A story tease for Egwene and Nynaeve in a new Wheel of Time trailer seemingly changes the Dragon Reborn mystery. Played by Madeline Madden and Zoe Robbins respectively , Egwene and Nynaeve are among the principal characters in both Robert Jordan’s books and the TV adaption. At the start of the novels, Egwene was a resident of the Two Rivers village and Rand al’Thor’s first love interest.
A new teaser trailer for Amazon’s Wheel of Time dives into how the characters fit into the show’s Dragon Reborn mystery. The first book, The Eye of the World, established the prophecy of Lews Therin aka The Dragon, a warrior considered to be both the savior of the world as well as the greatest villain in history. Finding the reincarnation of Lews Therin – known as the Dragon Reborn – was the goal of several Wheel of Time characters and factions in the novels. This includes Moiraine and Lan, who came to Two Rivers at the beginning of the book on a quest to find him. A voice-over narration from Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) in the trailer explains a bit about the importance of the Dragon Reborn and her efforts to find this person.
A few details in the trailer hint at how the show’s approach to the Dragon mystery will be different to the books. Moiraine says in the trailer that the Dragon Reborn is "one of the five of you", in reference to Rand (Josha Stradowski), Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) Mat Cauthon (Barney Harris), Nynaeve, and Egwene. In the eyes of both Moiraine and the Dark One’s minions, Rand, Mat, and Perrin were all suspects, but Egwene and Nynaeve were never part of the equation. A shot of Egwene experiencing nightmares in another trailer just like the three boys is further indicative of her being a candidate, since this was a sign of the Dark One trying to form a link with his old enemy. Just the sheer possibility of Egwene and Nynaeve being the Dragon Reborn is a deviation from the books, where it was made clear that the Dragon Reborn could only be a man.
Of course, both genders are capable of misusing the One Power in Jordan’s Wheel of Time, but as for a channeler turning out to be the Dragon Reborn, that concern only extended to men like Logain who could access saidin, the male half of the True Source. There was an understanding that because the Dragon himself was male, the same would of course be true for his reincarnated form. For these reasons, Moiraine was only looking for boys of a certain age in Two Rivers. She had no need to monitor Egwene, but it seems that in the Amazon series, the two women are on Moiraine’s radar because the Dragon Reborn isn’t tied to a specific gender.
There’s no expectation that the Dragon Reborn in Wheel of Time will be anyone but Rand al’Thor, but just the idea that it can be a woman could change how this mystery is handled. First of all, if Aes Sedai think that’s on the table, then it stands to reason that a woman has the potential to be a False Dragon. It also makes other women who are strong in the One Power suspicious to those on the lookout for the Dragon Reborn. Plus, this could drag Egwene and Nynaeve even deeper into the main story early on in season 1. As Egwene's nightmare in the trailer suggests, Ba'alzamon may be invading the dreams of all five characters.