Recap / The Wheel Of Time S 1 E 4 The Dragon Reborn

• Ambiguous Situation: Toward the end of episode 4, Rand finds Mat inside the house of the farm where they've been taking refuge, with all of the occupants having been stabbed to death. Mat has been acting strangely due to the influence of the Shadar Logoth dagger, but there's also a Fade in the same room; it's unclear which of the two did the murders.
• Badass Pacifist: The Tua'than refuse to use violence, but this does not make them weak, like their creed the Way of the Leaf says. Without hesitation, a group of them stand up to armed Whitecloaks searching for Egwene and Perrin, forming a shield using their bodies which lets the pair get away, even though they're beaten up for it.
• Big "NO!": Nynaeve shouts this after Lan is mortally injured in the fight to recapture Logain. She then channels enough to heal him and everyone else in the room simultaneously.
• Bows and Errors: Lampshaded when Rand and Mat attempt to sneak into a farmstead's barn to spend the night. The farmers threaten them with bows, and Rand points out that the husband has too many fingers on the bowstring. The farmer also has the bow at full draw throughout the scene.
• Dark Messiah: Logain Ablar, who proclaims himself the Dragon Reborn and has gained the loyalty of an entire army, and the backing of a reigning monarch.
• Deflector Shields: Logain creates a shield around himself with the One Power which stops the spears two soldiers throw at him.
• Driving Question: Moiraine's question of "Who is the Dragon Reborn?" leads her to confront Logain, a self-proclaimed Dragon Reborn captured by the Sedai sisterhood.
• Empathy Doll Shot: The farmer's child shows off her doll, Birgitte, to Mat in episode 4. The climax of the episode features a lingering shot of the doll on the ground as Rand and Mat flee the vicinity after the entire family has been murdered.
• Everyone Has Standards: Whitecloaks might be cruel zealots, but they still aren't bad enough to just slaughter unarmed Tua'than (although they're not above a beating).
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Tuatha'an have a lot in common with the real life Irish Travellers (getting called Tinkers like the Travellers were in the past) and Roma, being nomadic people who are harshly stereotyped as thieves. It's malicious slander however, because they're actually kind people who offer unlimited hospitality to outsiders. They also have a tradition where those born Tutha'an leave their wagons at age 20 to go and experience the rest of the world, only to come back once they knew that this is where they belong (obviously inspired by the Amish's Rumspringa).

---