33 details you may have missed in 'The Wheel of Time' season 2

"The Wheel of Time" follows a major battle between light and dark that has been prophecized for thousands of years.

The Dark One, the big evil in the show, is trying to leave his prison and take over the world and the wheel that controls the universe.

In season one, a character torments the main heroes in their nightmares, and in the season finale, he reveals his face to them (Fares Fares).

In season one, he is credited as the Dark One, and when he is defeated, the heroes believe they've defeated the Dark One.

In the opening scene of season two, when the same character returns, he is credited as his true name, Ishamael.

Ishamael is a powerful channeler (a type of wizard) of the One Power (magic) and the Dark One's chief warrior. Ishamael is also the leader of the Forsaken, a group of channelers who were imprisoned thousands of years ago by a legendary hero called the Dragon.

We learn in season two that Ishamael was accidentally freed by Rand al'Thor (Josha Stradowski), the reincarnation of the Dragon, when they battled at the Eye of the World in the season one finale.

The same stone symbol we see at the Eye of the World is seen throughout season two and it becomes clear that this was Ishamael's prison.

We see the symbol outside Ishamael's secret meeting in the opening scene of episode one. In episode four, we see Ishamael release the Forsaken, Lanfear (Natasha O'Keeffe), from one of the prisons. Later in the season, it is revealed that Ishamael has collected the remaining prisons and has them in his room in the city of Falme.

With all of these hints, it is no surprise that at the end of the season two finale, we discover that Ishamael has freed his remaining brethren after his plan to defeat Rand starts to fall apart.

Darkfriends are humans from every kingdom who decide to pledge allegiance to the villain in order to gain something from him.

In the opening scene of season two, we see Ishamael have a meeting with these Darkfriends.

Despite them hiding their identities with hoods, their clothing offers some small clues.

One is the symbol of the city of Fal Dara. Later in episode one, the hero Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) and the Shienaran soldiers discover that some people in their city helped the Dark One's men get into the city of Fal Dara, leading to the attack at the end of season one.

The second recognizable symbol is a serpent ring, an object only worn by the Aes Sedai, an all-female organization of witches.

This was likely a tease for Liandrin Guirale (Kate Fleetwood), an Aes Sedai who tricks and kidnaps the heroes Egwene al'Vere (Madeleine Madden), Nynaeve al'Meara (Zoë Robins), and Elayne Trakand (Ceara Coveney) in episode four.

Liandrin is revealed in episode five to be part of the Black Ajah, a secret group within the Aes Sedai organization that works for the Dark One.

Finally, one of the hooded figures wears a formal red outfit and has long nails. This is revealed in episode two to be Lady Suroth (Karima McAdams), the leader of the Seanchan warriors who attack Perrin and the Shienarans at Atuan's Mill.

Padan Fain (Johann Myers), a known Darkfriend from season one, also shows up in this scene.

The heroes of the story are guided by a wise Aes Sedai, Moraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike).

However, in the season one finale, Ishamael takes away Moiraine's ability to use the One Power.

In the season two premiere, we see Moiraine still trying to come to terms with the loss of her power while doing chores. At one point, while sitting in a bath she tries to use the One Power on the water but of course, it doesn't work.

This is a direct callback to the season one premiere when Moiraine and her Warder (special male warriors bonded to the Aes Sedai) are bathing together. In the scene, the warder Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney) asks her to use the One Power to warm it up and she does.

Now, she is alone and unable to use the One Power, which shows how much things have changed for her since the first season.

In episode two, Rand appears to be working in a sanitarium. There, he meets a man named Errol, who seems to be suffering from some form of memory loss.

Errol is terrified when he first sees Rand, believing he is still fighting in the Aiel War and that Rand is there to kill him. The Aiel War was previously mentioned in season one and even briefly shown in season one, episode seven.

This reminder of it is likely meant to highlight that Rand cannot escape from his past, since it was established in season one that Rand was born in a battle during the Aiel War.

In episode three, Nynaeve is put through an initiation to get to the next stage within the Aes Sedai organization, the Accepted. In order to pass, she must go through three arches that show her darkest fears.

When she asks questions about it, they tell her they are ter'angreal, ancient objects created by the One Power that are found across the world. While this is the first time we are introduced to the idea, it's actually not the first ter'angreal we've seen on the show.

The magical oath rod is used in episode six of season one to confirm Moiraine's exile from the White Tower, the base of the Aes Sedai.

In episode seven of season two, we finally see the power of the rod when the Amyrlin Seat Siuan Sanche (Sophie Okonedo), the leader of the Aes Sedai, uses the oath to force Moiraine to close a path to the Ways and surrender.

When Nynaeve goes through the arches, she sees three realities: a past, a present, and a future.

In both the past and the present, Crimsonthorn root, a herb that can kill humans first introduced in the preceding episode, is a reoccurring object. This root was first seen while Nynaeve is being shown the wonders of the Aes Sedai by Liandrin.

Liandrin is one of the key people within the Red Ajah section of Aes Sedai, a special group trained to hunt men who use the One Power, and she seems to be guiding Nynaeve toward that path too.

Considering her last reality, a future that shows Nynaeve in a Red Ajah uniform killing her lover Lan, the dreams may be a warning. Maybe it was a warning against trusting Liandrin.

In episode two, Perrin and the Shienaran soldiers are attacked by a mysterious militia while trying to find Padan Fain. This group is later revealed to be called the Seanchan.

In episode three, the group also identifies as the armies of Luthair Paendrag. While the name hasn't been mentioned before in the TV series yet, book fans know that Luthair is the son of Artur Hawking, who had been previously introduced in the series.

Artur Hawking is first mentioned by Egwene in episode two of season one as a man who besieged the White Tower. She explained that the Aes Sedai came up with three oaths as promises in order to get Artur to stop the siege.

If the series follows the book, Artur sent his son Luthair with an army to a distant land with the promise they would return to take over the continent. This could be what this mysterious militia means by "the return."

When Lanfear is freed in the beginning of episode four, Ishamael says: "Blood calls Blood. Blood Is. Blood Was. And Blood shall ever be."

This is part of a prophecy that is continued at the end of the episode when Alanna (Priyanka Bose), Maksim (Taylor Napier), and Ihvon (Emmanuel Imani) find a prophecy taken from one of the lead characters, Moiraine (Rosamund Pike).

Ihvon reads the first part out: "Daughter of the Night, she walks again. The ancient war, she yet fights. Her new lover she seeks, who shall serve her and die, yet serve still. Who shall stand against her coming? The Shining Walls shall kneel. Blood feeds blood. Blood calls blood. Blood is, and blood was, and blood shall ever be."

While this teases Lanfear, who reveals her identity in the next scene, this is also only the first stanza of a prophecy from the second "Wheel of Time" novel, "The Great Hunt."

In the novel, the prophecy is left by the Dark One's minions who invade Fal Dara and predict key events in the rest of the story.

Later in episode four, Selene takes main hero Rand (Josha Stradowski) to Kinslayer Dagger, a specific mountain range near the town where they're staying.

This is the biggest hint so far to Selene's secret identity, since Kinslayer is one of the many nicknames of Lews Therin Telamon, the former Dragon.

The fact that she links the area to her former lover, who was in fact Lews, may mean she's trying to get Rand to recover his former memories with her. In the novel series, Lanfear and Lews were former lovers, and Lanfear is said to be as powerful as Ishamael, the strongest of the Dark One's minions.

When we see Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) for the first time in episode four, she is wearing her new Accepted gown.

For context, while Novices, new members of the Aes Sedai organization, have to wear grey aprons to show their servant role in the White Tower, once they move up one level, they just have to wear white gowns.

Similar to the Accepted we meet briefly in episode two, Nynaeve's wrists show all the colors of the different Aes Sedai Ajahs, which are different sections within the organization that each specialize in a certain skill. This implies that they have not chosen the Ajah they want to go into yet.

While Alanna is talking to Lan Mandoragon (Daniel Henney) about Nynaeve, she mentions that the young woman is the quickest to go through the challenge to become Accepted since Cadsuane Melaidhrin.

This is the second time that name has been mentioned this season. Elayne (Ceara Coveney) briefly mentions Cadsuane Sedai to Egwene (Madeleine Madden) during their first meeting in episode two.

These teases may indicate that the character will be introduced soon, since she is an important figure in the novels.

In the book series, Cadsuane is one of the oldest living members of the Aes Sedai and the strongest newcomer before Elayne, Nynaeve, and Egwene show up. She is also a key advisor and teacher during Rand's journey to become the legendary hero who is set to fight the Dark One in The Last Battle.

After Moiraine returns home to Cairhien, she dons fully blue clothing for the first time this season.

Although she no longer has access to the One Power, it seems the blue clothing (which typically signifies an Aes Sedai belongs to the Blue Ajah, the sect devoted to justice) is meant to be a show of strength and give the illusion that she has been sent by the Aes Sedai while she asks questions about Rand in the city.

In episode five, Perrin meets his first Aiel when he stumbles upon cages built by the Children of the Light, a religious military group.

When Aviendha (Ayoola Smart) speaks to him, she calls him "Wetlander."

This is a term the Aiel use because where they're from, there are no seas or lakes. Despite the land being almost unliveable, the group continues to live there as punishment for a sin their people have long forgotten.

This may be why, in the season finale, Aviendha and the other Aiel are shocked by the sea in the middle of the desert area. They are not used to seeing water near a desert.

The Aiel also have their own term for the Dragon Reborn, which they mention later in the episode.

According to Aviendha, the Car'a'carn, whom she's searching for, is an important leader of the Aiel. In the season finale, after seeing Rand with Moiraine's fiery dragon, Aviendha claims that he is Car'a'carn.

In the first two seasons, Ishamael has been tormenting several of the heroes in their dreams.

While it seemed this was just a special ability of the Forsaken, Moiraine explains in episode five that this is a learned ability, dream walking.

She said that some skilled people, such as Lanfear and Ishamael, can enter Tel'aran'rhiod, a parallel world of dreams, to interact with others while they are sleeping. In these dreams, you can be harmed just as much as in the real world.

Tel'aran'rhiod is an important place in "The Wheel of Time" books, and it will likely have a greater role later in the series.

Later in episode five, Verin Mathwin (Meera Syal) is looking for Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve after they mysteriously disappear from the White Tower.

She discovers that the trio were apparently allowed out of the tower to go to a name day for Elayne's brother, Gawyn.

He is a fairly significant character in the book series who was introduced in the first book, "The Eye of the World." As the brother of the heir to the throne of Andor, he was destined to become the commander-general of Andor before coming across Rand and the other main heroes.

Since Gawyn is yet to be introduced, he will likely become a main character later on in the series.

While Verin and Yassica (Katie Leung) are discussing the girls' disappearance and their watcher Sheriam Bayanar's (Rime Te Wiata) strange behavior, the wise Verin comes up with the theory that someone has used a weave of compulsion.

Compulsion is a special magical ability that forces someone to do your will and in the book series, it is used by several Forsaken and Liandrin. Since we know Liandrin was the one who took the three women, this implies she also knows how to use compulsion in the TV series.

When Rand meets Lanfear in the dream world, it is full of wheel symbology to represent how the Dragon is an important element to the wheel of the universe.

As the Amyrlin Seat claims in episode seven, Rand is "the water that turns the wheel itself or dashes it to pieces."

Rand is chained to a wheel when he first arrives in the dream world. Lanfear also sits on a throne with a wheel on it.

In episode six, we meet Moiraine's nephew Barthanes Damodred (Will Tudor), who is set to marry the queen of Cairhien, their home kingdom.

Book fans will recognize the name Barthanes from the second novel, "The Great Hunt."

In the book, he is a nobleman who doesn't have a close relation to Moiraine – he's her uncle's cousin. Like in the series, it is discovered that he is working for the Dark One in order to rise in society. However, in the book series, he is murdered rather than imprisoned.

When Egwene is captured by the Seanchan in episode six, we learn how they imprison and turn the Aes Sedai into slaves.

They are given the title Damane and their slavers, Sul-dam, have gauntlets they can use to connect, control, and punish the Aes Sedai without even moving.

When we see Renna, Egwene's Sul-dam, connect her gauntlet to Egwene's collar, there are small threads going from the woman to her slaver. Since Renna is the one controlling the threads, this may be a small hint at her true identity.

In the season finale, Egwene reveals that all Sul-dam are just Damane who do not have enough power to actually channel the One Power. Hence, they are picked to punish their own kind without realizing they are doing so.

At the end of episode six, Egwene's fellow captive Maigan (Sandy McDade) tries to comfort the tortured woman by saying that their enemy is too powerful for any Aes Sedai. Maigan claims in this moment that she was a Sitter of the Blue Ajah and she gave in to her captor much quicker than Egwene.

A sitter is one of the leaders of each of the subsections of the Aes Sedai and each Ajah has three of them. We previously met Maigan in episode six of season one after Moiraine returned to the White Tower to report to her superiors.

Across season two, there are mentions of a grand game being played, especially in Cairhien.

Daes Dae'mar, which is an old tongue phrase from thousands of years ago that translates to "the great game," appears to be a political game where noblemen try to outsmart those around them and earn favors.

The game is introduced properly in episode three when Rand goes to a nobleman's party. The episode is likely titled this way since many of the Aes Sedai in Cairhien are trying to outsmart each other in this episode, thus making it confusing which side everyone is on.

At the beginning of episode seven, the story goes back in time by 20 years to show how Moiraine and Siuan got involved with the prophecy of the Dragon Reborn.

It may be just a coincidence but this scene directly parallels the opening scene to episode seven of season one when we see the Dragon Reborn being born on the mountain Dragonmount.

Both scenes are in the same timeframe and show how certain characters are forced into the prophecy of the Dragon Reborn.

Later in episode seven, Rand is forced to meet up with the Amyrlin Seat. To prepare him, like in the books, he is given a regal robe fitting of the Dragon Reborn.

Rand's robe has the same symbol as the shields shown in episode four, which means it is likely a robe for Cairhien nobility.

When the Amyrlin Seat (Okonedo) meets Rand for the first time, she is sitting on a throne, just like when we first meet her in season one, episode six.

The throne seems to be an exact replica of the one in the White Tower, from season one.

In season two, Logain Ablar (Àlvaro Morte), a male channeler who thought he was the Dragon Reborn, has been imprisoned inside an asylum.

In episode seven, Lan tries to get information out of him and pretends to offer to free him as a reward. However, when Logain asks for his freedom after giving out the information, Lan reminds the man of what he did to Kerene and Stepin.

Kerene Nagashi (Clare Perkins) and Stepin (Peter Franzén) were an Aes Sedai and warder duo who were part of the group transporting Logain to the White Tower.

When Logain tried to escape, he killed Kerene. Stepin took his own life in the following episode after being distraught over Kerene's death and the loss of his bond with her.

Stepin and Lan were close which is likely why Lan was so hardened against Logain in episode seven.

In season one, episode five, the Forsaken are mentioned for the first time due to Stepin having a set of dolls of the villains. However, while the book series had 13 members of the group, there were only eight dolls.

In season two, there are also only six Forsaken prisons inside Ishamael's room, which again implies there are only eight Forsaken (including Ishamael and Lanfear) rather than 13.

So far, we have met three Forsaken: Ishamael, Lanfear, and Moghedien (Laia Costa). During a flashback in season two, Lews Therin Telamon (Alexander Karim) mentions a fourth Forsaken, Sammael.

In the book series, Sammael is a great tactician and ends up ruling Illian after being released. He is briefly relevant in "The Shadow Rising," which is being adapted in the next season, so we may meet the fourth Forsaken in season three.

In episode four, Lanfear is resurrected after having her neck cut open by Moiraine.

In the season finale, Padan Fain confirms that Lanfear is immortal and that the Dark One gave her the ability of "eternal life" when she served him.

In the book series, the Forsaken could be reincarnated in a different body but none showed the ability to resurrect like Lanfear. This makes her an even more dangerous foe since it may be impossible to be fully rid of her.

In season one, Rand's friend Mat Cauthon (Dónal Finn) is coerced towards the dark after stealing a dagger from an evil city called Shadar Logoth. After being freed from its control, he spends most of season two trying to find his purpose.

In the season finale, Padan Fain tries to tempt Mat to pick up the evil dagger, knowing that it will turn him to the dark and force him to fulfill a prophecy to kill Rand.

However, instead, Mat uses a long piece of wood and some cloth to turn the dagger into a polearm so he won't directly touch it and be influenced by it.

The choice of this particular weapon may be a hint at Mat's future. In the book series, one of the main weapons he uses is a special polearm called Ashandarei, which he gets from another dimension.

In the battle in the season finale, Geofram Bornhald (Stuart Graham), one of the commander-generals of the Children of the Light, kills Perrin's wolf, Hopper. In revenge, Perrin kills the general in front of his own son, Dain Bornhald (Jay Duffy).

While Geofram does die in the same battle in "The Great Hunt," it is not at the hands of Perrin. However, this change does fit the book's storyline.

Just before the battle in the books, Geofram sees and recognizes Perrin in a town nearby and assumes that the young man from the Two Rivers might have something to do with the Darkfriends that took over Falme. Later, one of the survivors of the attack tells the Children of the Light that the Two Rivers have Darkfriends, which leads to their raid of the place in later books.

Artur Hawkwing has been mentioned or referred to several times in seasons one and two. But the audience finally meets him in the season two finale when Mat blows the Horn of Valere, calling all the past heroes to fight alongside him.

Artur (Adrian Bouchet) is the soldier in the gold armor to Mat's right in the scene. Also spotted in the scene are other heroes from the books such as Amaresu, Birgitte Silverbow, and Otarin.

Uno Nomesta (Guy Roberts), who was tragically killed in episode three, also makes an appearance in this scene as one of the resurrected heroes.

In "The Wheel of Time," there is a specific prophecy about how the Dragon will be reborn and fight the dark called the Karaethon Cycle.

While the full prophecy is not directly stated in the show, parts of it are mentioned across the two seasons, such as the part that mentions that the Dragon Reborn protects Falme in its darkest hour, and declares himself in the city.

One part of the prophecy that is not mentioned but shown involves Rand's heron sword:

"Once the heron, to set his path,
Twice the heron, to name him true."

In the book series, this refers to the two occasions when Rand accidentally burns the heron mark from his sword into his hand in "The Great Hunt." Once in a dream and the other during his battle with Ishamael over Falme.

The heron marking in this instance is likely a callback to the prophecy.

The series also changes how the prophecy is carried out. In the books, when Rand is declared the Dragon, he is battling Ishamael in the sky. There is a dragon banner in the sky as he fights.

Whereas in the season finale, Moiraine creates a dragon made of fire to show that he is the Dragon Reborn.

After Selene reveals herself to be Lanfear, there is a shift in her outfits. While in the first few episodes, her outfits are more feminine and plain, her outfits become more elaborate and regal as the season goes on. She also wears a lot darker and silver tones fitting a character known as the Daughter of the Night.

When she meets Rand in the dream world, she wears a crown. Her final outfit in particular looks completely moon-inspired, with three half-crescent buckles on her collar.