Summary
- The Aiel will be prominent in The Wheel of Time season 3, so it's helpful to brush up on their history and culture before the new season arrives.
- The Aiel are the deadliest fighters on the continent, skilled in various weapons including spears, bows, knives, and hand-to-hand combat.
- The Aiel's homeland, known as the Aiel Waste or Three-Fold Land, lies in a vast desert east of the Spine of the World.
- The Aiel are distantly related to the Tuatha'an, also known as the Tinkers or Traveling People, but have a completely different culture, being a militant people unafraid of violence.
Amazon Prime Video's The Wheel of Time has begun to introduce the famous Aiel, and there are eight useful things to know about them before watching season 3. The Wheel of Time is based on Robert Jordan's high fantasy novel series of the same name, which includes one of the richest worlds in fantasy literature. Jordan's books are loaded with intricately layered nations and cultures, each of them with its own detailed history and nuanced traditions.
One of the most fascinating cultures in The Wheel of Time is the Aiel. The Wheel of Time season 2 introduced a small handful of Aiel, but the show has provided little information about who they really are up to this point. With The Wheel of Time season 3's story likely to include a lot more of the Aiel, their importance is greater now than ever before. With that in mind, there are eight extremely useful tidbits about their history and culture that fans may want to know before watching season 3.
8 The Aiel Are The Best Fighters On The Continent
The Aiel predominantly fight with spears
The Wheel of Time's Aviendha is one of the first of the Aiel to be introduced in the show, and she quickly proved during season 2 that she is an elite fighter, helping Perrin take down about a dozen White Cloaks without receiving so much as a scratch in return. Aviendha's skill in combat is just a taste of what the Aiel can really do. They have an extremely militant culture, which, when combined with the harsh desert environment they live in, helps make them the deadliest people on the entire continent. They can fight with spears, bows, knives, and even their hands and feet when necessary.
7 The Aiel Call The Waste The Three-Fold Land
Their home is the vast desert east of the Spine of the World
Several of the major locations that should appear in The Wheel of Time season 3 lie in the Aiel's homeland, a vast desert east of the Spine of the World known to most people as the Aiel Waste. While "wetlanders", as the Aiel refer to everyone living west of the Spine, call this land the Waste, the Aiel themselves refer to it as the Three-fold Land. This name refers to the three gifts the Aiel claim to receive from the desert: a shaping stone to make them, a testing ground to prove their worth, and a punishment for their sin.
6 The Aiel Are Related To The Tuatha'an
The Tuatha'an are also known as the Traveling People and the Tinkers
While few of the Aiel themselves know it, they are actually distantly related to the Tuatha'an, also known as Tinkers or the Traveling People. This is significant because the Tutatha'an are pacifists who follow the Way of the Leaf, as seen when Perrin and Egwene encounter them in The Wheel of Time season 1. The Aiel, on the other hand, are an extremely militant people who are completely unafraid of violence.
In the Age of Legends, the Aiel followed the Way of the Leaf, and it was only after the Breaking of the World that some of them split off and accepted violence as their only means of survival. Those who chose to continue following the Way of the Leaf became the Tuatha'an, while the rest grew to be the ferocious Aiel seen in The Wheel of Time's current timeline. The Aiel seen in The Wheel of Time despise the Way of the Leaf, and many of them are broken when they find out that their people were the original followers of it.
5 The Aiel Wear Black Veils While Killing
No Aiel will kill without veiling themselves first
One remnant of the Aiel's past as followers of the Way of the Leaf is the way they cover their faces with a black veil whenever preparing to kill. By the time of The Wheel of Time's main course of events, the Aiel don't realize that this is why they began wearing veils, but it's clear that the tradition started as a way of covering oneself from the shame of comitting violence. The Aiel can be friendly to those they deem non-threatening, but when their veils come out, death is never far away. Their veils hang from the sand-colored head wraps they wear, known as shoufas.
4 The Aiel Refuse To Use Swords
Aiel will use any weapon besides a sword
Another interesting remnant of the Aiel's past is that they absolutely refuse to pick up a sword. This is another strange tradition that is clearly a byproduct of their days following the Way of the Leaf. It seems odd that the Aiel are willing to use any weapon available to them other than a sword, and most Aiel would let themselves be killed before using a sword to defend themselves. This could prove to be problematic for Rand in The Wheel of Time season 3, because he is likely to have a hard time getting the Aiel to accept him if he continues carrying a sword.
3 The Aiel Once Served The Ancient Aes Sedai
The Aiel served Aes Sedai during the Age Of Legends
In the ancient time period known as the Age of Legends, when the Aiel still followed the Way of the Leaf, they were servants of the Aes Sedai. During this time period, before the Dark One tainted saidin, the Aes Sedai were both male and female. During the Breaking of the World, the Aiel were tasked with protecting a wealth of powerful angreal, sa'angreal, and ter'angreal. Many of these were destroyed, which is commonly believed to be the sin the Aiel claim holds them to the Three-fold Land.
2 The Aiel Are Known As The People Of The Dragon
Aiel Prophecies refer to the Dragon as He Who Comes with the Dawn
The Aiel have their own prophecies of the Dragon, which refer to him either as the Car'a'carn, or He Who Comes With the Dawn. The Dragon is said to be their doom and their salvation, and because of that, they grow to call themselves the People of the Dragon. This will be critical to Rand in The Wheel of Time season 3 as he tries to bring the Aiel to his side. They will be his greatest allies, and without this prophecy, it's unlikely they would be willing to follow him.
1 The Aiel Are Ruled By Clan Chiefs And Wise Ones
Aiel clan chiefs are male and Wise Ones are female
The Aiel are ruled by two sets of leaders. The clan chiefs are responsible for the welfare of their people, and they often settle disputes between of the clan. Clan chiefs are always male, and they must travel through the ter'angreal in Rhuidean before they can become a chief, a process which only one in three survive.
Wise Ones, on the other hand, are exclusively female, and only they can give a man permission to travel to Rhuidean and attempt to become a clan chief. Wise Ones and clan chiefs are equals of a sort, but Wise Ones seem to wield more influence over clan chiefs than the other way around. Wise Ones are often capable of channeling as well, though the Aiel use channeling for much different purposes than Aes Sedai. Some of The Wheel of Time's most powerful characters are Wise Ones, and they should have a prominent role in season 3.
