Summary
Episode 4 is a captivating hour with a major reveal of the series breakout character.
This recap of Amazon’s The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 4, “The Dragon’s Reborn,” contains spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous episode.
The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 4 recap
Ghealdan
Ghealdan is a small country in The Wheel of Time world and nestled along the feet of the Mountains of the West and just northwest of Amadicia and Altara. Currently, the crown is trying to escape the man who we saw in the last episode. He claims he is the Dragon Reborn. The height runs to the tower, bleeding from a gash from a sword in his left shoulder. His men buy him some time, but the man easily brushes off their advances. By the time he gets to the tower, the strange new power that takes the shape of black smoke that looks like an extended, ropey streamer circles him. Looming large over the crown, both are enemies, and the smoke tells the man who walks around like an evil Jesus that he should kill him and cannot be trusted.
The crown attempts to stab him while the Dragon Reborn has a schizophrenic argument with voices in his head. He stops him as the ropey black smoke subdues him by coiling around the wounded King. Having him on his knees, uneasy of squeezing the life out of him, the black weaves of air heal his wound. The Dragon Reborn kneels as well, as he looks the King straight in the eye and tells him this — there’s a place for anyone at my side. Even my enemies.
His name is Logain (Alvaro Morte). Even though the last dragon broke the world, he plans to bind it.
Moiraine
Moiraine discovers that almost every member of the Aes Sedai is using their considerable powers to keep Logan at bay. We find out that women cannot seem men’s air weaves as Moiraine tells her friend that Logan could be a false Dragon and not the real one.
Rand and Mat
Rand and Mat follow Thom Merrilin after he saves them from Dana. Mat thinks they are safe with him. Rand, however, brings up a fair point— what if Thom just killed Dana to cover up the fact that he may have allegiance to the Dark Order.
By the time they find shelter that night, Thom notices that Mat shows signs of unusual behavior. He is sweating and breathing heavily. And he saw that he reached for his back when confronted by a man with a bow and arrow (obviously going for the red dagger, but Thom has no idea he has it). He approaches Rand with the idea Mat is not worth the trouble. He is about to go mad, and when he does, he will be a dangerous liability, which makes Rand wonder if he is trying to split them up for an ulterior motive.
When Rand falls asleep, he has a nightmare of his group of friends back in Two Rivers, with Perrin taking an ax to a pile of dead bodies. When he awakes, he finds Mat gone. Thom and Mat find him in the farmhouse of a family, The Grinwells, as he is experiencing a “Fade.” This family was nice enough to have them sleep in their barn. The entire family has been killed and stabbed with a blade. Mat is holding the dagger, and Rand assumes the worst — his friend must have gone mad and murdered them. That’s until Mat points to the second-floor bedroom, completely dark, and says, “I see you.” That’s when a shadowspawn leaps from the floor and attacks. Merrilin tells them to run and ride off into the night as their savior fights off the dark beast.
Egwene and Perrin
Egwene and Perrin continue to hitch their wagon to “The Traveling People,” even though Perrin does not trust them — they are just too lovely. Too trusting. And too relaxed when it comes to personal protection. Egwene manages to finally pull a bit of what is this traveling band of hobos’ motivation. They are searching for the song that brought harmony to the world that they lost years ago.
They also are similar to the Amish people of the North Eastern United States. They practice yieldedness, letting be, or submission to the will of God (or, in this case, the “wheel”). At the age of 20, they leave the group to travel into the world and decide if they want to come back (this happens at age 16 for the Amish people, known as “rumspringa”).
They continue their path towards an uncertain future.
The Ending – Like a Radiant Sun
They are flung against the walls like rag dolls when Moiraine comes walking in. She begins to interrogate him, and he is so convinced he is the Dragon Reborn, he humors her. She narrows down his motivation to this — Logain says the wind, the wheel wants something from him. She regrets to inform him it’s people who wish to, not the revolution. Therefore, Logain is a false Dragon.
Just when Lan and Nynaeve make a connection after a long talk (that seems like the equivalent of asking if you can borrow someone during a party before the final rose ceremony in The Bachelor), Logain’s army comes rushing back to the Aes Sedai camp. They are led by the King of Ghealdan and their people, all of the “warders” (a bodyguard, friend, and confidant of the Aes Sedai) and a handful of the Aes Sedai, notably Alanna (Lion‘s Priyanka Bose). As they attempt to make it back to the caves, Liandrin and Kerene are overtaken by Logain’s powers. The whispers in his head are mad thoughts.
Just then, Liandrin and Kerene awake, and the three Aes Sedai snap to attention and hold onto Logain with their white weaves. That’s until he sends a weave of his own that is about to kill all three, but Kerene shields her two sisters but is killed almost instantly. By the time they reach the cave, Kerene’s warder, Stepin, is overcome with rage and leaps to cut Logain down with both axes. As he pierced the Aes Sedai’s control, Logain’s power grips the Stepin’s weapons and flings them towards the group, injuring all of them.
Moiraine is stabbed in the stomach, Liandrin’s shoulder is badly injured, and Lan is in the most trouble — his neck has been cut open, and he is bleeding out. Nynaeve desperately tries to hold the blood in when she suddenly screams with rage and then finds she can channel. She lets out a weave that heals everyone, and Logain says, “Like a Radiant Sun.” He now knows he’s not the Dragon Reborn.
Liandrin has the Aes Sedai to link. They harness their weave of power together to finally cut Logain down for killing their sister and being the false dragon. They then relieve him of his dark energy or what we may think of as his toxic masculinity.
But the real question is this — was Nynaeve hiding her power this entire time, or did she just organically discover it?
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