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We start the episode out with another flashback scene. This time we see a pregnant Aiel woman fighting off five different non-Aiel soldiers. She is going back and forth between having contractions and fighting the soldiers off. She is able to take all of them down, though she is stabbed in her side by one of them. She finally settles down and has the child, while Tam al'Thor approaches and we see that Rand was born on Dragon Mount from an Aiel.
While the core of this scene is based off of the books in that Rand was born on Dragon Mount from an Aiel Spear Sister, and Tam al'Thor did actually adopt him and take him back to the Two Rivers, the scene is made up. I am unaware of a scene in the books that showed Rand's mother actually fighting the soldiers. and while I get that the scene is meant to show off how great the Aiel warriors are and as a female empowerment moment, this scene is ridiculous. To see a woman who is going through that level of contractions and fight fight trained soldiers off breaks believability. It is a fun battle scene though. it also makes the men in it look like pretty awful people as not only are they obviously not good fighters, they also are trying to kill a pregnant woman who is in the process of giving birth. that is pretty scummy.
We then cut to our protagonists in the Ways. Rand is upset that they left Mat behind, and Moiraine jusitfies why she left Mat behind by trying to say that Mat had a darkness in him. Rand wants her to open the Way Gate again to get Mat. Different reasons are given before Loial provides the best reason, that channeling while in the Ways will attract Machin shin. Then he provides an explanation of what Machin Shin is. Moiraine and Lan were already heading off, which is odd because they need Loial to find their way.
Let's start with the Ways themselves. The scene itself is taken from scenes that were in the books. This was the group going into the Ways, but the Ways in the show is very different from the book. In the book, the Ways were white, pock-marked stone surrounded by oppressive darness and silence. Even the lights from the torches were pressed in on by the darkness. In the show, it looks like a more natural stone walkway with distant lightning and storms further off in the dark. The walk way is more or less all there is and there are not the large, round islands with guide stones. While they do come upon one guide stone in the Ways, it is not consistent.
This highlights another issue with having the means of opening the Way Gates be channeling, how would they get out without attracting Machin Shin? Opening the Way Gate through channeling did not seem like a short process and they will have to do it to leave.
We then get Moiraine explaining that she had no intention of bringing Mat to the Eye of the World ebcause of the inherent darkness in him. If he is the Dragon Reborn, he would join the shadown and the world would fall. Loial also talks about fruit trees being on every island at some point in the past.
Loial's line is almost directly from the books, but Moiraine's line was made up. I understand that Mat had to be written out for external reasons, but the work that is done to make Mat look terrible is a shame. There is an agenda going on there. It also makes Moiraine seem dumb. Up until Mat decided not to enter the Ways, Moiraine was taking him with. After he was the one that decided not to go, then Moiraine starts claiming that she had no intention of bringing him to the Eye of the World because of the darkness that is in him. This continues the character change for Mat from the books and just ignores the actions Moiraine was already taking.
We get a short rest in the Ways and get to see Loial read one of the guide stones. This happens to be a stone where the Trollocs tried to destroy it and alerts everyone that Trollocs are in the Ways. There is then a live Trolloc that attacks the group. Channeling sends the Trolloc over the edge and Egwene apoligizes for channeling. Machin Shin takes notice and the group realizes that they are in trouble. Moiraine says that they are still a day away from the gate that they are actually trying to get to and instead need to run to the Fal Dara gate. The group runs and make it to the gate. We get a flash of lighting and can see Padan Fain following them. Once they reach the gate, Moiraine needs to channel again to open the gate out. Machin Shin closes in on them and we begin to hear what it says to them. Moiraine tells the group not to listen to what it tells it. A woman's voice tells Rand that Egwene will never love him as much as he loves her, tells Moiraine that she will get them all killed, tells Nyneave that hse will watch her friends all die and do nothing, tells Perrin that he meant to kill his wife, and Lan that he will watch 'her' die. Nyneave it so impacted by Machin Shin that she starts channeling and holding Machin Shin at bay. Once Moiraine has the gate open, they are able to escape.
There is a lot wrong with the journey through the Ways and how they are able to get out. First, in the books they were always headed to the Fal Dara gate, but in the show they seemed to have been heading to a different gate and ended up going to the Fal Dara gate when Machin Shin started coming after them. There is a problem with this in that the other gate that was mentioned in the books was a gate in Malkier; however that would have been directly in the Blight, which could have been surrounded by Trollocs. Second, Machin Shin is very different than in the books. In the books, it was a wind that they hear that disrupted the silence. In the show there is more of a screetching and it look slike small bugs flying through the air, surrounding them. I get that changes make it a little more visual and work better for the medium. Changes in how Machin Shin functions, though, make things worse. For instance, in the books. the wind does not catch them because if it did, it would likely have driven them insane and possibly killed them. they are able to exit the Ways before it catches them. And when they are able to hear it after alreadying being outside of the Ways, it talks about rending flesh and blood and death. In the show, they are caught in the wind and it is telling them hard truths.
Once the group is finally out of the Ways, they are in Fal Dara. They walk what seems like a short distance to Fal Dara and immediately we have the group meeting with Lord Aglemar. Aglemar starts off his conversation with Moiraine that he is sure that his over anxious sister likely wrote to the White tower and warned them about Trolloc raids and and encroaching bligh, but that his people have defended the Gap for generations without help and that he does not need help now. Moiraine retorts that a lord should protect his lands as he sees fit, but that she comes with a warning. She discovered that Trollocs are using the Ways and he should have men wall it up. Aglemar apologizes for the offense.
Whew! Is this a scene that bothers me, so I will not try to hide that here. First, this scene is supposed to represent an actual interraction where Moiraine talked to Aglemar, but is very different from what was done int the book. Second, this is a point where the message that the show runner is trying to send, and the reaction that he would like to get are at their most naked. Throughout the series so far, there have been many changes in the characters and messages that have been communicated. An arguement could always be made, though I think I have so far shown falsely in almost any case, that the changes were needed to highlight certain important concepts from the books, or show an aspect that was in the books, but not until later. The show runner has stated that there is just too much material in the books to include everything, so changes were needed to acommodate cut content. This scene cannot have that said, and even worse, had Aglemar been shown closer to what he was in the book, would portray the feminist ideal. So let me break this down.
In the books, when Moiraine and the group meet Aglemar, he is a wise general who immediately show deference and respect to Moiraine. He is friendly towards Aes Sedai in general, and asks for Moiraine's help in the coming battle. He recognizes that she can use the One Power and could help save men from dying and maybe even turn the tide of what could be a terrible battle. When Moiraine refuses and informs Aglemar that she is on a much more important mission, Aglemar respects that and offers to send some men with her to ensure she can complete her mission, despite negatively impacting his own battle. He is respectful of women and is one of the five great generals, very knowledgeable of strategy. He is honorable.
Compare that to the Aglemar that we got. In the show, Aglemar is dismissive of and rude to Moiraine out of the gate, rejecting help from Aes Sedai before it was even offered. He also belittles his own sister for her ties to the White Tower. He also plans to take his men into a battle that he knows he cannot win, instead of using two other much better options, which I will discuss later.
This change seems to have been made to purposefully show a male leader be dismissive of women to his own detriment and eventual downfall. It was to give Moiraine a scene where she could put this male leader in his place by communicating knowledge that he didn't have and needed. It was made to reflect a modern feeling that men in power do not respect women, even when women are also in a position of power and knowledge. That power makes men disrespectful of women. I watched reviews of this show on youtube and saw several reactions to this scene where the Show Runner got the exact reaction I think this change was made to garner. I will point out that how Aglemar was in the books is often the ideal that feminists state that they view as the ideal. How it was done in the show is designed to give a woman a chance to 'clap back' at a man in power for being stupid and arrogant and have women watching the show a chance to see a man put in his place by a woman. You can see one such reaction here. It does not even seem as though the Show Runner is attempting to show a feminist message with this show, but show men as bad, especially if they are in any position of power or authority. It also strikes me as designed to show toxic masculinity rather than men having honor and duty.
We see that Padan Fain was somehow able to get through the Way Gate, and was not caught by Machin Shin, or maybe he was. And then we get a scene where Amalisa is showing the group to their rooms in the Keep. Moiraine asks if Min is still in the city and it seems that Amalisa is using the One Power to light torches along the way. The conversation belittles Aglemar further by talking about him not listening to advice when he already feels he has all the answers. Amalisa asks Moiraine why they are there and Moiraine never answers. Moiraine instead asks Amalisa to send word back to the White Tower, specifically the Red Ajah, about Mat Couthon staying behind.
The scene itself is made up to further the story. These scenes were not in the books at all. Further more, in the content that was in the show, we have no indication how Padan Fain was able to get through the Ways and use the Way Gate. While there were images posted outside of the main show that pictured him using a leaf as dexcribed in the books, this was not showed in the show.
It is also interesting that we see Amalisa with a ring. Her ring does not have a gem in it, which is an indication that rings are given to women before they are fully raised to Aes Sedai; however, once a woman is raised to full Aes Sedai, she gets a gem stone in the color of the Ajah that she chooses. This is a departure from the books. The ring for Aes Sedai does not have a gem stone and is given to Accepted. However, women, when they are fully raised to Aes Sedai, take the shawl and often wear the shawl for formal instances. We have yet to see a shawl in the show, I supposed because it does not fit with the more modern look they are going for with the Aes Sedai. Because she is wearing the ring, I have to assume that she was raised to Accepted, but for some reason she failed out of the Tower and was never fully raised. It was indicated at some point it was because she was not strong enough with the One Power, but if that is the case, how did she make it to being Accepted?
We get a scene with Moiraine leading the Emond's fielders through the streets of Fal Dara, headed to an inn. Perrin sees Padan fain briefly. Once at the inn, Moiraine has Min read the visions she sees for each of them. Min tells her that they are all connected and there are flecks of light in the dark. Perrin has yellow eyes in one vision, Rand is holding a baby in another vision. The Emond's Fielders have a conversation amongst themselves at a table while this is happening. They are catching up more about their different experiences.
This scene is loosely based on events from book one. Min is older in the show than she is described being in the books, and this scene happened far earlier in Baerlon, and under different circumstances. It was at an inn, but they were not all sitting at a table in the common room while Min was working the bar. The visions are different. There is nothing specifically wrong with the scene other than there are some significant changes with it and it is coming much later. Egwene gets a nice dig in on Rand about him being terrible at cooking.
We are back at the keep later that evening. Everyone is in a large room and Moiraine tells the group that they are all heading to the Eye of the World the next morning. She tells them that one of them is the Dragon and will fight the Dark One, and the ones that are not the Dragon will die. Moiraine leaves them and they begin discussing whether they should believe her and go. Of course, Egwene gives a rousing speech about how they need to do this to protect the people they love. Rand brings up Mat and him and Egwene get into a fight. Rand suggests that Mat could be the Dragon and Egwene reacts like that is impossible. Rand makes a comment about how she never cared about him and that he is a good guy for taking care of his sisters. Rand upsets Perrin with what he says to Egwene and Perrin steps in and demands Rand apologize to her. Nyneave then steps in and tells Rand and Perrin to stop fighting over Egwene like she is some prize to be won. Rand realizes that Perrin loves Egwene and mentions that Perrin announced he was marrying his wife on the same day that Rand and Egwene mentioned that they were together. Rand storms off.
We then get a quick scene where Moiraine is wondering if they will decide to come or if she will have to force them. Lan mentions that they have the illusion of choice and will choose to come.
This scene is mostly made up. By this point they were all already committed to going to the Eye of the World. There was no love triangle with Rand, Perrin, and Egwene. I dislike the drama that is introduced in this scene and it is not needed. I hope this is just dropped. Egwene is once again being the strong willed one, urging everyone to do what is right while Perrin is once again sitting everything out. Rand is not in the wrong with what he is saying, and it is a shame that Perrin is coming to Egwene's defense when she is disparaging their friend. Perrin comes off even worse here for several reasons. He is coming to Egwene's defense when Rand is speaking the truth. He has murdered his wife, then was told by Machin shin that he never loved her anyway, and when it comes out that he may have a thing for Egwene also, what Machin Shin said about him seems to be confirmed. So I am left to wonder if he married a woman he did not truly love because Rand and Egwene hooked up, and then after he killed her he thought he might have another chance at Egwene, despite Rand and her stil being together. I am not a fan of Moiraine indicating that if they do not choose to go, she will force them somehow. I am curious what her plan is to force them to come with her.
We get an odd scene where Nyneave follows Lan to a house where is spends time with a strangely racially diverse family. This is supposedly the fammily that raised him. While Nyneave is looking through the window, enjoying seeing that Lan is a sentimental family man, he suddenly appears behind her and invites her to join them. Nyneave and Lan go back to his room in the keep. Nyneave decides to barge into Lan's room and the two of them have sex.
Egwene approaches Rand while he is practicing with his bow. That is all he has done with his bow, because he certainly has not used it once in the show in battle. I am also wondering how he has that now when it seemed like it would have been left behind when the fled the mining town several episodes back. Maybe this is one that they had out in the shoowing range. Egwene said she had been waiting for him to come apologize. Rand and Egwene make up after he apologizes to her.
We then get a scene post sex with Nyneave and Lan where Lan tells Nyneave about his past, Malkier and being a king.
The scene where Lan is being sentimental with this family and doing well with a child is completely fabricated material. This is a departure from the Lan in the books that I remember, especially this early on. Lan is always portrayed as stoic, and throughout this show it appears that the writers and show runner are trying to eliminate the "toxic masculitinity", and show a softer side of Lan. This continues this trend. The teleportation in this scene is a little odd, but I have to assume she saw him move to another room and then didn't notice him exit through a door and get behind her. The amount of time this took does not seem realistic, which makes it feel more like Lan teleported. Nyneave suddenly having sex at this point in the story is a huge departure from the characters in the book. Neither one of them would have jumped into this kind of relationship so quickly. Nyneave has a far more conservative view on sex and love and is much too stubborn to allow Lan to get her into bed so early. Lan is a far more stoic and honorable man, and would not have pushed sex and then just told her that he can never really be with her. Injecting sex at this point in the relationship ignores how the books treated love and sex, and is a ploy to appeal to a more modern sense of sex and love. At least some of the dialogue in this scene is pulled from the books, but it is done in a clunky way that does not have the same impact as it does in the books. It is also funny that after sex is when Nyneave starts asking more questions about where he came from. And why has she not learned any of this during the month that they were traveling together and sitting around the Warder fires? This is also the scene where we have Lan talking about how he was nothing until Moiraine gave him a purpose and he had to make himself worthy of her. Just another instance of men being denegrated in the show.
Once again, it is the duty of the man to apologize to the woman here. Not only was Rand in the wrong, despite it being Egwene who was running down one of Rand's best friends, who traveled from Emond's Field to Tar Valon with him. Egwene is upset that Rand didn't come to her and she had to go to him. This scene is also completely fabricated.
We then get a flashback scene when Rand wakes up from having just had sex with Egwene. The flashback shows how Rand carried injured Tam on his back from their farm to Emond's Field. Tam mentions finding a baby on Dragon Mount. We then see the scenes where he supposedly channeled, including the door he knocked down and the trolloc he knowcked off the path while in the Ways. And we get Machine shin telling him that he is the Dragon Reborn.
Rand goes to Min that night and asks her abou the visions that she saw. Min explains the first ever vision she saw of a soldier finding a baby on Dragon Mount and raising him in the Two Rivers. This confirms it for Rand. We get a scene the next morning where Egwene is sitting in Nyneave's room when Nyneave comes back having slept with Lan. Perrin shows up along with eventually Lan and that is when they all realize that Rand and Moiraine were gone. Lan says Moiraine has masked the bond. We then get a scene where Rand approaches Moiraine at her room and tells her he is the Dragon Reborn and they should head to the Eye of the World.
I dislike how this ends. First, both scenes are made up. The flashback showing Rand carrying Tam is different that what we saw in episode one, where Tam is draped over the back of a horse. And sure, Rand could have found a horse along the way, but it still shows something different that what we saw. The different times that we see Rand channeling are not nearly as good as we got in the books. Rand channeling while in the ways also calls into question how that scene played out. At the time, Egwene apologized for channeling; however, if Rand was actually the one that channeled, Egwene should have know that she was not channeling, as should Moiraine. Neither would have felt anything. Perhaps Egwene was channeling, but then she should have known that she wasn't the one that struck the Trolloc unless they were both channeling the same weave at the same time with the same intention. And Rand going to Min to get visions confirmed is made up and is less impactful. It is all around less impactful with Rand piecing everything together. In the books, he is slowing getting this over time. In the show, we got nothing until the end when they show that Rand has been learning that Tam isn't his father throughout. And that he has been channeling the whole time. Second, it took Rand three books to finally accept that he is the Dragon Reborn. In the show, he accepts it after a few flashbacks, Machin Shin telling himhe is the Dragon Reborn, and Min telling him about her vision. Suddenly, he believes he is the Dragon Reborn, accepts this fate, and tells Moiraine so they can go to the Eye of the World and leave everyone else behind.
Back to TopThe final episode starts off with another flashback to the Age of Legends. We see Lews Therin in a nursery, trying to convince his best friend and female Aes Sedai of his plan to cage the dark one. Lewis Therin says that it is something that has never been done before. Latra tells him that the women Aes Sedai refuse to help in his plan and they both acuse the other of breaking the Aes Sedai in two, men and women. Latra says Lews Therin will expose the One Power to the Dark One and says if he touches it, he corrupts it. She says that Lews Therin and his men will set people back a thousand years. Lews Therin claims that they will not fail if the women help. Latra tells him that they will stay behind to pick up the pieces if the men try to cage the Dark One. Latra tells him that the decision to face the Dark One rests with him and she is just trying to remind him that he is not invincible. She calls him the Dragon Reborn.
In the book, a woman discovered a new source of power that she thought both men and women could use. The Age of Legends featured a futuristic look, built by men and women using the One Power together. When the Aes Sedai of that time bored into access this new power, it turned out to be the Dark One's cage and he was set free. Lews Therin led a group of men to re-seal the cage of the Dark One. Both men and women had their plans on how to accomplish this, but because they could not agree, only the men attempted to close it, without the help of the women, who thought the men's plan would fail. The men succeeded; however, the Dark One lashed out and tainted Saidin. No one knew that would happen. The male Aes Sedai went insane and broke the world, setting civilization back. this was also something that not everyone knew was going to happen.
In one small scene, the Show runner destroys the lore from the books and pushes an anti-male message. The lore pushed in the scene is that the Dark One has always been free and influencing the world. Lews Therin, in his arrogance, believes he can finally cage the Dark One and prevent his influence in the world. His friend, Latra, tells him not to do it and that if he tries, he will expose the One Power to the Dark one, which if he touches it will corrupt it, and that he will set civilization back a thousand years. She does not deny it when Lews Terin said that they will not fail if the women help the men, but just tells him that they will stay behind ot pick up the pieces. If it is caging the Dark One that made everything bad, then why are the Aes Sedai hoping the Dragon Reborn will defeat the Dark One? Doesn't he need to remain free? It was trying to cage him that made everything bad.
This scene blames the breaking of the world on the arrogance of Lews Therin. Rather than it being the sacrifice of these men, trying to save the world by caging the Dark One, after humanity freed him in the first place, and their sacrifice causing the breaking. What we get instead is men were arrogant in trying to cage him in the first place and everything is their fault.
Latra also refers to Lews therin as the Dragon Reborn, and not just the Dragon. As I understood it, Lews therin was the Dragon during the Age of Legends. It was legend passed down through the Breaking that carried the story of the Dragon, and then foretelling from female Aes Sedai over the 3000 years that created the Kaerethon cycle and the Prohecies of the Dragon being reborn to save the world or break the world. This seems to indicate that Lews Therin is the rebirth of a prior Dragon. while he is likely the rebirth of a previous character, and it is mentioned that the Dark One and Lews Therin have had this battle repeatedly throughout history with the never ending turning of the Wheel of time, there was never indication given in the books that I am aware of that there were previous dragons or that anyone during the Age of Legend referred to Lews therin as the Dragon Reborn because they knew of legends of previous Dragons.
The show officially starts with Rand and Moiraine walking through the blight. Moiraine tells Rand not to touch anything. We see the dead remains of a man and Moiraine informs Rand that sometimes young boys try to test themselves against the blight.
I will start with the Blight itself. It looks completely different from what is described in the book. In the books, most of the blight seems to be more a baren wasteland. The part that the group go through is described as wooded, but the trees are all decaying and spotted, like there is a rot from the Blight corrupting them. There are monsters that are really weird and hostile. As the group goes through they are told not to touch anything, just like in the show. In the books, the blight is portrayed as such a dangerous place that Aglemar offers to send more seasoned men into the blight with Moiraine. In the show the blight is portrayed as a spooky looking forest with strange, bent over trees. I did not see any monsters that would indicate that it is dangerous to the level the book described. While we see this young man dead and decaying, and it is indicated that the blight is dangerous, there is nothing that we see that reinforces it. It seems to be something where Rand and Moiraine are fine walking through on their own. They were easily able to make it past a Trolloc army that seems to be headed towards Tarwin's Gap. This is a change from the books for sure, and while similar to the books in that they are walking through the blight to get to the Eye of the World, it is just the two of them and it is significantly different from what is in the book. It is also telling that there is another line putting men down as Moiraine talks about the blight consuming men that are in way over their heads. I guess men are the ones that are foolish and go risking their lives needlessly while women only risk their lives sensibly when there is a good reason.
Egwene is wanting to go after Rand and Moiraine, but Perrin does not think that they should go. Egwene says that she loves Rand and Perrin says that he does also. The two hug it out and talk about things being alright.
Back to Rand and Moiraine making their way through the Blight. Moiraine sees the Seven Towers of Malkier and exclaims that they are getting close. Rand asks about them and Moiraine tells him about how the Blight used to be further from Tarwin's Gap. They decide to take a break for 30 minutes and sit on some trees.
Yet another scene where Rand is asking legitimate questions here and Moiraine treats him without respect. Why are these two walking through the Blight, alone, with only one water sack? Why would they not have significant supplies? The Eye of the World is a day away, so they would need food and water. They need some supplies, even if they thought that it would only be a one-way trip, if you have ever walked all day to get somewhere, you are going to be very tired by the end of it. They would need to eat lunch, and dinner. These two are just hiking through the Blight without any supplies.
Secondly, it was just before this that they were talking about how Rand shouldn't touch anything in the Blight, but here they are sitting down on the trees. Which is it? Should they not be touching anything or is it alright to touch the trees?
Scene where Lan is worried about Moiraine. Nyneave tells Lan that when she was tracking them, it was not him that she was tracking, it was Moiraine. She tells Lan that Moiraine has a tell. Lan then asks Nyneave to tell him what the tell is so he can go find Moiraine and Rand. Nyneave agrees to tell him. The two get close and Lan tells Nyneave that he will hate the man she chooses to be her Warder, but will love if he makes her happy. He calls her a lioness and leaves.
Again, this scene is mostly made up content, though the lioness line is from the books. This scene does damage to the character of Lan from the books. In the books, Lan was a great tracker, to the point where he could ensure that people would not be able to track him. He was certainly better than Nyneave, though she was a good tracker in the books. This scene seems to indicate that Lan would not be able to track Moiraine without Nyneave telling him what to look for. Moiraine is not someone so skilled in being able to hide her tracks, that she would be able to keep Lan from the books from tracking her. And between hers and Rands rush to get to the Eye of the World, even if she were, she would not be taking the time to hide her trail. I am not even sure what a tell from Moiraine would be to allow Nyneave to track her specifically. I doubt the writers could explain what they were thinking when they came up with this line. They have effectively taken an ability from Lan, downgrading him as a character. They have also taken a good line from the books and made it look cheesy, making him look cheesy with it.
Rand awakes from a dream and Moiraine warns him about dreams, only to get killed by the Dark One. The Dark One changes his face into that of a man and asks Rand what he thinks his plan is. He mentions how last time, Lews Therin came with ninety-nine companions and still failed. He asks if Rand has even touched the One Power before. Rand pulls out his sword and the Dark One comments on the heron mark blade. Rand mentions getting it from his father and the Dark One tells Rand his true father has been dead a long time, and asks if Rand means the shapard in the Two Rivers, and somehow knows the man's name. The Dark One offers to teach Rand what it means to be the Dragon and Rand decides this is a dream and stabs himself with his sword to wake up. He wakes up and Moiraine asks the same question about dreams as she did in the dream.
Rand starts asking Moiraine about what her plan is while they begin hiking again. Moiraine stops and pulls out a sa'angreal. She tells him that thousands of male channelers put their power into that small object and that with it, Rand will increase his power one hundred fold. Rand accepts it and then comments that Moiraine thought that the Dragon would be Egwene because she introduced Egwene to the Amyrlin and taught her to channel.
The conversation with the Dark One merely shows the Dark One as intelligent and competent. He makes valid points though I do not recall him knowning so much about Rand's life growing up in the books. It is also odd that so early on Rand is being called Lews Therin. That is usually something that the Foresaken do later on in the books. This dream is not content from the books that I recall, and not from the Eye of the World book.
Rand asks a very good question of Moiraine, and her answer/plan is terrible. Moiraine's plan, is to take someone who has know idea what he or she is doing, give that person an incredibly powerful sa'angreal, and let that person figure it out? Neither Rand nor either Nyneave or Egwene, have had the time to learn enough about how to use the One Power to be effective. She then plans on one of them using a sa'angreal and being able to channel one hundred times his or her natural strength and hope for the best. Her plan, I am assuming agreed to by Siuane, is terrible and about as risky as can be. I understand that the idea was the Dark One is currently weak, but would it not be better to have the Dragon at least somewhat better practiced in channeling and knowing what he or she is doing before facing the Dark One directly with that much power? And I say Siuane had to agree, because a sa'angreal like that likely was locked up in the Tower and would have needed approval to be removed.
This takes me to a second point here. If Moiraine got a sa'angreal from the Tower meant for men, but she did not know at that time that the Dragon was going to be a man, then she should also have one for a woman in the event that it was Egwene or Nyneave. And if she had one just as strong for one of them, then she should have used that in a later scene, where she is shielded. Had she used it then, she likely would not have been overwhelmed and shielded, but I will get into that more when I get to that scene. However, if she did not have a separate sa'angreal for women channeler, that she could use, then that sa'angreal had to be able to be used by both men and women. And when Rand was using it in that later scene, she would not have had access to it. But then that would mean that this is a further confirmation of the One Power being the same for men and women.
Now, for the breaking of the lore surrounding the sa'angreal itself. If this is the male sa'angreal that is the most powerful one in the world, then it has been introduced far earlier than in the books, was in a different place than it was in the books, and is different from the books in a very important way. In the books, it was a ter'angreal that was a conduit of sorts that allowed one to draw through the actual sa'angreal. The sa'angreal itself was actually a massive statue being excavated nead Cairhien. It was found in Ruihdean when Rand fights Asmodean in book four. To completely change this is a large change from the books and should be noted. It is possible that this is just some other sa'angreal entirely.
Finally, this is completely made up content and potentially breaks so much lore from the books.
We have a quick scene where Egwene approaches Nyneave, who says that ever since the day she channeled, she has been unable to listen to the wind. Egwene is still able to listen to the wind and says that it is still the same thing they heard on Bel Tine, but if it was a whisper before, now it is a scream.
I don't recall Nyneave losing her ability to listen to the wind, nor do I recall Egwene gaining the ability so strongly. Egwene was never a Wisdom and did not get the full training. Nyneave did talk about her ability not seeming to work right, but that always seemed to be more of a product of the Dark One's touch on the world messing up the weather patterns and seasons. It was described in book one through the unaturally long winter which she was unable to predict. I am unsure why they had her lose her ability to do this, but made Egwene still proficient at it. This is also a totally made up scene and was not in the books.
Back to Moiraine and Rand hiking through the blight. Rand asks Moiraine to teach him to channel. She says that she cannot because every time he touches the One Power, he will be drawn closer and closer to madness. She tells him that when he faces the Dark One, the fear and addrenaline will drive him to touch the One Power whether he wants to or not. When Rand expresses disbelief, she tells him a story about how when she was a novice at the White Tower, there was an Aes Sedai that took a liking to her and wanted to help her reach her potential. Because Moiraine was having trouble channeling, this Aes Sedai beat her with the One Power one night and to make it stop, Moiraine channeled. Moiraine promises Rand that when his life is on the line, the One Power will be there and he just needs to channel it into the sa'angreal and will know what to do with it.
Moiraine's plan is incredibly stupid, as already stated. She refuses to teach Rand anything because he will go crazy the more he touches it. What Moiraine says in this scene further leans in toward men and women touching the same One Power, and there not being two halves. If the show were following the mechanics of the books, then Moiraine could not teach Rand how to channel because it would be impossible. He is using Saidin and she, Saidar. She does not refuse in this scene because she can't, she refuses to do so because if she did, it would accelerate Rand's decent into madness and put the mission at risk. The conversation also reinforces how this show has been treating the One Power, and something where significant actions can be done simply on instinct with the One Power. In the books, it took great training and practice. It was dangerous for men because there was no one to teach them, and they risked killing themselves trying to figure it out. Rand got away with some of this later on because he began to have the memories of Lews Therin himself, but most did not have that help. Women needed the training as well. Moiraine tells Rand that when his life is on the line, he will be able to figure it out. Channeling is very differen from weaving the power one is channeling, and the weaves needed to re-seal the Dark One's prison are complex. Only linking with Moiraine and Nyneave can Rand properly do it during the final battle, and even then, after fully having Lews Therin's memories fully integrated into his own, it is complex. That the writers of the show have Moiraine thinking Rand can do this by himself, with no training, show that they do not understand the One Power or the books, or don't care. They make Moiraine look like a fool for having such a poorly thought out plan and also ignore all of the prophecies that Rand is supposed to complete prior to defeating the Dark One.
Min is still behind the bar as though she was there all night. She tells some guy at the bard that he is going to want to move. Nyneave, Perrin, Loial, and Egwene all enter the bar. Egwene is asking about what Min told Rand and wants to at least know if he is going to be alright. Min tells her it is not how her ability works and then starts to see visions. She sees Nyneave's face getting burned off and some soldiers sitting at another table dying. Then a horn blares and all of the soldiers get up and exit the bar.
When Min tells Egwene that her power does not work the way Egwene was thinking, those are my thoughts exactly on how the show runner understands Min's power. When she tells the man at the bar that he is going to need to move, it was before the group walked into the bar, so how would she have known that he was going to need to move? Did she have some minor vision of him being bumped into by the Emond's Fielders and Loial? That does not strike me as the way her power worked, nor was it to see clear visions of things to come. Often time it was more like symbols and sometimes she knew what they meant, sometimes not. Regardless, the scene is completely made up content. I understand why they changed the way Min's power worked, because symbols would have meant a lot less to the audience than the visions that the show is using.
Back to Rand and Moiraine making their way through the Blight. Moiraine looks back and sees the Trolloc army marching towards Tarwin's Gap. It looks like be a relatively short distance from where they are. Visually speaking, it does not look like they have been traveling all that far. Moiraine says that the only way to stop that army is to stop the Dark One himself.
Isn't Moiraine going to look foolish if that army is somehow defeated without defeating the Dark One himself. It looks like that army is in a straight line going towards the Gap from where Moiraine and Rand are, so it is a little puzzling how they did not encounter any of the Trollocs. As of yet, they have not run into anything that seems particularly dangerous other than a dream Rand had. The blight, other than having a Trolloc army and looking spooky has not been all that dangerous so far. Another scene that is basically all original content. While every scene with Rand and Moiraine could be said to be related to scenes from the book where the entire group is heading to the Eye of the World, it is so different that I cannot give the show credit here. The situation and environment is just too different.
The next scene is Amalisa with an 'I told you so' line directed at Aglemar. She told him that the numbers were building and it is revealed that there are at least sixty Fades among them, so the estimate is five to ten thousand Trollocs. The men suggest sending the entire army to support the men in the fortress while Amalisa points out that the Gap will not hold. Aglemar declares that he will personally lead the men to the Gap stronghold to face the Trolloc army. Amalisa again warns him that the Gap will not hold.
This is another made up scene and another chance to show Agelmar as a fool rather than the great military tactician that he is. Rather, it is Amalisa that sees the effort as useless and tries to warn him. She is the one that told him that the armies are amassing, which is odd that she would know. Did she ride out or was she the only one that listened to scout reports? Why did she know and not the leader of Fal Dara? This makes absolutely no sense and can only be explained as written the way that it is to further Aglemar being arrogant and foolish, not listening to the people around him, especially his sister, who it appears he ignored on her warnings and ignored throughout this scene. The writers and show runner are deliberately making Aglemar misogynistic.
Rand and Moiraine get through the blight to the Eye of the World. it looks like an ancient ruin in the ground, with stairs that lead down into it. Rand exclaims that he knows the place as though he has been there before. He mentions that anyone that goes with him to the final battle will die and tells Moiraine to stay behind, but she just ignores him and starts walking down the stairs. We then see Lan hiking through the blight, and he stops when he sees the Seven Towers of Malkier.
The Eye of the World in the books is completely different than it is in the show. It is a pool of uncorrupted Saidin that is in an ancient place within the Green Man's place. The only way to get there is through one's need, and it is almost impossible for someone to get there twice. Moiraine had already been, so getting there, she needed the ta'veren, combined with her need to stop whatever the Dark One planned to do to it. In the show, they combined the Eye of the World with the Dark One's prison, and it looks like neither. For this to be the Dark One's prison, it is ungarded and easy to get to. It is really close to the Gap and Fal Dara. I also am wondering how Lan was able to get past the giant Trolloc army that seemed to already be in the Gap.
Aglemar is getting suited up and Amalisa tries to convince him that he should be wearing their father's armor. She tells him that their father's armor kept him safe through many battles, as though if Aglemar wears it, it will do a better job keeping him safe than Aglemar's own armor. He cuts her off and tells her he wants to wear his own armor. Amalisa tries to convince him one last time to not go to the gap, but genious aglemar says that he will take the men and hold the Gap anyway. And if he cannot, then the women will hold the city. He then tells her that she was right all along and they should have asked for help from the White Tower. Aglemar now sounds absolutely defeatest and says that the Gap will fall and then the city will fall no matter what they do. He says that the armies will pour through the Gap and raise all the cities they know of and more; the whole world will burn. He says that he hopes that they will buy the women and men of the world enough time to have a fighting chance and that the Last Battle is upon them. Amalisa reassures Aglemar that she will not let the city fall.
With every scene they make Aglemar look worse. Here he is again, dismissing his sister's advice, even if this advice is pointless. I fail to see how their father's armor is going to be better unless it is made of some better or enchanted metal. In the very same scene he goes from saying that his men will hold the Gap to they will fail, the women will fail to hold the city and the Trolloc armies will sack multiple cities and the world will burn. But he is going to march his men to the Gap anyway, into certain death, because of toxic masculinity and pride. Of course, he finally admits that Amalisa was right the whole time and they should have asked for Aes Sedai help a long time ago. How long has this army been amassing and they have known about it? Maybe because of the increased Trolloc raids? Again, Aglemar would not have acted this way in the books. He is a brilliant military tactician and would have used Aes Sedai help. He would have tried to come up with a better plan to defeat the army other than march to certain doom. In the books, he knows the battle will be tough, but he is not certain they will all die.
Rand and Moiraine enter the Eye of the World. It looks like just some ancient ruin with a puddle of water in the middle. Rand asks what the place was and Moiraine says that all records of the place was purged from the White Tower's records by dark friends. In the center is a large Aes Sedai symbol on the floor. Rand sees a vision or memory of Lews Terin fighting the Dark One in that room. Lews Therin is alone, unlike what the Dark One said in the earlier scene. He touches the floor and then looks around and he is in a dream world back on his farm in Emond's Field. He walks out of the house and Egwene is there with their infant child. There is an interraction like the two have been living like this for a while. In the real world, Rand is asleep and Moiraine is holding him, trying to wake him up. The Dark One shows up and asks her what she thought would happen. She starts to channel, but he shields her without much effort and says that it must be an awful feeling to know the One Power is there, but she just can quite touch it.
This scene is maybe supposed to combine several parts from the book, including Moiraine trying to battle the Foresaken and being over matched and Rand battling the Dark One. But this scene is just so different from what is in the book, that I am going to say that this is completely made up content and destroys many things from the books. One, Moiraine admitting that records from the White Tower were removed by Dark Friends. For anyone to admit that the Tower was infiltrated by dark friends... but almost everything in the Tower is handled by novices, Accepted, or Aes Sedai themselves. There are servants in the Tower, but attending to the library? This means that Moiraine is potentially admitting to the existence of the Black Ajah, something that Aes Sedai never seem willing to admit to until much later in the books.
This is also where I will pick up the question again about the sa'angreal. In this scene, the Dark One easily over powers Moiraine. However, if Rand is supposed to be able to defeat the Dark One with the sa'angreal that she gave to him, and the one that she gave to him is for men, then she should have a female one with her in case it had been Egwene or Nyneave. And that means she should have been able to use that one, and had she been smart, would have already been holding the One Power given that they were heading into the Last Battle. Why was she not already holding the One Power, ready to channel, anyway? However, since she was so easily over powered, I have to assume that she did not have a female version of that really powerful sa'angreal, which indicates that the one she had is means for men and women. Or perhaps she knew it was going to be a man?
Aglemar leads his men, mounted on horse back, to charge towards Tarwin's Gap and the fortified wall. We then see Amalisa leading the women to defend the city while we see men and women fleeing the city. We see a bunch of people leaving Fal Dara, and hear Amalisa say that foreigners can leave the city, but every man, woman, and child stays to defend the city. Amalisa tells them to put archers on the walls and light every torch to make it harder for Fades to enter the city undetected. Amalisa is wearing their father's armor. She asks for any woman that can channel the One Power to come together. Uno and several other of Aglemar's men then move the throne and begin tearing up the floor beneath it with pick axes.
Nyneave, Perrin, and Egwene are discussing leaving the city before the battle. Perrin wants to stay saying that they can't just leave the people. Loial shows up and informs Egwene and Nyneave that Amalisa is calling forall women that can channel. Nyneave remains hesitant because she is afraid of losing Perrin and Egwene.
The Trollocs charge the wall and Aglemar and his men fire crossbows from the wall. Then it cuts to Amalisa standing in an open field with two other women who can presumably channel. Egwene and Nyneave walk up and join them. We see the women look off into the distance at the wall in Tarwin's Gap.
There are a lot of little things here. Why did Aglemar need to lead a full charge of his men to rush to the wall, only to pick up crossbows and wait for the assault? While Amalisa says that every man, woman, and child are staying to defend the city, we only see women. Amalisa is there looking strong, compentent, and in charge, something that was not done for Aglemar. I also think is it a little odd that they are keeping children behind to defend the city. I supposed this is done to make it feel incredibly desperate and they need to throw everything that they have at it, but as we are about to see, they are not doing that.
While I said that Amalisa is looking competent and in charge, she then makes a dumb move and places her and the other women that can channel outside the wall in the open ground between the city and Tarwin's Gap. They could have stood on the wall of the city and channeled from there. It would have been safer and just as effective. Why did she decide to be directly in harms way if the Trollocs break through the wall?
Quick scene where Perrin seems upset that he and Loial are just sitting around not doing anything. Perrin seems to be getting upset with the Way of the Leaf, but Loial tells him there are other ways to help besides fighting. Loial tells Perrin to ask.
Yes Perrin, there are other ways to help other than just sitting around. Pick up an ax and fight. Go join the women on the walls and fire an arrow. He won't do that though.
We cut back to the dream sequence with Rand and dream Egwene. Rand is getting suspicious that it is another dream and not real. Egwene and the baby freeze and the Dark One shows up. The Dark One tells Rand that he could use the One Power to remake the world in his image and that the Dark One can show Rand how. The we cut to the Dark One talking to Moiraine outside of the dream. He wonders what Rand will choose, the light or the dark. Moiraine pulls a knife and holds it to Rand's throat while she cradles him. She says that they both know that the Dark One cannot escape his prison without Rand's help, and if Rand does not choose the light, she will kill him.
Both of these scenes are completely made up content. And what Moiraine says here completely destroys the lore of the books, and even the lore of the show. If the Dark One requires the assistance of the Dragon Reborn to escape his prison, they why not kill Rand right away? If killing him will make it impossible for the Dark One to escape, that is a sacrifice worthy of being made. But it was said earlier in the season that the Dark One was growing in power and going to escape his prison, so this line contradicts this one. I just want to make sure I have the show's lore down correctly, and then I will compare to the book. The Dark One was free until Lews Therin was arrogant enough to believe he could cage the Dark One. Lews Therin succeeded, but the One Power was corrupted. And now, the Dark One is gaining in strength, and the Dragon Reborn is supposed to save the world by caging the Dark One again, which was the very thing that made Lews Therin arrogant and foolish. But, the Dark One cannot escape unless the Dragon Reborn helps him escape the prison that the Dragon reborn is supposed to remake to cage and already caged Dark One... what?
This is where the book is so much better. The Dark One was originally caged until the Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends freed him. Lews therrin and other male Aes Sedai sealed the bore and re-caged the Dark One, but the seals on the prison are weakening as the Dark One gains in strength. The Dragon Reborn is supposed to re-seal the Dark One, or defeat him. While I am sure that the Dragon Reborn could help free the Dark One, it is not necessary for him to help the Dark One escape the prison; the Dark One will escape either way.
Perrin goes to help Uno and his men dig up the dais the throne was sitting on.
The Trollocs start climbing up each other to scale the wall. They are carrying picks so they can damage the wall. One Trolloc throws a spear through a window and kills Aglemar.
Rand and the Dark One are talking some more in the dream world. Rand asks the Dark One how he can make that world real and the Dark One says it is more simple that he could imagine. We then cut to Moiraine holding the knife to Rand's neck and she presses the blade hard enough to draw blood.
Rather than Perrin helping to fight, he gets to dig, so his character stays on a very lame path of the Way of the Leaf. Aglemar dying messes up a lot further down the line as he is one of the five great generals. Both of these scenes are completely made up content and do not follow anything that was in the book. If I am being generous, Aglemar fighting the Trolloc army was in the books, but it always seemed to be more out on an open field of battle where they engaged and then pulled apart. This wall does not seem to be very defensible. This is an army of trollocs, without siege equipment, running up to a wall heavily fortified with soldiers. And yet they are scaling this thing and seem to go through it with little problem.
I will reserve the problems I have with the dream sequence until the later scenes, as there is a lot troubling with where this goes. I have two small things to say here. One, this is all not pulled at all from the books. Two, why did Moiraine feel she needed to start slicing Rand's neck while he is just lying there asleep? He is not even awake.
Paden Fain says some secret password and gets into the Fal Daran keep with two Fades. Guess lighting all those torches to make it harder for Fades to get in didn't do much good. Both women guarding the door are killed.
Uno, Perrin, Loial and crew finally dig up the Horn of Valere. It is explained what the Horn does and Perrin suggests that they use it, but Uno says no because it is for the last battle and the Dragon.
Paden Fain entering the Fal Daran keep is drastically different from how it happened in the book. He was already a prisoner at the time. Also, Padan Fain is so completely different at this point from the person he was in the book. In the book, he is a wreck. Fades have been torturing him and treating him more like a dog. He looks like a disheveled beggar and seems almost totally insane. In the show, he still seems to be super cool, laid back, and the Fades already seem to be following him rather than leading the charge.
The Horn being buried beneath the throne is a huge change from the books. It also does not make sense to save blowing the Horn at this point. One, it can be blown more than once. Two, if this army is going to overrun Shienar and posisbly other countries, blow the Horn. Stop this army. If we had the Aglemar from the books, and he knew they had the Horn, he would have recommended using it before sending his whole army to die.
So it appears that the wall at Tarwin's Gap is already being overrun and trollocs are swarming through towards our women who can channel. Amalisa starts instructing the women how to link so she can take charge and attack the army. The women link and amalisa seems surprised by the amount of power she is now channeling.
There is some concern with this scene, other than it being completely made up. At this point, I am pointing this out just as a consistent reminder that the content we are seeing was not from the book. while I could probably stop doing this because almost everything is made up, I think it is impotant to note because we were told before the show released that the book series was too vast to include everything, and things would need to be cut. When so much of the content is completely made up and different from how things happened in the book, it remains hard for me to accept that excuse. Here, we have Amalisa, who was too weak to become an Aes Sedai, but somehow became an Accepted because she got a ring. She knows how to link with other women. One, I do not know how you can become an accepted, but fail to become an Aes Sedai because of power level. Perhaps she did something else to get kicked out of the Tower, I am unsure. But it is interesting that an accepted would have been taught how to link. It is posible as later in the series accepted are brought into links, but this is thought of as inappropriate by more tenured Aes Sedai. Egwene and Nyneave should not have a clue how to join a link. Nyneave should not even be able to channel. While the two prior instances, it could be said that she was angry enough to channel, here she is not angry at all that we can tell. This means her block does not exist in this show at all, and is a huge change of character. It is also odd that Amalisa is surprised by the power she is wielding because if she is trained enough to form a link and to have been raised to Accepted, then surely she should have been able to sense the raw power of Nyneave and Egwene. We already have established that Moiraine did not seem to be able to sense Nyneave, so maybe this is the case. In summary, this scene has flaws and contradicts what is in the book.
Perrin sees Padan Fain in the keep and goes after him after the Horn is completely dug up.
Back to the Dark One walking Rand through the way to embrace the One Power. The Dark One tells Rand to open himself up, turn all of his fear and emotion into want. he tells Rand to let the power flow through him like he is an open siev. The Dark One specifically tells Rand not to fight the power. Rand begins to channel and we see the taint flow over his power. We then see the Dark One telling Moiraine that Rand is now channeling and she does not know what he is doing with the One Power.
This is a clear change in the way the One Power works, even if the show eventually maintains Saidin and Saidar. Men very specifically have to reach out and seize Saidin. It is often described as them needing to fight it and control it, force it to do what they want. In this scene, the Dark One is telling Rand to not fight it and open himself up to it. If he did that, it would destroy him. It seems likely as an indicator that the way the One Power works is changed and they combined Saidar and Saidin. I understand that the show runner has said in a more recent interview that they will be maintaining the separation between the two halves of the One Power, but I wonder if this is a reaction to backlash and demand from book fans that it remain. Watching season one, I do not get the sense that there was any intention to maintain that part of the mechanics of the One Power. Again, this scene is made up content.
Another problem that comes to me here. if we saw the Dark One, and I think at this point I should start calling him by the name of the Foresaken that I think this actually is, Ishmael, channel earlier to shield Moiraine, what specific power does Rand have that Ishmael does not that could set the Dark One free? If Ishmael and Rand can both touch the One Power, and Rand can set the Dark one free, why couldn't Ishmael? And if it was just the need to have the sa'angreal, why didn't he just attack Rand and Moiraine, take the sa'angreal, and set the Dark one free? And it can't possibly be that the sa'angreal is neded because Ishmael does not know at the moment that Rand even has it. So Rand can free the Dark One with just his raw power, and he and Ishmael were relatively the same strength. He can clearly channel against Moiraine. He knows far more about using the One Power than Rand.... this makes no sense. Why go through all of this to trick Rand? And if Rand is the only one that can help the Dark One escape, why not just kill him now Moiraine? The downside is then perhaps Ishmael would be alone with Moiraine and could take the sa'angreal, but at this moment, Moiraine doesn't know that he is just a Foresaken and thinks he is the Dark One.
What bugs me about the parts between Moiraine and the Dark One or Ishmael is that with this is the Dark One or Ishmael, he has shown that he can channel. And if he can channel, whether the One Power or the True Power, he could easily weave air around Moiraine's hand and pull it away without her even knowing that he was channeling. She would be able to sense neither and he could keep her from killing Rand. Her threat should be empty.
One final problem that I have here. If Rand is asleep, he would be in the World of Dreams. Ishmael can invade his dream, that I know of, one of two ways. Either he can physically manifest in the World of Dreams, meaning his physical body would be in the dream world, and could not be in the room with Moiraine. Or he could be there through his own dreaming, which would mean his physical form is asleep and could not be in the room talking to Moiraine. This dual scene should not even be possible if they were following book mechanics and lore. This could happen, I suppose, if this was in fact the Dark One, but then that would be a huge change from the book, and I would have to think that this is in fact the Last Battle. I choose to think that this is Ishmael, and the writers and show runner did not give enough attention to the mechanics of the dream world to understand that they are severely breaking it.
Amalisa sees the trolloc army and draws even more of the One Power, looking like she is straining the women in the link.
Rand starts channeling more and the men digging up the horn hear the Fade's screaming.
We see Amalisa release a torrent of the One Power, including lightning bolts striking the Trolloc army. The women in the link start having their eyes burned out as they are apparently being burned out and start dying.
Rand starts to turn towards Ishmael and begins using the sa'angreal to channel even more of the One Power. Ishmael begins looking scared and tries to desperately get Rand to change course by reminding him he could have whatever he wants. Rand just asks, what about what she wants, meaning Egwene. Rand says even though he wants this, Egwene doesn't and she wants to be an Aes Sedai. He also somehow wakes up in the real world, stands up, and is channeling at the Ishmael in the real world. He is also talking to Ishmael in the dream world too. Rand is just standing there with the sa'angreal in his hand, scenes switching between the real world and dream world, changing up a huge blast and then obliterates Ishmael. Ishamel stands there doing nothing while he is blown away. Moiraine then asks him what happened.
Watching the women destroy the entire Trolloc army is a great scene; however, it is not from the books at all. Further, the destruction of the Trolloc army was something that Rand did in the books. This was taken from Rand and given to the women. In the books, Rand channels the uncorrupted pool of Saidin, kills a Forsaken, teleports to the scene of the battle and destroys the entire army, saving Aglemar and his entire army before they even really get to battle much, and then climbs some magical stairs into another world it seems where he fights who he thinks is the Dark One. Taking this away from Rand lessens the really cool, bad ass scenes we get with him in the books which helps us understand and see how powerful and awesome he can become. Instead we see most of the power from the link coming from Egwene and Nyneave, but it is not either leading the circle. Instead we have Amalisa, who is at best an Accepted from the Tower, channeling and destroying the whole army. Why does Amalisa, who was rejected from the Tower, know how to channel lightning or anything that would be enough to take out an army. And while yes, Rand did not know what he was doing in the books, he just did things on instinct while Amalisa seems to know what she is trying to do. Also, rand is Lews Therin reborn and throughout the books is doing things with the One Power because he just knows how to do it from Lew Therin's memories. Women have had every awesome scene where channeling happens so far in the show, and almost every scene period. And when this is supposed to be Rand, they take it from him and give it to Nyneave and Egwene, Amalisa as well.
Another gripe here, why were they at the wall to help? Why didn't Agelmar lead his army in retreat and then let these women destroy the army ranther than get all his men killed? I perhaps that they didn't know that these two women were so strong in the power and Amalisa would be able to destroy the entire army, but Aglemar, you have women who can channel and you have the Horn of Valere. You did not have to get your whole army killed.
So we do get a scene where Rand is using a ton of the One Power and supposedly being bad ass, but even here it is taken away in a few key ways. One, what we see is Rand channel, create a bright light, and blast away one man. Visually, this is not as impressive as blowing away an entire army. Of course, at this point we have to think that this is the Dark One and Rand just defeated the ultimate darkness, but we know that there is a season two, so even that cannot be true. I am unsure if he is using balefire here, which we have not actually seen in the show, though we have seen it by this point from Moiraine in the books.
Here is another way that this subverts Rand as a character and makes this scene no longer about him. Rand says that while in the dream world that he is seeing may be what he wants, it is not what Egwene wants. She wants to be an Aes Sedai. So Rand decides to destroy the Dark One and reject evil because this ideal world he is in is not what the woman that he loves wants. Rather than have Rand reject it because it is not reality and he would rather live in reality, even if that means he can't have Egwene the way he wants, than force Egwene to live this life. It is not a choice he is making because he has some deep convictions against it. It is because he knows she doesn't want it. What if it was what she wanted. Would Rand have no moral conviction to resist darkness then? Would he just make it happen because they would both be happy and doom the world to darkness? The scene subltely robs Rand of one of the main character traits he has, he is always pushing towards good. Even when his journey takes him personally down a dark path, there is never a point where hereally contemplates turning to the darkness.
Perrin is trying to find Padan Fain within the keep of Fal Dara. Perrin hears fighting in the throne room and runs back to find Padan Fain and the two Myrdraal killing Uno, Loial, and the other people. We specifically see Padan Fain kill Loial with a special look in his eye one could almost think was for the audience.
Return to the five women channeling. One has already burned out. Amalisa appears to have lost herself in the channeling because it is so much of the One Power. The other women begin burning out. Egwene and Nyneave start to burn out and fall to the ground. Nyneave somehow crawls over to Egwene and somehow saves her by grabber her arm. She tells Nyneave that to be a woman is to be always alone and never alone. Nyneave and Amalisa both have their faces look to be burned off. Egwnene survives as the link is severed.
Both scenes are made up content and have no comparison in the books. It almost seems like we are about to get a scene where Perrin finally goes beserk and fights. It appears that Loial is dead. He was stabbed with the dagger from Shadar Logoth. If he was stabbed with that, he would need some turly unique healing survive. Later in the books, Rand is stabbed with the dagger and the Aes Sedai are unable to heal the wound. It is only an Asha Aman that uses a special healing technique that almost contains the evil power from the wound to the location of the wound. The wound never truly heals ever.
What happens with the link could be a change from the books. I do not recall, but I think if the leader of a link draws too much, she is the only one that burns out, not all of the women. I understand that this was done for drama, and that the visual of the women's faces burning was introduced for a visual impact given the medium. While that is a change from the books, I am not against it. However, I do not think that what Nyneave does to save Egwene in this situation is possible. It is like she is severing the connection or having all of the power run through her, lessening the impact on Egwene until Amalisa finally burns out and dies. I would have to think that Nyneave is also dead at this point. Every other woman there is dead.
Padan Fain is explaining to Perrin that he was hunting them for the Dark One and that was why he came to the Two Rivers every year. Padan Fain explains that the reason he has done everything that he is done is because all five of them are Ta'veren. While Padan Fain is going through his explanaiton, we also see Rand walking around the floor of the Eye of the World, looking at the cracked cuillindear disc inlaide on the floor. There are cracks spreading across it. We also see Egwene crying over Nyneave's body. Fain explains that they did not send the Trollocs to kill them, but to bring them to the Dark One. Fain says that they need balance, and that required balance means that some of them will turn to the shadow. As he explains this, we see Mat walking through empty streets of Tar Valon, looking at the White Tower.
Quick scene where Moiraine tells Rand they cannot immediately return to Fal Dara. Rand says he is not going back because he felt the madness. He asks if it is true that men who can channel go so mad that they kill everyone they ever loved. Moiraine says that it is true that happens. Rand asks Moiraine to tell everyone he is dead. She tells him she cannot lie and he tells her she will find a way and then walks out.
The scene with Padan Fain is setting things up to get everyone into their places as the season ends. The ways he talks about needing balance is a new concept, especially as it pertains to some of the characters turning to the darkness to maintain that balance. Showing Mat while that is said seems to indicate that he will turn to darkness. Fain uses some foul language here by saying the word 'shit'. A small note here, throughout the show, modern swearing has been introduced. We hear different characters use words like bastard among others. So when we see Uno in the show, and he is using the foul language he used in the book, he just sounds goofy. It carries little weight and he does not sound foul mouthed. This effectiely makes his character feel different despite him actually being pretty close to the same character. But, he is dead now anyway.
I really like the guy playing Padan Fain, and the scene with him is actually good. It, along with the one with Rand and Moiraine are made up content and do not align wiht the lore or actions of what happened in the books. Rand deciding to leave is even similar to his attitude in book two, but a little too aggressive of a move for him. Also, now this guy who does not know how to use a sword, has no idea where he is going, and doesn't really even know how to channel, is about to wander off on his own into the blight. The blight, one of the most dangerous places in this world, full of trollocs, fades, and other horrific monters. But I am sure he will be find. As long as he doesnt touch anything other than the ocasional tree so he can rest.
Padan Fain gets up to leave and Perrin picks up an axe. Padan Fain then says, 'The tiniest push and you choose the dark.' Fain then walks out with the Horn of Valere while Perrin stands there and does nothing. Fain even says that Rand may be the Dragon, but they all have a part to play...
This scene, which actually was going well, falls apart in a massive way. First, why would Fain and the Myrdraal leave Perrin there. If they were trying to bring them to the Dark One, why wouldn't they take him with. There are three of them. If they don't want to risk bringing him with and alerting every one, just kill him. Then he would not have a role to play. Also, how is picking up an axe to fight them choosing the dark? Is he saying that anything other than the Way of the Leaf is the dark? So, Nyneave and Egwene working with Amalisa to destroy the trollocs is the dark? Rand defeating Ishmael is the dark? This line is baffling and seems to be more at home with the philosophy of the Force in Star Wars than Wheel of Time. I literally have no idea how this pertains in this world.
The largest fail here is ending the season with one of the biggest failures on Perrin's part, putting a nail in the coffin of this character. Perrin has literally just watched two Myrdraal and one of the most evil dark friends kill Loial, Uno, and the other Shienarans and steal the Horn of Valere. He picks up an axe and does nothing. All it takes is some slick words from Fain to remind him he should not even avenge Loial's death or try to stop them from taking the horn. This is such a departure from the Perrin of the books and makes Perrin look weak and terrible. While everyone else will fight, he refuses to completely. These aren't even regular people. These are Myrdraal. Even if he couldn't win, he doesn't even try.
Lan finds Moiraine at the Eye of the World. He asks about Rand and she tells him that Rand is gone. He asks her to unmask the bond and she tells him that she can no longer touch the True source. He holds her close as she begins to cry.
Perrin walks out on a balcony and sees the destruction of the entire trolloc army. Egwene, crying over Nyneave's body starts to channel and heals Nyneave from what appears to be death, though as I understand it from a more recent interview with Rafe, was not actually death. Nyneave comes awake and the two hug each other.
We are back with Lan and Moiraine. Moiraine explains that she is holding a fragment of cuillindear. She says that this was not the Last Battle and that she fears it was just the first.
All of these scenes are made up content, though if I am generous, mabe Lan and Moiraine talking about what happened at the Eye of the World is similar to the two talking at the end of the book. Moiraine being cut off from the One Power is a huge change and something that never happened in the books. There have been comments in an interview with Rafe that he wants to explore her character without the One Power because one of the biggest parts of Moiraine is how intelligent she is, and she will be advancing through that. He has admitted outright that he sees a side of her he wants to accentuate and will change the story to portray it.
Egwene healing Nyneave is aggregious. First, Egwene was never gifted at healing in the books. Even when highly trained, she rearely could heal much of anything and was stronger with earth weaves. Second, Egwene is not trained, so she is performing a healing weave without any training, making working with the One Power very different than the books. She is trying to heal Nyneave, and through sheer force of will, she is able to do it, just like Ishmael told Rand, put all his emotion and turn it into want, and everthing will just work out. Third, Nyneave was either near death or actually dead. Let's take it as near death and also burned out. Did Egwene restore Nyneave's ability to channel too? If she did not, that is a huge change in Nyneave's character for the worse. If she did, that is a huge change in channeling and Egwene. For her to not only be able to heal without training, but to heal someone from near death and restore their ability to channel. . . And if she is able to heal Nyneave, why does she not try to heal any of the other women? At least try. If Nyneave wasn't dead, maybe the other women aren't either.
In the recent interview with Rafe, he said that originally Egwene was supposed to heal Nyneave with herbs and knowledge she learned from Nyneave; however, COVID restrictions meant that the two women could not get as close as they would have needed for the scene, so they had to change it to the One Power. That makes no sense because how much closer were they going to get beyond Egwene literally cradling Nyneave in her arms? How are herbs or healing techniques Nyneave taught her going to heal Nyneave from being burned out? How would that heal her burned eyes at all? Only the One Power could even come close, and even that is too far at this point in the story with Egwene's level of knowledge using it. This scene is horrible.
Moiraine just realizing that it was not actually the last battle is rich. One, you are still alive which you said multiple times that anyone that was not the Dragon would die during that battle. Guess the fact that you are still alive should be your first clue. So she was completely wrong. Also, this is a change to the seals of the Dark One's prison as in the books, there are seven seals which are discs made of cuillindear. The do start to break, and as they break, the Dark One starts to get free. In this, it is like there is one large seal built into the floor. This is a huge change as throughout the books they try to hide the seals, which are getting more fragile. They do what they can to protect them and not let them break. How are they going to do that with a gigantic seal in the floor of the Dark One's prison?
The final scene of the show is of the Seanchan on their boats sailing towards the shores. Sul'dam and damane channel a giant tidal wave to crash against an mostly empty shore. I say mostly empty because there is nothing on the shore other than a little girl.
This scene is based on events from the book in the extent that the Seanchan do attack on the western shore leading into book two. We do not see them land or attack. We are introduced to them through rumors and then when our main characters begin interracting with them. The scene itself is made up and makes no sense. I am unsure why the Seachan would expend energy causing a tidal wave to attack an empty shoreline with one little girl on it. The costumes are off and I am not sure why the damane have gags in their mouths.
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