Summary
- Considering the past of
The Wheel of Time
The story is extremely advanced, its medieval fantasy stylings are a revisitation of the post-apocalyptic genre. - Just as the Middle Ages were a rebirth of the fallen Roman Empire,
The Wheel of Time
The period is a rediscovery of magic in a more primitive infrastructure. -
The Wheel of Time
The past era was filled with mega structures and floating vehicles, and society collapsed due to the arrogance of magical exploration and lust for power.
Before its release as a television series on Prime Video, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan has been hailed as the birth of modern fantasy. The 14-book series took the genre by storm even as Jordan passed away while still writing it, leaving the final three books to be completed from his notes by Brandon Sanderson. Jordan's work brings elements of science fiction, alternate history, and post-apocalyptic settings into its world. However, it is not a complete break from the fantasy genre.
Many fantasy writers before Jordan had built worlds in a style inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, using familiar tropes borrowed from the medieval period of the story and its mythologies, or creating a world into which humans could be transported, as in C. S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia. While The Wheel of Time The TV series follows Jordan, bringing new elements to the genre, elements that can also be found in the medieval period, which gave birth to so many classic fantasy epics.
This article was updated by Christopher Raley on July 31, 2024: The Wheel of Time is a beloved epic fantasy series by Robert Jordan that changed what modern fantasy could do, establishing an intricate system of magic set in a world of complex political struggles. Book lovers now watch as Amazon Prime unfolds the story in a TV series of the same name.
The Wheel of Time is a post-apocalyptic story
The events are set in a period following a cataclysm

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The Wheel of Time is filled with visuals and world-building that show the audience fragments of stories that hint at a more advanced ancient civilization. The events of The Wheel of Time It is set in a time after an apocalyptic event called The Breaking of the World, which ended an advanced civilization and began a series of horrific events. Whether it's the Trolloc Wars that the elders are reluctant to talk about or the rumors of the magical Aes Sedai and their origins, it's clear that the period The Wheel of Time begins in a dark age where history and legend are often difficult to distinguish.
- The Wheel of Time The series begins in 998 NE (New Era).
- The flashback in season 1 episode 8 is set 3,000 years before the events of season 1.
In The Wheel of Time Season 1, Episode 8 “The Eye of the World”, the audience is shown a scene from 3,000 years ago. The scene takes place in a clean room with characters in sleek modern clothing. The end of the scene reveals a view from a window boasting a thriving metropolis of monolithic skyscrapers and flying vehicles.
The active choice to leave this reveal of the high-tech backstory until the end of the season seems to be an attempt to ease new fantasy fans, new to this franchise, into the world before shocking them with the genre's big twist once they're already invested. Revealing the story of The Wheel of Time Not only does it create intrigue for the audience, but it also lets fans know that it will be something different from the usual fantasy or post-apocalyptic series that are so popular today.
The history of the Wheel of Time parallels that of one of our civilizations
The fall of the Roman Empire ushered in the Middle Ages
The Wheel of TimeThe collapse of civilization began with the arrival of the Dark One to the world, which caused the civilization of utopian cities to collapse and turned the world into chaos and destruction. This decline began approximately 100 years before the catastrophic Breaking of the World. It was the destructive event that ultimately led to the downfall of that past civilization and included the fragmentation of kingdoms and the loss of knowledge. Many sought to establish what order they could, resulting in the kingdoms that populated the world during the events of The Wheel of Time.
When the Roman Empire finally fell in 476 AD, the decline of technology and infrastructure in all the conquered territories collapsed with it.. The resulting power vacuum allowed both internal rebellions and external invasions to wreak havoc on the Roman-imposed order. While this event was not a cataclysm that suddenly left people without knowledge of their previous technologies, the end of the Roman Empire was, in a sense, an apocalyptic event.
- The Roman Empire lasted 1,229 years
- The Wheel of TimeThe second era, “The Age of Legends”, is the period when the utopian civilizations entered into decline and the War of Power took place.
Gradually, the cultures that had once been subjugated to Rome now rose in its place. The storehouse of knowledge that Rome cultivated for the ancient world slowly faded into obscurity, leaving in its place a period that historians call the Dark Ages, the Dark Ages, or the Early Middle Ages. The loss of Rome was not catastrophic in the same sense as The Wheel of Timebut it still took a long time for European society to recover. Similar to Jordan's work, knowledge and education eventually developed into a new hierarchy.
The hierarchy of knowledge in WoT mirrors the Middle Ages
The monastic system has protected knowledge for centuries
The hierarchies that protect knowledge in The world of dreams They also maintain a natural divide in class and power structures, making the Aes Sedai a great monolith of power. They exist in the shadow of certain governments and wield magic because they know the deepest, darkest truths of the past. The Wheel of Time shows that the Aes Sedai have a mystical role in their world, but not an infallible one.
Liandrin Guirale represents the extremist side of an order that otherwise aspires to benevolence. Above all, the Aes Sedai want to prevent the return of the Dark One. Given their immense political clout, knowledge, and influence, the Aes Sedai are not beholden to the politics of kingdoms and empires. They operate by their own terms and codes.
- The monastic system developed throughout the Middle Ages as a system of monastic orders that preserved knowledge and constituted centers of learning.
- Although monastic orders primarily wanted to preserve the Bible, they also preserved ancient manuscripts that would otherwise have been lost.
This is very similar to what Europe became in the Middle Ages. As the feudal systems of Central Europe began to expand throughout the former Roman Empire, religion became the bulwark of power that governed the kings.. Rome may have fallen, but through the rise of Catholicism, Rome maintained its grip on feudal power. Through the monastic system, it also collected and protected ancient knowledge. However, the hierarchies of religious and political systems ensured that knowledge was reserved for only a few.
A magical cataclysm led to a technological downfall
WoT shows the present of a vaguely remembered past

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The Wheel of Time series only shows a glimpse of the last 3,000 years ago, likely set shortly before The Dark One turned everything upside down. From special trees that calm emotions in cities, clothes that can change color depending on the wearer's mood, and geomagnetic levitation for buildings and vehicles, it's clear that the past was far more advanced than contemporary Earth. The breaking of the world caused all these technologies to dissolve into distant memories and myths..
- The magic-hungry factions are comparable to the power-hungry factions of the post-apocalyptic genre.
- The importance of craving magic as an unstable source of power is justified after the collapse, but is carried forward to an extreme.
It is because of this intense destruction that much of the world in The Wheel of Time It is either lush and overgrown or barren desert, with small communities scattered throughout and large cities sparsely populating the landscape. Instead of advanced communications technology, news is spread by word of mouth by merchants and minstrels, the law of the land is sparsely disseminated, and militant religious factions brandish fervent swords against those who oppose their beliefs. If this world had beat-up cars and guns instead of medieval weapons, The Wheel of Time would be familiar to the post-apocalyptic sci-fi genres that have dominated television for over a decade.
However, WoT is still a work of fiction.
Its blend of tropes stays firmly within the genre.
Despite its many post-apocalyptic themes, The Wheel of Time remains heavily in the fantasy genre. The entire downfall of civilization is due to magic, specifically magic wielded by one man who tainted any man sensitive to magic with the madness of the Dark One to bring chaos. That is why the harsh laws keep powerful men capable of using magic locked away.
- Brandon Sanderson (who ended Jordan's run after the writer's tragic death) is a consultant on the show.
- Taking the books as a complete story, the showrunner wants to see eight seasons for The world of dreams.
The Aes Sedai are a strictly female order with their Guardians only peripherally connected to their magic.. This intense control of magic's unpredictability is fragile and heavily guarded by the order. As season two shows, when the Seanchan enslave Egwene, they use her powers as a weapon for their armies. Considering that magic is the dominant power that has survived since ancient times, it serves the people in The Wheel of Time primarily as a defensive power or armed power. This primitive dynamic continues to define the post-apocalyptic era of the world.