This week’s episode of The Wheel of Time will finally answer the important questions of who the Aiel are and why they are so important to Rand’s future, as well as his past.
Recap
“The Road to the Spear” opens with Rand and Lan sparring. Rand tells Lan about his father, Tam, who was a soldier before Rand was born.
Bair and Melaine (Salóme Gunnarsdóttir) tell Moiraine and Egwene about the Wise One’s ability to see “many paths” of what may happen, and that if Rand survives Rhuidean they know that some portion of the Aiel will also survive. Melaine tells Moiraine that Moiraine would have died if she had not come, and that she must also go to Rhuidean.
Aviendha tells Rand that no one touches a sword this close to Rhuidean. She and Lan spar. They are interrupted by Melaine and Bair, who tell Aviendha she must stop resisting her destiny. Aviendha is made to surrender her spears and take off her warrior garb. She formally requests permission to go to Rhuidean, and is told yes.
Rand also intends to go to Rhuidean. Moiraine disapproves, and wants to know his plan. He asks her to swear, in plain words, that she won’t interfere with his decision, or to use him for the Tower’s ends, or her own. She refuses to do so in the manner he requests.
The next morning, Rhuarc (Björn Landberg) tells Rand that every chief must go to Rhuidean before he can lead, and shows Rand the mark they receive on their left arm if they return from the city. Rand learns that the Aiel were once called the People of the Dragon. They arrive at Rhuidean, a city shrouded by mist.
The group encounters some of the Shaido Aiel, including Sevanna (Natasha Culzac) whose new husband, Muradin, is currently in Rhuidean. Rand asks permission to enter Rhuidean, and permission is given. Moiraine also asks, despite Rand’s disapproval.
They leave their weapons behind and travel together into the city, where they find a great tree, Avendesora, the Tree of Life. Moiraine tells Rand about the other tree which once grew in Cairhien, before her uncle cut it down, an act which precipitated the Aiel War. Rand realizes this is why his mother was on the slopes of Dragonmount at the time of his birth, and that he and Moiraine have always been connected.
They part ways, and Rand goes to the columns that were described to him by the Wise Ones. He experiences great resistance as he walks through, and is thrown back into a series of past moments, seeing through the eyes of various ancestors:
First, Rand is his father, fighting on the slopes of Dragonmount and finding his wife dead and their child gone.
Then Rand is one of his ancestors, Mandein, who witnessed an Aes Sedai create the mist around Rhuidean and the glass columns, which will teach the Aiel about their heritage, which they have forgotten. She also prophesies the coming of the car’a’carn.
Next, Rand is an earlier ancestor, Lewin, a member of a group of Aiel who follow the Way of the Leaf. When his sister is kidnapped by bandits, Lewin and two friends attempt to rescue them, taking up weapons and killing in the process. Their families turn away from them, but Lewin swears to stay near and protect the peaceful Aiel, who cannot defend themselves.
In his own present, Rand struggles past Muradin (Fredrik Wagner) who is gouging out his eyes as he attempts to walk through the columns. Muradin collapses.
Moiraine finds a milky-white globe hidden in Avendesora, and takes it. She finds the rings that were described to her by the Wise Ones—Aviendha is already inside, suspended and clearly in distress. Moiraine steps in. She sees many versions of herself, some killing Rand, others mourning his death, or swearing to him, or bonding him as a Warder.
Rand is now an elderly ancestor named Jonai. Many of Jonai’s people have been killed by raiders. The other survivors decide not to go across the Spine of the World to reunite with their fellow Aiel. Jonai and his grandson, Adan (Atom Uniacke) go on alone, refusing to break their oaths. Jonai tells his grandson that his mother had a prophetic dream about a city in the desert where the Aiel can be safe. Together they pull a wagon, containing a sapling of Avendesora and the milky orb.
Next, Rand is an ancestor who served the Aes Sedai Latra Posae Decume (Katie Brayben). Ten thousand wagons, each with a cutting of the Chora tree, are being sent out, in an attempt to have some of them survive the Breaking of the World. Latra Posae entrusts him with the most powerful female sa’angreal in the world, the Sakarnen, counterpart to Callandor. She charges him to protect it, and tells him to keep moving until he finds a place of safety. He and his fellow Aiel swear to keep their oaths and the Way of the Leaf. He departs with his husband, out into the Breaking world.
Rand is a still earlier ancestor, standing in a floating building with Mierin Sedai, the woman who will be called Lanfear. She has discovered a thin part of the Pattern, and intends to break through to reach a power she calls the True Power, which can be wielded by anyone, not just Aes Sedai. She sends him to join his family for the harvest, and from there he witnesses a great catastrophe, as the building falls from the sky and a strange crackling hole appears in the air.
Rand emerges from the columns and falls prone. The symbols of the Dragon appear on both forearms, marking him as the car’a’carn. Sometime later he finds Aviendha, and tells her he understands, a little, why the Aiel do not touch swords. He refuses to leave Rhuidean without Moiraine.
In the rings, Moiraine continues to experience visions of possible selves, most of which are violently murdered by Lanfear.
Outside Rhuidean, Lan and Egwene wait for Rand and Moiraine to return. It has been seven days, and two days since Aviendha returns. Dawn breaks, and Rand emerges from the city, carrying Moiraine.
Commentary
Showrunner Rafe Judkins has talked about the fact that his favorite book in The Wheel of Time series is the fourth book, The Shadow Rising, and about how the Aiel are one of his favorite things in the series as a whole. He has also stated that everyone on the crew shares his passion and knowledge about the Aiel and their culture, and I think all of that really shows in “The Road to the Spear.” Even in certain moments where the script isn’t quite clear enough for viewers without previous knowledge of the story as to exactly what’s happening (there is a tendency to drop references like easter eggs, without fully explaining them), there is a real sense in episode four that the Aiel are a whole people, with a whole culture—even though the viewers, like our heroes, are strangers who have only had a glimpse of it so far. Rand and Aviendha’s tiff over carrying a sword perfectly encapsulates that feeling, with Rand moving from being dismissive over her beliefs to telling her that he now knows a little about why the Aiel feel the way they do about swords. Just enough, he tells her, to know he will never fully understand.
It’s not just the Aiel, however—this entire episode has a more grounded feel to it than the previous episodes of the season. It faced the daunting task of creating a visual language for the world of Rhuidean and for the glimpses of past eras that Rand experienced, and I think it did marvelously well. The ter’angreal Rand passes through, with its tall, thin, glass-like columns is clearly described in the books, as is Avendesora and the mists of Rhuidean—but the ter’angreal entered by prospective Wise Ones (and Moiraine) is less clearly depicted, and Moiraine’s time inside it is not described for the reader. I loved the way the show depicted the look of the rings and her experience in them. The sort of psychological assault of these ter’angreal is not easy to show visually—but the wind Rand faced, the paralyzing suspension Moiraine and Aviendha experienced, and the cold frost Rhuidean leaves upon its visitors all do an excellent job complimenting the actors’ performances. This works especially well with the aspects of horror—the corpses in the columns, Moiraine experiencing her death over and over, and Muradin gouging out his own eyes as he is unable to face whatever it is he experiencing.
Speaking of great acting, I was so impressed with Stradowski’s performance in this episode. Depicting this type of “chosen one” character isn’t an easy feat, either for a writer or an actor, and Rand isn’t always given enough development and depth in comparison to the other main characters in the series—which, to be fair, is also a problem in the books. It is harder to know and understand Rand than the other Two Rivers’ folks, and therefore harder to act in the role.
The conflict between Moiraine and Rand in season four is one example, I think, of this issue. While in seasons one and two Rand had clear reasons for struggling to trust Moiraine, his continuing distrust of her, and belief that she will use him for her own and the White Tower’s ends doesn’t make sense with what we have seen from the development in their relationship. If anything, after Moiraine’s willingness to betray Siuan and to trust Rand to call Lanfear to his aid, one would expect him to trust her more now than he ever has. Their main conflict appears to be that Moiraine doesn’t want Rand to go to Rhuidean, or indeed to the waste, and is angry with him for turning his back on her plan to go to Tear and retrieve Callandor. This may be a source of friction, but Moiraine didn’t try to force Rand away from his decision or trick him in any way (that he knows of).
This dynamic between Rand and Moiraine is accurate to the books, but I think it is a mistake to replicate it here. It adds nothing to the story, and deprives both actors of more interesting things to do. The scene between them as they stand underneath Avendesora was my favorite moment of the episode, perhaps of the series thus far, and also a beautiful example of how to adapt the novels for television. In one simple conversation, we learn about the origins of the Aiel war and Moiraine’s family’s connection to it, and therefore to the unfolding of the events prophesied around Rand’s birth. In the books this information is pierced together by the reader and by Rand over a long period of time and from different sources, including one of Rand’s visions within the columns. Additionally, Moiraine is not with him in Rhuidean—she goes in on her own, and never encounters Rand while in the city. Instead, Mat is the one who goes in with Rand, and has his own very important adventure when he encounters a different ter’angreal hidden in the city.
Judkins has suggested that this important experience will still happen for Mat, merely occurring somewhere other than in Rhuidean. This is a great way of streamlining certain stories, allowing Mat’s adventures with Elayne and Nynaeve to occur at the same time as Rand’s in Rhuidean. This makes sense from a time saving point of view—there are only eight episodes after all—and also is a more interesting and immediate character choice for Moiraine with Rand and for Min, who we saw secretly following Mat, Nynaeve, and Elayne. I really appreciate this change, as I do anytime the show departs from the books to follow the logical storylines that makes sense for the medium in which this story is being told. And especially so when it gives the actor better and more interesting work to do—Jordan wrote beautiful descriptions and explored fascinating themes, but those words can’t be put on screen except through dialogue. On screen, character and acting are everything.
So to get back to my original point, Rand doesn’t always get the most interesting lines and character choices, which can limit Stradowski’s opportunities to show off his acting skills. He has had moments to shine, of course, but this episode gave him a truly great opportunity to play a lot of different characters, and he does a marvelous job of imbuing each one with a different personality, unique body language, and even differentiated tones of voice. Each character felt distinct, and I even fully believed that the last two characters, who are unnamed by the show, were from a very different time than the others. The very serious Aiel who received the Sakarnen felt like a man who had been shaped by war and tragedy, while the servant to Lanfear/Mierin felt more innocent, a man from a utopia who felt equally at home in the vaunted halls of the Aes Sedai and the fields in which his family worked. Most impressive, and moving, of all, I think, was Stradowski’s portrayal of the aged Jonai and of Lewin, the playful young man who abandoned the Way of the Leaf to save his sister and became the first spear-wielding Aiel.
I enjoyed the little nod to Perrin and Mat that we saw in Lewin’s friends, and the parallel in the way Lewin’s life changed in an instant, just as Rand’s did the night of Bel Tine, when Trollocs came to the Two Rivers. Like Rand, Lewin’s former life was marked by peace and friendship and hope, while the one he stepped into was marked by war, loneliness, and obligation.
Despite having relatively little screen time, Aviendha has also become a fuller character now, particularly as we learn that she is being forced by Aiel law and custom to abandon the life she wants, that of a Maiden of the Spear, to become a Wise One. The tension she feels towards Rand has also become clearer, as Rand has learned the truth about the Aiel’s relationship to swords but also in her reaction to seeing proof that he is the car’a’carn. Her dismay may not be explained yet, but the moment is so well acted, so poignant and yet understated, that it raises curiosity in the viewer, rather than inspiring confusion, as some of their earlier encounters in previous episodes did.
Aviendha’s fight with Lan was really well choreographed and filmed, and I loved that we didn’t get to see who would win, since the Wise Ones interrupted them.
Overall, the flashback scenes do a decent job of condensing what in the book was a much longer sequence, with more information per vision, and many more visions. Though there might be moments where details are missed by viewers, the general arc of the Aiel’s history is presented in a concise and interesting way, and I’m very impressed with it. I do, however, have one complaint which is perhaps minor in the scheme of things, but bothers me deeply.
Rand mentions more than once that he might look like an Aiel, but that doesn’t make him one of them. However, his appearance is also cited as partial proof that he is “of the blood,” as the prophecy of the car’a’carn said he would be. This similarity of appearance would appear to be the fact that he has red hair, and indeed, it is stated in the books that all Aiel are redheads. This always struck me as rather silly, and I wonder why the show didn’t get rid of the idea altogether, especially considering that we see Aiel who are played by actors of different races, and especially in the flashbacks, many of them do not have red hair at all. What, exactly, is the similarity that all Aiel share? Why bother mentioning it at all, when there are plenty of other ways to explain that Rand knows he has Aiel blood. Rand knows that his mother was Aiel because he was told the story of his birth, but the Wise One’s also know it, as it is mentioned by Bair that it was only Rand’s father, not his mother, who had Aiel blood. She was, however, a redhead, so the whole thing just seems silly and confusing.
Finally, I am intrigued by the story of Lanfear/Mierin. The show has subtly altered the nature of what Mierin believed the “True Power” to be, which is in keeping with other changes it has made to the nature of the Dragon Reborn and the One Power. In the book series, Mierin and a fellow scientist discover the “True Power” which they believe can be wielded by either gender, but it isn’t suggested that non-channelers might also be allowed to wield it. One of the themes of The Wheel of Time is the division between men and women and the fact that greater and more wonderful things can be achieved by male and female channelers working together, and the very force that drives the Wheel of Time is made up of these two halves of the One Power pushing and pulling upon each other. The desire of a power that does not share this sort of yin/yang balance, especially once it is revealed that the “True Power” emanates from the Dark One, can be said to be a corruption of the natural order. However, it relies on certain ideas about sex/gender that are somewhat outdated for today’s audiences, and the show is always attempting to mitigate that. For example, it is stated that the Dragon can be born as a man or a woman, and the differences between male and female channelers are downplayed within the story, except when it comes to the Dark One’s taint on the male half.
By suggesting that Lanfear/Mierin wants a power that can replace things like bringing in the harvest and contrasting it with the importance of connection to the land and the joy experienced by the workers in their tasks, the show suggests that Mierin’s sin was not desiring to make men and women the same but in wanting a power that is not connected to creation and to life, as the One Power is, but as farmers and ordinary people are as well. It’s a neat bit of reframing, and works really well.
Join us next week for our recap and exploration of episode five, “Tel’aran’rhiod.”
Easter Eggs and Interesting Facts
- In the first scene, Rand mentions that his father, Tam, taught him a concentration trick in which he imagines a flame and feeds all his emotions into it. This technique, sometimes called the Flame and the Void, will be important to Rand’s journey.
- The Ancient Aes Sedai are seen wearing necklaces of colored stones. Stones appear to correspond with the colors used by the show to depict channeling. Five stones, corresponding to the Five Powers that make up the One Power—Fire, Air, Earth, Water, and Spirit.
- In the books, the Sakarnen is a male sa’angreal, not one used by women. As with Callandor, the show seems to be condensing two different sa’angreal into one for the purposes of simplicity, and it seems unlikely that the Sakarnen of the show will have anything in common with the one in the book, other than the name.
- The Wise Ones and other Aiel can be heard calling Lan “Aan’allein.” This is an old tongue word which translates roughly to something like “man alone” or “man who is an entire people” and is a title of respect granted to Lan by the Aiel, who know of his story as the last survivor of Malkier and his dedication to fighting the shadow.
- “The Road to the Spear” is the title of the 25th chapter of The Shadow Rising, and is the chapter in which Rand experiences his ancestors’ past and learns of the events that lead to the Aiel’s dedication to the spear and the warlike nature of their culture.
- My Favorite Line:
“We have a saying in the Two Rivers about a watched pot never boiling.”
“If only it were that easy to stop a pot from boiling.”
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!
