Rand and Gawyn's first meeting

[jwillis7]

So in EotW Gawyn says that Rand looks just like an Aiel, but why.  I ask because Rand does look alot like Gawyn, Egwene says in LoC that they are of the same height and build.  They both have reddish hair, and i think light eyes, not brown.  I understand why it is said in the context of the story, that you need the reader to know what and who rand is but why from someone what looks just like him.

[Leatherleaf]

This is not conclusive, but one possibility is that Gawyn's features are more prominent in Andoran nobility, not commoners. Because Rand at that meeting was clearly not noble, Gawyn may have assumed Rand to be Aiel.

 

Of course, this answer isn't the greatest, as Rand's accent is a variant on Andoran, which you would think would make Gawyn lean more towards Andoran descent than Aiel. Maybe Gawyn never looked in a mirror?

[Impressive Bosom]

So in EotW Gawyn says that Rand looks just like an Aiel, but why.  I ask because Rand does look alot like Gawyn, Egwene says in LoC that they are of the same height and build.  They both have reddish hair, and i think light eyes, not brown.  I understand why it is said in the context of the story, that you need the reader to know what and who rand is but why from someone what looks just like him.

 

I don't think anyone in the world has ever looked at a person and thought 'hey - they look just like me'... not unless they were talking about their child and even then its usually the other partner's features you notice first and most prominently. No doubt if there had been an Aiel who had known Gawyn, he would have remarked on the similarity when he first saw Rand.

[mb]

Morgase (Gawyn's mother) was the closest related (of Andor's Nobles) to Tigraine (Rand's mother).  So their children would likely have some degree of resemblance to each other.

Rand's father was an Aiel.  That explains Rand's Aiel appearance.

 

The name of Rand's father and the alias Tigraine used, those are told in Shadow Rising Chapter 34.

 

[jwillis7]

Rand's father was an Aiel.  That explains Rand's Aiel appearance.

 

but what i'm saying is that Rand and Gawyn could pass as cousins, and as someone said earlier he has an andoran accent.  I just think it is strange that Gawyn went Aiel and not somehow related to him.  I mean Aiel have not been seen on that side of the Spine in 20 years, is just seems like a big jump to me

[mb]

The accent relates to where they were raised.

 

Looking like cousins; that I take relates to Moraine's & Tigraine's relationship to each other.  Tried to tell that in first comment.

 

[alligator]

just saying I agree with jwillis, it seems silly for Gawyn to think of the Aiel and not his family. At least in the Two Rivers, Rand is the only tall red-headed blue-eyed person, so I'd think most Andorans looked more like Nynaeve than Rand/ Gawyn. Had Gawyn ever actually seen an Aielman at that point?

I don't know, but if I saw someone who looked like my family, and my family had relatively distinctive and unusual traits, I'd go to COUSIN rather than  EXOTIC FOREIGNER I'VE ONLY READ OF IN STORIES. Yeah?

[rubbernilly]

I don't think anyone in the world has ever looked at a person and thought 'hey - they look just like me'... not unless they were talking about their child and even then its usually the other partner's features you notice first and most prominently. No doubt if there had been an Aiel who had known Gawyn, he would have remarked on the similarity when he first saw Rand.

 

Actually... I went to college with a guy who looked just like me. Just. Freakin'. Like. Me. A little shorter, but the same shoulders, same build, and the same face. The first time I saw him was a little surreal. We could have been brothers. Heck, we could have been twins.

 

Later in the school year, I learned from a friend that some girl had gone up to that guy and out of the blue started rubbing his shoulders... until he turned around and she saw it wasn't me. Believe me, I tried to find out who that girl had been... :)

[Usernameless]

Well Rand looks much more like his father than like his mother. He has gray eyes, red hair, and is taller than most people. All those traits are sterotypical Aiel traits, that every Wetlander knows of from stories.

 

And when Egwene was talking about the similarities, I think she was talking about width of shoulder more than actual traits.

[jwillis7]

Well Rand looks much more like his father than like his mother. He has gray eyes, red hair, and is taller than most people. All those traits are sterotypical Aiel traits, that every Wetlander knows of from stories.

 

 

Has anyone says Rand looks like his dad? everyone in Andor says he looks just like Tigraine. That was said in multiple books and from lots of different people and if other people think when they meet him that he could be related to andor nobility, i don't know why Gawyn would not

[Usernameless]

Well, everyone in Andor is used to seeing Andoran nobility (spelling?). While Rand has some looks that come from his mother, he also has most of the traits that are commonly know as 'Aiel'. It would make sense for Gawyn to jump there first instead of thinking Rand Andoran nobility. In Gawyn's estimation, he (being the Queen's son) should know ALL of the living Andoran nobles extensively, and Rand certainly is not. He showed up im Morgase's garden dressed like a common villager, which also furthers Rand from being Andoran nobility.

 

Sorry for the spelling...I suck :(

[mellojoe]

Tall, red hair, light eyes.... outsider... I can see how someone might go to Aiel at first.

 

But, I see your point.  he could have said... "You look like my cousin Sergey" or something.  But, it seem's as though Rand's most prominent features paint him as Aiel.  Its like seeing someone of Latin American decent with very almond shaped eyes and mistaking them for Phillipino or Asian decent.

[jwillis7]

I'm not saying Rand does not look Aiel, all I'm saying is that is i felt it was like the pot calling the kettle black