The Wheel of Time season three has brought an important character to the screen: Shohreh Aghdashloo’s Elaida Sedai, the former advisor to Queen Morgase of Andor. She has returned to the White Tower to settle her scores and to keep a closer eye on the White Tower. The Aes Sedai in the White Tower are still shaken up after the Black Ajah attacked and stole several precious and powerful artifacts on their way to Tanchico.
This season has been building up to a major showdown between Elaida and Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okenodo), the Amyrlin Seat, which truly kicks into high gear the season’s fifth episode, “Tel’aran’rhiod.” Upon her return to the White Tower, Elaida is extremely suspicious of Siuan’s machinations with Moiraine. She knows it has something to do with the Dragon Reborn, our own Rand al’Thor.
With the chaos that ensued after the reveal of the Black Ajah and the Dragon Reborn declaring himself in Falme at the end of season two, Siuan has her hands full trying to keep the White Tower in control. Additionally, doubts are swirling about the strength of her leadership.
Elaida swoops in to capitalize on Siuan’s shaky ground, seeking to learn more about exactly what happened before her return to the White Tower. She also wants to know what exactly Siuan knows about the Dragon Reborn. But first, she needs to get a private audience with the Amyrlin Seat. Elaida slithers her way to a seat in the Hall, and we finally see Siuan and Elaida’s true fight begin.
This is one of the first times we see Elaida and Siuan really get to have a conversation. And it is clear just how deep their disdain is for each other. Elaida believes Siuan’s presence on the Amyrlin Seat demeans the position. She makes it clear this is what she feels with her scathing comments towards Siuan’s status and behavior as the Amyrlin Seat.
While Elaida might be ruthless, Shohreh Aghdashloo feels she has nothing in common with her character, as she explained in an interview with Nerdist. “What I loved about her—I should say, her character—as an actor is the fact that we have nothing in common,” she told us. “Usually as actors, when we pick a role, we try to find common interests, everything that we have in common and work on those in order to be able to put our feet into the character’s shoes. But we had nothing in common, and that was very challenging for me—how ruthlessly powerful this politician is, who believes that ends will justify the means, unlike what I think in real life.”
Elaida is a much-reviled character in the books for a reason. She will stop at nothing to secure her own power and position. This leads to major consequences for the White Tower, where Siuan and her fellow Aes Sedai are already dealing with the fallout of the Black Ajah revealing themselves. They are also trying to find a viable plan to deal with the coming of the Dragon.
We also get to see more interesting channeling this episode, from Moiraine, Siuan, and the Aiel. This episode is also the first time we see Elaida channel. It happens while she is questioning the Black Ajah members Joiya and Amico, a move set in place by Suian to test Elaida’s true loyalty and to make sure her foe is not a Black Ajah.
In terms of raw power, Elaida is one of the most powerful Aes Sedai, although less so than Siuan, Moiraine, and, of course, Nynaeve. As a politician, though, there are very few who can parallel Elaida. Aghdashloo elaborated on her experience channeling on screen for the first time and the difficulty of portraying it in a way that felt real for viewers.
“In terms of channeling, for me, it was the most challenging part of them all because I always thought that channeling is about gestures with your hands, but it’s really not,” she said. “It comes from within, like fire from within. You have to aim for it from the diaphragm, and bring it up to your kind of understanding of the role, and then project, bring it to your head and project. What I was doing, I was just copying the gestures, which didn’t work. It took an hour for me to realize that, well, I really have to bring it from within.”
This is not the first time Elaida and Siuan will face each other, as Elaida moves her plan against Siuan forward. Their conflict is a driving force this season, as it will spell major consequences for the entirety of the White Tower, while Moiraine, the Two Rivers folk, and Elayne are all away on their respective quests. Moiraine’s absence from the Tower is felt in particular by Siuan, as we see a truly sweet interaction between Siuan and Moiraine towards the end of the episode.
As far as playing their rivalry goes, Shohreh Aghdashloo heaped praise on Sophie Okenodo, and expressed her hope that she would be able to work with Rosamund Pike too.
“I loved working with Sophie. What an amazing actress. You know how they say it takes two to tango? It makes a lot of sense in our profession. If my colleague does not shine, I won’t be able to shine. Sophie was shining like hell when we confronted one another, I loved working with her. I didn’t have a scene with Moiraine. But I’m looking forward to that, perhaps in the next season.”
The Wheel of Time‘s latest season will continue many conflicts in addition to the White Tower drama, with storylines in the Two Rivers, the Aiel Waste, and in Tanchico. Our main characters will encounter more Darkfriends, Forsaken, and enemies of the Dragon. But we really have our eyes on Elaida and Siuan at the center of the storm, leaving the rest of the Aes Sedai to pick a side.
Content shared from nerdist.com.