Warning: Spoilers for The Wheel of Time season 3, episode 6

After what happened to Sammael, there's a good chance Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books made a notable deviation from the timeline of events depicted in the source material when it shifted to the story of The Shadow Rising at the start of season 3. In doing so, the series effectively skipped from the end of the second book, The Great Hunt, to the fourth entry, The Shadow Rising. Evidently, the third installment - The Dragon Reborn - won't be getting a full-season adaptation.

As for what course the show will follow after season 3 ends, that remains unclear. Chances are, it'll have to merge certain storylines and perhaps skip other entries as well, especially since The Wheel of Time is a series that consists of 14 books. While it's hard to say definitively which stories will be kept and which will get swept aside, a recent development is a sign that one particular book - A Crown of Swords - isn't part of the long-term plan.

Sammael Is The Main Villain Of Rand's Story A Crown Of Swords

Sammael Doesn't Engage With Rand Directly Until Book 7

Picking up after the ending of Lord of Chaos, A Crown of Swords is the seventh book in the series. A Crown of Swords follows three plotlines, with Rand al'Thor's being focused on his conflict with Sammael, one of the 13 Forsaken in The Wheel of Time. In the book, Rand and Min traveled alongside his army of male channelers to the kingdom of Illian. Their mission was to confront Sammael, who had taken over the kingdom, claiming the Laurel Crown and the throne of Illian. Rand intended to unseat Sammael and wrest Illian from his control.

And with Sammael being a minor figure in the previous installments and mostly a subject of conversation among the main characters, A Crown of Swords remains Sammael's most meaningful contribution to the narrative.

Rand's journey in A Crown of Swords culminated in the Dragon Reborn finally catching up to Sammael. At the end of the book, the two engaged in an epic showdown in Shadar Logoth that tested their respective capabilities with the One Power. in contrast to some Forsaken in the books, Sammael didn't survive his battle with Rand, resulting in A Crown of Swords being the end of his arc in Robert Jordan's series. And with Sammael being a minor figure in the previous installments and mostly a subject of conversation among the main characters, A Crown of Swords remains Sammael's most meaningful contribution to the narrative.

Sammael's Ambush In Season 3 Risks A Crown Of Swords Not Happening In The TV Show

Rand Probably Won't Go To Illian Now

The Wheel of Time season 3, episode 6 sped up the conflict between Rand and Sammael by having the two face off early. In The Shadow Rising, Sammael did indeed try to have Rand killed, but not in person; he arranged a surprise attack at the Stone of Tear but never put himself in harm's way. That's the opposite of the approach taken by the TV character, who took the fight directly to Rand and in turn, endangered his biggest story from the source material. The episode ended with Rand defeating Sammael, seemingly burying him under debris.

The show hasn't confirmed Sammael's fate one way or the other, but the ending certainly implies that Rand has succeeded in killing Sammael, making him the second Forsaken to fall to the Dragon Reborn. The possibility of Sammael's death raises legitimate questions about what the show intends to do about A Crown of Swords. As the main antagonist of Rand's story in the book, his entire arc doesn't work without the character. If Sammael truly is dead, it'll be fair to assume that The Wheel of Time will skip over A Crown of Swords entirely.

Theoretically, the show could replace Sammael's role in a potential adaptation of A Crown of Swords with another Forsaken. But the chances of that scenario coming to are ittedly low, given the lack of options for a replacement. The show has already narrowed its list of Forsaken from 13 to eight, apparently cutting five characters from the source material. None of the confirmed but unrevealed Forsaken - Graendal and Semirhage - would fit neatly into A Crown of Swords' narrative, as they all have their own roles to fulfill in the story.

Of course, The Wheel of Time could confirm that Sammael survived the battle, but that alone wouldn't dispel the notion that A Crown of Swords' place in the show's future has been shaken. In displacing Sammael from Illian, The Wheel of Time has removed Rand's motivation for chasing him to Illian. If it's true that the show hasn't killed off Sammael, it could very well be that the point of this was for him to take on Asmodean's role as Rand's teacher in book 5, The Fires of Heaven. In any case, it's hard to imagine The Wheel of Time changing course and sending Sammael back to Illian before it gets to book 7.

What Removing A Crown Of Swords Would Mean For The Show's Story

The Wheel Of Time May Not Need Book 7 Anymore

Having Sammael taken off the board early could have major repercussions for the show's future, with the most obvious of which being the fact that Rand wouldn't seize control of Illian. Rand's victory over Sammael does a lot to increase his influence and power in The Wheel of Time's world, but it's possible that the show could do without it, especially if it covers The Fires of Heaven, the fifth book, in season 4. Its story sees Rand claim control over the kingdom of Cairhein, a location that the show has already introduced and could therefore easily revisit.

In other words, what Rand accomplishes in Illian isn't exactly a first for the character; by providing sufficient attention to his takeover of Cairhein in The Fires of Heaven, The Wheel of Time will have delivered a depiction of Rand as a ruler and a conqueror. In this way, the series can justify excluding Illian from his list of conquests.

In some ways, skipping A Crown of Swords can be advantageous to the series. Mat Cauthon missed out on the book entirely, so not adapting the book would avoid the conundrum of finding a new story for him or sidelining him for a full season. As for the other plotlines, both Nynaeve and Elayne's escapade in Ebou Dar and Egwene's efforts to combat Elaida are plotlines that continue into the next book, The Path of Daggers. That means the series could streamline thing by merging them into an adaptation of The Path of Daggers - not unlike the ways season 3 has cleverly inserted parts of The Dragon Reborn into its Shadow Rising story.