Summary

• Considering the past of The Wheel of Time's history is extremely advanced, it's medieval fantasy stylings are a reimagining of the post-apocalyptic genre.
• Just like the Medieval Ages were a regrowth from the fallen Roman Empire, The Wheel of Time's period is a rediscovery of magic in a more primitive infrastructure.
• The Wheel of Time's bygone era was full of mega structures and floating vehicles, whose society collapsed due to the hubris of magical exploration and a lust for power.

Before it was released as a television series on Prime Video, The Wheel of Time was a long-standing 14-book series of sweeping fantasy that took the fantasy genre by storm. The interesting thing about most fantasy fan bases is that they also fall into other categories of fiction reading as well. Many who love the genre also read plenty of science fiction, zombie apocalyptic tales, historical fiction, and anything else that can flavor a familiar reality into a potential future or probable past. This is where the junction between The Wheel of Time and the science fiction genre intersects to meld into a genre that wasn't explored as much in fantasy or science fiction in quite the same blend.

Of course, the marriage of both genres in The Wheel of Time's world was not a new concept to either genre, with many ideas of world-building inspired by similar events in Earth's history of civilization. However, the idea of an ancient past that resembles an advanced arcane-tech society was still pretty fresh in the realm of fantasy. Most writers were subscribed to emulating the kind of world-building that Tolkien had set a high standard for in a very medieval-fantasy-specific setting. Mixing folklore and myths blended with history became the standard, and any diversions from that were often seen as "pulpy" or less serious. The Wheel of Time tipped that scrutiny on its head and created a new way to include all the inspired aspects of previous fantasy writing, and still give it space to find nuance as a story that dips into the post-apocalyptic genre.

The Wheel of Time is a Post-Apocalyptic Story

• The Wheel of Time series begins in 998 NE (New Era).
• Season 1, Episode 8's flashback is 3,000 years before the events of Season 1.

From fragmented histories to hints of more advanced ancient times, The Wheel of Time is riddled with visuals and world-building that informs the audience that they have been immersed in a time after the collapse of civilization. The world of The Wheel of Time is born in a time after an apocalyptic event called The Breaking of the World and the horrible events keep coming from there. Whether it's the Trolloc Wars that the elders are reluctant to recount or rumors about the magical Aes Sedai and their origins, it's clear that the period The Wheel of Time books and show began within is a literal dark age where history and legend are often difficult to distinguish.

In The Wheel of Time season 1 episode 8 "The Eye of the World" the audience is shown a scene from 3000 years in the past. The scene took place in a clean-cut room with characters in sleek modern clothing. The end of the scene reveals the view out of the window, which boasts a thriving metropolis of monolithic skyscrapers and flying vehicles. The active choice to leave this reveal of the high-tech past near the season's end seemed to be an attempt to ease newer fantasy lovers new to this franchise into the world before shocking them with the big genre twist once they are already invested. Revealing the history of The Wheel of Time not only creates intrigue for the audience but lets fans know that this will be something different than just another fantasy or post-apocalyptic series that is currently so popular.

The Wheel of Time Parallels the Fall of the Romans

• The Roman Empire lasted 1,229 years
• The Wheel of Time's Second Age "The Age of Legends" is when utopian civilizations went into decline and The War of Power took place.

The Wheel of Time's collapse of civilization began with The Dark One being unleashed upon the world, collapsing the civility of utopian cities and turning the world into chaos and destruction. This decline of 100 or so years before the cataclysmic Breaking of the World runs true to Earth's history of Imperial decline. The after-effects of their building into a feudal society with limited or lost access to history and knowledge echo this. Following the collapse in The Wheel of Time world, borders ebbed and flowed between Kingdoms, and populations diminished under the sword.

When the Roman Empire finally fell in 476 CE, the decline in technology and infrastructure of all of its conquered territories buckled under various power vacuums from both internal rebellions and outside invasions. Although the times leading up to the 1000's were archaically known as The Dark Ages, people were not suddenly "left in the dark" or without knowledge about their previous technologies. The collapse of Roman-style civilization was gradually grown over by the cultures who inhabited it in its place. Instead of losing knowledge, it was convoluted into obscurity. In this same way, The Wheel of Time's period is during a time long after the collapse, when only the hierarchy of society is privy to archives, education, magic, and the history of what once was.

This hierarchy of knowledge builds a natural gap in class and power structures in The Wheel of Time, making the Aes Sedai a great monolithic power capable of governing, who may wield magic and be privy to the deeper and darker truths of the past. In this respect, as the feudal systems of central Europe and the Middle East began to expand throughout the former Roman Empire, the only bastion of power that did not rule with a crown was religion. These monolithic and established belief systems stood at the right hand of every monarch and often wielded political control far from the reach of many Kings. The Wheel of Time shows the Aes Sedai as having a very mystical role in their world, but not an infallible one. Liandrin Guirale seems to represent the extremist side of an otherwise benevolent-aspiring order that, above all else, wants to prevent the return of The Dark One. Considering their immense political pull, knowledge, and influence, the Aes Sedai seem untethered to the politics of kingdoms and empires and operate under their own terms. Religious monoliths in the Post-Roman era largely operated in similar ways, leaving the land-squabbling of Kings and Emperors alone so long as they had reign to spread their influence and capital.

A Magical Cataclysm Brought a Technological Downfall

• Magic-hungry factions equate to the power-hungry factions of the post-apocalyptic genre.
• The importance of coveting magic as an unstable source of power is warranted after the collapse, but is carried out to an extreme degree.

The Wheel of Time series shows only a glimpse of the past 3000 years ago, possibly taking place moments before The Dark One turned everything upside-down. From special trees that calm emotions in cities, clothing that can shift colors with the wearer's mood, and geomagnetic levitation for buildings and vehicles, it's clear the past was far more advanced than contemporary Earth. The breaking of the world made all these technologies dissipate into distant memories and myths. It is because of this intense destruction that so much of the world in The Wheel of Time is either lush and overgrown or arid desert, with smaller communities peppered throughout and major cities sparsely populating the landscape. Instead of advanced communication technology, the news is spread through word of mouth by merchants and gleeman, the law of the land is spread thin, and militant religious factions swing fervent swords against those that 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 sci-fi post-apocalyptic genres that have continued covering the television landscape for over a decade.

Despite its many post-apocalyptic themes, The Wheel of Time remains heavily in the fantasy genre. The whole downfall of civilization is because of magic, specifically magic wielded by a man who tainted any magic-sensitive men with the madness of The Dark One to bring on more chaos. This is where the strict laws of keeping powerful men capable of using magic locked away or maintaining ignorance of their abilities come into play. The Aes Sedai is strictly a female order with its Warders being only peripherally connected to magic through their Aes Sedai partners. This intense control to maintain order amid the unpredictability of magic is fragile but heavily guarded by the order. That necessity to harness control of magic is seen to a more extreme degree in season 2 when the Seanchan enslaves Egwene to use her powers as a weapon for their armies. Considering magic is the sole power that has survived ancient times, it serves the people in The Wheel of Time mainly as a defending power or weaponized power, which swings the primitive dynamics of its use to once more define the world's post-apocalyptic era.