Series / The Wheel of Time (2021)

aka: The Wheel Of Time

"The world is broken. Many, many years ago, men who were born with great power believed they could cage Darkness itself. The arrogance. When they failed, the seas boiled, mountains were swallowed up, cities burned, and the women of the Aes Sedai were left to pick up the pieces. These women remembered one thing above all else, the man who brought the Breaking of the World. And him they named Dragon. Now, this man has been born again. We don't know where or to whom. If he was reborn as a girl, or a boy. The only thing we know for certain is that this child is coming of age now, and we must find them, before the Dark does."

— Moiraine Damodred

The Wheel of Time is a 2021 American High Fantasy TV series by Amazon Prime, based on the popular book series of the same name from the late Robert Jordan. Though screen rights were sold in 2000, a live-action adaptation of the books had spent many years in development hell before finally premiering on Prime Video on November 19, 2021. ^note In 2015 Red Eagle Entertainment, who owned the rights at the time, released a 22 minute pilot of a potential TV series named Winter Dragon, but in the middle of the night, solely to keep ownership before the rights expired. This was strongly criticized by Harriet McDougal, Jordan's widow and owner of his books. Following a lawsuit, the series was announced in 2017 by Sony. Eventually, Amazon Studios signed to co-produce it in 2018. Filming began in 2019, but halted due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, it began again in 2021, completing by May. A second season began airing in 2023. A third season has also been confirmed.

Like the books, the show is set in a world where the magic of the One Power is restricted to women, most prominently the sorceresses of the Aes Sedai organization. Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike), an Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah, and her loyal Warder al'Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney) are in search of the Dragon Reborn, a reincarnated savior prophesied either to save the world or destroy it. After encountering five young people from the secluded Two Rivers — talented archer and shepherd Rand al'Thor (Josha Stradowski), charming thief Mat Cauthon (Barney Harris in Season 1, Donal Finn in Season 2 onwards), loyal smith Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford), promising channeler Egwene al'Vere (Madeleine Madden) and pragmatic Wisdom Nynaeve al'Meara (Zoë Robins) — Moiraine concludes that one of them is the Dragon Reborn.

Shortly after, the Two Rivers is attacked by the forces of the Dark One, a primordial evil. Moiraine and Lan take flight with the youths to determine which of them is the Dragon. The group must now evade the Dark One's underlings and figure out how to best harness their powers and abilities to save the world.

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Examples:

A - F

• Accidental Murder: Perrin kills his wife Laila mistakenly while they're fighting Trollocs beside each other in the confusion, to his grief.
• Action Girl:
  • The Red Ajah Aes Sedai destroy a mountain passage just to stop a man that can channel, and it's their job to track down, battle and subdue rogue channelers.
  • Moiraine channels the One Power while fighting Trollocs and kills many when they attack Emond's Field.
  • Nynaeve and Egwene fight back against the Trollocs somewhat too here, unlike in the books, as does Perrin's wife Laila.
  • The Green Ajah of the Aes Sedai are trained as warriors.
  • Dana, a female bartender, fights Mat and Rand skillfully in "A Place of Safety" after it's revealed she's a Darkfriend.
  • Aviendha, an Aiel warrior woman, is extremely skilled even bare-handed, taking down about ten larger armed Whitecloaks on her own when she faces them alongside Perrin. It's stated even more were required to overpower and disarm her before.
• Action Mom: An Aiel woman (Tigraine, the Dragon Reborn's mother), is shown skillfully taking down several armed and armored men using her two spears while in labor. She gives birth right after.
• Actual Pacifist: The Tuatha'an are strict pacifists, with a code they call the Way of the Leaf which forbids violence, along with using any instruments which can cause it. Once they're pushed into a physical conflict (with the White Cloaks) they stoically grab arms, form a Human Shield and wait to be beaten up.
• Adaptational Backstory Change:
  • In the books Nynaeve comes from Emond's Field, and had been living with the previous Wisdom since her mid-teens after her parents died. In the series she was an orphan from outside the Two Rivers raised by the Wisdom from a much younger age.
  • Siuan left home here because someone burned her house down and marked her as a Darkfriend. No such incident was mentioned in the books, rather she just left for the White Tower when it was found she could channel (but both versions still have a fisherman father).
  • Young Min has lived a rough life in Tar Valon instead of an uneventful life with aunts in Baerlon. Her gift first manifested when she saw Tam al'Thor with baby Rand. Moiraine hides her in Fal Dara to protect her from troubles her gift could attract.
• Adaptational Diversity: The show has a much more diverse cast than most book readers pictured, aided no doubt by the books' (infamously inaccurate) cover illustrations that portrayed all major characters as looking uniformly white. Given the fact that the books don't actually give explicitly racialized descriptions of most characters' appearances, though, it's difficult to concretely say whether those characters' races have been changed. There are some exceptions, however:
  • The book character of Siuan has pale skin and blue eyes. Here, she's played by two black actresses (as a child and as an adult).
  • Egwene is described as pale at least once in the books, while the actress Madeleine Madden is of Australian Aboriginal descent.
  • In the books, Min has curled brown hair, implying that she looks white, while in the show, she's played by an Asian actress with straight black hair.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Alanna Mosvani and her Warders don't appear until the second book, The Great Hunt. Here she's introduced in the party of Aes Sedai that captured and escorted Logain to Tar Valon, an adaption from the first book, The Eye of the World.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Mat's father Abell Cauthon was portrayed in the book as trustworthy and respectable man, even if he shared his son's penchant for jokes. Master Cauthon in the show is a lecherous drunkard who refuses to do actual work.
• Adaptational Job Change:
  • As much as thief and fence qualify as "jobs". Fain buys stolen goods from Mat, and they've been at it for years. This is a bit Darker and Edgier than in the books; Fain is simply a peddler (albeit a secret Darkfriend) and Mat isn't a thief, though he often gambles.
  • Eamon Valda is a Questioner, part of an organization of Whitecloak inquisitors. In the book he was part of the Council of the Anointed, the ruling council of the Whitecloaks, and was rather contemptuous of the Questioners.
  • In the books, Min was a resident of Baerlon who held several jobs; it's mentioned that she preferred working with horses and did not last long as a barmaid. Here, she is a bartender in Fal Dara.
  • In the books, Lews Therin Telamon wore the ring of Tamyrlin to mark himself the head of the Aes Sedai. As Robert Jordan explained, Tamyrlin was the first channeler in history, and this name eventually transformed to "Amyrlin Seat". Here, there was an actual position of "Tamyrlin Seat", but it's Latra Posae Decume instead. In the books she organized the construction of super-powerful Choedan Kal sa'angreals^note An alternative plan to seal The Dark One. Instead of a small raiding party travelling to where the Pattern is weakest and quickly installing the seals, channelers would use all the avalable One Power to build a "barricade" against The Dark One. The plan was halted when the Shadow armies conquered the region where the secret facility making the control units was located. All attempts to smuggle the control ter'angreals out failed., led the Aes Sedai during the Breaking of the World after Lews Therin's death, and eventually founded what will become the White Tower with its Amyrlin Seat. We only get a brief glimpse of the Age of Legends power structure, but Latra and Lews apparently gave each other a lot of leeway as she evaluated his plan, but neither approved nor ordered him to stop.
  • In the books, Padan Fain was a lowly Darkfriend (occasionally carried in a Trolloc cooking pot for insufficient effort) until he transformed into a Humanoid Abomination and turned against everybody. In episode 8 we see him still serving the Dark One, yet commanding two Fades in a highly important operation.
  • In the books, Selene was supposedly an adventuress seeking the Horn of Valere. In the show, she's an innkeeper.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: The entire Caemlyn sequence in the books was moved to Tar Valon in the show, with many of the relevant characters dropped. As of the second season, only Elayne has appeared out of the Andoran royal family and this appearance is after the events at the Eye of the World.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • Here, Alanna's two Warders are both in a relationship with her and each other, where the books dropped no hint of any of them being involved with each other. (And such rumors do circulate around other Aes Sedai, so one can only assume that Alanna being spared them was a deliberate choice on Robert Jordan's part.)
  • Moiraine and Siuan's relationship in the books was Situational Sexuality, but here is based on their genuine attraction which endures over many years.
• Adaptation Deviation:
  • Eamon Valda is introduced after having tortured an Aes Sedai, then burns her at the stake. This emphatically does not happen in the books.
  • The books describe Mashadar as a silvery mist sprouting tendrils that kill anybody they touch. Here it looks like black lichen that quickly grows over ground and walls. When it touches a horse, the horse crumbles to dust. After Mat is infected, similar lichen occasionally appears on his lips.
  • Kerene died before the events covered by the first season in the books, with different circumstances.
  • The Waygate and its opening look nothing like in the books. Moiraine opens it just with One Power, and the purpose of taking Loial with the party is unclear at first (later he reads the direction sign). The darkness inside is similar, at least. How Ogier and non-channeling Darkfriends or Shadowspawn open the gates is not shown.
  • While wounded Tam al'Thor does reveal the story of Rand's adoption in his ravings right from the start, it happens offscreen, and the viewers only see it in Episode 7.
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • In the books the Taint gives male channelers two problems: insanity and "rotting alive". There's no telling how and when the insanity will manifest and the rot could start and even kill the victim earlier. Here, insanity is the only problem mentioned so far, and it is said to always make the channeler kill his loved ones.
  • The capture of Logain, albeit offscreen, went completely differently. In the books, it was a large battle that involved armies of several states: Andor, Cairhien, Tear, and Illian. Here, it was more of a stealth mission: Red sisters sneaked into his camp, disabled him and scared his followers away with lightning bolts. The attempt to liberate him did not involve as many people either — about a dozen Aes Sedai, about as many Warders, against several scores of Logain supporters.
  • In the first book, the journey of Rand and Mat to reach Caemlyn (Tar Valon in the show) after separated from the others in Shadar Lagoth takes up a good section of the book in what is often referred to as Padding, with the two having nearly half a dozen encounters with towns, farms, and Darkfriends nearly everywhere. The show condenses this town to just a couple of episodes.invoked
  • In the first book, the warning about the Eye of the World went long and convoluted ways to reach the heroes.^note A group of Tinkers saw a group of dead Aiel warrior maidens, who were returning from the Blight and died fighting Trollocs. The last survivor got over her disgust at Tinkers and told them that the Leafblighter wants to blind the Eye of the World, and to warn her people about the coming of Flame-eyed and Car'A'Carn. Two or three years later a Tinker told this story to Elyas Machera, who happened to have Perrin and Egwene with him. Weeks later and elsewhere Loial mentioned to Moiraine a man, who rested and recovered in his stedding within the last twenty years, who was saying a similar warning, and Perrin and Egwene repeated the Tinker's story. Here, Siuan Sanche says that she keeps seeing a dream that the Dark One is weak, barely clinging to his power, but steadily recovering at the Eye of the World. And the obvious solution is to send the probable Dragon Reborn to kill him there.
  • Machin Shin, "the black wind" of the Ways, is simply a cold wind attracted by channeling that feasts on travellers' souls by giving each one a personified "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Nynaeve proves strong enough to stop it with a saidar shield. Moiraine either didn't know it was possible or did not bother trying.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Elayne is a blue-eyed strawberry blonde in the books. She's a brown-eyed redhead in the series.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The fight against the Trollocs at Emond's Field take place entirely off screen in the books, with Rand bringing a wounded Tam into town and hearing about the attack along with Moiraine and Lan's efforts to defend the town second-hand. In the show, we see this scene play out in front of us.
  • An entire sequence where Logain escapes briefly as his followers attack the Aes Sedai along with their Warders guarding him is added which doesn't occur in the books (this includes Lan nearly dying, with Nynaeve saving him by using the One Power to heal his wound).
  • Min says she got her first vision of the future when she saw Tam with baby Rand 20 years ago.
  • The show also seems to like giving channelers distinctive weaves, presumably to make them more unique. In the first season, Alanna fights mostly by using Earth to make the ground under an enemy explode like a land mine, while Logain can rapidly corrode metal. Neither are described in the books as having any sort of signature move (though Logain, being self-taught, would be expected to rely on a few standbys, which might be weird).
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
  • New watchers may not understand why a woman who was kicked out of the Tower is allowed to just do whatever she wants (or why so many other channelers agree to remain part of the Aes Sedai) given that's she's powerful enough to lay waste to armies of Trollocs, lead a circle of other channelers, and almost burns the other two channelers out. In the books, only women who were weak enough in the One Power to not be a threat to themselves or others would be allowed to leave without completing their training and joining the order. Basically, if you weren't able to do much more than light a candle using the Power, you would be safe. Someone able to physically kill other creatures would be forced to complete their training and become a member of the order, or would be stilled so they couldn't be a threat.
  • Viewers unfamiliar with the books may be confused by why "The Hunt for the Horn" exists as a concept, as the Horn of Valere was in the possession of the Shainarans. In the book, nobody knew where the Horn of Valere was because it was hidden in the Eye of the World and therefore going on a quest to find it made sense. In the show, it comes off as trying to get random people to break into the Shainaran palace.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • One of Alanna Mosvani's Warders, Owein, gets his name changed to Maksim (another Warder character by the name is introduced later), as it was deemed too close to Owyn, Thom's nephew, to avoid creating confusion, especially as they were both introduced/mentioned in the same episode.
  • A downplayed example might have happened with Mat, whose name is short for Matrim in the books, but which seems to be his full name in the series.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Rand and Egwene were chaste childhood sweethearts in the books, but in the show they sleep together. The characters also don't treat it like Their First Time.
  • In the books, Moiraine and her best friend Siuan Sanche did occasionally share a bed in their novice years, but nobody saw it as anything serious. Twenty years later, there's nothing sexual in their friendship. Here, they are still passionate lovers.
  • Love Triangle: Rand-Egwene-Perrin. The latter did not reveal anything, though, and quietly stepped aside when Egwene chose Rand.
  • Nynaeve goes to bed with Lan before the upcoming battle in which they might die. This does not happen in the books.
  • Rand and Selene have an ongoing full-blown sexual relationship while Selene (who is really Lanfear, one of the most dangerous Forsaken) is posing as a harmless innkeeper. In the books, Selene flirted with Rand and he found her attractive before she proved to be Lanfear, but her deception didn't last long enough to get the point of them going to bed together.
• Adapted Out: A lot was adapted out as the showrunner admitted that both studios demanded length of eight episodes instead of the requested 10 and budget hindered much of the plot of the book from being included in the first season.
  • Thom Merrilin is only introduced in episode 3. The scene where he impresses Emond's Field villagers with tales of the First Age^note Such as Lenn, who "flew to the moon in the belly of an eagle made of fire", "Mosk the Giant, with his Lance of fire that could reach around the world", "Elsbet, the Queen of All", "Materese the Healer" and so on. is missing. In the books the scene helps drive home the idea that this is not only the past, but also the distant future.
  • The scene with Narg. In the books this is the only time a Trolloc talks to main characters and mentions his name. It had caused a lot of fan speculations, but is generally written off as Early-Installment Weirdness. In the series the Trolloc attacking Tam and Rand does not speak, but he is the only one in the episode based off a wolf rather than a goat.
  • Mordeth does not appear as a human during the first visit to Shadar Logoth. However, a vaguely human shadow briefly appears to draw Mat's attention directing him toward an ornate box that catches his eye, from which he takes a dagger, despite Lan's earlier warnings.
  • The party never arrives in Baerlon before Shadar Logoth, removing much of the build up, plus the evidence about which character is the Dragon Reborn and the prophecies that foreshadow the rest of the series. Min and her visions do appear in Episode 7, but she says very little onscreen.
  • Rand al'Thor, Mat Cauthon, and Thom Merrilin aren't saved by the ship The Spray and Bayle Domon after escaping Shadar Logoth. In fact, the guys only meet Thom in a small mining town a few days after Shadar Logoth. Thom's You Shall Not Pass! scene happens at a remote farm rather than a river port. Bayle Domon is not in season 1 cast.
  • The Emond's Fielders travel directly to Tar Valon rather than meeting up in Caemlyn as in the book. The scene in which Logain is paraded through the streets in chains and the introduction of Loial happen in Tar Valon rather than Caemlyn, and the introductions of Elayne, Gawyn, Galad, Elaida and Morgase are skipped entirely. The latter five make a good deal of sense, as they do nothing of importance in the first book and Elayne doesn't become a main character until the second book.
  • The Forsaken, based on the dialogue in the show and a quick headcount at least four of them are not part of the current story and/or ever existed. It is likely that Balthamel at least got the axe as his role was mainly in the first book.
  • The Wolfbrother Elyas Machera is absent from the cast of season 1. He appears in Season 2.
  • The Eye of the World is an old overgrown building of unknown purpose (even the Dragon Reborn can't remember). The pool of purified saidin (created during the Breaking to allow future male channelers to safely repair the seals) is never mentioned. However, a sa'angreal had been created just for this purpose from the power of thousands of channelers. Moiraine has been carrying it right from the start. The Green Man, Aginor and Balthamel do not appear. There is no cache with treasures like the Dragon Banner, and the Horn of Valere is kept elsewhere.
• Age Lift:
  • Egwene has been aged up compared to her book counterpart, where she was younger than Rand by a few years. Downplayed for Mat, Rand and Perrin: their age is the same as in the books (19-20, as established by the dates given in the glossaries of the books) but they are also portrayed as far more mature than in the books, including Perrin already being married.
  • Selene is a more mature age in the show than in the books. That is to say, she's the same apparent age as her real identity of Lanfear, whereas in the books her Selene disguise was somewhat younger.
• Agony Beam: The sul'dam (the Seanchan women in control of enslaved channelers called damane) can cause them pain using their gauntlet, which is used for breaking them. Further, damane attempting to remove the a'dam collars that control them or harming sul'dam causes them great pain too.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: In-Universe, Dana is a Darkfriend who believes the Dark One actually wants the Dragon Reborn to return to break the Wheel, ending suffering in the world. So to her, the Dark One is good. His main servant Ishamael later echoes the same view.
• Amazon Brigade:
  • The Green Ajah is a society within the all-female Aes Sedai devoted to using the One Power to combat Shadowspawn.
  • The all-female Red Ajah's mission is to prevent misuse of the One Power, which for practical purposes means they must be prepared for battle, since the Power is most often misused by men driven mad by it, including false Dragons like Logain who can sometimes attract armies of followers.
  • The Shienaran women all take up arms like their men in "The Eye of the World" to defend Fal Dara from a Trolloc army.
  • Seanchan damane (enslaved channelers) and sul'dam (their taskmasters) are weapons of war. They channel to create a tidal wave. Later, they are shown creating fire and blows of air. Both are entirely women, with the damane being channeling slave soldiers for the Seanchan who use the One Power against their enemies in battle under control of the sul'dam.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Toward the end of s1e4, Rand finds Mat inside the house of the farm where they've been taking refuge, with all of the occupants having been stabbed to death. Mat has been acting strangely due to the influence of the Shadar Logoth dagger, but there's also a Fade in the same room; it's unclear which of the two did the murders.
  • In the season 1 finale, Moiraine is rendered unable to channel due to actions taken by the Dark One's human representation. The show doesn't explain whether she's been stilled, i.e. permanently severed from the One Power, or merely shielded indefinitely. The appearance of what the Dark One does resembles a shield being tied off, a technique from the books that hasn't yet debuted in the series.
• Amplifier Artifact: Moiraine gives Rand a sa'angreal, an object that allows him to multiply the strength of his channeling by a factor of about 100.
• Arrow Catch: Lan plucks an arrow loosed by a Seanchan archer at him from midair in the Season 2 finale.
• Badass Bystander: After the initial panicked flight, the Emond's Fielders under attack from the trollocs begin to gang up against them, wielding farming implements, and manage to kill a few this way. They still need help from Lan and Moiraine to turn the tide of the battle, but they're not helpless.
• Badass Pacifist: The Tuatha'an refuse to use violence, but this does not make them weak, like their creed the Way of the Leaf says. Without hesitation, a group of them stand up to armed Whitecloaks searching for Egwene and Perrin, forming a shield using their bodies which lets the pair get away, even though they're beaten up for it.
• Bed Trick: Lanfear, one of the Forsaken, pretends she's just ordinary innkeeper Selene, becoming lovers with Rand while he's none the wiser. As he's The Chosen One fighting against her side, he certainly wouldn't have slept with her knowingly.
• Big "NO!": Nynaeve shouts this after Lan is mortally injured in the fight to recapture Logain. She then channels enough to heal him and everyone else in the room simultaneously.
• Bittersweet Ending: Season two ends on such a note. While the Seanchan are driven back and Ishamael is dead, he released the rest of the Forsaken into the world, and they don't have a soft spot for the Dragon Reborn like Ishamael and Lanfear.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Moiraine rebukes Nynaeve for not letting her know about Mat's illness, as it prevented her from finding out that the evil of the Shadar Logoth dagger was consuming him, and she might have been too late to save him. But at the same time Rand and Nynaeve believed Mat was suffering because he was a channeler, they know full well what the Aes Sedai do to male channelers, and they naturally didn't want to let Moiraine get near him.
• Bound and Gagged: Nynaeve is tied up to a tree and gagged with a green scarf over her mouth by Lan in Episode 3. It’s for a brief time before she’s ungagged as Lan gives her some water and later frees her.
• Braids of Action:
  • Nynaeve wears her hair in an elaborate braid to indicate her membership in the Women's Circle. Her introductory scene in the first episode has her as the one who gives Egwene her own braid and explains its significance as the group's signature hairstyle. She soon becomes an Action Girl and Mama Bear for her younger friends. Before long Egwene is thrust into adventure and proves herself an Action Girl too.
  • Some of the Shienaran women too wear their hair in long braids and fight skillfully alongside their men against Trollocs.
• Burn the Witch!: Eamon Valda burns a captured Aes Sedai from the Yellow Ajah at the stake, in keeping with his belief that they're evil witches deserving of death.
  Because we humans are meant to be of this Earth. To struggle and fight for everything we have. The Creator never meant for us to have access to so much power. You witches make a mockery of our very existence, walking like gods amongst men. The idea that the One Power comes from anywhere other than the Dark is absurd. So I have been called to stamp it out. Woman by woman by woman.
• Cannot Tell a Lie: The first oath which the Aes Sedai take is to "speak no word that is not true", and they are bound by magic against it. However, they make judicious use of exact words when necessary to mislead others.
• Career Versus Man: Unlike in the books, a Wisdom cannot marry. Egwene would have to abandon Rand if she became Nynaeve's apprentice.
• Cast from Hit Points: Moiraine weakens herself by keeping the others and all of their horses fresh with the One Power, which Lan notes. Technically this is overexertion rather than a metaphysical trade of life for power, but the result is the same. It eventually makes her collapse and have to be treated.
• The Chosen One: The Dragon Reborn, the prophesied reincarnated hero destined to save the world from the Dark One... or destroy it.
• Church Militant: The Children of the Light, colloquially known as Whitecloaks due to their uniforms, are an armed Crusader/Inquisition like group devoted to hunting down Aes Sedai, female magic users whom they believe to be evil servants of the Dark One.
• Cliffhanger: The ending of Episode 6, "Flame of Tar Valon". The Waygate is closing and Mat still hesitates to enter it.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Aes Sedai wear clothes of the color of their respective Ajah^note red, yellow, brown, green, blue, white, gray as well as colored stones in their rings. Accordingly, the White Tower graduates who did not become Aes Sedai wear rings without stones.
• Coming and Going: In Fal Dara, while they know a Trolloc army is coming which may kill them and many other people, Nynaeve has sex for the first time with Lan. Rand and Egwene too have sex (though they're already lovers). All of them are no doubt aware it could be the last time they can do this (though they all survive).
• Composite Character: A side-effect of the books having a lot of characters.
  • Verin is combined with Vandene.
  • It is strongly hinted that Uno was the reincarnation of Gaidal Cain.
  • The Forsaken: Despite not being confirmed, it is heavily implied that there are eight of them in the TV show instead of the 13 in the books. Most likely the ones that were central only in the first book have been cut.
• Continuity Lock-Out: The books have the advantage of constant repetition of names, terminology, and concepts for the world-building, plus being able to see unusual phrases spelled out on the page as opposed to simply heard spoken aloud. As part of the Adaptation Distillation of the books to the main basic plot points, it can be very easy to miss several key phrases and concepts like "ter'angreal", "ta'veren", "cuendillar", "veiling", etc. which are mentioned only once or twice before coming up again much later. It's hard enough to keep track of everything even if you see every episode and are paying attention, much less if you've actually missed any episodes. Probably the largest attempt to avert this so far is in Season 2 with the constant usage of the terms "sul'dam", "damane", and "a'dam" in the episodes so that the Plot Twist that the sul'dam are actually channelers themselves (albeit weak) can land appropriately.
• Continuity Nod: In Episode 7, an Aiel woman (Tigraine) pulls down her veil as she searches for a place to give birth. While this is obviously for the audience's benefit so we can see her face, when an Aiel wears their veil (shoufa) over their mouth it means they're prepared to kill, while taking it down means they're not looking for a fight. Thom mentioned this while burying an Aiel in Episode 3, and it's a very important point in the books.
• Conlang: In the "3000 years ago" scene in episode 8 the characters seem to speak the Old Tongue Jordan invented for the Age of Legends.
• Cruel Mercy: The Amyrlin Siuan sentences the gentled Logain to life imprisonment, knowing that having been gentled will have made him a Death Seeker. He begs to be killed as he is dragged away.
• Crystal Spires and Togas: Episode 8's opening flashback reveals that the ruined city at the start of Episode 1 used to be like this 3000 years ago, complete with flying cars. Fashionable attire for men looks more like tuxedos than togas, however.
• Culturally Sensitive Adaptation: The original characterization of female characters, and the strict Mars and Venus Gender Contrast embedded in the world building are somewhat controversial in the original books. The adaptation explicitly tones down those aspects. For instance Egwene and Nynaeve are unambiguously ta'veren and both are stated by Moiraine to be possible Dragon Reborn candidates along with the three guys. The constant complaining from members of each gender about the way the other acts that is so omnipresent in the books is almost completely removed in the show.
• Culture Chop Suey: Aesthetically at least, the show's depiction of the Seanchan seems to drawn on a mix of Maori (the facial tattoos of the sul'dam) and Qing Chinese (Lady Suroth's fingernails and hair, the junk-like sails on the Seanchan ships) influences.
• Dance Battler: Aiel warrior women have a fighting style some have described as ballet-like, using two spears as she swirls and flows around her opponents. This showcases the reason why Aiel call fighting "the dance" in the books very well visually.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • Siuan had to flee her village as a child when her home was burned and her life threatened after someone discovered she could channel.
  • Al'Lan Mandragoran, Lan for short, was the heir apparent crown prince of Malkier, a land in the Borderlands that Trollocs overran, with his parents killed and him smuggled from the palace by a loyal armsman who served his father.
  • Several Warders mentioned how much their lives sucked before they joined Aes Sedai service.
• Darker and Edgier: The TV show is darker than the books in what it depicts.
  • The series is overall more violent and gory. We see the trolloc attack on the village of Emond's Field, with people being killed onscreen, carried away or dying from wounds in the aftermath; the death of the ferryman at Taren River; the burning of an Aes Sedai at the stake and the Whitecloak torturer at work; trolloc cannibalism; gory deaths during Logain's escape attempt; Aiel War flashbacks; trolloc assault on Fal Dara and channelers literally burning themselves to death from overexersion.
  • Some of our heroes are given more morally grey backgrounds, such as Mat now having a criminal background and abusive household, while Perrin accidentally murders his wife.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • The Grinwells in the books are the first people who spontaneously decide to drastically change their lives after meeting ta'veren. They get brief mentions in multiple novels, their lives get more interesting, but ultimately nothing much changes. Here, they simply get killed shortly after they appear.
  • Stepin in the books does not die (he only appears in New Spring, a prequel, though). Here he kills himself over the loss of Kerene.
  • In Season 1, Episode 8 Agelmar and Amalisa Jagad, the co-rulers of Fal Dara, die fighting the Trolloc horde, while both survive the book series.
  • Loial and Uno appear to have been murdered by Padan Fain at the end of Episode 8. As Rafe Judkins put it "I wanted people to be a little on their toes, because real deaths are coming for characters that don't die in the books." Both are alive at the start of Season 2, but Uno is killed by the Seanchan 3 episodes in.
• Death Seeker: After they're gentled, male channelers only want to die as losing the One Power makes them extremely depressed. Moiraine gets Logain to help Rand with the promise that she'll give him a dagger to kill himself.
• Defiant Captive:
  • When held captive by Eamon Valda, Egwene is defiant to his face despite being clearly terrified in the situation (with good reason as he's set on torturing and murdering both her and Perrin). Nynaeve says of Egwene that she will never give in, and she's right.
  • When taken captive by the Seanchan, Egwene fights back all the can against being "trained" (tortured viciously) to break her into being a damana (an enslaved channeler), trying to get free and or attack the sul'dam Renna charged with breaking her multiple times. Knowing she'd be defiant prompted Loial to describe Egwene as Silk Hiding Steel.
• Deflector Shields: Logain creates a shield around himself with the One Power which stops the spears two soldiers throw at him in "The Dragon Reborn". Later, Aes Sedai use similar shields against Logain and his supporters. Still later, untrained Nynaeve intuitively creates shields on several occasions.
• Dehumanization: Seanchan don't view damane (enslaved channelers) as really being human at all. Renna, who's the sul'dam tasked with breaking Egwene when she's enslaved, explicitly tells her this and acts pitying that she'd ever believed herself to be human as this will make training even harder. The area where the damane are held is even called "the kennels", indicating the Seanchan see them as just attack dogs.
• Detect Evil: Mat's dagger can detect the presence of Myrdraals/the Fade.
• De-power:
  • Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah are devoted to hunting down men who can channel the One Power, after which it's stripped from them, which they call "gentling". It's shown in the pilot (with very ungentle effects).
  • Non-permanent "shielding" also blocks the ability to channel, but it requires constant effort to maintain.^note Later books also have a "tied off" shield that holds on its own, but can be broken by another channeler or even the prisoner's efforts. Aes Sedai keep the captive Logain Ablar this way, and he returns the favor when he briefly breaks free.
  • Stripping power from women is called "stilling". Ba'alzamon seems to have done this to Moiraine in episode 8. It's later revealed she had only been shielded however, by a weave that had been lost for millennia so it wasn't recognized at first.
• Diagonal Cut: Two guards are killed by Fades this way in episode 8.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In both book and series, Rand faces off against Turak, who notes Rand's heron-marked blade and challenges him to a swordfight. In the book, Rand kills Turak with his superior swordsmanship. In the series, he blasts Turak and all his guards with the One Power without even drawing his sword.
• Disney Death: Nynaeve appears to be dead by the end of episode 1, then reappears at the end of episode 2. The Cold Open of episode 3 shows how she survived. She has another one in episode 8, where she seems to have burned out during the climactic battle, but is revived by Egwene.
• Disposable Woman: Perrin is given a wife, Laila (very briefly mentioned in the books as his likely future bride). He accidentally kills her the same episode she's introduced to show that his latent wolfbrother ability's coming up and getting him carried away while fighting, after which he can be devastated for it happening.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Moiraine and Siuan having to keep their decades-long relationship a secret will remind many of what other LGBT+ people often have endured, even if it's not over homophobia (we see an open male couple whom no one minds).
• Does Not Like Men: The Red Ajah Aes Sedai have a strong dislike of men, particularly those able to channel, denouncing them as using the One Power when Nature wished otherwise in their view.
  Liandrin: This power... is meant for women! (she gentles a male channeler, making him scream)
• Doomed Hometown: Though not completely destroyed, much of the protagonists' home village Emond's Field is burned and many residents killed in the pilot by attacking Trollocs.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Ingtar and Masema dress in the garb of Seanchan soldiers when trying to escape Falme during the Season 2 finale. Nynaeve also masquerades as a damane while trying to rescue Egwene when they do so.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • Thom relates to Rand how his nephew Owyn, once he was gentled, killed himself later as he couldn't stand to live without touching the One Power, which is a common reaction. He insists as a result that they have to keep Mat (whom Thom believes can channel) away from the Aes Sedai since they would "gentle" him too, with the same possibility of suicide resulting.
  • Stepin kills himself after he's lost Kerene, whom he was bonded to. It's implied this is a common result for a Warder losing an Aes Sedai.
• Driving Question: For season one: "Who is the Dragon Reborn?" Moiraine's information points to one of the five Emond's Fielders: Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, or Nynaeve, with several hints appearing throughout the season to indicate it might be any one of them. By the end of Episode Seven, it's revealed to be Rand al'Thor.
• Dual Wielding: The Aiel warrior woman Tigraine used two spears to fight (and kill) multiple opponents with great skill.
• Due to the Dead: After surviving the attack from the King Of Ghaeldan and his fellow Dragon Sworn, the Aes Sedai camp buried all of the fallen, including the King, at the same place.
• Dysfunctional Family:
  • The Cauthons, and not played for laughs. Natti is a drunkard, Abell sleeps around and has no horses despite calling himself a horse merchant. The twin daughters are neglected, and Mat has been gambling and stealing to take care of them.
  • Tam al'Thor laughingly mentions that his late wife Kari had similar drinking problems.
• Empathy Doll Shot: The farmer's child shows off her doll, Birgitte, to Mat in episode 4. The climax of the episode features a lingering shot of the doll on the ground as Rand and Mat flee the vicinity after the entire family has been murdered.
• Ensemble Cast: While Rosamond Pike as Moiraine could be considered the central character, she, Lan, and the five from the Two Rivers are all equally considered the main characters as all of them get plenty equal of screen time.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • An openly naked Lan enters Moiraine's bath without any sexual reaction or comment from either of them, thus showing that their Warder bond is highly intimate, though platonic and non-sexual in nature.
  • Eamon Valda, a Questioner and one of the nastier Whitecloaks, is shown eating a roasted whole song-bird of some sort whose bones causes him to bleed from the mouth, visibly enjoying it and talking about the beauty of brutality, while a maimed Yellow Aes Sedai is being burned at the stake in front of him. He also flashes seven rings taken from executed Aes Sedai.
  • Liandrin Guirale, an Aes Sedai from the Red Ajah, leads a party of Red sisters in pursuit of Logain and tells him calmly about how male channelers make the Source 'filthy'. She's clearly enjoying gentling him while he screams in agony.
  • Logain Ablar seemingly single-handedly (his army is mentioned storming the walls, but no soldiers are shown) climbs the wall of the royal castle of Ghealdan, throws the king's soldiers aside, shrugs off arrows, forces the king on his knees and heals him — all simply to persuade the king he's the true Dragon. All the while two figures woven out of Saidin keep nagging that nobody understands Logain and everybody's going to betray him.
  • Subverted for Siuan Sanche. Her behavior towards Moiraine in the Hall of Sitters, towards Nynaeve and Egwene in her study and towards her lover (also Moiraine) while in her bedroom (as well as her outfits and hairdos) differ so much, she may just as well be three different people. She's got many masks.
  • The first view of the Blight is a valley filled with some weird leafless weeping trees, whose thick branches curve slightly above human height and grow back into the ground. When Rand passes under one tree, he notices a human skull embedded in its trunk.
• Everyone Has Standards: Whitecloaks might be cruel zealots, but they still aren't bad enough to just slaughter unarmed Tuatha'an (although they're not above a beating).
• Exact Words:
  • Moiraine manages to get around questioning by the Whitecloaks through judiciously choosing her words, misleading them in doing so. It's necessary as she can't lie due to the first oath she took preventing it.
  • Nynaeve tells Lan he can ask how she managed to track him all the way from Two Rivers to a remote temple. When he does, she has a tiny smirk as she notes that she never said she'd answer him.
  • Once the pieces start to fit together, The Dragon Reborn runs up to Min and asks "I want you to tell me that I'm not the Dragon Reborn". Without blinking she just answers "Okay, you are not the Dragon Reborn."
  • In Season 2, Nynaeve is reluctant to summon her channeling powers again. She and other novices are put through an exercise to clean dirty dishwater for drinking with their power. The teacher pushes Nynaeve to do it, saying "no one leaves without drinking their water." To her shock, Nynaeve downs the cup of brown dirty liquid and walks out.
  Nynaeve: You never said it had to be clean.
• Eyeless Face: The Myrdraal lack eyes, and it's part of their creepiness.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
  • The Tuatha'an have a lot in common with the real life Irish Travellers (getting called Tinkers like the Travellers were in the past) and Roma, being nomadic people who are harshly stereotyped as thieves. It's malicious slander however, because they're actually kind people who offer unlimited hospitality to outsiders. They also have a tradition where those born Tutha'an leave their wagons at age 20 to go and experience the rest of the world, only to come back once they know that this is where they belong (obviously inspired by the Amish's Rumspringa).
  • The Children of the Light: their conduct is based on the Spanish Inquisition (and other inquisitions of the same historical period), combined with the witch hunts, since the ones shown are specifically focused on hunting Aes Sedai. Their costume design is based partly on the Knights Templar and the Ku Klux Klan.
  • A quick and dirty way to explain the politics of the White Tower and its most prominent Ajahs is that the Amyrlin Seat is the President, the Green Ajah is the Army, the Red Ajah is the Police and the Blue Ajah is the CIA.
• Feminist Fantasy: Almost all of the authority figures shown or referenced in the series are female, including the Aes Sedai, an entire order of female magic users who virtually run the continent. This is counterbalanced by the fact that the series revolves around a male savior figure.
• Flaying Alive: Eamon Valda starts doing this to Perrin, cutting skin from his back, and threatens that he'll take the rest unless Egwene demonstrates she's an Aes Sedai.
• Flying Car: There are several outside the window in the scene "3000 years ago" in episode 8.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In the very first scene — Moiraine's introductory Lock-and-Load Montage — she packs an obviously important small statue. Book fans quickly recognized it as an angreal (magic amplifier) and wondered why she never uses it. It was meant for the Dragon Reborn to be used at the Eye of the World. Also it's a sa'angreal — a more powerful class.
  • Mat is introduced as a gambler.
  • Perrin encounters wolves multiple times, and they are shown to not be a threat to him.
  • When the Trollocs attack Emond's Field, Padan Fain watches with mild interest and then strolls away, indicating he's not surprised to see them, nor afraid of being attacked.
  • A little girl has a doll called Birgitte that she claims protects people in their dreams.
  • Logain starts laughing manically when he notices Mat and Rand in Tar Valon. In the books, Logain says that he could see Rand as a ta'veren that would change the world and laugh after realising he himself is not the Dragon Reborn. This was confirmed in season two to be the reason also in the tv-show.
  • When Rand sees the huge volcano Dragonmount for the first time, he remarks that it seems familiar.
  • Stepin tells Lan "first you lose Moiraine and then tell me how easy it is to jump from one woman to the next."
  • Ships disappearing to the west are mentioned as early as season 1 episode 6. Seanchan only appear in the second book. In the very last scene of Season 1 a Seanchan armada arrives off the "Far Western Shore" and its damane (slave-channelers) unleash a tidal wave.
  • Moiraine blackmails Liandrin about the man she met in secret, thinking he's her lover. In the books, Liandrin secretly met with other Darkfriends.
  • Episode 8 has a quicker example. Min gets more visions — of soldiers with horrible neck and face wounds and of Nynaeve collapsing with her face disfigured and with a sound subtitles describe as "skin burning". Next second trumpets announce a Trolloc attack, during which Nynaeve almost gets immolated by Super-Power Meltdown.
  • At the Eye of the World there's a large Aes Sedai symbol on the floor. Moiraine later says it's made of supposedly indestructible cuendillar. This looks a lot like the seals holding the Dark One, as described in the books, only much larger. Ba'alzamon taunts Moiraine that she doesn't know if the Dragon Reborn is going to break his chains or strengthen them. Then the Dragon Reborn hits him so hard, the symbol breaks. This backfires on the heroes in season two as Ishmael uses this weakness to free first Lanfear and later the rest of the Forsaken.
  • When a Darkfriend says that some or all of ta'veren may turn to the Shadow, the camera shows the obviously unhappy Mat returning to Tar Valon.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: In episode 8 Ba'alzamon appears in a dream looking like he did before — with burning eyes and mouth and covered by gray shriveled skin — and gets an arrow in the eye. Then he pushes the arrow and the skin into the wounded eye and changes into what Elan Morin Tedronai looked like 3000 years earlier.
  There, that's better. Hard to have a real conversation otherwise.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Paidan Fain can be seen laughing while watching Mat and Rand as the crowd gathers to see the False Dragon arrive in Tar Valon — only a few seconds on the upper left part of the picture before he leaves.^note Episode 5, 20 minutes in, 17-21 seconds after the scene changes from Loial to the city streets. You can also hear his whistling and see what may be his silhouette when the party is in Shadar Logoth.^note Episode 2, 48 minutes in, right after the scene changes from Mat and Perrin to the street. He appears in the Ways — watching from the shadows after the Trolloc attack. And there's some small object in his right hand, prompting a lot of fan speculation.^note Episode 7, 14 minutes in, 4-6 seconds after Lan shouts "Go!" and Moiraine adds "Quickly!"

G - L

• Geas:
  • Aes Sedai are bound by magic to keep three oaths stopping them from lying or harming others with their powers (absent some extreme circumstances). It was done in hopes this would make them more trusted by people, but that hasn't worked out very well (given they find a lot of loopholes with the oaths, to start).
  • Later we see the Oath Rod used to swear these oaths, which is a kind of magical device which has this effect on any channeler touching it. Any oath they swear while doing so is completely compelling for them. Moiraine swears to leave Tar Valon and only return if invited back by Siuan Sanche.
• Gender Flip: King Galldrian Riatin of Cairhien from the books is Queen Galldrian here.
• Gender-Restricted Ability: Magic (the One Power) is divided strictly by gender here. Only women touch saidar, the female half, as only men touch saidin, the male half. Touching saidin leads to eventual insanity because it was tainted by the Dark One, which caused the Breaking of the World. The episode "Saidin, Saidar, Stone" of The Wheel of Time: Origins animation says that saidin and saidar require vastly different techniques (a very important point in the books, as well as their different specializations), but it hasn't come up in season 1.
• Gentle Giant: Loial is an Ogier, a towering humanoid man of great strength who inspires fear to the point a mob chases him around Tar Valon. However, in truth he's gentle, scholarly, and highly moral.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom:
  • In nightmares Ba'alzamon appears in a mask with glowing eyes and mouth. Like in the books, all of the ta'veren protagonists see those dreams.
  • In Perrin's dream Laila's eyes start to glow.
• Good Is Not Nice: Moiraine's pretty much an exemplar of this. She's frequently curt, shares as little information as she has to, manipulates those around her, and views everything in the context of the greater good.
• Hand Signals: Aviendha and her fellow Maidens of the Spear (Aiel warrior women) communicate using sign language along with verbal speech. It's clearly something which is useful when moving silently to keep enemies unaware of them.
• Healing Factor: The Forsaken. When Lanfear is stabbed in the back and gets a slit throat, she recovers in about a minute.
• Healing Hands: Channelers can use the One Power for healing, which is mentioned when Moiraine has been wounded. They can't heal themselves, though, only others, so she needs help from someone else. Later another Aes Sedai heals her. The Yellow Ajah is the Ajah focused on healing. Logain heals the wounds the King of Ghealdan suffered in a flashback as well.
• Healing Magic Is the Hardest: Healing is a standard Aes Sedai power with only one, but crucial, caveat. A channeler cannot heal themself.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • In "Eyes Without Pity" Ryma Sedai and Basan, her Warder, sacrifice themselves by openly battling with Seanchan to help Egwene escape, knowing that it will likely end with them both dead. Basan is killed, Ryma wounded, captured and enslaved.
  • In "What Was Meant To Be" Ingtar is killed fighting many Seanchan soldiers to hold them off as his companions escape.
  • Hopper is killed by Bornhald while protecting Perrin from Valda. Perrin does not take this well.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Logain Ablar kills Kerene — one of the more reasonable Aes Sedai, who wanted to take him to the White Tower and give him a fair trial rather than "gentling" him on the spot — by accident, during his escape attempt in "The Dragon Reborn". In the heat of the battle Liandrin promptly strips Logain of his power and nobody objects. But since the difference was between gentling immediately or a month later, for Logain it changed little.
• Homage Shot: The scene where Padan Fain enters the Two Rivers is clearly a shot by shot remake of Gandalf entering The Shire. In fact, this was for the longest time meant to be the opening shot for the entire series.
• Hotter and Sexier:
  • In the books, Two Rivers culture is sexually conservative. The teen main characters are not sexually active and remain shocked by the more liberal attitudes prevalent in the wider world outside their village for some time. Rand and Egwene are the only two in a relationship while still in Two Rivers, and it's still chaste. In the show, they are all slightly older, and their sexual conservatism is completely dropped. Rand and Egwene have a sexual relationship, though nothing is shown onscreen.
  • Lan gets into a bath naked with Moiraine, although it's not sexual (quite the opposite).
  • The polyamorous sexual relationship between Alanna Mosvani and her two Warders receives quite a lot of on-screen attention in the show, while romances between Green Aes Sedai and their Warders are more fleetingly referenced in the books.
  • Moiraine is seen in a bathhouse with topless women around (albeit not that focused on).
  • Moiraine and Siuan have a passionate reunion confirming their relationship which has them kiss while scantily clad and then have sex offscreen.
  • Nynaeve and Lan act on their mutual passion by kissing then have sex offscreen.
  • In Season 2, Selene and Rand have a sexual relationship before he learns she is Lanfear. In The Great Hunt, she flirts with him and he is very attracted to her, but she never actually manages to seduce him.
• Human Ladder: The trollocs' way of storming fortress walls, as seen in episode 8.
• Hypocrite: Perrin notes that the Tuatha'an, pacifist vegetarians, still let their dogs run wild and hunt anything they like, saying that it seems a little hypocritical to him. The Tuatha'an quickly point out that it is only they who are vegetarian pacifists and not their dogs.
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: An Aiel woman, Tigraine, while full term manages to fight multiple men before being stabbed in the side. She nonetheless gives birth to her child, who is unharmed, before dying.
• Impostor-Exposing Test: In episode 8, Ba'alzamon places Rand into a scene of a perfect future, where he lives with Egwene and their daughter in Two Rivers. Subversion: Rand asks about things only the real Egwene knows, but she gives answers that match his memories of her. Double subversion: this perfect Egwene did not leave him to become Wisdom or Aes Sedai, thus he deduces she's fake or brainwashed — not the woman he wants to be with.
• In the Back: Egwene stabs Valda in the back with a knife during her escape after she frees herself from her bonds by channeling and he's distracted seeing Perrin's transformation.
• Incompatible Orientation: Nynaeve spends most of the season refusing to act on her attraction to Lan since she assumes that he and Moiraine are a couple. Six episodes in it is shown that Moiraine has a girlfriend and that all the "hints" were signs of Moiraine and Lan being Platonic Life-Partners.
• Interface Spoiler:
  • Since Amazon Prime lets you know the role any actor currently on screen is playing while the playback UI is up, viewers can immediately know Rand's mother was named Tigraine Mantear, despite their name not being mentioned even once during the episode, while readers would not discover it or its significance until the fourth book.
  • And in the first season finale, Moiraine and Rand encounter a man in the Blight they (and supposedly the audience) believe to be the Dark One, tempting Rand to choose the Dark, except the playback names the character as "Ishamael 'The Man'", whom book readers (and viewers who randomly noticed his name-drop from the Darkfriend Dina) will know to be the Highest amongst the Forsaken - not the Dark One itself, but rather its top minion. Unlike Tigraine Mantear in the previous episode, his actor Fares Fares isn't listed in the episode's end credits, probably meaning it was supposed to be a mystery. The Prime interface was later updated to preserve the mystery, and the second season premiere reveals the truth anyway.
• I Owe You My Life: Aviendha follows Perrin on his path after he'd released her from the cage she was held in by Whitecloaks, which eventually would have meant her death, because as a result she now has a toh (an obligation) for repaying him by Aiel custom.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Nynaeve tortures a sul'dam she captured for information on where Egwene's held in the Season 2 finale. Elayne clearly disapproves but does not object.
• Karmic Death: Renna gets one at the hands of Egwene. In Episode 6, she hangs Egwene on the wall by her collar, with Egwene struggling and gasping for breath, before letting her down. In the finale, Egwene does the same to her and leaves her to choke to death.
• The Killer in Me: Mat has serious doubts whether the farmers were killed by him or a Fade. Rand assures him it was the Fade, but Mat isn't convinced and asks Rand to Mercy Kill him if he turns out to be a man who can channel and goes insane. He promises to do the same to Rand if the latter is a channeler. It turns out that Mat's blackouts are from the evil influence of the dagger he found in Shadar Logoth, not from channeling, but it's still unclear who killed the farmers.
• King Incognito: It turns out that Lan, full name al'Lan Mandragoran, is the rightful king of a Borderland country named Malkier, which was lost to the Blight decades past in his childhood, making him a king without a kingdom. Though in the Borderlands, it's no secret and everybody knows of him. It's only news to the Two Rivers characters.
• Knight Templar: The Children of the Light, or Whitecloaks, are an independent military organization centered in Amadicia dedicated to finding Darkfriends and rooting out evil and corruption wherever it may be found. In their ranks are "Questioners", with them burning Aes Sedai, convinced they're all evil witches.
• Legend Fades to Myth:
  • Rand, Mat, Egwene and Perrin sing an old song about Manetheren, not realizing this was based on real people whom they're descended from until Moiraine tells them since it was so long ago. Their heroic battle against Trollocs has become now just a story to them.
  • The Forsaken (a group of powerful channelers of both genders who led the Dark One's armies before the Breaking of the World) are treated as some sort of evil anti-gods, each responsible for inflicting particular troubles. Stepin is once seen with a set of Forsaken idols performing some ritual to drive them away to clear his thoughts to make the right decision. Most people see it as a silly superstition, though.
• Literal Disarming: The Questioner of the Whitecloaks cuts off the hands of an Aes Sedai before burning her.
• Logical Weakness: Eamon Valda cuts off every captured Aes Sedai's hands and gags them to stop them making magical gestures and speaking words for channeling the One Power. However, he knows those are crutches and not all channelers require them, since channeling is actually an act of will. He experiences this firsthand as Egwene channels silently with no gestures at all, and Valda did not expect her channeling to prove that effective.
• Lotus-Eater Machine:
  • In the Season 1 finale, Egwene and Rand are tempted by a vision to prevent their fighting the Dark One of them happily married with a daughter, but they break out of it.
  • Nynaeve similarly is tempted by a vision of herself as happily married to Lan with a daughter while in the Arches during her trial to become Accepted. She stays in the vision world for years however before finally breaking out, which makes her experience far more traumatic.
• Love at First Sight: The delirious Rand swoons at the sight of Elayne as she heals him.
• Love Makes You Evil:
  • Liandrin swore herself to the Shadow in the hope that her dying son could be saved by the Dark One as a reward.
  • Lanfear became a Darkfriend (and one of the Dark One's lieutenants, the Forsaken) because it might give her enough power to get back the Dragon, her lover who'd left her. Thousands of years later, she's still intent on doing this.
• Love Martyr: The Seanchan attempt to inspire an emotional connection between their enslaved damane and their sul'dam slavers. This seems to be working on Egwene, but it's defied.
• Love Triangle:
  • Rand-Egwene-Perrin. The former two don't seem to notice, the latter denies everything, but it's an Open Secret for the rest of their friends and neighbours. Machin Shin does know, and the reminder makes Perrin a bit less reserved, which provokes Nynaeve to blurt out the secret.
  • It's mentioned that originally Maksim was chasing after Ihvon who was chasing after Alanna, before they formed a three-way polyamorous relationship with Ihvon and Maksim as Alanna's Warders.

M - R

• Mad Love: Lanfear is absolutely obsessed with getting back the Dragon (now reborn as Rand), who had been her lover millennia ago before he left her for the woman he married. She won't let anything stop her from pursuing him, even though he clearly isn't interested at all, only becoming her lover in the present day due to her having completely deceived him on her identity.
• Made a Slave: The Seanchan enslave Ingtar and Loial when they are taken prisoner in Season 2, with them serving Lady Suroth. Egwene is enslaved as well later, the fate of all woman channelers in the Seanchan's hands, and she's tortured for breaking her into serving them submissively.
• Magical Society:
  • The Aes Sedai are a group of channelers (those able to use the One Power) who recruit women all over the region, across many countries. Male channelers on the other hand are hunted down to "gentle" them as otherwise they'll go dangerously insane.
  • On a smaller scale, the town of Emond's Field also has female channelers they call Wisdoms, passing down their practice from mistress to apprentice.
• Mercy Kill Arrangement: After seeing a gentled, insane Logain be paraded through the streets, Mat makes Rand make a deal with him that if one of them can channel, the other won't let him suffer the same fate. The mercy kill part isn't stated, but is implied, since there's no known way to stop a male channeler from going insane.
• Metaphorical Marriage: When Siuan forces Moiraine to make an oath upon the Oath Rod that will bind her against returning to the White Tower, Moiraine rephrases the oath in such a way that it sounds like a wedding vow instead, though the core of the instruction remains intact. This is reflective of their long-term clandestine relationship.
• Mind Link Mates: Alanna is lovers with both her Warders. Like all Aes Sedai and Warders, the trio have the Bond, which lets them feel what the other does and be aware of their location. With one, Maksim, she mostly masks the Bond since they found it uncomfortable. He confirms this is not the case in bed though.
• Mistaken for Gay: Dana assumes that Mat and Rand are a couple because they're travelling together. Though this might be subterfuge, since she knows a lot more about them than she lets on.
• Mistaken for Romance: Nynaeve thinks that Lan and Moiraine are a couple after witnessing their relationship and having only a couple of Green Aes Sedai's Warders to compare it with (she couldn't be more wrong).
• Modesty Bedsheet: After she's had sex with Rand offscreen, Egwene is shown sitting with a blanket around her.
• Monstrous Cannibalism: During season one's third episode, one Trolloc eats another wounded Trolloc.
• More Hero than Thou: Moiraine insists that only the Dragon Reborn will survive whatever happens at the Eye of the World. Much of Episode 7 is the potential Dragons arguing if it's true and what they should do. Then Rand establishes he is the one and goes with only Moiraine, leaving the rest in Fal Dara.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: The Myrdraal looks like a humanoid version of a sandworm with the complete large set of needle-like teeth, as shown when it screams in rage at Moiraine thwarting its Trollocs' pursuit.
• Mundane Utility: Moiraine uses her magic to heat up the water of the bath she's sharing with Lan at his suggestion.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Perrin screams in agony after he kills his wife Laila accidentally. He is understandably in shock for much of the early episodes.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Egwene is accepted into the Women's Circle, Nynaeve explains the symbolism of their braids. In the books, Nynaeve is known for tugging her braid in times of stress or irritation.
    Nyneave: This braid will remind you that you are a part of us and we a part of you. To be a woman is to be always alone and never alone. So when the Dark surrounds you and you see no Light, feel this braid and know that we all stood before you. We all stand with you.
  • The later books have several hilarious scenes about how a Psychic Link (primarily, the Aes Sedai Warder bond and Aiel sister bond) combines with intoxication and arousal. Episode 4 has a milder example on the same lines: when Lan drinks, Moiraine becomes noticeably emotional.
  • In Episode 4 a little girl shows her doll Birgitte, who "protects [her] when everyone's asleep" and "always wanted to see the world". It's a clear reference to Birgitte Silverbow, a reincarnating heroine of Light.
  • In episode 4 Liandrin mispronounces Nynaeve's name, a nod to the fact that fans have often had trouble figuring out how to pronounce it based on its spelling in the text.
  • The way the Aes Sedai strike team describes how they captured Logain (rather than the big battle between armies in the books) mirrors the way the books had Moiraine, Lan and Nynaeve rescue Perrin and Egwaine from the Whitecloaks—them sneaking in, grabbing what they came for and throwing lighting to scare everyone around for the time to depart.
  • The first times Egwene channels, she sets things on fire. In the books she was far better at handling fire than most Aes Sedai.
  • In the books a lot was said about how an archer needs to learn to calm down to concentrate. In Episode 7 a nervous Rand keeps missing the bullseye. Then he sorts out his conflict with Egwene, accepts his ability to channel and starts hitting the bullseye.
  • In the books Uno Nomesta, an old soldier from Fal Dara, is best remembered for his eyepatch and swearing. In season 1 he only says three or four sentences, but they're just like in the books:
    Uno: The Horn of bloody Valere, lad.
• The Needs of the Many: Renna, a sul'dam (slave trainer) of the Seanchan, tells Egwene (her prisoner whom she's "broken in") their empress' goal is to conquer the world under the Light so they can all oppose the Dark One together and beat him, obviously attempting to justify their brutal actions. Egwene is not swayed for a moment, vowing that she'll kill Renna some day for what she's done.
• Nepotism: Liandrin accuses Siuan of favoring Moiraine as she'd been with the Blue Ajah alongside her before being raised to Amyrlin. This is doubtless why they keep the fact they're lovers a secret, since it would only make this worse.
• Non-Heteronormative Society: Nobody in the show aware of it seems either surprised or disapproving of the fact that Alanna's male Warders are each other's lovers (along with hers). Moiraine and Siuan do keep their relationship a secret, but this is indicated to be because it would result in accusations of nepotism as the latter is now the head of the whole Aes Sedai, rather than because they're both women.
• No OSHA Compliance: The White Tower is shown to have numerous balconies with no railings or other safety measures.
• No-Sell:
  • Logain easily shields himself from the spears of the soldiers trying to stop him reaching their king in "The Dragon Reborn", not even breaking stride when he walks.
  • In the first season finale, when confronted by the Dark One (really Ishamael) at the Eye, Moiraine desperately tries to attack him, only for him to casually still her with barely a snap of his fingers.
• Obstructive Code of Conduct:
  • Aes Sedai take three oaths: to never lie, to not make a deadly weapon, and not to use the One Power as a weapon except against minions of the Dark One or as a last resort to protect themselves or their Warders. In the books the oaths were introduced shortly after the Breaking of the World, but here they are connected to the king Artur Hawkwing, about two thousand years later.
  • The Tuatha'an follow a philosophy called the Way of the Leaf which eschews violence even for self-defense, extending to not killing animals for food. Any person who shares a meal and fire with them too is considered Tuatha'an, whom they put their bodies on the line to protect.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: The Seanchan demand people whom they have conquered publicly swear oaths of fealty. Any who refuse are immediately killed in a brutal fashion, so as you would expect few reject the demand.
• Off with His Head!: Lanfear casually creates a weave and cuts off a man's head using it to get the poor sap's horse.
• Oh, Crap!: In the last scene of Season Two, Lanfear is on top. Ishamael is permanently dead, clearing her way to get at Rand whenever she wants, and she is making ready to have the rest of the Forsaken's seals dropped into the ocean... only to find that Ishamael released the others before he died, just in case she pulled anything.
• Older Than They Look: Aes Sedai in general, as a result of using the One Power slowing their aging greatly.
  • Liandrin has a son she cares for who's dying of an old-age related disease while she looks at most fifty. From what she says, he's in his late eighties to early nineties.
  • Moiraine has a much younger sister (judging from the portrait depicting them years ago). However, Moiraine looks to be about in her early to mid forties while her sister appears around twenty years older at least.
• Once More, with Clarity: In Episode 7, "The Dark Along the Ways", when Rand al'Thor is figuring out who the Dragon Reborn is, we see several flashbacks of scenes from previous episodes but where that character is shown channeling.
• One-Man Army:
  • Any experienced channeler not bound by Aes Sedai oaths against non-channelers. Logain demonstrates that in the flashback introducing him. He storms a fortress and throws guards around just to talk to the king and win him over to his side.
  • Aiel warrior women also are able to put down many more larger, armed men even when heavily pregnant or bare-handed, which Tigraine and Aviendha demonstrate.
  • Lan is a skilled enough swordsman that he can take on a squad of Seanchan soldiers easily all by himself.
• Open Secret: Averted so far. In the books the identity of the Dragon Reborn is obvious from the beginning due to them being the viewpoint-character for the first half (and even then in total around 90% of the book). In the show it's one of the main mysteries throughout the first season, with the only certainty being that it's one of the five characters from the Two Rivers. In both versions of the story, it's Rand.
• The Order:
  • The Aes Sedai, along with being a Magical Society, is this. Different divisions called Ajahs exist within them, including the Blue (who pursue justice), Yellow (the healers), Brown (the scholars), Red (who gentle male channelers), Green (who battle Shadowspawn), etc. At least officially, their goal is to serve the Muggle populace at large.
  • Wisdoms (who serve as the heads of the Women's Circles in small rural villages like the Two Rivers, and are often latent channelers) have an organization too, with a ritual to initiate new members and all wear their hair with a certain braided style. They serve their people as healers mostly.
• Or Was It a Dream?: Rand, Mat, Egwene, and Perrin have dreams in which a cloud of bats are killed, only to wake up and find it true. Moiraine warns that dreams can be more dangerous than they know.
• Our Ogres Are Different: Rand mistakenly calls Loial an ogre, which hints that Ogier inspired our concept of ogres. But Ogier invert or avert nearly every ogre-related trope.
• Our Orcs Are Different: The Trollocs look very much as they are described in the books, with a largely humanoid frame but also beastial features, often horns, plus hooves in some cases. They have shown no free will beyond killer instinct and a fear of water.
• Parental Substitute: After Nynaeve met Lan's tribe, she muses over the old man who treated Lan as his son. Lan explains that he was one of his father's bodyguards who was given the task to smuggle him, the infant heir, out from Malkier while the King, Queen and the rest of the rest of the Kingdom succumbed to the Blight.
• Past-Life Memories: Ishamael gives Mat a tea that lets him view his past lives in a nearby mirror. From what's seen, most died violently.
• People of Hair Color: Loial recognizes Rand as being an Aielman instantly by his red hair, as it's a distinct trait they have, despite Rand's denying being Aiel.
• Persecution Flip: Due to how the male half (saidin) of the One Power is impossible to safely use, channelers are dominated by women, with all channeling men hunted down by women who openly despise them and say their using it is unnatural, very much inverting many common social dynamics (not completely, as many women don't hate them, while other people hate channelers of whatever gender, but even so).
• Playing with Fire:
  • Logain burns down the bars of his cage to escape after the Aes Sedai guarding him are distracted as his followers attack, releasing him from their hold so he can touch the One Power again.
  • Egwene is learning. In Episode 3 she starts a campfire, but her flame is barely stronger than sparks from flint and steel. In Episode 5 she manages to burn ropes to set Perrin free.
  • Egwene later learns how to cast fireballs when the Seanchan enslave her, and it's apparent the damane (slave channelers) use this often.
  • Ishamael casts fiery missiles rapidly at Egwene later.
  • Moiraine sends sheets of flame to strike and burn the Seanchan ships anchored off Falme.
• Polyamory: Alanna and her two Warders have a trio relationship together.
• Power Nullifier: Channelers can block others' using the One Power, though the more powerful are very difficult to.
• Power Perversion Potential: Maksim, one of Alanna's Warders, strongly implies that his Bond with her is used for enhanced pleasure while they and Ivhon have sex, since it lets them feel things the others do.
• Pragmatic Adaptation:
  • Budget constraints allowed the first season to film no more than 4 cities. Thus, several places had to be skipped with their events moved elsewhere (Rand meets Loial and sees Logain in Tar Valon) or to the next season (Elayne does not appear until season 2).
  • The Seanchan have a variety of vaguely American accents rather than the Texan-like "drawl" they're said to have in the books, both to prevent actors from all having to affect a specific accent and to generally avoid sounding ridiculous.
• Pregnant Badass: The Cold Open of season 1, episode 7 shows a heavily pregnant Aiel woman (who's Rand's mother, Tigraine) dispatching several fully armored Illian soldiers while fighting off labor pains.
• Pride Before a Fall: In episode 7 Agelmar, the ruler of Fal Dara, reacts to Moiraine rather harshly when he thinks the Aes Sedai sent help without him asking. His kingdom has survived long enough without outside assistance. In episode 8, after seeing the size of Trolloc army, he admits he should've called for help. His city survives, but he does not.
• Produce Pelting: The Tar Valon citizens throw vegetables at Logain as he's paraded through the streets.
• Prophecy Twist: Ishamael foresees Mat stabbing Rand. Later this does happen, though accidentally while Mat is attacking Ishamael, who it turns out is an illusion with Rand just past his location.
• Psychic Link: The Bond between Warders and Aes Sedai, letting them sense each other telepathically to a limited degree. It includes feeling what the other does along with knowing their location. Maksim, one of Alanna's Warder lovers, also strongly implies it enhances things sexually.
• The Queen's Latin: Like most fantasy worlds, the prevailing accents are British. The Seanchan, however, notably have American accents to show how they are foreign. This is a nod to the books' describing them as speaking with a "drawl," and Robert Jordan saying he imagined that they sound Texan.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: A party of Trollocs raid Emond's Field in the pilot. Many are killed and much of the village is torched before they retreat in the face of Moiraine's spells.
• Reincarnation: People being reborn in new bodies is a feature of the universe. The Dragon, an ancient savior, is prophesied to eventually be reborn, with many people claiming they are him. Others too mention this, however, for instance being happy at knowing that their loved ones will reincarnate in the future.
• Red Herring: Throughout season one, several hints appear that seem to indicate that one of the five Two Rivers protagonists is the Dragon Reborn. Only one of them can actually be it, though.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: Barthanes Damodred is Moiraine and her sister Anvaere Damodred's cousin in the books, rather than being Anvaere's son and Moiraine's nephew.
• Reincarnation Romance: It turns out that Lanfear once was lovers with Lews Therin, the Dragon, who is now reborn as Rand millennia later. She's still obsessed with him and had seduced Rand by pretending to be an ordinary innkeeper named Selene, hoping to win him back.
• Restraining Bolt: The a'dam are metal collars which Seanchan use to control enslaved woman channelers. A sul'dam, who controls the a'dam, can cause them pain for disobedience, and break the will of the collared women (damane) using this. Attempting to remove the collar or harm their sul'dam automatically causes a damane pain as well, and they can't channel without permission.
• Rite of Passage: After she's accepted into the Emond's Field Women's Circle, Egwene is then shoved by Nynaeve into the river as a kind of ritual test. She's swept downstream by the waters, but is uninjured.
• Ruder and Cruder: The strongest profanity in the books is "flaming". In the series, characters say "shit" and "prick".

S - Z

• Sacred Hospitality: Tuatha'an consider any person who shares their food and fires to be their people, defending them peacefully if they must.
• Save the Day, Turn Away: The Dragon Reborn tries that at the end of season 1, firmly believing they have become dangerous to their friends and family.
  The Dragon Reborn: I have a favor to ask you. Just one. Tell them I died here. Tell them I didn't make it back.
  Moiraine: I cannot lie.
  The Dragon Reborn: You'll work out a way.
• Secret Relationship: In addition to being co-conspirators, Moiraine and Siuan are lovers, while presenting an image of mutual antagonism to the rest of the world.
• Sexy Discretion Shot:
  • Rand and Egwene begin to kiss passionately as they embrace, then the next scene shows them after they've had sex.
  • Very similarly, Moiraine and Siuan have a passionate reunion tryst that is not explicitly shown.
  • Lan with Nynaeve while resting in Fal Dara. Also, again Rand and Egwene.
• Sexy Soaked Shirt: Egwene is wearing a very sheer outfit through much of the first episode, and it becomes even sheerer after she climbs out of a river that she was pushed into.
• Shameful Strip: Egwene is stripped naked, scrubbed and washed before being dressed by male Whitecloaks to her obvious discomfort after they capture her.
• Shining City: Tar Valon is a very literal example, as it's centered upon the White Tower, where the Aes Sedai are headquartered, which is the color of its name and shines in the sun. Additionally the rest of the city has been built from pale stone too, with it all being a magnificent, ancient place. In the city it's a bustling environment with people very colorfully dressed.
• Shock and Awe: Amalisa, Nynaeve, Egwene and two other women join to channel the One Power against the Trollocs, creating lightning that strikes them.
• Sigil Spam: The Dragon's Fang (the black half of a yin-yang, sharp end down) appears spontaneously a few times:
  • In episode 1, while scouting the Two Rivers, Lan finds that Trollocs slaughtered about 15 sheep and arranged their bodies into the symbol.
  • In the flashback in episode 3, when Nynaeve kills a Trolloc in the village's sacred spring, its blood forms the symbol in the water.
  • In episode 3 when Thom kills Dana to save Rand and Mat, her blood also forms the symbol in a puddle.
  • The symbol is used deliberately for the first time in the Cold Open of episode 6, where Tairen villagers burn down a young Siuan Sanche's house and scrawl the symbol on a wall as a threat.
  • Cold Open of the season 1 finale ("3000 years ago") finally shows the origin of that symbol. The first thing we see is a Dragon's Fang-styled golden brooch formed into a literal roaring dragon that Lews Therin Telamon, the first Dragon, wears on his chest.
• Slashed Throat:
  • Thom relates to Rand that his nephew Owyn killed himself by cutting his throat after he was gentled.
  • Lan's throat is cut accidentally while Logain escapes, with Nynaeve healing this.
• Sleeping with the Boss: It turns out that Moiraine and Siuan, who's the head of the Aes Sedai which both belong to, are lovers. They keep this secret seemingly to avoid accusations of nepotism toward Moiraine. Mitigated by them getting together when they were both novices in the Tower and them staying together during the twenty years when Moiraine went out into the world searching for the Dragon Reborn while Siuan stayed in Tar Valon quietly climbing the ranks in order to aid their quest.
• Slipping a Mickey: Stepin sneaks the sleeping drug that Nynaeve gave him into Lan's drink so that Lan will be unable to stop him from committing suicide.
• Soft Water: Perrin and Egwene jump off a city wall into a moat some 20 metres below without any consequences. Not even catching a cold on a cool March night. Being ta'veren must've helped.
• Soiled City on a Hill: Shadar Logoth. As dark and cursed as in the books, as a once-great city now abandoned since its citizens' long-ago destruction by a sinister force. As in the books, objects brought from the city carry its corruption with them, like the ruby-hilted dagger that Mat picks up.
• State Sec: In the series False Dragons, and indeed the Dragon Reborn, can also be female. Thus the Red Ajah deals not only with male but also with female channelers who violate the White Tower rules. This implies both wilders (channelers without Tower education) and their fellow Aes Sedai. As a consequence, other Ajahs dislike Reds and are wary of them as the Tower's enforcers. This is actually close to their original purpose from the books, where the Red Ajah was formed to deal with misuses of the One Power in general before increasingly focusing on gentling men who could channel.
• Suicide by Cop: "Gentled" Logain tries to provoke Siuan to execute him during the trial. When that fails, he begs her to kill him.
• Super-Power Meltdown: Channelers who draw too much of the One Power can die as a result. In the books it was called "burning", but rarely left visible damage to bodies. Here, burning usually is literal.
  • In s1e2, Moiraine recounts the fall of Manetheren, when Queen Eldrene drew enough of the power to obliterate a Trolloc army, but was herself destroyed by the same power.
  • In s1e4, Liandrin begins to overdraw while fighting Logain, exemplified by light beginning to flow under her skin, but she suffers no ill effects.
  • In s1e8, Amalisa channels a great deal of the One Power by forming a circle along with Nynaeve, Egwene and two other women to strike down Trollocs with lightning. However, it overpowers her, killing her, the other two women and wounding Nynave (though Egwene heals her).
• Sympathy for the Devil: Thom is introduced singing a maudlin ballad from the last Dragon's perspective — the man who literally destroyed the World 3000 years ago.
• Synchronization: Aes Sedai and Warders share a bond which results in one's condition affecting the other. For example, when an Aes Sedai falls unconscious it weakens her Warder. When Lan drinks alcohol, Moiraine becomes noticeably emotional. At Stepin's funeral as Lan grieves his dead friend Moiraine starts to cry as well.
• Talking Your Way Out: Rand in Episode 4 defuses a conflict with a farmer, surprising even streetwise Thom.
  Rand: You don't want to kill us. If you did, you'd draw that bow with your fingertips, not your fist.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Darkfriends (followers of the Dark One), it turns out, don't often have any sign before they're revealed (although a few like Ishamael are pretty sinister to begin with). For instance, Moiraine (one of their most dedicated enemies) turns out to have a Darkfriend in her own friendly and polite nephew.
• Through the Eyes of Madness:
  • At the start of Episode 1, Red Aes Sedai are chasing a male channeler and his older friend. When cornered, the friend suggests fighting the pursuers with the One Power. Then he disappears. An Aes Sedai then tells the man that the madness must have started manifesting, if the channeler started seeing and hearing things.
  • In his first scene Logain is approached by two humanoid figures woven out of Saidin, who keep nagging that everybody is going to betray him. Later he insists he's hearing all the Dragons that failed before him.
• Torture Technician: The Whitecloak Questioners like Eamon Valda are skilled torturers, and he demonstrates this with poor Perrin.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The 2022 Comic Con panel established that the second season would roughly cover books 2 and 3. The first line of the teaser trailer then shown spoiled the Big Reveal from literally the epilogue of book 3: that the supposed Dark One that has been fought throughout the first few books is actually Ishamael, the First amongst the Forsaken and the Dark One's Champion.
• Unequal Rites: Weaves of saidar (the female half of the One Power) are shown as white. Weaves of saidin (the male half) are also white, but covered with black tendrils representing the Dark One's corruption. Similar color-coding was in the books for male and female halves of the yin-yang Aes Sedai symbol: white "Flame of Tar Valon" and black "Dragon Fang". As presently saidin is tainted, with its users inevitably going insane, they're hunted down by members of the Aes Sedai (which currently has only women due to the above) so they can be "gentled".
• Unknown Rival: Nynaeve is instantly distrustful of Moiraine due to her being an Aes Sedai and it only grow worse from there during the first season. Moiraine on her part is at her worst apathetic to Nynaeve to Moiraine being vaguely impressed by Nynaeve's spirit.
  Moiraine: (To Lan) I do like her, you know. The Wisdom.
• Unreliable Exposition: Moiraine says there's 4 ta'veren in Two Rivers. Padan Fain says there's 5.
• Uptown Girl: Moiraine (born into a noble family) and Siuan (born to a fisherman) originally had this dynamic based on their backgrounds. Later however when Siuan became Amerlyn, head of the powerful Aes Sedai, Moiraine was then her inferior inside of the organization, and possibly outside it too. They remained lovers throughout this.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Dana, a Darkfriend, states she serves the Dark One due to her belief he will break the Wheel and create a world with no suffering. She's willing to murder for that goal.
• Vasquez Always Dies: Perrin's wife Laila is a somewhat butch woman who's a blacksmith along with him, and fights the Trollocs who attack their village by his side. He kills her accidentally. Meanwhile, the feminine Moiraine, Nynaeve and Egwene fight as well, but they all live (granted, they have Plot Armor since they're main characters who don't die in the books either).
• Wandering Culture: The Tuatha'an are nomads who constantly travel around to look for "the song", doing work to sustain themselves in the meantime. Many people distrust them as a result, wrongly believing they're thieves. However, in fact they're strictly pacifist and benevolently let strangers into their midst.
• We Are as Mayflies: Humans to long-living Ogier. Loial finds humans too quick and reckless. And he was considered too impulsive back home, at least in the books.
  • When Rand mistakes him for a Trolloc and draws a sword:
    Loial: (giggles) You humans are very excitable.
  • When Rand mentions Egwene's childhood antics and needs to explain that she no longer believes herself to be Jain Farstrider reincarnated, despite having thought so earlier:
    Loial: I see. I forget how frivolous you humans can be with your thoughts.
  • Then Loial cautiously inquires how to properly refer to her, since humans change fast:
    Loial: Where is she now, this girl? Or is she a woman? You age so quickly.
  • When Rand leaves to gawk at Logain, Loial sums up his impressions:
    Loial: Always in such a rush, these humans. Never taking time to properly prepare for what they're walking into. (giggles)
• The Witch Hunter: The Whitecloaks (or at least their Questioners) are introduced showing Eamon Valda burning an Aes Sedai at the stake after he'd mutilated her by cutting off both her hands. They also call Aes Sedai "witches" disparagingly.
• Wizarding School: The White Tower has an academy to train novice Aes Sedai in using the One Power.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Myrdraal, unsurprisingly. Mat sees Helga Grinwell, a sweet little girl he spoke with, has been cut down by one when he escapes their attack along with Rand.
• You Are What You Hate: Egwene figures out that Renna and the other sul'dam, who cruelly control the damane (enslaved channelers) through the a'dam collars, are themselves weak channelers, explaining how they can link to their damane. She then puts her suspicion into action by collaring Renna and successfully controlling her. Renna is horrified to learn this, as all Seanchan have been taught that damane are akin to animals, urging Egwene on as she's getting strangled by Egwene's weave.

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