The penultimate episode of The Wheel of Time season 2, “Daes Dae’mar,” saw the show’s ensemble cast of characters converge on the city of Falme, which is under occupation by Seanchan invaders from across the sea. While The Wheel of Time television show has at times taken different roads to get to Falme than the book series by Robert Jordan, the impending collision of forces at the city is shaping up to be just as much of an event.
One of the most intriguing scenes of “Daes Dae’mar” centers around Mat Cauthon (Dónal Finn), who has a series of visions after drinking some tea of dubious origin. We’re going to break down this scene to pick out all the little details.
Warning: there will be SPOILERS for both The Wheel of Time show and books ahead, as well as some graphic images from “Daes Dae’mar.”
Ishamael “could not be more wrong” about Mat being susceptible to the Dark
While this scene with Mat does not exist in the novels, it’s very much in line with the spirit of them. Ishamael (Fares Fares) often haunts the dreams of Rand, Mat and Perrin, tormenting and tempting them to the Dark.
“Ishamael has always said Mat is the most like him out of all of Rand’s group of friends, and he should be the easiest to break, the easiest to turn to the Dark. And he could not be more wrong,” said executive producer and “Daes Dae’mar” writer Justine Juel Gillmer in the Inside the Episode feature for the episode.
“We thought it was really interesting for this idea of embracing the darker parts of yourself, and understanding that they are a piece of who you are and that you’re not going to remove them,” added showrunner Rafe Judkins.
Ishamael’s ornate seals
Mat’s vision scene takes place in Ishamael’s chambers in Falme. The first big easter egg to note is the seals that sit in the corners of the room. We first saw these when Ishamael met with Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe) in the dream world version of this same room back in Episode 205, “Damane.”
Each one of these stone monuments has the ancient symbol of the Aes Sedai on them: a white teardrop and black teardrop in a circle, basically a yin-yang symbol without the dots. That symbol dates back to when there were both male and female Aes Sedai; the white half of the symbol represents the female side of the One Power, saidar, while the black half represents the male half, saidin. On the TV show, male Aes Sedai aren’t really around anymore, but the white teardrop is still used as the official symbol for the Aes Sedai of the White Tower, and is known as the “flame of Tar Valon.” The black half is now known as the “Dragon’s fang,” and is seen as an omen of evil.
One of these ancient Aes Sedai symbols was on the floor at the Eye of the World during the season 1 finale, when Rand fought Ishamael. Another was set over Lanfear’s prison, which we saw when Ishamael freed her in “Daughter of the Night.”
There are six of these statues visible in Ishamael’s room during this scene. My best guess is that each one represents one of the six remaining Forsaken who have not yet been released. Either that or they represent the seals on the Dark One’s prison which haven’t yet been broken. Or, the show might be combining those two elements, so that whenever a Forsaken is released, one of the seals on the Dark One’s prison is also broken. We need more details to be certain about the specifics, but these monuments are definitely tied to the Forsaken and the Dark One.
Mat’s mother
During his visions, Mat sees his mother Natti Cauthon (Juliet Howland). She keeps saying that Mat will be a “damn prick, like him.” Natti said this to Mat in the series premiere, referencing Mat’s layabout father. It was a particularly heartwrenching moment, because Natti said it to Mat while she was drunk and he was taking care of her and his two younger sisters. Clearly it made a strong impression on him.
Mat hanging from a rope foreshadows a major Wheel of Time book scene
By far the biggest and most exciting easter egg in this scene is the gruesome image of Mat hanging by his neck from a rope. This is a nod to a huge moment from the fourth Wheel of Time book, The Shadow Rising, which we’re expecting to see in season 3.
In the books, Mat eventually comes across a ter’angreal shaped like a doorway. He goes through it, leading to an encounter with a group of otherworldly beings called the Aelfinn. They give him several cryptic hints about what’s coming in his future, including that he must go to the ruined Aiel city of Rhuidean.
Later, Mat goes to Rhuidean with Rand and encounters another door ter’angreal. This one puts him in touch with a different but related group of otherworldly beings, the Eelfinn.
The Eelfinn make a bargain with Mat, giving him a fox-headed medallion and his iconic bladed polearm which serves as his main weapon for the rest of the book series. However, when the Eelfinn expel Mat back out the doorway, he returns to his own world hanging by the throat from the Tree of Life deep in the heart of Rhidean. Only the timely intervention of Rand keeps Mat from choking to death.
The most fascinating thing about the way this easter egg ties into that book moment has to do with Mat’s past lives. In the novels, once Mat is healed from his bond to the ruby-hilted dagger from Shadar Logoth, he has holes in his memory. During his conversation with the Eelfinn, he casually says that he wishes they would help fill the holes with some sort of useful information. The Eelfinn immediately agree to do so, before Mat even really understands what he’s asked.
After Rand saves him from hanging, Mat begins to experience memories of his past lives. He recalls memories from ages past and even speaks in lost languages that he doesn’t know. Ishamael’s tea was supposed to give Mat mental access to his past lives, but instead he saw this moment where he is hanged. In the book, this is the moment that gives him knowledge from past lives.
Were those murders Mat witnessed from his past lives?
The next few references are tied together, and they’re perhaps the most mysterious of the lot. As Mat stares in horror at himself hanging from a rope, the camera pans over to the next panel of the mirror. In it, we see a man drowning another man in a wash bucket. My first thought was that this murderer might have been Padan Fain (Johann Myers), who has a strong connection to Mat in the books because of their shared affinity for the ruby-hilted dagger. But going through this scene frame by frame reveals that it is someone else.
A second later, that murderer changes into Mat, and we get a glimpse of another murder on the other side of the mirror:
As with the first murder, the woman being stabbed here looked familiar. My initial thought was that it could be Egwene (Madeleine Madden), but once again, going through the scene frame by frame revealed otherwise. So far as I can tell, we haven’t seen either the woman being murdered or the woman doing the murdering before now.
Just like with the first murder, a moment later the murderer is replaced by Mat:
The inclusion of these murders raises an interesting question: are these visions meant to just mess with Mat, or are they glimpses into his past lives? We know that the vision of Mat hanging is something that will happen, but these others are far more mysterious. Ishamael claimed the tea would let Mat look into his past lives, but because of the parts with Natti Cauthon and Mat hanging, we know that even if the Forsaken was telling the truth, the visions aren’t limited to only past lives.
But if Ishamael was telling the truth about the tea, then perhaps he’s seeing what happened in two of his previous lives. We see who he was, we see each of those people murdering someone (and one with a dagger to boot), and then they both change into Mat. You can never trust a Forsaken, but maybe there was some truth in what Ishamael told Mat after all?
Then there’s the matter of the Horn of Valere, which summons the spirits of fallen heroes. If The Wheel of Time show follows the books, Mat will sound that horn in the season finale and bring back the spirits of fallen heroes. Is it possible that these past life glimpses are heroes we may see again after the Horn is blown.
Mat’s vision ends with him convulsing on the floor and being lifted gently by another Mat. We come back to this scene later in the episode, and see that Ishamael is actually the one holding Mat while he’s lying on the floor. It’s likely that Ishamael is lifting Mat during his vision trip too, even though that’s not what Mat sees when he looks up at him.
What do you think of these theories? Did you catch anything we forgot? With The Wheel of Time there’s always another easter egg to be found!
The Wheel of Time season 2 finale, “What Was Meant to Be,” premieres Friday, October 6 at 12:00 a.m. GMT.
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