‘The Wheel of Time’ Literally Doesn’t Pull Punches Depicting Egwene’s Dehumanizing Damane Training

The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 6 “Eyes Without Pity” brutally shows us just what the Seanchan do to women who can channel, specifically our darling Egwene (Madeleine Madden). As we’ve seen throughout the season, the invaders from across the sea don’t have Aes Sedai. Rather, they use “damane,” enslaved women who are collared, leashed, and at times gagged, to channel the One Power as a weapon.

Last week’s episode of The Wheel of Time on Prime Video ended with Egwene being collared as a “gift” from the darkfriend Lady Suroth (Karima McAdams) to her loathed Seanchan High Lord Turak (Daniel Francis). This week’s installment shows us in savage detail how exactly a sul’dam like Renna (Xenia Mendes-Jones) can tame a spirited, superpowered woman into submission. It’s a combination of psychological manipulation and good old fashioned tortured helped in large part by the One Power-forged collars and bracelets used to bond a damane to her sul’dam.

But let’s say you’ve never picked up a Robert Jordan book and you have no idea what the difference between a marath’damane, a sul’dam, and a plain old damane are. What the heck do Nynaeve (Zöe Robins) and Elayne (Ceara Coveney) mean when they’re referring to the collar Ryma (Nyokabi Gethaiga) stole from the Seanchan as a ter’angreal? Who is the woman in the cell next to Egwene’s? And what makes the Seanchan collars so wickedly awful to wear (besides the fact that they are literal collars)?

Here’s everything you know about how the Seanchan create damane in The Wheel of Time…

What is a Damane in The Wheel of Time? All About The Seanchan’s Twisted Way of Using Aes Sedai

In The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 6 “Eyes Without Pity,” Egwene finds herself in the “kennel,” a prison where damane are kept like animals by the Seanchan. Although Egwene is defined by her unbreakable spirit, her assigned sul’dam Renna is able to finally break her resolve to fight back through a twisted series of scenes that inflict physical and mental pain on our girl.

A key to understand how this is able to go down is understanding how Seanchan imprison damane in the first place. Here’s your guide to all things damane in The Wheel of Time...

• What is a damane in The Wheel of Time? “Damane” literally translates in the Old Tongue to “leashed one.” It’s the word the Seanchan use to describe women with the power to channel the One Power who have been collared, i.e. leashed. The Seanchan refer to their collars as a’dams.
• What is a marath’damane in The Wheel of Time? When Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) handed over Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne to Suroth, the Seanchan referred to the Aes Sedai as a “marath’damane.” In the Old Tongue/Seanchan speak, a marath’damane is simply a woman who can channel who has not been leashed. Ergo she is considered an abomination and a threat to Seanchan culture.
• What is a sul’dam in The Wheel of Time? “Sul’dam” translates to “leash holder” in the Old Tongue and refers to the women, like Renna, who are trained for years to control their own damane. When Renna introduces herself to Egwene in The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 6, she discusses that the link between a sul’dam and damane is designed so that any pain a sul’dam feels is felt twice-over by the damane. This is one of many ways in which damane are disincentivized to hurt their sul’dams…

So much of the power that a sul’dam holds over the damane is tied to the a’dams, aka the collars. They are ter’angreals, or objects forged and powered by the One Power for a specific purpose. After using the One Power (a wee bit too much), Nynaeve is able to sense that the a’dam “needs to be healed.” According to her, the only way it can be healed is to be put on a woman. Then it will be complete.

The a’dam cannot be removed by a damane. Even touching it causes pain. If a damane reaches for an object they believe can be used as a weapon, the a’dam hurts them. Essentially, unless a damane is completely docile, she is in horrific, unspeakable pain. In fact, even some who are timid and pliable can still be hurt by their sul’dam.

When Renna tells Egwene that unlike some sul’dam, she believes in cultivating a friendship with her damane, she’s not lying. Many sul’dam treat their damane exactly like animals, brutally whipping them when they’ve misbehaved or giving them treats for good behavior. When she abuses Egwene, she feels as though she’s given our heroine every chance to behave and it’s merely the last straw.

The a’dam is a viciously elegant tool to enslave women. It not only forces them to obey or feel pain, but rewards them for behaving as trained animals vs. human beings. The Seanchans’ methods of exploiting female channelers is so efficient that we learn at the very end of The Wheel of Time Season 2 Episode 6 that although Egwene does break, she lasted longer than the powerful Blue Sitter Maigan (Sandy McDade) — a character we met all the way back in Season 1.

So Egwene has been fully transformed into a damane, but is there still hope for her? Given that she has Nynaeve, Elayne, Perrin (Marcus Rutherford), new pal Aviendha (Ayoola Smart), and now even Rand (Josha Stradowski) determined to help her, we’re thinking yes.