Original release date: December 10, 2021
A flashback shows a young Siuan Sanche leaving Tear for the White Tower. In the present, Siuan, now the Amyrlin Seat, questions and berates Liandrin, Alanna, and Moiraine for Logain’s gentling. Siuan navigates the Two Rivers villagers and the White Tower politics: visiting Rand and Mat, Moiraine protects them from the tainted dagger from Shadar Logoth; with Egwene and Perrin, she orders them to wait for her to send for them; Maigan, a Blue Sitter, orders Moiraine to remain at the Tower and Moiraine tries to hide her motives from Liandrin; Moiraine asks Loial a favor. It is revealed that Moiraine and Siuan are secretly working together to find the Dragon Reborn and are also “pillow friends”, lovers within the White Tower. Moiraine takes a reunited Nynaeve and Egwene to meet the Amyrlin Seat, where Egwene is awe-struck and Nynaeve is suspicious. In the hall of the Tower, Moiraine is exiled by Siuan in a ruse to allow her to leave the Tower with the Two Rivers villagers. Moiraine gathers the Two Rivers villagers at a Waygate where they will travel to the Eye of the World to confront the Dark One and uncover who the Dragon Reborn is. Mat hesitates, and the other villagers, Loial, Moiraine, and Lan enter the Ways.
* * *
♪ ♪
[birds chirping]
[chuckles softly]
Up you get, Siuan.
Are the fish stirring, Papa?
Aye. Kissing the surface.
Jumping for their breakfast?
Best we catch them, then.
Before some other bastard does.
[chuckles]
[Berden] Come on.
♪ ♪
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[exhales]
[dogs barking in distance]
Siuan.
Nobody saw.
Just the two of us.
Out of sight of the village. That’s the rule.
But, Papa…
A wise woman knows the breaking point of her line.
Don’t push yours.
[sighs, sniffles]
[short laugh]
You couldn’t unravel them knots a week ago.
You’re getting better.
[chuckles softly]
[insects chirping]
[clattering in distance]
Papa?
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[insects chirping]
Practice your lures and your knots every day.
Don’t get lazy and… and use the power instead.
How will you get the catch in by yourself?
I’ll manage.
But without the boat and the house?
Don’t you worry yourself about me.
When can I come home?
When it’s safe in Tear for girls like you.
Come with me, Papa.
Lass…
I’d no more do that than a fish could touch the moon.
Fish touch the moon’s reflection every night.
[chuckles]
See?
Too bloody clever for this place.
Time to go.
I don’t belong there.
At the White Tower.
I should be here with you.
Siuan.
[sniffling]
Look at me.
You’re gonna do great things.
And if any of them bastards tries to shame you, you show them who you are.
Siuan Sanche.
Daughter of the river.
Clever as a pike.
Strong… as the tides.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[staff clangs]
[Leane] Attend you, all. She comes.
The Watcher of the Seals, the Flame of Tar Valon, the Amyrlin Seat.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
Bring the false Dragon.
Why is this man chained?
Gentled as he is, he… poses no threat.
[chains clicking, rattling]
Logain Ablar.
Do you know why you’re here?
[breath trembles]
Do you know what they say about you, Aes Sedai, the further you get from this Tower?
That you are weak.
Weaker than you have ever been.
A hundred years ago, if a man stood up and said he was going to the White Tower to throw the Amyrlin Seat from her throne, no one would follow.
They’d kill me for even suggesting it.
But when I said I was coming for you…
…I had an army at my back within the year.
And even your little parade, showing off your prize…
You know what the people will remember?
They will remember that one man fought against nine women, nine mighty Aes Sedai, and that I still staked that Green bitch to the wall.
[staff clangs]
Whatever they say outside this Hall, this city…
…I am not so easily fooled.
If it’s the release of death you seek… you won’t find it here.
No matter what foulness you spill.
You will serve as an example to all other false Dragons and men who dare to channel.
You will live out your days, watched and studied, never free, until you lose yourself entirely to the madness.
[grunts]
This is my judgment.
Remove him.
Kill me.
Please kill me.
I beg you.
No. No. Kill me.
Please!
I beg you!
Kill me!
Please!
Kill me!
Kill me!
Liandrin.
Alanna.
Moiraine.
Approach.
♪ ♪
The rest of you, depart now in the Light.
[door closes]
That man deserved a fair trial before me, not battlefield justice.
[Liandrin] We had no choice, Mother.
He was the most powerful man I’ve ever seen.
He’s lucky to be alive.
You took the shawl many years ago, Liandrin.
Have you forgotten your training?
Shield first, gentle second, kill last of all.
But you didn’t see what he did to her!
Forgive me, Mother.
I beg the Amyrlin’s clemency.
Kerene died to protect us because she knew that the false Dragon was too strong.
Liandrin made the right choice.
We all did.
If we hadn’t tamed him, Mother, all of our sisters would’ve been killed, not just Kerene.
Our laws don’t exist to protect our lives, our comforts.
They exist to protect our people from us.
Liandrin, when Kerene fell, you were in command.
The fault lies with you, as will the punishment.
I will think on your penance.
You have something more to say, Daughter?
I’m just surprised.
You don’t care about the girl.
When we found Moiraine, she was traveling with the most powerful channeler we’ve seen in a thousand years.
More powerful even than you, Mother.
And yet Moiraine said nothing of the girl’s skills.
We knew nothing.
Until Nynaeve al’Meara healed us of our wounds.
I was unaware she could channel…
Sorry, Sis, what did you say?
I was unaware that she could channel.
[scoffs] But you must’ve known she was more than a simple village girl.
You must’ve known she was something special.
I suspected.
Mm.
Is there a point, Liandrin?
Moiraine… has flitted back and forth to the Tower for…
20 years?
Her purpose… The purpose of all Blues…
Is to gather secrets and discover danger before it strikes at the heart of us, before it strikes at you, Mother.
But Trollocs invaded from the west, and Logain’s army swelled from the south, without even a warning from Moiraine.
[chuckles] Why?
Well, I suggest you ask her, Mother.
This is Blue business, Mother.
Not for scrutiny in this Hall.
All business is judged here, Maigan.
Unless you’re suggesting the Amyrlin does not wish to question Moiraine because Mother was once Blue herself.
[staff clangs]
[Siuan] Moiraine Sedai.
You left the Tower two years ago.
Where have you traveled?
From Tear to the Two Rivers.
And many towns between.
What is the purpose of your travels?
Forgive me, Mother, I cannot say.
[Siuan] Cannot… or will not?
On your knees.
I will ask you one more time.
What is the purpose of your travels?
I cannot say.
You dare to challenge me?
Perhaps it is your noble blood, Lady Moiraine Damodred…
…that breeds contempt for those you consider beneath you.
Outside this Tower, it seems you do as you please.
But I am the Amyrlin Seat.
This is my Tower.
My city.
My world.
From Tear to the Two Rivers and every town between.
Remember that well while you are here.
Remember that well when your forehead and your lips touch this marble
and you beg your Mother for mercy!
I will think on your penance and deliver judgment tomorrow.
Depart now in the Light.
[indistinct chatter]
Apologize to her.
Publicly. While you still can.
What good would that do me?
Don’t be stubborn.
[chuckles softly]
[Liandrin] What?
Oh.
Did you expect me to thank you for saying what you did?
[scoffs softly]
That, like everything else you do,
was for your own benefit.
You forget…
I know you.
And whatever it is you’re up to, old friend, you should accomplish it quickly.
Tomorrow, your reckoning comes.
[indistinct chatter]
[bell tolling in distance]
[indistinct chatter continues nearby]
[door closes in distance]
[door opens]
♪ ♪
How bad is he?
Worse than expected.
This is the room?
[Basel Gill] Yes, Aes Sedai, but, uh…
Go downstairs.
Do not come up, no matter what you hear.
Nynaeve, you’re back already. Did you…?
Moiraine.
You’re alive.
Well, it’s nice to see you, too.
Egwene, Perrin… are they here?
I have watchers.
I’ll know when they arrive.
[grunts]
[Moiraine] How long has he been like this?
A month. Maybe more.
It’s nothing. It’s just a fever.
[Mat] I know what you’re doing here.
I know what Aes Sedai do to men like me.
Don’t be stupid.
I’m not going to let you hurt him!
Put that down.
[Mat] Bless his heart.
He tries.
[grunting]
[sword clatters]
Stay down.
He hasn’t channeled.
Easy.
Mat, tell her!
He hasn’t channeled!
The world doesn’t need a Dragon like me.
[grunts]
[screams]
[Mat screams]
What’s happening to him?
Oh, you stupid boy.
You took this from Shadar Logoth.
[screams]
Hold him down!
Both of you!
[snarling scream]
[strained grunting]
[gagging]
[gasps]
[breathing heavily]
[sighs]
[indistinct chatter]
[door opens]
Thank you.
For what?
For helping him.
What did you expect me to do?
I saw the darkness moving over you.
You took on that evil… for Mat.
I would do it for any of you.
You could just say, “You’re welcome.”
So if Mat can’t channel, then he’s not the…
It was just the darkness from Shadow City all along?
I don’t know.
He’s stronger than he has any right to be.
If he weren’t, that dagger would’ve consumed him weeks ago.
You have to be careful.
You have to watch him.
I’ve healed him of his connection to the dagger, but it was feeding off the darkness in him as much as he was off it.
If he touches it again… he may be lost forever.
Of course.
Nynaeve.
Builder.
How did you find them?
A better question might be why didn’t you find me as soon as you saw the darkness in Mat?
Your pride would have killed your friend.
If Wisdom is the title you claim… I suggest you start using some.
♪ ♪
[steam hissing]
[door closes]
I wish you’d take meetings in the Tower like the rest of us.
I’ve been on the road for years, Maigan.
Don’t begrudge me this.
My time is limited.
I don’t enjoy wasting it, imagining your fate after that display in the Hall.
[door closes]
Siuan’s losing her grip.
On sanity… or power?
A Green spoke on behalf of a Red today.
And so did you.
The whole world’s gone mad.
Ships are disappearing off the West Coast.
Aiel have been spotted this side of the Spine.
Trollocs invaded the Two Rivers.
And an Aes Sedai sank the Taren Ferry.
Your informant network has improved.
We’ve sent money on your behalf as recompence.
How exactly did the Trollocs reach the Two Rivers undetected?
I don’t know.
The Amyrlin is not alone in wondering exactly what you’re doing out in the wilderness.
I brought her the most powerful channeler in living memory, for one.
Hate her all you want, but Siuan Sanche was once a Blue.
We owe her our protection and loyalty.
Old alliances are shifting and we must present a united front.
I’ll intervene with Siuan on your behalf.
Make her see reason.
And your value to us.
We need you here in the Tower permanently.
For what reason?
I may need to go west to track the ships disappearances.
You’ve traveled long enough.
Time to settle down, Moiraine.
Make yourself comfortable.
You’re home again.
More secrets?
How long do you think they’ve been here?
Only a day. Maybe two.
I sent the message as soon as I saw them.
[busy chatter]
[bells jangling]
[door closes]
Moiraine.
Rand and Mat, are they…?
I have people watching for their arrival.
But I have it on good authority that they’re alive.
[exhales]
Thank the Light.
My Yellow sister said you were taken by Whitecloaks.
I took something from them.
[rattling]
Valda won’t hurt any more of your sisters.
[bell tolling in distance]
There are no greater healers on earth than the Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah.
It will be like the damage never happened.
On the outside, at least.
[Egwene] I’m worried about him.
His eyes.
When Valda was torturing him, they went golden.
Like a wolf’s.
Did anything else unusual happen?
Wolves attacked the Whitecloaks while we were there.
But he wasn’t afraid of them.
It’s like they… they listened to him.
Tell no one.
There are many in this city… Aes Sedai included…
Who would do him harm if they knew.
Is he the Dragon?
There is much we don’t know of the Dragon Reborn.
What shape she or he will take, what power they will wield.
For now… rest.
Heal.
And let him heal.
Tomorrow when I call for you, come.
But tell no one where you’re going.
[birds twittering]
[horn blowing]
You masked our bond.
It’s been at least two years.
I thought you’d welcome the break.
This place isn’t as safe as it once was.
Everyone’s watching you.
You’re not safe here, Moiraine.
And I can’t protect you if I can’t feel you.
You’re right.
Well, that’s a first.
Our enemies are everywhere.
You’re priority has to be protecting our friends from the Two Rivers.
Now we finally have them back.
Good night, Ian.
Be back before dawn.
Is that an order?
Did it sound like a suggestion?
[chuckles]
[exhales]
I’ll stand watch until you return.
Give her my love.
[door opens]
[door closes]
♪ ♪
What were you thinking?
I’m on a knife’s edge here, and that… that display you forced me to put on has made everything we’re trying to do much hard… Don’t smile.
Skin me and salt me if you don’t take idiotic risks.
Am I forgiven, Mother?
I hate it when you call me that.
So much for the Amyrlin Seat remaining neutral without favorites.
No life.
No love of one’s own.
Nothing but the Seat.
When have we ever followed the rules?
♪ ♪
These are new.
[Siaun] A year, maybe two.
You’ve been gone such a long time.
On your knees.
♪ ♪
Light, your taste in ale hasn’t improved.
What’s wrong?
I found the Dragon.
The girl from the Two Rivers?
Perhaps.
It’s complicated.
I found five potential Dragons in the same village.
Five?
But only four the right age.
Nynaeve’s too old, but how can we discount her power?
I don’t know. Every town has a different legend about where the Dragon will be reborn, how they will appear to us, and the way in which they’ll break or save the world.
Our prophecies are clear.
They’re 3,000-year-old prophecies.
They’ve been translated again and again, by hundreds of different Aes Sedai.
From a gleeman, I heard the tale of a many-headed Dragon.
[Siaun] The last Dragon was one man.
Why would the Wheel split the Dragon’s soul into many?
What if Gitara’s vision was wrong?
You were there.
You were there when she had the vision of the baby being born.
We were the only ones there.
We’ve been searching for the Dragon Reborn for 20 years.
I know less now than I did then.
That’s just exhaustion talking.
What if we brought the other sisters in?
Told them what we’re trying to do?
They must never suspect we’re working together.
If another sister finds out what we’re doing, we’ll be stilled.
You think I’ve forgotten that?
Well, say something.
I will.
When your spikes retract.
[exhales]
You little pufferfish.
[laughs]
Damn you, you can’t get away with that every time.
If it’s one Dragon or five, man or woman, the heart of every prophecy is the same.
The Dragon will either defeat the Dark One… or join him.
I’ll kill them myself before I let him have them.
Good.
[distant thunder rumbling, rain falling]
What aren’t you telling me?
My dreams.
They… they started a few months ago and… the last few weeks, every night, I… I see the same thing.
The Dark One.
At the Eye of the World.
He’s… weak.
Barely clinging to his power but getting stronger every day.
We can destroy him.
If we go now.
We have the advantage… We know where he is.
We don’t know which of them is the Dragon.
Take them all.
We’d be sentencing the other four to certain death.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Whoever comes between the Dragon and the Dark One will die.
You know that.
Tomorrow when you sentence me, it must be exile.
Why?
Maigan’s ordered me to stay in the Tower.
I thought we’d have more time.
We always think that.
Don’t we?
One day we will.
In this life or the next.
Rest.
You think I can sleep now?
I’m here.
[kisses]
[thunder rumbling]
[Ian] I put him in your bedroom.
And Mat?
Recovered enough to be drowning himself in morning ale.
Can he ride?
Mat Cauthon. Is that his name, yes?
Same boy you visited at the Light’s Blessing yesterday?
Strange how he and his companion…
Is it Rand?…
Are also from the Two Rivers.
Along with the two strangers nursed back to health by our Yellow sisters.
All friends of Nynaeve, perhaps?
[laughs]
I’m sure the Amyrlin would love to understand that connection.
I know about the man you meet in Northharbor.
Walk away.
Never mention this again.
Or I will tell your Red sisters where he lives.
We both know what they’ll do to him.
What should I expect?
He’s very upbeat.
I can handle that.
Glory to the Builders.
You honor me.
I am Moiraine Sedai.
Loial, son of Aren’t, son of Halan.
Your name sings in my ears, Moiraine Sedai.
Thank you for coming.
You must forgive the abruptness of my message.
I will say I was surprised to receive it.
And the haste at which I was encouraged to respond… even for a human.
It is a failing of our kind, I do admit.
But the Wheel has presented us with a crisis.
And at the same time, perhaps a… a way to surmount it.
But I’ll need your help.
[footsteps]
Welcome to Hall of the Tower.
It’s funny, I wore exactly the same expression when I first saw this room.
Is that…?
The Amyrlin Seat itself.
Isn’t that… confusing?
To have the woman and the throne named the same thing?
Feel free to ask her.
The Amyrlin Seat has requested an audience with you.
But first there’s someone else who wants see you.
[door opens]
[Nynaeve] If you can’t lead the world from a room built of wood and dirt, how can you call yourself a leader?
Nynaeve?
Egwene.
[crying]
I thought you were dead!
So did the Trolloc that took me.
What are you doing here?
[Moiraine] There’s a lot to catch up on, I know.
But the Amyrlin’s expecting us.
Let her wait.
Siuan Sanche waits for only one woman.
And it’s not you.
[short knock on door]
[low] Come.
Come. [chuckles]
Closer.
[door closes]
So…
…these are your two, Moiraine.
Welcome to the White Tower.
I’m the Amyrlin Seat.
But today you can call me Siuan.
[sniffles]
Am I not what you expected?
I’ve been told you’re the most… powerful channeler we’ve seen in… a thousand years.
Nynaeve al’Meara.
Then you must have very low standards.
[laughs]
And you,
Egwene al’Vere.
Your bravery and spark
brought the Great Serpent rings of my fallen daughters home.
I thank you.
Now that you’ve blown smoke up our ass, why don’t you tell us what you want?
I know what it is to feel… you deserve something different… than what this life gives you.
To wonder why you couldn’t just… stay home… love the people you love, grow old with them, protect them, support them.
Threads weaving in and out of the pattern without… consequence.
But the truth is… the two of you have been called to greatness.
The fate of all of us rests on you now.
On the decisions you make in the coming days.
On the strength you find within.
Don’t talk to me like you know me.
We want no part of this.
Come on.
The Wheel… does not care if you are young or afraid, petty or weak.
It certainly doesn’t care what you want.
The Wheel calls you to this.
Whether you can bear it or not.
The Last Battle is coming.
What any of us wants now is… meaningless.
The only thing that matters… is what you do.
So what do we need to do?
♪ ♪
[door opens]
[door closes]
It’s time.
I’ll stand in the Hall with you if you want.
I’ll be all right.
Thank you.
Just make sure they’re there.
♪ ♪
[door opens]
[door closes]
♪ ♪
[Leane] On your feet, Moiraine Sedai.
[Siuan] I have made my judgment.
For your disobedience and intractability… you are exiled from this Tower.
[gasping, hushed murmuring]
To ensure your acceptance of this penance, you will swear fealty to the judgment of this Seat on the sacred Oath Rod.
Swear your oath, Moiraine Sedai… before your sisters, in this… sacred Hall.
The One Power renders it unbreakable and eternally binding.
[exhales]
By the Light and my hope of salvation and rebirth… I, Moiraine Sedai, swear to obey the judgment of the Amyrlin Seat and never return till she calls me home, or may the Creator’s face turn from me and darkness consume my soul.
[Moiraine] By the Light and the hope of my salvation… and rebirth…
…I, Moiraine Sedai, do swear to honor and obey Siuan Sanche…
…Daughter of the River…
…clever as a pike…
…strong as the tides…
…and never return until she calls me home.
Or may my Creator’s face turn from me…
…and darkness consume my soul.
♪ ♪
[exhales]
It is done.
Now turn and face your sisters.
And leave this Tower.
[footsteps echoing]
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[horse huffs, neighs]
[Loial] Moiraine Sedai.
Builder.
Thank you for honoring your promise.
Are you alone?
Mm-mm.
[laughs softly]
[neighing]
[short laugh]
[horses neighing in distance]
♪ ♪
You look like shit.
[grunting]
It feels good to see you.
I told you I’d find you.
Least I wasn’t stupid enough to steal an evil dagger.
[chuckles]
[laughs]
[Moiraine] There will be time for every story as we travel.
♪ ♪
[quietly] Go on.
[horse neighs]
What are you doing?
[neighing]
They would not survive the Ways.
Egwene and I told them what the Amyrlin said.
But none of us will follow you blindly.
Not without answers to our questions.
We’ve all heard of the Ways in stories, but none of us know what they are.
Ancient pathways, out of time and space.
One step in the Ways could be a hundred miles in our world.
One breath the equivalent…
The fastest road to the Eye of the World.
And what’s there, at the Eye?
The Dark One’s prison.
Where he was trapped by the last Dragon at the cost of almost everything.
And now one of you will finish the job you started in your previous life.
But you don’t know who the Dragon is.
When we left the Two Rivers, I told you nothing because I couldn’t trust you.
But now I know you and I…
Let me speak clearly.
If we turn back here, if we do not stop the Dark One now while he is still weak, the whole world will turn to darkness.
Armies of Trollocs and Fades a million strong will wash across the land, killing and eating every person they find.
What they did to your village is nothing compared to what they will do.
The earth itself will burn.
And when a new Age comes, it will be built upon the ashes of the places and people we love.
And what about whoever’s not the Dragon?
What happens to them?
We cannot know for certain until that moment comes.
[wind whistling]
♪ ♪
[rumbling]
[crackling]
Is it too late to change my mind?
There’s no turning back.
Whatever happens now is beyond our control.
The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.
♪ ♪
[crackling]
Light the torches.
[crackling, rumbling]
Wait. Mat!
Mat!
What are you doing?
Come on, Mat!
The gate’s closing!
Mat’s not through. Mat!
Mat!
Mat! Come on, Mat!
Mat!
[overlapping shouting]
[overlapping shouting]
[thunder crashes]
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
