“The Wheel Of Time” Season 2, Episode 3 – Nynaeve Steps Into The Spotlight

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME, SEASON 2, EPISODES 1 – 3, AND BOOK 2, THE GREAT HUNT, AHEAD!

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here would not exist.

It’s fair to say that the first season of Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time was carried through its highs and lows by Rosamund Pike, the epic fantasy series’ Oscar-nominated star and producer. Not only was she front-and-center in all the marketing, her name alone a major draw for casual viewers unfamiliar with the acclaimed yet inaccessible source material (fourteen weighty novels and a prequel, published over the course of three decades by two authors), but in seven of eight episodes she was the clear lead amongst an underdeveloped ensemble cast, despite her character Moiraine being something of an enigma in the early books. While her young castmates had moments to shine, it was only in episode three that they had the run of the place to themselves, so to speak, while Moiraine was unconscious. It was New Zealand-born actress and relative newcomer Zoë Robins who stepped up then to fill her place, going above and beyond what was asked of her to earn her top-billing alongside Pike and Daniel Henney, two established stars. And in the second season, though all the cast have returned much stronger and more confident to their roles, it is Robins once again who tethers The Wheel Of Time to her perfect performance in a third episode that follows the pattern of sidelining Pike and Henney.

Nynaeve al'Meara, wearing a plain white shift with her hair braided, standing in a darkly-lit stone chamber, looking over her shoulder to the right with an expression of concern. Behind her stands a silver-gray arch with wide columns.
Nynaeve al’Meara | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

Pike and Henney may be the bigger stars, and Josha Stradowski may play the main protagonist of the books, but Robins is this adaptation’s beating heart, her soulful eyes the window through which we see most clearly all the workings of the world laid bare, because her Nynaeve al’Meara, while arguably even more likely than the other four villagers from the Two Rivers to reach some wildly wrong conclusion based on the limited information at her disposal and act on it before anyone can stop her, to be fair, is usually much closer to the truth of the matter than she has any right to be.

With a lesser actress in the role, I can easily imagine where this would become aggravating to watch, like one of those infuriating ads for a home-renovation mobile game that doesn’t resemble the actual game in the slightest, the ones where the “player” is presented with an extraordinarily simple problem yet somehow makes all the wrong choices and inevitably kills their character while all you can do is scream at the screen. It can still be like that, sometimes, watching Nynaeve metaphorically pick the sledgehammer to fix the bathroom sink, except that in her case, I know from the subtleties of Robins’ performance that it’s because Nynaeve has a relatable bad habit of deluding herself to the truth while simultaneously insisting that she couldn’t possibly be deluded, and not because she’s trying to make me download some generic match-three game.

Nynaeve is not one to be impressed by the artifices of the White Tower or the insufferable pageantry of its occupants, the Aes Sedai. She respects those who speak the truth plainly and mean what they say, no more, no less, so bending the truth without breaking it does not – and likely never will – come naturally to her. As a former Wisdom (the closest thing to an authority figure that existed back home in the Two Rivers), she particularly detests being made to feel like a pawn in all the ridiculously intricate mind-games Aes Sedai play at the Tower; a valuable pawn but a pawn nonetheless, to be used and cast aside by one woman, then another, as they all vie for higher seats in the Hall, with the ultimate goal of ascending to the Amyrlin Seat itself. And for all these reasons, The Wheel Of Time never made a better choice than when it paired Nynaeve up with the phenomenal Kate Fleetwood as Liandrin Guirale, an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah who has had decades to practice the art of confounding young women by oscillating unpredictably between seeming like the least genuine person in the Tower and the most.

We don’t even see much of the masterful interplay between the two actresses in episode three, which opens with Nynaeve attempting the perilous Trial of the Arches alone and becoming trapped in a “mirror-world” for the entire duration of the episode, yet while Robins is occupied with selling Nynaeve’s growing desperation, Fleetwood, with a tremor in her proud jaw and a twitch of panic in her steely eyes, never allows us to forget that it was Liandrin’s ostensible confidence in Nynaeve’s abilities – and Nynaeve’s reluctant trust of Liandrin, formed through manipulation – that led her to this point. Whatever ulterior motive she may have had is irrelevant to her now as she watches this girl she’s come to regard with respect and pride be pulled apart, stitched back together, and thrown back into the meat-grinder in a ritual that will ultimately determine not whether she has what it takes to be Aes Sedai, but whether she is willing to sacrifice everyone and everything for the White Tower.

And in the first two mirror-worlds behind the silver Arches, Nynaeve heeds Sheriam Bayanar (Rima Te Wiata)’s repeated warning that “the way back will come but once” and successfully returns to the real world, at the price of abandoning her mortally wounded parents in one mirror-world and the disease-ridden population of the Two Rivers in another. But the callous attitude of the Aes Sedai enrages her as she heads into the third and final Arch, which leads her…straight back into what seems to be the real world, clinging to a blood-soaked lock of al’Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney)’s hair. Unable to remember what happened in the third Arch, she blows up at Liandrin and the other Aes Sedai, rejecting the Great Serpent Ring they offer her for completing the Trial and stating that she won’t be an Aes Sedai if it means turning her back on the people she loves. She says farewell to Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden), leaves the Tower, and unexpectedly reunites with Lan, who takes her in his arms and assures her that they can go wherever she wants, together. And Nynaeve agrees, dismissing the small voice whispering urgently in her head that “the way back will come but once”, and the misty outline of the silver Arch dissipating swiftly behind her as she steps out of the Pattern, into a different life.

Meanwhile, in the real world, there is nothing that Liandrin, Sheriam, and Leane Sharif (Jennifer Cheon Garcia) can do but stare helplessly into the roiling depths of the third Arch, all three of them silently praying that they haven’t just gone and killed the most powerful channeler the Tower has seen in a thousand years, and probably wondering how they can cast the blame on each other…until the ter’angreal goes quiet and any chance of Nynaeve returning has disappeared. Leane skedaddles (she’s the Keeper of the Chronicles, she can’t be seen to have been involved in this debacle), Sheriam berates Liandrin and hurries away to clean up the mess, and Liandrin, in another disarming display of genuine affection for Nynaeve, stays behind, tears welling up in her eyes, before angrily flinging a clay pot on the floor and storming away in search of somebody she can take out her pain on, specifically Mat Cauthon (Dónal Finn), who barely has time to crack a joke before Liandrin is lacing into him with a monologue so scathing, so demeaning, and delivered with such brutal sincerity that Mat has no choice but to become a background character for the next two episodes.

What for Nynaeve feels like five or six years in the mirror-world is only about a day in the real world, yet even in that brief time the world comes close to falling apart without Nynaeve around. Liandrin leaves the door to Mat’s cell ajar and tells him to go find his friends or die in the Blight for all she cares, he makes a halfhearted effort to seek out Egwene and actually comes upon her crying for Nynaeve but turns away at the last moment and instead returns bashfully to his cell, where it falls on fellow prisoner of the Red Ajah Min Farshaw (Kae Alexander) to persuade him that being of little consequence to the Pattern is something to be envied, and that they should run off together…only for the audience to discover that Min is actually moving Mat out of Tar Valon at Liandrin’s explicit instruction. Egwene, distraught over Nynaeve’s death, refuses to be consoled by her new friend Elayne Trakand (Ceara Coveney), telling her “I don’t even know you!” as she slams a door in the Daughter-Heir’s face. She then seeks out Liandrin and actually channels at the far older and more experienced Aes Sedai – notably, without using her hands – but Liandrin effortlessly unravels her weaves of fire and only barely resists the urge to push Egwene off a balcony (forget the Last Battle, the Amyrlin Seat needs to do something about the lack of guard-rails at the White Tower).

Far west of Tar Valon, Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) and the Shienaran soldiers seeking the fabled Horn of Valere are made prisoners of the Seanchan Empire, whose representatives stand atop a pyramidal palanquin, wear fabulous scale-patterned robes, ornate masks and bladed fingernail covers, and speak with the most unnerving accent to hear in a high fantasy setting – a thick American Southern drawl. The Seanchan, we soon learn, are invaders from across the Aryth Ocean who have come to reclaim the lands that belonged by birthright to the founder of their mighty empire, Luthair Paendrag (everything from Toman Head in the west to the Spine of the World in the east). They could perhaps accomplish this goal with their massive armies, fleets, and the element of surprise alone, but they also have a…unique approach towards the use of the One Power, fastening unbreakable golden collars on women who can channel and leashing them to women called sul’dam who claim to be able to manipulate the use of the Power without dirtying their hands by touching the True Source. To the Seanchan, there is no distinction between an untrained channeler who believes she’s merely “listening to the wind” and an Aes Sedai, or between channelers of their land and another; there are only damane (those who have been collared) and marath’damane (those who will be collared).

Josha Stradowski as Rand al'Thor in The Wheel Of Time, standing with his hands folded in a room with fancily decorated walls. He is wearing a high-collared, long-sleeved dark red coat with golden herons in flight embroidered around the cuffs and collar, over a red vest and dark brown trousers. His head is shaven.
Rand al’Thor | winteriscoming.net

The Seanchan claim the first major casualty of the season, fan-favorite Uno (Guy Roberts), who dies gorily but not without dignity, spitting at the feet of High Lady Suroth (Karima McAdams) – or as close to her feet as he can aim from the bottom of her pyramid – uttering The Wheel Of Time‘s first F-bomb, and having a large curved spike driven through his mouth shortly thereafter as an incentive for Perrin and the other Shienarans to swear the Seanchan oaths of fealty without further complaint. They wisely decide that mumbling something about obeying, awaiting, and serving is preferable to choking on a tusk, but instead of letting them go, Suroth has her new subjects chained and shipped off to Falme, the first major city captured by the Seanchan. Perrin is able to slip away from the convoy with Elyas Machera (Gary Beadle) and his wolf-pack, but what waits for him in the wilderness maybe worse than what’s behind, if Ishamael (Fares Fares), the Dark One’s right-hand man, is to be believed when he tells Perrin that his wolf-senses are derived from the Dark. It may seem counterintuitive to let Perrin escape, given that Ishamael is already posing as Suroth’s advisor, but he seems to care about letting people come to the Dark through their own choices, not through force.

It’s a more carefree version of Perrin who inhabits the mirror-world where Nynaeve found herself, and he’s not the only one of the Two Rivers folk for whom the ter’angreal has created something more pleasant than reality. Mat is a lord, by the looks of it, and quite dashing. Egwene is already an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah. Nynaeve herself has returned to the Two Rivers, married Lan, and given birth to a daughter. Lan has grown out his hair (it looks terrible) and put down his sword. There’s no sign of Moiraine, conveniently, and the Last Battle must not have happened (yet), because everyone is happy. The highlight of this comforting sequence is seeing Rutherford and Finn play Perrin and Mat as two fun, dorky uncles to Nynaeve’s adorable daughter, and I’d be down for more exploration of mirror-worlds in the future if it allows the other actors to let loose a bit and play around with what might be – which is, fittingly, the title of the episode.

But this is The Wheel Of Time, and as I explained in my review of the previous episode, the titular Wheel doesn’t give many options to ta’veren, individuals like Nynaeve who are spun out into the Pattern to hold it intact. And the mirror-worlds are reflections for a reason – they may seem serene, some of them, but they are the versions of the world that the Wheel cannot allow to exist, where something went wrong: usually because someone made a choice that cannot happen in the real world without weakening the integrity of the Pattern, as I understand it. Nynaeve is meant to pass the Trial of the Arches and become Accepted, because she is meant to do…all of the things that she does later in the books that I won’t spoil here, but she can’t do any of them if she leaves the Tower now.

That doesn’t necessarily mean every version of the world where she leaves ends as this one does, with a horde of ravening Trollocs slaughtering Nynaeve’s friends and family before her eyes while she watches on, powerless to stop the carnage, but there’s no version of that world that results in the “official” triumph of the Light over the Dark at the Last Battle that the Wheel is turning towards in the real world, however it may have seemed to her in the Two Rivers. Already, she was hearing rumblings that Egwene was taking Aes Sedai north to the Borderlands to deal with incursions from the Blight. That version of Egwene will likely die and Trollocs will overrun the world without her, Nynaeve, Perrin, Mat, or Lan around to stop it. The people of that mirror-world could still conceivably defeat the Dark One – after all, they should still have a version of Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) hanging about somewhere – but it will be a bleak and miserable world by the end, hardly worth saving.

Real world Rand, if you’re wondering, is busy tracking down an expensive bottle of red wine to bribe Logain Ablar (Álvaro Morte) into teaching him how to wield the One Power without going mad, which turns out to be a pointless endeavor because Logain is – surprise – already mad. The anticlimax is intentional and intriguing, though there were likely more effective methods by which we could have reached the same low-point in Rand’s arc where he feels time slipping through his fingers without us having to necessarily share the sentiment. At least there’s some fun to be gotten out of this slight diversion – Rand and Selene (Natasha O’Keefe) posing as outland lords to sneak into a fancy party; Rand unwittingly causing a commotion by throwing out invitation-letters from the great Houses of Cairhien; the subtle introduction of Moiraine’s younger sister Anvaere Damodred (Lindsey Duncan); and a fireworks-display, courtesy of Aludra and the Illuminators Guild. Rand isn’t enjoying any of it, however, and he leaves Selene to watch the fireworks by herself, which earns him an aggressive, sexually charged scolding later that night.

If there’s a version of Rand in Nynaeve’s picture-perfect mirror-world who’s any happier than the real world’s Rand (unlikely, seeing as he would still be the Dragon there, which pretty much guarantees that he’s traumatized and depressed), Nynaeve never met him and will never get the chance. Overcome with grief and rage unlike anything she’s felt before, she channels the One Power – something that is supposed to be impossible within the Arches – and wills the portal back into existence, years after it vanished. She can’t explain how she did it, Robert Jordan couldn’t explain how she did it when something similar happened in the books, and nor can I. Suffice it to say that Nynaeve is a force of nature, and although you’ve probably heard her referred to as “the strongest channeler the Tower’s seen in a thousand years” about as many times, it bears repeating. With her raw power and her determination to protect people, she can do the impossible, which is why breaking her block is crucial. If she can’t bring herself to channel until she’s angry or extremely sad, chances are someone she loves is going to have to die or get hurt in front of her before she can do anything to help.

And despite escaping the mirror-world, Nynaeve endures another terrible loss on the way back – that of her daughter, who survived the Trolloc attack only to disappear as Nynaeve staggered through the silver arches holding her close to her chest…the only trace of her a fresh bloodstain on the front of Nynaeve’s dress. Robins portrays the unimaginable horror and agony of this situation without reservation, her body contorting around the empty space that used to be her child, haunting screams issuing from her mouth while her eyes remain fixed on something ahead of her, something gone and soon to be forgotten. Memories of the mirror-world visited in the Arches fade quickly, like dreams, and the years Nynaeve spent in the Two Rivers with Lan, raising her daughter, will blur together. In time, she’ll only remember with certainty that she once remembered something more.

A sul'dam and damane from The Wheel Of Time. The damane, a young woman with intricately braided blonde hair and dark makeup around her eyes, wears a golden collar over a long-sleeved gray gown, with a golden gag in her mouth. The sul'dam, standing behind her, has long dark hair in two braids falling down her chest, and wears brown leather armor over a teal-blue dress with a golden gauntlet on her right arm. They are walking down a long line of women in dirty white gowns, whose eyes are downcast.
Sul’dam and Damane | nerdist.com

As The Wheel Of Time inches closer to adapting the lengthy sections of the source material that feature very little of either Pike or Henney’s characters, it is an encouraging sign for the series’ future that the ensemble cast surrounding them are now not only capable of carrying episodes on their own, but that a few like Robins and Fleetwood have been hailed as the season’s shining stars. The outstanding performances they deliver may not earn them any Emmy nominations, because awards show voters tend to overlook the fantasy genre entirely unless it has the Game Of Thrones title attached (and even House Of The Dragon received fewer nominations than were arguably warranted), but they have accomplished something greater than any trophy could honor, bringing The Wheel Of Time‘s most iconic characters to life. “It was about them all”, reads a famous and enduring quote from the books. That has never felt more true of the show than it is now.

Episode Rating: 9.5/10

The Wheel Of Time Turns Again In Season Two Trailer

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

The Wheel of Time turns, and ages come and pass, leaving memory that becomes legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a trailer dropped. The trailer was not the beginning; there are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

Official poster for The Wheel Of Time season two. In the center stands Moiraine, wearing a dark blue vest over a white blouse with a long blue dress. She holds a short knife. Her brown hair is unbound. To the right of her are Rand, with a shaven head, coiled in orange threads of the One Power; Perrin, wearing a dark green woven leather vest over a red shirt; and Mat, wearing a dirty olive-green coat with unkempt curly hair. To the left of her are Lan, reaching over his shoulder for the sword strapped to his back; Nynaeve, wearing white and staring defiantly at the camera; and Egwene, wearing white, with blue threads of the One Power winding around her. They are all superimposed against a large gold disc on a blue background.
The Wheel Of Time | escapistmagazine.com

And what a beginning. The first official trailer for The Wheel Of Time season two doesn’t pull any punches. With how long it’s been since the first season aired on Prime Video (and how much fantasy television has come out since then, including HBO’s House Of The Dragon, Prime’s The Rings Of Power, and two seasons of Netflix’s The Witcher), the aim of this marketing campaign is to be as big, bold, and distinct as possible, practically slamming the viewer with epic visuals, dynamic action, thrilling drama, and iconic moments lifted straight from the pages of The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, the second and third books in Robert Jordan’s best-selling series of high fantasy novels, supplemented in the show with enough new material to keep even veterans of the source material on the edge of their seats.

Of course, it would be significantly easier to promote the series with assistance from The Wheel Of Time‘s showrunner and actors, but that can’t happen until the AMPTP agrees to pay writers and actors what they’re worth. Until then, SAG-AFTRA and the WGA are both on strike, and The Wheel Of Time is just one of many upcoming releases that will have to rely heavily on its existing fanbase for the foreseeable future (all the more reason for fans to stay informed and stay wary, because Prime Video and other AMPTP member studios could very well approach you with offers to advertise struck work for them, and accepting such a deal at this time would be crossing a picket line). As long as you’re not being paid by a studio to do any of the following, then by all means, go ahead and make fan-art, fan-edits, fan-fiction, fan-covers of Wheel Of Time‘s music, and cosplays.

Cosplaying certain characters might be tricky for the average fan, though, with how ornate and elaborate the costumes have become in season two. I am on record as having been critical of costume designer Isis Mussenden’s work in the first season: I did not think the glory and gracefulness of the Aes Sedai was ever reflected in their brightly-colored but otherwise dully unostentatious clothing; Ishamael’s suit was shabby and poorly-tailored, hardly fit for a man posing as the Dark One himself; and the Seanchan to me looked like they had just walked off the set of a 1980s B-movie. Sharon Gilham (Jamestown, The Nun) replaced Mussenden as costume designer on seasons two and three – which started filming earlier this year in Prague – and although Mussenden’s designs are still the basis for some of what we see in season two, it is Gilham who has raised the bar for The Wheel Of Time, and for the fantasy genre in general, with the extraordinary wardrobe of high camp regalia she’s assembled for the Seanchan nobility and the Aes Sedai.

(left to right) Alwhin, High Lady Suroth, and Ishamael, all riding in a palanquin with ornate metal railings and a canopy. Alwhin wears a rust-colored gown with frilly teal sleeves, and a mask of woven brass covering her face. Suroth, seated on a throne, wears heavier rust-colored robes with frilly teal sleeves, and golden epaulets, with a large tusked golden mask covering all of her face but her mouth. The first two fingernails on both her hands are extremely long and bladed. Ishamael, leaning on the railing, wears a gray shirt with a modern collar and high-waisted black trousers.
(left to right) Alwhin, High Lady Suroth, and Ishamael | polygon.com

A few of my favorite costume details include the breastplate of woven bone forming a many-pronged pair of jaws around High Lord Turak’s head, the tusked golden latticework mask and crescent-moon headdress worn by High Lady Suroth, the frighteningly long bladed fingernails that mark them both as members of the Blood, and their pleated scale-patterned gowns in shades of teal and rust and vivid orange. Liandrin Guirale looks phenomenal in a red dress similar to one she wore throughout the first season, but darker, with a patterned leather harness. Siuan Sanche, the Amyrlin Seat, dons a new gilded shawl, a coat made of small gold discs, and a crown that I’m almost positive was made entirely from the kinds of beautiful debris you can pick up off the floor of an arts-and-crafts store: a smorgasbord of fabric flowers, metallic leaves, gold lace, and silver baubles that look magnificent when stitched together and placed on Sophie Okonedo’s brow. But of course, it’s Moiraine Damodred who makes the strongest impression, wearing a beautiful shirt of tight-knit white fabric under a blue silk robe with a bejeweled diadem in her hair, now hanging in loose ringlets after the fashion of Cairhien.

I could ramble on about the costumes and hairstyling for far longer than anyone would care to listen, so let me pivot real quick to locations, of which there are several. A time-jump of a few months means that very little time, if any, will be spent in the keep of Fal Dara where the first season ended, and it may be that the second season opens with Rand al’Thor already hiding out in the Foregate of Cairhien, with Moiraine and al’Lan Mandragoran hot on his heels, while the hunt for the Horn of Valere is already well underway, whisking Perrin Aybara and Loial off to the eastern boundaries of the known world, and Egwene al’Vere and Nynaeve al’Meara have begun their training at the White Tower, where Mat Cauthon is already a prisoner of the Red Ajah (there are some shots in the trailer that indicate Nynaeve may arrive at the Tower slightly later than Egwene, but unless she first spends time traveling with Moiraine and Lan, I can’t imagine why that would be, or why it would even make sense for an adaptation that’s trying to streamline the narrative as much as possible).

As much as I love Rand and Perrin and Moiraine, the few chapters of The Great Hunt that deal with Egwene and Nynaeve’s White Tower training have always been my favorites, and rereading the book recently (for the first time in years) reaffirmed that for me. Whenever the book jumped to Rand’s perspective or Perrin’s, I found myself impatiently yearning to be back at the Tower, exploring its nooks and crannies, learning about the One Power, or the differences between ter’angreal and sa’angreal, or the seven different Ajahs that make up the Aes Sedai. I love a story of political intrigue with magic involved, and that’s really what the White Tower arc boils down to – hundreds of morally dubious sorceresses scheming against each other. And the show being more of an ensemble piece than the early books means we can hopefully spend more time there, with the characters that make this world so unique.

Nynaeve al'Meara, wearing a white dress with a wide leather belt, standing framed between the stone pillars of a silver archway standing on a dais in the center of a round stone chamber underneath the White Tower. Candles burn in sconces on the far wall. Behind Nynaeve are Sheriam Bayanar, Leane Sharif, and Liandrin Guirale.
Nynaeve al’Meara | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

The scene I’m looking forward to the most, that I hope is expanded on, is Nynaeve’s Accepted test. Novices at the White Tower typically study for several years, sometimes even decades, before they are deemed strong enough to take the test (and some never make it that far, or turn down the opportunity when it is offered) but those who survive earn the title of “Accepted” as well as a Great Serpent ring, and are put on the path to becoming Aes Sedai. Nynaeve’s power is so great that, in the books at least, she is rushed into her Accepted test before having any time to train as a Novice, and with only a vague understanding of what the test entails. The test takes place in the White Tower’s basement, where three silver arches stand on a dais, forming a massive ter’angreal that transports the user to alternate dimensions in which they must face literal manifestations of their worst fears and deepest desires. We see Nynaeve stumble out of the ter’angreal covered in blood, a reference to what Sheriam Bayanar only warns could happen in the book, that “some have come out bearing the actual wounds of hurts taken inside”.

At one point in the trailer we also see Egwene, still wearing the white uniform of a Novice, standing alone in the doorway to the testing room, channeling threads of the One Power as if she intends to unlock the ter’angreal. There’s a chance this is part of Nynaeve’s test (perhaps, instead of confronting the Forsaken Aginor as she does in the book, she must fight and kill a version of her friend, hence the blood on her hands?), but I think Egwene might just be reckless enough to try and take the test by herself, without guidance, after months of washing dishes and scrubbing floors as a Novice without learning anything she can use to help her friends who are in danger. Obviously she doesn’t succeed (because she’s still wearing Novice robes in later scenes), so maybe she gets lost in Tel’aran’rhiod, the World of Dreams, and has to rely on the sleepweaver ter’angreal given to her by Verin to escape? Just a theory, but it’d be a neat introduction to some concepts that will become extremely relevant in the next season.

There are a few other interesting shots of Egwene throughout the trailer, where you can see her wearing a gray tunic and golden collar, with bloodshot eyes and blood on her face, but I can’t say too much about what I think is happening there without spoiling one of The Great Hunt‘s most shocking twists, so I’ll just leave you with that piece of information to mull over instead. For similar reasons, I must refrain from sharing my theories as to what Liandrin is doing, hurrying through the streets of Tar Valon at night in a cloak and hood, or my many thoughts on the beautiful dark-haired woman hovering over Rand’s shoulder as he channels the One Power. If you know, you know.

Josha Stradowski as Rand al'Thor in The Wheel Of Time, wearing dark clothes, kneeling on the floor of a small bedroom in an inn, staring up with wide, horror-stricken eyes as orange threads of the One Power burst from his hands and curl upwards around him towards the ceiling.
Rand al’Thor | nerdist.com

But as I mentioned, there’s some material in the trailer that’s not derived from the books at all. Moiraine and Siuan, the latter notably wearing blue (rather than Amyrlin gold), steal a kiss in a scene likely set prior to the birth of the Dragon Reborn, inspired by events covered in the Wheel Of Time prequel novel, New Spring. In the present day, Rand meets Siuan, not in Fal Dara where the two cross paths in the early chapters of The Great Hunt, but in what appears to be the Sun Palace of Cairhien; and in this version of events, Siuan has apparently brought the False Dragon Logain, still a prisoner of the Aes Sedai, to meet Rand and mentor him. Moiraine, shielded by Ishamael at the Eye of the World last season, sits miserably in a bath, unable to do so much as heat the water to her preferred temperature with the One Power (a poignant callback to an instantly iconic scene from The Wheel Of Time‘s first episode). And most controversially, Aviendha seems to take the place of Gaul, but I can’t even be mad about it because she looks so good dancing the spears.

While we’re on the subject, the fight choreography is another area where The Wheel Of Time has indisputably leveled up since the first season, and it’s a good thing too, because the finale did not (and arguably could not, due to COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time) deliver the brutal battle of epic proportions that was teased all season; and various smaller-scale action sequences earlier in the season, like the skirmish between the Aes Sedai and Logain’s rebels in episode four, while passable, never stood out for being particularly suspenseful, intense, or even clever on a conceptual level. With the introduction of the Seanchan and their army of brainwashed channelers called damane, weapons to be wielded in battle by handlers called sul’dam, that is unlikely to ever again be an issue for the show. The quick glimpses we’ve caught of both damane and sul’dam are equal parts horrific and fascinating.

Even with the Seanchan in the game, however, The Wheel Of Time‘s primary antagonist is still Ishamael, the mysterious man whose name is practically synonymous with that of the Dark One. His handsome face no longer hidden behind a CGI silken mask, actor Fares Fares seems to be making the most of this opportunity to be both delectably evil and suave as he hosts social gatherings for Darkfriends and Forsaken – a rogues gallery of ancient villains with colorful personalities, whittled down in the show from thirteen to just eight of the most significant. Ishamael is their leader, but second behind him in all the horror-stories that survived the Breaking of the World is Lanfear, Daughter of the Night, and it’s probably her bloody naked body we see rising stiffly from the floor of a cave in the trailer. Few things would give me greater joy out of this adaptation than a genuinely nightmare-inducing depiction of Lanfear, who has been mischaracterized as a cartoonish “crazy ex-girlfriend” archetype for so long that I think Jordan at some point started writing her like that, and fans have all but forgotten she’s responsible for drilling a hole in the fabric of reality and releasing the Dark One in the first place.

Fares Fares as Ishamael in The Wheel Of Time, standing in the center of a dark cave, wearing a tailored black suit with a distinctly modern cut, arms by his side, head back, eyes closed and lips slightly parted as glowing green threads of the One Power weave around him, forming widening, interlocking rings.
Ishamael | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

I have high hopes for this season to be better than the first and better than the book(s) it’s based on by a substantial margin, which is exactly what I predicted when I wrote that the season finale was only as messy as it was so that season two wouldn’t have to be. After momentarily steering off-course in the wake of Barney Harris’ departure and the COVID-19 pandemic, The Wheel Of Time is back on-track to be mentioned in the same breath as House Of The Dragon and The Witcher season three as some of the best fantasy television on the air (The Rings Of Power deserves to be up there too for its visuals, score, and excellent performances, but that series’ writing needs refinement in its own highly-anticipated second season). Hopefully they can keep that momentum going and get the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth seasons that we’ll need to finish this epic story, because this? This is just a beginning.

Trailer Rating: 9/10

In “The Wheel Of Time” Episode 4, Gender And Magic Intersect

SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME EPISODE FOUR AHEAD!

In the age of streaming television and the controversial “skip intro” button that allows audiences to jump straight into the action of their favorite shows, opening credits sequences are increasingly seen as a vanity – which is how they’ve managed to stick around at all, because they’re almost always strikingly beautiful or creative. But as more and more fantasy streaming series’ in particular forego the opening credits sequence entirely (looking at you, Shadow And Bone and The Witcher), The Wheel Of Time obviously stands out as an exception to this rule.

Wheel Of Time
Alanna Mosvani | businessinsider.com

And I suppose that’s why Amazon Prime’s adaptation of Robert Jordan’s sprawling fourteen-book fantasy has drawn ire from some fans of HBO’s Game Of Thrones, who feel that the opening credits sequences of the two shows have too many similarities to be purely coincidental. Perhaps you could argue that both Wheel Of Time and Game Of Thrones‘ opening credits depict something being constructed, but I see that as an obtuse surface-level reading of both series’ opening credits sequences, as illogical as if you were to say that the two are identical because they share the word “of” in their titles.

The opening credits for both these series’ are more than just pretty animation; they’re an extension of their individual themes. For instance, Game Of Thrones‘ opening credits play over a montage of tiny little mechanical castles and fortresses springing up across the map of Westeros, itself revealed to be nothing more than an elaborate gameboard on which humans play out their power fantasies through artifice and intrigue. But Wheel Of Time‘s opening credits illustrate the story of the gender divide that is central to the series’ worldbuilding and magic system.

That’s why I’ve held off on even talking about the opening credits sequence in my reviews of the first three episodes, because only in episode four does The Wheel Of Time dive into the complex subject of the gender divide, and its consequences on gender roles and gender expression in this world. The episode and its opening credits are thematically intertwined almost as firmly as any of the threads that make up the vast cosmic tapestry being woven in the background while the credits play.

This tapestry starts its journey as a single white cord comprised of many threads, representing the One Power – the magical energy that permeates the world of The Wheel Of Time. In the books, the act of reaching into the One Power, absorbing it into oneself, and expelling or redirecting it is known as “channeling”, and people capable of doing so are called “channelers”, emphasizing that they are in fact merely conduits of a power which flows through them but does not belong to them or derive from them, and can easily destroy their fragile bodies.

This concept has been translated into live-action very literally, with Rosamund Pike’s physical performance as Moiraine Damodred in particular capturing the strength, dexterity, and above all vulnerability required of a powerful channeler in this world. Pike is almost always in motion, her body bending and limbs snaking swiftly yet purposefully as if allowing the One Power to flow directly through her towards her targets without giving it time to build up inside her and potentially burn her to a crisp.

We actually see one Aes Sedai sorceress, Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) of the Red Ajah, come dangerously close to spontaneously combusting in this episode. The One Power burns beneath her skin and in her veins, and all the while more and more strands of magic are flowing into Liandrin’s body; too many for her to absorb and dispel simultaneously. In Jordan’s books, these strands are frequently described as “threads”, and magical constructs built from threads are known as “weaves”. Powerful channelers like Moiraine can wield many threads at once and build elaborate weaves.

Weaving and textile-work is often used in The Wheel Of Time as a metaphor for channeling and other uses of the One Power. Even the titular Wheel is a spinning-wheel which relies upon the One Power to continue endlessly rotating, weaving people and events into the inconceivable Pattern of human history over and over for all eternity. But if that all seems fairly straightforward, this is the part where Robert Jordan suddenly superimposes a rigid gender binary over his magic system, and things get…complicated.

Because Jordan’s fantasy mythology is heavily reliant on dualism, it’s no surprise that the One Power has two halves, which correspond to the nebulous concepts of masculinity and femininity. Jordan really went the extra mile, however, when he decided that men can only access the male half of the One Power (known as saidin) and women can only access the female half (known as saidar). Saidin and saidar are intended to exist in a symbiotic relationship, each challenging and complementing the other but both required to keep the One Power healthy and the Wheel of Time turning.

The show appears to be keeping that concept, but doing away with some of the bizarre rules that Jordan worked into his magic system. Not content with giving men and women two separate forms of magic to use, Jordan was also annoyingly insistent that women can only channel by surrendering themselves to the One Power, while men channel by forcefully taking the One Power. Get it, because, like, women are submissive and men are dominant, right? If we could take that whole concept and throw it in the garbage where it belongs, and then set the trash bin on fire, I wouldn’t be opposed.

Anyway…in the books, men and women were both able to channel until a couple thousand years before the events of the story, when the Dark One permanently tainted saidin so that men couldn’t access it without going mad, even generations later. We see this taint spreading up the rope representing the One Power in Wheel Of Time‘s opening credits before the cord splits into two halves, one white, the other dyed black. The question of where people outside the gender binary fit into this situation has yet to be answered satisfactorily.

The consequences of the rift are visible throughout Amazon’s series, from the very first scene onwards. By the time the story opens, the order of Aes Sedai, which once accepted both men and women into its ranks of channelers, has become an all-female organization with entire subdivisions dedicated to eradicating male channelers. We’re told upfront that the women of the Aes Sedai rule the world and protect it with the One Power, but new fans will have become increasingly aware that that is not the case, and that the reality is…a mess, honestly.

And in episode four, our close focus on Logain Ablar (Álvaro Morte) allows us to go deeper into the messiness and complexity of that situation as we follow his meteoric journey. Even though Logain is only able to channel aggressive tentacles of blackened, decaying saidin that whisper threats and taunts in his ears, the world in which he lives, in which he can declare himself the Dragon Reborn without any proof and win allies in his rebellion against the Aes Sedai from both the peasantry and nobility, is one that still revolves around the notion that men are meant to lead, regardless of whether they can channel without going mad – regardless of whether they can channel or not.

I don’t think The Wheel Of Time wants us to view Logain as a misogynist, to be clear. He does imply at one point that the Aes Sedai are supposed to follow him, but that’s because he’s totally confident in his assumption that he’s the Dragon Reborn – which makes his epiphany at the end of the episode that he’s not the Dragon hurt all the more, because it truly shakes him to his core. It’s only after that, in episode six, that he resorts to overt sexism, and even then it’s in a desperate attempt to provoke the Aes Sedai into killing him. It’s infinitely more interesting to see Logain as a tragic figure buffeted by forces beyond his control.

Because outside of Tar Valon, patriarchal systems of government and society are still alive and well in this world, and the One Power wielded by the Aes Sedai doesn’t necessarily translate into political power. In that respect, and also in their pomp and pageantry, the Aes Sedai are The Wheel Of Time‘s rough equivalent to the medieval Catholic Church (an amusing parallel, given that the latter institution has for centuries exalted one woman as being above all other saints in heaven while oppressing them on earth). The semi-divine authority that the Aes Sedai claim to possess over the entire world is similarly theoretical and dependent on tradition.

The effortlessness with which Logain accumulates followers and support is therefore unsurprising. He’s irresistibly charming and incredibly powerful, of course, but one gets the sense that it wouldn’t matter if he were neither of those things, because as Logain himself acknowledges later, men across the world are looking for any opportunity to test the limits of Aes Sedai power. Logain is merely a weapon of the old patriarchy trying to reassert itself, a shield behind which its true objective could be masked. That the Aes Sedai themselves are hardly a “good” organization muddies the waters significantly.

Wheel Of Time
Logain and Moiraine | denofgeek.com

We saw hints of that way back in the cold open for episode one, when Liandrin led a pack of her Red Ajah sisters in a literal man-hunt to find a male channeler and “gentle” him. “Gentling”, the process of removing a man’s ability to channel, is depicted in this episode as violent and torturous – there’s nothing gentle about it. As we learn from Thom Merrilin (Alexandre Willaume) when he recounts the story of his nephew who was gentled by the Red Ajah, and as we later see evidenced in the hollowness of Morte’s Logain after his own gentling, men stripped of their ability to channel are almost always shattered by the experience.

The parallels between gentling (and its equivalent for female channelers, “stilling”) and the heinous real-world practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ people are unmistakable. And throughout this episode, as Thom and Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) struggle to help Mat Cauthon (Barney Harris) through the fear and loneliness of even potentially being able to channel, the language they use seems to intentionally play on the idea that the experience of being a male channeler in The Wheel Of Time is vaguely akin to the real-world experiences of many queer people, particularly in oppressive religious environments.

Showrunner Rafe Judkins, himself a gay man raised in a Mormon community, wisely balances out these instances of queer-coded metaphor with substantial queer representation. Following the casual confirmation in episode three that there are no social stigmas attached to same-sex relationships throughout most of this world, the show has a responsibility to show that onscreen – and in episode four, we’re introduced to Maksim (Taylor Napier) and Ihvon (Emmanuel Imani), a pair of queer Warders who love each other as deeply as they love the third member of their polyamorous trio, the Aes Sedai Alanna Mosvani (Priyanka Bose).

Examining the sacred bond between an Aes Sedai and their Warder(s) proves to be a large part of both this episode and the next. People tied together by the bond become true soulmates, gaining an almost telepathic ability to communicate their thoughts and emotions from one to the other – thereby allowing them to bridge them the gender divide of their world. For some, the partnership is completely platonic, as is the case with Moiraine and her Warder, Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney). For others, it’s romantic and/or sexual. But on every level, the bond increases a person’s capacity for love and empathy.

Of the two groups, however, the Warders clearly receive more love from a screenplay that favors their perspective on Aes Sedai teachings and practices to those of the Aes Sedai themselves. Through Nynaeve al’Meara (Zoë Robins), whose animosity with Lan in the previous episode is quickly developing into mutual curiosity and affection, we’re invited to spend time with the Warders around their campfire as they idly chit-chat and share stories. And it’s through the raw grief of the Warder Stepin (Peter Franzén) that we experience for the first time the severing of the bond after his Aes Sedai, Kerene Nagashi (Clare Perkins) is killed by Logain.

This choice would make more sense to me if the Warders were depicted as clearly the more relatable of the two groups, and the Aes Sedai as enigmatic and aloof as they were typically shown in the books – or even in The Wheel Of Time‘s opening credits sequence, where the tapestry being woven slowly resolves itself into an image of seven women arranged after the seven spokes of the Wheel of Time, representing the seven color-coded Ajahs of the Aes Sedai. But that sequence promises a mystique and magnificence that I feel we don’t quite get from the Aes Sedai in episode four, and even thereafter only see in quick glimpses.

Of course, there’s the caveat that the group of Aes Sedai we meet in episode four have been on the road for months, and are worn down by the exhaustion of trying to hold Logain captive without gentling him. But it’s harder to feel the effects of that mental and physical toll when we’ve barely gotten a chance to admire the full power and glory of the Aes Sedai – even Moiraine, awesome as she was in the battle of Emond’s Field, spent a fair amount of episode two and all of episode three wavering on the edge of unconsciousness after a single injury sustained in that fight.

And then there’s the costumes. I haven’t been impressed by many of the costumes on this show, but the Aes Sedai in particular were a missed opportunity to flaunt Amazon’s big budget with luxurious fabrics, unique textures and patterns, stylish cuts, and priceless jewelry. Even taking into account that they’re traveling, the Aes Sedai are always keenly aware of their image outside of Tar Valon for reasons I think I made clear above – what they lack in political power, they make up for with their influence. Look to the Catholic Church, and there’s a richness and brilliance to the traditional papal vestments that is designed to inspire awe.

But in the show, outside of a few stylish leather pieces like Liandrin’s knee-high boots and accessories like Moiraine’s shoulder-pads, the costume design is severely lacking when it comes to accentuating any sense of ostentatiousness or grandiosity that the Aes Sedai are supposed to have cultivated around themselves. Alanna’s costume perhaps comes closest to achieving a balance between practicality (which, for a member of the Green Ajah, is a top priority) and showiness (a little gold ornamentation here and there, nothing too outlandish really), but the rest are just…drab.

This lack of synchronization between the costumes and the characters wearing them is exacerbated by the overly bright lighting, which continues to be a major problem for this show but here really gets into every nook and cranny of the spotless soundstage that serves as the Aes Sedai camp, exposing just how little effort has gone into making this look like a lived-in environment with dirt and grime and wear. There are moments, particularly during action scenes, when the camp looks like a bad cosplay convention or an overly polished historical reenactment.

But if the Aes Sedai are lacking any depth and substance to their costumes, the far greater problem is that their subplot throughout this episode is itself devoid of much nuance. After being warned by Moiraine that Aes Sedai are master manipulators each with their own hidden agenda, we’re introduced to a group of Aes Sedai whose motives are shallow and obvious, and whose schemes are only half-baked. How much more compelling would Liandrin be as a villain if, instead of openly voicing her desire to gentle Logain, she only subtly encouraged debate of the topic and allowed others to prove her points for her?

For our introduction to the Aes Sedai, that weak writing coupled with poor costuming threatens to tear apart the tapestry so carefully constructed in the opening credits, but there are moments that save this episode for me. Balancing the badly-lit battle between the Aes Sedai and Logain’s army is a duel between Thom Merrilin and a Myrddraal that, while significantly shorter, is so up-close and personal that you can’t help but shudder in admiration for the practical effects used to achieve the Myrddraal’s hideous physical presence. Balancing the weak emotional impact of Kerene’s death is the pain and horror we feel from Nynaeve when she thinks she’s lost Lan.

(Without getting into spoilers for the books and presumably the season one finale, there’s not much I can really say about the incredible power display from Nynaeve at the end of this episode except that…well, it’s incredible. I think there are as many downsides as there are upsides to prolonging the mystery of the Dragon Reborn’s identity, and I hope new fans are allowed in on the big secret soon so we can all theorize together).

Wheel Of Time
The Aes Sedai | imaginaryforces.com

So while I can’t say that I loved this episode, it’s still very enjoyable and is interspersed with enough excellent scenes and heartfelt character moments to warrant just as much praise as criticism. Director Wayne Che Yip again delivers a thematically rich story that draws upon Robert Jordan’s fantasy cosmology and theology for inspiration, and if it’s less bold with regards to gender than episode three was with morality, it still has fun tinkering with the rules that Jordan laid out for his world and improving upon his dated representation.

Episode Rating: 7.5/10