This article contains spoilers for The Wheel of Time season 3, episode 5. Viewers are understandably quite surprised at one scene featuring Elaida in Black Ajah, Aes Sedai who have betrayed their oaths and sworn themselves over as Darkfriends. Siuan believes there's at least one last member of Black Ajah left at the White Tower, and she's desperate to expose her.

All attention is focused on Siuan's main rival, Elaida, who the Amirlyn understandably suspects could be Black Ajah. In The Wheel of Time season 3, episode 5, Siuan sets a trap - letting Elaida learn there are two Black Ajah prisoners in the Tower. Events take a shocking twist, though, when Elaida heads in to torture the Black Ajah for information. But many viewers are asking one simple question: How could Elaida use the One Power in this way without breaking her oaths?

How Elaida Was Able To Kill Amico In The Wheel Of Time Season 3

There's A Gap In The Three Oaths

When an Accepted becomes an Aes Sedai, they are bound by the Three Oaths:

To speak no word that is true.

To make no weapon with which one man may kill another

Never to use the One Power as a weapon except against Darkfriends or Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme defense of her life, the life of her Warder, or another Aes Sedai

Some are speculating that Elaida's use of the One Power against Amico proves she is in fact Black Ajah, because she is able to break the Three Oaths. It's easy to see why that isn't the case, though; there's a clear gap in the Three Oaths, allowing the Aes Sedai to use the One Power against Darkfriends. Black Ajah are Darkfriends - meaning Elaida can do whatever she wants with them.

Elaida Killing Amico Proves How Book-Accurate She Really Is

The Wheel of Time's striking Elaida scene isn't actually found in Robert Jordan's original novels, but it serves as a nice way of illustrating her character. Ruthless and dangerous, she's absolutely commitment to fighting the Dark One - and she doesn't believe Siuan is going far enough. We've already seen hints of that, with her belief the Dragon Reborn needs to be chained. Torture is most definitely something she'd be willing to do, because there are few lines she wouldn't be willing to cross in The Wheel of Time.