Wheel of Time Episode 4 Shows They Won’t Fully Use New Spring

Warning: Contains spoilers for The Wheel of Time episode 4 and Robert Jordan’s novel New Spring.

In The Wheel of Time episode 4, “The Dragon Reborn,” the Amazon show introduces Kerene Nagashi and in doing so implies that it will not fully adapt the entirety of New Spring. Robert Jordan’s original Wheel of Time book series spanned 14 novels plus New Spring, a prequel novel that filled in additional backstory for the series. While the focus of the novel was on the birth of the new Dragon, Moiraine and Siuan’s machinations, and how Lan Mandragoran became a Warder, Kerene Nagashi also played a role in the novel.

In The Wheel of Time episode 4, Nynaeve, Lan, and Moiraine have arrived at an Aes Sedai camp where the false Dragon Logain is held prisoner. Kerene Nagashi is an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah that heals Moiraine of her wound from the first episode. Kerene is shown to be a formidable force and to be insistent upon following the word of the Amyrlin Seat despite Liandrin’s pressures to take more expedient and morally gray actions. She is ultimately killed by Logain when he is able to temporarily break out from the Aes Sedai’s shield, which had been keeping him from using the One Power.

In Robert Jordan’s prequel novel to Wheel of Time, New Spring, Moiraine Damodred and Siuan Sanche, still in training at the White Tower, are present for the Foretelling of the Dragon’s rebirth. The Amyrlin Seat at the time, Tamra Ospenya, sends out searchers for the infant Dragon and one of these searchers is the experienced Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah, Kerene Nagashi. Kerene dies during New Spring through an apparent accident that was likely caused by Darkfriends within the ranks of the Aes Sedai, the Black Ajah. The fact that Amazon’s The Wheel of Time has departed from the original timeline of the books to include Kerene Nagashi’s death within the scope of the adaptation of The Eye of the World implies that the series will not provide a full adaptation of New Spring itself.

Kerene Nagashi’s story in The Wheel of Time episode 4 bears several parallels to her appearance in New Spring, and it is not merely the porting over of a name. Her character is very much the same in both, as she serves as a high-ranking member of the Green Ajah who is strict in her adherence to the letter of the law. While it is ultimately Logain that kills Kerene, the situation that led to her death is still likely to have been engineered by the Black Ajah to a degree. Liandrin suggests that they could allow Logain to go free so that they could bypass the oaths and the Amyrlin’s orders, and if Liandrin were to have allowed her shielding of Logain to weaken, she might have intentionally set in motion the events that led to Kerene’s death.

There are important elements of the New Spring plot that will still need to be addressed in The Wheel of Time. Primarily this will include how Moiraine and Siuan came to hear the Foretelling, how Moiraine ended up leaving the White Tower to search for the Dragon for such a protracted period, and what the true nature of their relationship is. While Kerene’s death in episode 4 signals that the series will not provide full extended flashbacks to tell this story, it will likely be alluded to. The Wheel of Time has already hinted at more extensive backstories without going into full details through “present-day” discussions, as well as providing additional lore and history through The Wheel of Time Origins animated shorts.

The Wheel of Time releases new episodes Fridays on Amazon Prime.

About The Author

Faefyx Collington
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Faefyx Collington (They/Them) is a senior features writer for Screen Rant. They’re a British writer of both fiction and non-fiction, focussing on science fiction, fantasy, and mystery for the former and on culture, gender, and current affairs for the latter.
Never content to settle to one thing, Faefyx is also a co-host and producer of the podcast and video series “Unramblings,” and can occasionally be found making music around the internet as well.
Having acquired degrees on both sides of the Atlantic, Fyx has settled (for the moment) in the southern United States where they live with their spouse and an entirely appropriate number of cats.

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