Does Rand die in The Wheel of Time?

Amazon has now produced two seasons of The Wheel of Time, its adaptation of Robert Jordan’s beloved book series. By now, fans have gotten to know characters like Egwene, Nynaeve and Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn. And now that we know them, we worry: are they going to make it through this whole story?

Well, The Wheel of Time books have been finished for years now, so we know the answer. Read on for SPOILERS below.

Does Rand al’Thor die in The Wheel of Time?

In the second season finale of The Wheel of Time, Rand is wounded when his friend Mat accidentally gores him with a spear (c’mon, Mat, get it together), but Elayne manages to reach him in time to heal him. So he definitely doesn’t die in this season.

But there are 14 Wheel of Time books to get through, and the show hasn’t even adapted a fourth of them yet. The characters will face many hardships between now and the end.

Speaking of the end, Rand does technically die in the final book, A Memory of Light…except he doesn’t. Prepare for some fantasy nonsense.

So at the end of the series, Rand fights both the Dark One as well as Moridin, the Dark One’s top lieutenant and the only person in the world with as much power as Rand. Moridin is actually the reincarnation of Ishamael, the Forsaken sorceress whom Rand kills in The Wheel of Time season 2 finale. In this world, people are reincarnated over and over. Ishamael’s main goal is to stop this cycle of reincarnation, so imagine his frustration when he comes back as another guy named Moridin.

Anyway, Rand and Moridin fight and eventually Rand wins. With the help of his friends, Rand seals away the Dark One forever. However, Rand sustains mortal wounds. He dies and his body is put on a funeral pyre.

BUT…we learn that before he dies, Rand switches his consciousness with that or Moridin. So Moridin is now in Rand’s body and Rand in Moridin’s. So while Rand’s body may get burned, it’s actually Moridin who’s inside.

Meanwhile, Rand lives on in this new body. Moreover, he doesn’t need to access the One Power anymore and can now manipulate the Pattern directly.

So does Rand die in The Wheel of Time? Yes, but also no. It’s complicated. We don’t know if the show will follow the books exactly in this respect and won’t find out for several seasons. For now, you can enjoy the first two seasons of The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime Video. Hopefully the third will premiere sometime in 2024.

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