The Wheel of Time star really was pushed off that cliff in the trailer

Last week, Amazon dropped the first trailer for The Wheel of Time, its ambitious adaptation of Robert Jordan’s classic fantasy book series. Fans have been waiting for an adaption like this for years, so it was a little strange when the trailer kicked off with a moment that isn’t from the novels: Nynaeve al’Meara (Zoe Robins) pushing Egwene Al’Vere (Madeleine Madden) off a cliff into a river:

Nynaeve and Egwene are two of the main characters from the story, which they begin as more or less ordinary villagers in the bucolic Two Rivers region, which is basically The Wheel of Time’s version of the Shire. The two are friends, so I was surprised to see the one literally push the other off a cliff. What’s happening here?

Naturally, fans have been speculating. Some wonder if this isn’t an initiation ritual of some kind. Nynaeve is the Wisdom of Emond’s Field, kind of the village healer and a local leader. She’s also part of the Women’s Circle, a committee that has sway in the area. Egwene wants to be a Wisdom herself as well as get into the Women’s Circle, and this may be part of the process.

But if so, yeesh, that is a rough way to break somebody into the town council. Other fans speculate that this sequence may be part of Egwene’s test to rise in the ranks of the Aes Sedai, an all-female group of sorceresses who wield immense power. As part of the test to become one of the Accepted, aspiring Aes Sedai must endure surreal, dreamlike challenges. As brash as she can be, Nynaeve probably wouldn’t push Egwene off a cliff in the real world…but who knows what Dream Nynaeve might do?

Madeleine Madden does her own stunts on The Wheel of Time

Also, props to actor Madeleine Madden, who really did take that plunge:

“I’m so excited to share with you our teaser trailer for The Wheel of Time,” Madden wrote in another tweet. “For the past 2 years I have lost myself in an incredible world alongside some of the most brilliant people I’m lucky to call family. Bringing Egwene to life has been and absolute honour and dream.”

The Wheel of Time premieres on Amazon Prime Video on November 19.

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h/t CBR