The Wheel of Time symbolizes cyclicity. It is at the core of the book’s world-building and shapes how characters think about their lives and conceptualize fate and magic. A spinning wheel is traditionally associated with weaving, which historically is women’s work. In Greek mythology, the three fates are portrayed as spinning and allocating human lives. In the book, pagan imagery is mixed with the Judeo-Christian concept of a male Creator and his eternal opposite, Shai’tan, which sounds like Satan.

The cyclicity implied by the wheel’s round shape is echoed in the idea of rebirth. As people are reincarnated, they re-live variations of their lives. This idea is very similar to the Buddhist concept of rebirth. However, in Buddhist teachings there is escape from the cycle of life once a soul reaches nirvana. That does not seem to be the case in The Wheel of Time, which raises questions about the meaning of a person’s life and the function of free will.

Directly connected to the Wheel is the concept of Light and its opposite, the Dark. Light is conceived as the force of good; it is synonymous with the Creator, a Godlike cosmic sentient power that brought the Wheel into being.