the Amyrlin takes the time to heal him since the Horn of Valere is tied to him for life. She has some plans for his future (which she lets him know). Now he feels even more tied to them than ever.
3. Mat beating Galad and Gawyn at the same time right after he is healed. I think this scene might be my top 10 for the series. I can’t stand Gawyn. These two princes think they are so great and then some farmer with a stick who literally couldn’t even stand the day before beats the Light out of them. It also shows how formidable Mat is and gives some validity to his fighting prowess later on in the series (after we hear how great Gawyn and Galad are with a sword)
4. Random events that Rand seems to be causing just with his presence. So far we have heard about Ta’Veren but not really seen what this means. I love the idea that Pattern being balance and for every good even there being a bad event. This becomes huge later on in the series (especially in the last two books) when there is so much bad to be balanced out by Rand’s nature. Hearing about the million weddings and other random events that take place is an interesting way to think about a world that looks like ours but isn’t
5. Siuan sends Nynaeve, Egwene, Elayne to Tear. The Black Ajah is out and about and Siuan sees something special in these three ladies (one she will come to very much respect probably more than anyone else in her life). They are learning how to use the One Power a lot more smoothly than Rand is and they show their bravery going against fully trained Aes Sedai since their events in the last book. I find it funny that they literally spend like four minutes in the White Tower but it gives them a good perspective when the tower eventually splits (I see some shadows rising).  
6. Mat finds Thom (and eats three chickens whole). The more the show uses Thom, the happier I’ll be. Mat is shown to be resourceful enough to escape a city on his own (almost). I also like when Thom comes out of his drunkenness when he realizes that Mat ate three entire chickens and asks “Did you put those up your sleeve boy!”
7. Perrin saves Gaul and meets Faile. I know a lot of people hate Faile but I actually don’t dislike her (for the first few books at least). I also find it amazing that Jordan can get a character seemingly as small as Gaul become a major secondary character in the full series. I’m very interested to see how they cast Perrin and Faile and how their chemistry works together. I hope they can make her seem annoying from Perrin’s point of view but also endearing enough for him to fall in love with her.
8. Perrin smelling Grey Men and the chase that follows. I like that even Lan didn’t notice this immediate threat to the group’s lives and that is was Perrin who recognized the danger (from smell). I also think it is bloody cool how Perrin rips a chair apart, apparently Faile thought it was pretty legit too. I also am looking forward to seeing balefire for the first time by Moraine in this scene when they are running away.
9. Moraine killing Be’lal. I am interested to see how they depict Be’lal in the TV show. He is in the book for what feels like a page. He has to be one of the least important Forsaken in the books as a whole, thanks to Moraine completely burning him out of the Pattern. I wonder if they will give him a bigger role in the books so his death feels more important.
10. Rand kills Ba’alzamon. Finally Rand kills the Dark One!….then we realize that Ba’alzamon was just a man the whole time and that Rand has a long way to go before the final battle. Whoever they cast as Ba’alzamon is going to have to be an excellent villain/insane person. They have to create a balance between evil and insane that I am very interested in seeing on screen.

Some honorable mentions would have to be Mat using fireworks to get into the Stone and Perrin helping out that blacksmith who gave him the hammer he uses for almost the rest of the series. Random question before we end this week, does anyone else think that Egwene is Ta’Veren as well? Every time I reread these stories I think the Pattern weaves itself around Egwene as much as around Perrin and Mat. I know Suian doesn’t see anything around her, nor Nicola later on but still… Until next week for The Shadow Rising watch out for Machin Shin while walking around.