The Wheel of Time (2x04): Daughter of the Night
Another very solid episode in which our heroes ask questions about the beautiful and terrifying powers they wield, and how they choose to use them (and for whom).
Welcome to another Turning of The Wheel! You’ll be getting these WoT reviews weekly, as well as a reflection on Quantum Leap S1 by the end of the month. Thanks for sticking around! A reminder that I may at times discuss book spoilers (i.e., character arcs, plot twists, foreshadowing), but those will be clearly labelled and relegated to a section at the end (Spoiler Corner). Otherwise, throughout the review itself, I will talk about episodes up to what has aired so far (1x01 through to 2x04), information from Prime’s X-Ray feature not explicit in an episode, and comparisons to the books (i.e., adaptation choices and changes mostly).
Rand has access to The One Power. Perrin is a Wolfbrother. Min sees terrible visions of the future. Each of them feels that they are cursed to be monsters—Rand to go mad as the Dragon Reborn, Perrin to hurt those he loves (as he hurt his wife), and Min to bear the knowledge of love, death, and betrayal she wishes she’d never held. Selene, aka Lanfear, also aka the titular Daughter of the Night, knows she is a monster, but she alone among these characters seems to embrace her monstrousness; as one of the Forsaken, who returned to this world in blood, this is not at all surprising.
Daughter of the Night, she walks again. The ancient war she yet fights. Her new lover she seeks, who shall serve her and die, yet serve still. Who shall stand against her coming? The Shining Walls shall kneel. Blood feeds blood. Blood calls blood. Blood is, blood was, and blood shall ever be.
Rand finally channels toward the end of the episode, but only to protect Selene (who he admits to having come to love).1 I have to imagine Selene had something to do with the Fade attacking Rand, all so he could admit to her who and what he is, and enable her own revelation (only cut short by an extremely well-timed sword through the chest from Moiraine). Min appears to be making deals with the devil to remove her own ‘curse,’ which likely won’t end well, and Perrin begins to embrace his Doggo extremely cool Wolf Powers, which involve a shared language across vast distances.
All of them struggle with how their powers might affect those around them. Min wants to protect Mat, but she’s also seen a vision of him stabbing Rand. And while she tells Ishamael she won’t do anything to hurt him, how far will she go in pursuit of her goal? Rand channels in front of Selene, knowing she may hate or fear him, out of love for her and a need to protect her. He chooses to use the tool that frightens him for the right reasons, though ultimately (as it turns out) for the wrong person.2
We also see a number of characters struggling after having lost their powers, notably Moiraine and Logain, but also Lan to an extent given his loss of purpose and connection to Moiraine. We’re setting up some nice thematic connections and helpful foils; it’ll be interesting to see how Moiraine and Logain play off of each other, as Moiraine seems more dedicated than ever to her cause, while Logain has essentially given up and seems more intrigued by wine and the promise of death.
Lan’s arc is perhaps where I (and many book readers) find ourselves tremendously frustrated. In the books, he is a one-man army. On the show, he kind of just keeps messing up and being sad. For his sake, I hope they resolve all of this by the end of S2.
Where Are We Though? Without a helpful Game of Thrones style map / opening credits (though the X-Ray features are working overtime to help you figure out where you are in any given scene), I thought it might be useful to provide character names and locations,3 to help you keep up with the increasingly sprawling cast and quests.
Cahirien and Kinslayer’s Dagger
Rand al’Thor: The Dragon Reborn, also a sheepherder. Trying to manage his emerging abilities (and madness?), as well as a blossoming relationship with
Selene: An inkeeper at the Foregate—oops, nope, she’s Lanfear, Daughter of the Night, possibly the most dangerous of the Forsaken (at least according to)
Moiraine Damodred: Intrepid Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, cut off from the One Power, cold and distant, alienating the ones she loves (see: Lan below). Given her recent loss of access to Saidar, has a few things in common with
Logain Ablar: A gentled channeler, false dragon, and perhaps mentor to Rand.
Anvaere Damodred: Moiraine’s younger sister (though she appears older). Left to clean up her family’s mess (and ruin), since Moiraine abandoned them. Her son will wed the Queen. Her relationship with Moiraine is… strained.
Toman Head
Perrin Aybara: Wolfbrother, fridger of wives, afraid of what he might be (and what he might be capable of). Escaped the Seanchan thanks to the help of
Elyas Machera: Another Wolfbrother, probably mentor to Perrin, and
Hopper: A doggo (wolf) who also mourns the loss of his partner. Wolves and Wolfbrothers speak in cool and shimmering golden thought-image-words.
Sheinarans: Captured by the Seanchan—Uno Nomesta (RIP), Ingtar Shinowa (leader of the expedition), and Masama Dagar (shirtless fight guy).
Loial: Nice friendly Ogier, also still captured by the Seanchan, come on guys!
Seanchan: High Lady Suroth and Alwhin. That’s all we really know.
Tar Valon and the White Tower
Egwene al’Vere: Ambitious/powerful young Novice at the Tower who wants to save her friends and not feel jealous toward her former mentor/friend.
Nynave al’Meara: Accepted, the most powerful female wielder of the Power in generations, 10x stronger than Egwene, who is also powerful. Only really able to use her magic in extreme situations though. Escaped the arches and did what no one has ever done—channeled inside them. Liandrian’s protegé?
Elayne Trakane: Daughter-heir of Andor, wise yet also naïve and spoiled, Aes Sedai Novice. That undergraduate roommate who brings the booze.
Liandrin Guirale: Manipulative Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah, young mother to an 80-year old, and possible ally of Ishamael, Father of Darkness.
Leane Sharif: Keeper of the Chronicles, second in command to the Amyrlin Seat (Siuan Sanche, who we have not yet seen this season).
Sheriam Bayanar: Mistress of Novices, paddler of
bottomsshoulders.4Min Farshaw: On the road to Caihrien with Mat at Liandrin’s behest. She Can See Things (aka visions and symbols tied to the future), and desperately wants to remove this “curse.” Meets Ishamael in a Very Scary Dream.5
Mat Cauthon: Thinks he escaped Liandrin, but actually secretly manipulated by Min (via Liandrin’s instruction) to head to Caihrien.
Arafel
al'Lan Mandragoran: Sadboi looking for purpose. Jilted warder. Does flips.
Alanna Mosvani: Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah (the Battle Ajah) who has two warders she also hooks up with constantly.
Maksim: One of them warders Alanna hooks up with.
Ihvon: The other of them warders Alanna hooks up with. Seems more patient.
Verin Mathwin and Adeleas: I don’t know if they’re still in Arafel or not (they were part of the group that headed toward the White Tower with Moiraine and Lan, the latter of which is back in the borderlands), but Verin Mathwin and her s/Sister Adeleas are Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah (sort of the researchers / librarians of the Aes Sedai). Verin did cool fire magic.
Everywhere (mostly in your dreams), but also on Toman Head I guess
Ishamael: Father of Lies, Ba'alzamon, the leader of the Forsaken. NOT the Dark One, just his most fearsome right-hand lieutenant. He brought Lanfear back into this world by breaking the heartstone seal on her prison. Currently whispering sweet evil nothings into Seanchan High Lady Suroth’s ear.
Overall, I remain pleased with the strength of this season’s episodes, especially compared to S1. From the storytelling, to deeper thematic connections across episodic plots, to solid pacing, to slower and improved characterization, to the SFX. It’s all significantly better. And so, I’m increasingly optimistic about the direction of the rest of the season! Here’s to a great S2.
Season 2: Spoiler Corner (with Book Spoilers through to the endgame)
DO NOT CONTINUE. You have been warned. Again.
Book spoilers follow a line of dashes. Also, there are dashes at the end if you want to footnotes.
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I didn’t want to talk to much about Liandrin, who we know to be of the Black Ajah, since the show was not super explicit about how the Oaths work in the scene where she actively uses the power against Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne. But then, Min’s scene with Ishamael is pretty clear about Liandrin’s allegiances.
Her scene with Leane also lends credence to the idea that she might be combined with Alviarin and become Keeper under Elaida. But then we’d have two Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah as Amyrlin and Keeper, which eliminates some of the more interesting political dynamics of choosing a new Amyrlin and causing a schism.
It’s interesting that they had Egwene and Nynaeve (and Elayne) all choose to leave for Toman’s Head, and then have Liandrin attack them. I imagine that Liandrin is now going to spirit them away to the Seanchan (and Ishamael) to become Damane—an arc I’m really nervous about. This season might ultimately involve multiple women of colour being enslaved (Egwene) or disempowered (Siuan/Leane), which… I don’t know that I think the showrunners have proven themselves sufficiently sensitive to tackle these topics well. Enslaved with golden pacifiers!
We’re finally digging into Perrin’s Whole Thing as a Wolfbrother. I’m glad they found a way to include Elyas, and while we’ve only gotten a little bit of how wolves speak to each other, I think it holds promise for the future. Hopper is and always will be the absolute best boy and I am so excited for more of him.
Harem Watch: I’m starting to think that the show is going to cut the Harem (which is good, IMO). Instead of having Min, Elayne, and Aviendha all paired with Rand, I suspect that they will each instead be paired with one of the Ta'veren. Based on this season’s posters, and the stories we’ve see so far, we might wind up with Mat and Min (both ‘cursed’), Perrin and Aviendha, and then I suppose Rand and Elayne. I do think Faile could be cut, so no issues there, and as for Tuon… well, it all depends on how the show decides to tackle the horrors of the Seanchan.
Forsake the Forsaken: Okay, so we now have Lanfear and Ishamael confirmed. Which other Forsaken do we think we’ll see on TV? In S1, one of the characters had 8 sculptures representing the Forsaken, which could mean we cut down from 13. Aginor and Balthamel are easy to cut, since we didn’t see them at all in S1. Be’lal and Rahvin meet similar fates and could be collapsed. I think Moghedien and Asmodean are necessary, as Forsaken who teach the Light once captured [though Logain may be taking the place of Asmodean, so we’ll see]. I wouldn’t mind if Sammael and Demandred were combined. And I imagine Graendal will remain, maybe taking on either Semirhage or Mesaana’s role at some point.
Notably, in S1, eight sisters gentle Logain—another reason to think 8 is a special number, as well as the number of Forsaken (our circles of 13 become circles of 8 when combining power). Easier for casting and naming characters on TV, too.
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This is a notable change from the books, largely thanks to the aging up of the formerly YA protagonists, as Rand is not in love with Selene/Lanfear, something she obsesses over.
Side note—were non-book readers surprised at all by the twist of Lanfear’s identify? I did not find it subtle, but it’s often hard to gauge. She’s one of a few new additions receiving a large amount of screen time, which she shares with the Dragon Reborn of all characters. My non-book reader partner knew something was up; I’d love to know what others thought!
Especially since the show seems to already be Fast Travelling (or at least Ambiguously Timing our Travelling) between far-flung locations. It took GoT until maybe S6 or S7.
This references how, in the books, Jordan notoriously had bottoms switched / paddled as punishment. I appreciate the update, but, also, all corporal punishment is bad though???
For whatever reason, despite no onscreen discussion, the X-Ray features highlight that the dream location is Tel’aran’rhiod, “the World of Dream… a physical world all people can accidentally reach during sleep. Those who have more control over their dreams may enter at will. Extremely dangerous, physical harms taken in this world are real upon waking.”