Oh how quickly things went awry in The Wheel of Time. The Prime Video series dropped the first three episodes of season three and there’s enough drama to make your head spin. (I mean that in the best way.) Liandrin and the rest of the Black Ajah fully reveal themselves in an attack at the White Tower. It is clear that they are Darkfriends who are working to tear down the current social structure. But these episodes begin to slowly uncover more about the sneaky and deadly Red Ajah leading the chaos. Here’s what Liandrin and the Black Ajah are up to in The Wheel of Time season three and how it affects several character journeys, especially Siuan a.k.a. the Amyrlin Seat, Nynaeve, Elaida, and Elayne.
In The Wheel of Time‘s first season three episodes, Egwene goes through the arches and earns the ring that allows her to be an Accepted and leave the Tower. However, Nynaeve and Elayne choose to stay. Nynaeve, of course, wants to fight for the Light and uncover any other threats nearby. Nynaeve and Elayne are chosen to be hounds by the Amylin Seat to hunt down the Black Ajah.
They must work quickly because Elayne’s mother, Queen Morgase, and her right-hand woman, advisor, and not-so-beloved Red Ajah Elaida Sedai are at the Tower. Morgase is not happy about all the shenanigans happening on The Wheel of Time season three, including the Tower attack and her precious daughter—and heir to the Andor throne—being kidnapped and sold by Liandrin. They are causing extra drama in a place that’s already going through a lot.
Nynaeve doesn’t trust the Amyrlin Seat, but she does trust Elayne and knows that Liandrin needs to be found. However, Elayne says she cannot go because her mom requested her to go home for her safety. This upsets Nynaeve and causes a brief fracture between them. Later on, Elayne stands up to her mother and says that she’s not coming home to follow in her footsteps. She wants to go through the arches and become the first Aes Sedai queen. Her mother leaves but commands Elaida to remain there along with her two sons, who will train to be Warders.
She threatens Siuan, saying that if anything happens to her daughter, she will bring the army of Andor. Elaida almost bested Siuan for Amylin Seat, so there’s lots of friction there. Things are even more complicated considering Rahvin the Forsaken is posing as Queen Morgase’s King Consort. That’s an inside track to potentially harm a lot of people.
Elayne and Nynaeve go to a holding cell to interrogate the two Black Ajah captured by the Amyrlin Seat. They have the advantage of being able to lie, whereas Aes Sedai cannot. The two captives tell them a few things that either could be true or are not at all. In these early episodes of The Wheel of Time season three, we learn that the Black Ajah allegedly work in groups of three called “hearts” and that they only know of one other Black Ajah outside of her hearts. This is probably true of the Black Ajah, considering it is true in The Wheel of Time books. But what is not true are the stories that Liandrin is going to Tear to help one of the Foresaken get Callandor or to look for a false dragon to use them. They decide to read between the lines and dig into some research, including going to where Nynaeve saw Liandrin with her very ill son in past The Wheel of Time episodes.
Meanwhile in The Wheel of Time season three, Elaida is stirring up drama at the Tower. After getting a denial for a private meeting with the Amyrlin Seat because she doesn’t have a seat in the hall, she tries to appeal to her fellow Red Ajah with gifts. But they are not hearing it because they know that she wants to use them. She says she wants the Red Ajah to return to power ASAP. None of the Red sisters agree with given Liandrin’s recent shenanigans and the brokenness of the Tower overall. Elaida insists that they need to go to the hall and propose a group of eight sisters find and cage Rand. They oppose this and say they have work to do to regain their standing at the Tower.
Nynaeve and Elayne discover that Liandrin is from Tanchico. The duo also piece together that the sacred objects stolen by Nyomi during the White Tower battle are involved in whatever Liandrin is up to in The Wheel of Time. As they prepare to leave, a Gray Man attacks them, but Nynaeve kills it. She realizes that they need to leave that night and Matt comes along for the adventure for some extra muscle and comedic relief.
Sure enough, Liandrin is in Tanchico and crashes a wedding. She confronts the great-grandson of the man who never married her and sexually abused her as a child, resulting in a pregnancy at age 13. Sadly, the wedding includes a child bride that the great-grandson was about to marry. Liandrin kills him, and the other Black Ajah kills everyone, saving the child bride but also wiping all her memories. They take over power in the establishment. We see the one of the items they have is an ancient version of the a’dam, the device used by the Seanchan to control channelers. They want to find the other part of it and use it to collar Rand.
This kinda aligns with what Elaida wants, and she’s a bit closer to gaining more power. Leanne comes to the Reds and says seven Aes Sedai, including the highest Red Ajah, are to go after a false dragon. Elaida rejects this, saying their highest cannot leave because there is “work to do.” The Red Ajah’s highest is ordered to Siuan’s study to discuss the plan and Elaida immediately wants to replace her.
So, the Black Ajah are working to find Rand, the Foresaken want to kill him, and Elaida wants to get her hands on him as well. However, there is certainly more to Liandrin’s story in The Wheel of Time than what meets the surface. It seems she’s on a quest for righteous vengeance and doesn’t care who pays the cost of her wrath. Let’s see how it all goes down this season.
Content shared from nerdist.com.