A Major Wheel Of Time Character Change Made A Debunked Book Theory Canon To The Show

A debunked theory about one of the ancient heroes in The Wheel of Time books was surprisingly made canon in Amazon’s TV adaptation. In both the book and TV versions of The Wheel of Time’s world, the heroes of the past are integral to the journeys of the main characters. There’s no greater example of that than Lews Therin Telamon, whose role as the Dragon during the Age of Legends is what drives the narrative of all the Wheel of Time books.

While Lews Therin is without question the most important figure from The Wheel of Time’s ancient history, he’s hardly the only long-dead hero with relevance to the plot. Sprinkled throughout the books are references to a long list of historical figures, including Birgitte Silverbow, Artur Hawkwing, Jain Farstrider, and more. Both the show and the book saw many of these characters come to life in the present when Mat blew The Wheel of Time’s Horn of Valere. Amazon’s take on this moment, though, included an interesting twist, in that it confirmed an old theory that was never true in the books.

The Wheel Of Time’s Gaidal Cain Fan Theory Explained

Thanks to the concept of reincarnation, ancient heroes popping up in the lives of Rand, Mat, Perrin, and all the others is theoretically possible even without the Horn of Valere. If a certain goal needs to be fulfilled, the Wheel can spin a soul back into the Pattern, allowing them to live again as someone else. Because this is a known rule, multiple characters in the books have been subjected to a great amount of discourse when it comes to who they have been in their past lives. Quite a few were theorized to be the reincarnation of Gaidal Cain, an accomplished swordsman who lived during the Third Age.

Through his appearances in Tel’aran’rhiod, his return as one of the Heroes of the Horn, and old stories that mentioned him, readers were able to glean a number of details about Gaidal Cain that were often taken as clues about who he could be in the the present-day era. In fact, the books themselves confirmed his rebirth, which only fueled this speculation. In The Fires of Heaven, Birgitte Silverbow stated that Gaidal had been reborn recently, and as a result, would have been a small child at this time. This led to young boys such as Olver and Gadren Grady becoming the top suspects.

Either one made at least some degree of sense, as both seemed to share Gaidal Cain’s most distinguishing physical trait, which was his supposed ugliness. The books made pointed references to all three being especially unattractive. These theories became so common that they were eventually addressed by both of the series’ authors, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, the writer who took over The Wheel of Time after Jordan’s death. Jordan said in an interview that Olver was too old to be Gaidal Cain. [via TheoryLand]. Sanderson similarly acknowledged that Gadren may also be too old to be Gaidal Cain reborn.

The Wheel Of Time’s Showrunner Confirmed Gaidal Cain’s Identity In The Show

The TV show took a completely different direction in regards to its approach to Gaidal Cain. When discussing the shocking return of Uno Nomesta in The Wheel of Time season 2 finale, showrunner Rafe Judkins said, “we signal very clearly another character in the books that we’ve combined Uno with. Two swords.” The “two swords” line is an overt reference to Gaidal Cain, who famously fought with two swords during his exploits in the Third Age. The decision to merge the characters helps explain how Uno was able to come back as a hero.

Based on Judkins’ comments, it can be presumed that Uno died and returned as a hero, because in a sense, he was already one of them. After all, Gaidal Cain was a Hero of the Horn in The Wheel of Time books. It would appear that Gaidal Cain was secretly reborn as Uno, meaning that an ancient hero was in the company of Perrin, Masema, and Loial all along and without any of them being wise to it. It’s a fitting move for the series, considering that it followed through on what the books only teased; they indicated that Gaidal Cain had been reborn, but never revealed him, whereas the show did indeed make him an existing character.

Could Uno Have Been Gaidal Cain In The Wheel Of Time Books?

While it made sense for The Wheel of Time to link the legendary swordsman to the gruff Shenieran soldier, it’s worth noting that the connection is original to the show. The similarities in their fighting styles, personalities, and appearances initially led to talk about the possibility that Uno and Gaidal Cain were one and the same, but it didn’t take long for the books to take Uno out of consideration. Along with several other Wheel of Time characters, Uno was ruled out as being Gaidal Cain in The Fires of Heaven due to some clarifications about the timeline.

The book mentioning that his soul left Tel’aran’rhiod a few years ago confirmed that Gaidal Cain really was out there somewhere, but not as a grown man. Uno had been alive for years when Birgitte was interacting with Gaidal in the World of Dreams. For this reason, it was impossible for the books to connect the two together and instead caused speculation to shift toward significantly younger characters.

What Wheel Of Time’s Uno Change Means For A Future Main Character

The Wheel of Time has yet to recognize Uno as Gaidal Cain in-universe, but that doesn’t mean the merging of the two characters won’t have an impact on the story. It’s important to keep in mind that in the books, Gaidal is involved in a centuries-spanning romance with Birgitte Silverbow, a fellow member of the Heroes of the Horn. In the books, Birgitte is pulled out of Tel’aran’rhiod by Moghedien, and as a consequence of that, she becomes a key supporting character and ally to characters like Elayne, Nynaeve, Juilin Sandar, and Mat.

Birgitte Silverbow’s cameo in The Wheel of Time season 2 finale, combined with Judkins’ comments about wanting to cast an actress to play her for a more long-term role, go to show that like her book counterpart, she’ll be a part of the adventures to come. If so, the show will have a good reason to keep using Uno; if Uno was in love with Birgitte in his past life as Gaidal Cain, they could meet up in Tel’aran’rhiod in The Wheel of Time season 3.