Madeleine Madden explores Egwene’s journey on The Wheel of Time

The Wheel of Time keeps rolling. The latest episode of Amazon’s series, “Blood Calls Blood,” put a lot of focus on Egwene (Madeleine Madden) and Perrin (Marcus Rutherford), who have been traveling with the pacifistic Tuatha’an people. Madden talked to Nerdist about why Egwene seemed to get along so well with the Tinkers:

"Something that’s always sparked Egwene’s curiosity and fascination with the world is the different people and cultures that exist within it. That’s something that’s always drawn her out of the Two Rivers and has made her want to leave and explore the world. I think this diversity of people—but also its diversity of ways of thinking and perception is really fascinating to her  and really resonates with audiences and readers of the book. She understands a bit more about the turning of the Wheel and the spirituality that exists within the world and these people that preach living a life of nonviolence and the way that that has changed them and the people around them. Egwene’s like a sponge. And every experience that she has, she carries with her and it informs her massively."

In fact, of the young characters who left the Two Rivers with Moiraine — Egwene, Perrin, Rand, Mat and later Nynaeve — Egwene seems the most open to new experiences generally. She’s certainly the most trusting of Moiraine and her Aes Sedai sisters, powerful sorceresses who put the rest of the group ill at ease.

“She learns so much from Moiraine, which she will carry with her for the rest of her life,” Madden said of Egwene. “The way that Moiraine strategizes and the way she plays her cards and the way she speaks very carefully and uses her words… That’s something that she definitely picks up on.”

Madeleine Madden talks potential Egwene-Perrin spark

It’s also something she uses during her and Perrin’s disturbing encounter at the end of the episode with Eamon Valda, a high-ranking officer in the Children of the Light. The Children are a paramilitary organization who see themselves as protecting the world. They are very opposed to the Aes Sedai, and sickos like Valda are so fanatical that he has a collection of Aes Sedai rings he’s taken from sisters he’s killed.

In “Blood Calls Blood,” Valda tortures Egwene and Perrin in an attempt to get Egwene to admit that she can channel the One Power. It’s pretty twisted; he even has her braid brushed out, which is a quite an affront to the women of the Two Rivers in particular. “The Whitecloaks quite violently scrub her down and are very rough with her,” Madden said. “But then when it comes to her hands, they’re very gentle and clean the nails and handle them with such care for Valda. I remember reading that and being so disturbed by it.”

Egwene shows a lot of Moiraine-like resolve in resisting Valda’s questioning, and in the end teams up with a guilt-ridden Perrin and escapes alive. “I think we find them at the beginning of the series—Perrin’s holding a bit of a candle for Egwene and that causes a bit of a rift within his marriage,” Madden said, making me raise my eyebrow a bit. “And so when they’re separated on the road, all these feelings kind of come up. Even though Perrin is physically bigger and stronger than Egwene, it’s actually her that’s protecting him a lot of the time, because he’s so broken and riddled with this guilt.”

"I think they survive to protect each other. Fleshing out these characters in these scenes with Marcus has just been so much fun. We’re so close. Our characters have formed this really wonderfully strong bond because of the time that we’ve spent together. So, he’s brilliant. I mean he can just tap into these very dark scenes and places so quickly. And then as soon as they call cut, he’ll be like cracking a joke or saying something silly. He just has an amazing ability to be able to go to those places, and then just go back to being good old Marcus."

I hadn’t really gotten the sense that Perrin was holding a candle for Egwene back in Emond’s Field — Rand maybe, but not Perrin — although time on the road will bring people closer together. There are 14 Wheel of Time books to adapt, so we’ll see where it goes.

New episodes of The Wheel of Time drop on Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels