The Cavalry

[trakand_01]

I havent read book 11 yet so I dont know what the latest update is on the Seanchan relationship with the rest of the world, but I was thinking the other day; in many 'big battle' or armageddon type situations (in fiction), the mainstay of the characters think they are alone, and the odds on them winning lengthen.

 

UNTIL the cavalry arrives. In LotR I see this as having been the elves coming to Helms Deep at the 11th hour, sent by Elrond.

 

Do you think there will be a 'cavalry effect' in WoT?

 

For example Mat standing in the middle of a melee with his ashanderei whirring, but every time he knocks one trolloc away, two replace it. They close in and he can't move his ashanderei or his knives quick enough. Tall as he is (albeit shorter than Rand), his view of the sky starts to disappear, replaced by snouts, beaks and muzzles...

 

Suddenly screams erupt from the trollocs surrounding him, bodies are plucked whole into the sky and daylight reappears.

 

The Raken swoop in again...

[RAND AL THOR]

trakand, this is sooooooooo typical in fantasy books that I hope it doesn't happen in WOT.

 

main characters in a fix=looks like they are going to die=sudden horns=they are saved!

How typical.

From my experience, WOT is not like many other fantasy books. I hope it is so in this regard as well.  ;)

[Asmo]

Seeing as he is their prince, Mat is most likely to be WITH the Seanchan, instead of being saved by them. They will surely help the other nations out in the end, with Mat leading them, but it doesn't have to be quite as dramatic.

[Jonn]

 

In LotR I see this as having been the elves coming to Helms Deep at the 11th hour, sent by Elrond.

 

 

Hate to be a total nerd about this, but the elves arriving at Helm's Deep only happens in the movie version.

 

In the book (and the movie for that matter), the cavalry actually did arrive in the form of Gandalf at the head of the riders of Rohan.

 

Ugh...sorry, had to do it. It's compulsive!

 

Anyways, sorry to ruin it for you, but in the last few books you'll see that there are quotes from bards and historians from the "Fourth Age", meaning whatever the outcome of the Last Battle, the Dark One loses. Otherwise, there'd be no Fourth Age would there...

 

I think the real suspense is going to be who is going to live and who is going to die in the process of birthing the new Age. Will it be melancholy and Arthurian? Poetic? A Greek tragedy? Romantic? Uplifting?

 

I think we already had quite a few cavalry moments in this series already. One that sticks out is the Two rivers sequence in Shadow Rising. Perrin was just about overrun and the trollocs were about to breach and then they started snarling and screaming as from behind the arrow shafts started flying in from Two Rivers longbows. Watch Hill men fronted by Faile, and surprisingly to the South Deven Ride archers striking at the same time. And of course Perrin finds out that he still has one living relative left, a little cousin I believe.

 

Pretty close to your description, yes?

[trakand_01]

 

In LotR I see this as having been the elves coming to Helms Deep at the 11th hour, sent by Elrond.

 

 

Hate to be a total nerd about this, but the elves arriving at Helm's Deep only happens in the movie version.

 

In the book (and the movie for that matter), the cavalry actually did arrive in the form of Gandalf at the head of the riders of Rohan.

 

Ugh...sorry, had to do it. It's compulsive!

 

 

Gandalf and the Riders of Rohan was planned though. Before they departed Gandalf told them something like 'Look to the east on the morning of the 5th day', that he would come.

 

Movie version or no, the elves were supposed to have left Men to their fate.

[Bob T Dwarf]

However cheesy it might seem to some of us, I think it's pretty much prophesied to happen.

 

Min's viewing about Moiraine.  Rand would fail without a woman who was already dead.

 

The Fourth Age children's rhyme which is prophesy in disguise. ( actually history given its Fourth Age context  )

 

The lions sing, and the hills take flight. - TG has begun.

The moon by day, and the sun by night. - Rand may have already 'died'.  Things look really bleak.

Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool, - Mat has finally succeeded in rescuing Moiraine and they and the Band come riding over the hill...

Let the Lord of Chaos Rule. - and save the day.

 

Or, not.  That's just my take on how two bits of cryptology fit together.

[RAND AL THOR]

Bob, where in the Pit of Doom did you get that? I've never come across it!

 

If anyone can give the EXACT wording of that specific viewing, it would be extremely helpful.

 

[Bob T Dwarf]

Min's musing about Moiraine?  A Crown of Swords  chapter 35

A tiny stab of guilt made her shift her seat on the coverlet.  She had not really lied when he asked what viewings she had kept back.  Not really.  What good to tell him he would almost certainly fail without a woman who was dead and gone?  He became bleak too easily as it was.  She had to keep his spirits up, make him remember to laugh.  Except...

 

As the passage makes clear, she never articulated the viewing itself.  She's only remembering what she thought about having had it.

 

If you mean the rhyme, that's most easily found on the frontispiece of Lord of Chaos.

[Corbett]

I was pretty sure that there were elves at hemls deep in the book, though i may be worng as it has been abouut 6 years since i read it.

[Elwinn Taron]

Nope, no elves at Helm's Deep except Legolas.  Even the sons of Elrond didn't show up until Aragorn and Company were riding back from Isengard.

[RAND AL THOR]

Thanks Bob. Clear.

[DemandredFO]

To my mind it all depends on how you couch "the cavalry".  In Lotr the characters know at least some cavalry is coming, they just don't know when.  Same with the Battle of Emonds Field, Faile knows the Devon riders are coming and she goes to get the watch hillmen.  As I see it these two incidents are examples of drama.  I contrasts this with the battle of Hogwarts,  SPOILER WARNING

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Battle of Hogwarts they do not know the cavarly is coming, this an example of Deus Ex Machina.  That is a cheesy "cavalry" moment.  I mainly read the 7th book because I got to interested in series before I lost interest in the series.

[Mr Ares]

To my mind it all depends on how you couch "the cavalry".  In Lotr the characters know at least some cavalry is coming, they just don't know when.  Same with the Battle of Emonds Field, Faile knows the Devon riders are coming and she goes to get the watch hillmen.  As I see it these two incidents are examples of drama.  I contrasts this with the battle of Hogwarts. In the Battle of Hogwarts they do not know the cavarly is coming, this an example of Deus Ex Machina.  That is a cheesy "cavalry" moment.  I mainly read the 7th book because I got to interested in series before I lost interest in the series.

I think Feist is a better example than Rowling. How many times has a foreign army appeared from nowhere in the middle of a country to save the day at the last minute?

[Jonn]

In terms of the military formation of cavalry, most generals plan for cavalry as a form of relief in tight situations, so in that case it's not strictly unexpected.

 

If by cavalry, you're referring to a form of salvation coming from an unlooked for source of relief...yes, it's coming, it's inevitable, but it's the author's job to make us feel the proper emotional impact despite our anticipation.

 

In the fantasy epic, it's a must have element.

 

What form it will take in A Memory of Light, we can only guess, but that's half the fun up until the actual revelation in the last book.