Set sail, fellow Wheel of Time fans! The fifth episode of season 3 is out, and it broadens the scope of the show drastically with new locations, new factions and more. Tanchico! Cold Rocks Hold! The Dream World! The Sea Folk! "Tel'aran'rhiod" has a lot going on, and for fans who've been waiting to see some of these things on screen for a long time, it's a treat.
Today we're going to home in on the Sea Folk. During the new episode, we catch up with Nynaeve (Zoë Robins), Elayne (Ceara Coveney), Mat (Dónal Finn), and Min (Kae Alexander), who are all aboard a Sea Folk ship on its way to Tanchico. The Sea Folk were mentioned before on The Wheel of Time show, back when Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) bartered the sea captain Bayle Domon into giving her a poem about Lanfear during the season 2 premiere. But "Tel'aran'rhiod" is the first time we're actually getting to see them onscreen.
Who are they? How do they avoid having their young women whisked away by the White Tower to study magic? We'll be discussing the particulars of the Sea Folk below, including SPOILERS for The Wheel of Time season 3 Episode 5.
The Sea Folk explained
The Sea Folk are an almost entirely nautical culture of people who travel the oceans of The Wheel of Time's fantasy world. They are widely regarded as the best sailors and shrewd traders who spirit goods from one place to another with inexplicable speed. Their name in the Old Tongue is Atha'an Miere, which translates to "People of the Sea." While they spend the majority of their time on their vessels, they also have settlements on many of the islands dotting the Aryth Ocean and Sea of Storms, islands rarely seen by outsiders. Like the Aiel, they have their own prophecies about the Dragon Reborn, whom they call the Coramoor.
In the show as in the books, Sea Folk ships are run by a pair of women: the captain, called the Seamistress, and her Windfinder, or navigator. Often, Windfinders are women who can channel the One Power, which accounts for the unnatural speed of their ships as Windfinders are trained to harness the power of the elements to aid in travel. There is also a third cog in the Sea Folk ship structure, called the Cargomaster. He's often a man married to the Sailmistress and is responsible for trade.
In "Tel'aran'rhiod," we get a glimpse at one of the biggest secrets of the Sea Folk: that their channelers are extremely powerful, and they've been tricking the White Tower for centuries by sending only their weakest there in order to convince the Aes Sedai that no strong channelers have been born among the Atha'an Miere. In this way, they keep the Aes Sedai from sniffing around too much in their business in much the same way the Aiel do.
This is a major idea that begins surfacing at this point in Robert Jordan's book series: that despite their overwhelming self-assurance that their way is the only way, other cultures in The Wheel of Time world do not agree that the Aes Sedai hold total sway over all matters magical. Both the Aiel and Sea Folk have their own traditions where magic is concered, as do the Seanchan who live across the ocean.
A few other fun facts about the Sea Folk!
- They are ruled by a Mistress of Ships, who is the closest thing they have to a queen.
- They are known for their brightly colored clothing and jewelry, but it isn't all just for show. The chain connecting a Sailmistress' earrings to her nose ring is often weighted with medallions that denote her rank among her people.
- Sea Folk women give birth on the sea, even if it means they need to row away from an island in a rowboat to do it. Sea Folk also prefer to die on the water whenever possible.
- The Sea Folk first started wandering the open ocean during the Breaking of the World, which we saw in Rand's Rhuidean flashback where his ancestor accepted the Sakarnen from Latra Sedai. This was their way of escaping the crumbling land, by finding shelter on the water.
- In the books, both Sea Folk men and women go topless while on the open water. The show has cut this element, which is probably for the best even if there are some interesting cultural reasons for it in Jordan's novels.
Like the Aiel, the Sea Folk are one of the many fascinating peoples who inhabit the world of The Wheel of Time. Hopefully we see more of them in the weeks and seasons ahead!
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