Who Is The Dragon Reborn In The Wheel Of Time? (Is He A Real Dragon)

The Wheel of Time promises to be the next big thing in the fantasy series genre. Of course, that is because they were able to use the source materials, which are Robert Jordan’s book series, really well. And book readers and those who have seen the first few episodes would know that the story revolves around the search for the Dragon Reborn. But who is the Dragon Reborn in The Wheel of Time?

In the books, Rand al’Thor is the Dragon Reborn. However, we are yet to confirm whether or not he will be the Dragon Reborn in the live-action series. But, what we are sure of is that the Dragon Reborn is one of the four main characters. These are Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Egwene. And no, they are not real dragons.

The Dragon is a central figure in the history of The Wheel of Time, which is basically a story wherein time simply moves in a wheel. This means that the Dragon has been reincarnated several times to cause drastic changes to the world. And that is the very reason why Moiraine, one of the main characters, is in search of who the real Dragon Reborn is.

Who Is The Dragon In The Wheel Of Time?

The Wheel of Time is shaping up to be one of the most popular fantasy series airing today. You can catch it exclusively on Amazon Prime, but while it may be an Amazon Original, it is actually a series that is based on the books by Robert Jordan. And because of how popular the books are, the series already has a good number of fans and followers that have wanted the books to be adapted into a live-action series for a long time.

That said, while The Wheel of Time Amazon series currently revolves around Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), an Aes Sedai, which is an organization of magical women, the book revolves around the story of the Dragon Reborn. And, from the looks of it, the series will eventually transition its storyline to revolve around the Dragon Reborn later on once the identity of the character has been revealed.

In that regard, who is the Dragon in The Wheel of Time?

The Dragon in The Wheel of Time universe, which is also called the Randland by fans of its books, is a central figure in the history of the entire world because of how this character has always been one of the people who helped shape the world into what it is.

In the books, the current Dragon or the Dragon Reborn goes by the name of Rand al’Thor, who is one of the main characters at the beginning of the book and is also one of the central figures at the early stages of the Amazon series adaptation. When Rand was revealed to be the Dragon Reborn in the books, the entire series began to revolve around him and his decisions to change the world. That is something that might also happen in the series adaptation once the identity of the Dragon is revealed.

While the Dragon’s identity in the books is no longer a secret, those who haven’t read the books or haven’t tried spoiling themselves by reading summaries of the books are yet to find out who the Dragon Reborn is. That is because, as of this writing, the Amazon series is yet to reveal the Dragon’s identity.

At the start of the series, we are introduced to Moiraine and her traveling companion Lan. Together, they are searching for the Dragon Reborn after finding out that they have already been reborn into the age that they are living. And among all of the Aes Sedai, she is seemingly the only one who can sense whether or not someone is potentially the Dragon.

Moiraine and Lan, in their search for the Dragon Reborn, were taken by their travels to a town in the Two Rivers. This was where Moiraine was able to sense that one of the young people in the town could potentially be the Dragon. All this happened as early as the first episode, which showed the town getting attacked by the Trollocs or the forces of the Dark One.

After the efforts of the townspeople, with the help of Moiraine and Lan, were able to drive away the first party of Trollocs, the Aes Sedai decided to take the four young people she believed could be the Dragon. Those young people are Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Egwene. The reason why she believed that any of these four could be the Dragon Reborn was the fact that they displayed unusual abilities.

Rand showcased unusual physical strength for a human. Perrin had the ability to talk to wolves and probably other animals. Mat, while he hasn’t shown some of his abilities yet, seemingly has something going on with him. And Egwene can channel the One Power or the source of the world’s magic quite easily.

While the book may have already revealed Rand to be the Dragon Reborn, we are yet to confirm whether or not the series will also proclaim Rand as the Dragon. It is not unusual for fantasy book adaptations to introduce a few changes. However, most people are of the agreement that declaring anyone other than Rand to be the Dragon Reborn is a huge risk that the Amazon series should not take because of how they could potentially lose millions of fans of the book series. We all know what happened to Game of Thrones when they botched the final season.

In that regard, we are almost certain that Rand will still be the Dragon Reborn in The Wheel of Time Amazon series. However, we are yet to confirm when they will finally reveal him to be the Dragon or whether or not they are actually going to follow the books and reveal Rand to be the Dragon Reborn.

But, as of this writing, the showrunner Rafe Judkins said that most of the changes they will introduce to the series will involve events that will allow us to see the maturity and growth in each of the four Dragon candidates. He admits that, while changing the identity of the Dragon will certainly surprise people all over the world, it would mean that they would have to go against the late Robert Jordan’s vision. And going against Jordan’s visions without his approval (unlike how the Game of Thrones showrunners had George RR Martin’s approval) would be a huge disrespect to the beloved author’s work.

Is the Dragon Reborn A Real Dragon?

We have been talking about the Dragon throughout much of this article. And you will also notice how the show will also be talking about the Dragon a lot. However, what you will notice is that they never talk about the Dragon in terms of the mythical creature. So, is the Dragon Reborn a real dragon?

Unfortunately, those who are expecting to see a real dragon in The Wheel of Time will be disappointed to know that there is no real dragon in the series. That basically means that the Dragon is not an actual dragon. The “Dragon” nickname is simply a title that is given to the champion of light and the one who can fully control the One Power.

Even if you read the books, you will hardly encounter any sort of references to the real fire-breathing dragon. None of the characters will talk about real dragons because any sort of dragon talk is in reference to the Dragon Reborn or simply the Dragon.

However, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any dragons in the past in the Randland. It could be possible that there were real dragons at some point in the history of The Wheel of Time. The possibility is that there was a point in time when dragons existed because the previous Dragon actually had a banner with the sigil of a dragon on it.

It could be possible that the previous Dragon used his banner to reference the real dragon. But it could also be possible that, like in the world we live in today, dragons are merely myths and that the people in Randland merely created these creatures from their imagination. Still, considering that there are plenty of magical creatures in The Wheel of Time, we are leaning towards the possibility that a real dragon once existed in that world.

Who Was The Dragon Before Rand?

Rand, or whoever the show will choose to be the Dragon Reborn, is actually just the reborn version of the Dragon in what they call the Third Age. To understand this concept, it is necessary about how the world in The Wheel of Time operates.

In the world of The Wheel of Time, reincarnation is a constant thing that people go through. This basically means that the soul of one person is merely reincarnated into another body but without the memories of the previous life. The reason why people reincarnate is that time is merely flowing in cycles in The Wheel of Time, hence the title of the story.

Robert Jordan probably got the idea from the real wheel of time concept in certain religions and spiritual beliefs like Hinduism and Buddhism. What the wheel of time basically says is that time merely repeats itself and that the world goes through a series of ages wherein time merely flows in a circular pattern. So, basically, the events of the previous age will merely repeat in the next age.

In The Wheel of Time series, the same concept applies, as people merely reincarnate from one life to another because of the very concept of the circular flow of time. However, the Dragon tends to be a special type of reincarnation.

Unlike most people, who can reincarnate multiple times in one Age, the Dragon will only reincarnate once per Age. This means that Rand is the Dragon in the Third Age, as far as the books are concerned. Meanwhile, his predecessor was the original Dragon, who was born during the Age of Legends.

The Dragon before Rand is Lews Therin Telamon. He is the original Dragon because he was the first person to call himself that nickname. Again, the Dragon title is merely a nickname and is not the official name for the champion of the light. It was only during Lews Therin’s Age that people began calling the champion the Dragon, considering that the champion of that age called himself by that nickname.

Will The Dragon Be Reborn Again?

While we did say that the Dragon goes through a constant cycle of reincarnation per Age, what you should know is that Rand’s mission throughout his tenure as the Dragon Reborn of the Third Age is to stop the wheel of time from turning.

This means that he aims to stop the flow of the Dragon from being reborn from one age to another. And the reason is that the Dragon has always been a symbol of power and destruction. In fact, the reason why the Age of Legends ended was that Lews Therin brought about “The Breaking of the World”, which can be presumed is an apocalyptic event that caused the world, in an attempt to control and seal away the Dark One.

In short, the events in the Third Age are the byproduct of the world that the Age of Legends left behind after the world “broke” when much of the civilizations were destroyed. This essentially caused the world to be reborn into the Third Age, which is now set to be destroyed once more by the Dragon Reborn.

However, Rand decided that it was time to end the cycle of destruction after learning that the last Dragon nearly caused the destruction of the entire world. It is unsure whether the Dragon was reborn after him in the next Age.

Is There A Female Dragon In The Wheel Of Time?

In the entire The Wheel of Time book series, only two Dragons have ever been named (Lews Therin and Rand). It is also said that the Dragon is a “male champion” of light capable of controlling the One Power. Meanwhile, all of the channelers of the One Power have been the women of the Aes Sedai. That means that there is no certainty that there has ever been a female Dragon, unless the showrunner of the Amazon series decides to change the story and name Egwene as the Dragon instead of Rand.