The Wheel of Time (Season 2 Finale) Episode 8: Recap and Ending Explained – Who is Moghedien?

The Wheel of Time (Season 2 Finale) Episode 8: The Wheel of Time brings its intricately designed opening credits intro for the first time this season in its final episode. And it is the perfect time to remind us how fates are interwoven in this magical world. Based on Robert Jordan’s fantasy series, the Amazon Prime adaptation has taken significant steps to make itself a worthy name in the world of High fantasy-based TV shows. There was plenty to address in this season two finale. In the first few minutes, it felt like creator Rafe Judkins and director Sanaa Hamri would struggle to wrap everything up satisfactorily in the final battle sequence. But, they do manage to land this event-heavy episode neatly, with some explosions along the way.

The second season had Rosamund Pike take the backseat while allowing the young stars to take the spotlight. And they did, like Madeleine Madden’s Egwene. However, it was great to see Pike’s Moiraine and Daniel Henney’s Lan working in tandem after a long time. It was, after all, this pair that piqued our interest in this series in the very first episode. Special mention to the new entrant Natasha O’Keeffe, who has been the most significant addition this season. She has been chirpily enigmatic in her villainous turn as Lanfear.

The Wheel of Time (Season 2 Finale) Episode 8 Recap:

The Whitecloaks strike at Falme

The Whitecloaks have not played much role this season. But that changes quickly in the season finale, as the Whitecloaks, led by Geofram (Stuart Graham), plan to take Falme back from the Seanchan Empire. Geofram has his son, Dain Bornhaid (the young Whitecloak warrior Perrin met in Episode 5), played by Jay Duffy, with him. Child Valda (Abdul Salis) is there as well. The Whitecloaks, riding on horses, charge towards Falme and take Seanchan warriors headfirst. Thus begins the Battle of Falme.

Lanfear’s plan

In the last episode, we saw Lanfear (Natasha O’Keeffe) take Rand (Josha Stradowski), Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), and Lan (Daniel Henney) inside the Ways. To take them to Falme as fast as possible. However, she throws Moiraine and Lan out of the ‘Ways’ and puts them in the middle of a beach. Not before telling Moiraine to raise the banner. At first, it seems Lanfear once again betrayed the heroes, but we would later see that she has put Moiraine in the right place.

Lanfear then takes Rand inside the towers of Falme, where the Seanchan battalion has taken residence. Lanfear visits Ishamael (Fares Fares) and informs him that she has brought Rand. Ishamael knows this is too early for them, the Dark side, to bring Rand into their fold. He knows Lanfear betrayed their cause. There is a hint of poignancy in the way Ishamael resigns to losing Rand. After all, he was a good friend of the Dragon reborn.

Mat gets his weapon

Ishamael has Padan Fain pay a visit to Mat Cauthon (Donal Finn), who has already arrived in Falme in the last episode. Fain provides the dagger that tormented Mat before. A clever way to push Mat toward his apparent destiny of killing Rand. Mat, with tremendous effort, refrains himself from touching that dagger. Instead, he tactfully makes a spear out of it, without touching it. Using this newfound weapon, Mat gets out of his prison while the Battle commences outside.

Reunion at Falme

The inevitable reunion at Falme starts to materialize as Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) and his Aiel friends reach Falme. During the battle, Perrin immediately encounters Loial carrying the Horn of Valere. Within a few minutes, and a couple of deadly fights, they meet Mat. Mat informs them that Rand is alive. Knowing the prophecy that the Dragon will declare himself in Falme, Mat takes the Horn of Valere to give it to Rand.

Meanwhile, Nynaeve (Zoe Robins) and Elayne (Ceara Coveney) continue to use their captured Sul’dam to rescue Egwene (Madeleine Madden). But, the battle foils their plan as Elayne takes an arrow on her leg, and Nynaeve struggles to heal her.

Egwene’s Fight

Talking about Egwene, it appears that she did not need to be rescued after all. Egwene is taken to defend the Falme tower by her Sul’dam and tormentor, Renna (Xelia Mendes-Jones). Using Egwene’s power, the Seanchan Sul’dam brigade on the tower has some success. But Egwene once again shows her fighting spirit and refuses to send One Power-fueled bombs to innocent citizens. Resultantly, Renna threatens Egwene to take her tongue off. Just when Renna is about to attack her, a rock catapulted by the Whitecloaks smashes everyone on the tower.

Egwene and Renna both get grievously injured. Egwene, however, finds an A’dam, the device that controls Damane. She puts the A’dam collar on Renna. Renna laughs at her saying A’dam does not work on women who cannot channel. But Egwene has figured that the sul’dam must have some weakened connection with One Power to channel Damane’s One Power. And she was right as she could control Renna using that collar. All the torments at the hands of Renna seem to flash through Egwene’s eyes as she forces Renna to release her, and then she kills her. As she promised in the last episode.

The Wheel of Time (Season 2 Finale), Episode 8 Ending Explained:

Is Ishamael Dead?

After Egwene kills Renna, Rand appears in front of her. Rand has already killed Seanchen emperor Turak on his way to Egwene. Before Rand can take the injured Egwene away, Ishamael stops them. Using Lady Suroth’s Damane brigade from the sea, Ishamael has Rand’s power shielded. Mat, who has blown the Horn of Valere to call the heroes of the past to battle Seanchan warriors, appears just in time. He throws his spear with the dark dagger toward Ishamael. But, to his surprise, Ishamael vanishes and the spear impales Rand.

The illusion by Ishamael seemingly fools Mat into fulfilling his destiny of killing Rand. Mat tries to save Rand, while Ishamael decides to finish Rand off for good. But Egwene, surprisingly, puts a shield that the great Forsaken Ishamael could not break. Perrin also appears in his wolf-powered form to help Egwene strengthen the shield. Nynaeve and the injured Elayne also arrive there. Elayne, with her One Power, heals Rand’s wound to some extent. But Rand is still shielded by Lady Suroth’s Damane warriors and cannot channel to help Egwene and Perrin fight Ishamael.

This is where Lanfear’s plan of dropping Moiraine at the beach works. As Moiraine uses her power to sink the Seanchan ships, Lady Suroth and her Damane channelers also lose their connection with Rand. As a result, the shield is broken. The freed Rand takes care of Ishamael quickly. As Ishamael dies, he notes the nothingness of death as beautiful. Ishamael wanted death for long, ending the cycle of rebirth. And he finally has that.

Who is Moghidien?

As Moiraine sends the dragon banner towards the Falme tower where Rand stands tall, flanked by his friends, it is clear that Rand has successfully fulfilled the prophecy of being the Dragon reborn. Lanfear, who was planning to dispose of the six Cuendillar seals to ensure no other Forsaken gets awakened, has a rough surprise as we see a new enemy enter the fray.

Moghidien, another Forsaken like Lanfear and Ishamael, informs Lanfear that Ishamael has set all the other Forsaken free. Moghidien herself seems to be containing the power of Lanfear, which indicates that Moghidien is a powerful Forsaken herself. Apart from power, Moghidien is known to be a sly manipulator. She seems to be the perfect candidate to take the villain’s mantle from Ishamael.

What to expect next season?

Apart from the new villain Moghidien, and the possibility of our heroes encountering all the Forsaken, there are a few more events that seem to be in store for the next season. Both Perrin and Egwene have shown no mercy in the finale. Perrin killed Geofram, who had killed Hopper (Perrin’s wolf friend). This seems to plant the seed of a feud with Geofram’s son, Dain.

Rand has an intriguing journey ahead of him. His relationship with Egwene, Lanfear, and a few others will be dictating the flow of events from this point onwards. The Aiel warrior, Aviendha, is to play a major role in Rand’s arc. After bickering and fighting for the entire season, it was nice to see Moiraine and Lan reconnecting. Moiraine gives the bond back to Lan, and we finally had our Moiraine-Lan double act this season for the first time. Here’s to hoping more of them in next season.

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The Wheel of Time (Season 2 Finale), Episode 8 Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
The Wheel of Time (Season 2 Finale), Episode 8 Cast: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Henney, Madeleine Madden

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