The Wheel Of Time series is often praised as one of the biggest and most profound modern works of high fantasy since Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books. This is in large part due to its extensive and original worldbuilding which spans thousands of years and even tech eras. Its deep lore was recently explored in the last few episodes of Prime’s The Wheel Of Time. Now in its third season, the heroes are beginning to find some small footing in their abilities, and have been able to stand against the forces of darkness instead of running.
In the episodes leading up to episode 7, Perrin finds himself back in his home of The Two Rivers which has been oppressed by the Children of the Light and has seen threats by Trollocs. Desperate to keep his home safe, Perrin and his friends help strengthen the town and its people to defend against this looming threat, and the question of the area’s heroic origins surfaces. Although these people are none but humble sheep herders now, they once belonged to a strong people from a bygone era, whose songs and stories still echo in their history.
When The World Broke, Manetheren Emerged
- Manetheren, in the Old Tongue, means Mountain Home.
- The raising of the mountains by channelers exposed a wealth of minerals that were otherwise locked under the ocean floor.
After several male channelers went mad and began altering the world in an event known as The Breaking of the World, much of the geography and landscape of the world was forever altered. Mountains were raised shorelines were driven back, new lands emerged and those that survived had to work with the new landscape and scrounge-up civilization once more. Manetheren was known as one of the ten nations that would emerge from the rubble of this time.
The nation of Manetheren was a Kingdom that spanned around and within the Mountains of Mist which were risen by the insane channelers during The Breaking of the World. Its capital city was also named Manetheren and the kingdom had a lot of Ogier-built cities within its borders. The first peoples to begin forming settlements in this area saw the great potential in its mineral wealth from the newly-risen minerals that the mountains provided as well as the lush landscape that was good for farming. In 100 AB, the first records of Manetheren politically becoming a nation-state were established.
The Consolidation Of Power That Strengthened Them
- Manetheren Stonemasons also paved and built great roads and bridges to connect trade through their complex landscape of valleys and mountains.
- Gold coins minted in Manetheren’s capitol were considered reserve currency for all of the Ten Nations.
Manetheren’s power consolidation and wealth grew quickly over the next hundred years and would fight its neighbors in pitched battles to make sovereign land claims. Eventually, the Compact of the Ten Nations would bring peace to the lands, and harbor in a golden age for Manetheren. This is when the Ogier were invited to construct the nation’s capitol and waygates to their Stedding as well as other cities were formed. Although these were times of relative peace, Manetheren needed to keep wise to their northern neighbors from Safer, who often skirmished to the north in hopes of claiming more of the mineral-rich lands.
Amid its seemingly classic first-born hereditary monarchy of Kings and Queens, Manetheren also had a tradition of training their Queens as channelers with their husbands connected as their Warder. This tradition leads to the idea that genetic passing of channeling ability is strong among the nobility of Manetheren. There were also the nobility known as the First Lords, who held a great deal of sway within the kingdom. This golden age would make Manetheren powerful, rich, and militarily stalwart. Their armies were among the strongest of the Ten Nations and were a great threat to the forces of the Shadow. This virtuous loyalty would earn them the moniker «The sword that could not be broken.»
Great Heroes of the Trolloc Wars Came From Manetheren
- When the Trolloc wars ended, the kingdoms of Farashelle and Dhowlan formed from Manetheren’s former lands.
- In one of Manetheren’s final stands, reinforcments were witheld by jealous Aes Sedai and the Ogier, willing to help, could not make it in time.
Despite the humble peoples of the Two Rivers seeming like nothing but sheep-herders and farmers, their stories of the Trolloc wars, which began around 1000 AB, would become the strong and lasting legacy that survives in the aural history among the people of the Two Rivers. The Trolloc wars were the beginning of the end for Manetheren as perpetual war and waves of darkness threatened to blight the Ten Nations. As one of the most powerful and loyal fighting forces, their blue banner with the red eagle would be seen at the vanguard of almost every conflict. Whether it was protecting themselves or marching out to defend a fellow nation, their stance was clear; they would be there to fight against the Shadow.
In The Wheel Of Time’s season 3, episode 7, the villagers are seen as being inspired by Perrin’s return and staunch will to fight back. Their strengths as archers and spirit as defenders against the darkness steels them for the heat of battle. Perrin’s humility in his leadership despite his ferocity leads to the people calling him «Lord Perrin» much to his chagrin. However, Manetheren’s more recent history of its many failed attempts at rebuilding itself in the wake of the Trolloc wars seems to fade as Perrin has become a new beacon of hope for the people of The Two Rivers. Now shackled and led to an uncertain fate by their uneasy and vengeful allies among the Children of the Light, the Two Rivers must decide whether to save Perrin from his promise or leave it to destiny.
