The Wheel of Time (2021) s01e04 Episode Script

The Dragon has been born again, and it's one of you.
Our only chance is to reach the White Tower and the other sisters of the Aes Sedai.
This power, it's meant for women.
What in Light's name? Go.
I'll find you.
I've heard about the bond between an Aes Sedai and her Warder.
Surely you've heard of the Tinkers.
The people who steal your gold - and your children.
- I see you in my dreams all five of you but only one of you matters.
- Only one of you can be it.
- Five? - Be what? - The Dragon.
You can't outrun a Fade.
She's a Darkfriend, boy.
Moiraine Sedai.
Liandrin Sedai.
We captured a man calling himself the Dragon Reborn.
He destroyed the gates.
His army's everywhere.
My king, we need to get you away from here.
- No.
Come with me.
- Go! You will never wear the silver crown.
The crown? What does a crown mean to the Dragon Reborn? You you really believe it, don't you? Be done with it, Logain.
I sent word to the White Tower.
The Aes Sedai will come for you.
Those women.
They should be following me, not fighting me.
But they are afraid.
Afraid the Dragon will break the world again, throw us back thousands of years, just like the last one did.
They forget the Dragon is just as likely to save the world as break it.
You don't need to convince this man of anything.
He's beneath you.
Kill him.
You would like that.
You've gone mad already.
He'll betray you.
Just like your parents.
Just like your sister.
None of them understand who you are, what you're going to be.
There's a place for anyone at my side.
Even my enemies.
The last Dragon broke the world.
But I plan to bind it.
Thank you, Kerene.
You've held back armies.
Healing one wound shouldn't have strained you.
It hasn't.
He has.
I want to meet this false Dragon.
He may be false, but there are thousands following him, true believers.
But you don't believe it, do you? Only Liandrin, Alanna and I are strong enough to shield him from using the One Power.
Even then, we have to work in pairs.
Can he hear us? Hello to you, too.
We plugged his ears with weaves of air.
I heard he conquered half of Ghealdan and had the king himself at his back.
How did you get to him? A plan after your own heart.
We crept into his camp and shielded him as he slept.
A little lightning, and his army all ran home to their mothers.
Let's hope so.
I've set wards.
They'll let us know if anyone approaches.
And the madness.
How far gone is he? He's the same as any man who can channel, worse even.
He actually proclaimed himself the Dragon and tried to march on the Tower.
And we don't need a trial to mete out the proper punishment.
The Amyrlin Seat commanded us to bring him to the Tower for trial.
She will decide what he deserves, not us.
I've regained enough strength.
Let me share the burden.
That's Moiraine for you, selfless to a fault.
Hmm.
We can't afford any gaps in the shield.
Liandrin will wait to drop hers until yours is in place.
You feel it now? That's half his power.
You're still dropping that shoulder.
It's too early to be so tired.
How's life at the Tower? More problems.
Fewer Aes Sedai to handle them.
And the Amyrlin Seat? Still seated.
Not any fonder of Moiraine, though.
I heard her threaten to fetch you two home personally.
Do you know, I never really understood your taste in traveling companions.
- She's not a companion.
- Oh.
She's barely company.
Probably stubborn as a mule, too.
Cheap trick.
I thought the next shift was yours.
Did Moiraine step in for you? If she's not careful, she's going to win you over.
I have nothing but respect for Moiraine Sedai.
Well, I'm sure your shifts together will pass quickly then.
Even if we had something in common, I'd never know it.
It's hard having a conversation with someone who won't say anything.
Lan is just as bad when he wants to be.
Can you imagine their dinners? Liandrin is gaining traction with the others.
We won't gentle Logain without a trial.
Rumor has it the Reds have been doing just that across the countryside.
Even Liandrin won't cross the Amyrlin Seat.
The Amyrlin isn't here.
And you need to And I promise I'll get some rest.
You worry more than you used to.
I sleep less so I have the time.
How'd you sleep? I didn't.
Look, I don't trust these people.
There's something about them that doesn't If either of us feels like we should go, we go, no questions, all right? We're heading east for Tar Valon.
You're welcome to join us for as long as you can stand us.
How do you know we aren't bandits or worse? You were wandering the Caralain Plain in rags without food or gold.
If you're bandits, you're not very good ones.
It's not often villagers come down from the Mountains of Mist.
Uh, we're from Whitebridge.
We got separated from a trading caravan.
Is that so? Coming? Hyah! Keep up.
I think I see a farm up ahead.
Hey, girl, shush.
What's going on with you, huh? What's this gleeman doing with us? First time we met him, he stole our money.
We sorted that out.
He did save our lives if you recall.
Did he? Dana said there were Darkfriends everywhere, that a Fade was coming for us.
What if he killed her to make us trust him? Well, that would be smart.
Maybe there's some hope for you after all.
There was one other thing that she said.
That the Dragon could be one of five of us.
Me, you, Perrin, Egwene.
Who else? You get used to it.
He looks like he's just sitting there.
I mean, I always knew women couldn't see men's weaves, but the experience itself, it's It's like holding a cat in the bath.
Yeah.
You remember that dog you had when we were Novices? What was her name? She wasn't mine.
Novices aren't allowed pets.
But she slept every night in your bed, though.
I presume Kerene has asked you to use our friendship to get information out of me.
Not for a day or two still.
When you're expecting it less.
Subtle.
You could have easily been Blue Ajah.
Please.
One Warder would never do.
When I chose Green, I thought it was so heroic.
The Battle Ajah warriors trained to defend humanity from the Dark One at the Last Battle.
But I never thought I'd see it myself.
There have been false Dragons before.
Women and men who've claimed the title for power or personal gain.
False or no his strength is more than anything I've ever seen.
It's just another sign.
The end of this Age is here.
If it is, and we find ourselves at the Last Battle I'm glad we'll have your strength on our side.
I know the last one broke this world, and we can't let that happen again, but what if the Dragon is supposed to be there with us, but we've let the Reds gentle him? Jenny.
That was her name.
The dog who wasn't your dog.
I like your braid.
It's Nynaeve, isn't it? Sorry if I'm mispronouncing it.
I can't quite place the accent.
That's because you haven't heard me speak.
I'm imagining you came over here because you want something? You Aes Sedai always do.
So I think I'll ask the questions first.
Depending on how well you answer, maybe I'll give you what you want.
How long have you known Moiraine? We wait until dark, then sneak into the barn.
Be out before sunrise.
Wouldn't it be easier to just ask? Whoa.
Figured you for a better rider.
Figured you for a better horse thief.
This mare's afraid of her own shadow.
A man could get suspicious of strangers in his woods.
We're just passing through.
Most people stay on their horse for that.
We'll get back on them, keep riding, if you let us.
So you can double back at night? Quite a risk to me and my family.
Countryside's full of soldiers who abandoned that rebellion in the South.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
We haven't been honest with you.
We were going to rest in your barn just for the night.
You'd have never known we were there.
You don't want to kill us.
If you did, you'd draw that bow with your fingertips, not your fist.
And if I wanted to kill you, I'd have kept my mouth shut just now.
Never did like this thing much.
What do you say, love? Plenty of space in the barn once the stables are mucked out.
And she chose the Blue Ajah, which fits, really.
They're nothing more than little spies who exaggerate their own importance.
And the Reds are any different? We protect the world from people who would misuse the One Power.
Even other Aes Sedai.
Liandrin.
Mind if I join you? I was just leaving.
The Red tent is open to all women.
Feel free to join us for dinner if you tire of cold chicken.
That woman's a snake.
Is the White Tower full of women like her? Uh, you'll find out soon enough.
Will I? You took us half a day in the wrong direction to get here.
The Aes Sedai will get Logain to the Tower as fast as they can.
If your friends aren't there already, there will be resources we can use to find them.
We promised we would.
You are welcome around our fire.
If you promise not to shove anyone into it.
Have you seen anyone else on the plains? You're lucky we saw you.
We usually don't pass this way, but there are soldiers on the roads down South.
A group this size should be able to defend itself.
Have you seen any weapons here? The Tuatha'an follow the Way of the Leaf.
Have for thousands of years.
We forswear violence and all instruments of it.
What happens if you're attacked? We run if we can, endure if we cannot.
You'd let yourself be killed? "The leaf, in its time, falls to the dirt that nourishes the tree that, in its time, grows the leaf again.
" Nothing is ever lost.
The Wheel returns all.
As I heard every time I lost a toy when I was a child.
I'm still waiting.
Have you ever been in battle? Picked up a weapon? A sword? Bow and arrow? An ax? And, tell me, has your life been better or worse since you picked up that ax? Is he just gonna stand there and let us do all the work? A gleeman must stay fresh before a performance.
Yeah, funny how that offer came up when they were handing out pitchforks.
You all right? I need a break.
Mister? I'm sorry.
Mama sent me.
Said to thank you and give you this for all your hard work.
Hey.
No, um I'm sorry.
You, um You surprised me is all.
Thank you for the bread.
What's your name? - I can't tell you.
- Why not? Mama says you're strange and told me to give you her message and come right back.
But you didn't.
Yeah.
My sisters never listen either.
Where are they? Safe at home.
With your mama and papa? You can take Birgitte back for them.
She protects me when everyone's asleep.
I can't take your doll.
Oh, I have many more.
Birgitte's always wanted to see the world.
Maybe he caught something in Breen's Spring.
I knew another lad the same way.
Owyn, my nephew.
Boy spent half his life getting into trouble, the other half getting out of it, and a good part of mine helping him at both.
Then, one day, he went sour.
Snapping at family and friends.
Jumping at shadows.
Animals had their hair up whenever he passed.
Nobody could figure out what happened until he threw a rock without using his hands.
Mat's got all the signs, lad.
Mat would tell me.
He's not an idiot.
Neither was Owyn.
I'm a gleeman.
Don't you think I've told him the stories since he was a little boy? How at the end of the last Age, the Dark One corrupted the One Power so men couldn't use it without going mad? And still he lied to me.
What happened to him? The Aes Sedai found him while I was away.
The Reds.
They gentled him.
Cut him off from the One Power forever.
He got to keep his life, at least.
Men, women both, once they've tasted the Power, if they're cut off from it, it's no life anymore.
They just slip away.
A few weeks after those women left, Owyn was sitting at the dinner table.
He yawned.
And then he picked up a steak knife and slit his own throat, like it was nothing at all.
I'm gonna stay with you as long as I can, keep you safe.
But whatever we do, we have to keep Mat away from those women.
You know a lot for a simple gleeman.
We call ourselves gleemen because a silly name makes us less frightening.
Nothing is more dangerous than a man who knows the past.
The mare flung him ten feet into a pig trough.
And that was the end of al'Lan Mandragoran, tamer of horses.
- Fancy name.
- Yeah.
For a shit horseman.
So, how'd you get stuck with him, tell me? Uh, Moiraine and I were traveling past her village, and I tracked him.
I like her.
You Warders are more fun than you look.
Except me, of course.
I look fun.
Uh, don't encourage him.
But you serve them.
We don't.
No bond is closer than an Aes Sedai and, uh, her Warder.
Not husbands and wives, not parents and children.
Do you know what "Aes Sedai" means in the Old Tongue? "Servants of All.
" It is they who serve the world.
And what does that make you? Proud.
And tired.
Especially Lan.
How he keeps up with Moiraine.
You should talk.
He's right.
We're exhausted.
The three of them don't? I'm feeling a bit tired myself.
He is ten years too old at least.
Is he as strong as Egwene? I don't know.
I don't think so, but I don't know.
Oh.
The dreams, Trollocs.
The Dark One isn't after Logain.
Perhaps He is.
I don't think the Dark One has any more idea who the Dragon is than we do.
I don't know if that's terrifying or comforting.
Hmm.
We lost them.
Twenty years we hunted, and we lost them.
I lost them.
Your losses are mine.
And mine yours.
I shouldn't have had a drink.
You always get emotional when I drink.
Come on.
Everyone keeps talking about "the Song.
" What is it? Ah, it's, it's nothing.
It's a silly tradition.
Well, your grandparents seem pretty serious about it.
In the last Age, our people supposedly knew a song that brought harmony to the world.
It was lost in the Breaking, but if we can only find it again, people will live in peace and happiness for the rest of their days.
You don't believe it.
There's a lot I believe in, but only old fools and children believe in the Song.
Are you sure you haven't already found it? Thank you.
You honor us.
Anyone can do that.
You find peace in the work.
That's the honor.
Some of your people don't look so peaceful.
Sarai was a hired killer.
Those who renounce violence usually know its evil only too well.
There are some things you can't run away from.
We're not running.
There's only one way to end violence.
Everybody everywhere has to stop.
And it will take time.
You really think that's possible? If I can change two people's minds, just two, well, then I've left the world a better place than I found.
And if those two each change two more minds, well, then, eventually Even if you're right, you won't live to see this peace.
I don't do it for myself.
And neither will the rest of your people here, or their grandchildren, or their great-grandchildren's grandchildren.
I love my people, but I don't do this for them either.
Well, then for who? I had a daughter.
Aram's mother.
He doesn't even remember.
One day she went out foraging, and bandits stumbled on her.
She had no gold, no jewels, nothing of value except her life.
When I found her, I could tell that they'd killed her for sport.
I sat with her body for hours, just staring at the broken spear in her chest.
Trying to work up the courage to grab it and hunt down the beasts, as they had hunted her.
Why didn't you? Because I wanted revenge.
That doesn't sound like the Way of the Leaf.
What greater revenge against violence than peace? What greater revenge against death than life? I couldn't protect my girl in this turn of the Wheel, but one day, long after I'm gone, after Aram and his grandchildren's grandchildren, the Wheel will turn out my daughter's soul again.
I do what I can to forge a better world for her then, where she can enjoy the life she should have had with me.
Who is he? The man that holds your heart? Have you lost him? No.
No, I'd know if I had.
You know, we leave the wagons when we turn 20.
To live in the world for a while, see if what we were born into is what we would choose.
Some farm.
Some set sail.
Some even take up arms, I hear.
How many come home? Most.
But not all.
Leaf doesn't fight the wind.
And sometimes the wind blows away from the tree.
I'm here.
You know that, right? No matter what happens, I'm here.
Perrin! Stop! Mat? - Mat! - Rand.
Rand.
No.
It's all right.
I got you.
I got you.
Where's Mat? Grab him.
Let's get out of here now.
I see you.
The Fade! Get him out of here! Come on.
Go! Run! - What? - Come on.
Come on.
Run.
Run.
Run.
Run.
You've spoken to everyone else.
Did you plan to talk to me? It's far harder to keep a shield on someone than to break out of it.
Look at him.
Not a bead of sweat on his brow, not a tremor in his lip, while we're almost ragged.
We have hundreds of miles yet to the White Tower.
You really think we can keep this up the whole way? If he were to break out, the Three Oaths would allow us to gentle him.
The White Tower and the women within it have stood for 3,000 years, not because we do what is expedient but because we do what is right.
The law applies to us just as much as it does to him.
And you, a Red, should be the one reminding me of that, not the other way around.
I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to intrude.
You didn't.
What was that? It's a ritual of my people.
Seven times for the Seven Towers of Malkier for the home we lost the home we shall find again.
In this life or the next.
You pray often? When I need to.
Ayend'an Atha'an'shari'a marath allende'nesodhin an'ara'rhiod e'fel loviyagae zavilat'a'veren Ba'asa.
Well, I didn't know you knew the Old Tongue.
I don't.
It's the last thing my parents ever said to me when they hid me in the cellar during an attack on our village.
I used to say it whenever I was scared.
Why did you stop? People don't go to Wisdoms for ignorance.
I don't even know what the words mean.
Do you want to? It's what the last king of Manetheren said to his wife before the battle they knew they'd lose.
"We shall go into the land" "so our children can always hold us" "and will never be alone.
" You're not exactly what I thought you were, al'Lan Mandragoran.
And what was that? A lapdog with two legs.
Hmm.
Well, you are exactly what I thought you were, Wisdom al'Meara.
And what is that? Wait.
- What is it? - My wards.
Looks like his army didn't run home to their mothers after all.
Logain's army, they're here.
- How many of them are there? - Don't worry.
I'll save some for you.
No army can get past seven full sisters.
Logain.
We need to get to the cave.
To the Dragon! - Let's go.
- Move.
There.
Come on.
The others will be here soon, so we don't have much time to talk.
Why should I believe you're the Dragon Reborn? I can hear them when I channel.
All of them.
Whispers of a thousand Dragons that preceded me, a thousand lives I've led.
And they're teaching me how to do better this time.
Isn't that why the Wheel turns our spirits out again and again? To learn.
The Wheel doesn't want anything.
It can't.
Any more than a river or the rain can want something.
It's people who want.
What do you want? I want you to know that the voices in your head those are the whispers of madness.
And as strong as you are, your power is a trickle.
It's a pinprick of candlelight against the raging sun that will be the Dragon Reborn.
No! - Go, get to Logain! - Kerene.
We'll hold the army! Come on.
Liandrin, you're drawing too much.
You'll burn out.
I don't care.
He killed our sister, and I will cut him down.
Stepin! No.
No.
No! Like a raging sun.
Link with me! Now! Let the hand of the Tower fall on you, Logain Ablar, and take back that which nature itself does not wish you to hold!