The connection between the Aes Sedai and their Warders in Wheel of Time is a mysterious and matrimonial-type bond. The Amazon series is based on the Wheel of Time books written by Robert Jordan until his death in 2007 and completed by Brandon Sanderson. As one of the most successful book series of all time with over 90 million books sold, Amazon’s screen adaptation of Wheel of Time looks poised to please fantasy-lovers still mourning Game of Thrones.

The world-building in Wheel of Time is intricately constructed around the story of five young adults saved from the Trolloc army by Moiraine, a member of the Aes Sedai sisterhood imbued with the One Power. Moiraine believes one of the five rescued is the “Dragon Reborn,” a reincarnation of the “Dragon”— a powerful magical warrior whose mistake in battle caused every male Aes Sedai from then on to suffer madness from the One Power. Since the time of the “Dragon,” the Aes Sedai sisters have hunted male channelers seeking Wheel of Time’s “Dragon Reborn,” who is prophesied to both break the world and save it in the Last Battle.

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As with the other elements of world-building in Wheel of Time, the link between an Aes Sedai and her Warder is extremely powerful and complicated. While the bond can be singular—between one Aes Sedai and one Warder like Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) and Lan (Daniel Henney)—other Aes Sedai (like those of the Green Ajah tribe) typically bond multiple Warders, and sisters in the Red Ajah tribe are forbidden from having any Warder at all. Though not all Aes Sedai choose to bond a Warder, those who do (and are of an Aes Sedai robe color that allows for bonding) benefit from a connection that encompasses the physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of both the Warder and the Aes Sedai.

For a Warder, the physical benefits of bonding provide the ability to sustain oneself without necessary forms of survival—food, water, and rest—on a super-human level. The bond also causes both the Warder and the Aes Sedai to feel the physical impairments of the other. For instance, both parties can feel when the other one gets tired or hungry, and they both feel the effects of each other’s physical pain, as is explained when Nynaeve (played by Zoe Robins) warns Lan of forthcoming pain when she is about to extract the Trolloc poison from Moiraine and restore her powers.

The bond between the Warder and the Aes Sedai transcends that of merely the physical, however, with a similar sharing of the psychological as well. The Aes Sedai and her Warder are aware of each other’s emotions like fear and happiness, but, like physical wounds, psychological impairment, like the effects of alcohol, also translate between them. This is particularly useful for the audience as the Aes Sedai are known for their stoic nature and their Warders can provide helpful insight into her inner thoughts, but also reveals the Aes Sedai’s desire for emotional connection similar to the bond created by traditional marriage. It should also be noted that an Aes Sedai is able to control her Warder through psychological means, a tactic yet unseen in the series.

By far the most compelling aspect of the bond between the Warder and the Aes Sedai in Wheel of Time, however, is the spiritual connection they share. In the case of a Warder’s death, the Aes Sedai will mourn greatly for him and may refuse to bond another, but in the case of an Aes Sedai’s death, the Warder goes insane, overwhelmed with a sense of vengeance or depression. The Warder typically does not live long after the death of his Aes Sedai, unless his bond is switched before her death, conveying his will to live and serve another Aes Sedai and thus saving the Warder from insanity. Undoubtedly, the bond between an Aes Sedai and her Warder is one of the most poetic elements of Wheel of Time.

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Wheel of Time streams on Amazon on Fridays.