To new viewers of Prime Video’sThe Wheel of Time, the end of the first season may be a bit of a shock. A fleet of ships lines the west coast of the unnamed continent which we have come to love. On those ships is a force to be reckoned with, with horrifying monster-like armor, and what looks to be Aes Sedai in captivity. Other than an offhand comment by Maigan (Sandy McDade) to Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) in Episode 6, there was no foreshadowing of their arrival. TheSeason 1cliffhanger leaves off with them channeling theOne Powerinto the ocean, creating a tsunami to devastate the coastline.They are the Seanchan, an evil imperial force that has arrived to conquer, and they are a big piece of Season 2 and the rest of the sotry. Their arrival means big changes to the world and our main characters, and beyond the canon of the books, understandable controversy around them.
The Wheel of Time
Set in a high fantasy world where magic exists, but only some can access it, a woman named Moiraine crosses paths with five young men and women. This sparks a dangerous, world-spanning journey. Based on the book series by Robert Jordan.
Where Are the Seanchan From?
The Seanchan Empire comes from overseas, in a land of the same name. They claim to be Artur Hawkwing’s ancestors, a historical legend within the world who brought the Westlands together in his time and have come to take back the Westlands as their own. At the end of the first season, they arrive and likely destroy the coastline with a surprise tsunami and throughoutSeason 2they invade. The Seanchan land in the city of Falme and take it over, capturing channelers and enforcing their ways. In the series, beloved characters like Egwene (Madeleine Madden) and Loial (Hammed Animashaun) are made into slaves by the Seanchan. Buttheir brutal takeover of the city is just the beginning of the horror that the Seanchan Empire brings to the series.
Who Are the Damane, and What Do They Do?
The most brutal aspect of theSeanchan culture is their attitude toward Aes Sedai and all women who can channel. Where Aes Sedai are revered (and feared) within the Westlands, the Seanchan hold the opposite views. They believe the Aes Sedai, or marath’damane as they call them, are subhuman and should be viewed as “possessions,” referring to them as damane, or “leashed one.“Their culture enslaves any woman they find who can channel and leash her with an a’dam. An a’dam is a collar that goes around the neck of a damane woman, linked to a bracelet worn by a sul’dam, the person that controls them as a whole, including their use of the One Power.
The Seanchan use damane for tasks from fighting wars to even finding ore within the earth. The life of a damane is engineered by the Seanchan to be brutal and dehumanizing,breaking their spirit so that they do not attempt to escape. They cannot escape. If the woman channels on her own, she will get sick and the sul’dam will be able to tell the next time she wears the bracelet, and will subsequently punish her for doing so. The horrifying treatment of the damne is shown throughEgwene’s Season 2 storylineas she is abused by a sul’dam and forced to be a damne until she overcomes the a’dam and kills her tormentor. The a’dam can be used for punishment as much as controlling them, and a sul’dam can get as creative as they want with the punishment. When the bracelet is left in place by a sul’dam, the damane will not be able to move the bracelet and escape. For the show, the oppressive collar not only goes around their neck but their shoulders as well.And in a horrifying change from the books, the only way to remove an a’dam is if a damane dies.A gag for the damane has been added for the show as well, further dehumanizing them.
The Seanchan Have Been a Controversial Concept in ‘The Wheel of Time’
The Seanchan have always been an understandably controversial part of theWheel of Timefandom, and we have seen enslavement be a controversial part of many other fantasy series. InGame of Thrones,the controversial episode “Mhysa"ends with Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) on the shoulders of the people she freed, causing an uproar over the show’s treatment of characters of color.The Wheel of Time’s Seanchan incite similar controversy though they are inspired by many different cultures. For the show, costume designerSharon Gilhamshared the inspirations that went into creating the Seanchan culture —“the Seanchan are a mix of Mesoamerica and Imperial Chinese”— and noted how they wanted them to look especially alien in the world we have already seen in the show.
Robert Jordan’s writingshave come to life in their monstrous armor, but other details have been changed to fit in with the look of the show.The Seanchan in the book have a “slurring drawl” when they speak, no doubt alluding to the American South just as much as their brutal enslavement.They also have clear ties to imagery associated with Nazi Germany, most notable in the sul’dam’s clothing having lightning bolts. They are a very disturbing addition to the world, born from Jordan’s infatuation with history.
The world ofThe Wheel of Timeis getting bigger withmore seasons ahead. New cities, new people, and new horrors beyond the supernatural Dark One — and now that they have arrived, will there be a way to get rid of this evil force? After theSeason 2 finale, the Seanchan forces are depleted by not gone. The Seanchan are a hard part of the series to watch, with their brutal treatment of Egwene and so many other women, yet they are crutial to the story. Despite the controversy surrounding them, they are one of the most original aspects that make upThe Wheel of Time.
The Wheel of Timeis available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
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