Lanfear and Liandrin: The Double Surprise Ending of “The Wheel of Time” Season 2 Episode 4 Explained on Prime Video

In the fourth episode of Season 2 of “The Wheel of Time”, two female characters who previously seemed to have sided with the protagonists reveal their true colors: Aes Sedai, who belongs to the red Ajah. liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) teams up with villainous Ishamael and actually belongs to the secretive Black Ajah. and Selena (Natasha O’Keeffe) turns out to be Lanfear, one of the Lostthe mighty Aes Sedai who once joined the Dark One.

Selene is Lanfear

Anyone familiar with Robert Jordan’s book already knew this twist was coming, but there’s also before the shocking Season 2 Episode 4 finale the odd hint or two that Selene isn’t who she claims to be. It is not for nothing that she has Rand (Josha Stradowski) easily wrapped around her finger and always has the right information at hand, without it being clear how a supposedly simple innkeeper knows such a thing.

Besides that also already at the beginning of episode 4 the name Lanfear can be heard as Ishamael (rates rates) destroyed another seal and thereby frees his fellow Prodigal, who is completely covered in blood. Even those who don’t know the names of the lost may already be able to draw a connection between Selene and Lanfear at this point – or possibly a parallel to Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) and Lan (Daniel Henney), who are aided by the mysterious poem.

What’s next for Lanfear?

As the end of Episode 4 shows, it is extremely difficult to kill any of the Forsaken, so of course this wasn’t Selene/Lanfear’s last appearance. However, Rand probably won’t have to deal with this embodiment again in the future, but rather meet Lanfear – as in the books – in the form of all sorts of other people.

Incidentally While Lanfear is one of the Lost, like most of them, she has her own agenda and focuses primarily on Rand – Or Lews Therin Telamon, the legendary dragon whose reincarnation is Rand. Lanfear and Lews dated long before they ended up on opposite sides of the war between light and dark.

Liandrin and the Black Ajah

Speaking of light and dark, while Liandrin is introduced in seasons 1 and 2 as possibly not a particularly likeable Aes Sedai, but still one of the good guys, she shows her true colors or her true colors in episode 4: She belongs to the secret black Ajah, whose existence the Aes Sedai deny and who nevertheless (or because of that?) has asserted himself in their midst.

So we see Liandrin blackmailing Min (Kae Alexander), who wants to get rid of her prophetic powers, and she knows about her interactions with Mat (Dónal Finn). Then we learn again that Min was sent to Ishamael by Liandrin. Apparently, the evil Aes Sedai only acts on behalf of the leader of the lost.

Another indication is that she ends up overpowering Nynaeve (Zoe Robins), Egwene (Madeleine Madden), and Elayne (Ceara Coveney), even though she actually relayed to Nynaeve the information about Perrin and Loial’s capture.

And don’t forget: when Ishamael and his minions meet at the beginning of the first episode of Season 2, a gloved hand with a black Aes Sedai ring can already be seen – it may have belonged to Liandrin. Anyway Liandrin may now hand over the three young women into the hands of the Seanchan (or so the trailers suggest), whose leader Lady Suroth was also present at the council meeting in Episode 1.

Incidentally, Liandrin also remains an opponent for a long time in the original book, which makes life especially difficult for Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne. We’ll likely find out more in episode 5 of “The Wheel of Time,” which will be released on Amazon Prime Video on September 15, 2023.