The Wheel of Time season 2

 Time to revisit the Robert Jordan / Brandon Sanderson books inspired television series for it's second season, and hopefully it will be as fun as the first.

 

 

Because face it, the book series is all the way up there in fantasy classics.

 

Believing they had defeated the Dark One at the end of season one, what they truly did was set free his strongest lieutenant, Ishamael.  He decides though to observe the Dragon Reborn first, instead of killing him.  Moiraine, who has lost her powers, is residing with two of her fellow Aes Sedai, trying to obtain more information while Egwene and Nynaeve are training in the White Tower.  But unbeknowst to them, Mat is also locked away in the tower by Liandrin, on the request of Moiraine.

 

Moiraine and Lan recover by an attack of three Fades that left them injured, as they set way to the White Tower, even though Moiraine has been banished from that place.  Rand in the meantime has gone in hiding at the Foregate in Cairhien, taken in by Selene the innkeeper.  He works at an asylum where he can gain access to the false dragon Logain, who is admitted there.  As Egwene befriends Elayne, the daughter-heir of the biggest kingdom in the lands, and also a novice, Nynaeve undergoes the trial to become Accepted but gets lost in the arches, pressumed dead.  Perrin, Loial and a band of Shienarans are captured by Seanchan's led by Suroth and Ishamael at a remote fishing village.  When one of them, Uno, refuses to bow to Suroth, he is gruesomely executed as the others are taken away.

 

 

Rand accidentally sets fire to Selene's inn, causing them to retreat to a cabin in the mountains.  Here she reveals to him she is also a monster, but before she can show all is attacked by Moiraine, who flees with rand.  She tells him Selene is actually Lanfear, one of the Forsaken and the "Daughter of the Night".  Lanfear recovers from her seemingly mortal wounds, giving chase.   Nynaeve returns from the arches, having faced her biggest fears, and becomes Accepted.  When she learns of Perrin's capture, she, Egwene and Elayne sneak out to mount a rescue, but Perrin has already escaped thanks to Elyas.  He befriends the wolf Hopper and learns he is a Wolfbrother, which allows him to have spirit visions with animals.

 

Returning to the village he was captured, Perrin finds it controlled by Whitecloaks and saves an Aiel warrior woman, Aviendha, who pledges to help him.  The girls are captured in Seanchan, and Egwene is pressganged and tortured to become one of their warrior mages, a damane, while Elayne and Nynaeve manage to escape and avoid this cruel fate.  Renna, her sul'dam, commences in the works of breaking her spirit by use of a paincausing collar.  Rand has entered the dreamworld where Lanfear meets him, telling him she will help overthrow Ishamael and revealing where Egwene is, but before he can leave he is met by Lan and his companions, telling him he can't leave yet.

Mat is kidnapped by Lanfear and brought before Ishamael in Falme, where he gets a tea that grants him visions of himself as a murderer.  Nynaeve and Elayne capture a sul'dam with the same collar as used on Egwene to try and make their way to them, as the Whitecloaks assault Falme.  Rand is told he is detsined to become the ultimate weapon, but not the general, of the White Tower, and he convinces Lanfear to bring him to Falme instead with Moiraine and Lan, and unlocking Moiraine's spellcasting powers again.  The battle rages, as Egwene manages to break the hold on her and killing her torturer, when Mat blows the mythical Horn of Valden, summoning the ghosts of the Heroes of the Horn (including Uno) and turning the tide of battle as the friends defend an immobilised Rand.  Moirgaine breaks the hold on him, allowing him to slay Ishamael, resulting in him being proclaimed the Dragon Reborn before the whole city, while Lanfear learns the other Forsaken have been set free.

So that was indeed a nice visual spectacle and a good season with action, intrigue and intensity.  Though I think Rand being a bit of a glory hugger, as all the others had to do the work and he just did a single stab to his opponent after walking and sleeping around for a whole season.  Now let's wait for the third season, which *should* come around late 2024, early 2025 normally.