Rajiv Moté is Dragonmount’s book blogger with a lens on the craft of fiction writing. When he’s not directing software engineers, he writes fiction of his own, which can be found cataloged at his website. The trailer for Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time season 2 has arrived at last, and fans of the books are wondering whether their favorite scenes will appear, or if this turning of the Wheel will spin things differently. Dragonmount has a helpful set of summaries if it has been a while since your last re-read. The end of Season 1 left things in a different place than the end of book 1. Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, has set off alone to protect others from the madness that he knows will consume him. He seems more the Rand of the beginning of book 3. Moiraine has been exiled from the Tower by Siuan, shielded from the One Power by “the Dark One,” and her bond with Lan is inaccessible. (It raises the question if this shield has affected other things, like the oaths taken on the Oath Rod, or if it was just “stuck on fuzzed.”) Nynaeve and Egwene are still in Fal Dara with Moiraine and Lan. Perrin is dealing with his pacifism having allowed Padan Fain to escape with the Horn of Valere, seemingly at the cost of Loial’s life. In the biggest departure from the books, Mat stayed behind in Tar Valon, never making the trip through the Ways to Fal Dara. The prologue of The Great Hunt kicks us off with the “Darkfriend Social,” a gathering of hooded and cloaked Darkfriends from across the land, assembled to take orders from “the Dark One.” The trailer for Season 2 does show us a group of hooded and cloaked individuals gathered around a table (we see even more of this gathering in a bonus scene following the season 1 finale!), and even Liandrin sneaking around Tar Valon with her hood up--although she has plenty of others to meet, and standing business in North Harbor. Speaking of Liandrin, she’s also shown with the Great Serpent Ring forge. In the show, Great Serpent Rings are Ajah-specific, so Novices and Accepted couldn’t pass for Aes Sedai if they were to venture out into the world on secret business. Just saying. The Great Hunt continues showing that some time has passed following the meetings at the Eye. Lan is training Rand to use his heron-mark sword, an investment that will pay off when Rand faces the Seanchan High Lord Turak. Lan also teaches Rand a warrior’s comportment; how to stand with pride even when facing as imposing a figure as the Amyrlin Seat. In the trailer, Rand does face Siuan Sanche, but given that he has wandered into the Blight/Waste at the beginning of the season, this meeting seems likely for later in the season. Without Rand or the Horn, there isn’t much reason for Siuan to make the trip to Fal Dara. Padan Fain has already made off with the Horn of Valere, so the inciting incident for the Hunt for the Horn has already happened, and without Rand’s presence, or Mat needing his dagger, the duty falls to Perrin. His stake is the most personal--he let Fain get away--and unless Hurin has been cast, Perrin’s ability to talk to wolves is their only way to track the Horn. Will we see a Fade nailed to a door by Padan Fain? I sure hope so. In The Great Hunt, Siuan and Moiraine plot to use the Hunt as a way to groom Rand to lead the Shienarans, including supplying him with fancy coats and the Dragon Banner. The trailer also shows Rand swaggering in fancy coats, but this new sequence suggests that someone else is responsible for Rand’s new confidence. Lanfear, rising from what looks like a pool of blood, has been freed, and her first priority is to cozy up to Lews Therin reborn and groom him to stand beside her at the apex of power. Rand appears to be learning how to channel as well, and is even conversing with Logain. How much of this is through Lanfear’s orchestration (in the books, she caught Rand his first male teacher, at the end of book 4) remains to be seen. The Dark is still in pursuit of Rand, and it looks like Rand is learning enough to put a sword of flame through a Fade. By the time Rand reunites with Moiraine, he’s angry, full of his own power, and willing to choke an Aes Sedai. Siuan says he can’t be controlled, though it’s unclear if she’s telling Moiraine and if, despite the Oath, the lovers are reunited outside of a flashback. There are scenes of Rand bound to a wheel, a rather on-the-nose representation of his fate. These images are likely Lanfear messing with Rand’s dreams, trying to get him to rebel against his destiny. Indeed, when Rand faces the Amyrlin Seat, he tells Siuan that he doesn’t want to be a spoke on the Wheel, and Siuan responds that Rand is the water that turns it. The trailer confirms that Nynaeve and Egwene reach the White Tower, and are joined by Elayne. Verin is cast, so perhaps she takes them, since Moiraine can’t return to the Tower if her Oath holds. Nynaeve takes her test for Accepted and emerges with wounds. There is a scene in the trailer where Nynaeve is wielding a sword, with two other swordsmen visible. This could reference the book conversation with Siuan, where Nynaeve says that she doesn’t need the Power when a sword would do. It could even be a scenario in her testing. Or maybe she’s just wielding a sword. She killed a Trolloc with one, after all. There is probably no need for Portal Stone flickering realities, as Rand and Lanfear have already been separated from the Hunt for the Horn, but the trailer does show us a laughing Perrin with a young girl who could be his daughter or a little sister, which may be one of his alternate realities. Or, it could be a Wolf Dream. The trailer shows Perrin coming to terms with talking to wolves, and his eyes turn golden. There’s no indication from this trailer whether Moiraine visits Adeleas and Vandene (with the Dragkhar attack), Rand encounters the Choeden Kal, or Min reconnects with Nynaeve and Egwene at the White Tower. We know Thom does not appear this season. We know Elayne is at the Tower, and a glimpse of the business end of Mat’s quarterstaff suggests that book 3’s sparring with Gawyn and Galad may occur. The Shadar Logoth dagger is still somehow associated with Mat despite his separation from it last season. There’s a fiery explosion, but whether it’s an accident at the Illuminator chapterhouse or Seanchan damane doing battle is yet to be seen. The trailer doesn’t indicate how much of Cairhien and Barthanes’s cocktail party will be in the adaptation. In the book, it’s Barthanes who tells Rand that Fain is waiting on Toman Head. Ultimately, the book has everyone converge on Toman Head, and this is reflected in the trailer. Perrin’s party, after fighting Whitecloaks (and being aided by Aviendha and the Aiel), becomes prisoners of the Seanchan High Lord Turak, and the Horn of Valere falls into the invader’s hands. Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne come to the rescue (sent along by Liandrin, in the book), and Egwene becomes a prisoner of High Lady Suroth’s sul’dam. She goes down fighting with the Power, in the trailer. We do see High Lord Turak, a blademaster, unsheathe his sword, but it’s uncertain whether the show’s Rand has had sufficient training with Lan to beat him like in the book. Could Lan fill the role of Turak’s slayer? I kind of hope not. This trailer does not show the Horn of Valere being blown, nor the Heroes of the Horn doing battle with the Seanchan. Season 1’s finale was sufficiently different from The Eye of the World that the show may have its own conclusion planned. Does Mat get bound to the Horn? Or does Perrin? Or does the Horn get blown at all? The press interviews promise us a huge battle this season. Watch and Find Out, I suppose. If I’m interpreting the trailer correctly, this season is hewing much closer to the outline of the second book than season 1. The major differences are with Mat and Thom. But as a fan of the books, I felt like I was back in familiar territory, among friends. I’m excited for the first three episodes streaming on September 1st.