‘The Wheel of Time’ Recap: ‘The Eye of the World’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the season one finale of ‘The Wheel of Time’.
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It has genuinely seemed as though the Amazon Prime series, The Wheel of Time, has been barreling toward an epic and encompassing finale over the past couple of weeks. For not only did our heroes make their way to the edge of the Eye of the World in a prompt manner, but we came to learn that Rand was the Dragon Reborn after all and was ready to embrace his role as a hero. Setting the stage for a grand and final showdown with the Dark One, wherein his likely defeat would propel season two of this series into new territory, where the characters would face incredible and unique new challenges in an era of peace and prosperity.
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In fact, this seemed so much to be the case that even the season one finale appeared to cement this reality. For ‘The Eye of the World’ is an episode that saw the Dark One’s forces advance on the last stronghold near the Blight. Which meant that anyone left within its walls had to fight hard to save the rest of humanity and that brought about one epic battle for certain. One that saw Nynaeve and Egwene tap into the One Source and work with others to unleash its power upon evil in a dangerous manner. To the point where only Nynaeve and Egwene were left standing once the Dark One’s army lay defeated. An ending that definitely felt akin to the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one.

A feeling that was reinforced, by what happened at the Eye of the World. For once Rand and Moiraine arrived, it didn’t take long for a grand showdown to take place with the Dark One. Wherein Rand was forced to choose between the light and the dark. And thankfully, after coming to realize the horror of his newfound power and what it could truly transform him into… he opted to stick with the light side of things and quickly channeled immense and incredible power into a stone provided by Moiraine, to cast the Dark One back into his cell for another three thousand years. But that… would have been too easy an ending for a series that has been ambitious from the get-go and well, it didn’t take long for us to realize… that this battle was nothing more than a test

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One designed for both sides to get a feel for the others’ defenses and that more battles would take place down the line and the challenges these heroes had to overcome weren’t quite complete yet. Realities that were reinforced by what Perrin encountered back at the castle. Since everyone’s favorite merchant, Padan Fain, revealed himself to be a Darkfriend during the battle, one that came here to leave Perrin and his friends alone to instead claim an ancient horn that would signal all the allies of the Dragon Reborn to battle… as part of a greater plan for the Dark One. Which was executed in this manner because that evil monster wasn’t defeated in the slightest.
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As to where exactly he went after that battle, no one is sure of. But it was epic and dark and concerning enough for Rand that he asked to be declared as dead by Moiraine so he could learn more about this part of the world and to see if he could control the madness he felt in the midst of battle, leaving his story quite open-ended for certain. Not to mention, Moiraine is now facing some difficult challenges of her own, since the Dark One robbed her of her abilities to channel the One Source in a cruel and ironic twist. But what matters most, is that the battle isn’t done, and the good guys haven’t won, and that means season two will undoubtedly focus on what comes next regarding this ugly ongoing fight between the light and the dark. 

If anything, this was simply a delightful season finale through and through, since it figured out some creative ways to surprise us and leave us eager for next year’s journeys. Not to mention, it featured one hell of a revelation/reveal in its opening moments by informing us that The Wheel of Time is not a traditional fantasy story set long ago. No instead, this is set far in Earth’s future, where the discovery of magic and a battle with the Dark One set humanity back eons and it will be quite interesting to see if that twist come into play down the line, and what other surprises will await us… courtesy of that ending, when we return to this far off future in season two. Until next year.

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