Review of S1 E3 of The Wheel of Time, “A Place of Safety.” Spoilers for the episode and light spoilers for the books.
We meet Dana the Darkfriend in this episode, who longed to go some place new, to escape the dirt she was born into. Usually, a good ambition. But somewhere along the way, her desire was twisted, and she herself became twisted to serve the Dark One. Her focus was on becoming whatever she wanted, whereas Mat says he “has people who need me, that I’ve got to get back to.” Self-actualization vs. self-sacrifice. The seed of heroism lies within Mat, but the seed of darkness came to full bloom within Dana.
Darkfriends are those who have dedicated their souls to the devil of this world, whose avatar we’ve seen in nightmares: Ishamael, the shadowy man with glowing red eyes. Dana openly confesses her allegiance to him. At some point, he broke into her mind and corrupted her soul, probably preying on her discontentment. Her descent into darkness is punctuated when shown alongside Moiraine falling victim to Trolloc poison. The Dark One has many tools with which “to steal, kill, and destroy.”
“The Wheel hasn’t given me many choices,” says Dana, her pre-emptive defense in choosing to serve the Dark One by capturing Rand and Mat. She is definitely a more well-developed Darkfriend than those they encounter in the book. And she’s basically all of those encounters rolled into one, which works well for a screen adaptation. “Doesn’t matter who I am,” she says. “What matters is who I’m gonna be.” She wants to be the next Ishamael.
CHEERS
I’ve forgotten to mention this whole time that I’m so happy to see Bela the horse in the series. It’s one of those weird Easter eggs book fans are always talking about. If you haven’t read the books, no need to worry about this, just be happy that the show is paying attention to minor details. I’m not even a horse person!
I like the change of Nynaeve getting pulled away (by the braid!) by a Trolloc and then fighting her way free. It’s a good way to show her personality and gumption. And the Dragon’s Fang in blood was stark and foreboding. In the books, Nynaeve reconnects with the gang in Baerlon, which we don’t even see in the show; it’s only mentioned. This change in the rendezvous is actually a good example where show-canon fulfills the spirit of book-canon.
I really like the portrayal of Perrin, the haunted gentle giant. He’s probably my favorite character in the entire series. True, he’s not short and stocky, he’s rather large, but this emphasizes his raw strength as a blacksmith. In RPG terms, he’s a tank.
Mentioned this in previous reviews, but it makes for great storytelling that Aes Sedai like Moiraine are not all-powerful goddesses who act like they need no one. Unlike, for example, Rey in Star Wars. Aes Sedai don’t have “plot armor,” and often get hurt. The various limits they have make for better drama. It also demonstrates that this story is not a feminist manifesto.
Once again, we see Nightmare Man, revealed later to be Ishamael. He was the leader of the Forsaken––the evil Aes Sedai who battled the Dragon 3,000 years ago when the Dark One was starting to break free. I felt much more scared watching this scene than I ever did reading it. He’s one manifestation of what Moiraine talked about in Season 1, how the Dark One is whispering in the backs of their minds.
Despite my quibble about the Tinkers (below), I think Aram hits the right note. From the first book: “Aram had more than his share of good looks, [Perrin] admitted. After a minute Perrin knew who the fellow reminded him of. Wil al’Seen, who had all the girls staring and whispering behind his back whenever he came up from Deven Ride to Emond’s Field. Wil courted every girl in sight.”
Ending the episode with both Liandrin and Logain was awesome. To already have them in the story is going to be fun.
GROANS
“Forget what you’ve heard about the Dragon Reborn,” is way too close to Kylo Ren’s infamous line, “Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to”. Feels like the studio breaking the 4th wall.
Watching one Trolloc disembowel and consume another. Forget about canon issues, good grief that was just too gory. Same with the close-ups on Moiraine’s wound. But I confess to being squeamish about such things.
Nynaeve actually trying to kill Lan, and then Lan hitting Nynaeve in the head. Kind of extreme for a meet-cute. Otherwise their interactions and characterizations were spot-on.
The wolves eating Laila’s corpse in Perrin’s nightmare. Wolves are not supposed to be evil in Wheel of Time. Even though they are chasing Perrin and Egwene, who naturally run away in terror, the wolves are revealed to be helpers. So having wolves do something terrible in the dream ultimately confuses the issue.
Mat using the sh** word, and Rand calling him a pr***. There is a whole lexicon of original swear words in Wheel of Time. Ex: “blood and ashes.” For Mat to use 21st century American profanity (and then later having Dana use the British variation) takes us out of the fantasy world.
Having the Tinkers being an unknown entity would explain the fright that Egwene and Perrin felt at meeting them, but this diverges from book-canon: “Like everyone else in Emond’s Field, Perrin had heard a good deal about the Tinkers even if he had never seen any, and the camp was just what he expected.” (From The Eye of the World.) This is another one of the show-canon changes with an unclear benefit, other than basically a jump scare.
Dana’s insinuation that Rand and Mat are a gay couple was awkward and unnecessary. This and the modern swear words has echoes of how the Shannara series was MTV’ified.
RAMBLINGS
“They say the last Dragon broke the world but the next one will save it.” In the story, the world “broke” when Lews Therin Telamon (the Dragon) and all the other Aes Sedai went insane from the Dark One’s corruption. After they sealed him away, the Dark One reached out and polluted their magic source, saidin. Their resulting insanity led them to cause mass murder and geological catastrophes. It was apocalyptic destruction, and why everyone dreads this guy coming back into the world, even though he’s supposed to fight the Dark One again.
My friend, Jacki, let me know that the show may intend to keep the Dragon Reborn a male, thankfully. And so the purpose of the gender ambiguity is to highlight the doubt that even Aes Sedai have towards the prophecies about the Dragon’s rebirth. I don’t remember this kind of doubt or “deconstruction” in the books, though. So this feels like another postmodernist re-interpretation of Jordan’s world. Anyway, here’s the quote from showrunner Rafe Judkins:
Perrin is able to make a connection with the wolves (or rather, the other way around) but without Elyas being in the picture. Then we get to the Tinker caravan, and still no Elyas. I wonder if he shows up; I hope so. Not only does he act as a mentor and father figure to Perrin, he provides one of my favorite moments in the series. This moment becomes a theme for Perrin, and is a philosophy of weapons and self-defense I’ve always admired:
Perrin raised the axe to throw it in the pool, but Elyas caught his wrist. “You’ll use it, boy, and as long as you hate using it, you will use it more wisely than most men would. Wait. If ever you don’t hate it any longer, then will be the time to throw it as far as you can and run the other way.”
—The Eye of the World, p369
Basically, make use of your Second Amendment rights without having a love for arms. Balance.
Thom playing a guitar (as opposed to a harp or flute), and then mostly going a capella—with a somber song no less, as a “gleeman”—threw me off. But it certainly captures the somber aspect of the backstory of the Dragon and the Breaking of the World. Take the line, “little graves,” and consider that the Dragon was nicknamed “Kinslayer” and you get the point. This is not a person who everyone is looking forward to coming back into the world. It’s what makes the Dragon Reborn a fascinating spin on the “chosen one” trope. He’s not tame, and not totally good either.
I used to contrast the dread people feel about Dragon Reborn with how I long for Jesus’ Second Coming. How the DR is obviously an inferior returning savior. But actually now the way I think of it is by looking at verses like this: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30 CSB.) The fact is, not everyone will be happy to see Jesus come back. He will arrive to give salvation to his people, yes, but judgement to the world. The Second Coming will be absolutely terrifying for many. So there is a sense in which the Dragon Reborn captures this dual aspect.
I’m a bit confused as to how all these other Aes Sedai showed up, when the Whitecloaks said that they had killed 7 out of 8 of them.
THEORIES
Dana tells Mat to take a riverboat to get home. I’m betting we’re gonna meet Bayle Domon in the next episode. Rand escapes Dana by breaking down the door with seemingly superhuman strength. In the book, he has a wild moment on Bayle Domon’s boat connected to this escape (essentially anyway; sequentially it’s different, thematically it’s identical). I bet we’ll see that. (And I’m being vague here to not give too many spoilers.)
The next big location the book takes us to is Caemlyn, but I have a feeling we’re gonna skip that for Tar Valon. This is evidenced by the location of the Way Gate in the trailer (the freestanding stone archway) which is in the middle of a field, rather than a city. This could mean the deletion (or delay) of two major characters (and a host of other side charactesr) plus several sub-plots in the show-canon. But Dana mentions Caemlyn as well as an Ogier stedding, so I could be wrong.
We’ve seen Aiel warriors in the trailer (the Fremen of WOT), and now a dead one shows up in this episode. And look at that: he had red hair. Who else is a redhead? The show is connecting some of the dots already, so the “mystery” theme isn’t going to last that long.