The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 8 recap – the finale and ending explained

This recap of Amazon’s The Wheel of Time season 1, Episode 8, “The Eye of the World,” — the finale and ending explained — contains spoilers.

Read the episode of the previous recap.

The season finale starts with what appears to be a scene of the future, where a young couple argues about their daughter being the Dragon Reborn. They are at the White Towers, and as you look outside, the city is bustling. And the sky is filled with flying vehicles.

The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 8 recap – the finale and ending explained

Moiraine, Rand, Travels, and Story Time, Part One

While Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) leads young Rand (Josha Strandowski) through the blight, they encounter young men who go into the dead forest on a dare and turn into mushroom food. “Don’t touch anything,” she warns him. As they approach closer, they take a break, and Rand has an awful dream… or does he? He wakes from a dream, and Moiraine asks him what he saw since plans have significant meaning here. Then, without notice, the Dark One stabs her from behind. His sword goes through the back of the hand and out of her mouth. There, he tells Rand that his father has been dead for years, and his father was not the peasant farmer he grew up with. He then wakes up again. Moiraine, of course, asks him again what his dream was.

Rand refuses to tell her.

As they approach the Eye, storytime continues. Moiraine tells her copper curly-headed Dragon Reborn that a mentor once beat her with her power, and it was something she has never forgotten. They come upon what looks like their final destination. With Rand being reincarnated and all, he sees images of the past. At the beginning of the episode, he sees the Man squaring off over the symbol etched on the stone floor—the yin and yang.

He then falls into a state of seeing the future. He and Egwene (Madeleine Madden) are living a happy life. They have a small child in the quiet countryside that looks like something from The Sound of Music. Then, all of a sudden, there is a dose of reality. Rand is passed out in Moiraine’s arms while she wakes him. Then, they run into “The Man” (played by Fares Fares). Later, revealed as Ishamael. One of the most powerful of the Dark Order was forsaken. His name means “Betrayer of Hope.” And hope he crushes as he takes away Moiraine’s one power.

The Return of the Trolloc Army

Living in Fal Dara must be an anxiety-inducing experience. The northernmost city in Shienar is right on the Blight border. And things are about to get worse. They encounter what looks like a 10,000 strong Trolloc Army. But you know what they say. You best start running when the Trolloc army comes, except for these brave souls in Fal Dara. They see the gate won’t hold, but Lord Agelmar (Thomas Chaanhing) says men face danger head-on. He takes a few dozen men of his best men on horseback to defend the gate and face certain death. They stand at the entrance, which looks like Hoover Dam, and send a rain of sharp arrows down on the Trolloc army.

That doesn’t mean the women will run and hide. Lady Amalisa (Sandra Yi Sencidiver) calls for every woman to come to the city’s defense. Even if they can only channel a leaf off a tree, she needs them. We then see our favorite Seer, Min (Kae Alexander), who saw the future of Nynaeve (Zoe Robins) fall during the battle, dressed as a boy, and sneak off with the ones fleeing the city. Egwene and Nynaeve join Amalisa while watching a few Trollocs get past the gate.

Meanwhile, these Trollocs went to cheerleader camp because they worked well together. They create trolloc pyramids to climb the wall and get into the operating windows to shoot their arrows. One of them impales Agelmar, and now all 10,000 strong break through the gate. This causes Amalisa to summon the other four women to accept the power and channel theirs together.

However, there is a knock at the door back in the city.

Padan Fain

So, Padan Fain (Johann Meyers) shows up, and we have not seen him since he brought in the Trolloc army at Two Rivers. He somehow knows the secret passwords. When they open the door, a couple of those screeching Fades of the Shadowspawn take off the two female guards’ heads. He steals the weapon that would have helped the Dragon Reborn defeat the Dark Order if that was what he chose. He lets Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) live because all five have a role to play. To make matters worse, he kills off the breakout character, Loial (Hammed Animashaun).

Moiraine, Rand, Travels, and Story Time, Part Two

Yet Rand still is in his dream state and begins to question Eqwene on that peaceful countryside (in my experience, women love to be questioned). She confirms that she is real and it is her, but then everything freezes in time. The Man shows up in his dream. He wants to tell him about the power inside him and what he can do. To remake the world in his image (egomaniacal much?).

Moiraine, showing everyone why she is the baddest chick since Ripley, pulls a dagger out and tells the man that if his tricks make Rand choose the Dark Order, she will slit his throat. She has gotten a head start by making a slight cut to her neck and having that dark, rich blood rush down the blade. As the Man continues to persuade Rand is his dream to reimagine the world to his liking (what he is not saying it is under his dark tutelage), he makes a shift. He takes in all the power as he channels both good and evil. He awakens from his slumber, stares down the Man, and blows him away. Though, he has a strange smile on his face. This allows everyone to wonder one thing.

Did the Dark Order win? As Padan Fain said above, to have balance?

Rand defeats the Eye of the World but asks Moiraine to tell everyone he has died. Why? Because Rand felt the madness when he channeled. And when men do that, they go mad and hurt everyone they love. He then walks away and tells Moiraine goodbye.

Lightning Crashes – the ending 

As Amalisa has all of them channel their power, she pulls an Ed Kowalczyk and sends lightning crashing from the sky (who needs bow and arrows). They defeat the entire Trolloc army, and instead of a new mother crying, two of the nameless woman begin to burn from the inside. Amalisa cannot stop it or doesn’t want to. In a clear metaphor for how power corrupts, she continues to take in the power of the world, causing Nynaeve and Egwene to fall. As Amalisa burns alive, just as Eqwene is about to succumb, Nynaeve takes in what is killing her that saves her life.

Lan (Daniel Henney) meets up with Moiraine, and he tells her that he wants back in and misses the bond (convenient after Nynaeve dies, isn’t it?). But she breaks the bad news to him — she lost her power. But we then find out that Egwene, crying about her fallen friend who saved her life, channels her back to healing her. (At this point, I’m guessing Lan is telling Moiraine, “Hey, I gotta get back to… do something”).

The final scenes have Mat (Barney Harris) going back to the city where he found the ruby dagger and a fleet of battleships channeling a tidal wave that appears to crash onto a beach where a little girl is playing in the sand.

What did you think of Amazon’s The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 8 (finale), and the ending?? Let us know in the comments below!