Moonhunter has returned. That's what the wolves call her.
Last time on The Wheel Of Time,
Rand approached Logain. The Dragon Reborn tried to get the False Dragon to show
him how to control his channeling. Logain told him that he’d help, but only in
exchange for a wine from Ghealdan. With the help of Selene, his innkeeper and
NSA hook up, he infiltrated a fancy party to get his hands on the wine, and
inadvertently attracted the attention of some Cairhien nobles. He brought the
wine to Logain, only to find that Logain is unstable, his advice is to just let
the power flow, and that he still believes himself to be the Dragon Reborn. He
leaves, heads back to his room, and loses control of his powers, burning down
the inn. Not a great night for Rand. Nynaeve entered the Three Arches to take
her Accepted Test. She passes the first two tests, leaving her parents and then
the Two Rivers in their time of need, but ends up getting stuck in her third.
She lives a fantasy life of simple pleasures with Lan back in the Two Rivers.
Everyone outside the Three Arches assumes she’s dead when she doesn’t come out.
Liandrin, seemingly in a rage, releases Mat and tells him to do whatever he
likes so long as he’s out of her sight. He almost goes to comfort Egwene,
chickens out, and then frees Min so they can both escape. Min, it turns out, is
working for Liandrin and is leading Mat somewhere in exchange for something.
Egwene pretty much spends the episode in mourning, but refusing to believe Nynaeve
is gone. Perrin is forced to watch as Uno is executed by the Seanchan and
forced to swear oaths to them. He’s being taken to Falma, their home base on
this side of the Aryth Ocean, but he’s freed by Elyas and the Wolves. Nynaeve’s
happy dream is ended when Trollocs attack, killing Lan, Perrin, and Mat. Nynaeve
kills the Trollocs, grabs her daughter, Elnore, and tries to escape the Arches
with her. She gets out but her daughter evaporates in her arms. Dark stuff.
Enough Recap. Let’s get to it.
Episode 12: Daughter of the Night
We open on Ishamael entering a canyon.
He finds a particular spot and begins to chant a prophecy in the Old Tongue and
he channels. Some people were mad and thought that the chant was part of the
unsealing… but… no, Elan Morin Tedronai aka Ishamael the Betrayer of Hope is
just extra. Case in point, his evil name. Anyway, he finishes his dark prayer and
breaks the seal, freeing a woman literally coated in blood. “Blood feeds blood.
Blood calls Blood. Blood is, blood was, and Blood shall ever be,” he says as he
reaches out a hand to her.
We shift to the home of Anvaere,
the noble woman we met last time at the party. She dresses, including heavy
makeup to hide her wrinkles and a wig, before putting on a robe and sitting in
a chair in her art room. She’s roused by her butler saying that her older
sister has come to see her. Turns out that’s Moiraine. Yep, this is Anvaere
Damodred. Moiraine is lead into the dinning area to see her sister. This is a small
but significant change that I was unaware of until this episode. See, in the books,
Moiraine started her quest to find the Dragon Reborn within days of being
Raised from Accepted to Full Aes Sedai. She was on the younger end of the
spectrum to do so, so she was in her early 20s. Flashforward to the events of
the books and she’s only about 45 or so, despite the ageless air she puts on.
For the show, they’ve aged her significantly, implying that she didn’t get the
mission until she was already a seasoned Aes Sedia. Hence why her little sister
is played by Lindsay Duncan, age 72 at time of writing, instead of a woman in
her 40s. Moiraine tries to control the situation, steamrolling over her sister to
get access to her old rooms and some wine for her journey. Anvaere is quite
livid with this, as she shouts at Moiraine that it’s been decades, so they
really should catch up. Moiraine tells her she can do lunch, as there’s someone
she needs to meet with this morning.
Rand, meanwhile, is helping with
the clean up of Selene’s inn. She tells Rand that she’s hired some men to
rebuild the top floor room for her, and since it’ll take them a week to finish
it, she wants to take a trip. She says her family has a cabin in the wilderness
near Kinslayer’s Dagger and invites Rand along. Rand is in a bit of a foul mood
after the accidental arson and says he’s not in the mood, but Selene insists.
At the Tower, Nynaeve isn’t doing
so hot. Sure, she’s got the nice Accepted rooms with a view now… but the whole “watch
my friends and the love of my life die before my daughter melted in my arms”
thing is… traumatizing. She hears a knock on her door and gets out of bed to
see who it is, she stops part way there to slip her Great Serpent Ring on. It’s
Egwene, she brought her a honeycake. Egwene tries to talk to her but, again,
traumatized, so Nynaeve is kind of cold to her. Egwene hugs her and insists it
wasn’t real, which clearly doesn’t get through Nynaeve’s head or make her feel
better.
We jump over to Lan, who is with
Alana, Ihvon, and Maksim in the country with Alana’s family. Her relatives
tease Alana at now having 3 warders over lunch. Lan steps away to take a piss,
Alana coming over to check on him. He admits to having figured out that they’re
all keeping an eye on him due to fears that he might be suicidal after his bond
to Moiraine broke. He breaks down their formula, jokes about his hair or age,
warm memories, things to live for etc. Alana decides to skip all that and asks
him what he wants to do. Lan isn’t sure. She reveals they’re going back to the Tower
tomorrow and that Nynaeve is going through the Arches soon. Lan is clearly interested
when it’s pointed out that Nynaeve might be looking for a Warder soon, but he
gets stone faced and says he’s not looking to repeat his mistakes. Alana waxes
nostalgic about how Moiraine “used to be,” saying that she changed suddenly 20
years ago, “the way water becomes ice.” He asks if she was happy then, and
Alana says she’s not sure.
Getting back to the woman in
question, Moiraine pulls the dust covers off her old things. There’s a picture
amongst the things of Moiraine as when she looked to be in her late teens, a
sun themed headdress on her head with Anvaere, who is like 10. Damn, time makes
things weird for Aes Sedai. Moiraine leaves her room, sees Anvaere talking with
the butler, grabs the wine and leaves. She visits the mental hospital and asks
about Rand. The head of the place said he didn’t come to work today. She asks
to see “that” Ward. She finds Logain in the garden, and he says he should kill
her. She plays it off and asks how he’s doing. He accuses her of sending him
here, which she confirms, saying that the Yellow and Brown sisters wanted to
study him and that she doubted he’d have enjoyed that. She asks if he started training
Rand yet, he scoffs and says that after everything he’s lost, does she really
think he’ll play ball for a bottle of wine? She switches tactics and offers him
what he really wants in exchange for information, a knife. Logain clearly wants
to that knife, and is willing to answer questions. He tells her he’s staying at
an inn called the Cresent in the Foregate, and he’s as strong as Logain ever
was. Moiraine tells him that he’s going to train Rand, show him everything that
Logain knows and when she’s satisfied, she’ll let him die.
At the Tower, Elayne and Egwene are
mopping badly as Egwene tells the other girl that she feels like there’s
something different about Nynaeve since she came back. She wants to help
Nynaeve, but Elayne asks why she feels that she needs to. Egwene says that
Nynaeve helped her last year after losing someone important, and she wants to
return the favor. Also, BFF. She complains that since coming to the tower she
just feels smaller and smaller.
When I say they’re moping badly, I
mean they’re moping away from themselves. You’re walking on clean floors,
ladies! Elayne, you have an excuse because royalty, but Egwene, you’re an innkeeper’s
daughter!
Nynaeve enters the Warder training
ground looking for Ihvon and Maksim. Another younger Warder tells her they’re
out of the Tower and… okay, it’s like he’s flirting with her, but specifically
for choosing him as a Warder. Like, nothing romantic or sexual about it, but he’s
definitely hinting he’d serve her if she wanted. Apparently Nynaeve channeling
in the Arches is rumor now and it’s impressed everyone. He tells her she has
time to figure it out, and that he just hope she doesn’t choose Red. Liandrin
is watching her and smiles smugly. She gets a report and storms off.
She goes to see Leane and demands
to know why they aren’t sending Aes Sedai to the west. They’re just now getting
reports of the Seanchan invasion. Leane says they’ve sent sisters to
investigate and for her to pay it no mind. Liandrin asks her if the Amyrlin is
aware and Leane rather huffily says that when the Amyrlin is away, the Keeper
fills her shoes, so the woman in charge is very aware of the situation. Liandrin
heads out, warning Leane that when the Amyrlin falls, she’ll fall with her.
Cryptic.
Perrin is currently traveling with
Elyas and the wolves. He’s anxious to find the others and questioning if Elyas
knows where they’re going. He says wolves don’t get lost, when Perrin questions
this, Elyas finally tells him what they are. They are Wolfbrothers, people who
can communicate with wolves and inherit some of their strengths. Perrin asks if
he’s going to turn into a wolf, and Elyas tells him not to be stupid. They get a
vision of a deer, Elyas saying that this sort of mental image is the Wolves
language, and that the rest of the pack is showing them where food is. Perrin
asks how it’s done and Elyas says instinct. They stop to eat, Perrin cooking
his hunk of deer and Elyas telling him that he’ll lose the taste for cooked
food soon. He tells Perrin that one of the wolves likes him, as that wolf also
lost his mate. Perrin asks what his name is and Elyas says he’ll tell him when
he’s ready. He reveals that he and the wolves have had an eye on Perrin for a
while now, having been the one to lead Perrin and Egwene to the tinkers and
save them from the Whitecloaks. He says that Perrin’s nightmares about his wife
were like screams to them. Elyas reveals that he and the wolves stayed back
from Perrin for so long because they avoided Aes Sedai. Humans don’t trust what
they don’t understand. Perrin has a vision of the wolf beside him leaping in
the air and realizes that he’s named Hopper, or close enough to it.
Back with Lan, he is reading the
poem he swiped from Moiraine. He stows it in his bag when Maksim comes to ask
him to help fill water buckets for dinner. Maksim says that he’s doing well,
that a broken bond is usually messier. Lan reveals that he’s had practice, as
Moiraine kept the bond masked for the six months before it was transferred to
Alana. Maksim is impressed, saying he thought he was the only one that could go
that long. He reveals that, he figured out early on that he hated having
someone in his head, even Alana, and they agreed to keep the bond between them
masked outside of battle… and sex. He tells Lan that the others will tell him
that he can’t go back to Moiraine, but that he’s proof that Lan can, if he
wants to.
Moiraine, meanwhile, explores the Foregate.
She finds the guard that Rand goes through and asks about the Cresent Inn
burning down. She asks where he is now and the guard shrugs.
Rand is meanwhile in the mountains
with Selene. Rand asks if her family built the cabin they’re visiting. Selene
explains that she lied and that she really came to the mountains with the Man she
was with before Rand. Rand reminds her they agreed no past, but she continues,
saying he was the first man she ever loved. Rand says he sounds a bit boring. She
says that they joked about never coming back down from the mountains, but they
always did. She hugs Rand, and he says that he grew up in and loved the
Mountains. When she asks why he didn’t go back, Rand says the wheel never give
people what they want, least of all him. She tells him that if she wants
something he has to take it.
Mat and Min are relaxing in an inn.
It seems that Mat’s luck hasn’t improved since his imprisonment. He flirts with
Min for a bit, but Min turns him down. She goes to pay for their drinks for the
night and their rooms. She tells the innkeeper that she’ll need the attic room
and that someone will be coming to meet her there. She doesn’t know who, but he
should send them up when they arrive.
Back at the Tower, Liandrin finds Nynaeve
sitting in the Three Arches’ chamber. She says that most Aes Sedai refuse to
step foot in there ever again. Nynaeve asks if it was real. Liandrin says the
pain was real but even that fades. She asks who she lost inside. Nynaeve says
her daughter, and that how insane it is that she’s expected to forget. Liandrin
reveals she’s kept her son a secret for the better part of a century. She told herself
it was to protect him, but that she kept him here in Tar Valon for her. That
she can’t risk losing the only thing that has ever been hers. She says that the
men who can channel are curse by the Dark to kill the ones they love, but the
Aes Sedai are cursed too. They’re cursed by watching the ones they love wither
and die. She tells Nynaeve that the way to keep going is to find something to
hold onto, something that’s hers, and keep it until it fades and then they’ll
find another. Liandrin reveals about the invasion in the west and that Perrin
and Loial were captured by them.
We shift to Lan, Maksim, and Ihvon meditating.
Or trying to. Maksim gets up and walks off, Lan saying that he lasted ten
minutes this time, they’re wearing him down. Ihvon asks Lan about the thing that
Moiraine said, the “one cut” that has turned into a thousand in his mind. He
reveals that Moiraine said she never considered him an equal. Ihvon laughs,
saying that they were never supposed to be their equals. The rest of the world sees their power, they see
their weaknesses. Lan says that he’s surprised that Alana needs reminding.
Ihvon laughs and says that she doesn’t as all three of them want the same
thing, the triumph of the Light over the Dark and dessert after. He asks Lan
what Moiraine wants, and Lan says that he doesn’t think he knows anymore. Inside
the house, Maksim and Alana search through Lan’s bag and find the poem.
Moiraine returns to the Damodred
mansion and finds her sister waiting up for her. Moiraine tries to get her to
leave, but Anvaere isn’t being put off. She admits that she probably would have
left like Moiraine did if she could channel. There were nights, she says, where
she tried desperately, after their uncle ruined them, after Moiraine left and
so on. She says their father believed she’d always come back. Anvaere reveals
that she’s worked hard to restore their family’s honor, that her son is going
to marry the queen and that she’s finally decided that she doesn’t care about
Moiraine’s approval anymore. She wars Moiraine that this isn’t her house, city
or sister anymore, that she’s taken control of Moiraine’s spy network and that
she’ll give Moiraine information on Rand if she asks her very nicely over tea.
She offers Moiraine the cup.
Egwene and Elayne are staying up
drinking. Egwene says that it must be nice knowing what she’s going to be one
day, and Elayne says that she has wondered what it’s like to choose her fate,
but that she wouldn’t trade Egwene if she could. Nynaeve comes in and asks for
the room for a moment. Elayne points out that this is her room, but Nynaeve
gives her a look and she goes. She tells Egwene that Perrin and Loial have been
captured and that she’s going to save them. She tells Egwene that she doesn’t
have to come with, and that if she goes with her, Egwene will be expelled. Egwene
realizes that Nynaeve doesn’t understand why she’s working so hard here, she
felt that if she’d been prepared last year, she could have gone with Rand to
the Eye of the World and maybe saved him. She vowed to never fail any of their
friends again. The two slip out through Liandrin’s passageway, saying they’ll
think of a plan on the ride. Elayne catches up to them, saying she wants to
know why they’re sneaking out. Liandrin arrives and says that Elayne is a
complication. She says she’s sorry for this and hits all three with a wind
bursts that throws them to the wall and knocks them out.
Min is sleeping in the attic and
has a nightmare about her aunts forcing her to be a fortune teller and seeing death
from everyone that comes to see her. Ishamael arrives and tells her to open her
eyes. She doesn’t see anything, and he says it’s wonderful to not see anything
or be a carnival attraction anymore. He reveals he’s a Forsaken and Min freaks
out. She made a deal with Liandrin, she didn’t know a Forsaken was involved. He
says that there’s somethings only the dark can do, he’s the only one who can take
her visions away. She says she won’t help him hurt anyone and he says she will.
She says she won’t let him hurt Mat and he says she might. He tells her to take
him to Cairhien. Min starts crying but asks what’s in Cairhien.
Rand and Selene are sleeping out under
the stars when he wakes up. There’s a cabin nearby and he goes toward it, sword
drawn. He’s attacked by a Fade from behind, Selene warning him with a shout at
the last second. Rand gets disarmed by the creature, and they’re forced to the
cliff’s edge. Rand Channels and kills it, turning it to ash. Selene freaks out
for a bit. Rand says that he hasn’t gone mad, but from her reaction he knows he’s
scaring her and says that he’ll leave her because men who can channel hurt the people
they love when they go mad. Selene says she accepts him, that she once tried to
hide parts of herself for ‘him’ and that it worked for a while until he looked
too hard and saw the dark parts. She pulls him toward the cabin.
Maksim, Ihvon and Alana meet and
talk about the poem. It’s a prophecy in the old tongue. They realize it’s about
Lanfear and that her seal is broken. The poem is about how Lanfear is back and that
she’s hunting for the Dragon Reborn and that the Shining Walls will kneel.
Back at the cabin, Selene ties Rand
to the Bed and says that there’s something Rand should know, she’s a monster
too. She arches her back and straightens, it mirroring the movement of the
blood covered Lanfear before. Selene starts to channel, Rand only seeing
ripples in the air. Suddenly, she’s stabbed through the heart and gets her neck
slit by Moiraine. She frees Rand saying they have to escape. Rand starts to Channel,
throwing her back and demanding to know why she killed Selene. She says she
hadn’t and couldn’t, and that Selene is Lanfear, the most dangerous of the
Forsaken. Rand denies it, but Moiraine says she lied to him, something Moiraine
could never do. And then they need to run. As they run, black dots fill Lanfear’s
eyes and she begins to regenerate. Well… shit.
Well, that’s a lot to process. It’s
good to see Perrin finally beginning to understand some of his new powers. He
struggles the most with his abilities in the books, as he feels that embracing
the wolf inside will cause him to lose his humanity, but his powers are just so
cool and useful that I want to see more of them. Some folks complained that the
wolves they used seemed rather small, and I think they had unrealistic expectations.
The breed they’re using are Czechoslovakian Wolfdogs, they’re only about 28% wolf
genetically, but they’re much easier to train and control than other breeds
(according to the internet). They’re around average size for a wolf, being around
90 pounds, but they seem a lot smaller than Marcus Rutherford because that man
is huge. So yeah, they’re bigger than they look, and they went with a breed
that’s reasonable to control and train, if you have an issue with that, sucks
for you. Nynaeve having lasting trauma from her trip through the Three Arches
is good. There’s speculation that the real aim of that test is to cut people
off from their friends and loved ones, to indoctrinate a channeler to the Tower,
and I think you can see why. Not an issue for me, I’d be gentled if I showed up
to the Tower looking to learn to channel but being forced to walk away from
loved ones would mess anyone up. Liandrin suddenly attacked the trio is good.
In the books, this betrayal was much, much more obviously coming a Liandrin
basically screamed “I’m evil” from minute one. Kate Fleetwood’s version of the
character has been much more subtle and having her reveal a secret son and
seemingly always encouraging Nynaeve makes it much more shocking when she
lashes out at them. Min in the inn’s attic I think was really well done. As I
think has been well established before, Ishamael loves coming into people’s
dreams to have meetings, it keeps them off balance. The choppy editing them do,
where maybe a frame or two is out of place, like Ishamael is jittering in place
is a simple but brilliant way to show off the unreality of the dream world. The
fact he’s twisting her arm is, well, heartbreaking. Some folks wonder if this
makes Min a Darkfriend, but I argue that no, she’s being manipulated by one.
She assumed Liandrin was on the up and up Aes Sedai wise when she made the
deal, she clearly was not expecting a Forsaken to show up. Glad we got that
Selene is Lanfear twist out of the way. This version of the character was more
subtle than her book counterpart (within minutes of Rand meeting her, she was
telling him they could rule the world together) but the red flags from this
woman were popping up all over the place. She just has this… possessive vibe to
her that feels unhealthy. I obviously knew going in she was going to be a
Forsaken in disguise, but I’m honestly shocked Rand didn’t pick up on a single
red flag. Crazy ex-girlfriend vibes were strong. Her being stabbed but getting
over it is new, but tracks. The Forsaken of the books were just as vulnerable
to mundane death as anyone really, stab them and keep them from getting healed
and they’d bleed out like anyone. But, as they’re servants to a guy who’s got
the divine epithet of Lord of the Grave, it’s not a huge leap in logic that his
servants get a get out of death free card. I’ll explain the black dots when the
show does, I promise, just know that yeah, those are probably tied to her Wolverine
impression. So yeah, good episode, I
enjoyed it.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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