Brandon Sanderson Slams Epic Fantasy Shows The Wheel Of Time And Rings Of Power But Refuses To Admit Wokeism Is Responsible For Their Failures
Brandon Sanderson is on a media tour after his controversial Wind and Truth, wrapping up his The Stormlight Archive epic fantasy series. In a new interview, he takes shots at recent adaptations like The Wheel Of Time and Rings of Power, saying, “Streaming hasn’t figured out epic fantasy yet.”
The epic fantasy genre has been in dire straits on its own without streaming services. George R.R. Martin has proven unable to finish his A Song Of Ice And Fire, Patrick Rothfuss similarly can’t bring himself to work on his series, and Brandon Sanderson has taken The Stormlight Archive and turned it into an LGBTQ propaganda piece with modernisms and poor writing.
Sanderson is doing a media tour in light of the LGBTQ controversy that has turned off a lot of fans from his work. He recently conducted an interview with Polygon, bizarrely all about what he would like to see for his works if they were adapted to film. With no film projects on the horizon any time soon, it appears as if the object is to get the discussion of him off of homosexuality in Wind and Truth.
When asked about it, Sanderson voiced his right analysis that streaming services have done terrible jobs with epic fantasy. He said, “Streaming has had a big problem with epic fantasy, and this has me worried. Rings of Power and Wheel of Time have not gone as well as I would’ve hoped. Shadow and Bone lasted only two seasons, after a very strong first season. Streaming hasn’t figured out epic fantasy yet”
Later, he continued, “I mean, The Rings of Power essentially had [unlimited budget and creative control], and it’s not very good. It’s fine, but is it the thing that you want? I mean, I really think the key member is that visionary filmmaker. Epic Fantasy has responded poorly to too much oversight from above. I think that was The Witcher’s problem. You had that visionary: It was Henry Cavill. And they didn’t want to listen to him. So, well, there you go."
While he’s correct about not listening to Henry Cavil, nowhere in the interview does he mention the elephant in the room with both Rings of Power and Wheel of Time, and even House of the Dragon have mostly failed because of attempts to push diversity, equity, and inclusion onto established series?
All three series suffer from bizarre diversity castings, with black people placed into positions that don’t make sense. On top of it, House of the Dragon was ruined in many fans’ opinions because of pornographic homosexual scenes stomping on the plot.
Almost all of the criticisms of these shows are because of the modern writing, lack of respecting the books they’re drawn upon, and diversity issues overwhelming the shows. It’s much the reason fans are revolting against Wind and Truth and The Stormlight Archive after Sanderson lost the plot much in the way many of these shows have.
Author Isaac Young, who currently has a crowdfund for his new book The Domes of Calrathia, pointed out Sanderson’s hypocrisy in the matter with a post on X, saying, “The oversight doesn’t matter. The West has destroyed the very things that would give a visionary “vision”. We can’t do fantasy anymore because fantasy belongs to a particular people and place, and we have undermined that concept for decades.”
Sanderson also mentions in the interview that he wouldn’t want an adaptation of The Stromlight Archives unless he wrote characters like Kaladin’s dialogue himself. Something fans might be glad isn’t happening, given the recent scenes in Wind and Truth where Kaladin announces he’s a therapist in a fantasy setting and another point where a character throws modernism in, saying, “That’s racist!”
Tess and the Emerald Sea, Sanderson notes, is being developed into an animated film.
Until epic fantasy writers focus on heroism and real values again in fiction, we are unlikely to get any good streaming adaptations because the work they’re based on is already so flawed. If Sanderson wants to make a difference, he needs to get back to what he wrote in his roots with the Mistborn series and away from his current trajectory of leftist propaganda.
What do you think of Brandon Sanderson’s comments on streaming epic fantasy? Leave a comment and let us know.
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The problem with the Wheel of Time and Rings of Power is that they deviated from the source material and tried to make a DEI and LGBT+-friendly series. Most of the true fans know the writer well enough to realize that he would have never turned his characters into caricatures of themselves. Galadriel wasn't the girl boss Amazon wanted her to be. The Men in the Wheel of Time weren't as stupid as Netflix wanted them to be.
True fans decided not to watch these shows, so they will eventually die.
It can't happen soon enough.
The only thing worth sacrificing one's art to is Christ because only He will give it back to you 100fold.