This text incorporates spoilers for The Wheel of Time season 2 episode 4 and the e-book sequence.
It’s no secret that followers of the Robert Jordan novels upon which The Wheel of Time is predicated should not all the time happy with the variation’s selection of modifications to the unique narrative. However within the newest episode, “Daughter of the Evening,” the introduction of Lanfear, a brand new common within the Darkish One’s military, offers added company to an vital character. As attention-grabbing as she was within the books, Lanfear was initially launched as a lady in want of rescue with an emotional attachment to the Dragon Reborn… or extra particularly, the unique Dragon, Lews Therin Telamon.
It’s a refined however vital distinction! When Lanfear first seems within the novels, she instantly targets Rand al’Thor utilizing the alias Selene, simply as she does in The Wheel of Time season 2. However as an alternative of an innkeeper with a wierd data of excessive society, she’s a damsel in misery who transports Rand to a different world merely in order that she may be “rescued” and ingratiate herself along with her savior. It instantly units her up as a manipulative temptress and probably the most lovely girls in historical past, which undermines her standing as probably the most highly effective channelers ever identified.
Despite the fact that she ultimately makes use of her powers of disguise to turn into a way more complicated villain in later books, the primary impression she makes in The Wheel of Time season 2 feels a lot stronger. Concealing her id and her previous behind the settlement with Rand to not be too severe was a good way to introduce Lanfear’s mysterious previous. Her insistence that “you’ll assist me bear in mind, and I’ll assist you to overlook” is a nod to what Rand represents to her: the reincarnation of her former lover, Lews Therin.