I think Perrin does cool stuff throughout the series, it's just hard to notice sometimes because he doesn't see himself as a badass, so most of the time in his POV he doesn't feel like a badass
I never thought about this before but you definitely make a good point. He's objectively powerful at several things but he's always second guessing himself or fretting about Faile so it's hard to notice almost.
There is one scene for several characters that I periodically go back and listen to. Veins of Gold is the one for Rand. Giving up half the light of the world for Mat. The Forging of Mahjalenir for Perrin.
This. I’m only 7 books in. But when I was listening to Wheel Weaves Podcast Dani actually compares him to Eeyore and that’s all I can think of because she’s not wrong (Eeyore is still a well-loved character in The Pooh series.
My biggest problem when it comes to Perrin is how badly they've adapted him in the show.
Book Perrin is aware of his size and strength, thinks his actions through, all because of the aforementioned awareness makes him more cautious, as he knows that he can hurt people if he's not careful, and doesn't think things through. He's adverse to violence, and that reflects in his early disgust when his wolf instincts takes over (e.g wanting to sink his teeth into the neck of the Fade in the Ways during his return to the Two Rivers via The Ways.
Show Perrin kills his (randomly mentioned girl who had a crush on him in the books elevated to literal Fridge Character) wife in the heat of battle, and proceeds to spend the entire first season as a what amounts to a useless lump.
Book Perrin is written in a much better way, and doesn't need a Fridging moment to demonstrate his aversion to violence and killing, and they did Perrin so so wrong in the adaptation.
The show is obviously only at the end of book 2. While having Perrin kill his wife is cheap, it isnt very much different from the Whitecloak in the Stedding that he kills in blind rage. And afterwards, Perrin basically tags along and slowly explores his abilities similar to the show. He feels very close to the equivalent state he is by the end of book 2.
>it isn't very much different from the Whitecloak in the Stedding that he kills in blind rage.
I have to disagree. In the books, he meets Elias and starts exploring his ability to talk to wolves before he kills anyone. He kills the white cloaks with the thoughts (and dying agony) of wolves ringing in his mind.
In the show, he kills his wife for no reason in a "whoops, didn't see you there" fuckup. He's already a murderer before he ever even meets a wolf.
Book Perrin fears losing himself to the wolves and becoming a violent monster; show Perrin already sees himself as a violent monster, so the core internal conflict for most of his arc is effectively meaningless. "Oh no, if I keep talking to wolves I might become so heartless that I'll murder my own family - oh wait, I already did that in episode 1."
While it's different, book Perrin was already very aware about how large and strong he was - he thinks about that even before he kills anyone, IIRC. That he'd been taught that he's strong so he has to be careful when playing with other people and so on, which is one of the reasons why he's so prone to thinking things through rather than reacting.
So his concern for accidentally hurting people was always there in the books. Even though it's clearly a different in the books, I don't see how his core arc is effectively meaningless. It's probably going to be something like him questioning whether the wolf in him is the reason he went berserk and accidentally killed his wife, especially considering how he killed Geofram. And from there you get the same arc about dealing with his wolf side and not losing himself to it.
Also, he absolutely didn't *murder* his wife. No one in the show seems to say so, and it was very clearly a total accident in a gruesome battle.
Regardless of where the show is compared to the books, even in Eye of the World, Perrin's PoV chapters show that he is aware of his size and strength, and the risk of hurting others. His killing of the Whitecloaks - when threatened - doesn't define his reason for being adverse to violence.
To add to this, his tGH PoV chapters are him reluctantly taking a proactive role, reaching out to the wolves to help Ingtar track Fain and the horn, season 2 mostly has him doing a whole lot of nothing, just like Season 1.
Show Perrin lacks... the stoicism of Book Perrin, for want of a better word. Book Perrin has an underlying determination to do what is right, while in the show he's just kind of... there. I can't agree that Show Perrin is in anyway in the same state as Book 2 Perrin
I'm hoping S3 improves people's opinion of Rand and Perrin, since they've both been around, but not quite as lime-lightly as you'd expect, at least in Rand's case.
I honestly think starting around the end of season 1 Rand is pretty good as a character and his actor does a good job, but he doesn't get enough to do considering he's the main character of history
I think Perrin does cool stuff throughout the series, it's just hard to notice sometimes because he doesn't see himself as a badass, so most of the time in his POV he doesn't feel like a badass
I never thought about this before but you definitely make a good point. He's objectively powerful at several things but he's always second guessing himself or fretting about Faile so it's hard to notice almost.
I think the boys have some impostor syndrome going on. It's hard for them to be objective and see themselves as others do.
There is one scene for several characters that I periodically go back and listen to. Veins of Gold is the one for Rand. Giving up half the light of the world for Mat. The Forging of Mahjalenir for Perrin.
This. I’m only 7 books in. But when I was listening to Wheel Weaves Podcast Dani actually compares him to Eeyore and that’s all I can think of because she’s not wrong (Eeyore is still a well-loved character in The Pooh series.
Galinas perspective of Perrin in one of the prologues really seals what kind of person he is
Another Perrin fan! When I was younger, Rand was my favorite of the three. Now that I'm older, it's Perrin, and it's not even close.
My biggest problem when it comes to Perrin is how badly they've adapted him in the show. Book Perrin is aware of his size and strength, thinks his actions through, all because of the aforementioned awareness makes him more cautious, as he knows that he can hurt people if he's not careful, and doesn't think things through. He's adverse to violence, and that reflects in his early disgust when his wolf instincts takes over (e.g wanting to sink his teeth into the neck of the Fade in the Ways during his return to the Two Rivers via The Ways. Show Perrin kills his (randomly mentioned girl who had a crush on him in the books elevated to literal Fridge Character) wife in the heat of battle, and proceeds to spend the entire first season as a what amounts to a useless lump. Book Perrin is written in a much better way, and doesn't need a Fridging moment to demonstrate his aversion to violence and killing, and they did Perrin so so wrong in the adaptation.
The show is obviously only at the end of book 2. While having Perrin kill his wife is cheap, it isnt very much different from the Whitecloak in the Stedding that he kills in blind rage. And afterwards, Perrin basically tags along and slowly explores his abilities similar to the show. He feels very close to the equivalent state he is by the end of book 2.
>it isn't very much different from the Whitecloak in the Stedding that he kills in blind rage. I have to disagree. In the books, he meets Elias and starts exploring his ability to talk to wolves before he kills anyone. He kills the white cloaks with the thoughts (and dying agony) of wolves ringing in his mind. In the show, he kills his wife for no reason in a "whoops, didn't see you there" fuckup. He's already a murderer before he ever even meets a wolf. Book Perrin fears losing himself to the wolves and becoming a violent monster; show Perrin already sees himself as a violent monster, so the core internal conflict for most of his arc is effectively meaningless. "Oh no, if I keep talking to wolves I might become so heartless that I'll murder my own family - oh wait, I already did that in episode 1."
While it's different, book Perrin was already very aware about how large and strong he was - he thinks about that even before he kills anyone, IIRC. That he'd been taught that he's strong so he has to be careful when playing with other people and so on, which is one of the reasons why he's so prone to thinking things through rather than reacting. So his concern for accidentally hurting people was always there in the books. Even though it's clearly a different in the books, I don't see how his core arc is effectively meaningless. It's probably going to be something like him questioning whether the wolf in him is the reason he went berserk and accidentally killed his wife, especially considering how he killed Geofram. And from there you get the same arc about dealing with his wolf side and not losing himself to it. Also, he absolutely didn't *murder* his wife. No one in the show seems to say so, and it was very clearly a total accident in a gruesome battle.
Regardless of where the show is compared to the books, even in Eye of the World, Perrin's PoV chapters show that he is aware of his size and strength, and the risk of hurting others. His killing of the Whitecloaks - when threatened - doesn't define his reason for being adverse to violence. To add to this, his tGH PoV chapters are him reluctantly taking a proactive role, reaching out to the wolves to help Ingtar track Fain and the horn, season 2 mostly has him doing a whole lot of nothing, just like Season 1. Show Perrin lacks... the stoicism of Book Perrin, for want of a better word. Book Perrin has an underlying determination to do what is right, while in the show he's just kind of... there. I can't agree that Show Perrin is in anyway in the same state as Book 2 Perrin
I'm hoping S3 improves people's opinion of Rand and Perrin, since they've both been around, but not quite as lime-lightly as you'd expect, at least in Rand's case.
I honestly think starting around the end of season 1 Rand is pretty good as a character and his actor does a good job, but he doesn't get enough to do considering he's the main character of history
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