The third season of The Wheel of Time has kicked off on Prime Video, and so far, it's terrific. The show is adapting The Shadow Rising, one of the best books in Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series, and the cast and crew have both stepped up their games.
While the effects look better than ever, the best thing about season 3 so far is in the increased depth of character. The relationships on the show are changing, including the one between Rand al'Thor (Josha Stradowski) and Moiraine (Rosamund Pike). He's the Dragon Reborn and she's the Aes Sedai sorceress who's dedicated her life to making sure the Dragon Reborn gets on the right path. But he's seen some things by now and isn't listening to everything she says anymore. “She has to accept that is a battle of submission and control for her,” Pike told TV Insider. “In order to continue to guide him, she has to relinquish some of her control. Paradoxically, she has to be able to let him take the lead.”
In the premiere episode, Rand basically says full in Moiraine's face that he's not going to listen to her as much, which is true to his journey in The Shadow Reborn. "For Moiraine, it's a double-edged sword because it's confronting and not what she wants to hear in that minute, because she does feel the need to guide Rand," Pike told Collider. "But then it's also interest that she displays, because he's also showing the signs that he's becoming the man he needs to be. So, it's very important that Moiraine doesn't obstruct that because it's what she needs. Her job is to guide the Dragon Reborn to be ready to face the last battle, so all those moments where he shows mettle and strength, as well as frustrating her immediate purpose, it's gainful for her long-term purpose."
So like any mentor, there's a part of Moiraine that's happy to see Rand step into his own power...but it's not every mentor who's mentee might go insane since they're using the tainted half of the One Power and then use it to break the world. So she's conflicted.
Moiraine and Rand talk about the struggle Rand is having with the male of the One Power in the third episode, where Rand describes the Power as a sweet poison that's constantly threateing to pull him under. As experienced as Moiraine is, this is something she doesn't know much about. “I think that was one of the scenes we wrote together with Rafe [Judkins, Wheel of Timeshowrunner], because this season, apart from showing the channeling in a different way, I also wanted the characters to talk about it,” Josha Stradowski tells Polygon. “There’s so many presumptions about what it might be like, but they haven’t really spoken about it together.”
How Rand al'Thor is like Mike Tyson
Stradowski compares Rand to boxer Mike Tyson, who “didn’t like the person who he needed to become in order to do whatever he did in the ring.” Moiraine's council, tough but fair, is that Rand is going to have to embrace that side of himself if he's going to wield the One Power responsibly. “You might not like the person you need to be, but you need to love both parts of it,” Pike said. “You need to be able to love the shepherd and the explosive power hub that you’re going to become.”
It sounds like things could get pretty apocalyptic. As the Dragon Reborn, Rand is the most powerful channeler in the world...but if he goes mad, that also means he could become the most destructive. "“I hope we get to explore more because the channeling is so interesting,” Stradowski said. “It’s on a cellular level in the books — there’s a moment where they try to heal men that have gone mad because of channeling. And they look inside their brain and try to get the madness out. And they look inside of Rand’s brain and they just don’t even dare to go there because it’s so messed up. So that’s where we want to go.”
How is Moiraine supposed to mentor Rand through something like that? If nothing else, it sounds like it will be interesting to watch. "[A]part from the maze of words they can get into throughout the whole season, at least for Rand, it feels like whenever he's with Moiraine, it kind of shows the state he’s in because he does reveal more in a way because of the conflict than with other characters," Stradowski said. "You can watch Moiraine and Rand throughout the season, and it reveals a lot."
But just because Rand is becoming more independent doesn't mean that his relationship with Moiraine will crumble; it just may turn into something more equal. "For Moiraine, there are times in the season where we see her having to ask Rand for help, which is a very unfamiliar position for her to be in, so there's this dialectic of submission and control," Pike said. And as Stradowski explains, that is "how you build trust. People think it's by giving help, but most of the time, it's actually asking for help."
We'll see these two do their dance all season long. New episodes of The Wheel of Time drop Thursdays on Prime Video.
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