Embracing the Way of the Leaf: How Principled Nonviolence Distinguishes The Wheel of Time From Other Epic Fantasy Shows

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Season 3 finale of The Wheel of Time, "He Who Comes With the Dawn."]

In the years since Game of Thrones concluded its historic run at the top of the TV zeitgeist, several new epic fantasy shows have arrived to claim the mantle of its successor. Following the model that Thrones established, many of these shows build their seasons around spectacular, action-packed battle episodes. Last year's House of the Dragon Season 2 reached its midseason high point with the dragon-on-dragon fighting at Rook's Rest, while The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power subverted its own franchise tropes with the Siege of Eregion. In keeping with this trend, The Wheel of Time Season 3 climaxed last week with a huge battle in defense of the Two Rivers, the hometown of the show's main protagonists. But, somewhat ironically, the big battle episode "Goldeneyes" ended up showcasing a key difference separating this show from its epic fantasy peers. Even amidst all the spears and spells and blood, The Wheel of Time also seriously considers the philosophical position of principled nonviolence. 

The Way of the Leaf, as it's called in both Robert Jordan's original Wheel of Time novels and Prime Video's TV adaptation, is a philosophy that says that there is never a reason to consciously attack or harm another person. It is primarily practiced by the Tuatha'an, a nomadic people also referred to as "Tinkers," who first appeared back in Season 1 but reappeared in the Two Rivers just in time for the Season 3 battle. According to Tuatha'an characters like Ila (Maria Doyle Kennedy), the cycle of violence that seems so inescapable can only be broken by people consciously choosing not to continue it, even in the face of aggression and threats to their own well-being. That philosophy doesn't always seem heroic in the ways that fantasy fans are used to seeing, but the Way of the Leaf posits that there are more important things than getting revenge or even protecting yourself. 

"So often in fantasy, we get the idea that our characters going into war and battle is the most exciting and most heroic thing that they can do," showrunner Rafe Lee Judkins told TV Guide. "Even in Game of Thrones, though they're undercutting so many pieces of the fantasy genre, winning battles is always viewed as a positive. So I always thought it was fascinating that there is this thread running through the entirety of the Wheel of Time series about the idea of nonviolence."

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Fantasy battles are often shaped by real-life conflict. The Lord of the Rings was greatly influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien's experiences in World War I, while George R.R. Martin's historical interest in the Wars of the Roses forms the basic template of Game of Thrones. But The Wheel of Time was shaped by Jordan's experiences in the Vietnam War, a conflict that was protested throughout its duration by peace activists and conscientious objectors who refused to fight even after being drafted. 

"So much of it comes from the author's experience in Vietnam," Judkins said. "So it's something that we very consciously tried to filter into the DNA of the show — not just when you're spending time with the Tuatha'an, who are the people who practice the Way of the Leaf, but also the way their philosophy flutters out into the rest of the show and into our other characters, especially Perrin."

Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) ends up leading the defense of the Two Rivers in Season 3, but he was also present when the village was attacked by Trollocs back in the very first episode of the show. In the midst of that prior battle, Perrin swung his blade at a Trolloc and ended up accidentally killing his own wife, Laila (Helena Westerman). That has made him particularly sympathetic to the Way of the Leaf, and though he does fight and kill in the recent battle, he ultimately wins it by sparing the life of enemy commander Padan Fain (Johann Myers) when he has more than enough reason not to. Fain is then able to command his Trollocs to stand down, ending the battle with many Two Rivers villagers still alive. 

"We tried to lay in that idea for Perrin from the very first episode, of why he might be a character who is drawn to the idea of stepping away from violence altogether," Judkins said. "We made a couple changes from the books in the way the Battle of the Two Rivers ends and what Perrin does with the Whitecloaks afterwards. Both of those are ideas came from us wondering if there was a way that we could do a battle episode that is won through nonviolence. That is ultimately how Perrin wins the day in Episode 7. In the final moment, when everyone else would have killed Padan Fain, Perrin acts differently than the other characters in the show and differently than a way a lot of us might think. He actually wins by not killing Padan Fain. If he'd killed Padan Fain, they would've lost."

Even when genre stories do indulge a philosophy of nonviolence, they usually celebrate characters rejecting it. Avatar: The Way of Water, for example, introduces the tulkun, a whale-like species on Pandora who understand, like Ila does, that violence only creates more violence. But the movie reaches its cathartic crescendo when the tulkun Payakan breaks from his peers by violently attacking the human poachers and hunters who have been plundering Pandora. Judkins and his collaborators worked hard not to indulge that same cynicism. When Aram (Daryl McCormack) of the Tuatha'an kills a Trolloc in order to save a baby in "Goldeneyes," he is subsequently exiled from his tribe. And though Perrin saves his village, the episode ends with him voluntarily surrendering himself to the religious extremist Whitecloaks, because he promised to do so in order to secure their aid during the battle. 

"The writer of the episode, Dave Hill, came to us from Game of Thrones, and so he understands the crux of this storytelling is often a character like Perrin realizing he needs to kill to survive. He needs to pick up an ax to protect his loved ones or to protect himself, whatever it is," Judkins said. "And so for us, it was about, how do we structure an episode that still has all these elements of the classic battle episode, but also leaves you with questions at the end of it? Like, OK, Perrin's doing something different here. Do I agree with him? Do I disagree with him? We had lots of conversations about it in the writer's room. I think audience members of the show will be frustrated when he turns himself over to the Whitecloaks, but also hopefully they can see why he believes that's the right thing to do, so that there's not another battle in the Two Rivers after the one that they've just fought."

True to its title, the different strands of The Wheel of Time are all connected to each other. While Perrin is defending the Two Rivers, his friend Rand al'Thor (Josha Stradowski), aka The Dragon Reborn, is on the other end of the continent. In the Aiel Waste, Rand is trying to recruit an army of Aiel warriors to help him fight the forces of evil. There are shades of Dune here, with a chosen one recruiting hardened desert warriors to his cause. But in order to gain the Aiel's trust, Rand has to go on a vision quest into their past, where he sees a truth the Aiel have long hidden even from themselves: They, too, once followed the Way of the Leaf. 

The modern-day Aiel care about two things: enacting violence on anyone who crosses them and obeying their oaths to the letter. Learning that they once swore oaths to the nonviolent Way of the Leaf therefore shakes them to their core, right when Rand and his friends could really use their violent capabilities. 

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"We are always looking to lean into the elements of the books that are unique to The Wheel of Time," Judkins said. "So our chosen one figure is not going to save the world. Our chosen one figure is going to destroy the world in order to save it. It's based on Eastern philosophical ideas of Shiva the Destroyer and this idea that to be reborn, the world must also be destroyed. These two things are balanced with each other and tied up in this singular character of Rand the Dragon. So you see at the end of the season that yes, he's getting this army that's going to hopefully follow him to the ends of the earth, but he's also having to break them to do that."

How this will play out for Rand and the Aiel will have to wait for the (still unconfirmed) fourth season of The Wheel of Time, but if there's one thing we know by now, it's that it won't look or feel like other fantasy shows. 

Season 3 of The Wheel of Time is now streaming on Prime Video.