The second season of The Wheel of Time, Prime Video’s adaptation of Robert Jordan’s book series of the same name, has officially wrapped with its eighth and final episode, “What Was Meant To Be.”
Speaking as someone who has yet to read the books—I promise I’m working on it—and has only ever stepped into this story via the television adaptation, I obviously don’t have all the knowledge to compare what we’ve seen in this season finale with its source material. Still, as someone who loves this story’s worldbuilding, the intricacies of its magic system, and its core cast of characters, I can say I was overall pretty satisfied with season 2.
So let’s break down exactly what happened and where it leaves our characters ahead of season 3, which has already been greenlit. Spoilers ahead for The Wheel of Time season 2, of course!
Rand, Lanfear, and Ishamael
Like every good season finale should, “What Was Meant To Be” gathered all its main players in one place—in this case, the citystate of Falme, which had been conquered by the invading Seanchan forces between the end of season 1 and the start of season 2.
The attack that the Children of the Light launch on the city to try and reclaim it from the Seanchan provides the perfect amount of chaos to bring all our heroes together, scatter them in their respective side quests, and then unite them all once more—starting, of course, with none other than the Dragon Reborn.
Rand al’Thor, played by Josha Stradowski, arrives in Falme through the Ways, a dangerous world outside of reality proper created by channelers that allow people to quickly travel from one location to another. He’s accompanied by Lanfear, gothic dominatrix extraordinaire and one of the Forsaken (brilliantly played by Natasha O’Keeffe) still trying to play him to her own advantage against the other Forsaken who is currently awake—Ishamael (Fares Fares), whom we met at the end of season 1.
While the Forsaken—incredibly powerful channelers and faithful followers of the Dark One—are supposedly one faction, they are very much in conflict with one another and we see that conflict play out between Lanfear and Ishamael throughout the episode. Lanfear tries to make Rand come out on top and eliminate the other sleeping Forsaken in the process, while Ishamael shows he’s willing to kill Rand if he doesn’t pledge himself to the Dark One so that he can try to turn him again in his next life.
While Ishamael’s plan seems to work at first, with Rand receiving a killing blow atop the walls of Falme, it seems that Rand eventually succeeds in destroying him. Now, bets are still open on whether he’s actually dead or not, but for the time being it seems like this pretty powerful player was indeed eliminated from the chessboard—not before he manages to land one last punch. When Lanfear returns to Ishamael’s rooms to collect the seals of the other Forsaken so that she can have them tossed into the sea, she finds that Ishamael has indeed set them free.
That’s how we’re introduced to Moghedien the Spider, another pretty dangerous Forsaken who is just on that side of feral—not that any of the Forsaken are a particularly brilliant example of mental stability. That’s what millennia of powerful evil magic will do to you, I guess. Still, Moghedien (Laia Costa) clearly does not share Lanfear’s goals and instead seems pretty intent on opposing her, so much so that Lanfear’s final scene is her wishing for the Light’s protection over Rand. And you know it’s not a good sign when everyone’s favorite Dark Evil Enchantress™ ends up invoking the Light of all things.
As for Rand, after his confrontation with Ishamael he is indeed proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn in front of the entire city of Falme. That fiery dragon flying over his head—half invoked by Moiraine and half maybe by someone else—was pretty impossible to misinterpret and perfectly fulfills the prophecy of his reveal, which the Aes Sedai have been discussing throughout the season. He still has a long way to fight, though.
Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne
This season finale also finally brings a resolution to Egwene’s arc, which was a true joy and pain to witness thanks to the great work of the actress who portrays her, Madeleine Madden. After having been captured by the Seanchan, made a damane, and almost broken to her sul’dam’s will, Egwene finds even more strength to disobey her orders. And just when the situation seems most dire, she realizes how to fight back—by taking the a’dam from one of the fallen damane and collaring Renna (Xelia Mendes-Jones), her own sul’dam.
While the Seanchan believe that damane, women who can channel, are fundamentally different—they’re not even people, more like cattle, and that includes the sul’dam who are trained to control them—Egwene realizes that the sul’dam must have a connection to the One Power to be able to form their terrible bond with the damane. And that proves true when Renna is shackled by the collar and eventually killed by it, after having released Egwene. No vengeance has ever been more deserved, more anticipated, and more enjoyed by yours truly.
Nynaeve and Elayne (Zoë Robins and Ceara Coveney, respectively) came to the same realization at the end of season 2’s penultimate episode. The two actually collar a sul’dam, with Nynaeve holding her leash, and they have her lead them through the city towards Egwene. In the chaos, Elayne is struck by an arrow and Nynaeve fails to heal her, carrying her to the walls—where she also fails to heal Rand, something that I did not like too much.
Sure, Elayne had to meet Rand—and the way their meeting is shot sure is trying to tell us something about their future relationship—but we know that Nynaeve’s talents lie with healing. I would have very much liked to see those powers parallel her difficulties with the One Power at the beginning of the season—showing that she’s starting to understand it and that it’s not in opposition to her previous life as a Wisdom, but rather perfectly complementary.
Still, the three reunite once more at the top of the walls of Fal Dara, where Egwene proves her strength in the One Power by managing to withstand the devastating attacks of Ishamael—who not only has millennia of experience on her, but who is also a male channeler, and so according to the lore much more powerful than any female channeler could ever hope to be. In the end, they all stand with Rand as he’s declared the Dragon Reborn, undoubtedly ready to flank him in all his future fights as well.
Moiraine and Lan
Finally, the platonic soulmates of my heart—played by Rosamund Pike and Daniel Henney—have their confrontation and manage to bridge the conflict that had divided them at the beginning of the season, with Moiraine shutting Lan out after seemingly having been Stilled.
Despite the very deliberate way in which Moiraine tried to hurt Lan to drive him away, Lan continued searching for a way to make things better—which ultimately led him to realize that Moiraine hadn’t been Stilled, but instead shielded away from the One Power, and so was capable of regaining her abilities. And once the issue of the One Power was solved, it was time to resolve the emotional one—and resolve it they did.
After Lanfear kicks them both out of the Ways onto a beach not too far away from Fal Dara (they also have a part to play in the final revelation of the Dragon Reborn), Lan asks Moiraine to restore their bond. And she finally does it in a beautiful scene that I couldn’t help but notice is shot like a kissing scene, and I absolutely love that. Afterward, they’re back to being the badass, silent communication duo they were when we first met them.
Ultimately, Moiraine uses her regained abilities to set fire to a good chunk of Seanchan ships—on which a group of damane were ready to Gentle Rand—and raise the fiery dragon banner over Rand and the rest of his group, announcing him as the Dragon Reborn.
Perrin, Mat, and their allies
The last two members of the original Two Rivers gang are also in the streets of Falme. On the one hand, we have Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) and his new trio of Aiel allies—Aviendha, Bain, and Chiad (Ayoola Smart, Ragga Ragnars, and Maja Simonsen)—who encounter his old companions from Fal Dara, with whom he searched for the all-powerful Horn of Valere.
They actually have the Horn, which the Ogier Loial (Hammed Animashaun) says was given to them by a lady from Cairhien—which could be none other than Lanfear.
The group, however, is set upon by Seanchan soldiers, and that’s how the Horn ends up passed to Mat (Dónal Finn). After having somewhat resisted the temptation of the dark-possessed knife that Ishamael prepared for him, Mat literally stumbles upon his old friend and is tasked with bringing the Horn to Rand, who is supposed to blow it to summon the heroes of the Age of Legends to fight with him. And this is where I’ll choose to ignore everything else that happens to Perrin because I simply cannot bear to think about his wolf companion Hopper. That scene was gut-wrenching. I actually cried.
Back to Mat: When he is backed into a corner, he is left with no choice but to blow the Horn himself. And not only are the Heroes of the Horn summoned, but Mat remembers that he has been one of them in countless past lives.
After fighting his way through Seanchan troops, both Mat and Perrin reach Rand atop the walls where Mat almost kills Rand, striking him with his spear through a magical projection of Ishamael, and Perrin comes to help Egwene hold her shield against Ishamael’s attacks. Ultimately, they both stand together with Rand, finally reunited and ready to fight with him in the future.
(featured image: Prime Video)
