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butterflydm · 1 day ago

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Wheel of Time 3x04 Deep Dive (show spoilers)

We have so much to talk about. Spoilers through 3x04 of the show.

We start with Lan training Rand with the sword, while Moiraine keeps a watchful eye on them from afar.

This conversation does a lot to set up the heritage exploration that we're about to get in this episode, by Lan asking Rand about his feelings about the Aiel, and about his (adopted) father who raised him. It's great to get a check-in on Rand's headspace and we also see here what Rand explained to Moiraine back in 3x02 -- he talks to Lan because Lan actually listens to him. To him, the person Rand al'Thor, not to the idea of the Dragon Reborn. When Rand talks about his father and his feelings about his home, Lan doesn't try to tell him that he needs to stop caring about that. He listens. He encourages Rand to use the lessons of his father to help him in his current journey (the flame and the void) just as much as he encourages Rand to open himself up to the idea of finding home among the Aiel.

This conversation sets up several things about the past that we're going to see Rand dip into, that will allow him to emotionally connect with the journey of his ancestors -- Rand's love of the land and of doing things with his own hands (which will be echoed in Charn), that Rand was raising learning how to use tools that can be used as weapons (the bow) but not weapons that only exist as weapons (his father's sword) - this is echoed in Lewin declaring that he will use a bow or a spear, but not a sword.

This becomes more obvious later on, but Moiraine and Rand are clothing-matching again -- they are both wearing the pale top with the darker trousers/skirt. Meanwhile, Egwene (who echoed Moiraine in s1) is in an outfit that more resembles what we've seen Lanfear wearing in TAR in s2 than anything that we've ever seen Moiraine wear. As Bair says later this episode, Egwene's path no longer aligns with Rand's (and Moiraine's) and it's time for her to seek out her own path. Lanfear is a master of TAR and we've learned that Egwene also has a talent in that direction. There's also the romantic similarities, in that they are both still firmly attached to Rand at this point.

Lan really does such a good job connecting with Rand here. He asks a question, gets an answer, gives Rand positive feedback for being open with him, and asks another question that's on a related topic, leading to yet more open vulnerability from Rand. The contrast between Lan's conversations with Rand in this episode vs Moiraine's with Rand are striking. I am very interested to see how that might change in 3x05, as Moiraine and Rand process the traumas that they went through (separately but, in some ways, together).

Because of this, we learn about the flame and the void, a concentration trick that Rand's father taught him when teaching him how to use the bow (and if you go back and watch 1x07, Rand is definitely using it there as he processes his feelings about admitting to himself that he's the Dragon Reborn). We learn that Rand feels some emotional uncertainty over how much he doesn't know about his father. He'd known that his father was a soldier, but not what it meant. His father raised him to understand their life in the Two Rivers, not to be a warrior. We are allowed to sink into his love for his home in a way that Moiraine didn't allow him to do when he tried to share this with her.

And Lan gently encourages Rand to think about the present, after letting him talk himself out about the Two Rivers first.

Rand's little metaphor about the lamb is great. Much like Siuan's constant fish metaphors, it shows how deeply he was marked by the way that he was raised, but it also shows that he understands the situation that he's in. He was the lamb marked by their new parents. He was accepted and loved by the Two Rivers. The world of the Aiel is not the world that he knows or understands.

And Lan asks an important question: does Rand want to be part of the Aiel?

Rand essentially side-steps the question - "There's so many things I can't be. It would be nice to find something I can."

He is looking for some sense of belonging and home, since he's been told he can never go back to the Two Rivers. But he doubts he can find it among the Aiel. But... it would be nice.

When Rand smiles this season so far, it's pretty much always because someone is treating him like a person and not a prophecy or a pawn -- Mat and Perrin in 3x01; Elayne in 3x01; at Lan here when he calls Rand "sheepherder" and at Aviendha at the end of the episode when she's still calling him "wetlander" even though she knows he's the Car'a'carn now. All Rand really wants from people right now is that they treat him like a person (and like a grown man and not a boy, looking at you, Moiraine). Lan does such a good job of being a mentor here without treating Rand like a child.

We shift from Lan treating Rand like a person to Moiraine watching him like he's a bomb that could go off at any moment.

Though she and Siuan came to different conclusions about what to do about the Dragon Reborn in 2x07, I think they still thought of him in a similar way -- as the most powerful weapon that the Light has against the Dark One, a weapon that can potentially turn in their hands and be used against them. Though Moiraine has come to trust Rand (to a certain extent), she still tries to manipulate him into doing what she believes is best for fulfilling his destiny.

Moiraine and Ishamael had the exact same approach to Rand in s1/2 -- if he can be on my side, that's great. Otherwise, I should kill him because if he's not with me then he's my most dangerous opponent. Ishamael at the Eye of the World definitely had a game recognizes game moment with Moiraine. Which might be part of why he only shielded her instead of killing her.

Moiraine and Egwene have dinner with Bair and Melaine, and get themselves some information about the Aiel -- "water and shade, freely given" tells us what is valuable to the Aiel. "All here are welcome as first-sisters are welcome" tells us that first-sisters are a marker of closeness and trust.

Egwene asks after what appear to be servants, asking if they are restricted to the Wise Ones, and we learn about gai'shain -- something I'm wondering is if gai'shain existed before Rhuidean was established, or if this is a custom that the Wise Ones and clan chiefs put into place after they learned their heritage and the paths of their ancestors. A way to allow their people to honor the old ways without learning about those ways in detail.

If you're able to touch your enemy without hurting or killing them, then that enemy is bound to you, to serve you peacefully and do no harm. I feel like someone who has just been traumatized by living through their past generations might come up with an idea like that.

I'm not going to get too into some of the Wise One-related stuff here, because what with Aviendha becoming an apprentice and Egwene learning Dreamwalking from them, I assume that we'll get more detail in 3x05. And we just get tastes here -- Bair says they have ways of seeing the future but doesn't go into detail.

"We did not see Egwene at all."

I do think this is part of why Bair dismisses Egwene as being relevant to Rand's path -- it seems clear that however they saw the future here, whether by the rings or some other means (we know of two others -- Foretelling, as practiced by Elaida and Gitara; and Min's viewings), it was focused on Rand.

And Egwene wasn't there.

She wasn't relevant to Rand's journey into Rhuidean (bit of self-fulfilling prophecy, since we can assume part of the reason Bair says that she wouldn't say 'yes' to Egwene is because they didn't see her there but the reason she wouldn't be there is because Bair wouldn't say yes... etc) and so Bair thinks that it's best for the two of them to adjust to that idea as quickly as possible.

"It was no more than an even chance that the young man who calls himself Rand al'Thor would come." "If he did not, it was certain he would die, and the Aiel too."

What this tells Moiraine (whether or not she listens to it or believes it is up to her) is that if Rand had listened to her, he would have died. If Rand's guess is correct that the Forsaken are waiting for him at Callandor, if it's a trap... then the Aiel believe him walking that path would have killed him. Moiraine's belief in her interpretation of prophecy was wrong. Lanfear's drive to get Rand more power was wrong.

Rand's instincts to stay away from Tear and Callandor were right, as was his decision to listen to Elayne's advice.

"If he survives Rhuidean, at least some of the Aiel will survive. This we know."

A comfort and a burden. To know that the end of your people approaches, and yet you can save some small fraction of them. Unknown how many, but every clan chief knows that the Aiel have survived some pretty sharp population bottlenecks in the past. They will survive this one. As long as Rand survives Rhuidean, at least some Aiel will survive.

Melaine also mentions that if Moiraine hadn't come, she would have died. If Lan hadn't come, Moiraine would have died. If she doesn't go to Rhuidean...

And Bair chastises Melaine for saying too much. At least it's not just Rand who doesn't get told the details about his trial! But we learn from what Bair and Melaine say that the reason they didn't want her to know is because they'd always seen her as asking them first, without being told, so that might also be why Rand isn't supposed to know too much as well.

So far, it doesn't seem essential to Moiraine's survival that Lan is here in the Waste, but he's, you know, pretty useful, so I'm sure we'll understand what that means by the end of the season (I wonder if that's a path where Lan decided to stay with Nynaeve in the Tower).

Aviendha picking fights with Rand and then with Lan. In context of what's about to happen, her annoyance at Rand is very shaded with her feelings about herself. He is not following the Aiel way -- she is also defying the Aiel way by not attending to her duty to become a Wise One.

Aviendha puts Rand on the ground pretty easily but he also seems too startled to even think of fighting back. This moment with Rand and the echoing moment we get at the end of the episode, when Rand has seen why Aiel have their laws about swords... it's so good.

Aviendha and Lan have a good round and are ready for a second when Melaine and Bair interrupt to tell Aviendha, "it is time".

I'm glad that Aviendha was able to get a last good fight in before she has to give up her spears.

Rand (and Lan, and Moiraine, and Egwene) all learn here that Aviendha has been avoiding her duty. She was called to be a Wise One but instead "went across the Dragonwall in search of the Car'a'carn".

"You cannot run from what you must be." And we can see Rand in the background of Aviendha's shot here! Perfect! Yes, that does apply to both of them. They have this in common -- a duty to the Aiel people that they are expected to perform.

It's so difficult for Aviendha to give her spears away. Baby!

So, echoes of the White Tower Accepted Test in this conversation (or maybe they're both echoing older rituals). Like Leane told Nynaeve and Egwene, Bair tells Aviendha that she also first refused when called. And we have the three rings vs the three arches -- fears vs futures. The tests that people face helps shape the society that they live in.

"I learned my duty. My obligation to the people." But she dreams of still being a Maiden of the Spear when she visits TAR by herself. She knows her duty, but still misses what she used to have.

Another shot of Rand behind Aviendha on that second line. They both have an obligation to the Aiel people.

Rand sees Aviendha's ritual request to enter Rhuidean here, and the copies it the next day when he asks leave himself -- Couladin says that Rand asked "like a woman", so presumably the ritual to request to become a clan chief differs from this one, and Rand did the wrong ritual.

Melaine does give Aviendha a last bit of reassurance before she leaves -- "a strong mind and a strong heart are your weapons now."

Moiraine comes over for a chat with Rand, telling him that he doesn't need to go through with this dangerous ritual yet, accusing him of arrogance, and refusing to say that she's willing to trust him to carry out his own plans without interfering. So. You know. Doesn't go great.

I do understand Moiraine's point of view. She has been doing this for twenty years (well, twenty-one now) and Rand has only been consciously working towards this for... well, less than a year, because for at least six months, he thought the Dark One had already been killed and he was just resigning himself a short life where he was destined to go mad and die early. But there's a reason why Rand listened to Elayne. There's a reason why he listens to Lan.

Both of them offered him advice but neither of them tried to force or manipulate him into taking that advice, and also didn't beat him over the head with it for a month. Moiraine also was apparently giving Rand the silent treatment for a portion of their journey towards the Waste because she was mad at him for not going to Tear.

Verin warned her about this in 3x01 -- she does not have the ability to control Rand. He is not isolated and under her control. He is free-ranging in the world and he is going to make his own choices. All that she can do is offer advice and support, if she wants. If she tries to make his choices for him, he will resist (and all of this can also be applied to Rand & Lanfear, though Lanfear has already started trying to change her tactics to be more effective).

Verin asks Moiraine to think about whether or not she can trust Rand al'Thor -- the person, not the figure of prophecy that she's been chasing. Not the weapon that the White Tower can use against the Shadow. Can she trust Rand to make the right decisions?

Right now, she doesn't. She trusted him to break the seal that Ishamael put on her, but she doesn't trust him to make the right choices when it comes to his path. She sided with Lanfear over Rand when it came to what Rand should do next (perhaps because Lanfear helped Rand fulfill his part of his destiny at Falme, while Rand went for personal reasons instead of going to proclaim himself as Dragon?).

Rand doesn't snap at Moiraine here. He doesn't lose his temper. He speaks calmly and clearly. This is what I need from you in order to trust you -- can you give it to me? No? Then I am not willing to trust you with my plans for the future.

Rand is very very clear with Moiraine on exactly what he needs from her. He reaches out towards her multiple times in the early episodes to try to share something with her and she never reaches back. Contrast him talking about home with Lan vs how Moiraine shuts down the conversation in 3x01. Contrast this scene of Moiraine trying to find out what he's thinking vs Elayne being able to successfully give him the advice to go to the Waste instead of going to Tear. There are ways to reach Rand and he doesn't even try to hide them from Moiraine. Tell me that if I trust you with my plans, you won't work to undermine them. Say it plainly, so I know there are no loopholes.

She can't. And until she can, she and Rand are at an impasse.

She doesn't know him because she has been unable to relax her grip enough to get to know him. She accuses him of arrogance when he's expressing an acceptance of what he must do. Again, echoes of Lanfear, who believes that Rand shares her dream of a large life because she's projected that onto him, not actually listening to what he's told her about what he wants out of life.

"You've never tried to help me, Moiraine." Me, Rand al'Thor. Not the Dragon that you've been building up in your head for the last twenty years. Trying to sweep someone along to follow the path you've designed for them is not 'help', though Moiraine believes that it is.

This is such a fantastic conversation.

"It's not good enough, Moiraine."

She has to meet him where he is. That's what being an advisor is about. But she never actually learned how to be an advisor. All those years of chasing, and the Dragon Reborn ended up being a stubborn young man who is a person and not an idea. She can't mold him. It's too late for that. But she needs to admit that to herself before she can do anything different than what she's been doing.

"Chiefs can only speak of the city to others who have been." It really is fascinating how Latra set up this division between the leaders who know the truth about their past, and the general population, who have been left in the dark. We have not yet been told in the show how many clans there are (and thus how many clan chiefs) but it is still a very small percentage of their people either way.

We get a glimpse of the dragon on Rhuarc's arm here, confirming to Rand that he made the right choice in coming here -- these are the People of the Dragon and he needs them before he goes to Tear. His instincts were correct to avoid Tear, and to listen to Elayne's advice. That must have been a nice internal reassurance for him to trust his instincts!

And now we meet the Shaido. So... the Shaido. I am going to share my theory about Aiel bloodlines.

@sixth-light made a post about this, but it's interesting to think about which of Rand's ancestors (if any) is the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all Aiel. I am going to poke at that idea a bit as we go backwards in time. We know that all the Aiel shared some common experiences, but how many bloodlines came down from the time of Charn, before the Breaking of the World? Did multiple bloodlines survive over the course of the last three-thousand years, or was it only his? We see the Aiel bottleneck pretty sharply over the course of Rand's journey backwards through time, but there are also hints that other bloodlines might have survived to the present day.

I'll go over those once we get to Rhuidean, but this is my general theory (it is show-specific) -- I think that each of the different Aiel clans is from a different bloodline going back to the days of the Bore, and that's why the Taardad Aiel are the ones who seem the most keen on searching out the Car'a'carn*. They were the ones gifted with the sa'angreal. They were the ones who successfully brought their chora tree to the place that would become Rhuidean. They were the ones who spoke with Mierin Sedai before she broke open the Pattern and released the Dark One.

(*I will say that there is a caveat to this but it is spoilers beyond what I have marked down, and we may learn it via the show in the next couple of episodes)

That's the theory that I have prior to rewatching the related scenes. Now I'll see if the evidence supports it or if I need to adjust it.

Now, the counterpart to that theory is that the Shaido clan chiefs went through similar events but through a different ancestor, one who traces back to an original Aiel who wasn't Charn. Of course, right now, that point is somewhat moot, as the Shaido are currently lacking a clan chief entirely, with the old one dead and a new one not yet having survived the Trial of Rhuidean, but it's something that would impact the way that their clan has been shaped over the generations. And if they really are the ones who killed that caravan of Tuatha'an (like Rhuarc suspects after Lan says he thinks that the wounds were spear wounds disguised to look like sword wounds), then they were shaped very differently than the Taardad were.

Sevenna's outfit cracks me up. That's amazing. It's perfect. The second I saw her, I knew exactly who she was. Couladin is also perfect. I love how it feels like he can barely even stand to look at the 'wetlanders' and he keeps his body turned away from their direction for most of the scene (until he goes to attack Rand).

Two Wise Ones are needed to allow entrance to Rhuidean. This scene also implies that Sevenna is not a Wise One, but simply a clan chief's wife and that the two do not necessarily go together.

Rand interrupts the conversation to make his request to enter Rhuidean (the same way that Aviendha did thus "like a woman" as Couladin says), and is given permission by Bair and Melaine.

"My mother was Aiel." "Your father, yes, but your mother..."

Couladin interrupts here, but we will hopefully get the rest of that conversation in the couple of episodes. After Rand gets permission from both Bair and Melaine, Couladin attempts to attack him and gets put down by Bair sending the One Power at him (probably Air), revealing to us and our characters that at least some of the Aiel Wise Ones can channel (and are not bound by the Three Oaths of the Aes Sedai). Also, I didn't notice this the first time, but Rhuarc had a knife out, so he would have stopped Couladin if Bair hadn't acted first.

Egwene wants to go with Rand to Rhuidean, and Bair puts the idea down first -- "If you ask, we will not say yes. Your paths do not align."

When Moiraine asks leave to enter Rhuidean here, it must feel to Rand like she's trying to undermine his plans, or work around him somehow, since he didn't hear her conversation with the Wise Ones the previous night. But then he learns in the rest of the conversation that the Wise Ones told her that they 'saw' her asking, which... might have made him feel better about it? Difficult to say.

"Those who move with too much knowledge of the future find disaster, whether from complacency at what they think must come or in their efforts to change it."

So now we have two contrasting approaches towards knowing the future -- we have Elaida in the last episode, who has a handful of strong Foretellings that she shapes her life around; and we have the Wise Ones and their thousands of alternative life paths that give them a general sense of what should and what should not be for their lives. Min is going to try out Elaida's path for a while. Is that going to be a good thing for her and for Mat? We will find out.

Moiraine's path - to see a thousand-thousand turnings of the wheel and learn to know, without doubt, that some things must be for her and some that must not.

Rand's path - to walk the footsteps of his blood ancestors, because they believe that a leader needs to understand their past in order to be able to lead

I do think that the way the Wise Ones talk about it here, they know what happens in the trial of the columns, even if the show hasn't said that they also go through them.

"You must go to Rhuidean unarmed to honor the last true Aiel."

The true Aiel -- those who both still followed the Way of the Leaf and who did not abandon the charge given to them by the Aes Sedai. In our scene with Mandein and Latra, she mentions that the last of the true Aiel have died. Now, there are only those who call themselves Aiel (Melaine also said "the young man who calls himself Rand al'Thor" when talking about him to Moiraine in the Wise Ones' tent).

This scene also makes it very clear and obvious how match-matchy Moiraine and Rand's clothes are.

Great framing on when Bair says "if you return" - one of the spears lines up right under Moiraine's throat (and we saw her throat get slashed how many times in her visions? a lot)

We get the view here of the long wall of spears, left behind by those who never returned from Rhuidean. It's... a lot.

Rand leaves his sword (this is the one that Lan lent him, now that Lan is using the sword of the Malkieri kings), and Moiraine leaves her daggers. We have seen her using daggers frequently in the show -- one of the early shots is of her sheathing her Rand-killing dagger when she's about to set out on her quest -- and I expect this is also meant to speak to her level of paranoia after being shielded so long in s2. It does make her a bit of a hypocrite for twitting Rand over sword training with Lan, but she was feeling generally salty anyway during that time because she felt like Rand had abandoned his 'real' duty by choosing to go to the Waste instead of Tear.

I really love the ritual here -- they leave their weapons to take them back up when they return and now they are officially 'dead' unless they make it through their trials and return to the land of the living. I mean, looking at all the weapons that are still there, a lot of people never come back.

"Rhuidean belongs to the dead" has another meaning as well -- it is the city that was built by the "true Aiel", who never broke their oaths. And they're all dead now. Only their protectors remain (another way that the Aiel learn that they have failed, when they go through the columns -- the protectors survived, while the ones they sought to protect all died).

"Begone from among the living and do not haunt us with memories of what is lost." Ooof. Imagine being the generations of Wise Ones who developed this ritual. How once you've grown through the columns, you understand what those rituals words truly meant.

"Speak not of what the dead see." Another part of the ritual of Rhuidean is that the truths found inside are kept secret, known only to those who survive the trial.

I love how Rhuidean feels haunting in a completely different way than Shadar Logoth did -- they are both dead cities, but they are dead for very different reasons. Shadar Logoth ate itself up with paranoia, while Rhuidean exists to test and to teach. Here is where the Aiel learn the truth of what the Three-Fold Land is -- it exists to shape them (to be the People of the Dragon), to test them (to weed out the leaders who can't handle the truth about their past), and as punishment for their sins (breaking their oaths of non-violence).

Moiraine notes that she can see threads of the One Power flickering in the fog (guessing this is what leads her to sa'angreal later).

The journey of Avendesora begins! Here, it is the only remaining one of its kind known -- the "tree of life". Rand learns that the entire reason behind the Aiel War was because the Aiel had entrusted a sapling of Avendesora to the Cairhienin people, and then her uncle King Laman cut down that tree to make his throne. And the threads of the Pattern pull and tug, to place Rand where he needs to be born in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Dragon Reborn. How many other threads have been tugged over the course of the last three-thousand years? Being under the tree gives a sense of peace.

"To kill him for destroying the tree, and the pledge of peace along with it."

Because they know how precious peace is, and how precious keeping Oaths are, because in order to survive to become a clan chief, you have to learn how your people betrayed both of them. Nature through nurture -- every Aiel who goes through the columns has grown up in the Aiel culture, and so they bring that lens to what they interpret through the memories. Which is likely part of the reason why the Car'a'carn -- why the Dragon -- why Rand... needed to be raised outside the Aiel Waste. He needed to bring a different context to the memories than he would have had if he'd been raised Aiel.

It's interesting that after realizing how connected he and Moiraine have been, how her family helped create the circumstances of his birth, he tells her, "You shouldn't have come here."

Is he worried about her? He worried about her in 1x08, when he realized that she believed she was signing her own death warrant by coming along with him to the Eye, and he told her to turn back then, too.

I love how it kinda feels like the city is breathing but almost... almost mechanical. idk, it's neat.

Rand walks towards the columns and sees that Muradin is already in there, and then he takes another step forward and we are inside his first memory.

So, we didn't get this memory in the books, but I am so glad that they added it. I think it really gives Rand a visceral connection to the memories as a whole and to his own bloodline, because he is witness to the moments after his birth, after he (the baby Rand) has been taken away. He sees the aftermath. His mother's body and his father's grief. It would also almost certainly trigger memories from his own life -- we know that his mother died when he was relatively young but he would remember her death, and his father's grief. Tam al'Thor never remarried. Plus, I think it was also helpful for the show audience, to give them something that they'd already seen one part of (Rand's mother giving birth to him) and show them what happened afterwards.

Information this scene gives us: Rand's blood father (Janduin) is the person who killed King Laman.

Our next memory is Mandein, one of the first clan chiefs to go to Rhuidean (in fact, we see Rhuidean get filled up with its magic fog in this scene). He leaves behind the first spear at Rhuidean's edge. His wife also seems to be a Wise One Dreamwalker, like Bair and Melaine, and she tells him that he must agree to what "Latra Sedai" requests of him -- that all of her sisters shared the same dream. Any Aiel who fails to go to Rhuidean and agree to Latra's terms will have their names die out. In both this memory and in Janduin's, we hear the same endearment that we heard with Rhuarc and Bair -- "shade of my heart".

Latra Sedai (last seen in the 1x08 cold open) is the person who created the fog of Rhuidean, and the glass columns. She may have created the rings, or they may have been brought by someone else. From inside the tree, Latra pulls out the sa'angreal and uses it to have enough strength to accomplish her tasks. The tree was planted and is thriving (and now I'm thinking of the Two Rivers burial rite of the Aybara family) and has gotten fairly big around, though not anywhere near as huge as it is when Rand and Moiraine see it.

We see six people here to meet with Latra, which is potential bottleneck for how many ancestral lines might have come from this time period for the clan chiefs.

"The last people who were truly Aiel, they are all dead now. ... the people who built this city, who planted this tree."

And that is why Rhuidean belongs to the dead.

She questions them on why they don't carry swords and their answer shows that they don't know why. It's simply forbidden because of long passed-down custom. "There is too much you do not know."

Ah, what Latra says here does imply that the Wise Ones also go through the columns at some point - she says that "chiefs and Wise Ones both" must learn where their ancestors came from and why they do not carry swords.

"Who cannot learn will not live."

She tells them here the requirements for how they will know the Car'a'carn, the ones that Bair shared with us at the end of 3x02.

Similarities that Mandein shares with Rand: a wish that these Aes Sedai would please just speak plainly.

Also, I get the vibe that the clan chief who is mostly in black is probably the one that the Shaido are descended from because color schemes, baby!

This is our initial "bloodline" trail -- six chiefs came to Rhuidean in response to the Wise Ones' dreams, and the clans that we currently have are based out of those six bloodlines (so if there are more clans than that, one of the bloodlines created more than one clan, etc). Or those who survived, which might not have been all six.

"Know who you were and what you are. Know why we Aes Sedai call you oathbreakers."

It gives me chills.

We're now with Lewin, and Avendesora -- the tree of life -- is small and enclosed in a pot, traveling in a wagon. Lewin has two friends that are definitely meant to visually remind the audience of Perrin and Mat. We're told here that the tree is a 'chora' tree and that it's from before the Breaking of the world. We can also see the sa'angreal resting in its branches.

This is the event that makes Muradin claw his eyes out. So, then the question becomes -- are the six chiefs who came to Rhuidean in Mandein's time all descended from either Lewin or Alijha (the Mat-friend) or do some of them only descend from Aiel who defected from the Way of the Leaf later on?

Even if we go with the most restrictive choice (that all Aiel clan chiefs witness this specific formative event from either Lewin or Alijha's PoV), it means that we have two different bloodlines being followed, and only one of them leads back to Charn (it is not implied that Alijha is related to Adan, who is the only surviving member of Jonai's bloodline, only that Lewin is).

We meet "old man Adan" here, and he's Lewin's grandfather. We don't share Adan's PoV directly but he lets us mark some time out -- he's a grandfather here and the next time we see him, our next step into the past, he's the young grandson of our PoV Randcestor, Jonai.

But we're still with Lewin now. As the boys exit the wagon, we can see that they're living in a very similar caravan set-up to what we've seen before, among the Tuatha'an. This group of Aiel have kept their Oaths -- they are not Lost Ones -- but we are now in the inflection point of their history when they break the oath that is even older than their oath to the Aes Sedai to carry their chora tree to a place of safety. They break the oaths that make them Aiel, and begin the process that ends with the death of the 'true' Aiel, leaving only those 'who call themselves' Aiel.

From the perspective of their history.

The boys are giggling and light and happy... until they learn from Lewin's mother that two of the girls from their caravan were kidnapped (Lewin's sister, Maigran, and one other girl named Colline, who Alijha seems to know well), when they were doing the washing down by the stream. The Aiel way, as taught and enforced by Adan, is to leave them behind and continue on. Their oaths have to matter more than any one of their lives. That tree matters more than any of them (which is a heartbreaking misinterpretation of what Latra's original request was; it is clear when she speaks to the Aiel that she valued their lives and their way of life and them).

"Old man Adan says we came to the desert to build a city. A city of peace, of Aiel, and that's where we'll plant [Avendesora]." As we see in the previous memory, they did that. They built the city and planted the tree... and then died, leaving no descendants of those Aiel who had kept both of their oaths.

(and yet, the Aiel survived, as a remnant of a remnant - and as we see from Melaine in the previous episode, one of the ways that some (potentially most) Aiel react to seeing the memories is to believe, fiercely, that Lewin and Alijha made the morally-correct choice when they picked up weapons to defend their people. again, we're all marked by the cultures we grew up in!)

Josha does an amazing job with all of his Randcestors, but something about the innocence (that gets broken) of Lewin really gets to me. He manages to look so young.

"All will be well, all will be well, and all manner of things will be well," Adan says here, when he's telling the boys that no one is going to be going after the girls to try save them. This is the first (last) occurence of this phrase, which will make its final (first) appearance in Rhodric's time, I believe. It's a mantra that the Aiel hold onto during the time of the Breaking and gets carried until we reach this point in history, when Lewin and Alijha decide that they cannot simply continue on and say that all will be well as long as they carry out their duty. All is not well, and they feel the need to act on it. They cannot trust to the Pattern, to peace, to the Way of the Leaf.

They need to do something.

They don't plan to do violence. They don't want to. But when the moment arrives, they find that they are capable of it. And they learn that it works. It saves the kidnapped girls (at a cost; the life of one of their own).

And it makes them oathbreakers. This is the sin of the present-day Aiel, that they turned away from the Way of the Leaf, as judged by Latra Sedai, who first sent them out on their journey.

The Aiel, as a whole, feel a deep obligation to their people -- we've seen several examples of that so far. They also hold their honor extremely seriously - ji'e'toh. Honor and obligation. The cornerstones of their way of life.

And violence is woven deeply into their culture. Even their kissing games are violent.

Going into the columns shows them that the fabric of their society is at odds with the obligations that their ancestors had carried, and thus breaks their own honor. And yet... they cannot undo hundreds of years of social growth and change. It was already too late by the time Latra opened the doors of their past to them. They are who they are, and they work within the confines of that culture and interpret what they see in the columns through the lens of their current culture.

This era is the point, I suspect, when most prospective clan chiefs who do not make it through the columns fail, as Muradin also fails at this point. This is when they learn that they are not "true" Aiel and that they failed to uphold the most deeply-held oath of their ancestors.

"Mercy of the Light, be with us," Alijha says, once the violence has ended and the cost of it settles in -- they've done violence and had violence done to them -- their friend Charlin was killed by one of the bandits.

And Lewin makes rules. They broke the most important rule that they've ever had, the foundational text of their lives, and Lewin creates a new rule to replace it -- instead of "no violence" it's "no swords". The desperate rationalization of a scared young man who suddenly has thin air under his feet instead of the solid ground of the Way of the Leaf.

So it follows that it's Lewin and Alijha (and the Aiel who follow in their footsteps) who would create the new way of life that the Aiel end up following in the future, a patchwork of rules to fill in the gaps of what they've lost, that is later codified and refined into ji'e'toh.

And I would say that the beginnings of the first Aiel society is created here when Lewin and Alijha are bonded further together by the events of the night.

Such a heartbreaking homecoming.

"They tried to kill us. They did kill Charlin." "You killed?" "They took Maigran, grandfather. They hurt her. What else could we do?" "We bury our dead and we go on. What else is there? You... are no longer Aiel. Strangers. Oathbreakers."

This moment here feels like it might be the moment that makes Aiel like Melaine disdainful of the Tuatha'an (and feel that they aren't even worth burying). From her perspective, she may feel that Lewin, Alijha, and Charlin did the right thing -- they protected their people. And she's supposed to believe it's better to leave the girls for dead and move on?

This is the big philosophical & moral schism -- the "true" Aiel (and the Tuatha'an of today) believe that any violence is never worth it. The present-day Aiel, and Lewin and Alijha, decided that some violence may be necessary to preserve what matters most in life.

And, of course, the present-day Aiel were all shaped by the culture that Aiel like Lewin and Alijha created, because the "true" Aiel all died out.

"Who are you that calls me Mother? Hide your face from me, stranger. I had a son once with a face like that. I don't want to see it on a killer. Hide your face."

Heartbreaking.

And we get the origins of why the Aiel veil when they kill, which also must come as a big shock to the Aiel who undergo the Trial of Rhuidean.

Yeah, this is about when Rand catches up to Muradin, and begins to pass him.

I like the way they use Moiraine's scenes here to give the revelations of the last memory time to sink in, and we follow Moiraine following the threads of the One Power and locating the sa'angreal where Latra left it, after creating the columns centuries ago. And she straight up steals this hidden important artifact because she can sense how powerful it is, girl, what are you doing? That's not yours! You didn't go through the columns! You don't know it was left there by an Aes Sedai!

(it's very book-accurate behavior for her)

I love the vibe of Rhuidean, how it is almost still, but not quite. I love how when Moiraine steps into the fog, she slowly vanishes.

Moiraine finds the rings and sees Aviendha already suspended inside, screaming in misery or agony -- Moiraine doesn't know, not yet.

And she steps through.

I do love the 'turnings of the wheel' spinning camera choice that they made here. It really feels like it fits in with the vibe of the rings.

Inside, she finds a constant drumbeat of all the ways that she could fail in her mission, starting with the most unlikely turns of the wheel and then focusing in on the most likely (imo):

She could fail by having never started her mission at all, instead becoming Siuan's fishwife in Tear, thus dooming the world by not doing her part in helping Rand.

She could fail by bringing the Dragon Reborn to the halls of the Tower, and having him killed there. Rand also says "Egwene" here, so this is Egwene as Keeper and Moiraine as Amrylin. Rand clearly also knows Moiraine, so Moiraine still went to the Two Rivers in this turning and met Rand and Egwene.

She could fail by releasing Lan from his bond as a Warder and leaving him behind.

She could fail by bonding Rand as a Warder (and it looks like he's gone through the formal training, because he is wearing a "Warderish" outfit) - given that Moiraine is wearing the same outfit in both of these, this might be the same turning -- releasing Lan and then bonding Rand.

She could fail due to being in the White Tower with Lan when an attack happens. Failure because she stayed in the White Tower instead of going out hunting for the Dragon Reborn, perhaps. I think the person attacking them might be Moghedien. The silhouette seems baggier than what Lanfear usually wears. This might be a turning where Rand accidentally released Moghedien instead of accidentally releasing Ishamael.

She could fail because Rand dies due to her being Amyrlin.

She could fail because she and Lan kill Rand (and she is also Amyrlin; which always seems to mean bad news bears for the world, so no matter what happens with Siuan in the future, the rings imply that Moiraine and Siuan made the right choice about which one of them should try to become Amyrlin).

She could fail by not finding Rand until after he has been through the columns and become the Car'a'carn.

What's interesting to me about this set of viewings is that there's no Lanfear, so these are all turnings based on events that happened before Lanfear was released by Ishamael (assumption on my part). Maybe all turnings where Rand never went to the Eye of the World and released Ishamael.

We return to Rand, who has officially passed Muradin (who is busy clawing his eyes out, perhaps realizing that his people used to be pledged to the Way of the Leaf and were not always warriors).

Backwards again and, before, we were with Adan's grandson, Lewin.

Now, we are with Adan's grandfrather, Jonai.

This is the bottleneck of Charn's line, imo. The lineage of Charn among the Aiel narrows down to Jonai and Adan (and I don't think Jonai had any more kids after this point, so it's all Adan), then they cross the Spine of the World and discover other Aiel who made it to the desert, who had daughters who also had the same dream that Jonai's daughter had, of a city in the desert, a city of Aiel, and city of peace.

(it is possible that more of Charn's descendants do exist... among the Tuatha'an.)

And here we have the splitting off of the Tuatha'an -- the Lost Ones -- from the Aiel. They abandon their mission. We hear the traditional Tuatha'an greeting words here, this time said as Jonai and Adan split from the those who will become Tuatha'an -- and these Tuatha'an are not in search of the song, but in search of a place of safety that is easier to get to than across the Spine of the World. They want to set down the task given to them by the Aes Sedai and find their own way to peace and safety, now that the Breaking of the World is officially ended, with the death of the last man who can channel.

"You remember the song?" is a mournful statement, not her actually trying to find it -- she knows it too, passed down by their ancestors. Eventually, the knowledge of the song fades from the Tuatha'an people, because it was of no use to them, and now they believe that they need to find it again, that the world would be peaceful if only they had the song. But the song itself does not bring peace -- it was a product of a world that was largely peaceful. These current Aiel who split off here want to find a place to settle so they can sing the "songs of harvest". But they never do settle, and they forget that the song wasn't a song of peace, but of harvest.

The Tuatha'an chose peace over the mission. Our present-day Aiel chose the mission over peace. And those Aiel who tried to keep to both all died out.

And we see that the words that Adan spoke to Lewin in the modern tongue are spoken by Jonai in the Old Tongue - we bury our dead and go on. - and then, in the modern tongue - what else is there?

Adan merges the two statements over the course of his lifetime. What Jonai said to keep himself going, to keep himself focused on the mission that was handed down to him by his ancestors, becomes the way that defines Adan's entire life.

"The others will come. They'll meet us across the spine. My daughter dreamed that."

So of this particular wagon descended from Rhodric & thus Charn, only Jonai and Adan both survived and chose to continue on instead of splitting off, but we have this confirmation from Jonai that other Aiel make it across the spine of the world as well (but, I suspect, only Jonai got his chora tree across, because there's only one chora tree mentioned in Lewin's memory).

"Always will our fires welcome you," Jonai tells the others as they leave. "Go now in peace. The Way of the Leaf is peace."

And Adan defines his entire world by what his grandfather teaches him, and his own determination never to break his oaths. Adan is tested twice in his lifetime, and stays a "true Aiel" both times.

"We bury our dead and we go on. What else is there?"

Jonai and Adan have their oaths of peace and they have their mission, and they have each other. And that's all they have.

Jonai's daughter dreamed of Rhuidean -- a city in the desert, a city of peace. It did come true, though not the way she would have imagined, I don't expect.

"A place we Aiel can go and be safe. With no one to hurt us." There are no weapons allowed in Rhuidean. The peace of Rhuidean be upon you.

We see that the present-day Aiel have maintained the burial traditions that came down from Jonai's time -- traditions that were perhaps formed when the world was breaking, and it was easiest and safest to bury your loved ones in rocks. Like a leaf fallen to the ground and covered over by what comes after.

"How will we get across the Spine?" "Together."

I teared up.

We step backwards again, and into Rhodric's well-polished shoes. The Breaking has, perhaps, only recently begun, but the Aes Sedai are realizing exactly how devasting it will be for the world.

While Jonai only spoke scattered fragments of the Old Tongue, it is the only language that we see Rhodric speak. He is put-together and 'professional' and extremely dedicated, both to his way of peace and to the Aes Sedai he serves.

There are fires on the horizon, and Latra Sedai and the others have made the decision that in order to save the Aiel and the chora trees -- two symbols of the peace that defined their own era -- they must scatter them out to the winds.

10,000 saplings sent out on wagons and, of those saplings, only one survives to be planted and to grow.

The saplings and wagons are all ready to go, but Latra stops Rhodric before he leaves, and entrusts the strongest female sa'angreal in the world to him. To the Aiel. To peace.

(we also get another mention of Callandor, with affirms that it's probably our next big plot point for Rand after the Aiel Waste)

So. Interesting to me. We've seen female Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends dressing in white. We've seen the male Aes Sedai dressing primarily in black. The Aes Sedai here with Latra is wearing both white and black. Is it in honor of the brothers that she's been forced to kill because they went mad?

And this is what has survived of what Mierin did -- the Aes Sedai know that she "tore open the Dark One's prison and took the name Lanfear" and worry that someone like her might collaborate with the male channelers who have gone mad.

"Keep moving until you have found a place of safety, where no one can harm you."

Rhodric is very formal, but there is so much sincerity in him when he tells Latra that it was an honor to serve her (and it really reminds me of how the Warders talked about serving their Aes Sedai when Nynaeve challenged them over back in s1) -- I wonder, since his ancestors worked for Mierin Sedai, if there's a particular dedication in him because Latra still trusted their family after Mierin released the Dark One.

Then we get our reveal that Rhodric was queer, which made me very emotional at the time and is still making me emotional.

The chora tree is so tiny! The wagons are so 'modern'!

And we learn the origin of "All will be well, all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well" -- it was a mantra against fear. When they are afraid, the Aiel trust to the future and to themselves, to the workings of the Pattern, and the Way of the Leaf.

The final memory. And the reason that the Dragon Reborn needed to be born of Aiel blood. So that he could have knowledge of the true extent of the conflict that he is facing. So hat he could learn how it all began, in this turning of the Wheel.

Charn is more like Rand-of-the-Two-Rivers than any of the other Randcestors are. He smiles easily and likes to work with his hands. He is part of a settled community of people who share his values and who live together in peace. He is friendly and good-natured and open.

We (and Rand) learn here that Mierin's goal was to breach the thinnest place in Pattern (success!), release an incredible source of power (success), so that the world would be a better place (...um, about that...).

Mierin can't imagine why Charn and his family might enjoy working with their hands instead of using the One Power to bring the harvest in, even though he tries to explain it to her.

Charn's bow to Mierin here is much less formal than the bow that Rhodric gives to Latra later on in the timeline.

"There's nothing more important than holding on to the people you love."

Once again, we have Lanfear giving stellar love-related advice (when it comes to mutual relationships and NOT when it comes to stalking your ex! it's bad advice when you make it about stalking your ex!), like she did back in s2, when she told Rand that he needed to give someone the chance to love all of him. Great advice, awful execution on her part, where she's doing her best to twist Rand into someone who can love her despite her being the sort of person who likes to pop people's heads off and sew their mouths shut.

Rand does deserve to have someone love him for his whole self! He definitely does deserve that. But she's saying that because she wants him to overlook her murders and casual cruelty. The motivation and intention is kinda important.

So. While we're here, let's talk about Mierin and Lews Therin (show-only, not bringing in any other knowledge or lore).

Mierin seems to already be broken up with Lews Therin in this scene - the way she talks about searching for a source of power that isn't limited to "Lews Therin and the Aes Sedai". The way she talks about the importance of holding onto the ones you love, and yet we see her completely by herself and it feels like she's sad.

There are four sets of things in the show that can give us information about Lanfear, and about her relationship with Lews Therin:

legends that have grown over time (via Moiraine)

what Lanfear (and Ishamael) tell Rand

what the Forsaken say among themselves

what Selene tells Rand about her ex back in early s2

Those are our primary sources of information. For various reasons, I feel like we can get the most truth about what Lanfear actually believes in item #4 -- the things that Selene told Rand about her ex who broke her heart. That is most likely to be Lanfear's own personal recollection (which still doesn't make it the truth - she has a very specific point of view and agenda at all time).

So. What information do we get?

Moiraine tells us two things about Lanfear as a person that we've seen verified on-screen -- she's a master of Tel'aran'rhiod, and she exhibits casual cruelty. Makes sense that legends about both of those things would survive relatively intact, since those would have been the last things that Lanfear would have been actively engaging in before she was locked up. We're also told that the legends say that Lanfear turned to the Shadow to try to get Lews Therin back after he broke her heart, which feels like a weird choice for her to make, but I think I understand why the legends would claim this, and I'll go over it in a bit.

We are also told (by Moiraine in 2x08) that Ishamael, Lanfear, and Lews Therin were known as "best friends" before Ishy and Lanfear turned to the Shadow, but so far we don't really have a timeline for that.

Ishamael and Lanfear blame Rand for them turning to the Shadow... however, this is done explicitly because Ishamael is trying to create a sense of doubt and despair in Rand, so that he will turn to the Shadow. Because we know the motive behind their words, I feel like this is the least reliable of our stories.

The other Forsaken seem to look down on Ishamael and Lanfear for their feelings about the Dragon. Moghedien says that Lanfear and Ishamael were always "too close" to the Dragon, implying that they weren't willing to be as ruthless as she believes they needed to be with him. And Sammael straight up calls Lanfear out as desperate for the Dragon's affection (you'd have stretched out at his feet if he'd said "Rug"), basically calling her pathetic in how she behaved towards him.

Then we have what Selene tells Rand, when she is potentially trying to trigger Lews Therin's memories in him. I think there is likely a lot of truth in her words, but it is truth that is deeply shaded by Lanfear's bitterness and her own perspective.

From 2x02: "You know, there was someone that I loved once. When he left, I was shattered. But I knew no one else could ever have that power over me again. What's left to hurt if he still has my whole heart? When I'm with you, I can pretend you're him. I can pretend I'm... whole again. You can't imagine what a gift that is. It's so much more than I've had in a very long time."

Lanfear is able to express her love about Lews Therin right to his face without him knowing it. When you left me, I was shattered. No one else has ever had that power over me. You still have my whole heart. When I'm with you, I can pretend that we're still together. I can pretend you didn't fall in love with someone else.

"You help me remember and I help you forget." He's her do-over Lews Therin, currently away from any potential competition.

From 2x04: "I used to come with a man. The one before you. He was the first man I ever loved. The only, actually. Powerful. Confident. Arrogant, really. With eyes that could fix everything in its place."

Now in this scene, we can also see that Rand is notably more jealous over the man that Selene loved than he was in 2x02, so his feelings about her have deepened since 2x02 (just in time to find out that she's one of the Forsaken! My poor boy).

Anyway, poor Rand's upcoming broken heart is not the issue here, but what Lanfear says about Lews Therin. What she focuses on. What she loved. The very first thing she notes about this man that she loved is that he was powerful. And she urges Rand towards claiming power -- first with declaring himself the Dragon Reborn in Falme, and then trying to convince him to go to Tear to claim Callandor.

"We used to get away as much as we could. We were always better when we were alone, without the world pulling us in every direction. We used to joke about never coming back down. But we always did."

This bit feels especially telling to me. What has Lanfear's primary action always been with Rand? Isolating him away from anyone else who might care about him, from "the world" that might pull him away from her. That's what she did when she found Rand in Cairhien. That's what she did when she made a deal with Moiraine to try to drive away Rand's friends.

I am also going to note that Rand specifically tells 'Selene' in this scene how much he loved being a homebody and living a rural country life and she did not hear a damn word of it, too busy losing herself into her Lews Therin fantasy (as we see in s3, when she tells Rand that he craves a bigger life the same way that she does)

"Nothing and no one ever gives you want you want. If you want something, you have to take it." (which is essentially what she is trying to do here by training Rand into being her do-over LTT who will never leave her and fall in love with another woman, because she will lock him in before he has the chance)

"You are the first woman whose ever seen me as a man. I didn't want you to see me as a monster." This line is so heartbreaking - but Lanfear's reaction is also very interesting and may be why we don't see Lanfear treating Egwene as serious competition in s3 (though this may change in 3x05 once she realizes that Egwene is learning TAR - then she may become competition in a very different way). Because Rand already told her that he doesn't think Egwene saw him and loved him 'as a man' (and Lanfear does make the correct inference that Rand believes that Egwene loved him 'as a boy', because she talks about how his Two Rivers ties are keeping him attached to 'the boy he used to be' when she's talking to Moiraine in 3x01). She's obviously still hurt and jealous that Rand is in this relationship, but she views it as something childish that he needs to outgrow as opposed to being genuine romantic competition.

Okay, more Lanfear and Lews Therin talk!

"What you did, it's part of your nature. You shouldn't hide it. I did that once. Turned my soul to him like a mirror, reflecting only what he wanted to see. Leaving the rest of me in darkness. But one day he looked too long. Too carefully."

Mierin hid the ugly parts of herself from Lews Therin (maybe the 'casual cruelty' that Moiraine mentions as part of her legend was always in her, even before she swore to the Shadow) and once he saw her for who she really was, he was turned off by it and he broke up with her. It sounds like there was a specific event that happened that made him look at her with new eyes and reexamine what he knew about her, and he did not come to a conclusion that he liked.

We also see that whenever Rand is being particularly determined and pushing back hard against either Lanfear or Ishamael, they tell him he's acting like Lews Therin. It's always Rand's moments of stubbornness against them trying to twist him into a particular course of action that seems to trigger that memory for them -- Rand standing up against Lanfear in 2x07 and not letting her kill Moiraine; Rand standing up against Ishamael in 2x08 and telling him that Rand will never turn to the Shadow and never has, not in any of his past lives. His determination and his integrity being what reminds them most of Lews Therin, and those also being the parts of Lews Therin that mean he won't turn to the Shadow.

For both Lanfear and Ishamael, it feels like there is a part of them that is trying to justify their own choices by getting Lews Therin to co-sign them. If he can turn to the Shadow too, it justifies that they turned to the Shadow. As an added bonus for Lanfear, Lews Therin can hardly keep judging her for her darkness if she's managed to get him to believe that his own impulses and desires are just as dark as hers.

Proposal (based entirely on show information):

Lews Therin broke up with Mierin because he saw something in her that made him uncomfortable about being in a relationship with her (as per Selene's comments about her ex in s2). Contextually, it sounds like Mierin was hiding things from him because she suspected that he wouldn't approve, so she was doing her best to pretend that she was the kind of woman that he would fall in love with (basically, Selene wasn't the first time she played that kind of role to get herself into Lews Therin's bed).

He met and fell in love with the woman who would become his wife, while Mierin threw herself into her work.

Mierin accidentally cracks the world open while searching for a source of power that would level the playing field, and releases the Dark One.

Mierin gets tempted by the Dark One, perhaps in a similar way that Rand was tempted by Ishamael at the end of s1 -- a vision of something that she'd put away and tried to ignore -- "you can create the version of the world that you most desire". Lews Therin is there, loving and respecting and adoring her in the way that she wishes he'd done in reality.

And so when she makes her Oaths to the Dark One, they are done with the intentional purpose of getting Lews Therin back, and getting him to admit that she's the right woman for him.

No matter what it takes.

She's convinced herself that the fault isn't in her, and it's not in Lews Therin either. It's the world's fault for getting between them. If only it were just her and Lews Therin in an isolated bubble (like they were in the dream that the Dark One gave her?), then everything would be perfect and he would love her and fix her back into her elevated place in his eyes. No "doe-eyed cows" drawing his attention away from her. No outside voices telling him not to trust her.

Only her, and him, and the two of them together, for eternity.

So, yeah. That's my current Lanfear and Lews Therin theory.

Charn goes out to the harvest with his family, and then Mierin succeeds. She punches a hole through the Patter and discovers what the power on the other side was -- the Dark One.

In some ways, this is the counterpoint to what Ila says in s1 -- that the way to achieve peace is for everyone, everywhere to stop using violence. But that only works until someone brings violence back into the world, as Mierin does here. Much like Lewin & Alijha when they broke the Way of the Leaf, she is not intending to introduce violence into the world.

But once it arrives, she learns that she's very capable of using it.

The way that they showed the Bore really hits that "cosmic horror" vibe. In s1, Rand believed that the Dark One could just be a very scary guy. Now, he sees what it truly is. A hole in the fabric of reality, and the darkness on the other side of reality.

Rand makes it through and out the other side of the columns, and we see the dragons burn themselves into his skin, etching from the inside out. It looks fantastic. They really do look like they have texture.

He finds Aviendha, who is still recovering from her own ordeal in the rings, and she sees that he's the Car'a'carn. They have a moment of connection here, where Rand reaches out to her to let her know that he, at the very least, now understands how little he understood her people before now. And she reaches back by giving Rand what we've seen him always want from the people around him -- to treat him like a person and not an idea. He's still "wetlander" to her (but said softer and kinder than before) not the Car'a'carn.

Aviendha goes back to the tents, while Rand rests under the branches of Avendesora and waits (for two more days) before Moiraine finishes her own trial.

Speaking of Moiraine! She's not been having a great time, and now we're on to the failures that are more closely related to the current turning of the Wheel and what might happen in her immediate future. These all seem based on turnings that happened after Lanfear was released by Ishamael.

Moiraine can fail due to:

Lanfear and Moghedien turning Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne all to the Shadow.

Seducing Rand and becoming his lover.

Being tricked and seduced by Lanfear before Lanfear kills her. This might be the same turning as the previous one, because it looks like the same bed and the same slip on Moiraine.

Lanfear in her outfit from 2x07, killing Moiraine in the Hall of the Tower while Rand watches.

Lanfear killing Moiraine on the streets of Tar Valon (maybe Moiraine refused to make the deal to sit idly by while Rand and his friends were attacked?)

A lot of Lanfear killing Moiraine in the desert while Moiraine wears the fancy blue dress and the chestpiece (okay, theory -- the orb becomes a chestpiece after it's been 'activated', thus making it the armor to foil Callandor's sword)

I love the shot of the moon starting this scene with Lan and Egwene and then transitioning to the rising sun as Rand brings Moiraine out of Rhuidean.

We learn that it's been a week, and we also really see Egwene feeling the need to be Rand's protector (his Warder, basically). If Rand feels guilt over moving on and letting himself all in love with "Selene" while Egwene was suffering, Egwene clearly still feels guilt over the idea that she wasn't able to protect Rand when he needed it. Because she and Rand have never talked it all out.

I do wonder if we're going to see a counterpoint to 1x01 and 3x01 in the next episode -- Egwene goes through a trial and tells Rand that she can't speak of the details to him. Will she ask him about Rhuidean and, if she does, what will he say?

Final theory about Aiel bloodlines -- okay, after rewatching the episode, I think we have two primary bloodlines, because of the inflection point that essentially 'created' Aiel as they exist today -- there is the bloodline of Lewin, which stretches back to Charn. And we have the bloodline of Alijha, whose parents were unrelated Aiel who crossed the Spine of the World separately (losing their chora tree in the process) and joined up with Jonai & Adan on the other side. Jonai says that his daughter "dreamed" that they would find other Aiel after they crossed the mountains, and I'm assuming that relates to the dreams that Mandein's wife speaks about in the second memory -- she and her sisters all dreamed the same dream, and that's how they knew it was important and true. So that makes me feel like at least one other caravan of Aiel made it over the mountains, but they would not be related to Adan, to Jonai, to Rhodric, to Charn. They would be involved during the same scattering that Rhodric went through, but a different wagon.

But it really does show the Pattern at work -- 10,000 wagons with chora saplings sent out, but only one of those wagons contained the sa'angreal that Latra would need to use hundreds of years later in order to create Rhuidean's trials, so that Rand could learn the memories of the past and see the emergence of the Dark One from the Bore. And that wagon survived, through everything -- the Breaking of the World and the breaking of the Aiel.

That single tree survived. One single tree of life, of peace. One last remnant from the Age of Legends.

"It hurts and comforts me to see how her tree has thrived in my absence."

Of course, we know that Latra had some means of looking into the future (the Car'a'carn prophecy), so it is potentially no accident of fate that placed the sa'angreal into the one family line that she was certain would survive until she would see it again. Based on all the examples that we've seen of seeing the future, her vision of the future would be fragmentary and incomplete, but it might be enough.

A remnant of the remnant -- perhaps Latra made the same choice back then that the Aiel Wise Ones are making now, when they allow the Car'a'carn to take the Trial of Rhuidean. They can only save a fraction of the Aiel, but if they don't make that choice, then all will perish.

Better to save a fraction than to save none at all.

#wot #the wheel of time #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot s3 spoilers #wheel of time s3 spoilers #butterfly watches wot #wot meta #my wot meta #wot 3x04 spoilers

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