Lord of the Wheel

Book: 1; The Eye of the World

Chapter: 20; Dust on the Wind

Character Groups:

Rand 
Mat
Perrin
Egwene
Moiraine
Lan
Thom
Nynaeve

So the magnificent seven have sallied forth from The Shir... sorry, the Two Rivers with Dark Riders on their tail and a singing, soul-sucking batman in the skies.

Other, better people than me have pointed out the parallels between The Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time, I think there is even a book that boasts the fact as a cover quote. The seven that flee the Two Rivers can be directly related to characters from early in The Fellowship of the Ring. The four locals, Rand, Mat, Perrin and Egwene are the Hobbits (though at this point, you are not supposed to be able to tell which is which) Moiraine is Gandalf and Lan is the expert woodsman with a mysterious heritage. Thom is... well... Tom, and herein lies my point.

Tom ‘Bloody’ Bombadil was the character that almost made me put Fellowship down and walk away. He was BEYOND annoying with his stupid singing and his creepily cheery disposition. Thom Merrilin, by contrast, is just cool. Sure there is still singing and stories but they rarely go on for more than half a page and always seem relevant. Another factor may be that he keeps more knives about his person than is reasonable and can make them appear and disappear with a wave of his hands.

I would say that the characters are the main reason that I prefer WoT to LotR. Even though they are in many cases so obviously analogous, I just like them better as people. I actually CARE about their hopes and fears. A few chapters ago we were introduced to Min, a tomboy soothsayer who gives whole new meaning to the phrase ‘love at first sight’. Clapping eyes on one of our heroes, she knows that she is destined to fall hopelessly in love with him. She accepts that it is unavoidable but doesn’t just moon over him. Actually, the lovebirds’ first conversation ends in him fleeing from her in terror. I like Min. You just don’t get that kind of characterisation in Tolkien, especially in women.

The thing with WoT is that this similarity to LotR could be very deliberate. One of the central tenants of the world is that time is cyclical hence the ‘Wheel of Time turns, Ages come and pass...’ bit. There are seven ages on the Wheel and the shape of history in each is roughly the same each time it passes. Current events are happening in the Third Age, The Age of Prophecy, which was preceded by the Age of Legends, an idyllic time of peace and prosperity. It could be said (and has been) that the adventures of Frodo, Sam, Gandalf and the rest were simply the events of eight Ages ago, the last time the Age of Prophecy came through. I know this probably sounds like I’m making excuses but there are other hints that something like this might be going on. Maybe I’ll get a chance sometime to talk about Lenn, who flew the moon in the belly of an eagle made of fire, and his daughter, Salya, who walks among the stars (a story from the Age before the Age of Legends some say!)