Roads converge only to diverge once again.
Let’s get back to the future. Past.
Time’s a wheel so this gets complicated. The Wheel Of Time Time.
Last time on The Wheel Of Time,
all roads led to Falme. Rand, Moiraine, and Lan, as well as Perrin and the Aiel
Aviendha, Bain and Chiad, made their way to the city to save their friends
Nynaeve and Egwene who’d been captured there by the Seanchan invaders. Nynaeve
and her new friend Elayne also worked to try to free Egwene, who’d been turned
into a Damane, a collared channeler that the Seanchan use as attack dogs. And
also the Whitecloaks show up, because there’s not a situation that they can
avoid making worse. Meanwhile Mat is held up in the castle by Ishamael as he
trips balls over a tea that supposedly showed him his past lives. To see if
they broke him, or to get him to break if not, Padan Fain left the Ruby Hilted Dagger
from Shadar Logoth in the room with him and waited for it to corrupt him again.
Everyone attacks the Seanchan at once, the Whitecloaks taking on many of the rank-and-file
soldiers while the heroes handle named characters. Rand uses his channeling to
execute Lord Turok, the ranking commander here, and like 15 of his guards. Mat
frees himself by tying the dagger to the end of a bedpost as a makeshift spear.
He gets his hands on the Horn of Valere and blows it, summoning the heroes of
the horn to aid him, including Uno. Perrin’s wolf friend Hopper gets killed by
Geofram Bornhald of the Whitecloaks and he kills the Whitecloak in retaliation,
earning Geofram’s son Dane’s everlasting hatred. The final confrontation leads
to Falme’s Tower, where Rand faced off against Ishamael with Egwene. Ishamael,
being kind of a dick, signals his Seanchan Sul’dam and they Shield Rand from
the source. Egwene, sick of this, starts channeling at him and actually holds
the son of a bitch off long enough for Moiraine to singlehandedly sink the
Seanchan ship, freeing Rand, and for everyone else to get there. Mat is unfortunately
tricked and stabs Rand with his spear, an illusion Ishamael threw up to
distract him. Egwene can get a shield up and Rand stabs Ishamel through the
heart, killing him. He fades to dust. Rand is healed by Elayne, but the wound
is… tricky. Moiraine weaves a dragon made of fire around the tower, Proclaiming
Rand as the Dragon Reborn. But, unfortunately, knowing that Lanfear would betray
him and see his end, Ishamael had freed the other six forsaken from the Seals
he’d found. Only one, Moghedian, stayed behind long enough to tell Lanfear to
back off as she and the others will handle Lews. And Lanfear prays for Lews’
safety because these guys will play for keeps. Enough recapping. Let’s get to
it, shall we?
Ep 17: To Race the Shadow
We open on the White Tower in Tar
Valon. Siuan is looking out on a rainy city, looking depressed after her fight
with Moiraine the previous season. Unbeknownst to her, Moiraine and Lan are in
the city and looking up at the Tower at her. She’s called away by her Keeper of
the Chronicle, Leane, saying it is time. Streetside Lan tells Moiraine that she’ll
be alright, but Moiraine insists today isn’t about her. Inside the Hall is
called to order, the various Sitters gathering to see to a matter. We see that
beyond the Sitters, three women each from the seven Ajahs, that Liandrin is
also being called in as well. Alanna, one of the sitters, her warders Maksim
and Ihvon want to go with her, but she reminds them that Men aren’t allowed into
the Hall without cause and that the Amyrlin has a plan for the Reds. Leane cut
off the Reds, saying that the Hall is sealed to the Red Ajah today. One of the Red
Sitters says that they’re all supposed to be present, but Leane says that only Eleven
sitters are needed to hold a vote, so they are barring the Reds from this Sitting.
They’ll be able to hear the ruling through Liandrin. That’s not a great precedent
to set, but more on that later.
The Sitting is called with Liandrin
standing before the Six other Ajahs. Siuan asks if she knows why she’s been
called her. Liandrin tries to put on a bold front, saying that it’s to silence
her because she never tried to court Siuan’s favor and accuses Siuan of
breaking Tower customs and law. Siuan tells her to continue her accusation so Siuan
might answer them. Liandrin accuses Siuan of meeting with Moiraine and Rand al’Thor
the Dragon Reborn in Cairhien. She claims that the Tower is duty bound to bind
and control the Dragon Reborn and that Siuan let him escape. Siuan says that if
she had proof of this, the Tower could censor or depose Siuan, but Siuan
counters by saying that Liandrin is in fact a member of the Black Ajah, the Aes
Sedai Darkfriends in the Tower. Liandrin scoffs at this saying that she has no proof.
Siuan calls her witness… Nynaeve al’Meara, who Liandrin sold to the Seanchan. Nynaeve
is brought in, looking triumphant. Liandrin shrugs and says she tried. She draws
on the Source and attempts to attack Siuan, but Alanna clearly expected this
and blocks her. Siuan, Leane, and Alanna trap her in a ball of fire, Shielded,
and Siuan announces that she’ll be tried, stilled and executed, but before that
she’ll give up every Black sister. Liandrin agrees and calls her Black Sisters for
aid. Basically, one of every Sitter present is revealed to be a Black sister
and the Six Black Ajah members cause a huge fight to break out in the hall. The
Aes Sedai try to defend themselves, but they’re caught wrong footed. Nynaeve
tries to help but she can’t access the Saidar. The Red Sisters arrive outside
and Maksim and Ihvon try to hold them back, but they tell them to move if they
don’t want their Aes Sedai to die. One of the Black sisters hurls a boulder at Siuan,
injuring her and freeing Liandrin.
Meanwhile, Verin Sedai of the Brown
with her Brown sister Nyomi and her actual sister Adeleas go to the 13th
Depository. This is a secret chamber in the Tower that houses their strongest
Angreal and Sa’Angreal (objects that magnify a Channeler’s power) and Ter’Angreal,
objects that use the power to do things. Verin says she needs back up
protecting these, hence why they aren’t running to the Amyrlin’s aid. More
Black Sitters arrive and a fight breaks outside too. Once inside the 13th Depository,
unfortunately it’s revealed that Nyomi is Black Ajah as well and she disables
the Mathwin sisters to steal Angreal. She quickly grabs several items and prepares
to run.
The fighting is still going on in
the hall, Liandrin and Siuan are healed by their respective sides. Leane brains
a Black Sister with her staff and beats her to death with it and it’s
absolutely brutal. Unfortunately, the Black Sisters Link and fire off a
shockwave, knocking back the rest of the Sisters and blowing the doors to the
Hall down. Lan and Moiraine see the
explosion from the street and look worried. Liandrin takes her group and says
that they should head for the docks. Siuan rallies her Aes Sedai, and they head
to cut them off. In the 13th Depository, Verin cradles Adaleus,
sobbing over her sister, who asks her who she is before passing out.
Alanna cuts off the Black sisters
and she and her Warders grievously injure several Black sisters. They almost execute
Liandrin, but she’s saved by her Black sisters. They throw Alanna and her Warders
aside, and make for the boat. Liandrin, feeling vindictive, grabs one of the Warder’s
swords with a weave of air. The Warders fear the worst, with Maksim diving to cover
Alanna and Ihvon blocking them both. Liandrin hurls the sword through Ihvon’s heart.
Alanna scrambles to her fallen Warder but it’s already too late.
Siuan, meanwhile, is captured by
the other Black Sister, after they execute her backup. The Black Sisters can
barely hold her, though, so they decide to finish her despite Liandrin’s
orders. They try to drop a belltower on her, but Moiraine steps in and saves
her with weaves of Air. Siuan frees herself and disables them both before
seeing Moiraine before she runs off.
Lan makes it to the Tower and finds
Nynaeve unconscious in the Hall. He wakes her, clearly scared, but she comes
to.
And that was just the cold open.
We join the crew at the Light’s Blessing
in the city, Egwene berating herself for letting Nynaeve go in there alone. She
wanted to say screw the rules and that they, meaning her and Elayne, could have
protected her if not for a rule that they couldn’t enter the Hall without the
Ring, the sign of full sisterhood in the Aes Sedai. Rand rightly points out
that safe really isn’t a thing for them anymore, as now they’ve got the Black
Ajah to worry about on top of the Forsaken. Rand reveals to his friends that
Moiraine wants him to go to Tear. Why? Because in the Fortress in Tear called
the Stone, there’s the most powerful Saidin Sa’Angreal, Callandor, at it’s
heart. The fall of the Stone and Rand gaining Callandor is one of the Prophecies
of the Dragon, one of the biggest ones. Mat calls it ‘the sword that is not a
sword’ in the Old Tongue, freaking everyone out a little. Remember, Old Tongue is
effectively Latin in this world, or maybe something older like Mycenean Greek.
Most people know a word or two, maybe a few phrases. Mat was not one of them
until recently. Nynaeve asks what that sword is supposed to do, and Rand just
shrugs and says that like all prophecies that isn’t clear. Perrin asks why can’t
they just run off and hide somewhere, somewhere where no one has heard of the
Dragon Reborn, but Egwene asks where such a place even could be. It’s been a
month since Falme and everyone here already knows about it, and that’s halfway
across the continent. Egwene says that whatever they do, they do together. Rand
clearly doesn’t love that plan. Remember, he is very much against his friends
being in danger to help him. Elayne comes in and says Moiraine has asked for
them.
We cut to the roof of the Light’s Blessing,
Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve, Mat, Perrin, Loial, Elayne, Aviendha, Bain, Chiad, Lan
and Moiraine have all gathered for a conference. Moiraine warns her charges that
the city isn’t safe for them. They need to lay low, hide their weapons and
their distinctive features (she looks hard at the Gingers for this one) and
stay out of the city if at all possible. Basically, anyone in the city could be
feeding information back to the Tower, the Red Ajah specifically. She says that
they’ll sail for Tear at Dawn. She and Lan leave, Rand asking where she’s
going, to which she just says ‘into the city.’ Loial grumbles about how Moiraine
always wants to leave at Dawn, and why can’t she want to leave after a hearty
breakfast. Mat says that he’d love to stay and chat about that, but he’s been
on a boat for a month, so he’s not wasting his day of freedom couped up in a
room. He eggs his boys Rand and Perrin in on joining him sightseeing.
The boys head out, with the Aiel at
their (or specifically Rand’s) heels. Mat asks Perrin what he thinks his
chances are with the Aiel and Perrin just scoffs and says that they hate him.
Rand, clearly annoyed, tells the Aiel to stop following him. They tell him it’s
their duty to protect him and see him to the Three-Fold Land to see if he’s
their fabled Car’a’Carn. Rand tries to get them to stay by pulling this rank on
them, but they say that he isn’t Car’a’Carn yet, Aviendha saying that he needs
to face the trial of Rhuedian first. Chiad and Bain communicate with hand
signs, making it clear she wasn’t supposed to say even that much. Rand asks
them to just tell him, but Aviendha says that she’s been judging him since
meeting and that she has found him wanting. She says that he feels nothing for
the Aiel despite his hair, height and face, and now he shames the Aiel that have
tried and failed to prove themselves to be the Car’a’Carn before. She slinks
off.
Back at the Inn, Egwene is venting to
the other girls that when she’s with Rand, it’s like how it was back in
the Two Rivers, that nothing has changed but everything has changed. Egwene
says that when he touches her, she remembers Renna. She’s clearly dealing with
a lot of trauma and stress from her time as a Damane and the other two try to
comfort her.
In town, Mat has a sketch artist
draw him holding the Horn of Valere in a triumphant pose. If it was anyone
else, I’d be appalled but this is the most Mat thing he could do with a sacred
object. Perrin and Rand just roll their eyes at him. Mat loudly announcing that
he’s the horn blower. From the reactions of the crowd, no one believes this for
a second, so maybe Mat’s bravado is good camouflage. Rand sees another drawing
the artist did, a… reimagining of him battling Ishamael in the sky over Falme. They’re
like two Thunder gods hurling lightning at each other. Rand says that there is
not enough ale in the world to get him through this. They sit down for a drink,
Mat asking if he and Egwene are back on. Rand says he’s not sure, they haven’t
talked about it. Mat and Perrin both laugh at this, Mat saying that Rand hasn’t
even kissed another girl before so why fight what’s written in the Pattern.
Rand blushes at this, clearly thinking about the weeks he spent hooking up with
Lanfear but not telling his friends that. Mat lists off the women they know,
saying Aviendha only smiles at Elayne and Perrin (Perrin insists there’s
nothing there), and that he’s been working on Bain and Chiad for a week so its probably
not them either. Rand says he’s going to get speared talking like that and Mat
prays for it. They toast, Mat slipping into the Old Tongue and freaking them
out. He clearly doesn’t realize he’s doing it. Perrin says he’s not just going
to drop the topic and Rand does name drop Lanfear’s alias, Selene.
Meanwhile, a woman in a black and
white cloak is seen entering town, clearly Lanfear even if we only see her jaw.
Verin meets with Lan and Moiraine
and tells them about the Angreal theft. She says that their most powerful
weapons were stolen and that it feels like the Last Battle is drawing ever
closer. Moiraine says she won’t let any other Aes Sedai near Rand again. Verin
laughs at this and says that Rand was under her care before but since declaring
himself the Dragon Reborn that time is over. When Moiraine isn’t convinced,
Verin points out that she’d known Niyomi since Niyomi was a girl, and that same
person destroyed Adeleas’ mind, because Verin thought she’d had the measure of
her. She says that Moiraine clearly trusts the idea of the Dragon Reborn and asks
her to trust Rand al’Thor.
The boys start playing a game of
Snakes and Foxes. Perrin compliments Rand, saying that he seems like a Leader
now. He says that Rand doesn’t give himself enough credit, with Rand countering
that Perrin doesn’t give himself enough credit either. Perrin scoffs at that, saying
that Rand’s a natural leader, and even Mat is more of one than he is. He’d
follow Mat, they’d get drunk along the way, but it’d seem like a good idea at
the time. Perrin says he doesn’t know what the wheel will bring but Rand will
make the right choice. Perrin picks up on the hint and asks Perrin if he’s
leaving. Mat comes back, showing off his painting and saying that he’ll maybe
make some miniatures out of it to hand off to ladies. He senses that they’ve
gotten serious and asks what’s up and Perrin tells him not to think about it.
Back with Moiraine, Lan spies Lanfear
in the crowd who then seems to just appear on their balcony with them. Lanfear notes
that she didn’t even try to embrace the source, but Moiraine tells her to not assume
that means she’s unprepared. Lanfear tells her that Rand isn’t going to go to
Tear. Moiraine is surprised she wants him to, as Rand killed Ishamael without
it. Lanfear says that Ishy was a gentle soul with big dreams, the other “Chosen”
aren’t, saying they won’t care if Rand turns to the Shadow, they’ll accept his
death. She says that the others will find Rand soon, and that every moment he’s
without Callandor is a danger to him. She claims to know both them and Rand,
even the dark parts Moiraine wishes she could ignore. Lanfear tries to go, but
Moiraine stops her, saying that Rand told her that Lanfear has been appearing
in his dreams since Falme. That she’s urging him towards Tear and that she
thinks that’s why he doesn’t want to go. Lanfear counters by saying it’s his
friends he doesn’t want to leave behind and says that Moiraine knows them and
knows what will get them to abandon Rand. She asks Lanfear if she really thinks
Moiraine will hurt the others to get Rand to go where they want, and Lanfear
says “yes” and that’s the only thing she likes about Moiraine.
Outside, Lan says they can’t trust
her, and Moiraine says obviously, but she can trust that Lanfear doesn’t want
Rand dead. Lan insists that she’ll betray them, and that they can’t rely on her
as she’s more afraid of the other Forsaken than she ever was of Ishamael. He’s
also freaked out that Rand killed Ishamael and that should be impossible. So
Lanfear is probably afraid Rand might kill her too. Moiraine tells him that’s a
tomorrow problem and that he should go to the Tower to get his Malkieri blade.
Just in case.
At the inn, the girls are unwinding
a bit, teasing Elayne, who seems to be the only non-Aiel that Aviendha likes and
that she especially hates Rand. And what that might imply about Avi. Elayne insists
that there’s nothing there, that Aiel culture is just a bit odd. Egwene snickers
and says she’s sure Elayne’s gotten a lot of their ‘culture.’ Their talk is interrupted
by Siuan’s arrival. Siuan tells Elayne that unless she wants to jeopardize the
alliance between the Tower and Andor that’s existed for centuries, she expects
Elayne back in Novice White tomorrow. And tells her to go enjoy her last bit of
freedom until then. See, she’s not a total hard ass. She says that the others
need to have a conversation. Egwene says that she heard what she did to Rand
and that she won’t go back to the Tower after that. Siuan admits that she
regrets some of her actions towards him, but they need to focus. The Dragon
Reborn is their greatest weapon against the shadow, but unfortunately, he can
and probably will be a greater danger to the people he loves first. As she speaks,
Moiraine slips in and listens out of sight. She says that the more Rand
channels the faster he’ll go mad. She wants Egwene back to train her to be
ready for that. She also says that if she leaves Tar Valon without the ring,
she’ll never be accepted back in. Nynaeve says she has a ring so that’s all
they need. Egwene realizes that Siuan is right and that they aren’t strong enough
yet to face the Black Ajah let alone the Forsaken. Egwene agrees to return, but
on the condition, she goes through the Three Arches, today.
They head to the Arch room, Egwene,
Siuan, Leane, and Alviarin. They warn her that she’ll be without the One Power in
the Arches. And that the way back will appear but once. Be steadfast. Oh Light,
they finished the line this time! They open the Arches.
Nynaeve hides in her room at the
Tower and fingers her ring. Lan joins her and says that Egwene is strong enough
to face the Arches. Nynaeve says it’s not just about what happens there, but
the memories you take with you when you leave. The what ifs? Lan, sensing what
she meant, asks if they were happy in there, together. She says yes, they were,
but also no. She tells him their daughter Elnora was perfect, but they gave up
what they wanted to do it. And he asks if she’s doing that now to stay by Rand.
Meanwhile, Elayne gives two letters
to send to her mother in Andor and to Tear. She grabs a basket of apples and
finds Avi watching her from a distance. She asks if Avi has been there long,
and Avi shrugs and says that the Car’a’carn has no use for her and the city isn’t
safe, so why not follow her. Elayne hands off the apples and that she’s going
to enjoy her last night of freedom. She signs that she’ll do go for a
wetlander, which surprises Avi. She tells Elayne that she already has the look
of an Aiel, so be careful so that folks don’t think she’s one. Elayne warns Avi
that Rand isn’t used to power, he doesn’t know how to use it, but she is
confident he’ll figure out how and to use it for her people’s benefit. Girl has
strong sense for these things.
Back at the Inn, Rand and Loial are
reading the Karaethon Cycle, the prophecies of the Dragon. They’re stuck on two
lines, that “The Stone of Tear will never fall until Callandor is wielded by
the Dragon’s hand” and “The Stone of Tear will never fall until the People of
the Dragon come.” Rand asks who the people of the Dragon are, but Loial says
that information is lost. This bums him out because he realizes they could be
his army, needed to take a heavily armed fortress. Rand says that by Tairan
law, he who takes the Stone is the king of Tear. Elayne comes in to finish his
thought, saying that Tear will be the first nation he conquers but not the
last. She asks for a moment of Rand’s time. Loial lets them have a moment. Elayne
reveals that she sent letters to her mother and a Tairan noblewoman that she
can trust and tries to convince both to support Rand. He asks how anyone could
support him taking their city. Elayne says that a peaceful transfer of power is
better than a war, and that being a ruler means figuring out how to navigate situations
like this. She tells him that he can start by not alienating Aviendha. Rand
says that she’s made it clear she wants anyone but him as the Car’a’carn, but
Elayne points out that she’s still there. She encourages him to make them
believe in him and that they’ll follow him to the ends of the earth, even to
Tear. Rand smiles and asks if he can’t convince her to come with to Tear. Elayne
laughs at the thought of missing out on scrubbing floors and cleaning pots. She
insists that Andor and her will always be friends to the Dragon Reborn.
In the Arches, Egwene has her first
vision. She leads Nynaeve and Elayne into finding Rand. Nynaeve announces that the
madness has Rand and that he killed Perrin and Mat. She calls him. He stands
up, and says she got what she wanted, the Amyrlin Seat and now she can do what she
should have done before. He screams for her to bow to him and she tells the others
to steel themselves. She bursts from the vision, soaked in blood. You can infer
what happened.
At the Inn, Rand quotes the Cycle
of the Dragon at Moiraine, saying that the Dragon would be reborn on the slopes
of Dragonmount. He says that there are a lot of contradictions and unknowns in
it. They argue, it feels like one they’ve been having for a while, about whether
he should go to Tear or not. She’s worried someone could take the sword, Rand
says no one has in 3000 years, and she says that the Forsaken haven’t been free
before. He asks if this wouldn’t be a trap. Moiraine as what he wants to do
then. She demands to hear where he wants to go. Rand says he wants to go home,
but Moiraine asks what farmers will do against the Shadowspawn. She insists he’s
not a child and that there’s no homecoming for her or ever.
Siuan names Egwene an Accepted of
the White Tower. Egwene starts to storm off, Siuan asking where she’s going.
Egwene says that she has the ring now, so they can’t stop her from going. Siuan
says she’s got a duty to study and learn at the Tower. Egwene says that the Tower
is tearing itself apart and that her duty is to the Light before finishing her
storm off.
At the Tower, Nynaeve wakes up to
find Lan meditating with his sword in hand. She says that it looks new, and he
reveals that it’s actually very old. It’s the sword of the kings of Malkier.
She says he’s never used it before, and he says he never felt worthy. He’s no
king, and Tar Valon is more his home than Malkier. But he’s wielding it now
because he needs to. She asks why, and he reveals that the Forsaken will come
for all of them and soon. He leaves his original sword with her, as its heron
marked and power wrought.
Elayne leads the group in drinking
some of her own apple brew. Everyone seems to be having a good time, though
Loial says it could use more of a kick. Bain and Chiad return, and Mat hits on
them. Rand asks where Aviendha is and is ignored. Bain and Chiad offer to play
a Maiden of the Spear game with him, the Maiden’s kiss. Oh my. Perrin tells him
to not to, but he’s not listening. They point spears at him and then Chiad kisses
him. The game? IF the kisses good, the spears move back, and if it isn’t… well.
They point more sharply at Mat and say Perrin can play too. Elayne finds Aviendha
upstairs and offers her a drink. They toast and enjoy each other for a moment.
Avi asks what the Tower is like, and Elayne says that it’ll be lonely without her
friends. Aviendha suddenly kisses her and Elayne says finally. They start
making out. More on this later.
Meanwhile, Egwene looks over Rand’s
gut wound and rebandages him. He notices the ring and calls her Egwene Sedai.
He asks what it was like in the Arches. And she says it was terrible. She says
that they forget what’s real, what’s important. Rand realizes he was there, and
she tries to say it wasn’t him, exactly. He asks if he hurt her, and she says
she’s not afraid of him. She’s with him until the end. He goes to kiss her like
he used to, cupping her face, but that causes her to remember being strangled
by Renna. He says sorry and that they should sleep. She says she wants to try.
They start kissing again.
We cut to Perrin dreaming, he sees
himself killing Geofram Bornhald again and again and his ax in a stump.
Moiraine walks down from the balcony and someone appears behind her. It looks
like Mat might be attacked in the kitchen, but it’s just Nynaeve. She asks
about the cuts on his neck, he says a gentleman never tells. She says that he
can’t keep ignoring her and she lists off the facts that he’s speaking the Old
Tongue, he’s not sleeping, and he clutches the horn like a blanket. He tells
her that he can’t often tell the difference between poison and cure with her,
and she says it’s based on the dosage and the wisdom’s patience. Mat laughs at
that, saying Nynaeve’s predecessor used to tell them that before chasing him
off with a broom. She says she’s his wisdom now and to talk to her. Mat admits that
since he blew the horn he’s had all these memories swirling in his head, they
go a thousand miles a minute, whenever its quite and that’s why he can’t sleep.
Nynaeve takes his hand and tells him to close his eyes. She asks what he can
hear. He can hear fighting, fighting and pain. People dying over and over
again. He says some of them speak like them but it’s mostly in Old Tongue. He
says that he thinks it was real, a long time ago. He asks for her help, and she
says she will.
Rand and Egwene are sleeping when
she has a nightmare about Renna, and Rand as the Dragon. Mat suddenly notices
that his playing cards are moving. He’s totally entranced by these moving
cards, which start slicing and bleeding. Egwene wakes up again to find Rand
strangling her. Rand, who is asleep beside her, wakes up and throws the other Rand
off. Everyone starts getting attacked by these nightmares. Perrin gets stabbed
by his axe. More Rands appear and he has to fight them all. Loial rips the axe
out of Perrin and throws it aside, it comes boomeranging back to him, Bane and
Chiad arrive to try to help. It slices his hand and breaks his ring. A man in
gray attacks Nynaeve and stabs her in the back. Egwene shatters her mirror,
destroying a Rand but another stabs her. She tells him it’s the mirrors and
Rand Channels and destroys all the mirrors. Loial slams Perrin’s ax into the ground
and breaks the handle off. Nynaeve calls for Lan and he runs to help her. Rand
keeps channeling, but Egwene talks him down. Lan kills the assassin, which
breaks the trance Mat is in, he clearly didn’t see anything. Moiraine heals
Nynaeve and they realize the Forsaken found them.
The next day, Moiraine and Lan meet
with Lanfear. It’s revealed that all of those were her weaves. These were
supposed to just scare everyone off, Lan saying no one was supposed to be hurt,
but Lanfear shrugs and says it was nothing healing couldn’t fix. He accuses her
of trying to murder Nynaeve. She’s confused by this, saying she didn’t touch
Nynaeve. Moiraine describes the assassin, gray skin, blackened fingers, he
walked in without anyone seeing it. Lanfear says that’s a Gray Man. Only one Forsaken
could make them and that they need to get Rand out of the city.
Rand realizes that the Forsaken
will attack again soon and that he has to go soon. Nynaeve says that she can’t go
with, that she needs to go back to the Tower to learn to channel better. Mat
says he’ll stay with her, as she’s the only one who could fix his head. Rand
asks Perrin if he’s going home and Perrin apologizes, but Rand says not to. He
tells them that this isn’t the last time they’ll see each other. Egwene wants
to come with, despite everything. He says they won’t stop coming for him, and
she says to let them try.
Perrin is about to head out with
Loial, when Bain and Chiad join him, saying they’ll escort Loial anywhere as
they have Toh of him saving their lives.
Lan and Nynaeve say goodbye, Lan
saying it’s fitting that she gets to say goodbye to him this time. He gives her
his mother’s ring, saying that it was worn by Malkieri queens for generations
and he’d have no other but her.
Mat gives Perrin his picture and says
to give it to his sisters, so they don’t forget him. Elayne says goodbye to Avi,
saying they’ll meet again. Perrin and his group head out. Nynaeve tells Rand not
to forget who he is, and she, Elayne and Mat head for the Tower. Rand’s group
heads out, Rand asking why Avi isn’t going with Perrin, and Egwene adding “or
Elayne.” She says her duty is to the Car’a’Carn and his duty is to their
people. Moiraine joins them, saying they’ll be in Tear in a weak. Rand says
they aren’t going to Tear, they’re headed to the Waste. It’s the place no one
will think to look for him, where he’ll get his army to fight the Shadow.
We cut to Moghedian drawing symbols
in the sand. She has a man, Jaichim Carridin, tied in weaves. He’s begging for
his life, saying that he did what their master ordered. Moghedian says that he
surrendered his soul to become something new. Not light or dark, something gray.
He says he doesn’t want to be gray. She starts freezing his blood until he agrees
to be gray. She hits him with a weave, forcing something out of him, and
turning him into a Gray Man. She orders him to find ‘someone’ for her.
Alright, that was a lot of content
to cover. Thanks for sticking with me. I’ll start by pointing out the biggest
change to the books events we’ve had just now. We’re skipping The Dragon
Reborn book 3, for now, and moving right into Shadow Raising book 4.
This seems to largely be to not rehash some events as a lot of things in The
Dragon Reborn are similar to The Great Hunt in terms of plot beats,
except it’s chasing Rand now instead of chasing Padan Fain. In the books, Rand
comes to the Stone and takes it mostly by stealth and Ta’veren Luck, with the
Aiel being there because several groups of them had been warned throughout the
story that the Dragon Reborn, whom they think might be their Car’a’Carn, would
be there. So now he’s intentionally getting his force instead of accidentally-ing
into it. We only got to see one of Egwene’s three visions but the other two
were more flavors of the one we saw, she is forced to abandon him time and
again or destroy him herself. Obviously not great for this relationship where
she spent several months thinking that he was dead. Avi and Elayne relationship
is changed and have moved up by a lot. In the books they part ways as more or
less strangers, Avi though offered to look after Rand for her, as in book 4
Rand and Egwene had officially broken up and Elayne slid into his Dms
immediately. Things get… complicated after that, but more on it later. Nevertheless,
they were basically strangers until book 6, where they decide to befriend each
other as part of a process to become First Sisters, an Aiel adoption ceremony
of a sort that bonds them together and allows them to marry the same man. Or to
not. Bain and Chiad are so bonded but are… largely uninterested in men. It’s a
bit weird, they’re called First Sisters, which is what Aiel also call their
biological sisters, but it’s clearly not the same thing. Bain and Chiad are
explicitly said to only have three-ways if they sleep with a man at all, and I’m
sorry but I think there’s a zero percent chance that Avi would do that with her
bio sister. All that to say this situation is complicated and will probably only
get more complicated as we go. Elayne and Avi are more platonic in the books
but also have moments that seem more flirtatious, so the show isn’t pulling
this idea out of thin air. There’s a joke I’ve seen made that says Elayne is bi,
where Avi is gay, except for one, real important fella. Do with that
information what you will. Lanfear’s attack on the group in order to break them
up is lifted largely from the books. Rand is indeed attacked by mirror clones
of himself, Perrin by his Axe, and Mat by his play cards. They grow life size
in the books, though and do more than just twig him out. In the books, though, this is described as a
bubble of evil. The concept is that it’s the Dark One’s essence that slides
along the Pattern until it pops, and weird stuff happens. It’s not a targeted attack,
not really, it’s just kind of drawn to Rand and Co because they’re powerful Ta’veren
and weird stuff follows them. The theft of the Angreal is from the books, but
there it was a clandestine thing happening long before Nynaeve, and co arrived
back at the Tower. The massive blow out was for spectacle, I’m sure. Ihvon’s
death is also from the books but is much more noble here. If memory serves, he
takes an arrow while scouting in the wilderness instead of taking a blow for his
lovers. Fair warning, Alanna takes it… badly. A change for the better in my opinion
was making Nynaeve seek Mat out to try to help him. At this point in the books,
she was largely trying to avoid him as she didn’t want to eat crow and admit he
helped her, because he could be a dick about stuff like that. Instead, she
handled their headbutting maturely and tried to help her friend process his
weird magic induced trauma. And he agrees to stay because he knows she’s the
only one who can help him is nice, if confusing. He is supposed to go to the
Waste with Rand and do stuff with him there, but I guess they’re shifting that
too. Lanfear is definitely implied to have helped Rand a lot during this point
in the story but she’s much more subtle in the books. She never struck a deal
with Moiraine there, she just nudged things from the dark. I liked seeing the
boys hang out for a bit before the craziness started. The books at this point
didn’t give them that much time to breath between events, so giving them an
afternoon to drink, catch up, and rib each other was just a nice slowing down for
them. And the ladies as well. Finally, they seem to be making Moghedian a bit
more threatening here too. In the books she’s dangerous, her name is a
reference to a particularly poisonous spider that strikes unseen, but here she seems
to be getting more skill in biological weaves and such, from what she did to
Caradin. Which is weird because she was an accountant before the War of Power there.
Guess we’ll have to wait and see what becomes of this. And that’s all I have to
say about that. A strong start to section three. We’ll see how the next episode
follows up.
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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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