I Watch TV: The Wheel Of Time Season 3

 

The Wheel Of Time (Season 3)

In the White Tower Liandrin, an Aes Sedai, is revealed to be a Dark Friend, a member of the rumoured Black Ajah. Confronted, other members of the Black Ajah fight, letting them escape with numerous magical artefacts. This weakens the position of Siuan, the Amyrlin Seat, the leader of the Aes Sedai. The queen of Andor visits to ask what’s going on, as her daughter-heir, Elayne, got caught up in Season Two’s events rather than safely studying at the Tower. She’s mollified, but leaves behind Elayne’s brothers to train as warders, and also her Aes Sedai advisor Elaida. Elaida was Siuan’s great rival, and immediately starts plotting against her.

In the wake of this Siuan appoints Nynaeve and Elayne to hunt down the Black Ajah, despite Nynaeve’s magic being blocked. They track Liandrin and her followers to the city of Tanchico, Liandrin’s hometown. With Mat, who has been foolishly boasting about having found and blown the magic horn various people are looking for, and also Min, who sometimes sees the future, they follow her there. There’s an ancient artefact that will let Liandrin collar and control the Dragon Reborn.

What of Rand Al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn? Moraine wants him to go to Tear where there is a male-aspected magic artefact that will let him face the Forsaken. Rand decides against that, heading for the Aiel waste, the realm his parents came from. There he’s given visions of the past, while Moraine learns about their future. Rand passes various challenges and is revealed to be the Car’a’can, the prophecied leader who will send the Aiel to destruction and back out to survival the other side*.

As well as Moraine and her warder, Egwayne accompanied Rand to the waste. She’s being tortured in her dreams by Lanfear, the least weird and malevolent of the Forsaken who Rand is also seeing in his dreams. Other Forsaken have their own plots; one has made himself consort to the Queen of Andor, fooling everyone’s memories. Another, Moghedien, is making Gray Men assassins, being weird and spider-like, and eventually joins up with Liandrin.

In a last story thread, Perin returns to the Two Rivers. There he finds things changed; they are being attacked by Trollocs, and the Whitecloaks are here, looking for evil (magicians). As Perin killed one of their leaders in Season Two, and his son is here, this is a problem. Also here are some of the people in the Great Hunt for the magic horn, not knowing it’s been found. Perin has to rally everyone to defend the Two Rivers, sacrifices abound.

So how does this stack up compared to Season Two? Our protagonists get scattered, and each finds themselves having to confront some prophecy or old business, or failure, or block. In the centre at the White Tower, things start with everything going wrong, and keep going wronger, Siuan brought down by the doubt of the sisters. Rand has faced up to being the Dragon Reborn and decides he needs an army, so goes looking for one. Finds it amongst the desert people of his parents, and more, discovers and reveals their origins. A less satisfying ending, and, to be frank, a less terrifying middle section. The characters collared and enslaved by the Sanchean was the strongest part of the previous season. Yet each of the plot lines manages to hold it’s own, the complications as each progresses not seeming arbitrary. The Forsaken are as divided and self-interested as the other characters, causing themselves their own problems within the devastating plots they’re putting forward.

I haven’t read the books.

Watch This: Still some of the best Fantasy being made on TV, with excellent set-pieces
Don’t Watch This: People seek destinies, fight each other for them
Anyway: They cancelled it

 

* At the climax he makes it rain in the drylands, suggesting that Car’a’can might be a cognate of Kwizatch Haderach.