Review of S1 E7 of The Wheel of Time, “The Dark Along the Ways.” Spoilers for the episode and light spoilers for the books.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. One of those legends is of The Strike at Shayol Ghul in the Age of Legends, during which the Dark One was sealed back into his prison. But the price was the Breaking of the World. And as the WOT show tells us, it was the “arrogance” of Lews Therin Telamon (the previous Dragon) which led to this disaster. Supposedly he didn’t want any women to join him in facing off against the Dark One, and so only male Aes Sedai accompanied him.

However, as the official SASG short story linked above tells us, reality is a bit more complicated. Lews Therin had a political opponent, Latra Posae Decume, who had her own plan for defeating the Shadow. Her plan could have worked, but it suffered many setbacks. And throughout their debates, Latra convinced all female Aes Sedai to side against Lews Therin, that his plan was too risky.

Finally, with the forces of the Light in a corner, the Dragon gathered over a hundred powerful men––the Hundred Companions––and successfully sealed the bore in the Dark One’s prison at Shayol Ghul. But there was a counterstroke: just before the Dark One was re-imprisoned, he reached out and touched Saidin (the male half of the One Power) leaving a taint. The Hundred Companions instantly went mad. And over the next few years, their magically-enhanced insanity brought chaos and destruction to the entire world.

What sometimes gets lost in this legend is the absolute courage exhibited by the Dragon. He not only had to face off against the forces of the Shadow, but he did so without the support of Latra and others. To lose female Aes Sedai meant that the male channelers could not “link” together and combine their powers. Dozens of them died in the Strike. And perhaps having women present to enable linking would have prevented the Dark One’s counterstroke.

But the undeniable fact is that the Dragon went to Shayol Ghul prepared to die.

And in Episode 7, we see a similar resolve by the Dragon Reborn, Rand al’Thor.

CHEERS

The Dragon Reborn is correctly revealed to be Rand. This covers over a multitude of cinema sins. But is it bad that I’m relieved they stayed faithful to the books on the most central plot point? Still, we see several moments that are true to Rand in the books. Such as his line, “We’ve lost too many people, really. I can’t lose anyone else in this room.” And then he makes good on that sentiment by leaving his friends behind to travel to the Eye of the World. In his mind, he is sparing them certain death.

Yes, I have a groan about this (Moiraine’s line about how supposedly only the Dragon will survive going to the Eye). But Rand’s response to this is true to character. He is a selfless hero who puts duty first and does whatever he can to protect his friends.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:13 NIV

There are echoes of Lews Therin Telamon going to Shayol Ghul without Latra and other colleagues, doing what had to be done. Rand was understandably scared to discover that he was the Dragon Reborn, but he quickly embraced his identity and his destiny.

I also liked that we got archery practice scenes with him. And over the course of his practices, he finally his the bullseye consistently. That’s a great callback to the books, where he learns about a concentration technique from his father called the Flame and the Void. He uses this technique early on in the book while shooting a bow. It later becomes an important part of his channeling routine.

Great acting by everyone involved in this episode, and the show overall. Any groans I have with the characters are due to what’s written for them, not how actors are portraying them.

It was great to have three vastly different locations: the Ways, Fal Dara, and the Blight. A bit of whiplash to visit all of these places in one episode, but still cool to get to see the world expand. 

Others have complained about the flashes of lightning in the Ways, since it’s supposed to be completely dark, other than their torches. But I see this as merely an adaptation change, not a story change. It helps the viewer to get a sense of scale for the Ways. There’s an ominousness to it which fits.

It’s not in the book, but I actually like that Machin Shin was able to whisper to all the characters. Of course, the story problem is that if the Black Wind reaches you at all, you’re doomed. If you aren’t killed, you go insane. But a message of madness was a good device at moving certain other plot elements forward. I suppose if they had stayed longer they would have gone crazy?

When the Trolloc gets knocked down with the One Power, Egwene says, “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant\ to channel.” It’s kind of endearing, but also good misdirection for what actually happened.

Perrin’s enhanced eyesight is revealed. We don’t really see him with golden eyes, but we see the ability they bring. This comes out again when Perrin spots Padan Fain in the marketplace. And even though Padan Fain’s entrance into (and especially his exit out of) the Ways is a plot hole, I like that he has that distinctive whistle.

I like that the Fal Daran people are mostly ethnically Asian. It’s another thing that helps the world feel bigger. There’s been a lot of discussion about diversity and representation in the TV show adaptation, which never made sense to me. Jordan’s world was incredibly complex and diverse. But the thing is, each region had its own dominant genetic makeup. What hasn’t always worked well in the show is having an ethnic blend everywhere we go. Sure, in some places like large cities it works well. But the more isolated regions should have a dominant ethnicity––a majority culture––like everywhere else in the real world. The casting for Fal Dara worked well in this regard.

The Lady Amalisa wears an Aes Sedai ring devoid of a jewel. This is the show’s way of signifying her as an Accepted, the half-way stop between a Novice and a full Aes Sedai in the White Tower. Of course, this doesn’t exactly get explained, but I’m happy that it’s shown. It’s another thing that adds depth to the Aes Sedai society. The ring system works differently in the book (Accepted and Aes Sedai wear the exact same ring, and its design is much simpler). But this is actually a good book-to-show adaptation, since in this case having clear visuals is more important.

We finally get to meet Min and see her viewings, albeit in Fal Dara, not Baerlon. I’m ok with this. I chalk it up to the show wanting to spread out the introduction of major characters. I liked how the exchange with her and Rand began:

“You knew I was coming?”

“Comes with the territory.”

Nynaeve’s distrust of Moiraine is constantly on screen. Very true to form. A little odd that Moiraine later told Lan that she likes the Wisdom, but it makes sense. Speaking of Lan, getting his backstory this soon was a surprise, and kind of fun. Some details were changed, but the gist of it is there.

Despite some of my groans, I liked that the Emonds Fielders had a heated discussion about whether they should go to the Eye of the World. They’ve had so little time to themselves on screen up til now, so I’ll take what I can get. Their relationships with each other form the heart of the entire series. I even liked Rand and Egwene’s reconciliation moment, and him promising to be her warder. That’s pretty close to canon.

GROANS

It’s almost a moot point after this episode, but continually saying that the Dragon Reborn could be a man or a woman (like in the episode recap) betrays the lore. The Dragon, Lews Therin Telamon, was the most powerful male channeler in the previous Age, and men get reincarnated into male bodies. Because, yes––in Robert Jordan’s story world (and the real world)––souls are gendered.

Second, literally no one in their right mind wants to be the Dragon Reborn. He went mad and killed his entire extended family, earning him the nickname “Kinslayer.” Then he died while creating Dragonmount in a final fit of madness. People in this world assume that he will still be insane when he’s reborn, or if not, he’ll eventually go crazy from channeling tainted Saidin.

The show is being held hostage by gender equity ideology. It mistakenly views the Dragon Reborn as some kind of glorious title, and so this role has to be open to both men and women for the sake of “fairness.” This insistence of “subverting gender norms” completely backfires, though, considering the full picture of what it means to be the Dragon. The underlying problem here is that the show is trying to invent its own meanings.

But the true meaning is revealed when Egwene says to Rand, “If it’s you, I’ll always stand by you.” Despite how the show tries to retcon this, all the characters know that to be the Dragon Reborn is basically a fatal curse.

The show shot itself in the foot by trying to make the Karethon Cycle gender inclusive. As a result, we haven’t heard a single prophecy recited from the books. Including the one about the Dragon Reborn being born on Dragonmount. Which gives context for the next scene. 

As awesome as the Aiel are, I’m just not buying a pregnant Maiden of the Spear singlehandedly defeating tons of soldiers, while in labor. It would have been more believable with other Maidens with her. I have no problem believing a Maiden would defeat multiple other soldiers. They are the fiercest warriors on the planet. It’s simply the fact of her being alone and giving birth that makes it hard to believe. Even super soldiers have limits. It’s hard to believe she didn’t miscarry.

The cinematography in the fight scene was too much of a blend of The Matrix and Black Widow. It was also excessively gory, too long, and just too much of a rehash of “unstoppable female warrior.” Well, almost. I suppose she does get stabbed and dies in childbirth. I think what cheapened the scene, though, is that there were no other Maidens in the fight. The way they fight together in the books would be a sight to behold.

The show broke its own rule about Aiel wearing a veil when they kill people. Yes, she was ambushed and birthing, but she had time to put it back up. Although, this is sort of a nod to the fact that this woman––Rand’s mother––was not exactly true Aiel. That’s more than I should even mention, because it’s a fun thing to discover in the books, so I’ll leave it at that. 

Having Loial say that it’s impossible to channel inside the Ways, and yet later everyone’s channeling. And how was a Waygate supposed to be opened back up anyway? Then later, we see Padan Fain, who has entered the Ways alone. He’s not a channeler, so how did he get in, or out? How did the Trollocs use the Ways? No explanation. It was a really stupid choice for the show to change how Waygates look and function. This is a perfect example of how the show “fixes” things that aren’t problems, and thereby doing creates actual problems.

The Ways were built by male Aes Sedai during the Breaking of the World for the Ogier. They allowed these gentle giants––who cannot channel––to travel the world, particularly from one stedding (basically Ogier villages) to another. A Waygate is opened by manipulating a special trefoil leaf from the gate itself. And what’s clear is that the show changed this functionality so that we could get a cool scene of Moiraine channeling to open the gate. Because everything in this show revolves around Moiraine. But what’s really dumb here is that in the book, she actually opens the Waygate both times! She uses the leaf, similar to how it’s portrayed on the cover of the Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game:

(Notice how huge Loial looks here?!)

When they get to the Fal Dara gate in the books, the leaf is missing, so Moiraine does have to channel there. But her channeling doesn’t exactly “open” the Waygate. Rather, she burns a hole through it. (And I’m convinced that the opening sequence of The Phantom Menace was inspired by this moment. I’m referring to when Qui-Gon Jinn uses his lightsaber to burn a hole through the blast door.)

Clearly, Padan Fain was using the leaf system to get through the Ways, not only to Fal Dara, but bringing the Trollocs to the Two Rivers. So why didn’t Moiraine use the same system? Surely Loial would have known about this. Why did they sideline Loial?

Weirdest of all, the show quietly acknowledged that Fain needed the leaf key to get in/out of the Ways. If you go to the Bonus Content for this episode in the Amazon Prime Video app, you see the picture. But this is a cheat, because it wasn’t technically shown; instead, it hit the cutting room floor.

Nynaeve channeled against Machin Shin to save the day. Why didn’t Moiraine think to do this? I’ve heard people call this reoccurring element, “Nynaeve ex Machina.”

Loial is once again sidelined. He’s supposed to be the guide, not the follower. But Moiraine is always leading the way. The show has erased Ogier culture and Loial’s importance to the story.

Lord Agelmar’s rudeness to Moiraine is out of character. This is another instance of where the screenwriters can’t produce actual tension, so instead settle for contrived conflict. In the book, Moiraine and Agelmar actually do have a bit of a conflict, but it’s entirely reversed. Agelmar wants her help to fight against Trollocs nearby at Tarwin’s Gap. But Moiraine insists that she has a more important mission to the Eye of the World. And all along, he’s respectful to her.

Moiraine giving Mat to the Red Ajah wolves (via Amalisa) made no sense whatsoever. Does she think he’s a man who can channel? If so, then that would peg him as the Dragon Reborn. And she already said in Episode 4 that they can’t let the Reds gentle the Dragon. And if Mat is the DR, then why take the others to the Eye, since she said that anyone who is not the Dragon will die there?

If she doesn’t think Mat can channel, but he’s just a Darkfriend or something (way out of step with the books), then what does she expect the Red Ajah to do to help? Now, the weird thing here is that book-Moiraine is not able to singlehandedly heal Mat of the dagger’s curse. It later requires a full circle of thirteen Aes Sedai. Is the show acknowledging that, now? The show seems confused, because for Moiraine to need other channelers takes her down a notch, but it keeps wanting to portray her as all-powerful and self-sufficient.

Plus, all of this is after Moiraine healed Mat and told Rand she would do anything for them. The amount of flip-flopping that her character is doing in the show reminds me of Lori Grimes from The Walking Dead. The show can’t make up its mind if we are supposed to hate Moiraine or worship her.

Moiraine (wisely) says, “It’s easy to use doubt as a crutch. But doubt is the first step towards surrender to the Dark.” Whereas the last episode she was full of doubt. It’s actually a great line (about doubt). But Moiraine hasn’t earned it. This line actually belongs in the Cheers section, because doubt is definitely not glorified in the Bible. But because we live in the Postmodern world, doubt (in God / the Bible / the Church) is always being lauded.

Moiraine’s costuming and hair does not look right for someone from Cairheinien high blood. Again, the actress is doing an incredible job. I just don’t like how they are making her up. It’s very jarring from the book descriptions of her.

Min’s visions…what? Only the sparks vision was accurate. Everything else was pretty new and felt a bit lame.

Rand saying, “Nothing an Aes Sedai says is optional. She will force us if she wants to.” It’s completely weak. Way out of character for someone who is continually called out for being “wool-headed.” I hate how passive they have made Rand. Where’s his Two Rivers stubbornness and backbone? Do they really think that to make Nynaeve or Egwene brave they have to turn Rand into a coward? This is such a shallow understanding of female empowerment.

Egwene’s motivations to go to the Eye also don’t add up. What chance does think she has?

The very fact that they’re arguing over who is the Dragon is a huge groan. This never came up in Book 1, only that the three boys were Ta’veren. But even that was barely explored.

Nynaeve saying, “I’m so tired of you two fighting over her like she’s something you can win.” What the love triangle? What’s more, it’s a love triangle between a dragon and a werewolf. So Twilight. Much YA. It doesn’t even make sense. Egwene was leaving Rand to become a Wisdom or Aes Sedai. Perrin never had feelings for her in the books. But we’re supposed to think that Egwene only got with Rand because Perrin was suddenly unavailable?

Machin Shin has taken over the screenwriters’ minds.

Lan and Nynaeve’s romance is being rushed. This took multiple books to unfold. I want to say half of them. Compare this rush job to the slow burn romance in Crash Landing on You. Once again, a total lack of understanding of tension. Not to mention, the trope of a woman throwing herself at a man.

What is it with characters in this show going on a journey without horses or even packs?

RAMBLINGS

The fireballs in the cold open. Were these launched by a trebuchet? Or is it from Aes Sedai battling Aiel channelers?

I’m glad that the Emonds Fielders have it out about Mat staying behind. I was worried they would too quickly move on. Moiraine’s motivation to not re-open the Waygate made sense, at least. In the books, she is very much concerned about the Dragon Reborn turning to the Shadow, so I can buy her argument about not wanting Mat to come near the Dark One, if she suspects Mat of being evil.

But then again, by her own logic, why continue on to the Eye of the World? By her own logic, only the Dragon can stand up to the Dark One, and anyone else who is present will be killed. So if Mat’s the Dragon Reborn, but he’s left behind, then why take everyone else to the Eye?

The only thing that makes sense here, story-wise is that Moiraine is simply glad to be rid of Mat. She sees him as a liability, not an asset. Which is such a departure from the book. The entire reason they go to the Eye is because the three boys are Ta’veren, and she needs them all to even be able to reach the Eye, much less do whatever it is the Pattern has set up for them there.

Min’s vision of the Amyrlin being Moiraine’s downfall. But which one? There are a total of four throughout the books.

I’m also trying to figure out Min’s visions from this episode with what I know of the books. The white flame is the symbol of Tar Valon, so just predicting the girls’ involvement there in the near future. The golden ring could be a special magical object that one of them uses.

Not sure how I feel about Lan having an ongoing connection with his foster family in Fal Dara. Looking at this purely as a show, it’s a good sequence. It’s just really far away from the Lan of the books. Lan is not a hugger, for one thing. Nor someone who would enjoy a good laugh over hot pot.

THEORIES

Moiraine is foreshadowing passing her bond with Lan to someone else. She thinks she’s going to die. Or she wants Lan to be happy with Nynaeve, regardless of what happens to her. Getting a major shift in Season 1 like this would be a huge departure from the books.

Rand asking, “Do I make it back?” and then basically being told “no” by Min is interesting. I don’t think he’ll die at the Eye of the World, but he will be fundamentally transformed. Rand al’Thor the farmer will die.

The biggest question to me is who or what Rand will encounter at the Eye. It’s not the Dark One’s prison, but Rand has been seeing Ishamael (the leader of the Forsaken) in his dreams, and my guess is the show will condense Ishamael and the Dark One. But what’s weird here is that Ishamael dropped off several episodes ago, as did the Trolloc army chasing them. Rand is supposed to face off with other Forsaken at the Eye, and since we saw those little statues of them in Ep 5, maybe they will indeed show up.

The trouble the show is facing is that the Dragon Reborn has a LOT of adversaries in the books, with the Dark One being the central nemesis, and Ishamael as basically his human counterpart. And it’s not really all that clear now who is the Big Bad of the show. So I think we’ll get a simplified version of how Book 1 ends.