Diksha Sundriyal
The third season of Prime Video’s ‘The Wheel of Time’ returns to deliver an action-packed opening to an equally thrilling season. The last we saw of Rand al’Thor, aka the Dragon Reborn, and his friends were at the battle of Falme, where they faced Ishamael, the leader of the Forsaken. The third season picks up about a month after that and immediately throws the audience in the middle of another battle, which completely rewrites the equation on the board for the Aes Sedai. Rand and his friends embark on different paths to find their destiny, but like every time, they are all drawn to each other in the end. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Aes Sedai Face-Off at the White Tower
One of the major revelations of the second season was the true identity of Liandrin as a Black Ajah. With everyone reunited at the tower, the first course of business is to hold her accountable. A trial is set up where she is confronted in front of everyone, with Nynaeve testifying against her dark deeds. With her deception out in the open, Liandrin calls out to others in the court to join her, and to the shock of Siuan Sanche, about half of the Aes Sedai come forward to help her. A brutal battle takes place, claiming the lives of many Aes Sedai, but in the end, Liandrin and the other Black Ajah manage to leave the city. In the midst of this, Verin Sedai is betrayed by Nyomi, who betrays her and steals some important artifacts from the secret repository. Alanna, too, bears a heavy loss when her warder, Ihvon, dies protecting her.
The sudden revelation of Black Ajah having been amongst them all this time leads the Amyrlin Seat to reconsider the loyalty of every single person around her. It also makes Moiraine more desperate to get Rand to Tear, where he has to take the sword named Callandor into his possession if he hopes to fight against the forces of the Dark One. Lanfear, too, wants the same, so when Rand does not budge from his position, they try something to change his mind. Lanfear stages an attack where Rand and all his friends are targeted. But when she is confronted about particularly targeting Nynaeve by sending a Gray Man after her, it turns out that she is not the only one who attacks them. Moghedien was the one who sent him, which means that the Forsaken have found Rand and will be descending on the city soon enough.
The attack convinces Rand that he needs to move on, but instead of going to Tear, he decides to go to the Aiel Waste to raise an army to fight the Shadow. He is joined by Egwene, Aviendha, Moiraine, and Lan. Before leaving, Egwene goes through the Arches, where she has a vision of fighting Rand, who has gone mad. Nynaeve decides to go back to the tower because she has yet to learn to harness and control her powers. Mat decides to stay with her because since he blew the Horn of Valere, he has been having a difficult time dealing with the memories of the warriors he had channeled. Moreover, he can also speak the Old Tongue and can fight like a seasoned warrior. The remaining, which includes Perrin, Loial, Bain, and Chiad, decide to go back to the Two Rivers.
Rand and His Journey to the Aiel Waste Introduces New Challenges
Against Moiraine’s (and Lanfear’s) desire to go to Tear, Rand decides to earn the trust of Aviendha and her people, who believe him to be the Car’a’carn. Previously, Rand hadn’t given much thought to the Maiden of the Spear, but then Elayne advised him to win their hearts and build his army. He takes her advice, which also proves to be a good move because none of the Forsaken will think to look for him at that end of the world. (Another thing to note: Elayne and Aviendha have a quick fling before they part ways.)
The journey is trying, and it becomes even more treacherous by Lanfear’s continued presence of Rand’s dreams. She keeps taking him back to the inn where they used to romance each other before he is drawn back into the mess and her true identity is revealed. It also turns out that he isn’t the only one whose dreams she is manipulating. She is also terrorizing Egwene by taking the form of her tormentor and hurting her physically and mentally. These nightmares stop Egwene from moving on and going back to Rand completely, but that is exactly what Lanfear wants. During one of these nightmares, Egwene crosses paths with a strange woman, who later turns out to be from the Aiel Waste. She reveals herself to be a Dreamwalker and believes that Egwene is the same.
Meanwhile, Rand continues his training with Lan, though he can also feel the pull of both the light and the dark inside him. When Moiraine shares her concerns about it, she also discovers that the Aiels don’t see the Car’a’carn as either the savior or the destroyer. For them, he is both destroying and saving her people at the same time, keeping the scales of the world in balance. This shows Moiraine that, perhaps, the prophecy about the Dragon Reborn is much more complicated than she and the rest of the world expected.
Perrin Goes Home Only to Find Old Enemies
While the rest of his friends continue their journey into the unknown, Perrin decides to go back home and see what has become of their beloved home. The journey is short, thanks to the Ways, but what Perrin returns to is not the old Two Rivers anymore. The village is taken over by the Whitecloaks, who are looking for him because he killed one of their leaders at the battle in Falme. It doesn’t come as a shock to him because he expects them to come after him, but he is worried about the price his people might have to pay for it. Meanwhile, the townsfolk see the Whitecloaks as the only ones who can save them from the increasing attack of the Trollocs. However, when Perrin discovers that Mat’s family has been taken captive because they believe it will lead them to him, he decides to gather the people and encourage them to fight the enemy.
In the midst of this, he also discovers that Alanna and her Warder, Maksim, are also in the Two Rivers. They are grieving the loss of Ihvon, but instead of bringing them together, it seems to have driven a wedge between them. Maksim wants to go after Liandrin, who is responsible for Ihvon’s death, but Alanna has brought him to the Two Rivers, and he also feels that she is not grieving for Ihvon as much as she should. Perrin, too, questions their presence in the village, but Alanna keeps her motives to herself. Another person that Perrin can’t seem to figure out is Faile, a hunter, who seems to have taken an interest in him while keeping her own motivations and intentions a secret.
The White Tower Falls into Disarray with a New Arrival
Since the ruckus caused by Liandrin and the Black Ajah, the Amyrlin Seat becomes concerned about the presence of the ones who they have left behind. She worries that there are still betrayers in her midst, and her resolve to weed them out becomes stronger after she discovers that Min has had a vision where she saw a fierce battle that resulted in many Aes Sedai dead. The problem is that she refers to her vision as something that happens in the future, not the battle that has already happened. Not knowing who to trust anymore, Siuan tasks Nynaeve and Elayne with finding out the whereabouts of Liandrin and whom she has left behind to keep an eye on the workings of the White Tower.
Before this, she welcomes Elayne’s family, who have been concerned about the princess’ safety since they found out about her kidnapping. Her mother, Queen Morgase, shows up in court along with her sons, Galad and Gawyn, her advisor, Elaida Sedai of the Red Ajah, and her consort, Lord Gaebril. They arrive at the White Tower with the intention of taking Elayne back, but she refuses to give in. Her concerned mother leaves her sons and her advisor behind to make sure her daughter is safe, and with the increasing danger within the tower, it seems to be the right choice. Before leaving, Gaebril tells the princess about the challenges that her mother has been facing back home, but he asks her to keep it to herself until the Queen herself mentions it to her.
Galad and Gawyn immediately begin their training as Warders but mostly remain on the sidelines. They have a couple of encounters with Mat, but they back off when he single-handedly beats both of them in a fight. Elaida gets to stirring trouble within the fractured Aes Sedai. She turns to the Red Ajah, hoping to get back to her standing with them, but she finds their own standing lowered due to Liandrin’s actions. She pushes them to propose a vote to find and subdue Rand, but things take another turn when they are turned to the task of finding and subduing another male channeller. It is also revealed that Elaida is a Seer, and it was her power to see the future that allowed her to rise among the ranks of Morgase’s court. She shares this with Min, who is fascinated by the fact that she has managed to turn her visions into a power, which Min has struggled with all this while.
Nynaeve and Elayne’s Search Leads Them to Liandrin
To find Liandrin, Nynaeve and Elayne interrogate the Black Ajah, who were held captive following the battle. As expected, they give two very different answers, which convinces the duo that they need to look into something, or rather someone, that Liandrin really cares about. Nynaeve remembers her son, who was on his deathbed the last time she saw him. When they visit his quarters, he is gone, but they find a weird symbol. They discover that it is drawn at the place of a person’s death. Its other half is drawn at the place of their birth so that their soul’s journey is eased and they return to their new life.
This means that Liandrin will have gone to the place where her son was born, and that leads them to zero in on Tanchico. After they are attacked by a Gray Man, Nynaeve decides that it’s not safe for them here anymore and that they should immediately embark on their journey to Tanchico. They are joined in this endeavor by Mat, who refuses to be left behind. Secretly, Min follows them, especially after having a vision of Mat’s death, in which she sees him hanging by a rope. This could refer to him being murdered by someone, or him killing himself because the voices in his head got too loud to deal with.
Their investigation turns out to be right as we find Liandrin and her squad interrupt a wedding in town. The groom is the descendant of the man who got Liandrin pregnant when she was a mere child. She wants revenge, and she will do that by killing every last person of his bloodline, though she does keep the bride alive, sending her back home in one piece. Then, she goes to the cell where she was held captive while pregnant and gave birth to her son. She draws the second symbol on the ground. With her personal quest complete, she turns her attention towards other matters.
One of the things that Nyomi stole from the repository at the White Tower was a collar. It is similar to the one the Seanchan used to hold Egwene and other girls like her captive. This collar is much more ancient, and it is made for a man, but it is only a part of a bigger whole. They need to find the second part of the collar, which Liandrin plans to put on Rand. Her plan is overheard by Moghedien, who is on a quest of her own. So far, she is only Forsaken, and she has shown no interest in bringing Rand over to their side. Unlike Lanfear, who is driven by love, Moghedien’s only purpose is to kill the Dragon Reborn.
Lanfear and The Forsaken Make Their Moves in the Shadows
With the danger that Moghedien poses, Lanfear makes it her priority to deal with her first. She has a secret meeting with two other Forsaken, Rahvin and Sammael. She tries to convince them that Moghedien will try to get rid of all of them to become the Dark One’s right hand and fill the vacuum left by Ishamael’s death. Though the most shocking thing about this interaction is the revelation that Rahvin has taken over the form of Lord Gaebril. Due to his compulsion power, he has convinced everyone, from the Queen to the entire public, that he is a beloved consort of the queen. This explains why everyone takes a beat before eventually recognizing him, which is highly concerning because his magic also works on the Amyrlin Seat.
What makes Rahvin more dangerous is that he is not entirely on Lanfear’s side. He is already in contact with a couple of other Forsaken, including Moghedien, who doesn’t seem to trust any other Forsaken to come out of the shadows for them. Another interesting thing about Lanfear comes out when she shows up in Rand’s dream and tells him of a way through which they could get rid of the Dark One. She talks about a weapon called the Sakarnen, which, when wielded with Callandor, can kill the Dark One. However, using the weapon will exact its toll on the user, especially Lanfear, who will be breaking her dark oaths by doing it. This revelation raises concerns for Rand, but before he can discuss it with her, she disappears. This leads one to wonder if she really is willing to sacrifice herself for Rand, or is this just another ruse of hers to manipulate him and get what she wants, the true nature of which remains a mystery still.
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