This week is the finale of season three of The Wheel of Time, and I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed. Despite a few really great episodes leading up to “He Who Comes With the Dawn,” the show couldn’t quite stick the landing, partly because it didn’t manage to set itself up for success.
Recap
“He Who Comes With the Dawn” opens with a flashback to ten years ago. Elaida emerges from a twisted stone doorway with a key she hangs on her bracelet. Alviarin cautions her that the Aelfinn are dangerous. In the election of the new Amyrlin, Alviarin changes her vote from Elaida to Siuan.
In the present day, Leane urges Siuan to tell her and the other sisters why the Tower must declare for the Dragon Reborn, and to put the decision to a vote.
In Tear, a disguised Moghedien brings Liandrin the other bracelet for the male a’dam. Liandrin is spotted by Mat and Nynaeve on her way to the Panarch’s palace, where Liandrin kills all the guards and sets her cronies searching for the collar.
Rand confronts Lanfear in Tel’aran’rhiod, antagonizing her so that she will come after him in the waking world.
Moghedien visits Sammael, who is being held prisoner by Moiraine. She informs him that she is working on a way to kill members of the Forsaken.
The Taardad Aiel make their way to Alcair Dal. Rhuarc cautions Rand not to tell them the truths he learned in Rhuidean, as he believes they will not be able to handle the truth. Aviendha reminds Egwene that she is not bound to Rand the way the Aiel are. Moiraine tells Lan that she believes that this is the day Lanfear will kill her. Several clans, including the Shaido, are already there.
Lanfear arrives in Sevanna’s tent, where she gives Couladin (Set Sjöstrand) a set of dragon markings on his arms.
Verin and Leane inform Siuan that eight Red Ajah members have left the Tower. Siuan orders Verin to lead a party of their most trusted sisters to stop them from trying to capture and gentle Rand.
Nynaeve, Mat and Min, and Elayne and Thom, search the Panarch’s Palace for the collar. Reminiscing about his time in Caemlyn and Elayne’s early childhood, Thom has never heard of a Lord Gaebril, and deduces that “Gaebril” is one of the Forsaken in disguise. They are set upon by Jeaine (Olivia Popica) wielding a ter’angreal that shoots balefire.
Min and Mat discover a storeroom full of items, including a twisted doorway that Min recognizes from her visions. As she tries to warn Mat he steps too close and is sucked through, finding himself in room, where a strange being called an Eelfinn asks him: “What is your need?”
Nynaeve discovers the collar in a box Liandrin has discarded.
Thom attempts to act as bait so Elayne can escape. Elayne comes up on Jeaine from behind and takes the ter’angreal, killing Jeaine.
Mat tells the Eelfinn that he’s sick of the One Power. The Eelfinn offers to take the memories Mat has that aren’t his. Mat recognizes the smell of death on the Eelfinn and makes his third “need” to get out of there. The Eelfinn tells him that he is wise to ask for leave-taking, but unwise not to set a price or terms—it will set the price.
Mat finds himself on the other side of doorway, hanged by his neck. Chesmal (Mi Hae Lee) observes him with interest. Min strikes her on the head before cutting Mat down. She revives him, but Mat finds that he can’t remember where they are or how they got there. He has a medallion shaped like a fox head hanging around his neck.
Outside the Panarch’s palace, Nynaeve hesitates to leave the others behind. Liandrin finds her and takes the collar, then wraps Nynaeve in chains and drops her into the ocean before leaving.
Drowning, Nynaeve suddenly channels, removing the chains and parting the water so that she can walk back up onto the dock.
Melindhra confesses to Lan that she swore herself to the Dark One in the hope of bringing back Malkier, but that she cannot kill Lan as she was ordered, because he is Malkier. She suffers a supernatural death.
Moiraine apologizes to Rand. Rand realizes that Moiraine has always wanted what Rand himself wants: for him to win the Last Battle for the Light. He asks her to stay by his side, but she tells him he must address the Aiel alone, and that she is going to protect him from Lanfear.
Outside Tar Valon, Verin discovers the eight Red Ajah members were a diversion to draw Siuan’s supporters out of the Tower. In the Hall of the Tower, Siuan arrives to discover that Elaida and a skeleton crew of Sitters have voted to depose and still her. Leane is subdued. Elaida uses the One Power to take Siuan’s ability to channel.
Moghedien comes to take the bracelets and collar from Liandrin, who suggests that Moghedien might find her to be a useful ally.
Rahvin and Lanfear find Sammael’s body. Lanfear tells Rahvin it’s time to pick a side, and assures him that she is finally prepared to kill the Dragon Reborn.
Couladin reveals himself to the Aiel as the Car’a’carn. Rand challenges his story, reminding the Aiel of how only he, not Couladin, fulfills the tenets of the prophecy.
At the same time, Siuan is brought back before Elaida. Siuan reveals the truth of her love for Moiraine and shares the backstory of how they were present for Gitara’s Foretelling.
At the same time, Moiraine is attacked by Lanfear. At first she appears to be losing, but it is a trick. Lan joins her in the fight.
To prove that he went to Rhuidean, Rand tells the Aiel of their heritage. He declares that he will lead the Aiel to destruction but save a remnant of a remnant, and begins to channel.
Lanfear takes out Lan and overwhelms Moiraine, stabbing her with Lan’s sword.
Siuan asks the Aes Sedai if they will follow Elaida, who stands for nothing, and warns them that if the Aes Sedai stay as they are, in the Tower pretending they still have control over the world, they will burn. But she, Siuan Sanche, Daughter of the River, will never burn. Alviarin informs Siuan that she has already been sentenced to death. She kills her.
Moiraine feels her oath of obedience to Siuan release and begins weeping for her love. Lanfear is confused, then overwhelmed as Moiraine channels, pulling the sword from her body and striking out, driving Lanfear to retreat. Lan gatherers Moiraine up and carries her away.
Rand makes it rain. Led by Rhuarc, most Aiel declare for Rand as the car’a’carn, but the Shaido flee. Everyone kneels except Egwene, who calls for Rand to let go. He turns to look at her as the One Power and the Dark One’s taint swirl around him.
Commentary
This is the most difficult episode of season three to review, in part because I really didn’t enjoy it. I think that if I didn’t know the books I would have enjoyed it more. One of the pitfalls of being a book fan is that I’m always analyzing while I watch, looking for what changes the show has made, trying to predict who is going to show up when and what the writers are going to do with certain changes once they’ve made them, etc. I do try to turn my brain off a little, but I think I’ve just been micro-analyzing The Wheel of Time for too long, so it’s hard.
I particularly struggled with this problem during Mat’s trip through the redstone doorway and encounter with the Eelfinn. The design of the otherworldly creature didn’t really do it for me, but my partner liked it. I think that, if I hadn’t been so busy trying to dissect the show’s choices, I would have enjoyed the scene more and not minded so much when elements felt a little confusing or unclear. The show had a very difficult task here, trying to really streamline Mat’s plotline down from something that was much longer and more involved in the books. Mostly I think it’s well done, and I especially appreciated how Min and Mat’s relationship—one of my favorites of the show—continues to have so many moments to shine. The actors truly have great chemistry together. Mat recognizing the scent of death in the Eelfinn and its lair and comparing it to bones in a fox den was also a nice touch, and although I was lukewarm on the Eelfinn’s appearance, I did love the sound design.
Streamlining a complicated story into such a short amount of time is always going to come with struggles and pitfalls, of course. Sometimes, the show does really well making the choice about what to cut, what to pare down, what to keep, and what to change. Other times, it gets very bogged down. In the case of “He Who Comes With the Dawn,” the main problem is that the episode doesn’t really know how to communicate effectively what the audience needs to understand.
Nynaeve breaking her block is an example of this problem. It’s a moment that the show has been building to since the beginning of season two, and it has mostly done an excellent job of showing us why Nynaeve struggles to accept both her power and the new life that embracing it will give her. The fact that Liandrin is involved in this pivotal moment is of course fitting, since she has been interwoven with this journey since Nynaeve first came to the White Tower. I’ve really enjoyed how that relationship has been constructed and carried out over the course of the show.
However, the pacing of the show, and particularly of the first half of season three, makes it almost impossible not to lose the emotional thread of Nynaeve’s arc, even with the amount of time that has been spent on it overall. Nynaeve had such interesting things to do in season one and in the first half of season two, but then the show had so much else to catch up on before we could get to the moment where she finally accepts herself and her ability to channel that Zoe Robins has had nothing to do for huge swaths of screen time, reducing her for the most part to wide-eyed reaction shots (excepting a few great moments drinking with Min and fighting a battle of wills with Moghedien).
I think these reaction shots were supposed to remind us that Nynaeve is afraid of her power and also to show that she feels unable to protect herself, but the show has forgotten the character it has built for Nynaeve: the fact that she is someone who powers through her fear with anger and stubbornness; that she is an excellent healer in her own right; and that her strengths and weaknesses are not so much at odds as deeply intertwined. One and the same. We had that in the beginning, but we lost that after her journey stagnated in season two.
I would have loved to see Liandrin reference Nynaeve’s fear in their final conversation. It would have made perfect sense, and been perfectly poignant, to have Liandrin compare the two of them in this moment. Liandrin does tell Nynaeve that her son was a weakness; all the writers needed to add was Liandrin pointing out to Nynaeve that now Liandrin is free of that weakness, free of the fear of losing him. If the audience is meant to understand that Nynaeve is still unwilling to give up the dream child she had in the ter’angreal, we need that to be made clearer.
Liandrin could have even tempted Nynaeve again, allowing Nynaeve to reject the Dark and then to find strength in the Light when under the water. As it is, Liandrin brings up Nynaeve’s parents, which seems to come entirely out of nowhere; viewers may or may not remember that Nynaeve’s parents were killed by bandits when she was young, which was revealed all the way back in season one. Nynaeve also hears the voice of the child she had with Lan inside the Accepted test ter’angreal, but it is unclear what she is taking from that moment. Is she learning a lesson from Liandrin, releasing her desire for that child and that life so that she can choose her Power instead? Or is she rejecting Liandrin’s perspective, holding on to that love she feels for Lan and for a child that never existed, taking strength from love where Liandrin only sees weakness? It could be either; her ongoing relationship with Liandrin supports both, and both are interesting choices, but as the moment is presented to us, we’re mostly left confused during Nynaeve’s Moses moment, rather than fully leaning in to something that we’ve been waiting for for ages, and that should feel really triumphant.
We don’t need all these answers now, of course, but the way the event unfolds leaves the audience feeling like we are supposed to understand. The scene either needed to do a lot less—show us Nynaeve nearly dying and then suddenly accessing the One Power without offering any suggestion of why—or it needed to do more, and fully explain what was happening in this most pivotal moment.
Unfortunately, the show doesn’t have time to do more. Siuan’s story suffers the most here; I am absolutely devastated at the way it came to an end. I could accept the storytelling necessity for her death (though I’d never be emotionally okay with it) if it was executed really well, because there is so much beautiful tragedy in Siuan and Moiraine’s story. These are two women who sacrificed everything—their individual dreams, the life they wanted together, their own peace and happiness—for the sake of the world, for the sake of bringing about events that must happen in order for the Light not to lose the Last Battle and for creation itself not to be destroyed. If that sacrifice extends with no possibility of togetherness even if the Last Battle is won and the world is saved, that is thematically satisfying, in a devastating sort of way. The theme of sacrifice, and that being a chosen one is a burden, not a glory, is so integral to the story of The Wheel of Time, and this storytelling choice would fit perfectly.
I might argue that it’s a disservice to the community to make Moiraine and Siuan lovers when in the books they were only friends and then to kill one of them off, but that is a different conversation. What I object to is the fact that Siuan’s death isn’t earned, either by the season or by the episode itself.
There have been some great moments with Elaida this season, but on the whole, the show did a very poor job of explaining to us who Elaida is and what motivates her. We know that she is a political rival of Siuan (the opening flashback of the episode added nothing to this, and was much less effective in communicating their rivalry than Aghdashloo’s acting has been), and that she came to the Tower trying to discover what secrets Siuan has been hiding. I would have gleefully watched an entire episode in which Elaida snuck around the Tower investigating Siuan’s doings and slowly uncovering her secrets, but as it is, we mostly just know she’s a nasty person. The show has not made it clear what other sisters would think if they knew Moiraine and Siuan were in a relationship; it also has not explained anything about how White Tower Law governs things like deposing an Amyrlin, stilling an Aes Sedai, or executing her.
The entire sequence doesn’t make sense, timing-wise. Siuan is brought before the reduced Hall to be informed that she has already been deposed, then is stilled and dragged away, apparently to be questioned under torture. Sometime later (it can’t be that long, but Elaida has had time for an entire wardrobe change) she is brought back, horrifically bruised and bloodied, and asked to tell the truth about herself. Did she not reveal anything during her torture? Who questioned her? Why ask her for the truth now if her death has already been sentenced? Do the Aes Sedai always conduct their affairs in such a seemingly haphazard manner? Do they always cut people’s heads off right in the middle of the Hall, just leaving bodies and blood all over their most hallowed spaces?
Book fans can fill in some of this information, but everyone else is going to be left completely confused. And it’s really a shame, because both Okonedo and Aghdashloo are an absolute acting tour-de-force. The very best part of Siuan’s entire speech is watching Elaida go from triumphant to confused, confused to worried, and worried to fully alarmed. In the end, it is not she who calmly tells Siuan that she is to be executed; it’s not the newly appointed Amyrlin who carries out the deed. Instead it’s Alviarin, prompting the audience to wonder if Elaida isn’t realizing that she misjudged Siuan as Amyrlin just as much as Siuan misjudged her when she believed that Elaida was Black Ajah. And we are prompted to wonder what about Alviarin makes her so confident and cold when Elaida, a stone-cold bitch in her own right, is quailed.
But as wonderful as Okonedo is, Siuan’s speech is all over the place; it’s a real shame that none of the thoughts join together in any coherent way. Siuan finally gets to confess her love for Moiraine, but we get no reaction from any of the listeners—we can’t even see the faces of any of the sisters in the room besides Elaida and Alviarin. Siuan reveals the truth of hearing Gitara’s Foretelling, which is a huge deal, but again, we have no way of knowing what this means to her listeners, or what it would mean to any of the other Aes Sedai, for that matter. And then Siuan segues into a lecture on how the Aes Sedai must stop seeing themselves as the leaders of events, must leave the Tower and go out into the world, but her sentiments are abstract and don’t land the way they should. She doesn’t reveal to her audience, either in the room or on the other side of the screen, how she knows this or why the Aes Sedai should believe her.
Again, setup is so important, both within a single episode and across the entirety of a season. Siuan’s last words, referencing herself as unburnable because she is Siuan Sanche, Daughter of the River, lands perfectly, because the Daughter of the River title has been referenced so beautifully throughout her story. This heritage, loved by her father and by Moiraine, despised as low and common by Elaida, is reclaimed by Siuan in the last moments of her life and thrown back into Elaida’s face to great effect. It’s just too bad that the rest of it couldn’t be.
I feel I should have seen Siuan’s death coming, after she and Moiraine had that conversation about finding each other in the next life. But Loial’s death felt like it was to be the big, heart-rending surprise of the season, and as a book fan I also anticipated Moiraine’s “death” at the hands of Lanfear (I’ll avoid book spoilers, but suffice to say that the show is making some big changes to events and to the order of events, and Siuan’s death is only one of them). I was expecting a long separation and suffering for both women and then an eventual reunion, I suppose. Whether that was based on media literacy or just the heart wanting what it wants, I can’t say.
There are other places in the episode that the story feels incredibly rushed, especially as the show tries to establish the fact that Thom knew Elayne when she was little and cares deeply for her in about two minutes of screentime. There’s also Thom’s almost impossible-to-believe deduction that this “Lord Gaebril” he’s never heard of but Elayne claims to have known for years is a Forsaken who has infiltrated her mother’s life. Thom’s a smart, quick thinking guy, but he hears about Gaebril for the first time and leaps straight to “there’s a Forsaken who just arrived in your mother’s home and he’s mind-controlling all of you to think he’s been there this whole time” without more than a blink of confusion. It really doesn’t make any sense—though after seeing Moghedien’s manipulation of Elayne and Nynaeve’s memories, the audience has some understanding of the Forsaken’s abilities to go on here. I don’t know how Thom would have that knowledge, but having Elayne find out about Gaebril/Rahvin at the end of the season is a good, dramatic choice that leaves the audience eager for season four, in which it seems the conflict may center around Rahvin and Lanfear’s alliance.
There were other things to enjoy about this episode. By far my favorite scene of “He Who Comes With the Dawn” was the exchange between Rand and Moiraine, in which she confesses to having been working with Lanfear and the fact that she has always been ready to kill him if he turned to the Dark or lost himself to madness; she only wants him to reach the Last Battle if he is on the side of the Light and capable of winning it. But rather than being angry, Rand is comforted, because he has reached a place where he wants that same outcome and sees Moiraine as the only one who is truly dedicated to that goal.
I also enjoyed the evolution of Lanfear in this episode. She has been a threat to Rand and to Moiraine for some time, but Lanfear’s desires for Rand have made her safer to be around. Now that Rand has rejected and wounded her, Lanfear promises to be a more dangerous opponent going forward. The main villain is leveling up alongside our heroes, it seems.
Melindhra’s death confused as well as interested me. It establishes some interesting worldbuilding that is somewhat different from the books: In the world of the show, apparently, the moment you break your Dark Oaths, your soul is sucked out of you and you disintegrate. This raises some interesting questions about Lanfear’s sincerity when she tells Rand that she wants to kill the Dark One so that she can be free of her Oaths. It’s hard to have sympathy when she reminds Rand that her options when the Collam Daan fell were either to die or to swear to the Dark, but if Melindhra’s death is what always happens, Lanfear can’t really become good again even if she wants to. Well, she could, but she would stop existing and never be reborn, which in this world is way worse than dying. I can have some sympathy for that.
This revelation also raises some big questions about Padan Fain. He told Perrin that the Dark One wanted to destroy Emond’s Field to send a message to the Dragon Reborn, but was also quite willing to call off the attack to save his own life. But if what he told Perrin is true, that would surely be a betrayal of his Dark Oaths, wouldn’t it? Shouldn’t he have disintegrated like Melindhra did? Shouldn’t he have expected to disintegrate, and refused to break his Oath even under Perrin’s axe blade? After all, dying is a lot less awful than dying and never coming back, isn’t it?
All in all, I’m disappointed with the season finale and absolutely heartbroken at Siuan’s death. However, there was a lot to love in this season of The Wheel of Time, and I’m very interested to see where they go next. What does it mean that Mat had memories that weren’t his own and now has holes in his own memory—a baffling turn of events considering how in the book this condition unfolded in the exact opposite direction? Will Elayne get home in time to warn her mother about Rahvin’s undercover work? What will Nynaeve be like now that she can use her incredible power at will? Will Moiraine survive her stabbing and the loss of Siuan? And what choices is Egwene going to make as Rand steps into his power and she into hers?
Also, how badass is the Liandrin/Moghedien team up going to be? Because I feel like the answer is very.
Easter Eggs and Interesting Facts
In the books, the number 13 is very important. For example, thirteen is the maximum number of women who can be linked without including a man in the circle. There are other significances as well, but one of these is that there are thirteen Forsaken. In the show the significant number appears to be eight, and there are only eight Forsaken, not thirteen.
When Melindhra dies, she says something to Lan that viewers might not have caught, or heard all of, as it gets a bit mumbled at the end. What she says is “Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain.” In the books, this is a phrase Lan utters to Rand, which becomes a sort of mantra to Rand, who often recites the phrase to himself, especially when trying to steel himself to a necessary evil or painful outcome of being the Dragon Reborn.
Melindhra is also wearing the ki’sain in her last scene. In the books, this Malkieri dot in the middle of the forehead indicates marital status for Malkieri: blue for unmarried, red for married, and that the woman wearing it has pledged that her children will fight the Shadow. It is unclear whether we are meant to infer that Melindhra was once married or if the show is making the ki’sain always one color. Either way, Melindhra is reclaiming a bit of her heritage in her last moment, as she chooses to die forever rather than harm Malkier and her uncrowned king. The male equivalent of the ki’sain is the hadori, the braided cord Lan wears around his forehead.
When Lanfear comes to see Couladin and Sevanna, she sends away Sevanna’s Wise One, who seems to be reminding Sevanna of her duty and advising restraint. There are a few significant Shaido Wise Ones in the books, and long-time fans might wonder if this is Therava. Or perhaps Desaine.
Much of the Aiel culture and the prophecies around their savior/destroyer are inspired by the Fremen of Dune, and one can see the similarities and homages in many places. Rand does make it rain on Alcair Dal in the books, but, hilariously, Paul never did this in the Dune books—this is specific to David Lynch’s Dune film.
I enjoyed everything that was done with Sammael in this episode. He’s pretty boring in the books, and although his death is different and occurs later, the only plot moment we’re losing is one battle with Rand that the show won’t have time for anyway. I liked that they killed him off here. I also enjoyed the conversation he had with Moiraine in which he referenced biographical details from the books, such as how there was no war in his time and he had to discover the art of it, and the fact that he kept the scar from Lews Therin as a reminder.
Elayne doesn’t have much to do in this episode, but her moments do hint at future developments, like coming into possession of a ter’angreal and her mention of the Talent of Delving: using the One Power to search the earth for ore and minerals. Interestingly, there is a weave used by Healers that is also called Delving, in which one uses the One Power to explore the body and discover ailments.
Best Line:
I don’t work well with others
Neither do I.