Season 1 Episode 4: The Dragon Reborn

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The Dragon Reborn

Season

1

Episode

4

Director

Wayne Yip

Previous Episode

A Place of Safety

Next Episode

Blood Calls Blood

Author: Ilverin Matriam

Synopsis

The Aes Sedai have captured a dangerous man, who has proclaimed himself the Dragon Reborn. Moiraine is unsure if he truly is the one. Perrin and Egwene find out about the Traveling People's philosophy, and Rand and Mat continue running from Fades and Darkfriends.

Cast

Main Characters	Supporting Characters	Minor Characters
Rosamund Pike - Moiraine Damodred	Kate Fleetwood - Liandrin Guirale	Narinder Samra - Raen
Daniel Henney - al'Lan Mandragoran	Priyanka Bose - Alanna Mosvani	Emmanuel Imani - Ihvon
Zoë Robins - Nynaeve al'Meara	Alexandre Willaume - Thom Merrilin	Taylor Napier - Maksim
Madeleine Madden - Egwene al'Vere	Alvaro Morte - Logain Ablar	Miguel Alvarez - King of Ghealdan
Josha Stradowski - Rand al'Thor	Clare Perkins - Kerene Nagashi	Pasha Bocaire - Mr. Grinwell
Marcus Rutherford - Perrin Aybara	Peter Franzen - Stepin	Jennifer K Preston - Mrs. Grinwell
Barney Harris - Mat Cauthon	Maria Doyle Kennedy - Ila
	Daryl McCormack - Aram

Summary

The episode begins in Ghealdan, where a man who has proclaimed himself the Dragon Raborn attacks the king's castle. When Logain Ablar meets the king, he says that instead of fighting him, the Aes Sedai, and everyone else, should follow him. The scenes also show that Logain may have already gone mad from channeling the One Power. The voices in his head tell him to kill the king, but instead Logain saves him.

Nynaeve is in the Aes Sedai camp, along with Lan and Moiraine, who is finally receiving healing for her wound. There are sisters from the Red Ajah and the Green Ajah and their Warders. Moiraine is healed by Kerene Sedai, who looks very exhausted. She is tired after continuously having to keep the shield up on the false Dragon, Logain, who is now their captive.

Moiraine insists on going to see Logain. She decides to help with the burden of keeping his shield on at all times and she relieves Liandrin Sedai. By being one of the Aes Sedai holding his shield, Moiraine can sense how strong Logain actually is.

Lan and Stepin are outside and practice their battle stands. Stepin steps away from the practice to join his Aes Sedai in their tent where they discuss Lan and Moiraine, Liandrin's influence on the other sisters, and the fact that Kerene seems to not be getting much rest. Liandrin believes that Logain should be gentled. Kerene, as a head of this Aes Sedai group, is keeping Liandrin away from doing that, since they should abide by Tower laws and take him to the Amyrlin Seat.

Moiraine and Alanna are left alone guarding Logain and they talk about the past and the future. Alanna and Moiraine were friends as novices, but their paths separated when they chose different Ajahs. Alanna cannot believe that the Last Battle might be close, she claims Logain's strength is more than anything she has ever seen, which to many Aes Sedai might mean another sign the Dragon has been reborn and the end of the Age is near.

Egwene and Perrin are with the Tuatha'an, the Traveling People. They are heading east towards Tar Valon. Perrin is suspicious of the Traveling People, while the Tuatha'an do not seem suspicious of the two of them traveling alone. Raen and Ila explain to the outsiders about the "Way of the Leaf," a philosophy that the Traveling People follow – they would do no violence or harm to someone else; if they get attacked, they would run away or endure it, but will never fight back. Ila makes Perrin think about wielding the ax as a weapon.

Rand, Mat, and Thom reach a farm somewhere in Andor. They plan to sneak in the farm's barn to spend the night there, but are found out by the farm's owners, who almost kill them. Even though Mat gets on edge from the farmer's questions, Rand is the one to tell the truth and make the farmer trust them and welcome them to use their barn in exchange for labor. Rand and Mat get to cleaning the barn, Thom is not helping, but Mat clearly looks worse than he was before. One of the farmers' daughters comes close to Mat and gives him a piece of bread for their work. Mat clearly misses his sisters, who are back home, so the girl also gives him her doll, called Birgitte.

Thom tells Rand about his nephew, Owyn, who died after being gentled by the Aes Sedai who had found out he could channel the One Power. Thom believes Mat is also able to channel and this is why he acts like he does. Thom advises Rand to keep Mat away from the Aes Sedai.

Later that night, Rand falls asleep and dreams a nightmare of someone with burning eyes and mouth taking Egwene away. He wakes up and goes to find Mat, who is inside the farm house where the Grinwell family has been murdered. A Fade is there and it attacks the boys. Thom pushes them away and tells them to run, while attacking the Fade back. The boys run away, leaving Thom with the Fade.

Around the Tuatha'an caravan, Egwene enjoys herself dancing, but Perrin does not want to. Egwene asks Aram about the Song. Aram does not believe that the Song exists, it is supposed to bring peace and harmony, and so Egwene asks him what if maybe they have already found it.

Perrin talks to Ila about the Tinkers' philosophy. Ila believes that peace will come if everybody everywhere stops doing violence. Her daughter was murdered, but she wishes revenge on her killers in the form of peace. She believes her daughter will be reborn again in the future, and she hopes the work they are currently doing, bringing peace, is the work that those future reincarnations will see and live in.

In the Aes Sedai camp, Nynaeve is dining around the fire with the Warders. She finds out that the Warders do not serve the Aes Sedai, but instead they are a team that works together. She also finds out that some Aes Sedai bed their Warders. Lan talks with Moiraine about Logain. They are both skeptical that Logain is the real Dragon Reborn, and they doubt that even the Dark One knows who the Dragon Reborn is.

Later the next day the camp is attacked by Logain's army. Logain breaks out of his shield, held by Kerene and Liandrin, pushing them back so hard that they lose consciousness. Moiraine uses this time to speak with Logain and tells him that it is impossible for him to be the Dragon Reborn; the real Dragon Reborn will be much more powerful than him. The now awake Kerene and Liandrin, with Moiraine's help, try to shield Logain again, but in his counter attack, he strikes Kerene, killing her. The rest of the Aes Sedai come back into the cave and Stepin, feeling his Aes Sedai's death, tries to attack Logain. Logain breaks both of Stepin's axes and hurls all of the broken pieces at the Aes Sedai and Warders in the cave, wounding every one of them. Except Nynaeve. In a rage over so many hurt people, she channels for the first time, Healing everyone of their wounds.

After getting healed, the Aes Sedai link together and gentle Logain, making it impossible for him to touch the True Source or channel the One Power again.

Quotes

"The White Tower and the women within it have stood for 3000 years, not because we do what is expedient, but because we do what is right." Kerene Sedai

"The leaf in its time, falls to the dirt that nourishes the tree that, in its time, grows the leaf again. Nothing is ever lost. The Wheel returns all." Ila

Production

Directed by Wayne Yip
Aired on: November 26, 2021
Duration: One hour and one minute

Trivia Bits

Locations

Segovia, Spain was the location that the viewers can now recall as Ghealdan, shown in the cold open of this episode.

Other

The Dragon Reborn is the name of a chapter in book 2 - the Great Hunt as well as a book in and of itself - book 3 in the series is called "The Dragon Reborn."

Deviation from the Books

This section contains spoilers relating to The Wheel of Time Books. Please expand to view.

In the books, Thom is not accompanying the boys in their journey through the farms and villages of Andor. When Thom and the boys are in Whitebridge, they are attacked by a Fade in bright daylight in the middle of the city. To protect them, Thom fights with the Fade, leaving time for Rand and Mat to escape (just like in this episode).
Rand and Mat actually meet a family called Grinwell in the Eye of the World. The farmer has a daughter, Else, that really liked looking at Rand. The family is not killed in the books.
The false Dragon Logain is captured by Aes Sedai, but Moiraine, Lan, and Nynaeve do not meet him on his way to Tar Valon. As far as we know he is not gentled before reaching the White Tower.
Kerene Nagashi is not alive during the happenings in the Eye of the World. She dies in the prequel - New Spring. She also had two Warders, one of which is called Stepin.
Nynaeve's first touch of the True Source is not with Moiraine and Lan, but long before - when Egwene was still a child and Nynaeve wanted to heal her. The story where Egwene had breakbone fever is told in Episode 5.