The Big Picture

• The arrival of the Seanchan in the first season finale of Prime Video's The Wheel of Time creates a shockingly powerful cliffhanger, causing major changes in Season 2.
• The Seanchan are an evil imperial force from overseas, believing they are the ancestors of a famous historical legend and seeking to conquer the Westlands. Their brutal treatment of women who can channel, known as damane, is a central aspect of their culture.
• The inclusion of the Seanchan in The Wheel of Time has sparked controversy within the fandom due to their depiction of enslavement and the cultural inspirations used in their design. Despite this, they are a unique and significant part of the series.

To new viewers of Prime Video's The 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. The Season 1 cliffhanger leaves off with them channeling the One Power into 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.

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 throughout Season 2 they 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. But their 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 the Seanchan 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 try 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 through Egwene's Season 2 storyline as 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 the Wheel of Time fandom, and we have seen enslavement be a controversial part of many other fantasy series. In Game 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 designer Sharon Gilham shared 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 writings have 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 of The Wheel of Time is getting bigger with more 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 the Season 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 up The Wheel of Time.

The Wheel of Time is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

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