Hello! I’m Ren Tyan, Asha’man of the Black Tower here at the Weaves of the Wheel Community and today I am taking a look at the greatest mystery of our Age, just who in the Flaming Light is Steve?

So, who is Steve? A Forsaken? A Warder? Or just a clever marketing ploy by The Wheel of Time on Prime marketing team?

If you’re unaware, the epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time, written by author Robert Jordan, and completed by Brandon Sanderson, has been picked up by Amazon Prime to be adapted into a TV series. Originally scheduled to hit our screens in early 2021.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is uncertain when we will have this in our homes, but we remain hopeful that it will appear in the latter half of 2021.

It’s been a year since Rosamund Pike was announced to Randland to be taking the leading role of mysterious Aes Sedai, Moiraine Damodred. A move that made the fandom take note of Amazon’ serious commitment to this show.

The news was followed by the Emond’s Field Five, with Joshua Stradowski portraying Rand al’Thor. Barney Harris playing Matrim Cauthon. Marcus Rutherford takes up the axe as Perrin Aybara. Zoe Robbins will tug her braid as Nynaeve al’Meara, and Madeleine Madden will appear as Egwene al’Vere.

Since then, WoT-on-Prime has had dropped a number of cast announcements, ranging from Aes Sedai to Whitecloaks, even Darkfriends. The majority of these announcements were made officially via The Wheel of Time’s Twitter account, however, a number were teased as “leaked” only to be confirmed shortly after as accurate.

Which brings us to ….STEVE!

That is right Steve. No surname and no description or hint as to who Steve is, other than he will be played by Phil Snowden.

The Steve announcement was made by website Redanian Intelligence, alongside several other “leaks”, with some of these already made official by The Wheel of Time on Prime.

First, many fans were surprised by the name. It did not fit in with Robert Jordan’s series. The name was out of place. I mean we have a Mat, but Steve? Fans then speculated that Steve must be a code name for a character in the show that Rafe and the gang want to keep hidden.

Let’s explore some of the theories:

A popular one is that Steve is a Forsaken most probably Ishamael or Asmodean with the Betrayer of Hope being the most likely this early on. Ishamael appears in the Eye of the World and haunts the dreams of our three Ta’veren. We don’t expect to meet Asmodean for at least a few seasons; however, Phil’s musical background suggests he might have the chops to play Asmodean.

Another popular theory is that he will play Lews Therin Telamon, the Kinslayer and will appear as a flashback to the prologue of the Eye of the World in Dragonmount. ILLYENA!! A real possibility let’s just hope he can do a better job than his predecessor.

Some have even gone on to speculate that this is a completely new character and as such is not given a screen name as he is non-consequential.

Here at Weaves of the Wheel, the Brown Ajah have been doing some investigating and vigorously searching through the 13th Depository and found that there is in fact a character in the book series called Stevan Gedarien. Stevan is a warder to Demira Sedai of the Brown Ajah. Could this be the answer to the great Steve debate? We are expecting flashbacks to the prequel New Spring due to the casting of Claire Perkins as Kerene Nagashi, the Captain-General of the Green Ajah in New Spring. Could we possibly meet Stevan and Demira in these flashbacks?

If “Steve” is the Warder what do we know about him? Stevan Gedarien was from Cairhien and stood at 5’6″ tall. He had a slender build with grey at his temples. He was around 20 years younger than Demira and at times acted as her father.

Well, there you have it, just some of the possible answers as to who Steve is. The Lord Dragon? The Betrayer of Hope? A new character or a Warder? Whoever he is, he has become infamous among Wheel of Time fans, with everything from Instagram posts, podcasts and Twitter all expressing their opinions. Mothers milk in a cup! I have even seen some Steve merch making its way into the stores of many content creators.

Who do you think the infamous Steve is? Do you agree with any of the theories mentioned? Or do you have your own? Are the WoT fans on to a winner, or will we ultimately be disappointed to learn Steve is little more than a glorified extra. Maybe we will find out during this weeks WoT Wednesday.

Leave your thoughts in the comment section below: