All the biggest book changes in The Wheel of Time Episode 207

The penultimate episode of The Wheel of Time season 2 has arrived on Prime Video. “Daes Dae’mar” featured some huge events in Cairhien, along with characters converging on the distant city of Falme.

This was a fascinating episode from an adaptation standpoint. Some events, like Nynaeve and Elayne’s subterfuge in Falme, are relatively faithful to the novels by Robert Jordan. Others, like the Amyrlin Seat’s appearance in Cairhien, took events from the books and remixed them in intriguing ways. We’ve got a lot to discuss!

As always, there will be SPOILERS for The Wheel of Time show and books below.

The flashback

In the show: We see Moiraine and Siuan, carefree young Aes Sedai in love at the White Tower. They walk in on an elderly Aes Sedai, Gitara, just as she has a vision about the birth of the Dragon Reborn. Gitara swears Moiraine and Siuan to secrecy before promptly dying, which kicks off their quest to find the Dragon.

In the books: Moiraine and Siuan are still Accepted when they hear Gitara’s prophecy, rather than full Aes Sedai. They also aren’t alone; the Amyrlin Seat, Tamra Ospenya, is also there, and tells them both that they are not to speak of Gitara’s prophecy to anyone. Moiraine and Siuan’s romantic relationship is also far less explicit in the novels.

While most of The Wheel of Time season 2 draws from the second and third novels in the series, The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, this flashback scene is based on a chapter in New Spring, a prequel novel.

Cairhien

In the show: Rand al’Thor and Moiraine Damodred meet with the Amyrlin Seat, Siuan Sanche, in the city of Cairhien. The Amyrlin decides to capture Rand, abiding by a White Tower law which says the Dragon Reborn must be caged and controlled by the Aes Sedai in order to one day be uses as a weapon in the Last Battle. However, Rand manages to escape with some help from Verin Sedai and Lanfear. Lanfear goes on a rampage, burning down the Foregate of Cairhien.

Lan discovers that Moiraine was shielded, not stilled, by the Forsaken Ishamael. He coaches Rand to use his magic to free Moiraine, and her powers are finally restored. She and Siuan have a falling out as Siuan tries to keep Moiraine and Rand from escaping Cairhien, but Lanfear intervenes, attacking Siuan and leading Rand and his companions into the Ways toward Falme.

Anvaere Damodred discovers that her son Barthanes is a Darkfriend. Barthanes tries to have Anvaere drugged and locked up, but she turns the tables and locks him up instead after discovering his secret allegiance to the dark.

In the book: Rand and Moiraine meet with the Amyrlin in the Borderlands city of Fal Dara — not Cairhien — following their battle with Forsaken at the Eye of the World. The Amyrlin and Moiraine are working together to keep the Dragon away from the White Tower, rather than at odds. The Amyrlin never shields Rand or attempts to take him captive, though that is what Tower law says she is supposed to do. Instead, she allows him to go on his way after meeting him. The scene of Lan coaching Rand before his meeting with the Amyrlin is also pulled from this section of the book.

Since Moiraine is never shielded by Ishamael in the books, there is no confusion over whether she is stilled. Moiraine losing access to magic is a new plotline invented for the TV show. Moiraine and Lan remain largely off-screen in The Great Hunt, arriving at Falme in the aftermath of the climactic events at the end of the book. Moiraine and Siuan’s relationship is much less of a focus, and Siuan doesn’t try to force Moiraine to obey her like she does in the show. In fact, Moiraine never even swears an oath to obey Siuan explicitly in the books, so that scene couldn’t have happened.

In the book, Lanfear does not burn down the Foregate in Cairhien. At this point in the books, her identity as a Forsaken hasn’t yet been revealed. And since Rand isn’t held captive, there’s no need to rescue him. Instead, as Rand tries to leave Cairhien, we see that several granaries and the Illuminators chapter house catch fire. It isn’t made clear who started the fire.

Just like in the show, Barthanes Damodred is a Darkfriend. In the books, Rand attends a ball at Barthanes’ estate. Verin leads him to a Waygate hidden within the estate and they try to use the Ways to get to Falme, but find that Machin Shin, the Black Wind, is waiting inside the gate to block the path. Afterward, Barthanes reveals himself as a Darkfriend and delivers a message to Rand that Padan Fain is waiting for him in Falme. Later, Barthanes’ body is found torn to pieces, presumably by the hand of shadowspawn acting under the orders of another Darkfriend or Forsaken. Anvaere isn’t part of any of this; however, the gleeman Thom Merrilin does show up for a few important scenes which were cut from the TV series.

Verin, Rand, Mat and Perrin then head to an Ogier stedding, where they try to use another Waygate to get to Falme and once more find their way blocked by Machin Shin. Instead, they use a portal stone, an ancient and dangerous mode of fast travel. When they use the portal stone, Rand, Mat and Perrin experience “flickers” of other lives they might have lived. The journey distorts time and they arriving on the peninsula of Toman Head four months later, although only moments have passed to them.

One last book-to-screen thing worth mentioning: in the show, Verin manipulates Leane into leaving Rand unguarded, which leads to a moment where the Amyrlin Seat acts like she didn’t send Verin. This shows that Verin can be a master manipulator when it suits her. In the novels, we still get this scene, but in a different context: Verin leads Rand to think that Moiraine sent her to help him, when in fact she was acting on her own. Moiraine eventually reveals that she didn’t send Verin, similar to how the Amyrlin acts surprised in the show.