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“The Wheel Of Time” Season 2, Episode 8 Finishes Off Strong

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME SEASON TWO AND BOOKS 1 – 4, AHEAD!

I’m not gonna lie, I was worried that the second season of Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time wouldn’t be able to stick the landing. The consistently larger scale action sequences and higher quality visual effects somewhat assuaged my fears that we’d see a repeat of season one’s disappointing final skirmish between an entirely CGI army of Shadowspawn and a handful of Shienarans, but ultimately, none of that would matter if the characters weren’t handled well and season arcs didn’t reach satisfying (albeit only temporary) conclusions. And season one kinda failed on that front, too, stranding certain subplots in the weirdest places. Factor in the penultimate episode’s mischaracterization of Siuan Sanche, and going into the finale, I was justifiably stressed.

Donal Finn as Mat Cauthon in The Wheel Of Time, breaking into a run as he leads a small group of colorfully-dressed warriors into battle on a stone battlement. He is wearing a faded olive-green coat over a dirty light brown shirt and brown trousers with dark brown leather boots, and is carrying a wooden quarterstaff. He has short brown curly hair.
Mat Cauthon | press.amazonstudios.com

And for the first fifteen to twenty minutes, I remained stressed. Characters move around at a rather hectic pace as they all become belatedly aware that it’s the finale and somehow they’re not in place yet even after eight episodes. Things just start happening abruptly because there’s no time left to properly establish why, for instance, the Whitecloaks are attacking Falme today, and many crucial scenes, like the theft of the Horn of Valere, were obviously cut for time, or flow, or because scenes in earlier episodes had already been cut. But once everyone is settled down, the episode begins anew. By remaining laser-focused on specific characters throughout the rousing action, the writers (mostly) succeed at crafting an epic, high-stakes, and engaging finale that should keep viewers invested until the third season (which has nearly finished filming).

There’s a lot of moving parts in this episode, so I’m gonna go character-by-character, in no particular order, to break it all down.

Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden) has never been more popular. She single-handedly holds back Ishamael (Fares Fares), the strongest of the Forsaken, and it’s of course awe-inspiring, a scene destined to make its way into every end-of-the-year tribute to women in movies and television, but it’s not even Egwene’s best moment in this episode. Placing a collar around Renna (Xelia Mendes-Jones)’s neck, putting her through the same torture that Egwene suffered at her hands and letting it kill her, that’s the moment where I think Egwene comes into her own fully. The woman who stands and silently watches as her cruel sul’dam dies gasping out her name is not and never will be the same woman she was before. She is more dangerous now, more cunning, and still as capable as ever, despite all the attempts by the Seanchan to break her indomitable spirit. Those who underestimate her do so at their own risk. It’s kinda surreal to see the fandom finally come around on Egwene, when it used to be that you couldn’t admit to Egwene being your favorite character in the books without eliciting some shocked or horrified responses (why yes, I’m speaking from personal experience), but hey, at least we can all agree now that Egwene is the best.

If there’s one downside to Egwene becoming completely self-reliant this early in the story, it’s that it throws Nynaeve al’Meara (Zoë Robins)’s arc off-balance. Nynaeve is terribly underused in this episode, and I’m tired of having to explain this, but it’s not that I wanted her to magically break through her Block and overcome all her trauma because it’s the finale. What I and other fans of Nynaeve actually wanted was for her to not be benched just because she can’t channel the One Power. Nynaeve has never been a character who relied on the Power. That’s not even how she’s been depicted in the show, where she uses her wits and brute force to solve problems more frequently than weaves of earth, water, fire, air, and spirit. In The Great Hunt, she has a key role in rescuing Egwene from the Seanchan by capturing the sul’dam Seta (Jade Eleena-Dregorius), collaring her, and marching into the kennels with Seta disguised as her damane – and that’s exactly where Nynaeve’s subplot in the finale appears to be going until about halfway through, when Seta abruptly dies before they ever make it to Egwene, Elayne Trakand (Ceara Coveney) gets injured, and for maybe fifteen minutes Nynaeve stares blankly at her arrow-wound – until it falls to Elayne to remind her that she used to be the Wisdom of the Two Rivers, and that she can probably treat this injury in her sleep.

Apparently nobody on the production team studied how to treat an arrow-wound, however, because Nynaeve simply pushes the bolt through Elayne’s leg, fletching and all, and within moments Elayne is miraculously able to stand and climb to the top of a tower just in time for the climactic showdown with Ishamael, with enough energy left over to heal Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) from a life-threatening injury of his own. I’m sorry to have to say it, but it’s bad. It’s as if halfway through filming, the decision was made to have Egwene rescue herself and Nynaeve’s role in the finale had to subsequently be reduced to this. It’s arguably worse than when Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) ran around doing nothing in the first season finale.

Perrin, at least, has a much meatier role in this episode. He really only does one important thing – killing Geofram Bornhald (Stuart Graham) in revenge for Bornhald’s merciless slaughter of Perrin’s wolf-companion Hopper (Ka Lupinka, an incredible actor who really sells the animal’s last moments) – but it marks a turning-point in his journey towards reconciling the vastly different identities of the wolf and the man tangled up within him to form what is known as a “Wolfbrother”. And he now has Geofram’s vengeful son Dain Bornhald (Jay Duffy) to worry about heading into season three. A shame, that whole situation. Those two were were cute together, fighting back-to-back in the streets of Falme with a dexterity and speed that would give anyone the impression they had known each other for more than a few hours, at most. My only disappointment is that Perrin didn’t get a meaningful scene with Ingtar (Gregg Chillingirian) before the latter’s sudden death, which might have had a chance of resonating with viewers if a scene confirming that he was a Darkfriend seeking redemption (as in the books) had not been cut from the episode.

Madeleine Madden as Egwene al'Vere walking alongside Xelia Mendes-Jones as Renna through a stone colonnade. Egwene is wearing a large gold collar over a long-sleeved gray dress, and has a golden disc in her mouth as a gag. Her dark hair is braided. Renna wears lightweight red-brown leather armor like the carapace of a beetle over a dark blue long-sleeved shirt. Her dark hair hangs in two long braids, and the lower face of her face is painted dark blue.
Egwene and Renna | ew.com

Ingtar at least steals the Horn of Valere back from the Seanchan, so he’s not a total waste of precious screentime in an episode that needed to be a half-hour longer, but of course it’s Mat Cauthon (Dónal Finn) who eventually blows the Horn – which has a very silly design and is distractingly reminiscent of a plastic bottle of laundry detergent – summoning an equally silly troupe of Renaissance Faire-goers to fight for the Light. To be fair, some of them look pretty cool: Amaresu (Hélène Tran), mentioned in the books to be the female counterpart of the Dragon Reborn in other Turnings of the Wheel, is absolutely stunning, and I want to see more of her (I hope that her taking the Horn from Mat is an an indication that we will). But it’s hard to believe this was “probably the most expensive shot in season two”, when most of the other Heroes, including fan-favorite Birgitte Silverbow, are portrayed by uncredited extras on whom the camera lingers for only a few seconds.

To the delight of many, however, one-eyed warrior Uno Nomesta (Guy Roberts) returns as a Hero of the Horn, allowing the character – who did not die in the books – to show up again in the future. But the biggest surprise is that Mat, too, is a Hero. It’s a change, and it will have consequences, but it might not be such a bad idea. His arc has been building to this moment of much-needed catharsis, where he realizes that he is not, in fact, bound to the Dark One in every lifetime, and if having your soul cosmically linked to a musical instrument for eternity sounds only marginally better to me, it’s still huge for Mat’s character development. Since childhood, he’s been told that he’s not a good person or capable of becoming one, and everyone from his parents to total strangers have made him believe it. But there’s a goodness in Mat Cauthon that nothing and no one can suppress.

Still, though, that pesky cursed dagger he stole from Shadar Logoth tempts him, and even Mat’s solution of tying it to the end of a quarterstaff so he doesn’t come in contact with it ultimately backfires, as he tries to impale Ishamael with his makeshift weapon and accidentally stabs Rand in the stomach, fulfilling Min Farshaw’s viewing of him “killing” Rand with the dagger, albeit not quite how she envisioned. Luckily, the dagger which has corroded most of its other victims from the inside out in a matter of seconds takes its sweet time with Rand, or Elayne might not have been able to save him. In all seriousness, it’s not that big a deal, but it is a little convenient.

Rand, controversially, spends much of the episode lying glassy-eyed in a pile of rubble while his friends hold off Ishamael, shielded by Seanchan damane and suffering from the injury in his side. Between killing the High Lord Turak (Daniel Francis) and his elite bodyguards with a volley of highly precise armor-penetrating fireballs and somewhat meekly pushing his burning sword through Ishamael’s chest, he doesn’t do anything particularly flashy with the One Power, certainly nothing on the level of Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) blowing the Seanchan fleet to smithereens from miles away, and his big moment – telling Ishamael to his face that he will never serve the Dark One, because “in a thousand lives, I never have” – falls flat without the full weight of the Flicker, Flicker, Flicker sequence from The Great Hunt underscoring his words. The Wheel Of Time keeps putting off Rand’s truly epic and iconic scenes for another season, and it’s a worrisome trend.

With that said, Rand being less powerful than in the early books makes sense for where he is in the show – he’s only reached out to the True Source a few times, after all, mostly without thinking, and he hasn’t had any training outside of a single short conversation with Logain, who was cut off from the Source and therefore of very little help to Rand. But it’s worth noting that Nynaeve has had almost the exact same experience, and when she wields the One Power, the extent of her strength seems almost infinite. When Rand channels, I always get the sense that he’s holding back, using threads of the Power when he could be pulling on the very tapestry that makes up reality itself. At least he has plenty of room to grow from here, but it has to happen soon. The Forsaken are coming, and I’d rather we see actual, evenly-matched battles between them and Rand as opposed to…whatever the heck happened with Ishamael.

Ironically, Ishamael’s defeat isn’t all that different from how it plays out twice in the first three books, but if it was underwhelming then, it’s doubly so in a visual medium. Especially because the show is trying to do better by the Forsaken, and was on the right track giving them nuance, complexity, and depth to their motivations. It was refreshing to see a soft-spoken yet devastatingly competent version of Ishamael, completely unlike his snarling cartoonish counterpart from the books but far more engaging. To be fair, it’s heavily implied in the show that he went into the confrontation with Rand assuming he would die and even looking forward to it, which is very in-character for him, but he exerts too little of his power to make the charade seem believable. We’re talking about a character who could easily be teleporting behind Egwene’s barrier to catch her off-guard, and he’s standing still the whole time, firing off insignificant bullets.

I have faith, still, that this was a poorly executed but deliberate choice, and that Rand will not be able to blow through the remaining Forsaken like so much paper. Ishamael was the only one who so eagerly anticipated the Wheel of Time’s annihilation and his own along with it that he would sacrifice himself on Rand’s sword without hesitation if it could potentially result in the Dark One’s final victory over the Light and the unmaking of the Pattern. The others, with the possible exception of Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe), may fear the Dark One and at times revere him, but none would not happily betray him if they felt safe doing so. They each have an agenda. Take Lanfear, for instance. I don’t think she’s seriously considered breaking the Wheel for one moment; her goal is and has always been to win back the heart of Lews Therin Telamon (Karim Alexander), whose soul now resides in Rand’s humbler body, and to rule the world alongside him, never letting him leave her again. She won’t let the Dark One have him.

I’m curious to know what drove Laia Costa’s Moghedien to the Shadow in the first place, and what she wants now. From the little time we spend with her at the very end of the episode, I’m honestly not sure if she has a single coherent thought in her head, but the books do tell us that during the Age of Legends, she was named Lillen Moiral, and worked as an investment advisor, violating every rule of ethics in her pursuit of material power. As a relatively weak channeler, she had to master the art of fading into the background, letting her opponents walk all over her until she had gotten them to lower their guard, and then striking with deadly precision, disappearing before the body hit the floor. She uses this exact tactic on Lanfear, playing at being helpless and child-like until she suddenly has the stronger Forsaken tangled in her webs. She can’t kill Lanfear, but she leaves her with a warning to stay away from Rand: “He’s ours now. All five of them are.”

With Ishamael dead and the series caught up to the ending of The Dragon Reborn, the characters are poised to begin their Shadow Rising arcs; Rand, Egwene and Mat heading to the Aiel Waste for the kind of training they can’t receive elsewhere, Perrin returning to the Two Rivers to deal with the unresolved issue of Padan Fain (Johann Myers), and Nynaeve and Elayne hunting the Black Ajah in Tanchico, while at the White Tower Siuan will face the greatest challenge to her authority as Amyrlin Seat. The Shadow Rising is widely regarded to be one of, if not the, best book in The Wheel Of Time, so expectations are understandably high – and the third season needs to be a hit, because season four was not greenlit far in advance and the second season’s viewing numbers, while relatively strong, were obviously impacted by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes preventing writers and actors from doing promotion on their social media or attending premieres and events, not to mention Amazon’s already sparse marketing (a single trailer, that’s all we got) and the gap of almost two years between seasons.

Rosamund Pike as Moiraine Damodred and Daniel Henney as Lan Mandragoran in The Wheel Of Time, standing in shallow water on a beach with clear skies above them. Behind them looms a sandstone gate on a dais with steps leading up to it. Moiraine is wearing a dark blue long-sleeved gown over a knitted white blouse. She has long brown hair. Lan is wearing a gray tunic and trousers, with a sword strapped to his back. His dark hair is worn in a topknot.
Moiraine and Lan | ign.com

But The Wheel Of Time deserves to keep turning for a long time yet. The second season, even this imperfect but wildly enjoyable finale, earns the series its place alongside many of its higher-profile competitors in the fantasy genre (dare I say above most, including the more expensive but not as instantly engaging Rings Of Power). The vast world that Robert Jordan created and The Wheel Of Time‘s production designers, set designers, propmakers, costumers, hairstylists, and makeup-artists made into a richly detailed reality is one in which fans can immerse themselves for years and still discover something new. The magic system, vividly realized by the VFX artists and fight coordinators, is among the most intricate that exist, and its depths were unplumbed even by their originator. Most importantly, the characters ripped off the page and brought to life by the series’ incredible cast of actors, from established stars Rosamund Pike and Daniel Henney to relative newcomers Madeleine Madden and Zoë Robins, can support at least as many stories as any of the minor historical figures mentioned in The Lord Of The Rings and A Song Of Ice And Fire who now lead movies and series’. The Wheel Of Time has reached the big leagues. In fact, it got there before the season midpoint. But whether the average viewer knows it will entirely depend on word-of-mouth as long as Amazon’s promotion continues to be nonexistent. And not to be too pushy, but I kinda need that fourth season (and a fifth, and a sixth, and so on), so, uh, go watch it maybe?

Episode Rating: 8.5/10

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High Camp Meets High Fantasy In “The Wheel Of Time” Season 2, Episode 5

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME SEASON TWO, EPISODES 1 – 5, AND BOOKS 1 – 3, AHEAD!

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

I’m not sure how Robert Jordan would feel about me describing his books as campy. But that’s beside the point. His books are campy, and delightfully so. The Eye Of The World, the first book in what would grow to become a fourteen-volume series spanning decades, was published in 1990, and hailed as a radical return to the classic formula that initially made high fantasy successful after a decade of the genre being dominated by weird, esoteric science-fantasy and grim, hypermasculine sword-and-sorcery, but far from being just another tired take on the hero’s quest, The Wheel Of Time is distinctly fun, right down to the iconic, endearingly garish cover of the first book that depicts Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike) as a seemingly three-foot tall woman with a beehive updo sitting sidesaddle on a white pony, riding alongside a hulking samurai. It’s a colorful blend of the poetry and profundity of Tolkien and Le Guin’s seminal works, the vividly pulpy imagery of Brothers Hildebrandt artwork from the 70’s, and the wild romanticism of McCaffrey’s Dragonriders books, rolled up into the strongest, trippiest joint you can possibly imagine.

(Left to right) a Seanchan soldier; Fares Fares as Ishamael; Karima McAdams as High Lady Suroth; Jessica Boone as Alwhin; and a second Seanchan soldier. Ishamael is wearing a black leather vest over a long-sleeved white shirt with dark trousers. He has dark hair slicked back, and a dark beard flecked with gray. Suroth is wearing a rust-red scale-patterned coat with a long train bunched up around her feet, over an orange vest and teal-blue gown. She is bald apart from a strip of dark hair down the center of her scalp. Alwhin is wearing a bronze-colored scale-patterned jacket and a long rust-red gown. She has dark brown hair neatly arranged in geometric buns on the side of her head, and her face is partially covered by a mask. They are all standing under a teal-blue and rust-red canopy in a lavishly furnished room with hanging lamps.
Ishamael and High Lady Suroth | press.amazonstudios.com

Of course, grabbing a little bit of everything encompassed by the fantasy genre means that, inevitably, a few unsavory or downright icky ingredients make it into the mix. Every book in the series is as dense as the day is long, and the lore only gets more incomprehensible the deeper you go. The rules of Jordan’s gendered magic-system are extremely dated, and he writes women like he heard about them once from fragments of an ancient, poorly-translated myth. The queer representation, even if progressive for the time, is still abysmal. It’s a difficult book series to recommend for all these reasons. But if you happen to enjoy camp, there are the fabulously-dressed, morally-ambiguous middle-aged sorceresses to consider. The eccentric and overtly queer-coded villains who throw masquerade-balls and tea-parties in their spare time, fierce young women put through the ringer both emotionally and physically, and numerous hunks with romance novel-ready hairstyles, many of them stoic and brooding and deeply repressed, are a nice treat, too.

And of course, there’s the kink and eroticism, can’t forget all the kink and eroticism.

While Amazon’s adaptation of The Wheel Of Time may not be skewing close to the plot of the books in its second season, the series has never been more faithful to the essence of the source material than it is right now, simply by being unapologetically fun, bold, and at times a little bizarre. I mean, we were straying into surreal territory already with the Trial of the Arches, but I think Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe) donning a BDSM-inspired all-black leather outfit to seduce submissive farm-boy Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) in the World of Dreams might be what finally convinces the average viewer that this is not another Lord Of The Rings or Game Of Thrones, and it’s not trying to be, either. The Wheel Of Time was made for the girls and the gays. Unintentionally? Perhaps that’s what Jordan would say, but there’s no way showrunner Rafe Judkins – a gay man himself – doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Episode five is high camp from start to finish, opening on the masked High Lady Suroth (Karima McAdams) having her foot-long lacquered fingernails clipped with a sword to symbolize her fall from grace, and closing on O’Keeffe’s Lanfear debuting her dominatrix look. Every minute in between is practically dripping with the homoerotic subtext that Jordan injected into so much of his writing; somehow most palpable when Lanfear and Ishamael (Fares Fares) are onscreen together, going over their plans. While they circle each other with a hungriness in their eyes, both wearing oversized, open-collared nightshirts and sipping wine from enormous goblets, there’s one thing on both their minds, and it’s Rand al’Thor (an underrated hilarious aspect of The Wheel Of Time is the fact that Rand is Just Some Guy™ in this Age, but all these three-thousand year old entities with enormous power remember him as someone completely different, and much more impressive). The Forsaken take turns toying with each other’s emotions – and demonstrating their prowess in the World of Dreams – by conjuring lifelike images of the sheepherder lying in Ishamael’s bed, while they loom over him. Ishamael even snuggles up to him and caresses his face at one point. I legitimately believe things would have escalated further if Ishamael hadn’t been woken out of his pleasant dream by something in the real world that was no doubt far less interesting to him.

Mind you, this isn’t the first time Ishamael has shared an intensely erotic scene with one of the ta’veren boys – I have not forgotten how he force-fed Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) in episode three while making uncomfortably prolonged eye-contact with him – nor is it the last, but this is the first time in the show I think it’s unequivocally clear that Ishamael’s obsession with them has an undercurrent of sexual attraction. There’s certainly a debate to be had over whether The Wheel Of Time has enough heroic queer male characters in its cast to get away with portraying the main antagonist as a gay man, but anyone who’s watched any Disney animated movies can tell you that it’s the campy, queer-coded villains who make the strongest impression, and there’s no denying that Ishamael has been a highlight of the second season, his jovial nihilism unexpectedly endearing.

The fact that he looks and dresses like the grizzled, older, sexually adventurous wealthy businessman on the cover of a very filthy Wattpad fanfic is another point in his favor – and I don’t just mean because he’s very attractive for those who are into that sort of thing. The trope of a queer male villain besotted with a straight male protagonist is quite common. It’s rare, however, to see a queer male villain portrayed with such raw sex appeal, and that changes the whole dynamic. There is nothing loathsome or pitiable about Ishamael, nothing ineffective about his preferred tactic of seduction. He is potent, affecting everyone who comes into his orbit and leaving them shaken even if they manage to pull away. Take Perrin, for example. If he wasn’t bisexual before meeting Ishamael, he is now.

Put a pin in that, we’ll get back to it later. I’d be remiss for not first praising the scene-stealing performance of Natasha O’Keeffe as Lanfear, a juggernaut in black leather thigh-highs. She was holding back on us in the role of Lanfear’s alias, flighty, free-spirited Selene, diminishing herself and her presence to match what Rand wanted from her, but as Lanfear she effortlessly dominates the screen, a dismissive flick of her wrist the most motion required to pop a man’s skull like soap-bubbles or stitch a woman’s mouth shut with intricate needlework. She seems to take joy in doling out these and other sadistic punishments for the minor offence of existing in her vicinity, but no pride. She does not swagger or brag to intimidate those she does not see as her equals. Everything humans have built and accomplished in the last three-thousand years since the Breaking is of little interest to her, or provokes a mild disappointment. But then, even the other Forsaken who survived the Breaking, powerful as they are, earn her derision – “Moghedien’s insane, Graendal’s a vain idiot, and the boys couldn’t execute a plan even if they were under Compulsion”. Rand has her respect, because of what he is, while Ishamael has her partial attention because he stands in her way.

Lanfear is iconic, and we love to watch her on a rampage, but she would not be half as interesting if she were simply evil for the sake of being evil. While the Dark One wants to break the Wheel of Time to restore the universe to its natural state of chaos, and Ishamael believes that breaking the Wheel will end the cycle of violence and suffering, Lanfear – unsurprisingly – could not care less what happens to the world, as long as she and Rand walk away from the Last Battle hand-in-hand. She loved the last Dragon before Rand, Lews Therin Telamon, and when he left her for his eventual wife, she turned to the Dark to get him back. With all that said, I do hope the show eventually delves a bit more into who Lanfear was before the Breaking, including her work as a quantum physicist and her involvement in releasing the Dark One, because there’s more to her, too, than her relationship with that scummy dude.

The Wheel Of Time has taken an empathetic approach to many of its villains (with the notable and appropriate exception of the imperialist Seanchan); Liandrin Guirale (Kate Fleetwood) is among the most three-dimensional characters in the series, which is incredible given that Robert Jordan wrote her to be the exact opposite, a mustache-twirling minor antagonist whose schemes were repeatedly foiled by her own unamusing incompetence. Fleetwood’s Liandrin, apart from being complex and compelling, is also extremely capable. She sidesteps every trap laid for her, and does what she can, with the limited power at her disposal, to walk a fine line through the gray area between Light and Dark. She turns Nynaeve al’Meara (Zoe Robins) and Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden) over to the Seanchan as prisoners, as expected of her, but frees her beloved Nynaeve just before exiting through the Waygate and stranding them there with High Lady Suroth – who is incompetent and only succeeds at collecting Egwene, letting Nynaeve and Elayne Trakand (Ceara Coveney) slip through her (now significantly shorter) fingernails.

Katie Leung as Yassica and Meera Syal as Verin Mathwin in The Wheel Of Time, seated next to each other on a couch, staring down at a piece of parchment. Yassica has short dark hair pulled into a low bun, and wears a brown sweater over a white blouse and a long brown dress. Verin has short gray hair, and wears a light brown gown over a white blouse. She is peering through a golden monocle on a chain around her neck.
Yassica and Verin Mathwin | press.amazonstudios.com

Back at the White Tower, the sudden disappearance of three very powerful Novices does not go unnoticed, but someone – Liandrin or another Darkfriend amongst the Aes Sedai – has already contrived a cover-story; that the girls received permission to attend Elayne’s brother Gawyn’s nameday ceremony in Caemlyn. Furthermore, the same someone used a forbidden weave of Compulsion (essentially mind-control) on the kindly Mistress of Novices, Sheriam Bayanar (Rima Te Wiata), to make her write the blatant lie into her log, breaking the Three Oaths…unless, of course, Sheriam is a Darkfriend herself? In a short amount of time, the show does a fairly good job of making the viewer feel suddenly unsure of who to trust, just as the books did when the so-called “Black Ajah” made up of Darkfriends first came to light.

I’m a little sad that Egwene and Nynaeve couldn’t participate in the investigation of the Black Ajah, as they did in the books, but I would gladly watch an entire spin-off series focused on Verin Mathwin (Meera Syal) and her fellow sisters of the Brown Ajah playing at being detectives in their stead, taking on a different Darkfriend each week. If the lovably quirky Brown Yassica seems familiar, by the way, that’s probably because she’s played by Katie Leung, best known as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter series and as the voice of Caitlyn in Arcane: League Of Legends (though as Yassica, Dundee-born Leung speaks with the strong Scottish accent she’s spoken in the past about wanting to use more frequently).

Another recognizable face in episode five is that of Will Tudor (Olyvar in Game Of Thrones, and Sebastian in Shadowhunters), who joins the ensemble cast of The Wheel Of Time as Moiraine’s foppish nephew, Barthanes Damodred, soon to be the King of Cairhien through marriage to Queen Galldrian. Moiraine’s interactions with her family continue to be surprisingly meaningful, probably ranking among her best scenes in the series despite having the least basis in the source material, though the very subtle references or allusions being made to the ruination of House Damodred during the Aiel War by Moiraine’s uncle will likely fly over most viewers’ heads, as I don’t feel the show has done enough to connect those dots. With the Aiel being introduced properly in this episode, you’d think this would be the perfect moment to expand on their lore.

But that’s why I’m here, to provide you with answers to all your questions. In short, the Aiel are a society of primarily red-haired warriors who come from the Waste beyond the Spine of the World, and follow a complex system of honor and indebtment called ji’e’toh. They are divided into several clans and subdivided into dozens of individual “septs” – Aviendha (Ayoola Smart), whom Perrin first meets as a prisoner of the Whitecloaks in this episode, is of the Nine Valleys Sept of the Taardad Aiel, for instance. She and many other Maidens of the Spear were sent west across the Spine in search of their prophesied Car’a’carn, or “Chief of Chiefs” (no bonus points for guessing who that might be). Aviendha is one of the most important characters in The Wheel Of Time going forward, and bringing her into the story at this early stage makes sense from a writing perspective, though I’m of two minds on how the writers actually went about it – lifting Aviendha out of her subplot with Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne and transplanting her in Perrin’s subplot, replacing Gaul as the Aiel he rescues from a cage, incurring much toh.

The change is logical in the short-term – Aviendha is by far the more relevant of the two characters, and needed a momentous opening scene – but in the long-run, it’s hard to believe that Perrin and Aviendha will have many more opportunities to interact, while her, Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne (colloquially referred to as the “Wondergirls”) form enduring connections in the books and share many of their greatest moments in future storylines between them. Losing Gaul also means changes to Perrin’s arc, though they might not be quite as consequential if Gaul is introduced early next season, before Perrin’s The Shadow Rising arc kicks off. And while I don’t necessarily expect anyone to take me seriously on this, it also means Perrin is missing the source of all the homoerotic tension in his storyline. Thankfully, Dain Bornhald (Jay Duffy) steps in to fill that role quite effectively.

Dain is one of these characters that got tiring to read about in the books after a while because his relationship to Perrin was just so tenuous and one-dimensional, but Dain in the show is a different story. Him and Perrin have chemistry, however you want to interpret it. Maybe they’re just totally platonic bros who share drinks by candlelight and give each other cute nicknames and bond over their trauma. I’m not sure I buy it, with the way Dain was checking Perrin out, but it’s possible. Either way, having them interact before the season finale – and the event that shapes both their futures – was a smart choice.

The Whitecloaks, of which Dain is a part, are extremely important in the finale, and I would have liked more setup for their storyline, but the episode was already juggling a large number of subplots and one more thing on top of the pile might well have been too many. We don’t even see Dónal Finn’s Mat, and still there’s a lot going on. Two scenes that definitely needed more room to breathe were the capture of Egwene by the Seanchan and the reunion between Moiraine and Rand – the former could have used an extra few minutes of action, the latter even just a few additional lines of dialogue. Of course, with more and longer episodes per season, this wouldn’t be a problem, but The Wheel Of Time is just one of many large-scale streaming series’ being undermined by time constraints for which there is no good reason. We’re past the middle-point of the season now. The people who are still watching are probably more likely to be put off by a lack screentime rather than by an overabundance of it. Amazon really needs to give its best fantasy show everything it’s earned with this incredible second season, including ten episodes (though I wouldn’t be opposed to twelve), each at least an hour and ten minutes long, and a larger budget so that the VFX isn’t spread thin and we can visit more locations.

Jay Duffy as Dain Bornhald sitting across from Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara (whose back is turned to the camera) at a table outdoors, every inch of which seems to be covered with low candles providing a slightly romantic atmosphere. Dain is wearing a brown mantle over his clothes, and black leather gloves. He has short blonde hair swept to one side and a beard.
Perrin Aybara and Dain Bornhald | press.amazonstudios.com

What the writers, directors, cast, and showrunner have done with this episode is elevate The Wheel Of Time once again to a point you don’t think can possibly be surpassed – only to top themselves again the week after. Episode four was the exception, not the rule, and although with the season now completed I can say for certain that the seventh and eighth episodes don’t quite surpass the highest highs of episodes three, five, and six, my favorites, the difference is largely a matter of which characters I believe were underutilized or misrepresented as a book reader, and not really a reflection on the show’s quality. The Wheel Of Time is an excellent adaptation, the best kind in fact: one that takes risks by making bold, purposeful changes to the source material while honoring the themes and tone of the books. Nailing the blend of unserious, delightfully irreverent campiness and drama played completely straight was probably the trickiest part, but they got it. I walked away from episode five craving more of the Forsaken, their sexually charged interactions with just about everybody, and that unmistakable queerness that is woven into the very fabric of this fantasy world.

I can’t speak for all of us in the fandom, but I know that’s what I’ve been looking for from this adaptation. The Wheel Of Time has always been high camp. It’s just finally embracing it.

Episode Rating: 9/10

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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

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“The Wheel Of Time” Season 2 Release Date Revealed Alongside New Images

MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHEEL OF TIME SEASON TWO AHEAD!

Mark your calendars for September 1st, everybody. Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time is returning after a hiatus of almost two years, and its second season promises to be even bigger in scope, nearly rivaling The Rings Of Power, Amazon’s flagship fantasy series. The journey of our main characters, antagonists included, can be traced through eight new photos obtained by Entertainment Weekly that reveal stunning locations, magnificent costumery, jaw-dropping production and set design, and some startling team-ups. Let’s get right into it, shall we?

(left to right) two Seanchan women, Loial, and Ishamael, striding across a sandy courtyard in Falme between rows of Seanchan warriors and civilians. The two women wear long-sleeved rust-colored jackets and coats over teal blue gowns. The woman on the far left wears a sinuous metal face-mask. The woman in the center has her hair shaped into wings on either side of her head, and wears a golden mask covering her entire face except her chin. Ishamael wears a black vest over a white shirt and black trousers, while Loial, behind him, wears a light blue-green tunic.
(left to right) two Seanchan women, Loial, and Ishamael | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

This image of two unidentified but obviously important Seanchan women walking alongside Ishamael and Loial of all people seems specifically designed to generate heated discussion and fervent theorizing. It appears that the Seanchan have begun their invasion of the Westlands and what we’re seeing in this image is a triumphant procession through the streets of conquered and colonized Falme, the coastal city that hosts the climactic battle of The Wheel Of Time‘s second book (and presumably its second season). With that context, it becomes very likely that the masked woman occupying the center of the frame is the victorious Seanchan admiral, High Lady Suroth Sabelle Meldarath, a callous but clever villain in the books. The dead giveaway is the extraordinary length of her bladed fingernails, a sign of status amongst the Seanchan.

But for all her wealth, power, and military prowess, Suroth is a puppet on the Forsaken’s strings, and in this image she may be flanked by not one, but two of the Dark One’s most dangerous lieutenants. I mean, obviously that’s Fares Fares as Ishamael on her left, looking quite dashing in a cleaner, more streamlined version of his season one outfit. But at her right hand, with eyes downcast behind a sinuous metal face-mask resembling a spider’s web, could that be Moghedien, the weakest yet most devious of the Forsaken? Sure, it’s infinitely more likely to be Alwhin, Suroth’s so’jihn or herald (herself an interesting character), but the thought of multiple Forsaken appearing onscreen together in season two, foreshadowing the chaotic tea-parties they’ll share in future seasons, is the stuff of my dreams.

There’s no mistaking Loial, however, even though the Ogier, who looms over the rest of the human cast, seems almost matched in height by Ishamael. I can’t even begin to imagine how he got caught up in this procession, whether he’s in Falme as an honored guest of the Seanchan or as their prisoner, and what this means for his traveling companion, Perrin Aybara, who ought to be somewhere nearby.

(left to right) Masema, Aviendha, and Perrin Aybara, standing in an alleyway between sand-colored buildings. Aviendha wears garments of beige and brown leather, with a gauzy hood and a black veil covering the lower half of her face. She wields a short knife in her left hand, and hoists a spear in her right. Perrin, carrying no weapons, stands with mouth slightly agape, wearing a gray-and-green leather vest over a faded red shirt and green trousers.
(left to right) Masema, Aviendha, and Perrin Aybara | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

Ah, there he is – definitely in Falme, judging by the scenery, though clearly under very different circumstances. The veiled woman beside him in this image is Aviendha, played by Ayoola Smart, a member of the Far Dareis Mai, or Maidens of the Spear, warrior-women from the Aiel Waste who have recently crossed the Spine of the World in search of the Car’a’carn prophesied to lead all the Aiel. Leaked audition-tapes for season two hinted that Perrin would share the screen with Aviendha, but seeing as the two have virtually no relationship in the books, there was some confusion and doubt over whether this would actually play out. It seems we can now confirm that, for better or worse, Aviendha and the Far Dareis Mai will be teaming up with Perrin in season two, leading me to the sad but inevitable conclusion that she is probably taking the place of Gaul, the Aiel man whom Perrin rescues from a cage and befriends in the third book of the series. Bain and Chiad, two Maidens married to each other and to Gaul in the books, have also been cast, and will appear in season two.

Rand al'Thor, wearing a brown cloak and hood, with a sword strapped on his back, walking through a sandy courtyard.
Rand a’Thor | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

What keeps me hoping that Gaul will appear later in the series is that Aviendha can’t fill his role in the story entirely without literally being in two places at once – because her path leads back to the Aiel Waste alongside the Dragon Reborn, Rand al’Thor, at the same time that Gaul is headed in the opposite direction with Perrin. Speaking of Rand, we see him in Falme, flanked by banners bearing the symbol of the Seanchan Empire, cloaked and hooded, with his heron-marked blade strapped on his back. It’s impossible to say exactly what’s happening in this image without more context, but I’ll just point out that if Rand and Ishamael are in Falme simultaneously, I suspect there will be some kind of confrontation between them.

Egwene al'Vere, wearing a gray apron over a long-sleeved plain white dress, standing at a wooden table in the kitchens of the White Tower, organizing glasses and goblets.
Egwene al’Vere | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

On the other side of the continent, far removed from the threat of the Seanchan invasion, Egwene al’Vere begins her training to become an Aes Sedai at the White Tower…and finds it a far less enjoyable experience than she’d imagined, as the Mistress of Novices puts her to work in the kitchen alongside Elayne Trakand, the Daughter-Heir of Andor and a channeler almost as powerful as Egwene herself. Egwene is pictured here with an expression of barely-disguised annoyance, as if daring anyone at the Tower, Novice or Aes Sedai, to get on her nerves after another day seemingly wasted scrubbing pots and washing floors.

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

Nynaeve al’Meara, ironically, is moving much more quickly through the ranks of the Aes Sedai and can be seen mentally preparing herself for the rigorous test that Novices usually undergo several years into their training, following which they may either be “Accepted” or be rejected by the Tower…assuming they survive. The test takes place in the basement underneath the Tower, between three silver arches which together form a ter’angreal (a tool or practical object made using the One Power), which allows the user to face a manifestation of their greatest fears from the past, present, and future. Panicking once inside the silver arches will result in a fate worse than death; being lost outside time and space in a labyrinth of nightmarish alternate dimensions. And mind you, Nynaeve hasn’t even had a full day’s training yet and she’s already been pushed to the front of the line for this abhorrent trial.

Mat Cauthon, lying on a wooden couch with his head leaning against the arm-rest, a single tear running down his left cheek. He is wrapped up in his thin, ragged green coat, and stares blankly at a candle-flame in the foreground.
Mat Cauthon | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

Deeper still than the kitchens and the basement are the White Tower’s dungeons, where it seems we’ll find Mat Cauthon languishing in the care of the Red Ajah, Aes Sedai who punish the misuse of the One Power by men like Mat, who may not be able to channel but might be capable of much worse if he discovers that he’s able to manipulate the Pattern around himself, like Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Perrin. It’s uncertain whether The Wheel Of Time will continue to explore the idea, introduced in season one, that Mat is especially susceptible to the Dark One’s corrosive influence, or if that was only ever an excuse to get Mat out of the picture after the original actor, Barney Harris, abruptly left the series more than halfway through filming. Dónal Finn, our new Mat, sheds a convincing tear either for his current plight, or for the fact that he hasn’t gotten a costume change like the rest of his castmates.

al'Lan Mandragoran, wearing a black cape over dark walking-clothes, riding a black horse through a forest. He has a sword strapped to his back, and an expression of surprise on his face.
al’Lan Mandragoran | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

He can take comfort in the fact that Lan Mandragoran apparently hasn’t changed either, and is probably the least remarkable of the returning characters because of it. He’s riding a horse, through a forest. That’s really all I have to say.

On to Moiraine! The undimmed star of The Wheel Of Time, Rosamund Pike’s iconic queer sorceress returns to her hometown of Cairhien in season two with a stunning new outfit reflective of her noble origins and her description in the book. Moiraine does surprisingly little in the second book of the series, but her role in the show took an unexpected turn when she was shielded in the first season finale, losing access to the One Power and the Bond between her and Lan, her Warder. Returning to Cairhien, the one place in the world where she doesn’t need the Power or the help of her Warder to give her authority, is therefore a smart move for her and for the show, which is now presented with an organic opportunity to explore her character’s backstory and flesh out her relationship with the Damodred family, humanizing her.

Moiraine Damodred in The Wheel Of Time season two, wearing a wide-sleeved dark blue dress over a white shirt, with a blue-and-gold belt. A gold circlet is nestled in her brown hair. She stands in a dusty marketplace, amidst a crowd of people.
Moiraine Damodred | Twitter @TheWheelOfTime

Now that you’ve seen all the new images from the second season, I want to hear from you. Who looks the coolest (for me it’s the Seanchan), who could have used a costume change (Lan, sadly), and whose upcoming arc are you most excited for (Egwene, without a doubt)? Share your own thoughts, theories, and opinions, in the comments below!