Summary
In the third installment, Nynaeve has to face the Three Arches and gets a lot more than she bargained for. Liandrin makes a mysterious move against Moiraine, while Perrin is at the mercy of Darkfriends.
We recap the Prime Video series The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 3, “What Might Be,” which contains spoilers.
Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) faces the Three Arches and gets a lot more than she bargained for. Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) makes a mysterious move against Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) and uses Mat (Barney Harris) as a prop, while Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) is at the mercy of Darkfriends.
The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 3 Recap
“What Might Be” starts with Nynaeve about to get tested by the Three Arches. By going through each one, she’ll face a different challenge.
What happens to Nynaeve in the Three Arches?
The First Arch takes Nynaeve back to the worst moment of her childhood when bandits murdered her parents while she was hiding in the basement. Desperate to help, Nynaeve picks up a weapon, but instead of going upstairs to help them, she takes the portal, returning her to the White Tower.
Entering the Second Arch takes Nynaeve back home to her beloved Two Rivers. She’s cast in the middle of a plague that has hit the village since her departure, and Rand’s father is among the afflicted.
Nynaeve is horrified at the sight but needs to return once the portal opens.
Nynaeve seemingly comes out of the Third Ach covered in with no memory of what happened to her.
While the sisters declare her Accepted to the White Tower and even offer her a fancy Aes Sedai ring, Nynaeve decides to walk away.
After a tearful goodbye with Egwene, Nynaeve rides away from the White Tower. She doesn’t get far before running into a now bond-less Lan. The two lovers decide to head to the Two Rivers together.
And then the portal back appears. The past few minutes were a part of the test, and Nynaeve missed her one chance to go back to the real world.
How does Liandrin react to Nynaeve’s death?
Back at the White Tower, Liandrin tries to stay distant and dismissive about the loss of Nynaeve.
Perrin and his men learn who the woman on the palanquin is: the High Lady Suroth. She demands that every person in the village bow to her.
How does Uno die?
A brave Uno politely (by politely, I mean he spits on the palanquin) refuses and pays for it with his life. The rest of the village, including a hesitant Perrin, falls into a bow and swears the oath.
At the Sanatorium, Logain already knows Rand is also a man who can channel. When Rand asks the False Dragon how to control his powers, Logain asks for a specific bottle of wine.
Why do Rand and Selene attend the aristocratic ball?
Rand and Selene crash an aristocratic dinner party together in hopes of finding the wine. While there, the Dragon gets a lesson in politics and cruelty from the mysterious Lady Anvaere.
Disgusted, Rand takes the bottle of wine to Logain, and the man tells him what he already knows: He can’t control his power; it will spill out of him one way or another.
When Egwene learns about Nyeneave’s loss inside the third Arch, she’s beyond devastated.
How does Mat escape his prison?
A grief-stricken Liandrin takes her rage out on poor Mat and then releases him.
Disheartened after hearing Liandrin’s harsh words, Mat decides against approaching Egwene. Instead, he frees Min, and the two of them walk out the door.
It’s quickly revealed that Lin is working with Liandrin. Whatever Liandrin has planned for Min and Mat, it’s a move against Moiraine.
How does Perrin escape?
Perrin and the other villagers are on their way to some work camp run by the High Lady Suroth. But Ishmael notes there’s something special about him and goes to visit him in his carriage.
The two don’t get far in their conversation before a pack of wolves led by Elyas attack the carriages and free Perrin.
The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 3 Ending Explained
Still reeling from his disappointing conversation with Logaine, Rand heads back to the inn and engages in hot and heavy relations with Selene. And then he wakes up and realizes it was all a dream. While sleeping, he channeled and accidentally set the inn on fire.
A grieving Egwene can’t accept that Nyeneave is truly lost in the Arches.
Where is Nynaeve?
Nynaeve is very much alive and well inside the third Arch. A few years have passed, she has a beautiful daughter with Lan, and her two best friends, Perrin and Mat, visit often.
Of course, her little haven of domesticity gets rudely interrupted by a Trolloc attack. Perrin, Mat, and even Lan die fighting off the trolls. A heartbroken Nynaeve manages to channel from inside the Arch, something previously thought impossible, opening a second portal back.
She remembers that’s “the way back” and tries going through while holding her little girl. But when Nynaeve comes out of the Arch, she’s alone and completely devastated.
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