The Wheel of Time has finally gotten around to properly introducing us to Elayne in the second episode of season three, and I have to say, it was worth the wait. Her whole family is here now, along with a few new faces that book fans are going to be very excited to see. (In case you missed it, here’s the recap for episode one, “To Race the Shadow.”)
Recap
“A Question of Crimson” opens with a flashback to 20 years earlier, in which a pregnant Morgase (Olivia Williams) ascends to the Lion Throne and becomes Queen of Andor. She asks all her political rivals to swear fealty to her, then has them executed to ensure that her daughter never has to face a similar War of Succession.
In the present day, Queen Morgase arrives with a large entourage, including Elaida (Shohreh Aghdashloo), her advisor and a former rival of Siuan’s. Morgase is angry because she has heard of her daughter’s kidnapping. She and Siuan exchange hard words.
The Yellow Ajah examine Mat, then tell Nynaeve that they have never seen a problem like his. There is little they can do for any afflictions of the mind.
Morgase and Siuan walk together, discussing the strong ties between Andor and the White Tower and speaking more warmly to each other than they do in public. Siuan admits the truth about Darkfriends in the Tower, but assures Morgase that Elayne is still safer there than anywhere else.
On the way to the Waste, Lan and Rand practice swordplay. Aviendha tells Morgase and Egwene about the prophecies of the car’a’carn, how he is destined to unite and then destroy the Aiel, with only a remnant of a remnant surviving.
After traveling by Waygate, Perrin, Loial, Bain, and Chiad arrive in the Two Rivers, where Perrin is surprised to see Whitecloaks riding through the streets. Perrin is spotted by Egwene’s mother, Marin (Rina Mahoney) who warns him that the Two Rivers isn’t safe for him anymore. They discover Alanna and Maksim are in the Two Rivers as well, looking much the worse for wear.
Verin and Leane (Jennifer Cheon Garcia) are worried about Elaida’s presence in the Tower, but Siuan is more concerned about the Black Ajah. Min, who has been posing as a servant and observing sisters, reports that there will be a great battle in the White Tower, one that hasn’t happened yet.
Mat’s dalliance with a White Tower novice is interrupted when everyone gathers to watch Gawyn (Luke Fetherston) and Galad (Callum Kerr) in an flashy duel, which Gawyn wins. Elayne warns Nynaeve that every member of her family is always spinning many plots within plots.
Siuan summons Nynaeve and Elayne and assigns them the task of rooting out the Black Ajah, as they are the only two people in the tower she can be absolutely certain are not Darkfriends. Elayne and Nynaeve don’t trust her, but Nynaeve does believe that she and Elayne are the only people who can do the job. Elayne admits that she is supposed to return to Caemlyn; Nynaeve is upset that Elayne would abandon her.
Marin tells Perrin that there have been Trolloc attacks on farms in the area. The Whitecloaks are somewhat keeping them at bay, but are actually there to look for Perrin, accusing him of being a Darkfriend and of killing Geofram Bornhald. Realizing that people are in danger because of this, Perrin decides to turn himself in.
Rand talks to Lanfear in his dreams. She tells him that someday, Egwene will see the darkness within him, as Lanfear does. At the same time, Lanfear is in Egwene’s dreams, disguised as Renna and reenacting the torture Egwene experienced. Suddenly Egwene flickers and finds herself in a sandy desert. An Aielwoman tells her that she does not belong there, and Egwene wakes.
Elayne shares a quiet drink with her mother’s consort, Lord Gaebril (Nuno Lopes), who admits to her that the queen is facing political problems at home; she has even had to dismiss her Captain General. Gaebril thought Elayne deserved to know, but asks her to keep the knowledge to herself until Morgase decides to tell her.
Min has been posing as a servant and reporting her viewings of sisters to Siuan. So far she has not identified any Darkfriends, but she reports to Siuan that there will be a great battle in the White Tower, one that hasn’t happened yet. Later, she comes to take Mat to a summons from the Amyrlin Seat, awkwardly apologizing to him for her part in his capture by Ishamael.
Siuan convinces Mat to give her the Horn for safekeeping, and asks if he can be relied upon in times of danger. Mat answers that he is no hero.
Elayne tells her mother that she will not come back to Caemlyn yet. She must forge her own path and is determined to become the first Aes Sedai Queen. She tells her mother of fighting in Falme and Healing the Dragon Reborn, and Morgase reluctantly acquiesces.
Siuan bids formal farewell to Morgase, who informs her that Elaida will be remaining in the Tower. She also threatens Siuan over Elayne’s safety.
Aviendha, Rand and the others finally come in sight of the Aiel Waste, and are surprised to find a group of Aiel waiting for them. Egwene recognizes the woman from her dream, who quotes a prophecy about Rand.
Commentary
This episode is terribly exciting, especially for those who know the books and recognize characters like Elaida, Lord Gaebril, and the mysterious Aielwoman. One can infer by their placement in this episode that they are important, but when you know their stories it’s a special kind of thrill to see them appear on screen for the first time. Aghdashloo is an incredible choice for Elaida, who is the sort of antagonist that you love to hate. I am so excited to see her face off against Okonedo. I might be even more excited, however, about Lord Gaebril, since the show seems to be doing something different with him than the books did. In the books, Gaebril becomes Morgase’s lover after Elayne has left Caemlyn for the White Tower, and she has little interaction with him. Here, however, we learn that she is quite close to Gaebril, that she sees him as a confidant and enjoys getting drunk together with him while the rest of her family schemes and plots and (in the case of her brothers) shows off. Gaebril affectionately calls her sweetheart, and she confides in him, seemingly relaxed and trusting. I am very curious how this connection might affect or change Gaebril’s story going forward.
The introduction of Morgase is also flawless. I gasped aloud when she had her rivals killed. This is a bit more intense than the book character felt to me, though not so much that it is a change to her character. This slightly raised intensity helps make the action more immediate, which is perfect for a television show with only eight episodes, even before you take into account how much material is in the books, and how much condensing and editing is necessary to translate it to the screen.
The story of the Aiel suffers for this exact reason. Viewers will note how similar the Aiel seem to the Fremen of Dune, from their warrior desert culture to their religion-like prophecies of a savior who will come to them from another culture and become one of them, using them as his army and killing many before ultimately transforming their people in the process. Jordan took a lot of inspiration from Dune (you see some of the Bene Gesserit in the Aes Sedai as well) but the need to condense the story and streamline the representation of the culture means you lose much of the nuance and the details that differentiate his Aiel from their inspiration. It may well be that future episodes flesh the Aiel culture out to where that no longer feels so awkward, but the introduction certainly does, especially since the Three-Fold Land is more rocky than sandy in the books. It even has animals like lions and boars.
Maybe this Aiel waste has lions, too. Chiad does reference both lions and bears in the conversation with Marin.
But to get back to Elayne for a moment, we made it through all of season two without really getting to know her, which was rather frustrating, but this episode does a wonderful job in finally showing us who Elayne is, where she comes from, and how she is going to be important to the story.
In episode one, Elayne spent a little bit of time advising Rand on how to be a leader, and even wrote a letter to a noblewoman she knows in Tear to help smooth his way. In particular, she told him that being a leader means making decisions for the greater good, knowing that some will pay the price for that decision. Now we can see where Elayne learned that lesson, and how her mother is a strong queen, ruthless when she must be, but clearly wise and politically apt as well. Her love for her daughter is obvious, which hints at a softer side that might match Elayne’s quiet kindness, but her strength is what is most apparent. Elayne’s strength is demonstrated when she stands up to her mother at the end of the episode.
We also see how she navigates conflict calmly and rationally, gathering information and talking to people before presenting her own clear, logical arguments. She impresses upon Morgase the importance of her training as an Aes Sedai, both to protect the relationship between the White Tower and Andor, but also because of the existence of the Dragon Reborn. Her connection to Rand is significant, politically speaking, and Elayne is more educated than the villagers from the distant Two Rivers so she knows about the Prophecies, knows that the Dragon is going to conquer and rule Tear. She tells him in episode one that a peaceful transition would be preferable to a violent one, but no doubt her hope would be to ally herself with Rand and maintain control over her own country. An Aes Sedai Queen would probably be a great asset to the man meant to lead the forces of Light in the Last Battle and much more preferable to him than the Aes Sedai who want to use him as a weapon. Morgase’s fabulous outfit, a rival to Siuan’s own, tells us something about the strength of Andor as a nation, as does her willingness to threaten Siuan with possible war.
Nynaeve’s part in season two was also a bit disappointing. The first half of the season spent so much time with her and then suddenly seemed to drop her. But this, too, looks likely to be amended in season three as she returns to life in the Tower and attempts to understand herself as a channeler. Unable to channel at will, Nynaeve feels useless. She couldn’t Heal either Elayne or Rand in Falme, and she was unable to defend herself against the Gray Man’s attack. But we know how stubborn and determined Nynaeve is; she survived the Trolloc that took her from the Two Rivers, and she tracked Lan and Moiraine down afterwards. Once she sets her mind to something, she will do it, and whereas before she was reluctant to channel, now she has a strong motivation to do it. This episode hints, I think, at what will finally help Nynaeve control her ability. She promised Mat that she would find a way to help him, but the Yellow Ajah can’t do anything. We also know that there are at least several Aes Sedai like Adeleas, who were attacked in their minds by Liandrin’s followers. Adeleas lost her memory, and there might be others who suffered the same fate. Nynaeve is told, significantly, that almost nothing can be done for problems with the mind, but she isn’t ready to accept that and give up on Mat. It would be just like Nynaeve to go from not being able to channel at will, something all the other students in the Tower can do, to doing something with the One Power that no other Aes Sedai can do.
She still doesn’t seem to think of herself as a member of the White Tower though. She wears the white dress, but over it she still wears her Wisdom’s belt, like a shield, a cover over the truth of what that dress means. While the belt looked perfect with her old clothes, it now looks strange on her, not fitting properly with the seams of the dress and making it bunch at the top of the belt. Visually, she is at odds with herself, a symbol of what is going on inside.
Speaking of costumes—why, after so many good outfits, did they put Moiraine in that ridiculous traveling outfit? She looks like she shops at the discount racks at Ann Taylor Loft and Lands’ End, and it clashes utterly with, well, just about everything. I know we had some silly looking sweaters on the Two Rivers kids in season one, but the costuming budget has clearly gotten better with each season, so it makes no sense to dress Moiraine like this when we know she owns a bunch of incredible traveling outfits! It’s really jarring whenever we return to that group, and I’m not sure why the decision was made, unless possibly they wanted Moiraine to look as out of place with the others as possible, to visually reflect the friction that exists between her and Rand, and her and Egwene? It’s a mystery.
Moiraine is out of step with the others, it’s true. In the last episode she partnered with Lanfear to manipulate Rand into leaving Tar Valon by making them think that the Forsaken had found them. Ironically, the Forsaken had found them, but the fact that Moiraine would work, however begrudgingly, with Lanfear on this reminds us why Rand struggles to trust her. It asks the audience if there is a lot of validity to his mistrust. Moiraine has shown how willing she is to do anything to achieve her ends, but while it is a strength in her character, we have also seen that it both isolates her and isolates those she is manipulating. Meanwhile, Lan’s instincts are towards connection. Even restricted by his obedience and loyalty to Moiraine, he has the urge to talk to Nynaeve, to share as much as he can. He bolsters her, encouraging her to trust her own instincts and do what she must, and he seems to do the same for Rand. Rand tells Moiraine that Lan listens, and one wonders what would change if Moiraine were able to listen a little bit more, and if she could offer what felt more like support—wise, knowledgeable support—and less like badgering. After all, much of her advice is good, but the more she tries, the more people around her are suspicious.
The fact that Lanfear is secretly in Egwene’s dreams even as she is openly in Rand’s adds a sour note to the knowledge that Moiraine has been collaborating with her. Of course, one expects Lanfear would be doing so anyway. She might seem calm and collected as she talks to Rand, might seem confident that the dark nature Lanfear sees in him will drive Egwene away, but we also know how jealous she is of Rand, and of course she would want to drive off any potential rivals as quickly and as brutally as possible. The only barrier is Rand finding out, because she needs Rand to like and trust her, but while he is romantically drawn to her, he knows not to trust. I think Lanfear’s name-calling of Egwene was a deliberate test, to see how much she could get away with, to see if Rand would push back against Lanfear’s words even when Egwene wasn’t present.
The scene between Siuan and Mat was perhaps my favorite, and drawn almost exactly from the books. She slyly confronts Mat over his foolish recklessness in telling everyone who will listen about his heroics in blowing the Horn of Valere. The whole thing is very funny as Mat realizes his mistakes and his lack of understanding of the danger being the Hornblower puts him in. We’re already set up to be amused by the previous scene, in which Mat is tortured by the sounds of Galad and Gawyn being in rooms on either side of him (one wonders if this wasn’t done to him intentionally) and by his reunion with the ever-brusque Min. At the end of the scene with Siuan, the conversation becomes very serious. Mat is once again forced to consider the one thing he really doesn’t want to think about: the fact that his path seems to be one that leads into danger and demands that he become a hero.
It’s not just cowardice that motivates Mat, I think. There is such a sense of sorrow in his voice when he insists over and over that he isn’t a hero. The very idea that he would be so worthy is alien to how he understands himself, and that one moment standing at the head of the Heroes of the Horn, of being told that he is one of them, wasn’t enough to change that fundamental sense of his own identity. After all, we saw how Ishamael tortured him with it last season, and Mat experienced those visions of himself as a horrible murderer after drinking the tea Ishamael gave him. Of course, he has only the Forsaken’s word about the tea’s properties, but it’s easy to believe something that confirms one’s worst fears.
Gawyn and Galad’s sword fight was truly a highlight as well. The exchange between Nynaeve and Mat was my favorite moment. Of course it’s Nynaeve’s thing, Mat, she loves Warders. She spends more time with them than with Aes Sedai, and she’s very into that swordsman’s physique as well. Sure, these boys are rambunctious showboats, not stately dispossessed kings, but that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy looking. It’s not like she has to talk to them.
Lucky for us, dear readers, there is one more episode to go today—let’s dive into episode three, “Seeds of Shadow”.
Looking for more on The Wheel of Time? Find all of our episode recaps and discussions here, plus additional articles and news about the television series. You can also follow along with Sylas’ read-through of the books!
