- “The Wheel of Time” season three trailer teased that Moiraine might die in the coming episodes.
- Moiraine is a fan-favorite character played by Rosamund Pike.
- The TV series may be adapting a storyline from one of the later source material books.
Warning: spoilers ahead for the first four episodes of “The Wheel of Time.”
Prime Video’s “The Wheel of Time” may take a big swing in season three by killing off Moiraine Damodred, who is played by the show’s most famous actor.
“The Wheel of Time” has been an ensemble series since its first season, but Rosamund Pike, who plays Moiraine, has always been the face of the show.
When the first trailer for season three debuted last month, the video seemed to tease that Moiraine would sacrifice herself for the series’ hero, Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski).
“In every future where I lived, Rand dies. And the only way he lives is if I don’t,” Moiraine says over clips of Rand and Moiraine in different settings.
Moiraine is an Aes Sedai (sorcerer) on a mission to defeat the Dark One, and she needs Rand alive because he’s the Dragon Reborn, a reincarnated hero who is prophesied to save the world.
Killing off a fan-favorite character like Moiraine can be risky for a TV series, as it could lead to a backlash.
Moiraine has visions of Lanfear killing her in the future
In season three, Moiraine, Rand, and their allies travel to the Aiel Waste to raise an army and run away from the Forsaken, a group of sorcerers working for the Dark One.
Rand hopes to prove that he is the Car’a’carn, the leader they have been waiting for, but he must complete their prophecy. He must go through Rhuidean, a mysterious city in the Aiel Waste, where men are tested before becoming chiefs of the Aiel clans, and women are tested to become sorcerers.
In episode four, Moiraine follows Rand to Rhuidean after one of the Wise Ones, the Aiel’s sorcerers, accidentally reveals that she has seen a future where Moiraine goes through the test.
When they enter the city, Rand experiences visions of his ancestors, while Moiraine enters a ring-like structure that reveals visions of her potential future. Moiraine’s visions initially show a variety of possible futures, from Moiraine becoming the leader of the Aes Sedai to Moiraine killing Rand.
At the end of the episode, we see another series of Moiraine’s visions, where she sees herself being killed over and over again by Lanfear, a Forsaken with whom Moiraine currently has a tense alliance.
The message seems pretty clear. Moiraine will die, and Lanfear will be the person to do it.
Fans will have to wait for future episodes to see if we get further insight into these visions.
In the book series, Moiraine dies — temporarily
Lanfear is also a major rival for Moiraine in Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” novels, which the show is based on.
In the fifth book, “Fires of Heaven,” Lanfear, who is in love with the Dragon Reborn, becomes jealous when she finds out he has slept with someone else. Rand and Lanfear fight, but he refuses to kill her, so Moiraine intervenes, pushing Lanfear through a red door portal to another world. Moiraine falls through the portal, too, and the door melts, making the heroes believe that Moiraine and Lanfear died.
However, in book 11, “Knife of Dreams,” the heroes discover that Moiraine is alive in another world. In book 13, “Towers of Midnight, ” she is rescued from the other world.
Though season three is mainly focused on book four, “The Shadow’s Rising,” the series often feeds in storylines from the later books earlier in the story. This could mean that the show is adapting Moiraine’s sacrifice early, making Moiraine’s death in the show temporary.
“The Wheel Of Time” airs new episodes weekly on Prime Video.
