Season 3, Episode 8, titled He Who Comes with the Dawn, directed by Ciaran Donnelly and written by Justine Juel Gillmer, concludes by exploring the events of the Black Ajah acquiring the Domination Band, the White Tower Coup, and the Aiel kneeling to Rand al’Thor as their Car’a’carn, for he is the Dragon Reborn, the Champion of the Light. The Shadow may have attained many victories with the manipulation of Tar Valon and Andor into their control, but the Light has gained much strength in both the Two Rivers and the Aiel Waste. The Light is now growing a proper army to fight the Shadow, unlike the corrupt factions that pretend to serve the Light, such as the Seanchan and the Children of the Light.
The central theme of this episode is humanity. Most of the protagonists, specifically Rand al’Thor, are slowly losing their humanity and their dream to live simple lives in order to fulfill their destinies as Champions of the Light as they prepare for the Last Battle. They are no longer the innocent people they once were during their youth. They are now cold, tactical, ruthless, and strategic, with only some of them still holding onto their humanity—like Perrin Aybara. This shows how war clearly affects one’s own humanity, since no one ever returns the same following war, and it will be a miracle if they do. When the Wheel of Time, or the Pattern itself, calls to a person to achieve their destiny, they must accept—regardless of whether they want to or not. Every event is orchestrated by the Creator to keep the Dark One from destroying the world until there is nothing left. This is a tragedy, as it shows that conflict and suffering will always continue to test one’s own humanity and strength, whether they ascend as heroes or fall as villains.
The White Tower Coup
In Tar Valon, at the White Tower, Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan (Shohreh Aghdashloo) gains the support of the White Ajah through Alviarin Freidhen (Clare-Hope Ashitey) and the Red Ajah through Galina Casban (Clare Dunne). Together, they rally many powerful Aes Sedai sitters and sisters to begin the White Tower Coup to overthrow Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo). The coup is successful, as both Siuan and Leane Sharif (Jennifer Cheon Garcia) are stilled, tortured, and captured. Siuan would be tried by Elaida, who becomes the new Amyrlin Seat, with Alviarin taking Leane’s role as the Keeper of the Chronicles. In the end, the tortured and bruised Siuan is put on a hoax trial as a suspect for being a Darkfriend and is sentenced to execution.
Siuan does not show fear as she defies Elaida and scolds the latter for being too blind to the threat lurking in the White Tower, warning that she will be destroyed if she does not leave. Elaida is left horrified and speechless at Siuan’s final words before Alviarin executes Siuan—shutting her up via decapitation with the One Power. Regardless, Elaida is glad she is now the Amyrlin Seat, since this position will give her the freedom to ensure the Aes Sedai remain strong and influential as they were in the past. However, Elaida is blind to the fact that most of her Aes Sedai supporters are part of the Black Ajah, led by Alviarin, who in turn serves Rahvin (Nuno Lopes). With Siuan’s death, Rahvin now has control over the White Tower of Tar Valon, with Elaida as his puppet—Queen Morgase being the first in his control over Andor.
Liandrin Serves Moghedien
In Tanchico, the Black Ajah infiltrate the Panarch’s Palace to find the Domination Band collar. The same goes for Elayne (Ceara Coveney), Nynaeve (Zoë Robins), Mat (Dónal Finn), Min (Kae Alexander), and Thom (Alexandre Willaume). Elayne and Thom kill Jeaine (Olivia Popica) of the Black Ajah with a ter’angreal that can shoot balefire. Jeaine being struck by balefire reverses every harmful action she had done in the past. In other words, if you die by balefire, everyone you harmed will return to normal, and everyone you killed will be resurrected. Before the confrontation with Jeaine, Thom hears about Lord Gaebril from Elayne and warns her that Gaebril never existed, and that the person is likely a Forsaken who used compulsion to manipulate the leaders of Andor into thinking he married Queen Morgase years ago.
On the other hand, Min defeats Chesmal Emry, but Mat stumbles into a twisted redstone door frame, where he is met by a humanoid fox creature called the Eelfinn (Robert Strange). The Eelfinn asks Mat his three wishes, which the latter answers. As such, Mat’s mind is fixed when the Eelfinn grants him the memories of many men who lived between the end of the Trolloc Wars and the Consolidation. Many of these men were great generals and strategists. By granting these memories to Mat, the Eelfinn made him the greatest military leader of his time and the one who most successfully led the forces of Light during the Last Battle. The Eelfinn even gives him a foxhead medallion—a ter’angreal pendant which undoes all weaves of the One Power that target him directly. This object would be of enormous use in the future, since with it, he could detect a person channeling at him while being protected from a direct attack by the One Power. Finally, the Eelfinn sends Mat back to Tanchico, where he reunites with Min.
Nynaeve finds the collar and heads to the rendezvous point where the protagonists promised to meet, but is ambushed by Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood), who tries to drown her after getting the collar. Nynaeve saves herself with the One Power and reunites with her group, except for Thom, who left to head somewhere else. Together, the quartet take a ship to Andor so Elayne can save her mother from the influence of Lord Gaebril, who is secretly the Forsaken Rahvin. Liandrin returns to her base of operations alone and is confronted by Moghedien (Laia Costa), who was thinking about killing the Black Ajah sister and taking the Domination Bands for herself. However, Liandrin convinces Moghedien to spare her so she herself can ascend as a Forsaken loyal to the Spider. Moghedien agrees, and Liandrin pledges her eternal loyalty to her.
Moiraine vs. Lanfear
In the Aiel Waste, Moghedien tortures and kills Sammael (Cameron Jack) to experiment with a possible way to kill a Forsaken, before returning to Tanchico. Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe) meets with Rahvin, where Sammael was imprisoned and killed, to discuss the next steps. Rahvin deduces that Rand al’Thor has now rejected Lanfear after learning that she is truly an irredeemable monster, which angers her. With Lanfear now unable to manipulate the Dragon Reborn to her side, she is dedicated to ensuring Rand’s death—which pleases Rahvin, as he wanted to stop the infighting among the Forsaken that led to their defeat by Lews Therin Telamon during the War of Power. Lanfear and Rahvin conclude their meeting by solidifying an alliance to kill the Dragon Reborn and conquer the world for the Dark One.
Lanfear tries to assassinate Moiraine but is defeated by the Blue Ajah sister, who wields the Sakarnen, and Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney). The two were already prepared to face the Forsaken because Lan was warned by Melindhra (Synnøve Macody Lund) of what would happen. Melindhra knows this because she became a Darkfriend in order to survive Malkier and ensure her home’s memory and culture were not forgotten. Due to breaking her Dark Oaths by helping Moiraine and Lan, Lan is horrified as Melindhra dies a painful spiritual death. Because of Melindhra’s sacrifice, Moiraine—mourning Siuan’s death after sensing her lover’s demise through their bond—uses her pain and anger to defeat Lanfear with Lan’s help. The duel concludes with Moiraine slashing Lanfear’s throat, but it is not enough to kill the Forsaken, who retreats via teleportation to safety. In the aftermath, Moiraine and Lan are victorious.
Rand Al’thor is the Car’a’carn
The Taardad Aiel accompanies the Dragon Reborn to Alcair Dal, where he will be proclaimed as the Car’a’carn to all the Aiel chiefs. However, Lanfear hijacks the proclamation by working with the Shaido Aiel, who do not want an outsider to lead them. Lanfear places fake dragon tattoos on both arms of Couladin (Set Sjöstrand), allowing the latter to falsely claim himself as the Car’a’carn. However, Rand intervenes by showing proof to all of the Aiel that he is their Car’a’carn, explaining how his life parallels and fulfills the prophecy, saving and destroying the Aiel by revealing that they once followed the Way of the Leaf and are all oathbreakers. This truth shatters the Aiel, as being oathbreakers is dishonorable—but Rand shows them hope by displaying his strength in the One Power, creating a vast rainstorm.
The rainstorm spreads across the world and is witnessed by every other living character. Such power and words from the Dragon Reborn make all the Aiel finally open their eyes and accept that he is truly their Car’a’carn. They kneel with zealousness and obedience to their chief of chiefs as the first to join his army to fight the Shadow. However, Egwene (Madeleine Madden) wants Rand to stop, as his journey to becoming a leader to fight the Shadow shows her that her best friend and former lover is losing his humanity. The season ends with Egwene realizing that Rand al’Thor is truly gone—there is only the Dragon Reborn.
Overall, Season 3 of The Wheel of Time has been a major success compared to Season 1, which was a massive disappointment, and Season 2, which was a slight improvement. However, it should be noted that the show diverges from the novels significantly to fit the narrative the writers want to tell. Another reason for such divergence is that the books have too much information for the show to cover, and the budget must be managed accordingly. Nevertheless, while The Wheel of Time series is not faithful to the source material, it does spread awareness, encouraging viewers to read the novels by Robert Jordan to discover the masterpiece for themselves. Additionally, the villains feel more compelling than they were in the novels. Season 3 has been great so far, and now we wait to see if the show will be renewed for Season 4 to continue the live-action adaptation of the books.
Rating: 9/10