#Wheel of time s3

[onaperduamedee]

Like Orpheus, I am not strong enough to not look at what I want

[gydima]

New kink: Unlocked

[lanfear-is-my-darkmistress]

Dragonmount, The wot fansite, said that they heard from insiders on the crew that there’s still a chance if people make enough noise.on other media.

MAKE ALL THE NOISE YOU CAN PEOPLE. CAMPAIGN BOARDS, VIDEOS, ANYTHING

[thatordinaryoddity]

I MEAN IT - DO NOT CLICK BELOW THE CUT IF YOU HAVEN‘T SEEN 3x08 YET!

(Please be aware that this also contains spoilers for the entire book series!)

I want to step back from my raw shock and anger for a moment and look at the bigger picture. Because what happened to Siuan Sanche in The Wheel of Time TV adaptation is not just a pointless, premature, and unnecessarily gruesome character death done for shock value - it’s a case study in how harmful patterns in queer representation persist across television in 2025 to weaponize queer women’s stories under the guise of “stakes”, “emotion” or “drama.” It’s also about how even creators who should know better continue to replicate those patterns.

Let’s be clear: Siuan’s death wasn’t just tragic, it was narratively regressive. In a show that prides itself on representation and complexity, she was stripped not only of her characterization and future arcs (and with that, the arcs of other characters like Egwene), but was also publicly humiliated, stilled, and - just to top it all off - beheaded. Her death wasn’t heroic, glorified, or thoughtfully written. It wasn’t even romanticized or poetic. It was humiliating and off-putting, and it existed solely to shock the audience in wannabe Game of Thrones fashion and to provoke emotional development in another character: Moiraine.

This is fridging! A trope in which a (usually marginalized) character - often a woman - is killed off to provide emotional stakes or motivation for the protagonist. And to be clear: it’s not that characters (regardless of their background) can’t die, it’s how and why they die that matters. And in this case, Siuan’s death is not about her. It’s about what she can provoke in someone else, and about feeding a true shocker to the audience.

This would be frustrating on its own. But it becomes outright infuriating when you factor in another layer. I’ll leave you to do the research yourself, but let’s just say there’s an overlap between the Siuaraine writing team and the writing staff of The 100. And if you’re not familiar, let me break it down for you: The 100 had one of the most infamous storylines and public outcries in the history of queer television representation. In episode “Thirteen”, Lexa - a beloved queer character - was killed by a stray bullet immediately after consummating her relationship with her partner Clarke. Lexa’s death became a flashpoint in media history, and the episode triggered global fan backlash. It’s now shorthand for the “Bury Your Gays” trope in the streaming age. But it wasn’t just the loss of a character, it was a betrayal by the showrunner and the writers’ room. Fans had been promised meaningful, lasting queer representation, only to see it snatched away in an unnecessary and trope-laden way. The outcry led to global fan campaigns, interviews, fundraising, and the creation of The Lexa Pledge, where writers and showrunners promised to do better by their LGBTQIA+ characters.

So how is it that - nearly a decade later - the same creative figure is involved in a storyline that plays out almost identically? Just like Lexa, Siuan reconnects with her partner after a break only to be almost immediately taken away. Just like Lexa, she is a powerful woman in her own right (even though in Siuan’s case, the show repeatedly undermined her and painted her as incompetent or a failure), and just like Lexa, her death is staged not for her own arc but solely to spark transformation in another character.

This isn’t just painful - it’s a clear repetition of an already well-documented mistake. It suggests not a lack of awareness, but a lack of care. To make matters worse, Wheel of Time showrunner Rafe Judkins has repeatedly spoken in interviews about how meaningful Moiraine and Siuan’s relationship is to him. He described it as “one of the central pillars of the show”, called their love story “unlike anything else in fantasy”, and emphasized how rare it is to see older queer women portrayed with such depth and power. That makes this decision all the more cynical. You do not get to publicly celebrate your queer characters as groundbreaking representation and then destroy one of them in the most violent way possible for the sake of another’s growth or fast-tracked future plotlines. That’s not brave. That’s not representation. That’s betrayal.

MAJOR BOOK SPOILER! And before anyone brings up “book accuracy” - yes, Siuan dies in the novels. But her death is vastly different, and she dies much later, after a fully fledged post–White Tower arc. At the very least, she dies in battle and is not beheaded in a public coup (sorry, but they really crossed a line here!). The TV version took liberties to make her death more brutal, more sensationalized, and more emotionally manipulative. This isn’t about source material, it’s about adaptation choices and what those choices reveal about whose stories are allowed dignity….. SPOILER END!

And the message it sends for me - whether intentional or not - is this: queer women can be powerful, but they will be punished or even killed for it. They can find love, but not keep it. They can drive the narrative, but only until it’s convenient to kill them for drama or beelining the plot.

It didn’t have to be this way. The Wheel of Time is a fantasy series - literally a genre built on rebirth, healing, time loops, and metaphysical bonds. If you must, there are countless ways to remove a character from the narrative while still honoring their legacy. Stilling and beheading one of the only queer women of color who is also a major character was not necessary. Making her go like that was not necessary. They had every narrative tool available to give her meaning, agency, and dignity. They chose not to.

And in making that choice, the showrunners have aligned themselves not with progress, but with a long line of creators who pay lip service to queer representation while continuing to exploit it for emotional weight and use the queer community as promotion. This was a devastating misstep, made worse by the fact that those responsible should have known better!

We are beyond isolated mistakes. We are in an era where queer trauma has been commodified for dramatic weight over and over again, and yet, the responsible creatives continue to repackage it as prestige television.

We’ve seen this story before.

We begged you not to tell it again.

You said you wouldn’t… and told it anyway.

And this isn’t just about Siuan. It’s about every story like hers and every showrunner or writer who promises, “This time, it’ll be different,” while making sure it’s exactly the same.

No matter what comes next, even if we get an explanation or apology: no. What’s done is done, and I won’t accept your excuses. If the backlash gets bad enough and we suddenly get a “surprise, surprise” fakeout - that it was all a dream, or she gets balefired back to life or whatever deus ex machina solution you can muster - no. That’s cheap and even more insulting. If she turns out to be a Dreamer in Tel’aran’rhiod or a Hero of the Horn - again, no. That’s still robbing her of her plotline and flatlining her arc. So no matter what the show does or offers us, my trust has been broken irreparably. You don’t get to play us like that.

That being said, things are about to change around here. I’m deeply grateful for the love this community has shown me over the past five years. You made me a fan, a friend, a writer, an artist, an enthusiast. But those times are painfully coming to an end - at least in their current form.

I’ll try to stick to art and writing, not for the sake of the show, but for the sake of the fandom and the community I’ve found here. I can’t say how much time I’ll need to breathe more freely again, but I do believe we need to stick together. If you need someone to talk to, my DMs are always open. However, if you just want to argue with me or mess around - you’ll be blocked! This post is not an open invitation to debate why my opinion is “wrong” and why the show was right to kill off Siuan like that.

#SiuanDeservesBetter

[lilthsspacesstuff]

The amount of times I had to blink watching WoT S3 because I could simply not believe how many diverse and three dimensional female characters were present IN JUST ONE SHOT/ FRAME. Like, they were of different ages, ethnicities, sexualities. And none of them were cardboard cutouts because of these factores. And none of them were male gaze sexualized.

LIKE WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN ACTUALLY CHOSE WHICH FEMALE/ QUEER CHARACTER I LIKE BASED ON THEIR CHARACTER AND NOT JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONLY ONE IN THE SHOW??!?

I feel powerful and represented and happy and I never ever want to watch anything else anymore. More please!

[they-call-me-thewildrose]

Perrin be like: “now hear me out, if we unionise against the trollocs and whitecloaks…”

[shutupineedtothink]

Initial trailer thoughts (I just watched it like 5 times and screamed a lot):

We love an all female voice acapella soundtrack

Siuan and Moiraine voice over is right and correct

I see they gave us a smooch with them but i ain’t fooled that’s probably a flashback UNLESS—

Holy shit the cinematography. The VISUALS you guys wtf I can already tell they’re one upping themselves again

Moiraine: “… and in every future where I live…” Me: DONT YOU SAY IT “…Rand dies.” Me: NO!!!

Well at least she’s talking to Lan about it

So it was her he was carrying across the desert fuCK

The Moiraine Lanfear scenes girl do NOT get me started oh my godddd

Liandrin’s cover is intact?? She’s back to Red ajah

Only one mysterious shot with Moghedien i see

Siuan confiding in Egwene, I think?? If I’m right about the wonder girls scooby dooing around the tower figuring shit out Imma be so happy

Two millisecond shot of Rand and Lan with swords nice

Definitely can’t wait to see Alanna fuck some shit up. But ooh buddy I am worried about that shot of her screaming. One or both warders are in trouble I think

March?? I repeat, MARCH?? Girl I thought we were gonna have to wait til September again. On the one hand, excellent, if they can keep up this 1.5 year pace, that would be great. On the other hand, what am I supposed to do for the rest of this year after this??

[alverelover]

[made-in-manetheren]

Guys

Guys.

Loial surviving is genuinely not a pipe dream. Look at this.

So we knew already that his humming was Treesinging. The tune continues, with the same echoey resonance we heard when he did it in Falme, after he stops singing and roars before swinging at the floor.

Now, it's not clear if this is something he does to gather his strength or even simply honor the Two Rivers or more. But Treesinging is a power that bends earth and stone and trees to ogiers' will, and it's how Waygates operate, and the Ways are alive--grown, not built. We don't know a lot about how Treesinging can affect the Ways beyond activating and locking Waygates, but not much else can affect the Ways at all.

Then he falls, and the camera angle does not move as it shows that. In the lightning flashes, we get 3 consecutive looks at what Loial is falling toward.

I have maxed the brightness on my screenshots but made no other edits.

Flash #1: you can see Loial bottom-center-ish (feet pointing at the bottom of the screen). Way down below, directly below, there is another pathway.

Flash #2: this is where the Treesinging becomes interesting to me. Look at the curved path right below him.

It's moved.

And Flash #3: again, it's more dramatically curved, right below Loial.

I've flipped through these 3 photos several times to mark the movement (and prove to myself that I wasn't imagining it). Maybe I'm off-base here or maybe the Ways just move like ripples and this changes nothing. But.

I can't stop thinking that it looks like he called another path of the Ways to him. That it's rising to catch him.

🧐

What if?

[onaperduamedee]

I am so in love with the type of fantasy the Wheel of time chooses to be.

Perrin wins by sparing the bad guy's life; Loial sacrifices himself not by fighting but by destroying his people's work; those not fighting are essential for saving lives and preserving the Two Rivers' legacy (in a stunning parallel to the Fall of Manetheren where the past lived on because some people didn't fight but fled to carry on life in the Two Rivers.)

Warriors and armies are important but those who made the difference here are the ones who pointedly didn't fight.

This gives me so much hope for the boys' and Lan's later arcs because it seems the show is leaning more into strength not being raw power and existing in different shapes.

[ofthebrownajah]

I will withold judgment until i see it but do we think Rand is still in love with Lanfear or is she just fucking with him in his dreams? i'm leaning towards the second one only cause of where their relationship ended at the end of s2. plus i'd prefer it to be more messy with a continuation of the cat and mouse game than him actually being in love with her

and it's possible Egwene's: are you in love with her? is about Elayne? idk but like i said i'd prefer if the breakup isn't cause of drama/"cheating", emotional or otherwise. cause i don't feel like it adds anything and it's not fair to Egwene and feels ooc for Rand to me?

could be a misunderstanding though which is common in WoT

[lanfear-is-my-darkmistress]

It's the fact that both Liandrin and Moghedien have a Nynaeve obsession/problem that has me cracking up. Now those two are teaming up together, 2 subs without their Dom is gonna be a disaster.

[tentakrool]

didn’t have the energy to do a whole brand-new piece, but I’ve had this lineart for a while and in celebration of the new wheel of time trailer, figured i would finish this picture of Moiraine up real quick

WHEEEEEEE WHEEL OF TIME

[dragonfly1302]

Every time a fictional character gets a bi cut™️ shit gets real - I’m looking at you Egwene👀

[dragonsoftheeast]

Alright everyone, before ep 6 releases (though I'm not sure Ep7 will cover anything not in the Two Rivers):

[they-call-me-thewildrose]

Ok but just saying, Lanfear could kill me thousands of times across different possible futures and I wouldn’t even be mad tbh