Perrin’s power requires a deeper examination on screen in Amazon Prime’s Wheel of Time, which can avoid similar mistakes that HBO’s Game of Thrones made. Season 1 revealed that Perrin is a wolfbrother, which is unlike any ordinary human in the Robert Jordan fantasy saga. On a similar note, Game of Thrones also tiptoed around the Stark family’s ties with their own direwolves, which extended beyond just having them as mere pets or protectors. However, Wheel of Time must do a better job of explaining Perrin's connection with wolves than Game of Thrones did with the Starks.
Perrin as a wolfbrother appears more nuanced in the first season of the Wheel of Time. Perrin's connection with wild wolves, his strength, and a brief glimpse of his yellow eyes before killing Eamon Valda have all been hints at Perrin's wolfbrother powers, but there is more to it than that. His powers as a wolfbrother are integral to the story and are more than just an average man, which can easily be misinterpreted without having the context. Unfortunately, Game of Thrones completely overlooked the connection with wolves in its own universe, known as warging. In doing so, it undermined the magic in George R. R. Martin's books.
How Perrin's Powers Work In The Wheel Of Time Books
In the books, Perrin’s powers describe him as possessing the ability to communicate telepathically with wolves, having a sense of their proximity for miles. Additionally, he is capable of seeing far distances, with a heightened sense of smell, including the ability to smell fear. Once his wolfbrother powers are awakened, Perrin's eyes remain yellow, not just briefly as it appears in the show, and play a part in his internal struggle with how he appears to others. Perrin’s wolfbrother powers have a hefty dose of spiritual elements that fall in line with the fantasy realm of Wheel of Time.
In his dreams and in the waking world, Perrin's wolfbrother powers gift him with the ability to seamlessly enter Tel’Aran Rhiod, the World of Dreams, also known as the Wolf Dream. In the books, Perrin befriends a wolf named Hopper, a major character in the Wheel of Time books linked to Perrin's story. Perrin and Hopper communicate with each other telepathically and then primarily in Tel’Aran Rhiod after some pivotal story plot lines unravel. In the Wolf Dream, Hopper acts as a spirit guide for Perrin, including training him to use his powers. Lastly, it is unclear if this ability pertains to his wolfbrother power or not, but Perrin's dreams are also prophetic. There's ample opportunity for Perrin's powers to be explored and rest assured Hopper is set to appear in the upcoming season 2.
Wheel Of Time Can Beat Game Of Thrones' Warging
Wheel of Time has the opportunity to depict Perrin’s power with depth, having the advantage of seeing a similar storyline poorly executed with Game of Thrones' warging. In George R.R. Martin’s novels, the Stark siblings carry a very specific trait in their bloodline that forms a deep connection to their direwolves, chosen at birth. Each Stark sibling has the capability of warging, or its umbrella term skinchanging, which allows them to inhabit the body and mind of their direwolf. The showrunners opted to take a subtler approach, where the direwolves came across as simply very large pets, when they were incorporated at all.
Game of Thrones missed the mark in terms of portraying the magic in warging in the realm in Game of Thrones. Perrin's powers in Wheel of Time, however, still have the opportunity to showcase the many layers of magic in being a wolfbrother. Perrin is not simply a man with a pet. Unlike Game of Thrones' magic, there does not need to be room for interpretation when layer upon layer of world-building in Wheel of Time exists. With news of Hopper joining the cast, it will be off to a good start for the fantastical storyline that awaits Perrin.