With the time until the release of season 3 of Amazon’s The Wheel of Time, there’s been a lot of debate about whether the season will redeem the show or not, which has garnered a significant amount of criticism so far. Most of the concerns relate to how faithful the show is to the Wheel of Time books, as numerous changes have been made from the source material, many of which fans have seen as completely unnecessary.

One seemingly minor yet important difference is the relationship Rand al’Thor has with his signature weapon – the sword. By the equivalent point in the books’ timeline, Rand has spent a lot more time learning about the way of the sword, but Amazon’s series has glossed over much of that; now, as season 3 of The Wheel of Time approaches, it seems like the show may be prepared to make up for lost time.

Rand Will Train With Lan In The Wheel Of Time Season 3, Fixing A Big Book Change

The Dragon Reborn Will Finally Learn Which End Of The Sword Is The Pointy One

A new set of stills from Wheel of Time season 3 show that, at least once, Rand will practice his sword forms with Lan, Moiraine’s Warder. This is a scene that’s been a long time coming, as by the events of The Shadow Rising, the fourth book in the series, Rand was already well on his way to being worthy of the heron mark on his father Tam’s sword.

A sword marked by a heron at the base of the blade or on the hilt, in the world of The Wheel of Time, signifies that the wielder is a true swordmaster. Tam al’Thor earned that title during his service with Illian’s elite Companions. In the books, Tam’s sword is destroyed when Rand uses it to wound Ishamael at Falme; the blade melts, but not before marking both of Rand’s palms with the heron, as foretold in the Karaethon Cycle (the prophecies that dictate the course of the Dragon Reborn’s struggle against the Dark One).

In the Prime Video series, Rand has spent very little time with Lan at all, except during their collective flight from Emond’s Field back in season 1. Rand choosing to fake his own death at the end of that season after confronting Ishamael changed the flow of events, as in the books, the whole party returns to the Shienaran city of Fal Dara afterward and spends time recuperating there; it’s in that downtime that Rand learns some of the most important lessons of swordmastery from Lan. Thankfully, that’s one of the book moments the season 3 trailer teases.

Why Rand Training With Lan Is So Important In The Wheel Of Time Books

A Hero Who Starts The Series As A Shepherd Needs To Have Their Growth Shown

Rand’s arc of learning how to use the sword is absolutely critical to his character, because it serves as a narrative parallel for his growth as a whole, as well as factoring into the Karaethon Cycle. When Rand first picks up his father Tam’s heron-marked blade and uses it against a Trolloc, it’s his first time wielding a blade in anger; it’s only over the course of time, and with the advice of his father and Lan, that he becomes worthy of the heron mark.

One of the first sword forms Lan teaches Rand in the books is Sheathing the Sword, where the blademaster willingly takes a potentially fatal blow from an opponent in order to guarantee a killing strike of their own. This foreshadows Lan’s fate at the end of the books, when he uses this technique to defeat the Forsaken general Demandred.

Early on in the first book, The Eye of the World, Rand and Tam discuss the theory of the Flame and the Void, a meditative trick Tam taught his son as an archery technique (but that Tam learned during his own swordmaster training, although Rand knew nothing about that). In later conversations with Lan over the next few books, Rand learned to apply the Flame and the Void to first his sword forms, then to his use of the One Power; without Lan’s training, Rand would likely have died against any number of opponents, particularly the Forsaken leader Ishamael.

The Wheel Of Time Season 3’s Rand Fix Might Be Too Little, Too Late

Amazon’s Series May Not Survive Another Season Of Lukewarm Reviews

Even if season 3 does have one or more scenes of Rand training with Lan, it may not be enough to assuage jaded fans of the series. The Wheel of Time‘s accuracy to the books in the upcoming seasons is critical, if the show wants to retain viewers that may otherwise jump ship to shows like Rings of Power or House of the Dragon. Given The Wheel of Time‘s slow increase in ratings over its first two seasons, season 3’s success or failure may well prove to be the show’s breaking point.

It does go without saying that the showrunners for The Wheel of Time aren’t beholden to the fans; they’re trying to stay true to their own creative vision, and fan complaints shouldn’t derail those efforts. Yet many of the changes that have been made, such as not showing Rand’s time practicing and improving with the sword, have resulted in the series often feeling inconsistent and missing the heart and struggle that are so central to the story of the books. Hopefully, the events of season 3 will finally provide a narrative justification for some of the more egregious changes.